Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ:PAAS) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ignacio Couturier : That’s a great question and just following up on what Steve just said, our forecast is for it to be backend loaded and as usual, there is heavy taxes being paid in the first half of the year plus some extra capital. So, we will be able to pay our dividends in the first half of the year without drawing from our credit facility, but the bulk of the free cash flow does come in the second half of the year.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] And your next question comes on the line of Don DeMarco from National Bank Financial.

Don DeMarco : First question, you had some strong cost performance in Q4 at a couple of your flagship mines both quarter-over-quarter and relative to 2024 guidance. So, I’m referring to El Penon Q4 ASIC $1,178, midpoint in guidance is $1,250, Jacobina $1,022, and the midpoint of the ‘24 guidance is $1,300. So in light of this Q4, are you feeling more confident on guidance at these mines and maybe even tracking the lower end of the ranges?

Michael Steinmann : We feel very confident with the guidance we put out for those mines, which does show a modest inflation rate that we’ll absorb like 5% to 7%. We’ve got some wage adjustments that we believe need to be made in Brazil and some added payroll costs that we have to look at there. So I think what we forecasted out we’re quite confident of there is some potential upside to those things, but it’s really driven on productivity. That’s really where we’re focusing our efforts there. But I think from the cost side, we’re pretty confident in our guidance today.

Steve Busby: Just to add here, don’t forget that a big impact to our costs, if we have more than one product at the mine is to buy product credit from our byproduct metal, so that metal price has a big impact. And last but not least, currencies. So foreign currencies have — and can have a big impact. You saw that in Mexico, where obviously a bit of a strong pace. So that was kind of a headwind on the cost side for us. It can be very strong tailwinds as well. So those are the things that we have no control over. But yes, we are very confident with our guidance over the items that we controlling.

Don DeMarco : So just shifting to Escobal then the IOL consultation meetings resumed and a meeting was held yesterday. It’s good to hear that the new minister was present. Is there any feedback from this initial meeting or insight into the next meeting or on any next steps?

Michael Steinmann : Yes, it was the Vice Minister that was present yesterday. It was the first meeting after a few weeks of transition with the new government. The government that has indicated to us to be committed to the ILO 169 process, of course, there was some time needed to transition and integrate the new government. That’s absolutely normal and you’re correct, the last meeting was yesterday. I think there are some working meetings planned here for the future. But for us really looking forward to continue the process with all the parties involved and there will be for sure, I guess, from time to time updates on the MEM website for the consultation. So just have a look in there for updates from the MEM directly.

Don DeMarco : And final question then, with producer valuations, where they are in the market right now, call it depressed? Are your plans for asset divestment maybe deprioritized until valuations recover?

Steve Busby: Not really. I mean, it depends obviously on the valuation and prices we got. I think we have been very successful divesting assets last year at very, very successful prices and royalties, I think. And most of these projects are especially like last year when you looked at MARA, these are long-term projects, big buyers, big companies. They look at very, very long or much longer timeframe than just current metal prices. So I don’t think so that it really impacts a lot their valuation when they look at assets. And I see that continuing into this year. So all depends on the prices, on the valuations we get from potential buyers this year, but now I’m very confident that we can continue that write down and divest from assets this year.