White Gold Yukon PEA: NPV, capex and access risks explained for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
White Gold’s maiden PEA assigns its namesake Yukon project a post-tax NPV of C$1.9 billion at a 5% discount rate, a 38% after-tax IRR and a 1.7-year payback on C$1 billion initial capex, assuming a gold price of US$3,600/oz. The open-pit plan, 95 km south of Dawson City, envisages 188,000 oz/year over nine years at all-in sustaining costs of US$1,480/oz, drawing on the Golden Saddle, Arc, Ryan’s Surprise and VG deposits, which together cover about 60% of current resources. Access remains a key risk, with the mine reliant on connection to the planned 214 km Northern Access Route being built towards Fuerte Metals’ Coffee project.
Technical Brief
- Resource base totals 35.1 Mt indicated at 1.53 g/t Au and 32.3 Mt inferred at 1.22 g/t.
- Indicated inventory equates to 1.73 Moz Au; inferred adds a further 1.26 Moz Au.
- Mine plan currently utilises Golden Saddle, Arc, Ryan’s Surprise and VG, covering only ~60% of defined resources.
- Project lies ~95 km south of Dawson City and ~33 km north of Fuerte Metals’ Coffee project.
- Fuerte Metals has awarded Cobalt Construction the NAR build contract, partnering with Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation.
- Positioning among Yukon’s top three undeveloped gold projects is benchmarked specifically against Snowline’s Valley and Fuerte’s Coffee.
Our Take
White Gold’s planned spin-out of six Yukon critical minerals properties, noted in our February 2026 coverage, suggests the namesake White Gold project is being ring‑fenced as a pure gold development play while copper and other metals are shifted into a separate vehicle that may pursue different funding and JV options.
With only about 60% of the resource base incorporated into the current mine plan at Golden Saddle, Arc, Ryan’s Surprise and VG, the study leaves room for later‑stage mine life extensions or throughput increases, a pattern seen in other northern gold assets where initial 8–10 year cases are used to de‑risk financing before drilling out full district potential.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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