Company to develop metal deposit site in Northwest Alaska

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – An Alaska company is finalizing plans to acquire and develop a site for mining metals that would be exported abroad, a report said.

Trilogy Metals plans to develop an ore extraction site called Artic in northwest Alaska where about 43 million tons (39 million metric tons) of reserves were discovered, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Sunday.

The predominantly copper deposit is located in the Ambler Mining District about 300 miles (483 kilometres) north of Fairbanks.

“It’s mostly a copper story although there’s also zinc, lead and precious metals and some cobalt,” Trilogy Metals President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse said.

Trilogy hopes to finalize its plan to extract and transport metal ore from the site to Asia by the end of this year.

The metal will be transported by truck, rail and ship through the Port of Alaska in Anchorage for processing in Japan, Korea, China or India, according to a feasibility study the company expects to complete by the end of the year.

The site is inaccessible, so a road would have to be built.

“We’ve said from the beginning, no road no mine,” Van Nieuwenhuyse said.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will oversee road construction with other state agencies. The road would offer private, industrial access and be maintained with private funds, federal officials said.

Draft plans for the road are expected to be released in August followed by a 45-day public comment period, officials said.

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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com