B2gold Corp Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to B2Gold Corporation's Fourth Quarter and 2025 Year-End Financial Results Conference Call. The conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Clive Johnson, President and CEO of B2Gold. Please go ahead.

Welcome, everyone. As you heard from the operator, we're here to review B2Gold's financial results for 2025. The fourth quarter of 2025 brought a solid end to what was an exciting year for B2Gold. The Fekola, Masbate and Otjikoto mines continued outperforming, and the first ramp-up quarter at Goose resulted in the strongest consolidated production quarter of the year. Across our portfolio, we celebrated many milestones during 2025. We achieved record revenue of $3 billion. In Mali, we produced 4 million ounces since the inception of the mine and received the Fekola underground exploitation approval, producing over 20,000 ounces from Fekola underground in 2025. We are excited for the future of Fekola underground as a contributor to the Fekola complex as it ramps up to full production. At Goose, we celebrated the first gold pour in commercial production. This milestone is not one that we celebrated on our own, and we look forward to many years of operations in Nunavut. Canada is in close collaboration with our partner, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and Kitikmeot Communities. In Namibia, B2Gold announced an improved construction decision of the Antelope underground deposit. Production from Antelope has the potential to increase Otjikoto mine gold production, leveraging the low-cost platform and extend the life of the mine into the 2030s. At Masbate, the operations delivered a better year with consistent and safe results, achieving the incredible feat of 7 years without a lost time injury. In this strong gold price environment, B2Gold is well set up to take advantage with a strong asset portfolio and a flexible balance sheet. With growth capital spending at Goose now complete, the company is in a position to add significant shareholder value over the coming years. With that, I will turn the call over to Mike Cinnamond for a discussion of our financial results in the fourth quarter and fiscal year. Mike?

Thanks, Clive. As Clive said, financially, it was a strong quarter. GAAP earnings were $0.13 per share or $0.11 per share on an adjusted earnings basis. And those earnings would have been even stronger if it weren't for the timing of the late shipments at Fekola. Fekola had a very strong Q4, and just the timing of shipments at year-end. We had just over 20,000 ounces that were delivered just after December 31. So not recorded in revenues for 2025, but recorded in early '26. Our revenues totaled $1.05 billion in the fourth quarter, which included delivering just over 66,000 ounces under our gold prepay obligations. As of today, we've delivered January's tranche and we’re working on February. We're nearly there; we'll have delivered into those, and they'll be wound up by the end of June '26. Operating cash flows for 2025 were $896 million, which included $286 million in the fourth quarter. This highlights the continuing cash generation potential of our operating assets in this strong gold price environment. Financially, we remain in a strong position, with cash and cash equivalents of $380 million at the end of '25. We had drawn $150 million on our revolver at the end of '25 as well, but subsequent to year-end, we paid down another $100 million of that. This leaves us with a capacity of $750 million on the revolver and a further $200 million in the accordion feature. We have maintained excellent financial flexibility to fully repay our obligations on the gold prepays by the end of June and complete our other sustaining and growth initiatives across our portfolio, while continuing to fund healthy exploration programs. You'll see that in our budgets to extend mine lives and return capital to shareholders. During '25, we started to repurchase shares under our NCIB, having repurchased 2 million shares for about $10 million. Subsequent to year-end, we've purchased another 5 million shares for approximately $24 million, and we expect to continue this as the year progresses. With the prepaid rolling off, we have close to an extra $110 million a month coming in now from cash flows post-June, where we are currently delivering into those prepays. A lot of that extra cash flow will be directed toward our normal course issuer bid to buy back shares given where we think we are and where we believe we are headed with our assets in the strong cash flow years coming up. With that, I'll turn the call over to Bill for an operational and project update.

Thanks, Mike. Overall, we're pleased with the 2025 operating performance at our sites, producing approximately 980,000 ounces, which was near the midpoint of guidance. Looking forward to 2026, we're anticipating production between 820,000 and 970,000 ounces. Production is expected to be lower than 2025 due to the planned step-down of Otjikoto following completion of the open pit mining in Q4 2025 and the expected lower production at Fekola as stripping of Phase 8 of the Fekola pit continues. These decreases will be partially offset by the continued ramp-up of the Goose mine. While we only have a small data set so far in 2026, all operations have performed above expectations. In Mali, we expect to receive the approval for the Fekola Regional exploitation permit during the first quarter of 2026, with production starting in the second half of the year. Gold production at Fekola is expected to be relatively consistent throughout the year as production from Fekola Regional ramps up in the second half to offset a decrease in production from Fekola Phase 7 as the Fekola pit transitions to Phase 8. Fekola Regional is expected to contribute between 60,000 and 80,000 ounces in 2026. At Goose, we expect the operation to ramp up throughout the year. The crushing circuit unfortunately continues to be supplemented with the mobile crusher, and production during the fourth quarter was impacted by unseasonably low temperatures affecting the performance of the mobile crushing unit, which is not enclosed and is susceptible to operational interruptions during extreme cold. Initial modifications to improve the performance of the crushing circuit were ordered in late 2025 and are scheduled to be implemented in the second half of '26, at which point the use of the mobile crusher will cease. The company estimates that the crushing circuit will be able to operate consistently at an average of approximately 3,200 tonnes per day once these initial modifications are completed. Capital for the initial phase has been included in the 2026 operating budget. The company is studying a more comprehensive crushing circuit improvement to increase design capacity at the existing circuit to enable it to run at an average of 4,000 tonnes per day. These studies will be finalized in the first half of '26, after which the company will determine the optimal scope and timing of additional improvements. While the studies are currently ongoing, we believe the overall cost to implement these improvements will be in the tens of millions of dollars and not material to the scope of the operation. At Masbate, the operation continues to perform well with a world-class safety track record. Mine throughput significantly outperformed expectations in 2025 and achieved a record for the second year in a row. We anticipate another year of consistent operations in 2026. At Otjikoto, the operation had a fantastic year with strong production from the final phase of the open pit, achieving the upper end of its guidance range for 2025. Given the planned completion of the open pit activities, we expect lower production in 2026 as the mine transitions to processing only Wolfshag underground ore, supplemented by low-grade stockpiles. The company has begun development of the Antelope deposit, which we believe has the potential to increase Otjikoto mine gold production to an average of approximately 110,000 ounces from 2029 through 2032. With that, I'll turn it back over to Clive for the introduction to the Q&A.

Thanks, Bill. Let's open it up for Q&A.

Our first question is from Fahad Tariq with Jefferies.

Just on Fekola Regional, can you just give us maybe the latest conversations you're having or not having with the government? And what gives you the confidence that the permit could be in the first quarter of this year?

Yes, it's Randall. I'll respond to this one. Over '25, I think part of our confidence goes to the movement that we saw over the course of the year. This was a permit that took all of the ability of the Malian government to come up with a consolidation that had never been done before in Mali under the 2023 mining code. For us to be able to move that through last year and get to a point where we do have the endorsement of the Minister of Mines, the endorsement of the Minister of Finance on this permit that has been pushed through has been significant. The technical group review has been completed and is sitting with the President and the newly formed Mining Commissioner, Hilaire Diarra. We are in very regular dialogue. In addition, we are moving forward with the underground exploitation. As you've seen, Barrick's Loulo Permit has gotten extended, and the government is moving these things forward. It is slower than we would like for sure, but there is constant dialogue on the process, and that's really what gives us the confidence that we're going to see it in the near future.

Got it. And then just maybe switching gears to Goose. I believe there was an internal study being done with FLSmidth to figure out the permanent crusher solution and what that would entail, and the specifications for it. Can you just share anything else from that study that came about, if that's been completed? And what that means for the second half of this year at Goose?

Yes. So the study, as you correctly said by FLSmidth, was completed. It's been delivered to Lycopodium, who is going to be the engineer of record. They're in the process of reviewing that study. Of course, it needs to go out for cost bids once the final design is set. We have been very open that we're not going to have final answers until April. What we know is that the first part is the apron feeder and the hopper. That's Phase 1. The second half after April will provide the final guidance. We talked about this being in the tens of millions of dollars. The Phase 1 budgeted at $7 million, and that's already included. The second phase is still in the tens of millions, likely around CAD 50 million, but we have yet to finalize our decision.

The next question is from Anita Soni with CIBC World Markets.

Just a follow-up on Fahad's question on the throughput. Could you just clarify what is preventing it from getting to 4,000? I understood the issue with the hopper and the crusher, but can you talk about the second portion of it?

Yes, I can. It really is a design factor. We can run at 4,000, but we just can't maintain that all day every day. If the crusher goes down for maintenance or there's a blockage or that type of issue arises, we suddenly fall behind and are unable to catch up. This next study discusses expanding the capacity of the crusher.

Right. So getting to 6,000 would just allow you to potentially exceed 4,000 as an average. Is that the case?

I didn't say 6,000 for sure. The MD&A references evaluating going to 6,000, but it is related to the overall circuit, which is a different issue tied around the crushing circuit.

Okay. All right. And then just on Otjikoto. I wasn't quite clear about when Antelope would come onstream. I think this capital spending is in '26 and '27, but is '28 a ramp-up year in the '29 to '32 period where you exceed 110? What would '27 and '28 look like in terms of production?

Yes, the answer is yes to the first part; '27 and '28 are years during which we're continuing to build, with '29 being a ramp-up year. Given that we haven't even ordered equipment, it may be somewhat premature to discuss when ramp-up will happen. However, we're discussing production starting in '29 and extending through '32. The production estimates for '27 and '28 are approximately 78,000 and 64,000 respectively.

Okay. And then at Fekola, could you give us a bit of a breakout in terms of what's coming from the open pit and the underground? Also, excluding the Regional, what’s the breakout between the underground and the open pit, including grades and tonnage?

I don't have the grades and tonnage in front of me, but I do have the gross number. For the underground, we're showing 71,000 ounces in '26, and then the combination of Fekola and Cardinal is showing 300,000, leading to a total of 371,000 ounces minus the Regional.

Okay. And for the underground, do you know what the tonnage would be?

Yes, we believe we are mining about 1,500 tonnes per day. I'll check to make sure of that figure, but I think that's accurate.

The next question is from Carey MacRury with Canaccord Genuity.

I'm just wondering how we should think about ASIC at Goose once you're at 3,200 tonnes a day versus your guidance?

Well, what I'd say, Carey, is that there is an ASIC ramp up in '26 in the budget numbers, based on much lower range production than we anticipate when we reach steady state. You'll see a gradual stepping down of ASIC. We are updating the Goose study to incorporate all elements of this new crushing study and our plans. The goal is to ramp up to 4,000 tonnes per day, possibly further into 2027. Once we complete Stage 2 of the crusher remediation, we expect to see our all-in sustaining costs at Goose drop significantly from the budget levels.

Okay. And then regarding your cash taxes, you've given guidance at $5,000 an ounce. Do you know what that would look like at around $4,500? Is there any sensitivity around that number?

You could take what we've shown and multiply it by an effective average tax rate of 30% for the step-down, which should get you in the ballpark. It's important to note that these cash taxes involve assumptions about our repatriation from sites. At higher gold prices, we draw lots of cash, and it's not a linear drop from $5,000 to $4,200, due to withholding taxes on dividends. To quantify it, if you want to determine the impact on cash taxes, take the difference in gold price, multiply by the production ounces, and then take 30% of that. We didn't provide the cash tax guidance just for comprehensive modeling, but for clarity across the group since we've seen substantial withholdings.

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

Okay. Thank you all for those good questions. Sorry, operator, is there someone else?

I apologize for the interruption. Have you finished your concluding remarks?

Yes. Thank you, operator. Thanks, everyone, for attending and for your questions.

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