Bravada Gold (TSXV: BVA) has released an updated preliminary economic assessment for its Wind Mountain gold-silver project in Nevada. The revised study outlines an after-tax net present value at US$415 million, alongside an internal rate of return of 60%.
Those numbers rest on US$3,600 per ounce gold and US$48 per ounce silver.. Discounted at 5%, the project returns its initial capital in two years and generates US$593 million in cumulative after-tax cash flow, averaging US$53 million a year.
Mine life under the proposed operation sits at 11.2 years, producing an average of 40,700 ounces of gold and 280,000 ounces of silver annually. Over the life of mine that works out to 454,000 ounces of gold and 3.1 million ounces of silver. Recoveries are the soft spot at 62% for gold and just 15% for silver.
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The study outlines a simple open pit heap leach operation that stacks 25,000 short tons per day, with a Merrill-Crowe circuit pulling metal from the solution. Oxide material accounts for 99.8% of the feed, and the strip ratio is an unusually low 0.20 to 1.
Initial spending is pegged at US$98.1 million, including roughly 20% contingency, with another US$41.0 million in sustaining capital weighted toward leach pad expansions. Site operating costs come in at US$9.10 per tonne stacked, translating to cash costs of US$1,504 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs of US$1,653 per ounce.
The study leans on a resource estimated as of June 2026, which estimates:
- Indicated: 56.0 million tonnes grading 0.32 g/t gold and 8.51 g/t silver, containing 574,400 ounces of gold and 15.3 million ounces of silver
- Inferred: 40.0 million tonnes grading 0.15 g/t gold and 5.37 g/t silver, containing 192,400 ounces of gold and 22.2 million ounces of silver
“Wind Mountain remains a simple, brownfield run-of-mine heap-leach project with proven metallurgy, existing roads and power already in place, offering a low-risk, near-term production opportunity,” said president and chief executive Paul West-Sells.
Metallurgical testing and further drilling start in the fourth quarter, with the metallurgy examining whether crushing heap material lifts recoveries, silver in particular. A prefeasibility study is targeted for the second half of 2027.
Bravada Gold last traded at $1.28 on the TSX Venture.
