Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Fahad Tariq: Okay, that’s super clear. Maybe just switching gears quickly to Paracatu, it looks like the grades are coming in pretty decent, and it sounds like it’s going to be even better in Q3 as you get deeper into the pit. Just curious on when you say higher grades in the second half, are we thinking something close to what was achieved in Q4 of last year, like 0.5 grams per ton? Is that kind of in the right range, or–? Just trying to get some color on modeling Paracatu in the second half.

Claude Schimper: I think the 0.5 would be a little bit high. As you know, the average for the first was 0.41, and so we would anticipate this next quarter to be slightly higher and then dropping back down in Q4. We’re a little bit ahead of the sequence this year compared to last year, so we do see a drop-off in Q4, and then next year for the whole year, the grades drop down quite a bit, so Paracatu drops down quite a bit in its life of mine plan and then picking up the following year as we do the additional stripping in 2024, pick-up again in 2025.

Fahad Tariq: Okay, great. Thank you very much.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Anita Soni from CIBC World Markets. Your line is open.

Anita Soni: Hi, so I’ve got a lot of fine tuned modeling questions, but first I just want to say congratulations on the good quarter, and it’s good to see you guys back at getting within your guidance range for the year. On Paracatu, just a follow-up, next year’s strip, you said it’s slightly higher, or is that like a one-turn or is it materially higher than it is this year?

Claude Schimper: For Paracatu, yes, it’s a little bit higher next year, and the grade is also a little bit lower next year because we’re in Phase 11 and a couple other phases within the pit, and that’s why the ounce production for Paracatu next year comes off quite a bit relative to this year.

Anita Soni: Okay, will that impact–

Claude Schimper: Just for the year.

Anita Soni: Yes, just for the year, so I think right now, you’re, what – kind of like 1.3 in this quarter. This quarter, I guess is a little bit lower, is one of the questions I wanted to ask, but were you a little bit lower this quarter on the strip ratio in Paracatu?

Claude Schimper: I’ll have to get back to you on that one, Anita, because we’re looking at it relative to the grade, so. We’re on track. If the question is the end production ratio, Paracatu is on track for this year.

Ned Jalil: Anita, this is Ned. Maybe I can help you with [indiscernible] model. As you know, Paracatu has multiple regions – there’s the north region, which is lower grade, almost no strip, and the south side, which is the deeper part, higher grade and higher strip. What Claude is alluding to is that in ’24, we’re going to be mining more in the north area of the pit as we strip Phases 13b and 15, so the grade in 2024 will be slightly lower but all in, we’re north of 500,000 ounces at Paracatu, so that’s in play. Then potentially in 2025, we get back to similar, maybe a little bit lighter than this year, but above 550,000 ounces. I hope that helps.

Anita Soni: That does, yes. Thank you. Okay, and then just moving on to Bald and Round, I think–I guess I’m just trying to understand some of the movements in terms of–you said that costs would go higher in the back half of the year, which I get. But is it related to the strip ratio that’s happening there, and I just noticed things like the–you know, on Round Mountain, the processing costs came down. Could you talk about that and what’s driving that, and will that be sustained?

Paul Rollinson: Anita, it’s Paul. I’ll hand it off to Andrea, but it’s more accounting than operational. It’s more to do with heap leach accounting, which is something we might want to take offline, but I’ll hand over to Andrea to give a sense.

Andrea Freeborough: Yes, I guess at a high level–sorry?

Anita Soni: I was going to say, I had to take off a significant amount on the inventory to make it balance, so that’s what I was driving at, and when will that reverse? I think it was, like, $60 million to make the unit cost balance to the cash cost.