See the potential be given our district. Looking at the operation themselves, as I said, we acquired it in 2019. The first 2.5 years in Argentina during COVID were very restrictive, but the team was still able to really reposition the mine from a very underperforming operation to one that has now had four years at over 50,000 ounces of production. Despite our relatively small scale, we've been able to keep cost in line with our larger peer group within the area. We're targeting somewhere between $1,500- $1,700 on an all-in sustaining basis. The mine itself is quite remote, very much a fixed cost mine, so the more you can produce, the lower your unit costs will be. This is just a little background on the PEA that was done in 2024. It did outline a five-year life at the time.
This is kind of the starting point we had to give comfort to the market with all the changes going on in Argentina that we had something there to grow from, to continue to build on. Now we're in that position, obviously with the cash being generated, to really kickstart that exploration program that has been missing. As you've probably all heard before, Argentina is now opening up to be one of the perhaps most attractive places for new mining endeavors, especially at the larger scale. Switching over to Europe and the Lagoa Salgada project, it's a VMS project located about an hour south of Lisbon. It's been deemed a project of national interest within Portugal, so that means we're getting a lot of support as we go through the permitting process. There was a prior feasibility study done in 2023, at late 2023.
It outlined an NPV of $150 million round figures U.S. and a 39% IRR. I would point out gold and silver at the time were, shall we say, somewhat lower. That's going to be a significant mover in the new updated PEA, I'm sorry, updated feasibility study by year end. It's not only the price difference, but a significant focus on metallurgical improvements to improve metal recoveries and also concentrate quality, all of which will translate into higher revenues. We don't expect a big change in CAPEX or operating costs, but more a significant improvement in the revenue line. As I said before, we're expecting the environmental approval in Q1, and during that period in parallel, we're continuing to talk to the UK Export Credit Agency back with Santander Bank for up to 70% of the upfront capital requirements.
This project is slowly maturing into one that's going to get to that construction-ready decision by the middle of next year with a fully funded package. Again, why we like this project so much is not just what we have today in the feasibility study, it's what it could be in the future. We've already outlined a proven and probable reserve of approximately 15 million tons, with a further 20 million tons in measured indicated. That measured indicated material could quickly be upgraded to proven and probable with some drilling. This asset hasn't been really re-drilled in the last three years, so there's significant room to grow. When we look at our peers on the Iberian Pyrite Belt, obviously they've been around for 20+ years at Neves Corvo and Aguas Teñidas, both of which were acquired over the last two years for a little bit under $2 billion each.
They have continued to expand their VMS pods, for lack of a better term, and over time and towards a depth, you've seen significant expansion in the resource. At both mines, you've seen significant expansion over time in the throughput rate, and we see no reason why we shouldn't be able to replicate that with the appropriate amount of drilling. As I said, at today's prices, we're still going to be a significant precious metals exposure with the addition of this asset. About 42% of its current revenue stream would be precious metals, which combined with our Argentinian asset would mean the company is about 80% precious metals. Yet we would still be producing in Europe the critical minerals of copper, zinc, and tin, which again is getting a lot of support domestically here in Europe.
These are the key catalyst benchmarks for the next six to nine months, as I mentioned before. The updated feasibility study should be completed around the end of this year. We get the EIA approval in Q1, and I think that will be the key trigger for everyone's confidence that this project is actually moving forward. It's going to get built. The Recap A phase, as it's termed in Portugal, is really detailed engineering to make sure what you said you were going to build is what you're going to build. As I said, project financing at that point would be well in hand. Construction is relatively straightforward. It's about 18 months. Nothing new, no new technology or anything special here. It's really off the shelf.
It would be an underground mine, so no surface disruption, very little impact on the local community, both of which are very supportive of moving this project forward. If all things go well, first production in Q1 of 2028. I'll go quite quickly through Mont Sorcier. It is a bit of a different animal in the precious metals sort of forum. Mont Sorcier is a project for the future. It will produce 67% grade iron ore concentrate, which is ideally suited for the so-called green steel transition and the environmental benefits it will bring to the steel production process. Like all bulk commodities, logistics is key. This project is ideally suited in northern Quebec, just outside of the town of Chibougamau, which is a historical mining district.
We benefit from 370 km of CN rail being in place to the Port of Saguenay, which is a year-round port owned by the federal government. The federal government is currently funding about $200 million- $300 million in upgrades for the port facilities in anticipation of opening up northern Quebec for future resource development. We are the only project currently moving forward in northern Quebec. We're ideally suited to benefit from that investment. An initial PEA was done in 2022 on a slightly lower quality product of 65% iron ore. That did outline a 21-year mine life, which only consumed about 25% of the 1.2 billion tons of resources that have been already defined. This is not an exploration play by any stretch of the imagination.
That was generating in excess of $350 million of EBITDA and about $235 million of free cash flow per year during that timeline, generating an NPV of $1.6 billion. CAPEX was about $575 million US. I think that number will obviously increase. We're seeing some CAPEX inflation across the board, but that inflation will be offset by a better product offering with premium pricing, but also the product the industry wants. Within the iron ore space, the high-grade 67% or higher material is growing in excess of 10%. How are we going to fund this? As I said, we have about $14.5 million in the bank currently at the end of Q2, and that'll fluctuate at the end of Q3 year up and down just a little bit.
We have free cash flow coming from Minera Don Nicolás, somewhere in the order of $25 million, which we are reinvesting into Portugal and Quebec at this time. Obviously, if gold prices sustain these levels, we would expect that number to be significantly higher into 2026. We still have some outstanding cash deliverables from the Hochschild transaction where they still owe us $5 million in early 2027, and a potential $10 million option payment due from Sierra Vanguardia for some land we sold them in Argentina that was non-core to us. The capital structure is very clean. 134 million shares outstanding, 152 million fully diluted. Management and directors own 11% of this company, so very much aligned with the street to get this in the right direction and see that value unfold as we've outlined.
Just to quickly summarize, current production, steady state gold producer for at least the next three years, hopefully significantly longer than that at 55,000 ounces or higher, using that cash to grow through exploration at MDN in Argentina, funding the development and future construction of Lagoa Salgada with minimal, if any, equity dilution depending on metal prices, and longer term offering that optionality from Mont Sorcier. What do we do with it? Do we build it? Do we sell it? Do we joint venture it? We'll see what the market has to bear in the future. We think we're one of the few groups well funded to deliver. With that, I'll wrap it up. I'll open it up for any questions.
Thank you, Cliff. Very exciting there with Portugal, I think. Do we have any questions from the floor? Just raise your hand. I will expose my ignorance. Multi-jurisdictional, I mean, we're talking Argentina, we're talking Canada, and we're talking Portugal. Is there such a thing as a common denominator, or how do you juggle this?
Going back in time, there were three different separate companies. We saw the opportunity due to the lack of capital that was available to junior base metal companies and junior, in the Canadian context, iron ore companies. A lot of people think that is a large company game, if you want to call it that. We saw opportunities to bring good projects into Cerrado Gold at reasonable prices, move them on given the cash we had. If Ascendant Resources, the company that we acquired Lagoa Salgada from, had gone to market, they would have had to do 30%, 40% dilution just to raise $4 million. This is more attractive for us, more attractive for their shareholders to see minimal dilution going forward.
How did you find the assets if we look at, for instance, Portugal?
A lot of them were brought through industry connections. Myself, I'm a longtime sell-side analyst before joining the corporate world about 10 years ago. Mark Brennan, our Chairman and CEO, they ran Desert Sun. They sold that to Yamana for $700 million. They acquired and developed Largo Resources from zero early stage exploration to a high of $2.5 billion market cap. That was a vanadium mine in Brazil. The team itself has a lot of track record of discovery and development in multi-jurisdictions. Each, just so you know, people may be concerned, we have too much going on, three different jurisdictions. Each one has its own technical team specialized in that area. We're not stretching the guys too much.
Okay. Do we have any questions here? Just raise your hand. If my notes are correct here, Lagoa, that's in Portugal, and you had a free cash flow of $75 million a year when you were operating.
Yes. Once that mine is in operation, based on the old study, it would be $75 million a year, at least for the first five years, you know, doing the high grade. The previous study also used $1,700 gold.
Yeah, okay.
Maybe we'll use 22, 25.
Okay.
In the new study, we'll see a significant upgrade, let alone the improvement of copper recovery, zinc recovery, and everything.
Just to remind us, when do you expect that to be on stream?
All being said and done, Q1 2028.
Yeah, because it's now more or less. It's significant upside to the numbers that you presented here, given the spot price.
We believe so, not just for the spot price. I think if people understand how we're going to use the various cash flows to support the next leg of growth without having to go to the market for significant dilution on each phase, you know, maybe there's a 20% top-up that's needed to finish Lagoa and down the road something for Mont Sorcier or we bring in a partner. Unlocking the value of both Lagoa and Mont Sorcier is going to see significant rerating for Cerrado Gold as a corporate.
If I get this right, you are a gold, you are a producer and then you have interesting projects coming on stream in the near-term future here. You expect your cash balance and free cash flow to grow as production comes on stream.
Yes.
What to do with that? Reinvest in projects or pay out as dividend or?
In the short term, as we're delivering these two projects, I would say most of that cash that's being generated is going to be reinvested. Once we're having Mont Sorcier up and running and you're generating somewhere in the order of half a billion of EBITDA, it's either going to be starting to be returned to shareholders or we'll be doing something significantly different.
Okay, once you follow Cerrado Gold and watch it.
I think so.
Thank you so much. Very, very invigorating. A warm hug.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.