America needs rare earth elements to build its industrial base, including its defense industrial base. However, despite holding resources for rare earth elements, currently those materials are primarily extracted and refined elsewhere. We need to bring production of rare earth elements and other minerals back here to the U.S., which is why the U.S. Department of Energy has provided a total of $75 million to advance production of rare earth elements and critical minerals to five entities.
One of the awardees was Peabody Energy, a coal company with operations in Wyoming. Peabody is planning a pilot processing facility at its Rawhide mine to extract rare earth and other minerals from coal.
“Coupled with the Wyoming Energy Authority grant awarded earlier this year, this [DOE grant] selection reflects the meaningful progress Peabody has made in advancing promising unconventional rare earth and critical mineral opportunities,” Peabody President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Grech said.