Black Pine

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In June 2016, Liberty Gold acquired the Black Pine Property from Western Pacific Resource Corporation for US$800,000 cash, 300,000 shares of Liberty Gold and a 0.5% NSR reserved to Western Pacific. The project area totals 12,749 acres/5,159 ha and consists of unpatented mining claims on USFS and BLM lands, an Idaho state minerals lease, private lands and a majority interest in private mineral rights. The main gold zone encompassing the historic Black Pine mine is not subject to seasonal closures and can be accessed year-round, weather and road conditions permitting.

As a result of the sale, Liberty Gold is in possession of data for 1,874 shallow (average depth of 93 metres) historic drill holes totalling 191,500 metres, as well as over 10,000 historic surface soil and rock samples, blast hole samples and historic mining, engineering and permitting data.

Black Pine is underlain primarily by strata of the Pennsylvanian to Permian Oquirrh Group, which overlies Devonian and Mississippian strata on a series of low-angle normal faults. The Oquirrh Group is divided into a 300 meter thick section of “middle plate” consisting of silty/sandy carbonate rocks within a system of interleaved, low-angle thrust and normal faults, overlain by an “upper plate” consisting primarily of limey sandstone. Oxidized, finely-disseminated gold mineralization has been discovered throughout the middle plate over an area of approximately 14 km². The highest gold grades in drilling are associated with calcareous siltstone in proximity to large listric normal faults.

From 2016 to late 2017, Liberty Gold compiled the extensive drill database and produced a 3D model of the mineralization in historic drill holes. In late 2017, twelve reverse circulation holes were drilled from five locations. The drilling validated historical results adjacent to a historical pit and more importantly, demonstrated exceptional upside beneath the limit of shallow historical drilling¹. 

_{¹See: Technical Report of the Black Pine Gold Project, Cassia County, Idaho, USA” effective July 23, 2018 and signed September 7, 2018, prepared by prepared by Michael M. Gustin, CPG, of Mine Development Associates of Reno, Nevada, Moira T. Smith, Ph.D., P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration and Geoscience, Liberty Gold and William A. Lepore, M.Sc., P.Geo., Senior Project Geologist, Liberty Gold, available on SEDAR or on the Liberty Gold website.}

A new Plan of Operations, received February 2019, opened up access to the entire 14 km² area of anomalous surface geochemistry and historic gold in drill holes for comprehensive drill testing.

In 2019, the drill program was designed for infill and validation of historical results, and to test prospective areas adjacent to and beneath historical drilling. Drilling identified two new discoveries, named D-1 and D-2, extending gold mineralization along stratigraphic and structural corridors between the historic A and B pits and the A Basin target. The results from the 2019 drill program include some of the longest and highest-grade unmined intercepts drilled by any operator on the Black Pine property. Highlights include^[1]: 

At D-1 and D-2:

• 1.78 grams per tonne of gold ("g/t Au") over 47.2 m, including: 3.24 g/t Au over 22.9 m, 9.99 g/t Au over 3.0 m and 5.73 g/t Au over 1.5 m, in LBP021.
• 2.56 g/t Au over 41.1 m, including: 4.47 g/t Au over 19.8 m and 8.76 g/t Au over 4.6 m, in LBP029.
• 4.39 g/t Au over 53.3 m, including: 5.76 g/t Au over 38.1 m and 12.05 g/t Au over 12.2 m, in LBP043.
• 3.40 g/t Au over 62.5 m, including: 5.01 g/t Au over 33.5 m and 6.21 g/t Au over 21.3 m, in LBP064.
• 3.14 g/t Au over 44.2 m, including: 6.53 g/t Au over 16.8 m and 11.3 g/t Au over 7.6 m, in LBP062.

Drilling in 2020 identified new zones of mineralisation, including: 1) the D-3 zone, located immediately west of and partially under the D-1 zone; 2) an extension of the D-1 zone to the southeast; and 3) extensions to the F-zone, located approximately 1 km to the south of D-3. Highlights from the new  D-3 zone include^[2]:

• 1.98 g/t Au over 33.5 m, including 3.93 g/t Au over 15.2 m, and 1.11 g/t Au over 30.5 m in LBP127.
• 1.44 g/t Au over 96.0 m, including 1.95 g/t Au over 32.0 m and including 5.31 g/t Au over 1.5 m and 1.86 g/t Au over 29.0 m in LBP152.
• 1.43 g/t Au over 9.1 m and 1.20 g/t Au over 67.1 m, including 2.57 g/t Au over 16.8 m and including 8.51 g/t Au over 3.0 m in LBP138.
• 1.41 g/t Au over 22.9m, including 1.93 g/t Au over 13.7 m and 1.51 g/t Au over 56.4 m, including 2.36 g/t Au over 24.4 m and including 5.86 g/t Au over 3 m in LBP206.
• 1.01 g/t Au over 62.5 m, including 1.94 g/t Au over 25.9 m in LBP189.
• 1.50 g/t Au over 27.4 m and 0.62 g/t Au over 7.6 m in LBP203.
• 0.98 g/t Au over 80.8 m, including 2.32 g/t Au over 18.3 m and 2.19 g/t Au over 7.6 m in LBP169.

Drilling in 2020 also targeted the southeast extension of D-1, in a 400 m-long, undrilled area between the historic B and Tallman pits. This drilling successfully identified shallow oxide mineralization, exemplified by:

• 3.04 g/t Au over 19.8 m, including 8.54 g/t Au over 4.6 m in LBP150.

Continued drilling in 2021 showed the D-1, D-2 and D-3 zones coalesce into essentially one larger, continuous zone of mineralization with discrete zones of higher-grade mineralization now referred to as the “Discovery Zone”.

Following the approval of an expanded Plan of Operations in 2021 drilling began in the Rangefront target area south-east of the main Discovery Zone where shallow historic drilling indicated a potential deeper mineralized system. Initial drillholes indicated a thick section of receptive host rocks and widespread gold mineralization. Continued drilling began vectoring in on higher grade zones similar to the main Discovery Zone. This drilling eventually defined a 1 square kilometer zone of oxidized mineralization. Some highlight drill intercepts include^[3]:

• 0.91 g/t Au over 86.9 m, including 2.15 g/t Au over 22.9 m and 2.03 g/t Au over 21.3 m in LBP356.
• 1.37 g/t Au over 50.3 m including 2.37 g/t Au over 22.9 m and 1.27 g/t in hole LBP358
• 0.63 g/t Au over 112.8 m in hole LBP408
• 1.95 g/t Au over 41.1 m including 4.43 g/t Au over 10.8 m in hole LBP473

Thirty-three large diameter core holes have been drilled to support multi-phase metallurgical column testing as well as geotechnical testing from the Discovery zone and Rangefront zones include^[4]:

• 3.32 g/t Au over 47.4 m, including 12.5 g/t Au over 5.8 m in LBP214C.
• 3.62 g/t Au over 8.1 m and 1.27 g/t Au over 54.2 m, including 2.51 g/t Au over 17.0 m in LBP222C.
• 1.12 g/t Au over 13.4 m and 3.16 g/t Au over 32.0 m in LBP207C.
• 1.44 g/t Au over 16.5 m and 1.36 g/t Au over 15.2 m and 1.23 g/t Au over 7.6 m in LBP197C.

Phase 1 large diameter metallurgical column tests were carried out in 2019 with the following results^[5]:

• Six column leach tests produced a weighted average 78.9% gold extraction. With a range up to 92.8% gold extraction6. 
• Gold extraction was rapid, with >80% of the leachable gold extracted within the first 10 days of column leaching.

Phase 2 metallurgical column testing was carried out on large diameter PQ core holes designed to sample a wide range of grades and rock types, primarily within the D-1 zone, with one hole in the D-2 zone and one testing historical drilling in the Rangefront Target, highlights include^[7]:

• Twenty-nine column leach tests produced a weighted average 82.9% gold extraction[6]. With a range up to 94.5% gold extraction.
• Gold extraction was rapid, with >80% of the leachable gold extracted within the first 10 days of column leaching.
• Percent gold extraction is well-correlated with head grade, with the highest-grade composites returning the highest extraction numbers.

Phase 3 metallurgical testing was carried out on additional large diameter PQ core samples across the main Discovery zone and the Rangefront Zone, highlight include^[8]:

• Forty-five column leach tests produced a weighted average 80.8% gold extraction, with a range from 44.5% to 94.8% gold extraction.
• Gold extraction was rapid, with >80% of the leachable gold extracted within the first 10 days of column leaching.
• Percent gold extraction is well-correlated with head grade, with the highest-grade composites returning the higher extraction numbers. Of the 45 column tests:
  • 18 column tests were conducted on material below 0.5 g/t Au, and returned weighted average 71.8% gold extraction
  • 10 column tests were conducted on material between 0.5 g/t Au and 1.0 g/t Au and returned weighted average 79.0% gold extraction.

Gold extraction is relatively insensitive to particle size, with the exception of one sample from the southernmost “I” pit. All other composites can be projected to coarse particle sizes approximating run of mine conditions without significant loss of gold extraction. Results generated by this program are comparable to historical column test results generated by Noranda in 1988 from oxide material obtained prior to mining. Metallurgical tests 4a, b & c are ongoing.

An independent maiden resource estimate for Black Pine was announced in July 2021[9]. The Mineral Resource has an effective date of June 20, 2021, is reported in a pit shell at a cut-off grade of 0.20 g/t Au and consists of:

• An indicated mineral resource of 1,715,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 0.51 g/t Au and totalling 105,075,000 tonnes; and
• An inferred mineral resource of 370,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 0.37 g/t Au and totalling 31,211,000 tonnes.
• A high-grade subset of the Mineral Resource using a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t Au consists of:
  
  • An indicated mineral resource of 1,020,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 1.04 g/t Au and totalling 30,520,000 tonnes; and
  • An inferred mineral resource of 134,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 0.94 g/t Au and totalling 4,440,000 tonnes.

A Preliminary Economic Evaluation was started in 2021 based on this resource study and was stopped when it became apparent that the Rangefront Zone was going to be a large addition to the resource base.

An update to the initial resource estimate for Black Pine was announced on February 7th, 2023[10]. The updated Resource builds on the maiden resource released on July 13th, 2021, and includes an additional 528 reverse rirculation and core holes (126,726 metres) drilled by Liberty Gold between April 2021 and October 2022.

The updated Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") has an effective date of January 21, 2023, is reported using a constraining resource pit at a cut-off grade (“COG”) of 0.20 g/t Au and consists of:

• An indicated resource of 2,613,000 ounces of oxide gold at an average grade of 0.52 g/t Au and totalling 157,267,000 tonnes (“t”); and
• An inferred resource of 483,000 ounces of oxide gold at an average grade of 0.43 g/t Au and totalling 35,150,000 t.
• A high-grade subset of the MRE within the 0.20 g/t Au resource pit using a COG of 0.50 g/t Au consists of:
  
  • An indicated 1,548,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 1.02 g/t Au and totalling 47,391,000 t; and
  • An inferred 219,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 0.93 g/t Au and totalling 7,315,000 t.

In total, using the same COG as the previous resource estimate, the updated MRE represents a 52% increase in indicated ounces and a 31% increase in inferred ounces over the maiden resource released 18 months prior. Within the higher-grade subset (0.50 g/t Au COG within the 0.20 g/t Au resource pit), 528,000 indicated ounces were added relative to the 2021 maiden resource estimate, a 52% increase.

Our 2023 exploration budget for Black Pine is approximately $10.5 million, with our goal to continue an aggressive exploration program targeting resource expansion and discovery of new mineralization, including several as-yet untested targets, as we continue to delineate the global footprint of the mineralized system. Funding for 2023 includes exploration drilling, metallurgy, engineering studies, hydrologic studies, permitting and a range of de-risking activities. We continue to move the project towards a Pre-feasibility decision. The budget for 2023 includes funds for:

• 32,000 metres of Reverse Circulation drilling, which commenced in January, focused on understanding the full size and extent of the gold mineralized system as well as expanding and increasing confidence in the current resource. Key deliverables for 2023 include:
  
  • Rangefront South Area exploration drilling
  • Rangefront expansion drilling to the west and east
  • M Zone, Back Range and E Zone drilling
• De-risking activities include identifying access to power and acquiring additional lands and mineral rights in the vicinity of Black Pine
• Results from Phase 4 metallurgical testing
• A 4^th amendment to our plan of operations to allow additional exploration and condemnation activities on lands administered by the USFS A record of decision on the plan of operation amendment is expected in the second half of 2023.

Peter Shabestari P.Geo., VP Exploration, Liberty Gold, is the Company's designated Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and has reviewed and validated that the information contained herein is accurate.

_{^[1] See press release dated January 7 and January 16, 2020, and press releases in 2019 dated May 29, June 19, July 15, July 31, September 12, October 1, October 15, and November 5, 2019 for drill results from the 2019 drill program.
^[2] See press releases issued in 2020 dated June 16, June 23, July 14, July 18, September 10, September 29, November 10, and December 2.
^[3]See press release dated September 01, 2021
^[4] See press release dated January 12, 2021.
^[5] See details in press release dated June 16, 2020.
^[6] Weighted average gold extraction is obtained using the following equation: (composite head grade (grams/tonnes) multiplied by extraction (%) for all head grades)/sum of all head grades. Using arithmetic averages tends to over-represent low grade composites and under-represent high grade composites. The arithmetic average of the six column tests is 78.0%.
^[7]See details in press release dated August 18, 2020.
^[8]See details in press release dated October 27th, 2021.
^[9]See the “Updated Technical Report and Resource Estimate for the Black Pine Gold Project, Cassia County, Idaho, USA” effective June 20, 2021, and signed August 18, 2021. The Technical Report was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects by Michael Gustin, P. Geo., of MDA, a division of RESPEC, based in Reno, Nevada; Gary L. Simmons of GL Simmons Consulting LLC of Larkspur, Colorado, both independent Qualified Persons under National Instrument 43-101; and Moira Smith of Liberty Gold Corp. The report is available under the Company’s profile at www.sedar.com and is also available on the Company’s website.
^[10]Further information on Black Pine is available from the  “Technical Report on the Updated Mineral Resource Estimate at the Black Pine Gold Project, Cassia and Oneida Counties, Idaho, USA”, effective January 21, 2023, and signed March 10, 2023, prepared by Ryan Rodney, CPG, of SLR International Corporation of Denver, Colorado; Gary L. Simmons of GL Simmons Consulting LLC of Larkspur, Colorado, both independent Qualified Persons under National Instrument 43-101; and Moira Smith, Ph.D., P.Geo., of Liberty Gold, under Liberty Gold’s issuer Profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com);}