Native American owned Iron Woman Construction
brings environmental restoration and mining expertise.
Selection aligns with Perpetua's commitment to
strong safety and environmental practices, and local
hiring.
Cleanup activities will include relocating
over 300,000 tons of legacy mine waste to improve water quality in
Stibnite District.
BOISE,
Idaho, April 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Perpetua
Resources Corp. (Nasdaq: PPTA) (TSX: PPTA) ("Perpetua Resources" or
"Perpetua" or the "Company") announced today it selected Iron Woman
Construction and Environmental Services ("Iron Woman") to conduct
environmental improvements in the historical Stibnite Mining
District in 2023. Iron Woman is a Native American Member-owned
company with extensive experience resolving water infrastructure,
environmental, mining and logistics challenges across the Rocky
Mountains, including Idaho.
Beginning in early summer 2023, Iron Woman will support Perpetua
Resources to move over 300,000 tons of legacy mine waste away from
sensitive waterways on site and continue efforts to restore
impacted riparian areas.
"We did not cause the problems facing the historical Stibnite
Mining District, but we are proud to be part of the solution and
look forward to continuing our work to improve water quality on
site," said Laurel Sayer, President
& CEO of Perpetua Resources. "In 2022, we made significant
progress to address decades-old problems by isolating streams from
historically contaminated material along with other contamination
removal actions. Now, I am excited to welcome Iron Woman to our
team to continue this important work. I am confident that our
shared commitments to prioritize safety, community, and
sustainability will help our efforts to leave Stibnite better than
we found it."
In 2021, Perpetua was granted permission from the Environmental
Protection Agency ("EPA") and the United States Department of
Agriculture ("USDA") to conduct time critical early action cleanup
activities at the abandoned Stibnite mine site. Cleanup work under
the first phase of the agreement started in 2022 and, after a
competitive bidding process, Iron Woman was selected by Perpetua
Resources to help with cleanup activities planned for 2023. Work
this year will include removing between 300,000 and 325,000 tons of
legacy waste and tailings away from rivers on-site, safe storage of
the material, and significant restoration work surrounding the
rivers. Cleanup activities will be overseen by the EPA and
USDA.
"From our Native American roots, a sustainable approach to
projects has always been an Iron Woman guiding principle." said
Shaun Egan, CEO of Iron Woman
Construction and Environmental Services. "We are proud to work in
partnership with Perpetua Resources on this important project. We
strive to be a force for good in the communities in which we work.
We believe that our history of responsible environmental
stewardship and commitment to safety will help to ensure that this
project meets the needs of the people it touches."
Iron Woman is expected to start work in June 2023 with a team of over 30 people, largely
recruited from the local region, focused on removing waste from
three areas of site that parallel the East Fork of the South Fork
of the Salmon River. The locations of the work sit outside the
footprint of Perpetua's proposed Stibnite Gold Project and would be
left untouched if it wasn't for the Company's voluntary cleanup
efforts. While the multidisciplinary general contractor already has
a highly trained workforce, Iron Woman intends to actively recruit
from the communities closest to the site to fill any openings on
the project. The Iron Woman team will be based at site in a
pre-existing exploration camp to eliminate the need for daily
commuting.
Iron Woman Construction and Environmental Services was founded
as a Native American owned trucking company in 1999 and has since
expanded to become a multidisciplinary general contractor. The name
Iron Woman is an homage to founder Shaun
Egan's great-great-great-grandmother, a full-blooded
Blackfeet Indian. Iron Woman's civil, environmental, and mining
background includes mass earthmoving, hazardous materials
management, remediation, mine closure, landfill cap and cover,
tailings management, waste placement, revegetation, water quality
control and diversion, and river/stream restoration. Known for its
award-winning safety performance and commitment to social
responsibility, Iron Woman provides full mining support, helping
responsibly source domestic minerals for a sustainable future.
About Perpetua Resources and the
Stibnite Gold Project
Perpetua Resources Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiaries,
is focused on the exploration, site restoration and redevelopment
of gold-antimony-silver deposits in the Stibnite-Yellow Pine
district of central Idaho that are
encompassed by the Stibnite Gold Project. The Project is one
of the highest-grade, open pit gold deposits in the United States and is designed to apply a
modern, responsible mining approach to restore an abandoned mine
site and produce both gold and the only mined source of antimony in
the United States. Further
advancing Perpetua Resources' ESG and sustainable mining goals, the
Project will be powered by the lowest carbon emissions grid in the
nation and a portion of the antimony produced from the Project will
be supplied to Ambri, a US-based company commercializing a low-cost
liquid metal battery essential for the low-carbon energy
transition. Perpetua Resources has received up to $24.8 million in Defense Production Act Title III
funding to advance construction readiness and permitting of the
Project. Antimony trisulfide from Stibnite is the only known
domestic source of antimony that can meet U.S. defense needs for
many small arms, munitions, and missile types. In addition to the
company's commitments to transparency, accountability,
environmental stewardship, safety and community engagement,
Perpetua Resources adopted formal ESG commitments which can be
found here.
Forward-Looking Information and
Cautionary Note
Statements contained in this news release that are not
historical facts are "forward-looking information" or
"forward-looking statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking
Information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities
legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Forward-Looking Information includes, but is
not limited to, disclosure regarding possible events, next steps
and courses of action including environmental clean up actions by
us and our contractors, including Iron Woman; our ability to comply
with and obtain permits related to the Stibnite Gold Project;
actions to be taken by the USFS, the State of Idaho and other government agencies
and regulatory bodies; predictions regarding improvements to water
quality, water temperature, and fish habitats and other
environmental conditions at the site, including with respect to
process and timing of such improvements; reduction of the Project
footprint and the anticipated benefits and other effects thereof;
our ability to successfully implement the Project and the
occurrence of the expected benefits from the Project, including
contributions to the workforce, national security and clean energy
transition; our and Ambri Inc.'s ability to perform under the
supply agreement, which agreement is subject to certain conditions,
including identification of one or more refiners to transform our
antimony concentrate into antimony metal, and mutual agreement on
certain material terms, including volume and pricing. In certain
cases, Forward-Looking Information can be identified by the use of
words and phrases or variations of such words and phrases or
statements such as "anticipate", "expect" "plan", "likely",
"believe", "intend", "forecast", "project", "estimate",
"potential", "could", "may", "will", "would" or "should". .
Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results,
performance or achievements of Perpetua Resources to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. Such risks
and other factors include those factors discussed in Perpetua
Resources' public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "SEC") and its Canadian disclosure record. Although
Perpetua Resources has attempted to identify important factors that
could affect Perpetua Resources and may cause actual actions,
events or results to differ materially from those described in
Forward-Looking Information, there may be other factors that cause
actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking
Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future
events could differ materially from those anticipated in such
statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on
Forward-Looking Information. For further information on these and
other risks and uncertainties that may affect the Company's
business, see the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections
of the Company's filings with the SEC, including Perpetua's Annual
Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 16, 2023, which are available at
www.sec.gov and with the Canadian securities regulators, which are
available at www.sedar.com. Except as required by law, Perpetua
Resources does not assume any obligation to release publicly any
revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news
release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or
to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
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SOURCE Perpetua Resources Corp.