B2Gold Corp.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator, and welcome to B2Gold Corporation's third quarter 2024 financial results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity for analysts to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star, then 0. I would now like to turn the conference over to Clive Johnson, President and CEO of B2Gold. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Alfred. Welcome to the call. We're here in Vancouver with the B2Gold executive team. And I'm going to pass it over to Mike Cinnamon to talk about the financial results for the third quarter. And then Ben and I are just going to give us an update on my operations and also on the Goose Project Construction Congress. So, what would you like? Thanks, Clive.

To start on the operating side, I think it's a similar story to what we saw for the first two quarters of the year, misbatting Ojikodo. Results continued to meet or beat budget. But as we previously guided towards, Coca-Cola had a weak quarter as a result of the delay in receiving a replacement excavator after the existing one was damaged beyond repair in the first half of 24. As we look to 25, we expect to see significant production growth in Coca-Cola driven by better grades, be in mind that the FACOLA hit, combined with the contribution of truckloads from FACOLA regional, and the commencement of FACOLA underground production. When you put it all together, so the systems that I know Jakota, FACOLA is slightly behind, but where we stand with that overall for the year, we still think we're on track to come in now at the low end of our revised production guidance range, and with that lower production the upper end of our revised cash costs and all our sustaining cost guidance. Other significant events in order, we completed the MOU of the state of Manali on the future economic and governance parameters of the Fakola complex, including the Fakola mine and Fakola regional. And that's a significant event for B2 Gold. It lets us move forward and realize the value that we see and the upside we see in those projects. Financially, it's a strong quarter, adjusted for one-time items. The company generated two cents per share of adjusted earnings, benefiting from a very strong average gold sales price, and we continue to see gold do what it's doing. Those adjusted earnings were negatively impacted by a one-time 30 million tax accrual to record the charges related to the MOU with the state of Mali I just described, announced in September. If you remove that rule, the adjusted EPS would have been closer to $0.05 per share. Basic earnings per share was impacted by the non-cash write-down of the back road or goal district, mainly as a result of the two initial capital cost increases that we previously announced in 2024. But moving forward, as Bill will describe shortly, I would feel confident in the timeline We're working capital adjustments for the quarter with $118 million, which is a strong result given the challenges of the proposal during Q3. And spending in the Goose project, this is back and well versus the latest budget during the quarter, which we saw carry on into October as well. Construction of mine development activities, and with the Canadian $165 million during Q3, and the working capital buildup. came in and the material got to site. Working capital buildup was elevated predominantly as a result of the purchase of diesel that will be brought to site on the 2025 winter ice road. In balance sheet wise we continue to remain a strong financial position with cash and cash equivalents of $431 million at the end of the third quarter. During the quarter we did draw $200 million on our line and that leaves us with half a billion of additional credit facility capacity going forward as well as $100 million in the So we've got a good amount of financial flexibility to be able to complete the goose construction by Q2-25, complete the other sustaining and growth initiatives across the portfolio, and to continue to fund the healthy exploration programs and stand-by legs. And that's it.

Am I relaxed? Okay. From an operational perspective, I guess what people are most interested in, the goose. So a goose construction project progress was significant throughout the summer months. and into the fall season, everything remains on track to deliver first gold production in Q2 2025. In support of that, the 2024 sea lift was successfully completed in the third quarter. We have 10 ships and one barge unloading 123,000 cubic meters of dry cargo, more than 84 million liters of Arctic-grade diesel fuel, and the 58 additional trucks for the 2025 Winter Ice Road, which will significantly de-risk the movement of cargo down the edge rip. On the construction side, progress was significant in the third quarter. We completed the vast majority of concrete placement, all the e-houses on the mill pad, the electricians were finishing up connecting power to various components, and the construction of additional fuel storage tanks and goofs. On the mining side, we did quite well with the echo open pit. The underground development at Unweldt is consistently hitting new highs. Now turning to the operations. In Motley, we're on track to get both the Ficola Regional and the Ficola Underground into development or into production in 2025. That'll obviously benefit the operations for years to come. At Mazbati, once again, the little mine that could, continues to form at world-class levels. The operation has delivered all its sustaining costs in 2024 material lower than our guidance range. At Ochicota, the team is preparing a PEA study on mining for the antelope zone, which will be able to mine through the early 2030s. This would extend the life of mine through the years of stockpiling processing. And at Gramalote, we're working through a feasibility study which we're ready to release in mid-2025. With that, I'll turn it back over to you, Clyde. Thanks, Bill. I think with that, we'll answer all your questions.

We will now begin the analyst 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. And if you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. We will pause just for a moment as callers join the queue. And our first question comes from with CIBC World Markets. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good morning, Clive, Bill, and team. I just wanted to ask a quick question on FACOLA. I think you guys mentioned that the issues that you've had with the equipment and the shovel and then also some inclement weather is impacting Q4. Could you give us an idea of what kind of grades you'll be pulling in Q4 and the expected tonnage. I'm unsure whether or not this is kind of within the original guidance revision of like 800 to 870 for this year, or are we gearing even more towards the low end of that number?

So basically what had happened is, as you know, when we lost the excavator, it slowed down the development into the we had to get into phase seven of the open pit. We are now just getting ready to enter phase seven now, so you will see grades increasing somewhat, but with that being said, you're not going to see all of that come through in Q4.

Okay, so a little bit more of a pushout than you had originally, when you originally revised guidance in August, a little bit more of a delay in accessing that order than...

I would say a little bit more, but we're still within the revised guidance range that we've just put out.

Okay. That's it for my questions. Thanks.

Absolutely. And the next question comes from Don DeMarco with National Bank. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, Clyde and team. Hope all's well. The first question, Bill, you just talked about mass value in Ochocoto. Some outperformance in Q3, you know, provided some offsets for coal. Was this just a one-off quarter for both these mines, or can we expect the trend of outperformance to extend into Q4?

So, you know Masbate, right? Masbate is highly dependent on kind of which material ends up from the – the pits as far as the recoveries and the hardness. You know, we've always kind of outperformed there. So you could see an outperform in Masbati, but right now we're calling, in our models, we're calling for exactly what we projected for Masbati for Q4. And Ochicoto is kind of the same way. We're kind of gearing towards what we had originally projected for Q4, knowing that we could potentially see higher grades at Masbati.

Okay. Thank you for that. And my next question, on Mali, there's been some discussion about outstanding payments. Can you remind us how much of that was paid in Q3 and how much is still remaining to be paid in Q4?

Yeah, I can answer that, Don. So on signing, we paid a first contract payment of $16 million. And What remains, and then in October, we paid second tranche payment, which is part of the taxes settlement of $42 million. So those payments have been made. What remains is the dividend payment. That's the most significant one. We expect to make that in probably this month, I think. And as disclosed in the financials, that's about $140 million. And then there's a residual payment, final settlement payment. 30 that we expect to make by the end of the year.

Okay. Thank you. So, you know, we're all looking forward to Goose ramping up in Q2 and so on. But beyond ramp up, you know, with higher free cash flow, can you talk about your capital allocation strategy? Of course, we have Grama Latte that's under review right now. That might be one option. The dividends there, of course, very strong. But how do you see yourselves deploying the cash flow, higher cash flow once Goose has been ramped up?

Well, I think, you know, for us, for sure, it's getting Goose up and running. And then, remember, as well, then we'll be delivering into some of the prepaids that we've got as well over the course of the next year. So we'll be managing that process. And then beyond that, that timeline kind of falls in nicely. But when, if the Gramalacti is a positive feasibility study and we want to start progressing it, then we sort of fall into that timeline where, you know, there will be those significant strong cash flows that are freely available to us that we could use to advance development there.

Yeah, Gramalacti is also quite nicely a feasibility study. It's positive. And we decided to go ahead after construction. And we could slide it quite nicely in terms of additional growth. Now, just to remind everyone, we were talking about in terms of production growth, the potential additional production of the 100,000 ounces from Coca-Cola, from Trucking Lord down to the regional. Obviously, it's coming on at 9,000 ounces, 310,000 ounces a year, starting mid-year of next year. And if we can manage a little bit of it sooner, we can have a better lot of it. That's potentially an additional 240,000 ounces of to grow in production, which we now own 100%. So, we always talk about this as a transitional year, and those are the kind of opportunities going forward to continue to grow in production.

Okay, thanks, Clyde. And can you just remind us then on Gramalate when the feasibility is expected and when a go-forward decision might be made?

Next year? Yeah, the PDA is due in Q2. Sorry, excuse me. The feasibility is due in Q2 2025.

Okay, we'll look forward to that. Well, that's all for me. Thanks a lot, guys. Good luck with Q4.

Thanks.

Next question comes from Ralph Profity with 8 Capital. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Operator. So, you know, Clyde, I just want to maybe get a little bit more detail on Focola Regional and some of the timelines on how things get mobilized. in terms of workforce, in terms of stripping, and sort of, you know, maybe sort of a little bit of a walk through how the early part of 2025 is going to look like in terms of some of these milestones.

Sure, Doug, it would be best to answer that.

Yeah, so let's start with reminding everybody that because they had given us previously a permit to build out all the infrastructure, that everything is there already. So the hall road is there, all of the buildings, those have already been built. And so what we're really talking about is once we get the permit, right, and once we get all the government approvals to start mining, you've got a quarter of pre-stripping. So we've been talking about trying to get this permit by the end of this year. I think that still seems feasible as far as I can tell. We have, at the end of Q3, we did submit what was the requirement as far as the SIA. They are saying that they need just like six to eight weeks to turn that around, and then they actually get into the physical part of the permitting So let's assume that everything happens as we thought it would by the end of the year. And then in Q1, we have to be pretty sure of what's happening on the ground, physically on the ground now. As part of our local content initiative, we are talking about potentially going to contract minor. And what that will do is that will allow us to fulfill some of the modeling requirements. And so we are issuing contract for that right now. So we anticipate that if, in fact, We do get the permit by the end of the year and everything's in place. We could, in fact, start pre-stripping in Q1 of 2025.

Just to add to that, as Mike talked about, we've reached an important agreement with the government that we're understanding and have undertaken to take the steps we need to take, and the government has undertaken the steps. So we have two partners now in line, very much very keen on seeing the trucking down and additional production from Focola. So the government's on the same page as us, but sort of reached an agreement with the government, so only 30% of the regional load fraction, and they're very keen to increase load fraction in the country and taxes, et cetera. So we're very much on the same page on the line to look to fast-track this process of permitting and getting rid of it, so we're on the same page. Okay, great.

Yeah, that's helpful. You know, Mike, this impairment, at Back River, it looks like the amount is sort of in line with sort of the two successive CapEx increases, right? And just wondering, is that the way to think about it? And that there has been no change in the proportion of the carrying value that is net present value related, right? That could have been offset by the gold prices, for example.

Yeah, I think big picture, that's the way to think about it. I mean, there obviously were some changes in the gold prices. But really, the triggering factors were the increase in the costs. And, you know, we updated, say, fuel prices, things like that in there as well. And that was in that result. But I think, yeah, the capital costs increased, especially the latest one, really triggered the need to revisit that. Okay. Yeah. That's helpful. Thanks to the team.

Thanks, Charles. And the next question comes from Ovez Habib with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Hi Clive, Mike, and sorry I came in late. It was called juggling through a bunch of conference calls. A lot of my questions have been answered, but in terms of the fact that now things are moving forward in Bali, you guys are getting your bearings settled down in terms of Goose as well. How should we be looking at exploration in Mali and exploration around the coast as well. Is that going to ramp up going into 2025? Where do we stand on the exploration side?

Sure, I'll pass that a little bit, but suffice to say, you know, as a base address of the exploration budgets now, with Mali, there's no point in going out and doing more exploration drilling in the region if we didn't have a recent agreement with the government, but going forward with that, so we're back to drilling there. We can talk about that in peace. We're going to come out with a new solution the next with Goose Expiration Update presented by us. So pretty exciting results from seeing an expiration. Vince, you want to talk about the programs? Sure.

Yeah, moving forward, there's certainly a full plate of expiration going into the back end of the year and then certainly next year as well. We see budgets increase maybe slightly at Goose. The big change is that we've had a very successful summer program We've identified numerous targets both on the goose project itself and also in our large land package there. We've got five other projects, regional projects around there where we've had some positive results and we will be drilling some of those next year. So there's definitely a switch or a pivot in the exploration putting in quite a chunk of money on our regional projects at that back river. So that's full steam ahead for sure. In Mali, there's probably about the similar budget as we had this year, is the view for next year. The focus will be on open pitable, higher grade sulfide targets on the Fakola regionals. And that's simply because, you know, we have a lot of our oxide resource at Focola Regional is pretty impressive already. What helps the mill down south at Focola itself is these high-grade sulfide resources. And we have targets to tackle next year, Taipan, Cobra, and so on. So, yeah, strong exploration.

Yeah, and I think as you've seen historically, we're not shy about adding something to the budget so if we get exploration success, increasing the budget. In the case of GOOSE, there's always that, you know, in terms of financing, if you wanted to do a small flow-through financing for GOOSE, there's obviously a candidate for that potentially. So most of them are excited with the progress we have coming up. compared to the increase in those budgets, if appropriate, based on successful expiration results.

Perfect. Thanks, Clive and Vicky. Just in terms of the goose, when we were there at site in September, you know, the infiltrate program on the goose underground was going fairly well. You know, confidence level was definitely increasing significantly. Where do things stand right now? I mean, you know, in terms of just, you know, confidence going into this few a resource update and then, you know, into the new mine plans coming up in Q1. We're basically wrapping up the modeling on the resource work. The idea is that that will come out with our AIF next year. But the models themselves have been turned over to the engineers and I guess between now and the end of the year that will be incorporated in the planning.

What we can say is the input work that we've done has certainly improved our geological understanding of the deposit, the geometry, the extents and so on, and we have a much improved model. The trend is towards higher grades and lower tonnages, which is kind of what we expected when we applied the project.

Perfect. Thanks for that, Governor. And that's it for me, guys. Thanks for taking my questions.

Excellent. This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Clive Johnson for any closing remarks.

Okay. We really had a busy day out there with a lot of companies reporting today, but thanks for taking the time to join the call. One final comment I'd make is you can continue to see us invest in junior companies, looking to broaden their exploration exposure, and that strategy will continue, looking at new projects in their own right, in exploration around the world, and also looking at investing in high-quality junior companies that have new projects around the world. I think that's a great strategy for the market today, given the fact that junior exploration companies, despite a higher investment price, benefited from that. So we see a great opportunity there. to help the juniors along in their exposure programs, but also, incidentally, be assured that for them it would be an alternative to some joint ventures or acquisition opportunities down the road. So, once again, thank you for joining the call.

The springs are closed to today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.