Regional Scale Collaboration to Facilitate a Domestic Critical Minerals Future: Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative | DE FOA 0003077

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003077

The Regional Scale Collaboration to Facilitate a Domestic Critical Minerals Future: Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative is a U.S. Department of Energy funding opportunity administered by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) that supports research, development, and collaboration aimed at strengthening domestic supplies of critical minerals. The central idea is to build a clearer, region-by-region picture of where critical minerals may be found or recovered in the United States, with special attention to resources that are not traditional mined ores. Instead, the initiative emphasizes secondary and unconventional feedstocks, meaning materials that already exist in the economy or energy system (for example, industrial byproducts, waste streams, or other nontraditional sources) that could contain economically meaningful quantities of rare earth elements and other critical minerals, as well as advanced carbon or carbon ore-related materials.

A major focus of the work is developing a regional-scale understanding of “critical minerals prospectivity,” which in practical terms means identifying and characterizing where promising opportunities are most likely to exist, what the resource potential looks like, and what it would take to recover and process those materials. By looking at the problem at a regional scale, the program is signaling that it is not only interested in isolated lab results, but also in coordinated efforts that connect resource assessment, technology development, and the realities of deployment across supply chains. The expectation is that projects will generate actionable insight into what materials can be sourced domestically and how those materials could move through a viable processing and manufacturing pathway in the United States.

The initiative also aims to produce a framework that addresses the real-world hurdles that often stop critical mineral projects from advancing, especially economic and supply chain barriers. That includes challenges like cost competitiveness, logistics, feedstock variability, processing complexity, market integration, and the coordination needed between resource owners, technology developers, manufacturers, and end users. In addition to planning and analysis, the opportunity is intended to help push solutions toward pilot-scale demonstrations, indicating an interest in work that can translate beyond early-stage research into larger, more integrated proofs of concept. The scope is also described as broadening to include advanced carbon products or critical mineral-bearing material products, suggesting that NETL is interested in value-added outputs and product pathways, not just mineral recovery in isolation.

From an administrative and funding standpoint, this is a discretionary funding opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0003077) that will be issued as a cooperative agreement, which typically means substantial involvement by the federal agency during the project period (for example, active technical collaboration, structured milestones, and close programmatic oversight). The activity category is research and development in energy, science, and technology, and it is associated with CFDA number 81.089. The opportunity lists eligibility as “unrestricted,” but applicants are still directed to review Section III of the Funding Opportunity Announcement for the complete and authoritative eligibility requirements and any additional conditions.

The original closing date for applications was June 24, 2024, and the opportunity anticipated making about eight awards. Individual awards were listed with a ceiling of $7,500,000, which signals support for relatively substantial, multi-party or multi-work-package efforts appropriate for regional assessments, coordinated R&D portfolios, and pilot-scale planning or execution. The posting was created on April 24, 2024, and the sponsoring agency is NETL, reflecting DOE’s broader priority of reducing reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals and improving domestic supply chain resilience through a mix of innovation, resource development, and deployment-ready demonstrations.

• The National Energy Technology Laboratory in the energy, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Regional Scale Collaboration to Facilitate a Domestic Critical Minerals Future: Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.089.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-04-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-06-24. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $7,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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