TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The joint venture seeking to build the giant Pebble project in Alaska on Thursday warned a municipal ordinance seeking to block the mine would have “disastrous consequences for Southwest Alaska”.

The Pebble Limited Partnership, which Canada’s Northern Dynasty and diversified miner Anglo American jointly own, last month initiated a legal challenge against an ordinance that would halt the mine's development and which Southwest Alaska’s Lake & Peninsula Borough voted in favour of. Proceedings are set to begin November 7.

The state of Alaska last week said it filed a constitutional challenge to the ordinance, which would block any developments bigger than one-square mile, in Anchorage Superior Court.

“The Alaska Constitution gives the Alaska legislature the authority to determine how to develop resources for maximum use consistent with the public interest,” the government said in a statement.

The Pebble project’s developers have run into staunch opposition from local groups over the past three years, which say a mine would threaten what is one of the world’s richest wild salmon fisheries.

Northern Dynasty contends that the two industries can coexist.

“This is a region that badly needs investment in new economic opportunities, particularly those that respect regional needs, address key environmental concerns and demonstrate they can be safely developed in collaboration with a robust fishery,” CEO Ron Thiessen said.

Alaska Attorney General John Burns said the state’s move to strike down the ordinance was “not about support for or against a Pebble project”, rather that it was “about upholding the state’s constitutional authority and responsibility to evaluate whether, on balance, development of Alaska’s resources is beneficial to all Alaskans”.
 

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