Name of the Project
Black Pine oxide gold project.

Location
Cassia and Oneida counties, in Idaho, in the US.

Project Owner/s
Mineral properties developer Liberty Gold, through its wholly owned subsidiary Pilot Gold.

Project Description
The project consists of three large deposits and several smaller deposits that are planned to be developed using conventional openpit mining methods over a 17-year life-of-mine (LoM).

Gold will be recovered using run-of-mine (no crushing, screening or agglomeration) heap leaching, with material delivered by mine haul truck stacking onto a single heap-leach pad at the eastern extent of the project. The pad is designed in four phases to contain up to 315-million dry tonnes of leachable material, with operational segregation of the oxide ore types in isolated cells on the leach pad to prevent co-mingling.

Ore feed to the leach pad is planned at 18.3-million tonnes a year over the LoM, with average yearly gold production over the LoM estimated at 135 000 oz.

Leached gold will be recovered from the solution using a three-train, activated carbon adsorption circuit. The gold will then be stripped from carbon using a desorption process, followed by electrowinning to produce a precipitate sludge, which is then refined on-site in a furnace to produce final doré bars.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
At a gold price of $2 000 (base case) the project has a pretax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of $656-million and an internal rate of return if 34%, with an after-tax back of 3.3 years.

Capital Expenditure
Initial capital expenditure is estimated at $326.6-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Liberty Gold has reached key permitting milestones for its project with the submission of a draft mine plan of operations (MPO) and the execution of an interagency memorandum of understanding (MoU) to streamline the permitting process.

The draft MPO has been submitted to the United States Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, and the Idaho Department of Lands. Based on a recently published prefeasibility study, the submission marks the start of the federal permitting process under the National Environmental Policy Act. This process will include the preparation of an environmental-impact statement (EIS), co-led by the USFS and BLM.

Liberty Gold has engaged stakeholders, regulatory authorities, and the local community to ensure that environmental and operational standards are met. The EIS will involve public scoping meetings, analysis of baseline studies, and assessments of environmental and socioeconomic impacts, along with proposed mitigation measures. Stantec has been appointed as the independent third-party contractor to oversee the EIS process.

The interagency MoU establishes a coordinated framework between Liberty Gold and various state and federal agencies, setting timelines and defining roles to facilitate efficient permitting while maintaining regulatory compliance. These developments reaffirm the company’s commitment to responsible resource development and environmental stewardship Liberty Gold president and COO Jon Gilligan has stated. 

Gilligan also praised Idaho Governor Brad Little’s Executive Order 2025-02, known as the Strategic Permitting, Efficiency and Economic Development (SPEED) Act, which aims to enhance interagency coordination and reduce permitting delays. Liberty Gold expects the Black Pine project to be an active participant in this initiative.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
SLR Consulting (mineral resource estimate); AGP Mining Consultants (mineral reserve estimate); GL Simmons Consulting (metallurgy); NewFields Companies (heap design and closure); M3 Engineering & Technology Corp (mineral processing and financial evaluation); Piteau Associates (hydrology); Knight Piésold (geotechnical engineering); and Westland Engineering & Environmental Services (environmental permitting and compliance).

Contact Details for Project Information
Liberty Gold Corp, tel +1 604 632 4677 or email info@libertygold.ca.