Good morning. My name is Sylvie, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Capstone Mining Q3 twenty twenty Results Conference Call. Note that all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.
Thank you. Mr. Annette, you may now begin the conference.
Good morning. I'd like to welcome everyone on the call today. The news release announcing Capstone's twenty twenty third quarter financial results is available on our website. And if you are logged into the webcast, we will be advancing slides. On the call are Darren Pilot, President and CEO Raman Rendawa, Chief Financial Officer Brad Mercer, Senior Vice President, Exploration and Operations and Mike Wipersham, General Manager of Pinto Valley Mine.
Following our brief remarks, there will be an opportunity for questions. Comments made on the call today will contain forward looking information. This information by its nature is subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. For further information on these risks and uncertainties, please see Capstone's relevant filings on SEDAR. And finally, I'll just note that all amounts we discussed today will be in U.
S. Dollars unless otherwise specified. Now I'll turn the call over to Darren Pyle.
Thanks, Gerald, and good morning, everybody. To start, I just wanted to flag the front page of this presentation showing Abel Gonzalez, who's our General Manager at Cozamin. His photo should be on the front of this page based on the record overall cost performance in the history of the mine's operations. Great job at Cozamin. Moving to Slide number four.
I'm very pleased with our Q3 results of 38,500,000 pounds of copper at a C1 cost of $1.82 per pound, well on our track to meet our annual guidance. At Pinto Valley, the results reflect a quarter focused on advancing Phase one of our PV3 optimization, planned downtime in July to install the first of two secondary crushers as well as install the first of two new ball mill shells. Additionally, July was a month to catch up on maintenance that was delayed from the spring due to the COVID-nineteen restrictions that impacted contractor access to our site. C1 costs at Pinto Valley were $2.38 per pound and reflected the level of contractor the higher level of contractor activity we did have in July. Coming out of the upgrades, we saw a very strong operating performance with September throughput at nearly 58,000 tonnes a day with 86.5 recovery.
At Cozamin, as I mentioned, the mine had a stellar quarter with 10,600,000 pounds of copper at a C1 cost of just $0.36 per pound. What I find impressive with these results is that it comes ahead of the mine expansion, which will take into consideration both increased grade and tonnage associated with the new mine plan starting next year once our one way ramp is completed in early December of this year. Now on to Slide number five. We're seeing some very encouraging trends with respect to safety performance at Capstone. And I attribute this to our Values in Action program that we enacted in 2018 that started a committed positive and open safety culture shared by all employees from the top down.
We've been focused on strengthening our management, especially on key risk areas. This year, we hired a Director of Environment, Health and Safety as well as a Director of Technical Services who is focused around tailings and water at our sites. At both of our operations, a system of leading indicators has been implemented, enabling management to analyze data and look for risk mitigation steps to prevent safety or environmental incidents. We're also looking to technology to improve safety. An example of this is at Pinto Valley, where we have been testing a fatigue monitoring system that enables us to monitor mine equipment operators for signs of fatigue.
Also, Capstone will publish an annual sustainability report for 2020 next year. And in the meantime, we recently published an interim performance data report from 2018 that runs all the way through 06/30/2020, is now available on our website. Moving now to Slide number six. This year has been an extremely productive year at Capstone, as you can see by the list of goals and objectives we have completed. One key theme here is that we are willing to try new technologies and enter into new partnerships.
And with this, I believe we have surfaced incredible value this year. At Cozamin, we are on track to complete the one way ramp in early December, and we will release the pillar extraction PFS results in January. And next year at Pinto Valley, we will complete Phase two of the PV3 optimization work. In a few minutes, Mike Wickersham will detail our current plans on the future for Pinto Valley. Our strategy has evolved from last year as we have kept an open mind to what innovation can do for us.
I'm fascinated by the recent pace of technological gains from the mining industry and this could result in the fifty year old Pinto Valley operation performing like a brand new mine at some point in the future without spending a high level of CapEx. Our strategy now for the PV4 expansion is to look for opportunities to improve and expand our existing mill versus building a brand new one. As for Santo Domingo, I believe the timing has never been better to secure the right strategic partner and to fully finance this project. We aim to announce our partner in the 2021 with construction starting in the 2021 as well. Now I'll pass it over to Raman.
Thanks, Darren. We are now on Slide seven. The operating results were strong with adjusted EBITDA of CAD51.6 million and cash flow from operations of CAD27.7 million. Our net debt now stands at $163,000,000 and our net debt to EBITDA ratio has decreased significantly from 2.54 to 1.62 times, which is a big improvement over the past two quarters. I'd also like to point something else out on this slide that gets often overlooked.
It's how efficient cash flow from operations builds equity for shareholders because of our peer leading lowest G and A and interest per pound. Specifically, we're at $09 per pound of G and A and $08 interest paid on debt. This means we have the ability to fund a robust exploration program and pay for optimization projects without hesitation. These two examples have delivered huge value for shareholders over the past year. Turning to Slide eight, we're certainly happy to see the current optimism for higher copper prices.
But despite this, we will stay lean and are focused on paying down debt and increasing the value of our assets. We're focused on low capital, quick payback, high return capital investments, which we internally fund by cash flows. In addition, we're unlocking the steps required to financially derisk the capital required to fund our targeted share of around 50% of San Jose Domingo. The table on this slide highlights that we're expecting at least CAD100 million of EBITDA growth from 2021 to 2023 assuming CAD3 copper. The sensitivity to a CAD0.25 change to the copper price is around $50,000,000 of EBITDA per year on average.
So we're very happy to be at the forefront of our growth at a time when copper prices are improving. Now I'll hand it over to Mike Wickersham.
Thank you, Raman. We're now on Slide nine and in this slide you can see a photograph of Umit Errol. He's our Metallurgical Superintendent at Pinto Valley and he is championing some coarse particle flotation pilot plant trial work that begins in November. On slide 10, you can see how our strategy is aiming to get the best of both worlds of higher throughput and higher recovery. We know we can achieve this given that we've done this in the past and most recently in the month of September with nearly 58,000 tons per day through the mills at 86.4% recovery, a very good showing.
Over the next four years, we're going to see copper grades rise about 10 higher than we've observed this year, and the ore is expected to be softer and more favorable for higher milling rates with lower oxidation, which means we're setting up the mill for good performance and that should be enhanced by the optimization program that's well underway. Ultimately, we're targeting reliable and sustainable throughput of 60 to 63,000 tons per calendar day at a recovery of 85% to 90% in the float plant through the twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three timeframe. To get there, we're going to have to complete Phase one and Phase two work that's detailed on the slide. Some newly approved projects now include $10,000,000 in conveyor upgrades, mill auto controls, cyclone upgrades for the ball mills and tailing stickener upgrades, all of this to be completed by third quarter twenty twenty one. Also, we've hired a third party consultant to review our plan for increasing tailing safety and capacity as we raise rates in the mill.
Given the pilot plant trial work that's underway and work on tailings management, our PV3 optimization study will now be released in the 2021. Earlier, heard Darren mention how innovation is leading to the strategy change for Pinto Valley. This has been true, as you may have heard so far, with our catalytic leaching technology that was pioneered and announced in July, and also a coarse particle flotation technology that we will begin pilot testing this next month of November. These, along with numerous other initiatives, are creating some real excitement about what we can do at Pinto Valley. Now on Slide 11, you can clearly see how we're working towards optimizing or debottlenecking right from the start through to the finish of the value chain.
Every step that we take has to have high internal rate of return, and it has to fall in line with our strategy for improving environmental and safety performance as well. Slide 10 gives a more detailed review of this potential for coarse particle flotation technology that's provided by EARIES. It's called Hydroflow technology. The lab results on our flotation circuit samples from Pinto Valley show that near 50% reduction in lost copper is possible, which overall means we could increase 6% the total copper recovery in the float plant. Success with this pilot plant will allow us to pursue our coarser grinding strategy.
And by doing so, it enables higher throughput from the mills, lower power consumption per ton of ore processed, lower water consumption per ton, and it supports more stable tailings. Once the hydroflow pilot plant test results have been received, we'll make a full financial analysis and that has to factor in recovery improvements and other benefits, which we expect to look very attractive. And in terms of CapEx for this hydroflow project, an early estimate in the range of $50,000,000 could be made based on the installation of Newcrest Cadia operation. Turning to Slide 13. As we've shown, 2020 can be characterized as a year of innovation, and this will shape how Pinto Valley looks in the future.
We'll incorporate this into our optimization study for PV3 optimization, which will be delivered in the 2021. Also, we'll have a technical report update for Pinto Valley in the 2021 as we complete this optimization study. The PV4 expansion study, which is backed by 1,000,000,000 tons of resources similar grade, is now expected for 2022. And the reason for this is it now involves column leads test work that has to be conducted to evaluate expanding our dump lead production instead of a a new or greatly expanded mill option, and this is a reflection of the success of our Jetty catalyst project. We'll also run scenarios with higher mill cut off grades to make sure we optimize our PV4 expansion opportunity.
So we've been very, very busy. We're very excited about the future of Pinto Valley. And with that, I'll hand it over to Brad Mercer.
Hello, everyone. Thank you, Mike. I'm on Slide three now, the Wump the Smiling Faces. That picture there from left to right is a bell, the GM of Cozamin Darren Pilot, our President and CEO and myself, Brad Mercer. And that's a good photo because we are all very happy with the impressive quarter this quarter.
Turning to Slide 15. It shows that we had C1 cost at $0.36 a pound, and it's the lowest C1 cost on record that was helped by strong production, higher tonnes, higher grade, lower operating cost per tonne and a very nice kick with high byproduct silver prices. Now turning to Slide 16. We want to emphasize that we are only 31 meters away from completing 31 vertical meters away from completing the one way ramp. And this is on schedule or slightly ahead of schedule and should now be completed in early December.
As we have said before, not only will this debottleneck the mine, it will lead to a safer mine with a simpler traffic pattern. Work continues apace on the PFS for pillar extraction, which will include an analysis of a paste backfill solution in combination with the dry stack filter tailing solution we are currently designing for Cozamin. This strategy aligns very well with industry leading environmental best practice for tailings management and it is expected to release in January. Other initiatives to optimize the mine are ongoing, like improving stope dilution and adding ore passes or as we call them truckless headings. And there's a big opportunity to surface a lot of value at Cozamin by working on converting some of the nearly 300,000,000 pounds of copper and 13,000,000 ounces of silver in resource not yet in reserve.
A study on this to accelerate conversion rate will be initiated in 2021. With respect to exploration, we are full steam ahead on our new 80 hole drill program, which is targeting the expansion of both Vein 10 and Vein 20 to the Southeast. And we will be looking we will be in a position to start a 1,000 meter exploration drift in early January to provide more platforms and easier access to target this area from underground. We are also stepping up our drilling to the southeast perimeter of the current reserve and expect to add additional reserves to tidy up that area. The initial results of this effort will be included in an updated technical report in January.
And as we have done in the past, we'll provide exploration updates as assay results come in.
And with that, I'll pass
it back to Darren to provide an update on Santo Domingo.
Thank you.
Thanks, Mike and Brad. Some incredible growth opportunities at both of those both of our operations. So now for everybody, we're on Slide 18. As I said earlier, sentiment is greatly improved for copper, iron and cobalt and there is a dearth of permitted projects ready for construction. Santo Domingo in the middle of one of the most prolific mining districts in the world is a standout.
The MOU with Puerto Vantanas for rail and port facilities involved a ninety day period to explore mutual synergies and regional benefits, and this is expected to be completed by the end of this year. On Page 19, we show a pathway to fully finance this project that involves a gold stream, project financing and a strategic partner. We presented this slide back in September, but I wanted to reiterate it that our strategy is to build Santo Domingo without drawing on funds from current operations and without diluting equity shareholders. Turning to Slide 20. Capstone is about to enter the first year of high growth.
By 2022, we will be at £200,000,000 per year producer with C1 costs in the $1.0.5 range. By 2023, at $3 copper, our EBITDA expected to be 170% higher than it is this year. And Santo Domingo is really the wildcard, which will be transformational for Capstone. As illustrated on the final slide, at three seventy five million pounds of production by 2024, this is over 150 higher than levels we're seeing this year and should translate into a significant re rate in our valuation. So with that operator, we're ready to take questions from the audience.
Thank you, sir. And your first question will be from Dalton Baretto at Canaccord.
Tough day to be reporting your results on. It sounds like your thinking has changed fairly dramatically on the Pinto Valley optimization efforts. And so just a couple of questions for me on PV3 and then on PV4. First, on this series, it's a core technology. It has like discussed some mitigation benefits, but they get the CapEx not attached.
How long has Cadia Valley been using this for and what kind of results have they seen? And part B of that question is, do you have to pay any royalties to Ares like you do to Getty?
So thanks for that, Dalton. I'll let Mike answer it because he's had the most direct experience with the team at Ares. Go ahead, Mike.
Thank you, and thanks for your question, Dalton. Things did change just a little bit in our p v three optimization mainly because we we decided we wanted to study this this coarse particle flotation technology more carefully. We evaluated other options to present finer material to ball mill feed. We didn't like the economics on those as well as we like what we see now in this ability to double down on our strategy to be a coarse float mill. That that's really what's driven that.
We wanna make sure that we get those numbers right and we get the technology right and we keep the capital footprint low. With regard to Jetty, we do have a royalty payment with our partner at Jetty. We still are making copper at very low unit cost, and we're rapidly expanding how many pounds of cathode we make per year. It's doing very well.
So my question was, Erie's, do you have to pay them a royalty if you deploy this course or if your location has
to sorry, Dalton. I I misheard you. At this point, we've completed lab scale testing. We're going to get started on pilot scale testing. We have no commercial agreement or negotiations right now in view with any kind of a royalty.
We wanna make sure that the technology works in our float plant and we get the recovery and throughput gains we expect, and then we'll talk about commercial terms.
Okay. But are you are you aware if Newcrest is paying a royalty at Acadia Valley? The only reason I ask is because it changes the cost dynamics, okay?
I don't know if a royalty was part of Cadia's deal. Don't know how to answer that for you.
Dalton, I can answer Dalton, I should but say this I believe this I mean, I can't guarantee, but I believe this is more like buying a piece of equipment than it is a technology. It's a newer piece of equipment that does different things, but it's not we wouldn't expect to be paying royalties.
Thanks, Aaron. That was the gist of my question. So you're not licensing the technology, you're buying equipment? No, exactly. Got it.
Then maybe just switching gears to PD-four. Again, completely different strategy there now. So I understand you don't need to build a new mill. But if you're going to expand the leach and you're paying a royalty to Jetty, the all in cost there is about $2 a pound, I'm having a hard time understanding where the economic trade off is.
Well, that's just it. We got to do the work. I mean, are the success of Jetty has been building. As you know, the longer that you leach something, the more time you have, the result the more clear results you get. So we want to do this column testing over the next twelve to eighteen months to understand the leaching process better.
And at the same time, what we can possibly raise our cutoff grades to the mill and therefore spend much less CapEx on equipment in the mill and understand the trade off. So just as you said, right? So we understand that there's a cost, a licensing cost with Jetty and then there's obviously a CapEx cost to building bigger mills. So that's exactly what we'll be doing is trading off one for the other. But we believe that building a smaller mill and leaching more will be more economic and better for the operation.
Okay, great. And then just one last one for
me on Santo Domingo. I understand the ninety day period is still ongoing. Have you guys had any initial feedback?
Yes. We have a weekly meeting with them and we work we're like we're working jointly to one, consider what a final agreement would look like as well their real ninety days is for them to do a market analysis on other potential customers on a multi user port basis. So they're working with other potential users and we talk with them every week and we are have an extremely good relationship and we're working together on finalizing it.
That's all for me.
Thank you. Next question will be from Orest Wowkodaw at Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Just wanted to get a bit more color on the cost involved at Pinto Valley. Obviously, you're making a fair amount of investments and upgrades there. And I noticed that you did up the CapEx guidance for this year.
If
I understood what was said earlier that you are targeting to increase the throughput there to about 63,000 tonnes a day starting in 'twenty two and these mill upgrades would be finished by, I think, the '1, How much additional capital or I guess, how much total capital does Pinto Valley need for 2021 in order to achieve this target?
I mean, on average, Orest, we spend about $4,050,000,000 dollars of sustaining capital. And then the additions to take us to about the next phases in the MD and A, we've got another $10,000,000 of growth capital for the cyclones and the auto control system to take us about to the 60s and then the next step will be the CAD60 million to CAD63 million, which is part of the PV3 optimization final study, which will come out early next year.
But can you give us like should we anticipate your kind of consolidated CapEx to be at similar levels in 2021 with majority going Is into that the right way to think about it?
Yes, would think about it that way. Mean, Klosemond still got the dry stack tailings that we want to put in place as well. So that'll be a bit of a capital in 2021 as well that will kick off.
Okay. And then just separately, can you give us an update where your head may be at with respect to a potential silver stream at Cozeman and whether that's something you're actively engaged in from an evaluation perspective?
Orest, I would say that we're cognizant of elevated precious metal prices, both silver at Cozamin and gold, Santo Domingo. So I would think it's fair to say that we're taking a hard look at I mean, we're dealing with this from a position of strength, as you saw by the cost profile of Cozamin. There's no need to do a silver stream based on that and as well as our balance sheet. But if we can be opportunistic and because it's a very coveted asset, if we can get something that we like, we would and it's accretive to shareholders, we would absolutely look at it. So yes, we're taking a hard look right now.
And should we anticipate that you need to finish kind of the current the updated 40 three-one 101 around the PACE backfill before you'd be in a better position to perhaps move forward on something like that or not necessarily?
No, would say not necessarily because it's relative to the overall reserve. It's not a large number and as well, it's pretty well defined that if that went in, you'd be able to recover pillars. So it's not much of a risk on either side.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Next question will be from Rafael D'Souza at CIBC. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning and thank you for taking my questions. So just somewhat of a follow-up on the 2020 CapEx. I was just wondering what initiatives have been brought back to the table for this update?
Rafael, it's Raman. Yes. I mean, we accelerated our capital spend by I mean, we took it down from 90 to 60 and then back up to about 90. And the less the major items are stripping. So we had we were going to dial back a bit on stripping.
So the stripping of the $7,000,000 higher, which puts us on plan to deliver that 10% higher grade next year into the 0.33% over the next four years. And then haul trucks, we had purchased some haul trucks that we're going to pay for this year that we could have deferred PCRs, which are component replacements and some tailings work. And then also a new loader, so instead of running these high cost shovels, we were able to bring in a loader that's more efficient, energy efficient, but also will defer some capital that would have been required on those shovels. Those are the big items when you add that up and then a little bit more spending in MSD.
Okay. Thank you. And then just so just on stripping, so I noticed that Penta Valley stripping was a bit higher this quarter. Should we expect that to continue in the fourth quarter?
Yes, I would say so. Probably the same rates you saw in third quarter.
Okay. Thank you. And then last question for me. So at Cozamin, so as you continue to move away from the San Rafael zone, should we expect that grades will continue to go higher going forward, at least in the fourth quarter?
Yes. We're planning on phasing San Rafael production out in the 2021. So you'll get a marked jump in the head grade because we won't be blending with the lower grade zinc material.
Okay. Yes, that's all for me. Thank you.
Thank you. And your next question will be from Stephane Ioannou at Cormark. Please go ahead.
Great. Thanks very much guys. I get that obviously the PV4 plan has sort of pivoted a little bit and it's still early days. But just wondering, obviously, if the mill is staying the same size and a lot more material will be going on to a heap leach pad, do you have any sense of how much it would impact your sort of future tailings requirements in terms of I know PB4 entailed sort of a new site and all that sort of stuff. Is that still on the table?
And just maybe give us an update on that sort of aspect of it.
Yes. Stefan, I would say that the mill is going to be bigger, not the same size. But I would say when we're envisioning a mill in excess of 100,000 tonnes a day, we think it can be smaller now. But absolutely, we will need to solve the tailings situation with land we either have on our site or permitted land. We need to evaluate that.
But we would definitely need more space for tailings as part of a PV4.
Okay. Okay. Got it. And maybe just a sort of a housekeeping question for Mike. He mentioned, I don't know if I got it, just the anticipated CapEx for to put it to hydrofluid.
And did he say $50,000,000 Mike? Or
Yes. It was 50,000,050
million Okay. Okay. Thanks very much. That's great, guys. Thanks very much.
Thank you. And your next question will be from Craig Hutchinson at TD Bank. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Most of my questions have been answered. But just in terms of your discussions for Santo Domingo in terms of strategic partners, has there been a strong interest in the offtake for the magnetite ore?
Yes. There's been strong interest, Craig, from kind of all of our all the metal streams that we produce. Copper is a high quality and very strong interest on an offtake financing or agreement with for copper. The iron is a premium product, so very good interest on purchasing the iron and offtake that as well. And obviously, lots of interest around cobalt because it's associated in Chile and at a lower risk than the DRC.
So very strong interest for offtake for all of our all of the metals that we will produce there.
And is your intent still to be a majority owner? Or would you be willing to go become a minority owner of the asset?
Yes. Similar case, right? Like if we have a strong partner with a track record of building mines and can finance the project very quickly, we would absolutely have them be the operator. And at the same time, with the copper price and cash flow we're generating from our existing operations, we could envision being 50% partner and operator as well. But whatever is best for the lowest risk for our shareholders, best return for the project and best execution of building a mine is the way we would go forward on that.
Okay. Thanks. And just maybe a housekeeping question for me as well. Just in terms of taxes for sort of the balance of this year, are you guys in a fully cash taxable position at this point? Or should we assume there's still some deferred tax credits you guys have to offset?
Yes. It depends on jurisdiction. So in Mexico, we're fully taxable with the tax rate in the 35%. And then we pay withholding tax when we bring it up. So that's increased our taxes this quarter a little bit.
And at Pinto Valley, we have a lot of loss carryforwards are up to about $100,000,000 So we won't be paying taxes at Pinto Valley for a little while here in the next couple of years.
Okay. Perfect. Thanks, guys.
Thank you. And at this time, we have no further questions. So I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Pilot.
Great. Thank you, operator, and thank you, everybody, for your questions and joining us today. Please continue to remain diligent to stay safe and healthy as this COVID-nineteen continues to be a global concern. And please don't hesitate as always to contact us with any further questions or follow-up you may have after this call. Thank you very much.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. And at this time, we ask that you please disconnect your lines.