Transcription
So the company continues to generate very significant cash flows. Fully funded, to complete the project. As Granville talked about. So we kind of, just above CapEx spend with $137 million, on the balance sheet. We have, more than enough, capital to complete another 70 million in CapEx or so.
Hello, you're watching Proactive. I'm joined by ACG Metals Chairman and CEO Artem Volynets, as well as Vice President of Projects Graeme Rapley. Artem, Graeme, very good to speak with you. Artem, I'll start off with you. You had a solid third quarter with production and costs both tracking within guidance. What were the key factors behind maintaining such strong operational performance through the period?
Thank you, Stephen. Good to be back here. Essentially, as you might have seen in our Q3 results, this is a stable, steady quarter. No major news, progression, on time and on budget for the project, which Graeme will talk about. A relatively small year is expected given the seasonality in our production profile for the third quarter. But importantly, we are very much on track to meet the full year guidance of 36,000 to 38,000oz of gold equivalent. Costs are more or less on track as well. So with, year-to-date costs of US$1,131/oz AuEq. It's certainly much below the current gold price and levels. So the company continues to generate very significant cash flows, fully funded, to complete the project, as Graeme talked about. So we kind of just above CapEx spend with $137 million on the balance sheet. We have more than enough capital to complete another 70 million in CapEx or so. So on budget, on track, steady production, importantly, also, no LTE, health and safety all in line. No accidents of any sort since production started at this Gediktepe mine, which is usually a good indication of good operational practices.
Graeme, as Artem said, the Gediktepe copper sulfide expansion project seems to be progressing well. Major milestones achieved in the third quarter. Could you walk us through the current stage of construction and what's next on the schedule, as the project targets for production by the end of the first half of 2026?
Yes, Stephen. As Artem said, we are progressing very well. We're progressing on schedule and well within our budget to achieve our goal of starting commercial production halfway through next year. Currently, we're working on all of the foundations, which is the jaw crusher through to the fine ore bins, through to the mills, which is the ball mill and the SAG mill, through to the, flotation areas, thickeners, and then finally to the filter press room and the shed. We have got our foundations and steelwork up for our primary crusher. We've got steelwork up on a trench foot tower. We have 800m³ of concrete left to pour on the fine ore bin and the pebble crusher area, moving through to the jaw1 crusher. We've completed soil replacement work on the jaw crushers, on the mill, and the sag mill would work. And we'll be starting the foundation work early next week in that area. We have also completed all of the excavation work in the flotation area where they are laying concrete already poured, and again, foundation work will start on that next week through to the thickener. Excavation work is progressing on that. And then the filtration shed itself, which is our filter presses, which reduces the water content in the ore, both the copper and the and the and the zinc ore. We have completed all the foundations on that building. Already, we had a 850 cubic meter pour last Friday night, which completed on time, which was really great to see. Major milestone that we've got late this year is bringing our electrical contractor onsite within the next three weeks. He'll be on site and establishing himself. We need to start doing all of the electrical work for the project. And our major milestones next year is taking delivery of our mills, which is the ball mill and the SAG mill. I visited the manufacturer of the SAG mills on Friday, and that progressing very well. They are on schedule with delivering in December of this year, transporting into site very early in January, and setting on the mills by the end of January, early February of next year. We have a lot of equipment on site at the moment. We've got a jaw crusher, pebble crusher, and other items on, on, on site. We have received just on 2000 tonne of the 7000 tonnes of steel that we'll be putting up. But next year is going to be for the first two months is going to be really exciting with taking delivery of virtually all of our long lead items and equipment that will be very early on in the, in the, in the project. So, will be, as I said, we'll be taking delivery very early next week. And as they come, we'll be putting them on foundations. Again, another major event that will be taking place very early next year is our pipework, which is the my one of the most essential things apart from electrical, etcetera. We'll be getting into that. Probably within the middle of February. And SMP contractor, which is that steel, mechanical and piping contractor, is already established on site. We brought them in as the also as a civil contractor. That is really great. We are building up slowly to a peak of manpower, which will be in January, which will be roughly 500 people on site. That's just a quick overview of where we're going to be by the end of this year. And we will be in mid-term next year, and will be achieving our commercial production on time.
Artem, looking ahead to the rest of 2025, what are the company's top priorities, both for progressing the sulfide expansion and also for maintaining production and cost guidance across your operations?
So, Graeme has already explained a lot of effort that is going into the sulfide project. We continue to progress on time and on budget to reach full commercial production by the end of the first half of next year. On the production of gold and silver, we expect a good quarter, seasonally adjusted. Typically, the first quarter has more production, and then a second and a third quarter. So we are working to get into the to meet our guidance of 38,000 to 36,000oz and maintain our costs, which we have done. So, so far, quite, quite well, as you may have seen in our Q3 release, the year-to-date C1 costs decreased by 30% in, in the year-to-date, to $432 per ounce of gold equivalent. And this is good. And then the final bid that we expect to announce to the markets is our technical solution to process so-called enriched ore and the successful technical solution to that significant additional gold ounces. So the next several years, to the production of copper concentrate and zinc concentrate, and we can, if we can process enriched ore in parallel, that is going to be a significant upside from where we are today.
Well, Artem, Graeme, I hope you'll continue to keep us updated with your progress. Thank you very much for speaking with us today.
Thank you. Thank you. That's ACG Metals Chairman and CEO Artem Volynets, as well as Vice President of Projects Graeme Rapley.