Notice of Intent to Issue Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA): Mines and Metals Capacity Expansion – Piloting By-Product Critical Minerals and Materials Recovery at Domestic Industrial Facilities | DE FOA 0003582

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The Department of Energy (DOE), through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), has released a Notice of Intent (NOI) tied to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) indicating it may issue a future competitive funding announcement focused on expanding U.S. capacity to produce critical minerals and materials from existing domestic industrial operations. The planned funding opportunity is expected to be issued as a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) titled "Mines and Metals Capacity Expansion - Piloting By-Product Critical Minerals and Materials Recovery at Domestic Industrial Facilities." In practical terms, DOE is signaling interest in projects that can demonstrate, at large pilot scale, how to recover critical minerals and other valuable materials that are currently produced as by-products, co-products, or waste streams at operating facilities in the United States.

The central objective of the planned NOFO is to accelerate the development of pilot-scale facilities that recover domestic critical minerals and materials (CMM). The notice specifically highlights rare earth elements (REE) and graphite, while also leaving room for "other value-added products" that can be recovered from industrial streams. The emphasis on "operating industrial facilities" matters because it implies DOE is looking for real-world, integrated demonstrations that leverage existing plants, infrastructure, feedstocks, and logistics rather than purely greenfield concepts. The idea is to turn underutilized streams (for example, tailings, slags, brines, process residues, or other secondary outputs) into economically useful sources of strategically important materials, strengthening domestic supply chains and reducing reliance on foreign sources.

DOE points to several example sectors where by-product recovery could be promising, including phosphate and fertilizer production, oil and gas operations, smelting and broader metals processing, mining, and waste management. These industries often handle large volumes of material and can generate residues or process streams that contain trace or recoverable concentrations of critical elements. The forthcoming program, as described, would support piloting efforts that prove out recovery technologies at scale, address integration challenges within an operating plant, and generate the performance and cost data needed to advance toward commercial deployment. The NOI also notes that "goal-related resources" will be eligible, which suggests the program may extend beyond only a short list of minerals and could include additional materials that align with DOE and national critical materials priorities, depending on how the NOFO is ultimately written.

Important limitations are spelled out clearly. This announcement is not the actual funding opportunity, and DOE is not accepting any submissions at this stage. No concept papers, letters of intent, or full applications are requested or allowed in response to the NOI. DOE also states it is not seeking public comments on the notice and will not respond to questions about it. If and when the NOFO is released, DOE says it will provide a formal mechanism for submitting questions, and final eligibility and application requirements will be established in that later document. DOE also reserves the right to issue a NOFO that differs significantly from what is described in the NOI, or to not issue a NOFO at all, and any details in the NOI should be treated as subject to change.

Based on the source data associated with the posting, the opportunity is categorized as a discretionary grant in the areas of business and commerce, energy, and natural resources, under CFDA 81.089, with NETL listed as the agency. The eligible applicant field is listed as "unrestricted," which typically implies a broad range of potential applicants may be allowed (for example, private companies, universities, nonprofits, state and local entities, and tribal governments), though DOE emphasizes that eligibility will be finalized only in the eventual NOFO. The posting shows an original closing date of 2025-12-15, but because this is an NOI rather than an open application solicitation, that date should be viewed as an administrative placeholder until an official NOFO is published with formal deadlines. The data also lists an award ceiling of 2 and expected awards of 0, which is another indication that this entry is informational and not yet a live funding competition with defined award counts and amounts.

Overall, the NOI is an early heads-up that DOE is preparing (or considering) a funding program aimed at moving critical mineral recovery from promising concepts into large pilot demonstrations embedded in real industrial environments. The underlying policy goal is to expand domestic production capacity for materials that are essential to energy technologies and advanced manufacturing by extracting more value from existing U.S. industrial supply streams, especially those that currently represent waste, low-value by-products, or underexploited co-products.

• The National Energy Technology Laboratory in the business and commerce, energy, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Intent to Issue Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA): Mines and Metals Capacity Expansion – Piloting By-Product Critical Minerals and Materials Recovery at Domestic Industrial Facilities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.089.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-08-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-12-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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