Stormlands Mining has published a new case study on the Sandman Gold Project in Humboldt County, Nevada, USA, including an illustrative updated commodity price scenario which increases modelled project NPV from approximately US$210.5 million to approximately US$667.4 million.

Using the mine plan and economic data contained in the NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Sandman Gold Project, with an effective date of 5 January 2026, Stormlands rebuilt a base case financial model for Sandman using gold and silver price inputs from the NI 43-101 of US$2,600/oz gold and US$20/oz silver.

On this basis, the Stormlands model generated a post-tax project Net Present Value (NPV) of approximately US$210.5 million at a 6% discount rate, with a project IRR of approximately 101.2% and payback of approximately 1 year and 2 months.

Stormlands then updated the same model using updated commodity price assumptions of US$4,877.40/oz gold and US$74.92/oz silver. All other core assumptions were held constant, including mine life, ore processed, gold grade, silver grade, recoveries, production profile, operating cost, capital cost, sustaining capital and fiscal assumptions.

Under this updated commodity price scenario, modelled project NPV increased to approximately US$667.4 million.

This represents an uplift of approximately US$456.9 million, or approximately 217%, compared with the NI 43-101 extracted base case model.

Life-of-mine revenue increased from approximately US$900.4 million in the base case to approximately US$1.72 billion under the updated commodity price scenario. Life-of-mine EBITDA increased from approximately US$440.7 millionto approximately US$1.24 billion. Post-tax project free cash flow increased from approximately US$303.2 million to approximately US$937.4 million.

The modelled payback period improved from approximately 1 year and 2 months to approximately 5 months.

The Sandman case study highlights the project’s strong leverage to gold price. Revenue increases by approximately 91% under the updated commodity price scenario, while post-tax NPV increases by approximately 217%. This demonstrates the operational gearing of the project, with a substantial portion of additional commodity revenue flowing through to EBITDA, free cash flow and NPV.

Róisín O’Connell, CEO of Stormlands Mining, said:

“Sandman is a clear example of why mining needs to move beyond static reports and spreadsheets. The technical documents provides the foundation, but the real value comes when that information is converted into structured, comparable and updateable data.

“The mining sector talks a lot about AI, but not enough about the data standards underpin the industry. The industry needs a common data layer that makes technical and economic information discoverable, structured, governed and comparable. Stormlands has built a scalable data foundation so that project economics can be updated, tested, compared and understood in real time.

“In the Sandman case study, we have kept the mine plan, ore processed, grades, recoveries, operating costs, capital costs, sustaining capital and fiscal assumptions unchanged. We have only updated the commodity price assumptions. That single change increases modelled project NPV from approximately US$210 million to approximately US$667 million.

“The broader point is not simply that higher gold and silver prices increase valuation. It is that once technical disclosure has been structured into a dynamic model, users can immediately see how the project behaves under different market conditions. They can test gold price, silver price, operating cost, capital cost, discount rate, royalties, taxes and production assumptions, and understand which variables really drive value.”

Margin expansion

The revenue report shows net smelter return increasing from approximately US$46.37/t ore in the NI 43-101 extracted case to approximately US$88.73/t orein the updated commodity price case.

Operating cost remains unchanged at approximately US$22.51/t ore.

As a result, cash operating margin increases from approximately US$23.86/t oreto approximately US$66.22/t ore. Operating margin percentage increases from approximately 51.5% to approximately 74.6%.

This means that, under the updated commodity price assumptions, the same physical mine plan generates materially higher margin per tonne processed.

Value drivers

Stormlands’ sensitivity analysis shows that gold price is the dominant value driver for Sandman.

In the NI 43-101 extracted base case, the price factor sensitivity range is approximately US$160 million to US$261 million NPV. The gold price factor sensitivity range is approximately US$161 million to US$260 million NPV.

In the updated commodity price case, the price factor sensitivity range is approximately US$571 million to US$763 million NPV. The gold price factor sensitivity range is approximately US$575 million to US$760 million NPV.

The close alignment between the price factor and gold price factor confirms that Sandman is overwhelmingly a gold-driven project. Gold accounts for approximately 98% of revenue in the NI 43-101 extracted case and approximately 96% of revenue in the updated commodity price case.

Silver provides useful by-product support, but it does not drive the investment case. Silver revenue increases from approximately US$16.5 million in the base case to approximately US$61.8 million in the updated commodity price case, helping reduce AISC from approximately US$1,472.70/oz gold to approximately US$1,397.76/oz gold.

Operating cost is the second most important value driver. However, the updated commodity price case materially reduces the relative impact of operating cost inflation. In the NI 43-101 extracted model, operating cost sensitivity ranges from approximately US$186 million to US$235 million NPV. In the updated commodity price model, operating cost sensitivity ranges from approximately US$643 million to US$692 million NPV.

Capital cost sensitivity is limited in both scenarios, reflecting Sandman’s relatively low initial capital requirement of approximately US$36.25 millioncompared with its modelled cash-flow potential.

Heatmap analysis

The price and operating cost heatmap provides one of the strongest findings in the Sandman case study.

In the NI 43-101 extracted model, the base case NPV is approximately US$210 million. Across the heatmap, NPV ranges from approximately US$60.6 million in the downside case of 80% price and 120% operating cost to approximately US$360 million in the upside case of 120% price and 80% operating cost.

In the updated commodity price model, the base case NPV is approximately US$667 million. Across the heatmap, NPV ranges from approximately US$426 million in the downside case of 80% price and 120% operating cost to approximately US$908 million in the upside case of 120% price and 80% operating cost.

This means there is no overlap between the NI 43-101 extracted heatmap valuation range and the updated commodity price heatmap valuation range. The lowest NPV scenario in the updated commodity price heatmap is higher than the highest NPV scenario in the NI 43-101 extracted heatmap.

The updated commodity price case does not simply improve the base case. It shifts the entire valuation range upward.

Government revenues

The Sandman case study also shows that updated commodity prices materially increase projected government revenues.

Government royalties and corporate income tax increase from approximately US$91.4 million in the NI 43-101 extracted base case to approximately US$269.9 million in the updated commodity price case.

This demonstrates that higher commodity prices can materially increase both project-level returns and fiscal contribution.

Moving beyond static technical reports

Stormlands’ analysis highlights the importance of moving beyond static technical report numbers. Public technical reports contain the data required to build robust economic models, but those models need to be structured, updateable and comparable if they are to support better decision-making.

The Sandman model is part of the Stormlands Mining Library, a growing repository of dynamic mining valuation models built from public technical reports and company disclosures. The Library is designed to help users analyse, update and compare mining projects across jurisdictions, commodities and development stages.

The Sandman Gold Project is owned by Borealis Mining Company Limited through Sandman Resources Inc. Stormlands modelled the project using public technical disclosure and independent analysis.