Stibnite Advisory Council Launches Independent Water Monitoring Program

Work will Verify Conditions at Site and Bring Enhanced Transparency Around Water Quality to Perpetua Resources

DONNELLY, ID – The Stibnite Advisory Council is launching an Independent Water Monitoring Program to bring increased transparency to Perpetua Resources’ Stibnite Gold Project and independently verify ground and surface water quality conditions at site. The Independent Water Monitoring Program (IWMP) was created after community members and city officials expressed concerns over the project’s potential impacts to water quality and a desire to see data provided by an entity other than Perpetua Resources.

The Independent Water Monitoring Program will give our community members access to objective data, which will be collected, analyzed and reported by Idaho Water Resources Research Institute (IWRRI) and an EPA-certified lab. This will allow community members to compare the results with the information Perpetua Resources is currently sharing and develop a clearer picture of the conditions that exist today.”

IWRRI in partnership with Perpetua Resources will monitor ground and surface water quality from 18 different locations throughout the site two times per year. The first samples are set to be collected in July. Each sample taken will be divided between Perpetua Resources and IWRRI to monitor, test, and analyze with results presented to SAC for comparison and distribution to the public.

The Stibnite Advisory Council will contract with IWRRI of the University of Idaho to conduct the independent water monitoring, testing and reporting. During the first two years of the program, IWRRI will work with the Stibnite Advisory Council to test water samples for temperature, pH levels, conductivity and elemental presence. IWRRI will provide all samples to Anatek Laboratories for analysis and share the data with SAC in a timely fashion.

“We believe in total transparency,” said Laurel Sayer, CEO of Perpetua Resources. “We welcome this opportunity to have additional external assessments of the conditions at site to make sure we are taking all the steps we can to protect the environment. Today, we already monitor water quality conditions at over 70 different locations and report our findings to the EPA and Payette National Forest. However, we understand just how important water quality is to all of our communities and find value in community members participating in independent monitoring through the life of the project. Giving the community the ability to check our work is simply part of being a responsible mining company.”

The IWMP is designed to verify Perpetua Resource’s water quality monitoring procedures are appropriate and provide data that is representative of the environmental conditions.

“Having access to clean water and pristine rivers is a value all Idahoans share, and it is one the Stibnite Advisory Council feels a strong obligation to protect,” said Riggins Stibnite Advisory Council member, Bob Crump. “After community members expressed concerns over the potential impacts to water quality and a desire to see more data, we decided it was important to launch the Independent Water Monitoring Program.”

The Stibnite Advisory Council is also working on building a community observation and participation component into the IWMP. The Stibnite Advisory Council is still working out these details and will announce them as soon as they are finalized.

Community members will be able to find data from the IWMP on the Stibnite Advisory Council website as soon as its available.

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The Stibnite Advisory Council provides a collaborative environment for local communities to work with Perpetua Resources throughout the life of the Stibnite Gold Project and establishes a venue for cities and counties to address concerns and opportunities directly with the mining company. The council is comprised of the eight cities and counties that signed onto the Community Agreement with the company in late-2018. To learn more, visit www.StibniteAdvisoryCouncil.com.