Superior Gold Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Superior Gold's third quarter 2021 results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. And after the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, press star, then the number two. If you do have any difficulties hearing the conference, please press star then zero for the operator assistance at any time. And as a reminder, this conference call is being broadcast live on the internet and recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Chris Jordan, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, Mr. Jordan.

Thank you very much. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss Superior Gold's third quarter 2021 results. I hope that you and your families are all safe and well and looking forward to the coming festive season. As a reminder, please refer to slide two of our presentation, which is posted on our website, to view our cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements. In addition, please note that all amounts discussed are in US dollars unless otherwise noted. Moving over to the next slide, joining me today in today's call are Paul Olmsted, our CFO, and Russell Cole, our Vice President of Operations. Looking at the investment highlights, as a reminder, we believe the key investment highlights of Superior Gold are that Plutonic is situated in Western Australia, one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world, according to the Fraser Institute. It's a world-class operating mine with related infrastructure. The business has a clear and concise optimization and expansion plan and is endowed with a significant mineral resource base with exploration upside. Finally, One of the most compelling attributes is the re-rate opportunity we represent compared to our peers. In order to achieve a re-rate, our strategy is to deliver on three main goals. Firstly, to deliver a safe, stable, and predictable operation at a consistent 70,000 to 85,000 ounces per annum of gold. An operation of scaling, stepping up to 100,000 ounces and ultimately 150,000 ounces per annum. To make sure it's establishing a business of scale, we expect to see a reduction in cost, and, of course, strengthening our cash flow as a consequence. Smart investment exploration of known high-potential targeted areas is our third goal. I will now explain in more detail how we're going about delivering these goals. We have a well-defined growth strategy, and it's based on what I originally said, achieving three goals. We'll achieve these goals by focusing on four phases. In order to deliver the first goal, which is a safe, stable, and predictable operation, in phase one, we are working to reestablish steady-state production from the underground mine to annualized rates of between 800,000 and 900,000 tons per annum in the short term. We have made significant strides in achieving this goal in 2021, and I encourage the sea to return to a state of improving positive cash flow in the first three quarters of 2021. The near-mine resource extension drilling and mineral exploration currently underway are expected to provide future mining fronts delivering competent high-grade and or for stable cost-effective feed to the mill. Secondly, to establish an operational scale, our second goal, phases two and three are designed to increase production firstly to 100,000 ounces and then subsequently 150,000 ounces. To achieve this, we are building on phase one to increase production from the underground and augmenting feed to the mill by adding open-pit production from a number of near-mill, past-producing open-pit projects, which includes the Tonic East, which commenced on schedule in May of this year, is now complete, and Perch was commissioned in September of this year, with optionality into Hermes and Hermes South. A review of these opportunities are currently underway, targeted at maximizing the potential from these pits. In addition, we are considering early entry low-cost targets into the main pit as a precursor to the larger main pit pushback project. The pits on our properties are targeted to feed a 1.8 million ton per annum milling circle. Continuing our growth strategy towards 150,000 ounces is recommissioning our second mill that is currently on care and maintenance. New sources of feed would be required and may come from exploration on our existing properties or from several other sources along the platonic miramai gold belt we are actively exploring these opportunities phase four focus to deliver on exploration of known high potential targeted areas there is the potential for a new discovery as we invest in exploration at platonic we have certainly been very encouraged by our drilling results in the last few months now that we have a third drill rig in the property on the property dedicated to opening new mining fronts and one may expect regular updates on exploration. Moving to the safety of our people, which is our top priority. Above everything, the health and safety of our people remains first and foremost in our minds. We continue to successfully operate through the COVID-19 pandemic and to adhere to the strict measures that we put in place to mitigate this threat. To date, we're very pleased to report that we have had no incidents of infection from COVID-19 at our operations for a seventh consecutive quarter. In order to comply to recent legislation, all employees and contractors are expected to be fully vaccinated by the 1st of January 2022. We're also putting a lot of effort into introducing a safety culture that is committed to a workplace free of accidents. A people safety and risk transformation program commenced in October and will focus on safety leadership, critical control management, that is on-the-job safety, process safety, and material risks.

Now moving forward to the third quarter highlights.