Stormlands Mining, an Ireland-based data analytics company, has released a new independent case study on the Odienné gold project in northwestern Côte d'Ivoire, owned in joint-venture by Awalé Resources (TSXV: ARIC) and a Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) subsidiary.
Since Odienné is currently without a formal preliminary economic assessment (PEA), Stormlands’ artificial intelligence (AI) created a base economic model using data extracted from Awalé’s NI 43-101 technical report from April 2026. The modelling program then generated results that increased the site’s net present value (NPV) from US$891.8 million at a 5% discount rate in the base model to US$2.25 billion — a 153% increase.
Using an updated gold price of US$4,877.4 per ounce, Stormlands lifted life-of-mine revenue from US$4.38 billion to US$6.88 billion, with life-of-mine EBITDA increasing from US$2.01 billion to US$4.32 billion. The project's internal rate of return (IRR) rose from 69.42% to 152.25% while the modelled payback period went from 17 months to around eight months. And modelled government royalties and corporate income tax went from US$760.9 million to US$1.53 billion.
The Odienné gold project covers 2,346 sq. km across seven exploration permits. One site holds 32.4 million tonnes grading 1.64 grams gold-equivalent per tonne, totalling more than 1.71 million oz of contained gold.
Róisín O’Connell, the chief executive officer at Stormlands, said that current mining valuation programs are inadequate, not due to shortage of data, but because of how that data is used. “AI should not merely summarize technical reports. It should extract, structure and standarize the data so investors and project teams can test the same asset on a consistent basis,” she said.
The case study is part of the Stormlands library series, an effort to create a set of resources for mining companies to predict and assess economic conditions. Other studies have re-examined the Whistler, MPD and Barlorne projects.
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