Under an agreement announced Oct. 4, Anglo American will invest $1.425 billion in Pebble development to earn its 50 percent share of the project. Northern Dynasty, which will own 50 percent, has invested $177.5 million as of Aug. 1, according to its spokesman, Sean McGee.

Expenditures after Aug. 1 are by the new company, McGee said. About $95 million is being spent in Pebble exploration and environmental studies in 2007, he said. Rio Tinto owns about 19.8 percent of Northern Dynasty Mines.

The involvement of Anglo American and Rio Tinto means that two of the world's largest minerals companies are now involved in Pebble, a large copper-gold-molybenum deposit located on the Alaska Peninsula 18 miles north of Illiamna.

McGee said the new company will have its senior management based in Anchorage. Senior managers have yet to be named, but it is known that Paul Henry, an Anglo American senior vice president, will move to Alaska to represent the company's interests in the Pebble project.

Northern Dynasty and Anglo American plan to have a pre-feasibility study for a mine at Pebble by December 2008, a final feasibility study by 2011 and commencement of commercial construction by 2015, according to the Oct. 4 press release.

McGee said that all of the company's exploration efforts are now aimed at fully defining the Pebble East ore body, which is deeper and with a higher grade of ore than the shallower Pebble West deposit. The partners won't be able to complete a mine development plan until a full understanding of the Pebble East ore body is available.

Development studies are now centering on a high-volume underground mine at Pebble East, but whether the plan will also include development of Pebble West as an open-pit mine has yet to be decided, McGee said.

Kimberly Roichnovsky, of Newhalen, saws the samples before sending them off for testing. Pebble mine owner Northern Dynasty Minerals announced that it has added a new partner in the large-scale, yet controversial, mine project. File PHOTO/Margaret Bauman/AJOC

“Drill holes continue to intersect long intervals of higher grade copper-gold-molybenum mineralization, which trends north-south for a distance of 9,000 feet and is open (the boundary is undefined) to the southwest and northwest,” the press release sale.

Drilling results indicate that higher grades of ore exist in the southern end of the ore body and results from another drill hole has extended the area of known mineralization 600 feet to the north, Northern Dynasty said in its press release.

The company also said that pre-feasibility metallurgy tests on Pebble East ore in 2006 demonstrated 95 percent recovery of copper, 75 percent recovery of molybdenum and 50 percent recovery of gold. Additional tests in 2007 confirmed these results.

“In addition, results indicate that a coarser grind (in processing ore) may be possible and analysis is underway to determine if the attendant reduction in required power presents a further significant cost saving opportunity to the project,” the press release said.

Earlier studies indicated that substantial amounts of power would be needed for the Pebble mine, which would be transmitted via a submarine cable and long-distance surface transmission line from a west Cook Inlet port.

If less power is required it could help the overall economics of the project.