Ero Copper Corp. (NYSE:ERO) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Stefan Ioannou: Thanks very much guys. Just wondering, is there — can you provide any more color just on the exploration at Caraiba, whether copper or nickel even?

David Strang: Yes, Stefan. The program remains ongoing. We would have liked to had a — and I had spoken in previous quarters of having a more fruitful discussion with the marketplace with respect to our advancement of the nickel opportunities. Unfortunately, the A&M, which is the government organization that manages the management of mineral licenses and exploration licenses in Brazil went on strike in the middle part of the year. And that strike now ended has had an effect with respect to our ability to both close some transactions that we have been working on, as well as some auctions that the government was going to run. That has resulted in us having to delay the discussion with the marketplace with regards to what we are starting to uncover with respect to the nickel exploration.

However, Mike and the team are continuing to explore on the areas that we have been able to explore. We have expanded the exploration program into two to three other areas. And the fact that Mike and the team have still got drill rigs turning. It’s the best I can tell you with regards to the success rate that we’re having there right now. But it is our hope that sometime we’ve got to be super careful about giving a timeline with regards to when we can talk more fruitfully about our nickel program. I would love it to be the first quarter of next year. I doubt it will be probably be somewhere in the second quarter that we can have a more fruitful discussion. However, as the exploration program continues and we have anything material that we feel we would like to discuss with the market on nickel results, we will do so in a timely manner.

Stefan Ioannou: Okay. Great. That’s very helpful. So I guess timing aside, obviously, a lot is going on to just stay tuned then.

David Strang: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like everything else, we’d love to put out the quarterly exploration results. I mean we’re having success in some programs that we’re doing both in the Pilar mine itself, again, we’ve had success in some work that we’ve been doing at Vermelhos, in terms of some exploration there and some extension work there. We have done some work on some copper in the Vermelhos district, some very deliberately interesting results there. Our exploration program at Xavantina, has gone incredibly well, and the team have done a lot of great work there, particularly around extensions to the San Antonio vein system. So lots of good work that the team are doing in a number of different areas within our exploration program. And we hope to be able to continue, as I said, to be able to talk more fruitfully about things in the new year.

Stefan Ioannou: Okay. Great. That’s very helpful. And then just one other question, just with shifting back to sort of the Tucuma area and I guess, Furnas, there was — previously, there were sort of high-level sort of talking of — thinking about Tucuma in sort of in the greater context of a hub-and-spoke model. Furnas is kind of in the same area, but maybe a bit too far away to be hub and spoke, if I read between the lines. Is there still other opportunities that you’re seeing there as well to feed into that strategy over time? Or is Furnas kind of the next step for, call it, the Carajas and Ero Copper?

David Strang: Well, no. I think whether Furnas was in the Carajas or whether Furnas was somewhere else in Brazil, Furnas, in and of itself, is a great opportunity for our company. With regards to Tucuma, it is a foundational asset in the Western Carajas. And as such, we and Mike and the team are broadening their [Technical Difficulty] on regional exploration in and around Tucuma and the area there. There are some opportunities potentially that other people have looked at. We are evaluating these. They were a little bit earlier stage. But we certainly feel we’re starting to get our feet wet in terms of the foundation that we have built in the Western Carajas and the opportunities to potentially grow our business there. I think it’s very much a stay tuned thing right now to what’s happening in the Western Carajas.

Stefan Ioannou: Okay great. Well, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

Operator: The next question comes from Craig Hutchison of TD Securities. Please go ahead.

Craig Hutchison: Hi, good morning, guys. Just with regards to Tucuma the $305 million, can you just provide some clarity in terms of how much of that $305 million is left to spend, just the kind of cash component?

Makko DeFilippo: Yeah. Sure, Craig. So, Craig, this is Makko again. So right now, physical completion — as of the end of September, physical completion reached 70%, as you know. Our physical spend is tracking just behind that. So we’re about 50% complete on direct project expenditures through the end of September.

Craig Hutchison: Okay. Great. And then just in terms of liquidity, I recognize you guys have a fairly strong liquidity position now, but if copper prices sort of languish here for the next few quarters, are you concerned at all about your liquidity position? And any kind of thoughts in terms of bolstering that through an upsize of your credit facility or some other non-dilutive needs between now and sort of mid next year when the project is complete?

David Strang: Yeah. Thanks for that, Craig. Like any company that has got major capital programs, we are constantly working with respect to scenario analysis on various metal prices with regards to — as we’ve seen with exchange rates and anything we can do with regards to mitigating that. At current metal price levels, we’re generally pretty comfortable but you can’t run a company on that basis. You have to look at risk and manage risk around that in various scenarios and doing a scenario planning with respect to that. We’re in the process of doing that. We do it constantly. And we’re looking at all the levers that we have with regards to making sure that the company is protected in such a way that we can deliver Tucuma on time, and be able to bring that great operation into production.