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Liberty Gold (TSE:LGD) President, CEO and Director Jon Gilligan said the company is advancing its Black Pine gold project in southern Idaho through feasibility work and federal permitting, positioning the asset as a potential future gold producer in the Great Basin.
Speaking at the OTC Markets Virtual Investor Conferences Precious Metals and Critical Minerals Conference, Gilligan described Black Pine as a large-scale oxide gold deposit in a Tier 1 jurisdiction with established mining, legal and permitting frameworks. Liberty Gold also trades on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol LGDTF.
Gilligan said Black Pine contains nearly 5 million ounces in indicated mineral resources, all in oxide gold. He said the company completed a pre-feasibility study in 2024 and is now working toward a feasibility study expected in the fourth quarter of this year.
Black Pine Development Timeline
Gilligan said Liberty Gold entered federal permitting in January 2025 with submission of a Draft Mine Plan of Operations. The company formally entered the environmental impact statement process in April, when it received a Notice of Intent. After applying for and receiving FAST-41 coverage, Liberty Gold now has a federal permitting schedule targeting a final Record of Decision on Jan. 5, 2028.
According to Gilligan, construction could begin after the Record of Decision, subject to bonding requirements and a notice to proceed. He said the company anticipates a one-season construction period, with first gold expected late in the fourth quarter of 2028 and commercial production sometime in 2029. He said the exact timeline will be refined when the feasibility study is released.
Gilligan said the feasibility study is not an endpoint, but a financing and development milestone. "Really the purpose of the feasibility study is to create a document that is good enough to represent the economic outcome to let you go and raise finance to build it," he said in response to a question from Susie Bell, Liberty Gold's vice president of investor relations and corporate communications.
Project Economics and Resource Base
Gilligan said the 2024 pre-feasibility study outlined a 17-year mine life and average annual production of 183,000 ounces of gold during the first five years. He cited life-of-mine average cash costs of about CAD 1,400 per ounce and initial capital of just over CAD 300 million.
At a CAD 3,500 gold price, Gilligan said the pre-feasibility economics showed an after-tax NPV5 of CAD 2.4 billion, a payback of just over one year and a triple-digit internal rate of return. At CAD 2,000 gold, he said the project still showed a roughly CAD 500 million NPV and a 32% IRR.
The company's latest drilling increased indicated resources by about 700,000 ounces, bringing the indicated total to 4.88 million ounces, Gilligan said. He said Liberty Gold is targeting a reserve of around 4 million ounces, though no reserve has been published because it will be an output of the feasibility study. The project also has about 1 million ounces in inferred resources, which Gilligan said represents upside beyond the initial reserve.
2026 Drilling and Site Characteristics
Gilligan said Liberty Gold is conducting a 40,000-meter drill program in 2026. The program includes pre-production drilling in areas likely to be mined in the first two to three years, compliance drilling beneath planned infrastructure areas and step-out drilling aimed at improving and expanding the indicated resource.
He said pre-production drilling is intended to convert indicated resources to measured resources and improve confidence in grade, tonnage and metallurgical response during the early payback period. Drill results are expected in the second half of the year, with an updated resource model planned for early 2027.
Gilligan described Black Pine as a run-of-mine heap leach operation, meaning no crushing is required. He said this lowers operating complexity, capital requirements and operating costs. The planned operation would include open pits, a heap leach facility, an ADR processing plant, rock storage facilities and site services.
The project is located near Interstate 84, about two hours north of Salt Lake City and roughly an hour south of Burley, Idaho. Gilligan said the site has existing road access and an energized power line. He also said Liberty Gold has secured 100% of the water rights needed for the mine through arrangements with local farmers, allowing water to be shifted from agricultural use to mining and then returned after operations.
Permitting and Financial Position
Gilligan said permitting remains a key project risk, but added that Liberty Gold has taken steps to mitigate that risk. He highlighted the company's FAST-41 covered project status and said the State of Idaho aligned its permitting framework with the federal process. State permits include cyanidation, air quality, reclamation and closure approvals, along with bonding.
Gilligan said the company had $37 million in U.S. cash on hand at the end of the first quarter. He also said sales of non-core assets, including the Goldstrike deposit and a critical metals project in southern Utah, are expected to bring CAD 38 million in cash inflows over the next 16 months.
He said Liberty Gold is funded through engineering, early long-lead acquisitions, corporate costs and drilling needed to reach a final investment decision around late 2027 or early 2028. Gilligan also noted that Centerra Gold became a 9.9% strategic shareholder in September 2025, and that institutional holders include VanEck, Franklin and Wheaton. Wheaton owns the only royalty on Black Pine, a 0.5% royalty with a 50% buyback, and Gilligan said Liberty Gold models the project at a 0.25% royalty.
Gilligan said Liberty Gold believes Black Pine offers scale, simple metallurgy, a defined permitting path and a clear route toward becoming a gold producer. "We have a clear pathway to development, a feasibility study coming out in Q4, a strong and defined permitting schedule," he said.
About Liberty Gold (TSE:LGD)
Liberty Gold Corp is an exploration stage company. It operates in the business segment of exploration for gold, copper and other precious and base metals. The company has operations in the USA . Its projects include the Black Pine project and Goldstrike project.
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