Project developer Integra Resources has announced promising results from the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Wildcat and Mountain View projects, in Nevada’s Great Basin – the first major milestone following the successful merger of Integra and Millennial Precious Metals.

Wildcat and Mountain View will generate combined production of 94 000 gold-equivalent ounces a year, in the first five years, with average output of 80 000 oz/y gold-equivalent ounces over the 13-year mine life.

All-in sustaining costs are estimated to be $973/oz gold-equivalent ounces on a co-product basis.

The PEA outlines a profitable heap leach operation with a phased development approach that sees production beginning at Wildcat and expanding to Mountain View in year eight. A phased development approach allows the company to use one fleet for mining and processing equipment, resulting in significantly reduced total capital requirements.

In total, the 30 000 t/d heap leach operation at Wildcat and 16 000 t/d heap leach operation at Mountain View are expected to process 99.5-million tonnes of mineralised material and produce 1.04-million ounces of gold equivalent over 13 years.

The study calculated an aftertax net present value (NPV), using a 5% discount, of $309.6-million and a 36.9% internal rate of return (IRR) using base case prices of $1 700/oz of gold and $21.5/oz of silver.

The PEA results complement the 2022 prefeasibility study for the DeLamar project, in Idaho, which demonstrated a base case after-tax NPV of $314-million and a 33% after-tax 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,” said CEO and director Jason Kosec.

Executive chairperson George Salamis added that the next major catalyst for Integra would be an updated resource estimate for DeLamar that would incorporate gold/silver mineralised stockpile material drilled during the 2022/23 winter field season, as well as filing the DeLamar mine plan of operations in the fourth quarter.

“The mine plan of operations represents a major milestone for the project and a significant step towards permitting and derisking the DeLamar project,” he said.