6 days Ago
The Trump administration is streamlining the expansion for a Utah mining company that laid off or furloughed more than half its workers in November. The newly created National Energy Dominance Council chose to “streamline” plans to expand the Lisbon Valley Copper Mine in southeastern Utah, the Department of the Interior announced this month , by adding the project to the FAST-41 program. Prioritizing the Utah copper project aligns with a March executive order from President Donald Trump outlining “immediate measures to increase American mineral production.
” The order says that the United States’ reliance on other countries for critical minerals threatens national security and highlights copper as a mineral that should be produced domestically. “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,” said Adam Suess, the Interior Department’s acting assistant secretary for land and minerals management, in a statement. “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.
” Established in 2015, the FAST-41 program improves “federal agency coordination and timeliness of environmental reviews” for certain projects, the Interior Department said. In a newsletter sent Friday, the department said the program will “speed up critical mineral permitting.” The mine spans private, state and Bureau of Land Management land in San Juan County, north of Monticello.
The Lisbon Valley Mining Company, which owns the mine, has been planning an expansion since 2023 . As part of the same project, the company also plans to start using an extraction method that involves injecting acids into the ground to dissolve copper deposits before pumping the solution back up to the surface for recovery, causing less surface disturbance than open-pit mining. People who live and work near the mine have said such a method could contaminate their drinking water , but the company has said it does not share those concerns .
George Shaw, CEO of the Lisbon Valley Mining Company, on Thursday said “the company is pleased to be included in the FAST-41 process, however, the program does not ‘fast-track’ or allow for an abbreviated review.” The mining company, Shaw continued, “will continue to work through [all the] necessary requirements. We are hopeful that the FAST-41 process will ensure the agency has the resources it needs .
.. while performing the necessary scientific review.
” The San Juan Record reported that the Lisbon Valley Mine fired 45 employees and furloughed 45 more in November as part of a “significant restructuring effort.” The mine kept 70 employees. The company said it planned to rehire furloughed workers in the spring, and Shaw confirmed Thursday that “the company has begun to bring back furloughed employees.
” Lisbon Valley Mining Company is one of San Juan County’s largest employers according to state workforce data . The BLM is conducting an environmental review for the expansion and will decide whether to approve the project. The agency expects to finish a draft review in August and make a final decision about the project in May 2026, according to planning documents .
A federal permitting page says a timetable for the project will be published on or before May 2..
