Montauban Gold-Silver Project (Tailings) PEA: $44M NPV, 105% IRR
ESGold Corp.'s Montauban Gold-Silver Project (Tailings) in Montauban Township, Québec, Canada has a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) outlining a pre-tax NPV of $44M and a pre-tax IRR of 105%.
ESGold Corp.'s Montauban Gold-Silver Project (Tailings) has reported Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) results for the gold project in Montauban Township, Québec, Canada. The study headlines a pre-tax net present value of $44M at a 5% discount rate. It reflects ESGold Corp.'s (ESAU.CN) latest disclosed economics for the asset.
Economics. The pre-tax NPV is $44M using a 5% discount rate. Pre-tax IRR is 105%. The study models a payback period of 2 years. Economics are based on Gold US$2,900/oz; Silver US$32/oz.
Production and mine plan. The project envisions a tailings reprocessing (surface) operation.
These figures are extracted from ESGold Corp.'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.
Reserves & Resources
| Category | Tonnage | Grade | Contained |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indicated | 603,700 t | 0.40 g/t Au, 31.45 g/t Ag | 6,950 oz Au, 470,050 oz Ag |
| Inferred | 319,300 t | 0.41 g/t Au, 36.93 g/t Ag | 3,800 oz Au, 291,200 oz Ag |
| Indicated | 603,700 t | 0.4 g/t Au, 31 g/t Ag | 7,800 oz Au, 610,350 oz Ag |
| Inferred | 292,000 t | 0.34 g/t Au, 28 g/t Ag | 3,150 oz Au, 258,900 oz Ag |
| Inferred | 27,300 t | 1.21 g/t Au, 137 g/t Ag | 1,050 oz Au, 120,200 oz Ag |
Our Analysis
- IRR pre-tax
- 105%
higher than 91% of 113 projects we track
- NPV pre-tax
- $44M
higher than 7% of 151 projects we track
- Payback
- 2yrs
slower than 49% of 93 projects we track
- Discount rate
- 5%
- Study price assumption
- Gold US$2,900/oz; Silver US$32/oz
- Spot gold today
- $4,431.80/oz
A 105% pre-tax IRR puts this project in the top decile of the 113 gold projects we track, ahead of 91% of them. That is the number to hold onto, because almost nothing else here ranks well: the $44M pre-tax NPV sits above just 7% of the 151 projects we compare, and the two-year payback beats only about half the 93 projects with that data. So the return is real but the absolute value is small, and the gap between the two rankings tells you the IRR is doing most of the work.
The constraint is scale against the developer. A US$48M nano-cap carrying this as its only project we track has to fund a build on its own balance sheet, and the NPV is roughly in line with the market cap at about 0.9x. That is not the yawning mismatch that signals a market asleep at the wheel; it is closer to a market that has already marked the asset near its stated worth. The read cuts both ways. Either the market has not yet credited the top-decile IRR, or it is discounting the PEA itself, the financing, and the dilution a nano-cap would absorb to get there.
Québec is the offsetting positive: a mining-friendly jurisdiction where permitting and infrastructure risk are lower than in most gold regions, which is exactly why a small NPV can still be financeable. But the study is scoping-level, may rest on inferred resources, and its capital estimate carries a plus or minus 50% band. And the returns are struck at US$2,900/oz gold against a live spot of $4,431.80/oz, so the headline is conservative on price rather than stretched. The question that decides this: can a US$48M company fund and build the project without gutting the equity that owns it?
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.