The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Navigating the tumultuous waters of controversy and impassioned discourse, let us take a step back and embark on a journey through the history of an Alaska copper project that has proven to be as divisive as it is essential. Perhaps by exploring the compelling narrative of the Pebble Mine project, where the pursuit of precious resources indispensable for a zero-carbon future intersects with the call for environmental stewardship to safeguard heritage and a very way of life,...
Rhenium is exceptionally resistant to heat and wear, characteristics that make it a vital ingredient in superalloys used in jet and industrial gas turbine engines. "The high-temperature properties of rhenium allow turbine engines to be designed with finer tolerances and operate at temperatures higher than those of engines constructed with other materials," the United States Geological Survey penned in a fact sheet on the critical metal. "These properties allow prolonged engine...
A pitch to deep-pocketed investors about the potential to develop a world-class mine at the Pebble copper project in Alaska turned out to be a clandestinely videotaped sting operation that compromised the integrity of Pebble Limited Partnership CEO Tom Collier. A pair of operatives for the Environmental Investigation Agency, a United Kingdom-based environmental group, posed as representatives of a Hong Kong-based investment firm with links to a company owned by the Chinese...
U.S. President Donald Trump assured Alaskans that politics will not play a role in the federal permitting decision for the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum-rhenium mine in Southwest Alaska. "Don't worry, wonderful & beautiful Alaska, there will be NO POLITICS in the Pebble Mine Review Process. I will do what is right for Alaska and our great Country!!!," Trump said in a late Wednesday tweet. This is in contrast to several premortem Pebble obituaries published by national news...
Much like Mark Twain, who quipped, "The report of my death was an exaggeration," when informed of his obituary in an American newspaper, Politico's report of the untimely demise of the Pebble Mine project in Southwest Alaska was grossly overstated. On Aug. 22 Politico reported, "The Trump administration is planning to block the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska early next week ... marking a surprise reversal that could be the death knell for the massive copper and gold project."...
President Trump is expecting to be briefed on the proposed Pebble Mine and on Wednesday told reporters that he will "listen to both sides" of the world-class copper-gold-molybdenum project in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier said he welcomes a White House review of a final Environmental Impact Statement that details a mine at Pebble capable of extracting copper, gold, and other valuable metals found there without harming the...
The July 24 release of a final Environmental Impact Statement that details a mine at Pebble capable of extracting copper, gold, and other valuable metals from a world-class deposit in Southwest Alaska without harming the Bristol Bay salmon fishery is a landmark achievement for Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., which has spent the better part of two decades advancing the project to this point. "We're ecstatic to reach this major milestone in the advancement of the Pebble Project...
With the federal permitting process coming to a close, it is becoming increasingly likely that a mine developed at the world-class Pebble project in Southwest Alaska could become a significant domestic source of copper, gold and other metals demanded by America's manufacturing sectors. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lead federal regulator for permitting the Pebble Mine under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), published the final environmental impact statement...
Taking another step along the path of establishing a mine at its world-class copper-gold- molybdenum-silver deposit in Southwest Alaska, Pebble Limited Partnership signed a memorandum of understanding with Alaska Peninsula Corp. for providing transportation and port operations support for the proposed project. Under the agreement, Alaska Peninsula Corp. would serve as the organizer of a consortium of key Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) village corporations in the...
Nearing the end of the federal permitting process, Pebble Limited Partnership is now taking a harder look at how residents and businesses in the Bristol Bay region can benefit from low-cost energy that will be available at a future Pebble copper-gold mine. When the proposed mine was designed for the Pebble Partnership, engineers built in more natural gas and electricity capacity than the Pebble operation would need with the idea that the excess could be delivered to the wider...
Pebble Partnership has announced the creation of the Pebble Performance Dividend to distribute a percentage of the revenue generated from the operation of a mine at Pebble to year-round residents of Bristol Bay. "When we rolled out our new, smaller mine plan in 2017, I made a commitment to find a way to share the opportunity Pebble represents with the residents of Bristol Bay. While not everyone will want to work at the mine, this ensures a direct way for everyone to...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has determined that a road and pipelines around the north shore of Iliamna Lake is the most environmentally sound route to access the proposed Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum-silver mine in Southwest Alaska. Referred to as Alternative 3 in the draft Environmental Impact Statement for Pebble, this roughly 85-mile northern land-based transportation route would connect the Pebble mine site to Cook Inlet without the need for a ferry to transport...
An attempt to legally force the U.S. Environmental Protection to keep a pre-emptive veto of the Pebble copper mine project active was thwarted in federal court on Friday. On April 17, Alaska District Federal Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed a case brought by Pebble opposition groups that contested EPA's 2019 decision to withdraw the preemptive veto of the proposed copper-gold-molybdenum mine in Southwest Alaska. Based on Section 404c of the U.S. Clean Water Act, which is the...
The executive summary of the Preliminary Final Environmental Impact Statement (PFEIS) for the Pebble copper-gold mine project in Southwest Alaska was leaked to select media outlets earlier this week, providing an early look at this draft document not yet ready for public release. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the federal agency charged with leading the EIS process for Pebble, last week sent the PFEIS to federal, state and tribal cooperating agencies for review. E&E New...
The Pebble Partnership Jan. 29 announced that it has submitted its final draft Compensatory Mitigation Plan to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for the wetlands impacts associated with its plan to develop a mine at the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Southwest Alaska. Compensatory mitigation refers to the restoration, establishment, enhancement, or in certain circumstances preservation of wetlands, streams or other aquatic resources as ways to offset any...
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. Dec. 18 announced that it has raised US$15.5 million, which it will use to continue to advance permitting and outreach at its Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mine project in Southwest Alaska. The Pebble project is nearing a final decision on an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed mine. The EIS is a lengthy process under the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), that ensures that large projects such as Pebble meet...
Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier is confident that the world-class Pebble copper project in Southwest Alaska will continue to achieve significant permitting milestones during 2020 – and those opposed to developing a mine at Pebble agree. "We've known for some time that our project will meet and surpass the rigorous environmental standards enforced in the United States and Alaska, and believe that it will secure its operating permits. Our critics are starting to understand t...
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has decided to roll back its 2014 proposed determination that, if finalized, would have placed debilitating restrictions on developing a mine at the world-class Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska. Pebble Limited Partnership, the company that is advancing Pebble through permitting, hailed this decision to scrap the proposed pre-emptive veto of Pebble as a major win, not only for the future of its proposed...
As the Pebble Limited Partnership advances the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project through the permitting process, environmental groups opposed to the proposed mine are employing a wide arsenal of tactics to impede the progress. In its latest volley, Earthworks, an environmental non-governmental organization (ENGO), has requested that the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigate whether Northern Dynasty...
By this time next year, Pebble Partnership could be holding the first of dozens of permits it will need to begin developing a mine at its enormous copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Southwest Alaska, according to Sheila Newman, deputy chief of the regulatory division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District. The timing or issuance of permits, however, are not guaranteed – permitting a large mine in the United States is a long process. Newman said the testimony being gat...
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. March 12 announced plans to raise US$10 million to continue permitting and stakeholder engagement for its Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska. Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corp. has agreed to lead a syndicate of underwriters, which also includes BMO Capital Markets, H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC. and TD Securities Inc., to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 15.63 million Northern Dynasty common shares at US64 cents per share, for...
Pebble Limited Partnership has taken another step toward gaining the permits needed to develop a mine at its large copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska. On Feb. 20, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District announced that it has published the draft environmental impact statement for a proposed 20-year mine at this world-class deposit that could help fill the United States' increasing need for copper, a demand that is being driven by the expanding e...
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. Dec. 28 completed the second tranche of a C$8.4 million (US$6.3 million) financing that will primarily be used to pay a legal fee connected to the successful 2017 settlement of a suit the company brought against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The settlement, reached early in 2017, opened the door for the enormous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Southwest Alaska to enter the permitting process unencumbered by predetermined...
When it comes to mineral exploration incentives, currency exchange and infrastructure, Alaska is at a disadvantage in the realm of attracting exploration investments from Canada and Australia, countries that are home to the majority of mining companies. The Far North State's vast and underexplored mineral potential, however, trumps these handicaps in the minds of a growing number of miners and mineral explorers. Mining executives from around the globe perennially rank Alaska...
While copper is not on the United States Geological Survey's list of 35 minerals and metals critical to America, there is no doubt of this metal's importance to both the everyday and avant-garde technologies vital to America's economy and security. "None of the other critical minerals work without copper," Trilogy Metals President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse told Mining News. Automobiles are a prime example of how emerging technologies and green energy will drive the demand...
