Eldorado Gold (TSX:ELD) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Friday. Read the complete transcript below.
This transcript is brought to you by Benzinga APIs. For real-time access to our entire catalog, please visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ for a consultation.
View the webcast at https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=VbJHuSmZ
Summary
Eldorado Gold reported a 13% year-over-year decrease in gold production for Q1 2026, with total revenue increasing by 50% to over $532 million due to higher gold prices.
The company is advancing two major projects—Scouries in Greece and Macavena Bay in Saskatchewan—with anticipated production starting in Q3 2026.
Earnings per share from continuing operations increased to 69 cents, with adjusted net earnings at 95 cents per share.
All-in sustaining costs rose due to higher royalty expenses and labor inflation, particularly in Turkey.
CEO George Burns announced his retirement, with Christian Milao set to succeed him, ensuring continuity in leadership.
The company has increased its exploration budget significantly, focusing on high-potential targets at Macavena Bay and other locations.
Capital costs at Scouries have increased by $155 million due to additional workforce requirements for electrical and instrumentation work.
Management remains confident in maintaining operational and financial performance, with a focus on strategic growth and shareholder returns.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
Thank you for standing by. This is the conference Operator. Welcome to the Eldorado Gold first quarter 2026 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press Star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing STAR and zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Lynette Gould, Vice President, Investor Relations, Communications and External affairs. Please go ahead, Ms. Gould. Thank you Operator and good morning everyone. I’d like to welcome you to our conference call to discuss our first quarter 2026 results. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that we will be making forward looking statements and and referring to non IFRS measures during the call. Please refer to the cautionary statements included in the presentation and the disclosure on non IFRS measures and risk factors in our management’s discussion and analysis. Joining me on the call today we have George Burns, Chief Executive Officer, Christian Milao, President, Paul Fernyhough, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and Simon Hilley, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Our release Yesterday details our first quarter 2026 financial and operating results. The release should be read in conjunction with our Q1 2026 financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis, both of which are available on our website. They have also both been filed on SEDAR plus and NGIRs. All dollar figures discussed today are US Dollars unless otherwise stated. We will be speaking to the slides that accompany this webcast which can be downloaded from our website. After the prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q and A at which time we will invite analysts to queue for questions. I will now turn the call over to George.
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 Skouries. 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 Maca Bay in Saskatchewan. Maca 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 Mac 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 Mock. 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 Lamaque team. The foreign transaction represents a significant milestone for Eldorado at Mac 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 Mac Bay is part of our portfolio, we expect to provide the following with our second quarter results, Mac 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 Mac 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 Skouries 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 …
This post was originally published here
