Each year, nearly 47,000 pounds of materials must be mined for each person in the U.S. to maintain a standard of living. The Mining Industry of the Future, a collaboration between the U.S. mining industry and the U.S. Department of Energy, Industrial Technologies Program (ITP), is working to make the U.S. mining industry the most efficient and advanced in the world.
Through participation in ITP's Industries of the Future process, the U.S. mining industry has:
- Set a vision for the future
- Clearly defined its R&D priorities in roadmaps
- Developed a portfolio of innovative R&D
- Tapped into expanded tools and resources
- Developed an energy analysis to identify energy-saving opportunities
- Issued yearly solicitations for cost-shared R&D for energy-efficient technologies in mining.