By: Ned Rauch-Mannino & Carl A. Marrara

Republished with permission from the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association

September 3, 2025
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Early in his second administration, President Donald Trump has accelerated efforts to strengthen American mineral supply chains, creating new opportunities for Pennsylvania manufacturers to take part in meeting this national priority.

The urgency around critical minerals is clear. U.S. industry depends heavily on foreign competitors who dominate global mining, supply chains, and refining of those minerals. These nations can impose export controls that choke off U.S. access to essential feedstocks and technologies, threatening entire sectors of manufacturing—automotive, aerospace, medical devices, and many others that compose America’s defense industrial base.

China currently dominates the industry. According to BloombergNEF (2024), China currently refines 95% of the world’s graphite, 72% of lithium, 98% of manganese, 93% of polysilicon, and 92% of rare earth elements. These inputs are indispensable for modern industries, particularly in semiconductors, wafers, and microchips. At a 2023 House GOP Policy hearing, a Penn State University researcher testified that the U.S. is 100% import-reliant for 30 of 50 critical minerals and more than 50% import-dependent for another 14%.

The U.S. learned this vulnerability the hard way. Between 2020 and 2022, auto production stalled—not due to shortages of steel, rubber, or labor, but because of a lack of semiconductors and related imports. Today, demand is growing even faster: Senator David McCormick recently announced $90 billion in AI investments in Pennsylvania, driving unprecedented demand for the minerals embedded in supercomputers, servers, and storage systems.

But bringing new mines and processing facilities online is timely and costly—issues the White House has committed to solving through the long-term investment needed to secure production.

The administration also recognizes securing that supply chain requires mobilizing the immediate opportunities in recovery and recycling, and developing the technological innovations required to make them possible, scalable, and profitable. There is abundant supply potential in mining wastes and byproducts, where recovery yields remain extremely low, especially in the minerals the nation needs the most and has the least, like gallium and scandium. Furthermore, existing methods are neither scalable nor cost-competitive, especially for secondary sources traditionally deemed “waste.”

Confronting this vulnerability for American manufacturers, the President has issued executive orders on “Unleashing American Energy” and “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production,” directives that resume an effort began with his September 2020 order on supply chain awareness and resilience. These new orders are underpinned with $1 billion in new grants just announced by the U.S. Department of Energy.

On August 13, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) highlighted its commitment to bolster domestic production and processing of critical minerals and materials. The DOE is providing resources to pilot new facilities and develop economically viable processes essential to converting unrealized feedstocks into high-purity, marketable minerals.

Funding opportunities opening to meet this moment include:

1. Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator: Up to $50 million early this fall to spur commercial-ready technology for rare-earth magnet production, including for the refining of threatened feedstocks in gallium, germanium, and silicon carbide, as well as areas such as direct lithium extraction and co-production from byproducts and scrap.
2. Mines and Metals Capacity Expansion Program: a $250 million program to support industrial-scale piloting of byproduct recovery from existing U.S. industrial facilities, including coal-based industries.
3. Rare Earth Elements Demonstration Facility: up to $135 million available to demonstrate domestic REE refining from tailings and waste streams in collaboration with an academic or research partner.
4. Battery Materials Processing and Recycling Grants: providing $500 million in funding to support processing, manufacturing, or recycling of battery-related minerals.
5. Advanced Research Program Agency--Energy’s RECOVER Program: awarding up to $40 million to develop technologies that recover critical minerals from industrial wastewater.

Collectively, these programs join other U.S. government actions to reinforce national security, energy dominance, and industrial competitiveness. For Pennsylvania, these programs offer grants, matching funds, and other support that should appeal to a state currently holding significant advantages and an industry community already demonstrating excellence in the field.

Pennsylvania can be the keystone in America’s push for a secure critical minerals supply chain, leveraging its abundant, underutilized resources and established industrial infrastructure. Our Commonwealth’s industrial legacy and leadership in coal provide workforce and technology expertise to support project development. There is feedstock potential in acid mine drainage and coal waste, which makes Pennsylvania a compelling proving ground. Successful demonstration projects would simultaneously remediate damaged land. For example, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have found that 40% of the total lithium used in the United States could come from Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater. However, because the bulk of global lithium refining capacity exists overseas, our underlying national challenge remains the same.

Institutional resources enhance Pennsylvania’s capabilities. Chief among them is Penn State University’s Critical Mineral Center, a national leader with an established working relationship with the federal government for piloting rare earth extraction. Established research infrastructure and lab capacity. Pennsylvania hosts The DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) recently completed the Consortium to Assess Northern Appalachia Resource Yield of CORE-CM for Advanced Materials, or, CANARY, expanding and deepening the scope of local opportunities. NETL joins multiple innovation hubs across Pennsylvania to offer research expertise and lab capacity for emerging technology.

Pennsylvania is exceptionally well-positioned to develop the necessary next steps in commercializing reliable secondary mineral sources. DOE’s new programming provides a springboard for leveraging the Commonwealth’s advantages to become a leader among states. This is an economic transition opportunity that extends beyond research and development, as coal regions can be renewed with resource and recovery pilots, delivering jobs, industrial renewal, and land remediation.

As the White House drives forward on supply chain security, commercialization, and manufacturing leadership, Pennsylvania manufacturers have an historic opportunity to be at the center of America’s minerals moment.

About the Authors:
Ned Rauch-Mannino is President of Portsmouth Ltd. And served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Operations with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Carl A. Marrara is the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association.