Orla Mining Q1 2026 Earnings Report

Orla Mining EPS Results

• Actual EPS: N/A
• Consensus EPS: $0.35
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Orla Mining Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: N/A
• Expected Revenue: $381.39 million
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Orla Mining Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2026
• Date: 5/11/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Monday, May 11, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 10:00AM ET

Orla Mining (NYSEAMERICAN:ORLA) is a Canada-based mineral exploration and development company focused on advancing gold and silver projects in the Americas. Its flagship asset is the Cerro Quema oxide gold-silver project in Panama, where the company holds approximately 13,000 hectares of mineral concessions. Through feasibility studies and pilot plant testing, Orla has demonstrated the potential of heap leach processing at Cerro Quema, positioning the asset for transition into construction and production phases.

In addition to Cerro Quema, Orla Mining expanded its portfolio in early 2023 with the acquisition of the Gold Springs project located along the Utah–Nevada border in the United States. Gold Springs hosts multiple oxide gold and silver deposits amenable to low-cost heap leach mining methods. Together, these projects provide diversification across two jurisdictions and reflect the company’s strategy of targeting near-surface, heap-leachable mineralization with scalable production profiles.

Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Orla is led by President and Chief Executive Officer George Paspalas, whose team brings experience in project development, corporate finance, and mine operations. The company emphasizes community engagement and environmental stewardship in all its activities, working closely with local stakeholders in Panama and the U.S. to advance its projects toward commercial production.

Orla Mining Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Orla produced over 81,000 ounces in Q1 (Musselwhite ~63k, Camino Rojo ~18k) and reiterated full‑year guidance of 340,000–360,000 oz, driven by higher grades at Musselwhite and stable mill throughput.
• Positive Sentiment: Camino Rojo secured the environmental permit to mine the remaining oxide pit and build an exploration decline; a PEA shows >220,000 oz AuEq/yr (first 10 years) and the board approved an additional $20M for 2026 decline work.
• Positive Sentiment: South Railroad advanced materially—optimized feasibility yields an after‑tax NPV $1.7B at $4,500/oz, engineering is ~41% complete, long‑lead orders placed and management targets a mid‑2026 ROD and first gold in 2028.
• Negative Sentiment: A CUSMA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism finding at Camino Rojo has prompted nine remediation initiatives and ongoing engagement with authorities, posing regulatory, operational and reputational risk that could incur costs or delays.
• Neutral Sentiment: Financially Orla is liquid—Q1 revenue ~$379M, cash ~$427M, and free cash flow ~ $63M—supporting self‑funding of growth, but ~88,000 oz remain on a gold prepay and Q1 included large tax and contingent payments that will affect near‑term cash flow.

Presentation

[Operator]

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to Orla Mining first quarter 2026 results. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session. I will now hand the conference over to Andrew Bradbury, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Please go ahead, Mr. Bradbury.

[Andrew Bradbury, VP, Investor Relations and Corporate Development at Orla Mining]

Thank you, Christine. Welcome to Orla's first quarter 2026 results conference call. We will be making forward-looking statements during today's call. I would direct you to Slides 2, 3, and 4 of the presentation which contain important cautionary notes regarding these forward-looking statements. All dollar amounts discussed today will refer to US dollars unless otherwise indicated. The Orla executive team is on the call this morning. I'll pass to Jason Simpson, President and CEO.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Thanks, Andrew. Good morning, everyone. As we turn to Slide 5, the first quarter 2026 has set a strong foundation for the year. We advanced several strategic, operational, and exploration initiatives across our portfolio, firmly positioning the company for immediate delivery and long-term value creation. Operationally, it was a strong quarter. We produced over 81,000 ounces of gold. Both assets are delivering steady, reliable performance, keeping us firmly on track to meet our full year guidance of 340,000-360,000 ounces. At Musselwhite, we are effectively balancing active ore processing with forward-looking development. We made significant progress on the 1080 exploration drift and are continuing to meet and increase production targets. On the exploration front, the results coming out of Musselwhite are exceptional.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

We have now confirmed the extension of high-grade mineralization for more than two km down plunge, which reinforces our belief of a material extension of the mine's life. In addition to the success of our mine extension surface drilling, underground drilling continues to deliver strong results that support growth in reserves and resources. While near mine surface drilling at Camp Bay is intersecting broad zones of shallow mineralization. Beyond the drilling success, we are also looking at the bigger picture, advancing a regional targeting program across our massive 65,000-hectare land package to unlock the next generation of opportunities. At Camino Rojo, we reached a major regulatory milestone with the receipt of the environmental permit from Mexican authorities, allowing us to mine the remaining oxide open pit and layback area while beginning construction of an underground exploration decline.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

This is a critical step in optimizing the current operation and moving forward with the next step of development for the Camino Rojo underground project. Beyond our operations, we are making large strides in advancing our next two growth opportunities. We are marching toward field mobilization at South Railroad in Nevada with our team growing fast. We expect to receive final permits mid-year, allowing us to move into full construction. In Mexico, we released a PEA for the underground project at Camino Rojo, a key step in unlocking the site's long-term sulfide potential. We delivered on production, de-risked our expansion in Mexico, and set the stage for our next mine in Nevada. Our pipeline of organic growth has never been stronger. At Orla, we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity across our operations.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Regarding the recent CUSMA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism determination, we are taking the panel's findings very seriously. We have been working closely with Mexican authorities since 2024 to reinforce labor protections. We are advancing a leadership-driven action plan that aligns with the panel's recommendations. Operational excellence is inseparable from the safety and well-being of our workforce. To that end, we are currently executing nine core initiatives designed to strengthen oversight and protection of fundamental worker rights. By collaborating with the relevant authorities and leaning into these concrete actions, we are ensuring that Camino Rojo is a safe, fair, and productive environment for all. Andrew Cormier, our Chief Operating Officer, will now discuss our operating performance.

[Andrew Cormier, COO at Orla Mining]

Thank you, Jason. Turning to our operating results on Slide 6, the Musselwhite Mine delivered an exceptional start to the year. During the first quarter, Musselwhite mined over 333,000 tons of ore and processed over 332,000 tons at a mill head grade of 6.29 grams per ton gold. Gold recovery was 95.9%, resulting in production of nearly 63,000 ounces of gold. Camino Rojo produced approximately 18,000 ounces of gold in the first quarter. The operation mined over 2 million tons of ore and approximately 2.3 million tons of waste, with a strip ratio in line with expectations.

[Andrew Cormier, COO at Orla Mining]

Approximately 1.8 million tons of ore at an average grade of 0.59 gram per ton gold was stacked, averaging approximately 20,300 tons per day, which remains consistent with the quarter-over-quarter production levels. Turning to the next slide. This quarter, Musselwhite exceeded planned production rates, primarily driven by strategic mine plan resequencing and development. The mine averaged 3,706 tons per day. Building on a strong momentum from 2025, we accessed higher grade ore significantly earlier than forecasted plan. We also focused on the development rates in the 1080 exploration drift and provided additional drill platforms for the increased drilling planned in this zone. The plant performance remained stable, averaging 3,698 tons per day, with gold recovery continuing to meet plan.

[Andrew Cormier, COO at Orla Mining]

Process grades ranged from 5.88 to 6.89 grams per ton. We have also successfully grown our available stockpiles to support mill feed. We enter the second quarter well-positioned to deliver on our full year 2026 guidance. With mining and milling rates stabilized and the 1080 drift expansion on schedule, our focus remains on consistent execution and leveraging our expanded drill capacity to drive further value. Turning to Slide 8. This quarter, we released the results of a preliminary economic assessment for the underground project at Camino Rojo. The PEA evaluates the technical and economic potential of a standalone underground development project beneath the existing open pit operation and outlines a potential pathway toward a larger scale, long-life underground mining operation and process facility. This study validates the significant economic potential of our sulfide resource and confirms a clear path to long-term growth.

[Andrew Cormier, COO at Orla Mining]

We expect annual production to exceed 220,000 ounces of gold equivalent over the first 10 years, effectively doubling our current output in Mexico. The deposit remains open in zone 22, offering meaningful resource upside beyond this initial study. Moving to Slide 9. Another significant milestone this quarter was the approval of the environmental impact statement at Camino Rojo. This approval, together with the change of land use authorization, are the permits required to mine the remainder of the oxide open pit, including the layback area to the north. The permit also allows for the construction of an exploration drift to support the advancement of the underground project. This will enable us to advance resource definition of the sulfide mineralization beneath the current open pit and advance the technical evaluation of an underground operation, with a pre-feasibility study targeted for 2027.

[Andrew Cormier, COO at Orla Mining]

Orla expects to award the contract for the exploration decline in early Q3 and begin work immediately thereafter. The board has approved the scope of the project, which includes an additional spend of $20 million for 2026. The exploration decline is expected to be co-completed in 2028. This next phase at Camino Rojo represents further growth and value creation, cementing its place as a cornerstone asset for Orla over the long term. On Slide 10. In January 2026, we released our optimized feasibility study for the South Railroad project in Nevada, confirming a robust production profile. The study outlines average output of 130,000 ounces of gold annually over the first five years at an all-in sustaining cost of approximately $1,485 per ounce.

[Andrew Cormier, COO at Orla Mining]

At a $4,500 gold price, the project delivers an after-tax NPV of $1.7 billion and a 95% internal rate of return. As our third operating asset, South Railroad is expected to drive our annual production towards 500,000 ounces. This quarter, we reached several critical de-risking milestones. We issued purchase orders for long lead equipment, specifically our crushing equipment, power generators, and the absorption, desorption and recovery circuit. Beyond procurement, we awarded the contract for the water treatment facility and issued limited notices to proceed for major civil works, including essential site access upgrades. We closed the quarter with engineering at 41% complete, keeping us firmly on track as we transition from detailed design into active site construction. South Railroad is advancing as a FAST-41 covered project under the guidance of the Bureau of Land Management.

[Andrew Cormier, COO at Orla Mining]

We are tracking towards a final Record of Decision in mid-2026, with construction to commence shortly thereafter. Based on an estimated 18-month build schedule, we are targeting first gold production in 2028. Étienne Morin, our Chief Financial Officer, will now discuss the financial results for the quarter.

[Étienne Morin, CFO at Orla Mining]

Thanks, Andrew. Turning to Slide 11. During the quarter, we sold just under 82,000 ounces of gold at a realized price net of the gold prepay of $4,575 per ounce, and that generated $379 million in revenue. We delivered just over 12,000 ounces towards the gold prepay in the first quarter at an average price of just under $3,000 per ounce. We have approximately 88,000 ounces of gold left to deliver under the gold prepay during the remaining 22 months.

[Étienne Morin, CFO at Orla Mining]

On a consolidated basis, cash cost during the first quarter was $1,251 per ounce, and all-in-sustaining cost was $1,668 per ounce of gold sold, and we remain on track to achieve our full-year AISC guidance of $1,550-$1,750 per ounce. We recorded net income for the quarter of $75.4 million or $0.22 per share, and after adjusting for certain items, adjusted earnings were $134.7 million or $0.39 per share. Cash flow from operating activities before changes in non-cash working capital was $103.5 million with free cash flow for the quarter of nearly $63 million.

[Étienne Morin, CFO at Orla Mining]

Exploration and project development costs this quarter were $36 million, of which approximately $6 million was expensed and $30 million was capitalized. On Slide 12, looking at our cash flow for the 1st quarter, we've been focused on checking off several key financial milestones. Our cash balance at March 31st was $427 million, with total liquidity of $517 million, including the undrawn portion of our revolving credit facility. Our strong cash position allows us to self-fund the construction of South Railroad and the upcoming Camino Rojo underground project, along with exploration and other internal growth initiatives, all that while maintaining our commitment to our disciplined capital allocation approach. We also had several notable cash payments during the quarter. We paid approximately $118 million in tax-related payments during the quarter.

[Étienne Morin, CFO at Orla Mining]

Nearly two-thirds of that was related to 2025 income tax at Musselwhite since we did not have to make any monthly installments during most of 2025. There was a large true-up this quarter. We also paid $25 million related to the 2025 annual Camino Rojo special mining duty payment, which occurs once a year in March. We paid $26 million in regular 2026 monthly tax installments at both Camino Rojo and Musselwhite. On top of that, we paid a $20 million contingent payment to Newmont as the average gold price during the first-year post-acquisition of Musselwhite exceeded $2,900 per ounce. At the same time, we kept our balance sheet a priority by paying down another $35 million in debt in Q1, and of course, we're continuing to prioritize our shareholders.

[Étienne Morin, CFO at Orla Mining]

We declared a quarterly dividend of $0.015 per share payable on June 9th of this year, our second dividend after the inaugural dividend paid during the first quarter. Lastly, energy prices have risen this quarter, as everybody knows. Our gross exposure to diesel in 2026 is approximately $25 million or just over 4% of total operating cost. We've experienced an approximate 6% increase in diesel prices, but we've not experienced any fuel availability issues. Our Senior Vice President, Exploration, Sylvain Guérard will now provide you with an update on our exploration programs.

[Sylvain Guérard, SVP of Exploration at Orla Mining]

Thank you, Étienne. Turning to Slide 13. This quarter, the Musselwhite exploration program successfully advanced on three key priority areas: surface drilling along the extension of the mine trend, underground resource definition, and near mine surface drilling. A major highlight was the surface deep directional program, where results confirmed the continuity of the Lynx and PQ zones up to two km beyond current operations. two holes intersected the PQ extensions and returned high grade mineralization with visible gold at the predicted locations, validating our exploration model. Underground exploration focused on reserve replacement and resource expansion across the Lynx, Red Wings, West Limb, and PQ zones with over 12,000 meters completed, which is consistently returning strong results. five of our six exploration active rigs are currently concentrated on the Lynx and PQ extensions to drive growth at depth, while the sixth rig target the upper mine areas.

[Sylvain Guérard, SVP of Exploration at Orla Mining]

On Slide 14, follow-up drilling on our near mine surface program began this quarter and returned broad shallow intercepts of gold mineralization, reinforcing that significant near mine growth potential remains even after over 25 years of operation. We are also advancing original data compilation across the 65,000-hectare Musselwhite land package to build on our broader exploration pipeline. Integrating historical geoscientific data sets and is defining priority regional target with discovery potential. This work complements our priority underground drilling and mine trend extension drilling and to a lesser extent, our near mine surface program by highlighting longer term opportunities across the property. Turning to Camino Rojo on Slide 15, we have initiated the 4,300-meter drilling program to generate additional metallurgical, geotechnical and hydrological data required for the PFS and to support permitting in 2027.

[Sylvain Guérard, SVP of Exploration at Orla Mining]

This work advances to technical understanding needed to progress the underground project. With respect to regional exploration, activities started in Q2 with the majority of the 26-program scheduled for the second half of the year. On Slide 16 now. Our South Carlin Complex is one of the largest continuous land positions in the Carlin Trend, a district scale opportunity with significant growth potential beyond our currently defined reserves. Our 26-exploration drilling program is scheduled to start in the second quarter, targeting pit extension opportunities at Pinyon, Dark Star and Jasperoid Wash while continuing to advance promising excite targets proximal to the development project. I will now hand it over to Silvana Costa, our Chief Sustainability Officer to continue the presentation.

[Silvana Costa, Chief Sustainability Officer at Orla Mining]

Thank you, Sylvain. Please turn to Slide 17. Our commitment to developing our people and to the environmental, social and governance performance are cornerstones of our strategy, and I'm proud to share key milestones from the 1st quarter across our sites. Musselwhite continues to advance community partnerships and workforce development through targeted economic and social initiatives. To enhance economic reconciliation, the site is conducting a comprehensive review of its indigenous procurement strategy. The site's indigenous-focused training programs have now been centralized under the Musselwhite Academy, which successfully launched the Stope and Mill School program in Q1. A new trades readiness program is being developed to build technical capacity within our partner communities. At Camino Rojo, our operation became the first mining operation in Mexico to receive the Women in Mining award at platinum level, solidifying our leadership in equity and diversity.

[Silvana Costa, Chief Sustainability Officer at Orla Mining]

During the quarter, we continued to advance our water, biodiversity and climate project, promoting environmental stewardship and enabling sustainable livelihoods. At South Railroad, community engagement and sustainability remains central to the project's advancement. As permitting progressed, efforts shifted towards operational readiness through targeted regional recruitment and the hiring of critical roles. We continue to collaborate with local partners on scholarships and on a new infrastructure project designed to deliver long-term benefits to the local community. These achievements demonstrate our commitment to responsible gold production and to work in close collaboration with our host communities and indigenous partners to build a sustainable and inclusive future with our stakeholders. Regarding ESG disclosures, we have completed Orla's third Modern Slavery report in alignment with the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act.

[Silvana Costa, Chief Sustainability Officer at Orla Mining]

The act requires companies to report on their efforts to combat forced and child labor in their operations and supply chains. Our 2025 report will be mailed to shareholders and provides updates on our work to enhance modern slavery training across the company and to strengthening the process to assess risk of modern slavery in our supply chain. We also completed a biennial materiality assessment and are actively working on the 2025 Orla sustainability report. We are on track to publish the report by the end of Q2. I would now like to pass it back to Jason for his closing remarks.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Thank you, Silvana. Turning to Slide 18, Orla enters 2026 with strong operational momentum and a clear path to continued production expansion. We are guiding toward another record-breaking year, forecasting 340,000-360,000 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,550-$1,750 per ounce. Looking at 2026 on Slide 19, we have several upcoming value-driving catalysts. Notably, we are getting ready for construction at South Railroad with planning and procurement, with final permits anticipated for mid-2026. Continued exploration of the underground and deep directional drill programs at Musselwhite to extend the mineralization and mine life.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Continued exploration and resource development at Camino Rojo, working towards a pre-feasibility study and permanent submission in 2027. Thank you to our teams in the countries where we operate, whose commitment and delivery are driving this business forward. At this point, I'd like to open the call to questions and pass it back to the operator.

[Operator]

Your first question comes from the line of Cosmos Chiu with CIBC. Cosmos, your line is now open.

[Cosmos Chiu, Analyst at CIBC World Markets]

Dean. Maybe my first question is on Camino Rojo. Just trying to get a better understanding of your stockpiling and stacking strategy. I noticed that stockpiles at Camino Rojo actually increased in Q1. As we all know, you know, given some of the issues that have been going on last year, you drew down on your stockpiles last year, and there was, you know, a mix of crushed ore and run-of-mine ore. I'm just trying to understand, you know, the mixture and also, you know, the strategy on a go-forward basis. Are you looking to increase your stockpiles or, you know, how should we look at it?

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Thanks, Cos, for the question. You know, I'm very proud of the Camino Rojo team since we built the mine, consistently exceeding, you know, our crushing and stacking nameplate design. As you'll notice in this quarter's numbers, we continue that trend with over 20,000 tons per day crushed and stacked in a facility that was built for 18,000 tons a day. As always, our mining capability is not the bottleneck, we have through our mining contractor there, the capability of stripping and producing ore at a greater rate than we can crush and stack it.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

As a consequence of that, now that we're completely into the layback area and mining down, we need to, as we have done in the past, introduce feed into the crusher and stack it in a way that's consistent with our stacking plan. As you'll notice in our guidance and throughout our quarters this year, we'll continuously increase the grade stacked from last year to the fourth quarter of this year. Now I'll hand the response across to Andrew Cormier, who can offer any additional comments he wants to on this, the stockpiling, crushing and stacking plan.

[Andrew Cormier, COO at Orla Mining]

Thank you, Jason. Hi, Cosmos.

[Cosmos Chiu, Analyst at CIBC World Markets]

Hi, Andrew.

[Andrew Cormier, COO at Orla Mining]

As Jason said, we're back to our, you know, call it, regular operations. Last year, we did draw down our stockpiles. And we're now back at the top of the pit mining oxide material as well as the low-grade ore that we were previously stockpiling. We are rebuilding our low-grade stockpiles while we mine and stack reserve-grade material on the heap leach.

[Cosmos Chiu, Analyst at CIBC World Markets]

Great to hear. That leads in well to my next question in terms of, you know, it's great to see that you now have the full MIA on the, you know, the Fresnillo concessions. I think you kinda answered my question. Are you now in that area? Are you now, you know, kinda pushing back on that, those Fresnillo concessions?

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Yes, Cosmos, absolutely. We had planned for the receipt of the permit in the first quarter of this year, which is what occurred. We, our plan for 2026 was certainly to begin stripping back towards the north, and that is certainly underway and will continue throughout the year and next until we get to the final agreed to boundary with Fresnillo and continue to descend into the pit to the bottom by the end of the decade.

[Cosmos Chiu, Analyst at CIBC World Markets]

Perfect. Then maybe moving on to Musselwhite, great to see. You know, very good start in Q1. As you mentioned, the development rates and equipment availability has allowed you to get to the higher grades sooner, hitting 6.29 gram per ton in Q1, higher than what you did last year, 6.04 full year last year. Just, you know, trying to understand in terms of kinda sustainability of that higher grade. Can we expect, you know, kinda like further increases into, you know, 2026? Are you getting, you know, more from, you know, the deeper parts of the mine? 'Cause as I understand, grades could improve as you get deeper into Musselwhite.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Yeah. What is occurring is we're continuing on the trajectory set in the fourth quarter of last year, into some of the higher-grade stope areas that have continued, and we've been able to advance in the first half of this year. Like any high grade mine, you know, there will be cycles of higher grade stopes and lower grade stopes. Although we had in our budget planned for some of the higher grade stopes in the second half of this year, the reality is that we've been able to advance them and get them in the first half. We continue to guide towards our overall annual grade.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

We expect that to normalize through the remainder of the year and achieve our guidance. Clearly, if we can stick to our plan and find higher grade material, that'll be to our advantage. You're correct that in the deeper parts of the mine, some of the highest-grade areas, including, of course, the intercepts that Nate and the team have discovered two km away, which is some of the highest grades ever seen at Musselwhite. I would offer, you know, the drilling in the upper parts of the mine, we are very pleased, as you can reference in some of our press release, that there are also very good grade areas more proximal to surface.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

The luxury we have at Musselwhite is so many opportunities, and the great team up there with the flexibility that we have given them, have been able to prioritize and sequence the stoping consistent with our budget planning, but obviously informed by the current gold price. With that sort of flexibility, they've been able to exceed our expectations since day one. We look forward to them continuing to do that.

[Cosmos Chiu, Analyst at CIBC World Markets]

Great. Then maybe one last question, Jason, before I pass it on. Just comparing your full-year guidance on sustaining CapEx to what you did in Q1, looks like if I were to multiply your numbers, I have the numbers here, for Camino Rojo, it would not equate to your full-year guidance of $35 million. Musselwhite, same thing. I think you spent about $20 million in Q1, $120 million for the full year in terms of guidance. Same thing with development CapEx, 14.2 versus 215 for the full year in terms of guidance. Could you just maybe walk through, is that by design? Can you remind us how that will likely increase throughout 2026?

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Yeah. The only increase we're guiding to at this point is the $20 million that Andrew referenced that the board approved to begin the exploration decline. Because in my experience, teams tend to be optimistic about how quickly in the new years they can begin spending capital. And some regards, the heap leach expansion in Mexico is one example, and some of the procurement in Canada as a second example. It's really just timing of those capital expenditures. I'd offer that one shouldn't do any times for multiplying on the capital number and just stick to our guidance as provided with the addition of the $20 million that we've talked about.

[Cosmos Chiu, Analyst at CIBC World Markets]

Okay, great. Thanks, Jason and team. Those are all the questions I have. Thank you.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Thanks, Cosmos.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from the line of Allison Carson with Desjardins. Allison, your line is now open.

[Allison Carson, Analyst at Desjardins Securities]

Great. Thanks, operator. Good morning, Jason and team, and thanks for taking my questions. My first question is on capital return. You've declared another quarterly dividend, which is great. Is there a plan to make the capital return program sort of consistent and linked to anything like a percentage of free cash flow?

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Yeah, thanks for the question, Allison. I am sort of smiling as you say that because I can assure you that is an active conversation at the board. We will continue that dialogue to make sure that our return to shareholders is considered of our cash build and the current commodity price. I think all of those vehicles and the instrument in the way that you described it for dividends are something that Etienne Morin will converse with our board about. Buying back shares at times of weakness is a tool I would certainly like available to us as well as, you know, considering our shareholders in the cash build and how we can enhance return to them.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

The metric that you described and how we deliver that return, you will appreciate has to be a conversation that Etienne Morin will lead with management and then present to the board. I think it's responsible for us to be having those conversations right now, with a view to enhancing shareholder returns, while maintaining sufficient cash reserves to grow the business for the next four years.

[Allison Carson, Analyst at Desjardins Securities]

Very well. Stay tuned for that then. One other question. At South Railroad, the Record of Decision is expected sort of in August right now, I believe. Is there a chance that that does get moved up closer to midyear in June or July? Then just in terms of construction, what's on the critical path for 2026?

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Yeah. In terms of the date, it is on the federal website as currently August 8th. Yes, our teams will work with BLM, the lead agency, as well as our project manager from Department of Interior to advance it at all possible. We're planning for that August start. It'll actually begin with work on the access road, which is outside of the plan of operations before that Record of Decision date. We are mobilizing to the field as we speak. Simultaneously, we have team members in Washington and meeting with our state officials to try and advance the Record of Decision potentially into July.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

All of our planning and work currently is to build momentum not only with our own workforce recruitment, but through our contractors, M3 Engineering mobilizing to site, and the earthwork contractors with limited notices to proceed that Andrew references, intended to make sure that we overcome the inertia before we receive final permits. This is a strategy that we deployed on previous builds, including Camino Rojo, that's proven very effective. In terms of critical path for 2026 as we build through 2026 and 2027 at South Railroad, as you can appreciate, it'll start with mine access before the Record of Decision and then on into the site after the Record of Decision, where earthworks will be followed by concrete and so on.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

I predict by the end of the year, the critical path will be focused on earthworks, and most of 2027 will be led by mechanical, electromechanical work, and then followed by commissioning and start-up, so we can pour gold as early as possible in 2028.

[Allison Carson, Analyst at Desjardins Securities]

Great. Well, that's it for me, and congratulations on the quarter.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Thank you, Allison.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Mikitchook with BMO Capital Markets. Andrew, your line is now open.

[Andrew Mikitchook, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Lots of great questions have been already answered. I just have a quick one. This ramp to the sulfides at Camino Rojo is a multi-year trajectory here. Is it aligned so that you can let the exploration guys in earlier to start drilling ahead of completion of the ramp? Or what should we expect to come out of that and, you know, for the benefit of the exploration team?

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Yeah. There's really three objectives with that underground exploration decline. As you referenced, of course, exploration. We want to get, you know, underground, do less expensive drilling as we have done in the past from surface and get better angles to attack the sulfide zone, in particular zone 22, which has a lot more to give. Yes, the exploration decline will have drill platforms set up for our exploration team. The other two benefits that starting that decline early and importantly is, you know, the advancement of all of that development into and towards the ore body can often be the critical path for these underground projects.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Every meter that we can drive in the upcoming years is less meters we need to set up the eventual underground mine. Then finally, as was referenced in the remarks, we gather data in developing that exploration decline, hydrogeologic, geomechanical and other data that'll be helpful to our upcoming permit submission in 2027, so that we have a firm understanding of the water dynamics, the ground dynamics, and so on, so that we can properly inform a responsible submission to the Mexican authorities, and look for not only the underground mine permit, but the surface flotation facility that we've described in the PEA. Those are the three objectives for the exploration decline.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

In my experience, underground it tells me that the more we can drive, ahead of the plant, being constructed and moving into full production, the better.

[Andrew Mikitchook, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay. Well, I'm sure we look forward to seeing that progress. Thank you. I'll pass the microphone.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Thanks, Andrew.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from the line of Lauren McConnell with Paradigm. Lauren, your line is now open.

[Lauren McConnell, Analyst at Paradigm Capital Inc.]

Thank you. Good morning, Jason and team, and congrats on the quarter. You guys gave a lot of disclosure around sort of diesel prices and the impacts that it can have on operating costs, which, you know, at roughly 4% doesn't seem like a major one. Are there any other cost inflation areas that are more material than diesel for 2026? You know, is it consumables, labor? Maybe just sort of walk us through that in terms of what could be the bigger swing factors for all-in sustaining cost guidance. Thanks.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Yes. I'll set a bit of context here, Lauren, and then let Etienne, you know, get into some of the grander details. What I always say about, you know, tariffs in this current conflict is has certainly been inflationary, and we are no exception to that. You know, quite generally, you can expect as cost-of-living increases, salaries will need to increase commensurate with that. As it relates to energy prices and fuel in particular, that there's a lot of conversation about, yes, absolutely in our operations, it's de minimis. Obviously different mining companies use different amounts of fuel than we do.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

I will be clear, you know, the fuel is not only in our operation at the sites but also in the transportation of all of our products and fuel surcharges for everything that gets trucked into our various sites, as you can appreciate. I think it's all inflationary. Specific to us, you know, I would offer that compensation would be one area that we're watching, and Etienne will offer, you know, our top costs across our portfolio and on things that we observe and sort of our top three. Go ahead, Étienne.

[Étienne Morin, CFO at Orla Mining]

Yeah. Thanks, Jason. The only other cost other than diesel and labor, like Jason mentioned, that

[Étienne Morin, CFO at Orla Mining]

A bit of an increase during Q1 was explosives. We're talking, you know, around 10% higher than what we had planned for the year. Not overly significant, and it's not a huge cost to Camino either. This is specific to Camino Rojo. Other than that, costs are pretty much in line.

[Lauren McConnell, Analyst at Paradigm Capital Inc.]

Great. Thank you guys so much for that. Just quickly on Camino Rojo, you know, with the underground exploration decline being approved, and you guys are talking about expecting to award that contract in early Q3, are there any sort of key execution risks between now and the start of the decline development? Sort of what are the key milestones that we should be watching for before the 2027 PFS?

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Yeah, sure. We've been working on getting ready for this, you know, for some time, and I'm proud the team has already had, you know, the contractors at site completed the bidding process. In the coming weeks, we'll be awarding that contract to the successful bidder. We needed to get the pit to a place where we could collar the portal, that's now being achieved.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Really the milestones you can look for and we'll of course disclose in subsequent press releases is the framing of that portal, getting the portal started, and then there'll be regular updates on how far we've progressed underground, how effective our underground mining contractor has been, sort of meters per day type of numbers. The milestones after that will be when we, you know, install our first drill underground and then we'll start counting the number of drills that we have underground.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Then finally, as we get data for from that drifting to inform the subsequent permit submission, you know, we'll be able to give the market an update of the ground integrity, what we're finding underground, and that'll of course be reflected in some of the metrics on meters per day and so on. Many of us have driven drifts underground in Mexico before, are aware of the contractors across the business that have shown and demonstrated a capability. So, you can be assured that those are some of the parties that we're talking to about taking on the next phase for Camino Rojo underground.

[Lauren McConnell, Analyst at Paradigm Capital Inc.]

Great. Thank you. That's it for me.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Our last question comes from the line of Alex Terentiev with National Bank. Alex, your line is now open.

[Alex Terentiev, Analyst at National Bank Financial]

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my call here. Like lots of great questions already asked here, but just a couple follow-ups on Musselwhite. You know, this mine seems to continue to surprise to the upside, at least to my numbers, you know, on grade, as you noted this quarter. I think this is now the third consecutive quarter where throughput looks to be, you know, above target. Annualized Q1 is about 1.33 million tons and guidance for the year is 1.2. You also noted, I believe that a bit of a stockpile is being built there. I'm just curious, is there any, you know, slowdown or period of lower throughput that we should expect?

[Alex Terentiev, Analyst at National Bank Financial]

Is this really just an opportunity to, if things keep going the way they are, maybe push production a bit higher? Secondly, a related question on Musselwhite. You know, you've had some nice exploration results, Camp Bay and some other regional targets, you know, really showing that there's a lot more, you know, gold mineralization in this region. I know some of them are lower grade, but you know, at surface, you know, open-pittable, and given that they are on mining claim boundaries, I believe some of these anyways, you know, what's the process here or timeline to get these, you know, permitted and into production to supplement the mill if that's your plan?

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Thanks for the question, Alex. That'll give me an opportunity to sort of walk you through our thinking on this very subject. Let's just start with what we believed when we bought the asset. We believed in the geology, and we believed in the capability of the people to deliver more at this asset. We've learned a lot in the over a year that we've owned the asset, and we've seen a lot of demonstrated value creation from our team and from the geology up there. With that learning, we've had to adapt, you know, how we see the potential at this site. Of course, you know, that has just exceeded everybody's expectations.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Where we're at now is, with all of those opportunities you described, on surface and as our teams have been able to demonstrate in the upper parts of the mine underground, and then the original thesis of the acquisition, the extension, two km down plunge, what's becoming apparent to our team is that we are going to be able to push the production rate with current infrastructure closer to that 300,000 ounce a year mark. With an expansion considered of not only the material handling system, we may also need to consider enhancements to the mill processing facility because we are starting to demonstrate that we can hit mill capacity.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

What are we going to do to push ourselves to the next level of production at Musselwhite? What would be the best and most appropriate capital allocation to do that? All of that thinking, which has changed since we took ownership, is part of the work that our team is doing, considering all of those opportunities. I look forward to, you know, unpacking that and in 2027 giving clarity to the market of our long-term intentions at Musselwhite, be that through the existing plant as well as expansions in the future.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

One of the things we'll need to watch for, the team has done a great job to, you know, start to bump up against nameplate capacity at that processing plant through delivery from underground, aided by a lot of the equipment enhancements that we provided them, coupled with the flexibility we've given them to, you know, to operate the site responsibly. We need to make sure that that's sustainable. You know, there is something that we'll be watching for. If these are numbers that we can sustain, how can we support that team to go to the next level production wise? We're making those plans as we speak.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Got great technical teams working in partnership with the site, to outline the growth plans at Musselwhite in the short, medium, and long term. The opportunity we have at Musselwhite, the luxury we have at Musselwhite is so many opportunities and making sure that we narrow our focus and make sure we're delivering on the opportunities that are gonna create the most value is our challenge at that site.

[Alex Terentiev, Analyst at National Bank Financial]

That's a great answer. Thank you.

[Operator]

We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to Jason for closing remarks.

[Jason Simpson, President and CEO at Orla Mining]

Since there are no further questions, I want to thank everybody for your time. Never hesitate to reach out to Orla should you have any follow-up questions.

[Operator]

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Andrew Bradbury, VP, Investor Relations and Corporate Development
• Andrew Cormier, COO
• Jason Simpson, President and CEO
• Silvana Costa, Chief Sustainability Officer
• Sylvain Guérard, SVP of Exploration
• Étienne Morin, CFO

Analysts

• Alex Terentiev, Analyst at National Bank Financial
• Allison Carson, Analyst at Desjardins Securities
• Andrew Mikitchook, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets
• Cosmos Chiu, Analyst at CIBC World Markets
• Lauren McConnell, Analyst at Paradigm Capital Inc.