Alaska’s mining projects are gaining federal backing as the Trump administration seeks domestic supplies of critical minerals for national defence and the energy transition.
The U.S. Department of Defense closed a $35.6-million (C$49.3-million) investment involving Trilogy Metals (TSX, NYSE-A: TMQ) and South32 (ASX, LSE, JSE: S32) in September, giving Washington about a 10% stake in Trilogy. The proceeds are committed to advancing projects in northwestern Alaska’s undeveloped Ambler mining district.
“There is that pressure inside the administration and likely some of the pressure at those regional offices to prioritize these projects,” Finn Dobkin, senior policy analyst at George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center, told The Northern Miner in October.
The investment follows the reversal of federal restrictions and the addition of six Alaskan mining projects to FAST-41, a program established in 2015 to coordinate environmental reviews and authorizations for major infrastructure projects. Remote logistics, infrastructure costs and legal challenges still stand between federal support and construction.
Tuesday’s Democratic election victory adds a political caveat. The party’s capture of Congress raises the prospect of greater scrutiny of federal mining investments and could reshape permitting legislation, although reversing existing measures would generally require presidential cooperation.
Alaska hosts about 16% of the world’s defined molybdenum resources, 12% of copper resources and 7% each of gold, silver and zinc resources, according to the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys. The division describes its comparison with global estimates as qualitative because the datasets use different criteria.
Accelerating Ambler
Trilogy’s Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects encompass about 191,000 hectares in the Ambler district and host the Arctic polymetallic deposit and Bornite copper-cobalt deposit. Ambler Metals, a joint venture owned equally by Trilogy and South32, is advancing the projects.
Development hinges on the Ambler Road, a proposed 340-km private industrial gravel road connecting the Dalton Highway with the remote district.
President Donald Trump issued a decision in October 2025 directing the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reissue the permits needed to construct the road. It overturned a 2024 Biden administration decision and removed a major hurdle.
“We were a meme stock for about two weeks and then things settled back down to earth,” Trilogy president and CEO Tony Giardini told The Northern Miner. “We feel pretty confident in the administration defending the presidential [directive].”
The Department of the Interior transferred about 5,666 sq. km along the Dalton Highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline corridor to the state on May 6. The transfer gives Alaska ownership and management of the land, though separate engineering and construction approvals are required for the road.
The National Parks Conservation Association and six other groups filed an appeal in Alaska Superior Court in September challenging the state’s decision to grant an easement for the industrial road.
Conservation groups and several local Indigenous communities warn it could disrupt migration of the Western Arctic caribou herd, degrade permafrost, damage salmon and shellfish habitats and threaten traditional hunting and fishing.
For Arctic, which is covered by FAST-41, the schedule targets a draft environmental impact statement in October 2027 and a federal record of decision in September 2028, Trilogy said in its third-quarter update. Ambler Metals is updating the 2023 feasibility study.
“We do expect capital to be somewhat higher,” Giardini said. “The offset is on treatment and refining charges; they’ve come down dramatically.”
The company anticipates a potential construction decision in 2028.
Donlin rising
In southwestern Alaska’s historical Kuskokwim Gold Belt, NovaGold (TSX, NYSE-A: NG) is seeking full ownership of Donlin, another project covered by FAST-41.
Donlin hosts about 560 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 2.22 grams gold per tonne for about 40 million oz., inclusive of reserves, according to a technical report effective Nov. 30, 2025. The development plan projects annual production of 1.4 million oz. in the first five years and an average of 1.1 million oz. over a 27-year mine life.
NovaGold owns 60%, with Paulson Advisers and its affiliates holding the rest. Shareholders approved the proposed all-share acquisition of Paulson’s interest at a Nov. 3 meeting, the company announced Wednesday. Completion remains targeted for the fourth quarter, subject to court, regulatory and stock exchange approvals and other closing conditions.
“It simplifies decision-making processes,” NovaGold president and CEO Greg Lang told The Northern Miner in an October interview.
The company is preparing an updated feasibility study, including capital and operating costs and a revised development schedule.
Donlin’s after-tax net present value is estimated at $5.1 billion using a gold price of $2,100 per oz. and a 5% discount rate, according to a regulatory filing from the start of the year. The previous feasibility study calculated $3 billion using $1,500 gold.
Much of the capital cost is infrastructure, including an upriver port, a connecting road, a natural gas pipeline and a power plant, Lang said.
“Donlin is a very remote site, so there’s no grid power,” he said. “We’ll need to develop an airstrip as well as a camp for both the construction workers and the mine employees.”
The company is still working on the permit for its tailings dam and water retention structures.
“A lot of geotechnical work has been done to support the permit,” Lang said. “The preliminary design packages are with the state and under review.”
Strategic minerals
Northern Dynasty Minerals’ (TSX: NDM; NYSE-A: NAK) Pebble copper-gold project, about 320 km southwest of Anchorage, remains blocked by federal restrictions protecting Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery. A federal judge heard oral arguments on June 25 in the company’s challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2023 veto, with a ruling still pending.
Pebble hosts 6.5 billion measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.40% copper and 0.34 gram gold per tonne for 57 billion lb. copper and 71 million oz. gold, plus 4.5 billion inferred tonnes at 0.25% copper and 0.25 gram gold for 25 billion lb. copper and 36 million oz. gold, according to its August 2023 assessment.
About 60 km north of Nome, Graphite One’s (TSXV: GPH; US-OTC: GPHOF) Graphite Creek project is also attracting federal support. The U.S. Geological Survey recognizes it as the country’s largest graphite deposit.
Graphite is a key material in lithium-ion batteries. The U.S. relies entirely on imports for its natural graphite supply and imported about 71,600 tonnes last year.
Graphite One received a $37.5-million Department of Defense grant in 2023 to conduct an accelerated feasibility study.
The Export-Import B
Source: www.northernminer.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.
