Trilogy Metals Inc. 10-Q

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations Trilogy Metals Inc. Management’s Discussion & Analysis For the Quarter Ended February 28, 2025 (expressed in US dollars) Cautionary notes Forward-looking statements This Management’s Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) contains “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and other applicable securities laws. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding the Company’s work programs and budgets; perceived merit of properties, exploration results and budgets, the Company and Ambler Metals’ funding requirements, mineral reserves and resource estimates, work programs, capital expenditures, operating costs, cash flow estimates, production estimates and similar statements relating to the economic viability of a project, timelines, strategic plans, statements regarding Ambler Metals’ plans and expectations relating to its Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (the “UKMP”, as defined below), sufficiency of the Ambler Metals’ cash to fund the UKMP, market prices for precious and base metals, statements regarding the Ambler Access Project ( also known as the Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project, “AMDIAP”) , or other statements that are not statements of fact. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Statements concerning mineral resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute “forward-looking statements” to the extent that they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered if the property is developed. ​ Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as “expects”, “is expected”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “plans”, “projects”, “estimates”, “assumes”, “intends”, “strategy”, “goals”, “objectives”, “potential”, “possible” or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events, conditions or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “should”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made, as well as on a number of material assumptions, which could prove to be significantly incorrect, including about: ● our ability to achieve production at the UKMP; ● the accuracy of our mineral resource and reserve estimates; ● the results, costs and timing of future exploration drilling and engineering; ● timing and receipt of approvals, consents and permits under applicable legislation; ● the adequacy of our financial resources; ● the receipt of third party contractual, regulatory and governmental approvals for the exploration, development, construction and production of our properties and any litigation or challenges to such approvals; ● our expected ability to develop adequate infrastructure and that the cost of doing so will be reasonable; ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Trilogy Metals Inc. For the Quarter Ended February 28, 2025 15 ​ Table of contents ● continued good relationships with South32, our joint venture partner, as well as local communities and other stakeholders; ● there being no significant disruptions affecting operations, whether relating to labor, supply, power damage to equipment or other matter; ● expected trends and specific assumptions regarding metal prices and currency exchange rates; and ● prices for and availability of fuel, electricity, parts and equipment and other key supplies remaining consistent with current levels. We have also assumed that no significant events will occur outside of our normal course of business. Although we have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. We believe that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date of this MD&A. However, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: ● risks related to inability to define proven and probable reserves; ● risks related to our ability to finance the development of our mineral properties through external financing, strategic alliances, the sale of property interests or otherwise; ● uncertainty as to whether there will ever be production at the Company’s mineral exploration and development properties; ● risks related to our ability to commence production and generate material revenues or obtain adequate financing for our planned exploration and development activities; ● risks related to lack of infrastructure including but not limited to the risk whether or not the Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project, or AMDIAP, will receive the requisite permits and, if it does, whether the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority will build the AMDIAP; ● risks related to inclement weather which may delay or hinder exploration activities at our mineral properties; ● risks related to our dependence on a third party for the development of our projects; ● none of the Company’s mineral properties are in production or are under development; ● commodity price fluctuations; ● uncertainty related to title to our mineral properties; ● our history of losses and expectation of future losses; ● risks related to increases in demand for equipment, skilled labor and services needed for exploration and development of mineral properties, and related cost increases; ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Trilogy Metals Inc. For the Quarter Ended February 28, 2025 16 ​ Table of contents ● uncertainties relating to the assumptions underlying our resource estimates, such as metal pricing, metallurgy, mineability, marketability and operating and capital costs; ● uncertainty related to inferred mineral resources; ● mining and development risks, including risks related to infrastructure, accidents, equipment breakdowns, labor disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in development, construction or production; ● risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of our mineral deposits; ● risks related to governmental regulation and permits, including environmental regulation, including the risk that more stringent requirements or standards may be adopted or applied due to circumstances unrelated to the Company and outside of our control; ● the risk that permits and governmental approvals necessary to develop and operate mines at our mineral properties will not be available on a timely basis or at all; ● changes in U.S. laws and policies regulating international trade, including currently imposed and any future potential tariffs; ● risks related to the need for reclamation activities on our properties and uncertainty of cost estimates related thereto; ● risks related to the acquisition and integration of operations or projects; ● our need to attract and retain qualified management and technical personnel; ● risks related to conflicts of interests of some of our directors and officers; ● risks related to potential future litigation; ● risks related to market events and general economic conditions; ● risks related to future sales or issuances of equity securities decreasing the value of existing Trilogy common shares, diluting voting power and reducing future earnings per share; ● risks related to the voting power of our major shareholders and the impact that a sale by such shareholders may have on our share price; ● uncertainty as to the volatility in the price of the Company’s common shares; ● the Company’s expectation of not paying cash dividends; ● adverse federal income tax consequences for U.S. shareholders should the Company be a passive foreign investment company; ● risks related to global climate change; ● risks related to adverse publicity from non-governmental organizations; ● uncertainty as to our ability to maintain the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting as per the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; and ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Trilogy Metals Inc. For the Quarter Ended February 28, 2025 17 ​ Table of contents ● increased regulatory compliance costs, associated with rules and regulations promulgated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Canadian Securities Administrators, the NYSE American Stock Exchange (“NYSE American”), the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”), and the Financial Accounting Standards Boards(“FASB”), and more specifically, our efforts to comply with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company’s forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements about the future and are inherently uncertain, and actual achievements of the Company or other future events or conditions may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation, those referred to in Trilogy’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2024, filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the SEC on February 14, 2025, and other information released by Trilogy and filed with the appropriate regulatory agencies. The Company’s forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management’s beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, except as required by law. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. General This Management’s Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) of Trilogy Metals Inc. (“Trilogy”, “Trilogy Metals”, “the Company” or “we”) is dated April 2, 2025 and provides an analysis of our unaudited condensed interim financial results for the quarter ended February 28, 2025 compared to the quarter ended February 29, 2024. The following information should be read in conjunction with our February 28, 2025 unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements and related notes which were prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The MD&A should also be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes for the year ended November 30, 2024. A summary of the U.S. GAAP accounting policies is outlined in note 2 of the audited consolidated financial statements. All amounts are in United States dollars unless otherwise stated. References to “Canadian dollars” and “CDN$” are to the currency of Canada and references to “U.S. dollars”, “$” or “US$” are to the currency of the United States. Richard Gosse, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration of the Company, is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) and S-K 1300, and has approved the scientific and technical information in this MD&A. Trilogy’s shares are listed on the TSX and the NYSE American under the symbol “TMQ”. Additional information related to Trilogy, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2024, is available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Description of business We are a base metals exploration company focused on the exploration and development of mineral properties, through our equity investee, in the Ambler mining district located in Alaska, U.S.A. We conduct our operations through a wholly owned subsidiary, NovaCopper US Inc. which is doing business as Trilogy Metals US (“Trilogy Metals US”). The UKMP were contributed into a 50/50 joint venture named Ambler Metals LLC (“Ambler Metals”) between Trilogy and South32 Limited (“South32”) on February 11, 2020 (see below). The projects contributed to Ambler Metals consist of: i) the Ambler lands which host the Arctic copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver project (the “Arctic Project”); and ii) the Bornite lands being explored under a collaborative long-term agreement with NANA Regional Corporation, Inc., a regional Alaska ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Trilogy Metals Inc. For the Quarter Ended February 28, 2025 18 ​ Table of contents Native Corporation, which hosts the Bornite carbonate-hosted copper project (the “Bornite Project”) and related assets. The Company may also conduct early-stage exploration through a wholly owned subsidiary, 995 Exploration Inc. Corporate and project activities Bornite Preliminary Economic Assessment On January 15, 2025, the Company announced the positive results of its Preliminary Economic Assessment Study (“Bornite PEA”) for the Bornite copper project. Highlights of the Bornite PEA include the following: ● 1.9 billion pounds of copper over 17-year mine life; ● Potential to extend mine activity for the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects to over 30 years; ● Pre-tax net present value (“NPV”) 8% of $552.0 million and an internal rate of return (“IRR”) of 23.6%; and ● After-tax NPV 8% of $394.0 million and after-tax IRR of 20.0%. The Bornite PEA describes the technical and economic viability of establishing an underground mining operation for a 6,000 tonne-per-day operation with a 17-year mine life. The Bornite PEA assumes re-purposing the infrastructure described in the Company’s current Feasibility Study for the Arctic Project for the use with the Bornite Project once the Arctic deposit has been depleted. More information on the Arctic Feasibility Study and the Bornite PEA can be accessed on the Company’s website at www.trilogymetals.com. Budget -Trilogy The Company has a 2025 fiscal year cash budget totaling $3.1 million. For the three-month period ended February 28, 2025, we used $0.8 million in operating activities mainly for personnel costs, professional fees, regulatory and office expenses compared with budgeted cash expenditures totaling $1.0 million. Budget - Ambler Metals LLC The board of Ambler Metals approved a 2025 fiscal year budget totaling $5.8 million to support external and community affairs, to maintain the State of Alaska mineral claims in good standing, and for the maintenance of physical assets. During the three-month period ended February 28, 2025, Ambler Metals expended $1.2 million on salaries and wages, professional fees, engineering, project support costs and mineral property expenses, and the Ambler Access Project costs mainly for subsistence committee meetings and community relations, compared with the budget of $1.0 million. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Trilogy Metals Inc. For the Quarter Ended February 28, 2025 19 ​ Table of contents Summary of results ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ in thousands of US dollars, except share and per share amounts ​ ​ ​ Three months ended ​ ​ ​ February 28, 2025 ​ ​ February 29, 2024 ​ ​ ​ $ ​ $ General and administrative ​ ​ 343 ​ ​ 415 ​ Investor relations ​ ​ 16 ​ ​ 12 ​ Professional fees ​ ​ 447 ​ ​ 200 ​ Salaries ​ ​ 207 ​ ​ 191 ​ Salaries and directors' expense – stock-based compensation ​ ​ 2,230 ​ ​ 1,999 ​ Share of loss on equity investment ​ ​ 581 ​ ​ 793 ​ Comprehensive loss for the year ​ ​ (3,623) ​ ​ (3,601) ​ Basic and diluted loss per common share ​ ​ (0.02) ​ ​ (0.02) ​ ​ For the three-month period ended February 28, 2025, we reported a net loss of $3.6 million comparable to a net loss of $3.6 million for the three-month period ended February 29, 2024. Comparing the first quarter of 2025 to first quarter of 2024, there was an increase of $0.2 million in professional fees due to increased consulting and legal fees related to the Bornite PEA and the Company’s Base Shelf Prospectus filing, offset by a decrease of $0.2 million in our share of losses of Ambler Metals due to reduction in activities at the Ambler Access Project. Liquidity and capital resources We expended $0.7 million on operating activities during the three-month period ending February 28, 2025 with the majority of cash spent on professional fees to complete the Bornite preliminary economic assessment and related technical reports and American and Canadian securities commission fees related to our annual regulatory filings, annual fees paid to the Toronto Stock Exchange and the NYSE American Exchange and corporate salaries. ​ As at February 28, 2025, we had $25.2 million in cash and cash equivalents and working capital (current assets less current liabilities) of $24.6 million. There is sufficient cash on hand to fund the approved fiscal 2025 budget of $3.1 million. ​ All project related costs are funded by Ambler Metals. Ambler Metals had $6.5 million in cash and cash equivalents and $6.4 million in working capital as at February 28, 2025. There are sufficient funds at Ambler Metals to fund this fiscal year’s approved budget of $5.8 million. Off-balance sheet arrangements We have no material off-balance sheet arrangements. Outstanding share data As at April 2, 2025, we had 164,216,410 common shares issued and outstanding. As at April 2, 2025, we had 14,085,234 stock options outstanding with a weighted-average exercise price of CDN$1.63, 3,443,888 Deferred Share Units (“DSUs”), and 1,798,338 Restricted Share Units (“RSUs”) outstanding. As at April 2, 2025we hold 5,144 NovaGold Resources Inc. (“NovaGold”) DSUs for which the NovaGold director is entitled to receive one common share of Trilogy for every six NovaGold shares to be received upon their retirement from the NovaGold board. A total of 859 common shares will be issued upon redemption of the NovaGold DSUs. Upon the exercise of all the foregoing convertible securities, the Company would be required to issue an aggregate of 19,328,319 common shares. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Trilogy Metals Inc. For the Quarter Ended February 28, 2025 20 ​ Table of contents New accounting pronouncements Updates to Reportable Segment Disclosures In November 2023, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2023-07 “Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures”. AUS 2023-07 expands public entities’ segment disclosures by requiring disclosure of significant segment expenses that are regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker and included within each reported measure of segment profit or loss and interim disclosures of a reportable segment’s profit or loss and assets. The standard is effective for the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2025, and subsequent interim periods, with early adoption permitted. The Company is evaluating the impact of the guidance on the consolidated financial statements or disclosures. Updates to Income Tax Disclosure In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09 “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures.” ASU 2023-09 enhances the transparency and decision usefulness of income tax disclosures through changes to the rate reconciliation and income taxes paid information. The standard is effective beginning with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2026, and subsequent interim periods, with early adoption permitted. The Company is evaluating the impact of the guidance on the consolidated financial statements. Critical accounting estimates The most critical accounting estimates upon which our financial status depends are those requiring estimates of the recoverability of our equity method investment in Ambler Metals, income taxes and valuation of stock‐based compensation. ​ Impairment of Investment in Ambler Metals LLC Management assesses the possibility of impairment in the carrying value of its equity method investment in Ambler Metals whenever events or circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the investment may not be recoverable. Ambler Metals is a non-publicly traded equity investment owning exploration and development projects. Significant judgments are made in assessing the possibility of impairment. The Company assesses whether there has been a potential triggering event for other-than-temporary impairment by assessing the underlying assets of Ambler Metals for recoverability and assessing whether there has been a change in the development plan or strategy for the projects. If the Company concludes there is sufficient evidence for an other-than-temporary impairment, an assessment of fair value is performed. If the underlying assets are not recoverable, the Company will record an impairment charge equal to the difference between the carrying amount of the equity investment and its fair value. This assessment is subjective and requires consideration at each period end. ​ Income taxes We must make estimates and judgments in determining the provision for income tax expense, deferred tax assets and liabilities, and liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits including interest and penalties. We are subject to income tax law in the United States and Canada. The evaluation of tax liabilities involving uncertainties in the application of complex tax regulation is based on factors such as changes in facts or circumstances, changes in tax law, new audit activity, and effectively settled issues. The evaluation of an uncertain tax position requires significant judgment, and a change in such recognition would result in an additional charge to the income tax expense and liability. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Trilogy Metals Inc. For the Quarter Ended February 28, 2025 21 ​ Table of contents Stock-based compensation Compensation expense for stock options granted to employees, directors and certain service providers is determined based on estimated fair values of the stock options at the time of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, which takes into account, as of the grant date, the fair market value of the shares, expected volatility, expected life, expected forfeiture rate, expected dividend yield and the risk-free interest rate over the expected life of the option. The use of the Black-Scholes option pricing model requires input estimation of the expected life of the option, volatility, and forfeiture rate which can have a significant impact on the valuation model, and resulting expense recorded. Additional information Additional information regarding the Company, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2024, is available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and EDGAR at www.sec.gov and on our website at www.trilogymetals.com. Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference. Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk Not applicable.