Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Avino Silver and Gold Mines Limited Q4 and year end 2020 financial results 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, Manager, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Avino Silver and Gold Lines Limited Q4 and year-end 2020 financial results conference call and webcast. 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 Latta. 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 risks, 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 that accompanies this call or on our press release of yesterday's date. 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 accompanying this conference call and webcast will be available on the website. Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Aveeno's President and CEO, David Wolfen. David?

Thanks, Jen. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Aveeno's Q4 and year-end 2020 financial results conference call and webcast. Thanks for joining us. Before we begin, please note that the full financial statements in MD&A are now available on our website. On today's call, we will cover the highlights of our fourth quarter and year-end 2020 financial and operating performance and our plans for 2021, and then we will open it up for questions. Please note that all figures are stated in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 2020 was a challenging year, and although we are relieved to put it behind us, the year can be marked as one of learning, patience, and a significant focus on health and safety of our entire company, spanning Mexico, Canada, and the US. The pandemic presented new challenges for our team, and I'm proud of the way we were united by our shared culture of discipline, flexibility, and teamwork that truly made us a stronger company. I would like to extend a special thank you to the management team in Mexico led by Carlos Rodriguez, who cooperated quickly and responsibly with the Mexican authorities and carried out critical tasks at the mine to ensure the safety of our employees and surrounding communities. Lastly, I would like to extend my appreciation to our shareholders for their support and patience during the entire year while we experienced the temporary shutdown due to COVID and when we went through the strike at the mine. While the strike ended in early October, we have been waiting for the government offices in Mexico to reopen so the agreement with the labor union may be ratified. In the meantime, we completed the comprehensive evaluation and over the last month, various supplies are being ordered and delivered as we look towards a startup of operations. Our fourth quarter, Operational performance was directly impacted by 12-week strike at the mine and resulted in no mining activities taking place during the three months ended December 31st, 2020. During the quarter, we continued moving forward with the proposed dry stack tailings storage facility number two, which is on privately owned Aveeno land and is permitted and is currently in the final stage prior to commencing construction. We expect this project to be completed during Q3 2021 and should add an additional eight to 10 years of tailing capacity based on the current mill throughput rate. We chose dry stack tailings for its environmental safety and economic advantages with its high solid content. This significantly improves safety and stability and reduces the need to extract water from local sources by recycling the water removed from tailings. In addition, it requires less land, which in turn results in smaller environmental footprint. Over the years, we have been proactive in developing partnerships between the people of Durango and Aveeno, and we are happy to have help in many ways, including providing maintenance of water reservoir, installed new water pipes and expanded the drinking water network, maintained the neighborhood streets and roads, educated the communities in the importance of mining, delivered sports equipment and maintained sports facilities, and provided medical and ambulance services. But above all, we have provided steady employment to the people of the four communities that surround the mine. Currently, we are in the process of receiving enough PPE and rapid COVID tests, so we may ensure the safety and good health of our workforce and provide employment once again. The restart of production activities is expected to provide significant direct economic benefits and stimulus for the local communities, so we are very much looking forward to that. During the fourth quarter, silver prices ranged from a low of $22.15 to a high of $26.48, and gold prices ranged from a low of $18.70 to a high of $19.40. The metal prices have continued to be volatile, but have stayed close to the highs reached in the third quarter, with silver reaching $29.58 early in February and the gold price reaching a high of $19.43 early January. Over the last few days, silver price hovered around 26 and 27, and gold has backed off from earlier highs to around 1730. As silver has many industrial applications, we believe it will be a great demand as stimulus in the U.S. gets going. It is also worth mentioning the price of copper is as it makes up close to a third of our revenue contribution when in production. The copper price has been steadily moving upwards on a low inventories and anticipated rebound of the global economy. Growth of industrial activities, strong demands by China, global vaccination rollout, and weaker U.S. dollar. We hope that our favorite metals will continue to shine. Our sights are set on a positive and brighter 2021. I will now ask Nathan Hart, Aveeno's Chief Financial Officer, to present the financial results for Q4 and year-end 2020.