Trump Administration Fast Tracks Permitting for Key US Mining Projects

The Trump administration has fast tracked the permitting of 10 US mining projects under the FAST-41 infrastructure initiative, escalating the government’s strategy of bolstering domestic minerals output and reducing foreign reliance.

The announcement, made on April 18 by the White House and the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council), comes in direct response to President Donald Trump’s executive order, which mandates swift and accountable action to facilitate the development of the nation’s vast mineral reserves.

“This is the first use of the Permitting Council’s transparency authority, and we look forward to showcasing the many benefits the Federal Permitting Dashboard can bring to critical infrastructure projects,” said Manisha Patel, acting executive director at the Permitting Council.

The ten projects, which include sites for lithium, copper, antimony, phosphate, potash, and metallurgical coal, have been formally granted FAST-41 status—a designation from the 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act that streamlines environmental reviews and interagency coordination for major infrastructure projects.

The status does not exempt them from environmental regulations but aims to cut bureaucratic delays and improve transparency by publishing real-time permitting progress on a federal dashboard.

Among the fast-tracked projects are:

McDermitt exploration project in Oregon — HiTech Minerals
Caldwell Canyon phosphate mine in Idaho
Lisbon Valley copper project in Utah
Michigan potash project
Libby exploration project in Montana

While some of these projects are still in exploration or environmental assessment stages, their inclusion on the dashboard signals priority status.

In practice, this means their permitting timelines will now be coordinated among relevant agencies and tracked publicly to reduce administrative redundancies that have historically delayed US mining ventures for up to a decade.

The move underscores the Trump administration’s broader policy of “American Energy Dominance,” which includes securing domestic supply chains for critical materials used in electronics, electric vehicles, clean energy technologies, and military hardware.

A recent Interior statement warned that continued dependence on imports—especially from geopolitical competitors like China—poses a threat to national security.

“For too long, duplicative processes and regulatory paralysis have delayed the development of the minerals America needs to power everything from national defense systems to smartphones,” Adam Suess, Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Department of the Interior, emphasized in the same release.

“By cutting red tape and increasing accountability, we’re making it clear that under President Trump, the United States is serious about being a global leader in critical minerals,” Suess added.

The designation also includes expansions to lithium projects, with Albemarle’s Silver Peak Mine in Nevada—currently the only operating lithium mine in the US—now poised for accelerated expansion.

The focus on lithium, antimony, copper, and rare earth elements comes as the US seeks to diversify supply away from China, which currently dominates the global trade in many of these strategic materials.

Furthermore, the announcement follows President Trump’s directive earlier this month to launch a federal probe into possible new tariffs on all critical mineral imports, signaling a more aggressive stance toward reshoring key elements of the nation’s industrial supply chain.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

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