Capstone Copper Corp.

Good morning, my name is Joanna, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Capstone Copper's 2022 Year-End Results 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, please press star, then the number two. Thank you, Mr. Gerald Annett. You may begin your conference.

Good morning. I'd like to welcome everyone to Capstone Copper's Q4 and year-end 2022 conference call. Please note that the news release and regulatory filings announcing Capstone Copper's 2022 fourth quarter financial and operational results are available on our website and on CDAR. Please note that the results are preliminary and subject to change based on final audited results. If you're logged into the webcast, we will advance the slides of today's presentation, which is also available in the Investors section of our website. I'm joined today by our CEO, John McKenzie, our President and COO, Cashel Marr, our Chief Financial Officer, Raman Randhawa, and our SVP Risk ESG and General Counsel, Wendy King. Following our brief remarks, there will be an opportunity for questions. Please note that the comments made on the call today will contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. This information by its nature is subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. For further information on the risks and uncertainties pertaining to our business, please see Capstone's most recent filings, which are available on our website and on CDAR. And finally, I'll just note that all amounts we will discuss today are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise specified. Now I'll turn the call over to John McKenzie.

Thank you, Gerald, and good morning, everyone. We're very pleased to present our fourth quarter and full year 2022 results and achievements, which is the strongest quarter of the year and sets us up well for an exciting 2023 as our team executes on our sector-leading growth plan. In the fourth quarter, we produced a total of 45.5,000 tons of copper at consolidated C1 cash costs of $2.50 per payable pound of copper produced. As was previously disclosed, we achieved our nine-month guidance with total copper production of 136.3,000 tons at consolidated C1 cash costs of $2.68 per payable pound of copper produced over a nine-month period ending December 31, 2022. I'm proud of what we accomplished last year, completing key milestones that are, one, continuing to improve the asset policy of our business, and two, facilitate our near-term growth. Specifically, last quarter, we completed the construction of the Cozumel Pace Backfill and Dry Stack Tailing Plant, which is currently ramping up. Our Montes Blancas Concentrated De-Bottlenecking Project achieved 85% of main take capacity in December and declared commercial production. We announced the Monteverde-Santo Domingo District Integration Plan, which lays the foundation on which we plan to create one of the most exciting copper and cobalt districts in the world. And we continue to make solid progress with respect to construction activities at the Monteverde Development Project. As at December 31st, overall project progress was 76%, and the project remains on budget and on track to start web commissioning by year-end. At the MVDP construction site, the new processing plant is taking shape. My style is, you can see the boreholes in place, flotation cells erected, and tailing signals being assembled, which CASL will provide more colour on with our operating results. I would encourage you to visit a virtual tour of the project by clicking on the verify link provided in our news release, as well as the bottom of the slide. Earlier in the year, we announced the commitments to the copper mark at our Montes Blancos and Monteverde mines, showcasing our pursuits in best practices based on international standards for responsible mining, which Wendy will provide further detail on, including our ESG strategy later on the call. We're now on slide six, which illustrates how we're proactively improving the asset quality of our portfolio through a growing proportion of higher-grade, higher-margin sulfide production. driving lower costs across our business. Over the nine month period ending December 31st, 2022, our lower cost sulfide production as a percentage of the total was approximately 65% and growing to 73% in 2023, primarily driven by the ramp up of the Montes Blancas concentrated debottling project completed last year. Looking forward over the next 12 to 24 months, we expect our lower cost sulfide business to contribute over 80% of our total copper production, further increasing with the developments of our Santo Domingo project and driving company-wide consolidated C1 costs towards $1.50 per pound. Now I'll pass over to Raman for our financial results.