Largo Inc. (NASDAQ:LGO) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Steven Silver: That’s helpful. And 1 last one, if I can. You mentioned the downturn in consumable costs beginning in the most recent quarter. Just trying to get a sense as to whether there are any other input metrics that you’re looking at besides certain carbonate that you’re watching that could kind of get in the way of a more sustained consumable cost decline moving forward?

Daniel Tellechea: Yes, there are another 2 that they were watching very closely. One is sulfuric acid that has been almost even between 2022 and 2023. That is an important one. And the other 1 is the cost of the reagents that they were using in order to recover the ilmenite. So those are the ones that we have been noticing that it has been coming down from our original projections in that particular case. But in the case of the plan, because Silica is the enemy in the recovery of the kill for vanadium. That is the most important 1 that they were following. Vis-a-vis just to give you an idea on the sodium carbonate, in 2023 vis-a-vis our original budget, we have around BRL 10 million of savings compared between the real price we are getting vis-a-vis our budget and around 4.4 million compared to 2022. So sodium carbonate, which is the main one, has been softening incredible in our favor. To forecast, as I said, is almost even in our cost structure.

Operator: The next question comes from Mike Heim from Noble Capital Markets.

Michael Heim: You’ve taken several steps to improve the grade issues. My question is, how quickly should we expect to see grade improvement?

Daniel Tellechea: Well, grades will continue more or less at this level during the last quarter and a little bit higher for 2024. Or just to give you an idea of the elements considered in the grades. The magnetics that they were mining in candle for 2023 is around 19% magnetics during 2023. We are expecting according to our infill drilling that will increase to 22% in year 2024. Now what the Largo has been doing in order to offset the effect of the lower magnetics in the last quarter of ’23 and ’24 is the main reason why we invest in the new drive mark, which means that all the disseminated ore that they were mining and will continue mining is being concentrated in the drive back in order to keep the same the same rate that the we need for feeding the concentrates into the kill. So that is more or less the way we are looking into the future grades and the guide for this last quarter.

Michael Heim: And then for my second question, in terms of the cost reduction you’ve done, including reducing the number of contractors at the mines. Do you feel comfortable that you have adequate resources to make the projections you just gave for 2024? And if numbers were to grow in years beyond 2024, would you need to reverse some of these cost reductions?

Daniel Tellechea: Well, if you are talking about the mine, I think that with the change in the contractor last — what it was July, August of this year, — and our latest negotiation with them, we change that we will continue mining in the order of 1.5 million tonnes per month. So that is already negotiated. That is already in place. The equipment and the manpower to run the mine from the contractor point of view is there and negotiated. We got a discount on a ton per move — a ton per [indiscernible] mine. So that is already there. So I don’t see any major issues in the performance of the bank of the mine for the last quarter or going forward. Now in respect to the plant, most of the issues and things that you are going to see in the last quarter and basically by January next year, is number one, an increase in capacity in the Midland that will require a minimum investment in order to put the 2 mills in parallel instead of changing what the way they are working today, which is 1 after the other.