Good day, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Hochschild Mining Q2 Production Results Call. I'll now hand the call over to your host today, Mr. Ignacio Bustamante, the CEO. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you very much, George. Hello. Welcome to our conference call to discuss our second quarter production results. I'm with Eduardo Noriega, our CFO, and Eduardo Landín, who will take over from me as CEO at the end of next month. We also have Charlie Gordon, our Head of Investor Relations from London. Let me first talk about where we are with Inmaculada Modified Environmental Impact Assessment, or as we call it, the MEIA. We have reached the final stages of the process and are continuing to work with SENACE on its final review. To remind you, SENACE is the government department that coordinates the process. We cannot give you a more precise date for completion, as this is in their hands now, but we do believe that all work on our side has been completed.
Turning to production, our output in the quarter was just over 72,000 gold equivalent ounces or 6 million silver equivalent ounces, which is a solid 12% improvement on the first quarter and brings the total half year results to almost 137,000 gold equivalent ounces or 11.4 million silver equivalent ounces. At Inmaculada, output was just under 31,000 ounces of gold and 1.3 million ounces of silver, which is a gold equivalent total of 46,300 ounces. The delay to the MEIA decision did continue to impact mine development in the second quarter, although this was offset by higher grades. Production for the first six months of the year was almost 93,000 gold equivalent ounces.
In Argentina, after the customary short first quarter, which contains the staff's seasonal vacations, the operation increased tonnage and grades in the second period, with output increasing by 54% to 2.9 million silver equivalent ounces. This mine has always been the weighted for the remaining quarters of the year. We expect the same to happen in 2023. Over at Pallancata, production was 664,000 silver equivalent ounces, which is slightly better than the first quarter, reflecting a smaller increase in rates. The existing mining operation area is close to completion. As we have stated before, we do expect to place the mine on care and maintenance later in the year. Moving on to our guidance for 2023.
Without the MEIA, we are not in a position to present the right forecast, but we will do so as soon as the decision comes through. I have just mentioned that the delay is impacting mine development at Inmaculada, and you should take that into account going forward. Turning to our Mara Rosa construction project, we have had another solid quarter of construction, with the total project progress now at 88%. We have already started pre-stripping, and assembly at the plant has also advanced quickly, whilst the power line is very nearly complete. We remain on time and on budget, and it's exciting to remind you that commissioning is now just a few months away.
Our brownfield exploration plans will depend on the receipt of the MEIA, so we will aim to give you a fuller update in the near future. On the financial side, we have approximately $94 million of cash, which translates to a net debt of $227 million and a net debt to the last 12 months, EBITDA, of around 1.04 x. The cash balance obviously reflects capital expenditure at Mara Rosa, but has been boosted by some strong cash generation in the quarter. We have also given you details in the press release of some additional hedges we have executed at strong prices for a portion of the next few years of production in Brazil.
This will help us to guarantee some good cash flow from the new mine in the first few years. To sum up, a solid quarter of production, and we are hoping for the MEIA process to be completed so that we can start to concentrate on an exciting future in prospect over the next few months. With that, I would like to open up for questions that you may have for me or for the rest of the team. Thank you.
Well, thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. The first question is from Mr. Richard Hatch, client from Berenberg. Please go ahead, sir, your line is open. Thank you.
Thanks very much, Ignacio and team. Well, firstly, just to say good luck for your future role, and congratulations to Eduardo as well for his appointment. Guys, just to ask on Inmaculada tonnes. They've kind of come off a bit over the last couple of quarters. I guess that's down to the fact of the development, but kind of down here at 260,000 tonnes for the quarter in Q2.
Is that a sensible place for us to kind of think that where tonnes move over the next half and then gradually ramp back up to that kind of 1.3, 1.4 level over time? Is there any more granularity you can sort of help us out just in terms of throughput? Is there any other sort of, you know, quantification you can give us just on how much sort of development is being impacted by the MEIA's delay?
Yes, Richard, thank you very much for the question and for the messages. We appreciate it. Regarding that question, unfortunately, at this point, we cannot give you any further guidance, because it's gonna be highly dependent on the timing on the MEIA decision. We're refraining on purpose from giving any kind of guidance. We should expect the decision to happen, you know, in the next, or no, shortly, as we have said.
So what we were planning internally is that I think that the best thing for purposes of the market is to wait until the time in which we announce our results, our H1 results, and by that time, we and based on information that we have on the MEIA at that time, we're gonna be in a position to give some kind of indication to the market in terms of if we don't have the permit by then, what the market can assume in terms of potential impact in tonnage and in production for certain period of time in which the MEIA decision continues getting delayed. Hopefully, we don't get up to that point, and we have something before that.
If for whatever reason, because it's a process that is right now, not under our control, we believe that we have submitted all the information that is required, we cannot control that, you know. If the decision comes sooner, great, we're gonna be giving the market, a update as soon as we can. If for whatever reason, it continues getting delayed, hopefully not the case, but if that were the case, then by the time we announce our H1 results, we are planning on giving some guidance on impact to production for any potential additional delays, you know. At this point in time, which are we are refraining from giving any further guidance.
Okay. Can I just ask perhaps, if, say, for example, you'd got your, the MEIA's approval tomorrow, what are the key work streams that you need to do to get that development back up and running?
Yes. Once we get that permit, the situation starts moving relatively quickly, you know, there are certain things that we can start doing right away, certain other things that require the final construction permit from the Ministry of Energy and Mines. That is considered into our calculations. I would say, once we get this MEIA approved, we're ready to go back to plan and continue delivering on our target for the year.
Okay, got you.
We need to take into account, Richard, that this has already had some impact in the months that we have not done it so far, you know? We're gonna try to minimize that impact. As I have said, you know, it's already having impact on the mine development. We're gonna try to minimize this total impact for the year and try to catch up as quickly as we can, you know. Again, that's some additional guidance that we're gonna be giving to the market either when we get the MEIA decision or at the latest, once we have to announce our H1 results.
Okay, great. The last one is just on the hedge. I mean, hedging it very attractive gold prices. Would you put any more hedges on here on top of those 50,000 ounces that you've pushed in over the next sort of 2025, 2026, 2027 period? Do you think 50 is a decent sort of level to hedge at, and then you'll see how you go?
We believe that with the information that we have, as of today, Richard, that's a good hedge position that we have. We believe it was important, you know, it's not a, it's not a guess or a view in terms of that we believe that prices are going down or whatever. We do believe that at this point in time, and the information that we have, it was good to secure an important amount of the cash flow of this new project, and that's why we decided to do it.
With the information that we have as of now, we believe that we have hedged the right amount, and we are not contemplating currently any additional hedges. That will only be changed if market conditions change. At this point in time and with the information that we have, we are not anticipating to do any further hedges at this time.
Very helpful. Thanks for your time, and all the best.
Thank you. Thank you, Richard.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, if you have any questions, please press star one at this time. We'll now move to Daniel Major of UBS. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hi, guys, thanks for the questions. First one is, what is the hard stop, when you have to stop actually producing, you know, mining, processing, in the event that there's further delays to the permit?
The current timeline, so the current permit goes until at the end of December.
You can mine. There's not a ramp down period. You can pretty much keep producing right till the end of, yeah, of the permit. Is that correct?
What happens is that there's already, as I mentioned, there's already some mine development that is delayed. If we continue having those delays, we are gonna continue having delays in mine development. Also, we're gonna start having impacts on production. We're not gonna be able to produce at the same rate, but we could continue from a permit standpoint, continue to produce as much as we can from the permitted areas until the end of the year.
It will impact production, and that's why we are planning on giving a further guidance in case the permit continues getting delayed by the time we announce our results. You know, so we have the permit to continue operating until the end of the year, but it will have an impact on production because of this delay in mine development. You know, the longer it takes, the more the delay is gonna be on the mine development.
Okay, thanks. Second question, what's the dialogue with your lenders? I mean, you must be, I guess, discussing the various different outcomes. Have you already, you know, broached the subject of the scenario that you do not get a permanent renewal and what that would mean for your lending facilities, covenants, et cetera?
Sure. We have a permanent dialogue with our bank. I'm gonna let Eduardo Noriega, our CFO, give a little bit more color on that front, Dan.
Thank you, Ignacio. Thank you, Daniel. As Ignacio pointed out, we are in permanent dialogue with our lenders, updating them on the status on the MEIA. As you know, we have a long dated relationship with them. They are banks that understand well the country, Peru, and also the mining industry in the region. We have talked to them. They have expressed their support, you know, to our company. At this point, we don't need to request anything to them, you know, because we're still waiting for the permit. You know, they are prepared to, I would say, to support the company. Those are what we have discussed with them.
Okay, thanks. Last one, perhaps a bit of bigger picture. I mean, the government, new government's only been in position, obviously, since like back in the last year, start of this year. How's the dialogue progressing with respect to the mining sector and just the kind of broader, higher level dialogue that you've been, you can comment on?
Sure. What I can say is that the focus and the attitude of the current government has materially improved compared to the previous government, you know? The new government realizes and takes very much into account how important the private sector is to the country, to the economy, how important, in specific, the mining sector is to the country. From the very beginning, starting from the meetings at PDAC, and the fact that they sent so many high-level representatives to the PDAC in Toronto a few months ago, up to now, we have continued seeing a very important support to the sector and a commitment to accelerate all the projects that are in the pipeline and put them into construction or operation as quickly as possible, you know? We continue seeing that. It's an open dialogue.
Ladies and gentlemen, we're just experiencing temporary interruption in the conference. Just please stay online. We will reestablish the line in one moment, please. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, please do stay online. We're just experiencing temporary interruption in the conference. We should have this situation remedied in just a few moments. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, would you just please stay online? I'm gonna be dialing back up the speakers. One moment, please. Ladies and gentlemen, are you online?
Yes, we're here.
Here we are.
I see them this slide. Your line is open. Please proceed. Thank you.
Thank you. I don't know if, Dan, everything was heard on my end, but let me know if you have any follow-up questions.
No, I think that's good, guys. Thanks so much. Good luck.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Okay, thank you very much, sir, sorry for the inconvenience. One moment, please. Our next question is coming from Alfredo Schmutzer, coming from Equinox Partners. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, Ignacio and Eduardo. Thank you very much for taking my question. I have two very quick questions. One is just if you have any side track or on how much it's gonna cost to put in Inmaculada care and maintenance in case the permit is not granted this year? My second one is just to ask for any updates on Royropata, how do you see that permit? Thank you.
Sure. Thank you. Thank you very much for the question. I'm gonna let Eduardo Noriega talk about Inmaculada, and of course, in case we get to the level that we need to put in care and maintenance. Regarding Royropata, what I can tell you is that we have already started a dialogue with the government to begin the permitting process. There are certain definitions that are important to agree at this early stages of the permitting process.
The dialogue is open, is ongoing, and we expect to continue advancing as quickly as we can. You know, we're moving along well. We continue making progress on engineering. From a geological sample, continues looking amazing. The process has started. We look forward to continue updating the market on Royropata. In the case of Inmaculada, Eduardo, I don't know if you would like to comment.
Thank you, Ignacio, thank you, Alfredo, for your question. The current maintenance expenses that we should have in Inmaculada, if we're in that situation, in a situation which we have to place it in that in care and maintenance, is around $5 million per year. The work that will be done during that date will be mainly to maintain the equipment and maintain the monitoring, the environmental monitoring of all environmental measures that we have in the site. That's the answer to your question.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, sir. We'll now go to Mr. Richard Hatch at Berenberg for a follow-up question. Please go ahead, sir. Your line is open.
Yes, sorry, guys, I just. Something just clicked into my mind. What is your targeted or what is the optimal amount of development you aim to have ahead of you at Inmaculada, and where are you at the moment?
Yes, that's part of the update that we're planning on giving when we release our H1 update, Richard. At this point in time, we, as I mentioned, we prefer not getting into the details. There are certain things that we're working on, and that's gonna be an update that is gonna come hopefully in a few weeks.
Okay. Thanks a lot for your time. Cheers.
Thank you. Thank you, Richard.
Thank you, once, sir.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a final reminder, if you have any questions, do press star one at this time. Thank you. Okay, we do not appear to have any questions coming at this time. Mr. Bustamante, I'd like to turn the call back over to you for any additional closing remarks. Thank you.
Thank you, George. Thank you very much to everybody for participating in this call. As usual, should you have any additional questions, please feel free to talk to Charlie Gordon directly, and I look forward to staying connected. Thank you very much to everybody. Have a great day.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's presentation. Thank you for your attendance. You may now disconnect. Thank you.