Hecla Mining Company

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the second quarter 2024 Hekla Mining Company Earnings Conference call. Please note that this call is being recorded. As of right now, everyone is joined on listen-only mode to avoid any background noise. You will have the opportunity to ask questions to our presenter later on in the Q&A session. If you'd like to ask a question during that time, please press star 1. Thank you. I'd now like to hand over to our first speaker for today, and Vita Patil, please go ahead.

Good morning, Ellie, and thank you all for joining us for HECLA's second quarter 2024 results conference call. I'm Anvita Patil, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Our earnings release that was issued yesterday, along with today's presentation, are available on our website. On the call is Cassie Boggs, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Russell Lawlor, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Carlos Aguar, Vice President of Operations, and Curt Allen, Vice President of Exploration. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will all be available to answer your questions. Any forward-looking statements made today by the management team come under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and involve risk as shown on slide two in our earnings release and in our 10-K and 10-Q filings with the SEC. These and other risks could cause results to differ from those projected in the forward-looking statement. Non-GAAP measures cited in this call and related slides are reconciled in the slides or the news release. I want to remind you, if you would like to have a call with management, you can do so by using the link under the section Virtual Investor Event in our earnings release that was issued yesterday. I will now pass the call to Kathy.

Thanks, Anvita. Good morning, everyone. The quote goes, there's nothing permanent except change, and HECLA has seen its share of change over the years. But not only has HECLA survived these changes, it's also grown and thrived during these changes. This period of change and transition is not new to HECLA, and we've embraced it and the opportunities it presents. Let me begin on slide three. Techland's origins began all the way back in October 1891 in the Silver Valley of Idaho, about 50 miles east of where I'm sitting this morning. Since that time, the company has not just withstood but thrived across macroeconomic events such as the Great Depression, the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, along with two world wars, the pandemic, and multiple other events over this time. Heckler's also withstood other more specific events, such as the 1910 fires, which burned across much of northern Idaho and western Montana, and the low metal prices of the early 2000s. Our most valuable asset that has allowed Heckler's to not be the company it is today if it were not for the hard work determination and commitment to our core values of safety and environmental stewardship of those who go to work at our operations and elsewhere each and every day. Second is the quality of our assets. The solid foundation of long-reserved lives, low-cost silver operations with great geologic potential in the best mining jurisdictions. While each of our mines has its own specific qualities, there are some characteristics that transcend the portfolio. The first to highlight is the jurisdiction. All of our operating mines are in the US or Canada. Second, each of our operating mines has a reserve mine life of more than a decade. And in the case of Lucky Friday, nearly two decades. And especially on the silver side of our business, we have a competitive cost advantage with Greens Creek and Lucky Friday, and their low-cost structures, which drive margins and meaningful free cash flow generation. I'll pass the call to Russell and Carlos shortly, and each will go through the results of the quarter in more detail. But I'd like to take a moment to note that HECLA had a great second quarter, in which strong operational performance delivered record revenues and the second highest silver production in our 133-year history. There are three key messages we'd like to drive home. First, we're on the path of free cash flow generation, especially in this metal price environment with our Lucky Friday and Green Street mines generating strong free cash flow. Second, we're deploying our free cash flow by investing in our operations, especially Keno Hill where we have seen remarkable success. But more work is needed to daylight the long-term value in this highly prospective geologic district. And third, we're committed to deleveraging our balance sheet as we started to pay down our credit facility. I want to take a moment to emphasize the long-term value we see at Keno Hill, delivery of which is relying on improving safety, environmental processes, mining practices, and investments in infrastructure. Our investment in Keno Hill is not different from our investments at Lucky Friday or Greens Creek in their early years. Both these operations today are free cash flow engines of HEPA. Keno Hill, with its exploration potential, has parallels to both Lucky Friday and Greens Creek. But back in the 2000s, silver was below $5 per ounce. but Lucky Friday's resource potential was significant. We embarked on a drilling program in 2005 and increased our reserves by more than 300% over a period of seven years. The geologic potential of the mine drove investments in the No. 4 shaft and other infrastructure like the service hoist and the course ore bunker. With our innovation, of the UCB mining method delivered the best is a pillar of our production growth, our free cash flow generation, and the bench strength and experience of the team, our culture, and our people. I want to also speak briefly about the recent developments in UConn. We've offered our assistance to the First Nations and the UConn government to help with the cleanup activities arising from the heat leach failure at Victoria Gold's Eagle Mine. We're committed to UConn and continue to be available where possible to assist during this time of crisis. And finally, I just want to bring people up to speed on the status of our executive search for a new CEO. The search is going very well, and we've had a very robust response. We've identified a number of very qualified candidates who are very interested in the position, and we're confident that out of this wide-ranging pool, we will find the right person to lead HECLA in the future. I'll now turn the call to Russell.