Fortitude Gold Corp

Good day and welcome to the Fortitude Gold first quarter 2023 conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After management's prepared remarks, there will be a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to CEO and President Jason Reed. The floor is yours.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Fortitude Gold Corp's 2023 first quarter conference call. Following my comments and associated presentation for those who joined online, we will have a brief question and answer period. Joining me on the call today for the Q&A portion will be Mr. John LaBate, our Chief Financial Officer. Let me remind everyone that certain statements made on this call are not historical facts and are considered forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, as described in our annual report on Form 10-K and other SEC filings. which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by our comments. Forward-looking statements in the earnings release that we issued yesterday along with the comments on this call are made only as of today, May 9, 2023, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update any of these forward-looking statements as actual events unfold. You can find a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures referred to in our remarks in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2022. The first quarter was very strong on several fronts, including ounces produced, low production cost, profitability, and increased cash balances. We produced over 11,400 gold ounces at an all-in sustaining cost per ounce sold of $578. We generated net income of 6.4 million, or 26 cents per share, Our mine gross profit was $12.3 million. Net sales were $21.5 million. We distributed $2.9 million in dividends and achieved all of this while adding over $7 million to our treasury. Q1 was a terrific quarter. It was such a success, the board has approved a special dividend to shareholders of $0.04 per share to be paid to shareholders of record on May 22, 2023. and paid on May 31st. This is in addition to our Institute monthly dividend of $0.04 per share. For the quarter, we deployed $3.7 million in exploration and currently have drills turning at County Line, Isabella Pearl, and Golden Mile properties. We plan near-term drilling at East Camp again where we are currently preparing roads and drill pads for an upcoming drill program. Our exciting portfolio properties have no lack of mineralization to expand upon and indications of potential for new discoveries as well. We recently had a kickoff meeting with the Bureau of Land Management and received permission to submit our EA permit application for our county line proposed open pit mine, and we plan to submit that EA shortly. We also scheduled a similar kickoff meeting for Golden Mile and plan to submit that project EA permit application by mid-year. Both County Line and Golden Mile have mineralization open on strike and depth that we are moving forward with obtaining permits for the first year of mining at each of these properties in a staged approach. In addition to more near-term drilling at each camp, our mapping and surface sampling of high-grade gold at our Ripper property warrants a maiden drill program targeted at this point for late 2023. To conclude, Q1 2023 was a terrific quarter. so much so that we are rewarding shareholders with a special dividend and appreciation of your continued support. And we continue to look to the balance of 2023 as being another exceptional year for fellow shareholders afforded to Gold Corporation. We thank you for your continued support. With that, I would like to thank everyone for their time today on this conference call. Operator, if we do have any live Q&A, you can go ahead and take those. I see several written in questions I can start with, if that's more efficient.

Sure. The floor is now open for questions. If you have any questions or comments, please press star 1 on your phone at this time. We ask that while posing your question, you please pick up your handset if listening on a speakerphone to provide optimum sound quality. Please hold just a moment while we poll for questions. Your first question is coming from Daniel Balsuri. Please pose your question. Your line is live.