Welcome to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Dundee Precious Metals Incorporated. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. During the meeting, we will have a question and answer session. You can submit a written question at any time by clicking on the message icon at the top of your screen. Please note that your registered name will be announced along with your question during the Q and A session following the formal portion of the meeting.
Guests will not be able to submit questions. Please also note that all participants are in a listen only mode. If you experience technical difficulties during the meeting, Please click on the support link on the broadcast screen. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Jonathan Goodman. Sir, the floor is yours.
Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to Dundee Precious Metals 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I now call the meeting to order. My name is Jonathan Goodman, and as Chair of the company, I will chair today's meeting. We once again decided to hold our annual meeting in a virtual format in response to the ongoing COVID-nineteen global pandemic As we continue our efforts to mitigate the risks to the health and safety of our shareholders, colleagues and communities, we're using the power of technology to hold this meeting in We are live webcast, which allows all shareholders and appointed proxy holders from any location to attend, Participate and vote at the meeting.
Guests are also welcome to attend and listen to our meeting. We would like to set a few rules For our quarterly conduct of the meeting, one, questions may be submitted using the instant messaging service of the virtual interface. Please note that there may be a slight delay in questions being received by us after they've been submitted. Please follow the instructions in the virtual platform, Which will ask you to indicate your name, which entity you represent, if any, and confirm whether you are a registered shareholder or a duly appointed proxy holder. 2, questions in respect of a motion can only be submitted by a registered shareholder or duly appointed proxy holder.
When reading out a question on a motion, we will note the name of the registered shareholder or proxy holder submitting the question. 3, Following the formal part of the meeting and management's presentation, there will be a Q and A session where all registered shareholders, proxy holders and guests You are welcome to ask questions of a more general nature. In order to deal with all questions in a timely fashion, questions of a similar nature will be answered once And duplicative questions will not receive a response. If we are unable to address your question during the meeting due to time constraints, A representative of the company will reach out to you following the meeting with a response. Voting on all matters will be conducted by electronic ballot.
To allow sufficient time for voting, the polls will be open at the beginning of the meeting and you will receive a message on the virtual interface requesting you to start registering your vote. I remind you that only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders We've properly logged in with their control numbers of a user name. We'll be able to see the screen motions being brought forth at this meeting and will be asked to vote on each business item. We remind you that if you are a registered shareholder and you have already voted by proxy, You need not vote again unless you wish to change your vote. If you plan to vote at the meeting, you may choose to vote On each resolution immediately or wait to cast your vote until after an item is discussed or following the conclusion of discussions on all voting matters.
To vote, simply click on your choice for or withhold or against as applicable. A confirmation message will appear to show your vote has been received. To change your vote, simply change your selection. The votes you have submitted on each polling item at the time of the poll closes will be recorded. Totals in favor or against or withheld as the case may be Each resolution item will be tallied by the scrutineers once the voting is complete and the chair will report on the outcome of all motions at the end of the meeting.
We will now proceed with the formal portion of today's meeting. To expedite the formal part of the meeting, I will move all motions as the proxy appointee. I'd like to introduce the members of the executive team and other directors present at the meeting. We have David Ray, our President and Chief Executive Officer Hume Kyle, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Kelly Stark Anderson, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary and Michael Dorfman, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development. I would now like to welcome our newest Members of the Board, Jamie Donovan, who joined us last November and Calidas Madhav Pedi, Who joined our Board this past February.
We also have with us today Peter Gillan, our recently appointed Deputy Chair And formerly Lead Director, Jeremy Kinsman Juanita Montalvo Marie Anne Tawil Anthony Walsh and myself, Jonathan Driven. Before I proceed, I'd like to take a moment to extend a sincere thank you to our retiring directors, Peter Nixon and Don Young for their dedication over many years of valuable service to the company. Their guidance and expertise have contributed significantly to the company as we have transitioned to a mid tier producer. Following the formal business, David Ray will highlight our 2020 performance and will review the Q1 results and respond to questions. I now ask that the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of the Company come to order.
I declare that the polls are open on all resolutions and will remain open until the last item of business in the meeting has been completed. Kelly Stark Anderson, Corporate Secretary of the Company, will act as Secretary of the meeting. For the purposes of this meeting, I appoint Computershare Investor Services has scrutineers to compute the votes of any polls taken at this meeting to report thereon to the Secretary. The item of the business for today's meeting is set out in the management information circular of the company dated March 24, 2020. 1, this year we mailed to shareholders using notice and access and delivered We are meeting materials by providing you with a notice and posting the materials on our website at www.ecrecious.com.
Only mailing materials to shareholders of previously registered paper copies, the meeting materials, along with the audited Consolidated financial statements and related MD and A for the year ended December 31, 2020, were mailed on April 5, 2021. Unless there is any objection, which may be voiced only by registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders By using the instant messaging service of the virtual inter forklift, I will dispense with the reading of the notice of the meeting. Copies of the management information and other meeting materials are available on the company's profile on the SEDAR website. As no objections have been received, we will continue. Our transfer agent, Computershare Investor Services, has attested to the proper mailing of the notice calling this meeting.
The transfer agent has filed with me proof of Services such mailing and I direct that a copy of such proof of service be retained within the records of the company. I have been advised that there are 2 or more people attending the meeting who hold or represent by proxy shares, representing more than 25% of all Outstanding voting shares of the company. Therefore, a quorum of shareholders is present and the meeting is properly called and duly constituted For the transaction of business, I have received the scrutineers report and I direct that their formal report be retained with the records of the company. As the first item of the business on the agenda for today's meeting, I present the audited Consolidated financial statements of the company for the year ended December 31, 2020, together with the auditors' report to the shareholders thereon. Copies of such documents have been mailed to shareholders who requested them.
The next item of the business is the election of directors. In accordance with the advance notice bylaws of the company for nominations of directors by shareholders, We do not receive any notice of any directed nomination for this year's meeting. Accordingly, the only persons eligible to be nominated for election as directed The company are the persons nominated by management. The 9 directors to be elected By the shareholders of the company's shareholder office until the close of business of the 1st annual meeting of shareholders of the company following election or until their successors are elected or appointed. Jamie Donovan, Peter Gillan, David Ray, Jeremy Kinsman, Kalajdesh Madhav Pedi, Juanita Montalvo, Marie Anne Tewill, Anthony or Tony Walsh and myself, Jonathan Goodman, have been nominated as directors for the ensuing year or until their successors are elected or appointed.
Each of the persons nominated has confirmed that he or she is prepared to serve as a director. Since there are no other nominations, I move a motion to elect each of the individuals nominated as directors. Unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business. The next item of business is the appointment of the auditor of the company for the ensuing year And to authorize the Board of the company to fix the auditors' remuneration. The Board of Directors of the company has approved subject to Shareholder confirmation, the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants as the auditor of the corporate of the company.
I move that PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC, Charter Professional Accounts be appointed the auditor of the company into the next Annual Meeting of the Shareholders And that the Board of Directors be authorized to fix the auditors' remuneration. Unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business. The next and final item of business is I move that the non binding advisory resolution accepting the company's approach to executive compensation as set out in the circular be approved and confirmed. As we mentioned today, voting today is being conducted by electronic ballot. I will now take a moment for the registered holders and appointed proxy holders to complete the voting.
For those of you not in Cassey Rhodes, please do so now. We will provide registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders Approximately one more minute to complete the electronic ballots. Once the ballot closes, the voting page will disappear Voting is now closed. I would ask that the scrutineer compile the report regarding results of the voting on all business matters. However, I've been advised that based on the proxies we received today, All voted overwhelmingly in favor of all the matters today.
Each of the 9 nominees received no less than 86% of the votes In favor of her election as Director of the company to serve until the next Annual Meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed. 99.94% have voted in favor of the appointment of PricewaterCoopers LLP as the auditor of the company And to authorize the Board of Directors to fix their remuneration, 97.44% have voted in favor of passing a non binding advisory resolution Accepting the company's approach to executive compensation, I declare that each of the 9 nominees have been duly elected as directors. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has been duly appointed as the auditor of the company and the non binding advisory resolution accepting the company's approach to executive Compensation has been duly passed. I confirm that the results will be published on SEDAR and by press release following the meeting. The formal items of business as set out in the notice of meeting have now been dealt with.
I move that this meeting now to terminate. As there is no further business to come before the meeting, I declare that the formal part of the meeting is to be concluded. I will now turn the meeting over to David Ray, who will highlight our strong 2020 results and achievements, which will be followed by a question and answer period. If you've not already done so, I ask that all attendees who would like to ask a question Use the instant messaging feature of the virtual interface to do so. We will answer as many questions as time permits.
When asking your question, please state your name, The entity represents, if any. We will give attendees a moment to type in their question. For each question we answer, we will summarize the question And read out loud the name of the person who asked the question and if applicable, the entity such person represents.
David? Thank you, Jonathan. It goes without saying that 2020 was a very challenging year around the world as a result of the COVID-nineteen pandemic. Despite these challenges, the strength of our people and relationships with our stakeholders, As well as the quality of our asset portfolio enabled us to deliver an exceptional year. It is my pleasure to provide an update on our business, Review our Q1 results and discuss how well we are positioned for the future.
As a reminder, we will be taking questions after I finish my remarks. Before we begin, let me draw your attention to our cautionary statement on Slide 8, as we will be discussing forward looking information during our remarks. I'll begin with Slide 9. In 2020, we engaged the entire organization from our mine site employees to our Board of Directors and a comprehensive process to define our corporate purpose. As a result, we established a purpose statement unlocking resources And generating value to thrive and grow together.
Our purpose is supported by a strong foundation of 6 core values that guide how we conduct our business and how we behave as an organization. Informed by our purpose and core values, we also refreshed DPM's strategic objectives, Which are focused around 4 strategic pillars, those being ESG, innovation, optimization of our existing portfolio and growth. We believe our strong performance in each of these strategic pillars drove our achievements in 2020 and has laid a strong foundation for the future. Touching briefly on the COVID-nineteen pandemic, it's fair to say that our values were exemplified in 2020 by the efforts of our teams made to support local communities that were significantly impacted by the pandemic. As you can see on Slide 10, We launched a number of initiatives to assist and respond to the needs of our local communities in Bulgaria, Namibia and Serbia.
Collectively, we contributed approximately $1,000,000 which was primarily focused on assisting hospitals by providing additional medical facilities, Supplies, transportation and medical equipment. We continue to prioritize the health and safety of our workforce and local communities as we manage the challenges of the ongoing pandemic. Moving now to Slide 11. Focusing on our overall performance in 20 It would normally be my pleasure to begin a review of our annual performance by highlighting our strong health and safety record. That is sadly not the case this past year.
Tragically and as previously reported, there was a fatality at our smelter operation in Namibia, Which overshadowed what was otherwise an exceptional year. The safety and well-being of our people is our highest priority and we are focused on applying what we've learned from this incident across the organization to ensure every employee arrives home safely each day. 2020 was a milestone year for DPM across a number of areas. We delivered exceptional operational performance With all our operations meeting or exceeding their annual guidance and achieved a new record for gold production of 298,000 ounces. Each of our operations delivered strong cost performance with overall all in sustaining cost for the year of $6.54 per gold ounce, at the low end of our revised guidance.
We generated record financial results, including $211,000,000 of free cash flow And $193,000,000 in adjusted net earnings. We significantly strengthened our balance sheet ending the year with $150,000,000 of cash, No debt and over $100,000,000 of investments. And we delivered all remaining ounces under our prepaid gold sales arrangement at Adatepe, which is expected to positively impact the 2021 free cash flow going forward. Turning to Slide 12, you can see that during the year, we also made Our exploration programs yielded strong results, including the addition of 2 years of mine life at our Chelopech operation. We were excited to make an additional investment in Bulgaria through a strategic equity placement in Velosky Minerals, a gold And we also announced positive pre feasibility study results For the Timok Gold project, advanced it to the feasibility stage and also released encouraging exploration results on the project.
Overall, we were pleased to see that our accomplishments in 2020 were recognized by the market, with our share price increasing by 64% in 2020, outperforming both the GDX and GDXJ indices. Our strong 2020 results demonstrate our ability to deliver significant free cash flow and our commitment to deploying this capital in a disciplined manner. Looking forward, we can expect another strong year in 2021. Our detailed guidance for the year reflects Higher production and improved costs relative to our previous 3 year outlook. This reflects our current mine plans, including the optimized mine plan for at Etepe we announced in October last year.
The updated 3 year outlook, as shown on Slide 13, highlights our strong gold production profile, Attractive all in sustaining costs and positions us well to continue delivering strong returns for our shareholders. As you can see on Slide 14, the Q1 of 2021 was a solid start to the year as we continue to generate significant free cash flow, Driven by record quarterly gold production at Adatepe and excellent all in sustaining cost performance of $5.22 per gold ounce. We also continue to build our financial strength, exiting the quarter with a cash balance of $176,000,000 no debt and $150,000,000 available under our undrawn credit facilities. On Monday, we also announced the closing of the sale of MineRP Holdings, Generating cash proceeds of approximately $41,000,000 We continue to retain upside from the sale through potential earn out payments, Payable upon achievements of certain MineRP revenue targets in 2021 2022. We are committed to maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation that balances our desire to maintain balance sheet strength as previously discussed, provide a cash return to our shareholders and reinvest in our business as highlighted in Slide 15.
In February 2020, we were pleased to introduce a quarterly dividend of $0.02 per share. In the Q4, less than a year later, We increased it by 50% to $0.03 per share, an increase which reflects our ongoing strong operational performance, Significant free cash flow generation and a growing cash balance further demonstrates our confidence in our operations as well as our commitment to delivering superior returns to our shareholders through disciplined capital allocation. Few companies of our size have implemented a dividend and we believe this will further distinguish us from our peers. We also recognize the need to deploy capital to sustain and grow our business Through margin improvement initiatives, aggressive exploration at our projects and sites and advancing organic opportunities such while evaluating external M and A opportunities. I'd now like to highlight 2 of our strategic pillars that continue to set us apart from our peers And are making an important contribution to value generation, namely our industry leading ESG performance and our continuing success in adding value to our operations through innovation.
Being a leader in the areas of environmental, social and governance has always been a key focus for DPM. We long understood the strategic importance of maintaining our social license and have seen firsthand how excelling in this important area It's a competitive advantage that can unlock additional value and lead to superior long term returns. Starting with our purpose and values, ESG is an important part of our culture and is integrated at all levels of our organization from our Board of Directors to our workforce. Our approach to ESG is centered around maximizing the net positive impact from our operations. In our view, this is broad concept That goes beyond measuring health financial and economic impact, that has also captured how effectively we are Minimizing environmental impact, maximizing socioeconomic value, nurturing trusted stakeholder relationships And building sustainable livelihoods that will extend beyond the life of our mines.
In order to provide a robust framework for assessing net positive impact going forward, We've adopted the concept of the 6 capitals. We believe this framework will allow for us to more efficiently measure the impact of our operations and the value we are generating for our stakeholders. I'll move now to Slide 17. This approach to ESG was exemplified in 2020, not only by the efforts Our teams to support the local communities impacted by COVID-nineteen, which I highlighted earlier, but also through the progress we've made on a number of social and environmental initiatives. I'm pleased to share some of the highlights from our 2020 sustainability report, which we released a little earlier today.
We've been reporting on our sustainability performance since 2011. So we believe it's a transparent way for all stakeholders to measure our performance. 2020 marks our 6th sustainability report following the GRI standards, introduces SASB industry It extends into our reporting and provides an update to our inaugural TCFD climate change report, which we published in December. As you can see from Slide 18, we achieved significant progress in a number of important social and environmental areas. Among the highlights of the year, we continue to have one of the lowest intensity rates for mining greenhouse gas emissions amongst our peers.
We achieved a low freshwater intensity rate and zero discharge of industrial wastewater from our operations. We established an independent tailings review board in conjunction with a review of our tailings management standard. In terms of local employment and gender diversity, we are very unique, Our management team is being comprised almost entirely of local employees and women representing a significant portion of senior management positions. And we continue to see the positive impact of our operations in the surrounding communities as the municipalities surrounding Chelopech and Atatekte mines Represent the areas with the highest average salary and the highest growth in population and income. Our efforts and track record have been recognized by others and resulted in DPM an A rating by MSCI, a well respected independent ESG rating agency.
These results are a testament not only to Skills, knowledge and ability of all of our employees, the way in which our core values are instinctively integrated into our behaviors throughout the organization. I'd like to turn to Slide 19 and highlight an example that helps to illustrate how we are contributing to and strengthening the livelihoods of the communities where we operate, which is an integral part of our approach to sustainability. We developed and implemented a small and medium enterprise funded out Tepe, which is designed to help provide the local community with sustainable livelihoods that will extend beyond the life of mine through entrepreneurship and enterprise development. Today, we've funded over 20 projects, which have created 52 new local jobs and have seen the positive impact of our operations as the region now has more Returning to live and work that was the historical case of more emigrating abroad. We are currently migrating to a similar program at Chalopec after the And expanding our existing SME funding at Tsumeb, where we have provided support to SMEs that provide goods and services to the smelter and local markets.
I would encourage you to download a copy of our sustainability report to find out more about our approach to sustainability and to learn about other examples of how we are putting this into For a number of years, we've also established a reputation as an innovative mining company for our work in applying new technologies to drive value in our business. Through this focus on innovation, we've developed the capabilities to quickly assess new technologies and efficiently incorporate them into our business to create further value. Turning to Slide 21. When assessing those new technologies, we look for the potential to increase safety, lower mining costs, Improve operating performance and reduce our environmental impact. The integrated mine waste facility at Adatepe is a great example highlights how this emphasis on innovation is driving value in our business.
The first of its kind in Europe enabled us to significantly reduce The footprint of the mine and address community and environmental concerns about the project. We've integrated a technology to increase efficiency and safety at our Chelopech Underground mine with the use of autonomous aerial drones for underground surveying. We also introduced the use of mechanized emulsion charging at Chelopech, Which is improving drill and blast efficiencies and overall safety. It's more than environmentally friendly as it helps to eliminate packaging waste And reduces nitrates in mine water. We've also been focused on developing an innovative way of managing arsenic waste at the CMEV smelter With an investment in the demonstration arsenic vitrification plant, which transforms arsenic waste into a nonhazardous form.
Results of initial tests were very encouraging and we're undertaking additional studies in 2021. As we move forward, we see a lot of opportunity as we deliver on our strategy with our strategic pillars of ESG and innovation supporting our asset optimization And growth ambitions. To wrap up before we open the meeting for questions, overall, DPM has never been in a stronger position. We've demonstrated the potential of our portfolio to generate significant free cash flow and that we are committed to deploying this capital in a disciplined manner. With continued volatility in global markets, we expect the strong fundamentals for gold to continue.
DPM is We are well positioned to benefit in this environment of higher gold prices and can also better withstand any fluctuations that may occur. We firmly believe that DPM's strong fundamentals continue to represent a compelling value opportunity for investors. On behalf of our employees and our Board of Directors, I would like to thank you for your continued support. Thank you for your attention today. We'd now like to answer any questions that have been submitted through the virtual interface.
And while we wait for the audience to submit any questions, We often receive interest from investors about the potential for mine life extension. And as Dave noted, there was a 2 year addition at Telepouch this year. Dave, can you comment on further potential for mine life extension?
Sure. Thanks, Jennifer. So we've been increasing the amount of exploration that We've been doing around our existing assets, believing this is an opportunity to create value as an organization. We've In the last couple of years, we've been doing a lot of work in the license immediately around our mine concession at Chelopech, known as the Svetapacco exploration license. And at the end of last year, we applied for and received a geological discovery recognition.
This basically Moves us to the 2nd phase of the taking an exploration license through to a production Concession. So where we are at the moment is that we're busy negotiating that contract with the government in Bulgaria and expect that to be done shortly. And that will trigger a year of work, which we'll be looking to do additional drilling and increase confidence to a level where we can say that this is a commercial discovery. And after that and completing an EIA on the project that then would go into an application for a mining concession, Which would be a significant extension to what we currently have at Chalopetj, and I'm looking forward to that situation. In the meantime, While we're waiting for the authorities to trigger that next phase of exploration work, we now have started work on the Bruvene license, Which is around the existing Chelopech concession and the Sverdrupetka, now geological discovery.
This year, we're doing 38,000 meters of drilling in the Brevane license and the Sverdrupetka license In addition to the 44,000 meters that we have been doing underground traditionally. So we're very happy this year to see that we've Turned around our track record of replacement of resources, but at a lower rate than consumption. Basically, we're replacing at a rate of 1 year of production sorry, 6 months of production for every year that we were operating. And this year, we added 2 years of mine life and a further 2 years In resources subject to whatever the conversion rate is from resources to reserves. So I'm happy to say that at Chelopech, it's an interesting and exciting situation with some very interesting ground to do work on.
Looking forward to reporting on the results of that through the course of the year.
Thank you, Dave. At this time, there are no audience questions. This concludes our question and answer session. So thank you all for joining us.