New Alliance Aims to Scale Up Critical Mineral and Material Technologies

The National Laboratory of the Rockies and the University of Minnesota's Natural Resources Research Institute have launched a joint initiative called JRA-IMPACT to demonstrate technologies for critical minerals and materials at industrial scale. The partnership combines NLR's supercomputing and energy systems expertise with NRRI's natural resource and industry knowledge to help innovations cross the gap between research and commercial deployment. The goal is to strengthen domestic supply chains and support next-generation manufacturing.

The JRA-IMPACT alliance merges two distinct research cultures: NLR contributes its Kestrel supercomputer, 3D visualization lab, and energy systems optimization expertise, while NRRI brings pilot-scale mineral processing and metallurgy facilities at its Coleraine campus. Their combined capabilities span from bench experiments handling 1–10 kilograms up to industrial throughput of 5–10 tons per hour, using real-world feedstocks like ore, biomass, and tailings.

This translational pipeline addresses the "valley of death"—the stage where laboratory discoveries stall before becoming commercially viable products. By working across technology readiness levels 1 through 9, the partnership aims to de-risk scale-up challenges for private industry, ultimately supporting resilient domestic supply chains and next-generation manufacturing.