Which US presidential candidate does gold prefer?
Gold loves chaos and should be hitting new highs, especially with inflation coming down and with it, two rate cuts likely before year’s end.
Integra Resources (TSXV: ITR) has published an initial preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Wildcat and Mountain View projects located in western Nevada, demonstrating the potential for a low-cost, high-margin heap leach gold-silver operation.
Together, the two projects have an after-tax net present value (at 5% discount) of $309.6 million and a 36.9% internal rate of return, using base case metal prices of $1,700/oz gold and $21.50/oz silver. At current metal prices ($1,920/oz gold and $22.00/oz silver, as of June 27), the NPV and IRR would be $442.1 million and 49.7%, respectively.
The Wildcat and Mountain View projects are expected to generate combined annual production of 94,000 oz. of gold-equivalent (AuEq) from year 1-5, with average annual production of 80,000 oz. AuEq over the 13 year mine life. Life-of-mine payable metals would total 1.04 million oz. AuEq.
The PEA outlines a phased development approach that sees production beginning at Wildcat, with initial capex of $115 million for the first year, and then expanding production to Mountain View in year 8. The phased development approach allows the company to use only one fleet for mining and processing equipment, resulting in significantly reduced total capital requirements.
According to Integra, the average annual production of Wildcat and Mountain View plus the DeLamar project, on a combined basis, is expected to exceed 200,000 oz. AuEq, representing one of the largest heap leach production profiles among precious metal developers in the Great Basin area.
A 2022 pre-feasibility study for the DeLamar project, located in southwestern Idaho, outlined a base case after-tax NPV (at 5% discount) of $314 million and a 33% IRR.
“The PEA strengthens Integra’s position in the Great Basin as a multi-asset developer with a pathway to become a 200,000 ounce per year gold-silver producer,” Integra CEO Jason Kosec said in a statement. To date, the company has successfully defined a large resource base at Wildcat and Mountain View despite being constrained to 5 acres of surface disturbance.”
Published along with the PEA is an updated mineral resource estimate for the Wildcat and Mountain View projects, which displayed growth of 23% and 49%, respectively, compared to the previous estimates dated November 2020.
The Wildcat project now contains 829,000 oz. AuEq of measured and indicated (M&I) resources (59.87 million tonnes at 0.39 g/t gold and 3.34 g/t silver) and 235,000 oz. AuEq of inferred resources (22.45 million tonnes at 0.29 g/t gold and 2.74 g/t silver).
At Mountain View, there are 622,000 oz. AuEq in M&I resources (28.75 million tonnes at 0.63 g/t gold and 3.68 g/t silver) and 63,000 oz. AuEq inferred (4.15 million tonnes at 0.45 g/t gold and 1.83 g/t silver).
“The company has submitted an exploration plan of operations for both Wildcat and Mountain View to the Bureau of Land Management which, when received, will allow for significantly increased resource expansion drilling through planned step-out drill holes,” Kosec said.
“The PEA is the first major milestone following the successful merger of Integra and Millennial Precious Metals. The next major catalysts for the company includes an updated resource estimate for the DeLamar project that will incorporate gold-silver mineralized stockpile material drilled during the 2022-2023 winter field season, as well as the filing of the DeLamar mine plan of operations in Q4 of this year,” executive chairman George Salamis added.
Shares of Integra Resources shot up by 11.2% by 12:20 p.m. ET Wednesday following the PEA release. The company has a market capitalization of C$95.4 million ($72m).
