The U.S. Bureau of Land Management released a long-anticipated Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a 211-mile minerals access road from the Dalton Highway in the central Brooks Range to the Ambler Mining District to the west. BLM’s action was accompanied by release of U.S. National Park Service assessments of parts of the road crossing the Gates of the Arctic National Park. Both are key regulatory milestones for the road, which would be critical new infrastructure if built.

The road, a project of the state’s Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, would serve two projects now in advanced exploration and development by Trilogy Metals, a Vancouver, B.C.-based exploration firm. One is Arctic, is a high-grade mostly copper prospect. Trilogy expects to complete a formal Feasibility Study for Arctic in the first part of 2020, as well as to begin permit work. Trilogy is doing $7 million in geotechnical and engineering work there this summer along with $9 million program in exploration at Bornite, a nearby deposit that is also copper.