The Biden Administration has moved to review a decision supporting the Ambler access road, which is a key project for mineral deposits in north-western Alaska, where Trilogy Metals and South32 are active.

The US Department of Interior (DoI) this week filed a motion to remand the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) and to suspend the right-of-way permits issued to the Alaksa Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) for the Ambler access project.

The suspension of the road permits would allow for additional supplemental work on the FEIS.

Trilogy said that it would be in discussions with its partners, including NANA Regional Corporation, AIDEA, the Northwest Arctic Borough, the State of Alaska and South32 to understand the potential impact of the decision on AIDEA’s proposed plan and budget for the 2022 summer field season activities that were previously announced.

“Foremost we would like to thank all of the Native villages in the Upper Kobuk Region, and the Northwest Arctic Borough, that have passed resolutions in favour of the Ambler access project. This demonstrates the incredible support for the project from our Native partners. We see this motion as another step in the consultation process leading to the ultimate development of the project and we recognise that subsistence is a key factor not just in the development of the road, but in the development of the Upper Kobuk mineral projects (UKMP), which we believe will have significant positive impacts on the local economy, the provision of high paying stable jobs for Native Alaskans and the production of green metals, such as copper and cobalt which are critical for the decarbonization of the planet,” said president and CEO Tony Giardini.

Trilogy said it believed the five-year permitting process for the Ambler project was carried out in an exhaustive, extensive, and robust manner with considerable outreach and accommodation to affected communities and other related parties.

Citing information provided by AIDEA, the company said that during the 330-day scoping period, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) held 15 public hearings in 13 communities and received more than 7 200 written comments. Subsequently, after the draft environmental impact assessment (EIS) was released in August 2019, the BLM held an additional 18 hearings in rural communities, hearings in two hub communities (Anchorage and Fairbanks), and a hearing in Washington, D.C. The BLM received an additional 29 000 written comments to the draft EIS which were scrutinized and incorporated into the FEIS.

Trilogy Metals holds a 50% interest in Ambler Metals, which owns the UKMP in a joint venture with South32.

The district is one of the richest and most-prospective known copper-dominant districts. It hosts world-class polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits that contain copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver, and carbonate replacement deposits which have been found to host high-grade copper and cobalt mineralisation.

Exploration efforts have been focused on two deposits in the Ambler district – the Arctic VMS deposit and the Bornite carbonate replacement deposit. Both deposits are located within a land package that spans approximately 181 387 ha.