Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resource Recovery (MINER) | DE FOA 0002707

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002707

The Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resource Recovery (MINER) funding opportunity (DE-FOA-0002707) is an ARPA-E program aimed at pushing mining and mineral processing technologies past incremental improvements and into genuinely disruptive territory. The core idea is to strengthen the United States supply chain for critical minerals needed for clean energy technologies such as batteries, renewable power generation, and electric transmission. MINER focuses on minerals like copper, nickel, lithium, cobalt, rare earth elements, and other energy-relevant critical elements, while also confronting a major drawback of conventional mining: high energy use, growing costs as richer deposits are depleted, and the long-term liabilities and expenses associated with tailings.

MINER is designed around a simple but ambitious premise: it should be possible to produce key minerals domestically in a way that is not just lower-emitting, but potentially net-zero or even net-negative in greenhouse gas terms. ARPA-E frames this as a pathway to increased domestic mineral supply without accepting the usual tradeoff of higher emissions and expanding waste streams. In practice, the program is seeking commercial-ready technologies or credible approaches that can scale, rather than basic science projects. ARPA-E generally funds applied research and experimental development where a modest investment over a defined period can move a technology meaningfully toward real-world deployment, and MINER fits that model.

The program sets three headline technical objectives with clear performance direction. First, it targets a 50 percent reduction in comminution energy compared to the state of the art, recognizing that crushing and grinding rock is one of the most energy-intensive and costly steps in mining. Second, it aims to increase mineral yield by cutting unrecovered energy-relevant minerals in tailings by 50 percent compared to the state of the art, reflecting the reality that a lot of valuable material is left behind due to limitations in separation, beneficiation, and processing. Third, and most distinctive, it calls for enabling negative-emissions mineral production by sequestering more than 10 weight percent CO2-equivalent per metric ton of ore processed. That last target signals strong interest in approaches that permanently lock carbon into stable mineral forms as part of mining or waste processing, rather than treating carbon management as an add-on.

To organize solutions, MINER identifies four main technical categories. One category is mineral comminution, covering innovations that can dramatically reduce the energy required for size reduction while maintaining or improving downstream processing performance. A second category is improvements to beneficiation and processing to increase mineral yield, which can include better separation techniques, new processing routes, or methods that recover more value from lower-grade ores and from existing waste streams like tailings. A third category is carbon-negative reactions, centered on chemical or mineralization pathways that result in net carbon sequestration while supporting mineral extraction or waste stabilization. The fourth category covers sensing, analysis, and enabling technologies for carbonation potential and mineralization, which points to tools that can identify where carbon mineralization is feasible, measure and verify it, and guide operational decisions so carbon-negative pathways are practical at scale.

From an applicant standpoint, the opportunity is administered by ARPA-E within the U.S. Department of Energy, and awards are expected to be made under assistance instruments that can include cooperative agreements, grants, or other mechanisms. The posted award ceiling is up to $5,000,000 per award, with an expectation of around 15 awards under this FOA. Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning a wide range of entity types can apply, subject to any specific clarifications in the full FOA. Like most ARPA-E programs, the solicitation emphasizes real performance targets and a credible route to cost-effective scaling, not just lab validation.

ARPA-E also signals that successful applicants should expect to support their claims with structured analysis. The FOA references requirements for techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), which is consistent with ARPA-E practice: the agency wants teams to quantify cost drivers, scalability constraints, and full-system emissions impacts, especially for a program explicitly chasing net-negative outcomes. The intent is to make sure a proposed process does not merely shift burdens upstream or downstream (for example, reducing tailings losses but increasing energy use elsewhere), and that any carbon sequestration claims are defensible.

Administratively, ARPA-E requires submission through its ARPA-E eXCHANGE system, and it will not review or consider concept papers submitted through other channels. Applicants are expected to register in eXCHANGE and follow the platform guidance provided in the eXCHANGE User Guide. Technical or system issues are routed to ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov (with the FOA name and number in the subject line), while FOA content questions are directed to ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov, after checking ARPA-E’s FAQ page. The original posting indicates a submission deadline of 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time on April 15, 2022, with a strong recommendation to submit at least 48 hours early to avoid last-minute issues.

Overall, MINER is best read as a targeted push to modernize mining around three linked outcomes: drastically lower energy intensity in comminution, significantly higher recovery of valuable critical minerals (especially by reducing losses to tailings), and integrated carbon mineralization or related pathways that can make domestic mineral production net-zero or net-negative. The program’s structure makes clear that ARPA-E is looking for technology breakthroughs that can reset the cost and performance curve for mining, while directly supporting U.S. energy security and emissions goals.

• The Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy in the opportunity zone benefits, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resource Recovery (MINER)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.135.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 24, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 15, 2022 Submissions to this FOA are due no later than 930 a.m. Eastern Time on 04/15/2022. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit at least 48 hours in advance of the due date.. (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 $5,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 15 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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