{"id":7346,"date":"2026-06-02T15:53:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T20:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/?p=7346"},"modified":"2026-06-19T10:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T15:40:27","slug":"federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Dakota has vast reserves of elements critical to electronics, defense and national security, say Washington leaders in campus visit<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Five
From left to right: U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, David Straley, vice president of external affairs at the North American Coal Corporation, Dan Laudal, executive director of UND\u2019s College of Engineering & Mines Research Institute and Michael Duffey, undersecretary of war for acquisition and attainment, tour UND\u2019s rare earths pilot plant. Photo by Adam Kurtz\/UND Today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last month, congressional and military leadership visited campus to tour a new facility bolstering national security and defense.<\/p>\n

On May 26, North Dakota U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer and Michael Duffy, Undersecretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, toured UND\u2019s rare earths pilot plant. The facility, housed in the\u00a0College of Engineering & Mines<\/strong><\/a>, will work to extract rare earth elements from the state\u2019s vast reserves of lignite coal.<\/p>\n

Rare earth elements have a range of applications from consumer electronics and semiconductors to defense systems.<\/p>\n

Cramer said that developing a domestic supply chain of rare earths is vital, given that China controls much of the global supply chain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people may not know is the critical role North Dakota has the potential to play in becoming less dependent on China for rare earth elements,\u201d Cramer said. \u201cThanks to North Dakota\u2019s energy industry and the University of North Dakota, we may be unlocking a treasure trove of domestic rare earth element supplies so we can strategically decouple from China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duffey, who oversees military contract administration, logistics and materiel readiness, concurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cSen. Cramer has been ahead of the curve here,\u201d Duffey said. \u201cI\u2019m very eager to understand how we\u2019re getting back to a place where we can be self-sufficient with mining and processing, and the entire value chain.\u201d<\/p>\n

UND\u00a0President Andy Armacost<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0praised UND faculty members\u2019 commitment to furthering the University\u2019s national security mission through initiatives such as the pilot program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing when the faculty and the staff say, \u2018National security? We\u2019re in,\u2019\u201d Armacost told the\u00a0Grand Forks Herald<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cAnd it doesn\u2019t happen at every university, and so we\u2019re so proud that we have the commitment to pursue areas of research that we know will have literal national benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The college is also awaiting approval of a $50 million Department of Energy grant, which would be used to fund research and development as well as build a second production facility in western North Dakota to extract rare earths.<\/p>\n

Dan Laudal<\/strong><\/a>, executive director of the CEM\u2019s Research Institute, said the grant\u2019s approval would allow for a commercial level of extraction and supply of elements including gallium and germanium.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next step is figuring out how we scale it up to a meaningful scale, run it long enough continuously at that meaningful scale to really verify all the assumptions around engineering, economics, product qualities and gain that customer confidence to be able to execute agreements for off-take,\u201d Laudal said in the Herald story. \u201cAnd really support long term financing of full-scale projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Written by Joe Banish<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 \/\/ \u00a0UND Today<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Dakota has vast reserves of elements critical to electronics, defense and national security, say Washington leaders in campus visit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":7347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[920,923,912],"class_list":["post-7346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-center-for-process-engineering-research","tag-national-security","tag-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFederal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant - College of Engineering & Mines<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant - College of Engineering & Mines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"North Dakota has vast reserves of elements critical to electronics, defense and national security, say Washington leaders in campus visit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Engineering & Mines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UNDCEM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T20:53:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-19T15:40:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/260526-rareearths-IMG_9801.web_.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UND College of Engineering & Mines\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UND College of Engineering & Mines\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UND College of Engineering & Mines\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2fe20fb9c567e6d831d1213d04920ecb\"},\"headline\":\"Federal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T20:53:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-19T15:40:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":530,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/22\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/260526-rareearths-IMG_9801.web_.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Center for Process Engineering Research\",\"National Security\",\"Research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/\",\"name\":\"Federal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant - College of Engineering & Mines\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/22\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/260526-rareearths-IMG_9801.web_.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T20:53:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-19T15:40:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2fe20fb9c567e6d831d1213d04920ecb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/22\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/260526-rareearths-IMG_9801.web_.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/22\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/260526-rareearths-IMG_9801.web_.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"From left to right: U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, David Straley, vice president of external affairs at the North American Coal Corporation, Dan Laudal, executive director of UND\u2019s College of Engineering & Mines Research Institute and Michael Duffey, undersecretary of war for acquisition and attainment, tour UND\u2019s rare earths pilot plant. Photo by Adam Kurtz\\\/UND Today.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Federal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Engineering & Mines\",\"description\":\"Updates for students, alumni, supporters and constituents\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2fe20fb9c567e6d831d1213d04920ecb\",\"name\":\"UND College of Engineering & Mines\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/cem\\\/author\\\/pprekker\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Federal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant - College of Engineering & Mines","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Federal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant - College of Engineering & Mines","og_description":"North Dakota has vast reserves of elements critical to electronics, defense and national security, say Washington leaders in campus visit.","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/","og_site_name":"College of Engineering & Mines","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UNDCEM","article_published_time":"2026-06-02T20:53:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-19T15:40:27+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/260526-rareearths-IMG_9801.web_.png","width":1024,"height":683,"type":"image\/png"}],"author":"UND College of Engineering & Mines","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UND College of Engineering & Mines","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/"},"author":{"name":"UND College of Engineering & Mines","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/#\/schema\/person\/2fe20fb9c567e6d831d1213d04920ecb"},"headline":"Federal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant","datePublished":"2026-06-02T20:53:40+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-19T15:40:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/"},"wordCount":530,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/260526-rareearths-IMG_9801.web_.png","keywords":["Center for Process Engineering Research","National Security","Research"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/","name":"Federal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant - College of Engineering & Mines","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/260526-rareearths-IMG_9801.web_.png","datePublished":"2026-06-02T20:53:40+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-19T15:40:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/#\/schema\/person\/2fe20fb9c567e6d831d1213d04920ecb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/260526-rareearths-IMG_9801.web_.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/260526-rareearths-IMG_9801.web_.png","width":1024,"height":683,"caption":"From left to right: U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, David Straley, vice president of external affairs at the North American Coal Corporation, Dan Laudal, executive director of UND\u2019s College of Engineering & Mines Research Institute and Michael Duffey, undersecretary of war for acquisition and attainment, tour UND\u2019s rare earths pilot plant. Photo by Adam Kurtz\/UND Today."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/2026\/06\/federal-leaders-tour-und-rare-earths-pilot-plant\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Federal leaders tour UND rare earths pilot plant"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/","name":"College of Engineering & Mines","description":"Updates for students, alumni, supporters and constituents","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/#\/schema\/person\/2fe20fb9c567e6d831d1213d04920ecb","name":"UND College of Engineering & Mines","url":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/author\/pprekker\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7348,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7346\/revisions\/7348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/cem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}