Amerigo Announces 2024 Results & Quarterly Dividend

2024 Net Income of $19.2 million

Annual EBITDA¹ of $68.8 million and Free Cash Flow to Equity¹ of $27.8 million

14^th Quarterly Dividend of Cdn$0.03 Declared

$21.2 million Returned to Shareholders in 2024

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 26, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amerigo Resources Ltd. (TSX: ARG; OTCQX: ARREF) ("Amerigo” or the "Company”) is pleased to announce financial results for the year and three months ("Q4-2024”) ended December 31, 2024. Dollar amounts in this news release are in U.S. dollars unless indicated otherwise.

Amerigo's annual financial results included annual net income of $19.2 million, earnings per share ("EPS”) of $0.12, EBITDA¹ of $68.8 million and free cash flow to equity¹ ("FCFE¹”) of $27.8 million. In 2024, Amerigo returned $21.2 million to shareholders, including Cdn$.16 per share of quarterly and performance dividends. 2024 was the first year the Company employed all the elements of its Capital Return Strategy² ("CRS”): quarterly dividends, performance dividends, and share buybacks.

In Q4-2024, Amerigo's net income was $2.4 million, with EPS of $0.01, EBITDA¹ of $19.5 million, and FCFE¹ of $8.0 million.

"We are pleased to report once again strong annual results for Amerigo, exceeding production and cash cost¹ guidance. Our teams continue to deliver exceptional results in workplace safety, environmental compliance, plant availability and the rollout of optimization and risk mitigation Capex,” said Aurora Davidson, Amerigo's President and CEO. "This operational excellence provides the basis for Amerigo's industry-leading CRS².”

"In July 2024, Amerigo paid its first performance dividend, illustrating our ability to quickly share the benefits of strong copper prices with shareholders. Currently, copper prices are starting to behave as in Q2-2024, before the declaration of that initial performance dividend. However, compared to July 2024, we are comfortably above our targeted minimum cash balances, and the overhang of the upcoming U.S. election is behind us. We are again in an excellent position to quickly take advantage of rising copper prices on behalf of shareholders.”

"We have set ambitious operational and financial goals for 2025. We expect to extinguish our already low level of debt before year-end, which will allow us to return even greater levels of capital to shareholders. We continue to see strongly supported fundamentals in our sector, which should lead to higher copper prices and exceptional economics for Amerigo. With minimal remaining debt and a proven CRS² in place, Amerigo is extremely well positioned to continue to reward shareholders,” Ms. Davidson added.

Amerigo's copper production from Minera Valle Central ("MVC”) reached 64.6 million pounds ("M lbs”) of copper (2023: 57.6 M lbs, impacted by flooding throughout Chile), 4% over the Company's annual production guidance of 62.4 M lbs. MVC also produced 1.3 M lbs of molybdenum in 2024 (2023: 1.2 M lbs), 8% over the Company's guidance of 1.2 M lbs.

On February 24, 2025, Amerigo's Board of Directors declared its fourteenth quarterly dividend. The dividend will be Cdn$0.03 per share, payable on March 20, 2025, to shareholders of record as of March 6, 2025³. Amerigo designates the entire amount of this taxable dividend to be an "eligible dividend” for purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada), as amended from time to time. Based on Amerigo's December 31, 2024, share closing price of Cdn$1.56, the Cdn$0.03 per share quarterly dividend represents an annual dividend yield of 7.7%⁴.

This news release should be read with Amerigo's audited consolidated financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A”) for the years ended December 31, 2024, and 2023, available on the Company's website at www.amerigoresources.com and on the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.ca.

Highlights and Significant Items

• Amerigo achieved a solid financial performance in 2024, posting a net income of $19.2 million (2023: $3.4 million), driven by increased copper production from MVC of 64.6 M lbs (2023: 57.6 M lbs) and an average MVC copper price in 2024 of $4.15 per pound ("/lb”) (2023: $3.86/lb).

• Basic EPS in 2024 were $0.12 (Cdn$0.16), compared to $0.02 (Cdn$0.03) in 2023.

• The Company generated operating cash flow before changes in non-cash working capital¹ of $47.1 million (2023: $22.3 million). Annual net operating cash flow was $59.8 million (2023: $20.3 million). Free cash flow to equity¹ was $27.8 million (2023: $nil).

• Cash cost¹ in 2024 was $1.89/lb (2023: $2.17/lb). The $0.28/lb reduction in cash cost was caused predominantly by a 12.2% increase in copper production during 2024. This resulted in decreased unit costs overall, most notably in power costs ($0.08/lb), direct labour ($0.03/lb), grinding media ($0.03/lb), administration ($0.03/lb), and other direct costs ($0.04/lb).

• On December 31, 2024, the Company held cash and cash equivalents of $35.9 million (December 31, 2023: $16.2 million), restricted cash of $4.4 million (December 31, 2023: $6.3 million) and had a working capital deficiency of $6.5 million (December 31, 2023: $12.3 million).

• In 2024, Amerigo returned $21.2 million to shareholders (2023: $17.2 million), including $14.5 million (2023: $14.6 million) through the payment of Amerigo's quarterly dividends of Cdn$0.03 per share, $4.8 million through the payment of a Cdn$0.04 per share performance dividend (2023: $nil) and $1.8 million by purchasing 1.4 million common shares for cancellation through a Normal Course Issuer Bid (2023: $2.6 million and 2.3 million common shares).

• The Company's financial performance is sensitive to changes in copper prices. MVC's Q4-2024 provisional copper price was $4.08/lb. The final prices for October, November and December 2024 sales will be the average London Metal Exchange ("LME”) prices for January ($4.07/lb), February and March 2025, respectively. A 10% increase or decrease from the $4.08/lb provisional price used on December 31, 2024, would result in a $7.4 million change in revenue in Q1-2025 regarding Q4-2024 production.

Investor Conference Call on February 27, 2025

Amerigo's quarterly investor conference call will be held on Thursday, February 27, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time/2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Participants can join by visiting https://emportal.ink/3NOSCpK and entering their name and phone number. The conference system will then call the participants and place them instantly into the call. Alternatively, participants can dial directly to be entered into the call by an Operator. Dial 1-888-510-2154 (Toll-Free North America) and state they wish to participate in the Amerigo Resources Q4-2024 Earnings Call.

Interactive Analyst Center

Amerigo has made published financial and operational information available for Excel download through Virtua's Interactive Analyst Center ("IAC”). You can access the IAC by visiting www.amerigoresources.com

under Investors > Interactive Analyst Center.

About Amerigo and Minera Valle Central ("MVC”)

Amerigo Resources Ltd. 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. Tel: (604) 681-2802; Web: www.amerigoresources.com; ARG:TSX; OTCQX: ARREF.

Contact Information

¹ Non-IFRS Measures

This news release includes five non-IFRS measures: (i) EBITDA, (ii) operating cash flow before changes in non-cash working capital, (iii) free cash flow to equity ("FCFE”), (iv) free cash flow ("FCF”) and (v) cash cost.

These non-IFRS performance measures are included in this news release because they provide key performance measures used by management to monitor operating performance, assess corporate performance, and plan and assess the overall effectiveness and efficiency of Amerigo's operations. These performance measures are not standardized financial measures under International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ("IFRS Accounting Standards”), and, therefore, amounts presented may not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other companies. These performance measures should not be considered in isolation as a substitute for performance measures in accordance with IFRS Accounting Standards.

(i) EBITDA refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and administration and is calculated by adding depreciation expense to the Company's gross profit.

(ii) Operating cash flow before changes in non-cash working capital is calculated by adding back the decrease or subtracting the increase in changes in non-cash working capital to or from cash provided by operating activities.

(iii) Free cash flow to equity ("FCFE”) refers to operating cash flow before changes in non-cash working capital, less capital expenditures, less repayment of borrowings net of new debt issued, and less lease repayments. FCFE represents the amount of cash generated by the Company in a reporting period that can be used to pay for the following:

a) potential distributions to the Company's shareholders and

b) any additional taxes triggered by the repatriation of funds from Chile to Canada to fund these distributions.

(iv) Free cash flow ("FCF”) refers to FCFE plus repayments of borrowings and lease repayments.

(v) Cash cost is a performance measure commonly used in the mining industry that is not defined under IFRS. Cash cost is the aggregate of smelting and refining charges, tolling/production costs net of inventory adjustments and administration costs, net of by-product credits. Cash cost per pound produced is based on pounds of copper produced and is calculated by dividing cash cost by the number of pounds of copper produced.

² Capital returned to shareholders

The table below summarizes the capital returned to shareholders since Amerigo's CRS was implemented in October 2021.