With gold prices at record highs, it’s never been a better time to explore and develop gold projects. Here’s a look at four exciting companies to watch.
Amex Exploration
In September Amex Exploration (TSXV: AMX; US-OTC: AMXEF) announced a new two-stage development strategy for its Perron gold project in the Abitibi region of Quebec, about 8 km from the town of Normetal and 585 km northwest of Montreal.
The staged production plan outlined in an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) will de-risk the project, simplify permitting and accelerate time to revenue, the company says.
The first stage envisions contract mining and toll milling at 1,000 tonnes per day over a four-year period with average annual production of 102,000 oz. gold at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $1,165 (C$1,629) per ounce. The first stage bears initial capital costs of C$146.1 million, which Amex says will be partially offset by pre-production revenues of C$68.6 million for a net initial capex of C$77.5 million. Pre-production is expected to last 21 months.
The second, 13-year stage, considers a fleet of owner-operated equipment operating at 2,000 tonnes-per-day with an on-site processing facility. Production will average 93,000 oz. gold per year at an AISC of $1,027 per ounce. Growth capital to bring stage 2 into operation is pegged at C$191.6 million.
The PEA used a base case gold price of $2,500 per oz. and forecast an after-tax net present value (at a 5% discount rate) of C$1.09 billion and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 70.1%. Capital could be repaid after tax in 1.4 years.
The mine will be operated as an underground operation that will be complemented with open-pit production. The plan includes sequenced mining of seven open pits that will be mined out by year 13 and can be used to manage tailings generated by the mill during stage 2.
Tests in 2020 and 2024 on Perron ore achieved gold recoveries exceeding 95% using a gravity/cyanidation process.
Perron’s measured and indicated resource for open pit and underground totals 8.18 million tonnes grading 6.14 grams gold per tonne for 1.62 million oz. contained gold and another 5.04 million inferred tonnes averaging 4.31 grams gold for 698,000 gold ounces.
The 45.2-sq.-km project hosts bulk-tonnage and high-grade mineralization styles.
In March the company acquired the adjacent Perron West property, quadrupling the company’s land holdings along the Normetal-Burntbrush greenstone belt.
The Perron project is accessible year-round and is about 20 minutes from an airport.
Amex Exploration has a market cap of about $445 million.
Liberty Gold
Liberty Gold (TSX: LGD; US-OTC: LGDTF) owns two past-producing oxide gold projects in the United States – Black Pine in southeastern Idaho and Goldstrike in southwestern Utah. In September Centerra Gold (TSX: CG; NYSE: CGAU) acquired a 9.9% stake in the junior for C$28 million.
Last year Liberty identified a high-grade antimony system outcropping along the eastern extension of the Goldstrike deposit and in February this year announced plans to spin out Goldstrike and its Antimony Ridge target into a company to be named Specialty American Metals.
Goldstrike produced about 209,000 oz. gold and 197,000 oz. silver from 12 shallow pits between 1988 and 1994. The oxide, heap leach mine was closed due to low gold prices and lack of space on the leach pads.
The project hosts 57.85 million indicated tonnes grading 0.5 gram gold for 925,000 oz. gold at a cut-off grade of 0.2 gram gold. Inferred resources add 19.6 million tonnes grading 0.47 gram gold for 296,000 oz. gold.
After the spin-out, Liberty Gold will focus on advancing the Black Pine project. In May, the company kicked off a 40,000-metre feasibility drill program and bulk metallurgical sampling. The work program is focused on resource upgrades and extensions to mineralization in the Discovery, Rangefront, CD and M Zone areas. Liberty aims to complete the feasibility study in the second half of 2026.
A preliminary feasibility study of Black Pine in October 2024 envisioned an open-pit mine producing an average of 135,000 oz. gold a year over a 17-year life at an AISC of $1,381 per ounce.
The study estimated an after-tax NPV at a 5% discount rate of $550 million and an IRR of 32% at a base case gold price of $2,000 per ounce. Initial capital of $327 million could be repaid in 3.3 years.
Black Pine, about a two-hour drive from Salt Lake City, hosts a large, Carlin-style, sedimentary-hosted oxide gold system. Indicated resources total 402.6 million tonnes grading 0.32 gram gold for 4.16 million oz. gold. Inferred resources add 97.7 million tonnes averaging 0.23 gram gold for 712,000 gold ounces.
Under previous owners, Black Pine produced 435,000 oz. gold from 1991-1997. Liberty Gold acquired the project in 2016.
Liberty Gold has a market cap of about $418 million.
Montage Gold
Construction of Montage Gold’s (TSXV: MAU; US-OTC: MAUTF) Koné gold project in Côte d’Ivoire is well underway and on schedule for first gold pour in the second quarter of 2027.
Koné, 350 northwest of the political capital of Yamoussoukro, is positioned to become the West African nation’s largest gold mine, producing 3.57 million oz. gold over 16 years.
Annual gold production over the life-of-mine is expected to average 223,000 oz. a year at an AISC of $998 per ounce. During the first eight years the mine will produce an average of 301,000 oz. annually, with peak production of 378,000 oz. in year three.
An updated feasibility study in January 2024 forecast an after-tax NPV of $1.1 billion at a 5% discount rate with a 31% IRR based on a gold price of $1,850 per ounce. Pre-production capital of $712 million can be repaid in 2.6 years.
The study benefited from including a satellite deposit, Gbongogo Main, which hosts 12 million indicated tonnes grading 1.45 grams gold for 560,000 oz. gold, or about 12% of the project’s 4.01 million oz. of probable reserves.
As of early October, six carbon-in-leach tanks were erected and mill foundations and water supply infrastructure finished. The resettlement program was also nearing completion, the company said. Construction of the oxide circuit is underway and the ball mill is to be delivered in the first quarter of 2026.
In the meantime, the company is executing a 120,000-metre exploration drill program to focus on delineating higher-grade satellite resources. Recent drill results from its Petit Yao target, about 7 km from Koné’s processing plant, included 6 metres grading 7.26 grams gold from 55 metres and 5 metres of 5.12 grams gold from 43 metres.
At the end of November Montage Gold announced it was adding to its portfolio in the country with the acquisition of African Gold (ASX: A1G) and its flagship Didievi project. The project’s main target hosts an inferred resource of 12.4 million tonnes grading 2.5 grams gold for 989,000 oz. of gold.
Didievi is in central Côte d’Ivoire, about 35 km from Yamoussoukro, and located in the same greenstone belt as Allied Gold’s (TSX, NYSE: AAUC) Bonikro and Agbaou mines, about 70 km away.
Montage Gold has a market cap of 2.85 billion.
New Found Gold
New Found Gold (TSXV: NFG; NYSE-AM: NFGC) completed its acquisition in November of Maritime Resources in an all-share deal valued at C$292 million. At close, New Found and Maritime shareholders owned about 69% and 31%, respectively, of the company on a fully diluted in-the-money basis.
Maritime’s Hammerdown open-pit gold project, about 180 km northwest of New Found’s Queensway gold project in central Newfoundland, is anticipated to ramp up to full production in early 2026. Mineralized stockpiles are currently being processed at Maritime’s Pine Cove mill, where first gold was poured in November. The Queensway project is targeting stage 1 production in 2027.
Once in full production, cash flow from Hammerdown will support Queensway’s development. Queensway is also expected to benefit from Maritime’s existing infrastructure, including Pine Cove and the Nugget Pond hydrometallurgical plant.
Hammerdown hosts proven and probable reserves of 1.9 million tonnes grading 4.46 grams gold for 272,000 oz. contained gold.
Hammerdown can produce 50,000 oz. annually at an AISC of $912 per oz., according to a 2022 feasibility study. The study outlined an after-tax NPV of $251 million at a 5% discount rate using a base-case gold price of $2,500 per ounce.
Between 2000 and 2004, Richmont Mines operated Hammerdown as an underground site, churning out 143,000 oz. at an average grade of 15.7 grams gold.
The Queensway open-pit project, 15 km west of Gander, is forecast to produce 1.5 million oz. gold over a 15-year mine life at an AISC of $1,256 per ounce. A PEA in July envisaged a staged mine plan. In Stage 1, the mine would produce 69,300 oz. a year at an AISC of $1,282 per oz. in years one through four. Initial capital costs were pegged at $155 million.
In Stage 2, production would reach 172,200 oz. per year at AISCs of $1,090 per oz. in years five to nine. Capital for the second stage was set at $442 million. Construction of an underground mine with a series of five ramp systems is scheduled to start in a third stage in year five.
The PEA outlined an after-tax NPV at a 5% discount rate of $743 million and an IRR of 56.3% at a base case gold price of $2,500 per ounce.
Financier Eric Sprott owns about 18% of the company and Dundee Corp. 11% as of Nov. 13.
New Found Gold has a market cap of about $1.19 billion.
Be the first to comment on "Spotlight: Gold players around the world "