This is the first project in the United States approved under the department’s accelerated review process.
The Department of the Interior (DOI) has approved the Velvet-Wood uranium and vanadium mine in San Juan County, Utah, through an expedited environmental review in a bid to “strengthen U.S. mineral security,” the agency said in a May 23 statement.
“This approval marks a turning point in how we secure America’s mineral future,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. Uranium is used in nuclear reactors, submarines, and for producing tritium, which is necessary for nuclear weapons. Vanadium is used in the production of steel and titanium aerospace alloys.
“By streamlining the review process for critical mineral projects like Velvet-Wood, we’re reducing dependence on foreign adversaries and ensuring our military, medical, and energy sectors have the resources they need to thrive. This is mineral security in action,” Burgum said.
This is the first project in the United States approved under the Interior Department’s latest accelerated 14-day environmental review process. Under the process, projects analyzed in an environmental assessment will be reviewed within 14 days, unlike the earlier one-year time period.
The Trump administration has been favorable to domestic energy generation in the country. President Donald Trump has ordered agencies to accelerate domestic energy projects, with a focus on nuclear energy, through multiple memoranda and executive orders.
The accelerated review process was initiated in response to Trump signing a presidential action on Jan. 20 declaring a national energy emergency.
America’s current inadequate domestic energy resource development was leaving the nation “vulnerable to hostile foreign actors” and posed an “imminent and growing threat” to the country’s national security and prosperity, stated the presidential action.
With the final environmental assessment now completed, Anfield Energy, which runs the Velvet-Wood mine, has all the necessary approvals from the DOI to restart operations.
The Velvet-Wood project is expected to bring “new jobs and infrastructure to the area, reopen and expand the existing underground mine, and restore the land once mining is finished,” the DOI said. “Most of the work will take place underground, targeting known mineral deposits left from earlier operations.”
