Federal grant to aid critical minerals search in Missouri

Rare minerals that are essential to the United States' security and economy will be searched for in Missouri.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is partnering with the University of Kansas to receive $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to search for these critical minerals.

The funds are part of a $19 million Department of Energy initiative to assess these rare earth elements and critical minerals in traditionally fossil-fuel-producing communities across the country. The University of Kansas' project will search for critical minerals in coal-bearing areas in the Cherokee-Forest City Basin, which includes Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma and the Osage Nation.

The Missouri Geological Survey, which is part of DNR, will receive a portion of the $1.5 million to conduct research in Missouri.

"The goal of this effort is to identify areas in Missouri that may have the potential to host critical mineral resources," said Hylan Beydler, a spokesman for the Missouri Geological Survey. "Critical minerals are those deemed fundamental to our security and economy. The ability to produce these mineral resources would reduce our reliance on foreign supplies."

In a Department of Energy news release, U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney said China has a "near monopoly" over these critical minerals, which makes the rest of the world dependent on them. Romney said the initiative will rebuild the United States' supply chain and decrease its dependence on China.

With shortages in the domestic supply of these critical minerals, the U.S. has relied on importing materials from other countries to manufacture cell phones, televisions, batteries and other everyday items.

"Minerals play an important role in our lives," Beydler said. "We use things made from minerals every day, from the limestone in our toothpaste to the lead in our car battery to the rare earth elements in our cellphones. Understanding Missouri's mineral resources may help create more resilient domestic supply chains."

With the need for critical minerals on the rise, the initiative will assist Missouri in understanding its supply.

"Missouri has a long history of mineral resource production, many mineral deposits contain known occurrences of critical minerals such as cobalt and rare earth elements," Beydler said. "This project will further our understanding of Missouri's potential for hosting these critical mineral resources."

The Missouri Geological Survey will begin looking for critical minerals in coal-bearing regions this year.

"We will use portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (pXRF), to assess samples both from the field and at our McCracken Core Library and Research Center in Rolla," said Larry Pierce, the Missouri Geological Survey's Geologic resources section chief. "The pXRF is a field screening analysis tool used by geologists. Any samples that look promising will be sent to a laboratory for more detailed and confirmatory analysis."