(Image via Galane Gold Ltd.)
The big story in 2020 for many investors has been the trajectory of gold prices, which eclipsed its record high recently, above the $2,000 / Oz. level. Though prices have calmed down since then, traders are still tracking the precious metal’s movement as experts forecast prices ranging from $2,300 (Goldman Sachs) in the coming months to as high as $3,000 (Bank of America).
One Company advancing its operations to meet this potential spike in value is Canada-based gold producer and explorer,
Galane Gold Ltd. (TSX-V: GG, OTCQB: GGGOF, Forum).
Galane Gold (“Galane”) is an un-hedged gold producer listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange with mining operations and exploration tenements in Botswana as well as South Africa, where its flagship Galaxy Gold Mine is located.
Galane owns and operates the Mupane Gold Mine in Botswana, which has been in production since 2005 and produced over 750,000 ounces historically. It also owns and operates the Galaxy Gold Mine in neighboring South Africa which it has re-started and expect to reach its phase 1 production level of 26,000 ounces per annum in 2021. In June, 2020, the company published an independent Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for an expansion or “Phase 2” at Galaxy which would see production increase to approximately 43,000 ounces per annum.
Galane just released its
Q3 2020 financial report, highlighting earnings from mining operations for the period at $3,536,779, with positive cash flows from operating activities in the quarter of $5,063,401.
Galane Gold’s management team is made of senior mining professionals with extensive experience in managing mining and processing operations and large-scale exploration programmes.
Galane Gold’s Chief Executive Officer, Nick Brodie sat down with Stockhouse Editorial to talk about the Company and its Galaxy Gold Mine.
- Thank you for joining us. 2020 has been a notable year for Galane Gold, what are some highlights that stand out?
In 2020 Galane has really pushed forward with its Galaxy project in South Africa. Not only did it commence on Phase 1 of the restart of operations at Galaxy to take production to over 26,000 ounces per annum at an all-in cost of less than $900 per ounce; it also announced details of Phase 2 and the further expansion of production to over 43,000 ounces per annum at an all-in cost of less than $750 per ounce. Missed in all of this good news was also the fact that we also increased the resource at Galaxy by over 60% to almost 2.4 million ounces in all categories in the new technical report issued to support Phase 2.
Coupled with this is the fact that we are a producer who has been exposed to the increase in gold price which has had a dramatic effect on our positive cash flows. In the last quarter our Mupane asset in Botswana, at the new gold prices, generated over $5 million dollars in positive operating cashflows.
Finally, I was personally very impressed by our strong management team who worked hard to minimize the impact of Covid-19 on our operations while ensuring we put health and safety of our employees and the communities we work in first.
- As GG increases production at Galaxy and ramp up to the completion of Phase 1, can you provide a quick update on its progress?
We have announced that we intend to give a full update to the market later in December on our progress in Phase 1 and would suggest investors keep an eye open for that.
As a brief update Galaxy was in care and maintenance when we acquired it and as a management team, we worked hard to put together a plan that was easy to execute, financeable, expandable and provided accretive value to our shareholders. We commenced implementing that plan in 2019 which involved us restarting mining operations in the Princeton ore body, starting work on the adit to reach the Galaxy ore body and upgrading the current processing plant from 15kt per month to 30kt per month. It is fair to say that 2020 has presented challenges that we didn’t expect and has delayed our progress but we continue to make good progress. Galaxy is now producing up to 500 ounces per month and generating positive operating cash flows. The upgraded plant will be completed in December (this year) and we are around three months away from completing the adit to the Galaxy ore body. At that point production will start increasing up to and exceeding the projected 2,000 ounces per month.
- What about plans for the Phase 2 expansion?
The beautiful thing about the Phase 2 expansion is that we will have done the majority of work required to implement it in Phase 1. We oversized the plant upgrade to 50kt per month, as the cost differential was minimal, so we already have the capacity in the plant. The additional feed comes mainly for the Galaxy ore body and we will be completing the access early next year so will have access to start the development to expose more of the ore almost immediately.
It is worth considering the highlights from the independent technical report which we published in July. Production of 413k ounces over 11 years, an all in cost of $747 per ounce, a peak funding requirement of $600k, an IRR at $1,700 gold of 1,500% and an NPV5 of USD$147m.
- The Company posted a solid Q3 performance, what kind of commentary can you offer on how this will help advance operations heading into the new year?
That solid performance in Q3 provides us with a great platform to push forward with our plans for 2021. As a quick review we generated $5m in positive cash flows from operations, posted earnings of $3.5m from mining operations and finished the quarter with over $5m in the bank.
It gives us the opportunity to accelerate our plans for Phase 2 at Galaxy, continue our debt reduction plan and even start considering other opportunities to utilize our positive cash flows.
- Let’s talk about the leadership team here, can you give us a rundown on your experience and a few highlights on the management team?
When we were putting this team together, we targeted the skills we believed would be required to provide the most accretive outcome for our shareholders on the acquisition of Mupane. It was important to turn around Mupane that we had strong financial skills coupled with an ability to reduce costs. My background is in finance, a qualified accountant, having worked historically both for Total SA and Glencore in finance roles, prior to this. Coupled with that discipline we needed a strong operating team who understood transitioning to underground mining, operating underground mines and experience with dealing with metallurgical challenges. Wayne Hatton-Jones, our Chief Operating Officer, has had this experience in abundance having over 30 years’ experience in mining in Africa and further afield. Wayne added significantly to the strength underneath him, a good example being Kevin Crossling, our Business Development Manager and Head Geologist, who has worked on underground operations for over 15 years. As a team we transitioned Mupane to an underground operation, extended life beyond the 18 months that was handed to us on acquisition in 2011, reduced all-in costs from $1,450 to $1,050 and ounce and most importantly transitioned our skills to the local workforce.
This then freed the team up to take on the next opportunity which was Galaxy. We put together the Phase 1 plan to restart operations, financed it in a depressed gold market, commenced operations, put together a Phase 2 plan and we are now in the process of implementing that. At the same time, we are transitioning our skills to the local staff and looking for our next opportunity to grow Galane.
- Gold and silver prices had a banner year in 2020 and many analysts predict gold will rise above $20,000 / Oz. again, what kind of comment can you provide on this market trend?
We have a very positive outlook on gold price. While we would hesitate to suggest specific price targets or timeframes, we believe the direction is unambiguously upwards and aggressively so. Looking at official inflation statistics and applying that level of debasement of the US dollar to the previous peak in gold price in real terms in 1980 would suggest a price in the mid $2,000s currently. With that same analysis, but applying instead the expansion of the monetary base over the same timeframe to the gold price would suggest a price over $10,000. However, these are not fixed targets – expansion of the monetary base is continuing and at an unprecedent rate with no sign of abatement. We therefore expect there to be continued upside in gold and that as this issue and the consequences for gold continue to be accepted into the mainstream narrative, that this bull market will actually accelerate.
We have been a gold producer since we started the company in 2011 and have remained unhedged since, and will continue to do so. We believe a key part of our proposition to investors is that we provide them to levered exposure to gold price. Levered in many ways. Our profits increase non-linearly with gold price, giving investors great leverage to gold than owning bullion itself. Second, we have employed financial leverage, that is to say debt, to protect our capital structure and increase returns to our equity holders. Third, with increases in gold price, gold miners, which for many years have traded at depressed multiples, will see greater investor interest and multiple expansion, meaning that while our profits increase, we expect to see our trading multiple on those profits increase as well. Finally and perhaps most significant of all, as a nimble and highly aligned management team, we believe we can use our experience and cash-flow from existing operations to grow the business further with little or no further input from capital markets.
- Can you give us a look ahead on any pending news that investors should keep an eye out for in the coming months?
As I mentioned earlier, we will be putting out a comprehensive update on Galaxy in mid-December to discuss progress on Phase 1 and our plans for Phase 2. In the new year we should be talking about having reached the Galaxy ore body an important step in implementing Phase 1. We will have the full year results to announce and hopefully some news on how we intend to keep continuing the growth story that is Galane.
- Thank you again for telling us about your Company today, anything further to add?
I think it is worth addressing our current market valuation as it is a question we are asked by potential investors. Historically we can understand why, in what was a low gold price environment, the market reviewed us a riskier stock to hold. We had an operating asset at Mupane but its operating price was close to the gold price. We had made the decision to fund our transition at Mupane, our acquisition of Galaxy and the recommencement of operations at Galaxy through debt which was at one point higher than our market cap. We also had the risk of recommencing operations at Galaxy and whether we could achieve what we had set out in our Phase 1 plan. But for all these reasons as an unhedged producer we also provide a large leveraged upside if gold price did increase.
At the beginning of 2020 our share price increased from CAD0.05c to CAD0.40c based around the increasing gold price coupled with Galaxy becoming profitable at the operating level. The increase in gold has now given us a clear path to being debt free by the end of 2021 and investors are no longer considering this a major issue.
Our share price has come down, along with most of the juniors on the TSXv and now has even more upside for new entrants. In 2019, we completed a small equity issue as part of the financing that was needed to restart Galaxy. The financing included warrants exercisable at 5c. These warrants matured in October 2020 and were all exercised, primarily in August and September. The majority were held by management and insiders but approximately 10 million were held by third parties. They have been selling in the market and have depressed our stock price but we believe they are now nearly completed. I personally believe they have depressed our stock valuation and represent a good opportunity to enter Galane at a low price.
It is worth looking at a research report carried out by Fundamental Research (
https://www.researchfrc.com/) for a third party view on our valuation.
For further information, head to
GalaneGold.com.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.