November 5, 2009, Vancouver, BC -- Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. ("Northern Dynasty" or the "Company") (TSX: NDM; NYSE Amex: NAK) announces that the Pebble Fund for Sustainable Bristol Bay Fisheries and Communities ("Pebble Fund"), a community investment fund established by the Pebble Limited Partnership ("PLP" or "Pebble Partnership") in 2008, has distributed nearly $600,000 in grants to 18 nonprofit groups, school districts, youth projects, village and tribal council recipients in southwest Alaska this fall.
The second cycle of Pebble Fund grants follows a $1 million contribution made to 33 non-profit recipients in March 2009. It is estimated that grant monies provided through the Pebble Fund have leveraged nearly $10 million in additional funding to support community development projects throughout the Bristol Bay region. "The Pebble Fund presents the Pebble Partnership with an effective means of working with local communities to strategically invest in projects that demonstrably improve socioeconomic opportunities and quality of life in southwest Alaska," said Ron Thiessen, President & CEO of Northern Dynasty. "Northern Dynasty is very pleased with both the quality of community initiatives funded and the decisions taken by the Pebble Fund advisory board in selecting 18 recipients from a worthy field of applicants."
The Pebble Fund is administered by the non-profit Alaska Community Foundation, with grant criteria and successful recipients determined by an independent advisory board of citizens representing communities from throughout the Bristol Bay region. Awards fall into four primary categories: renewable resources/fish; energy; education; and community and economic development.
Some of the projects receiving funding during the fall 2009 cycle of Pebble Fund grants include: the second phase of a Bristol Bay Elders Action Group Community Food Bank project to enhance dry goods storage and distribution of traditional foods; a project to increase access to safe drinking water and improve public health in the City of Nondalton; an economic development project of the Pilot Point Tribal Council to support local fishermen through the purchase of a dock crane for the Dago Creek Dock; among others.
The Pebble Fund was established in February 2008 as a five-year, $5 million commitment to support community-led initiatives that enhance the health of Bristol Bay fisheries and contribute to a sustainable economic future in southwest Alaska. The third cycle of Pebble Fund grants will be awarded next spring.
"The Pebble Partnership made a commitment to help the people of Bristol Bay before we even have a project, and adopted that commitment as a core principal in how we will operate," said Pebble Partnership CEO John Shively. "Through the Pebble Fund we are meeting that commitment and we look forward to the work they will undertake during the next grant cycle in the spring."
Based in Anchorage, Alaska, the Pebble Partnership was established in July 2007 as a 50:50 partnership between a wholly-owned affiliate of Northern Dynasty and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anglo American plc. To retain its 50% interest, Anglo American is required to continue its staged investment of $1.425 to $1.5 billion to advance the Pebble Project towards permitting and operations.
Northern Dynasty is a mineral development company, based in Vancouver, Canada. Its principal assets are a 50% interest in the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in southwest Alaska, 153 square miles of associated resource lands, as well as a partnership funding agreement with Anglo American. Pebble is the most important undeveloped porphyry deposit in the United States, and possesses the grades and size to support a modern, long-life mine.
For further details on Northern Dynasty please visit the Company's website at www.northerndynasty.com or contact Investor services at (604) 684-6365 or within North America at 1-800-667-2114. Review Canadian public filings at www.sedar.com and US public filings at www.sec.gov.
Ronald W. Thiessen
President & CEO
