Who funds critical minerals research?

We count 210 funded critical minerals projects, active between 2020 and 2037, from 7 funders. The most came from EU · Digital, Industry and Space (51 projects), EU · MSCA (36 projects) and EU · Climate, Energy and Mobility (22 projects). The median award is $3.2M, across the 208 of 210 projects that list an amount.

Funded projects

210

Funders

7

Median award

$3.2M

Open calls now

14

Top funders of critical minerals research

Projects whose title or summary mentions critical minerals. Median award: of the projects that list an amount, in US dollars; “—” when fewer than 3 do.

Open critical minerals funding calls

14 open calls mention critical minerals today; the 12 most on-topic are listed.

• Advancing solutions for critical mineral production and recycling
  UK Research and Innovation (cross-council)Up to £305,000Deadline: January 7, 2027 ·
• Technologies for innovative processing of raw materials (IA)
  European Commission · Horizon Europe€10,000,000 – €12,500,000Deadline: February 2, 2027 ·
• Expert network on Critical raw materials (CSA)
  European Commission · Horizon EuropeUp to €3,000,000Deadline: February 2, 2027 ·
• Innovative advanced materials and new production processes – reducing dependencies on Critical and Strategic Raw Materials (IA) (Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU and Processes4Planet partnerships)
  European Commission · Horizon Europe€6,000,000 – €7,500,000Deadline: February 2, 2027 ·
• Joint Call for Proposals FAPESP / CONFAP / RAMP (Raw Materials Partnership for the Green and Digital Transition)
  São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)Not specifiedDeadline: February 15, 2027 ·
• Raw Materials Partnership JTC 2026
  Dutch Research Council (NWO)Up to €400,000Deadline: February 15, 2027 ·
• Raw Materials Partnership for the Green and Digital Transition (RAMP)
  Research Council of NorwayNot specifiedDeadline: February 15, 2027 ·
• Natural Resources and Critical Minerals
  National Science Foundation (SBIR/STTR)Not specifiedDeadline: July 7, 2027 ·
• Call for preparatory projects to the Raw Materials Partnership (RAMP)
  Research Council of NorwayNot specifiedDeadline: June 14, 2028 ·
• The Genesis Mission: Transforming Science and Energy with AI
  Office of Science$500,000 – $16,000,000Deadline: December 17, 2026 ·
• NOI: PROSPECT Program: Providing Opportunities for Specialized Education in Critical Technologies
  Golden Field OfficeUp to $1Deadline: January 15, 2027 ·
• U.S.-Africa Strategic Investment Program
  Bureau of African Affairs$5,000,000 – $50,000,000Deadline: May 31, 2027 ·

Funded critical minerals projects

A sample, latest start first, at most three per program.

• CAREER: Atomistic-Scale Investigation of How Chemical and Physical Heterogeneities Govern Ion-Selective Transport in Metal-Organic Framework Membranes
  NSF · ENG · $548,900 · ends 2031
• Collaborative Research: GCR: Bioengineered Approaches to Recover Critical Minerals and Produce Sustainable Silicon-Based Materials from Silicon-Rich Wastes
  NSF · Office of the Director · $870,151 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Materials, Electrolyte, and Interphase Design for Rechargeable Fluoride-Ion Batteries
  NSF · ENG · $660,000 · ends 2031
• Amid the rising demand for renewable energy from biobased materials, it is essential to ensure that forests can be utilized efficiently to…
  USDA · $649,836 · ends 2031
• Collaborative Research: FEC: Transformative Bioprocessing and AI-Driven Frameworks for Sustainable Critical Mineral Recovery
  NSF · Office of the Director · $3,824,575 · ends 2030
• Financing a Just Green Transition: Leveraging Critical Mineral Revenues and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform for Health and Climate Equity in Indonesia
  Wellcome · £1,617,050 · ends 2030
• Forests in the southern united states support more than a million jobs, provide essential raw materials to rural economies, and supply a…
  USDA · $591,500 · ends 2030
• Collaborative Research: GEO-CM: Quantifying the role and composition of mineralizing fluids in carbonatite-hosted rare earth element deposits
  NSF · GEO · $361,308 · ends 2029
• Shale 2.0
  NSF · TIP · $6,000,000 · ends 2029
• MRI: Track 1: A new State of the Art Electron Probe Microanalyzer
  NSF · GEO · $1,397,550 · ends 2029

How we count

Funded projects come from public award records (NIH RePORTER, NSF, EU CORDIS, UKRI Gateway to Research, Wellcome, the Gates Foundation, DOE, NASA and USDA NIFA) whose title or summary matches “critical minerals or critical raw materials or raw materials”. NIH lists each budget year separately; one project counts once. Amounts are as the funder lists them; medians use only projects that list one, in US dollars. Open calls and forecasts are from our listings of October 28, 2026. A project can mention a topic without being mainly about it, so treat the counts as a guide to who funds the area.