Northern Dynasty shares dive on reports of planned Alaska mine halt

Northern Dynasty Minerals

24/08/2020 15:11

Aug 24 (Reuters) - Shares of Canadian miner Northern Dynasty
Minerals Ltd  NDM.TO   NAK.N  plunged 47% on Monday after media
reports said the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump
plans to block its proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska, despite
denials by the company over the weekend.
    The Trump administration in July proposed approving a permit
for the copper-gold mine, boosting a project the administration
of former President Barack Obama tried to halt on environmental
grounds.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2FC312
    Bloomberg on Sunday cited a person familiar saying the Trump
administration is planning to block the controversial project.
    The Washington Post on Saturday cited sources saying the
administration would pause the permit process on grounds the
company must do more to show how it will reduce environmental
harm caused by the project.
    Politico first reported Trump was planning to block the
proposed mine, which environmentalists argue would damage the
surrounding salmon-rich habitat, and the people and wildlife
that depend on it. Northern Dynasty denied that report.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2FP01C
    The Vancouver-based miner referred questions on Monday to a
company statement saying it had launched an advertising and
outreach campaign targeting the Trump administration. 
    It said rejecting the Pebble Mine after extensive study by
federal, state and local regulatory agencies would politicize
the permitting process and slow the U.S. economic recovery.
    
    

 (Reporting by Jeff Lewis; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
 ((Jeff.Lewis@thomsonreuters.com; 1 647 200 7236))