Fortuna Mining Corp

Greetings. Welcome to Fortuna Mining's Q3 2024 Financial and Operation Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Carlos Barca, Vice President of Investor Relations. Carlos, you may begin.

Thank you, Paul. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome you to Fortuna Mining's Third Quarter 2024 Financial and Operational Results Conference Call. Hosting the call today on behalf of the company will be Jorge Alberto Ganosa, President and Chief Executive Officer, Luis Dario Ganosa, Chief Financial Officer, David Whittle, Chief Operating Officer, West Africa. Today's earning call presentation is available on our website. As a reminder, statements made during this call are subject to the reader advisories included in yesterday's news release, the earnings call webcast presentation, MD&A, and the risk factors in our annual information form. Financial figures contained in the presentation and discussed in today's call are presented in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated. Technical information in the presentation has been reviewed and approved by Eric Chapman, Fortuna Senior Vice President of Technical Services and qualified person. 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. Q3 performance demonstrates the strength of our business. We remain focused on delivering value to our shareholders through our strategic investments, operational excellence, unlocking geologic potential of our properties, and responsible mining practices. Fortuna has had a record quarter on several key financial metrics, starting with record sales of 275 million, and we're tracking to generate sales of over $1 billion this year. We benefited from incrementally higher gold prices selling at an average realized price of $2,490 per ounce, compared to $2,330 in the second quarter and $2,080 in the first quarter. We recorded earnings of $50.5 million and earnings per share of 16 cents, well ahead of analysts' consensus of 11 cents. Our EBITDA was a strong $131 million, representing a 48% margin over sales, which is an increase from 43% in the second quarter and 42% in the first quarter. Our free cash flow from ongoing operations was a strong $56 million, compared to $38 million in the second quarter. We remain disciplined with our costs. achieving a cash cost of $1,059 per gold equivalent ounce in the quarter, and $977 for the nine months. We're well aligned to meet our guidance for the year of $935 to $1,055. That's our range for guidance. Throughout the mine portfolio, we're not experiencing significant inflationary pressures on labor, services, or consumables against our annual budget. For West African operations, Yaramoku and Segela are driving performance and tracking on the low end of cost guidance. In Argentina, Lindero is about 10% above guidance for the year due to lagging currency evaluation against inflation. Our capital projects are also tracking well against guidance. Under the concept of sustaining capital at our mines, we have a global budget figure for the year of $130 million. For the nine months, we have executed $98 million or 75% of the annual budget. Currently, all our mines remain within their capital execution plans and are expected to finish the year within budget range, with the only exception of the Aramoco mine, which is accelerating 2025 underground development in the second half of this year, with an additional capital budget of $11 million. This unbudgeted development is bringing new mineralized zones identified throughout 2024 into the 2025 mine plan. Additionally, our largest sustaining capital project in 2024 is the Lindero leach pad expansion with a budget of $42 million. The project remains on time and on budget. We started placing oil on the leach pad in mid-October, and the project is scheduled for completion with final demobilization of contractors taking place in January and February of next year. I remind you that in 2024, this project alone represents approximately $400 in the Lindero ASIC and $90 in our consolidated ASIC. This project, once completed, serves the mine for a decade. or ASIC for the quarter and nine months were $1,695 and $1,618, respectively. ASIC is tracking on the upper end of the guidance range for the year, driven by the aforementioned increase in underground development to access new resources at the Yaramoku mine and the higher costs at Lindero resulting from the lagging peso devaluation against the inflation. Regarding exploration, we have increased our 2024 global budget from the original $37 million to the current $44 million in order to expand our drill program at the Seguela Mines Kingfisher Discovery, made earlier this year, and also continue extending deeper mineralization at the Sandberg deposit in support of an underground mine plant. Our aim remains to produce an updated resource estimate for Seguela before the end of the year, encompassing new mineral deposits and extensions such as Kingfisher, Badur, and San Bertito. With respect to the San Jose mine, after 13 years of operations, we have made a decision to initiate a progressive mine closure starting in Q1 2025. Our project team is expected to deliver the final closure plan and budget in the fourth quarter of this year, which considers closure and monitoring activities over an eight year period. Closure activities will be concurrent with continued mining and processing at a reduced rate of under 1,000 tons per day for approximately the initial 18 months starting next year. Management expects cash flow from continued operations during 2025 and half of 2026 will offset closure costs currently provisioned at around 15 to $20 million, but expected to increase as a result of the updated feasibility level closure plan being developed. With respect to our capital allocation priorities first, We have achieved the set objective of putting together a fortress balance sheet after a capital-intensive few years here at the company. We recorded a net cash position this quarter and reduced and restructured our credit lines, providing for liquidity of about $350 million, maintaining our debt-to-EBITDA ratio under a low 0.2, and reducing our quarter financial costs year over year comparison by about $3 million. Second, priority, we continue investing record annual amounts to unlock the geologic potential and value of our properties. We're focused on high value opportunities in our portfolio at the Seguela Mine, the Dian Basu Project in Senegal, and the Lindero Mine in Argentina. With that, Thank you for your continued support. I'll now let David Weddle provide us with an update on West African operations.