First Mining Reports Initial GOLD Resource Estimate FOR the Goldlund Project IN Northwestern Ontario
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FIRST MINING REPORTS INITIAL GOLD RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE GOLDLUND
PROJECT IN NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
• Indicated pit constrained resources of 560,000 ounces of gold
• Inferred pit constrained resources of 1,750,000 ounces of gold
• 27,000 metre infill and expansion drilling campaign at Goldlund
expected to commence by end of January 2017
January 9, 2017
VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA – First Mining Finance Corp. (“First Mining” or the
“Company”) is pleased to announce the release of an initial R esource estimate for its
Goldlund Gold Project (“Goldlund” or the “Project”) located near the town of Sioux Lookout in
northwestern Ontario. The Company assumed control of the Goldlund p roject through its
amalgamation with Tamaka Gold Corporation ( “Tamaka”) on June 17, 2016. The Resource
estimate was prepared by WSP Canada Inc. (“WSP”) of Sudbury, Ontario and has an effective
date of September 20, 2016. A technical report for this initial Resource estimate for Goldlund,
prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43- 101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Projects (“NI 43-101”), will be filed by the Company on SEDAR within 45 days of the date of
this news release.
Highlights of the Goldlund Deposit
• At a 0.4 g/t Au cut -off grade, the Goldlund deposit contains pit constrained Indicated
Resources of 9.3 million tonnes at 1.87 grams per tonne or 560,000 ounces of gold.
• At a 0.4 g/t Au cut -off grade, the Goldlund deposit contains pit constrained Inferred
Resources of 40.9 million tonnes at 1.33 grams per tonne or 1,750,000 ounces of gold.
The Company expects to commence a 27,000 metre drilling campaign at Goldlund by the end
of January 2017. The goal of the drilling campaign is to upgrade and expand the Mineral
Resources at the Goldlund deposit.
Keith Neumeyer, Chairman of First Mining stated, “In comparing the Goldlund project to the
rest of our portfolio, we believe that Goldlund has the potential to become o ne of our
cornerstone projects. We believe that we have the potential to expand the Goldlund resource
with additional drilling and the project is also adjacent to existing infrastructure such as a
highway and electricity, which make this project highly compelling. Going forward I’m excited
to see how the results from our 2017 winter drilling campaign at Goldlund unfold as we seek to
further define the resource on this project.”
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Table 1: Undiluted mineral resource estimates within a US$1,350/oz Whittle pit shell
• Base case is 0.4 g/t Au cut-off grade.
• Resources stated as contained within a potentially economic limiting pit shell using a metal price of US$1,350 per ounce
of gold, mining costs of US$2.00 per tonne, processing plus G&A costs of US$15.40 per tonne, 93% recoveries and an
average pit slope of 48 degrees.
• Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty
that all or any part of the Mineral Resources will be converted into Mineral Reserves.
• Mineral resource tonnage and contained metal have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate, and numbers
may not add due to rounding.
Figure 1: Location of Resource Zones at Goldlund
1 5,510,000 1.65 290,000
2 1,640,000 1.76 90,000
4 1,660,000 2.73 150,000
8 510,000 1.79 30,000
Total Indicated 9,320,000 1.87 560,000
1 17,800,000 1.36 780,000
2 1,030,000 1.22 40,000
3 1,390,000 1.61 70,000
4 730,000 2.40 60,000
5 1,280,000 1.19 50,000
7 17,950,000 1.28 740,000
8 720,000 0.90 20,000
Total Inferred Subtotal 40,890,000 1.33 1,750,000
Indicated
Inferred
Classification Zone Tonnage Au g/t Ounces
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Table 2 below presents a sensitivity analysis of the pit constrained grade-tonnage estimate to
increasing cut-off grade:
Table 2: Sensitivity to cut-off grade
• Base case is 0.4 g/t Au cut-off grade.
• Resources stated as contained within potentially economic limiting pit shells using variable metal prices between
US$1,013 to US$1,688 per ounce of gold, mining costs of US$2.00 per tonne, processing plus G&A costs of
US$15.40 per tonne, 93% recoveries and an average pit slope of 48 degrees.
• Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty
that all or any part of the Mineral Resources will be converted into Mineral Reserves.
• Mineral resource tonnage and contained metal have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate, and
numbers may not add due to rounding.
The Goldlund deposit is situated within a land package of approximately 280 square kilometres
(28,000 hectares) referred to as the Goldlund Gold Project (the “Property”). The Property has
a strike-length of over 50 k ilometres in the Wabigoon Subprovince. Goldlund is an Archean
lode-gold project located in northwestern Ontario, approximately 60 k ilometres from the
township of Dryden. The claims that make up the land package cover the historic Goldlund
and Windward mines, which are current ly owned by First Mining through its wholly -owned
subsidiary, Tamaka. The Goldlund deposit is currently defined by surface and underground
diamond drilling, together with underground development.
The Goldlund deposit can be classed as an Archean orogenic or lode gold system, although
not the classic type of single or multiple veins of quartz-ankerite-pyrite in greenstone terranes
typical of eastern Canada. Gold mineralization at Goldlund, as currently understood, is
0.32 11,580,000 1.66 618,000
0.33 11,400,000 1.67 612,000
0.35 11,030,000 1.71 606,000
0.37 10,740,000 1.75 604,000
0.38 10,410,000 1.78 596,000
0.40 9,320,000 1.87 560,000
0.42 9,320,000 1.89 566,000
0.45 8,930,000 1.95 560,000
0.47 8,650,000 1.99 553,000
0.50 8,330,000 2.04 546,000
0.54 7,800,000 2.11 529,000
0.32 51,780,000 1.22 2,031,000
0.33 50,450,000 1.23 1,995,000
0.35 48,480,000 1.26 1,964,000
0.37 46,950,000 1.28 1,932,000
0.38 44,660,000 1.31 1,881,000
0.40 40,890,000 1.33 1,749,000
0.42 39,090,000 1.36 1,709,000
0.45 36,530,000 1.40 1,644,000
0.47 34,520,000 1.43 1,587,000
0.50 32,030,000 1.46 1,504,000
0.54 29,470,000 1.50 1,421,000
Inferred
Indicated
Category OuncesCut-off
Grade g/t Tonnage Au g/t
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contained in a stockwork system of 1 to 20 c entimetre wide quartz-carbonate-pyrite veinlets
hosted by a parallel set of northeast striking, steeply dipping granodiorite and rhyolite porphyry
dikes 15 to 60 metres in width in basaltic volcanic rocks. The vein stockworks are restricted to
the more brittle granodiorite dikes and rapidly diminish in thickness and frequency outward
from the granodiorite-basalt contact. The gold-bearing, stockworked granodiorite dikes vary in
thickness from 14 to 60 metres in width, dip 80° to the southeast and can be traced over a 3
kilometre strike length, whereas in the vertical, the dikes have been explored in drillholes to a
depth of 400 metres. The dikes themselves occur at outcrop over an 18 kilometre strike length
and will be the subject of future exploration in the Goldlund property package.
First Mining compiled all the data used in completing the Mineral Resource from original
source drillhole documents and from plan and section originals and copies. Goldlund has been
tested by 1,816 historic drillholes and underground shafts, ramps and drifts . However, only
drillholes within the areas of interest and with exploration potential were included in the
database. In addition to the drillhole database, a dataset containing underground wall
sampling intervals was included. Wall sampling was conducted as continuous samples on
both walls and at times at chest and back heights. The wall sampling data was converted into
drillhole format to supplement the dataset.
All resource estimations were conducted using Surpac version 6.6.
Based on historical data and samples collected by First Mining, a specific gravity of 2.81 was
assigned to the volcanics and a specific gravity of 2.72 was assigned to the mineralized dikes.
Three-dimensional wireframe models of mineralization were developed for the seven zones
based on: geology, alteration, a gold cut -off of greater than 0.2 g/t and a minimum 2 metre
horizontal width. Areas of drift development in mi neralization were also created. Sectional
interpretations were digitized in Datamine Studio software, and these interpretations were
linked with tag strings and triangulated to build the three- dimensional solids by First Mining.
WSP imported the Datamine solid files into Surpac for use.
The mineralized zones are generally contiguous , however, due to several transverse faults
throughout the Project, mineralization may often be terminated or shifted along these planes in
one or more directions.
The seven zones (Zones 1 through 8, no Zone 6), which are part of the Mineral Resource, were
sampled by a total of 60,844 drillhole intervals and 279 wall sample intervals.
Individual block models were established in Surpac for all seven zones using one parent model
as the origin.
Drillhole spacing varies with the majority of the drilling tightly spaced from 30 metres. A block
size of 10 x 10 x 10 m etres was selected in order to accommodate the more closely spaced
drilling and the narrow nature of the mineralization.
Sub-celling of the block model on a 1 x 1 x 1 allows the parent block to be split once in each
direction to more accurately fill the volume of the wireframes, thus more accurately estimate
the tonnes in the resource.
The interpolations of the seven zones were completed using the estimation methods: nearest
neighbour (NN), inverse distance squared (ID2) and ordinary kriging (OK). The estimations
were designed for four passes. In each pass, a minimum and maximum number of samples
were required as well as a maximum number of samples from a borehole in order to satisfy the
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estimation criteria.
A pit shell was generated using the Lerch- Grossman (LG) algorithm in Whittle. Table 3 is a
summary of the parameters used in the pit optimization process. WSP has concluded that the
optimized pit shell suggests a resource using a 0.4 g/t cut-off and a US$1,350 gold price with a
5.8 strip ratio would be acceptable.
Table 3: Pit optimization parameters for Goldlund
The Goldlund database has gone through several validations including 10% of the total
database extant prior to 2010. The error rate of the initial dataset was found to exceed 1%.
The entire dataset was subsequently examined and corrected and a second review returned
no errors.
A total of 100% of the assay data received between 2011 and 2014 were checked against the
digital assay certificates with no discrepancies found. The same is true of collar coordinates,
survey data, and lithology intervals.
The drillhole data database underwent a final validation during loading into Surpac 6.6. Any
errors identified in the routine were checked against the original logs and corrected.
From 2011 to 2014 a total of thirty one surface drillhole collars were confirmed by the author
using a Garmin hand-held GPS unit having an accepted resolution of ±5 metres. An additional
10 collar locations were verified by a different QP in 2013 using a similar GPS unit.
In 2010 and 2013 a total of thirty five samples of mineralized drill core were collected and
delivered by the author to Actlabs and Accurassy in Thunder Bay for preparation and analysis.
The check samples reproduced the grades in the Goldlund drillholes as accurately as would be
expected in an Archean lode gold deposit.
Pulps from a further thirty mineralized intervals in the 2013 -2014 drill program were collected
and delivered by WSP to ALS Minerals in Sudbury, Ontario for analysis for gold using a 50
gram aliquot in a FA/AA finish. In addition a QC test was performed on each sample to test the
pulp fineness.
WSP concluded the sampling practices applied at Goldlund meet current industry standards
and that the sample database provided is suitable to support the resource estimation.
Gold Price US$/troy Ounce 1,350
Mining Cost (open pit) US$/tonne of material 2.00
Processing cost US$/tonne of material 12.90
G&A Costs US$/tonne of material 2.50
Metallurgical Recovery Percent 93%
Pit Slope Degrees 48
Item Unit Amount
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QUALIFIED PERSONS
Dr. Chris Osterman, P.Geo. CEO of First Mining is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101
and has reviewed and accepts responsibility for the technical information contained within this
press release. Mr. Todd McCracken, P.Geo, Manager with WSP Canada Inc., and the author
of the Technical Report, is an independent “qualified person” within the meaning of NI 43-101.
Neither Todd McCracken of WSP Canada Inc. nor any associates employed in the preparation
of the Technical Report ("Consultants") have an y beneficial interest in First Mining . These
Consultants are not insiders, associa tes, or affiliates of First Mining . The res ults of this
Technical Report are not dependent upon any prior agreements concerning the conclusions to
be reached, nor are there any undisclosed understandings concerning any future business
dealings between First Mining and the Consultants. The Consultants are paid a fee for their
work in accordance with normal professional consulting practices.
ABOUT FIRST MINING FINANCE CORP.
First Mining is a mineral property holding company whose principal business activity is to
acquire high quality mineral assets with a focus in the Americas. The Company currently holds
a portfolio of 25 mineral assets in Canada, Mexico and the United States with a focus on gold.
Ultimately, the goal is to continue to increase its portfolio of mineral assets through acquisitions
that are expected to be comprised of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc and nickel.
For further information, please contact Patrick Donnelly, President at 604-639-8854, or Derek
Iwanaka, Vice President, Investor Relations at 604- 639-8824, or visit our websi te at
www.firstminingfinance.com.
ON BEHALF OF FIRST MINING FINANCE CORP.
“Keith Neumeyer”
Keith Neumeyer
Chairman
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release includes certain "forward- looking information” and "forward- looking
statements”(collectively "forward- looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable
Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included
herein, without limitation, statements relating the future operating or financial performance of
the Company, are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identifi ed by words such as
“expects”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “potential”, “possible”, and similar
expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results “will”, “may”, “could”, or “should”
occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to, among other
things: commencement of expansion drilling at the Goldlund project; the potential results of
such drilling; any upgrade to, o r expansion of, the resources on the Goldlund project ; and the
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exploration potential and upside of the Goldlund project. Actual future results may differ
materially. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and
actual results and future events could differ materially from those antic ipated in such
statements. Forward- looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the
date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates
that, while considered reasonable by the respective parties, are inherently subject to significant
business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many
factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to
be materially different from the r esults, performance or achievements that are or may be
expressed or implied by such forward- looking statements and the parties have made
assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include,
without limitation, management’s discretion to refocus its exploration efforts; fluctuations in the
spot and forward price of gold, silver, base metals or certain other commodities; fluctuations in
the currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar); changes in national
and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic
developments; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration,
development and mining (including environmental hazards, industri al accidents, unusual or
unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding); the presence of laws and regulations
that may impose restrictions on mining; employee relations; relationships with and claims by
local communities and indigenous populations; availability and increasing costs associated with
mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of miner al exploration and development; and
title to properties. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements
and information contained in this news release concerning these times. Except as required by
law, First Mining does not assume any obligation to update the forward- looking statements of
beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is
defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.