White Gold (TSX-V:WGO) has delivered a ‘positive’ preliminary economic assessment (PEA) with a C$1.9 billion ($1.93 billion) post-tax net present value with an internal rate of return of 38% for its namesake project in Canada.
The maiden PEA also outlines a 9.4-year mine life, with an average annual gold production of 188,000 ounces, average 223,000 ounces over the first five years, from a conventional open-pit operation and 12,000-tonne-per-day mill.
CEO David D’Onofrio says few gold projects anywhere offer this combination of scale, potential returns, favourable jurisdiction, and upside.
“Even more exciting is the growth potential of the White Gold Project based on previous and ongoing drilling not included in the PEA, future drilling, and the substantial potential of our under-explored, truly-district-scale land package within the White Gold District, which has seen significant recent investment by prominent mine builders further advancing it towards becoming a leading Canadian mining camp,” D’Onofrio notes.
President Donovan Pollitt adds that underground mining was not included in this maiden PEA but remains a separate opportunity that will be examined as deeper drilling advances the ‘higher-grade’ resource at the Golden Saddle target.
“Additional gold ounces would add to the already very positive potential economics of the project,” Pollitt says.
“The work ahead of us, including expansion drilling on known zones, greenfield target drilling, metallurgical optimisation, updated resource estimation, and the next stage of economic study, is precisely the kind of work that increases value per share over time.”
The PEA includes four deposits — Golden Saddle, Arc, Ryan’s Surprise, and VG — and only draws on 60% of the company’s current resource estimate. The resource totals 35.2 million tonnes (Mt) @ 1.53 grams per tonne gold (Au) for 1.73 million ounces in the indicated category and 32.3Mt @ 1.22g/t Au for 1.26 million ounces.
With the PEA complete, White Gold’s near-term priorities include 15,000–20,000m of drilling which is currently underway. Drilling is focused on expanding known zones, with three drill rigs currently active with an aim of continuing to increase total resources.
White Gold will also test promising zones identified by soil geochemistry and geophysics, as well as additional metallurgical testwork and begin environmental baseline data.
White Gold owns a portfolio of 15,364 quartz claims across 21 properties covering 305,102 hectares, representing 40% of the Yukon’s emerging White Gold District.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: White Gold
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