BASE FUNDING: “PROGRAMMATIC COLLABORATION WITH NMIMT TO IDENTIFY AND ACCESS THE STATEWIDE RESOURCES FOR POTENTIAL CO2 STORAGE VIA MINERALIZATION PROCESS, INCLUDING BASALT FORMATIONS AND MINING WASTES (TERMED AS RESOURCE ROCK), AND CHARACTERIZE THE TARGETED STORAGE SITE/COMPLEX TO PROVIDE THE INSIGHTS ON ITS STORAGE CAPACITY EVALUATION.” NMIMT SHALL; 1. PRE-SCREEN THE POTENTIAL LOCATION IN NEW MEXICO AND SURROUNDING AREAS, AND SELECT THE OPTIMUM SITES FOR THE FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE CO2 STORAGE. MULTIPLE FACTORS WILL BE SIMULTANEOUSLY EVALUATED THROUGH THE EXISTING DATA PROCESSING AND THEN CONTRIBUTE TO THE SITE'S SELECTION; 2. CONDUCT THE SITE CHARACTERIZATION AND MAPPING OF THE IDENTIFIED STORAGE LOCATION/COMPLEX. THE REGIONAL GEOLOGY, HYDROLOGY, INJECTION ZONE AND OTHER RELEVANT GEOLOGY INFORMATION WILL BE COLLECTED IN THE FIELD SCALE. 3. COLLECT THE LEGACY RESOURCE ROCK SAMPLES FOR DETAILED PETROGRAPHIC, PETROLOGIC AND GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION TO DIAGNOSE THE REACTIVE MINERALS CONTENTS AND POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS, AND INVESTIGATE THE GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE TARGETED STORAGE SITE/COMPLEX FOR SIGNIFICANTLY ADVANCING THEIR CO2 STORAGE CAPACITY ESTIMATION. 4. EVALUATE THE REACTION DYNAMICS OF THE STORAGE SITE/COMPLEX IN BOTH AMBIENT CONDITION AND FIELD CONDITION. THE REACTION RATE BETWEEN CO2/FLUID AND MINERALS AND THE STORAGE CAPACITY OF THE SITE/COMPLEX WILL BE STUDIED TO INDICATE THE OPTIMUM SCENARIO FOR CO2 STORAGE VIA MINERALIZATION. 5. PERFORM A SERIES OF STAKEHOLDER RELATED OUTREACH AND CONNECTION ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE THE PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDY OF THE SELECTED REGION AND IDENTIFY THE MAIN CHALLENGES AS THE CONCERN FROM THE COMMUNITY. THE DATA COLLECTED BY THE SITE CHARACTERIZATION, LABORATORY ANALYSIS AND TESTING, AND SIMULATION ESTIMATION WILL BE USED TO SUPPORT THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF CO2 STORAGE VIA THE MINERALIZATION PROCESS WITH A CAPACITY OF MINIMUM 20 MILLION TONNES OF CO2 STORED PER YEAR ACROSS THE US. THE PROJECT TEAM WILL ACQUIRE NEW FIELD DATA AND INTEGRATE NEW AND LEGACY INFORMATION TO DEVELOP COMPREHENSIVE SITE-SPECIFIC DATASETS THAT WILL BE USED AS INPUTS TO PROMOTE THE PROJECT FOR FUTURE COMMERCIALIZATION.