South Railroad Feasibility Study: $783M NPV, 48% IRR
Equinox Gold Corp.'s South Railroad in USA, Nevada has a Feasibility Study outlining an after-tax NPV of $783M, an after-tax IRR of 48%, and initial capital of $395M. The mine plan runs 10 years at about 104000 oz Au/yr per year.
Equinox Gold Corp.'s South Railroad has reported Feasibility Study results for the gold project in USA, Nevada. The study headlines an after-tax net present value of $783M at a 5% discount rate. It reflects Equinox Gold Corp.'s (EQX.TO) latest disclosed economics for the asset.
Economics. The after-tax NPV is $783M using a 5% discount rate. After-tax IRR is 48%. Initial capital expenditure is estimated at $395M, with life-of-mine sustaining capital of $209M. The study models a payback period of 2 years. All-in sustaining costs are pegged at 1505 USD/oz Au. Economics are based on Base Case $3,100/oz Gold, $36.50/oz Silver. Also presented at $4,500, $3,500, $2,500, $2,000 gold and $52.98, $41.21, $29.44, $23.55 silver..
Production and mine plan. The project envisions an open pit operation. Life of mine is 10 years. Average annual production is approximately 104000 oz Au/yr. Average head grade is 0.021 oz Au/ton; 0.084 oz Ag/ton. Metallurgical recovery averages 70.8%. The open-pit strip ratio is 4.00:1.
Resources and ownership. Royalties and streams: Royalty cost of $97,464 ($000) over LOM.
These figures are extracted from Equinox Gold Corp.'s technical disclosures and reflect the most recent Feasibility Study 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proven & Probable | 73.4 M Tons | 0.021 oz Au/ton; 0.084 oz Ag/ton | 1.516 M oz Au; 6.195 M oz Ag |
Our Analysis
- IRR after-tax
- 48%
higher than 63% of 99 projects we track
- NPV after-tax
- $783M
higher than 72% of 134 projects we track
- Initial capex
- $395M
50% of NPV
costlier than 73% of 125 projects we track
- Payback
- 2yrs
slower than 51% of 76 projects we track
- Mine life
- 10yrs
- Discount rate
- 5%
- Study price assumption
- Base Case $3,100/oz Gold, $36.50/oz Silver. Also presented at $4,500, $3,500, $2,500, $2,000 gold and $52.98, $41.21, $29.44, $23.55 silver.
- Spot gold today
- $4,107.00/oz
A 48% after-tax IRR and a $783M NPV put this project in the upper half of the gold assets we track, ranking above 63% of 99 peers on returns and 72% of 134 on value. That is a solid, not spectacular, position. The 2-year payback sits right at the median. None of these figures are outliers, so the investment case rests on execution, not on a standout number. The feasibility study, with its typical plus or minus 15% band, gives these estimates the most weight a pre-build project can carry, which is a genuine point in its favor.
The constraint that matters most is funding, and here the picture is unusually comfortable. The $395M initial capex is 50% of NPV and ranks as only moderately capital-intensive, but the sharper lens is the company itself. With a US$7.24B market cap and 36 projects in its portfolio, this is a mid-cap diversified producer, not a single-asset junior. The build cost is small relative to the company's equity value, so the financing hurdle is practical, not existential. A project of this scale can be absorbed into a corporate balance sheet or funded with limited dilution, which removes the most common failure mode for development-stage gold assets.
The two caveats are the discount rate and the price deck. A 5% discount rate is at the low end of reporting convention and flatters the headline NPV; the returns stand on their own, but the absolute value figure should be read with that in mind. The base case assumes $3,100/oz gold, well below today's $4,107 spot, which means the study is conservative on price and the upside from current market levels is real. Nevada is a mining-friendly jurisdiction, and the 10-year mine life is adequate if unremarkable. The question that decides this project is not whether it gets built, it is whether the company can move from feasibility to first pour without the cost overruns that typically erode a 48% IRR down to something closer to the 15% hurdle that project finance actually demands.
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.