Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. April 28 announced its subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership is preparing crews and equipment for its 2022 field program at the Pebble project site in Southwest Alaska.

While disputes over the initial denial of mine permits by the Army Corp of Engineers in November 2020, then leading to the EPA's decision to reinitiate the process of making a Clean Water Act Section 404(c) determination in September 2021, Northern Dynasty has opted to continue doing as it always has, with a six-week helicopter supported program expected to begin mid-May and continue until the end of June.

You can read about the Army Corp.'s decision at Army Corp denies permit for Pebble Mine in the November 25, 2020, edition of North of 60 Mining News. Furthermore, you can read about the EPA's move and decisions regarding Bristol Bay in EPA revisits Bristol Bay restrictions in the September 10, 2021, edition of North of 60 Mining News.

"While we continue to wait for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to advance our administrative appeal, we have another important summer work program planned to maintain and enhance our important asset," said Northern Dynasty Minerals President and CEO Ron Thiessen. "This work is part of our unwavering commitment to safety and sustainability at the project."

The main activities of the work program will include:

• Site care and maintenance, including demobilization of equipment that is no longer actively being used at this time. A heavy lift helicopter will be mobilized to site for several days to facilitate the movement of larger pieces back to the company storage yards at the town of Iliamna until they are needed for future work programs.

• Removal of an old weather monitoring tower and shelter that are no longer needed due to completion of data collection at that site.

• Inspection and permanent closure of select drill holes where the collection of baseline hydrology data for the site has been completed. Hole collars will be removed below ground level, hole plugs will be placed below the bedrock interface and the holes will be backfilled with grout and a cement cap. Sites will then be reclaimed and seeded as required.

This work will be completed by a five-person field team supported using a single helicopter. All field crew members and PLP's onsite field supervisor are residents of the nearby communities of Kokhanok, Iliamna, and Newhalen. Prior to commencing the program, crew members will receive three days of refresher safety training and site and helicopter orientation. All crew members are returning hires that worked on last summer's successful field program.

Alaska Peninsula Corporation and Iliamna Development Corporation are supporting this field program.

"While site activities planned this year have a modest budget, the Pebble Partnership continues to prioritize local contracting and employment to ensure that the local economy receives the maximum benefit of this work," said Thiessen.

While Pebble remains at a standstill, recent statements from the Biden administration have made it evident that "Made in America" will require expediting the supply chain from mines to manufacturing; this includes Pebble.

To stress the value of Pebble toward a China-less market, Northern Dynasty commissioned a comprehensive study authored by IHS Markit, a leading global source of critical information and insight, entitled "Economic Contribution Assessment of the Proposed Pebble Project to the U.S. national and state economies."

Subject to permitting and as detailed in the IHS Markit report, the expansion scenario proposed for the fifth year of operation is estimated to generate about 12,500 high paying jobs during the initial capital period and approximately 13,000 jobs during the operations phase, over half of which are expected to be filled by Alaskans.

Under this expansion scenario, annual state and local taxes are estimated to average $262 million and the gross domestic product increase for Alaska is estimated to average $720 million per year during the operations phase, which equates to approximately $1,000 per Alaskan.

Realizing these economic benefits, however, hinges on the final determination by USACE.

"We have made deliberate choices when designing the Pebble project that demonstrate our commitment to protecting the environment," said Thiessen in response to the Biden administration's "Made in America," announcement. "Global events over the past several years have demonstrated the fragility and insecurity of the global supply chain, further underscored the need for America to achieve security over important commodities, be it oil & gas or minerals such as copper, a key part of the energy transition. The Pebble Project in Southwest Alaska would help the U.S. to achieve the goal of mineral security."