First Quantum Minerals Ltd.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the first Quantum Minerals quarterly results conference call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Benita Toh, Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Ms. Toh.

Thank you, Operator, and thank you, everybody, for joining us today to discuss our third quarter 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. I encourage you to read the cautionary note that accompanies our most recent MD&A and and the related news release, as well as the risk factors, which are detailed in our most recent AIF and available on our website and on CDAR. And a reminder that the presentation, which accompanies this conference call, is available on our website. On today's call, we have Tristan Paschal, our Chief Operating Officer, who will provide an overview of operations and share his perspective on the company's outlook moving forward. Hannes Mayer, our Chief Financial Officer, will review the financial results. And Tristan will wrap things up with an overview of our key strategic priorities. After that, we'll open the line to take questions. And with that, I'll turn it over to Tristan.

Thanks, Benita. Hello, everyone. Q3 was another strong quarter for First Quantum, both financially and operationally. Debt reduction remains a major focus for First Quantum. I'm proud to say that with the strong operational cash flows during the quarter, driven by continued high operational performance and supported by commodity prices, steadying at higher levels, plus the rolling off of our hedges, and combined with the closing of the sale of the 30% stake in Ravensthorpe, we were able to reduce our net debt by approximately $450 million during the third quarter. We are well on our way to achieving our objective of $2 billion in gross debt reduction on an accelerated timeframe within the first half of 2022. Before going into the operational performance during the quarter, I would like to take this moment to reiterate two of our other commitments that we have made to our stakeholders. Firstly, we are on track to deliver targets for our greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this year, and during the quarter we introduced an internal carbon price that will now be integrated into the evaluation of new projects at First Quantum. In addition, we remain committed to defining a more meaningful dividend framework for our shareholders by the start of next year. Operationally, copper production in the quarter was just shy of 210,000 tonnes, an increase of 5% quarter over quarter, mainly attributable to strong production from Cobra Panama and Sentinel, but also ongoing consistent production from Consanche. Due to a difficult shipping environment, our copper sales in Q3 were somewhat lower than production at just over 197,500 tonnes. In particular, anode shipments in Zambia were impacted by a global shortage of container shipping capacity, as well as congestion at the Durban, Walvis Bay and Dar es Salaam ports. Consequently, a number of planned shipments were rolled into the fourth quarter, but these have now been caught up and shipped. We do expect shipping and logistic challenges, in particular in relation to Zambian sales and finished goods inventories, to continue throughout the first quarter. although we will continue to address these directly through our relationships with customers and shippers. Some marginal impact from logistics, shipping, fuel and consumable costs and labour has been felt on operating costs in Q3. Our C1 cost guidance for the year has been narrowed by 5 cents to $1.25 and $1.35 per pound. However, our oil and sustaining cost guidance for 2021 of $1.80 to $1.95 per pound remains unchanged. At Cobra Panama, it is very pleasing to see the operation continuing to achieve new milestones with production in Q3 reaching a quarterly record of over 87,000 tonnes of copper. During the quarter, some portions of higher grade ore from the mine were brought forward from the fourth quarter in order to smooth the copper production profile and de-risk the remainder of the year. Grades are expected to be lower in the fourth quarter. However, given the level of confidence in production, we have increased the lower end of the range for Cobra Panama guidance by 10,000 tonnes, so that overall guidance for 2021 production is now 320,000 to 335,000 tonnes of copper. With the recent escalation in global energy prices, including thermal coal, it is worth mentioning that a collar structure for all of Cobra Panama supply requirements has been in place since May 2020. The ceiling price reached at the end of Q2. This prevents exposure to further increases in the coal price until December 2023. In parallel, we continue to study options in moving the energy supply for Cobra Panama to a less carbon intensive and more renewable mix over time. I'm also pleased to share that due to the high vaccination rates at Cobra Panama being around 97% of the workforce, as of October the 11th, fully vaccinated employees are no longer required to enter preventative isolation prior to arrival to site. In addition, the limit on the number of personnel on site has been lifted, which now allows the operation to return to optimal staffing levels. With regard to Law 9 discussions, we continue to be engaged in formal discussions with the High Level Ministerial Commission and constructive progress has been made. The Government's commitment to the process is evidenced by the contribution of four Cabinet Ministers to the Commission meetings throughout the month of September. At the end of the quarter, the Ministry of Commerce publicly announced the culmination of discussions on environmental and labour matters while discussions on financial matters were continuing. The company welcomes the transparency of the high-level commission process and the opportunity to resolve this matter in the medium term. In Zambia, Q3 marked the general elections in the country and the smooth transfer of power to the opposition party, the UPND, and to the new president, Hakienda Hichalema. We welcome the display of healthy democracy demonstrated so well by the country and its citizens. We look forward to working with the new government on their objectives of empowerment through economic management, job creation and democratic governance and in their stated desire to partner with the mining sector to significantly increase copper production in Zambia. The expected 2022 budget announcement at the end of this week will provide us with initial indication of the policy that will accompany these objectives. Sentinel delivered its best quarter of the year in Q3 and produced 59,931 tonnes of copper, up 10% from the previous quarter. A record milling rate was achieved in the month of August and improved ore grades were processed in September, and we expect these trends to continue into the fourth quarter. As a consequence, the guidance range for full 2021 production from Sentinel has been narrowed to between 235,000 tonnes and 245,000 tonnes of copper. The fourth in-pit crusher at Sentinel is scheduled for commissioning in December 2021, which will enable the process plant to ramp up throughput to 62 million tonnes per annum. Consanti produced another consistent quarter, albeit on lower grades, with copper production of 50,987 tonnes, which was the best in the year so far. The Consanti smelter ramped up on schedule in early July and processed just over 325,000 dry metric tonnes of copper concentrate during the quarter. We continue to expect Kansanshi mine grades to remain low in the fourth quarter and consequently we have reduced the top end of the range for Kansanshi guidance by 10,000 tonnes so that overall guidance for 2021 production is now 200,000 to 205,000 tonnes of copper for the year. Zambia's electricity generation is largely hydropower and so remains somewhat insulated from the energy dynamics currently playing out in other parts of the world. The level of water supply in the Kafui and Kariba systems remains stable and we're confident in the outlook for power supply for the remainder of the year. COVID-19 related border closures and labour shortages in Western Australia continued to impact Ravensport during the third quarter, which negatively impacted the quarter's production and cost. Despite these challenges, commissioning of shoemaker levy at Ravensport progressed and saprolite ore was introduced in the third quarter. Due to delays accumulated to date, 2021 nickel production has been revised lower and costs have been revised higher from prior guidance. Completion of construction and commission works at the Shoemaker Levy project and the delivery of limonite ore is the main priority for the fourth quarter of 2021. I would like to express my gratitude to the First Quantum team for their hard work throughout the period of the global pandemic. In all of the countries that we operate in, we continue to work closely and support the various levels of government and health authorities to ensure the health and safety of our employees. COVID-19 continues to present challenges and it remains a top priority, First Quantum, to provide support to our local communities, particularly the most vulnerable. As an example, in Zambia, when schools around our Kansanshi mine closed during the pandemic, First Quantum helped transition students to remote learning via two FM radio stations. Teachers from around the region were broadcasting 12 hours a day and have been able to engage some 42,000 students across the period. During these challenging times, I'm not only proud of the accomplishments of our operations, but also the work we have done with our local communities who are so important to our overall success. With that, I'll turn things over to Hannes, and I'll be back in a few minutes to wrap things up. Hannes? Thanks, Justin, and good day to everyone.