From Coal Country to Critical Minerals: Can North Dakota Help Close America's Rare Earth Gap?

Highlights

• UND's College of Engineering and Mines will receive DOE funding to pilot rare earth and critical mineral recovery from coal and coal-based feedstocks in Underwood, North Dakota.
• DOE funding targets germanium, gallium, and aluminum—not the magnet rare earths like neodymium and dysprosium critical for EVs and defense systems.
• Pilot-scale recovery avoids mining permitting hurdles, but commercial viability, recovery rates, and separation costs remain unanswered questions.
• China still dominates downstream separation, alloys, and permanent magnet manufacturing—the stages where the most economic value is created.
• Rebuilding a secure U.S. supply chain requires commercial-scale midstream processing, not just pilot demonstration projects.

The race to rebuild America's critical mineral supply chain has reached an unlikely frontier—North Dakota coal country. According to reporting (opens in a new tab) by Anthony Dillett in the Grand Forks Herald, the University of North Dakota's College of Engineering and Mines (opens in a new tab) will receive funding under a Department of Energy (DOE) initiative to expand pilot-scale recovery of rare earth elements and critical minerals from coal and coal-based feedstocks. The proposed demonstration facility in Underwood builds upon nearly a decade of DOE-supported research dating back to 2016.

A Step Forward—Not Yet a Supply Chain Breakthrough

The reporting is factually sound and accurately reflects DOE's strategy of diversifying domestic sources of critical minerals. Recovering valuable elements from coal waste, fly ash, and other industrial byproducts has genuine technical promise, particularly because these materials avoid many permitting challenges associated with opening new mines.

However, investors should avoid confusing a pilot project with commercial production. The article omits key realities: extraction is only the beginning. The United States remains heavily dependent on China for downstream separation, metals, alloys, and permanent magnet manufacturing—the stages where most economic value is created.

What Investors Should Be Asking

Several critical questions remain unanswered. Can UND's process recover rare earth elements economically at commercial scale? Which specific rare earths are present, and at what concentrations? Will the recovered materials require overseas separation? What are the projected recovery rates, operating costs, and environmental impacts? None of these questions are addressed.

Notably, DOE officials indicated the funding will primarily support production of germanium, gallium, and aluminum—strategic materials, but not necessarily the magnet rare earths such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium that underpin electric vehicles and defense systems.

For REEx, the larger story is not one pilot plant. It is Washington's growing recognition that America's critical mineral future may depend as much on recovering value from existing industrial waste streams as on opening new mines. Pilot projects like UND's deserve attention—and in parallel, investors should remember that rebuilding a secure supply chain ultimately requires commercial-scale midstream processing, where China still holds its greatest advantage.