Bad news on the Pebble Mine front… at least for people who like fishing and want to keep the world’s most prolific wild salmon and trout fishery intact for generations. Northern Dynasty, the company that owns and wants to build the Pebble Mine project has obtained financial backing from First Quantum Minerals, which could allow the project to get back into the permitting process.
From the Financial Times: “First Quantum said it had signed an option agreement with the mine’s owner Northern Dynasty Minerals that will see it pay $150m over four years to help fund the permitting process for the Pebble project. The agreement gives the company the right to a 50 per cent stake in the project after a further $1.35bn investment, the company said.” You can read the full story here.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that the mine will win out and be built. What it means is that the permitting process is likely to move forward, and we, the fishing interests in opposition to the mine, are back in a very desperate fight. We won it before (based on sound science and public sentiment) and we can win it again. But only if we get even more active as an industry.
