Falco Resources Reprices a World-Class Gold Asset in Quebec

CEO.CA Jun 24, 2026 7:41

Summary

Falco's refreshed Horne 5 study lifts after-tax NPV to C$3.35 billion at US$3,600/oz gold, a 244% jump on the 2021 study.

Lessard attributes the jump to a reset price deck plus years of capex and operating cost escalation since the 2021 study.

AISC (All-In Sustaining Cost — what it really costs to produce an ounce) sits below US$800/oz, aided by silver and copper credits.

Permitting is the near-term gate: environmental analysis due by autumn 2026, with a government decree possible before year-end.

Financing talks, detailed engineering and initial dewatering run in parallel over the next 6-12 months on roughly C$1.75 billion of initial capex.

The guest says the feasibility study update announced the week before the June 2026 interview puts the project's after-tax NPV5 at about C$3.35 billion on a US$3,600/oz gold base case, a 244% increase over the 2021 study, with an after-tax IRR near 28.2% and about C$6.4 billion of after-tax life-of-mine cash flow; at US$4,500/oz he cites an after-tax NPV5 of about C$5.1 billion with an IRR near 37%.
He attributes the jump to refreshing years of capex and opex escalation and to a much stronger long-term gold price than the US$1,600/oz assumption behind the 2021 study.
Initial development capital is put at about C$1.75 billion for a polymetallic deposit with 5.2 million ounces of gold-equivalent reserves and close to 9 million ounces of gold-equivalent resources across 80 million tonnes of ore.
Silver and copper by-product credits are said to hold all-in sustaining cost below US$800/oz, which the guest argues would place the asset in the first quartile of gold-sector low-cost production, on a 16,000 tonne-per-day plan producing over 220,000 payable ounces a year, roughly 300,000 ounces on a gold-equivalent basis.
Permitting is framed as the next gate, with the host citing Quebec's Ministry of the Environment as indicating the review is entering its final stretch, while the guest expects the environmental analysis to be completed by autumn 2026 and a decision by decree before the end of 2026, ahead of filing the study and starting dewatering and financing work.

Top takeaway His central argument is that the updated feasibility study shows the project works on its base case rather than on gold price optimism: he treats US$3,600/oz as a conservative assumption and points to the higher US$4,500/oz case as the upside.
He says the improvement in project economics is not a single-variable story, combining updated capex and opex escalation with a large improvement in long-term commodity prices since the 2021 study.
He highlights the cost position specifically, arguing that silver and copper by-product credits push all-in sustaining cost below US$800/oz and put the asset in the first quartile of low-cost gold production.
On permitting he claims good progress with regulators and government in the past few months but frames the file as complex, with specific studies still to be delivered so the regulator can finalize and submit its environmental analysis report, completed by autumn 2026 and a decree decision before the end of 2026.
For the next 6 to 12 months he plans to file the feasibility study with the CDR once each chapter has QP approval, finish the regulator studies within the month, move into detail engineering to start the dewatering step, and continue project financing talks, describing the overall push as working down de-risking milestones to advance the project.