American Resources’ ReElement advances as finalist for NSF award

American Resources (AREC)’ ReElement Technologies, announced that the Critical Materials Crossroads consortium – led by the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partnership with ReElement Technologies and other regional collaborators – has officially advanced as one of 15 national finalists for the National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines competition. As part of the final evaluation stage, the NSF will conduct on-site assessments of the finalist teams in January 2026 to further assess coalition alignment, leadership capacity, and research and innovation strategies. The NSF Engines awardees are expected to be announced in early 2026, with up to $160 million in funding over ten years available to accelerate regional economic growth, workforce development, and technology commercialization in key innovation areas. The groundwork for the Critical Materials Crossroads initiative began in May 2023, when UMKC received a $1 million, 24-month federal cooperative agreement to develop a regional critical materials ecosystem in Kansas City. Since then, the consortium has been building a vertically integrated hub for critical materials processing, technology development, applied research, and workforce training – ensuring that the United States can produce, refine, and deploy critical materials domestically to strengthen economic security, national resilience, and global competitiveness.