Waihi North Project (Wharekirauponga Underground) PFS: $621M NPV, 24% IRR
OceanaGold Corporation's Waihi North Project (Wharekirauponga Underground) in Waihi District, North Island, New Zealand has a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) outlining an after-tax NPV of $621M and an after-tax IRR of 24%.
OceanaGold Corporation's Waihi North Project (Wharekirauponga Underground) has reported Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) results for the gold project in Waihi District, North Island, New Zealand. The study headlines an after-tax net present value of $621M. It reflects OceanaGold Corporation's (OGC.TO) latest disclosed economics for the asset.
Economics. The after-tax NPV is $621M. After-tax IRR is 24%. Economics are based on WNP economics at a gold price of $2,400/oz.
Production and mine plan. The project envisions an underground operation.
Resources and ownership. The company holds a 100% interest in the project.
These figures are extracted from OceanaGold Corporation's technical disclosures and reflect the most recent PFS 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inferred | — | — | 800koz of Inferred |
Our Analysis
- IRR after-tax
- 24%
higher than 16% of 119 projects we track
- NPV after-tax
- $621M
higher than 58% of 172 projects we track
- Study price assumption
- WNP economics at a gold price of $2,400/oz
- Spot gold today
- $4,188.80/oz
This sits in the bottom quartile of the 119 gold projects we track on returns: a 24% after-tax IRR ranks above only 16% of them, even though its $621M after-tax NPV ranks above 58% of the 172 projects we score on that measure. That gap is the whole story. The asset is mid-pack by absolute value but weak by rate of return, which tells you the capital is working harder than the output justifies. Against the roughly 15% after-tax IRR developers typically need to clear project finance, 24% is adequate rather than comfortable, and it leaves little room for the cost inflation or schedule slippage that pre-feasibility estimates routinely carry.
The constraint that matters most is not the IRR itself but who is carrying it. This is one project among 13 we track for a diversified company with a US$6.48B market cap, and the after-tax NPV sits well below that market cap on a rough currency-adjusted basis. Read plainly, this is not a company-transforming build, and it is not a financing cliff either: a mid-cap with twelve other assets can fund a project of this size without the dilution or single-asset binary risk that defines the bottom of our coverage. The flip side is that a project this small relative to the portfolio rarely gets the internal capital priority a marginal return would demand.
Two things sharpen the read. The study is a PFS, so the numbers carry roughly a plus or minus 25% band and are not yet a build decision. And the economics are struck at $2,400/oz against a live spot of $4,188.80/oz, so the returns on offer are materially understated relative to today's market. The question that decides this project is whether the company treats a 24% return as worth prioritising over its other twelve assets.
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.