Magna Mining (TSX:NICU) Q3 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Magna Mining Inc. Q3 conference call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question, please press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Greg Huffman, Senior Vice President, Capital Markets.

0:35 Thank you, Josh, and good morning, everyone. Before I get started, I would like to mention that we will be making forward-looking statements or provide forward-looking information on the call today in accordance with the applicable securities laws. Please review the press release announcing our Q3 2026 operating financial results for cautionary language regarding the use of and reliance on forward-looking statements and for the risk factors applicable to such forward looking statements that could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Any scientific or technical commentary on this call has been reviewed and approved by David King, our senior vice president of exploration and geoscience who is a qualified person under National Instruments 43-101. With respect to non-IFRS performance measures that are referred to on this call, please refer to the reconciliation to measures of performance prepared in accordance with the IFRS accounting standards in the company's most recently filed MD&A.

1:29 All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. Our press release, MD&A, and financial statements are available on CDAR plus on our corporate website. With us today, our CEO, Jason Jessup, Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Huffman, Chief Financial Officer, Scott Gilbert, EVP, Paul Fowler, SVP Exploration and Geoscience, Dave King, and General Counsel, Tim Bradburn. Following formal remarks from management, we will open the lines for further questions. I would now like to introduce Magnum Mining CEO, Jason Jessup, to comment on the quarterly results.

2:01 Thanks, Greg. During the third quarter of 2026, our team at the McCree West Mine in Sudbury, Ontario, safely mined and shipped 75,272 short tons from the 700 foot wall copper zone, producing 3.7 million copper equivalent payable pounds. The contained grade of 3.6% copper equivalent during Q3 is a quarterly record under Magna's ownership. However, we did experience some operational challenges which impacted tonnage and copper equivalent payable production in the quarter. The issue has now been resolved, although it temporarily altered our mining sequence and deferred some higher grade production into 2027. We also advanced our Lavac and Crane Hill projects during the quarter, culminating in the release of technical studies on both projects in early Q4, with our Board of Directors approving the restart of Lavac Mine and the commencement of construction of Crane Hill during 2027.

2:58 In addition, during Q3, we welcomed Alpayana as our largest shareholder with the completion of a $140 million strategic investment for 19.9% equity interest in Niagara Mining. I would now like to hand over to our Chief Financial Officer, Scott Gilbert, to present an overview of our financial performance in Q3.

3:18 Thanks, Jason. In Q3 2026, the MacReady West mine generated net revenue of $27.4 million. The precious metals stream at MacReady West reduced net revenue in Q3 by $7 million. Our cash margin in the quarter was $4.9 million, or U.S. 94 cents for a copper equivalent payable pound. During the first nine months of 2026, cash margin at McCready West was $19.7 million. Cash costs in Q3 were US $4.12 per copper equivalent payable pound, and all in sustaining costs were US $4.93 per copper equivalent payable pound.

4:03 For Q3 2026, the company had operating cash outflow of 0.6 million or nil per share. In addition, free cash outflow in the quarter was 7.6 million or negative 3 cents per share, which include 1.2 million at Labak Mines for mining equipment and infrastructure upgrades and 5.4 million of exploration and evaluation expenses at Queen Hill. Our cash balance at September 30th, 2026 was $168.4 million, up from $40 million at June 30, 2026, following the completion of the strategic investment by Alpiana via non-brokered private placement of 62,356,682 common shares at $2.25 per share for gross proceeds of approximately $140.3 million.

4:51 We ended the quarter with a working capital balance of $161.9 million. I will now hand the call over to our Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Huffman, for an overview of our operational performance in the quarter.

5:14 Thanks, Scott. During Q3, we navigated some operational challenges at MacReady West while continuing to advance our LAVAC and crane hill projects. Most importantly, we operated safely across all of our operations and projects. with our total recordable injury frequency rate over the first nine months of 2026, declining to 0.43 with all hours worked on all Magna sites, including those of the many contracting firms we work alongside. This compares to 2.23 during that same period in 2025, representing an 81% reduction. This is a product of our ongoing commitment to preventing injuries through rigorous critical risk management, strong leadership, and disciplined execution in the field.

6:11 McCready West produced 75,272 short tons of ore from the 700-foot wall copper zone at a grade of 3.6 copper equivalent for contained copper equivalent production of 5.4 million pounds. Copper equivalent grades of 3.6% during Q3 were aligned with our expectations for higher grades during the second half of 2026. However, tonnage was lower than expected due to operational challenges during September related to an isolated geological structure which impacted a high-grade production stope on the 910 level. This issue has now been resolved although it temporarily altered our mining sequence with some higher grade production being deferred to 2027 and being replaced by lower grade material from the 1520 level during Q4.

7:09 Our production costs per ton processed in Q3 were $248 per ton reflecting lower than expected tonnage shift during the quarter. vinyl surveyed underground development at MacReady West in Q3 totaled 1,934 feet or 21 feet per day on average. Activities during the quarter at our adjacent Lavac mine focused on infrastructure readiness to support early ore sources and establishing underground exploration platforms to continue delineation drilling of R2 footwall zone as well as drill testing other high priority targets.

7:54 During the quarter, underground development crews at Lavac completed development of the initial 2950 level exploration drift towards the R2 footwall zone. In addition to develop on the 2950 level, Lavac personnel are continuing rehabilitation along the 2650 level from the number two shaft towards number three shaft. the 2650 level underground exploration diamond drilling platforms will allow drilling of additional target areas in the footwall of the number three ore body. Work on the production hoist plant continued with shaft rehabilitation and plant infrastructure refurbishment.

8:40 The production hoist recommissioning project remains on track to be completed in Q1 of 2027. Completion of this project will allow hoisting of stockpiled development ore and waste from underground and the acceleration of underground development in preparation for pre-commercial ore production during 2027. Finally, engineering work continues to support a portal concept to access the upper parts of Lovac Mines. On October 8th, we released the results of a preliminary economic assessment on the restart of Lavac Mine. The PA outlined an average annual production of 36.8 million pounds payable copper equivalent over a 7.3 year mine life.

9:36 Production is based on a total mining inventory of 5.75 million short tons and a mining rate of 2,200 short tons per day. at an average of 3.42% copper equivalent and does not include any production from the R2 footwall zone. For a full summary of PEA results, please see our news release from October 8th. Based on positive PEA results, our board of directors has approved the restart of Lavac Mine with commercial production forecast for mid-2028. In order to take advantage of natural synergies between Lavac Mine and the connected McCree West Mine, we have made the decision to combine the two mines into the Lavac Mine Complex.

10:29 This will allow for the sharing of technical and maintenance resources with other positions such as surface supervision spread across the complex. At the Crane Hill project, work during Q3 included detail engineering and design. surface site preparation, including site leveling and portal box cut excavation, as well as power line and water treatment infrastructure. On October 21st, we released the results of our preliminary or a pre-feasibility study on Crane Hill, which demonstrated 11.4 million short tons of probable reserves with an average payable copper equivalent production rate of 35.5 million pounds, over a 12-year commercial mine life.

11:21 The PFS is based on a production rate of approximately 2,400 short tons per day at a copper equivalent grade of 3.0%. For a full summary of the PFS results, please see our news release from October 21st. Based on the results of the PFS, our Board of Directors has approved construction of the Crane Hill project which is anticipated to commence in 2027. I will now hand the call over to our SVP Exploration and Geoscience, Dave King, for an update on our exploration activities.

12:02 Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. At LAVAC, three underground drill rigs were currently active during Q3 and focused on definition and expansion drilling of the R2 footwall zone, definition drilling of the intermediate zone, and testing of new expiration targets. These drills are operating from the 8450 expiration drift on the 1800 level and from the new 2950 level expiration drift located between the Morrison footwall copper PG deposit and the R2 footwall zone, which was completed in early August. Drilling from this new underground platform has targeted the copper precious metal veins of the R2 footwall zone with shorter drill holes at the approximate elevation where the 2950 level would intersect the zone if we extended it.

12:54 The R2 footwall zone continues to remain open up dip and towards the number three footwall zone as well as that depth to the south. As highlighted in today's expiration press release, definition drilling within the R2 zone continues to intersect sharp walled massive sulfide veins including 25.8% copper, 3.6% nickel, 8.9 grams per ton platinum, 4.1 grams per ton palladium, and 0.3 grams per ton gold over 0.7 meters in drill hole MLB 2680. Drill hole 80 also intersected a 2.2 meter interval grading 9.7 copper, 0.6% nickel, 5.9 grams per ton platinum, 10.2 grams per ton palladium.

13:45 3.2 grams per tonne gold and 59.2 grams per tonne silver in an undefined mineralized zone approximately 260 meters before the R2 target. Additional interpretation and drilling will be required to understand the orientation of this mineralization and potential significance. In addition, during underground development of the new ramp to connect the 1800 level to the 1600 level, which provides access to the intermediate ore body, A zone of sulfide mineralization was encountered over an approximately 12-meter section of the ramp. This mineralization occurs approximately 30 meters into the hanging wall of the intermediate ore body and is characterized as bled with structurally controlled chalcopyrite-dominated sulfide within a footwall breccia matrix.

14:34 A single gram sample from the muck pile was assayed and returned 5.7% copper, 8.4 grams of platinum, 1 gram and David Huffman. Underground drilling is currently underway to test the extent, continuity and potential relationship of this mineralization with the intermediate zone. Additional assay results from this area will be released as assays are received. At Crean Hill, following geophysical compilation and geological interpretation during Q3, A surface exploration diamond drill rig has been mobilized to the site and has begun testing new footwall copper and precious metal exploration targets. Of note, this is the first exploration drilling at Crean Hill since 2024.

15:23 At MacReady West, three underground diamond drills remain focused on definition drilling to support our near and midterm production plans within the 700 foot wall copper zone. The program continues to provide the detailed information required for stoke design and grade optimization. During Q3, we completed 74 diamond drill holes, totaling approximately 24,347 feet of drilling. The integration of MacReady West and Lavac as part of the Lavac Mine Complex presents an exciting exploration opportunity as we develop an integrated structural understanding of the controls on footwall, copper, precious metals, Mineralization in the North Range of Sudbury. I would now like to hand it back over to Jason for some additional comments.

16:12 Thanks, Dave. As you can see, it's been a very busy few months for the Magna team. Although we were still on track to achieve the low end of our 2026 payable copper equivalent production guidance at the end of Q3, The operational challenges at McCready West in September necessitated revised mine sequencing for Q4, with additional higher grade stoves deferred until 2027. As a result of these changes, as well as higher than expected grade variability in the revised mine plan, we believe it is prudent to update our 2026 operational guidance. We now expect to produce 14.5 to 15.5 million copper equivalent pounds in 2026, for their full-year copper equivalent grade, anticipate to be near the lower end of the original range.

16:59 Now that the technical challenge of Q3 has been resolved, we are focused on optimizing Q4 and developing the best plan possible for 2027. McCready West is a small mine, but I believe it can continue to be a consistent cash generator for our company for years to come. At the end of Q3, the mine had generated a cash margin of $19.7 million, which is a meaningful and helping us fund our growth projects within our portfolio. On the topic of growth projects, we achieved two significant milestones in October with the release of the results of both the Lavac PEA and the Crane Hill TFS. I'm very proud of the work completed by our project team in partnership with our external consultants. On the back of the positive study results, our board has sanctioned the restart of Lavac Mines and the construction of the Crane Hill project which will begin in 2027 following the completion of detailed engineering and surface infrastructure work.

17:56 The low capex intensity production from Lavac and Crane Hill will build on the base provided by McCready West as Magnet transitions to a multi-mine company. During Q3, we also welcomed Alpayana as our largest shareholder following the completion of their strategic equity investment. We ended Q3 with a cash balance of $168 million and are now well-funded to execute our growth plan. The safety performance from Q3, along with the company culture of continuous improvement and ownership, is a reflection of more than financial performance. It demonstrates our core values which will be mirrored at Levesque and Cranhill Mines. Our company will continue to grow on the three pillars of production, exploration, and synergistic acquisition. The exploration results announced this morning from Lavac Mine are encouraging, and I believe we are on the path to another true footwall copper precious metal discovery at Lavac. Now that we are drilling again in the footwall of Crane Hill, we have multiple high potential targets that we are currently testing.

19:04 Operator, we would now like to open up the line for questions. Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1 again. One moment for questions. Our first question comes from Eleanor Magnitsky with SCP Resource Finance. You may proceed.

19:39 Hi everyone, can you hear me okay?

19:41 Yep, loud and clear, Eleanor.

19:42 Okay, great. Busy quarter for the team, nice to see the grade lift. I have a few questions to start off with the operations. Just curious if you could speak in a bit more detail on what happened with the structure that affected the stope that was being mined. Yeah, just a bit more detail would be helpful. It was like a hanging wall failure, what was exactly the issue there?

20:09 Yeah, thanks for the question, Eleanor. It's Jeff. I can answer that. We had at the back end of our current nine-tail elevation a couple of stopes that had been cut off by a geological structure. So we actually hung up a couple of raises along the same structure. This is a structure that was sort of unknown to us at the time. We've done some obviously detailed work around understanding why those failures occurred in blasting those raises and the CMS data and all the data that's available to us now through drone survey and CMS data has indicated that we've got a geological structure running through there that was unknown at the time of the design.

20:51 Okay, so then for next, is there any kind of subsequent scopes, I guess, like in each side of it that you know where the structure is so you can kind of place your raises a bit differently going forward? Is that... kind of the plan, basically?

21:07 Yeah, great question. I mean, any of this knowledge will continue to improve designs in the future. As far as that localized issue, that's going to remain at the back end of 910. We don't think that that's going to affect anything else. The other thing that I think we spoke to was the sequencing, and so not just being the tonnage that was hung up in the stoves themselves, but You know, the whole sequence of the level was interrupted. So it was an effect, obviously, that went beyond just the one particular stope. It forced us to change the sequencing of the entire quarter on that level. So

21:52 Well, I mean, it's a good thing that you guys have more stoops off the hop. I mean, before it was one at a time, so it's nice that you have a bit more flexibility to do that. On that, just curious what the breakdown is between long hole stoops and other kind of ore headings that you guys are currently mining. What kind of flexibility do you have going forward?

22:14 Well, I think as far as mining methods, Eleanor, MacReady West remains to be a long hole operation. We are looking to do what I would call various methods and sizes of long hole. For instance, in the upper part of the mine, we have some narrow long hole that we're going to be executing in Q4 and coming into 2027, as well as a new zone that we've indicated over the course of drilling in 2026 a little bit lower in the mine. So, yeah, I would say that the mine remains longhole, you know, of various sizes with other ore obviously being produced from ore development.

22:58 Okay, yeah. Is there about three stopes at a time that you guys kind of have under development?

23:07 yeah I mean under development for sure there's always at least three production areas you know as Jason said earlier McCready West is a small operation so you know a couple of stopes in production and a couple of stopes in development or you know generally the course of course of the operation over 2026 I think we'll see a little bit of change in 2027 as as the what I would referred to as increased development over 2026 from historically what the mine has seen in years previous to 2026. It will now start to sort of bear some fruit with respect to diversifying the mining plan. So yeah, we're encouraged to putting a good plan together for 2026.

23:50 Wonderful.

23:51 Or 2027, sorry.

23:53 I knew what you meant. On the last one for this, on the shared combination, for the Lovac Mine Complex. Have you done any rough math or is there a rough idea of what the anticipated GNA or the combined GNA or cost saving could be on that? Obviously, it's kind of a logical move, but just curious if you guys had a rough idea of dollar per ton adjustment. I think between like the two lines. Yeah, that would be helpful.

24:26 Well, yeah, another great question, Eleanor. I think what I can say to that is we really don't have a comparison to sort of come from. I mean, we're just bringing it back online now. It seemed like a logical choice for us. The skill sets that we've brought into the organization, I think operationally and from a technical services perspective and a maintenance perspective, you know we want to make sure that those resources are you know have eyes on both the operations and I think with you know the proximity of the two mines being as close as they are being connected underground being able to share those those strengths I think was you know it was a no-brainer for us so bringing you know mining managers over from Macready that already have the experience of how we're operating there and Thank you for having me.

25:42 Just making sure we're doing the right thing for the operations. I don't know that I have a cost comparison because we really haven't brought Lavac online as of yet. It's still really considered a project within within our organization. So, yeah, I think more for us just about making sure that we're utilizing the strengths of the business across both of the operations.

26:06 Thank you very much. I just have one question for Dave on the recent exploration, but I appreciate all the feedback on the outside. So the last one about the new zone. Dave, I was just curious if you could speak to the orientation of what was intersected today, both, I guess, in the ramp and then the other mineralized zone that was hit before, too. And kind of what you're thinking. I know it's pretty hard to say off of either a single hole or one intersection through a ramp but yeah what are you thinking of how this is related to either R2 or the other mineralized zones that you've seen in the mine itself?

26:50 Yeah thanks for the question Eleanor. I guess first the bit of mineralization in hole 80 which was you know part way down to the R2 target that one's a little and more complicated, there are some drill holes nearby that hadn't intersected the same structure. It seems to be associated with remobilized chalcopyrite along the margins of a dye base contact. So we'll have to follow that up and do some interpretation and get a better understanding maybe of the orientation of the dye base before we follow that one up. The mineralization in the ramp, you know, that one gets me a little more interested. I think it demonstrates how, you know, we really don't necessarily understand the full controls on mineralization in the footwall of Malacca and we can still, you know, inter-stack mineralization within, you know, 30 meters of a known zone hasn't been identified. That seems to be related to a Breccia unit.

27:53 Looks like it's more sub-vertical lying structure trending more north-south. So again, like we see at LFT or the R2 zone, there seems to be a more vertical component to Lavac footwall deposits than we might have appreciated in the past. So that one currently has a diamond drill rig moved up to that level and we're testing it with some short holes just to get a better handle on the orientation of that.

28:27 That's great. Thanks so much. And thanks to everyone. And we'll chat again soon, I'm sure. Thank you. And as a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1-1 on your telephone. One moment for questions. And our next question comes from Dalton Barreto with Canaccord Genuity. You may proceed.

28:56 Thanks, operator. Good morning, guys. A lot of my questions have been answered already, but I'm going to follow up on sort of that same vein of questioning. I'll start with the operations. Maybe this one's for you, Jason. So, you know, given this issue with the structure, it looks like you fell short on both tonnage and grade. And, you know, if I back into Q4 based on the new guidance, it looks like the Q4 grade is somewhere in the high twos. And I'm just trying to understand what would it have been if you hadn't encountered these issues, and how does that sort of translate to how we should think about H-127? Thanks.

29:32 Yeah, so, you know, our plan would have been within our guidance range, so that's 3.2 to 3.5 percent is where we were aiming for, and that was the grade of the stoves that we were planning on taking. Obviously, you know, there's been changes in the sequencing which are bringing in that lower grade, as you've, you know, correctly identified, which we think will be in that sort of higher, 2%. You know, again, looking into next year, we will put out guidance early in 2027. But, you know, we are, I'd say, very encouraged by the drilling that's been done on the west side of the 700 foot wall zone, which is something we've talked about in the past, but we're currently developing on and that will become part of our and David Huffman.

30:24 I would expect next year grades to be very similar to what we originally guided this year. and again, we'll put out more information on that in 2027.

30:55 Yeah, thanks for that, Jason. And then maybe staying on 2027, the shifting gears a little bit, as you press forward towards the restart, what are some of the critical path items we should be watching for next year?

31:14 Yeah, like we had mentioned earlier, one of the projects that is very important to us is the refurbishment of the production hoist. That project is something that is a top priority for us because it really allows us to increase the amount of development we're doing and hoist first ore, first production ore from development ore, which we would anticipate starting to come in Q2. So that's an important project, I think, to be watching for. And really that's what kind of unlocks the rest of our plan for 2027 at Lavac Mines.

31:54 That's great. And then this combination of Levesque and McCready West into one sort of complex. I heard Jeff's comments there. I'm just trying to understand, is there something you can do now that you couldn't do when they were separate assets? And also on that, any implications at all to the Franco stream and how you manage that?

32:18 Well, first part of that question. So Yeah, as we start to look at our budget and the people we will meet at Labak Mine, you know, there were some obvious synergies with people we already had that could be, again, as you mentioned, you know, surface supervision and ore handling on surface and some of our maintenance functions. And again, as Jeff said, we had some really strong people on the technical side that could be shared across both operations, as well as, you know, strong operational people that we could also share. So that was kind of the premise behind that. Now as far as the Franco side of it, obviously the MacReady West Mine, the entire property is covered under the Franco Stream Agreement.

33:04 with that Labak mine only being the Morrison deposit in a very small zone called the 1900 zone. So we don't plan on doing anything differently right now, but what it does allow us to do easier is use resources at MacReady West to, in the future, transfer over to Labak mine. and we will use our resources in the best business sense that we can. So if we can make more money with the resources applied to Lavac Mine as opposed to MacReady West Mine, then that's a smart business decision, we'll do that. I'm not gonna speak specifically in how that may affect or not affect the Franco stream, but obviously Lavac Mine looks very attractive without being burdened as much as MacReady West with that stream.

33:59 Understood. Thanks for that. And maybe one last one for Dave. When I look at the exploration update today, and I'm sort of focused more mostly on the R2 intercepts, the grades still look very compelling, but we're still, for the most part, at width less than a meter. And I'm just wondering sort of when and how you think that's going to change. Are you still drilling around the edges? When do you think you'll start getting sort of the meat of this thing?

34:31 I'd like to say anytime soon. I think what we're seeing with the current drilling, sort of in the range of two to three feet or foot thick veins, looks like currently that's more of a true width, whereas some of the holes we had drilled in the past were likely down dip a bit. So as far as where we've been drilling on that mid-level where the 2950 level could cross, that seems to be about the average vein width. I'm always hopeful that with tighter drilling, the veins can change very quickly. You just need a little bit of sinistral shearing and you can thicken the vein up in various places. But I think that'll come with more detailed, tighter drilling.

35:20 Got it. Thanks, guys. That's all to me. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to Greg Huffman for any closing remarks.

35:30 Before we conclude, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge Remembrance Day yesterday and recognize and thank all those who served and continue to serve our country. We are grateful for their service and sacrifice. Thank you again for joining us today and for your continued interest and support of Magnum Mining. Have a great day. Thank you. This concludes the conference. Thank you for your participation.

35:52 You may now disconnect.