Barrick Mining Corporation (ABX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Barrick 2021 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders. As a reminder, this meeting is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to John Thornton, Executive Chairman. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, my fellow shareholders. This time last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic had just descended upon us, we felt compelled to hold our first annual meeting in a virtual only format via a live webcast. Once again, while vaccination programs are widely underway, we remain respectful of our company protocols and consider it prudent to maintain this format for this year's meeting. I remind you that registered shareholders and proxy holders will be able to participate, ask questions and vote in real-time through an online portal. Nonregistered shareholders should follow the procedures set out in the circular in order to vote virtually and ask questions through the live webcast. I would now like to introduce you to the other members of the Board of Directors who are viewing the live webcast with us: Mark Bristow, Gustavo Cisneros, Christopher Coleman, Michael Evans, Brian Greenspun, Brett Harvey, Anne Kabagambe, Andrew Quinn and Loreto Silva. When we announced the merger back in September 2018, we said that with the best assets and the best management, Barrick was well placed to deliver the industry's best returns. Last year's achievements demonstrate how diligently we are delivering on that promise, guided by our long-term strategy, our clear implementation plans. Barrick not only met its production targets, but also increased its operating cash flow by 91% and its free cash flow by a record 197% while reducing net debt to 0. In fact, if anything, we have advanced well beyond our initial targets. After 20 years of fruitless negotiation, for example, a renewed effort by Mark Bristow and his team produced the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture, the world's largest gold mining complex majority-owned and operated by Barrick. The sell-off of noncore assets, in line with our strategic focus on Tier 1 mines, realized their full value at $1.5 billion. The long standoff between the operator of the Tanzanian mines and the government was decisively resolved after we took control of these assets, and we're finally able to implement the settlement the late President and I had agreed upon. A similar agreement is currently being progressed in Papua New Guinea. Long-standing legacy issues elsewhere are also being resolved. Barrick has been reestablished as a major gold miner in Latin America, among other initiatives through the Pueblo Viejo expansion, which will extend the life of that mine by more than 20 years and new exploration programs throughout the region. Africa remains a shining light, and the genuine value-creating partnerships there again prove their worth, particularly in the management of the pandemic, both at the mines and across the various countries in which we operate. Incidentally, we maintained our managing by walking about policy during the pandemic with Mark and senior executives continuing their regular visits to the operations while observing strict precautionary protocols. After 2020's sterling performance, we have made a strong start to the new year. Our core operations all have high confidence 10-year business plans in place and Nevada Gold Mines has already started looking at a 15-year horizon. Barrick is well on its way to becoming the industry's most valued company, not least in ESG, which has become a key investment criteria. It is well worth noting that the Cardinal importance of ESG is not a recent market pleasing discovery by Barrick. Its principles have long been embedded in every facet of the business as our recently published sustainability report emphatically shows. Last April, we became the first mining company to publish a sustainability scorecard as part of our annual sustainability report. This scorecard provides a transparent overview of our ESG performance and helps us to drive improvements in this area across our operations. As noted in our most recent report, in 2020, there was a marked improvement against most metrics, and we improved our overall score compared to 2019, while still giving ourselves a B grade overall as we recognize that we still have some way to go and that there is no room for complacency. Our sustainability performance since our transformative merger with Randgold has been recognized by independent third parties as well. For instance, in their proxy advisory report for this meeting, ISS gave their highest quality score for environmental and social disclosure. And they also noted that our disclosure around climate change risk management exemplifies the reporting standard. The Glass Lewis report for this meeting similarly highlights Barrick's strong management of sustainability risks at the Executive and Board level and notes that they consider our ESG reporting to be ahead of many of our peers. The mining industry has traditionally dealt with the issue of mine closures by delaying the inevitable for as long as possible, usually through a series of compliance adjustments. This is not what we believe in Barrick. How we close our mines is as important as how we build and operate them, and we plan for closure when we plan a mine's development. Barrick has adopted a new global closure standard and this strategy has already delivered significant successes, such as the innovative Golden Sunlight mine tailings reprocessing project in Nevada. In November 2020, we appointed Ms. Anne Kabagambe as an Independent Director. Ms. Kabagambe has 35 years of experience spanning a diverse range of senior leadership positions in international institutions. Between 2016 and 2020, she served as an Executive Director of the World Bank Group, where she represented the interest of 22 sub-Saharan African countries, including Tanzania and Zambia, where Barrick has golden copper operations. Her independent understanding of doing business internationally informed by her experience in engaging with governments, the private sector and civil society, and in particular, her knowledge of the global resource banking and education sectors brings additional strength to the Board. The efficient operations and effective management has enabled us to capitalize fully on the higher gold and copper prices and to pass the rewards on to our investors as well as our community stakeholders. We have increased the quarterly dividend more than threefold since the announcement of the merger with Randgold in 2018 and with one of the industry's strongest balance sheets, have also proposed to return $750 million to shareholders through a return of capital over the course of 2021, which will deliver an additional $0.42 per share. More than doubling the per share payout compared to 2020. Employee share ownership at Barrick is broad and deep. Together, Mark Bristow and I and the members of our Executive Committee, hold nearly 10 million Barrick shares. Combined with shares held by our employees, the level of share ownership at Barrick stands second to none in the industry and our distinctive culture of share ownership is becoming stronger and deeper across the organization over time with our named partners far exceeding their market-leading shareholding requirements. Simply put, our ownership culture is critical to who we are and how we work at Barrick. As owners of 5 of the top 10 gold producing operations in the world and with strong cash flows, no net debt and a 10-year plan based on declared reserve and resource plans rather than forecast. We believe that our sustainable profitability is yet to be recognized in our share price. What is clear is that the industry is not replacing what it is mining and currently appears more attractive because of the higher gold price. The real winners will be the companies who use this period to grow their businesses, extending 10-year plans to 15 and even 20 years. This objective supports Barrick's strategy to sustain profitability for the long term. With that, I will now pass over to Mark, who will chair the annual and special meeting.

Thank you, John, and good morning. With your consent, I will ask Dana Stringer, Barrick's Corporate Secretary to act as secretary of the meeting and representatives of AST Trust company to act as scrutineers. In keeping with our commitment to the health and safety of our shareholders, employees and the broader community, as John has already explained, this year, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we are once again hosting our annual and special meeting of shareholders through this virtual meeting platform, which allows registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders to vote and ask questions regardless of physical location, which would otherwise not be possible in these unprecedented times. There are 4 matters to deal with as part of the formal business of the meeting. The election of directors, the appointment of an auditor, an advisory resolution on executive compensation and a special resolution approving the return of capital. The virtual platform will be opened for voting on all 4 resolutions at the same time. This will allow you to choose to vote on each resolution immediately or wait until each resolution is presented to cast your vote. As described in detail in the information circular for today's meeting, registered shareholders who held shares on March 15, 2021, the record date for this meeting, and duly appointed proxy holders are entitled to vote at this meeting using electronic ballot. Our information circular and other proxy materials contained full details about how to register yourself or a proxy holder to participate at today's meeting. If you are not a registered shareholder or a duly appointed proxy holder, you are attending this meeting as a guest. Shareholders who have already voted by proxy do not need to complete an electronic ballot unless you wish to change your vote. Once all items of business have been presented, I will give you a few moments to enter your votes and then declare voting closed on all resolutions. Shareholders and proxy holders participating in our meeting through the virtual platform may submit a question at any time by clicking on the message icon displayed on your screen, composing a question and selecting the send icon. Following the formal business of the meeting, we would be happy to respond to any questions submitted through the virtual platform. As the scrutineers have now confirmed that a quorum of shareholders is present, I declare the meeting to be properly constituted and the virtual platform open for voting on all resolutions. The annual report, the consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report have been mailed to shareholders who have requested them. We would be pleased to deal with any relevant questions during the general question period. We will now proceed with the election of directors. The Board has determined that the number of directors to be elected at the meeting is 10. As Chair, I move that Gustavo Cisneros, Christopher Coleman, Michael Evans, Brian Greenspun, Brett Harvey, Anne Kabagambe, Andrew Quinn, Loreto Silva, John Thornton and myself be elected as Directors of Barrick. Please record your vote for directors through the virtual platform now. [Voting]

The next item of business is the appointment of an auditor. As Chair, I move that PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, be appointed auditor of Barrick to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders or until its successor is appointed and that the directors be authorized to set the auditor's remuneration. Please record your vote through the virtual platform now. [Voting]

The third item of business is the advisory resolution on executive compensation. The Board of Directors has adopted a nonbinding advisory vote relating to executive compensation. As Chair, I move that the advisory resolution regarding the company's approach to executive compensation as set forth in the information circular be approved. [Voting]

We will now consider the fourth and last item of business set out in the notice of meeting. Please note that I will close the virtual platform for voting after this item. So please ensure that you record your vote on all resolutions. Barrick is proposing a reduction in the capital in respect of Barrick's common shares, which would enable the company to distribute the same amount to its shareholders as a return of capital. As Chair, I move that the special resolution approving the capital reduction. In order to enable return of capital as set forth in the information circular be approved. Please record your vote through the virtual platform now. [Voting]

For those of you who have not voted on all of the resolutions, please do so now as I will shortly close the virtual voting platform. [Voting]

I now declare the voting platform closed, and the formal part of this meeting is now concluded. We will report the voting results once the scrutineers have tallied the votes. We would now be happy to respond to any questions relating to the business of the meeting. And as a reminder, shareholders and proxy holders participating in our meeting through the virtual platform may now submit a question by clicking on the message icon displayed on your screen, composing a question and selecting the send icon. We would like to give as many of you as possible an opportunity to participate. So please be reminded that all questions should be concise. Let's begin with our first question.

Mr. Chairman, I have 2 questions from Catherine Coumans. I'll read them out separately so that you can answer them in turn. My name is Catherine Coumans. In Papua New Guinea, the Prime Minister said Barrick's legal cases launched in the country and before an international tribunal forced him to sign a framework agreement to allow Barrick to continue mining in Porgera. If Barrick is granted a new mine lease in PNG, will Barrick finally create a fair grievance mechanism, together with the Porgerans to deal with the backlog of human rights cases, including rape and gang rape of women and violence against men by mine security?

So Catherine, I think you actually asked this question last year, but I'll repeat the answer. We have reached an agreement with the Papua New Guinea government to enter into a joint venture. That joint venture will be owned in a new Porgera company. 51% of the equity will be owned by the government and other Papua New Guinean entities and 49% will be owned by B&L which is a 50-50 joint venture between Zijin mining company and Barrick. We have a long-standing grievance procedure in the legacy Barrick. And again, we've refreshed that grievance process with the -- following the merger with Randgold and Barrick. Those incidents that you refer to go back quite some time. And Barrick has employed independent consultants and advisers to deal with those accusations and incidents. And we believe that, that is a closed chapter. What we are committed to is to continue to work in an open and transparent way. And our team during this period of no mining have worked very hard to bring down those number of grievances. And so I have no doubt that going forward, the Porgera mine will be properly managed as it has been for the last 28 years. And we will continue to deal with the grievances in a proper and responsible manner.

Okay. The second question from Catherine Coumans. Barrick mines are at the center of conflict and [ apprehension ] all over the world. Right now, Barrick is in court in the Philippines over the legacy of environmental contamination in Marinduque and in the U.K. over violence against the local Korea people by mine security at the North Mara mine in Tanzania. Will Barrick come to the table in both cases and remedy the harm done rather than increase suffering by delaying much needed action?

So again, Catherine, I'll answer the first question first, and that is the Philippines question. Barrick had a 39% ownership in that project. It again goes back to some time now. And again, I understand from memory and our due diligence that Barrick spent some $70 million on remediation. And we believe that, that matter was closed. And recently, some stakeholders -- historical stakeholders have raised that challenge again, and we are dealing with it as we speak. On the Tanzanian point, as again, I shared with you last year, we went through a whole process of dealing with those various accusations, which you detailed extensively last year, and you touched on them again this year. And we engaged with the NGO responsible for laying those claims along with the people involved. And we suggested that they approach us through our grievance procedure. Their concern was that, that didn't work. So we suggested that they then approach the courts in Tanzania to be able to challenge those particular events. And their claim there was that they felt they wouldn't get a fair hiring. So engaging with their legal counsel, we agreed to waive our jurisdiction and allow them to take their grievances to the London courts. So this is an agreed process because we do not believe that Barrick is liable or is not prepared, Barrick is not prepared to stand accused, and we believe that a competent court, a competent jurisdiction will finally lay to rest all these accusations. And so we are working through our legal counsel with their legal counsel on taking those matters to the London court, as you are fully aware of.

The following question is from Janice Marel Scotia McClard. My name is Jan Marel. I'm a proxy holder for Scotia McClard. My question is for 7 months, rural residents from [indiscernible] Peralvillo and Yamasa in Monte Plata in the Dominican Republic have peacefully requested your company's exit from their province and an end to the plans to build a tailings dam in [indiscernible]. On the morning of April 27 at 8:30 a.m., members of these communities were teargassed, bombed and shot by contingent of Dominican Police and military, who wants to make way for your staff to host a community dialogue on the Pueblo Viejo mine expansion. The communities resisted this dialogue and are currently demanding that Barrick abandon its plans to build a tailings dam above the source of the Ozama River. Given the community's opposition and the follow-up from the company to 450 families still living under El Llagal tailings dam, we want to know, will the company stop this [indiscernible] tailings dam in the Monte Plata province?

So again, I can only describe your reference as a gross exaggeration. We have, over the last year, been engaged with the community within the Pueblo Viejo region as well as the selected tailings site. We have we arranged a number of meetings, and we've held those meetings with the communities over the last year and a little bit more than that. And now we've started formal engagements. And we had more than 200 people sign up to come and listen to our management and discuss the tailings -- proposed tailings site and the implications of that project. What transpired was that a number of detractors, a handful, by the way, prevented the buses that were transporting the people who had signed up to come and listen to our staff from being able to arrive there. I don't believe there was anyone shot. There was a big disturbance and the police did use teargas to disperse a group of people. I think it's also important for you to understand that Pueblo Viejo, over the last -- since 2013 has paid 18% of all corporate tax in the Dominican Republic. In addition, it has undertaken the biggest rehabilitation of polluted water and damaged environment from the old owners of Pueblo Viejo. And we are absolutely committed, both as a joint venture in Pueblo Viejo and as Barrick as the managers to continue our commitment, as you heard our Chairman, to work in partnership with the communities and other stakeholders in being able to unlock the full potential of Pueblo Viejo, which we believe will be able to contribute to the Dominican Republic economy for the next more than 20 years. And this is a public process, which is completely engaging, considering all interested and affected stakeholders. And I would suggest that every single citizen of the Dominican Republic that has a potential to be impacted or interested in the expansion of Pueblo Viejo has the right to be heard and to listen to our proposals. And certainly, in partnership with the various authorities, both local and federal, we will continue to engage on this project. And we would suggest that the detractors also have clear lines of communication. We have invited them to join us in this engagement. And to this day, they have not approached us and engaged with us, but merely threatened physical violence to prevent these meetings from happening. So I hope that answers your question as you expected to.

I think we'll just -- we've opened up to get. So let's just give it a few moments to see if any are put through.

We now as Lois has said, we'd be happy to respond to relevant questions from individuals who registered on the online platform as guests. So shareholders, proxy holders and guests are now invited to submit a question by clicking on the message icon displayed on your screen, composing a question and selecting the send icon.

We're going to read these questions verbatim from the guests. [ Ali Schultz.] Hello. How do you see Sudan as a gold destination investment? Where else in the Middle East are you interested to invest in?

So [ Ali ], thank you for that question. We have looked at Sudan. As you know, Sudan has just come off the no-go list from the United States government. It has got plenty of gold. It is part of what we call the Nubian Shield, so very prospective. We have done some work, precursory work looking at Sudan, both the northern part and the southern part. The southern part is a little difficult to work in at the moment because of the security situation. But as we speak today, Barrick has no engagement or people in the country. On the Middle East, we have a partnership with Ma'aden in Saudi Arabia, and we are the operators of our Jabal Sayid copper mine and joint venture with Ma'aden. And we are working with Ma'aden to look at building a partnership to be able to fully evaluate the Arabian Shield. And just in case you might be interested, the Arabian Shield is across the Red Sea as the Nubian Shield. So that whole region is relatively under explored. And it does boast 1 significant gold mine in Egypt. And the question is, can we find other mines of that size across that geological province?

I have another question from [indiscernible] EYC consulting. Dear Mr. Bristow, my question is about Barrick's copper business. You have commented on different occasions during previous months that Barrick's interest in M&As for copper business will continue for growing the copper business in the company. I would like to ask that this M&A strategy for copper business is mainly focusing to acquire different single copper assets from different copper mining companies? Or is it targeted to make an acquisition of a copper mining company with all its assets?

So we were very vocal about our proposal to engage in discussion with Freeport on a merger. This is going back some time now when copper price was a lot lower and the market cap of Freeport was a lot lower as well. That didn't happen, and the copper price has gone up. But as you know, I have repeatedly said, Barrick is very focused on high-quality copper assets just as it is focused on being a primary gold mining company. We have 3 copper mines, 2 are joint ventures, 1 with Antofagasta in Chile called Zaldivar and one with Ma'aden, as I've just referenced, in Saudi Arabia. And the third, we own outright in Zambia. Copper is an important contributor to the bottom line of Barrick. And with the recent rise in the copper prices, it is making a 20% contribution to Barrick's business as we speak today based on spot prices, that's the gold and copper spot prices. If you look at our website, we are very clear on our investment filters. Our primary focus, of course, is gold and Tier 1 assets. That means assets that have the potential to produce more than 500,000 ounces a year for more than 10 years in the bottom half of the cost curve. We also look for opportunities where we have particularly porphyry copper and gold deposits, where copper and gold come together geologically. And we have looked and we have some potential projects that could deliver both gold and copper production from a single mine. We have also said that we would look at copper projects, and we have geologists focused on exploring for copper projects when they meet our Tier 1 asset definition. And we've also said that we would look to invest in specific pure copper opportunities, we're now in a country where we believe we have a competitive advantage over and above the traditional copper miners. So I hope that addresses your question adequately enough.

I'm going to take the next one about Porgera and PV first. From [ Laura Sanders, PSF Communications ]. One of the main demands from the communities in Porgera and near Pueblo Viejo for years has been resettlement away from your mines as our environmental disasters, what have you done to accommodate this demand?

Well, we've resettled many families across the Barrick portfolio, whether it's in the DRC where we resettled, we did one of the -- or the biggest resettlement project in Africa for mining. We've resettled in Zambia, West Africa, other parts of South America. And the specific points you make, let's deal with Pueblo Viejo first. Again, that question was raised last year at the same time, Laura, and again, those particular families that have been making noise around Pueblo Viejo are families that relocated to where they are today, and they are wanting to be resettled. It wasn't the case of families that were impacted by the mine construction. I would add, however, that we are engaged with them, and we are prepared to try and find a solution where we don't do 100% relocation, but that we negotiate something which addresses their issue. But right now, they shouldn't be where they are. On Porgera, we have similar challenges. And again, we've been working on relocating, and we have relocated many, many families in Porgera. We deal with the land owners who own the land and who have a stake in the mine. Again, some of those land owners, a bigger part and some of those claimants have moved into the special mining license area and demanded effectively held the company at ransom. Again, we are engaged with those families. And one of the big challenges in Porgera is finding land to be able to relocate people, too. And again, those families are not families which fall under the definition of who we would relocate at our expense because they moved in after the mine was developed. And this is very easy to share with you because we've got satellite images of the mine over time. And we can show you when they moved into the areas. There are, however, specific families that have been impacted, particularly in Porgera, by the expanding footprint of the mine. And we are engaged in relocating them. The big challenge, again, is land, and we need the government to work with us to relocate those people into land where -- and again, we have identified land. We are in the process of creating ownership of that land so that we can not only relocate the person to a home, but also, they will receive a title deed so that they own that asset, which I can assure you, that's the key foundation of generating a local economy is by giving people real ownership of the land, whereas most of these -- most of the land around Porgera is owned by land owners and not by the individual homeowners. So we are working on it, and we will continue to work on it as we do right across the group.

There's another one from Laura, and I think you'd like to answer it. Communities near Pueblo Viejo mine are worried about the tailings dam, which they say leaches toxins -- sorry, this has just -- start over. Communities near Pueblo Viejo mine are worried about the tailings dam, which they say leaches toxins and also has overflowed multiple times. What is Barrick doing to secure the safety of this tailings dam?

So Laura, it's just not true. Our Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic is not contaminating the environment or affecting the health of local communities, agriculture and livestock. The opposite, however, is true, as I indicated in one of my earlier answers. Pueblo Viejo is responsible for the largest environmental cleanup in the country's history, cleaning up damage left behind by the mine's previous operator. Allegations of contamination have been dismissed by local courts, which cited government reports that concluded that the alleged contamination is not connected to Barrick operations, but rather to pre-existing conditions in the region. And I would also point out that our water that we release back into the environment, in most cases, is of better quality than the actual water in the waterways in which we release water back into the environment. So again, if you have a real interest in this, and you're not just agitating at our meeting today, you are most welcome to come and visit the mine and work with our environmental people and witness firsthand the work that we're doing in our rehabilitation and the way we manage the environment at Pueblo Viejo.

Again following up on ESG. [ Chris Paulens ], self-employed freelance. At a recent mining conference, you were talking about ESG and said everyone uses metals for mining every day, but it's an unloved industry, and we've got to change that. How is Barrick currently working to change that?

Hello, Chris, thank you very much. We are -- 46% of all economic activity is driven by mining globally. And so the point I made, and you correctly quote me we have such a major contribution to everybody's everyday life. I don't know where you live. But if you -- wherever you are, if you just look around yourself and you take away everything that has been created through mining, you'll feel very exposed. How are we doing it? Well, the first thing is our mission is to become the most valued mining company in the world. What does that mean? It means that we want people to want to work for us. We want our host countries to want to have us in the country. And of course, we want investors to want to own us, not just invest in us, but actually own us for the long term. How do you do that? Well, ESG is an important component of that, but it's more than that. It's a partnership with one's community. It's about being acceptable to future generations. How do we do that? Well, we reach out and look to employ younger people. Mining is an old person's industry, and Barrick has really been focused on changing our demographics, most importantly, changing our age profile, engaging with our communities. And again, our ability to be able to partner with our communities and our host governments and states in the fight against COVID-19 has been a real true example of how you can work together in partnership for the benefit of everyone. And I think in the modern-day today, young people want to work for a company that makes a difference, not only that produces dividends and pays taxes, but that genuinely makes a difference. And I can tell you, I visit all our operations at least every 3 months, and we do make a difference. Of course, we can improve. And everyone -- and ESG is the latest sort of topic of debate in mining. And everyone really migrates to the environment. But it's the S part of ESG that's so critical for this modern world. And that brings social engagement and upliftment of those many, many people that are constantly left behind by society. And we all sit in fancy homes in developed countries -- or most of us do, and we don't even know about the hardship and poverty in places like Central and East Africa, Papua New Guinea, parts of South America. We do. We work with those people. We give them jobs. We give them hope and pride and an opportunity to participate and develop their skills and work in a well paying industry. So that's how we plan to make Barrick that most valued mining company going forward.

Okay. Just 2 more questions. Is Barrick considering -- it's from Michael Sullivan, is Barrick considering expanding into other mineral mining opportunities, such as rare earth material?

So Michael, as we've touched on today, and I've touched on many times before. Our copper interest is real and it comes -- it is there because of 2 things. Gold is a precious metal. Copper is probably the most strategic metal, and it's geologically related to gold. So if you want to become a world-leading gold company in the fullness of time, you are going to end up producing gold. On the other metals, occasionally, we do get precious -- I mean, rare earth metals that come with our deposits. And we have a specific one in Phoenix in Nevada, where we've got a lithium component to the orebody. And we will certainly make sure that we either partner with somebody who knows how to refine and process that metal or we will do it ourselves. But we are not looking to undergo a wide diversification away from our core metal, which is gold.

Okay. And finally, from Mihajlovic, Aleksandra, AleMi Partners GmbH, will there be share buybacks from Barrick?

As you saw today, we have -- our shareholders have approved a capital return to shareholders. There are many different ways to reward our owners and shareholders with returns. As we've said, share buybacks are one, capital returns are another and, of course, dividends are the same. The issue about share buybacks, there is always a good logic in certain circumstances to buy back shares. In fact, in my previous life in Randgold Resources, when we discovered and developed Randgold into a very profitable business, we did a compulsory share buyback as a way to distribute the proceeds of our first real world-class discovery. And that's a good way to do it. I've always personally felt that a company issues shares, so why buy them back? But again, there are times when we will, and I can assure you that it's a topic of discussion and debate at our Board level from time to time.

Thank you, Mark. That's all.

Have we received report from scrutineers? Dana? We're waiting. Dana, can we progress then to the Scrutineer's report?

Yes, Mark.

So now we'll turn to the voting results. The scrutineers have confirmed that each of the 10 Director nominees named in the information circular has been elected with at least 90% of of the votes in favor. The appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditor has been approved with approximately 90% of the votes in favor. The advisory resolution on the company's executive compensation approach has been approved with approximately 91% of the votes in favor. And the special resolution approving the return of capital has been approved with approximately 99% of the votes in favor. Detailed final results of all the items of business at today's meeting will be filed on SEDAR. Ladies and gentlemen, may I thank you for attending our annual and special meeting today? And I wish you a good rest of the day.