SSR Mining - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Executive Summary

• Strong beat on revenue and adjusted EPS; revenue rose to $405.46M vs S&P Global consensus $351.74M, and adjusted diluted EPS was $0.51 vs $0.23 consensus; GAAP diluted EPS was $0.42 (consensus values marked with asterisks; Values retrieved from S&P Global). Free cash flow was $98.4M, and operating cash flow was $157.8M, underpinned by the first full quarter of CC&V and solid Puna performance.
• Guidance effectively maintained: company reiterated full-year 2025 consolidated production of 410–480k GEOs and AISC of $2,090–$2,150/oz; Seabee is now targeted to the low end of its 70–80k oz range due to Q2 power-related downtime.
• CC&V integration tracking ahead on cash generation (≈$85M mine-site FCF since close), with Q2 output of 44,062 oz at AISC $1,339/oz; a technical report based on existing reserves remains on track for 2025.
• Çöpler restart remains the key swing factor; reclamation/remediation estimate revised up $12.9M to $312.9M with continued engineering progress, but management still cannot provide a restart timeline; permitted restart throughput would revert to 6,000 tpd under the 2014 EIA.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well
  • CC&V outperformed with 44,062 oz at AISC $1,339/oz and nearly $85M FCF since acquisition; management emphasized a “really good quarter” with significant FCF and strong Americas platform execution.
    Quote: “We had consolidated free cash flow generation of nearly $100,000,000… We had a strong first full quarter from Cripple Creek and Victor…”.
  • Puna delivered another excellent quarter (2.85Moz silver, AISC $12.57/oz) and a mine-life extension plan; 2026 silver production now expected at 7–8Moz, with 2027–2028 averaging ~4Moz.
  • Liquidity strengthened to $912.1M (cash $412.1M; undrawn revolver/accordion $500M), aided by $44.4M in business interruption insurance proceeds.
• What Went Wrong
  • Seabee production impacted by ~two-week power interruption due to nearby forest fires; Q2 output fell to 10,998 oz and AISC rose to $2,708/oz; full-year now guided to low end of 70–80k oz.
  • Çöpler: while engineering advances continue, remediation/reclamation estimate increased by $12.9M to $312.9M; no ability to estimate restart timing, keeping uncertainty elevated.
  • EBITDA was below S&P Global consensus despite revenue/EPS beats, reflecting operational mix (Seabee downtime, higher royalties at Marigold with strong gold prices) and care & maintenance headwinds at Çöpler discussed across disclosures (EBITDA comparison values marked with asterisks; Values retrieved from S&P Global).

Transcript

Speaker 5

Hello, everyone, and welcome to SSR Mining's second quarter 2025 conference call. This call is being recorded. At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Alex Hunchak from SSR Mining. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Operator, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining today's conference call to discuss SSR Mining's second quarter financial results. Our consolidated financial statements have been presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. These financial statements have been filed on EDGAR and SEDAR, and they are also available on our website. There is an online webcast accompanying this call, and you will find the information to access the webcast in this afternoon's news release and on our corporate website. Please note that all figures discussed during the call are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. Today's discussion will include forward-looking statements, so please read the disclosures in the relevant documents. Additionally, we will refer to non-GAAP financial measures during our discussion and in the accompanying slides. Please see our press release for information about the comparable GAAP measures.

Rod Antal, Executive Chairman, will be joined by Michael Sparks, Chief Financial Officer, and Bill MacNevin, EVP, Operations and Sustainability, on today's call. I will now turn the line over to Rod.

Speaker 0

Great, thank you, Alex, and good afternoon to you all. It is pleasing to report a really good quarter that progressed largely to plan. Despite the temporary suspension at CB due to the forest fire, we had a very strong quarter that generated both good operating results and significant free cash flow. We continue to work constructively with the relevant authorities in Turkey to advance the restart of the Çöpler mine, including progressing the various engineering plans and design documents. This includes the closure plans for the heap leach pad and the issued construction documents for the storage facility. While this is another step forward, we cannot yet provide a definitive timeline for a restart. Another key milestone was achieved at Puna in the quarter. We have developed a plan that will extend the mine life at Chinchillas by an initial three-year period through to 2028.

Further, we will continue to evaluate other opportunities, including advancing the studies at Cordilleros. Other notable highlights in quarter two include we had consolidated free cash flow generation of nearly $100 million, reiterating the strength of our Americas platform. We had a strong first full quarter from Cripple Creek & Victor, which itself generated excellent free cash flow, delivering on one of the main strategic rationales of the acquisition. Lastly, we continue to advance the Hod Maden project towards a construction decision, including $29 million in capital expenditures year to date. As we move into the second half of the year, we have a number of meaningful catalysts remaining on the horizon. These include the release of a technical report and life-of-mine plans for Cripple Creek & Victor, initially based on existing mineral reserves, and of course, the advancement of the Hod Maden project towards a construction decision.

Across the portfolio, we'll continue to evaluate further organic growth initiatives at Buffalo Valley and New Millennium at Marigold, a Porky target at CB, and a Cordilleros target at Puna. Of course, the top priority is continuing to advance Çöpler to a restart. As you can see, we've already delivered on a number of our key priorities and demonstrated strong operating performance in the first half. This is particularly pleasing when you overlay the heavy lift of resources required for the very successful integration of Cripple Creek & Victor. Now I'm going to turn the call over to Michael to take you through the quarter two financials, starting on slide number four.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Rod, and good afternoon, everyone. As noted, the second quarter of 2025 was another strong operational period. Production in the quarter was 120,000 gold equivalent ounces, a better than 15% improvement over Q1, as we benefited from the full first quarter of production from CC&V. All-in sustaining costs in the second quarter were $2,068 per ounce, or $1,858 per ounce, excluding care and maintenance costs incurred at Çöpler. These results drove operating cash flow of $158 million and free cash flow of $98 million during the quarter. We spent approximately $16 million advancing Hod Maden in the second quarter as we progressed engineering and initial site development activities. This brings year-to-date spend at the project to $29 million, as we advance towards a construction decision for what remains one of the most attractive, underdeveloped copper gold projects in the sector.

We also announced an initial extension to the Puna mine life, which Bill will speak to later in the call. Moving on to our financial results on slide five, we recorded attributable net income of $0.42 per diluted share in the second quarter and adjusted net income of $0.51 per diluted share. Both figures include approximately $37 million in care and maintenance costs at Çöpler during the quarter, as these costs are not adjusted for under SEC rules. Adjusted net income removed the impact of the additional reclamation and remediation costs at Çöpler, which I will speak to shortly, as well as the $44 million in insurance proceeds received during the quarter. As previously noted, second quarter free cash flow of $98 million was an excellent result. This strong free cash flow generation maintains our total liquidity position of over $900 million.

We remain in a very strong position financially and are well positioned to manage all capital requirements across the business going forward, including the remaining remediation and reclamation costs at Çöpler. Let's now turn to page six for an update on these efforts. Following the Çöpler incident, the company estimated future reclamation and remediation costs of $250 million to $300 million related to the Çöpler incident. In Q1 2024, the company accrued the low end of this estimated cost range, recording $250 million in reclamation and remediation costs, in addition to the $22.5 million that had already been incurred during the first quarter of 2024. In the second quarter of 2025, we recorded a $62.9 million revision to the initial reclamation and remediation costs, resulting in a $12.9 million increase to the initial estimate.

The revision in estimate reflects the company's advancement of the engineering and construction design of the e-storage facility, as well as the advancement of the studies for the permanent closure of the heap leach pad. This approximately 4% increase in reclamation and remediation costs reflects the improved fidelity in our engineering and construction designs and is not unlike the refinement in capital costs we are used to seeing as projects advance from PEA level scoping studies towards executable project plans. As I mentioned previously, the engineering plans and related studies for the permanent closure of the heap leach pad continue to advance. As part of the heap leach pad closure planning, the company will conduct further field investigations and will use the findings to refine and update the closure plan for the heap leach pad. Now over to Bill for an update on the operations, starting on slide eight.

Speaker 0

Thanks, Michael. It was another solid quarter for our operations, starting with Marigold. Marigold produced 36,000 ounces in the second quarter at an AISC of $1,977 per ounce, as costs trended higher over the first quarter as expected. For the full year, we continue to expect a second half weighted production profile, with Q4 planned to represent the strongest quarter of production for the year. We continue to be impacted by higher royalty costs at Marigold, given the strength of the gold price through 2025, but overall remain on track for our full year targets. With respect to exploration and growth, we are continuing to advance engineering and study work at Buffalo Valley and New Millennium, two key avenues for future mineral reserve conversion and mine life extension. Feasibility study level work has commenced at Buffalo Valley, including infill drilling and initial engineering.

We look forward to providing further updates on these initiatives as they progress. Now on to Cripple Creek & Victor on slide nine. Cripple Creek & Victor delivered an excellent Q2, with production and costs benefiting from better than expected solution grades coming off the pad. Second quarter production was 44,000 ounces of gold and an AISC of $1,339 per ounce. These strong results helped drive significant free cash flow in the quarter. Since acquisition at the end of February, Cripple Creek & Victor has now generated nearly $85 million in free cash flow, effectively paying back our initial upfront purchase in just four months. While we expect production and costs to normalize over the remainder of the year, Cripple Creek & Victor is off to an excellent start, establishing itself as a core piece of our Americas platform going forward.

We are continuing to advance an initial technical report for Cripple Creek & Victor. We expect this document will represent a first step in our longer-term plans to delineate meaningful growth and upside for the asset in the future. Now on to CB. CB's quarter was heavily impacted by the power interruption caused by forest fires in Saskatchewan. Firstly, I want to take a brief moment to acknowledge the impact these fires had on our staff and their communities across northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba. This was a particularly damaging fire season across the region, and while the impact to our operations was thankfully limited to power interruptions, our thoughts are with all those whose livelihoods were impacted. Owing to the downtime and subsequent ramp-up back to operations, CB produced 11,000 ounces of gold at an AISC of $2,708 per ounce.

Costs were particularly high in the quarter as we kept our full complement staff on site to be ready for the restart of operations as soon as it was practical. For the remainder of the year, grades will remain at or near reserve grade, and production is expected to trend towards the lower end of full year guidance. With respect to growth and exploration, we are continuing to advance drilling campaigns at both Santoy and the Porky targets as we evaluate potential opportunities to extend the mine life at CB. This work has continued to deliver promising results, and we look forward to providing further updates with our year-end reserves and resources. On to Puna on slide 11. Puna produced 2.8 million ounces of silver in the second quarter at an AISC of $12.57 per ounce, another excellent result.

While Puna has had an exceptional year so far, it is worth noting that the year-to-date gold to silver ratio has been higher than our forecasts, unfortunately diminishing some of the positive impacts from Puna's strong first half on gold equivalent ounces. Positively, our continued efforts on exploration and development at Puna have provided an initial three-year extension of operations at Chinchillas. We are continuing to advance opportunities to build on this progress, and we are also continuing work to evaluate the opportunity at Cordilleros as a pathway for longer-term growth. Puna remains an exceptional contributor to our portfolio, and we are keen to see its continued production and growth for many years to come. On to slide 12.

At Hod Maden, we spent approximately $16 million on the initial site assessment efforts and technical report in the quarter, while infill drilling also continues at site with the aim of de-risking the early years of the mine. Year-to-date spend at the project is now $29 million, and we continue to advance towards a full investment decision. Overall, it was a solid quarter across the business, and we are looking forward to continuing to deliver in the second half. Now we'll turn back to Rod for closing remarks. Great, thanks Michael, and thank you Bill. With the first half now behind us, we remain in a good position to meet our full year targets and are poised to continue to generate free cash flow through the second half.

We still have a number of meaningful catalysts over the remainder of the year across the portfolio that should lead to value delivery for our shareholders. This obviously includes Turkey, where we remain firmly committed to advancing to a restart at Çöpler. With a strong balance sheet underpinning the portfolio and solid operating performance over the year to date, we are in excellent shape as a business, and it is our priority to continue to build on this strength over the remainder of the year. I'm going to turn the call over to the operator for any questions you may have.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Mr. Antal. We will now begin the question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any key. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. First question comes from Ovais Habib with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Operator. Hi, Rod and to our team, really congrats on the Q2 beat and really great to see the successful integration taking place at CC&V. Rod, just a couple of questions from me. Starting off with CC&V, based on what CC&V has already produced so far and the outperformance we saw in Q2, is there a chance for CC&V to beat guidance? Any thoughts in color you can provide on how you see the second half?

Speaker 0

Yeah, I appreciate the congratulations over there. It is pleasing. I think the guys have done a terrific job across the business already this year. Specifically on your question, things have gone really well down there. The plan that we put together for the year is as expected with the higher production in the second quarter, the first full quarter that we've owned it. It really is just as a result of the higher grade that was stacked on the heap leach during the last part of last year and the early part of this year, and those residual grades being produced. At this stage, Ovais is tracking to plan. As we look forward to the second half with our stacking plans and all going up on the pad, we're still comfortable with the guidance as it states.

Thanks for that. Maybe a little bit more color on this technical review that you guys are going to be coming out with on CC&V. Obviously, this is going to be based on the updated reserves that Newmont had published before the closing of the transaction. Is there a possibility over here to significantly improve the mine life? Do you think you can pull forward some of that production? Any thoughts or color on that, Rod? That would be appreciated as well.

Yeah, look, I think Ovais, the purpose of the update really was just to ensure that the most recent information for Cripple Creek & Victor was actually in the public domain. As you know, Newmont hadn't published a technical report on it for many, many, many years. We've basically just picked up what we know using all the information available to us based on the current reserve base, and that's the starting point for the purpose of the technical report itself. We'll conclude all of that work and publish it. Your question around future growth and future growth opportunities, clearly we see that. We saw that through the due diligence and now having ownership for the best part of four months. We continue to evaluate it, but it's still pretty early for us to get our arms around it.

We've got other priorities right now around getting Amendment 14 approved, which is important to underpin the reserves. As was stated by Newmont, that's really clearly our first objective. As we look further afield and into the future, many of the opportunities will take some time to study properly and then obviously bring that to market once our understanding is more mature. It's really just a placeholder at the moment to get the information out there so we're all working off the same information. You can see the production profile importantly and the cost profile importantly, and then we'll go from there in the future. It's off to a really good start for sure. Couldn't be more pleased or more impressed with the team down there.

Excellent. Thanks for that, Rod. Just quickly moving on to Çöpler, I just wanted to see, you know, where things are at in terms of kind of discussions with the regulators. I'm just trying to figure out if the regulators have just given you a task list or agenda and any sort of permit to restart only comes once those tasks are completed, or is there any sort of fast tracking that could happen as well on the restart?

Yeah, look, I think we've sort of made most of the disclosure within the quarter, but I would say that the last quarter, in particular, quarter two, was very good in terms of the progress that we did make. A number of the open items we had been working on with the various stakeholders around the plans for the construction of the storage facility, which will hold some of the heap leach material, the remnant heap leach material, as well as the closure planning for the actual heap leach, really made a lot of progress. All the way through to us, as we mentioned on the call, being able to issue for construction the E-storage facility. That was a significant, positive outcome for the work over the last quarter.

As you can imagine, Ovais, as we've talked about early on, the work in this is important to work with the various government officials, stakeholders, professors from various universities to ensure we get it right in accordance with the Turkish law, but also a number of the interested parties. That's all, that's been a good quarter for us, actually, in a lot of ways to get a lot of the open issues resolved. That's favorable. As we look forward, there isn't a sort of set of things that we have to do per se. Ovais, you know, you must do this before you do that. Clearly we want to make sure that everything's in place before we seek approval for a restart. We're not quite there in a few regards, but we're obviously plugging along and making good progress. I was really pleased with the quarter, actually.

That's perfect. Thanks, Rod, for that color there as well. That's it for me in terms of my questions. Thanks for taking my questions, and again, congrats on a great quarter.

Great, thanks. Appreciate it.

Speaker 5

The next question comes from Don DeMarco with National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon, Rod and team. Rod, certainly investors are interested in the Çöpler restart, and your disclosure covers a lot. In the disclosure, you mentioned that you're not sure what the timeframe is that a restart might occur, but do you know what the timeframe may not be? In other words, do you know for certain that it won't be, say, within one month or three months, but it would be longer than that?

Speaker 0

Yeah, and if you're trying to trick me in a different way, negative way, to answer a question, Don, I appreciate it. Look, I think what we've said publicly is what we're going to say publicly. There isn't a definitive timeline, as I was just explaining to Ovais. I think the important thing for us is to continue to make progress, and we are, which is important, and continue to evolve it into a point where we'll be seeking the approval for a restart. I'm not going to put out there timetables in this regard to put unnecessary pressure on anyone. It's not the valid point here. I think we're, like we've said, we're committed to Turkey. We see tremendous value for the country in both the Çöpler asset and also in the Hod Maden project.

I think our commitment around Hod Maden and the progress that we're making there leading up to the sort of, you know, foreign investment decision with our board at the right time really does, I think, support our commitment to country. Obviously, you know, our progress in terms of getting a restart. I think we're in good shape as we move forward. Look, I'm not going to put out there a timetable at this stage.

Okay, thank you. We'll keep looking for updates on that. Could you remind me what the permitting status is at Çöpler? You know, what level of throughput, for example, is currently permitted? Upon a restart in the event that it occurs, what is the process to update the permitting?

Yeah, if you remember, we disclosed probably, I don't know, it feels like a long time ago, probably 12 months ago that we would have to revert to the 2014 EIA, which is around 6,000 tons per day, I'm sorry, 6,000 tons per day on a throughput rate. That'll be our starting point once we get a restart. We will then be seeking a refresh to the EIA to account for everything we have to account for in terms of the site to be looking at improving that throughput rate in the future. That won't come immediately. It'll be a process. First things first, just, you know, let's just get things started. Revert to 6,000 tons per day.

Excellent. Okay, Rod, thank you. That's all for me. Good luck with the rest of the quarter. Thank you.

Good on you. Thank you.

Speaker 5

This concludes the question and answer session and today's conference call. You may disconnect your line. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.