Hecla Mining Company

Thank you for standing by. My name is Bailey, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Q1 2025 Hecla Mining Company Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again, press star and 1. I would now like to turn the call over to Mike Parkin, Vice President, Strategy and Investor Relations. You may begin.

Good morning and thank you all for joining us for HECLA's first quarter 2025 results conference call. I am Mike Parkin, Vice President, Strategy, Investor Relations. Earnings released that was issued yesterday along with today's presentation are available on our website. on the call today is rob kritschmerov president and chief executive officer officer russell waller senior vice president and chief financial officer carlos aguilar senior vice president and chief operations officer kurt allen vice president of exploration anvita patel Hekla's Vice President and Treasurer and my predecessor, as well as Matt Blateman, Vice President, Technical Services. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will all be available to answer questions. Turning to slide two, any forward-looking statements made today by the management team come under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and involve risks, as shown on slide two, in our earnings release and in our 10Q filings with the SEC. These and other risks could cause results to differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Non-GAAP measures cited in this call and related slides are reconciled in the slides or news release. I will now pass the call over to Rob.

Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I just want to take a moment to thank Anvita for her exceptional leadership and dedication over the last couple of years. Her willingness to shoulder the responsibilities of both Treasury and Investor Relations during a time of significant transition for the company has been nothing short of remarkable. Amita, as you now transition back to focusing on your role solely as Treasurer and help Mike assume his new Investor Relations responsibilities, I want you to know that your contributions haven't gone unnoticed. So thank you, Amita, from myself and on behalf of the senior management and the board. Turning to slide three, I've completed my first six months with the company and I've done visits to all of our operating mines and initiated a comprehensive review of our extensive exploration portfolio. And I have to say that with each passing month, as I deepen my understanding of both our mineral assets and our talented employees, my confidence in Heckler's promising future continues to strengthen. So let me now share our forward strategy built on four key pillars, all grounded in ESG leadership. First, we're intensely focused on operational excellence and reinvigorating a continuous improvement program and culture at each site. We're standardizing systems across all mines to ensure consistent performance. Our investments in analytics and semi-automation will improve real-time decision-making, and we're controlling costs aggressively while enhancing production through optimizing extraction methods, reduced dilution, and better ventilations. On the maintenance front, we're shifting to a more proactive approach with preventative programs that catch issues before they become costly problems. And we've identified critical parts that impact production and implemented a tracking system to ensure availability when needed. We're also investing in our workforce through targeted training and leadership development. Second, we're optimizing our portfolio for maximum returns. While our Casa Berardi assessment continues, We're evaluating our exploration assets to unlock hidden value. Keno Hill remains our top priority for organic growth, but we're also developing a disciplined acquisition strategy aligned with our core strengths. Third, we've implemented rigorous financial discipline with a structured capital allocation framework focused on free cash flow and clear return on investment targets. And this approach prioritises balance sheet strength, financial flexibility and reliable shareholder returns. Fourth, we remain committed to silver market leadership. As the largest producer in both the United States and Canada, we're uniquely positioned with long lived mines in top tier jurisdictions that provide regulatory stability and support responsible development. Underpinning everything is our commitment to environmental stewardship, community partnerships and strengthened relationships with First Nations and all stakeholders, ensuring that we lead in ESG practices across the mining sector. As we turn to slide four, let me highlight our achievements for the first quarter. Our operations delivered a strong quarter, producing 4.1 million ounces of silver and more than 34,000 ounces of gold, as well as robust volumes of lead and zinc and some copper, positioning us well against our annual guidance. I'll highlight two notable achievements. So Lucky Friday set a consecutive quarterly milling record, demonstrating the exceptional consistency that Lucky Friday brings to our portfolio. Meanwhile, Keno Hill produced nearly 800,000 ounces and delivered its first profitable quarter under Heckler's ownership. I'll discuss expiration later in the call, but I'm excited about the surface expiration programs we've initiated in Nevada. Additionally, our Libby expiration project in Montana recently secured placement on the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council's FAST 41 permitting dashboard. And that's a significant milestone that can streamline federal approvals and enhance coordination across agencies. Our exploration team has identified new geological concepts that warrant further investigation, and the FAST 41 designation really provides a structured framework for advancing these studies. As with all capital allocation decisions, we remain committed to our discipline investment criteria and will continue methodical assessment of this asset's potential to deliver value to our shareholders. From a financial perspective, we delivered record quarterly revenues and adjusted EBITDA exceeding $90 million. driven by high metal prices and solid contributions from all four operating mines. Our cornerstone assets, Greens Creek and Lucky Friday, continue to generate robust free cash flow of more than $40 million during the quarter. We're maintaining our production and capital investment guidance for the year with some adjustments to individual asset cost projections that Carlos will speak in detail in a little while. Importantly, our consolidated silver cash costs and all-in-sustaining cost guidance on a per-ounce basis remains unchanged, demonstrating the advantage of our diversified portfolio approach. And I will now hand the call to Russell for a detailed financial review.