Fortuna Mining Corp

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Fortuna Silvermine's Q4 and full year 2023 financial and operational results call. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode, and we will open the floor for questions following the presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during this conference, please press star zero on your phone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Carlos Baca, Investor Relations. Carlos, over to you.

Thank you, Jenny. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome you to Fortuna Silvermine's fourth quarter and full year 2023 Financial and Operational Results Conference call. Hosting the call today on behalf of Fortuna will be Jorge Alberto Ganosa, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder. Luis Dario Ganosa, Chief Financial Officer, Cesar Velasco, Chief Operating Officer, Latin America, and David Whittle, Chief Operating Officer, West Africa. Today's earnings call presentation will be available on our website at fortunasilver.com. 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, and is subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from a conclusion, forecast, or projection made in the forward-looking information. A description of these risks, uncertainties, and other factors is set out in the company's annual information form for the financial year ended December 31, 2022. The annual MDNA for the financial year ended December 31, 2022, and the interim MDNA for the third quarter 2023, which are all publicly available on the CEEDAR website. Certain material factors or assumptions were applied by the company in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection as reflected in the forward-looking information made in this call. These material factors or assumptions are also described in the company's annual information form for the financial year ended December 31, 2023. The annual MD&A for the financial year ended December 31, 2023, and the interim MD&A for the 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, President, Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder of Fortuna.

Thank you, Carlos. Fortuna had a strong close to 2023. In the fourth quarter, we recorded 66 million in free cash flow from ongoing operations, which is consistent with the 70 million recorded in the third quarter. We achieved a record 136,000 gold equivalent ounces in the period as well, and realized an average gold price of $1,990 per ounce. The only record sales of $265 million or consolidated ASIC for the period was $1,509 per gold equivalent ounce. We're using the strong proceeds of the business to advance payments on our corporate trades facility, paying $40 million in the third quarter, $41 million in the fourth quarter, And subsequent to year end, we paid an additional $25 million between the end of February and early March. We have a favorable debt to EBITDA ratio of under 0.3 and a total net debt of approximately $83 million. Providing enhanced flexibility to our balance sheet through debt reduction is one of our capital allocation priorities in 2024, and we expect to achieve zero net debt during this year. Another capital allocation priority is funding high-value organic growth opportunities in the portfolio and attractive acquisitions in the regions where we are already established. Our $38 million exploration program this year includes 200,000 meters of drilling with a focus on Dian Basur in Senegal and Seguela in Cote d'Ivoire. for reserve replacement, our priorities continue to focus on the San Jose and Yaramoko mines. In the short to medium term, both the Dianda Sud project in Senegal and the Segela mine in Cote d'Ivoire are our strongest drivers for growth and value. As David Whittle, our Chief Operating Officer for West Africa, will explain later, at Segela, at the end of December, We are processing ore at a rate which is 26% higher than main plate capacity and encountering positive rate reconciliation at their starter antenna pit. In the fourth quarter, we obtained 24% more gold ounces than predicted by the reserve model. And the property continues to offer tremendous discovery opportunities which we are diligently pursuing with our exploration. At Diambasut, we currently hold an 850,000 ounce gold resource, which we catalog as historical and has not been incorporated to our consolidated resource. We expect to enhance our knowledge of the mineral deposit and expand it with our ongoing 45,000 meter drill program. and being in a position by ERN to deliver a preliminary economic assessment. At both the San Jose and Yaramoco mines, we continue pursuing reserve replacement with well-funded drill problems. At San Jose, we are targeting the Yesi vein, a high-grade silver-gold discovery made in 2023. And at Yaramoco, we have achieved a lot of success expanding reserves on the fringes of the zone 55 deep ore body. We will be reporting on results from our exploration programs in West Africa and Latin America later in March. And another capital allocation consideration is our share buyback program, which was under a temporary restriction placed by the Great Facility Bank Syndicate. This restriction was lifted by us in early January, and with the financial results blackout behind us, we may now participate again in the market. And considering available liquidity, capital allocation opportunities, and the state of the company valuation in the market, we may be participating again in the market, as I said. So with that, I will now let our chief operating officers provide some further detail on our operations to the region so we can start with West Africa. David, do you want to go ahead?