ANCHORAGE — A Canada-based mining company eyeing development of a huge copper and gold deposit near one of the world’s premier salmon fisheries said Tuesday that $107 million has been allocated to prepare the mine for permitting later this year.

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. said the Pebble Mine project should be ready for permitting this fall in a process that could take several years. 

The 2012 work project money will be used to provide a detailed description of the proposed project. 

ANCHORAGE — Rat Island was once over-run with rats. But with the rats dead and gone after having eaten grain pellets laced with poison, two Alaska Native groups say it's time for a name-change.

They want the island to have back its original Aleut name: Hawadax.

ANCHORAGE (AP) — Shifting ice in the Bering Sea is dramatically slowing a Russian tanker's mission to deliver fuel to an iced-in Alaska community.

A Coast Guard spokesman said Monday that an icebreaker and a fuel tanker are encountering "some really dynamic ice" that is slowing the mission and sometimes forcing both vessels to come to a complete stop.

But, "As long as we're making progress, we're going to Nome," said Anchorage Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley.