Copper Mountain Mining Corporation

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. 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 fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to avoid 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 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please 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 fourth quarter and full year 2022 management's discussion and analysis for more information. I will now turn the call over to Gil Clawson, President and CEO of Copper Mountain. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Starting on slide three, presenting with me today are Don Strickland, our Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Wong, our Chief Financial Officer, and Patrick Redmond, our Senior Vice President of Exploration and Geoscience. I'll begin the call with an overview of our fourth quarter results and a summary of the key objectives that were attained last year. Don will follow, presenting our operating results and our 22 ESG achievements and Leticia will provide our financial update and present our newly issued 2023 guidance. Finally, Patrick will conclude with an update on our exploration program. Now turning to slide four and our fourth quarter and full year results. As you all know, last year was an especially challenging year for our company as we faced numerous operational setbacks. From the start of the year, the mill was running at reduced rates from damage to the secondary crusher main shaft. Then we encountered more oxidized ore in the north pit than anticipated. We had worn eccentric bushing in our primary crusher and grinding ball breakage issues and general quality problems with the supply of grinding balls last summer. On top of which, the year culminated with a ransomware attack in late December. Concurrently, we were completing all of our plant optimization projects, so there was a large amount of committed project capital being spent at the same time we were experiencing these operational challenges. Clearly, we did not meet our expectations in 2022, but we are having a solid start to 2023. This year will be focused on operational execution and advancing our exploration of multiple target areas that we have recently identified, which Patrick will speak more about in a moment. But first on to the fourth quarter results. Net earnings were 35 cents per share, including the gain on sale of the EVA copper project. On an adjusted basis, we reported a net loss of 10 cents per share. The adjusted net loss was partially driven by fourth quarter production of 13.3 million pounds of copper, which fell short of our budget. Mill throughput was lower because of the failure of the low or eccentric bushing of the primary crusher and later because of the ransomware attack. We also saw lower than planned grade as higher tonnage again came from the north pit. With production lower than expected during the quarter, our all-in cost came in at $4.20 per pound. Looking ahead, however, we see a strong year in front of us. Production is expected to increase significantly. We see production to be between 88 to 98 million pounds of copper. And so far this year, our results are in line with our budget. We are also expecting costs to be materially lower due to higher production, shorter haul distances, minimal expansionary capital with many one-time project costs now behind us. Turning now to slide five. Despite the operational challenges that we experienced during 2022, we did successfully deliver several important catalysts during the year, which have solidly improved the company and positioned us well for 2023 and beyond. We reported a 70% increase in mineral resources with an updated life of mine plan that outlines a 32-year mine life based only on reserves, and it supports a future 65,000 ton per day mill expansion. We completed the plant optimization projects we set out to do and commissioned during 2022. We announced the sale of our EVA copper project, generating an attractive return on our initial investment in EVA. And with the proceeds from the sale, we materially reduced our outstanding debt and strengthened our balance sheet. Finally, as ESG principles are foundational to our strategy. I'm pleased to say that we achieved our goal of meeting or exceeding an A rating on each of the Mining Association of Canada's Towards Sustainable Mining Protocols again in 2022. I'll now turn the call over to Don, who will provide further details on our operating results.

Thanks, Gil.