Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator (CMMA)

Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator (CMMA) is a DOE Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation program run through the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office. It is active in 2026 and was built to push American, industry-led partnerships from bench-scale work into prototype and pilot-scale critical materials processing. The program makes up to $69 million available across three topic areas: rare earth element recovery, semiconductor material refinement, and direct lithium extraction. It uses a cooperative agreement instrument and is open to U.S.-based for-profit firms, nonprofits, universities, and research organizations, but not individuals. A letter of intent was required by April 24, 2026, and the three topic areas close on May 29, June 25, and July 23, 2026 respectively. Applicants succeed by pairing a strong process concept with a practical delivery path. DOE expects partners to use national laboratory infrastructure, including the Critical Materials Innovation Hub at Ames National Laboratory and the METALLIC facility, so proposals need a credible team structure and a clear route from bench proof to pilot relevance. The program is best suited to teams that already understand the materials bottleneck they want to solve and can show why lab-partnered scale-up is the right next step.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.