Ballot measure goes down to defeat in AlaskaAnti-Pebble copper/gold project ballot measure appears to be going down to defeat in Alaska
A state clean water initiative, originally aimed at the Pebble project, which opponents had feared could eventually impact all major Alaskan mining operations, was apparently going down to defeat early Wednesday morning.
Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Wednesday , 27 Aug 2008
RENO, NV -
As of Mineweb's deadline at midnight pacific time, Ballot Measure 4, the Clean Water Initiative, aimed at stopping the development of the Pebble copper/gold project in Alaska appeared to be going down to defeat with 53.4% of precincts reporting with 56.87% opposed and 43.13% in favor.
Thanks to a long, expensive battle, Ballot Measure 4 is considered the mostly expensive (roughly $10 million total) ballot initiative of its kind in Alaska history. It was aimed squarely at the massive Pebble project in the Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska, approximately 17 miles northwest of the community of Illiamna.
Bristol Bay is a favorite sports fishery and commercial fishery location.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had declared her opposition to the measure, while the State Department of Natural Resources launched a website, which was funded with a $25,000 legislative appropriation.
Also potentially impacted by the Ballot Measure 4 results are several other Canadian mining companies with projects in Alaska including Teck Cominco's Red Dog mine expansion, and NovaGold Resources, and Barrick Gold's Donlin Creek gold project.
Alaska miners had repeatedly stressed that the project would ban Alaska from approving any large mining operation that releases any "measurable amount" of contaminants that would affect human health "or any stage of the life cycle of the salmon.
Alaska newspapers disagreed on the ballot measure, including the state's largest newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News, which urged voters to approve Ballot Measure 4. In an editorial published last Sunday, the Daily News called Pebble "an ill-conceived project."
"There is a high risk of pollution in the state's biggest salmon watershed. The mine, while not yet designed, is expected to produce billions of tons of tailings. The initiative wouldn't necessarily stop Pebble, but would require the mine to use much more protective measures that reduce the risk to Bristol Bay fisheries."
While admitting the legal language in the measure needed fine tuning, the paper urged voters to approve Ballot Measure 4 "and hand the new law over to the legislature to clean up the rough edges."
Even the New York Times weighed in, urging Alaskans to vote for the measure in order "to save one of the last healthy wild salmon populations left." The NYT claimed that "one of the greatest remaining runs is at risk from a giant gold and copper mine that would dominate the headwaters of Alaska's Bristol Bay, an extraordinarily rich fishery that produces about half of the wild salmon sold in North America."
A joint venture of Anglo American and junior explorer Northern Dynasty Minerals, the Pebble West project is believed to have a measured and indicated resource of 4.1 billion tonnes containing 42.1 million ounces of gold, 24.6 million pounds of copper, 1.4 billion pounds of molybdenum and additional silver.