SSR Mining Inc. Price & Performance (SSRM)

Thank you for joining today's conference call to discuss SSR Mining's fourth quarter and full year financial [indiscernible] consolidated financial statements have been presented in accordance with U. S. GAAP. These financial statements have been filed on EDGAR, SEDAR, the ASX, and are also available on our website. There is an online webcast accompanying this call You will find the information to access the webcast in this afternoon's news release and on our corporate website.

Please note that all figures discussed during the call are in U. S. Dollars unless otherwise indicated. Today's discussion will include forward looking statements. So please read disclosures in the relevant documents. Additionally, refer to non GAAP financial measures during our discussion and in the accompanying slides. Please see our press release for information about the comparable GAAP measures. Rod Antal, Executive Chairman will be joined by Michael Sparks, Chief Financial Officer and Bill McNeven, EVP, Operations and Sustainability on today's call. I will now turn the line over to Rod. [indiscernible] Thanks, Alex. I want to start today's call by acknowledging that February 13, marked a one year anniversary of the tragic incident at Choepla. An emotional memorial service was held outside to reflect on the nine lost colleagues.

This incident has left an indelible mark on all of us here at SSR and I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication demonstrated by everyone across this entire organization in 2024. We have made good progress at Cherpla. Especially in recent months. Constructive discussions continue with the relevant Turkish authorities on a pathway to advance the restart of the operations. Bill will provide further updates on the current activities at Shepler later in the call. Now looking at our results for 2024. I'm pleased to report that we closed the year on a strong note with solid operating results, a year over year increase to our consolidated reserves and a major strategic announcement with the acquisition of Cripple Creek and Victor Mine As a result, CC and V will increase our scale, free cash flow and portfolio diversification and we have made excellent progress on the integration planning since announcing the transaction in December. [indiscernible] 2025 cost and production guidance including CC and B will be released shortly after the transaction closes in the coming weeks.

Looking forward, and as we progress our efforts at SSR, we have several important priorities and catalysts on horizon in 2025. These include The delivery of a technical report and updated life of mine plan for CCMB advancing Hot Madden towards a construction decision continued progress on an updated and extended life of mine for Puna, including potential laybacks in Chichers, And Evaluation Of A Longer Term Potential Of Cortadiras. Advancing The Buffalo Valley deposit at Marigold which now hosts more than 500,000 ounces its maiden reserve ongoing exploration activities across as we evaluate other opportunities for mine life extension at each one of the operations, and most importantly continuing to advance Copler to Aresta. I also want to highlight two significant mile achieved by SSR team in 2024. At Marigold, we celebrated 5,000,000 ounces of life of mine gold production from the asset on December 30. A huge accomplishment and a testament to the quality of the mine and the team. Additionally, Puna produced 10,500,000 ounces of silver in 2024 is a record for the operations fifteen years life and hitting the top end of its previously increased production guidance.

We are proud of our team in Argentina for the efforts in building Puna in into one of the premier silver mines.

SSR let's turn to Slide four for a discussion on the MRMR update. Our consolidated reserves totaled 8,000,000 gold equivalent ounces at the end of 'twenty four. Excluding any contributions from CC and V, or Hot Madam.

This was a 3% increase over '23 after mine depletion. Which is a strong result that showcases the success of our resource development drilling. Notably, Marigold's reserves increased 14% year over year driven by the declaration of a 523,000 ounce made in reserve for Buffalo Valley which will be a key life of mine extension opportunity for Marigold going forward. SSR also worth noting that metal price changes were not a material driver in this reserve growth. Gold price assumptions at Copler and CB unchanged from 2023 while Marigold and Puna increased their metal price assumptions by just 3% over the prior year. Our gold equivalent resources exclusive of reserves, were down just 1% year over year despite the strong reserve conversion and unchanged metal price assumptions, Gold only M and I resources increased 9% over '23 driven in part by continued resource additions at CB. Further, the addition of both Hot Madden and CC and V will deliver meaningful reserve and resource growth in 2025. And we will continue advancing resource development activities across the portfolio as we strive to extend mine lines at each one of the producing assets. This includes the progress at Marigold's new millennium and Buffalo Valley deposits, [indiscernible] and at Puna, the Cordadares project, Now I'm going to hand the call over to Michael to discuss the quarter on Slide number five.

Thanks Rod and good afternoon everyone. The fourth quarter of twenty twenty four was our strongest of the year with 124 gold equivalent ounces produced at all in sustaining costs of $18.57 per ounce. For the full year, we produced 399,000 gold equivalent ounces, at AISC of $18.78 dollars per ounce. Combined to produce 371,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2024 and an AISC of $15.42 SSR ounce. As a reminder, under U. S. GAAP, do not adjust for care and maintenance costs incurred during the year and the cash impact of these expenses are reflected in our AISC numbers. Excluding the approximately $178 per ounce of cash care and maintenance costs incurred at Choeppler and CB in Q4, AISC for the quarter was $16.79 dollars per ounce. For the full year, excluding care and maintenance costs, AISC was $16.99 per ounce. At Schopler, full year reclamation and remediation spend was $128,000,000 We also spent approximately $14,000,000 advancing bringing full year spend at the project to $42,000,000 as we progress engineering and preliminary site development activities Lastly, as Rod mentioned, we had a good year at the drill bit in 2024 and look forward to continued advancement of these brownfield opportunities in 2025.

Moving to our financial results. [indiscernible] We recorded attributable net income of $0.03 per diluted share in the fourth quarter and adjusted net income of $0.1 per diluted share. Care and maintenance costs at Choeppler Zvi which totaled $36,000,000 in the fourth quarter, accounts for $0.18 per diluted share Fourth quarter operating cash flow was $95,000,000 and free cash flow was $56,000,000 a very strong result to close out 2024. We finished the year with $388,000,000 in total cash, a net cash position of $158,000,000 and total liquidity of approximately $890,000,000 With this existing liquidity and an outlook for continued free cash flow generation in 2025, we have closed the year in a strong position financially and we are well positioned to manage remediation costs at Shareplar as well as our reinvestment needs across the business. Furthermore, we expect CCMB will contribute immediate free cash flow to our business upon integration enabling a rapid payback of the transaction's $100,000,000 upfront consideration particularly at these gold prices. Now over to Bill for Slide eight. Thanks, Michael. I'll start with a brief update on Cherbar. In the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, we continued to advance reclamation and remediation activities at site.

And we have now removed all of the spliced heap leach material from the Civilly Valley We are continuing discussions with Turkish government officials around the final remediation plan at Copa. Positively, we continue to note public commentary from Turkish officials affirming that there was no recordable contamination to local soil, water or air in the location samples. Following the incident, we commissioned Cole and Nicholas Inc.

Or C and I an international mining consultant firm to conduct an independent review of the Chirpla heap leach failure. This was an important body of work for us as we sought to determine the cause of the Sherpa incident. C and I determined the most likely cause of the triple incident was a deep rooted flaw in the third party engineering design.

Of the ePlex pad. [indiscernible] an overestimation of the sheer strength properties of the liner system at the base of ePLEACH.

This era inflated the calculated factor of safety and resulted in in insufficient share strength along the Leiner interface to support the as designed heap leach facility. C and I also determined that in all material aspects, The heap leach pad construction and operation was carried out in conformance with the issued for construction engineered design parameters. That there was no substantiation excess water ground vibrations from blasting or stacking beyond the design caused the event. Outcomes provide clarity and understanding for our team on the ground as we seek to restart the Copler mine. And we continue to work closely with relevant authorities on this front. As Hermanda expect Copler could be restarted within twenty days from the seat of the necessary permits with initial operations consisting of processing a combination of stockpiled ore, and ore mine from Shakmaktepe whilst the remediation work continues. Now let's move on to Slide eight for some commentary on Marigold. Marigold produced 60,000 ounces in the fourth quarter, its strongest period of the year and marking 5,000,000 ounces of total production over the mine's thirty five year operating life.

This is a significant milestone for Inni Mokal mine and is a clear testament to the quality of the people we have on the ground in Nevada For the full year, Marigold produced 160,000 ounces, a Naesik of $17.11 dollars per ounce, With costs reflecting increased royalty expenses, given the current gold price, and also continued cost pressures with spec to OEM components. We expect these costs to remain elevated in 2025. As Rod noted in the MR update, We made some great progress with Bramfield exploration and studies.

At Buffalo Valley.

Enabling the declaration of a 523,000 ounce maiden mineral reserve at the deposit. We also delivered mineral resource growth at New Millennium, and will continue to advance brownfield drilling activity at Marigold 2025 to build on these positive outcomes. Now on to CB on Slide nine. Operations restarted CB on October 11.

And the mine closed the year with its strongest quarter of 2024 with production in 28,000 ounces, at an ASIC of $12.14 dollars per ounce. This strong production was driven by higher than expected head growth which averaged 9.7 grams per tonne in the quarter. Thanks to the strong fourth quarter, Seabee finished the year above its previously revised production guidance. With 79,000 ounces ASIC and an ASIC of $15.15 dollars per ounce. The team continued evaluating the drilling at the Porque And Porque West targets in 2024. Which helped deliver an 88% increase in measured and indicated mineral resources for Seabee. We're advancing further drilling and technical studies to better delineate the opportunity to potentially extend the operating life at Seabee, through both additional mineralization at Santoy and a potential new development pathway at the Borki targets. Now on to Puna. Puna produced 3,000,000 ounces of silver in the fourth quarter, driving record full year production of 10,500,000 ounces of silver. This production meant the top end of Perna's previously increased guidance, to a truly exceptional year for the operation. Full year ACK Uperna was $15.56 per ounce, delivering significant free cash flow margins in the current silver [indiscernible] We made good project evaluating life extension opportunities at Puna in 2024.

Including at both Chinchillas Pit and Cortadero's target.

We expect to be in a position to provide further updates on these initiatives within 2025 and are excited to be in a position to build on Perna's recent success by delivering a longer mine life and continued economic benefits for our [indiscernible] Before I turn back to Rod, I would quickly speak to the Cripple Creek and Victor acquisition. I personally overseen the integration process since we announced the transaction in December. And I'm confident we are positioned to realize significant value from CCV right out of the gate. Our due diligence identified meaningful opportunities to build on the sizable mineral reserves and resources that already exist at the asset. And we look forward to demonstrating other opportunities to deliver additional value the asset and an updated life of mine plan for CCNB within 2025. I'm thrilled to bring an asset and team of this caliber into our portfolio. Look forward to discussing our long term plans for the mine in the near future. I'll turn back to Rod for closing remarks. Thank you, Bill, and thanks, Michael. When I close this call at the end of the third quarter, I noted that we were looking forward to a strong close in 2024.

I'm happy to say that we delivered on those expectations and we look forward to continuing this positive momentum by delivering a number of catalysts in 2025. With the CC and V transaction closing in the coming weeks, we have added another long lived and free cash flow generative asset to our portfolio and we look forward to sharing consolidated production and cost outlook for the company before the end of the quarter. At the same time, we continue to diligently advance towards a potential restart of operations at Copler. Copler is a meaningful contributor to the local and national economies in Turkey, and we are keen to return to operations while we continue the remediation and reclamation efforts in 2025 and beyond.

Proud of the tremendous resilience of our teams and the business demonstrated in 2024, We have entered a new year with renewed optimism And while we have a busy year ahead, we look forward to surfacing value across all of our assets in 2025. So with that, I'm going to turn the call over to operator for questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ental. We will now begin the question and answer session.