Stibnite Advisory Council’s Water Monitoring Program Shows Consistent Results in Year Two

DONNELLY, ID –The Stibnite Advisory Council’s Independent Water Monitoring Program is continuing to provide transparency to ground and surface water quality conditions at the site of Perpetua Resources’ proposed Stibnite Gold Project. Testing results from year two of the Stibnite Advisory Council’s program showed consistent data between Perpetua Resources and the Stibnite Advisory Council’s independent third-party. 

The Stibnite Advisory Council once again contracted the University of Idaho’s Idaho Water Resources Research Institute to conduct the independent monitoring and reporting. Team members from the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute went to site to collect ground and surface water samples on May 17, July 7, August 18 and October 20, 2022. The last three samples were collected with additional oversight from a member the Stibnite Advisory Council. Moving forward, a member of the Stibnite Advisory Council will always be on site to observe the testing process.

Water samples were collected from 9 different sampling sites, plus 2 quality control sites in order to analyze 25 chemical components, known as analytes, for each location. This means a total of 275 samples were evaluated for both ground and surface water. The samples were collected from the same locations and split between Perpetua Resources and Idaho Water Resources Research Institute for analysis. Perpetua Resources sent its samples to SVL Analytical and Idaho Water Resources Research Institute sent its samples to Anatek Laboratory. Both are EPA-certified labs.

The data analyzed at the two, different labs showed the exact same results for the August and October testing periods. Results from May showed a 97 percent match and the results from July showed a 95 percent match, both those results show consistency across the data and are within the accepted percent differences.  

“The Stibnite Advisory Council is proud to be able to share this information with the community,” said Riggins Stibnite Advisory Council member, Bob Crump. “We launched the Independent Water Monitoring Program in response to our neighbors’ requests to bring more transparency to water quality conditions at Stibnite. Now, we all have access to tools to verify the information Perpetua Resources has been sharing. I am grateful for the company’s willingness to work alongside the Stibnite Advisory Council and make this program possible.” 

Community members can review all of the data, a summary report and the full findings from Idaho Water Resources Research Institute on the Stibnite Advisory Council website at https://stibniteadvisorycouncil.com/water-monitoring/.   

The IWMP will continue testing with the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute in 2023 and 2024. Scientists and a SAC representative are scheduled to visit the site in July and August to collect another round of surface and groundwater samples.

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The Stibnite Advisory Council provides a collaborative environment for local communities to work with Perpetua Resources throughout the life of the project and establishes a venue for cities and counties to address concerns and opportunities directly with the mining company. The council is comprised of the eight cities and counties that signed onto a community agreement with the company in late-2018. To learn more, visit www.StibniteAdvisoryCouncil.com.