The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Fisheries board rejects plan to establish Bristol Bay fish refuge; Native corporations differ sharply on mining project's impact
The Pebble Partnership, a 50-50 joint venture between Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American plc, can chalk up one win and one potential loss toward the development of a mine at its copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Southwest Alaska.
On the plus side, the Alaska Board of Fisheries rejected Proposal 13, a plan to establish a state fish refuge for the Bristol Bay region that would have threatened the Pebble project.
After listening to more than five hours of testimony Dec. 5, the fisheries board voted down a request that the state Legislature establish a state fish refuge in the Nushagak and Kvichak river drainages.
The proposal - which was put forward by Pebble opponents Brian Kraft and Tom Tilden, among others - was considered by many as another attempt to block development at the enormous copper-gold deposit.
Based on the testimony presented on Proposal 13, the fisheries board drafted a letter to the Legislature. The board has yet to release the proposed letter due to reported disagreements over the letter's language.
The setback came from a Dec. 11 decision by the Bristol Bay Native Corp. board to oppose development of a mine at Pebble.
The Bristol Bay Native Corp. board cited as its reason "unquantifiable impacts the project could have on the natural resources of the Bristol Bay region."
The decision by the board is a shift from its previous neutral position on Pebble development.
"Maintaining a neutral stance on the Pebble Mine project is no longer in the best interest of the corporation or to the values of cultural and economic sustainability to which we hold ourselves," Bristol Bay Chairman Joseph Chythlook said.
Though the corporation is not directly involved in Bristol Bay's fishing industry, fish remain its highest priority, said Bristol Bay CEO Jason Metrokin.
"A large portion of our shareholders are Bristol Bay (fishing) permit holders," he said.
In addition to representing a voice for thousands of shareholders, the Bristol Bay Native Corp. is also a major landowner in the area surrounding the Pebble project.
Metrokin said any requests to use the Native corporation's subsurface lands would be denied.
Pebble Partnership spokesman Mike Heatwole, called the Native regional corporation's decision disappointing.
"We will continue to press forward with our work to conclude a pre-feasibility study and a responsible mine development plan for Pebble," he said. "It's important to stress that any mine development plan we bring forward will be based upon co-existing with the fishery in the Bristol Bay region."
However, two Native village corporations within the Bristol Bay region strenuously objected to the Native regional corporation's anti-Pebble stance.
The Alaska Peninsula Corp., a Native village corporation with extensive land holdings in the Iliamna Lake Region near the Pebble property, called the decision by the regional corporation board "a declaration of economic warfare."
"Our villages are suffering from some of the highest unemployment rates and cost of living and energy prices in the nation," said Alaska Peninsula Corp. President Ralph Angasan. "We are facing declining populations in our villages, as our shareholders leave to find opportunities elsewhere. Our schools are closing and our communities are withering.
"BBNC's irresponsible actions based on irrational fear-mongering, threatens our very ability to survive.
BBNC has not developed, or sought to develop, economic opportunities in our villages, and has now threatened to extinguish our ability to survive and provide real opportunities for our people.
We are committed to the wise development of the resources and to creating real economic opportunities for our shareholders, who are also shareholders of Bristol Bay Native Corp. There is no mine, and there may never be a mine.
But BBNC's decision to oppose, rather than to weigh the evidence, before the permitting process has even begun, condemns our people to poverty.
All this, while BBNC, headquartered in Anchorage, boasts of US$1 billion dollars in revenues, but has taken our only opportunity."
Pedro Bay Corp., a village corporation with land holdings linking Cook Inlet to the proposed Pebble Prospect, also criticized the regional corporation's decision, describing it as "an outrageous and dictatorial act that condemns Pedro Bay Corp. and the village of Pedro Bay to colonial status."
"BBNC's decision to oppose economic development opportunities in Bristol Bay negatively impacts a region already in crisis, with three to five times the national unemployment rate, one of the highest rates of poverty in the state, and three times the urban Anchorage cost of living," said Pedro Bay Chairman John Allen Adcox. "Incredibly, its decision is based solely upon its irrational and unsubstantiated fear of the future. Worse yet is that the decision by BBNC, a remote landowner that brags about 'enriching our Native way of life,' condemns the residents of the region to a choice between leaving their homes or becoming wards of the state.
Adcox also said that Pedro Bay Corp., given its strategic location, stands to benefit from the increased worldwide interest in mineral exploration throughout the Bristol Bay region.
"BBNC's unilateral decision, without so much as consulting with us, demonstrates its complete disregard for the welfare of our shareholders," he said. "BBNC has not even attempted to assist us to create a sustainable economy, but pays lip service to enhancing the Native way of life. The anti-development resolution is a disservice to the shareholders of Pedro Bay, residents of Bristol Bay and to the Native peoples of Alaska."
The 12 Alaska Native regional corporations created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act own subsurface rights to the lands they hold, while some 200 village corporations within the regions own surface rights to the acreage.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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