The Pebble East prospect west of here is now up to 42.6 billion pounds of copper, 39.6 million ounces of gold, and 2.7 billion pounds of molybdenum, and they haven't found the edge yet...
Pebble mine prospect keeps getting richer
DRILLING: Two years of searching fails to locate outer edge of deposit.
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By MARY PEMBERTON, The Associated Press
Published: October 13, 2007
Last Modified: October 13, 2007 at 02:06 AM
Exploratory drilling this year at the huge Pebble mine prospect near the world's most productive wild sockeye salmon fishery supports earlier findings: It's extraordinarily rich with copper and gold.
The Pebble East deposit in Southwest Alaska is so large that despite two years of exploratory drilling, its outer edges have yet to be found, Sean Magee, a spokesman for Northern Dynasty Mines Inc., said Friday.
The company is an American subsidiary of Northern Dynasty Minerals, a Canadian company developing the prospect.
The 2007 drilling program at Pebble East -- the deposit Northern Dynasty discovered two years ago when it was scoping out the less-rich Pebble West prospect -- confirms earlier findings, Magee said.
"It is more good news from a geological perspective," he said.
The value of the minerals at Pebble are worth hundreds of billions of dollars if they're mined.
This year, 72,700 feet of core drilling was completed in 17 holes. The results of six more holes are being evaluated. Drilling is ongoing with seven rigs working on new holes, and two more drill rigs are expected to be mobilized at drill sites later this year.
Northern Dynasty's drilling program at Pebble East last year consisted of 19 holes with 74,000 feet of core drilling.
"We are still trying to find the geographic extent of the ore body," Magee said. "We have not found the outside edges."
Pebble is located on state land designated for mining about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage. It lies in the headwaters of some rivers of the big Bristol Bay salmon fishery.
When questioned about the latest findings from Pebble, Bobby Andrew of Dillingham said he would redouble his efforts to keep the mine from being developed.
The mine has drawn strong opposition from fishermen, conservationists and many locals.
"I am going to fight harder," Andrew said. "They will be using more chemicals that will affect the salmon. I would hate to see that happen."
Magee said no decision has yet been made on whether both Pebble West and Pebble East will be developed. It could be that only the Pebble East project with its higher-grade ore will go forward. If developed, Pebble West would be an open pit mine. Pebble East would be underground.
Exploratory drilling this year at Pebble East shows mineralization going north to south for more than 9,000 feet, 600 feet beyond the previous boundary.
The company estimates the Pebble East deposit contains 42.6 billion pounds of copper, 39.6 million ounces of gold, and 2.7 billion pounds of molybdenum, a mineral used to strengthen metal.
Northern Dynasty expects to issue a revised estimate in February to reflect the 2007 drilling results.
The Pebble Mine deposit is estimated now to be the second-largest ore deposit of its type in the world, superseded just slightly by Indonesia's Grasberg Mine.
Pebble likely will become the largest once Pebble East is fully delineated.
"We are within 4 billion pounds and we have a significant drilling program under way that will expand the mineral resource estimate," Magee said.
Northern Dynasty is partnered with London-based mining giant Anglo American in a 50-50 joint venture to develop the mine near Bristol Bay. Anglo American has pledged to provide $1.4 billion in financing. Anglo began financing the venture on Aug. 1.
By the end of the year, Northern Dynasty expects to have invested about $225 million in the project, with about $85 million of that in environmental and socio-economic studies.
Magee said a feasibility study should be completed by the end of 2008. Drilling would begin in 2009 with the finalization of permits, he said.
It will cost an estimated $3 billion to $5 billion to build the mine, Magee said. Annual operating costs would run hundreds of millions of dollars.
"In our view, it would benefit three to five generations of Alaskans directly," he said. "This one has the potential to go for as many as 100 years."
That's just the kind of talk that worries Andrew.
"I have the future generations that I have to take into consideration," said Andrew, a retired fisherman and community leader. "It will be contaminating the air, the water ... It is the future we are talking about, not the money."
In 2007, the Bristol Bay salmon fishery was valued at $108 million with 31.6 million salmon harvested, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. |
