Rare Earth Directory

Colorado ยท state page

Rare earth mines, projects and companies in Colorado

Colorado has 1 tracked rare earth plant or mill: Wheat Ridge demonstration facility (operating). Energy Fuels (headquartered in Lakewood), American Rare Earths (headquartered in Lakewood), Rare Element Resources (headquartered in Littleton), NioCorp (headquartered in Centennial), Tusaar (based in Broomfield) and Colorado School of Mines (DOE-selected project lead) are also tracked here.

Four of the developers tracked here have their headquarters in the Denver area, and USA Rare Earth runs a demonstration facility in Wheat Ridge.

The USGS also describes Iron Hill and Wet Mountains in Colorado as historic or prospect rare earth deposits that are not tracked as projects here; see historic and prospect deposits.

Verified through Oct 1, 2026

See the sites Open on the map
Wheat Ridge: Processing / manufacturing (operating) Wheat Ridge
Pins mark an area or a city, not a surveyed point. Circles are mines and projects, squares are plants and mills.
Sites on the map
1Mines, projects, mills and plants
Mines and projects
0
Plants and mills
1
Companies and pilots
7Tracked in the state

Which rare earth mines and plants are in Colorado?

Wheat Ridge demonstration facility is the only site tracked in Colorado, and it is operating. The table gives the owner and the next step for each.

Tracked rare earth mines, projects, mills and plants in Colorado, by status
SiteLayerStatusOwner or operatorNext step or status note
Wheat Ridge demonstration facilityWheat Ridge, ColoradoDemonstration plantsPlant operatingUSA Rare EarthProduced Dy and NdPr oxide samples from Round Top material in Jul 2026

Mines and projects link to their own profile. Plants link to the profile of the company that operates them. See the map page for how precise each pin is.

Verified Oct 1, 2026

Which rare earth companies are based or building in Colorado?

USA Rare Earth (Wheat Ridge demonstration facility), Energy Fuels (headquartered in Lakewood), American Rare Earths (headquartered in Lakewood), Rare Element Resources (headquartered in Littleton), NioCorp (headquartered in Centennial), Tusaar (based in Broomfield) and Colorado School of Mines (DOE-selected project lead) are tracked in Colorado. Companies marked "Not profiled" have no profile page yet, and what is said about them comes from the sources listed below.

Rare earth companies, pilots and institutions tracked in Colorado
CompanyWhy it is in ColoradoRoleListingGovernment support
USA Rare EarthWheat Ridge demonstration facilityDeveloper and magnet maker (mine to magnet)Nasdaq: USARCommerce up to $1.6B, definitive agreements (Jun 2026), milestone-based; plus announced support for Serra Verde in Brazil
Energy FuelsHeadquarters (Lakewood, Colorado)Uranium miller turned rare earth separatorNYSE American: UUUU; TSX: EFROffice of Strategic Capital $725M loan (conditional)
American Rare EarthsHeadquarters (Lakewood, Colorado)DeveloperASX: ARR (US OTC listing)None recorded
Rare Element ResourcesHeadquarters (Littleton, Colorado)DeveloperOTCQB: REEMFFAST-41 permitting coverage (Mar 2026)
NioCorpHeadquarters (Centennial, Colorado)Developer (niobium, scandium, titanium, rare earths)Nasdaq: NBEXIM about $780M to $800M (in review); $10M Department of War grant
TusaarNot profiledBroomfieldTusaar develops media and chemical processes to recover rare earths from coal fly ash, brines, fluorescent bulbs and mine waste, and says it was founded in 2011 (company-reported). Its Department of Energy research project (NETL FE0027155) developed a bench-scale extraction process.CompanyNot statedNone recorded
Colorado School of MinesSelected for DOE negotiationGoldenThe school is the lead on a project that the Department of Energy selected on Jun 2, 2026 to negotiate an award, with ElementUSA, which plans a plant at Gramercy, Louisiana. The school reports $67M for a plant of 150 to 1,000 t/yr of rare earths from bauxite residue. Selection is not an award.UniversityNot statedNone recorded

A company with several sites appears on each state page where it has one. Companies without a link have no profile yet. Government support is the company-wide summary and is not allocated to a state.

What government support is going to rare earth companies in Colorado?

No state or local incentive is tracked for Colorado. 5 federal support items are tracked for companies with a site or headquarters here, each with a status.

Federal support tracked for companies with a site or headquarters in Colorado
CompanyAgencyInstrumentAmountStatus
USA Rare EarthDepartment of Commerce (CHIPS)Up to $277M funding plus up to $1.3B senior secured loanJun 3, 2026Up to $1.6BConditional
NioCorpEXIMLoan application2025 to 2026$780M to $800MIn review
Energy FuelsOffice of Strategic Capital (Department of War)20-year loan commitmentJun 2026$725MConditional
Rare Element ResourcesDepartment of EnergyFunding for the Upton demonstration plantDate not stated$24.2MClosed
NioCorpDepartment of WarGrant2025$10MClosed

These amounts attach to companies, not to sites in this state: many of the companies have projects elsewhere. Do not add them up as spending in the state. The government support tracker has the terms and sources.

Which neighboring states have rare earth projects?

Oklahoma, Wyoming, Utah and Nebraska border Colorado and have tracked rare earth sites, companies or pilots.

All states: rare earth mines, projects and companies by US state.

Questions about rare earth in Colorado

Does Colorado have rare earth mines?

No. Colorado has no tracked rare earth mine or project. The only active primary rare earth mine in the United States is Mountain Pass in California.

Which rare earth companies are based or building in Colorado?

USA Rare Earth (Wheat Ridge demonstration facility), Energy Fuels (headquartered in Lakewood), American Rare Earths (headquartered in Lakewood), Rare Element Resources (headquartered in Littleton), NioCorp (headquartered in Centennial), Tusaar (based in Broomfield) and Colorado School of Mines (DOE-selected project lead) are tracked in Colorado. Tusaar is not profiled yet, so the directory has limited information on it.

Are any rare earth plants operating in Colorado?

Wheat Ridge demonstration facility is operating.

Sources and verification

Each profile lists its sources, a confidence grade and a verification date. Order of authority: official records (SEC filings, agency documents), company documents and technical reports, research papers, then independent press. Syndicated copies and reference works are labeled and are never the only source for a number. Company-reported figures are labeled as such, and non-binding deals are labeled "letter of intent" or "conditional".

Tags show what kind of source each link is. How sources are ranked