Iamgold Corporation Ordinary Shares

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IMGOAL third quarter 2022 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'll 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 then zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Graham Jennings, VP Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for IAMGOLD. Please go ahead, Mr. Jennings.

Thank you, operator, and welcome everyone to the IAMGOLD Third Quarter 2022 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call. Today, joining me on the call are Marie Selanger, Chair of the Board and Interim President and CEO, Martin D'Souza, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Bruno Lemelin, Senior Vice President, Operations and Projects, Craig McDougall, Executive Vice President, Growth, 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 statement included in the presentation under the heading Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information and be advised that the same cautionary language applies to our remarks during the call. Non-GAAP measures will also be referenced on the call, and we direct you to review the cautionary statement included in the presentation and the reconciliations of these measures included in our most recent MD&A, each under the heading Non-GAAP Financial Measures. With respect to the technical information to be discussed, please refer to the information in the presentation under the heading Qualified Person and Technical Information. The slides referenced on this call can be viewed on our website. I will now turn the call over to our Chair and Interim President and CEO, Maryse Belanger.

Thank you, Graham. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Iron Gold reported another strong quarter building on operational and productivity initiatives put in place earlier in the year. Based on the exceptional performance of our operating teams, we forecast that 2022 production will exceed the top end of our guidance. Consequently, we increase our production guidance for the year to between 650 and 705,000 ounces, up from 570 to 640,000 ounces as previously guided. On behalf of the Board and the Executive Team, we applaud the tireless efforts of the I Am Gold teams for their continued commitment to operating safely, responsibly, and consistently. The Cote Gold project saw a significant ramp-up in activity and is advancing well. It is following the schedule and cost rebase line provided to the market in the summer. Currently, Cote is over 64% complete, and is nearing peak manpower capacity with approximately 1,500 workers at site. The site recently celebrated 6.9 million hours without a long-term injury, which is a testament to the safety commitment, skills, and dedication of the Cote d'Ivoire team. the company took a significant step in addressing its funding requirements for the Cote Gold project with the announcement of the sale of our interest in the Roosevelt Mine Complex to Zijin Mining for $360 million in cash and $40 million in assumed liabilities. The transaction also showed the strong support from our lenders as they provided consent to release Rosabelle from their security package. The remaining funding alternatives are well advanced, and we expect to be able to provide further updates in the fourth quarter. I am 100% confident in our ability to address the near-term challenges in order to deliver COTA on its updated schedule for initial production early in 2024. Our goal remains the same, to be a leading high margin gold producer, and we will better position IAM Gold as a more resilient and agile company. Now starting with health and safety. Our performance continues to improve and tracks below our annual targets with a days away restricted and transferred with a rate of 0.27 and total recordable injury rate of 0.72. Ensuring all of our employees go home safe after every shift is fundamental and core to our business. Every gold ounce produced has to be done safely. In the third quarter, Iron Gold reported 184,000 ounces of attributable production, achieving the highest quarter of production in over two and a half years. This performance was driven by record production at Etiketan, steady performance from Roosevelt, and early signs of operating improvements at Westwood. The strong production results in sales volumes translated to cash costs of $1,126 per ounce sold and all-in sustaining costs of $1,559 per ounce sold. We have seen continued cost pressure from inflation, though these pressures stabilized during the third quarter of 2022 relative to the first half of the year. Further, the impacts of these cuts pressures on mining and processing cuts were partially mitigated through the production performance of our operations. Based on the strong operating performance this year, the company expects that annual production will exceed the top end of the previous guidance range of 570 to 640,000 ounces, and is revising its guidance upward to between 650,000 and 705,000 ounces. The primary driver of this increase is at Essakian, where we have increased guidance to 410 to 430,000 ounces, up from 360 to 385 ounces previously. We also adjusted guidance on cost, allowing sustaining cost forecast to be below original expectations, coming in between $1,600 to $1,650 per ounce sold, down from the original $1,650 to $1,690 per ounce. As noted on the prior slide, we have seen continued cost pressures from external market forces, which have shown story to stabilize and have been partially mitigated through our operating performance. Further, we continue to see benefits from our oil and foreign exchange hedges. For example, this year, we have a 80% hedge ratio on WTI and a 70% ratio on Brent contracts at price points between $38 and $65 per barrel. These hedges further insulated us from rising costs in the first nine months of the year. I will now turn it over to Martin to walk us through financial reviews.