SSR Mining Inc.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to SSR Mining's fourth quarter and year-end 2022 conference call. This call is being recorded. At this time, for opening remarks and introduction, I would like to turn the call over to Alex Honchak from SSR Mining. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining SSR Mining's fourth quarter 2022 conference call. during which we'll provide an update on our business and a review of our financial performance. Our fourth quarter 2022 consolidated financial statements have been presented in accordance with US GAAP. These financial statements have been filed on EDGAR, CDAR, the ASX, and are also available on our website. To accompany our call, there is an online webcast and you will find the information to access the webcast in our news release relating to this call. Please note that all figures discussed during this call are US dollars unless otherwise indicated. Today's discussion will include forward-looking statements, so please read the disclosures in the relevant documents. Joining us on the call today are Rod Antle, President and CEO, and Allison White, CFO. Now I will turn the call over to Rod for his opening remarks.

Great. Thanks, Alex, and hello to you all, and thanks for joining us. We'll close 2022 on a positive note by meeting our revised production and cost guidance thanks to a solid fourth quarter where all four operating assets were running at a steady state. We started this year with an improved outlook, and earlier this month we reconfirmed and confirmed our expectations for a strong year of production and free cash flow with the release of a three-year guidance. To reinforce the point on cash flow, we've assumed an $1,800 gold price, and with our 2023 production guidance of 700 to 780,000 ounces, We would expect approximately $140 million of free cash flow this year. The other positive to begin this year is the arrival of Bill McNiven, who joined the SSR team as EVP, Ops and Sustainability. We are fortunate to have someone with Bill's global experience and successful track record join the company from Barrick. The introduction of a fresh set of experienced eyes will be beneficial to the business. Bill has been busy visiting each one of our sites to establish priorities and looking for opportunities to improve our business, and you'll hear from him later in the year. So now back to the numbers. With our 2023 headline costs are elevated year over year, it is not just inflation. We are also executing on a number of expansion efforts to improve the outlook for SSR in the future, and I'll discuss these further during the call. Before we move on, some key highlights from the fourth quarter and full year 2022. The business delivered strong fourth quarter production of 183,000 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,358 per ounce. Full year production of 624,000 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,339 per ounce were within the company's revised full year guidance ranges. In 2022, we returned approximately $160 million to shareholders through the combination of our base dividend program and $100 million in share buybacks. This marks our second consecutive year delivering a peer-leading 5% capital returns yield. We continued our successful portfolio rationalisation process with the sale of Pitoria and some non-core equity positions generating approximately $135 million in total consideration during the year. Cash proceeds were redeployed into the Tiger Gold and Calcutta acquisitions. And finally, in quarter four, we generated almost $100 million in free cash flow, which is really an impressive result. Let's move on to the next slide on ESG. I'd like to start by first acknowledging the tragic earthquake impacting Turkey and Syria. Our thoughts go out to all the people who either directly or indirectly have been impacted. We are paying close attention to the situation where our mine rescue teams have been assisting the rescue efforts on the ground. Our people, both employees and business partners, are the cornerstone of our business. How we operate and engage as we improve ESG is underpinned by SSR mining's core values. Whilst we are doing considerable work on all aspects of ESG, today I'd like to focus on safety. In 2022, we worked on improving the systems and protocols as the foundation of our safe operating systems. We continue to deliver against the goals outlined in our annual sustainability report, including the rollout of the integrated management system and the progression of third-party closure reviews across all our operating sites to ensure a positive post-mining future for all our stakeholders. We also work to develop a water stewardship strategy as part of our focus on continually reducing our environmental footprint going forward. We're proud of the progress and we'll highlight them and our plans for the year ahead in our upcoming sustainability report. In the year ahead, we'll increase our focus on field leadership and the quality of safe production. Getting our people home safe is our top priority and is a key improvement point for 2023. So moving on to slide number five. As I previously mentioned, our 2023 guidance enrolling three-year outlook outlines a stable production platform of approximately 700,000 ounces through 2025. Our focus in 2023 is the continued advancement of our near mine exploration and resource development programs as we look to support this baseline annual production over the longer term. Across the portfolio, we have a number of brownfield exploration and development opportunities that we are confident will drive reserve conversion to ensure this 700,000 ounce a year platform is met or expanded upon for the remainder of the decade. Later this year, we expect to showcase maiden mineral reserves for CHIRPLA's C2 expansion project, as well as a new mine plan that incorporates ounces from Marigold's new millennium target. At CB in Puna, near-mine drilling initiatives are well advanced and present the opportunity to build reserves and extend mine lives at each asset. In short, while the production platform outlined in this slide is largely centred on existing mineral reserves only, we see several opportunities to build on these existing reserves in the future. In addition, we continue to remain active through the evaluation of strategic opportunities across the sector, and in particular in our core jurisdictions. And despite the flurry of recently announced deals, we will remain disciplined with respect to any future opportunities. So on to slide six, and I'm going to hand over to Alison.