Anglo-American announced on Monday that its wholly-owned US subsidiary Anglo-American Pebble LLC as given notice under the Pebble limited partnership agreement, that it is withdrawing from the Pebble copper project in Alaska.

The Pebble Limited Partnership, or PLP was created 2007 between Anglo-American and Northern Dynasty Minerals LTD. The Bristol Bay watershed project will now continue on with sole ownership by Northern Dynasty. the project in Bristol Bay watershed encompasses more than 600 square miles of mineral claims.

Anglo-American says it expects to record an impairment charge of $300 million after taxes in December 2013.

Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said: “Despite our belief that Pebble is a deposit of rare magnitude and quality, we have taken the decision to withdraw following a thorough assessment of Anglo American’s extensive pipeline of long-dated project options. Our focus has been to prioritise capital to projects with the highest value and lowest risks within our portfolio, and reduce the capital required to sustain such projects during the pre-approval phases of development as part of a more effective, value-driven capital allocation model. We wish the project well through its forthcoming permitting process and express our thanks to all those who have supported Pebble and who recognise the opportunities and benefits that such an investment may bring to Alaska.”

As of June 30, 2013, AA Pebble has funded US$541 million of expenditure on the Pebble Project. Following the AA Pebble withdrawal, PLP will proceed under the sole ownership of Northern Dynasty.

Northern Dynasty CEO Ron Thiessen commented “Northern Dynasty will again own 100% of one of the world’s most important copper & gold resources and will have the benefit of $541 million worth of expenditures, which opens the door to a number of exciting possibilities for Northern Dynasty and its shareholders and the Pebble Project and its stakeholders. Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Partnership have both the expertise and resources necessary to advance the Pebble Project.”

Mr. Theissen said that he was informed of Anglo-American’s intentions to disengage from the pebble project on Friday. The two entities, Anglo-American and Northern Dynasty will now undergo a 60 day process to unwind their partnership in the project. It was also announced today that Northern Dynasty minerals plans to begin the permitting application process for the $4.7 billion Alaskan copper gold project by the end of this year.

Northern Dynasty’s stock fell 38% to $1.45 this morning in Toronto. It had earlier dropped as much as 42%. so far this year, Northern Dynasty stock has lost more than 51%.

Last year United States Environmental Protection Agency pointed out in its study that large-scale salmon habitat could possibly be harmed in the Bristol Bay region where the proposed mining project is planned to be built. The deposit there is estimated to hold 81,000,000,000 pounds of copper, at least 5.6 billion pounds of molybdenum and approximately 100,000,000 ounces of gold.