China’s dominance over critical mineral supplies has left U.S. manufacturers vulnerable. Colorado’s biotech and research community is working to ease that dependence.

Leaders from the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology met last week at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. The roundtable session was part of the commission’s ongoing Biotech Across America series of regional outreach and education meetings.

The Colorado stop focused on using microbiology to recover strategic minerals from mining waste and other domestic sources.

Commissioner Alexander Titus and commission staff joined participants from the School of Mines, the National Laboratory of the Rockies, the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and local startups.

Alta Resource Technologies is developing protein-based methods to separate critical minerals. Nathan Ratledge, co-founder and CEO of the Boulder company, told the group that supply constraints are already forcing production stoppages in semiconductors, aerospace, automotive and defense.

“No matter how bad you think it is, it’s worse,” he said.

He linked the shortages to decades of Chinese dominance in mining and processing and said new technology is required to rebuild domestic capacity.

Liz Dennett, founder and CEO of Arvada-based Endolith, described the practical obstacles companies face in moving from laboratory work to commercial scale. She said her firm has developed microorganisms that recover copper from copper mine waste piles that can increase total copper production by as much as 10%.

“We are going to need somewhere between $50 million and $100 million to build our first commercial field pilot,” Dennett said.

Mining customers move slowly, she said, and investors typically require firm purchase commitments before providing that level of capital.

Ratledge agreed, calling the resulting barrier a classic problem.

“A lot of this is chicken and egg,” he said.

Customers will not buy until a company is producing, he said, and project finance is hard to obtain until buyers are lined up.

Ratledge said Colorado has technical strengths but is being outcompeted by states offering larger, faster incentives. He pointed to Texas, where companies in related fields have secured multimillion-dollar grants tied to projects expected to create hundreds of jobs and attract more than $1 billion in capital investment each.

Texas has also established a $350 million advanced nuclear development fund and deployed semiconductor innovation grants that have supported rare earth and magnet manufacturing expansions.

Colorado supports the biotechnology sector mainly through its Advanced Industries Accelerator Program.

The program offers proof-of-concept grants up to $150,000 and early-stage capital grants up to $250,000 for companies in energy and natural resources, advanced manufacturing and related fields. The state also provides investment tax credits and job-growth incentives.

Recent Advanced Industries awards have totaled several million dollars across dozens of recipients. A new Governor’s Competitiveness Council, announced this month, is examining policy and regulatory changes to improve the state’s business climate.

Eve Lieberman, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, pointed to existing state grant programs and the competitiveness council as tools to address these gaps.

Commission staff said federal tools such as advance purchase commitments and quicker pathways for demonstration projects could help close the gap between promising technology and market-ready production.

Participants at the Mines gathering described both the opportunity created by Colorado’s research institutions, biotech startups and the financing and market barriers that continue to slow commercial scaleup.