Red mud mountain in Louisiana could become a strategic U.S. mine

A new $67 million contract to Colorado School of Mines and a Texas firm ElementUSA aims to extract up to 1,000 tons of rare earths per year from industrial waste and strengthen the United State's national critical minerals supply chain.
June 4, 2026

US firm plans to recover 1,000-ton rare earth elements with new processing plant

U.S. Department of Energy has awarded ElementUSA and Colorado School of Mines $67 million funding to design, construct, commission and operate a rare earth element (REE) facility in Louisiana.
June 4, 2026

The critical minerals trap behind directed-energy weapons

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy, co-authors this article that notes the Pentagon’s most promising answer to the munitions crisis requires materials controlled by the adversary it is designed to deter.
June 4, 2026

Wyoming's uranium mining industry is making a comeback

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy, said energy hungry AI data centers and a shift in government policy has created demand for the uranium used to fuel nuclear power.
June 2, 2026

A bachelor’s in rare earths? In China, there are schools for that

The article notes that Mines is widely regarded as one of the world’s top mining schools and notes that Mines is developing two new critical minerals research facilities with the U.S. Energy Department.
June 1, 2026

An Interview With 2026–2027 AIST President John G. Speer

John Speer, American Bureau of Shipping Endowed Chair for Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, discusses his upcoming term as president of the Association for Iron and Steel Technology.
May 29, 2026

The sixty-ton problem: Scandium supply chain risk the US defense industrial base

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy, co-authored this article considering the role of scandium in the United States' defense infrastructure.
May 28, 2026

‘Dot-com boom’? Companies are lining up to mine the deep seas.

Ian Lange, professor of economics and business and Viola Vestal Coulter Chair of Mineral Economics, noted there are alternatives to deep sea mining, including utilizing land-based copper and cobalt mines in the U.S.
May 26, 2026

Nurses throw surprise graduation for Colorado School of Mines senior diagnosed with cancer

Nurses at University of Colorado Hospital performed a graduation ceremony for David Boylan, a chemical engineering major, who was planning to attend commencement ceremonies at Mines before a surprise diagnosis of leukemia less than one week before ....
May 21, 2026

Companies join a deep-sea mining rush after Trump executive order, as regulators fast-track permits

Ian Lange, professor of economics and business and Viola Vestal Coulter Chair of Mineral Economics, questioned whether deep sea mining is the most cost effective way to obtain critical minerals and rare earth elements.
May 21, 2026

The Pentagon wants to operate a nuclear microreactor in Colorado. Here’s what that might look like.

Thomas Albrecht, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, says that rather than removing waste from the microreactor onsite, at some point the reactor will be removed and replaced with a new unit so that waste can be processed offsite.
May 21, 2026

Proposed bill would stop eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines in Illinois

Anna Littlefield, program manager for Geothermal and Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) for the Payne Institute, said Illinois is a hot spot for CCUS because of the proximity of numerous ethanol plants.
May 19, 2026