On Friday, many uranium companies recorded a strong increase on the stock markets. In some cases, prices improved by 20 to 25%. This upswing continued in early Tuesday trading following the Monday holiday. This suggests that we are not dealing with one of the many increases driven by the US President and his confusing messages and posts, but with a trend that could be of a more long-term nature.

The current US administration is addressing a problem that has been troubling the mining industry – not just in the USA – for quite some time: The approval times are extremely long. This has several consequences that, in sum, are very disadvantageous for the industry itself but also for the raw material supply of the entire industry.

A Fundamental Problem of the Industry is Finally Being Addressed

First of all, it now takes much longer than, for example, in the 1990s to bring a raw material project into production. From 10 to 15 years, which used to be the average depending on the size of the project, it has now become 15 to 20 years. For sensitive raw materials like uranium, which, due to its radioactivity, places special demands on project development, development times were already longer in the past than for other metals or energy raw materials.

However, with the length of approval times and the development of projects, the risk for the affected companies increases considerably, as costs, expected demand, and interest to be paid on financing must now be calculated precisely over a much longer period. Even minor deviations from the original planning can literally blow up the cost framework, because the effects of compound interest are particularly enormous over longer periods.

Green Light after Only 14 Days

This is where the US government now wants to intervene. Already in January at his inauguration, Donald Trump had declared that he wants to significantly shorten the approval procedures. The decision of May 23 shows how much the approval process is now being accelerated, when US authorities approved the Velvet-Wood uranium project submitted by Anfield Energy in the US state of Utah after only a 14-day environmental review.

The rapid processing of the application, which the company had only submitted on April 1, 2025, was carried out as part of a new procedure to accelerate the approval of energy and mining projects. It is quite appropriate to speak of a revolution here, because in the past, such studies usually took years, as uranium mining in particular can have significant potential ecological impacts.

Anfield Energy’s Velvet-Wood uranium mine is now the first project to be approved under an emergency procedure of the US Department of the Interior for the approval of energy facilities on federal territories. Donald Trump had already declared the national energy emergency on the first day of his second term in January. With this step, the US President wants to boost domestic energy supply, lower fuel prices, and strengthen national security.

Will other Countries Follow the American Example?

“This approval marks a turning point in securing America’s mineral future”, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stated in a statement. “By streamlining the approval process for critical mineral projects like Velvet-Wood, we are reducing dependence on foreign adversaries and ensuring that our military, healthcare, and energy sectors have the resources they need to thrive. This is mineral security in action.”

At its Velvet-Wood mining project in San Juan County, Anfield Energy will mine uranium from a historical mine that can be used in both nuclear energy and nuclear weapons production. Additionally, the production of vanadium is planned. The metal is used for hardening steel, is an important component of various alloys, and is also used in batteries.

A first step in the right direction has thus been taken. Others will certainly follow suit in the USA in the coming months. Therefore, not only did Anfield Energy’s stock price rise in the wake of the announcement. Other companies with projects in the USA such as Uranium Energy or Energy Fuels also benefited massively, while the stock of industry heavyweight Kazatomprom, which produces the bulk of its uranium in Kazakhstan, remained unchanged.

It would be desirable for not only more uranium projects in the USA to be quickly approved, but also for other countries to follow the example of recent developments in the United States and also start accelerating their approval processes. A positive decision doesn’t need to be made everywhere within 14 days, but if the processes could just return to the length of the 1990s, it would already be a significant gain for the industry.