Mr. Ian Klassen reports
GRANDE PORTAGE RECEIVES US FOREST SERVICE SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE NEW AMALGA GOLD PROJECT
Grande Portage Resources Ltd. has provided an update regarding permitting for its New Amalga gold property in southeastern Alaska. The current development concept for the project envisions a small-footprint underground mining operation with third party off-site processing, eliminating the need for an on-site mill or tailings storage facility.
On Jan. 5, the company received a fully executed special-use permit from the U.S. forest service (USFS), which authorizes the installation of key long-term infrastructure related to environmental monitoring, including:
- An environmental data collection station at the expected location of the mine's surface facilities to gather critical meteorological data as necessary for key future permits, including an Alaska Department of Conservation air quality control permit and an Alaska pollutant discharge elimination system (APDES) permit;
- Additional meteorological monitoring equipment above the potential future location of underground workings;
- Stream gauging sensors to understand seasonal fluctuations in river levels and support design of a mine water treatment and handling system, which is protective of fish habitat;
- Satellite uplink communications and power infrastructure necessary for system operation.
Ian Klassen, president and chief executive officer, commented: "The receipt of this special-use permit is a key step towards gathering all the data necessary to design and permit a low-footprint mining operation, which is protective of the surrounding environment. This is an important milestone as it represents the project's first instance of receiving permits for installation of long-term infrastructure at the project site, intended to be utilized not only for preproduction studies but also for ongoing monitoring throughout construction and operation of a future mine facility. We would like to thank our local regulatory officials at the U.S. Forest Service and, particularly, the USFS staff brought back from furlough for their work advancing this permit during the recent U.S. federal government shutdown."
The New Amalga gold project remains open to expansion in multiple directions and hosts an indicated resource of 1,438,500 ounces of gold at an average grade of 9.47 grams per tonne gold (4,726,000 tonnes) and an inferred resource of 515,700 ounces of gold at an average grade of 8.85 grams per tonne gold (1,813,000 tonnes). The current development concept envisions a small-footprint underground mining operation that would transport material off-site for processing by a third party, eliminating the need for an on-site gold recovery plant or tailings storage facility.
This set-up is designed to provide several benefits:
- Eliminates the need to build a gold recovery plant, minimizing mine footprint, power requirements and reducing project construction capex (capital expenditure);
- Eliminates the need to develop a tailings disposal facility at the site as no tailings would be generated;
- Removes the need for permanent waste rock storage facilities; waste rock generated from mine development would be returned to the underground workings as stope backfill;
- No use of chemical reagents for gold processing at the site;
- Dramatically reduces land usage and overall environmental footprint;
- Greatly facilitates postmining closure and reclamation;
- Simplifies the environmental review and permitting process.
Project highlights:
- A 100-per-cent interest in the New Amalga gold project, located near infrastructure only 25 kilometres north of Juneau, Alaska, and six kilometres from paved all-season highway;
- The property is host to at least eight large, long, gold-bearing mesothermal veins;
- 240 drill holes from 55 platforms totalling approximately 65,000 metres confirm a large gold-quartz system;
- Past drilling produced multiounce assays on several veins; select samples include:
- Deep Trench vein: 15.3 m grading 37.1 g/t Au, 8.3 m grading 58.6 g/t Au and 11.6 m grading 28.3 g/t Au;
- Goat vein: 2.1 m grading 74.2 g/t Au and 6.3 m grading 15.7 g/t Au;
- Main vein: 3.1 m grading 79.2 g/t Au, 2.1 m grading 37.2 g/t Au and 3.1 m grading 13.9 g/t Au;
- Ridge vein: 1.5 m grading 43.0 g/t Au and 1.5 m grading 29.2 g/t Au;
- Sleeping Giant vein: 2.1 m grading 15.4 g/t Au and 3.2 m grading 20.7 g/t Au;
- The company's updated National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource estimate (MRE) with an effective date of July 17, 2024, reported an indicated resource of 1,438,500 ounces of gold at an average grade of 9.47 g/t Au (4,726,000 tonnes) and an inferred resource of 515,700 ounces of gold at an average grade of 8.85 g/t Au (1,813,000 tonnes) as well as an indicated resource of 891,600 ounces of silver at an average grade of 5.86 g/t Ag (4,726,000 tonnes) and an inferred resource of 390,600 ounces of silver at an average grade of 7.33 g/t silver (1,813,000 tonnes);
- The deposit is open to the north, south and at depth;
- Goat vein surface outcrop channel samples assayed 129.02 g/t gold (3.76 ounces per ton) and 290 g/t gold (8.46 ounces per ton) with 224 g/t silver (6.53 ounces per ton);
- Lidar survey of property discovered numerous targets -- the first of these tested confirmed gold discovery;
- Received excellent metallurgical recoveries up to 98.2 per cent;
- Completed more than six years of environmental baseline water sampling;
- Current development strategy envisions a small-footprint underground mining operation with third party off-site processing, eliminating the need for an on-site mill or tailings storage facility; this configuration reduces capital costs, greatly minimizes the project's environmental footprint, and facilitates permitting;
- Letter of intent signed with Goldbelt Inc. (an Alaska native corporation organized under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act) for development of an ore export terminal at Cascade Point, Goldbelt's privately held parcel located only 22 kilometres from the project site;
- NI 43-101 preliminary economic assessment in progress, expected completion Q1 2026.
Kyle Mehalek, PE, is the qualified person within the meaning of NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure in this release. Mr. Mehalek is independent of Grande Portage within the meaning of NI 43-101.
About Grande Portage Resources Ltd.
Grande Portage is a publicly traded mineral exploration company focused on advancing the New Amalga mine project, the outgrowth of the Herbert gold discovery situated approximately 25 kilometres north of Juneau, Alaska. The company holds a 100-per-cent interest in the New Amalga property. The New Amalga gold system is open to length and depth and is host to at least six main composite vein-fault structures that contain ribbon structure quartz-sulphide veins. The project lies prominently within the 160-kilometre-long Juneau gold belt, which has produced over eight million ounces of gold.
The company's updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate (MRE) reported at a base-case mineral resources cut-off grade of 2.5 g/t Au and consists of an indicated resource of 1,438,500 ounces of gold at an average grade of 9.47 g/t Au (4,726,000 tonnes) and an inferred resource of 515,700 ounces of gold at an average grade of 8.85 g/t Au (1,813,000 tonnes) as well as an indicated resource of 891,600 ounces of silver at an average grade of 5.86 g/t Ag (4,726,000 tonnes) and an inferred resource of 390,600 ounces of silver at an average grade of 7.33 g/t Ag (1,813,000 tonnes). The MRE was prepared by Dr. David R. Webb, PhD, PGeol, PEng (DRW Geological Consultants Ltd.), with an effective date of July 17, 2024.
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