Thank you, Russell. Good afternoon, everybody. Nice to be here with all of you. Thanks for joining. Before we get started, I will have to invite you to read our legal disclaimers, forward-looking statements as well. Now getting back to business, our history, this is our ninth year. We're getting close to the first decade of being in existence. San Bartolomé was a company that was privately purchased by a group of individuals led by myself, who started out this company in Bolivia. It was purchased from Coeur Mining. It's an oxide processing facility, which has a capacity of 5,000 tons per day mill. Fast-forward from that, you've got as a part of our history, we went public in the TSX Venture on March 2021. On November 2023, we purchased a gold heap leach mine in Kern County, California, which is the Golden Queen Mine.
Back to going forward to January 2025, we uplisted to the TSX Big Board. On March 2026, we got included in the GDXJ, and we're currently now positioned for what we call continued our transformational growth. We have a very strong capital structure and financial balance sheet to pursue organic and inorganic growth going forward. First, how are we well positioned for the next stages in growth? We have a proven cash flow generation track record. Our company, because of the business model that we generated since inception in Bolivia, we've been cash flow positive every single year. Even at the time that we went public, we actually had sufficient cash flow. We only listed in the stock exchange the minimum amount of shares that was regulatorily complied with. That's the reason why insiders in our company have a strong foothold in the capital structure.
We are very well-balanced into both precious metals. As of 2025, 57% of our revenues came from silver production and 43% from gold production. We're depending on which metal gets more appreciation in the year. We're well-balanced and positioned to capitalize on both metals. We also have organic growth with low technical risk. We're basically focusing on two things. In the case of Golden Queen in California, we're focusing on exploration and mine life expansion, as well as some other optimization actions that we're taking. In the case of Bolivia, we're pursuing additional contracts in order to feed the mill, as we're going to show in a second. Our strong balance sheet has been a proven track record of disciplined execution, but most importantly, disciplined financial standards and ratios that we're keeping, and we have a clear path to value creation going forward.
In general, as I mentioned before, right now 36% of our shares is the float that we have. Insiders own 48%, Eric Sprott has 13%, and the remaining ETFs has about 3% of our company. As I mentioned just a few minutes ago, we also got included in the SILJ and the GDXJ. Our producing assets in the Americas, we have Golden Queen in California, which is an open-pit heap leach, and we're basically on a guidance basis, we're in about the 45,000-54,000 gold equivalent ounces range. Our guidance for this year is $1,500-$1,800 all-in and the operating cash costs, and $1,850-$2,150 in the all-in sustaining cost. In the case of Bolivia, as we've mentioned, this is not a traditional mine, it's a processing facility. We buy the ore from third parties, and then we process it and sell the metal into the market.
We go for the cash flow spread. That business model of going for the cash flow spread has been resilient. It has proven to be cash flow positive every single year. We've got our 2026 guidance right here on the numbers. We're intending to be producing from 4.4 million-4.9 million equivalent ounces of silver, with a cash gross operating margin of about $20-$35 per equivalent ounce of silver and a gross margin ratio of 35%-45%. Those are the metrics that we use for the Bolivian facility because it's not a traditional mining facility, as I mentioned. It's a producing, processing facility. The important part is this, we buy the ore, we do not toll. We buy the ore. We own the exposure to the metal, and that's how we get the production going forward.
Golden Queen. In the Golden Queen Mine, we're basically extending the life of mine through exploration. We have given some high guidance to the market as our 2024, which I'm going to be giving guidance. We're going to continue to do that, and we'll be in the process for later in the year to do an MRE statement about the results of our 2025 exploration campaign, and we're even increasing it into 2026. We're also going to get started this year. We have the intentions to start looking into the aggregate business in California. This is something very unique that we have in Golden Queen, is as we exploit the mine and the gold mine, all of our waste material that actually we're producing, we're authorized and have a permit that runs into 2061 to be able to sell this waste as aggregates in the market.
It's a significant amount of tonnage that we currently have, and it'll be continuous to be producing as we go forward. We're intending to start generating that business model on it. On a long-term value, that in the aggregates, as I mentioned, that permit runs up to 40 more years, basically. In the case of optimization initiatives, we have been expressing to the market that we are looking into mine life extension through expanded campaigns of drillings into the different veins that we've got. We're also looking in to extend the current leach pad and even looking into a new leach pad as well, a second leach pad to be included in order to satisfy the future growth that we're intending to have at Golden Queen. Today we have throughput improvements. We're adding an additional of three more haul trucks.
We're now going to be having a total fleet of 12 trucks, and we're increasing the capacity for operational flexibility as much as the recovery optimization. We're taking steps as well to try to improve our recovery. On the San Bartolomé processing facility, it's a plant that has steadily been producing close between 4.5 million and 5 million ounces steady since it was commissioned back in 2008-2009 by Coeur Mining, our predecessor. We have the whole area of Potosí close to our facility. That's where we're bringing in a lot of ore sources, as you can tell. Mostly the distance, the farther the distance, the higher the grade. That allows us to be able to secure contracts even from 500 km away.
This is an interesting chart, as you can see how the business supply model in San Bartolomé, it's been very resilient, and we are basically naturally hedged to the spot prices as we have various types of contracts in general terms. We have what we call our own material, which is currently being processed out of the FDF facilities, our tailings. We're still at these levels of pricing. We're beginning to even mine the silver in our tailings facilities. We also have the current profit share contracts. We have a few private individuals with whom we have gotten profit-sharing agreement. They provide us with the ore, and we basically process it and take it to the market. We also have the biggest chunk of it. It's what we call contracts on a fixed price per ton, which is the light blue. We have our spot prices.
The spot prices are linked basically to the spot prices in which we keep a cash flow margin with respect to our purchases. This is how you can see how the trend is improving and how we are getting a better cash margin ratio as we move along in the development of our facility. On optimizations, we're looking into ore supply, which goes back to the previous chart, then an explanation of how the business model goes with respect to the different types of contracts that we're pursuing. We're also improving our transportation logistics. The reason there was a question with one of my predecessors about the elections in Bolivia, one of the positive things that happened is that the importation of diesel is now open.
So there is no more, let's say, restrictions on accessibility and supply of diesel, which is allowing us to improve our transportation logistics significantly, as we have basically mentioned. And we're also having additional investments in the company on recovery optimization. We have been increasing our recoveries significantly. Now we're into the mid-80s, and we're looking into finding ways to even optimize those recoveries in the silver ratios. In Golden Queen, and as I mentioned, in the Golden Queen, we're expanding the mineralization to the drilling campaign that we're doing. We're also advancing infill drillings. We're targeting new extensions of the veins where we think that we can continue to increase our mineral resource and reserves, and which will allow us to enhance our long-term viability of the company. In the case of San Bartolomé, we're constantly pursuing more and more contracts within the community in the area.
There is additional sources where we can continue to grow for a few more years, or I would say for a significant amount of years. When we bought this company, San Bartolomé, it only had eight-month life of mine. This is our ninth year, and we still believe that there's enough ore to continue going for a significant amount of time as well, even though we're advancing the exploration into the COMIBOL areas that we got onto the COMIBOL contract that we have expressed into the market, and we're looking to maximize our plant optimization and utilization as well. In our community, we're focused a lot in increasing our social license. Within the city, as I would say, within the city of Potosí, there is a study that has been made that we literally contribute to about 25% of the GDP of the city of Potosí.
There's a study that has been done by the University of Potosí and Oxford Economics that shows that. We're also been making contributions in various different ways, in both in California and into the local communities, as well as also in the communities within Potosí, in Bolivia. Most of our employees live in the Kern County area, and most of our office gets expensed in the same California region, as well as in Potosí. So we are engaged in reinvesting into the local community. That's how we're also enhancing our social license there. Strong cash flow driving the strength of our balance sheet. This is just for the last three years. This has shown how our free cash flow has been generated significantly, which has also increased our pool of liquidity.
As of the end of last year, we published recently our numbers, and we have a liquidity pool of $177 million, of which $167 million equals our basically cash equivalent marketable securities. And we still have undrawn facilities at this point of about $10 million. Currently, we've got on debt, we have about $30 million debt on a facility that we have with National Bank in Toronto. Our cash, significantly, we're looking into whether our cash would facilitate and our cash generation, whether we can prepay it or not, but that's something to be considered. And we also have equipment leases totaling about $15 million, which is on the going side ratio of mostly it arises out of the whole fleet expansion that we're doing in California. So that's in a nutshell.
We have even broader information on the drilling campaigns and the exploration on our corporate presentation, but I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone may have.
Thank you, Alberto. Any questions from the room? There's one here.
Thank you. Tony Robson, Global Mining Research. California's probably not the first jurisdiction most of the investors here would think about for mining. What permitting issues do you have? Is it very tough on environmental legislation? For your satellite deposit you're looking to mine, are they within your mining lease area, or will they require new permits? Thank you.
Yeah. Well, definitely California has very high standards on the environmental side, so you have to be cognizant about that when you're operating in there. Our mine is fully permitted, and as we expand to the extension of our veins, we still have to go through expanding some of the permitted into the additional areas that we're going through. It's an ongoing process. The municipality, Kern County, as well as the state, they're working very closely with us on getting those permits moving forward. We're optimistic. It takes a little bit of time, but when you're now producing, it is not as lengthy as to get it started and permitted, as once you're already functioning and operating, it's just basically been expanding your permits as you go along into extension.
Was that where you were headed on your questions, mostly on the exploration extension of the veins as we follow it? I was thinking that that was where you were headed. Yeah. No, it's working well. Although I have to say it's very strict, so you have to be cognizant about those things and the regulatory environment.
Okay. Thank you. Any further questions? Maybe one from me if there's no others.
Sure.
You've obviously got a very strong balance sheet. How are you thinking about capital allocation within the context of the cash you have on the balance sheet? Are you thinking about returning capital to shareholders? Have you got enough to deploy into the ground?
Well, as you saw from our corporate structure, if we were to return cash to the shareholders, us, the insiders, would be the most beneficial from it. I think that although that is a possibility, I do believe, honestly, that we have better use of our cash in order to support organic, but most importantly, inorganic growth in this area. Our market cap right now, it's a little north of CAD 1 billion as of last Friday Canadian. We do have a currency that we can use for our stock price in order to do acquisitions. The cash flow generation that we have, as well as the pool of cash and the available liquidity, it also allow us to look into the inorganic growth through M&A.
I think that it'll be more accretive to the shareholders in general by still focusing on both areas, organic plus inorganic growth. That's our primary target for the year.
Okay.
On the aggregate side of the business, have you got any indication as to the level of the potential revenue you can generate from that? Is that a new revenue stream?
It can become a new revenue stream. As we go along, all of our waste right now, Jesus, there'll probably be between, we haven't got the exact number, but there's north of 7 million tons, even close to 100 million tons.
Sure.
Pick a number. $3 a ton for someone just to pick it and tail it and haul it out of there, $3 a ton, $5 a ton. If we continue to extend the life of mine in Golden Queen for another eight or nine years, we're going to be north of 250 million tons of waste materials that we're producing. It depends. We're going to have to go into the chemical composition and testings and everything for that, and that will determine how much you can get on a per ton basis. It may fluctuate whether you can use it for inland fillings on huge construction and infrastructure projects. The southern part of California, it's humongous. The consumption that they do, especially out of this unfortunate event of the wildfires that actually consumed significant areas in California, there will be a lot of demand for aggregate.
We're beginning to, and we're at the early embryo stages and at the very beginning of looking into putting together a strategic vision as to how the aggregate business can be the most accretive. On a millions of ton basis, we estimate, and again, this is a forward-looking statement, we estimate that we may even end up, by the time we end the life of the mine, with more than 250 million tons for utilization and a permit up until 2061.
Okay. That's a good note to end on. Thank you, Alberto.
You're welcome, Russell.
I think that it brings.
Thank you, everyone.
To an end the first session. Thank you very much to all the presenters.