Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the First Quantum Minerals Corporate Update Conference Call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Bonita To, Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Ms. To.
Thank you operator and thank you, everybody for joining our call on such short notice. Before we begin, I encourage you to read the cautionary note that accompanies our press release. On the call today is Bob Harding, our Lead Independent Director and Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee, who will go over our announcement on the appointment of Tristan Pascall to CEO at our upcoming AGM in May 2022. We will make some time for questions at the end of this call. As we have several stakeholder calls this morning, we will try to hold the call to schedule. Joining Bob in the Q&A portion of the call is Andrew Adams as well as Tristan Pascall. With that Bob, I will turn it over to you.
Thank you, Bonita. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On behalf of the board, I'm delighted to announce that the succession planning process that has been underway for some time at First Quantum has concluded, and that Tristan Pascall, our current Chief Operating Officer, will be appointed Chief Executive Officer at our next annual general meeting scheduled for May 5, 2022. Philip Pascall will continue to serve as CEO until the annual meeting, after which he will remain as Chairman of the Board of Directors. For more than 25 years as CEO, Philip has demonstrated his capacity to solve problems by bringing unique value-adding solutions to complex projects. The board sees his contribution as an ongoing competitive advantage and was determined this would not be lost in the natural process of management succession.
Upon relinquishing his executive responsibilities in May 2022, Philip will remain as chairman and be responsible for all aspects of the board of directors. We are fortunate that Philip will continue to be available to provide input and advice in an advisory capacity, particularly in the area of project development. First Quantum succession planning process was very thorough and was overseen by the Nominating and Governance Committee of the board, which comprises myself, Andrew Adams, and Kathleen Hogenson, all independent directors have been engaged in this endeavor. The committee retained Egon Zehnder, an independent consultant, to assist us throughout. Egon Zehnder has been working with the committee for several years, and as a result, have an in-depth knowledge of First Quantum's people and its culture. They aided the committee in two particular areas. First, they conducted thorough reviews of all internal candidates.
This included conducting 360 reviews, interviews with candidates to discuss career aspirations, their areas of strength, and areas for future development. Internally, we had several strong and capable contenders for the position, reflecting the priority that First Quantum places on developing the next generation of leaders. Secondly, beginning in early 2018, they conducted an extensive external market benchmarking analysis focusing on companies of relevant scale, global scope, comparable complexity, and strong business performance. They looked at senior leaders in peer companies, major diversified miners, as well as mid-tier companies and selective juniors. This covered some 280 companies and over 500 people. From this work, a long list of candidates was prioritized based on agreed role specifications, and I'm proud to say that the experience of the internal First Quantum candidates matched the external C-suite and executive leaders that were under consideration.
Based on the foundation of the company, which is a growth-oriented, strong and lean entrepreneurial culture, there were qualities that we were looking for that were vital and in many ways, in our view, non-negotiable. We were looking for candidates who had the following relevant experience. Extensive construction and operational background in mining, with a balance of experience in large volume mining operations. Experience in similar operating jurisdictions such as Africa and South America. A strong and successful track record in government and community engagement and investor-facing experience, either at a mining company or in a previous capital markets role was also important. From here, the committee and Egon Zehnder developed a short list of candidates for further consideration. Finding candidates that had this breadth of experience wasn't easy.
There were some good leading candidates, but Tristan was the only candidate who had the unanimous support from the independent directors on the board. One area the independent directors spent time discussing is the perception of impartiality, given that we have ultimately decided to appoint the current CEO's son to the position of CEO. However, culture is very important at First Quantum, and we believe with both Philip and Clive Newall no longer part of the management team, that appointing an internal candidate was important to preserve the company's culture. Understandably, there is this perception, and however I believe it was addressed throughout the process. First and foremost, the process of succession was conducted by the independent directors, and Philip played no part in the selection of the next CEO and abstained from voting on this appointment.
The board also discussed the sensitivity of a father-son relationship in the respective chairman CEO positions, and the independent directors are focused on ensuring the necessary processes are in place to reinforce strong governance. Philip is committed to taking the steps necessary to maintain good governance, including clearly defining his role and responsibilities as chairman of the board. Additionally, Philip and Tristan have developed a highly effective working relationship, which has been a key to the company's success in recent years. The committee were also of the view that, as in most succession planning, selecting an internal candidate is often far better and more likely to end in success than an external person. Tristan has a thorough understanding of all of our operations. He joined First Quantum in 2007 as a project engineer at the Kansanshi Mine, responsible for building the Electrowinning 4 tankhouse.
He then worked for two years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Kolwezi project. From 2009- 2015, he was part of the group that developed, constructed, and operated the Sentinel project. In his role at Sentinel, his responsibilities included front-end permitting, community and government engagement, and management of the construction team, all of which have given him invaluable experience in building key stakeholder relationships in Zambia, one of our key jurisdictions. During this time, he also spent six months in London to lead the acquisition and integration of First Quantum's metal trading desk into the broader business. In 2015, Tristan moved to Panama to lead the operations at Cobre Panamá, which was a transformational project for the company. It is not only First Quantum's largest operation, but it is also the world's largest single throughput copper concentrator plant.
At that time, Panamá was a new jurisdiction for First Quantum, and Tristan played a vital role in establishing the relationship with local communities and the government of Panama. Also a significant accomplishment for Tristan as Chief Operating Officer, he oversaw the successful ramp-up of Cobre Panamá during the recent COVID pandemic, which obviously has been challenging for the mining industry as a whole. As the equity markets landscape continues to evolve, calling for more investor and shareholder engagement, Tristan's eight years in capital markets also makes him well suited for the role. With ESG factors and responsible mining coming to the forefront for investors as an investment criterion, social license is a core value for the company, and it was absolutely essential to bring in a leader that shared the same philosophy on social responsibility.
This is an area that is particularly important and personal for Tristan, having lived in Africa for eight years and Panamá for four years. Tristan has consistently demonstrated his capacity to lead at our key operations and our corporate office. Tristan's understanding of the culture of First Quantum is also important to the continuation of our unique market position in project execution and operational excellence. The board believes that Tristan is an excellent choice as Chief Executive Officer focused on the future and achieving our strategic ambitions for First Quantum. We are extremely pleased about today's announcement and excited about the next stage of First Quantum's growth under Tristan's leadership. Bonita, I will turn it back to you to open the lines for questions.
Thank you, Bob. We do have time for a few questions before our next call. In the interest of time, operator, can you please limit the questions to one per participant? Thank you.
Certainly. Thank you. We will now take questions from the telephone lines. If you have a question and you're using a speakerphone, please mute your handset prior to making your selection. Once again, we ask that you please kindly limit yourselves to one question. If you have a question, please press star one on your device's keypad. You may cancel your question at any time by pressing star two. Please press star one at this time if you have a question. There will be a brief pause while the participants register. Thank you for your patience. The first question is from Greg Barnes with TD Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you Bob, could you elaborate on Philip's role going forward as Chairman of the Board, on how he'll interact with Tristan and exactly what he will be doing in terms of, you know, directing the company from that position?
Sure. Effective at the annual meeting, Philip will relinquish all of his executive responsibilities, so the full management team will report to Tristan. Philip will be responsible for all of the board operations. I think we're very fortunate that he will also be available in an advisory capacity, particularly in the area of project development. I think this will just help in an orderly and smooth transition from Philip to Tristan.
Will he play a role in strategic direction of the company?
The strategic direction obviously will be set by the CEO, and all of the board participate in those discussions. Philip would, as member of the board, participate in that as well as all the other directors.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. I was wondering if you could give us a bit of color on just the timing of the succession planning. I think we've been talking to Philip or asking him about his retirement plans, I'm gonna say for the last eight-10 years. I'm just curious, you know, if you give us some color on maybe where the company is in its evolution and why now.
Sure. I think the timing is a very good opportunity for us. Obviously, with the completion of Cobre Panamá and that wrap up and going well, we felt now was a good time to do transition. We are focused, as you know, on debt repayment and getting our balance sheet down. You know, the next project will probably come online in the next few years. Having that opportunity to do the transition when before one of those major projects comes forward just seemed like a good time to do it. That was primarily the reason behind it.
Thank you. Makes sense.
Thank you. The next question is from Farooq Hamed with Raymond James. Please go ahead.
Hi, Good morning and congratulations, Tristan on your new appointment. Bob, the question I have for you is, what are the thoughts around the COO role that will now become vacant with this transition at management level?
Sure. Obviously, the focus over the last while has been on the Chief Executive position. Over the next several months, that'll be something that Tristan will have to think about in terms of what management structure and organizational structure he would like to have to support him in the role as Chief Executive Officer. That's something that Tristan will talk to the board about over the next few months, and it will be up to him to make those decisions. Tristan, did you want to add anything on that?
Yeah. Thanks, Bob. Only to add that, you know, there's a very strong team at First Quantum and a lot of capable leadership in that senior group. At the moment, you know, the assets are very well managed, but we'll navigate that through over this transition period, as you say, Bob.
Maybe just as a quick follow-up, can I ask, do you foresee that role being replaced internally?
It's something we'll look at over this period, I think.
Okay. Thanks very much.
Thank you. The next question is from Chris LaFemina with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Bob. Thanks for giving us the kind of background in terms of how you came to this decision. I guess question for Tristan, though, in terms of the strategy. I mean, obviously, you've been a big part of First Quantum's project development, you're a big part of the First Quantum culture, but when we think about how the strategy might change going forward, do you have any ideas about things that maybe you'll wanna do a bit differently, or is the kind of the historic approach the way that you continue to run the business?
Thanks, Chris. Yeah, look, I think it's very important to recognize the strategy that's been in place for First Quantum. It's been very successful in delivering, you know, significant growth over the last 25 years and delivering a company that now is a very solid platform looking forward. Currently, you know, three very large operations, two in Zambia and one in Panamá, and a global extent that reaches to countries in the world, and a capability that comes with that. Looking to the future, you know, it's very, very exciting. I think copper's a great market to be in, and certainly, you know, I believe First Quantum is the right company in order to deliver the performance energy metals that are needed to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.
That will be, you know, continuation of the strategy that we've had around project execution, operations excellence, but also I think becoming more and more establishing our ESG credentials and becoming a partner of choice in new geographies, and also innovation and technology, which drives productivity and profitability, but also our environmental footprint, and our interaction with communities. As I said, very excited about these opportunities looking forward.
Thank you. Good luck.
Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Harding.
Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody, for participating on such short notice this morning. I'd like to close the call just by thanking Philip for his 25 years of service to First Quantum. Over the course of his stewardship, the company, which was founded in 1996, has grown from 300 employees and 30,000 tons a year of copper production to become the world's sixth largest copper producer. Today, we operate on five continents, employing more than 20,000 people and producing over 800,000 tons of copper annually. That's quite an accomplishment for anyone in a career. Philip, just a huge thank you on behalf of the board and shareholders for your tremendous leadership. With that, I would just like to wish everyone a good day.
If you have any further questions, please get in touch with Bonita, and she'll put you in touch with us. Thank you and good day.
Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.