First Mining Gold - Two of Canada's 10 Largest Undeveloped Gold Projects

• First Mining Gold is advancing the Springpole gold project in Ontario and Duparquet project in Quebec, two of the largest undeveloped gold projects in Canada
• Springpole is nearing the end of a 7.5 year environmental assessment process, with the final EA document to be submitted this summer
• The company is working to build relationships and collaboratively advance projects with indigenous communities near Springpole
• First Mining believes there will be strong demand for gold projects like Springpole and Duparquet as major producers seek to replenish depleted reserves in safe jurisdictions
• The company sees significant potential to surface value in its projects as key de-risking milestones are achieved in the near future

Tier-One Canadian Gold Assets

First Mining Gold (TSX:FF) presents a compelling opportunity. The company is advancing two multi-million ounce gold projects in Canada - the flagship Springpole project in Ontario and the earlier stage Duparquet project in Quebec. Both rank among the top ten undeveloped gold deposits in the country by size.

First Mining CEO Dan Wilton provided an update on the company's progress and outlined the investment thesis. He believes the company's projects are well-positioned to attract interest from major gold producers facing depleted project pipelines, and that upcoming de-risking milestones could drive a significant re-rating of the company's shares.

Interview with Chief Executive Officer, Dan Wilton

Springpole: Nearing the Permitting Finish Line

First Mining's immediate priority is advancing Springpole, a large open pit project with 4.6 million ounces in gold reserves, through the final stages of the permitting process. The company has been working on the federal environmental assessment (EA) since 2018 and is now in the home stretch.

"We're six years through what we think is going to be a seven and a half-ish year process," Wilton explained. "The reality is...[if] you were super well funded and super well organized, I still think it's five to seven years depending on what you're doing on collecting baseline data, where your project is and what's involved."

First Mining plans to submit its final EA document, incorporating feedback from regulators and indigenous communities, before the end of the summer. This will kick off the final comment period and review, with the company anticipating EA approval by the end of 2025.

In parallel, First Mining aims to complete a full feasibility study on Springpole around the same time as EA approval. The study will require some additional field work this year but the deposit is already well-defined, with over 200,000 meters of drilling to date.

Working With Indigenous Communities

Integral to advancing Springpole is First Mining's relationship with local indigenous communities. The company has been engaging with communities for several years and views their participation as essential to the project.

Recently, the company faced opposition from the Cat Lake First Nation to a proposed winter road to the site. However, Wilton believes there is an opportunity for greater collaboration and economic participation as the access road is further defined.

"I think that my big takeaway is that there is a huge opportunity for an alignment of interests between the community and First Mining," he noted. "This is where we need to drive to and it's something that I think can make a massive difference for the community."

Ultimately, First Mining hopes to work with Cat Lake and other communities to develop shared infrastructure that can support both the mine and local needs. Wilton pointed to the potential for an all-season road that could "help drive an enormous amount of economic development in and around the area that the community can and needs to participate in."

Duparquet: Optionality in the Abitibi

While Springpole is the company's flagship asset, First Mining's Duparquet project provides additional optionality and exploration upside. Located in Quebec's prolific Abitibi greenstone belt, Duparquet hosts 3.4 million ounces of gold in the Indicated Mineral Resource category and 2.6 million ounces of gold in the Inferred Mineral Resource category.

First Mining is currently drilling at Duparquet to expand the resource and demonstrate the growth potential. The project covers 19 kilometers of strike length along the Porcupine-Destor fault zone, a major structural corridor that hosts several multi-million ounce gold deposits in the region.

The company believes there is potential to develop Duparquet as a standalone operation, but is also considering the possibility of toll milling ore at one of the many gold processing facilities operating in the Abitibi. This could significantly reduce capital costs and shorten the development timeline.

A Scarce Set of Opportunities

More than just the sum of its projects, First Mining offers investors leveraged exposure to a rare set of large-scale gold development assets in safe jurisdictions. Wilton believes this scarcity value will become increasingly important as the current pipeline of projects in Canada is depleted.

"Here's what we find really interesting: you fast forward to later next year when all of those projects are built and this is what's left," he remarked, referencing a slide showing the largest undeveloped gold projects in Canada. "Springpole and Duparquet are two of the top ten and Springpole is one of the most advanced from a permitting perspective."

This dynamic could drive M&A interest as producers look to secure their next generation of mines. Several large gold projects in Canada have been acquired in recent years as they advanced through development, often at premium valuations.

Wilton sees First Mining's projects as highly strategic assets that would be difficult and time-consuming to replicate. "I challenge any explorer - I don't care how many ounces you're going to delineate - show me where you can do that for less than $10 an ounce if you count all of the exploration work that goes into it," he declared. "Duparquet, we've got 270,000 meters of drilling. The cost just to replicate that alone is probably $50 million."

Surfacing Value Through De-Risking

For all their inherent value, First Mining's shares currently trade at just $6 per ounce of attributable gold reserves and resources. Wilton attributes this discount to the market's perception of permitting and development risk and believes there is significant room for re-rating as the company advances its projects.

"The developers broadly and we specifically have the best risk-reward potential in the industry right now, full stop," he argued. "The leverage that you get with these projects is phenomenal, not just because you can get in at $6 an ounce."

With several key de-risking milestones on the horizon, Wilton thinks the company is approaching an inflection point where the underlying value of its assets will become more apparent. These include:

• Submission of the final EA report for Springpole and completion of the EA review process
• Results of a definitive feasibility study on Springpole
• Exploration success and resource growth at Duparquet
• Continued engagement with indigenous communities and the negotiation of economic participation agreements

As major gold producers seek to replenish their project pipelines in the coming years, First Mining believes it will be well-positioned as a potential acquirer or joint venture partner with an attractive set of de-risked assets in tier-one jurisdictions.

Investment Thesis for First Mining Gold

• Two multi-million ounce gold development projects in Canada, one of the top mining jurisdictions globally
• Springpole is nearing the end of the environmental assessment process, with approval potentially by late 2025
• Upcoming de-risking milestones could drive a re-rating of the stock as the underlying asset value is surfaced
• Duparquet offers exploration upside and the potential for a faster and less capital intensive development path
• First Mining's projects are scarce, strategic assets that would be difficult and time-consuming to replicate
• Major gold producers will need to acquire projects to replenish reserves, and First Mining is well positioned to capitalize on this trend

Key Takeaways

First Mining Gold offers a leveraged bet on two large, strategically located gold development assets in Canada. With the Springpole project approaching the end of a lengthy permitting process and the Duparquet project providing exploration upside, the company appears well-positioned to benefit from a projected shortage of advanced gold projects in safe jurisdictions. Upcoming de-risking milestones could help surface the underlying value in First Mining's asset base and attract acquisition interest from major producers.

Gold Market Analysis

The interview with Dan Wilton highlights several key themes in the gold sector, most notably the growing scarcity of advanced-stage development projects in attractive mining jurisdictions. As Wilton points out, there has been "an unprecedented build of capacity of gold projects in Canada in the last three or four years," but "there is no world in which a gold company could find and delineate resources on the scale that we're talking about...cheaper than you could buy them today."

This dynamic speaks to the challenges faced by major gold producers in replenishing their project pipelines. With declining reserves and grades at existing mines and limited exploration success, companies will increasingly need to look to M&A to secure their next generation of production. However, the set of available development assets is quickly being depleted, particularly in low-risk jurisdictions like Canada.

Against this backdrop, Wilton believes First Mining's Springpole and Duparquet projects are "the most strategic gold projects in the world" and that producers "want to spend [capital] in tier-one jurisdictions and that's what we have."

As CEO Dan Wilton sums up the opportunity:

"This is your universe of projects that you can advance...There's not like there is this great pile of projects that are just waiting for people to come in and buy."