Leagold achieves higher gold production with 2018 acquisitions

Leagold Mining (TSX: LMC; US-OTC: LMCNF) produced 302,550 oz. gold in 2018 from its four operating mines at US$974 all-in sustaining costs (AISC) for a US$83.2 million AISC margin.

The company brought in US$376.5 million in revenue for a net income of US$15.2 million, up from a US$7.5 million net loss the year before.

The company achieved adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of US$89.5 million in 2018 and ended the year with US$53 million in cash.

Leagold’s results include the Brazilian operations added with its Brio Gold acquisition in May 2018: the RDM, Fazenda and Pilar gold mines.

More than half the company’s 2018 gold production came from its Los Filos gold mine in Mexico, which produced 195,362 oz. gold last year. Its next leading producer was the Fazenda gold mine in Brazil, which produced 46,668 oz. gold in 2018.

The company’s lowest producing mine in 2018 was RDM, which produced 29,398 oz. gold. The company attributed the lower production at RDM to a six week shut down in 2018’s fourth quarter caused by regional drought conditions. As a result, RDM produced less than 5,000 oz. gold in 2018’s fourth quarter, compared to 16,596 oz. gold in the previous quarter. The company says water in its reservoir has been building over the region’s rainy season (November through March) and expects the mine to operate in a stable condition in 2019.

Recently, the company tabled an expansion feasibility study for Los Filos that proposes developing the project’s underground Bermejal mine, enlarging the Los Filos open pit, re-phasing the Bermejal open pit into two separate sections and building a 4,000 tonne per day carbon in leach plant to support the existing heap leach facilities.

The expansion has a US$180 million capital cost. It has a US$679 million after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate and an 86% after-tax internal rate of return.

Shares of Leagold are currently trading at $1.92 with a 52-week range of $1.28 to $3.17. The company has a $545 million market capitalization.