Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative for United States (U.S.) Basins | DE FOA 0002364

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002364

The Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative for United States (U.S.) Basins is a U.S. Department of Energy effort, administered through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), that was designed to help U.S. coal regions build practical, region-specific strategies to extract more economic value from coal resources beyond traditional fuel use. The central idea is to treat coal and coal-related materials as a potential source of rare earth elements (REEs), other critical minerals (CMs), and high-value, nonfuel carbon-based products (CBPs). Rather than funding isolated lab projects, the FOA emphasizes coalition-led, basin-focused planning and early implementation activities meant to move technologies and supply chains toward real-world deployment within multiple U.S. basins.

This opportunity (Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0002364) is a discretionary funding program using cooperative agreements, which typically means the federal government expects substantial involvement during the project period (for example, coordination, technical engagement, and milestone-based oversight). The activity category is energy (CFDA 81.089). The program anticipated making about eight awards, with a maximum award size (ceiling) of $23,725,000 per award, indicating DOE was aiming for relatively large, hub-style projects rather than many small grants. The FOA was posted September 22, 2020, with an original application deadline of January 5, 2021.

A defining feature of CORE-CM is its requirement for strong, multi-stakeholder coalitions. Applicants were expected to form teams that could include coal mining companies and related industries, regional private-sector partners, universities, workforce and training organizations, DOE National Laboratories, and state, local, or federal agencies, along with non-profit and non-governmental organizations. The purpose of these broad coalitions is to create regional public-private innovation centers that can coordinate the entire value chain: identifying and characterizing feedstocks, developing and demonstrating mining and beneficiation approaches, improving processing and purification methods, and moving toward scalable, commercially relevant pathways for REEs, CMs, and carbon-based products derived from coal.

In practical terms, the FOA focuses on building the foundation for basin-level strategies that connect technology development with regional economic development. That includes creating shared infrastructure and collaborative frameworks that can accelerate innovation and reduce barriers to commercialization. The initiative also places clear emphasis on workforce development. Each project was expected to help educate and train the next generation of technicians, skilled trades, and STEM professionals needed to implement these strategies in the targeted basins. This positions the program as both a technology-and-industry modernization effort and a regional capacity-building effort, aiming to help coal communities diversify and develop new, higher-value industries linked to critical mineral supply chains.

Eligibility was listed as unrestricted (open to a wide range of entity types), subject to any additional clarifications in the FOA text. Overall, CORE-CM can be read as DOE/NETL seeking to organize and accelerate U.S. basin-specific ecosystems that can turn coal-related resources into domestically produced critical materials and advanced carbon products, while simultaneously creating innovation hubs and job pipelines in regions historically tied to coal production.

• The Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative for United States (U.S.) Basins" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.089.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 22, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 05, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $23,725,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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