P2 Gold Bids for Faster Federal Review to Permit Gabbs by End of 2027

• P2 Gold plans to seek accelerated federal environmental review for Gabbs under an executive order that, by management's description, covers energy and critical minerals.
• Management cites the copper Gabbs is planned to produce as the basis for coverage.
• With coverage, P2 Gold sees the potential to complete federal environmental review by the end of 2027.
• P2 Gold hopes to learn in the second quarter of 2027 whether Gabbs qualifies.
• The feasibility study (FS) and the mining plan of operations are both planned for the first quarter of 2027. 

What Has Happened

P2 Gold (TSXV: PGLD | OTCQB: PGLDF) plans to seek review of its Gabbs gold-copper project in Nevada under a federal executive order. By management's description, the order includes accelerated review timelines and extends to energy and critical minerals. The review in question is the one required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), whether Gabbs is assessed through an environmental assessment or a full environmental impact statement. If Gabbs is covered, P2 Gold sees the potential to be through NEPA by the end of 2027. The feasibility study (FS) on placing Gabbs in production is expected in the first quarter of 2027. 

President and Chief Executive Officer of P2 Gold, Joe Ovsenek, ties the bid for faster review to the copper Gabbs is planned to produce:

"And so, since we have a sizable bit of copper production, we're going to do our best to get covered by that Energy Act executive order. And if we do, that would accelerate the NEPA process and potentially we could be through NEPA by the end of '27." 

Copper is the metal P2 Gold puts forward because the order, as management describes it, brings critical minerals into its scope. 

Two Permit Dates for Gabbs

Coverage under the order is P2 Gold's route to the early end of its permitting range. Management puts that range between the end of 2027 and mid-2028, and treats the end of 2027 as an aggressive target. The aim is to have both the federal and the state permits completed by that date, if P2 Gold can make it work.

Construction at Gabbs is contingent on permitting, within a time to production of under 3 years. If permits are issued at the end of 2027, P2 Gold plans to start construction in early 2028. On the later end of the range, construction would start in the third quarter of 2028. Production from the Lucky Strike and Sullivan zones is planned for 2029 in either case. 

Once construction starts, management believes the facility can be built and the heap leach, where crushed ore is stacked on a lined pad and leached with solution, running in about a year. Oxide from Sullivan, exposed at surface, would be the first ore through the crusher. 

The Mining Plan of Operations Comes First

The ruling on coverage follows the filing of P2 Gold's mining plan of operations, the submission that starts the NEPA review. P2 Gold plans to file a detailed mining plan of operations with the Bureau of Land Management in the first quarter of 2027, the quarter it moved to with the planned increase in mill throughput. A draft of the plan has been submitted, and consultants have been selected to complete the Bureau of Land Management's baseline needs assessment reports and resources. The plan needs the FS well defined, not published. P2 Gold has also retained a contractor to prepare the NEPA document. 

Ovsenek puts a quarter on the eligibility decision:

"Well, we need to have our mining plan of operation finalized. And then we submit it, it goes up to the powers that be to make the decision. So, I would hope we would know in Q2."

Once the plan is filed, the Bureau of Land Management advises whether Gabbs needs an environmental assessment or a full environmental impact statement. P2 Gold is completing its baseline work to the standard of an environmental impact statement, the longer of the 2, in case that route applies. 

As of September 21, 2026, the water well rig had completed 3 test wells and 5 monitoring wells, whose data goes into a groundwater model in support of the mining plan of operations application. As of late October 2026, 2 more test wells were still to be drilled, and a discharge test on the planned production well was awaiting its permit. For now, management does not expect the water wells to hold up permitting. 

State Permits Run in Parallel

Coverage would speed the NEPA review, while Nevada's own permits follow a separate clock. P2 Gold needs an air pollution permit and a water pollution permit from the state and plans to file for them in parallel with the federal process. The state is to receive a copy of the mining plan of operations when it goes to the Bureau of Land Management. The state gives a 6-month timeline, but the clock stops while information requests are answered. P2 Gold's approach is to file the fullest application it can to keep the review close to 6 months. 

Ovsenek leaves open which of the 2 tracks will set the pace:

"Permitting is definitely a critical path for us. It's hard at this point in time to say whether it's going to be federal or state that will be the more critical path."

The federal process concludes with the Bureau of Land Management's Record of Decision, by management's understanding. The mining plan of operations evolves through the NEPA review as a living document up to that point. 

Engineering & Financing Timed to the Permit

P2 Gold is sequencing its 2027 work so construction can begin as soon as permits are issued. The goal for the end of 2027 is completed detailed engineering and construction financing lined up, with no downtime between permits and the start of construction. Detailed engineering on the tailings facility and the heap leach facility is expected to start before the FS is announced, because parts of the permitting need those designs. P2 Gold is already in talks with suppliers on long-lead front-end equipment, including crushers and grinding mills, and is looking into transformers, where it sees a long queue.  

The FS is targeted for mid to late February 2027 and may extend into March. A construction lead is planned to join, probably in the second or third quarter of 2027, during detailed engineering. The Nevada Division of Water Rights must also approve the change of use for P2 Gold's 2,500 acre-feet per year of water rights, from irrigation to mining, milling, and dewatering. As of September 21, 2026, that approval was anticipated in 3 to 6 months, coinciding with the projected completion of the FS. 

Broader Context

Gabbs falls under federal review because the project sits almost entirely on federal land. Apart from 1 patented claim, Gabbs lies on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and P2 Gold goes through 2 permitting regimes in parallel, federal and state. Gabbs is planned as an open-pit gold-copper mine in west-central Nevada. It lies on the Walker Lane Trend, with access by paved Highway 361 and power and water on site. 

The copper management puts forward for coverage comes from an FS plan larger than the earlier study. That FS is advancing on a nominal rate of 12 million plus tonnes (t) per year, targeting average annual production of 150,000 ounces (oz) of gold and 45 to 50 million pounds (lb) of copper. By comparison, the preliminary economic assessment, effective October 7, 2025, outlined average annual production of 109,000 oz of gold and 33 million lb of copper from 9 million t per year over a 14.2-year mine life. 

Drilling at Gabbs is coming up against the surface-disturbance limits of its current permits, and P2 Gold will see whether reclamation can free up more ground. The mining plan of operations builds in room for disturbance across the property, so drilling can range more widely once it is approved. Management expects that approval, at the soonest, by the end of 2027.  

What to Watch Next

The first half of 2027 brings the filings and the ruling that show which permitting date Gabbs is working to. Before then, the updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) for Gabbs is targeted for completion later in the fourth quarter of 2026, and it will form the basis of the FS. Drill holes completed by the end of October 2026 will be included. 

In the first quarter of 2027, P2 Gold plans to complete the FS, submit the mining plan of operations, and file for acceptance under Alternative Arrangements for NEPA. 

The ruling on coverage, hoped for in the second quarter of 2027, is the dated step that shows whether the end-2027 permit target applies. Readers can follow the schedule through the first-quarter filings, that second-quarter ruling, and the state permit filings made in parallel.  

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