Earnings call transcript: Galiano Gold Q3 2025 earnings miss triggers stock drop

Galiano Gold Inc. reported a disappointing third quarter with an earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.01, falling short of the forecasted $0.09. This miss, coupled with a revenue shortfall, sent shares plummeting by 13.66% in premarket trading. The company, however, reported a 17% increase in revenue quarter-over-quarter and a 7% rise in gold production, highlighting operational improvements and strategic expansions.

Key Takeaways

• Galiano Gold reported an EPS of -$0.01, missing the forecast by 111.11%.
• Revenue reached $114 million, a 17% increase from the previous quarter.
• Stock fell 13.66% in premarket trading, reflecting investor concerns.
• Revised AISC guidance suggests higher operational costs.
• Expanded exploration efforts and operational improvements were highlighted.

Company Performance

Galiano Gold showed operational growth with a 17% increase in revenue from the previous quarter and a 7% rise in gold production. The company continues to expand its exploration and improve its operational efficiencies, despite challenges such as the temporary pause in mining operations due to external incidents. Galiano remains Ghana's largest single-asset gold producer, benefiting from a strong gold price environment.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $114 million, up 17% quarter-over-quarter.
• Gold production: 32,533 ounces, a 7% increase from the previous quarter.
• Net loss before taxes: $5 million.
• Cash position: $116 million.
• Cash flows from operations: $40 million.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Galiano Gold's third-quarter EPS was -$0.01, missing the forecast of $0.09 by 111.11%. Revenue was slightly below expectations at $114.2 million against a forecast of $114.67 million, a negative surprise of 0.41%. This significant miss in EPS and revenue indicates operational and financial challenges.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings release, Galiano Gold's stock dropped by 13.66% in premarket trading, closing at $2.0203. This decline reflects investor disappointment with the earnings miss and concerns over increased operational costs. The stock is approaching its 52-week low, indicating bearish sentiment.

Outlook & Guidance

The company revised its all-in sustaining costs (AISC) guidance to $2,200-$2,300 per ounce, suggesting higher operational expenses. Galiano aims to achieve a processing target of 5.8 million tons per annum and explore potential underground mining at Abora in the coming years. A mineral reserve and resource update is expected in early 2026.

Executive Commentary

CEO Matt Badylak emphasized operational improvements, stating, "We saw quarter-over-quarter improvements across key operation metrics." VP of Exploration Chris Pettman noted, "We are particularly encouraged to see wide intercepts of mineralization at significantly higher grades." These comments highlight the company's focus on operational efficiency and exploration success.

Risks and Challenges

• Higher operational costs as indicated by revised AISC guidance.
• Potential disruptions from external incidents, such as illegal mining activities.
• Volatility in gold prices impacting revenue and profitability.
• Execution risks associated with expanded exploration and operational initiatives.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about recovery improvements and community relations following the mining incident. Discussions also covered tax expectations and the potential for transitioning to underground mining at Abora, reflecting strategic considerations for future growth.

Full transcript - Galiano Gold Inc (GAU) Q3 2025:

Operator: With Bailey Reese and gentlemen, and welcome to the Galiano Gold 3rd Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require my assistance, please press 0 for the operator. This call is being recorded on Friday, November 7th, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Matt Badylak, President and CEO of Galiano Gold. Please go ahead.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you taking time to join us on the call today to review Galiano Gold's third quarter results that we released yesterday after market close. On slide two, we'll be making forward-looking statements and referring to non-IFRS measures during the call. Please refer to the cautionary notes and risk disclosures in our most recent MD&A, as well as this slide of the webcast presentation. Yesterday's release details our third quarter financial and operating results. They should be read in conjunction with our third quarter financial statements and MD&A available on our website and filed on SEDAR Plus and EDGAR. Also, please bear in mind that all dollar amounts mentioned in the conference call are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.

On slide four, with me on the call today, I have Michael Cardinaels, our Chief Operating Officer; Matt Freeman, our Chief Financial Officer; and Chris Pettman, our Vice President, Exploration. For this presentation, I'll initially provide a brief overview of the quarter. Michael will give an operations update, Matt will discuss the financials, and then Chris will review the ongoing exploration success his team is having at Abora. I'll then provide some closing remarks and open the call for Q&A. Here on slide five, we can see the team continued the momentum during the third quarter towards an improved overall operational outlook. Let me walk you through the highlights on this slide. Safety remains a top priority. I am proud to report that, again, no lost-time injuries were reported for Q3, maintaining a strong safety record and demonstrating our unwavering commitment to our workforce.

Turning to production, we produced just over 32,000 ounces of gold in Q3, up 7% from 30,000 ounces produced in Q2. This increase was driven by higher grades and increased throughput quarter on quarter following the commissioning of the secondary crusher in late July. From a financial perspective, revenue came in at $114 million, up 17% quarter over quarter from $97 million. This was driven by higher production and improved gold prices. Our balance sheet remained solid. We ended the quarter with $116 million in cash and cash equivalents, a slight improvement on Q2 despite stripping at Encran increasing during the period. This strong cash position provides us with the financial flexibility to continue to invest in our operations, particularly as we accelerate stripping at Encran in 2026. Exploration remains a key focus area.

At Abora, we drilled just over 11,000 meters during the third quarter, focused on infill and step-out drilling around the high-grade zones identified earlier this year. Moving to slide six, please. Here on this slide, I'll provide a few words about the events that occurred at Asasi during the quarter. As previously disclosed, on September 9th, an incident occurred when a group of illegal miners attacked a military camp housing members of the Ghana Armed Forces and damaging our contractors' mining equipment at the Asasi deposit. Regrettably, the incident also resulted in the death of a community member. Due to the scale of damage sustained to the fleet, mining operations at Asasi were paused, however, haulage from low-grade stockpiles resumed shortly after the incident. Since early September, we have worked closely with our mining contractor to remobilize the fleet to Asasi.

This process continued into early November, and I'm pleased to report that mining operations at Asasi have now recommenced and will continue to ramp up over the balance of the year. With that, I'll turn it over to Michael and Matt to discuss production and financial performance in more detail in the coming slides. Over to you, Michael, and slide seven, please.

Michael Cardinaels, Chief Operating Officer, Galiano Gold: Thank you, Matt, and good morning, everyone. As Matt just highlighted, we continued to see an upward trend in performance during the third quarter of the year. We had a significant increase in personnel hours worked on site during Q3, with the ramp-up of Encran mining staff and contractors involved in the secondary crusher project and the TSF stage eight construction. Our safety statistics continue to improve, with over 4.2 million man-hours worked since the last lost-time injury. On a 12-month rolling basis, our lost-time injury and total recordable injury frequency rates are 0.39 and 0.9, respectively, per million hours worked at the end of September. In terms of mining production, Asasi mining was impacted by the incident mentioned earlier by Matt, but production from Abora increased significantly, including a 57% increase in ore mined compared to the previous quarter.

As Abora development has progressed with increasing depth and the pit has opened up to steady state, we now have a better understanding of the ore body and our ability to recover the resource. We find ourselves mining more ore tons at lower grade, resulting in approximately the same number of ounces. Abora currently provides the majority of the mill feed and will continue to do so for the balance of the year. Despite the Asasi mining interruption, production from both Abora and Encran pits increased, and the total material mined increased 26% in Q3 compared with Q2. Onto slide eight, please. As you can see from the images in this slide, cut-through of Encran pit is progressing well, including the development of support infrastructure in the form of an overhead power line extension and relocation, and the drilling of additional dewatering bores around the perimeter of the pit.

Encran stripping also increased 111% compared to Q2, primarily as a result of an additional excavator being mobilized to site as part of our ramp-up plan. Development capital costs for pre-stripping at Encran totaled $12 million in Q3 and $22.1 million year to date. The contractor is on track to deliver additional equipment in Q4 2025 and the remainder of the planned fleet to ramp up to full capacity in 2026, putting us in good stead to continue stripping as per our schedule, with steady state ore production still due in early 2029. Onto slide nine, please. On the processing performance, with the successful commissioning of the secondary crusher circuit at the end of July, we saw an increase in the plant performance for Q3. Milling rates since commissioning of the secondary crusher have increased approximately 13% compared to Q2.

There remain some modifications in the circuit to fully optimize the performance, and as such, we expect to see further increases in production in Q4. Mill feed grade also improved compared to Q2 as we are getting deeper into the Abora pit and have access to better grade at depth, which in turn helped increase the recovery. On the back of the improved plant throughput and grade, we increased gold production to 32,533 ounces for the quarter, compared to just over 30,000 ounces in Q2. The incident and subsequent interruption at Asasi have unfortunately had an impact on our plan for 2025. Despite having now restarted mining in Asasi, we will continue to see an impact as we ramp back up production over the balance of the quarter.

Our forecast takes this into consideration, along with our improved understanding of the Abora deposit and the recent performance of the plant following the commissioning of the secondary crushing circuit. We estimate a revised production guidance of between 120,000 and 125,000 ounces for the year. With that, I would like to turn over to Matt Freeman to discuss the company's financial results.

Matt Freeman, Chief Financial Officer, Galiano Gold: Thanks, Michael. Good morning, everyone. Here on slide 10, we've outlined some of the key financial metrics for the quarter. We recognize revenues of $114 million at a record average price of just over $3,500 per ounce for the impact of hedges. We earned income from mine operations of $48.2 million, while net earnings continued to be negatively affected by the fair value adjustments to our hedge book following the continued run-up in gold prices, such that we recorded a net loss before taxes of $5 million. This quarter, we also recognize a tax expense for the first time now that we have exhausted previous tax losses and are forecast to be taxable this year. Indeed, we've already paid $12 million in tax installments to the Ghanaian government.

We generated $40 million of cash flows from operations in the quarter and ended the period with a strong cash balance of approximately $116 million. This included, as mentioned before, payments of additional $6 million in income taxes. In addition, as previously advised, given these strong operating cash flows, we have continued to allocate capital to accelerating the waste strip at Encran, incurring $12 million in the quarter. As Michael noted, we expect the Encran mining volumes to ramp up further as more equipment is mobilized. All-in sustaining costs were consistent with the second quarter at $22.83 per ounce, but we expect AISC to start to reduce in Q4 as production volumes increase compared with Q3.

Despite our expectation that all-in sustaining costs will be lower in Q4 than Q3, given the overall shortfall in production ounces that Michael mentioned, we have increased our all-in sustaining cost guidance for the year to between $2,200 and $2,300 per ounce. This includes all the impacts of the royalties under the higher gold prices that we previously mentioned. Onto slide 11. Despite the headline increase in AISC, that really is primarily production-driven. We have continued to focus on the cost structure of the mine and are pleased that fixed operating costs such as processing and G&A in aggregate remain consistent with previous quarters.

Of note, processing costs per ton have continued to reduce quarter on quarter, seeing a 13% decline in unit costs since Q1, and we expect further decreases on a unit basis as the full impact of the secondary crusher is realized in the fourth quarter. Mining costs at our producing deposits, namely Abora and Asasi, declined on a per-ton mined basis by approximately 8% as mining volumes increased. Additionally, Encran mining costs are also subject to a fixed unit mining contract, and we expect to see those unit costs continue to decrease as volumes increase over the next 12 months, as management costs, which are fixed, are shared over more tons. We're also remaining disciplined with capital allocation with regards to capital. The largest project ongoing currently is the raise eight at the tailings facility, which is expected to be completed in 2026.

Overall, costs are being well managed, and we should see an improvement in unit rates as the year progresses now that the secondary crusher is online, and we expect to produce more tons and subsequently produce more ounces. This will generate higher operating margins and cash flows for the business. Onto the next slide, please. Our cash margins have improved with the run-up in gold prices, which has meant that despite investments in the development capital for the secondary crusher project and stripping Encran, we continue to maintain a very strong balance sheet with approximately $116 million of cash and no debt. We are also pleased to have progressed discussions to implement a $75 million revolving credit facility to further enhance the balance sheet to be earmarked for general working capital. With that, I'll turn it over to Chris to discuss the exploration progress we've seen at Abora.

Chris Pettman, Vice President, Exploration, Galiano Gold: Thanks, Matt.

Matt Freeman, Chief Financial Officer, Galiano Gold: Q3 was another excellent quarter for us in exploration and was highlighted by exceptional results from drilling at Abora. Our press release dated August 20 detailed the first results from the Abora phase two drilling program, which commenced in Q2 and led to the discovery of multiple new high-grade ore chutes across the Abora south and main zones, as well as a significant new high-grade discovery at the northern end of the deposit. Some of the highlighted intercepts from this stage of drilling are shown here on slide 13. Following these results, drilling at Abora remained the focus of exploration activities at the AGM through Q3, as we began infill drilling to prove continuity of these new high-grade zones, while also continuing to test for further extensions of mineralization below the mineral resource.

Drilling activity was ramped up through the quarter from a total of 5,040 meters drilled at Abora in Q2 to an additional 11,554 meters drilled in Q3. Based on the continued success of Abora drilling, the program has been further expanded with an additional 10,000 meters now planned for completion by the end of this year. This drilling is currently underway, and the next round of results is expected to be released shortly. In addition to our work at Abora, we continue to advance our regional greenfield portfolio targets through the quarter. Most notably, the ground IP survey at the Enceroma target area, which is located approximately 8 kilometers southwest of the processing plant, was completed on schedule in Q3. The survey was successful in identifying chargeability and resistivity targets coincident with previously identified gold and soil anomalies along the interpreted extension of the Encran shear zone.

Drilling is now underway, and approximately 2,000 meters of RC drilling is planned for completion in Q4. The Enceroma target area lies within a 5-kilometer-long gold and soil anomaly located on the Encran shear southwest of the Encran deposit and is one of the several high-priority regional targets being evaluated by the AGM exploration team. Next slide. This image on slide 14 is a long section through Abora showing the location of highlighted assay results received in Q3. Drilling has identified two primary ore chutes plunging to the north at low angles under the south and main pits. Additionally, high-grade mineralization has been intercepted below the saddle zone between the two pits along a conjugate south plunging structure, as well as in a new high-grade zone under the north pit.

We are particularly encouraged to see wide intercepts of mineralization at significantly higher grades than the current Abora reserve grade of 1.27 grams per ton over long strike lengths as we continue to evaluate the potential for an eventual transition to underground mining. Next slide. Slide 15 shows the locations of the drilling I have been discussing in plan view to further illustrate the fact that mineralization intercepted in this round of drilling spans the entire 1.8-kilometer strike length of the Abora deposit. Next slide. This cross-section here shows one of the holes drilled below the south pit, hole 368, which intercepted 45 meters at 2 grams per ton, including 17 meters at 3.3 grams per ton. This image is reflective of how strong mineralization is being intercepted below the mineral resource across the deposit and the potential growth upside as the system remains open. Next slide.

As mentioned earlier, based on the success of Q2 results and what we have been seeing through Q3, the Abora drill program has been further expanded with an additional 10,000 meters now scheduled for completion in Q4. Drilling will continue to focus on conversion of mineral resources and testing for further continuations of mineralization down plunge and beneath the current drilling. We're very pleased with the Q3 results and are very optimistic about continued exploration success at Abora and across the AGM portfolio targets. With the support of Matt and the board, we've been given access to additional resources to capitalize quickly on these positive results and have secured our drills through 2026 to ensure we can continue the Abora program unabated. With that, I'll hand it back to you, Matt.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Thank you, Chris. In closing, I'd like to highlight that although the quarter fell slightly below expectations and the incident at Asasi necessitated a review of four-year guidance, Q3 showed continued positive momentum. We saw quarter-over-quarter improvements across key operation metrics, including total all-times mined, mill grades, mill throughput, gold production, and cash balances, all moving in the right direction. As we continue to optimize the secondary crushing circuit, we expect further throughput enhancements in the quarters ahead. On the exploration front, I'm particularly pleased with our progress. The upside we're seeing at Abora reinforces my confidence in the organic growth potential of the AGM, and I remain excited about what lies ahead. This quarter also marked an important shift in our shareholder base. Following Gold Fields' divestiture of their 19.5% stake, we have strengthened our register and improved our trading liquidity.

I want to remind everyone that Galiano is well positioned as Ghana's largest single-asset gold producer with compelling fundamentals across many key areas. We maintain a robust production outlook supported by strong financial discipline, including a solid $116 million cash position, which provides flexibility to execute our mine plans. With that, I'll turn it back to the operator and open the line up for any questions. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the number one on your touchstone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the following process, please press the star followed by the number two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Heiko Felix Ihle from HC Wainwright & Co. Please go ahead.

Heiko Felix Ihle, Analyst, HC Wainwright & Co.: Hey there. Thanks for taking my questions. Decent quarter overall, I guess, even given the guidance. You obviously had great recoveries in the period, and that really matters given the current pricing environment. It seems like additional improvements are made to the circuit. Walk us through what you see as the longer-term impacts of all of this. If you were in my shoes, how would you model this out? I mean, these were the best recoveries in over four, I think four quarters it was.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Yeah, thank you, Heiko. I appreciate the question. I think best if I just pass it across to Mick for an initial answer, and then I can add anything if needed.

Heiko Felix Ihle, Analyst, HC Wainwright & Co.: Yeah, I think, pardon me, we've benefited from the increasing grade that we've seen quarter on quarter over the year. With that improved grade comes an improvement in our recoveries as well. We expect those to be maintained into next year. Obviously hopeful that the grades improve further with depth as well. We do have a number of things that we are finalizing in the secondary crushing circuit. As I mentioned, we're upgrading a number of conveyor drives. We're trying different configurations with our screen panels and a few other things to further optimize that circuit. We think that there's additional throughput enhancements that we can achieve. We expect to trend upwards and obviously targeting that 5.8 million tons per annum. If that answers your question.

Operator: It does. Matthew, do you want to add anything or you want me to move on?

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: No, no. I think Mick's answered your question. Ultimately, there's only one other thing I guess that we didn't touch on is that the sand mill discharge grades are also going to be reduced in size as well. We feel that that's going to improve our throughput and also potentially recoveries as well. Yeah.

Heiko Felix Ihle, Analyst, HC Wainwright & Co.: Fair enough. On slide 13 in the presentation, you talked about some of those high-grade ore chutes. You also discussed this in the press release with the earnings and then also back in August. These intercepts, some of which you see 3 grams per ton, are obviously very economic, especially right now. With this transition to underground mining, I mean, I know it's quite early to ask this question, but I assume at least some thinking has been done on this. What exactly would be needed to start underground mining related to costs, permitting, duration to get a decline, all that good stuff?

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Yeah, good question, Heiko. Obviously, we're really, really excited about the grades that we're seeing just below our current reserve pit, right, as highlighted in the slide that you mentioned. I think the first step that we need to tick off, and this is quite imminent for us at the moment too, is to define what the underground resource looks like there at Abora. As I said, I mean, that's not too far away, and there'll be some work internally and also with external consultants that is currently going on. We do expect to have a view on that in early next year, Heiko. That's the first stage.

On the back of that resource or the main resource, we'll be able to provide a little bit more color in terms of what we're seeing with regards to cost, timelines, permitting, etc., on that front as well. I will highlight that the upside for underground at the Asanko Gold Mine is not within the next 12 months, right? It's probably a year or two away. We have to continue to mine through the bottom of Abora at the moment. Once we do that, it'll come on the back of the depletion of this open-pit resource. That does not mean that we can't start the work concurrently, but the ounces delivered to the mill are some time away at this stage.

Heiko Felix Ihle, Analyst, HC Wainwright & Co.: Very well. Thank you so much. Get back in queue.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Thank you, Heiko. Appreciate your questions.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from Raj Ray from PI Financial Corp. Markets Group. Please go ahead.

Raj Ray, Analyst, PI Financial Corp. Markets Group: Thank you, Operator. Good morning, Matt and team. The first one is more a clarification on, I think, Michael's prepared remarks. My apologies if I got it wrong. Michael, you were saying that with Abora, you're getting more tonnage at the lower grade, and then the overall ounces is still the same. Is that correct?

Heiko Felix Ihle, Analyst, HC Wainwright & Co.: Yes, that's correct. A function of basically being deeper into the pit has allowed us to open up, and we're mining full width across the granite ore body now. With the reduction in material that has come out of Asasi, we're basically relying heavily on Abora to feed the mill. We're seeing with our mining methodology to keep tons to that mill, we can basically mine such that we're limiting how much material is being stockpiled. We're less selective in terms of high-grading that material, knowing that it's all going to the process plant to keep ourselves fed at the moment.

Operator: Okay.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Yeah, maybe I'll just add that this is kind of quite specific to the last quarter, as Mick was saying. We do know that the mineralization at Abora, you do not want to lose any of the high grade that may be lost if you tighten up your polygons too much, right? We had the opportunity in Q3 to maybe step out a little bit and accept a little bit more dilution in Q3, and that's kind of driving the commentary as well.

Heiko Felix Ihle, Analyst, HC Wainwright & Co.: Yeah.

Operator: Okay. Okay, got it. The second question I had was, I noticed that part of the CapEx has been, the development CapEx has been kind of deferred into next year, and you've lowered your number. Is there any potential for any impact early in 2026 as a result of Asasi being out for two months? If you can comment on what your stockpile levels were at the end of Q3 in terms of tonnage and grade. Thank you.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Yeah, sure. Listen, in terms of guidance and outlook for 2026, obviously, that will come in due time. We're working through that at the moment internally. Once we have clarity on where the numbers lie on 2026, we'll obviously provide the market with an update in early 2026 on that. At this stage, as we were saying, we do expect that the material movement from Asasi will ramp up and be in a position where this impact of the shutdown that we had and we saw in Q3 and early into Q4 is probably going to be addressed by that stage as well. We do not expect it to be extending into the new year. In terms of stockpile grades and balances, guys, do we have that at hand, or should we get back to Raj on that one?

Matt Freeman, Chief Financial Officer, Galiano Gold: I think we can get back with specifics. I don't have the actual numbers to hand. I think we obviously don't have a particularly big stockpile at this point. I think, as Mick alluded to, given the pause in mining at Asasi, we won't be able to mine excess material. We built up maybe 500,000 tons, a bit less than that, but no more on keeping it fairly small. The grades of that will be similar to what we've been seeing going through the mill. Maybe slightly lower where we could have got some slightly better grades through the mill, but pretty consistent with what you've seen from the mining.

Raj Ray, Analyst, PI Financial Corp. Markets Group: Okay. Okay. That's good. If I may, one last question. On the Ghana audit, is it possible for you to give any color in terms of what they are specifically asking from the companies?

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Yeah. I think you're referring to the Mincom audit. This was a note that was, yeah, that was received by all large-scale mining companies earlier in the quarter. It is not specific to Galiano. We are of the understanding that our site audit will take place in January next year. It has been staggered monthly between all the large-scale mining companies. There has been no additional information provided to us at this point in time in terms of what is being specifically audited or any request for pre-documentation before that. That is all I can provide on that at the moment, Raj.

Raj Ray, Analyst, PI Financial Corp. Markets Group: Okay, that's great. That's it from me. Thank you.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Thank you, Raj.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from Alfredo Schmützer from Equinox Partners. Please go ahead.

Alfredo Schmützer, Analyst, Equinox Partners: Hi, Matt. Thank you for taking my questions. First, I just wanted to have maybe an update on the community relations. How has that evolved since the incident?

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Yeah, I mean, again, it's a very good question. We worked hard, Alfredo, to ensure that the community relations across all of our tenements, which are quite large, are maintained. I'm pleased to report that shortly after that incident, the relationships there were brought back into check. We've been able to haul, as I mentioned earlier, we restarted haulage operations from Asasi stockpiles very shortly after that incident occurred. From that point till now, everything's remained calm and has returned to normal. These kind of things do flare up, and we're keeping close relationships with all of our community members across all our tenements. Nothing to be concerned about at this point in time on that front, Alfredo.

Alfredo Schmützer, Analyst, Equinox Partners: Okay, that's great. On unit costs, you mentioned that they're going to keep decreasing as you increase the volumes. How can we maybe model that reduction of unit costs in terms of dollar per ton? How much can it go down?

Matt Freeman, Chief Financial Officer, Galiano Gold: Hi, Alfredo. It's Matt Freeman here. I think from a sort of a GNM processing standpoint, the easiest way to model it is to assume that our absolute costs are pretty fixed on a month-by-month, quarter-by-quarter basis. Therefore, as we increase those in the milling and increase the throughputs, that will naturally bring your unit cost down. If you make some assumptions, as Mick said, hopefully getting back towards the 5.8 million ton run rate through an annual basis of throughput, fixed costs will therefore come down on a unit cost basis. Mining costs is a little bit harder. I think the reduction is modest as we increase the mining volumes because really the mining contracts are largely variable costs, but we do have a fixed monthly management cost component, and that's the bit where you start to benefit in those unit rates.

As we move forward, certainly through Q4, we're seeing those rates come down a little bit. Then again, as we move into future years, as you get deeper in some of the pits, you start to, maybe things start to creep back up again a little bit or get back to where they are now as you have longer haul cycles and you're in deeper parts of the pit. It's a little bit hard for me to guide you exactly on that, but I think the mining costs are sort of where we are now is a good point, and it's not going to get higher in the short term, and it should drive down a little bit in Q4, if that makes sense.

Alfredo Schmützer, Analyst, Equinox Partners: Yeah. Yeah, very helpful. Thanks. My last question is on taxes. You mentioned you have already paid $12 million this year. I know this year is especially more difficult to model because you just finished, I guess, using all those losses. Do you have kind of a range of how much you're going to pay for this year? Let's assume spot prices until the end of the year, just to have a range of how much you would pay. Going forward, how should we calculate that? It's just like a 35% effective tax rate?

Matt Freeman, Chief Financial Officer, Galiano Gold: Yeah, Alfredo, you're right. It is a bit complicated, and it's a little bit hard to guide clearly. Yeah, I think this year we're probably in the, depending on if prices stay where they are now, we could be in that $20 million-$30 million range, hopefully more towards the low end, but we'll see. We've certainly paid more than, we've probably paid a good half of it in installments so far for the year. There are a few nuances in the final tax returns that we're looking at where we can sort of maximize and optimize our positions. From a go-forward basis, yes, I think the Ghana tax rate is 35%.

We will start seeing a bit of noise with deferred taxes coming through, but on a base sort of current income tax expense basis, 35% would be a good number for you to use.

Alfredo Schmützer, Analyst, Equinox Partners: Okay. Okay. If I may very quickly, sorry, maybe the revolver credit facility, any specific reason why you decided to take that this year or in this quarter?

Matt Freeman, Chief Financial Officer, Galiano Gold: No, obviously, this is a process that takes a period of time. We're very much looking at it as just prudent balance sheet management. We've got an opportunity to put it in place just to reinforce things and give ourselves flexibility. That's the reason we felt it was prudent at this point to do that risk management.

Alfredo Schmützer, Analyst, Equinox Partners: Okay. Okay. Thank you very much.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Thank you, Alfredo.

Operator: Thank you. Lisa Yeoman, as a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one. Your next question comes from Vitaly Konovalov from Freedom Research. Please go ahead.

Raj Ray, Analyst, PI Financial Corp. Markets Group: First one relates to Asasi. So as it was paused temporarily in September, the bottleneck, let's say, lasted for two months. Can you elaborate on the measures taken to prevent any further disruptions that could take place in the operations?

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Yeah, sure. I mean, I think our first defense in all of this is making sure that we've got strong relationships with the host communities in which we operate. We do that on a day-to-day basis, right? That's our first priority. I mean, the fact is that with gold prices doing what they're doing at record levels, and if you have any knowledge of West Africa as a region, illegal mining is prevalent in those parts of the world. With those factors considered, there is an acceleration or an increase of illegal mining in our tenements. The first thing that we need to do is make sure that the communities and the key community leaders that we have good relationships with, that those relationships are maintained. The other thing that I will say is that we do mention about the military presence on site.

I will point out that, sorry, that Asanko is only the second large-scale mining company in the country that has access to full-time, 24-hour military presence on site. With that as well, we feel that we're in a strong position to ensure that something like this does not occur in the future.

Operator: Thank you. That covers my question. Perfect. The second one relates to the secondary crushing unit that was recently installed. Can you elaborate on what would be the nameplate capacity going forward with this new equipment on hand? Would you expect to raise full year guidance from the 5.8 million tons?

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: No. I mean, listen, we've stated before that the purpose of the installation of that secondary crusher is to get us back up to the 5.8 million tons per annum. We were obviously a little bit shy of that because of the hardness of the ore that we were processing during the course of this year and will continue to process into 2026. That is the target. The nameplate target will be 5.8 million tons per annum.

Operator: Wonderful. Thank you. The last quick one. You've had a lot of exploration results that you're probably longing to share. Shall we expect to see a mineral resource update provided with the end-year results?

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Yeah. We're expecting to provide an update to the mineral reserves and resources early in 2026, and most likely accompanying our full-year financial and operating results at that time point.

Operator: That's great. Thank you.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Alfredo, are there any more questions from the floor?

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Matt Badylak for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Matt Badylak, President and CEO, Galiano Gold: Yeah. Thank you, Alfredo. I just want to say that I appreciate everyone's time who dialed into the call and asked questions. As a management team, we're looking forward to execute to our revised guidance for the balance of the year and continue to provide the market with some exploration results as we continue drilling out of ore. Thank you very much and have a good day.

Operator: Lisa Yeoman, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for your participation.

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