Stibnite Gold Project Enters Final Phases Of Review

VANCOUVER - Midas Gold Corp. and regulators, led by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), are entering the final phases of review of the Stibnite Gold Project under the National Environmental Policy Act now that the comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement ("DEIS") is complete.  The comment period officially ended, after 75 days of public review, on October 28, 2020 following two extensions of 15-days each. Thousands of individuals meaningfully participated in the comment period and substantial numbers of the letters uploaded by the USFS are supportive of Midas Gold's plan to redevelop a brownfields mining site, providing significant economic, employment and environmental benefits needed to restore the site.

"The team at Midas Gold is proud to be one step closer to bringing the Stibnite Gold Project to life and helping Idahoans recognize the environmental, economic, employment and national security benefits associated with the Project," said Stephen Quin, CEO. "We are grateful to all of the individuals who took the time to review the DEIS and submit a comment to regulators and appreciate the tremendous effort by our team to make information readily accessible to those commenting. The feedback from these comments will be incredibly valuable as we work with regulators to finalize the plan for the Stibnite Gold Project. We are equally grateful for all of the support we received from Idahoans.  Numerous letters of support were submitted from the people who live closest to our site, vendors who we have been fortunate enough to partner with over the years, community leaders, statewide organizations, elected representatives and officials, and also Idahoans who care deeply about the outdoors and the environment. The letters received throughout this comment period demonstrate the strong local support for moving our Project forward."  

Now that the comment period is complete, regulators will review the comments submitted, evaluate the alternatives contained in the DEIS in light of the comments, consider any refinements that can be made to the Stibnite Gold Project between now and when the final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) is released, and select a preferred alternative. Currently, the USFS is scheduled to release the FEIS in Q2 of 2021 and to issue its record of decision (ROD) on the Project in late Q3 of 2021.

"Public input has played a very important role in helping our company refine the Stibnite Gold Project over the past decade," said Mr. Quin. "The Plan of Restoration and Operations and then Alternative 2 in the DEIS were developed after many conversations with community members, including over 190 tours and 900 presentations in the past four years alone  The feedback we received allowed us to reduce the impacts and footprint of the Project and it is our belief that we can continue to refine our plan after considering the comments recently submitted to the USFS."

If permitted, the Stibnite Gold Project would produce gold, silver and the only domestically mined source of antimony in the United States.  The U.S. Department of Interior designated antimony as a critical mineral for its uses in the national defense, aerospace and technology industries. Midas Gold would invest approximately $1 billion in construction, provide approximately 500 direct, family-wage jobs for Idahoans for 15-18 years and numerous indirect jobs in local communities and the region. The Stibnite Gold Project was designed from the outset to use modern, responsible mining to restore the historical Stibnite Mining District by providing the expertise and financial resources necessary to address the legacy issues that remain and which are primarily related to World War II and Korean War era mining of antimony and tungsten for national defense purposes.  Stibnite alone is estimated to have produced approximately 90% of the antimony and 40-50% of the tungsten required for the war effort.  However, these activities left a significant legacy of environmental impacts, which Midas Gold plans to address through its fully integrated Plan of Restoration and Operations.