Ero Copper Corp.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the AeroCopper second quarter 2023 financial and operating results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there'll be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press a star then one on your telephone keypad Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may say no in operator by pressing star, then zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Courtney Lynn, Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations for opening remarks. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome to AeroCopper's second quarter 2023 earnings call. Our operating and financial results were released yesterday afternoon and are available on our website, as are our financial statements and MD&A for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023. On the call with me today are David Strang, Eros co-founder and chief executive officer, Marco DiFilippo, president and chief operating officer, and Wayne Dreyer, chief financial officer. We will be making forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties from which actual results may differ materially. We would refer you to our most recent annual information form available on our website, CDAR and EDGAR, for a discussion of the risk factors of our business and their potential impact on future performance. As a reminder, and unless otherwise noted, all amounts are in U.S. dollars. I will now pass the call over to David Strang.

Thank you, Courtney, and thank you, everybody, for joining us today. During the second quarter, we continued to navigate a dynamic macroeconomic environment as we observed strengthening fundamentals in global copper demand, while at the same time experiencing softer copper prices driven by global economic concerns. The transition to clean energy has intensified the need by governments and downstream industries to secure critical mineral supply. as evidenced by unprecedented investments from non-traditional investors across the copper sector. Despite this positive backdrop, we saw lower copper prices during the period, as well as a stronger Brazilian re-out. However, we were able to offset the impact of these changes in the copper price and exchange rate through the strong execution of our full-year operating plan. This resulted in a noteworthy increase in copper production of nearly 30%, compared to the first quarter. Additionally, our Gervantino operations performed well, contributing to adjusted EBITDA of $49.1 million and adjusted net income attributed to the owners of the company of 22.3 million, or 24 cents per share on a fully diluted basis. We also made meaningful progress on our key growth initiatives, including the Tucumac project, and the Kataiba operations new external shaft. I am pleased to report that we are approaching 50% physical completion of the Tukma project. Similarly, the precinct phase of development for the Kataiba operations new external shaft was successfully completed, and we are gearing up for the main shaft sinking later this year. Importantly, we have achieved over 95% visibility on planned capital expenditures at Tukama and approximately 80% visibility on shaft capital, with total forecasted capital for both projects remaining within 5% of the original estimates. Before I hand over the call to Mako to provide more detail on the progress around our key growth projects, Let me give you an overview of our second quarter operating performance and the expected cadence of production during the second half of the year. At our Caraiba operations, we produced 12,004 tons of copper in concentrate at C1 cash costs of $1.52 per pound of copper produced. The higher mine tonnage and copper grades at all three of our mines were driven by planned stope sequencing. resulting in increased production and lower unit costs compared to the first quarter. While we continued to sell copper concentrate to our domestic smelter during the quarter on a limited and prepaid basis, the associated reduction in concentrate sales costs was offset by continued strengthening of the BRL. As for the cadence of production in the second half of the year, we expect copper production to be slightly lower in the third quarter compared to the second quarter due to slightly lower planned mill throughput volumes and copper grades resulting from stoke sequencing. However, we expect mill throughput volumes to increase in the fourth quarter with the anticipated commissioning of the new ball mill and drive quarterly production to its highest level of the year. Putting aside any fluctuations in the BRL exchange rate, we expect these variations in production to be reflected in Cariuba's C1 costs, with slightly higher C1 cash costs expected in the third quarter and lower C1 cash costs expected in the fourth quarter. As a result, we are reaffirming our full-year copper production guidance of 44 to 47,000 tons of copper produced at C1 cash costs of between $1.40 to $1.60 per pound of copper produced. Turning to our Gervantino operations, We continue to benefit from strong mined and processed gold grades of over 13 grams per ton during the quarter. This represents an increase in grade of over 11% quarter-on-quarter and 100% year-on-year, effectively offsetting low in metallurgical recoveries that were impacted by elevated mill inventory at quarter-end, as well as elevated carbon content in several high-grade stoves mined and processed during the period. Consequently, we produced 12,333 ounces of gold at C1 cash costs of $492 per ounce of gold produced. We are reaffirming Gervantino's 2023 gold production guidance of 50,000 ounces of gold at C1 cash costs of $475 to $575 per ounce of gold produced. With the completion of development to the Metinia vein during the second quarter, we expect higher gold production in the second half of the year as we commence production from this second ore source. Regarding our 2023 capital expenditure guidance, we have increased our range by $15 to $20 million to reflect proactive investments following a detailed review of major projects and support infrastructure at the Cariba operations during the second quarter. While the SHARP project remains within 5% of budget, we have elected to invest in various upgrades in the second half of the year, which Mako will discuss more, to support our expanded life of mine operating plans. It is worth noting that the non-Cadaiba components of our capital expenditure guidance, as well as our C1 cash cost guidance, remain unchanged. Nevertheless, we are closely monitoring the BRL to U.S. dollar exchange rate which averaged approximately 4.8 in July. The BRL has since weakened following a higher than expected 50 basis point rate cut by Brazil's central bank rate combined with a more dovish tone expressed by the country's policymakers. If the BRL remains at current levels or strengthens again, we may consider adjusting the $5 $5.30 exchange rate assumed in calculating our full-year operating costs and capital expenditure guidance ranges. I will now pass the call to Michael to discuss the highlights around our year-to-date project execution, after which Wayne will discuss our financial results for the quarter.