First Quantum Minerals Ltd.

All participants, please stand by. Your conference is ready to begin. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the first Quantum Minerals Quarterly Results Conference Call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Lisa Doddridge, Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Ms. Doddridge.

Thanks, Operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2020 results. Before we begin, I will draw your attention to the fact that over the course of the call, we will be making several forward-looking statements. And as such, I encourage you to read the cautionary note that accompanies our most recent MD&A and the related results news release, as well as the risk factors, particularly to our company, which are detailed in our most recent annual information form and available on our website and on CDAR. A reminder that the presentation which accompanies this conference call is available on our website. On today's call, Tristan Pascal, our Chief Operations Officer, will provide some general comments and discuss operations. Then Hannes Meyer, our chief financial officer, will review the financial results. After that, we'll open up the line to take questions. So with that, I'll turn the call over to Tristan.

Thanks, Lisa. Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining us. 2020 was an unprecedented year to which First Quantum's operations responded very well, and the company achieved its highest ever annual copper production. Early in the year, COVID-19 emerged and shortly thereafter was deemed a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation. The year was full of challenges, lockdowns, restrictions and some uncertainty. Cobra Panama was shut down for a period in the middle of the year as part of the COVID-19 mitigation efforts in Panama. We had to move quickly to make changes within our organisation to protect our workforce and the communities within which we work. These protocols remain in place today as we continue to deal with the pandemic. Our operations and the wider population in Zambia have been fortunate to see less of an impact from the pandemic across 2020, but we maintain a high level of preparedness and vigilance at Sentinel and Kansanshi mines. During the fourth quarter, we continue to see the resurgence of the virus, and in some jurisdictions, the level of restrictions tighten further. We've been fortunate the strict protocols we have in place at our operations have been effective in keeping our sites mostly unaffected in the quarter. We did see further cases emerge in our workforce across several sites, but these were identified and isolated and managed in conjunction with local health authorities. Despite these challenges across the year, we did achieve record annual production with our C1 costs at their lowest level in four years. At Sentinel, we had another strong quarter in Q4 with continued high throughput and grades. There was a high proportion of softer ore from the eastern cutback, and higher grade reporting from the deeper mining areas, which contributed to these results. Costs improved for the previous year, 2020, benefiting from the depreciation of the kwacha and lower maintenance and fuel costs at Sentinel. Full year C1 unit costs were a record for the mine. For the full year 2020, Sentinel achieved throughput of 57 million tonnes, and we expect to continue at these rates in 2021. In the second half of this year, 2021, we expect to put the fourth in-pit crusher into commission, allowing for another step up in throughput when it comes online and then into next year, 2022. Kansanshi Mine continues to be a consistent producer and continues to demonstrate flexibility and adaptability. Results in the fourth quarter reflect lower feed grades and recoveries as the oxides deplete, which is an expected part of the mine plan. Production rates at Consantia are expected to be similar across this year, 2021. Work will begin this year on upgrading the smelter to improve our ability to treat higher volumes of our own concentrate from both Sentinel and Consantia, and $40 million has been provided in our CAPEX guidance for this work in each of this year, 2021, and next year, 2022. The decision to move ahead with the brownfield S3 expansion at Consantia remains dependent on our balance sheets, and reaching agreement with Zambia for greater stability in the country, and we continue the constructive discussions with government in this regard. We do expect the normal seasonality with our Zambian operations, and typically Q1 is the weakest quarter as a result of rainy season. This year 2021 has already seen heavier rains than last year, which have impacted operations in January and February to some degree. Cobra Panama was back to normal operations in the fourth quarter and performed as expected, There was planned maintenance in October, which resulted in a seven-day shutdown, and despite this, the operation set new quarterly mill throughput and production records for the quarter. Mill throughput continued to ramp up to the 2021 target rate of 85 million tonnes for the full year. Monthly oil milled rates at Cobra Panama were an average of around 6.2 million tonnes across November and December 2020, and were above 6.8 million tonnes for the month of January 2021. We continue to advance the brownfield project for expansion of Cobra Panama to the 100 million tonne throughput level, which we continue to expect will be achieved sometime in 2023, and is included in our current production and capital guidance. At Ravensport, the ongoing ramp-up continued at a satisfactory rate during Q4 last year, whilst we continue to take mine feed from the Hallies and Hale-Bopp ore bodies. The new conveyor to the Shoemaker Levy ore body will be completed in Q2 this year, and we have already completed first blast from their ore body. Shoemaker Levy is expected to improve grades and the material handling characteristics of the ore feed in the second half of the year. In Q1 of this year, we are conducting the regular maintenance shots on the two HPAL units. This work is now already complete, and both units have restarted well and are back to full throughput. All of our other operations performed according to expectation during 2020. They all managed to continue their operations well, despite various COVID constraints and a number of significant technical factors. A highlight amongst the smaller mines was the contribution from Gwell McGrain. This operation was particularly impacted by the varying travel restrictions on its rotational staff. I'm pleased to say that our local workforce and resolute expatriate staff showed remarkable tenacity to deliver record low costs for the year 2020 at Guelph. Looking ahead, total production is expected to grow in each of the next three years across the period for which we've provided guidance. Our cost structure is expected to remain consistent with 2020, and although we do see lower costs at Cobra Panama across these years, these will be offset as we see some of our lower cost operations come to the end of their lives and in anticipation of some cost inflation. Another highlight included in our Q4 and 2020 results was the formalisation and publication of the first quantum approach to climate change, which is now on our website. This is an important step forward for our company and part of our broader commitment to improve our ESG reporting and communications across this year and into the future. We understand that mining has a significant impact on the environment, including through emission of greenhouse gases, and we recognise our obligation to identify and report on our actions to address climate change. The metals we mine are essential components driving the transition to a low carbon economy and we're committed to find ways to use less energy, improve efficiency, reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions by continually challenging the status quo, leveraging our innovative culture and new technologies as they become commercial. Our intent is to deliver meaningful change in our business based on the implementation of step change improvement projects. The first quantum approach to climate change, in keeping with our results-driven culture, is to set tangible targets and focus on the identification and execution of projects which produce real outcomes. Over 2021 and subsequent periods, we'll be setting clear, progressive and realistic targets which have an identified pathway to achievement. The full statement, including our commitments, is now available on our website. Before I hand things on to Hannes, I want to, on behalf of the entire company, thank our people. Many of our personnel, particularly on the more isolated sites, have been working across the last 10 to 12 months with restricted travel, and in some cases, extended periods away from their family and friends. And we certainly appreciate their adaptability, commitment, and resilience. And without these significant contributions, First Quantum would just not be the same company it is. And with that, I'll turn things to Hannes for a continued review of our results.