September 13, 2026 - The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $73 million to four projects aimed at developing large-scale testbeds for advanced mining technologies across the United States.

The funding, provided through DOE’s Mine of the Future initiative, will support projects in West Virginia, Colorado, Arizona, Missouri and Texas. The facilities will provide real-world environments for testing technologies involving mine automation, communications, electrification, drilling, sensing, energy management and mineral processing.

DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation is overseeing the awards, which are intended to help move promising technologies from laboratory research to field-scale demonstration and ultimately commercial deployment.

Innovative Wireless Technologies will establish a testbed incorporating underground and surface locations in Julian and Blacksburg, West Virginia, and Idaho Springs, Colorado. The project will allow advanced digital, communications, connectivity and automation technologies to be evaluated under different mining conditions.

The University of Arizona will develop a nationally accessible underground test facility in Sahuarita, Arizona, with an emphasis on mine electrification and energy-management technologies.

In Rolla, Missouri, the Curators of the University of Missouri will combine an underground technology facility with a dedicated comminution research plant. The project will create a fully equipped, permanent proving ground for mining technology research and demonstration.

Southern Methodist University will convert an extensively instrumented drilling and sensing site in Navasota, Texas, into a “synthetic mine.” The facility will provide a controlled environment for repeatable testing of drilling technologies, sensing systems and autonomous mining operations.

The projects are designed to address one of the major hurdles facing new mining technologies — successfully advancing innovations from controlled laboratory settings into operating environments where their reliability and commercial potential can be demonstrated.

The $73 million investment is part of a broader DOE push to strengthen U.S. capabilities in mining and critical minerals. Recent federal efforts have also included $10 million associated with the Critical Materials Innovation Hub and up to $162 million for projects focused on recovering critical minerals from mine waste, tailings and other byproducts.

Through the Mine of the Future program, DOE is seeking to establish testing infrastructure that can help reduce the technical and financial risks associated with introducing new technologies into commercial mining operations while supporting more efficient and technologically advanced domestic mineral production.