Published: September 23, 2025 |

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Perpetua Resources has received its conditional notice to proceed from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for the Stibnite Gold Project. The notice stated the project has satisfied all requirements outlined in the January 2025 record of decision (ROD) and that the project may begin construction conditioned only on the company posting the joint financial assurance bonding agreed to by USFS, Idaho Department of Lands (IDL), and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for the project.

“After eight years of extensive permitting review and more than $400 million invested, it is finally time for the Stibnite Gold Project to deliver for America,” said Jon Cherry, president and CEO of Perpetua Resources.

“A united vision to produce critical resources urgently needed for national security and to restore an abandoned site, along with the feedback from our communities, have guided us to this monumental milestone. With the U.S. Forest Service’s notice to proceed and the joint financial assurance package approved, we are ready to begin to bring Stibnite back to life as a national strategic asset,” added Cherry.

The Stibnite Gold Project plans to produce America’s only mined resource of the critical mineral antimony, a key component in munitions and advanced defense systems, and seeks to clean up legacy contamination at the historical mine site, reconnect fish to their native spawning grounds, restore habitat, and provide hundreds of family-wage jobs.

In 2025, the Trump Administration placed the Stibnite Gold Project on the transparency projects list under the FAST-41 Program, which is intended to support increased domestic mineral production through streamlined and focused permitting.

“Completing federal permitting for Perpetua Resources’ Stibnite Gold Project is a major step towards unlocking America’s critical minerals resources. By redeveloping this historic mining site, we can both restore the environment and secure a domestic supply chain that is essential to our nation’s future,” said Emily Domenech, Federal Permitting Improvement Council Executive Director.

Earlier this week, state and federal agencies agreed on a joint financial assurance package requiring bonding for the project construction period. In the notice, the USFS specified to Perpetua that it will sign the company’s plan of operation once financial assurance bonds are placed and that initial construction can begin thereafter. The company anticipates having the financial assurance posted in the coming weeks.

“The Stibnite Gold Project is poised to once again produce minerals critical to national security and defense, just as it did during World War II. We believe this administration’s commitment to boosting efficiency without compromising rigorous environmental standards will have a transformational impact on American mining,” said Cherry.

Perpetua Resources began the formal permitting process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) nearly a decade ago in 2016. As the lead permitting agency, the U.S. Forest Service issued a draft environmental impact statement in 2020, a supplemental draft environmental impact statement in 2022, a final environmental impact statement and draft record of decision in September of 2024, and a final ROD in January 2025. During the public comment periods, more than 23,000 letters were submitted supporting the project.

The final mine plan is designed with the intent to:
• Provide restoration of legacy impacts early and concurrent with mining
• Open miles of habitat for migrating fish
• Reduce the project footprint by 13 percent over the original design
• Uplift wetlands quality and stream habitat quality over existing conditions
• Improve water temperature to be at, or below, existing conditions

Perpetua Resources, 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 U.S.-based company commercializing a low-cost liquid metal battery essential for the low-carbon energy transition. Perpetua Resources has been awarded a Technology Investment Agreement of $59.2 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.

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