Earnings Labs

Taseko Mines Limited (TGB)

Q3 2016 Earnings Call· Fri, Oct 28, 2016

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Taseko Mines 2016 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will follow at that time. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today’s conference, Mr. Brian Bergot, Investor Relations. Mr. Bergot, you may begin.

Brian Bergot

Analyst

Thank you, Andrea. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Taseko Mines’ third quarter 2016 results conference call. My name is Brian Bergot. I’m the Vice President, Investor Relations for Taseko. Financial results were issued yesterday October 27 after market close, and are available on our website at tasekomines.com. Before we begin, I would like to introduce the Taseko management on the call today. We have Russ Hallbauer, President and CEO of Taseko; John McManus, COO of Taseko; and Stuart McDonald, Taseko’s Chief Financial Officer. After opening remarks by management, which will review third quarter business and operational results, we will open the phone lines to analysts and investor for a question-and-answer session. I would like to remind our listeners that our comments and answers to your questions will contain forward-looking information. This information, by its nature, is subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause the stated outcome to differ materially from the actual outcome. Please refer to the bottom of our latest news release for more information. Also as the operator stated, this call is being recorded and will be available for replay. I will now turn the call over to Russ for his remarks.

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst

Thank you, Brian. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our Q3 results. With increasing head grades from those experienced in Q1 and Q2, along with better recoveries, we saw copper production increase for the quarter by 8% quarter-over-quarter to slightly over 33 million pounds in Q3, with a corresponding decrease in our cost per pound of production by 9% to US$1.89 per pound from the US$2.07 achieved in Q2. Adjusted EBITDA increased by $16.9 million to $9.3 million and earnings from mining operations increased by $14.7 million to $11.6 million. Cash increased because of a number of factors related to accounting matters, which Stuart will discuss in greater detail later in the call. Concentrator throughput was similar to other quarters, and was slightly below our internal targets as a result of some issues with one of our SAG mill motors and harder primary order. We expect to have increased mill throughput going forward. Copper recovery continues to be a focus on mine-site management, and it’s up nearly 2% compared to prior quarters. And with the re-commissioning of our moly plant and improvements in its operation, we expect to see increasing byproduct credits going forward. Our outlook has not changed regarding what we expect to produce over the year. Our focus though will continue to be to reduce the cost of our production. In the past 24 months, we have taken the cumulative $150 million out of our operating cost structure, and we believe we are not finished yet. Going forward, with raising head grades, increased throughput, increased recoveries, and better moly production, with spending being consistent or falling based on ongoing operational improvements, we expect our C1 cost to continue to decrease. As a matter of note, it was interesting to note that Teck…

Stuart McDonald

Analyst

Okay, thanks, and good morning, everyone. As Russ has already noted, our third quarter financial results were a significant improvement over the first-half of the year. Earnings from mine operations before depreciation were $11.6 million for the period and we reported adjusted EBITDA of $9.3 million. Revenues of $56 million were generated from sales of 22 million pounds of payable copper and 75,000 pounds of molybdenum. Those amounts represent our 75% share of Gibraltar sales volumes for the period. Our realized sales price in the third quarter was $2.15 per pound, which was in line with LME averages. We maintained our total site operating cost at the low levels achieved in recent periods. And so the increased copper production over the same cost base led to lower unit costs. Total operating costs fell to a $1.89 per pound produced, which is 9% lower than the previous quarter. And we expect that downward trend to continue as we get into higher grades in Q4, and as we realize the full benefit of moly byproduct production. The GAAP net loss for the period was $15.6 million or $0.07 per share. After adjusting for a $5 million unrealized foreign exchange loss, we’re reporting an adjusted net loss of $10.4 million, which is $0.05 per share. Although, we had positive operating margins for the quarter that did not translate into positive operating cash flow as we had $20 million of negative working capital adjustments. These working capital items relate to three things. A $7 million increase in accounts receivable, due to the timing of cash receipts around quarter end; a $6 million increase in copper concentrate inventory due to shipping delays; and a $6 million increase in ore stock pile inventory, as we added some lower grade ore tons to the stockpile in the…

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst

Thank you, Stuart. Operator, I’d like to open the line for calls, please.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Brett Levy with Loop Capital. Your line is open.

Brett Levy

Analyst

Hey, guys. Have you repurchased any bonds in the open market recently, and can you give a rough sense as to sort of where and your appetite kind of going forward? I mean, it sounds like fourth quarter will be a better quarter.

Stuart McDonald

Analyst

Hi, Brett, it’s Stuart here. We’ve not repurchased any notes on the market. I think priority one right now is maintaining liquidity and protecting our cash balance. So it’s not something we’ve done to this point.

Brett Levy

Analyst

And then in terms of like - I mean, you guys have made tremendous progress on the cost front. Are there additional initiatives to take your cost down further or is that just going to be more of a play on moly prices and byproduct credits and that sort of thing?

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst

I think we just have to continue to keep looking for areas that we think we can make improvements on and we have a list of them to be able to keep working on, Brett.

Brett Levy

Analyst

Got it. All right, I’ll pass the baton. Thank you.

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Wayne Lam with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Wayne Lam

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Hi, just a question on the new zone to Northwest, just wondering if that area falls under the existing permitting. For example, like if you guys did confirm the higher grades there, would you be able to start mining right away or would you need to get a permit?

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Well, you just have to put - we have a mining lease and then it’s included in the mining lease, and - but even if you - the way permitting works these days, you still have to apply to the government to do what they call Notice of Work applications. So for the last, we put a Notice of Work to drill these holes, what, about two month ago, John?

John McManus

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Two months ago, yes.

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

And received - we just received the permits about two weeks ago, that’s why we are going and drilling there. But certainly if there is something that looks like it’s a minable reserve, then we will cross that permitting bridge when we come to it. But certainly on a brownfield site like we at Gib, it’s significantly easier than if it was a greenfield.

Wayne Lam

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Okay, thanks. And then, just wondering on the copper grades that you guys are expecting going into 2017, are the grades expected to be somewhat in line with this quarter or are you guys expecting even higher grades from what we’ve been seeing this past quarter?

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

I think, they’re like anything, they’re little sinusoidal. So but - they’re like a slinky, they’ll go up and down quarter-over-quarter, but generally speaking, will be around 0.3.

Wayne Lam

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Okay. And I guess you guys have just briefly mentioned just on the, I guess, outstanding debt. Have you guys looked into any asset sales or shoring up the balance sheet a little bit?

Stuart McDonald

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

No, it’s not something we’re actively looking at right now. But we just - certainly an option as we move forward, but there is still lots of time. We still have two-and-a-half years for those maturities and there are other things that we think we can do before we get to that point.

Wayne Lam

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Okay. And then just last question, is the strategy to continue to keep purchasing the - or hedging the copper production with the put option?

Stuart McDonald

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Yes, yes, that’s right. And in fact, we’ve got put options now, the 2.10 strike price which cover us out to January, so for the next four months.

Wayne Lam

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Okay.

Stuart McDonald

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

And, yes, our plans will be to look for opportunities to continue that further into 2017 when we get the chance.

Wayne Lam

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Okay. Yes, that’s all I had, thanks.

Stuart McDonald

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Yes, thanks.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Derick Ma with TD Securities. Your line is open.

Derick Ma

Analyst · TD Securities. Your line is open.

Good morning. In terms of mill throughput at Gibraltar, I was just wondering what kind of initiatives you guys have or currently being undertaken, and is there any concern in terms of hitting mine capacity heading into Q4 and into 2017? Thanks.

John McManus

Analyst · TD Securities. Your line is open.

Well, Hi Derick, it’s John here. The goal is to reach the target tonnages. There is not anything that we need to do to increase capacity other than hit our targets. We had some mechanical issues this quarter. I believe those are taken care of. So we should be back up in the 85,000 tonnes a calendar day average moving forward. And then, more importantly, we’re really focused on getting our recovery back and we’re seeing that over the last couple of months. There is been a bit more of operation strategy change doing at a steady pace and get the recovery out of the ore to extract as much as we can from what we get throughput.

Derick Ma

Analyst · TD Securities. Your line is open.

Okay, thanks.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of CJ Baldoni with Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

CJ Baldoni

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Yes, hi. Did you take full advantage of the power deferral that you have available to you and do you expect to continue to do that?

John McManus

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Hi, CJ, John here. Yes, we did and so there is a deferral of about $1.5 million a month that’s been going on for - when did that start, Stuart, March?

Stuart McDonald

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Since March.

John McManus

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Since March, yes.

Stuart McDonald

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Yes.

CJ Baldoni

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Okay. And you expect cash flows to improve. Could you maybe layout what you think the cash balance will be at the end of the year and maybe into early part of next year?

John McManus

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Well, I mean, obviously subject to copper prices and exchange rates and all kinds of variables. But where we sit today with current prices, we expect to generate a little bit of cash in Q4. And we expect to grow the cash balance through 2017. So, yes, it’s pretty much where we are. Unit costs are coming down and our cash flow breakeven point is dropping with that. So we really - as we noted, really expect improvements in our cash flow.

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

And it changes. As you can appreciate, pretty dramatically the Canadian dollar goes US$0.70 and the copper price goes to US$2.25 or US$2.30, it’s just like a double-whammy. So everything changes. So to predict what potentially we could generate is pretty difficult.

CJ Baldoni

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Yes. I was really just meaning at current prices. I understand. And then lastly, so you haven’t - you answered the question about asset sales, but which you - JVs fall into that bucket too or is there anybody you’re talking with. We have some projects that look like they have some pretty good potential. They’re advancing nicely. At what point do you seek to kind of move those forward and are you thinking bringing on a partner might be the way to go?

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Yes, that’s exactly what we’re thinking, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.

CJ Baldoni

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Are you speaking with people now or you haven’t really engaged anybody.

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Yes, we’re speaking with people.

CJ Baldoni

Analyst · Principal Global Investors. Your line is open.

Okay, all right. I’ll turn it over. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today’s Q&A session. I would now like to turn the call back over to management for any closing remarks.

Russell Hallbauer

Analyst

Thanks very much, folks. And we look forward to seeing you next quarter.