US-focused exploration and development company Paramount Gold Nevada Corp has started an initial assessment for its 100%-owned Sleeper gold project – a past-producing high-grade gold mine located in Humboldt county, in northern Nevada.

The assessment, which is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of this year, will evaluate the project’s economic potential and will be prepared in accordance with applicable US regulatory standards, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation S-K subpart 1300 that governs disclosures by mining registrants.

Paramount has engaged SLR International Corporation to conduct the assessment, which is intended to examine a potentially lower-cost, staged development approach focused on heap-leachable material only, including about 54-million tons of material of economic interest. This includes surface material from previously unevaluated waste dumps, as well as oxide and mixed in-situ mineralisation amenable to heap leaching.

This approach has the potential to support an accelerated path to cash flow and enhance overall project economics, building on prior assessments that focused primarily on in-situ resources. It is also expected to contribute to development planning and the evaluation of potential future expansion opportunities.

SLR is busy, on site, with ongoing monitoring and reclamation programmes and will leverage its recent acquisition of Forte Dynamics to incorporate enhanced leach kinetics expertise into the assessment.

“Following our internal review, we believe substantial historic data supports an initial assessment of a heap-leach-only operation at Sleeper and we are now progressing the evaluation of development options. Sleeper is a large, past-producing asset in a well-established mining jurisdiction with existing infrastructure and in the current gold price environment, we see a compelling opportunity to unlock value.

"Focusing on the oxidised and transitional material is a logical first step to define the project’s development potential and guide the next phase of work," says Paramount Gold Nevada CEO Rachel Goldman.

She points out that the company is also continuing to advance its Grassy Mountain project – an advanced-stage development project in Malheur county, Oregon – through final permitting and feasibility activities.