The Upper Kobuk Mineral Project

The Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) is a 471,796-acre land package containing state, patented, and Native lands that has been identified as an area of interest for the presence of valuable mineral resources. The two most advanced projects are the feasibility-stage Arctic (copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver volcanogenic massive sulfide) (VMS) project and the Bornite (copper-cobalt carbonate replacement) project. The UKMP also hosts other polymetallic mineral deposits and prospects such as Sunshine, South Cliff, Horse-Cliff, Snow, Nora, Tom Tom, and BT. Ambler Metals, a partnership of Trilogy Metals and South32, enables additional exploration activities intended to increase the mineral inventory of the district.

KEY FACTS

  • The UKMP is a 471,796-acre (190,929-hectare) land package that is over 60 miles long (100 km).

  • Mineralization in the UKMP area is characterized by two discrete mineralized belts: the Devonian Ambler Schist Belt and the Devonian Bornite carbonate sequence.

  • The Ambler Schist Belt hosts VMS deposits in bimodal Devonian volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Several notable VMS deposits, including the Arctic, Dead Creek (Shungnak), Sunshine, Horse-Cliff, Sun, and Smucker deposits, occur in this belt.

  • At Bornite, mineralization is hosted by Devonian clastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks lying immediately south of the Ambler Schist Belt across the Ambler lowlands.