DeLamar Project First Pure Exploration Program Underway

VANCOUVER - Integra Resources Corp. President and CEO, George Salamis, announced that, “The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bureau of Land Management regarding the appointment of a dedicated mineral specialist in the Marsing office who will oversee all permitting work on the DeLamar Project. In addition, the first pure exploration program is underway at the DeLamar Project with two drill rigs testing the high-grade potential below Florida Mountain. A third drill rig has recently been added at War Eagle Mountain conducting follow up drill testing on the high-grade intercepts encountered late last year. While exploration efforts to grow the resource at DeLamar are underway, the Company has been equally focused on de-risking the Project and advancing it towards development and pre-feasibility-level studies in the second half of 2021 through the start of extensive permitting activities, detailed engineering and metallurgical testwork. The Company is currently leveraging its large database of existing permitting reports, studies and associated data from past Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements in place when DeLamar and Florida Mountain were last in production until 1998.  These studies will support and potentially streamline the future National Environmental Policy Approval process for the DeLamar Project.”

The first half of 2020 has seen significant efforts with respect to advancing the permitting process at the DeLamar Project.  To enhance the process, Integra has maintained a focus from the outset on establishing positive partnerships with a wide selection of stakeholders. By focusing on these partnerships well in advance of submitting actionable documents to regulatory agencies, the Company intends to position itself in the best possible scenario to facilitate the permitting process in an efficient manner.  Paramount to this process has been working with the BLM, the lead federal agency that the Company will engage with regarding permitting, in addition to Idaho State regulators. The MOU announced today streamlines the iterative permitting process, with the agreement allowing for an efficient communication framework between the Company and the BLM moving forward.  In accordance with the MOU, Integra will reimburse the BLM for the costs of a dedicated mineral specialist project manager in the Marsing BLM office, who shall remain at all times independent of the Company. This BLM project manager responsible for the DeLamar Project permitting work will help the BLM manage increased workloads from current and anticipated future applications for mineral notices, operations plans/amendment approvals and environmental analyses resulting from the DeLamar Project.  This funding effort is intended to increase the capacity of the local BLM office to work on DeLamar Project related applications and project requests on a priority basis, while not burdening the BLM with the cost of this increased workload.  

The ability to have initial plans reviewed for accuracy and conditionally approved by various regulatory agencies up front can add meaningful efficiencies in the permitting timeline. Being committed to transparent, straightforward, and accountable communication with stakeholders, Integra intends to facilitate a process in which the prospective mine plan being developed receives the appropriate acceptance from those stakeholders that any future development plans may impact.  To this extent, recent actions involving stakeholders at the regulator/agency level include: Acceptance and preliminary approval of the Surface Water Sampling Program by Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) and the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR); Acceptance and preliminary approval of the Ground Water Drilling Plan and Sampling Program by IDEQ and IDWR; & Acceptance and preliminary approval of both the Surface Water and Ground Water Sampling and Analysis Plans by IDEQ and IDWR.

In addition, the 2020 summer permitting work program proposes an extensive ground water drilling program that is scheduled to begin in September with the addition of 21 monitoring wells.  Second and third quarter surface water and existing groundwater well sampling has been completed.  The first party air monitoring program contractor has been selected and the site meteorological monitoring station will be operational later this month.  Other 2020 studies will include wetlands and seeps and springs, geochemistry, wildlife, fisheries and cultural resources.

The 2020 engineering plans have been advancing steadily, building upon the concise plans outlined in the maiden Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) completed in September 2019.  Importantly, current efforts are focussed on adding resources into the mine plan that are within the current resource estimate, but not included in the maiden PEA mine plan.  While the mainstay of the 2019 PEA focussed on heap-leaching (DeLamar and Florida Mountain oxide and transitional mineralization) and milling (Florida Mountain sulfide mineralization), much of these current efforts are centered in the metallurgical properties of the DeLamar sulfide material.

Tim Arnold, COO, said, “Continued work on the metallurgical front re-affirms the strong potential at DeLamar and Florida Mountain. The testwork on the DeLamar sulfide material is showing that a portion of the material is amenable to cyanide leaching. The most promising testwork shows that a portion of the DeLamar sulfide material could be processed in the same mill design used at Florida Mountain in the PEA, in a flotation, re-grind and concentrate leach type circuit.  This would mean that an expansion of the previously envisioned PEA mill could be used instead of a capital-intensive oxidation processing facility. Additional testwork on the sulfide material will continue throughout the year.”

The Company has also undertaken a program to further increase the level of detailed knowledge of both the Florida Mountain and DeLamar heap leach mineralized areas.  Extensive metallurgical variability drilling carried out in 2019 at Florida Mountain and in 2020 at DeLamar will be used to de-risk the metallurgy surrounding the oxide and transitional mineralization, and advance the metallurgical knowledge needed for next year’s pre-feasibility level studies.  The planned clay speciation work will allow for proper processing methods to be included in the heap facility design, as necessary. Building upon the promising work completed in 2019, current testwork on DeLamar heap leach material will better outline the potential for courser crushing of the material, potentially eliminating the need for a tertiary crushing facility as envisioned in the PEA, which could potentially reduce the sustaining capital and operating costs in a meaningful manner.