B2Gold (BTG) Updates on Drilling at Back River Gold District
B2Gold Corp. BTG announced exploration drilling results from its first drilling campaign in Nunavut's Back River Gold District. It also provided an update on the Goose Project's construction and mining.
B2Gold approved a $20-million exploration budget for the remainder of 2023 in the second quarter of 2023 to complete about 25,000 meters of drilling on the Back River Gold District. This is significantly higher than the previous annual exploration expenditure. As of October 2023, 23,605 meters had been drilled in 77 holes in the Back River Gold District, with results from 42 of the 77 holes received.
The company had completed 17,595 meters of drilling over 51 drill holes on the Goose Project as of the end of October 2023, with assay results received from 16 of the 51 holes. B2Gold had further completed 6,010 meters of drilling over 26 drill holes on the George Project.
Since the end of October, 17 more drill holes in the Umwelt deposit have been planned for completion in 2023.
The Goose Project's construction is on track, with the first gold pour scheduled for the first quarter of 2025. At Umwelt deposit, underground development work is ongoing and open pit mining at Echo Pit is underway.
On Feb 13, 2023, the company inked a deal worth C$1.1 billion ($820 million) to acquire Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. With this deal, B2Gold added its first mining assets in Canada and received the full ownership of Sabina’s Back River Gold District, including five mineral claims spanning 80,000 meters. Among these, the Goose project was the most advanced, and fully permitted and construction-ready. It has been de-risked with substantial infrastructure.
BTG intends to increase production in the first five years of the mine life by accelerating the Goose project's underground mine development. The transaction will boost operational and geographic diversification by combining B2Gold's stable production base with a high-grade, advanced development asset in a Tier-1 mining jurisdiction.
B2Gold reported adjusted earnings per share of 7 cents for second-quarter 2023, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 6 cents. The company posted an adjusted EPS of 4 cents in the prior-year quarter.
It generated revenues of $471 million in second-quarter 2022 compared with the prior-year quarter’s $382 million. The top line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $431 million. The upside resulted from a 5.8% increase in average realized gold prices and a 16.5% rise in gold ounces sold.
Price Performance
B2Gold’s shares have lost 10.2% in the past year against the industry’s growth of 5.7%.
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Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
B2Gold currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks from the basic materials space are Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. AXTA, Universal Stainless & Alloy Products, Inc. USAP and The Andersons Inc. ANDE. AXTA sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and USAP and ANDE each carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Axalta Coating’s 2023 earnings is pegged at 44 cents per share. The consensus estimate for 2023 earnings has moved 23% north in the past 60 days. Its shares have gained 15.7% in a year.
Universal Stainless & Alloy Products has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 44.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for USAP’s 2023 earnings is pegged at 27 cents per share. Earnings estimates have been unchanged in the past 60 days. USAP’s shares gained 96% in the last year.
The consensus estimate for ANDE's current-year earnings has been revised 3.3% upward over the past 60 days. Andersons beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters. It delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 64.4%, on average. ANDE shares have rallied around 32% in a year.
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