Operator
Good morning. Welcome to Mineros Financial and Operating Results for the Third Quarter of 2025.
My name is Juan Camilo and I am the Investor Relations -- Original language will be Spanish. However, if you wish to listen to English, please follow these steps.
First, the box that says English. Then to avoid listening to both languages at the same time, identify the box that says media players and click on mute.
[Foreign Language] Please remember that this call may include forward-looking information. Actual results may vary due to inherent risks in mining.
Several financial metrics -- are Section 10 our MD&A available David Londono, CEO; David Splett, CFO -- and enter finance CEO; Santiago Cardona is a President Colombia. And so Gavilanes, is [Foreign Language]
Unknown Executive
Gold production stands at 163,000 ounces for the first 9 months of the year. This represents a 2.5% increase compared with the 159,000 ounces reported for the same period in 2024.
We had a record net income, which reached 50 million for the third quarter and accumulated net income year-to-date of $136 million. We generated positive free cash flow of $62 million in the third quarter and a total of $106 million in net free cash flow for the first 9 of 2025.
We concluded to the share buyback program that was approved earlier this year by the shareholders' general assembly and subsequently by the Board of Directors. The company repurchased a total of 3.9 million shares at a price of COP 12,000.
This operation finished in -- on September 12. Finally, we acquired 80% of La Pepa project from Pan American Silver Corporation.
This transaction of $40 million grants us 100% ownership of this gold exploration asset in Chile, providing us full control over its future development plan. As we will detail next, our excellent operating performance directly translates into strong financial results.
These achievements reflect our discipline in operational efficiency, the strength of our assets and our ability to consistently and safely generate value. We maintain a very optimistic outlook for the company and remain committed to sustaining this trajectory of growth and success.
I will now hand the call over to David, who will discuss the financial performance for the quarter.
David Splett
Thank you, David. Good morning.
Let us begin with the income statement for the quarter. As a reminder, all figures are expressed in millions of dollars.
In the third quarter of 2025, the company achieved significant revenue growth of 39%, reaching a record figure of $196 million. The main driver of this result was a 40% increase in the average realized gold price.
Consistent gold production in Colombia and Nicaragua, coupled with our strict cost discipline were fundamental to these results. Our gross profit saw an increase of 49%, reaching a record figure of $82 million and net income stood at $54 million, representing 90% growth.
This implies a significant advance versus the $29 million reported in the third quarter of 2024. In terms of liquidity, net free cash flow was approximately $63 million.
This result is calculated after covering the payment of $7.5 million in dividends, $7 million in sustaining capital expenditures and $0.4 million in interest payments. The cost of sales increased by 33%, primarily because the higher gold prices are reflected in the greater cost of purchasing ore from artisanal cooperatives in addition to an increase in depreciation and amortization.
On this slide, we present a summary of our financial results through the end of September 30, 2025. The company's revenue grew by 39%, totaling $538 million.
This sudden increase was primarily driven by a 40% increase in the average realized gold price, coupled with 2.5% growth in gold ounces sold. We achieved significant profitability expansion.
The gross profit and adjusted EBITDA registered increases of 70% and 59%, respectively, reaching $221 million and $244 million. Net income experienced 114% growth during the first 9 months of the year, increasing from $63.4 million in the same period of 2024 to a record figure of $136 million at the close of September 2025.
The cost of sales increased by 23% during the first 9 months of the year. This is primarily attributed to the higher cost of purchasing material from artisanal miners cooperatives due to the increased gold price in addition to higher taxes and royalties.
Let us now look at the adjusted EBITDA. This key indicator reached a record figure of $90.3 million at the end of the quarter, representing an increase of 44% compared to the $62.9 million registered in the Q3 from 2024.
This expansion is directly attributable to a strong revenue growth, primarily driven by the favorable increase in gold prices. Finally, let's review the cash position.
Net cash flows from operating activities generated $204 million from the sale of gold, silver and electricity. This was after payments to suppliers totaling $103 million, employee salaries and benefits payments for $15 million and tax payments amounting $11 million.
Cash flow utilized in investing activities was allocated to purchases of property, plant and equipment totaling $16 million and strategic investments in intangible assets and exploration projects of $45 million. Regarding the cash used in financing activities, the main components were dividend payments of $7 million and the amortization of financial obligations totaling $9 million.
Our current credit and loans balance stood at $17.6 million, while the cash and cash equivalents balance was $102.2 million, a highly significant figure despite the capital expenditures incurred during the quarter, including the La Pepa acquisition. With this review, I will now turn the floor over to David and this finalizes our operational indicators, who will present the operational indicators.
David Londono
Thank you so much, David. Let us now discuss our operating indicators.
This chart summarizes our operating performance over the last 5 quarters. As you can observe, the total production for the third quarter remained stable and consistent compared to previous periods.
This is a direct reflection of our strong discipline and operational execution across all our assets. As clearly visible on the green line, the average realized gold price per ounce in the third quarter of 2025 reached $3,464, which represents a significant 40% increase compared to the same period last year.
We emphasize that our margins continue to show a positive trend. And here, we can see graphically how the gap between our average realized selling price and our costs continues to widen, indicating continuous margin improvement.
On the cost front, we registered an increase of 38% in cash cost and 34% in AISC, which stood in $1,704 and $1,982 per ounce, respectively. This increase is primarily explained by the rise in the cost of sales, largely associated with the purchase of ore from artisanal mining in Nicaragua, as David mentioned that before.
I will now turn the floor over to Santiago Cardona, our Vice President of Colombia, who will present the results and details of our Alluvial operation. Following that, we will continue with in Inivaldo Diaz, who recently assumed the Vice Presidency of Nicaragua and who will offer us a comprehensive overview of Hemco operation.
Santiago Cardona Munera
Thank you, David. In Colombia, we achieved a production of 23,000 ounces during the third quarter, which represents a 16% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
This growth was primarily driven by lower dilution and the optimization of overburden removal and the hydraulic level control of the pit. The AISC per ounce of gold sold increased by 13%, reaching $1,573 per ounce.
This is primarily due to the increase in gold prices, which directly impact the cost of operating contracts in our formalization contracts, more taxes and royalties related to this price. Also the increase associated with the year-over-year change.
Additionally, during the quarter, we saw the commissioning of the Aurora plant contributing to our growth strategy and technological renewal aimed at optimizing recovery in our operations. Finally, our occupational health and safety indicators continue to report very low values, highlighting our safety performance.
This is the result of our robust and effective prevention culture and demonstrate that safety is a core value and a pillar of our operational excellence. With this, I conclude the presentation of our operations in Colombia, and I will now turn the floor over to Inivaldo Diaz, Vice President of Nicaragua.
Inivaldo Diaz
Thank you, Santiago. In Nicaragua, Q3 production remained stable, registering 32,000 ounces.
This figure is 5.4% below the production from the third quarter of 2024. This variation is primarily due to a 9.5% decrease in tonnes milled, though it was partially offset by a 4.6% increase in the process grades.
Of the 32,000 ounces produced, 83% originated from the artisanal production. Consequently, 58% of the total cost for the third quarter is directly associated with this artisanal output.
The AISC recorded a 52% increase. 80% of the increase of the AISC is due to higher purchases from artisanal mining, 26% above compared to the same quarter from last year, which is explained by the prioritization given to artisanal mining over the industrial mining.
The feed blend shifted from a 55% artisanal, 45% industrial mix in the Q3 of 2024 to a 20% artisanal, 30% industrial mix in the Q3 of 2025. Adding to the higher purchasing volume is the price effect, which is 40% higher in Q3 2025 versus the same period in 2024, leading to a greater volume of purchases in 26% and 40% higher price.
Finally, in July, the decision was made to begin stockpiling high-grade ore purchased from artisanal mining for a special processing at the Vesmisa plant. This required upgrades, including replacement of the corn crusher, major repairs to the agitation tanks and other circuit adjustments.
The plant was shut down for nearly 1 month, affecting quarterly operational costs and production. By September, we began achieving the anticipated results.
The ore inventory generated at the stockpiling pads amounted to 5,604 ounces, of which 4,527 ounces are from the artisanal mining and 1,077 ounces are from industrial mining. The benefit of this initiative to batch process the high-grade material is the increase of metallurgical recovery by enhancing the residence time and reducing the gold content in the leach tails.
With this, I conclude the results for Nicaragua, and I turn the floor back to David.
David Londono
Thank you very much, Inivaldo. Let us now discuss our opportunities and outlook.
I want to start by highlighting the solid progress in near-mine exploration, which is crucial for the future sustainability of our operations. During the third quarter of 2025, we completed a total of 9,806 meters of diamond drilling.
This brings our year-to-date cumulative total to 29,252 meters, maintaining an excellent pace of exploration. Moving to the Porvenir project, we continue working to advance on the following key stages.
We are proceeding with the update of the pre-feasibility study with -- that will be finished by the end of the fourth quarter. Operating and capital costs within the project's financial model are currently being updated.
In parallel, we are in the process of reaching an agreement with the community and authorities to define an environmental compensation plan. This is a fundamental step for the submission of the environmental management plan for the process plant.
The greenfield exploration campaign focused on new discoveries began drilling in July 2025. And currently, we have 3 drill rigs operating on site.
We have completed 6,688 drilled meters during the year. Finally, regarding the La Pepa project, as we mentioned earlier, we have completed the acquisition of 100% of the project.
We are currently focusing our team's efforts on advancing the exploration plans, which we expect to commence next year. 2025 has represented a key period of strategic consolidation for Mineros, characterized by a substantial transformation and the establishment of unprecedented financial milestones.
These achievements reaffirm the robustness of our strategy and our unwavering commitment to generating sustainable value for our stakeholders. From a financial perspective, management has demonstrated operational excellence.
Productive discipline has ensured a stable and safe operation, driving the achievement of record revenue at the corporate level. This operational efficiency has directly translated into a significant increase in profitability materialized as a record EBITDA, record net income and an outstanding generation of free cash flow.
We have maintained a stable dividend program, and we have observed the market validating our execution, which has resulted in a very positive share performance during the year. On the corporate front, we have worked to secure the foundation for future growth.
We have successfully completed the redefinition of the corporate strategy, providing a clear framework for the next phase of growth. We executed the share buyback program, thereby returning additional capital to shareholders and significant operational progress has been achieved, highlighted by the commissioning of our Aurora plant.
Our geographic expansion strategy is consolidating with the total acquisition of the La Pepa project, integrating a new high potential jurisdiction into our operations. Finally, we continue to invest in our exploration pipeline with important advancements in greenfield exploration and in the development of the Porvenir project, ensuring long-term sustainability of our operations.
This concludes our presentation. We would like now to open the floor for questions.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] First one comes from Luca Skarbahal. And he asks, why is it possible to have a debt in the company if the most attractive part of the company is a very healthy balance.
David Londono
So the opportunity of financing was open, and we decided to try the market for that. We have to have enough cash flow when an opportunity comes.
And that opportunity is now. Unfortunately, when we were going to get the market or go to the market, the conditions were not favorable.
We obviously have a plan to grow as a company, and we have this journey to grow at 300,000 ounces per year and even more in the next 3 years related to the investment with Porvenir and Alluvial as well, and Hemco as well. And we are going to invest $200 million or $300 million related to this plan for growth organically -- for growing organically.
And also, we want to maintain maximum liquidity if there is a chance to buy an asset or to buy a mine or something that is attractive, but we still need to identify that opportunity.
Operator
Next question comes from Mr. Simon Londonio.
Unknown Analyst
Congratulations for the results. Would you consider the possibility of starting a new buyback program?
David Londono
Thank you so much for your question. That's a decision made by the assembly.
We are open for this decision from the assembly. And also, there's another perspective from the previous point.
We want to grow this company in the gold production. And it is feasible that this growth has more value for the shareholders even more than the dividend.
So our preference is to maintain the dividend in about $30 million per year and maximize the growth plan of production.
Operator
We have 2 more questions from Mr. Justin Chan.
Justin Chan
Could you please inform us the schedule for the final decision about Porvenir. If the pre-feasibility study is presented in the next year, will you have a definite study before approving the pre-project or the feasibility project is enough so the assembly approves that project.
David Londono
Thank you, Justin. I would like to start first by saying that we are finishing the pre-feasibility study.
We will finish that in December at the end of the fourth quarter. And this will give us the possibility to perform a feasibility study that is going to be quite fast because this pre-feasibility study is the second time it is performed.
It has more details. It is almost a feasibility study.
We only have to work on a detailed engineering so we can make that decision. I think that those -- that's going -- we're going to make the decision at the -- in the middle of next year.
We are applying all.
Operator
The next question from Mr. Justin Chan.
They ask about this talk of capital. The working capital and the fiscal capital have a significant impact in the fourth quarter.
Do you prevent that there is any temporary factor that will affect the cash flow? Or will it be maintained based on the AISC.
David Londono
I'm going to respond. We do not do not experience important changes in our balance sheet or in our cash flow answer.
There is something that we need to deep dive in this part. The taxes of the company are paid during the whole year as down payments or advanced payments.
And when we have this payment related to taxes after liquidations.
Operator
Next question from Mr. Lucas Carbajal.
With the commissioning of the Aurora plant, how much are you expecting to increase the production?
David Londono
I'm going to start responding to this question, and then Santiago will respond, the Colombian VP. I think the commissioning of the Aurora plant is a total success, and it will improve production and the performance in Colombia.
So it depends on our mining plans and the management that we will have, but this plant will cover 5,000 cubic meters -- additional cubic meters per day. A production that we are adjusting as a project and that we expect to have this year between 1,000 and 1,500 additional ounces.
And next year, we will explain you the plan for the mining process next year. We will inform that.
Operator
Next question from Ben Pirie.
Ben Pirie
Congratulations for this great quarter. I am highly excited for Q4 as the gold price has risen even further.
Can you guide any sort of budget for the La Pepa in 2026 for the exploration program?
David Londono
Thank you so much. First in Spanish, I'm going to speak.
So La Pepa, we have planned to start the exploration. In this moment, we are working to get the staff that is going to work in La Pepa and we would start exploration next year when all the consultants and all the people are in the site.
I think we're going to spend -- we will have an additional budget of $5 million.
Operator
Next question from Mr. Juan Soto.
Unknown Analyst
What is the forecast of production that you have for 2026.
David Londono
Thank you so much, Juan, for that question. In this moment, we are finalizing the budget, and we are internally reviewing how this is going to be.
But I think we will see a slight increase in production in both operations. It could be 2% or 3%.
Operator
This is from Alejandro Correa. What's the forecast of the company with the gold prices in 2026.
What is the contribution in monetary resources are you expecting from Project La Pepa in Chile? And when would you start the exploration phase.
David Londono
So the forecast, we don't work with the forecast of the gold prices. We control the costs, but not the price.
We assume that for the next year's production, the price should be -- we have this forecast of -- with 15 different banks and the forecast related to 2026, it's in the range of $4,000 per ounce but we are going to use this last forecast from 2025 that could be ready by December. We are going to use that forecast.
And in terms of the second part of the question about the La Pepa project in Chile, what is it that we expect. We expect to start exploration and all the studies next year.
I think exploitation that will be planned for between 5 and 7 years, while we do all the exploration, we have to do the pre-feasibility study, the feasibility study and that will take a long time and obviously, acquiring or getting all the permits that we need. So we are just starting to do this work.
Operator
Next question from Alfonso Maris.
Unknown Analyst
What happened with the silver production.
David Londono
In terms of silver, that is due to the adjustments that we had in the Vesmisa plant, that was the adaptation to process the high-grade minerals or ore. We processed less tonnes because we are working under dispatch processing modality because hybrids increased substantially during this quarter.
So this led us to process less tonnes and focus in the recovery of gold, and we run the test of recovery and the amount of silver has also decreased.
Operator
Next question from Mr. Exon.
Unknown Analyst
We know that you are in pursue for inorganic opportunities across different geographies. I would be grateful if you could give us more color on which countries or jurisdiction you favor over others.
David Londono
Thank you for this question. We will always see opportunities in different geographies.
Obviously, we prefer to be in the same time zone. But if we see opportunities that are smart opportunities for us, we will study them.
Operator
Next question from Mr. Maria.
Unknown Analyst
Congratulations for the results. The valuation that the shareholders have received is quite high.
What's the reason of the reduction of production and how is Guillermina doing?
Inivaldo Diaz
The answer is the same that I've replied before. This thing about the Guillermina plant that we are using for processing the high-grade ore and that reduced the production tonnes.
And in terms -- in relation to Guillermina, we continue with the exploration plan. We are doing the drilling, and we are expecting to receive the results, but it's promising.
We expect that, that brings more resources to the operation.
Operator
Next question. This is from Simon Londonio.
Unknown Analyst
Could you please update the guidance in relation to the ounces production and CapEx, considering the -- and CapEx, considering the new projects.
David Londono
Thank you for that question. The guidance does not change in this moment.
And for 2026, we see the guidance in the Q1 in January, and we will have this guidance for production, exploration and CapEx.
Operator
We see this from Pablo Castro.
Unknown Analyst
We see an increment in the brownfield exploration. Is this a change in the strategy under the new administration?
Do you see any potential in the current mines for this increment in the exploitation.
David Londono
Yes, indeed. Thank you for that.
We have to increase the brownfield exploration. And the reason for this is that we want to replace the year's production in both jurisdictions.
For us, this is very important to have this certainty about the budget that we are making. So this is a change in the strategy, increase those expenses in exploration because in the end, this gives a lot of profitability.
We have always said that Nicaragua has a very good perspective. It's an area with a good perspective, and we expect to have very good results with increase in the exploration.
And in Colombia, this has been very consistent and the fact of increasing the exploration. So we are sure about what we are going to produce in the next 5 years.
Operator
We have another question. Why the underground production of gold has really been -- has decreased in 44% and what's -- what are the future plans for the underground sector.
David Londono
In Hemco, our bottleneck is the capacity for processing. We currently see an increase in the contribution of the artisanal miners that because of their activity, it had -- their grade doubles what we obtain in the industrial mines in our mines.
So seeing the plan and the sequences adapted, and we give preference to the ore from the artisanal mining above or on top of our own mining. So we are increasing the processing capacity in our plants.
That's part of our growth plan in our capacities.
Operator
We have a question from Christian Marasco.
Unknown Analyst
Congratulations. Could you please detail your investment plan for the funds that come from a possible bond emission.
How is the return on investment in the new mines.
Unknown Executive
So we have this growth to 300,000 ounces in relation to the investments in Porvenir, Hemco that should -- we could create a lot of value for our shareholders with this organic growth and to maintain this liquidity in case there is an available...
Operator
This question is from Juan Soto. What's the forecast for CapEx and for which type of investments would you destine these funds.
David Londono
The answer has just been given by David. But just to repeat that a little bit, it's $170 million or $200 million that we want to invest in the construction of Porvenir and about $45 million that we have for the expansion of the bottleneck in Hemco and the possibility to have more production or improvements in the performance in -- with the acquisition of this plant.
Operator
Next question that comes from Santiago Mason.
Unknown Analyst
Could you please give us a guidance of the dividend for 2026?
David Londono
This is something that is defined in the assembly in March. So we cannot give you a guideline of how much it would be.
Well, thank you so much. With this, we close the Q&A session for this call for the results of the third quarter 2025.
Thank you so much for your participation, and I will see you in the next quarter's call. Thank you very much.
Operator
With this, we finish the today's conference. Thank you so much for your participation.
You may disconnect from the call now.