Can you discuss Alamos Gold’s highlights from 2023?

We expected it would be one of the best years for production, hitting 500,000 oz of gold, which is a cause for celebration. Despite being a tough year for the sector, the company had great momentum, and our share price reflected that; we were up 40% in 2022 and continued with a strong performance in 2023. Along with our strong Q3 results, we increased our annual production guidance for the year by about 5%, so we are now forecasting up to 530,000 oz/y of gold production. It has been a banner year for Alamos.

How has Alamos Gold managed to maintain its success?

Our strategy is based on accretive acquisitions and an investment in organic growth through exploration, expansion and development of our various projects. 

In 2015, we had only one mine: Mulatos. We then decided to focus on Canadian assets, resulting in the acquisition of Young-Davidson, Island Gold and Lynn Lake. Between those three, we made huge progress, but we never put Mulatos in the rear-view mirror. We discovered and developed the La Yaqui and La Yaqui Grande deposits, which, even during this last quarter, allowed us to beat forecasts. While La Yaqui is the main source of production, we have been working on a new discovery at Puerto Del Aire, which runs off the main Mulatos pit. We delineated over a million oz Au, and it is still growing at good grades. Unlike the oxide heap leach resources originally developed at Mulatos, we now have higher-grade sulfides that will require milling. We are preparing for a new phase of development for the Mulatos project.

How is the expansion of Island Gold progressing?

Island Gold made tremendous progress over the past 18 months. Prior to announcing the results from our Phase 3+ expansion study, we worked on a significant tailings expansion. During 2023, the focus has been on completion of the shaft site surface infrastructure. It will take 18 months to get to target depth. We remain on pace and within budget for completion by 2026. There are major steps ahead of us, including mill expansion, the construction of the paste backfill plant, and the building of the hoist and hoist house. In 2020, we completed a set of similar tasks at Young-Davidson, where we installed an 8,000-t/d mill, a paste backfill plant, and sunk two 1,500 m shafts. 

Have the recent regulatory changes in Mexico impacted operations?

The regulatory changes have not impacted our operations at the Mulatos mine. There was no effort to change the rules and regulations under which we initially established operations.

In terms of new projects, I do not see us doing much outside of the Mulatos area until there is clarity as to the associated risks of doing business there. If you raise taxes and the treatment of certain costs, you are sending a signal to the market you do not want further investment in the sector. The market will respond to those signals, which is what we are seeing right now.

How will Alamos Gold maintain its trajectory?

It boils down to continuity and delivering on objectives. We have consistently delivered our guidance for years, which has garnered us a lot of trust among investors. For us, it is ‘steady as she goes’ – many of our projects cannot be completed in a fiscal year but are multi-year in scope. The full expansion of Island Gold will be completed in 2026, for example, but we have worked on it since 2021. We will operate the mine and increase production between now and the completion of the shaft and mill expansion. Young-Davidson will remain a steady producer. We will have a strong annual exploration budget; it was over US$50 million this year and will likely remain at this level in 2024. Exploration is a part of the DNA of this company, and it has brought much success.

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