Galiano Gold Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: First-half production reached more than 69,000 ounces, near the upper end of the company’s indicated range, keeping Galiano on track for its unchanged 2026 guidance of 140,000–160,000 ounces.
  • Positive Sentiment: Q2 revenue was $156.6 million, adjusted EBITDA was $78.5 million, and the company ended the quarter debt-free with $105.9 million in cash, despite continuing to fund Nkran development and exploration.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management expects higher grades and production in the second half of 2026, with stronger free cash flow and full gold-price exposure beginning in 2027 as the hedge book rolls off.
  • Positive Sentiment: Exploration spending was increased to $25 million, with Esaase drilling about 50% complete and expected to support a larger open-pit reserve in the 2027 mineral resource and reserve update; Abore drilling is also expanding its underground resource.
  • Negative Sentiment: Approximately $26 million of cash is restricted due to a legal dispute with a former service provider, although management expects the restriction to be lifted; Q2 AISC was elevated at $2,473 per ounce amid higher diesel prices and maintenance interruptions.
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Earnings Conference Call
Galiano Gold Q2 2026
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Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Tina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the second quarter 2026 financial and operating results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question, press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star one again. Please limit questions to one and one follow-up. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Matt Badylak, CEO. Please go ahead.

Matt Badylak
Matt Badylak
CEO at Galiano Gold

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate you taking time to join us today to review Galiano Gold's second quarter 2026 financial and operating results we released yesterday after market close. During today's call, we'll be making forward-looking statements and referring to non-IFRS performance measures. Please refer to the cautionary notes on slide two of the webcast presentation and to the risk disclosures in our most recent MD&A. Yesterday's news release should be read together with our second quarter financial statements and MD&A, which are available on our website and filed on SEDAR+ and EDGAR. Unless otherwise noted, all dollar amounts discussed on the call today are in US dollars. Joining me today are Michael Cardinaels, our Chief Operating Officer, Matt Freeman, our Chief Financial Officer, and Chris, our Vice President of Exploration. I will begin with an overview of the quarter.

Matt Badylak
Matt Badylak
CEO at Galiano Gold

Michael will discuss mining and processing. Matt will review the financial performance. Chris will update you on exploration. I will return to provide some perspective on our near-term catalysts and close the prepared remarks before we open the call up for questions. Turning to slide four. Our first half performance has put us in a solid position to deliver our 2026 plan. We produced 34,400 oz of gold in the second quarter, bringing the first half production to just over 69,000 oz, near the upper end of our previously communicated indicated range of 60,000 oz-70,000 oz. This provides a solid foundation as we enter the higher production portion of the mine plan with grades expected to improve as mining advances at Abore.

Matt Badylak
Matt Badylak
CEO at Galiano Gold

Our full year production guidance remains unchanged at 140,000 oz - 60,000 oz. Our all-in sustaining cash cost guidance remains unchanged at $2,300-$2,600 per oz. Safety remains our highest priority. We recorded no lost time injuries and no total recordable injuries during the quarter. At June 30, our teams worked approximately 11 million hours without a lost time injury and achieved 456 consecutive incident-free days. These are meaningful milestones. I'd like to recognize our employees and business partners for the discipline and care that made this possible. We also maintained a strong financial position ending the quarter with total cash of $105.9 million. This includes approximately $26 million of restricted cash, which Matt will expand on shortly. Importantly, the company remains debt-free. We continue to invest in the future of the Asanko Gold Mine.

Matt Badylak
Matt Badylak
CEO at Galiano Gold

This includes waste stripping at Nkran and exploration activities at Esaase and Abore. Overall, Q2 was a quarter of both delivery and preparation. We delivered against our current mine plan while putting the building blocks in place for the next phase of growth. With that, I'll turn the call over to Michael to review our operating performance.

Michael Cardinaels
Michael Cardinaels
EVP and COO at Galiano Gold

Thank you, Matt, good morning, everyone. Here on slide five, mining performance in the second quarter remained aligned with our plan and continues to support our full year guidance. During the quarter, we mined approximately 1.8 million tons of ore at an average grade of 0.9 g/ton. Ore tons increased approximately 15% from the first quarter, while grades remained consistent with expectations. This increase in ore availability keeps us on track for the planned production growth in the second half of the year. Abore remained our primary source of mill feed, contributing approximately 77% of total ore mined during the quarter. Mining advanced into deeper phases of the pit, where we expect to access higher grades as the year progresses. This mining sequence is a key driver of our anticipated second half production profile.

Michael Cardinaels
Michael Cardinaels
EVP and COO at Galiano Gold

Mining at Esaase also continued as planned and provided supplemental feed to the mill. At Nkran Cut 3, we continued to make strong progress on development activities. The team mined 6.1 million tons of waste during the quarter, representing a 30% increase from Q1. We invested $22.1 million pre-stripping during Q2, bringing year-to-date investment to $35.6 million. Additional equipment is scheduled to arrive during the third quarter to support the planned ramp up in mining rates. The work underway today is critical to unlocking access to the higher grade Nkran ore that supports our future production profile. Importantly, this progress was all achieved while maintaining our strong safety performance, which Matt highlighted earlier. Turning to slide six. Processing performance remained solid during the quarter, despite some unplanned maintenance activities. Average feed grade was approximately 0.9 g/ton. Metallurgical recovery was 90%, and gold production totaled 34,391 oz.

Michael Cardinaels
Michael Cardinaels
EVP and COO at Galiano Gold

Mill availability was impacted by maintenance on the ball mill gearbox in June, while work on the primary crusher pit continued throughout the quarter. Despite these interruptions, the processing team maintained strong recovery rates and delivered production in line with expectations, demonstrating the resilience and stability of the operation. The remaining crusher work is expected to be completed during the third quarter. Looking ahead, our priorities for the second half of the year are straightforward. Complete the remaining repairs of the critical spares for the primary crusher, continue advancing the mining sequence at Abore, and deliver the higher-grade ore planned for the balance of the year. With more than 69,000 oz produced in the first half, we are well-positioned to achieve our full-year production guidance. I will now hand the call over to Matt Freeman to review the financial results.

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

Thanks, Michael, and good morning, everyone. Turning to slide seven, the second quarter again demonstrated the earning and cash generation capacity of the business, even as we continue to fund significant development activity. Revenue for the second quarter was $156.6 million on sales of just over 35,000 oz of gold, an average realized gold price before the impact of the hedging losses of $4,432 per oz. This translated into strong earnings, with adjusted EBITDA of $78.5 million and adjusted earnings per share of $0.09. As we have discussed previously, we're getting close to the end of our hedge book, such that from 2027, our financial results will be able to fully participate in the gold price, leading to a natural inflection point in our cash flows.

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

I must note that at the end of the quarter, approximately $26 million of our cash became restricted following a court order relating to a long-standing contractual dispute with a former service provider. This was in direct contravention of the existing court order, and as such, we are confident the restriction will be lifted in a timely manner. Excluding the IFRS presentation of the restricted cash in our cash flow statement, the mine generated cash flows from operations of $31.9 million, which shows that the operation continues to generate meaningful cash flows. The key point here is that our balance sheet remains very healthy. We've maintained substantial liquidity while funding the investment in our growth projects, such as the significant infill drilling campaign at Esaase and accelerating the pre-strip program at Nkran Cut 3.

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

Turning to slide eight, we're pleased that despite elevated diesel prices since the start of the Iranian conflict, all-in sustaining costs were $2,473 per oz for the quarter and $2,418 per oz for the first half of the year. As production increases and grades improve in the second half of 2026, we expect better unit cost leverage. Therefore, our 2026 AISC guidance remains unchanged at $2,300-$2,600 per oz. It's through this disciplined cost management that we continue to be able to direct capital towards value-enhancing projects such as the Nkran strip and exploration work, which is expected to provide the foundation for mine life extension of the asset. I'll now turn the call back to Chris to discuss the progress made on these exploration priorities.

Chris Pettman
Chris Pettman
VP of Exploration at Galiano Gold

Thanks, Matt. Exploration work through Q2 was primarily focused on executing our aggressive drilling campaigns at Esaase and Abore in order to deliver results in time for addition in the 2027 MRMR update. The exploration budget for 2026 has been expanded to a very healthy $25 million from the previous $17 million, meaning we are well-resourced to deliver on our objectives. Following Q1 drilling success in the first phase of the Esaase infill and conversion drilling program, the full expanded program, consisting of approximately 32,000 m, was approved. Drilling was immediately ramped up with a total of seven drill rigs turning at Esaase by June. The program was approximately 50% complete by the end of Q2, with the team achieving a total of 13,748 m in the quarter. Drilling remains on schedule for completion in Q3.

Chris Pettman
Chris Pettman
VP of Exploration at Galiano Gold

Results received to date continue to indicate the program will meet its objectives of converting a high percentage of the targeted inferred resource to the indicated category ahead of the 2027 MRMR update. This work is specifically designed to dramatically increase the open pit mineral reserve at Esaase, which will anchor the future life of mine transformation. Drilling also continued at Abore as we work to expand the underground resource, which was first released last quarter. 4,565 m were drilled through Q2, bringing the full-year program of 30,000 m to 54% complete. We remain excited by the growth we are seeing at Abore and are anticipating completion of the remainder of the drilling at Abore by early Q4. That excitement is reflected in our ongoing planning efforts for potential construction of an underground exploration at Abore.

Chris Pettman
Chris Pettman
VP of Exploration at Galiano Gold

Permitting and planning efforts advanced well through Q2. We are on track to make an investment decision for a potential construction start in 2027. This project will be a significant milestone for exploration and the AGM, as it would represent the first steps to transitioning the Asankrangwa Belt deposits towards underground operations, as has been done very successfully at both the Sefwi and the Ashanti belts that lie immediately adjacent to us. Back to you, Matt, to discuss our near-term catalysts.

Matt Badylak
Matt Badylak
CEO at Galiano Gold

Thank you, Chris. Turning to slide 10. Here, I'll point out that Chris' update is important because exploration is an integral part of our strategy to extend mine life and strengthen the future production profile. Our immediate priority remains the safe delivery of our 2026 guidance. Looking beyond this year, however, we expect the operating and financial profile of the business to change meaningfully.

Matt Badylak
Matt Badylak
CEO at Galiano Gold

Production is expected to increase in 2027. Once the hedge program rolls off, we expect to benefit from higher production and full exposure to the gold price, supporting stronger free cash flow. This combination represents the key financial inflection point we see ahead. Beyond that near-term inflection, Nkran Cut 3 is a key driver of a production profile of more than 200,000 oz per year. Esaase and Abore also contribute to that scale and provide opportunities to sustain and extend the production profile through reserve conversion and underground resource growth. Together, Nkran, Esaase, and Abore support both scale and the longevity of the Asanko Gold Mine. The chart on the left shows that Galiano trades at a discount to many of our peers on an enterprise value per reserve ounce basis.

Matt Badylak
Matt Badylak
CEO at Galiano Gold

We believe this discount does not reflect the value of our existing operations, the strength of our balance sheet, the visibility of the expected cash flow inflection, or the organic growth opportunities across Nkran, Esaase, and Abore. In our view, the current valuation understates both the strength of our business today and its long-term growth potential. Let me close by bringing the quarter back to our broader strategy. In the near term, our task is clear: operate safely and deliver our 2026 plan. Our first half production of 69,000 oz, near the upper end of our indicated range, provides a solid foundation for the balance of the year. Our full-year production and all-in sustaining cash guidance remains unchanged. At the same time, we are using our debt-free balance sheet to fund Nkran Cut 3, progress reserve conversion at Esaase, and advance underground growth at Abore while maintaining substantial liquidity.

Matt Badylak
Matt Badylak
CEO at Galiano Gold

We are therefore able to invest in the future of the mine while continuing to execute the current plan. The result is a clear path to improved operating and financial profile beginning in 2027. Higher production, stronger free cash flow, greater participation in gold price, and multiple opportunities to expand reserves, resources, and mine life. That combination gives us confidence in Galiano's ability to create meaningful, long-term shareholder value. Thank you to our employees and our business partners for their continued commitment, and thank you to our shareholders and analysts for your interest in Galiano Gold. Operator, we are now ready to take questions.

Operator

As a reminder, to ask a question, simply press star one on your telephone keypad. Please limit questions to one and one follow-up. Again, that is star one to ask a question. Our first question comes from the line of Heiko Ihle with HCW. Please go ahead.

Heiko Ihle
Heiko Ihle
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Hey, guys. It's Heiko Ihle with H.C. Wainwright. Thanks for taking my questions. Sorry for the background noise. I'm standing at the airport here.

Matt Badylak
Matt Badylak
CEO at Galiano Gold

Good morning, Heiko.

Heiko Ihle
Heiko Ihle
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Life is good. Let's talk about the general administrative costs on a dollar mil basis. You went from $7 to essentially $8.50. I get that that's a small number overall, but on a percentage basis, the change is quite pronounced. Can you maybe give a bit of color on where we should model that out going forward and what exactly happened? I assume some of that is just labor costs.

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

Morning, Heiko. It's Matt Freeman here. I think simplistically, the large part of it is just the denominator there. The tons milled was obviously a bit lower this quarter, given some of the issues that Michael alluded to. Otherwise, nothing really substantial in there. We had a few other maintenance costs that maybe flowed through there a little bit on some sort of non plant-related ones. Really, it's just the denominator. Your tons milled. Modeling going forward, I would think this was a bit of an anomaly. I would think you can look back at the previous couple of quarters, and that would be a much better way of looking at it going forward. We're certainly not seeing any major unexpected movements in our general cost base at all across the operation.

Heiko Ihle
Heiko Ihle
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

That's what I would have expected and hoped you guys would say. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Also, you mentioned the diesel prices in the release. You discussed it briefly earlier on this call. Can you just give a bit of color on how much you actually spend on fuel per quarter and what you can see with this figure throughout the first half of Q3? Is that something where the analysts can just, once we have the total, we can just essentially take it and then take global diesel prices and sort of model it like that?

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

Heiko, I think, on average, we're about 3.5 to 4 million liters a month. Obviously, as we increase the profile of stripping at Nkran over the next, I guess 18 months or so, we would expect that to increase a little bit over time. Honestly, we're not seeing it being particularly material to the business. Obviously, we've seen the spike through the summer, and obviously, it's been hugely volatile, particularly what we're seeing at the pumps in Ghana. I think, we're guiding, we're comfortable in our guidance range. We're certainly comfortable where the costs are sitting. Hopefully, the Middle Eastern situation will calm down a bit, and we'll see the reversion in prices. At the moment, it's not that material to us. We're keeping an eye on things and manage it where we can.

Heiko Ihle
Heiko Ihle
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Fair enough. Essentially, on a usage basis, flat for the rest of the year is the way to go.

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

We're modeling it within our expectations of being around where it is now, slightly elevated, and hopefully, things could come off lower than that, and we might have a slight benefit there. As of now, we're very comfortable with our cost guidance, so you can kind of expect us to fall within that range comfortably. Over.

Heiko Ihle
Heiko Ihle
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

I'll get back in queue. Thanks for taking my questions.

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

It's okay. Safe travels.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Frederic Bolton with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Frederic Bolton
Frederic Bolton
Analyst at BMO Capital Markets

Good morning, team. Thank you for taking my call. I've got a few questions here. You reduced your development guidance this year. Can you just talk us through the primary drivers of that reduction? I noticed that your guidance for the Nkran Cut 3 hasn't changed at all. I don't mind just going through the questions one by one, so if you could start with that, please.

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

Hi, Fred, it's Matt Freeman here. Yeah, as we said in the MD&A, we expect development costs to be slightly down on what we'd originally said. There's a bit of a delay in some of our relocation projects in terms of the timing, but no change in overall cost structure for the life of mine. It's just a timing shift probably between this year and next year.

Frederic Bolton
Frederic Bolton
Analyst at BMO Capital Markets

Okay, thank you. With respect to this legal dispute you have with this Nkran issue. What's the current status on the appeal process, and what key factors or milestones are needed before you can unlock some of that restricted cash?

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

Yeah, as I said, this is actually a very recent thing. As we've said, we believe it to be a contravention of an existing order out there. We're working with local council, going through a legal process in Ghana to get that rescinded. Difficult to give indications of exact timing, obviously, because these legal processes through the summer, there's various court delays and holidays and things. We're expecting, hopefully, something to be resolved in the short term. Can't give you precise timings, but certainly we're working as diligently as we can with council to get it resolved.

Frederic Bolton
Frederic Bolton
Analyst at BMO Capital Markets

Okay, great. I think I have one more question on the Q3 mobilization of the Nkran fleet in Q3 for this, the additional fleet. Can you just give us a bit more color on what was driving that particular timing for this additional fleet and whether there's a chance to expedite some of that fleet sooner than later?

Michael Cardinaels
Michael Cardinaels
EVP and COO at Galiano Gold

Hi, Fred, it's Michael here. I can provide a little color on that. Our mining business partner, Rockshore, have actually mobilized the full complement of trucks to site at this point in time. There's two additional excavators which are currently sitting on the ground on site and going through commissioning phases. Those will be completed in Q3 and then put into operation. It was just primarily a timing delay for acquisition of those new excavators from the manufacturer.

Frederic Bolton
Frederic Bolton
Analyst at BMO Capital Markets

Okay. Q4 is when we should start to really see the ramp up of the rest of the fleet.

Michael Cardinaels
Michael Cardinaels
EVP and COO at Galiano Gold

That's correct. We'll see an increase in Q3 as we put those new units to work, they should be full complement by Q4 as well, as you say, further increase.

Frederic Bolton
Frederic Bolton
Analyst at BMO Capital Markets

Okay, great. Sorry, I didn't mean to hog the line, but can I just ask one more question on the prioritization of the drilling at Esaase? I read in the release that the Esaase drilling's been prioritized against Abore. What was driving that? Is that because you were trying to prioritize the resource reserve conversion there, as opposed to the piece of drilling that's been done at Abore and so on? Can you add a bit of color to that, please?

Chris Pettman
Chris Pettman
VP of Exploration at Galiano Gold

Sure. Fred, it's Chris. You're absolutely right. We moved the rigs to Esaase. We wanted to make sure we could get that drilling done in a timely manner for modeling ahead of the 2027 MRMR update, as it is a significant increase in our potential reserve base there. We wanted to make sure we could get that done. Obviously, Abore is still important to us, we've gotten over half that program finished already. We still feel like, given our timelines, we have all the time to be able to finish that drilling in Abore. We are seeing good growth in the resource there to be able to get that in by the end of the year as well. At Abore, that's our underground resource, right? We released that last quarter.

Chris Pettman
Chris Pettman
VP of Exploration at Galiano Gold

It was really about getting the open pit reserve prioritized growth there over the underground resource growth we think we'll still see at Abore as well.

Frederic Bolton
Frederic Bolton
Analyst at BMO Capital Markets

Okay, great. No, that's all I had for today. Thank you, and looking forward to seeing the site in October.

Operator

Your next question comes from Bereket Berhe with Beacon Securities. Please go ahead.

Bereket Berhe
Bereket Berhe
Analyst at Beacon Securities

Hey. Congratulations, guys, on another solid quarter. I'm noticing that production is actually stabilizing. The last three quarters have been really good, and obviously that's been helped by the grades stabilizing as well, closer to the 0.9 g/ton. I was wondering when do we start to see with Abore's contribution, those grades to start to tick up, closer to the reserve grade of Abore, let's say. I understand that Abore is only contributing about 75% at the moment of the ore. I also basically want to ask the same question that the guys have been asking, but in a different way. Nkran Cut 3, if I remember correctly, started somewhere early in the year 2025, February, I believe it was, and we're still at it and it's ramping up.

Bereket Berhe
Bereket Berhe
Analyst at Beacon Securities

When do we expect Nkran to start to complete pushback and start to contribute decently to the mine to the processing plant? Those are my questions for today.

Michael Cardinaels
Michael Cardinaels
EVP and COO at Galiano Gold

Hi, Bereket, it's Michael here. I can answer that for you. We are seeing increases in Abore grades coming into Q3 and then further into Q4. We made a slight modification to our Abore pit design, which has increased the reserves ounces included in that. As we push into Q3 and Q4, we will be starting to see an increase in those grades, and Abore will contribute approximately 80% of our mill feed in the last half of the year. We should be expecting that, as I said, H2. As far as Nkran goes, we will be ramping up our production profile over the balance of 2026 to be at full complement of fleet and increase, at the end of the year. 2027 should be at full complement of fleet.

Michael Cardinaels
Michael Cardinaels
EVP and COO at Galiano Gold

As we previously indicated, Nkran will start to produce ore at the back end of 2028 and into 2029, meaningful contribution to the grade for the production profile.

Bereket Berhe
Bereket Berhe
Analyst at Beacon Securities

Okay, thank you.

Operator

Our next question is from the line of Medina Abdullina with Freedom Broker. Please go ahead.

Medina Abdullina
Analyst at Freedom Broker

Hello. Thank you for your presentation. I have several questions. You reduced development capital guidance by approximately $15 million due to delays in village relocations. Can you clarify whether these relocations are now expected in early 2027, and whether the delay has any impact on first ore timing from Nkran, or simply shifts cash spending between years?

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

Hi there, it's Matt Freeman here again. Yes, it's purely a timing difference, a little bit of a delay getting some of the organization together with the communities, we'd expect that to slide into 2027. That won't have any impact on our production profile at all. Just a cash timing difference.

Medina Abdullina
Analyst at Freedom Broker

Okay, thank you. Also mining unit costs increased 27% year-over-year due to lower tons mined and higher fresh rock exposure. As Abore transitions further into lower strip phases during the remainder of year, should we expect mining costs per ton to decline meaningfully, or does fresh rock mining might offset most of that benefit?

Matt Freeman
Matt Freeman
EVP and CFO at Galiano Gold

I think as you highlighted, we were slightly elevated on a cost per ton basis this period, which was driven, say, largely by slightly lower tons and also the diesel price increase had an impact on that as well. Going forward, I think we should expect it to kind of be fairly stable. Hopefully, if mining rates ramp up a bit, we could see a bit of a reduction there. Obviously, as you go deeper in pits, haul cycles increase. There's a few offsets up and down, but maybe slightly better, but we're not expecting anything too dramatic to change.

Medina Abdullina
Analyst at Freedom Broker

Got it. Thank you.

Operator

With no further questions in queue, I will now hand the call back to Matt Badylak for closing remarks.

Matt Badylak
Matt Badylak
CEO at Galiano Gold

Thank you, operator. Thanks again to everyone who joined the call today and for your continued interest in Galiano Gold. We certainly look forward to providing you with further updates throughout the course of the year as we progress this year. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you again for joining us today. This does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Matt Badylak
      Matt Badylak
      CEO
    • Michael Cardinaels
      Michael Cardinaels
      EVP and COO
    • Matt Freeman
      Matt Freeman
      EVP and CFO
    • Chris Pettman
      Chris Pettman
      VP of Exploration
Analysts