Recent announcements by South Korea and Taiwan that they were open to investing $54 billion and $80 billion, respectively, in a new Alaska pipeline that would transport natural gas from Arctic oilfields along a pathway similar to that of the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline have Alaskans both excited and yet skeptical. They have, after all, been waiting for decades.

Should the new pipeline — and new mining projects — come to fruition, by the early 2030s, the 49th state could be in the midst of a new (liquid) gold rush – making the $7.2 million Alaska Purchase, authorized by Secretary of State William Seward, a better bargain than ever.

In mid-September, the U.S. government announced it had become a 10% owner of Trilogy Metals – after closing a $35.6 million investment aimed at advancing Trilogy’s Upper Kobuk Minerals Projects (UKMP) in northwestern Alaska. The properties are held by Ambler Metals, a 50-50 joint venture between Trilogy and Australian miner South32. UKMP is a potential new U.S. source of copper, zinc, and other metals vital to domestic supply chains. Trilogy’s Arctic project was added earlier this year to the FAST-41 program that seeks to improve coordination among federal agencies to accelerate permitting for major infrastructure and critical minerals projects.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/10/26/the-new-alaska-gold-rush-2/?