Mining company angling for Alaska mine surges in value after Trump’s election

Donald Trump’s election has boosted a company that’s seeking to build a mine at the end of Alaska’s proposed Ambler road — suggesting that investors expect the new administration to resurrect the stalled development.

Trilogy Metals, which owns half of a joint venture, Ambler Metals, that hopes to develop the Bornite and Arctic deposits on the south side of the Brooks Range, saw its stock price double after Trump’s win.

One share of the company cost 57 cents just before the Nov. 5 election. It was selling at $1.14 on Wednesday — down from $1.35 on Nov. 21, its highest price in more than two years.

“Things are definitely looking a lot better for us than they were about a week or two ago,” Ambler Metals’ managing director, Kaleb Froehlich, said at a Resource Development Council conference in Anchorage last month, shortly after the election. “We do have sort of an opportunity window in Washington, D.C. starting in January.”

It’s a major reversal of fortune for the companies after setbacks during the Biden administration.

Ambler Metals aims to tap into deposits of copper and cobalt near the Northwest Alaska villages of Ambler, Shungnak and Kobuk. The area has long been eyed for mineral development, but it’s remote, and to mine the deposits profitably, an access road is considered crucial.

The road proposal, led by the state of Alaska with support from the mining companies, has been met with fierce opposition from environmental organizations and some Alaska Native groups.

Those opponents include Tanana Chiefs Conference, a consortium of about 40 Interior tribes and villages including some that could be affected by road development.  Critics say the road and future mining could threaten caribou, fish and other aspects of Indigenous subsistence culture.

But the project, pushed by the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, has the support of Alaska’s congressional delegation and some tribal governments in the area. Supporters say development would create rural jobs and stimulate struggling village economies.

Near the end of Trump’s first term, his administration approved a key right-of-way permit for the project, which would cross state, Alaska Native corporation, and federal land, including a 26-mile stretch through Gates of the Arctic National Preserve.

Earlier this year, after a lengthy review, the Bureau of Land Management reversed the 2020 decision, citing threats to the environment and subsistence and harm to Indigenous communities near the road.

Project 2025, a blueprint for an incoming Republican administration written by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, calls on the U.S. Department of the Interior to “immediately approve” the Ambler road. (The Interior chapter was written by William Perry Pendley, who served as acting director of the BLM during Trump’s first term. During his campaign, Trump denied connection to the document.)

Froehlich said Ambler Metals has “lots of alternatives” to move the road project forward. Those could include legislation like Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan’s attempt earlier this year to tack onto a defense spending bill a provision that would rescind the Biden administration’s permit decision.

“All options are on the table right now,” Froehlich said.

Northern Journal contributor Max Graham can be reached at [email protected]. He’s interested in any and all mining related stories, as well as introductory meetings with people in and around the industry.

This article was originally published in Northern Journal, a newsletter from Nathaniel Herz. Subscribe at this link.