Executive Summary / Key Takeaways

• Transformative Growth on the Horizon: Eldorado Gold is poised for a significant re-rating driven by the Skouries copper-gold project in Greece, which is 70% complete for Phase 2 construction and on track for first concentrate in Q1 2026 and commercial production by mid-2026. This project is expected to diversify the company's product portfolio and substantially increase its production profile.
• Robust Operational Performance and Financial Strength: The company delivered solid Q2 2025 results with 133,769 gold ounces produced, exceeding expectations at Lamaque and Kisladag. A strong balance sheet with over $1.1 billion in liquidity supports ongoing investments and provides financial flexibility, even as gold prices drive higher costs.
• Strategic Capital Allocation and Shareholder Returns: Eldorado Gold is actively returning value to shareholders through an expanded Normal Course Issuer Bid (NCIB), repurchasing over 28 million shares for $58 million year-to-date. Management views the current share price as undervalued, reinforcing confidence in its long-term prospects.
• Technological Edge and Operational Optimization: Continuous investment in operational improvements, such as the North ADR facility at Kisladag and the dry stack tailings at Skouries, enhances efficiency, reduces environmental impact, and aims to improve recovery and throughput, strengthening the company's competitive position.
• Managing Risks in a Dynamic Environment: While facing challenges like labor market tightness, permitting delays for the Olympias expansion, and potential impacts from U.S. tariffs, Eldorado Gold has implemented proactive mitigation strategies, including contingency plans for skilled labor and inventory management.

Eldorado Gold: Forging a Diversified Future in Precious Metals

Eldorado Gold Corporation, established in 1996, has evolved into a prominent mid-tier gold producer with a strategic footprint across Turkey, Canada, and Greece. The company's core business encompasses the mining, exploration, development, and sale of mineral products, primarily gold, alongside silver, lead, and zinc. Eldorado's overarching strategy centers on optimizing its existing cash-generating assets, advancing high-return growth projects like Skouries, and maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation to enhance shareholder value. This strategy is a direct outgrowth of its history, including the transformative 2017 acquisition of Integra Gold, which significantly bolstered its Canadian operations and demonstrated its capability to convert resources into reserves.

In the competitive landscape of gold mining, Eldorado Gold operates among global giants like Barrick Gold (GOLD), Newmont Corporation (NEM), Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM), and Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC). While Barrick and Newmont benefit from superior scale, leading to greater operational efficiency, higher cash flow generation, and stronger profitability margins, Eldorado distinguishes itself through its geographic diversification. This spread across multiple continents offers a degree of risk mitigation and access to unique growth opportunities in emerging European markets, areas where larger competitors may have less focused exposure. However, Eldorado's operational efficiency and financial performance, particularly in terms of operating margins and return on equity, generally lag behind the industry leaders, making it more susceptible to cost pressures and market downturns. Against peers like Kinross, Eldorado shares a similar mid-tier profile, with both companies focusing on international operations and exploration. Eldorado's competitive standing is further shaped by broad industry trends, including sustained high gold prices that boost revenues but also elevate royalty and labor costs, and an increasing demand for sustainable mining practices.

Technological Differentiators and Operational Excellence

Eldorado Gold's commitment to operational excellence and technological advancement is a cornerstone of its strategy, aiming to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve environmental stewardship across its portfolio. At the Kisladag mine in Turkey, the company has focused on optimizing its heap leach operations. The new North ADR (Adsorption-Desorption-Recovery) facility, which became operational in Q3 2024, is a key technological improvement. This facility provides enhanced carbon management capacity compared to the older South ADR, leading to benefits such as reduced carbon handling requirements, optimized stacking, irrigation, and extraction cycles, and the decoupling of the North and South heap leach facilities for maximum cost efficiency. Furthermore, Kisladag is finalizing a study to close the High-Pressure Grinding Roll (HPGR) circuit with additional screening and whole ore agglomeration. This initiative aims to achieve a more uniform final product, de-bottleneck operations, and reduce wear on the HPGR drums, which can be damaged by oversized material, causing downtime and reduced throughput. Management anticipates this investment could lead to better recovery, higher throughput, and potentially increased reserves.

At the Skouries copper-gold project in Greece, a critical technological differentiator is the dry stack tailings facility. This represents a significant redesign from an earlier wet thick and slurry disposal methodology. The dry stack approach offers substantial environmental benefits by minimizing water usage and reducing the physical footprint of tailings storage. Its construction has required extensive geotechnical investigation and the installation of over 600 concrete reinforced steel pilings due to its challenging valley location, highlighting the engineering complexity and the company's commitment to this advanced tailings management solution. Additionally, Skouries has implemented an innovative virtual and augmented reality training program for mine safety, which was recognized with a silver award at the 2024 European Mine Safety Awards. This technology enhances safety training and operational readiness for the workforce.

The "so what" for investors is clear: these technological and operational advancements are not merely incremental improvements but strategic investments that directly contribute to Eldorado's competitive moat. By improving recovery rates, increasing throughput, and enhancing cost efficiency, these initiatives are designed to bolster financial performance, leading to potentially higher average realized prices, lower per-ounce costs, and better margins. The dry stack tailings facility at Skouries, in particular, addresses a critical environmental concern in mining, potentially securing long-term social license to operate and mitigating future regulatory risks, thereby strengthening market positioning and long-term growth prospects.

Financial Performance: A Story of Resilience and Growth

Eldorado Gold's financial performance in late 2024 and the first half of 2025 reflects a company benefiting from elevated gold prices while actively investing in its future. For the full year 2024, the company reported net earnings attributable to shareholders from continuing operations of $301 million, or $1.48 per share, on total revenue of $1.32 billion. This represented a significant increase over 2023, driven by higher gold prices and sales volumes. Adjusted net earnings for 2024 stood at $321 million, or $1.57 per share. Cash flow generated by operating activities before changes in working capital reached $636 million in 2024, a substantial improvement from $411 million in the prior year, primarily due to a $314 million increase in revenue as average realized gold prices rose from $1,944 per ounce to $2,405 per ounce.

The momentum continued into 2025. In Q1 2025, Eldorado generated net earnings of $72 million ($0.35 per share) and adjusted net earnings of $56 million ($0.28 per share). Revenue jumped 38% to $355 million, buoyed by an average realized gold price of $2,933 per ounce. Cash flow before working capital changes was $137 million. Q2 2025 saw even stronger results, with net earnings from continuing operations of $139 million ($0.68 per share) and adjusted net earnings of $90 million ($0.44 per share). Revenue surged 52% to $452 million, supported by an average realized gold price of $3,270 per ounce. Cash flow before working capital changes reached $202 million, up significantly from $132 million in Q2 2024.

Despite these strong revenue figures, costs have been a notable factor. Total cash costs in Q2 2025 were $1,064 per ounce sold, and all-in sustaining costs (AISC) were $1,520 per ounce sold. These costs were higher compared to 2024, primarily due to increased royalties driven by record high gold prices and higher labor costs. Royalties alone contributed approximately one-third of the production cost increase per ounce in Q2 2025. The company's gross profit margin (TTM) stands at 47.09%, operating profit margin (TTM) at 35.51%, and net profit margin (TTM) at 26.07%, reflecting solid profitability in the current gold price environment.

Liquidity remains robust, with total liquidity exceeding $1.1 billion at the end of Q2 2025, comprising $978 million in cash and cash equivalents and $241 million available under its senior secured credit facility. This strong financial foundation is critical for funding the Skouries project and other growth initiatives. Free cash flow, while negative $62 million in Q2 2025 due to heavy capital investments in Skouries, was positive $62 million when excluding these project-related expenditures, underscoring the underlying strength of its operating assets.

Strategic Initiatives and Growth Drivers

Eldorado Gold's growth narrative is fundamentally tied to the Skouries copper-gold project in Greece. As of Q2 2025, Phase 2 of construction is 70% complete, with overall project progress at 82% including Phase 1. The project is on track for first copper-gold concentrate production in Q1 2026 and commercial production by mid-2026. This project is expected to be transformative, diversifying Eldorado's product portfolio with significant copper output and positioning it as one of the European Union's largest copper producers. Capital investment in Skouries was approximately $117 million in Q2 2025, with full-year guidance of $400 million to $450 million. The company has also spent $27 million in accelerated operational capital in Q2 2025, towards an expected $80 million to $100 million for the year, to facilitate the transition to self-perform open pit mining operations. Open pit ore mining commenced in July 2025, with most equipment on site and 26 operators onboarded and undergoing training.

Beyond Skouries, other assets contribute to the growth story. The Lamaque Complex in Canada achieved record annual production of 196,538 ounces in 2024 and saw its Q2 2025 production positively impacted by the early processing of a second bulk sample from the Ormaque deposit. This development is a key part of extending Lamaque's mine life, with 43,000 meters of drilling planned at Triangle and 48,000 meters at Ormaque in 2025 to convert inferred resources to reserves. In Greece, the Olympias mill expansion to 650,000 tonnes per annum has begun, though completion is now anticipated by mid-2026 due to permitting and engineering delays. This expansion, supported by a recently signed three-year collective bargaining agreement, is expected to unlock long-term potential for the mine.

Eldorado Gold is also committed to shareholder returns. The company expanded its Normal Course Issuer Bid (NCIB) on May 1, 2025, and reapproved it in July 2025 to include the New York Stock Exchange, having repurchased over 28 million shares for $58 million year-to-date. Management views the NCIB as a prudent way to deploy capital, believing the company's share price is undervalued, especially as Skouries progresses. A sustainable dividend policy is anticipated to be re-established in 2026, following Skouries' commercial production. The company also expects to complete the divestiture of its Romanian assets in 2025, further streamlining its portfolio.

Risks and Challenges

Despite a compelling growth trajectory, Eldorado Gold faces several risks. Operational challenges persist, as evidenced by the Q1 2025 flotation circuit instability at Olympias and slower leach kinetics at Kisladag in 2024, though these issues have been largely addressed through optimization efforts and planned maintenance. The Skouries project, while progressing well, remains susceptible to labor market tightness in Greece, requiring continuous focus on matching skilled workers to work fronts and necessitating contingency plans for sourcing labor from other EU countries. Delays in permitting and engineering have pushed the Olympias mill expansion completion to mid-2026. Non-critical infrastructure at Skouries, such as the open pit truck shop and office, has also been delayed by archaeological studies, though workarounds are in place to prevent impact on operations.

Macroeconomic factors also present risks. While high gold prices are currently beneficial, gold price volatility remains an inherent risk to revenue and profitability. Elevated gold prices also lead to higher royalty expenses and labor costs, which are expected to keep consolidated total cash costs and AISC at or above the high end of guidance. Furthermore, ongoing global U.S. tariff discussions could add approximately $4 per ounce to total cash costs and $6 per ounce to AISC for the Canadian business unit, impacting consumables like explosives and cyanide. The company is proactively managing this through inventory building and exploring alternative suppliers.

Outlook and Guidance

Eldorado Gold is firmly on track to achieve its 2025 production guidance of 460,000 to 500,000 ounces of gold, with expectations to deliver around the midpoint of this range based on first-half performance. Consolidated total cash costs and all-in sustaining costs for the full year are anticipated to be at or above the high end of the guidance range, reflecting the impact of higher royalties and labor costs driven by elevated gold prices.

The Skouries project is the primary driver of future growth. First copper-gold concentrate production is slated for Q1 2026, with commercial production by mid-2026. The 2026 production outlook for Skouries, with a midpoint of 145,000 ounces of gold, is heavily weighted towards the second half of the year, as Q1 will involve early commissioning and Q2 will be a ramp-up phase, aiming for 70% of nameplate capacity by the end of Q2. The project is expected to reach nameplate capacity by the end of Q3 2026. Skouries project capital guidance for 2025 is $400 million to $450 million, with accelerated operational capital expected to be $80 million to $100 million.

For its annual reserve updates, Eldorado Gold maintains a conservative approach, expecting only a slight, non-material increase (less than 10%) from the current $1,400 per ounce gold price assumption, ensuring solid margins across various gold price environments. The company's ongoing optimization efforts at Kisladag, including the accelerated expansion of the secondary crusher circuit and the geometallurgical study (expected Q1 2026), aim to improve throughput, recovery, and potentially extend mine life.

Conclusion

Eldorado Gold Corporation stands at a pivotal juncture, transitioning from a pure gold producer to a diversified gold-copper company with the imminent commissioning of its transformative Skouries project. The company's robust operational performance, particularly at Lamaque and Kisladag, coupled with a strong balance sheet, provides a solid foundation for this strategic shift. Management's confidence is underscored by its aggressive share repurchase program, signaling a belief that the market currently undervalues its assets and future growth prospects.

While challenges such as cost inflation, labor market dynamics, and permitting delays require diligent management, Eldorado's proactive mitigation strategies and continuous investment in operational efficiencies and technological advancements, like the dry stack tailings at Skouries and the North ADR facility at Kisladag, are designed to strengthen its competitive position and ensure long-term sustainability. The successful ramp-up of Skouries in 2026, alongside ongoing optimization of existing mines and a disciplined approach to capital allocation, positions Eldorado Gold to unlock significant value for shareholders, making it a compelling investment story in the evolving precious and base metals sector.