The name might have changed, but much of the information surrounding the Pebble mining project was the same at last Wednesday's Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Heidi Franklin, stakeholder relations manager for the newly formed Pebble Partnership, was on hand to update diners on the status of the project, answer their questions and counter claims made by some conservation groups that the proposed open pit copper, gold and molybdenum mine would damage the environment.
Franklin told a group of about 30 at the Anchor River Inn that the project is still in the development phase, has the support of about half the people in the area and can be developed without destroying the largest salmon run in the world, contrary to what project opponents claim.
The Pebble Partnership was formed in October after Anglo American joined forces with Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and agreed to invest $1.425 billion in developing the project to earn a 50 percent share.
The proposed mining site, located about 17 miles north of Iliamna, across Cook Inlet from Homer has been called the largest copper and gold deposit in North America, but Franklin was quick to point out the project is still early in the development process.
"It's not really a mine yet," she said.
Work at the site has stopped for the winter, but will ramp up again in February as the partnership continues test drilling and work on baseline environmental studies.
Franklin said the boundary of the deposit that has already been estimated to contain 32 billion pounds of copper, 44 million ounces of gold and 2 billion pounds of molybdenum has not yet been found.
So far, most of the exploration equipment has been brought in by helicopter, but preliminary plans for the site include a 120 mile-long road from the mine to Cook Inlet or a slurry pipeline big enough to carry material to barges, Franklin said. The mine will need 250 to 270 megawatts of electricity to operate, and may be supplied by a proposed gas-fired plant in Nikiski or a coal-fired plant somewhere else. Franklin said talks are under way with Homer Electric Association and excess electricity could be available for Kenai Peninsula users. She said she couldn't discuss specifics, citing confidentiality agreements.
From 2002 to 2006, Northern Dynasty spent $130 million on the project. In 2007 it spent $95 million and will spend roughly the same amount in 2008, Franklin said.
So far, $3 million has gone into the local economies of Iliamna and Newhalen in the form of wages, contracts and lodges in the area, she said.
Job creation has been a cornerstone of project promotion efforts so far, and Franklin said the mine will create 2,000 jobs during the construction phase and 1,000 jobs during the life of the project. Pay for these jobs will average $60,000 per year, she said, and the latest estimates point to a mining life span of up to 100 years.
Critics of the project have claimed that mining in Nushagak and Kvichak river drainages will destroy thousands of acres of salmon spawning and rearing habitat, hurting Alaska's greatest salmon run.
Franklin, however, said mining and fishing could co-exist.
Of the eight salmon-producing watersheds that feed Bristol Bay, the proposed mine would affect only two the Nushagak and Kvichak and those drainages are estimated to produce just 20 percent of the total Bristol Bay run, Franklin said.
"It's a physical improbability that we will have any effect on 80 percent of the (sockeye) escapement," she said.
Franklin pointed to the Frasier River in British Columbia, Canada, as an area that has seen mining and fishing co-exist.
The Frasier River system is the second-largest producing system in the world, behind Bristol Bay, and there are 64 historic and eight operating mines in the region.
"There has been no impact anyone has been able to pinpoint on mining," she said.
After a 20-minute presentation, Franklin took several questions from the audience.
One diner asked what degree of certainty the company has that it will make it through the state's permitting process.
"There's no certainty," Franklin said. "The only certainty there is is that there is a permitting process."
There are 67 permits that must be granted, including 11 from federal agencies, Franklin said. The company plans on starting that process in 2009 or later. (For more on the permitting process, see related story, page 1.)
Homer Mayor James Hornaday asked Franklin what would happen if Alaskans voted for the Alaska Clean Water Initiative that could be on the 2008 ballot in November.
"It would bring mines in development like Pebble mine to a halt," she said.
Another diner asked why the company plans to barge the material to Asia for smelting instead of doing the smelting in Alaska.
Franklin said there aren't any smelters in Alaska because it is impossible to get the permits here, she said.
"The closest smelters are in Asia," she said.
Ben Stuart can be reached at ben.stuart@homernews.com.
