Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the First Majestic announces agreement to acquire Gatos Silver conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode, and the conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Keith Neumeyer, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Majestic Silver. Keith, please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, and welcome everyone, and then thanks for joining today's call. A copy of today's news release, I hope all of you have seen it. It is posted on our website, and we'll be covering a couple of the highlights from the presentation today, so feel free to listen in, but also, you know, look at the website at your leisure if you want further details. I'm joined here today with Gatos' CEO, Dale Andres.
Good morning.
He'll be covering off a number of points today as well, including ourselves. We're doing a joint call today. We also have other members of the First Majestic and Gatos team on the line listening in. But before we proceed, I'd like to introduce Samir Patel, our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, to provide comments on our forward-looking statements.
Thanks, Keith. Before we begin today's call, I would like to note that we will be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures related to both First Majestic and Gatos Silver. Non-GAAP financial measures are not standardized measures under the financial reporting frameworks of either company. The data is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP or IFRS. We will also be making certain statements regarding First Majestic, Gatos Silver, and their respective operations that constitute forward-looking statements in accordance with applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. All statements that are not historic facts, such as statements regarding future estimates and plans or expectations of future performance, constitute forward-looking statements that reflect each company's current views with respect to future events.
These statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political, and social uncertainties and contingencies. We encourage you to refer to the cautionary language that was included in the joint news release of First Majestic and Gatos Silver that was disseminated earlier this morning, and to the cautionary language at the beginning of today's presentation, a copy of which will be filed on EDGAR with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission after this morning's call. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty or reliance on any forward-looking statements made during today's call. The company does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by law. With that, I will turn the call back to Keith.
Great. Thanks, Samir, and advancing the slide. As you can see, we have a PowerPoint presentation that we're gonna go through quickly today, and this PowerPoint will be posted on both companies' websites if you care to review them in more detail. We're just going to quickly skim through these. As you can tell by, you know, this acquisition or this merger, we're combining three world-class assets under a single company. Of course, Cerro Los Gatos, San Dimas and Santa Elena is what we're referring to. It takes our production, you know, close to 32 million ounces of silver equivalent production per year, of which about 50% of that is silver, and the majority is gold, and with the Gatos acquisition, we're also bringing lead and zinc into our portfolio.
This transaction bolsters our free cash flow quite significantly. It also combines two very strong operating teams together under one umbrella, which will be very useful for the future growth of the combined company. We maintain our peer leading exposure to silver. You know, as I mentioned, just 50% of our revenues will be from silver, up a little bit from pre transaction. Consolidates a very large land package as well. Cerro Los Gatos adds 103,000 hectares to our portfolio, combined 350,000 hectares, which is three very large districts, we would call them, in Mexico.
Obviously, the transaction results in a much larger company with a stronger balance sheet, improved trading liquidity and a market cap of somewhere around $3 billion. And there will be lots of synergies as well. Over time, I'm sure we'll with the two skill sets that combined into one company, I'm sure we'll be finding all kinds of great synergies in the combined business. Dale, do you have any further comments?
Yeah. Thanks, Keith, and good morning again, everyone. Today is truly a milestone day for Gatos, and as Keith mentioned, vending Gatos into First Majestic, we believe creates the best in class, intermediate primary silver producer. When I look at this transaction through the lens of Gatos shareholders, there is a lot to like. This transaction offers a very reasonable premium, and what is even more important for Gatos shareholders is we will now have exposure to a more diversified production base, and as Keith said, three world-class producing silver mining districts, and this significantly de-risks Gatos as we now move from being a single asset producer into being part of a multi-asset and silver-focused producing company, and what I think is tremendous exploration potential and three unrivaled exploration districts.
Furthermore, our shareholders will now be shareholders in a pro forma company with improved capital markets presence, as Keith said, significant trading liquidity, and combined a very, very healthy financial base to continue to advance the company. Additionally, Keith and his team have operated in Mexico for decades. They understand these types of underground mines, including what we do at Cerro Los Gatos, and I have all the confidence in the world that his team will continue to add value to Cerro Los Gatos and successfully execute on multiple value drivers that exist there, and continue to create value for all shareholders as part of the broader First Majestic portfolio. Back over to you, Keith.
Thanks, Dale, and advancing to the next slide. As you can see, there's quite a bit of information on this slide, and I'm not going to read it all. The highlights on this slide are the pro forma ownership between the two companies. 62% of the combined entity will be held by current First Majestic shareholders, 38% will be held by current Gatos shareholders. Electrum, who owns 32% of Gatos, is in favor and very supportive of the transaction. They're quite excited about the combined entity and moving forward as a team. They'll end up owning 12% of the combined company post-closing. We have a unanimous board and officer support for the transaction.
The shareholder meeting will be announced in the next few weeks. We don't know the exact date yet, but we're expecting sometime in late Q4, likely in November at some time, but we'll be putting that date out as soon as we know it. And we expect closing in sometime in Q1, early in 2025. Moving along. As you see on this slide, the combined transaction will have a very strong treasury as a result of the combination. As I mentioned already, the market cap will be substantial. It'll be somewhere around $3 billion. Our financial liquidity increases quite nicely to over $500 million U.S. dollars.
You know, the combined company, to the point of this transaction or the point of this slide, is really just to show, you know, how strong the company will be as a result of the combined two companies. I'm moving to the next slide. Benefits to First Majestic, as I've covered a little bit, but you know, adds a third, you know, very large district to our portfolio with a ton of exploration upside, as Dale mentioned. You know, combine that with Santa Elena and San Dimas, who have got a very, very large land package and very underexplored as well, as you know, it takes a lifetime to drill out some of these large land packages.
But we're very excited, and we've got a lot of plans with Cerro Los Gatos, you know, to advance it further on and potentially even expand it, but Dale will cover that on the coming slides. So we're adding about 6 million ounces of silver production and about 9 million silver equivalent ounces, the difference being lead and zinc. Los Gatos is a significant cash flow generator, which we're happy to see, obviously. And I've already covered off the concessions. We'll be adding 103,000 hectares of land. And we're combining, you know, two expert teams together in the combined entity, and it's going to enhance our, I think, our capital markets presence and really solidifies our, you know, go-forward plan of being a leading producer of silver in the space. Dale?
Thanks, Keith. I've spoken to some of the benefits to Gatos shareholders already, but I'll just expound on that. Beyond the 16% premium, Gatos shareholders are getting very, very meaningful participation in two additional world-class mining districts at Santa Elena and San Dimas. And I will say, I recently had the opportunity and pleasure to visit both of those assets, and I will say they have very experienced and capable operating teams, and more importantly, what I believe to be tremendous upside potential, particularly on the exploration side. Keith's team has done a terrific job at Santa Elena, growing resources and reserves and together with production. And I'm really excited about their recent discovery that they announced in the Navidad zone at Santa Elena.
And we're equally as excited about the long-term potential of the San Dimas district as well. Moving from a single asset company for Gatos to a diversified silver producer with three quality districts is a game changer for Gatos, and I believe Gatos shareholders. The combined company has critical mass. It elevates Gatos to a new capital markets bracket and provides greatly enhanced trading liquidity. Back over to you, Keith.
Thanks, Dale. And if you look at the slide that's on the screen now, this is really the map of Mexico and then, well, North America as well, showing the assets between the two companies. You see they're quite nicely aligned or close, you know, relatively close together. Los Gatos being in Chihuahua, in a state we're familiar with. I visited Chihuahua myself a number of times, looking at other acquisitions over the last several years, and it's nice to finally be active in that mining-friendly state of Chihuahua. And you see the locations of Santa Elena and San Dimas as well. So three very large districts, which we're very pleased to have under one umbrella.
Obviously, you know, in the United States and Nevada, most of you know, we have the Jerritt Canyon mine in the state of Nevada, and also our First Mint facility just opened up in the last six months or so. And both companies, Gatos and then First Majestic, are located, their head offices are in Vancouver.... Any comments, Dale?
No, I'll just say we happen to be in the same building, so it was very, very easy for me to come up here and have this session with Keith. But no, again, I've been to see both their main assets recently, and I can say they're quality assets, and we're excited to be part of this new portfolio.
Dale?
Yeah, so just continuing on, I'll talk a little bit more about the Cerro Los Gatos asset itself. The mine's been operating since 2019, so for five years now, and it's clearly a Tier One asset. It produces high-grade silver-bearing lead and zinc concentrates. And for those familiar with the asset, the zinc goes to our Japanese partner for their Akita smelter, and that is Dowa Metals and Mining. Last year, the mine produced more than 14 million silver equivalent ounces and at a very low cost, and 64% of our production comes from silver. The facilities are modern, they're well-capitalized.
We have a proven operating team in place, and we continue to drive performance, and I fully expect that to continue going forward. The joint venture holds a very large concession package that's roughly 50 km by 40 km in extent, and we've already got more than 50 individual targets identified within that land package. So it's very prospective. Following the recent discovery and definition of the South-East Deeps over the last two years, which we expect to significantly extend mine life, we recently shifted focus to drilling near mine priority targets, as well as other targets across the district. These would include targets like Portuegueño, San Luis.
And we also think there's very good potential below the existing workings adjacent to the South-East Deeps, both in the Central Zone and Northwest Zone, and we have drills turning on those targets today, as well, so very excited about the future of Cerro Los Gatos and as being part of this new portfolio going forward for us.
Okay, jumping to the next slide. So, as you can see on this slide, we've got the three mines on here, showing their production, current production. Cerro Los Gatos, that's 100% of their attributable ounces. Dowa owns 30%, as I think everyone knows. And you can see on a combined entity how compelling the company looks and compares to its peers in the space, and from a low-cost producer as well. Very happy to see those costs, obviously. A lot to do with grade and just the mill itself. It's actually one of the newest mills, I think, in the entire country of Mexico, I would assume.
It's a beautiful, beautiful facility, and, Dale, do you have any further comments?
Yeah, I'll just say that the ore body itself is very amenable to low cost and productive mining. We're continuing to drive performance, and I'll speak to that a little bit on the next slide. But we've got a great operating team there. They're continuing to just drive performance in the asset, continuing to elevate targets and achieve those. And you know, the asset itself has very stable free cash flow generation. And we think, obviously, that potential to keep extending that out is there, and it's just a great district. And I'll talk a little bit more about the performance of the operation on the next slide, if we can switch.
And just, you know, as far as the operation itself, we've been exceeding design capacity currently by over 30%, with record mill throughput for the past six consecutive quarters in a row. The mill does have proven capacity to average over 3,500 tons per day. We're successfully debottlenecking the mine to fill that mill and to fill that capacity. Site operating costs have decreased by 9% over the past three years, and that's despite inflationary pressures and strengthening of the peso, obviously helped by that increased mill throughput. The site team just continues to focus on efficiency of our underground workforce and equipment, and that includes rebuilding our equipment, which we're a good part of the way through.
We're sustaining the 3,200-3,300 ton per day rate, and we're further extending that up to 3,500 and beyond in the near term. And I'd just like to highlight one small example. I think there's a lot of synergies with this deal. But one small example of the many many synergies we see is the in this combination is First Majestic runs and owns their own central maintenance facility, and that would now be available for Cerro Los Gatos for future rebuilds of our equipment. Just one of the many small examples, but many examples that we think are there for synergies. Back over to you, Keith.
Great. Thanks, Dale. So on this slide here, you'll notice the percentage of revenue from silver. Here we go. Thanks, Keith. We're moving from 43% to 51%. You can see how we compare against our peers on a silver production basis. We've got a nice uptick in gross margins as a result of the combined entity. You see the production there of 31 million silver equivalent ounces, of which 15 million is pure silver, and how it compares against our peer group. And going to free cash flow, of course, we've covered a lot here, but it is substantial and something we're excited about, combining within the First Majestic portfolio. You'll see here the market cap.
We've talked about a little already, you know, going from the current levels of about 1.6 to 2.6 or closer to 3. And on our trading volume, you know, our liquidity has always been pretty strong over the years, and it does get an uptick as a result of this acquisition as well. So further daily volume is always nice to see and helpful for future cost of capital. And jumping to the last slide, I'm not going to really cover this much. We've pretty well covered all these points already, but you know, really, I think the main point of this whole presentation is really this transaction is very consistent with First Majestic's vision of being one of the leading producers of silver in the world.
Then this helps us get to our goals and objectives and looking forward to seeing this close early in the year and watching the combined entity evolve as it develops its three core assets. Dale, any further comments?
Yeah, thanks, Keith. And just to reiterate, this friendly acquisition really does represent a great opportunity for Gatos shareholders, putting together three world-class districts with Cerro Los Gatos, Santa Elena, and San Dimas. I'm extremely proud of what our team has done at Gatos and what we've accomplished together. I would like to thank our shareholders, in particular, our joint venture partner, Dowa, as well, the government, both in Mexico and Chihuahua, and our local community and stakeholders. You know, I'm confident that Cerro Los Gatos will continue to thrive together with First Majestic under the combination that we're announcing today. And thanks very much, Keith.
Very well. Thanks, Dale. And we won't be taking questions today. I would request that if there's anyone on the call that does have questions or comments, please contact our investor relations department. You can see on the slide here both First Majestic's and Gatos information for you to reach out to either of our investor relations teams. So I think that's it, Dale?
Yeah, and we'll be available. The same contact information is there, and, and please refer to our website for more information. Thanks, everyone.
Yeah. Thanks, everyone, for your time and for listening.
Thank you. This brings today's conference to a close. You may now disconnect your lines, and thank you for participating. Have a pleasant day.