G Mining Ventures Corp. (TSX:GMIN)
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Earnings Call: Q4 2024

Mar 28, 2025

Operator

Today's call is being recorded. If you've dialed in by phone, you can follow along to presentation slides by joining the webcast. Presentation slides are also available on our website on the Presentations and Events page. A replay of today's call will be posted on our website within 24 hours. All guests are currently in listen-only mode. When Q&A opens, conference call audience can ask a question by dialing star zero, and webcast audience can type in questions at any time via the webcast Q&A function.

Jessie Liu-Ernsting
VP of Investor Relations and Communications, G Mining Ventures

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to G Mining Ventures' fourth quarter and full-year 2024 results conference call. My name is Jessie Liu-Ernsting, Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications, and I'll be moderating today's call. We will be making forward-looking statements during today's call, and I would direct you to slide two of the presentation, which contains important cautionary notes regarding these forward-looking statements. All dollar amounts discussed today will refer to U.S. Dollars unless otherwise indicated. Louis-Pierre Gignac, President and Chief Executive Officer, will provide an overview of G Mining Ventures' 2024 corporate highlights, operating performance, and health and safety achievements. Following this, Julie Lafleur, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will present the financial results. The call will conclude with a discussion of key catalysts for 2025, including the development plans for Oko West and G Mining Ventures' exploration strategy for the year.

Following this, we'll open the floor to Q&A. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Louis-Pierre Gignac.

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Thank you, Jessie, and good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to join you for our inaugural earnings call as a gold producer. From the very beginning, our vision has been to establish a leading intermediate gold producer, and today we've made significant strides towards realizing that ambition. Since founding the business in October 2020, we have transformed from a company with no assets into a cash flow positive gold producer with our Tocantinzinho Gold Mine in production, the world-class Oko West gold project in development, and a highly prospective exploration portfolio we call the Gurupi Project. In 2024, we successfully executed all phases of our buy, build, operate strategy. We acquired high-quality assets in Oko West and Gurupi, built Tocantinzinho on time and on budget, and ramped up operations after achieving commercial production at TZ.

With these milestones, G Mining Ventures has firmly established itself as an emerging low-cost gold producer with a clear and scalable growth plan. Our next phase of growth will be driven by Oko West in Guyana, a large-scale, high-grade project that was acquired through the transformational merger with Reunion Gold. The strong economics outlined in the preliminary economic assessment we completed in Q3 solidified Oko West's position as one of the top development projects globally. Once in production, it is set to propel G Mining Ventures above the 500,000 ounces per year mark. Further strengthening our growth pipeline, we ended the year with the acquisition of the Gurupi Project in Brazil from BHP. This asset presents significant exploration potential and aligns with our strategy of building a robust, high-quality portfolio.

As TZ continues to ramp up to nameplate capacity, the strong cash flow generated will offer us significant financial flexibility to fund our future growth. Q4 marked our first full quarter of commercial production, delivering strong operational and financial results. We produced just over 40,000 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $862 per ounce. For the full-year, gold production exceeded 63,500 ounces at an AISC of $972 per ounce. This cost performance underscores the disciplined operational execution of our team and the high quality of TZ. Strong margins driven by low costs translated into robust financial performance. With a realized gold price of $2,560 per ounce in Q4, we reported $58 million in adjusted net income or $0.26 per share and generated $53 million in free cash flow.

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter totaled $78 million, and we ended the year in a solid financial position, reducing net debt to $27 million. Next, I will highlight key operational achievements and health and safety milestones from 2024. After two months of commissioning, Tocantinzinho reached commercial production on September 1st on time and on budget. Q4 marks the first full quarter of commercial production, whereas the full production year includes two months of commissioning. The mining team was formed and trained during the construction phase and has effectively been operating for over two years. During 2024, 14.3 million tons were mined, of which 6.4 million were ore, resulting in a low strip ratio of 1.23.

During the quarter, 4.3 million tons were mined, of which 2.2 million tons were ore, resulting in a low strip ratio just below one, as more mining was focused on the initial phase of the open pit. Q4 throughput was over 10,500 tons per day, representing 82% of nameplate capacity. While all major equipment is operating at or above design, mill availability limited throughput due to unexpected shutdowns to replace worn polyamide liners in the SAG mill. A full metallic liner system will be installed in early Q2, resolving this issue and eliminating further downtime. Plant performance to date has shown the ability to consistently reach up to 14,000 tons per day. With recoveries over 89% near the estimated 90% in the feasibility study, we were comfortable feeding higher grade ore to the plant.

The average grade processed for the quarter was 1.45 grams per ton compared to 1.32 grams per ton for the year. Despite being in ramp-up, we produced just over 40,000 ounces of gold from TZ in Q4 and 63,500 ounces for the year. While building mines is our DNA, we are now ready to set a new standard as a top-tier operator as well. As a new operation in its first full quarter of commercial production, Tocantinzinho has already established itself as a low-cost, high-margin mine. Total cash costs for the quarter were $577 per ounce and $668 for the year. Using the World Gold Council standards, AISC for the quarter was $862 per ounce and $972 per ounce for the year. For the year, owner mining costs averaged $231 per ton mined, with processing costs at $10 per ton milled.

G&A costs were $729 per ton milled, with Q4 average being lower at $662. As we continue to ramp up to nameplate capacity, we expect our unit G&A costs to decrease given the significant portion of fixed costs. When we step back and compare Tocantinzinho's cost performance to the broader industry, it's clear that we have built a highly competitive asset with strong cash flow potential. On the global cost curve for primary gold mines, Tocantinzinho ranks in the first decile with a Q4 AISC of $862 per ounce, 33% below the global average of $1,285 per ounce. Our strong margins stem from low costs, which directly translate into robust financial performance. Maintaining a pure leading cost profile is a key strategic objective going forward.

Before turning it over to Julie for a comprehensive financial review, I want to take a moment to highlight our health and safety performance because it is foundational to everything we do. At TZ, we're proud to report strong safety results for 2024. With 2.5 million hours worked, we are proud to report only one lost-time injury. This translates into industry-leading safety record, with a lost-time injury frequency rate of 0.08 and a total recordable injury frequency rate of 0.17. Our performance reflects the team's strong commitment to safe operations as we progress from construction and commissioning into steady-state production. A key achievement has been building a strong local workforce. Today, our operations team includes just over 1,000 employees and contractors, with 67% of employees coming from local communities.

As a new producer, we are aligning our practices with leading international standards, including Towards Sustainable Mining, the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, and the Cyanide Code. Beyond operational excellence, we remain committed to the well-being of our people and host communities. Our support for local initiatives is aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals, reinforcing our long-term commitment to responsible mining. With that, I'll hand the call over to Julie to walk you through our financial results for the quarter and the year.

Julie Lafleur
VP and CFO, G Mining Ventures

Thank you, Louis-Pierre. In 2024, we generated $145 million in revenue from 57,082 ounces of gold sold at an average realized price of $2,545 per ounce. Q4, being the first full quarter in commercial production, was responsible for 70% of the 2024 total revenue, totaling $102 million from 39,938 ounces of gold sold. Operational success drove robust financial performance, with Adjusted EBITDA of $100 million for the year and $78 million for the quarter. Adjusted net income totaled $71 million for the year and $58 million for the quarter. Per-share metrics are not very meaningful at this time due to the large variance in the basic weighted average shares outstanding for the year and the quarter as a result of the corporate transaction with Reunion Gold. Free cash flow for the quarter totaled $53 million.

Tocantinzinho's fourth quarter ramp-up significantly enhanced our cash generation with operating activities before change in working capital, contributing $73 million. As expected during any ramp-up phase, working capital increased due to inventory build-up and supplier payments, resulting in a $30 million outflow in Q4. For the full-year, operating activities generated $28 million, reflecting robust production performance alongside the working capital requirements associated with commissioning and ramp-up. Total expenditures for the year amounted to $120 million, primarily directed towards the development of Tocantinzinho. These investments were fully funded through $190 million in financing inflows, including debt drawdowns, equity issuance related to the Reunion Gold transaction, and proceeds from warrant exercise. After accounting for minor foreign exchange impacts, we closed 2024 with a net cash increase of $89 million, ending the year with $141 million in cash on the balance sheet.

This strong liquidity position provides the flexibility to support TZ's ramp-up to nameplate capacity, the development of Oko West, and ongoing exploration across our asset portfolio, all while maintaining financial discipline and balance sheet health and allows a prudent approach to capital allocation. With Tocantinzinho now generating strong free cash flow, G Mining Ventures is well positioned to self-fund the next phase of growth at Oko West, mitigating dilution risk and reinforcing our disciplined approach to capital allocation. To calculate free cash flow, we start with cash flow generated from operating activities, then deduct sustaining capital expenditures, and add back investment in long-term inventories. These long-term inventory investments represent stockpiles mined during the period but scheduled for processing more than 12 months later. Free cash flow for the quarter totals $53 million.

Factoring in the initial investment in working capital required for the ramp-up period, full-year free cash flow is reduced to $35 million. This waterfall illustrates the bridge between the $53 million of free cash flow generated in Q4 and the resulting $37 million change in the cash balance. We began Q4 with $105 million in cash, and over the quarter, we generate $53 million in free cash flow, increasing our cash balance to $158 million. $36 million was reinvested into the business, including $17 million in long-term inventories and $19 million in non-sustaining capital. Net financing inflows of $13 million, driven largely by $15 million in warrant proceeds, partially offset these investments. Finally, a $6 million favorable foreign exchange adjustment brought our closing cash balance to $141 million. This cash position underscores G Mining Ventures' successful transition from a development-stage company to a self-sustaining gold producer.

Our ability to fund the next phase of growth, largely through free cash flow, reflects the prudent financial management that will continue to guide our decisions as we scale. Our strong capital structure and solid balance sheet provide the flexibility to support disciplined growth in the years ahead. With that, I'll turn it over to Louis-Pierre for a deeper dive into our operations, as well as our 2025 catalyst and outlook.

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Thank you, Julie. 2024 was marked by many significant achievements, and 2025 is shaping up to be another dynamic year as we lay the foundation of our next phase of growth amid a very strong gold price environment. Starting with 2025 guidance for Tocantinzinho, we expect to produce between 175,000 and 200,000 ounces of gold this year, with 56% of output weighted towards the second half of the year when we expect to access higher-grade material from deeper benches alongside the plant reaching full capacity. Total cash costs are guided between $590 and $655 per ounce sold, with site-level AISC ranging from $903-$1,033 per ounce. On a consolidated basis, including corporate G&A, AISC is expected to range between $995-$1,125 per ounce, positioning G Mining Ventures as a low-cost producer with strong leverage to higher gold prices and a clear path to funding growth.

In anticipation of making a full construction decision on Oko West in the second half of the year, we budgeted $200 million-$240 million this year to advance the project, mainly focused on early works activities and long lead item orders. Sustaining capital is budgeted at $60 million-$70 million, which includes waste stripping, additional mining equipment, and near-mine exploration. The purchase of additional mining equipment was always part of the plan, allowing us to make a final ramp-up of the mining rates. Regional exploration will take on a greater focus this year, where we've planned roughly $20 million across our three projects, which I'll touch on in more detail. The Oko West project in Guyana is clearly our next growth engine that will allow G Mining Ventures' production profile to reach 500,000 ounces.

The September 2024 PEA confirmed strong project economics, with average annual gold production of 353,000 ounces over 13 years at AISC of $986 per ounce. Oko West is expected to generate an after-tax NPV5% of $2.5 billion and a 31% IRR at $2,500 gold. The feasibility study we are currently working on remains on track for completion in April, which will also present an updated mineral resource and a maiden mineral reserve for the project. With an interim environmental permit in hand, we've already initiated early works construction, which is progressing nicely. We are targeting to complete the barge landing, access road upgrades, permanent camp facility, and construction support infrastructure, allowing us to ramp up the workforce during the course of the year. Our goal is to substantially complete all of this by year-end.

We're also progressing key permitting milestones with a final ESIA submission and the full environmental permit expected by mid-year. With the feasibility study underpinning a robust project and full environmental permit in hand, we expect to make an official construction decision in the second half of the year. Our expedited development timeline for Oko West shares many similarities to Tocantinzinho, benefiting from a pro-business government, a predictable permitting process, and supportive communities. From publishing a first resource to early works construction in under two years is a statement of the support the company enjoys and will allow G Mining Ventures to deliver significant economic growth in Guyana. This is a timeline we don't see in North America and makes Guyana a Tier 1 jurisdiction. As part of the feasibility study, we are refining our schedule while maintaining an aggressive approach, aiming for first gold production in the final quarter of 2027.

The success of our fast-track strategy will depend on the rapid advancement of detail engineering, ensuring designs are finalized and optimized for seamless execution. Equally critical is the efficient procurement of equipment and materials, allowing us to maintain momentum and keep construction on schedule. Exploration remains a key driver of our future growth, and we're executing targeted programs across the portfolio. At Tocantinzinho, we've allocated $2 million for extensional drilling of the deposit at depth and along the northwest limb. Our broader exploration strategy in the Tapajós region is designed to create long-term value by finding new deposits close to our existing infrastructure. Our extensive land package covers 688 sq km of underexplored ground with high potential, given the strong geochem anomaly and the regional structure highlighted by geophysics. The focus is on targets within 15 km of the process plant, allowing for easy integration into the business plan.

In the near term, drilling is concentrated within permitted areas and within 5 km of the plant. Any new mineralization discovered would create flexibility, allowing us to optimize the life of mine plant, displace lower-grade material, and ultimately enhance project economics. Notwithstanding last year's significant drilling campaigns at Oko West, primarily focused on infill drilling to support the feasibility study, there remain numerous areas to be explored and follow-up drilling still required. To drive resource growth, we have allocated $8 million to an extensive drilling program. This initiative aims to expand the current pit, extend underground potential in Blocks 5 and 6, identify additional near-surface saprolite, and test greenfield targets across the broader land package. Our objective is clear: increase scale, extend mine life, and position Oko West for the long-term growth and future optimization beyond the feasibility study.

At Gurupi, historical work on the project has outlined an estimated 1.1 million ounces of measured and indicated resources, along with an additional 0.8 million ounces in the inferred category. Our goal is to relaunch exploration with a targeted $2 million-$4 million program focused on data compilation and interpretation while fostering strong constructive relationships with all our stakeholders to lay a solid foundation for future development. Leveraging AI-driven relogging of 150,000 meters of historical drill core, 720 km high-resolution airborne LiDAR surveys, and targeted soil sampling, we're refining and prioritizing our targets. By enhancing our understanding of this 80 km greenstone belt, we will be well positioned to launch drill campaigns aimed at resource expansion. I'd like to conclude by outlining our priorities and catalysts for 2025, a year focused on scaling our growth and continuing to deliver value for shareholders. In 2024, we proved we could execute.

We brought Tocantinzinho into production and validated our buy-build-operate model. Now, 2025 is about building on that success, generating strong cash flow from TZ while advancing Oko West and unlocking the future growth at Gurupi. At Tocantinzinho, we're focused on reaching nameplate capacity by the second quarter and optimizing costs and recoveries. In the second half, we expect production to benefit from higher-grade ore, driving stronger margins. Importantly, TZ is expected to generate meaningful cash flow this year, supporting growth without sacrificing our balance sheet. Oko West remains our next major growth engine. We're advancing the feasibility study, targeting completion in April, while progressing permitting with final ESIA submission and full environmental approval expected mid-year. Early works construction is already underway to accelerate infrastructure development ahead of full build decision in the second half of the year.

At Gurupi, the large and highly prospective land package adds strategic depth to our pipeline and positions us well for long-term growth. With strong operating cash flow, exploration will take center stage as a key value driver. We're committing a substantial $20 million to unlocking the potential of our extensive and highly prospective land packages across our three projects. With production ramping up, strong free cash flow, and Oko West advancing, we see a clear path to re-rating as we shift from a developer multiple to a valuation reflective of a cash-generating producer. With strong gold market fundamentals as a backdrop, G Mining Ventures is well positioned to deliver low-cost, sustainable growth and create lasting value for shareholders. Lastly, I want to express my gratitude for the hard work and dedication of all our G Mining Ventures employees and for being an integral part of the G Mining Ventures journey.

Michael Siperco
Director of Global Mining Research, RBC Capital Markets

With that, Jessie, I'll turn the call back to you to begin the Q&A.

Operator

Before we open the floor for questions, a quick reminder: phone participants can dial star one to ask a question, and webcast viewers can continue submitting their questions via the Q&A function. Our first question comes from Michael Siperco from RBC Capital Markets.

Michael Siperco
Director of Global Mining Research, RBC Capital Markets

Yeah, thanks very much for taking my question. If I could ask a couple briefly, on TZ, you acquired the project with gold roughly 40% lower versus spot. How sensitive is exploration potential and resource growth there to metal prices? Could prices over $3,000 an ounce change your longer-term thinking on the mine, the exploration spend? Is there a potential expansion scenario? Have you been looking at that at this point, or it's still too early?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Thanks for your question, Mike. Yeah, to be honest, when you look at our resource, we essentially pull in most of the resource into a reserve. That's why we're very keen to be ramping up exploration at this stage. As we pointed out, some of the regional exploration is going to take center stage now that we're generating cash flow. The near-mine exploration that we're going to be doing is finding extensions to the existing TZ deposit, some of which we hit with some of our drilling last year on, for example, the northwest limb at TZ. Currently, yeah, we do expect that with exploration, we'll be able to grow the resource. To your point, what we've seen so far in mining the deposit is we have encountered more low-grade as we mine.

A lot of the positive reconciliation that we've experienced to date is encountering more low-grade that becomes economic, obviously, at these gold prices. Just maybe to finish the question, yeah, we end up stockpiling most of that low-grade that will extend the mine life more towards the tail end because we're really focused on feeding the higher grade to the plant in the initial years.

Michael Siperco
Director of Global Mining Research, RBC Capital Markets

Okay. I mean, maybe a bit of a segue in a conversation about financial flexibility on the free cash flow from TZ and presumably higher spot prices than budget. Can you talk a bit more about how you're thinking about funding Oko West in that context and what considerations you're taking into account, including potential other growth opportunities and accelerated exploration plans?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. So obviously, as we point out, I mean, we are going to be using a lot of the free cash flow from TZ to finance Oko West. As we get the feasibility finished and the final CapEx established, we'll be able to firm up our funding plans. Essentially, we'll be looking at all options, including corporate revolvers, equipment financing. The high-yield debt market seems quite open and interested in mining issuers these days. That is also an option that we'll be looking at.

Michael Siperco
Director of Global Mining Research, RBC Capital Markets

I guess.

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

And.

Michael Siperco
Director of Global Mining Research, RBC Capital Markets

Sorry, go ahead.

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. That is why, based on exploration success, we could be increasing our exploration budgets as well. That is something that we will monitor over the course of the year. I would say we were very conservative at Gurupi in terms of what we thought we could do out of the gate. We only allocated $2 million-$4 million. The discussions we have been having in the state and with local stakeholders are indicating that we will be able to do a lot more work than we had anticipated. That is where we could see exploration budgets being increased as well.

Michael Siperco
Director of Global Mining Research, RBC Capital Markets

Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Maybe one last question for me. I know the feasibility study for Oko West is coming, but can you maybe refresh us a bit on what the biggest changes could be versus the PEA and what you've been focused on as you advance the study?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. Obviously, we're kind of in the final stages of the feasibility study being pulled together. The thing I would point out is the PEA that we did was very good level of detail. We're not going to be changing the plant throughput targets that we have. The infill drilling that we've done to upgrade the resource was quite successful. The conversion has been very good. We don't see a large impact in terms of the gold production profile that will be coming in the feasibility. We'll still be around the 350,000 ounce per year average mark. The one adjustment that we see in the feasibility is raising the pit bottom a little bit and leaving that material for the underground to take.

It is more fine-tuning and tweaking in terms of the open pit underground interface that will be built into the Feas and obviously significant more detail on everything that is and all the engineering that we are doing. I think what we are doing now, as we point out, is we are fast-tracking the project. We are advancing early works construction, and a lot of procurement is taking place. The good thing that we are seeing so far in all the procurement that we have done, it is lining up quite well with the PEA. That is what I can put forward at this point.

Michael Siperco
Director of Global Mining Research, RBC Capital Markets

Perfect. Thank you very much for the answers. I'll pass it on. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Anita Soni from CIBC.

Anita Soni
Managing Director and Senior Gold and Base Metals Research Analyst, CIBC

Hi. Good morning, Louis-Pierre and Julie. Thanks for taking my questions. My first question is with respect to the installation of the steel liner. Can you just give us an idea of how long of a shutdown there would be in Q2 when you install that?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. The shutdown to replace the full liner set will be about 96 hours is what we plan for. When we do that, we typically bring in some specialized external support in that process. That is being organized as well.

Anita Soni
Managing Director and Senior Gold and Base Metals Research Analyst, CIBC

Okay. Is that going to be at what point in the quarter? Is it earlier in the quarter or later in the quarter that it's going to be installed?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. We are anticipating receiving all the material in April. If all goes well and we receive everything on time, it will likely be during the month of April.

Anita Soni
Managing Director and Senior Gold and Base Metals Research Analyst, CIBC

Okay. That allows you to get right now, you said it was 90% you achieved of full throughput rates. I mean, sorry, when do you expect to get to the 100% of the nameplate capacity?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. The expectation is in Q2, where we would be able to ramp up to 100%. That is really to get the plant availability up. As I pointed out, I mean, we have seen the plant do about 9% - 10% in excess of nameplate on many consecutive days. That is why we are confident that once we get these small issues resolved, we will be able to hit nameplate as an average.

Anita Soni
Managing Director and Senior Gold and Base Metals Research Analyst, CIBC

Is that your only bottleneck that you're seeing at this stage? Or is there expectations that there might be a few other minor things to look through?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. I mean, that's typically what happens is you always focus on a bottleneck, and the next one then becomes your next bottleneck to keep ramping up beyond where you're at. What we've seen is it's really concentrated in the comminution sector, so crushing and grinding. The rest of the circuit really performs really nicely and very few issues so far. That's really where our focus will be.

Anita Soni
Managing Director and Senior Gold and Base Metals Research Analyst, CIBC

Just a small question, I guess, for Julie. On the mining cost per ton, I think there's a notation about includes the capitalized portions of the cost. Can you just explain to me what that means? Is that also sort of if you take those unit costs, should you be deducting something for capital if you're trying to get back into the mining costs—sorry, if you're trying to back into your cash costs?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. If I understand properly, and we're just trying to make sure we understand, a lot of the major components for the mining fleet, they're built into or they're part of our sustaining CapEx. They're not included in the mining costs per se. They'll be showing up in our sustaining capital.

Anita Soni
Managing Director and Senior Gold and Base Metals Research Analyst, CIBC

Okay. All right. Lastly, I wanted to ask with respect to exploration, which I think Mike talked about a little bit, can you just outline the plans at TZ in terms of what you're going to be doing from an exploration standpoint?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. What we're focusing on now is within 5 km of the infrastructure. It's more for accessibility reasons, given that we're in a primary forest. We have permitting as well to do if we start extending beyond the mining concession. We're doing drilling within the 5-km range. We're also going to be completing the soil sampling on one of the northwest permits in our land package that we received last year, which is on-trend on the main TZ trend. When you do look at slide 22, you see one big exploration box that didn't get covered by soil geochem. We're going to be completing that this year as well. We have two targets currently that we're drilling surrounding the pits. Based on success there, we'll continue. Otherwise, we'll be moving on to the next targets that we have.

Anita Soni
Managing Director and Senior Gold and Base Metals Research Analyst, CIBC

Is the expectation that that would add to resources this year, or would it be able to add to reserves this year?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

The 2 million that we're doing of drilling that's near pits, we do expect that positive intercepts there would add to the resource this year. The regional drilling that we do is still very greenfield. We'd have to do a lot more drilling to build up our resource. That's going to be more of a multi-year process there.

Anita Soni
Managing Director and Senior Gold and Base Metals Research Analyst, CIBC

Thank you. Congratulations on a solid free cash flow quarter.

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Rabi Nizami from National Bank Financial.

Rabi Nizami
Metals and Mining Equity Research Analyst, National Bank Financial

Good morning. Congratulations to the team on a strong first quarter. It is only three years ago, so the $200 million market cap. Your trajectory has been very impressive and well done. On the all-in sustaining cost trajectory, the Q4 costs tracked a bit lower than the 2025 guidance range. Can you elaborate a little bit on the key drivers of that? As you transition into steady state, can you also elaborate on how that is expected to evolve through 2025 in terms of the fleet expansion and what specifically that means for your operations? Tying that into, is it fair to assume that your quarterly cost range could vary greater than the full-year average range that you were providing?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. You tacked in a few questions in that one, but I'll try and answer it. Yeah, I would say our 2025 guidance has some sustaining capital related to mine fleet additions. That's kind of what's bringing our AISC higher up in 2025 compared to our Q4 or 2024 results. I would say it's a bit of a peak that we see because we expect our AISC to actually come down in 2026 and subsequent years. Yeah, we're adding a shovel, three trucks, additional support equipment. There's $20 million of equipment there that's really done to complete the mine fleet. For tailings management, we have one pond that receives our tailings from our leach circuit. We're in the process of building the second pond. That really completes all the capacity that we'll need for the life of mine at that point.

Yeah, those are the main variables and variances in our AISC.

Rabi Nizami
Metals and Mining Equity Research Analyst, National Bank Financial

Great. That makes sense. You already alluded a bit to the nameplate, the plant, and the debottlenecking that you're doing. As you approach that nameplate capacity and tying that into the excess low-grade ore that you are encountering as you mine, is there any thought at this stage about pushing that throughput further?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. To be honest, I mean, that's part of internal studies that we'll be doing this year. Maybe two factors. One project that we're implementing now is the implementation of an expert control system on our SAG mill and flotation circuit. On the SAG mill, that's why we're seeing this ability to push beyond nameplate. It's working very well. The one on the flotation circuit will be commissioned fully operational a little later in Q2. That's where we could see a little bump in recoveries. The other throughput enhancement project that we'll be looking at is adding a pebble crusher to help support the SAG mill and push more tonnage. That's an assessment that we're doing now. That wouldn't be a very high CapEx type of project, but give us another bump in throughput. We're assessing that.

Rabi Nizami
Metals and Mining Equity Research Analyst, National Bank Financial

Good. Thank you very much for taking my questions. Congratulations again.

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Andrew Mikitchook from BMO Capital Markets.

Andrew Mikitchook
Director of Equity Research in Mining, BMO Capital Markets

Hi, LP. Great level of detail in the presentation and the questions so far. Just a couple of quick follow-ups. The construction at Oko West, how does the concept or timeline of basic and detail engineering fit in with what's going on on-site in this long lead time ordering that's ongoing now that you've already talked about?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. No, that's a good question. When we show our timeline, the reason we show detail engineering overlapping with feasibility studies is actually for that. We have detail engineering, and we're issuing drawings for construction, issued for construction as we're wrapping up the fees. There's a bit of a parallel stream there on the engineering side. Really, our lessons learned from TZ is if we can advance procurement, that gives us the best chances to deliver the project on time. We have about, I would say, about $150 million of either purchase orders or letters of intent issued that are going towards the permanent camp, mobile equipment for the open pit fleet, construction equipment, our marine equipment. We're buying a tug and barge. That's all work streams that we have ongoing that are aimed to advance the project and fast-track it.

Yeah, we're really working on two fronts here. That is why the feasibility will have a great level of detail on certain scopes because we're very advanced in terms of detail engineering and actual procurement.

Andrew Mikitchook
Director of Equity Research in Mining, BMO Capital Markets

Okay. Just the last quick follow-up. I think you mentioned you're getting complete in feasibility in April. Does that also imply an April release for that, or would that be afterwards?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. Yeah, we're targeting by the end of April to issue a press release with our feasibility study results. Typically, our technical report will come out a little after. That's the current target. Yeah, we're in the final stages of wrapping up our numbers and the results.

Andrew Mikitchook
Director of Equity Research in Mining, BMO Capital Markets

Fantastic. Thank you very much. Congratulations to you and the very talented team that's delivered this. I'll sign off.

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Jeremy Hoy from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Hello?

Jessie Liu-Ernsting
VP of Investor Relations and Communications, G Mining Ventures

Jeremy, you might be on mute.

Jeremy Hoy
VP of Mining and Metals Equity Research, Canaccord Genuity

Hi. Yep, was on mute. Thanks, guys. Hi, LP. Thanks for taking my question. Given the performance of the share price over the last several months, does this change your thinking at all about financing for Oko in terms of the mix of debt, equity, and operational cash flow?

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Obviously, yeah. I mean, we have the ability to evaluate all options. I mean, our original intent is to minimize equity dilution. We see the ability to add debt given our very low debt level that we have. Yeah, we'll be looking at all options when we get to that point of finalizing our financing package for Oko.

Jeremy Hoy
VP of Mining and Metals Equity Research, Canaccord Genuity

Yeah. Understood. Okay. Thanks. That's it for me. Thanks.

Jessie Liu-Ernsting
VP of Investor Relations and Communications, G Mining Ventures

Okay. We have some additional questions from the webcast the team would like to address. The first question is from Brandon Gaspar from SCP Resource Finance. He's asking if there's any updates on the operations in Q1 of 2025 compared to the Q4 results we just released.

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. I mean, January and February were really good months. I mean, we were very close to the midpoint of our guidance. March was a little less performance and related to the mill liner issue. Overall, we're doing quite well. Costs, we expect to be in the same range as we had in Q4.

Jessie Liu-Ernsting
VP of Investor Relations and Communications, G Mining Ventures

There's one final question from Howard Flinker. He's asking, what's the CapEx in 2025 compared to 2024? I think it's something we gave in our guidance.

Louis-Pierre Gignac
President and CEO, G Mining Ventures

Yeah. 2024 was the year we were building the project. It is the initial project cost. This is our first real year of operations. Our sustaining capital, like I was mentioning, is a bit higher this first year as we're completing the additions to our mine fleet and some of the tailings management facilities that we're expanding as well. That will be built for the life of mine of the project at that point.

Jessie Liu-Ernsting
VP of Investor Relations and Communications, G Mining Ventures

Okay. Thank you, LP. There are no further questions in the queue. That concludes our inaugural earnings conference call. Thank you again for joining us. Stay connected via our email list and social media updates. Have a great weekend, everyone. Thank you.

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