Blossom Gold Announces the Reopening of Portal #2 Underway at Rosebud
TORONTO, July 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blossom Gold Inc. (“Blossom” or the “Company”) (TSX: BGAU) is pleased to announce that the reopening of Portal #2 at its Rosebud Project in Pershing County, Nevada, is underway. Blossom’s mining contractor, Small Mine Development LLC (“SMD”), began mobilizing on schedule July 7 and is now executing earthworks to reestablish access to the portal opening. It is anticipated that earthworks will be complete and Portal #2 opened the week of July 20. Rehabilitation will be conducted to allow safe access to drill and blast the concrete plug established during closure and reclamation of the portal. Following removal of the plug, SMD will have full access to Decline #2 and will begin the rehabilitation required to establish drill bays for underground, infill drilling of the Rosebud open-pit resource, planned to commence in the fourth quarter of 2026.
"Opening the underground has been a fundamental milestone in Blossom’s plans for Rosebud, allowing us the do the resource drilling we would not have been able to achieve from surface drilling under the five acre constraint of our Notice of Intent (“NOI”)." said Rick Winters, Blossom's CEO. "This work is authorized under a modification to the Federal NOI received in March as well as a new State of Nevada temporary water pollution control permit (“WPCP”), demonstrating the ability of Blossom’s permitting team and quality of our State and Federal regulators in understanding, assessing and approving our plans for the underground at Rosebud. We will continue permitting to allow us to make best use of our existing underground infrastructure and resources.”
Graden Colby, Blossom’s COO commented, “Small Mine Development is one of the best underground, mining contractors in the business for what we need at Rosebud. We look forward to working with SMD to complete the planned rehabilitation of Decline #2. Their work will also include drill bay development. We expect SMD will conduct bulk sampling for continued metallurgical testing and heap leach optimization. We continue to evaluate our higher-grade underground resources. SMD’s involvement enhances our execution planning and tightens our costing for development and bulk sampling. Of course, the most important near-term result is providing critical access by Q4 to test open-pit resource expansion and infill target potential more effectively than surface drilling alone and keep us on schedule for an updated Mineral Resource Estimate in the first quarter of 2027 to support a feasibility study and continued permitting for operations."
Portal #2 provides access to the historic workings of the former Rosebud underground mine, which operated from 1997 through 2000. Approximately 3,000 feet (915 meters) of rehabilitation in Decline #2 is planned for completion in late October. Concurrent with and following rehabilitation, drill bays will be established in accordance with the underground, infill drilling program currently under design to upgrade the open-pit resource. Underground drillers have been identified and are being assessed for the underground drilling contract. Blossom continues to evaluate the potential for higher grade underground resources, which will benefit directly from the work rehabilitation of Decline #2 makes possible.
About Small Mine Development
Small Mine Development, LLC is focused on mechanized, hard rock, underground mining in the United States. SMD has a significant presence in Northern Nevada, and the Rosebud Project is located two hours from SMD’s central warehouse and yard. SMD has a proven history of successful projects including mine rehabilitation, development, and production mining. SMD will be providing much of the mine infrastructure including power generation and distribution, along with mobile equipment, and skilled miners to complete the scope of work. Keith Jones, Small Mine Development’s General Manager stated, “We are pleased to be reopening Rosebud Decline #2 and look forward to advancing the Project with the capable, motivated folks that are Blossom Gold. This is an exciting time for all of us in the mining industry."
About Blossom Gold Inc.
Blossom is a Canadian-based precious metals exploration and development company that recently began trading on the TSX under the symbol BGAU. Blossom acquired the Rosebud Project in connection with the TSX-listing and will be focused on the exploration and development of the project. The Rosebud Project includes the former Rosebud Mine, where mining was conducted from 1997 through 2000 by the Rosebud Mining Company, a Newmont-Hecla joint venture, using underground mining methods where the mine operated at a cut-off grade of approximately 0.2 opt Au (6.8 g/t Au), when gold prices ranged from US$250 to US$350/oz; with mined material truck-hauled approximately 120 miles to an existing Newmont oxide mill for processing.
The current vision for the Rosebud Project is to evaluate the remaining higher-grade mineralization and the surrounding larger volume of lower grade mineralization as a potential open pit mining operation with on-site, heap-leach processing and recovery of gold and silver. The Rosebud Project currently hosts an Inferred Mineral Resource of 70.755 million tons grading 0.62gAu/t (0.018opt Au) and 6.49gAg/t (0.189opt Ag) for 1.28 million ounces of gold and 13.4 million ounces of silver. The mineral resource estimate was open pit constrained using long term gold and silver prices of US$2,500 and US$35 per ounce respectively. The deposit is open in all directions.
Further details on Blossom and the Rosebud Project, including the technical report titled “Mineral Resource Estimate for the Rosebud Property, Pershing County, NV, USA” by Northern Lights Mining LLC, with a report date of December 17, 2025 and an effective date of November 1, 2025, can be found under the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com and the Company’s website at www.blossomgold.com.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dino Titaro, P.Geo., a Director of Blossom who is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
For further information, please contact:
Brandon Throop
Vice President, Corporate Development & Investor Relations
Direct: 1-647-646-7824
Email: bthroop@blossomgold.com
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this news release constitute forward-looking information, including but not limited to statements regarding the Company’s plans, prospects and business strategies, including its senior leadership team, its core drilling program and advancing the Rosebud Project, permitting and commencing construction, and its vision regarding the Rosebud Project. Terminology such as “plan”, “expect”, “schedule”, “estimate”, “forecast”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “may” or “will” and similar expressions identify forward-looking information. By identifying such information in this manner, Blossom is alerting the reader that such information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Blossom to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information. In addition, in connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Blossom has made certain assumptions. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: the inability of Blossom to achieve any one or more of the key catalysts on the timeline expected, or at all, and any changes in the development of the business of Blossom, as well as those risk factors more generally set out in Blossom’s AIF, which is available under Blossom’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein. Although Blossom believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is provided as of the date of this news release, and Blossom does not undertake to update any forward-looking information that is contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws.
