Current Uses and Future Opportunities for US Industry in Rare Earth Elements and Critical Materials Technologies and Markets: Knowledge-Base Tool Development

Critical minerals (CMs), and the standalone subset, rare earth elements (REEs) have become important materials in a broad range of technologies significant to national security, energy, medical, and consumer products. In 2017, the United States had no primary production for 22 of the 37 CMs and was limited to byproduct production of 5 minerals on the CM list. Limited domestic production for many CMs creates a significant national security risk. This work will develop a domestic supply chain strategy critical to bolstering the strength and resilience of U.S. production in order to mitigate supply risks, stimulatesindustrial capabilities, and support supply chain infrastructure. This work aligns with DOE-NETL near-term goals (2020-2021) to validate technical and economic feasibility for production of high purity (90-99%), salable rare earth compounds from coal-based materials.