Press Release
November 18, 2025 – Vancouver, Canada – First Mining Gold Corp. (“First Mining” or the “Company”) (TSX: FF) (OTCQX: FFMGF) (FRANKFURT: FMG) is pleased to announce the positive results of an updated Pre-Feasibility Study (“2025 PFS”) completed for its 100%-owned Springpole Gold Project (the “Project” or “Springpole”) located in Ontario, Canada. The 2025 PFS results support a 30,000 tonnes-per-day (“tpd”) open pit mining operation.
2025 PFS Highlights1 2
“We are pleased to announce a very positive updated PFS at our Springpole Gold Project that reinforces its position as one of the largest and most robust undeveloped gold and silver projects in Canada”, stated Dan Wilton, CEO of First Mining. “Since our original PFS was published in 2021, we have completed significant engineering work, the results of which have been reflected in the updated infrastructure and design plans that First Mining has carried through the Environmental Assessment process. At the same time, this study demonstrates the strong leverage to gold price the Project possesses, and clearly demonstrates the potential for Springpole to be one of the largest economic drivers in northwestern Ontario for a generation to come, delivering hundreds of jobs and careers in the region, significant contracting opportunities for regional and Indigenous businesses and more than $7 billion in gross domestic product, as well as generational opportunities and potential infrastructure improvements for the Indigenous communities in the area. First Mining continues to make progress on the Federal and Provincial Environmental Assessment processes, important consultation processes with Indigenous communities, and expects to provide updates in the coming months.”
This 2025 PFS for the Springpole Gold Project was prepared by Ausenco Engineering Canada ULC (“Ausenco”) of Vancouver, Canada, and a technical report summarizing the 2025 PFS will be filed by the Company on SEDAR+ within 45 days of this news release.
2025 PFS Overview
The Springpole Gold Project, located in Ontario, Canada, is one of the largest undeveloped gold resources in North America. The Project is located approximately 110 kilometres northeast of Red Lake and within 18 km of road access. The 2025 PFS provides for an updated resource model for Springpole including an Indicated Mineral Resource of 191Mt at 0.78 g/t Au for 4.8 million ounces (“Moz”) of gold and 4.6 g/t Ag for 28 Moz of silver. The Inferred Mineral Resource category hosts 64 Mt at 0.38 g/t Au for 0.8 Moz of gold and 3.1 g/t Ag for 6.5 Moz of silver.
The 2025 PFS evaluates recovery of gold and silver from a 30,000 tpd open pit operation, with a process plant planned to include crushing, grinding, and flotation, with fine grinding of the flotation concentrate and separate agitated leaching circuits for both the reground flotation concentrate and the flotation tailings, followed by a carbon-in-pulp recovery process and a Merrill-Crowe circuit to produce doré bars. Tailings and mine rock are proposed to be securely stored at the Project’s Co-Disposal Facility (“CDF”) designed by WSP Canada, Inc. and reviewed by the Independent Tailings and Geotechnical Review Board established for the Project in 2023. The leached sulphur containing (“PAG”) flotation tailings are stored in a downstream constructed and raised CDF south cell which is lined. The desulphurized flotation (“NAG”) tailings are thickened and co-disposed with mine rock in the CDF north cell.
Certain important parameters of the 2025 PFS are presented in the following table:
Table 1: Key Parameters
| Key Assumptions | LOM | Years 1 to 5 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base Case Commodity Prices | US$3,100/oz Au, US$35.50/oz Ag | |||
| Exchange Rate (C$ to US$) | 0.74 | |||
| Production Profile | LOM | Years 1 to 5 | ||
| Total Tonnes Processed (Mt) | 102.0 | 53.6 | ||
| Total Tonnes Waste (Mt) | 309.5 | 217.0 | ||
| Mill Grade – Gold, Silver | 0.94 g/t Au, 4.9 g/t Ag | 1.09 g/t Au, 5.7 g/t Ag | ||
| Mine Life | 9.4 years | 5.0 years | ||
| Throughput (tpd) | 30,000 | 30,000 | ||
| Strip Ratio (waste:ore) | 3.0 : 1 | 3.2 : 1 | ||
| Overall Recovery – Gold, Silver | 86.0% Au, 86.2% Ag | 86.7% Au, 87.1% Ag | ||
| LOM Metal Recovered – Gold, Silver | 2.6 Moz Au, 13.8 Moz Ag | 1.6 Moz Au, 8.5 Moz Ag | ||
| Average Annual Recovered – Gold, Silver | 281 koz Au, 1,468 koz Ag | 330 koz Au, 1,704 koz Ag | ||
| Unit Operating Costs | LOM | Years 1 to 5 | ||
| Total Cash Cost4 | US$802/oz Au (net of by-products) |
US$742/oz Au (net of by-products) |
||
| AISC4 | US$938/oz Au (net of by-products) |
US$877/oz Au (net of by-products) |
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| Project Economics – US$3,100/oz Au Price | Pre-Tax | Post-Tax | ||
| NPV5% | US$3.2 billion | US$2.1 billion | ||
| IRR | 53.8% | 40.8% | ||
| Payback Period | 1.4 Years | 1.8 Years | ||
| LOM Cash Flow | US$4.6 billion | US$3.1 billion | ||
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Economic Sensitivities
The Project economics and cash flows are highly sensitive to changes to the gold price as presented in the following tables.
Table 2: Springpole Economic Sensitivity to Gold Price
| Gold Price (US$/oz) |
$2,450 | $2,800 | $3,100 | $3,500 | Spot5 ($4,200) |
| Pre-Tax NPV5% | US$2.0 billion | US$2.6 billion | US$3.2 billion | US$4.0 billion | US$5.6 billion |
| Pre-Tax IRR | 37.8% | 46.7% | 53.8% | 62.7% | 82.1% |
| After-Tax NPV5% | US$1.3 billion | US$1.7 billion | US$2.1 billion | US$2.7 billion | US$3.8 billion |
| After-Tax IRR | 28.6% | 35.4% | 40.8% | 47.7% | 62.6% |
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Table 3: Springpole Economic Sensitivity to Initial Capital Costs
| Initial Capital | +20% | +10% | – | -10% | -20% |
| Pre-Tax NPV5% | US$3.0 billion | US$3.1 billion | US$3.2 billion | US$3.3 billion | US$3.4 billion |
| Pre-Tax IRR | 44.9% | 49.0% | 53.8% | 59.4% | 66.1% |
| After-Tax NPV5% | US$2.0 billion | US$2.1 billion | US$2.1 billion | US$2.2 billion | US$2.3 billion |
| After-Tax IRR | 34.0% | 37.2% | 40.8% | 45.2% | 50.4% |
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Table 4: Springpole Economic Sensitivity to Operating Costs
| Operating Costs | +20% | +10% | – | -10% | -20% |
| Pre-Tax NPV5% | US$2.9 billion | US$3.0 billion | US$3.2 billion | US$3.4 billion | US$3.6 billion |
| Pre-Tax IRR | 49.9% | 51.8% | 53.8% | 55.7% | 57.5% |
| After-Tax NPV5% | US$1.9 billion | US$2.0 billion | US$2.1 billion | US$2.2 billion | US$2.4 billion |
| After-Tax IRR | 37.8% | 39.3% | 40.8% | 42.3% | 43.8% |
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Key Changes from 2021 Pre-Feasibility Study
Since the release of the 2021 PFS, First Mining has continued to advance Project engineering in support of addressing the Provincial and Federal Environmental Assessment processes, and the consultation processes with local and Indigenous communities. This work, which remains on-going has resulted in several updates to the Project design since 2021. The following areas reflect the key design optimizations from the 2021 PFS to date that have been brought forward in the 2025 PFS:
Mineral Processing and Metallurgical Testing
The 2025 PFS reflects updated recoveries for both gold and silver that resulted from updated metallurgical test work completed since the 2021 PFS. The test work focused on understanding the variability in gold and silver recoveries as well as optimizing the process flowsheet.
Based on the test work carried out, a flowsheet that includes flotation followed by leaching of reground concentrate and flotation tails presents as the most beneficial processing route for the Project. This flowsheet is based on a primary grind size of 80% passing or P80 150 micrometres (“µm”) ahead of flotation, with flotation concentrate being reground to approximately 17 µm ahead of agitated leaching. The overall recoveries expected and used for the economics presented in the 2025 PFS are 86.0% for gold and 86.2% for silver. The increase in gold / decrease in silver recoveries in the 2025 PFS stems primarily from a better understanding of the ore variability. First Mining plans to undertake follow-up metallurgical test work to investigate additional opportunities to further increase recoveries and believes that this remains an important focus area for further improving the economics of the Project.
Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Estimates
The updated 2025 mineral resource model prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. (“SRK”) utilizes results from 499 core boreholes drilled by First Mining and previous property owners. The Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) at the Springpole Gold Project is shown below.
ILR4