June 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Energy said on Tuesday it has selected projects in Louisiana and Oklahoma for $134 million in funding to extract rare earth elements from waste streams.
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Washington has been pushing to boost domestic critical minerals output and cut dependence on China, which dominates the global rare earths supply chain.
• The funding includes about $67 million for a project led by the Colorado School of Mines and ElementUSA to build a facility in Louisiana that will extract and refine rare earths from bauxite waste.
• The plant is expected to test the process at commercial scale and produce 150 to 1,000 metric tons of rare earths annually from tailings.
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• The DOE also selected a project by Phoenix Tailings 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 and establish a new domestic supply route.
• In May, the agency had selected rare earth magnet maker USA Rare Earth to receive up to $19.3 million for a pilot rare earth processing project aimed at boosting domestic supply chains.
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(Reporting by Varun Sahay in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
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