Hello, and welcome to the annual meeting of shareholders of Equinox Gold Corp. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. If you participate in today's meeting and disclose personal information, you will be deemed to consent to the recording, transfer, and use of same. If you disclose personal information of another person in today's meeting, you will be deemed to represent and warrant to Computershare and the company, and you first obtain all required consent for the disclosure, recording, transfer, and use of such personal information from all appropriate persons before your disclosure. During the meeting, we'll have a question and answer session. If you are attending the meeting online, you can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the Q&A icon. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Mr. Ross Beaty, Chairman of the Board of Equinox Gold. Mr.
Beaty, the floor is yours.
Great. Thank you very much. Good afternoon, and welcome to the annual meeting of the shareholders of Equinox Gold. On behalf of Equinox Gold's directors, management, and employees, I thank you for joining us today. After a few years of doing everything online, I'm so glad that this year we're able to offer a hybrid meeting. Thank you to the shareholders who have come in person today, but I'm pleased we're also offering an online option so that all shareholders can join the meeting. After the formal portion of today's meeting is complete, I will provide a short update on Equinox Gold's business strategy and objectives, and then we'll have a full Q&A.
I might have to leave a little bit early to attend a memorial service. Of course, Greg, Doug, and Pete, our senior three executives, and other members of the management team will be available to answer all of your questions. If you're joining us online, after the formal portion of today's meeting is complete, our vice president of investor relations, Rhylin Bailie, will provide instructions on how you can log in to the corporate update webcast. Since this is a hybrid meeting, with some shareholders here in person and others joining us online, the following process will apply for conduct of the meeting. First of all, questions about a motion can be submitted online by any registered shareholder or proxyholder using the Q&A icon on your screen.
If you're not sure how to navigate the online system, please refer to the AGM guide that was mailed to you and that is also available for download in the shareholder events section of Equinox Gold's website. Number two, for those registered shareholders or proxyholders attending the meeting in person, when asking a question, please indicate your name, which entity you represent, if any, and if you're a registered shareholder or not, or proxyholder. Unless questions are procedural or directly related to motions before the meeting, they will be addressed in the corporate update after the business portion of the meeting. We will also address any meeting-related questions that were submitted through the website at that time. Rhylin Bailie, Equinox Gold's Vice President, Investor Relations, will act as question moderator for the meeting. I will now outline the voting procedures.
For those attending the meeting today online, the voting on all matters will be conducted by electronic ballot using the virtual interface. To give registered shareholders and proxyholders sufficient time to vote, we've opened the ballots and will keep them open while I present each item of business to be conducted at the meeting. For those attending the meeting in person, voting will be conducted by ballot, with registered shareholders and duly appointed proxyholders being asked to vote on each business item. If you've already voted by proxy, it's important that you do not vote again here at the meeting unless you intend to change your initial vote. To get going here, I'd like to introduce the members of our board of directors in attendance today. We have Len Boggio, Maryse Bélanger, François Bellemare, Sally Eyre, and Greg Smith, who is also our President and Chief Executive Officer
Marshall Koval and General Wesley Clark are joining us online. Gordon Campbell is unfortunately traveling and sends his apologies. Your board is a strong board. It's been a very active board in the last year. I want to give my personal thanks to each one of those members for being part of our team that creates Equinox Gold and builds it as we have done, I think, quite successfully in the last year. Thank you to all of them. We also have a number of management here today.
I'm not going to name all the names, each one of them knows how much I value them and our board values them, and our shareholders should value them for their hard work and steadfast devotion to the business plan and direction of the company and our mission to build ourselves as one of the world's leading gold mining companies. As you will have seen from the information circulated for this meeting, General Clark is not standing for re-election but will continue as a special advisor to the board that we continue to benefit from his valuable experience. We and I most particularly thank General Clark for his service to the company and its shareholders. We'll now proceed with the formal portion of today's meeting, which should take about 10 minutes. To expedite matters, I will move and second all motions.
The meeting will now come to order. I will act as chair. I appoint Susan Toews, Equinox Gold's General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, as Secretary of the meeting. For the purpose of this meeting, I appoint Computershare Investor Services Inc. as scrutineer to compute the votes of any polls taken at this meeting and to report the results to me as chair. The objects of today's meeting are set out in the company's information circular dated March 20th, 2023. I confirm that the notice for this meeting, the information circular, and the form of proxy were mailed to shareholders on March 24th, 2023. The company has received an affidavit confirming proof of mailing from our transfer agent, Computershare Investor Services Inc. A copy of the affidavit will be attached as a schedule to the minutes of this meeting.
Unless there's any objection, I will dispense with the reading of the notice of meeting. Copies of the information circular and other materials for the meeting are available on Equinox Gold's website and under the company's profile on SEDAR and on EDGAR. The scrutineer has advised that scrutineer. There we go. Yes. Front row center. The scrutineer has advised that proxies were received from the holders of a sufficient number of common shares to constitute a quorum. I declare the meeting to be regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. The formal report of the scrutineer will be attached as a schedule to the minutes of this meeting. As most of you are aware, at annual meetings, most shares are represented by proxies given to management.
The scrutineer has advised that a significant majority of the proxies received by management have been voted in favor of each of the director nominees and in favor of each of the other items of business. We thank you for your confidence. I would also like to thank the shareholders who did their own due diligence and have voted for or plan to vote for Dr. Sally Eyre as a director on our board. Dr. Eyre is a mining finance professional with extensive experience in global resource capital markets. She also has a PhD in economic geology and brings tremendous technical insight to our board. Sally is a highly accomplished director who adds significant value to our board, company, and shareholders. She also happens to be a woman. The fact that ISS.
We'll just say ISS and Glass Lewis, independent shareholder advisory firms, recommended that our shareholders withhold votes for Dr. Eyre because of a perceived lack of diversity on our board is counterproductive. Equinox Gold is absolutely committed to having diversity in our company, on our board, and in our management team, as evidenced by the number of very capable women on our executive team and at all of our operations and also on our board. We currently have Sally and Maryse Bélanger on the board and are looking for a third woman. We want to find a person who is the right fit for our company and our board, and that takes time.
Until then, we are very lucky to have the wisdom and experience of Sally and Maryse and the other directors on our board, and I appreciate the shareholders who voted to keep them there. That was a rant. All registered shareholders and proxy holders who have joined online and properly logged in with their control number or invite code in which to vote will be able to see on their screen all items of business to be voted on at this meeting. Please remember that if you have previously recorded your vote by proxy, you should not vote again unless you wish to revoke and change your initial vote. As a reminder to those online, the polls are currently open for all items of business to be voted on at today's meeting.
This means that you can vote on each item immediately, or you can wait until the conclusion of discussion of each item before casting your vote. The items of business to be voted on and your available voting options will be visible on the voting panel on your screen. Please register your votes by selecting the for, withhold, or against buttons next to the name of each proposed director and next to each of the other resolutions. Once discussion is concluded on all items of business, we will provide a few additional moments for you to enter your votes. For those of you attending in person today, voting for each item will be conducted by ballot. If you are a registered shareholder or proxy holder, you should have received a combined ballot for all items of business to be voted on when you checked in for this meeting.
If you're a registered shareholder or proxy holder and did not receive a ballot, please raise your hand now and a representative of the scrutineer will bring one to you. If you have already voted by proxy, it's important that you do not vote again here at the meeting unless you need to change your initial vote or wish to change your initial vote. Management's proxy nominees will vote all proxies in favor of all matters put before this meeting, notwithstanding the ballots being taken. I now present to the meeting the audited consolidated financial statements of Equinox Gold for the year ended December 31st, 2022, together with the auditor's report on the financial statements. Copies of these documents have been mailed to the shareholders who requested such statements.
We would be pleased to deal with any questions regarding the financial statements during the corporate update following the formal business of the meeting. The next item of business is the board size. The company's articles require that its board consist of a greater of three directors or the number set by ordinary resolution. Equinox Gold is seeking approval to fix the number of directors at eight. I move and second the motion to fix the number of directors of the company at eight. Unless there are any questions, I will move on.
We have not received any questions.
Thank you. For those shareholders and proxy holders attending in person, please record your vote on your ballot. The next item of business is the election of directors. Management nominates the following eight directors to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed: Ross Beaty, Lenard Boggio, Maryse Bélanger, François Bellemare, Gordon Campbell, Dr. Sally Eyre, Marshall Koval, Greg Smith. Each nominee has confirmed that they are prepared to serve as a director. Equinox Gold has adopted an Advance Notice Policy that requires shareholders to give the company advance notice of proposed director nominations at the annual shareholders meeting. Equinox Gold did not receive notice of any such nominations for this meeting.
I declare the nominations closed and I move and second a motion to elect each of the directors. Any questions?
We have not received any questions.
The vote to approve this resolution is required to be taken by ballot. I therefore direct that a poll be taken. As a reminder to those online, the polls are currently open for all items of business to be voted on today. For those shareholders and proxy holders attending in person, please record your vote for each nominee on your ballot. The next item of business is the appointment of Equinox Gold's auditor. I move and second the motion to appoint KPMG LLP as auditor of the company to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders, and that the board be authorized to fix KPMG's remuneration. Any questions?
We have not received any questions.
For those shareholders and proxy holders attending in person today, please record your vote on your ballot. The last item of business is the say on pay advisory vote. I move and second the motion that on an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibilities of the board, Equinox Gold shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the company's information circular, dated March 20th, 2003, delivered in advance of this meeting. Are there any questions?
We have received no questions.
Good. For those shareholders and proxy holders attending in person today, please record your vote and ensure that you have signed and printed your name on the ballot. Once you've completed your ballot, please raise your hand and the scrutineer will collect the ballot from you.
Perfect. Thank you.
Are we good?
Yep.
These are all the resolutions before the meeting. We will provide a few more moments for shareholders and proxy holders to complete your electronic and paper ballots.
You're meant to have dad jokes or something now.
Oh. What do you call a camel with no humps? Humpfree. Any more? No. Okay.
Actually, I have a few ballots to give out.
Okay.
There are three shareholder I missed at the beginning of the meeting. It's Mr. Buchanan. If you have Louise Miller. Okay, great. David Roberts.
Isn't there only one?
Just give me a second. Just be a few more seconds here. Are we good?
Do you have all the ballots? The computers show all the ballots have been collected from within the room. I believe we can go ahead and close the poll. Yes.
Okay. Thank you, Rhylin. I ask that the scrutineer compile the report regarding the results of voting on all business matters. The results of voting will be included with the minutes of this meeting and will be announced at a press release later today in accordance with the policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Is there any further business for the formal portion of this meeting?
There are no questions online.
Okay, since there is no further business, I move and second that this meeting now terminate and declare the formal part of the meeting to be concluded. Rhylin, can you please remind people how to access the corporate update webcast while we bring our senior management team up here? Thank you very much for attending our meeting today. We're gonna go into the presentation.
People who have joined us online, if you go to our website at equinoxgold.com, on the homepage you'll see a giant blue button that says Join Our AGM and Corporate Update. That will take you to a second page, and you can choose the second link to join the corporate update, and we will dial into that call in about 35 seconds. Thank you for joining us today. You may now disconnect the call, operator.