Equinox Gold Corp (EQX) (Q3 2026) Earnings Call Highlights: Record Debt Repayment, Dividend ... GuruFocus News Thu, November 12, 2026 at 6:03 AM EST 9 min read EQX -1.20% GC=F -1.19% EQX -1.20% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Gold Production: 237,000 ounces in Q3 2026, including two months of production from Musselwhite and Camino Rojo; year-to-date production just over 611,000 ounces.
Production Guidance: On track to deliver at the low end of updated guidance range of 870,000 to 920,000 ounces, or about 1.1 million ounces including Orla's full-year contribution.
Cash Costs: $1,654 per ounce, down 9% quarter over quarter and within guidance range.
All-In Sustaining Costs (AISC): $2,091 per ounce, a 4% decrease compared to Q2, though still higher than desired.
Musselwhite Production: 45,600 ounces between August and September; plant averaged over 4,000 tonnes per day at a grade of 6.15 grams per tonne.
Greenstone Production: 60,600 ounces as the mine works through final stages of ramp-up.
Valentine Production: Over 34,700 ounces; mill feed averaged more than 1.8 grams per tonne during Q3.
Canada Production Share: Delivered nearly 60% of total production.
Debt Repayment: Repaid $190 million of debt during the quarter, bringing total repayments to approximately $1.3 billion this year.
Cash Position: Ended Q3 with $528 million of cash and $1.2 billion of available liquidity.
Net Cash: $164 million, excluding convertible notes (which were converted in October).
Dividend: Increased dividend by 50% in August; Board approved quarterly dividend of $0.0225 per share payable December 10 to shareholders of record on November 25.
Share Buybacks: Repurchased approximately 760,000 shares during Q3.
Valentine Phase 2 Expansion: Board approved expansion to double processing capacity to 5 million tonnes per year; initial capital budget of $436 million, completion expected late 2028.
South Railroad (Nevada): Detailed engineering 71% complete at quarter end; approximately $180 million of the $395 million initial capital estimate committed; first gold targeted for first half of 2028.
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For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Equinox Gold Corp (EQX) completed the combination with Orla Mining, positioning itself as a senior gold producer with over 1 million ounces of annual production and a stronger cash flow base.
Q3 production of 237,000 ounces kept the company on track to meet the low end of its updated guidance, with cash costs down 9% quarter over quarter.
Musselwhite delivered 45,600 ounces in just two months, with throughput exceeding 4,000 tonnes per day at a grade of 6.15 g/t, a significant improvement from prior levels.
The company repaid $190 million of debt in Q3, bringing total repayments to approximately $1.3 billion this year, and ended with $1.2 billion in available liquidity.
Equinox Gold Corp (EQX) increased its dividend by 50% and repurchased approximately 760,000 shares in Q3, demonstrating commitment to returning capital to shareholders.
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) of $2,091 per ounce remain higher than desired, driven by elevated fuel costs, maintenance, and equipment purchases at Greenstone.
Greenstone's ramp-up faced challenges, including replacement of high-pressure grinding rolls and tramp material issues, limiting throughput to about 23,000 tonnes per day in Q3.
Valentine experienced unplanned maintenance in August, reducing process tonnes, though grades improved.
Mesquite faced geotechnical instability in the Brownie pit, which will negatively impact Q4 production.
Cost pressures from inflation on fuel, employment, contractors, and services are expected to persist, impacting future cost guidance.
Q: Can you provide color on where you're seeing cost pressures across the portfolio and give some direction on which way costs may move next year? A: Jason Simpson (President & CEO) said fuel costs have continued to inflate beyond Q2 estimates, primarily affecting larger fuel-dependent operations like Nicaragua and Greenstone, with employment, contractor and services costs also rising. He noted the company is moving into cost containment efforts across the portfolio and expects to recoup some costs at ramp-up sites like Greenstone and Valentine as they reach steady-state operations, though inflation applies to everyone and 2027 guidance will target a responsible, achievable number.
Q: What is the path forward for down-plunge exploration and resource conversion at Musselwhite, and what are the goals and priorities for 2027? A: Jason Simpson (President & CEO) said the company has been successful in discovering a 2-kilometer down-plunge extension as well as material up-dip and up-trend and parallel zones. Near-term work will focus on filling the processing plant through existing infrastructure, improving material handling for the down-plunge zone, and likely coupling that with a considered mill expansion to push the asset from the midpoint of guidance at 245,000 ounces toward 300,000 ounces. The study team is working on those technical details, and capital allocation will be weighed against other pipeline choices.
Q: On Greenstone, is it fair to say throughput will continue at similar Q3 levels until the tramp-material removal installation is operational in Q1 2027, and should we model downtime for the installation? A: Jason Simpson (President & CEO) confirmed throughput will not ramp up until next year, with the Q3 shutdown not carrying into Q4 but unplanned downtime continuing as tramp material is separated manually, hopefully mechanically in 2027. Peter Hardie (CFO) added that the installation is decoupled from the regular processing plant and will not require processing plant downtime.
Q: On the Greenstone sampling campaign and geometallurgical modeling, is 80% recovery a reasonable assumption for 2027? A: Jason Simpson (President & CEO) expects the number should be better than 80%. He said the key is identifying pockets of arsenopyrite within the ore body and avoiding flooding the plant with that material by stockpiling and blending it over time. The sampling campaign, including RC and blast hole samples and associated metallurgical tests, feeds an updated geometallurgical model that guides the field teams on directing trucks based on both grade and metallurgical recovery across benches.
Q: At Valentine, you're mining well above the grade being fed to the mill. How should we think about the grade-tonnage relationship in Q4 and into 2027? A: Jason Simpson (President & CEO) said the company will continue to intentionally build stockpiles so it can preferentially feed higher-grade material to the plant, which inflates inventory costs but was part of the plan until the plant is expanded to 5 million tonnes per year. He said anything with a 2 in front of it is the aspiration for 2027, with Q3 delivered at 1.82 grams per tonne and further improvement expected in Q4.
Q: How should we think about Valentine's throughput after the record September and the unit cost outlook until Phase 2? A: Jason Simpson (President & CEO) said Valentine should continue to overachieve past nameplate on throughput with consistent recovery, helped by no planned maintenance in Q4 and a better understanding of the variable frequency drive outages. On costs, he said the denominator will increase with higher grade fed to the plant, while the numerator should fall as the company retracts the extra resources flooded into the site during ramp-up, with both sites targeted to return to life-of-mine cost expectations, subject to industry-wide inflation.
Q: How do you view the buyback in light of current capital allocation priorities? A: Doug Reddy (Chief Operating Officer) said the company resumed buybacks in Q3 and will continue, measuring the opportunity against other capital allocation items, with the CFO having reviewed it with the Board. He said reducing the share count will be a theme going forward, but must be considered in the context of overall shareholder return, with the sequence being the dividend, additional buybacks and debt reduction, followed by reinvestment in the business.
Q: How should we expect the different parts of Los Filos to ramp up, and how might the capital cost sequence work? A: Jason Simpson (President & CEO) said maintenance work on mobile equipment and surface infrastructure continues for the remainder of this year with capital already allocated. The site will restart and contribute about half the historical heap leach production for all of 2027, with guidance to come in January, while study work continues toward a plan by late 2027 for a likely 20,000 tonne per day CIL plant, with capital and construction sequence becoming visible as early as 2028. Near-term growth focus remains on building assets in the United States.
Q: Can you explain the timing of an updated study for Los Filos and how it informs sequencing against other expansions? A: Jason Simpson (President & CEO) said visibility on the roughly 20,000 tonne per day CIL plant cost estimate should come by the end of 2027, which will be compared against the Camino Rojo sulfides study to determine what creates the greatest shareholder value and how to space the projects in time. He noted both Mexican deposits host over 10 million ounces each, but the near-term growth focus is the first leg of growth in the United States, including South Railroad and evaluating whether Castle Mountain is next.
Q: On Mesquite, how should we model the next quarter given the stacking, low recoveries and geotechnical instability in the Brownie pit? A: Jason Simpson (President & CEO) said instability in the Brownie pit cut off access to some material in Q3, which did not get stacked and will not come out of the pad, affecting Q4 output. He said the company is reestablishing its 2027 production plan and will be back in operation, but the instability will certainly have an effect on Q4 output from Mesquite.
Q: Is it fair to characterize Q4 as stronger in Nicaragua, Musselwhite and Camino Rojo but lighter at Mesquite, Valentine and Greenstone, gearing toward the bottom end of production guidance? A: Jason Simpson (President & CEO) agreed that is a fair
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
