Rio Tinto CEO: No Interest In Pebble Project As An Open Pit Mine
April 19 2012 - 7:51AM
Dow Jones News
Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) has no interest in seeing the Alaskan copper
and gold Pebble project developed as an open pit mine given the
concerns about its environmental impact, although it thinks it
would be worth exploring the project as an underground mine.
"I'm interested in looking at it from an underground
perspective; I have no interest in looking at it from an overground
perspective," Rio Tinto's CEO Tom Albanese told his shareholders at
the company's annual general meeting here.
"An open pit mine is not the way to go...in my opinion," he
added.
The Pebble project, located in southwestern Alaska, is one of
the world's largest undeveloped gold and copper deposits and has
faced protests from activists who allege it could harm an important
spawning habitat for wild sockeye salmon, as well as damage
communities around Bristol Bay that depend on fishing.
Rio Tinto owns an indirect stake in the project through a 19.16%
stake in Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., which owns
the project jointly and in equal measure with U.K.-listed Anglo
American PLC (AAL.LN).
The project could produce annually as much as 350,000 metric
tons of copper, 12,000 tons of molybdenum, and 600,000 ounces of
gold. A pre-feasibility study for the project is expected to be
completed in 2012.
-By Alex MacDonald, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9328;
alex.macdonald@dowjones.com
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