This Miner Is Soaring 220% After the Federal Government Invested

Trilogy Metals is developing mining projects in Alaska’s Ambler mining district, which contains deposits of copper, cobalt, gallium, germanium, and more. (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Key Points

• The White House approves the Ambler Road Project to access Alaska’s mineral potential, including copper, cobalt, gallium, and germanium.
• The U.S. government investes $36.5 million in Trilogy Metals, acquiring a 10% stake and warrants for an additional 7.5%.
• Trilogy Metals’ shares surge following the White House announcement.

The Trump Administration is getting more aggressive in addressing the country’s critical mineral needs. That is upending the mining business, and sending shares of a small Canadian miner soaring.

The White House late Monday approved the Ambler Road Project to “unlock Alaska’s mineral potential.” Ambler Road is a proposed industrial road stretching hundreds of miles from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District, which contains deposits of copper, cobalt, gallium, and germanium, among other metals.

Included in the announcement was a $36.5 million investment in Vancouver, British Columbia-based Trilogy Metals , giving the U.S. government a 10% stake in the company. The government will take warrants to purchase an additional 7.5% of the stock.

Trilogy is a small-capitalization mining company, developing projects in the Ambler district. It doesn’t generate significant sales yet. Shares were up 220% in premarket trading at $6.68. That’s more than double the stock’s 52-week high and gives Trilogy a market value of $2.6 billion. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were flat.

The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The investment follows a recent pattern for the Trump administration, which appears willing to use its substantial resources to ensure that supplies of materials, such as copper, needed to run a modern economy are produced in the U.S.

The Defense Department recently became the largest shareholder of rare earth miner MP Materials . Earlier this month, the Energy Department took a stake in lithium miner Lithium Americas.

MP produces mined material and rare earth magnets. Sales in 2025 are estimated to be $285 million, according to FactSet. Trilogy and Lithium America are earlier-stage companies. Neither one generates significant sales yet.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com