The company has estimated capex and production costs at four sites—plus market values for other measured and indicated resources and cash on hand—as a basis for calculating a net present value on a pre-tax basis. At $650 gold, the total NPV by the company's calculation is $1.1 billion or $33 per fully diluted share. At $750 gold, the company puts a $1.7 billion NPV on its properties, or $51 a share.

The company is updating a preliminary assessment on Courageous Lake that it expects to improve the financial feasibility of developing a mine. Since the 2005 assessment, the property’s resource has been expanded, and although mining costs have risen, some areas of savings have been identified. The current resource model is about 10.2 million ounces at an average of 2.0 grams per ton. The 2005 preliminary assessment estimated cash mining costs of $279 per ounce, capital expenditures of $630 million, and, at $500 gold, a total of $324 million free cash flow on an assumed 4.6 million ounces life-of-mine production. That assessment projected about a $230 million increase in fcf for each $50 rise in the gold price. Thus, $650 gold would yield fcf of about $1 billion over the projected 8.5 years of production. All those numbers should increase with the updated study that reflects the considerable expansion of the resource.