Earlier this week, the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Utah that will help strengthen America’s energy and material supply chains through critical minerals innovation, commercialization, and workforce development.
The MOUs were officially announced on May 4, the day before NLR’s annual Partner Forum, which convenes stakeholders from startups, industry, and academia in Golden, Colorado, to discuss pressing challenges in the energy sector. Building on an energy research partnership that extends back to 1974, NLR and Colorado School of Mines are launching new facilities that will shape the future of critical minerals research in Colorado:
- Colorado School of Mines’ Critical Minerals Innovation and Commercialization Hub is a newly acquired 50,000-square-foot laboratory and high-bay research facility designed to accelerate innovation and commercialization across the full critical minerals value chain—from resource development and processing to manufacturing, recycling, and workforce development.
- NLR’s Energy Materials and Processing at Scale (EMAPS) facility is a new facility currently under construction on NLR’s South Table Mountain Campus with 60,000 square feet of laboratory, high bay, and support space that will enable collaboration with industry partners, universities, and other U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories to accelerate the scale-up of early-stage innovations in energy materials into market-ready products and processes.
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