Fortitude Gold Corp

Greetings and welcome to the Fortitude Gold 2024 second quarter conference call. At this time all participants are on a listen only mode and a question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during today's conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Jason Reid, Chief Executive Officer and President of Fortitude Gold. Sir, the floor is yours.

Great, thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Fortitude Gold Corp's 2024 Second 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 is our CFO, Ms. Janet Turner. 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 Fordham 10K 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 this earning release that we issued yesterday along with the comments on this call are made only as of today, July 31st, 2024, 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 31st, 2023. The second quarter of 2024 was successful on numerous fronts, despite the ongoing permit delays regarding approval to mine the high-grade gold deeper in the Isabella Pearl Pit. We had 9.2 million net sales, 32.9 million cash balance, 4,150 gold ounces produced, 4.8 million mine gross profit, 4.2 million exploration expenditures, 782 total cash cost, 1,013 all-in sustaining cash cost, and 2.9 million dividends paid. We continue to work with the permitting agencies on numerous permits with the immediate focus on Isabella parole deed permit and county line permit to begin mine construction. We plan to submit a modification request to expand the existing Isabella Pearl mine plan boundary to encompass the Scarlet target, which looks to be growing toward a potential second open pit mine on the Isabella Pearl trend. We plan to submit the Scarlet expansion modification as soon as we receive the IP deep or Isabella Pearl deep approvals. With a caveat that the regulators do not change course on what they are currently asking for to mine deeper in the pit, we remain optimistic our ability to mine the Pearl Pit is getting closer and may be in the third quarter. The agencies continue to be understaffed and overworked, but we are beginning to see positive movement, albeit slower than we would like. Regarding the bigger picture on permits and the environment that mining companies in the U.S. must operate in under the current Biden-Harris administration, we sent out an email to our Newsflow opt-in list a few weeks ago regarding this administration's appointed BLM head being called to Congress. Anyone who took the time to view those links could see that many states in the country are very frustrated with the direction this federal administration has chosen to take. from not issuing resource permits to forcing some states to house hundreds of wind turbines for electricity to be sent to other states to no benefit to the state being forced to house the turbines. This next federal election will dictate the direction and environment that will be imposed on mining companies for the foreseeable future. A vote for the status quo is a vote against your investment in the mining and resource companies and against your investment and fortitude. During the quarter, we aggressively explored our properties as we await permits. County Line, the Isabella Pearl Scarlet Target, East Camp Douglas, and Intrepid are among the properties drilled during the quarter with great success. We will most likely reduce our investment and exploration the back half of 2024 as we look to manage our capital while adjusting to these excessive permit delays and approvals. On April 4th, we announced drill results at County Line including 16.7 meters grading 2.19 grams per ton gold. On April 22nd, we announced additional County Line results, results including 4.57 meters grading 4.77 grams gold within 24.38 meters grading 1.7 grams per ton gold. at a feeder vein. On May 22nd, we announced 6.1 meters grading 3.47 grams per ton gold within 9 grams per ton gold grading 9 grams per ton gold grading 2.45 grams per ton at East Camp North. On July 4th, we announced additional drill results from East Camp Douglas North reporting 1.5 meters grading 2.4 grams per ton gold within 18 meters grading 1 gram per ton gold. And on June 27th, we announced 1.2 grams per ton gold over 27.43 meters at Intrepid. And on Tuesday of this week, we announced additional Scarlet North drill intercepts, including 9.14 meters grading 2.33 grams per ton within 16 meters grading 1.5 grams per ton. In addition, our exploration team identified numerous high-grade surface samples at Scarlet North. opening up a huge area for potential expansion to the northeast. Being optimistic, we are close to a new federal administration and the ability to receive permits in a timely manner to build our targeted new mines. I look forward to our future given the projects we have in the queue to build today and all the high-grade gold we are drilling on numerous properties for future potential production. With that, I would like to thank everyone for their time today on this call. And operator, if you could please open up the lines for the Q&A.

Thank you. At this time, we will be conducting our question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation will indicate. Sorry, sir.