B2Gold cuts dividend as growth strains balance sheet

B2GOLD said on Tuesday it would reduce its quarterly dividend rate in order to improve balance sheet flexibility as it pays for three years of aggressive expansion.The rate would fall to $0.02 per common share from $0.04/share ($0.08 from $0.16/share on an annualised basis) following a review.B2Gold cited the C$1.1bn acquisition of Sabina Gold & Silver Corp in April 2023 as well as the C$1.05bn building the subsequent Goose mine. It also recently approved the expansion of its Fekola mine in Mali, as well developing the Antelope deposit at its Otjikoto mine in Namibia.In addition, B2Gold has been active picking up assets elsewhere such as joint ventures with Founders Metals in Suriname and the acquisition of AngloGold Ashanti’s 50% stake in the Gramalote gold project in Colombia.“We’re definitely still looking for other opportunities, and as you know there’s a lot of big companies that are merging with each other right now,” Johnson told Reuters in 2023. His company now appears to be drawing its horns in.In addition to project spend, B2Gold also has the cost of delivering a total of about 265,000 gold ounces between July and June 2026 in order to satisfy a $500m gold prepayment deal entered into in January 2024. The prepayment was based on gold forward curve prices averaging about $2,191 per ounce. This compares with the current spot price of $2,665/oz.“As we enter an organic production growth phase, starting shortly with the anticipated commencement of gold production from both Fekola Regional and the Goose Mine, it is important to maintain our strong financial position as well as flexibility for internal growth projects moving forward,” said Johnson.In December, B2Gold renewed a revolving credit facility, increasing the total available amount from $700m to $800m, plus a $200m accordion feature. The new revolving credit facility has a term until December 17, 2028, it said.B2Gold also announced plans to buy back up to 5% of its stock. Johnson said this was intended to “take advantage of periods of time when the market value of our shares do not properly reflect the underlying value of our business”.B2Gold also announced gold production for 2024 of 804,778 oz which was on the low side of revised guidance of between 800,000 to 870,000 oz. Cash costs and all-in sustaining costs will be on the upper end of guidance with the latter between $1,420 and $1,480/oz.The company has targeted gold production of 970,000 to 1,08 million oz partly owing to projects that will commission. First gold from the Goose Project is estimated for the second quarter while gold production from both the Fekola Regional expansion and Fekola underground is due mid-year.Further afield, a preliminary economic assessment of the Antelope project in Namibia is due in the first quarter, the company said.Shares in the gold miner closed about 3.48% lower on the Toronto Stock Exchange on January 13.The post B2Gold cuts dividend as growth strains balance sheet appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com