ndm_ex991
Exhibit 99.1
Northern Dynasty reacts to negative federal Record of Decision on
Alaska’s Pebble Project
November 25, 2020 Vancouver – Northern Dynasty
Minerals Ltd. (TSX: NDM; NYSE American: NAK) ("Northern Dynasty" or
the "Company") announces that today, its 100%-owned, US-based subsidiary
Pebble Limited Partnership (the “Pebble Partnership”)
received formal notification from the US Army Corps of Engineers
(“USACE”) that its application for permits under the
Clean Water Act and other
federal statutes has been denied. The lead federal regulator found
Pebble’s ‘compensatory mitigation plan’ as
submitted earlier this month to be ‘non-compliant’, and
that the project is ‘not in the public
interest’.
Northern
Dynasty called the decision politically motivated and said it is
fundamentally unsupported by the administrative record as developed
by the USACE through the Environmental Impact Statement
(“EIS”) process for the Pebble Project. The Company
intends to launch an administrative appeal of the USACE permitting
decision.
The
Company notes:
“The
Final EIS found Pebble to be a project of merit that would fully
co-exist with clean water, healthy fish and wildlife populations,
and the important fisheries resources of southwest Alaska. The
Final EIS also found that Pebble would make an important, positive
socioeconomic contribution to the people and villages of Bristol
Bay, Alaska – where full-time jobs are scarce and people face
one of the highest costs of living in the country – as well
as to the State of Alaska and the United States.
“Based
on the positive findings of the Final EIS, conclusions by the USACE
that development of the Pebble Project is ‘not in the public
interest’ are wholly unsupported.
“At
a time when the United States has declared a ‘national
emergency’ due to its over-reliance on foreign producers for
critical minerals required to ensure the country’s future
economic and military security, it is unconscionable to determine
that permitting and development of one of the greatest
accumulations of strategic and critical minerals ever discovered on
American soil is ‘not in the public
interest’.
“President-elect
Biden’s campaign
recently said his administration would support boosting domestic
production of copper and other metals necessary for the production
of clean and renewable energy technologies, and a transition to a
lower carbon future.”
Northern
Dynasty confirmed that the Pebble Partnership will appeal the USACE
permitting decision within the 60-day window provided for it to do
so.
“For
the United States to turn its back on an opportunity to develop
these minerals here at home in a manner that US regulators have
agreed is environmentally safe and responsible, and to do so for
purely political reasons, is not just short-sighted,” said
Northern Dynasty President & CEO Ron Thiessen.
“It’s self-destructive.”
About Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.
Northern
Dynasty is a mineral exploration and development company based in
Vancouver, Canada. Northern Dynasty's principal asset, owned
through its wholly owned Alaska-based U.S. subsidiary, Pebble
Limited Partnership (“PLP”), is a 100% interest in a
contiguous block of 2,402 mineral claims in southwest Alaska,
including the Pebble deposit. PLP is the proponent of the Pebble
Project, an initiative to develop one of the world's most important
mineral resources.
For
further details on Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Project, please
visit the Company's website at www.northerndynastyminerals.com or
contact Investor services at (604) 684-6365 or within North America
at 1-800-667-2114. Review Canadian public filings at www.sedar.com
and US public filings at www.sec.gov.
Ronald
W. Thiessen
President
& CEO
US
Media Contact:
Dan
Gagnier
Gagnier
Communications
(646)
569-5897
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, that address exploration
drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that
the Company expects are forward-looking statements. Although NDM
believes the expectations expressed in these forward-looking
statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements
should not be in any way be construed as guarantees that the Pebble
Project will secure all required government permits, establish the
commercial feasibility of the Pebble Project or develop the Pebble
Project. Assumptions used by NDM to develop forward-looking
statements include the assumptions that (i) the Pebble Project will
be successful in the appeal process or related litigation and will
obtain all required environmental and other permits and all land
use and other licenses without undue delay, (ii) studies for the
development of the Pebble Project will be positive, (iii)
NDM’s estimates of mineral resources will not change, (iv)
NDM will be able to establish the commercial feasibility of the
Pebble Project, and (v) NDM will be able to secure the financing
required to develop the Pebble Project. 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 (i) obtaining necessary mining and
construction permits, licenses and approvals without undue delay,
including without delay due to third party opposition or changes in
government policies, (ii) finalization of the mine plan for the
Pebble Project, (iii) the completion of feasibility studies
demonstrating that any Pebble Project mineral resources that can be
economically mined, (iv) completion of all necessary engineering
for mining and processing facilities, (v) the inability of NDM to
secure a partner for the development of the Pebble Project, and
(vi) receipt by NDM of significant additional financing to fund
these objectives as well as funding mine construction, which
financing may not be available to NDM on acceptable terms or on any
terms at all. NDM is also subject to the specific risks inherent in
the mining business as well as general economic and business
conditions, such as the current uncertainties with regard to
COVID-19.
For more information on the Company, Investors should review the
Company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available
at www.sedar.com