Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd (NAK)

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Northern Dynasty: Pebble Partnership retains lead regulatory consultant to initiate project permitting

PR Newswire PR Newswire March 8, 2017 Comment

VANCOUVER, March 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (TSX: NDM; NYSE MKT: NAK) ("Northern Dynasty" or the "Company") announces that its 100%-owned subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership ("Pebble Partnership" or "PLP") has selected HDR Alaska, Inc. ("HDR") to serve as lead regulatory and permitting consultant for the Pebble Project, with the goal of preparing necessary documentation to initiate federal and state permitting under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and National Environmental Policy Act by the end of the year, in anticipation of a successful outcome of the Company's multi-dimensional strategy to address the US Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") pre-emptive regulatory action under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act.

HDR has provided environmental and technical consulting services to Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Partnership since 2004, with a specific focus on wetlands, water, aquatic habitat and fish studies as presented in the $150 million, 27,000-page Pebble Environmental Baseline Document published in 2012. In its current role, HDR will continue to undertake select environmental baseline field studies and analyses at Pebble, but will also provide strategic regulatory guidance to the Pebble Partnership as it finalizes the engineering design, environmental planning and documentation required to file a CWA 404 permit application with the US Army Corps of Engineers.

"HDR is one of the many respected Alaska-based consulting firms that have provided professional services to the Pebble Project for well over a decade, so they're already intimately familiar with the unique challenges and opportunities presented by our project," said Tom Collier, CEO of the Pebble Partnership. "As a firm, HDR not only has an enviable track record for helping permit some of Alaska's most prominent mines, energy and infrastructure development projects, their senior personnel are also former federal and state regulators, with a deep understanding of regulatory processes and requirements for permitting success in Alaska and the United States."

While HDR will play a leading role on the team PLP is assembling to permit the Pebble Project, the Pebble Partnership intends to retain additional engineering, environmental and regulatory consultants and experts to support the project's 2017 work program and NEPA permitting requirements over the next several years.

"We expect to be making further announcements in the weeks and months ahead about our 2017 field program and the work required to prepare the project to initiate permitting," Collier said. "We're very pleased the project is moving forward, and that we're in a position to begin to re-hire local residents and Alaska firms that have contributed so much to Pebble's advancements in years past."

About HDR Inc.

HDR Inc. is a global leader in consulting based in Omaha, NE, with 10,000 professionals in more than 225 offices around the world specializing in engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services. For the past 37 years, the staff of HDR Alaska has provided engineering and environmental services to help Alaska-based clients successfully conceive, design, permit and build resource development and infrastructure projects.

About Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.

Northern Dynasty is a mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, Canada. Northern Dynasty's principal asset is the Pebble Project in southwest Alaska, USA, an initiative to develop one of the world's most important mineral resources.

For further details on Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Project, please visit the Company's website at www.northerndynasty.com or contact Investor services at [phone] 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