Name of the Project
Pebble copper/gold/molybdenum project.

Location
Alaska, US.

Client
Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP), wholly owned by Northern Dynasty Minerals.

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 current resource estimate includes 6.44-billion tonnes in the measured and indicated categories containing 57-billion pounds of copper, 70-million ounces of gold, 3.4-billion pounds of molybdenum and 344-million ounces of silver; and 4.46-billion tonnes in the inferred category, containing 24.5-billion pounds of copper, 37-million ounces of gold, 2.2-billion pounds of molybdenum and 170-million ounces of silver. The deposit also contains quantities of palladium and rhenium also occur in the deposit.

Jobs to be Created
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

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

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Northern Dynasty Minerals expects to resolve a dispute with the US environmental regulator by April to enable it to move ahead with permitting for its Pebble project.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has “a desire to permit Pebble,” Northern Dynasty CEO Ronald Thiessen has said. “We will come to a resolution within 100 days” with the US Environmental Protection Agency, he has said.

In 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved to impose restrictions on Pebble, blocking it from applying for a permit, citing “potentially destructive impacts” to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. Trump’s pick to head the regulator, Scott Pruitt, is a self-described opponent of the “EPA’s activist agenda” and has called for “regulatory rollback” at the agency.

Thiessen has said that the company is not expecting special treatment under the Trump administration, but a return to a “normalised permitting” process. That process should take about four years and cost $150-million, he has said.

The company expects to find a new partner by October. While Anglo American had been a partner in the Pebble project, and Rio Tinto Group had held a stake in Northern Dynasty, both companies walked away during the past commodity rout.

Meanwhile, some suitors have expressed their interest in forming a consortium to develop the massive deposit.

Northern Dynasty shares have more than tripled since the November 8 US election as investors speculate that Trump’s administration will allow the explorer’s long-stalled Pebble project to progress.

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.