Trump won't block Pebble, says partnership

Artemis all set thanks to unique approach

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Subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership said the permitting process continued to move forward amid reports the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) was going to publish details about its approach to wetlands mitigation for the project on Monday.

The Pebble Partnership responded to a Politico article claiming Trump had plans to block the project.

Artemis all set thanks to unique approach

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"We firmly believe that the implication pushed by Politico that the White House is going to kill the project is clearly in error, likely made by a rush to publish rather than doing the necessary diligence to track down the full story," said the company in a statement.

"We categorically deny any reports that the Trump administration is going to return to an Obama-like approach that allowed politics to interfere with the normal, traditional permitting process. This president clearly believes in keeping politics out of permitting - something conservatives and the business community fully support."

The Pebble Partnership, headed by CEO Tom Collier, said its ongoing interactions with the USACE indicated the letter would discuss the need for "a significant amount of mitigation for the project's wetlands impacts".

"The process and time needed to develop a comprehensive wetlands mitigation plan might result in a slight delay beyond earlier USACE milestones. However, at this time we do not believe this is the case and we will be working with the corps to get them what they need as soon as possible," said Collier.

The USACE recently released a comprehensive EIS for the project that said the economic benefits of the project could be substantial and that the project could be delivered without harm to the Bristol Bay fishery. "We know there are some who do not support the USACE's findings but just because people don't like the USACE conclusions, does not mean their work has not been thorough," Collier said.

Shares in Northern Dynasty (TSX:NDM) have come of their recent 12-month high at C$3.28, but at $1.91 are still up 241% in the year to date. The company has a market value of just under $1 billion (US$760 million).