TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – An organisation representing native Alaskan groups, as well as some prominent Alaskans, have filed a civil suit against the state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR), asserting that the department violated the Alaskan constitution by granting exploration permits to the controversial Pebble mine.

The Pebble copper/gold/molybdenum project, in the Bristol Bay region of south-west Alaska, is owned by diversified resources giant Anglo American and Vancouver-based junior Northern Dynasty Resources.

However, the asset is located in an important salmon-bearing area, and Alaskans are concerned that waste from the mine could threaten one of the State's most important industries.

The civil suit filed on Wednesday asserts that the DNR “failed to consider the public’s interest in sustaining the region’s rich salmon, wildlife, and subsistence resources, which are negatively affected by exploration activities”.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to halt exploration until the case is resolved.

“DNR has neglected its legal and moral obligation to protect Bristol Bay’s subsistence resources,” said Bobby Andrew, spokesperson for Nunamta Aulukestai, a lead plaintiff.

“Current exploration is having a serious impact on water and wildlife, yet the agency continues to rubber stamp permits and ignore the public interest.”

The lawsuit asserts that DNR has “violated multiple sections of Article VIII of the Alaska Constitution in repeatedly issuing exploration permits without public notice and without analysing whether exploration or the mine itself are in the public interest”.

Plaintiffs have asked the court for a preliminary injunction prohibiting the State from granting or extending permits for exploration and water use on mining claims held by the Pebble Limited Partnership, effectively stopping further exploration until the court makes a final decision – or until the State Legislature enacts a new regulatory framework for onshore mining exploration.

The court is also being asked to void all exploration permits already issued by DNR to the project.

The filing of the lawsuit is likely strategically timed, as it comes just days before Anglo American, already under pressure from a hostile takeover overture from rival Xstrata, is scheduled to report its interim results on Friday.

Local opponents to the mine have garnered support for their cause from a number of stakeholders, including several UK jewellers, which pledged earlier this year not to accept “dirty gold” from Pebble, if the mine is built.

However, last year, voters in Alaska left the door open for projects like Pebble, voting “no” to a measure that proposed to block approvals for any mining operation that releases a "measurable" amount of “toxic pollutant” that would affect “human health or welfare or any stage of the life cycle of salmon”.

The ballot measure was targeted primarily at the giant Pebble project, but would likely have had implications for other projects into the future.

According to a December 2008 estimate, the Pebble project contains resources of 5,1-billion tons in the measured and indicated categories, grading 0,77% copper-equivalent, and containing 48-billion pounds of copper, 57-million ounces of gold and 2,9-billion pounds of molybdenum.

The project also has inferred mineral resources of 4-billion tons, grading 0,55% copper equivalent and containing 24-billion pounds of copper, 37-million ounces of gold and 1,9-billion pounds of molybdenum.