Vast and Vital: Unlocking America’s Birthright

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I remember the day we filed our very first permit — full of optimism, convinced we’d soon unearth America’s next great copper deposit.

But months blurred into years as our project sank into bureaucratic quicksand: 27 permits… four federal agencies… and environmental studies that dragged on for a decade.

We watched costs soar. And investors disappear.

Many companies gave up entirely, their dreams of mining buried under layers of red tape.

Until it felt like the only thing deeper than the mineral reserves we’d set out to explore was the stack of paperwork standing in our way…

While the narrative above is a composite, it captures the real-life frustrations that have plagued American miners, who for years have been lost in a labyrinth so tortuous that even the most promising projects were stalled for a decade or more.

Trump’s sweeping reforms, however, are finally breaking the logjam and unlocking what Paradigm’s Jim Rickards calls America’s $150-trillion “birthright” of critical minerals, including deposits long trapped on federal lands.

Now, to help illustrate how Jim’s thesis is unfolding, here’s a step-by-step look at the newly streamlined permitting process:

1. Project Submission & Priority Designation

Mining companies now submit applications directly to the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC), which fast-tracks projects producing minerals like uranium, copper, gold and rare earth elements.

The NEDC has 10 days to identify projects eligible for expedited review and 15 days to nominate them for FAST-41 status — a program that mandates strict timelines for federal agencies.

2. FAST-41 Transparency Portal Integration

Approved projects are added to the Federal Permitting Dashboard, a public tracker requiring agencies to publish deadlines and progress updates.

This system prevents indefinite delays by forcing accountability: if a permitting decision misses its deadline, the project automatically advances to the next stage.

3. Interagency Coordination

The Permitting Council assigns a lead agency to coordinate reviews across all stakeholders (EPA, Interior, Energy, etc.).

This eliminates redundant steps; for example, a single environmental impact statement now satisfies requirements for the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act.

4. Accelerated Environmental Review

New rules compress the review timeline from 4-10 years to 18-24 months by:

• Limiting public comment periods to 45 days (down from 90+)
• Accepting existing environmental studies from similar projects
• Exempting expansions of existing mines from new reviews.

5. Financing & Incentives

Projects gain access to:

• Defense Production Act funds for infrastructure development
• Low-interest DOE loans covering up to 80% of construction costs
• Tax credits for processors meeting domestic content thresholds.

Some key projects, such as rare earths, will require significant government subsidies to get up and running. Trump’s latest moves allow us to begin this critically important process.

6. Key Regulatory Changes

• The critical minerals list expanded to include uranium, copper, potash, gold and others deemed essential by the NEDC.
• “One Federal Decision” policy forces agencies to resolve disputes within 30 days.
• Projects on federal land no longer need separate state permits if they meet federal standards.

This framework has already added 20 mining projects to the FAST-41 dashboard since April 2025, with dozens more in the pipeline.

In the meantime, officials emphasize that streamlined permitting doesn’t equate to lower environmental standards — it simply imposes discipline on a previously dysfunctional system.

Reforms, it should be noted, position the U.S. to potentially double domestic production of lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements by 2028, reducing reliance on China from 80% to under 50% for key minerals.

For mining firms, the new rules create a predictable pathway from exploration to production within 3-5 years, compared to the previous 7-15 year timeline. This will make a tremendous difference, and quickly.

As Jim Rickards contends, this is more than just a financial opportunity; it’s an historic chance to restore America’s self-sufficiency and global leadership.

Stay tuned as more barriers fall, and America finally taps into its vast and vital resources.

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