The value of a project's future cash flows discounted back to today — the headline number of every economic study.
The present value of future cash flows from a mining project, discounted at a specified rate (typically 5% for NPV5). Positive NPV indicates a project is economically viable. NPV is a key metric in feasibility studies.
NPV is how a deposit becomes a dollar figure, and it is the number most often compared to a company's market cap. A project trading at a fraction of its NPV may be cheap, or the market may simply disbelieve the assumptions.
Always read NPV with its discount rate and metal price. Junior studies typically use 5% or 8%; a lower rate and a bullish price will roughly double the same project's stated value.
Treating NPV as a valuation. It ignores financing, dilution and the years of execution risk between a study and a producing mine.