Critical Mineral Recovery at Legacy Hardrock Mine Sites

What is Critical Mineral Recovery?

Critical mineral recovery involves identifying and collecting essential elements and minerals from mine waste materials so it can be processed into viable resources. Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and graphite are the raw materials behind the technology that powers smartphones, medical tools, solar panels, electric-car batteries and more. EPA oversees cleanup actions at Superfund and legacy hardrock mine sites, which can be potential sources of critical minerals. EPA's Mountains, Deserts and Plains program works alongside the Department of the Interior and Department of Energy to identify nontraditional, domestic sources of critical minerals, such as mine wastes (for example, tailings and waste rock) and mining-influenced waters often found at hardrock mine cleanup sites. EPA assists in evaluating critical mineral recovery technologies and funds and coordinates lab studies and analysis to help offset mining cleanup costs.

The Mountains, Deserts and Plains program assists EPA offices and regions planning and executing various types of site support for critical minerals recovery, including:

• Performing comprehensive, EPA Quality Assurance-compliant site characterization at legacy hardrock mining and mineral processing Superfund sites and Abandoned Mine Lands.
• Assisting with the review of site records, such as Remedial Investigation/Field Studies and Five-Year Reviews.
• Designing statistically robust sampling plans for mining-influenced water, tailings, waste rock, and related environmental media.
• Utilizing EPA laboratory and sampling methods, and Department of the Interior Earth Mapping Resources Initiative protocols and methods (United States Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2025–5068).
• Providing data validation and interpretation, statistical evaluations, engineering technology assessments, literature reviews, and economic present value assessments.

Find additional information on identifying and recovering critical minerals from nontraditional sources.

The Environmental Monitoring and Remediation Technology Assessment Initiative

EPA funds the Environmental Monitoring and Remediation Technology Assessment Initiative, which seeks to advance technological innovation surrounding the recovery of critical minerals from waste materials at legacy hardrock mining or metal processing sites. As part of the initiative, EMRTAI projects explore new ways to recover critical minerals. Through technology assessments, EMRTAI gives miners, regulators and other partners reliable information about industry tools for locating, quantifying and recovering valuable minerals during cleanup of solid mine waste and mining influenced water. 

For more information, please visit: EMRTAI’s About Page. 

Federal Partners Working Together on Critical Mineral Recovery

EPA collaborates with the other federal partners listed below to move critical mineral recovery efforts forward. This collaboration seeks to define objectives for demonstration sites, craft site-specific frameworks, propose candidate recovery technologies, and determine performance metrics. 

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Department of Agriculture - Forest Service
• Department of Energy
  • Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management
  • Office of Legacy Management
• Department of the Interior
  • Bureau of Land Management
  • Bureau of Indian Affairs
  • National Park Service
  • Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
  • United States Geological Survey
• Department of Justice
• Department of War - Army Corps of Engineers
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Government Accounting Office

Critical Minerals Present at EPA Superfund Sites

Listed below are Superfund sites across the United States, with one or more contaminants present that are classified as critical minerals by the Department of the Interior/USGS. Critical minerals are essential to the economy and national security and have supply chains that may be vulnerable to disruption. In accordance with multiple executive orders, federal agencies are working together to identify, quantify and recover critical minerals from mining waste. 

To support federal and state partner coordination on monitoring, research and data efforts, EPA consolidated information from the Superfund Enterprise Management System on critical minerals found at Superfund sites (see table below).¹ This information  can be used to support planning, prioritization, resource management and stakeholder communication related to Superfund cleanup and potential critical minerals recovery.

Footnotes:

1. Elements in the list may appear in various mineral forms (e.g., oxides, sulfides). To date, 25 of the 60 minerals on the 2025 critical minerals list are not identified as present or as a contaminant of concern at any Superfund site in the compiled SEMS data. This is subject to change as sites are added and/or deleted. Visit cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/srchsites.cfm to search for additional site information. ↵