Energy Department funds a synthetic underground test pit at a Navasota drilling site to prove out mining automation
The Energy Department's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation named four mining proving ground projects on September 9th, 2026. One goes to Southern Methodist University, whose project location the announcement gives as Navasota, Texas. The department describes it as the world's first synthetic pit of its kind. It sits inside an existing instrumented drilling and sensing facility. Mining tools, workflows and automation systems can be tested repeatably in the field rather than only in a laboratory. The announcement states no dollar figure for the Texas project and never uses the words artificial intelligence, so what is funded here is automation testing rather than a model.
How to take part
The department publishes the announcement naming the four projects. There is no comment window and no public proceeding attached to the selection.
Where
1 county. In Grimes, which is in no metropolitan or micropolitan area.
Timeline
- decided
the date the department announced the four projects
- Today
How this decision moved
One dated line per check, oldest first. A line that says nothing changed means somebody looked and it had not.
- 2026-09-12
Admitted on the department's own announcement of the four selected projects.
- 2026-09-15
The department's announcement still stands as published and still gives Navasota as the project location for the award it made to Southern Methodist University. Its description of the site as a synthetic pit inside an existing instrumented drilling and sensing facility has not changed.
- 2026-09-18
The department's announcement is unchanged. The Navasota site is still named among the proving grounds and still described as a synthetic pit inside an existing instrumented facility. It still carries no dollar figure and no mention of artificial intelligence.
- 2026-09-21
The department's list of mining proving ground projects still carries the Navasota site, and the university project attached to it is described the same way. Nothing has been added about when the test pit gets built.
- 2026-09-24
The department still lists the Navasota proving ground with the same university partner attached. No construction date for the test pit has appeared.
- 2026-09-27
The Energy Department's award for the Navasota test pit still stands as announced.
The evidence
Every fact above rests on one of these. The words are the source's own.
Southern Methodist University (HQ: Dallas, TX, project location: Navasota, Texas)https://www.energy.gov/articles/does-office-critical-minerals-and-ener Primary source, official · energy.gov
This project will create the world's first synthetic mine within an advanced drilling and sensing test facility to accelerate next generation mining technologies from lab concepts to field ready deployment. By repurposing a highly instrumented Texas drilling site, it will enable rigorous, repeatable, and safe testing of mining tools, workflows, and automation systems.https://www.energy.gov/articles/does-office-critical-minerals-and-ener Primary source, official · energy.gov
Questions about this decision
Answered from the record itself. Every answer is assembled from stored fields, so an answer the record has no basis for is left out rather than guessed.
What is this decision?
The Energy Department's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation named four mining proving ground projects on September 9th, 2026. One goes to Southern Methodist University, whose project location the announcement gives as Navasota, Texas. The department describes it as the world's first synthetic pit of its kind. It sits inside an existing instrumented drilling and sensing facility. Mining tools, workflows and automation systems can be tested repeatably in the field rather than only in a laboratory. The announcement states no dollar figure for the Texas project and never uses the words artificial intelligence, so what is funded here is automation testing rather than a model.
Who decides it?
U.S. Department of Energy decides. The record names the deciding body for every entry it carries.
Can the public take part?
The department publishes the announcement naming the four projects. There is no comment window and no public proceeding attached to the selection. No dated public window is on the record. The deciding body is named and reachable.
Where in Texas does it apply?
It covers Grimes County.
Has it been decided?
It has been decided. The dates on the item page carry when.
What happens next?
No future date is on the record. The last dated step on it was decided on September 9th.
When did it start?
The earliest date on its record is September 9th, 2026.
What kind of decision is it?
It is filed under research and science.
What sources back it?
One source backs it. It is primary.
Is it on the ERCOT grid?
Yes. It sits inside the ERCOT interconnection.
When was it last checked?
Every fact on it was last verified against its source on September 27th, 2026.
Cite this
Texas AI Docket, Energy Department funds a synthetic underground test pit at a Navasota drilling site to prove out mining automation. Tracked since September 9th, 2026. Last verified September 27th, 2026. https://texasaidocket.com/item/tx-2026-0148/. Reuse permitted under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. The same entry is in the docket JSON as item tx-2026-0148.
Beat
Filed under Research and science, with every other decision on that beat.