RENO, NV (Mineweb.com) --The battle over Northern Dynasty Minerals’ Pebble copper-gold
project kicked up a notch this week with a threat to circulate a petition to put a mining tax on the
state ballot in Alaska.

Meanwhile, opposition groups published an advertisement asking national jewelers and retailers
to boycott gold from the project.

To view the full story, please click on
http://www.mineweb.net/sustainable_mining/554709.htm

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Pebble's foes float tax idea for mines
INCREASE: State's miners now pay about 7 percent of oil industry rate.
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 4, 2007)

The massive Pebble copper and gold prospect in Southwest Alaska faces a potential new battle front
that could also hit existing Alaska mines in their pocketbooks.

Some of Pebble's foes are contemplating a petition to put a mining tax on the state ballot.

Art Hackney, a director of the Renewable Resources Coalition, which opposes Pebble development, said
Wednesday that the idea of a new mining tax is one of the possible ways to fight the project.

To view the full story, please click on

http://www.adn.com/money/industries/mining/story/8537561p-8431378c.html

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Pebble mine company lashes out at tax talk
By ELIZABETH BLUEMKINK
Anchorage Daily News Published: January 4, 2007
Last Modified: January 4, 2007 at 03:17 PM

The company seeking to develop the controversial Pebble mineral prospect in Southwest
Alaska is upset about efforts to link mining-tax reform across Alaska to its project.

“It’s stunning to me that (Pebble’s foes) would issue such a threat,” said Sean Magee,
a spokesman for Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., based in Vancouver, B.C.

To view the full story, please click on
http://www.adn.com/money/industries/mining/story/8538474p-8432298c.html

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Jewelers being asked to boycott gold from Alaska mine
By MARY PEMBERTON, Associated Press Writer
Anchorage Daily News
Published: January 3, 2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Jewelers are being asked to boycott gold from
a huge open pit mine proposed for Alaska that many Alaska Natives fear will ruin their way of life.

To view the full story, please click on
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/8536497p-8430402c.html

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Follow established process for Pebble
By GAIL PHILLIPS
Anchorage Daily News, Compass piece
Published: January 3, 2007

From the early use of gold and copper nuggets as trade articles, to the
glory days of the various Alaska Gold Rushes, to the present, mining has
contributed much to the economy and the identity of Alaska and its
population. Perhaps no one knows this better than my family and me -- I'm a
miner's daughter who was raised on the golden beaches of Nome.

To view the full story, please click on
http://www.adn.com/opinion/compass/story/8536153p-8430041c.html

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Litigation tempers mining industry's surge in '06
By Tim Bradner
Alaska Journal of Commerce
December 31, 2006

Metals prices are high, markets are strong and Alaska's producing mines are doing well as 2006
draws to a close.
The Red Dog Mine north of Kotzebue holds the banner as the world's largest zinc mine.
Greens Creek Mine near Juneau is the nation's largest silver mine.

Things aren't all roses for the minerals industry, however. Almost all of several large
mines in development, and even two that have started construction, are facing serious challenges.

To view the full story, please click on
http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/123106/hom_20061231005.shtml

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Debate over Pebble project far from over
Study over whether state would face billions in liability in changing rules before permitting mine draws fire
By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Sunday, December 31, 2006

Developers who hope to build a massive copper-gold-molybdenum mine in Southwest Alaska continue to pour millions of
dollars into the project as protests mount over environmental safety issues.

To full the full story, please click on
http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/123106/hom_20061231006.shtml

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Saying ‘no’ to mine should be people’s choice
Homer News Online Editorial
Wednesday, December 27, 2006

I can feel my arm being twisted. If we are to take seriously Rep. Paul Seaton’s information from the Alaska
Division of Legal and Research Services, by whose calculations Northern Dynasty would be awarded
with the net potential profit of the entire mining operation should the company be refused access to the
minerals (from state land), then I would have to cry foul.

Where does state government end and industry begin?

To view the full story, please click on

http://www.homernews.com/stories/122706/oped_7a001.shtml

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Alaska editorial: Bristol Bay fisheries panel is a smart move
January 2, 2007
This editorial appeared in the Anchorage Daily News:

Opponents of the proposed Pebble Mine wanted the Alaska Board of Fisheries to back a fisheries refuge for the Bristol Bay
drainage, a move intended to block mining development in the area.

Supporters of the mine, however, said the fisheries refuge designation isn't needed and existing state rules are sufficient to
protect the area if the Pebble Mine goes into development.

To view the full story, click on
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/010207/opi_20070102006.shtml

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January 2, 2007
Alaska editorial: Give habitat back to Fish and Game
Juneau Empire editorial

The Alaska Board of Fisheries is not exactly a hotbed of knee-jerk greenies.
Gov. Frank Murkowski
appointed all seven members and the Republican Legislature approved the
picks.

The Fisheries Board includes a sport angler, an outfitter, a retired
National Rifle Association field
representative, some long-time commercial fishermen and a fish marketing
executive. One member who
works for a factory trawler trade group is the son-in-law of Alaska's famous
greenie-basher, U.S. Rep.
Don Young.

To view the full story, please click on
http://juneauempire.com/stories/010207/opi_20070102005.shtml

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Habitat watchdogs
State overseers belong back where they started at Fish & Game
Published: December 24, 2006
Anchorage Daily News
Editorial

The Alaska Board of Fisheries is not exactly a hotbed of knee-jerk greenies.
Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed all seven members and the Republican
Legislature approved the picks.
To view the full story, please click on

http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/8514642p-8407655c.html

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Legal opinion sparks questions about saying ‘no’ to Pebble
By Carey James
Homer Tribune
December 27, 2006

An opinion by the state Legislature’s legal counsel release last week said the state must proceed carefully when imposing
restrictions on areas with existing approved mine claims or it could face expensive claims of taking from impacted companies.

To view the full story, click on

http://www.homertribune.com/article.php?aid=1064

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MINING NEWS: No fish refuge yet for Pebble project
Campaign by Trout Unlimited fails to win support of Alaska’s Board of Fisheries, but a
committee will consider what actions to take
Sarah Hurst
Mining News

Alaska’s Board of Fisheries has declined a proposal to recommend to the Legislature that a fish refuge be
created near the Pebble project site.
Instead, the Board will establish a three-person committee to review the current protections for fish and
habitat in the Bristol Bay region, to
assess whether additional protections are necessary.

To view the full story, click on
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/125311.shtml

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Proposed mine could cost state billions says agency
By BEN STUART
Homer News
Morris News Service — Alaska

Just saying “no” to the proposed Pebble Mine project could cost the state billions of dollars, according
to a legal opinion from Alaska’s Legislative Affairs Agency.

Reclassification of the land use in the area to make mining illegal or a regulatory or legislative action that
imposed excessive requirements for necessary permits could require the state to pay the area claim holder,
Northern Dynasty, just compensation, the opinion says.

To view the full story, click on
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/122106/news_1221new004.shtml

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MINING NEWS: Kensington case hinges on Clean Water Act
Mining company, agencies and environmentalists await ruling from Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals on future of Juneau gold project
Sarah Hurst
For Mining News
December 24, 2006

A Panel of three judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco heard arguments Dec. 4 for and against tailings disposal plans for
Kensington gold mine near Juneau. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S.
Forest Service and mining company Coeur Alaska are fighting a lawsuit
brought in 2005 by the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Sierra
Club Lynn Canal Conservation that opposes the Corps' 404 permit approving the use of Lower
Slate Lake as a tailings impoundment.

To view the full story, please click on
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/898015988.shtml

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Board of Fisheries decision reflects Proposal 121 author's suggestion
Anchorage Daily News
Letter to the Editor
December 28, 2006

"Both sides laud decision on fish refuge" (Dec. 12) reads the Daily News headline on the article about the
Board of Fisheries decision regarding a proposal for a fish refuge in Bristol Bay watersheds.
So whom does one believe?

I wrote the proposal and testified at the Board of Fisheries meeting in Dillingham. In my
testimony, I recognized some issues expressed in public comment, such as extending the
refuge to other watersheds, which the board should think over.
Consequently, I recommended "a committee
of board members to consider" these issues before submitting a recommendation to the Legislature.
On the other hand, Northern Dynasty's attorney submitted comments that "urge the board not to
act on Proposal 121."

Considering the board established a committee to seriously review the proposal and report back
at its March meeting, whose claim is more credible:
The diverse network of refuge supporters or Northern Dynasty?

Also, if public testimony counted as an election, refuge supporters would have won by a huge landslide.
Approximately 150 people testified at the
board meeting and more than half spoke to Proposal 121. Of those, more than 80 percent favored the proposal.

Proposal 121 is the first step in providing a higher standard of fish habitat protection in Bristol Bay watersheds.
The strength of support indicates
there will be progress.

---- George Matz

Fritz Creek

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Bristol Bay fishery must be preserved for future generations
Anchorage Daily News
Letter to the Editor
December 26, 2006

http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8517980p-8411035c.html

This holiday season, we have a lot to be thankful for. In Bristol Bay, we have a gift from God that keeps on giving.
Each year, our clean waters become home to millions of wild salmon that continually give birth to more fish.
This renewable resource keeps our fisheries one of the richest and purest in the world.
Many other peoples, like the Canadians and the British who want to drill away in our waters, covet such a rich
and pure resource. It has given our ancestors food to survive, and for many people from around the world a livelihood.

We must not look at what we can gain today. Pebble mine and oil drilling in Bristol Bay waters may be a good idea for now.
But will it be good for your grandchild's children, and your great-grandchild's children? The risks are too great, the stakes
are too high to taint such a pur e valuable fishery from
short-term mining.

Mining can be there tomorrow. But the pure fishery that continually feeds us fresh wild salmon, and gives us not only jobs,
but a livelihood, can be there forever. Let's not be a Grinch to future generations. Let's choose to receive the pure wild
gift that keeps on giving, and
conserve Bristol Bay.---- Verner Wilson III

Dillingham

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Forget global warming; stop Pebble
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
December 24, 2006

http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8514641p-8407660c.html

Pebble mine has me so scared that I have nightmares. The big emphasis seems to be on global warming,
which is something that occurs on this planet every 4,000 or 5,000 years.
We can't do much about that. If the people who issue permits would simply use their God-given brains, we could avert
the poisoning of most of the Alaska salmon industry, part of the wildlife, or possibly half the oceans of the world.
It could just be the final straw that kills us all. There is something that could be done about that.

---- Mary Lou Aulwes

Chugiak

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Sustainable economic development is dismissed in favor of extraction
Anchorage Daily News, Letter to the Editor
December 20, 2006

http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/8506684p-8399873c.html

Alaska's logging, mining and oil industries together employ around 23,000 persons, including support personnel.
Those industries are dominated by big corporations and have potentially massive impacts on the environment with
the greatest danger of damage to the well-being of other industries.
Extraction industries also have relatively short, very finite life spans. Once the resource is gone, so is the industry and the jobs. Forever.

On the other hand, well-managed fisheries are totally sustainable, with potentially infinite lifetimes of operation.
Alaska's fishing industry consists
of individuals, small family operations and comparatively small corporations. Direct fishing jobs in Alaska average
around 7,500 to 10,000.
However, when you include the thousands of fisheries support jobs, I imagine the total number of direct and indirect fishing industry jobs
will far exceed the total of jobs in the extraction industries.

Yet the logging, mining, and oil industries in Alaska attract far more political support than any other group -- because they are huge
campaign contributors. But expediting the plunder of Alaska's nonrenewable natural resources at the expense of all else is terribly irresponsible
if sustainable economic development is our goal. Especially since our natural resources only become more valuable over time.

---- Erik Lie-Nielsen

Juneau

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Pebble Mine shouldn't even be considered
Letter to the editor
Juneau Empire
December 26, 2006

http://juneauempire.com/stories/122606/let_20061226004.shtml

As a longtime former guide in Bristol Bay, I am shocked that the creation of the Pebble Mine is even a consideration.

Frankly, the fact that the entire region of Bristol Bay is not under National Park protection is beyond disgrace; it is plainly immoral.
I understand that the need for jobs and development is real. I understand that natural resources need to be utilized in the most
economical manner.
What I do not understand is why we risk beauty for the many for the profit of a few.

There is nowhere on the planet like Lake Iliamna and its tributaries. The only place in our country that resembled the abundance?
of spawning sockeye salmon was Redfish Lake in Idaho. It only takes a second to Google and come to an understanding of
what will happen to the salmon of Iliamna once they are relegated to the back seat in the name of progress. Long after the
Pebble Mine is gone, and long after we are living with the eyesore of an open pit, we will wonder where the salmon, the trout,
the bears, the eagles, the mink, the moose - the wilderness - have gone.

We have so little true wilderness left in this country. Why would we even consider allowing Bristol Bay's destruction?
Would you let your neighbor dig a hole in your backyard just because he could make some cash? Of course not.

Perhaps this is why the rest of the world has turned a cold shoulder to our country; we make obviously bad decisions.
Our government does not listen to the very people it says it represent. Big business destroys under a veil of darkness
created by captured public officials and pseudo-scientists on the payroll. When I travel abroad, I am proud to call
myself an American, but I am ashamed in my heart for the errors in judgment we make. The Pebble Mine will rank
right up there with the war in Iraq. Where has the "Monkey Wrench Gang" gone?

William E. Blair, Redding, Calif.

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Just say no to Pebble
Homer News
Letter to the Editor
December 27, 2006

Last week's article predicting costly, calamitous consequences "if the state
were to block the development by taking back the land through the power of
eminent domain or imposing excessive requirements for permits etc." (Donald
M. Bullock Jr., legislative counsel) was not only an irrelevant conclusion,
based on the stated facts, it was decidedly irresponsible.

Hunter Dickinson Inc. (HDI) is the parent company of Northern Dynasty
Minerals (NDM) and along with other information found on their Web site is a
"disclaimer" which includes "forward looking statements" that identify and
define certain terms such as potential, anticipate, forecast, believe,
estimate, expect, may and so forth. It goes on to say that no assurances are
made that actual results will be consistent with these "forward looking
statements." Also of significance, on the same page (NDM) as the exploratory
investment figures cited in the article is the following, with reference to
"estimates" of minerals and their value in Pebble East; "(2) By prescribed
definition, Mineral Resources do not have demonstrated economic viability."

So how can Rep. Seaton make the statement that NDM could have to be
compensated for the value of "the minerals in the ground"?

Every individual who is seriously interested in this issue is well advised
to research the Alaska Statutes, AS 38.05.185-195-205-212 (and more); the
Alaska Adminis-trative Code, 11 AAC 86.105-145 (and more) at Alaska Legal
Resources Center www.touchngo.com, NDM www.ndmpebblemine.com and HDI
www.hdgold.com. Obviously, the public cannot rely entirely on pundits,
politicians and others to give them complete, accurate and unbiased
information so please check it out for yourself and make your own informed,
best decision.

David M. Bear, Ninilchik

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Wealth shouldn't go to foreign firms
Homer News
Letter to the Editor
December 27, 2006

I think the Pebble Mine proposal that Jack Polster offers in his Dec. 21
column concerning backfilling the excavated hole was extremly well thought
out and extremely reasonable. There is no reason that such a rehabilitation
project cannot restore the area of the mining project back to a productive
area for wildlife habitat.

To just rape, rob and pillage is outrageous and should never be allowed.
Life must go on after such a mining project and to just rip and tear and
leave a mess should never be allowed. Even the oil companies must do
restoration when they finish their oil production.

In fact I am much more radical than Mr. Polster because I do not believe
that an oil or mining company from a foreign country should even be allowed
into Alaska to extract the wealth that acctually belongs to the people of
Alaska.

Americans have sufficient knowledge to do such projects.

Seymour Mills, Sterling

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Fishery too valuable for mine
Homer News
Letter to the Editor
December 27, 2006

This holiday season, we have a lot to be thankful for. In Bristol Bay, we
have a gift from God that keeps on giving. Each year, our clean undisturbed
waters become home to millions of wild sockeye salmon that continually give
birth to more fresh fish. This renewable resource keeps our fisheries one of
the richest and purest in the world.

Many other peoples, like the Canadians and the British who want to drill
away in our waters, covet such a rich and pure resource. It has given our
ancestors food to survive, and for many people from around the world a
livelihood.

That is why we must not look at what we can gain today. The Pebble Mine and
oil drilling in the waters of Bristol Bay may be a good idea for more jobs
and revenue now. But will it be good for your grandchild's children, and
your great-grandchild's children? The risks are too great, and the stakes
are too high to taint such a pure valuable fishery because of short-term
mining.

The mining jobs can be there tomorrow. But the pure fishery that continually
feeds us fresh wild salmon and gives many people not only jobs, but a
livelihood, can be there forever. Let's not be a Grinch to future
generations. Let's choose to receive the pure and wild gift that keeps on
giving, and conserve Bristol Bay.

Verner Wilson, Dillingham

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Fighting Over Gold in the Land of Dracula
By CRAIG S. SMITH
The New York Times
Published: January 3, 2007

ROSIA MONTANA, Romania - Eugen David, a small-time farmer with a chipped
tooth and muddy boots in this obscure wrinkle of Transylvania, is an
unlikely man to attract the attention of movie stars and moguls. But he
counts Vanessa Redgrave, George Soros and Teddy Goldsmith among his backers in a land battle with a Canadian gold mining company.

To view the full story, please click on
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/business/worldbusiness/03gold.html?_r=1&n=Top%2f

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