President Trump’s Executive Order Promoting Domestic Mineral Production

On March 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14241 (EO), 90 Fed. Reg. 13673 (Mar. 25, 2025), aimed at promoting domestic mineral production for national security. The EO relies on authority under 3 U.S.C. § 301 for the President to delegate functions to federal agency heads as well as that under the Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950 (50 U.S.C. §§ 4501-4568) to expedite and expand the supply of materials and services from the United States to promote the national defense.

The EO follows the President’s earlier EOs “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” 90 Fed. Reg. 8433 (Jan. 29, 2025), and “Unleashing American Energy,” 90 Fed. Reg. 8353 (Jan. 29, 2025), that also considered domestic mineral production.

Stoel Rives is actively tracking the mining sector impacts of these Executive Orders as well as other actions taken by the new administration. If you have questions or would like to discuss how these actions may affect your business, please contact one of the attorney contacts listed below.

Note that the EO has a number of immediate deadlines for federal agencies as well as opportunities for feedback and funding, which may warrant attention by project proponents.

Expanding Federal Support to Additional Minerals

The EO aims to stimulate production and processing of domestic minerals, including “critical minerals” as defined by the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. § 1606(a)(3)) as well as uranium, copper, potash, gold, and “any other element, compound, or material” determined by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, in his role as the Chair of the new National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC). Thus, the EO widens federal support to minerals not previously identified as “critical” by the Department of Interior.

Expediting Permitting on Federal Lands

In addition to expanding federal support to additional minerals, the EO—“Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production”—directs federal agencies involved in permitting mineral production to, within 10 days of the EO, provide a list of all mineral production projects “for which a plan of operations, a permit application, or other application for approval has been submitted to such agency.” Within 10 days of the submission of such lists , the relevant federal agency heads shall in coordination with the Chair of the NEDC identify “priority projects” that an agency can expedite with issuance of relevant permits or approvals.

The Chair of the NEDC, in consultation with agency heads, shall also within 15 days of the EO submit to the Executive Director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council mineral production projects to be considered for expedited review under Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST-41) Act (41 U.S.C. § 41003). Within 15 days of the submission, the Executive Director shall publish any projects selected and establish schedules for expedited review.

Considering the short timeframe and broad scope of projects that could be considered as awaiting federal approval, project proponents may be reaching out to relevant federal agencies to help ensure their project is identified as a “priority project” and further as one to be considered for expedited review under FAST-41.

Soliciting Input on Permitting Reform

In addition, the Chair of the NEDC is directed to issue a request for information to solicit “industry feedback” on regulatory bottlenecks and other recommended strategies for expediting domestic mineral production. Further, the Chair of the NEDC and the Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs are directed to jointly prepare and submit recommendations to President Trump within 30 days of the EO to clarify the treatment of waste rock, tailings, and mine waste disposal under the Mining Act of 1872.As such, stakeholders may want to be on the lookout for opportunities to provide feedback to the Chair of the NEDC as well as the Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs on permitting of mineral production on federal lands.

Prioritizing Mineral Production on Federal Lands

The EO further instructs federal agency heads to prioritize mineral production on federal lands, including:

• Within 10 days of the EO, the Secretary of the Interior shall provide to the President’s office a list of all federal lands known to hold mineral deposits and reserves and then prioritize mineral production and mineral related purposes as the “primary land uses” on these lands.
• Under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) (43 U.S.C. § 1701 seq.), land use plans shall provide for mineral production and ancillary uses and shall be amended or revised as necessary to provide for such.
• Within 30 days of the EO, the Secretaries of Defense, Interior, Agriculture, and Energy shall identify and provide to the President’s office a list of sites on federal land managed by the agencies suitable for leasing for mineral production projects. And the Secretaries of Defense and Energy shall enter into extended use leases with private entities for mineral production on such lands. The EO further instructs these agencies to coordinate with other agencies to ensure that such entities “can utilize as many favorable terms and conditions as are available under public assistance programs” to develop mineral production projects.

Accelerating Investment in Mineral Production Projects

The EO also takes a number of steps to accelerate private and public capital investment in mineral production projects. These include:

• Delegation of Defense Production Act authority to the Secretary of Defense to advance domestic mineral production.
• Addition of mineral production as a “priority industrial capability development area” for the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainability Program.
• Instruction to agencies empowered to “make loans, loan guarantees, grants, equity investments, or to conclude offtake agreements … both domestically and abroad” to take steps to rescind policies requiring disclosure of mineral resources and reserves as part of application processes (Regulation S-K part 1300 (17 C.F.R. Subpart 229.1300)).
• Delegation of Defense Production Act authority to the Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to utilize loans, loan guarantees, and political risk insurance to advance domestic mineral production.
• Development of a plan for the DFC to use Department of Defense investment authorities and the Department of Defense Office of Strategic Capital to establish “a dedicated mineral and mineral production fund” for the DFC’s domestic investments.
• Program guidance from the President of the Export-Import Bank for the use of mineral and mineral production financing tools authorized under the Supply Chain Resiliency Initiative to secure offtake of global raw mineral feedstock for domestic minerals processing, as well as under the Make More in America Initiative to support domestic mineral production.
• Recommendations from the Administrator of the Small Business Administration for legislation “to enhance private-public capital activities” to support financings to domestic small businesses engaged in mineral production.

With limited existing funds and certain of the financing tools provided in the EO to be deployed soon, upcoming opportunities to secure funding from the Department of Defense, DFC, and Small Business Administration, in particular, for mineral production projects warrant close attention.