Jon Cherry Email & Phone Number

Donnelly, Idaho, Us

As Perpetua’s President and CEO, I am responsible for steering the Stibnite Gold Project in central Idaho through the final phases of permitting, while readying the company for development and operations. In addition to advancing construction readiness, I am ultimately charged with bringing online one of the highest-grade, lowest-cost open pit gold deposits the United States, supplying the sole domestically-mined source of the critical mineral antimony, and actualizing the company’s vision to clean up the abandoned Stibnite mine site.

Hoyt Lakes, Mn, Us

Senior Executive responsible for the overall leadership, performance and reputation of the dual listed and publicly traded (TSX and NYSE, market cap $250-$450 million) mining company located in Minnesota. I served as Chairman of the Board of Directors as well as an executive director on the PolyMet board of directors chairing the finance and HSE committees as well as serving on the technical steering committee. Following a failed Environmental Impact Statement, I was hired to turn the company around which resulted in obtaining both the social and regulatory license to build the first copper-nickel-PGM mine in Minnesota. The supplemental EIS received the highest rating the EPA has given to a mining project. During my tenure the company raised over $400 million in financing for the project with negotiations for over $900 million in construction finance. Day to day responsibilities include financing, financial reporting, EIS and permitting, engineering, investor relations and building and maintaining community support and relationships with local, state and federal elected officials as well as various federal and state regulatory agencies including EPA, MSHA, USACE, USFS, BLM, DNR and PCA.

Superior, Arizona, Us

In this role I directed the environmental and governmental affairs as well as legal matters associated with the $6 billion Resolution Copper project that was a 55/45 joint venture project between Rio Tinto and BHP. I also served as the co-lead for the joint steering committee between the two companies as well as the acting project director where I was accountable for over 350 employees and ongoing construction of a $350 million 6500’ deep shaft. A notable aspect of the role was the advancement of a Congressional land exchange where I spent extensive time with US Senators and Congressmen including providing oral testimony at hearings in both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate.

Champion, Michigan, Us

As the General Manager of Eagle, I was responsible for the overall regional exploration, design, permitting and initial $500 million construction of the underground mining project located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Prior to successfully permitting the project, I was selected to a Governor’s panel that wrote the new non-ferrous mining law and rules for the state. In addition to permitting and constructing the only nickel mine in the US, my team and I turned an openly hostile community opposed to mining into one of great support and respect. Significant effort on the project was spent earning the social and regulatory license to operate including building relationships and interfacing with key elected officials as well as federal and state regulators from EPA, MSHA, USACE, DEQ and DNR.

At Kennecott I was accountable for completing and implementing a remedial investigation and feasibility study associated with a $400 million remediation program. The remediation program was a joint agreement and consent decree between Kennecott, the State of Utah and the EPA to avoid a CERCLA/Superfund listing. Important areas of focus and success included designing and installing source control and contaminated ground water capture and treatment systems. In this role notable time was spent interfacing with regulatory authorities from EPA and the State of Utah during the design, implementation and reporting phases of the project.

As a permitting and compliance engineer for Kennecott my responsibilities included designing, negotiating and implementing federal and state air, water, wetlands, mining and reclamation permits and financial assurances associated with the Bingham Canyon Mine, Copperton Concentrator, Noranda and flash smelters, copper and pgm refinery, 10,000 acre tailings facility, coal fired power plant, water treatment plant and surface water discharges into the Great Salt Lake.

During the six year period of these roles, I served as the facility environmental engineer at all of the facilities within Kennecott including the mine, mills, tailings, coal fired power plant, two smelters and a refinery. Responsibilities included training, hazardous waste management, phase I and phase II site investigations, sampling, compliance inspections and environmental review of new projects associated with each facility.

In this role as an engineering intern, I was responsible for various water sample collection and reporting, data analysis, piezometric head measurement and reporting for the tailings dam and various reclamation designs and implementation.