The Pebble Limited Partnership has published a long-anticipated environmental baseline document for the enormous Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project situated in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. This marks a major milestone on the path to permitting, estimated to begin by mid-2013.

"The release of the EBD comes after one of the most exhaustive environmental study programs in the history of U.S. mineral development," said Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. President and CEO Ron Thiessen. "This massive investment in scientific research not only reflects PLP's commitment to protect fish, water and other environmental values when developing the Pebble Project; it also represents a significant asset to the Pebble Partnership as it prepares to initiate permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act."

Vancouver B.C.-based Northern Dynasty and London-based Anglo American plc each own 50 percent of the Pebble Partnership.

Though engineers are still hammering out the details of a mine-plan for Pebble, an economic study released by Northern Dynasty early in 2011 indicates the potential scope of the project. At a mining rate of around 225,000 metric tons per day, the mammoth deposit would produce some 31 billion pounds of copper, 30 million ounces of gold, 1.4 billion pounds of molybdenum, 140 million ounces silver, 1.2 million kilograms (2.6 million pounds) of rhenium and 907,000 ounces of palladium over 45 years, while mining only 32 percent of the total mineral resource.

According to the most recent resource calculation, the Pebble deposit contains 80.6 billion pounds of copper, 107.4 million ounces of gold and 5.6 billion pounds of molybdenum. That is enough copper to supply the United States' current total consumption for about 15 years and as much gold as held by Germany, which has the world's second-largest national gold reserve.

The Pebble Partnership had originally planned to have the environmental baseline document completed early in 2009 but compiling the US$120 million of scientific data collected over five years into a voluminous tome that weighs in at 27,000 pages proved to be a much more complex undertaking than any of the more than 100 scientific experts and Pebble staff working on the project had initially imagined.

"The scope and volume of data collected for the Pebble Project is extensive. The upside to this is the breadth of data we have for the project, the types of studies we have been able to do, the length of studies we have been able to do and the areal scope of our studies. The downside of this is it takes a very long time to responsibly process and present this much data," said Pebble Manager of Permitting Affairs Charlotte McCay during the Jan. 31 roll-out of the document.

McCay explained that information in the document had to go through scientific and technical review by consultants as well as technical editing. It was up to McCay to complete a final round of editing before the document was ready for publication.

"I think I am the only person who read all 27,000 pages - it doesn't do anything for your personality," she quipped.

The 53 chapters of data in the document characterizes a broad range of environmental and social conditions in Southwest Alaska - including climate, water quality, wetlands, fish and aquatic habitat, wildlife, land and water use, socioeconomics and subsistence.

"We are very proud of the work that has been done by our consultants and our staff. This is a huge science project - I don't think there has ever been a mine where there has been this much science done," said Pebble Partnership CEO John Shively upon the unveiling of the document.

State and federal regulators as well as Alaska Native representatives attended four days of meetings in which the Pebble Partnership and consultants introduced the work.

Early release

Typically, environmental baseline information for a mining project would be released in conjunction with applying for permits to develop the project, but due to the volume of data and the environmental sensitivities of the project area, the Pebble Partnership had committed to an early release of the EBD.

"It is presented as a baseline characterization of the Pebble project study area. This EBD is being presented at this time as a courtesy in response to agency and public request to see some data from our studies," McCay said.

"Generally, we would release the (environmental baseline) information at the time we went into permitting, and at this point, we are not in the permitting process and have not indicated exactly when we will go into the permitting process - we are still reviewing that," Shively explained.

McCay said the baseline document is a comprehensive compilation of environmental information gathered from 2004 through 2008, with some information from as late as 2010. Though environmental studies are ongoing in the Pebble area, the permitting manager said a line had to be drawn somewhere in order to have a work that is ready for the public and regulatory agencies.

"Additional studies will come out as separate standalone documents," she said.

The reason the latter studies will not be incorporated into the original work is the complexity of updating all the graphs, charts, links, references and other items that may be affected by trying to merge any new data into the 27,000-page tome.

While project design and other engineering studies are ongoing, McCay said this information is not included in the baseline document.

"It is not all of our studies - it is a compilation of the beginning of our studies as a baseline characterization," she said. "While we do have some concepts we are developing, they are not incorporated into the EBD itself."

During a Feb. 16 meeting with legislators in Juneau, Pebble Partnership Vice President of Environment Ken Taylor said engineers are putting the finishing touches on the project design. He indicated to the lawmakers that the engineering and environmental teams may be ready to submit permit applications for Pebble by mid-2013.

"We are working on trying to get the last pieces of a mine plan put together right now - that is what the engineers are focused on. On the environmental side we are looking at putting together a project description and I think our goal is that within the state's next fiscal year we would be ready to go into a permitting process," he said.

More than a mine

Though the environmental baseline document does not contain any details of the site engineering and mine planning for the enormous porphyry project, Pebble Partnership Environmental-Engineering Integration Manager Loretta Ford provided some clues as to what is being designed.

"It is not just a mining project, it is more than that. There is a deposit that can be mined but because it is remote it also includes a road project, a port project, and there will be a need for power," Ford explained. "We all recognize that it is complex, and it takes a lot of information to get to the best possible project layout."

Ford said that a portion of her role is to ensure that the engineering team incorporates the vast amount of environmental data accumulated into the final project design.

She said that while underground scenarios are being studied, the mine will probably start as a traditional truck-and-shovel open pit operation.

"We have an estimate at this time that the mine will probably be 20 to 30 years," Ford informed the regulators and Native representatives Jan. 31.

The project briefly outlined by Ford does not vary greatly from scenarios previously put forward. While she said decisions on port sites and road alignments have not yet been finalized, the plan to construct a transportation corridor between the deposit and Cook Inlet some 85 miles (137 kilometers) to the east is still being considered.

"There are number of potential road routes that are being studied and optimized," said the integration manager.

In addition to a road, she said the corridor would facilitate four buried pipelines. Ford explained that copper concentrates would be transported as slurry to the port in one of the pipelines where water would be removed and shipped back to the mine via a second pipeline. The other two conduits would be used to transport natural gas and diesel to the mine site.

Molybdenum concentrates would be bagged and shipped overland in containers.

Ford said the estimated 400 megawatts of electricity needed to power the mill at Pebble will be generated on site, and the port will have its own independent power system.

While offering few details, she ensured the audience that the engineering is being done to protect the environment.

"Mine planning begins with planning the closure of the project. Every facility - as it is being developed or designed and advanced - the question is always asked 'how do we close that in a safe manner?' " Ford concluded.

Keystone dialogue

While engineers hammer out final design details, the Pebble Partnership will continue to present the environmental information to regulators and the public at large.

The Colorado-based Keystone Center is organizing an independent science panel process to review the baseline information gathered and to help stakeholders understand the scope of the studies.

The environmental baseline document dialogues will continue a series of independent science panels designed by the Keystone Center to address the potential development of a mine at Pebble.

The first panel, "Responsible large-scale mining: A global perspective," was held in December 2010. During this initial meeting a five-member panel representing academia, non-governmental organizations and an industry corporate social responsibility organization, shared perspectives on what mining companies around the world are and should be doing to balance economic mining with protecting the environment and the people in the regions where minerals are being found.

Keystone Center Senior Associate Todd Bryan told Mining News that for the purpose of forming panels and continuing the dialogue the environmental baseline document has been divided into for sections: geology and geochemistry; hydrology and water quality; fish, wildlife and habitat; and socioeconomic and cultural.

Bryan said panels of experts are being developed for each of these sections. He said the four science panel dialogues are currently expected to be held in October but exact dates will depend on availability of panelists.

"We are also trying to avoid scheduling conflicts with various events like the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Geological Society of America, and the American Fisheries Society," he explained.

"We are also planning a final science panel that will focus on a comparison of the existing baseline conditions and a preliminary mine plan that Pebble will release," the Keystone associate said. "The purpose of this panel is to help stakeholders understand how risk is assessed in the context of a mine plan and will provide stakeholders with an opportunity to have a rich discussion of the potential risks, benefits and tradeoffs associated with the two scenarios (mine and no mine). The scheduling of this panel depends on the release of a preliminary mine plan however we anticipate holding it the week of Nov. 12."

Lots of opportunity

Though the Keystone dialogue on the environmental baseline document is still some six months away, those interested in delving into the massive collection of data have several means and tools to do so.

"There will be lots of opportunity for the public to take a look at what we have done," Shively said.

The four-day overview of the environmental studies that includes presentations by Pebble staff and representatives from around 12 different consulting firms is expected to be available at http://www.pebblepartnership.com on Feb. 24. Additionally, all 53 chapters of the document are available for download from the website.

"To help you navigate through all of this, we created a technical summary which provides a summarized version of each chapter," McCay explained.

This 200-page condensed version provides a summary of each chapter, which gives researchers an opportunity to get an overview before delving into the larger document for the scientific details.

McCay said the electronic version also will be available on DVD and a limited number of hard copies of the voluminous work have been printed.

"Getting a hardcopy is a commitment - it is about five feet long when you stacked all the volumes together," she said.

For anyone interested in viewing the printed environmental baseline document, one paper copy is available at the ARLIS Library at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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