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Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Dundee Precious Metals Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker for today, Jennifer Cameron. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning. I'm Jennifer Cameron, Director, Investor Relations, and I'd like to welcome you to our third quarter conference call. Joining me today are David Rae, President and CEO; Hume Kyle, Chief Financial Officer; and Michael Dorfman, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development. After the close of business yesterday, we released our third quarter results, and I hope you've had an opportunity to review our material. All forward-looking information provided during this call is subject to the forward-looking qualification, which is detailed in our news release and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call. Certain financial measures referred to during this call are not measures recognized under IFRS and are referred to as non-GAAP measures. These measures have no standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to the similar measures presented by other companies. The definitions established and calculations performed by DPM are based on management's reasonable judgment and are consistently applied. These measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with IFRS. Please refer to the non-GAAP financial measures section of our most recent MD&A for reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures. Please note that unless otherwise stated, operational and financial information communicated during this call are related to continuing operations and have generally been rounded, references to 2020 pertain to the comparable periods in 2020, and references to averages are based on midpoint of our outlook or guidance. I'll now turn the call over to David Rae.
Thanks, Jennifer. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. As you've seen from our news release circulated last night, I'm pleased to report that DPM delivered another strong quarter with gold production and cost performance driving our financial results. Highlights from our results include production of approximately 72,000 ounces of gold and 8.3 million pounds of copper. A continued focus on cost performance at all operations, which realized an all-in sustaining cost for the quarter of $701 per gold ounce, strong financial results, including free cash flow of $69 million and adjusted net earnings of $53 million for the quarter and continued growth in our financial strength, exiting the quarter with cash and short-term investments of $270 million. With the strength of our results year-to-date, I am pleased to say that we are on track to meet our guidance for metals production and all-in sustaining cost. Turning now to the highlights for our operations. I'll start with Chelopech. At Chelopech continued -- we continued to deliver steady results, producing 38,434 ounces of gold and 8.3 million pounds of copper at an all-in sustaining cost of $752 per ounce. We continue to focus on extending the mine life through our in-mine and Brownfields exploration programs. And just this week at Sveta Petka, the contract has been signed for a 1-year extension to the exploration license, allowing us to move forward with commercial discovery phase work. We anticipate commencing a drill program in the first quarter of next year with 5,000 meters of drilling planned for Q1. During the quarter, significant effort was dedicated to testing conceptual targets within the Brevene exploration license as well as the completion of scout drilling at several near-mine prospects, including Vozdol, Petrovden and Sharlo Dere. With mineral resources that now extend to 2029, an updated mineral resource base and increase in mine and Brownfield exploration drilling, we believe there's strong potential to continue our track record of mine life extension at Chelopech. Ada Tepe has continued to deliver impressive performance, introducing approximately -- sorry producing approximately 33,000 ounces of gold in the third quarter at an all-in sustaining cost of $648 per ounce. We are continuing our exploration efforts around Ada Tepe with 23,000 meters of drilling planned for the year, including 9,000 meters of additional resource and conceptual target extension on the mine concession as well as advancing the [indiscernible] and other prospects on regional licenses. During the quarter, exploration activities at Ada Tepe we focused on an extensive target delineation campaign that encompass Surnak, Skalak, Synap and Kuklitsa. As well as regional licenses, including Chiirite and the newly granted Krumovitsa exploration license. And for those of you who don't know about Krumovitsa, it's an exploration license immediately around our concession of just over 18,000 active. Turning to Tsumeb. This smelter produced -- processed approximately 50,100 tonnes of complex concentrate during the third quarter which was below our expectations as a result of a water leak in the offgas system of the [indiscernible] melt. Despite lower-than-expected throughput cash cost performance was strong with the cost of complex concentrates smelted of $393 per tonne. Reflecting the unplanned maintenance, we now expect complex concentrate smelter to be approximately 195,000 to 200,000 tonnes down from our previous guidance for the year of 200,000 to 220,000 tonnes. Moving to our outlook and growth. In terms of future growth, we made a significant addition to our project development pipeline this quarter with the acquisition of the high-quality Loma Larga project in Ecuador. We believe this project fits extremely well with our core strengths and our proven track record as an environmentally and socially responsible mining company. Based on the feasibility study completed by the previous owner, in its first 5 years of operation, Loma Larga has the potential to produce 200,000 ounces of gold adding meaningful low-cost production growth to our portfolio. Following closing of the acquisition at the end of July, we have been focused on integration activities, stakeholder engagement, reviewing the technical studies and permitting schedule as well as progressing discussions in respect of an investor protection agreement with the government. We are targeting completion of a revised feasibility study for Loma Larga and receipts of major environmental burdens to permits towards the end of 2022, which we expect to be followed by the finalization of the exploitation agreement with the government and receipt construction firms. We're also developing a strategy for the exploration concessions we hold in Ecuador an exploration program consisting of geophysical surveys, prospecting, mapping and sampling will be completed in the coming months and will be used to determine precise drilling targets and to plan further exploration activities. Turning to Timok in Serbia. We completed the pre-feasibility study earlier this year, outlining potential production of approximately 80,000 gold ounces per year at a low-cost production over its first 6 years, and subsequently initiated a feasibility study. As we advance the feasibility study, we have several initiatives underway that are directed at reducing the initial capital estimate, which is currently estimated to be $211 million, and to optimize overall economics. In parallel to that feasibility study, we're also evaluating the upside potential from the sulfide portion of the ore body. Completion of the feasibility study is on track at this point in the second quarter of 2022. In closing, to wrap up on the quarter, our strong gold production profile and significant free cash flow generation, combined with our operating track record and unique skills in innovation and building strong partnerships with local communities, positions us well to continue delivering value for all of our stakeholders. We are committed to deploying our capital in a disciplined manner as we have demonstrated with the addition of a high-quality gold project to our development pipeline in the quarter. We also continue to pay a sustainable quarterly dividend and more recently used our NCIB to repurchase 1.6 million shares in the quarter. We firmly believe that DPM's strong fundamentals continue to represent a compelling value opportunity for investors. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Hume for a review of our financial results, following which we'll open the call to questions.
Thanks, David, and good morning, everybody. I'll begin by reviewing our financial results. I'll touch on financial position, capital allocation and risk management, and then I'll provide some commentary around the 2021 guidance. For the quarter, we continued to generate solid financial results with adjusted net earnings of $52 million or $0.28 per share and adjusted EBITDA of $86 million. These results were comparable to 2020, reflecting the impact of lower treatment charges at Chelopech and higher realized copper prices, partially offset by lower volumes of metal sold and higher operating expenses in Bulgaria. For the first 9 months, adjusted net earnings were $151 million or $0.82 per share compared with $144 million or $0.80 in 2020 and adjusted EBITDA was $253 million, up $9 million. These increases were primarily attributable to higher realized metal prices, lower share-based compensation and lower treatment charges at Chelopech, which were partially offset by lower throughput at Tsumeb and primarily related to the 2021 maintenance shut that was taken in Q1, lower volumes of metal sold and higher operating expenses. For the first 9 months of 2021, reported net earnings attributable to common shareholders were $139 million. This included a $21 million gain in respect of our sale of MineRP as well as mark-to-market losses on our Sabina special warrants and a deferred income tax adjustment related to unrealized losses in respect of Sabina shares recognized in other comprehensive income and loss, none of which are reflective of our underlying operating performance. We also continued to generate strong cash flow with cash flow from operations before working capital during the quarter and the first 9 months of 2021 of $81 million and $229 million, respectively. This was up $8 million and $31 million compared to comparable periods in 2020. Free cash flow for the quarter in first 9 months was $69 million and $187 million, respectively, up $7 million and $15 million compared to 2020. These year-over-year increases in cash flow reflect the same factors that impacted earnings as well as the benefit associated with the last delivery under Ada Tepe prepaid forward gold sales arrangement being made in December 2020, partially offset by higher cash outlays for sustaining capital, higher income tax paid which corresponds to the higher earnings for the period. Turning to our consolidated cost measures. We continue to focus on cost performance at all of our operations. For the quarter, we reported an all-in sustaining cost of $701, which was up 10% compared to 2020 due primarily to higher operating expenses, higher cash outlays for sustaining capital expenditures and lower volumes of gold sold, which was partially offset by higher byproduct credits and lower treatment charges at Chelopech. Year-to-date, all-in sustaining costs were $621 per ounce. This is below the -- or, I guess, below the low end of the annual guidance that we provide and represents a decrease of approximately 5% compared to 2020. This was due primarily to higher byproduct credits which were partially offset by higher operating costs in Bulgaria. At Tsumeb, cash cost per ton in the quarter was $393 per tonne, down $14 compared to 2020. And due primarily to lower currency operating costs, local currency operating costs and higher asset by-product credits, partially offset by a stronger SAAR relative to the U.S. dollar. For the first 9 months, cost per tonne were $492, up $123 compared to 2020, reflecting the fixed cost nature of the facility and the high impact -- I'm sorry, the impact of lower volumes smelted in 2021 as a result of the maintenance shutdown that was taken during the first quarter, combined with the stronger ZAR relative to the U.S. dollar, partially offset by lower currency -- lower local currency operating costs. Turning to our capital expenditures. Sustaining capital expenditures incurred during the quarter and the first 9 months were $11 million and $40 million, respectively. This compared to $11 million and $29 million in the corresponding periods in 2020. For the first 9 months of 2021 -- sorry, the increase in the first 9 months was due primarily to planned maintenance shutdown at Tsumeb and the accelerated grade control drilling at Ada Tepe that was initiated in September 2020. Growth capital expenditures incurred during the quarter and the first 9 months of 2021 were $4 million and $10 million, respectively, and this compared with $1 million and $5 million in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily due to the costs being incurred to progress Timok and Loma Larga. During the quarter, our financial position continued to strengthen with available liquidity of $420 million at the end of September and this was comprised of $270 million of cash and short-term investments, a liquid portfolio of securities valued at approximately $49 million, together with undrawn capacity under our revolving credit facility of $150 million. As we've noted in prior quarters, we're committed to adhering to a disciplined capital allocation framework, which balances financial strength, reinvestment into our business and returning capital to our shareholders. During the quarter, we spent approximately $12 million to buy back 1.6 million shares under our normal course issuer bid at an average price of $7.65 per share, a price that compares favorably to street targets and underlying estimates of net asset value. We also continue to pay a regular sustainable quarterly dividend of $0.03 or $6 million, the most recent of which was declared yesterday in respect of our fourth quarter. From a risk management perspective, all of our key financial metrics and underlying financial exposures are well within our established tolerance levels. For 2021, we've hedged approximately 77% of Tsumeb's projected operating costs providing a weighted average exchange rate between 15.68% and 18.71% and approximately 90% of our copper byproduct price exposure has been hedged, which forms a part of our all-in sustaining cost. Weighted average fixed price of $3.84 per pound. For 2022, we've hedged approximately 50% of Tsumeb's projected operating costs at a weighted average exchange rate between 15 and [ 16.45 ]. These hedges are directed at managing key cost metrics with the primary objective of reducing variability and supporting the achievement of guidance. Looking forward over the balance of the year and full year guidance, metal production, all-in sustaining costs are all on track or I should say, and the smelter cash costs, they're all on track to meet 2021 guidance. With the recent spike in electricity prices in Bulgaria and the rest of Europe, where the price of power has more than doubled, we have increased our mine cash cost per tonne by roughly 10%. At Chelopech, we increased guidance to be $46 to $48, up from $42 to $45 and at Ada Tepe, we increased our guidance to be $52 to $55, up from $46 to $50. At Tsumeb, we have adjusted throughput guidance to 195,000 to 200,000 tonnes, down from our previous guidance of 200,000 to 220,000 tonnes, reflecting unplanned maintenance downtime during the third quarter. In terms of capital spend, we reduced our guidance slightly, principally to reflect some expenditures moving into 2022. As a result, sustaining capital expenditures are expected to be between $52 million and $66 million and growth capital expenditures between $17 million and $24 million. Our longer-term operating outlook covering 2022 and 2023 remains unchanged. And together with the details or further details in respect to 2021 -- This can be found in our 3-year outlook section of the MD&A. In closing, our operations are performing well. Our cash flow generation remains strong, and we're continuing to build our financial strength to support our growth ambitions and commitment to deliver value to stakeholders by optimizing and realizing the potential value of existing assets as well as new assets such as Loma Larga. With a strong balance sheet, we are well positioned to fund our existing growth opportunities and to continue returning capital to shareholders through our sustainable quarterly dividend and from time to time through optimistic share repurchases under our normal course issuer bid. With that, I'll turn the call back to the operator.
[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Terence Ortslan of TSO & Associates.
Thank you for review, Terry Ortslan. Jim, just -- you talked about the guidance or 3-year guidance that you filed this year last year. We should be looking at it I have. But there are some revisions you would expect to growth capital, for instance, you revise it downwards and two, the energy issues as you illustrated, in that context as well, can you remind me what the energy sources are and how persistent this may be going into next spring?
Yes, sure. So I mean power is obviously a fairly significant component to our operations. So in the case of Bulgaria, Chelopech Power probably represents -- it probably represented somewhere in the area of 10%, 12% of our aggregate costs. And for Ada Tepe, it was probably high single digits. I would say currently, at the prices that we're seeing in 2021 is probably more in the 15% range for Chelopech and maybe 10%, 11% or so for Ada Tepe. Historically, power has been anywhere between $55 and $65 a per megawatt hour U.S. Today, the price is probably around USD 160. This is something that's been experienced, not just in Bulgaria, but the rest of Europe. A host of factors, obviously, but certainly, supply and demand related as well as carbon tax. In Bulgaria and the rest of Europe, they have instituted and are continuing to institute subsidies, government subsidies, both for business and personal consumption. That applies to us as well in Bulgaria. At the present time, we have a 30% subsidy, can't say for sure how long that will be in place, but it is being proposed to go into 2022. I wouldn't expect these high rates to persist. So I would view it to be transient, but I can't be sure exactly how long it's going to take to unwind. But yes, like at this stage, I would say overall for 2021, we're probably looking at an 8% to 10% increase in costs relative to what we expected coming into the year. And the predominant factor for that is power. And then I'd acknowledge that there are some increases that we're seeing on direct materials as well, less so. And it's not across the board. It's just in certain areas. So as I say, overall, 8% to 10% for 2021, 2022 difficult to predict at this stage, but we are in the process of finalizing our budget coming into the exit of the year. And at this stage, probably, roughly speaking, I would expect it would be reasonable to think something in the order of 5% over 2021 levels would be a reasonable number to work with at this stage with the potential for it to go lower, but also the potential for it to go higher if current prices prevail.
Just on the 3-year outlook, what -- if you were to expect some revisions on that, not only cost, that's fine. I'll take that on the capital side. Will there be any revision for 2022?
Yes, we'll take a good look at our 3-year outlook in sort of the December, January time frame, and I would expect that we would table any revisions at the time that we release our Q4 results in February.
Okay. Just coming back to Ecuador. The -- how much land do you actually have now in terms of, I think, the land you purely inherited everything, all the land that Loma Larga the company had at INV. So when the land cost, I think there's a payment for the land cost coming up, if I remember correctly from INV times. And 2 is, I'm surprised that you're doing very busy geological work in geophysical work. I talked a lot of things were done by a predecessor on the lands that you're inheriting
Terry, I don't have the hectares to hand. Yes, there are a number of properties that were part of the acquisition from INV. Loma Larga is very advanced. The work that we're doing there is extensional or geotechnical for purposes and combination for purposes of making sure that the placement of the facilities is appropriate. The sort of second asset that we're looking at quite closely is [indiscernible] Colorado, which is just close to the Peruvian border. And then there's been some drilling, but insufficient in our view. And there's been that's there's an opportunity to do a lot more identification and we feel that, that's something that we should do at the same time as we're looking at drilling. For the other properties, we're considering relinquishing those. So the question is, first, making sure that there's nothing there of interest before we do that. And yes, you're right that there are payments at different points or completion of an amount of work at a certain cost for those properties by certain date. And we very much have that in mind as to whether it makes sense for us to continue with those assets and take it forward. I mean, last on that one. There are some places where it's difficult to get access to properties. So quite likely, we'll just move on and focus on the other properties. But at this point, it's Loma Larga [indiscernible], Colorado are our main focuses.
David, one of the things that you indicated in the press release that the investor protection agreement will be underway. Hopefully, completed this year. Obviously, market is very cautious about what's happening in Peru and Chile had a lot of concerns about the changes in the policy and the strategy of the government fiscal as well. Ecuador obviously has taken a different slant. I mean, they are now the shining spot in the policy and the strategical fiscal environment of the mining sector. Am I correct that there will be no surprises in that with respect to investment protection agreement that you will have with Ecuadorian government plus with the permits
A couple of different things here. So Jim, do you want to talk to the IPA and I'll come back on the permits.
Yes. On the IPA, I would say, based on what we're seeing so far is very strong support from the government and the applicable ministries. And our -- we have -- as you know, we actually, you may not know. We actually did have the IPA. It was approved in sort of draft form by the ministry that kicks off a process to to now negotiate final terms. We're planning to meet with the government this month to kick off that process. And I would expect that we would complete the negotiation and be in a position to execute or sign the IPA probably sometime in Q1. So let's just say, for funding purposes, by the end of Q1, we would expect to have the IPA in place. And I haven't seen anything to date nor heard of anything that would make me concerned that we we won't be able to achieve an IPA with the government that is reasonable and in line with our expectations.
Terry, looking at the permitting, obviously, we took out of the asset on the 26th of July. And there's been a lot of effort on first looking at the integration and what we need to do to assess the current strength and weaknesses and set up the organization as part of DPM going forward. So that's been a lot of the activity. The other things that we've done is look very closely at what we're doing in terms of permitting and laying out the actual activities that are required to take us to an exploitation permit, which would commence the construction of the asset. So we actually had a number of different workshops and things which have been sort of laying out the different activities to make sure that we can do as much in parallel as possible and consolidate that time line. Our goal at this point is that by the end of next year, what we have is we have the permitting completed. That's the permitting done federally and also locally, which would be roads and power lines for instance. Federally would be the plants and environmental and water in this type of thing. So it's one of those sort of things that as we're going along, we'll be able to give you greater and greater insight into how we view that all going. But at this point, we are doing what we can to keep the pressure on having all of this permitting done in the exploitation permit in hand by the end of next year or early in 2022.So that's our goal. What I would say is that the government has been very good in terms of being clear about their expectations. The President issued a decree 151 just about a week after we took over the asset. And what that was intended to do was to have the different government organizations that are involved in the various elements of permitting look at what they're doing to be able to make sure that they have a streamlined process for taking applications and taking them through to a conclusion. So it's that they can accelerate the foreign direct investment and reduce the delays that are associated with the government agencies. Because you mentioned that there's a lot of mining history in other areas, but Ecuador is sort of coming into it. There's a lot to do in terms of tidying up disconnects on regulations, working closely with the authorities. It's -- we need to develop the -- some of the ideas on how we can progress these things effectively. So we're working closely where we can with the government agencies, and we've had a lot of support and cooperation to see what we can do to make sure that we streamline this process. But the ultimate goal, as I mentioned, to the end of next year is to have the different permits in place to be able to finalize the exploitation agreement.
[Operator Instructions] No further question at this time. I would like to turn the call over to Jennifer Cameron for closing remarks.
Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I know it's a -- actually, sorry, operator, I see it that there's another person joining the the Q&A.
Our next question comes from the line of Dalton Baretto of Canaccord
I thought I'd squeeze one in because no 1 else is in the queue. And I apologize if you've answered this because I joined the call late. David, can you talk a little bit about what you're looking to refresh in the Loma Larga studies, specifically what aspect of the project you're looking to maybe change resize, rescope, that sort of thing?
Sure. So the energy supply to the site and the operating rate, for instance, at the moment, is at 3,000 tonnes a day. There's certainly potential for us to do more than 3,000 tonnes a day. So that will be one. We're also looking at some of the elements of the operation. So this is a very easy one. At the moment, Loma Larga has conventional flotation where we haven't built conventional flotation at any of our facilities since 2011. We use something called a staged flotation reactor technology, which reduces the footprint and dramatically reduces the energy consumption, which, of course, is the type of thing that we want to pay attention to when we're looking at our ESG future in performance, particularly on greenhouse gases. So it will be items like that, but potentially moving crushing underground mobile crushing underground, converting to surface electric fleet. There's a whole raft of things that I can talk to you about. But the bottom line is that we're looking at maximizing the value of the asset. Now the last element of that is going to be that we are actually doing some extensional drilling as part of the campaign, which is sort of set to be underway any day. So that will be in addition to the extension, there's also going to be geotech and condemnation as I mentioned earlier. But those are the things. I don't know if that helps, if you add any more specific questions.
No, that's helpful. And then as you look ahead to the project and the construction phase, and maybe throwing Timok on to this question as well, it's a pretty inflationary environment out there. And a lot of your peers who are building stuff right now have reported some pretty substantial increases. How are you thinking about that? I mean are you moving to lock anything in right now? Are you going to wait and see how this plays out? Just how you're thinking about that on both projects?
Yes. Great question. It's a little early to lock those in given where we are with the projects. It's certainly something that we're conscious of. So with Chelopech and Ada Tepe at the moment, we're looking at what can we do in terms of our contracting, for instance, for current operations. that may help us to mitigate some of these pressures. But I think at the moment, particularly with energy, we recognize there's the potential for that to be a shorter-term element, and we need to be careful about what we do. But it will translate through to everything. So we see transportation costs going up, and we see a fundamental of any consumable that we have is energy. And therefore, energy prices being up, it's going to drive through into those. So we're conscious of this both as our current operations and also for future projects. But it's just a little early at this point to be looking at mitigating steps in terms of the capital outlay for projects.
Okay. But as you -- when you put out the feasibility on Loma Larga next year, presumably that will capture quotes as of now, right?
Will capture quotes as of -- they've got to be within a certain time line of the issuing of the feasibility. So yes, there will be current.
Okay. And then maybe just 1 last 1 on the permitting side at Loma Larga. In the past, you've mentioned water and kind of the ecosystem being critical aspects as well as the social side of things. How much progress are you making on that side? And are there any red flags of [indiscernible] at this point in time or any areas of sensitivity, if you will?
So I think the question was really about permitting. But of course, the other area where we've been putting in a lot of time and energy is understanding our stakeholders and doing what we can to really get a meaningful engagement with them, and that will result in a better estimation of where the concerns might be, but we're fully expecting that to be biodiversity in water. So we'll obviously be looking at our impact on any water stream, that will be certainly something that we'll be reviewing and seeing what we can do. And likely, that will initiate water treatment early on earlier than would have otherwise been anticipated. But at this point, it's a little earlier to get into a little bit more detail of that. But water is a big thing in the whole of South America, of course. So it's no different in Ecuador. But we're in an area which, at this point, have sensitivity to that and quite appropriately so. And those engagements will ultimately give us a better indication of what we'll be able to do with the project to be able to satisfy those contents.
[Operator Instructions]. No further question at this time. Jennifer, you can proceed.
Thank you all for joining us. We -- if there are any follow-up questions, please feel free to reach out, and we look forward to speaking to you in the coming weeks. Take care.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.