per-day mine. “Tonne” is a U.K. and Canada weight unit of 2,200 pounds. n Initial capital required would be $503.8 million with additional capital of $363 million during the life of the project. Operating costs are estimated at $98.91 per tonne milled. All-in cost per pound of copper is estimated at $3.35. The study assumes a 4.20 per pound price for copper. n Post-tax Internal Rate of Return is estimated at 20%. The assessment assumes that the Bornite deposit would be developed after the Arctic deposit. Together the two would underpin mining in the area for 30 years, the PEA says. On Trump’s Ambler Road decision, assuming it happens, the effect would be to reverse former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s decision to terminate permits for the road. In April 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management filed the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement which recommended “No Action” as the BLM’s preferred alternative. The Ambler Access Project is being led by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. AIDEA strongly objected to the process used by the BLM to reach a “no build” decision and the effect of the decision to block access to state lands, minerals and federally patented mining claims in the Ambler Mining District. In June 2024, the BLM issued the Record of Decision confirming the selection of the no action alternative and thus denied AIDEA’s application for a right-of-way grant across BLM-managed lands which had been issued to AIDEA on Jan. 5, 2021. In January, President Trump signed the executive order “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” which included a direction to federal agencies to “place a temporary moratorium on all activities” to the record of decision issued in 2024 “in order to review such record of decision in light of alleged legal deficiencies and for consideration of relevant public interests and, environmental impacts … and, as appropriate, conduct a new, comprehensive analysis of such deficiencies, interests and environmental impacts.” President Trump also ordered the BLM to, “reinstate the record of decision signed on July 23, 2020, by the BLM and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The July 2020 record of decision approved the development of the northern, or “Alternative A” route of the 211-mile access road. AIDEA and Ambler Metals believe Haaland’s decision to void the road permits was illegal and a violation of the Alaska National Interest Lands and Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA) which explicitly grants a road corridor right-of-way across federal lands west from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District. — Tim Bradner www.AlaskaAlliance.com 29 Photo Courtesy Trilogy Metals
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