New Gold Inc. - Assets

Overview

Status:	Development Project
Location:	160 km southwest of Prince George
Ownership:	100% New Gold
Reserves¹:	Blackwater
	Gold	8.2 million ounces
	Silver	60.8 million ounces
Resources²:	Blackwater
	Gold	1.4 million ounces
	Silver	8.9 million ounces

¹Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves as of December 31, 2019
² Measured and Indicated Resources are exclusive of Mineral Reserves (Excludes Inferred Resources) as of December 31, 2019

See Mineral Reserves and Resources Summary as
of December 31, 2019 for additional details including a breakdown by category.

location of Blackwater mine on map of Canada

The project is in the Development Phase, having successfully achieved all necessary environmental assessment approvals. When the mine site is constructed, it will include an open pit, ore processing facilities, a tailings storage facility, waste rock dumps, water management facilities, offices, accommodation camps, warehouses, and a truck shop. A 140-kilometre transmission line will connect the mine site with an existing substation south of Endako, BC.

Site History

The Blackwater Project area has been actively explored since the discovery of anomalous concentrations of silver, lead, and zinc in silt samples taken from streams draining the Mt. Davidson area in 1973 by Granges Inc. Historic work includes soil geochemistry, geophysics and reverse circulation and diamond drilling.

Richfield Ventures Corp., a mineral exploration company, began work on the Blackwater Project in 2009. In March 2009, Richfield optioned the Davidson and Dave claims from Silver Quest Resources Ltd. and the Rozek family. In April 2011, New Gold acquired the Blackwater Project from Richfield Ventures Corp.

The Blackwater Project is a proposed open pit gold and silver mine located southwest of Prince George in north central BC. The Project would produce seven million ounces of gold and 30 million ounces of silver over 17 years. The Project has proven and probable reserves of 8.2 million ounces of gold and 61 million ounces of silver.

Geology, Exploration, Technical Reports

Blackwater - Geology, Exploration, & Technical Reports

Geology & Mineralization

The Blackwater project is located within the Stikine Terrane of the Intermontane Belt of central British Columbia. The Stikine Terrane comprises Jurassic to early Tertiary magmatic arc and related sedimentary rocks.

The Blackwater deposit is hosted by a sequence of intermediate and felsic volcanics belonging to the late Cretaceous Kasalka Group. These rocks are overlain by Eocene age post-mineral volcanics belonging to the Ootsa Lake Group and underlain by basinal clastic rocks of the late Jurassic Bowser Lake Group. A well-developed system of northeasterly, northwesterly, and northerly striking faults crosscuts the entire package and acts as a principal control to gold-silver mineralization in the region. Quaternary glacial, colluvial, and fluvial deposits obscure most of the bedrock within the immediate project area.

Gold and silver mineralization at Blackwater occurs within an intermediate sulphidation, epithermal gold-silver system that occurs within two kilometres of a cluster of mineralized porphyry intrusive centers belonging to the same late Cretaceous Kasalka stratigraphic group. Host rocks within the deposit are pervasively hydrofractured, pyritized, and altered to a mixture of silica and sericite. Mineralization is typified by gold-bearing polymetallic sulphides (pyrite, sphalerite, marcasite, pyrrhotite) as disseminations and porosity infillings within the fragmental unit of the deposit. Mineralization is strongly controlled by northwest and northeast trending zones of tectonic brecciation and shearing. The deposit is bounded by post-mineral graben-forming faults to the north and south. A major north-south trending fault also transects the ore body, subdividing it into two distinct geological domains integral to the mineral resource block model.

Exploration Potential

Following acquisition of the Blackwater Project, New Gold conducted an aggressive program of exploration and development that resulted in the successful delineation of a mineral reserve containing 8.2 million ounces of gold and 61 million ounces of silver, plus additional measured and indicated resources containing 1.1 million ounces of gold and 12.7 million ounces of silver. Since completing the feasibility study for the project in 2014, New Gold has identified multiple areas of prospective gold mineralization across its 1,487-square-kilometre property package. New Gold is currently directing its focus toward exploring for additional gold and silver resources within several kilometres of the known epithermal-style mineralization at Blackwater and the recently discovered porphyry copper-molybdenum mineralization to the south.

Technical Report

Responsible Mining

New Gold is committed to responsible mining in all mining, processing and environmental work across our operations and facilities from exploration, to mining, to rehabilitation and closure. As an organization, we strive to reach the highest standards in employee health and safety, environmental protection and community development and engagement. We believe these are key drivers to achieving a productive and profitable business.

Our policies and practices are guided by principles found in the United Nations Global Compact of which we are signatories, and our operational standards are based on the Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable Mining Protocols.

Blackwater Project Environmental Assessment Complete

The Blackwater Project has been undergoing a coordinated provincial and federal environmental assessment (EA) since 2016. New Gold is pleased to report that on June 24, 2019, the BC Ministers of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, issued an EA certificate for the Blackwater project. This follows the April 15, 2019 announcement that the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change issued a positive Decision Statement regarding the project’s Environmental Assessment (EA). The federal and provincial environmental assessment decisions mark very significant milestones for the project.

These decisions are imperative steps in the overall development process for Blackwater. Prior to building a mine in BC, a series of permits and authorizations are required from both the provincial and federal governments. Before entering into the mine permitting phase, New Gold is re-evaluating project sizing and processing options. In parallel with this work, New Gold is evaluating how to unlock the project’s value from a financing and strategic perspective. New Gold has not made a decision on when to initiate the mine permitting phase for the Blackwater project. More information about mine permitting is located here

Employment, Contractors, and Supplier Information

The Blackwater Project is not currently hiring as a decision when to commence construction has not yet been made. If you are interested in positions at our other operating mines, please visit the New Gold Careers page here.

If you would like to be added to our e-distribution list to receive Project news, updates and messages of specific interest to suppliers and contractors, please subscribe by sending an email to office.blackwater@newgold.com

Community Relations

New Gold is committed to working closely with communities to make a positive contribution to the community and regions in which we live and work. We recognize that our growth and success depend on the long-term economic, social and environmental sustainability of each of the communities in which we operate.

The project has hosted a number of workshops, community forums and health forums to gain feedback and better understand the communities' needs.

Blackwater’s Community Sponsorship Program reflects our corporate belief that communities should benefit from our project in both the short and long-term. We invest in sustainable community development, going beyond traditional philanthropic donations, to support initiatives and projects that have a meaningful and long-lasting positive impact on the community and region in which we operate. To learn more about the program and how your community group might qualify, please contact us.

Blackwater in the Community

Val Erickson, Blackwater Project Community Relations Advisor at the 2017 Vanderhoof Pumpkin Walk

Blackwater Project Christmas Open House December 2017

New Gold helps fund new Search and Rescue Command Vehicle

We welcome and encourage your feedback. Feel free to visit our office or contact us.

Contact Us

Address:	139 First East Street, Box 440.
	Vanderhoof, BC Canada V0J 3A0
Telephone:	250 567-3276
Email:	office.blackwater@newgold.com

Blackwater