Sign outside of Doe Run's Technology Center in southeast Missouri.

Department of War (DoW) Funds Program to Prove Doe Run Can Optimize Extracting and Processing Germanium with Repeatable, Scalable, Cost-Effective New Technologies

ST. LOUIS (August 27, 2026) – The Doe Run Company (Doe Run) today announced it was awarded $4.08 million from the U.S. Department of War (“DoW”) under the Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities (CTMA) Program. This cooperative agreement strengthens the strategic pathway to expand U.S. domestic capability for processing germanium. This capability vertically integrates into the domestic supply chain, key inputs for the defense industrial base, advanced manufacturing, and long-term national security readiness. For critical minerals stakeholders across defense and advanced manufacturing, policymakers focused on economic resilience, and investors evaluating domestic processing capacity, this cooperative agreement highlights the role Doe Run and the State of Missouri have in producing the critical minerals and metals which the U.S. economy and national security depend.

The cooperative agreement supports a critical minerals industrial base demonstration and optimization program, focused on advancing state-of-the-art extraction technologies and process optimization at Doe Run’s Missouri mines, known to contain seven critical minerals. By integrating advanced extraction approaches with hydrometallurgical processing, the program is designed to validate scalable, cost-effective germanium recovery and processing methods that are repeatable across domestic feedstocks, while specifically demonstrating and optimizing processing pathways for germanium, a critical material for advanced technologies.

This initiative is intended to help establish a resilient, germanium domestic supply chain that can support the development, maintenance, sustainment, and manufacturing of commercial items and defense platforms, including military vehicles and weapons systems.

Global supply chains are rapidly changing due to geopolitical realignment, increasing the demand for critical minerals in the domestic supply. This program supports federal efforts to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign sources of germanium and other critical minerals, expands domestic critical mineral production, and improves long-term access to essential supplies amid rising demand and export controls. By reducing dependence on foreign suppliers of germanium, this effort supports improved system readiness and sustained access to the materials required for U.S. economic security and technological leadership. Once developed, the approach is intended to provide a common and scalable pathway for germanium that strengthens long-term supply chain resilience for strategic commercial and military technologies.

“Over the past decade, our research and technology team has focused on hydrometallurgical systems designed to deliver practical, scalable outcomes,” stated Matthew Wohl, President and CEO of Doe Run. “We demonstrated at pilot scale that our proprietary technology can recover valuable minerals from a wide range of feed sources, including products we currently supply, as well as material generated as a byproduct of historic mining and smelting operations. With the Department of War’s support, we will advance from pilot-scale results toward a programmatic demonstration showing our ability to process critical minerals from our current mining operations, with specific emphasis on demonstrating and optimizing germanium recovery.”

“We see this award as an acceleration of future capability for both industry and the defense industrial base,” Wohl added. “With 100% of our workforce and production based in the United States, the DoW investment directly supports domestic manufacturing and jobs, while strengthening U.S. energy and security independence. For investors and partners, this program is designed to validate scalability and cost-effective recovery, capabilities that help de-risk future supply continuity and support long-term industrial resilience.”

About The Doe Run Company
Based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, The Doe Run Company is a privately held critical minerals and natural resources company providing vital minerals and metals to the global market. Dedicated to environmentally responsible mineral and metal production, Doe Run operates mines located in southeast Missouri from where it produces lead, zinc, and copper concentrates. Doe Run also operates one of the world’s largest, single-site lead recycling centers, located in Boss, Missouri. Company mineral and metal resources contain lead, zinc, copper, cobalt, nickel, germanium, tin, and antimony – all vital metals to support a more sustainable energy future. Doe Run has additional operations in Washington and Arizona. For more information, visit www.doerun.com.