Positive Feasibility Study Completed For Stibnite Gold Project In Idaho


VANCOUVER - Midas Gold Corp. reported results of an independent Feasibility Study and technical report completed on its Stibnite Gold Project in Idaho. The Project, as envisioned in the FS, would become one of the largest and highest-grade open pit gold mines in the United States and the country's only primary producer of antimony, a critical and strategic mineral. The FS builds upon Midas Gold's Plan of Restoration and Operations (PRO), identifying a suite of operational improvements and environmental refinements to achieve the Company's key objective for the financially viable restoration and brownfields development of the Stibnite mining district.

"The Feasibility Study represents a major milestone for Midas Gold as we continue to advance the Stibnite Gold Project," said Laurel Sayer, President and CEO. "The positive results demonstrate that our vision to combine economic development with environmental restoration of a brownfield site is technically, financially and environmentally feasible. Each step of the way, our approach to responsible, restorative, modern mining in Idaho has been reconfirmed. We are now one step closer to seeing the river and water quality improved, 550 direct jobs for Idahoans and production of the critical mineral, antimony. The results of the Feasibility Study highlight the attractive economics of the Stibnite Gold Project," said Marcelo Kim, Chairman of Midas Gold Corp. "The Project's exceptional grade and low strip ratio place this project in the lowest quartile of the industry cost curve and coupled with its large mineral reserve and manageable capital expenditure profile, make the Stibnite Gold Project one of the gold industry's most attractive development projects. The Project's economics are resilient at lower metal prices and also exhibit significant leverage to rising prices. Despite the recent strength in its share price, Midas Gold represents one of the most undervalued gold investment opportunities in North America. At current market prices, Midas trades at a fully diluted market capitalization of $551 million, or 29% of the Project's NPV 5% of $1.9 billion at spot gold prices. We remain steadfast in our commitment to continue de-risking and advancing the Stibnite Project for the benefit of all stakeholders."

Since inception, Midas Gold's vision for the Stibnite Mining District (the "District") has been to use modern mining to redevelop an abandoned, brownfield mine site, provide long-term employment and business opportunities for a rural area in Idaho, funded by an economically viable project. Restoration goals were established early on to address environmental impacts from over 100 years of historical mining activities and return the site to a fully functioning, self-sustaining ecosystem with improved water quality and habitat capable of supporting enhanced populations of fish, wildlife and flora. In addition to gold, the District also contains significant Mineral Reserves of antimony, which is on the U.S. Department of Interior's final list of 35 critical minerals.

Midas Gold submitted its PRO to regulators in September 2016. The plan laid out in the PRO was founded on Midas Gold's core values of safety, environment, community involvement, transparency, accountability, integrity and performance. Since filing the PRO, Midas Gold has continued to advance the Project along two parallel paths: additional design and engineering studies in support of the FS; and further environmental modeling and analysis in support of Project permitting. The Project envisioned in the FS achieves Midas Gold's vision of unifying environmental protection and restoration with modern mining operations in an economically attractive project.

The Stibnite Mining District is located in central Idaho, USA approximately 100 miles (mi) northeast of Boise, Idaho, 38 mi east of McCall, Idaho, and approximately 10 mi east of Yellow Pine, Idaho. The Project detailed in the FS consists of mining the Yellow Pine, Hangar Flats and West End deposits using conventional open pit methods, conventional processing methods to extract gold, silver and antimony, and on-site production of gold (Au) and silver (Ag) dore and an antimony (Sb) concentrate. The Project also incorporates extensive reclamation and restoration of historical impacts to the site including: the recovery and reprocessing of Historical Tailings, restoration of fish passage during and after operations, relocation of historical mining wastes to engineered storage facilities, stream restoration, and reforestation. Midas Gold's plans for restoration and decommissioning the site include progressive and concurrent remediation, reclamation and restoration, beginning at the start of construction and continuing through operations and Project closure.