America's next gold mine?

With federal permitting times often viewed as being lengthy and uncertain when a project is on public land, Revival Gold, Dakota Gold, Perpetua Resources, Hycroft Mining and Liberty Gold hope to benefit from developing sites where mining has occurred in the past. Some sites, such as Revival's Beartrack-Arnett project in Idaho, have legacy permits and ground already disturbed by mining.

Revival is considering a phased development approach, starting with an oxide heap leach project to produce 65,000ozpa, ahead of a potential 2500-3000tpd underground sulphide project in the second phase, which could grow production to 150,000ozpa. A potential third phase for an open pit mill resource could result in 250,000ozpa of production. Being a brownfield site brings several potential advantages.

"We have 30 years of baseline data on an existing plan of operations. We have a water treatment facility the regulators know works, and we don't have to test different locations for our facilities because most are already built. By 2026, we want to be in a construction situation," chief executive Hugh Agro told Mining Journal.

Several companies are looking at staged developments to reduce the initial capital requirement of their projects, with expansions to be funded from cash flow. This is not an option for Hycroft as its low-grade Hycroft gold deposit in Nevada as the project needs scale to drive its economics.

"The best mine plan and economic value is what dictates the throughput capacity. We have a homogeneous deposit, which does not have a high-grade starter pit, so we are looking at a 60,000tpd operation. We are a low-grade deposit so we don't have the flexibility to start on a smaller scale. We have no opportunity to find a mine within the mine," Hycroft chief executive Diane Garrett told Mining Journal.

Environment

Post-production outcomes that create wins for local communities and local government and regulatory authorities also figure highly in US Gold's plans for its CK project in Wyoming. In addition to plans to backfill the open pit, the company is also interested in the possibility of using the pit as a water storage facility for Cheyenne. "This would obviate the need for the city to upgrade the existing water storage impoundments to cater for its growing water needs," chief executive George Bee told Mining Journal.

Perpetua Resources hopes its environmental restoration and remediation programmes will convince regulators and local Native American communities to allow it to develop its Stibnite project in Idaho. The Stibnite site was mined during World War II and left environmental liabilities, including the blockage of fish streams and contamination.

The company is voluntarily undertaking a clean-up of contaminated ground and the restoration of fish habitat. Its efforts, beginning before it received permits to build a mine, have started to thaw relations with the Nez Perce Native American band, resulting in the recent settlement of an action it raised under the Clean Water Act.

"The Nez Perce will never say they love the project, but the settlement creates a watershed restoration fund and will see us work together to improve the watershed for fish, for them. We hope this settlement and working together will build trust and start rebuilding the relationship with the Nez Perce. The line of communication is now open, and we both want the same thing for the site," said Sayer.

Dakota Gold is also looking to reinvigorate the former Homestake mining area in South Dakota. "We have an option on Barrick Gold's surface rights in the Homestake district, so we can use previously disturbed land for any facilities down the road by amending the permits Barrick had," co-chair Robert Quartermain told Mining Journal.

Critical

In addition to the far-reaching impact of Perpetua's fish restoration project, the company is using other advantages to get the project over the permitting line. This includes its potential to produce antimony. The company has received funding from US Department of Defense (DoD) to investigate Stibnite's ability to produce weapons-grade antimony tripsulphate.

This second element creates a paradox for the company: Perpetua stresses the ESG aspects of its fish habitat restoration programme, but the project's ability to help make weapons could be key to its advancing and/or being financed.

Perpetua's chief executive Laural Sayer, demurred when asked whether these are conflicting aspects of the project. "The fish restoration part of the project appealed to the DoD, and the scale of the clean-up. It was not lost on them that a lot of that historical environment liability was because the DoD mined the area for critical metal in World War II," Sayer told Mining Journal.

Each project also represents a new economic opportunity in areas that need it. For US Gold, its CK project could ameliorate the impact of efforts to shut Wyoming's coal industry to reduce the country's carbon emissions.

Biden

The Biden administration continues to blow hot and cold for the mining sector. It is pushing an energy transition and critical materials agenda, yet it seems to take every opportunity to trip projects up. In September, the president said he would seek to implement a 4-8% hardrock royalty on mining on federal lands, although this is seen as unlikely to be approved by Congress.

"This is posturing as we enter the political season. People have been trying to do this for the last 20 years, but it is very difficult for Congress to pass. We will watch this, but I don't think Congress would pass 4%," said Sayer.

Steps have been taken to facilitate permitting and make its timelines more predictable. The recent US debt ceiling legislation included a clause stating that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process cannot take more than 24 months, and that environmental impact statement documents can be no longer than 120 pages plus appendices.

US federal agencies are also cooperating more, particularly ahead of companies filing their plan of operation, which enables project proponents to engage with permitting agencies to identify sensitivities before submitting a mine plan of operation. "This allows us to talk through potential impacts and issues and so when we submit the mine plan of operations, we think it should shorten the review time," Jason Attew, chief executive of Liberty Gold told Mining Journal.