Torex rise ‘only just started’, says CEO
- 10 November 2025
TSX30 recognition of Torex Gold Resources’ three-year rise up Canada’s junior miner ranks was welcomed by CEO Jody Kuzenko, who said the credit and Torex’s market value reflected five years of planning. But she was quick to add: “Our story is far from written here.”
“Torex is only just getting started. It’s just about to get good.
“I want to be the company that builds big and maintains all of the excellence of what I would describe as the Torex way. I believe we can do it. I’ve got lots of ideas about that.
“We’re on our way to growth to being a big company but maintaining the best of what it means to be small and agile and mid-tier.”
Australia’s Evolution Mining is a top-rated mid-tier miner whose executive chair Jake Klein has been outspoken on the subject of mining companies outgrowing their connection with their own people, communities and others when expanding beyond a certain size. Evolution is a A$24 billion sector standout with six core assets in Australia and Canada. It has done a series of M&A deals during its 15-year life to optimise its portfolio, arguably to great effect given the current free cash flow from its gold and copper assets and its glowing market reputation.
Torex, which now has a circa-C$6 billion market value, has been looking for a second production centre to complement its Morelos base in Mexico and finished the Canadian summer instead with a new advanced project in Mexico and a foothold in Nevada’s Carlin Trend in the US. Kuzenko says M&A remains on Torex’s radar but it won’t overpay in the current gold and silver sellers’ market.
She is among the outstanding new leaders in North American mining, included in this year’s Resourcing Tomorrow Outstanding Achievement Awards Leader of the Year nominees. The daughter of an Inco mine beat mechanic who grew up in Sudbury, returned there after getting a law degree and rose up the management ranks at Vale (ex-Inco) before joining Torex as chief operating officer in 2018.
She became president and CEO in mid-2020.
Torex has produced more than 3.5 million ounces of gold from El Limon Guajes, or ELG, since 2016 and is now leveraging existing plant and other surface infrastructure through the circa-C$1 billion Media Luna underground operation over – in fact, under – the Balsas River. Kuzenko describes the three-year, 7km tunnelling project under the river to the base of Media Luna as “an absolute feat of engineering”.
Media Luna starts with 3.3Moz grading 4.5gpt gold-equivalent reserves and more than 4.7Moz in gold-equivalent measured and indicated resources. It’s gold-equivalent because as well as its silver content, Media Luna makes Torex a copper producer. “At steady state production we’ll produce about 45 million pounds of copper a year,” says Kuzenko. It has EPO on the southern side of the Balsas River tracking toward a production start next year and several other advanced opportunities around Media Luna. Kuzenko thinks Torex could be mining the Guerrero gold belt “for decades to come” and 70% of its large district landholding remains unexplored.
Meanwhile, Torex’s cUS$450 million Prime Mining scrip-based acquisition and its $26 million cash purchase of Reyna Silver give it a large gold-silver project in Sinaloa, Mexico, it expects to become a mine by the end of the decade, as well as four gold exploration properties in Chihuahua, Mexico, and Nevada, USA.
The leading gold producer in Mexico last year, Torex is guiding for 400,000-to-450,000oz at AISC of US$1400-$1600/oz gold-equivalent in 2025 and wants to maintain annual production of 450,000-500,000oz gold-eq longer term from its foundational asset.
“We now become a gold, copper and silver company and it means we are inching our way to becoming this mid-year Americas-focused precious metals producer through staged, sequential, intelligent acquisitions,” Kuzenko said in a recent interview.
“Every company needs a foundational asset from which to build up the company. Ours happens to be huge and generates huge amounts of cash. That asset, at today’s prices, will see us generating north of $400 million of free cash a year.
“That enables us to move quickly and opportunistically.
“We are still on the hunt for that next producing asset in the Americas ... Canada, the US, Mexico; maybe some jurisdictions in Latin America.”
Torex is also continuing share buybacks and this month launched a C15c quarterly dividend to shareholders as the “first step towards a broader program ... we expect to evolve through 2026 as our balance sheet continues to strengthen”.
Asked about doubling down on Mexico with its acquisitions, Kuzenko said there was “no doubt that Mexico can be interesting ... and challenging”.
“However, for Torex I think it is going exceptionally well.
“You need two things to run a successful mining company; you need the rocks and you need the people. And we really have both. In Gerrero, Chihuahua and Sinaloa we’re in historical mining jurisdictions that have produced millions of ounces of gold and silver. We’re really buoyed about the geology of the regions we’re operating in.
“And in terms of the people, many of my peers operating in Canada and the US have a lot of concerns about how tight the labour market is, [about] inflationary pressure in those countries and how difficult it is to get permitting and build projects.
“In Mexico we have a track record of attracting and retaining talent as need it. We have a track record of getting the labour and the skills as we need them to operate our mines and build projects.
“So I’m quite bullish about Mexico.”
Kuzenko said Mexico president Claudia Sheinbaum’s infrastructure, energy and regional employment agendas were “consistent with the agenda of mining” and “when you have that kind of alignment and you have a willingness to enter into dialogue with the industry I think that spells good things for Mexico”.
Elevated gold prices were clearly a tailwind for Torex’s 14th placing in the latest TMX30 ranking of the 30 top-performing companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange, based on dividend-adjusted share price performance over a three-year period (plus-347% for Torex).
However, Kuzenko says the company’s strategy and people can help set it apart in the next phase of its development.
“I want to be the company that builds big and maintains all of the excellence of what I would describe as the Torex way,” she says.
“We are agile, we are open with information, we work a fairly flat structure and so it’s not deeply hierarchical. We work together to get decisions made ... We don’t always get them right, but if we get them wrong we quickly course-correct. Every mistake is an opportunity for learning.
“I think one of the things that sets Torex apart from our peers is the character of our company and of our team and the fact that we work with purpose and have for a long time. We’re a company that is reputed to be excellent operators. We are known for delivering on the commitments we make. And we are a company that believes you can make a lot of money and deliver a lot of value for shareholders and do good things in the world.
“And I do think this next generation of miners wants to be part of something that does good in the world.”
