Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator

Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator

Funds industry-led critical materials processing projects through DOE accelerator grants.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced the Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator as a Notice of Funding Opportunity led by the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office and the Office of Geothermal. The source describes a funding opportunity for industry-led partnerships that prototype and pilot critical materials processing technologies proven at bench scale.

DOE lists total available funding of up to USD 69 million for the accelerator. The supplied facts do not state a per-project maximum, so the award maximum is left blank and the total is stored as the pool. Topic Area 3 covers cost-competitive direct lithium extraction, separation and processing, including pre- and post-treatment for geothermal brines and exploration of critical materials from volcanic-hosted geothermal systems.

The program is relevant to companies and consortia working on critical minerals, direct lithium extraction, geothermal brines, processing and related materials supply-chain technologies. The public facts emphasize industry-led partnerships but do not publish full eligibility rules in the captured source.

Applicants use DOE eXCHANGE. The required letter of intent deadline for all topic areas was April 24, 2026, while the Topic Area 3 full application deadline is July 23, 2026 at 5:00 PM ET. Teams that did not satisfy the required LOI step should verify with DOE before investing in a full submission.