Penn State to lead $1.2M DOE critical minerals consortium

Penn State researchers will lead a $1.2 million Department of Energy (DOE) project to find critical minerals in coal mining byproducts in northern Appalachia.

The Consortium to Assess Northern Appalachia Resource Yield (CANARY) will assess and catalog northern Appalachia-basin critical mineral resources and waste, then develop strategies to recover the minerals. The group will also identify potential supply chain issues or technology gaps that might need to be addressed.

The project could help create a domestic supply of critical minerals needed to make everything from cell phones to fighter jets as part of a broader, national effort to produce rare-earth elements and critical minerals

“Penn State has world-class faculty and facilities to help lead the effort to meet the country’s critical mineral needs,” said Lora Weiss, Penn State’s senior vice president for research. “This funding will allow the University and its consortium partners to further leverage our considerable technical resources and established relationships with stakeholders to realize the full potential value of our natural resources.”

Rare- earth elements are a group of metals considered critical because they are vital to the high-tech economy and needed for medical and defense applications. Additionally, they are produced almost entirely by foreign countries, such as China, which produces about 85 percent of the world’s supply.

While minerals found in low concentrations in the ground come at a high financial and environmental cost when harvested, coal and its waste products offer potential as an environmentally friendly and affordable alternative.

“CANARY will build on the prior work and current expertise of Penn State and its partners to evaluate the critical mineral production potential of the Northern Appalachian basin,” said Lee Kump, John Leone Dean in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. “Extracting critical minerals from coal waste has the potential to catalyze regional growth and create jobs while simultaneously remediating long-standing environmental problems, reclaiming abandoned mines, and helping the country meet its raw-material needs for future development of an advanced, technology-driven society.”