All right, good morning, everyone, and welcome to Sidoti's November Micro-Cap Conference. My name is Andrew DeAngelis. I'm manager of the research department here at Sidoti, and today I'm excited to be hosting TRX Gold, ticker TRX, on the NYSE American and Toronto Stock Exchange. With me from the company, I have CEO Stephen Mullowney, CFO Michael Leonard, and IRO Christina Lalli. Together, they'll walk through the company story over the next approximately 20 minutes, and then we'll open up to the audience for a period of Q&A to round out our time together. If you'd like to ask a question, please reference the Q&A tab at the bottom of your screen as moderator. I will manage that queue of questions when it comes time. Without further ado, I'd like to turn the meeting over to Stephen to get us started.
Yeah, thank you very much, Andrew, and it's a pleasure to be here this morning. With me, as Andrew mentioned, is Mike Leonard, our Chief Financial Officer, as well as VP Investor Relations, Christina Lalli.
Good morning.
Good morning. My name is Stephen Mullowney. I'm CEO of TRX Gold. We have a mining operation in East Africa, in the country of Tanzania. As you can see in our backgrounds, we are in operations and mining gold, as well as exploring for further gold on our property. We'll get into the presentation today. We'll give you an overview of our journey here over the last three years, as well as where we're going with regards to further potential expansions, as well as further exploration results. Without further ado, obviously, we have a disclaimer.
We're going to be talking about forward-looking statements, so I'd ask everybody to go to our website to read the disclaimer. First and foremost, we joined just over three years ago, almost four years ago now, coming up onto the new year. Really, we've tackled this from a various phased approach. The first phase was refreshing the management team, recapitalizing the business, and repairing relationships in Tanzania. That was in around 2021. 2022 was basically a balance sheet cleanup, as well as expanding a money-losing test plant that was losing $500,000 a month into a for-profit operation.
Surprising in mining, you got to look at profit-oriented operations. So we expanded that to 360 tons per day, as well as put the drill bit in the ground and started to expand the trends that are on our property. 2023, we did another expansion from 360 tons a day to 1,000 tons per day. That went really well. Got into record gross profit margins and adjusted EBITDA and all those good financial metrics. Last year, we completed another mill expansion to 2,000 tons a day, as well as infill drilling and the definition of various zones around the property.
And now 2025 and beyond, we're going to focus on what I'll call operational efficiencies at the mill. We've done this on a very cost-effective basis. So now we need to take our recovery rates, which is the percentage of gold that's recovered out of the ore, and move it from 80% to higher. We'll be focusing on that, and we'll also be focusing on probably more potential expansions, as well as the expansion of resource base through the drill bit. Anything to add to that, Mike? I think I got a pretty good overview there.
No, I think that was well said. It's been a turnaround story, I think, is how we've been characterizing this over the last three to four years since we joined, and we're well poised for future growth heading into next year.
Yeah, so turnaround is done. Now it's into the growth equity creation phase. With regards to ourselves, we're an operation. So last year, we did 20,000 ounces, and now we're going to increase that over the next year. We're just going through the budgeting process. The 2,000-ton-per-day mill is doing really well. It's operating at spec. As I mentioned, we'll be increasing the efficiencies of that mill. And really, where the value is, we have 2 million ounces in mineral resources today under 2003 rules. The goal here is to move that well beyond that 2 million ounces through the drill bit over time and exploration programs that are put in place.
So as you can see from when we joined here, the operational metrics are increasing, both in gold ounces produced as well as tons of ore milled. When you're looking at a mining operation, your gold ounces produced are the major component that's head grade. So you will get fluctuations in gold ounces produced. So we look at this business as well on a per ton basis and throughput, and we look at the cost on a per ton basis. The gold ounces produced are more of a derivative of the head grade that's put in, which will be higher in some periods and lower in other periods.
So with regards to the financial metrics, we've had prudent capital management since coming in. When I came in, there was only $2 million of cash on the balance sheet. So the company did need to be recapitalized. We haven't done any capital raises in the last two and a half, three years, and utilized the cash that was raised to put into the operations, as well as the cash flow from the operations back into the operations to expand it. Right now, we have over two times investment on the capital that was raised. That will be higher as of year-end, which is August 31st, 2024.
When you're looking at the metrics of Adjusted EBITDA and cash flow, we expect similar results for 2024 as 2023, with that now starting to increase with the expanded mill coming online at the end of June in 2024. We've done this all at the same time as reducing our G&A expenditures. I do expect that to uptick as we continue to grow now because we do need to bring on more resources to help manage that growth. So G&A will increase somewhat, but certainly, we are prudent capital managers and make sure that we manage G&A expenditures.
With regards to what is Buckreef? So Buckreef is located in Tanzania. Tanzania has a rich history of mining. Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti have been there over 25 years. Our deposit's located in the same region. AngloGold's Geita Gold Mine, which is our flagship mine, is about 30 km from us. We are in around Barrick's Bulyanhulu Mine, as well as a new property that was just purchased by Perseus Mining in Nyanzaga. Both are about 30 km away from us. Buckreef has 2 million ounces, as I mentioned, in the Measured and Indicated category at 1.8 grams a ton. It comes to the surface. It's wide.
Gold recoveries can be up to and over 90% over time. We're currently receiving 80%, but we know how to get it much higher through operational efficiencies. It's all about grind size at Buckreef. We have a minimal environmental footprint. We have a closed water circuit, as I mentioned. The power is mostly hydroelectric from the national power grid. And we have exceptional exploration potential around the property, which I'll get in and discuss here in a few minutes. What I will say about Tanzania is we only drive 15 km. The last 15 km are on unpaved road. Up until that point in time, it's all paved.
And what I like about Tanzania is the human capital's there, and we do everything internally. Given that there's been a long history of mining here, we're able to get the resources to do this quickly and cost-effectively. I mentioned a few things about Tanzania. The government supports the mining sector. It wants it to be over 10% of GDP. I met with government officials a couple of weeks ago while in Tanzania. They want to continue to have foreign investment come into the sector, and they're very receptive to it.
There's been a lot of transactions from an M&A perspective in Tanzania. So that tells you that companies and investors are supportive of the jurisdiction. Perseus just purchased Nyanzaga. They will put in over $600 million to build that particular project. The Lifezone, who owns the Kabanga project, brought in BHP for $100 million. They have a good Mining Commission that is supportive of investments. We don't get any permits held back. But what I would say is the biggest benefit of being in Tanzania is being able to find the human capital.
Your metallurgists, your general managers, your geologists, your truck drivers, your excavator operators, your welders, all of those sort of trades exist in Tanzania, and the local universities and trade schools support that industry. It's a big and growing industry within Tanzania to find those skill sets in order to execute. I don't know anybody who's put up a 2,000-ton per day plant for less than $20 million besides us. We're able to do that because of the local suppliers. Anything to add there, Mike?
No, I think, I mean, you touched on it, Stephen. It's an investable jurisdiction with support from the government, which is huge. We've got infrastructure in place. We've got human capital in place. But I think the way to summarize it best is it's a place where you can get things done. And the fact that we've been able to expand three times in three years from 360 tons a day to 1,000 tons a day to 2,000 tons a day for under $20 million is really unprecedented. And again, a part of the world where you can do that because they encourage growth and, again, a place where you can get things done.
So it's great, Mike, that we have all of that sort of in place on the ground, but you need geology as well in order to make it work. And Tanzania is rich in geology. Here are some of the projects that are around. We have great geology at Buckreef. As I mentioned, Bulyanhulu was there. Buzwagi was a former mine. Golden Pride was a former mine. Nyanzaga is being developed. We have two mines that Shanta is operating. We also have the North Mara mine that Barrick's operating, as well as the Geita Mine that AngloGold Ashanti is operating on the gold side.
With regards to what Mike just mentioned, we've done this three times now, expanded on time, on budget, cost-effectively. And we're looking at how do we continue to grow. And we're also really looking at how we increase operational efficiency. So, as I mentioned, that is the focus of the next year. We'll probably bring in a new ball mill on the front of the existing plant, probably a HIGmill to get the grind size down lower, probably a flotation plant, as well as an increase in capacity of that plant while we do that upgrade, the increased recovery rates and throughputs.
We're also looking to reduce the cost of developing our infrastructure. We've brought in our own equipment now. We've predominantly utilized contractors for that contractor equipment. So we expect a significant reduction in cost around the infrastructure around the site and potentially reduction in mining costs as well as a result of that. We brought in a new crusher that can enable this expansion. So really, what you're hearing from me is growth, growth, growth. But this is on the production assets, and then I'll get into the growth potentially in the resource base now in a few minutes on the next couple of slides.
So this needs to be driven by metallurgy. We finished our variable met study. It came out really well. What it told us, and I just mentioned this, it's all about grind size, grind size, and grind size. Before you continually expand and get confidence in the results that you're going to get, you need to have that variable met study across your deposit so that you understand that the ore characteristics or the composition of the chemicals in the ore are the same and that you're going to expect to get similar results no matter where you are in that ore body.
The ore body at Buckreef, what I'm talking about in the 2 million ounces, is around a 2-kilometer strike length, and so you want to make sure over those 2 kilometers that you're getting consistent results as a result, and our met study told us that that's what we should be expecting. No surprises. With regards to drill bits, this is where the unknown is always exciting, and exploration is exciting, so the good thing about this property is there's 130,000 meters in the drill hole database. That may seem like a lot, but for a property of this magnitude, I wouldn't consider that a lot.
There's a lot of potential on this property, so what I talk about in the 2 million ounces is all in those colored dots. The white dots are trends that are around the property, both from an artisanal perspective as well as some new drill holes that we put into the ground. We are literally, as they say in mining, we're open at depth. So we have drill hole intercepts down to 750 meters. We're open to the edge of the property on the red line in the north and in the south. And we have other structures around the property. And in those structures, we've intercepted very good grab samples as well as very good drill hole results.
And we need to really drill those out to expand this property and to bring in a lot of minable resources. So the focus really on growth, yeah, production is good, and it creates the cash flow. But also, you want the longevity of that cash flow through the drill bit to create a very valuable mining property. So with regards to the excitement over the last couple of weeks, it's been this new zone that we've discovered at Stamford Bridge. So this is a structure that goes across the Anfield Zone, which is parallel to the Main Zone. The Main Zone is where the resources are. And we've gotten our best drill hole intercepts ever from this zone.
So this is turning out to be a very, very, very high priority target. It is not that deep either. It's just 40-50 meters below surface from a mining perspective. That's not that deep. We are going to focus on this zone, but also in order to determine are there any other cross structures. So typically in geology, if you find one, you may find another. We're going to be doing some geophysics work over the next couple of months to determine what else may potentially be there and where we should be putting the drill bit in to target. So stay tuned for this one. This one has got us excited. I'll just leave it at that.
With regards to our overarching business plan, as I mentioned, mine gold, take the cash flow, reinvest it into business. We've also developed over time an expertise in how to develop properties on a cost-effective basis and continually expand them on time and on budget. So we'll evaluate M&A opportunities in our region that have similar attributes to what we have in Buckreef and lean into our competitive advantages of being able to build on a cost-effective basis and put things into production. Our CSR and ESG programs are really good. We invest in the local communities.
We are always cognizant of making sure that locals get hired, that the schools are upgraded, and the health facilities are upgraded in our region. Ultimately, our employees live in the region, so we would like their children to go to better schools and have better access to better healthcare facilities. We also have a joint venture with the state mining company. It's 55-45. We're in discussions with the government around that to make that more investable so we can invest the additional capital to bring Buckreef to its real, real potential. With regards to our share price, I would consider us an oscillating stock over the last year.
We are listed on the NYSE American as well as the TSX. Most of our shareholders are retail with some institutional ownership. We're followed by three analysts coverage in Alliance Global Partners, Roth, and H.C. Wainwright. Right now, we have around $8 million cash on our balance sheet, and we're utilizing the cash flow from operations to invest in the operations. Very experienced executive team, both at corporate and on site, and that's us taking high-margin gold out of the ground, reinvesting it back into business, growing profit revenues, and the drill bits will be turning, so hopefully resource growth as well, so growth, growth, and more growth. Thank you.
Thank you, Stephen. Once again, I'd like to encourage everyone to ask questions if they have them. You can do so by typing into the question and answer box at the bottom of your screen. And I'll kick it off here. Maybe you could just, you mentioned this Stamford Bridge prospect. Can you just talk about the timing of any announcements relative to your anticipated findings there moving forward?
Yeah. So as the assays come in, obviously, we just released one assay yesterday because it was a really good assay. So typically, what you would do is put together a program and release the whole program results. But given what we've been seeing and the structure, we've been delivering that a little on a more off the basis. So I would expect that to slow down a little bit because we've discovered it. And now we will really look at the release unless we see spectacular results continue, which hopefully we do. It will be more in batches than in a normal course. But when you have your best intercepts in your database, you got to send that to the market and release that.
Talk about your capital needs over the next 12 months and any anticipated funding as you think.
Yeah, so right now, our capital needs are being funded from operations. We would not raise additional capital unless we wanted to accelerate programs, which we think would add significant shareholder value to existing and future shareholders. So right now, the predominant needs are coming from the business. If we think that we can accelerate that and add significant shareholder value across the board, both existing and future, then that's the time that we would consider any capital raises. Right now, we're funding the business from operations.
Maybe let's pivot over to M&A opportunities. Do you foresee anything near-term in order to expand into more of a multi-asset play?
Yeah. Look, we see things over time, and there are opportunities that have a similar profile to Buckreef. The issue that you run into, and anybody who's ever done M&A, and I've done lots of it, is trying to transact and transact in a shareholder-value-friendly way can be difficult. So these things take time to manage and to get right. So there are opportunities out there. Anything that leans into our what I'll call competitive advantages of being able to execute in a bootstrap way and bring it up and manage risk, we will look at.
Just moving over to the current production front, can you talk about your anticipated cost of production over the next year and how that compares relative to your peers in the industry?
Yeah. Mike knows I'm going to hand this over to him, so.
Yeah. I can certainly touch on that, Andrew. Thank you. Yeah. We're producing at about $1,000 an ounce cash costs currently, which is very low cost. It's the lowest cost quartile in the entire industry. Our gross margins that we're generating at Buckreef are almost 50%. So very, very high gross margin. And again, that gross margin allows us to cover our overhead costs and reinvest back into the business consistent with our model.
What's the inventory life at Buckreef, as you see it?
Yeah. Look, right now, at, say, 30,000 ounces, it's very long. The goal here to make it a very viable mining company is to get it well above 100,000 ounces over time, or at least the ability to be over 100,000 ounces per annum with 10-plus year mine life. That's what gets interest in the market.
Yeah. And Andrew, just to reconfirm what Stephen touched on a couple of times, the resource in the ground currently is 2 million ounces. So at 30,000 ounces a year, you can sort of do the math. It's a long, long, long life. But the idea would be to grow the production level and make it 10-plus years at a meaningful production level.
Do you have any timeline or production targets out there longer term for the market?
Yeah. We're going through that right now. So there will be short-term targets as well as long-term targets established in the next couple of months.
Okay. It looks like that's it in terms of questions that we have in the queue. Gentlemen, I'd just like to offer it up to you for any closing remarks before we close out.
Yeah. Thank you for the time this morning. The closing remarks are, we're growing. We want to continue to grow. We're moving the asset along. And we're focused on revenue growth, EBITDA growth, and resource growth.
I'll just maybe add, Andrew, very quickly, a couple of all that operational growth with record gold price levels. There's lots and lots of opportunity for us to grow this business both operationally and financially. Watch this space.
Stephen, Michael, Christina, thank you for your time. And thank you, everyone, for joining here this morning and your participation. Have a great rest of your day.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you, Andrew.
Thank you.