Amerigo Reports Record Q4-2025 Operational Results, Exceeds Revised 2025 Production Target and Provides 2026 Guidance
Amerigo Resources Ltd. (TSX: ARG) (OTCQX: ARREF) is pleased to report 2025 production results from Minera Valle Central, the Company’s 100% owned operation located near Rancagua, Chile. Dollar amounts in this news release are in U.S. dollars unless indicated otherwise.
Q4-2025 Copper Production of 18.9 million pounds – Highest on Record
2025 Copper Production of 62.2 million pounds, Beating Revised Guidance
2026 Guidance of 63.8 Million Pounds of Copper and 1.5 Million Pounds of Molybdenum
Production Guidance Increased for 6th Consecutive Year
“MVC delivered its strongest quarterly copper production on record in Q4-2025 and achieved solid annual production, while overcoming adverse operational conditions during the year. These results are a testament to the resilience and commitment of our team. In 2025, MVC showed again its ability to adapt and execute,” said Aurora Davidson, Amerigo’s President and CEO.
“Our Q4-2025 production also reflects the tangible benefits of the optimization projects implemented last year. These initiatives have quickly delivered measurable improvements, positioning MVC for continued success in this high-copper-price environment. Looking ahead, Amerigo remains focused on sustaining operational excellence and cost performance, rewarding shareholders through the Company’s one-of-a-kind capital return strategy. We look forward to reporting 2025 financial results on February 25, 2026”.
In 2025, MVC produced 62.2 million pounds of copper (2024: 64.6 M lbs), exceeding the Company’s revised guidance of 60 to 61.5 M lbs of copper issued on October 8, 2025. The strong production results in 2025 are significant, given that fresh tailings throughput was impacted following an accident at El Teniente. In 2025, MVC delivered 62.6 M lbs of copper (2024: 65.0 M Lbs).
Molybdenum production and sales were 1.5 M lbs (2024: 1.3 M lbs), significantly exceeding guidance of 1.3 M lbs.
In 2025, MVC’s plant availability was 98.4%, the Company’s employees continued to perform without lost-time accidents and MVC operated without environmental incidents.
In 2025, cash cost1 was $1.93/lb (2024: $1.89/lb) and normalized cash cost1 was $1.87/lb, compared to the normalized cash cost1 guidance of $1.93/lb. Normalized cash cost1 excludes the signing bonus associated with a 3-year collective labour agreement with MVC’s operators’ union, paid in Q4-2025. 2025 cash cost1 was positively influenced by record-low treatment and refinery charges and strong molybdenum credits of $0.43/lb.
In Q4-2025, MVC produced 18.9 M lbs of copper and 0.5 M lbs of molybdenum at a cash cost1 of $1.93/lb and a normalized cash cost1 of $1.72/lb.
Amerigo’s 2025 average annual copper price was $4.73 per pound (“/lb”) (2024: $4.15/lb), and the average provisional copper price in Q4-2025 was $5.35/lb, compared to $4.54/lb in Q3-2025.
MVC had an approved 2025 capital expenditures (“Capex”) budget of $13.0 million, and incurred Capex of $10.9 million or $0.17/lb (2024: $12.2 million or $0.19/lb), including sustaining Capex associated with the annual plant maintenance shutdown and strategic spares of $4.1 million or $0.07/lb (2024: $3.5 million or $0.05/lb); optimization projects of $4.1 million or $0.06/lb (2024: $1.7 million or $0.03/lb) and sustaining Capex projects of $2.7 million or $0.04/lb (2024: $7.0 million or $0.11/lb). There were no cost overruns on completed Capex projects in 2025. An estimated $2.0 million to complete the 2025 Capex has been transferred to the 2026 Capex budget, with project completions expected in Q1-2026.
The Company repaid $11.5 million in debt (2024: $9.8 million), becoming debt-free in October 2025, and returned $20.3 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks during the year (2024: $21.2 million).
2026 Guidance
In 2026, Amerigo expects to produce 63.8 M lbs of copper and 1.5 M lbs of molybdenum, marking the sixth year of increased production guidance. The annual plant maintenance shutdown at MVC is scheduled for Q1-2026, and the resulting lower production in Q1-2026 is factored into the annual production guidance.
In 2025, the London Metal Exchange average copper price was $4.51/lb, and the average Platts molybdenum dealer oxide price was $22.01/lb. The average exchange rate of the Chilean peso to the U.S. dollar was $951, and the average exchange rate of the Canadian dollar to the U.S. dollar was $1.40. For 2026, Amerigo has selected the following economic assumptions for its annual budget and guidance:
Average copper price: $4.80/lb;
Average molybdenum price: $21/lb;
CLP to US dollar exchange rate: 900; and
Cdn $ to US dollar exchange rate: 1.40.
Under the Assumptions, Amerigo’s 2026 cash cost1 is expected to be $1.98/lb. Compared to 2025, Amerigo’s cash cost1 is expected to be impacted by a stronger Chilean peso, higher energy pass-through charges to Chilean industrial consumers, higher reagent costs, inflationary adjustments to service contracts, higher projected environmental compliance costs and higher projected historical tailings extraction costs.
Cash cost1 in 2026 is also expected to benefit from the current record-low treatment and refinery charges. However, the persistence of these record-low charges is unknown at this time.
Projected 2026 EBITDA1 under the Assumptions is expected to be $74.5 million (excluding the effect of 2025 settlement adjustments). The Company’s projections indicate that each $0.20/lb increase in the copper price could have an average impact of $4.2 million on EBITDA, subject to the determination with Codelco’s El Teniente Division of the DET copper royalty factors for copper prices exceeding $4.80/lb for fresh tailings and $5.50/lb for historic tailings.
Using the $4.80/lb copper price from the Assumptions, the DET royalties in 2026 would be $105.5 million ($1.65/lb). The DET royalties are calculated on a sliding scale based on copper and molybdenum prices.
Each $2/lb change in molybdenum price could impact cash cost1 by $0.04/lb and EBITDA by $1.8 million.
Each 5% change in the CLP-to-USD foreign exchange rate could impact cash cost1 by $0.05/lb and EBITDA by $3.3 million.
MVC’s approved 2026 Capex budget includes $2.0 million in projects initiated under the 2025 approved Capex budget which are expected to be completed in Q1-2026 and comprises optimization projects of $6.4 million ($0.10/lb), sustaining Capex projects of $5.5 million ($0.08/lb) and sustaining Capex associated with the annual plant maintenance shutdown and strategic spares of $5.6 million ($0.09/lb), for a total Capex of $17.5 million ($0.27/lb).
Although Capex is not included in the cash cost1 calculation, it is an integral component of the business’s long-term viability. In line with Amerigo’s strategy to maximize capital allocation to the Capital Return Strategy (CRS), an extensive cost-benefit analysis of potential optimization projects was undertaken. The core optimization projects have very attractive projected paybacks of 0.7, 1.9, and 0.4 years using the Assumption copper price of $4.80/lb.
The projected Free Cash Flow (“FCF”)1 to be generated in 2026, under the Assumptions and Capex, is expected to be $34.8 million (excluding the effect of 2025 settlement adjustments). It is projected that each $0.20/lb increase in the copper price could increase FCF by $4.1 million on average.
Capital Return Strategy (“CRS”)
Since implementing its CRS in October 2021, Amerigo has returned $98.4 million to shareholders, $67.7 million through quarterly and performance dividends, and $30.7 million through share buybacks, reducing the number of common shares outstanding by 14% compared to the share count at the CRS’s inception.
Amerigo’s CRS consists of three mechanisms: quarterly dividends, performance dividends, and share buybacks. These mechanisms ideally provide shareholders with a consistent return on invested capital and quickly transfer the benefits of rising copper prices to Amerigo’s shareholders.
Release of 2025 financial results on February 25, 2026
Amerigo will release 2025 financial results at the market open on Wednesday, February 25, 2026.
Interactive Analyst Center
Amerigo’s published financial and operational information is available for download in Excel from Virtua’s Interactive Analyst Center (“IAC”). You can access the IAC by visiting www.amerigoresources.com under Investors > Interactive Analyst Center.
About Amerigo and MVC
Amerigo is an innovative copper producer with a long-term relationship with Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (“Codelco”), the world’s largest copper producer.
Amerigo produces copper concentrate and molybdenum concentrate as a by-product at the MVC operation in Chile by processing fresh and historic tailings from Codelco’s El Teniente mine, the world’s largest underground copper mine.
