First Mining's Springpole clears its federal EA, and the CEO maps the road to a Q1 2028 build decision

First Mining Gold has spent eight and a half years waiting on one decision, and it finally has it. CEO Dan Wilton, speaking with The Deep Dive at the Beaver Creek Precious Metal Summit, confirmed the company received federal environmental assessment (EA — the formal review a project must pass before it can be permitted) approval for its Springpole gold project on June 30. Provincial EA approval is expected in October 2026.

Wilton described First Mining as advancing two of the largest undeveloped gold projects in Canada. The first is Springpole, in northwestern Ontario about 100 kilometres from Red Lake, which he put at five million ounces and called one of the most advanced undeveloped projects in the country from a permitting standpoint. The second is Duparquet in Quebec, which he sized at six million ounces in the heart of the Abitibi gold belt, about half an hour from Rouyn-Noranda. The federal sign-off at Springpole is the milestone that shifts the story from review to execution.

## What stands between Springpole and a build decision

EA approval is a set of conditions, not a permit. Wilton laid out the remaining sequence. The company still has to apply for the permits themselves, with the key application driving toward submission of a closure plan — the regulated blueprint for how a mine site will be shut down and reclaimed at the end of its life. That plan will come in stages: one for early works (site access, a road, a power line, a camp, a quarry and site clearing for laydown areas), which he said can likely move more quickly, and then the detailed operating permits, which require finished engineering.

First Mining deliberately held off on detailed engineering until the EA cleared, because every approval carries conditions the design must conform to. "If it does, then you get your permit," Wilton said. That engineering now feeds a definitive feasibility study (DFS — the final technical and economic study that underpins a production decision), targeted for around this time next year, roughly fall 2027. Project financing would follow shortly after, with a final investment decision (FID — the go/no-go call to commit construction capital) targeted for the first quarter of 2028.

## Relationships you cannot schedule

Wilton was candid about what actually gates mine building in Canada. "You can't mandate a timeline to build a relationship with the Indigenous communities you're working with," he said, calling that relationship in most cases the rate-determining step. First Mining funded the community-side work that let its agreements come together; government did not.

The company has signed a series of project agreements with First Nations, and Wilton described their common parts: chapters on environmental management and protection, ongoing environmental monitoring, contracting and employment opportunities, and usually direct financial participation in the project. The emphasis differs from community to community, reflecting each one's skills and capacity to participate.

Asked about Ottawa's push to speed development — the host cited Mark Carney's investment summit aiming to bring a trillion dollars of investment into Canada and a major projects office meant to streamline approvals — Wilton said Canada still has work to do on government process. His hope: that an eight-and-a-half-year EA proves to be the industry's high watermark, not its norm.

## Duparquet: the Quebec asset Wilton says the market barely values

The interview's most direct value claim concerned Duparquet. Since acquiring the project in 2022, First Mining has drilled 50,000 metres, with roughly 15,000 more expected by year-end. Wilton said results are connecting resource areas that were previously separate and uncovering new mineralized horizons, leaving the project open for growth.

That work feeds a resource update targeted for the first quarter of 2027 and a pre-feasibility study (an intermediate study that firms up a project's economics before the full feasibility work) around the middle of 2027. Environmental baseline data collection is under way, with a full data set expected by mid-2027 to carry Duparquet into the EA process and a feasibility study in 2028 — not far behind Springpole's timeline.

"I think we get very little value for this asset inside our market cap right now," Wilton said, arguing Duparquet could be a project with a multiple-billion-dollar net asset value (NAV — an estimate of what an asset is worth after all costs). That is the CEO's assessment, not an independent valuation.

## What to watch

- Provincial EA approval for Springpole, expected in October 2026. - Permit applications at Springpole, starting with the staged early-works closure plan. - The definitive feasibility study around fall 2027, then financing plans and the Q1 2028 FID target. - Duparquet's Q1 2027 resource update and mid-2027 pre-feasibility study, and whether drilling keeps extending mineralization.