Calibre Mining Corp.

Good morning and welcome to the Caliber Mining Q3 and year-to-date 2024 Production and Valentine Goldmine Update conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ryan King. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join the call this morning. Before we commence, I'd like to direct everyone to the forward-looking statements on slide two. Our remarks and answers to your questions today may contain forward-looking information about the company's future performance. Although management believes that our forward-looking statements are based on fair and reasonable assumptions, actual results may turn out to be different from these forward-looking statements. For a complete discussion of the risks, uncertainties, and factors which may lead to actual operating and financial results being different from the estimates contained in our forward-looking statements, please refer to the previous quarter's MD&A and Consolidated Financial Statements available on our website as well as on CDAR+. And finally, all figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated. Present today with me on the call are Darren Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer, David Schumer, SVP and Chief Operating Officer, Daniela Dimitrov, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, and Tom Gallo, Senior Vice President, Growth. We will be providing comments on our third quarter and year-to-date 2024 production and preliminary cost results, and an update on the Valentine gold mine, after which, as mentioned, we'll be happy to take questions. The slide deck we will be referencing is available on our website at calidormining.com under the events section. You can also click on the webcast to join the live presentation. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Darren.

Thanks, Ryan. Moving to slide three. Good morning and thank you for taking the time to join the call. I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Dave Schumer to the team as Calibre's Chief Operating Officer. Dave and I worked together at Newmont and I've seen firsthand his operational capabilities and confident that with him leading our operations, the company will be well positioned to optimise and grow production. Dave has been in Nicaragua since joining, where his positive contributions are already evident and from where he is taking the call this morning. The company delivered 46,076 ounces for the quarter and 166,000 ounces year-to-date. Q3 and year-to-date gold production has been negatively impacted by two primary issues. Limon Norte open pit mine sequencing, which was previously discussed in Q2. While there were no technical issues and total material movement is positive with respect to budget, mining progress deviated from plan which has resulted in delays in delivering ore grades. This issue has been addressed with several people changes, including reallocations of and adding additional resources to the team. Secondly, historical artisanal mining activities on the initial benches of the Vulcan Open Pit, which commenced in July, were higher than anticipated. Full year production from Vulcan is expected to be approximately 20,000 ounces below budget due to this historical depletion. It's important to note there are no current artisanal activities. We have mined through the impacted area. All tons and grade are aligning with expectations, and the deposit model has been confirmed by infill drilling. Following a fulsome review, consolidated Q4 production is expected to be 70,000 to 80,000 ounces, driven principally by Nicaragua's increase to 60,000 to 70,000 ounces. This improvement is a result of significantly increased ore tonnes at higher grades as we catch up to planned face positions. After increasing Q4 haulage to Libertad Mill by 30% over Q3 to 3,000 tonnes per day, we anticipate a stockpile increase of approximately 30,000 ounces at Limon, which will be available for processing in 2025. Reflecting year-to-date actual and planned Q4 activities, our 2024 midpoint production guidance has been revised down approximately 18%. With year-to-date and forecast year total spend being consistent with budget, total cash costs and all-in sustaining costs reflect revised production. Given a number of internal changes within Nicaragua and bolstering the team with the addition of the Managua-based Stephen Makacki as VP Technical Services, and with Dave Schumer's focus and presence in Nicaragua for the balance of the year, I'm confident in the team's ability to deliver into revised guidance. Moving to slide four and Valentine. The team at Valentine has made significant progress with the construction completion at 81% at the end of September and remain on track to deliver first goal during Q2 2025. Some recent construction highlights include The tailings management facility is complete and ready to receive water. Primary pressure installation is well advanced and overlaying conveyor construction has commenced. Mills and CIL tankage construction is well advanced. Pre-commissioning is underway and we now have over 215,000 tonnes of mill feed in stockpile. However, it hasn't all been smooth sailing as we have realised and more importantly anticipate cost pressures and therefore revising our initial project capital to 744 million Canadian. This reflects a 91 million Canadian increase inclusive of 20 million Canadian in contingency. Approximately 25 million Canadian of the increase can be attributable to increases in freight and logistical costs, additional sediment controls, concrete and associated civil works, spare parts and power distribution. Whilst we have many very good business partners, disappointingly, the majority of the increase can be attributable to productivity and performance issues from a primary contractor, which has resulted in mobilising additional manpower, temporary accommodation and associated services, all of which will ensure overall project schedule is maintained to deliver first goal in Q2 2025. The identified contractor performance gaps are being addressed by augmenting leadership roles and increasing the capacity of our owner's team with the necessary experience and expertise required to manage the contractor's performance and safely complete the build on schedule. The Valentine Goldmine and surrounding property offers an impressive five million ounce resource base and numerous discovery opportunities from a prospective array of exploration targets. Our 130,000 metre drill program will take us beyond the originally explored six and kilometre stretch of the 32 kilometre long shear zone of this green federal region. I'm extremely optimistic about the significant upside potential as we advance technical studies and review Phase 2 throughput increase opportunity. I encourage that there are options which may present even higher returns than the feasibility study envisaged. With approximately $300 million Canadian in cash and $197 million Canadian cost to complete, The Valentine build remains fully funded and on track for first goal during Q2 2025. The addition of Valentine to our portfolio of assets will establish Caliber as a quality mid-tier producer in the Americas, providing a compelling re-rate opportunity for all shareholders. With that, we're happy to take questions. I'll now pass it back to the operator.