DPM Metals Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Dundee Precious Metals fourth quarter 2021 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded, and if you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would like to hand the conference over to your speaker today. Jennifer Cameron, please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning. I'm Jennifer Cameron, Director, Investor Relations, and I'd like to welcome you to Dali Precious Metals' fourth quarter conference call. With me today are David Ray, President and CEO, Hume Kyle, Chief Financial Officer, and Michael Dorfman, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development. After the close of business yesterday, we released our fourth quarter and annual results for 2020, as well as our three-year outlook and 2022 guidance. and I hope you've had a chance to review our material. All forward-looking information provided during this call is subject to the forward-looking qualification, which is detailed in our news release and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call. Certain financial measures referred to during this call are not measures recognized under IFRS and are referred to as non-GAAP measures or ratios. These measures have no standardized meanings under IFRS, IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The definitions established and calculations performed by DPM are based on management's reasonable judgment and are consistently applied. These measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, and we've outlined the nearest gap measures to those referenced in this presentation on slide 3 of the webcast. please refer to the non-GAAP financial measures section of our most recent MD&A and reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures. Please note that unless otherwise stated, operational and financial information communicated during this call are related to continuing operations and have generally been rounded. References to 2020 pertain to the comparable periods in 2020, and references to averages are based on midpoints of our outlook or guidance. I'll now turn the call over to David Ray.

Thanks, Jennifer. Good morning and thank you all for joining us. This morning, I'll briefly review the highlights of our full year results and our operational performance before handing the call over to Hume to discuss our financial results. As we reported yesterday, 2021 was an excellent year for DPM across a number of areas. We produced approximately 310,000 ounces of gold, delivering record production for the third consecutive year. We continue to manage our costs resulting in an industry-leading oil and sustaining cost of $657 per gold ounce. We generated record financial results in 2021, including $252 million of free cash flow and $202 million of adjusted net earnings, and we ended the year in a very strong financial position. During the year, we strengthened our asset portfolio, increasing mineral reserves and extending mine life at Celefech, and added the high-quality Loma Larga project, to our development portfolio. We continued to advance our exploration activities at Adatepe, Chalapetch, and Timok, and in addition to our strong operating performance and advancement of our growth pipeline, we also returned a total of $33 million to shareholders through our quarterly dividend and share repurchase program during the year. Yesterday, we also announced that we increased our quarterly dividend by 33% from $0.03 to $0.04 per share, given our strong outlook for the business and commitment to disciplined capital allocation. And finally, we continue to deliver on our ESG priorities, which is demonstrated by the positive ratings that DPM received from rating agencies. including an A rating by MSCI and a score in the 91st percentile among metals and mining companies in the 2021 S&P Corporate Sustainability Assessment. Turning now to the highlights of our operations, I'll start with Chalopech. Chalopech continued its track record of consistent performance, producing approximately 177,000 gold ounces and 35 million pounds of copper at an all-in sustaining cost of $722 per ounce. In Q4, Chalapetch produced 49,000 ounces of gold and 9 million pounds of copper, which was above our expectations for the quarter as a result of higher gold grades and recoveries. We continue to focus on extending the mine life through our in-mine and brownfields exploration programs. In November, we received approval for a one-year extension to the Stedtepetka exploration license, which surrounds the Chalapetch mines. This allows us to move forward with the commercial discovery phase work. Permitting is nearing completion, and we plan to undertake a 35,000-meter drilling program this year. In 2021, we also continue testing conceptual targets within the Brabeni Exploration License, as well as scout drilling at several near-mine prospects, including Bosdall, Petrovdan, and Charladiery. With a mine life that extends to 2029, an updated mineral resource base, an increase in mine and brownfield exploration drilling, we believe the strong potential to continue our track record of mine life extension at Shell Apache. Adetepi has continued to deliver impressive performance, producing approximately 133,000 gold ounces in 2021 at an all-in sustaining cost of $583 per ounce. In Q4, Adatepe achieved a new record for quarterly production with approximately 34,000 gold ounces, which is slightly above planned due to higher grades. As we look to the year ahead, we are assessing the results of the accelerated grade control program at Adatepe. This drilling was completed in January and initial information for the 2022 mining areas was reflected in our production guidance for 2022. Sorry, I said the work was completed in 2020. I meant 2022. We are in the process of incorporating the results from this drilling program into an optimized mine plan, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2022. We are continuing our exploration efforts around Adetete with 20,000 meters of drilling planned in 2022, which will be focused on near mine target delineation and drilling within the mine concession and surrounding Crima Vita exploration license, as well as scout and target delineation on regional licenses, including Chirite, where several new vein targets were identified in 2021. Turning to Sumit, the smelter processed approximately 190,000 tons of complex concentrate in 2021. This was slightly below our revised guidance for the year as a result of the planned maintenance shutdown during the first quarter, as well as unplanned maintenance downtime during the second half of the year related to water leaks in the Osmalt off-gas system. Despite lower than expected throughput, cash cost performance of $479 per ton was in line with guidance. Our strong 2021 results demonstrate our ability to deliver significant free cash flow and our commitment to allocating our capital in a disciplined manner. Looking forward, we've updated our three-year outlook, and that reflects a strong production and attractive all-in sustaining cost profile. He will provide further details in a moment, but I want to highlight that while our outlook for oil and sustaining costs reflect higher costs associated with ocean freight and higher prices for electricity and direct materials in Bulgaria, we have a strong track record of leveraging innovative technologies that optimize performance and mitigate these cost pressures. For example, at Chalapach and Adatepe, we've successfully implemented advanced process control technology, resulting in greater process efficiencies and improved recoveries. Another highlight is how we've utilized blast movement technology at Adatepi to reduce dilution and ore loss and in turn increase gold production. So leveraging DPM's strong culture of innovation to optimize performance, we can look to reduce costs and improve safety and expect that to continue to be a priority as we move forward. In terms of future growth, we continue to advance our portfolio of growth projects. Since acquiring the Loma Laga project in the third quarter of 2021, We focused on integration activities, stakeholder engagement, and a review of the technical studies and permitting schedule for the project. We are targeting to complete a revised feasibility study in 2022 and have commenced a 15,800 meter drill program in support of the technical study in the first quarter. We're also progressing discussions with the government of Ecuador on the investor protection agreement, which we plan to complete prior to making any significant capital commitments on the project. Based on our revised permitting schedule, we expect to receive the major environmental permits towards the end of 2022, which we expect to be followed by finalization of an exploitation agreement with the government and receipt of construction permits. Turning to the TMOP project in Serbia, we continue to progress the feasibility study based on the oxide and transitional portions of the deposit, which is on track for completion in Q2 of 2022. As we advance the feasibility study, we have several initiatives underway that are directed at reducing the initial capital estimate to optimize overall economics. Last night, we announced that as part of the Board of Directors' ongoing succession and refreshment process, our Chair, Jonathan Goodman, will not be standing for re-election at the upcoming annual meeting of shareholders. Peter Gilland, currently Deputy Chair, will assume the Chair position subject to his re-election at the annual meeting. On behalf of the board and the entire team at DPM, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge Jonathan for the pivotal contributions he has made since 2003 in his capacity as founder, shareholder, CEO, and now chair at DPM. Starting with the acquisition of our Bulgarian assets and the transformation into world-class operations, Jonathan has been an integral part of our growth into the leading environmentally and socially responsible mid-tier producer we are today. Its strong leadership and guidance over the years established a strong foundation for our company's values, which have been critical to our success and will continue to serve us going forward. To wrap up, 2021 was another very strong year for DPM. Our strong gold production profile and significant free cash flow generation positions us well to continue delivering value for all of our stakeholders. We've also demonstrated a strong track record of deploying our capital in a disciplined manner. In addition to enhancing our portfolio with the high quality Loma Laka project, we've continued to pay a quarterly dividend since 2020. In aggregate between our dividends and share repurchases, we returned approximately $33 million or 13% of our free cash flow back to shareholders in 2021. And as mentioned, we are further increasing our quarterly dividend by 33%, reflecting our positive outlook for the business. We firmly believe that DPM's strong fundamentals continue to represent a compelling value opportunity for our investors. And I'll now turn the call over to Kim for a review of our financial results and outlook, following which we will open the call to questions.