STATE CAPITALI$M BY ANY OTHER NAME
US government secures 10% stake in Trilogy Metals
The US government has become a 10% owner of Trilogy Metals (TSX: TMQ) after closing a $35.6-million investment aimed at advancing the company’s critical minerals projects in Alaska.
The investment will support exploration and development of the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) in northwestern Alaska. The properties are held by Ambler Metals, a 50/50 joint venture between Trilogy and Australian miner South32 (ASX, LON, JSE: S32).
Trilogy and South32 are expected to split the proceeds and have committed to reinvesting the money in UKMP. Following the transaction, South32’s direct ownership of Trilogy has been diluted to 6% from 10.7%.
The investment deepens Washington’s involvement in a potential new US source of copper, zinc and other metals vital to domestic supply chains.
The government is also backing infrastructure and permitting initiatives that could help unlock the remote Ambler mining district.
Arctic advances
The UKMP covers about 190,929 hectares and includes the high-grade Arctic polymetallic deposit and the Bornite carbonate replacement deposit.
Trilogy’s Arctic project was added in May to the US government’s FAST-41 program, which is designed to improve coordination among federal agencies and accelerate permitting for major infrastructure and critical minerals projects.
The latest technical report outlines a 13-year mine life averaging annual payable production of 149 million lb. copper and 173 million lb. zinc. The proposed operation would also produce 26 million lb. lead, 32,538 oz. gold and 2.8 million oz. silver a year.
Trilogy has submitted its Clean Water Act Section 404 permit application for Arctic to the US Army Corps of Engineers. The company says the Section 404 authorization is the project’s only key federal permit, with other approvals handled by state and local authorities.
Trilogy expects the federal permitting process to conclude in late 2028.
Development remains dependent on securing approvals and infrastructure for a remote region of Alaska. The projects have also faced environmental and indigenous opposition, particularly surrounding construction of an access route through the region.
Road backing
President Donald Trump has directed federal agencies to advance permitting for the proposed 340-km Ambler Road, which would provide industrial access to the UKMP and other mineral projects in the district.
The Biden administration had previously blocked the road over environmental concerns.
The Department of War said it is committed to working in good faith to help facilitate financing for the road in coordination with the State of Alaska and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, which is responsible for the project.
For Trilogy, federal ownership now puts Washington directly on its shareholder register while the government simultaneously works to advance the infrastructure and permitting needed to develop the company’s principal assets.
The investment highlights a broader US push to use government capital, faster permitting and infrastructure support to develop domestic critical mineral supplies and reduce reliance on foreign sources.
Pentagon backs $150M Blue Moon tungsten restart
The US Department of War (DoW) has agreed to invest $450 million in The Elmet Group (ELMT), with $150 million earmarked for Blue Moon Metals’ (TSXV: MOON; Nasdaq: BMM) Springer tungsten complex in Nevada, as Washington pushes to rebuild a domestic supply chain for the strategic metal.
Under a binding agreement with Elmet and Australia’s EQ Resources (ASX: EQR), Blue Moon would receive a $50-million tungsten concentrate prepayment facility and a $25-million equity investment, while Elmet would put another $75 million into a joint venture to restart Springer’s ammonium paratungstate, (APT) plant. Elmet and EQ have set aside a further $25 million if needed for the plant.
ELMT already supplies tungsten to US defense programs, including Patriot and Javelin missile systems, Trident II missiles, and Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines, as well as to aerospace, energy and medical applications.
“This is a major validation event,” Haywood Securities analyst Pierre Vaillancourt said in a note Monday, maintaining his buy rating and $15 target for Blue Moon. Haywood said the financing substantially de-risks Springer while allowing Blue Moon to retain full ownership of the mine and mill.
Scotiabank analyst Eric Winmill also called the transaction positive and maintained a sector outperform rating and $14 target. He said the combination of strategic offtake, downstream participation and government support reduces Blue Moon’s financing and market-access risk while leaving it with the mine and mill and a 20% interest in the APT operation.
Shares in Blue Moon Metals were down 10.04% to $5.11 apiece by mid-day Tuesday in New York, valuing the company at $535 million.
Critical minerals rush
The funding comes from the DoW’s newly established Economic Defense Unit, which coordinates defence-related economic initiatives aimed at accelerating production across the US defence industrial base.
It is also part of a broader US government push to develop domestic sources of critical minerals and reduce reliance on China, which dominates global tungsten production and processing.
“The Department is committed to empowering the American warfighter and workforce,” George K. Kollitides II, director of the Economic Defense Unit, said. “Strengthening the industrial might that powers and protects our way of life.”
The DoW will initially invest $200 million at closing, followed by additional drawdowns. DoW will also receive a redeemable preferred equity, representing up to 19.9% of ELMT’s common stock, and the right to appoint one independent director to the company’s board and one non-voting board observer.
Not just one project
More than $165 million of the investment will go towards ELMT’s US manufacturing facilities in Maine, Michigan and Ohio, where tungsten and other advanced materials are produced, helping to expand production capacity and output and modernize critical defense infrastructure.
Blue Moon’s Springer mine and mill are expected to restart production by the end of 2027, and the APT facility will begin operations by mid-2028, the company said.
“This investment represents an important step toward securing a resilient supply of tungsten, a material that is critical to America’s defense, industrial, and economic future,” Elmet Group CEO Peter V. Anania said.
ELMT will also launch Elmet Refining and Trading (ERT), a new division to coordinate sourcing, refining, and delivery activities across a diversified supply chain. ELMT aims to establish a reliable long-term access to tungsten for the US, Australia, Spain and other allied countries to further develop a supply chain for critical materials independent of China.
ERT will oversee the $150 million investment in a network of key partnerships and deals, including the Mt. Carbine Mine in Australia and the Barruecopardo Mine in Spain.
$2B contract
Separately, Elmet Technologies, a subsidiary of ELMT, has also secured a US government contract worth up to $2 billion to strengthen the long-term resilience of the country’s tungsten supply chain.
The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with the Defense Logistics Agency has a ceiling value of up to $2 billion, including a guaranteed funded commitment of $150 million. It covers the supply of tungsten ores, concentrates and sodium tungstate to the agency’s Strategic Materials.
ELMT does not plan to deliver material into the National Defense Stockpile until sufficient incremental supply becomes available through mining investments, offtake agreements and processing capacity expansions.
The contract includes a five-year base ordering period through August 30, 2031, with a two-year extension option through August 30, 2033, providing a long-term framework to strengthen sources of tungsten.
Bitterroot doubles on $5.2M Pentagon funding
Shares in Bitterroot Resources (TSX-V:BTT) doubled on Tuesday after its US subsidiary secured $5.22 million in government funding to accelerate exploration at the company’s LM nickel-copper project in Michigan.
The stock doubled in price, reaching C$0.16 apiece at 9:45 a.m. in Toronto, before easing to a gain of 82% at C$0.15 later in the session. The US Department of War award will cover half the cost of eligible work, including exploratory drilling, geophysical and geochemical surveys, permitting, labour, equipment and travel.
Trans Superior Resources, Bitterroot’s subsidiary, operates LM and owns 51% of the joint venture, while privately held Below Exploration holds the remaining 49%.
“The non-dilutive funds will reduce our cost of capital and allow the LM project partners to finance and resume an aggressive drilling program,” CEO Michael Carr said in a statement.
The government support gives Bitterroot access to substantial exploration capital without issuing shares as the partners pursue the source of high-grade nickel-copper massive sulphide fragments encountered during earlier drilling.
Deeper drilling
Previous exploration at LM included 7,565 metres across 26 core holes reaching depths of 300 metres. Ten holes intersected disseminated, semi-massive or massive sulphide nickel-copper-platinum group metal mineralization within what the company interprets as a magma conduit.
Trans Superior plans to begin a 15- to 20-hole drilling program in the December quarter, with holes ranging from 500 to 700 metres. The campaign will test the interpreted conduit at depths of 400 to 700 metres, extending exploration well below the previous drilling.
Borehole electromagnetic work and other geophysical surveys will help refine targets as drilling progresses. The central objective is to locate the source of the high-grade massive sulphide fragments identified in earlier work, which could help determine whether a larger mineralized system exists at depth.
The LM project is in Michigan’s Baraga basin, a district that also hosts Talon Metals’ (TSX:TLO) Eagle nickel-copper mine.
Bitterroot Resources’ stock was up 81.5% midday Tuesday in Toronto. The company has a C$18.3 million ($13.1 million) market capitalization.
Milford Mining gets $25M funding to expand Utah facilities
Milford Mining Company Utah (MMCU) has received a conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Business & Industry Loan Guarantee Program for $25 million in financing to support planned investments in the company’s mining and processing operations in Milford.
MMCU operates a fully permitted mining and processing complex in Beaver County producing both copper cathode and copper concentrate. The company said its eponymous mine hosts diverse minerals including tungsten, antimony and other rare earth elements, adding that there are significant untapped exploration potential across its 62,000-acre property.
The Milford mine was idled for years, but reopened under MMCU management in 2023.
The company said will invest the funds to expand its facilities, aiming to double its copper throughput by the end of next year. The expansion is anticipated to create approximately 100 new jobs in rural Utah, adding to the company’s current 180-person workforce.
The proposed 16.5-year arrangement will be privately financed through a specialist division of Kentucky-based Magnolia Bank. On completion of the financing, the investment will support capital improvements designed to modernize processing equipment, remove operational bottlenecks, improve efficiency and double the company’s production capacity, it said.
“This financing represents an important milestone for the long-term future of our operations in Utah,” MMCU chairman Roger Barris said in a news release. “…We will make significant investments that strengthen our ability to supply copper and other critical minerals to American industry. Just as importantly, we will support the creation of new jobs and continued economic opportunity.”
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