Pebble Mines Corporation has been asked by a judge on Wednesday to prepare information that will be needed for a legal fight coming up over the large copper and gold deposit.
Pebble Mine is an advanced mineral exploration project investigating a very large porphyry copper, gold, and molybdenum mineral deposit in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark.
Judge Eric Aarseth of the Supreme Court, said the information should be produced by the companies even if that means working the Thanksgiving weekend and that the information contained in drilling logs concerning bore holes was not proprietary. He believed that it did not need to be kept secret. The lawsuit has been brought by Nunamta Aulukestai which is a coalition of 8 Bristol Bay village corporations.
They are hoping to stop development of the mine which is near the world’s largest wild sockeye salmon streams. The fishing companies argue that if the mine is allowed to be developed there will be irrevocable damage to the salmon stream. The evidentiary hearing was held on Wednesday and the trial is scheduled for Dec 6.
The Pebble Limited Partnership is 50% owned by a wholly-owned U.S.-based subsidiary of London-based Anglo American and 50% owned by The Northern Dynasty Partnership, which is a wholly-owned Canadian-based subsidiary of Northern Dynasty Minerals Limited. Announced in July, 2007 the partnership agreement obligates Anglo American to spend $1.425 billion towards study, permitting, and construction of the project in order to retain its 50% interest. The partnership is managed by the Pebble Mines Corporation, a 50% Northern Dynasty:50% Anglo American owned corporation based in Alaska.