Uranium Energy Corp.’s Sweetwater uranium project has become the first mining proposal in Wyoming to be fast-tracked under President Donald Trump’s March executive order to increase U.S. mineral production.
The company announced Aug. 5 that it planned to expand its uranium mining operations in Wyoming’s Red Desert as a result of the expedited permitting process. The federal government expects to post a permitting timetable for the project by Aug. 15.
Through other executive orders, the dismantling of environmental regulations and the spending bill congressional Republicans passed in July, the second Trump administration has made it easier for extractive industries to receive permits for mining on public lands. Trump has classified uranium as a “critical mineral” for the U.S., which imported 99 percent of its fuel for nuclear energy in 2023, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
John Burrows, energy and climate policy director at the Wyoming Outdoor Council, saw the fast-tracking news as evidence of a pattern in the state’s nascent nuclear industry.
“Across the nuclear supply chain we’re seeing permits getting expedited and we’re having concerns around safety, environmental quality and public trust,” he said.
Last month, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission accelerated its review of an advanced nuclear reactor being built in Kemmerer, Wyoming, with an end-of-year completion goal. TerraPower, the company behind the new technology, was co-founded by billionaire Bill Gates.
Uranium Energy’s Sweetwater permits were fast-tracked by the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. Trump’s March executive order required the executive director of the council to publish such projects on a special dashboard.
“I am excited to welcome the Sweetwater Complex to the FAST-41 transparency dashboard in support of President Trump’s goal of unlocking America’s mineral resources,” said Emily Domenech, the council’s executive director, in a statement accompanying Uranium Energy’s announcement. “The uranium that this project can produce would be game-changing for our nation as we work to reduce our reliance on Russia and China, strengthen our national and economic security, and reestablish a robust domestic supply chain of nuclear fuel.”
The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council was established in 2015 under President Barack Obama and made permanent by President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021.
If approved, Uranium Energy expects to begin “in-situ” uranium mining within its permit boundaries. The process involves leaching uranium from underground rock and does less surface disturbance than conventional strip-mining methods. The company already operates conventional uranium mines in Wyoming but wants to expand its claim to include nearby areas it says are suitable for in-situ retrieval methods.
“This will provide the Company unrivaled flexibility to scale production across the Great Divide Basin,” Amir Adnani, Uranium Energy’s president and CEO, said in an email.
If Uranium Energy receives its permits, which could still take years, the company said its Sweetwater facility will become the largest in the United States capable of processing both conventionally and in-situ-mined uranium. Its current licensed production capacity at the Sweetwater facility is 4.1 million pounds of uranium annually, the company said.
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Jake Bolster reports on Wyoming and the West for Inside Climate News. Previously, he worked as a freelancer, covering climate change, energy, and the environment across the United States. He holds a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University.
