Trilogy Metals jumps as US reinstates Alaska road permits

[Ben Graham]

Canada’s Trilogy Metals (TSX: TMQ) (NYSE-A: TMQ) saw its shares surge Friday after US authorities reinstated critical federal permits for a controversial 340-km (211-mile) access road in Alaska’s Ambler mining district. 

The Ambler road is seen as vital infrastructure to unlock one of the richest undeveloped copper regions in the world.

Shares rose 15% in New York to US$5.97 and 5% in Toronto to C$7.71, boosting the Vancouver-based company’s market cap to C$1.3 billion.

The US Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) re-issued the permits following President Donald Trump’s recent order to restore approvals originally granted in 2020 but revoked under the Biden administration in 2024.

The reinstated authorizations include a 50-year right-of-way across federally managed lands, enabling AIDEA to resume road planning, engineering updates, and budget preparations.

Trilogy chief executive officer Tony Giardini said the road “will provide access to a mining district that has the potential to strengthen the United States’ ability to secure domestic supplies of copper and other critical minerals.”

Opposition

The Ambler road project remains divisive. Environmental groups and Indigenous communities argue the road would bisect the Western Arctic Caribou Herd’s migration path and damage subsistence lifestyles. The Sierra Club said 89 Tribes and First Nations have formally opposed the project, which would cross Gates of the Arctic National Park.

Earlier this month, the US government invested $35.6 million in Trilogy, becoming a 10% shareholder and acquiring warrants to increase its stake by another 7.5%.

Trilogy owns 50% of Ambler Metals, a joint venture with South32 (ASX, LSE, JSE: S32), which owns the Upper Kobuk mineral projects, including the Arctic and Bornite copper-rich deposits.