Orla Mining Ltd

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Orla Mining's conference call for the fourth quarter and year end 2022 results. My name is Rob and I will be your conference operator today. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again press the star one. Please be advised that this call is being recorded. I would like to turn the meeting over to Andrew Bradbury, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development for Orla Mining. Please go ahead, Mr. Bradbury.

Thank you, Operator, and welcome to Orla's fourth quarter and year-end 2022 results conference call. We will be making four looking statements. during today's call, and I would direct you to the first and second slides of the presentation, which contains important cautionary notes regarding these four looking statements. All dollar amounts discussed today will refer to U.S. dollars, unless otherwise indicated. On the call this morning is Orla's executive team, and I'll now pass the call over to President and Chief Executive Officer Jason Simpson. Thank you, Andrew. Our fourth quarter was highlighted by our efforts in sustainability that underpin all our activities. This includes strong health and safety performance, sound environmental management, and creating value for our stakeholders. One very recent example, which you may have seen in media, is the signing of a collaborative agreement with the government of Zacatecas. which will integrate local suppliers into our business operations. We know that our mining investments have a multiplying effect on our community stakeholders, and this agreement intends to grow that opportunity. The next thing I would like to highlight is that we set another production record at Camino Rojo by maintaining the processing rate above main plate design. The production outperformance was matched with impressively low cost, generating strong cash flow. This strengthened our already robust balance sheet. In less than one year from commissioning Camino Rojo, we have reduced our net debt to $50 million and are processing at rates which exceed nameplate capacity. Orla has formed a foundation upon which we can build the company. Our strong financial position will support growth through our prospective exploration portfolio and development stage projects. Stepping out from the quarter and looking back at the full year, 2022 was a transformational period for the company. as we commissioned the Camino Rojo oxide mine on time and under budget. Since commissioning, we consistently outperformed on production, enabling us to increase guidance in our very first year as producers. This overperformance included our cost containment, which finished at the low end of our cost guidance and remains industry-leading. The strong cash margins led us to building cash and we ended the year with $96 million. By every measure, 2022 was a tremendous success for Orla Mining. Andrew Cormier, our Chief Operating Officer, will provide a quick snapshot of the operations and then Etienne Morin, our Chief Financial Officer, will summarize the financial results. Over to you, Andrew.

Thank you, Jason. Keeping our employees safe as we grow the company is of the utmost importance to the company. At the end of February, Camino Rojo has completed over 1.5 million hours without a lost time injury. During the quarter, site activities continue to focus on optimizing the mining, crushing, stacking, and the process plant operations. Mining rates continue to steadily increase, and 2.2 million tons of ore were mined at a strip ratio of 0.7, at an average grade of 0.69 grams per ton of gold. For 2022, we mined 8.3 million tons at a strip ratio of 0.67, and at an average grade of 0.71 grams per ton. The average grade of ore processed during the fourth quarter was 0.78 grams per ton of gold in line with plan, and the average grade of processed for the full year of 2022 was 0.82 grams per ton of gold, approximately 5% higher than planned. An average stacking rate of 18,251 tons per day was achieved above name-link capacity of 18,000 tons. This demonstrates the strong project execution and exit startup of the operation by our site teams. Camino Rojo achieved record quarterly gold production of 32,017 ounces of gold in the fourth quarter, primarily a result of an increased ore stacking rate during the quarter, which achieved a new quarterly record of 19,591 tons per day, 9% above nuclear capacity. For the year, we produced almost 110,000 ounces of gold, which was at the high end of our increased guidance. Mine ore tons and grade are reconciling well to the block model, and process recoveries to date are in line with the metal drill recovery model. We continue to see the model blocks of waste tons convert to ore tons in the upper benches of the pit. The Camino Royal Mine has demonstrated a consistent delivery of results in 2022, and we expect this to continue in 2023. Over to Etienne Moret, Board of Chief Financial Officer, to discuss the financial results for the quarter.

Thank you, Andrew. During the quarter, we sold over 32,000 ounces at a net realized price of $1,743 per ounce, resulting in $57 million in revenues. That income for the quarter was $18.7 million, or $0.06 per share, and after adjusting for unrealized foreign exchange losses, adjusted earnings were $20.7 million, or $0.07 per share. For the year, adjusted earnings were $57.1 million, or $0.21 per share. It should be noted that during the quarter, $5.6 million in exploration and development costs were expensed, as we continue to explore and advance our projects in Mexico, Panama, and Nevada. Total expense, exploration, and development costs for the year were $18.9 million, in line with our guidance. Cash costs for the fourth quarter was $453 per ounce sold, while all in sustaining costs was $634 per ounce. For the full year of 2022, cash costs was $449 per ounce, while oil in sustaining costs was $611 per ounce at the low end of our guidance range. At this level, this really puts oil as one of the lowest cost gold producers. Cash flow from operating activities before changes in non-cash working capital is $55.1 million for the quarter and $111.1 million for the year. We've accrued approximately $34 million in income taxes and special mining duties in Mexico during the first full year of operation in 2022. That amount will be paid this month. So in Q1, cash flow from operating activities before changes in non-cash working capital will be impacted by this large tax payment. Starting in May, we expect to start paying taxes on a monthly basis. Also worth noting that during the quarter, we made our first quarterly principal repayment at our credit facility of $5.6 million. The term portion of our credit facility amounts to $100 million and is repayable in equal quarterly installments over a five-year period. Therefore, in 2023, we'll be paying back $5.6 million per quarter for a total of $22 million. During the fourth quarter, we also made our second of three payments related to the layback agreement for the amount of $15 million. The final payment of $22.8 million to Fresnillo will be made in December of this year. Overall, at the end of our first year of production, we're feeling very positive about the strength of our financial position, having generated $82 million of free cash flow during the year and finishing 2022, as Jason mentioned, with a cash position of $96 million. This allows us to comfortably begin paying some of our obligations in 2023, starting with payment of taxes in Mexico and also attending to our balance sheet by repaying a total of $45 million in debt and obligation this year. Our strong cash generation will also allow us to increase investments in our growth through exploration and development, allocating $35 million to exploration alone this year. With that, I'll pass it back to Jason.

Thank you, Ed Chan. Moving into 2023, we pre-released our 2023 guidance in early January, and we are targeting to produce 100 to 110,000 ounces of gold with all-in sustaining costs of $750 to $850 per ounce. We are planning to spend $35 million in exploration, with most expected to be expensed. This expense accounting should be considered when estimating our earnings per share. We will also continue to deleverage our balance sheet with $45 million in debt and Fresno payments. As a reminder, here is Orla's current portfolio of assets that we believe can generate long-term value for stakeholders. It is a suite of high-margin, low-capital heat bleach projects in combination with long-term sulfide projects located on prospective land packages. As a junior producer, we believe our depth of assets is differentiating. To leverage our prospective land packages for growth, we are investing, as we've stated, $35 million in exploration during 2023, as we seek to make discoveries and add resources. As you've seen in our recent series of press releases, exploration is a cornerstone of our growth plans. And with that, I'd like to pass the call to Sylvain Girard. our Senior Vice President, Exploration, to walk you through the exciting work that he is leading. Sylvain?

Thank you, Jason. Our exploration in Panama is weighted to the first half of the year. We have been encountering positive results at La Pelona in 2022, and we are testing continuity of coal, copper emulsification in dioxide and sulfide zones. We are also drill testing La Prieta in evaluating the intrusion related gold copper potential. In Nevada, we accelerated exploration upon the completion of gold standard acquisition, and we have had some quick wins at multiple satellite targets with potential resource additions for coming in the year ahead. At property scale, our exploration team has defined multiple priority targets that will be drill tested for potential extension of non-mineralization and new discoveries. The project is progressing toward a record of decisions from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. We are excited about this new asset and upside potential. It fits nicely into our portfolio and strategy of creating stakeholder value by responsibly building and operating mines generating cash in prospective jurisdictions with superior geology. In Mexico, our increasingly intensive drilling into the Camino Rojo sulfides is shaping our thinking about the potential development of the asset. The directional program at the new drilling orientation continues to return a higher-grade goal intercept, above 2 g per ton over widths greater than 30 meters. This information is transforming our views on the sulfides and open the potential for underground resource. And we are advancing with a 34,000-meter drill program to infill the sulfide zone. The objective of this program is to reinforce the George Cole model and to continue to define the continuity of higher-grade mineralization, growing the answers available for an underground resource. The 2023 drilling is expected to increase the confidence for the development of a preliminary economic assessment, that contemplates underground mining by infilling the higher-grade portions of the deposit with 50-meter spacing of south-oriented drill holes. Overall drill spacing at the end of this next phase, including historical north-oriented drill hole, will be 25 to 35 meters. Upon the completion of the 2023 additional south-oriented drilling and test work programs, a PEA is expected to be completed based on the optimal development scenario for all of them. Another new finding in 2023 was the revaluation that the sulfide mineralization remained open at that. as evidenced by the mineralized drill intersections extending beyond the current mineral resources, confirming recent drilling. We are calling this the deep potential. Our deeper holes, along with historical drilling, have intersected significant mineralization, indicating the system is open at depth along key structure into deeper stratigraphy. offering new down-plunge extension potential of the Camino Rojo sulfide deposit. This area could be interpreted as the feeder system for the currently defined Camino Rojo deposit. Approximately 20% of all sulfide drill meters in 2023 will extend into the deep potential stratigraphic. Additional metallurgical testing will also be part of the 2023 program. We also intend to drill more targets on the regional program after encouraging results in 2022 at Guanamero, which was our first ever diamond core hole outside Camino Rojo deposit area. The Guanamero target is located seven kilometer northeast of Camino Rojo mine along the mine structural thread. The regional program will include core and RC drilling and also geophysical and geochemical surveys to keep generating new targets. The region holds massive deposits like Camino Rojo and Peñasquito, and we believe we are just getting started on our property. On this, back to Jason.

Thank you, Sylvain. We always come back to our formula for value creation. Our strategy is underpinned by continued performance at Camino Rojo, which is the foundation for our growth. We will continue to focus on managing the health and safety of our workforce, the protection of our local environment while controlling costs and generating cash to build our future growth. Thank you to our stakeholders, including employees, local communities, and shareholders who enable our efforts. At this point, I'd like to open the call to questions and hand the call back to the operator.

At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. And we'll pause for just a moment. And again, if you would like to ask a question, it's star one on your telephone keypad. And there appears to be no questions today. I will turn the call back over to Jason Simpson for some final closing comments.

Thank you, Operator. Since there are no questions, I would like to thank the team for their continued effort in managing our operations and advancing our projects. I'd also like to extend an offer to all the analysts who are on the call and others. If you have any questions, the Orla management team is always available to answer them. So never hesitate to reach out to Orla should you have any questions. I want to thank everybody for their attention and time today. Have a nice weekend.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Music