Last year’s inaugural State of Critical Minerals report from the Payne Institute addressed the ‘big picture” related to the essential minerals, metals, and materials underpinning modern economies. We discussed the outlook for the dramatic demand growth that is required to enable the world’s decarbonization. We reviewed the geopolitical and national security risks related to China’s dominance of several critical minerals. And, we highlighted the urgent need to diversify and bring greater resilience to our nation’s mineral supply chains. That urgency and global attention has only increased over the last year. Various challenges still exist: bolstering domestic mining for minerals, which include obstacles for new mine development; workforce constraints in the U.S. after decades of de-emphasizing domestic mining; and an investment landscape that makes it challenging for mining companies to attract capital. Additionally, we still do not have agreed principles for engagement with communities and Tribes, which could help show those communities that unlike mining’s legacy, the future can offer vibrant economic development, purpose, and jobs. It is clear that a dual focus on innovative technologies and techniques, and engagement with communities, Tribes, and wider society will both be foundational to success. Both of these have to be coupled with clear policy and institutional arrangements. In the hunt for solutions, there is no shortage of ideas from multi-party working groups, and embedded in several pieces of proposed legislation winding their way through Congress. Perhaps the most significant of the latter are also the latest to be introduced. Two bills from Senators Hickenlooper from Colorado and Tillis from North Carolina, announced at our recent Critical Minerals Symposium, seek to redress lack of integration—of strategy, of coordinating agency and of research agenda. We have no fewer than three critical minerals priorities, produced by the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and the US Geological Survey. We lack a coordinated effort driving domestic mining exploration and its future. This is illustrated by the complexity of having to navigate through upwards of 20 government agencies. And there is a lack of coordination of necessary basic research across mining activities, from exploration through to processing and tailings management. The School of Mines stands ready to do its part . A coordinating entity, such as the FutureMine Initiative, can synthesize the multiple disciplines involved in the future of mining, including advanced technologies in geophysical imaging, sensing, robotics, controls and artificial intelligence (Copan, 2023). In this year’s State of Critical Minerals report, we consider how the U.S. is responding to this rapidly changing landscape. We highlight leading work being done on the ground and with the data by the extraordinary School of Mines faculty across disciplines spanning engineering, the social sciences and data science and analytics. Their leadership is offering paths to address challenges that are surely part of our collective way forward. Morgan Bazilian