Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Aveeno Silver and Gold Mines second quarter 2022 financial results conference call. 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 Mines Limited Q2 2022 Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. To join this webcast and conference call, there is a link in our news release dated August 10th. which can be found on our website under News 2022. As well, you may find a link under the Investors tab, then click on Events, and you will see the link at the top of the page. 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 and the presentation accompanying 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.

Thanks, Jen. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Aveeno's Q2 2022 financial results conference call and webcast. Thank you for joining us. Before we begin, please note that the full financial statements and MD&A are available on our website. On today's call, we'll cover the highlights of the second quarter 2022 financial and operating performance and our plans for the third quarter, and then we will open it up for questions. Please note that all figures are stated in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Our second quarter performance was strong operationally, highlighted by steady production from the Aveeno mine and higher grades that helped to drive positive results. In addition, the mine optimization work continued in Q2 for the underground mining processes. They are aimed at managing and tracking and planning underground movements which helps increase efficiencies across communication and planning. We have also received encouraging drill results from the oxide tailings project and from the Aveeno ET mine area below the current level 17 mining area. The acquisition of La Preciosa closed during the first quarter and during the second quarter we continued developing our internal plans for the property. The property hosts one of the largest undeveloped primary silver resources in Mexico and is located adjacent to our existing operations at the Avino mine. Our financial performance in the second quarter indicates strong operational achievements that helped to generate revenues of $9.4 million, $3.9 million in mine operating income, and as well, lower cash costs and lower all-in-sustaining costs were realized. Nathan Hart, Aveeno's CFO, will expand on our financial results later in the call. The second quarter production marks the third full quarter following the restart of operations in August 2021. With production coming from the Aveeno mine only, it is compared to Q1 2022 as that was the most recent quarter of consolidated production. The production highlights are as follows. Silver equivalent production increased 42% to 649,569 ounces. Silver production increased to 225,537 ounces. Copper production increased by 35% to 1.6 million pounds. Gold production increased by 69% to 1,350 ounces. Mill throughput increased by 6% to 119,224 The recoveries for copper increased by 3%, and gold recovery increased by 1%, with the recoveries of silver decreasing by 1%. On a gram per ton basis, the feed grade for silver increased by 30%. For gold, the increases was 57%, and for copper, the grade increased by 23%. During the quarter, our exploration and drilling program provided encouraging results across the oxide tailings project and the Aveeno ET area below level 17. At the end of Q2 2022, a total of 7,694 meters have been drilled. In April, we announced drill results from 2021 drill program on the oxide tailings project that sits within our tailings storage facility number one. There were 110 holes for a total of 3,645 meters of drilling. This drilling follows up the 2015 slash 2016 campaign from which the 2016 NI43-101 preliminary economic assessment is based on. The results were encouraging and included 0.76 gold grams per ton over 19.5 meters. With gold grades better than anticipated, we were eager to understand the implications for the total resource. Additionally, the 2022 drill program from the Oxide Tailings Project included 17 drill holes, which we received and released in May. The gold grade in the oxide portion of the recent holes continues to be encouraging in giving the distance of the step-out holes, we feel this will provide meaningful resource expansion significantly beyond what was described in the previous PEA. The positive results from the oxide tailings drilling supports our belief that this project will factor significantly into Aveeno's growth strategy. Also during the quarter, we announced drill results from the Aveeno ET area below the current level 17 mining area. We received and reported assays from six holes. These results confirm the down dip continuity of widths and grades of the Aveeno vein extending significantly potentially to a depth of at least 290 meters down dip below the current development. This is encouraging and confirms our expectations that mineralization continues at depth as well and contains significantly higher copper mineralization with grade of copper intercepts encountered at depth within our permit boundaries. We encourage you to view the interactive 3D model on our website, which is linked to the June 13th press release showing the location of the drill results in proximity to the current mine area. Full drill results, including images for the 2021 and 2022 drill programs are available on our website. Since 2019, following our sale of Braylorn, we have focused our resources on creating value at the Aveeno property by optimizing production, executing an exploration strategy focused on growing the resource base and completing a strategic property acquisition in La Preciosa. At La Preciosa, we are currently conducting community engagement in the nearby towns adjacent to the property, as well as studies on how to optimally integrate into our mine plan to leverage the existing facilities and infrastructure. Aveeno is fully committed to moving this project forward as part of the company's organic growth strategy. This is a major milestone for Aveeno and sets us up on the path of achieving our goals of intermediate producer status. During Q2, we continued moving forward on the capital projects that we outlined for the year. The dry stack tailings facility is nearing completion, which means we are inching closer to decommissioning the current tailings storage facility number one. The team in Durango continues to make significant progress during Q2 on the facility which I was able to see firsthand at the end of May. The project is expected to be fully operational during the second half of 2022 and brings the company towards achieving the guidelines within global industry standards on tailings management, along with the previously mentioned community stewardship. We have posted updated photos of the construction as well as the time lapse video on our website that shows the construction of the tailings filter plant. So I encourage you to go to the video section of our website under the investors tab and watch it. Our ESG initiatives continue to move forward as we incorporate principles of sustainability and social responsibility. Following the restart of operations, It has been the company's directive to train and hire a local workforce. By providing jobs to those in the surrounding communities, we aim to foster generations of enthusiastic and dedicated ambassadors of Aveeno. ESG initiatives completed during the second quarter were tree planting campaign in the community of Panuco de Coronado, donating over 100 fruit trees. Volleyball tournament held in the community of San Jose de Ovino to promote sport and family coexistence as well as other sport equipment delivered to the surrounding communities. Mining training and education seminar held for secondary school students of San Jose de Ovino and the elementary school of Panuco de Coronado. Cleaning and maintenance campaigns of landfills in the communities of San Jose de Ovino. Panuca de Coronado, and Zaragoza. Continued work to repair Panuca roads to Madero, San Juan. Classroom renovations at the San Jose de Avino Community Elementary School. Provided construction materials for modernization projects, which is commencing at the San Jose de Avino Cemetery. In collaboration with City Council of the Municipality of Pinuco de Coronado and the local authority of the community of San Jose de Avino, the company assisted the communities with an upgrade well for drinking water, delivered hand tools for the technical school number 47 of the community of Pinuco de Coronado for their agricultural classes, continued road maintenance to the main access road to the mine, Finally, we are very pleased to announce that Aveeno has received for the first time the ESR award granted by the Mexican Center for Philanthropy and the Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility. The ESR award is obtained through a diagnostic process based on indicators reviewed and endorsed annually by a committee of experts in the various CSR areas. This is an extremely prestigious award in the Mexican business world, granted each year to a select group of enterprises in recognition of the efforts to make a voluntary and public commitment to implementing socially responsible management and ongoing improvements as part of business culture and strategy. We are thrilled to receive the ESR award as this is a great accomplishment for Aveeno. I would like to express my congratulations to the entire Aveeno team, with a special thanks to the ESG team in Durango, led by Oscar Lara, Aveeno's Superintendent of Corporate Social Responsibility, whose proactive approach to governance was the top priority since joining the company a little over a year ago. Aveeno continues to be committed to our employees communities, shareholders, and stakeholders as part of our mission, vision, and values. During the second quarter, volatility in the markets persisted with some negativity due to rising interest rates, inflation, and a strong U.S. dollar, which put pressure on precious metals. We have seen a range in silver prices during the quarter from a high on April 19th of $0.25 91 to a low on june 30th of 20.41 this is an interesting time and we should probably brace for continued continued volatility and higher interest rates we will take a measured approach to all operational activities during this inflationary period we continue to believe that the outlook for silver is positive and that the silver demand should see solid growth from 2022 onwards and will be driven by record silver industrial fabrication, increase in green technology, and investment demand for physical silver. I will now ask Nathan Hart, Avino's Chief Financial Officer, to present the financial results for Q2 2022. Nathan?