NLR Partners With Colorado School of Mines and University of Utah To Scale Up US Critical Minerals Capacity

Memorandums of Understanding Combine Facilities and Capabilities To Build Pipelines for Tech Commercialization and Skilled Domestic Workforces

May 5, 2026 | By Brooke Van Zandt | Contact media relations

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The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) this week 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.

“Stewarded by DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, NLR's mission is to help build our nation’s critical minerals capacity, bringing together partners to scale up and de-risk the technologies we need for stronger supply chains and greater energy security,” NLR Director Jud Virden said. “Our partnerships with Colorado School of Mines and University of Utah combine unique facilities and capabilities and outstanding people to advance this mission. These integrated capabilities, along with a world-class student pipeline and partnership with U.S. industry, will help transform our nation's competitiveness in critical minerals research, workforce development, and technology demonstration.”

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.

This year’s Partner Forum is focused on building resilient, end-to-end critical mineral supply chains for energy systems. The MOUs address these challenges by enabling integrated research and facility sharing—supporting concept-to-commercialization scalability of critical minerals innovations and building education and training pipelines for a highly skilled domestic workforce.

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:

• 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.

• 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.

Together, NLR and Colorado School of Mines will share facilities and information, coordinate student and researcher exchanges, and plan future funding opportunities spanning critical minerals research, commercialization, and workforce development.

“This agreement reflects what makes Colorado School of Mines distinctive—our ability to bring together applied research, industry and government partnerships, and workforce development in ways that move technologies from concept to impact,” Colorado School of Mines President Paul C. Johnson said. “This strategic partnership with NLR complements our other partnerships with industry and the U.S. Geological Survey, further cementing Golden, Colorado, as the center of our nation’s expertise, education, and innovation related to materials supply chains. Together, we are preparing the next generation of leaders while accelerating innovation and advancing solutions that are essential to secure, resilient U.S. critical materials supply chains.”

The University of Utah MOU will promote research and technology development for critical minerals, advanced materials, and manufacturing through artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled science workflows, high-performance computing, and data science. Joint research programs will facilitate information sharing between university, industry, and national laboratory partners. Academic programs, internships, and career opportunities connected to the National Laboratories will stimulate education and workforce development.

“This partnership comes at a pivotal moment, when strengthening the nation’s energy resilience is more important than ever,” University of Utah President Taylor Randall said. “Together, we’re more capable of tackling the toughest scientific challenges.”

These MOUs build on NLR’s momentum in critical minerals, materials, manufacturing, and advanced computing research, development, and demonstration by leveraging complementary capabilities at academic institutions across the country.

“Through our university partners we accelerate the pursuit of the best ideas and solutions out there while enabling tomorrow’s workforce,” said Andrea Watson, NLR’s associate laboratory director for innovation, partnering, and outreach. “These are some of the most inspiring partnerships we have at NLR.”

Explore NLR partnership opportunities across academia, industry, nonprofits, and national security—and engage in the laboratory’s critical minerals research programs.