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Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Fortuna Silver Q3 2022 Financial and Operational Results Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode, and we will open the floor for your 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.
Carlos Baca
Thank you, Tom. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome you to Fortuna Silver Mines and to our financial and operations result call for the third quarter of 2022. Hosting the call today on behalf of Fortuna will be Jorge Alberto Ganosa, President and Chief Executive Officer, Luis Darío Ganosa, Chief Financial Officer, Cesar Velasco, Chief Operating Officer, Latin America, and David Whittle, Chief Operating Officer, West Africa. Earnings call presentation is available on the featured presentation box on our homepage at fortunasilver.com. As a reminder, statements made during this call are subject to the reader's 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 risk 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 overlooking information in the future except as required by law. I would like now to turn the call over to Jorge Alberto Ganosa, co-founder of Fortuna.
Tom
Jorge Alberto Ganosa Thank you, Carlos. Our business continued to perform well in the third quarter. We had a small adjusted gain in net income of one cent per share, slightly short of analyst and beat consensus estimates for cash flow per share with 22 cents versus 18 cents of the analysts. We provide in our results news release a measure of free cash flow from operations after capital investments at the mines, taxes and interests paid, and corporate overhead. This figure is a strong $34 million for the period in this metal price and inflationary environment. or business continues generating very healthy cash flows. The financial performance is underpinned by steady and meaningful quarterly production of approximately 100,000 ounces of gold equivalent ounces. For the quarter, 68% of sales were attributable to gold, 20% to silver, and 12% to a byproduct sink and lead out of the Cayoma mine in Peru. Costs at all our mines are tracking within the range we guided at the beginning of the year. Inflation pressures on key consumables like diesel, cyanide, steel, explosives, cement have pushed site costs to the upper range of guidance. But at this time, late in the year, we believe risks for major deviations from our annual cost projections are largely diminished. Our safety culture and safety performance continue to show sustained improvement with multiple key initiatives ongoing in both LATAM and West African regions. We reported the second consecutive quarter free of lost time injuries to our people and a total recordable injury rate of 2.6 million per million hours worked for the quarter. Our project team at Seguela continues to deliver exceptional performance. As at the end of October, the construction is 83% complete, remaining on time and on budget. We have accrued $119 million of the 173 total CAPEX and have already committed approximately 95% of the total CAPEX. David Whittle, our Chief Operating Officer for West Africa, will share with you more details on the status of the project and what is coming over the next few months in a moment. I want to bring to your attention a few additional important topics for the quarter and subsequent events. One is on Monday, November 7th, the Mexican Federal Court ruled in our favor on the disputed attempt by a Semarnat official to reduce the term of her 12-year environmental permit extension at the San Jose mine down to two years. With this ruling, our 12-year environmental permit extension stands as originally granted in December of last year. Needless to say, we're extremely pleased with this outcome, which is consistent with our position that we have always been in material compliance with applicable laws and standard procedures on this matter. A second matter to bring to your attention is the expansion or extension of our great facility, which is set to close in December. Although we are past our peak capital demands and remain well-funded to take Seguela construction to completion and meet sustaining capital needs at our minds, this added financial flexibility is welcome for a business of our size today and also at a time when we want to be able to continue capturing organic growth opportunities in our portfolio at an accelerated pace. On September 12th, we published an exploration news release sharing the continued success we're having with our drilling programs at Seguela. At the newly discovered Sandberg deposit, we successfully extended gold mineralization significantly beyond the limits of the maiden 350,000 inferred gold research at a grade of 3.2 grams gold. We're working to produce an updated estimate with all these new data before year end. Additionally, our scout drilling within the property continues to yield significant gold intersects at multiple prospects like Kestrel, G7, and Winning. Please refer to the September 12th exploration news release for the details on the program. We're all excited about the opportunities for organic growth that Ceguela continues to present to us. With that, I'll ask Luis now to share the highlights of the financial results.
Jorge Alberto Ganosa
Thank you. So as Jorge mentioned, sales were $166.6 billion in the quarter. This is 2% over Q3 2021. Lindero recorded $10.2 million of higher sales, partially offset by slightly lower sales at our three other operating mines. In terms of aggregate volume and metal price impacts, we had higher volume contribution to sales of $10 million, mostly coming from Lindero, partially offset by lower metal prices and treatment and refining charges of $6 million. In particular, the isolated effect of lower silver and gold prices on our dore and provisional concentrate sales was $13 million. Our average provisional realized prices in the quarter were $1,718 per ounce of gold compared to $1,779. dollars per ounce in q3 2021 that's three percent lower and 19.16 dollars per ounce of silver compared to 24.24 in the prior year that's 21 percent lower our operating income of 5.7 million dollars was 16 million dollars lower than q3 2021 excluding non-recurrent items namely the $13 million charge in Q3 2021 for the settlement of the disputed royalty claim with the Mexican Geological Survey, and a $3 million charge in Q3 2022 for the write-off of that Lamino project in Serbia, the drop in operating income was approximately $26 million. The main drivers for these were higher total cash costs of $17 million and $9 million of higher depletion. These higher cash costs year over year are approximately $9 to $10 million above what was already built into the midpoint of our cost guidance for the year. The higher depletion is mostly aligned with higher activity at Lindero. We recorded a net loss in the quarter of $4.1 million or one cent per share, Other items in the quarter contributing to the loss were the $3.4 million write-off mentioned before, a $1.6 million unrealized loss on derivative contracts, and $2.4 million of foreign exchange losses mostly related to balances held in local currency in our West African operations in the context of the strong appreciation of the U.S. dollar. We reported adjusted net income of $2.3 million compared to $22.5 million in Q3 2021. Our reported free cash flow from ongoing operations was $34 million for the quarter, including $11.6 million of positive changes in working capital. First nine months of 2022, the same figure was $64.8 million, including $18 million of negative changes in working capital. On the balance sheet, we closed the quarter with $125.9 million of liquidity comprised of $90.9 million of cash and $35 million and drawn under our $200 million revolving credit facility. Our total net debt, including the outstanding convertible, the venture is $120 million for a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.4. On the Segela construction, we've funded $20.6 million in the quarter, and we continue to remain adequately funded for the remaining portion of the construction. Back to you, Jorge.
Tom
Thank you. David, you want to highlight the West Africa region results, please?
David
Thanks, Jorge. Operations in West Africa continued their solid performance throughout Q3. tracking well with respect to our schedules and budgets. Despite the ongoing worldwide inflationary and supply chain pressures, either the operations at Yaramoko or the construction progress at Sagela have been impacted. At the Yaramoko mine, third quarter gold production of 27,130 ounces was in line with plan, with production for the first nine months of the year totaling 79,000 918 ounces, positioning Yaramoko to achieve midpoint of annual guidance. Safety performance at both sites has been strong, with Segwela continuing to be an LTI-free project to date. We're proud to highlight that Yaramoko reached in Q3 the milestone mark of a two-year LTI-free operation. Important to note also that operations at Yaramoko have been unaffected by the political upheaval that occurred in Burkina Faso at the end of the third quarter. Moving to Segala, construction progress continues to be steady in line with plan and on time and on budget, with first gold pour projected for mid-2023. As of October 31st, The project is 83% complete, with approximately $166 million committed of the total $73 million initial capital budget. The project continues to be de-risked and is transitioning from the bulk earthworks phase into the structural, mechanical and piling works of the process plant, with the majority of construction consignments having progressed through the logistical process. The mining contractor, Motor Engel, continued mobilization and site establishment activities and recruitment of key positions. Long lead fleet shipments are underway with arrival on site expected during the fourth quarter. ROM pad construction and initial grade control drilling is planned to commence this quarter. The water storage dam is complete with approximately 565,000 cubic meters stored sufficient for commissioning and operating requirements. CIL tanks fabrication and water tanks assembly, along with hydrostatic testing, has been completed. First structural steel has been erected, and assembly and installation of mechanical equipment has commenced within the process plant. The project critical path processing plant, EPC, is on track at 83% complete. while the HV grid connection scope is nearing completion with energization of the HV substation expected in December. Parallel to the excellent progress on the ground, operational readiness scopes are advancing well with the operations team and systems continuing to be established. Key members of the operational team have been hired We progress on the next level of management staffing, advancing according to the plan. Back to you, Jorge.
Tom
Thank you, David. Cesar, Latin American results highlights, please.
David
Yes, thank you, Jorge. So our metal production at our mines in Latin America is on track to achieve annual guidance range. San Jose, Cayoma, and Lindero a deliver another strong production quarter reflecting an increase of 6.9 percent in consolidated gold production compared to the same period of 2021 stronger silver and base metal production is explained by higher production and higher head grades for the period some highlights for a quarter in argentina lindero deliver another consistent gold production performance with a 14.5% production increase compared to the third quarter of 2021, mainly explained by an increase in the performance of the three-stage crushing and stacking system. The operation continues capturing higher productivity gains, partially offsetting inflationary pressures and key consumables, and demonstrating consistent production performance. Gold production for the first nine months of 2022 totaled 89,000 ounces. Moving on to Mexico, San Jose delivered its highest silver production quarter in 2022, totaling 1.55 million ounces, This is a 7.6% higher production when compared to the equivalent period in 2021. Gold production of 9,100 ounces was 2% higher for the same period. Increase in silver and gold production was primarily due to higher mill throughput and slightly higher grades in line with the mining sequence and mineral reserve estimates, placing the operation in a strong position to achieve the upper range of annual guidance. Silver and gold production for the first nine months of 2022 totaled 4.3 million ounces and 25,600 ounces respectively. As we move to Peru, the Cayoma mines continue to deliver strong, steady production with 2,000 ounces of silver produced in the third quarter of 2022. Measured against the comparable quarter of 2021, silver was 6.1% higher due to a combination of increased mill throughput, higher grades, and better recoveries. Silver production for the first nine months of 2022 totaled 831,000 ounces, on track to achieve the upper range of annual guidance. Zinc and lead production for the third quarter was 11.9 million pounds and 9.1 million pounds respectively. Overall production was a result of variances in head grades, higher milk throughput, and better recoveries. For the first nine months of 2022, zinc production totaled 33.6 million pounds and lead production totaled 25.9 million pounds. Both in line to achieve the upper range of guidance. Back to you, Jorge.
Jorge
Thank you, Cesar, Carlos. We would now like to turn the call over to any questions that you may have.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is now open for questions. If you would like to enter the queue to ask a question at this time, you may press star 1 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. We do ask if listening on speakerphone today that you pick up your handset while asking your question to provide optimal sound quality. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, that'll be star one on your telephone keypad at this time to enter the queue to ask a question. Please hold a moment while we poll for questions. And the first question today is coming from Trevor Turnbull from Scotiabank. Trevor, your line is live. Please go ahead.
Trevor Turnbull
Great. Thank you. I think, Jorge, the last time we spoke, you talked about delivery of the SAG mill components to the site as one of the major critical path items. And I just wondered, now that the mill is essentially arrived, what do you consider a critical path now for construction?
Tom
I'll defer to David, who is here. David, do you want to expand on the critical path items as we see them moving forward, please?
David
Yes, thanks, Jorge. I suppose the construction of the project is really transitioning now from the bulk earthworks and concrete civil space into the SMP phase. any further exposure really forms part of that works. As you alluded to, the SIGMIL components have been somewhat de-risked in that all those components are either in transit or actually already in Abidjan. In fact, the melt shells are due for transportation up to site from Abidjan in this next week. So we're pretty confident at this stage that our risks have been minimized, and we don't see any major risks going forward. That's great.
Tom
To complement, in order to give a bit more visibility, major milestones coming, and some of them were mentioned already, We have the interconnection to the national power grid coming in December. That's a milestone we're looking forward to. And also the start of mine excavations early next year, right? We are starting to see our arrival in country of components of the mine fleet. and really we're gearing for excavations to start early next year. David?
David
Yes, very much so. The first mining trucks are currently in the final stages of being fitted out at the OEMs and should be getting transported to site within the next couple of weeks. The further batches of mining equipment to the mining contractor, which is all new equipment, shall be getting delivered over the rest of Q4. The grid connection, as you alluded to, is actually scheduled for the first half of December, with ultimate connection to the actual plant thereafter in about January next year. The mobilization and recruitment of the mining operations team has gone really well. So we have all the key senior roles in terms of general manager, mining managers, processing managers, chief geologists, maintenance people already identified and recruited. So we're now just filling out the secondary levels of the professional and management ranks within the organizational structure.
Trevor Turnbull
Yeah, it sounds like things have continued to go well, and hopefully they'll continue to the very end. I also had a question, just sticking with Africa for a minute. You're on MoCo. I think the latest tech report indicated that the mining rates are going to be fairly consistent next year. compared to what you did this year on the order of half a million tons. But in 2024, it looks like the rate comes down significantly. And I just wondered if you could remind me why that is and if there's anything over the next year or so you could potentially do to address and change that.
David
Yes, in terms of 2023 and 2024, our milling rates should stay around the same area as we are now. In the first quarter of 2023, we actually completed the mining at the Bagassee South satellite mine. And at that point in time, we commenced processing some of our lower grade stockpiles at that point in time. That will continue. We still have a substantial amount of lower grade material on the run pad, which is enabling us to maintain full production throughput in the mill. At the moment, we are doing some development out to an additional narrow vein deposit at the Bagassee South mine. That development is progressing in the second half of this year and will bear the majority of its fruit in the second half of 2023 and early 2024, providing some additional mill feed. We're also in the last stages of doing the feasibility on a smaller surface deposit just to the immediate northern area of the mine as well to provide us with some additional mill feed as well. But it's expected that the development that the autumns from those two areas will probably be coming reduced somewhat towards the end of 2024 onwards. and then we'll be into a position where we've really only been able to mill what is being produced from the underground line at that stage.
Trevor Turnbull
Sorry, so the stockpiles and the satellites potentially keep everything running about current rates at least through kind of mid-2024 is what you're saying?
David
Probably more towards the end of 2024, yes.
Trevor Turnbull
Okay, great. That's very helpful. And then I just had one final question, and maybe this is more for Jorge and Luis, but just given the fairly material drawdown on the revolver as you are waiting to enter production with Seguela, I was wondering, would you consider any level of hedging going into this?
Tom
Short answer is no. We feel we are adequately funded and we have absolutely no need to enter hedges on precious metals at this stage. We are past our peak year in our history in terms of capital demands. Our total capital demands amounted to roughly $244 or $245 million this year. We've been able to meet those funding requirements comfortably with cash on hand, the existing facility, which we're expanding, and Luis can elaborate more on that, and the cash generation from the assets. So no, we're not thinking of hedging.
Trevor Turnbull
Yeah, it doesn't seem like the best time to be hedging, but we have seen a few people talking about it more and more, and I just wanted to ask. But that's all I had. Thank you, Jorge. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And as a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to enter the queue to ask a question, you may press star 1 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, that will be star 1 if you would like to enter the queue to ask a question. And our next question is coming from Jasper Wick. Please announce your affiliation, and then you may go ahead, Jasper.
Jasper Wick
Thank you, operator. I'm Jasper Veit from Valpal. And congrats on the fantastic progress made on Segwella. I covered most of your peers, and several of them have had delays in their development projects. Given that the first gold pour is towards the end of the second quarter next year, How long is the ramp-up time to name-plate capacity and how much gold production could be expected in the second half of next year?
Tom
Let me give a punt here and see if David can compliment. Right now, we are budgeting 2023. And as you can probably appreciate, our mine planning teams are going through the optimization based on the addition of resources and opportunities throughout 2022 at Seguela. We're right now going through the revision and optimization of our mine schedules and plans at Seguela for 2023. So we will be providing guidance on that early next year when we guide for production across the business. But I can advance that it's not gonna look similar to what we have in our feasibility study today. We have opportunities versus what was produced in May of 2021, over a year ago, in the feasibility study. So the team is working and iterating on the mine scheduling, and we will be providing guidance for 2023, early next year. Now, with respect to a ramp up to nameplate capacity, Well, it is always our expectation that that can be a smooth transition. It is an expectation that that can be achieved in a matter. I mean, there should be no shortage of ore. We're going to stockpile, and we should be in a position to feed the mill at nominal capacity as it demands it. It's certainly going to be no less than several weeks, but I don't know, David, if you can provide a bit more color on the timing required for nominal capacity. It's always a process. We would look to declare commercial operations in a way once, you know, we achieve 85% plus, 85% of nominal capacity and design recoveries, right? That's traditionally what's done and it would be an expectation right now that we can achieve that in a matter of weeks. Anything else, David, you would want to add?
David
Not overly. I think that about covers it. Obviously, we alluded to earlier, the mining contractor is already well and truly in the process of mobilising and we're expected to be producing and producing ore to the ROMPADS by February of the coming year. So, as Jorge alluded to there, we certainly expect to have enough ore on the pad at that point in time to commission and go into operations. Other aspects such as the amount of water that we've got in the dams there is quite sufficient for commissioning and operational purposes as well. So we would be hopeful of a fairly quick ramp up to steady state operations through the mill.
Jasper Wick
Thank you. I look forward to seeing the guidance. A follow-up question on the Seguela. What is the long-term throughput plan for Seguela? In other words, how much tonnage are you targeting on an annual basis? Because in the feasibility study, I know it might not be up-to-date, that's why I'm asking, it's mentioned that you could get the throughput up to 1.57 million tons per annum. i.e. more than the nameplate capacity of 3,750 tons per day by expanding your excavator fleet. I would ask if you could add some more color on that.
Tom
Our plan there is to... We have embedded in the design... the opportunity to expand milling capacity. I think how you are going to see it play out is we start production, we will push to maximize nameplate capacity and push the nominal capacity to see if we can effectively improve on that, you know, and likely second half of 2023 is going to be a year of commissioning ramp up and, you know, stabilizing steady state operations, testing the nominal capacity. And in that second half of the year, we're going to decide, you know, if and to what rate the plant needs to be expanded. Again, referring to what's in the feasibility study, a lot has changed. By next year, we will have sandbird in the mine plan. Today, we have 350,000 ounces of gold in inferred resources at higher grade than the average grade of reserves. The grade of sandbird is 3.2 grams gold. and it's above the reserve grade of the deposit on average. So, you know, all of those things are moving parts right now. And, you know, I think the second half of the year, 2023, is going to be key for us to finally define how big this is going to be. personally of the opinion that we have important opportunities ahead of us to expand beyond what's currently in the feasibility study. Clearly we will have more resources available and that should drive the decisions to expand. The question is at what rate, right? And we're in no position today to give an opinion on rate. beyond what's in the feasibility study. But what I can say decisively is that we have clear opportunities to expand beyond that.
Jasper Wick
Thank you. I look forward to see the impact that Sunbird has on Seguela. One last quick question. Speaking of BOSORA, the exploration project, you have previously communicated that the plan is to put out a made and inferred resource towards the end of the year or early next year. Is that still the plan or has anything changed?
Tom
No, yes. We are in the final stages of having a resource available for disclosure. The team is well advanced. Our team has been really dealing with... That is the same team that's been supporting the Seguela optimization. and the Sunbird Resource Estimation, and we have given priority to the work on Seguela. That's why Bosura has been somewhat delayed. But it is our plan to have that out shortly, right?
Jasper Wick
Thank you. I look forward to it. That was everything for me.
Operator
Thank you. And your next question is coming from Don DeMarco from National Bank Financial. Don, your line is live. Please go ahead.
Don DeMarco
Okay. Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, Jorge. So at San Jose, there was recently a favorable decision by the court regarding the 12-year extension of the EIA. To be honest, what are the next steps, if any?
Tom
Hi, Don. Well, there are no next steps. The ruling is not appealable by Semarnat. So, you know, we have, the operation has been working since throughout all of this drama, as business as usual, we always been under the protection of court orders, court injunctions, court stay of executions. And now we get this final resolution that basically says that the original 12-year permit granted by Semarnat stands. So for us, there is no next step really here. It's quite simple.
Don DeMarco
Okay, so you're not waiting for another court decision. There's no reaction from Semarnat. So effectively, this de-risks the... the EIA for 12 years for San Jose, is that right?
Tom
Yes, that's what we understand. We have no notices from Semarnat of any kind in front of us, nor indications that there is something like that coming. All the issues that we were dealing with Semarnat were in that court regarding that extension of the permit. No, we have no pending issues there with respect to the environmental permit.
Don DeMarco
Great. Thank you for that. Just another couple of questions. Looking at Lendero, year-to-date AISE is above the top end of the guidance. We know that inflation has been a factor here. Can you just remind us, what are the drivers for this uptick in cost? Heading into next year, is this the new normal for Lindero in terms of what we're seeing in cost, maybe in Q3 or thereabouts?
Tom
Yes. You know, Lindero has been hit the hardest by inflation, but not only that, we're still dealing with legacy issues from the construction. We're still remediating legacy issues from the construction. Perhaps, Cesar, you want to provide a bit more color on that. on the status of that work and what is it that we're seeing into next year, right?
David
Sure, Jorge. Yes, as you mentioned, we had some legacy issues that have been properly addressed throughout the year, especially referring to the crashing system and also some opportunities for the bottlenecking some of the process on granulometry as well and so and and phase one of the leach pad also has been finalized in this year and as we move as we look into the into next year we will be looking at the expansion of the of the leach pad on what we call phase two But, you know, a lower requirement for what you refer to as legacy issues in next year. So pretty much everything will be taken care of in 2022. Or in 2023. This is Luis. Just to complement on that and the
Jorge Alberto Ganosa
The question with respect to a new normal, a large component of that higher cost in the case of Lindero comes from the sensitivity of the cost structure at that mine to certain consumables, particularly diesel and cyanide, right? So what happens next, of course, is highly dependent as well on how we see those inflation, those key inputs evolving over the next few months and years.
Don DeMarco
Okay. Okay. Thank you for that. And just as a final question, this is a strategic slash corporate development question. And maybe it's a little premature given that you're focused on a mine starting up in about six to nine months. But we also see, and it was mentioned earlier in the call about Yeramoco, the high costs and mine life and technical report and so on. In the event Yeramoco was to wind down or otherwise would you look to add another asset? And if so, you've got a number of jurisdictions you're operating, which ones would you favor? Do you have any preference at this point? And so what are your thoughts regarding adding another asset and jurisdictional preferences? Thank you.
Tom
With respect to jurisdiction, you know, we are looking to add more assets dispersion to our geographical presence already right I mean I think what we have done with the expansion into West Africa is anchor the company in two regions that we should be able to see or business growth for years to come now so we are not looking to add new new jurisdiction so everything that we do is has to be covered with the infrastructure and teams we have in place at the regional level. So we look at opportunities in the countries where we operate and near neighbors. And with respect to growth outside the farm, you know, Our view is that we have so much organic growth in the pipeline that our focus needs to be to harvest that. We were just talking with the previous caller on the expansion of Seguela. We have the view that Seguela has the looks of a much bigger mine. And we need to work to materialize that, right? So that's going to be a big area of focus in Cote d'Ivoire, which is a great jurisdiction to work. We have the Cayoma mine, which is our smallest producer today. And it's a steady free cash flow generator, not our biggest business. But it's a mine that if you look at reserves and resources, it's aching to 10 years in the internal. If you do what the regulators don't like, if you pile reserves and resources, you can see a 10-year operation with mineralization wide open on the northeast extensions of the Animas vein. So we're contemplating potentially the expansion of that mine. That's a study that will take place throughout 2023. We are working on the adoption of some demanding standards on GISTM and whatnot that will consume capital. You know, I think there is a lot of, you know, organic growth and housekeeping for a business of our size that we need to face. And I think there is a lot of value to be harvested within the portfolio. And that will be our priority. That is not to say that we're just blind or we'll blind ourselves to, you know, to opportunities in the countries where we operate or near neighbors. You know, we're always curious. We have, we're always, you know, we, I am myself, you know, I come from the ranks of exploration. So, you know, I do favor active exploration. So we will be always keen to get involved in a good opportunity, a good exploration play if it comes. But the message is we're largely focused on organic growth for the next time to come, right?
Don DeMarco
Okay. Thank you, Jorge. That's all for me. And so good luck with the final construction and ramp-up of Segueva.
Jasper Wick
Thank you. Thank you, Tom.
Operator
Thank you. And there are no further questions in queue at this time. At this time, I would like to turn the floor back to Carlos Baca for closing remarks.
Jorge
Thank you, Tom. If there are no further questions, I would like to thank everyone for listening to today's earnings call. Have a great day. Bye.
Operator
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.
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