VANCOUVER, Feb. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - Northern Dynasty
Minerals Ltd. (TSX: NDM; NYSE MKT: NAK) ("Northern Dynasty" or the
"Company") announced today that Thomas C.
(Tom) Collier, a respected US regulatory lawyer based in
Washington DC and former Chief of
Staff in the U.S. Department of Interior, has been named Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of the Pebble Limited Partnership ("Pebble
Partnership" or "PLP), replacing John
Shively. Collier has served as senior external counsel to
Northern Dynasty since 2011.
A former Commissioner of the Alaska Department
of Natural Resources ("DNR") and Chief of Staff to former
Alaska Governor Bill Sheffield, Shively has been named Chairman
of Pebble Mines Corp ("PMC"). He will continue to play an active
role on the Pebble strategic leadership team.
"Resolving complex, challenging and
controversial development projects has been the major focus of my
career for the past several decades, so I welcome the challenge of
serving as Pebble CEO," Collier said. "I will immediately focus my
energies on preparing the strategy and scientific resources
necessary to secure federal and state permits for the construction
and operation of a modern, long-life mine at Pebble in the years
ahead."
Collier's 40-year career, spent principally as a
partner at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington DC, includes extensive natural
resource sector experience, particularly as it relates to federal
regulation and permitting. He specializes in providing strategic
leadership to companies navigating federal environmental permitting
processes, specifically the Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS")
process under the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA")
and 404 wetlands permitting under the Clean Water Act.
Collier has played a senior role on several
major projects that successfully secured federal permits in
Alaska - including reauthorization
of the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.'s Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
(TAPS) and several developments undertaken by Conoco Phillips.
Based on his industry experience, as well as his time serving as
Chief of Staff for Bruce Babbitt at
the US Department of the Interior, Collier has developed extensive
knowledge of and networks within key federal regulatory agencies -
including the US Army Corps of Engineers and US Environmental
Protection Agency.
"From my experience, I have developed three key
principles that I believe are essential to resolving the kind of
environmental controversy we see at Pebble," he said. "First,
natural resource development and environmental protection can and
do co-exist; second, science is the key to resolving such
controversies; and third, the NEPA-required EIS process is the best
way to resolve scientific disagreements.
"I am bringing these lessons and my extensive
experience with the section 404 permitting process to Pebble, and
I'm confident that this great project will be permitted and built
in Alaska."
Northern Dynasty President & CEO
Ron Thiessen thanked Shively for his
six years of service to PLP, and noted the Pebble organization will
continue to benefit from the new PMC Chairman's knowledge of
Alaska and its permitting and
regulatory system, as well as his relationships with the state's
government, business, community and Native leaders.
"With Tom as CEO, we have a US federal and
regulatory permitting specialist, and a business leader with a
positive track record for achieving development permits for large,
complex and controversial projects," he said. "And in John we have
one of Alaska's most respected and
experienced business leaders, whose track record for working with
government and Alaska Native communities is unparalleled.
"Today's announcement has only strengthened our
corporate and project leadership team at Pebble. We look forward
with great enthusiasm to the next major milestones for this project
- announcing a new major funding partner and initiating project
permitting under NEPA."
About the Pebble Project
The Pebble Project is an initiative of the
Pebble Partnership to responsibly develop a globally significant
copper, gold and molybdenum deposit in southwest Alaska into a modern, long-life mine, which
will benefit not only the owner, but the people, culture and
industries of the State of Alaska,
as well as suppliers, consultants and industries in the Lower 48
United States of America.
A recent study authored by IHS Global Insight,
entitled The Economic and Employment Contributions of a
Conceptual Pebble Mine to the Alaska and United States Economies found
the Pebble Project has the potential to support 15,000 American
jobs and contribute more than $2.5
billion annually to US GDP over decades of production. The
IHS Global Insight study is available at
www.northerndynasty.com.
The Pebble Project is located 200 miles
southwest of Anchorage on state land designated for mineral
exploration and development. It is situated in a region of rolling
tundra approximately 1,000 feet above sea-level, 65 miles from
tidewater on Cook Inlet and presents favourable conditions for
successful mine site and infrastructure development.
About Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.
Northern Dynasty is a mineral exploration and
development company based in Vancouver,
Canada, which holds indirect interests in over 500 sq. miles
of mineral claims in southwest Alaska,
USA. Northern Dynasty's principal asset is the Pebble
Project, an advanced-stage initiative to develop one of the world's
most important mineral resources.
Ronald W.
Thiessen
President & CEO
Forward Looking Information and other
Cautionary Factors
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed
"forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other
than statements of historical facts, especially those that address
estimated resource quantities, grades and contained metals, are
forward-looking statements because they are generally made on the
basis of estimation and extrapolation from a limited number of
drill holes and metallurgical studies. Although diamond drill hole
core provides valuable information about the size, shape and
geology of an exploration project, there will always remain a
significant degree of uncertainty in connection with these
valuation factors until a deposit has been extensively drilled on
closely spaced centers, which has occurred only in specific areas
on the Pebble Project. Although the Company believes the
expectations expressed in its forward-looking statements are based
on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way
construed as guarantees of the ultimate size, quality or commercial
feasibility of the Pebble Project or of the Company's future
performance. The likelihood of future mining at the Pebble Project
is subject to a large number of risks and will require achievement
of a number of technical, economic and legal objectives, including
obtaining necessary mining and construction permits, completion of
pre-feasibility and final feasibility studies, preparation of all
necessary engineering for underground workings and processing
facilities as well as receipt of significant additional financing
to fund these objectives as well as funding mine construction. Such
funding may not be available to the Company on acceptable terms or
on any terms at all. There is no known ore at the Pebble Project
and there is no assurance that the mineralization at the Pebble
Project will ever be classified as ore. The need for compliance
with extensive environmental and socio-economic rules and practices
and the requirement for the Company to obtain government permitting
can cause a delay or even abandonment of a mineral project. The
Company is also subject to the specific risks inherent in the
mining business as well as general economic and business
conditions. For more information on the Company, Investors should
review the Company's annual Form 40-F filing with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission and its home jurisdiction
filings that are available at www.sedar.com.
SOURCE Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.