Perpetua receives Defense Production Act Title
III funding to advance construction readiness, environmental
baseline monitoring and environmental studies as the Stibnite Gold
Project continues through the permitting process
Stibnite Gold Project is poised to be the only
domestically mined source of the critical mineral antimony, which
is essential for national defense
BOISE,
Idaho, Dec. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Perpetua
Resources Corp. (Nasdaq: PPTA) (TSX: PPTA) announced today that its
wholly owned subsidiary, Perpetua Resources Idaho, Inc.
(collectively, "Perpetua Resources" or "Perpetua" or the
"Company"), was awarded a Technology Investment Agreement of up to
$24.8 million under Title III of the
Defense Production Act ("DPA"). The funding objective of the
Technology Investment Agreement, issued by the Air Force Research
Laboratory, is to complete environmental and engineering studies
necessary to obtain a Final Environmental Impact Statement, a Final
Record of Decision, and other ancillary permits to sustain the
domestic production of antimony trisulfide capability for defense
energetic materials.
Antimony trisulfide is essential to national defense as a key
component for munitions yet there is no U.S. mined supply. Perpetua
plans to re-establish a domestic supply of the critical mineral
antimony as a by-product of one of the highest-grade open pit gold
resources in the United States.
The DPA funding allows the Company to advance the construction
readiness of the Stibnite Gold Project while the Company continues
through the ongoing permitting process, led by the United States
Forest Service ("USFS").
Under the funding agreement, Perpetua may request reimbursement
for certain costs incurred over 24 months related to environmental
baseline data monitoring, environmental and technical studies and
other activities related to advancing Perpetua's construction
readiness and permitting process for the Stibnite Gold Project. The
DPA funding does not interrupt the ongoing National Environmental
Policy Act ("NEPA") review process. The DPA award is separate from
the previously announced Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1
funding awarded to Perpetua by the Defense Logistics Agency in
September 2022.
"As Perpetua continues advancing our project through the
permitting process, we are honored to enter this agreement to help
advance our construction readiness for future development," said
Laurel Sayer, President and CEO of
Perpetua Resources. "Our vision remains unchanged, which is to
redevelop a world class gold deposit, provide the country with a
critical mineral, and restore an abandoned brownfield site. Today,
we continue to build momentum towards turning our vision into a
reality."
Perpetua's proposed Stibnite Gold Project, located in central
Idaho, is in the sixth year of
review under NEPA. The project is designed to restore environmental
conditions in the historic Stibnite mining district while
responsibly redeveloping one of the highest-grade open pit gold
resources in the U.S. and becoming the only domestically mined
source of the critical mineral antimony.
Perpetua expects that current cash resources, combined with the
full DPA agreement, would provide the Company with sufficient
liquidity to complete permitting and early restoration activities
on the current timeline as well as additional liquidity to begin
advancing construction readiness.
"The Department's DPA Investments Program is delivering on its
core mission to restore domestic industrial capabilities essential
to the national defense by enabling the warfighter," said
Halimah Najieb-Locke, Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Resilience.
"This action reinforces the Administration's goals to increase the
resilience of our critical mineral supply chains while deterring
adversarial aggression."
About the Department of Defense's Defense Production Act
Title III Program:
The Defense Production Act (the "DPA") is
intended to ensure that America has the resources, materials and
technologies needed for national security. The DPA Title III
program is dedicated to ensuring the timely availability of
essential domestic industrial resources to support national defense
and homeland security requirements now and in the future.
In order to qualify for funding opportunities under the DPA
Title III, proposed projects must meet the following criteria:
- The industrial resource, material, or critical technology item
is essential to the national defense
- Without Presidential action, United
States industry cannot reasonably be expected to provide the
capability for the needed industrial resource, material, or
critical technology item in a timely manner
- Purchases, purchase commitments, or other action pursuant to
the DPA are the most cost effective, expedient, and practical
alternative method for meeting the need
Website: www.perpetuaresources.com
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. 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
Investors should be aware that full funding under the DPA
Technology Investment Agreement is subject to negotiation of a
definitized agreement with the Department of Defense. Until the
agreement is definitized, the maximum funding available is capped
at 75% of the not to exceed agreement of $24.8 million. While Perpetua expects to enter
into a definitized agreement in the first half of 2023, there is no
assurance that we will be able to finalize the definitized
agreement on the expected timeline or at all. 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
ongoing funding and anticipated liquidity; our ability to comply
with and obtain permits related to the Stibnite Gold Project
("Project"); actions to be taken by the Department of Defense,
USFS, the State of Idaho and other
government agencies and regulatory bodies; negotiation of the
definitized agreement and anticipated approval of reimbursement
requests; our ability to successfully implement and fund the
Project and the occurrence of the expected benefits from the
Project; 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". In
preparing the Forward-Looking Information in this news
release, Perpetua Resources has applied several material
assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions that we
will successfully negotiate a definitized agreement and that the
full amount of the DPA award will be funded on the expected
timeline; that the current exploration, development, environmental
and other objectives concerning the Stibnite Gold Project can be
achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as
expected; that the review process under the NEPA (including any
joint review process involving the USFS, the State of Idaho and other agencies and
regulatory bodies) as well as the public review process and SDEIS
will proceed in a timely manner and as expected; that we will be
able to obtain sufficient funding to finance permitting,
pre-construction and construction of the Project and that all
requisite information will be available in a timely manner.
Forward-Looking Information are based on certain material
assumptions and involve 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 changes in laws and regulations and changes in the
application of standards pursuant to existing laws and regulations
which may result in unforeseen results in the permitting process;
uncertainty surrounding input to be received from regulators and
community stakeholders; risks related to dependence on key
personnel; risks related to unforeseen delays in the review process
including availability of personnel from the USFS, State of Idaho and other stated, federal and
local agencies and regulatory bodies (including, but not limited
to, future US government shutdowns); risks related to opposition to
the Project; risks related to increased or unexpected costs in
operations or the permitting process; risks that necessary
financing will be unavailable when needed on acceptable terms, or
at all; risks related to the outcome of litigation and potential
for delay of the Project, as well as 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, 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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content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/perpetua-resources-receives-critical-minerals-award-of-up-to-24-8-million-under-the-defense-production-act-301705803.html
SOURCE Perpetua Resources Corp.