Hoeven: DOD Investing in North Dakota Research to Enhance U.S. Battery Materials Development, Reduce Reliance on China

Hoeven: DOD Investing in North Dakota Research to Enhance U.S. Battery Materials Development, Reduce Reliance on China

Award Builds Upon $115 Million DOE Funding Senator Helped Secure to Establish Battery Minerals Manufacturing Facility in North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. - Senator John Hoeven today announced that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has formed a partnership with Talon Metals in North Dakota to fund research into methods for enhanced recovery of nickel from U.S. domestic nickel mineral formations. Such research will:

• Increase domestic capacity for battery manufacture.
  • This builds upon a Department of Energy (DOE) award Hoeven secured last year for Talon Metals to construct a battery materials manufacturing facility in Mercer County, North Dakota.
• Strengthen U.S. supply chains for critical industries and defense priorities, including unmanned aviation.
• Reducing reliance on battery and mineral supplies from adversarial nations like China and Russia.

As a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, Hoeven worked to establish and fund this new partnership. The senator secured nearly $2.5 million for the initiative in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 and has included $4 million in the Senate's FY2025 appropriations legislation that could be used to expand the partnership.

"Between this fiscal year and last, we are working to provide more than $6 million for this new partnership between Talon Metals and the DoD. This initiative aligns closely with the manufacturing facility we're working with Talon to build in North Dakota and will address a growing priority for both our national security and our economy - battery supply chains," said Hoeven. "By enhancing the productive capacity of our domestic nickel formations, we can ensure a better mineral supply for U.S. industry and a more secure battery supply for our military missions. That's a win across the board."

Strengthening U.S. Defense Supply Chains

Today's announcement comes as part of Hoeven's ongoing efforts to build a more secure supply chain for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and other industries that are important to current and future U.S. military operations, but have traditionally relied heavily on batteries produced in China. Accordingly, Hoeven:

• Worked to advance the nearly $115 million DOE award for Talon to begin the design, permitting and construction of the battery materials manufacturing facility in North Dakota.
  • The project will not only support the creation of good-paying jobs in western North Dakota, but will benefit the state's coal industry through potential future utilization of coal ash from coal-fired power stations in Mercer County.
• Continues his efforts to support the operations of companies like Packet Digital.
  • The company has been expanding its operations in North Dakota due to partnerships Hoeven has worked to establish between it and the Navy, Air Force and Space Force.
  • Hoeven has helped secured more than $35 million in defense research and development funding for Packet Digital from FY2021-FY2024.
  • The company is using the latest round of funding to develop a new 80,000 square-foot battery cell production facility.

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