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VANCOUVER, May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/
- Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. ("Northern Dynasty" or the
"Company") (TSX: NDM; NYSE Amex: NAK)
made a presentation today at the public hearings in Seattle,
Washingtonregarding the draft Bristol Bay Watershed
Assessment report released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
on May 18, 2012. The
complete text of the presentation by Sean Magee, Northern Dynasty's Vice President, Public
Affairs, is provided below: Good
afternoon. My
name is Sean
Magee, and I'm here today on behalf of Northern Dynasty Minerals - a
50% owner of the Pebble Project. I am
also here to represent our shareholders, some three-quarters of whom are
residents of the United States. I'd
like to begin by saying that when we first learned the EPA had initiated the
Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment, we welcomed it. We
welcomed it because, in launching the assessment, the EPA had rejected the
idea of pre-emptively vetoing the Pebble Project because there existed
insufficient information to do so. We agreed with that conclusion then and we
agree with it today. However,
we also felt the Watershed Assessment presented a unique opportunity to
inject some science into what has become an extremely volatile, politicized
and emotional debate. We
felt that if the EPA could apply its experience and good objective science,
then the Watershed Assessment would surely present a more realistic view of
the potential effects of mine development in southwest Alaska.
We believed it would more realistically frame the issues of risk and reward,
and correct the popular myth that a modern mine occupying less than
one-twentieth of 1% of the land base, within a 400 square mile area that
produces just one half of 1% of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon, could somehow
wipe out an entire fishery. That
would have been a positive contribution to the public discussion around
Pebble. It would have eliminated the extremes of rhetoric that have
characterized this debate for years, and helped prepare stakeholders for the
federal and state permitting process to come. Unfortunately,
that did not happen. The
draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment report is a fundamentally flawed
document that reflects more on the state of politics and advocacy surrounding
Pebble than on science. And that is a terrible shame. We
are hopeful that the final report will present a more objective and informed
view. If not, the EPA will only have succeeded in fanning the flames of
controversy surrounding Pebble, exacerbating a dynamic that has pitted
individual families, communities and industries against one another. Why
do we believe the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment is flawed? Principally
because it is premature. By
the EPA's own admission, it has evaluated the effects of a 'hypothetical
project' - a project that has not been defined and for which key
environmental mitigation strategies are not known. You
don't have to be a scientist to understand that you cannot assess the effects
of what you don't know. That is why every natural resource project in this
country is assessed by federal and state regulators after a proponent has
finalized its studies and applied for a permit. The Pebble Project should be
treated no differently. The
Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment is flawed because it was rushed. The Pebble
Partnership has invested some $150 million over
eight years to study the ecological and social environment surrounding
Pebble. Not
only has the EPA spent a small fraction of the time and effort to study a
much larger area - 20,000 square miles. They
also failed to fully consider the data that the Pebble Partnership provided
as part of its 27,000-page Environmental Baseline Document. The EPA has said
that information, provided to them last December, came too late to bear their
full consideration. We
believe it is wrong, and flies in the face of objective scientific enquiry to
reject what is indisputably the best data set available on this region
because of political expediency. Northern
Dynasty also has serious concerns about the extent to which this report is
based on the findings of two previous reports prepared by environmental
activists. We are still conducting our review, and fully intend to provide
our critique to the EPA, to the independent peer review panel once it is
formed, as well as to public and media audiences. But
the clear evidence is that the EPA has relied substantially upon advocacy
materials prepared by environmental groups to inform its science. The
combination of assessing a 'hypothetical' mine plan, leaning heavily on
environmental activists for scientific information, and refusing to fully
consider the scientific work completed by Pebble as part of its Environmental
Baseline Document, has contributed in no small part to the deep flaws
inherent in this document. Ultimately,
no one can make meaningful judgments about Pebble and the effects it may have
on fish and water in southwest Alaska before
the project is designed, proposed and evaluated under the National
Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. The
Environmental Impact Statement prepared for Pebble under NEPA will be fully
informed by Pebble's proposed development plan, its mitigation strategies for
protecting fish and water, and the advanced environmental studies it has
undertaken. The
EIS will be prepared and vetted by third-part y experts and reviewed by
federal and state regulatory agencies and the general public. It is
indisputably the most comprehensive, objective and appropriate vehicle for
measuring Pebble's true effects. We
certainly hope and expect that the EPA will be fully engaged in reviewing the
Pebble EIS during the NEPA permitting process in the years ahead. There
are other troubling inclusions in the draft Watershed Assessment report -
instances where it appears that data and corresponding maps and figures have
been distorted. We are not prepared to speak to those instances today, as we
are still evaluating them with our consultants and legal experts. However,
it appears this report may violate the Data Quality Act and other guidelines
provided by the federal Office of Management and Budget to ensure that
government agencies "maximize the quality, objectivity, utility and
integrity" of the information they create, collect and disseminate. As
it stands today, we believe this report is a seriously flawed document that
sheds far more heat than light on the potential effects and opportunities
associated with modern mine development in southwest Alaska. We
strongly encourage the EPA to slow down this process…to provide for longer
and more meaningful public review …and to commit to using the best science
available to assess the risks and opportunities associated with Pebble,
rather than rushing ahead with a study that is premature and fails to meet
government's own standards for "good science' in the public interest. Northern
Dynasty will participate fully in the upcoming public and peer review
processes in an effort to contribute to a final Watershed Assessment report
that is fair, objective and science-based. Ultimately
though, we have every confidence that the Pebble Project will be assessed by
federal and state agencies - including the EPA - under NEPA. That is as it
should be, and we look forward to the opportunity for the Pebble Partnership
to present its proposed development plan, its mitigation strategies and
science within a process that is both rigorous and demanding, but also fair
and objective. Thank
you for your attention today. About
the Pebble Project The
Pebble Project is an initiative of the Pebble Partnership to responsibly
develop a globally significant copper, gold and molybdenum deposit in
southwest Alaska into
a modern, long-life mine. The project is located 200 miles southwest of
Anchorage on state land designated through two public land use planning
exercises for mineral exploration and development. It is situated
approximately 1,000 feet above sea-level, 65 miles from tidewater on Cook
Inlet and presents favourable conditions for successful mine site and
infrastructure development. The
Pebble Project consists of the Pebble deposit, surrounding mineral claims and
a stream of financing being provided by Northern Dynasty's project partner
Anglo American US (Pebble) LLC. The Pebble Partnership was established in July 2007 as a 50:50 partnership between a
wholly-owned affiliate of Northern Dynasty and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anglo American plc. Both Northern Dynasty and Anglo American have equal ownership and direction
of the Pebble Partnership. Under
the terms of the Pebble Limited Partnership Agreement, Anglo American is required to elect to commit $1.5 billion in staged investments in order to
retain its 50% interest in the Pebble Project. Funds provided by Anglo American are currently being invested in
comprehensive exploration, engineering, environmental and socioeconomic
programs toward the future development of the Pebble Project. About
Northern Dynasty Northern
Dynasty Minerals Ltd. is a mineral exploration and development company based
in Vancouver,
Canada, which holds indirect interests in 650 square miles of mineral
claims in southwest Alaska, USA. Northern Dynasty's principal asset is a
50% interest in the Pebble Partnership, owner of the Pebble
Copper-Gold-Molybdenum Project. The Pebble Project is an advanced-stage
initiative to develop one of the most important mineral resources in the
world. Review
Canadian public filings at www.sedar.com and US public filings at www.sec.gov. Ronald W. Thiessen Sole Responsibility No
regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release. Northern Dynasty is solely and entirely responsible for the
contents of this news release. No other party, including any parties which
have an interest in the project, are in any way responsible for the contents
hereof. Forward Looking Information and
other Cautionary Factors This
release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking
statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of
historical facts, especially those that address estimated resource
quantities, grades and contained metals, are forward-looking statements
because they are generally made on the basis of estimation and extrapolation
from a limited number of drill holes and metallurgical studies. Although
diamond drill hole core provides valuable information about the size, shape and
geology of an exploration project, there will always remain a significant
degree of uncertainty in connection with these valuation factors until a
deposit has been extensively drilled on closely spaced centers, which has
occurred only in specific areas on the Pebble Project. Although the Company
believes the expectations expressed in its forward-looking statements are
based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way
construed as guarantees of the ultimate size, quality or commercial
feasibility of the Pebble Project or of the Company's future performance. The
likelihood of future mining at the Pebble Project is subject to a large
number of risks and will require achievement of a number of technical,
economic and legal objectives, including obtaining necessary mining and
construction permits, completion of pre-feasibility and final feasibility
studies, preparation of all necessary engineering for underground workings
and processing facilities as well as receipt of significant additional
financing to fund these objectives as well as funding mine construction. Such
funding may not be available to the Company on acceptable terms or on any
terms at all. There is no known ore at the Pebble Project and there is no
assurance that the mineralization at the Pebble Project will ever be
classified as ore. The need for compliance with extensive environmental and
socio-economic rules and practices and the requirement for the Company to
obtain government permitting can cause a delay or even abandonment of a
mineral project. The Company is also subject to the specific risks inherent
in the mining business as well as general economic and business conditions.
For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company's
annual Form 40-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com. SOURCE
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. |
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