Aya Gold & Silver (AYA) Q2 2026 earnings call transcript

Transcript, summary, guidance, and what analysts pressed on from the Aya Gold & Silver Inc. call on August 14, 2026.

Held
August 14, 2026
Length
47 min
Tone
Confident0.83
Analysts
2
Words
6,233
FY2026 Zgounder production
5.2 to 5.8 million ounces silver equivalentguidance confirmed
FY2026 Boumadine production
1 million ounces silver equivalentguidance confirmed
FY2026 Zgounder cash cost
$21.50 per ounceguidance unchanged
FY2026 Boumadine cash cost
$10.10 per ounceguidance; current $10.40
FY2026 exploration expenditure
$60 millionunchanged
FY2026 sustaining and growth CapEx
$36 millionabout half each
Boumadine drilling program
200,000 meters93,000 meters completed
Zgounder open-pit strip ratio
around 16next six months

Summary

Management framed Q2 as execution-led, with throughput gains, lower costs and strong cash generation funding Boumadine’s development and exploration pipeline.

  • 3,900 tons per day milling exceeded the 2,700-ton nameplate, with management expecting further throughput growth in Q3 and Q4.
  • 374,000 tons of stockpiled ore gives flexibility to slow underground mining while developing lower levels.
  • The Boumadine investment decision is made; feasibility work is underway, with early-September PEA revisions and H1 2027 feasibility completion targeted.
  • The Nasdaq listing expanded U.S. investor participation but temporarily lifted G&A, which management said is being addressed.

Guidance

  • 5.8M5.2 to 5.8 million ounces silver equivalent FY2026 Zgounder production
  • 1M1 million ounces silver equivalent FY2026 Boumadine production
  • $21.50$21.50 per ounce FY2026 Zgounder cash cost
  • $10.10$10.10 per ounce FY2026 Boumadine cash cost
  • $36M$36 million FY2026 sustaining and growth CapEx, about half each
  • $60M$60 million FY2026 exploration expenditure
  • 200,000 meters FY2026 Boumadine drilling
  • 30,000 meters FY2026 Zgounder drilling

What analysts pressed on

  • 01Open-pit stripping: management expects a ratio around 16 over the next six months and year-end near 13, not 20 next year.
  • 02Underground mining: 1,200 to 1,500 tons per day is adequate while crews prioritize lower-level development and opening more stopes.
  • 03Silver sales timing: Zgounder’s remaining inventory was sold in July, while Boumadine volumes are expected to catch up in Q3 and Q4.
  • 04Crusher capacity: the tertiary crusher is intended to stabilize 3,850 tons per day, with further gains possible but not quantified.
  • 05Boumadine PEA scope: management expects resource and payability updates, with material project changes deferred to the feasibility study.
  • 06Water supply: reservoirs are full and management said short- and medium-term water availability is not a concern.

Notable disclosures

  • 51 meters at 890 grams per ton silver equivalent was intersected in a new parallel zone outside the current resource model.
  • 5.4 kilometers is the expanded Boumadine mineralized structure length, with drilling continuing along the main and TZ zones.
  • $15M$15 million of short-term debt was repaid early, alongside $33 million of EBRD repayments during the first half.
  • The planned open-pit pushback may move from late this year to early next year; timing remains undecided.
  • Management said Boumadine metallurgy is not an issue because all concentrate goes to a smelter; payability is the key study variable.

Risks raised

  • Silver prices corrected sharply after January’s $120-per-ounce level, and June’s decline reduced realized prices versus quarterly averages.
  • Open-pit stripping is expected to rise to around 16 over the next six months, affecting mine sequencing and costs.
  • Underground throughput may ease as development focuses on lower levels, although management said stockpiles and open-pit supply provide flexibility.
  • Boumadine’s revised economics depend partly on updated metal payabilities, which management said will be disclosed in the PEA.

Tone: Confident 0.83

Management emphasized rising throughput, strong cash generation, confirmed guidance and a growing development pipeline, while acknowledging silver-price volatility and execution demands.

Who spoke

Company

  • Elizabeth HamouiDirector of Corporate and Financial Communications
  • Benoit LassallePresident and Chief Executive Officer
  • Raphael BaudoinVice President of Operations
  • Unidentified ManagementChief Financial Officer

Analysts

  • Bryce AdamsAnalyst, Aja Ardame
  • Justin ChanAnalyst, SCP Resource Finance

Full transcript

Analyst questions are marked with a bar. Timestamps are into the recording.

Prepared remarks

00:00

Good morning, everyone. I will now turn the call over to Elizabeth Hamoui, Aya Gould & Silver, Director of Corporate and Financial Communications. Please go ahead.

00:12

Elizabeth HamouiDirector of Corporate and Financial Communications

Thank you, operator, and welcome to Aya's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining me today are Benoit Lassalle, President and CEO, Hugo Landry-Tolstchuk, Chief Financial Officer, Elias Elias, Chief Legal and Sustainability Officer, Raphael Baudoin, I, Vice President of Operations, and David Lalonde, Vice President of Exploration. We will refer to a presentation available via the webcast and on our website. As we will be making forward-looking statements during the call, please refer to the cautionary notes in the presentation, news release, and MD&A, as well as the risk factors in our annual information form. Technical information in the presentation has been reviewed and approved by Raphael Baudoin. I am vice president of operations and David Lalonde, I am vice president of exploration, both qualified persons as defined under national instruments 43101 standards of disclosure for mineral projects.

And following the presentation, we will have a Q&A session. I would now like to turn the call over to Benoit Lassan. Benoit.

Questions and answers

01:18

Benoit LassallePresident and Chief Executive Officer

Elizabeth, thank you very much. Welcome everyone to our Q2 2026 conference call. It is another very strong quarter for Aya. We have pre-release the production results for the quarter. You recall that the production for Q2 is 1.7 million out of silver equivalent, which is a 61% increase year over year, and it's a 12% increase quarter over quarter. That translated into very strong financial results. So our revenue for the second quarter of 2026 stands at $97 million, which is an increase of 151% year over year. Our net income for Q2 is at $35 million, which is also a very strong increase from the previous year. And our cash flow is at $48 million, which is a 522% increase from the previous year, Q2 2025.

So we have a very strong quarter in revenue, strong quarter in profit, strong quarter in cash flow. And this, as we all know, due to the seasonality in Morocco, Q1 is always a little bit lighter because of the weather. Q2 comes out of the winter and is a stronger quarter. Q3 is stronger than Q2, and Q4 has been historically our strongest quarter. So we're very pleased with the first half of the year as we will review some of the numbers.

Now for the KPI, the key performance indicator of the mine, the secondaire mine has performed extremely well. The mining rate continues to improve and it's up 7% quarter over quarter. I'm pleased to say that the mining rate on a daily basis achieved 4,900 ton a day. You recall that the plant was designed for 2,700 ton a day, and one of the key elements was to make sure that the mining rate was going to be aligned with the nameplate of the plant, which was supposed to be 2,700. We know now it's a lot higher, but the mining rate is at 4,900 ton a day. We had record performance achieved from the underground and the open pit.

So we're extremely pleased with the outcome. The grade through the plan was 141 gram per ton, which is right where we wanted it to be. And another element which is important is because we're mining more than we're processing, we have an ore stockpile of 374,000 tons. That is extremely important. It's the buffer that is there if we reduce mining rates for more development, especially on the underground where we want to go to the lower levels. We have 374,000 tons of ore stockpile. At the plant, we have record milling rate in Q2, which again reflects our strong execution. Q2 average is 3,900 ton a day compared to the previous quarter at 3,600 ton a day and to last year, same quarter over quarter was 3,000 ton a day, and that we know the nameplate was 2,700.

So we've moved in the ramp up from 2,700 to 3,000 last year, started the year this year at 3,600 ton a day, and are now at 3,900 ton a day, and expect this to grow up a little bit again for Q3 and Q4. Strong recoveries as well at the plant and other KPI. Above 90% recoveries and above 90% availability. So all of our KPIs are green. We manage them on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis. Currently everything is in the green. We've also brought in a temporary crushing contractor to improve the throughput, and we're adding a new crushing section to the plan, and that should be ready by the beginning of 2027.

Moving to the next slide, which is the selling price throughout the quarter. You recall that Q1 was exceptional as silver reached $120 per ounce in January. Of course, since then, we've seen a strong correction. So for secondaire, the average selling price for Q2 2026 is $68.29. So it's $15 less than Q1, but it's very close to the average of the quarter. You understand that the average of the quarter is very hard to meet in a decreasing price environment because you don't sell every day. So in a decreasing price environment, you're a little bit below the average. The average for the quarter is a little bit above 70, and we're at 68.29. We were above the average in Q1 because it was increasing at the time, so that was a little bit easier to be above the average.

But it's still an extremely good selling price, knowing that Q4 last year, we were all very happy with 59.23. So again, a strong selling price in Q2 for secondaire. And actually, the selling price at Boumedzin, for some just reason, was a little bit better at $70 an ounce. But we have a payability there of 50%. So the selling price was net at 35. Because you remember, Boumadzin were selling tailings, which has a lot of difficult elements.

So when you look at the cash costs, we were expecting cash costs to come down at Goundaire, because we are now on a steady rate, increasing actually the throughput, but on a steady rate. And yes, we're very pleased that for Q2 2026, the cash cost at Zgunda is at $17.69. That's something, you know, coming from 1864 in the previous quarter and $20 in Q4 of 2025. So, again, these are small details, you know, better efficiency, and we are working on cash costs. But at $17.69, knowing that this is a brand new plant, the development costs, the additional costs, sustaining costs are extremely low at Goundaire. It's probably $3 an ounce maximum. It's not even that in Q1 and in Q2.

So you're looking at a cash cost of $17.69, which is a very, very good position to be in. To the next slide at Boumadine, just quickly, Boumadine is a bit of an add-on to Zgundin. We're processing the old tailings. It's a reclamation operation. It had no capex, very low cash cost at $10.58 an ounce. It just generates cash flow. We're a little bit lower on the production front, and we knew Q1 again. When you have a lot of rain in tailings, of course, it's a bit more complicated because it's slushy. So Q1 and Q2 were a little bit lower. We knew Q3, Q4 were going to be a lot higher, but we still managed to produce 187,000 ounces of silver equivalent, and we made a margin of silver.

As I said, we sold it for $35 an ounce. Our cash cost at Boumadzin is $10.58. We made $20 an ounce, so 20 times 185,000 ounces of production. It's still $3.6 million of free cash flow coming to Boumadzin to pay for the operation and for the drilling. So it's a very nice add-on to Zgunda, which we have in operation and accelerating in Q3 and Q4. Looking at the next slide is the cash position at quarter N. We started the year in January 1st, we had $136 million in the bank of free cash. We always have $16 million of restricted cash, which is part of the EBRD loan package. We started with $136 million, and in the first six months of the year, we generated $119 million of operating cash flow.

So, 136, we add to that 119 of operating cash flow. We have 38 million of exploration and sustaining CapEx, 38 million. We paid down 33 million of EBRD in the first six months. We had one payment, and we also paid down a $15 million short-term debt that we took last year on Boom Adzin just because it was available, and we took it on. That was paid back so we paid million back We invested million in expiration and sustaining CapEx and we finished the quarter with 183 million dollars Of course you know we reporting U dollars So 183 million and we have 16 million in restricted cash which technically gets applied to the EBRD loan at the end if we want that So we had a strong cash flow H1.

We have limited capex, as we know. We have a large exploration program, but that's part of our value creation strategy. We did an early repayment of the $15 million to EBRD, and we're left with $183 million that is ready to go to the development of Boumadine, which will start towards the end of this year. So very, very strong quarter. On the next slide, just a summary of the first six months. If you look at the operational performance, as a company we produced 3.2 million ounces of silver equivalent at a consolidated cash cost for silver equivalent of $17.59. Zgunder did 2.8 million, and Boumadzin did half a million. We will talk about the guidance, but we're already half here and half the way to the guidance.

We are totally aligned with the guidance that we presented to you at the beginning of the year. We're totally aligned with the guidance. Zgunder has a cash cost for the first six months of $18.18. Bumadzin has a cash cost of $10.85 per ounce. So we're fully aligned, and we'll review the guidance in a minute, but we're half the way into the year, and we're half the way into our guidance. The revenue for six months stands at $205 million. The net income is $84 million. The basic EPS is at $0.58. And the operating cash flow for six months stands at $119 million. The guidance which you have on the next slide was presented to you at the beginning of the year.

Our production guidance is 5.2 to 5.8 at Sgundair, and at mid-year Sgundair is at 2.8. So you see that we're tracking right on our Sgundair production guidance. Boom Adzin is at $1 million. We're at half a million right now, $400,000. But we know that Q3 and Q4 for Boom Adzin are going to be a lot easier. No rain, much, much, much easier. Warm weather, Boom Adzin currently is between 40 and 50 degrees some days, so it's very dry, so easy to work on tailings. The secondaire average cash cost, we had guided at $21.50. We knew that Q1, Q2 would be a bit lower because of the strip in the pit and the strip as a direct effect on our cash cost, so we're not changing our guidance there.

On Boomadzin, we were at $10.10. We're at $10.40, so we're very, very close. The sustaining and growth CapEx is at 36 million. It's about half and half. Half is sustaining, half is growth. New crusher, new installation, an ore sorter, different things that we're putting in which are really growth CapEx and sustaining is the development of the underground. And expiration expenditure is at $60 million. That hasn't changed. Maybe a little bit more due to the new assets that we've acquired, the new permits, which I'll review in one minute. So the guidance is confirmed. We're well into it at the mid-year point, and we continue to be very positive about what's coming in Q3 and in Q4.

So going forward on the strategy and the operational priorities at Boumadin, which is the main now leg of value creation for Aya, all the independent consultant firms have been engaged on all key feasibility work streets. So, metallurgy, energy, water supply, logistics, TSF location, feasibility study, all of that is now ongoing and will be ready next year, feasibility study. At the same time, the updated PEA is being completed as we speak, and we'll be ready for publication early in September as we all come back from Labor Day weekend. So we're into it right now. We are into the mine plan. We are into this financial model for the PEA review. At the same time, feasibility is being completed, and we've already started the RFP process on mining, on construction, on electricity.

So all of that is ongoing. So the investment decision has been made. The project is extremely profitable. We will also confirm CapEx in the revised PEA, which will be available in one month. And so Boumadine is a strategic project for us, and we're working on this thoroughly and to come with the revised PEA in September. At Goundin, you saw its optimization of the Goundin mine. It's working well. The open pit, the underground, the grade control, all of that is going extremely well. We've put in additional ventilation. We've put in additional safety equipment. We had to complete the first phase of the TSF because we were putting through more material in the tailings due to the fact that we went from 2,700 ton per day planned in the feasibility study to today 3,900 ton a day, even 4,000 ton a day.

So, of course, the direct effect of that is the TSF gets filled much sooner than expected. We've completed the first phase of the new TSF, which is the same one, but just with bigger capacity. That's been done. We actually did it on time and below budget. And the new crusher expansion is being installed. It's going to get commissioned this fall, and it will be ready for early 2027. On the exploration front, you know, and that's slide 12, on the exploration front, you know, we do spend 60 million U. S. dollars a year. We are drilling 200,000 meters at Boumadzin. We're drilling 30,000 meters at Zgundang. As of now, the drilling at Boumadzin is at 93,000 meters.

We know that the first half of the year, again, winter, Ramadan, is a little bit slower. We have a third contractor coming in with three machines or three drills. We are going to be up to 15, 16 drills turning at Boumadzin, and we expect to complete the 200,000 meter program as we have. And if everything goes well, maybe a little bit more. The big highlight of the quarter was the new zone that we discovered, parallel to the main zone, where we had an intercept of 51 meters at 890 gram per sun silver equivalent. That is clearly not currently in the resource model. There's additional drilling that will be done this year on this, but this is a significant discovery parallel to the main zone.

We've also continued to drill the main zone and the TZ zone, and we've increased the length of the structure now to 5.4 kilometers, so that keeps increasing. We have many other targets where we're doing mapping, we're doing prospecting to support future drilling programs on the Boumadzin large project, which is over 1,000 square kilometers of ground under the expiration license and the reconnaissance license of 600 square kilometers. So we have a very large land package at Boumeddin, and we keep increasing the land package.

As Goundé, there's 30,000 meters. As of now, we've done 10,000 meters. You saw some results in June. There'll be more results coming out in September. As Goundé is steady state, drilling is giving us always very good results. We continue to see the high-grade mineralization. The structure is much wider than originally anticipated. So, when we came in, we thought it was a 20-meter-wide structure. It isn't. It's much wider. We're now pushing to the west to see under the fault. We are going to be drilling there in the next few weeks, few months, to see if it's continuing under the west fault. We're also drilling to the northeast. So it's a very, very strong project. Geology is getting to be better understood.

We are using AI extensively to understand the regional play, and there will be some regional drilling ongoing this fall, and we're going to be looking, you know, hopefully for some very positive results. And to close, I'd just like to talk about the acquisition that we've announced last week. We've announced the acquisition of 259 square kilometers. We've always been saying that in Morocco there's tremendous potential. Some families have ground, some families have many projects, and they have done very little exploration. They've walked the ground a little bit, done very little exploration, mainly have done a lot of the infrastructure work, but did not have the expertise to do the exploration work. So we were able to acquire from two families a 259-kilometer portfolio, a district called Zagora, which has the potential for copper, lead, zinc, and silver.

Agadir Melul, which is copper, silver, and gold, and some probably rare earth as well. And Gulmin, which is lead, copper, gold, and silver. Those are very, very good projects. You should know that we look at projects every week. People come to us, show us ground. We are very selective very very selective because we already have over 1 square kilometers of ground between Scounder and Boumadine But this is something when we showed that to the team they said no this is very very interesting and we should move and acquire this We have acquired this for 10 million dirhams, so 1 million US dollars, and the budget is about $800,000 this year to do what we always do, which is satellite imagery, spectral, stream sediment.

We'll see if we do some geophysics a bit later, but this is low-cost acquisition, low-cost exploration. We have a team. There was already a team, and some of our team is available to do this. We're not taking anybody away from Zgunda or anybody away from Bumadzin, because we'll have, in total, 18 to 20 drills turning. We will be producing 240,000 samples. So it's something that we're not taking away from these two assets to go and do the exploration on this new ground. This will have its own team. It reinforces our first mover advantage in Morocco. We are, with Managem and, of course, Onim, the largest player in the country. These are all district-scale exploration footprint.

They're all, you know, put together very large packages of permits. And for us, it just creates a pipeline of opportunities for the future. You will see us acquire additional ground, very similar, some close to Zgundin, other close to Boumadin. But we are always looking at assets because we really believe that Morocco is underexplored. We know it is underexplored. We believe that there's more Zgundin, there's more Boumadzin, there's more Imitin, which is owned by Managem, which is a world-class silver asset. There's more of that. There's copper deposits. There's more silver deposits. and we have our first mover advantage and you will see us continue making small acquisition like a very small but some very very good ground that we like.

So this completes the formal part of the presentation. I will turn it over to you operator for the Q&A period. Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question at this time, please press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster.

Our first question comes from a line of Bryce Adams with Aja Ardame. Hey Ben, Wynentine. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I just wanted to ask a couple of questions on the Zagunda outlook. In the disclosure, it talks to increased strip ratios in the back half of this year. So the question is, what do you think the strip ratios increase for Q3 and Q4? And then the same question for next year as well, for 2027. Is that an accelerated stripping campaign next year? And then just similar on some of the outlook, you talked to slower mining rates in the underground. What are the expectations there? Thanks. Yeah, thank you, Bryce. Ralph is with us this morning, as you know.

He's our VP of operations, so I will let him answer this. The strip ratio for quarter three and four, the life of mine strip ratio, and why we believe it will be a slower throughput in the underground over the next few quarters. Ralph?

27:34

Raphael BaudoinVice President of Operations

Hi Bryce, yes, happy to comment on that. Let's start with the open pit. On the year to date, in the open pit, we're around a strip of 10, and we're quite aligned with our 43-101 on the long term. We expect the strip to increase to around 16 in the next six months, and we expect to land the year closer to 13, which is quite aligned with our long-term expectation for the open pit.

As for the pushback, we have several pushback plans through the life of mine for the open pit, and we have one coming towards the end of year that is in our mine plan this year. We might push it earlier next year. We're taking our time to assess what's the best path forward. So the open pit is quite under control to the point that we have options. We can do it this year, we can do it a bit later, the start of next year. That is yet to be finalized depending on how things continue to progress. So the open pit on long term, we expect a 13 strip ratio. Some months closer to 8, like we had in the beginning of the year.

Some months closer to 16, depending on where we're at and what's the best way to mine it as we go on the detailed planning on our rolling three-month plan.

As for the underground, I want to nuance that. We are focusing on new zones, and we want to really focus on continuing to develop the infrastructures for the lower levels. We're on plan. We are closer to the 1750 level as we speak, and we need to go all the way down to 1625. We have a healthy stockpile. We're mobilizing extra crushing capacity that, for the meantime, is compensated by a crushing contractor.

So we want to be comfortable on the ground. We are right now comfortable. We worked a lot in the last two years to get to that point, and we want to keep it. We want to keep it like that. So right now on the ground, we have about 1,200 to 1,500 tons per day, right? which is fine. The reason why we would prefer to slow it down is because we have that option in hand and we want to really focus on developing the sublevels to open more stoves and to be in this comfortable position. So as the open pit continues to sustain essentially a solid portion of the mill throughput, we did truck rushing coming on hand.

We have an ore sorter also coming that we want to commission later this year. So on the underground is not so much that we will reduce the throughput, a little bit yes, but it's really sustained and even I would say accelerate The infrastructure development for sub-levels.

30:54

Bryce AdamsAnalyst, Aja Ardame

Okay, thanks for all of that, Rafa. And I understand that you're still putting together the 2027 open pit mine plan. At the minute, my model has a strip ratio of 20 to 1 for next year. Like, do you think that that is too conservative?

31:11

Raphael BaudoinVice President of Operations

Yeah, we're not planning for a 20 to 1 strip ratio for next year.

31:16

Bryce AdamsAnalyst, Aja Ardame

All right, thanks. Yeah, we can adjust for that. That should help our numbers. And then last question for me is just on silver sales. Sales lagged production a little bit in Q2. So Benoit, is that a catch up for Q3? Has it already been caught up in July? And do you think that that's a tailwind for the next set of financial results?

31:38

Benoit LassallePresident and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, thanks, Bryce, for this question, because I think that was something that the market was kind of puzzled with, is the selling price. I'll let you go who runs treasury and sales with the team. Answer is with us, because I think the market needs to have a clear understanding of why our selling price for some of you was a bit lower, and maybe you want to go at it?

32:07

Unidentified ManagementChief Financial Officer

Yeah, sure. So the average sale price of silver, if you will, the LBMA average sale price for the quarter was $73. We were a bit over $68 at Skunder. We also have to look at the timing. If you look at June specifically, price fell quite precipitously from over $70 to below $60 at the end of the quarter. And when we produce, we have to produce and then sell. So for sure, a third of our quarterly production was sold quite low compared to the average of the quarter. So that impacted the revenue slightly. We're 6.4% under on average of the LBMA average price. And then on volumes, there's a few things. In Zgunder, we had a little bit of inventory, and we can see it in inventory.

And on Boumedzin, we sold less than if you take our million ounces and you divide that by four quarters. We sold less in Q2, but that's definitely going to be caught up here in Q3 and Q4. Things are going very, very well. And then the remaining of the inventory that we had at Zgunder has been sold in July. And so, yeah, I think Q3 is looking good, especially at Bumazin. We'll see a significant catch up from the first half. We were learning it's our first time doing this reclaim, but I think now we've hit the winds at our sails now. So I think that'll be caught up here in Q3 and Q4.

33:49

Bryce AdamsAnalyst, Aja Ardame

Okay, perfect. Thank you very much. Sorry.

33:54

Benoit LassallePresident and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, thanks, Bryce. And maybe I can add, because what Aya Gould just said is we can see the whole sector did not like the price in June. So, like, there was a lot of waiting, and because we looked at other companies the way they've done it, and we all kind of got caught with that very quick deceleration or reduction of price and enhance, you know, the average price. Average selling at 68 at Goundaire and 70 at Boumadzin is a little bit below the average of the quarter, but in a decreasing market, it's very difficult to be on the average because you keep coming down as you sell, and it's much easier to be up the average on an increasing market.

But again, as I mentioned in my little presentation, we're very happy with 68 and 70. We prefer 82 in Q1, but with the cash costs at 18 or 16 and ASIC plus 3 or 4, we're still very happy. And look in six months we generated 119 million of operating cash flow So we like the silver price We like where it is We will prefer it in Q3 and Q4 to be much higher but look time will tell Yeah, for sure.

35:20

Bryce AdamsAnalyst, Aja Ardame

Thanks, Ben. Well, great color. I know we're focused on the details here, but at a higher level, it's a very healthy market and strong results from higher. So thanks for taking my questions.

35:31

Benoit LassallePresident and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Bryce.

35:33

If you'd like to ask a question at this time, please press star 11 on your touchstone phone. Our next question comes from Justin Chen with SCP Resource Finance.

35:48

Justin ChanAnalyst, SCP Resource Finance

Hi, guys. Congratulations. Good to see the cash flow, especially compared to what the initial CapEx was. My first one's on, you mentioned adding a crusher at Scoundare. I'm just curious if you think that in the long run, what type of throughput that could enable, or is it more just to maintain upper threes to 4,000 tons a day?

36:12

Benoit LassallePresident and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Justin. And I'm going to pass it over to Ralph, but I just want to highlight your comment. You're absolutely right. We have 119 million of operating cash flow on a capex of 140 million. I forgot to mention that in the presentation. Thank you so much. I think we have the best return on investment of the whole industry, and Bumadun is going to look similar. So thank you for highlighting this. It's appreciated.

36:41

Raphael BaudoinVice President of Operations

Hi Justin, this is Rafael. Happy to have a word on the crusher. So to be clear to start, we're not missing a crusher at Gundo. The nameplate is 2700, the plant is well designed, now we're pushing it. The easiest way to push it is to add some crushing capacity because that can be done afterwards and it's quite different from another ball mill, for example. We often have a bit of rain in the beginning of the year, which makes it difficult to push the mill as high as it can go. Now, if we go back to our 43.101 we published, we committed to increased throughput from, say, 3,600 to 3,800. We're already there with the help of the mobile contractor.

The idea with the crusher addition is to be independent. Now we have the health of a contractor. He's doing a great job. Costs are very reasonable for the gain we get from it. The idea is to add a tertiary crusher to sustain our current throughput, and who knows, maybe even increase it a bit. That's to be seen. We see quarter on quarter, almost every quarter except for one over the last six quarters we've increased throughput mill. I don't think we're at the end of that, but we're certainly getting a bit close. And the next two quarters will tell us up to where we can continue to push it. We see days comfortably above 4,000 that hasn't materialized yet as an average over the quarter.

We're trying to get there. Hopefully we'll get there. But to answer your question directly, the tertiary crusher was part of our commitment to stabilize the mill at 3,850 tons per day, and we're already there. So I don't think it's a stretch to think we can beat that, and that's what we're trying to do.

38:46

Justin ChanAnalyst, SCP Resource Finance

Gotcha. Thanks, Raf. And then looking ahead to the Boomadin updated PEA, are there any changes in scope that you're considering, perhaps on the throughput side, on the open-pit underground split side of things, or is it primarily an updated CapEx estimate, and maybe we'll see changes on payabilities?

39:06

Benoit LassallePresident and Chief Executive Officer

So, the updated PEA is what it is. It's an updated PEA. So, we have a new resource. There's new ways to calculate the NSR. There's payables that are changing. But materially, the project remains quite a bit the same. I would expect some changes on the open pit side, on the underground side. We've done quite a bit of drilling since our previous resource, but the PEA is mostly focused on the resource, Justin, and any other large change, if there would be, would be closer in the physicality study.

39:48

Justin ChanAnalyst, SCP Resource Finance

Okay, gotcha. Thanks. And just one last one. I think... We had a big rainy season, or I guess wet season this year.

I guess that positions you really well for the second half in terms of water supply, just kind of clarifying.

40:07

Benoit LassallePresident and Chief Executive Officer

Well, in Europe it's been very dry, but I think this year it was good in Morocco. We're already in August. We're halfway or even past the halfway point of the dry season. Our water reservoirs are full, so we're very comfortable in that end. And we just completed the phase two of our tailings facility, which also allows for a little bit of water storage. So as we speak, the river flows of Gunder, and we are continuing to fill a bit, or to keep full, I should say, our water storage. So, yeah, I mean, water is not something we are concerned with in the short and the medium term.

40:56

Justin ChanAnalyst, SCP Resource Finance

Okay, perfect. Thanks, guys. Really appreciate your time, and I'll forget to watch.

41:01

Benoit LassallePresident and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Justin.

41:04

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our Q&A period. I would now like to turn the call back over to Benoit for closing remarks.

41:11

Benoit LassallePresident and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, operator. Thank you for all the questions. Look, it was a very strong quarter. We were very pleased with the team. Boumadine, as Ralph indicated, the study will be ready in a couple of weeks. It's mainly a new resource model and introduction of the new payability of the metal. Some people were questioning historically metallurgy. Well, there's no metallurgy issue as we are sending all of the concentrate to a smelter. So metallurgy is not an issue. Payability is important, and we will have the new payability numbers in the PEA. So, big catalyst coming, or the catalyst that arrived in Q2, we didn't mention this, but the U. S. listing has been a tremendous success.

The NASDAQ listing, it did increase our GNA this quarter. Some of you may have seen it. It was a little bump in the road of our GNA, but that's being taken care of. But the U. S. listing in Q2 is a major, major success. Our volume has gone up. New funds became shareholders. Some became shareholders between 5% and 8% of the company. It has really changed our distribution and our shareholder list. So we're very pleased with the listing. And so that was a major catalyst in Q2. Of course, drilling, we had great results in Q2. But what to expect going forward is the Boumadin study, which will be in early September. That is important because that's also the base for the feasibility study that will be done for H1 of next year.

But at the end, we're starting, you know, we're going to break ground at the end of the year for electricity, the power line, for water, for the camp, for location and all that. So it is an ongoing construction project. Ralph has built a team in Canada. We have a team in Morocco that's also been put together, the construction team and all of that. So it is really shaping up to be the big project for 2027-2028 for us, and it's continuing to grow. The drilling is ongoing at Zgunda. The drilling is ongoing at Boumadzin. David will have updated results available in September, and we're going to see many of you at Beaver Creek or at the Denver Gold Show.

So we'll have updated results from Boumeddin and from Zgundan. Also, you can expect more acquisition of ground. Morocco is becoming a very, very good jurisdiction when you compare that to a lot of Africa and South America. Morocco is a key jurisdiction for mining, and we do see some people coming in. But we have a first mover advantage. We will be acquiring more ground, and ground that David and his team like and believe that there's tremendous potential. So just on closing, you know, you remember we always talk about the three pillars of the organization, geology, people, and jurisdiction. I think every quarter that we see every increase in commodity price, it just tells us that, you know, we are in the right jurisdiction with the right mining code, with the right people, with the right government.

and supporting mining. The geology is exceptional, absolutely exceptional, and we will continue to show you that there's more Zgoundaire and more Boumadine and more Imitaire in Morocco. And the talent pool that we have is just expanding at all times, and people are very happy to come and join Aya in Canada or in Morocco. So, it's a recipe for success. We've done very well so far. I mean, since we took over six years ago, this has been a tremendous success. But we believe that there's a lot more to come. I would say the best is yet to come. And that's a lot of pressure on David and in geology, but I think the best is yet to come.

jurisdiction is great. And look, we will see you for the Q3 call. We'll see many of you before in Denver. But look, we're really looking forward to a strong third quarter, very good geological results and production results and financial results in Q3. Thank you very much. Thank you for being there today and your support, and we'll see you in a few weeks in Colorado. Thank you.

46:45

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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