From my limited exposure, first they initiated a study that resulted in prioritizing what the most critical metals are to ensure an adequate supply to grow the energy sector in the United States into the green era, low carbon emissions. This is when the rare earth elements were identified, particularly the heavy rare earth elements, which possess the higher risk, were identified as the most critical to supplying the future development of green energy technology. Once this study was completed—and there was a similar study in the European Union after it that ended up with more or less the same conclusions—the United States launched a competition within United States research groups about how they could involve academia, industry, and government, bundled together spontaneously, to handle the problem of developing domestic resources for rare earth production, and at the same time, look at replacing technologies for rare earth elements in an effort to reduce the dependency of the United States on China's exports and reliance on rare earth elements.
The budget allocated was $120 million over five years. I was involved in this review process, that's why I have some additional information. There were a number of groups within the U.S. that were formed, completed, and finally, one group was awarded—the Critical Materials Institute based at Ames Laboratory in the United States. This involves three to five universities, five companies, and Ames Laboratory, which is government funded in the United States. This is how the Critical Materials Institute was created.