USGS Offers $5M To Find Rare Earth Minerals In Mine Waste

Rare earth metals are in every piece of electronic equipment we own and finding domestic resources is growing more and more important as trade relations with countries like China and Russia continue to be problematic. . Now, there is a competition to find them in mine waste. 

The U.S. Geological Survey has invited states to compete for $5 million to find critical minerals in the materials left over from mining at active and legacy sites.

Interested state geological surveys can apply online at grants.gov under Funding Opportunity Number G25AS00258. 

Applications are due by May 14, 2025. More information on how to apply can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity available at https://grants.gov/.  

“The USGS is partnering with state geological surveys to modernize our understanding of critical minerals in the U.S., both below ground and above ground in mine waste, and this competitive funding will help us get there,” said Jamey Jones, science coordinator for the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative, also known as Earth MRI. “Minerals, such as germanium, are essential for high-performance computer chips used in applications that weren’t even dreamed of when old mines closed. Germanium often occurs with zinc in ore, and it might have been left behind in mine waste when zinc ore was processed.” 

Some critical minerals are known to occur alongside more commonly mined minerals like iron or nickel. 

Understanding what is in mine waste also helps identify potential hazards of reprocessing it to recover the critical minerals and opportunities for remediation. 

The cooperative agreements are offered through Earth MRI, a partnership with state geological surveys, private companies, academia and other state and federal agencies.  

Through this funding, Earth MRI will provide science to evaluate the potential to extract valuable minerals from mine waste. This $5 million funding opportunity supports USGS efforts to build a national mine-waste inventory and characterize mine waste at mine sites across the nation. It also supports partnering with state geological surveys to plan Earth MRI data acquisition.