Altius Minerals Corporation

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Altius Minerals Q1 2023 financial results. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Tuesday, May 9, 2023. I would now like to turn the conference over to Flora Wood. Please go ahead.

Thank you, JP. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Q1 conference call. We've spoken to a few of you this morning, and I understand it's a really busy morning. Our press release and interim filings came out yesterday after the close and are available on our website. This event is being webcast live, and you'll be able to access or replay the call along with the presentation slides on the website at altiusminerals.com. Brian Dalton, CEO, and Ben Lewis, CFO, are both speakers on the call. And when we open it up for questions, I also have Stephanie Hussey, VP Finance, here in the room for the Q&A. The forward-looking statement on slide two applies to everything we say, both in our formal remarks and during the Q&A. And with that, I'll turn over to Ben to take us through the numbers.

Thank you, Flora. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. The revenue for Q1 2023 was 21.4 million, or 45 cents per share, down 16% compared to Q1 of last year. The decrease was attributable to lower commodity prices and the closure of the 777 mine in the second quarter of 2022. Relative revenue for the quarter also reflects potash price reconciliation adjustments of $2.2 million, which relate to 2022 sales and compares to similar adjustments of $0.9 million that were recorded in the first quarter of 2022 related to 2021 sales. Our overall EBITDA margin of 79% is down from 83% during Q1 2022. while the mineral royalties EBITDA margin was 86% for both years. Adjusted EBITDA of $19.1 million or $0.40 per share decreased by 19% in relation to Q1 2022 and follows the trend of revenue. Q1 2023 adjusted operating cash flow of $4.5 million or $0.09 per share compares to $14.2 million or $0.35 per share in last year's comparable quarter. The decrease period over period is largely reflective of higher cash taxes and interest paid as well as lower royalty revenues. Foreign withholding taxes of $903,000 were paid to Chilean tax authorities during the quarter as well in relation to a distribution of funds received in 2022. Net earnings of 5.5 million or 11 cents per share compares to net earnings of 12.5 million or 29 cents per share in Q1 2022. Per share differences across all metrics include the impact of common share issuances related to the April 2022 exercise of 6.7 million share purchase warrants by affiliates of Fairfax Financial. Adjusted net earnings of $0.07 per share for the quarter decreased relative to the $0.21 per share during Q1 2022. The main adjusting items in the first quarter of this year are $2.8 million in non-recurring income relating to the liquidation of assets of Alderaan Iron Ore Corporation, as well as the write-down of mineral properties. There are other adjustments for unrealized losses on derivatives, foreign exchange, and gains on disposal of mineral properties. We continue to see revenue growth at ARR through its 50% owned GBR joint venture. Four additional projects were acquired or achieved commercial operations in late 2022, providing royalty revenue for the first quarter. and several additional projects are progressing through development and construction. At the underlying GBR joint venture, revenue of U.S. $2.0 million was recognized, and GBR reiterated its guidance of $11.5 to $13.5 million, those numbers are U.S. as well, for 2023. First quarter revenue was in line with GBR's expectations given the mild winter weather and low natural gas prices which drive the overall realized prices. Brian will speak more on the strong progress that ARR is making and I further encourage you to review its recently published annual and quarterly findings and the investor conference call remarks. Now to the balance sheet and then capital allocation. Lithium Royalty Corp or LRC of which Altius is a co-founding shareholder completed its IPO during the quarter, raising $150 million. Altius indirectly holds approximately 9.5% of LRC and expects to receive a combination of cash and LRC share distributions over the next 24 months, as described in their perspectives. At the end of the quarter, the corporation recognized unrealized gains of $56 million related to its holdings, of LRC. In addition to its indirect equity position, Altius holds minority interest in three lithium royalties that it co-acquired with LRC during its pre-IPO phase. One of these royalties commenced production in April 2023, while the other two are expected to reach commercial operations later this year or early in 2024. This will add three new operating stage mines to the corporation's portfolio, and will introduce the first-ever royalty revenue related to lithium production. We repaid $2 million in scheduled debt repayments on our term debt during the quarter, paid cash dividends of $3.6 million, or $0.08 per share, to common shareholders, and issued 9,613 common shares valued at roughly $200,000 under the corporation's dividend reinvestment plan. The board of directors approved an eight cent dividend that will be paid to shareholders of record on June 15th with a payment date of June 30th. There was no activity under the normal course issuer bid during Q1. Our current liquidity consists of 11 million in cash at the end of Q1. and we have 93 million in unused revolver room. ARR at quarter end held cash of US 48 million after funding a small investment in a renewable royalty investment via GBR. And with that, I'll turn it over to Brian to talk about the environment and the outlook.