The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL or the Department, or we), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), is providing notice of the availability of up to $250,000 available in grant funds for education and training programs to help the mining community identify, avoid, and prevent unsafe and unhealthy working conditions in and around mines.

Applicants may be states, territories and tribal governments (including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Federally recognized tribes) and private or public nonprofit entities (this includes tribal organizations, Alaska Native entities, Indian-controlled organizations serving Native Americans and Native Hawaiians). Eligible entities may apply for funding independently or in partnership with other eligible organizations. For partnerships, a lead organization must be identified.

MSHA may award up to five grants. An applicant may submit multiple applications, and MSHA will select the applications that are most advantageous in meeting the goals of this program. 

MSHA’s focus for these grants include safety initiatives such as powered haulage and mobile equipment safety, mine emergency preparedness, mine rescue, electrical safety, contract, and customer truck drivers, lack of training for new and inexperienced miners (including managers and supervisors performing mining tasks), pillar safety for underground mines, lack of personal protective equipment (including falls from heights), and other programs to ensure the safety of miners. Similarly, these grants may also include health initiatives such as respirable dust or other environmental hazards. 

MSHA is interested in programs that focus on training miners on workplace safety. Special attention will be given to programs that target miners at new or newly opened mines and smaller mines, including training miners and employers about new MSHA standards, high risk activities, or hazards identified by MSHA.

MSHA will give priority to applications that support the President’s goals. The President has declared a National Energy Emergency to discover and mine critical minerals. Exec. Order No. 14156 - Declaring a National Energy Emergency (2025). To increase the response, on March 20, 2025, the President also directed the appropriate federal agencies to take immediate actions to increase mineral production. Exec. Order No. 14241- Immediate Measures To Increase American Mineral Production (2025). In response, the mining industry may experience increases in the reopening of idled mines and developing new mines in the search for these critical minerals. With these increases, new and innovative programs to train new miners or retrain miners for extracting specific critical minerals are vital. MSHA is also recommending that grantees develop or create training and compliance assistance programs to assist operators extracting critical minerals. The Department of Energy published a list of critical materials for energy, Federal Register :: Notice of Final Determination on 2023 DOE Critical Materials List. The Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, in consultation with other federal agencies published the list of critical minerals, What are Critical Minerals? | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov). Moreover, on April 8, 2025, the President amended Exec. Order No. 14241 and declared coal a critical mineral. Exec. Order No. 14261, Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241 (2025).

MSHA will also prioritize programs and materials that train miners and mine operators on new MSHA standards, high-risk activities, or hazards identified by MSHA. The Department of Labor’s goal is to fund education and training programs to better identify, avoid, and prevent unsafe working conditions in and around mines.

Nonprofit

• Nonprofits non-higher education with 501(c)(3)
• Other Native American tribal organizations
• Nonprofits non-higher education without 501(c)(3)

Government

• State governments
• City or township governments
• Special district governments
• County governments
• Federally recognized Native American tribal governments

Education

• Public and state institutions of higher education