What aspects of Trilogy Metals' resources have got the attention of the U.S. government and why? Critical metals that exist within the district that are already identified by the U!S. Government are copper, zinc, and silver. Today's guest is a supporting sponsor of Liberty & Finance. Welcome back to Liberty & Financial. I'm always glad to have this returning guest. Tony Giardina is the President and CEO of Trillogy Metalls. He joins us today is Monday, September 14th, 2026. And thank you very much, Tony, for joining us here again on Liberty and Finance. Thanks for having us, Donovan. It's been too long. A lot's changed since I think the last time we talked. So I'm looking forward to just catching up with you and giving you a little bit of update of what's happening with Trilogy. We'd love that. The last time that you were on here, we had big news that had been long awaited, and that was progress on approvals for the uh road that was going to provide access to your made project we'd like to hear more about that um and but now it sounds like there's just absolute breakthrough of investment by the u.s department of war in your company as a strategic partner towards strategic goals of the u s uh can you go ahead and let us know right away september 11th it was just announced the big news about that. Yeah, sure. And you're absolutely right. We had a breakthrough last year in October. And really what's happened now is we finally closed the transaction with the Department of War. It was a fairly long drawn out process. The Department of war had to go through Congress in terms of funding. So that delayed the process. And there were some personnel changes within the department. And so it took a little longer than we would have liked. But the good thing is the transaction is done. It's closed. The funding has happened. Those funds are going to go into the droid venture. And what they will allow us to do will continue to advance a project. And I think, again, the big news really isn't about the circa $35 million that has been vested by the DOW. It is really about the Dow coming in and being a partner with us in advancing this project on a go forward basis. And I think that speaks to what you had mentioned earlier, which is really, it's about critical metal sack strategy. It's about domestic sources of production for domestic purposes. And we see a pathway where the Amblin Mining District will be part of that. And so we're very much welcome having a Department of War as an investor in trilogy at the trilogy level, 10%, 5% acquired from Troji and 5% acquired from SUS32. So I think it's a new dawn for us as we move forward here. If you could, for those we have a rapidly growing base of subscribers and viewers across multiple platforms, if you could give us the elevator speech on what makes Trilogy, what is the central focus and strength of Trilgy that differentiates it from other companies that they may be considering? Yeah. So Trilogy is focused on two projects up in the great state of Alaska. And these projects have been around for a long time. And one's called Arctic and the other one's call Bornex. So I'll speak a little bit about Arctic and then give a bit of color on BorneX. So Arctic is a deposit that is a polymetallic deposit, what's called a VMS deposit. It's a copper, zinc, lead, silver, gold deposit. And what really makes a difference with respect to this project is the high grade of the resource. So it's about 50 million tons. There's 5% copper at current commodity prices, and that's an open pit project. So what it gives us is size and scale and grade, which is very difficult to find. And the biggest challenge that we've had with Arctic isn't that the quality of deposit wasn't good enough or the size of a deposit wasn'T large enough. It was really about a lack of infrastructure into the district. And we've been trying to unlock that. And I think since the Trump administration was reelected in 2024, what we've seen is a real sea change in terms of the administration's direction with respect to critical metals. And we benefited from that. And I would say the key things that have happened for us in really unlocking the value in the district is this administration's focus on domestic metals for domestic purposes, as I said earlier, and not just getting the investment from the Department of War, but really getting the Department War side by side with us as we work to unlock the region and look to develop the road that's needed to advance the project. And then the other thing that's happened is that independent of a Department of War, the Department of Interior has come in and undertaken a number of actions which will ensure that the permitting process for the road will move forward on a hopefully unimpeded basis. Although, you know, there's always going to be litigation with respect to these types of projects simply because there's environmental and other groups that are going to hold us to account and want to really challenge any of the changes that are out there. So we expect that to continue. But we're on the strongest footing that we've ever been on. So we're super excited about what the future holds for us. And I would say that what differentiates us from other projects is we've got the full support of the U.S. government, as we've seen with this investment. It's a very high-grade deposit. There's not really any other deposits out there that have the type of grade that we have in an open-pit environment. We have size and scale, and there's lots of upside in terms of developing the district. We already have a partner in CELS 32. CEL 32 has invested about $200 million to earn their 50% stake within the JV and have an equity investment in trilogy. So we're very well positioned. And I think for us, it's really just the beginning of advancing and unlocking the value of the district. Before we zoom in on some of those particular areas of progress being made, it's a phenomenon that's happening in our world at this time. It's not just in the U.S., it's globally. This idea of countries identifying, enunciating what strategic materials they're concerned about and securing and locking down either domestic or friendly supplies of those. Can you help draw a spotlight on what aspects of Trilogy Metals resources have got the attention of the U.S. government and why? Yeah, that's a great question. And I don't think it's one metal in particular. It's really about the district and the potential in the district. I mean, it's only been since 2025 that copper was added to the critical metals list by the Geological Survey in the U!S. So critical metals that exist within the district that are already identified by the U.S. government are copper, zinc, and silver. And in addition, boronite, which I didn't really mention earlier, I thought I was going to, so I'll talk a little bit about it now. Boronite also has cobalt present in the inferred resources that are in boronate. And then in the greater district, we know that there is germanium and we know that there's gallium as well. So very close to us is what used to be the largest zinc mine in the world. I don't know if they still are, but Red Dog Mine is owned by Tech and Nana, which is a native corporation, Alaska Native Corp. And it produces primarily zinc, but there's a large germanium production that finds its way into the U.S. through a trail tax processing facility in Trail Bridge, Columbia. And so those are the critical metals that are there. And I think when the U。S. government looked at the strategy and looked at the potential that exists, that's what really encouraged them and inspired them. And they know that it is really about unlocking the district. So, Arctic, as it exists today, has probably about a 14-year mine life, maybe a little longer. But we know that there's lots of upside in the district and the strike length of the Arctic deposit extends for about 70 miles, 100 kilometers in Canadian terms, 70 in US terms. And so, there's lot of exploration potential. And then on top of that is the Borneo deposit, which is about 20 miles away, which has an inferred resource of over 200 million tons with excellent potential as well. So that's what's attracted the interest of the U.S. government. That's what attracted South32 to come into this project in 2019, 2020. And I think it's really started to resonate with investors in a big way, especially as we start to unlock all of the focus or the issues that have held us back in the past. You mentioned in passing a shift in emphasis to a friendly environment in the current administration to approve the Ambler Road, which was the critical access people have talked about in real estate for some time. Two things you always have to ask is where's the water going to come from and how you're going to get access to that property before you can tell me anything else about the virtues of a property. So those, the Ambler Road hold up of permitting was actually a major impediment that kind of dimmed the spotlight on the value of the resources themselves. Can you first talk to us about the resources? You've given us a quick overview here, but if you could help us understand what stage we're at on the major portions of that resource from exploration to development to moving towards production and so on and readiness and if there is a timeline target in place for those next stages so people can understand where we're at about the resource and the stage of development that we're in. Sure. I'll talk about the resource, and then I'll come back to the road and give you a bit of color about, as you said, the access to water and how the road sort of fits in infrastructure. So let's talk about the resource first. Arctic, I mentioned earlier, is about 50 million tons at 5%. But the real thing about Arctic is the upside in the district and the potential to increase it further. And the way these volcanic mesosulfide BMS deposits occur. They occur in clusters. There's a great slide in our presentation deck that shows the top tier VMS projects in the world. And what it shows is how these things have extended for 70, 80 years. And when you look at the Arctic deposit and the Burnett deposit, and we show how much exploration has happened, it's really a white page with a few dots on it and why is that because it just hasn't been the amount of drilling that and that has happened in these other camps so our full expectation is that this is going to be a district that's going to extend for multi decades multi decades and i won't be surprised if it's operating for 50 60 70 years once the discoveries occur in and around arctic so so that's point number one it's not just about the 50 million tons that we already have a five percent but it's really about the exploration potential that exists in the district. In addition to that, we've got this other deposit, which I mentioned, which is Boronite, which was 20 miles away and roughly 200 million tons, close to one and a half percent. Within that, there's probably about 40 million tons at about 3% copper. So we've looked at a preliminary economic assessment where we could extend Boronike and process it through the Arctic Nile, assuming we didn't find anything else at Arctic on a go-forward basis, and we feel very confident that the mine life would vary much more than double just based on what we know with respect to Boronite now. We're updating that PEA to factor in higher metal prices, and we expect to come out with that shortly, and once we do, I think people will be very surprised when they see the potential life that exists just from a deposits that we know without finding anything else. So on ARCTIC, we have a feasibility study that was conducted by Trilogy. The basis for that was a PFS at the JV level, which is a joint venture between ourselves and Cell32. We're actually going to take that JV PFS and take it to an FS stage. So we're in the process of getting ready to do that, and that will occur over the next 18-month period. We're also in the permitting process for the mine. So we started the FAST-41 permitting process. And we've indicated that that, you know, expect to have all the approvals by sometime around September 2028. So that process is unfolding as we had hoped. And We have to be accepted into that program. We're coordinating the work between the great state of Alaska and the federal government. We don't see any impediments in terms of moving that forward. And we have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the party that's representing the federal government. So things are moving forward well. So what we're seeing is a pathway where the permitting on the mine will happen. The definitive feasibility study will happen, it will put us in a position to make an investment decision sometime in 2028, hopefully, and then we go forward for mayor. So with respect to the road, we're working with the state of Alaska. And the good thing is we're not reinventing the wheel here. The process that we're following is pretty much what led to the development of the Red Dog Mine. And the Red Dog Mine was developed by TEC in coordination with NANA. But the party from the state of Alaska was the ADA, which is the development agency in the state of Alaska. And ADA is a party that will be building the road. So ADA is working right now on geotech work with respect to the road, we hope to get an estimate on the cost of a road. The last time an estimate was done was a number of years ago. So that needs to be updated. It's going to definitely be more, but commodity prices are materially higher. So we see a pathway for that to advance. And I think a big part of this road isn't just about what it means for opening up the mining district, because the road's going to be a private access road only. But what it will also do is help some of the communities in and around the Ambler Mining District in terms of bringing their cost of living down. So Donegan, you're in Florida, if I recall. So I don't know what a gallon of gas is in Florida these days, but I suspect it's probably around six bucks or somewhere in that neighborhood. So up in these villages in Alaska where they have to either bring it in, barge it in or they have bring it by snowmobile in the wintertime. Right now, it's around $25 to $28 a gallon. So they need to bring their cost of living down. And it's not just gasoline, because we're talking about heating, fuel, oil, other supplies, and so on. So when we look at the road, we see it fitting in, not just obviously with the development of Arctic and hopefully border in the district as a whole, but we see a tie-in into these communities that will hopefully be able to benefit from the ability to bring in fuel and be able to charge what effectively is the purchase price plus the transportation cost, as opposed to having So there's lots of opportunities to see these communities benefit. And working with ADA, we expect that, you know, ADA will bring in the Alaska Native Corporations, Nana and Doyon, in a hopeful partnership with respect to the road. And that will allow us to unlock the district. And the idea will be that Ada will build the road. We will enter into a tolling arrangement where we will pay a toll for the use of a road. And that's how the road will ultimately be paid for and financed over time. And right now, the road is envisioned to have a 50-year life. But as I said earlier, the district itself has the potential to go much longer than that. Could you talk to us about the team that is going to be working on this, getting this into production? Rick Rule, who visits our channel approximately monthly here on Liberty and Finance, is well known to our audience. And he says, if you find people who've been serially successful, you're likely to have a good outcome. It sounds like a lot of, I would say, official roadblocks have been knocked down, and the road is literally and figuratively being cleared to making progress. Now, who are the people that are making the progress together? So the Trilogy team, you know, I encourage your listeners to go onto our website, trilogymetals.com, and have a look at the team, and you'll be able to see who the management team is, but also, as well, who's on the board. So one of our board members, Jim Gowans, was instrumental in the construction of the Red Dog Mine back in the day and the road and everything else. And so we've got lots of support within the leadership team at the board level, but also within the management team in terms of taking on projects and building them. Then we have a partnership with South 32. So South 32 is a large Australian mining company with worldwide operations. They're in the process of completing the construction of the Hermosa mine in Arizona right now. They're also partners in the Cerro Gordo mine, which is a large copper mine in Chile. They have lots of experience just in building and running mines. So they're a JV partner. So we're working collaboratively with them in terms of putting a management team in place. And we have a management Team at the JV. And that's being led by a person called Ron Rimmelman, who was associated with Nova Gold previously in the Donlon permitting process. And we're building that team out to get us to feasibility study and then have a team in place to build a project. So between the Trilogy team, the SO32 team, we feel we've got lots of strength and ability to bring this project forward and advance it and get it into construction. And then, as I said before, at the beginning of a discussion that was pretty much tied to what you mentioned, Don, again, which was the Department of War. What the Department of War brings to the table is really this intangible that you're going to work with us to help advance the road. And as part of our investment with the Department Of War, we issue warrants to them at zero cost. And someone might say, well, why would you guys do that? And the reason why we did that was because those warrants are actually tied to the road, so those warrents only kick in if a road is completed. So we feel that our alignment and the Department of War's alignment in getting this road financed and built is in place. And we're looking forward to working with them to help us abase the project. So I think you've got that combination of the corporate strength necessary within Trilogy and South 32 and the JB with the government support at certainly the Department of Interior and now Department of War and the Trump administration overall looking to advance this project. And we have these Alaska Native corporations, NANA, who would benefit directly because they have the ability to get a net profit interest or actually a direct ownership in the mines that are built in the district. And Doyon, which wouldn't benefit in the same way that NANA would, but would benefit through procurement and employment opportunities in the District. And the road, even though it would be a private access road, would definitely benefit some of its communities. And it would open up areas that are closer to doy on and tied to doi on lands. So I think there's a real value associated with the road in terms of the economic developments. And, you know, things are looking good in Alaska right now in terms OF potential future developments with LNG and natural gas and pipelines. But I think mining has been a part of the economic fabric of a state, and we expect it to continue to be that. And the good thing is NANA is well-versed in mining because of their involvement with the Red Dog Mine. And I would say we've got good support within the NANA community. Is it unanimous? Absolutely not. There's always going to be people that just, for different reasons, don't want to see these type of projects advance. But I would say that we've got the support of the community. And, you know, one of the factors is that Red Dog is in sort of the last two years of operation. And Red Dog istated to stop mining in 2028. They actually stopped processing in 2032. They have a satellite deposit that sits outside of the current mining area that they're hoping to bring in. And, you know, every expectation is that that will be approved in advance. But it's not certain that there won't be a gap between whether Red Dog continues and the new mine comes on stream and whether the existing operation has to go on care and maintenance. And the communities and the areas around the Red Dog mine very much depend on Red Dog for jobs. There's 700 direct jobs at Red Dog, but these communities also receive payments in lieu of taxes and other payments into the community. So those are going to be critical components in terms of the community itself, really evaluating and thinking about how a new mine can help sustain that community, help ensure that there's employment opportunities in that community and provide revenue basis for the greater Northwest Arctic borough. This is one of the examples, and it's a good one, the way you've laid it out, that Rick Rule reminds our audience about the win-win-win nature of a lot of these opportunities. And perhaps this is one OF the best examples we've talked about in some time because of the grade and the scale and the location and now the favorable wind in the sails, but also the benefit to the local communities and certainly the potential benefits to prospective investors. For prospective investors who want to find out more about Trilogy Metals, where do you recommend that they take the next step after watching this video? Well, I think the first place to go is go to our website, Trilogymetals.com. Have a look there. There's presentations, a lot of discussions about what we've talked about. and we trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and on the American Exchange in the U.S. Most of our volume is, in fact, in the US, and most of our shareholders are American, and most của our management team, certainly up in Alaska, are American. So there's a real strong focus on continuing to build out the team in Alaska and advance this project. So I would say the first step is go to our website. There's lots of updates with respect to the company itself that you can find on YouTube and probably not a bad place to start just to see how we've progressed from where we were to where we are and whether we've been able to deliver on what we said we were going to do. And I feel pretty good about that. We're going to be down at the Beaver Creek Conference covering up later this month in September at Beaver Greek in Colorado. We're also going to the Denver Gold Show, So, there should be some presentations that will come out after that. It's probably not a bad place to follow up and sort of see what's happening. And we expect some further announcements in terms of advancing the project. We just had a successful field program. The field program was more focused on geotechnical and some of the holes that we need for the definitive feasibility study and for permitting. but I think we'll have some good results coming out of that in terms of where we're going, and we'll Have some announcements about what's happening on the permitting front and how we're looking at that definitive feasibility study coming up. So lots of news expected in the near term. We will put links in the description of this video, folks. Look in the subscription. You'll find links to the news announcement about the Department of War Investment in Trilogy Metals. You'll also see a link to the corporate presentation that we're gonna show you that we've showed you two slides of during this about both the top tier VMS deposits worldwide as well as the Ambler Road and where it sits within the project. We've been speaking with Tony Giardini, the president and CEO of Trilogy Metals. Tony, thank you for joining us again here on Liberty and Finance. Well done again. Thanks for having us back. It's been too long. We'll look forward to catching up soon.