New Mexico uranium projects selected for permitting fast-track

Tuesday, 3 June 2025

The designation is part of the federal infrastructure permitting initiative established under Title 41 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act - known as FAST-41 - to support an efficient, transparent federal review process, the company said.

FAST-41 was enacted in December 2015, and is a cross-government approach to support critical infrastructure projects to move through the federal permitting process efficiently: according to the US Government's Permitting Council, projects that are included covered by the programme can get a Record of Decision nearly 18 months faster than they otherwise would.

The La Jara Mesa Project has been upgraded from a FAST-41 Transparency Project to a fully Covered Project, aligning its permitting status with Crownpoint-Churchrock and streamlining its path forward under US federal oversight, Laramide said.

Crownpoint-Churchrock, described by the company as one of the largest undeveloped uranium resources in the USA, comprises two in-situ recovery-amenable uranium deposits which are collectively covered by a licence from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which Laramide is in the process of renewing. La Jara Mesa is a development-stage asset.

Laramide Resources President and CEO Marc Henderson commended the US Administration for its recent executive order supporting the acceleration of nuclear energy development in the USA, and said Crownpoint-Churchrock could potentially play a central role in securing a domestic supply of uranium to support it. "The inclusion of our projects under FAST-41 is a meaningful step, but continued policy support will be essential to overcome the longstanding regulatory and permitting challenges that have constrained US uranium production," he said. "We are encouraged by this progress and proud to be part of a national effort to rebuild the nuclear fuel cycle from the ground up."