Americas Gold and Silver (USAS) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Motley Fool Transcribing, The Motley FoolSat, August 15, 2026 at 12:28 AM UTC

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Friday, Aug. 14, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS -

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Paul Huet

Chief Financial Officer - Warren Varga

Executive Vice President of Corporate Development - Oliver Turner

TAKEAWAYS -

Revenue -- $46.3 million for the quarter, representing a 71% increase from $27.0 million due to higher realized silver prices.

First Half Revenue -- $114.1 million, a 126% increase from $50.5 million, nearly matching the company's total revenue for the full 2025 fiscal year.

Silver Production -- 665,000 ounces, reflecting strong performance at the Cosala Operations and infrastructure completion at the Galena Complex.

Silver Equivalent Production -- 801,000 ounces, including 2.3 million pounds of lead, 0.9 million pounds of copper, and 97,000 pounds of antimony.

Net Loss -- $5.0 million, or $0.02 per share, compared to a net loss of $15.1 million in the same period last year.

Adjusted EBITDA -- $12.0 million, representing an improvement from an adjusted EBITDA loss of $4.1 million in the prior-year quarter.

Consolidated Cash Costs -- $25.68 per silver ounce sold, driven by higher realized prices and operational improvements.

All-in Sustaining Costs (AISC) -- $40.63 per silver ounce sold for the quarter and $37.00 per ounce for the first six months of 2026.

Full Year Production Guidance -- 3.2 million to 3.6 million ounces of silver, with management expecting production to be weighted to the second half of the year.

Cosala Silver Production -- 337,000 ounces, an increase of 26% year over year supported by higher grades and improved recoveries.

Cosala Cash Costs -- $16.91 per ounce, reflecting copper byproduct credits and higher silver grades as mining entered the EC120 zone.

Realized Silver Price -- $67 per ounce, representing an increase from $34 per ounce in the second quarter of 2025.

Debt Reduction -- $76 million in future variable metal price-linked obligations were settled, reducing annual debt servicing requirements by $28 million.

Galena Hoisting Capacity -- 85 tonnes per hour, a 100% increase from the previous rate of 42 tonnes per hour following the completion of Phase 2 shaft upgrades.

Exploration Drilling -- 14 meters grading 600 grams per tonne at SR568, which is fivefold the predicted mineral resource grade for that area.

Cash and Cash Equivalents -- $88.9 million as of June 30, 2026, compared to $129.8 million at the end of 2025.

Working Capital -- $48.6 million, following capital deployment for revitalization plans and debt settlements.

Long-hole Stoping Productivity -- 200 tonnes per shift, representing a fourfold increase compared to the previous 50 tonnes per shift using handheld mining methods.

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RISKS -

Huet noted that a minor electrical fire in June "displace[d] things" and restricted access to a higher-grade stope, deferring those ounces into the second half of the year.

Huet noted that the Galena Complex required significant waste development catch-up, stating that the mine "hadn't had a lot of capital for a number of years" and was behind in drilling and development before the current investment cycle.

Management reported significant progress in the company's revitalization strategy, highlighted by the completion of major infrastructure upgrades at the Galena Complex and the removal of substantial price-linked debt obligations. The company reported a sharp increase in revenue driven by higher realized silver prices and improved metallurgical recoveries at the Cosala Operations. Management indicated that capital investment remains focused on transitioning to more efficient mining methods and expanding drilling activities, which have yielded results exceeding modeled resource grades. The company remains on track for its 2026 production targets as it ramps up hoisting capacity and underground development at its Idaho operations.

CEO Huet noted that Phase 2 upgrades at Galena increased hoisting throughput to a "sustained rate of... 85 tonnes per hour," with peak performance reaching 105 tonnes per hour.

The company settled remaining silver and gold delivery obligations with Sprott Mining and Royal Gold, which Turner stated strengthens the capital structure and "increases our exposure to future silver prices."

Management identified silver's growing importance to modern technology, with Huet citing increased demand for "artificial infrastructure, data centers, electrification and advanced manufacturing."

The company is progressing an antimony strategy with United States Antimony Corporation to supply critical minerals within the domestic U.S. supply chain.

Huet stated that the company completed its 13th long-hole stope at Galena, noting that the new method allows for the removal of ore in "28 days" compared to "12 to 14 months" with handheld drills.

The company expects to commission a new paste fill plant in 2027, which management reported will reduce stope cycle times from 10 days to approximately 36 hours.

Infrastructure improvements at Galena included the installation of a fiber optic system to support "real-time equipment tracking, future automation and improved mine connectivity."

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY -

AgEq: Silver equivalent, a metric used to express the total value of all metals produced in terms of silver ounces.

AISC: All-in sustaining costs, a non-GAAP financial measure that reflects the total cost of maintaining current production, including corporate expenses and capital reinvestment.

EC120: A high-grade silver-copper zone within the Cosala Operations in Mexico.

Long-hole stoping: A bulk mining method used for large-scale underground ore extraction that is more productive than traditional handheld methods.

MSHA: Mine Safety and Health Administration, the regulatory body governing mining safety standards in the United States.

Paste fill plant: A facility that processes mine tailings into a paste used to fill underground voids, providing structural support and allowing for faster mining cycles.

Secondary egress: A second exit or escape route required in underground mines for safety and regulatory compliance.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Hello, and welcome to the Americas Gold and Silver Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. I will now turn the conference over to Paul Huet, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead.

Paul Huet: Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Americas Gold and Silver's Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call. As always, this call is being recorded and will be available on our website's Events page later today. We will also be referencing a slide deck during today's webcast presentation. Joining me on the call today are Warren Varga, our Chief Financial Officer, who will walk us through the main financial takeaways for the quarter; and Oliver Turner, our Executive Vice President of Corporate Development. I'll begin with a few housekeeping items and then walk through the key operational and strategic highlights from the second quarter before turning the call over to Warren. Over to Slide 3.

Before I begin, I'd like to remind you to review our cautionary statements regarding forward-looking information and non-GAAP measures contained in our second quarter MD&A news release and our presentation. Please also note that unless otherwise stated, all dollars are U.S. dollars. Over to Slide 5. Safety remains the foundation of a strong operating culture, and I really want to congratulate all of our employees on their continued commitment and performance with 0 lost time accidents, now extending well over a 1-year period across both our operations in U.S. and in Mexico. Well done to all of them.

During Q2, our team made significant progress across the company with a 26% year-over-year improvement in production at our Cosala mine, continued with major infrastructure upgrades at Galena complex and obviously, the massive removal of the variable gold and silver price-linked debt obligations, which we'll talk to a little later. Consolidated silver production was approximately 665,000 ounces during the quarter or approximately 80 -- a little over 800,000 silver equivalent ounces. These results reflected ongoing strong operational performance at Cosala. At Galena, the extended shutdown associated with Phase 2 of the shaft and the upgrades are now well behind us. We're actually now enjoying those improved infrastructures, which we desperately needed.

More importantly, we remain on track to achieve our full year 2026 production guidance of 3.2 million to 3.6 million ounces of silver. As we have previously emphasized, production has always been more weighted to the second half of the year as infrastructure is -- as dollars are spent for the infrastructure. Financially, we delivered yet another strong quarter with consolidated revenue increasing 71% year-over-year to $46.3 million. For the first half of 2026, revenue reached $114 million. That's up 126% from the same period last year.

And what amazes me is as we continue to spend money, as we continue to devote efforts, we look at the first 6 months of the year, that's almost equivalent to what we had in the last 12 months of 2025. So these are big steps that we're taking, major modifications to improve revenues and continue to improve profit. As I previously mentioned, we also completed Phase 2 of #3 shaft modernization at Galena. We settled our remaining variable future silver and gold delivery obligations, and we continue to see encouraging high-grade drilling results throughout the entire company. Together, these accomplishments, they position us well for the next phase of our growth program. Over to Slide 6.

Operationally, Cosala had another strong quarter. Silver production increased 26% year-over-year to approximately 337,000 ounces. It was supported by higher grades and more importantly, improved recoveries. I'm quite happy about the team and all the works we've done on the metallurgy and improving those recoveries. It also included commercial production from EC120. Cash costs at Cosala decreased down to $16.91 per ounce. That was primarily due to obviously higher grades and copper byproduct credits. With regards to our efforts with the drill bit, resource conversion drilling continues to deliver very strong encouraging results at San Rafael Upper zones and the 120 zones. Our drilling is consistently returning silver grades averaging approximately 2 to 3x previously reported inferred mineral resource grades.

Allow me to give you just one example. One -- I cherry picked this one, but it was so impressive. But one of the examples is one of our holes SR568. We had an intersection of 14 meters grading 600 grams per tonne. I'm going to say it again because there's such great results, 14 meters of 600 grams per tonne. The actual mineral resource actually predicted 110 grams. So we're talking about a 5x increase from the model grade in that same area. Importantly, these intercepts are immediately adjacent to existing mine infrastructure, which gives us the opportunity to incorporate these results into our mine plan in maybe Q4, but certainly without doubt into 2027.

So we're quite excited about it. Our very strong operating performance in Mexico was a result of finally entering the heart of the ore body at the EC120. And it's a great example of why we're so excited about this mine over the next coming years. Having a diversified production base like we do, along with tremendous exploration potential across all our assets provides us with both operational and financial strength as we continue to scale the company. And I just want to give a quick shout out to our team in Mexico on a job well done and a strong quarter. Now let me walk you through the upgrade that we completed at the Galena complex.

Phase 2 upgrades that I mentioned in the #3 shaft are behind us. And a lot of people say, well, what does that mean? Well, let me talk about it. The upgrades have increased the hoisting throughput from roughly around 42 tonnes per hour. This is what we had inherited to a sustained rate of we're sustaining day in, day out at 85 tonnes per hour. We've actually hit peak performance in a number of times at 105 tonnes per hour. As a gentle reminder, the upgrades included increasing the hoist motor from 1,750 horsepower to 2,250 horsepower, adding a second 2,250 horsepower motor as a critical spare.

That was the first time in the company's history that had a critical spare. We improved the load system. We completed mechanical work, electrical work and more importantly, the braking and control system enhancements also so that we can sustain this new production rate. We have also continued to invest in the underground fleet and communications infrastructure, including more than 10 new mobile equipment units and a fiber optic system and communications that will support real-time equipment tracking, future automation and improved mine connectivity. I think some of you have been at our mine. And when I first went at our mine and I looked at those FEMCO phones, I hadn't seen FEMCO phones since probably about 1988 in Timmins.

So we desperately needed this communication. It will help us tremendously as we continue to grow our operations. These upgrades are a critical part of our derisking and growth plan in creating the infrastructure required to support the higher mining rates and scalable production growth at Galena. Over to Slide 8.

Before I turn the call over to Warren, I would also like to recognize all the people behind the progress we're making at Galena, and there's been a tremendous amount of group, including everyone on site, our team in Toronto, our team in Reno, who are putting in tirelessly efforts and hours to making sure that we are spending the dollars to do the capital improvements at Galena, so it's sustainable forever for the next 30, 50 years.

Quite often, I don't talk about some of these things, and we don't celebrate some of these other things, but I just want to give a quick shout out that this year at Galena, we've added 7 new members that were inducted to the Galena's 20-plus year all things. I've been working in the mine 39 years underground. It's pretty rare where we see people working 20 years at one operation. And I want to just give all those people a shout out. Their experience, their commitment and hard work have helped build the foundation of Galena Complex and they continue to shape its future for all the future generations.

I want to take a moment and thank all of them, all our employees for their dedication and hard work to the operations and the communities. With that, I'm just going to turn the call over to Warren for some financial updates.

Warren Varga: Thank you, Paul, and good morning, everyone. This morning, we released our unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements and MD&A for the 3 and 6 months ended June 30, 2026. These documents are available on our website as well as under the company's profile on both SEDAR+ and EDGAR. Revenue for the quarter was approximately $46 million, an increase of 71% compared with $27 million in Q2 2025, primarily due to higher realized silver prices. For the first half of 2026, revenue totaled $114 million.

Paul has already referenced this, but this was as much as -- almost as much as our entire year last year, which is an increase of 126% compared to $50.5 million in the first half of 2025. The average realized silver price for Q2 2026 was $67 per ounce compared with $34 per ounce in Q2 2025. Our net loss for the quarter was approximately $5 million or $0.02 per share compared with a net loss of approximately $15 million or $0.06 per share in Q2 2025. The year-over-year improvement primarily reflects the higher net revenue previously referenced, partially offset by foreign exchange losses, a derivative loss related to the Royal Gold settlement and higher income tax expenses.

Adjusted earnings for Q2 were a loss of approximately $0.9 million or essentially $0 per share compared with adjusted loss of $12.1 million in Q2 2025. The adjusted EBITDA was approximately $12 million or $0.04 per share compared with an adjusted EBITDA loss last year of 41 -- sorry, $4.1 million in Q2 2025. Consolidated cost of sales per silver equivalent ounce sold was $32. Cash costs averaged $25.68 per silver ounce sold and all-in sustaining costs averaged $40.63 per silver ounce sold during the quarter. For the first half of 2026, AISC averaged $37 per ounce sold.

We ended the quarter with approximately $89 million in cash and cash equivalents and $49 million in working capital, in line with expectations as we continue to deploy capital into our growth plans and completed the settlement of the Sprott and Royal Gold obligations. I will now turn the call over to Oliver.

Oliver Turner: Thank you, Warren, and good morning, everyone. One of the most important strategic developments during the quarter was the settlement of our remaining precious metals delivery obligations. During the second quarter, we settled the remaining silver delivery obligation with Sprott Mining, Inc. and the remaining gold delivery obligation with Royal Gold. These transactions simplify and strengthen our capital structure, reduce future cash debt service requirements, remove future mark-to-market volatility associated with these instruments and increase our exposure to future silver prices. As shown on the slide, the transactions removed more than $76 million of future variable metal price-linked obligations and more than $28 million of annual debt servicing obligations. All this for just 3.3% in combined dilution to shareholders.

This represents a meaningful improvement in the financial foundation of the company and allows more value from operational execution and silver price performance to flow directly to shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Paul for some closing remarks.

Paul Huet: Thanks, both Oliver and Warren. Look, overall, Q2 represented another quarter of meaningful progress and demonstrated the momentum we are building across our business. We delivered strong revenue growth, advanced the next phase of our Galena growth plan with the completion of the #3 shaft modernization, strengthened our balance sheet through the settlement of our remaining precious metals delivery obligations and continue to deliver strong operating and drilling results at Cosala. As we move through the second half of 2026, our focus remains squarely on safety and executing our growth strategy, increasing production as the Idaho operations ramp up and continuing to unlock the long-term value of our asset base.

Silver is also becoming increasingly important to the technologies driving the modern economy, including artificial infrastructure, data centers, electrification and advanced manufacturing. As these technologies scale, we believe silver's unique electrical and thermal properties will continue to reinforce its strategic importance. At the same time, we continue to advance the largest drilling campaign in the company's history and progress our antimony strategy alongside our joint venture partners. U.S. antimony positioning Americas Gold to play an increasingly important role in the U.S.'s critical mineral supply chain.

We believe the combination of high-grade silver exposure, growing domestic antimony production and significant operational growth potential positions us, Americas Gold and Silver as one of the more unique precious metals growth stories in the sector today. With that, I'm going to turn it over for some questions over back to the operator.

Operator:[Operator Instructions]. Your first question comes from the line of Dalton Baretto of Canaccord.

Dalton Baretto: I'm looking at the production profile for Galena here. You reiterated guidance. I understand Q2 is a trough quarter. If I look at H1, it's about 35% at the low end of guidance. So big H2 coming up and I think some of that's throughput related, some of that's grade related, some of that's coming from Crescent maybe. Can you unpack that for us and give us a sense of comfort around the back half of this year?

Paul Huet: Dalton, thanks for the question. Obviously, Q2 was always designed to be a quarter in which we were going to invest in infrastructure in Idaho, specifically, as you're pointing out, we needed to get that shaft work done, so that we can sustain that 85 tonnes per hour. So as we continue as that is behind us and we're skipping days now, we're seeing days 1,000, 1200 tonnes a day, which is the first time our mine has ever seen that. And we continue to advance our long-haul system. Look, we have just blasted our 13th long-hole stope as the equipment starts to being delivered and is being received at -- by the way, Dalton, both operations.

And look, guidance is for the company. It's not for Galena. Guidance remains as a company, and that's one of the great things we have as a company is we have optionality. So you said some really important things at the beginning. Obviously, grade matters. Grade is helping us significantly, specifically at Cosala and recoveries at Galena, the Galena complex. We don't differentiate between Crescent and Galena. Crescent, we've always said, look, we bought it. It was a great investment. We certainly believe in that investment. Crescent is part of a longer-term vision. It's going to have some ounces, not many. It's really about setting ourselves up for the future at Crescent.

And now with the shaft upgrades and the actual communication and the equipment, we're seeing ourselves more consistently delivering at Galena complex. So when I look at Q2, as a company, we're sitting right around 40%. So 60% for the last half of the year. It's pretty -- we're very comfortable that we will achieve that guidance that we had set out. So thank you for the question. Hopefully, I got it.

Dalton Baretto: Really appreciate it. And then maybe just as a follow-up, maybe a bit of a housekeeping item here. But when I look at the production versus the sales over H1, it's about a 9% lag or so. Is that going to be made up in H2 as well?

Warren Varga: Are you asking specifically about the production versus sold?

Dalton Baretto: Correct.

Warren Varga: Yes, yes. So yes, those ounces are already being processed through the first half -- first month of Q3. And that typically just relates to making sure that the production gets from our mill through to the smelter. So there's nothing more than that here.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Justin Chan of SCP Resource Finance.

Justin Chan: Just I was wondering if you could give us a sense of at Galena and then Crescent, what's happening on the ground now? So for example, at Galena, you've got more shaft capacity. I'd imagine at least initially, you can hoist a lot of waste out of the mine that you've got there and then stoping and mining will ramp up to fill that capacity. And then Crescent, you're developing. But I was just wondering if you could kind of zoom in on those 2 for a second, just give us maybe a bit more color of what's happening at the mine.

Paul Huet: No problem, Justin. And look, I just want to remind people that I believe it's as early as next week where we're going to have a site analyst visit where I think many of you are going to be able to come to our site to actually physically see a lot of things we're doing. And I will say you will walk away with some exciting views, and there's a lot of work going on at the mine. So specifically at I'll talk about the Galena complex. First, we're doing quite a bit of waste development, and you're correct. Moving -- now that the shaft work is done, we're seeing many days consistently of moving a lot more tonnes.

We need to get ahead in the waste development. Our mine, when we took this thing over, hadn't had a lot of capital for a number of years in drilling. There was no exploration for a decade. In waste development, we were behind. So we're catching up on waste development at Crescent and Galena, both we're putting in now that the Phase 2 of the shaft is done, we're squarely focused on that paste fill plant that we desperately need. We've been filling with Sandfill. It's much slower. It's not quite as competent. It's a lot older style. So once that paste fill plant is done, commissioned, we'll be filling stopes in around, call it, 36 hours versus 10 days.

So a lot of the work that you're going to see when you guys come here next week, you'll see at Crescent, you're going to see drilling. You're going to see waste development being conducted so that we could get ourselves into a point where we have a secondary egress. We don't have a secondary egress at Crescent. We need to establish that before we could take out any of the ore as we know to follow with MSHA rules.

And then again, I'm going to repeat it, but the best thing we're doing here at Galena is setting ourselves up for the rest of the year and putting in waste development, so we can continue to -- quarter after quarter, we've got to get more long-hole stopes. We've got to get away from the jackleg. In order to do that, we need the waste development in front of ourselves. We need to carve out the top cuts and the bottom cuts and then bring in the long-haul drills. Again, I'd say I'm quite proud that we've done 13 long-hole stopes already. Remember, this mine has been here for 100 years. Always everything done underhand cut-and-fill with jackleg.

What we're doing is modernizing something that's been around for a long time and changing a mining method with our team, and that's going quite well. So those are the big things that are occurring throughout Galena over to Mexico, I'd say it's steady as it goes. I talked about us hitting the heart of EC120. Most of you know Mike Doolin, he's been with us for years. He's had a tremendous hand with our team there on getting recoveries up. Those recovery rates are a big, big factor in what we saw $16.91 costs on our cost per ounce versus $30.61 grade and recoveries. Recoveries matter a lot to us.

So very focused, lots of projects going on, but we're doing them safely and on time and on budget.

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Justin Chan: Okay. Got you. That's great color. Just a housekeeping one. I have in my notes from previous you were planning to do an internal study at Relief Canyon. Is that still in the plan? And will we see any details of that in the market? Or is that going to stay internal?

Paul Huet: Yes. So look, we're going -- the answer is yes. We are still -- we've always been pretty adamant that last year, we didn't do -- we just -- Relief Canyon, there was no work done. This year, we are completing an external study on Relief Canyon, at which point -- I'm not exactly sure the month it comes out. But I'll tell you this, Justin. When you're here next week, I'll tell you the exact month it's going to come out. But the question being asked is, are we continuing to do it? The answer is yes.

Justin Chan: Okay. Perfect. And then maybe just the last one is, in terms of capital for Q3 and Q4, is there any notable kind of -- I guess, between the 2, should we just assume pretty similar deployment? Or would it be pretty Q3 heavy just given the base plan timing?

Paul Huet: No, I'd say that the guidance and the plans that we put forward to you guys earlier in the year are still -- look, we just had our Board meeting. We're pretty much on track to deliver capital as we had originally intended. I think we're shifting maybe $1 million here or there, but nothing -- there's no $30 million, $40 million, this is changing, this is changing. There's no big buckets being moved around.

Justin Chan: Got you. I guess, between Q3 and Q4, is it lumpy? Or is it pretty even between the 2 of them?

Paul Huet: It's probably -- I'm trying to look at -- I'm trying to remember them at the top of my head here, Dalton, (sic) [ Justin]. I think some of it is more towards Q4 as some of the -- like I'll give you an example, the paste fill plant is ending or nearing towards its end. So some of the invoices will come in towards the back end. So we'll see a little more spending towards Q4 on some of the bigger projects. And then that shaft relining we're doing that we've always talked about, which you're going to see firsthand next week. I think after you come here next week, Justin, you'll see the progress we're doing.

I'd say it might be a little higher Q4. It might not be -- it won't be Q3, Q4 divided by 2.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Jamie Spratt of Haywood Securities.

Jamie Spratt: Well done on the continued progress at both Galena and Cosala. I just want to start with a couple of questions on Galena. I want to pick up on Justin's question there and just chat about long haul. So I guess the paste plant really, Paul, is the major driver of allowing you guys to crank up the long haul along with the capital development catch-up. But I guess as we think about this, so kind of how does the mix of cut and fill versus long haul change in the second half of '26 and into '27?

Paul Huet: Yes. So look, Jamie, great question, but you almost answered it right out of the gate. You were right. Look, in order to establish long haul, we need to have waste development, which we're currently doing. In order to cycle the stopes at a rate where we want ourselves to be, we need the paste fill plant. So the 2 things you opened up with are very, very critical. We have always said, look, we could end this year at a range, 30% to 40% long haul by the end of 2026. And we've made some big shifts here.

This is not something that's going to -- nobody could ever come into this mine after 100 years, flip the switch and go, it's all long haul. There's equipment, and we've got 10 new pieces. All the stopes are remote capable. So the only thing you hadn't touched on, Jamie, and you touched on everything else was the equipment and the remote controls that we -- given that it's a shaft, it's a little more work to get things done. We've got to take pieces apart, swing them down, not the end of the world, people do it everywhere else on the planet who have shafts like us.

But I don't get to -- we don't just get to drive it down to decline. So there's a little more effort alongside that. But otherwise, the drilling is going well. When you will get to see the stopes, you will get to see that we're not adding a lot of dilution. Our widths are really -- we're surgically removing these areas through long haul very successfully. So that range of 30% to 40% this year, our target for next year was always getting towards that 50% to 60% and year after year, continuing a 20% to 30% increase on more long haul, less jackleg. The mine will never be 100% long haul.

There are some areas in our mine that are more flat line, a little flat dipping and long haul won't be as conducive, and we won't dilute our grades down to -- like we won't cut our grades down by 40%, 50% in the areas that are a little more flatlined. And those might represent 15% to 16% of some of our veins.

Jamie Spratt: That's really helpful. Yes. And then I guess second question on Galena. So I guess you guys ended up having to defer some high-grade production in Q2 given the fire in that area. And I guess, how should we be expecting grade to trend in Q3 and Q4? I mean Q2 obviously is not representative, but is it going to be close to Q1? Or will it be higher? I guess if you could just give us some direction on that.

Paul Huet: Yes. Let me talk to you about that. The first thing I want to say about that -- and it was a minor fire. I'm actually going to take a moment here, Jamie, and just talk about it briefly. I want to remind everyone that -- nobody was injured in that fire. And the speed in which we got our miners out was unbelievable. We were complemented even by local agencies, state and federal on how quickly our team reacted, how quickly we evacuated our mine. And the reason we were able to do that so quickly, and I think it's important to shareholders here that we always think, well, we're spending capital here or spending capital there.

The capital that we spent on the shaft, having a secondary redundant motor was so beneficial in us getting our people out. In the past, people would not have gotten out. In fact, there was an incident a number of years ago, 3 years ago or something where people were underground for more than 24 hours. And so I just -- before I answer the question, I just want to say to people, look, that fire was a minor fire. It did displace things. It's one of our better grades.

So if it's not going to mean that the grade in the second half is going to be better, it means that our -- we're going to be able to achieve our guidance. So those areas, as we mine all the other parts of the mine, they are better grade in that specific stope. We'll be having those as part of the second half production. But that area is now completely settled. We're back in it. And look, I want to give it -- Jamie, you opened up the door for me to really brag about even our mine rescue team. Our mine rescue team, the month before had just won the nationals, a huge event.

So the fact that we have such a strong mine rescue team, such a responsive team, such a good emergency and rapid response team goes without saying that this came off without a hitch, no incident. We're talking a quarter later, we're back into the same area. And the ounces are going to flow into the second half of the year, allowing us to make our second half easier.

Jamie Spratt: That's great. So just one question on Cosala. So I guess as we look at this, I think Q1 and Q2 seem to have been ahead of plan. I mean, kind of what's driving the strong performance at Cosala? And I guess we're in the heart of EC120 now, so the grades is helping. But what's -- sort of what's driving the outperformance? And how sustainable do you see these improvements?

Paul Huet: Yes. Look, Jamie, those are -- honestly, those are great questions. The reality is we've been talking even when I did the due diligence, myself and our team, we've been talking about this EC120 zone for a year now. We're actually in it. We're actually mining it. We're drilling areas alongside it. I think I cherry picked a hole, and it's hard not to be pretty proud of something that's 14 meters wide at 600 grams, that's in the heart of it right near us. We're not mining it today. You see the cash cost. Our costs are going from $30 an ounce to $16.91 an ounce from some of the copper credits we're getting.

We absolutely do believe it is very sustainable. We believe that Cosala -- and I should have opened up this way with your response first, and actually, I apologize to my team in Mexico. I should have opened up by saying one of the biggest advantages we have is our team in Mexico. We have no expats there. We have all a team there that are experts led by Gabriel Soto, who does an amazing job, who leads our team there very strongly supported by the executive team here. But the efforts we have accomplished, the drilling that we have seen, the new areas that we are mining, and I would say, grade, but also the efforts on the metallurgy.

There was a tremendous amount of work done on looking at how do we get 4% to 10% increased recoveries. And we're getting about 10% better recoveries than we were in the past. Some of these efforts and focus are technically driven on recoveries have been big wins for us. And we certainly believe that this cost structure, the ounce profile, the grade, the recoveries are something that is sustainable, and we'll see more of it in EC120 and you're getting to enjoy some of it as we demonstrate some of the drill results as well.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Heiko Ihle of H.C. Wainwright.

Case Bongirne: This is Case Bongirne filling in for Heiko. Congrats on a successful quarter.

Paul Huet: Sorry, was that Heiko. I didn't. I apologies. Was that -- my line cut out for a second. Was it Heiko. Was it?

Case Bongirne: Case, filling in for Heiko.

Paul Huet: Oh, my bad. Sorry, Case, Yes, it cut out for a second on our end. So my apologies, Case. Go ahead, Case.

Case Bongirne: No worries. I guess, first, you mentioned it earlier, but can you give us an update on how the transition to long-hole stoping is going as well as any color potentially on how those stopes are performing so far?

Paul Huet: Yes, absolutely. Look, I'll just repeat something. We've just done our 13th stope. We're -- and I often like to remind people that people -- our neighbors are doing an outstanding job at mining long haul right next door to us who are doing phenomenal. So it's not a surprise to me when I see that we are able to do it. And when you come to the mine and you see some of the results, we're mining some of these stopes that are about 1.2 to 1.3 meters wide. You're talking 3.5 feet wide. This is so narrow. We could not have done any better had we mined that with jacklegs.

If we were to mine that exact same stope, using jacklegs, the way it was done in the past, we could not have been any narrower. So what that means for us and our shareholders is that we're able to mine at a rate instead of around, call it, 50 tonnes a day in each blast, long-haul stoping will generate around 200 tonnes per day, even sometimes in some cases, per shift, depending on where we're mucking from and how long the trend is. But when we look at the reconciliation of the long-haul stopes to our model, we are seeing a flat line that it's exactly as if we had mined it jacklegs.

The difference is when we're mining long haul, we can carve out a stope in, call it, 28 days. That same stope would have taken us with handheld drills 12 to 14 months. So there's where the difference is. And we know we're going to improve on that still yet by installing the new paste fill plant. When that is completed, and we're using that in 2027, we always said we're going to start using it in 2027. That changes -- that just improves things for us. It allows us to become more effective. In fact, thanks for the question on the longwall.

I did want to give a quick welcome to our new General Manager, Brian Banta, who's doing a great job with our teams there at leading them as we continue to make this a more modernized mine. So Brian, Peter, welcome to our team. So go ahead, Case.

Operator: That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn it back to Paul Huet for closing remarks.

Paul Huet: Great. Thanks. Look, first, I want to just say thank you to all of you for joining the call. We all understand how busy each and every one of you are. I want to shout out to all our teams, Mexico, the U.S. who are unwavering in their commitments at making our company a better place, a safer place and a great place for shareholders. What we're doing is setting ourselves up with the capital we're spending, coupled by the reduction in almost $90 million of debt, like these things are monumental steps that position our company for where we need to get to. So we're quite proud of it.

And I want to obviously thank all the analysts that are alongside us and all our shareholders and have a wonderful Friday, and we're looking forward to the site visit that we're going to see most of you here soon. All the best.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

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