Fortuna Mining Corp

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Fortuna Silver Mines Q4 Full Year 2021 Financial and Operational Results Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Carlos Baca, Director of Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Pauline. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome you to Fortuna Silver Mines and to our financial... As a reminder, statements made during this call are subject to the reader advisories included in yesterday's news release and in the earnings call presentation. Financial figures contained in the presentation and discussed in today's call are presented in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated. Before I turn over the call to Jorge, I would like to indicate that this earnings call contains forward-looking information that is based on the company's current expectations, estimates and beliefs. This forward-looking information is subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors. Actual results could differ materially from a conclusion, forecast or projection in the forward-looking information. Certain material factors or assumptions were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection as reflected in the forward-looking information. Additional information about the material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the conclusion, forecast, or projection in the forward-looking information and the material factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection as reflected in the forward-looking information is contained in the company's annual information form and MD&A, which are publicly available on CDER. The company assumes no obligation to update such forward-looking information in the future except as required by law. I would now like to turn the call over to Jorge Alberto Ganosa, co-founder of Fortuna.

Thank you, Carlos. I will be sharing with you the highlights of the quarter and updates on performance on the business for the first months of the year. I will be assisted by Luis, our CFO, and Cesar and Paul, who will be providing details on the performance of the assets in their respective regions. For the quarter, we reported sales of $199 million, an increase of 92% compared to a year ago, adjusted net income of $29 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $89.5 million. We ran the business with an adjusted EBITDA margin percentage in the mid-40s. The drivers of the significant growth in financial figures compared to a year ago are the Lindero mine, which in the quarter delivered record gold production of 36,000 ounces, and the contribution of the Yaramoco mine. At the end of the year, our liquidity position remained strong at 187 million, while keeping our debt-to-EBITDA ratio at a low 0.2%. The company remains well-funded to meet all its capital projects for the year, and in particular, the Seguela mine construction, which, once completed, will be Fortuna's fifth operating mine. As of the end of February, the Seguela construction is 42% complete, tracking a line with our budget and timeline for first gold in mid-2023. The team is delivering an excellent performance at the project, We are preparing to initiate placing concrete in mid to late April. Paul Criddle, our Chief Operating Officer for West Africa Camp, can provide further detail later on the call. On the exploration front, we continue to exhibit the resource growth potential of the Segela Camp with the recent announcement of the 350,000 ounces inferred maiden resource at Sandburg. Sandbird is a recent discovery located only two kilometers from the Seguela Mill site. We have a high expectation with respect to the opportunities to continue expanding the resources at Seguela, where exploration drilling remains a big area of focus for this year. During the last months of 2021, we went through trying times at our San Jose mine located in southern Mexico in the state of Oaxaca.