McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE:MUX) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Rob McEwen: Bill, once again, could you jump in?

William Shaver: Yes. So, I guess the potential upside at Gold Bar South is that we will have — once we get up to full operations, which we’re very close to now, we will have the ability to ramp up production to a higher level. I don’t think we’ve completely figured out exactly what that capability is. And one of the things we have to be a bit careful with is that the life of this pit is relatively short. It’s between 12 and 18 months. So, we want to make sure that we run the operation is — in a very efficient manner to make sure that we optimize the — optimize not necessarily maximize the production out of the pit. And we also have to make sure that we get the right recoveries from the operation. At the same time, at Gold Bar, we also need to expand our leach pad this year, and that work is now getting underway and will be completed sometime in the late summer, August, September.

So those are some of the complicating factors, But, so far, as I mentioned earlier, we’re right on budget and on schedule in terms of production. And it’s — now, I guess, the thing we’re not absolutely clear on is what the recovery will be from this ore, although early indications are that the recovery will be higher than what we have in our study. So, I think, we’re looking good for the future. It’s a question of managing all of our operating costs. We need a little bit of cash to do some exploration work. And I think all of that can happen out of Gold Bar to ensure we know where we’re going next after Gold Bar South.

Rob McEwen: Heiko, in terms of applying what we’re doing at other sites, this contractor is specific to this mine and I don’t think they’ll go — we’ll be using them at other sites at this point.

Heiko Ihle: No, I didn’t mean physically move them over. I meant, more of the techniques. But that was helpful nonetheless. My next question was going to be pointing out your market cap, still you own 52% of McEwen Copper and that’s $286 million right there, which puts a $100 million on the rest of the company. Including net debt, you’re still looking at $100 million, $120 million, $130 million or whatever. You did a, I think, terrific job describing how you plan on unlocking all of this earlier on the call, to that I thank you. The one thing I think I’d like to see just a touch more color on is the management time priorities for the senior team for the company. I assume there’s at least some people that are going to have some overlap, and how you expect time priorities to be spent, please?

Rob McEwen: Michael has done a wonderful job of assembling a very seasoned Argentinian management team, which are handling much of what’s going on in McEwen Copper at Los Azules. And then, we have oversight from Toronto on the financing and also the other property, Elder Creek, which is largely being run — the program will be run by Rio Tinto’s Kennecott copper arm over the next number of years. Michael, perhaps you could talk about the team you’ve assembled and their backgrounds?