Fortuna Mining Corp. Q2 FY2025 Earnings Call

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Fortuna Mining Corp. Second Quarter 2025 Financial and Operational Results Call. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Carlos Baca, Vice President, Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Fortuna Mining's conference call to discuss our financial and operational results for the second quarter of 2025. Hosting today's call on behalf of Fortuna are Jorge Alberto Ganoza, President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder; Luis Dario Ganoza, Chief Financial Officer; Cesar Velasco, Chief Operating Officer, Latin America; and David Whittle, Chief Operating Officer, West Africa. Today's earnings call presentation is available on our website at fortunamining.com. Before we begin, please note that during the quarter, Fortuna completed the sale of the San Jose and Yaramoko mines. Accordingly, results from these mines have been excluded from continuing operations for the quarter and year-to-date, along with comparative figures. Statements made during this call are subject to the reader advisories included in yesterday's news release, the webcast presentation, our management discussion and analysis and risk factors outlined in our annual information form. All financial figures discussed today are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. Technical information presented has been reviewed and approved by Eric Chapman, Fortuna's Senior Vice President of Technical Services and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. I will now turn the call over to Jorge Alberto Ganoza, President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Fortuna Mining.

Thank you, Carlos, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. The second quarter reflects the strategic streamlining of our portfolio of assets. Early in the quarter, we completed the sale of 2 mines with short life of mineral reserves, each with less than a year in mining left. Naturally, this reduces our near-term production. In 2024, we delivered a record 460,000 ounces of gold equivalent. With the sale of these mines, our annualized production is now roughly 330,000 ounces. But the key message today is this: rebuilding production to 0.5 million ounces per year, which is strategically where we want to be positioned, is fully under our control. And those ounces will be higher margin, longer life and lower risk than before. And here is why we're confident. Seguela, our flagship asset, is on a clear growth path. 140,000 ounces of gold have been guided for 2025 and 170,000 to 180,000 ounces of gold have been guided for 2026 as our expansion plan comes online. Diamba Sud in Senegal is emerging as our next growth engine. In just 6 months, the indicated resource as recently published grew by 53% and inferred resources by 93% for a combined 1 million ounces. We continue to drill to expand and upgrade the resource and advance permitting and engineering towards a 2026 construction decision. All the exploration work that we've been doing over the past 18 months has really enhanced our understanding of the deposit, and our drilling and exploration is really yielding fruit here. Importantly, our robust balance sheet with $537 million in liquidity and $215 million in net cash derisks any growth decision we choose to make. So, with that growth vision in mind, let's move to our Q2 results highlights. On health and safety first, the safety of our personnel remains our top priority, and I am proud to report that we continue to improve. We recorded 7.2 million work hours without any lost time injury. That's a record for the company, up from 6.7 million work hours in the prior record. And our total recordable injury frequency rate was 0.87 for the second quarter, improving from 0.98 in the first quarter. On highlights from our financial performance, the second quarter was another quarter of strengthening even further the balance sheet of the company and delivering solid margins. Liquidity, again, at $537 million, up $76 million from the previous quarter, driven by $84 million in proceeds from the mine sales. Net cash was $215 million at the end of the period, up from $137 million at the end of Q1 2025. Free cash flow from operations was a strong $57.5 million compared to $66 million in Q1, primarily due to the timing of tax payments. Our margins expanded with higher gold prices. Average realized gold price was $3,306 per ounce, which is up 14% compared to what we averaged in the first quarter. Our EBITDA margin grew to a record 55%, up from 50% in Q1, and our operating margin stood at 36%, up from 28% in Q1. Net earnings from continued operations were $41 million or $0.14 per share compared to $33 million or $0.11 per share in Q1. Our adjusted EPS of $0.14 includes a $17 million withholding tax accrual related to the inaugural full-year dividend declared in Cote d'Ivoire for our Seguela mine, equivalent to $0.06 per share. In Q1, we achieved full payback on Seguela's construction in 21 months, while also canceling all intercompany loans and therefore, the dividend. Cash flow from operations before working capital changes was $97 million or $0.32 per share. On operational performance, our consolidated gold equivalent production for the period was 75,950 ounces. When we look at it from continuing operations, gold production was 71,229 ounces, slightly above the previous quarter and aligned with our full-year guidance. Cash cost was $929 per ounce, up marginally 7% from Q1, mainly due to the gold to base metal ratio at our Caylloma mine, which carries a significant base metal lead zinc component in its production. Our consolidated AISC was $1,932 per ounce, up from $1,750 in Q1. Here, I want to reinforce that all our mines continue to track well to meet annual guidance. However, the elevated consolidated AISC I just mentioned is a temporary effect related to CapEx and waste stripping at Lindero and Seguela. This mine's AISCs will gravitate towards a range of $1,500 per ounce throughout the second half of the year and into 2026. Lindero's AISC is trending downwards towards below $1,500 per ounce by Q4 following the completion of the leach pad expansion. And Seguela's AISC is expected to rise temporarily towards $1,800 per ounce in Q4, consistent with planned peak in waste stripping in the second half of the year and timing of its capital investments, but staying in the average for the year within annual guidance. Seguela operated in the quarter with a very competitive cash cost per ounce of $670. Our 2025 capital budget of $78 million at Seguela enables the expansion of production guided for 2026. We have a series of operational excellence and productivity initiatives that aim to drive margin improvements and cost discipline. Across the business, our portfolio of optimization and productivity initiatives is expected to generate between $50 million and $70 million in savings over the next 3 years. These programs span process optimization, equipment utilization, supply chain efficiencies and energy management at our mines. They will enhance cash flow, supporting our cost-competitive 0.5 million ounce strategic objective of annual production. And to close my comments, I want to revisit the strategic developments and looking ahead. The sale of the San Jose and Yaramoko mines in the quarter was timely. It not only generated $84 million in gross proceeds but also freed approximately $50 million in capital and management bandwidth away from mine closure projects towards high-value growth opportunities, which are better aligned with our strategy. Looking forward, the Seguela expansion positions us for strong growth in 2026. Diamba Sud continues to grow in scale and quality with a 2026 construction decision on the horizon. With this, the near future growth of the company is within our control. With a robust balance sheet, expanding margins and a clear growth pipeline, Fortuna is well-positioned to rebuild and surpass the 0.5 million ounces per year target with higher margins, higher quality ounces and lower portfolio risk than ever before. In 20 years, I have never seen Fortuna as strong as it is today. With that, I will ask David Whittle, our Chief Operating Officer for West Africa, to discuss the results of his region. David?

Thanks, Jorge. Seguela and Yaramoko delivered a strong second quarter, achieving solid results in both production and safety. Our commitment to safety and environmental performance remains unwavering, and we are steadily progressing towards our goal of zero harm across all our operations. I'm delighted to report that no injuries occurred at any of our West African operations during the quarter. During this period, we successfully completed the divestiture of our Yaramoko mine to Soleil Resources, a privately owned Mauritius-domiciled resources company, thereby concluding our operations in Burkina Faso. Fortuna operated Yaramoko up until April 14, producing 4,721 ounces during this time. The decision to divest followed a compelling economic offer and aligned with our strategic priorities. At Seguela, we produced 38,186 ounces of gold, consistent with the prior quarter and exceeding the mine plan, reinforcing our expectations to achieve annual production at the higher end of guidance. Mining during the quarter totaled 340,000 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 3.33 grams per tonne gold, along with 5.19 million tonnes of waste, resulting in a strip ratio of 15.3:1. The processing plant treated 429,000 tonnes at an average grade of 3 grams per tonne gold, primarily sourced from the Antenna, Ancien, and Koula pits. The plant operated at an average throughput rate of 210 tonnes per hour. Throughput in June was temporarily reduced due to a major SAG mill reline and other scheduled maintenance, which are now complete, ensuring smooth operations through to the end of the year. The third lift of the tailings storage facility, an $8.5 million project, remains on track for completion in the third quarter. This will enhance our storage capacity through to 2029, supporting increased throughput and positioning Seguela to achieve the higher end of its 160,000 to 180,000 ounces of annual production from 2026 onward. All other capital projects are progressing and are within budget. Seguela's performance resulted in a cash cost of $670 per ounce and an all-in sustaining cost of $1,634 per ounce, both aligning with our budget, with the AISC reflecting higher royalty expenses driven by the increase in gold prices. Exploration drilling at the Sunbird and Kingfisher deposits yielded encouraging results. Our technical teams are actively working to incorporate these deposits into reserves and mine plans, with both remaining open, indicating potential for further resource expansion and bolstering our confidence in Seguela's long-term potential. At our Diamba Sud project in Senegal, exploration, environmental permitting, and feasibility activities made significant progress during the quarter. In addition to our $19 million 2025 budget, we approved an additional $17 million for early works, including ancillary facilities and infrastructure. Infill and extension drilling continued at the main deposits with success, prompting an expansion of the exploration program further to the South and Southeast of the Southern Arc prospect, where newly discovered mineralization remains open. These results enhance our confidence in Diamba Sud's potential, and we look forward to resuming drilling after the wet season in the second half of the year. Back to you, Jorge.

Thank you, David. Now Cesar Velasco, our Chief Operating Officer for Latin America, will provide us with the highlights of his region. Cesar?

Thank you, Jorge, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to report a robust quarter for our Latin American operations with both of our Lindero and Caylloma mines demonstrating strong safety, production, and financial performance. This bolsters our confidence in the strength and resilience of our regional portfolio. At our Lindero mine in Argentina, we achieved remarkable progress on all fronts. Lindero's operational performance has been a significant success with costs decreasing and stable production, leading to higher margins and strong free cash flow. Lindero produced 23,550 ounces of gold, marking a 16% increase over Q1. This aligns with our mining plan and keeps us on track to meet our annual guidance. Our efficiency initiatives are yielding positive results. Our all-in sustaining cost was $1,783 per ounce, a notable reduction of 6.7% from the previous quarter. This improvement resulted from lower sustaining capital expenditures as the leach pad expansion was under construction in the previous quarter. As Jorge mentioned, Lindero's AISC is steadily progressing towards our target of $1,400 per ounce by year-end. Our operational efficiencies are also leading to strong outcomes, with crushing reaching a new record in June, averaging 1,100 tonnes per hour and stacking achieving a monthly record of 642,000 tonnes. As such, Lindero's cash cost for the second quarter was $1,148 per ounce. Financially, Lindero's net sales were $75.7 million, a 42% increase from Q1, supported by a strong gold price of $3,293 per ounce. Operating income for the quarter was $29.1 million, nearly 66% higher than the previous quarter, and an adjusted EBITDA of $37.9 million, up 34% versus the previous quarter. We generated free cash flow of $35.7 million, reflecting strong operational execution and disciplined capital management. On the sustainability front, we commissioned our photovoltaic plant in Q2, which generated 1 million watts per hour in June. This supplied approximately 26% of Lindero's power needs, saved nearly $270,000 in diesel costs, and avoided an estimated 720 tons of CO2 emissions. This marks a significant advancement in our sustainability strategy. Moving to our Caylloma mine in Peru, it continued to perform reliably and efficiently. Caylloma exemplifies operational excellence, disciplined capital expenditure, and effective project execution. We successfully completed the new hydraulic paste backfill plant in April with a total investment of $5.4 million. The new plant enables a more efficient and automated process at a lower cost per ton. It also reduces CO2 emissions by eliminating the need to transport the critic material outside of the underground mine, thus eliminating related diesel consumption. Caylloma's financial results reflect this operational consistency. Net sales were $28.4 million with operating income of $8.7 million and adjusted EBITDA of $11.3 million. Free cash flow was a notable $9 million, driven by cost discipline and operational consistency. The cash cost per silver equivalent ounce was $15.16, and AISC of $21.73 per ounce, both within the lower range of our annual guidance. Overall, our Latin American operations continue to deliver strong and consistent results. We're firmly on track to meet our full year guidance and continue generating long-term value for our stakeholders. Back to you, Jorge.

Thank you, Cesar. Luis Dario, our CFO, will share the highlights of the quarter on the financial side of things.

Thank you, Jorge. I'll be discussing our financial results, and all corresponding figures will be from our continuing operations only unless explicitly stated. We are pleased to report a net income attributable to Fortuna of $42.6 million or $0.14 per share. After adjusting for noncash, nonrecurring items, this figure rises to $44.7 million or $0.15 per share. Our adjusted results represent a remarkable 380% increase over Q2 2024, driven primarily by higher metal prices and an increase in gold sold. Specifically, we realized gold prices that were nearly $1,000 per ounce higher than the prior year and sold 13% more gold. Our cash cost per ounce for the quarter was $929, about $88 higher than Q2 2024. This is consistent with our mine plans, which contemplate higher stripping ratio at both Lindero and Seguela. Comparing our results to the first quarter of 2025, our adjusted net income grew by 25%. This was driven by gold prices that were $420 per ounce higher and an 8% increase in gold sold. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, our cash cost per ounce increased by $63, which is mainly attributable to the planned progression of waste stripping at our mines. One item to note that impacted our Q2 results, as Jorge mentioned, was the recognition of the $17 million charge for withholding taxes. This relates to the first dividend declared at our CDI subsidiary. These taxes will be paid over the next few months as we repatriate funds. Again, as Jorge emphasized, this represents a $0.06 per share impact on our quarterly results. Moving to our cash flow statement, we generated $92.7 million in net cash from operating activities. It is important to highlight that a large portion of our annual tax payments are concentrated in the second quarter. We paid $36 million, which represents over 40% of what we anticipate paying for all of 2025. Our capital expenditures for the quarter totaled $47 million. Of this, we classify $15 million as growth CapEx, which primarily consists of investments in the Diamba Sud project and our exploration activities. Our anticipated capital expenditures for the full year are $180 million, consisting of $120 million for sustaining and $60 million for growth CapEx. This includes close to $30 million allocated to Diamba Sud. In terms of free cash flow, we generated $57.4 million from ongoing operations. This is a slight decrease from Q1 2025 due to the timing of tax payments and higher sustaining CapEx on a quarter-over-quarter basis. With respect to our discontinued operations, the cash flow statement discloses a net cash contribution of $70.6 million for the full year across the operating, investing, and financing sections. This figure includes gross proceeds of $83.8 million from asset sales. Turning to the balance sheet, we've been experiencing delays in collecting our VAT at our Ivoire Coast operations. At this stage, we believe this is an issue related to the electoral cycle and expect collections to start normalizing toward the end of the year. At the end of the quarter, we held $37 million in VAT receivables, which represent approximately 17 months outstanding. On a very positive note regarding repatriation-related matters in Argentina, a favorable change in local prevailing conditions has allowed us to restart repatriation with over $40 million in the month of July, subsequent to the end of the quarter without any significant friction on foreign exchange costs. Finally, I want to reinforce Jorge's message regarding our all-in sustaining costs. With the exception of factors tied to metal prices such as royalties and fair value adjustments to share-based payments, we are maintaining our revised guidance range for the year. For the second half of the year, we expect Q3 AISC to remain at similar levels to Q2 before coming down in the fourth quarter. Looking beyond 2025 and considering our expanded production guidance for Seguela, we are targeting consolidated AISC levels in the range of $1,750 per ounce in the current metal price environment. Back to you, Jorge.

Thank you. And with that, we can open the floor for questions. Carlos?

Thank you, Jorge. Please, Matthew, go ahead and prompt our audience for questions.

Your first question is coming from Thomas Bonovitz.

Yes. Today, I see the stock really has gotten hammered pretty good. But I stepped up to the plate and I bought quite a bit. I bought roughly $50,000 worth. I would assume that everything is running exactly the way you want, and I hope you would do the same thing and support the stock price. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you for your comments, sir. And as stated throughout the call and as you can see in our financial results, the company has never been stronger. The fact that we have a headline EPS miss against analyst consensus is related to the timing of our withholding taxes. If we adjust for those $0.06, we're above analyst consensus for earnings per share. And with respect to our elevated AISC, which has been a topic of discussion, it has to do with the fact that we are investing in the business. Our Seguela mine, our flagship asset, carries today about $78 million worth of capital that enables the mine to expand production into next year. So, all of those are positive. There is no free lunch. You need to invest the money to capture the opportunities, and that's what we're doing. All of this with a very strong balance sheet that backs the company, right? We have been very careful in putting together a fortress balance sheet. And we are very comfortable that we can move our business forward, capture the growth opportunities that we have in our portfolio. So, as I said in the call, I have never seen Fortuna as strong and better positioned as I see it today, sir.

Your next question is coming from Eric Winmill from Scotiabank.

Just wondering if there's anything additional you can share on some of the investments that you've made in Awale and some of the others? And maybe just sort of strategically, do you see yourself making some more of these investments and ultimately, maybe as a way of gaining additional projects for the pipeline?

Yes. Thank you, Eric. Here, what I would like to say first is that the investments that we have been making over the past 24 months are rendering fruit, right? We have been able to advance Diamba Sud. You've seen the recent publication of our resources. The near future of the company with respect to expanding ounces is under our control. And that's a key message. We have clear opportunities at Seguela, and we're delivering clear opportunities at Diamba Sud for growth. On top of that, we are very active across the regions where we work. The Awale investment, Awale sits on a regional structural trend, a basin margin in the Birimian that is very intriguing to us. We like the team at Awale; they are frugal and technically capable. They are steadily advancing with their work, and we like their approach. They are positioned in an area that is again intriguing to us. So, we've invested in the company and look forward to seeing how their progress advances. We have other initiatives in Argentina as well for early-stage projects. So, we're populating the pipeline of earlier-stage opportunities. We see a lot of value there. Some of these opportunities might bear higher geological risk in exchange for lower financial risk to the company because a lot of them are early stage. But again, that's where we are finding a lot of value. We're actively putting together either investments like Awale or option agreements that might lead to joint ventures. We are active in Cote d'Ivoire, in Mexico, and in Argentina as well.

I appreciate it. I'd like to ask about your experience with permitting in Senegal. As the project advances, I assume you feel confident in obtaining the necessary approvals for development.

Yes. I have met personally with the Minister of Mines and his team on several occasions by now. What I see is a government that's quite supportive of new developments. We recently hosted government officials from the Ministry of Mines and local authorities from Senegal around Diamba Sud at our Seguela mine in Cote d'Ivoire. It was a very good visit. I think the project is being well socialized with the authorities and key stakeholders, and we're finding a lot of support. So far, we are well advanced with our environmental impact statement approval. We're ready to submit it in the month of September, and we expect to have an environmental approval early next year, yes.

Your next question is coming from Mohammed Sidibe from National Bank Financial.

Maybe just to follow up on Senegal and the experience in permitting there. For Diamba Sud specifically with the expectation of the environmental approval early next year, could you maybe walk us through the key milestone for Diamba Sud in terms of PEA by the end of the year, then you get the environmental approval? And then what are the next steps? Do we go towards the PFS? Or do you start assessing the potential to take this into construction if you have the right permits in place?

Yes. Let me start by saying that this recent publication of 1 million-ounce resource between indicated and inferred is, I'll say, a game changer for our view of the project, right? Just as a recap, when we acquired Chesser, they had a historic resource of about 800,000 ounces. We saw some risks there, and we decided to drill and rebuild the geologic model. As an outcome of that, the resource shrunk to 600,000 ounces. So we went back and have been drilling, enhancing our knowledge of the deposit. Our original expectation was that we would be where we're standing today by year-end 2025. This result, this 1 million ounces that we've been able to produce with clear opportunities to continue expanding it is a significant change in our approach to the project. To go straight to your question, we are aiming to submit our environmental permits for review and approval in the coming month. We expect to have an approval of that environmental document early in 2026. We're planning to publish a PEA in the month of October, probably late October, early November. All of the process design ancillary facilities of that PEA carry a feasibility level by now. Our view is that we will transition quickly into a feasibility study early in 2026, consistent with that, a construction decision. We are advancing capital for early works right now. We have approved a $17 million budget already for some early works because the project advances and we are breaching this million-ounce threshold with clear opportunities to continue expanding the resource. We're becoming more courageous on our view of a viable project. So that is the timeline for us now: environmental approval early next year, submission this year, and a feasibility study in H1, middle of H1 2026. Those are roughly the timelines we're seeing for Diamba.

That's very helpful. My second question is about the timing of capital expenditures, specifically regarding Luis in the second half of the year. Can you clarify whether the CapEx spending between the third and fourth quarters will be roughly equal or if it will be more concentrated in either quarter?

There should be slightly more weighting into the second half of the year, particularly in Q3. Again, coming slightly down in Q4, which is part of the driver for the projected lower AISC in the latter part of the year. The key message here is that we have one of our mines, Lindero, trending down on AISC from a high AISC at the beginning of the year towards a low AISC at the end of the year, and Seguela trending in the opposite. Our AISC at the beginning of the year at Seguela was below $1,300 per ounce. As investments are picking up and stripping is picking up according to plan, that AISC is going to gravitate higher, right? Seguela is the mine that is expanding into next year. So therefore, the capital buildup throughout the year.

Yes. No, that's great. And just to clarify that Q4 AISC that Luis talked about, was that the $1,750 per ounce level? Was that just more for comments on the overall year?

So, the comment on the $1,750 was related to 2026, and it would represent a decrease in AISC with respect to our guidance for 2025. The key message is, AISC is going to be somewhat higher in Q2 and Q3 of this year, coming down towards Q4, and we anticipate even a lower AISC into 2026.

Your next question is coming from Adrian Day from Adrian Day Asset Management.

Yes, you talked a lot about your pipeline, which was interesting. However, I would like you to provide more details specifically regarding the greenfields, including the number of projects, the geographies involved, and your spending plans for this year and next year. Additionally, how does this spending compare historically to your greenfields exploration?

Hello, Adrian. Regarding geographical opportunities, we are currently pursuing three greenfield projects. One is Awale, where we have made an investment. Awale holds a substantial land position in a highly promising geological area and has already made a significant discovery, entering into a joint venture with Newmont on that discovery. Beyond that joint venture, there is a noteworthy land package that we believe has great potential, which is why we find it intriguing. To the north of Barrick's Tongon mine, we have a joint venture and an option agreement for the Tongon North project in Northern Côte d'Ivoire. We've been drilling there during the first half of the year, but we paused due to rainy conditions and aim to resume in the latter half. We are testing major structures in the Birimian and have identified gold in auger samples as well as large structures with extensive trends. We're actively drilling and anticipate reporting any significant findings. We are discovering gold within these structures and need to determine the potential for size, tonnage, and grade. Additionally, we have an early discovery at our Gugli property in Côte d'Ivoire, where we’ve identified a substantial 5-kilometer gold anomaly in a concession entirely owned by us. In Senegal, we are focusing on the large land package we control around Diamba Sud. We have a drilling program underway for the main core property while also conducting extensive generative work within the larger property package. In Mexico, we currently have two or three active joint ventures exploring early-stage opportunities. In Argentina, we recently established an option agreement with a local entity to explore what I would deem one of the largest heated anomalies in the Salta province, near the Chilean border. Our exploration budget for greenfields is approximately $11 million, not including the work at Diamba, bringing our total exploration budget to around $51 million, an increase from $41 million in 2024. Therefore, we have increased our global exploration budget covering brownfields, greenfields, and all areas related to exploration and new project development. We feel well-funded and see clear opportunities ahead.

Your next question is coming from Thomas Bonovitz.

Yes. I was wondering if you're actively looking to buy another company or possibly merge. Maybe you can't talk about that stuff now, but I was just curious.

Yes. The answer to that, sir, is that when we think of acquisitions, they are answering the need for growth mainly, right? We are very comfortable and calm that we have a robust clear opportunity for growth within our control in our portfolio. That would be growth that we can deliver at the lowest cost and dilution to our shareholders, right? The most accretive growth we can provide our shareholders is organic growth, and that's under our control. As I spoke during the call, Diamba Sud and Seguela right now offer clear opportunities for that. We are always paying attention to value opportunities, but I would characterize it this way: we have no need to chase ounces. We are chasing value. If we see value out there, you'll see us very aggressively. We have the balance sheet to pursue big opportunities. Our search is for value, not ounces. We can produce the ounces organically, and that's the cheapest and most valuable way we can deliver to our shareholders, advancing what's already in the portfolio. That is our primary focus.

There are no further questions in the queue.

Thank you, Matthew. If there are no further questions, I'd like to thank everyone for joining us today. We appreciate your continued support and interest in Fortuna Mining. Have a great day.

Thank you. Everyone, this concludes today's event. You may disconnect at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.