Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the First Quantum Minerals quarterly results conference call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Bonita To, Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Hello, and thank you everybody for joining First Quantum's Q4 and 2021 year-end conference call. On our call today will be Tristan Pascall, our Chief Operating Officer, who will provide an overview of the operations and performance during the quarter. He will be followed by Hannes Meyer, our Chief Financial Officer, who will review the results of the financial results. Tristan will wrap things up with an overview of our strategic priorities, and after that, we'll open up the lines to take questions. Before I hand it over to Tristan, there are a few items to mention. A copy of today's presentation can be found on our website. This event is also being recorded and a replay will be available. As well, all dollar amounts mentioned today are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
Finally, today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements, so I encourage you to review slide two of our presentation. With that, I will hand it over to you, Tristan.
Thank you, Bonita. Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining us today on our call to discuss the Q4 and year-end results. Despite the ongoing challenges of the global pandemic, First Quantum was able to deliver another year of solid copper production growth with a record amount of copper produced for the 2021 year. We ended the year in a strong position as Q4 results benefited from continued strong copper prices, the rolling off of our hedge book, and continued strong operational performance. This enabled us to continue to deliver on our ongoing commitment of reducing debt, which Hannes will speak to you more in his presentation today. Before going into the operational performance during the quarter, I would like to begin with updates to other commitments we made last quarter, and also to provide some commentary on discussions with our host governments in the countries we operate.
I am pleased that since our last quarterly call, First Quantum was able to deliver on two significant commitments. Firstly, on January 17, we announced that we have set targets to reduce our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2025, and by 50% by 2030. We have provided more information on these targets in the TCFD-aligned climate change report available on our website. It was important to us to set targets based on real, tangible solutions, and we are pleased that the solutions identified are not expected to result in significant incremental capital or operating costs and do not rely on the use of offsets to achieve these targets. First Quantum is now well-positioned to deliver the copper that is essential to meet the global challenges posed by climate change with a significantly lower carbon footprint.
Another announcement made the same day was that of a cautious but more meaningful dividend framework for our shareholders. This policy, which Hannes will also discuss in more detail, highlights our confidence in the strong outlook for the business. Moving on to discussions in our host countries. In Zambia, discussions with the government of Zambia are focused on ensuring that the appropriate and enduring investment conditions exist for First Quantum to advance the Kansanshi S3 Expansion and the Enterprise Nickel Project. The removal of the non-deductibility of royalties for tax purposes, which became effective at the start of this year, was an important step towards the approval of these projects. Also, the discussions are seeking an agreed mechanisms for repayment of VAT owed to the company and for predictable returns in the future.
These discussions continue to be constructive, such that we are hopeful that we can advance both these projects this year, as reflected in our guidance. In Panama, discussions with the government are ongoing. During January 2022, the government of Panama tabled a new proposal, namely that the government of Panama should receive $375 million in benefits per year from Cobre Panamá, and that the existing revenue royalty would be replaced by a gross profit royalty. The parties continue to finalize the details behind these principles, including the appropriate mechanics that would achieve the desired outcome, the necessary protections to the company's business for downside copper price and production scenarios, and to ensure that the new contract and legislation are both durable and sustainable.
We continue to welcome the transparency of the robust ministerial commission process, and we are hopeful that we can conclude this matter shortly. Once an agreement is concluded and the full contract is documented, it is expected that the newly drafted legislation would be put to the National Assembly. Turning to our operations for the full year 2021, First Quantum achieved its highest ever annual copper production of 816,435 tons, attributable to record-breaking production at Cobre Panamá and the resilience of our other operations in dealing with the ongoing challenges brought about by COVID-19. For the Q4, total copper production was 201,823 tons, down 4% quarter-over-quarter on lower production at Cobre Panamá, while Kansanshi and Sentinel continued at consistent production levels.
The difficult shipping environment on containerized shipping capacity that we experienced in Q3 continued into the Q4. this had an impact on our sales and shipments out of Zambia in particular, and are expected to continue throughout the Q1 of 2022. The majority of the company's products are transported in bulk, and this sector has been less affected by shipping constraints.
I'm sorry to interrupt. We cannot hear the conference call anymore.
Hi, operator.
Was that,
Yeah, Tristan is dialing from overseas. Ryan, can you take over?
Let's give Tristan a moment to dial back in.
Okay.
Should I call him back again?
Yes, please.
That would be helpful.
Perfect. On it right now.
Operator? Hannes, how about you jump in on the finance section?
All right, Bonita. Thank you.
Thank you.
While we're waiting for Tristan to join, I'll go through the financial overview slide and then, as Tristan joins, he can just conclude on his remarks. I'd like to take you to-
He has now joined.
All right.
Tristan, are you there?
Hi, Hannes. Would you like me to continue from where I was?
Sure.
Thank you. Apologies for that. Cobre Panamá's performance of 331,000 tons over the year was strong, exceeding initial 2021 guidance and achieving the top end of our revised guidance. In Q4, production was down 8% quarter-over-quarter to 80,000 tons on expected lower ore grades and an unplanned 7-day shutdown of unit two of the power plant, which impacted mill tonnage. There was also planned maintenance on unit one at the power plant during the quarter, which was completed at the end of January. Year to date, production has also been affected by two mill relines in January at Cobre Panamá. Looking ahead, mill throughput is expected to ramp up over the course of 2022 to achieve between 85-90 million tons for the year.
Grades and recoveries are expected to be consistent with 2021 levels, but will fluctuate from quarter to quarter. With the recent escalation in global energy prices, it is worth noting that we have increased exposure to spot prices for electricity in Panama during the Q4 while we had the planned maintenance to Unit 1. However, with the maintenance complete, costs are already moving back in line with the collar on coal prices for the mine. This prevents further exposure to increases in the coal price until December 2023. Kansanshi achieved copper production of 202,000 tons in 2021, reflecting the reduction in oxide ore and the ongoing challenge of the selective high ore grade methodology at Kansanshi in advance of the approval of the S3 project.
Q4 was another consistent quarter, delivering copper production of 52,000 tons as a slight decline in throughput was offset by improved grades. Looking ahead for 2022, processed ore at Kansanshi is expected to be slightly higher compared to 2021. However, grades are expected to decline over the course of the year from Q4 2021 levels. Sentinel achieved copper production of 233,000 tons for the full year, despite a ball mill trunnion failure in Q1 last year and a lower grade profile relative to 2020. In Q4, Sentinel produced over 60,000 tons of copper as record quarterly throughput rates equivalent to 60 million tons per annum offset lower grades in the quarter.
The installation of the fourth in-pit crusher at Sentinel has been completed, which is expected to enable the process plant to achieve throughput rates equivalent to 62 million tons per annum. On slides 9 and 10, we provide information on our 3-year guidance. For 2022, we are guiding for 810,000 to 880,000 tons of copper production. 2022, however, has so far got off to a slow start. At Cobre Panamá, as I noted earlier, the quarter was impacted by a 7-day unplanned shutdown of the second unit at the power plant, as well as 2 mill relines in January. The tight containerized shipping environment continues to be felt in the Q1, which impacts anode shipments out of Zambia. At Sentinel, the Q1 will be a ramp-up period towards 62 million tons per annum and was impacted by lower grades.
While 2022 is expected to have a slightly higher growth profile overall, we will not see this improvement till after the Q1. Our 3-year production guidance includes completion of the CP100 expansion in 2023 and Cobre Panamá operating at 100 million tons per annum from 2024 onwards. While S3 remains subject to board approval, we have included limited production from S3 in 2024. Likewise, Enterprise is also subject to board approval. Our guidance includes first nickel production from Enterprise in 2023. We also show Ravensthorpe ramping up to 25,000-30,000 tons of nickel production, supported by the completion of the Shoemaker Levy project in Q4 last year.
With regard to CapEx, approximately $2.2 billion will be spent over the three-year period, of which $1 billion relates to Kansanshi, the S3 project, $830 million to Cobre Panamá, and $60 million to Enterprise, and $15 million to our Guelb Moghrein project in Mauritania. The ongoing challenges presented by the global pandemic have continued throughout the Q1, with the Omicron variant present on several sites. Fortunately, our employees and communities are not experiencing as severe symptoms from this wave as with previous variants. The company continues to employ measures to ensure minimal spread, and the health and well-being of our workforce continues to be a priority, including maximizing vaccination rates and booster vaccination campaigns for 2022.
After the huge efforts by personnel across 2020 and 2021 in dealing with the impact of the pandemic to our operations, we are investing in our people to support them and ensure retention of staff. At Cobre Panamá, our CapEx guidance includes new expenditure to upgrade camp.
I think Tristan's been cut off again, so I'll continue and then hand over to Hannes. We also remain focused on the ongoing importance of our community support during the ongoing pandemic, not just in order to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19, but also in greater community outreach. In the Q4, we were delighted to launch our BBN community health program in the North-Western Province of Zambia. This initiative will support the Zambian government in providing essential health services to the communities around our Sentinel and Kansanshi mines through 182 schools and health facilities as we seek to improve the health of our host communities. Staying in Zambia, I'm pleased to highlight the fantastic collaboration between the team at Sentinel and the local communities in the construction of new infrastructure to serve local villages.
After the previous wood bridges collapsed, we worked with the Chipapa village to build two new bridges so that the community will not need to wade through flowing rivers to access their farmland. Our school and sports programs in Zambia are very popular. I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate the 24 students who were awarded full scholarships at Sentinel, as well as the Kansanshi netball team who triumphed in the North-Western Copper Belt regional tournament. Moving to Panama, I commend the team at Cobre Panamá mine for their support for the Girl Up club, a UN-founded movement that provides training and support to empower young women in surrounding communities and provide them with the skills and opportunities to become future leaders. With that, I'll turn over to Hannes, and then Tristan will be back in a few minutes to wrap things up.
Thanks, Ryan. I'd like to direct you to a slide titled Financial Overview. It's slide 12. Financial performance in the quarter was driven by higher metal prices together with strong operational performance, which resulted in significant increase in net earnings and EBITDA, as well as a notable further reduction in net debt. Gross profit of $2.6 billion and EBITDA of $3.7 billion for the full year was substantially higher than 2020, attributable to an increased sales volumes at Cobre Panamá, as well as a 33% increase in realized copper price. Net earnings attributable to shareholders of the company of $832 million and adjusted earnings of $826 million represented a significant improvement from last year.
Net earnings included $159 million of foreign exchange gains, largely unrealized, primarily due to the appreciation of the Zambia kwacha against the US dollar in the Q3. Net earnings also include a total impairment charge of $44 million. Cash flow from operating activities of $2.9 billion represent a $1.3 billion or 79% increase from the prior year. Copper C1 cash cost of $1.30 per pound was $0.09 per pound higher than 2020, impacted by higher fuel costs and freight charges, together with the cessation of the open pit mining at Las Cruces. Net debt decreased $1.4 billion over the last twelve months and by $1.6 billion since June twenty th-
Sorry for the inconvenience. Tristan Pascall has rejoined the call.
Tristan, can you go into the closing remarks? It seems that we've also lost Hannes.
Unfortunately, yes. His line hung up.
Tristan?
Hi, Bonita. I think Ryan was just gonna cover the part two of my script, and then I'll come back for questions at the end.
Tristan, I think we've lost the whole London office, so if
Okay.
Maybe you can do the closing remarks.
Where are we up to?
After Hannes' section.
Sure.
Yeah. Thank you.
Yeah. Okay. Sorry about this, everyone. We're having some challenges with phone lines. I'll finish things off, but thank you to Hannes for those comments. While it was pleasing to announce our emissions targets, a new dividend framework, and a new debt reduction target at our Capital Markets Day, delivering on growth also continues to be a priority, and reinvestment in the business remains central to our business strategy. At Cobre Panamá, the CP100 expansion is now well underway, with construction already at around 35% complete. In Q4, a letter of intent was signed for renewable power, being hydroelectricity sourced from the Panamanian grid for the CP100 expansion. The process plant expansion includes a new screening facility, process water upgrades, and the addition of a sixth ball mill.
In 2022, the company expects to expand the fleet by adding a 5th rope shovel and 8 additional ultra-class haul trucks. The plans also include developing the Colina pit and its associated overland conveyor and in-pit crushing facilities. Completion of construction works and commencement of commissioning is targeted for the Q1 of 2023, to allow for a ramp up of production over the course of the year and achieve a throughput rate of 100 million tons per annum by the end of 2023. We'll add an additional 50,000-60,000 tons of copper to our production profile. We also plan to provide a 43-101 reserve and resource update for Cobre Panamá later in this year. On S3, as noted earlier, the expansion is awaiting board approval and discussions with the government remain constructive.
S3 involves a 25 million tons per annum expansion of the sulfide ore processing facility, increasing annual throughput to 53 million tons per annum. The S3 expansion would also involve a new larger mining fleet, and combined with standalone 25 million tons per annum processing plant, is expected to create efficiencies and economies of scale. With much of initial foundation and steel works already in place from prior activity, the majority of remaining construction of the S3 plant and pre-strip activities of the Southeast Dome is expected to take place in 2023 and 2024. Once built, S3 will increase Kansanshi's annual throughput to well over 50 million tons per annum and ensure production levels remain strong for more than 20 years. At the Enterprise project, we are also awaiting board approval.
For the most part, the Enterprise project has already been built as part of the original Sentinel construction of the process plant, and the remaining capital spending is modest at $60 million and mostly comprised of pre-strip, pre-strip work, which is expected to take approximately 12 months to complete. The project has the potential to add 30,000 tons per annum of nickel production per year, and our current guidance assumes first production in 2023. There is also flexibility to target higher grade portions of the ore body that allow for a substantial increase in production should the nickel price spike during the life of the mine. We are very pleased to provide a 43-101 resource update for the Las Cruces underground project in January, and expect to provide a reserve update later this year, which should also provide more detailed CapEx and OpEx estimates.
The resources contains copper equivalent to approximately 900,000 tons, similar in scale to the original open-pit ore body. The project also has the benefits of an established relationship with local communities, an experienced workforce, existing infrastructure, and environmental permitting, and mining permitting in place. The key pending order authorization is expected to be granted in 2022. This project has the potential to add approximately 45,000 tons of copper equivalent annually to our production profile. These four brownfield projects have us on track to produce around 1,000,000 tons of copper per annum, while at the same time allowing us to continue our financial discipline in reducing debt and returning capital to our shareholders. Our portfolio of growth options includes several major greenfield opportunities as well, notably Taca Taca and Haquira.
Work continues on both of these projects and we're excited about the long-term optionality that these projects offer. We are proud of the project pipeline ahead of us at First Quantum. In coming months, we look forward to sharing with you more detail on Taca Taca through a virtual site tour and hopefully an in-person tour at Cobre Panamá later in the year so that you can see the progress firsthand. Finally, I would like to thank all our people once again. I'm proud of our workforce in executing in a safe and sustainable manner in the face of ongoing challenges that continue from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as their generous efforts and commitment to ensure that extremely important livelihood programs to support the local communities continue. Operator, we would now be happy to take questions.
Thank you. We will now take questions from the telephone lines. If you have a question and you are using a speaker phone, please lift your handset before making your selection.
Please press star one on the device's keypad. You may cancel your question at any time by pressing star two. So please press star one at this time if you have a question. We please ask that you limit yourselves to one question and one follow-up. There will be a brief pause while the participants register.
Tristan , Bonita, we are back online again.
Thank you. The first question is from Greg Barnes from TD Securities. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yes, thank you. Tristan, obviously, with the power plants partly down during Q4, you saw your costs go up at Cobre Panamá. Over the coming years, as you shift off away from the power plant and onto the grid, do you expect to see an increase in your power rates at Cobre? Obviously, that would push up costs as well over the longer term.
Thanks, Greg. It's a good question. Yes, you saw in our Q4 C1 costs that rose, and we indicated around $0.10 per pound. A lot of that was from exposure to the national grid. There were a number of positives around that. First of all, that we were able to draw well over 150 MW for the first time down the transmission line, which provided adequate for us to run more than half of the process plant. Yes, we did see exposure. Generally October, November, December have been good months for hydroelectricity production and renewable energy in Panama. This year was somewhat different and somewhat of a surprise.
There were some other power plants that were also undergoing maintenance at the same time, and all of that combined did push up power prices in the country. I think we reached a peak at January 31 at around $192 or $193 thereabout per MWh for power in Panama. The thrust of your question is to whether when we contract power, would we be looking at rates similar to that or those sort of levels of spot. I think the answer to that, this was a peak condition, and we would be looking to offtake renewable power on a long-term contract basis, and seeking to ensure that those, that the rates were enshrined in that contract.
As we said before, we have indications of those pricing levels and don't expect them to be significantly different, you know, from the levels that we're able to generate at using coal once we add in the financing costs, and depreciation costs of the power plant.
Thanks, Tristan. Just shifting to Zambia. In the MD&A, you highlight the government has suggested they could incrementally look over time at changing the royalty rates, and there wasn't much detail around that. Can you provide some commentary about what their shift is or what their thinking on that is?
Yeah. Greg, we had some very good conversations with the government of Zambia in the last month or so. The full team from First Quantum has been out and speaking to the president, His Excellency Hichilema, and then the team that's been appointed to go through these topics. Look, I think at the moment, we're not too focused on the royalty. It's really around ensuring a durable and lasting environment in Zambia that we could look at investing $1 billion at S3, and that's the key consideration.
Looking forward, as we note, the country's targets and their stated intent to triple copper production up to around 3 million tons, the government itself has said that they will need to look at the enabling environment and that would include royalties in terms of attracting that level of investment into the country. The good news is that has been done before. It was done in Chile between 1991 and 2001, where they tripled copper production from 1.5 million tons per annum to 4.5 million tons per annum. That was off the basis of the Chilean, you know, the changes to legislation in Chile, which provided for that level of investment in the country. I think that's the nature of the comment.
Really that's a decision for the government of Zambia. Certainly we would be supportive and be looking to invest at S3 once we get the right conditions that provide for a durable period there.
Okay. Thanks, Tristan. That's it for me.
Thank you. The next question is from Orest Wowkodaw from Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi. Good morning. Just following up on Greg's question on Cobre Panamá. Can you walk us through kind of what happened with the power plant? It sounds like there was both planned and then unplanned outages at the plant. I'm wondering also if there are any scheduled power plant outages moving forward for this year.
Yeah. Sure, Orest. Thank you. The answer is yes. The major shut was a scheduled shut. It happens every 2 years on each of the power plants in sequence. We would be doing a similar shut on unit 2 this year around November, December. That shut related to a major inspection across the plant and normally would take around 30 days. What happened then was we did some regular checking of the rotor, the turbine, and using the in-camera system, we found some foreign objects on the rotor and went to investigate it further. We also had done some work looking. As we did in the detailed inspection across the boiler, we also found an area where we had some erosion from the soot blowers on the boiler.
It was appropriate, and we made the decision to go and also check that at unit two. That was the reason for the unplanned seven-day shut at unit two, was we went and checked the soot blowers on unit two to ensure that if there was erosion there, that it was well in hand. The answer to that was it was fine. We made some changes and we sorted that situation out on unit two during that seven-day unplanned shut. It was the lessons from unit one that we took across. All of that work was completed and the foreign particles in unit one were fine. We'd been running like that under conditions since March this year.
We noticed a drop-off with an efficiency, and it was really the establishment of what had caused that drop-off inefficiency. What that did mean is it took an extra period of time into January this year to bring in the people from Doosan Škoda with the COVID protocols and so on to come into the country. It took some time to go through a very measured process to do the maintenance and repair that situation, which was done very well. In fact, the team on site established a new protocol for Doosan Škoda that had not been done before and now will be taking the standard for Doosan Škoda . So a very good step forward and well done by the First Quantum team there, Cobre Panamá.
The power plant was re-energized and resynchronized to the grid on the thirty-first of January, and it's now running at full production level, and we no longer have that efficiency dip that we saw come through in March this year.
Okay. You know, does that mean we should anticipate sort of elevated unit costs than in Q1 and Q4 of this year as you're drawing grid power?
Yes, there'll be an impact to Q1 this year because we had that period where, you know, we continued with unit one down and we were drawing from the grid. Our hope would be October, November this year when we do take off unit two for a scheduled maintenance period that there'll be adequate rainfall in the country and there'll be adequate wind. We just had a culmination of factors this year, lower wind and lower rainfall during which is usually the sort of peak rainfall period, and that was the reason for the higher spot prices at that time. We would anticipate October, November that if the renewables are strong, then we shouldn't see the elevated prices.
Then just finally, your MD&A talks about variable grades quarter at Cobre Panamá. Can you give us a sense of, like, does the mine plan start off with lower grades and then they improve during the year? Or are they truly sort of all over the place on a quarterly basis?
It's really large volumes that are being mined that most suit the movement of shovels and the movement of the pit over the broader, longer time periods, longer time horizons. We do see the fluctuations, but you know, so that it's up and down. As we've said in the MD&A, you know, over the year, we should be at a consistent level toward its life of mine. John Gregory, I'm not sure if you wanted to comment any further on grade profile at Cobre Panamá.
Orest, it's John here. Just to confirm for the overall plan for the year, we are very confident about how much copper we will produce. On a month-by-month and hence quarter-by-quarter, there are fluctuations that do come into the mining practice due to equipment deployment and rock condition blasting availability and blasted stock. We do expect to see a degree of fluctuation. Over the year, we will achieve the goals and the guidance that we've put forward.
Thank you. The next question is from Jackie Przybylowski from BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Thanks very much, and thanks for the call. I just wanted to ask a question about the tax guidance that you gave in the MD&A. You are saying that the tax rate for 2022 is expected to be between 20%-25%, which is significantly lower than the 31% for 2021. I know that doesn't include any of the Law 9 changes that have been talked about. Is it possible for you to give us some kind of sensitivity with the proposals that have been discussed so far? I know it's not set in stone yet, but do you expect the tax rate, effective tax rate, would be closer to that 31% that you saw in 2021?
Hi, Jackie. Yeah, thanks for the question.
The change in tax rate was, and the reason for that comment, really the biggest change over the last year was the impact of the non-deductibility of the Zambian royalty regime, but then also hedge losses as well on our books. The lower effective tax rate in 2022 is related to those fiscal changes in Zambia, which took effect on 1 January this year. As you say, we haven't put through anything on Law 9 at this stage. It's really too early to say and a few moving parts there. If we get to conclusion on that agreement, we'll be able to provide better guidance on what the effective tax rate will be in Panama.
Juliet, I don't know whether you had any comments on the Zambian tax rate and the impact on our overall tax rate.
No, I think you summed it up very nicely, Tristan. It is really, you know, why we're having that step down to 20%-25% is, you know, that non-deductible royalty, the impact there. Also, you know, we don't have the cost of the hedge program and the loss there that we had before. You know, it comes out at that much lower rate.
Thanks, Juliet. Thanks, Tristan. Maybe just following up on Greg Barnes's question from earlier about Zambia. I know you mentioned that you would be looking to sanction the Kansanshi S3 once you had some stability or understanding about the royalties. You didn't mention Enterprise. What's the trigger today? What would be the trigger for sanctioning Enterprise?
Yeah. Thanks, Jackie, and it's a good question. Enterprise is an easier decision for us. It's really $60 million capital outlay exposure there. It's very much less capital intensive. Obviously, the original Enterprise process plant has already been built, and that's largely a sunk cost, so to the side. The decision there does still link into the broader conversations with government, and I think it's important we at least see a path forward in those discussions. In terms of trigger point, look, we would like to get to that as soon as we can. We would like to make sure that, you know, there's a clear indication as to the direction of travel.
I think we've seen that in the narrative from government and also in terms of the non-deductibilities which kicked in on 1 January. You know, the broader issues remain, and we'd really like to get some direction on that before we make that commitment. I would hope that we're able to get those relatively soon. As I said, there's been a lot of conversation and a large team from First Quantum in country with the Zambian government and the designated group to discuss those points.
Got it. Thanks very much. I think that's my allocated two questions, so I will leave it to somebody else. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Abhinandan Agarwal from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Thank you. Thanks team for the details and the call. I had a couple of questions, please. I'll take them one by one. The first question is a follow-up to the Cobre cost. Even if you adjust for the one-off $0.10 power-related cost we had, the C1 cash cost still went up by around 16% Q-on-Q. Was there any other transitory factors you expect to roll off as you move further into 2022? That's my first question.
Thanks, Abhi. Well, the first thing to note is we also had slightly lower copper production results on a unit cost basis. That certainly had an impact. The other changes that were in there really related to fuel costs, consumables, reagents and so on. There was some inflationary impact of that, and also on shipping. Yeah, I think those are the major factors. There isn't anything else that I'm aware of. Juliet, unless I'm missing something there. I think those are the major ones.
No. Yeah. No, you picked that up fully, Tristan. That's great.
Got it. Thank you. The second question I had is on Panama. There was a recent article which suggested that the Panamanian government is looking to propose the transformation of the power plant to renewables as soon as by 2023. Can you please comment on that? Also, can you remind us of your current plan there, and what CapEx have you earmarked for the long-term transition of the plant? Thank you.
Sure, Abhi. Yeah, the current plan is that we would. The first stage is the 60/80 MW, which is required for the 100 million tons per annum increments, for the CP100 expansion. We have a letter of intent signed for that component that will be 100% renewable, and purchased from third parties. It's low capital cost there. The price of that, we believe is in line with where we are on a fully financed basis for the qualified power station costs. The second phase is, by 2025, we would look to reduce our overall group emissions by 30%, and that's around taking one of the units offline and replacing that with renewables.
We have solid indication that's available from hydroelectric sources, on an average across the year, but with some months of the year that are lower or less availability in some months of the year. The third phase is, by 2030, that will take off the second unit again, with those limitations. But that would need to be replaced by a combination of gas and other renewables alongside hydro. It is expected we'll need some base level. For that reason, we say ensuring that the qualified power station is probably needed to underline a base load capacity in Panama until a longer term solution is in place. In terms of the first part of your question and that related to the Minister of Energy statements.
Look, we're happy to work with the government of Panama on their plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and we think those are important, and their vision for reduction trajectories. The grid is around 60% renewable at the moment, but really only in the good months when water and wind are plentiful. We saw in December and January is the case when that's not evident. It does struggle for renewable capacity in those dry months and when there's less windy conditions. During the interim, as I said, I think we'll need to continue to have some base level electricity production from the coal-fired power station. That's certainly around our conversations with the minister of energy. We recognize the importance of their trajectory, but also around working with the grid.
As we saw, a shift away will also have an impact on power pricing in the country. Those are the factors that need to be balanced up. A part of the conversations that we're having with government around the table on Law 9, that we get to the right outcome there, both in terms of the trajectory to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets of the country, but also deal with grid stability and power pricing on the grid.
Thank you. The next question is from Ioannis Masvoulas from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Thanks very much. Good morning and good afternoon. My first question is on Cobre Panamá. You highlighted some operational disruptions during Q4. How should we think about the sequential production development into Q1 this year? Should we expect throughput rates to hit the target at 85-90 million ton level? What about copper grades, which were relatively weak in Q4? Thank you.
Thanks, Ioannis. Yeah. As I said, we have had a slower start to the year in January because of two mill relines at Cobre Panamá, and also the impact of that work on the power station. Overall, across the year, we remain confident in the guidance we provided. As I look at that, the 300,000 tons at the bottom end of the guidance is what we produced last year. That was really on the basis of one arm tied behind our back with all the high level protocols for COVID-19 across three-quarters of the year. We feel confident in that lower level limit. That production level would coincide with around 85 million tons per annum. But we feel confident in that. The upper end of that.
Hello?
Operator, have we lost Tristan again?
Yeah.
It doesn't seem so. No. His line is still there.
Tristan?
Hi. Can you hear me okay?
Yeah, we can hear you now. Thanks, Tristan.
Yes.
Thank you, Operator.
Just to finish that off, to say the upper end there at 90 million tons would be significant. In terms of what we've seen from the process plants in higher production months is eminently achievable. It's really, you know, stringing together a good period of performance that we'd be able to achieve that. Giannis, I hope you think that gives you an idea of the bounds that we put into the guidance. As I said, we're confident in achieving those levels for this year.
Great. No. That's very helpful. Thank you. The second question is around the logistical challenges in Zambia that you highlighted that are going to persist in Q1. If I look at Q4, you managed to deliver sales above production. How should we think about Q1? Do you think that sales can keep up with production or are we going to see a shortfall like we saw in Q3?
Thanks, Ioannis. I would say definitely the worst period was in Q3 and we seem to be past that. But it is up and down. We do see some uncertainty and some volatility. I think we improved in Q4, but we're still at elevated levels. We would like to be a little bit lower in terms of the inventory levels that we have, for example, on anodes, which are shipped in containers. You know, looking forward to Q1 and we have seen so far this year, it has been up and down. There's been periods where it's run well and then other periods where there's been some imbalance and not the normal efficiencies in place.
That's the reason for the statement that we see it continuing, but not at the sort of the worst or the peak period, which was in Q3.
Thank you. The next question is from Lawson Winder from Bank of America. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hello. Can you guys hear me?
Yeah. Hi, Lawson. We can hear you clearly.
Good morning. Thanks so much for the update, Tristan and everybody. I just wanted to touch on Panama again. Several members of Congress proposed a new mining royalty bill, which would alter the current sort of existing one. In it includes you know, class two minerals, which includes copper, of course, having a royalty that goes up to 30% after 10 years. I guess what I wanted to ask about it, I mean, clearly, I mean, Law 9 would exempt Cobre Panamá from that, at least for some period of time. Like, how long could you guys potentially achieve in terms of an exemption from whatever new mining code might come in?
Is there a belief on your end that you can get some sort of assurances that once the next expiration of the mining Law 9 will remain in effect?
Yeah. Hi, Lawson. Our understanding of our situation is we have a 20-year plus 20-year arrangement from the last renewal. Twenty years from the renewal and then a 20-year option beyond that. It's our understanding of the intention of the government that, as you say, Cobre Panamá, would be exempt if this new bill, if it progresses any further, would not relate to existing mines. You know, our discussions with governments on the resolution of Law 9 contain a number of protections that would be put into that new legislation that would seek protection against, for example, this type of proposed legislation.
This bill, if it progresses, we don't think would have any effect on Cobre Panamá, given the degree of conversation and discussion around the Law 9 and the resolution of that with the current government.
Okay. Yeah, that was my hunch, too. Thanks for confirming that. I also wanted to ask about the carbon price that you're now using in assessing projects and how that relates to the development of Taca Taca. I'm just curious, I mean, theoretically it would increase the cost of developing Taca Taca and potentially lower the net asset value. Are there assumptions in the current feasibility study that it could be sufficiently adapted to offset that carbon price?
Sure. Lawson, that's a good question. I think that's one that's irrelevant as we look forward, particularly to longer dated projects that might not come in for another, you know, five or seven or eight years, longer dated projects. The way we look at it is the carbon price must form part of the scenario as we look at those projects particularly, those that are further out. We see that the carbon price in our view has a pretty direct link to copper price. That is the world that we live in, where these higher carbon prices will drive a demand for copper. There's a direct link that can be made.
That's backed up if we look at, in the IEA and their estimates and so on, around where they see copper production coming through for different scenarios of both in terms of climate trajectories, but also in terms of carbon price itself. That's the way we look at it. We do look at a number of scenarios around that. We push in the evaluation as carbon price moves. It is appropriate to also look at different copper price scenarios that are reflective of those higher carbon prices.
Thank you. The next question is from Jatinder Goel from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Thanks, Operator. Good afternoon and good morning. Two questions. The first one on Cobre Panamá. Looks like the government is expecting a proposal from your side by June on switch to natural gas or an alternative fuel. You indicated $215 million CapEx. So two parts into this question. When do you think you will start spending on this fuel transition? And secondly, is it part of the negotiations that you're currently engaged with government? Does this need to be resolved as well? Because for this, the timeline is June, but looks like the royalty and tax agreement looks more imminent.
Yeah. Hi, Jatinder. It's a good question, and we understand, you know, given the Minister of Energy's comments. As I said before, we're very happy to work with the government of Panama on their plans and their trajectories for greenhouse gas emissions in the country. We would note, Panama is one of the three carbon negative economies of the world, three negative carbon countries of the world. That's because of the service that the Panama Canal provides in reducing the logistic time for ships, because ships going through the Panama Canal save a lot of fuel burn and therefore save a lot of greenhouse gas emissions.
In terms of the energy policy, what we would point out is the impact that an abrupt change would have on both the stability of the grid and also pricing of electricity in the country. We saw that in December when we saw peak prices in Panama rise to around $192-$193 per MWh because the hydroelectric dams weren't running as well. There was less rainfall, less water, and also the winds they had a lower wind during the month. That is the impact of renewable energy, that it's not as reliable.
Having the coal-fired power station available as base load, we think will continue to be important, at least in the interim, until longer term solutions are in place that underlie the stability of the grid and also the pricing of power in the grid. That's the basis of our conversation with the ministry. To answer your question, yes, it's part of the conversation that we're having on Law 9. Just to go to one of the details then, you pointed out the capital expenditure we provided of around $250 million for a gas-fired power station. But that was...
We were not envisaging doing that in the next 5 years because the immediate sufficient on renewable energy was available, and that is we had fairly strong indications that we could take around 150 MW on a long-term contracted basis as renewable power in the country. It would only be after that time that we would examine or understand whether to proceed with a gas-fired solution that would be based in Colón, where there's existing gas storage, and alongside that, dealing with the complex logistics of gas transport to Panama. If the gas turbine went in Colón, we would also be building a power line across from Colón to Cobre Panamá, which is good for grid stability in itself.
It was the combined capital that would be around $250 million. As we said, that's only an estimated number, and we don't see that happening before around 2025.
Thanks, Tristan, for the detailed explanation. Just one more on strategy. You've mentioned about adding a third frontier to First Quantum in addition to Zambia and Panama. Looks like Las Cruces may not be as big to be called as a third frontier. Is it technically going to be Taca Taca or do you think the diversification helps the case itself or a geopolitical element, i.e., looking into things like Canada, U.S. or Australia are considered safer jurisdiction is also part of the thinking here?
Yeah. Hi, Jatinder . Look, definitely, the reason to point out a third leg in the long term greenfield leg is we think it adds to the diversification of the portfolio and that would start to reduce the level of volatility in earnings and the volatility, for example, in the share price, in First Quantum. Longer term, we see the benefits of that strategy, and we think that we have an enviable greenfield project pipeline at Taca Taca and also at Haquira. Obviously, some work to be done in terms of building the case in Argentina.
We were doing that over the course of 2022 and also next year, 2023, in order to get to a point whether we can make the decision to proceed or not for Taca Taca and also Haquira, working very closely with the communities there to see whether that project could reach a decision point. More broadly, yes. I mean, we're happy to look at other areas. You know, when asked whether we you know look at different jurisdictions, the answer is yes. We from time to time, and it's really on the basis of how well we can apply our skills. Obviously in the jurisdictions that you're speaking about there, pricing would also come a lot into you know those kind of decisions.
For the time being, we're very focused on our own greenfield portfolio because we believe there's significant value that we can add there, on those projects.
Thank you. The next question is from Karl Blunden from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for the time. I just wanted to focus in on capital allocation. You've got a pretty strong cash flow outlook coming into 2022, and you've outlined your debt reduction goals. With regard to your preferences for the capital structure between secured and unsecured debt or fixed versus floating rate debt, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts at this point with rate volatility increasing and also as you roll off the hedges, perhaps some visibility into cash flow declining, right? A high cash flow outlook, but declining visibility, interested in the balance of the debt you'd have in place.
Thanks, Hannes. Do you want to take the question?
Sure. Hi, Karl. Look, at the moment, we've got about three-quarters in fixed rates and a quarter in floating rates with our bank debt. I guess the bank debt is a secure element, and we'll retain the banks as part of the setup. In the longer run, you would see our overall debt reducing as we pay down some of the debt and these bonds as they become callable and stepping down to par. We'll be reducing those levels. I think you would see on a relative basis a larger percentage of the secured debt. Not saying the secured debt, an absolute amount, will go up. It's just more as a factor of reduction of the bonds and that mix.
I think we're comfortable with the mix of the debt we have. Of course, we can issue new notes at lower rates. With the cash we generated, the focus is on actually just reducing and paying back some of this debt.
Mm-hmm. That's very helpful. Then just as you think about the couple of different growth options that you might have, is it helpful to you to have a more extended debt maturity runway if you were to engage in more expensive growth options? Or should we think of you as running a relatively short dated capital structure going forward. I guess the one add on there was, would you intend to rely on revolver drawings from time to time? We noticed some in the slides, so any update on that would be helpful.
Yeah. I guess the previous notes we've issued. It's always been sort of 6- and 8-year notes and sometimes 7-year notes. I guess that's probably the sweet spot for us in that regard. As some of this debt matures, we'll repay this and address it you know with the cash flows and other cash resources. We do on occasion use the revolver as we've currently got drawn. You know, I mean, it is there. It's available, but it's not intended to be used as a permanent in a permanently in the capital structure.
Thank you. The next question is from Matthew Fields, Bank of America. This will be our last question. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hey, Hannes, and everyone. Congratulations on a great year. I just wanted to follow up on one of Karl's questions and just sort of flesh out a comment I think, Hannes, you made, which was, is it your intent to repay the notes as they come due? For instance, your 7.25s due 2023 become callable at par on April 1. Is it the preference of the company to simply just repay those out of cash and cash flow and not, you know, term it out with longer, you know, longer dated and more unsecured bonds?
Matthew, yes. I mean, in the past, we've always addressed these notes, you know, so it doesn't become current on the balance sheet. That's our intention is to continue addressing debt maturities before it becomes current. I mean, we've got the option now that we've got cash generation that we can use that. Of course, the bond market is important to us. We've only got one bond outstanding that's not callable at the moment. That sets the pricing. It is important to get a pricing point in future, but it's not that I need liquidity or, you know, all the big projects are behind us. We are generating cash now. It's gonna be entirely opportunistic for the company, you know.
If it suits us, we'll issue a new note, but you know, there's no need to issue a new note to term out some of this debt.
Okay, great. Thank you. You know, a longer-term question. You're set to achieve your $2 billion debt reduction in the H1 of this year, and you said, you know, another $1 billion of debt reduction is the goal in the, I guess, short to medium term. Maybe you could put a little bit of a goalpost around what short to medium term means. Does that mean kind of pre-Taca Taca development? Does that mean several years? Like, what do you think about when you mean sort of short to medium term?
Well, I guess short, an accounting definition would probably be a current, you know, so they would look at 12 months. A medium would be slightly longer than that, so 18 months to, you know, 2 years as a max. You know, so I guess, you know, it gives you some sort of handle on that. It’s highly dependent on the, of course, continued strong operational performance that we have, but also the, copper prices, you know, that’s staying strong. If we have strong copper prices, I mean, I think it gives you sort of a, you know, a good guide as to what our expectation is.
Great. Well, thank you very much. Congratulations on 2022.
Thank you. There are no further questions registered at this time. I'll turn the call back to Mr. Pascall.
Thanks, operator. Thank you everyone for your continued support and for joining today's call. Apologies again for the technical issues. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, and we look forward to speaking to you again, at the next quarterly update. Thank you.
Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your line at this time, and we thank you for your participation.