As a part of my EOSC 118 course, we briefly touched on the issues surrounding the Pebble Mine. Following class discussions on this topic, I was instantly intrigued as I couldn’t help but consider the implications of the project from a business perspective. This mine would have near unfathomable economic, environmental and societal impacts, which makes it an incredibly massive and complex debate between environmentalists and the corporations involved. Anglo American, one of the worlds largest mining companies, has just retreated from the project after investing $541 million. Although enormous, this investment is merely negligible when compared to its return, as at one point the mine was estimated to be worth $500 billion dollars. As nothing would match the mammoth size and scale of this project, if it were to be approved agencies would have a very difficult time turning down other mining projects in the area. This implies a strong future for growth in the area on top of the massive profits from Pebble alone. However, on the other side of the immense profitability, lies issues regarding environment and sustainability. Even though profits are unmatched, the potential economic disaster that could result would be unheard of.


The Pebble Mine would around 3x larger than this mine (Bingham Mine in Utah): http://www.savebristolbay.org/about-the-bay/about-pebble-mine

Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Bingham_mine_5-10-03.jpg

A very interesting video that covers most aspects of the issue. It does an excellent job and weighing the pros and cons of the mine: http://video.pbs.org/video/2260099527/?starttime=3224000

An article describing some of the financial implications of the project: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-27/why-anglo-american-walked-away-from-the-pebble-mine-gold-deposit