B2GOLD registered record revenue in the third quarter, taking in $487m in consolidated top line income, some $176m more than for the third quarter last year.
The company, which derives about 60% of production from Mali’s Fekola mine, also became debt-free, excluding $50m owed in mining equipment loans and leases.
This was after re-paying an outstanding revolving credit facility balance of $425m during the three months. The full amount of the $600m facility was undrawn and available. The company had net debt of $700m in 2017.
Production for the period came in at 248,733 oz, about 17% more than the comparable quarter of the 2019 financial year, and a shade above budget. Including attributable gold from Calibre Mining Corporation, production was 263,813 oz. B2Gold sold its Nicaraguan mines El Limon and La Libertad to Calibre last year for $100m in shares and cash, but shares in a portion of production.
The upshot is that production for the nine months was 770,268 oz including the Calibre gold production against its target of at least one million oz.
Alluding to political foment in Mali in which the country’s president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, was unseated in July, B2Gold said that the Fekola Mine “… continues to operate unimpeded and no operational days have been lost”.
Assuming a gold price of $1,900/oz for the balance of 2020, B2Gold expected to generate cash flows from operating activities of more than $900m.
On August 5, the company announced a 100% increase of its quarterly dividend to $0.04/share share, equal to $0.16/share on an annual basis, which was reflected in the third quarter dividend payment.
B2Gold also mines from Otjikoto in Nambia and Masbate in the Philippines.
