First Ambler prospect set for permitting process
Trilogy Metals’ Arctic site holds untapped potential
BY ELWOOD BREHMER
For The Alaska Miner More than 60 years after it was initially prospected, Trilogy Metals is almost ready to apply for the major environmental permits it will need for the first project in one of Alaska’s premier areas with mining potential. Trilogy Metals Inc. CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse said that the company has started pre-permitting work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its Arctic copper, zinc and precious metals prospect in advance of an environmental impact statement that should be initiated in the first half of 2019. The Clean Water Act Section 404 wetlands fill per- mit from the Corps — large enough to trigger an EIS — is likely the only federal permit the mine will need, Van Nieuwenhuyse said, noting the Environmental Protection Agency has oversight of the water and air quality permits issued by the State of Alaska. The Arctic prospect is roughly in the middle of the extensive Ambler mining district. Stretching for about 75 miles along the southern flank of the Brooks Range, there are more than 30 known metal deposits in the district, but its remoteness has precluded significant development. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is leading development of the Ambler Ac- cess project, a 211-mile industrial road to spanning the length of the large the mining district. The Bureau of Land Management is writing a sep- arate EIS for the road. BLM initially set a March 2019 target to release the Ambler road draft EIS, but AIDEA spokesman Karsten Rodvik said the new goal is to have the draft out for public review in about August. Rodvik said the consulting firm HDR Inc. is work- ing with BLM on the Ambler EIS and is under contract with AIDEA, so as of this writing there was work for the company do to despite the partial government shutdown. The National Park Service is also preparing an envi- ronmental and economic analysis that is expected to be out this spring.
“This project is in the middle of nowhere and this road has been studied, discussed, many, many, many times,” Van Nieuwenhuyse said in an October presen- tation. AIDEA estimates constructing the most basic grav- el road would cost between $305 and $346 million. It would be financed by the authority with bonds that would be paid back through tolls paid by Trilogy Met- als and any other companies that would develop one of the other prospects in the Ambler mining district. The plan is very similar to the Red Dog mine-De- Long Mountain Transportation System — also an AIDEA-owned and financed mine access road — in far Northwest Alaska that development proponents have cited as a model for other isolated resource prospects in the road-scarce state. At its core, the Arctic prospect is about as good as undeveloped metal deposits come these days, accord- ing to Van Nieuwenhuyse. With just more than 43 million metric tons of probable reserves averaging 2.3 percent copper, 3.2 percent zinc and smaller amounts of lead, gold and silver, it’s “about 10 times the aver- Photos courtesy Trilogy Metals Inc. Norm Tickett, at the Trilogy project, one of several shareholders that will benefit from the Ambler Road.
The Alaska Miner
January 2019
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