What is EV per resource ounce (or pound)?

Enterprise value per resource ounce (for gold and silver) or per pound (for base metals) is the workhorse relative-valuation metric in mining. Take enterprise value — market cap plus debt, minus cash — and divide by the total contained metal in the company's resource estimate. The result is what the market is paying per ounce or pound in the ground.

Example: a company with a $200 million EV and 4 million ounces of gold trades at $50/oz in situ — against a gold price near $2,000/oz.

Use it to compare: explorers typically trade at single-digit to low-tens of dollars per gold ounce; producers command more because their ounces are de-risked and cash-generating. A low EV/oz can signal undervaluation — or low-confidence (Inferred) ounces, bad metallurgy, poor jurisdiction, or a broken capital structure.

Caveats: it ignores grade, recovery, costs, and ounce quality, so a deep low-grade ounce and a shallow high-grade one look identical. Pair it with grade, AISC potential, and capital structure rather than using it alone.