Coeur closed its acquisition of New Gold, creating an “all‑North American” senior precious‑metals producer with listings on the NYSE and TSX and a materially larger scale and changed metals mix.
Management’s 2026 guidance (nine months of Rainy River and New Afton production) targets roughly 750,000 oz of gold, >20M oz of silver and ~60M lbs of copper, with gold ~65% of revenue and management saying the combined portfolio should exceed the $3B EBITDA / $2B FCF targets cited at deal announcement.
Coeur unveiled an updated financial policy including an expanded $750 million share repurchase program, an inaugural semi‑annual dividend of $0.02 per share, a new $1 billion revolver, and a bond obligor exchange aimed at aligning covenants and supporting a path to an investment‑grade balance sheet.
Coeur Mining (NYSE:CDE) executives used an update call to discuss the closing of its acquisition of New Gold, outline 2026 guidance that includes partial-year contributions from the acquired Canadian assets, and introduce a revised financial policy that includes an expanded share repurchase authorization and an inaugural dividend.
Chairman, President and CEO Mitchell Krebs said the closing of the New Gold acquisition on Friday marked a “watershed event” for the company. He described the combined business—along with Coeur’s recent exploration and expansion investments and last year’s SilverCrest acquisition—as positioning the company as an “all-North American senior precious metals producer,” while maintaining a leading role in silver production.
Krebs also highlighted what he characterized as key differentiators versus peers, including greater scale, a changed metals mix, lower costs and higher margins, a strong free cash flow profile, and trading liquidity on the NYSE as well as a new listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company said its shares now trade on both the NYSE and TSX under the symbol CDE.
Management’s 2026 guidance is based on nine months of production from Rainy River and New Afton, reflecting an April 1 to Dec. 31, 2026 period, CFO Tom Whelan said, as the company completes the acquisition accounting close process.
Using the midpoint of guidance, Krebs said Coeur expects in 2026 to produce approximately:
The two Canadian operations are expected to drive an 80% increase in 2026 gold production and add copper output, which management said complements Coeur’s status as a top-five global silver producer.
Based on recent prices cited on the call, management expects gold to contribute about 65% of revenue, silver nearly 30%, and copper about 5%. Coeur also said it anticipates about 70% of revenue to be generated equally between the U.S. and Canada, with the remaining 30% from its two Mexican mines.
Krebs said that, based on recent prices, the new seven-asset North American portfolio is expected to generate more than the full-year estimates of $3 billion of EBITDA and $2 billion of free cash flow that the company referenced when it announced the transaction in November, even with only nine months of contribution from Rainy River and New Afton.
Discussing technical reports and year-end reserves and resources, Krebs said Rainy River added two years to its reserve-based mine life, extending it to 2035. At New Afton, he said reserves-only mine life has been extended into 2032, supported by performance from B-Zone, with C-Zone ramping up this year.
A key highlight at New Afton was an initial K-Zone resource that management described as a driver of long-term potential. Krebs said the initial measured and indicated resource totals 48 million tonnes, plus another 6 million tonnes of inferred resource. He compared that with current New Afton reserves of 36 million tonnes and an annual design throughput rate of nearly 6 million tonnes, calling the resource a major opportunity for future mine life extensions.
Management emphasized that additional work is required before K-Zone could be incorporated into New Afton’s mine plan, including approximately 36,000 meters of planned exploration drilling through the balance of 2026 and the start of a feasibility study in the second half of the year.
In the Q&A, Krebs said it is too early to provide specific K-Zone capital or sizing details, but suggested that if K-Zone is needed to follow the current reserve-based plan, it would likely need to be ready around the 2032 timeframe. He noted C-Zone’s development was “somewhere around $600 million,” while cautioning that this is not necessarily indicative of K-Zone’s eventual capital requirements. Chief Operating Officer Mick McMullen said due diligence work on K-Zone aligned with expectations and that the company would follow a “rigorous study program” through the feasibility study.
SVP Exploration Aoife McGrath added that the 2026 drilling plan at New Afton includes $18 million of drilling, with 16 dedicated to K-Zone infill and expansion. She said the company sees opportunity along strike and at depth, including drilling the gap between D-Zone and K-Zone, and described early results as encouraging.
Whelan said Rainy River’s 2026 cost applicable sales (CAS) guidance reflects three accounting-related factors totaling just over $1,000 per ounce. Those include a non-cash purchase price adjustment tied to fair-value uplift of in-process inventory and short-term stockpiles, estimated at $180 million in 2026 (about $675 per ounce). He also cited U.S. GAAP treatment requiring approximately $40 million of deferred stripping costs (about $155 per ounce) to be expensed, and U.S. GAAP accounting for the Royal Gold stream that increases CAS by about $90 million (just under $240 per ounce).
For New Afton, Whelan said costs are reported on a co-product basis consistent with Coeur’s methodology, and include a non-cash fair-value uplift on acquired inventory of about $20 million (roughly $134 per ounce of gold and $0.15 per pound of copper). He said estimates could change slightly as opening balance sheet work is completed.
In response to an analyst question, Whelan said the inventory fair-value uplift is one-time, while the stream accounting treatment would continue. He also said sustaining capital guidance is lower in part because some items are expensed under U.S. GAAP rather than capitalized, and because guidance reflects nine months rather than a full year.
Coeur announced an updated financial policy built around three pillars:
Continued investment in growth and exploration to deliver return on invested capital; Whelan cited 26% ROIC in 2025.
Building liquidity levels consistent with larger peers, including a commitment to remain in a net cash position.
A return-of-capital strategy combining buybacks and a sustainable base dividend, with a stated preference for buybacks.
The board authorized an expanded $750 million share repurchase program, including a programmatic component that could allow continuous activity during blackout periods and a discretionary component for opportunistic repurchases. Whelan said the company expects to begin executing the program after reporting first-quarter 2026 earnings in early May.
The board also approved an inaugural dividend policy of $0.02 per share paid semi-annually, with expected payments in the second and fourth quarters. Whelan said the dividend level was selected to remain sustainable even under “extreme low case” pricing scenarios and to allow potential growth over time.
Separately, the company entered into a new revolving credit facility, increasing capacity from $400 million to $1 billion. Whelan said the facility is “modernized and materially upsized,” and that standby charges on the $1 billion facility would be the same annual fee as under the prior $400 million facility. He also said Coeur launched an obligor exchange related to New Gold’s 2032 bonds aimed at novating most of the bonds to become Coeur bonds, with the interest rate and maturity unchanged but covenants aligned with Coeur’s 2029 bonds. He said the benefits would include no restrictions on capital returns, an additional U.S. tax shield, and lower filing and compliance costs.
On credit ratings, Whelan said the company had engaged with S&P and Moody’s in connection with the obligor exchange, and that updates were expected shortly. He said management believes it is “on our way to creating an investment-grade balance sheet,” while noting rating agencies move at their own pace.
Krebs said the company’s focus now turns to integration and execution and that Coeur expects to provide further updates on its first-quarter earnings call in early May.
Coeur Mining, Inc is a publicly traded precious metals mining company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The company specializes in the exploration, development and production of silver and gold deposits, with a focus on high-grade underground and open-pit operations. Through a combination of operating mines and advanced exploration projects, Coeur Mining seeks to deliver consistent production of silver and gold bullion while maintaining industry standards for safety, environmental stewardship and cost management.
Coeur Mining’s portfolio includes five principal operating mines and several exploration projects across North America and Australia.
