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Centerra Gold Inc. (CGAU)

Q4 2022 Earnings Call· Fri, Feb 24, 2023

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings and welcome to the Q4 and Full Year 2022 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, Friday, February 24, 2023. I would now like to turn the conference over to Toby Caron, Treasurer and Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Toby Caron

Analyst

Thank you, operator. Welcome to Centerra Gold's fourth quarter and full year 2022 results conference call. Please note that presentation slides are available on Centerra Gold's website to accompany each speaker's remarks. Today's call is open to all members of the investment community and media in listen-only mode. Following the formal remarks, the operator will give the instructions for asking a question and then we will open the line to questions. Please note that all figures are in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted. Joining me on the call today are Paul Wright, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer; Paul Chawrun, Chief Operating Officer; and Darren Millman, Chief Financial Officer. I would like to caution everyone that certain statements made today may be forward-looking and as such, are subject to known and unknown risks which may cause our actual results to differ from those expressed or implied. Also, certain measures we will discuss today are non-GAAP measures. Please refer to the description of non-GAAP measures in our news release and MD&A issued yesterday evening for a more detailed discussion of material assumptions, risks and uncertainties, please refer to our news release and MD&A, along with the audited financial statements and notes and all of our other filings which can be found on SEDAR, EDGAR and on the company's website at centerragold.com. And now, I'll turn the call over to Paul.

Paul Wright

Analyst

Thanks, Toby and good morning, everyone and thank you for joining our fourth quarter and full year 2022 conference call. I'd like to start the presentation by speaking to Centerra's short-term strategy as we continue to maintain our goal of establishing a stable and strong platform for future growth. This entails firstly obtaining all the regulatory approvals to restart operations at our Öksüt Mine. Continuing to optimize operations and exploration at the Mount Milligan Mine, advancing the Goldfield Project with initial resource estimate midyear 2023, followed by a feasibility study. Updating our view on the Molybdenum Business Unit which future will be described as MBU, including the issuance of a pre-feasibility study detailing a potential restart of the Thompson Creek Mine and this is to be delivered in Q3 of 2023. Moving on to Slide 5. Firstly, an update on the Öksüt Mine. In January 2023, we received notices of approval for the operating license extension for a period of 10 years as well as an enlarged grazing land permit allowing for the expansion of the mine areas. These 2 important approvals demonstrate the continued support for both the company and the Öksüt Mine. Also in January 2023, the amended EIA was submitted for regulatory review. This remains in process with government authorities now reviewing our technical studies to support our EIA amendment. The mercury abatement retrofit to the ADR plant is now complete and following regulatory approvals which are underway, we will be positioned to process gold at the rate of 35,000 ounces per month. As of December 31, 2022, there were 100,000 ounces of gold stored in carbon and 200,000 ounces recoverable in the inventory on the heap leach pads and in stockpiles. Concerning the recent tragic earthquakes in Turkey, there were no injuries to our employees or…

Paul Chawrun

Analyst

Thank you, Paul. On Slide 8, we have the operating highlights at Mount Milligan for both the quarter and the year. 2022 was a good year for Mount Milligan. Firstly, we achieved a record annual throughput for the plant at 21.3 million tonnes. Additionally, the mine operated well with a total material mined at 44.3 million tonnes and ore mined at approximately 19.4 million tonnes. Cash provided and free cash flow from mine operations for 2022 were $162 million and $100 million, respectively. Gold production costs remained low at $790 per ounce in Q4 and $767 per ounce for the year. All-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis was $629 per ounce in Q4 and $630 per ounce for the financial year of 2022. We continue to remain committed to the optimization of our life-of-mine plan. And as mentioned in our January 2023 release, we anticipate higher gold and copper production in 2024 and 2025 than is shown in the most recent 43-101 technical report published last October. On the exploration front, we have completed approximately 55,000 meters of drilling since the most recent resource update. The copper head grade for the year was 0.2% with a metal recovery at 81.9%. The gold head grade was 0.42 grams per tonne with a metal recovery at 66.9%. The copper grades were lower than in previous years, primarily because we are starting to feed a higher proportion of the high-grade gold low-grade copper ore which is planned to continue in 2023. The staged flotation reactors have been operating since the beginning of May with circuit optimization and full commissioning completed in the fourth quarter. The initial results have indicated elevated recoveries as planned. So, moving to Slide 9. So here, we provide the operating results for Öksüt. As Paul previously mentioned, we…

Darren Millman

Analyst

Thanks, Paul and good morning, all. For those following on the slide deck, I'll initially be speaking to Slide 16. Centerra recorded $208 million net revenue during the quarter, consisting of the Mount Milligan Mine and the Molybdenum Business Unit. No revenue was recorded at the Öksüt Mine. At the Mount Milligan Mine, gold sales and copper sales were $67 million and $53 million, respectively. In the quarter, Mount Milligan sold 49,444 ounces of gold and 15.4 million pounds of copper. The Öksüt Mine has no recorded sales or production in the quarter. We continue to hold distorted golden and carbon inventory of 100,000 recoverable ounces. The costs associated with the Öksüt sold in carbon inventory is approximately $450 all-in-sustaining cost per ounce which is being capitalized as a current asset within inventory. Importantly, this quarter, we are highlighting our additional 200,000 ounces in heap leach pad and stockpiles that will be subsequently processed once we return to operational status at the Öksüt Mine. At the Molybdenum Business Unit of approximately 4 million pounds of molybdenum was sold, generating $87 million with an average market price in the quarter of $21.49 per pound on molybdenum. During the quarter, the Molybdenum Business Unit generated $8.6 million in free cash flow with a focused effort on reducing inventory levels. During the quarter, that Mount Milligan Mine operations average gold price realized was $1,352 per ounce and $3.43 per pound of copper. This incorporates the existing stream arrangement over the mine. Cash used in operating activities by operations was approximately $10 million for the quarter and generated $25 million in free cash flow -- sorry, $25 million free cash flow deficit in the quarter. As noted in the MD&A, the Mount Milligan Mine generated $26 million in positive free cash flow and $16…

Paul Wright

Analyst

Okay. No, thank you very much, Darren and Paul. At this stage, operator, I think we'll open up for questions, please.

Paul Wright

Analyst

All right. Well, thank you very much all for attending. And we look forward to speaking on our next quarterly call and enjoy your weekend. Thank you, operator.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's call. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a good day.