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REGIONAL NEWS - U.S. & CANADA 10 E&MJ; • MARCH 2017 www.e-mj.com indicated resource to 8 million oz, with another 1-million-oz inferred resource. "Côté Gold is one of Canada's largest undeveloped gold deposits, so securing positive decisions on both the federal and provincial environmental assessments for the project is a major regulatory milestone that confirms we can build and operate an environmentally sustainable mine that aligns with our 'Zero Harm' goals." Iamgold is conducting ongoing ex- ploration within the more than 500-km 2 property surrounding the Côté gold depos- it, with the objective of developing and assessing targets that could further max- imize its flexibility with respect to future development decisions. Seabridge to Acquire Snowstorm Project Seabridge Gold has agreed to purchase a 100% interest in the Snowstorm pro- ject from Paulson Gold Holdings LP. The Snowstorm project consists of 31 square miles of land holdings strategically locat- ed at the projected intersection of three gold trends in northern Nevada: the Carlin Trend, the Getchell Trend and the North- ern Nevada Rift Zone. Paulson will receive 700,000 Seabridge common shares; 500,000 common share purchase warrants exercisable for four years at $15.65 per share; a conditional cash payment of $2.5 million if exploration activities at Snowstorm result in defining a minimum of 5 million ounces (oz) of gold resources compliant with National Instru- ment 43-101; and a further cash payment of $5 million on the delineation of an addi- tional 5 million oz of gold resources. Paulson has agreed to a 60-day exclu- sivity and non-solicitation period to allow the parties to complete further review and settle a definitive agreement. Canaccord Genuity Corp. acted as financial advisor to Paulson on this transaction. The Snowstorm property consists of 700 mining claims and 5,800 acres of fee lands carefully assembled in a private company over a 15-year period and ex- plored over the past 10 years. Geological and geochemical evaluations of Snow- storm have documented hydrothermal alteration zones consistent with large northern Nevada deposit types. Geophys- ical surveys have confirmed the structural settings, which host large Northern Ne- vada deposit types. Limited drilling has demonstrated that some of the target ar- eas are at a depth amenable to surface exploration and resource delineation. Suncor Offers Update on Fort Hills The Fort Hills project was more than 76% complete at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, Suncor reported, with the remaining work to be based at the site. Activity included completion of the secondary extraction module program. Construction in secondary extraction and utilities has achieved peak activity and continues to focus on productivity and achieving critical milestones. Early-works sustaining activities that will support the execution of the mine and tailings plan following the commencement of produc- tion also continued in the fourth quarter. The company has assessed the impact of the construction delay due to the for- est fires in the second quarter of 2016, and other construction changes associated with the complexity and scale of secondary extraction detailed design development, and now estimates the overall cost of the Fort Hills project to be between $16.5 bil- lion and $17 billion. Suncor has increased the nameplate capacity to 194,000 bar- rels per day (bbls/d) after optimization and technical review. First oil continues to re- main on track for late 2017. "Bringing Fort Hills to first oil by the end of this year continues to be a top stra- tegic priority for us," said Steve Williams, president and CEO, Suncor. "With the in- creased capacity of Fort Hills, we expect to achieve the capital intensity targets established at the time we sanctioned the Fort Hills project in 2013." Zinc One to Acquire Forrester Metals Zinc One Resources Inc. and Forrester Met- als Inc. announced they have entered into an agreement where Zinc One will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Forrester and complete a private placement financing of $10 million. "We believe that this transaction is a tremendous step in moving Zinc One to- ward becoming a zinc producer," said Jim Walchuck, CEO of Zinc One. "Although there are other quality assets in Forrest- er, it is the high-grade zinc Bongara and Charlotte Bongara properties that will be- come the flagship project of Zinc One." Martin Walter, president of Forrest- er, said, "Combining Forrester's projects with Zinc One's strong corporate finance team along with the proposed financing ensures further development at the Bon- gara zinc project and also offers Forrester shareholders a nice premium to the cur- rent share price." The transaction still requires approv- al by Forrester shareholders, and, if re- quired, by Zinc One shareholders as well. Zinc One is a Vancouver-based com- pany focused on the acquisition, explora- tion and development of prospective and advanced zinc projects. Forrester Metals is a Canadian mining company focused on the exploration and development of Peru's mineral potential. It has six proj- ects including two zinc properties, Azu- lcocha West and the recently acquired Bongará zinc mine and the Charlotte Bongará zinc project. Highland Launches Drilling Program at Copperwood Highland Copper Co. initiated a drilling program at its Copperwood project in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S. This program is designed to upgrade the cur- rent inferred resources at the eastern sec- tion of the Copperwood copper-silver de- posit, obtain metallurgical samples and carry out further geotechnical studies to refine a mining plan. Highland Copper plans to drill up to 35 confirmatory holes totaling about 6,800 meters of core. Twelve drill holes are located in Section 5 of Go- gebic County, at the westernmost edge of the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness Park, west of County Road 519. The company expects to complete this by the end of March. To ensure minimum impact to the land surface during the drilling program and to provide protections to natural re- sources to the greatest extent possible, several operating provisions have been put into action, including operating only on frozen ground, using tracked drill rigs on existing roads for access to drill hole locations and avoid cutting trees when feasible. The vast majority of the park, including the Presque Isle River water- shed, will remain unaffected by this ex- ploration program. The company's em- ployees and drill contractors are working with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' (MDNR) Parks and Recreation Division to monitor activities and ensure compliance with the permit.