The Montana Environmental Quality Council at its Dec. 2 meeting, approved a letter requesting federal funding for projects aimed at extracting rare earth and critical minerals from legacy mining sites in the state.

The letter, addressed to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, asked for funding through the Army’s Research, Development, Test and Evaluation account for the Montana Mining Association’s Rare Earth and Critical Minerals Extraction Demonstration project.

While the letter was approved 14-1, some legislators sought to put limits on the projects included in the funding request.

As part of the federal push to secure domestic critical and rare earth mineral supply chains, the federal government has pushed to fund mining projects and technological advancements to maximize extraction i

See Full Page