The Alaska Miner Spring 2024 10 BY SHANE LASLEY, NORTH OF 60 MINING NEWS Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy is urging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to take these strong resolutions in support of the Ambler Access Project into consideration as it finalizes a reassessment of the federal permits needed to build this 211-mile transportation corridor to the Ambler Mining District. "The resolutions from these tribal communities are a clear indication of the importance of this project," he said. "Their inclusion in the final decision process by the BLM is not only appropriate but essential for a project of this magnitude." Leaders of many of the communities closest to the proposed road agree and feel that their voices are not being heard. "The voices opposing the Ambler Access Project have overlooked the growing support for the project among tribal communities," Vincent Simon Sr., a former chief and second chief for Allakaket Village, penned in an editorial published by Alaska Daily News. "Eleven of the villages closest to the project have voiced their support for the permitting process to proceed." Lying on the southern slopes of the Brooks Range in Northwest Alaska, the Ambler Mining District hosts highgrade deposits and prospects enriched with copper, zinc, lead, cobalt, silver, gold, and other metals. Ambler Metals — a joint venture partnership owned equally by South32 Ltd. and Trilogy Metals Inc. — has consolidated a 448,217-acre land package known as Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects, or UKMP, covering the world-class Arctic and Bornite deposits and more than a dozen earlier-staged mineral targets in the Ambler District. Located only about fifteen miles apart, these deposits host roughly 8.9 billion pounds of copper, 3.6 billion pounds of zinc, 626 million pounds of lead, 88 million pounds of cobalt, 770,000 ounces of gold, and 58.3 million ounces of silver. Future mines at these deposits about 200 miles west of Alaska's road system, however, require a means of delivering concentrates to global markets demanding reliable and responsible sources of copper, cobalt, and other metals. The importance of a road to the Ambler District is so great that U.S. Congress included special provisions in the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) that guarantees the approval of a transportation corridor to this metals-rich region of Northwest Alaska. "Congress finds that there is a need for access for surface transportation purposes across the Western (Kobuk River) unit of the Gates of the Arctic National Preserve (from the Ambler Mining District to the Alaska Pipeline Haul Road) and the Secretary shall permit such access in accordance with the provisions of this subsection." –Section 201 (4) of ANILCA. Villages want voices heard on Ambler Road
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