Pebble Mine Alaska

If the proposed Pebble Mine is allowed to go forward, development will be located on the north shore of Iliamna Lake to the southeast corner of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.

The Pebble Gold Mine Project.

The proposed Alaska Pebble Mine project is an extremely large and controversial copper, gold, and molybdenum open pit mine proposed to develop one of Alaska’s Crown Jewels in the Bristol Bay watershed. The Bristol Bay watershed lies within the region of Southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark. This is an area that encompasses the headwaters of some very important salmon spawning streams that feed the Kvichak River, Nushagak River and Mulchatna River. These streams include the legendary waters of Upper Talarik Creek and the Koktuli Rivers.

The waters within Bristol Bay are home to Alaska¹s largest sustainable commercial sockeye salmon fishery as well as the famous sport salmon and trout fishing that has attracted fishermen for so many years. Picture the average return of tens of millions of salmon returning to one small area and you can see the value of this one of a kind location. This is also where a large number of our Alaskan native populations have hunted and fished in a subsistence lifestyle for generations. This is a delicate ecosystem referred to as the final place on earth capable of sustaining such massive runs of salmon that return here year after year to spawn.

The crystal clear waters, abundant feed, and relative remoteness all add up to the ideal ecosystem to accommodate the rearing of strong healthy young salmon. With a growing number of Alaska residents, the mine raises the question, what effects such a mine could have on Bristol Bay salmon.

The Pebble Mine project is located on land owned by the State of Alaska. Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. of Vancouver, Canada, developer of the Pebble Mine, holds 153 square miles of state land for mining claims within the Bristol Bay Watershed.