Liberty Gold Corp press release

Liberty Gold Announces Black Pine Feasibility Study with US$2.4 Billion NPV(5%) and 60% IRR at $3,250/oz Au (after-tax)

2026-09-08

TSX - Toronto Stock Exchange · Gold · Silver · Antimony · Canada · Technical Studies

16-year mine life with life-of-mine average payable gold production of 176,700 oz per year and AISC1of $1,566/oz Au

Average payable gold production of 202,000 oz per year in Years 1-5

US$411 million initial capital requirement for a large-scale, open-pit, run-of-mine heap leach operation with a 4.04 million oz Au Mineral Reserve

Base case after-tax NPV(5%) to initial capital ratio of 5.8 and payback of 2.0 years

Strong economics across a range of gold prices (after-tax):

NPV(5%) US$4.3 billion and 104% IRR at $4,500/oz Au

NPV(5%) US$1.2 billion and 33% IRR at $2,500/oz Au

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Liberty Gold Corp. (TSX: LGD; OTCQX: LGDTF) (“Liberty Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the results of a Feasibility Study (“FS” or the “Feasibility Study”) prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) at its 100%-owned Black Pine Oxide Gold Project (“Black Pine” or the “Project”) in southern Idaho, USA.

The Feasibility Study establishes Black Pine as a large-scale, long-life oxide gold development project based on a technically straightforward, open-pit, run-of-mine (“ROM”) heap-leach operation requiring no ore crushing, screening or agglomeration. The FS supports average annual payable gold (“Au”) production of 202,000 troy ounces (“oz”) in Years 1-5 from a 4.04 million oz Au Probable Mineral Reserve, with an initial capital cost1of US$411.4 million and strong economic returns across a broad range of gold prices. The Feasibility Study assumes a base case gold price of $3,250/oz Au. All figures in this news release are stated in United States dollars (“$” or “US$”).

The development configuration evaluated in the FS is aligned with the Company's 2026 Mine Plan of Operations (“MPO”). The Feasibility Study does not replace the MPO that forms the basis for permit applications currently under review by the applicable regulatory agencies but rather incorporates potential future feasibility-level optimizations and refinements.

This news release should be read in combination with the Feasibility Study presentation available at https://libertygold.ca/wp-content/uploads/Black_Pine_FS.pdf

2026 Black Pine Feasibility Study Highlights

Large-scale production: 16-year mine-life with an average annual payable production of 202,000 oz Au in Years 1-5, at an average grade of 0.35 grams per tonne gold (“g/t Au”), including peak annual production of 277,400 oz Au in Year 5; and average annual payable production of 176,700 oz Au over life-of-mine (“LOM”), including peak LOM annual production of 294,600 oz Au in Year 13.

Probable Mineral Reserve containing 4.04 million oz Au: 433.3 million tonnes at a grade of 0.29 g/t Au, supporting the planned 16-year mine-life.

Capital-efficient development:The Project has an estimated initial capital cost of $411.4 million for a conventional ROM open-pit heap-leach operation. The ratio of the Project’s base-case after-tax Net Present Value (“NPV”)(5%) to initial capital ratio is 5.8.

Competitive operating costs projected:LOM cash costs2and all-in sustaining costs (“AISC”) of $1,388/oz Au and $1,566/oz Au, respectively.

Robust projected Project returns: At the base case gold price of $3,250/oz Au, the Feasibility Study estimates an after-tax NPV(5%) of $2.397 billion, after-tax Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”) of 60.5% and after-tax payback of initial capital of 2.0 years for the Project.

Black Pine generates strong projected economics across a broad range of gold prices:At $4,500/oz Au, the Project is estimated to generate an after-tax NPV(5%) of $4.336 billion (IRR of 104.3%) with a payback of 1.2 years. At a lower gold price, of $2,500/oz Au, the Feasibility Study continues to project positive economics, including an after-tax NPV(5%) of $1.215 billion (IRR of 33.4%) with a payback of 3.4 years.

Jon Gilligan, President and CEO of Liberty Goldcommented:

“Our Feasibility Study on Black Pine, completed ahead of schedule and less than 2-years after the Preliminary Feasibility Study, confirms the opportunity to build a large-scale, long-life operation with strong economics and a technically straightforward development path. This is an important milestone for Liberty Gold, reinforcing our confidence in Black Pine’s ability to generate long-term value for shareholders, stakeholders and local communities, representing an important step in advancing the Company’s development strategy.

"Black Pine has the scale, production profile and capital efficiency to support a pathway to becoming a significant U.S. gold producer in the near term. Importantly, the Feasibility Study demonstrates substantial projected free cash flow generation with robust economics across a broad range of gold prices. The NPV-to-initial-capital ratio of approximately 9 times and a payback of just over one year at current gold pricing of over $4,000/oz, are competitive metrics in the gold development space today.

"The proposed development of Black Pine anticipates supporting approximately 300 long-term jobs and Liberty Gold looks forward to continuing its engagement with local communities and state officials. With the Feasibility Study now complete and permitting ongoing, our focus has shifted to detailed engineering, planning, and other activities required to support execution readiness and a potential construction decision."

Conference Call and Webcast

The Company will host a conference call and live webcast on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. Pacific Time) to discuss the Feasibility Study results. Following management’s presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session open to analysts and investors.

The conference call may be accessed by registering at: https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BIeeba700b09604bed8bb4eab3463540b6

Upon registration, participants will receive dial-in information and a unique PIN. Participants joining by conference call will have the ability to ask a question during the question-and-answer session.

The live webcast, including the accompanying presentation, may be accessed at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/3tskaprband will be archived for later playback.

Feasibility Study Overview

The FS incorporates geological, assay, hydrological, metallurgical, geotechnical, environmental and cultural information collected by Liberty Gold and its consultants and contractors, together with extensive historic information from the previous mining operation at Black Pine.

The Feasibility Study was prepared by M3 Engineering and Technology Corporation, with the assistance of Liberty Gold and independent consultants, and incorporates updated Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates together with mine planning, engineering design, project scheduling, capital and operating cost estimates and economic analysis.

The development configuration evaluated in the FS is aligned with the Company's Mine Plan of Operations. It additionally incorporates potential future feasibility-level optimizations and refinements.

Table 1: Key Black Pine Project Metrics

| Project Economics | Base Case | | | Gold Price | $3,250/oz | $4,500/oz | | Pre-tax NPV(5%) | $2,929 million | $5,371 million | | Pre-tax IRR | 63.7% | 109.4% | | Pre-tax Cash Flow | $4,460 million | $7,990 million | | After-Tax NPV(5%) | $2,397 million | $4,336 million | | After-Tax IRR | 60.5% | 104.3% | | After-Tax Cash Flow | $3,579 million | $6,343 million | | After-Tax Payback Period | 2.0 years | 1.2 years | | Production Profile | | | | Mine Life | 16 years | | | Process Throughput | 74,200 tonnes per day (LOM average) | | | Total Tonnes of Ore Mined and Processed | 433.3 million tonnes | | | Head Grade (5 year; 10 year; LOM) | 0.35 g/t Au; 0.30 g/t Au; 0.29 g/t Au | | | Strip Ratio (Waste:Ore) | 1.34:1 | | | Average Gold Recovery | 70.2% | | | Total Gold Ounces Produced | 2,841 koz¹ | | | Total Payable Gold Ounces | 2,838 koz¹ | | | Average Annual Payable Gold Production (Yr 1-5) | 202 koz | | | Peak Annual Payable Gold Production (Yr 1-5) | 277 koz (year 5) | | | Average Annual Payable Gold Production (LOM) | 177 koz | | | Peak Annual Payable Gold Production (LOM) | 295 koz (year 13) | | | Unit Operating Costs | | | | LOM Operating Cost | $8.98/tonne processed | | | LOM Cash Cost² | $1,388/oz Au | | | LOM AISC² | $1,566/oz Au | | | Total Capital Costs | | | | Initial Capital² | $411.4 million | | | LOM Sustaining Capital2 | $254.0 million | | | Closure Costs | $160.1 million | | | LOM Total Capital | $825.5 million | |

_ ¹ “koz” refers to thousand ounces ² Refer to “Non-GAAP Measures and Other Financial Information” below_

Strong Economics Across a Broad Range of Gold Prices

Black Pine demonstrates significant upside leverage and downside resilience within the range of gold prices evaluated. An analysis of the FS base case illustrates the Project's sensitivity to gold price, with all other material assumptions remaining constant, as summarized in Table 2 below.

Table 2: After-Tax NPV (5%), IRR and Payback Sensitivity to Gold Price

| Gold Price ($/oz) | $2,500 | $3,000 | $3,250 (Base Case) | $3,500 | $4,000 | $4,500 | | After-Tax NPV(5%) ($M) | $1,215 | $2,006 | $2,397 | $2,786 | $3,562 | $4,336 | | After-Tax IRR (%) | 33.4% | 51.6% | 60.5% | 69.4% | 87.0% | 104.3% | | After-Tax Payback (years) | 3.4 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 1.2 |

Project Description

Black Pine is a large, Carlin-style, sedimentary rock hosted oxide gold system located in Cassia and Oneida counties, southern Idaho, USA, with site access directly off the I-84 highway. Black Pine is a past-producing open-pit, ROM heap leach mine, active from 1991 to 1997, when Pegasus Gold Corp. produced 434,800 ounces of gold and 198,000 ounces of silver (“Ag”) from five open pits. Road access is well established, with up to 9.9 megawatts of grid power available at site, sufficient for the Project requirements. Additionally, Liberty Gold has secured sufficient existing water rights in the basin to support the Project.

Liberty Gold holds a 100% ownership interest in the federal lode claims and state minerals lease that host the Mineral Reserve at Black Pine. The Project is subject to a 0.5% net smelter return royalty (“NSR”) in favour of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp., with a 50% buyback right in favor of Liberty Gold for $3.6 million (assumed to be exercised in the economic analysis), a 0.25% NSR on certain private mineral lands, and a 5% NSR payable to the State of Idaho on production from the state minerals lease.

Mining

The FS utilizes conventional open pit mining with mine designs generated by AGP Mining Consultants Inc. (“AGP”). The open pits include the larger Discovery and Rangefront pits, together with the smaller CD, E, F, J and M pits. Average annual total material movement over the 16-year mine life is approximately 64 million tonnes, at a favourable strip ratio of 1.34:1 (waste:ore).

Two mining fleets are planned to provide operating flexibility across the larger main pits and the smaller satellite pits. The FS has adopted a full OEM contract for mobile mine equipment maintenance and repair for the first five years of operations with phased in-sourcing thereafter. The smaller mining fleet is assumed to be supplied and operated by a mining contractor.

All mining is conducted with at least 50 feet of freeboard above the water table, and all open pits are considered dry and are not expected to require dewatering or depressurization.

Processing and Metallurgy

Gold will be recovered using ROM heap leaching with no crushing, screening or agglomeration. Ore will be truck-stacked onto a phased heap leach facility followed by conventional cyanide leaching and processed through an adsorption, desorption and recovery (“ADR”) plant which will produce gold and silver doré bars that will be shipped off-site for further refining. The FS estimates an overall LOM gold recovery of 70.2%, based on recovery equations developed for the modeled metallurgical domains. Selected lower recovery ore will be stockpiled by metallurgical type for subsequent placement on the heap leach facility.

Black Pine has been the subject of extensive metallurgical testwork, including eight metallurgical programs completed since 2019 using bulk samples and large-diameter PQ core, at Kappes, Cassiday & Associates in Reno, Nevada. Additional programs are ongoing including the bulk sample column leach testing from surface ores collected across the deposit and sample testing from sonic drill holes in the Legacy Heap Leach Facility (“LHLF”) to evaluate its economic potential.

Capital and Operating Costs

Initial capital to develop Black Pine is estimated at $411.4 million, comprising process and site infrastructure, heap leach facilities, mine capital (including initial deposits for mining equipment), pre-production activities, engineering, procurement and construction management (“EPCM”), contingency and owner’s costs. The FS assumes all mining equipment is leased at prevailing commercial rates.

In addition to initial capital, the FS estimates $254.0 million of sustaining capital over the 16-year mine life. Reclamation and closure costs are estimated at $160.1 million.

Total life-of-mine capital, including initial, sustaining and closure expenditures, is estimated at $825.5 million. See Table 3 below.

Table 3: Black Pine FS Capital Cost Summary

| Capital Costs | Initial $ Million | Sustaining $ Million | Total $ Million | | Process Plant & Support¹ | $221.4 | $31.7 | $253.1 | | Heap Leach Facility² | $87.0 | $140.2 | $227.2 | | Mine Capital³ | $103.0 | $82.1 | $185.1 | | Closure | nil | $160.1 | $160.1 | | Total Capital Costs | $411.4 | $414.1 | $825.5 |

_ ¹ Includes site general earthworks, process plant (ADR, refinery, reagents), power systems, ADR building and ancillaries, freight, construction support, EPCM, vendor support, spare parts, first fills, storm water controls, contingency and owner's costs. _

² Includes direct, indirect and contingency costs for the heap leach facility.

³ Includes mine capital equipment, mine pre-production costs and mining capital contingency, excludes ore inventory costs.

4Totals may not sum due to rounding.

Total operating costs for the LOM are estimated at $3,892 million, equivalent to $8.98 per tonne of ore processed and an AISC of $1,566/oz Au. See Table 4 below.

Table 4: Black Pine FS Operating Cost Summary

| Operating Costs | LOM $ Million | Unit Cost $/tonne ore | | Mining | $2,635.8 | $6.08 | | Process Plant | $898.6 | $2.07 | | G&A | $347.1 | $0.80 | | Refining | $10.7 | $0.02 | | Total Operating Cost | $3,892.2 | $8.98 |

_ Totals may not sum due to rounding._

Environmental, Permitting and Community

Black Pine is currently advancing through federal and state permitting as a FAST-41 Covered Project, based upon the Company’s 2026 MPO.

The U.S. Forest Service published a Notice of Intent on April 3, 2026, formally initiating public scoping and preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”).

Liberty Gold has maintained an active stakeholder and community outreach program since 2019, including regular engagement with local municipalities, county commissioners, the Idaho Legislature, regulatory agencies and community groups. No material environmental issues have been identified to date that are expected to preclude securing the permits and authorizations required to develop Black Pine.

Further Opportunities

The FS establishes a development case for Black Pine while identifying opportunities for further evaluation:

Near-term finalization of a Silver Resource: Silver resources have been estimated at the Discovery and M Zones, and work is ongoing for the remainder of the deposit, with further details to be provided in the FS. No silver mineral reserve or silver production is included in the FS. Resource conversion and growth:Possible conversion of the Inferred Mineral Resource of 58.4 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.14 g/t Au and containing 171 thousand oz of potentially recoverable gold to the Indicated category; continued resource growth from step-out drilling around known mineralized centres; and, evaluation of additional high-priority targets across the mineral lease area of ~70 square kilometers. Inferred Mineral Resources are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be considered Mineral Reserves and there is no certainty that further exploration will result in the conversion of Inferred Mineral Resources to Indicated Mineral Resource. 2026 Drilled to Measured (“DtM”) program: This year’s drill program has been designed to upgrade the mineral resource classification from Indicated to Measured for the early years of the mine plan presented in the FS. Drilling is expected to be completed later this year and with final assay results following. This program is intended to significantly derisk the ore supply during operational start-up and over the initial capital payback period. Mine and heap optimization:Continued optimization of mine planning, mining rates, stacking rates, cut-off grade strategy, stockpiling, haulage and heap leach facility design and phasing.

Pathway to a Construction Decision

Liberty Gold continues to advance Black Pine toward a potential construction decision through detailed engineering, procurement, financing and execution readiness, while permitting continues under the established FAST-41 schedule. The Company has recently selected M3 Engineering & Technology Corporation and NewFields Companies LLC as principal engineering partners for the detailed engineering phase and this work has commenced.

The recommended work program is proposed in two phases:

Phase 1 – Engineering, Procurement and Execution Readiness: Complete detailed engineering through Liberty Gold’s appointed engineering partners, continue permitting activities, finalize the execution schedule and control budget, undertake procurement of long-lead equipment, and advance the commercial and execution planning activities required to support a future construction decision. Phase 2 – Construction, Commissioning and Ramp-Up:Subject to formal approvals, complete project construction and mine development, install processing and site infrastructure facilities, recruit and train the operating workforce, and commission the operation for commercial production.

Black Pine Mineral Reserve Estimate

The FS includes an updated Mineral Reserve estimate, with an effective date of August 1, 2026. The FS establishes a 4.04 million oz Au Probable Mineral Reserve, comprising 433.3 million tonnes grading 0.29 g/t Au. The Probable Mineral Reserve consists of Indicated blocks above a cut-off grade of 0.05 g/t recoverable Au. There are no Measured Mineral Resources at Black Pine and, accordingly, no Proven Mineral Reserves.

Table 5: Black Pine Mineral Reserve Estimate

| Reserve Class | Million Tonnes | Au Grade (g/t) | Contained Gold Ounces (Million oz) | | Probable | 433.3 | 0.29 | 4.04 | | Total | 433.3 | 0.29 | 4.04 |

Notes:

1. The Mineral Reserve estimate was prepared by Todd Carstensen RM-SME, Principal Mining Engineer at AGP Mining Consultants Inc., Barrie ON, Canada (AGP) and has an effective date of August 1, 2026. Mr. Carstensen is the Qualified Person responsible as defined under NI 43-101 for the Mineral Reserve estimate, he is independent of Liberty Gold. 2. Mineral Reserves reported are consistent with the CIM Standards. 3. Mineral Reserves are reported to a cut-off grade of 0.05 g/t Au recoverable gold within the designed pit based on a gold price of US$2,250/oz. 4. Metallurgical recovery of gold is based on a variable gold leach recovery model derived from extensive metallurgical studies. 5. Modeled carbonaceous units and lower recovery metallurgical domains have been treated as waste. Overall gold leach recovery averages 70.2%. 6. Units are metric tonnes, metric grams & troy ounces. 7. The QP is not aware of any mining, metallurgical, infrastructure, permitting, or other relevant factors that could materially affect the Mineral Reserve estimate. 8. Reserve pit designs are based on a pit optimization run using $2,250/oz Au, variable mining costs, and $1.88/t processing costs. Other costs around royalties, payables, and refining costs are also included.