Feds announce $100M plan to expand mining workforce

Supporters of the PROSPECT initiative want to double the number of Americans graduating with degrees in mining and other critical mineral fields within two years.

America is facing a shortage of workers in the mining industry, as an estimated 221,000 workers are expected to retire by 2029, the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration projected.

Furthermore, the DOE estimates 6,000 new engineers will be needed in the mining sector over the next 10 years.

Audrey Robertson, the assistant U.S. secretary of energy, told The Center Square this week that the DOE has allocated $100 million to the PROSPECT initiative.

The PROSPECT initiative is the “largest workforce program” in the DOE’s history, she explained.

Robertson said the majority of the PROSPECT initiative funds will go to student financial aid and supporting students' entry into the mining industry.

In the coming weeks, Robertson said the DOE will announce the competition rules for the PROSPECT initiative, after which schools will submit their plans.

Robertson said the PROSPECT initiative wants universities to examine their mining programs and student bodies and then return to the federal government with ideas to increase student enrollment.

The only schools allowed to submit proposals for the PROSPECT initiative are those with accredited mining programs, she said, adding that 14 schools have this accreditation, with two more working their way through the accreditation process.

This means 16 schools will eventually be eligible for funding.

American colleges are producing a “minuscule fraction” of the number of mining workers the nation needs, she said.

Kray Luxbacher, head of the University of Arizona School of Mining Engineering and Mineral Resources, said the mining school is excited about the PROSPECT initiative and “the attention that mining engineering education is receiving at the federal level.”

According to Luxbacher, the potential money could help the university with its K-12 STEM outreach program, student training at the San Xavier Underground Mining Laboratory and “programs for working professionals.”

“PROSPECT could expand all of these opportunities to build a stronger workforce with mining engineers and geoscientists," she told The Center Square via email this week.

The amount of money each school gets will be determined by “the proposals put forward by the universities,” Robertson said.

The DOE will also consider how the funding can “have the biggest impact on the most number of students” and how it can “generate for the American taxpayer the highest return on these dollars in the form of changing the trajectory of education in this space,” Robertson explained.

Regarding the future of the mining industry, Robertson said artificial intelligence and robotics will define the industry during this century.

“Mining is modern and technology-focused,” she said, noting AI will have a “huge role” in the development of new mines and materials for the supply chain.

Universities with accredited mining programs are doing significant work with AI and robotics, Robertson noted.

She explained the mining industry is not as crowded as other fields, which means there is a “tremendous opportunity for students to be hands-on participants and make real, significant change in the industry.”

Robertson said there is a 100% job placement for students coming out of these mining schools.

Mining is a “high-tech, innovative [and] forward-leaning industry that is essential to the next state of industrialization and national defense in America,” she noted.

America’s mining industry is evolving “very quickly,” Robertson said, noting America will have “some of the most modern and integrated mining operations in the world” within the next decade.