A Side Order of Copper With Your Salmon?

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By James Greiff Jul 3, 2013 8:01 AM ET


It's probably the biggest fight in recent history between environmentalists and the natural-resources industry. And if you've ever eaten salmon, you might have a stake in the outcome.

June 30 marked the deadline for filing public comments with the Environmental Protection Agency on the development of a project known as Pebble Mine in southwest Alaska's Bristol Bay region. As of last week, more than 500,000 comments had been recorded.

On one side of the fight is the largest undeveloped copper deposit (along with plenty of gold and molybdenum) in the world. Estimates vary on how valuable the minerals are, but they might be worth as much as $300 billion. A group of companies lead by London-based Anglo American Plc wants to develop the mine over the next several decades. It undoubtedly would be an economic boon to an area with a dearth of good jobs and yield billions of dollars over the mine's lifespan in taxes for Alaska's treasury.

On the other side is the most productive salmon fishery in the world and a region that, with about 7,500 residents, is one of the most pristine in the world. The commercial and recreational fishery generates as much as $500 million a year for the state economy and provides subsistence living for many of the tribal members in the area.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-02/a-side-order-of-copper-with-your-salmon-.html

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1. After millennia of mining, copper nowhere near 'peak'

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/mu-amo070313.php

[font face=Serif]Public release date: 3-Jul-2013

Contact: Emily Walker
[e-mail]
61-399-034-844
Monash University

[font size=5]After millennia of mining, copper nowhere near 'peak'[/font]

[font size=3]New research shows that existing copper resources can sustain increasing world-wide demand for at least a century, meaning social and environmental concerns could be the most important restrictions on future copper production.

Researchers from Monash University have conducted the most systematic and robust compilation and analysis of worldwide copper resources to date. Contrary to predictions estimating that supplies of this important metal would run out in around 30 years, the research has found there are plenty of resources within the reach of current technologies.

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Despite examples like the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea, where mining has continued despite widespread environmental degradation that has affected thousands of residents, non-economic factors have constrained some mining operations and the researchers believe this will become increasingly important in the near future. An example is the Pebble copper-gold project in Alaska, which after more than a decade still doesn't have the necessary approvals due to the environmental and cultural concerns of nearby residents.

"Pressingly, we need to acknowledge that with existing copper resources we're not just going to be dealing with the production of a few million tonnes of tailings from mining a century ago; we are now dealing with a few billion tonnes or tens of billions of tonnes of mine waste produced during modern mining," Dr Mudd said.

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