Latest news with #Anfield
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Utah uranium mine is first energy project approved under Trump's 14-day review process
Interior Secretary Doug Burghum. (Photo by) A uranium mine in southern Utah is the first project to be approved under President Donald Trump's emergency declaration streamlining the development of energy infrastructure. Owned and operated by the Canadian company Anfield Energy, the Velvet-Wood uranium project received a green light on Friday under the federal government's new, 14-day environmental review process for energy projects. The permitting process for similar projects has taken years in the past — but in January, Trump declared a national energy emergency, slashing the environmental review process for a number of energy projects like uranium, crude oil, natural gas, coal, biofuels, geothermal and critical minerals. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced the mining project in Utah would be the first to be reviewed. And on Friday, Anfield received approval from the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM. 'This approval marks a turning point in how we secure America's mineral future,' said Doug Burgum, Department of the Interior secretary, in a statement. 'By streamlining the review process for critical mineral projects like Velvet-Wood, we're reducing dependence on foreign adversaries and ensuring our military, medical and energy sectors have the resources they need to thrive. This is mineral security in action.' Sitting near the Utah-Colorado border in San Juan County about 40 miles east of Canyonlands National Park, the Velvet-Wood project is the combination of two mines — the existing Velvet Mine, which produced nearly 400,000 tons of ore between 1979 and 1984, and the nearby Wood area, which hasn't yet been mined according to an economic assessment from Anfield. 'We are very pleased that the Department of the Interior has greenlit our Velvet-Wood project in an expedited manner,' said Anfield CEO Corey Dias in a statement. 'This confirms our view that Velvet-Wood was well-suited for an accelerated review, given that it is a past-producing uranium and vanadium mine with a small environmental footprint. The Company will now pivot to advancing the project through construction and, ultimately, to production.' Anfield has been eyeing this site for years, purchasing it in 2015 and submitting a plan of operation to the state of Utah and BLM in 2024. According to the Department of the Interior, the operation will disturb about three acres, and much of the mining will take place underground. The normal environmental review process usually takes local input into consideration, weighing environmental and cultural concerns against the project's goals. That includes a public comment period that, depending on the project, can result in thousands of comments. According to BLM documents, public input was not required because of the president's emergency order. Still, the region's tribal governments have concerns, as noted in BLM's environmental assessment. The agency met with representatives from the Hopi, Pueblo of Zuni, Navajo, Pueblo of San Felipe and Ute Mountain Ute tribes, all of whom were critical of the operation and the federal government's expedited review. 'The Tribal Nations expressed similar concerns with the emergency procedures, water impacts, transportation, and uranium contamination,' the BLM documents read, including worries that the mining and transportation of uranium ore, which would take place near Bears Ears National Monument, could impact cultural sites. Anfield also owns Shootaring Canyon uranium mill, located in Garfield County between Hanksville and Lake Powell. Just one of three licensed and completed uranium mills in the country, it hasn't been operational in years — Anfield says it plans to reopen the mill, although that will require additional licensing and infrastructure improvements. If it becomes operational, the mill will be used to convert uranium ore into concentrate to be used in nuclear reactors. This story was originally published in Utah News Dispatch.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The new Diogo Jota is wanted by Liverpool in €100m deal
Hugo Ekitike should be an exciting link. He isn't because of two reasons. Firstly, people see him as a project player and have PTSD from the signing of Darwin Nunez. Secondly, there's a bit of a misunderstanding when it comes to Expected Goals. WhoScored posted a stat recently, revealing that his 15 league goals this season from an Expected Goals haul of 22.55 was the biggest xG under-performance in the Bundesliga. In other words, he's a poor finisher. Advertisement Having watched Darwin for three seasons, there's a fear that signing a centre-forward who is an underwhelming finisher is a big mistake. So, in their eyes, there's no getting away from it. The former PSG man is going to be a dud. An underperformance isn't a bad thing though, not if the numbers still appear to be sustainable. Ultimately, you want attackers who can generate high-quality shots on a regular basis. Finishing can be erratic. But being an elite chance-getter is what is highly sought after in the world of data analysis. Ian Graham said it in his book. 'A scout or a coach would say, 'Why do we like this forward?' His analytics team would respond, 'He takes loads of really good shots.' The scout or coach would counter, 'Yeah, but does he drive inside enough? Does he bring his teammates into play enough?' 'But we're playing them up front,' Graham said. 'He takes loads of good quality shots. There is literally nothing else to say. All other arguments, they're second-order effects compared to this. But people love to mystify and bring more and more factors into play. A use of the data is just to say: This is the important thing and we might be wrong about it — we sometimes are wrong — but you have to come up with some really good arguments against this one really important thing.'' Advertisement 'He takes loads of good quality shots. There is literally nothing else to say.' This is why I have Darwin the benefit of the doubt during his first two seasons at Anfield. Yes, he was missing big chances. And yes, he was making some questionable decisions at times. But he was a centre-forward who created opportunities and got into good positions. He was doing what you want your striker to do. Across his two full seasons with the Reds, he had an Expected Goals total of 28. That is quite remarkable when you consider a few things. He was adapting to a new country, a new league and a new system. He was also shifted about the pitch with Jurgen Klopp trying different things on multiple occasions. Advertisement Yet he still managed an xG of 28 across 3,750 minutes. Without taking penalties. He was taking high quality shots on a regular basis. Mohamed Salah, for example, had a Non-Penalty xG of 34.1 across this period, having appeared in 5,8000 minutes. So, in a nutshell, 6.1 more xG in an extra 2,050 minutes. This isn't a stat to show Darwin is better than Salah - he isn't. It isn't a stat to say Darwin is as good as Salah - again, he isn't. But it highlights how impactful Darwin was in the final third as a goal threat. You pay insane money for that. Liverpool did just that. You also ignore the misses because, generally speaking, things balance themselves out. In this instance, it didn't and Darwin scored just 20 times. He was judged on his actual output rather than his threat. Advertisement The Nerds in charge at Liverpool will look at the threat though. Usually, you can scale the threat in a better team. It happened with Diogo Jota. He had an Expected Goals per 90 of 0.45 in his final season with Wolves but averaged just 0.28 goals. People looked at his return of seven goals and laughed at Liverpool's decision to spend £40million. The Reds no doubt looked at his xG total of 20 across two seasons in the Premier League with Wolves and thought they were grabbing themselves a bargain. That turned out to be the case, didn't it? The same thing happened with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. You don't mind an underperformance if the other metrics are all positive. Advertisement If anything, you'd prefer that over an overperformance. This is why I didn't want Darwin initially. He had a Non-Penalty Expected Goals total of 14 for Benfica but scored 22 non-penalty goals. Liverpool were paying for his output rather than his underlying numbers. He was running stupidly hot and it didn't seem sustainable at that rate. Turns out it wasn't. Liverpool managed to scale his threat but the one-off season for Benfica of insane overperformance turned out to be an outlier rather than the norm. So, back to Ekitike. I'm not entirely sure why people are against his signing. He's 22, he's well-rounded in attack and a dual threat, with a Non-Penalty xG Involvement of 0.91 this term on a per 90 basis in the Bundesliga. Of course, Bundesliga tax needs to be applied to this. But for something like £65million, it doesn't appear that outrageous. Not if Liverpool feel they can scale his threat, or at least sustain it. Advertisement Though German media report a fee of €100million would be needed, the likelihood is the Bundesliga side will accept less. He has a Non-Penalty goals per 90 average of 0.49, per FBref, but has a NPxG90 average of 0.68 from 4.01 shots. Good shot volume, good xG per shot (0.19) average and a huge xG average. Exactly what you want to see from a striker. His misses don't appear to impact his confidence either. For a bit of context here, Darwin was averaging one non-penalty goal per 90 for Benfica during his final season from a NPxG of 0.6 and four shots.
The Sun
6 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
Liverpool in race against time to complete £126m Florian Wirtz transfer as Bayer Levekusen double-deal targeted
LIVERPOOL are in a race against time to seal the £126million record signing of Florian Wirtz before he joins up with Germany. Bayer Leverkusen star Wirtz is due to report for international duty tomorrow ahead of the Nations League semi-final with Portugal next Wednesday. The attacking midfielder wants a deal agreed before he heads off. But the Germans will not go below their £126m valuation, a British record deal from a foreign club. Leverkusen turned down Liverpool 's opening bid of £86m plus add-ons earlier this week. They want £20m more up front, plus clauses to take it up to £126m. Wirtz, 22, is thought to have agreed personal terms on a five-year deal. Leverkusen team-mate Jeremie Frimpong flew to the UK on Tuesday for a medical ahead of his own £29.6m move to Anfield. Frimpong has emerged as the chosen man to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold at Anfield. The boyhood Red played his last game for the club on Sunday ahead of his exit. Alexander-Arnold is set to join Real Madrid in a free transfer, with Los Blancos hoping to finalise the deal before the Club World Cup. The full-back will join former Bayer Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso at the Santiago Bernabeu. He signed a three-year deal upon his arrival and will officially take control on June 1.
New York Times
8 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Liverpool want more than £20m for Caoimhin Kelleher with Brentford among interested clubs
Liverpool value goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher at above £20million ($26.9m) this summer with Brentford among several Premier League clubs interested in his availability. Kelleher, 26, is entering the final year of his contract at Anfield and has made 67 appearances for Liverpool, including nine clean sheets in 20 games in 2024-25. Advertisement Brentford's interest in Kelleher is fuelled by the possibility of Mark Flekken moving on this summer; the Dutch goalkeeper has been Brentford's No 1 since David Raya's 2023 move to Arsenal and has missed just two Premier League games across two seasons. Kelleher has primarily been utilised as a back-up goalkeeper to first-choice goalkeeper Alisson but has played a significant role in his side's cup matches, starting in both Liverpool's Carabao Cup victories at Wembley in 2022 and 2024. The Republic of Ireland international has played when Alisson has been injured this campaign; firstly when the Brazil international suffered a hamstring injury in October and also for the concussion sustained while on international duty in March. Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili will join Liverpool's squad this summer after his £29m move was confirmed last year. Kelleher has made it clear he wants to pursue a new challenge. Speaking after Sunday's trophy lift, he told Optus Sport: 'I think I've said it before as well that like, I feel like I'm a number one and I feel like I'm good enough to play week in, week out. That's what I'm looking to do. 'Obviously, this season I was lucky enough to play a lot of games … but yeah, it's definitely something I'm looking at.' On Wednesday, Kelleher — alongside Robbie Brady of Preston North End and Brentford centre-back Nathan Collins — was shortlisted for the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) senior men's international player of the year. James Pearce It's been clear for some time that Caoimhin Kelleher's Liverpool career would be coming to an end this summer. At the age of 26, he's desperate to step out of Alisson's shadow and become a No 1 in his own right. He had hoped to move on a year ago but with no suitable offers forthcoming, he stayed put and knuckled down. Advertisement Liverpool don't want to lose the best back-up goalkeeper in the Premier League. Kelleher made a significant contribution to their title triumph this season as he played in 10 league matches due to Alisson's injury issues. However, with just one year left on his contract, a move makes sense for all parties. The Premier League champions should get a decent fee for him and Kelleher should get the regular football he craves. Liverpool have long since been preparing for this eventuality. Mamardashvili will arrive from Valencia to compete with Alisson after that deal was struck last summer. Additional reporting: Jay Harris (Top image: Alex Dodd – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Revealed: Florian Wirtz's 'key concern over Pep Guardiola that led him to snub Man City for Liverpool'
A key factor behind Florian Wirtz's decision to choose a move to Liverpool over Manchester City has been revealed by a report in Germany. Wirtz, 22, has become one of the most sought-after players in world football in recent months, with Liverpool, City and Bayern Munich all interested in signing the £126m-rated star. City identified Wirtz as their top summer target and held talks with his representatives, but it emerged over the weekend that the attacking midfielder is set to join Liverpool instead. According to Bild, Wirtz opted against a move to City due to concerns over the long-term future of Pep Guardiola. Guardiola is widely regarded as the best manager of his generation and Wirtz had been keen to play under him, but the Spaniard only has two years remaining on his City contract. He signed a new deal earlier this season to commit his future to City until 2027, but has since hinted that he will leave when his current contract ends to take a break from the game. With this in mind, Wirtz has decided that he wants to join a club with a more stable management structure. Arne Slot only arrived at Anfield last summer and delivered the Premier League title in his first season. His contract is also due to expire in 2027, but is likely to be extended following his stunning first campaign on Merseyside. Bild's report also states that Wirtz has given the green light to Liverpool due to the unique atmosphere created by the fans and the club's stature. Liverpool's Premier League triumph was their 20th top-flight title, drawing them level with Manchester United. The Reds have also won six European Cups to United's three. Liverpool are expected to proceed swiftly with wrapping up a deal for Wirtz, with the transfer window due to open on Sunday. They are closing in on signing Wirtz's Bayer Leverkusen team-mate Jeremie Frimpong for £29.5m to provide competition for Conor Bradley following Trent Alexander-Arnold's departure, while Liverpool are also keen on Bournemouth left back Milos Kerkez.
