Trump administration mulling investment in controversial Alaska mining road
- Alaska Beacon
- 50 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, in Anchorage, described federal investment in the Ambler Road as a smart financial move that could help unlock mineral resources
By Yereth Rosen
Alaska Beacon
The Trump administration has already put money into a huge and controversial mining project by investing in a company that would benefit from the development.
Now the administration is considering putting federal money into another aspect of the project: the proposed Ambler Access Project that would put a 211-mile industrial road through the currently undisturbed lands in the foothills of the Brooks Range mountains.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum discussed the idea of federal investment in the Ambler Road during a brief news conference in Anchorage on Thursday.
“I’d say the discussions are ongoing, but there’s a sense of urgency around this,” he said at the news conference, held at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport during a stopover in a trip by administration officials to an energy conference in Japan. Gov. Mike Dunleavy met with Burgum and other officials during the stopover but was not part of Japan trip.
The Ambler Access Project is sponsored by an Alaska state economic agency, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. It would link the existing road system with the remote Ambler mining district in Northwest Alaska. That region holds large amounts of copper, and that has been much of the focus of exploration to date, though there are other minerals as well in the region.
Trilogy Metals Inc., based in Canada, is the main company operating the Ambler mining district and the company in which the Trump administration has invested $36.5 million. Trilogy has partnered with South32, an Australian mining company, to promote Ambler development.
Burgum said the lack of road access that has stymied commercial development in the remote region is due to change, now that President Donald Trump approved the Ambler Access Project, reversing a Biden administration decision.
Because of Trump’s go-ahead decision, “we think that the financing for the road is actually not going to be that difficult. There’s multiple parties that want to participate,” Burgum said at the news conference.
The Ambler Access Project is planned as an industrial-only road, with no public access, he noted. The plan is for industrial users to repay the government for road construction, and the nation needs the minerals that are in the Ambler region, he said. For those reasons, federal investment in the road makes sense, he said.
“The U.S. is actively considering whether to participate in financing or maybe even be one of the equity partners in that road itself,” he said. Getting enough financial support for the road will not be a problem, he said. “Because the resource there is so rich, I think the road financing will come together,” he said.
In October, when Trump announced his approval of the Ambler project, he also announced the investment in Trilogy Metals, which gained the federal government a 10% stake in the company.
The Ambler Access Project has drawn widespread criticism from environmentalists, tribal governments and others.
Critics of the mining road project have mostly cited environmental factors in their opposition, notably risks to the Western Arctic Caribou Herd and to salmon, both of which are important subsistence resources to hunters and fishers in Indigenous communities in the region.
But critics also object to the idea of public funding for a road to be used only by private industry. Although the project plan calls for the industrial users to repay the state for construction and maintenance, opponents of the Ambler Road argue that the project puts the state at too much financial risk.
On Monday, Ambler Road opponents released a study that found the project would cost the state $2 billion for construction, maintenance and financing.
That estimate is much higher than the cost estimates previously presented by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which is coordinating studies and permitting of the project. A 2024 supplemental environmental impact statement put the cost at $765.2 million.
The new cost report, compiled by engineer Lois Epstein for the organization Defend the Brooks Range, does not consider the type of federal funding proposed by Burgum.
Ambler Road critics said it underscores some of the project’s risks, nonetheless.
“This report tells us what we already knew – this road is a bad deal for Alaskans,” Maddie Halloran, state director at the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement released Monday. “After widespread opposition from Alaskans during the environmental impact statement process, it’s adding insult to injury to have this project pushed through to benefit foreign mining companies. This isn’t economic growth for our state, it’s a giveaway that puts corporate profit ahead of Alaska’s communities and our environment.”
• Yereth Rosen came to Alaska in 1987 to work for the Anchorage Times. She has been reporting on Alaska news ever since, covering stories ranging from oil spills to sled-dog races. She has reported for Reuters, for the Alaska Dispatch News, for Arctic Today and for other organizations. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
