Guanajuato Silver – Q3 Financials Show Second Quarter Of Positive Mine Operating Income, Debt Repayments, Ongoing Optimization Of Operations, And Exploration Update
James Anderson, CEO of Guanajuato Silver (TSX.V:GSVR – OTCQX:GSVRF), joins me to outline the key takeaways from Q3 financials, the ongoing optimization at their operations from their 5 silver-gold mines and 3 processing facilities in central Mexico. We get an exploration update from the Pinguico Mine and the Valenciana Mines Complex along with processes underway at the Cata mine and mill, review the 2 new filter presses at the Topia Mine and mill, look ahead to an updated resource estimate at El Cubo Mine and potential options for filling more capacity at the El Cubo mill, and we discuss the commissioning of the ore sorter machine at the San Ignacio Mine.
Selected Q3 2024 (Three Month Period) Highlights:
- Positive mine operating income of $515,576; Q3 represents the second consecutive quarter of positive income from mining operations.
- All-in Sustaining Cost ("AISC")* of $23.88 per silver-equivalent ("AgEq") ounce; this represents a 7% improvement over the previous quarter.
- Cash cost per AgEq ounce was $18.78; this was a 6% improvement over the previous quarter.
- Production for the quarter of 779,797 AgEq derived from 413,607 ounces of silver, 3,617 ounces of gold, 806,945 pounds of lead and 926,056 pounds of zinc.
- Silver production of 413,607 ounces was an increase of 4% over the previous quarter.
- During the quarter the Company confirmed an important production milestone - over 3,000,000 AgEq ounces had been produced at El Cubo since the restart of operations in late 2021.
- In the quarter, the Company announced the complete repayment of its US$7,500,000 silver and gold pre-payment facility to Swiss-based precious metals trading firm, OCIM Metals & Mining S.A.; this followed the Q2 repayment in full of the US$5,000,000 concentrate pre-payment facility owed to Ocean Partners UK Limited.
- Revenue for the quarter of $18.3M represented a 17% increase over Q3 2023, and a decrease of 11% over the previous quarter.
- Positive adjusted EBITDA* of $892,277; the second consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA confirms that cash flow from mining operations is improving.
The Company produces silver and gold concentrates from the El Cubo Mine Complex, Valenciana Mines Complex, and the San Ignacio mine; all three mines are located within the state of Guanajuato, which has an established 480-year mining history. In addition, the Company produces silver, gold, lead, and zinc concentrates from the Topia mine in northwestern Durango. The operations team is also augmenting material at the Cata processing facility in Guanajuato with ore from both the historic Horcon Mine project, located in the state of Jalisco, and from stockpiles at the Pinguico mine. This effectively means they are seeing production from 6 of their mines, even though only the 4 primary mines have active ongoing underground mining.
If you have any follow up questions for James on Guanajuato Silver, then please email me at Shad@kereport.com and we’ll get those addressed by management or in future interviews.
* In full disclosure, Shad has a position in Guanajuato Silver at the time of this recording.
