Newmont Corporation (NEM) Q2 2017 Earnings Call Transcript
Published at 2017-07-27 19:37:03
Etienne Morin – Director, Investor Relations David Garofalo – President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Harbidge – Senior Vice President, Exploration Todd White – Chief Operating Officer Russ Ball – Chief Financial Officer
Greg Barnes – TD Securities David Haughton – CIBC Anita Soni – Credit Suisse Mike Parkin – National Bank Steven Butler – GMP Securities John Bridges – JP Morgan John Tumazos – John Tumazos Very Independent Research
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Goldcorp Second Quarter 2017 Results Conference Call. Please be advised that this call is being recorded. I would like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Etienne Morin, Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Mr. Morin.
Thank you, operator, and welcome to the Goldcorp second quarter 2017 conference call. Before we begin, I’d like to remind you that during today’s presentation, we will be making comments containing forward-looking information. I invite you to read this slide, which describes some of the risks and uncertainties that may affect Goldcorp’s performance in the future. And as such, actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. For further information on the risks and uncertainties, please consult our annual information form. For the formal portion of the call today, we have David Garofalo, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Paul Harbidge, Senior Vice President, Exploration. Also joining us are Russell Ball, our Chief Financial Officer; Todd White, Chief Operating Officer; Charlene Ripley, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel; and Jason Attew, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy and incoming CFO. For those of you participating on the webcast, we’ve included a number of slides to support today’s discussion. With that, I’ll turn the call over to David Garofalo. Dave?
Good morning and good afternoon. Since the reorganization of the company in the second quarter of 2016, we have delivered four consecutive quarters of steady, on target and increasingly profitable gold production. During the second quarter, we produced 635,000 ounces of gold at all-in sustaining cost of $800 per ounce, compared to 613,000 ounces at all-in sustaining cost of $1,067 per ounce for the second quarter of 2016. This puts us slightly ahead of pace at midyear to achieve our full year guidance of 2.5 million ounces, plus or minus 5%. We improved our 2017 all-in sustaining cost guidance to $825 per ounce, plus or minus 5%, from $850 per ounce, reflecting the progress we’ve made toward realizing $250 million in sustainable annual efficiencies by the middle of 2018. To date, our efficiency program is firmly on track with $200 million expected to be achieved in 2017 across our portfolio. Quarterly gold production is expected to be – is expected to continue to be in a fairly flat range of 625,000 to 650,000 ounces per quarter as a planned decrease in grades at Peñasquito in the second half of the year will be largely offset by the continued ramp-up in production at Cerro Negro and Éléonore, and an improved grade profile in Red Lake. During the quarter, we also continued the optimization of our portfolio by unlocking value through the sale of non-core assets and recycling the capital back into the business by reinvesting in our pipeline of development projects. These projects will be fundamental in achieving our 20/20/20 targets and delivering net asset value growth beyond the next five years. So far, this year, we have formed a 50-50 joint venture with Barrick in the 60 million ounce Maricunga district in Chile, divested $500 million of non-core assets in Mexico and Guatemala, and delivered solid execution on our key growth projects. Turning to the second quarter financial results, net earnings were $135 million or $0.16 per share compared to a net loss of $78 million or $0.09 per share for the second quarter of 2016. Adjusted operating cash flows were $320 million for the quarter compared to $204 million for the same period last year. During the first half of 2017, we continue to execute on our productivity and cost optimization program, with all operations participating in the delivery phase. Building on the $115 million of savings we delivered in 2016 from Cerro Negro and the corporate office, we are seeing solid progress in many of our sites as productivity goals are achieved and rationalization of sustaining capital is implemented across all of our sites. On that basis, we have reduced our full year sustaining capital by $100 million to $600 million. We expect to achieve our current target of $250 million by the middle of 2018, and given our substantial progress to date, the program is likely to be extended beyond 2018 with the efficiency target increase. This program is a driving force behind achieving our 20% reduction in all-in sustaining cost by 2021, and has directly contributed to our substantially improved bottom line. As we discussed last quarter, our program doesn’t just include cost reduction initiatives, a large part of achieving those sustainable efficiencies relates to volume or productivity increases. So far, a majority of the $200 million expected to be achieved in 2017 has come from cost reductions, but as we work through our systematic progress of diagnosis – systematic process, excuse me, of diagnosis, prioritization, design and delivering on these productivity improvement initiatives, we expect to continue to see tangible results. Our robust project pipeline continue to advance during the quarter. At Peñasquito, the Pyrite Leach Project achieved construction progress of 14%, and engineering progress of 94%. Major procurement activities are nearing completion and material and equipment is arriving on-site. Earthwork activities are now complete, concrete works are underway and mechanical installation has commenced and is ramping up. The Carbon Pre-flotation Project, or CPP, is also being constructed, which will allow Peñasquito to process ore which was previously considered uneconomic, including significant amounts already in stockpiles. CPP earthworks is substantially complete and the concrete works are underway. The project remains on budget and on schedule. At Musselwhite, the Materials Handling Project achieved 31% completion and approximately 94% of the detailed engineering. Key underground development advanced on plan and all major components have been procured. The project remains on budget and on schedule. At Borden, ramp development commenced with 122 meters completed during the second quarter. We expect final pre-feasibility study work to be completed in the first half – first quarter of 2019, after completion of the bulk sample. With expected the ramp completion and minimal additional infrastructure required for full-scale mining, we expect to reach commercial production six months following the bulk sample extraction. The deposit remains open at depth and laterally. Also within the Timmins district at the Century Project, work continue to progress on the pre- feasibility study, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2018. The base case pre-feasibility is expected to support conversion of a portion of the measured and indicated resources and to an initial reserve estimate in this year’s reserve statements. Further optimization will follow the completion of the base case pre-feasibility study to improve the economics as well as looking at options to integrate additional mill feed such as the Pamour and Pamour West Open Pits. At the Coffee Project in Yukon, following the submission of the environmental social economic assessment in the first quarter, we have reached an agreement in principle on financial terms with the Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation. This is an important milestone in the development of the Coffee Project as we continue working and consulting with our local partners. On the technical side, review and optimization of the feasibility study and planning for upgrades to site infrastructure continued during the quarter. We still expect first gold production in 2021. Paul will discuss current exploration activities at Coffee shortly. At Cochenour, we’re undertaking the necessary work to convert a portion of the 299,000 ounces of indicated resources into reserves and we expect that estimate, along with an initial production profile, to be disclosed with our third quarter results in October. As a reminder, within our projected 20% increase in gold production over the next five years, we have not included any ounces from Cochenour or HG Young. At our new project in the Maricunga district, Cerro Casale and Caspiche, the project team will undertake a concept study on the combined projects over the next 24 months to annualize the synergies and the consolidation of infrastructure to reduce capital and operating costs, reducing the project footprint and provide increased returns compared to standalone projects. One of our priorities this year is to optimize the portfolio by unlocking value through the sale of non-core assets and recycling the capital back into the business by reinvesting in our pipeline of development projects. Since our acquisition of Kaminak in July of last year, we’ve been successful at optimizing our portfolio through the sale of higher cost assets such as Los Filos and smaller non-core projects such as Cerro Blanco, Camino Rojo and San Nicolas. We’ve used a portion of those proceeds to enter a new district in the Maricunga belt, and during that period, we’ve added a net 10.6 million ounces of gold reserves from Cerro Casale and Coffee at a very low cost of entry of $23 per ounce of gold or $14 per ounce on a gold equivalent basis with the potential to grow all these reserves further. Over the last 18 months, we’ve been able to grow reserve per share by 21% as a result of these transactions with a further 20% growth target in reserves per share over the next five years from our existing portfolio. With that I’ll turn it over to Paul for a review of our exploration activities.
Thanks, Dave. As you just pointed out with the disposal of non-core assets and the formation of the Maricunga joint venture with Barrick during the first half of 2017, we have seen a net increase in our gold reserves from 42 million ounces to 50 million ounces. With an enviable portfolio of brownfield exploration opportunities within our key mining districts, we are maintaining our five year 20% gold reserve growth plan. Based on the positive results obtained so far at Cerro Negro, we’ve increased the exploration budget from $20 million to $26 million for the remainder of the year as we accelerate our drilling to provide the pipeline of veins for future resource conversion. At the Coffee camp, drill results so far have shown continuity of mineralization at both the Arabica and Suprimo T8, T9 targets while initial results are positive at Decaf. Drill rigs are now testing further afield withinthis highly perspective camp. Lastly following the completion of the Cerro Casale acquisition, we have begun building a strong geological team to support the concept study work that the joint venture will undertake over the next 24 months. One of our key priorities is to grow reserves by 20%, including loss through depletion by 2021 to 60 million ounces. Our focus to achieve this growth will come primarily from the conversion of resources at our Century Project as we continue to advance the prefeasibility study. From Cerro Negro, as we execute our drill programs and our perspective portfolio of veins and from converting the measured indicated gold resources at the newly acquired Caspiche Project. As we continue to execute on our exploration programs across the broad portfolio through the management of the resource triangle, we expect to see new discoveries and more conversion of ounces from resources to reserves over time. During the second quarter, we continue to build a strong foundation of targets to provide future organic growth opportunities. Since August of 2016, we have identified many new targets, but have also rejected others. We have added a total of 30 new targets at the base of the triangle most notably in Mexico around Peñasquito. Geological modeling work to support the mid-year reserve and resource update has now been completed and handed over to reserve declaration. Our exploration teams have now transitioned back to resource growth opportunities with geologists reviewing and reprioritizing targets. For many sites, it has been several years since significant field exploration has been done outside of the mine environment. I will now provide an update on a number of our exploration programs across the group. For further details please refer to the exploration press release we issued yesterday, which contains all of the details and results. At Cerro Negro resource conversion and expansion drill programs continued at Marianas Norte Este B, San Marcos and Bajo Negro veins systems. Exploration drilling continued at Silica Cap and logistical work for an airborne geophysical and surface geochemical sampling program were completed. A total of 59 holes for just over 23,000 meters were drilled during the quarter. At Silica Cap target, further positive gold assay results from drilling were returned and define at least eight tons of meter long zone of mineralization, which is open in all directions. However, drilling has been hampered by poor ground conditions and a number of holes abandoned due to clay and broken rock associated with the alteration halo adjacent to the veins. Additionally, it became apparent that the principal vein at Silica Cap dips in the opposite direction to Bajo Negro, and therefore, a number of initial holes missed the target. On the positive side, as well as the principal vein, we’re also intersecting a number of narrow but high-grade hanging wall veins, including 4 meters of 15.7 grams per and 4.8 meters at 11.46 grams per ton. The veins on Silica Cap, Bajo Negro area, which covers some 14 square kilometers, is turning into a significantly mineralized area, and as well as continuing to drill test Silica Cap, a fence of heel to toe holes will also be drilled across the entire target area. Drilling will also be undertaken on the following vein systems in the second half of the year: Eureka Southeast, San Marcos West; San Marcos Sur; and Mariana Sur. At Peñasquito, exploration focused on grand validation of the 13 targets identified in the generative study completed in Q1, as well as regional rock chip and selective leach source sampling programs to identify additional near-mine targets. The results of the soil and rock chip work and further modeling of geophysical data has led to the identification of nine new targets. The majority of these targets lie within a broad north, northeast striking corridor, which also includes no mineralization of Peñasquito, Noche Buena and La Buena, suggesting the presence of a major albeit still poorly explored mineralized trend, as shown on the picture on the right-hand side of the slide. Also during the quarter, an agreement with San Marco Resources to acquire the La Pinta six concession for $225,000 was finalized. This acquisition adds an additional 80 square kilometers of exploration tenure contiguous to Noche Buena and provides additional early stage targets for evaluation. At Coffee, the exploration team continue to execute the drill program, evaluating a portfolio of near-surface oxide gold targets, ranging from those within the planned mine footprint to more distilled grassroots targets. In addition, infill drilling was completed to upgrade the mineral resource classification at the Latte deposit. Gold assay results from our drill programs this season have so far shown continuity of oxide mineralization at both the Arabica and Supremo T8, T9 targets, while initial results are positive at Decaf, and new targets are being tested within this highly prospective camp. As we move into the second half of the year, as well as continuing to test the oxide mineralization, we’ll also be embarking on our first drill programs to evaluate the sulphide component of the hydrothermal system. Moving to the Red Lake district, at Cochenour, exploration work continue to focus on increasing the geological understanding of the upper main zone in the starter mine area. An updated grade contour of the upper main zone is shown here to highlight some of the high-grade veining structures and continuity of mineralization, following the completion of an updated geological model. We are on track to release our first reserve estimate for the starter mine in the upper part of the deposit in quarter three. While over at HG Young, the latest work has been on defining the structural controls, which has mineralization, and the results revealed, firstly, the main HG Young Shear, which trends 150 degrees, and has fault-filled quartz-sheelite-gold veins. There’s a second structural control of mine trend parallel structures, which they’re orientated 125 degrees and are characterized by arsenopyrite mineralization as well as sheeted quartz veins. And a third geological trend, which is in the orientation of 250 degrees, however, previous drilling is orientated subparallel to this trend and its significance is uncertain at this point. The high-grade plunge at HG Young is caused by the intersection of the HG Young Shear and the Mine Trend Faults. New resource estimate is being calculated, which will form the basis to a development strategy for the deposit, and whether we do this from a surface decline or underground drift from an existing infrastructure. Drilling will continue to develop this project, with holes targeting the above structural controls, including high-grade plunge. Moving to Timmins, the exploration program in the Porcupine district is focused on evaluating several project areas, including the Century Project, Hoyle Pond and known advanced projects as well as the Borden project in Chapleau. At Century, five rigs have drilled a total of 18,744 meters during the quarter. The surface geotechnical program is now complete and the focus is on infill drilling the resource model from both surface and underground. Gold assay results returned to date are in line with expectations and are confirming the geological model. The model, including resource estimation, will be updated once all of the drilling has been completed and assay results received. We will provide an update as part of our reserve and resources update in October. The Ethier target remains the next regional target in line for testing, and planning is underway to mobilize the drill rig to the target site. 4,700-meter drilling program has been designed to test the potential for high grade, quartz vein hosted mineralization approximately four kilometers east of Hoyle Pond. In Borden, we continue to refine the geological model through a core relog, while prospecting teams are out in the [indiscernible] sampling and mapping to define the next level of targets for testing. Turning to Musselwhite, the team continued evaluating near-mine targets that can be tested from current infrastructure or surface platforms. In addition, surface field programs were initiated after a hiatus of several years in order to define – to identify new targets in a very underexplored Greenstone Belt. During quarter two, underground exploration was focused on completing the resource, conversion drilling in the West Limb and C Block areas, as well as testing several new and follow-up targets. A 9th, West Limb mineralized area was also identified as a result of the geological model refinement, and this is referred to as the Rifle zone, where over 200 meters of continuous mineralization has been defined today. We also started a deep hole from the surface on the north shore of the lake, which is almost a 1.5-kilometer step out from known mineralization at the mine and is testing to a vertical depth with 1,700 meters. At quarter end, the hole have reached the depth of 1,200 meters, with geology and structure being intercepted as planned. A series of drill-to-holes will be wedged from this hole to evaluate extensions to the various mineralized loads and we’ll be able to update you as time goes on. Exploration at Éléonore continued on underground minex targets, in addition to the completion of a new property scale geology interpretation and the identification of nine follow-up areas. The new geological interpretation incorporates reprocessed geophysical data, outcrop mapping and geochemical data, provides context to known anomalies and gold shearings. Teams are now in the field validating the map as well as mapping and sampling target areas with the objective of preparing drill motivations for the winter season. At the Synee target, the results from the initial scout drilling program in quarter one did not confirm a strongly mineralized bedrock to support the values we turned in surface boulders. Work is currently focused on detailed mapping, additional boulder sampling and a detailed till survey sample – survey over the target area to determine whether further drilling is required. At Old Camp, gold assay results confirm mineralization to be associated with narrow shear zones, hosted by diorite intrusion. Exploration work is now focused 1.3 kilometers to the northeast, where there is a known multielement lake bottom sediment anomaly to prioritize for additional drilling. Overall, I’m very pleased with the progress being made and the results being returned from this diversified and underexplored portfolio. I’ll now pass back to Dave for some further comments.
Just wanted to highlight a couple of organizational changes before we open up the lines to Q&A. We further strengthened our board in the quarter with the appointment of Matthew Coon Come. Matthew is a former Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees and also the former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Canada. He brings, obviously, valuable perspective on partnerships with indigenous communities near our mines. He also brings a very keen business mind to the board, given his success as a business entrepreneur over many decades. I’d also like to acknowledge and thank Russell Ball. Russell stepped in as CFO when I joined in early 2016, with two objectives. One was to restructure the finance in corporate development organizations and to add vital bank strength to our finance team to ensure an orderly succession to a permanent CFO. He’s done a tremendous job in that regard for Goldcorp, and I’m grateful to him for his partnership and his willingness to stay through the coming months to ensure a smooth transition to Jason Attew. Jason joined us a year ago and has done a great job of de-lighting significant value from our non-core assets and helping to build what we believe is the strongest gold pipeline among senior gold producers. With that, operator, we’d be pleased to take questions.
Thank you. We’ll now take questions from the telephone lines. And your first question is from Greg Barnes from TD Securities. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you. Dave, just wondering if you’re happy with the progress at Éléonore this quarter? It seems to take a step back in terms of mining rate and milling rate in the quarter versus Q1? And secondly, I understand there’s a study underway at the mine to figure out what the sustainable mining rate might be. I’m wondering if you’ve got any findings out of that yet?
Yes. Todd will take that question. Thanks, Greg.
Yes, thanks for the question. So yes, I would say, we’ve discussed previously, really, the catalyst for the uptick in mine tonnes at Éléonore is bringing on the development of the Horizon 5, which we expect in mid-2018. Given that, we do expect 5,000 to 5,300 tonnes per day to be in that range for Éléonore for the remainder of the year in terms of the mine. We do expect an uptick in grade towards the second half of the year. And I guess, relative to the 7,000 tonnes a day, we previously discussed that, where we’ve looked at it and we’ve confirmed that we do believe 7,000 tonne is achievable, given five mining horizons. So that is still our base plan and we’re comfortable with that.
Okay, great. And just a second question, Dave. I know there’s been a lot of talk in the press about the permitting at Coffee. Can you talk about what’s going on there and the progress you’re making?
Well, for us, critical path to permitting is getting First Nations engagement, getting an impact benefit agreements done. In fact, since we filed our initial application in March 31, we made significant progress with Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation. We came to financial terms with them in principle. And now, we’re working to the ancillary parts of the IBA, so we’re quite confident that we’ll be able to maintain timelines on the project. We’re still looking about four years to first production in 2021.
Thank you. The next question is from David Haughton from CIBC. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Dave and team. Thank you for the update. Just looking at Peñasquito, a bit of a reduction there on the throughput in the quarter. Just wondering what we should be expecting in the next quarter or the next half? And also, just to double check that you’re sticking with your 0.55 gram kind of guidance for the year, given where we’ve been in the first half?
Yes, this is Todd. So look, we’re sticking with the 105,000 to 110,000 tonne average throughput for the remainder of the year. What I would tell you in the second quarter is, as you recall, we’re mining out of the bottom of the pit right now in Phase 5. We had a bit of a slower dewatering response that slowed us down there. That’s been corrected. We’ve installed some additional wells and that drawdown is now allowing full mine capacity there. So we’re comfortable that we’re back to the 105,000 tonne range for the remainder of the year. Relative to the grade, as you mentioned, we previously said 0.53 as an average. We now see that pushing out to about 0.6 for the remainder of the year, and that’s really a result of some of these tonnes that didn’t come through in Q2 that start to come through in Q3. So on the average, it pops to grade up a little bit higher than prior guidance.
So Todd, just for clarity, is that 0.6 for Q3 and Q4? Or 0.6 for the year?
That would be the average for the year. So you can think what we’ve done for the first half and do the math to get to 0.6.
Okay. Having a look at Red Lake, throughput there has gone down quite a bit with the rationalization that you had of the milling. What should we be thinking about as a sustainable throughput rate? Is what we’re seeing in the second quarter indicative of where we should be going?
Yes. Relative to Red Lake, as you’re right, we did shut down one of the mills. The throughput rate where we were in 1,650, 1,700 range or so is where we were in the quarter. Going forward, we do expect to see that come up as we expect our – the development that we’ve been putting in place at Red Lake roughly over 40 meters a day is unlocking a lot of stopes later in the year. So we do see that mill rate start to come up and match the mine rate, which will be higher than it was in the second half. So we do expect an increasing rate in the second half.
And just the last one, again, on expectations of throughput. Cerro Negro, you’re still happy getting it up to about 4,000 tonnes a day in the second half of next year.
Yes, I think, Cerro Negro is actually very pleased with the progress thereon. We’re on track with the development of Marianas Norte, which is, again similar to Éléonore, it’s that third mining front that is really going to get that tonnage up to 4,000. We’re on track with that, and we’re comfortable that, next year, we’ll be seeing that.
Right, thank you, Todd. Thank you, Dave.
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] And your next question is from Anita Soni from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon, guys. So my first question I guess is a follow-up with Peñasquito. So you’re indicating now 0.6 gram per tonne on average? Should we expect that change in grade to come out of 2018 period?
As you will recall, 2018 is we’re predominantly stockpiling – processing stockpile material. So this is not pulling grade forward, it’s simply mining the grade out of the remainder of the bottom of Phase 5, which again, is pushed into Q3 a little bit. So there’s no pull forward of grade here.
All right. And then, my second question is with regards to the unit cost. Is there, I noticed this quarter that it wasn’t in the MD&A, and it was in the prior quarter. Is it somewhere else? Or is this a change in policy going forward? And could you talk about that?
Yes, I mean, unit cost are expected to be in line with expectations. We provide our unit cost in most staying cost basis and byproduct basis per ounce of gold production. I think, you’ll find that’s pretty consistent with our peer companies in this space in terms of the disclosure.
All right. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question is from Mike Parkin from National Bank. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys, most of the questions I had have been answered. Just wondering about a little bit of clarity about Alumbrera, hearing a bit of chatter in the market about it. Do you guys have an idea of how that asset will be for the second half?
Right now, it’s unclear. There was a court order issued to shut down operations. There’s an orderly shutdown occurring as we speak. I know there’s an appeal by Glencore, the operator, and by the government as well on that court order. It’s really hard to tell when it will be up and running. Just to put it in perspective, it contributes about 10,000 to 20,000 ounces per quarter for us, so not a significant impact on our production forecast for the year.
Okay. Thanks. That’s it for me.
Thank you. Your next question is from Steven Butler from GMP Securities. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, guys. Todd, could you just elaborate again, remind us again of the Carbon Pre-floatation Project, CPP project at Peñasquito, its main metrics and timing implementation? Thanks.
So you’ll recall that what we previously discussed, what it really is, is a component of the pyrite leach, which – Pyrite Leach Project, which is really allowing us to treat higher organic carbon content ores. And really, what it is, it’s designed to pre-float the carbon component of the ore out, prior to sending that material further on to Pyrite Leach, which we want the carbon out, which to eliminate any sort of preg-robbing issues. So the carbon pre-float does come in a bit earlier than the overall Pyrite Leach Project. So we’re looking at that later in 2018, when that comes in. That then allows us to commission that ahead of Pyrite Leach. So really, what it is, is the ability to deal with the preg-robbing issues before we send it to conjugate these.
Okay. So when you guys presented your Pyrite Leach economics, it was sort of integrated with the CPP? Is that the idea?
Okay. Yes, thank you, Todd.
CPP was integrated into that.
Yes, okay, got it. Thanks very much.
Thank you. The next question is from John Bridges from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Dave, everybody. Just wondered, the weather, I believe, in the Southern Hemisphere has been pretty bad this winter. And just wondering if that was interfering with Cerro Negro’s Q3?
This is Todd. You’re right, we did see some pretty extreme weather down in Southern Argentina. We did have a bit of impact on Q2, the National Power Grid was affected, which did affect us. We saw about six days of interruption but nothing significant. Right now that weather has changed in Q3 so far, there’s been no issues whatsoever. So bit of a short-term hit there.
Okay, great. And then maybe if I may, it’s a bit premature I know, but if you could give us some sort of indication as to what sort of shape project you’d be scoping out at Casale Caspiche? I’m guessing that you’d be looking to do a Phase 1 project at Caspiche? Is that what – how we should think about it?
John, it’s Russ Ball. If you think about the journey we went through on NuevaUnion with Teck and our El Morro in their Relincho project, you should think something similar for ironstone Caspiche. So the concept is one concentrated shade infrastructure, one tailings facility, and combining those two projects with the idea of eliminating a significant amount of the upfront capital and realizing the operating synergies. So as we mentioned earlier, it’s early stages in the project. We’re working great with the Barrick team, pulling a well experienced team together to head us up. And look forward to updating the market in due course. But think about one concentrator being fed from two mines, and tailings going to a single facility, hence elimination of duplicate infrastructure. We have a significant exploration focus that Paul’s team is leading beyond the known mineralization to date on a number of targets there. Either through lack of funding in the downturns, we never followed up on. So we feel very excited about the longer-term potential. But the idea right now is to combine those two oxide projects and two sulfide projects into one project all at NuevaUnion.
So you’re talking about going big from the get-go, whereas a lot of the former big projects are now being scoped down into a Phase 1 project to get them moving, is that right?
Not necessarily. We’re obviously going to look at an approach, and NAV won’t be the only driver. Generally, NAV drives you to those bigger circuits. But we think there’s an opportunity to stage this as well and look at potentially phased implementations and minimize the CapEx. All of those options are on the table, including the three sulphide and oxide leach facility because both of them have significant oxide caps sitting on top of them.
Right, right. Okay, cool. Best of luck, guys. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question is from John Tumazos from John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. In the Investor Day earlier this year, the Cerro Negro manager talked about increasing the development rate ramp up production. And the Éléonore mine manager talked about the miners being more productive to offset the narrower structures. Could you give us a progress report in terms of the improvement in development meters or relevant per activity?
Sure. Yes, this is Todd. So Cerro Negro, I would say, we are currently right about – a little bit – right at 20 meters a day development, which is on pace with where we expect to be at this point. So again, I’d say, very pleased with where we are there. At Éléonore, we’re developing over 50 meters a day right now, as we develop that lower half of that mine and bringing Horizon 5 forward. Again, I think, the productivities, I think, in both of the sites are on track with where we are expect them to be. No issues that I see and I’m very pleased that we’re on track.
If I could ask another question to David.
There is 19 stocks of interest that had their earnings calls today, 10 or 11 are Canadian mining companies. I know you’ve worked with a couple of different companies. Do you think you guys could all get together and not report the same morning?
And not to put it on you, but International Paper, ArcelorMittal Steel, Fortescue Metals, there’s a whole bunch of companies that are veritable companies, Reliance Steel, Vale, not even in the Canadian circles. Now I know you guys don’t all get together at somebody’s golf tournament and plan this. But the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the last month of July, October, January, and April tends to be a little bit crowded. And I know you guys can take a little bit of the effort off of us and help us.
Yes, I’m absolutely sympathetic. I can’t promise anything for October because our board meetings are locked in, and obviously, our board members come from far and wide. But we’ll try to do a better job of that for 2018. I do take that on board. It’s – I can imagine that both sell side and buy side, their hair’s on fire this time of the quarter with all these results coming in from left, right and center. So I do sympathize. Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions registered at this time. I’d like to turn the meeting back over to Garofalo.
Thank you very much, everybody, for your kind attention. Each of our management team remains available for any follow-up questions. Etienne, myself, anybody else, please don’t hesitate to call us. And we’ll talk to you soon. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your lines at this time. And thank you for your participation.