Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Friday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.
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The full earnings call is available at https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=VbJHuSmZ
Summary
Eldorado Gold reported a 13% decrease in gold production for Q1 2026 year-over-year, with total revenue exceeding $532 million due to significantly higher gold prices.
The company is advancing two major growth projects: Scouries in Greece and Macavena Bay in Saskatchewan, expecting both to enhance production and cash flow in the second half of 2026.
A 155 million USD increase in capital expenditure for Scouries was announced, primarily due to additional labor costs associated with completing electrical and instrumentation work.
Eldorado Gold expects to commence copper production from Macavena Bay and Scouries, diversifying its portfolio with exposure to copper in stable jurisdictions.
George Burns announced his retirement as CEO, with Christian Milao set to take over, ensuring leadership continuity as the company transitions through key operational milestones.
Full Transcript
George Burns (Chief Executive Officer)
Thank you Lynette and good morning everyone. I’ll begin with an overview of our first quarter and provide brief updates on Makavena Bay and Scourias. I’ll then hand the call over to Paul to review the financials and then to Simon with an update on our operations. Following that, Christian will make some concluding remarks before opening up the call for questions. We’ve had a very busy and solid start to 2026 with performance in the quarter tracking in line with our expectations and full year guidance. This year production is back half weighted as two mines come into production and several other operations deliver stronger results later in the year. 2026 is an important year for El Dorado as we continue to advance two high quality growth projects Scurias in Greece and Macavena Bay in Saskatchewan. Macaquena Bay is nearing first concentrate production followed by first concentrate at Skouries in Q3. Once in operation, both assets will meaningfully enhance our production profile and cash flow generation starting in the third quarter of 2026. To provide greater transparency as these polymetallic assets come online, we plan to enhance our disclosure by reporting copper assets on a dollar per pound co product basis for Skouries and Macaquena Bay. Before getting into the project updates, I want to note that as previously announced, I plan to retire as CEO later this year as we ramp up Skouries towards commercial production. Christian, who joined us last September, has been deeply involved across the business and is set up to seamlessly step into the role at that time. I’m pleased to remain on the board to support continuity and Dan Meyerson has joined the board as Deputy Chair providing important continuity from the foreign side. I want to take a moment to recognize the achievement of our colleagues at the Macaquena. In March they received the TSM Gold Leadership Award, a special recognition for mining operations who achieved Level aaa, the highest possible rating across all applicable TSM performance indicators. This recognition reflects the dedication of our employees and our unwavering commitment to responsible mining in Quebec and across our global operations where TSM protocols are applied as a matter of practice under El Dorado’s Sustainability Integrated Management System. Well done Macaquena team. The foreign transaction represents a significant milestone for Eldorado at Macaquena Bay. We have now begun integration activities and are working closely with the existing team as the project nears first concentrate production. Following the close, members of our management team visited Saskatchewan and the macpay Project to welcome the team to El Dorado, see progress firsthand and engage with our stakeholders in Saskatchewan. What stood out was the enthusiasm of our new team, the capabilities supporting the operation and the clear focus on safety, collaboration and responsible execution. Now that Macaquena Bay is part of our portfolio, we expect to provide the following with our second quarter results, Macaquena Bay production and cost outlook for 2026 timing for an expansion study and progress on a study for potential lead Silver circuit Following the close of the transaction, we have already approved approximately $17 million spend on exploration for the remainder of 2026, reflecting the target rich environment in our view that continued exploration success has the potential to drive meaningful long term value. The quality of Macaquena Bay and its exploration potential reinforce our confidence that it will become a long term cornerstone asset within our portfolio, delivering near term growth while adding copper exposure in a stable top three global mining friendly jurisdiction. Turning to Scurries in Greece on slide 6. Construction activities continue to progress well across all major areas. The team remains focused on disciplined safe execution as we move through the final construction phase at the end of the quarter. Overall project progress was approximately 94%, steadily advancing towards first concentrate production as execution activities have progressed and the project advances toward construction completion on schedule, we have updated our forecast to complete and have revised our total project capital to $1.315 billion, an increase of approximately 155 million from the prior estimate. The primary driver was an increase related to construction workforce levels to support sustained final construction momentum. Total workforce has increased from 2350 in Miguel 1 to approximately 3200 which includes about 490 in operations. Advancing scurries in safe production in the current metal environment is a key driver of value creation. This incremental capital reflects our continued focus on maintaining momentum and towards first and first concentrate production. Accelerated operational capital at securities is now expected to be approximately 260 million, reflecting an incremental 82 million to expand pre commercial mining and site works. This supports open pit mining and advancing underground development ahead of first production. We’re well positioned for startup with more than 2.8 million tons of horse stockpiled which provides the entire planned mill tonnage for 2026 overall. This investment supports a smoother ramp up into production. On the process plant. Work remains focused on final mechanical installations, piping cable tray cabling as we prepare for first or with respect to the damage cyclone feed pump variable speed drives. Temporary replacement equipment is expected to be installed in Q2 high and medium voltage electrical distribution for multiple substations is progressing. The process control building structure is complete and electrical rooms are being progressively handed over to commissioning on the power line and substations. The 150kV power line and primary substation continue to advance to start up in Q3 ahead of grinding area or commissioning. Final electrical regulatory authority approval will require completion of inspection and energization protocols. Power line construction is progressing with the transmission tower assembly complete and pilot wire pulling now underway along the transmission line. The primary substation is advancing through ongoing assembly of the substation structures and control building structural completion. Pre commissioning is now underway starting with the substations that feed the process plant, filter plant, the primary crusher. While commissioning continues across fire, utility and process water systems in parallel. We’ve begun pre commissioning and flotation focused on air and instrumentation as well as a sag and ball mill, instrumentation, electrical and control systems and we started wet commissioning in the process water pumps and tailing thickeners together, scouries at Macavena Bay represent a step change for Eldorado in scale and portfolio diversification across jurisdictions and metals. With that, I’ll turn it over to Paul to review the financial results.
Paul Fernyhough (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)
Thank you, George and good morning. I’ll start on slide 7. In Q1 2026, we produced 100,358 ounces of gold, a 13% decrease year over year, primarily reflecting lower tonnes at stacked grades at Kisladag and lower grades at Efemçukuru, partially offset by higher grades and improved recoveries at Olympias and Lamaque. Gold sales totalled 100,619 ounces ounces at an average realized gold price of $4,891 per ounce, generating total revenue in excess of $532 million, a 50% increase from $355 million in the comparable quarter last year, driven by significantly higher gold prices. Production costs were $188 million, up from just over $148 million, driven primarily by royalty expense in Turkey and Greece, which accounted for approximately 70% of the increase, with the balance largely attributable to labour inflation in Turkey and incremental labour and contractor costs associated with continued development of the Lamaque complex. Royalty expense increased to $50 million from $22 million last year, reflecting higher realized gold …
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