A one-year land use permit has been issued to the Pebble Limited Partnership for its copper, gold and molybdenum mine in Southwest Alaska, conditioned on an unprecedented $2 million bond.
The decision from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources came after months of reviewing the permit application and over 1,000 public comments, including a number of comments from Alaskan opposed to the project.
Tom Collier, chief executive officer of the Pebble Partnership, said that the PLP would continue its site operations in 2017 in full compliance with state permit conditions. The PLP is still reviewing the permit.
Collier confirmed that Pebble would be advancing a program of work in Alaska in 2017 to prepare the project to initiate permitting under the Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
Kimberly Williams, executive director of Nunamta Aulukestai, which works with village corporations and tribal governments to responsibly manage land and water in the region, said her organization was grateful for the DNR review of public comments regarding the mine project. “Projects like Pebble need to be held accountable for how exploratory drilling impacts the areas they use,” Williams said.
