Liberty Gold’s Black Pine extension: design and economics notes for mine planners
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Liberty Gold has extended oxide gold mineralisation at the Rangefront deposit within its Black Pine project in Idaho, with hole LBP1347 cutting 18.3 metres at 1.27 g/t Au from 233.2 metres within a broader 144.8-metre interval at 0.36 g/t from 167.6 metres, about 200 metres beyond the current resource boundary. The 50,000-metre reverse-circulation programme is defining a clearer eastern limit to support final heap-leach pad design and a resource update in H1 2027, ahead of a potential 2028 construction decision. A September feasibility study for Black Pine outlined a 16-year open-pit, heap-leach operation with 433.3 million tonnes of probable reserves at 0.29 g/t Au, averaging 202,000 oz/y in the first five years, initial capex of $411 million and a 61% after-tax IRR.
Technical Brief
- Rangefront oxide mineralisation now mapped ~200 m north of resource and up to 400 m wide, still open.
- Hole LBP1341A returned 62.5 m at 0.42 g/t Au from 222.5 m, including 4.6 m at 1.42 g/t from 265.2 m.
- All reported intercepts are drilled lengths, not true widths, so geometry modelling remains critical.
- Liberty targets 25–35 Mt of inferred material at Rangefront for potential upgrade to indicated category.
- Eastern deposit boundary definition is being used to lock in final heap‑leach pad footprint and layout.
- Black Pine, a past‑producing Carlin‑style oxide system, previously yielded ~435,000 oz Au and 198,000 oz Ag (1991–1997).
- Project permitting is being coordinated under the U.S. federal FAST‑41 framework, potentially compressing approval timelines.
Our Take
Liberty Gold’s decision timeline for Black Pine to 2028 sits alongside its earlier move to sell the Goldstrike oxide gold project in Utah to Heliostar Metals, signalling a deliberate pivot in our database from multi-asset US oxide exposure towards concentrating capital and permitting bandwidth on Idaho.
With Idaho aligning Black Pine to the FAST-41 framework and the US Forest Service already initiating a full NEPA review, this oxide gold project is positioned in our coverage as a test case for whether coordinated federal–state permitting can materially de-risk long-lead US precious metals builds.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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