Good morning, welcome to the Nexa Resources first quarter 2023 conference call. All participants will be in listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. This event is being recorded and is also being broadcast via webcast and may be accessed through Nexa's Investor Relations website, where the presentation is also available. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, press Star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press Star then two. Remember that the participants of the webcast will be able to register via website questions. Simply type your question in the box and click Send that will be answered soon. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Rodrigo Cammarosano, Head of Investor Relations for opening remarks. Please go ahead.
Pardon me, Rodrigo, your line may be on mute. Please hold for one moment as while we reconnect the speaker line. Thank you. Okay, I've reconnected the line. Okay, I would now like to turn the conference to Mr. Rodrigo Cammarosano, Head of Investor Relations for opening remarks. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, welcome to Nexa Resources first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Thanks for joining us today. This is my first conference call with the financial community since I was appointed Head of Investor Relations and Treasury. I want to thank Nexa's leadership team for their trust and for this opportunity and say that I'm very excited about this new role. I would also like to thank Roberta Varela for her contributions to Nexa's Investor Relations area over the past few years. During the call, we will be discussing the company's performance as per the earnings release that we issued yesterday. We encourage you to follow along this on-screen presentation through the webcast.
Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to the slide number 2, as we will be making forward-looking statements about our business, and we just ask that you refer to the disclaimer and the conditions surrounding those statements. It is now my pleasure to introduce our speakers. Joining us today is our CEO, Ignacio Rosado, our CFO, José Carlos del Valle, and our Senior Vice President of Mining, Leonardo Coelho. Now I will turn the call over to Ignacio for his comments. Ignacio, please go ahead.
Thank you, Rodrigo, and thanks to everyone for joining us this morning. Please, let's move now to slide number 3, where we will begin our presentation. Let me begin by saying that despite a still challenging environment with significant volatility in commodity prices, persisting inflationary pressures, and some unexpected events in Cerro Lindo, we generated solid results in the first quarter of 2023. In mid-March, we experienced unusual heavy rains in Peru, which affected our Cerro Lindo mine. Nevertheless, we were able to resume the operation at normal level capacity at the end of March, ensuring all protocols and the safety of our employees. Our net revenue for the quarter reached $667 million, 8% down year-over-year, mainly explained by lower metal prices, but partially improved by mining production and metal sales over the period.
Our adjusted EBITDA was $133 million, 39% lower year-over-year, impacted by lower LME prices and byproducts contribution. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, our adjusted EBITDA increased by 11%. In our new mine at Aripuanã, the ramp-up continues to progress. Our current focus is on plant stabilization, increasing throughput rate, and improving concentrates grades and quality. We are aiming to reach nameplate capacity in the second half of this year.
In terms of exploration activities in our mines, we look with optimism to the initial results we had in the first quarter of 2023, especially in Aripuanã and Vazante, revealing results with high-grade thick intersections. I would also like to emphasize our balance sheet, which remains solid despite the investment cycle we have gone through in the past years, and the temporary pressure on working capital affecting our cash flow in the first quarter. I want to highlight that we are advancing in the studies related to the integration project of the Cerro Pasco Complex. This is a project with a strong potential to transform the underground Atacocha and El Porvenir operations into a flagship combined mine, not only through production increase, but by extending the life of the two assets.
Finally, we maintain an optimistic view for the year. We remain confident about the long-term fundamentals of our industry and our business. Now moving to slide number 4. In slide number 4, regarding the operating performance of the mining segment, you can see that Zinc production in the first quarter increased to 75,000 tons, up 13% year-over-year, mainly explained by an increase in treated ore volume and higher head Zinc average grades. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, Zinc production was relatively flat. About the cash cost, even though we are keeping under control our cash cost per ton of run-of-mine, our cash cost per pound in the first quarter of 2023 increased to $0.43, compared to $0.19 per pound in the first quarter of 2022, and $0.20 per pound in the fourth quarter of last year.
In both cases, the increase was mainly explained by lower byproducts contribution due to lower LME prices and the effects of the Cerro Lindo operation suspension. Moving to slide 5. On slide 5, regarding the operating performance of the smelting segment, metal sales totaled 144,000 tons in the first quarter, down 14% from the fourth quarter of 2022, mainly due to the lower comparable quarterly production and sales seasonality. Compared to the same period of last year, we were up 7%. About the cash cost per pound in the first quarter of this year, the smelting cash cost decreased to $1.25 per pound compared to the $1.26 per pound in the first quarter of 2022. This slight decrease was mainly driven by lower raw material costs due to lower LME prices.
When we compare the first quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2022, cash cost increased by 4% due to lower by-products contribution and lower LME metal prices. Moving to slide number 6. Ramp-up activities at the Aripuanã mine continue to progress, and we are currently focused on steadily increasing the plant throughput rate, asset reliability, and stability of concentrate grades and quality. During March, we had a plant stoppage at the plant to adjust some bottlenecks, such as pumping and piping system, and improve the drainage configuration, which presented limitations after the rainy season. These measures are contributing to the overall performance of the asset, and consequently, the stabilization of production, aiming to reach nameplate capacity in the second half of this year. During the quarter, treated ore volume was 277,000 tons and Zinc production reached 2,500 tons.
Sustaining CapEx during the quarter was $15 million, mainly related to mining development and infrastructure. In our exploration activities in 2022, we added 8.3 million tons of mineral reserves, extending the life of Aripuanã by three years. In the first quarter of this year, these activities were focused on the northwest extension of the Babaçu area with very positive results. Moving to slide number 7. In the first quarter of 2023, we executed over 12,000 meters of exploratory drilling in all of our mines and projects. Over 12,000 meters of infill drilling and over 2,000 meters from early stage exploration projects drilled in Peru. At Cerro Lindo, the Pucasalla mineralized body continued to be extended to the southeast.
At Vazante, brownfield exploratory drilling in the Extremo Norte area confirms mineralization with continuity at depth, which provides a good indication of the potential around the main infrastructure. At Aripuanã, exploratory drilling has been focused on the northwest extension of Babaçu, where new drilling continues to confirm high-grade mineralization and exploration infill drilling at the Ambrex ore body is being successful for resource classification upgrade. Regarding the Cerro Pasco Complex, exploration activities continue to focus on the extensions of known bodies like Porvenir Sur and integration at El Porvenir, highlighted by high-grade new intersections. Moving to slide number 8. As I mentioned earlier, we are moving forward with the integration studies of the Atacocha and El Porvenir underground mines to create a robust strategic organic option for Nexa.
The scope of the project included a sequence of investments with an emphasis on upgrading the Porvenir shaft, developing the integration of both the Atacocha and the Porvenir underground infrastructure, and increasing the capacity of the Porvenir plant and Atacocha tailings dam. We are very confident in the potential of this project, and we expect to complete the studies in the second half of this year, with submission for board approval at the end of this year. I would like to turn over the call to José Carlos del Valle, our CFO, who will present our financial results. José, please go ahead.
Thank you, Ignacio. Good morning to everyone. I will continue on slide 9. As you can see, beginning with the chart on your upper left, total consolidated net revenues for the first quarter decreased by 8% year-over-year, due mainly to lower LME metal prices. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, net revenues decreased by 14%, mainly as a result of lower metal sales volumes, an impact of the Cerro Lindo temporary suspension. This was partially offset by higher LME metal prices. In terms of adjusted EBITDA, consolidated adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2023 was $133 million, compared to $217 million in the first quarter of 2022, and to $120 million in the last quarter of last year. We now move to slide 10, where I will explain our results in further detail.
In the mining segment, net revenues for the first quarter of 2023 totaled $268 million, down 17% versus the same period of last year. This is explained mainly by the decrease in metal prices, lower sales volumes of copper concentrate, and the higher TCs paid by our mines. These negative effects were partially offset by higher Zinc, lead, and silver sales volumes. Regarding adjusted EBITDA on your upper right, first quarter adjusted EBITDA for the mining segment was $42 million, a reduction of 70% year-over-year, mainly driven by lower prices and higher TCs, and a negative impact related to Aripuanã's higher unit costs during the ramp-up phase. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, adjusted EBITDA decreased by 47%.
This was mainly driven by lower sales volumes in Cerro Lindo, which as you already know, was affected by severe weather during early March, lower by-product contribution, and higher operational costs in Aripuanã, partially offset by an increase in Aripuanã's sales volumes. Switching over to the smelting segment, net revenues in the first quarter of 2023 totaled $543 million, a decrease of 3% versus the first quarter of 2022, mainly driven by lower metal prices, offset by higher sales volumes. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, net revenues decreased by 10%, mainly due to lower sales volumes, partially offset by higher LME metal prices. The smelting segment's adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2023 totaled $89 million, up 9% from the first quarter of 2022.
This is explained mainly by higher sales volumes, a positive impact of $26 million related to changes in market prices, which resulted in positive quotation period adjustments, which were partially offset by a decrease in by-product contribution that was mainly explained by lower sulfuric acid prices and higher energy prices in Cajamarquilla. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, adjusted EBITDA for the smelting segment increased by $43 million, mainly as a result of a positive price effect of $37 million related to changes in market prices that resulted in positive quotation period adjustments, the positive effect of variation in mark-to-market of inventories, and higher LME metal prices, partially offset by lower by-product contribution and lower sales volumes. Now moving to slide number 11.
On the top left of the slide, we can see that in the first quarter, we invested $56 million in CapEx, of which 100% was related to sustaining investments, including $15 million in Aripuanã. We expect disbursements for investments to accelerate in the upcoming quarters. Based on our projections for the year, we believe we will comply with the 2023 CapEx guidance of $310 million. With regards to mineral exploration and project evaluation, we invested a total of $21 million in the first quarter, of which almost $12 million were related to mineral exploration and mine development. I would like to emphasize that as part of our long-term strategy, we are focusing our efforts on replacing and increasing mineral research and resources, supporting our organic growth.
In this regard, it is important to mention that we're maintaining our guidance on the investment category, expecting to finish 2023 at about $110 million. Let's move on to slide number 12. For the first quarter of 2023, starting from our $133 million of adjusted EBITDA, we can see that cash flow provided by operations before working capital changes was $106 million. We paid $57 million related to interest and taxes and $56 million in total CapEx for our current operations. We also paid dividends of $25 million to our shareholders. Additionally, there was a $6 million combined positive effect of loans and investments and FX impact.
Finally, there was a working capital variation of $105 million, mainly due to the combined impacts of the Aripuanã ramp-up and the decrease in trade and confirming payables, driven by higher payment volumes in the period. We expect this to be reversed positively throughout the year. As a result of these effects, free cash flow in the 1st quarter of 2023 was negative if in $132 million. We are confident that throughout 2023, with the completion of the Aripuanã ramp-up and our ongoing efforts to be more productive and efficient, we will positively contribute to the company's free cash flow generation in 2023. Now moving to slide number 13. In this slide, you can see that our liquidity remains robust and that we continue to report a sound balance sheet with an extended debt profile.
By the end of the first quarter of 2023, our current available liquidity was approximately $675 million, including our undrawn revolving credit facility of $300 million. It is important to mention that as of March 31st, the average maturity of our total debt was 4.4 years, with a 5.5% average cost of debt. Finally, our leverage, measured by net debt to adjusted EBITDA, was 1.9 times, compared with 1.5 times at the end of the fourth quarter and to 1.4 times a year ago. Going to my last slide before I turn it over to Ignacio.
In this slide, we show that in the first quarter of 2023, LME Zinc price averaged $3,124 per ton, down 17% compared to the same period a year ago. We believe Zinc demand remains positive in the mid-and long term, driven by investments in infrastructure, in construction, in renewable energy, and in the automobile sector, now boosted by sales of electric vehicles. The supply side, a lack of feasible projects to fulfill demand requirements will continue to put positive pressure on prices. Regarding copper, the LME price was down 11% compared to the first quarter of 2022 and up 12% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Copper prices, like those of other metals, have benefited from a weaker US dollar and optimism of a Chinese economic recovery.
In terms of demand, the metal will play a key role in the energy transition. On the supply side, volumes from greenfield and brownfield projects will materialize in 2024 and 2025, contributing to a mild temporary surplus in the market, with long-term additional supply facing important challenges. Overall, the outlook for Zinc and Copper in the mid to long term remains positive and supported by solid market fundamentals. I now turn it over to Ignacio.
I would like to close this presentation by reinforcing our priorities for 2023 and our short-term strategy. We are progressing with the ramp-up of Aripuanã. Currently, we are performing at a higher running rate capacity and both Zinc and copper concentrate grades and quality are improving in line with our projections. Looking ahead, the Pasco Complex Integration Project has the potential to be a robust organic strategic option for Nexa. We will keep executing our exploration program in our current operations and key projects. We continue to have very encouraging results in the first quarter of this year. I would like to point out that we are moving forward with our ESG strategy, and we intend to release our annual sustainability report in May. We will remain focused on optimizing costs, OpEx and CapEx. Once again, we remain confident on the long-term dynamics of our industry.
Thank you all for attending this presentation. With that, we will be happy to take your questions.
We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touchtone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. You also may send questions via the chat on the webcast platform. Our first question will come from Lawson Winder with Bank of America, Merrill Lynch. You may now go ahead.
Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Just two questions from me. One, I wanted to just get a little bit more detail on the expected ramp at Aripuanã, and then a little bit more detail on the issues that you experienced at the plant. If I understood it correctly, it's really just the plant. The mining is fine. Then actually I'll leave it at that, and then I'll follow up with my second question after you address that. Thank you.
Okay, Lawson. Thank you. No, Aripuanã is going as planned. We had an unplanned in March because of the rainy season. It was very heavy. We, as we said in the presentation, we were working on the piping system and the pumping system, and also on the drainage system. In April, this is not in the call, throughput is around 70% to 75%, and quality of concentrate is very high and is ready to go to our Três Marias smelter. The second quarter, you will see a major improve compared to the first quarter, and this was always in the plan.
As I was saying, we are aiming to reach nameplate capacity in the second half, hopefully sooner than later. The guidance on production, even if we are behind in this part of the year because, I mean, you know, it's a ramp up, we believe that in the second half we're gonna catch up and we will achieve guidance. The other part that is important is that we wanna make sure that on a monthly basis we stop losing cash flow. At the ramp up, always, the sales that you have are below the CapEx and the OpEx of the month. Part of the problem that we face of this cash flow of all the mining business was because Aripuanã, we invested $40 million in Aripuanã in the first quarter.
In the second, it's gonna be much less and hopefully, the second part is gonna be positive and all the benefits of Aripuanã will come in 2024.
Okay. Thank you for that.
Okay.
then
Thank you for that.
Second question I wanted to ask was just on the exploration results you put out earlier in the week. At Cerro Lindo, hole OB-8 was pretty spectacular with very high grades and very high silver grades. My questions would be, what is the distance of that strike from the existing inferred resource? What is the distance of that from the existing underground infrastructure? You know, how much development would it take to get there and could you be accessing that in 2024, for example? Finally, is it on land subject to the silver stream? Thanks very much.
Yeah. No, no. This, very, very good question. We, this, these drill holes that we are doing at surface in Pucasalla are 3 km away of the main infrastructure. It is not connected. The Cerro Lindo mine today has eight years of life of mining the main infrastructure. As you can see, we have seen that year-over-year. The Pucasalla and all the surrounding areas that we are finding that we are saying that it's open and it's helping us, this area is to develop the new Cerro Lindo. This is coming later on.
I would say during this year and next year, we will delineate what we have in that area, and because of that, we will plan to connect these 3 km in the coming years. This is more the second wave growth of Cerro Lindo.
Okay. Yeah.
The question was.
Okay. Yeah. On Pucasalla. I was actually asking about OB-8.
Yeah. That's I mean, the OB-8, this is a part of the main infrastructure. I was saying we are replacing that. The mineral is open. All the mineralized zones and the valleys are open in the other ground. I mean, in the depth of the mine. This is good opportunities to still replace what we consume over the years. Regarding the silver stream, if I understood correctly, the silver stream is only in the current infrastructure. In the OB and all these infrastructures are in the surrounding. The area of Pucasalla is not involved in that silver stream.
To remind that the silver stream, the percentage that we give up is going down in the coming years.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Yeah.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Lawson.
Again, if you have a question, please press star then one. Our next question will come from Pedro Nunez with Bank of Financial. You may now go ahead.
Hello. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Wanted to ask a question on your smelting EBITDA and on the $26 million, positive impact of mark-to-market. Could you please give some detail as to what was the reason for the positive impact? Is this based on, observable market prices that are higher than you expected? Wanted to get more detail on that. Thank you.
Well, the smelting EBITDA is very stable, yeah. As a reminder, we, the smelting business is very straightforward. We have four sources of revenue. The first one is 15% of pre-sink that you from that concentrate buy, that's linked to prices. The second one is the TCs that we get. The TCs this year are higher than previous years, yeah. The benchmark is around $280 per ton. The third one is the premiums that also are higher this year because of the shortage of smelters in Europe, given the energy prices. Some of them are going back, some of them are not. The premiums are still high today.
The fourth is our byproducts that, in our case, is mainly.
Sulfur.
Sulfide. Yeah. Yeah. Sulfuric acid in Cajamarquilla. Because of this, we got very positive results in the smelting, yeah. You were talking about the $26 million.
There's additional impact related to higher prices, which have two effects really. One related to the cost of the inventory because those concentrates were bought at lower prices. Also, due to the higher prices, you do mark-to-market at the end of every month. That also has a benefit on the result of the company. You know, that the mark-to-market is based on the latest, the latest prices at the end of each month. And that also contributed to better results that are shown in the EBIT.
Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you.
I will now like to turn it over to Rodrigo Cammarosano for questions from the webcast.
Thank you, operator. We have a question from Matheus Moreira, from Bradesco BBI. Actually, there are two questions. The first one, if you could provide a bit more color on Zinc and copper demand fundamentals for 2023. The second question would be about Aripuanã. I mean, the running rate capacity of Aripuanã currently?
I'll start with the second question, which is very straightforward. Current capacity at Aripuanã is between 60% and 70%. You know, we're looking optimistically at the evolution of the stability of the plant. In regards to the first question, as I mentioned during the presentation, we believe that there's very strong fundamentals both for copper and Zinc. Definitely copper has more visibility, and it's more talked about, but Zinc is also a very important metal, obviously in relation to infrastructure just as Copper, but also in the energy transition as it is used for energy storage, for solar power, for wind power. It's a more under the radar metal that is also very important in the energy transition together with copper.
On the demand side, therefore, there are very strong fundamentals. On the supply side, as you know, copper grades continue to decline in general. It takes longer to bring up a new mining operation, whether it's copper or Zinc, due to environmental standards, social consultation that has to be carried out ahead of time. It takes longer. It's more costly because prices or the costs have gone up as well. You require higher prices to have the right incentives to invest in new projects. Taking all those into consideration, we continue to believe that these are very strong fundamentals.
Obviously there can be temporary volatility, but overall the medium to long term, we are very confident.
Yeah. Just to add to what José Carlos is saying. From a practical point of view, you know that we sell 600,000 tons of Zinc, of metal in the market. 45% that goes into the Brazilian and the Latin American markets, and the rest is going to Europe, Asia, and the U.S. What we see in that specific front is that demand is weaker, but it's not that weaker. It's still strong. My comment is around that in terms of fundamentals, demand and supply, the fundamentals are very strong, are still strong.
The problem is that all this noise that the economy has around, the China, the Ukraine and Russia crisis and the, and the recessions in Europe and in the States, and what's gonna happen in the States with interest rates and Powell, et cetera. The fundamental value short term is strong, and we see this on a monthly basis. Hopefully, during the coming months, that is gonna reflect on prices. Today you can see that Zinc prices are low. We are waiting to see the evolution, the positive evolution of that in the coming months.
Thank you for the questions. Now we will have a question from Orlando Barriga from Craig-Hallum Capital. Can you please provide an update regarding the new mining tax in Mato Grosso State?
Yeah. I guess, this is a new tax. Mato Grosso doesn't have a lot of exposure in terms of mining. This tax that we have been that has been provided in the last two months is new to us. I can say that the rate is much higher than the average in the industry of Brazil. We are trying to speak to the government of Mato Grosso to make sure that we face market practices there. Having said that, there's in the short term, there's nothing we can do. We have to pay the tax. It's around, our calculations are around $3 million or $4 million per year.
We expect that to evolve, to the market practices in the coming months or years. This is work in progress.
Okay. Now we have a question also from Westcast, from José Maria Silva from BTG Pactual. Should we expect a reversal of the working capital negative effect in the coming quarters? What would drive that working capital reversal?
Yes. Here, this negative working capital variation in the first quarter is something that we planned. It has to do with the seasonality. Typically, there are a lot of expenses and cash disbursements towards the end of the year. Sorry, there are a lot of accounts payable at the end of the year, which are paid in the first quarter. That makes the accounts payable and the confirming payables to go down, representing a negative impact on working capital. Additionally, there has been an increase in accounts receivable related to a higher sales and higher LME prices, which also have a negative impact on the working capital variation. This is seasonal, and it's in line with what we planned for the first quarter. This will gradually reverse throughout the year.
Okay. Now we have another question. It's a follow-up question from Matheus Moreira from Bradesco BBI. In terms of capital allocation, is the company looking for any Zinc opportunities through M&A or the full focus remain on ramping up Aripuanã?
Well, I guess, the priority in the short term is ramping up Aripuanã. This is a reality. It's only going through the process of the ramp up, Aripuanã is gonna be a reality this. I would like to mention also in Aripuanã that we are drilling heavily because we wanna make sure that we have a long life mine for Aripuanã. That is a new mine. We create more opportunities to put it more profitable in the coming years. Today We had 11 years, today we have 14, and hopefully towards the end of this year, it's gonna be much higher. This is a priority for the short term. The second one is, as I was mentioning, Cerro Pasco.
Cerro Pasco really presents an opportunity for us because if we connect the two mines underground, we will be able to recover some inventory of resources, especially in Atacocha, that are going to give us a long life of mine. Why do we not recover these resources? If you do it through the infrastructure of Atacocha, it won't pay. By layering the infrastructure of the four levers, we will be able to do that and to create a combined asset that is going to be robust and for the long term. These are the priorities for short term. From an M&A point of view and capital allocation, we are looking for opportunities.
We have some early-stage projects, that we are working right now, and we are active in the market for looking for Zinc and copper opportunities. We explained that before, and this is still the case. The market is not easy today, but we are optimistic that probably in the next 12 to 14 months, we will be able to find something that is similar to the mines that we have. We want sizes as such as Cerro Lindo, Vazante, Aripuanã. We are active on that front as well.
Okay, we have one question from the phone. Carlos de Alba from Morgan Stanley.
Yes, good morning. Thank you very much. Ignacio, I just have a question, maybe of, it's a little bit of extension to the working capital question that was asked before. How do you see the progression of the free cash flow? In most of the last several quarters, it has been negative, and I understand that Aripuanã obviously had an impact on this. It would be interesting to see if now that Aripuanã is ramping up, despite potentially lower... Yeah, despite potentially a lower commodity prices and a stronger BRL, you know, if you expect positive free cash flow to, you know, to show up in the coming months quarters, in the coming months quarters.
Yeah, no, that's very important. Thank you for the question, and we don't your report, and you're right. I would like to start first by saying that if you see the cash flow of the two, of the mining and the smelting segment, the smelting is very stable, as I was saying before, because of these sources of revenue. In terms of mining, it was low. It was low because two factors. One is Cerro Lindo. Two reasons Cerro Lindo has an impact on the cash flow, and Cerro Lindo is a big mine and very profitable. The second one, Aripuanã. Aripuanã and Cerro Lindo combined were a short of cash flow more or less of $45 million-$48 million in that quarter.
The reason behind Aripuanã is that when we are ramping up the only production that we had in the quarter was 2,500 tons, and this is changing positively in the second quarter, and we will start break even in the next quarter. We, depending on prices, yeah, but depending on prices, but if we use an average price of last year, the mining segment, we will be able to make cash flow towards the end of the year, including Aripuanã and including the fact that Aripuanã has been ramping up. The question around why are we not having cash flow, and this is a reflect of the previous years, the answer is Aripuanã.
Even if the CapEx of Aripuanã has been $625 million, which we informed last year, Aripuanã has working capital, has pre-operating expenses, has a lot of additional expenses that create a bigger amount that is linked to this mine. To give you an idea, last year we said that it was $290 million that went to Aripuanã. Part in CapEx, part in operating expenses, et cetera. Once we is up and running, and we have the rest of the mines in positive cash flow, we don't see why the cash flow profile of the company is gonna be much better and substantially better.
That's mainly the view that I can give you, Carlos.
All right. Thank you, Ignacio. All right. Thank you, Ignacio.
We have another question from the webcast. This question comes from Omar Avellaneda from Prima AFP. What is the expected CapEx for the integration? The second question would be: When do you expect to deploy this investment?
Yeah, I guess it's early days today. As we were saying, we have four projects that are advancing in phase two analysis. The number that we have, I can give you a range between $160 million- $200 million. This is gonna be deployed between 2024 and 2027. Part of the idea that we have is that we deploy this... These are very specific investments. We deploy this while running the mine. The idea is that with our own cash flow of El Porvenir and Atacocha, we finance this. We are working towards that result.
As I was saying before, I would say towards the end of third quarter, beginning of fourth quarter, all this study will be ready. We will have a technical report on this as well, and we will submit this proposal to the board for the approval, and we will be more specific in investments and in timetables once this is approved. Okay. We don't have any other question. Thank you very much as always to attend the call. As you know, I would like to say that we would like to thank you, Roberta, for these five years working with us in investor relations. She's a fantastic professional and we appreciate very much all the work that she has done.
Rodrigo Cammarosano, our new investor relations mine manager, is available for you to take to make calls to him after this. We look forward to speaking to you in the next quarter. Hopefully, this stabilize and follow demand and supply, and hopefully we have better signals from the macroeconomic environment in the world, so we can benefit from the cash flow that we can generate at higher price. Okay? Thank you very much and have a good weekend.
The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.