Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty has raised $10-million to further advance the Pebble project, in the US state of Alaska, the company announced on Tuesday.

Northern Dynasty has entered into an agreement with lead underwriter and bookrunner Cantor Fitzgerald Canada, on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters, to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 15.625-million shares at $0.64 a share.

The company also granted the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 2 343 750 offered shares, which could raise a further $1.5-million.

Proceeds of the offering would be used for operational expenditures, including engineering, environmental, permitting and evaluation expenses associated with the Pebble project and the advancement of completion of the US Army Corps of Engineers environmental impact study (EIS), as well as enhanced outreach and engagement with political and regulatory offices, Native partners and broader regional and state-wide stakeholders.

The US Army Corp of Engineers recently posted a draft EIS for the project, which the company says shows no major data gaps or substantive impacts associated with a mine at the Pebble site.

Meanwhile, Northern Dynasty affirmed that it remained the company’s goal to partner the Pebble project, after First Quantum pulled out last year.

Discovered in the late 1990s, the Pebble deposit contains as much as 57-billion pounds of copper, 70-million ounces of gold, 3.4-million pounds of molybdenum and 344-million ounces of silver.

Northern Dynasty is proposing a conventional openpit mine that will produce an average of 613 000 t/y of copper/gold concentrate, containing 318-million pounds of copper a year, 362 000 oz/y of gold a year and 1.8-million ounces of silver a year over its 20-year mine life. However, the project has been dogged by opposition owing to its location at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, which is home to a large population of sockeye salmon.

Northern Dynasty closed 2.79% lower at C$0.73 a share on Tuesday and has fallen further in after-hours trading.