Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation (HYMC) 2021 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day and welcome to the Hycroft Q3 results call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Tracey Thom, please go ahead.

美好的一天，歡迎來到 Hycroft Q3 結果電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。此時，我想將會議轉交給 Tracey Thom，請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning and thank you for joining us. Today we will be discussing the business update and third-quarter operating results that we issued in a press release this morning, which can be found on our website. On or about November 11, 2021, we plan to file a 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2021, which will include our financial disclosures for the third quarter. Please read the press release and listen to this call in conjunction with reviewing the Form 10-Q, which will contain additional disclosures.

謝謝。早上好，感謝您加入我們。今天我們將討論我們今天上午在新聞稿中發布的業務更新和第三季度經營業績，這些新聞稿可以在我們的網站上找到。在 2021 年 11 月 11 日左右，我們計劃提交截至 2021 年 9 月 30 日止期間的 10-Q，其中將包括我們第三季度的財務披露。請閱讀新聞稿並在審閱 10-Q 表格的同時收聽此電話會議，其中將包含更多披露信息。

Also please note that some information provided during this call may include forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Even if these risks or uncertainties have been materialized or the assumptions proven correct, these results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

另請注意，本次電話會議期間提供的一些信息可能包括涉及風險、不確定性和假設的前瞻性陳述。即使這些風險或不確定性已經成為現實，或者假設被證明是正確的，這些結果也可能與此類前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果存在重大差異。

All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward looking. A discussion of some of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions will be set forth in more detail in our press releases and SEC filings, including the anticipated 10-Q. We assume no obligation and do not intend to update any such forward-looking statements. I'll now turn the call over to Diane Garrett, President and CEO.

除歷史事實陳述外，所有陳述均可視為前瞻性陳述。我們的新聞稿和 SEC 文件（包括預期的 10-Q）將更詳細地闡述一些風險、不確定性和假設的討論。我們不承擔任何義務，也不打算更新任何此類前瞻性陳述。我現在將電話轉給總裁兼首席執行官黛安·加勒特 (Diane Garrett)。

Thank you, Tracey. Appreciate that. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating today on our call to discuss the business and operating update for the third quarter of 2021. I'm Diane Garrett, President and CEO of Hycroft Mining, and with me today are Stan Rideout, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Tracey Thom, our Vice President, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations.

謝謝你，特蕾西。感謝。大家早上好，感謝您今天參加我們的電話會議，討論 2021 年第三季度的業務和運營更新。我是 Hycroft Mining 總裁兼首席執行官 Diane Garrett，今天和我在一起的是 Stan Rideout，我們的執行副總裁兼首席財務官，以及我們負責企業傳播和投資者關係的副總裁 Tracey Thom。

Once I deliver my initial comments on the news release that we issued today, we will then open the call for questions. And as a reminder, as Tracey just noted, that we do intend to file our third-quarter financial results on Form 10-Q after the market closes tomorrow, November 11.

在我對今天發布的新聞稿發表初步評論後，我們將開始提問。提醒一下，正如 Tracey 剛剛指出的那樣，我們確實打算在 11 月 11 日明天收市後通過 10-Q 表格提交我們的第三季度財務業績。

This new management team has been in place at Hycroft for just over a year. And while all of us joined this company in anticipation of quickly ramping up production to full-scale commercial sulfide operations under the Novel Process, we identified and subsequently disclosed to the market a number of items that must be addressed before any application of this process could be successful or economic on a commercial basis.

這個新的管理團隊已經在 Hycroft 就職一年多了。雖然我們所有人都希望在新工藝下迅速提高產量以實現全面的商業硫化物操作，但我們確定並隨後向市場披露了一些在應用該工藝之前必須解決的問題在商業基礎上取得成功或經濟。

While we've been working diligently over the past many months performing the necessary review of that process, conducting additional test work, which actually is ongoing and continuing, and engaging three independent consultants with expertise in the field of laboratory testing and metallurgy to review and peer review this work independently.

在過去的幾個月裡，我們一直在努力工作，對該過程進行必要的審查，進行額外的測試工作，這實際上是正在進行和持續的，並聘請了三名在實驗室測試和冶金領域具有專業知識的獨立顧問來審查和獨立同行評審這項工作。

Our team is extremely conscientious about de-risking a project upfront in order to mitigate execution risk as much as possible. And a big part of that de-risking involves the ongoing variability in mineralogy work across all the domains of the Hycroft ore body, because that is absolutely critical to any mining operation and must be completed before commercial startup begins.

我們的團隊非常認真地預先降低項目風險，以盡可能降低執行風險。降低風險的很大一部分涉及 Hycroft 礦體所有領域的礦物學工作的持續變化，因為這對任何採礦作業都至關重要，並且必須在商業啟動開始之前完成。

So today we announced the following key items. First of all, we are ceasing the mining operations at Hycroft mine effective immediately. This is why Mike Eiselein, our General Manager and Jack Henris, our COO, are not on this call with us today, as they are meeting with our team at site. However, we will continue processing metal inventory off the leach pads until it's no longer economic to do so.

所以今天我們宣布了以下關鍵項目。首先，我們將立即停止在 Hycroft 礦的採礦作業。這就是為什麼我們的總經理 Mike Eiselein 和我們的首席運營官 Jack Henris 今天沒有參加我們的電話會議，因為他們正在現場與我們的團隊會面。但是，我們將繼續處理浸出墊上的金屬庫存，直到這樣做不再經濟。

When the operation was started up back in 2019, mining of these oxides and transition ore allowed the company to pre-strip the overburden with some revenue offsets as they were working to expose commercial-scale sulfide ore. Through our de-risking of that Novel Process, there are a number of findings from our work that indicate capital costs will be materially higher for that process. Operating costs will be significantly higher.

當該業務於 2019 年啟動時，這些氧化物和過渡礦石的開採使該公司能夠預先剝離覆蓋層，並獲得一些收入抵消，因為他們正在努力暴露商業規模的硫化物礦石。通過我們對該新工藝的去風險化，我們的工作中有許多發現表明該工藝的資本成本將大大提高。運營成本將顯著增加。

We have noted that some of the ore is not amenable to this process and that sub ore is likely to perform below what was previously expected. So, at this point, based on what we now know, the economics will be challenging for the Novel Process. They do know, however, that the chemistry of this process works, but if the application on a large commercial scale at Hycroft will require more work, will not be applicable to the entire deposit and also will be higher cost.

我們注意到，一些礦石不適合這個過程，並且該子礦石的性能可能低於之前的預期。因此，在這一點上，根據我們現在所知道的，經濟學將對新工藝構成挑戰。然而，他們確實知道這個過程的化學作用有效，但如果在 Hycroft 大規模商業化應用將需要更多的工作，將不適用於整個礦床，而且成本也會更高。

So, with our change in focus from the two-stage heap oxidation and leach to a milling operation, we have ample time to align the remaining pre-stripping of the oxide in transition and have that coincide with the start-up of commercial-scale sulfide operations.

因此，隨著我們將重點從兩階段堆氧化和浸出轉移到研磨操作，我們有足夠的時間調整剩餘的過渡階段氧化物預剝離，並與商業規模的啟動相吻合硫化物操作。

Secondly, as we announced today, with respect to the technical studies that are currently underway and expected to be completed in the first quarter of '22, we have run a number of pit optimizations in order to analyze the in-pit value of the ore body under various sulfide processing scenarios. Without exception, the pressure oxidation, or POX, process generates significantly higher relative economic value at Hycroft. Moreover, that value is highly leveraged to even modest increases in gold and silver prices.

其次，正如我們今天宣布的那樣，關於目前正在進行並預計將在 22 年第一季度完成的技術研究，我們已經進行了多次礦坑優化，以分析礦石的礦坑價值各種硫化物加工場景下的身體。毫無例外，壓力氧化或 POX 工藝在 Hycroft 產生了顯著更高的相對經濟價值。此外，該價值對黃金和白銀價格的小幅上漲具有高度槓桿作用。

There were studies and test work in the past that also demonstrated milling was a viable option for Hycroft. And while construction began by our predecessor company, there were a number of factors that precluded the implementation of a mill, including lower gold prices and financial struggles by that predecessor company at the time. So, we do know that milling works at Hycroft.

過去的研究和測試工作也表明銑削是 Hycroft 的一個可行選擇。雖然我們的前身公司開始建設，但有許多因素阻礙了工廠的實施，包括較低的金價和當時前身公司的財務困境。所以，我們確實知道銑削在 Hycroft 有效。

The Hycroft asset is truly world-class. I don't think anybody denies it is a significant mineral endowment with hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure that exist on the site today. The mine is permitted for both a heap leach and a milling operation and is situated in one of the very best mining jurisdictions.

Hycroft 資產確實是世界級的。我認為沒有人否認它是一個重要的礦產資源，今天該網站上有數億美元的基礎設施。該礦被允許進行堆浸和碾磨作業，並且位於最好的採礦管轄區之一。

An asset like Hycroft deserves the thoughtful care and attention to not be driven by market expectations or commodity prices, but to be looked at through the lens of what it is. It is in the top five largest primary gold projects in the world with a significant silver component, having the largest silver resource in the US. And our task is to unlock and deliver that value to the shareholders in the best way possible.

像 Hycroft 這樣的資產值得周到的照顧和關注，而不是受到市場預期或商品價格的驅動，而是通過它的本質來看待。它是世界上最大的五個主要黃金項目之一，其中含有大量的白銀，擁有美國最大的白銀資源。我們的任務是以盡可能最好的方式釋放並向股東交付價值。

And how do we do that? From all of our analysis to date, we believe that the milling operation using the POX process is the right approach. Hycroft ore is very amenable to this process. And with the higher recoveries from POX over all the other options we've reviewed, including the Novel Process, we believe that this is the right path for Hycroft. It is proven, it is reliable, and it has much less risk.

我們該怎麼做？從我們迄今為止的所有分析來看，我們認為使用 POX 工藝的銑削操作是正確的方法。 Hycroft 礦石非常適合這個過程。由於 POX 的回收率高於我們審查過的所有其他選項，包括新工藝，我們相信這是 Hycroft 的正確途徑。它被證明是可靠的，而且風險要小得多。

While the capital that's required for the mill may be more than originally anticipated for the Novel Process -- once you factor in the agglomeration circuit and the materials handling system, the on-off pads and solutions management systems -- the expected economic return and reduced execution risk far outweigh that incremental capital requirement. So, our focus going forward is solely on the POX pre-feasibility study.

雖然工廠所需的資本可能比新工藝最初預期的要多——一旦你考慮到團聚迴路和材料處理系統、開關墊和溶液管理系統——預期的經濟回報和減少執行風險遠遠超過增量資本要求。因此，我們未來的重點完全放在 POX 預可行性研究上。

We also want to follow up on many of the areas that we've identified that are prospective for higher-grade ore with a targeted exploration drilling program. Many of the mines in Nevada started up with low-grade oxide heap leach operations, not unlike Hycroft did in its long history of heap leach operations.

我們還希望通過有針對性的勘探鑽探計劃，跟進許多我們已經確定的具有更高品位礦石前景的地區。內華達州的許多礦山都是從低品位氧化物堆浸操作開始的，這與 Hycroft 在其悠久的堆浸操作歷史中所做的不同。

Ultimately, many of these mines have transitioned to underground mines when the feeder system to the near-surface low grade ore was discovered through drilling. It was postulated by many geologists that there were potential feeder systems for both gold and silver at Hycroft. However, the focus in the early 2010s and up until recently was on step-out drilling to expand the pit.

最終，當通過鑽探發現近地表低品位礦石的給礦系統時，許多這些礦山已經轉變為地下礦山。許多地質學家假設在 Hycroft 有潛在的金銀供給系統。然而，從 2010 年代初期到最近，人們的關注重點都放在擴大鑽井範圍內的階梯鑽井上。

It is well known that Hycroft has banded veins similar to other high-grade projects and mines in northern Nevada. And we have actually seen evidence of these banded veins as we mine through ore. In the southern part of our claims, also, we found placer-style visible gold that has not been followed up on with drilling.

眾所周知，Hycroft 擁有與內華達州北部其他高品位項目和礦山相似的帶狀礦脈。當我們開採礦石時，我們實際上已經看到了這些帶狀礦脈的證據。在我們索賠的南部，我們還發現了尚未進行鑽探的砂礦式可見金。

In short, there was minimal effort and resources at Hycroft to follow up on these opportunities or to work to identify the feeders of this enormous system. In September, we announced that we had conducted some limited exploration drilling to follow up on prospective higher-grade areas. And we encountered some note-worthy intercepts, which we disclosed to the market and can be found on our website.

簡而言之，Hycroft 幾乎沒有付出什麼努力和資源來跟進這些機會或努力確定這個龐大系統的饋線。 9 月，我們宣布進行了一些有限的勘探鑽探，以跟進潛在的高品位地區。我們遇到了一些值得注意的攔截，我們向市場披露了這些攔截，可以在我們的網站上找到。

Of particular interest was a 52-meter intercept in the Vortex Zone that returned 2.47 grams per tonne gold and 25.5 grams per tonne silver. And this is some of the highest-grade gold intercepts we've seen at Hycroft, and it warrants additional attention. We invite you to look at our most recent presentation on our website, which details some of the target areas that we've been reviewing and that we have identified that we would like to follow up on with a drill program.

特別令人感興趣的是 Vortex Zone 中 52 米的攔截，每噸黃金返回 2.47 克，每噸白銀返回 25.5 克。這是我們在 Hycroft 看到的一些最高等級的黃金攔截，值得額外關注。我們邀請您查看我們網站上的最新演示文稿，其中詳細介紹了我們一直在審查的一些目標區域，我們已經確定我們希望通過鑽探計劃跟進這些區域。

With respect to our stock price, in no opinion -- sorry, in our opinion, it no way reflects the value of this asset. And by the way, many of us in management and Board are very engaged shareholders, and we're committed to realizing the value inherent in this asset. We can certainly appreciate the disappointment when we communicated that there was more work required to do at Hycroft before reaching commercial-scale sulfide operations.

關於我們的股票價格，在我們看來，沒有任何意見 - 抱歉，它無法反映該資產的價值。順便說一句，我們管理層和董事會中的許多人都是非常敬業的股東，我們致力於實現這項資產的內在價值。當我們表示在達到商業規模的硫化物運營之前，Hycroft 還需要做更多的工作時，我們當然會感到失望。

But we also believe that the decisions to narrow our focus on the POX PFS and to cease mining to preserve our cash for the ongoing development programs, provide some level of comfort that this team is ready to take the right steps and is extremely capable and highly qualified in operational execution and in mitigating risks, which all translate into shareholder value.

但我們也相信，縮小我們對 POX PFS 的關注並停止採礦以保留我們正在進行的開發計劃的現金的決定，提供了一定程度的安慰，即該團隊已準備好採取正確的步驟並且非常有能力和高度在運營執行和降低風險方面合格，所有這些都轉化為股東價值。

Unrelated to Hycroft, we had two large shareholders who closed funds and will require to liquidate all holdings in those funds, which also share -- held shares of Hycroft. So, for approximately four months, nearly 8 million shares of Hycroft were sold, which put significant pressure on our share price. And I think everybody's aware of that, of what we've seen over the last several months.

與 Hycroft 無關，我們有兩個大股東關閉了基金，並將要求清算這些基金的所有股份，這些基金也持有 Hycroft 的股份。因此，在大約四個月的時間裡，近 800 萬股 Hycroft 股票被出售，這給我們的股價帶來了巨大壓力。我認為每個人都知道這一點，以及我們在過去幾個月中看到的情況。

We believe the future of Hycroft is compelling as we complete the POX PFS in the first quarter of next year and also engage in a robust exploration program designed to target these prospective higher-grade areas. This team has established a strong culture with a focus on safety and environmental compliance.

我們相信 Hycroft 的未來是引人注目的，因為我們將在明年第一季度完成 POX PFS，並參與旨在針對這些潛在的更高品位區域的強大勘探計劃。該團隊建立了一種以安全和環境合規為重點的強大文化。

And we continue to see incredible improvements in our TRIFR rate with another decrease to 0.41 at the end of September, and that's an 82% reduction over September of 2020. So, very, very pleased with the focus on not only operational efficiencies and improvements, but definitely on the safety side, which is number one for us.

我們繼續看到我們的 TRIFR 率取得了令人難以置信的改善，9 月底再次降至 0.41，比 2020 年 9 月減少了 82%。因此，非常非常高興不僅關注運營效率和改進，但絕對是在安全方面，這對我們來說是第一位的。

Cost control measures and improvements in these efficiencies will benefit the ongoing process of the leach pads and the Merrill-Crowe plant operation as we continue to leach material off the pads. We'll continue to provide periodic updates on the development of the POX PFS, and we look forward to presenting a path forward once that PFS is completed early in the new year.

成本控制措施和這些效率的提高將有利於浸出墊的持續過程和 Merrill-Crowe 工廠的運營，因為我們將繼續從墊上浸出材料。我們將繼續提供有關 POX PFS 開發的定期更新，我們期待在 PFS 在新的一年年初完成後提出前進的道路。

In closing, I am very grateful for this team and the amazing work that they've done in the past year. Going forward, I am confident that we can create a long-life mine that will benefit generations of miners. And with that, I would like to open it up to Q&A and then I'll make some closing comments before we end the call today.

最後，我非常感謝這個團隊以及他們在過去一年中所做的出色工作。展望未來，我有信心我們可以打造一座壽命長的礦山，造福幾代礦工。就此，我想開放問答環節，然後在我們今天結束電話會議之前發表一些結束評論。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) And I'm showing we have no questions in the queue at this time.

謝謝。 （操作員說明）我正在展示我們目前沒有問題在隊列中。

Okay. Thank you, operator. Well, that's amazing. We've either answered everybody's questions with our comments because we do have quite a number of people on the call today. And I want to thank you all for joining us. If you would like to follow up, I think everybody has got our contact information, it can be found on the press release. Please reach out to us, and we'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have.

好的。謝謝你，運營商。好吧，這太棒了。我們已經用我們的評論回答了每個人的問題，因為我們今天確實有很多人在電話會議上。我要感謝大家加入我們。如果您想跟進，我想每個人都知道我們的聯繫方式，可以在新聞稿中找到。請聯繫我們，我們非常樂意回答您的任何問題。

As I mentioned earlier, we are hard at work conducting all the necessary work to develop the best long-term plan for Hycroft. And we really appreciate the support and patience of all of our shareholders and stakeholders as we look forward to delivering this plan that provides that value for our shareholders.

正如我之前提到的，我們正在努力開展所有必要的工作，為 Hycroft 制定最佳的長期計劃。我們非常感謝所有股東和利益相關者的支持和耐心，因為我們期待著交付為我們的股東提供價值的計劃。

Before I say goodbye to everybody and let you get on with your day, I also want to thank the entire team at the Hycroft mine for their hard work as we could not have made the significant improvements at site without their commitment and dedication to safety and operational improvement while at the same time navigating through the challenges of the Novel Process.

在我向大家道別並開始新的一天之前，我還要感謝 Hycroft 礦山的整個團隊的辛勤工作，因為如果沒有他們對安全和安全的承諾和奉獻，我們不可能在現場取得重大改進。運營改進，同時應對新流程的挑戰。

I'd also like to thank Jack Henris for his guidance on the mining and Mr. David Kirsch for his leadership as Chairman of Hycroft.

我還要感謝 Jack Henris 在採礦方面的指導，以及 David Kirsch 先生作為 Hycroft 董事長的領導。

Thank you very much for joining us today, and please do visit our website and reach out to us with any questions that you may have. Have a wonderful day, everybody. Thank you.

非常感謝您今天加入我們，如果您有任何問題，請訪問我們的網站並與我們聯繫。祝大家有美好的一天。謝謝。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。