Stavely maps A$818m NPV copper-gold plan in western Victoria

A new scoping study outlines a 13-year, single-pit operation at Thursday’s Gossan, with a stand-alone 4Mtpa plant and a projected 2.5-year payback.

Stavely Minerals (ASX: SVY)  |  Stavely Project, western Victoria

A$818m pre-tax NPV7  |  40% IRR  |  2.5-year payback  |  13-year production schedule

A development case takes shape

Stavely Minerals has completed a scoping study for potential production from the Thursday’s Gossan and Cayley Lode copper-gold-silver deposits at its 100%-owned Stavely Project in western Victoria. The preliminary plan centres on a single, three-stage open pit feeding a conventional stand-alone processing plant at four million tonnes a year.

The study schedules 51.4 million tonnes of plant feed at a waste-to-feed ratio of 2.5:1. Across 13 years, it forecasts production of 210,000 tonnes of copper-equivalent metal in concentrate, comprising 170,000 tonnes of copper, 66,000 ounces of gold and 3.3 million ounces of silver. The first three years are designed to capture higher-grade material, averaging 24,300 tonnes of copper-equivalent metal a year before output settles to an average 14,500 tonnes a year over the following decade.

Economics and funding

On the study’s base-case assumptions, Thursday’s Gossan delivers an estimated pre-tax NPV7 of A$818 million, a 40% internal rate of return and payback in 2.5 years from first production. Average annual free cash flow from first production is estimated at about A$110 million, while net operating cash flow over the project life is put at A$1.4 billion.

At metals prices current on 6 August 2026, Stavely estimates the pre-tax NPV7 would rise to A$905 million, with a 43% IRR and A$1.5 billion of net operating cash flow. Estimated all-in sustaining costs are US$2.75 a pound of copper for the first three years and US$3.76 a pound over the life of the operation.

The capital estimate includes A$333 million for the process plant and mine-site infrastructure after a final investment decision, including a 30% contingency, plus A$139 million for pre-production work such as open-pit pre-stripping. That implies about A$472 million of pre-production funding before FID, excluding the cost of further technical studies.

What happens next

The result gives Stavely a platform for more detailed engineering, metallurgical work, approvals and funding discussions. The company has not included potential underground production in the current plan, leaving a possible future source of additional feed outside the scoping study.

The study remains an early-stage assessment with an accuracy range of plus or minus 35%, and no Ore Reserve has been declared. Stavely says Indicated Resources account for 75% of scheduled value across the 13-year plan and 96% of value through the period leading to capital payback. A pre-feasibility study and feasibility study would be required before a development decision.

Source: Stavely Minerals, “Thursday’s Gossan Scoping Study”, ASX announcement dated 10 August 2026.