Trump's Permit Party: 10 Mines Hit the Fast-Track Jackpot
Fast-Track Permits Spark Mining Rally, But Hecla’s Earnings Trip Up the Party
Editorial Team (ET)May 3, 2025
In a move that’s got the mining world buzzing like a drill bit through granite, the Trump administration has slapped the fast-track sticker on 10 more U.S. mining projects, adding fuel to its quest for critical minerals dominance. Announced Friday, this latest batch of FAST-41 designees—part of a 2015 federal program to cut bureaucratic red tape—promises to churn out copper, palladium, uranium, and more, all while giving a subtle middle finger to global trade rivals, particularly China. But while Wall Street mostly toasted the news with a slight uptick in stock prices, one player, Hecla, tripped over its own earnings report, leaving investors to ponder: is this a gold rush or a fool’s errand?
The Lineup: Who’s Digging the Fast Lane?
The new projects span the country, from Minnesota’s copper-nickel dreams to Georgia’s titanium dioxide ambitions. Leading the charge are heavyweights like Glencore and Teck Resources, teaming up for a Minnesota mine that could power the electric vehicle boom. Energy Fuels is eyeing uranium in New Mexico, because apparently, nuclear’s cool again. Sibanye Stillwater’s palladium expansion in Montana and Chemours’ titanium dioxide venture in Georgia round out the list, while Hecla’s Alaskan silver project hopes to shine brighter than its current stock chart.
This follows last month’s initial 10 projects, with the administration touting transparency via a federal website (permits.performance.gov) where you can watch permits crawl—or sprint—through the pipeline. It’s all part of Trump’s broader strategy, which includes a recent probe into tariffs on critical mineral imports, a move that’s less “free trade” and more “America first, figure it out, China.”
Wall Street’s Take: Mostly Up, One Big Ouch
As the news hit the wires, most of the involved companies saw their stocks perk up like prospectors spotting a gold vein. Here’s the rundown as of 10:38 AM PDT:
- Chemours (CC): Up 3.85% to $12.67, riding the titanium dioxide wave with a market cap of $1.893B. Investors seem to like the idea of faster paint pigment production.
- Energy Fuels (UUUU): Climbed 4.29% to $4.7450, with a $1.019B market cap and a whopping 6.2M shares traded. Uranium’s back, baby.
- Teck Resources (TECK): Jumped 3.39% to $35.36, boasting a $17.688B market cap. Copper and nickel never looked so good.
- Sibanye Stillwater (SBSW): Nudged up 2.33% to $4.6150, with a $3.344B market cap. Palladium’s steady grind keeps investors intrigued.
- Glencore (GLNCY): The odd duck, dipping 0.15% to $6.52. Maybe the market’s still digesting its global sprawl ($39.151B market cap).
- Hecla (HL): Oof. Down a brutal 16.54% to $4.5650, with 33.1M shares traded—way above its 21.7M average. Blame the Q1 earnings report, which, despite beating estimates ($0.04 EPS vs. $0.03, $261.34M revenue), left investors cold, possibly due to cautious guidance.
