News: Suppliers
21 November 2025
ElementUSA awarded $29.9m in Defense funding to create US supply of gallium and scandium
The US Department of War has awarded $29.9m via Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to ElementUSA Inc of Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA to enable the development of a demonstration facility in Gramercy, Louisiana for extracting gallium and scandium from existing industrial waste.
“China’s controlled access to critical minerals threatens US national security and US jobs. Obtaining these critical minerals from resources in Louisiana is good for US national security and good for US and Louisiana jobs,” says Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
ElementUSA says that it is accelerating America’s access to critical minerals by unlocking overlooked domestic resources and delivering the processing to supply industry and defense. It develops midstream processing infrastructure to recover minerals from both primary and secondary sources, addressing the rising demand from US manufacturers in sectors including semiconductors, national defense, and energy infrastructure. The firm is pioneering Waste2Market solutions that offer faster and more sustainable pathways than traditional mining. Cental to this is its Critical Resource Accelerator (CRA) in Cedar Park, Texas, an R&D hub focused on scalable mineral recovery processes. ElementUSA will hence also conduct initial development work at the Critical Resource Accelerator.
“ElementUSA’s work is essential to securing America’s supply of critical elements and reducing our dependence on foreign adversaries, strengthening both our national security and American manufacturing,” says Congressman John Carter. “I have no doubt ElementUSA will continue to grow and lead the way in building a stronger, more resilient domestic supply chain for our nation.”
ElementUSA recovers minerals and metals from industrial waste streams to create domestic supply chains of critical minerals necessary for national defense. Using DPA Title III funds to construct the demonstration facility, the firm will become one of the first US producers of both gallium and scandium. Systems such as missile defense platforms, sensors, fighter aircraft (e.g. F-35 and F-22) and hypersonic weapons all require these elements in their manufacture. The company will use a proprietary process to separate and extract these critical minerals, along with several others, from over 30 million tons of mineral-rich bauxite residue, a byproduct of the alumina refining process. ElementUSA will hence not only create a domestic supply chain of critical minerals but also clean up a waste product with no additional mining required.
“This award enables ElementUSA to scale innovative technologies that extract gallium and scandium, among other critical minerals and rare earths, from secondary domestic resources – reducing our reliance on foreign supply and reinforcing the nation’s industrial and defense resilience,” says ElementUSA’s chief investment officer Dan Byrne. “It’s an exciting step forward for US innovation, sustainability, and security.”
US DOE’s TRACE-Ga to fund gallium recovery from US metal processing feedstocks
