This is a breaking news story and may be updated.
Congressional Democrats opened an investigation on Aug. 10 into the uranium mining company Energy Fuels Resources for potential insider trading.
The investigation centers on whether two of the company’s top leaders received nonpublic information about President Donald Trump’s planned slashing of Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah before the news became public, and if they used that information to purchase stock in their own business. The company denies the claims.
According to a letter sent to Energy Fuels by U.S. Reps. Jared Huffman (D-California) and Maxine Dexter (D-Oregon), the stock trade by CEO Ross Bhappu was the largest in the company's history. Chairman of the Board Bruce Hansen also purchased stock a day after Bhappu.
Huffman and Dexter say the trades occurred days before Trump met with Utah’s congressional leadership in the Oval Office to announce he was cutting Bears Ears by more than 90%.
Trump also slashed Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, also in Utah, by about 90%.
The San Juan Basin in Bears Ears has significant uranium deposits, but its designation as a national monument banned most new mining claims. Energy Fuels owns the Pinyon Plain uranium mine near the Grand Canyon’s South Rim and the White Mesa Mill near the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, the only conventional uranium processing mill in the U.S.
In an emailed statement provided to KNAU, Energy Fuels said it was “unaware of any evidence supporting claims of wrongdoing in the referenced letter” and that it “strongly rejects any suggestion that the Company or its executives engaged in any improper conduct.”
“The White Mesa Mill has never been located in the Bears Ears National Monument, Energy Fuels holds no properties, mining claims or economic interests in the monument, and we have not actively advocated for any changes to the monument with the current Administration,” the statement continues.
But Huffman and Dexter argue in their letter that Energy Fuels stood to benefit from the slashing of Bears Ears due to the company’s role in uranium production.
As evidence of the company’s interest in changing the boundaries of Bears Ears, the congresspeople cited a Washington Post story from 2017, during Trump’s first attempt at reducing the size of the monument.
According to that story, Energy Fuels’ then-Chief Operating Officer Mark Chalmers wrote to the Interior Department at the time, saying, “There are … many other known uranium and vanadium deposits located within the [Bears Ears’ boundaries] that could provide valuable energy and mineral resources in the future.”
The congressional letter also references a July announcement from Energy Fuels that it had begun construction to expand the White Mesa Mill using part of a $725 million loan from the U.S. Department of Defense.
“Beyond your DOD loan, your company appears to have close connections with the Trump administration and has specifically identified strong government support as a selling point for your investors in expansion plans,” the letter states. “This demonstrates close coordination and communication with the Trump administration, which may have enabled you to receive privileged information about when the Bears Ears announcement would occur.”
Though the lawmakers noted it appears company CEO Bhappu and Chairman Hansen haven’t “profited much from the [stock] purchase yet,” they asked the company to send communications between it and the U.S Department of the Interior around the time Bears Ears was slashed, as well as both executives’ calendars.
Bhappu bought 74,000 shares of stock on July 7, Hansen bought 4,000 on July 8, and Trump announced the Bears Ears reduction on July 13.
