Notice of Intent to Issue DE-FOA-0003390 | DE FOA 0003603

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003603

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has issued a Notice of Intent announcing its plan to release a future Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) titled "Mine of the Future - Proving Ground Initiative" (referenced as DE-FOA-0003390 in the notice). This planned opportunity sits in the energy, natural resources, science and technology, and broader research and development space, and it will be offered as a discretionary program using cooperative agreements. In practical terms, that suggests awardees should expect active involvement from the federal sponsor during the project period, with substantial collaboration, technical coordination, and ongoing federal participation compared to a more hands-off grant structure.

The central purpose of the initiative is to reduce the risk ("de-risk") associated with bringing new mining technologies out of development and into real-world, commercial use at scale. The emphasis is not only on inventing or improving technology, but on proving it in conditions that are close enough to real mining operations that companies and operators can trust performance, reliability, safety, and cost claims. The underlying theme is accelerating commercialization and broad industry adoption by closing the gap between prototypes or pilot concepts and deployable solutions that the mining sector is willing to invest in.

The notice describes three main pathways the program expects to use to achieve that goal. First is the development of Mine Technology Proving Grounds. These proving grounds are intended to function as realistic demonstration and validation environments where emerging mining technologies can be tested, integrated, and evaluated under operationally relevant conditions. By creating or strengthening places and partnerships where multiple technologies can be trialed, the program aims to provide repeatable, credible evidence of performance and to shorten the time it takes for innovations to move from the lab to the mine site.

Second are Accelerated R&D projects, described as "Accelerated RampD Projects" in the notice. These projects are geared toward speeding up research and development that is close to deployment, focusing on the kinds of engineering refinement, integration work, validation testing, and performance demonstration that often slow down commercialization. The intent is to move quickly through development stages that traditionally take years, so that promising solutions can be proven and positioned for market entry sooner.

Third are Collaborative Projects, which signals an emphasis on multi-party efforts where industry, technology developers, research organizations, and other stakeholders work together. Collaboration in this context usually matters because mining systems are complex and technologies often have to interface with equipment, workflows, safety procedures, and site-specific constraints. By encouraging teams rather than isolated performers, the program is aiming to improve integration readiness, align solutions with operator needs, and make adoption more realistic and scalable.

Administrative details in the notice indicate the program is listed under CFDA 81.089, and the eligible applicant category is "Unrestricted," meaning the applicant pool is expected to be broad unless the forthcoming full NOFO adds more specific limits. The source data lists an award ceiling of 2, although it is not stated whether that figure is in dollars, millions, or another unit in the excerpt provided, and the "ExpectedAwards" field is currently listed as 0, which is common in notices of intent before final funding allocations or award counts are published. The opportunity is associated with an original closing date of 2025-11-05, and the notice record shows a creation date of 2025-09-26. As with many notices of intent, those dates and quantities should be treated as preliminary indicators until the official NOFO is released, since the final solicitation typically provides the definitive funding amount, number of awards, cost-share expectations (if any), topic areas, eligibility nuances, and submission requirements.

Overall, this planned funding opportunity is best understood as a commercialization-focused mining innovation effort: building or leveraging proving-ground environments, funding fast-turn R&D efforts that are nearing deployment, and supporting collaborative teams that can demonstrate mining technologies in credible, industry-relevant conditions. The intended outcome is to make it easier for the mining industry to confidently adopt new technologies by lowering technical, operational, and market risk through validation, demonstration, and partnership-driven execution.

• The National Energy Technology Laboratory in the energy, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Intent to Issue DE-FOA-0003390" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.089.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-09-26.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-11-05. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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