Pebble Partnership CEO resigns after secret tapes released (updated)

Northern Dynasty Minerals

23/09/2020 23:53

(Adds background and details from of the tape)
    Sept 23 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Pebble Limited
Partnership, the company trying to develop Alaska's Pebble Mine
project, resigned on Wednesday after his comments on elected and
regulatory officials in the U.S. state were covertly videotaped
and released by an environmental activist group, its Canadian
parent said.
    The comments by Tom Collier embellished both his and the
company's relationships with elected officials and federal
representatives in Alaska, including Governor Michael Dunleavy,
Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and senior
representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Northern
Dynasty Minerals Ltd  NDM.TO  said.     
    The video tapes, released on Monday, come as President
Donald Trump's administration is considering whether to approve
the company's copper and gold project, which opponents say would
permanently damage Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed, an ecosystem
that supports the world's largest salmon runs.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2FR1O4
    "The unethical manner in which these tapes were acquired
does not excuse the comments that were made, or the crass way
they were expressed," Northern Dynasty CEO Ron Thiessen said in
a statement.
    The conversations were recorded by the Washington-based
Environmental Investigation Agency during the past two months,
the company said. 
    They were secretly videotaped by two unknown individuals
posing as representatives of a Hong Kong-based investment firm
with links to a Chinese State-Owned Enterprise.
    
    

 (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru, additional reporting
by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
 ((Arunima.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com;))