Golden Star Resources' (GSS) CEO Sam Coetzer on Q2 2017 Results - Earnings Call Transcript
Aug. 2, 2017 2:50 PM ET|1 comment| About: Golden Star Resources Ltd (GSS)
Q2: 07-30-17 Earnings Summary
Press Release News
EPS of $0.02 beats by $0.01 Revenue of $77.3M (+ 50.2% Y/Y) beats by $0.31M
Golden Star Resources Ltd (NYSEMKT:GSS)
Q2 2017 Earnings Conference Call
August 2, 2017 10:00 AM ET
Executives
Sam Coetzer – President and Chief Executive Officer
André van Niekerk – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Katharine Sutton – Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs
Analysts
Andrew Breichmanas – BMO Capital Markets
Robert Reynolds – Credit Suisse
Operator
Good morning. My name is Jody, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Golden Star Resources' Second Quarter 2017 Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Thank you.
Sam Coetzer, President and CEO of Golden Star Resources, you may begin your conference.
Sam Coetzer
Thanks, Jody, and good morning everyone. As you heard, I am Sam Coetzer, the President and CEO of Golden Star Resources. Thank you very much for dialing into the call this morning, following the release of the second quarter results yesterday after market closed.
Before I take you through our results, I would like to pause and speak to you about a very unfortunate incident that occurred at our Wassa underground mine during the quarter. Very sadly one of our colleagues was involved in an accident, who was a load haul dumper, and it resulted in a fatality.
Although Wassa Underground has established safety record, this incident has rocked the team tremendously, and we're all deeply saddened by it. Before this incident Wassa achieved 7 million hours lost time injury-free, which is remarkable. A full investigation was conducted, and we are focused on ensuring that this kind of incident will never be repeated. Safety remains our top priority of both of our operations, and we are now approaching working safely with an even stronger determination than ever before.
Now let's take a look at our performance over the past quarter. Please take note of the disclaimer, and then we will move on to the next slide. Joining me on the call this morning are André van Niekerk, our CFO; and Katharine Sutton, our Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions of all team members here, but first, like we always do, let's recap who Golden Star is and why you should invest in us.
I'm sure this slide is familiar to many of you, so I will just take you through it briefly. Golden Star is an established gold producer with two producing mines in Ghana, which are considered as stable jurisdiction. In 2017, we were expecting to produce between 255,000 and 285,000 ounces of gold, but production is expected to expand and costs are expected to continue to decrease in the coming years. This is due to two high-grade underground mines and particularly the Prestea Underground, which has a head grade of about 14 grams per tonne. We have mineral reserves of approximately 2 million ounces, and significant upside potential. So going forward, we'll be focused on expanding the lives of our operations.
We also have one of the largest land packages of any company currently operating in Ghana. We have an experienced management team with a complementary skill set. Despite our strong performance over the year to-date, we remain undervalued on a number of metrics compared to our peer group. Meaning, there's an attractive entry point for investors to buy into our stock.
Last week I was in Ghana visiting our two mines, and meeting also with the Vice President of Ghana. I also gave a speech to our team at the Prestea Underground and to some local dignitaries. And the theme I used was one of pride. I continue to be so proud of the way that Golden Star is transforming itself. It's a very exciting time in our company's evolution, and at this stage I want to thank everyone in this company fulfilling together and playing the important part in helping us reach the stage. We are now producing from four sources of all and this give us greater flexibility than we did before. And we are becoming closer than ever to our goal of becoming a high-grade low-cost gold producer.
