Pebble offers revenue sharing; Bristol Bay is skeptical

BBNC’s Jason Metrokin: We will not trade salmon for gold

Backers of a Canadian-owned mining venture at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed are inviting year-round area residents to participate in the project through a revenue sharing plan once the mine becomes profitable, through distribution of 3 percent of net profits.

“While not everyone will want to work at the mine, this ensures a direct way for everyone to participate,” says Tom Collier, CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership. “Whether a resident supports the project, opposes it, or is neutral, anyone who is a year-round resident can participate.”

Those who choose to do so must register their interest at pebbledividend.com.

The project is currently in the permitting process. The final environmental impact statement, which will play a key role in permitting, is expected to be issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in late June or early July, during the height of harvesting in Bristol Bay, home of the world’s largest wild sockeye salmon fishery.

Collier said in announcing the plan on Tuesday, June 16, that there would be no profits for the first several years, so the PLP would ensure a minimum distribution by contributing $3 million annually for distribution to all registered participants. If 3,000 residents signed up for the plan qualified residents would receive $1,000 once construction began, he said.

Residency, governance and distribution will be overseen by an advisory board comprised of John Shively and Willie Hensley, along with residents of the region, Collier said.

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Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., of Vancouver, British Columbia, owns 100 percent of the PLP, and is itself a subsidiary of Hunter Dickinson Inc, a diversified global mining firm also based in Vancouver, BC. Initial exploration of the mine site was done in the late 1980s by Cominco Alaska Exploration, which subsequently became Teck Resources. Northern Dynasty Minerals optioned the property from Teck Cominco in 2001.

Leaders of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay, the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp., Bristol Bay Native Association, and United Tribes of Bristol Bay labeled the offer “a desperate attempt by a dying company to create the illusion of support for their toxic project in a region that has illustrated dedicated opposition to the mine’s development for over 15 years.”

The offer of a dividend is particularly hollow given that the company has yet to produce an economic feasibility assessment showing that its plans pencil out, and Northern Dynasty’s materials for investors caution that there is no guarantee it will ever make a profit, they said.

“It’s clear the company is just trying to promise future dividends to create an illusion of support, but in reality, they’ve never been a trustworthy company,” said Katherine Carscallen, a third generation Bristol Bay harvester, speaking for Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay.

“Here in Bristol Bay, we know that our way of life is more previous than gold, and we will not allow a foreign mining company to devastate our cultures and communities,” said Ralph Andersen, president and CEO of BBNA.

Norm Van Vactor, president and CEO of BBEDC, called the revenue sharing offer “an eleventh- hour desperate attempt by Pebble to make empty promises offering breadcrumbs to the very people whose lives will be ruined by this project.”

“Our resolve to fight this project is only strengthened by their disrespectful and transparent attempts at bribery,” he said.

The Pebble mine, said Andy Wink, executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, “is a threat to Alaskan jobs, America’s food security and a salmon resource unparalleled anywhere on the planet.”

“This is just another PLP tactic to try to sway public opinion on this vastly unpopular project,” said Jason Metrokin, president and CEO of Bristol Bay Native Corp.

“BBNC’s opposition to the proposed Pebble mine is rooted in our shareholders’ culture and subsistence way of life and is strengthened by the good science that concludes that the proposed mine would cause unacceptable and irreparable adverse impacts to the Bristol Bay region,” he said. “We will not trade salmon for gold, and we will not be swayed by promises of cash payments from a proposed mine that cannot and should not be built.”

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