First Mining declares Springpole reserve as it marks PFS milestone

20th January 2021 By: Mariaan Webb - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

First Mining declares Springpole reserve as it marks PFS milestone

View from the Springpole site

Toronto-listed First Mining on Wednesday announced the results of a prefeasibility study (PFS) for its Springpole gold project and declared the project’s first-ever mineral reserves.

Springpole, in Red Lake, has proven and probable reserves of 3.8-million ounces of gold and 20.5-million ounces of silver, the company said.

One of the largest undeveloped openpit gold projects in North America, Springpole currently hosts 4.6-million ounces of gold in the indicated mineral resource category and 0.3-million ounces of gold in the inferred mineral resource category.

“First Mining is declaring mineral reserves for the first time ever on the Springpole gold project, reflecting the culmination of a year of detailed data collection, trade-off studies, and engineering and technical de-risking work done by First Mining and our partners on our project team,” said CEO Dan Wilton.

The PFS evaluates recovery of gold and silver from a 30 000 t/d openpit operation. The project will produce an average of 335 000 oz/y, at an all-in sustaining cost of $577/oz in the first nine years of the 11.3 mine life.

The study calculated an after-tax net present value of $995-million and an internal rate of return of 29%.

Initial capital costs are estimated at $718-million, sustaining capital costs at $55-million, plus $29-million in closure costs.

“The work we have undertaken to date to reduce the potential environmental impact from the project demonstrates the potential for Springpole to be developed in a responsible manner and to mitigate long-term impacts. We look forward to the project's continual improvement through collaboration with our local and Indigenous communities of interest as we advance Springpole through the federal and provincial environmental assessment processes,” Wilton said.