North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

The Pebble Partnership Oct. 13 announced the appointments of Stephen Hodgson and James Fueg to its technical team.

Serving as senior vice president of engineering and project director, Hodgson will be responsible for all aspects of project design, engineering and financial studies, and regulatory compliance.

He will be supported by Fueg, who has been appointed as vice president of permitting. In this role, Fueg will be responsible management of environmental and socioeconomic studies, liaison with federal and state agencies and active management of Pebble's forthcoming environmental impact statement process under the National Environmental Policy Act.

"I could not be more pleased with the technical leadership we have assembled to finalize our permit applications and lead Pebble into and through the NEPA and EIS permitting process beginning later this year," said Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier.

Hodgson is a professional engineer with more than 40 years of experience in consulting, project management, feasibility-level design and implementation, and mine operations at some of the most significant mineral development projects in the world - including the Pine Point zinc mine in northern Canada, the Red Dog zinc mine in Alaska, Antamina in Peru, and the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia.

Hodgson has led the engineering group at Northern Dynasty and Hunter Dickinson Inc. since 2005 and played a central role on the engineering team for Pebble for more than a decade.

Fueg is a geologist and a geophysicist with more than 25 years of experience in mineral exploration and resource development, including more than 20 years working in Alaska. He was most recently served as technical services manager for the Donlin Gold project in western Alaska, where he played a leadership role managing the EIS and NEPA permitting process for a project expected to receive a final record of decision in 2018.

"We now have a dedicated leadership team in place in Anchorage that is not only committed to the financial and permitting success of the Pebble Project, but one that shares Alaskans' interests in ensuring our project protects clean water, healthy fisheries and traditional ways of life, while making a profound positive contribution to the people and economies of the region and the state," added Collier.

-SHANE LASLEY