Galiano Gold Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
November 8, 2024

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning. My name is Luti, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Galliano Gold Inc. 3rd Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.

Operator

After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Thank you. Mr. Matt Badalak, President and CEO of Galliano Gold, you may begin your conference.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you taking time to join us on the call today to review our Q3 2024 Galliano results we released last night. We will be making forward looking statements and referring to non IFRS measures during the call. Please refer to the cautionary notes and risk disclosures in our most recent MD and A as well as this slide of the webcast presentation. Yesterday's release details our Q3 2024 financial and operating results.

Speaker 1

They should be read in conjunction with our Q3 financial statements and MD and A available on our website and filed on SEDAR Plus and EDGAR. Also, please bear in mind that all dollar amounts mentioned in the conference call today are in U. S. Dollars unless otherwise noted.

Speaker 2

On Slide 4, with me on

Speaker 1

the call today, I have Matt Freeman, our Chief Financial Officer and Michael Cardenals, our recently appointed Chief Operating Officer. For this presentation, I will initially go through the highlights. Michael will give an operations update and Matt will discuss the financials. I will then provide some closing remarks and open the call for Q and A. Here on Slide 5, please note that I'm discussing Galliano's results on a 100% basis.

Speaker 1

I'm pleased to report that as mining at Abora advanced, gold production rose by 13% this quarter, reaching nearly 30,000 ounces. Mine productivity continued to ramp up and we saw a 32% increase in tons mined total tons mined, moving 10,400,000 tons of material over the quarter. On the financial side, despite investing close to $40,000,000 in stripping activities at Borre this year, Galliano's liquidity remains robust. We are in a strong position with approximately $121,000,000 of cash on hand and continue to be debt free. During the quarter, the team made significant progress on the work related to the life of mine optimization, the updated mineral reserves and resources and the planning to restart the Enkran pit.

Speaker 1

At Enkran, we advanced discussions with a preferred mining contractor and mining rates and costs are now clearly defined. This information will inform our life of mine plan, which we anticipate completing and leasing to the markets in early Q1 2025. On the exploration front, while results were quieter this quarter, we continue to advance the AGM exploration pipeline with drilling focused on SkyGol B and Abore North targets. Drilling at SkyGol B began in August with approximately 5,200 meters of air core, RC and diamond drilling aimed at testing the highest priority targets. We expect to complete drilling and receive all assays in Q4.

Speaker 1

We should then be in a position to share results from this first phase. A follow-up drilling program at the Acoma target has been defined and is scheduled to commence in Q4. Now turning it over to Michael and a discussion on our progress in operations during the quarter. Slide 6, please.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Matt, and good morning, everyone. As Matt mentioned during the introduction, I joined Galliano recently on September 3 and I spent my 1st 3 weeks with the company on-site, which enabled me to take a good look at the operations and I'm encouraged by what I saw. Starting with safety, we had one recordable injury and no lost time injuries this quarter, resulting in 12 month LTI and TRI frequency rates of 0 and 0.3 respectively. Health and safety remain our top priority, particularly in operational areas where activity is ramped up due to the resumption of mining activities and the progression of projects within the plant. Looking at our mining performance during the quarter, despite challenging conditions with backfill material, we saw improved mining production performance from the Abore pit with a 32% increase in total material movement compared to Q2.

Speaker 3

Average daily tonnage rose to 113,000 tons per day with a 43% increase in all mines compared to the previous quarter. Lasting frequency increased as we advance through the transition zone into fresh material in parts of the pit, yielding good results from our operational improvements. On processing performance, crushing limitations impacted mill throughput during the quarter as we processed moreaboray ore resulting in a 13% decrease in total tons processed compared to Q2. However, higher fee grades and improved metallurgical recoveries, which increased from 82% to 91% in the quarter helped offset the reduced throughput resulting in higher gold production. We produced 29,784 ounces of gold during the quarter, which was 13% higher than Q2.

Speaker 3

This performance keeps us on track for the lower end of our annual guidance of between 120,000 and 130,000 ounces of gold. Onto Slide 7 please. Here I would like to highlight the progress we have made at the site specifically with the ramp up of mining operations at Abore. As previously communicated, we've expanded the Abore reserves by 45%, which required a pit expansion to fully leverage this increase. This move has allowed us to implement improved mining practices, including adjustments to the mine planning, drill and blast procedures to enhance all recovery and minimize our loss and dilution.

Speaker 3

Changes to patent design and explosive powder factors are also improving fragmentation, which will aid mill throughput as we continue to face crusher constraints. We are making good headway through the backfill material and expect to have it mine to completion by the end of November. Clearing this material will open up more of the pit allowing for better utilization of all the available equipment. Our mining contractor has fully mobilized all equipment, positioning us well to achieve our plant production rates. They also set up a mobile crusher at the Abbore ROM pad at the end of October, which will improve our hauling efficiency and further support mill throughput.

Speaker 3

Despite some heavy rains in September, overall precipitation was lower this quarter than in Q2. Our increased pumping capacity combined with the expanded operational area have strengthened our ability to manage production levels through the wet and dry seasons. As we continue to expose larger areas of the ore body in the pit, grade control activities have also ramped up. I'm happy to report that our state of the art photon assay lab is running extremely well, enabling rapid turnaround of the grade control samples. Here I'd like to provide a brief update on several of the key AGM projects currently underway.

Speaker 3

We're on track to commission 2 additional CIL tanks in Q4, which will provide more residents time in our circuit as we see throughput increase. As I've mentioned, crushing capacity remains a challenge, but we're making good progress on the secondary crusher project. Foundation work continued during the quarter and all major procurement packages have been awarded. We expect project completion and commissioning of the secondary crusher circuit in Q3 next year. The oxygen generation plant expansion is nearly complete expected in Q4 as well and the new carbon regeneration kiln has been manufactured and is currently on transit.

Speaker 3

In addition, the gravity circuit upgrades are progressing well and should be completed by year end. And with that, I would like to turn it over to Matt Freeman to discuss the company's financial results. Slide 9, please.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Mick. Good morning, everyone. Here we've outlined some of the key financial metrics for the quarter. We generated revenues of $71,000,000 in the Q3 at a realized gold price of $2,446 per ounce. Mine operating income totaled $26,400,000 and culminated in net income of $1,100,000 with EBITDA of almost $31,000,000 This enabled us to generate $24,400,000 of cash flows from operations.

Speaker 2

We continue to focus on the cost structure of the mine and are pleased to report that operating costs in aggregate remain consistent with recent quarters. Mining costs being approximately $3.50 per tonne mined is a key component of the cost structure and has helped us maintain our strong margins in this high gold price environment. We also remain disciplined with capital deployment only to spending when critical and with clear line of sight to value creation. On that front, as Mick mentioned, our largest ongoing capital projects include the construction of 2 additional CL tanks with the aim of increasing residence time and improving recovery rates across all of our deposits. We're also installing the secondary crushing circuit, which as we said is critical to maintaining throughput at or above nameplate levels even when processing the harder fresh oil material, men crown and abore.

Speaker 2

And as a result of some budget free savings this year and timing, we've also slightly revised downwards our anticipated capital spend for the year. Moving to Slide 10. In the Q3, as expected, we continue to invest in the Bouere deposit as illustrated with high strip ratio. This has led to elevated all in sustaining costs compared to anticipated life of mine costs as outlined in our technical report. However, if we exclude the impact of capitalized stripping, which is really an investment in future oil production, the all in sustaining costs would reduce to approximately $1500 per ounce sold, offering a much clearer picture of 3rd quarter operational performance.

Speaker 2

And as noted before, we've been happy with the cost control generally. So we're maintaining all in sustaining costs per ounce guidance of between $19.75 2,075 per ounce sold. On to Slide 11. Here you can see that this close attention to costs aligned with the strong gold price has kept our liquidity and balance sheet robust even while undertaking such a significant stripping campaign to access a borate ore. We've ended the quarter with $121,000,000 of cash and still have no debt.

Speaker 2

The chart on the slide clearly demonstrates how cash balances benefited from the transaction to consolidate the Asanko Gold Mine and has remained strong ever since. Overall, Galliano still remains in great financial shape to execute on our corporate strategy and continue to add value to the Asanko Gold Mine. With that, I'll turn the call back to Matt to wrap up.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Matt. This brings us to our last slide looking at how we're investing in our future. We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet with no debt. I dare say, one of the strongest balance sheet in our peer group. We're executing on our organic growth profile, positioning us to become one of the largest single mine producers operating a cash generating ounce producing asset in Ghana, West Africa.

Speaker 1

As we advance operations at Abore and fully transition away from low grade stockpiles, we expect our all in sustaining cash costs to trend downwards. Adding to the reduction in all in sustaining cash costs, we are progressing through a heavy stripping phase at Abbore, which will lead to lower capital costs and stronger production profile overall. Over the past 18 months, we've invested a significant amount of time and resources in near mine exploration with an update to global mineral reserves and resources expected in early 2025. This mineral reserve and resource update is being developed alongside an optimized life of mine plan. And just a reminder, the 2022 life of mine plan was delivered under a different set of circumstances.

Speaker 1

At the time, we were in a joint venture with Goldfields and only owned half the asset and didn't have access to the balance sheet we have now. Gold prices are now at all time highs of nearly $2,700 an ounce and our team continues to work diligently on resequencing our picks to accelerate cash flows. We expect to release these reports in early Q1 2025. Galliano's value propositions remains compelling and we are confident in our vision for long term value creation and growth as a company. With that, I would like to turn it back to the operator and open it up for any questions.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. And your first question comes from the line of Heiko Ihle with H. C. Wainwright.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Sorry about that. I had you on mute. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 1

Good morning, Heiko. How are you?

Speaker 4

Not too bad. Hey, just thinking out loud here conceptually a bit, at what point in the gold price, I mean, it just keeps rallying here somehow. At what point in the gold price does something that's currently considered waste suddenly become ore? And building on all of that, do you have the capacity to take advantage if gold were to keep rising, which we all hope it does?

Speaker 1

Yes. Thanks for your question Heiko. I think it's a very good question. Obviously, one that we and all mining companies consider on an ongoing basis. I think from our perspective, we're in the fortunate position that as you mentioned, gold prices are running at all time highs and we're at the point in time where we're also updating our life of mine plan concurrently.

Speaker 1

So we're in a position to be able to look at that now in real time and we will be taking a look at that as we're updating a life of mine plan over the coming months. And as we mentioned on the call, that will be released in early Q1 next year. So I don't have specific numbers for you in terms of what it does to cut off grades etcetera, and potential improvements to mineral reserves and resources. But suffice to say, the team is looking very, very closely at that at this point of time.

Speaker 4

Fair enough. And then you have a very different issue, all right. It's not even an issue. It's a real benefit for most of your peers. Your transportation costs have decreased quite a bit and it's ticking down quarter by quarter.

Speaker 4

And then in the release, you state that the mobile crushing unit that was installed at the abort pit is expected to increase fragmentation, and you expect it to increase haul truck load volumes. Now building on all of that, what should we be modeling out both for Q4 and then I know you probably don't want to go into 2025 too much, but maybe just provide what we should be looking at with our models for next year as well?

Speaker 1

Sure. In terms of throughput specifically, Heiko, is that what you're referring to?

Speaker 4

Transportation costs.

Speaker 1

Okay. Matt, do you have a

Speaker 2

have a good Hi, hi, Kate. It's Matt here, the other Matt. I think I wouldn't expect any step changes next year. I think one of the reasons that the ore transportation costs have been a bit lower in the last quarter or so is the higher percentage of a boring material. In the past, when we were we captured in all transportation costs, the transportation from Esaase, that's basically doubled the distance from the Nabora is.

Speaker 2

So therefore, those costs per tonne are much higher. As we move through, obviously, we'll be providing better insight, as Matt said, when the life of mine plan comes out. But ostensibly, we'll be most likely largely relying on a borate material through the next 12 months. So therefore, I would imagine that you could imagine that those oil transportation costs should be pretty similar to what we're seeing at the moment. There might be some marginal gains hopefully from the work that Mick and the team are doing, putting that new crushing circuit in an abourey.

Speaker 2

Probably not dramatically material to this, but hopefully we'll see some marginal gains on that. The main aim for that is to get the throughput up, which is clearly absolutely pivotal to us to keep delivering the ounces in this gold price environment.

Speaker 4

Got it. Perfect. That's it for me. I'll get back in queue. Thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 2

Excellent. Thank you, Heiko.

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Raj Wai with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thank you, operator. Good morning, Matt and team. I have a couple of questions. One on the following up on the throughput. You did mention in the MD and A that you expect throughput to improve into Q4.

Speaker 5

Can you give us some guidance as to with the mobile crushers, what the level of throughput do you have good confidence on? You said you will probably won't be able to get to 5.8 without the secondary pressure in place. And secondly, with respect to the fact that the next 12 months you're mining a borate predominantly. Is it safe from a modeling perspective to use the or close to the Borre reserve grade in terms of modeling out, in the next 12 months? And on that, I know it's still early days.

Speaker 5

How's the reconciliation going so far with your reserve model?

Speaker 2

Thanks, Raj.

Speaker 1

Thanks for your question. Yes, I appreciate it. So I think there was 3 questions in that. Regarding throughput, the first one, I think this quarter marked probably at a low point in throughput with regards to what we're expecting on a quarter by quarter basis. As you would have read in the news release and Mick spoke about that already, we are looking to make some optimizations around the entire site starting with fragmentation and blasting practices, then that follows on with an additional crusher obviously at Abore, which wasn't in place in Q3.

Speaker 1

And then we do feel that there's still some work to be done in the existing and aging mobile crushing circuit that we currently have. So I think you'll see slight improvements in Q4, but we need to give ourselves and the team some time to get to a place we're comfortable there. I'll guide that you probably certainly on a quarter by quarter basis you sub in Q4 you sub 1.4, you're probably going to be slightly more than 1.2. So that's the kind of range for Q4 that I'd suggest in terms of tons. And then looking forward to 2025, again, I mean, I'd be looking to the lower end of the 5 1,000,000 tons per annum mark.

Speaker 1

But again, Raj, I mean, listen, we're going to have these answers for you all fully baked and ready in January next year. So you'll have access to them relatively

Speaker 5

early in the year and after the

Speaker 1

teams looked at that. To the early in the year and after the teams looked at that. And then the last question, reconciliation, yes. So reconciliation at the moment, we're pretty comfortable with where we are, knowing full well that we're going to be further and further more reliant on diamond drill holes, which we tend to feel are more accurate with regards to the assays that we see from them and more and more reliable with regards to governing resource models as we resource model as we mine deeper into that pit. So that should certainly give us even better reconciliation into 202520 26.

Speaker 1

And then I think you also asked me a question about whether or not you should be modeling an average grade for a borate into 2025. The answer to that is no. It will be biased low in 2025. And the main reason behind that is if you recall when we published our mineral reserve and resource sorry, our mineral reserve update for borate, we intercepted some really high grades at the base of that deposit, some of the highest grades that we've encountered across the entire tenements historically. And so you're going to see a bias higher grade in 2026 coming out of a borate compared to 2025.

Speaker 1

So I think I've captured everything you've asked me there.

Speaker 5

Hey, Matt. Yes, that's great. Thank you very much. That's it for me.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Raj.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Matthew Baker with RBC. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Good morning. Matthew Baker from RBC Demands and Securities. I was just looking if you guys could elaborate a little bit about the unrealized losses on the gold hedge instruments and if all of that has been unwound and really just answering how exposed is Galliano to future gold prices?

Speaker 2

Hi, Matthew. It's Matt here. The other Matt, probably there's lots of Matt on the call this morning. So yes, with respect to the hedging, as we've included some details in the M and A of what we did and we've spoken about this over the last year. We put a program in through out to the end of 2026, a modest amount of ounces hedged that just as a risk management exercise in this period of high capital strip.

Speaker 2

And obviously, we put those collars in at the beginning of this year when spot was just over $2,100 an ounce. So obviously things have run up a lot since then. So we have this big unrealized liability. What we're seeing is that the longer range calls that we've got in 20 6 to all north of $3,000 an ounce. So clearly out of the money at the moment.

Speaker 2

Yet from a financial derivative standpoint, they have I think they've got like $13,000,000 fair value on those. So at the moment those are completely out of the money. So when you look at the numbers, our total exposure, if you look at spot now around $2,700,000 is no more than about $10,000,000 and the rest would fall off if gold stays where it is. So that's roughly what we're looking at. So it's a little bit of a misleading number just the way we have to value these things.

Speaker 2

And we see that sort of unwind over the next 12 to 18 months if gold stays where it is. But ultimately, we're super happy that gold is $2,700 an ounce. It's a net benefit to the company, so it works out well.

Speaker 6

All right. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. And there are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to Mr. Matt Badalak for closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Once again, I'd like to thank everyone for dialing in and participating on the call today. We certainly look forward to continuing to provide updates throughout the quarter and catch up again following our full year results in early 2025. Thanks a lot.

Operator

Thank you. And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.

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Earnings Conference Call
Galiano Gold Q3 2024
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