President Trump announces over $100 million investments in mining schools, including UTEP

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Friday, the Department of War announced more than $180 million has been invested into schools of mines and metallurgy. President Trump also led a press conference explaining the investment. The University of Texas at El Paso will get part of that grant, according to the school's president, Heather Wilson.

"We're putting our miners back to work and we're reclaiming America's rightful place as the minerals superpower of the world, which is what we are. People just didn't know that for a while," the president said.

The money will help build technology innovation hubs, project-focused partnerships between students and defense industry, prototypes and certifying students with degrees in mining, geology and metallurgy, the DOW said.

According to the DOW, resources are provided through the Office of the Under Secretary for Acquisition and Sustainment.

University of Texas at El Paso President Heather Wilson attended a press conference in Washington Friday as President Donald Trump spoke about the investment.

Wilson said there are only 14 mining schools left in the U.S. Upon UTEP's mining engineering program launch in 2027, UTEP will be the 15th.

"It'll be the only mining engineering school in Texas, but it will be making a significant contribution to the nation," Wilson said.

Wilson said the goal is to graduate 100 about students from UTEP with mining engineering each year. she said last year, less than 200 graduated with the degree in the entire country.

The DOW listed proposals of where the investment will go:

• $32.7 million (proposed) to the Colorado School of Mines for a Critical Minerals Innovation & Commercialization Hub to enable pilot-scale tech development, materials qualification and workforce-industry integration.
• $25 million (proposed) to the South Dakota School of Mines for Critical Minerals Merit Scholars Consortium establishing four integrated workforce development programs across three leading mineral-STEM institutions (South Dakota School of Mines, University of Kentucky and Missouri S&T University).  
• $23.6 million (proposed) to Johns Hopkins University founding a multi-material recycling innovation hub connecting an emerging technology developer (AGILEWorks) for scrap sourcing, process innovation, testing, qualification and integration into existing defense platforms

The investment is part of President Trump and the DOW's commitment to solidify the country's role as a global leader in mineral production and processing.