Equinox Gold Corp. (AMEX:EQX) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Greg Smith: There is some Mesquite and a smaller amount at Castle, but it’s predominantly Los Filos.

Doug Reddy: We do maintain indeed a very large stockpile at Santa Luz. That’s how we manage the blend of the ore going into the mill. And so the mining has exceeded throughput at Santa Luz, and we are working at building and maintaining a fairly large stockpile there. It’s just more complicated than the other mines because you’re trying to manage around the total organic carbon in the ore. And that next time you go there, you’ll see it’s a stockpile inventory management before anything goes into the mill.

Anita Soni: Okay. So that’s broken or above ground stocks rather than something.

Kerry Smith: Yes.

Doug Reddy: I guess the final comment, Anita on Santa Luz, they also built up their spare parts, consumables inventory balances a little over the first half of this year as well. You might see that inventory figure at Santa Luz.

Anita Soni: Okay. So for the remaining assets, I think it was Los Filos Mesquite and that we were talking about in Castle Mountain, those should probably reverse over the course of the year? I think you said for sure, loss field, but I just want to confirm for Mesquite.

Greg Smith: Yes, for Filos and Mesquite, yes.

Anita Soni: Okay. And then just on… Sorry, just on Greenstone. I think as I mentioned, $180 million year-to-date on the spend. So how do we — how is it going to play out for Q3 and Q4? Like is it really bulky in Q3 year spend and then tapers down into Q4 for the $277 that you had said, I think, as I mentioned, there was about $100 million left for this year in the back half of the year.

Peter Hardie: Yes. That’s right, Anita. We do expect that kind of typical S-curve. There’s a lot of activity happening now, and then you’ll see tapering through Q4.

Anita Soni: Okay. And then I think I had one more question and that was I forgot, and I’ll get back into the queue.

Rhylin Bailie: We’ve got a question from an investor in Kuala Lumpur. Asking just can you give any more clarity on how things are going at Filos and when you might be able to start the expansion there?

Doug Reddy: Like I said earlier, at the moment, we’re monitoring the status in Mexico in general but also in the region. We continue with the current heap leach operations, mining from Los Filos Underground, [indiscernible] open pit and Guandupe open pit. And we are advancing in our discussions with the communities as well, but we haven’t picked the timing. It’s rushing into it with Filos when we have other development projects also on the go at Aurizona and Castle Mountain, we are judicious on how we deploy our capital.

Greg Smith: No decision will come on Filos during 2023. Maybe in 2024, we can provide more clarity.

Rhylin Bailie: Operator, do you want to take any just follow-up call?

Operator: The next question is from Anita Soni with CIBC.

Anita Soni: So it was a question with regards to the sustaining [indiscernible]. So I think you spent about 35% year-to-date. And I just wanted to get an idea of, you did mention that you’ll be spending it over the back half of the year, the remaining 65%. But will it be all 65%? Or do you expect to come in a little bit under what you had previously guided to?

Greg Smith: Yes. We are planning on catching up on that sustaining spend Anita. We deferred some equipment expenditure at Filos. RDM, we deferred some of the tailings work into the second half of the year, and we had planned on doing some of that work in Q2. So yes, we do plan on doing that in the second half of the year. We believe we’re on track for our full spend for the year.

Anita Soni: Okay. And is it an even split between Q3 and Q4?

Peter Hardie: It’s always heavily weighted into Q4.