DOE’s 'Metallic' hub and Critical Materials Innovation Hub aim to speed critical‑minerals technologies from lab to pilot
June 03, 2026 | Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Office of Science, Department of Energy (DOE), Executive, Federal
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Oak Ridge National Laboratory presenter Dr. Pon Baranthemum outlined the Minerals‑to‑Materials ‘Metallic’ facility and the Critical Materials Innovation (CMI) Hub, describing the initiative as a virtual, nine‑lab network that provides testbeds, facilities and technical expertise to accelerate critical‑minerals research, validation and commercialization.
Dr. Baranthemum said Metallic functions as a single point of contact for industry to access laboratory capabilities across the partner labs. He described four centers of excellence—feedstock beneficiation, extraction and separation (led by Oak Ridge in his remarks), refinery, and atom/alloy development and advanced manufacturing—and noted that Metallic supports enabling activities including techno‑economic analysis, life‑cycle assessment and secure data warehousing.
On funding and operational model, Dr. Baranthemum said the facility builds on about $75 million in DOE investment and is not itself a grant‑making agency. He described a voucher model under which participating companies may access lab capabilities (vouchers pay labs or cover in‑kind services) rather than receiving direct cash grants; cost share may be required in some cases.
Dr. Baranthemum also discussed testbeds and scale‑up support—membrane modules and electrodialysis systems at partner labs, pilot‑scale membrane and sorbent testing, and facilities that can accept low‑activity RAD samples for specialized separations. He encouraged potential partners to contact Metallic leadership or use the 'work with metallic' email to request a meeting and described internship and workforce development plans across the nine labs.
In the webinar Q&A, Dr. Baranthemum said Metallic is aggregating public datasets and that some data will be made publicly available through program portals; he said the team assists with life‑cycle and techno‑economic analyses and can help industry prepare joint proposals though Metallic does not itself award project funding.
What this means and next steps: Metallic is positioned as a national validation and testbed network intended to reduce the time and cost for industry demonstration of promising critical‑minerals technologies. Oak Ridge provided contacts for Metallic leadership and commercialization staff for firms interested in vouchers, testing or collaboration.
Provenance: This summary is drawn from the presenter’s description of the Metallic facility, the four centers of excellence, funding and voucher mechanisms, and related Q&A on data availability and support.
Dr. Baranthemum said Metallic functions as a single point of contact for industry to access laboratory capabilities across the partner labs. He described four centers of excellence—feedstock beneficiation, extraction and separation (led by Oak Ridge in his remarks), refinery, and atom/alloy development and advanced manufacturing—and noted that Metallic supports enabling activities including techno‑economic analysis, life‑cycle assessment and secure data warehousing.
On funding and operational model, Dr. Baranthemum said the facility builds on about $75 million in DOE investment and is not itself a grant‑making agency. He described a voucher model under which participating companies may access lab capabilities (vouchers pay labs or cover in‑kind services) rather than receiving direct cash grants; cost share may be required in some cases.
Dr. Baranthemum also discussed testbeds and scale‑up support—membrane modules and electrodialysis systems at partner labs, pilot‑scale membrane and sorbent testing, and facilities that can accept low‑activity RAD samples for specialized separations. He encouraged potential partners to contact Metallic leadership or use the 'work with metallic' email to request a meeting and described internship and workforce development plans across the nine labs.
In the webinar Q&A, Dr. Baranthemum said Metallic is aggregating public datasets and that some data will be made publicly available through program portals; he said the team assists with life‑cycle and techno‑economic analyses and can help industry prepare joint proposals though Metallic does not itself award project funding.
What this means and next steps: Metallic is positioned as a national validation and testbed network intended to reduce the time and cost for industry demonstration of promising critical‑minerals technologies. Oak Ridge provided contacts for Metallic leadership and commercialization staff for firms interested in vouchers, testing or collaboration.
Provenance: This summary is drawn from the presenter’s description of the Metallic facility, the four centers of excellence, funding and voucher mechanisms, and related Q&A on data availability and support.
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