Alaska Deposits Estimated at $500 Billion

Increased estimates of mineral deposits north of Mount Iliamna push the potential value of the area to $500 billion, mining company Pebble Partnership said.

New estimates released by the company Monday based on drilling at the Pebble, Alaska, mine in 2007 added $11 billion to $35 billion to create a new total potential value of gold and copper between $345 billion to $500 billion.

It would also cost Pebble Partnership, a joint venture of Anglo American of London and Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia, an estimated $5 billion to develop the mine and hundreds of millions a year to run the operation, Sean Magee, a Pebble Partnership spokesman said.

Pebble Partnership could also face an uproar of environmental concerns, as the rich deposits are located near the headwaters of two of five major river basins that supply critical spawning ground for Bristol Bay’s salmon runs.

It’s highly unlikely that we’ll seek to develop the entirety of the deposits, Magee told the Anchorage Daily News.

Pebble Partnership is conducting a feasibility study to decide how to proceed. But, if the price of metals went down, you could still mine it, geologist David Szumigala said.