Compania de Minas Buenaventura SAA (BVN) 2017 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Third Quarter 2017 Results Conference Call for Buenaventura. (Operator Instructions)

At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Barbara Cano, with MBS Value Partners.

Thanks, Julie. Good morning, and welcome, everyone. Presenting on the call today is Mr. Victor Gobitz, Chief Executive Officer. Also present and available for your questions are Mr. Carlos Galvez, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Gonzalo Eyzaguirre, Chief Operating Officer; and Raúl Benavides, VP of Business Development. If you've not yet received a copy of the earnings release, please visit www.buenaventura.com, where our webcast presentation is also available to accompany today's discussion. Should you need any assistance at all, please contact MBS Value Partners in New York at (646) 452-2334.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that this call will include certain forward-looking statements. These statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, trends and other matters that are not historical facts and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties that might affect future events or results. Descriptions of these risks are set forth in the company's regulatory filings.

Statements made on this conference call should be considered together with cautionary statements and other information contained within the company's earnings release dated October 27 as well as the information contained within the company's most recent periodic reports filed with the BVL.

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Mr. Victor Gobitz, Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Gobitz, please go ahead.

Good morning to all, and thank you for attending this conference call. We are pleased to present these third quarter results of Compañía de Minas Buenaventura. We have prepared a sort PowerPoint presentation, which is available in our web page.

Moving on to Slide 3. Third quarter highlights were as follows. Number one, in this third quarter, EBITDA from our direct operation was USD 118.4 million, which is an increase of 41% compared to the same period a year ago. Number two, Tambomayo, our newest gold mine, achieved full commercial production in August, and since then has performed well. And it's worth to mention that in Tambomayo, Tambomayo obtained positive cash flow during this third quarter. Number three, El Brocal reported $31.4 million of EBITDA for the third quarter and an accumulated EBITDA of $91 million in the last 12 months, a remarkable achievement. Number four, the debottlenecking program for our underground mines is in progress, and results are expected to be seen gradually during 2018 and 2019. Number five, at Yanacocha, the Quecher Main project has been approved. First production is expected in early 2018 -- '19, excuse me, and extends the life of mine of Yanacocha operations to 2027.

Number five, Cerro Verde. Let me put the case in context. Cerro Verde started operations with copper oxides, which needed an SX/EW processing plant, and layer in the same ore deposit Cerro Verde is covered and developed a profitable business case for a portion of copper sulfide, which needed a flotation processing plant. Cerro Verde signed an initial tax stability agreement with the Peruvian government for a period of 1998 to 2013.

Cerro Verde contested royalty assessment from the Peruvian tax authority for a period beginning December 2006 on the grounds that they were exempt under the 1998 stability agreement. In October of this year, the Peruvian Supreme Court issued a ruling on the 2008 assessment that was adverse to Cerro Verde's position. As a result, Cerro Verde registered pretax charges of $376.6 million in this third quarter for prior assessment and potential royalty and related assessment for December 2006 to December 2013, in other words, assuming that ruling for the other years will go against it as well. Cerro Verde has paid, under protest, $135 million through September 30.

This nonrecurrent expense affected Cerro Verde's financial figures as follows: in terms of EBITDA by $226.1 million and in terms of net income by $376.6 million. And due to this one-off event, Buenaventura's adjusted EBITDA was reduced by $44.3 million, and Buenaventura's net income decreased by $73.7 million.

Finally, Cerro Verde has signed a new stability agreement, which is currently in effect for the period 2014 to 2029. The company has been paying royalty under this agreement.

And the last highlight, the number seven, Buenaventura's board has approved a dividend payment of $0.03 per outstanding shares to be paid on November 30.

Moving on to Slide 4, financial highlights. Total revenues in the third quarter were $369 million, which is 37% higher in comparison to a year ago. EBITDA from our direct operation was $118 million, which is 41% higher in comparison to a year ago. EBITDA, including our affiliates, was $181 million, which is 34% higher in comparison to a year ago. And the net income in this third quarter was negative $12 million due to Cerro Verde's case.

Moving on to Slide 5. We are showing our strategic map, where we use, as usual, the capital B from the logo of Buenaventura as a visual index for the following slides. Here, we would like to point out, in the right part of the slide, that the ratio of net debt-to-EBITDA has been reduced to 1.5x. Its previous value in the second quarter was 1.9x.

Moving on to Slide 6, attributable production. In terms of total gold production, in this third quarter, it was 177,000 ounces, which is 4% lower in comparison to a year ago. However, in terms of our direct operation, we produced 150,000 ounces, which is 24% higher in comparison to a year ago, explained by a new production coming from Tambomayo.

In terms of silver production, in this third quarter, it was 6.9 million ounces, which is 13% higher in comparison to a year ago. In terms of copper production, it was 32,000 metric tons, which is 7% higher in comparison to a year ago. In terms of zinc production, it was 13,000 metric tons, which is equal to the production obtained a year ago.

Moving on to Slide 7. You can see the consolidated volume sold from our direct operations, where the significant increase, in the case of gold, is explained by the new production coming from Tambomayo. And in the case of silver, it is coming from Tambomayo, and also for the silver grade coming from El Brocal.

Moving on to Slide 8. The all-in sustaining costs from our direct operations in this third quarter was USD 879 per ounce of gold, which is a 54% increase in comparison to a year ago. The cost applicable to sales in this third quarter was, for gold, USD 733 per ounce, which is 9% higher than a year ago; for silver, USD 11.34 per ounce, which is 3% lower than a year ago; for zinc, USD 0.98 per pound, which is 7% higher than a year ago. In the case of copper, the cash cost was USD 1.50 per pound, which is 15% higher in comparison to a year ago.

Moving on to Slides 9 and 10. You can see the volume of gold sold and the cost applicable to sales for each of the gold assets part of our portfolio.

Moving on to Slide 11. You can see the volume of silver sold, the cost applicable to sales for each of the silver assets part of our portfolio. Here, it's important to point out that our decision to combine and generate synergies between Uchucchacua and Mallay has increased our margins.

Moving on to Slide 12. You can see the volume of copper and zinc sold as well as the cost applicable to sales for each of the assets part of our portfolio.

Moving on to Slide 13, the debottlenecking program, which we are implementing on our biggest underground mine, is in progress, and results expected to be seen gradually during 2018 and 2019. The debottlenecking program is meant to improve efficiency, reduce cost and also increase our capability of more aggressive mine development and exploration programs in order to generate more visibility of our oil reserves, in other words, to increase our life of mine. We reckon that an extended life of mine means better mining plans, a more steady and predictable level of production, resulting in a better market value for our underground mines.

Moving on to Slide 14. Thank you for your attention, and we'll hand the call back to the operator to open the line for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Carlos De Alba with Morgan Stanley.

First, Víctor, could you comment a little bit more on the debottlenecking program? Is there a schedule as to the progress that you expect to see throughout 2018 and 2019 in terms of different results? Also, if you can there give us what the expectations on either reserve increase or production increases or reduction in costs, either in total for the program or by operation, that will be very useful. And then moving on to the total all-in sustaining cost, it was a significant increase versus last year. What are the expectations going forward? How do you see the different operations moving in terms of cost? And then it seems to me that there was a potential 2 nonrecurrent or special events in the quarter. One is in El Brocal. The copper cast or cost applicable to sales increased due to an increase in meters drifted in order to prepare Marcapunta to mine at a higher rate. Can you comment how much was it? What was the impact of this specifically? And how do you see the cost for El Brocal in the coming quarters? And then finally, there was an incentive -- there was a payment that had to be taken in order to reduce personnel related to the synergies that the company's trying to extract from El Brocal. Can you give us a little bit more color as to how much this payment was, and if it explains most of the -- almost $5 million increase in G&A expenses? And then as a last note, Carlos, your retirement was announced, so I want to publicly thank you for all these years. It has been great working with you, and all the best in your retirement.

Carlos, thank you for many questions. The first one is related to the debottlenecking program. Here is Gonzalo Eyzaguirre, our Vice President of Operations. But in general terms, before the intervention of Gonzalo, let me say that according to our economic analysis, we intend to increase our annual EBITDA in the order of $60 million by the end of this program in 2019. But Gonzalo will add more technical details on it.

Thank you, Victor. Yes, the idea of this debottlenecking program is to do it in 3 years, and we have programmed with the specific activities that we're going to do through these years. And as the chart set is -- shows, it includes an activity which is differential cutoff. That means to mine the highest margin first is -- the idea is to concentrate or to have a plant which includes the blocks or the areas of the mine that have the highest grade, the highest margins that not necessarily means that have the highest grade. So that's something that we're doing using a new system that we're installing in all our operations. Ventilation, we're improving the ventilation to decrease the operating cost, specifically the energy cost. Hoist systems, we're improving the hoist system to decrease the cost of transportation. Backfill, same thing, is to -- right now, we are using in some of our mines conventional filling, and the idea is to change it to filling using our tailings. And the idea there is also decrease cost. In Brocal, what we're going to do is to use the filling to mine the pillars that we have there, pillars that already have development and preparations. So we're going to save cost also there. In mining method, the idea is to increase the low-cost mining method in Uchucchacua, which is the bench and fill. And dilution control is to control the extra waste that we're sending to the process plant. And we're going to do that, having better control of the areas that we're mining. And we also have the process plant tuning, which is to increase our recoveries by modifying parts of the plant in Tambomayo, and also in El Brocal. And the last one is the integrated mining contracts. What we're going to do there is, right now, we have several contractors in each operation. The idea is to have bigger contractors with better management of the operations that will give us better control of what we are doing in each operation, and also reducing cost by having less back-office in each of the contract that we have. So those are the details of the debottlenecking program. And as Victor said, we are planning to have savings in every year. In 2018, what we expect to have is at least 27 -- sorry, in total around $20 million. In '19, it will be around $23 million. And in 2020, it would be around more or less $30 million to $40 million. Now those are the numbers that we're managing right now, and the investment that we're going to have there could be around $10 million to $50 million a year. That's something that -- this is not really an additional investment. What we're doing is doing part of the work that was postponed in the past, and the idea is to do it the following year. It's not that -- that's the key here.

Yes. Let me just add, Carlos, as a summary that our full potential -- the full potential of this program is in the order of $50 million that we expect to achieve by the end of 2019. So your other 3 questions were more related to our financial figures. The first one was related to the all-in sustaining cost and the development cost in the underground mine of Marcapunta, El Brocal and also the synergies. And I think that Carlos will be the key person to answer these 3 questions.

Yes. Carlos, regarding the all-in sustaining cost, what impacted the most in our all-in sustaining cost this quarter was the treatment charges that come from El Brocal in -- because we have a certain contract that was used during this quarter that has an escalator, that was activated for these higher prices. So this is reported and accounted as a part of the costs. And so the byproduct query attributable to these all-in sustaining cost calculus has been diminished due to this impact. So in the future, to the extent that we are going to complete the contract will be reduced. As it was announced in the past, we renegotiated -- we obtained additional buyers and the purchasers, smelters in the Asian area of the world, that will permit us to have lower treatment charges and lower escalator. So this will be much better for the future. Unfortunately, I cannot share final numbers. Due to this, we'll be consumed gradually for the future. But this quarter was impacted by this, and it has to do with the cost applicable to sales at El Brocal. On the other hand, we have invested in the development of the tunnel, Esperanza, and that is the infrastructure that will permit -- the connection that permitted, the connection between Marcapunta North and South. And this will help us to reduce the haulage cost inside the mine because an important percentage of our copper production will be taken out of the mine by using this infrastructure, about 50-50 by -- to the southern part and 50% to the northern part. And so this is something that will contribute the most. In the other operations, the pro forma has been well, not only in Orcopampa, Coimolache, Uchucchacua and the other operations. So we feel very good we're having good results, and thank you for your good desires for my retirement.

Our next question comes from John Bridges.

Carlos asked a lot of questions, but at least he got the biggest one, which was to congratulate you, Carlos, on your retirement. And I'd like to reiterate that. Just wondered, on the reserves additions, you have increased your spending on the brownfield operations. And I just wonder if that's going to show up in improved reserves this or next quarter. And also, I was just wondering, following on, on the escalation question, if other contracts have escalators that have impacted this quarter. So we can perhaps better estimate the commercial deductions going forward.

Yes. John, thank you for the reiteration of these good wishes. And regarding the exploration and the cost of brownfield exploration cost, we have introduced a program to enhance our reserves and resources. You know that normally, we have reported pretty short life of mine that we would like to extend, so we can have better and a larger life of mine that permit our investors and analysts to feel much better regarding the future of our operations. And this additional expense has impacted and is going to impact gradually our cost applicable to sales because according to our rules, we expend these exploration expenses. And yes, you're right. Regarding the escalators, what we should do, and I believe we'll do, is to share in advance what our sales program is because, in this case, it's a material impact. There is about $200 per tonne of concentrates due to the differences between the average treatment charge for these concentrates. And on the other hand, the average on the worst contract. So we are going to do an effort in order to share this information.

Carlos, if I'm still on, the -- I remember the escalators were going away in the last few years, but they've popped up now in El Brocal, and they seem to still be around. Are smelters still requiring these escalators? Are these things that we need to keep in our models?

Well, the contract I am referring to is an old one that last -- in the ore 5 years. And the escalators who were not impacting our results because the price of copper was about $4,800, so these escalators triggered once the price of copper goes high. So now that we are talking about close to $7,000 per tonne, this is impacting a lot.

Okay. Were any zinc escalators triggered? Do you have any zinc escalators?

Yes. Not an important one. This is a very peculiar case due to the contract was negotiated in the past when El Brocal had very few options to sell. Now the markets have changed, and the options are wider and different.

Understood. Many -- and best of luck in your new endeavors.

Thank you.

(Operator Instructions) Okay. I would like to turn the floor back to management.

Okay. Before my closing remarks, as you know, Mr. Carlos Galvez, our CFO, has submitted to us his retirement resignation letter. Carlos has been working for Buenaventura for the last 40 years. He has been an important person. He has been part of Buenaventura's successful history. And personally, in the last 10 months, since I became part of the senior management team, Carlos has been a valuable friend and mentor. We all wish him a happy retirement. Thank you, Carlos. Well done.

It has been 40 years' time of challenging experience, managing some projects and working for Buenaventura's growth. Likewise, the permanent contact with our investors and analysts was very rewarding. So thanks to all of you. Thank you, Victor.

And finally, thank you, everyone, for joining our call this morning. As a team, we are committed to reaching the 2017 targets and, in addition, to develop the full potential of our existing assets and to implement a disciplined process for value generation through the development of our portfolio for greenfield projects. Thank you again, and have a great day.

Sorry, we have -- apparently, we have 3 additional questions. Sorry.

Our first question comes from Botir Sharipov with HSBC.

Victor, team, I guess, the system didn't pick up I was waiting online, but that's fine. A couple for me. One on Yanacocha. It looks like Yanacocha's mining transitional ores right now, which is impacting its operating cost. Can you maybe tell us how long the mine will be mining these transitional ores before I assume they get into the higher-grade sulfides?

Yes. Here is Raul Benavides. He was in charge of this engagement program with Newmont. He will answer your question, Botir.

Well, the first thing is that with the cater, we will extend the life of the mine with oxides that are within the normal procedure. We're finding in Yanacocha, in Chaquicocha high-grade material that could be available for treatment. Some of it may be oxide, but there's some sulfides. And of course, there's the Yana Verde deposit. We are working together with Newmont in order to refine the sulfides. There is -- the idea of Newmont is to generate the flotation plant in an autoclave in order to treat these ores. So plans are still not clear yet, so we cannot give you straight answers, but that's the direction that things are going.

I was actually implying the current mining plan of Yanacocha, Newmont, on the call, mentioned -- Gary Goldberg mentioned that, currently, the transition ores are being mined, and that's why costs went up. I was just curious whether we're going to see this grow through 2019. Or when do they get through those transitional ores before they possibly get into the higher-grade, lower-cost ore in the next couple of years maybe?

It's Victor -- Botir, here is Victor Gobitz. Yes, as part of this development, yes, the transitional part, yes, as you said, has a high consumption of cyanide, we expect to keep going in the coming 2 years with this kind of material.

Okay, perfect. And I guess, the other question was on El Brocal expansion. Could you maybe, if you have it handy, share the time line for the expansion of the copper circuit there? When do you expect the throughput to reach 13,000 tonnes per day? And how much incremental CapEx would it require maybe?

Yes. Here is Gonzalo Eyzaguirre. He's in charge of this program. He will answer the question.

Yes. El Brocal will increase the copper production to 10,000 tonnes a day by the end of this year, December, and we will start processing 13,000 tonnes of ore a day in January. We already have done all the investments. Right now, we are commissioning the new crusher, the new tertiary crusher that we installed in the process plant. And we already have done the Esperanza tunnel, which is the one that will help us with this additional production. As mentioned before, we also increased our cost because we had to develop the mine ahead of this 13,000-tonne production that we will have in January.

Perfect. And I guess, lastly, again, Carlos, it was a pleasure working with you. Good luck on your retirement. And obviously, good luck to Leandro with his promotion. I look forward to working with you as well.

Thank you, Botir.

Our next question comes from Luis Vicente with CrediCorp Capital.

Again, Carlos, my best wishes on your retirement, and thank you for all the years of work. I think most of the questions have been answered right now, but just one more thing on Quecher Main. Could you maybe give us like a breakdown on how much oxides will [a port] to the gold ounces, and how much sulfides?

Yes. Raul will answer your question.

Quecher Main will really generate 200,000 ounces of oxides. And it takes a couple of years to get it into production because you need to take the overburden on top of the deposit.

Yes. But Quecher Main is 100% oxides.

Yes.

Without any sulfide contents.

Our next question comes from Tanya Jakusconek with Scotiabank.

And best of luck to you, Carlos. Just coming back to the debottlenecking program. I just want to make sure I understood the correct numbers because there was a little bit of a static. But the cost savings through your operating costs are going to be $20 million in 2018, $23 million in 2019 and between $30 million and $40 million in 2020. Are those correct numbers?

Yes. Tanya, thank you for your question. Here, we have the number with Gonzalo.

Yes, in every year $20 million, $25 million; and $30 million, $40 million in 2020.

Yes, yes. In 2018, the number is around $20 million; in 2019, $25 million; and in 2020, in the order of $30 million to $40 million.

And that comes through the operating costs?

Yes. We express that in terms of more EBITDA, annual EBITDA.

So this is EBITDA that you're talking about?

Yes, yes.

Okay. And the number that you gave before of $60 million, what was that number?

Yes, because in every year, we expect to achieve in the first year, in 2018, $20 million. In 2019, you have to add $25 million, and in the last year in the order of $30 million to $40 million. So I express in average.

Okay. So that $60 million was an aggregate number? Okay.

Yes.

And then the investment of $10 million to $15 million, is that the upfront capital you need to do to get all of these savings?

Yes.

Okay, all right. That's helpful. And then if I can come back just to finish off on Cerro Verde. Can you just confirm for us that you have $242 million left to pay for these -- on the -- you've accrued an amount, $377 million in total, less the $135 million. So $242 million left to pay?

Yes. The Cerro Verde case is very difficult to understand for there are many numbers behind that, but Carlos is the key person.

Yes. Well, Tanya, the amount that we have considered is a $376 million royalty that was the consequence of the resolution. As it was mentioned in our press release, Cerro Verde had already deposited, paid, under protest, $115 million...

$135 million.

Oops, sorry, $135 million. That is a mechanism that our tax authorities accept as an investment. If you win the case, the authority has to give you the money back, plus the interest that are very high, as high as those are when you do not pay the taxes. So Cerro Verde paid this gradually until September this year. So the remaining amount is what has to be paid, and Cerro Verde wants to reach to -- is evaluating the best and the final legal solution for this case because the desire is not continue litigating in this case.

Okay. So that's the $242 million?

Yes. Well, it's what the final results, yes.

Yes, okay. And then Freeport have mentioned that they applied for a waiver of penalties and interest. When do you know if the tax authorities will grant this waiver?

I don't know what's the final legal mechanism. That's why I mentioned a legal solution to reach a final discussion with the authorities. I don't know what is exactly the mechanism. Freeport is in charge of managing this process.

Yes.

Okay. And then how about the -- given we have this issue, how does this impact the outlook on the timing of the first dividends from Cerro Verde?

Well, this is -- this will depend on the final solution reached by Freeport and Cerro Verde in this case. But the cash position of Cerro Verde is good. The cash flow generation is very positive. Cerro Verde enjoys an elbow room to reach additional debt, not only because of the syndicated medium-term debt, but as you know, was signed by $1.8 million, and has already taken only $1.5 million, plus additional credit facilities that it has contracted. So I believe that there could be some opportunities. However, this hasn't been discussed over the board of Cerro Verde, and this is something that we have to wait for a final resolution because I don't see Cerro Verde paying out cash dividends without completing this process.

Okay. And then maybe just on Yanacocha. Can you just confirm, Carlos, that at Quecher Main, you're going to be financing the capital from internal cash flows from Yanacocha?

Well, in the case of -- Yanacocha holds in excess of $700 million. The CapEx considered for this project is in between $250 million to $300 million. So there is no problem to finance the CapEx to extend the life of mine while including the Quecher Main.

It's a free-call option for Buenaventura, clearly.

Okay. And then maybe on San Gabriel, we haven't heard an update on that one, but maybe what the progress is there. And the last things we had heard on it was $400 million to $500 million to build CapEx, 2.5 years, 200,000 to 250,000 ounces of production. Is that still something that's reasonable? Or where are we on this? And what are we looking for timing?

Thank you for that question, Tanya. Here is Raul Benavides. He has a lot of information regarding the technical part and the social part of this project.

Tanya, well, the San Gabriel project, as you know, it has already an approved environmental impact study that we are reviewing all our project process. As you remember, from Victor's last presentation, we are doing the projects with methodology, a new methodology. And what essentially we're doing is a GAAP analysis. So San Gabriel is advanced. The figures that you have mentioned are about correct. It's the last we have, but the idea would be, in this following year, to fill the gaps in order to be able to present a feasibility study. And with that, we can give final figures.

And Raul, when is the feasibility study going to be available for the -- to the board and for the market?

That could be next year. But again, Tanya, take it with a bit of salt because we're working on this new way of approaching projects. And we are targeting a date, but we cannot ensure a date.

Let me add that for Buenaventura point of view, by far, the most profitable business case is to invest in our debottlenecking program.

Okay. So it probably -- if you do have a feasibility study on it, it would be in the latter part of 2018?

Yes.

Yes.

There appears to be no further questions. I'll turn it back over to management.

Okay. Thank you again, and have a great day.

Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a great day.