Original-Research: Desert Gold Ventures Inc. (von GBC AG): BUY

Classification of GBC AG to Desert Gold Ventures Inc.

Two Assets, One Deep Discount

Desert Gold Ventures Inc. is a junior gold developer with a diversified and strategically positioned portfolio of gold assets in West Africa, primarily concentrated in Mali and Côte d'Ivoire. The company's asset mix offers a rare combination of de-risked development value anchored in an updated NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment and significant exploration optionality through its Côte d'Ivoire Tiegba Project. The cornerstone of Desert Gold's valuation is the updated Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Barani and Gourbassi deposits within the company's extensive Senegal Mali Shear Zone land package. At a base gold price of USD 2,850 per ounce, the PEA generates an after-tax NPV at a 10% discount rate of USD 61 million with an internal rate of return of 57% and a projected payback period of 2.5 years.

At a more current spot gold price of USD $4,070 the project generates an after-tax Net Present Value (NPV) at a 10% discount rate of USD $124 million, an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 101%, and a projected payback period of 2.1 years.

We use the spot-case after-tax NPV at a 10% discount rate of USD 124 million as the foundation for our updated NAV in this report.

When combined with the USD 9.5 million probability-weighted valuation of the Côte d'Ivoire Tiegba Project, Desert Gold's core asset value totals USD 133.5 million before consideration of additional mineralized inventory at SMSZ. Desert Gold's intrinsic value materially exceeds in our opinion its current market valuation. The combined asset value from the Mali oxide project, the Tiegba exploration asset and the additional resources outside the current PEA mine plan totals approximately USD 155.2 million, equivalent to CAD 217.91 million. This corresponds to a net asset value of CAD 0.81 per share, or USD 0.58 per share, and roughly €0.50 per share. Compared with the recent market price of CAD 0.075, the valuation gap is substantial. Even under conservative assumptions, the analysis shows that Desert Gold is deeply undervalued relative to the strength of its resource base and project economics. Based on this assessment, we assign a Buy rating.