White Gold delivers positive PEA for Yukon open pit project
White Gold Corp. [WGO-TSXV, WHGOF-OTCQX, 29W-FRA] said Friday it has filed an independent preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its flagship White Gold project, located in the Canadian Yukon Territory.
The White Gold Project is situated in a region with a long history of placer mining, approximately 95 kilometres south of Dawson City. It proposes to tie into the planned Northern Access Route (NAR) from Dawson City to neighboring properties.
The maiden PEA outlines at 9.4-year, 12,000 tonne per day open pit operation producing an average of 188,000 ounces of gold annually (223,000 ounces per year over the first five years) at US$3,600 per ounce gold price. The life of mine all-in-sustaining cost is pegged at US$1,480 an ounce.
The initial capital cost is pegged at just over $1.0 billion. Sustaining capital (including contingency is estimated at $357 million. Closure and reclamation are expected to cost $112 million.
The mine is expected to generate life-of-mine after-tax free cash flow of $2.7 billion, averaging $280 million per year.
The PEA includes the Golden Saddle, Arc, Ryan’s Supreme, and VG deposits and only draws on approximately 60% of the company’s current mineral resource estimate which was completed in August 2025. The estimate outlines and indicated resource of 1.73 million ounces of gold (35.2 million tonnes at 1.53 g/t gold), and 1.26 million ounces of inferred material (32.3 million tonnes at 1.22 g/t gold).
Drill results from 2025 and ongoing drilling in 2026 are not included in the resource, and all four deposits are open for expansion.
The PEA outlined a technically straightforward open pit mining operation with the potential for positive economics at a consensus long-term gold price and establishes the development framework for a district that remains largely untested beyond the deposits included in the PEA.
The project will be accessed by an all-weather gravel road, which crosses the Stewart River by barge in summer and ice road in winter.
In addition to positive PEA economics, the company said it has identified numerous additional opportunities with the potential to extend the mine life, increase annual production, and further increase project economics in subsequent studies, including potential resource conversion and growth at the existing deposits with prior, ongoing and future drilling, the underground potential at Golden Saddle, and a prospective exploration pipeline in the immediate vicinity of the White Gold Project, consisting of more than 25 identified targets discovered through the company’s systematic, data-driven exploration methodology.
White Gold shares advanced on the news, rising 1.52% or $0.03 to $2.00 in early trading Friday. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $2.50 and 82 cents.