Earnings Labs

Coeur Mining, Inc. (CDE)

Q4 2010 Earnings Call· Mon, Feb 28, 2011

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Transcript

Executives

Management

Tony Ebersole – IR [ph] Dennis Wheeler – Chairman, President and CEO Mitchell Krebs – CFO and SVP Leon Hardy – SVP Operations Don Birak – SVP Exploration Jorge Beristain – Deutsche Bank John Tumazos – Very Independent Research Mike Curran – RBC Capital Markets

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon my name is Bee and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the Coeur d'Alene Mines Fourth Quarter and full year 2011 Earnings Call. (Operator instructions) Thank you, Mr. Tony Ebersole, please go-ahead sir.

Tony Ebersole

Management

Thank for joining us today to discuss the company's fourth quarter and full year 2010 results. This call is also being broadcast live on the internet through our website at www.coeur.com, where we have posted slides to accompany our prepared remarks. Telephonic replay of the call will be available for one week following today's call. On the call today are Dennis Wheeler; Chairman President and Chief Executive Officer, Mitchell Krebs; Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Leon Hardy; Senior Vice President of Operations and Don Birak; Senior Vice President of Exploration. Any forward-looking statements made today by management come under securities legislation of United States and Canada and involve a number of risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from projections. Please see our full cautionary statement on slide two. With that, I'd like turn the call over to Dennis.

Dennis Wheeler

Management

Welcome to all of you and thank you for joining us today. We are pleased you have joined us to showcase to you the progress made by our company during the fourth quarter which has led the record 2010 results. We think these results demonstrate the momentum created by the combination of Coeur’s three new long life silver and gold mines together with the strong precious metals market prices. Silver keeps setting new records with prices above $33 an ounce last week, its highest level in 31 years and another record today. Coeur’s fourth-quarter materially outperformed the third quarter and our 2010 full-year results far exceeded 2009. During this most recent quarter, the people at Coeur achieved a 75% increase in metal sales to a total $208 million. A 186% increase in operating cash flow to nearly $100 million, adjusted earnings of $49.9 million or $0.56 per share. Our capital expenditures dropped 28% and total debt was reduced by 14%. And our cash and cash equivalents doubled from the prior quarter. For the full year, we realized a 72% increase in metal sales to $515 million. Operating cash flow jumped to 199% to a total of $184 million, while adjusted earnings were $34.3 million or $0.39 a share. We achieved the 29% decline in capital expenditures and our gold production increased 118% to 157,000 ounces, while we were experiencing a 7% lower cash operations cost. Clearly we are an unprecedented metal market and we at Coeur fully expect this silver market to continue. For the third quarter of 2010 to the fourth-quarter, silver prices increased an amazing 42% to $26.83 per ounce, a dramatic increase over the previous four quarters. And so far this year silver prices averaged close to $30 an ounce with today's record high reaching $33.86 compared…

Mitchell Krebs

Management

Thanks Dennis. We had a record-setting fourth-quarter and full-year financial results and were set up for a very strong 2011. On slide nine, you can see the 75% increase in metal sales in the fourth quarter over the third quarter to $207.6 million. The major drivers to this increase were record silver and gold production at Palmarejo, a plus $2 million ounce quarter from San Bartolome, growing contribution from Kensington and higher realized prices. Fourth-quarter sales made up 40% of the company's total sales for the year, which are shown on the following slide 10. For the full year, we achieved a 72% increase in metal sales versus 2009 to $515.5 million, this represented the first full year of production from Palmarejo, which contributed 45% of the Company's total sales. In this current year of 2011 with a first full year of production from all three new mines, we are anticipating metal sales to reach approximately $800 million; which is a 55% increase over 2010. This assumes the average prices of $27.50 for silver and $1250 an ounce for gold and 2011 production of $20 million ounces of silver and 250,000 ounces of gold. Our sales growth far exceeds increases in our production costs leading to large increases in overall gross margins. This is reflected in the fourth-quarter results shown on slide 11 where quarterly gross profit increased to 108% to $120.8 million and gross margins increased from 49% in the third quarter to 58% in the fourth quarter. For the full year of 2010 on slide 12, gross profits jumped to 136% to $257.8 million with margins increasing from 36% in 2009 to 50% in 2010. With the addition of a full year of Kensington production in 2011, we expect gross profits to increase over 70% to approximately $450…

Leon Hardy

Management

Thanks Mitch. In the fourth quarter of 2010, the company produced 4.8 million ounces of silver, a 12% increase over the 4.3 million ounces produced in the third quarter. For the full year of 2010, our combined operations produced 16.8 million ounces of silver consistent with the previous year. Silver production was lower at San Bartolome and Martha in 2010, which was offset by increased Silver production at Palmarejo in its first full year of operation. For the coming year and 2011, we are looking ahead to $20 million ounces of silver production. From the gold’s production side shown on slide 28 in the fourth quarter of 2010, we produced 60,600 ounces of gold versus 47,500 ounces in the third quarter. This 28% increase in quarterly gold production quarter-to-quarter was due to the continued ramp up of Kensington, which produced 27,990 ounces of gold in the fourth quarter and also due to Palmarejo’s strong quarter which exceeded 30,000 ounces of quarterly gold production for the first time since commencing production in April 2009. For the full year 2010, gold production increased 118% to 157,000 ounces; this was due to the contribution of our start-up of operations at Kensington in July and the first full year of mining at Palmarejo. We are expecting roughly 60% increase in gold production this year to approximately 250,000 ounces, which will add significantly to our expected metal sales and cash flow as Mitch previously discussed. This last quarter was a record quarter for Palmarejo for both silver and gold production. Palmarejo exceeded 2 million ounces of silver production for the first time since commencing production which was a 33% increase compared to the previous quarter. Gold production in the first quarter exceeded 30,000 ounces for the first time in a quarter since start-up; this resulted…

Don Birak

Management

Thank you Leon. We started 2011 with a robust inventory of metal re-sources and reserves sufficient for many years of production and strong upside potential to grow our mine lives. After 2010 mine depletion and other changes, metal reserves stand at over 227 million ounces of silver and over 2.5 million ounces of gold. Additional metal resources are up at all properties expect Edevor [ph] and most notably at Rochester. We see continued potential to add to resources this year with our strong organic growth exploration budget of almost $21 million. Our year-end metal resources of reserves are tabulated at the end of this presentation for your reference. At the Palmarejo main mine while we reported a decline in total reserves there drilling late in the fourth quarter encountered new gains with significant silver and gold organizations [ph]. These results are not yet included in our overall reserves and resources at Palmarejo. Turning to some specific achievements at Palmarejo, we have realized significant gains at the Guadalupe deposit, which now stands at over 68 million contained ounces of metal resources inclusive of reserves. In addition, we tested new targets near both Guadalupe and Palmarejo with encouraging results. In the midst of commencing of production at Kensington, we completed nearly 20,000 feet of Coeur drilling on the Raven Vein, which is showing good potential that contributed to reserves and resources from high-grade share Veins and Vein clusters. Rochester work in 2010 focused on target generation and new drilling around the Nevada Packard deposit in the south part of our land position. At Joaquin and Argentina, we earned an initial 51% managing equity in our joint-venture and conducted detailed drilling in support of our initial metal resources estimate slated for completion this year. Looking in more detail at some of the key…

Dennis Wheeler

Management

Thanks Don. In this past quarter and in 2010, we demonstrated strong momentum as we entered this year. We now estimate that our gold production will increase 60% to 250,000 ounces and silver production will grow 19% to 20 million ounces in 2011. With expected continued strength in our silver and gold markets, we anticipate generating very strong free cash flow for our shareholders. One final note, there was a report in the Financial Times recently that some mining firms have begun to hedge their silver production against possible declines in price. I just want to make it clear that Coeur has the policy of non-hedging in silver production. We know that our investors like you are believers in the continued price appreciation of silver and gold and we want our investors to be able to maximize their investment and leverage to the metal so we will not be hedging any of our silver. Operator, we are now ready for questions.

Operator

Operator

(Operator instructions) your first question comes from Jorge Beristain. Jorge Beristain – Deutsche Bank Securities: Hi, good afternoon or good morning on your time Dennis. My question is in light of the expected rising free cash flow projected for 2011, what could be the possible uses of funds and have you contemplated reactivating a dividend policy for Coeur?

Dennis Wheeler

Management

The Board is not considered the question of a dividend policy, I am sure it will given the progress of the company and what we see going forward Jorge. We are keenly aware that our job is to do things that are accretive to shareholder value and reward our shareholders. Jorge Beristain – Deutsche Bank Securities: Thank you, and my second question is a little bit more technical for Mitch, but just trying to understand a little bit better what you are reflecting on your balance sheet in terms of the pending Franco-Nevada royalty, there is about $52 million cash owed as part of the near-term Franco-Nevada royalty and I'm assuming is that for the next 12 months for the 2011 year, that was my first question.

Mitchell Krebs

Management

That’s right Jorge; yes that is the estimated next 12 months of value of the royalty payments there. Jorge Beristain – Deutsche Bank Securities: And should we be thinking about this as net debt, because I'm not certain that you included it in that slide where you did break out your cash and long term debt.

Mitchell Krebs

Management

No, it is an obligation of the company Jorge, it is difficult to put, obviously it changes as gold prices change, so for that reason we primarily – we don't include it in our debt, we don't include capital leases either but they both are our obligations of the Company that we here write, we don't have that in our total debt numbers but it is a contingent obligation based on how much share we produce and what the gold price is. Jorge Beristain – Deutsche Bank Securities: Okay, and in terms of the order of magnitude, you reflected around $51 million kind of market-to-market on the NPV of that obligation in the fourth quarter but the cash outlay or that was minor; it was around $5 million. So I was wondering if you would expect to see a similar magnification impact on your P&L for 2011, we know what the expected cash outlay is but would we expect a much stronger net income statement impact of which a bulk of that would be non-cash?

Mitchell Krebs

Management

Yes, the non-cash potion relates to the explanation of the future payments over the minimum obligation of that royalty which is 400,000 ounces of gold so the swing that we see each quarter is – relates to the change from the end of one quarter to the end of another quarter as far as the estimation out over that period of time, number of years and how gold to gold price changes the estimated value of those payments so that would change, that is not the fair value adjustment number that you see from quarter-to-quarter on the – is that change in estimated future liabilities over that minimum royalty obligation. Jorge Beristain – Deutsche Bank Securities: And are you just simply using the gold strip to calculate that or are you using a fixed gold price?

Mitchell Krebs

Management

It is a forward curve. Jorge Beristain – Deutsche Bank Securities: Okay, thank you.

Mitchell Krebs

Management

Yes.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of John Tumazos. John Tumazos – Very Independent Research: Hello Dennis, Mitch, Don.

Dennis Wheeler

Management

Hello John. John Tumazos – Very Independent Research: I was in Patagonia for a week and a half and last Thursday, the two partners in the San Jose Mine took me up a big mountain top looking over toward Goldcorp Cerro Negro and there was San Jose JV ground, Minera Andes 100% ground, (inaudible) 100% ground and Coeur 100% ground. And, the Coeur 100% ground looked pretty good, right above the old Andean resources to the south. Do you have any plans to drill this year on that 100% ground just north of the Cerro Negro Veins, and could you give us an update on the Martha property?

Dennis Wheeler

Management

Yes, we do have some good exploration holdings in the Company. John and clearly, will be doing some drilling this year at the Tornado. Leon will give few commends. John Tumazos – Very Independent Research: Is Tornado, what you call that property?

Dennis Wheeler

Management

Yes it is. John Tumazos – Very Independent Research: Excuse me, for not, I got the other guys; the other guys were telling me your story.

Dennis Wheeler

Management

No problem John, thanks to the question and Leon can comment more on that.

Leon Hardy

Management

Martha continues to operate it at a reduced rate this year, we are looking for synergies while we continue to explore heavily very close to Martha. We feel positive about the project. John Tumazos – Very Independent Research: How much money are you going to spend at the Tornado property near Goldcorp?

Don Birak

Management

John, this is Don, our first stage of drilling there is just getting the results in for it now and first the next stage is going to be geo physics as we are doing try to identify the structures in a little bit more in detail and then go through the second phase of the drilling. That will probably end up being somewhere around $0.5 million in total but those results would be just an initial program to Tornado. John Tumazos – Very Independent Research: Are the targets buried veins not out cropping that are sulfides that you identified from induced polarization?

Mitchell Krebs

Management

They are covered John, so we are looking at projecting those using whatever method we can geophysics, geochemistry and mapping and so that is our program for this year. John Tumazos – Very Independent Research: Excuse me for taking you guys off the set agenda, but I was getting real excited for you last week. And, Dennis, I hear you've been CEO longer than George Blanda was a quarterback and kicker.

Dennis Wheeler

Management

Well, let's hope I can finish it off as well as he did. John Tumazos – Very Independent Research: I hear you're going to come back as many times as Mario Lemieux. Is that true?

Dennis Wheeler

Management

Thanks John. John Tumazos – Very Independent Research: Have a good one.

Dennis Wheeler

Management

As you know, we have got a succession planning process under way here at Coeur and we will be announcing a successor later this year. John Tumazos – Very Independent Research: Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Mike Curran. Mike Curran – RBC Capital Markets: Yes good afternoon guys, I just wanted – on the backward looking area, I was wondering if he could tell us what your silver sales were in Q4 versus the production and then the forward-looking, I am having a hard time getting the 20 million of so maybe if he could just give us the forecast of production from a few of the bigger mines and see if, where I'm missing a couple million ounces for this year?

Mitchell Krebs

Management

Yes hi Mike, it is Mitch here. As far as sales versus production in 2010, we produced as the release says 16.8 million ounces, we sold 17.2 million and then on gold we produced 157,000 ounces and we sold 130,000. The difference in the silver is twofold, one is from the Martha concentrate shipment, there is about 0.5 million difference between produced and sold at Martha and in the other with the Dore shipment out of San Bartolome that did not make it into the third quarter and the sales of those spilling into the fourth quarter and then the difference in the gold ounces is entirely concentrate shipment sales out of Kensington. Mike Curran – RBC Capital Markets: That's great and maybe just a couple of numbers for-forecast for (inaudible) mines this year to see what I'm missing how you get to 20?

Mitchell Krebs

Management

Yes, we're not giving mine by mine guidance at this point Mike. The 20 million announced numbers really assumes a kind of static San Bart's, a static Rochester and improved performance out of Palmarejo that is more that was indicated sort of by the fourth quarter performance there at Palmarejo. Mike Curran – RBC Capital Markets: All right. No, that’s great, that gives us some guidance, great.

Operator

Operator

There are no further audio questions at this time.

Dennis Wheeler

Management

Thank you all for joining Coeur’s call today. I can assure you that we continue and will remain focused on returning shareholder value to our owners here at Coeur. We continue to add very talented people for the team here at Coeur as we prepare for the future and I can assure you we will remain focused on our strategic plan in the details necessary to make 2011 a great year for Coeur, thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you ladies and gentlemen; this will conclude today's conference call. You may now disconnect.