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Published: November 9, 2026 |
Freeman Gold said it has submitted a FAST-41 initiation notice (FIN) to the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council requesting that its Lemhi Gold Project in Lemhi County, Idaho, be designated a covered project under Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41).
“Submitting our FAST-41 application is the step we said we would take when we delivered the 2026 feasibility study, and it seeks the fullest form of support the FAST-41 program offers,” said Bassam Moubarak, chief executive officer and director of Freeman.
“Lemhi has the scale, economics, and groundwork to warrant it. Covered status would give Lemhi a public, coordinated timetable across the federal agencies involved, bringing greater certainty for our shareholders, our future financing partners, and the Lemhi County community,” added Moubarak.
We look forward to working with the Permitting Council and our agency partners to advance Lemhi responsibly and efficiently toward a construction decision,” concluded Moubarak.
The FAST-41 process is designed to bring timeliness, predictability, and transparency to federal environmental reviews of large, complex infrastructure projects. If designated a covered project, Lemhi’s federal reviews and authorizations would be tracked on the public Federal permitting dashboard against a coordinated, comprehensive permitting timetable, with oversight from the Permitting Council.
The submission delivers on the permitting strategy after completing the 2026 feasibility study. It also builds on the project’s environmental baseline program initiated in Q3 2026, with water and air, soil and geochemistry, and land use and socioeconomic studies now underway with GSI Environmental Inc. as lead permitting consultant.
Covered projects carry FAST-41’s statutory accountability provisions, including:
• Coordinated Permitting Schedule
A coordinated project plan and permitting timetable establishing agency responsibilities, milestones, and target completion dates.
• Agency Accountability
Public reporting of permitting progress and schedule changes. Agencies that fail to meet established dates may be deemed to be in “nonconformance” and would be subject to FAST-41’s statutory reporting and oversight provisions, including quarterly status and compliance reporting to Congress.
• Interagency Dispute Resolution
The Permitting Council provides a dispute resolution process to help resolve disagreements among agencies.
IDAHO’S FEDERAL-STATE PERMITTING COORDINATION FRAMEWORK
On February 19, 2026, Idaho and the Permitting Council signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to align state and federal permitting timelines, improve transparency and reduce duplicative reviews for priority infrastructure projects, including mining. Under the agreement, Idaho will coordinate with federal agencies and the Permitting Council, and state permitting actions will be tracked on the Federal permitting dashboard alongside federal reviews and authorizations.
For Lemhi, this framework is intended to enable state and federal agencies to conduct reviews concurrently, align permitting milestones and identify potential conflicts or delays earlier in the process. With FAST-41 covered-project status, the framework would integrate state permitting activities with the federal permitting timetable, providing a coordinated view of state and federal requirements, agency responsibilities and progress toward permitting milestones.
NEXT STEPS
The lead federal agency will review the FIN to confirm that it is complete and to determine whether the project meets the definition of a FAST-41 covered project. If it does, the project will be posted to the Federal permitting dashboard, and a coordinated project plan, including a comprehensive permitting timetable, will be developed within 60 days of posting.
In parallel, Freeman will continue its baseline characterization programs, which are designed to support a mine plan of operations and the NEPA review of the project. The company expects to submit its MPO in December 2026.
Freeman Gold is a Canadian-listed gold development company focused on advancing its 100 percent owned Lemhi Project in Lemhi County, Idaho. The company is led by a management team and board with experience in mine development, project financing, and value creation in the mining sector. Freeman is advancing permitting and baseline characterization at the project as a key step in its strategy to move Lemhi toward development and production.
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