Liberty Gold advances Black Pine project permitting

Liberty Gold (TSX; OTCQX) has advanced the permitting process for its Black Pine oxide gold project in southeast Idaho.

The company reported that recent cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has led to the completion of a memorandum of understanding and a cost recovery agreement. In addition, the USFS and the Bureau of Land Management have approved a third-party contractor to conduct the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, an essential step in advancing the project.

Black Pine, a past-producing open pit, run-of-mine heap leach mine, was operational from 1991 to 1997. During that period, Pegasus Gold produced 435,000 oz. of gold and 189,000 oz. of silver from five open pits.

Liberty Gold aims to produce over 2 million oz. of gold from Black Pine across a projected 17-year mine life. In the first five years, the company expects average annual production to reach 183,000 oz.

The project hosts an indicated mineral resource of 4.16 million oz. of oxide gold, averaging 0.32 g/t gold across 402.6 million tonnes, and an inferred mineral resource of 712,000 oz. at 0.23 g/t gold over 97.7 million tonnes.

Liberty’s stock was trading up 3% Tuesday morning. The company has a C$129 million ($93 million) market capitalization.