Recently the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) hosted an Appalachia Regional Deploy Dialogue focused on critical minerals at CMI Team member National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Morgantown, West Virginia. This event, which was a part of the ‘Deploy Dialogue’ series launched by DOE’s Loan Programs Office last year at Deploy23, was the first regional dialogue of its kind. It brought together public and private sector stakeholders, including representatives from industry, investors, advisors, and the government, to discuss how the Appalachian region can support the expansion and development of a domestic critical minerals supply chain.
NETL Director Dr. Marianne Walck started the regional dialogue by outlining the bigger picture—critical minerals are the building blocks for many modern technologies and are essential for national security and economic prosperity. These minerals, such as rare earth elements, lithium, and cobalt, are found in products ranging from smartphones to solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries for electric vehicles.
Ryan Peay, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Resource Sustainability took a deeper dive into explaining FECM’s research, development, and demonstration portfolio geared toward increasing the domestic production and processing of critical minerals in Appalachia under its Division of Minerals Sustainability.
Additionally, within Appalachia, three first-of-a-kind pilot facilities have been built with DOE support to test technologies for upgrading rare earth element concentrations from acid mine drainage, coal ash, coal, and coal wastes to individually separated, high-purity rare earth oxides and salts.
These pilot facilities, together with recently announced Minerals to Materials Supply Chain Facility (METALLIC), Critical Materials Collaborative, Critical Materials Innovation Hub, and ongoing industry collaboration and investment, will support the Appalachian region as it accelerates the domestic production of these critical minerals.
Link to the full story: FECM's First Regional Deploy Dialogue: Advancing a Critical Minerals Supply Chain in Appalachia