Pebble Mine company, ex-CEO subpoenaed in grand jury probe

The Pebble Limited Partnership, which is behind the controversial Pebble Mine project in Alaska, and its former CEO Tom Collier have been subpoenaed by the U.S. attorney’s office in Alaska, according to the company that owns the partnership.

Northern Dynasty Minerals said in a statement Friday that the subpoenas for documents were issued as part of a grand jury investigation.

The investigation is “apparently involving previously disclosed recordings of private conversations regarding the Pebble Project,” the statement said. 

Last year, investigators with an environmental group pretended to be potential investors in the mine, and released tapes of their conversations with Collier and Northern Dynasty CEO Ronald Thiessen. 

On the tapes, the officials discussed extending the mine’s operation for a longer time and expanding their production to greater levels than they had indicated to Congress. They also claimed to have close relationships with government officials. 

Following the publication of the tapes, Collier stepped down from his position. 

At the time, Northern Dynasty released a statement saying that he had “embellished both his and the Pebble Partnership’s relationships with elected officials and federal representatives in Alaska, including Governor [Mike] Dunleavy, Senators [Lisa] Murkowski and [Dan] Sullivan and senior representatives of the US Army Corps of Engineers.” 

In its new statement on Friday, Northern Dynasty said it was not aware of any charges against entities or individuals. 

It also said that it, the Pebble Partnership and Collier plan to cooperate with the investigation. 

Asked about the probe, Thiessen told The Hill in a statement that the company hasn’t discussed the nature of the probe with the US Attorney’s office, but that they “look forward to the opportunity.”

“Northern Dynasty has long said that, while the Pebble Partnership seeks to permit a project with a 20-year mine life, that operation would develop less than 11% of the known mineral resource,” he added. “With those caveats, we have been clear and consistent that Pebble could support additional decades of mining.”

Thiessen added that he thinks the approach taken at Pebble is “consistent with other mining projects in North America.”

The proposed gold and copper mine would be located at headwaters that feed into Alaska’s Bristol Bay, home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.

The project was initially vetoed by the Obama administration. The Trump administration reversed course on the veto, but under former President Trump, the Army Corps of Engineers ultimately rejected the project after prominent conservatives came out against it. 

Updated at 5:15 p.m.