U.S. DOE Announces Nearly $1 Billion to Strengthen America’s Critical Minerals Supply Chain

On August 13, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) unveiled its intent to issue funding opportunities totaling nearly $1 billion to advance domestic mining, processing, and manufacturing of critical minerals and materials. This announcement marks a decisive step in reshoring capabilities that are vital to U.S. energy security, defense readiness, and industrial competitiveness.

Why It Matters

Critical minerals—including nickel, cobalt, lithium, tungsten, tantalum, and rare earth elements—are the backbone of industries ranging from aerospace and defense to clean energy and medical technology. Yet for too long, the U.S. has been dependent on foreign actors to supply and process these indispensable resources.

DOE’s proposed initiatives aim to reduce this dependency by accelerating domestic innovation, commercialization, and industrial deployment. This funding comes at a time when global supply chains are fragile and demand for critical metals is surging.

Key DOE Programs Announced

• Critical Minerals & Materials Accelerator ($50M)
  Focused on maturing breakthrough technologies to unlock investment and enable U.S. commercialization. Areas of interest include refining gallium, germanium, and silicon carbide for semiconductors; direct lithium extraction; and scrap recovery technologies.

• Mines & Metals Capacity Expansion ($250M)
  Supports pilot projects at industrial facilities to recover critical mineral byproducts from existing processes, including coal-based industries. This program aims to de-risk technologies by proving them at scale.

• Rare Earth Elements Demonstration Facility ($135M)
  Funds projects that demonstrate commercial methods for recovering rare earths from mine tailings, waste streams, and deleterious material. Projects require academic partnerships and at least 50% cost-sharing by recipients.

• Battery Materials Processing & Recycling ($500M)
  Expands U.S. capacity for processing, manufacturing, and recycling of critical battery materials such as lithium, nickel, graphite, copper, and rare earths. Awards require at least 50% recipient cost-sharing.

• Recovering Critical Minerals from Wastewater ($40M)
  Through ARPA-E’s RECOVER program, this initiative will support technologies that extract valuable critical minerals from industrial wastewater—turning a waste stream into a secure domestic resource.

EverMetal’s Perspective

At EverMetal, we welcome this landmark commitment from the DOE. The recognition that recycling, byproduct recovery, and advanced processing technologies are as essential as new mining reflects a forward-looking strategy for building resilient supply chains.

Our focus on super alloys and critical metals recycling is directly aligned with these national priorities. By scaling U.S. recycling infrastructure and unlocking metals already in circulation, we can help ensure secure, sustainable, and strategic supplies of materials that power American innovation.

Looking Ahead

As DOE funding opportunities roll out later this year, EverMetal will continue advancing its mission: building a market leader in metals recycling, starting with our platform investment in Custom Alloys. Together with industry and government partners, we are working to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign supply chains and to secure the materials foundation of the future economy.