Northern Dynasty CEO Ron Thiessen said the Rio Tinto move caught him by “complete surprise"

Sockeye salmon spawning Wikimedia Commons/Theinterior

First Anglo American, now Rio Tinto, ouch.

Global mining giant Rio Tinto PLC  will undertake a “strategic review” of its 19 percent stake in Canada’s Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. in yet another blow to the developers behind the proposed Pebble Mine.

Rio Tinto will consider whether the Pebble project fits with its “strategy of investing in and operating long-life and expandable assets,” according to Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto owns stakes in four productive copper mines and two ongoing copper developments in Peru and Arizona.

LINK (via:International Business Times)

Powerful pension funds urge Rio Tinto to divest from Pebble

Investors continue to target the Pebble prospect, with the latest salvo coming from the trustees of pensions funds for California and New York City that hold “substantial” shares in Pebble investor Rio Tinto.

In a short Dec. 19 letter expressing their personal views, John Chiang, controller for California, and John Liu, comptroller for New York City, tell Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh they want London-based Rio Tinto to divest its 19 percent stake in the huge copper-and-gold prospect located in Southwest Alaska.

LINK (via: Alaska Dispatch)

Bristol Bay watershed assesment delayed until 2014

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not expect to release a final report on the impacts of large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay region until early next year.

The agency had planned to release the final watershed assessment by the end of 2013.

LINK (via: Anchorage Daily News)

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/12/13/3228793/epa-now-expects-mine-report-in.html#storylink=cpy

Northern Dynasty re-acquires 100% ownership of Pebble Project

Northern Dynasty has now re-acquired 100% ownership and control of the Pebble Partnership. All Anglo American representatives have resigned from the Pebble Mines Corporation Board of Directors.

And the pipe dreams continue.

"During the course of the last six years and at a cost of US$556 million (as of September 30, 2013), substantial progress has been made toward our goal of permitting, constructing and operating a world-class, modern and environmentally responsible mine at Pebble that will co-exist with the fisheries resources of southwest Alaska," said Northern Dynasty President & CEO Ronald Thiessen.

LINK (via: Seeking Alpha)

Northern Dynasty has also launched a new website that includes this corporate presentation.

Anti-Pebble Mine group snatches up former Obama admin. officials

The horror!

“This is a prime example of the revolving door between this administration and the environmental left,” a Republican Senate aide told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Putting all of America’s natural resources completely off limits and killing the jobs that come with them seems to be their number one goal.”

LINK (via: The Daily Caller)

Maybe someone could ask Michael Bastasch at the Daily Caller how this differs from the revolving door between the prior administration and companies involved in the energy production industry.

LINK (PDF)

Sucks to get beat at your own game.

New Coalition Forms to Protect Alaskan Jobs and Stop the Pebble Mine

A diverse coalition of Alaskans today announced the formation of Bristol Bay United.

Bristol Bay United will harness the unprecedented grassroots opposition to the Pebble Mine to send a clear message to the Obama Administration that Pebble is the wrong mine in the wrong place. Their debut ad Risk that starts running today spells out the huge risks posed to Alaskans & Americans whose jobs depend on Bristol Bay.

LINK