First Mining Gold (TSX: FF, OTCQX: FFMGF, FRA: FMG) is an exploration company with a focus on gold. The company actively advances the Springpole Gole Project, which offers a significant upside as it could deliver up to 300,000+ ounces of gold per year in a Tier One jurisdiction (Ontario). First Mining announced on January 30 it entered into an agreement with IAMGOLD to acquire its Porcupine East property, located adjacent to the company's Duparquet Gold Project and connecting First Mining's land package to its Pitt and Duquesne projects to the East.

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Company Overview

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First Mining Gold is a company showing several benefits from project opportunities with its Springpole project to its royalty portfolio. 

The Springpole project is located in Ontario and is considered as one of the largest undeveloped open-pit gold deposits in Canada, including reserves of “;!m ounces gold at 0.97 g/t and 20.5M ounces silver at 5.2 g/t. During January 2021, a PFS evaluated a recovery gold silver from a 30,000 tonne-per-day operation, with a process that would include crushing, grinding, and flotation, with fine grinding of the flotation concentrate and agitated leaching of both the flotation concentrate and the flotation tails followed by a carbon-in-pulp recovery process to produce doré bullion. Infrastructure exists there as the company already counts 70 workers on camp, and access to the logging road and the power line is only within 40 km from the proposed plant.

First Mining announced on January 17 that it had started a district-scale exploration program close to the Springpole Gold project as part of a multi-year plan to maximize exploration potential on the +70,000-hectare property position situated in the underexplored Birch-Uchi Greenstone Belt. Springpole is surrounded by the mineral tenure that makes up the Birch-Uchi Greenstone Belt Project, which was made possible by the Pre-Feasibility Study. District rock sampling programs have produced significant gold results from numerous mineralization centers throughout the project area. Higher grade samples, such as those containing 42.4 g/t Au at the Sirius target, 34.7 g/t Au at the historic Sol D'Or Mine, 15.4 g/t Au at the Bronco target, and 15.3 g/t Au at the Canamer target, stand out.

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In the meantime, the company holds a portfolio of 20 royalties across four countries. This portfolio includes a 2.0% NSR royalty on the Pickle Crow gold project in Ontario operated by Auteco Minerals Ltd., and a 1.5% NSR royalty on the Hope Brook gold project in Newfoundland.

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First Mining also aims to consolidate its Dupaquet Gold Project by acquiring claims from IAMGOLD. Between First Mining's Duparquet Gold Project and its Pitt and Duquesne Gold Projects, the Porcupine East Property is ideally situated. The Porcupine East Property will give First Mining a total land package in Quebec of more than 5,800 hectares, boosting its land position by 1,868 hectares. A further 7 km of strategic ground along the productive Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone will also be made available, bringing First Mining's total exposure to 19 km, including a large number of secondary mineralized structures. Three former producing gold mines, one gold deposit, and 17 mineral showings are now part of the newly amalgamated property. To make this happen, First Mining will: 

• Issue 2.5 million First Mining common shares;
• Grant a 1.5% NSR royalty on the Porcupine East Property to IAMGOLD;
• Do a future payment of $500,000, in cash or First Mining shares, on the declaration of a minimum of 350,000 koz gold resource on the Porcupine East Property;
• Do a future payment of $1,000,000, in cash or First Mining shares, to be paid within 12 months of commercial production being declared at the Duparquet Gold Project, as long as any major surface infrastructure related to the Duparquet Gold Project has been constructed on the Porcupine East Property.

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Share structure/ Financials

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The company, which shared its financials for the period ending September 30, 2022, showed it had $6.5M in cash and cash equivalents, and announced $219M in total assets for no liabilities. The company had $2.6M in net loss for the period.  Last year, the company announced on December 12 it sold to Sprott Resources its 1.5% Net Smelter Return royalty on the Goldlund gold property in Ontario owned by Treasury Metals. The transaction was worth $9.5M and was expected to close on or before December 31, 2022. 

Recently, the company announced the selling of a portfolio of 19 royalties for US$5,000,000 in cash and common shares to Elemental Altus. It results in 19 uncapped royalties acquired, significantly expanding the development pipeline including:

-2.0% Net Smelter Return royalty on the development stage Pickle Crow gold project in Ontario, Canada, one of the highest grade +2 million ounce gold deposits in the world, which has previously produced over 1.5 million ounces of gold

-1.5% NSR royalty on the development stage Hope Brook gold project in Newfoundland, Canada which has previously produced approximately 0.75 million ounces of gold

-Substantially expands the Company's North American royalty presence, with an additional five royalties in Canada and the United States

-Increases global royalty land coverage by 20% (1,500km²), bringing Elemental Altus' royalty portfolio to over 75 royalties covering approximately 9,000km²

-To be funded by US$3,500,00 in cash and US$1,500,000 in equity

The company has a bigger share structure compared to other mining companies. The company issued 802M shares. Added to this data, 49M options and restricted share units are outstanding, combined with 50M warrants. It leads to a total of 901M share structure fully diluted. About the ownership, 15% is held by institutions, 2.2% is detained by First Majestic, and 3.3% is owned by the insiders. The share price is worth $0.20 (February 21, 2023), and witnessed its value moving from $0.19 to $0.325 during the last 52 weeks. 

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Bottom Line

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First Mining Gold (TSX: FF, OTCQX: FFMGF, FRA: FMG) is Advancing the Springpole Gold Project – one of the few gold development projects that can produce 300,000+ ounces per year in a Tier One jurisdiction. The stock price is traded at a significant discount compared to its peers, and could deliver some upside depending on either a bullish macro-economic situation, or more positive news coming from the company. 

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