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Transcript Summary

Taseko Mines Limited delivered a strong first quarter for 2026, marked by the historic achievement of first copper production at its Florence Copper project in Arizona. Florence is currently scaling up, with 90 wells active and a 2026 production target of 30-35 million pounds. The flagship Gibraltar mine remained a steady performer, producing 30 million pounds of copper, although C1 costs rose to $2.63/lb due to inflationary pressures on diesel and explosives. Financially, Taseko achieved record revenue of $237 million and adjusted EBITDA of $94 million. While copper collars limited price realization in Q1, these hedges expire in June, positioning the company to capture higher market prices in the second half of the year. The Yellowhead project also gained momentum, being named a priority project by the BC government, with key environmental filings expected this summer. Analysts questioned management on diesel exposure and the Florence ramp-up cadence, receiving detailed confirmations of a back-half weighted production schedule. With $322 million in liquidity and Florence moving toward steady-state production, Taseko is well-positioned for growth and deleveraging, maintaining a bullish outlook as it evolves into a multi-asset copper producer.

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Full Earnings Call Transcript — Q1 • 2026-05-07

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Hello, and welcome to the Taseko Mines Limited 2026 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Please note that this call has been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. I would now like to turn the conference over to our Vice President of Investor Relations, Brian Bergot. Please go ahead.
Brian Bergot: Thank you, and welcome, everyone, to the Taseko Mines Limited 2026 First Quarter Conference Call. The news release and regulatory filing announcing our financial and operational results was issued yesterday after market close and is available on our website at tasekomines.com and on SEDAR+. I am joined today in Vancouver by Taseko Mines Limited's President and CEO, Stuart McDonald, Taseko Mines Limited's Chief Financial Officer, Bryce Hamming, and our COO, Richard Tremblay. As usual, before we get into opening remarks by management, I would like to remind our listeners that our comments and answers to your questions will contain forward-looking information, and this information by its nature is subject to risks and uncertainties. As such, actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. For further information on these risks and uncertainties, I encourage you to read the cautionary note that accompanies our first quarter MD&A and the related news release, as well as the risk factors particular to our company. These documents can be found on our website and also on SEDAR+. I would also like to point out that we will use various non-GAAP measures during the call. You can find explanations and reconciliations regarding these measures in the related news release. Finally, all dollar amounts we will discuss today are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified. Following opening remarks, we will open the phone lines to analysts and investors for questions. I will now turn the call over to Stuart for his remarks.
Stuart McDonald: Thank you, Brian, and welcome, everyone, to our first quarter earnings call. As usual, I will start with an overview of our recent operating results, and Bryce can then review the financial performance. It was an exciting quarter for us with the startup at Florence and first copper from that new operation, but I will start today with our Gibraltar mine, which had another solid quarter. Steady production that we saw in the second half of last year continued into the first quarter. The mine produced 30 million pounds of copper and just over 700 thousand pounds of molybdenum, which was generally in line with our expectations. Head grade of 0.25% was slightly above our life-of-mine reserve grade, and copper recoveries of 83% also benefited from the higher-quality ore from the lower benches of the Connector Pit. Mill throughput was slightly lower this quarter as we focused on optimizing copper recoveries from the higher-grade ore, and we also had some unplanned mill downtime. Overall, it was a good production quarter at Gibraltar. We did see some operating cost increases in the period as Gibraltar's C1 cash cost increased to $2.63 US per pound produced. That is about 6% higher than the previous quarter and was impacted by inflation in a few areas, most notably diesel prices and explosives. With the situation in the Middle East, diesel prices have increased about $0.50 per liter compared to last year—those are Canadian cents—which represents $0.15 US per pound of copper at Gibraltar. We are also seeing higher costs for explosives as the market for ammonium nitrate has been affected by a plant outage in the US. Repairs and maintenance was also higher this quarter, although that was more of a timing issue related to some key repairs, and we do not expect that level of spend to continue for the rest of this year. Offsetting those factors was a strong quarter from molybdenum production, which continues to provide a meaningful by-product credit, and we expect similar moly grades for the remainder of this year. Gibraltar's SXEW plant also contributed 733 thousand pounds of copper cathode production in Q1, and we were able to keep that plant running through the winter months, which was a positive. We stopped leaching operations at Gibraltar in April to complete the tie-in of a second leach pad, and that should support higher cathode production going forward. Turning to Florence now, it was a major milestone that we achieved in late February with first copper cathode production. This is a testament to the perseverance and technical expertise that our project team demonstrated over the last decade to bring this project through the PTF test program, permitting, a well-executed capital project, and now finally into commercial production. In Q4, we started injection of solutions into the wellfield, and the initial flow rates were higher than expected. This allowed for faster acidification of the ore body, and solution grades increased faster than planned, reaching targeted levels in January. The commissioning of the SXEW plant was completed in mid-February—it was a few weeks behind schedule—and by that time, we had built up an inventory of copper in solution, and we harvested 1.5 million pounds of cathode over the remainder of Q1. In recent weeks, our operating team has done an excellent job of stabilizing the whole circuit from wellfield through to cathode production. We now have approximately 90 production wells producing copper at a consistent daily rate in the range of 55 thousand to 60 thousand pounds a day. This is in line with our expectations for the initial wells at this stage and represents another significant de-risking step for the project. Now our focus is on ramping up, which means expanding the wellfield to increase flow rates and copper production. We currently have five drill rigs operating, and after a slow start, we have seen drilling productivities improve in the last few weeks. This month, an additional 20 production wells will come online. Then later in the summer, an additional group of 26 new wells will begin producing, and further groups of wells will be added every month for the remainder of the year. As the wellfield expands, we will see higher solution flows and PLS grade, which will allow us to achieve a 30 to 35 million pound target for the year. It is important to note that production will not be perfectly correlated to the number of wells, as each ore block has a slightly different ramp-up profile, and the new wells added to the perimeter of the wellfield will improve the performance of the existing inner wells. We continue to expect 30 to 35 million pounds of copper production from Florence this year, with production weighted to the second half as new wells are put into production. Our target is still to achieve 80 to 85 million pounds of copper production next year, in 2027, which is the steady-state capacity of Florence. Lastly, a quick update on Yellowhead. Our project team remains quite busy advancing environmental assessment work, and following on from the community open houses that we hosted last fall, we are now incorporating feedback from stakeholders to complete the detailed project description. We expect to file that this summer, which will lead towards a readiness decision and the next phase of work. Also, just last week, the Government of British Columbia announced the addition of new major projects to its priority projects list, and Yellowhead Copper was included. This is a clear message that the province recognizes the value of our Yellowhead project. We are continuing to work closely with the Simpcw First Nation, the Province of BC, and the Government of Canada to move the permitting process forward as efficiently as possible. I will now turn the call over to Bryce.
Bryce Hamming: Thank you, Stuart, and good morning, everyone. Overall, despite some cost inflation at Gibraltar, the strong production and sales translated to another strong financial performance in the quarter. As Stuart mentioned, Gibraltar copper sales were 27 million pounds in the quarter, lower than the 30 million pounds that we produced due to shipment timing. This included 938 thousand pounds of cathode sales. This build-up of concentrate inventory is expected to be sold in the second quarter. Moly sales were 708 thousand pounds and benefited from higher moly grade in the Connector Pit. Together, copper and moly sales generated $237 million of revenue in the quarter, which is the highest quarterly revenue generation for the company to date. Moly revenues were more than double the same period in 2025, benefiting from the higher production levels and roughly 25% higher moly price, and today it is over $28 per pound. Total site costs in the first quarter were $142 million, which includes $15 million of capitalized stripping costs. This is 13% higher than Q4 last year and includes the cost inflation that we talked about. For the quarter, Taseko Mines Limited generated $94 million of adjusted EBITDA, $115 million of earnings from mining operations, and $94 million in cash flow from operations. Net income in the quarter was $17 million, or $0.05 per share, and on an adjusted basis was $28 million, or $0.08 per share, after removal of unrealized fair value adjustments. Financial performance and adjusted earnings were impacted by the copper collars we currently have in place. We put these collars in place last year to support our project finance and our ramp-up of Florence Copper. These collars reduced our effective selling price to $5.40 US per pound in the current quarter, as compared to the LME, which averaged around $5.83 in the quarter. As a reminder, these collars roll off in June, with 27 million pounds remaining for the second quarter, at which point we will begin realizing the full LME price up to a much higher level of $7.50 and $8.50 US per pound. There is no limit after Q3 at the moment. It is also worth noting that as Florence begins to generate free cash flow later this year, we will likely revert to our previous practice of just purchasing out-of-the-money copper price puts with shorter time horizons—say, a quarter or two out—which is to protect against shorter-term copper price volatility. That lower strike will have a modest payment of premium to provide that downside protection, and that strategy of purchasing copper puts outright does not limit our copper price upside. Now that we are getting to the end of our development and ramp-up of Florence, Florence Copper reported sales of 600 thousand pounds of cathode in the quarter, with a balance of production of 900 thousand pounds in finished inventory. We also had 600 thousand pounds of copper in solution as what we call work-in-progress inventory. Direct costs associated with the cathode production at Florence in the quarter were $10 million, which is split across these inventory amounts. Our operating segment note—refer to Note 22 in our financials—now shows our revenue and cost of production at Florence, and it showed $4.5 million for the quarter, so no initial profit was recognized on our first sales of Florence cathode. In the first quarter, we capitalized $21 million of commissioning and start-up costs incurred at Florence. We also capitalized wellfield development costs of $18 million for new wells being constructed. These drilling and well development costs will continue to be capitalized as sustaining capital throughout the operation’s mine life, and they will be depreciated over the useful life of the well on a units-of-production basis from the copper recovered. Next quarter, with increasing production from Florence’s SX facility, we will see much less capitalized site operating costs, with most of the operating cost expensed as cost of production as cathode is sold. We ended the quarter with total available liquidity of $322 million, including $169 million of cash. With stable cash flows being generated from Gibraltar combined with our rising production and cash flow from Florence, our liquidity should be maintained in the second quarter and begin increasing in the second half. As our liquidity grows, we will look to begin opportunities to reduce debt and delever later this year. I will now turn the call back to the operator for questions.
Operator: We will now open the call for questions. A quick reminder before we start the Q&A: press star and the number one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and enter the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. We will take our first question from Dalton Baretto from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.
Dalton Baretto: Thank you, operator. Good morning, Stuart and team. I am trying to unpack this whole diesel and asset exposure a little bit more. I know you have some context on that. Let us start with the diesel. I know you highlighted the impact on C1 cost, but outside of that, when you look at your cap strip at Gibraltar and then the wellfield deployment at Florence, what sort of impact would you anticipate there? Thank you.
Stuart McDonald: Hi, Dalton. It is Stuart here. In total, across Gibraltar, we are using roughly 40 million liters of diesel a year across capital and operating. We have seen about a $0.50 Canadian per liter increase—roughly $20 million Canadian year-over-year is what you are seeing across that. Of course, at Florence, it is a very different type of operation. We do not really use any diesel or any fuel to speak of, so that is the impact on diesel.
Dalton Baretto: And then just on the assets, Stuart, it is great to see you guys are locked up for the rest of this year. Are you starting to have conversations with your suppliers about next year yet, both around availability as well as around pricing?
Richard Tremblay: Yeah, Dalton, Richard here. We have maintained contact with our current supplier and, obviously, discussions around next year are on the agenda, but nothing in any kind of formal or detailed or specific way. We are definitely watching the market and seeing what is happening.
Dalton Baretto: But have you been given any comfort around availability? I mean, I am assuming pricing is a separate conversation, but just around availability.
Richard Tremblay: Yes, and availability seems like it will be there. It will be more of a price discussion.
Dalton Baretto: Great. Thanks, guys. That is all from me.
Operator: Star and the number one on your telephone keypad. Again, that is star and the number one on your telephone keypad. We will take our next question from Craig Hutchison from TD Cowen. Please go ahead. Mr. Hutchison, you might be muted on your device.
Craig Hutchison: Good morning, guys. Thanks for that. Just on Florence, I appreciate you guys have given some guidance around back-half weighted, but can you provide any more clarity in terms of what we can expect for the cadence? Should we expect a material uplift in Q2, or something similar to Q1? Just anything in terms of what we should be modeling from a cadence perspective would be appreciated. Thanks.
Stuart McDonald: Hi, Craig. As I mentioned in my remarks, we are running right now at a daily production rate around 55 thousand to 60 thousand pounds a day—about 1.5 to 1.8 million pounds a month. That is kind of April and May. We will have new wells coming on in May, which will start to produce copper in June, but generally I would not expect a major uplift in production in Q2 from that kind of monthly rate. I think you will start to see a much bigger increase in Q3 and Q4 when we have additional, larger portions of the wellfield starting to open up. That is why we have indicated it is quite heavily weighted to the second half of the year.
Craig Hutchison: Okay, great. Maybe shifting to Yellowhead. You guys mentioned it is on the new major projects list for British Columbia. What does that mean from your perspective? Does that mean there is going to be some effort to fast-track permitting? Is there certain financial support you will get from the province? And I guess you also mentioned dialogue with the federal government as well. Anything in terms of where you see permitting going and what kind of support you are receiving from different levels of government? Thanks.
Stuart McDonald: Thanks. We certainly appreciate that it was good recognition to be included on that list, but the reality is we do not see any significant change in the permitting process. We have been working closely with all levels of government for the last couple of years, and between the Simpcw First Nation, the Province of BC, and the Government of Canada, everyone is focused on trying to have an efficient permitting process and not have duplication of work across different agencies. That is really where our focus has been. We do not see much changing on the permitting track as a result of that announcement. On government support more broadly, we do think we have good support from the Province and the Government of Canada, and we have some dialogue ongoing as well. Yellowhead would be a major new copper mine—it has the potential to be the second-biggest copper mine in Canada—and that, of course, is getting attention. Nothing tangible yet to announce, but certainly progressing on some good discussions across governments.
Craig Hutchison: Okay, great. Maybe one last question would be just New Prosperity. Anything new on that front in terms of moving that project forward? Thanks.
Stuart McDonald: No major updates to report. We are focused on expanding our relationship with the Tŝilhqot’in Nation, continuing to work with them following on the dialogue that we completed last year, but otherwise no significant updates there.
Operator: We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back over to management for closing remarks.
Stuart McDonald: Great. Thanks, everyone, for joining today, and we will talk to you next quarter. Thank you.
Operator: The meeting has now concluded. Thank you all for joining, and you may now disconnect.