Energy Funding Matrix

This NOFO addresses the technology development for U.S. production of byproduct critical materials from coal-based and other industrial streams, including mine waste and other waste streams, to accelerate commercial domestic mineral production. Approximately $275,000,000 total funds available across both topic areas. Topic Area 1: Mines & Metal Pilots - Coal-Based Industry has approximately $75,000,000 available in total for up to 3 awards. Topic Area 2: Mines & Metal Pilots - All Industries has approximately $200,000,000 available for up to 10 awards.

The proving grounds funded under this announcement will serve as critical platforms to reduce the technical and economic risks associated with novel mining technologies to be utilized by government agencies, industrial partners, and academic institutions. By advancing promising technologies through field-scale validation, the program will accelerate pathways to commercialization, thereby supporting secure, sustainable, and responsible U.S. mining operations. There is approximately $80,000,000 available in total funding for up to four awards.

This is a prize, not a grant. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) is launching the American-Made Electronics Scrap Recycling Advancement Prize (ESCRAP) $3.95 million in prizes, this three-phase prize is designed to stimulate innovative approaches that reduce the costs and environmental impact of critical material recovery from electronics scrap (e-scrap). Competitors will optimize, validate, and integrate new and improved approaches along the entire recycling value chain to increase the production and use of recovered critical materials. Competitors can win up to $800,000 in cash and $150,000 in national laboratory analysis support. This prize focuses on innovative approaches, processes, or technologies in service of optimizing and implementing critical material separation and recovery from e-scrap.  The deadline for submission for Phase 2 has passed, but Phase 3 will open up on November 12, 2025.
 

This is a prize, not a grant. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) is launching the American-Made Electronics Scrap Recycling Advancement Prize (ESCRAP) $3.95 million in prizes, this three-phase prize is designed to stimulate innovative approaches that reduce the costs and environmental impact of critical material recovery from electronics scrap (e-scrap). Competitors will optimize, validate, and integrate new and improved approaches along the entire recycling value chain to increase the production and use of recovered critical materials. Competitors can win up to $800,000 in cash and $150,000 in national laboratory analysis support. This prize focuses on innovative approaches, processes, or technologies in service of optimizing and implementing critical material separation and recovery from e-scrap.  The deadline for submission for Phase 2 has passed, but Phase 3 will open up on November 12, 2025.
 

The ROCKS program seeks fundamentally disruptive technologies to transform the ore deposit characterization process. The program will pursue technology that targets order-of-magnitude improvements in characterization with a primary focus on drilling, sensing, and analysis. These advances will shorten the timeline for feasibility assessments of REE and critical mineral deposits, leading to increased access to these resources. In addition, advances in sensing can aid assessment of currently untapped resources, such as seafloor mineral deposits. The submission deadline for Concept Papers passed on September 25, 2025. The Full Application deadline is still TBD.

The ROCKS program seeks fundamentally disruptive technologies to transform the ore deposit characterization process. The program will pursue technology that targets order-of-magnitude improvements in characterization with a primary focus on drilling, sensing, and analysis. These advances will shorten the timeline for feasibility assessments of REE and critical mineral deposits, leading to increased access to these resources. In addition, advances in sensing can aid assessment of currently untapped resources, such as seafloor mineral deposits. The concept paper submission deadline passed on September 25, 2025. The full application deadline is still TBD.

MESC expects to make up to $500 million of federal funding available for new awards under this funding opportunity. MESC may issue one, multiple, or no awards. Individual awards may vary between $50,000,000 and $200,000,000. The estimated period of performance for each award will be approximately 24-48 months. The funding opportunity is anticipated to support demonstration and/or commercial facilities processing, recycling, or utilizing for manufacturing critical materials which may include traditional battery minerals such as lithium, graphite, nickel, copper, aluminum, as well as other minerals that are contained within commercially available batteries, such as rare earth elements. Applicants should consider and identify potential downstream domestic customers of their material or product.

The anticipated NOFO aims to provide up to $135 million of federal funding for the design, construction, and operation of a Rare Earth Element Demonstration Facility. This facility will demonstrate the extraction, separation, and refinement of REEs from unconventional feedstock sources to produce high-purity rare earth metals. The facility must source feedstock derived from acid mine drainage, mine waste, e-waste, or other deleterious or harmful materials resulting from mining or industrial operations. This NOFO seeks to encourage meaningful collaboration and partnership between academia and industry. All applicants must include an academic partner in their project under the anticipated NOFO.

Up to $50 million to invest in industry-led parterships to prototype and pilot innovative critical materials processing technologies. This includes processes in the rare earth magnet supply chain, refining alloy gallium, gallium nitride, germanium, and silicon carbide for use in semiconductors. This opportunity aims to support industry-led partnerships to prototype and pilot innovative processing technologies that are currently only proven at the bench scale so to address CMM challenges in high impact areas. The CMM Accelerator program will advance these mid-stage innovations through validation, benchmarking, access to national lab test beds, testing in industry relevant environments, technoeconomic analysis, and life-cycle assessment. The program establishes a pipeline to support technology maturation to ultimately unlock private capital investments.

This Notice of Intent supports DOE’s current vision to secure diverse, resilient, domestic CMM supply chains by expanding the Critical Minerals and Materials Program to fund additional processing research and development (R&D) for the recovery and refining of CMM, as required for critical supply chain use. The intended FOA has four Areas of Interest planned. Area of Interest 1: Coproduction of CMM and Carbon Manufacturing Precursor Materials from Unconventional Coal and Other Carbon-based Feedstocks. Area of Interest 2: Recovery of Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE) from Secondary and Unconventional Resources. Area of Interest 3: Critical Mineral Recovery from Produced Water. Area of Interest 4: Process Diversification: Production of Rare Earth Elements from Secondary/Unconventional Resources and Recycled Materials. The FOA is anticipated to be issued in the third quarter of calendar year 2024, but has not yet been issued.