Trilogy Metals Strikes Paydirt (239%) After Trump Stuffs a $35M Trophy Into His Rock Collection

“Oh yeah, the government’s shut down, Congress is fighting like Mean Girls in the cafeteria… but have you seen my rock collection? It’s incredible. The best rocks. Everyone’s saying so. China’s got pebbles… we’ve got beautiful minerals.” -Trump, probably

After what feels like a short afternoon power nap, Trump’s back to playing SimCity with the U.S. mineral map.

Last night, the White House greenlit permits for a 211-mile “mining road” cutting through Alaska’s Ambler district… a region so remote that even Google Maps throws in the towel halfway. Of course, like any Trump mining move, he’s doing it to crack open America’s next copper motherlode and reduce China’s monopoly on critical minerals.

And because no Trump deal is complete without a little equity action, Uncle Sam decided to throw some cash in too… $35.6 million for a 10% stake in Trilogy Metals (TMQ), a Vancouver-based explorer that just went from “who?” to “holy s***” overnight. The package even includes warrants to grab another 7.5% later (if Donnie so pleases).

(Source: Reuters)

In response, Trilogy’s shares rocketed more than 220% after the news broke. Who would’ve ever thought the US government investing a few million in your business would be more bullish for a company than Warren Buffett throwing a $10 billion bag… but that’s where we are today.

If you don’t spend your weekends mainlining Rick Rule interviews or reading Marin Katusa newsletters for fun, here’s the gist… the Ambler district isn’t some “drill a few holes and pray” kind of mine. It’s been sitting on one of the world’s fattest copper deposits for decades, loaded with enough zinc, cobalt, and lead to power every EV, solar grid, and fighter jet the Pentagon can dream up.

To stir the pot even more… Trump’s executive order reverses Biden’s 2024 decision to block the Ambler Road project over concerns for the region’s caribou and fish populations. Trump’s response? Essentially: “Caribou don’t build F-35s.”

At a signing event in the Oval Office, he said, “This is something that should have been long operating and making billions of dollars for our country.”

This isn’t the first time Washington has mixed investment with “national security.” In july, the feds grabbed a 15% stake in MP Materials (MP)...  a rare-earth miner supplying magnets for EVs and fighter jets. Then came Lithium Americas (LAC)... another North American (aka: Canadian) miner added to the government’s “critical watch list.” GM already owns 38% of that one, so at this point, the whole thing’s starting to look like a group chat investment club. Now, with Trilogy Metals in the portfolio, the U.S. is essentially building a sovereign wealth fund of rocks.

But it’s not without reason… China currently refines nearly 90% of the world’s rare earths and produces about 70% of the global supply. So Washington isn’t just buying mines; it’s buying an insurance policy. If Beijing ever decides to shut off the tap, at least we’ll have a few homegrown (and Canadian-grown) lifelines ready to keep the supply chain alive.

Critics say the move bulldozes indigenous land and fragile ecosystems. Supporters say it’s about damn time America mined its own minerals instead of virtue-signaling while importing everything from Mongolia.

Either way, one thing’s pretty obvious: the U.S. government has developed a serious rock collection… and if there’s even a rumor that Donnie is looking to get some equity in a miner stock, it might be worth adding to the watchlist.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News doesn’t hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.