US Gold clears regulatory hurdle for CK gold project

Nasdaq-listed US Gold has achieved a key milestone in the development of its CK gold project, receiving approval for its air quality permit from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ).

The approval marks the final requirement for the mine’s operating permit, following the earlier satisfaction of two other conditions: the reclamation bond and the Wyoming Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.

Executive chairperson Luke Norman commented that the fulfilment of the remaining condition under the mine operating permit positioned the CK gold project to become Wyoming’s next producing mine, adding gold and copper production to the state’s resources portfolio.

“The CK gold project with its geographically advantageous location, now fully permitted, is poised to be able to leverage rising commodity prices. This is such a rarity in today's global mining context where a lack of funding for exploration and onerous permitting hurdles have hampered the supply of new projects to satisfy increasing demand,” said Norman.

With the air quality permit now in hand, US Gold is turning its focus to completing an updated prefeasibility study (PFS), which the company expects could be released by the end of this year, proceeding to finalise the remaining work on the feasibility study.

The prefeasibility work, which began in 2022, was paused in 2023 to align with the project’s permitting process, as well as to accommodate disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and adjustments made following a review by the WDEQ.

The CK project was previously known as Copper King and had lain dormant for several years. While Copper King was recognised and explored on multiple occasions, following limited underground mining around 100 years ago, the last study on the CK project was a preliminary economic assessment authored by Mine Development Associates in 2012.

The company completed an initial PFS authored by Gustavson and Associates in December 2021.