Name and Location
Pebble copper/gold/molybdenum project, Alaska, US.

Client
Northern Dynasty Minerals (NDM).

Project Description
The project proposes to construct a large openpit mine; an on-site milling facility; on-site storage for rock, ore and tailings; a port facility; an access road connecting the mine site to the port; an on-site water supply for the mill; and to provide electrical power for the mine site, in south-west Alaska.

In addition, the project plans to include an on-site 378 MW gas-fired turbine plant, a 138 km transportation corridor to Cook Inlet for road and pipeline rights of way and a new deep-water port at Cook Inlet.

The project’s key assets are the near-surface 4.1-billion-tonne openpit-style Pebble West deposit and the deeper and higher-grade 3.4-billion-tonne Pebble East deposit, which is amenable to underground bulk mining methods. The Pebble resources rank among the world’s most important accumulations of copper, gold and molybdenum.

Estimates show that the Pebble deposit comprises measured and indicated resources of 5.94-billion tonnes, grading 0.78% copper equivalent and containing 55-billion pounds of copper, 67-million ounces of gold and 3.3-billlion pounds of molybdenum.

The deposit also has 4.84-billion tonnes of inferred resources, grading 0.53% copper equivalent and containing 26-billion pounds of copper, 40-million ounces of gold and 2.3-billion pounds of molybdenum.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
Capital expenditure on Pebble will reach between $6-billion and $8-billion.

Duration
Commercial production is expected by 2015.

Latest Developments
The US federal court has ruled that the lawsuit in which Alaska-focused explorer NDM alleges that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) in advancing the EPA's Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment (BBWA) study and the subsequent pre-emptive veto process under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act (CWA), will advance.

Judge Russel Holland has rejected an EPA motion to dismiss the Pebble Partnership's FACA case.

Northern Dynasty’s subsidiary, the Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP), last year filed the legal action arguing that without a permit application outlining plans to develop the Pebble polymetallic deposit in hand, the EPA's CWA Section 404 (c) regulatory process exceeded the federal agency's authority and violated federal laws.

The PLP's complaint explained that, while the EPA had the authority under the CWA to veto Section 404 ‘dredge’ or ‘fill’ permits issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers, if it determined that the permitted activity posed an unacceptable risk of adverse effects to aquatic resources, it had to do so based on an actual mine permit application specifying a specific disposal site and specific fill material.

Judge Holland granted the EPA's motion to dismiss claims that the federal agency ‘established’ two of three advisory committees, but allowed the case to proceed regarding claims that the EPA ‘utilised’ these committees.

In terms of claims that the EPA established and used a third advisory committee, Judge Holland denied the EPA's arguments to dismiss, leaving a preliminary injunction granted in November that forbade the federal agency from advancing the seldom-used action under CWA Section 404(c) affecting the Pebble project until the FACA case had run its course.

Northern Dynasty president and CEO Ron Thiessen has said in a statement that the PLP will now seek discovery – to depose federal employees and external third-parties, and otherwise develop additional evidence regarding its allegations that EPA allowed antimine activists inappropriate access and influence with the BBWA and subsequent Section 404(c) process.

“We believe the discovery phase and final resolution of the FACA case will expose that the EPA and its allies in the environmental community worked together with a predetermined objective before the BBWA was complete to deny the Pebble Project a full, fair and impartial permitting review," Thiessen has said.

He notes that the Pebble Partnership's FACA lawsuit is one of several initiatives under way to check the EPA's unprecedented pre-emptive veto action at Pebble. Federal Court Judge Holland is also adjudicating a Pebble lawsuit alleging the EPA was illegally withholding documents in contravention of the Freedom of Information Act.

In addition, the independent office of the EPA Inspector General is undertaking a comprehensive review of the EPA actions regarding Pebble. A parallel investigation, commissioned by the PLP, is also under way and led by former Senator and Secretary of Defense William Cohen.

"Through one or several of these actions, we remain confident that the EPA's pre-emptive veto will ultimately be stopped and the Pebble project will be afforded a comprehensive and objective permitting review under the CWA and National Environmental Policy Act, including the preparation of an environmental-impact statement," Thiessen has advised.

The Stop Pebble initiative argues that the proposed Pebble mine will be gouged out of an "American paradise" that is filled with salmon, bears, moose, caribou, wolves and whales and that has sustained local livelihoods for thousands of years.

More than 67 varieties of state and federal permits will be required before construction could begin and more than a dozen state and federal entities will oversee the process.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Wardrop Engineering (preliminary assessment report).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
PLP, tel +1 907 339 2600, fax +1 877 450 2600 or email receptionist@pebblepartnership.com.
Wardrop media and public relations, email media@tetratech.com.