The feasibility study for the Grassy Mountain gold project, in eastern Oregon, has outlined an underground mining operation with strong net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) results, as well as a low initial capital and low all-in sustaining costs (AISC).
At a base case gold price of $1 472/oz, the $97.5-million Grassy Mountain project yields an aftertax NPV of $105-million and an IRR of 26%, increasing to $195-million and 40.9% at a gold price of $1 900/oz.
Over an initial eight-year mine life, Grassy Mountain will produce 362 000 oz of gold and 425 000 oz of silver, or about 47 000 oz/y of gold and 55 000 oz/y of silver, at an AISC of $671/oz of gold.
The project has an after-tax payback period of 3.1 years.
"This study is everything we had hoped for, including important improvements over the preliminary feasibility study we completed a little over two years ago,” said president and COO Glen van Treek on Tuesday.
The 2018 prefeasibility study calculated an IRR of 27.6% and an NPV of $87.8-million at a base case price of $1 300/oz.
Van Treek stated that Paramount would move to satisfy the remaining permitting requirements identified by the State of Oregon and the Bureau of Land Management in Paramount’s recently submitted consolidated permit application and plan of operation.
“We are very close to realising our goal of building Grassy Mountain into a modern and environmentally friendly mine, leveraging the industry’s best practices and technologies.”