The playbook — gold · September 9, 2026
Troilus updates the numbers on its big, low-grade Quebec gold pit
New feasibility-level report puts after-tax NPV at US$3.2B and IRR at 22% — but leans on a US$3,600/oz gold price.
On September 9, 2026, Troilus Mining published an updated NI 43-101 technical report on its Troilus gold-copper project in northcentral Quebec. This is not a batch of drill holes — it’s a fresh set of feasibility-level economics, built after the company finished Basic Engineering to AACE Class 3 accuracy (a plus-15%/minus-10% cost estimate — the tightest a project usually gets before construction). The report lists an after-tax net present value of US$3.2 billion, a 22% internal rate of return, and life-of-mine cash flow of US$6.9 billion. Reserves grew to 478 million tonnes at 0.44 grams of gold per tonne — 6.7 million ounces of contained gold — over a 26-year mine life.
The logic here is scale, not richness. At 0.44 g/t, every tonne of rock carries less than a fiftieth of an ounce of gold, so this only works as a giant open pit that moves enormous volumes cheaply. Two numbers do the heavy lifting: reserve tonnage is up 26% versus the 2024 study, and the strip ratio improved to 2.4:1 — meaning 2.4 tonnes of waste per tonne of ore, a low figure that keeps digging costs down. Copper and silver credits help too. CEO Justin Reid, who sold Sulliden Gold to Rio Alto for roughly C$300 million in 2014, has built visibility without paid IR, and the stock held up: over three months TLG rose 37.1% while the junior gold index GDXJ climbed 31.5% and gold itself rose 5.0% — clearing even that elevated peer bar by five or six points.
Now the caveats, because they matter. The headline NPV assumes gold at US$3,600 an ounce — well above the US$2,100 price used to define the reserve pit itself. Drop the price to US$2,000 and after-tax NPV falls from US$3.2 billion to US$384 million. The report itself sits under Qualified Person Gordon Zurowski of AGP, but the provided text does not show cut-off grade or QA/QC detail, and the geologist flags 89% of the reserve tonnage as Probable — the lower-confidence category — rather than Proven. Reid and Troilus have never built or operated a mine. Watch three markers: pre-construction sunk costs through Q1 2027 (per the technical report), ongoing infill and pit-optimization drilling not yet in the reserve, and an eventual construction decision — timing for which was not stated.