Solidus Resources secured a Record of Decision from the United States Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday, thereby clearing a major regulatory hurdle on the track to production.
The approval enables Solidus to build, operate and maintain an open-pit gold mining operation, a trio of waste rock facilities and a heap leaching facility.
This operation will take two years to construct followed by 11 years of mining, three additional years of ore processing and five years of reclamation and closure work. It holds 3.8 million ounces of gold, according to a recent assessment.
“An incredible accomplishment by our team and the first step towards building Nevada’s next state-of-the-art heap leach operation,” said Mike Chen, mining manager at Waterton Global Resource Management, the parent company of Solidus.
Sailfish Royalty Corp (CVE: FISH) (OTCMKTS: SROYF) is also quite pleased about the news. The royalty and streaming is now closer to benefitting from its 3 per cent net smelter royalty at the site. Sailfish highlighted that the plan of operations approved by the permit enables 33 per cent more throughput than the amount specified in this year’s feasibility study.
The current price of gold is a huge bonus for Waterton, Sailfish and other investors as well. Optimism about development-stage Nevada gold operations like Spring Valley or the Limousine Butte project held by NevGold Corp (CVE: NAU) (OTCMKTS: NAUFF) (FRA: 5E50) is at an all-time high.
“This isn’t just a box checked, it’s the beginning of something big,” said Sunstone Environmental Solutions, a mining industry environmental management specialist with ties to Solidus. Sunstone contributed to the 2025 Spring Valley feasibility study.
“Spring Valley represents the largest independent gold mine in the country and the first federal approval of a new domestic greenfields gold project in over a decade.”
The news follows Solidus obtaining a letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States regarding the Spring Valley Mine. The official American export credit agency said it is interested in potentially financing the operation with an US$835-million-dollar sum.
Stakeholders are now awaiting a definitive financing agreement. The site will employ about 250 Nevada citizens once operations are in full swing.
Read more: NevGold’s latest Nevada drill results show exceptional gold mineralization
Read more: NevGold’s latest drill results extend priority target at Limo Butte by over 200 metres
NevGold is a sponsor of Mugglehead news coverage
Follow Rowan Dunne on LinkedIn
rowan@mugglehead.com
