Iamgold Corporation Ordinary Shares

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IM Gold second quarter 2023 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, you may signal an operator by pressing star then zero. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Graham Jennings, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for IAM Gold. Please go ahead, Mr. Jennings.

Thank you, operator, and welcome everyone to the IAM Gold Second Results, Second Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. Joining me today on the call are Renaud Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Martin Thunusen, Chief Financial Officer, Bruno Lemelin, Senior Vice President, Operations and Projects, Council and Corporate Secretary, and Jerzy Orszahowski, Executive Project Director, Cote Gold. Before we begin, we are joining today from I Am Gold's Toronto office, which is located on Treaty 13 territory, on the traditional lands of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. At I Am Gold, we believe respecting and upholding Indigenous rights is founded upon relationships that foster trust, transparency, and mutual respect. Please note that our remarks on this call will include forward-looking statements and refer to non-IFRS measures. We encourage you to refer to the cautionary statements and disclosures on non-IFRS measures included in the presentation and the reconciliations of these measures 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'll now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Bruno Adams.

Thank you, Graham, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. safe work environment. We will walk through the quarterly operating result in more detail in a moment, but I want to congratulate our ESSA-CANDI team for their remarkable resilience to allow for the mine to resume both mining and milling at full capacity in a very complex environment. Secondly, we saw significant progress at the Cozy Gold project. In June, the site reached over 1,900 capital. Further, we are now seeing activities begin the critical transition from bulk construction to finishing activities and operational readiness. At Westwood, we continue to execute on our optimization plan with the objective to turn the mine into a positive cash flow producer in the near term. The second quarter was my first four quarters as CEO of IAMGOM, and my conviction has only grown that this is a company poised to position itself amongst our peers. We are entering a transformational period for the company, and I'm extremely pleased with the expertise, relevant experience, and leadership in the place that I am now. Our Zero Harm missions continue to be our priority number one, and we are looking at our corporate ESG strategy and execution. When we look ahead to 2024, The company will have a significantly higher production base and lower cost profile, providing a strong foundation of cash flow and growth opportunities in Canada. Yet, before we get there, the short-term goals for IAM goals are clear. Bring Coding Online with a focus on achieving Longer term, our goal is for AMGOLD to become a high-margin intermediate gold producer with a strong operating base in Canada. Financially, we will characterize returning our 70% position in Cote with our partner Semitomo, as well as use our cash flow to optimize our balance sheet and deliver the company to have a more efficient and balanced and highlights for the quarter. I'm on slide five. Starting with health and safety, the company has seen an improving trend year over year, with a days-away restricted transfer duty rate of 0.39 and a total recordable injury rate of 0.66, based on 200,000 hours On production, in Q2, the company produced 107,000 ounces of gold on a detrimental basis, putting us well on the path for an action guidance target of 410,000 to 470,000 ounces of gold this year. As we will get into in a moment, the production results were driven by the performing to plant and higher grades from recently rehabilitated underground zone at Westwood. which helped to mitigate the impact of some operating restriction due to the poor air quality in the region from the forest fires in the quarter. The second quarter saw IOM, though, previously forecasted lower grade at Issaqan, as well as an increased rehabilitation cost at Westwood. As a result, we expect costs to come in at the top end of our annual guidance ranges. On slide six, turning to Issaqan, the mine reported Q2 attributable gold production of 88,000 ounces, bringing the year-to-date total to 180,000 ounces of gold. Mining activities totaled 13.5 million tons, a significant increase quarter over quarter as the mining fleet returned operations to full capacity. Mining activity in the second quarter completed the transition to phase five, resulting in a higher ship ratio in line with our plans as the operations moved to new mining phases. And lower grades from the prior quarter when grades were positive Mill throughput in the second quarter was 3.1 million tons at an average head grade of 1.11 grams a ton, with throughput 42% higher than the first quarter. As operations were able to resume at full capacity to the improved ability to move necessary supply around the country. The mill reported an average recovery of 89%, which declined slightly from the prior quarter and the year prior. due to lower grades, including higher concentration of graphitic carbon and sulfur. On a cost basis, as a county reported cash costs of $273 an ounce, an increase from the first quarter has had rates of 20, 30% from Q1 at the highest ratio. Additionally, we saw sustained higher price of consumable as inflation pressures ease, but with fine, As well, increase of the landed cost of fuel due to the impact of the security situation in the supply chain, higher labor costs to depreciation of the local currency, and an increase in power generation costs as heavy fuel normally used for power generation was periodically substituted with more expensive light fuel in order to maintain operations during the period where supplies was limited. We are currently building additional tank at Issa County, which will increase the HFO, medical storage capacity, at sideways approximately 50%. We expect that the extra capacity will be in place in early Q4. On a hold and sustaining cost basis, costs increase to $1,587 per ounce. Due to the higher operating costs, as well as the schedule, higher volume is tripping as the mine enters the new mining phases. Looking ahead, SACAM is on track for a production dining range of 340,000 ounces, 380,000 ounces of dough. Mining activity is expected to maintain normal operating levels in the second half of the year, including increased level through the targeted phases of waste tripping. Capital expenditure guidance for a second is unchanged at approximately 155 million. The increased volume of capital capitalized waste in the second half of the year, while total tons moved are in line with the second quarter to provide access to mine areas in support of the 2024-2025 production plan. It is worth noting that the mining activity and stripping programs assume no significant disruptions in the supply chain resulting from the security situation in the country and the region. The company plans to provide an updated life of mine plan for its economy and an updated mineral reserve and mineral resources during the fourth quarter of 2023. This will include the details heat lead scenario. On slide seven, turning to Westwood, gold production was 19,000 ounces in the quarter, and 40,000 ounces in gold here today. Westwood continues to be in a unique position, as IM Gold has been essentially rebuilding the underground mine at the same time as active mining operations are being conducted. The mine has made significant strides over the years Mining activity in the second quarter totaled 212,000 tons of ore, which was lower than the prior quarter due to the impact of heavy wildfire smoke and the density of the mine operations required for multiple underground shifts to be canceled to ensure the continued safety of our workforce. However, it is worth highlighting which is the highest-grade mine from underground in over five years, as we begin to see the benefit of pre-habitation activities reopening previously closed. So, in the second part, Additionally, mining activity started at the satellite open pit Fayol with minimal productions in a quarter, yet adding $2.4 million of the Fayol development capital to operating costs. Looking ahead, Westwood is well on track and higher grade stove sequences. Mill feed will continue to be supplemented from available satellite surface deposits, including increased proportion of ore feed from the fatal property in the second half of the year. On slide eight, I just want to take a moment to dive a little deeper into our activities at Westwood. Underground development here today is near record development rate with 2,830 for and beyond production plan. We have increased the sustaining capital expenditure guidance for Westwood by $35 million. As the underground rehabilitation and development has been progressing ahead of schedule due to better than planned productivity rates, moving some of the 2024 work into 2023 and reducing the work required in 2024, more ground support, increasing costs. This work not only is allowing the return of mining into higher-grade areas that were previously closed, but also opens the door for potential mineral reserve increases should these areas be upgraded from resources as they are proven to be mineable. We will have an updated 43-101 for Westwood. to see costs step down, with the goal of positioning the asset for a positive free cash flow for a better and profitable 2024 and beyond. Slide 9. Turning to Codigo, I am pleased to have our Executive Project Director here with us today to walk us through the developments and progress in the Dwarf. Jersey?

Thank you, Renaud. The second quarter, considerable progress was made at Codigo. achieving significant milestones in earthworks, processing plant, and operating readiness. It was a critical quarter, as we started the quarter in the spring, fall, or the fresh head season. The water management systems that had been put in place handled the tasks admirably, and I must compliment the teams for their planning and management. At the end of the quarter, the project was approximately 86% complete, And as Redo mentioned, we are now seeing activities move from the bulk construction to the more detailed and ever-important finishing activities. The physical changes at the site have been remarkable, and I'll walk you through some pictures in a moment. We currently have over 1,900 workers at site with the camp at peak capacity. Despite the crowds, our construction teams, contractors, and subcontractors have done a great job. and we have reached the 11.5 million hours worth milestone. On earthworks, we completed phase one on the TMF and have started to accumulate water in preparation for the plant startup. The primary and secondary crushing circuit made considerable achievements, with the HPGR arriving on site and installation progressing at the first phase. Inside the plant, We have deferred the completion of the leach tanks and installation of the agitators for approximately six to eight weeks later than originally planned, in order to prioritize the workforce on the critical installation of the crushing circuits. Finally, the power substation is now being commissioned with the connection to the provincial hydrogrid schedule for this month, which will allow the full electrification of site and the deployment of electric shovel later this quarter. Moving to recent pictures, let me walk you through the main project areas of the site. Moving left to right, from top to the bottom, here we can see the TMF. As we are looking north-east of the plant, the first liner you see It completes phase one and allows for accumulation of water for the startup. As you can see, it was also done. In the next phase, we'll see the dam rising to 409 elevation to allow for the full first 12 months of operations. Next, in the middle top is the high-volume when the steel and accelerators are complete, and we are now putting the roof decking in place to commission the bridge crane for the final few lifts of the crusher components. Bottom left, we have an HPGR area illustrating very advanced mechanical installation, and the teams are focusing now on piping and electrical installation. The bottom middle is grinding, with the ball mill erection very advanced, and we are transitioning to the final stages of construction and early commissioning activity. And on the bottom right, you see the leach tank area, where we are concentrating on finalization of mechanical erection, electrical, and completion of the piping installation. Moving on to the timeline, the COTA goal continues to track well to the updated project schedule, works, production, and early 2024. We are working on a close evaluation and starting pre-commissioning activities. Q4 will be focused on finalization of pre-commissioning preparation for the ORI introduction early in the new year. With that, I will turn it back to you, Renaud. Thank you.

Thank you, Jersey. And on COTI, I'd like to add that our goal is straightforward. We want to ramp up, we want the ramp up of COTI to be among the most successful major gold projects thrown out. That is not to say we are naive about the challenges ahead, but the team we have in place and continue to build have done this before. We are excited about the future at COTE and what it means for IMGO. On slide 12, of course, when talking about the future, we need to continue to highlight Gosling. We are continuing to drill at Gosling with nearly 1,000 meters remain open long strike and at depth. Our last batch of assays resolved earlier this year successfully intersected mineralization to the south of and below the current resource boundary of the deposit. The goal of the current drill program is two-fold. Continue to expand the mineralized envelope of Gosselin as well as mining and infrastructure study to begin reviewing alternatives for potential inclusion of the Gosselin deposit into a future Cote d'Ivoire life of mine plant. We expect to have results for the ongoing drilling program in early Q4. We believe that Gosselin, with its initial resources of 3.4 million indicated ounces and 1.7 million ounces of earth, continues to be in the early stage of discovery. to the COTI deposit has the potential to add real value to the COTI project. With that, I will pass the call over to our CFO to walk us through COTI spending and financial review. Martin?

Thank you, Renaud, and good morning, everyone. Looking at the project spending, the COTI Gold UJP incurred $270.1 million in project expenditures on a 100% basis, over $189 70% basis during the quarter. It is worth highlighting that for accounting purposes, the JV's funding and amending agreement does not meet the requirements under IFRS to recognize the dilution of the company's interest in the current UJVS sale. And so the company will continue to account for 70% of the assets and liabilities of the joint venture, as well as 70% of the incurred project expenditure. The company has recognized the financial liability representing the $250 million funding contribution that Sumitomo made on Iron Gold's behalf that resulted in our interest being diluted to 60.3%, as well as the incremental funding that Sumitomo made due to their increased ownership and the accrued fee for the repurchase option. The liability will continue to increase, with the 9.7% Since commencement of construction, $2.23 billion of the planned $2.965 billion of the project expenditure has been incurred. Looking ahead, the remaining cost to incur to complete COTE is estimated at $665 to $735 million at 100%, or $465 to $515 million at 70%. range of the estimate to complete of $735 million will take us to the $2.965 billion for the August 2022 technical report. The table at the bottom outlines the progression of the quarterly cost to complete guidance with the actual spending amount incurred quarter over quarter. In order to convert the expected incurred cost to complete at 70%, the incurred cost is adjusted for changes in working capital, lease funding received, and the decrease in the required cash balance held by the UJP when the level of expenditures reduces after the completion of construction. Our goals need to fund 60.3% of this total going forward now that funding arrangement and dilution has been concluded. During Q2, on behalf of the company and an additional $18 million due to increased ownership. Sumitomo funded all of the joint venture cash calls up to May and the company commenced funding in June and funded approximately $60 million to the UJB during Q2. IAM Gold will now fund 60.3% of the UJB cash calls that is approximately $425 to $475 million here in the construction phase. Turning to the Q2 financials, revenue from continuing operations totaled $238.8 million from sales of 111,000 ounces at an average reduced price of $1,973 per ounce. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was $63.8 million for the quarter, translating to an adjusted loss per share of one cent. In terms of our financial position, Iron Gold ended the quarter with $747.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and $452.5 million available via the fully undrawn credit facility, which equates to a total liquidity of approximately $1.2 billion. We are investing excess cash and funds in Canada at rates close to 5%. We note that within cash and cash equivalents, $91.3 million was held by Cote Gold, and $170.1 million was held by ISACAN. For Cote, the Cote Gold UJV requires its joint venture partners to fund in advance two months of future expenditures and cash goals are made at the beginning of each such month, resulting in the month-end cash balance approximating the following month's expenditure. For ISACAN, the company mainly uses dividends to repatriate funds, net of minority interest and withholding taxes. We note that the full extent of the credit facility availability is subject to a net debt to EBITDA and interest coverage covenant. Therefore, the full extent of the additional liquidity of the facility is reliant on the ability of our operations to generate sufficient EBITDA to support the debt load of the company. This is one of the reasons why we announced the $400 million term loan in the quarter. which allowed the company to pay down the credit facility and use a term loan for the capital requirements of COTE, and therefore delinking COTE funding from certain items in the macroeconomic environment and or other operations. The term loan improves AMGOL's balance sheet on strength and flexibility, allowing the credit facility to be available to support working capital requirements during a pivotal year where we are ramping up COTE as well as delivering prepayment agreement and gives us some measure of insurance in case of unforeseen challenges or changes in the operating or macroeconomic environment. I'm going to fund the remaining portion of the Kota UJB funding estimate of $425 to $475 million from available cash finances and the remaining proceeds from the bamboo asset sales. And as you know, at the beginning of the call, as COTA ramps up, we can then direct our attention to key longer-term financial goals of returning to a 70% position in the COTA UJP and delivering our balance sheet towards a more optimal capital structure. With that, I will pass the call back to Renaud. Thank you, Renaud.

Thank you, Martin, and I really want to take a moment here to for his tireless efforts and dedication. This is an exciting time for this company. I should also note that we will be holding a Cote in Mind tour for investors and analysts in October, and I encourage you to reach out to Graham and myself to save a spot on the trip. We expect you will be very well attended considering the progress at Cote today. With that, I would like to pass the call back to the operator for the Q&A. Operator?

Thank you. We'll now begin the question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. You'll hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, press star then two. Our first question is from Lawson Winder with Bank of America Securities. Please go ahead. Lawson Winder, your line is open.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, Renault and team. Renault, it's very nice to hear from you. I wanted to just ask your, get an idea for your long-term vision for IAM Gold now that you've been in the role for about a quarter, a little over a quarter. particularly with respect to geographic focus, and could IAM Gold look to potentially exit Burkina Faso once COTE is ramped up? And, yeah, I guess I'll leave it there for now and follow up after.

Yeah, I appreciate the questions. And as I mentioned on the call, you know, our priority right now is definitely focused on COTE building a strong Canadian platform. continue to operate safely. As a candidate, this is a significant mine for us as generating and continuing to generate cash flow. We appreciate the situation right now in Burkina and the region, but our efforts and focus continue to make the mine work well for us and be a strong contributor. As we move forward in the future, while the to focus on the strong and the safe operation of Essex County. In parallel, as I mentioned, this is also to develop and grow a very strong base in Canada. This is as we see the game.

I also wanted to ask about the plan to update the life of mine plan for Essex County. So just I know it's still early and you haven't released a study yet, but is the thinking that the mine life might be reduced as a result of the move away from the heap leach?

No, we're definitely not seeing a reduction. There was obviously questions about those stands that were previously meant to be on the heap leach, but I believe the team has worked very hard. of reductions of life appliance.

Okay, great. And I wanted to touch on Westwood, just given that, I mean, you've had knowledge of this asset for just about as long as anyone. You've kind of painted a picture of an improved outlook going forward in your prepared remarks and in the MD&A. I'm just curious, like, what is the upside for this mine? And And you would well know that when this mine was first conceived of, I mean, the thought was it could produce 200,000 ounces a year. We're far from that, but I mean, is even anything in the 100,000 ounce range potentially achievable in your view?

Well, we already have the guidance of the in the near future to push the mine to its limit. I would rather see this mine focused on quality, returning to a very strong and higher grade underground, which will really lead the economics of this mine. So in the short term, of course, we're using the satellite, the surface satellite. But the real game here, I don't see this mine necessarily now returning to the 200,000. We're definitely feel strong that it could be a 125 to 150,000 ounces per user at a much better margin.

And then if I could just ask about Cote finally and the autonomous truck haulage. Is the assumption that you will be operating at 100% autonomous Truck College from day one, or is there some flexibility built in there to sort of allow for potential hiccups? And, you know, the reason I'm asking is we've seen other autonomous truck programs roll out and take quite a time, quite a good amount of time to get up to sort of full run rate. And obviously, it's great you started early this year, but we'd just love to get your thoughts on that sort of ups and downs.

Thanks. Well, I'm surely looking forward to the site tour in October to see the enormous progress and how it's been. But I'll ask Bruno to add a bit to that question.

Hello, Lawson. It was part of the original assumption to start from the get-go with the autonomous fleet. And right now what we see is we see a ramp-up that is on par as target. And again, there's no need for an operation of the fleet via operators. So actually we are commissioning trucks one after the other, and they are fully utilized autonomously. And it works real good.

Okay, thank you all very much.

Thanks. The next question is from Anita Soni with CIBC World Market. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, Renaud and team. A few questions for me. Just in terms of COTE, can you talk a little bit more about the process where you are the leach tanks and that you said you were optimizing just to look for the critical leach tanks or to get those up and running? Can you talk about how many of the total leach tanks that you have, those are the ones that are going to be running at the beginning, and how does that impact the ramp-up going into 2024?

I would ask Jerzy to give some details to it, but what I could tell you is that overall we are not seeing issues with the tanks that would impact the commissioning of the mines. Jerzy? Yeah, thank you, Renaud.

Maybe if we can go back to the with the leach tanks. As you can see, the installation is quite advanced. We are in a piping electrical installation work. Most of the meditators have been installed, and we have to reshuffle the workforce to deal with some critical areas, which is the crushing circuit. As I mentioned, we have a capacity right now, so we are As you see from that picture, the tons are quite advanced stage, and we are basically getting them ready for the pre-commissioning work and the hydro tests. We will be starting with the first four or five tons, and then we'll be gradually introducing more tons into the circuit as the startup progresses.

OK. I have a second question with regard to the tailings facility. I think you gave us a little bit of color on that, but could you tell me how much capacity is in the phase one and then how much additional capacity were you looking for in the phase two of the dam?

Phase two of the dam is the full one-year capacity of production. on it, as you mentioned, because the best way to visualize it is to look at the liner lines. So what you see, the second liner is basically phase one completion. As you can see, this picture is from July. So you can see there's actually, if you look at the bottom of that picture, there's quite a bit of work which is already advanced in the phase two.

Okay, so the phase two is the full-on... But my understanding is that you would definitely want that completed by Q4, right? I mean, it's a central line dam, right? So you need the retention, the time for the beaching to occur. Is that the case? That's correct. Okay. Sorry, go ahead, Aaron.

we have enough capacity to start operating.

Sure. Okay. And then just in terms of when we think about next year, you said early 2024. You know, with six months out, can you give us some color on what early means? Like when do you expect to have first gold pours at like the beginning of the quarter in January or is it the end of the quarter or are we getting into Q2? I just want to try to get an idea of what 2024 would look like.

I don't think we're prepared to give you a much finer date than the first quarter.

One thing that is very important here, Anita, is we had a chance to discuss that previously as well. to reach our nameplate. So having said that, we're still pretty confident that a global pour would occur early in the Q1.

Early in Q1. Okay. All right. And then just wanted to circle back on Westwood. You talked about maybe getting to 125 to 150 ultimately there. And I think you said the LaFoyle property should be adding, contributing to the mix in the back half of the year. Could you remind me what the grades are at that one in the open pit?

Bruno. Hello, Anita. Fayol is pegged at around 4 to 5 grand per ton. So we intend to have close to 100,000 tons this year processed from Fayol.

Okay. And how much have you done to date or zero to date on Lafayette, all right?

Just started.

Okay. Thank you very much. That's it for my questions.

Once again, if you have a question, please press star then 1. Our next question is from Mike Parkin with National Bank. Please go ahead.

Hello, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Can I just confirm the timing of the life of mine update for SACAN? When does that do it?

Did you say the technical report of SACAN, Mike?

Yes.

Yeah. So Q4, probably somewhere, you know, like amid the Q4. So we want to have everyone a chance, you know, to digest properly their report prior to our early 2024 guidance. Okay.

And then you've guided to higher costs, and obviously that's kind of your bigger focus. asset. It's been a bit lumpy, but it's been kind of tracking around $110 million over the last 12 months, with Q1 being a bit light given the lower throughput. Can you give us a sense of what's going to drive your about $120 million of direct operating costs in Q2? To get in line with guidance and kind of have the sense that it's got to come down a bit in the second half. What changes there to get you into a slightly lower cost profile to get in line with guidance?

Well, you would appreciate, of course, if you compare with the last couple of years, a big thing is, of course, the increase of spending around the security. I mean, it is what it is. We need to do what needs to be done, you know, to keep everyone safe, and the team has done Unfortunately, you have some inflation. So if we, I think the extra capacity of storage as we move towards Q4 will be a big element of it. Having more storage and inventory, you know, and providing us with more chance to operate power 100%, which HFO will be a big, big, big to get to it. But other than that, I'm totally convinced. As we advance, should we have better controls on the fuel supply and power generation being with HFO, those will be the basic tickets to return to the whole bus.

Okay. Thanks very much, Ken.

The next question is from Tanya Jakuskanik with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Great, Doug. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Just wanted to know, when is the technical study of gosselin coming out? You mentioned that you're working on that one as well.

Yeah, I think at this stage, metallurgical studies is probably the priority. And as we mentioned, the more we drill gosselin, the more we grow it. And I think it's relevant. And, Bruno, you can add, but I definitely do not see the rush, you know, to any integration study or probably even late 24-25. Exactly.

Hello, Tania. This is Karek. And in addition with the metallurgical testing, we have also the geotech testing to perform. that they're starting to see ongoing.

Okay, so all of this combined, maybe late 24, 25, until the market gets some sense? Yes, correct. Okay. All right, so that's helpful there. And just on ASICAN, I know Mike asked about the cost, so should we just be thinking the rest of the year, because you mentioned Westwood, we're progressively getting you know, better quarter-on-quarter and improvement in cost quarter-on-quarter. Is ETHICAN more evenly balanced for the rest of the year? Would that be a fair way of looking at that mine?

Hello, Tanya. We should see our costs to be moderately lower in Q3 and Q4 as the situation with the fuel gets normalized. We also expect capitalized waste stripping to pursue its current plan program as well. And for mining as well, overall, to have relatively the same kind of cost pressure we see on the input engagement.

Okay. So production evenly split?

No. The grade, Danielle, is going to be also relatively the same.

Okay. Okay, and then can I ask, because obviously, you know, getting the cash flow, you know, getting cash flow from ASICAN, you know, we've got higher risks with the security issues in-country. Can you just remind me what you're doing there to try and mitigate this risk as much as you can with inventories on site? Can you just remind me what you have there? So should something, you know, occur, which we hope doesn't, but just an idea of what you have on site and inventory levels.

Of course, Tania, as we are trying to secure supplies, we are increasing our working capital. We'll have a slight impact relative to the additional capacity for our fuel storage in Q4. We're trying to do the same for ammonium nitrate for explosives. Maybe you want to talk a bit more about that, Martin?

Yeah, good morning, Tanya. So we are seeing an increase in the inventory at the site as we are trying to build more capacity when there's good opportunities to bring supplies in. So there was an increase in there. I think your question also asked about cash, getting cash out of the country. We, ESACAN declared a dividend of 120 million during the quarter. They had about 170 million of cash at the end of the quarter because of build-up. And we received that dividend after the closure of the quarter. So we continue to be successful. No issues in moving funds from the country or having gold sales out of the country.

Okay, I was just wondering more like fuel, explosives, you know, other consumables. Are you carrying inventories of six months? Should I be thinking like that's sort of your inventory levels? Three, six months?

In fact, for fuel, we usually have an inventory close in between 15 days to 30 days. The expectation now is to increase the capacity close to 40 to 45 days.

Okay. For some reason, I thought you had longer. Sorry.

No, no. No, unfortunately, this is very much in line with, especially for field, you know, with best practices. Usually, like when you said, like 20 days will be more than enough usually, and it has been in the past. Frequent and periodically. So we accumulate trucks and then we convoy them. So there is a need here to increase because we do not have, as previously, you know, like a daily shipment and so forth. So we accumulate, we convoy, so we need to increase the capacity. But it is very much in line with the matter of fact. In Canada, you would have less than that.

Yeah. Okay, great. Good luck. Thank you.

This concludes the time allocated for questions on today's call. I'd like to hand the call back over to Graham Jennings for closing remarks.

Thank you very much, operator, and thank you to everyone for joining us this morning. As always, should you have any additional questions, please reach out to Renaud or myself via phone or email. Thank you all. Be safe and have a great day.

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.