Perpetua Resources Breaks Ground On Early Works Construction For The Stibnite Gold Project; The Project Has The Only American Reserve Of Critical Mineral Antimony
Benzinga Newsdesk 1 year ago
NewsGeneral
Perpetua Resources Corp. (NASDAQ:PPTA) (TSX:PPTA) ("Perpetua Resources" or "Perpetua" or the "Company") announced that the Company is breaking ground on early works construction for the Stibnite Gold Project (the
Perpetua Resources Corp. (NASDAQ:PPTA) (TSX:PPTA) ("Perpetua Resources" or "Perpetua" or the "Company") announced that the Company is breaking ground on early works construction for the Stibnite Gold Project (the "Project") today. This milestone achievement comes after the Company posted $139 million in construction phase financial assurance for the Stibnite Gold Project and received Notice from the U.S. Forest Service ("USFS") that the requirements of 2025 Record of Decision ("ROD") necessary to start construction had been satisfied, the Plan of Operations had been signed, and the Project could enter construction.
"Today, we break ground on the Stibnite Gold Project," said Jon Cherry, Perpetua Resources President and CEO. "As America's answer to China's antimony export bans, we are focused on swiftly and safely bringing our antimony and gold project into development. After nine years of permitting, Stibnite can once again serve this country's national interest. We are proud of our work to bring this essential project online to provide critical resources while restoring an abandoned mine site. With our reclamation performance bond to reclaim the work we undertake at the Project site in place, we officially started early works construction today and are making good on our promises to Idaho and America."
Perpetua Resources received the Final ROD in January 2025 and in September 2025, received its conditional Notice to Proceed from USFS indicating that the requirements of the ROD necessary to start construction have been satisfied, and that construction may commence upon the Company posting financial assurance. On October 17, 2025, the Company posted financial assurance secured with cash on hand in order to commence early works construction at the Project and expects to replace the current arrangements with other non-cash financial assurance arrangements prior to or in connection with finalizing the full financing package for the Project.
The Stibnite Gold Project moves into development after nine years of rigorous permitting approvals, a combined award of $80 million in Department of War funds, and prioritization under the Trump Administration's Transparency Project initiative. The Project hosts America's only reserve of the critical mineral antimony, a key component in defense and industrial applications, and we believe is the nearest-term opportunity to meet defense and commercial demand.
In addition to the Project's strategic significance producing antimony, the Project is projected to be one of the highest-grade open-pit gold mines in the United States, with gold reserves of approximately 4.8 million ounces, and is expected to produce approximately 450,000 ounces of gold annually over its first four years of production. The Project is also designed to clean up legacy contamination, reconnect fish to their native spawning grounds, and restore habitat at the historical Stibnite mine site in central Idaho.
Perpetua anticipates more than 950 direct jobs during the construction period and more than 550 direct jobs during operations. In September 2025, Perpetua received a preliminary project letter and indicative term sheet from the U.S. Export Import ("EXIM") Bank's Make More in America and China Transformational Export Programs to support $2 billion in debt financing and expects final EXIM Board consideration by the spring of 2026.