17 Apr 2024regulatory community update▼ BadMajor
The Army Corps refused to engage with the remand at all, citing the EPA veto. The appeal win of April 2023 is worth nothing: the permit application will not be reconsidered while the veto stands.
Announcements, explained
Each one in plain English, with the numbers worked through for a shareholder.
15 Apr 2024regulatory community update▲ GoodMajor
The State of Alaska filed its own action in the Alaska federal district court on 11 April 2024 to vacate the veto, taking the route the Supreme Court had told it to take.
15 Mar 2024regulatory community update● NeutralMajor
Opened two fronts in the federal courts: one action in Alaska to have the EPA veto set aside, and a separate takings claim seeking compensation for the loss of the deposit. The second concedes, in form, that the mine may never be built.
16 Jan 2024regulatory community update● Neutral
Argued that the Supreme Court's refusal was procedural - a decision not to let Alaska skip the lower courts - and said nothing about the merits.
8 Jan 2024regulatory community update▼ BadMajor
The US Supreme Court refused to hear Alaska's case against the veto. The state's fastest route to overturning the EPA's determination is closed.
21 Dec 2023capital raising announcement▼ BadMajor
Closed both: US$15 million of notes to Kopernik and 8,555,000 units in the private placement.
11 Dec 2023capital raising announcement▼ BadMajor
Agreed a US$15 million convertible note with Kopernik Global Investors plus a placement of up to C$3.4 million. The notes run ten years at 2% interest and convert at US$0.3557, a 10% premium to the five-day average price, and if the company later raises equity the holder can demand redemption at 150% of principal. Kopernik's principal and chief financial officer, Isabel Satra, joined the board eight months earlier.
28 Nov 2023regulatory community update▼ Bad
A sixth extension, this one open-ended: the Army Corps will not say how it will handle the remanded application until the Supreme Court acts on Alaska's case.
22 Nov 2023other material event▼ BadMajor
Retracted comments its own chief executive made in a September interview about the level of engineering done on Pebble, saying they may have left the impression the work was at a more advanced stage of study than the September 2023 assessment supports and were potentially misleading.
14 Nov 2023material agreement● Neutral
Took the first $2 million of the second royalty tranche and amended the July 2022 agreement to allow the money in instalments and to push out the original 25 July 2024 expiry - the buyer paying more slowly than the original terms contemplated.
28 Sept 2023regulatory community update▼ Bad
A fifth 60-day extension for the Army Corps to say how it will handle the remanded application, alongside an update on the Supreme Court case.
21 Sept 2023resource reserve update● Neutral
The amended and restated technical report itself, dated 18 September 2023, prepared by Ausenco with Tetra Tech and Worley personnel.
19 Sept 2023resource reserve update▼ Bad
Refiled the August 2023 assessment to correct typographical and formatting errors, which the company says changed or replaced certain figures and tables - the second document in three months withdrawn and reissued.
18 Sept 2023other● Neutral
Published an open letter from the chief executive to shareholders on recent events, with the text held only on the company website.
11 Sept 2023resource reserve update● Neutral
Confirmed the August 2023 assessment had been filed on SEDAR+.
6 Sept 2023resource reserve update● NeutralMajor
A new independent assessment, effective 21 August 2023, put the 20-year base-case mine at a post-tax net present value of $2.23 billion at a 7% discount, a 16.2% return and a 4.6-year payback. The figures describe a mine the EPA had vetoed seven months earlier.
28 July 2023regulatory community update▼ Bad
The Army Corps was granted what the company calls a fourth extension, this one 60 days, pushing its answer on the remanded application to 26 September 2023.
27 July 2023regulatory community update▲ GoodMajor
The State of Alaska asked the US Supreme Court for leave to sue the federal government directly, arguing the EPA veto breaks the Cook Inlet Land Exchange agreement between Alaska and the United States and is arbitrary under the Administrative Procedure Act.
26 June 2023regulatory community update▼ Bad
A second extension of the same deadline, to 29 June 2023.
16 June 2023resource reserve update● Neutral
The amended technical report document itself, effective 19 May 2023.
12 June 2023resource reserve update▼ Bad
Refiled the technical report, effective 19 May 2023, to answer British Columbia Securities Commission comments. The regulator required contained-metal figures to be removed from the resource table and more disclosure on the cut-off grade and on whether the resource has reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction.
12 June 2023regulatory community update▼ Bad
The Army Corps' Alaska District asked for and received more time - to 23 June - to say how it would handle the remanded application. The first of a run of such extensions.
1 May 2023regulatory community update▲ Good
Expanded on the remand, saying the review officer had raised the same objections to the 2020 decision the company had been making since it was taken.
26 Apr 2023regulatory community update▲ GoodMajor
The appeal worked: the Army Corps' Pacific Ocean Division refused to uphold the November 2020 permit denial, accepting that the process leading to the record of decision was not properly followed, and sent the application back to the Alaska District. Twenty-nine months after the denial, the company won the administrative fight - three months after the EPA veto made the permit moot.
17 Apr 2023resource reserve update● Neutral
The 2023 technical report on Pebble, effective 24 February 2023 - the resource restated after the EPA's final veto.
5 Apr 2023director officer appointment● Neutral
Isabel Satra joined the board. She is a principal and chief financial officer of Kopernik Global Investors, the investment manager that eight months later bought the company's US$15 million convertible notes.
4 Apr 2023annual report▼ BadMajor
Filed 2022 annual accounts and Form 40-F, the auditor again including a going-concern emphasis of matter - the first such report covering a year in which the project was vetoed.
21 Feb 2023director officer appointment● Neutral
Siri Genik, a lawyer with 25 years in resources and infrastructure and a background in sustainability and stakeholder engagement, joined the board.
2 Feb 2023regulatory community update▼ Bad
The State of Alaska and industry groups issued statements against the veto, the state calling it a dangerous precedent for federal action on state land.
31 Jan 2023regulatory community update▼ BadMajor
The EPA issued its Final Determination on 31 January 2023, using its Clean Water Act veto to bar disposal of mine waste in the Bristol Bay watershed. Nine years after the 2014 proposed determination, and after a favourable impact statement in 2020, the deposit is put out of reach by the agency rather than by the permitting process.