From Waste to Wealth: Paramount Wakes a Nevada Gold Giant with New Economics

WINNEMUCCA, NV – June 17, 2026 – In the high-stakes world of gold mining, the most valuable discoveries aren't always buried deep underground. Sometimes, they're hiding in plain sight. That’s the bet Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. (NYSE American: PZG) is making with its historic Sleeper Gold Project, and a new economic assessment suggests the gamble could pay off handsomely.

The company this week unveiled an Initial Assessment for restarting the past-producing Nevada mine, and the numbers are compelling. The study projects a 17-year mine life capable of generating an after-tax net present value (NPV) of $402 million and a remarkable 45% internal rate of return (IRR). These figures are based on a gold price of $3,600 per ounce—a number that, in today's market, looks decidedly conservative.

At a higher, more market-aligned price of $4,700 per ounce, the project's economics become spectacular, with the NPV more than doubling to $867 million and the IRR soaring to 66%. For a project with an initial capital outlay of just $201 million, these projections signal not just a viable business but a potentially transformative asset for the U.S.-focused development company.

A Bet on Bullish Markets and Smart Costs

At the heart of the Sleeper project's appeal is its sensitivity to the price of gold, a factor that currently works heavily in its favor. The study's Base Case assumption of $3,600/oz gold sits well below the current spot price, which has been hovering around $4,340/oz. More telling is the Upside Case of $4,700/oz, which aligns closely with the median 2026 forecast from a recent Reuters poll of industry analysts. Some bullish forecasts from major banks even see gold pushing past $6,000/oz this year, making Paramount’s “upside” scenario appear more like a realistic baseline for investors.

The project's profitability is further bolstered by its cost structure. Even with All-In Sustaining Costs (AISC) projected at $2,407 per ounce over the life of the mine, the potential margins at current or forecasted gold prices are substantial. The initial five years are even more attractive, with an AISC of just $1,854 per ounce, promising a rapid return on investment.

Rachel Goldman, Paramount's CEO, highlighted this front-loaded value in the announcement. “In the first five years alone, the Project has a very low strip ratio of 0.74:1 and is expected to produce approximately 348,000 ounces of gold and 1.33 million ounces of silver,” she stated, pointing to projected after-tax cash flows of $514 million in the Base Case and $826 million in the Upside Case during that period.

Innovation in the Overburden: Reviving a Legacy

The true innovation behind the Sleeper project lies not in a revolutionary new technology, but in its strategic and sustainable approach to redevelopment. Rather than a traditional greenfield exploration play, this is a brownfield project focused on breathing new life into a site that produced 1.66 million ounces of gold between 1986 and 1996.

The key is how Paramount plans to restart operations. The initial phase of production will not come from blasting new pits, but from processing 47 million tonnes of mineralized material left behind in waste rock dumps from the mine's original operational life. This strategy is a masterclass in capital efficiency. It leverages an existing, already-mined resource, dramatically reducing upfront costs, minimizing the initial environmental footprint, and accelerating the timeline to cash flow. This approach is central to achieving the remarkably short 1.4-year payback period outlined in the study.

By utilizing existing infrastructure from the mine's previous life—including established site access and proximity to power and water in a world-class mining jurisdiction—Paramount sidesteps many of the logistical and financial hurdles that can stall new projects. The plan involves a conventional and well-understood 30,000 tonne-per-day heap-leach processing facility, a method proven effective for the type of oxide and mixed mineralization found at Sleeper.

An Expanding Horizon of Untapped Potential

While the economics of the current plan are impressive, the Initial Assessment also reveals a much larger, longer-term opportunity. The study updated the project's resource estimate, delivering a staggering 90% increase in Inferred Mineral Resources, which now stand at 2.30 million ounces of gold. In the mining world, "Inferred" resources represent material with a lower level of geological confidence, but they serve as a powerful indicator of a project's growth potential.

This massive expansion of the resource base suggests the current 17-year mine plan may only be the beginning. “With no significant exploration conducted at Sleeper in over two decades, we see substantial upside through a focused exploration program across our large land position,” Goldman commented, underscoring the company’s belief that significant value remains undiscovered on the property.

This optionality is a critical component of the project's long-term value proposition. As the company works to convert these Inferred resources into higher-confidence categories through further drilling, the potential exists to significantly extend the mine life, expand production, or optimize the mining sequence for even greater profitability. The current study, for instance, focuses only on oxide and mixed materials amenable to heap leaching, leaving a substantial volume of sulfide mineralization to be evaluated in future studies.

The Path Forward: Permitting, Pre-Feasibility, and Funding

With a positive assessment in hand, Paramount is now focused on the tangible steps required to turn these projections into reality. The company has laid out an $8.7 million advancement program designed to de-risk the project further. This budget will fund infill drilling to improve resource confidence, advance environmental and permitting activities, and conduct engineering studies to optimize the heap-leach design.

Company officials appear confident about the regulatory path ahead, describing the permitting for initial drilling as “straightforward and timely” because the proposed activities fall within the Sleeper mine's existing Plan of Operations. Operating in Humboldt County, Nevada—a jurisdiction with a long and established history of mining—provides a significant advantage over projects in less proven territories. The process will be closely watched by both state and federal agencies like the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

For Paramount, which like many development-stage miners is not yet profitable, funding this advancement is the next critical step. The company has an at-the-market program in place to raise capital through equity financing, a common strategy to fund exploration and development. For investors, the Initial Assessment provides a compelling new data point, transforming the Sleeper project from a speculative asset into a defined development plan with a clear, data-backed path to potential production.