Perpetua Resources is no longer a permit story. The Export-Import Bank of the United States board unanimously approved a nearly three billion senior secured loan for the Stibnite Gold Project in May, and management is now working through definitive documents ahead of a final investment decision later this year. That sequence is the entire equity. The market is no longer asking whether Idaho can host a modern gold and antimony mine. It is asking whether a closed federal loan and an unstayed construction start arrive before cash burn and remaining lawsuits reprice the option.
The second-quarter print shows how expensive the transition already is. Exploration and pre-development expense jumped to $104 million in the quarter as Burntlog Route work, camp installation, and engineering ramped. Unrestricted cash still sat at $574 million at mid-year, which is enough to keep the site moving but not enough to build the mine without the EXIM facility. The loan remains unclosed. Ninth Circuit review of the denied injunction is still pending. Those two facts are why a developer with a permitted reserve and a board-approved federal credit still trades like an execution option rather than a funded builder.
Idaho District Court denied a preliminary injunction in May and the Ninth Circuit refused an emergency stay in June, which keeps early works alive. The open question for the next several months is simple. Does EXIM documentation close on terms that fund the $2.6 billion construction budget, or does the file stall while spend continues?