Centerra Gold Inc. Stock price
Compare with Peer Group
📊 Peer Group
📈 What is it?
The peer group consists of the companies with the most similar business model. They serve as a benchmark for putting a stock into context.
🧮 How is it selected?
Based on similarity of business model, meaning companies from the same industry with comparable products and a similar customer base. That's the only way to compare apples to apples.
🏛️ Why does it matter?
Whether a stock is cheap or expensive is best judged by comparison. A P/E of 18 or an EV/FCF of 20 can look cheap or expensive depending on the yardstick. The peer group gives you the most accurate one: companies with a similar business model that operate under the same conditions.
🎯 What does it mean for investors?
When a metric sits below the peer average, the stock is valued more cheaply relative to its competitors, and above the average more expensively. A discount to the peer group can be an opportunity, but it can also have a reason (for example lower growth). The comparison is a starting point, not a verdict.
Is Centerra Gold Inc. a Top Scorer Stock based on the Dividend, High-Growth-Investing or Leverman Strategy?
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🧮 Calculation
Market Cap = $4.45b | Revenue (TTM) = $1.72b
Market Cap = $4.45b | Estimated Revenue = $1.89b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🧮 Calculation
Enterprise Value = $4.04b | Revenue (TTM) = $1.72b
Enterprise Value = $4.04b | Forward Revenue = $1.89b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF)
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF shows how many years it would take for a company to "pay back" its enterprise value using its free cash flow.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It focuses on real cash generation, ignoring accounting noise — ideal for assessing profitability and value based on liquidity, not earnings.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF may signal undervaluation and strong cash generation.
- A high EV/FCF might reflect weak recent cash flow or aggressive growth expectations.
- Best suited for stable, mature businesses with predictable free cash flows.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Dividend per Share (DPS)
📈 What is it?
Dividend per Share shows how much cash a company pays out to shareholders for each share they own – usually on an annual or quarterly basis.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
DPS is the absolute value of the payout per share – crucial for income-focused investors and dividend strategies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable or growing DPS often signals a strong, shareholder-friendly business.
- DPS alone doesn’t tell you how attractive the payout is – the stock price also matters (→ see Dividend Yield).
- Long-term dividend growth is often a hallmark of high-quality companies – like the dividend aristocrats.
📘 Dividend Yield
📈 What is it?
Dividend yield shows how large a company’s dividend is in relation to its current share price.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It allows investors to compare dividend payouts across stocks, regardless of price or payout size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable yield can reflect reliable distributions.
- Comparing 1Y and 5Y yield shows whether dividend growth keeps pace with stock price appreciation.
- A low yield isn’t always negative – it can signal strong past performance or growth focus.
📘 Dividend Growth
📈 What is it?
Dividend growth shows how much a company has increased its dividend per share over time.
🧮 How is it calculated?
5Y: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
🏛️ Why is it important?
Consistently rising dividends are often a sign of financial strength and shareholder orientation – especially relevant for long-term investors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stable dividend growth is a sign of sustainable earning power.
- High dividend growth can significantly boost your total return:
- If a company pays $1 in dividends and increases it by 15% annually over 5 years, you’ll receive $2 per share in year 5 – twice as much as at the start!
📘 Payout Ratio
📈 What is it?
The payout ratio shows what percentage of a company’s earnings (per share) is distributed to shareholders as dividends.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess whether the dividend is sustainable – especially in relation to the company’s profitability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low payout ratio means the company retains more earnings for reinvestment – typical for growth companies.
- A moderate payout (e.g. 25–50%) indicates a healthy balance between returns and reinvestment.
- High payout ratios may seem attractive but can carry risk if earnings decline.
📘 Consecutive Dividend Increases
📈 What is it?
This metric shows how many consecutive years a company has raised its dividend per share – without any cuts or pauses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(Special dividends are not considered.)
🏛️ Why is it important?
A long track record of increases reflects financial strength, consistency, and shareholder commitment.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A long dividend increase streak builds confidence – especially in volatile markets.
- Such companies are seen as reliable and income-friendly investments.
- The longer the streak, the stronger the company’s dividend discipline.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow means the company generates real, usable cash – independent of reported net income.
- It’s often the most reliable base for sustainable dividends and buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be an early warning sign – even when profits appear stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free cash flow margin
📈 What is it?
The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high FCF margin means a company consistently generates strong cash flow.
- It’s a positive signal for financial stability and shareholder returns.
- The long-term trend is key – a declining margin may indicate rising investments or weakening operating efficiency.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Turnover per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high revenue per employee indicates a scalable and margin-strong business model.
- A low figure may reflect labor-intensive operations or lower value-add.
- Especially helpful when comparing tech companies to industrial or service sectors.
Centerra Gold Inc. Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
18 Analysts have issued a Centerra Gold Inc. forecast:
Analyst Opinions
18 Analysts have issued a Centerra Gold Inc. forecast:
Centerra Gold Inc. Events
Past Events
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SEP
9
Special Call - Centerra Gold Inc.
12 days ago
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JUL
29
Q2 2026 Earnings Call
about 2 months ago
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MAY
5
Shareholder/Analyst Call - Centerra Gold Inc.
5 months ago
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Centerra Gold Inc. — Special Call - Centerra Gold Inc.
1. Management Discussion
Hi, everyone, and welcome to Centerra Gold's Investor Webinar. If you receive the invitation and you're joining us today, we've most likely previously met during a conference roadshow or a one-on-one meeting. If you're new to Centerra and haven't met with us before, welcome.
Today, we want to give everyone an opportunity to hear our strategy directly from our CEO, Paul Tomory; and our CFO, Ryan Snyder, and provide an opportunity for you to ask questions directly to the management team. We'll start with a short presentation followed by a Q&A session. We've compiled the questions we've received ahead of this call, but there's also an opportunity for you to submit questions today.
If you look to the bottom of your screen. You can submit question using the Q&A box, and we will do our best to answer all of the questions, during the time here today. If we can't get to your questions, we will follow up directly after the call.
Today's presentation may include forward-looking statements. For information, please refer to the cautionary statement in our presentation and the risk factors outlined in our AIF.
I'd now like to pass the call over to Paul, who will walk us through Centerra's self-funded organic growth strategy and an overview of Q2 and what you can expect for the second half of the year. Paul?
Thank you, Lisa, and it's great to see such a robust turnout on this call, and good to be in front of you to talk about the company. The company in a snapshot, we're a mid-tier gold mining company, though we do have strong exposure to copper and to a lesser extent, molybdenum. But our portfolio is principally North America based. And what I'll do is I'll give a quick overview of the portfolio.
We have 2 operating assets. Our flagship mine is the Mount Milligan copper gold mine in Northern BC. And then we have Oksut mine in Turkey, which is a gold producer, strong cash flow generator and a reliable operation. We have a very deep development pipeline.
We are currently building the new mine in Nevada called Gold Field. It will be a heap leach operation of a similar scale to our mine in Turkey. We are advancing studies on the very large copper gold deposit in British Columbia called Kemess. It will be almost a twin to Mount Milligan, 2 very long-life copper gold mines in British Columbia.
And then lastly, we are advancing our molybdenum strategy. Our molybdenum assets are comprised of the Thompson Creek mine in Idaho. We are well on the way to reopening that mine. And also in the United States is the Langeloth Metallurgical Facility, which is a molybdenum roaster or molybdenum processing plant located just outside Pittsburgh. Together, those 2 comprise U.S. moly, and we treat those as a business unit within the company.
I'll talk a little bit about molybdenum here. It's a metal use of alloy steel, and it's currently in very high demand. There's a shortage of supply and prices have really traded up. So we see a real differential opportunity here in a strategic critical metal.
Nevertheless, the bulk of our production is gold, followed by copper. And right now, molybdenum represents about 10% to 15% of our complete company value. We have a very strong balance sheet. We finished the last quarter at over $450 million of cash, added to our line of credit over $1 billion of liquidity. We have a strong operationally focused management team. We've recently hired a new COO, Kelly Strong, who comes with over 30 years of deep technical and operating experience. And we've got a robust team in place at all of our assets, especially at our development projects as we start to ramp up new production.
So the way to look at Centerra is we have operations, which generate cash that can fund our development projects. We won't need to raise money through equity financings or debt financings. We are -- with a strong balance sheet, we are funded to build our projects.
I'll talk a little bit later on our -- how we look at our valuation, but we believe that our shares represent a very compelling place to invest our capital. So we've had a very active share buyback program going over the last 2, 3 years. and we've now paid a dividend for coming up on 7 years.
In terms of what the year looks like, I'll ask Ryan to talk about how we've guided for the year and results thus far.
Thanks, Paul. And so yes, just a bit of an overview of where we stand on the year. Obviously, everybody can read the public documents or MD&A and our press releases.
I would characterize where we are as right on track. We produced 70,000 ounces of gold and 13 million pounds of copper in the second quarter. And if we look at where we're sitting for each asset, Mount Milligan is operating directly in line with our current plans. We did put out a PFS last year with a new mine plan going forward, and we're aligned with that. Mount Milligan is well on track for its production guidance for the year, which is 140,000 to 155,000 ounces of gold and 50 million to 60 million pounds of copper.
And as Paul mentioned, it's generating really strong cash flow. So it's made $195 million of free cash flow through the first 6 months of the year, and we expect strong cash flow from Mount Milligan going forward.
At Oksut, operation is probably a little bit better than we thought. So we did increase our production guidance for Oksut as part of our Q2 disclosures. Originally, we were looking at 110,000 to 125,000 ounces from Oksut this year. We bumped that up by 10,000 ounces to 120,000 to 135,000 ounces. And that's predicated on really strong performance. Oksut's at 71,000 ounces of production through the first half of the year, really strong grades coming out of the mine, really strong recoveries through the heap leach, and we've optimized some operating practices there, which is resulting in extra production at the mine.
So right where we want to be from a production point of view. I would say, we're doing well on costs as well. I know there's a lot of talk and conversation on inflation and cost escalation at other mining companies. Mount Milligan, there is a little bit of inflation on labor and diesel and things like that, but we do hedge diesel at Mount Milligan. And so we're about 40% hedged for diesel cost this year, and the really strong copper production and copper prices are more than outweighing that.
And so we're really heading probably towards the lower end of the ASIC range for Mount Milligan through year-to-date at Q2, we were below the bottom end of our range. And so we're holding to our cost profile at Mount Milligan. And similarly at Oksut. Oksut is a small mine. There is inflation in Turkey. It's an inflationary economy. There's always pressure on labor costs there, but really strong production is more than offsetting that. And that increase in the production profile is again pulling our cost profile towards the bottom end of the range for Oksut.
The combination of both of those assets, again, produces really strong cash flow. As Paul noted, we're sitting at $451 million of cash at the end of Q2. We do have a $600 million credit facility that's untouched, and we have no debt. So a really, really strong cash position, which has always been a hallmark of Centerra kind of moving forward. The molybdenum business right now is using cash.
We continue to invest in the restart of Thompson Creek, spent about $90 million in the first half of the year, and we're guiding in the range of about $200 million for the full year. But we're on the path to restarting that mine. And the plan is to have that restarted and have first production by the middle of 2027. And so soon, this mine will flip from a use of cash to a generator of cash and be another pillar of cash generation for Centerra as we work to bring the other gold and gold copper assets online.
In terms of the buybacks, we're very committed to buybacks. As Paul noted, we believe we have a very compelling valuation given where our shares are trading. We bought back 50 million shares in Q2, and the Board has approved up to $200 million of buybacks this year. And really, our strategy here is to continue to shrink the share count, especially if our shares continue to trade at a discounted valuation while developing these assets and really giving people exposure to more of the value in these assets with a lower share count. And I'll speak to that a little bit more in future slides.
Paul, I'll pass back to you, but that's a brief summary of Q2. And really the takeaway is we're right on track with where we want to be.
With this slide, I'll do a bit of a deeper dive on each of the assets in the portfolio. But let me begin by saying that some people still associate Centerra with a mine in Kyrgyzstan called Kumtor that the company really was founded on the basis of that mine. Centerra no longer has any association with Kyrgyzstan. That mine was nationalized 4, 5 years ago.
And what we have today is, I'd say, the new portfolio compared to what people used to associate Centerra with. What we've done over the course of the last 2, 3 years is taken the assets that were in the portfolio. Many of them were closed mines. They're on care and maintenance. They had unclear future. They are unapproved projects. And what we did is we restudied all of our mines to assess their potential. And fortunately, each of the mines had a substantial metal inventory in the ground, in many cases, with existing process infrastructure. And simply what they needed was a refreshed look, a deeper technical understanding so we come to a path to a longer life or a project to open a mine.
So in the case of Mount Milligan, we currently have a reserve that extends out to 2045. A couple of years ago, it was less than half that. We were -- the mine was going to end in the early 2030s. We've done an extensive drilling program. We completed a PFS on the mine's potential about a year ago, and that extended the life to 2045. And that's just the start. There's significant continued mineralization at the site that could lead to mine life extensions well into the 2050s or beyond.
But for now, the reserve life is 2045. And as I said, that's copper and gold in a safe jurisdiction in British Columbia. The Oksut mine in Turkey currently has mine life ending in 2029, but we are working on a mine life extension project. We've been public about that, and we anticipate releasing the results of that study with our year-end results in early 2027, and we're optimistic that we'll be able to add some incremental production there.
Our third gold asset is Goldfield. We are mid-flight on construction. We recently revised the amount of spend this year, not because we're seeing higher costs, but rather we've been able to spend more quickly and mobilize our contractors efficiently. So that project is proceeding extremely well, and we're expecting first production in about 2 years at Goldfield. That has an initial mine life out to the mid-2030s. But even at Goldfield, we believe there may be exploration potential.
Our flagship project is Kemess. As I said earlier, similar to Mount Milligan, copper, gold, we released a PEA at the early part of this year, and that showed like Mount Milligan, a mine life out to the 2040s with lots of exploration potential. The initial study mines out just less than half the total resource. And we thought that a 15- to 70-year starter mine life was something we could begin work on a PFS, and we're active on that PFS, and we intend to release that sometime next year.
So Kemess is a large, as I said, copper gold project. It's a past producer. So the mill is in place. There's tailings facilities in place, camp, airstrip, we have a power line. So truly, it's a brownfield expansion, which represents a lower risk profile when compared to similar size, similar scope greenfield projects in remote areas of British Columbia.
And so we think that Kemess is a game changer because what it will do is it will turn Centerra into a large-scale gold and copper producer, principally in British Columbia with lots of exploration potential.
And then lastly, advancing a little bit of what Ryan talked about, we have $182 million of CapEx left at Thompson Creek, and we'll be up and running in the middle part of next year, and that will give us mine life until the end of the 2030s, after which our intent would be to restart the Endako mine in British Columbia to give us a couple of decades or more of molybdenum production.
So this page represents the company on a page. It shows our reserve lives. It shows our CapEx profile for our major projects, Thompson Creek, Goldfield, Kemess. And then it shows where we think that there's significant exploration potential for mine life extension. I should also note that the CapEx for Thompson Creek then Goldfield and Kemess is sequence. So we're not experiencing particularly heavy overlapping CapEx spend. So as Thompson Creek comes online, we'll be into the bulk of the spending on Goldfield. And likewise, when Goldfield comes online, we'll start to ramp up spending at Kemess.
So this is a portfolio, as Ryan mentioned, fully funded. We don't need -- we can fund these from cash flow and available liquidity. Speaking of liquidity, Ryan, back to you on how we look at our capital allocation strategy.
Sure. Thanks, Paul. And I'll be brief because we touched on it. On that previous slide, Paul outlined our assets and our development potential. And really, the focus on capital allocation is internal uses. So we think there are strong returns on developing our projects. That's Thompson Creek, Goldfield and Kemess. We think those are high IRR uses of cash.
And then beyond that, shareholder returns. We have paid a consistent dividend, as Paul said, for almost 7 years. We're going to continue to pay a dividend. But given where our shares are trading, we also think buying back our shares is an accretive good use of cash. And so that's really the focus.
We do hold equity investments in a number of public companies. Some of those are prospect generators. 2 of them are more significant developers, Thesis Gold and Liberty Gold. We own 9.9% of both of those. And we think those are good investments. That equity investment portfolio is worth over $150 million. And so that's been a use of cash. It can be a source of cash if we want to liquidate any of those. But with our cash on hand and our cash generated at our operations, we can easily fund our internal portfolio without going to outside markets. And that really is the plan.
Given where our shares are trading, M&A, external acquisitions aren't really a focus for this company because when you layer on acquisition costs, the IRR of doing so doesn't look quite compelling. And again, we don't want to use our shares when we're undervalued.
I would say the real strategy, if you step way back, is to develop those assets that Paul outlined and shrink our share count at the same time and thus giving investors greater exposure and greater torque to those underlying assets. We did start our buyback program in late 2022, so earlier than most companies, and we bought back a significant number of shares. We bought back about 12% of our outstanding shares since we started this buyback program, bringing our share count from about 220 million to 195 million, and we're going to continue to buy back at these share prices. So again, trying to give people torque to these assets by reducing the share count going forward.
I pass back.
So on the valuation point, this is one of our strong pitches. So this obviously underpins our buyback rationale, but we believe that we are one of the most attractively valued from a discount perspective among our peer group. And let me just give you a rough sense of that. When you look at our market cap less cash or enterprise value, that number is roughly equal to the value of Mount Milligan alone at spot prices. So our one major asset, Mount Milligan, accounts for our entire enterprise value at prices around where they are today. And that means you're getting Kemess, Goldfield, Oksut and the molybdenum business essentially for free.
So this is why we are buying back our shares. As Ryan said, we reduced the share count while building NAV. And -- though we have performed very well over the last year, really our re-rate began about a year ago. We believe that there's significant room yet to run as we close that valuation gap. Some people often ask me, why did the stock tread water for so long and then about a year ago, really start to move.
And in fact, I think we're, if not the best, we're one of the best performers on a year-to-date basis. I think it's 3 things. Number one, there were questions previously about Mount Milligan's ability to deliver on its guidance and its commitments. We've now had 3 quarters of solid delivery at Mount Milligan against expectations. Ryan talked about how the year is on track. And I think we're starting to build market credibility in our ability to deliver on our operations and our projects. And I should say our projects are on track for public commitments. So that's one. There's a stronger operating track record at our large assets.
Number two, molybdenum was sometimes viewed as a strange component in a gold mining company. And in a way, that's true. You don't find many other gold mining companies with molybdenum exposure. But the metal, as I said earlier, has really traded up on the basis of limited supply in the market, but also very strong demand. I'll repeat, molybdenum is used as an alloy metal for steel, makes steel higher performance. And it's used in things like pipeline, nuclear power, wind power, defense, aerospace and increasingly in semiconductors as a replacement for tungsten.
So the price of molybdenum has really traded up, and we forecast for 6, 7, 8 years of deficit in the market, underpinning what we think will be a strong price environment. So molybdenum -- the molybdenum assets have swung from being something that had a question mark around it to being a positive differentiator. And I think the last point on the re-rate is we brought clarity to the portfolio. Each of the assets has a future. We've put out robust studies for each of the assets, and there is a plan forward. And that's the building the NAV point and the numerator, while reducing the denominator to drive that NAV per share.
And I'll leave you with one more value idea here. We think that in terms of the total amount of resources we have in the ground, we punch above our weight. We have very large resources in the ground, particularly at Mount Milligan and Kemess. These are world-class size ore bodies with decades of potential. And when you look at the chart on the right, EV per resource ounce we're literally the cheapest in the peer group in terms of what it costs you to buy exposure to our gold and copper in the ground. So this is another way of looking at our valuation and how we think we can continue to re-rate forward.
So if we go to the last slide here, this is a snapshot of the portfolio. We have -- on the left, we have cash flow production, a very robust cash flow production from both Mount Milligan and Oksut. As I mentioned, we have an optimization study coming out within 6 months here at Oksut. We've got the deep portfolio of development pipelines, Kemess, copper and gold. We've got PFS expected in the middle part of next year. And at Goldfield, as I said, in about 2 years, we expect first production, again, in a very, very attractive jurisdiction in Nevada.
And then over on the right, we have our U.S. moly business, which we're branding as such. It's -- we treat it almost as a business unit within the company, and it's called U.S. Moly comprising of Thompson Creek and Langeloth. So that, in a nutshell, is a tour through Centerra, our portfolio and why we think we represent compelling value to our shareholders.
And Lisa, with that, we would be happy to take questions.
Thanks, Paul. Yes. So we did get a couple of questions from the audience. So the first 2 are kind of both related to Goldfields. So I'm going to just combine them into one question here. How would you describe your growth ambitions in the Great Basin over the next 2 to 5 years beyond Goldfield? And do you have any initiatives to grow the gold reserves at Goldfield to extend the mine life for the good project?
Yes. So we are very geographically focused. We're focused on BC, and we are focused on the Great Basin with our 2 projects, Idaho and Goldfield. As you've seen, a number of our junior investments that Ryan spoke of are centered in the Great Basin, most notably Liberty Gold. So that area is a focus for the company. And we would -- if the right opportunity presented itself, we would look to do more in that area.
On Goldfield itself, it's a very large land package. We have an active exploration program. And the current study that which we're executing against mines out the oxide resource. It doesn't yet include the sulfide resource. We know that there is a potentially significant sulfide resource on the land package in addition to drilling targets on that land package.
We also have agreements with a couple of juniors proximal to Goldfield, where we are participating in drilling programs. So in short, the Great Basin is an area of focus to us. We think that there are lots of opportunities for Goldfield sized assets that may not be attractive to larger players, but certainly would be a very good fit within Centerra.
Great. Thanks. And the next question that's come in here is related to Kemess. So what's the update on the Kemess PFS? What -- will it be similar to the PEA? Or will there be any changes? And then can you also speak more broadly to the Toodoggone region and any opportunities for consolidation, speak a little bit to the Thesis investment and then AngloGold coming in as well?
We think Kemess is a great asset. As I said, large-scale copper gold brownfield compared to greenfields, relatively lower risk profile and execution. The PFS essentially is refining the view we had in the PEA. So I mentioned that the PEA contemplated mining at less than half the total resource. We're going to stick to that because it gives us 15 to 17 years of initial mine life with potential beyond that.
So the PFS we're using as an opportunity to refine the engineering estimates to advance permitting to advance consultations to get a more robust view of that which we presented the PEA. So the expectation is that the PFS yields a result in line or similar with refined estimates to that which we presented in the PEA, and it is on track for delivery in the middle part of next year.
We like the Toodoggone. We like Central BC. We like the government support we're seeing for mining projects in BC, both at the provincial and federal level. This year, BC is experiencing record levels of investment in exploration. And you'll also note that the permitting time lines in BC are becoming more efficient. So for example, earlier this year, we received our Mount Milligan 2035 permits ahead of schedule, and that was a culmination of having been selected among a number of other projects for expedited permitting and the province delivered on that.
So BC is becoming increasingly attractive for mining investment. And the Toodoggone region is probably one of the most prospective areas, if not in the world, certainly in North America. Many juniors are drilling there. We like the district. Kemess is, in many ways, the strategic key to the district. We have the infrastructure. We have a nearly 400-kilometer power line that services the region. We have an airstrip. We've expanded our camp.
In fact, many people do use our camp as a transit point to the Toodoggone. We've made the equity investments in Thesis. We like what they're doing. We think that there are potential synergies with the Kemess operation. And we certainly like the idea that Anglo got in there. We don't view that as necessarily a bad thing. We just view it as a validation of what is a very attractive district.
So we are bullish on BC. We really like what we have at Kemess. We don't need to add more there. I think Kemess is a very large-scale project with significant potential. So we just -- we like British Columbia and we like the Kemess region.
Great. I just wanted to be for Ryan. We've had a couple of people asking this question. How do you determine the best use of excess cash? Would you consider increasing the dividend? Or would it go to buybacks? And then how do you look at M&A?
It's a good question. And so I think there's a certain hierarchy of priorities, right? We want to build these internal projects. That's priority one with our cash. With excess cash, we are looking at shareholder returns. I think we always, on a dynamic basis, evaluate dividends versus buybacks. Given the valuation that Paul outlined and where we're trading on a P/NAV basis, the buybacks are simply more compelling. There's a greater return on your cash from putting that money into buybacks right now than putting it into dividends. We know the dividend is important. We're not taking away the dividend, but with excess cash, the buyback makes more sense.
If we were to re-rate ourselves back to a valuation of 1 or a P/NAV closer to 1, then the concept of using excess cash for more dividends makes sense. But again, we have a heavy development profile. We're not the same as some of these larger companies that have 5 or 6 operating mines that are generating significant free cash flow, we're putting that back into our development profile.
So I would say, in a short answer, from a shareholder returns point of view, the buybacks are more compelling right now given our valuation. But if that changes, we would consider looking at other uses and potentially looking at dividends there.
And as Paul noted, we do look in the jurisdictions where we operate for M&A opportunities. I would say it's highly unlikely we do a large-scale transformative M&A transaction if our shares are trading where they are today, it doesn't make sense to use our shares. But we do look on an ongoing basis for bolt-on opportunities that may make sense with our given profile. It's not a huge focus right now. The focus is building those internal organic projects, but it is something we constantly monitor and could be an opportunity in the future.
One more for you that came in here on cost. So with other mining companies reporting higher cost, does Centerra expect to -- or how do you see the second half for cost across the assets?
Yes, I think we're in good shape. And there's always a little bit of pressure from an inflation point of view on labor and things like that in the mining market these days. So that will be ever present. We report our costs on a byproduct basis. And so for Mount Milligan, our ASIC is actually, as I mentioned during the remarks, on the low end of our guidance range, driven by really strong copper production and really strong copper prices. So that's more than offsetting any inflation that we may see at Mount Milligan.
And again, we do hedge a portion of our diesel there. So we're somewhat insulated against some of the market shocks that have taken place. Similarly at Oksut, good production, a simpler mine. We use a mining contractor. There is a little bit of inflation in country, but we're not expecting to change our cost ranges upward this year. If anything, I think there's a chance that we can move them down.
And then for Thompson Creek as well, we do hedge diesel there. That is a big component. A large portion of the Thompson Creek restart is stripping waste. We've hedged about 75% of the diesel for Thompson Creek through the restart period until first production. And so again, we've done a pretty good job of thinking ahead and insulating kind of the major cost exposure areas. And so I think we're in good shape. I think one of the other points we like to make is we don't actually use that much diesel compared to other mining companies. We get a lot of our power from the grid in BC for our BC operations, which is very low-cost power driven by hydroelectricity. That exists in Idaho as well. And so we're not one of these landlocked using diesel for everything type operations.
So we are I guess, a little less impacted by these market shocks than other companies. And so I would expect our cost to remain more or less in line with what's out there from a guidance point of view going forward.
Great. And we're just about at time. So I think we have one more question that's here. So we'll just get to that one here and then wrap up. So Paul, how do you view the molybdenum assets in the portfolio? You hinted on the Q2 conference call of a potential IPO. How do you see the plans for U.S. moly and what's the strategy there?
Well, I'll reiterate what I said on that last quarterly call. This is an attractive business, and it has been made more attractive by not only the supply-demand dynamics in the metal that I talked about earlier, but also current U.S. industrial policy is heavily favoring businesses like U.S. moly that are domestic and are supplying into the domestic steel supply chain.
So there is a moment here, perhaps extended where businesses like this one could be viewed very attractively on a stand-alone basis. We always are assessing the opportunity for something like an IPO or a potential sale, but we see strong value in this business. We see strong cash flow generation potential, but we are always monitoring the market.
As I said on the call, I'm not going to commit to an IPO or from IPO, but it is something that we monitor and we consider on an ongoing basis, especially, as I said, in light of a very, very robust market for the underlying metal.
Great. Well, thank you, Paul. Thank you, Ryan, and thanks to everyone for joining here. We're at time. So if there are any further questions that we didn't get to, please do reach out, and thanks again for joining.
Thanks, everyone.
Thank you.
Centerra Gold Inc. — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Centerra Gold Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Lisa Wilkinson, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications with Centerra Gold. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Centerra Gold's Second Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. Joining me on the call today are Paul Tomory, President and Chief Executive Officer; Ryan Snyder, Chief Financial Officer; and Mike Silvest, our Interim Chief Operating Officer. Other members of the executive team are available for the Q&A session.
Our news published last night outlines our second quarter 2026 results and is complemented by our MD&A and financial statements, which are available on SEDAR+, EDGAR and our website. All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Presentation slides accompanying this webcast are available on Centerra's website. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions.
Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks that could cause our actual results to differ from those expressed or implied. For more information, please refer to the cautionary statements in our presentation and the risk factors outlined in our annual information form. We will also be referring to certain non-GAAP measures during today's discussion. For a detailed description of these measures, please see our news release and MD&A issued yesterday.
I will now turn the call over to Paul Tomory.
Thank you, Lisa, and good morning, everyone. We delivered another quarter of strong operational execution across the portfolio. Mount Milligan continued to perform in line with plan, delivering the third consecutive quarter on plan since the PFS was released in September of 2025. Oksut also delivered a strong first half of 2026, resulting in a 9% increase to its gold production guidance for the year. Both sites generated robust cash flow from operations during the quarter, and we continue to see healthy operating margins, which were supported by disciplined cost management and strong operational execution even in the lower gold price environment.
We increased our 2026 consolidated gold production guidance to 260,000 to 290,000 ounces, up from the previous range of 250,000 to 280,000 ounces, and we remain on track to achieve our 2026 copper production guidance of 50 million to 60 million pounds. In the second quarter, we completed $50 million in share buybacks and approved up to $200 million in share repurchases for the full year 2026, reinforcing our commitment to shareholder returns. This reflects the strength of our balance sheet, our ability to generate cash flow and our disciplined approach to capital allocation. We also recently extended and upsized our revolving credit facility to $600 million at better pricing, further enhancing our financial flexibility.
Slide 5 illustrates our self-funded organic growth strategy and highlights our portfolio of high-quality assets. Our project portfolio provides multiple opportunities for value creation, all supported by our strong balance sheet and the cash flow generated from our existing operations. We continue to invest in Mount Milligan. Last year's PFS extended the mine life to 2045 and outlined a fully funded growth capital program that supports long-term production and cash flow. Study also includes a planned 10% increase in plant throughput beginning in 2028, and our exploration programs continue to reinforce our belief there's additional upside beyond the current mine plan.
At Oksut, our focus remains on maximizing the value of what has already been a very strong operation. We're advancing work to evaluate opportunities to extend the mine life beyond the current reserve plan while increasing metal recovery from the existing leach pads through improved operation practices and solution management. We expect to update the market on our life of mine optimization study in early 2027 with our year-end disclosures.
The Gold Field project is beginning to ramp up and represents our next source of near-term gold production growth. During the quarter, we advanced engineering procurement and early site works. We've also accelerated a number of early site preparation activities and the procurement of key long lead equipment into 2026. While these actions increase our 2026 CapEx program to between $60 million and $70 million, they reduce execution risk, secure current pricing and support successful project delivery. The overall project remains unchanged with the capital estimate of $252 million.
Looking further out, Kemess remains a project with the potential to become our second long-life gold copper cornerstone asset. Following the positive PEA released in January, our team is focused on advancing engineering and technical work toward a PFS expected in the middle part of 2027. Finally, U.S. moly offers exposure to strategic minerals with the ability to generate robust cash flow to support balance sheet strength and help build our gold-focused projects. Thompson Creek achieved its highest quarterly mining rate since the restart and remains on track for first production in mid-2027. Molybdenum prices are continuing to trend well above the assumptions used in our feasibility study, reinforcing the attractive economics of the project. And together with the continued ramp-up at Langeloth, we see significant opportunity to create value through an integrated U.S. molybdenum business.
Most importantly, our projects are sequenced such that there is limited overlap in capital spending. This allows us to execute our growth strategy while maintaining financial flexibility and continue to return capital to our shareholders. When we look across our portfolio, we see a high-quality asset base, a robust balance sheet, multiple organic growth opportunities across gold, copper and molybdenum and substantial exploration upside. We believe this positions the company to deliver meaningful long-term value for shareholders. Our key priorities remain on disciplined execution, advancing our projects and delivering strong operational performance.
I'd now like to provide an update on our sustainability initiatives. In May, we published our 2025 sustainability report, highlighting the progress we've made across our environmental, social and governance priorities. Responsible mining remains central to how we create long-term value, and we remain committed to strengthening the sustainability practices across our operations. 2025 marked a year of growth across our business with total greenhouse gas emissions increasing by 15% year-over-year, primarily due to higher activity levels at Thompson Creek as project advanced through its restart phase. At the same time, we advanced initiatives to reduce our environmental footprint, including the renewable diesel pilot project at Mount Milligan and the use of renewable energy credits.
We also continue to invest in our people and communities, delivering more than 100,000 hours of health and safety training across the company last year. We work to strengthen the local economies where we operate by increasing local procurement spending by 43% year-over-year to $191 million in 2025, expanding our partnerships, indigenous-owned businesses in British Columbia and investing $3.1 million in community programs and donations. Together, these achievements reflect our ongoing commitment to responsible mining and reinforce our belief that strong sustainability performance supports the long-term success of our business and creates lasting value for our communities and for our shareholders.
Before I hand it over to Mike, I'd like to welcome Kelly Strong, who will be joining Centerra as our new Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in mid-August. Kelly is a seasoned mining executive, and we look forward to the experience and leadership he will bring to our operations as we continue executing on our operational strategy and advancing our pipeline. I'd also like to thank Mike for his leadership and steady guidance as Interim Chief Operating Officer over the past several months. Mike has played an important role in maintaining our operational momentum, and we appreciate his continued support as we transition to our new COO role.
And with that, Mike, I'll pass the call over to you to talk through our operational performance.
Thanks, Paul. It's been a pleasure working with you and the team at Centerra. I'd like to thank everyone across the organization for their hard work and dedication. It's been a really great experience working alongside such a talented team.
Now looking at Slide 7, which shows the operating highlights at Mount Milligan for the second quarter. Mount Milligan produced over 38,000 ounces of gold in the quarter, a 29% increase over last quarter and in line with the production profile that we previously disclosed. Copper production totaled 13.1 million pounds, reflecting planned mine sequencing as expected. Year-to-date, gold and copper production is in line with the PFS mine plan, and we remain on track to achieve our production guidance of between 140,000 and 155,000 ounces of gold and 50 million to 60 million pounds of copper. As previously disclosed, gold production and sales are expected to be higher in the third quarter, reflecting planned mine sequencing. All-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis were $1,269 per ounce in the second quarter, impacted by higher sustaining CapEx. We reaffirm our full year Mount Milligan AISC guidance of $1,200 to $1,300 per ounce.
Moving on to Oksut. Second quarter gold production was over 32,500 ounces, exceeding plan due to higher grades and enhanced operating practices. Reflecting Oksut's strong performance through the first half of 2026, we have increased our full year gold production guidance to between 120,000 and 135,000 ounces, representing a 9% increase at the midpoint from our previous guidance. AISC on a by-product basis was $1,952 per ounce in the second quarter, reflecting lower ounces produced and sold and higher sustaining CapEx compared to the last quarter, partially offset by lower royalty expense per ounce resulting from lower gold prices. We continue to expect Oksut's full year AISC on a by-product basis to be within our guidance range of $1,850 to $1,950 per ounce.
At Thompson Creek, restart activities are advancing as planned with approximately 52% of the infrastructure refurbishment complete. Progress being made in construction, pre-commissioning, tailings and operational readiness activities, including ball mill refurbishment, completion of tailings dam engineering, legacy system pre-commissioning and the recruitment of key operating personnel. In the second quarter, Thompson Creek achieved its highest mining rate since the project restarted in September 2024 with 12.4 million tonnes mined during the quarter, a 33% increase compared to last quarter. Non-sustaining CapEx in the second quarter was $52 million. Since the September 2024 restart decision, capital expenditures have totaled $256 million. The project remains in line with the total capital estimate of $425 million to $450 million and is on track for first production in mid-2027.
In the second quarter, commissioning activities continued at Langeloth following the provisional restart of operations in April 2026 and normal operating levels were achieved during the quarter. We have published our full year guidance at Langeloth, and we are expecting 11 million to 13 million pounds of roasted moly production and 15 million to 17 million pounds of sales. Sales are expected to exceed production this year, reflecting the temporary suspension of operations in the first quarter. During the shutdown period, we continued to purchase third-party concentrate and produce certain finished aluminum products to support customer deliveries.
I'll now pass it to Ryan to walk through our financial highlights for the quarter.
Thanks, Mike. Now shifting to the financials. Slide 10 details our second quarter financial results. Adjusted net earnings in the second quarter were $79 million or $0.40 per share. Key adjustments to net earnings include $8 million of deferred income tax adjustments, reflecting the impact of foreign exchange rate movements on deferred income taxes at Mount Milligan, among other things.
In the second quarter, sales were over 72,000 ounces of gold and 13.4 million pounds of copper. The average realized price was $3,437 per ounce of gold and $5.30 per pound of copper, which incorporates the existing streaming arrangements at Mount Milligan. Approximately 3.8 million pounds of molybdenum was sold in the second quarter at the Langeloth facility at an average realized price of $29.73 per Brent. Consolidated all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis in the second quarter were $1,707 per ounce. We remain well positioned to achieve our full year AISC guidance of $1,650 to $1,750 per ounce.
Slide 11 shows our financial highlights for the quarter. In the second quarter, we generated cash flow from operations of $66 million and had a free cash flow deficit of $23 million. The lower free cash flow reflected the scheduled timing of routine statutory tax and annual royalty payments in Turkey. In the second quarter, Mount Milligan generated $118 million in cash from operations and $89 million in free cash flow. Oksut generated $16 million in cash from operations and $11 million in free cash flow. U.S. Molly used $45 million of cash in operations and had a free cash flow deficit of $89 million this quarter, mainly related to spending on the Thompson Creek restart and a working capital increase at Langeloth, which was primarily driven by increasing molybdenum prices.
In June, the Turkish government announced changes that are expected to reduce the corporate income tax rate for Oksut from 25% to 12.5% effective January 2027. This change in tax rate should enhance Oksut's long-term cash flow generation and overall value. Returning capital to shareholders remains a key pillar in our disciplined approach to capital allocation. In the second quarter, we repurchased 2.9 million shares for a total consideration of $50 million. The Board has approved up to $200 million of share repurchases for the full year 2026, of which $72 million has been completed in the first 6 months of the year. We continue to believe that repurchasing our shares is an accretive high-return use of cash. We also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share.
In July, we amended our credit facility to increase its capacity to $600 million with a 4-year term and more favorable pricing. The credit facility remains undrawn and provides additional financial flexibility to support general corporate purposes, including working capital, investments, potential acquisitions and capital expenditures. At the end of the quarter, our cash balance was $451 million. Incorporating the upsized credit facility, Centerra's total liquidity is over $1 billion. This strong financial position gives us the flexibility to fully fund our organic growth projects at Mount Milligan, Goldfield, Kemess and Thompson Creek while continuing to return capital to shareholders.
I'll pass it back to Paul for some concluding remarks.
Thanks very much, Ryan. We're pleased with our strong operating performance in the first half of 2026, reflecting consistent operational execution, another strong quarter at it and continued progress across our self-funded growth pipeline. With a strong operating base, a disciplined approach to capital allocation and clear line of sight to growth across each of our assets, we believe Centerra is well positioned to continue creating long-term value for our shareholders. And with that, operator, we can open the call to questions.
[Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Ovais Habib from Scotiabank.
2. Question Answer
Congrats on a good quarter and congrats on increasing the production guidance as well. Just a couple of questions from me. Just starting off with Gold Fields. Obviously, it looks like you pulled forward the CapEx for Gold Fields, almost doubling the CapEx for this year. Is there a potential to pull forward the time line as well? Or are you sticking with the time line for 2028?
We're sticking with the 2028 time line now Ovais. What we've done here is taken advantage of our ability to advance with some of the work. So what we're looking at right now is essentially a schedule derisking and locking in current pricing in a modestly inflationary environment. As to whether there is an opportunity to pull the project forward, that's something we're going to continue to assess. But the way to look at it right now is maintaining the overall CapEx envelope and pulling it forward as a derisking activity.
Just then moving on to Oksut, I guess, in Turkey as well. So it looks like the optimization study is going well, expected in early 2027. Are there any additional opportunities in Turkey the team is looking at? Or is the focus North America?
Well, Oksut, the principal focus of the project that we -- whose results we intend to release with our year-end is assessing the potential for mine longevity through bringing in oxides that remain outside the current pit shell as well as the operational efficiencies on leaching, which, by the way, contributed to the strong performance this quarter. We do have a greenfield exploration program in Turkey. We are drilling 4 or 5 different sites. So, our focus in Turkey will be continued optimization at Oksut, near mine exploration at Oksut, there are targets proximal to the mine as well as a greenfield program. We probably will not be doing anything bigger than that. So in effect, what I would say is our Turkish future is more organically derived rather than a bigger splash or acquisition type thing.
And then just my last question, just the situation with the situation in Middle East. I mean, are your existing operations witnessing any sort of inflation pressures, supply issues, any of these kind of concerns coming up on your end?
We haven't seen any of that. Turkish oil and gas comes in through pipeline from Azerbaijan, so it's not directly impacted by supplies coming out of the Middle East. And in terms of inflation, I would say it's more background level. So nothing acute in Turkey.
Our next question comes from Don DeMarco of National Bank.
I'll just echo the congratulations on the guidance increase. Nice to see that early in the year. So maybe just continuing on the last question. I mean I see the AISC outperformance in the quarter. You avoided the inflationary trend that's in the sector. Can you comment on your fuel hedging strategy and how that factored into Q2 and the protection it might offer for the rest of the year?
Don, it's Ryan. Thanks for the question. We do hedge fuel at both Mount Milligan and Thompson Creek. It's a smaller element of our cost base in Turkey, so we don't do it there. Overall, we are about 50% hedged on our North American fuel needs through the rest of the year, a little more than that at Thompson Creek, a little less than that at Mount Milligan. So it has provided some good protection. Like everybody, we've seen a little bit of a cost increase related to diesel and the unhedged positions. But even looking at a higher oil price environment, we're pretty comfortable with our cost ranges. So we've sensitized that, and I think the hedging gives us good cover on diesel costs for the rest of the year.
Don, one of the reasons we're not as exposed to higher fuel prices is we generally buy electricity off the grid, usually hydroelectric. So we don't have these big island and HFO power plants, and our fleets are comparatively small. We have a relatively low strip ratio. So we are, comparatively speaking, less exposed simply by the nature of our assets.
And maybe continuing on hedging. I mean there seems to be some longer-dated gold hedges related to the Goldfield project, maybe after it comes into production. Is there any scenarios in which you consider buying these back? I mean I see your liquidity has recently been upside gives you more flexibility to consider a range of things.
Yes, it's a good question. I mean we put those hedges in place when we approved the project to protect downside risk and to make sure we can lock in a good return project at Goldfield. Obviously, metal prices have increased since then, and we'd be in a loss position on those hedges. The ceilings on those hedges are quite high. It's $4,438 in 2029 and $4,700 in 2030. So if we were actually operating today, those hedges would expire kind of unused or unexecuted. And so we'll look at that, Don. I think for now, we're leaving those. Again, they lock in a good return on Gold Field, which is a good outcome for us. And if metal prices go high, then Goldfield still has exposure on 80% of its ounces beyond the hedges. So we're kind of comfortable in that situation.
And then the final question, Thompson Creek, I see it's on time, on budget. And can you comment on any inflationary CapEx risk as we enter the final 12 months of development and maybe any steps that you might be taking to mitigate?
Thanks, Don. Yes, we did update our capital estimate for Thompson Creek to $425 million to $450 million. We look at that on an ongoing basis. We're comfortable. We're still in that range as the capital cost to get to first production. Again, I think the diesel hedges that were asked about are helping there. They're really reducing our fuel costs, and we locked in some pretty good rates on diesel. And the site is operating quite well. I think as Paul mentioned in his remarks, mining rate is up. That's helping our unit costs. And so we're quite comfortable with the cost range that's out there. Outside of diesel hedging and trying to run the site efficiently, there's not much else we're doing from an ongoing basis. We've also purchased all the major equipment already. So there's no major items where we're still waiting for pricing that could be impacted by inflation. So again, feel pretty good with that cost number to get us to first production.
Our next question comes from Raj Ray of BMO.
I've got 3 questions, if I may. First, a follow-up on Oxford, Paul. You mentioned about the potential to bring in some incremental resources. Like as far as we currently understand mine life or production is until 2029. How much potential do you have to take it much beyond 2029, given what you see in terms of your exploration potential? And secondly, Ryan, if you can give us any color on what led to the reduction in tax rates. It's very unusual to see countries reducing tax rates nowadays.
Then moving over to moly. It would be good to get some idea of what you're seeing from your traders in terms of the outlook for moly because we are kind of hearing mixed messaging at this point. But importantly, Paul, the window seems to be opening up. Your CapEx spend is getting done. moly prices are strong. Just wanted to see what you're strategically thinking in terms of unlocking value from your moly asset because within the current portfolio, despite the fact that you are 12 months out of production, CapEx mostly spend, module price is high. I don't think it gets any value from investors at this point.
Thanks, Raj. I'll answer the Turkish tax rate item first, then Paul will comment on the other 2. To be perfectly honest, it was a bit of a surprise to us as well. It wasn't really telegraphed. There was a public announcement in Turkey declaring this tax rate change. It applies to manufacturing as a whole. So it's not targeted to mining, but mining operations in Turkey fit within that subset. And so I don't have much color to add. Obviously, it's rare to have tax rates reduced and not go up, but obviously, we'll be happy with that and take the benefit of that going forward. But no more color on that, unfortunately. But we'll take it.
So on the first point, Raj, on O2. So the scope of what we're looking at is twofold. There's a low-grade oxide halo outside the current reserve pit, which pulls at prices well below spot. So there's a natural pit extension that takes place. Now those are by virtue of their low grade, higher cost ounces. However, as we continue to optimize our heap operating practices or solution management practices, that does bring into play a residual leach tail at very low cost. So, when you blend the low cost -- sorry, the high-cost nature of the low-grade oxides and the low-cost nature of the residual leaching, we see a pretty attractive extension here. I don't want to put a number out there, but we're targeting 1, 2, 3 years, maybe not all at once, but we do see a potential for production extension there at Oksut.
We are also ramping up drilling at proximal targets within a kilometer 2 or 3 at Oksut. It's too early to say whether or not anything will materialize there in terms of mine plan, but I suppose we are drilling it, which means we do see things that are interesting. So there's a layer of potential at Oksut for mine life extension, and it won't all come at once. So it won't all come with this end of year update, but this end of year update will provide some extension of the mine life with what we hope is a runway beyond that also.
So molybdenum, your last question. Molybdenum prices are very high right now, and it's driven by both supply and demand factors. Molybdenum is in short supply. It's a byproduct, as you know, from big copper mines. Those copper mines are really struggling to keep up their copper production, which has a direct knock-on to molybdenum supply. Molybdenum is used in pipelines, nuclear, defense, aerospace and increasingly in semiconductors as switching from tungsten takes place. So we are seeing molybdenum demand robustly ahead of our internal previous projections. I'm also going to take this opportunity to introduce a member of our executive team, Helene Timpano. She is President of U.S. Moly, and she can give you a little bit more color on what we're seeing on our internal trading side.
Raj, Helene Timpano with you. What we're seeing is really a large market deficit developing this year, which is different than what we've seen in the last few years, which would be more of a tight market. So I think fundamentally, that's contributing to the price that we're seeing today. Paul pointed to a number of different factors that are driving that deficit. It's both on the supply side and the demand side. In our own business, we have seen that pull-through demand. If you look at the steel production numbers in the U.S., which is our main customer base right now, it is growing. So we're seeing that in our own order book. And I think when you have such a large deficit, it just as constructive for continued high prices. So it's great to know that we're 12 months away from our first production at Thompson Creek.
Helene, just on the concentrate tightness, do you see that tightness going into 2027? Or is it temporary at this point?
Yes, we do. I think China is a large consideration in driving that additional tightness. If you look at their demand for concentrate, historically, that's been more contained to within China demand, but we're seeing them now competing for concentrate outside of China. So I think that makes the tight competition at the negotiation table. But on the other hand, it's also very supportive of high prices.
And then, Paul, anything you can share on how you're strategically thinking on the moly business?
Well, it's interesting, right? I mean moly is at $32, $33. We approved the project at $20. There's been a track record right now in the market of critical minerals and metals, strategic metals companies listing quite successfully with IPOs in the U.S. market. I think there is also an increasing demand given the current U.S. administration's focus on metal self-sufficiency in these strategic areas. So I would say that the overall market has become much more conducive to entities that produce metals and in the U.S. context, ones that are domestically based.
So as I've said to you before, we continue to monitor the market. We see very significant value in this business, and our intention is to deliver that value to our shareholders. And though sometimes molybdenum is unpopular in a gold mining company, I think that we are confident in the value in this business, and we will, at the appropriate time, if conditions warrant, we would look, for example, a sale or an IPO or something. And I think that the setup is certainly becoming a lot more constructive for something like that than it has been in the last 2 years. I think that's what you're getting at. I'm not going to commit to an IPO or a sale here, but certainly, the conditions are becoming a lot more attractive for something like that, especially when you consider the track record of other similar companies that have IPO-ed in the last year, particularly in the U.S.
Paul, yes, that's exactly what we are seeing from our side as well.
Our next question comes from Harrison Reynolds of RBC.
Congratulations on a strong Q2. Wondering if you can provide a bit more color on the mine sequencing at Mount Milligan through Q3 and Q4, maybe the progress you're seeing so far in Q3 and speak a bit to your confidence level around the current guidance range.
Yes, sure. It's Mike here, and I'll answer that question. So far, we see that we're and grade and mine sequencing, all kind of remaining in line with the PFS that was published last September. We see good reconciliation with that sequencing, and we see that moving forward actually into Q3 and Q4. So we're not seeing any anomalies, and we're quite confident in the technical report and what the future -- what the next quarters will look like at Mount Milligan. So looking at strong continued good performance.
And switching gears to the corporate credit facility and current capital allocation framework. What would be the debt priorities or uses of debt based on your current healthy cash balance and cash flow profile? Could we see debt being used for some of these concurrent project items? Or is cash on hand going to be directed to buybacks while that could be used for project development? Or is it just for a margin of safety?
Thanks for the question, Harrison. It's more of the latter. It's more to give us flexibility going forward. We don't have any immediate plans to draw on the credit facility. It was a very positive market. We usually extend our facilities about a year before their maturity, which was coming up in 2027 and a very positive credit market and a very positive view on Centerra. So we have the opportunity to upsize the credit facility, and we took that opportunistically. But in terms of usage, we're quite comfortable we can fund all our capital projects just with our cash from operations and our current balance sheet without dipping into the credit facility. As mentioned, we are going to ramp up the buybacks, and we can cover that with our liquidity and future cash flow generation as well. So for now, that credit facility is more a safety net or an opportunity to use in the future, and there's nothing earmarked in terms of drawing on that at present.
Harrison, I'll also comment on the buyback here. We're a little bit different than some of our peers. We believe that we represent good value. In others, we don't think we trade at the value of our assets. We believe we trade at a discount. We view our shares as a very compelling place to allocate capital, notwithstanding the fact that we have a development pipeline. And I think that's what makes us a little bit different is that we have the balance sheet to fund both a robust capital return program to shareholders as well as the development pipeline. So we're working on both sides. We're working on the NAV and the denominator here on driving shareholder value. And as Ryan said, the revolver is not in any way an indication that we're going to go do something with that. It was simply taking advantage of the market.
Congratulations again on a great quarter.
[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Lawson Winder of Bank of America.
This is Adam Smaremsky calling on behalf of Lawson. We just had a follow-up question on the buyback. We saw that it was -- the Board authorized a $200 million buyback. We just wanted to clarify if that's what we should model for this year or just because it's lower than the previous authorization, if it could be materially higher or lower than that amount?
You'll have not -- our track record is we generally buy back what we say we will. So $200 million is the number to use.
This concludes our question-and-answer session and wraps up our call for today. Thank you for attending. Please have a good day.
Centerra Gold Inc. — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
Centerra Gold Inc. — Shareholder/Analyst Call - Centerra Gold Inc.
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Paul Wright, Chair of Centerra Board of Directors. And on behalf of the Board, I would like to welcome you to this Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of Centerra Gold Inc. I'm here with Centerra's President and CEO, Paul Tomory; Centerra's Corporate Secretary, Mr. Yousef Rehman.
Also participating on this virtual meeting are some members of the current Board and members of the management of Centerra. As with last year, we are holding this meeting in a virtual-only format.
Few housekeeping matters to go through before we commence the business at hand. First all microphones are automatically on mute, questions by shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders can be submitted via the Lumi chat option. Please note that there will be a slight delay in the publication of the communications received.
Secondly, questions will only be addressed at the end of the meeting. However, questions regarding procedural matters are directly related to a specific motion may be addressed during the meeting. Only be addressing questions pertaining to the business at hand for this meeting. Depending on the number of questions received, we may not be able to address all of them. We cannot address all questions raised during the meeting, a member of management will endeavor to respond as soon as practical, after the meeting.
We always appreciate comments and feedback from our shareholders and encourage you to reach out to our Investor Relations department at any time with any questions.
Questions or comments containing inappropriate language, profanities, hostilities or that are otherwise disruptive to the orderly conduct of the meeting will not be published or answered. Similarly, questions or comments which are redundant will not be published or answered.
We will conduct votes on all matters before us today by a single electronic ballot. Electronic ballot is now available on your screen. This will allow you to choose to vote on each resolution immediately or wait to vote until all items of business are presented. Once all items of business are brought before the meeting, shareholders and proxy holders will have approximately 1 minute to complete the electronic ballot.
I will then announce that balloting has closed and direct the scrutineers to tabulate and report the voting results for each matter. Polls are now open. If we encounter any technical difficulties with the webcast, please remain logged in, and we will resume as soon as practical.
Lastly, to expedite the formal part of the meeting, I will move all motions. No such motions will need to be seconded. We'll now proceed with the formal part of the meeting, which is to conduct the business set forth in the notice dated March 20, 2026. On April 2, 2026, the Notice of the Meeting and the Management Information Circular, form of proxy, annual report containing the financial statements and auditors' report thereon were made available to all the shareholders entitled to receive notice.
Secretary has received an affidavit from TSX Trust Company, Centerra's registrar and transfer agent, attesting to the mailing of Notice of Meeting, the Management Information Circular, the form of proxy and the annual report to registered shareholders of the company who have requested delivery of paper copies of such materials. Unless there are any objections, I propose that we take the notice of meeting as having been read.
In accordance with the bylaws of the company, I will act as Chair of this meeting. Yousef Rehman will act as Secretary. And with the consent of the meeting, TSX Trust Company by its representatives, will act as Scrutineer.
I have been advised by the Secretary that based upon the scrutineers' report on attendance, we have a quorum for the meeting. I now declare that this Annual Meeting of Shareholders is duly constituted for the transaction of business.
There are 3 matters to deal with as part of the formal business of the meeting. One, the election of directors; two, the appointment of auditors; and three, the approval of a nonbinding advisory resolution to accept the company's approach to executive compensation. I have the minutes from last year's Annual Meeting of Shareholders held on May 6, 2025. Unless there are any objections, I propose that we dispense with the reading of the minutes. Chair has made available on SEDAR+ and on EDGAR, copies of its annual report and consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025, and the auditor's report thereon. Any shareholder or proxy holder has any questions on them, I would ask you to submit them to be dealt with later during the general question period.
We'll now proceed with the election of directors. Mr. Kitlen is standing for election to our Board at this meeting. The remaining 7 directors proposed for nomination in the management information circular are incumbent directors standing for reelection. Company has adopted an advanced notice bylaw, which requires that any director nomination, be received by the company in advance of this meeting.
As no such nominations have been received, I move to nominate the following individuals set out in the Management Information Circular for election to the Centerra Board. Karen David-Green, Wendy Kei, John Kitlen, Nancy Lipson, Craig MacDougall, Michael Parrett, Paul Tomory, and myself, Paul Wright.
I declare the nominations closed, and move a motion to elect each of these 8 nominees as directors of the company.
For those shareholders and proxy holders who have properly registered for today's meeting, you may vote, for or against, in respect of each individual Director nominee now or wait until all items of business are presented.
As voting today is being conducted by a single ballot, we will continue with the next item of business. We'll now proceed with the appointment of the auditors and the authorization of the directors to fix their remuneration.
I move a motion to approve the appointment of KPMG LLP as the auditors of the company for the ensuing year and to authorize the directors of the company to fix the remuneration to be paid to the auditors. Shareholders and proxy holders who have properly registered for today's meeting, may vote for or withhold, in respect of the resolution appointing KPMG LLP as auditors of the company.
Final item of business before today's meeting is, the consideration and approval of a nonbinding advisory resolution accepting the company's approach to executive compensation as described in the Management Information Circular.
I move a motion to approve the resolution to accept the company's approach to executive compensation.
Shareholders and proxy holders who have properly registered for today's meeting may now vote, for or against, the non-advisory resolution accepting the company's approach to executive compensation.
This concludes the items of business to be considered at today's meeting. We'll now provide registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders approximately 1 minute to complete the electronic ballot. If you have not already done so, please indicate your vote on the electronic ballot by pressing for, or against buttons, next to resolutions electing each individual director nominee, and the advisory resolution on executive compensation or the, for or withhold buttons, next to the appointment of KPMG LLP as auditors of the company.
Once electronic balloting closes, the voting page will disappear and your ballots will automatically be submitted. Scrutineers will then compile and report on the results of voting on all items of business.
[Voting]
Thank you. Balloting is now closed. The scrutineers will now tabulate the voting results. While they do this, I would be happy to respond to any questions from our shareholders and proxy holders. We'd like to remind you that questions which were already answered will not be published or answered. Please limit your topic, your questions to topics relating to today's subject matter and keep your questions short and to the point. We will answer as many questions as time permits. We will now give attendees a moment to type in their questions.
There being no questions, I will now proceed with the results of voting.
I have been provided with scrutineers' report regarding the matters voted on.
Based on the results of voting, I declare that each of the 8 individuals nominated has been elected as a Director of Centerra to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their respective successors are duly elected or appointed.
Scrutineer has indicated that the motion to appoint KPMG LLP as the auditors of the company for the ensuing year and to authorize the directors of the company to fix the remuneration to be paid to the auditors has been carried.
Scrutineer has also indicated that the motion to approve the nonbinding advisory resolution to accept the company's approach to executive compensation has been carried.
As there is no further business to come before this meeting, we will terminate the meeting.
Thank you all for attending.
Centerra Gold Inc. — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Centerra Gold First Quarter 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Lisa Wilkinson, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications with Centerra. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Centerra Gold's First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. Joining me on the call today are Paul Tomory, President and Chief Executive Officer; Ryan Snyder, Chief Financial Officer; and Mike Sylvestre, our Interim Chief Operating Officer. Other members of the executive team are available for the Q&A session.
Our news published last night outlines our first quarter 2026 results and complemented by our MD&A and financial statements, which are available on SEDAR, EDGAR and our website. All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Presentation slides accompanying this webcast are available on Centerra's website. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions.
Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks that could cause our actual results to differ from those expressed or implied. For more information, please refer to the cautionary statements in our presentation and the risk factors outlined in our annual information form. We will also be referring to certain non-GAAP measures during today's discussion. For a detailed description of these measures, please see our news release and MD&A issued yesterday. I will now turn the call over to Paul Tomory.
Thank you, Lisa, and good morning, everyone. We achieved a very strong start to the year with production performing in line with our plan for cross operations. Consolidated first quarter production was 68,000 ounces of gold and 14.2 million pounds of copper. Mount Milligan delivered results consistent with our recently published PFS and full year guidance, while Oksut delivered a strong quarter, driven by higher grades, supporting robust free cash flow generation across both sites. Our financial position strengthened this quarter with our cash balance increasing to $543 million. This was achieved while we continue to invest in our internal growth pipeline, build working capital at Langeloth and returned $33 million to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends in the quarter. We remain focused on leveraging the strength of our balance sheet and our cash flow generation to advance our disciplined self-funded growth strategy.
In January, we announced the results of a PEA for Kemess highlighting the long-term potential of the project, which remains a cornerstone of our future growth pipeline. We also continue to progress key initiatives across our portfolio, including delivering on the Mount Milligan PFS and ongoing development work at Thompson Creek, which is expected to achieve first production in mid-2027. Work on the life of mine optimization study continues to progress. We are evaluating the incremental production potential of residual leaching in the heap and the inclusion of low-grade oxide mineralization outside of the current reserve pit into the mine plan. This study remains on track for completion by the end of 2026.
Goldfield development activities are advancing well with field campaigns and support of engineering now complete. Detailed engineering, procurement of long lead time items and mobilization activities for 2026 early works are progressing as planned. First production at Goldfield remains on track for late 2028. Together, these growth projects position Centerra to deliver sustainable value for shareholders over the long term. In January, we released an updated mineral resource and preliminary economic assessment for Kemess. The study outlined a derisked restart plan, which leverages substantial existing infrastructure and focuses on an integrated open pit and underground mining operation.
The PEA highlights an initial 15-year mine life with meaningful gold and copper production of 171,000 ounces and 61 million pounds, respectively, at an all-in sustaining cost on a byproduct basis of $971 per ounce. Kemess is supported by robust economics with an after-tax NPV of $2.8 billion and a 29% IRR at prices of $4,500 per ounce of gold and $6 per pound of copper. The capital profile takes a phased approach with approximately $770 million in initial non-sustaining capital to support open pit development, followed by $277 million in expansionary non-sustaining capital over the 2 years following open pit start-up to support the commencement of underground operations.
Most importantly, the PEA only evaluates 47% of the overall resource tonnes, highlighting the potential for additional resources to be incorporated into future technical studies and the project's overall scale and long-term production profile. Overall, Kemess represents a high-quality compelling and large-scale growth opportunity for Centerra. We've advanced technical work on a pre-feasibility study, which is expected in 2027.
Now I'd like to provide an update on our sustainability initiatives. We continue to make progress on our environmental and permitting activities across the portfolio. During the first quarter, Goldfield reached an important milestone with the receipt of its water rights transfers, supporting the advancement of the project towards operations. We remain focused on advancing the remaining permits at Goldfield, and we continue to engage constructively with regulators and with the community. We remain confident in the overall permitting process for the project.
Our commitment to strong social performance also remains a key focus. At Goldfield, our team hosted 2 Joshua Tree donation events during the quarter, engaging local communities and supporting the responsible relocation of 340 trees, including 260 for personal use and 80 replanted around the perimeter of our property. At Oksut, our social programs continue to support education, youth development and broader community initiatives, including a sport and academic program launched this quarter that is expected to reach approximately 14,000 local students over the year.
We continue to advance our commitment to responsible mining practices and transparent reporting. Our team is actively working on the 2025 sustainability report, which will highlight our progress across key environmental, social and governance initiatives. We look forward to publishing the report in May and sharing the steps we are taking to create long-term value for our stakeholders.
Before we move into our operating highlights, I would like to welcome Mike Sylvestre as our new Interim Chief Operating Officer, who joined us at the end of March. We've initiated a search for a permanent CEO. And in the interim, Mike brings a wealth of operational experience and technical expertise to the role. His leadership will be instrumental in supporting our operations and advancing our key priorities as we remain focused on safe and reliable performance across the business. I look forward to working closely with Mike and benefiting from his expertise and his leadership. And with that, I'll pass the call over to Ryan to walk through our operating and financial highlights.
Thanks, Paul. Starting with the operations. Slide 7 shows the operating highlights at Mount Milligan for the first quarter. Mount Milligan produced over 29,500 ounces of gold in the quarter, representing approximately 20% of full year guidance, in line with the production profile we previously outlined. Copper production was 14.2 million pounds. Gold and copper sales exceeded production, reflecting the impact of weather-related logistics disruptions at the end of December that deferred some sales into 2026. We continue to expect gold production and sales to be higher in the second and third quarters, reflecting planned mine sequencing. All-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis were $1,060 per ounce in the first quarter, benefiting from higher by-product credits driven by elevated copper and silver prices. Recent increases in diesel prices did not have a material impact on Mount Milligan's cost structure in the first quarter.
Moving on to Oksut. First quarter production was over 38,400 ounces of gold, higher than planned due to higher grades. Full year 2026 production at Oksut remains in the range of 110,000 to 125,000 ounces with production in the remaining quarters of 2026 expected to be more evenly weighted and lower than the first quarter production. AISC on a byproduct basis was $1,653 per ounce in the first quarter, lower compared to last quarter, driven by higher gold ounces produced and sold and lower sustaining CapEx. This was partially offset by a higher royalty expense due to elevated gold prices.
At Thompson Creek, restart activities are advancing with approximately 38% of the infrastructure refurbishment complete. Non-sustaining CapEx in the first quarter was $41 million. Since the September 2024 restart decision, capital expenditures have totaled $205 million. The project remains in line with the total capital estimate of $425 million to $450 million and is on track for first production in mid-2027. Operations at Langeloth have provisionally resumed in April following the temporary suspension on January 29. During the restart, we identified items requiring additional testing and validation, which is typical of bringing a processing facility back to stable operations and commissioning continues to progress.
A total of $2 million for repairs was incurred in the first quarter of 2026, including both expensed and capitalized costs, with the remaining costs expected to be incurred over the balance of the year and in line with the total estimated repair costs of $5 million to $10 million. A $73 million investment in working capital was made at Langeloth in the first quarter, primarily related to building inventory during the temporary suspension of operations. This investment is not expected to unwind in the near term as Centerra plans to hold higher inventory levels through 2026, while operations and shipments normalize and as Langeloth ramps up production as part of our commercial optimization strategy.
Now shifting to the financials. Slide 10 details our first quarter financial results. Adjusted net earnings in the first quarter were $88 million or $0.44 per share. Key adjustments to net earnings include $25 million of unrealized loss on a financial asset related to the additional agreement with Royal Gold, among other things. In the first quarter, sales were almost 73,000 ounces of gold and 14.9 million pounds of copper. The average realized price was $4,172 per ounce of gold and $4.48 per pound of copper, which incorporates the existing streaming arrangements at Mount Milligan. Approximately 3.7 million pounds of molybdenum was sold in the first quarter at the Langeloth facility at an average realized price of $26.11 per pound.
Consolidated all-in sustaining costs on a by-product basis in the first quarter were $1,705 per ounce. As mentioned previously, recent increases in diesel prices did not have a material impact on Centerra's costs in the quarter. The diesel price volatility may impact costs in 2026. However, at current price levels, any such impact is not expected to be material.
Slide 11 shows our financial highlights for the quarter. In the first quarter, we generated strong cash from operations of $120 million and free cash flow of $49 million, driven by strong operational performance at Mount Milligan and Oksut as well as elevated metal prices. In the first quarter, Mount Milligan generated $125 million in cash from operations and $106 million in free cash flow. Oksut generated $134 million in cash from operations and $132 million in free cash flow. U.S. Moly used $75 million of cash in operations and had a free cash flow deficit of $117 million this quarter, mainly related to spending on the Thompson Creek restart and the working capital increase at Langeloth.
In the second quarter of 2026, we expect to make routine payments to the Turkish government for taxes and royalties of approximately $90 million to $100 million, assuming current exchange rates. This will impact the free cash flow at Oksut next quarter. Returning capital to shareholders remains a key pillar in our disciplined approach to capital allocation. In the first quarter, we repurchased 1.3 million shares for a total consideration of $22.5 million, and we continue to believe that repurchasing our shares is an accretive high-return use of cash. Depending on market conditions, we expect to remain active on the share buybacks. We also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share.
At the end of the quarter, our cash balance is $543 million, bringing total liquidity to $943 million. This strong financial position gives us the flexibility to fully fund our organic growth projects at Mount Milligan, Goldfield, Kemess and Thompson Creek while continuing to return capital to shareholders. I'll pass it back to Paul for some concluding remarks.
Thank you, Ryan. We are pleased with our strong start to 2026, reflecting consistent operational performance and continued delivery across the portfolio. Our operations are generating robust free cash flow, strengthening our balance sheet and providing the flexibility to continue investing in our self-funded growth pipeline while still returning capital to shareholders. With a solid operating base and clear progress across our key growth initiatives, including Mount Milligan, Kemess, Thompson Creek, Gold Field and it, we believe Centerra remains very well positioned to deliver sustainable value for shareholders in 2026 and over the long term.
With that, operator, we'll be happy to take any questions.
[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Don DeMarco with National Bank.
2. Question Answer
Congratulations on another successful quarter. And to that point, I think I'll start off with the first question on Oksut. Another strong quarter here. And maybe if you could provide a little more color on the reasons for the outperformance and whether they were expected or potentially surprised. I heard that production for the rest of the year is going to be more evenly weighted. Is there also potential for positive surprises in the next 3 quarters?
Thanks, Don. In fact, I'll answer the question by taking a longer-term perspective on Oksut and why we're running a life of mine optimization project. This mine has reconciled positively almost since first production. And so accumulated inventories in the heaps tend to be greater than that, which would have been indicated by the ingoing resource model. And so, when we have these elevated grades, ultimately, it moves through inventories and it's -- whether it's in the heaps or in solution. But ultimately, the route of the outperformance is better than expected or better than modeled grades reporting to the heaps.
And so, your second question is, will this continue? There will be times where Oksut continues to exhibit better than planned grades. But for the remainder of this year, we are holding to the guidance that we put out in the numbers here. So, in other words, it will be -- they won't be quite as good as Q1. But I'll just make a plug here for our life of mine optimization project. We are looking at a production life extension here through a combination of mining lower-grade oxides that we know are outside of the current reserve pit, supplemented by the drawdown of these accumulated inventories, which we know are reasonably significant. And that's why we're pretty excited about putting out a study with our year-end this year on a production life extension. But it ultimately comes down to positive reconciliation on the material coming out of the pit.
And then just shifting over to diesel prices. I heard during the call that the impact is not expected to be material. It was not material in Q1, but even going forward for the rest of year, it is not expected to be material. But can you quantify this impact maybe by -- in terms of dollars per ounce or percent OpEx for, say, current diesel prices relative to what you budgeted? And beyond OpEx, do you see any other cost pressures across your supply chain maybe on CapEx and some of the projects you have underway related to the higher diesel prices?
Don, thanks for the question. It's Ryan here. Just generally speaking, if we look across Mount Milligan and Oksut, a little under 10% of the cost profile is diesel with more at Milligan less at Oksut. We are somewhat hedged at Mount Milligan. So, we're about 30% hedged on diesel for this year, which helps negate some of these price movements. And Oksut again is a smaller number. And then for the Thompson Creek projects, it's about 10% of their CapEx profile, and we're about 75% hedged for Thompson Creek through the initial CapEx period.
So, we do have a bit of cover with our hedges. If diesel is around $100 a barrel, we believe we're going to stay within our cost ranges that we have out there for guidance and within our CapEx range at Thompson Creek. We have obviously sensitized that. And if diesel does go up $50 a barrel, it's about $75 an ounce impact on AISC. But at current diesel prices, we expect our cost ranges and CapEx ranges to hold.
And then just finally, Of course, as Paul mentioned, something like 40-plus percent of the resource was not in the PEA mine plan. And looking ahead to the PFS in 2027, what are your plans to advance the resource? And would a portion of that resource that wasn't in the PEA be included in the PFS? Or would that be something to be targeted later maybe after the mine is in production?
It's more of the latter there. So, the PFS is focused on increasing the level of confidence across all areas of engineering plus associated permitting activities. So by and large, the PFS will deliver that 15-year mine plan that is associated with that roughly half the total resource. What we would then intend to do is as we move to execution of an FS and into construction should we approve the project? We would continue to drill and look to add further material to the mine plan afterwards.
As I said, the PEA generates a 15-year mine life. So strictly speaking, we don't need more resources in the plan. We want to focus on delivering a robust job on the study around that, which we indicated in the PEA. The other thing we're doing during this PFS is we're just increasing the confidence in the drilling. So, we're converting more inferred to indicated just to bring up the degree of rigor in the resource that we propose to mine here in the PEA.
[Operator Instructions] Our next question is from Lawson Winder with Bank of America Securities.
Nice to see you guys continuing on the strong buyback path. I wanted to just ask about your thinking on the buyback. I mean, in light of the current gold price environment, your CapEx needs, I mean, I think a lot of projects already and still decent free cash flow yield. I mean, do you see room to accelerate what you've been doing on the buyback versus Q1?
Our capital allocation is a discussion we have every quarter. And what has happened here with these elevated commodity prices is that not only are we able to fund our development pipeline out of cash plus operating cash flow, as evidenced by this quarter, we continue to build cash while funding the development pipeline. So, it's always a question on what do we do with that, I suppose, excess cash. We are committed to a very robust buyback you saw it in the quarter, and it's an ongoing debate.
And the other message that we'd like to get out there is we believe we're a very compelling value right now and buying our shares is a strong signal that we are convinced in that valuation opportunity. So, it's an ongoing debate, but I'll tell you, we remain committed to a very robust buyback here.
Understood. And then just thinking about the Oksut life-of-mine study, could you maybe give us just a bit of a preview in terms of what we're expecting? I mean, I think right now, the expectation is an extra year, maybe a little bit more than a year of mine life. I mean, is there any upside or downside risk to that expectation that we have at this point?
Well, I'll repeat what I said in Don's question there is there's 2 sources of opportunity. One is just the capitalization on higher gold price, which will mobilize hither to subeconomic oxide material outside the reserve pit. We wouldn't do it just for that. But the real opportunity is on the residual leach. As I mentioned, historic positive reconciliation in some years quite significant, which has left significant inventories in the heap under leached or in some cases, certain areas not leached when you look at the geometry of the heaps.
We'd like this to be more than a year. Like this is not going to be an insubstantial extension, but I don't want to get into predicting the exact number of years. But there's a good amount of inventory between the residual material and those lower-grade oxides. I mean, in fact, even right now, even before the addition of those, our current models show heap drawdown even into 2030. So before -- even before releasing the results of this project, we're already seeing leach curves even before that project pushing us into 2030.
That's clear. I guess what I'm hearing from you is, I mean, one year probably wouldn't be that satisfactory internally. And so the hope is that it wouldn't be longer. I think that's fair, but push back if that's incorrect?
That's right. Yes. No, that's correct, Lawson. I mean I don't want to tell you an exact number because I frankly don't know what that number is. We have to do the work right now, but it's -- we wouldn't be satisfied with just a year.
The next question is from Brian MacArthur with Raymond James.
It relates to the free cash flow in the moly operations. Can you just go through -- there's discussion here about why capital is different between additions and total capital, and it talks about ARO and ROU. Is that all cash that's happening? I'm just trying to reconcile the free cash flow that's actually coming out of here. And the second part of that question, is there any capital in there for cost to fix land off as well?
Thanks, Brian. I think I understand your question. If you're looking at the conversation around CapEx and additions to PP&E and the guidance in those areas, there is a difference. It's usually for non-cash accounting things. So, if you're trying to look at cash flow, looking at the CapEx number and not the additions to PP&E for Thompson Creek is the right way to go. The Thompson Creek number is just for Thompson Creek. We have not put Langeloth guidance out yet.
So, in terms of repairs, that's not in the guidance table per se, but we have included in the commentary an estimate of $5 million to $10 million for the year for the totality of the repairs at Langeloth, and we believe that's still accurate. We spent $2 million in the quarter. There's some ongoing fixes that will need to happen, but that's about the range you're looking at for Langeloth.
Okay. Great. I think that clears it up. I was just trying to match everything up here and it didn't quite match. So again, simply, when -- if I look at it, there's the free cash flow deficit at Thompson Creek and then the free cash flow for the working capital at Langeloth, that's the $116.5 million you're just getting, and that's the true, what I would call, cash impact of all that and the rest of it is all noncash accounting and there's no Langeloth in any of that. Is that correct?
That's correct, other than the land loss working capital you noted. So that's the right number, Brian.
[Operator Instructions] The next question is from Jeremy Hoy with Canaccord.
Two for me on Mount Milligan. First one, I noticed gold recoveries are trending higher recently, and you guys have some ongoing optimization initiatives. Just wondering if you guys have seen any sort of breakthroughs at the plant, which are resulting in these higher recoveries despite grades being somewhat lower.
And the other question is on costs at Milligan. I think production costs are up to about $94 million in the quarter, up from the prior run rate and above what I was projecting for the remainder of the year. So just wondering if you could provide any commentary there and if we're expecting to see those normalize for the remainder of the year and sort of more in line with guidance.
I'll take the question on recovery and Ryan will take the cost question. With recoveries, I wouldn't necessarily fixate on the first quarter and apply to the rest of the year. Recoveries at Mount Milligan are highly dependent on, yes, the optimization work that we're doing and trying to get better recoveries. But much more so, they are driven -- driven by many geo-metallurgical characteristics, but principally the pyrite to copyrite ratio in the ore. And so, depending on what that ratio is in the mill feed, that will drive higher and/or lower recoveries.
So, I wouldn't necessarily -- we're thrilled with the recoveries in Q1, I wouldn't necessarily say that will continue through the year. It will really be a function of where we are in the ore body. Now what will drive the better quarters in our guidance at Milligan in Q2 and Q3 is grade. We knew that Q1 was going to be a low-grade quarter, particularly in gold. And in the same way, we were confident that Q2 and Q3 will be higher grades.
I'll add one other point. One of the reasons that we are much more confident in our guidance and forecast at million compared to previous years is we've implemented a grade control program or an RC drilling program where we drill a number of benches ahead. And so, we're able to modify the resource model with those RC numbers. So that gives us much better predictability on grade and then, of course, associated recoveries depending on metallurgical characteristics of the ore. So that's the answer on recovery.
Ryan, do you want to take the cost question?
Yes, sure. On costs, maybe 2 answers. On the gross cost for the quarter, I think one thing to point out is we did sell more than we produced. So, some of that is just pulling through costs that were sitting in inventory at the end of the year. I think on a quarter-by-quarter basis, Mount Milligan costs going forward are expected to be more or less in line with the previous year. So that can give you some guidance there. And then on a unit cost basis, a little bit higher in Q1. But as we get into the higher production quarters in Q2 and Q3, we expect the unit costs on a per ounce basis to pull down a little bit as well. So, I don't think there's anything surprising to us or unique in the cost structure for Milligan during the quarter.
This concludes the question-and-answer session and today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.
Centerra Gold Inc. — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
Centerra Gold Inc. — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Centerra Gold Fourth Quarter 2025 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] And the conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]
I would now like to turn the conference over to Lisa Wilkinson, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications with Centerra Gold. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Centerra Gold's Fourth Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call. Joining me on the call today are Paul Tomory, President and Chief Executive Officer; David Hendriks, Chief Operating Officer; and Ryan Snyder, Chief Financial Officer.
Our news published last night outlines our fourth quarter 2025 results and is complemented by our MD&A and financial statements, which are available on SEDAR, EDGAR and our website. All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Presentation slides accompanying this webcast are available on Centerra's website. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions.
Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks that could cause our actual results to differ from those expressed or implied. For more information, please refer to the cautionary statements in our presentation and the risk factors outlined in our annual information form.
We will also be referring to certain non-GAAP measures during today's discussion. For a detailed description of these measures, please see our news release and MD&A issued yesterday.
I will now turn the call over to Paul Tomory.
Thanks, Lisa. Good morning, everyone. In the fourth quarter, we achieved strong operational performance at both Mount Milligan and Oksut. Consolidated full year production was over 275,000 ounces of gold and 50 million pounds of copper, surpassing the midpoint of our gold production guidance range. Consolidated all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis were $1,614 per ounce, outperforming the low end of our guidance range.
We ended the year with a cash balance of $529 million, demonstrating our ability to continue investing in the Thompson Creek restart project and our broader organic growth pipeline while returning record capital to shareholders, including $94 million of buybacks and $41 million in dividends for the full year.
Looking at to 2026, our production and cost guidance reflects stable operating performance across the portfolio. We expect our operations to continue to generate strong cash flow in 2026, providing the financial flexibility to advance our growth project pipeline while continuing to return capital to shareholders.
Our self-funded growth strategy is being executed across multiple fronts. Last year, we published the Mount Milligan PFS, which extends the mine life by 10 years to 2045. We also commenced development of the Goldfield project in Nevada, which will provide Centerra with additional exposure to future gold production in a top mining jurisdiction. And in the early part of this year, we announced the results of preliminary economic assessment for Kemess, along with an updated mineral resource. This was an important step forward in advancing Centerra's organic growth pipeline in British Columbia.
Each of these growth opportunities, in addition to the Thompson Creek restart project in Idaho can be funded from our existing liquidity and cash flow generated from operations, positioning Centerra to deliver sustainable, low-risk growth while maintaining our strategic approach to capital allocation.
An updated mineral resource, along with the results of the Kemess PEA were released in January. The study outlines a derisked restart plan that leverages substantial existing infrastructure and is focused on an integrated development strategy based on a conventional open pit and long-haul open-stoping underground mining operation. This approach supports an initial 15-year mine life with an average annual production of 171,000 ounces of gold and 61 million pounds of copper at an all-in sustaining cost on a byproduct basis of $971 per ounce.
The project has robust economics with an after-tax NPV of $1.1 billion and an IRR of 16% using a long-term pricing of $3,000 per ounce gold and $4.50 per pound copper. The value of Kemess increases to $2.8 billion in metal prices of $4,500 per ounce of gold and $6 per pound of copper.
Kemess is a high-quality growth project with the potential to contribute meaningful gold and copper production to Centerra's portfolio. We believe that Kemess has the potential to become Centerra's second long-life gold copper asset in British Columbia located within the highly prospective Toodoggone district.
The updated mineral resource at Kemess contains 3.3 million ounces of gold and 1.1 billion pounds of copper in the indicated category and 3.6 million ounces of gold and 1.2 billion pounds of copper in the inferred category. The expanded resource estimate reflects a thorough and disciplined evaluation of all available geological data across the site, including additional drilling and technical work in the Nugget zone and the historical Kemess South deposit.
The PEA only evaluates the Kemess Main and Kemess underground areas, which represent approximately 47% of the total indicated and inferred resource tonnes, highlighting the potential for additional resources to be incorporated to future technical studies. The updated mineral resource at Kemess enhances the project's overall scale and supports its long-term production profile.
Moving to Kemess capital profile. It is structured to reflect the project's phase development sequence with open pit mining starting first and underground production added shortly thereafter. Approximately $770 million in initial nonsustaining capital is required to achieve first production from the open pit. This includes capital stripping, construction of the underground conveyor system from Kemess Main to the Kemess South process plant and the refurbishment of the process plant in camp.
An additional $277 million in expansionary nonsustaining capital will be invested over the 2 years following open pit start-up to support the commencement of underground operation. This includes underground development and the construction of a leach plant, which is expected to both improve overall gold recovery by approximately 14% and provide valuable optionality by enabling the processing of ore from potential satellite deposits in the future.
Kemess represents a compelling growth opportunity for Centerra, supported by strong economics and a significant upside exploration potential in the deep Kemess offset zone along the Kemess East trend. We are now focused on ongoing exploration and are advancing technical work on a pre-feasibility study expected in 2027.
Now I'd like to provide an update on our sustainability initiatives. In January, we successfully received all required permits to allow for the continuation of Mount Milligan's operations through 2035. These approvals also include a 10% increase in plant throughput beginning in 2028 as well as expanded stockpile capacity to enhance operational flexibility. Importantly, this expedited permitting process was a result of Mount Milligan being selected by the province of British Columbia as 1 of 4 eligible mining projects back in 2025. The receipt of these amendments in less than 1 year reflects both the strength of our engagement with regulators and the province's commitment to supporting responsible economic development.
At Oksut, our commitment to strong social performance continues to receive external recognition. In 2025, Oksut received 9 awards from 4 leading international organizations, recognizing our efforts in social responsibility. These awards reflect initiatives focused on empowering local female entrepreneurs, supporting youth education, strengthening environmental stewardship and contributing to broader community development. Through initiatives like these, we continue to strive to create lasting positive impact.
And with that, I'll pass the call over to David to walk through our operational performance for the quarter and the year.
Thanks, Paul. Slide 9 shows operating highlights at Mount Milligan for the fourth quarter. Mount Milligan produced over 44,000 ounces of gold and 13 million pounds of copper in the fourth quarter. Full year 2025 gold and copper production was over 147,000 ounces and 50 million pounds, respectively, which was in line with the recently published PFS mine plan. In 2026, Mount Milligan gold production is expected to be 140,000 to 155,000 ounces and copper production is expected to be 50 million to 60 million pounds.
Operating metrics, including gold and copper grades and recoveries are expected to be in line with the recently announced PFS mine plan. Gold production and sales are expected to be lower in the first quarter and higher in the second and third quarters of 2026, reflecting the planned mine sequencing. Copper production and sales are expected to be evenly weighted throughout 2026.
In the fourth quarter, all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis were $913 per ounce, 38% lower quarter-over-quarter due to higher ounces produced and sold. Full year AISC on a byproduct basis was $1,194 per ounce below the guidance range. We expect AISC on a byproduct basis in 2026 to be between $1,200 and $1,300 per ounce.
Slide 10 shows the quarterly operating highlights at Oksut. Fourth quarter production was over 26,500 ounces of gold. As part of planned mine sequencing, heap leach tonnes stacked in the quarter were lower as mining activity focused on waste stripping in the Keltepe pit to open new ore zones in line with the 2026 mine plan.
Oksut delivered full year 2025 production above the top end of the guidance range, producing over 127,700 ounces of gold during the year. In 2026, gold production at Oksut is expected to be 110,000 to 125,000 ounces. Gold production and sales are expected to be evenly weighted throughout 2026. In the fourth quarter, AISC on a byproduct basis was $1,748 per ounce, higher compared to last quarter due to lower gold ounces sold, higher sustaining CapEx and higher royalty expense as a result of elevated gold prices. Full year 2025 AISC on a byproduct basis was $1,613 per ounce, outperforming the guidance range.
2026 all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis are expected to be $1,850 to $1,950 per ounce, higher year-over-year, primarily due to increased royalty rates from elevated gold prices and the impact of inflation in Turkiye, which is not fully offset by the devaluation of the lira. The royalty is expected to account for approximately $650 to $750 per ounce of gold production costs in 2026. The impact of these factors is partially offset by lower sustaining CapEx.
We continue to progress work on a life of mine optimization study at Oksut to evaluate the asset's full potential, including the incremental production potential of residual leaching of the heap and the inclusion of low-grade oxide mineralization outside of the current reserve pit into the mine plan. The study will explore options to extend gold recovery from existing heap leach pads through improved solution management, which will enhance residual metal extraction efficiency. The study remains on track to be completed by the end of 2026.
The restart of Thompson Creek is advancing with approximately 27% of the infrastructure refurbishment complete. Non-sustaining CapEx in the fourth quarter and full year 2025 was $51 million and $134 million, respectively, which was in line with our guidance range. Since the September 2024 restart decision, capital expenditures have totaled $164 million.
Reflecting modest inflationary impacts since the 2024 feasibility study cost baseline, along with additional maintenance requirements for certain mining equipment and refinements to the mine plan, we have increased the project's total capital estimate by about 5% to 10% from $397 million to between $425 million and $450 million. The updated estimate also includes the pull forward of select activities, including the tailings dam toe buttress to further derisk execution and support the overall project schedule. The project remains on track for production in mid-2027.
On January 29, we suspended operations at our Langeloth metallurgical Facility near Pittsburgh following an explosion. No fatalities, serious injuries or significant environmental releases were reported. The safety and well-being of our employees, contractors and the surrounding community remain our top priority. We are conducting a thorough investigation to determine the root cause of the incident, and that process remains ongoing. Operations at Langeloth remain temporarily suspended. The site team is cooperating with regulatory authorities, advancing repair activities and planning for a safe restart with full operations expected to resume by May 2026.
The impact was contained to an area of the site near the acid plant. Repairs are expected to cost approximately $5 million to $10 million. As a result of the temporary suspension, working capital is expected to increase in the first quarter of 2026 as inventories build during the shutdown period. We continue to assess the full operational and financial impacts of this incident and will provide 2026 operating guidance for Langeloth at a later date.
I'll now pass it to Ryan to walk through our financial highlights for the quarter.
Thanks, David. Slide 12 details our fourth quarter financial results. Adjusted net earnings in the fourth quarter were $83 million or $0.41 per share, which benefited from strong production at Mount Milligan and elevated metal prices.
Key adjustments to net earnings include $145 million related to the noncash impairment reversal at Kemess, $17 million of unrealized loss on the financial assets related to the additional agreement with Royal Gold, and $35 million of deferred income tax adjustments, among other things.
For the full year 2025, adjusted net earnings were $229 million or $1.12 per share. In the fourth quarter, sales were over 68,000 ounces of gold and 12.5 million pounds of copper. The average realized price was $3,415 per ounce of gold and $4.69 per pound of copper, which incorporates the existing streaming arrangements at Mount Milligan. Approximately 3.6 million pounds of molybdenum were sold in the fourth quarter at the Langeloth facility at an average realized price of $23.78 per pound.
Consolidated all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis in the fourth quarter were $1,646 per ounce. Full year 2025 all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis were $1,614 per ounce, outperforming the guidance range.
Slide 13 shows our financial highlights for the quarter. In the fourth quarter, we generated strong cash flow from operations of $103 million and free cash flow of $12 million, driven by strong operational performance at Mount Milligan and Oksut as well as elevated metal prices. In the fourth quarter, Mount Milligan generated $85 million in cash from operations and $54 million in free cash flow. Oksut generated $57 million in cash from operations and $44 million in free cash flow. The molybdenum business unit used $15 million of cash in operations and had a free cash flow deficit of $61 million this quarter, mainly related to spending on the Thompson Creek restart and a working capital increase at Langeloth.
In the full year 2025, we generated $349 million in cash from operations and $95 million of free cash flow. Returning capital to shareholders remains a key pillar in our disciplined approach to capital allocation. In the fourth quarter, we repurchased 2.3 million shares for a total consideration of $30 million, a record level of quarterly buybacks and we continue to believe that repurchasing our shares is an accretive high return use of cash. We also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share. In the full year 2025, we have returned $135 million to shareholders, including $94 million in buybacks, which equates to about 5% of our outstanding shares and $41 million in dividends.
A key focus for Centerra is returning capital to shareholders, and we expect to remain active on the share buybacks dependent on market conditions. At the end of the year, our cash balance was $529 million, bringing total liquidity to $929 million. We also hold over $115 million in equity investments. This strong financial position gives us the flexibility to fully fund our organic growth projects at Mount Milligan, Goldfield, Kemess and Thompson Creek while continuing to return capital to shareholders.
Slide 14 shows our 2026 outlook. This year, we expect to produce between 250,000 and 280,000 ounces of gold on a consolidated basis. Copper production is expected to be between 50 million and 60 million pounds. The guidance ranges are focused on executing on the PFS mine plan at Mount Milligan and consistent operational performance at Oksut.
Gold production and sales at Mount Milligan are expected to be higher in the second and third quarters of 2026, reflecting planned mine sequencing with approximately 20% of full year gold production expected in the first quarter of the year. 2026 consolidated all-in sustaining costs are expected to be between $1,650 and $1,750 per ounce. We are committed to protecting and expanding margins through disciplined cost management and continuous operational initiatives at Mount Milligan.
Sustaining capital expenditures in 2026 are expected to be $85 million to $105 million and nonsustaining capital expenditures are expected to be $260 million to $315 million across our growth project pipeline. This includes approximately $190 million to $220 million for the restart of operations at Thompson Creek, between $30 million and $40 million at Goldfield focused on launching long-lead procurement and initiating site establishment works and $35 million to $45 million at Mount Milligan for haul truck additions and buttress foundation construction for the tailings storage facility.
We continue to invest in exploration. This year, we expect to spend between $40 million and $50 million on exploration, including $20 million to $25 million on brownfield exploration and $20 million to $25 million on greenfield and generative exploration programs. Over 90% of exploration expenditures are expected to be expensed. We expect our operations to continue generating strong cash flow in 2026, providing the financial flexibility to advance our growth project pipeline while returning capital to shareholders.
I'll pass it back to Paul for some concluding remarks.
Thanks, Ryan. We're very pleased with our performance in 2025, reflecting strong operational execution, disciplined cost control and assets that continue to generate meaningful free cash flow. Our balance sheet strength and consistent cash generation give us the flexibility to self-fund an attractive pipeline of low-risk, value-accretive growth while continue to return capital to shareholders. With a stable operating base, a clear line of sight to growth at Mount Milligan, Kemess, Goldfield and Thompson Creek and a disciplined approach to capital allocation, we believe Centerra is well positioned to deliver sustainable value for shareholders in 2026 and beyond.
And with that, operator, we can open the call to questions, please.
[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Luke Bertozzi with CIBC.
2. Question Answer
I'd like to begin with the Langeloth suspension. During the shutdown, I understand inventories and working capital are expected to build. How much molybdenum concentrate has already been contracted for purchase in Q1 and Q2 2026?
Luke, I'll pass it over to Ryan.
Luke, I don't want to get into the necessary details on concentrate purchases. If you think of last year's volumes, which was about 14 million to 15 million pounds, we were stepping up slightly from there. So that can give you a bit of a range. But you're right, we're going to continue to purchase concentrate during the shutdown. So there will be an associated inventory build over the next couple of months.
I see. And do you think there's any flexibility from some of those suppliers or opportunities to temporarily reroute the concentrate?
Yes. We're looking at all of that, right? We're working with our customers, obviously, our downstream customers to try to find solutions. We're going to be looking at what we do with the concentrate. But our commercial team is working at trying to find the right solution there. There probably is homes for that concentrate, but we have to decide on what we're going to do with it and what our customers need eventually once we restart before we decide to move any concentrate or anything like that. So it is a dynamic situation. I think we're evaluating it day by day here and we're going to do what's best for the company and for our customers.
Yes. Okay. Shifting to Mount Milligan. There's a mention of water management projects in 2026. Can you elaborate the scope of some of those projects? And are they largely onetime in nature? Or should we expect them to continue into 2027?
Dave can take that one.
Yes. Luke, so the water work is something that's continuously ongoing. We're always replacing pumps, making sure we have the right pieces at the right amount of water coming in. And so it's a constant bit of work there. The capital this year is maybe a little bit higher than past years, but it's not substantially so. It's almost more of a sustaining piece. And I think there's one new set of a well field that we're putting in this year, that would be the exception to that rule, but it's pretty much normal business of what we're doing with the water this year.
Okay. Great. Well, congrats on the solid quarter and stable outlook.
Thanks, Luke.
And the next question comes from Jeremy Hoy with Canaccord Genuity.
Mine is on MS on the PFS. Do you envision this being sort of an updated PEA with tightened assumptions around OpEx and CapEx and additional technical work? Or is there an opportunity to potentially bring in additional resources if there's success on the exploration front and the conversion front?
Well, the purpose of the PFS that we've already launched here is to tighten up our assumptions, advance the engineering and importantly, get going on some of the environmental work that will be ultimately required for some of the permitting.
In terms of the resource, I think what you're referring to is the PEA mines out not even half of the total resource. We will, of course, look to tighten up some of the drilling, move more from inferred to indicated, but in terms of the scope of the mine plan, we're quite happy with the 15-year mine life that we have. And as the years go by and we do more drilling, we would look to expand the mine plan. But that is not the main objective of the PFS. The main objective of the PFS is to put forward a robust set of engineering and economics on the mine plan that was communicated in the PEA and leaving upside for the future. I mean, at the end of the day, a 15-year mine life is a really good starter plan, and we will look for additions to that beyond the initial phases of execution.
And the next question comes from Don DeMarco with National Bank.
So Paul, I saw the CapEx increase at Thompson Creek and a range is provided. So what represents the lower and the upper end of this range? And is the CapEx to restart subject to potential further increases? Or do you have fixed price contracts or other mechanisms in place that might mitigate future increases?
That increase was driven by a whole grab bag of different factors, and Ryan can detail how we worked out that increase estimate.
Don, yes, I think as Paul mentioned, there's a whole host of things in there. A little bit of that is inflation. A little bit of it is extra maintenance on our equipment. There's not a huge amount of physical equipment being purchased that you need to lock in on fixed price contracts. We are obviously starting the mill refurbishment. We have been signing some of the long-term contracts related to that. But a lot of this CapEx number is the actual mining and stripping, right? And that's impacted by how quickly you're able to mine, maintenance on your equipment, labor and things like that. And so it's tough to exactly fix that number. That's why we gave a range to take into account the variability on the ongoing cost to do the stripping. But I don't think there's big changes in physical equipment costs that are going to impact that number.
Okay. Great. So second question then. So you're showing strong cost discipline, both in finishing below the lower end of the full year guidance last year and with only modest year-over-year cost increases in '26, whereas we see sector peers trending much higher in some cases. So broadly speaking, what underlies your cost performance across your portfolio and the cost discipline that you're showing into '26?
If we start with Mount Milligan, which is the main part of our stability in costs, we have, as you know, been working on a site-wide optimization program over the last couple of years, and that has yielded really good cost discipline and cost control. The challenges in the past of Mount Milligan have been more grade and recovery related while our efforts on cost control have proceeded very well.
The other benefit we're getting is on the byproduct from copper and the strong copper prices have benefited us at Mount Milligan and with copper trading well above $4 here, that will continue. But it's, first and foremost, strong discipline on operating performance.
On Oksut, I'll remind you of something that Dave said in his prepared remarks, a big part of the AISC is, in fact, a royalty that is being paid at the higher gold price. So it's -- it comes with the significant margin expansion with a higher gold price. But because of the royalty scale, we are paying now a significant per ounce royalty cost at Oksut.
[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Brian MacArthur with Raymond James.
Paul, over the last few years, you've done a good job of highlighting internal growth, whether it's Goldfield, extending Mount Milligan, Kemess, the other thing that's still sitting there is the Endako mill, given there's a lot of people wanting to build things at the moment in the world, is there any update on how you may be able to highlight some value there going forward?
Well, I think you know Endako better than most. It still has a substantial molybdenum resource and a world-class process plant. Our current strategy is to proceed and reopen the Thompson Creek mine, feed Langeloth with concentrate from there. And our current strategy has Endako coming online after Thompson Creek is mined out. So we're talking 10 years before that comes online. As conditions change, we may reassess that, but the current strategy is to not do anything at Endako until Thompson Creek has been mined out.
Would you be willing to sell the mill to someone else?
Well, at the right price, we might consider it.
[Operator Instructions] This concludes the question-and-answer session and today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.
Centerra Gold Inc. — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
Centerra Gold Inc. — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Centerra Gold Third Quarter 2025 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Lisa Wilkinson, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications with Centerra Gold. Please go ahead, ma'am.
Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Centerra Gold's Third Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call. Joining me on the call today are Paul Tomory, President and Chief Executive Officer; David Hendriks, Chief Operating Officer; and Ryan Snyder, Chief Financial Officer.
Our news published yesterday outlines our third quarter 2025 results and is complemented by our MD&A and financial statements, which are available on SEDAR, EDGAR and our website. All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Presentation slides accompanying this webcast are available on Centerra's website.
Following the prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks that could cause our actual results to differ from those expressed or implied. For more information, please refer to the cautionary statements in our presentation and the risk factors outlined in our annual information form. We will also be referring to certain non-GAAP measures during today's discussion. For a detailed description of these measures, please see our news release and MD&A issued last night.
I will now turn the call over to Paul Tomory.
Thank you, Lisa, and good morning, everyone. In the third quarter, we sustained robust margins and generated nearly $100 million of free cash flow, driven by strong operational performance at OÖit and elevated metal prices. Gold and copper production in the quarter was almost 82,000 ounces and 13.4 million pounds, respectively. Our cash balance increased to over $560 million in the quarter, demonstrating our ability to fund the Thompson Creek restart project while returning $32 million of capital to shareholders through disciplined share buybacks and our quarterly dividend. We also continue to deploy capital strategically through our equity investment in Liberty Gold, reflecting our balanced approach to growth and value creation. Our self-funded growth strategy continues to advance across multiple fronts.
We published the Mount Milligan pre-feasibility study, which I'll come back to, and we also expect to publish a preliminary economic assessment for Kemess in the first quarter of 2026. Together, these assets form a robust pipeline of long-life gold and copper projects in British Columbia. In Nevada, development has advanced at the Goldfield project, which provides Centerra with additional exposure to future gold production. In the quarter, engineering progressed as planned, early mobilization efforts progressed on site, and we are building out a dedicated project execution team. These early actions mark important steps towards project readiness and position Goldfield for disciplined and efficient execution.
Each of these growth opportunities as well as the Thompson Creek restart project in Idaho can be funded using our existing liquidity and cash flow from operations, positioning Centerra to deliver sustainable low-risk growth while maintaining our strategic approach to capital allocation. In September, we announced the results of the PFS for Mount Milligan, extending the life of mine by approximately 10 years to 2045. This is supported by an optimized mine plan, delivering average annual production of 150,000 ounces of gold and 69 million pounds of copper from 2026 to 2042, followed by the processing of low-grade stockpiles from 2043 to 2045.
The study outlines disciplined nonsustaining capital expenditures of approximately $186 million, most of which are not required until the early to mid-2030s, all fully funded from available liquidity and future cash flow. Key investments include $114 million for a second tailings storage facility to be spent across 2032 and 2033 and providing the potential for future raises, which could add multiple decades of storage capacity beyond the 2045 life of mine. $36 million for ball mill motor upgrades and flotation cells in 2028 to increase process plant throughput by about 10% to 66,000 tonnes per day and increase recovery by approximately 1%. And lastly, $28 million for 5 new haul trucks to support longer haul distances, higher material movement rates and stockpile development.
Proven and probable reserves increased significantly to 4.4 million ounces of gold and 1.7 billion pounds of copper, representing a 56% and 52% increase, respectively, from year-end 2024. Recent drilling confirms mineralization remains open to the west of the current resource pit and Centerra continues to advance exploration aimed at expanding the mineral resource and assessing opportunities to extend the mine life beyond the updated plan.
The PFS reaffirms Mount Milligan's strong economics with an after-tax NPV of approximately $1.5 billion at $2,600 per ounce gold, which increases to over $2 billion at $3,500 per ounce of gold. Mount Milligan remains a strategic cornerstone asset in Centerra's portfolio with 20 years of mine life, meaningful gold and copper production, strong cash flow and a significant opportunity for future exploration potential in a top-tier mining jurisdiction.
Now I'd like to share an update on our sustainability initiatives. As part of our climate change strategy and commitment to sustainability and operational innovation, we're advancing a renewable diesel pilot project at Mount Milligan. This initiative will establish clear reliability metrics, account for seasonal variations and evaluate performance analytics across our fleet.
By exploring renewable diesel, we aim to meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions at Mount Milligan and move towards lowering Centerra's overall carbon footprint. At the same time, Mount Milligan's life of mine extension marks a major milestone in advancing Centerra's gold growth strategy and reaffirms our commitment to social responsibility. This includes the launch of the eighth pre-employment training and education readiness program, which supports unemployed and underemployed First Nations members in local communities through skills training, followed by direct employment opportunities.
Between 2023 and 2025, we've also achieved double-digit growth in our local spend with First Nations owned and affiliated businesses. That same commitment drives our work at Oksut, where our community initiatives [indiscernible] focus on education, sports, environment and social development. Through these programs, we are proud to have supported more than 13,000 students, helping to build stronger, more resilient communities where we operate.
And with that, I'll pass the call over to Dave to walk through our operational performance highlights.
Thanks, Paul. Slide 8 shows operating highlights at Mount Milligan for the third quarter. Mount Milligan produced over 32,500 ounces of gold and 13.4 million pounds of copper in the quarter. In 2025, mining operations encountered zones with more complex mineralization, the impact of which were incorporated in the recently published PFS. Year-to-date and full year gold and copper production remains in line with the PFS. In the third quarter, all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis were $1,461 per ounce, 14% higher than last quarter due to an increase in sustaining CapEx and lower ounces sold in the quarter.
Full year 2025 costs are expected to be near the low end of the guidance ranges. Slide 9 shows the quarterly operating highlights at Oksut, reflecting another period of strong performance. Third quarter production was 49,000 ounces, better than planned due to higher grades resulting from mine sequencing. As a result, we have reaffirmed our 2025 production guidance at Oksut with production expected near the upper end of the guidance range. In the third quarter, all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis were $1,473 per ounce, which is 16% lower compared to last quarter, driven by higher ounces sold and lower sustaining CapEx, partially offset by higher royalty expenses due to elevated gold prices and new royalty rates in [ Turkey. ]
Full year 2025 cost guidance is expected to be near the low end of the range, benefiting from expected higher sales and continued strong operational performance. We have initiated a life of mine optimization study at Oksut to evaluate the asset's full potential, including the incremental production potential of residual leaching of the heap and expanding the pit to pursue additional mineralization. The study will explore options to extend gold recovery from existing leach pads through improved solution management, which will enhance residual metal extraction efficiency.
The study is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 and will support updates to the mine's long-term reclamation and site management plans, ensuring the operation continues to maximize metal recovery and cash flow in a safe and responsible manner. The restart of Thompson Creek is advancing with approximately 29% of the total capital investment complete. In the third quarter, we invested $31 million in nonsustaining capital expenditures, bringing total investment spend since the September 2024 restart decision to $113 million. We have reaffirmed our 2025 guidance for nonsustaining CapEx at Thompson Creek. The project remains on track and first production is expected in the second half of 2027.
I'll now pass it to Ryan to walk through our financial highlights for the quarter.
Thanks, David. Slide 11 details our third quarter financial results. Adjusted net earnings in the third quarter were $66 million or $0.33 per share, which benefited from strong production from Öksüt and elevated metal prices. Key adjustments to net earnings include $194 million related to the noncash impairment reversal at Goldfield, $27 million of unrealized gain net of taxes on the financial assets related to the additional agreement with Royal Gold and $16 million of unrealized gain on the remeasurement of the sale of the Greenstone partnership in 2021, among other things.
In the third quarter, sales were over 80,000 ounces of gold and 13 million pounds of copper. The average realized price was $3,178 per ounce of gold and $3.73 per pound of copper, which incorporates the existing streaming arrangements at Mount Milligan. At the molybdenum business unit, approximately 3.1 million pounds of molybdenum was sold in the third quarter at the Langeloth facility at an average realized price of $24.42 per pound.
Consolidated all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis in the third quarter were $1,652 per ounce. We expect consolidated all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis to be near the low end of the guidance range for both Mount Milligan and Oksut in 2025.
Slide 12 shows our financial highlights for the quarter. In the third quarter, we generated robust cash flow from operations of $162 million and free cash flow of $99 million, driven by strong operational performance at Oksut and elevated metal prices. In the third quarter, Mount Milligan generated $64 million in cash from operations and $45 million in free cash flow. OÖü generated $139 million in cash from operations and $134 million in free cash flow.
The molybdenum business unit used $16 million of cash in operations and had a free cash flow deficit of $54 million this quarter, mainly related to spending on the Thompson Creek restart and a working capital increase at [ Langeloth, ] partially due to high molybdenum prices. Returning capital to shareholders remains a key pillar in our disciplined approach to capital allocation. In the third quarter, we repurchased 2.8 million shares for total consideration of $22 million, and we continue to believe that repurchasing our shares is an accretive high-return use of cash.
Our Board has increased the approved level of share repurchases through the NCIB in 2025 to $100 million, and we have repurchased $64 million year-to-date. We also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share. Year-to-date, we have returned over $95 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. As part of our commitment to returning capital to our shareholders, we expect to remain active on the share buybacks subject to market conditions.
At the end of the third quarter, our cash balance was $562 million, bringing total liquidity to over $960 million. We also hold an additional $85 million in equity investments. This strong financial position gives us the flexibility to fully fund our organic growth projects at Mount Milligan, Goldfield, Kemess and Thompson Creek while continuing to return capital to shareholders. I'll pass it back to Paul for some closing remarks.
Thanks, Ryan. We're proud of the continued progress in advancing our internal self-funded growth strategy. The recently published Mount Milligan PFS represents a major step forward in unlocking additional value from this cornerstone asset and provides a clear view of the mine's long-term potential. Alongside this, we continue to advance the Kemess study, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026. These efforts reflect our disciplined approach to capital allocation and our commitment to enhancing shareholder value through a robust pipeline of self-funded growth opportunities supported by a strong balance sheet.
And with that, operator, I'll open the call to questions, please.
[Operator Instructions] And your first question today will come from Luke Bertozzi with CIBC.
2. Question Answer
On the solid quarter. It's great to see higher commodity prices flowing right into free cash flow. I noticed gold recovery at Mount Milligan was a bit low compared to prior quarters and the recent technical report. Can you provide a bit of color on what drove the lower recovery in Q3 as well as your expectations for Q4?
Thanks very much for the question. This is Dave. On the recovery piece, we had remodeled the entire deposit. And one of the things that we did when we put the PFS out was looking at the ratio of the pyrite to the Kao pyrites. And that ratio has been more pyrite in the last quarter than we had modeled in there, and that has led to the low recoveries. What we have done through the end of the year is we will be able to get through to our ounces for guidance based on moving a little bit more higher material. And so we're able to satisfy ourselves that we understand the piece of the pyrite tocalcopyrite ratio, which is impacting our recovery.
And your next question today will come from Don DeMarco with National Bank.
Congratulations on the strong quarter. I'll start with Oksut. So I see that during the quarter, you had 1.5 million tonnes stacked at a grade of 1.82 grams per tonne. So considering heap leach residence times and so on, does this suggest that we might see another strong grade quarter in Q1 '26 after the production normalizes in Q4?
Yes. I think what we'll see going forward there, Don, is that through the end of the year, again, we reaffirmed our guidance number. We're pretty confident that we'll get there. And then we should see some good strong production going into next year as well. 100%, that will impact us going into Q1 of 2026. As Don, this is a bit of a segue into the longer-term study we're launching at Oksut. This mine has reconciled positively since day 1. And we're pretty confident that there's a lot more gold in those heaps than our previous metallurgical models showed. And so what we've kicked off here is looking at how we might be able to exploit those accumulated inventories in that heap.
So as we said in our release and in Dave's prepared remarks, we've initiated a study on how to access what we believe are significant accumulated inventories of gold in those heaps. But this asset continues to perform extremely well on reconciliation, and that's what you're seeing in those stacked ounces and in accumulated inventories.
Okay. And for my next question, U.S.-based assets have been trending favorably under the current administration. So I've got 2 parts to this question. Is there a read-through to improving optics for the MBU? And given that moly is a critical mineral with applications in defense and aerospace and so on, is there a potential for a strategic deal with the U.S. government?
Okay. So on your first question, there is no doubt that the whole mining and metal space has become a more favorable place over the last year. And particularly for molybdenum, we are a U.S.-based mine feeding a U.S.-based roaster, principally selling refined molybdenum products to domestic U.S. steel mills. And we've seen increased confidence in that sector in the U.S. steelmaking sector. Molybdenum, as you know, goes into high-performance steels that are used in everything from pipelines to nuclear power to defense, aerospace, shipbuilding, all sectors that are seeing an uptick in potential steel demand. So yes, the whole U.S. minerals and mining space, particularly what we have fully permitted in-flight project certainly has become more attractive. In terms of a U.S. government deal, it's something that we monitor. We don't need funding. We were fully funded right through the build. The project is on track, as we said in our prepared remarks. And at this stage, we're going to continue to monitor the situation with the government, but there's nothing to report. And other than to say that it's -- as I said in the previous comment that it's a very favorable environment right now.
And your next question today will come from Frederic Bolton with BMO Capital Markets.
Just a couple of questions from me. I just want to follow up on Luke's first question about Mount Milligan. There's mentioned that there was a mention of the grinding circuit being impacted during the quarter. Can you just expand on that and whether that's an issue that's been resolved? And my second question relates to Oxford. If the life of mine optimization study that concludes towards the end of 2026, if that results in an expansion of the pit, would that require additional permitting from the Turkish government? Or would that require a new [indiscernible]
Okay. So let me take the Oksut question first. So the mine life -- the current reserve life ends in 2029. So that will be -- and we still anticipate at this point that, that will be when the last tonne comes out of the pit. What this optimization study looks at is the accumulated inventories on the heaps because the mine has reconciled positive, we believe, and we're going to be proving this up with Sonic drilling and other means over the next little while, we believe that there's significant accumulated inventories. This can be done in the context of the current footprint. There would have to be permit modifications for residual leaching, but there's broad understanding what that might look like. So the principal focus of the study is how to manage what we believe are accumulated inventories, better solution management with the cyanide solution. And lastly, as part of the study, we will also evaluate whether or not there might be a sulfide inventory below the current oxide -- beyond the current oxide boundary at depth. It's still very early to say what that might look like. And of course, if there were more material that would require permanent modifications, but it's early days, and we're going to be assessing the study as is principally residual leaching, but secondarily, whether or not there are potential extensions to the pit into the sulfides. So that's the Oksut point.
On Mount Milligan. So as Dave said, the purpose of this PFS, of course, was to extend mine life, but it was also to reset our understanding on grade recovery and throughput fundamentally, how do we mine a plan that has an optimal blend of the various characteristics so that we're not impacted on recovery. This year, we're still dealing with, in effect, having mined ourselves into a corner on some of this material. As Dave described, we've been impacted by high pyrite and chalcopyrite, which depresses recovery. In the PFS, what we've done is we've created a mine plan that blends down the pyrite so that we can get back up to the recoveries that we intend to be at. And same, by the way, goes for grade. So the PFS, one of its major objectives was to create a mine plan that provides for a more optimal feed source and feed blending into the mill. So we expect to start working our way through that. It's not something you can turn around overnight, but it's something we expect to work our way through certainly starting in the first quarter of next year. Did I answer your question?
Yes, thank you.
And your next question today will come from Brian MacArthur with Raymond James.
Paul, just so I'm clear on this Oksut, I think you've answered this. But assuming we don't do the sulfides and we just do the residual leach, are we just talking about -- are we removing material again from leach pad to leach pad? Or are we just going to be able to reuse the current leach pads and get more material out? So effectively, my real question goes to this, the capital for this is very, very little, and there's no mining involved, assuming we don't go to the sulfide. Is that right?
Yes, it would be a very low CapEx spend. Both Dave and I have a lot of experience with this type of stuff in Nevada. Dave, why don't you describe what we're going to be looking at here a scope on the residual work?
Yes, there's a couple of different pieces. One of the studies we'll look at is certainly reshaping the heaps will be a big part of this. So that's just dozer time and everything else. So it takes a little bit of capital to get that done. But that gives us a big opportunity to be able to get in there. And then we'll look at our solution flow and decide, is it best to just go with a straight piece? Do we want to try and up the fig grades by going through the areas a couple of different times and having some -- maybe an additional pond or 2 to do things. And so it's just a piece of what we'll look at is what's the best way to get the gold out in the -- an appropriate time line and leaving us in a good position for closure. So whether that ends up being a little bit more capital, it will only be more capital from the standpoint that we'll be able to get a lot more ounces out. And that's just something that we will plug away at, and it will continue to evolve over the next few years. We'll have a study published at the end of next year that will give us a good level of confidence. And whatever we put in there, I'm sure we'll beat that as well. There's a lot of opportunity taking ounces out of old heaps. We've done it a bunch of times, and we look forward to initiating that work in Turkey.
It makes great sense and great return on capital. So just with that, though, as you get this information, is there any opportunity to get better recoveries in the later part of the current mine life? Like obviously, the study is done in 2026. We start to get benefit even in '28 or '29? Or is it -- or do you just have to -- I mean, I haven't been there for a while, just reconfiguring things, how you actually do this.
A lot of it comes down to how much solution that we have and how we're able to put it through the heaps. So are we going to just run it through one at a time? Do we try and build the preg right up by going through a couple of different areas? And that's the study we'll look at. So my expectation is that we would be able to increase the grades going to the plant and get more ounces early, but continue to get ounces late. But that could take 18 months, 2 years to get that up and running because it would require probably some additional pumping. Therefore, we need to do some minor modifications to permitting and everything else. So it's an iterative process and expect that we would be able to do very well with it over the next period of time. And you are 100% correct, very low capital for the return that we would get out of it.
And your next question today will come from Steven Green with TD Securities.
I think you answered my questions on Oksut. But just to finish that off, do you have any oxide targets in the project area and or potentially regional opportunities just to take advantage of your position in Turkey at the end of the mine.
Yes. One of the pieces of this optimization study is really a 360 around the site and exploration 360 around the site, bringing in some different people to take a look at what we've been doing there for the last 10 years and give us an opportunity to make sure we're not leaving something behind. And then also working with the deposits in the area. So that is part of the work that we will continue to do, and that will be a part of the life of mine optimization study.
Seeing no further questions, this will conclude our question-and-answer session as well as today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.
Centerra Gold Inc. — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
Financial data from Centerra Gold Inc.
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 1,724 1,724 |
42%
42%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | 1,068 1,068 |
24%
24%
62%
|
|
| Gross Profit | 656 656 |
87%
87%
38%
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | 106 106 |
53%
53%
6%
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | 57 57 |
10%
10%
3%
|
|
| EBITDA | 591 591 |
66%
66%
34%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 133 133 |
12%
12%
8%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 459 459 |
93%
93%
27%
|
|
| Net Profit | 637 637 |
745%
745%
37%
|
|
In millions USD.
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Centerra Gold Inc. Stock News
Company Profile
Centerra Gold, Inc. engages in the operation, development, exploration and acquisition of gold and copper properties. It operates through the following segments: Kumtor, Mount Milligan, and Öksüt. The company was founded on November 7, 2002 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
StocksGuide Premium
| Head office | Canada |
| CEO | Mr. Tomory |
| Employees | 3,650 |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Website | www.centerragold.com |


