First Mining Announces Positive Initial Review by Best Practice Independent Geotechnical and Tailings Review Board for the Springpole Gold Project
Press Release
November 13, 2024 – Vancouver, BC, Canada – First Mining Gold Corp. (“First Mining” or the “Company”) (TSX: FF) (OTCQX: FFMGF) (FRANKFURT: FMG) is pleased to announce that an Independent Geotechnical and Tailings Review Board (“IGTRB”) has been formally established for the Springpole Gold Project (the “Project”). First Mining’s initiative in establishing the IGTRB follows its commitment to sustainability and represents best practice in Canada and internationally with the objective of providing independent expert advice on key engineering components including the Project’s Co-Disposal Facility (“CDF”) for tailings and mine rock management.
The IGTRB development process was initiated in 2023 and formalized in 2024 with the IGTRB meeting to review the updated Pre-Feasibility Study design for the CDF. The IGTRB is composed of three independent and recognized world-class experts, each with over 40 years of experience including:
- Peter Lighthall, P.Eng.
- Ward Wilson, Ph.D, P.Eng.
- John Lupo, Ph.D, P.E.
“First Mining is appreciative of having such a leading group of experts providing objective external reviews and important recommendations on the advancement of the Project’s key infrastructure,” stated Dan Wilton, CEO of First Mining. “Our goal was to establish the IGTRB early, prior to construction, to obtain valuable feedback on the work completed to date and next steps planned. Their work has already helped inform optimizations to the CDF design improving operational and environmental performance and to inform the supplemental studies planned for detailed engineering.”
The IGTRB has reviewed all design materials produced to date by the engineering team and the responses addressing their review questions and comments. The IGTRB has noted their support for the design advancements made since the Pre-Feasibility Study, that the work completed to date meets their expectations, and further highlighting the favourable geotechnical foundation conditions at the CDF location. The IGTRB reviews and feedback builds confidence in the work undertaken to date and the path forward presented. The IGTRB will remain an important component of the Project during the life of mine informing all aspects of the CDF from detailed engineering, construction, operations, and closure.
The IGTRB reports along with the responses addressing their questions and comments can be found in Appendix V Designs in the Final Environmental Impact Statement / Environmental Assessment which is publicly accessible at: https://www.firstmininggold.com/springpole-ea.
Peter Lighthall, P.Eng.
Peter Lighthall is an independent geotechnical consultant with over 50 years of experience, specializing in tailings dams and tailings impoundments, mine rock storage, and mine water management. He has a broad understanding of geotechnical aspects of mining projects, having participated in scoping studies, due diligence assessments, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, detailed engineering, project development, operation and closure planning. Mr. Lighthall has worked in 35 countries throughout the world. He has worked on development and implementation of leading-edge technologies for tailings management, including thickened and paste tailings and filtered dry stack tailings. He is well experienced in tailings dam design and has been active in recent years on review and/or technical advisory roles on numerous major mine developments.
Mr. Lighthall obtained his M.Sc., Civil Engineering at the University of London in the U.K. and has a B.A.Sc., Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in British Columbia.
Ward Wilson, Ph.D, P.Eng.
Dr. Ward Wilson, Professor of Geotechnical and GeoEnvironmental Engineering at the University of Alberta, brings more than 40 years of industrial experience to his practice in advanced mine rock and tailings management. Having extensive work experience as a consulting engineer, he has maintained an exceptionally strong industrial focus through his research programs both at the University of Alberta and the University of British Columbia. Dr. Wilson is involved in tailings management systems at numerous mine sites worldwide. He has also served as a specialist review consultant for many large international mining projects. He is a leader in tailings and mine rock co-disposal that improves physical stability as well as chemical stability for the control ARD/ML in long-term storage systems.
Dr. Wilson obtained his Ph.D. and M.Sc. from the University of Saskatchewan, College of Engineering and has a B.E. from University of Manitoba, College of Engineering in Civil Engineering.
John Lupo, Ph.D, P.E.
Dr. John Lupo has over 40 years of experience in the field of geotechnical and geomechanics within the mining industry and has worked in over 30 countries. He is the author is of over 65 technical articles in mine rock and tailings management and risk mitigation strategies. He has been the lead designer and technical reviewer of over 90 slurry, thickened, paste, filtered, and comingled tailings and mine rock facilities and has led the development of several unique testing and analysis methods to help predict the behaviour of tailings under various placement and loading conditions.
Dr. Lupo obtained his Ph.D. in Geological Engineering in Mining from the Colorado School of Mines and has a M.S. Civil Engineering and a B.S. Geological Engineering from the University of Utah.
About First Mining Gold Corp.
First Mining is a gold developer advancing two of the largest gold projects in Canada, the Springpole Gold Project in northwestern Ontario, where we have commenced a feasibility study and permitting activities are on-going with a final Environmental Impact Statement / Environmental Assessment for the project submitted in November 2024, and the Duparquet Gold Project in Quebec, a PEA-stage development project located on the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone in the prolific Abitibi region. First Mining also owns the Cameron Gold Project in Ontario and a portfolio of gold project interests including the Pickle Crow Gold Project (being advanced in partnership with Firefly Metals Ltd.) and the Hope Brook Gold Project (being advanced in partnership with Big Ridge Gold Corp.).
First Mining was established in 2015 by Mr. Keith Neumeyer, founding President and CEO of First Majestic Silver Corp.
ON BEHALF OF FIRST MINING GOLD CORP.
Daniel W. Wilton
Chief Executive Officer and Director
For further information, please contact:
Toll Free: 1 844 306 8827 | Email: info@firstmininggold.com
Paul Morris | Director, Investor Relations | Email: paul@firstmininggold.com
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