The U.S. Department of War (DoW) has announced a $35.6 million strategic equity investment in Trilogy Metals Inc. to establish a secure, domestic supply of critical minerals, including copper, cobalt, and germanium, essential for national defense systems and the broader U.S. Defense Industrial Base. This partnership, facilitated by the DoW's Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy (IBP) and the Economic Defense Unit (EDU), utilizes the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) program.
Under the agreement, the DoW's investment secures a 10% direct ownership stake and 7.5% in penny warrants in Trilogy Metals, representing a combined U.S. government economic position of 17.5%. These funds will be allocated to support exploration, engineering, and infrastructure development at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) in Northwest Alaska. The UKMP is a 50/50 joint venture, Ambler Metals LLC, between Trilogy Metals and South32 Limited.
Honorable Mike Cadenazzi, Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy, emphasized the importance of the investment, saying, "To build a robust Defense Industrial Base, we must secure the foundational materials that enable it. This partnership with Trilogy Metals is a decisive investment in America's supply chain independence and our long-term national security."
The investment follows the recent approval of the Ambler Road Project, a 211-mile industrial access road deemed crucial for national security to facilitate the extraction of strategic minerals from the remote UKMP district. This project is projected to create over 2,730 construction jobs and 500 long-term mining jobs in Alaska, generating more than $1.1 billion in state revenues, while also driving downstream manufacturing in states like Arizona, Utah, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
George K. Kollitides II, Director of the Economic Defense Unit, added, "This investment puts the taxpayer and our warfighters first by taking decisive action to protect our economy from manipulation, revitalize our industrial base, and create thousands of American jobs that will support our national security for decades to come." The UKMP holds significant deposits, including the Arctic volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit, one of the world's highest-grade undeveloped copper deposits, and the Bornite project, which hosts substantial copper, cobalt, and germanium reserves vital for modern defense and economic infrastructure.