Liberty Gold has drilled gold beyond the resource boundary at its Black Pine project in Idaho, outlining an extension that could increase the site’s resources. Drill hole LBP1347 at the Rangefront deposit cut 18.3 metres grading 1.27 grams of gold per tonne from 233.2 metres depth, within a 144.8 metre intercept grading 0.36 grams from 167.6 metres downhole. Drilling has outlined oxide mineralisation extending about 200 metres north of the existing resource boundary and up to 400 metres wide, remaining open to the north.
Other results included hole LBP1341A, which cut 62.5 metres grading 0.42 grams of gold from 222.5 metres, including 4.6 metres at 1.42 grams. Liberty is running a 50,000 metre reverse circulation programme, targeting 25 million to 35 million tonnes of inferred material for potential upgrading to the indicated category, with an updated resource anticipated in the first half of next year. Drilling has also established a clearer eastern boundary, information needed to finalise the design of a proposed heap leach pad.
The project context is advanced. A feasibility study released in September outlined a 16 year open pit, heap leach operation producing an average of 202,000 ounces of gold a year in its first five years. Probable reserves total 433.3 million tonnes grading 0.29 grams, containing 4.04 million ounces. At a 5 percent discount rate and a gold price of 3,250 dollars an ounce, the study estimated initial capital of 411 million dollars, an after tax net present value of 2.4 billion dollars, a 61 percent internal rate of return and a two year payback.
Black Pine is a past producing Carlin style oxide deposit in southeastern Idaho that Pegasus Gold mined from 1991 to 1997, producing about 435,000 ounces of gold. The project entered the federal FAST 41 permitting programme in January, and Liberty is advancing toward a potential 2028 construction decision. Shares fell 4.6 percent to 1.86 Canadian dollars on Thursday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at about 1 billion Canadian dollars, a company specific selloff on a day when gold miners as a group fell 5.80 percent.