Pebble Mine Update: A few hurdles cleared, others remain.

• Author: Friedman, Sam
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION Mining

The Pebble Mine project cleared a major legal and regulatory hurdle in May when it reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over pending lawsuits and regulations. But a big economic barrier to mine construction remains: the project needs a new partner.

As of this fall Pebble Mine owners say they're ready to start filing federal mining permits before the end of 2017, starting the march toward construction. It's the first movement in years for the huge copper and gold mine project.

However, the Pebble project now has a capital problem that didn't exist the last time the company was on the verge of filing permits. Then, several large mining companies owned part of the claim. Since 2015, the Pebble Limited Partnership has been a "partnership" of one. It is 100 percent owned by Vancouver, Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals, a company with no revenue and a small market capitalization of about $500 million. The company reports it is trying to finding a new partner by the end of 2017.

Project History

The Pebble Mine site is the largest undeveloped gold deposit in the world, according to the mining claim's owner. The deposit is also a rich source of copper and molybdenum.

But it's not in an easy place to develop. The mine site happens to be in the watershed of the largest sockeye salmon run in the world. If the mine's tailings aren't stored properly during the lifetime of the mine and beyond, they could poison the salmon spawning grounds. Mine opponents say that even without a disaster, the mine's water consumption would degrade the salmon habitat. Even without the risk to salmon, mine development wouldn't be easy. The mine is in a remote location 200 miles southwest of Anchorage that would require the construction of an expensive power plant and development of port and roads facilities.

The project is named after California's Pebble Beach Resort because the rolling hills of tundra looked like the famous golf course to a geologist flying over the area in 1988. Northern Dynasty bought the prospect in 2001.

EPA Settlement

In 2014--claiming its authority under Section 404(c) of the 1972 Clean Water Act--the EPA attempted to pre-emptively restrict a Pebble-area mine's ability to put mine tailings into streams and wetlands. Between 2014 and May 2017, Pebble sued the agency several times. The company argued it wasn't fair to make assumptions about the scope of the mine until it formally filed mining plans. It also accused...