Mining Engineering’s Weekly Rundown: Episode 66

First, the U.S. Department of Energy is putting $162 million toward projects aimed at recovering critical minerals and materials from industrial sources. The funding will support nine projects focused on materials including scandium, copper, antimony and rare earth elements. The work will range from bench-scale development to pilot-scale demonstrations. The awards build on nearly $1 billion in funding announced by the Energy Department in August 2025 to advance mining, processing and manufacturing technologies across critical mineral supply chains. The latest funding follows President Donald Trump’s push to expand domestic critical mineral production and reduce U.S. reliance on foreign supply chains. DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory will manage the projects. Four companies received funding under a program for projects moving from bench-scale facilities toward prototype development, while five others will advance previously developed pilot-scale technologies toward pre-commercial demonstrations.

Next, Energy Fuels has secured another qualification for its rare earth products, with a Japanese permanent magnet manufacturer approving terbium oxide produced at the company’s White Mesa Mill in Utah for commercial use. The manufacturer, which Energy Fuels described as one of the world’s largest producers of rare earth permanent magnets outside China, determined that the terbium oxide meets its specifications and requires no additional qualification or validation. Terbium is used in high-strength neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets, where it improves heat resistance and performance. Energy Fuels said terbium oxide currently sells for about $5.5 million per tonne in Europe, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. The company has also qualified its neodymium-praseodymium and dysprosium oxides for permanent magnet production.

Finally, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has issued an executive order aimed at preventing mining of copper, nickel and other nonferrous metals within the watershed surrounding the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. The order directs the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency not to issue mining permits or leases in the area, which covers about 350 square miles of the Superior National Forest in the Rainy River headwaters. The order also blocks new environmental reviews for nonferrous mining proposals in the watershed and prevents state agencies from cooperating with federal agencies on those reviews. The decision could affect Twin Metals’ plans for an underground copper-nickel mine about nine miles southeast of Ely and roughly three miles from the wilderness. The company has worked for more than a decade to advance the project through state and federal permitting. The order comes four months after Congress voted to overturn a 20-year federal mining ban in the area that the Biden administration had established. 

For full details on these stories and more, visit our online magazine at me.smenet.org