5/5/2010

Bob Gillam, the President of McKinley Capital Management, and one of the biggest opponents to the Pebble Mine was in Soldotna, yesterday, to speak to the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce about ongoing efforts of Renewable Resources to stop the Pebble Mine, near Illiamna.  Gillam told his audience that he is pro-development.  He supports oil exploration in ANWR.  However, he doesn’t agree with Pebble.  He emphasized that his fight with the Pebble Partnership is not about mining.  It’s about “this mine in this place.”   Gillam, in his presentation, utilized web pages from Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Partnership to show why the Illiamna area would be the wrong place for a large open-pit mine like the Pebble Mine.  He also disagreed with the Pebble Partnership’s statement that no plan has been developed.  Gillam said Pebble’s plan was created for the state on July 7th, 2006.  We asked him if that plan was still in place.

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John Shively is the Chief Executive Officer for the Pebble Partnership.  He spoke to us by cell phone yesterday.  He explained that reason Pebble submitted the plan in 2006. 

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Shively said the Pebble Partnership would probably permit a mine that is 25 to 40 years.  He said the Pebble deposit could have a life of 80 to 100 years.

Filed under: News by KSRM News Desk