3 EPA report arms Pebble resistance Bristol Bay review provides mine foes with powerful tactical resource 10 New predator roams the Yukon Three juniors with promising assets unite to form new Golden Predator 16 Mining endures as BC cornerstone New Afton, Mt. Milligan start in 2013; Red Chris, Roman target 2014 This bar contains the six-millionth ounce of gold poured at Kinross Gold Corp.’s Fort Knox Mine near Fairbanks, Alaska. Including the record 428,822 ounces recovered A special supplement to Petroleum News from the rejuvenated Fort Knox Mine, Alaska gold production topped 1 million ounces in 2013 for the first time since 1906. WEEK OF PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN, COURTESY OF KINROSS GOLD CORP. January 26, 2014 2 NORTH OF 60 MINING PETROLEUM NEWS • WEEK OF JANUARY 26, 2014 Only pay for the speed you need... Dynamic Routing! SM At Lynden, we understand that plans change but deadlines don’t. That’s why we proudly offer our exclusive Dynamic Routing system. Designed to work around your unique requirements, Dynamic Routing allows you to choose the mode of transportation — air, sea or land — to control the speed of your deliveries so they arrive just as they are needed. With Lynden you only pay for the speed you need! www.lynden.com 1-888-596-3361 PETROLEUM NEWS • WEEK OF JANUARY 26, 2014 NORTH OF 60 MINING 3 l ALASKA Report backs bid to smash Pebble EPA assessment claims large-scale mining could harm Bristol Bay fishery; Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska: ‘Pebble is not worth the risk’ By SHANE LASLEY “There are a variety of authorities Mining News under the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act and he final rendition of the U.S. SHANE LASLEY we have made no decision with respect TEnvironmental Protection Agency’s with what comes next or what authorities Bristol Bay Assessment does not opine on we might use going forward,” the EPA whether large-scale mining should be administrator explained. allowed in the Bristol Bay watershed; the report does, however, provide “an impor- Pre-emptively veto tant tactical resource” for those opposed SEN. MARK BEGICH SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI The most extreme of the options being JOHN SHIVELY RON THIESSEN to developing the world-class copper- considered by EPA is to exercise a pre- gold-molybdenum deposit at Pebble. “The Bristol Bay watershed, and the sumed authority under Section 404 of the been used to deny a project the right to “The assessment is a technical fishery there, and the size and scope of Clean Water Act to pre-emptively veto the apply for permits, EPA claims it has the resource for governments, tribes and the the Pebble deposit are pretty unique,” permits needed to develop a mine at power to do so. public as we consider how to address the McLerran said during a Jan. 15 media Pebble. In 2010, Nunamta Aulukestai, a challenges of large-scale mining and eco- conference in conjunction with the Under section 404 of the Clean Water Southwest Alaska Native conservation logical protection in the Bristol Bay release of the final Bristol Bay Act, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is group and fellow Pebble opponents such watershed," said EPA Region 10 District Assessment. charged with issuing permits for dis- as Trout Unlimited urged the EPA to test Administrator Dennis McLerran. When asked whether EPA believed a charge into wetlands. Some 130 million the extent of its presumed Clean Water Pebble, considered to be the largest mine at Northern Dynasty’s Pebble acres of Alaska, about the combined area Act authority to proactively strike down known undeveloped copper-gold-molyb- deposit and the Bristol Bay fishery could of California and Kentucky, are consid- the ability to permit Pebble. denum deposit on the planet, contains an co-exist, McLerran responded, “I think ered wetlands. Much of this vast expanse, Before responding to these requests, estimated 80.6 billion pounds of copper, the assessment speaks for itself.” including the Pebble property, is treeless EPA decided to carry out the Bristol Bay 107.4 million ounces of gold and 5.6 bil- The regional administrator went on to areas of moist and wet tundra underlain Assessment. lion pounds of molybdenum. explain that the final rendition of EPA’s by a permanently frozen layer that pro- “Now that the assessment is complete, “The Pebble deposit is an extraordi- Bristol Bay Assessment has identified hibits water drainage. we at EPA will begin the process of nary deposit; it has the potential to be one “direct impacts on the fishery that include Although the Corps has been relegated deciding how now to respond to the of the world’s largest porphyry gold and loss of streams and wetlands that are fish- the authority over the discharge permits requests from tribes and others to take copper mines,” admitted McLerran. bearing streams and potential impacts on on these wetlands, under section 404(c) regulatory action,” McLerran explained. But, this extraordinary deposit is the fishery in the Bristol Bay watershed.” EPA was granted the power to prohibit, Conservation groups have made it found in a region of Southwest Alaska McLerran emphasized that the final- restrict, or deny such permits that pose an clear what actions they want the federal that is also host to the largest sockeye ization of the report does not represent a unacceptable adverse impact to fisheries government to take. salmon fishery in the world, which, regulatory decision by the EPA and that or other water uses. according to EPA’s report produces nearly the federal agency will now begin the While CWA Section 404(c) has never see EPA REPORT page 4 50 percent of the world’s wild sockeye process of determining what actions, if salmon with runs averaging 37.5 million any, should be taken. fish each year. Contact North of 60 Mining News: Publisher: Shane Lasley • e-mail: [email protected] Phone: 907.229.6289 • Fax: 907.522.9583 North of 60 Mining News is a monthly supplement of the weekly newspaper, Petroleum News. It will be published in the fourth or fifth week of every month. Shane Lasley PUBLISHER & NEWS EDITOR ADDRESS P.O. Box 231647 Rose Ragsdale EDITOR-IN-CHIEF (contractor) Anchorage, AK 99523-1647 Mary Mack CEO & GENERAL MANAGER NEWS 907.229.6289 Susan Crane ADVERTISING DIRECTOR [email protected] Heather Yates BOOKKEEPER & CIRCULATION MANAGER CIRCULATION 907.522.9469 Bonnie Yonker AK / INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING [email protected] Marti Reeve SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR ADVERTISING Susan Crane • 907.770.5592 Steven Merritt PRODUCTION DIRECTOR [email protected] Curt Freeman COLUMNIST Bonnie Yonker • 425.483.9705 [email protected] J.P. 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(Canada/Mexico subscriptions are $185.95; overseas subscriptions are $220) Or, just purchase the online edition of Petroleum News, which also includes the mining supplement and online access to past stories, for $69 per year. 4 NORTH OF 60 MINING PETROLEUM NEWS • WEEK OF JANUARY 26, 2014 continued from page 3 provide EPA.” “We had certainly hoped that EPA “I think the assessment speaks for The potential that the EPA may proac- would depoliticize this process and come EPA REPORT itself.” —Dennis McLerran, district tively thwart the ability to apply for per- back to its legitimate and important role of administrator, EPA region 10 mits to develop Pebble was a hot topic evaluating this project based on the best “The science is indisputable,” said during an Oct. 10 U.S. House available science, an evaluation which Trout Unlimited President and CEO Chris Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral should take place in the very comprehen- Wood. “Bristol Bay is the world’s most economy strong. But years of scientific study has proven the proposed Pebble Resources hearing provocatively titled sive permitting process established by fed- important wild salmon fishery, and no “EPA vs. American Mining Jobs: The eral law,” said Pebble Partnership CEO place for a large-scale industrial mine. The Mine cannot be developed safely in the Bristol Bay watershed,” Begich said in his Obama Administration’s Regulatory John Shively. “Clearly this report should EPA has done its job, and it’s now time for Assault on the Economy.” not be used as the basis for any type of the Obama administration to use its first public statement in opposition to the project. During the hearing, Energy and agency decision regarding Pebble.” authority under the Clean Water Act to Minerals Chairman Doug Lamborn, R- Northern Dynasty, currently the sole stop the mine and protect the $1.5 billion- “Thousands of Alaskans have weighed in on this issue, and I have listened to their Colo., described the Bristol Bay owner of the Pebble Partnership, aims to per-year fishery.” Assessment as “an effort to pre-emptively have a comprehensive plan to mine the Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, agrees concerns. Pebble is not worth the risk,” he added. veto mining across a whole region of world-class copper-gold-molybdenum that the science is indisputable. Alaska.” deposit by April. “I have always said I will let science be Rigorous permitting “At the heart of this issue is the lack of “We look forward to defining a pro- my guide, and my decision whether to confidence in permitting by the federal posed development plan for Pebble and to While Sen.