Drilling at Trilogy Metals Inc.’s copper-rich Arctic Deposit in Alaska’s Ambler Mining District. the Democrats’ tax and climate package known as the Inflation Reduction Act into law this week. Experts say that a key provision in the bill could spur mine development in Alaska.
That’s because starting in 2024, 40% of the metals used in electric vehicle battery production — cobalt, manganese, nickel, lithium and graphite — have to be either extracted or processed in the U.S. or a friendly country to qualify for the credit. That figure moves to 80% by 2027. And none can come from so-called “foreign entities of concern” — that means China and Russia.
The U.S. doesn’t have a free trade agreement with Congo. And that means EV manufacturers will have to source their cobalt elsewhere. Maybe from“Cobalt is being prospected right now from the Ambler district,” Watson said. But the company hoping to develop the Ambler Mining District sees the Inflation Reduction Act as an encouraging sign. And not just because of the tax credits for cobalt.tax credits for “advanced manufacturing”“What it boils down to is that the companies that are in mining can write off 10% of the cost of their operations if they produce one single critical mineral,” Fawaz said in an interview.