Aris Mining Corporation (ARIS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Aris Mining Q3 2024 Operational and Financial Results Call. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] Please note that the accompanying presentation that management will refer to during today's call can be found on the -- in the Events and Presentations section of Aris Mining's website at aris-mining.com. Also, Aris Mining's second quarter 2024 financials have been filed on SEDAR+ and EDGAR and can also be found on their website. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Neil Woodyer, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and hello, everybody, and thank you for joining our Q3 earnings call. Before we begin, please note the caution statements on Slide 3 regarding forward-looking statements. On Slide 3, I'll give an overview of our operational and financial highlights; after which, Richard Thomas, our COO, will discuss our performance and growth projects at Segovia and Marmato; and then Richard Orazietti, our CFO, will review the financial results; and Oliver Dachsel will then update you on the funding and growth strategy. So looking at Slide 3, I'm pleased to report a strong third quarter. In Q3, we produced 53,600 ounces of gold, which is up 9% over Q2. Higher gold prices, increased production and cost controls helped us achieve a 37% increase in all-in sustaining margin in Segovia, reaching $44 million compared to $32 million in Q2. For the 12 months ended September 30, we generated adjusted EBITDA of $147 million and adjusted net income of $43 million. In August, we announced Segovia high-grade exploration results, increasing our resources, and in October, we announced the replacement of our reserves. Segovia is operating its 2,000 tonnes per day design capacity with expansion underway to 3,000 tonnes. Phase 1 of the expansion is completed and the contract mining partners are now delivering to the new facility. Phase 2 is on schedule to be finished late Q1 next year. At Marmato, construction of the Lower Mine is on track, and by the end of September, the project had reached its 25% spend level milestone. And on the sixth of November, we received $40 million cash installment from Wheaton for the project. Last month, we strengthened our cash position by refinancing our $300 million notes with a new 5-year $450 million at 8% notes, extending the debt maturity to October 2029. We are well funded to execute our growth strategy and to continue to target an annual gold production rate of approximately 500,000 ounces by the second half of 2026. And lastly, before I hand over, I just encourage you to read our '23 sustainability report, which was published in August and is available on our website. And now over to you, Richard.

Thank you, Neil. Moving on to Slide 4. In the first 9 months of this year, our mines produced 153,591 ounces of gold. Segovia contributed 166,106 ounces of gold while Marmato Upper Mine produced 17,485 ounces of gold. At Segovia, we processed 7% more material in the Q3 than compared to Q2, that's a slight improvement in grade. For the full year 2024, Segovia is on track to produce between 185,000 and 195,000 ounces. If you go to Slide 5, please, I'd like to draw your attention to the graph on the top of the page. Our realized gold price increased by 6% in the quarter to $2,457 per ounce in quarter 3, while our early sustaining costs declined 2% to $1,540 per ounce, resulting in all-in sustaining cost margin of [ $170 ] per ounce. Now focusing on the lower half of the page, as Neil mentioned, the combination of higher gold prices increased production, and effective cost control led to all-in sustaining cost margin at Segovia reaching $44.1 million, a 37% increase compared to quarter 2. It is also worth noting that despite the purchase and processing cost for high grade mill feed delivered by off-title CMPs resulted in an increase of $1,790 per ounce in quarter 2 to $1,854 per ounce in quarter 3 due to the higher gold prices. This segment of our business maintained a strong sales margin of $4.9 million in Q3, up from $2.8 million in Q2. Let's continue to Slide 6. Processing plants expansion has progressed well. As scheduled, Phase 1 is now complete, with the newly expanded receiving area for our CMPs fully commissioned and handed over to operations. The new facility began processing material in October. Phase 2, which involves installing a second ball mill in the former contractor receiving area is underway and scheduled for completion by Q1 next year, following a ramp-up period to reach approximately 3000 tonnes a day in the second half of 2025. The total cost of the expansion is estimated at $15 million, with $8 million spent as of September 30 this year. Concluding my remarks on Slide 7, I would also like to update you on the construction projects at Marmato Lower Mine. We commenced construction of the new Marmato Lower Mine in Q3 2023, following the receipt of environmental permits in July this year. The Lower Mine will access wider porphyry mineralization below the Upper Mine, with both mines estimated to do a combined 162,000 ounces of gold per year at a 20-year mine life. As you can see from the pictures on the slide, the site access road and portal face were completed in Q2 and the contract commenced development on October 8. Both the SAG mill and the ball mill fabrication are progressing on schedule for completion before the end of this year. As of 30th of September, the estimated cost to complete the Lower Mine construction is $235 million, of which $122 million will be funded by existing stream financing commitments. As Neil had mentioned, we received the first $40 million stream financing project milestone on November 6. Further payments of $40 million and $42 million are expected upon reaching 50% and 75% of the construction, respectively, and this is expected to happen in 2025. With that, I'd like to hand over the call to our CFO, Richard Orazietti.

Thank you, Richard. We're now looking at Slide 8. As Neil said at the outset, we had a strong third quarter, especially compared to the second quarter of 2024. Gold revenue of $131.6 million was up 15% quarter-over-quarter, driven by higher realized gold price of $2,447 per ounce and higher gold sales of approximately 54,000 ounces, up 9%. Income from mining operations of $38 million was up 28% quarter-on-quarter, which reflects the upside in gold revenue, partially offset by higher cost of mill feed procured from our contract mining partners and higher social contributions, both due to gold price appreciation. Despite the strong income from mining operations, we incurred a net loss of $2.2 million, primarily due to a $12.8 million loss on financial instruments, the revaluation of warrant liability caused by an increase in an Aris Mining's share price from CAD 5.17 to CAD 6.26 per share during the third quarter resulted in a noncash expense of $11.4 million. We further incurred a $3.9 million loss on our gold-linked notes due to the impact of gold price appreciation on the gold premium component of the notes. On an adjusted basis to better reflect the underlying performance of our business, adjusted EBITDA of $43 million was up 19% quarter-over-quarter and adjusted earnings were $12.9 million, reflecting the improved operational performance. Now moving on to Slide 9. I'd like to discuss some of the key line items of our cash flow statement. Operating cash flow of $17.2 million was $9.6 million up quarter-over-quarter due to a higher all-in sustaining margin of $40.4 million, bolstered by the increase in gold and byproduct revenue. VAT receivable and a buildup of inventory, mainly materials and ore stock pile continued to draw on cash flow during the third quarter. Post Q3, Colombian tax authorities accredited us with $29.6 million for the 2023 VAT amount owed. This was partially offset by $16.2 million of corporate income tax rate paid for the year. As Neil and Richard Thomas discussed earlier, we're in a significant investment period, and we spent $45 million in growth and expansion projects during the quarter as well as $115 million for the first 9 months of this year. Financing cash flows to service our debt were approximately $7 million for the quarter. This was offset by $4.3 million in proceeds from warrant and option exercises during the quarter. For the 9 months to date, we received approximately $29 million in proceeds from warrant and option exercises. In summary, net cash flow for the third quarter was $41.4 million, which resulted in a cash balance of $80.3 million at quarter end. Subsequent to the quarter end, we proactively enhanced our financial position, liquidity and ability to fund our growth and sustaining projects, the recent debt offering and financing from Wheaton Precious Metals that Neil alluded to earlier. I would like to turn over the call to my colleague, Oliver Dachsel, to walk you through the recent actions to improve our financial position.

Thank you, Richard. On Slide 10, we have summarized these financing transactions that have occurred in October and November as a result of which our pro forma cash balance has increased from $80 million as of September 30 this year to $266 million. Let me walk you through the adjustments. As Neil had mentioned, we refinanced our existing $300 million notes with a new 5-year $450 million note offering in October. After transaction-related fees and expenses, we added $132 million of net proceeds to our cash position on October 31 upon closing of this financing transaction. And as previously mentioned, we achieved the 25% spend threshold at the Marmato Lower Mine. And on November 6, we received the corresponding $40 million stream funding installment from Wheaton. We also received a VAT refund of $30 million from the Colombian tax authority, while paying $16 million of income tax for a net inflow of $14 million. Now looking at the waterfall chart in the lower half of the page, summarizing the capital requirements of our expansion projects at Marmato and Segovia. As of September this year, the estimated cost to complete the Marmato Lower Mine was $235 million, of which $82 million will be funded by the 2 remaining stream funding installments which we expect to receive next year. This leaves a net construction budget remaining of $153 million. At Segovia, our remaining construction budget is $7 million. In total, for our 2 expansion projects, only $161 million is remaining to be funded by us. In addition to our strong cash reserves of $266 million, we have additional funding sources, expected cash flow generation from Segovia in Q4 this year and beyond, together with potential proceeds from warrants of up to $124 million. In short, we are well positioned and funded to deliver on our growth strategy, with current cash on hand and expected future funding sources well above expected capital expenditure requirements for our expansion project. I'd now like to hand the call back to Neil to conclude our prepared remarks.

Thank you, Oliver. Now looking to Slide 11, and before we open to Q&A, I'd like to reemphasize the key takeaways we've reported in this third quarter. 9% production increased over Q2 and Segovia operating at nameplate capacity. Segovia generated an all-in sustaining margin of $44 million, which is a 37% improvement over Q2. On the last 12-month basis, we generated adjusted EBITDA of $147 million and adjusted net income of $43 million. And we had a strong pro forma cash position of $266 million. We're going through transformational expansion projects targeting annual production rate of approximately 500,000 ounces in the second half of 2026. And with that, I'd like to ask the operator to open the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] And today's first question comes from Kerry Smith with Haywood Securities.

Neil, I had a couple of questions. Firstly, on your mill expansion at Segovia from 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes a day, how are you making out with the expansion of the CMP program to be able to pull in more tonnage from those small miners to help deliver the extra 1,000 tonnes a day?

Okay. So already -- so come quarter 1, 2025, we'll be ready to receive extra tonnage. The extra tonnage is coming from both an increase in production from Aris' side as well as our CMP miners. We have many contracts, currently 46 of them, and we have 41 waiting to be approved. So we've got a pipeline of small miners waiting to be contacted, which we will do from now until end of quarter 1. And this will help us to increase our CMP mining production.

Okay, Richard. And how many tonnes a day are you planning to pull in from the CMPs once you get to 3,000?

We are planning to do 1,800 for Aris and the rest will come from the CMP.

Okay. Okay. And then sorry, can you just remind me, at 2,000 tonnes a day, what that split is between the CMPs and your own production?

It's 1,200 from us and the rest from CMP.

Okay. So 800. So you're looking for 400 tonnes more a day from the CMPs then? Okay.

As we ramp up and expand our operations in Segovia, our reliance on the CMPs will reduce over time.

Okay. And if I heard you correctly, you have, I think, you said 48 CMP contracts today that you have in place and you have another 41 that are waiting to be ratified, if that's the correct word. Is that -- did I get that correctly?

Correct. Waiting for approval. Yes.

And that approval has to come from who? From the federal government or the provincial government?

Yes. Those are approvals are done by Aris in conjunction with the -- yes.

Okay. Okay. Got you. Okay. Okay. So it's just a question of you picking the ones that you would like to work with then.

Correct. Strict due diligence...

Yes. Got you. Okay. Great. That's helpful. And then just on Soto Norte, maybe Neil can just give me an update on how all discussions are going with all of the stakeholders in terms of trying to get a social license to be able to push that project along.

So currently -- good morning, my name is Alejandro Jimenez, Country Manager. Currently, we have been engaging with the local communities and the miners the area as well as the 6 lanes in the province of Soto Norte and the Governor of Santander. All of them seem very well aligned with the vision that the company has regarding the new smaller scale project in Soto Norte. We are continuing to develop the technical and environmental studies going into Q2 2025. And during this period, we'll continue to strengthen our bonds with these different stakeholders, which at this point, have proven to be clear advocates of the project to be delivered by us.

[Operator Instructions] And this concludes the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Woodyer for any closing remarks.

Thank you very much, operator. But in particular, thank you to all of you for joining us. We appreciate your interest. And please don't not hesitate to reach out to Oliver if you have any further questions. Thank you very much, everybody.

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