Northern Dynasty backs Alaska permit plea to Trump

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (NDM-TSX, NAK-NYSE) and its U.S. subsidiary Pebble Ltd. Partnership said Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy recently sent a report entitled “Alaska Priorities for Federal Transition” to President-elect Donald Trump, along with a letter, asking the President-elect to issue an Alaska-specific Executive Order on his first day in office reversing several unfriendly resource extraction initiatives put in place by the Biden Administration.

Included in the document are many recommendations including, but not limited to, simplification of the Clean Water Act regulations consistent with the Supreme Court Sackett definition of Waters of the United States, the requirement for State Approval for 404 © vetoes under certain conditions, and that changes be made to compensatory mitigation requirements to account for Alaska’s unique characteristics.

Governor Dunleavy previously called on U.S. President Joe Biden to update and streamline the U.S. mine permitting process in order to boost domestic production of critical minerals and reduce dependence on foreign nations.

It is “somewhat nonsensical,’’ the governor said, that Biden has pushed for greater adoption of electric vehicles – which require far more critical minerals to build than internal combustion engines – but has blocked Northern Dynasty’s Pebble copper and gold mining project. “If we don’t get our permitting processes together, if we don’t start to use data and science again instead of emotion, the chaos is going to continue,” Dunleavy told Reuters news service on the sidelines of the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, Tex., back in March, 2024.

“We are in agreement with all of the Governor’s requests as they will enhance the permitting process, which will allow an unbiased science and fact-based regulatory oversight and process, helping the U.S. to achieve security of supply of critical metals from American/Alaskan sources,’’ said Northern Dynasty President and CEO Ron Thiessen. “In particular, we see that a number of the requests relate to the Clean Water act regulations as set out above (Sackett decision), and to several of the findings and directions within the Remand Order issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers Administrative Appeal of our Record of Decision denial,”Thiessen said.

“The recommendations would empower the State’s right to direct and oversee the permitting process, particularly on State lands, reduce agencies right to direct and oversee the permitting process, particularly on State lands, reduce agency overreach and duplication of work among federal agencies, simplifying the permitting process and help unlock the State’s vast critical mineral potential for the benefit of all Americans.’’

On Friday, Northern Dynasty shares rose 2.9% or $0.02 to 70 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of 82 cents and 31 cents.

Northern Dynasty has spent the last two decades trying to develop the Pebble Project, which located on a contiguous block of 1,840 mineral claims in southwestern Alaska. First discovered in 1989, the project ranks as one of the world’s largest undeveloped gold-copper resources.

The project is located 300 kilometres from Anchorage and 250 kilometres from Bristol Bay. The Pebble Partnership is the proponent of the Pebble Project.