KL Gold reports record results in year of Covid

“2020 will go down as a year that no one will ever forget," Tony Makuch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kirkland Lake Gold said.

"Faced with the challenges of a global pandemic, our team rose to the occasion and effectively responded to the COVID-19 virus with there being no transmission of the virus at any of our sites during the year. At the same time that we were focusing on protecting our people, we also turned in our best year ever, achieving record levels of production, earnings and cash flows and meeting all of our consolidated FY 2020 guidance. In Q4 2020, we had our best quarter of the year, achieving record quarterly production and earnings, with all three operations reaching their highest production levels of 2020. Obviously, the high gold price environment was a key factor for both the full year and Q4, but so was the hard work of a lot of people at our company. 

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. has announced the company’s financial and operating results for the fourth quarter  and full-year 2020.

For both periods, the company achieved record levels of production, revenue, net earnings and adjusted net earnings. The Company also released Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates as at December 31, 2020. The Company’s full financial statements and management discussion & analysis are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at www.kl.gold. All dollar amounts are in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted.

• RECORD QUARTERLY RESULTS IN Q4 2020 
  Record production 369,434 oz, net earnings $232.6M or $0.86/share, adj. net earnings $265.8M or $0.98/share (after $0.03/share reduction for prior-period depreciation adjustments)

• ACHIEVED ALL FULL-YEAR 2020 GUIDANCE 
  Production 1,369,652 oz (Guidance: 1.35-1.40M oz); Op. cash costs/oz(1) $404 ($410-$430), AISC/oz(1) $800 ($790-$810)

• RECORD EARNINGS & CASH FLOW IN FY 2020 
  Net earnings $787.7M (2.91/share), adjusted net earnings(1) $922.9M (3.41/share), Op. cash flow $1,315.8M; free cash flow(1)$733.1M

• RETURNED $848.3M TO SHAREHOLDERS IN 2020 
  Repurchased 18,925,900 shares for $732.4M and paid $115.9M in dividends, with two dividend increases during 2020

• DETOUR LAKE: RIGHT DEAL AT THE RIGHT TIME 
  Detour Lake contributed >40% of free cash flow in 2020, achieved significant exploration success; Permit received to process up to 32.8M tonnes per year

• EXPLORATION SUCCESS AT ALL OPERATIONS 
  Drill success at Detour Lake, Macassa and Fosterville in 2020 highlight value creation potential at all three assets

• EXCELLENT PROGRESS WITH GROWTH PROJECTS 
  #4 Shaft at Macassa, exploration drive from Fosterville to Robbin’s Hill and multiple projects at Detour Lake advancing on schedule

• TOTAL MINERAL RESERVES INCREASE 3% 
  Mineral Reserves at operating costs increased 3% as at December 31, 2020 to 20,118,000 ounces

• SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS WITH ESG INITIATIVES 
  Multiple initiatives aimed at promoting responsible environmental management, equality and diversity, safety and community support

“In addition to record results, we also achieved a number of other important milestones in 2020. We completed the acquisition of Detour Gold Corporation on January 31, 2020, with Detour Lake contributing over 40% of our free cash flow for the year and significant production growth expected at the mine in 2021. We also achieved encouraging exploration results at all three of our cornerstone assets and made excellent progress with our key growth projects. Very importantly, we returned $848.3 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividend payments, and in early January achieved our goal of repurchasing 20 million shares over a 12-to-24 month period. When we look at the quality of our assets, the progress being achieved and the tremendous upside that remains to be realized, we believe that the value creation potential for our company remains industry leading.”

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