The clock on one of Alaska’s biggest proposed copper projects started on Monday, September 21, 2026. Trilogy Metals Inc. said in a company announcement that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had published a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for its Arctic Project in the Ambler Mining District of northwestern Alaska. Everything below comes from the company’s statement, and the schedule is the company’s description of the plan.
Publishing the notice formally opens the federal review under the National Environmental Policy Act and begins public scoping. During scoping the agency invites comments from the public, local residents, regional organizations, Tribes and other stakeholders, to help decide which issues and alternatives the statement should examine.
Who is behind it
Arctic is a copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver deposit. It is being advanced by Ambler Metals LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Trilogy and South32 Limited. South32 exercised its option to form that venture on December 19, 2019. The Army Corps is the lead federal agency. It received Ambler Metals’ Clean Water Act Section 404 permit application, filed on April 20, 2026.
The timetable
The notice is the first key federal milestone on a coordinated federal and state schedule that the Permitting Council posted to its Permitting Dashboard in July 2026. The Army Corps and its cooperating agencies have committed to an estimated 29-month integrated review. Trilogy says that is well ahead of the historical baseline for comparable federal reviews.
The targets as the company laid them out:
A draft Environmental Impact Statement in October 2027. A Record of Decision in September 2028. Overall completion of the remaining federal and state authorizations in November 2028, with State of Alaska and Northwest Arctic Borough permitting running at the same time.
Tony Giardini, Trilogy’s president and CEO, said reaching the notice on schedule “underscores the discipline and coordination that FAST-41 brings to the Arctic Project.” He pointed to U.S. reliance on foreign nations for much of its copper.
Ron Rimelman, president of Ambler Metals, said the company welcomes the public process and wants to meet the highest environmental standards. “Earning and maintaining our social license to operate is essential,” he said, adding that the company intends the project to support traditional and subsistence lifestyles.
The ground it sits on
Ambler Metals holds the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects, in a land package of approximately 190,929 hectares. It has an agreement with NANA Regional Corporation, Inc., an Alaska Native Corporation, that sets a framework for exploration and possible development in cooperation with local communities. Exploration has concentrated on two deposits: the Arctic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit and the Bornite carbonate replacement deposit. The company’s stated aim is to turn the district into a premier North American copper producer while protecting subsistence livelihoods.
Next on the calendar is the scoping period now under way, followed by the draft statement.
