Environmental group wants SEC to investigate Pebble Mine developer for insider trading

The proposed site of the Pebble Mine (Photo by Jason Sear / KDLG)

An environmental group is warning federal regulators about a series of stock trades and communication centered around the company attempting to develop the Pebble Mine. 

That’s according to a complaint shared with CNN. The news network first reported the story on Monday. 

The Washington D.C.-based group, Earthworks, sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing possible insider trading involving the mining company — Northern Dynasty Minerals Limited.

The letter points to a sharp increase in the volume of Northern Dynasty stock trades in the weeks leading up to a late-July announcement that could make it easier for the company to get a mining permit.

That announcement from the federal Environmental Protection Agency caused the company’s stock prices to rise. Earthworks is alleging that news of the announcement was leaked to people who then traded on the information before it was made public.

A company spokesperson for Northern Dynasty told CNN that the allegations are “entirely false.”

Rashah McChesney is a photojournalist turned radio journalist who has been telling stories in Alaska since 2012. Before joining Alaska's Energy Desk , she worked at Kenai's Peninsula Clarion and the Juneau bureau of the Associated Press. She is a graduate of Iowa State University's Greenlee Journalism School and has worked in public television, newspapers and now radio, all in the quest to become the Swiss Army knife of storytellers.

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