VANCOUVER, Nov. 7, 2017 /CNW/ - Northern Dynasty Minerals
Ltd. (TSX: NDM; NYSE American: NAK) ("Northern Dynasty" or the
"Company") announces that its wholly-owned Alaska-based subsidiary Pebble Limited
Partnership ("Pebble Partnership") has hired retired Major General,
US Army & President Emeritus of the University of Alaska Mark Hamilton to serve as its
Executive Vice President of External Affairs.
"Mark Hamilton is among
Alaska's best known and most
highly respected residents, in large part for his tremendous
accomplishments and service to the state over 12 years as President
of the University of Alaska," said
Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier.
"We fully expect Mark's vision, his leadership and his credibility
to materially advance our efforts to re-position the Pebble
Project, to ensure it provides meaningful and enduring benefits to
the people of Bristol Bay and Alaska, and to help create the social and
political conditions necessary to permit this project in the years
ahead."
Collier said Hamilton will begin work immediately this fall, and
expects to connect with political, business, community and Alaska
Native leaders throughout the state to better understand their
views and consider their advice as the Pebble Project advances into
permitting.
"I'm delighted to join the Pebble team as we begin the long and
rigorous journey toward permitting a mine engineered to protect the
environment and the world-class fisheries of Bristol Bay," Hamilton
said.
"Like other Alaska mines, I
have every confidence that Pebble will be developed safely, in a
manner that protects the clean water and healthy fish and wildlife
that all Alaskans value. Perhaps more importantly, I think Pebble
is a critically important project at this juncture in our state's
history, and one that will make tremendous long-term contributions
to the economic and social well-being of our residents."
Hamilton said he has become increasingly concerned in recent
years about the growing discord in America, and fears the "end of
reason" when it comes to public discourse about politics and
resource development. Too often, he said, lines are drawn and
opinions are formed in the absence of informed and respectful
discourse – a "don't confuse me with the facts, I already have my
bumper sticker" dynamic.
"I believe in reason," he said. "I believe in coming to the
table to contest different opinions respectfully and honestly;
refusing to hear the evidence that supports opinions contrary to
our own signals the rejection of the dialectic and the end of
reason.
"That is where the Pebble Project, like so many contentious
issues in American life, stands today but I intend to appeal to my
fellow Alaskans to rise above that caustic dynamic, and to consider
this project based on its merits – on the facts, rather than on
fear. I have every confidence they will rise to that
challenge."
An Alaska resident for more
than 20 years, Hamilton spent 31 years with the US Army, including
involvement in successful negotiations in Somalia and in the United Nations, leading
toward peace in El Salvador. He has been awarded the
military's highest peacetime award, the Joint Distinguished Service
Medal and was recognized by The National Association Of Scholars
for "resolute Leadership in Defense of Intellectual Freedom in
Higher Education." Hamilton has been married to Patricia Hamilton (née Behrens) for more than 50
years. Two of the Hamilton's four children live in Alaska, as do five of their 12
grandchildren.
Northern Dynasty President & CEO Ron
Thiessen remarked that securing an Alaskan of Mark Hamilton's stature and credibility is
evidence the Pebble Partnership continues to execute on its
business plan. He said Pebble is assembling a world-class senior
management and technical team in Anchorage, Alaska, and is on track to initiate
federal and state permitting for the Pebble Project by the end of
2017.
"With respect to the other major objective Northern Dynasty has
indicated it will achieve this year – that of securing a new major
funding partner for the Pebble Partnership – we continue to be on
track and making excellent progress," Thiessen said. "We will have
more to report before the end of the year."
About Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.
Northern Dynasty is a mineral exploration and development
company based in Vancouver,
Canada. Northern Dynasty's principal asset, owned through
its wholly-owned Alaska-based US
subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership and other wholly-owned
subsidiaries, is a 100% interest in a contiguous block of 2,402
mineral claims in southwest Alaska, including the Pebble deposit. The
Pebble Partnership is the proponent of the Pebble Project, an
initiative to develop one of the world's most important mineral
resources.
For further details on Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Project,
please visit the Company's website at www.northerndynasty.com
or contact Investor services at (604) 684-6365 or within
North America at 1-800-667-2114.
Review Canadian public filings at www.sedar.com and US public
filings at www.sec.gov.
Ronald W. Thiessen
President & CEO
Forward Looking Information and other
Cautionary Factors
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed
"forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other
than statements of historical facts, that address exploration
drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that
the Company expects are forward-looking statements. Although the
Company believes the expectations expressed in its forward-looking
statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements
should not be in any way construed as guarantees of the ultimate
size, quality or commercial feasibility of the Pebble Project or of
the Company's future performance or the outcome of litigation.
Assumptions used by the Company to develop forward-looking
statements include the following: the Pebble Project will obtain
all required environmental and other permits and all land use and
other licenses, studies and development of the Pebble Project will
continue to be positive, and no geological or technical problems
will occur. The likelihood of future mining at the Pebble Project
is subject to a large number of risks and will require achievement
of a number of technical, economic and legal objectives, including
obtaining necessary mining and construction permits, approvals,
licenses and title on a timely basis and delays due to third party
opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and
natural resource exploration and exploitation, the final outcome of
any litigation, completion of pre-feasibility and final feasibility
studies, preparation of all necessary engineering for surface or
underground mining and processing facilities as well as receipt of
significant additional financing to fund these objectives as well
as funding mine construction. Such funding may not be available to
the Company on acceptable terms or on any terms at all. There is no
known ore at the Pebble Project and there is no assurance that the
mineralization at the Pebble Project will ever be classified as
ore. The need for compliance with extensive environmental and
socio-economic rules and practices and the requirement for the
Company to obtain government permitting can cause a delay or even
abandonment of a mineral project. The Company is also subject to
the specific risks inherent in the mining business as well as
general economic and business conditions. For more information on
the Company, Investors should review the Company's filings with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission and its home
jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com
SOURCE Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.