Categories: Base Metals / General Market Commentary / Precious Metals
Topics: General Base Metals / General Market Commentary / General Precious Metals

Northern Dynasty slams short-seller report as class-suit looms

Northern Dynasty slams short-seller report as class-suit looms


Rebuttal comes amid investigation over possible false and misleading statements made by the miner about its Pebble copper-gold project.

 

Canada’s Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX:NDM) (NYSEMKT:NAK), the company behind a vast, but stalled copper-gold project in Alaska, slammed Friday a short-seller’s report that claims the firm lied about the value of its proposed Pebble mine.

Kerrisdale Capital of New York said Tuesday the project was not commercially viable and that it really is a low-grade deposit that would require too much upfront investment to ever generate profits.

The report also alleged that Northern Dynasty has been hiding a negative project assessment conducted by former partners, which proves the miner has made false and misleading statements about the value of Pebble.

But the Vancouver-based company came back in full force Friday, putting under the microscope each and every claim made by Kerrisdale Capital in an attempt to probe the short-seller’s report is riddled with inaccuracies.

Here some highlights:

Claim: Project needs a $13 billion-investment to become a reality

ND: "Contrary to the Short Seller's report, no mine planning scenario with a US$13 billion capital estimate was ever finalized, approved or adopted by Northern Dynasty or Anglo American as its 50% partner in the Pebble Limited Partnership ("Pebble Partnership").

"Further, a review of a preliminary draft US$13 billion mine planning scenario by an independent engineering firm commissioned by Northern Dynasty identified issues with that study and identified savings that reduced the preliminary capital estimate by US$4 billion."

Claim: Anglo American walked away from the project once it realized it was not commercially viable.

ND: "During the 2013 mining downturn, Anglo American announced that it was reconsidering its development project pipeline in light of market conditions and was unwilling to invest another $900 million to earn a 50% interest in the Pebble Project and therefore terminated its earn-in option.

"Even after its decision to withdraw from the project, Anglo American maintained a positive outlook on Pebble.

"The Short Seller also claims that the Pebble Project was "pushing the boundaries" of engineering. That is simply untrue. "

Claim: Pebble is opposed by locals

ND:  "Every mining project has opponents. However, Pebble enjoys considerable support for its efforts to advance the Pebble Project in Alaska today, including among elected officials, business interests, and regional and Alaska Native communities. The Short Seller tries to focus attention on the project's opponents while deliberately neglecting to mention the significant support the Pebble Project has had in Alaska."

To continue reading please click link http://www.mining.com/northern-dynasty-slams-short-seller-report-class-suit-looms/