BC Business
In the space of a year, the Vancouver company has emerged as a mid-tier gold producer worth $4.2 billion
The stock: A year ago, investors could be forgiven for having never heard of Orla Mining (TSX:OLA; NYSE:ORLA). It was just another Vancouver-based junior developing gold properties in Nevada and Mexico. Then in November it emerged as the buyer of Newmont Corp.’s Musselwhite mine in northwestern Ontario at a price of US$850 million. Suddenly it was an operator with a property that had been in production for 28 years and is expected to keep producing for another five or so.
The drivers: But Orla’s story had been quietly building since before the Musselwhite acquisition, which closed on March 3, and may have room yet to run. With a close at $13.04 on Tuesday (March 18), OLA stock has risen 164 percent over the past year and 53 percent so far in 2025. In a short time it has become a low-cost, mid-tier gold producer with projected output of more than 300,000 ounces this year and a market capitalization exceeding $4 billion. All-in sustaining costs (AISC) going forward are pegged at US$1,144 an ounce, well below the going price for gold.
Orla is also surprisingly well connected, counting Newmont, insurer Fairfax Financial Holdings and mining tycoon Pierre Lassonde as major shareholders. The latter two provided US$200 million in unsecured convertible notes to help finance the Musselwhite acquisition.
Even without Musselwhite, Orla unearthed 136,78 ounces of gold in 2024 at an AISC of US$805 per ounce, fourth-quarter and year-end results released late Tuesday showed. Full-year revenue was US$343.9 million and net income, US$89 million—reassuring investors that, despite its growth, the company is comfortably profitable.
Word on the street: “Orla has executed well on its first mine [Camino Rojo in Mexico] and has a pipeline of projects ahead that offer potential for further low-risk, high-margin growth,” RBC Dominion Securities analyst Michael Siperco wrote in a March 16 note to clients. “We think the acquisition of Musselwhite bolsters cash flow and diversifies production ahead of catalysts expected in 2025, including exploration-driven resource growth in Mexico and Nevada, permitting and more visibility into Sulphide Project potential at Camino Rojo.” Siperco has an “outperform” rating and $13 target on OLA stock.
Coming and going: Among two upcoming additions and four deletions from the S&P/TSX Composite, a couple of Vancouver-based companies are changing places. Lumber producer Interfor Corp. (TSX:IFP) is out of the leading Canadian stock index and Endeavour Silver Corp. (TSX:EDR; NYSE:EDX) is in as of March 24, S&P Dow Jones Indices has announced.