Pebble partnership collects environmental data: 'best and brightest' scientists conduct stringent work.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Environmental

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Any time a new development is brought into a community, it is sure to be met with close scrutiny. But when a project has the potential to affect the natural environmental like the Pebble Mine, it receives even more attention than usual.

The Pebble deposit, which is located roughly 200 miles southwest of Anchorage, has one of the largest concentrations of copper, gold, molybdenum and silver in the world. The mine is expected to hold 80.6 billion pounds of copper, 5.6 billion pounds of molybdenum (which is used to alloy steel for strength and heat resistance), 107.4 million ounces of gold, and commercially significant amounts of silver, rhenium and palladium.

Before plans can be made to build the mine, however, numerous environmental studies must be undertaken to create a comprehensive Environmental Baseline Document (EBD) characterizing the environment around the proposed mine site. According to Mike Heatwole, vice president of public affairs for the The Pebble Partnership, an Alaska limited partnership between Anglo American PLC and Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., the project is currently in a prefeasibility and pre-permitting research stage. Data collected will be used to generate a proposed mine development plan to be submitted for government and public review.

"We are expecting to have the EBD ready by mid-summer, which will be a compilation of the work we have done between 2004 and 2008," Heatwole said. "This document will provide folks with a solid understanding of what we've observed at the site, and what this may mean for the next phase of the project."

EXTENSIVE STUDIES

Approximately $120 million is being invested into the Pebble Partnership's environmental studies program, which explores a wide range of subjects in and around the deposit. Program data includes the results of air quality monitoring; fish and wildlife field studies; surface and ground water monitoring; soil and sediments studies; subsistence and traditional knowledge studies, and more.

"Stakeholders, especially those who live in and around the project area, have a significant interest in what we've found," Heatwole said. "Before we initiate any permitting process, they want to know what our plans are for the area."

At its conclusion, the EBD, which currently numbers 20,000 pages, will be released to the public on the Internet and by DVD, and a limited number of printed copies will be available.

This baseline information will then become part of...