B2gold Corp Q3 FY2025 Earnings Call

Thank you, operator. Good morning or afternoon or evening, everyone. Thanks for joining the call. We're here to talk about the financial results of the third quarter of 2025. We had a strong operational and financial quarter. Fekola, Masbate and Otjikoto mines all came in ahead of expectations in the third quarter on the production side, resulting in lower-than-expected cash operating cost per ounce. On October 2 of this year, we announced that we achieved commercial production at our newly constructed Goose mine. This milestone comes just 3 months after the inaugural gold pour, and we look forward to many years of successful operations in Nunavut in close collaboration with our partner, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association. At Goose, third quarter production was impacted by the previously disclosed crushing capacity shortfall and a temporary delay in accessing higher grade from Umwelt underground. We are now in the higher-grade ore. To ensure a consistent feed of crushed ore to the mill, the company has implemented the use of supplemental mobile crushing capacity. Permanent modifications are in progress and are expected to be implemented in 2026. Continued use of the mobile crusher will assist in operating at higher throughput until these modifications are implemented. We expect to be at design capacity of 4,000 tonnes per day by the end of the year. Underground mining of the Umwelt deposit commenced in late October 2025 and will be a strong contributor of high-grade ore at Goose over the next few years. In Namibia, B2Gold announced a construction decision on the Antelope underground deposit. Production from Antelope is substantial to increase Otjikoto mine gold production, leveraging the low-cost platform and extend the life of the mine into the 2030s. In this strong gold price environment, B2Gold is well positioned to take advantage with annual gold production of approximately 1 million ounces this year. With capital spending at Goose now complete, the company is set up well to add significant shareholder value over the coming years. Before I turn it over to Mike to give us more financial detail, I just want to talk a little bit about the political situation in Mali. We've had some news come out, I think what I believe are some responsible headlines from some of the media talking about an imminent takeover of Bamako by a terrorist organization. We think that is completely erroneous and a great exaggeration of the situation. Yes, there have been some fuel challenges, particularly in Bamako, but we continue to run the mine as we have for many years now and haven't missed any mining due to any kind of political situation or turmoil associated with that. So the mine continues to run well. We're 500 kilometers from Bamako. And we look at the situation that the government still enjoys popular support from the population. They see these organizations that are cutting off fuel to Bamako as foreigners. This is not the fault of the people of Mali from our understanding based on the intelligence we have received. So operations continue. It's nice to see some support from other governments such as the United States. The U.S. came out and expressed support for Mali's military and said they're looking forward to closer collaboration and working on intelligence together. There's no Western company that wants to see Mali fall into other hands, and there is a lot of international support gathering. So we're very confident in our ability to continue to produce in Mali and work very closely with the Mali government. We're expecting the permit for our regional mining and trucking at the Fekola mill to be imminent. We received, not that long ago, the permit to go underground at Fekola. So we think we're on track there, and once again, we're not impacted by any of the things going on in Mali right now, and we’re disappointed to see these irrational or untrue headlines that have been circulating recently. And clearly, that has hurt the value of B2Gold. With the benefit of time, I think we'll see that this situation is not impacting the mine. With that, I'll hand it over to Mike to give us a financial summary of the quarter.

Thanks, Clive. As Clive said, financially, it was a strong quarter. GAAP earnings were $0.01 per share, but they were impacted by several non-cash derivative mark-to-market adjustments. After adjusting for those one-time items, the company's earnings per share were $0.14 per share of adjusted earnings. You can clearly see that benefiting from the strong average gold sales price that we saw in Q3 and continues now. The company recorded revenue of approximately $783 million in Q3, which included $144 million related to the delivery of just over 66,000 ounces under the company's gold prepay obligations. By the end of October, we had another delivery into those obligations, so we've now delivered into one-third of what we owe there, leaving us just under 200,000 ounces that we need to deliver into by the end of June. So we're in good shape there. Operating cash flows totaled $171 million in the third quarter, and before working capital adjustments, it was $180 million, which is another strong result that highlights the continuing cash-generating potential of our assets and the strong gold price environment. Balance sheet-wise, we continue to remain in a strong financial position with cash and cash equivalents of $367 million at the end of the quarter. During the quarter, we drew down $200 million on the revolver, as we disclosed last time. That just helped us manage through some of the working capital timing differences that we have, especially as we fast-track our prepaid deliveries. We will continue to do that. But with these gold prices, we expect to repay some or all of it by the year-end. Overall, we maintain excellent financial flexibility to deliver on the prepaid obligations, complete our other sustaining growth initiatives, continue to fund the healthy exploration programs that we have, and continue to return capital under our share buyback plan. So I think that summarizes the financial section well, and with that, I'll turn it over to Bill for an operational project update.

All right. Thanks, Mike. So at Goose, having reached key commercial production, the focus now moves to steady-state operations and consistent performance at nameplate capacity. We've identified the source of the crushing issues that impacted performance early in Q3 and have made a temporary fix using the mobile crushing unit. Permanent optimization to the primary crusher and secondary grinding circuits and the installation of the surging capacity are being engineered and designed, with a finalized study and remediation plan expected by December 2025. The use of the mobile crusher is expected to continue until the modifications are implemented. Due to the shortfall of the crushing capacity and temporary delays in accessing the higher-grade ore at Umwelt underground, B2Gold has revised its 2025 gold production guidance for the Goose mine down to between 50,000 and 80,000 ounces. Underground mining of the Umwelt deposit commenced in late October 2025, and the company expects underground operations to ramp up quickly through the final months of 2025, setting the operation up well for the first full operating year in 2026. The company reiterates the near-term and long-term gold production estimates for the Goose mine, which includes a production forecast of approximately 250,000 ounces of gold in 2026 and approximately 330,000 ounces of gold in 2027, with average annual gold production for the initial full 6 years of operation of approximately 300,000 ounces based only on existing mineral resources. Significant construction activities for the first 9 months of 2025 included the completion of the mining in the Echo pit and commissioning of the pit as a TSF to include the construction of the winter deposition infrastructure. Mining of the Umwelt open pit commenced ahead of schedule with full ramp-up achieved during the second quarter of 2025. Development of the Umwelt underground continued, including the development of Fresh Air Raises 1 and 2 to support stope ore production in the fourth quarter of 2025, continued dewatering of the future site of the Llama pit, commissioning of three large glycol heating systems, excavation and construction of a foundation for the arctic corridor for the camp, and construction of a mechanically stabilized earth wall for the reclaim tunnel. In Mali, the site continues its strong performance in 2025, exceeding gold production expectations again in the third quarter. Cash costs per ounce were lower than expected. Notably, Fekola underground is also performing above expectations despite operations commencing earlier in Q3 on July 30, 2025. At Masbate, the operation continues to perform well with a world-class safety record. Mine throughput has significantly surpassed expectations in 2025, and we anticipate consistent production in the fourth quarter. At Otjikoto, open pit and underground mining went very well in the third quarter with production also exceeding expectations. During the third quarter, the company approved a development decision for the Antelope deposit. The company has also completed further optimization, believing pre-production capital costs can reduce from $129 million in the PEA to $105 million. Production from the Antelope has the potential to increase Otjikoto mine gold production to approximately 110,000 ounces over the life of the Antelope underground mine. With that, I'll turn it back over to Clive for an introduction to Q&A.

Thanks, Bill. Operator, we're ready for Q&A.

Congrats on a good quarter. A couple of questions from me. Just starting off with Fekola. Fekola underground seems to be ramping up really well. What are the kind of grades you're expecting going into 2026? And is there a target that you have in mind in terms of ore tonnes mined and the grade of the Fekola underground?

Yes, I don't have the exact grade, but we were targeting about 4.5 grams, as I recall, with a throughput of about 1,500 tonnes a day. You can do the math on what it's going to be. It's something like that. And remember, those are replacement ounces of low grade.

And Bill, in terms of the development rates into Fekola underground, is that all progressing well and are you confident in what you guys are going to be producing in 2026 then?

Absolutely. The contractor is Byrnecut, the same contractor we've had in Namibia, and we have a very good relationship with them. The development has actually been on schedule really the whole way.

Good stuff. And then just moving on quickly to the Fekola regional permit. I know we are expecting the permit by the end of 2025. In terms of any sort of pre-development or anything that you guys can do prior to that? Or basically, you guys are just ready as soon as the permit comes in, you start pre-stripping and then start bringing the ore?

We are currently pre-stripping some. We've been given approval to carry out some clearing and grubbing. So all of that is happening. We're also in the process of hiring people and getting the equipment. So really, we're putting a little bit of money at risk, knowing that everything we’ve been told indicates the permit is coming.

Got it. And then just moving quickly to Goose. Underground grades seem to be picking up as we enter Q4. Are development rates also improving as well? Do you have the right people and equipment in place right now?

Yes, we have the right people for sure. Remember, this is remote mining, remote stope mining. It requires specialized skills, and we do have the right people on site now, and we see that it will be ramping up as planned.

I just wanted to ask a few questions on Goose. I want to understand the key drivers of the cost increase going into the fourth quarter. Lower tonnages are being pushed, and that's going to impact the numbers. How do you expect that to evolve next year? I mean, you've maintained the production guide for next year, so I'm trying to understand what we should be thinking about on costs? Will they be as indicated previously, or will there be some impact?

So it's Mike. Just on the costs, Anita, for the fourth quarter, we've guided that the per-ounce costs are a little higher than we had before. You're right; we've left the production costs that were in the budget for Q4 there, but we have guided down the ounces to 45,000 just on the basis that we're a little later getting into the higher-grade stopes and the total production for the quarter. I don't think those are reflective of the costs going forward. This is just a function of the continued ramp-up. As we look forward, the 250,000 that Bill mentioned and beyond into the later years of the mine life, we don't have any change to those right now. We're doing the budget for next year and an updated upside case as well. The key message is these Q4 ounces are ramp-up ounces, and the costs related to those shouldn't be extrapolated into anything in the future. We’ve tried to be relatively conservative in that guidance and given a chance to meet or even beat it for Q4.

Okay. And could you just, Bill, give me an idea of what's actually going on with the delay in accessing Umwelt? What was the reason for the delay?

The reason for the delay was a lack of equipment parts from Sandvik and then a lack of operators to run them. It's one of those things that you assume in Canada those parts arrive on a very set schedule, but it just didn't happen. We have rectified the situation; we do have the personnel on site now, and we have the appropriate drilling media. So it’s been solid.

Maybe first off, at Goose, you're looking at some different options regarding the crushing optimization. Among the options you're considering, we look forward to the results of your report and so on. But what's the potential magnitude of these range of solutions just to get away from that mobile crushing?

Yes. We talked before. Remember, the initial one when we were in Denver was the concept of really a very small change. Obviously, we've faced disappointment on that front. We have a third-party consultant coming in that will deliver a report in December. I really don't want to give you a number and then have to retract it. But it’s still a small magnitude compared to fixing it and achieving the throughput we need.

Okay. I guess, whatever you decide, you have the sea lift coming up and decisions to be made to sequence that and ensure you have the necessary things on the ground, I would imagine.

That's correct.

Okay, so in Mali, the regional permits are expected at year-end. The time frame for getting these permits has been somewhat fluid. What are the reasons behind that? You guys have a good line of communication with the government; you have been out there a number of times. Is it a different priority for the government? From your perspective, what’s the reasoning behind pushing back the schedule multiple times?

Well, I think we're dealing with the bureaucracy of Mali in terms of winding its way through various approval levels. Our most recent understanding is that we are in the final stages of approval, and we expect that to come through definitely before the end of the year and maybe quite imminently.

Okay. We'll look forward to that. I see in the report that you're going to start right away with the stripping once you get that and other prep work. I look forward to seeing all that production reflected in guidance next year. So that's all for me.

As Bill said, we've already started some prep work.

Maybe a question for Mike. You drew down $200 million last quarter, and I see you paid off $50 million. Do you anticipate needing to use the credit facility as you go through these prepay payments?

I think if gold prices remain at their current level for the fourth quarter, we expect to pay down a significant portion of that line, if not all of it, by year-end. We’ll likely use it a little as we progress through Q1 and Q2 to manage the timing of the prepaid deliveries, especially since we've already received the cash for them. After that, the line will be repaid, and we’ll be ready to move forward. I believe we will use it temporarily throughout the quarter as needed, with relatively small withdrawals. As we advance, we'll enter these cash flow harvest years.

And then just maybe on CapEx at Goose. The Q3 CapEx seemed a bit higher than we were expecting. Maybe that's just seasonality in Nunavut. Any guidance on what we should expect for growth capital at Goose for Q4?

I'd say if you look at the budget we put out for the second half, it was $176 million. We didn't give a specific split, but it was heavily weighted to Q3. The budget was roughly $130 million for Q3 and then $45 million to $46 million for Q4. In Q3, the recorded CapEx in the financials was $157 million, which includes the capitalized site general costs and commissioning costs due to the timing of the ramp-up. We ended up capitalizing a bunch of costs that were budgeted as operating costs. On the pure CapEx front we were pretty much on budget. Q4, we did add $15 million to Goose's capital budget, increasing it from $45 million to $60 million. This addition is to account for the fact that there are still quite a few workers on site that are gradually being wound down, but we estimated a few more people will remain on site longer than expected. The Q3 expenses reflect a reallocation of costs from two areas in the budget, but overall you can think of the Q3 capital and operating costs as being pretty much on budget. And for Q4, yes, we added $15 million for CapEx bringing it to $60 million.

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

Thanks, operator. As we said at the outset, it was a strong quarter operationally and financially, and we look forward to progressing ramp-up at Goose and continuing our strong performance at the other operations. If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to reach out to Michael McDonald, and he can put you in touch with the right party to answer your questions. Thanks for joining us today.

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