A major shareholder of a company behind a contentious Alaskan mine project on Monday announced it was giving its shares away to two Alaskan charitable organizations, at least one of which belongs to a larger group that has come out publicly against the project.
London-based mining company Rio Tinto announced plans to give its US$16 million worth of shares in Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd to the Alaska Community Foundation and the Bristol Bay Native Corp Education Foundation.
“By giving our shares to two respected Alaskan charities, we are ensuring that Alaskans will have a say in Pebble’s future development and that any economic benefit supports Alaska’s ability to attract investment that creates jobs,” Rio Tinto chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said in a statement posted on the company’s Web site.
“This gift provides an example of what open discussion and relationship-building between stakeholders with differing views can accomplish. However, [Bristol Bay Native Corp’s] opposition to the proposed Pebble mine has not changed,” Bristol Bay Native Corp president Jason Metrokin said in a statement.
The Pebble Mine project — a massive gold-and-copper prospect near the headwaters of a world-premier salmon fishery in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region — has faced a series of setbacks by those worried about its environmental repercussions.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in February announced it was taking the first steps toward restricting or even prohibiting development of a mine in that area of Alaska, but stressed that no final decision has been made.
While the rarely used EPA process is underway, the US Army Corps of Engineers cannot approve a permit for the proposed Pebble Mine project.
Rio Tinto said its interest in Northern Dynasty did not fit with Northern’s strategy.
The company late last year said it would review its major holding in Northern Dynasty Minerals after coming under pressure from the overseers of pension funds in California and New York, who said there were risks to Rio Tinto’s reputation for being associated with the operations proposed by Pebble Mine.
The Alaska Community Foundation, a philanthropic organization, holds more than US$70 million in 300 funds for the benefit of Alaskans.
This particular donation is to be used to fund a workforce development initiative, the foundation said.
The announcement followed release of an EPA report in January which found that large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay catchment area posed significant risk to salmon and could adversely affect Alaska Natives in the region, whose culture is built around the fish.
The Pebble Partnership has called the mine deposit one of the largest of its kind in the world, with the potential of producing 36.5 billion kilograms of copper, 107.4 million ounces of gold and 2.5 billion kilograms of molybdenum over decades.
Northern Dynasty has been looking for a new partner after Anglo American PLC pulled out last year, citing a prioritization of projects.
Pebble has criticized the EPA process as flawed and has said that it has yet to finalize designs for its mining operations.
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