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spk10: Good morning. My name is Michelle and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Copper Mountain Mining Corporation second quarter 2022 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star followed by the number 2. Please note that comments made today that are not of a historical, factual nature may contain forward-looking statements. This information by its nature is subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause the stated outcome to differ materially from actual outcomes. Please refer to slide two of today's presentation and Copper Mountain's second quarter 2022 management's discussion and analysis for more information. I will now turn the call over to Gil Claussen, President and CEO of Copper Mountain. Please go ahead, sir.
spk05: Thank you.
spk07: Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. Starting on slide three, presenting with me today are Dawn Strickland, our Chief Operating Officer, Rod Shire, our Chief Financial Officer, and Letitia Wong, our Executive Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development. I'll begin with a summary of our second quarter. Dawn will follow with further details on our operating results and an update on our plant improvement projects. Rod will present our financial results and Richard will then provide an update on our guidance for the year and growth projects. Finally, before we open the call to questions, I will review a few of what we have as upcoming catalysts that we expect to deliver for the remainder of the year.
spk05: Turning to slide four.
spk07: While production is always expected to be back and rated this year with stronger second half results. There were a number of temporary challenges that we faced during the second quarter that impacted us more heavily than anticipated. These challenges contributed to production results that were lower than we had initially expected, and we've now turned the corner with many of these behind us, and we're looking forward to delivering higher production and lower costs for the balance of the year and into 2023. The impact to production during the quarter was primarily from lower grade ore and lower throughput, specifically with respect to the crushing circuit. The mining of the last benches of phase two from a lower grade area and the top cuts of the new north pit, which was lower grade and oxidized with some high clay content zone, created a sticky feed that impacted the crushing circuit performance. We had clogged chutes and we had crushers plugging. Further, we got behind in stripping the phase four area of the main pit, which was delaying the release of higher grade clean ore into Q3 and Q4 of this year. Post quarter end, we started seeing the release of the higher grade ore from phase four. We expect to see higher production for the balance of the year, which will largely be driven by a few factors. First, we finish mining through the bottom of phase two and work through the oxidized benches of the north pit. We'll advance the clean ore in the north pit and phase four of the main pit, which will allow for higher recovery and support processing at our full design capacity. Second, we expect grades to average around 0.3% copper for the remainder of the year as we mine mostly higher grade ore from phase four. And third, our copper recovery is expected to increase further with the completion of our plant optimization and improvement projects. With increased grade, recovery, and throughput, we expect strong production in the second half of 2022. with the fourth quarter being the strongest quarter and we'll carry that operational straight through 2023 and 2024. I'll turn the call over to Don now who will provide additional detail on our operating results and development projects.
spk08: Thanks Gil. Starting with slide number five, the second quarter production level was similar to the first quarter with 13.3 million pounds of copper produced As Gil mentioned earlier, production for 2022 was always expected to be weighted towards the second half. However, second quarter production was lower than we initially forecasted. This was due to milling lower grade ore from low grade stockpile, a lower grade area of phase number two, and oxidized material from the early development phase of the north tip. In addition to the lower feed grades, mill throughput did not increase as much as planned due to the lower crushing circuit performance. The crushing circuit was impacted with processing oxidized ore from the top two benches of the north pit and wet, higher clay ore from the bottom of phase number two. The crushing circuit continues to perform well when processing clean ore, consistent with historical performance since 2014. However, we have started implementing improvements to the crushing circuit to sustainably achieve 45,000 ton per day on all ore types. Implementation of these improvements began in June and are showing positive results. The mill increased throughput by approximately 10% quarter over quarter and processed all available crushed ore. The milling circuit is ready to process the design throughput of 45,000 tons per day as it is available from the crushing circuit. Cost improved compared to the first quarter as we previously guided and with the easing of several temporary costs. Costs remained higher than last year because of lower production and industry inflationary pressures notably in the cost of fuel, grinding media, and mobile equipment repairs. With production levels expected to increase throughout the remainder of the year, along with the reduction of temporary operating costs and the completion of several sustaining capital projects, we see costs markedly improving for the rest of this year. Turning to slide six, I will review our mining activities during the quarter. The focus continues on advancing phase number four and completing the waste stripping to expose higher grade ore, which will be the main ore supply for the mill for the remainder of 2022 and 2023. Mill production increased in the latter part of Q2, achieving 185,000 tons per day mined ex-pit in June. We continue to implement improvements to further increase the mining rate. This is resulting in exposing higher grade ore from phase four starting in late July. Mine production has been impacted with supply chain issues, impacting available parts, including parts for some of the mine production drills. Drill availability limited blast at inventory levels, which contributed to the delay in Phase 4 waste removal. We completed Phase 2 during the quarter and started pioneering the north pit. The first one to two benches of the north pit are oxidized, and we have mined through the majority of that oxide material to expose non-oxidized ore. We did mill some of the north pit oxidized ore along with over 400,000 tons of low grade stockpile ore to provide mill feed during the quarter. Mine production is moving in the right direction to deliver high grade ore from phase four in July as previously noted. Turning to slide number seven. We have had a busy year implementing site improvement projects. This slide highlights the mill improvement project completed and in progress. Starting on the left side of the slide, the new filter press has been installed and is in the final stages of commissioning. This will allow us to maintain the 45,000 ton per day milling rate during sustained periods of high grade without reducing mill tonnage like we were forced to do in 2021. Moving to the right on the slide is the new cleaner flotation column. This column has been completed, fully commissioned, and is working well. The objective of this project was to provide additional cleaner circuit capacity to support higher high cleaner circuit recovery, especially during periods of high mill feed grades while maintaining design mill tonnage rates. Moving to the top right of this slide, we see the ball mill number three project, which is fully commissioned and ready to process the design mill tonnage. We have changed the ball mill number three feed arrangement in late Q2 to resolve issues which created mill downtime and circuit instability. We will continue to optimize this in Q3. On the bottom right side of the slide, we have the rougher flotation cell expansion, which is presently being constructed. This project has been impacted by supply chain challenges and is now scheduled for completion in Q4. The project will provide significant additional flotation retention time to increase recovery, especially on slower kinetic ore types. These mill improvement projects all provide performance gains and will add significant value over the life of mine. Slide 8 outlines some of the details I've just discussed, so I'll now turn the call over to Rod to review our financial results.
spk01: Thank you, Don. Turning to slide 9, as noted by Gil, the mine had an operationally challenged second quarter. Nevertheless, the company shipped and sold 12.9 million pounds of copper, 5,000 ounces of gold, and 57,600 ounces of silver during the quarter, and recorded sales of 59.1 million net of pricing adjustments and treatment charges. And this was based on an average realized copper price of US $4.18 per pound. The decrease in revenue compared to Q2 2021 was a result of lower sales volume and lower metal prices realized in Q2 2022 as shown on this slide. Cost of sales for Q2 2022 was 68.3 million as it compared to $56.3 million for the second quarter of 2021. It should be noted that Q2 2022 cost of sales was net of $21.7 million of deferred stripping costs as compared to $7.1 million of deferred stripping costs in Q2 2021. The increase in cost of sales can largely be attributed to the increase in higher fuel and steel costs and increased maintenance contractor support required to assist with managing COVID-19 absences and other related workforce absences. This all resulted in a gross loss of $9.2 million for Q2 2022 as compared to a gross profit of $85.8 million for the same period in 2021. Turning to slide 10. The company reported a net loss of $5.3 million for Q2 2022 as compared to a net income of $38.7 million for Q2 2021. The Q2 2022 net loss is a result of higher operating costs and fewer pounds of copper sold, as noted earlier, and is also due to a $15.9 million negative mark-to-market adjustment from provisional pricing on concentrate sales. as compared to an $8.8 million positive mark-to-market adjustment from provisional pricing on concentrate sales for Q2 2021. In addition, the company realized a non-cash unrealized foreign exchange loss of about $6.9 million, as compared to a non-cash unrealized foreign exchange loss of about $0.4 million in Q2 2021, a differential of approximately $6.5 million. which was primarily related to the company's debt that is denominated in U.S. dollars. In Q2 2022, the company's EBITDA was about $7.2 million and adjusted EBITDA was $16.1 million. Cash flow from operations was $9 million in Q2 2022 as compared to $94.6 million for Q2 2021. We made investments of $53.7 million during the quarter into development projects, which included detailed engineering work on EVA and at the Copper Mountain Mine for our plant optimization and improvement projects. During the quarter, the company repaid U.S. $5 million plus interest on the U.S. $250 million bond issue as scheduled, and we continue to place monthly funds into restricted account for the next upcoming bond payment in October. We have a net debt to EBITDA of 1.4 based on our Q2 ending cash position of $92.2 million and are well positioned to benefit from increased production as we enter the second half of 2022 and into 2023. And this is because of the growth project initiatives we have made over the last 18 months. And now Leticia will provide some comments on our outlook and projects.
spk02: Thanks, Rod. Looking ahead now on slide 11 with our updated guidance. As a result of production in the first half of the year, we are revising our guidance for production and costs. Production for the year is now expected to be in a range of 65 to 75 million pounds of copper. This compares to our original guidance of 80 to 90 million pounds of copper. As previously mentioned, we are forecasting production to be much stronger in the second half of the year, with the fourth quarter being the strongest quarter. This is largely driven by the higher grades from phase four, as well as improved recovery and throughput as we begin to mine cleaner ore and complete all of our plant improvement projects. Effectively, we have pushed some of the planned 2022 ore to be mined from phase four into 2023. With the revised production guidance, cost guidance is also being updated to reflect inflationary impacts and first half results, which included a number of non-recurring costs that are now behind us. AIC is now expected to be between U.S. 275 to 325 per pound of copper this year. With a higher-grade Phase IV ore expected to continue through 2023, we are reiterating our 2023 production guidance range of between 90 to 105 million pounds of copper, a production expected to be strong for the next three years. Moving on to updates on our growth projects, starting with a copper mountain mine on slide 12. We are continuing to advance work on the updated reserve and resource estimate and life and line plan. Based on the drilling we have completed in 2021 and 2022, we are really excited about the potential magnitude of increase in reserves. We are also working through finalizing the different options for the middle expansion based on an anticipated larger reserve. We studied status quo, 65,000 tons per day, and 100,000 tons per day. We are now working our way through the cash flow comparisons, and once you finalize that, we will work on completing the technical report. Everything's progressing really well, and we expect to publish the full technical report in September. The report will include both the updated reserve and life and land plan. Turning to slide 13, we are also continuing to move our EVA copper project forward. Details engineering is now nearly 50% complete, and project financing is also advancing. We are also evaluating strategic opportunities for EVA. This could include a joint venture, partnership, or a sale, we have engaged Macquarie to assist us with this process. We expect to present all of these options to our board and make a decision on EVA in the fourth quarter of 2022. Before we conclude, I would like to turn the call back over to Gil, who will review a few of the upcoming catalysts we expect to deliver this year.
spk07: Hey, thanks, Leticia. I'll now turn it to slide 14. We are expecting to deliver a number of catalysts during the second half of the year. Specifically in the near term, in the third quarter, we will announce, as Letitia mentioned, an updated mineral reserve and mineral resource estimate for the Coppola Mountain Mine. And that will incorporate all of the drilling from our successful programs that we have in 21 and into 22. With this announcement, the new life of mine plan will be released. And it will include a completed analysis of optimal concentrator throughput. So I think as things are playing out right now with respect to that study, all the cash flow modeling that we're doing is allowing us to get to an optimal conclusion for sizing the productive output of the mine with respect to that new resource and reserve estimates. In the fourth quarter, we expect to have a decision made on EVA and with respect to how we enhance and unlock the value that we've created through that project for our shareholders. We also expect to complete the Luffer expansion at Copper Mountain. We did have some delays, as Don mentioned, trying to get some components that were the location cells, the shells from Mexico where they were fabricated up through the U.S. border in Texas and then into Canada. We encountered some border delays there that impacted our timeline a little bit. And as we complete those projects and we have the all the plant improvement projects up and running smoothly we look forward to ending the year very strongly with our highest production quarter and we're as mentioned going to carry that through 2023. so with that operator we can open the call for questions thank you sir ladies and gentlemen we will now conduct the question and answer session
spk10: If you would like to ask a question, please press the star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by the number two. Please stand by while we compile the roster. Your first question comes from Orist Wokada of Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
spk03: Hi, good morning. I appreciate you updating us on the guidance for production and cost. I was wondering, though, about CapEx. Is the U.S. $101 million guidance for CapEx for this year, is that still a valid number? Or has there been some upside pressure to that just given inflation?
spk05: Hi, Horst. I don't recall $101 million.
spk07: in terms of the CapEx guidance. Rod, do you want to give us an update? I know we're pretty close, Oris, we're actually below on our development capital budget, but wrapping in either with Copper Mountain, but Rod, perhaps you can follow up.
spk01: Oris, I think we were sitting at about $60 million U.S. is what we had guided at the beginning of of the year is my recollection. And a majority of those costs are behind us. As Don mentioned, the buffer cell delayed a little bit. We're anticipating probably another 7 million Canadian on that. We've advanced the EVA project with detailed engineering. And you're in the neighborhood of probably another 10 million Canadian on that and then there's this minor stuff still ongoing like all mining companies in BC water management is controlling water on your site is extremely important and we've incurred a bit of cost on that and those projects are coming to an end but not quite done yet and they're is a number you know i would say it's going to be you know under under seven and a half million somewhere around there if that at all so it uh that that water management's been ongoing since 2019 and that's a tough one to to budget with but i think we're we're getting to the end of it of course okay i think i think the u.s 60 million was just growth spending um but i'm referring to a number that would include deferred stripping
spk03: and sustaining as well.
spk01: Yeah, okay. So from a sustaining capital point of view, we have incurred about $19.2 million, as you know. Right now we guide at $15. We are trying to, and a bunch of that is from carryover projects that are coming to an end. And it certainly, you know, things like the car road overpass is now done. We're certainly seeing some other items, but I don't expect a lot more of sustaining capital in the second half of the year. Okay.
spk03: And then maybe just shifting to the bigger picture. So it sounds like you're planning to make a, or the board's planning to make a decision or a strategic decision on EVA in the Q4. With the Copper Mountain expansion plan coming out here, I guess by end of Q3, how should we think about how these projects sequence moving forward? Does Copper Mountain kind of sit on hold until you figure out what you're doing with EVA, or is it more you've got to wait on Copper Mountain anyways because of permitting requirements? Just wondering how to think about sequencing and growth moving forward.
spk07: Yeah, thanks, Horace. So the EVA project analysis, as Letitia mentioned, is including an analysis of potentially a joint venture partner, potentially a minority interest sale, potentially a sale of the entire asset, and also a go-it-alone or a combination of partnering and and uh developing that asset so so that that work um is uh fundamentally it's it's predicated on on that full analysis on the on the confidence that we have on the capital plan as we go forward on on um on that project um we're still seeing um some issues in the Australian market. We put out our analysis in November. We're still seeing some elevated costs in that market. And so we're still a little reticent to commit any capital at this point in time until we see the supply chain issues completely ease in that area. So the Q4 timing in our view, kind of reflects that. So all our information will be back and we'll be able to put a value on EVA under a number of these options that we'll assess against the development of Copper Mountain and the development timing of Copper Mountain. One of the options that we're reviewing on Copper Mountain is basically a significant expansion, as Letitia mentioned, to 100,000 tons a day. Now, that has its own permitting impact and timeline with a change of scale of that enormity. So these things will have a natural progress flow, and we'll look at the timing of everything on a relative basis. The 65,000 ton per day can be a sort of a step change APPROACH FOR COPPER MOUNTAIN AND A LOT OF THE CONSTRUCTION THAT DON WAS REPORTING ON, A LOT OF THAT CAPITAL INVESTED WAS FOR, IN ESSENCE, THE 65,000 TEN PER DAY CASE. SO IN ORDER TO DO 65,000 TEN PER DAY, WE NEEDED THAT CLEANER COLUMN, WE NEEDED THE FILTRATION IN PLACE AND THEY'RE SIZED FOR 65,000 TEN PER DAY. And the work that we're doing on the cleaner expansion, although we have to put some additional cells on top of that for 65,000, is relatively minor. So those are all projects that were designed to get us to around 65,000 pens a day. So depending on which choice actually makes the most sense from a net present value perspective and a timing perspective, will have an impact as to the board's decision on priority spending for the company. I don't know, it's a long answer, but I hope I answered your question somewhere in there.
spk03: Yeah, no, you did, Gil. Just a final question. So if you decide, it sounds like then the permitting cycle for the 65,000 ton a day is relatively short. Is that fair to say?
spk07: I would say the $65,010 per day is much more straightforward. It's a less than 50% expansion of our existing plant. So it has a different criteria for study. But I could let Don, maybe Don has a few extra words there that he'd like to add.
spk08: I agree, Gil. $65,010 a day. option is much more straightforward, a lot more confidence, and it is a shorter timeframe than the 100,000 ton a day. And so we've looked at those scenarios, and that's part of our analysis on what the optimum tonnage rate is for the site and the timing of which we could achieve those tonnages.
spk03: Okay, and final question. If you decide to go with the 65,000 ton a day, What would be your expectation for how quickly you could start, call it, development of that?
spk04: Like how long would that cycle be, the permitting cycle?
spk08: Yeah, that's a good question. I guess people will answer that in the PFS study. But, you know, we've sort of laid that out before in the last PFS study where we looked at 65,000 times a day. I think that timing is still aligned with where we think it will be today. It's just a different start timing. So I think you can refer to the last PFS study in our thinking there. Okay.
spk05: Thank you. Thanks, Lawrence.
spk10: Your next question comes from Shane Nagel of National Bank. Please go ahead.
spk09: Thanks, Operator. I think Gaurav's got most of my questions on that CapEx, but when you look at the numbers, it looks like you're obviously tracking pretty well ahead on the sustaining, and you mentioned that you were behind on some of the stripping. So just curious if you could provide a rough run rate once you're kind of at normal state here, reflecting this kind of current inflationary environment, what... What might we be looking at for a good run rate with capital stripping and sustained capital at the operation when you're up at that full 45,000 ton per day?
spk07: Yeah, we had a high stripping ratio. But when you look at the overall stripping tons, we weren't that far behind. So it's the ratio that governs the capitalization policy because we have We generally capitalize everything over the average life of mine strip ratio. So that's kind of a normal policy for a lot of open pit mines. So because we had some lower oil production in the quarter, ex-pit oil production in the quarter, it drove our stripping ratio a little high. But we've been catching up on stripping of phase four, which we got behind on, frankly, We ran into some supply chain issues, as Don mentioned, with the drills. We weren't getting enough broken inventory in Phase 4 with driven blasted inventory, and we were getting behind on waste movement in that zone, which did impact us. And as we moved in the second quarter to really start to accelerate again and start to get that stripping caught up in Phase 4, available for development, we ended up with a high stripping ratio. I don't anticipate on a go forward that we're going to see anything abnormal in our stripping or stripping ratio and stripping rates. In fact, I think you may find as we release the technical report results and you look at the life of mine plan that our overall average strip ratios will be declining as the as the oil reserve is getting expanded. And maybe... I don't quite think we can hear you, Gil.
spk05: You cut out. Maybe I'll just finish the question for Gil for the balance this year.
spk01: I'm assuming everybody else can still hear me. I can hear you. Great, thank you. Okay, for the balance of this year, you know, as Gil mentioned, you know, we had to change the mine, not the mine plan, but just the sequencing. And so we're going to probably be in that three to one strip ratio for the next six months. And you're going to see a little bit more deferred stripping coming in, in the order of sort of 15 million Canadian. Now, as you know, that's not additional costs. Those are investment dollars. So it just comes down to your operating costs. And the way this mine is developed, it's a series of pushbacks. So you're going to go through periods of higher stripping ratio where you'll defer. And then as you get closer to the bottom where there's more ore, that's going to flip over the other way. And as Gil was mentioning, with this updated mine plan coming, the goal is to try and normalize that stripping as much as we can, and that'll be coming out in September, that updated plan. So right now, the view I've got is six months, and for the balance of this year, it'll probably be around three to one, and about sort of 15 million Canadian or so preferred stripping dollars coming out of your operating costs. So I hope that answers your question.
spk09: Yeah, that's a good caller. Thanks. And maybe, I'm not sure if Don's still on the line, or if he could help, or if Gil dropped off, but just Looking for maybe some more granularity in the back half of the year. Obviously, there's a bit of a delay in the rougher flotation. You mentioned, I think it's 0.3% copper grade in the back half of the year. Can you start feeding that right away when you get to that plan in July? Or do you have to wait for that rougher? Will we have to dial back throughput throughout Q3 a bit until you get that completely tied on and then really hit the 45,000 ton per day and higher grade in Q4 or how can we think about, um, you know, kind of the quarterly breakdown, um, second half?
spk08: Yeah. Or, or, uh, good, good question. Uh, so we're not going to hold, we're not going to be, we're not going to need to hold back no tonnage, uh, until the roughers are complete in, in Q4. Um, so our plan is to, uh, run, run the roughers, uh, that we have and, and, uh, ramp up the mill to our design of 45,000 ton a day here fairly quickly once we've fine-tuned the crushing circuit, I would say, to get the tons through the crushing circuit. So the plan is to be able to run at 45,000 ton per day here fairly quickly, and we'll have a slightly lower rough recovery than we will once we once we get the roughers up and running and fully commissioned.
spk05: That's great. That's all from me, guys. Thank you. Hey, can you guys hear me now?
spk07: Yes. Okay, good. I don't know how I dropped off or why I dropped off, but my apologies.
spk10: Your next question comes from Stefan Ayanu of Cormark. Please go ahead.
spk00: Yeah, great. Thanks very much. Yeah, again, most of my questions have been answered already, and not to sort of beat the topic to death but maybe just on the stripping again um i know the north that you mentioned you're in sort of the top two benches oxidized material looking forward like this quarter and and forward are you kind of down below the oxide material now and are you are you into the sort of more sweet spot of the deposit proper away from sort of maybe higher stripping requirements for that particular pit or where are you in the north pit sort of uh scheduling i guess
spk07: Well, we've mined through the top two benches of about two-thirds of the outline of the phase design for the north pit. And that's designed so that we can get down into fresh rock. And there's going to be some more or less phase development or stripping development that will come later in the year as we take off the top cuts of the balance of the north pit. We're getting down into the fresh rock material now, so you can actually visibly see it. When you look at the blast hole patterns, you can see orange-colored oxidized material on the cuttings piles, and you can see gray, completely gray, fresh. So now as we're getting down into the below the top couple of cuts in north, you're starting to see all that. all that nice gray rock, which is indicative of, of good sulfide material and no oxidation. So it's a pretty visible thing. When you look at the cuts and the headings, you see the same thing. You can see contact line with, you know, with the oxidation and staining up above it and, and, and the clean rock below it. So, so it just, it was just a matter of us getting through some of that material, Stefan and, and, and we're now working our way down into the north pit. But there will be other phases in the north pit that will require us to strip off oxide, but we'll treat that oxide as waste in future, and we won't see as much of that maybe potentially getting into the mill.
spk00: Got it, got it.
spk05: Okay, thanks very much, guys.
spk10: Your next question comes from Pierre Valencourt of Haywood. Please go ahead.
spk06: Hey, guys. Gil, I was wondering, you know, in the current market environment, is it reasonable to assume that with regard to the EVA project, you'll need a partner to go forward on that one?
spk07: Well, listen, our perspective on this is to get the best risk-return ratio that we can on this project, right? And look, when we started off with Copper Mountain, we had the same sort of dynamic in front of us, and we brought in a partner, and that alleviated all the capital concerns through a constructive perspective. being able to finance a project the size of Copper Mountain as a small junior mining company. And so it was very helpful, and we got a really good project partner. So I think we're serious at looking at all the options for EVA, and we hope to be able to provide fulsome, detailed evaluation for our board of directors to consider. Until we see the results of our partnership efforts or minority interest sale, either way you want to look at that, or joint venture, they're all kind of the same thing, or a sale of the asset or a development of the asset, so we have all those aspects worked out. We won't know 100% for sure which course management's going to recommend to the board, but I think we'll be in that position certainly by the end of this quarter, Pierre, and then we'll be able to sit down and talk that strategy through with the board and come up with a decision that we'll be able to relate to the market.
spk06: Is just putting it on the shelf for an indefinite period, is that also a possibility? That may be.
spk07: I mean, look, if it's consideration of the board that they just would like to retain the asset and defer expenditures and put it on the board until the environment shifts a little bit with respect to risk or financing or copper pricing or whatever, that's obviously an alternative that the board could choose to do. But as I said, we'll be in a much stronger position at the end of the quarter and let's say late September-ish, so to speak, where we have all that information together and we can sit down with our board of directors with a recommendation for management on an approach.
spk06: So for now, Gil, how are discussions with potential lenders? What's that looking like right now? Or is that sort of on hold pending completion of studies or what?
spk07: Well, we pretty much, Rod and his team, have advanced a lot of that work with our consultant, too, which we've been using Endeavor Financial as well. Rod's financial team here. A lot of that work has been, I guess, completed pending the final detailed engineering work being done and an updated capital report and we should be able to have that somewhere in the late September time frame as well and with that final construction budget we'll be able to put you know the project financing execution plan in place if you know we want to do that with the board but certainly how that's going to be financed and the indicative rates and everything that we may anticipate or expect I think Rod feels fairly comfortable to be able to work through that with the board of directors and get them the information they need to be able to make a decision.
spk06: Is there strong interest in the project right now from other producers? Are you having productive discussions that way? How's that looking?
spk07: Yeah, we have... We have a process that, as Letitia mentioned, is being executed by Macquarie, and we are seeing strong project interest.
spk05: All right. Okay. Thanks, Gil. All right. Thanks, Pierre.
spk10: There are no further questions from the telephone lines. I will take this opportunity to turn the conference back to Mr. Clausen for closing remarks.
spk07: Well, thank you, everybody, for joining us this morning. We obviously do not relish being on these calls when we don't have the greatest production news out of a quarter, but there's a lot of thick and exciting things happening at Copper Mountain, and you'll see a lot of great news flow over the next couple of quarters. We're anticipating some strong results over the next few years. So thank you all very much for taking the time to join us. Have a great rest of the summer, and we'll talk to you again soon. Thank you.
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