About the Project
The Lawyers-Ranch Project is a premier precious metals project in the Toodoggone Mining District of northern British Columbia. Thesis Gold is actively advancing the project through permitting and development while continuing exploration across its 495 km2 district-scale land package.
Lawyers-Ranch contains 4.7 Moz of epithermal-style gold and silver (4 Moz M&I, 700 koz Inferred) in addition to numerous undrilled epithermal targets and underlying porphyry potential.
2024 PEA Economic Highlights1
C$ 1277 M
After-Tax NPV5%1
35.2% IRR
After-Tax1
2 Year Payback
After-Tax1
USD $1013/oz AuEq2
AISC2
2024 Operational Highlights1
215 koz/year AuEq3
Annual production
Ag is 25%
of the mineral resource2
4.0 Moz AuEq M&I
and 700 koz AuEq Inferred4
14 year
Mine Life1
(1) Refer to the Updated Preliminary Economic Assessment Lawyers-Ranch Project and Property, Stikine Terrane, BC with an effective date August 30, 2024.
(2) Economic assumptions used include US$1,850/oz Au, US$24/oz Ag, 0.76 US$:CAD$ FX, process recoveries of 90% and 92% Au for the Lawyers and Ranch Areas, respectively, 88% Ag for both projects, 85% Cu for Ranch Area, a CAD$15/t processing cost, and a G&A cost of CAD$5/t. The resulting gold equivalency ratio of Au:Ag ratio was 1:80 and Au:Cu was 1:7,315 on a ppm basis.
(3) Gold equivalency ratios used: Au:Ag 1:80, and Au:Cu 1:7,315 on a ppm basis.
(4) Refer to the Updated Mineral Resource Estimate of the Lawyers-Ranch Gold-Silver Project, Stikine Terrane, British Columbia, with an effective date May 1, 2024
Project Highlights
Excellent Infrastructure and Access – Road accessible with a permitted airstrip and potential for a nearby power tie-in; Lawyers-Ranch is approximately 45 km from the Kemess Copper-Gold Mine
Significant Gold-Silver Resource – Thesis has defined a total Mineral Resource of 4.0 Moz AuEq (M&I) at 1.51 g/t AuEq and 727 koz (Inf) at 1.82 AuEq
Silver comprises 25% of the total resource – 84 Moz Ag (M&I) at 31.9 g/t, and 8.3 Moz Ag (Inferred) at 20.9 g/t
Robust Preliminary Economic Assessment – The study outlines a high-margin, 14-year operation with strong projected economics leveraging existing infrastructure
District Scale Exploration Potential – numerous undrilled epithermal targets and underlying porphyry potential
Active Expansion and De-risking – Ongoing permitting, technical studies, exploration and expansion drilling, and field reconnaissance are unlocking new growth opportunities across the project
Project Timeline
-
2018
Acquired Lawyers Project and started modern exploration programs
-
2019
Started environmental, metallurgical and engineering studies at Lawyers Project
-
2020
Acquired Ranch Project and started modern exploration programs
-
2021
Established agreements and commitments with First Nations and started metallurgical studies at Ranch Project
-
2022
Published Mineral Resource Estimate and Preliminary Economic Assessment for Lawyers Project
-
2023
Started environmental studies at Ranch Project and consolidated Lawyers-Ranch Project in August.
-
2024
Published first global Mineral Resource Estimate and Preliminary Economic Assessment for Lawyers-Ranch Project, and started engineering studies and expansion of metallurgical studies at Ranch Project.
-
2025
Commenced Pre-feasibility Study for Lawyers-Ranch Project in January.
-
Q4 2025/Q1 2026
Expected PFS Study and Detailed Project Description for Environmental Assessment
-
2026
Expected Commencement of Feasibility Study/Detailed Engineering Studies
-
2027
Expected submission of Environmental Assessment Draft Application
-
2028
Expected Environmental Assessment Decision
Preliminary Economic Assessment
In 2024, Thesis Gold released a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Lawyers-Ranch Project that significantly improved on a PEA released in 2022.
The PEA assumes:
- A conventional truck and shovel open-pit mining (“OP”) operation with common equipment sizing feeding a 12,600 tonnes per day (t/d);
- Industry standard processing plant with crushing, grinding, flotation, leaching and a Merrill Crowe recovery circuit;
- Production of precious metal concentrate and gold-silver doré bullion on site.
The PEA considers a crossover to underground mining (“U/G”) from the Dukes Ridge, Cliff Creek, and Ranch Deposits from years 2 to 14 using longhole stoping and a small zone of drift-and-fill to feed up to 2,500 t/d.
The 2024 PEA is based on a Mineral Resource Estimate announced by the Company on the May 1, 2024, press release.
| Conditions | ||
| Gold Price | US$/oz | 1,930 |
| Silver Price | US$/oz | 24 |
| F/X Rate | US$:C$ | 0.74 |
| Production | ||
| Head Grade AuEq | g/t | 1.61 |
| AuEq Annual Production | avg koz/yr | 215 |
| Mine Life | years | 14 |
| Total Payable AuEq | LOM koz | 3,024 |
| Mill Throughput | tpd | 12.6 |
| Pre-Tax | ||
| NPV5% | C$M | 1,991 |
| IRR | % | 46% |
| Payback Period | Years | 1.6 |
| After-Tax | ||
| NPV5% | C$M | 1,277 |
| IRR | % | 35.2% |
| Payback Period | Years | 2.0 |
| Captial | ||
| All In Sustaining Costs | US$/AuEq oz | 1,013 |
| Initial Capital | C$M | 598 |
| Sustaining Capital | C$M | 547 |
| Unit | LOM Total/Avg. | |
|---|---|---|
| Average Au Head Grade | g/t | 1.23 |
| Average Ag Head Grade | g/t | 33.09 |
| Average AuEq Head Grade | g/t | 1.61 |
| Recovery - Au | % | 93% |
| Recovery - Ag | % | 86% |
| Total Resource Production | Mt | 64.7 |
| Waste Mined | Mt | 294 |
| Stripping Ratio | W:O | 5 |
| Total Payable Au | LOM koz | 2,323 |
| Total Payable Ag | LOM koz | 56,405 |
| Average Annual Production - Au | avg koz/yr | 165 |
| Average Annual Production - Ag | avg Moz/yr | 4 |
| Average Annual Production - AuEq | avg koz/yr | 215 |
| OPEX | Unit Rate | Life of Mine Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OP Mining | $/t mined OP | 4.08 | C$M | 1,436 |
| UG Mining | $/t mined UG | 72.47 | C$M | 471 |
| Processing | $/t processed | 15.85 | C$M | 1,025 |
| G&A | $/t processed | 5.23 | C$M | 338 |
| Total OPEX | $/t processed | 50.57 | C$M | 3,270 |
| Capital Costs | Initial Capital | Sustaining / Closure | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Pit Mining | C$M | 62 | 113 | 175 |
| UG Mining | C$M | 0 | 251 | 251 |
| On-Site Development | C$M | 19 | 10 | 29 |
| Mineral Processing | C$M | 205 | 0 | 205 |
| Tailings & Waste Management | C$M | 54 | 56 | 109 |
| On-Site Infrastructure | C$M | 46 | 22 | 68 |
| Off-Site Infrastructure | C$M | 0.3 | 62 | 63 |
| Project Indirects | C$M | 67 | 5 | 72 |
| Engineering & Project Management | C$M | 42 | 6 | 48 |
| Owners Costs | C$M | 17 | 0 | 17 |
| Closure | C$M | 0 | 48 | 48 |
| Subtotal | C$M | 511 | 573 | 1084 |
| Contingency & Escalation | C$M | 88 | 22 | 109 |
| Total | C$M | 598 | 595 | 1193 |
Mineral Resource Estimate
Significant Mineral Resource growth potential remains across both Lawyers and Ranch projects:
- The underground Mineral Resource at Lawyers is open for expansion at depth
- Ranch Mineral Resource zones also remain open
- Over 20 undrilled targets hold potential for further discoveries.
The Lawyers area contains 82% of the resource hosted in low sulfidation style epithermal deposits, while the Ranch area, which makes up the remaining portion of the resource, is a characteristic lithocap environment hosting high sulfidation deposits.
Mineral Resource Table
Mineral Resources (as at May 1, 2024)
| Classification | Tonnes (k) | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) | Cu (%) | AuEq (g/t) | Au (koz) | Ag (Moz) | Cu (kt) | AuEq (koz) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measured | 35,987 | 1.10 | 38.5 | 1.58 | 1,268 | 44.5 | 0 | 1,825 | |
| Indicated | 46,023 | 1.11 | 26.7 | 0.01 | 1.46 | 1,648 | 39.5 | 3 | 2,153 |
| Measured & Indicated | 82,010 | 1.11 | 31.9 | 1.51 | 2,917 | 84.0 | 3 | 3,978 | |
| Inferred | 12,401 | 1.48 | 20.9 | 0.06 | 1.82 | 590 | 8.3 | 8 | 727 |
Notes:
1. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
2. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues.
3. The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could potentially be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration.
4. The Mineral Resources were estimated in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions (2014) and Best Practices Guidelines (2019) prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council.
5. Historical mined areas were removed from the block-modelled resources.
6. Economic assumptions used include US$1,850/oz Au, US$24/oz Ag, 0.76 US$:CDN$ FX, process recoveries of 90% and 92% Au for Lawyers and Ranch, respectively, 88% Ag for both projects, 85% Cu for Ranch, a C$15/t processing cost, and a G&A cost of C$5/t. The resulting gold equivalency ratio of Au:Ag ratio was 1:80 and Au:Cu was 1:7315.
7. The constraining pit optimization parameters were C$3.25/t mineralized and waste material mining cost and 52° pit slopes. Open pit resources are reported at an AuEq cutoff of 0.4 g/t.
8. The Out-of-Pit Mineral Resources include blocks below the constraining pit shell within underground mining shapes. A mining cost of C$85/t mineralized, in addition to the economic assumptions above, results in a UG AuEq cutoff of 1.5 g/t. Mining shapes are generated using stope optimization with an objective of maximum the total metal above the cutoff with a minimum dimension of 1.5 m (W) by 15 m (H) by 15 m (L). All “take all” material within the mining shapes is reported, regardless of whether the estimated grades are above the optimized cutoff grade.
9. Details of the MRE will be provided in a technical report with an effective date of March 24, 2024, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 standards, which will be filed under the Company’s SEDAR+ profile within 45 days of this news release
EXPLORATION OPPORTUNITIES
A geological framework consistent with major deposits across northern British Columbia
The Toodoggone Mining District and the Golden Triangle share many geological similarities including their tectonic setting and magmatic-volcanic history.
The “red line” unconformity, first recognized in the Golden Triangle, is a boundary between Triassic and Jurassic rocks widely accepted as a prospectivity marker for porphyry and epithermal mineralization in the Golden Triangle. This stratigraphic boundary is also present in the Toodoggone District, where a similar spatial link exists with known deposits.
A 40 Square-Kilometer Lithocap Footprint
Silica and clay alteration at Ranch are characteristic of the minerals and textures that form in the lithocap environment of a magmatic-hydrothermal system. The Ranch Lithocap is a 40 km2 alteration footprint that contains numerous undrilled epithermal targets.
These targets present significant discovery potential to build on the ~700 koz AuEq currently defined at Ranch.
District-scale land package with system-scale potential
Approximately 82% of the resource is hosted in low sulfidation style epithermal mineralization at Lawyers. The remaining resource is hosted in localized deposits within the larger Ranch lithocap footprint, a characteristic high sulfidation environment.
There is a well-established link between epithermal and porphyry deposits formed in magmatic-hydrothermal systems. The epithermal style gold-silver mineralization at Ranch and Lawyers represent the hydrothermal part of the system, and may be linked to an underlying porphyry at depth.
