US Gold Corp CK Gold 2026 Feasibility Study: 7 Things You Need to Know

Project Overview

US Gold Corp (NASDAQ: USAU) holds the CK Gold Project in Wyoming, a fully permitted open-pit gold-copper development asset on State of Wyoming mineral lease land with no direct federal involvement. The project's March 2026 Feasibility Study (FS), prepared by Halyard Micon International to Securities & Exchange Commission Subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K (S-K 1300) standards, was released with gold trading well above the study's $3,250 per ounce base case. All major permits are secured, mine access road construction commenced in January 2026, & initial capital is fixed at $394 million. The company is now targeting project finance as its next milestone.

President & CEO of US Gold Corp, George Bee, framed what the permitting position means for the company's next phase:

"Permitting is where many projects get delayed or fail to progress. In our case, having permits in hand allows us to focus entirely on financing & execution. It also makes the project more attractive to potential partners & financiers because regulatory risk has already been addressed."

For investors sizing the CK Gold opportunity, the 2026 FS defines 7 variables that determine whether this project's risk-reward profile has changed.

1. The Base Case Economics Are Conservative at Current Gold Prices

The after-tax NPV of $632 million & IRR of 27% are calculated at $3,250 per ounce gold  a base case that has sat below where gold has traded for most of 2025 & 2026, with after-tax NPV rising to $946 million & IRR to 36.3% at $4,000 per ounce.

The FS sensitivity table shows that each $500 per ounce increase in gold price adds approximately $206-209 million in after-tax NPV, & the project generates a positive after-tax NPV at $2,000 per ounce gold, a price last seen in 2019, establishing a meaningful downside floor. Life-of-mine total net free cash flow is modelled at $967 million, with average annual operating net free cash flow of $124 million defining the debt service capacity available to project lenders.

2. The Reserve Base Is Drilled on 80% Open Holes, Meaning the FS Pit Is Not the Deposit's Limit

Proven & probable reserves of 1.598 million gold equivalent ounces were defined by 215 drill holes, yet 80% of historical drill holes end in mineralisation or are not closed off laterally, & 2,900 feet of strike length to the southeast remains untested.

The deposit sits open at depth below 800 feet. A postulation published by geologist Richard Sillitoe in June 2022 positions CK Gold as porphyry in origin & notes that other deposits occur locally as part of the Silver Crown Mining District. Company materials state that depth & strike length volumetrics are sufficient to double the current gold-copper resource if mineralisation continues along strike.

3. Location Drives the Cost Structure as Much as Metallurgy Does

A life-of-mine AISC of $1,785 per gold equivalent ounce & a total site operating cost of $18.46 per tonne processed are supported by infrastructure that already exists within 20 minutes of the project, eliminating cost categories that inflate all-in costs at remote operations.

The CK Gold Project sits 3 miles north of Interstate 80, approximately 20 minutes west of Cheyenne, Wyoming. There is no man-camp requirement; workers commute from Cheyenne, & OEM equipment supply hubs in Gillette, Wyoming; Denver, Colorado; & Salt Lake City, Utah are all within a 6-hour drive. Mining uses a conventional open-pit truck-&-shovel fleet on a 0.89 strip ratio, & Jameson cell flotation with dry-stack tailings management produces a gold-copper concentrate carrying little to no deleterious elements.

Bee pointed to operational simplicity as a direct input to execution certainty:

"The project is designed as an open-pit operation with conventional processing. That simplicity is important when you think about execution risk."

4. The Permit Stack Is Complete & Removes a Risk Category That Has Stopped Comparable US Projects

CK Gold holds an approved Mine Operating Permit, Wyoming Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WYPDES) water discharge permit, Mine Reclamation Bond, air quality permit, & Industrial Siting Permit.

A US Army Corps of Engineers Jurisdictional Delineation confirmed that the project footprint does not impact waters of the United States, removing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review requirement that has delayed comparable US open-pit projects. The project sits on State of Wyoming mineral lease land; a 2.1% net smelter return (NSR) royalty, earmarked for state education, is fully reflected in the FS economics. The permitting programme involved more than 200 separate meetings with over 300 individuals, & a mine closure plan contemplating post-mining water storage in the exhausted pit for Cheyenne's future supply needs positions CK Gold's social licence as a managed asset.

5. The Capital Requirement Is Fixed & the Balance Sheet Covers Pre-Construction

Initial capital of $394 million, including contingency, is the financing gap investors must size; the company held $36.1 million in cash as of its January 31, 2026 quarterly filing, covering pre-construction & early works activity while project finance is structured.

The life-of-mine total net free cash flow of $967 million defines lender coverage at base case metal prices. Early contractor engagement produced improved capital cost estimates & schedule certainty. The company is targeting traditional & non-traditional funding sources including vendor financing options, & with approximately 20.3 million fully diluted shares outstanding as of May 01, 2026, any equity component would be issued from a low-dilution base relative to most junior gold developers at FS stage.

6. The Aggregate Revenue Stream Is Not in the FS Model & Represents Unpriced NPV Upside

The FS NPV of $632 million assigns zero value to aggregate & rail ballast sales from the CK Gold granodiorite waste rock, despite company-referenced market studies indicating approximately 1 million tons per year of demand within trucking distance & a non-binding letter of intent for ballast delivery to a major railway.

Waste rock from the CK Gold open pit carries the physical characteristics required for construction aggregate & railway ballast. The company's May 2026 presentation cites a local quarry benchmark of approximately $20-25 per ton & confirms the opportunity is "not captured fully in the FS," with potential to provide significant upside to CK's NPV & additional royalty payments to Wyoming. Any contracted off-take volume would reduce the effective cash cost on a by-product credit basis & improve the project's NPV above the $632 million base case.

7. The Exploration Portfolio Adds District-Scale Optionality at No Additional Cost to CK Gold Investors

The Keystone Gold Project in Nevada & the Challis Gold Project in Idaho are held by US Gold Corp alongside CK Gold; neither requires near-term capital allocation from the CK Gold development budget.

The Keystone Gold Project covers 20 square miles on Nevada's Cortez Trend, 11 miles on-trend south of Nevada Gold Mines' Cortez Complex, whose associated deposits have produced or contain more than 51 million ounces of gold. Keystone shares key geological characteristics with the Cortez system, Wenban Formation stratigraphy, Eocene-aged intrusives, & porphyry and Carlin-type mineralisation, but has never been systematically drilled. A 2026 programme is integrating geophysical, geochemical, & drilling data via the VRIFY AI platform to develop new targets, with an approved Plan of Operations in place. The Challis Gold Project in Idaho holds a historical, non-current resource of approximately 313,825 ounces of gold at 1.22 g/t at Johnny's Point, 12 miles southwest of Revival Gold's Beartrack Project.

Key Takeaway for Investors

• CK Gold is fully permitted & construction-initiated, removing the regulatory risk category that defines most US development-stage peers; the remaining risk is execution  financing terms, construction timeline, & commodity price
• The $632 million after-tax NPV is calculated at $3,250 per ounce gold, a base case that has sat below where gold has traded for most of 2025 & 2026, with after-tax NPV supported by a $967 million life-of-mine total net free cash flow that defines lender coverage at current metal prices
• Both the NPV & the cost structure are supported by a 0.89 strip ratio & a location within 20 minutes of Cheyenne that eliminates man-camp costs & brings OEM supply hubs within a 6-hour drive, structural cost advantages not present at remote operations
• The FS NPV assigns zero value to aggregate & rail ballast sales; a non-binding letter of intent for ballast delivery to a major railway is in place, & any contracted off-take volume would reduce effective cash costs on a by-product basis & lift NPV above the $632 million base case
• 80% of historical drill holes at CK Gold end in mineralisation or are not closed off laterally, & 2,900 feet of southeast strike length remains untested  meaning the 1.015 million ounce gold reserve represents a floor defined by current drill density, not the deposit's geological limit

‍Bottom Line

The March 2026 FS confirms CK Gold as a construction-ready, fully permitted project with financeable economics: a $632 million after-tax NPV, 27% IRR, & 2.5-year payback at a gold price that has sat below spot for most of 2025 & 2026. Life-of-mine total net free cash flow of $967 million defines the lender coverage available at current metal prices. Both figures are calculated on a base case that assigns zero value to aggregate & rail ballast sales a revenue stream with a non-binding letter of intent already in place  & on a reserve where 80% of historical drill holes remain open. The FS NPV is, in that sense, a floor rather than a ceiling.

The catalyst sequence that closes the gap is a project financing announcement, publication of the full S-K 1300 technical report, & progression of aggregate off-take discussions to binding terms each a discrete re-rating event for investors tracking CK Gold.