Bravada Gold Corporation is advancing Wind Mountain, a past-producing gold-silver project about 160 km northeast of Reno in northern Nevada, toward a restart as a shallow open-pit, run-of-mine heap leach. I sat down with Dr. Paul West-Sells, a metallurgist and former CEO of Western Copper and Gold, who became President and CEO on June 8, 2026. We covered the new PEA, the drill and met programs, the path to a PFS and permits, and how they plan to pay for it.
TL;DR
CEO Paul told me the big change in their PEA numbers from earlier this year came from staking dropped claims next door, which grew the heap pad capacity from 30 Mt to 96 Mt. He was blunt that this is a build-a-mine story, not an exploration story. The PFS is targeted for end of 2027, with permitting running in parallel. He thinks it is roughly $5M in project spend to get shovel ready, against about $2.5M in cash plus incoming warrant and option money. He put cash costs around US$1,500/oz and said he wouldn’t build below roughly US$2,200 to 2,500 gold. The upside levers he flagged are silver recovery (15% assumed), gold recovery (62% assumed vs 69% historically) and the old waste dumps.
What have they done for shareholders lately?
Since June, Paul put $200,000 of his own money in at $0.70 with no warrants. He told me it’s his largest personal investment across his board seats. The team staked 60 claims that grew the land package by about 50%, delivered the updated PEA, and is about a week and a half from finishing a drill program now at about 38 holes and roughly 2,500 m. That program includes 31 shallow holes into the historic dumps and RC holes beneath the dumps next to the pits. They also signed a data-sharing agreement with the geothermal plant just south of the project to help with baseline environmental work. Paul also had an ex-Hatch engineer review the PEA capex, which pushed it higher, so the PFS doesn’t surprise anyone.
How much money do they have and what are they spending it on?
Last reported cash was $1.7M. Paul estimates it is closer to $1.4M now, with about $1.1M expected from options and warrants (mostly at $0.40) over the next six months or so. He called that about a year of runway. The February financing came from the group behind Luca Mining and Gold Group, and Adam Melnyk joined the board in March to represent them. Getting shovel ready needs about $5M in project spend, split roughly half engineering (met, geotech, PFS) and half permitting, with G&A on top. He didn’t have a G&A number but described overhead as low. The main cost items before the PFS are the met and geotech programs. On capex financing, he said it’s too early to discuss the debt-to-equity mix, though two lenders he met at Beaver Creek showed interest. Baxter brings in US$100,000 a year from Endeavour Silver under a JV. Agnico Eagle holds a 2% NSR, with 1% buyable for $1M. Insiders own about 4%, and there’s about 33% dilution on a fully diluted basis (43.5M shares).
Upcoming catalysts
Technical: assays from the current program are due before end of 2026. That covers the dumps (Paul said a top-to-bottom 0.2 g/t would put them “in game,” 0.15 g/t is marginal), the pit extensions, and the Silver Vent target, a possible feeder zone with a historic 6 m intercept of about 100 g/t silver. A met program launches next, with results expected in Q2 2027 covering crush vs run-of-mine, silver recovery vs reagent dosing, and heap hydrology. A small infill program is likely in 2027 to convert the roughly 40 Mt of inferred, keeping total drilling under about 3,000 m. A significant geotech program is also planned.
Corporate: a permitting plan, team and timeline announcement, and first talks with regulators on whether an EA or a full EIS applies. They also need to secure water rights. The PFS is targeted for end of 2027. Finally, there’s a review of the other Nevada properties, which could lead to deals.
Risks
Paul named permitting as what keeps him up at night. They haven’t spoken to regulators yet, the faster EA route is a hope rather than a decision, and he estimates about 2.5 years either way. Water rights still need to be bought from existing holders. Stakeholder talks with tribes and Burning Man organizers haven’t started. He says the mine sits behind a ridge with no visual impact from the festival road. Clay in the dumps could slow solution flow through the heap. The inferred conversion may need more drilling than the team expects, and the recovery upside is still unproven. With about a year of cash and $5M plus G&A to fund, more equity raises look likely, on top of the warrant and option overhang.
Bravada Gold CEO Interview
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