benzinga40d ago
i-80 Gold (TSX:IAU) reported fourth-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company's fourth-quarter earnings call has been provided below.This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.The full earnings call is available at https://app.webinar.net/r3PBKd1OR4qFull TranscriptOPERATORHello and thank you for joining us for i-80 Gold's 2025 fourth quarter and full year results conference call and webcast. Today's company presenters include Richard Young, President and Chief Executive Officer of i-80 Gold, Paul Sharon, COO and Ryan Snow, CFO. Before we continue, please note that today's comments may contain forward looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially. I ask everyone to refer to slide 2 of the presentation which is available on i-80 Gold's website to view the cautionary notes regarding the forward looking statements made on this call and the risk factors related to these statements. Following today's formal presentation, we will open the call to your questions. I will now hand the call over to Richard. Please go ahead.Richard YoungWell, thank you Joanna and hello and thank you for joining today. Starting with slide 3 in 2025, we made significant progress advancing our development plan and recapitalizing the company's balance sheet towards our goal of creating a mid tier gold producer. From an operating standpoint, we achieved our 2025 production guidance with consolidated gold output of just under 32,000 ounces that would have been at the higher end of the range had we not had the buildup in inventory at the end of the quarter and Ryan and Paul will talk about that in a few minutes. Our production does continue to ramp up as Granite Creek ramps up in parallel. We advance drilling, technical studies and permitting across our portfolio of projects during the year, keeping us on track towards delivering on key project milestones in our development plan. Drill results, particularly at Granite Creek were highly encouraging and support our decision to expand the infill and resource expansion programs. In 2026. From a development perspective, we began construction of Archimedes, the company's second underground mine. We also capped off the year with the completion of the engineering study for the refurbishment of the Lone Tree process plant which remains the cornerstone asset in our hub and spoke strategy to process material from our three underground mines. The Board has approved the notice to proceed to hatch engineering for the full 400 million Lone Tree refurbishment. We also execute on a series of recapitalization initiatives and subsequent to year end secured a financing package of up to $500 million. The recapitalization is transforming transformational for us as it allows us to advance our development plan unencumbered by the balance sheet. Importantly, the capital that was raised was secured with top tier financial partners including Franco, Nevada national bank of Canada and Macquarie who all share our long term vision for the company and follow extensive due diligence. Their participation is a testament to the quality of our projects, our team and our execution plan. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Paul for a detailed update on that development work.Paul SharonPaul, thank you and hello Everybody. Turning to Slide 4. Operations and Development work progressed well over the quarter with mining at Granite Creek and advancement rates at Archimedes performing better than planned. We continue to increase our bench strength by hiring talented personnel in the key areas essential to execute on our growth plan such as geology, mining and metallurgical engineering as well as supply chain, community relations and the Lone Tree Project owners team. I'm also pleased to report we achieved our safety performance targets, finishing the year with an improved TRIFR of 0.62 including an incident free fourth quarter at Granite Creek. Underground mining activities continued to ramp up due to reduced water related impacts to mine operations, adjustments to the mine sequencing and the delineation of additional high grade areas through short term drilling that were not included in the original resource model. As a result, we mined more mineralized material for the fourth quarter and the full year period year over year. In the fourth quarter we mined just over 41,000 tons of high grade mineralized material, including approximately 15,000 tons of high grade oxide material at a grade of 11.19 grams per tonne of gold, approximately 26,000 tons of high grade sulfide material at just over 9 grams per tonne of gold plus an additional 19,000 tons of incremental low grade oxide material at just over 3 grams per tonne of gold. For the year we mined approximately 142,000 tons of high grade mineralized material, including just over 70,000 tons of oxide mineralized material at over 11 grams per tonne of gold, close to 72,000 tons of sulfide material at 9.08 grams per tonne of gold plus an additional 73,500 tons of incremental low grade oxide material of just below 3 grams per tonne of gold. Total gold production was 3,600 ounces and 23,000 ounces for the quarter and full year period respectively and this refers to the gold available for sale at the third party processing facility which contributes to the total gold sold of approximately 5,200 ounces and 21,600 ounces for the quarter and full year period. Due to timing delays with the third party processing, the sulfide stockpile was higher than expected at an estimated 6,500 ounces of recovered gold. We expect to process this material in the first quarter of 2026. Water inflows remained stable during the quarter. The upgraded pumping system that was commissioned in the third quarter facilitated effective water mitigation for in active mining areas and as a result we expect to exceed waste development this year as the main decline rate increases. Construction of a second larger water treatment plant commenced in December and is tracking to begin operating by the end of the second quarter of 2026. This plant is designed to facilitate the ultimate discharge of water away from the underground workings as currently the water removed is recirculating back into the system. Overall, I am pleased with the operational improvements at Granite Creek and this is a credit to the operating team at site. Moving to exploration on slide 5 we completed the infill drilling program in the South Pacific zone along with seven target tests in December which included approximately 16,000 meters of core drilling over 46 holes and an additional six infill holes to test and confirm the continuity of mineralization. Assay results outlined in the January 20 press release demonstrate a robust high grade mineralization throughout the South Pacific zone, suggesting the potential for expansion to the north and at depth. Encouraged by what we are seeing, drilling advance beyond the current structural boundaries, opening a new untested area to potentially expand the mineralized envelope as we continue to drill, we are focused on an initial spacing to about 140ft for the overall deposit and progressively narrow that spacing to increase our understanding as we move closer to planned mining areas. We have since established a preliminary resource estimate to support the Granite Creek Underground feasibility study due to additional work required on the mine plan such as optimization of sequencing with the new resource model, incorporation of ongoing productivity improvements based on current performance, and the incorporation of geotechnical engineering work. The feasibility study for Granite Creek Underground is now planned for completion in the second quarter. Results from the 2025 drill program will be combined with infill drilling data from 2023 and 2024 to produce an updated mineral resource estimate using three years of additional data. A 10 million dollar exploration drill program is planned in 2026 to test high potential targets and to further delineate resources. Overall, we remain encouraged by the longer term potential at Granite Creek Underground. Turning to the Ruby Hill property on slide 6, construction of our committees commenced in early September. Underground development is advancing ahead of expert expectations, reaching approximately 680 meters by year end. Beyond permitting and development, a key focus over the coming months is advancing towards the exploration drift to support continued feasibility level technical work with initial mineralization expected to be intercepted by the third quarter. Infill drilling commenced in the upper 426 zone in Archimedes during the fourth quarter. A substantial 25 to $30 million drilling program is planned for Archimedes in 2026. Comprised at over 175 holes and over 60,000 meters, this work will form the basis of a feasibility study planned for completion and in the first quarter of 2027 which is earlier than indicated in the PEA by approximately one year. Moving to the Mineral Point Open Pit project on slide 7 which also sits on the Ruby Hill property. Engineering and technical work continues to support permitting and define the timing of a pre feasibility or feasibility level study. In 2025, approximately 8,600 meters of surface core drilling was completed to support the geotechnical, metallurgical and hydrogeology studies for baseline data to advance permitting and engineering work. A substantial 40 to 45 million drilling campaign is also planned for Mineral Point in 2026, targeting approximately 131,000 meters plus an additional $5 million for permitting and technical work. Mineral ...Full story available on Benzinga.com
