The US Army Corps of Engineers has ordered Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX: NDM) to craft a plan that would mitigate the environmental impacts of the controversial Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mine in Alaska.
In a letter dated Aug. 20 to the project’s developer, Pebble Limited Partnership, the body said that “mitigation is required for unavoidable adverse impacts to aquatic resources” the project could bring.
The document marks a surprise reversal from the Corps July decision. The regulator cleared at the time the last environmental hurdle for the proposed Pebble mine. The approval of the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project put an end to almost two-decade long permitting process.
The mine only needed the federal nod to go ahead. Doubts around what many considered a done-deal, however, surged in early August, with President Donald Trump pledging to hear out “both sides of the issue”.
The unexpected statement followed his son Donald Jr. tweeting he opposed the project supported by his father’s administration.
The Corps’ order issued today comes on the heels of a report by Politico over the weekend, stating that the Trump administration intended to block the controversial and long-dragged project.
Pebble mine would be built near headwaters of the Bristol Bay salmon fishery about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage. This has triggered opposition from conservationists and local indigenous communities, who claim the mine would cause irreparable damage to the environment and the salmon-based economy.
More to come…