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Possible Road Corridor
and Port Site (2.4MB pdf) |
Development of the Pebble Project will require supporting infrastructure such as road, port and power-generation facilities in order to produce and then transport mineral-bearing concentrates to market. The Pebble Partnership is continuing to assess the infrastructure that will be required to responsibly develop the Pebble Project.
The infrastructure-planning process involves local communities and state agencies such as the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. A preferred port site and road corridor has emerged that would serve the needs of the project and local communities in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. No final decisions have yet been made, but the major components being considered include:
- A 104-mile, single-lane, restricted access industrial road between the mine and the port site, over which freight and consumables used at the mine-site would be transported.
- Pipelines, which would follow the road corridor, for concentrate transport from the mine to the port site, and the return of water to the mine-site.
- A multi-modal port on Iniskin Bay for loading mineral-bearing concentrates onto ocean-going vessels and receiving freight and operating consumables.
The Pebble Partnership and Homer Electric Association (HEA), a member-owned electric cooperative that serves Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, have agreed to jointly review development options for the delivery of power to the Pebble Project. To meet the proposed power requirements at Pebble, HEA would have to add new generation capacity, possibly through a new natural gas-fired generating plant on the Kenai Peninsula.
Studies to date envision routing power southward from the Railbelt grid near Nikiski via overhead transmission lines along the west side of the Kenai Peninsula, then across Cook Inlet by submarine cable to a proposed port site near Williamsport, then again by overhead transmission line along the road corridor to the mine site. Other scenarios are being considered, including the use of alternative generation fuels.
The proposed infrastructure for the Pebble Project could also provide low-cost power, improved road access and other benefits to communities in the Bristol Bay region.
