Alaska Court Rules In Favor Of Pebble Project Exploration Rights
05 October 2011 - 9:18PM
Dow Jones News
Alaska's Superior Court ruled in favor of Pebble Ltd.
Partnership in the latest case brought by activists who charged the
state of Alaska with the unconstitutional permitting of mineral
exploration and charged Pebble with causing environmental harm to
an area that is home to wildlife and a large Alaskan gold and
copper deposit, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (NAK, NDM.T)
said.
The lawsuit was filed in July 2009 on behalf of Nunamta
Aulukestai, an organization that opposes the development of the
Pebble project.
The Pebble project, which is located in southwestern Alaska, is
one of the world's largest undeveloped gold and copper deposits and
has faced protest from activists who allege it could harm an
important spawning habitat for wild sockeye salmon and harm
communities around Bristol Bay that depend on fishing.
The Pebble project is jointly owned in equal measure by
U.K.-listed Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN) and Canada-based Northern
Dynasty Minerals Ltd. Rio Tinto PLC (RIO, RIO.LN) owns a 19.16%
stake in Northern Dynasty.
Nunamta Aulukestai alleged that the Alaska Department of Natural
Resources had violated the state constitution by granting
exploration and temporary water use permits to the Pebble
Partnership, and that Pebble's exploration activities had caused
harm to vegetation, water, fish and wildlife.
The court denied each of the allegations made by Nunamta
Aulukestai, and ruled that no evidence of environmental harm was
presented, Northern Dynasty said.
"The totally unsupported allegations of Nunamta Aulukestai in
this case are illustrative of the rhetoric that anti-Pebble
activists have used to alarm local people about the potential
effects of the Pebble project, a project that has not yet even
entered the permitting process," Ron Thiessen, president and chief
executive of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., said in a
statement.
-By Alex MacDonald, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9328;
alex.macdonald@dowjones.com
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