Newcore Gold Posts a $647M After-Tax NPV in Its First PFS — and the CEO Says the Selloff Misread the CIL Pivot

## A $647 million study and a 25% selloff

Newcore Gold (TSXV: NCAU / OTCQX: NCAUF) released its first pre-feasibility study (PFS — an engineering study that tests whether a project can be built and run profitably) for its Enchi Gold Project in Ghana on June 24. The headline numbers: an after-tax net present value (NPV — the value today of the project's future cash flows) of $647 million at $4,200 gold, an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR — the annualized return the project generates) of 45%, and a 1.4-year payback.

The stock still fell about 25% on release day. CEO Luke Alexander told The KE Report that the drop reflected what investors expected, not what the study delivered.

## Why Newcore dropped heap leach for CIL

The company's 2024 preliminary economic assessment (PEA — the earliest, coarsest economic study) assumed a heap leach operation, where crushed ore is stacked on pads and sprayed with solution to dissolve the gold. It is the cheapest processing route, but it recovers less metal.

Two years of test work changed the plan. Metallurgical results showed that a carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant — where gold is dissolved in tanks and captured on carbon, the standard route in Ghana and across West Africa — delivers much higher recoveries and handles the project's fresh (unweathered) rock far better. Alexander said trade-off studies compared heap leach only, CIL plus heap leach, and CIL alone before the company chose direct CIL.

The trade-off is cost: CIL projects carry higher capital and operating costs. Alexander acknowledged that part of the market still had heap leach economics in mind and said the company "could have done a better job of telegraphing" the change. He also pointed to timing: the release landed on a day when gold equities broadly fell 5–10%, and he argued investors were "looking for any excuse to sell."

## The economics at three gold prices

- **$4,200/oz gold:** $647 million after-tax NPV, 45% IRR, 1.4-year payback - **$5,000/oz gold** (where gold traded when the PFS was commissioned): $960 million after-tax NPV, 58% IRR, about a 1.1-year payback - **$3,800/oz gold (base case):** 37% after-tax IRR

The base case includes a 10% royalty to the government of Ghana under a sliding-scale regime. Per the interview, life-of-mine operating costs average almost $1,700/oz, cash costs run near $2,100/oz, and all-in sustaining costs (AISC — what it really costs to produce an ounce, including sustaining spending) sit just under $2,300/oz. In the first three years, when grades are highest, Alexander said AISC drops to $1,970/oz.

On cost confidence, he pointed to Lycopodium as lead consultant, with SLR and DRA among the other firms involved, and said the company took supplier quotes in Ghana and benchmarked them against peer projects in the country and region.

## A mine plan built on early high grade

The plan front-loads the grade. In year one, 80–85% of the material comes from the Boeing deposit, where high grades start at surface. Softer oxide material from Cium helps the crushing circuit early on, and higher-grade Nyam ore — 0.76 g/t (grams per tonne) on average in the study — joins in years two and three. Together, the first three years average about 130,000 ounces of annual production at roughly 0.8 g/t. Grades then step down in years four through six as mining shifts to lower-grade surface material at other deposits — the dip Newcore wants its drilling to fix.

## 52,000 meters of drilling not yet in the study

Only 28,000 meters of the ongoing 80,000-meter drill program (an October 2025 cutoff) made it into the PFS. The June 30 release of 11 Nyam holes, about 4,100 meters, took the program to just under 45,000 meters — leaving roughly 35,000 meters of results to come.

The standout was hole 86: 3.5 g/t gold over 21 meters, including almost 6 g/t over 9 meters, starting about 220 meters below surface. Nearby hole 85 returned 1.6 g/t over 14 meters. Alexander said both sit at the edge of the resource pit but well below the reserve pit, and that no drilling yet fills the gap between hole 86 and hole 109, where the reserve pit bottoms out — the target for the next holes.

Elsewhere, 2026 results include ultra-high-grade hits at Boeing (174 g/t over 1 meter and 147 g/t over 1 meter) plus wider intercepts such as 3.5 g/t over 23 meters and 7 g/t over 8 meters within 1.7 g/t over 25 meters, and 3.2 g/t over 17 meters. At Cium, hole 121 cut 1.4 g/t over 24 meters immediately below the pits. Four rigs — three diamond, one reverse-circulation — are turning at Boeing, Cium, and Nyam.

## The path from here

The PFS declared mineral reserves for the first time, which unlocks a mining lease application planned for Q3 2026. Alexander said the government has identified the project as one of the two most advanced large-scale developments in Ghana. Once the 80,000-meter program finishes, the company plans an updated mineral resource estimate feeding a full feasibility study — the gateway to a production decision.

## How the CEO frames valuation

At the time of recording, Alexander cited a market cap of roughly $70 million — about 0.11 to 0.12 times the project's after-tax NPV at $4,200 gold. That is his framing, and it depends on gold holding near those levels. The more concrete near-term catalysts are the pending 35,000 meters of results and whether they can lift the middle years of the mine plan — the part of the study that currently drags.