Northern Dynasty closes $17 million in financings to support Pebble project

Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX: NDM) (NYSE American: NAK) has closed its recently announced convertible note and private placement financings for respective totals of $15 million and C$3.42 million, which the company plans to use for its Pebble copper-gold project in Alaska.

CEO Ron Thiessen specifically noted that these funds will be used “in a responsible manner for the benefit of all Alaskans, especially those in southwest Alaska closest to the Pebble project.”

In September, the Vancouver-based miner provided an updated preliminary economic assessment for the Pebble project, adding in an infrastructure plan for a “southern route” access to the proposed mine, which, if built, would represent the largest in North America. Over a 20-year mine life, Pebble is expected unearth 6.4 billion pounds of copper; 7.4 million ounces of gold, 300 million pounds of molybdenum; 37 million ounces of silver, and 200,000 kg of rhenium.

Still, that is a massive “if”, going by the fierce opposition to the project by local communities as well as the stance taken by the Biden administration.

For nearly two decades, Northern Dynasty has been trying to develop the massive copper resource at Pebble — said to be the world’s largest — but encountered multiple roadblocks in doing so.

Earlier this year, the Pebble mine project was effectively shot down after US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) blocked the company from storing mine waste in the Alaska’s watershed, home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fisheries.

In July, the state, led by Governor Mike Dunleavy, filed a motion asking the US supreme Court to overturn the EPA’s decision, arguing that the move violated a decades-old land swap deal and Alaska’s sovereignty. Northern Dynasty has also not given up and considered legal options to challenge the EPA.

“The proposed mine for the Pebble project would provide good-paying, year-round employment for thousands of Alaskans, something desperately needed in southwest Alaska,” Thiessen said in a statement earlier this year.

The executive noted that new infrastructure outlined in the new PEA study would offer the additional benefit of potentially lowering energy costs for the region.

Northern Dynasty’s stock was up by 2.2% as of 1:10 p.m. ET on the financing announcement. The company’s market capitalization stood at C$238.4 million ($179m).