Hello, welcome to the annual meeting of the shareholders of Labrador and Iron Ore Royalty Corporation. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. During the meeting, we'll have a question and answer session. You can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the Q&A tab. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to John Tuer, President and Chief Executive Officer of the corporation. Mr. Tuor, the floor is yours.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the annual meeting of shareholders. I'm the President and Chief Executive Officer of the corporation. We are very pleased to be able to meet in person with our shareholders again after three years of virtual. We decided to hold this annual shareholders meeting in a hybrid format, which provides shareholders the option to in person and virtually. Our main objective in hosting a hybrid meeting is to ensure that all shareholders have the same opportunities to participate and vote at this meeting, regardless of their geographic location or the particular constraints, circumstances or risks they may be facing as a result of COVID-19. Now call the meeting to order. As this is an annual meeting, there are certain formal matters which must be dealt with, specifically the shareholder votes on the resolutions presented in the management information circular.
For those purposes, we have asked certain persons to move and second motions relating to those matters to be passed at today's meeting. Following completion of the formal part of the meeting, I will make a few remarks regarding the events of 2022 and the outlook for 2023. During and after my remarks, we will be pleased to receive any questions from the floor. This meeting is a hybrid meeting held in person and virtually. We think it is necessary to set out a couple of rules for the orderly conduct of the meeting. For those attending online, questions can be submitted during the formal part of the meeting using the instant messaging service of the virtual interface. There will also be opportunities for shareholders or proxy holders present with us in person to address the meeting.
I will address questions during the question period at the end of the meeting. However, questions submitted by registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders regarding procedural matters or directly related to the motions before the meeting may be addressed during the meeting. Second, voting today will be conducted both in person and online. Voting on all resolutions will be by way of ballot, physical for those attending in person, and electronic for those attending virtually. Registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders will be asked to vote on each item of business after the presentation of all items. If you are a beneficial owner of common shares and have not appointed yourself as a proxy holder, you are therefore attending this meeting as a guest. You will not be entitled to vote. We will now proceed with the formal portion of today's meeting.
I will act as chair of the meeting, and Robert Hansen, our corporate secretary, will act as secretary of the meeting. For the purposes of this meeting, I appoint Computershare Investor Services Inc. through its representatives as scrutineer to compute the votes of any polls taken at this meeting and to report thereon to me as chair. I have been advised by the scrutineer that there are at least two holders of common shares holding or representing at least 25% of the number of common shares outstanding. This constitutes a quorum for a meeting of shareholders under the bylaws of the corporation. I direct that the formal report of the scrutineer be annexed to the minutes of this meeting as a schedule.
I now table a declaration made by a transfer officer of Computershare to the effect that the notice of the meeting, management information circular, and form of proxy were mailed on April 24, 2023 to all shareholders of record at the close of business on April 4, 2023. I directed a copy of such declaration be annexed to the minutes of this meeting as a schedule. With the consent of the meeting, the reading of the notice of the meeting will be dispensed with. I therefore declare the meeting to be regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. The first item of business is to receive the financial statements of the corporation for the year ended December 31, 2022, together with a report of the auditors thereon.
I now table a copy of the annual report of the corporation for 2022, which includes the corporation's financial statements and the auditor's report. Copies of these documents have been mailed to shareholders who requested them, it is not proposed to read them to the meeting. The next item of business is to elect the directors of the corporation. Seven directors are to be elected at the meeting today. I now declare the meeting open for nominations for the election of directors to serve until the next annual meeting or until their successors are elected or appointed.
Mr. Chair, I nominate Mark J. Fuller, Douglas F. McCutcheon, William H. McNeil, Dorothea E. Mell, Sandra L. Rosch, John F. Tuer, and Patricia M. Volker.
Thank you, Ms. Sansol. I would like to advise the meeting that the Corporation did not receive any further nominations in accordance with its bylaws. I am advised that each of the nominees is either present or has consented in writing to act as a Director of the Corporation. I declare the nominations closed. It is now in order for someone to move and someone to second resolutions electing those nominated Director as directors of the Corporation.
Mr. Chair, I move that each of the persons so nominated be elected as directors of the Corporation to serve until the next annual meeting or until they have been further appointed.
Thank you, Ms. Sentell. Is there a seconder?
Mr. Chair, I second the motion.
Thank you, Mr. Pearce. Unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business. The next item of business is the appointment of auditors of the corporation and the authorization of the directors to fix the remuneration. May I have a motion, please?
Mr. Chair, I move that KPMG LLP be reappointed as auditors of the corporation to hold office until the next annual meeting that the directors be authorized to fix their remuneration.
Thank you, Mr. Pearce. Is there a seconder?
Mr. Chair, I second the motion.
Thank you, Ms. Sentell. Unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business. The next item of business is to consider an advisory resolution approving the corporation's approach to executive compensation, as disclosed in the management information circular under the heading Say-on-pay Advisory Resolution. This is an advisory vote. The board will not be bound by the results of the vote. However, the board will take the results of the vote into account, together with feedback received from shareholders when considering its approach to executive compensation in the future. May I have a motion, please?
Mr. Chair, I move that Say-on-pay advisory resolution set out in the management information circular be approved.
Thank you, Mr. Pearce. Is there a seconder?
Mr. Chair, I second the motion.
Thank you, Ms. Sentell. Unless there are any questions, I will ask that we open the polls. As I mentioned earlier, voting today will be conducted both in person and online. Voting on all resolutions will be by way of ballot, physical for those attending in person, and electronic for those attending virtually. Registered shareholders or their proxies attending in person who wish to cast their votes may complete a ballot and submit it to the scrutineer. A copy of the ballot should have been provided upon registering with Computershare when entering the meeting. For those attending online, please register your votes by accessing the voting page.
I should advise the meeting that by virtue of votes already received by proxy, it is clear that each nominee director will receive the necessary votes to be elected today, and that the resolution reappointing KPMG LLP as auditors and the Say-on-pay advisory resolution will pass. Before we open the polls, I would ask Sandra Rosch to advise whether there are any questions submitted online and also invite any questions from the floor from those attending in person
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I will now take a moment to ask that the balloting be opened to registered shareholders and appointed proxy holders. The polls are now open. At this point, all registered holders and proxy holders who are voting online and who have properly logged in with their control numbers and wish to vote will be able to see on the screen all motions being brought forth at this meeting. Please register your votes by completing the ballot in person or online by accessing the voting page and selecting the for, against, or withhold buttons as applicable. Next to the name of each proposed director, next to the resolution with respect to the appointment of KPMG LLP as the corporation's auditor, and next to the Say-on-pay advisory resolution. We will provide registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders approximately one minute to complete the ballots.
Once the electronic balloting closes, the voting page will disappear, and your votes will automatically be submitted. I should note that the line will be silent for the next minute while the voting takes place. Okay. I would ask that the scrutineer compile the report regarding the results of voting on all business matters. I have been advised by the scrutineer that the ballots and proxies deposited for the meeting have now been voted, and that each of the resolutions has been carried. We will file a report setting out the voting results on the SEDAR website. Each of the seven nominees has been elected as a director of the corporation to serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed.
The appointment of KPMG LLP as the auditors of the corporation has been approved, and the board of directors of the corporation has been authorized to fix their remuneration. The Say-on-pay advisory resolution has been approved. I direct that the results of the poll be included with the minutes of this meeting. The results of the voting will be announced in a press release in accordance with the policies of the TSX and filed on SEDAR. The formal items of business as set out in the notice of the meeting have now been dealt with. As there is no further business to come before this meeting, I declare the formal part of the meeting to be concluded. I will now make a few remarks regarding the events of 2022 and the outlook for 2023.
I ask that all online attendees who would like to ask questions use the instant messaging feature of the virtual interface to do so. After my presentation, I will answer as many questions as time permits. You should see a slide deck on your screen that can be viewed in conjunction with my remarks. Just going through this short presentation. To begin with, there's the notice to the reader of forward financial information and estimates that I will allow people to read on their own time. On the next page, the first substantive page of the presentation, just again reiterating LIORC's financial highlights that can be viewed in annual and quarterly financial statements.
Just to summarize, you can see on a full year basis, net income per share of CAD 4.15 versus CAD 5.93 in 2021, which was an extraordinary year. Then looking at adjusted cash flow per share from operations, we generated CAD 3.09 per share in 2022. This is a good metric because this is the cash that was generated that's available to distribute to shareholders by way of dividend. This compares to CAD 5.98 in 2021, which again was an unusual and extraordinary year as far as iron ore pricing. In the first quarter, it was CAD 0.41 of adjusted cash flow from operations per share versus CAD 0.47 per share in 2022.
These numbers are lower than a typical quarter because IOC did not declare a dividend in either of those two quarters. If you look at how that's from a production perspective, how IOC's production stacks up relative to prior years, IOC produced 17.6 million tons of pellets and concentrate for sale in 2022, up 6% from 2021. You can see that that production level is pretty consistent in that 17 million-18 million tons over the last several years. Production was negatively impacted during the year from a number of issues, including equipment failures and reliability issues. In Q1, salable production was 4.3 million tons, which was up 5% from the first quarter of 2022.
Q1 did have some issues with respect to adverse weather conditions, which is not atypical for the first quarter at IOC. Sales at IOC were lower than production. IOC sold 16.4 million tons of concentrate for sale and pellets in 2022. That was down 3% from 2021. Again, IOC sold million 2 tons less in 2022 than they produced. Again, part of the issues had to do with weather issues, inventory availability at times throughout the year, which affected the fourth quarter sales. You can see that and then Q1, again, sales were lower than tons produced. IOC sold 3.7 million tons in the first quarter of 2022.
that was up 2% from 2022. Again, lower than the 4.3 million tons that they produced. You know, as a result, inventory levels at Sept-Îles are higher than they typically are, which again, should benefit or should work their way through the system throughout the year as we move forward. Just looking at the market generally, global steel markets, you can see historically over the last 10 years, steel production has grown at a rate of about 1.7% a year. If you break that down between China and the rest of the world, you can see that all of that growth has really come from China.
China's grown at 3.4% a year versus zero for the rest of the world. In 2022, we saw a drop in steel production of 5% from the prior year. Again, this had to do with just general global recessionary concerns that caused a reduction in demand for steel, as well as at the in 2022, there was strict COVID lockdown procedures in China that and a weakened property sector that hurt Chinese steel demand. In the first quarter of 2023, crude steel production was flat compared to the same quarter in 2022. China was up 6% the rest of the world's production was down 7%. That steel demand translates directly into iron ore pricing.
As a result of the lower steel demand, we saw a decline in iron ore pricing in 2022 from the record prices we saw in 2021. The Platts 65 Index, which is a good representation for the product we sell, averaged $139 a US per ton. That compares to a $185 average in 2021, and $122 in 2020. In Q1 2023, the average was $140, which you can see that in Q1, we did meet the average of all of last year.
Although in 2022, that average, you know, certainly started out the year very strong and ended up with a very weak fourth quarter that rebounded when we got to Q1 2023. The pellet premiums, and again, this is the premium on top of the 65 index that we get for selling pellets as opposed to concentrate. We use the published Platts Atlantic Basin blast furnace pellets to show an indication of pricing. That averaged at $72 a ton premium for 2022, and that was up from $60 in 2021 and $29 in 2020 when there was a real issue of pellet demand.
In Q1, we've seen that pellet premium drop to $46 going forward. I would also just add that, you know, when it comes to pricing, since the quarter, we've seen further softness since the end of the first quarter. For example, the average since Q1 has the 65 index has been $127, so down from that $140 we saw in the first quarter. As of yesterday, it was $122. The outlook is a bit softer than we saw in the first quarter. As far as generating cash flow, you can see our historical cash flow chart there.
Last year, at much, you know, lower, on a lower iron ore pricing, we had a drop from, basically, CAD 6 down to CAD 3.09 in 2022. Out of that CAD 3.09, CAD 2 was made up of the royalty, which is the blue bar there on the far right, and the remaining CAD 1.08 was made up of IOC dividends. You can see when comparing to prior years, it really was a lower amount of IOC dividends that stopped us from what would otherwise been a more profitable 2022. There were a number of reasons why IOC did not pay out as much dividend as in prior years.
Q4 was, as I mentioned earlier, was a difficult year from a pricing perspective. There were some concerns about where the forecast was going for iron ore pricing. There is a higher CapEx budget going forward that they wanted to be prepared for, and there was the union contracts that were expiring in the first quarter of this year that they wanted to make sure that they were properly accounting for possible labor disruption, which fortunately did not occur. All that to say is that, you know, there is some more working capital at the IOC level that should bode well going forward. In Q1, the adjusted cash flow was as I said earlier, CAD 0.41 versus CAD 0.47 in Q1 of 2022.
As far as the outlook goes, for 2023, IOC's guidance was 17.9 at the end of the year to 19.6 million tons. That has not changed. This compares to 17.6 million tons that was produced in 2022, not an unreasonable target. Production volumes in the first quarter, as I said, was 4.3 million tons, which is slightly below expectation. IOC's capital expenditures are forecast to be CAD 534 million. That's up from CAD 460 million, and CAD 498 million in 2021.
You know, shorter term, this additional spending by IOC could hurt the amount of IOC dividends that we receive from IOC, but longer term, to the extent it leads to greater sustainable production, it's to a benefit both to our royalty and our IOC equity. As I mentioned, the major union employee force that we have is with the United Steelworkers. Their five-year contract was expiring in February.
In April of this year, a new five year collective bargaining agreement was signed, providing IOC with a stable workforce for the foreseeable future, which is great news for us, particularly since as a royalty holder, it's really important that we don't have any labor disruptions like we had in 2018, which caused a few months of lost production. The outlook for the iron ore markets, again, remains uncertainty. Chinese demand. Their property sector is still of a great concern since that's a big user of iron ore of steel.
As I, as I mentioned, since the first quarter, we've continued to see some slippage in pricing going forward. You know, again, from a historical basis, if we compare to 2021, it doesn't look so good. From a relative perspective, over a five year period or six year period, pricing is still very attractive, still positive cash flow generation both for our royalty and IOC dividends. As I alluded to from a, you know, on a positive note, because of the lower IOC dividends paid last year, working capital at IOC is higher to start the year, which should provide more room for IOC to pay dividends this year.
In addition, because sales over the last five or six quarters have been lower than production, inventory levels at IOC are higher, which again should help sales going forward, given the higher inventory levels. With that, I'll ask if there's any questions in the room. I'll look to Sandra to see if there's any online questions.
There are no question
Okay. Oh, yes, sir.
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What size is Labrador City?
Yes.
Bill, do you know, I think?
10,000 people.
10,000 people.
There's a player for that.
In Labrador.
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Yes.
I just want to make sure that there's a lab sitting. His name is Norman Deposits and the telephone just sitting in that city. I want to be really sure that the promise of whether Labrador have a big say in my personal capacity. The teenager or a little older, like I worked in mobile mine and lucky to find another mine. You know, I'm not people that have been told. What do you guys think? I don't know how stressful it is to ask. You guys. This is my question, but I don't know if we can get because politicians can't have time for all the things. All the money that they're sending out city at the moment, they don't realize. I was talking the other day, a news type example.
The liberty in mind, saying the high cost of provinces and the federal government done nothing for their sake. Everything was built by certain mine or other components of the road, the high schools. They just left it to the stage. Why is that like school? Every farmer is that farmer from the credit where the beaches on gold mine today now. Close that so that then we'll have a slightly wide. I got another comment that I could make. I look at your compensation for the CEOs and everybody else, and it's so reasonable. I was in church, and I didn't know it, but the guy is really far out of mind, and their compensations for their CEO is a CAD 20 million. CAD 20 million, and I believe that they lost one penny. They're around the verge of bankruptcy.
It shows you how some of these places were bought by shareholders and group rails that can't. Then he's talking like they've got the right goal. You said the iron ore price has gone down slightly. There's not such a big demand anymore.
It's gone down, but it's still a healthy price for, well above the cost structure of IOC. It's still a very, very profitable enterprise at IOC.
This is common to while some of my computer did not. This is the funniest so-called recession I've seen. They had a recession. The price is coming back in their car dealers that they buy a car. This one, they still can't deliver it. It doesn't make any sense. It's just an option to be true.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you for your comments. Yes?
Sorry, I'm very inexperienced in this, especially with utility. If it's China, they're slowing down their building, like they're not ordering as much iron from Canada. The market in China is like less than now. They're not going to be ordering so much. Does that mean maybe U.S. will be buying more iron?
We sell iron ore to China, to the U.S., to Europe, to the Middle East. There are other avenues to sell iron ore. China buys about 70% of the global iron ore, seaborne iron ore. To the extent that they reduce their buying, that will influence the pricing elsewhere.
Okay.
You're welcome. Any other questions? Seeing none, I want to thank everyone for their attendance at today's meeting. This concludes the 2022 annual shareholder meeting of Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation. Thank you.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.