TORONTO, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Generation Mining Limited (CSE:GENM) (“Gen Mining”, “Generation”, or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the Company has restarted the Environment Assessment (EA) review and approval process for the Marathon Project with the Federal and Provincial Government Agencies. This is being done in parallel with the initiation of a feasibility study.
Jamie Levy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Generation Mining, commented: “We are very fortunate that the previous operators spent significant time effort and money on previous environmental studies and developing working relationships with the various governmental agencies. This previous investment should help us in reducing time and money for our shareholders and ensure appropriate consultation with communities of interest. Initial meetings with various government agencies have been positive. Early indications are that they will do what they can to speed up the permitting process as they all realize a new mine will create numerous jobs for the town of Marathon and surrounding communities which will be needed more than ever in the wake of the pandemic.”
The initial Environmental Assessment process was initiated by the prior operator (Stillwater Canada) of the Marathon Project in 2012 and was put on hold in January 2014. At that point in time the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the Joint Review Panel (JRP) had reviewed the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) report and supporting technical reports and, determined that the material was sufficient to proceed to the public hearing stage. At that time, the JRP timeline to complete the EA process was approximately 6 months. In September 2019, the Company received confirmation from the government that the Marathon Project will remain subject to the requirements of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (2012) and the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act (1990) and the process could be restarted. The Company does not expect the permitting process to be delayed by the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The Company has now commenced the process to restart the Environmental Assessment approval process and to complete an EIS Report Addendum. At a high-level, the steps that are required to commence the process are as follows: i) update and confirm existing baseline studies, ii) capture and model the optimizations being progressed in the Feasibility Study work, iii) document these conclusions in the EIS Report addendum, iv) undertake the JRP hearings..
To assist with the permitting program, the sustainability team at Generation Mining is being supported by Stantec, a global engineering consulting firm which will lead the EA process and EIS report addendum update; Knight-Piesold, to lead the tailing facility designs; EcoMetrix, to undertake geochemistry, aquatics, water quality modelling; and Northern BioScience to progress the monitoring of species at risk and terrestrial studies on the property.
In parallel and a critical component of the Environmental Assessment process, the Company continues communication and engagement with the local Indigenous communities, Métis groups and the Town of Marathon, Ontario, with the goal to inform and further develop the already positive long-term relationships that ensure mutual benefit to these communities and the project.
On the EA process, the estimated timelines for the key milestones are: completion of the EIS Report addendum and sitting of the Joint Review Panel (Q1, 2021) and the completion of the JRP Process including a JRP recommendation to federal and provincial ministers (Q4, 2021).
About the Marathon Palladium Project
The Marathon Deposit is the largest undeveloped platinum group metal Mineral Resource in North America. The Marathon Property covers a land package of approximately 22,000 hectares, or 220 square kilometres. Generation Mining acquired a 51% interest in the Marathon Property from Sibanye Stillwater on July 10, 2019 and can increase its interest to 80 per cent by spending $10 million over a period of four years. As of Q1, 2020, approximately $4 million of the $10 million has already been spent. Sibanye Stillwater has certain back-in rights that can bring its interest in the Property back to 51 per cent after such time as Generation Mining has earned its 80-per-cent interest (see the company's press release of July 11, 2019, for more details).
For further information please contact:
Jamie Levy
President and Chief Executive
Officer
(416) 640-2934
(416) 567-2440
jlevy@genmining.com
Forward-Looking Information
This news release includes certain information that may be deemed “forward-looking information” under applicable securities laws. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address acquisition of the Property and future work thereon, Mineral Resource and Reserve potential, exploration activities and events or developments that the Company expects is forward-looking information. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the statements. There are certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking information. These include the results of the Company’s due diligence investigations, market prices, exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions.
Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For more information on the Company, investors are encouraged to review the Company’s public filings at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward- looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.