Carlos Aguiar
Analyst · B. Riley Securities. Your line is now open
Thank you, Russell. I will start on Slide 9, Greens Creek flagship mine consistent performance. Greens Creek delivered another strong and consistent quarter producing 2.2 million ounces. Mill throughput for the quarter was 2,481 tons per day and was lower due to the completion of multiple mill maintenance projects including installation of the new primary screen, relining of the grinding circuit, draw magnet installation among others. Silver grades were lower in the quarter as mine grades revert to mine plan. Cash costs and all-in sustaining costs for the quarter declining to $0.19 per ounce and $5.40, respectively, driven by lower treatment and refining charges, higher by-product credit and lower sustaining capital due to delays in equipment purchases. The mine generated $34 million in free cash flow from the quarter and has generated $72 million during the first half of the year. We expect the mine to continue its strong performance in the second half and are lowering its cash cost and all-in sustaining cost guidance to reflect its strong performance year-to-date and expected higher by-product credits. Capital guidance is also reduced due to timing of equipment purchases and some capital projects. Greens Creek is a premier silver mine, the 11 largest in the world and the team continues to do an excellent job in delivering consistent results safely every quarter. Lucky Friday, on track to achieve 5 million ounces in 2024. Turning to Slide 10, Lucky Friday's operational performance established new records in the mine's 80-year history. The mine produced a record 1.3 million ounces of silver, achieved record mill throughput of 1,181 tons per day and delivered record sales. Cash costs for the quarter were $5.32 per ounce. All-in sustaining costs for the quarter were $12.74 per ounce, both lower than the first quarter of 2024. Cost per ounce have exceeded our guidance for the first half of 2024 because of higher labor and contractor costs, additional costs related to mitigation work done in the Number 2 shaft which is the secondary escapeway and higher profit sharing under our collective bargaining agreement due to a strong financial performance. Capital investment at the mine was $11 million in significant sustaining capital projects in the quarter, including repairs to the Number 2 shaft, engineering, design and initial construction of the surface cooling project and equipment processes. This record operational performance with strong metal prices dropped free cash flow generation of $33.7 million in the second quarter, including insurance proceeds of $17.8 million. The mine is on track to be a 5 million ounce producer this year. We are increasing cost guidance for the mine to reflect higher cost incurred in the first quarter and expect that higher profit sharing costs, given the strong performance and metal prices. The UCB mining method and our capital investments in the mine like the service hoist which de-bottlenecked our hoisting capacity and the ore bunker which added capacity to stockpile ore for multiple days and a [couple of] mining mill are instrumental in Lucky Friday's strong operational performance, and we expect this to continue. Most importantly, this quarter performance was a testament to the excellent team we have at Lucky Friday. Casa Berardi, executing on surface transition plan. On Slide 11, Casa Berardi produced 23,000 ounces in the second quarter at cash cost of $1,701 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs of $1,825, both within the guidance range. The mine generated positive free cash flow held by strong gold prices. The team has been carefully reviewing stope-by-stope analysis for underground operations and given the favorable gold prices, the mine has extended the west mine operations to the end of 2024. Thus, we are increasing the production guidance to 80,000 to 87,000 ounce, cost and capital guidance is unchanged for the mine. We have more work to do at Casa Berardi as we continue on the surface transition and evaluation of underground explorations. Keno Hill, largest silver producer in Canada. Moving to Slide 12, Keno Hill produced 0.9 million ounces and throughput surpassed 400 tons per day. The mine has produced 1.5 million ounces in the first half of the year, already exceeding 2023 full years of production. Our All-Injury Frequency Rate at the mine declined by 12% to 1.89 and we have continued to make significant improvements in safety and environmental procedures at the mine. Despite the strong production, we are not declaring commercial production at the mine because our work is not done, but first let me talk about the improvements we have seen. In the fourth quarter of 2023, we initiated a 10 step action plan to implement best practices in safety training, reporting and supervision. The program has increased the focus on hazard identification and control, improved reporting of safety metrics and institute several safety standards such as traffic management and fall protection, just to name a couple. We have also started mining the Flame & Moth deposit to supplement the feed from Bermingham. As we approach the colder winter months to manage the clay from Bermingham, the feed from Flame & Moth, even though relatively lowering grade, should help improve crushing rates with the commending of ore. There are also key infrastructure projects remaining to complete, the cemented tails batch plant will commence construction in the fourth quarter and we change the mining method to underhand at Bermingham in the second half of 2025. We expect this will make ground conditions safer and more productive. With increased mining rates, we also have work to do on water treatment upgrades and construction of dry stack tails. We are increasing our capital guidance for the year to $45 million to $50 million as we work through key capital initiatives, increased underground development, cemented tails batch plant, water treatment upgrades and work on dry stack tailings. With the operation also achieving higher throughput of 400 tons per day, production costs excluding depreciation are expected to be in the range of $25 million to $27 million as seen in the second quarter. With Keno Hill's 11-year reserve mine life, the strong geological potential of the operation in the district and the jurisdiction, we are optimistic that our investment in Keno Hill will bear high returns in the long term. And with the exploration success we are seeing, we are excited and expect that Keno's reserve life should grow beyond its current 11 years. With that, I will pass the call to Kurt to speak about Keno's exploration success.