Skouries to start producing
With precious metals producers weeks away from reporting their full-year 2025 financial results, record metals prices mean sector participants are expecting a surprise to the upside in net earnings and free cash flow.
With the gold price averaging more than US$4100/oz and silver about $70/oz in the December quarter, companies are anticipating a cash bonanza, which will mean an inflexion point for many companies and their shareholders, Christian Milay, chair of Eldorado Gold, told Mining Journal at the 2026 Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.With metals prices strong for the past two years, company balance sheets have never been in better condition. Several producers are debt-free, and nine had more than $1 billion in cash on their balance sheets at the end of the September 2025 quarter. Shareholder returns have been increasing, as have exploration and sustaining capital budgets. The question on many observers' lips is what will companies do with all the cash when they report bumper 2025 results?"People often prefer a gradual improvement in earnings and so with the gold price, there may be a surprise coming here or there. The sector is more disciplined at this stage, as we have had past downturns when people have become more conservative. The message from shareholders that companies need to return more to them is growing louder. El Dorado started a share buyback program about four months ago during a multi-billion-dollar mine build in Greece, which is a real show of confidence, and we are contemplating a dividend. That is not what you would have seen in the past, as you usually wait till it's done and the cash is coming in," said Milau.Chief executive inflectionAnother inflection point is the changing of leadership at a number of gold companies, whether voluntarily or not. Newmont transitioned the chief executive role from Tom Palmer to Natascha Viljoen, an announcement made the same day Barrick Mining announced the departure of Mark Bristow. Barrick is still looking for a new chief executive. In addition to the leadership change at Eldorado, 2025 saw Darren Hall take the helm at Equinox Gold, Dale Andres at Artemis Gold, and Jamie Beck at Lundin Gold.The grey ratio has reduced, with some chief executives bowing out while their share prices are riding high and shareholders are happy, perhaps leaving the decisions about what to do with the cash generation to the next generation."I think it's a reflection of some people saying they are going to take some money off the table at the top. It is also a reflection of a generational gap, with some leaders reaching retirement age and the natural progression. It is a great opportunity for younger people in the sector. Eldorado chose to do a very thought-through process with a nine-month handover period," said Milau.SkouriesMilau became chair in October 2025 and will become chief executive when George Burns retires, which is expected once the $1 billion Skouries copper-gold development in northern Greece enters production and starts cashflowing. Skouries is expected to produce 140,000ozpa of gold and 67Mlbpa of copper for 20 years, lifting its overall production by about 33% by 2027 to 660,000-720,000ozpa."It is an exciting time for us with getting Skouries ramped up. We're in commissioning, and we expect to receive the first concentrate and enter commercial production around mid-year. It could almost double our free cash flow," said Milau.The company is planning to double its exploration in Greece and to invest capital in Canada and Turkey. Eldorado has mines at Olympias, Greece; Kışladağ and Efemçukuru, Turkey; and Lamaque, Quebec, Canada. Kışladağ has produced more than 4Moz "The portfolio was the reason I wanted to join this company, as the average mine life is about 13-14 years right now, with tonnes of exploration upside in the portfolio to extend those lives. The portfolio can double exploration over the next year or so, which we plan to do. We have a nice portfolio in Turkey that's been running for a few years and has a nice long life ahead of it. Canada keeps going from strength to strength in Quebec, and Greece is kind of unknown in the broader market, as we are the only real player that's an operator in Greece," said Milau.Eldorado is developing what it calls its 2030 strategy to plan the pathway once Skouries enters production. "It is going to be different from the last five years when George was focused on delivering big construction capex-heavy projects. We are turning to a cashflow inflection point, probably mid-2027, when the cash, which could be $1 billion of annual free cash flow, will start coming. That is a big number, so the mandate is how to deploy that capital in a strategic and disciplined manner," said Milau.Sector observers anticipate an increase in mergers and acquisitions as companies leverage higher share prices and cash balances to acquire assets to build their portfolios and development pipelines. Milau has experience of this, having been the original chief executive of Equinox Gold, who undertook several acquisitions and mergers to set that company on its path towards 1Mozpa of gold production. With growth within the Eldorado portfolio, M&A for the company will likely be opportunistic if it happens at all."M&A doesn't have to be a key priority for us. I'm not saying we're not going to do something strategic in one or two of the jurisdictions we're in. Would it be nice to have another asset Canada? Yes, that'd be great. Would it be nice to increase our scale in Turkey? Yes, that'd be great. Saudi Arabia is really prospective, and I spent two and a half years here setting up a junior exploration company," said Milau.The value of shares in Eldorado Gold has increased by 209% over the past year. They are trading at $44.84, valuing the company at $9 billion.
Christian Milau Skouries Jamie Beck Tom Palmer Mark Bristow Natascha Viljoen Darren Hall Dividends Lamaque Kışladağ Olympias Efemcukuru
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