Perpetua and the Nez Perce Tribe filed settlement agreement

Perpetua Resources announced that the Company and the Nez Perce Tribe filed a final Settlement Agreement on August 8, 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho. The Agreement resolves a Clean Water Act, or CWA, lawsuit brought by the Tribe in 2019 over alleged pollution discharges into the headwaters of the East Fork South Fork, or EFSF, Salmon River from historic mining activities within the Stibnite Mining Site in central Idaho. The Agreement provides for total payments of $5M by Perpetua over a four-year period, which includes $4M of contributions by Perpetua to a South Fork Salmon Water Quality Enhancement Fund to be used by the Tribe to support water quality improvement projects in the South Fork Salmon River watershed and $1M of reimbursements to the Tribe for legal expenses. The water quality improvement projects will be coordinated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Forest Service and will require additional data collection to choose and define the projects. Following the 45-day review period, the Tribe and Perpetua will request the District Court to approve the Stipulation for Dismissal and Agreement, which, if approved, would result in the CWA lawsuit being dismissed without prejudice pending Perpetua’s payment of the amounts called for under the Agreement, and with prejudice upon completion of such payments, subject in each case to approval by the District Court.