Q3 2022 McEwen Mining Inc Earnings Call
Hello, Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Mcewen, Mining's, Q3, 2022, operating and financial results Conference call.
Present from the company today are Rob Mcewen, Chairman and chief owner.
Mary Anne Chief Financial Officer.
William Schaefer, Chief operating officer.
Steven Mcgibbon Executive Vice President exploration and.
Michael netting vice President and general manager of Mcewen copper.
After the Speakers' presentation there'll be a question and answer session if you'd like to ask a question. During this time simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad.
If you'd like to withdraw your question. Please press star one again.
I'll now turn the call over to Mr. Rob Mcewen Chief owner. Please go ahead Sir.
Thank you operator.
Hello, Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today.
During Q3, we addressed a number of the overhanging concerns about mcewen mining.
First.
The financing of the killing copper, we completed an $82 million financing in a really tough market.
And not only did we completed but we have the second largest mining company in the world, becoming a shareholder through its subsidiaries.
We had high costs at our operations at Fox and in the third quarter, we turned in operating cost cash cost per ounce below industry averages at $774.
Per ounce.
At Gold bar, we saw our production to fall in the first half of the year as a result of carbonaceous ore and it resulted in unusually high costs unacceptably high cost.
We are opening up the gold bar South deposit and it has no carbonaceous ore it has higher grade ore and it's a lower strip. So we should be seeing lower cost production coming from there.
We also had.
In Mexico, It looks like we're coming to the end of the life of the mine. We did have a feasibility study there for a project called Phoenix and we've improved the economics of it considerably with the purchase of a process plant on very advantageous terms these issues.
All obscured the value of Mcewen mining in my mind.
And with these resolved and a steady improvement going forward.
I believe that the value of Mcewen mining will become more apparent.
After the presentations of my Associates I will talk about the value I see behind Mcewen mining.
I would now like to turn it over to Perry.
Thanks, Rob I'll provide a brief overview of our third quarter financial results I'll start by stating that our 100% owned.
<unk> generated a cash gross profit $5 8 million and a gross profit of one 5 billion.
You can compare that to our reported GAAP.
Loss of $10 5 million or 21 cents, a share which generally reflects the fact that the 7.6 billion. We invested in a lots of zulauf, along with $5 1 million on exploration and other projects.
Expensed rather than capitalized.
Yeah.
As Rob mentioned, our results reflect a tenant for one share consolidation that was completed in July during the quarter, having completed that share consolidation Mcewen mining has now regained full compliance with NYSE a share price listing requirements.
Looking at <unk>.
Gold equivalent production.
On a consolidated basis production for the third quarter was 35700 gold equivalent ounces, which was.
Roughly equivalent to the same production in the second part of the year and down a process at least 16% from approximately 43000 gold equivalent ounces produced in the third quarter of <unk> 2021.
I'll have bill shave or talk about our production details, but overall I'll characterize our quarter are generally being strong at Fox and San Jose.
But continue to experience challenges at gold bar as Rob alluded to.
In terms of cash costs as I stated earlier, we reported $774 as cash cost per ounce and all in sustaining costs of 13 O eight per ounce driven by a strong performance from our underground operations.
Continued to produce or are well ahead of our current mill throughput.
We were also assisted by a weaker Canadian dollar U S. Canadian dollar exchange rate of a process 131 was about five cents weaker than the same period in 2021.
Just also as a detail on our production at Fox. If you look at our inventory balances are or about $6 million, there's about a $6 billion build in or inventory stockpiles.
In the third quarter allows and that or is that is now.
Sitting on surface stockpiles.
At our mill so going forward this should allow for some greater flexibility in our mine sequencing and and some cost saving opportunities.
In Nevada look at gold bar, our cash costs were 17, 12, an ounce and all in sustaining at 2049 and that allows although these figures are down slightly from the first half of the year. They remain elevated compared to the prior year due to low production levels, resulting from carbonaceous ore.
<unk> and <unk> are well above spot gold prices.
We noted our mining contractor demobilized forest.
<unk>, we believe that this will have a limited impact on our cash flows as we expect to continue to recover with the allowances from the Leach pad and we expect.
To begin <unk>.
South production within the next quarter.
Finally, looking at our 40%, 49% owned San Jose mine in Argentina that generally had a good quarter with cash cost of $12 23 per ounce and all in sustaining cost $15 62 announced worse.
That's an improvement from the first half of the year, where they experienced a COVID-19.
Covid related production issues as well as a fire.
At the San Jose mine during the quarter, but we are optimistic for the future depending on our silver and gold prices.
Finally, looking at our treasury or cash and equivalent balance stood at $55 million at the end of the quarter, which is roughly unchanged from the $54 million at the beginning of the year.
As Rob noted this included the.
The completion of $82 million in a private placement of which approximately $42 million was completed during.
During 2022 and $27 million during the quarter, primarily from a subsidiary of Rio Tinto.
Following that private placement Mcewen mining.
Ownership of Mcewen copper AR was approximately 68%.
So with that I'll turn.
I'll turn it over to Bill Schafer our CLO.
Thank you very much Perry good morning, everyone.
The third quarter was a reasonable quarter, though not as good as we hoped it would be.
We are making progress though.
All operations to make our future brighter.
On the safety front, we had a good quarter, we had one minor medical aid, where a worker felt a neck pain, while lifting and oxygen cylinder.
Yeah.
On the environmental front, we had no environmental events to report in the third quarter.
So at the Fox complex, the tailing management facility construction to raise all of the dams.
By approximately two meters was completed on time and on budget.
Also at the Fox complex, we had an excellent months in the mine producing ore containing 13146 ounces versus our budget of 12441 ounces.
This raised the amount of stockpiled ore.
At the mine and not to a milling process to 112000 tonnes. This represents a value of approximately $10 million after milling cost and.
Applied recoveries of from the mill.
Yes.
Unfortunately, we have continue to have some mechanical issues in the Fox processing plant that have constricted the availability in the plant to approximately 77% for the quarter.
This has allowed this stockpiled ore.
Increased substantially over the quarter.
In October the plant availability was significantly better at 90% based on the nominal rate of 50 tons per hour or 1200 tonnes a day.
Thus the plant operated at approximately 1100 tonnes a day.
We produced 9000 gold equivalent ounces in the quarter.
But what we need to do is increase the rate in the processing plant.
So that we can decrease the amount of stockpiled ore.
The mine itself is in a very sweet spot of the mining life, where many mines find themselves from time to time.
And where we can produce more ore than we can in fact process at this time.
Yes.
Okay.
Okay.
In order to address this situation we are debottlenecking the process plant and a very systematic way while at the same time, reducing costs at the mine to stay within our cost per ton.
Right.
And we are.
Being successful.
Both in the mine and in the plant of keeping the cost as per our budgets.
We will also install the crushing plant at the mine to relieve the stress on the front end of the plant. We hope that this will allow the ore to go reasonably quickly through the front end of the mill directly into the grinding and leaching circuits. We hope this will relieve the stress on the overall plant availability and <unk>.
<unk> throughput.
At the gold bar mine in Nevada, we have come to a position, where we have a better understanding of the carbonaceous minerals that occur in the or.
And how has the capacity to Rob or from the pregnant solution. This is complicated the mining process of separating ore and waste in the pit.
However, we are getting this also under control gold bar produced 7200 ounces for the quarter.
The gold bar South project.
Which we are in the midst of starting was impacted by permitting delays of approximately two months.
We will now see production from golf ourselves in December .
On a positive note we have engaged a competent contractor who has completed the road to gold bar. So over the last six weeks. So we will not lose any time.
On this front.
We have also engaged a new contractor to operate the mine this contractor.
It's mobilizing equipment to the site this month to take over the work.
This contractor has started the preliminary mining at.
Gold bar South.
With the first role arriving at the site last week.
At the same time, we have moved approximately 100000 tonnes of ore that we had next to our crushing plant.
Through the plant and onto the Leach pad.
We completed this in <unk>.
Tober.
And now.
Material under Leach.
Report 2500 ounces of gold in October and anticipate we will have 4500 ounces over in November and December .
This will allow us to have positive cash flow cash flow in the fourth quarter of approximately $4 5 million.
Going over to Mexico, we have been able to develop an approach to get the Ohio project back in production.
Will reprocess, the heap Leach pad, which has a grade of 0.6 grams per tonne to accomplish this as Robin mentioned, we have acquired a 7000 ton per day processing plant, which operated recently at another mining operation in Mexico.
This.
<unk> plant is approximately 150 kilometers away from our site.
Was.
Purchased.
Lee on quite favorable terms.
At <unk>, we will assemble only the grinding.
Clones unleash leaching portions of the plant.
And use the present <unk> gold recovery circuit to operate the mining of this leach pad.
Some minor changes in our permit.
Required.
And we are also making some final updates to the project evaluation and analysis and some engineering and scheduling studies are being undertaken.
The results of all of these will.
The result in a favorable.
Return on the project.
Reasonably small.
On.
Top.
Capital costs of between 12 and $15 million.
We hope to have this plant running.
Late next year or early in 2024.
Thank you very much.
I will now turn it over to Steve for an update on our latest exploration results.
Thank you Bill and good morning, everyone.
I'm not going to quote grades and intercepts to date.
Ill talk more about plans and opportunities coming in 2023.
Based on work completed in Q3 and Q4.
I am happy to say we will.
Relief and exploration press release shortly for the Fox complex.
That release will update key results, including a near surface discovery east of the mill at stock and solid infill results that highlight the quality of our stock west deposit.
We have very good early results at Grey Fox that of a follow up to 2021 successes as well.
Surface exploration in Nevada is near completion for this season.
And is just ramping up again at San Jose where spring in the southern Hemisphere has begun.
At the Fox complex, we are drilling at both stock and Grey Fox during Q4.
Q1, 2023 will be critical for us to explore along the Nighthawk fault during our winter program.
Nighthawk is a controlling structures to all previous discoveries that stock.
All of the discoveries have a near surface expression that will respond well to fire assay and other analyses.
In fact, historically it may surprise, you to hear that only about 5% of past production occurs on the prolific desktop porcupine fault. So much of the remaining 95% occurs along.
Gary false blades, such as Nighthawk.
Nighthawk has not been explored along the three kilometers west of stock West for decades, yet has exciting but limited near surface exploration results.
Like a string of pearls.
Our winter program will be designed to signal the likely additional discoveries to be made along nighthawk west of past discoveries cyst.
Systematic near surface drilling passing through the night talk to the gesture Porcupine fault zone is the best way to determine where subsequent and more focused phases of drilling needs to be placed.
At gold bar in Nevada.
The phrase boots on the ground best describes our Q3 work.
Summer, we utilized part of our geological teams from Argentina, and Mexico to accelerate surface mapping on areas of the gold bar property that haven't had boots on the ground in decades.
That work will be completed in 2023, along with what we think will be a very strong overall exploration program.
Drilling will begin in April .
<unk> doesn't have the subsidy <unk> drill results, but this work is prioritizing targets, having near term oxide potential to support mining a stone's throw from the leach pad of current mining operations longer term similar host rocks and the key contact of the gold bar South depart.
It has been mapped and sampled elsewhere on the property and displayed strong alteration and rock chip samples grades.
We see the geologic framework the hosts world class gold deposits at Cortez in place at Gold bar.
Martine host rock the analog to Cortez Windbound five is virtually untested away from the gold bar mine is a deeper refractory target, particularly along the wall fault corridor.
The wall fault is a prominent structure associated with extensive alteration, which we now believe is it southern extension of the Cortez fault.
2023 be a watershed discovery year for exploration in Nevada, and Ontario.
That remains to be seen.
We have important programs proposed and are very excited by it.
Near term and medium term potential.
Michael Medding now has all mcewen copper update.
Thank you Steve.
I will now speak about Mccain focus progress, making protocol is a subsidiary of Mcewen mining established in August 2021, as a result, the other three MTA losses, let's call it.
The other three property in Nevada consists of 577 uncertainty.
So the Battle Mountain.
Yes.
It is prospective for copper mineralization and workplace and the districts hosting several large vehicles.
Including Nevada gold mines, Cortez and fees.
On September <unk>.
Turning to Mexican cohort signing up some term sheets with Rio Tinto subsidiary chemical exploration.
Ernie a 60% interest in the other three properties in Nevada.
$18 million and the next step.
<unk> is one of the top 10 world's largest copper.
Deposits measured by results According to my intelligence.
As Tony mentioned before mid June Copa competed the initial financing oversubscribed, which exceeded $25 million investment by central.
Central banks are focused on innovative <unk> solutions.
The proceeds from the private placement are useful for this project to update our prior P. Eight addressing the risks and opportunities and to us.
Was that project towards a feasibility study to which we are looking to demonstrate our confidence and the accelerated development of the project.
The use of excellence.
Exploration drilling any reasonable resource model, environmental permitting and community engagement other technical work and general corporate purposes.
So far in Q3, we spent $7 6 million on activities related to Workover drilling program Technical studies and continued engagement.
We are talking to the access to the slides during much of the year, although as I said with installation studies.
And during Q3, we improved further our exploration both in preparation for the early amortization of equipment and personnel to sites.
The cultural roads to the site and to provide media around access to adequately support the coal face approaches.
With regard to the meaningful value by September 26, all up we can't do emulation.
Several of the building contract is less acute.
Drilling campaign and organization was begun yet.
We have booked so far some $3 <unk>.
<unk> completed already footholds and up six drills turning into next.
The resource meaningful growth.
And to further align with Sanmina, who deficits and two upgrades to peg it to measure specification.
We are also drilling several deep isolation halls with the aim to further its bonds. This already significant results.
With regards to the technical studies, our team is well advanced and on the P is scheduled to increase ultimately ethane metallurgical testing from the 2017 of At&t's evening together with the previous seasonal results.
Work continues during the quarter in spite of southern electric power supply infusion of renewables as well as to include further posting options the design of the future each Chile embraced social system.
Hydro geological assessment of historical inflammation, and the establishment of existing water monitoring locations will stocks.
The preliminary goodwill enterprise optimization completed in Q1 using existing inflammation was further refines during Q2 in Q3.
And this optimization study focused on the following objectives improved valuable optimizing scale of capital requirements, the complexity and too many months yes.
These analyses continues to show that there is potential to include several changes to previous limitations, which could create a significant increase in the value of the project.
And that's all going to be included in the forthcoming SBA updates.
Metallurgical testing continues and focus.
Critical data has been received in Q3, both transportation as well as for heap Leach said items.
Additionally, Q4 implants for the spring season, including environmental baseline work a program designed to understand the hydrology surrounding the project and a significant geotechnical program to assist in the design of the pixels.
We are planning to issue the updated PDA ingot, just what's up next year to deliver scalable mine projects offering an attractive investment case for shareholders.
The preparation of the exportation of environmental impact report, which is the final biometrics for missile future operation has been evolve to an IP salts and the drop through is well underway to be presented to authorities in Argentina in the first half of 2023.
We believe that mine mechanics would support socioeconomic development.
As such we have a dedicated community engagement team <unk> bookings.
Our team maintains an accessible presence in the city of San Juan as well as in the municipality of telling us that when the projects.
The community engagement E lifestyle sustainability efforts focus on local procurement and deployment environments health education and securities.
In addition to the existing facilities and the tunnel is coming up.
Turning to development office, which opened during the month of November .
At the moment Pwc draw of 140 staff out of which 98% of Argentinian 70% are female and dealt with more than 75% of our professionals.
Our commitment to workplace diversity, and the operator of high quality jobs and so forth.
Thank you for your attention I will now turn the presentation back to Rob.
Thank you Michael.
I believe the value of Mcewen mining is considerably higher than our current share price.
In fact, I think it's worth somewhere between $8 to $30 a share.
And this is arrived at by adding up.
It's the value of its parts.
And this value.
Is the reason why I've made a personal.
<unk> financial commitment in Mcewen mining and mcewen copper of over $220 million.
I arrived at the 8% to $30 a share value.
As I said by adding up the estimated values.
Of our assets.
<unk> copper with.
With its losses or listen Elder Creek property, our gold and silver assets in our portfolio of royalties.
The math is set out at the end of todays at the end of today's press release.
Yes.
The biggest leverage.
I believe will come from the recognition of the size and the scale of losses Lewis.
And that will be seen in our updated Pea, which were then going to push aggressively to produce a feasibility study in the following year and a half.
And the turnaround it's occurring in our gold and silver assets.
Today.
You can buy shares of Mcewen mining.
And essentially get the value at the low end of the value of losses illness.
And all the other assets or for free.
I would now like to open the session for questions.
Thank you as a reminder to ask a question you need to press star followed by the number one on your telephone.
To withdraw your question. Please press star one again.
Yes.
The first question comes from Jake Schakowsky with Alliance Global Partners. Your line is open.
Hi, Jake.
Hi, Robyn thanks for taking my questions.
Yeah.
Are you able to provide any more color on the processing plant that you acquired in Mexico.
I guess, maybe what you paid for it and the level of Capex savings do you expect.
Is that correct.
Sure I'll ask bill to address that.
So this process plant.
<unk>.
As I said earlier is a 7000 tonne a day.
<unk>.
That was used to operate a coal car sales result also.
All mine.
That mine ran for approximately seven years and that plant has been.
Uh huh.
In Mexico.
Moved from the Golkar site for approximately five or six years.
The.
The acquisition price was two 8 million.
<unk>.
I would suggest that the value of if that plant was.
Somewhere where you were going to build.
7000 tonne a day plant.
Then it would probably save you in the order of $40 million because the mine only operated for six or seven years and so the plant is basically brand new.
Yeah.
Okay. That's helpful.
And switching over to Fox I mean, you mentioned that production was a bit lower due to some bottlenecking at the mill.
<unk>.
And you touched on some of the steps you guys expect to take to rectify that I mean is that something we should expect to be flushed out in the fourth quarter or do you think catching the mill up to the mining rates might take a bit longer.
No I mean, we're doing have been doing working on.
A number of things to improve the production and improved availability of the mind, we've installed a new new screening process.
We're in the midst of.
Fixing some conveyor.
Components, but I guess, what one has to understand is that plant.
Has been there since some time in the mid eighties.
And it.
Was originally built with used equipment. So some of the <unk>.
And especially on the front end of the plant the cone crushers and so on are are pretty old have done a lot of hard work over the years and so just have.
Poor availability. So we're trying to do all of the things we can in order to help that situation.
And ultimately the.
The best fix that we're contemplating at this point is too.
Continue operating that plant.
Best we can.
<unk>.
Take it as productive as possible.
But the long term solution is to improve the front end of that plant by in fact, using some of this equipment that we have.
Bart.
In Mexico to try and upgrade the production from 11 or 1200 tonnes a day up to.
Something thats.
Reasonably higher.
Haven't come to decide what that number is but it's probably somewhere in the range of <unk> hundred 2000 tonnes a day.
Then we would have the capability of.
<unk> running close to the same rate that the mine is running at which at this point is.
Something around 2000 tonnes a day that we can produce out of the mine at the present time.
So what we've done to kind of help that situation is too.
We've reduced the.
Development crews.
We've.
No.
Because the mine is kind of in that sweet spot of.
<unk>.
With lots of headings and so on.
Though we have reduced.
The crew.
Crew size by 50%, we've only me.
Managed to reduce production by about 25% because.
When you have more headings, you just make more footage and it's and it's effectively cheaper so so anyway.
It's nice to have a big stockpile, but theres not so nice to have a big stockpile.
When you'd rather have the cash so.
So we're working through the process of trying to make it a better situation.
Got it okay. That's all for me. Thanks again, thanks Jake.
The next question is from Heiko Ihle with H C. Wainwright Your line is open.
Michael Hey, Rob Hey.
Hey, Rob Thanks for taking my questions.
It seems like it's a recurring theme in the Q&A today for the process plant at Fox you state in the release that we plan to start crushing at the frontline private transportation to the mill.
Is it fair to say that the crushing circuit is the only bottleneck or is this an issue with more like the entire plains. If maybe you could provide a bit of color on what components are holding you back in excess of what was just said in response to the last question.
Yes, so the backend of the plant, which is the leaching and the gold recovery is fine.
The middle of the plant, which is the grinding circuit.
It is probably okay, but it has three mills.
Pushing the grinding task.
So.
Effectively.
Over time as the.
As that client.
<unk>.
Increased in capacity, which I understand started at something like 500 tonnes a day.
They are additive.
The original ball mill was in place. They added another ball mill then they added a third ball mill. So what you have is.
As a plant that has lots of operating entities.
Of course every time.
Look at the availability of our plan.
As you probably know it's it's.
The availability of each component and a series of components and so if everything works at what one would anticipate you would see in a mill, which is somewhere between 95 and 97% availability when you multiply all those things together.
Get down to into the 80% range.
And so.
But the ball mills are still okay.
Because there.
They do work.
Not a lot of duplication.
There, but the front end of the plant is where.
Most of the struggle is because the cost pressure is very old.
Sure.
When the plant was.
I guess changed when there were components added to the plant.
They really didnt spend a lot of time thinking about how they were going to maintain them and how they were going to have access both.
Both with cranes are with overhead cranes are in order to get at these.
Pieces of equipment. So every time when you go to fix something.
A relatively big ordeal and and some of the plant over the past.
Number of <unk>.
Years.
The.
I guess the plant maintenance was something that they've struggled with for some time so.
So we're just systematically going through each part of the plant.
We've changed the screen.
Chain summit of feeding the arrangement.
As you probably know the.
One of the primary crushers is associated with the <unk>.
Hoisting plant and so all of those things are just.
Don't help when it comes to maintenance because of the number of components and the availability of <unk>. So.
It'll be a process but.
<unk>.
Everything that we've done so far.
Seems to be helping so this next step is.
Some material crushed down too.
No.
A significantly smaller size so that.
It's easier to feed through the front end of the plant.
That makes perfect sense and I appreciate the comprehensive answer there.
Just for clarification something completely different the surface stockpiles do you have an eight year average grade.
Running below yes.
The average grade is 244.
Once we got a very specific answer thank you and how much tonnage or are you, adding to your rate per week or day or <unk> or whatever.
So I'm going to say, we're adding somewhere between seven and.
Seven and 12000 tonnes a month, depending on what's going on and I may just go back to my previous answer there.
Uh huh.
And there's two components to that stockpile one is about one five.
Grams per ton and the other is a little bit over three grams per tonne.
And it's split kind of 50 50.
This point with the ore that we're adding.
As we move forward will be a little bit higher grade.
So Jonathan.
And what we're doing I guess is.
Train because this grade is a little bit higher thats coming out of the mine now were directing not directly from the buy in to the process plant without stopping and stockpile.
Got it.
So, yes and then.
Sorry go ahead.
Ed.
This route to ask three questions. So I'm just going to make this very brief earlier on this call you've mentioned that stock exploration Q1, two three years and I'm using your word here critical.
Do you expect to spend on exploration here in 2023, and maybe even in the first quarter. I mean, you were at $2 7 million for stock and Black box in Q3 can we just trendline that figure.
Sure Heiko, we've got about a <unk>.
I would say a global exploration budget of about $20 million for next year. So I would say nearly 80% of that is going to be directed at the Fox complex.
And I would say, Steve talked about the winter drilling.
And work that he wants to do over the winter. So I would say generally it's going to be phased.
Fairly evenly throughout the year, but Steve can probably give a more nuanced answer.
Yes, maybe what I'll add to that thanks Perry is that.
We.
We have a flow through commitment to to complete in 2023, and so the upcoming first quarter is really our only winter program, where we can attack target snap require winter conditions, and so I would say overall.
I expect our first quarter spending to likely be higher than <unk>.
Average quarterly spending for the rest of the year.
Those numbers haven't been finalized, but that's kind of a bias on sheet developing got it awesome. Thank you all so much stay well and I'll talk to you soon thanks.
Thanks Heiko.
The next question is from Joseph Reagor with Roth Capital Partners. Your line is open.
Hi, Joe.
Hey, Rob.
And team.
Couple of things just kind of my more fine tuning questions. The previous two callers estimate detailed stuff that was good.
But.
Your guide for next year, what was the assumed gold to silver ratio for that.
85 to one.
Okay.
And then.
You know with with the.
The ongoing carbonaceous material problem.
Is there.
An expectation with the existing resource at gold bar that you guys will be providing an update there.
And also with the focus on gold bar South next year.
Previous.
Mine plan called for something like two five to $2 9 million tonnes per year.
Are we thinking a smaller number on an annual basis going forward.
Uh huh.
Well, yes I.
I don't think we're planning on a smaller number than we said before.
The whole of ourselves should we should produce or out of there at a rate that we are.
Of contemplated.
And.
There is still.
Some or that we will recover out of the pit and out of carbon.
But for sure next year, we will be concentrating on gold bar ourselves.
Okay.
And then.
On MSC and that's probably one for Rob.
Net income year to date is $9 4 million.
100% basis, you guys have gotten less than 300000 in dividends.
At what point do you think.
Your partner, we'll start giving more cash out of that that entity I know the first half of year was tough but.
It's been profitable despite that.
So far they haven't said they would want to pay a dividend this year.
That might change because they have some problems in Peru with two of their properties right now.
But at the moment Joe.
We haven't seen any indication theyre going to pay this year anything further.
And do you think that might change next year well their year end is not.
Not the.
Normal year end, it's not December 31.
It's March.
You could see something in the first quarter.
Okay.
Alright, I'll turn it over thanks, guys. Thank you.
Okay.
Your next question is from Mike Kozak with Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is open.
Mike.
Hi, Yes, good morning, or good afternoon, Rob and team just one question from me of the $55 million in cash that Youre reporting as a exit the third quarter.
Much of that is within the Mcewen copper subsidiary and how much of that is any flow through dollars that might be left over from what you raised back in I think it was March.
Hey, Mike the majority the vast majority is in Mcewen copper currently.
I would say just north of $50 million so.
So the remainder yes, I mean, the math through remainder would be mcewen mining cash balance, which is which is below the net flow through rate.
Got it okay. Yeah, all my other technical questions have already been answered. So so thanks I'll leave it there. Thank.
Thank you.
Yeah.
The next question is from John Tumazos with John Tumazos, very independent research. Your line is open.
Hi, John .
Thank you for taking my question.
No.
Shannon.
And I'm a believer.
And all of the assets or you wouldn't be.
Managing the company the way you are investing.
Yeah.
You might be happily retired skiing somewhere for projects.
Is that a reasonable way to.
<unk>.
The risk profile of Mcewen mining.
So youre going to invest in the projects.
Maybe the exploration budget of $20 million could get bigger, but it's probably not going to get smaller.
And.
If there is a bump in the road or the gold price falls are the copper price falls.
Probably rob isn't worried.
Companys 10, or $20 million short you just kind of a check probably.
Yes.
You are not worried if the people on the outside are worried well, that's just a buying opportunity.
Yes fair way to approach things now.
A good way of looking at it Jon.
The way I look at it.
I'm not trying to commit you bid.
People.
Side to company, probably worry a lot more than you do.
We have great here as a new zones.
So I don't know about that.
Hi.
No I see a discernible turn.
In in our precious metal operations and <unk>.
I see.
Very large leverage.
For our share price with the losses <unk> asset that is continues to.
Gain some recognition out there I felt it was very scared.
By the operating problems, we experienced over the last several years.
And now with.
Copper.
Taking.
The front stage on the electrification.
Transportation.
I have a lot of optimism there.
Thank you.
Thanks, John .
There are no further questions at this time, Mr. Rob Mcewen, I will turn the call back over to you.
Thanks, very much operator, thank you everyone for joining the call.
Ladies and gentlemen.
This conference call. Thank you for participating you may now disconnect.
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[music].
Okay.
Sure.
Yes.