Summary of significant accounting policies (Policies)

6 Months Ended

May 31, 2017

Basis of presentation [Policy Text Block]

Basis of presentation

These consolidated financial statements have been prepared using accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) and include the accounts of Trilogy and its wholly-owned subsidiary, NovaCopper US Inc. (“NovaCopper US”). These consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Sunward Resources Ltd. (“Sunward”), Sunward Investments Ltd. (“Sunward Investments”) and Sunward Resources Limited (“Sunward BVI”) for the period June 19, 2015 to September 1, 2016, inclusive. Sunward BVI has registered a branch, Sunward Resources Sucursal Colombia, to do business in Colombia. All significant intercompany transactions are eliminated on consolidation.

On June 19, 2015, we completed the acquisition of Sunward, which held 100% ownership in the Titiribi gold-copper exploration project in Colombia through Sunward Investments. Sunward was converted to Sunward Resources Unlimited Liability Company on June 19, 2015 and wound-up on February 29, 2016. On September 1, 2016, we completed the sale of Sunward Investments and the Titiribi project. The Company classified the operations of Sunward Investments as discontinued operations, retrospectively.

All figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise noted. References to CDN$ refer to amounts in Canadian dollars.

The unaudited interim consolidated financial statements include all adjustments of a normal recurring nature necessary for the fair presentation of our financial position as of May 31, 2017, our results of operations for the three months and six months ended May 31, 2017 and 2016 and our cash flows for the six months ended May 31, 2017 and 2016. The results of operations for the three and six months ended May 31, 2017 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the year ending November 30, 2017.

As these interim consolidated financial statements do not contain all of the disclosures required by U.S. GAAP for annual financial statements, these unaudited interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the annual financial statements and related notes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2016 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 3, 2017.

These financial statements were approved by the Company’s Audit Committee on behalf of the Board of Directors for issue on June 27, 2017.

Recent accounting pronouncements [Policy Text Block]

Recent accounting pronouncements

Statement of cash flows

In November 2016, the FASB issued guidance regarding the presentation of restricted cash in the statement of cash flows (“ASU 2016-18”). This update is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and early adoption is permitted. The Company has analyzed the impact of the update and determined that the clarification will not affect the Company’s presentation on its statement of cash flows. The Company has decided to early adopt the standard in the second quarter of 2017. As there was no impact on the Company’s statement of cash flows, there were no changes as a result of adopting the standard.

ii.

Leases

In February 2016, the FASB issued new accounting requirements for accounting for, presentation of, and classification of leases (“ASU 2016-02”). This will result in most leases being capitalized as a right of use asset with a related liability on our balance sheets. The requirements of the new standard are effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods within those annual periods, which for us is the first quarter of fiscal year 2020. We expect the adoption will have an impact as we expect to capitalize leases, specifically our office leases that are not currently recognized on the balance sheet and are in the process of analyzing the quantitative impact of this guidance on our results of operations and financial position.

iii.

Stock-based compensation

In March 2016, the FASB issued new guidance simplifying the accounting for stock-based compensation transactions, including income tax consequences, classification of awards as equity or liabilities, forfeitures, and classification on the statement of cash flows (“ASU 2016-09”). This update is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and early adoption is permitted. The Company has analyzed the impact of the update and determined that the simplification applied to accounting for forfeitures will affect the results of operations and financial position as it will alter the timing of recognition of forfeitures. The Company is currently considering its policy choice. The remaining changes in the update do not have an effect on the Company’s accounting for stock-based compensation.

iv.

Business combinations

In January 2017, the FASB issued new guidance to assist in determining if a set of assets and activities being acquired or sold is a business (“ASU 2017-01”). It also provided a framework to assist entities in evaluating whether both an input and a substantive process are present, which at a minimum, must be present to be considered a business. This update is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and early adoption is permitted in most circumstances. It expects there could be an impact to how the Company accounts for assets acquired in the future.