Pebble Mine
The proposed Pebble Mine is located in the headwaters of Bristol Bay and if developed, would be the largest open pit mine in the world.
Pebble Mine Threatens Salmon Fishery
The proposed Pebble mine project is located in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska, about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage. The Bristol Bay area is one of the world’s richest fishing grounds.
The mine is engaged in advanced exploratory programs under the direction of Pebble Partnership Limited which includes Northern Dynasty of Canada and Anglo American US (Pebble) LLC, wholly owned by Anglo American of Britain.
Pebble Mine measured and indicated in 2008 finds of 48 billion pounds of copper, 57 million ounces of gold, and 2.9 billion pounds of molybdenum contained within 5.1 billion tones of ore. The majority of the revenue generated from the project will be from copper, with the rest split between gold and molybdenum. In dollars and cents this translates into $300 billion dollars at current market pricing. This project is the second largest ore deposit in the world with Indonesia’s Grasberg Mine being the first.
Pebble Partnership is proposing an open pit and underground mining process to extract the ore leaving toxic waste behind two enormous earthen dams. According to the filings with DNR, the project would store 2.5 billion tons of tailings behind the dams. Additional information reveals that about 3 percent of the tailings would be acid generating rock which must be permanently stored under water in perpetuity. The size of the dams built to hold this toxic waste is expected to be 740 feet tall and 4.3 miles long with a second dam to be 700 feet high and nearly 3 miles long. If developed, this would be the largest open pit mine in the world.
Why is the project Controversial?
Environmental and Economic Risk
The Pebble mine project is located at the headwaters of Bristol Bay which is an environmentally critical ecosystem and highly sensitive spawning area for the world’s largest wild salmon stocks and is a home for diverse multitudes of wildlife. Bristol Bay produces 30% of all US Wild Salmon and is the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. In 2008, the Bristol Bay harvest reached nearly 28 million sockeye, 1.2 million chums, 278,000 pinks, 90,000 Coho and 25,000 kings. The Alaska Seafood Marketing puts the value of the annual harvest at nearly $115 million, based on 68 cents a pound in 2008. While the Alaska Salmon industry is a vital economic force for the commercial and sport fisherman, there are rural residents who have led a subsistence lifestyle on Bristol Bay salmon for their survival and cultural existence for many generations.
Geographic Risk - The Ring of Fire
The proposed large scale dams containing the toxic waste will be built in an area that is an active earthquake zone. One of the dams would be larger than the Hoover Dam or Three Gorges Dam in China which is currently the largest dam in the world. In 1964, Alaska experienced a 9.2 earthquake that imperiled most of the state. In 2002, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the Denali Fault which is several hundred miles from the Pebble Project. The potential risk to the environment from an earthquake on these toxic storage dams is of great magnitude.
The Pebble Mine Project’s risks far outweigh the short term economic benefits it would produce. The potential for accidental discharge of toxic mining waste polluting the watershed and environment is real and not at all unlikely given the history of mining industry accidents. It poses an incredible threat to a region that supports a rich ecosystem and threatens Alaskans who depend on the land and rivers for their livelihood. Pebble Mine project would be a short term boom that would exist for about 5o years with most of the profits benefitting a foreign company. It will leave the land permanently scarred and compromised.
We do have a choice: We can leave Bristol Bay as it has been for thousands of years, to provide a sustainable future for all Alaskans for generations to come or we can trash it in the name of short-term profits.
What can you do to continue to protect Bristol Bay?
Please contact the Alaskan Congressional delegation and Alaskan Governor Sean Parnell and let them know that you oppose the development of the Pebble Mining Project.
Click here to send an e-mail to Senator Lisa Murkowski
Click here to send an e-mail to Senator Mark Begich
Click here to contact Representative Don Young
Click here to e-mail Governor Sean Parnell
For more information:
Nunamta Aulukestai, Caretakes of the Land
