Permitting Council Adds Four New Critical Mineral Mining Projects to FAST-41 Transparency Status

WASHINGTON (August 22, 2025) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) announces the latest critical mineral mining projects to receive FAST-41 transparency status. If permitted, the Schell Creek, Blue Copper, Trail Ridge South and Maxville Expansion projects will provide minerals essential to national and economic security, reaping benefits that span vital services from construction to medicine.

“This latest group takes the total number of transparency projects posted by the Permitting Council to 35, a tremendous achievement for our agency and the Trump Administration,” said Emily Domenech, Permitting Council Executive Director. “It is critical that the minerals this country needs to develop the innovative technologies of the future are produced in America. I look forward to providing the transparency of FAST-41 to these critical projects as we work to make the promise of American abundance a reality.” 

The latest transparency projects include:

• Schell Creek Project: Sponsored by the Falcon Copper Company, this Nevada based project aims to extract copper, zinc, molybdenum and silver. The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Forest Service serves as the lead agency for this project’s permitting process.

• Blue Copper Project: Sponsored by the Falcon Copper Company, this Montana based project anticipates extracting copper, gold, zinc, tungsten, germanium and gallium. The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Forest Service serves as the lead agency for this project’s permitting process.

• Trail Ridge South Project: Sponsored by the Chemours Company, this Florida based project is focused on extraction of zircon, monazite, and titanium. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers serves as the lead agency for this project’s permitting process.

• Maxville Expansion Project: Sponsored by the Chemours Company, this Florida based project aims to extract zircon, monazite and titanium. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers serves as the lead agency for this project’s permitting process.

Learn more about these projects on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. Learn more about the Permitting Council at permitting.gov. 

About the Permitting Council and FAST-41

Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), the Permitting Council is a federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of the federal environmental review and authorization process for certain critical infrastructure projects. The Permitting Council is comprised of the Permitting Council Executive Director, who serves as the Council Chair; 13 federal agency Council members (including deputy secretary-level designees of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Army, Commerce, Interior, Energy, Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation); and the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The Permitting Council coordinates federal environmental reviews and authorizations for projects that seek and qualify for FAST-41 coverage. FAST-41 covered projects are entitled to comprehensive permitting timetables and transparent, collaborative management of those timetables on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. FAST-41 covered projects may be in the energy production, electricity transmission, energy storage, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, mining, carbon capture, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and machine learning, high-performance computing and advanced computer hardware and software, quantum information science and technology, data storage and data management, and cybersecurity sectors.

Transparency Projects: A transparency project is not a FAST-41 covered project, but rather a project that the Executive Director directs the lead agency to post to the Permitting Dashboard for transparency purposes. These projects receive the “transparency” that is at the core of the FAST-41 process but do not receive the other benefits of FAST-41 coverage, including the development of a coordinated project plan and dedicated project management by Permitting Council experts.