Equinox Gold Corp. (AMEX:EQX) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Equinox Gold Corp. (AMEX:EQX) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript May 7, 2026

Operator: Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Equinox Gold Corp. First Quarter 2026 Results and Corporate Update. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ryan King, Executive Vice President, Capital Markets for Equinox Gold Corp. Please go ahead.

Ryan King: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join the call this morning. Before we begin, I would like to direct everyone to our forward-looking statements on Slide 2. Our remarks and answers to your questions today may contain forward-looking information about the company’s future performance. Although management believes our forward-looking statements are based on fair and reasonable assumptions, actual results may turn out to be different from these forward-looking statements. For a complete discussion of the risks, uncertainties, and factors that may lead to actual operating and financial results being different from the estimates contained in our forward-looking statements, please refer to risks identified in the section titled “Risks related to the business” in Equinox Gold Corp.’s most recently filed Annual Information Form, which is available on SEDAR+ on EDGAR and on our website.

Finally, all figures in today’s presentation are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated. With me on the call today are Darren Hall, Chief Executive Officer; Peter Hardie, Chief Financial Officer; David Chester Schummer, Chief Operating Officer; Daniela Dimitrov, Chief Strategy and Risk Officer; and Matt McPhail, SVP of Technical Services. Today, we will be discussing our first quarter 2026 financial and operating results, provide an update on Greenstone and Valentine ramp-up progress, and then we will take questions. The slide deck we are referencing is available for download on our website at equinoxgold.com. With that, I will turn the call over to Darren.

Darren Hall: Turning to Slide 3, and thanks, Ryan. Good morning and thank you for joining us today on the call. Firstly, I would like to thank the entire Equinox Gold Corp. team, including all of our business partners across the Americas, for their commitment to safety, operational excellence, and disciplined execution, which delivered another strong quarter. There is no better demonstration of the team’s capability and commitment than responsibly delivering more than 197 thousand ounces of production with no material environmental events and a 25% reduction in our reportable injury frequency rate. Well done, thanks to the entire team for a great quarter. We continue building on the positive momentum established in 2025, which reset the foundation of the business, strengthened the balance sheet, and established a clear path to long-term value creation.

Today, we are executing against that foundation with a focus on operational excellence, cost discipline, and delivering on our organic growth profile. We delivered a solid start to 2026, producing 197 thousand ounces of gold, with cash costs of 1.633 thousand dollars per ounce and AISC of 1.95 thousand dollars per ounce. Importantly, our Canadian platform continues to ramp up, contributing over 87 thousand ounces during the quarter. While the quarter reflected a level of variability not unusual with ramp-ups and winter conditions, based on performance to date and expected improvements for the year, we remain on track to achieve our full-year production and cost guidance. Turning to Slide 4, during the quarter, we sold more than 199 thousand ounces of gold at a realized price of just over 4.6 thousand dollars per ounce, generating 527 million dollars in adjusted EBITDA.

We reported net income from all operations of 310 million dollars, or 0.39 dollars per share, and adjusted net income of 234 million dollars, or 0.30 dollars per share. We ended the quarter with 363 million dollars in cash and net debt of approximately 80 million dollars excluding our in-the-money convertible debentures. Additionally, we completed the sale of our Brazilian assets, repaid 990 million dollars of debt, initiated a share buyback, and paid our inaugural dividend. Subsequent to quarter end, following meaningful deleveraging and improved financial strength, we refinanced our revolving credit facility on improved terms, which enhances liquidity, flexibility, and our overall cost of capital. As of April 30, the company has nearly 1 billion dollars in available liquidity, providing significant financial flexibility.

We also declared our second quarterly dividend of 0.01 dollars per share, reinforcing our commitment to disciplined capital returns. Turning to Slide 5. Let me take a moment to focus on our Canadian operations, which are central to our long-term value proposition. At Greenstone, we produced just over 60 thousand ounces in the quarter. Mining rates averaged 180 thousand tonnes per day, marginally lower than Q4, primarily due to heavier-than-normal snowfall, while mill throughput averaged 24.6 thousand tonnes per day, a 6% increase over Q4. Plant performance continues to improve quarter over quarter, with 51% of the days exceeding nameplate capacity in the quarter compared to 36% in Q4. With April mining rates increasing to approximately 200 thousand tonnes per day and the underlying productivity metrics continuing to improve, the mine is well positioned to deliver on 2026 material movement expectations, which will result in increasing grades through the balance of the year.

At Valentine, we completed our first full quarter of operations, producing over 27 thousand ounces. The plant performed well and, despite significant weather challenges, the team delivered 90% of nameplate capacity for the full quarter and actually exceeded nameplate capacity over the combined period of February and March. Mining performance was impacted by a severe winter in Newfoundland, which hampered material movement and delayed access to planned ore zones. In addition, early-stage mining practices and sequences impacted mill feed grades. We have identified a number of opportunities to improve performance, including enhancements to blasting practices, better utilization of mine control systems, and tighter control around dig lines to positively impact dilution.

We are seeing progress in April with improving grades supported by continued exceptional process plant performance. To highlight this progress, following a planned seven-day total shutdown in April, the mill has averaged 8.488 thousand tonnes per day, or 124% of nameplate, since coming out of the shutdown. Looking ahead, we expect steady quarter-over-quarter improvements through 2026 as mining productivity increases and our Canadian operations ramp up to steady-state performance, underpinning our robust outlook of over 500 thousand ounces of annual production for the next decade. Turning to Slide 6, beyond our current operations, we continue to advance a strong organic growth profile that underpins our long-term production profile. At Valentine, we announced details of our planned Phase 2 expansion as part of the updated technical report published at the end of the quarter.

We are currently committing funds to long-lead-time items and progressing detailed engineering to secure schedule. We expect to initiate early site works in the second half of the year following full funds approval anticipated in the coming months. At Castle Mountain, we continue to advance engineering and permitting activities, with the project on track to receive a federal Record of Decision before year end. In anticipation, we have hired an experienced project director to lead all aspects of the project and have engaged Worley, an engineering professional services firm, to progress the detailed engineering. I anticipate committing risk funds to secure long-lead-time items in early Q3. At Los Filos, we have made important progress strengthening relationships with our host communities and government stakeholders.

With fully ratified new long-term access agreements in place with two of the three communities and continued constructive dialogue with the third, I am convinced that all stakeholders are aligned on identifying a path forward to a restart of operations and realizing the full potential of the world-class mineral endowment that exists at Los Filos. Turning to Slide 7. I am confident that Equinox Gold Corp. is well positioned to deliver top-quartile valuation based on our portfolio of long-life assets in Tier 1 jurisdictions, a clear and executable organic growth pipeline, strong and growing free cash flow generation, a disciplined approach to capital allocation and shareholder returns, and, importantly, with the right team in place to deliver on those commitments.

In closing, our priorities for 2026 are clear: ramp Greenstone and Valentine to nameplate capacity, maintain cost discipline and operational consistency, advance our growth pipeline, continue strengthening the balance sheet, and return capital to shareholders. With a stronger portfolio, improving operations, and a clear path forward, we are entering 2026 from a position of strength. Before passing to the operator, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the team’s efforts in Nicaragua, which delivered a record 81 thousand ounces of production for the quarter, which is a testament not only to the team but the prolific and enduring nature of those assets. We will now open the call for questions.

Q&A Session

Operator: If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. If you have additional questions, the Equinox Gold Corp. team would be happy to offer a call to go into more details. Thank you. The first question is from Wayne Lam with TD Securities. Please go ahead.

Wayne Lam: One question for tough. Let us go with Valentine. Grade in the early years of the mine plan is well above 2 grams a tonne, I guess, supported by the Berry pit. I am just wondering how the grades have reconciled to the plan to date, and should we be expecting a big step change in the grade profile into Q2, or is that more weighted to the back half of the year?

Darren Hall: No, Wayne, and thanks for the support. Thanks for the question. If I sit back, I look at our reconciliation above an ore/waste cutoff and we are very comfortable with what we see out of Valentine, and we have articulated that over the last couple of years of infill drilling. Q1 was really our first quarter of how do we reconcile against the selectivity, and we saw some challenges, because we did not have that reconciliability with respect to the mill because it was the first quarter of taking that run-of-mine material in. We have seen some deficiencies that we need to focus on, and that is in and around mining control, utilizing the high precision, and again that was impacted further by the weather. We will see improvements in Q2 and we will see improvements as we work through the balance of the year.

As we sit today, we are comfortable with how we have guided the year and we will continue to see improvements through the year. Medium and longer term, we are comfortable with where we have positioned ourselves. The importance of Phase 2 of the process to get us to 5 million tonnes is critical in that value proposition as well. We have a significant resource here with great opportunity to expand as we have highlighted with Frank drilling. This property will continue to deliver for a long, long time, and it will evolve as it goes, but I think it is going to evolve to the positive, which highlights the criticality of Phase 2 and why we are committing today to get those funds in place so we can ensure schedule to get us into a build as soon as we possibly can, which will take out the variances you see in trying to predict a grade in a quarter and take out some of the lumpiness.

Long-winded answer, Wayne, but we are comfortable with the evolution, and there is nothing that concerns me at this point.

Wayne Lam: Okay, great. I look forward to the ramp-up ahead.

Darren Hall: Cheers, buddy.

Operator: The next question is from Anita Soni with CIBC Markets. Please go ahead.

Anita Soni: Hi, good morning. I just want to ask actually about grade reconciliation at Greenstone as well. So I think in the technical report the new MRE already includes the reduction as a result of the voids and all that.

Darren Hall: Yes. Hi, Anita. Yes, and I guess two questions in that. From a technical report perspective—

Anita Soni: Sorry, I was—go ahead.

Darren Hall: Sorry. The technical report reflects the model update going forward, and the questions around voids and the experiences that we have had to date are reflected in that model revision. In terms of the quarter, we saw some turnover issues in and around the glory hole, which is that shrink stope in the center of the pit, and maintaining focus there. That is where Dave and the crew have brought in some additional resources so we can get bench turnover rate, which negatively impacts our performance of grade against plan. From a reconciliation perspective, if we take the last couple of quarters, the model is actually reconciling very well above a cutoff against the model that we have used to predict the longer term. Matt, is there anything you would add to that, bud? No. That is correct.

Peter Hardie: I will just add one item if I might. We included all that information with respect to our guidance for the year as well.

Darren Hall: Yep.

Peter Hardie: Yep.

Darren Hall: Does that cover the grade issue there, Anita?

Anita Soni: Almost. The question was just in terms of the technical report, it does also talk about sort of negative ounces and tons and also on the grade a little bit, but combined a slight negative on the ounces. I am just wondering if the reserve estimate already includes that as well, or the commentary in the technical report says basically that it is typical for this early stage and it is not necessarily included in the reserve estimate yet.

Darren Hall: No. Again, the technical report is congruent with the reserves and they all exactly tie together.

Ryan King: That is right. Yes. Best available information was utilized in that technical report. The most up-to-date void model is included, so the reserve and resource are depleted for that void model. As Peter Hardie and Darren alluded to, in Q1 we are reconciling nicely to that model.

Darren Hall: Yes. I think the underlying question there, Anita, is whether the reserve is reflective of what is in the forward-looking plan, and yes, the same model is used for the forward-looking plan as used in the reserve, so all those things are congruent.

Anita Soni: Okay. Thank you.

Darren Hall: Cool.

Operator: The next question is from Mohamed Sidibe with National Bank. Please go ahead.

Mohamed Sidibe: Maybe going back to Valentine, on your grade, tonnage, and recovery there, I know that production was probably impacted by inventory in circuit. Is there more inventory in circuit left that could potentially impact Q2, or how should we think about that going into the next quarters?

Darren Hall: No. The inventory—we are not managing inventory. It is not like an AP sort of issue. There are pinches and swells in inventory depending on grades going through, but there was no drawdown of inventory at the end of the quarter. We play a straight bat at it. We actually saw a little bit of inventory build-up in the April period as grades improved, but there is no noise in there associated with inventory.

Mohamed Sidibe: Sounds good. Just asking because I am trying to get back to your project results with the tonnage, grade, and recovery. I am slightly off, but maybe I can take that offline. On the costs at Valentine, I think the technical report highlighted lower processing costs and mining costs versus what you delivered in Q1. I understand that you were impacted by the severe weather, but what is the plan to get back to costs that were highlighted in the technical report, and what are some of the initiatives that you will be working on to get us back to that?

Darren Hall: It is a good question. I will pass it over to Peter and we can talk specifically about some of the nuances in Valentine. I will take a step back and look at the business holistically. I know we do not guide quarter-on-quarter against budget, but I will use that as a basis, keeping in mind that all of our guidance is prefaced off the budget, and of course you take a budget, you lower it a little bit, and that becomes the guidance. If we look at Q1 spend, we were within 1% on non-capital costs. When I say capital, I am talking about the capital that was capitalized inventory and those sort of things are all in that total spend number. We were within 1% of spend. From an outgoings perspective, we are very consistent with where we see things.

We were actually underspent on some of the capital during the quarter, which we will work on over the balance of the year, but that is typical—people being a little bit more aggressive about what they can get done at the outset of the year. Specifically at Valentine, Peter, do you want to give a bit of color?

Peter Hardie: Thanks, Darren, and thanks, Mohamed, for the question. Yes, as Darren mentioned, across the board we are within 1%—very pleased with the control that the team and operators are showing over spend. At Valentine itself, we are a little above expectation, but not in a way that we are concerned about. Largely any spend that is above expectation is due to the severe winter and mitigations we put in place. Going forward, that is on the numerator side, so we are pretty happy with what is happening on the total spend side. It is the denominator, as Darren has already highlighted—bringing unit costs back into line with expectations. We have to focus on the denominator side, and that is the mining and the processing and grade management that Darren already alluded to.

Mohamed Sidibe: Thank you. I will get back into the queue.

Operator: The next question is from John Tumazos with John Tumazos Independent Research. Please go ahead.

John Tumazos: Thank you very much and congratulations on net cash today, which every day that is going to be this week or last week or next week. Could you elaborate on your definition of gold production versus inventory versus in [inaudible]? We know you are generating cash and we know you are really selling gold, but it is kind of amazing that 20 thousand ounces fell out of circuit extra in Nicaragua this quarter. It is also equally amazing that Greenstone only had a 12 thousand-ounce drop from the December quarter when the grade fell by one third and the recovery fell by one fourth, and the recovery fell by 3%. It seems like the gold in solution is somewhat extraordinary.

Darren Hall: Okay. Thanks for your question and thanks for the support. I will start with the definition of what we use as gold production. Gold production is bullion, as poured. Then we will have a recovered gold figure, which represents the in-circuit changes. There is not a lot of noise between gold poured and gold recovered for the better part. If we think about Nicaragua, the drawdown in inventory was not in process; it was stockpiles. We ended up at the end of the year with a significant inventory that we then got into that was built in Q4 because we ran out of capacity in the process plant in Q1. That was the inventory change in Nicaragua. It was just a build in inventory outside of the process plant; it was not an in-process inventory per se. In terms of inventories from Q4 to Q1 at Greenstone, I will ask Matt, but from my recollection I do not think there was a significant change in in-process inventories in circuit Q1 over Q4?

Ryan King: There is a little bit of variation quarter on quarter, but it is nothing planned. It is just based upon timing of pour at month-end and it is a natural ebb and flow. As to what Darren said, I do not think there was a huge change of in-process inventory quarter on quarter.

Darren Hall: You might have had an extra pour at Greenstone, like having an extra ship go off for a copper mine shipping concentrate or something? Typically, we will not pour on the last day of the month. We will pour on a specific day every week or two days a week, and wherever they happen to fall you might see some inventory ups and inventory downs. Happy to get on a chat and walk through the specifics at Greenstone as well to make sure you are comfortable.

John Tumazos: Congratulations on all the cash.

Darren Hall: Thank you. Appreciate it, and thanks for all your support. I know it has been a journey and you have been a supporter of the product for a long time, so thank you very much.

John Tumazos: Thank you.

Operator: The next question is from Jeremy Hoy with Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

Jeremy Hoy: Thanks, Darren and team. I appreciate you taking my question. I am going to talk about Los Filos. Could you give us any detail on what is pending or needs to be negotiated with the third community? And then any update on how you are thinking about that operation? I know you guys internally have been going through some iterations of what that operation could look like if it restarts. Just a refresh on your thinking there would be helpful.

Darren Hall: Thanks, Jeremy, and thanks for your Canaccord support over the years. We are very optimistic about what we see at Los Filos, partly because of the 16 million ounces in all categories—it is clearly a world-class asset. It has demonstrated ability to produce. Our view of Los Filos is really looking to what the long term looks like. We are not in any hurry to restart operations in what was the previous form. It is really about the value proposition of birthing something that is potentially 300 thousand to 400 thousand ounces a year with a 20- to 30-year life within the current resource base. It is an outstanding asset. We are working very constructively with all of our stakeholders, including the third community, to get comfortable with a commercial arrangement that is going to ensure that the project is durable and resilient in all gold price environments and can maximize value for all stakeholders.

The dialogue has been very constructive. It is clear in my mind that everyone is aligned behind wanting that to work, and we are going to make sure that what we put in place ensures that people can have a level of confidence about our ability—us and the stakeholders working together over the long term—to ensure that the investment we put into a CIL plant and reinvest back into that property is secure. That is our value proposition. The dialogue has definitely changed over the last year. We are very comfortable with the discussions we are having and the timing. Whether it is in two weeks, two months, or three months, I would anticipate something this year, but it is not important whether it happens this year; it is about making sure we get the right agreements.

In the background, we are actually working with an EPC company to look at scale and scope around what this asset could look like and what that capital size relationship is. Our ability to be able to restart this asset is not impacted by the timing in which we have an agreement with the communities. They are all happening concurrently, and the community is aware of it. They are happy that we are doing that work and they see the value. I think this is a win-win and we will end up with a world-class asset that delivers for a long, long time.

Jeremy Hoy: Great. Thanks for the color and looking forward to seeing the progress there.

Darren Hall: Thank you.

Operator: The next question is a follow-up from Anita Soni with CIBC World Markets. Please go ahead.

Anita Soni: Hi. I just wanted to follow up on the tailings CapEx—the remediation that you are going to be doing there with the shear key. Can you give me an idea of the capital budget for that over the life of mine?

Darren Hall: Sure. This is at Greenstone, right, Anita?

Anita Soni: Yes, Greenstone.

Darren Hall: Matt is probably best poised to talk about that. Matt?

Ryan King: I do not know if I would classify it as remediation. It is initial construction of the shear key, and it is baked into our CapEx profile for 2026. Some may bleed into 2027 as well, but it is all baked into our estimates and our guidance figures. We can dive into more detail on a call if you want to go through dollars and cents.

Peter Hardie: I was going to add, Anita, that, working off memory, we have 80 million dollars in there for 2026, but we will take offline maybe the life-of-mine costs.

Ryan King: That is alright.

Anita Soni: Okay. Thank you. Yes, definitely, I will connect with you offline. Thanks.

Darren Hall: Thanks. Appreciate it. Thanks, Anita. Reach out and we will fill in any blanks that need to be filled in.

Operator: This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Darren Hall for any closing remarks.

Darren Hall: I would just like to thank all our shareholders for their continued support and everyone for their participation and questions this morning. It is appreciated and valued. As always, Ryan and I and the entire executive team are available if you have any further questions. With that, take care, be well, and back to you, operator.

Operator: This brings to a close today’s conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.