SSR Mining earnings up for full year | Mining

For all of 2021, SSR Mining posted adjusted net income of $401.76 million, or $1.86 cents per share, up from $193.4 million, or $1.28 per share, for the year 2020.

“SSR Mining ended 2021 with another strong quarter, rounding out a year of operational outperformance, strong free cash flow generation and peer-leading returns,” said Rod Antal, president and chief executive officer of SSR Mining.

Free cash flow totaled $444 million in 2021, and the company directors approved a dividend of 7 cents per share for the fourth quarter, up 40% over the dividend for the third quarter.

SSR Mining shares were at $19.88 in mid-day trading on Feb. 24, up 2 cents.

The Denver-based company also reported 9.2 million ounces of gold reserves at the end of 2021, up 1.1 million ounces from the 2020 reserves, and Antal said in the Feb. 23 conference call that the reserve growth was impressive.

Net income attributable to equity holders of SSR Mine totaled $127.44 million, or 60 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, up from $83.18 million, or 38 cents per share, and the full year’s net income was $368.08 million, or $1.70 per share, up from $157.28 million, or $1 per share, in 2020.

The average realized gold price was $1,798 per ounce in the fourth quarter, down from $1,880 in the fourth quarter of 2020. The average realized silver price was $23.48 per ounce in the quarter, down from $24.78 in the 2020 quarter, according to the earnings report.

The spot gold price on Feb. 24 was over $1,900 on news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Antal said in the earnings call that 2021, “which was our full first year post-merger, allowed us to showcase the quality and resilience of our globally diversified asset base. We delivered nearly 800,000 ounces of production at the top end of our guidance range, while our all-in sustaining costs of $955 an ounce beat our previously lowered all-in sustaining cost guidance, bucking inflationary trends.”

SSR Mining and Alacer Gold merged in the late summer of 2020.

The Marigold Mine had measured and indicated resources of 1.6 million ounces of gold in addition to 3.4 million ounces of gold reserves. Those reserves at the end of 2021 were down 8%, however, from the prior year due to depletion from mining.

SSR Mining reported expanded exploration on the property targeting higher-grade oxide material and exploration of deeper sulfide material. The company also reported that it is looking at the potential for longer-term stand-alone heap leach pads and gold adsorption plants at Buffalo Valley and/or Trenton Canyon.

Antal said that at Marigold “the life-of-mine planning includes 2.5 million ounces in total gold production over an 11-year mine life. We see opportunities to optimize the production profile in the near term from targets like New Millennium, as well as a potential further upside by incorporating exploration success at Buffalo Valley and Trenton Canyon.”

Stewart Beckman, executive vice president and chief operating officer of SSR, said in the earnings call that “in the longer term, we have extensive targets at Marigold, including Trenton Canyon and Buffalo Valley,” and he said there is historic permitting in that area that “may make them easier to accelerate.”

Beckman said that most of the exploration at Marigold is focused on “delivering high-grade oxide ores, which provide the lowest-cost redevelopment pathways. However, we have had some really interesting sulfide intercepts at Marigold, for example, most recently at Trenton Canyon.”

He said there will continue to be exploration of sulfide targets.

A technical summary released on Marigold on Feb. 23 doesn’t include recent exploration success in identifying higher grade oxide material outside of existing mineral resources. The target of subsequent filings will be to incorporate additional mineral reserves delineated by recent exploration drilling, according to the company.

Gold equivalent production from SSR’s operations in Nevada, Turkey, Argentina, and Canada totaled 211,717 million ounces in the fourth quarter, down from 220,431 in the 2020 quarter, while production for the year 2021 was at 794,456 gold ounces, up from 484,153 ounces in 2020.

Antal said the company’s plan to produce 700,000 ounces of gold annually over the next decade “just became a reality.”

The company also reported that the acquisition of Taiga Gold Corp., which will give SSR 100% of the Fisher property adjacent to SSR’s Seabee Mine in Saskatchewan, is expected to close in the first half of 2022 and the sale of its Pitarrilla silver project in Mexico to Endeavour Silver Corp for a total consideration of up to $127 million.

Alison White, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in the call that SSR Mining still has about 1.2 million shares outstanding on its plan announced in 2021 to buy back 10 million shares, “and our intention is to executive against it as long as it would be accretive for us to do so.”