Orezone Reports Third Quarter 2024 Results

All dollar amounts are in USD unless otherwise stated and abbreviation "M" means million.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --  Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX:ORE, OTCQX:ORZCF) ("Orezone" or "Company") reported its operational and financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024. The Company will host a conference call and webcast on November 6, 2024 commencing at 8:00am PT to discuss its quarterly and year-to-date performance, and outlook for the remainder of the year, including commentary on the progress of its Phase II hard rock expansion and early success on its multi-year, discovery-focus drilling campaign. Call access and webcast details are provided at the end of this press release.

Patrick Downey, President and CEO, commented, "The third quarter provided a number of positive developments for our Bomboré Mine. Operationally, mining access was opened up in the Siga pits and grid power returned to normalized levels, both of which will ensure ongoing improved gold production and costs in Q4-2024. We generated solid free cash flow during the quarter and continued to pay down debt and advance the Phase II hard rock expansion which will set the path for Bomboré to increase annual gold production by 50% within the next 12 months. We also commenced our multi-year exploration program with the first two diamond drill holes from the current campaign returning robust results, with broad and above-average grade mineralization to 240 metres below the current pit limit, validating our belief that with further targeted drilling, Bomboré can grow into a 7 to 10 million ounce orebody.

With unhedged gold sales at record prices continuing into the fourth quarter, we forecast generation of continued strong operating cashflow that will help support the Phase II expansion construction. The $58M Phase II term loan previously announced with Coris Bank is advancing and is expected to close in the coming weeks."

2024 THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS AND SIGNIFICANT SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

(All mine site figures on a 100% basis)

 

Q3-2024

Q3-2023

9M-2024

9M-2023

Operating Performance

 

 

 

 

 

Gold production

oz

26,581

30,726

 

82,244

 

107,509

Gold sales

oz

27,698

29,167

 

83,864

 

105,914

Average realized gold price

$/oz

2,473

1,910

 

2,280

 

1,922

Cash costs per gold ounce sold1

$/oz

1,410

1,152

 

1,297

 

936

All-in sustaining costs1 ("AISC") per gold ounce sold

$/oz

1,655

1,306

 

1,519

 

1,088

Financial Performance

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

$000s

68,652

55,803

 

191,680

 

203,911

Earnings from mine operations

$000s

22,340

13,882

 

72,389

 

81,042

Net income attributable to shareholders of Orezone1

$000s

4,984

5,194

 

25,620

 

39,134

Net income per common share attributable to shareholders of Orezone1BasicDiluted

$$

0.010.01

0.010.01

 

0.070.06

 

0.110.11

Adjusted EBITDA1

$000s

25,756

19,163

 

72,175

 

93,334

Adjusted earnings attributable to shareholders of Orezone1

$000s

7,365

3,588

 

18,427

 

39,398

Adjusted earnings per share attributable to shareholders of Orezone1

$

0.02

0.01

 

0.05

 

0.11

Cash and Cash Flow Data

 

 

 

 

 

Operating cash flow before changes in working capital

$000s

18,888

16,474

 

53,876

 

82,839

Operating cash flow

$000s

24,043

6,978

 

29,677

 

66,059

Free cash flow1

$000s

14,120

(4,024

)

(818

)

35,490

Cash, end of period

$000s

66,900

27,711

 

66,900

 

27,711

1 Cash costs, AISC, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted earnings, Adjusted earnings per share, and Free cash flow are non-IFRS measures. See "Non-IFRS Measures" section below for additional information.

Safety: Continued strong safety performance with 1.31M and 3.68M hours worked without a lost-time injury for Q3-2024 and 9M-2024, respectively.

Liquidity: Free cashflow generation of $14.1M in Q3-2024 despite the continued build-up of VAT receivables and Phase II Expansion capital expenditures in the quarter. Cash stood at $66.9M at September 30, 2024, increases of $55.5M from June 30, 2024 and $47.4M from December 31, 2023, respectively.    

Gold Production and Costs:   Gold production of 26,581 ounces at an AISC of $1,655/oz as a result of an above-average strip ratio due to mine sequencing, and drawdown of lower-grade stockpiles due to heavy rainfall events restricting pit access during the quarter combined with higher-than-budgeted government royalties from a better realized gold price.

Siga Pits Mining Extension: Mining at Siga East ramped up in Q3-2024 after the relocation of households to the new MV3 resettlement site in June 2024 while mining at Siga South commenced in August 2024. The Q4-2024 mine plan calls for greater mill delivery of higher-grade ore tonnes from the Siga pits as mining productivity and material movement are forecasted to improve with the end of the rainy ...