Eldorado Gold Corp (EGO) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Thank you for signing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Eldorado Gold first quarter 2026 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing Star and Dale. I would now like to turn the conference over to Lynette Gould, Vice President, Investor Relations, Communications, and External Affairs. Please go ahead, Ms. Gould.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to our conference call to discuss our first quarter 2026 results. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that we will be making forward-looking statements and referring to non-IFRS measures during the call. Please refer to the cautionary statements included in the presentation and the disclosure on non-IFRS measures and risk factors in our management's discussion and analysis. Joining me on the call today, we have George Burns, Chief Executive Officer, Christian Milau, President, Paul Ferniehow, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Simon Hilly, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Our release yesterday details our first quarter 2026 financial and operating results. The release should be read in conjunction with our Q1 2026 financial statements and management's discussions and analysis, both of which are available on our website. They have also both been filed on CDAR Plus and EDGAR. All dollar figures discussed today are U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated. We will be speaking to the slides that accompany this webcast, which can be downloaded from our website. After the prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q&A, at which time we will invite analysts to queue for questions. I will now turn the call over to George.

Thank you, Lynette, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin with an overview of our first quarter and provide brief updates on McAvena Bay and Scurrias. I'll then hand the call over to Paul to review the financials and then to Simon with an update on our operations. Following that, Christian will make some concluding remarks before opening up the call for questions. We've had a very busy and solid start to 2026, with performance in the quarter tracking in line with our expectations and full-year guidance. This year, production is back half-weighted as two mines come into production and several other operations deliver stronger results later in the year. 2026 is an important year for El Dorado as we continue to advance two high-quality growth projects, Scurrias in Greece and Maccabana Bay in Saskatchewan. Back Bay is nearing first concentrate production, followed by first concentrate at Scurries in Q3. Once in operation, both assets will meaningfully enhance our production profile and cash flow generation. Starting in the third quarter of 2026, to provide greater transparency as these polymetallic assets come online, we plan to enhance our disclosure by reporting copper assets on a dollar per pound co-product basis for scurries and mac bay before getting into the project updates i want to note that as previously announced i plan to retire a ceo later this year as we ramp up scurries towards commercial production christian who joined us last september has been deeply involved across the business and is set up to seamlessly step into the role at that time. I'm pleased to remain on the board to support continuity, and Dan Meyerson has joined the board as deputy chair, providing important continuity from the 4N side. I want to take a moment to recognize the achievement of our colleagues at Lamarck. In March, they received the TSM Gold Leadership Award, a special recognition for mining operations, who achieve level AAA, the highest possible rating, across all applicable TSM performance indicators. This recognition reflects the dedication of our employees and our unwavering commitment to responsible mining in Quebec and across our global operations, where TSM protocols are applied as a matter of practice under El Dorado's Sustainability Integrated Management System. Well done, Lamont team. The foreign transaction represents a significant milestone for El Dorado. At MAC Bay, we have now begun integration activities and are working closely with the existing team as the project nears first concentrate production. Following the close, members of our management team visited Saskatchewan and the MAC Bay project to welcome the team to El Dorado, see progress firsthand, and engage with our stakeholders in Saskatchewan. What stood out was the enthusiasm of our new team, the capability supporting the operation, and the clear focus on safety, collaboration, and responsible execution. Now that MACBAE is part of our portfolio, we expect to provide the following with our second quarter results. MACBAE Production and Cost Outlook for 2026, timing for an expansion study, and progress on a study for potential lead silver circuit. Following the close of the transaction, we have already approved approximately $17 million spend on exploration for the remainder of 2026. Reflecting the target-rich environment, in our view that continued exploration success has the potential to drive meaningful long-term value. The quality of MAC Bay and its exploration potential reinforce our confidence that it will become a long-term cornerstone asset within our portfolio, delivering near-term growth while adding copper exposure in a stable, top-three global mining-friendly jurisdiction. Turning to scurries in Greece on slide 6, construction activities continue to progress well across all major areas. The team remains focused on discipline-safe execution as we move through the final construction phase. At the end of the quarter, overall project progress was approximately 94%, steadily advancing towards first concentrate production. As execution activities have progressed and the project advances toward construction completion on schedule, we have updated our forecast to complete and have revised our total project capital to $1.315 billion, an increase of approximately $155 million from the prior estimate. The primary driver was the increase related to construction workforce levels to support sustained final construction momentum. Total workforce has increased from $2,350 in mid-Q1 to approximately $3,200, which includes about $490 in operations. Advancing scurries in safe production in the current metal environment is a key driver of value creation. This incremental capital reflects our continued focus on maintaining momentum towards first concentrate production. Accelerated operational capital at Scurries is now expected to be approximately $260 million, reflecting an incremental $82 million to expand pre-commercial mining and site works. This supports open-pit mining and advancing underground development ahead of first production. We're well-positioned for startup with more than 2.8 million tons of ore stockpiled, which provides the entire planned mill tonnage for 2026. Overall, this investment supports a smoother ramp-up into production. On the process plan, work remains focused on final mechanical installations, piping, cable tray, cabling as we prepare for first ore. With respect to the damaged cyclone feed pump variable speed drives, temporary replacement equipment is expected to be installed in Q2. high and medium voltage electrical distribution for multiple substations is progressing the process code control building structure is complete and electrical rooms are being progressively handed over to commissioning on the power line and substations the 150 kb power line and primary substation continued to advance to start up in Q3 ahead of grinding area or commissioning final electrical regulatory authority approval will require completion of inspection and energization protocols. Power line construction is progressing with the transmission tower assembly complete and pilot wire pulling now underway along the transmission line. The primary substation is advancing through ongoing assembly of the substation structures and control building structural completion. Pre-commissioning is now underway, starting with the substations that feed the process plant, filter plant, the primary crusher, while commissioning continues across fire, utility, and process water systems. In parallel, we've begun pre-commissioning and flotation, focused on air and instrumentation, as well as sag and ball mill instrumentation electrical and control systems and we started wet commissioning in the process water pumps and tailing thickeners together scurries and macavina bay represent a step change for el dorado in scale and portfolio diversification across jurisdictions and metals with that i'll turn it over to paul to review the financial results Thank you, George, and good morning.

I'll start on slide 7. In Q1 2026, we produced 100,358 ounces of gold, a 13% decrease year-over-year, primarily reflecting lower tons of stack grades at Kistledag and lower grades at FN Chukuru, partially offset by higher grades and improved recoveries at Olympias and LMAQ. Gold sales totaled 100,619 ounces at an average realized gold price of $4,891 per ounce, generating total revenue in excess of $532 million, a 50% increase from $355 million in the comparable quarter last year, driven by significantly higher gold prices. Production costs were $188 million, up from just over $148 million, driven primarily by royalty expense in Turkey and Greece, which accounted for approximately 70% of the increase, with the balance largely attributable to labor inflation in Turkey and incremental labor and contractor costs associated with continued development of the Lamac complex. Royalty expense increased to $50 million from $22 million last year, reflecting higher realized gold prices and higher royalty rates, partially offset by lower sales volumes. On a unit basis, total cash costs across the portfolio averaged $1,470 per ounce sold, up from $1,153, while ASIC averaged $1,942 per ounce sold, compared to $1,559 in the prior year period. mainly reflecting higher royalty expense driven by the higher gold price environment, lower production, and labor cost impacts. Below the line, net earnings attributable to shareholders from continuing operations were $136 million, or $0.69 per share, compared to $72 million, or $0.35 per share last year, primarily due to higher realized gold prices, partially offset by lower sales volumes, higher production costs, and higher income taxes. Adjusted net earnings were $188 million, or $0.95 per share, compared to $56 million, or $0.28 per share, last year. The adjustments this quarter included an $18 million foreign exchange translation loss on deferred tax balances, a $20 million unrealized loss on derivative instruments, and $8 million of acquisition costs related to the foreign mining transaction. Turning to slide eight, we ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of approximately $630 million, maintaining a strong balance sheet and significant financial flexibility to fund our growth initiatives. Cash declined in Q1 relative to Q4 2025, primarily due to capital investment, share repurchases, dividend payments, and income taxes paid, partially offset by cash generated from operating activities. As we prepare the company for the significant cash flow that will come following ramp-up of production at Scorius and McIlvaney Bay, it's worth reflecting on our developing capital allocation policy, which is based on a framework that is built around five key priorities. We continue to allocate funds towards the highest return opportunities within our global portfolio, including potential expansion projects at LMAQ and McIlvany Bay, advancement at Parama Hill, ongoing optimization and expansion at Olympias, and continued investment for our stable cash-generating mines in Turkey. Second, we've meaningfully increased our exploration investment focused on mine life extensions and the discovery of new resources. Third, we remain committed to maintaining balance sheet strength with a focus on reducing leverage over time, including the prudent management of our $500 million high yield bond maturing in 2029, while preserving the flexibility to execute our pipeline of development projects. Fourth, we have established a sustainable base dividend policy of 7.5 cents per share per quarter. And finally, we continued in Q1 to opportunistically repurchase shares, reflecting our conviction in the company's intrinsic value, particularly given the potential for an estimated double-digit free cash flow yield based on our current valuation compared to industry-leading peers who currently trade at a lower yield. Overall, we believe our capital allocation framework appropriately balances growth, financial strength, and shareholder returns. With that, I'll turn it over to Simon for an operational update.

Thank you, Paul. Starting on slide nine at the Lamac Complex, we've reduced 42,306 ounces in Q1, up 5% year over year. The outperformance was primarily grade driven and we also saw the initial contribution from ORMAC following the receipt of our operating authorisation. All in sustaining costs were $1,370 per ounce sold, modestly lower year over year, reflecting higher production volumes and continued cost focus, partially offset by impact of deeper mining and timing of sustaining capital spent. Total capital spend was a totaled $48 million, including $20 million of sustaining capital, primarily for underground development, drilling and equipment. Growth capital totaled $28 million, largely related to development of ORMAC and ram development at the Triangle Mine and supporting infrastructure. Continuing to slide 10, at Kishida, we produced 28,339 ounces as planned. As we have previously disclosed, in 2026 is a cutback year for phase six of the open pit, where the average grade is lower than the life of mine. All in sustaining cost was $2,060 per ounce sold, primarily reflecting lower volume sold and on a higher cost base. Sustaining capital spend included $4 million, while growth capital included $51 million, including a one-time $24 million purchase of strategic land to support the North Heap Leach Pad and North Rock Waste Up expansions. The remaining planned $27 million was largely waste-driven and continued construction of the Phase 3 at the North East Leach Pad. The GMS study covering future phases and evaluating whole law screening remains on track for completion in Q2 of 2026. At FN2 Crew, on Slide 11, we produced 15,394 payable ounces in Q1 relative to 19,307 payable ounces in Q1 of 2025, The lower output is primarily due to lower grade and partially offset by the highest report. Fallen sustaining costs increased to $2,528 per ounce sold, primarily reflects the lower volume sold and the higher cost base as expected with the highest sustaining capital tied to the increased development metres. Sustaining capital spend included $5 million primarily underground development and $2 million of growth capital related to the new portal development at Co-Carp and Ars along with the development costs for the new VARTI zone. Finally, to slide 12, at Olympias, we produced 14,319 payable ounces of gold in Q1, up 21% from 11,829 ounces in Q1 of 2025. This improvement reflects a stable ore blend and flotation performance that drove higher metal recoveries. Revenue increased to $88 million from $46 million, primarily on the higher realised gold price, higher sales volumes for gold and base metals, and with the base metals also benefiting from higher grades and recoveries. All in sustaining costs was $2,031 per ounce sold, reduced from $2,842, primarily reflecting improved mental recovery and stable mill performance that resulted in lower cash costs per ounce sold as a result of higher volumes sold. Sustaining capital was $5 million, while growth capital was $8 million, driven by the mill expansion project with sequential area completion commencing at the end of Q3 and ramp up through Q4 of 2026. Across all sites, safety remains core to our operations and we continue to reinforce a culture of safe, responsible production. I'll now turn it over to Christian for closing remarks.

Thank you, Simon, and good morning, everyone. Overall, the first quarter reflects a solid start to what is a defining year for Eldorado. We're delivering solid operational and financial performance while continuing to make meaningful progress on our key growth projects that march towards the finish line. In addition, we initiated our dividend and bought back over $80 million worth of Eldorado shares in Q1. Importantly, we've continued to strengthen our leadership team over recent months, including the well-deserved promotion of Simon to Chief Operating Officer and the appointment of Gordana Vesentievich, who will be joining us shortly as Senior Vice President of Projects. Gordana has significant experience leading projects of a large and small scale globally, as well as experience working with G-Mining Services, who will be a key partner on a number of future projects. Additionally, we would like to recognize Sylvain Lahoud, who has been promoted to Senior Vice President Operations for Canada, taking on responsibility for El Dorado's growing Canadian portfolio the deliberate steps we've taken to enhance our bench strength particularly in project execution and operational leadership are already contributing to improved alignment stronger integration across the business complementing these efforts in 2026 we entered into a project alliance with g mining services to support project development and execution reinforcing our technical capacity and ability to deliver projects safely efficiently and on schedule as i've spent time across our sites and corporate offices have seen strong alignment with our values, particularly in how our teams are approaching collaboration and execution. These behaviors will be critical as we move through the remainder of the year. With Scurries and McElvana Bay advancing towards key milestones and first production, and with the strength of the team we have in place, we're ending a period of meaningful transformation for the company, one that we believe will enhance our scale, diversify our portfolio, and strengthen our long-term value proposition. Looking ahead, while El Dorado remains predominantly a gold producer, the addition of meaningful copper production from Canada and Europe represents an exciting extension of our portfolio. At Macalena Bay, we are building exposure to copper in a top-tier mining jurisdiction with dependable infrastructure and access to a skilled workforce. And we appreciate the Major Projects Office support of the strategic project for Canada and El Dorado. Further, the district-scale exploration potential and work being done by the team in Saskatchewan is extremely exciting with excellent targets to be followed up as evidenced by our increased investment in exploration. We expect to aggressively explore the near mine and wider land package starting this year. This potential and the already long mine life will enhance our peer leading average mine life and exciting exploration portfolio across all jurisdictions. At Scurrius, we expect to deliver a long life copper gold asset within Europe where demand for responsible produced metals continues to grow northern greece is highly prospective we will continue to grow as a core part of our portfolio these two near production mines provide substantial exposure to copper and its key role in electrification and the energy transition also enhancing the resilience of our portfolio through greater commodity and geographic diversification also extending our average years of mine life into the mid-teens with excellent potential to extend further. I'm excited about Eldorado's future and the strong culture and teams across the company. As we reach the significant cash flow inflection point later in 2026, I have a high level of confidence in our team, our strategy, and our ability to serve a significant value from execution and peer-leading near-term growth. Thank you to our employees, partners, and you as shareholders for your continued support.

I'll now turn the call back to the operator for questions from our analysts thank you to join the question queue you may press star then one on your telephone keypad you will hear a tone acknowledging your request if you're using a speakerphone please pick up your handset before pressing any keys to withdraw your question please press star then two we will pause for a moment as callers turn the queue the first question comes from Don DeMarco with National Bank. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, George and team. First question, looking at Ascurius, you know, given that labor cost pressures contributed to the CapEx increase, is there a read-through to potentially cost pressures on operating costs going forward?

Hi, Don, thanks for the question. No, no read-through there. So really what drove us capital increase as we get to the final stage of construction was completing electrical and instrumentation in the plant. So we brought in three EU contractors just recently to help ensure we can maintain the early Q3 startup of the plant. So it's It's essentially some extra labor to complete that electrical and instrumentation. No read-through in terms of our operating costs. Our operating manpower levels are going to come in as expected, and we've only had kind of normal inflationary pressure on labor costs. And if you look at our cost guidance for the fourth quarter, as we bring it into operation, and we continue to maintain a very low-cost profile once we're into production.

Okay. And so then looking at the next couple quarters before first concentrate, are there any risks on the horizon, maybe lingering cost pressures, whether related to labor, contractors, et cetera, that might require additional capital that might be unforeseen at this time?

No, Don, we don't see that at this point. again from a construction perspective we should have the construction complete at the mid-year point and you know we we've said Q3 as first concentrate and really the variable for us remaining is how efficiently we can get the energy connected to be able to put first or through the grinding mills and through the plant. And there we're collaborating with the Greek Power Authority. So, you know, we get our construction completed in July. Our expectation is final checks with us and them on that main substation can happen together in parallel. And that would result in an early Q3 startup. But if we can't get that collaboration and they do their checks subsequent to ours, it could slip to mid-Q3. But really, that's not a cost impact. We'll be ramping down construction workforce rapidly as we get this construction completed around mid-year.

Okay, great. And then for a final question, just shifting over to MacBay, I see that you've approved an expiration budget. Can you share the split between infill and expansion and some of the targets that you might be focusing on with that budget?

Thanks, Don. Simon here. I can maybe give you some colour on what our plans are around the exploration portion of the budget. So the 4N team had around a $4 million exploration budget for the year, of which we're adding $17 million for the remainder of the year. And the team's quite excited to sort of mainly focus on three key targets. They are the Tesla Copper Ridge Feeder Zone, Big Stone Expansion, and then adding some more geoscience to the existing land package around some airborne geophysical surveys and expanded libs on the whole body characterisation. These things should set us up for good success moving forward. In our exploration budget, we typically don't have infill. Infill is a part of an operational budget.

Fair enough. Okay, that's very helpful. That's all for me. Good luck with the rest of the development. Thanks, Tom.

The next question comes from Sam Overwater with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. Just a couple more questions on Scories.

We were quite surprised by the increase in capital costs, and you mentioned it was related mainly to the workforce with the electric plant but uh what else happened what else changed since the previous increase in q4 yeah again really the 60 of that cost increase is the additional contract workforce since completing electrical and instrumentation and then the balance is kind of split between materials fx and owner support costs so bottom line is it's taking us a couple of months additional full workforce to get the final construction complete. If you go back to our last guidance on Scurries Capital, at that point the view was we'd be waiting to get the power connected in the power line and doing some final things in the tailings filtration plan. So bottom line this increases we're spending some additional dollars bringing in some additional EU contractors to ensure we're ready to run once that power is connected hopefully early q3 okay great thank you then off you said 60 was the contract work with the balance being materials fx etc um could you give it a little bit more of a breakdown between what the materials fx and what else like the display to that 40 remaining 40 yeah there was about 15 million in materials in it kind of four key items in the dry stack filter plant our insurers have requested we've agreed to put in additional fire protection that's about five million we've added about four million in additional spares to ensure smooth ramp up the balance of the year we've added about three million in additional gen sets that are helping us do pre-commissioning as we wait for power connection and there was about a million and a half in freight and then there was about 15 million in foreign exchange impacts and the balance is really the indirect cost to support that a couple months of high labor intensive to finish the construction okay amazing thank you um last question for me uh what are the remaining risks in your opinion

whether that be capital or operating to start up and what contingencies you have in place to make sure we hit this Q3 timeframe?

Yeah, again, I think the key risk for the year remaining on scurries is to get that power connected. The timing of that really will depend on where we are closer to the bottom end of our production guidance or the top end of our production guidance. So if we can get that power connected in July as we expect, we'd expect to be higher in the production guidance. In terms of cost risk, I'd say that's not a worry for me now. We've got a couple of months of maintaining these high workforce levels to complete the construction. The only remaining risk beyond that is just the normal commissioning risk. So once power is connected, we start moving over through the circuit. And as always, in every construction, you have adjustments that need to be made. At this point, I think we've got, you know, a 20-year mine life plus here, a fantastic infrastructure that's been constructed. I'm pretty darn confident about the ramp-up.

Thank you for the color and best of luck with ramping up these two projects.

Thank you. Once again, if you have a question, please press star, then one. The next question comes from Josh Wolfson with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you very much. Just going back to this labor conversation on scurries, you know, I understand the need for the additional contractors to meet the timelines, but was there some difference in thinking versus the prior plan in terms of, you know, labor productivity being challenged or, you know, what sort of – what really is prompting this change? yeah i mean it's it's really taking more hours of electrical uh and instrumentation to get this finished um so yeah for sure we haven't hit the numbers we expected and again brought in three european contractors to button this thing up and get it running all right thank you um and i understand it's it's uh it's only been a short amount of time uh since the foreign acquisition is closed. I noted the second quarter will have more comprehensive of an update. Is there any sort of perspective you can provide in terms of what is required ahead of first production or sort of what milestones we should be looking at there?

Hi, Josh. It's Simon here. Josh, look, we're pretty excited. We've been on the ground just a couple weeks ago. Obviously, we're in close contact with the team. the teams right in the thrust of what we call hot commissioning right now, which is where we start to add ore into various parts of the process to sort of test the components and simulate what we will be as we run into full production and we link those things together on a sequential basis. So, you know, we're pretty excited that, you know, things are moving to plan and, you know, we expect to see this, you know, running in this month.

Great. Thank you very much. Thanks, Josh.

That's all the questions we have for today. This concludes the question and answer session and today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.