Americas Gold and Silver Corporation (USAS) Q3 2025 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Thank you for standing by. My name is Jordan, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Americas Gold and Silver Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This event is being recorded and will be available on the America's website for playback later today. I'd now like to turn the call over to Paul Huet, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Jordan. Good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to our third quarter conference call. With me on today's call is Warren Varga, our Chief Financial Officer, who will take us through the financial highlights for the quarter. Also with me on the call is Oliver Turner, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, who will walk us through some important corporate highlights. I'll start out today by covering some key elements of our continued growth before turning the call over to Warren. Please note, we will be referencing a slide deck, which is being shared through the webcast on this call. Before I begin the presentation, I'd like to remind you to please review our cautionary statements regarding forward-looking information and non-GAAP measures. I've got a different slide. I'm going to start over and talk about the work that we're doing over at [indiscernible] here. So the highlights, let me begin by expressing our continued confidence in the path we're forging as a company and the strides we're making to achieve the goals. Throughout Q3 of '25, Americas team has tirelessly been focused on strengthening our foundation and building our incredible momentum. Our bolstered balance sheet allowed us to make some very strategic investments to continue implementing the operational enhancements we've identified to set ourselves up for sustained growth production. And I think I can't emphasize that -- more importantly, it is sustained growth production. Our core mission remains clear to safety and responsibly maximize the value of our assets through disciplined execution and strategic investment. This quarter, we've prioritized equipment upgrades across all our sites, improving our main hoisting in the shaft at Galena, adding new ventilation and new infill drilling has continued to reveal high-grade opportunities near the workings at both sites. At the corporate level, we have continued to make great steps. In Q3 2025, we engaged Lot 16, a DC-based government relations group to assist us in discussions with the U.S. government regarding support for our antimony production and to explore potential local antimony processing options. Oliver will elaborate a little more on this a little afterwards. Separately, we are executing our multiyear growth plan at the Galena Complex, leveraging our strong balance sheet to increase development rate, boost tonnages mined and reduce costs. This plan includes a number of important key steps. And the first step is actually the introduction of the long-hole stoping. We have developed and mined the first 2 long-hole panels. This is the first time ever that any significant long-hole stoping has been done at Galena. We've also mobilized a new long-hole drill at Galena, now actively drilling other long-hole stoping areas. This method offers improved safety, higher productivity, lower cost and increased backfill capacity to reduce waste hoisting compared to our previous underhand cut and fill approach. A second very important thing is the expansion of the equipment fleet underground. We've ordered 5 new underground loaders with 3 mine trucks, with initial units already deployed underground, including 2 remote capable Komatsu 4-yard loaders commissioned during the quarter, all supporting productivity gains and cost reductions as the long-hole stoping continues to ramp up. The third is major infrastructure upgrades. We're advancing trade-off studies on materials handling to optimize underground productivity and hoisting schedules, alongside major upgrades like a new hoist motor for the #3 shaft, where the first phase was completed ahead of schedule during a 10-day shutdown, 4 days shorter than planned, delivering a 100% productivity improvement. These advancements supported by our strong balance sheet will sustain robust production growth over the coming years, positioning Galena as a key driver to our success. Over to production, we achieved a standout performance in Q3 of '25. On a consolidated basis, we produced 765,000 silver ounces, a remarkable 98% increase year-over-year from the 386,000 attributable ounces in Q3 of 2024 and 11% quarter-over-quarter increase from 689,000 ounces last quarter. This increase reflects the dedication and skill of our teams across our operations, setting a strong foundation for the year ahead. At Galena, silver production increased 36% year-over-year to 440,000 ounces in Q3, meeting our expectations, up from 323,000 ounces in Q3 of 2024, with attributable ounces rising 127% from that 194,000 ounces. This stems from operational enhancements like the time studies I was talking about, engineering work, increasing productivity projects. We've advanced the waste decline, widened access to new stopes and mined our first 2 long-hole panels, as I was suggesting in the summary, with more planned in Q4 of 2025 and obviously in Q1 of 2026. New loaders and trucks are boosting productivity while long-hole stoping delivers safer, more efficient mining. Critical ventilation improvement include the first Alimak raise and ongoing second raise to enhance underground conditions. The #3 shaft hoist motor upgrade was completed ahead of schedule, increasing capacity to approximately 80 tonnes per hour with further plans to increase it to 118 tonnes per hour. Remember, when we got here, we inherited, it was sitting at about 40 to 42 tonnes per hour, so significant increases in that shaft. The new underground core drilling highlighted 24,913 gram silver and 16.9% copper over 0.21 meters in the high-grade extension of the 149 vein, near existing infrastructure close to the #3 shaft. We're quite excited about that. Our team's efforts are unlocking Galena's potential with further output increases on track once second phase shaft upgrades are completed. We are also pleased we have entered into a long-term 5-year collective bargaining agreement with our hourly staff, aligning incentives for safe, profitable production and sustained operations. I'm truly thankful to our hourly staff for demonstrating their belief in what we can accomplish together towards safe and profitable growth at the Galena Complex for all stakeholders. Over to Cosalá, our operations in Mexico, our strong operating team led by General Manager, Gabriel Soto, has consistently demonstrated a high standard of safety and productivity, delivering a strong 70% production increase year-over-year with 325,000 ounces of silver in Q3, up from approximately 192,000 ounces in Q3 of 2024 and quarter-over-quarter, an increase of 21% from 269,000 ounces. These results and growth reflect outstanding execution alongside reduced zinc and lead production as we continued our transition from San Rafael into EC120. It is important to note that higher lead and zinc base metal output of San Rafael will switch to higher silver and copper output as we move into EC120. We're accelerating EC120 development toward its high-grade silver, copper core with production increases expected through to the end of 2025, while San Rafael's remaining stopes continue to offset costs during this shift. EC120's pre production contributed approximately $12.9 million to revenue with 314,000 ounces of silver produced. And we're on track for commercial production by the end of 2025, which is expected to significantly enhance our silver output and our free cash flow, reinforcing Cosalá's critical contribution to our production in Americas Gold and Silver. These strong production results paired with our fortified balance sheet position us exceptionally well to meet our 2025 goals. We're building momentum across our operations and look forward to sharing more as we advance our development and drill programs. Let's now review the specifics of the Galena complex. Now moving over to our recent test work with metallurgical breakthroughs having the potential to add significant value at Galena. In Q3, we reported that test work by Allihies Engineering achieved over 99% antimony extractions from copper concentrate and reconfirming the 0.69:1 antimony to copper ratio of historical production at Galena. This means we are one of the only U.S. producers of antimony and will continue to be the largest producer of antimony for a while, even as some of the new mines come online. Antimony is a critical mineral for the defense and energy sectors, especially after China's 2024 export halt. And now silver has entered the critical minerals list following more potential export controls that target antimony and silver. What's more is that we're not stopping here. The next step in enhancing our value creation potential from antimony is through the ongoing test work being conducted by Allihies Engineering, which is focused on treating our concentrates to produce multiple salable antimony products. Historically, antimony was recovered from Galena Complex ore at the now decommissioned Sunshine antimony plant. So we have a strong technical precedent for the recovery test work currently underway. Now with that, I'll turn it over to you, Warren, for some financial highlights.

Thank you, Paul, and good morning, everyone. This morning, we released our Q3 2025 financial results. Our unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements and MD&A for the 3 months ended September 30, 2025, are available on our website and under Americas Gold and Silver's profile on both SEDAR+ and EDGAR. Revenue for the quarter was $30.6 million, an increase of 37% from Q3 2024 and a 13% increase over Q2 2025 due primarily to higher realized silver price of approximately $40 per ounce and higher silver production from both of our mines, as Paul has mentioned, despite lower zinc and lead production and prices. Preproduction sales of EC120 silver copper ore contributed a strong $12.9 million to revenue as we continue our transition into the EC120 ore body, where we expect higher silver and copper output. As Paul has already stated, this quarter, we produced 765,000 silver ounces, a 98% increase over last year and 877,000 silver equivalent ounces, including 2.3 million pounds of lead and over 550,000 pounds of copper. Cost per ounce metrics decreased materially across the board compared to last year -- or sorry, compared to last quarter with continued reductions expected as silver production increases at both of our mines. Cost of sales per silver equivalent ounce decreased 18% to approximately $23 per ounce. Cash cost per silver ounce decreased 10% to $24.11 and AISC per silver ounce decreased 9% to approximately $30 per ounce. Our net loss of $15.7 million decreased slightly from approximately $16 million in Q3 2024, benefiting strongly from our increased revenue, though offset by a noncash impact of net movements in our metals-based liabilities. The adjusted loss for the quarter was $4.3 million, a significant improvement over both the Q3 2024 loss of approximately $12 million and the Q2 2025 loss of approximately $12 million. Adjusted EBITDA was a positive $1.9 million, also a significant improvement over the Q3 2024 loss of $1.3 million and the Q2 2025 loss of $4.1 million. Our cash balance was approximately $39 million at the end of the quarter. The company has deployed approximately $29 million of its raised capital this year, investing in improving both of our mining operations, which Paul has elaborated earlier, including the hoist replacement, mining equipment and underground development at both of our operations. Working capital has improved significantly from the prior year-end and last quarter to a $6.2 million deficit. I will now turn the call over to Oliver.

Thank you, Warren, and good afternoon or good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to share some significant developments in our corporate strategy that are enhancing America's visibility in the market and outperformance. First, I'd like to highlight our continued delivery of over 80% in silver revenue exposure, providing a terrific vehicle for silver-focused investors to gain exposure to the metal. This quarter, silver as a percentage of revenue was 87%, demonstrating that we continue to be a leading North American silver producer. While this percentage may not remain stable every coming quarter as metal prices shift, it is a strong indicator of our progress and the effectiveness of our silver-focused strategy. With so few publicly listed silver-focused producers in North America following a couple of years of significant M&A in our concentrated sector, we're proud to be one of a select few with such strong exposure to silver. Over to Slide 13. One of the more significant future revenue sources at America beyond silver is anticipated to be antimony. During the quarter, we put out several releases highlighting the steps we are taking to maximize our antimony byproduct contribution. On September 8, we announced the second phase of test work, which confirmed not only 99% recovery of antimony, but also, once again, solidified that very important ratio of antimony to copper in our ore of 0.7:1. This is a very important metric at Galena, which is based not only on the test work completed this year, but by decades of past production assays. For investors looking for antimony exposure in a positive critical minerals environment, this ratio allows them to approximate the antimony endowment at Galena, which is very significant. Our efforts during the quarter extended from Idaho to Washington, D.C. with the announcement of the engagement of Lot 16, a leading D.C.-based government relations and communications firm to assist us in discussions with the U.S. government. Lot 16 has a track record of delivering with a number of our peers, and we look forward to their government guidance regarding support for our growing antimony production and as we explore potential local antimony processing options. One of the tremendous aspects to our growth story at Galena is that while we are focused on materially scaling our silver production, antimony and copper scale concurrently as we execute. Each ton of tetrahedrite ore we mine for our high-grade silver also contains strong antimony and copper grades, a dual additional benefit for Americas Gold and Silver shareholders as we grow production in Idaho. We do not need to focus on mining any different areas or developing into different areas. It all comes together in the same ton of rock. Moving forward, Americas is very proud to be a key player in helping address the shortage of U.S.-produced antimonies over the coming years. And finally, this quarter, we're very pleased to see Desjardins' Allison Carson and SCP's Justin Chan initiate coverage on Americas with buy ratings [ at ] CAD 750 and CAD 965 target prices, respectively. We also continue to have over 60% of our shares tightly held by institutions and insiders and other long-term investors, including Eric Sprott's approximately 20% stake, which underscores the strong alignment between management, insiders and our shareholders. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Paul for closing remarks.

Thank you, Oliver and Warren. Look, I know we've given you guys a lot of numbers today. It's been an extremely, extremely exciting quarter. Typically, we would be asking questions, but today, we're over to a panel here on the U.S. defense minerals. So we're going to be leaving this quarterly call into U.S. panels. So hopefully, you guys can join us on that panel, which will be quite exciting. But before we sign off, I just want to once again thank the teams at Galena, thank the teams in Mexico and most importantly, thank all our shareholders and all our analysts. We appreciate all your efforts and those of you who made the time to listen to us on the call today, have a great day, and we'll be talking to you guys soon. All the best. Thanks. Bye-bye.

This concludes the meeting. You may disconnect.