Hochschild Mining PLC

LSE:HOC

Earnings Call Transcript 2020-Q3

[Ignacio Bustamante, CEO & Director]

Hello, and welcome to Third Quarter Production Conference Call. As usual, I'm here in Lima. And also on the line is Ramón Barúa, our CFO; and normally, Charlie Gordon, our Head of Investor Relations. The third quarter of 2020 has seen a steady recovery in our [ outlook ] with Pallancata operating at full production throughout, San Jose, still remaining in a ramp-up phase. At Inmaculada, we need to remember that we started operation in mid-July following a second stoppage due to COVID-19. Our operations team has done a fantastic job in getting the mine back up to full production in early September despite obviously having to follow a number of stringent protocols we defined and implemented. Overall, our third quarter production was obviously still significantly impacted, but we were able to produce just over 68,000 gold equivalent ounces or 5.9 million silver equivalent ounces which, therefore, means that our 9-month output in this difficult year was almost 195,000 gold equivalent ounces or 16 million silver equivalent ounce. At Inmaculada, grades moderated to more normal planned levels in September, with the operation either halted or in ramp-up phase for the 2 previous months. Production was just over 26,000 ounces of gold and 870,000 ounces of silver, which is gold equivalent production of nearly 37,000 ounces. Overall, in the first 9 months of such a disruptive year for the operation, Inmaculada has delivered a touch over 116,000 gold equivalent ounces. The mine is currently operating normally, and the mine development work was also affected by the 2 stoppages with the impact currently being assessed. Pallancata operated at full production throughout the quarter and in line with the revised mine plan, which saw tonnage rise and grades a little bit lower. The mine produced 1.4 million silver equivalent ounces which, therefore, makes 3.2 million ounces for the year-to-date. In Argentina, as you know, the ramp-up phase at San José has been somewhat slow and steady as the movement of people across regions remains restricted in the country with a mine currently expected to reach full production towards the end of the year. In the third quarter, the revised mine plan incorporated the access to lower grade areas with the operation producing 1.2 million ounces of silver and around 17,600 ounces of gold, which makes 2.7 million silver equivalent ounces. Overall, in the first 9 months, San Jose produced [ 7.1 million silver equivalent] ounces. We are on track to produce our revised guidance of between 280,000 and 290,000 gold equivalent ounces or 24 million to 25 million silver equivalent ounces. We are also in line with our revised cost guidance of between $1,250 and $1,290 per gold equivalent ounce, which is between $14.5 and $15 per silver equivalent ounce. Our $37 million brownfield program -- $37 million brownfield program, we started in the quarter and we're expecting the bulk of results during the final months of the year. Currently, we have several campaigns surrounding all our operations, and drilling has also started recently at the Crespo project and at our former Arcata mine, which we believe still has great potential. On the financial side, despite the impact of these stoppages, we generated significant free cash flow in the period, helped by the recovery in production and continuing higher prices. Our cash balance ended September at approximately $196 million an increase of around $34 million on the half year number. The fourth quarter, we see production at more normal levels. So the potential for further strong cash flow generation is very high. Net debt right now is at only $21 million. So to sum up, we have had an improved third quarter, but we remain hopeful that we can finish the year on a positive note and also look forward to the main results from our exciting brownfield program. And with that, I would like to open up to any questions that you may have.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] We can now take our first question from [ Marina Claro ] from RBC Capital Markets.

[Unknown Analyst]

I just have a quick one about dividends. You didn't declare an interim dividend due to the uncertainty about COVID-19. With Inmaculada and Pallancata now working at full capacity how should we think about dividends in the second half of the year?

[Ignacio Bustamante, CEO & Director]

Sure. It is -- are really important for the company, in the past, we refrained from talking about dividends even at [indiscernible] until we have full production at our operations. Right now we're -- at our Board discussions and we will have Board meeting at -- in a month or so, so that's definitely going to be a subject of discussion. I would say, we are definitely looking at paying a dividend. We need to assess when the right moment to do it. But is clearly something that is top of our agenda, very important to us, and something that would be given the maximum importance in the upcoming -- in the coming weeks. We don't have a position yet, but as soon as we have it, we will let the market know about it.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] We can now take our next question from Daniel Major from Hochschild.

[Daniel Edward Major, Director and Analyst]

I haven't switched companies recently. So I'm still at UBS. A couple of questions. First one, I guess it looks like the exploration activity continues to progress. What's the level of confidence that you'll be able to achieve all of your targets for the year despite the delays in the first half of the year?You suggested in the report that you received results from drilling in the fourth quarter. Would you expect to make any interim releases on any of those results? Or would they come with the annual reserve and resource statement? And I guess from that, how confident are you that you will deliver annual growth in group reserves and resources this year?

[Ignacio Bustamante, CEO & Director]

Yes. Thank you, Dan, for the question. As you know, we continue at full speed, this is a very ambitious plan, and we continue aiming to complete pretty much as close as possible to 100% of the plan that we have for the beginning of the year. In terms of the work that we're doing, it's worth splitting the work in 2 parts. One, it's a very, very intensive infill drilling program that we're doing in Inmaculada in the goal of converting our inferred resources into reserves. That program continues going at full speed, and we definitely expect that by year-end, we are going to be increasing significantly the amount of reserves that we have in Inmaculada even after discounting the product [indiscernible]. So we are expecting to see a material increase in reserves before the year-end in Inmaculada in particular. You have to remember that Inmaculada represents roughly about 80% of our free cash flow generation and our valuation. So that's -- but the right place [ compare ] that increase. And then -- so that's one part, infill in Inmaculada. The other part of the work that we're doing is in terms of the -- certain potential drilling that we're doing. In Inmaculada, also we're doing infill for inferred resources, so converting potential into inferred resources. That work is ongoing. We still cannot give a guidance, but we do anticipate that based on the results that we are seeing that you may have already seen in the release that we put in [indiscernible], it means that we are seeing 2.1 meters with 13 grams, 3.7 meters with 13 grams of [indiscernible] as well. We have per line which we have 1.4 meters with 5.1 grams of gold but almost [ half a kilo ] of silver. [indiscernible] 1.2 meters with 7 grams of gold and almost 2 kilos of silver. So we are getting into the right areas. So we do expect that by the end of the year, we're going to be also increasing the amount of inferred resources that we find for the full year. In the case of Pallancata and in the case of San Jose, it's a little bit more tricky because most of the work that we are doing is in the case of potential resources. And those are potential reasons that we are expecting to complete pre-COVID by September. And then we still have 1.3 additional months to convert this potential into inferred. Now most of the work that we are going to be completed, not the initial budget that we're going to be completing before the year-end, it's going to be completed on potential resources. Needless to say, if we find the potential, we're going to go at full speed with converting that potential into inferred. But that may not necessarily be within the 2020 period. That's -- it's a little bit more tricky because of the focus of potential in those 2 operating units. But still, I believe that by the end of the year, we should have a fantastic idea on the potential either potential resources or inferred resources, that we have of -- for our operations based on the very aggressive exploration plan that we have for the year.

[Daniel Edward Major, Director and Analyst]

Okay. And then one more, if I may. Is there any updates on progress at the rare earths project, BioLantanidos, I guess, it's called.

[Ignacio Bustamante, CEO & Director]

Sure. Let me pass that over to Ramón.

[Ramón Barúa, Chief Financial Officer]

This is Ramon. What I can tell you so far is that the project continues to move smoothly towards our goal of publishing feasibility study at the end of Q1. We've continued to increase the team that we have working on this, and we're very, very pleased with the professionals and the talent that we have been able to bring to BioLantanidos. We continue to work with renowned experts in the world right now in Ansto, which is an Australian nuclear institute. It's also helping us to -- improving the metallurgy, where we see progress on all fronts. And although we have had some delays related to COVID, I think that those delays will not prevent us from having a document ready by the end of Q1 of next year.

[Daniel Edward Major, Director and Analyst]

Okay. Cool. So Q1 next year still on target.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions on the line at this time.

[Ignacio Bustamante, CEO & Director]

Thank you very much. And thank you very much, everybody, for participating in today's call. And should you have any additional questions, please free to contact Charlie Gordon directly at our London office. Have a great day. Thank you.