Andean Precious Metals Corp. (APM) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Andean Precious Metals Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions]. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded. Today's presenter is Luis da Silva, Andean's President and Chief Executive Officer. Joining Luis for the Q&A portion of the call is Jeff Chan, Chief Financial Officer; and Simon Griffith, Chief Operating Officer. Please note that comments made on today's call contain forward-looking information. And this information, by its nature, is subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. For further information on these risks and uncertainties, please consult the company's relevant filings on SEDAR. These documents are also available on Andean's website at andeanpm.com. And now I'll pass the call over to Luis da Silva. Luis?

Thank you, Lariel. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Andean Precious Metals Inaugural Earnings Call to discuss our second quarter 2021 results. We are committed to open and honest communications with our investors and look forward to keeping you apprised of our results with these calls each quarter. We appreciate you taking the time to join us today. Before I discuss our performance for the quarter, as this is our first earnings call, I'd like to start by providing a brief overview of who we are and what makes them different. It is rare for a newly listed mining company to have steady production and a strong balance sheet, but that is the position that we find ourselves there. Andean Precious Metals is an established and profitable company that is cash flow positive. We wholly own and operate the San Bartolomé processing facility in Potosí, Bolivia, which has been in continuous production since 2008. The San Bartolomé oxide plant processes in excess of 5,000 tonnes per day and we built by coal mining and sold the predecessor company of Andean Precious Metals in 2018. We control mining rights at several locations in Bolivia and all within close proximity to the San Bartolomé facility. Core source for San Bartolomé facility is done so in a number of ways. Surface Mining, which is a conventional mining operation using excavators and trucks, mine waste reclamation, which are surface stockpiles and historical mine waste, where essentially we are cleaning up and has a positive environmental benefit. And thirdly, pardon me -- third-party ore sourcing where we purchased no feed from neighboring miners that we run through our mill. These deposits are mined by third parties and then truck 2 and processed at the San Bartolomé facility. Not only does this third-party or providers with higher grades, allowing for an elevated head grade to be processed in the plant, but it also provides us with an established revenue stream that helps community mining. Ore sourcing also allows us to disperse G&A costs and lower our all-in sustaining cash costs. We also have the ability to expand the ore sourcing business by signing new contracts and we're constantly evaluating new opportunities. Just for context, we are currently purchasing ore from 32 out of approximately 1,700 mining cooperatives within Bolivia. All of this ore sourced is higher grade than the 3 deposits we are actively mining. We are in the early stages of a 5-year mine plant of 3 deposits in the Cerro Rico mining region, one of the world's largest silver deposits and an area that has been mined since the late 1,500. The ore from this 5-year mine plant accounts for approximately 60% of our mill feed, and the mining method is rather simple since these are shallow alluvial deposits with no drilling or blasting. In addition to our production profile and our sourcing business, we also have an active exploration program for 2 highly prospective properties that we own, Rio Blanco and San Pablo. In July, we began the diamond drilling campaign at Rio Blanco comprising of 22 holes over 5,500 meters with 3 drill rigs. We also advanced reconnaissance geological work, including trenching totaling 1,500 meters, replicating the historic work performed back in 1998. This work program is intended to supplement the drilling campaign. And in early 2021, back in May, we completed the first phase of 12 holes totaling 3,580 meters of varying depths at San Pablo. These holes constitute the first phase of the diamond drilling program of a total of 10,000 meters dependent on the first of these results, which we expect shortly. In addition to the upside potential offered by our exploration projects, we are also contemplating high-impact organic opportunities to reprocess San Bartolomé tailings to recover silver and potentially tin. The idea would be to mine tailings by hydraulic mining or dredging, the tailings and pumping them back to the process plant. We're doing these studies now and expect to publish our findings by the first quarter of 2022. Our management team and Board of Directors are committed to the success of this company. But success does not just come in the form of a solid production metrics and low cash costs. Success also means that our presence, benefits all stakeholders, including our neighboring communities and our employees. As a company, we strive to ensure we always act in good faith and take into account the best interest of these groups as well as the environment. We do this in a number of ways, which includes: building strong relationships and adding value. We've established a set of criteria in order to manage relationships with employees, suppliers, customers and communities to create an enduring partnership. Secondly, we've dedicated resources to formulating a responsible strategy for sustainable actions. We continually assess our business model to manage key risks and identify areas of improvement. Thirdly, we intend to define ambitious new targets building on our existing operations in Bolivia. Sustainability and governance are evolving practices. We want to ensure we have a best-in-class sustainability program and always have the best interest to our stakeholders and our operating jurisdictions in mind. And finally, we must adopt global industry best prices where they can directionally influence our business. We understand that when we make a commitment to sustainable mining, we're also making a commitment to the resources that are required. This means we will commit to hiring experienced professionals in investing in the requisite train and supporting external research to continue strive for industry best practices. Our tradings management is also an example of how we apply sustainability best practices in action. Our tradings are a mix of wet tailings, which, as I mentioned earlier, represents a potential high-impact organic opportunity at the worst dry-stack tailings from the main processing circuit. Dry-stack tailings is one, if not the most environmentally sustainable method used to store shorter tailings. The [ tailing facility ] designed by [indiscernible] and is inspected today by [indiscernible], both of which are world leader in tailings management. Our commitment to corporate social responsibility and our multifaceted business model is underpinned by solid financial results. Let me now take you through our second quarter results. Revenues for the quarter were USD 38 million compared to USD 12.6 million in the second quarter of 2020. Revenue growth was attributable to an increase in silver equivalent sales volumes and higher realized silver prices of $26.71 per ounce compared with $17 per ounce of silver for the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA was $10.3 million compared to $2.2 million for the same period last year. We generated free cash flow of $10.3 million and ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of USD 79 million. Cost of sales, including royalty expenses linked to commodity prices were $24.4 million compared to $7.6 million for the equivalent period last year, corresponding to the increase in metal sales. As a result, income from the mine operations increased to $11.3 million from $3 million for the same period. General and administrative costs increased to $2.2 million compared to $1.2 million in the second quarter of 2020. The increase was mainly due to costs associated with becoming a publicly traded company. Overall, the net income for the quarter was $3.9 million compared to a net loss of $250,000 from last year. Our equivalent production and sales remained consistent during the quarter. And in the first half of 2021, we produced 2.9 million ounces at an all-in sustaining cash cost of $18.15 per ounce. We remain on track to meet our production and cost guidance for 2021. As we head into the second half of 2021, we will focus production on the Santa Rita, Antuco area. At our high-grade mine waste stockpile areas, mining production will continue its El Asiento area through August 2021. As of July 2021, we have also begun mining at our Monserrat mining waste stockpile area, which is expected to contain higher grade material than the Pallacos areas. We also continue to expand our third-party ore sourcing business from locations outside of Santa Rita. San Bartolomé is the only large-scale commercial oxide plant in Bolivia, which provides us with a distinct advantage. We can leverage our oxide processing capability and our strong working capital position to actively review additional purchasing opportunities throughout Bolivia. Thank you for your time today. I will now open the line up for questions.

[Operator Instructions]. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. da Silva for any closing remarks.

Thank you, Lariel, and thank you, everyone, for participating. Please feel free to reach out to our Investor Relations team at andeanpm.com if you have any further questions. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. Please disconnect your lines.