Through the DOE Loan Programs Office, the Department has supported major private sector projects to strengthen U.S. critical mineral and battery supply chains. $1.26 billion conditional commitment for Michigan Potash (potash mine and processing).
Potash has been added to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Critical Minerals list, building on the executive order President Donald J. Trump issued in March.
The draft list will guide federal strategy, investment, and permitting decisions designed to secure the minerals needed to drive the U.S. economy and protect national security, while informing direct investments in mining and resource recovery from mine waste, stockpiles, tax incentives for U.S. mineral processing, and streamlined mining permitting.
Michigan is sitting on a motherlode of potash and Ted Pagano is using $1.3 billion in government funds to mine it and grab market share away from Canada and Russia. The eureka moment came in 2012, when professor emeritus William Harrison of the University of Western Michigan invited Ted Pagano, then a 35-year-old freelance geologist, to his 27,000-square-foot geological repository in Kalamazoo.
Today, the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) announced increased transparency, accountability, and predictability for the permitting review process for the first wave of critical mineral production projects—with many more projects on the way—in response to President Trump’s Executive Order, Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production.
ICYMI— The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) today announced increased transparency and accountability for the federal permitting of two Department of Energy (DOE) critical minerals projects. The projects — Michigan Potash