The chief executive of the partnership developing the Pebble Mine in Alaska resigned on Wednesday over comments made in meetings recorded by an environmental advocacy group. In a statement, Northern Dynasty Minerals, the Pebble Limited Partnership’s Canada-based parent company, said the executive, Tom Collier, “embellished both his and the Pebble Partnership’s relationships with elected officials and federal representatives in Alaska.”The comments were “offensive” to “political, business and community leaders in the state and for this, Northern Dynasty unreservedly apologizes to all Alaskans,” the company said. The Pebble project, a major copper and gold mine that would be built in a remote part of Southwest Alaska, has been the subject of a long fight, with economic development forces on one side and, on the other, environmentalists and Native groups who are concerned about the damage to the region’s wild salmon fishery.

Source: New York Times September 23, 2020 23:48 UTC