i-80 Gold Corp. (TSX: IAU) has unveiled the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the company’s Granite Creek Project located in Humboldt County, Nevada.
Highlights of the Granite Creek PEA (Base Case @ US$1,650/oz Au) include:
- After-Tax NPV@5% of US$244.9 Million
- After-Tax IRR of 34.2%
- Initial Capital of US$69.9 Million
- All-in Sustaining Cost (per oz Au produced) of US$963.40
- Life of Mine Gold Production of 1,245,900 ounces
“The Granite Creek PEA confirms the substantial economic opportunity that can be realized through the development of both open pit and underground mines on the Property,” said Matthew Gili, President and Chief Operating Officer of i-80.
“This study contemplates constructing heap leach and CIL facilities on the property for the open pit and trucking refractory material for third party processing. The recent acquisition of the Lone Tree site will allow for the optimisation of these facilities as we progress to a Feasibility Study, potentially leading to changes in the ultimate processing plans versus what is presented in the study”.
Granite Creek is one of four projects being advanced within i-80’s portfolio and the company has made significant progress advancing the project since it was acquired in April of 2021. A major surface and underground drill programme (~20,000 metres) is underway and the company is completing additional underground development and commencing test mining in advance of making a production decision for the underground mine.
Granite Creek PEA
Global Resource Engineering Ltd. (GRE) was retained by i-80 Gold Corp. (i-80) to complete Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) Technical Report on the Granite Creek Mine Project.
Granite Creek is located within the Getchell Trend immediately south of the Turquoise Ridge and Twin Creeks mining operations of Nevada Gold Mines
The project economics shown in the PEA are favorable, providing positive NPV values at varying gold prices, capital costs, and operating costs. For the open pit at Granite Creek, the study envisions the construction of a heap leach facility and a CIL plant on-site.
For the fully permitted underground operation, trucking of mined material is assumed to processed at an off-site, third-party processing facility. Future economic work will consider processing at the Lone Tree facility that was recently acquired from Nevada Gold Mines and located 43 miles (by road) to the south.
Based on the current resource estimates for the Property, the study envisions a mine-life of nine years, producing 1,245,900 ounces of gold with life-of-mine all-in sustaining costs of US$963.40 per ounce of gold. This generates NPV@5% of US$244.9 million and After-Tax IRR of 34.2%.
For further information please visit: https://www.i80gold.com/
