The US Bureau of Land Management is kicking off a new 45-day public scoping period on a contentious Alaskan mining highway, Kallanish reports.

The BLM is seeking public input on the planned Ambler Access Road in northwest Alaska before beginning a court-ordered supplemental environmental impact statement to re-evaluate the 211-mile highway project. The scoping period begins 20 September.

Last May, US District Judge Sharon Gleason granted the US Department of the Interior a voluntary remand to reconsider the previously issued 2020 record of decision that had approved the project. Gleason has suspended but not terminated the project permits.

A new federal review was ordered, after Interior said it had identified deficiencies in the agency’s review of the project. Interior says that errors were made, particularly in failing to deal with road impacts on local tribes, and those errors must be fixed. The new report will look at those deficiencies.

The $350 million road would provide access to the planned copper-zinc-gold-cobalt-lead-silver mining in the Ambler Mining District. The mining-only road would run along the south side of the Brooks Range, extending west from the Dalton Highway and run along the Kobuk River. It would be funded by Ambler Metals and the state of Alaska. The parties must decide by the end of 2024 on building the roadway in three phases over four to six years. Ambler Metals is a joint venture between Trilogy Metals and South32.