Notice of Intent to issue Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator Notice of Funding Opportunity
This grant supports industry partnerships to develop and pilot innovative critical mineral processing technologies, aiming to strengthen the US supply chain and advance energy, security, and competitiveness goals.
This grant is no longer accepting proposals
Golden Field Office has archived this opportunity.
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy, Golden Field Office
Due Dates: October 13, 2025 (anticipated full application deadline)
Funding Amounts: Estimated total program funding and award size TBD; up to $50M anticipated for the full NOFO; period of performance 1–4 years.
Summary: Supports industry-led partnerships to prototype and pilot critical minerals and materials processing technologies to strengthen the U.S. supply chain.
Key Information: This is a Notice of Intent; all details—including funding and areas of interest—are subject to change.
Description
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) intends to issue a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Critical Minerals and Materials (CMM) Accelerator program. This initiative aims to address challenges in securing a domestic supply of critical minerals and materials, which are essential for energy technologies, national security, and industrial competitiveness. The program will support industry-led partnerships to validate, prototype, and pilot innovative processing technologies that have been demonstrated at the bench scale but require further maturation for commercial deployment.
Key goals include advancing mid-stage innovations through validation, benchmarking, access to national lab test beds, technoeconomic and life-cycle analyses, and testing in industry-relevant environments. The program is expected to help mature technologies toward commercialization and attract private capital investment.
Areas of interest may include:
- Rare earth magnet supply chain processes, including secondary sources
- Refining and alloying of gallium, gallium nitride, germanium, and silicon carbide for semiconductors
- Direct lithium extraction and separation technologies
- Critical material separation technologies with value-added coproducts
This opportunity is currently a Notice of Intent, not a formal funding announcement. All information is subject to change upon release of the full NOFO.
