Earnings Labs

Alamos Gold Inc. (AGI)

Q4 2021 Earnings Call· Thu, Feb 24, 2022

$41.59

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

00:38 Good morning. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Jamie Porter, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead, Mr. Porter.

Jamie Porter

Management

00:48 Thank you, operator, and thanks to everyone for attending Alamos’ Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2021 Conference Call. In addition to myself, we have on the line today, John McCluskey, President and CEO; Peter MacPhail, Chief Operating Officer; and Scott R.G. Parsons, our Vice President of Exploration. To address any questions with respect to our reserve and resource update, we also have on the line today, Chris Bostwick, our Senior Vice President of Technical Services. 01:11 We will be referring to a presentation during the conference call that's available to the webcast and on our website. I would also like to remind everyone that our presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session. As we will be making forward-looking statements during the call, please refer to the cautionary notes included the presentation, news release, and MD&A, as well as the risk factors set out in our annual information form. 01:31 Technical information of this presentation has been reviewed and approved by Chris Bostwick, our Vice President of Technical Services and a qualified person. Also, please bear in mind that all the dollar amounts mentioned in this conference call are in United States dollars unless otherwise noted. 01:45 With that, I'll turn over to John to provide you with an overview.

John McCluskey

Management

01:49 Thank you very much, Jamie, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for attending the call. Starting with Slide 3. We closed 2021 with strong performances at our Canadian operations. Young Davidson had a record year achieving record mining rates, and generating 100 million of free cash flow. 02:11 Island Gold had another strong year operationally, generating 53 million of free cash flow even with the ramp up in spending on our Phase 3 expansion. This offset a challenging year at Mulatos, with the operation working through a temporary period of lower production and higher costs until La Yaqui Grande comes on in the third quarter. 02:33 With a stronger fourth quarter, we met revised full-year guidance producing 457,000 ounces of gold at a cash cost, of $794 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs of $1,135 per ounce. 02:50 Our production increased 7% from a year ago, and combined with a higher gold price and strong operating margins, we generated record operating cash flow of $411 million for the year. 03:04 We had a strong year from an exploration perspective as detailed in our reserve and resource update earlier this week. Reserves increased at all three of our operations driving a 4% increase in our global reserves to 10.3 million ounces. Grades also increased 5% as we continue to increase the quality of our overall reserve with higher grade additions at Island Gold and Mulatos. 03:32 Island Gold continues to grow and achieve the key milestone with high grade reserves and resources increasing 8% to 5.1 million ounces net of depletion. Since we acquired Island, in 2017, reserves and resources have increased 3.2 million ounces net of depletion, including 1.4 million ounces since the publication of the Phase 3 expansion study in 2020, highlighting this significant ongoing growth and…

Jamie Porter

Management

07:19 Thank you, John. Moving on to Slide 6, we sold 458,000 ounces of gold for record revenues of 824 million in 2021. As John noted, Young-Davidson had an excellent year generating a record 100 million in mine-site free cash flow. With the operation consistently operating at its expanded design capacity, we look forward to similar free cash flow generation over its 15 year reserve life and beyond. 07:45 Fourth quarter revenues were 203 million from sales of 113,000 ounces at an average realized price of 1,798 per ounce. As previously guided, total cash cost of $843 per ounce in all-in sustaining costs of $1,237 per ounce both increased from earlier in the year, reflecting the temporary increase in cost of Mulatos. 08:07 For the full-year, total cash costs and all-in sustaining costs were in-line with revised guidance. Operating cash flow before changes in non-cash working capital was $92 million or $0.23 per share in the fourth quarter. This was down 27% year-over-year, primarily reflecting lower gold price and lower gold sales. 08:25 For the full-year, operating cash flow before changes in non-cash working capital was a record $411 million or $1.05 per share, a 7% increase from the prior record set in 2020. Our reported net earnings of $30 million in the fourth quarter or $0.08 per share included an unrealized foreign exchange loss of 3 million recorded within deferred taxes and foreign exchange and other losses of $4 million. 08:50 Excluding these items, our adjusted net earnings were $37 million or $0.09 per share. Our full-year adjusted net earnings were $162 million or $0.41 per share representing a 3% increase relative to 2020. 09:04 Capital spending totaled $92 million in the fourth quarter, including $32 million of sustaining capital, $51 million of growth capital, and $8 million of…

Peter MacPhail

Management

10:53 Thank you, Jamie. Moving to Slide 7. Young-Davidson is performing to its potential and had a strong finish to the year producing 51,900 ounces and generating near record mine site free cash flow of 30 million in the fourth quarter. Full-year production totaled 195,000 ounces in-line with guidance, generating record mine-site free cash flow of 100 million. 11:18 Mining rates averaged a record 8,240 tons per day in the fourth quarter and 7,900 tons per day for the year. The operation is demonstrating, it can consistently operate at its design rate of 8,000 tons per day, and we expect this to continue. 11:35 Both cash costs of $775 per ounce in mine-site all-in sustaining cost of $1,017 per ounce in the fourth quarter continued to decrease through the year, reflecting higher grades and lower unit mining costs. On a full-year basis, costs were in-line with revised guidance. 11:54 As previously guided, we expect similar production in 2022 of between 185,000 and 200,000 ounces with total cash costs in mine-site on sustaining costs increasing 3% and 7% respectively. The cost increase primarily reflects cost inflation, partially offset by operational improvements. 12:12 We expect sustaining and growth capital spending to decrease 27% to approximately $60 million in 2022 with a big part of that decrease coming through the completion of construction of our new life of mine tailings facility in the fourth quarter of last year. We expect Young-Davidson to generate 100 million of free cash flow in 2022 and annually over the long-term. 12:34 Over to Slide 8, Island Gold had another solid quarter, producing 37,500 ounces. A total cash cost of $575 per ounce and mine-site on sustaining cost of $871 per ounce. Full-year production of 141,000 ounces was in-line with the initial guidance and total cash costs and…

Scott Parsons

Management

15:51 Thank you, Peter. On Slide 11, we had another excellent successful year with respect to exploration. Reserves were more than replaced at each of our three operations, driving a 4% increase in global reserves to 10.3 million ounces, net 582,000 ounces of depletion. The overall quality of this reserve also improved with grades increasing 5%, reflecting higher grade additions at Island Gold and Mulatos. 16:15 The growth was driven by a 5% increase in reserves at Young-Davidson, extending its reserve life to 15 years, a 2% increase in Island Gold with grades increasing 4% and a 14% increase in Mulatos with grades increasing 32%. The higher grade additions in Mulatos reflect a new underground reserve as PDA, which is located adjacent to the main Mulatos pit. 16:38 Global measured and indicated resources decreased to 4.5 million ounces from 6.9 million ounces, reflecting the conversion to mineral reserves at PDA and Young-Davidson and a reduction of non-constrained resources from the Mulatos Mine-Site. Global Inferred Resources were relatively flat at 7 million ounces with grades increasing 6% reflecting high grade additions at Island Gold. 17:01 On Slide 12, Island Gold continues to grow and achieved a key milestone with combined reserves and resources increasing 8% to 5.1 million ounces of high-grade gold. Reserves increased for the ninth consecutive year to 1.3 million ounces, net of depletion. With grades also increasing 4% to over 10 grams per ton. The additions were achieved through both the discovery and conversion of resources in the gap of between the high grade reserve and resources is an upper and middle portions of Island East. 17:30 This new reserve block contains over 200,000 ounces creating 12.6 grams per ton. Given this [proximity, the existing] [ph] underground infrastructure, there is potential to bring this higher grade ore into…

John McCluskey

Management

19:34 Thanks very much, Scott. That concludes our formal presentation, and I'll now turn the call back to the operator who will open the lines for your questions.

Operator

Operator

19:44 Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from Kerry Smith from Haywood Securities. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Kerry Smith

Analyst

20:39 Thanks, operator. Maybe first question for Peter, just on the new mine plan for Island that's mid-year, I'm assuming you're going to still have that 2,000 ton a day mill in that plan where you just basically can be bringing forward some better grade that you're finding in the Island uses, is that correct?

Jamie Porter

Management

20:58 Yes. That would – we're looking at that, Kerry, we’re also looking at, does it make sense to bump it up slightly. So, we're looking at all those things.

Kerry Smith

Analyst

21:14 Okay. And just on Mulatos on PDA, what is the status that’s bringing that underground reserve into the mine plan, like what would the timing on that be Peter?

Peter MacPhail

Management

21:26 Yes, that's probably three years away. Some further study work to do on it and to get that going.

Kerry Smith

Analyst

21:40 Okay. And you had pretty good mine costs at YD in the quarter, but you had pretty good mining rates as while you're well over 8,200 tons a day. Is that $42 a ton Canadian? Is that kind of the number you think you could do at 8,000 tons a day or what would the going forward number look like?

Jamie Porter

Management

22:02 I'm not sure – I think we probably provided guidance on that. It's, I think if you go back three years when we did that, kind of learn in on YD in person there. I think we were predicting an 8,000 tons a day to be in the low-40s. I think with some inflation right now that creeps up to like the mid-40s, that's where it is expected to be.

Kerry Smith

Analyst

22:30 Okay. Okay, that's helpful. And just remind me the CapEx for Lynn Lake from [27 feasibility] [ph], can you remind me what that number was?

Jamie Porter

Management

22:44 I don't have it in front of me.

John McCluskey

Management

22:46 Kerry, it was roughly $350 million.

Kerry Smith

Analyst

22:51 350, okay. And will you update that number when you make construction decision or how will you sort of look at that?

Jamie Porter

Management

23:03 Of course, yes.

John McCluskey

Management

23:05 We put out an updated technical report on making a positive construction decision, and we would certainly provide an updated capital cost estimate.

Kerry Smith

Analyst

23:18 Okay. Okay. That's great. I think just maybe one last question, if I could, the exploration budget is basically down 10 million from this year versus last year. And that seems like most of that, I guess is probably in our Island, but is that just a function of your ability to spend the dollars or is it like the budget might be a bit higher than this year?

Scott Parsons

Management

23:42 Kerry, it’s Scott, I can take that. The main difference from last year is the Island, we ramped up the number of service directional rigs we have. Because we’ve removed the underground directional drilling from the 2022 budget. So, that put a $10 million delta between the 2021 budget is the switching over to surface drilling from the underground directional drilling and continuing with underground conventional drilling as planned.

Kerry Smith

Analyst

24:09 Okay. Okay, that's great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

24:14 Thank you. [Operator Instructions] There are no further questions registered. Thank you. The call has now ended. Please hang up your lines. Thank you for your participation.