Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Aveeno Silver and Gold Mines fourth quarter and full year 2023 conference call and webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jennifer North, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Avino Silver and Gold Mines Limited fourth quarter and year-end 2023 financial results conference call and webcast. To join this webcast and conference call, there is a link in our news release dated March the 14th, 2024, and in our news release of yesterday's date, which can be found on our website under News 2024. In addition, a link can be found on the homepage of the Avino website. On the call today, we have the company's President and CEO, David Wolfen, our Chief Financial Officer, Nathan Hart, our Chief Operating Officer, Carlos Rodriguez, and our VP Technical Services, Peter Lara. Before we get started, please note that certain statements made today on this call by the management team may include forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risk uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different than those expressed by or implied by such forward-looking statements. The company does not intend to and does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information other than as required by applicable law. For more information, we refer you to our detailed cautionary note in the presentation related to this call or on our press release of yesterday's date. Please note that the full financial statements and MD&A are now available on our website under the Investors tab, then click on Financial Statements. As well, the full statements are available on Avina's profile, on CDAR Plus, and on EDGAR. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded and will be available for replay later today. Replay information and the presentation slides from this conference call and webcast will be available on our website. Also, please note that all figures stated are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Thank you. I will now hand over the call to Avinos President and CEO, David Wolfen. David?

Thanks, Jen. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Avinos Q4 year-end 2023 financial results conference call and webcast. We will cover the highlights of our financial and operating performance, and then we will go over the work that we are currently performing, followed by Q&A. I will start with the discussion on operations, and then I will turn it over to Nathan Hart, Avino CFO, to discuss the financial performance for the period. And then Jennifer North, our head of Investor Relations, will present an overview of Q4 ESG initiatives. Please turn to slide five as we go through the production results. Our Q4 and year-end production results were released in mid-January and are as follows. Silver equivalent production was 558,000. Silver production was 225,000 ounces. Copper production was 1.3 million pounds. Gold production, 1,400 ounces. Mill through pip was just under 144,000 tons. For the full year, our silver equivalent production reached a total of 2.4 million ounces of silver equivalent. Although the grades and recovery rates were slightly lower than 2022, we did see positive increases as we moved into other blocks at the mine. We have made improvements in the mechanical equipment of the mill and expect recovery rates to improve along with grades as we move into higher grade zones in line with the projected mining sequence. December production saw a noticeable increase in grade and recovery, and the trend has continued into Q1 2024. For 2024, approximately 700,000 to 750,000 tons are planned for mill processing and will be sourced from both the Aveeno mine and stockpiles from La Preciosa. Based on the current metal prices, the company expects to produce between 2.5 and 2.8 million ounces of silver equivalent. Our five-year growth plan takes us from production of 2.5 to 2.8 million ounces of silver equivalent in 2024 to between 8 and 10 million ounces of silver equivalent by 2029. Continuing on to slide six, we will take a look at additional operational highlights. The total drilling completed in 2023 included 7,545 meters and 13 drill holes. A particular note was our results reported in July, where we announced the best drill intercept in company history. Hole ET2309 highlighted 296 grams of silver equivalent over 57 meters of true width, including 407 grams of silver equivalent over 37 meters of true width, and 2,866 silver equivalent grams over 3.43 meters true width of mineralization. The company budgeted exploration and evaluation expenditures for 2024 will be focused on regional exploration and further understanding of structural geology below the current avino mine production area with no drilling plant. The dry stack facility is fully operational and is currently transporting the pressed dry tailings to the disused Aveeno open pit area. Moving on to slide seven, we provide an update on our recent milestones. Firstly, the pre-feasibility study on the oxide tailings project was completed and released in early February. This was an important key milestone for Aveeno on our path for growth. Additional highlights include a net present value of 98 million US pre-tax and 61 million post-tax at a 5% discount rate and an IRR of 35% pre-tax and 26% post-tax. The study also highlighted proven and probable mineral reserves, a first in Aveeno's long history of 6.7 million tons of silver and gold grades of 55 grams per ton and point four seven grams per ton respectively the oxide tailings project is considered one of our three catalysts for growth as the future gold and silver production asset next steps include community engagement and environmental impact studies however La Preciosa is our absolute top priority and secondly after the end of the year we extremely pleased to announce that we had signed a long-term land use agreement with the local community for the development of La Preciosa in Durango, Mexico. This achievement was pivotal for us and signals the start of a new era for Aveeno and the communities adjacent to the mine. And we are on a crucial step closer to putting La Preciosa into production. We were able to commence hauling of old surface stockpiles to our mill at the Aveeno mine for processing. The La Preciosa mine represents a key pillar in our transformational growth strategy, as well as hosting a large endowment of silver and gold, which we expect to process for the years to come. Capital costs for La Preciosa in 2024 is expected to be between $3 to $4 million U.S., and will include surface works and equipment procurement intended for the first phase of mine development for the Gloria and Abundancia veins. Vino also has mining equipment necessary to commence operations at La Preciosa. The application for the environmental permit has been submitted by the company to the relevant authorities. A further permit will be submitted shortly after receipt of the environmental permit, which is required to commence construction of the portal, haulage ramp, and mining of the Glorian Abadantia veins. Aveeno anticipates receiving these permits sometime in 2024. A press release dated February 28th is available on our website and includes a full list of updates. At this time, I will hand it over to Nathan Hart, Aveeno's CFO, to present Aveeno's Q4 and year-end financial results. Nathan?