Fortitude Gold obtains all permits for Scarlet South mine in US
Fortitude Gold has obtained all necessary permits for the Scarlet South project in Nevada, USA, allowing the company to build and operate the Scarlet South open-pit gold mine.
Approvals were granted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection.
The new mine will be developed on the Isabella Pearl property in Mineral County, Nevada.
The Scarlet South open pit project, with its heap leach field and adsorption, desorption and recovery processing plant, is located approximately 500 meters northwest of the company’s active Isabella Pearl mine.
Fortitude Gold plans to begin mining at Scarlet South in the next few weeks and further expand its gold production capacity in Nevada.
The company plans to carry out the Pearl Deep and Scarlet South projects simultaneously.
This strategy will allow Fortitude Gold to rotate equipment and crews between the two facilities, increasing efficiency while utilizing existing co-processing infrastructure.
The Scarlet South mineralization will be transported a short distance from the Isabella Pearl facilities, keeping capital costs low and supporting a faster construction schedule.
It is expected to be the second open-pit gold mine on the Isabella Pearl property, which is home to the 10km mineralized train and many other exploration targets.
With the addition of Scarlet South, Fortitude Gold’s permitted mine portfolio includes the producing Isabella Pearl mine and the newly permitted County Line mine.
All three mines are planned to come into production in the first quarter of 2026 (first quarter of 2026).
Jason Reid, CEO and president of Fortitude Gold, said: “It is refreshing to see the Trump Administration not only permitting Scarlet South and County Line, but also refocusing their attention on the FAST-41 program with much-needed transparency to help expedite mining permits, many of which have been delayed by the Biden-era permit backlog.
“With the Scarlet South and County Line permits in hand, we expect to mine from three different mining locations in the first quarter of 2026, with all mineralization transported and processed to our Isabella Pearl facility. Our Golden Mile project is included in the BLM’s FAST-41 dashboard, which helps stakeholders track the permitting process.”
Fortitude Gold has not yet released a reserve estimate for Scarlet South but expects mining to continue through the 2026 calendar year.
The company adds that both Scarlet South and Scarlet North could be expanded with additional exploration, which had previously been slowed by permit backlogs under the previous administration.
