Colorado School of Mines, ElementUSA to receive $67M of DOE funding for REE-focused tailings retreatment plant
Colorado School of Mines and ElementUSA have been awarded $67 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a plant for the extraction and processing of rare earth elements from alumina tailings in Louisiana.
The project in Gramercy, Louisiana, is one of two announced today by DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation to design, construct, commission and operate a rare earth element (REE) facility capable of separating REE from mine tailings or other waste and refining the resulting oxides into rare earth metals. The other project selected by the DOE was Phoenix Tailings, which plans to build a demonstration plant in Oklahoma, in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to convert industrial waste into high-purity rare earth metals.
Elizabeth Holley, Professor of Mining Engineering at Colorado School of Mines and Principal Investigator on the project, said: “Today’s active mines and processing facilities are optimised to produce just a few commonly used metals, with valuable critical minerals discarded as waste or stored in tailings facilities that require long-term environmental management. Recovering critical minerals from these untapped wastes is a key strategy for domestic mineral security and environmental stewardship.
“Colorado School of Mines has been a leader in waste-to-value research and workforce development for decades. With support from DOE and in collaboration with ElementUSA, Mines research is changing the world, transforming waste into the minerals that we need.”
Ellis Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of ElementUSA, said: “We are honoured to receive the DOE’s support and to partner with Colorado School of Mines on this important initiative. This project represents a significant step toward unlocking a new domestic source of critical minerals essential to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, energy systems and national security. By combining Colorado School of Mines’ world-class expertise with ElementUSA’s commercial development platform, we are advancing a practical pathway to recover strategic materials from bauxite residue at scale, strengthening America’s critical mineral supply chains while creating long-term value from an underutilised domestic resource.”
Founded in 2021, ElementUSA specialises in waste-to-market solutions and innovative midstream processing infrastructure to recover minerals from both primary and secondary sources. The company holds exclusive rights to the bauxite residue (alumina tailings) at the Atalco alumina refinery in Gramercy, Louisiana. Located on the banks of the Mississippi River, the alumina tailings impoundments contain 27-plus Mt of “red mud”– residual materials from the alumina refining process that include rare earth elements and other critical minerals.
The funding from DOE will support the development of a plant operated by ElementUSA capable of supplying 150-1,000 t/y of REEs for domestic use from the Gramercy tailings. Target elements include dysprosium, terbium, yttrium, gadolinium, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium and lanthanum.
ElementUSA is also currently developing a demonstration plant in Gramercy for the extraction of two other critical minerals, gallium and scandium, with U.S. Department of War funding.
Colorado School of Mines — recognised as a national leader in mining and minerals, including recovering critical minerals as by-products from active mines and wastes — will lead the project through the Mines Waste to Value Center. The centre will leverage its expertise across the mineral value chain to optimise, de-risk and validate all stages of the project.
Led by Holley, the Colorado School of Mines Waste to Value Center unites an interdisciplinary team to advance the recovery of critical minerals from mine waste, from site selection to implementation. This work is aimed at strengthening domestic mineral supply chains while addressing challenges including waste characterisation and recovery processes as well as the environmental, economic and societal dimensions of production.
“The goal of the Mines Waste to Value Center is a 10% reduction in mine waste and a 10% reduction in critical mineral imports in 10 years,” Holley said. “Projects such as this DOE-funded partnership with ElementUSA show how Colorado School of Mines is already leading the way.”
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