Good morning. My name is David, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to Lundin Gold's third quarter of 2022 results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker remarks, there'll be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, please press star, then the number two. Thank you. Mr. Hochstein, you may begin your conference.
Thank you, David, and good morning. Thank you for joining us on this conference call, where Alessandro Bitelli, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and I are going to take you through our results for the third quarter of 2022. To begin with, I will go through some key highlights from the third quarter, provide an update on operations at Fruta del Norte, and walk you through our strategy as we begin to look towards 2023 and beyond. I will provide some color regarding our ongoing near mine and regional exploration programs, give an update on how repayment of our debt is progressing, and discuss other growth initiatives in the pipeline. Afterwards, Alessandro will discuss our financial results in more detail. I will finish things off with my concluding remarks before opening the call for questions. Please note Lundin Gold's disclaimers on this slide.
This discussion includes forward-looking information. Actual future results may differ from expected results for a variety of reasons described in the Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements section of our press release. Lundin Gold is a U.S. dollar reporting entity, and all amounts in this presentation refer to U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. For the second time this year, quarterly production has exceeded 120,000 oz, confirming the continued strong operating performance of the Fruta del Norte mine. In the third quarter, Lundin Gold produced 121,635 oz of gold and sold 134,640 oz at a cash operating cost of $656 and an all-in sustaining cost of $807 / oz sold.
Year to date, the company has produced 355,190 oz of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $785 /oz sold, putting the company well on track to end the year at the high end of its production guidance of 430,000 oz-460,000 oz a nd at the low end of or slightly below its AISC guidance of $820/oz-$870 /oz sold. During the third quarter, Lundin Gold generated cash from operating activities of $104.7 million and free cash flow of $65.2 million, resulting in a cash balance of $304 million at quarter end.
With operations at FDN generating sizable free cash flow and considering the company's cash balance, the company paid an inaugural semiannual dividend of $0.20 per share on September 13th, or September 15th for shares trading on Nasdaq Stockholm, based on a record date of August 24th. Under its recently established dividend policy, the company anticipates continuing to pay dividends of at least $0.40 per share annually, equivalent to approximately $100 million. Even after the payment of dividends, we still retain a healthy treasury for other value-generating initiatives, such as our near mine and regional exploration programs, future throughput expansions, which are currently being evaluated, aggressive debt repayments, and M&A.
As has been the trend, operating results were strong in Q3, highlighted by quarterly gold production totaling 121,635 oz, comprised of 81,607 oz of concentrate and 40,028 oz of doré. Gold sales totaled 134,640 oz versus 111,605 oz sold in the same period last year. Gold sales exceeded gold produced in the third quarter because of gold shipments and sales from late June delayed into July due to blockades on some of Ecuador's major highways during a national strike.
Mine production in Q3 was 377,921 tons of ore, or 4,199 tons per day at an average grade of 12.4 g per ton. Consistent with the previous quarter, efforts are underway to reduce the ore stockpile to minimize oxidation of ore as it affects mill recoveries. On the processing side, the mill processed 379,258 tons of ore in Q3 at an average throughput rate of 4,122 tons per day, slightly below design capacity due to an earlier-than-planned SAG and ball mill relining completed in late September. The average grade of ore milled was 11 g per ton, and average recovery was 90.3%.
Recoveries this quarter were positively impacted by the higher grade and improved blending strategies put in place to reduce the impact of oxidized ore. Operational results in the third quarter were achieved at a cash operating cost of $656 /oz , an AISC of $807. With year-to-date AISC of $785 /oz sold, Lundin Gold sits comfortably in the lower quartile of the global AISC curve. While inflation is influencing the cost of some of our consumables, such as certain reagents and explosives, we continue to see limited inflationary impacts in Ecuador. Labor represents about 30% of our total cost, and there's still very little wage inflation in Ecuador. Our energy costs are stable at around $0.07 /kWh since 85% of Ecuador's energy is from hydropower.
In addition, our teams at site continue to look for cost reductions and productivity improvements wherever possible. In the first nine months of 2022, Lundin Gold has produced 355,190 oz of gold at an average grade of 10.9 g per ton and average recovery of 89.4%. Grade, throughput, production, and AISC have all been strong year to date, putting the company firmly on track to meet the upper end of its production guidance and lower end of or slightly below its AISC guidance of $820/oz-$870 /oz sold.
Sustaining capital expenditures, a figure included in the AISC calculation, accounted for $91 /oz sold in the third quarter and will continue to be high for the last quarter of 2022, with completion of construction of the third raise of the TSF and expenditures for other sustaining capital projects such as construction of a new warehouse and improvements in the sewage treatment plants. Within the scope of sustaining capital, conversion drilling at Fruta del Norte is now complete for 2022, and final results were received during the quarter. Results from the 18,341 m conversion drilling program will improve our understanding of the deposit's current geological model by enabling better delineation of the distribution of and controls on higher grade mineralized zones within the known resource.
A new resource model is underway, and the company anticipates updating its estimates of mineral resources and reserves at Fruta del Norte before the end of Q1 2023. I'm sure that you are all tired of hearing me talk about the south ventilation raise, and I am so happy not to have to continue to raise it. Following the end of the quarter, we are pleased to announce that the SVR at Fruta del Norte was completed and is now operational. The slashing and lining of the raise was completed in early October, and commissioning of fans was achieved shortly thereafter. As a result of the completion of the SVR, ventilation in the mine will increase from 180 - 350 cubic meters per second, resulting in improved efficiencies and enabling mining activities on all levels.
Now let's discuss our goals and directions moving forward to continue to deliver shareholder value. For some time now, we've discussed how free cash flow is fundamental to the Lundin Gold story. Lundin Gold generated significant free cash flow in 2021 and is continuing to do so in 2022, with $65.2 million generated in the third quarter and $178.3 million during the first nine months of 2022. This free cash flow has helped to build a sizable cash balance of over $300 million, which supports dividends, near mine and regional exploration, capital expenditures to improve efficiencies and further throughput expansions, aggressive debt repayments, and other growth initiatives. In September, Lundin Gold paid its inaugural semiannual dividend of $0.20 per share based on a record date of August 24, 2022.
Dividends for shares trading on the TSX and the OTCQX were paid in Canadian dollars, while those trading on Nasdaq Stockholm were paid in Swedish krona. Under its recently established dividend policy, Lundin Gold anticipates continuing to pay dividends of at least $ 0.40 per share annually, equivalent to $100 million, with the objective of moving to pay dividends on a quarterly basis, possibly starting as early as next year. Based on the current share price and exchange rate, this suggests a dividend yield of over 5%, which is materially higher than the yield seen in the precious metal space. Lundin Gold is also reviewing its capital strategy to ensure it utilizes treasury as and when needed while maintaining optionality. This could include accelerating the repayment of some of its current debt, which is comprised of three components.
The first is a stream credit facility, repayable in variable monthly installments equivalent to the value of delivery of 7.75% gold production and 100% silver production, up to a maximum of 350,000 oz of gold and 6 million ounces of silver. We have the option to buy back half the stream in June 2024 for $150 million and the second half in June 2026 for $225 million. The second is a gold prepaid credit facility, which we repaid by June 2025. The current payments are equivalent to the value of 9,775 oz of gold based on the spot price at the time of payment. We can pay this down early, and we'll continue to evaluate that option.
The third and final debt component is the senior debt facility, which has a remaining principal outstanding of $203 million, repayable in quarterly variable installments and through a cash sweep mechanism. Based on our current free cash flow generation, this debt facility would be fully repaid almost two years ahead of its scheduled maturity in 2026. That said, management is evaluating payment of this facility sooner or a potential restructuring of this debt facility. Now let's turn to exploration. Lundin Gold's near mine program focuses on targets within and around the existing operation to test the limits of the FDN deposit at depth and along the extension of major structures. An exploration data review demonstrated a much wider mineralization footprint around and nearby the deposit itself.
Several targets of interest are essentially untested, with similar geological conditions of those as FDN, and present significant new exploration opportunities. The near mine program has three major focuses, testing the extension of the FDN deposit at depth to the west and east of the main geological controlling structures hosting the FDN deposit, and to the south of the FDN structural corridor, namely Bonza West and Castillo. The near mine program started in the third quarter of 2022 with two rigs testing potential targets both at depth and to the south of Fruta del Norte. During the quarter, a total of 3,936 m were drilled across eight holes. The underground rig drilled 1,953 m across five holes, testing Fruta del Norte's continuity at depth in the southern portion of the mine.
All the holes intercepted similar hydrothermal alteration zones consistent with the Fruta del Norte deposit, represented by silicification, chalcedony, and marcasite, veins and veinlets or breccias with different intensities and thickness. Further, 1,983 m were completed across three surface drill holes to test the southern continuity of the main controlling structures of the Fruta del Norte deposit. Drilling intercepted a wide zone of intense hydrothermal alteration represented by silicification, chalcedony veins, pyrite, and marcasite. Results are pending. Drilling is continuing, and based on the results to date, a second surface rig has now been moved from the regional program to the near mine program to further test the east structure of Fruta del Norte. During the third quarter, Lundin Gold's regional exploration continued with three rigs turning at Barbasco, Capullo, and Barbasco Norte.
A total of 6,187 m were drilled across nine holes. At Barbasco Norte, two drill holes were completed for a total of 1,327 m to test a continuous geochemical gold soil anomaly at the edge of the Suarez Basin. Drilling intercepted a narrow hydrothermal alteration zone with a quartz breccia vein and alteration similar to that found in epithermal systems like Fruta del Norte. At Barbasco, drilling continued to explore beneath a thick sequence of finely laminated silica on top of the volcanic rocks in the Santiago formation, a proximal indicator of epithermal systems. Three drill holes were completed for a total of 2,700 m. Unfortunately, limited hydrothermal alteration was intercepted. At Capullo, a total of 2,159 m were drilled across four holes.
Drilling tested a major geological fault associated with anomalous geochemical values for gold and epithermal pathfinder elements in rock samples. The first hole intersected a hydrothermal alteration zone containing a 1 m breccia zone with silica, carbonate veinlets, enveloped by a wider 15 m silica alteration with disseminated sulfides. Other follow-up drill holes intersected narrower zones. Regional drilling is continuing with two drill rigs, one at Barbasco Norte and one that will further test Capullo and Quebrada La Negra. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Alessandro for a more detailed look at the financial results. Alessandro?
Thank you, Ron, and hello, everyone. In the third quarter of 2022, the company recognized revenues of $210 million from the sale of 134,640 oz of gold at an average realized gold price of $1,618 /oz . This is offset by cost of goods sold of $126 million, which is comprised of operating expenses of $76 million, royalties of $13 million, and depletion and depreciation of $38 million, resulting in $83.9 million of income from mining operations in the quarter.
While quarterly revenues were affected by the decline in gold price, including an estimated gold price adjustment of $10.8 million for sales whose provisional gold price is settled after quarter end, they were positively impacted by the sale of additional ounces produced late in the second quarter, but not shipped and sold until the third quarter. This was due to blockades on some of Ecuador's major highways during the national strike, which ended on June 30th. Results in the third quarter of 2022 were slightly lower than the same quarter in 2021, driven by the decline in gold price, partially offset by higher ounces sold.
During the same period in 2021, revenues of $191 million were recognized from the sale of 111,605 oz of gold, which were offset by cost of goods sold of $101 million. Year to date, Lundin Gold has recognized revenues of $605 million and income from mining operations of $278 million from the sale of 350,213 oz of gold, an increase from the same period last year. With increased production and by controlling costs, Lundin Gold generated free cash flow this quarter of $65 million or $0.28 per share.
The company has generated $178 million of free cash flow year to date and expects to continue generating free cash flow for the remainder of the year based on its production and AISC guidance. I will now spend a bit of time discussing how net income for the third quarter and year to date is affected by the accounting treatment of income taxes and of fair value accounting of our debt. Two items unrelated to our operating performance and strong free cash flow. Lundin Gold generated net income of $63 million during the third quarter of 2022 and $142 million on a year to date basis.
Net income this quarter includes a derivative gain of $42 million. This non-cash item is the result of a decrease in forward gold price, affecting the fair value accounting of our gold prepay and stream debt facilities and should not be factored in the assessment of our operating performance. The MD&A provides a detailed explanation of the impact of the fair value accounting of these two credit facilities and the determination of derivative gains and losses. Other costs deducted in arriving at net income for the quarter are finance expense of $22 million, income tax expense of $36 million, and other expenses totaling $10 million, offset by other income of $5 million. During the third quarter of 2021, net income of $57 million was generated from income from mining operation of $89 million.
This was offset by a derivative loss of $600,000, finance expense of $11 million, income tax expense of $16 million, and other expenses totaling $5 million. The increased net servicing costs between the two quarters, that is finance expense of $22 million compared to $11 million a year ago, is the result of incurring a finance charge under the gold prepay and stream facilities. The long-term debt note in the financial statements describes in detail the way this cost arises. We expect the finance charge to remain high for the term of the gold prepay and stream facilities at these gold prices. Income taxes of $36 million were accrued during the third period of 2022, which is comprised of current and deferred income tax expense of $15 million and $21 million respectively, compared to $16 million during the same period in 2021.
In addition to corporate income taxes in Ecuador, which are levied at the rate of 22%, income tax expense include a 5% Ecuadorian withholding tax on anticipated portion of the net income generated from FDN to be paid in the form of dividends, and an accrual for the portion of profit sharing payable to the government of Ecuador, which is calculated at the rate of 12% of the estimated taxable net income for the quarter. The employee portion of profit sharing payable, calculated at 3% of net taxable net income, is considered an employee benefit and is included in operating expenses. The lower implied overall rate of income tax expenses in 2021 compared to this year was due to the recognition of historic deferred income tax assets, which have now been fully utilized.
When we add back interest, taxes, and depreciation and derivative gains and losses, and therefore exclude the impact of fair value accounting on the debt and deferred income taxes, Lundin Gold generated adjusted EBITDA of $117 million this quarter, compared to $113 million in the quarter of 2021. Year to date, the company generated adjusted EBITDA of $355 million, again, an increase compared to the previous year. If we look at adjusted earnings, which exclude derivative gains and adjust for offset, for the offset of the deferred income tax expense, this non-IFRS metric was $24.4 million or $0.09 per share in this last quarter. On the same basis, adjusted earnings achieved in the third quarter of 2021 were $58.8 million or $0.25 per share.
Again, now we're seeing the lower gold price realized on sales in Q3 2022, only partially offset by higher volume of gold ounces sold. The two primary reasons for the year-over-year difference in the third quarter adjusted earnings are the finance charge and the higher deferred portion of the income tax expense, as explained a moment ago. On the same basis, year to date, adjusted earnings amount to $91.4 million or $0.39 per share. The two most significant reasons for the difference compared to adjusted earnings of $0.74 per share last year are the finance charge and the higher deferred portion of the income tax expense.
As of September 30th, 2022 , Lundin Gold had cash of $304 million in a working capital balance of $254 million compared to cash of $263 million in a working capital balance of $217 million on December 31st, 2021 . Year to date, the change in cash was primarily due to cash generated from operating activities, net of foreign exchange, of $291 million, which includes the deductions for cash, corporate, and exploration costs of $22 million, and proceeds from the exercise of stock options, warrants, and anti-dilution rights of $9 million.
This is offset by principal, interest, and finance charge repayments under the gold prepay and stream credit facilities totaling $96 million, excluding associated taxes, interest, and principal repayments under the senior debt of $73 million, dividends of $47 million, and cash outflows of $45 million for capital expenditures, which include costs for the south ventilation raise and sustaining capital. The current portion of long-term debt includes an estimate of the total quarterly principal repayments during the 12 months following the reporting period under our debt facilities. Once again, a strong quarter for Lundin Gold. We paid our first dividends this quarter. We are quickly repaying our senior debt, and we still have a lot of cash left that can be used to ramp up our exploration programs, facilitate capital expenditures, and enable other growth initiatives.
The company is performing well, both operationally and financially, and I am confident that we will finish the year at the top end of our production and low end of our cost guidance. For more detailed discussion on our financial results, I encourage you to turn to the MD&A. Now I'd like to turn the call back over to Ron.
Thank you, Alessandro. Fruta del Norte continues to perform extremely well since commercial operations restarted after the shutdown due to COVID in June 2020, and continues to meet or beat expectations. From this, we are generating significant cash, which enables us to pay a dividend and repay our debt with more than enough remaining efforts to look at further growth initiatives. We see growth coming from three potential areas. Exploration in the form of our near mine and regional programs. Further throughput expansions, which we are currently evaluating, and M&A opportunities, which we are also actively evaluating. Looking towards 2023, a lot of exciting developments are on the horizon. We anticipate releasing our three-year guidance before year-end.
We'll be updating our mineral reserves and resources estimate early in the new year, pay our second dividend after publishing of our fourth quarter 2022 results, and we'll be setting greenhouse gas emission targets. Exploration results will be released as they become available. We will also continue to evaluate other potential growth opportunities. It's an extremely exciting time for Lundin Gold, and I look forward to continuing building on and developing from the already strong performance at Fruta del Norte. With that, I'll now open the call to questions. Over to you, David.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star key followed by the number one on your touch tone phone. You'll hear a three-tone prompt acknowledging your request. Questions will be taken in the order they are received. Should you wish to withdraw your request, please press the star key followed by the number two. If you're using a speaker phone, please lift your handset before pressing any corresponding digits. Next, we'll go to Bryce Adams with CIBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.
Thanks, operator. Thanks, Ron and team. I don't have any questions on the SVR, but well done on that front. Hopefully, the double vent doors in the ramp are now sitting on the surface and getting rusty.
Yeah.
The question, production and costs have been tracking positively this year, you know, much better than your original guidance, probably better than the revised higher guidance. My question is, what does this momentum change for your 2023 outlook range? It has been almost 12 months since that outlook was issued. What have you learned in that time period? Throughput has been good, recoveries are close, but is a higher grade profile what we should be thinking about in terms of 2023 and 2024?
Yeah, we will be issuing our guidance here probably in a little over a month's time, Bryce. But as when we mentioned to you when we're on the site visit, we are seeing positive reconciliations with the geological model, which is really encouraging. Now with the south ventilation raise done, enabling us to get into some other areas of the mine, gives us a lot more flexibility. Yeah, simple answer to your question is yes.
Okay. That's the only question I had. I'll jump back in the queue.
Great. Thanks, Bryce.
Okay. Next, we'll go to Trevor Turnbull with Scotiabank. Your line is now open.
Yeah, thanks, Ron. I had a quick question about, I guess the debt repayments. You went through a lot of detail on about your cash and ways you might be using that money. I was just surprised you didn't reduce the senior debt further in Q3, and I just wondered if there was any reason behind that.
I think Alessandro is here. Our next major sort of payment was in actually Q4. Is that right?
Yes.
Also because of the dividends, we didn't. The sweep didn't kick in. Is that correct? Or
The amortization of the debt is based on quarterly installments, which are scoped based on the original project finance and production profile from five years ago. In Q3, the scheduled amortization was minimal. It's gonna be higher in Q4. You will see these payments coming through in Q4. The cash sweep for the second quarter, calculated based on the second quarter, was nil because of the significant payments of taxes.
Oh, okay.
Which are paid annually in Ecuador. Therefore, again, we did not see the reduction in the debt on the payment of the cash sweep in Q3 related to Q2. You'll see that in Q4. Does that address your question?
I guess it does. I was just wondering, is it possible for you to make discretionary payments even if those mechanisms aren't kicking in, given the cash balance you have? Can you just make payments anyway, or do you really have to wait for everything else to line up?
The facility allows for discretionary payments, and that is one of the things that we are looking at, as well as restructuring of the debt and with discussion with the banks. Looking at our treasury and different ways in which we can best utilize this to retain optionalities as we move forward. Therefore, the repayment of the senior debt would be one of the elements that we are looking at.
Okay. I appreciate that, Alessandro. My other question might be for you as well. I just wondered. You know, Ron alluded to being able to maybe accelerate, say, the gold prepaid repayment, and I just wondered if there was any extra cost associated with accelerating those payments.
The cost, which, you're talking about the gold prepay or the stream?
The prepay.
Gold prepay?
The prepay, yes.
Yeah. The gold prepay can be accelerated on the basis of effectively advancing the scheduled payments based on current gold prices. In terms of the cash flow, that will be the impact.
There's no penalties.
Yeah, no penalties. No.
No penalties. Trevor, it's essentially just taking the payments and the current gold price and paying it off.
Okay. Perfect. That's what I needed to know. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Trevor.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, to ask a question, press star, the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Next, we'll go to Kerry Smith with Haywood Securities.
Thanks, operator. Ron, you had guided towards lower grades in the second half. So far, that hasn't really been the case. Do you think the grade in Q4 would be similar to the mine grade in Q3 or even the mill grade in Q3, which was actually a little bit less than the mine grade? I'm just kinda trying to get a sense for what you're expecting.
Yeah. We still you know, well, we've got stockpiles on surface that with grades similar to what we mined in Q3, but with what we're mining right now, and the blend we're putting through is lower grade. We do anticipate slightly lower grades in Q4, Kerry.
Okay. You also talked about one of the options would be looking at mill expansions, which you say you're now looking at that currently. What sort of range of expansions or throughput rates are you considering in those evaluations?
Well, we're looking at just through some very simple debottlenecking, being able to, you know, maybe add 5% to throughput, and then looking at up to 5,000 tons a day. There are a few little bit of capital might be required to get us to 5,000 ton. Those are kind of the levels we're looking at right now.
Similar to what you talked about in late September then. That's good. I appreciate that.
Yeah. Yeah. Not much has changed there. We're still about looking at both those.
Okay. Just the last question. How many days of mill production did you lose for the SAG and ball mill reline? Just curious how many days that was.
The team actually did a really good job. It was five days. There was an original three-day shutdown plan, and it expanded to five in order to do both mills. The team's done a really good job. This time, we actually were able to do both mills simultaneous, Kerry. That saved another couple of days there. Something we found out we have enough space in the grinding area to do that safely. It's five days, relined both.
Yeah. Perfect. Okay. That's great. I appreciate it. Thank you, Ron. Good luck.
Thanks, Kerry.
Okay. Next, we'll go to Anita Sherman, private investor. Your line is now open. Anita, your line is now open. You may be on mute. Anita? Okay. Hearing no response at this time, I'll now turn the call back over to Ron Hochstein for any additional or closing remarks.
Thanks, David. Thank you everyone for attending today's call. In terms of news in the next little while, obviously, we look forward to trying to get some exploration results as those come in and our three-year guidance before the year ends. Look forward to some exciting news, and the team continues to be pushing the Fruta del Norte on our costs and production and continue to do a great job. Again, thank you everybody for taking the time this morning.
Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference call. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
Thanks, David.