Integra Resources: The Expensive Work Is Almost Behind Us

Trevor Hall (0:15)

Welcome back into Mining Stock Daily, everybody. It's been a while actually since we've gotten a corporate update from Integra Resources. They do trade on the Venture Exchange with ITR, and on the NYSE American with ITRG.

It's been a few months actually, so there's quite a number of news items here that CEO George Salamis and I are going to tackle here, including latest updates, operational updates from Florida Canyon, and then also a little bit of a dive into where DeLamar sits within the permitting process. So George, I know you are traveling this week, so thank you so much for taking some time with us. How have you been?

George Salamis (0:59)

I've been great, Trevor.

Thanks for having me on again. As you know, it's been a lot of travel for everybody in the mining industry for the last couple of weeks, and as much as August was a nice respite from activity, September and early October is busy.

Trevor Hall (1:17)

Yeah. Well, a lot of companies, the last time I saw you was in Beaver Creek, obviously, and most companies like to have something in their pocket to talk about into all those one-on-one meetings. Maybe we'll start with that news item that you published on the 23rd of September, so the week of Beaver Creek, George. And that's defining some new areas of growth at Florida Canyon with the drill rig. I mean, pretty positive grades and wide intercepts here of gold mineralization. So let's start there.

Talk about this drill program and really what the data showed you that is going to, actually extending mine life at Florida Canyon.

George Salamis (1:55)

Yeah, indeed. That's essentially what the feasibility study that we put out this past summer proved, which expiration is working really well.

As you'll know or will recall, we started the expiration or drilling at Florida Canyon almost immediately upon acquisition almost two years ago. And the first year and a half of drilling that we did at Florida Canyon really spared a lot of fruit, right? In the feasibility study, we showed 78% reserve growth. We extended the mine life out to eight years. So kind of proof that that expiration was working really well. So we obviously in 2026, we decided to keep it going in other areas where we thought maybe there's some additional mine life beyond the eight years sitting there. And obviously we've got a pretty high conviction of that as a result of the results we put out to only a couple weeks back.

Trevor Hall (2:51)

Yeah. You know, you and I have chatted throughout the year. You knew 2026, trying to get Florida Canyon really optimized in a better position. It was going to take some time, some capital and a lot of patience here. But we are kind of leaning into that last quarter of the year here, George. Can you give us a sense to some of these dynamics and the numbers with Florida Canyon?

Is 2027 looked to be that pivot point?

George Salamis (3:20)

Indeed, yeah. So, I mean, when we bought the mine a couple of years back, we knew that 2026 was going to be a big, expensive year for us in terms of our need to reinvest into the asset to make it better, to align it for the future. And we're in the thick of it now, right? The maximum tons mined right now, record tons mined, both ore and waste right now. A lot of waste being moved to get at that key central zone, which is a higher grade, better leach kinetics, easier mining for us than certainly right now.

That will be behind us as of the end of the first quarter of next year. So, knowing that 2026 was going to be a big year, an expensive year, it was going to hit our ASIC. We knew that was coming, but that comes to an end next year. And the light is at the end of the tunnel in that respect.

Trevor Hall (4:14)

Yeah. You raised, you lifted your ASIC to up to $3,500 an ounce. So, that was a pretty big hit. But the feasibility study still pegs that life of mine, ASIC, at just about $2,300 an ounce. So, a lot of improvement. So, beyond that royalty uplift from the higher gold deck, how much of that?

I'm just kind of curious the input cost from this year. Diesel, explosives, some of those input costs, how are we supposed to be looking at energy prices here in that ASIC?

George Salamis (4:47)

Yeah. So, that ASIC is not really being affected by diesel prices or explosive prices. And really what triggered the guidance revision was that feasibility study that we put out. And it basically said if you want to set up for a much better eight years of high levels of production, lower costs, this is what you have to do now for the next six months. You have to spend a lot of money obviously upgrading the fleet where we were well into that earlier this year. But we also have to spend money in expanding the heat bleach pad capacity, which was actually planned for next year. But we decided to move it into this year so we could set up next year properly.