Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX: NDM) said today it will receive up to $60 million over the next two years from an unnamed royalty holder in return for future gold and silver production from the Pebble project for the life of the mine.
The Pebble project in Alaska was prevented from moving ahead by the Obama administration. The ruling was reversed by the Trump administration, despite internal dissent. The Biden administration again put the breaks on the project.
Dynasty said it will receive an initial payment of $12 million from the royalty holder.
The company said the money will be used to keep fighting for the project.
“It has become clear to us that to develop a world-class mineral deposit like Pebble requires time, patience and sufficient liquidity to successfully navigate the established legal process and continue ongoing efforts to work with the people in the region,” said Ron Thiessen, Northern Dynasty president and CEO. “This financing, when completed, also gives us the financial wherewithal to keep fighting against what we consider to be unfounded interference by U.S. Federal Government agencies in an otherwise well-established, legal permitting process, as well as to deal with challenges from well-funded parties from outside the area that lack scientific or other factual studies to support their opposition.”
The Pebble deposit is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold resource. The current resource estimate includes 6.5 billion tonnes in the measured and indicated categories containing 57 billion lb copper, 71 million oz gold, 3.4 billion lb molybdenum and 345 million oz silver; and 4.5 billion tonnes in the inferred category, containing 25 billion lb copper, 36 million oz gold, 2.2 billion lb molybdenum and 170 million oz silver. Palladium and rhenium also occur in the deposit.
