Fox Complex Expansion Case (Stock West, Grey Fox, Fuller) PEA: $137M NPV, 21% IRR
McEwen Mining Inc.'s Fox Complex Expansion Case (Stock West, Grey Fox, Fuller) in Timmins, Northeastern Ontario, Canada has a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) outlining an after-tax NPV of $137M and an after-tax IRR of 21%. The mine plan runs 9.3 years at about 80800 oz Au/year per year.
McEwen Mining Inc.'s Fox Complex Expansion Case (Stock West, Grey Fox, Fuller) has reported Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) results for the gold project in Timmins, Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The study headlines an after-tax net present value of $137M at a 5% discount rate. It reflects McEwen Mining Inc.'s (MUX.TO) latest disclosed economics for the asset.
Economics. The after-tax NPV is $137M using a 5% discount rate. After-tax IRR is 21%. The study models a payback period of 5.9 years. All-in sustaining costs are pegged at 1246 USD/oz. Economics are based on US$1,650/oz Au base case; downside US$1,500/oz, upside US$1,800/oz; exchange rate C$1.22:US$1.00.
Production and mine plan. Life of mine is 9.3 years. Average annual production is approximately 80800 oz Au/year.
These figures are extracted from McEwen Mining Inc.'s technical disclosures and reflect the most recent PEA on file. Compare this project against other developers and producers in our project economics database, and always verify the numbers against the original technical report before making any investment decision.
Our Analysis
- IRR after-tax
- 21%
higher than 9% of 110 projects we track
- NPV after-tax
- $137M
higher than 19% of 145 projects we track
- Payback
- 5.9yrs
slower than 99% of 90 projects we track
- Mine life
- 9.3yrs
- Discount rate
- 5%
- Study price assumption
- US$1,650/oz Au base case; downside US$1,500/oz, upside US$1,800/oz; exchange rate C$1.22:US$1.00
- Spot gold today
- $4,470.30/oz
The starting point is the study stage, because it governs how much weight any of these numbers can carry. This is a PEA, scoping-level work that may lean on inferred material and whose capital estimate typically carries a plus or minus 50% band. Against the 110 gold projects we track, the 21% after-tax IRR sits in the bottom quartile, ahead of only about 9% of them. The 5.9-year payback ranks ahead of under 1% of the 90 projects where we have that figure. Developers generally want roughly 15% after-tax to get project finance across the line, so this clears the practical hurdle, but only modestly, and the peer rank says plenty of alternatives clear it by more.
The constraint that matters most is funding. Capex on a build of this scale has to be weighed against a company carrying a US$1.25B market cap, and the after-tax NPV of US$137M is roughly 0.1x that market cap. That gap cuts both ways. It can mean the market has not yet priced this asset, or that it is discounting the usual risks: financing a development build, dilution, permitting, and the fact that a scoping-level study is a long way from a construction decision. The diversified portfolio of 22 projects we track for this company softens the single-asset risk but also means this one project is unlikely to be the thing that moves the equity.
The study's US$1,650/oz base case sits far below today's live spot of US$4,470.30/oz, which is the most interesting tension here: at spot, the economics look considerably better than the headline, though a PEA's capital and operating estimates are not yet reliable enough to bank that. Timmins, Ontario is a mining-friendly jurisdiction with established infrastructure, which helps. The question that decides this project is whether the company can fund a build of this size without diluting shareholders beyond recognition, and that answer only arrives with a feasibility study.
Our take, benchmarked against the project economics in the Mining Stocks database. Figures are estimates drawn from company technical reports — not investment advice; always verify against the source filing.