Iamgold Corporation Ordinary Shares

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IM Gold fourth quarter and 2020 full year operating and financial results conference call and webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Indi Gopinathan, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for IAMGOLD. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, Sachi, and welcome everyone to the IAMGOLD fourth quarter and full year 2020 conference call. Joining me today on the call are Gordon Stothert, President and Chief Executive Officer of Carol Banducci, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Craig McDougall, Executive Vice President, Growth, Bruno Lemelin, Senior Vice President, Operations and Projects, and Tim Bradburn, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Our remarks on this call will include forward-looking statements. Please refer to the cautionary language regarding forward-looking information in our disclosure documents and be advised that the same cautionary language applies to our remarks during the call. During the call, non-GAAP measures will be referenced, and we direct you to review the reconciliations in our disclosures relating to these measures. With respect to the technical information to be discussed, please refer to the technical information and qualified person slide. The slides referenced on this call can be viewed on our website. I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Gordon Stothert.

Well, thank you, Indy. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. reporting on our Q4 and 2020 results. 2020 is certainly, I think, a challenging year for the whole world, but we're really eagerly looking forward to 2021. So I'll start with the key highlights of the fourth quarter of the year. At the corporate level, IAM Gold demonstrated its strong leverage to the gold price with a 280% increase year-over-year in mine site-free cash flows, generating more than $223 million. We ended the year with almost $1 billion in cash and short-term investments on our balance sheet and nearly $1.5 billion in total liquidity. We continued to proactively manage the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic on our operations, development projects, and exploration activities with a rapid response and strict safety protocols. Reflecting our long-held zero-harm vision, we were recognized for our peer-leading environmental, social, and governance practices by a number of independent organizations. Focusing on governance, we embraced evolving best practices through board renewal. Switching to the operational highlights, SACAN continues to deliver with a strong finish to the year and its best quarterly performance in 2020 in Q4. Rosabelle demonstrated a strong increase of mining rates in the fourth quarter. At Westwood, despite its challenges, was free cash flow positive and continued to process open pit ore from the adjacent Grand Duke satellite pit. Westwood has a significant resource base, and we are taking a cautious approach as we assess its business continuity plan while the underground mine is in care and maintenance mode following the seismic event last quarter. At Cote, construction commenced in the fall of 2020 and continues to progress well, with major earthworks having commenced in January ahead of schedule. Looking forward, we continue to develop our districts with delineation drilling at Gosselin near Côté in support of an initial resource estimate later in the year, with project de-risking at Bodo and with further drilling at Nelligan ahead of an updated resource. We are coming upon almost a year of living with the COVID-19 in our midst. I'm proud of the rapid and adaptable response across the company to this challenging situation. Noteworthy efforts included ESECAN, the reconfiguration of the camp to accommodate new protocols, establishment of a 20-bed field hospital at site, as well as setting up a medical confinement house in Ouagadougou for managing quarantines. With these protocols and systems in place, ESECAN has been operating at normal capacity since Q3 of 2020. At Westwood, No cases have arisen at site, with health and safety protocols implemented immediately upon restart last April following the government-mandated shutdown. After the seismic event in the fourth quarter, mill operations continue to operate under our well-established protocols, processing Granducor, while the mine remains suspended under care and maintenance. In fact, we have seen the mill achieve a record rate of throughput during this period. At Roosevelt, the camp expansion is well advanced following the receipt of all the modules required, and we expect to accommodate our full workforce through the staged addition of 300 new beds by the second quarter of 2021. The site was operating at 75% of mining capacity at year-end and is currently operating at 85%. At Cote, we've taken what we've learned from our operating sites and established robust testing and operating protocols to protect both the local communities and the workforce. And to date, we have had no COVID-19 cases at COTE. Community support and engagement are fundamental aspects of our zero harm commitment. In the fourth quarter 2020, COVID-19 related activities included at Roosevelt, the creation of a local community field squad to assist the local governments in promoting COVID-19 awareness and preventative measures. At ESSICAN, Drones were deployed to help spread the message of awareness and social distancing. Through 2020, I Am Gold contributed $1.5 million to local communities in which we operate globally, including cleaning equipment and supplies, protective medical equipment, and life support equipment. As you know, I Am Gold is committed to achieving high standards in environmental, social, and governance practices, which reflect our long-held zero-harm vision. Highlights of activities include hosting our annual Health, Safety and Environment Days event over four days at ESSECAN, co-chaired by the Minister of Energy and the Ministry of Environment, Green Economy and Climate Change of Burkina Faso. Completion of Phase 1 of the Triangle Public-Private Partnership to bring potable water to 60,000 people in Burkina Faso. We are also lobbying our partners and other stakeholders for the second phase of the Triangle project now that phase one has been completed with the goal of extending water infrastructure to two other communities nearby our Essacan mine. Our ultimate goal is to bring potable water to 200,000 people in the area. Also at Essacan we completed a one year long pilot internship program consisting of 10 local mining engineering students. Our ESG efforts have been recognized by independent parties including Moody's affiliate VGO Eris assessment of environment, social, and governance practices, which ranked us fourth out of 45 sector peers, including senior producers. IAM Gold's assessment reflected notable strengths in community involvement, environmental strategy, health and safety, and governance. MSCI's ESG ratings, where we maintained an A rating, placed IAM Gold in the top third of precious metal companies. Bloomberg's 2021 Gender Equality Index where IAM Gold was recognized for a third consecutive year among 380 global companies across various industries that foster a more inclusive and equitable workplace. And the prestigious Corporate Nights 2021 Global 100 Sustainability Scorecard, where we have been ranked 10th out of 116 global mining companies reviewed and among 8,000 global companies spanning various industries reviewed. Looking forward to operations in 2021, we are planning for global production of 630 to 700,000 ounces for the year. Cost of sales between $980 to $1,030 per ounce sold. Total cash costs between $930 and $980 per ounce produced. And all-in sustaining costs between $1,230 and $1,280 per ounce sold. The first quarter of 2021 is expected to be at a slightly lower level of production than the second quarter of 2020 due to the westward underground operations being placed on care and maintenance with restart targeted for H2 and also due to lower production anticipated at Roosevelt as the mining sequencing continues to advance to normal rates commensurate with camp expansion as described earlier. Costs are expected to be lower in the second half of 2021 benefiting from higher anticipated production relative to the first half of 2021. Guidance for the year reflects ongoing efforts to improve productivity and optimize performance across our operating sites, while safeguarding operations against any resurgent COVID-19 risks. Our 2021 outlook for capital expenditures includes at ESSACAN, sustaining capital of $60 million and non-sustaining capital expenditures of $90 million. At Roosevelt, sustaining capital of $50 million and non-sustaining capital expenditures of $75 million. At Westwood, sustaining capital of $10 million and non-sustaining capital of $10 million. At Cote, development capital expenditures of $355 million. And at Bodo, de-risking capital expenditures of $60 million. For the year, total sustaining capital expenditures will be $120 million. while non-sustaining capital totals $590 million, plus or minus 5%. In 2021, we look forward to updating you on Rosabelle resuming its operating cadence following the camp expansions, as well as completion of the Saramaca infrastructure construction. ESSA can complete a mill optimization project in the first quarter of 2021 with expected improvement in hard rock ore processing capacity. the advancement of our growth projects, including major earthworks at Côté and the expansion of the construction camp and access road and project infrastructure de-risking work at Bodo. In exploration at Gosselin, we are planning resource delineation work and targeting a maiden resource later this year. We are also planning resource delineation work at various projects, including Nelligan, the Rouen project, and the recently acquired Fayol property in Quebec. Dayaka in Mali, and the new Carita Discovery in Guinea. On that note, I will now pass the call over to Carol to review our financial results.