Eldorado Gold Corporation 2026 Q3 Earnings Call

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to our conference call to discuss our third quarter 2026 results. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that we will be making forward-looking statements 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 Christian Milau, President and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Ferneyhough, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Chief Financial Officer, and Simon Hille, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Our release yesterday detailed our third quarter 2026 financial and operating results.

The release should be read in conjunction with our Q3 2026 financial statements and management's discussions and analysis, both of which are available on our website and have been filed on SEDAR+ and EDGAR. All dollar figures discussed today are U.S. dollars, unless otherwise stated. For clarity, we have rounded certain figures for the purposes of this conference call. 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&A, at which time we will invite analysts to queue for questions. I will now turn the call over to Christian.

Thanks, Lynette, and good morning. I will begin with an overview of the third quarter and an update on Skouries. As I begin my first quarterly call as CEO, my focus is on building on Eldorado's high-quality, long-life asset base and the investments already made while improving execution consistency, enhancing capital discipline, and converting those investments into stronger cash flow and per-share value. With two new operations advancing through commissioning and ramp-up, together with significant exploration potential across the portfolio, you should expect us to set clear expectations, report transparently on our progress, and be disciplined in how we allocate capital and deliver our long-term plan. I cannot emphasize enough that our focus is on creating sustainable long-term value. We are making decisions with that objective in mind while remaining disciplined on near-term execution, capital allocation, and returns.

An important part of that discipline is how we approach project development and execution. With our recently hired and enhanced projects team embedded across the business, we have strengthened our approach to project governance. Going forward, we do not expect to undertake any significant capital project without the projects team involved from the outset, bringing greater discipline and consistency to project evaluation, planning, execution, and oversight. The Skouries inauguration earlier this month was a proud moment for our team, and the positive response from government representatives, including Prime Minister Mitsotakis, local communities, and other stakeholders, reinforced the significance of this project for Greece and the region. In addition, Skouries was designated a strategic project by the European Commission, and in the next week or so, we expect to be transporting our first batch of European-produced concentrate to a European smelter just a few hours from Skouries.

This is a key milestone for the team. Earlier in September, analysts and investors visited the site and saw firsthand the progress achieved as the operation advances through ramp-up. This week, we announced our first filtered tails, which was a critical milestone allowing the processing plant to operate continuously and start the ramp-up towards commercial production during this quarter. This is an exciting time for Skouries and all our partners and stakeholders. I also want to thank George for his leadership over the past nine years and for the strong foundation he helped build. I am pleased that he will remain an important shareholder, supporter, and board member. Turning to the quarter, the quarter marked an important step forward for Eldorado. Skouries produced first copper gold concentrate, and McIlvenna Bay continued to ramp up following first copper and zinc concentrate.

We expect both operations to achieve commercial production in late Q4. At Skouries, the ramp-up has taken longer and cost more than we expected, and it is important that we acknowledge that directly. Our immediate priority is to safely complete the remaining commissioning work, achieve commercial production, and establish stable, predictable operating performance. We are building strong momentum toward that goal and are encouraged by the progress we are seeing. Based on our year-to-date performance, we have revised our 2026 production guidance. For our operating assets, excluding Skouries and McIlvenna Bay, we now expect gold production of 410,000 to 430,000 ounces. Strong performance at Lamaque is partially offsetting lower expected production at Kışladağ and Olympias, with the Olympias expansion now expected to begin ramping up in Q1 2027.

At Skouries, we now expect 2026 production of 10,000 to 35,000 ounces of gold and 5 million to 15 million pounds of copper, reflecting the slower-than-expected ramp-up. The revision reflects the timing of the ramp-up and does not change our current expectations for Skouries's long-term design capacity, and based on the progress we are seeing and our current ramp-up plans, we remain comfortable with our expectations for Skouries in 2027. Importantly, the momentum we have built over the last few days with the tailings filter presses and the processing plant now operational, we remain focused on maintaining that momentum through the remainder of the ramp-up. More broadly, despite the changes we are making to our 2026 guidance today, we remain comfortable with our overall outlook for 2027.

We expect to enter the year with Skouries and McIlvenna Bay advancing through ramp-up, the Olympias expansion coming online, and the benefits of the work underway at Kışladağ beginning to contribute. Turning more specifically to Skouries on slide 5. First production of the copper gold concentrate was achieved on September 8th. The process plant is substantially complete and operating as expected as a part of the ramp-up. The optimization and performance testing continuing across the circuit. One milestone we are particularly excited about is the start of the two filter presses at Skouries, which we announced on Monday. We continue to press tails successfully on a consistent basis this week. If you haven't yet watched the video that accompanied the release, I strongly encourage you to do so.

It's impressive to see the sheer scale of the filter presses in operation, the filter cake discharging onto the conveyors, and the material moving out to the tailings management facility. It's a great visual representation of the progress being made at Skouries. Those two filter presses enable continuous plant operation, which is an important step forward. We require four operating filter presses to support commercial production, and commissioning of the remaining units is progressing well. With the additional units expected to come online in November, and likely within the next couple of weeks. The site was successfully energized on September 28th, completing the connection to grid power. All temporary generators have now been demobilized, providing the reliable long-term power infrastructure needed for commissioning and ramp-up.

Mining activities in both the open pit and underground continue to perform well, with a significant stockpile of both open pit and underground ore, providing substantial feed availability as the plant ramps up. Underground development is advancing according to plan with 2,100 meters completed during the quarter, and the east ramp breakthrough achieved. Following first concentrate and the revised timing of commercial production, estimated total project capital for Skouries is approximately $1.425 billion, an increase that consists of $65 million of project capital and $45 million of previously guided growth capital that had been expected following commercial production but is now expected to be incurred prior to commercial production and is therefore reported as project capital. To reiterate, this $45 million of capital is not new, it's just reclassified from the operating period to the capital period before commercial production.

The actual increase of $65 million primarily reflects higher contractor workforce requirements, extended use of temporary power, additional owners' costs, and other execution-related costs associated with the longer commissioning period. We also expect accelerated operational capital of $390 million, an increase that consists of $95 million of additional operational costs and $35 million of previously guided sustaining capital that had been expected following commercial production. It is now expected to be incurred and capitalized during the pre-commercial production period and is therefore reported as accelerated operating capital. Again, this $35 million of capital is not new and just reclassified from the operating period to the capital period before commercial production. The actual increase of $95 million primarily reflects activities that support continued growth of the ore stockpiles ahead of our first production, further advancement of the underground mine, and advancing the site general earthworks.

We have also taken a cautious and prudent approach by separately identifying up to an additional $30 million contingency that may be incurred depending on the exact timing of commercial production. The classification of these expenditures will depend on when commercial production is achieved, with amounts potentially reflected in project capital, AOC, sustaining capital, or growth capital. Given the positive momentum we have seen over the past week, we certainly do not expect to use this contingency. However, in the interest of being prudent and transparent, we believe it is appropriate to include it in our estimates at this stage. Based on our current cost and schedule assumptions, the project remains fully funded. With that, I will turn it over to Paul to review the financial results.

Thank you, Christian, and good morning, everyone. Turning to slide seven. Our third quarter financial results benefited from higher realized gold prices while we continued to invest significantly in driving Skouries and McIlvenna Bay towards commercial production. During the quarter, we produced 106,000 ounces of gold and sold 107,000 ounces. Lamaque delivered another strong quarter benefiting from higher throughput grade and recoveries, including the contribution from Ormaque. This helped partially offset lower production at Kışladağ and Efemçukuru. Revenue increased 18% year-over-year to $512 million, supported by an average realized gold price of $4,326 per ounce in the quarter, compared with $3,527 per ounce in the third quarter of 2025. The benefit from higher realized prices more than offset the impact of lower gold sales volumes. Production costs were $200 million compared with $164 million in the prior year quarter.