McEwen Inc.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to McEwen Mining's second quarter 2024 Operating and Financial Results Conference call. Presented from the company today are Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner, William Shaver, Chief Operating Officer, Perry Ng, Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Chen, Vice President, Finance, Stephon Spears, Vice President, Corporate Development, Michael Medding, Vice President and General Manager of McEwen Copper, and Carmen Teese, General Counsel and Secretary. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, please press star followed by number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press the pound key again. I'd now like to turn the call over to Mr. Rob McEwen, Chief Owner. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you very much, Operator. Good morning and welcome, ladies and gentlemen. It was a quarter we've all been waiting to see. It was our most profitable quarter since 2016. It was a quarter where our gross profit was 10.8 million and adjusted EBITDA of 7.2 million versus losses recorded in the second quarter of last year. It was a quarter of improved financial liquidity. Our cash was up 77% to 40.7 million. Working capital was up 28% to 29.1 million. And our debt remained unchanged at 40 million since year end. It was a quarter of when both McEwen Mining and myself increased our investment in McEwen Copper. And based on the last financing, of McEwen copper, the implied value has risen to $947 million, which makes McEwen mining's 48.3% interest equal to $457 million. On a per share basis, that is $8.45 behind every fully diluted share of McEwen mining. It's worth noting that this value is greater than our entire market capitalization today. Last night, our closing share price was $8 on the NYSE. And I want to remind you that McEwen Mining also owns a portfolio of six royalties, where the largest is a 1.25% NSR on Los Azules. And we also own three cash-flowing gold and silver mines. Management has done an internal calculation for the value of our assets, and it ranges from a low of $20 a share to $50 a share. Q2 was a quarter when the investment outlook for Argentina improved dramatically. I'll call it Malay magic after the president, Malay. The Argentinian government approved the most important change for foreign direct investment in the country in the last 20 years. It involves lower taxes, removal of exchange controls, financial stability agreements, and more for major projects. The impact will be significant on McEwen Copper's Los Azules, NPV. And after the quarter, and appearing to take advantage of Argentina's legislative changes, the world's largest mining company, BHP, jumped into Argentina's copper scene in a very big way, leading a $4.4 billion transaction with Landin Mining to acquire Filo mining and its Filo del Sol deposit and the Jose Maria deposit. Not only is this transaction a tremendous expression of confidence in Argentina, but it also sets a new value for large copper deposits in the country. Based on the current published resources of Filo del Sol and Jose Marina. Los Azules has a deposit that is larger than the combined resources of both of those deposits and a higher copper grade. All three of these deposits are located in San Juan Province, a jurisdiction that the Fraser Institute ranks as one of the best for mining in South America. At this point, I'd like to open the call for questions and answers.

Thank you. We are now opening the floor for question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star 1. Again, that's star 1 on your telephone keypad. We will pause for a brief moment while we wait for the questions to come in. Our first question comes from Jake Sikalski from Alliance Global Partners. Your line is now open.