Past year: ▼ 11%(12.54 – 29.50 CAD)
Each one in plain English, with the numbers worked through for a shareholder.
29 Apr 2024business combination● Neutral
Closed the Contact Gold purchase; its holders received 0.0063 Orla shares each, so their equity carried into Orla rather than being cashed out, and Contact was delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange. Orla lifted its 2024 South Railroad exploration budget by US$3.0 million to US$14.0 million to take in Pony Creek.
4 Apr 2024drilling result▲ GoodMajor
Regional drilling at South Railroad confirmed Carlin-style gold in the North Bullion sulphide deposit, 51.8 metres at 3.24 grams a tonne and 42.7 metres at 3.96 grams, and extended mineralisation at Jasperoid Wash. Orla planned over 22,000 metres of drilling in 2024, up sharply, with Pony Creek to be folded in on completion of the Contact Gold deal.
7 Mar 2024drilling result▲ GoodMajor
First substantial drill results from the Nevada ground bought with Gold Standard: oxide gold outside the projected open pits at Pinion, 0.72 grams a tonne over 112.7 metres, and at Dark Star, 3.53 grams over 36.6 metres including 19.8 metres at 5.23. Infill holes confirmed the modelled grade, with 2.20 grams over 163.1 metres. Orla drilled 14,695 metres at South Railroad in 2023.
26 Feb 2024business combination● Neutral
Agreed to buy Contact Gold for 0.0063 of an Orla share each, about US$8.1 million in all and a 77% premium, for the 4,500-hectare Pony Creek ground next door to South Railroad on the Carlin trend. Contact holders end up with roughly 0.7% of Orla. Contact also brings Green Springs on the Cortez trend, over which Centerra Gold holds an earn-in right to 70% for a four-year, US$10.0 million spend.
22 Feb 2024drilling result▲ GoodMajor
Four holes for 2,607 metres found the new polymetallic sulphide style 450 metres down-plunge of the existing resource, returning 4.86 grams of gold, 43.6 grams of silver, 1.27% zinc and 0.44% lead over 11.7 metres, and 10.3 grams of gold with 3.81% zinc over 5.6 metres. The Camino Rojo system is bigger than the resource envelope drawn around it, and now carries base metals as well as gold.
7 Feb 2024drilling result▲ GoodMajor
The last 14 holes of the 2023 sulphide infill program closed it out strongly - 138.6 metres at 3.21 grams of gold a tonne, 43.0 metres at 4.12 grams including 11.5 metres at 10.0, 20.5 metres at 5.30 grams. Holes pushed below the Caracol formation also hit a new style of polymetallic massive sulphide replacement mineralisation, results for which were still to come.
25 Jan 2024drilling result▲ GoodMajor
A 37,677 metre program in 2023 concentrated on infilling the higher-grade core of the Camino Rojo sulphides to support a possible underground resource, and returned intersections such as 2.94 grams of gold a tonne over 66.5 metres and 2.22 grams over 96.5 metres, with narrow shoots above 10 grams. Results from 38 of 56 holes had been released, the rest to follow.
18 Jan 2024production update▲ GoodMajor
Beat guidance again with 121,877 ounces of gold in 2023, a record 34,484 in the fourth quarter, against a range already raised to 110,000 to 120,000. Camino Rojo stacked 7.0 million tonnes at 0.79 grams a tonne, running at 19,194 tonnes a day, above the 18,000 tonne design. Debt fell US$58.9 million over the year to US$88.4 million, the last US$22.8 million instalment to Fresnillo under the layback agreement was paid, and with US$96.6 million of cash the company was in a small net cash position.
29 Aug 2023debt financing▲ GoodMajor
Replaced its US$100 million term loan and US$50 million revolver with a single US$150 million revolving facility from Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal and CIBC, running four years to August 2027 with everything due at maturity. Pricing moved to term SOFR plus 2.50% to 3.75% depending on leverage, 25 basis points cheaper at the bottom of the range, and the standby fee on the undrawn part came down. A stated ability to go to US$200 million is not committed money - it needs further binding commitments.
22 June 2023drilling result▲ GoodMajor
Infill drilling tightened to 25 to 30 metre spacing across the Camino Rojo sulphides and held the grade - 2.87 grams of gold a tonne over 93.0 metres in CRSX22-11, 3.26 grams over 56.9 metres in CRSX22-12A - work aimed at supporting an underground resource. Deeper holes confirmed a different, polymetallic style of massive sulphide below the main zone, with CRSX23-15C returning 5.90 grams gold-equivalent over 8.5 metres carrying silver, zinc and copper as well as gold.
31 Jan 2023drilling result▲ GoodMajor
Drilling into the sulphide body under the Camino Rojo oxide pit kept returning grade over real width - 4.66 grams of gold a tonne over 64.0 metres in CRSX22-09B, 2.76 grams over 79.0 metres in CRSX22-09A, 1.92 grams over 87.0 metres in CRSX22-10A. Separately, gold was found below the base of the current resource, including 4.02 grams of gold and 1.5% zinc over 22.9 metres in CRSX22-07, so the deposit is open at depth, and a first regional hole 7 kilometres north-east at Guanamero was encouraging.
17 Jan 2023production update▲ GoodMajor
Its first full year of production came in at the top of a guidance range that had already been raised twice: 109,596 ounces of gold against an original 90,000 to 100,000, with a record 32,017 ounces in the fourth quarter, at all-in sustaining costs of US$600 to US$700 an ounce. It ended 2022 with US$96.6 million of cash after paying Fresnillo the third US$15 million instalment under the Camino Rojo layback agreement and making a first US$5.6 million principal repayment on its credit facility. Guidance for 2023 was 100,000 to 110,000 ounces at a higher US$750 to US$850 an ounce.
13 Sept 2022drilling progress report▲ GoodMajor
First real exploration season as a producer, across 200,000 hectares in three countries, with the budget raised mid-year. Second-phase drilling into the Camino Rojo sulphide body below the oxide pit returned 2.56 grams of gold a tonne over 41.5 metres in hole CRSX22-06 and 3.08 grams over 52.5 metres in CRSX22-08A, and two holes at La Pelona in Panama cut broad low-grade oxide - 0.27 grams over 113.7 metres and 0.46 grams over 104.8 metres.
12 Aug 2022business combination● NeutralMajor
Closed the Gold Standard Ventures purchase; its holders took 0.1193 Orla shares plus C$0.0001 each, so their equity rolled into Orla stock rather than being cashed out, and Gold Standard was delisted from Toronto and NYSE American and wound down as a reporting issuer. Orla now holds South Railroad and Lewis in Nevada alongside Camino Rojo and Cerro Quema.
15 June 2022business combination● Neutral
The signed arrangement agreement with Gold Standard Ventures dated 12 June 2022, setting out the mechanics of the takeover - court process, dissent rights, non-solicitation, break fee and the treatment of Gold Standard's options and restricted share units - rather than new commercial terms.
13 June 2022business combination● NeutralMajor
Agreed to buy Gold Standard Ventures for 0.1193 Orla shares plus a token C$0.0001 per share, about C$0.655 a share or C$242 million and a 35% premium, in the company's first move outside Mexico and Panama. The prize is South Railroad, a feasibility-stage open-pit heap leach project on Nevada's Carlin trend that Orla describes as the same shape as Camino Rojo, plus the Lewis ground on the Battle Mountain trend. Permitting at South Railroad was still under way.
31 Mar 2022production update▲ GoodMajor
Declared commercial production at Camino Rojo from 1 April 2022, after sustaining throughput above 75% of the 18,000 tonne a day design and completing all major construction. Orla went from explorer to producer in three years.
16 Feb 2022production update▲ GoodMajor
Ramp-up was tracking plan: January stacking averaged 15,210 tonnes a day, 84.5% of the 18,000 tonne nameplate, against 9,955 for 2021 as a whole, and recoveries matched the metallurgical model. Gold poured was 2,422 ounces in 2021 and 6,263 ounces in January alone. Ore grade mined in January was 0.56 grams a tonne against 0.71 for 2021, with stacked grade holding at 0.71.
21 Jan 2022resource reserve update● Neutral
Filed the Cerro Quema technical report incorporating the Caballito resource announced in December. The release also discloses a correction: the mixed-material category in the oxide project's indicated and inferred resources had been misstated in the September 2021 report. Reserves and the pre-feasibility economics are unaffected.
20 Jan 2022resource reserve update● Neutral
The updated Cerro Quema pre-feasibility technical report, effective 18 January 2022, which adds the Caballito copper-gold resource to the Panama asset.
14 Dec 2021production update▲ GoodMajor
Poured first gold at Camino Rojo on 13 December 2021, on schedule: three bars weighing 1,278 ounces holding about 770 ounces of gold and 510 of silver. Orla permitted, financed and built its first mine in under two years, through the pandemic, and became a producer.
6 Dec 2021resource reserve update▲ GoodMajor
A first resource for the Caballito copper-gold deposit, a kilometre from the Cerro Quema oxide pits, put 31.95 million tonnes indicated at 0.96% copper-equivalent (0.83% copper, 0.31 grams gold, 2.2 grams silver a tonne) for 676 million pounds of copper-equivalent, plus 22.57 million tonnes inferred at 0.85% for 425 million pounds. It outcrops, runs 800 metres along strike and 400 metres deep at 50 to 150 metres thick, and is open in both directions - a different kind of asset from the oxide gold the company was built around.
28 July 2021resource reserve update▲ GoodMajor
A pre-feasibility study on the Cerro Quema oxide project in Panama outlined a second heap-leach mine on the same pattern as Camino Rojo: 21.7 million tonnes at 0.80 grams of gold a tonne, 562,000 contained ounces, 489,000 recovered at an 87% recovery over six years, about 81,000 ounces a year. It needs US$164 million of initial capital for a US$176 million after-tax present value and a 38% return at US$1,600 gold. No construction decision was taken.
14 July 2021capital raising announcement▲ GoodMajor
Raised US$35 million by issuing 9,085,263 shares at C$4.75 to fund construction at Camino Rojo, work at Cerro Quema and studies on the Camino Rojo sulphide deposit. The buyers included Pierre Lassonde, Agnico Eagle and Trinity Capital Partners - money from established mining investors rather than a discounted market placement.
What it means for a shareholder
9.1m new shares at C$4.75 to raise about C$35.0m. That's 3.9% dilution: every existing holder's slice gets 3.9% smaller. If you held C$1,000 of shares (211 at the issue price), your slice goes from 0.0000943% to 0.0000906% of the company. To keep it you'd need 9 more shares - about C$43 at the issue price.
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10 Feb 2021resource reserve update● Neutral
Announced the filing of the Camino Rojo technical report, restating the January feasibility figures unchanged: US$452 million after-tax present value, 62% return, 980,000 recoverable gold ounces over 10.4 years.
9 Feb 2021resource reserve update● Neutral
The Kappes, Cassiday feasibility study technical report for Camino Rojo behind the January reserve increase, effective 11 January 2021, together with the qualified persons' consents.
4 Feb 2021drilling progress report● Neutral
Set a deliberately small US$5.1 million exploration budget for 2021 - US$4.0 million in Mexico, US$1.1 million in Panama - because the year's money and attention were going into building Camino Rojo. The work is aimed at confirming oxide ore on the neighbouring Fresnillo ground, gathering sulphide material for metallurgy, and testing the Caballito copper-gold trend in Panama.
11 Jan 2021resource reserve update▲ GoodMajor
An updated feasibility study on Camino Rojo, already under construction, lifted contained gold reserves 54% and added 3.5 years of mine life: 67.4 million tonnes of ore at 0.73 grams of gold and 14.5 grams of silver a tonne, 1.59 million contained gold ounces, of which 980,000 are expected to be recovered at a 62% heap-leach recovery over 10.4 years. That is about 94,000 ounces a year for US$134 million of initial capital, at cash costs of US$490 and all-in sustaining costs of US$543 an ounce - a US$452 million after-tax net present value at a 5% discount and 62% return using US$1,600 gold.
22 Dec 2020listing compliance notice▲ Good
Added a NYSE American listing under the symbol ORLA while keeping its Toronto listing, opening the stock to US investors as it built its first mine. At this point Orla was a developer with two heap-leach assets: the Camino Rojo oxide gold project in Zacatecas, Mexico, then in construction, and Cerro Quema in Panama.
