Penn State to lead critical minerals consortium powered by $1.2 million from DOE
By Matthew Carroll
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A region famous for the coal that once fueled a growing nation is now the focus of a $1.2 million project, led by Penn State researchers, aimed at establishing domestic supplies of critical minerals needed to produce modern technology from cell phones to fighter jets.
Penn State will lead the Consortium to Assess Northern Appalachia Resource Yield (CANARY) to assess and catalog northern Appalachian-basin critical mineral resources and waste streams; develop strategies to recover the materials from these streams; and identify potential supply-chain or technology gaps that will need to be addressed. The project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, is part of a broader, national effort to produce rare-earth elements and critical minerals.