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Greenstone Gold meets off-reserve members

THUNDER BAY -- Premier Gold Mines has penned relationships with First Nations in the Greenstone area but off-reserve members in Thunder Bay got their first chance to meet with the larger joint company on Friday.
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(Jon Thompson, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY -- Premier Gold Mines has penned relationships with First Nations in the Greenstone area but off-reserve members in Thunder Bay got their first chance to meet with the larger joint company on Friday.

Since Premier signed land use and revenue sharing agreements with Long Lake #58, Aroland and Ginoogaming First Nations, the company has partnered with Centerra Gold to form Greenstone Gold Mines, the outfit that will jointly build and operate the mine within Geraldton town limits.

Greenstone Gold Mines' director of environment and Aboriginal Affairs, Amiel Blajchman hosted off-reserve members to explain the approved results of the mine's Environmental Assessment, to discuss alternatives in the project's design, and to offer updates on the Feasibility Study, which will be formally released later this year.

"Some community members, because they live off-reserve, here in Thunder Bay for example, aren't able to make it to the community of Geraldton or to the communities of Longlac or Nakina and their home communities in order to attend open houses," Blajchman said.

"So since they can't necessarily come to our open houses, we're coming to them."

Blajchman added although Centerra and Premier both bring different strengths to the partnership, they will split the profits equally.

"Premier Gold brought to the table their resources, the people, the land and the relationships wit the communities. Centerra Gold also brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the industry. As well, they're a proven operator in overseas jurisdictions and they've now decided to work in Canada as well."

In early July, the company announced promising results from its drilling programs at the Geraldton site.

The deal Premier signed with Centerra was contingent on an open pit mine that would produce 4.5 million ounces of gold but only 4 million was proven. For Premier, the 500,000-ounce difference could mean a partnership payment difference between $15 million and $30 million.

An independent auditor now has those results, which will be treated as part of the business arrangement between the two companies and kept separate from the project's Feasibility Study.

"It proves the quality of the resource that we have," said Matt Golatt, who performs investor relations for Premier. " We have a high quality base for resources to do the feasibility study from."




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