Equinox Gold Corp. (AMEX:EQX) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 5 of 5

Greg Smith: Yes, we have a ROFR. I think it’s fair to say that we’d love to own more of Greenstone. And how have we given any thought to how we fund it, I mean, not — it’s definitely nothing that I would call advanced. It’s on our radar for sure because at some point, we expect we’re going to need to act if we don’t do something preemptive, — but absolutely, it’s something we think about it’s something we talk to them about. And absolutely, we’d like to own more Greenstone. How that ends up playing out, Dalton, I couldn’t speak to that right now.

Dalton Baretto: Okay. And then once Greenstone is in commercial production, how are you thinking about the broader portfolio? Are you kind of happy with it right now? Are you going to look to make some changes?

Greg Smith: I guess I’d say something I think I’ve said in the past, which is, over the course of building the company, we’ve acquired mines, we’ve developed mines and we sold some mines. We’re always looking to up-tier the portfolio. And so if we can get to a place where we’ve got larger, longer life mines that fill out our production profile, that’s a goal that we aspire to. So I think we’ve got a lot of upside in our portfolio that we want to surface — and — but that’s not to say that we wouldn’t make changes in the future. Right now, we’re very focused on getting Greenstone built up and running and in commercial production. And then we’ve got a little more flexibility around the longer-term strategy at that point. At this stage, we just want to keep our eye on the ball there at Greenstone.

Dalton Baretto: And maybe just one last one. On Castle Mountain Phase 2, it sounds like you’ve got an initial response from the BLM, and they look like they’re going to perhaps accept the application. Have they flagged any kind of, let’s call them, high-risk areas that they’ll be looking at? Or is this going to be reasonably straightforward?

Doug Reddy: Well, both the County and BLM had a period where they can do there, I think it’s called assessment of completeness of our application, and they made additional inquiries. So we responded and it’s just in the overall permitting process. So there’s no indication of anything other than when we’ve moved to the point of answering the questions to be complete to be able to enter fully into the rest of the process.

Dalton Baretto: Okay. So at this point in time, there’s no kind of indications as to what they’re going to be focused on where they’re going to look to actually mitigate certain things, water, that sort of thing?

Doug Reddy: It looks really straightforward, Dalton at this stage. It’s an already operating mine. We’re not expanding beyond the currently permitted EIS footprint that’s already there. And we’re not meaningfully changing the processing that was there previously. So it is — it’s a straightforward application. I guess the most painful part to us is just time, right? It’s got to go through their process. I wish this permit was coming in at 2024. It looks like it’s going to be 2025. But no, we haven’t received any comments that I would characterize as controversial or concerning to us.

Rhylin Bailie: All right. We’ve got no further questions. If anybody thinks of anything after having a cups of coffee, please do get in touch by e-mail. Greg, do you have any closing remarks?

Greg Smith: No. Just thanks, everyone, for joining the call so early today. I promise it’s not something we’re going to make a habit of. We had to accommodate some schedules, but I do appreciate those that got up early and attended the call. And thanks again for joining. As Rhylin said, you can always reach out to us directly, and we’re happy to answer questions.

Rhylin Bailie: Thank you, [Gillian] you can close the call.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

Follow Equinox Gold Corp. (NYSE:EQX)

Page 5 of 5