ANCHORAGE, September 22 — Trilogy Metals Inc. said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for the Arctic Mine, a high-grade copper-zinc-silver deposit in Alaska’s Ambler Mining District. The notice, announced by the company on September 21, formally launches the National Environmental Policy Act review and its public scoping phase.
The project is being developed by Ambler Metals, a joint venture owned equally by Trilogy Metals and South32 Ltd. Arctic is the first mine Ambler Metals is advancing toward development. The joint venture holds the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects, a package of state, patented, and Alaska Native lands covering 471,796 acres in the Ambler Mining District.
What the drilling shows
Drilling has outlined more than 2.5 billion pounds of copper, 3.5 billion pounds of zinc, and 57 million ounces of silver in the Arctic deposit. The proposed mine is designed to process 10,000 metric tons per day and, over an initial 13-year mine life, is expected to produce 1.9 billion pounds of copper, 2.2 billion pounds of zinc, 335 million pounds of lead, 36 million ounces of silver, and 423,000 ounces of gold.
Permitting is being coordinated under FAST-41, a federal initiative designed to streamline and increase transparency for permitting large infrastructure projects considered critical to the United States. The federal Permitting Council, which oversees the program, accepted the Arctic Mine for full coverage in April 2026.
After a 60-day review, the Army Corps was named lead permitting agency and a 29-month timetable was set. With the notice of intent submitted on schedule, the FAST-41 process calls for a draft environmental impact statement in October 2027 and a federal record of decision in September 2028. Alaska and Northwest Arctic Borough permitting milestones are being coordinated with the federal review.
“This milestone launches the NEPA review and public scoping phase and keeps us on a timeline to a Record of Decision in September 2028 – materially ahead of the historical norm for comparable federal reviews,” said Trilogy President and CEO Tony Giardini. Ron Rimelman, president and CEO of Ambler Metals, said the company welcomes “this thorough public process as an opportunity to continue to demonstrate our commitment to meeting the highest environmental standards and ensuring Alaskans benefit from this development.”
Construction and a second mine
Once permitted, construction of an open pit mine, ore processing facilities, tailings and waste rock management facilities, water management infrastructure, access roads, airstrip upgrades, and associated support facilities is expected to take three years. That puts the earliest start for a mine at Arctic in 2031. Bornite, which lies on lands owned by NANA Corp., the regional Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act corporation for Northwest Alaska, is currently envisioned as a second operation that would leverage the infrastructure established for Arctic.
According to a 2025 preliminary economic assessment, a mine at Bornite is expected to produce an additional 1.9 billion pounds of copper with cobalt byproducts over 17 years. Studies by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Colorado School of Mines indicate that Bornite could also be a significant source of germanium, a critical metal used in semiconductors, fiber optics, and advanced energy technologies.
The federal stake
The mix of high-grade critical and precious metals found at Arctic, Bornite, and the wider Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects has attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of War, which invested $35.6 million to acquire a 10% equity interest in Trilogy. The Pentagon has also agreed to work with Alaska to help secure the financing needed to build the 211-mile Ambler Road, infrastructure needed to deliver concentrates enriched with copper and other critical metals from mines in the Northwest Alaska mining district into supply chains.
The permitting process can be tracked on the project’s FAST-41 dashboard. Next on the calendar is the public scoping phase now getting under way, followed by the draft environmental impact statement due in October 2027.
