LAPLACE — The U.S. Department of Energy said that a St. John the Baptist Parish project will receive around $67 million in federal dollars to extract rare earth elements from waste streams, Reuters reports. 

The investment will partially fund a $850 million facility from ElementUSA in St. John Parish. This facility will extract gallium, scandium, iron and other critical minerals from more than 30 million tons of bauxite residue, the byproduct of the alumina refining process.

The first stage is a demonstration facility "to validate its extraction process and guide the design of a future commercial-scale facility." This is planned to start construction in mid-2027, with an opening date of Q3 2028. The project is expected to create 754 new jobs, the parish government said in December.  

The U.S. Department of Defense has already given the project $29.9 million in grant money, with plans for the project being set in motion in 2021.

“The considerable investment from ElementUSA and the high-wage jobs created will fuel real economic momentum for our parish, while strengthening industries that are vital to the nation’s future. We are committed to working closely with ElementUSA and our state and regional partners to ensure this project delivers lasting benefits for the local community and workforce,"  St. John the Baptist Parish President Jaclyn Hotard said. 

The goal of the project and another similar project the DOE is funding in Oklahoma, Reuters reports, is to "boost domestic critical minerals output and cut dependence on China, which dominates the global rare earths supply chain."