Wealthy foes target Northern Dynasty

Vancouver — Wealthy opponents appear to be lining up against Northern Dynasty Minerals (NDM-V, NAK-X) as it works to develop a remote project in southern Alaska that ranks among the world’s largest copper-gold deposits.

The Vancouver company says opposition to its massive Pebble project is being spearheaded by Robert Gillam, an Alaskan money manager who owns a sports fishing and hunting lodge located about 48 km away from the project site.

“We are very aware of where this is coming from,” says Sean Magee, a spokesman for Northern Dynasty, a Hunter Dickinson group company that is 10% owned by Rio Tinto (RTP-N) subsidiary Kennecott Canada Exploration.

“(Gillam) has taken a particular interest in the project and has spent a lot of money trying to delay it,” Magee says.

But when reached at his home in Anchorage, Gillam declined to comment on his reasons for opposing the mine.

“I’m a private citizen and I’m entitled to my opinions,” he said.

Aside from his interests in sports fishing, Gillam is also president of Anchorage-money management firm McKinley Capital Management.

Northern Dynasty officials believe he is only one player in a broad campaign to stop the Pebble project from being developed.

Last week, Washington, D.C.-based environmental group Earthworks stepped into the campaign by paying between US$10,000 and US$20,000 to place an ad in the January, February and March issues of National Jeweler Magazine.

A copy obtained by The Northern Miner said the project is a threat to Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, an area it described as critical habitat for 43 million salmon, as well as caribou, freshwater seals, grizzly bears and trout.

The ad represents a new phase in an opposition campaign that has been running for several months, Magee says.

“The ad is an effort to gain media attention,” he explains.

However, its financiers are ignoring the fact that gold and molybdenum will be mere byproducts in an operation that will be producing mainly copper in concentrates.

As the concentrates will be refined in Asian smelters, Magee says it is unlikely that North American jewellers will emerge as end markets for metals produced at Pebble.

Still, the massive Alaskan project is now head-and-shoulders above any other large deposit not controlled by a major mining company, says Andrew Mikitchook, a mining analyst with investment firm Westwind Partners in Toronto.

In situ resources in two deposits are estimated at 49 billion lbs. copper, 64 million oz. gold and 2.9 billion lbs. molybdenum.

Faced with developing a project on that scale, Northern Dynasty is expected to bring in a major mining company to assist with what is expected to be a complex and lengthy permitting process.

Magee describes the process as “rigorous,” but says the company does not expect to start applying for some of the 60 permits that will be required until 2008.

When it does, it will be dealing with 11 different federal and state agencies.

Meanwhile, the fact that Kennecott Canada has taken a 10% stake in Northern Dynasty should not deter other potential partners, according to Mikitchoo.

“Rio’s stake is not a controlling interest, does not come with a board position, and has no direct property rights,” he said in a report. “It should not stymie negotiations with eventual partners.”