Paramount Gold Nevada’s Grassy Mountain gets permit process boost

Paramount Gold Nevada (NYSE-AM: PZG) has secured fast-tracked permitting for its Grassy Mountain gold project in Oregon under state and federal processes.

After recent administrative changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is to publish its draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for Grassy Mountain online early next month. Following public comment, the final EIS and record of decision (ROD) are set for release in December.

“[Since] Grassy Mountain was added to the federal government’s Fast-41 transparency list we have received tremendous support from the dedicated and talented individuals at the BLM in Oregon,” CEO Rachel Goldman said in a release on Thursday. “[They] have helped facilitate the accelerated pathway for the EIS, all while maintaining their standards of environmental review and oversight.”

The permitting milestone comes just over two months after Paramount was chosen for the federal Fast-41 program, joining several other critical-mineral projects to gain Fast-41 status, including the Resolution Copper project in Arizona, a joint venture between Rio Tinto (ASX, LSE, NYSE: RIO) and BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP) and Perpetua Resources’ (Nasdaq: PPTA; TSX: PPTA) Stibnite antimony-gold mine in Idaho.

South32’s (NYSE: SOUHY; ASX: S32) Hermosa zinc-manganese project in Arizona also secured fast-track permitting under the Biden administration’s program.

Paramount’s New York-traded shares have doubled since January to 69¢ despite losing 4.48% on Friday. It has a market capitalization at $50 million.

Multi-agency boost

Fast-41 sets clear timelines for permits and offers transparent management on the federal dashboard. The projects are expected to get RODs about 18 months quicker than non-designated ones. Under the new NEPA rules, agencies now try to finish the draft and final EIS as well as ROD in about two years. This is better than the median of 2.2 years for draft-to-final EIS under the old rules, according to government data.

In March, Oregon’s state technical review team and agencies voted unanimously To approve all of Paramount’s mining, processing, and closure plans.

Approval covered Paramount’s plans for underground mining with backfilling, a milling circuit with an enclosed carbon-in-leach recovery system, cyanide destruction and a tailings storage facility with reclamation.

Feasibility

Grassy Mountain is envisioned as a 750-tonnes-per-day operation with about 93% gold recovery and 78% silver recovery, for yearly production of 47,000 oz. gold and 55,000 oz. of silver over an eight-year life, according to a September 2022 feasibility study. The mine is to cost about $136 million to build.

Grassy Mountain holds proven and probable reserves of about 1.74 million tonnes grading 6.8 grams gold per tonne for 380,000 oz. of metal. There’s about another 600,000 oz. gold, excluding reserves, held in measured and indicated resources.