Bonterra Resources has published a preliminary economic assessment for the past producing Barry gold mine in Quebec’s Abitibi Greenstone Belt that values the project at 665 million Canadian dollars after tax, 465 million US dollars, at a 5 percent discount rate, with a 54 percent internal rate of return and a 2.5 year payback. The figure is almost fourteen times the 48.3 million dollar value in the 2022 study. Two things changed: the plan now adds underground mining alongside the open pit, and the assumed long term gold price rose from 1,600 dollars an ounce to 3,500 dollars.
The expanded plan targets about 697,000 ounces over a 7.2 year mine life, averaging 87,097 ounces a year against 30,000 ounces in the 2022 open pit only plan. Initial capital is 119 million dollars, with sustaining capital of 354 million dollars and closure costs of 7.3 million, for total capital of 480 million dollars. Operating cash costs are forecast at 2,411 dollars an ounce and all-in sustaining costs at 3,017 dollars, with ore to be processed at a nearby third party mill rather than a new plant. The study draws on a February 2026 resource of 11.9 million measured and indicated tonnes at 2.29 grams a tonne, for 874,000 ounces, plus 8.9 million inferred tonnes at 3.41 grams for 972,000 ounces, and uses about 40 percent of the contained ounces.
Governance is the caveat investors will price. Barry is a joint venture with Gold Fields, which can earn 70 percent of the project by spending at least 10 million dollars a year over three years, and Gold Fields has not endorsed the assessment. Barry produced about 44,000 ounces between 2008 and 2010, and more than 88,000 metres have been drilled on the property. Bonterra’s shares were unchanged at 13 Canadian cents on Thursday morning, valuing the company at about 50 million Canadian dollars, a market verdict that the study is a price leveraged option on gold rather than a build decision.