Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact
Statement published for 75-day public review and comment.
Perpetua's Proposed Action includes
improvements that are responsive to public input and designed to
improve environmental outcomes.
Perpetua Resources is positioned to provide
the only U.S. mined source of antimony, ending reliance on
China and Russia for the critical mineral essential to
national defense and clean energy transition.
BOISE,
ID, Oct. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Perpetua
Resources Corp. (Nasdaq: PPTA) (TSX: PPTA) ("Perpetua Resources" or
"Perpetua" or "the Company") announced today that the United States
Forest Service ("USFS") has released the Supplemental Draft
Environmental Impact Statement ("SDEIS") on the Stibnite Gold
Project ("Project") for public comment and has identified
Perpetua's proposed action, the "Modified Mine Plan," as the
Preferred Alternative. Identification of the Preferred Alternative
by the USFS is a major milestone in the advancement of the Project
and provides clarity for the remainder of the National
Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") process.
"The Stibnite Gold Project is one step closer to restoring an
abandoned mine site, providing hundreds of family-wage jobs for
Idahoans, producing the only domestic mined source of antimony to
protect our national security, and supporting America's clean
energy transition," said Laurel
Sayer, President and CEO of Perpetua Resources. "Perpetua
submitted an initial plan of restoration and operations six years
ago and our team has worked tirelessly to develop a responsible,
modern mining project that can have a positive impact on
Idaho and our nation. We have
listened to community feedback and the process has made our plan
even better."
Thorough Permitting Process
Improved Project:
In response to public and agency feedback on the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement ("DEIS") released by the USFS in
August 2020, Perpetua proposed
modifications to the mine plan analyzed in Alternative 2 in the
DEIS and submitted a Modified Mine Plan to the USFS in December 2020. The Modified Mine Plan included
refinements to reduce the project footprint, improve water quality,
and lower water temperature. The USFS chose to advance this
modified project design to an SDEIS to further evaluate the project
refinements and compare the Company's proposed site access via
Burntlog Route to an alternative option using current roads.
Perpetua's design improvements in the Modified Mine Plan
included:
- Decreased on-site disturbance footprint, a 13% reduction from
2016 design
- Reduced mined material by 10% (44 million tons)
- Eliminated waste rock storage areas (168 acres)
- Reduced volume of Hangar Flats pit by 70% and completely
backfilled pit
- Added extra geosynthetic covers to protect long-term water
quality
- Increased riparian vegetation and low flow channels to reduce
water temperature
- Developed additional habitat feature to replace bull trout
habitat
- Modified ore processing circuit to improve tailings
chemistry
Stibnite Gold Project Designed
with Solutions in Mind:
The Stibnite Gold Project is designed to restore the legacy
environmental conditions at the abandoned mine site while
responsibly redeveloping one of the highest-grade, open pit gold
resources in the United States and
become the only domestically mined source of the critical mineral
antimony, which is essential to the national defense and energy
sectors.
The Project plans to address the long-standing environmental
issues plaguing the historic mine site. Unconstrained tailings and
mine waste left behind from over a century of mining activity have
increased metal levels in the ground and surface water at Stibnite
and salmon have been blocked from native spawning grounds for more
than 80 years. Perpetua's efforts to combine mineral redevelopment
with legacy restoration are expected to improve water quality over
existing conditions, leave the river with enhanced habitat, open
miles of perennial habitat for salmon, and increase the number of
wetland acres on site today.
The Project is expected to produce gold and the critical mineral
antimony. The United States Government has made clear that securing
a domestic antimony supply is strategically important to our
national interests. Today, China,
Russia, and Tajikistan control 90% of the global supply of
antimony and the United States has
no mined source. The Stibnite Gold Project has the only identified
reserve of antimony in the United
States (USGS, 2021) and could provide a responsible and
secure domestic source to satisfy the growing demand from the
defense and energy sectors.
Supplemental Draft Environmental
Impact Statement Materials:
Individuals who wish to view the SDEIS have 75 days to submit
their comments to the USFS. The document can be found in the
Environmental Protection Agency EIS database filed under EIS number
20220154 and will be available on the USFS project page at
https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=50516. Additional
information on the Project and Perpetua's plans to redevelop and
restore the site, reconnect salmon to their native spawning
grounds, produce America's only source of the critical mineral
antimony and contribute to the economic success of Idaho can be found at
www.PerpetuaResources.com. Comments on the SDEIS are due by
January 10, 2023.
About Perpetua Resources and the
Stibnite Gold Project
Perpetua Resources Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiaries,
is focused on the exploration, site restoration and redevelopment
of gold-antimony-silver deposits in the Stibnite-Yellow Pine
district of central Idaho that are
encompassed by the Stibnite Gold Project. The Project is one
of the highest-grade, open pit gold deposits in the United States and is designed to apply a
modern, responsible mining approach to restore an abandoned mine
site and produce both gold and the only mined source of antimony in
the United States. Further
advancing Perpetua Resources' ESG and sustainable mining goals, the
Project will be powered by the lowest carbon emissions grid in the
nation and a portion of the antimony produced from the Project will
be supplied to Ambri, a US-based company commercializing a low-cost
liquid metal battery essential for the low-carbon energy
transition. In addition to the company's commitments to
transparency, accountability, environmental stewardship, safety and
community engagement, Perpetua Resources adopted formal ESG
commitments which can be found here.
Forward-Looking Information and
Cautionary Note
Investors should be aware that the publication of the SDEIS
and the identification by the USFS of the Modified Mine Plan as the
Preferred Alternative does not indicate any commitments on the part
of the USFS with regard to a final decision. In developing the
Final Environmental Impact Statement ("FEIS"), the next phase of
the NEPA planning process, the USFS may select various actions
based on the Modified Mine Plan or each of the alternatives
analyzed in the SDEIS. The SDEIS is subject to review and
comment by the public through the public review period, which may
be extended by the USFS in its sole discretion. In addition,
statements contained in this news release that are not historical
facts are "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking
statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking Information") within
the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and the
United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-Looking Information includes, but is not limited to,
disclosure regarding possible events, next steps and courses of
action including environmental clean up actions by us and our
contractors; our ability to comply with and obtain permits related
to the Stibnite Gold Project; actions to be taken by the USFS, the
State of Idaho and other
government agencies and regulatory bodies; the timing of the public
review period; predictions regarding improvements to water quality
and other environmental conditions at the site, including with
respect to process and timing of such improvements; reduction of
the Project footprint and the anticipated benefits and other
effects thereof; our ability to successfully implement the Project
and the occurrence of the expected benefits from the Project,
including contributions to the workforce, national security and
clean energy transition; our and Ambri Inc.'s ability to perform
under the supply agreement, which agreement is subject to certain
conditions, including identification of one or more refiners to
transform our antimony concentrate into antimony metal, and mutual
agreement on certain material terms, including volume and pricing.
In certain cases, Forward-Looking Information can be identified by
the use of words and phrases or variations of such words and
phrases or statements such as "anticipate", "expect" "plan",
"likely", "believe", "intend", "forecast", "project", "estimate",
"potential", "could", "may", "will", "would" or "should". In
preparing the Forward-Looking Information in this news
release, Perpetua Resources has applied several material
assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions that the
current exploration, development, environmental and other
objectives concerning the Stibnite Gold Project can be achieved and
that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected; that
the review process under the NEPA (including any joint review
process involving the USFS, the State of Idaho and other agencies and
regulatory bodies) as well as the public review process and SDEIS
will proceed in a timely manner and as expected; that we will be
able to obtain sufficient funding to finance permitting,
pre-construction and construction of the Project and that all
requisite information will be available in a timely manner.
Forward-Looking Information are based on certain material
assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements of Perpetua Resources to be materially different from
any future results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied by the Forward-Looking Information. Such risks and other
factors include changes in laws and regulations and changes in the
application of standards pursuant to existing laws and regulations
which may result in unforeseen results in the permitting process;
uncertainty surrounding input to be received from regulators and
community stakeholders; risks related to dependence on key
personnel; risks related to unforeseen delays in the review process
including availability of personnel from the USFS, State of Idaho and other stated, federal and
local agencies and regulatory bodies (including, but not limited
to, future US government shutdowns); risks related to opposition to
the Project; risks related to increased or unexpected costs in
operations or the permitting process; risks that necessary
financing will be unavailable on acceptable terms, or at all; risks
related to the outcome of litigation and potential for delay of the
Project, as well as those factors discussed in Perpetua
Resources' public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "SEC") and its Canadian disclosure record. Although
Perpetua Resources has attempted to identify important factors that
could affect Perpetua Resources and may cause actual actions,
events or results to differ materially from those described in
Forward-Looking Information, there may be other factors that cause
actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking
Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future
events could differ materially from those anticipated in such
statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on
Forward-Looking Information. For further information on
these and other risks and uncertainties that may affect the
Company's business, see the "Risk Factors" and "Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations" sections of the Company's filings with the SEC, which
are available at www.sec.gov and with the Canadian securities
regulators, which are available at www.sedar.com. Except as
required by law, Perpetua Resources does not assume any obligation
to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information
contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances
after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated
events.
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SOURCE Perpetua Resources Corp.