WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced today the University of Kentucky Research Foundation received a $5 million competitive federal grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its cutting-edge rare earth pilot plant. With these grant funds, UK can advance its innovative research to test new technology and potentially reduce the cost of extracting and refining rare earth elements.

Rare earth elements are essential components in technology used by Kentuckians every day, from computer screens and televisions to smartphones and rechargeable batteries. The vast majority of rare earth elements are currently produced and manufactured outside of the United States. Senator McConnell has partnered with leading researchers at UK to expand federal funding opportunities to support research of domestic recovery of these elements, which are found in coal and coal byproducts.

“The University of Kentucky’s groundbreaking work is charting a new course for technology, and I was proud to champion funding for this program and support their research,” said Senator McConnell. “Dr. Rick Honaker and his team are distinguishing UK as a leading research institution, and I’m committed to using my position as Senate Majority Leader to help them stay at the front of the pack. Together, we’re tapping into Kentucky’s economic potential and setting it up to lead into the future.”

Rick Honaker, Ph.D., professor of mining engineering at UK, said, “We greatly appreciate the support of Senator McConnell to provide the funding needed to address the supply of rare earth elements and critical materials, which is a very important yet under recognized national security issue. The supply is significantly important for the manufacturing of renewable energy technologies, electric vehicles and advanced technologies including those needed for our national defense. Our research team along with our industrial partners have developed technologies that can recover critical elements from coal-based materials. This funding provided by the U.S. Department of Energy will allow us to further develop the technologies and demonstrate their commercial viability through testing in a scaled production facility.”

Senator McConnell, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, championed this funding program in the fiscal year 2019 Energy and Water Appropriations bill and partnered with UK to bring these critical resources to Kentucky.