Pebble facts.

* Pebble location: 200 miles southwest of Anchorage, about 200 river miles from Bristol Bay. Nearest communities are Iliamna, Nondalton and Newhalen. Located on state mining claims, inside the Lake and Peninsula Borough.

* Pebble surface exposures originally discovered in 1987 by geologist Phil St. George, who staked the property for Cominco American. Although the company didn't initially authorize drilling at the site, St. George moved a rig to Pebble in 1988 and hit high-grade gold veins peripheral to the copper deposit. With company approval, further drilling in 1989 hit copper mineralization.

* Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., part of the Hunter Dickinson mine development group, optioned Pebble prospect from Teck Cominco in 2002.

* Northern Dynasty's drilling spending from 2002 through 2006, $50 million. Engineering spending from 2002 through 2006, $25 million. Environmental and socioeconomic study spending from 2002 through 2006, $55 million

* Northern Dynasty's drilling spending in 2007, $53 million. Engineering spending in 2007, $12 million. Environmental and socioeconomic spending in 2007, $30 million.

* Drill crews use helicopters to move personnel and equipment on daily basis, rather than surface transportation to lessen impact on land. Time required to demobilize, move and reassemble drill rigs using helicopters-two to five days. If using surface transportation, up to four hours.

* Seven helicopters working on-site in 2007.

* Eight drill rigs working on site in 2007, including three built specifically for Pebble, allowing drill samples to be taken as deep as 6,500 feet.

* Drilling footage completed in 2006, 77,000 feet. Planned footage for 2007, 180,000 feet. Drilling began in early February and will continue into mid-December.

* Drill rigs are surrounded by wood "patios" keeping equipment, drill steel and workers off the tundra. Drill sites are typically reclaimed after completion during the same year, through surface reconturing and reseeding specified by state regulators.

* Northern Dynasty announced in late July a new 50/50 partnership for Pebble with Anglo American, a global mining company. Anglo must spend $1.4 billion to earn its half of Pebble. A new senior management team for Pebble will be selected and relocated to Alaska in late 2007 and early 2008.

* Paul Henry, Anglo American's representative who is relocating to Alaska, recently served as the company's senior vice president of safety and sustainable development.

* Bruce Jenkins, who has a MS degree in fisheries biology, will remain chief operating officer of Northern Dynasty, but will not be part of the new Pebble management team.

* Rio Tinto continues to hold a 19 percent interest in Northern Dynasty shares. Rio Tinto's subsidiary Kennecott started its copper-mining career in Alaska in the early 1900s with the Kennecott copper mine in Copper River drainages in South-central Alaska.

* Since acquiring the property in 2002, Northern Dynasty has drilled more than 400 holes at Pebble. Previously, Teck Cominco drilled 200 holes. Virtually all have been filled with natural materials and returned to full capability. Since 2002, a total of eight acres have been disturbed and been reclaimed.

* Drill water, which can be cloudy from ground rock and drill mud, is released on upland locations away from wetlands and streams, where it can be absorbed into the ground, according to state regulations.

* 48 different environmental consultants have worked on Pebble

* 638 people worked at Pebble in 2006. Alaskans accounted for about 82.4 percent, or 526 workers. 125 workers came from communities in the Bristol Bay region.

* Eleven different state and federal regulators will conduct the environmental review and permitting process for Pebble. More than 60 permits will be required for construction and operation, including 22 that target fisheries.

* Pebble is located in the headwaters of three drainages, the Upper Talarik, the North Fork Koktuli and the South Fork Koktuli, about 200 river miles from Bristol Bay; and the Upper Talarik, which flows into Iliamna Lake, then about 180 miles through the Kvichak River into Bristol Bay.

* The three Pebble drainages are contained in parts of two of the eight different river systems that produce the entire Bristol Bay fisheries. Pebble drainages produce 4.5 percent of the Chinook and .5 percent of the sockeye salmon fisheries in Bristol Bay.

* Pebble's footprint covers .07 percent of the total Bristol Bay watershed.

* If Pebble is developed, total capital investment will be $1 billion to $3 billion.

* Construction is expected to require 2,000 workers for two to three years.

* Operation employment is expected at 1,000 workers, for 50 to 80 years. In 2005, average monthly wages for metal mining was $6,188, according to the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development.

* Value of Pebble's total copper resource at current prices of $3.20 per pound, $215.3 billion.

* Value of Pebble's total gold resource at current prices of $650 per ounce, $53.1 billion.

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