Speaking at Diggers & Dealers, Calidus MD Dave Reeves said the company had been "very conservative" on the grade estimate for the Warrawoona gold project near Marble Bar, with his presentation pointing to dilution and ore loss assumptions that "de-risk project economics".
The potential economics were revealed last month in a "class 4" prefeasibility study - that's supposed to have greater accuracy than standard prefeasibility studies - with development capex of A$95 million for a 2 million tonne per annum project yielding 97,000 ounces per annum for six years at all in sustaining costs of $1159/oz.
Reeves said the company was looking at appointing a debt advisor "shortly", with infill and extensional drilling plus permitting is the focus on the ground for the rest of 2019.
Mine life extension is a key aim and Reeves is confident the geology will deliver.
"This will be a multi-million ounce deposit over time," he said, with the company recently having a structural geologist at site assess the potential.
Meanwhile from an investment perspective, he said the project's NPV at the current gold price was $300 million, and claimed the company was undervalued versus peers "especially with the cupboard being quite bare" in terms of advanced, undeveloped gold plays.
Reeves' based his undervalued claim on the enterprise value per resource ounce measure, with Warrawoona's $40/oz comparing to $82/oz for Echo Resources and $134/oz for Capricorn Metals.
Calidus shares have been trading at 3.4c of late capitalising the company at about $48 million. The stock has a 12 month range of 2.1-3.7c.
