Good morning, shareholders. I declare open this general assembly of Mineros S.A. Please read today's agenda.
Good morning.
Good morning. Agenda for today's general assembly of Mineros S.A. First, we have to verify quorum and open the assembly. Second, we have to approve today's agenda. Third, appoint the committee for revising and accepting the minutes, reading and approval of management system. Fifth is presentation of financial statements up to December 31st, 2021. Sixth, the reading of the tax counselor. Seventh, approval of financial statements separate and consolidated up to December 31st. Eighth is presentation of an approval of a profit distribution project. Ninth, consulting vote of the board of directors. 10 th is the election of the board of directors, 2023, 2024. 11th is the determination of the salaries of the board of directors. 12th, appointment of the tax advisor, tax reviser. 13th, proposals and others.
First, again, we're going to confirm that we have the quorum. Ready? Well, I will first like to indicate that this assembly was appointed as indicated by legal regulations in the webpage on February 21st and March 13th, 2023. With regards to the actions in TSX, the company has opted for using the different provisions for notifying and for accessing in accordance with applicable law. The company has also made available for shareholders all the required documents. Except any objections, I will proceed. I will ask you to not read the announcement with regards to the delivery, and I would like to indicate that we have proof that this meeting was done in accordance with the statutes of the company and Canadian standards, Canadian norms.
Once we have all the actions and the credentials issued for this meeting, I would like to inform that we have accredited 178 million 303,022 shares, equivalent to 50.965% of the actions in circulation, therefore, we have a quorum to deliver it. I would also like to indicate that neither the administrators or the employees of the company are representing any foreign shares. Therefore, we declare that the assembly has been legally open. Second item of the agenda, approval of today's agenda.
Yes, as shareholders, the elections of the assembly are going to be done by acclamation as long as possible. I would like to ask you to raise your hand in case you disagree with some of the positions that we're going to be speaking. Do you approve today's agenda?
Does anyone disagree? Approved. Third, appointment of the revision commission, of the commission for approving and accepting the assembly's meeting. I would like to appoint Ana Marcela Díaz García and Álvaro Escobar Restrepo as the delegates to form the committee to revise and approve the minutes of this meeting. Do you agree with this, the shareholders? Does anyone disagree? Let's continue. Fourth on the agenda, reading and approval of the management system.
Shall I begin? Dear shareholders, today, this year, the management system was prepared in accordance with Memorando 012 from the financial superintendents. This makes it a more extensive document, and it also has a different structure compared to previous years. We're going to present a summary of the activities during 2022.
I would like to clarify that the complete document can be found in the booklet that we have placed on your seat, and also on the separate financial statements that we published on the website since February 20th. Let's begin with the general aspects of Mineros S.A. We are a gold mining company headquartered in Medellín, Colombia, and we have diversified operations in productions and in development. These operations are located in Central and South America. Our mines in operation include operations of the property in Nechí Alluvial in Colombia, HEMCO in Nicaragua, and Gualcamayo in Argentina as well. Additionally, we have a series of different development projects or growth projects such as Porvenir in Nicaragua and the Luna Roja exploration frontals in that country. We have the Deep Carbonates Project in Argentina as well.
In earlier stages, meaning exploration stages, we have the exploration, Caribbean exploration front in Nicaragua and the Guintär-Niverengo exploration front, Margaritas in Colombia in the region of Anzá. 20% of a property in La Pepa, another exploration project in Chile. We have more than 48 years of experience. So far, we are in the Colombian Stock Exchange under the symbol Mineros and in the Toronto Stock Exchange under the MSA symbol. We're going to speak about litigation, legal processes and risk. Currently, there are no litigations, legal processes, nor administrative processes for Mineros that affect Mineros and that might affect materially its operations or its current financial situation.
With regards to risk. You can find detailed risk information on the printed document, I would like to mention the risks that we feel are the main risk, based on the risk analysis that we conduct with the Audit and Risk Committee. One risk is the risk of the prices of precious metals. Gold price, for instance, is determined in the international market. The company has no control with regards to the determination of that price. We manage this risk through hiring financial derivatives with the idea of reducing variability of the income, especially for our operations that have the smallest margins. These coverages are done with zero cost coverages, so we can set up the base, so we can meet the EBITDA objectives, the EBITDA goals.
We also leave a space above that, so in case the price of gold increases, the results of the operations improve. Another important risk is that we operate in complex geographies, which exposes us to changes in the rules of the game or changes in macroeconomic policies that might affect our competitiveness. Our operations are also exposed to high or threatening and vulnerability conditions with regards to the climate, as happened with the unfortunate accident that we had last year at the Llanuras plant in Colombia, where six people passed away. The relevant fact that I would like to mention is with regards to the deterioration of the Gualcamayo. No. Excuse me. Let's begin with relevant acts or relevant facts. The first one is the deterioration of the Gualcamayo property based on NIIF NOR regulations. Every year, we have to assess the conditions of the company.
We have to update, projection and cost, and as well as other variables, including macroeconomic situations of the different countries where we operate. As a result of this analysis, last year, we reported a deterioration of the Gualcamayo operation for COP 175 billion pesos. This affected the net yields, the net profits of the company. However, last year, we closed last year with a good cash flow position, close to $50 million. Gualcamayo still has very big challenges: internal inflation in Argentina, for instance, in 2022 and during this year, has eroded the cash flow for that operation, by close to 50%. These were resources that we were reinvesting in the mine and in exploration to extend the life of this mine.
This has also led us to indicate that the end of the life of this mine is getting closer. Although we still have some years of operations, but we still have to inform the market as to what is happening in that specific geography. Another relevant fact is the initial estimation of mineral resources in the reservoir in Nicaragua, Reservoir Luna Roja. In June 7th, we began the estimation of these mineral resources, which included indicated resources close to 92,000 ounces and referred resources close to 37,000 ounces of gold. These are the results of the initial exploration of last year. This year, we continue exploring in that front with the idea of increasing the base of resources and reservoirs.
What we're currently doing are conducting exploration campaigns to turn those potential resources into reservoirs, proved and probable reservoirs. Deterioration of the Llanuras plant in Colombia. As mentioned before, we had a fatal accident in this plant on May 28th of last year during a very strong storm. The collection plant connected, flipped over, and after diligent revision of the plant state, we determined that there was no way of recovering it. This is why in 2022 we indicated a deterioration in the access for 21 billion Colombian pesos, which affected the operations of the company but not the cash flow.
We have received an official response from insurance companies that have recognized the compensation for that incident, and this is going to allow us to recover for that deterioration and build a new plant. In 2022, we had two appointments in our board of directors or our directors team, two people who are here. When I mention your name, please stand up so we know who they are. We have a new vice president in Nicaragua. We appointed him on 11/20/2022, Luis Fernando Villa. He replaces Carlos Mario Gomez, who retire after 14 years with Mineros. Luis Fernando has belonged to Mineros for more than 16 years. You can sit down again, Luis, please. Luis Fernando was born actually in Mineros.
Luis Fernando was born in El Bagre. His father actually worked for Mineros. His grandfather actually worked for Mineros. Currently, he's the grandson of Mineros, and currently, he's handling the operations of Nicaragua. I think it would be hard to find someone who's more committed. His latest position in Colombia was procurement manager in Mineros Aluvial. We also appointed Ana María Ríos. She's here with us. Ana María was appointed on August 27, 2022, as Vice President of Business Development to replace Eduardo Flores, who resigned to manage another mine in Mexico. Ana has 17 years of professional experience, of which her last 14 years have been spent in Mineros S.A. Her most recent job was manager of corporate finances, where she developed a very important role with regards to the listing of Mineros in the exact exchange of Toronto and in Colombia.
Another relevant aspect is the reduction of personnel or staff in Argentina. We have mentioned priorly that Gualcamayo is reaching its final status. This is why we have to begin reducing operations. This implies reducing staff by 30%. At the closing of the years, we had compensations that were that reached $3 million. Were also sanctions to the General Directorate of Mines of Nicaragua on October 24th. The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States sanctioned the General Directorate of Mines of Nicaragua. Additional faculties were also given to OFAC to impose additional sanctions that might affect the mining sector.
As of today, as of this date, these sanctions in Nicaragua have not had any material impact in our operations, but we continue monitoring information from that country, and we reaffirm our commitment to complying with the law and complying with regulations. The decision of not exercising a second option at La Pepa project due to the political uncertainty in Chile during those dates. On October 25, 2022, we took the decision of not exercising the second option, which would allow us to obtain an additional participation of 31% in La Pepa project in Chile by investing $15 million and by paying an additional $5 million to the owner of this project.
This gives us a share of 20%, which we believe is healthy because of its size and also because of the size of Mineros S.A., the company that was owner of this project, Yamana, negotiated with Agnico and with Pan American Silver. Pan American Silver is currently undertaking control of these assets, and we're currently in the process of contacting them when they are done with their part, so we can decide with them what we're going to do with the operations. In the meantime, we are conducting maintenance. In other words, we are conducting the minimum investment. With regards to the stock exchange performance, on this slide that you can see on the screen, you can see the behavior of Mineros' share in the Colombia Stock Exchange and in the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Not going into details, but I would like to highlight that the drop in terms of the price was substantially less in Toronto compared to Colombia, although the number of shares listed in that market is relatively small. It is approximately 10% of the total listed in Colombia. We're very much aware that we still have lots of work to do in Toronto, and we're going to continue working to increase the liquidity of the shares, so the price reflects the real price of the company, and to be able to receive all the benefit and all the opportunities that such market implies. Again, this takes time, but we do believe that the fact that it was 10% above in Toronto compared to Toronto leads us to think that this was the right decision, but it still have a long trajectory to go.
Gold price in 2022, gold had a price similar to the price in 2021. 1,622 was the lowest price, and the maximum price was $2,050, as we can see on the slide. The behavior of gold price was positively impacted by the Ukraine war and negatively by interest rate increases in the developed countries or developed economies. Now we're going to speak about financial and operational performance. Alice is going to go into details with regards to the consolidated and separate statements. I'm going to briefly speak about some of the main indicators of performance. Gold production increased 10% compared to 2021. Peso was increased by 20%. Net profits increased by 29%, and cash cost was reduced by 5%.
Net year results had an important reduction due to the deterioration in Gualcamayo, which again did not affect the cash flow, with an increase of 8% in the cash flow generated by operation, and also a brief reduction in the cash flow. With regards to investments in 2022, additions in property, plant and equipment and intangibles in the three operations of the company added COP 375,345 million, which is a reduction of 14% compared to the investments made in 2021. Investments made were financed with our own resources. In Colombia, we invested close to COP 64 billion Colombian pesos, mostly in the sustainment or maintenance, exploration, property, plant and equipment.
In Nicaragua, we invested COP 165 thousand million focused on exploration of Luna Roja, exploration in other fronts near that mine, vehicle leasing and investments to increase the tail reservoir, and also additions of property, plant and equipment. Gualcamayo in Argentina, we invested close to COP 147 thousand million destined to exploration mine development, vehicle lease, and additions to the property, plant and equipment. The investment figure in Argentina includes COP 42 thousand million for vehicle leasing, which makes some noise because this looks like a big investment. If we were to remove those COP 42 thousand million, which have to be included and the CAPEX based on NIIF rules, the balance would be close to COP 100 thousand million, which is coherent with what we have in Argentina.
Remember, we have always said that we want Argentina to take care of itself. In other words, whatever is invested in Argentina should be sustained with the resources from Argentina. This does not erode the cash flow of Mineros' exploration and growth. At the closing of 2022, we conducted a prioritization exercise in our project pipeline, and we decided that this year we're going to focus on three projects. Porvenir project in Nicaragua, out of which we obtained positive results in the pre-feasibility study with an increase of eight years in the useful life of the mine and an increase in production, annual increase, close to 57,000 ounces of gold. Also, the reservoir of Luna Roja, where we had an estimation, an initial estimation, and the Deep Carbonates Project in Argentina.
Based on these priorities, we decided to temporarily terminate exploration with Royal Road, with our alliance with Royal Road in Colombia and in Nicaragua, in other words, in the Caribbean Front in Nicaragua. The idea of this was to increase the balance of resources and reserves, and we're conducting work in and around those mines that are in operation. With regards to guidance 2023, this is something that is done in the Toronto market, this is an estimation of production for the year. This guidance, in other words, indicates what performance we expect from the company this year. With regards to cash cost production, as such as the guidance, do we expect to have a consolidated production of close to 264,000-292,000 ounces. This is an increase.
This includes an increase in Colombia and in Nicaragua, and a reduction with regards to the levels in Argentina, and this is based on the reasons that I have mentioned before. For 2023, we estimate a cash cost between $1,060 and an all-in sustaining costs or AISC between $1,400 and $1,900 per ounce. These two costs are unitary cost measures per ounce of gold, and they are indicated in dollars. We use these two indicators because this allows shareholders, when you compare those costs with the spot price for gold, this allows you to see the company margins. We always mention this whenever we have a quarterly call with investors. With regards to social responsibility, in your package, we have a summarized version of these sustainability memories, which includes the most relevant data of our work.
It's a brief document with lots of graphics, and it is quite friendly, so please read it in detail. All the photographs that you see in it belong to our operations. You can also download it if you visit our website, Mineros, www.mineros.com.co. Miscellaneous. The printed management system includes information with regards to other legal clauses such as operations with linked parties, where we include the payments made to insurance company called Patria for insurance purposes, and also payments made to Royal Road based on what we agreed with our strategic alliance with them. We also include certifications of administrators and of the board of directors, in which we certify compliance with all the norms regarding intellectual property, and where we certify a payment of Social Security to employees. We also include a report of the Código País.
As we can see on the slide again, we can see the board and the administration team. For your effort and our employees for their commitment and work and that helped us reach our goals. Eduardo Pacheco Cortés, José Fernando Llano, Luis Santiago Perdomo Maldonado, Alberto Mejía Hernández, Juan Carlos Páez Ayala, Lucía Taborda, Dirk James, Mónica Jiménez, and Sergio Restrepo Isaza. With this, I conclude the report for this year, and I will give the word back to the president of the assembly. Does any of the shareholders have any questions, any comments for the president? Someone in the back, please.
I would like to ask a question with regards to Gualcamayo. If I make an investment, I project this investment based on the time of the investment. I believe Gualcamayo was projected 30, 40 or 50 years.
In other words, you guys had considered this deterioration. However, every time we meet, we see more deterioration than what was expected. We curiously say that this is not affecting the cash flow, but as shareholders, well, what we're interested is basically, yields, profit. Again, if cash flow is not being affected, we're going to have better profits, and this is going to be different to the benefits or the yields of the cash flow. Again, my concern is that this project was estimated to be to have a life of X amount of times. Next year we're not going to say it was COP 174,000 million, COP 200,000 million, or COP 300,000 million. As you mentioned, we invested $147,000 million.
Again, we're investing lots of money in something that is being more and more deteriorated. That was my first point. The second point is that the management report does not report the results, the specific results of joining the Toronto Stock Exchange. After five years of being in that process, the only thing that I have seen is that we are currently at half of the price of a prior emission. I do not see any results of increasing cost through a fee. Those are the two questions, and I would like to see how they can be included in the management system.
When we invested in Gualcamayo, we invested in two different issues or two different topics.
One was investing in one mine that was reaching the end of its life, but this mine still had resources and capacity to generate cash. We expected that the cash generated by that mine was going to be invested in exploration in the Deep Carbonates Project to increase the reservoirs of that project with the idea of we're doing the feasibility of that operation and extending the life of the mine. What we invested initially was $30 million, and then we conducted another investment of $4 million. With regards to resources from Mineros S.A., again, we invested $34 million back then. The decision made was, in Argentina, we were only going to invest the cash flow generated by the mine itself, so that would not affect the rest of the company.
Yes, this is a risk that we took, but this is a controlled risk. What didn't work in Argentina? Well, in Argentina, we were able to continue working the mine, we continued producing ounce, and we continued selling ounces and generating cash flow. The macroeconomic decisions taken by the current government in Argentina are eroding the cash flow generation of our operations by 50%. This forced the administration and the board of directors to decide, well, if this makes the operation not feasible to continue until the Carbonatos project is ready, we're not going to bring any additional fresh resources. In other words, we're going to let the mine run its life, and we're going to look for interested parties interested in buying the project.
In Argentina, we were not able to achieve what we wanted to achieve initially. What failed? Failed was the perception of the political risk in that country. That is what failed. Why? Because when we invested, Macri was in the administration. Kirchner had just left the administration. To be honest, we did not expect the Kirchner family to be in power again, the same way that we did not expect Lula da Silva to come into power again. We did not expect these political changes in the region. It's a real risk, our company has tried to handle this risk by diversifying its geography. If a situation affects in a specific country, it doesn't affect the rest of Mineros S.A. What we are doing is to try to minimize the impacts in the company.
From a financial statement perspective, what does it mean to say that cash flow is not impacted? Net profits, gross profits are impacted, and if we continue with this deterioration, quite likely it's going to be affected for the next two years. The company has plenty of reservoirs to maintain its dividends. We can give you that peace of mind. Again, that is with regards to Gualcamayo. What has happened with regards to the Toronto Stock Exchange? The first thing that I would like to say is that the impact on the price of the share is not exclusive to Mineros. If you look at the Colombian Stock Exchange, there are many other mining energy companies that have been more affected than Mineros S.A. Mineros has been affected by 35% in its price this year.
There are other companies that have been affected by 37% and 38%. Being in the Toronto Stock Exchange and having the share at a higher price there, that has allowed us to reduce our drops into surprises in Colombia. We are all familiar with the situation in Colombia. The signals in this sector have not been positive, and that has generated concerns. We, as the administrators, have been diligently administrating the company, and we're trying to keep the cash flow, and we're trying to increase our position in the Toronto Stock Exchange, where we see better prices and where we expect that the shares can perform better. Again, that's what we're doing, and that's what we will continue doing. I do not think there are any other...
There's no company that can guarantee how its shares is going or are going to behave in the stock exchange. The only thing that we can guarantee is that we're doing everything that is necessary to improve or to untangle the company's value. Any other questions for the President? Thank you.
William Murphy is my name. I read a while back that the administration, administrators or the board of directors are presenting actions as options to buy shares. I have heard that, but I would like to clarify those details. Are there any options with regards to site price and so on?
Well, none of that.
Some of us are shareholders of Mineros S.A., but we are shareholders because we bought in the IPO at the same price that you guys bought, and we have no access, we have no differential prices. There are no options that favor the company's administrators. There are no options in Mineros. The shares that we have as directors, we have them because we bought during the IPO at the same price that the rest of the shareholders. Yes?
Schedules about the options, I couldn't understand. Maybe I'm thinking of something else.
No. Okay. There is Okay. Ghost shares or phantom shares, those are really not shares. If we receive, say, every year, we, at the average price of the prior month, we receive the double of that month in shares. It's a bond. It's not an action.
It's not a share. Again, it's a bond, it's not a share. Let me give you a clearer idea. I am the person that has received the most bonds, and so far, these bonds that I have received basically have a zero value. Again, this depends very much on the behavior of the share. This is, again, a bond that seeks to motivate us to increase our share prices. Again, no shares. Bond price is defined based on the price of the share in November, and depending on how the price behaves for the following two years, a differential is paid to us. In other words, it's a bond that is based on company results. Bond based on company results, and as a matter of fact, we do not receive the total price. We simply receive the price difference. If the price decreases, we receive nothing.
Do we have any other questions, any other concerns? I would like to ask the assembly if we approve this management report. Does anyone disagree with this approval? Presentation of separated and financial statements up until December 31st, 2022. Alan, our Financial VP, is going to present the financial statements that have been made available to the shareholders two weeks ago. We're going to open the space for questions and answers. Alan, the floor is yours. Hello. Perfect. Thank you. Before I begin, I would like to refer to the book that we have given you today, the idea. Again, we're trying to be more responsible with the environment, so we gave you a summarized document that includes the main separated and consolidated statements. This also includes a QR where you can access the notes.
This decision was made considering that this document would be close to 300 pages, and that we published our financial results more than a month ago. Let's begin with the statement of consolidated results. Company results grow by 21%, benefited 22,000 ounces were sold more this year compared to last year, and devaluation was close to 70% of the Colombian peso. Costs were also increased by 19%, reaching close to COP 1.6 billion, and this was explained by a larger production and by the inflation in the three geographies that represented close to COP 187,000 million. More depreciation for COP 54,000 million, and more taxes and more royalties as well for COP 12,000 million.
These costs were mitigated partially by the weakness of local currencies, mostly in Colombia and Argentina. Gross profits were close to COP 600,000 million, which represents an increase of 29%. Administration expenses increased by 26%, and this is explained by more expenses related to insurance renovation regarding technical consultants and regarding consultants for sustainability services and municipal taxes. These increases were also mitigated partially by lower costs with regards to personal for COP 1,200 million. Exploration expenses increased almost by COP 43,000 million, and this is due to expenses in exploration in DCP, Luna Roja, and the joint ventures that we have with Royal Road Minerals for COP 61,000 million. A net for close to COP 30,000 million, mostly at Gualcamayo mine.
Finally, we had positive impacts with regards to financial and exchanges for close to COP 64,000 million. This is due to the sales of financial instruments in Argentina. Also the devaluation of the different local currencies. The net results of the year had a reduction of 88%, being close to COP 19,000 million. This was affected mostly by deterioration of the Gualcamayo property in Argentina for close to COP 175,000 million. Also the deterioration of the Llanuras plant in Colombia for close to COP 21,000 million, as Andres explained earlier. This deterioration did not affect the cash flow position of the company. Let's continue with the general balance. Company assets grew by 19%, reaching COP 2.7 billion.
This growth is explained by more inventories with regards to minerals and more inventories of spare parts and materials for COP 274 million, plant, property and equipment, more cost of exploration, close to COP 67 million, and more expenses with regards to taxes to be charged for COP 43,000 million. Liabilities increased by 27% and now they're placed close at COP 1.1 billion. This increase was due mostly to an increase in accounts to be paid of COP 95,000 million. There's also an increase of liabilities due to taxes for COP 46,000 million and more provisions for the closure of a mine for COP 54,000 million. Patrimony increased by 14%, and it has reached COP 1.7 trillion. This is explained by an increase in our reservoirs and by other comprehensive results accumulated.
With regards to cash and cash equivalents consolidated during 2022, cash and cash equivalents decreased close to COP 12,000 million. It is worth to mention that in November 2021, we issued shares in Canada and in Colombia, which enabled us to have a cash high levels of cash. Early 2022, net or gross cash flows coming from operations generated close to COP 352,000 million. Close to COP 26,000 million more than compared to 2021. This is explained by gold sales that were close to COP 2.2 trillion versus payments to suppliers for COP 1.3 trillion or payments to employees for COP 384,000 million. Also, income tax expenses for COP 100 something. Cash used in different investments was close to COP 252 million.
This is mostly explains for purchases, property, plant, and equipment for COP 220,000. Cash for exploration projects such as DCP in Argentina and also regional exploration and joint ventures for COP 63,000 million. Finally, cash flow used for financing activities was close to COP 184,000 million, composed by the payment of dividends for COP 98,000 million and payment of financial obligations for COP 87,000 million. Now we're going to look at the summary of the separate financial results. In 2022, revenues increased by 8%, reaching COP 518,000 million. This is mostly explained by the larger gold sales for COP 34,000 million and more income due to royalties, due to COP 6,000 million. This is counterattack by lower income due to different coverages.
Income per participation method from the different subsidiaries decreased by 84% in 2022 if compared to 2021, now they're close to COP 32,000 million. This is mostly explained, as previously mentioned, by the deterioration of the Gualcamayo, for COP 175,000 million and deterioration of the Llanuras plants for COP 21,000 million. Again, lower incomes due to participation methods in subsidiaries and larger costs translated into a reduction of gross profits of 71%. Now it's close to COP 68,000 million year results, similar to the consolidated state, showed a reduction of 88%, and now it is at COP 19,100 million. With regards to the general balance of the separate financial statement, the company as is grew by 9%.
Now they have reached COP 1.9 trillion, this is mostly explained by an increase in the value of the subsidiaries HEMCO and Mineros Aluvial. This is also compensated for the reduction of the Argentinian subsidiary. Liabilities were reduced by 20%. Now they're close to COP 204 billion, this is due to a lower balance of accounts to be paid to our subsidiaries, mostly to Mineros Aluvial. Patrimony increased by 14%, now it is close to COP 1.7 trillion. This is explained due to an increase of reserves and the other integral results, accumulated integral results. With this, I conclude the presentation of the financial results, I would like to give the word back to the assembly secretary. At this point, do we have any questions?
Do we have any comments for the Financial Vice President? Any questions, comments, please go ahead.
If it weren't for the exchange results, we would have had negative results. You mentioned COP 72,000 million or COP 73,000 million due to exchange rate. We have a result of COP 19,000 million pesos. That means that we would have had negative results for more than COP 50,000 pesos had not been for that.
The figure that you mentioned, COP 72,000 million, is made up of the difference with regards to the stock exchange, as well as incomes that came from the sales of financial results. I think COP 32,000 million were directly a result of the exchange differences. The result is from sales in dollars. The annual results were $4.3 million.
In this $4.3 million, in addition to Argentina's deterioration, we also include deterioration of the plant of Llanuras Aluviales, which is close to $5 million. We have received compensation from the insurance company for that. If we had received that in December, the real company results would have been $10 million. Based on what I see here, we had an exchange difference against $17 billion against $19. Gross profit. As an operation, this is negative. Again, if I were to remove that, and if I were to remove the stock exchange differences, again, we would have had negative results. You're looking at the separate financial statement. Even if I look at the consolidated one, I would see similar figures, right? 8,880 and 7,700 with regards to the stock exchange.
That give me COP 16,000 million and change again. Basically, this indicates that we barely made COP 2,000 million. My question is, where is the management of these operations? I'm looking at page 46, unless I'm interpreting this in the wrong way. Separate financial statement are the figures that you have in front of you, and you're right. Yes, we had some advantages due to the valuation of currencies, which represent an earning with regards to the differences in the currency exchange. That is definitely a reality. There's someone else asking for the microphone in towards the front of the room. This was insured for COP 4.8 million, right? Again, that hasn't been paid yet.
They're going to be paying and that, they're going to pay the same amount for that machine, and they're going to pay, again, the value of that machine when the accident occurred. Do we have any other comments? Any other questions? No comments, no questions, let's continue. Let's read the tax auditor report. I would like to ask Olga Cabrales, a representative from Deloitte, to please go ahead and read your report of consolidated and separate financial statements of the company for the year 2022.
Hi, good morning. Thanks to the shareholders of Mineros S.A., I have audited the results of Mineros S.A., which correspond to the status of financial status of the company as of December 31st, 2022.
I have looked at the different results with regards to changes in the patrimony and cash flow for that year and with regards to the notes as well, I have also included a summary of the significant policies. In my opinion, the consolidated attached financial statements that come out of the account in Bolsa reasonably present the financial situation of the group as of December 31st, 2022. The results of its operation and its cash flows for the year that ended on that date in agreement with the different accounting and financial information norms that are accepted in Colombia. I have conducted my auditing in accordance with the international auditing norms that are accepted in Colombia. My responsibilities in according with certain regulations are described in the section of auditor responsibilities.
I'm also independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant for my audit of these financial statements in Colombia. I have also fulfilled other responsibilities with regards to the ethics in accordance with these requirements. I do believe that the evidence for the audit obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a reasonable base to express my opinion. Key aspects for the audit are those aspects that, according to my professional judgment, were the most important with regards to the current financial statements. These matters were covered during my audit of the financial statements as a whole and were also included for the formation of my opinion. Therefore, I'm not expressing a separate opinion regarding these matters. The main asset is deterioration of the long-term assets, specifically, in their use of value.
As indicated in note 7.2, with regards to the consolidated financial statements, we concluded that there is deterioration linked to the Gualcamayo assets linked to the situation in Argentina and to the scarcity, and recognize $174,880, those that deteriorate in our administration deemed a recoverable value. Based on the amounts, the use value determined by the administration includes adjustments and significant assumptions related to future production regarding related to the pro-projected gold of price and discount rates estimated. Applied the main procedures, audit procedures linked to revise in the cash flow model for the Gualcamayo were the following: evaluating the risk of estimating and the relevant assumptions. Also, evaluating reasonability of the administration evaluation of deterioration indicators.
To evaluate the design and implementation of the relevant controls regarding the group process to develop its estimate of recoverable values for this mine, Gualcamayo. With the assistance of valuation specialists to evaluate was appropriate from the discounted cash flows prepared by the administration, including the reasonability of the assumptions used by the group to determine discount rates and the projected gold prices.
The administration is responsible for preparing and correctly presenting these consolidated financial statements in accordance with the accepted accounting norms and financial information norms accepted in Colombia and in accordance with the internal control that is being relevant for the preparation and presentation of these financial statements free of significant errors. When presenting this financial statement, the administration is responsible for evaluating the group's capacity to continue as a company, revealing, if needed, any matters related to the evaluation of the company and using the accounting principles of functioning companies, only if the administration has the intention of liquidating the group or unless there are no other options. Those government responsible are responsible for supervising the process of reporting the information to the entity.
My objective is to obtain a reasonable security that the financial statements as a whole are free of any material error due to fraud or error, and to produce an auditing report that contains my opinion. Reasonable security is a high degree of security. This does not guarantee that an audit done in accordance with international norms would detect a material error if such occurs. These errors can exist due to error or fraud, and yes, they are definitely grave or material if they can affect the economic decisions made by users based on the financial statements. As part of an audit, and this is in accordance with the international norms accepted in Colombia, I apply my professional judgment, and I keep a skeptic attitude during the whole audit. Likewise, I identify and evaluate any material risk in the financial statements due to fraud or error.
I also design and apply audit procedures, and I also obtain evidence that is sufficient and enough to provide a foundation for my opinion. Risk of not detecting any material errors due to fraud is higher than material errors due to errors because fraud might imply falsification, omissions or manifestations that are wrong or evading internal control. I also obtain internal control that is relevant for the audit with the idea of designing audit elements that are right based on the circumstances and not for the purpose of simply expressing my opinion regarding the internal control of the group. I also evaluate what is appropriate with regards to the accounting policies and the reasonability of the estimations and the revelations made by the administration.
I conclude based on this, and based on the evidence of the audit obtained, I conclude that there is or there isn't uncertainty related to the facts or conditions that might generate significant doubt regarding the group's capacity to continue as an operating company. If I do conclude that there is material uncertainty, I am required to in my report to present that, or I am report to reveal that and to express a modified opinion. My conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained so far, obtained until the date of my report. Future conditions might lead the group to stop being a functioning company. I also evaluate the presentation, structure, and content of the consolidated financial statements, including the information that's provided, and also included if this present a relevant information in a way that is reasonable.
I also obtain evidence that is enough and sufficient with regards to the financial information of the company or its business activities to express my opinion regarding the consolidated statements. I'm also responsible for conducting the audit of the group. I am the only person responsible for my opinion. I communicate to those that are responsible for the group, the scope, and the opportunity of the audit and its significant results, I also communicate any significant deficiency with regards to the internal control that could have been identified during the audit. I also provide those that are responsible for the governance of the company a declaration with regards to compliance with the relevant ethical requirement, with regards to independence, and I also communicate all other matters that might affect my independence, and I also present the necessary safeguards.
Based on the matters communicated to those responsible for administering the company, I also determine which of those matters are the most important with regards to the audit of the financial statements of the current period, and which also become key aspects of the audit. I also describe these aspects in my report or the report unless law or regulations prevent me to do so or under extremely extreme situations under which I would determine that something would not does not need to be communicated because the adverse consequences would be worse than the benefits of making such communication. The financial statements that conclude on December 31, 2021 are included only for comparative purposes, and again, they were audited by me, and I expressed my opinion without any safeguards on February 25, 2022, and this is signed by me.
On page 41, you can see the separate financial report, which includes the same terms. In other words, my opinion without any safeguards. It also speaks about compliance with the legal requirements upon which I did not identify any matters that affected my opinion.
Thank you, Mrs. talks auditors. Shall we approve the separate financial and consolidated financial statements as of December 31st, 2022? Does the assembly approve these financial statements as of December 31st, 2022? Does anyone disagree? Eighth, presentation and approval of the profit distribution project. Mrs. Secretary, please read this proposal with regards to the distribution of profits or utilities. $4,486,648 were the figures for last year with regards to utilities.
Likewise, we want to bring as a reserve $4,486,000 for an annual dividend of $0.07 per dollar, which are going to be paid in four payments of $0.0175 per quarter. Dividends are to be paid at the rate, official rate on the payment day, and this corresponds to an annual dividend of $0.07 per share, which represents an increase of 8% compared to what was paid in 2022, and close to 18% compared to the current. Again, does the assembly... We have someone raising their hand. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Dr. Pacheco, and participants, and to the rest of the board. First of all, I would like to congratulate you for the operational report of the company. Great report, great indicators.
Unfortunately, we have this issue with the assets, but as you mentioned, cash flow and our position is stronger. I do have an observation that I would like to make with regards to the dividends. Unfortunately, dividends are decreasing. They have decreased by 4.6%, and this I do not really understand. I do not understand how with such exceptional results, with such exceptional results, I do not understand why dividends are decreasing. Why? The dividends that we received last year was $7.48. $0.07 , $7.48. This year, we're only receiving 7 cents. Last year, we have an extraordinary dividend. In other words, we are not increasing this dividend by 8%. Instead, it is being reduced by 6.4%. To be frank, this is not acceptable.
I would like to repeat, financial solidity of this company. Again, we have $50 million. It's a $50 million-dollar company. Our EBITDA, daily EBITDA is $500,000. What does that mean? I'm making this observation because this is an assembly that has always been very respectful, and this is an assembly in which we can present different observations, different concerns. It's really not a proposal. Again, the idea is to reflect with the board of directors, and this dividend should be reconsidered. I honestly do not believe this is possible. I have been a shareholder of Mineros for more than 20 years, and this is actually the first year in which our dividends are decreasing. I do not think this is acceptable, especially in a year in which our company results have been so exceptional. Especially in...
Again, we are having very good results this year. We have mentioned the levels of production. Again, we're seeing record levels with regards to gold prices. We're close to, again, $9 million. Can someone get me a glass of water, please? My observation is the following. My comment is the following. We should at least be receiving $0.09. $0.09 is slightly above the increase of our minimum salary. Well, I'm sure that company employees need to see these salary increases, and I'm hoping that they have these increases. Again, I don't think I'm presenting anything exceptional. I would say that for us to understand this increase better, again, if we were to be paid this year $0.095, this would be $4.5 million.
$4.5 million, which is less than 10% of the liquidity the company had on December 31st, and is equivalent to an EBITDA of six days, only six days. Respectfully, that is my observation, and I hope that you consider it.
Thanks for your comment, and I would provide the following responses to your comment. First of all, you mentioned many things for the first time, we are having more dividends than the company's profits. This is possible because we are being prudent with the management of the company, and we have the liquidity to do so. We have another circumstance that in the past has forced us to change our proposal. Again, this year. Again, we have to vote, but I believe we have the vote.
Another interesting part, or something that we mentioned last year when we registered in the Toronto Stock Exchange, Mineros is the only company, gold company, that has never stopped producing dividends. I do understand your expectations, but I'm going to insist before the assembly to consider this proposal.
I would like to complement the considerations that we took into account to propose this dividend. One of them is our political uncertainty, political uncertainty in all the geographies where we live. Nicaragua has many risks due to the United States sanctions. What are we doing to handle those risks? Well, basically, we are working with OFAC, Department of the Treasury of the United States.
Colombia just came out of a strike, a two-week strike that reduced this month's production to less than half in Colombia. This is the operation that generates the most EBITDA. Again, this strike hasn't been solved yet. Our company has presented or has recently made public the pre-feasibility of another project, Porvenir Project. This project is going to increase the production of Mineros by 57,000 ounces, but which requires an investment of close to $200,000. If we continue working on this feasibility... Excuse me, it's a $200 million investment. This investment would be made under different circumstances compared to last year. Interest rates have increased, and it is a lot more costly to do finance for this type of projects.
This company did not have an exceptional year with regards to our net results, as mentioned by Gonzalo. Gonzalo, right? As Gonzalo mentioned. Again, the Board thought that extraordinary dividends could be paid in years when we have extraordinary results. We also feel that the company should try to maintain its dividends. The company also has to be cautious with regards to the use or the management of its cash flow. Again, the focus of the company is to keep this cash flow for upcoming years. With this, I'm not saying yes or no, because this is actually your decision. I'm only contributing additional arguments. This is basically what we agreed or what we argued in the Board to agree upon the dividends. Please go ahead. The floor is yours.
When we look at what we're looking at, we're looking at $4.5 million, and this is a company that has $50 million. For this quarter, again, the price of gold has been close to $1,930, while the average last year was $1,800 production. This year is a lot more positive than last year. Again, it's only $4.5 million. Again, $4.5 million is the amount that is going to be coming in for the compensation, for this insurance compensation that you have mentioned. To be completely honest, I believe this company is so strong that saying that it cannot increase this and instead it decreases this, again, I do not think is acceptable.
Furthermore, let's look at what has happened to shareholders this year. Well, is our shares dropped to, say, 50%, 40%. We're also paying more taxes for the dividends that we receive. We also have more inflation. This is the way it should be. Salary increases need to be positive, and they need to be above inflation levels. Only the only ones that are going to see a deterioration with regards to our profits are the shareholders. To be honest, shareholders are the reason for this organization to exist. Being completely honest, I think that you need to reconsider this. I'm not really asking for anything exceptional. Again, we see, again, an EBITDA that is lower.
Again, being completely respectful, and I do understand that we're working on different projects, but to say that this company cannot pay all its shareholders $4.5 million additionally, which is less than 10% of its cash flow for December. To be honest, I think, well, there might be reasons to justify it, but I do not think this is acceptable for shareholders. Again, this is an attitude that is quite frank, quite honest, and with all due respect. Someone in the back, please. I would like to reinforce what our main shareholder says. Again, it is always quite critical with regards to the figures that he presents, and he studies the figures a lot. I also heard that the damage we had in Gualcamayo did not affect our cash flow.
Again, COP 174,000 million that can be spread, and that is half of what's being proposed, and again, that's $0.09, $0.09 represent 2.5% of the reserves. We have COP 990,000 million in reserves. In order to move in COP 125,000 million again, we do have capacity to distribute these dividends. What we would pay in addition are $4.5 million. That's close to COP 20,000 million. Again, it's not 9%. Again, we're saying COP 20,000 million out of a flow that is being shown at COP 200,000 million. Financially, we do have the solidness. Again, we are the main reason for this company.
Again, thank you for your comments.
Shares dropped by 40% in Canada, we need more money in Canada, in Argentina, and in other projects. Who is going to buy these shares, again, if the price drops? Nobody's going to buy them. I would like to present to the assembly the distribution of dividends that was suggested by the board of directors. I do understand that some of you disagree. Please, those of you that disagree with this proposal, please identify yourselves. Raise your hands. To count the vote, votes against, we're going to take your names. Please be patient. We're going to approach you and take your name. That would not be fair. This would not be fair because we are a minority, those of us who are present today. I mean, not even 10, 15% of the company is sitting here.
I think it would not be. I do not think it would be fair. I feel that there is capacity to pay for this. We have sufficient cash flow. The results are not going to be affected. I do not see the point in voting at this point. Well, we're voting because these are the company statutes because this is democracy, but we are a minority here. Let's simply vote, so we can.
I believe that Dr. Pacheco makes full sense. This is an assembly, and we are in a democracy, so I do not even think it's relevant to count the votes. I think that the main point is for us to express our feelings. Again, I didn't really make a proposal.
I simply presented some observations because indeed we know that it is not this way. I am also aware that the board of directors has been quite receptive to hearing these cases if there is some sort of justification. This information that we have on the table is partially truth. Increase is 8% compared to ordinary dividends. Compared to the total dividends of the company, this is actually a reduction of 6.4%.
Yes, it is so. I would like to... Again, my apologies for going back to this topic. Last year was a year of many, many changes. Changes, local changes in the different operations in which we work, and there were also international changes. Interest rates increased. Financing cost also increased. The board analysis was done with our due diligence.
Again, we included all the possible situations. The guidelines that we have from the board is to be quite careful, quite delicate with the cash flow because financing is becoming more and more challenging and more costly. Financing for growth is going to be significant, 200 thousand. $200 million, and they are... It was three years from now. Again, I would like to be respectful, and I do understand that this can be difficult for you. I would like to emphasize the message that what we are doing, administration and the board of directors, what we're trying to do is to take good care of the company because we're seeing more risk this year compared to last year. This is due to changes in the international market.
This is also due to volatility, currency volatility. This is also due to the macroeconomic situation in Argentina, and this is also due to Colombia's political situation. This is a year in which many of the decisions that were taken by Mineros were revised and readjusted, so we can adapt the company to this reality. The reason why Mineros has paid dividends continuously for more than 30 years, well, again, we do not know of any other companies in the Toronto Stock Exchange that has done the same. We have been able to do it because of the proper management that we have had during all these years. Again, this is our proposal to be careful with the cash flow of the company.
Something that I mentioned to Dr.
Lucia this morning, I think that Colpatria bought these shares in 1970 something, 46 years ago. I was not part of the board. Again, we have had many problems. We have been extorted, we have been affected. What happened in Antioquia, in El Bagre this year, closing our company for two weeks is something that had never happened. As the president of the board, as the chair of the board says, we have to be careful. Is anyone pending to vote so we can close this part? Anyone pending to vote? Please raise your hand if you haven't voted. If you would like to vote and you haven't voted, please raise your hand. We understand that those that did not vote against are in favor of the proposal, right? We'll agree on that. Okay.
We have an approval through 96.57% of the shares. Ninth, consulting vote of the Board of Directors in accordance with the policy for election and compensation of the Board of Directors. We would like to vote, consulting vote, non-binding vote with regards to the different Board members proposed. This consulting vote is a practice of the Canadian regulation, which indicates that Board of Directors are individually voted. The results of this are only going to be used for evaluation purposes based on the policy for the renovation of the Board of Directors. If the majority does not agree with one Board member, his person will be evaluated. Now we're going to ask you to vote for the different members of the Board of Directors. Same voting mechanism.
If you disagree with the appointment of any of them, please raise your hands. Dr. Santiago is not included in this list. Dr. Santiago has been with us for many, many, many years. Santiago, we're quite thankful for all your work. Dr. Eduardo Pacheco-Cortés. Again, if you disagree with any of the appointments, raise your hands. Dr. Dieter Jentz. Second, Dr. Dieter Jentz. Third, José Fernando Llano Escandón. Third, Nicolás Durán. Fourth, Juan Carlos Páez. My apologies if I skip some of you. Sixth, Mónica Jiménez González. Seven, Sergio Restrepo Isaza. Eighth, Alberto Mejía Hernández. Ninth, Lucía Taborda Giraldo. 10th, election of the board of directors 2023, 2024. For this assembly, we propose, three changes. Durán Perdomo is leaving, Durán is coming in.
This was proposed to all the shareholders through the website of Mineros S.A. This was shared with you shareholders prior to this meeting.
In compliance with the applicable regulations and the policies for selection and compensation of the board of directors, the Governance and Sustainability Committee has analyzed the suitability of all the candidates, including the following criteria: inabilities, professional development, and so on. This committee has determined that each one of the candidates proposed are apt to perform as members of the board of directors of the company. In accordance with Colombian regulations, the board of directors is selected by an elective system, which is described by Colombian regulations in the Memorandum of Information, which has been made available for our Canadian shareholders. The assembly approves this list for the board of directors. Does anyone disagree? Good.
Eleventh, establishment of fees for the board of directors or payments for the board of directors. The team of Mineros, considering a report presented by the board of directors for different contributions, proposes the compensation of the board of directors, including fees for attending different meetings and different committees, for this to remain the same as we indicate on the table on the slide. Again, there are not going to be any increases. Yes, these fees are in dollars. If the assembly approves these fees or compensations for the board of directors, does anyone disagree? 12th, appointment of the Tax auditor and establishment of the fees for the tax auditors. We propose reelecting Deloitte. We're going to call them Deloitte Colombia.
Re-elect them for another two years after revising their proposal with regards to the requirements for independent, experienced, work team, cost, and knowledge of the sector. The Audit and Risk Committee of the board of directors recommend selecting Deloitte Colombia as the tax auditor for the company for 2022, 2023, and 2024. With regards to the compensation, the board of directors recommends approving annual fees of $270,000+ taxes. Applicable taxes, this is a reduction of $8,000 compared to last year. Details of the fees are presented on the table on the screen. We also propose authorizing the company to make payments for additional services linked to the tax, linked to the tax audit, up to 10% of the annual value.
This is a common practice in Canada that aims at covering additional services for audits with the idea of preventing any conflicts. We have a comment, someone in the back.
These functions of Deloitte are paid in dollars, but they do work in Colombia. Sometimes we pay in dollars, sometimes we pay in pesos, and I do not know if this is an increase compared to 2022. But what I am saying is that these figures should not appear in dollars.
Deloitte provides audit services in Argentina, in Nicaragua, in Canada, and in Colombia. Indeed, we hired Deloitte Colombia, but they are providing services, these services through these companies in the different countries. These fees, and again, we are also listed in Canada
Yes, audit costs, because we're listed in Canada, they have increased. However, these specific costs compared to the Canadian market are below the mean. What is the cost? What were the fees in 2022? Fees this year are $8,000 less than the fees for last year.
In consideration, do you approve this? Does the assembly approve this? Does anyone disagree with regards to the fees for the tax auditor, 13 point proposals and miscellaneous participants as shareholders. Any comments? If there are no comments, we're closing the 2023 assembly. With this, thank you very much and have a great day.