Critical Minerals Research at the Department of Energy

One untapped opportunity is extracting rare earth elements and critical minerals from coal waste. These minerals are used in virtually every modern product, from refrigerators to cars to cell phones. The United States has no domestic production capability and China produces 80% of global supply. For this reason, a number of efforts have been started to 1) improve US economic security and 2) to establish a new revenue stream to the coal industry.