Trump order adds to Alaska mining tailwinds
Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News, March 24, 2025
American mineral production executive order removes federal hurdles as strong metals prices put winds in Alaska mining sails.
March 20, 2025, will likely be remembered as the day that the federal government pivoted from being one of the largest hurdles to Alaska’s mining sector to a partner in unleashing the extraordinary mineral potential across America’s 49th State.
“It’s time for the U.S. to embrace Alaska’s abundant and largely untapped resources as a pathway to prosperity for the nation, including Alaskans,” U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said during the March 20 announcement that he is taking steps to unleash Alaska’s natural resources potential.
On the same day, President Donald Trump signed the “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production” executive order that puts the weight of the federal government behind reducing the United States’ heavy reliance on mineral imports.
“Our national and economic security are now acutely threatened by our reliance upon hostile foreign powers’ mineral production,” the executive order reads.
To reverse this heavy reliance on mineral imports, the presidential directive focuses largely on streamlining mine permitting and unlocking federal and private sector funding to support domestic mine projects enriched with critical minerals, copper, gold, uranium, and other mined commodities deemed essential to the nation’s economy and energy future.
Alaska, which happens to host 49 out of the 50 U.S. critical minerals and some of the nation’s richest deposits of copper and gold, stands to benefit from Trump’s push for increased domestic minerals production and his overall vision of unleashing Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential.
Combined, the executive orders and other measures fulfill a promise made by Trump just two days after being elected to his second term in the Oval Office.
“During my second term, we will continue the fight for Alaska like never before,” he said during a Nov. 8 address to Alaskans. “We will maximize Alaska’s mining potential.”
Unblocking the Ambler Road
One of the ways Trump plans to maximize Alaska’s mining potential is to reverse actions taken by the Biden administration that delayed the development of a 211-mile road to the Amber Mining District, a region of Northwest Alaska rich in copper, zinc, gold, silver, cobalt, and other minerals critical to the U.S.
During Trump’s first term in office, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service issued a joint record of decision granting a right-of-way to build the Ambler Road across two relatively short segments of federal lands along the 211-mile route that would connect the Ambler Mining District to Alaska’s highway system. Under the Biden administration, however, BLM reversed its previously issued authorization.
The Biden administration’s denial of Ambler Road permits is considered a violation of a guarantee penned into the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
“Congress finds that there is a need for access for surface transportation purposes across the Western (Kobuk River) unit of the Gates of the Arctic National Preserve (from the Ambler Mining District to the Alaska Pipeline Haul Road) and the Secretary shall permit such access in accordance with the provisions of this subsection.” –Section 201 (4) of ANILCA.
To circumvent the spirit of the law, the Biden administration BLM withdrew the right-of-way granted along a 20-mile-wide corridor of federally managed lands alongside the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor and Dalton Highway.
The 20-mile strip of land used to prevent the development of the 211-mile Ambler Road was supposed to be transferred to Alaska years ago but has been tied up in withdrawals that prevent the transfer of ownership to the state.
During his March 20 announcement, Interior Secretary Burgman said BLM will revoke the withdrawals.
“This action would help pave the way forward for the proposed Ambler Road and the Alaska Liquified Natural Gas Pipeline project, two projects that stand to increase job opportunities and encourage Alaska’s economic growth,” the Interior Department stated.
Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, chairman of Valhalla Metals, a mineral exploration and development company advancing a project alongside the proposed Ambler Road, said the actions announced by Burgman and the minerals executive order signed by Trump are great news unlocking the Ambler District’s vast mineral potential.
“As Alaskans know all too well, the Ambler Mining District was first identified as hosting important quantities of copper, zinc, silver, gold, cobalt and germanium in the 1960s,” he said. “It is high time that the federal government recognizes the importance of having a domestic supply of metals that are vital to our economy and our national defense, and is willing to take the actions necessary to achieve that objective.”
Despite the nation’s need for critical minerals and Alaska’s limited transportation infrastructure, the proposed Ambler Road will likely receive renewed opposition from conservation groups and others opposed to development across rural areas of the Far North State.