Senior VP Engineering & Project Director Stephen Hodgson and VP
Permitting James Fueg join Pebble team
VANCOUVER, Oct. 12, 2017 /CNW/ - Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.
(TSX: NDM; NYSE MKT: NAK) ("Northern Dynasty" or the "Company") announced today that the Pebble Limited Partnership ("Pebble
Partnership" or "PLP") has filled two senior technical positions to lead engineering design and regulatory permitting for
southwest Alaska's Pebble Project.
Senior Vice President of Engineering and Project Director Stephen Hodgson (P. Eng.) will lead
Pebble's engineering and project development team, with responsibility for all aspects of project design, engineering and
financial studies and regulatory compliance. He will be supported by Vice President of Permitting James
Fueg (PMP, CPG), who assumes responsibility for all aspects of the project's regulatory permitting team and process,
including management of environmental and socioeconomic studies, liaison with federal and state agencies and active management of
Pebble's forthcoming Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") process under the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA").
"I couldn't be more pleased with the technical leadership we have assembled to finalize our permit applications and lead
Pebble into and through the NEPA and EIS permitting process beginning later this year," said Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier. "In Stephen and James, not only do we gain decades of experience working with the world's leading
mining companies on many of the most significant projects around the globe, we benefit from their long-standing experience in
Alaska.
"We now have a dedicated leadership team in place in Anchorage that is not only committed to
the financial and permitting success of the Pebble Project, but one that shares Alaskans' interests in ensuring our project
protects clean water, healthy fisheries and traditional ways of life, while making a profound positive contribution to the people
and economies of the region and the state."
Stephen Hodgson is a professional engineer with more than 40 years of experience in consulting,
project management, feasibility-level design and implementation, and mine operations at some of the most significant mineral
development projects in the world – including the Pine Point zinc mine in northern Canada, the
Red Dog zinc mine in Alaska, Antamina in Peru, and the Oyu
Tolgoi project in Mongolia. Hodgson has led the engineering group at Northern Dynasty and Hunter Dickinson Inc. since 2005,
has played a central role on the engineering team for Pebble for more than a decade, and was part of the Cominco team that
evaluated the Pebble deposit in the early 1990s.
James Fueg is a geologist and a geophysicist with more than 25 years of experience in mineral
exploration and resource development, including more than 20 years working in Alaska. He was
most recently seconded from Barrick Gold Corporation to serve as Technical Services Manager for the Donlin Gold Project in
western Alaska, where he played a leadership role managing the EIS and NEPA permitting process
for a project expected to receive a final Record of Decision in 2018.
"We have a great deal of confidence in both the technical capabilities of the project's leadership team and their commitment
to the project and to the State of Alaska," NDM President & CEO Ron
Thiessen said. "These are major pieces of the first-class team we are assembling to lead this world-class project into
permitting."
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 US subsidiary
Pebble Limited Partnership and other wholly-owned subsidiaries, is a 100% interest in a contiguous block of 2,402 mineral claims
in southwest Alaska, including the Pebble deposit. The Pebble Partnership 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.northerndynasty.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
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 the Company believes the expectations expressed in
its forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as
guarantees of the ultimate size, quality or commercial feasibility of the Pebble Project or of the Company's future performance
or the outcome of litigation.
Assumptions used by the Company to develop forward-looking statements include the following: the Pebble Project will obtain
all required environmental and other permits and all land use and other licenses, studies and development of the Pebble Project
will continue to be positive, and no geological or technical problems will occur. 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 obtaining necessary mining and construction permits, approvals, licenses and title on a timely basis and
delays due to third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and
exploitation, the final outcome of any litigation, completion of pre-feasibility and final feasibility studies, preparation of
all necessary engineering for surface or underground mining and processing facilities as well as receipt of significant
additional financing to fund these objectives as well as funding mine construction. Such funding may not be available to the
Company on acceptable terms or on any terms at all. There is no known ore at the Pebble Project and there is no assurance that
the mineralization at the Pebble Project will ever be classified as ore. The need for compliance with extensive environmental and
socio-economic rules and practices and the requirement for the Company to obtain government permitting can cause a delay or even
abandonment of a mineral project. The Company is also subject to the specific risks inherent in the mining business as well as
general economic and business conditions. 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
SOURCE Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.
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