Bristol Bay Native Corp. recently delivered a stern rebuke
to the company exploring the Pebble copper and
gold prospect near Iliamna Lake.
Bristol Bay's board of directors is displeased with statements
about strong Native support for mining in
Bristol Bay made six weeks ago by the chairman of the company
that owns Northern Dynasty Mines Inc.
Bristol Bay chairman and chief executive Hjalmar Olson said
in a Nov. 29 letter sent to Robert Dickinson,
chairman of Hunter Dickinson Inc., that "an official
retraction and clarification statement from (Northern
Dynasty) is in order."
A Northern Dynasty executive said Tuesday that his company
is drafting a response to the regional Native
corporation.
"It's not clear that there has been a mistake yet. ...
There may have been some ambiguity in the
statements made by (our) chairman," said Bruce Jenkins,
the Northern Dynasty executive.
"If we're at fault, we'll correct it," Jenkins
added.
Dickinson made his controversial remarks about Native support
for Pebble at a global conference for
mineral investors and analysts in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Dickinson, a presenter at the conference, said "...
our Native neighbors also have had a vote recently for
their input into responsible mineral development. That group
voted 78 percent in favor of responsible
mineral development in their neighborhood."
Dickinson went on to tell the investors: "And so socioeconomically
and environmentally within the region
we're doing very well."
His comments were published in a audio slide presentation
subsequently viewed on the Web by Bristol Bay
shareholders and other people in Alaska.
Dickinson's numbers were accurate, but the interpretation
was misleading, according to Bristol Bay.
In 2005, Bristol Bay shareholders approved a resolution in
support of "environmentally-friendly" mining. It
passed with 78 percent approval, said Bristol Bay's shareholder
and corporate relations director Jason
Metrokin.
However, only 26 percent of Bristol Bay's shareholders voted
on the resolution. "That equates to roughly
20 percent of Bristol Bay's entire shareholder base who, at
that time, voted in favor," Olson said in his
letter.
Olson told Dickinson the resolution was not an endorsement
of mining in the Bristol Bay region, "or the
Pebble project, as your remark inferred."
"As your project moves ahead, BBNC will gauge its support
based on the actions and behavior of your
company in these early phases. Misleading statements from
the upper management to shareholders of
your company do not bode well for future relations for the
project stakeholders," Olson wrote.
Bristol Bay's board so far has maintained a neutral position
on the Pebble project.
The Dubai audio presentation about Pebble has been removed
from the Internet.
On the other hand, Dickinson's statements are still being
repeated elsewhere, Olson pointed out in his
letter.
The ultimate point of the letter is to ask Northern Dynasty
to "check their sources," Metrokin said this
week.
He noted that the company's shareholders are just a subset
of all Bristol Bay residents.
"We do have a large number of shareholders who are very
concerned about that project. When a developer
is trying to portray themselves in good way, that's all right.
... But we don't want people mincing words,
particularly when they are our words," he said.
Daily News reporter Elizabeth Bluemink can be reached at ebluemink@adn.com or
257-4317.
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Note: To see the Associated Press (AP) and Anchorage
Channel 11 TV's take on the story, click
here. |
