Equinox Gold Corp. (EQX) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Equinox Gold Third Quarter 2026 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ingrid Rico, SVP, Capital Markets for Equinox Gold. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to Equinox Gold third quarter 2026 results conference call. I would like to direct everyone to the forward-looking statement slide on slide number two. Our remarks today, including responses during the question and answer session, may include forward-looking information regarding the company's future performance. Although management believes the statements are based on reasonable assumptions, actual results may differ materially. Please refer to today's cautionary statements and our most recent regulatory filings available on CDER, EDGAR, and our website. Unless otherwise stated, all figures discussed today are in U.S. dollars. Joining me on the call today are Jason Simpson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Peter Hardy, Chief Financial Officer, and Andrew Cormier, Chief Operating Officer, who will be available for the question and answer session. The presentation is available on our website. With that, I'll pass the call over to Jason.

Thanks, Ingrid, and good morning, everyone. This is my first call as President and Chief Executive Officer of Equinox Gold. I want to start by thanking Darren Hall for his leadership, the board for its confidence, and our teams across every site for everything they have done through a very busy and transformational year. This quarter's results are only a partial reflection of the emergence of Equinox as a senior gold producer, following the completion of our combination with Orla Mining partway through the quarter. The combination has positioned Equinox Gold as a new senior gold producer, with more than 1 million ounces of annual production on a pro forma basis, a stronger cash flow base, an expanded growth pipeline, and overall, a better, stronger, and more diversified portfolio. The combination also changes how we run the business. We now have the scale, the growth opportunities, and the cash generation to execute, all within four jurisdictions we know well. From here, the priority is straightforward. Deliver on our commitments, drill the ground we already hold, and build our next minds sequentially. I have visited every site over the last few months, and I am confident we have the assets, and more importantly, the teams, to deliver. Trust, they are working very hard to do so. For our team members listening today, thank you. In the third quarter, we produced 237,000 ounces of gold, including two months of production from Muscle White and Camino Rojo. Cash costs of $1,654 per ounce were down 9% quarter over quarter, and were within our guidance range, with an all-in sustaining cost of $2,091, representing a 4% decrease compared to Q2. That being said, our all-in sustaining cost remains higher than we would like. Higher than planned fuel costs, maintenance costs, and equipment purchases at Greenstone, as well as the completion of the leach pad expansion at Camino Rojo, increased sustaining capital during the quarter. Year to date, we've produced just over 611,000 ounces. Keeping us on track to deliver production at the low end of our updated guidance range of 870,000 ounces to 920,000 ounces, or about 1.1 million ounces, including Orla's full-year contribution. The message is simple. We intend to deliver what we tell the market. Q3 showed the potential of the combined business. And we're carrying that momentum into Q4, and we will have a full contribution of the Orla acquisition. Turning to slide four. Operationally, Q3 was about improving consistency across the portfolio. Canada delivered nearly 60% of our production, and that includes only two months from Muscle White. Muscle white contributed 45,600 ounces between August and September. During those two months, the plant averaged a throughput rate of over 4,000 tons per day at a grade of 6.15 grams per ton. A significant improvement from the sub-3,000 tons per day average during the six months prior to the acquisition from Newmont in 2025. We also drilled more than 13,000 meters in these two months, and the deep drilling continues to identify gold-bearing zones about 2 kilometers beyond the current operation. At Greenstone, we produced 60,600 ounces as the mine continues to work through the final stages of ramp-up. We continue to see improvements in mining efficiency through the use of the remote-operated equipment acquired earlier in the year, helping us to mine around the pit voids to reach higher-grade ore. However, replacement of the high-pressure grinding rolls in August reduced throughput during the quarter. The installation in 2026 and commissioning of the trommel is anticipated in early 2027. It is expected to improve mill availability by removing timber and steel from the mill feed. We also started a nearly 33-kilometer exploration drilling program designed to support resource growth and conversion opportunities at Greenstone. Including pit extension in the north wall and south pit areas and infill drilling with the underground extension to upgrade resources. We also continue advancing regional target generation across the broader Greenstone land package. At Valentine, mill feed averaged more than 1.8 grams per tonne during the third quarter, and the mine produced over 34,700 ounces. Total tons mined increased 10% over quarter, but processed tons decreased as a result of both planned and unplanned maintenance in August. In the near term, as we complete the ramp-up of Valentine, the focus remains on maximizing ore grade to the mill through the continued optimization initiatives and improvement of selective mining practices and ore bonding options. We also drilled more than 30,000 meters in the quarter at Valentine. The program focused on a combination of drilling at near mine targets, including the Frank, Sprite, and Banshee zones, and generative drilling at the recently discovered Minotaur zone. Our other operations in Nicaragua, Mexico, and the United States performed broadly in line with plan. At Los Felos, maintenance work on the restart continues, and we'll keep the market updated as that work advances. Turning to slide 5. Looking ahead, we see a clear sequential path from 1 million ounces of annual production toward 2 million ounces, within the same jurisdictions where we already operate. The key word is sequential. Going forward, we will build at a pace that considers investment against cash flow, available liquidity, and market conditions. At Valentine, the Board approved the Phase 2 expansion in August to double processing capacity to 5 million tons per year. The initial capital budget is $436 million. Key long lead items are already on order. and completion is expected in late 2028. At South Railroad in Nevada, we received the Federal Record of Decision in August, and early works are underway. Detailed engineering was 71% complete at quarter end, and approximately $180 million of the $395 million initial capital estimate has been committed. First Gold remains targeted for the first half of 2028. In Mexico, we're advancing studies on the significant sulfide resources beneath both Camino Rojo and Los Feliz. Over time, those opportunities have the potential to contribute over 400,000 ounces from Mexico, but we're We're taking a disciplined approach. And we'll only advance the options that are creative to value per share. Exploration underpins all of that growth. We currently have 45 drills turning across North America, mostly near existing mines and infrastructure. We have tremendous geologic upside at all of our sites, especially at all three of our sites in Canada. The objective is to replace and grow reserves, extend mine lives, and advance the next generation of discoveries within the portfolio. Turning to slide six. Our capital allocation framework is simple. Sustain and grow the business. Maintain a strong balance sheet and return capital to shareholders without issuing new shares to fund the plan. On the balance sheet, we repaid $190 million of debt during the quarter, bringing total repayments to approximately $1.3 billion this year. We extended, we ended Q3 with 528 million of cash, 1.2 billion of available liquidity, and net cash of 164 million, including the convertible, excluding, excuse me, the convertible notes, which were converted in October. We also continue to return capital to shareholders. We increased the dividend by 50% in August, and yesterday the Board approved a quarterly dividend of 0.0225 per share, payable on December 10th to shareholders of record on November 25th. We repurchased approximately 760,000 shares during Q3 and will continue to assess buybacks opportunistically in Q4. Turning to slide 7. So to bring it all together, Equinox Gold is now a senior gold producer with more than 1 million ounces of annual production and roughly 70% of our net asset value in Canada and the United States. We have a clear growth pipeline toward 2 million ounces, a stronger balance sheet, and a portfolio that is moving in a more consistent operating rhythm. The pieces are in place. Now it's about execution. With that, I'll hand it back to the operator, and we'll be happy to take your questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up, and re-key for any additional questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question is from the line of Ralph Profitti with Stifle. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Thanks, operator, and good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Jason, can I get an update on the sampling campaign that's being undertaken at Greenstone as we work these arsenic levels? Are you seeing changes in the recovery modeling? You know, there was some quarter-over-quarter improvement, and I'm wondering if that sort of 80% number would be a reasonable assumption for 2027.

Yeah, Ralph, I expect the number should be better than 80%. What we're doing, in addition to the sampling that you referenced, is making sure that we have a good geometallurgical model. The key to Greenstone is identifying the pockets of arsenio pyrite within the ore body that we've known about since the outset, and making sure that we don't flood the processing plant unintentionally with that material, stockpiling it, rather allowing us to blend it in over time. And so, yeah, contributing to that geometallurgical model, of course, is the sampling campaign through our RC as well as blast hole samples and the associated metallurgical tests that are required to make sure that we not only understand the grade and geology, but the geometallurgical consistency of the deposit. And all of that information from sampling needs to be uploaded into an updated geometallurgical model, and that model needs to guide our teams in the field how to make sure that we're sending the trucks in the right direction, depending upon both the grade as well as the metallurgical recovery of the different parts of the benches.

Yep. Yep. Got it. Okay. And let me switch gears and ask you to sort of maybe lay out the path forward for me on sort of down plunge exploration and resource conversion at Muscle White. You know, what are your goals and priorities for 2027?

Yeah, you know, we've had to adapt our plans at Musselwhite because we've been tremendously successful in discovering not only that additional two-kilometer extension down plunge, Ralph, that you referred to, but also material updip and uptrend, which we've been able to harvest in the past couple of years and help us fill that processing plant. And so what we're discovering at Musselwhite, in addition to the known banded iron formation extension for two kilometers, there's also parallel zones that we are drilling and are part of our recent exploration results that we can bring up to the processing plant more quickly. So suffice it to say, at Muscle White, there's gold on surface, gold in parallel to the main ore body, and gold down plunge. So the work that we need to focus on in the near term with our technical group and Musseloy team is how can we fill the processing plant through the existing infrastructure, and what might we do to not only improve the material handling system for that downplone zone that you talked about, but that, as we now realize, will also need to be coupled, likely, with a considered mill expansion to push that asset, which is that midpoint of guidance. 245,000 ounces this year, towards 300,000. Anything over 300,000 from that asset is likely going to not only include a material handling improvement, but also mill expansion consideration. So our study team is busy working on those technical details, and that capital allocation will be considered in the pipeline amongst all our other choices. Great. Understood.

Helpful answers. Thank you.

Your next question is from the line of Anita Soni with CIBC World Markets. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, Jason. Thanks for taking my questions. First question on Greenstone. What I'm trying to drive at is the guidance kind of change to pointing to the bottom end or the low end on the production guidance. I'm just having a little trouble trying to figure out exactly which areas I should be trimming up. So on Greenstone, is it fair to say that the throughput will continue to be similar to Q3 levels until that trommel is installed and operational in Q1 of 2027?

Well, the one exception I would offer, and thanks for the question, Anita, the one exception I'd offer is there was a shutdown, as we referenced in Q3, so that shouldn't be carried forward into Q4, but it's fair to say that the trauma will only be installed in Q4 and be commissioned in Q1, so we won't see the benefits of the removal of that scrap material in this year's guidance. And across the diversified portfolio, you know, I think our ramp up of Valentine and the completion of the ramp up at Greenstone are areas where we're seeing tension for two different reasons. The tramp material you described at Greenstone, as well as the recovery that Ralph referenced, and at Valentine, although ever improving, the ability to feed higher and higher grade to that processing plant. And that's being offset by the benefits of Muscle White, Nicaragua, and some of our other assets, but that's where the pressure exists. And so for your Greenstone question specifically, yes, the travel will be ramped up until next year. And so we should anticipate that the downtime that took us to about 23,000 tons per day in Q3, the unplanned downtime, you know, will have to combat continuing through Q4, obviously working through a manual process of separating the Tramp material. Hopefully we can make that mechanical going forward in 2027.

Okay, so the insulation, well, that will require some downtime, though, right, in the corridor? Should we be modelling something there?

No, Anita, it's separate. It's decoupled from the regular processing plant, and so now it won't require downtime in the processing plant.

Okay, thanks. And if I may, on Valentine, you did mention... Trying to feed higher and higher grade or quantities of that higher grade material. I think right now you're mining almost a three-factor over what's being fed to the mill. I just want to understand, you know, how, like, is that kind of the pace of plan for Q4 as well? I understand you're probably budgeting 2027, but just trying to get an idea of how we should be thinking about Valentine going into Q4 in 2027 in terms of the grade-tonnage relationship.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. We'll continue to build stockpiles at Valentine intentionally so that we can select a higher grade from the mine material and preferentially feed that into the plant. You know, that results in an inflated cost and inventory of the product in stockpile, of course, but that was part of the plan until we get the plant expanded to 5 million tons per year. I think, you know, we've gone a long way to increasing our ability to do that, but there is a limit to how selective we can get in preferentially feeding the grade. Anything with a 2 in front of it is something that we will aspire to through 2027, and we're on track to do that, delivering 1.82 in Q3 and hopefully another improvement in Q4.

Okay, and then the last question I think you touched on, Nicaragua. I was just curious about, you know, you're kind of already at the bottom end of your guide with three quarters in, but I think in your opening comments to me, you said that you get benefits from mussel white in Nicaragua, so is it fair to say that there isn't any material downtick at Nicaragua that we should be thinking about in Q4?

Yeah, no, Nicaragua is, I think you realize, but perhaps for the rest of the listeners, you know, it's a function of the particular pits and or underground workings that were in there. That complex is a number of mines that we harvest to bring back to the two mills. And so much like an underground mine with higher grade stoves, Nicaragua really depends upon the assets that we're drawing from at a particular time. And we expect for it to help on the overall consolidated guidance for 2026.

Okay, I have a couple more, but I'll jump back in the queue. It's just on the last two assets, but I'll let someone else ask some questions. Thanks.

Thanks, David.

Your next question is from the line of Jeremy Oy with Canaccord Genuity. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Hi, Jason and team. Thanks for taking my questions. First one for me is just a general one on cost. Could you provide a bit of a color on, you know, where you're seeing pressures across the portfolio and appreciating that, you know, you're still working through budgeting for next year? Could you give us perhaps a little direction on which way you see costs moving next year?

Yeah, thanks, Jeremy. As we talked about it last quarter, we did increase our estimates for our fuel costs as a function of the war and cost pressures all of us are experiencing, you know, and of course, that's primarily in places like Nicaragua and Greenstone, you know, our larger operations dependent on fuel, and those costs have continued to inflate past even our estimates in Q2. So we've had to anticipate that for the remainder of this year. We, of course, in our budgeting process next month and our guidance early in January, we'll try and incorporate that into our cost estimates. Other areas of cost pressuring include things like employment costs, contractors, and services. As all commodities are continuing to outpace, we're seeing pressures on those fronts. We are, as a business, moving into sort of cost containment efforts across the portfolio and specific areas, like some of the questions earlier on about ramp-up locations like Greenstone and Valentine, we'll be able to recoup some of those costs as we get those to more steady-state operations, obviously increasing the denominator of production, but also pulling back on resources. We tend to flood these ramp ups with to get them started. Greenstone is coming out of that. Valentine is starting to show results of retracting some of those contractor services. But we need to be clear. Inflation applies to everybody, including us. So we'll try to guide in 2027 to a responsible number that we can achieve.

That's really helpful. Thank you. Last one for me is you've been very explicit with timing for the several catalysts you guys have coming up across the portfolio, studies, resources, updates, exploration, etc. One thing I did notice was a bit vague was timing of an updated study for Los Felos. And I was wondering, do you guys have a line of sight on timing of that? And does that inform your sequencing of that project with your other expansions, as you suggested, you guys still have to consider?

Yes, absolutely. It needs to inform our investment decisions. We, as you realize, we have two very impressive projects in Mexico, the sulfides below Camino Rojo and the CIL plant at Los Felos. And so by the end of 27, we should have visibility on what's likely to be about a 20,000 ton a day CIL plant at Felos, the cost estimate of that. We'll need to compare that against our study work at Camino Rojo Sulphides and make decisions about what creates the greatest value for our shareholders when we space that in time in terms of our capital allocation. The focus of the company right now is to produce from the six assets that we're currently operating, get Phelos operating again as an open pit key bleach with some contribution from underground whilst we study the future potential, as we know in all categories, both in. Los Felos and Camino Rojo, over 10 million ounces each. So 20 million ounces is certainly a value opportunity that we want to pursue. But that will happen after the first leg of growth for the company, which is the United States. We're building South Railroad right now, and we'll look to whether Castle Mountain is the next project we should build. And so our focus in the near term for growth is in the United States, and in the meantime, we can study both of those tremendous projects in Mexico and determine in what sequence and in what time those should be added to the portfolio.

Great, Jason. Thank you very much. I'll step back in the queue. Thank you.

Your next question is from the line of Mohamed Sidibe with National Bank. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Good morning, Jason and Simon. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe if I could start at Valentine. On the throughput achieved in September, I think you noted, you know, how you were above nameplate there and that it was a record month with about 14,000 ounces in production. How should we think about that rate as we think about Q4 26 and as we get into 2027? Is this something you would look to leverage to maybe offset some of the tension you're potentially seeing on grades?

Yeah, the overachievement to Valentine has been something that, you know, frankly, we've appreciated as we increase the ability to feed higher and higher grade, but particularly in Q3, we had planned maintenance period, which we've referenced, but also unplanned outages related to a variable frequency drive that we have there. We believe we have an understanding of what causes those outages, so we hope to reduce those through Q4, as well as no particular planned maintenance in Q4, so we can expect Valentine to continue to overachieve past nameplate on throughput and also a pretty consistent recovery at that site. The key to Valentine, as everybody knows, is continuing our progression of the increase in grade quarter over quarter, which we've done over the last three quarters and we hope to do in Q4 as well, by preferentially feeding the higher grade, the 2.5 million ton, almost 3 million ton that we've been able to produce from that site. I think that comes at a cost that we need to acknowledge, which is the mining and harvesting of all the tons and stockpiling the lower grade tons until such time as the plant has expanded, a strategy that we accepted a number of years ago and continue to deliver.

Thanks a lot for that. And maybe a follow-up on that question, specifically on the cost aspect. And that was my second question there. So as you continue to improve the mining rate and, you know, the strategy of effectively that selective mining, should we think about the unit cost at Valentine effectively remaining at these levels until you get into phase two? Or how should we think about, you know, mining costs and process cost improvement in Q4 into 2027?

Yeah, the way you should think about it at Valentine, from the numerator and the denominator, the denominator will be increased as a sole function of the increasing grade introduced to the plant, presumptive that we continue to achieve above nameplate and recovery remains consistent. And so as the denominator increases as a function of grade, that will help that equation, but also on the numerator, I referenced in Q2 and I repeat in Q3, just like at Greenstone, at Valentine, we flooded the asset and site with resources to ramp the site up. It's a phenomenon that occurs whenever you're ramping up new mines. We've started to retract those resources and costs from Greenstone, followed by Valentine. And as we do those things, we can expect the numerator to also reduce. And the expectation at both sites is to get our costs back to the life of mine expectations. The only other thing we need to consider in that is the question that was asked earlier, is inflation that we're seeing due to fuel and other consumables and inputs to our business, which is not unique to Equinox, but something we need to adore across the industry.

Thank you. And if I could squeeze in one last one quickly on buybacks and capital allocation, how do you view the buyback in light of your capital allocation priorities currently?

Yeah, so we resumed buybacks in Q3. I quoted the number of shares in the script, and we will continue to do that in Q4, and we measure the opportunity to do that against other cap allocation items that we have. So our CFO, Peter Hardy, just reviewed that with the board yesterday. We have a very clear understanding of when we're going to be buying back shares. Reducing the share count is definitely going to be a thematic for Equinox Gold going forward, but we need to consider it in the context of the overall return on investment for our shareholders, things like investing in the business and so on. So dividend, of course, buybacks additionally, and reduction of debt, followed by reinvestment in the business. That's the sequence of capital allocation for economics.

Thanks, Stephen.

Your next question is from the line of John Tamazoz with Very Independent Research. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Thank you for taking my question. How should we expect the different parts of Los Felos to ramp up the open pit heap leach, the underground mine ore that was heap leached, the mill? Will it be bit by bit, phase by phase, and how might the capital cost sequence?

Yeah, thanks for the question. And for those who aren't aware, you know, I was the constructor at Torx across the river from Los Felos. Now, standing at Los Felos, I can tell you the sequence will be as follows. We will continue our maintenance work on the mobile equipment, both for underground and surface, as well as the surface infrastructure, retaining ponds, and so on. For the remainder of this year, we've allocated the capital for that. We announced it in Q2, and that would be the consumption of capital for the restart of Filos this year. The site will, with everything in place, restart and begin contributing about half the rate of historical heat leach production for all of 2027. We'll provide guidance on that in January of the new year. While we're producing from the heap leach, we'll be continuing our study work, as I outlined in an answer to an earlier question, that should culminate towards the end of 2027 of our plans for further capital investment at Los Feliz. It's at that point that we'll consider the installation of a mill similar to the Torex mill that I built at 14,000 tons a day. This one will likely be a little larger, 20,000 tons a day. The capital required for that, the sequence of construction and where it fits in our capital allocation sequence will start to become visible, likely as early as 2028. In the meantime, we're focused on building our assets in the United States and studying the opportunities we have in Mexico, including Los Felos. And in the near term in Felos, the only capital will be dedicated to the restart and operation of the keep leach.

Thank you. I remember meeting you in 2013 at the construction at Torex. Thank you.

Well, thank you for that memory. It's very proud of the team there and everything that they've accomplished.

Your next question is from the line of Anita Soni with CIBC World Markets. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Hi, just a couple of follow-ups.

So on mesquite, can you just give us an idea of what that plays out like? I mean, there's a lot of stacking going on, low recovery rates, and Q4, I would have expected some of this material to come through. I think there was talk of geotechnical instability in the brownie pit. I'm not sure if that related to prior quarters or if this is something that's ongoing right now, but I'm just trying to understand how I should be modeling mesquite for the next quarter, at least, and not going into 2027.

Yeah, welcome back, Anita. We had some instability in the brownie pit that we referenced, and that cut us off from some of our ore for Q3, and that's what we referenced, and that will affect the production out of mesquite as that material didn't get stacked and won't come out of the pad. And so that's one of the areas of tension that we see is the production in the short term out of mesquite. I was there last week. We are reestablishing our production plan for 2027 and we'll be back in operation. But that brownie instability will have an effect on Q4 output for mesquite for certain.

Okay, and then just circling back to Nicaragua, was there higher stripping requirements in Q4? I'm not sure if I read that correctly.

Yeah, again, it's a multitude of sites in Nicaragua, and there may have been a higher stripping ratio in one particular pit in the quarter for Nicaragua that we're referencing. But, you know, there's at any one time, three to five assets that we draw from open pit and underground. And to your question about stripping, one of the open pits could have been a higher stripping as it contributes. But keep in mind, the open pits in Nicaragua are pretty impressive, some pretty multi-gram-a-ton grades, even from open pits in Nicaragua, so very prolific areas, albeit smaller zones that we draw from. And we need to take the necessary stripping to get to, you know, as exemplified in Vancouver, six gram a ton.

All right. And so that kind of leads me to. So strengths kind of still in Nicaragua and Muscle White and Camino Rojo, but perhaps a little lighter at Mesquite, Valentine, and Greenstone as you work through the issues as I'm trying to get to the Q4 kind of implied number for now gearing towards the bottom end of the production guide. Is that fair?

Yeah, I think that's a fair basis for it. The other things you just want to add, but are not included in our guidance discussion, we continue to residual heat leach at Castle Mountain. We'll get the benefit of the first quarter at Brazil, not included in the guidance, to be sure, but I think the tension is in the three assets that you described. The opportunities are in the other three.

Okay, thank you. That's it for my questions.

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Jason Simpson for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and thanks again to everyone for joining us. I also want to thank our shareholders and stakeholders for their continued support, and our teams for the work that they have done through the first quarter, this quarter, and this combined company. If you have any follow-up questions, our team is available. Thank you for listening, and have a good day.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending.

You may now disconnect.