B2gold Corp Q3 FY2024 Earnings Call

Thank you for waiting. This is the conference operator. Welcome to B2Gold Corporation's Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. I will now hand the call over to Clive Johnson, President and CEO of B2Gold. Please proceed.

Thank you, operator. Welcome to the call. We're here in Vancouver with the B2Gold Executive team. And I'm going to pass it over to Mike Cinnamond to talk about the financial results for the third quarter, and then Bill Lytle is going to give us an update on Mali operations and also the Goose project construction progress. So over to you, Mike.

Thanks, Clive. On the operating side, I think it's a similar story to what we saw for the first two quarters of the year, with Masbate and Otjikoto results continuing to meet or beat budget. But as we previously guided, Fekola had a weaker quarter as a result of the delay in receiving a replacement excavator after the existing one was damaged beyond repair in the first half of '24. As we look to '25, we expect to see significant production growth at Fekola driven by better grades being mined at the Fekola pit, combined with the contribution of trucking ore from Fekola Regional and the expansion of Fekola underground production. When you put it all together, Masbate and Otjikoto beat expectations, while Fekola is slightly behind. But where we stand overall for the year, we still think we're on track to come in at the low end of our revised production guidance range. With that lower production, we expect to come in towards the upper end of our revised cash cost and all-in sustaining cost guidance. Another significant event in the quarter is that we completed the MOU with the state of Mali regarding the future economic and governance parameters of the Fekola complex. Financially, it's a strong quarter, adjusting for one-time items. The company generated $0.02 per share of adjusted earnings, benefiting from a very strong average gold sale price. Those adjusted earnings were negatively impacted by a one-time $30 million tax accrual related to the MOU with the state of Mali that we announced in September. If you remove that accrual, the adjusted EPS would have been closer to $0.05 per share. Basic earnings per share was impacted by the non-cash write-down of the Back River Gold District due mainly to the initial capital cost increases that we previously announced in 2024. However, moving forward, as Bill will describe shortly, we feel confident in the timeline and budget we laid out a couple of months ago in September. Operating cash flow for working capital adjustments for the quarter was $118 million, which is a strong result given the challenges of Fekola during Q3. Spending on the Goose project is tracking well versus the latest budget during the quarter, as we saw continued progress into October. Other financial metrics include our construction and mine development activities costing CAD165 million during Q3. Working capital buildup was $150 million through the quarter. Keep in mind that the recent working capital buildup was elevated due to the purchase of diesel for the 2025 Winter Ice Road. On the balance sheet, we continue to remain in a strong financial position with cash and cash equivalents of $431 million at the end of the third quarter. During the quarter, we drew $200 million on our line of credit, which leaves us with $0.5 billion of additional credit facility capacity going forward, as well as $100 million in the accordion feature on that line. We have significant financial flexibility to complete the Goose construction by Q2 '25 and continue to fund a healthy exploration program to extend mine lives.

Okay Mike. From an operational perspective, I guess what people are most interested in is the Goose. Construction project progress was significant throughout the summer months and into the fall season. Everything remains on track to deliver first gold production in Q2 2025. Supporting that, the 2024 sealift was successfully completed in the third quarter. We had 10 ships and one barge unload 123,000 cubic meters of dry cargo, more than 84 million liters of Arctic-grade diesel fuel, and 58 additional trucks for the 2025 Winter Ice Road, significantly derisking the movement of cargo down the ice road. On the construction side, we made significant progress in Q3. We completed the vast majority of concrete placement, all the e-houses on the mill pad, and the electricians are finishing up connecting power to various components. We also constructed additional fuel storage tanks at Goose. On the mining side, we performed very well with the Echo open pit, with underground development at Umwelt consistently hitting new highs. Now turning to operations in Mali, we're on track to get both the Fekola regional and the Fekola underground into production in 2025, which will obviously benefit the operations for years to come. At Masbate, the little mine that could continues to perform at world-class levels, delivering all-in sustaining costs in 2024 that are materially lower than our guidance range. At Otjikoto, the team is preparing a PEA study on mining for the Antelope zone, which we'll be able to mine through the early 2030s, extending the life of mine through stockpiling processing. At Gramalote, we're working through a feasibility study ready to be released in mid-2025.

I think with that, we'll open up for questions.

Our first question comes from Anita Soni with CIBC Gold Markets. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, Clive, Bill and team. I just wanted to ask a quick question on Fekola. I think you mentioned the issues that you've had with the equipment and the shovel, and then also some inclement weather, impacting Q4. Could you give us an idea of what kind of grades you'll be pulling in Q4 and the expected tonnage? I'm unsure whether this is within the original guidance revision of like 800 to 870 for this year, or are we gearing even more towards the low end of that number?

So basically, what has happened is, as you know, when we lost the excavator, it slowed down the development. We had to get into Phase 7 of the open pit, and we are now just getting ready to enter Phase 7 now. So you will see grades increasing somewhat, but with that being said, you're not going to see all of that come through in Q4.

Okay. So a bit more of a push out than you had originally thought when you revised guidance in August?

Yes. I would say a little bit more, but we're still within the revised guidance range that we've just put out.

Okay, that's it for my questions. Thanks.

The next question comes from Don DeMarco with National Bank. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator and good morning, Clive and team. Hope all is well. The first question, Bill, you just talked about Masbate and Otjikoto, some outperformance in Q3 providing some offset to Fekola. Was this just a one-off quarter for both these mines, or can we expect the trend of outperformance to extend into Q4?

Masbate is certainly highly dependent on which material comes from the pits regarding recoveries and hardness. We've always outperformed there, so you could see an outperform at Masbate. Right now, in our models, we're projecting exactly what we had projected for Masbate for Q4. Otjikoto is kind of the same way, aiming towards what we had originally projected for Q4, knowing that we could potentially see higher grades at Masbate.

Okay. And my next question on Mali, can you remind us how much of the outstanding payments were made in Q3 and how much is still remaining for Q4?

Yes, I can answer that, Don. Upon signing, we made the first tranche payment of USD 16 million. In October, we made a second tranche payment of $42 million, which is part of the tax settlement. What remains is the dividend payment, which is significant at about $114 million. We expect to make that this month, and then there's a final settlement payment of $30 million by the end of the year.

We're looking forward to Goose ramping up in Q2 and beyond. Can you talk about your capital allocation strategy? We have Gramalote under review right now. That might be one option. The dividend is strong as well. How do you see yourselves deploying higher cash flow once Goose has ramped up?

For us, the priority is to get Goose up and running. We will also be managing the process of some of the prepaids over the next year. Timing works nicely if Gramalote has a positive feasibility study, as there will be significant cash flows to advance development there.

Gramalote slots in nicely if the feasibility study is positive and we decide to go ahead after Goose construction. We're talking about potential production growth: an additional 100,000 ounces from Fekola through trucking ore, Goose coming on at an annualized rate of 310,000 ounces a year starting mid-year next year, and if we move into Gramalote, that's potential additional 240,000 ounces from a project that we now own 100%. This year has been transitional for us, and these are opportunities for future growth.

Can you remind us on Gramalote when the feasibility is expected and when a go-forward decision might be made?

Middle of next year.

Yes, the feasibility study is due in Q2 2025.

Okay, we'll look forward to that. That's all for me. Thanks a lot, guys. Good luck with Q4.

Thanks.

Next question comes from Ralph Profiti with Eight Capital. Please go ahead.

Clive, I just want to get a bit more detail on Fekola Regional and timelines on mobilizing workforce and stripping. Can you walk through what the early part of 2025 might look like regarding milestones?

Sure. Bill will be best to answer that.

Absolutely. Remind everybody that we were previously given a permit to build out all the infrastructure, so the haul road and the buildings are already there. Essentially, we are waiting for the permit, and reviewing the ESIA we submitted at the end of Q3. They indicated six to eight weeks to review that, and then we'll start the permitting process. If all goes to plan, we could initiate pre-stripping in Q1 of 2025.

As Mike noted, we've reached an important agreement with the government, ensuring both parties are aligned in moving the ore trucking down and increasing production. The government is focused on boosting gold production in the country, and we share that goal.

Regarding the impairment at Back River, am I correct in thinking that the amount is in line with the two successive CapEx increases?

Yes, that's the way to think about it. The capital cost increase triggered the need to revisit the situation. Changes in the gold price were noted, but the capital increases were the main factor.

Thanks to the team.

The next question comes from Ovais Habib with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

I came in late into this call; many of my questions have been answered. But regarding exploration in Mali and around Goose in 2025, how should we view that?

I'll hand it over to Vic. As a base, we have aggressive exploration budgets in Mali now that we have a government agreement. We're back to drilling there. Vic can update us on Goose as well.

Moving forward, we have an increased exploration budget at Goose, with positive results from a successful summer program identifying numerous targets on the project and several regional projects. We will be drilling next year. In Mali, we anticipate a similar budget for next year, focusing on open-pitable, higher-grade sulfide targets on the Fekola Regional area.

As we've seen historically, we can adjust budgets based on exploration success. Goose is a prime candidate for small financing. Both projects have exciting programs, and we'll consider increasing budgets based on successful exploration results.

Regarding the Goose underground, where do we stand on confidence going into the new resource update and mine plan in Q1?

We're wrapping up the modeling for the resource work, which will be released with our AIF next year. The infill work has significantly improved our geological understanding of the deposit, and we have a much better model, trending towards higher grades and lower tonnages.

Thanks for that. That's all for me.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Clive Johnson for any closing remarks.

Thanks, operator. I know you’ve had a busy day with many companies reporting, but thank you for joining the call. We continue to invest in junior companies to broaden our exploration exposure, and we'll keep looking for new projects globally, including investing in high-quality junior companies with good prospects. This strategy presents a considerable opportunity today, as junior exploration companies have not yet benefited from the robust gold price. We see significant chances to support the juniors in their exploration and potentially create joint ventures or acquisition opportunities down the road. Thank you for joining the call.

This brings today's conference call to a close. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

Thanks.