Southern Copper Corp (SCCO) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Southern Copper Corporation's second quarter and 6 months 2024 Results Conference Call. With us this morning, we have Southern Copper Corporation's Mr. Raul Jacob, Vice President, Finance, Treasurer and CFO, who will discuss the results of the company for the second quarter and 6 months 2024 as well as answer any questions that you may have.

早安，歡迎參加南方銅業公司 2024 年第二季和 6 個月業績電話會議。今天早上，南方銅業公司的財務副總裁、財務主管兼財務長 Raul Jacob 先生將與我們一起討論公司 2024 年第二季和 6 個月的業績，並回答您可能提出的任何問題。

The information discussed on today's call may include forward-looking statements regarding the company's results and prospects, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially, and the company cautions not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

今天的電話會議討論的資訊可能包括有關公司業績和前景的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述存在風險和不確定性。實際結果可能存在重大差異，公司警告不要過度依賴這些前瞻性陳述。

Southern Copper Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All results are expressed in full US GAAP. Now I will pass the call on to Mr. Raul Jacob.

南方銅業公司不承擔公開更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明的義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。所有結果均以完整的美國公認會計原則表示。現在我將把電話轉給勞爾·雅各布先生。

Thank you very much, Carmen. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Southern Copper's second quarter 2024 results conference call. At today's conference, I'm joined by Mr. Oscar Gonzalez Rocha, CEO of Southern Copper and Board member as well as Mr. Leonardo Contreras, who is also a Board member.

非常感謝你，卡門。大家早安，歡迎參加南方銅業2024年第二季業績電話會議。出席今天的會議的還有南方銅業公司執行長兼董事會成員 Oscar Gonzalez Rocha 先生以及董事會成員 Leonardo Contreras 先生。

In today's call, we will begin with an update on our view of the copper markets and then review Southern Copper's key results related to production, sales, operating cost, financial results, expansion projects, and ESG. After this, we will open the session for questions.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將首先介紹我們對銅市場的最新看法，然後回顧南方銅業在生產、銷售、營運成本、財務表現、擴張項目和 ESG 方面的主要業績。之後，我們將開始提問環節。

Now let us focus on the copper market. The London Metal Exchange copper price increased 15% from an average of $3.85 per pound in the second quarter of 2023, up to $4.42 this quarter. Based on the production cuts announced by several producers and other information to date, we're expecting a market deficit of about 217,000 tons of copper for 2024.

現在讓我們關注銅市場。倫敦金屬交易所銅價從 2023 年第二季的平均每磅 3.85 美元上漲 15%，本季上漲至 4.42 美元。根據多家生產商宣布的減產情況以及迄今為止的其他信息，我們預計 2024 年銅市場缺口約為 217,000 噸。

At this point in time, we estimate that the copper supply will increase slightly by 0.6%. That's about 0.5% of a percentage point. Looking at the demand, even though we see weak China demand mainly from its real estate market, a resilient US economy and new demand from decarbonization technologies as well as our artificial intelligence are supporting copper demand and price.

目前，我們預計銅供應量將小幅增加0.6%。這大約是 0.5% 個百分點。從需求來看，儘管我們看到中國需求疲軟主要來自房地產市場，但美國經濟的韌性和脫碳技術以及人工智慧的新需求正在支撐銅的需求和價格。

Now let's look at Southern Copper's production for the past quarter. Copper represented 76% of our sales in the second quarter of this year. Copper production (technical difficulty) in the second quarter in quarter-on-quarter terms to stand at 242,474 tons. Our quarterly results reflect a 15% increase in production in Peru. This improvement was driven by growth at the Toquepala mine, which increased its production by 21%, which was boosted by higher ore grades.

現在讓我們來看看南方銅業上一季的產量。銅占我們今年第二季銷售額的 76%。第二季銅產量（技術難度）較上季為242,474噸。我們的季度業績反映出秘魯的產量成長了 15%。這一改善是由托克帕拉礦的成長推動的，由於礦石品位的提高，該礦的產量增加了 21%。

Production at our Mexican operations increased by 0.7% in quarter-to-quarter terms, mainly due to higher production at our La Caridad mine, partially offset by a decrease in the production at Buenavista and Inca.

我們墨西哥業務的產量較上季成長 0.7%，主要是由於 La Caridad 礦產量增加，部分被布埃納維斯塔和印加產量下降所抵消。

For 2024, we expect to produce 963,2 (technical difficulty) 2023 final print. This growth will be fueled by recovery at our SX-EW facilities at Buenavista and by the copper production of our new Buenavista zinc concentrator, which is operating at full capacity.

2024 年，我們預計 2023 年最終印刷量為 963,2（技術難度）。這一增長將受到布埃納維斯塔 SX-EW 工廠的恢復以及滿載運行的新布埃納維斯塔鋅選礦廠的銅生產的推動。

Molybdenum production represented 12% of the company's sales value in the second quarter of this year and is currently our first by-product. Molybdenum prices averaged $21.69 per pound to $20.87 per pound in the second quarter of last year. This represents an increase of 4%.

鉬產量占公司今年第二季銷售額的 12%，目前是我們的第一個副產品。去年第二季鉬平均價格為每磅 21.69 美元至 20.87 美元。這意味著增長了 4%。

Molybdenum production increased by 21% in the second quarter compared to the same period of last year. This was mainly driven by higher production at the Peruvian operations and the Buenavista mine due to higher ore grades. These results were partially offset by lower production at La Caridad mine.

第二季鉬產量年增21%。這主要是由於礦石品位較高而導致秘魯業務和布埃納維斯塔礦產量增加。這些結果被 La Caridad 礦產量下降部分抵消。

In 2024, we expect to produce 27,400 tons of molybdenum, which represents an increase of 2% over our 2023 production level. Silver represented 5% of our sales value in the second quarter of this year, with an average price of 28.84 -- $28.84 per ounce in the quarter, which reflected an increase of 19% versus the 2023 second quarter price.

2024 年，我們預計鉬產量為 27,400 噸，比 2023 年產量水準增加 2%。白銀佔今年第二季銷售額的 5%，本季平均價格為每盎司 28.84 至 28.84 美元，較 2023 年第二季價格上漲 19%。

Silver is currently our second by-product. Mined silver production increased 8% in the second quarter of 2024 versus the same period of 2023. With the sole exemption of Inca, production rose at all our operations. Refined silver production increased by 28% quarter-over-quarter, which was mainly driven by growth in our La Caridad and Ilo refineries.

白銀目前是我們的第二副產品。2024 年第二季礦產白銀產量較 2023 年同期成長 8%。由於印加的唯一豁免，我們所有業務的產量都增加了。精煉銀產量環比增長 28%，這主要是由我們的 La Caridad 和 Ilo 精煉廠的成長所推動的。

In 2024, we expect to produce 20.6 million ounces of silver, an increase of 12% compared to 2023. Zinc represented 4% of our sales value in the second quarter of this year, with an average price of $1.29 per pound in the quarter, which represents a 12% increase in price compared to the second quarter of last year.

2024年，我們預期白銀產量為2,060萬盎司，較2023年成長12%。今年第二季度，鋅占我們銷售額的 4%，本季平均價格為每磅 1.29 美元，與去年第二季相比，價格上漲了 12%。

Zinc mine production increased 71% quarter-on-quarter and totaled 29,419 tons. Growth was driven primarily by the 13,653 tons produced at the new Buenavista zinc concentrator and by an increase in production at the Chancas mine. Refinancing production increased 6% in the second quarter of 2022 -- 2024 vis-a-vis the second quarter of last year. For this year, we expect to produce 121,800 tons of zinc, which represents an increase of 86% over our 2023 production level. So we are increasing our expected production for zinc in 86% this year.

鋅礦產量較上季成長71%，總計29,419噸。成長主要得益於新布埃納維斯塔鋅選礦廠的產量 13,653 噸以及 Chancas 礦產量的增加。2022 年至 2024 年第二季再融資產量較去年第二季成長 6%。今年，我們預計鋅產量為 121,800 噸，比 2023 年的產量水準增加 86%。因此，我們將今年的鋅預期產量提高了 86%。

This growth will be driven by production at our Buenavista zinc concentrator that will have 55,400 tons, which has ramped up to better than planned. For 2025 and on, we expect to produce 178,000 tons of zinc per year.

這一增長將由我們布埃納維斯塔鋅選礦廠的產量推動，該選礦廠的產量將達 55,400 噸，產量已超過計劃。2025 年及以後，我們預計每年生產 178,000 噸鋅。

Financial results. This year, net sales were $3,818 million, which represented growth of 36% with regard to the second quarter of the past year. Expansion was primarily fueled by an increase in sales volumes of copper, which grew 5.5%, molybdenum by 21% increase, silver 32% increase, and zinc 78% increase in sales volumes. Also, we had an increase in net of prices for all of our products.

財務業績。今年淨銷售額為 38.18 億美元，較去年第二季成長 36%。擴張主要得益於銅銷量的成長，銅銷量成長了 5.5%，鉬銷量成長了 21%，銀銷量成長了 32%，鋅銷量成長了 78%。此外，我們所有產品的淨價均有所上漲。

Our total operating cost and expenses increased $111 million or 8% when compared to the second quarter of last year. The main cost increment has been in workers' participation, repair materials, contractors and operating materials, sales expenses, copper, and other factors. These cost increments were partially offset by a decrease in the energy cost and in exchange rate variance.

與去年第二季相比，我們的總營運成本和費用增加了 1.11 億美元，即 8%。主要成本增量來自工人參與、維修材料、承包商和營運材料、銷售費用、銅和其他因素。這些成本增量被能源成本和匯率差異的下降部分抵銷。

In the first half of the year, we saw unitary cost reductions for several materials and services, such as grinding media, steel, explosive tires, and power costs. These savings, however, has been somewhat offset by higher costs associated with growth in production and sales volume and by an increase in maintenance and contractors expenditures, which we are closely monitoring and controlling.

今年上半年，我們看到多種材料和服務的整體成本下降，例如研磨介質、鋼材、爆炸輪胎和電力成本。然而，這些節省在一定程度上被產量和銷售成長帶來的成本上升以及維護和承包商支出的增加所抵消，我們正在密切監測和控制這些支出。

Looking at our EBITDA. The second quarter of this year, adjusted EBITDA was $1,797 million, which represented an increase of 61% with regard to the $1,116 million registered in the same period of 2023, the second quarter. The adjusted EBITDA margin in the second quarter of this year stood at 58% versus 49% in the same period of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA in the 6 months of 2024, was $3,215 million. This is 20% higher than what we had at the 6 months of last year. The adjusted EBITDA margin for the first half of the year stood at 56% versus 53% in the same period of 2023.

看看我們的 EBITDA。今年第二季度，調整後 EBITDA 為 17.97 億美元，較 2023 年第二季的 11.16 億美元成長 61%。今年第二季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 58%，而 2023 年同期為 49%。2024 年 6 個月的調整後 EBITDA 為 32.15 億美元。比去年 6 個月高出 20%。上半年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 56%，而 2023 年同期為 53%。

Cash cost. Southern Copper operating cash cost, including the benefit of by-product credits was $0.76 per pound in the second quarter of 2024. This cash cost was $0.31 lower than the cash cost of $1.07 as we had for the first quarter of 2024. This is a 29% reduction in cash cost. Before by-product credit, the operating cash cost was $2.15 per pound this past quarter. This is $0.04 higher than the value that we had for the first quarter of 2024.

現金成本。2024 年第二季度，南方銅業的營運現金成本（包括副產品信用收益）為每磅 0.76 美元。該現金成本比 2024 年第一季的 1.07 美元現金成本低 0.31 美元。這意味著現金成本降低了 29%。在扣除副產品信貸之前，上個季度的營運現金成本為每磅 2.15 美元。這比 2024 年第一季的價值高出 0.04 美元。

This 2% increase in the operating cash cost before by-product credit reflects an increase in cost per pound from production costs, administrative expenses, lower premiums, and these higher costs were partially offset by higher -- by lower treatment and refining charges. Regarding by-products, we had a total credit of $716 million or $1.40 per pound in the second quarter of this year.

扣除副產品信貸之前的營運現金成本增加了 2%，反映出生產成本、管理費用和較低保費導致每磅成本增加，而這些較高的成本被較低的處理和精煉費用部分抵消。關於副產品，今年第二季我們的信貸總額為 7.16 億美元，即每磅 1.40 美元。

These figures represent a 34% increase in byproducts when compared with the credit of $532 million or $1.04 that we had in the first quarter of this year. Total credits have increased for molybdenum, zinc and silver, and decreased somehow for sulfuric acid.

這些數字表明，與今年第一季我們獲得的 5.32 億美元或 1.04 美元的信貸相比，副產品增加了 34%。鉬、鋅和銀的總積分增加，硫酸的總積分減少。

The second quarter of 2024 net income was $950 million, which represents a 74% increase with regard to the $548 million registering the second quarter of last year. The net income margin in the second quarter stood at 31% versus 24% in the second quarter of 2023. This increase was mainly driven by a 36% increase in sales, which was partially offset by higher operating costs related to sales volumes, G&A and exploration expenses. On a year-on-year basis, net income was 24% higher than in 2023 for similar reasons.

2024 年第二季淨利為 9.5 億美元，較去年第二季的 5.48 億美元成長 74%。第二季淨利率為 31%，而 2023 年第二季淨利率為 24%。這一成長主要是由銷售額成長 36% 推動的，但部分成長被與銷售、一般管理費用和勘探費用相關的營運成本上升所抵消。出於類似原因，淨利潤比 2023 年年增了 24%。

Cash from operations -- cash flow from operating activities in the 6 months of this year was $1,622 million, which represents a decrease of 18% compared to the $1,982 million posted in the 6 months of 2023. Cash flow in the first half of this year was affected by a significant increase in working capital of $511 million, which was mainly driven by an increase in accounts receivable at our Mexican operations.

營運現金－今年 6 個月的營運活動現金流量為 16.22 億美元，與 2023 年 6 個月的 19.82 億美元相比下降了 18%。今年上半年的現金流量受到營運資金大幅增加5.11億美元的影響，這主要是由於我們墨西哥業務的應收帳款增加所致。

For capital investments, our current capital investment program exceeds $15 billion, and it's included -- and it includes investments in the Tia Maria, Los Chancas, and Michiquillay projects in Peru and in the Buenavista Zinc, El Pilar, and El Arco projects in Mexico. This capital forecast includes several infrastructure investments, including key investments to bolster the competitiveness of the El Arco project.

對於資本投資，我們目前的資本投資計劃超過 150 億美元，其中包括對秘魯 Tia Maria、Los Chancas 和 Michiquillay 項目以及墨西哥 Buenavista Zinc、El Pilar 和 El Arco 項目的投資。此資本預測包括多項基礎設施投資，其中包括用於增強 El Arco 專案競爭力的關鍵投資。

In the second quarter of this year, we spent $332 million on capital investments, which reflected a 31% increase over the figure reported in the second quarter of 2023, and represents 36% of net income this quarter. In the first half of the year, we spent $546 million on capital investments, which represent 33% of net income and reflects the impact of an 11% increase in capital expenses year-on-year.

今年第二季度，我們在資本投資上花費了 3.32 億美元，比 2023 年第二季報告的數字增加了 31%，佔本季淨利的 36%。上半年，我們的資本投資支出為 5.46 億美元，佔淨利潤的 33%，反映了資本支出年增 11% 的影響。

Since there is a description of our main capital projects in Southern Copper's press release, I'm going to focus on updating new developments for each. This past quarter, we completed ramp-up at the Buenavista Zinc concentrator, which graduated from project to operating unit status. The zinc concentrator is operating according to our expectations, producing 23,300 tons of zinc and 5,500 tons of copper today.

由於南方銅業的新聞稿中描述了我們的主要資本項目，因此我將重點關注每個項目的最新進展。上個季度，我們完成了布埃納維斯塔鋅選礦廠的產能提升，該選礦廠從專案狀態升級為營運單位狀態。鋅選礦廠按照我們的預期運行，今天生產了 23,300 噸鋅和 5,500 噸銅。

Our projections indicate that we will comply with the 2024 plan of producing 55,400 tons this year. And we expect this facility to generate an average of 90,200 tons of zinc and 20,000 tons of copper per year in the next five years.

我們的預測表明，今年我們將遵守 2024 年產量 55,400 噸的計劃。我們預計該工廠在未來五年內平均每年生產 90,200 噸鋅和 20,000 噸銅。

For the Peruvian projects, we have the Tia Maria project, which is a greenfield project located (technical difficulty). This project will use a state-of-the-art SX-EW technology with the highest international environmental standards to produce 120,000 tons of SX-EW copper cathodes per year.

對於秘魯項目，我們有 Tia Maria 項目，這是一個綠地項目，位於（技術難度）。該專案將採用國際最高環保標準的最先進SX-EW技術，年產12萬噸SX-EW陰極銅。

Southern Copper has consistently promoted the welfare of the population of the Islay province and Arequipa region. As part of these efforts, we have implemented successful social programs in education, health care, and productive development to improve the quality of life in the region.

南方銅業始終致力於促進艾雷島省和阿雷基帕地區人民的福祉。作為這些努力的一部分，我們在教育、醫療保健和生產發展方面實施了成功的社會計劃，以提高該地區的生活品質。

As of July 1 of this year, the company has restarted activities at the Tia Maria project (technical difficulty) in the province of Islay, the Arequipa region, and at the national level. We reiterate our view that Tia Maria will generate significant economic and social opportunities for the Islay province and the Arequipa region. In 2024, the company will, among other scheduled activities install a live fence as well as 1,000 [fog] catchers.

截至今年7月1日，該公司已在艾雷島省、阿雷基帕地區和國家層級重新啟動了Tia Maria計畫（技術難度）的活動。我們重申我們的觀點，蒂亞瑪麗亞將為艾雷島省和阿雷基帕地區創造重要的經濟和社會機會。到 2024 年，除其他計劃活動外，該公司還將安裝活動圍欄和 1,000 個[霧]捕集器。

Southern Copper will also roll out earth-moving work this year. All these activities will generate 370 direct jobs in 2024 for the local population. In 2025, we expect to begin mine construction, which will generate 1,100 direct jobs (technical difficulty) with workers from the Islay province. When we start operations in 2027, the project will generate 600 direct jobs and an estimate of 4,800 indirect jobs.

南方銅業今年也將進行土方工程。所有這些活動將於 2024 年為當地居民創造 370 個直接就業機會。2025 年，我們預計將開始礦山建設，這將為來自艾萊島省的工人創造 1,100 個直接就業機會（技術難度）。當我們在 2027 年開始營運時，該計畫將創造 600 個直接就業機會和估計 4,800 個間接就業機會。

Our social programs in Islay totaled $6.3 million in the last two years. Our current programs promote a reduction in the cost of agricultural production by improving productivity with cutting edge technology. Additionally, we are working to provide Internet access to 4,600 school students. On top of this, we are committed to developing health facilities, high performance schools, research centers, and roads in the Arequipa region via the work for taxes mechanism. Tia Maria will generate significant revenues for the Arequipa region from day one of its operation.

過去兩年，我們在艾雷島的社會計畫總額達 630 萬美元。我們目前的計劃透過利用尖端技術提高生產力來促進降低農業生產成本。此外，我們正在努力為 4,600 名學生提供網路存取。除此之外，我們致力於透過稅收工作機制在阿雷基帕地區發展醫療設施、高績效學校、研究中心和道路。從營運第一天起，Tia Maria 將為阿雷基帕地區帶來可觀的收入。

At current copper prices, we expect to export $17,500 million and contribute with $3,400 million in taxes and royalties during the first 20 years of operation. The company is currently reviewing its historical capital budget for Tia Maria of $1.4 billion. We will update this budget by year-end.

以目前的銅價，我們預計在營運的前 20 年中將出口 175 億美元，並貢獻 34 億美元的稅收和特許權使用費。該公司目前正在審查 Tia Maria 14 億美元的歷史資本預算。我們將在年底前更新該預算。

For Los Chancas project located in the Apurimac region in Peru, the company continues to coordinate efforts with the Peruvian authorities to eradicate illegal mining activity (technical difficulty) 40,000 meters gather additional information on the characteristics of the Los Chancas deposit.

對於位於秘魯阿普里馬克地區的Los Chancas項目，該公司繼續與秘魯當局協調努力，消除非法採礦活動（技術難度）40,000米，收集有關Los Chancas礦床特徵的更多資訊。

For the Michiquillay project in the Cajamarca region of Peru, as of June 30 of this year, total advancement on the exploration project stood at 30%. We drilled 104,000 meters on a total program of 148,000 meters, and obtained 33,991 core samples for chemical analysis. Diamond drilling is underway, which will provide data for cross-section interpretation, geological modeling, and resource evaluation.

秘魯卡哈馬卡地區Michiquillay計畫截至今年6月30日，勘探計畫總進度為30%。總計畫148,000米，鑽探104,000米，取得岩心樣本33,991個用於化學分析。鑽石鑽探正在進行中，將為剖面解釋、地質建模和資源評估提供數據。

This month, we will begin hydrogeological studies, and in August geotechnical studies will commence. We will also assess the results of metallurgical testing at the deposit in August.

本月，我們將開始水文地質研究，八月將開始岩土工程研究。我們也將評估八月礦床的冶金測試結果。

For Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance or ESG practices, we are glad to report that on August 1 of this year, the company will begin receiving eolic energy from the Fenicias wind park, which is operated by Grupo Mexico Infraestructura. This will reduce our CO2 emission by approximately 250,000 tons per year, which is equivalent to 7% of Southern Copper's carbon footprint.

對於環境、社會和企業治理或 ESG 實踐，我們很高興地報告，今年 8 月 1 日，該公司將開始從 Grupo Mexico Infraestructura 運營的 Fenicias 風電場接收風能。這將使我們每年減少約25萬噸二氧化碳排放，相當於南方銅業碳足跡的7%。

Southern Copper recently published its Sustainability Development Report, significantly improving the granularity and specificity of information regarding our performance, commitment and efforts in the environmental, social, and governance areas.

南方銅業最近發布了永續發展報告，顯著提高了有關我們在環境、社會和治理領域的績效、承諾和努力的資訊的粒度和特異性。

Our Buenavista mine in Sonora, Mexico has received the Copper Mark, The Zinc Mark, and The Molybdenum Mark certifications for responsible production following a third-party independent evaluation of our performance in environmental, social, and governance matters, including on this, human rights. Consequently, all open pit copper, zinc and molybdenum production from our Mexican operation is currently certified by Mark standards.

經過第三方對我們在環境、社會和治理事務（包括人權）方面的表現進行獨立評估後，我們位於墨西哥索諾拉的布埃納維斯塔礦山獲得了負責任生產的銅標誌、鋅標誌和鉬標誌認證。因此，我們墨西哥工廠的所有露天銅、鋅和鉬生產目前均已通過 Mark 標準認證。

For education, our IMPULSA program seeks to provide our workers in Mexico with opportunities to qualify for certification of attainment of primary and secondary education and bachelors' degrees. From 2022 to date, more than 970 people have participated in this program and 430 have graduated. At present, there are 540 workers actively participating in IMPULSA.

在教育方面，我們的 IMPULSA 計劃旨在為墨西哥的工人提供中小學教育和學士學位認證資格的機會。2022年至今，已有970餘人參加該項目，已畢業430人。目前，有540名工人積極參與IMPULSA。

For human development, the sports adviser and coach of the Sonora operations' swimming team, Jorge Iga, qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after breaking the Mexican record for the 100-meter freestyle. Thanks to Mr. Iga's support, in 2024, 17 students from our academies participated in six top-level competitions.

在人類發展方面，索諾拉運營游泳隊的體育顧問兼教練豪爾赫·伊加 (Jorge Iga) 在打破墨西哥 100 公尺自由泳紀錄後獲得了參加 2024 年巴黎奧運會的資格。在伊賀先生的支持下，2024年，我校17位學生參加了6場頂尖比賽。

Dividend announcement. Regarding dividends, as you know, it is a company policy to review our cash position, expected cash flow generation from operations, capital investment plans and other financial needs at each Board meeting to determine the appropriate quarterly dividend. Accordingly, on July 18 of this year, Southern Copper Corporation announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.60 per share of common stock and a stock dividend of 0.0056 shares of common stock per share. This is payable on August 26 of this year, 2024, to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 9, 2024.

股息公告。關於股息，如您所知，公司政策是在每次董事會會議上審查我們的現金狀況、預期營運現金流、資本投資計劃和其他財務需求，以確定適當的季度股息。據此，今年7月18日，南方銅業公司宣布季度現金股利為每股普通股0.60美元，股票股利為每股0.0056股普通股。該款項將於 2024 年 8 月 26 日支付給 2024 年 8 月 9 日營業結束時在冊的股東。

Ladies and gentlemen, with these comments, we end our presentation today. Thank you very much for joining us. Now we would like to open the forum for questions.

女士們、先生們，我們以這些評論來結束今天的演講。非常感謝您加入我們。現在我們想開放論壇供大家提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Carlos De Alba, Morgan Stanley.

卡洛斯·德阿爾巴，摩根士丹利。

Thank you very much, Raul and everyone, good talking to you. Just on Tia Maria, I would like to understand the rationale behind the new environmental approval that. or the study the company is doing or getting, trying to get from the government that would be in relation to a dam that will supply water and not pursue the original desalination planned for pumping station and pipeline.

非常感謝勞爾和大家，很高興與你們交談。就蒂亞瑪麗亞而言，我想了解新環境批准背後的理由。或該公司正在進行或正在獲得的研究，試圖從政府那裡獲得與供水大壩有關的研究，而不是進行最初計劃用於泵站和管道的海水淡化。

Given the less than positive history of the project, why would the company introduce this new uncertainty, which, honestly in my opinion, you're just going to complicate matters for the company. Potentially, but I want to clarify with you, this is because the CapEx will be lower and/or the OpEx will be lower? Can you talk about like the magnitude? If I'm correct, the magnitude of the return on investment that the company would get with a dam as opposed to a desalination plant?

鑑於該專案的歷史不太積極，公司為什麼要引入這種新的不確定性，老實說，我認為這只會讓公司的事情變得複雜。有可能，但我想向您澄清，這是因為資本支出會更低和/或營運支出會更低？能談談幅度嗎？如果我是對的，與海水淡化廠相比，該公司透過水壩獲得的投資報酬率有多大？

Or how much is the CapEx for the desalination, the pumping station and the pipeline, relative to the construction of a dam? And what is the difference in the OpEx going forward between the two projects?

或者相對於興建水壩而言，海水淡化、抽水站和管道的資本支出是多少？這兩個項目未來的營運支出有何差異？

Okay. Thank you very much for your question, Carlos. At this point, we are maintaining our approved project, which considers the desal plant. This is what we're developing right now. If there is a possibility later on in time of including a dam to get the water that the project requires, we will consider that. But at this point, we have -- we are following our current desal plan for the project.

好的。非常感謝你的提問，卡洛斯。目前，我們正在維持已批准的項目，其中考慮了海水淡化廠。這就是我們現在正在開發的。如果以後有可能建造一座水壩來獲取工程所需的水，我們會考慮這一點。但目前，我們正在遵循該項目目前的海水淡化計畫。

Regarding the costs, we're currently (technical difficulty) that has been -- as you know, we have been reporting a capital expense of about $1.4 billion for the project, but we are currently revising it because we want to add some facilities that were not considered in the first project. And we have obviously -- we need to accommodate some inflation cost in the project total CapEx.

關於成本，我們目前（技術難度）已經——如您所知，我們報告的該項目的資本支出約為 14 億美元，但我們目前正在對其進行修改，因為我們想添加一些設施，第一個項目中沒有考​​慮。顯然，我們需要在項目總資本支出中考慮一些通貨膨脹成本。

For new facilities, I mean a new road that will connect the project to the coast of Islay. Not passing through the Tambo Valley. That will remove one of the concerns that the farmers of Islay or the Valley have about the trucks and all the materials that will move on for the project construction that will disturb the Valleys environment.

對於新設施，我指的是一條將項目連接到艾雷島海岸的新道路。沒有經過坦博山谷。這將消除艾雷島或山谷的農民對在計畫建設中運輸的卡車和所有材料會擾亂山谷環境的擔憂之一。

So for avoiding that, we're considering building a new road that will -- it's a 20-kilometer road, roughly speaking, and some other changes. Since the project was approved in 2014, we have seen some technological advances that we want to include in the capital budget as well. So as we indicated in the press release, we are expecting to announce this by yearend at the most. And so that's the current status.

因此，為了避免這種情況，我們正在考慮建造一條新道路，粗略地說，這是一條 20 公里長的道路，並進行一些其他更改。自 2014 年該專案獲得批准以來，我們已經看到了一些技術進步，我們也希望將這些進步納入資本預算中。因此，正如我們在新聞稿中指出的那樣，我們預計最多會在年底前宣布這一消息。這就是目前的狀態。

Just one clarification. So you will build a road, not a railway, right?

只是一處澄清。所以你會修建一條公路，而不是鐵路，對嗎？

No, both things. The railroad will be for moving up the sulfuric acid and materials that we need to operate and down basically the production on a daily basis. However, for the construction phase and to communicate directly to the coast, will be a road that will connect the plant and the facilities for the project with the cost of OEM.

不，兩件事都有。這條鐵路將用於運送我們營運所需的硫酸和材料，並基本上減少日常生產。然而，在施工階段並直接與海岸相連，將有一條道路將工廠和項目設施連接起來，並以 OEM 成本進行。

All right. Got it. Okay. And then my second question is related to the outlook for costs before by-products. If I missed it, I'm sorry, but if you didn't mention could you please let us know how you see the evolution of your cash cost before by-product, the benefit of by-products?

好的。知道了。好的。我的第二個問題與副產品之前的成本前景有關。如果我錯過了，我很抱歉，但如果您沒有提及，您能否告訴我們您如何看待副產品之前的現金成本的演變以及副產品的好處？

Well, it's hard to know because we always have price variances either way, but I believe that we will be at about $2 per pound before subtracting credits. Please keep in mind that those $2 now include the additional cost of our new concentrator for zinc. So it's all the cost of the company, which includes the cost of the by-product plants that are related to our production complex divided by the pounds of copper that we're producing.

好吧，這很難知道，因為無論哪種方式，我們總是存在價格差異，但我相信在扣除積分之前，我們的價格約為每磅 2 美元。請記住，這 2 美元現在包括我們新的鋅濃縮器的額外成本。因此，這是公司的全部成本，其中包括與我們的生產綜合體相關的副產品工廠的成本除以我們生產的銅磅數。

So for this year, we expect it to be at about $2. And then it depends on the production level that we have. If we -- for instance, in 2027, when we add Tia Maria to our current production profile, we certainly will reduce our cost before by-product because the Tia Maria expected cash cost is in the range, in the lower range of $1-plus.

因此，我們預計今年的價格約為 2 美元。然後這取決於我們的生產水準。例如，如果我們在 2027 年將 Tia Maria 添加到我們目前的生產概況中，我們肯定會降低副產品之前的成本，因為 Tia Maria 預期的現金成本在 1 美元的較低範圍內加。

Marcio Farid, Goldman Sachs.

馬西奧·法里德，高盛。

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity. A couple of follow-ups on my side here. Firstly, how -- I think CapEx execution was a bit stronger than what we were expecting for the quarter. It's still relatively half of yearly guidance, right? But just trying to understand if investments for Tia Maria are expected to be materially higher for this year. I think you had pretty much close to 0 for Tia Maria in the guidance for this year.

大家，早安。感謝您提供的機會。我這邊有一些後續行動。首先，我認為資本支出執行情況比我們對本季的預期要強一些。這仍然是年度指導的相對一半，對吧？但只是想了解今年蒂亞瑪麗亞的投資是否預計會大幅增加。我認為今年的指導中蒂亞瑪麗亞的評分幾乎接近 0。

Are you anticipating some more disbursements related to that as investments seems to be quite remarkable at this point. And yes, how should we think about final year CapEx and for Tia Maria, specifically as well? And similarly, for production as well, I think pretty good numbers, but roughly in line with our estimates. We had, I think, guidance for the year is around 950,000 tons. How you're thinking about final year guidance and your ability to reach the production guidance for the year, please? That will be my questions.

您是否預計會有更多與此相關的支出，因為目前的投資似乎相當可觀。是的，我們該如何考慮去年的資本支出以及蒂亞瑪莉亞的具體情況？同樣，對於生產來說，我認為數字相當不錯，但大致符合我們的估計。我認為，我們今年的指導產量約為 95 萬噸。您如何看待最後一年的指導以及您達到今年生產指導的能力？這將是我的問題。

The second one is how sure do we feel about the production guidance, right?

第二個問題是我們對生產指導的掌握有多大，對吧？

Yes, yes.

是的是的。

Okay. Let me start by this one. Okay. We feel very confident that we will either maintain or improve our production guidance in the second half of this year. We are seeing our zinc new concentrator. It's certainly operating at a very good pace. We were very satisfied on that.

好的。讓我從這個開始。好的。我們非常有信心維持或改善今年下半年的生產指引。我們正在看到我們的新型鋅選礦廠。它確實以非常好的速度運行。我們對此非常滿意。

On the first half of the year, our SX-EW production at Buenavista was affected by some water scarcity that has been fixed. It's already -- we're already getting even more water than what we expect to have due to higher rainy season that we're seeing at the Sonora state. So that is going to help our production of SX-EW copper for the second half of this year. We have not included that as part of our current guidance. And I believe that there will be an upside factor for us.

今年上半年，我們在布埃納維斯塔的 SX-EW 生產受到了一些已解決的缺水問題的影響。由於索諾拉州的雨季增多，我們得到的水量已經比我們預期的還要多。因此，這將有助於我們今年下半年 SX-EW 銅的生產。我們尚未將其納入我們目前指南的一部分。我相信我們將會有一個正面的因素。

Coming to your first question on the CapEx for Tia Maria. This year, we are spending, as I say, we're doing a live live fence that will be around the expected -- the place for the new facilities for the project. And we will basically spend much less than a project of this magnitude would require. However, we believe that we could -- we will be accelerating the capital expenditures for the project through the second half of the year.

關於蒂亞瑪莉亞資本支出的第一個問題。今年，正如我所說，我們正在支出，我們正在建造一個實時圍欄，該圍欄將位於預期的位置 - 該項目新設施的位置。我們的支出基本上會比這種規模的項目所需的少得多。然而，我們相信我們可以——我們將在今年下半年加快該項目的資本支出。

And for 2025, we spend in Tia Maria about $316 million. That will be for earth-moving activities and some other items that are related to the project. I mentioned the road that we want to build. That will be obviously a very important source of new labor requirement, which is one of our priorities to use people from the Islay province and the Tambo Valley specifically.

2025 年，我們在 Tia Maria 的支出約為 3.16 億美元。這將用於土方活動和與該項目相關的一些其他項目。我提到了我們想要建造的道路。這顯然將是新勞動力需求的一個非常重要的來源，這是我們特別使用來自艾雷島和坦博谷的人員的優先事項之一。

And then for the rest of the CapEx of Tia Maria, we will advise on before yearend on this.

然後，對於 Tia Maria 的其餘資本支出，我們將在年底前就此提出建議。

Okay. Can I just a quick follow-up as well. It sounds like cost is a lot better on after by-product base. Volume is very strong. Obviously, we have -- we did not have the breakdown by each product, the full financial statements are out. But where do you think was the beat in terms of positive surprise for after by-products costs and obviously by-products production and revenues as well, please.

好的。我也可以快速跟進嗎？聽起來副產品基礎上的成本好得多。成交量非常強勁。顯然，我們沒有按每種產品細分，完整的財務報表已經出來。但是，您認為副產品成本以及副產品生產和收入的積極驚喜方面的節拍在哪裡？

Well, as I comment when we covered the cash cost portion of the presentation. We have had the benefit of both better prices and higher volumes. The new zinc concentrator, obviously was important for getting higher volumes. We have also molybdenum production coming from our mines. I think, well I mentioned already, the impact of having a much higher zinc production coming from the new -- the new zinc concentrator.

好吧，正如我在介紹簡報的現金成本部分時所評論的那樣。我們受益於更好的價格和更高的產量。顯然，新型鋅選礦機對於提高產量非常重要。我們的礦山也生產鉬。我認為，我已經提到過，新的鋅選礦廠提高鋅產量的影響。

And silver comes in higher quantities not only from our mines, but also as a by-product of the zinc concentrator. So higher volumes and better prices, that's what in my view explained the positive surprise that you were mentioning, Marcio.

大量的白銀不僅來自我們的礦山，而且還來自鋅選礦廠的副產品。因此，更高的銷量和更好的價格，在我看來，這就是你提到的積極驚喜的原因，馬西奧。

Alejandro Demichelis, Jefferies.

亞歷杭德羅·德米凱利斯，傑弗里斯。

A couple of things. First is a follow-up on your net cash cost, yes. Raul, if I'm understanding correctly what you were saying, which is higher volumes on zinc, higher volumes of silver, then we should assume that, that extra by-product revenues should be stable. Obviously, with all the variations of prices. But then your net cash cost should it kind of remain below the $1 per pound?

有幾件事。首先是對您的淨現金成本的跟進，是的。勞爾，如果我正確理解你的意思，即鋅的產量更高，銀的產量更高，那麼我們應該假設，額外的副產品收入應該是穩定的。顯然，隨著價格的變化。但是，您的淨現金成本是否應該保持在每磅 1 美元以下？

Hopefully, yes. But we have to see where the prices are going through the rest of the year. We don't know where prices are going to be in the second half of this year. But regarding volumes, I believe that we will maintain the volumes that we have been achieving year-to-date for our by-products. And as well as copper, I already mentioned on copper that we would like to improve on the forecast that we mentioned that for by-products also we should maintain the production level.

希望是的。但我們必須看看今年剩餘時間的價格走勢。我們不知道今年下半年的價格會是怎樣。但就產量而言，我相信我們將維持今年迄今已實現的副產品產量。除了銅之外，我已經在銅方面提到過，我們希望改進我們提到的副產品的預測，我們也應該保持生產水準。

Hopefully, prices will be, well the same or even better. We see a better forecast, but that's where we are now.

希望價格能維持不變甚至更好。我們看到了更好的預測，但這就是我們現在的處境。

Okay. And then it is a follow-up obviously from the last quarter. Maybe you can give us some kind of indication of how we should think about, or how you're thinking about dividends for the rest of the year? Should we assume it's like a 50-50 between cash and stock?

好的。這顯然是上個季度的後續行動。也許您可以給我們一些指示，告訴我們應該如何考慮，或者您如何考慮今年剩餘時間的股息？我們是否應該假設現金和股票之間的比例是 50:50？

I can only say that it's up to the Board to make that decision. I think that the dividend was approved, having 50% in cash and 50% in shares, it's reflecting the -- well, the new investments that we are undertaking the, Tia Maria investment as well as some payments that we have to do for next year. If you see in our balance sheet, we have almost $500 million in debt repayment that we'll have to do in April next year. So that has -- I believe that has made our Board a little bit more conservative in the cash dividend and will a way to reflect the good time that we're seeing in our market and the production levels of the company that has been joined by dividend in shares as well.

我只能說，這取決於董事會的決定。我認為股息已獲得批准，其中 50% 為現金，50% 為股票，這反映了我們正在進行的新投資、Tia Maria 投資以及我們下一步必須支付的一些款項年。如果你在我們的資產負債表中看到，我們有近 5 億美元的債務償還，我們必須在明年 4 月償還。因此，我相信這使我們的董事會在現金股息方面更加保守，並將以一種方式反映我們在市場上看到的美好時光以及加入的公司的生產水平股票股息也是如此。

Okay. And just to confirm, you said that for Tia Maria, for 2025, the CapEx expectation is about $300 million, something like that?

好的。只是為了確認一下，您說對於 Tia Maria 來說，2025 年的資本支出預期約為 3 億美元，是這樣的嗎？

$316 million, that's the current budget. However, it's under review, and we would like to accelerate our CapEx expenses in Tia Maria, but obviously with the proper activities to move on.

3.16 億美元，這是目前的預算。然而，它正在接受審查，我們希望加快蒂亞瑪麗亞的資本支出，但顯然需要繼續進行適當的活動。

Sofia Martin, GBM.

索菲亞·馬丁，GBM。

Hi. Thank you for taking my call. I was just wondering if you could share with us your copper production guidance for the next couple of years.

你好。感謝您接聽我的電話。我只是想知道您是否可以與我們分享您未來幾年的銅生產指南。

Certainly, Sofia. Okay. For 2024, I already mentioned 963,200 tons. For 2025, we will have a slight reduction in production coming from the Buenavista mine and the open pit operations of Peru. That will put us now at 921,000 tons. Then we will have an adjustment.

當然，索菲亞。好的。對於2024年，我已經提到了963,200噸。到 2025 年，我們將略微減少布埃納維斯塔礦和秘魯露天礦的產量。這將使我們現在的產量達到 921,000 噸。然後我們就會有一個調整。

All these adjustments are basically coming from lower ore grades. For 2026, we are expecting a little bit less than 900,000 tons. 2027, 960,000 and 970,000 tons. And then when we get in -- well, in 2027 and 2028, we'll be getting the benefit of the Tia Maria full production, and that will increase our production forecast to over 1 million tons by 2028.

所有這些調整基本上都來自於較低的礦石品位。我們預計 2026 年產量將略低於 90 萬噸。 2027年，分別為96萬噸和97萬噸。然後，當我們進入時——嗯，在 2027 年和 2028 年，我們將受益於 Tia Maria 的全面生產，這將使我們的產量預測到 2028 年增加到超過 100 萬噸。

Perfect.

完美的。

Yes. And for the next years, even though we haven't received the Board approval yet, we're considering an expansion of the Cuajone mine that will increase its capacity by about 1/3 of what it is right now. However, that is not included in our current capital forecast. That is something that the company is working on.

是的。在接下來的幾年裡，儘管我們尚未獲得董事會批准，但我們正在考慮擴建 Cuajone 礦場，將其產能提高到目前的約 1/3。然而，這並不包括在我們目前的資本預測中。這是該公司正在努力的事情。

Hernan Kisluk, MetLife.

埃爾南·基斯盧克，大都會人壽。

Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Following up on the previous questions about dividend and also talking about Tia Maria and the CapEx that you need going forward. Can you maybe remind us what are your capital allocation priorities? So we think that CapEx will be higher, but then thinking about the cash position, the net debt level and changes that you have been doing on the dividend front, how should we think about them going forward?

早安.感謝您回答我的問題。跟進先前有關股息的問題，並討論蒂亞瑪麗亞和您未來需要的資本支出。您能否提醒我們您的資本配置優先事項是什麼？因此，我們認為資本支出會更高，但考慮到現金頭寸、淨債務水平以及您在股息方面所做的變化，我們應該如何看待它們的未來？

Well, going forward, the company is focused as it is -- it has been mentioned in several forums as well as these conference calls. We are focusing on organic growth. We are currently developing the -- we already finished the new zinc concentrator in Buenavista. And we are focusing on the projects that the company has, which are pretty much 100% owned by the company. And currently we are moving forward with Tia Maria.

嗯，展望未來，該公司的重點是——它已在多個論壇以及這些電話會議中被提及。我們專注於有機成長。我們目前正在開發中——我們已經在布埃納維斯塔完成了新的鋅選礦廠。我們專注於公司擁有的項目，這些項目幾乎 100% 歸公司所有。目前我們正在推進蒂亞·瑪麗亞的工作。

We already finished the zinc concentrator in Mexico. We do have two other projects in Peru and one big project in Mexico, which is in Peru, the Los Chancas and Michiquillay projects and in Mexico, El Arco and El Pilar, that are two projects. And that's a part of our pipeline in mining, specific copper mining projects.

我們已經完成墨西哥的鋅選礦廠了。我們在秘魯還有另外兩個項目，在墨西哥還有一個大項目，即秘魯的 Los Chancas 和 Michiquillay 項目以及墨西哥的 El Arco 和 El Pilar 項目，這是兩個項目。這是我們採礦、特定銅礦開採專案管道的一部分。

And besides that, for the future, we're also considering the construction of metallurgical complexes, one in Peru and one in Mexico that will certainly be a way to process the long concentrate production that we have now.

除此之外，對於未來，我們也考慮建造冶金聯合體，一個在秘魯，一個在墨西哥，這肯定是處理我們現有的長精礦生產的一種方式。

And given the growth project that you have obviously going to grow the asset base, should we expect a stable net debt level for the next few years? Or will it go along with that?

考慮到您顯然要擴大資產基礎的成長項目，我們是否應該期望未來幾年的淨債務水準保持穩定？或者它會隨之而來嗎？

I'm so sorry Hernan. I'm so sorry, I couldn't hear what you said.

我很抱歉埃爾南。非常抱歉，我聽不到你說的話。

On net debt. Yes. Should we consider that it will grow together with the asset base in the next few years?

關於淨債務。是的。我們是否應該考慮它會在未來幾年與資產基礎一起成長？

For now, we are -- we have been paying our total debt. We pay about $700 million in the last five years. Next year, we have the maturity of one of our 10-year loans -- bonds that will mature for same in April, and it has a CapEx or a principal of $500 million. If we move on with projects, I believe that we will certainly touch the debt markets in the future. But at this point, we have no complete plans to do that.

目前，我們已經償還了全部債務。過去五年我們支付了約 7 億美元。明年，我們的一項 10 年期貸款（即將於 4 月到期的債券）到期，其資本支出或本金為 5 億美元。如果我們繼續開展項目，我相信我們將來肯定會觸及債務市場。但目前我們還沒有完整的計劃來做到這一點。

Alfonso Salazar, Scotiabank.

阿方索·薩拉查，豐業銀行。

Raul, two questions from my side. The first one is regarding production and sales levels. For several quarters now, we have seen that production is above shipments. So just wondering what is behind this?

勞爾，我這邊有兩個問題。第一個是關於生產和銷售水準。幾個季度以來，我們看到產量高於出貨量。所以只是想知道背後是什麼？

And if there is any reason in the long term to assume that these numbers shouldn't be the same? The second question is regarding permits for tailing dams in Mexico, which we hear that some companies that having problems to secure these permits and they have to slow down production or they are considering having to do that in the future unless they get these permits. If there is any situation like that in your case? And also, if there is any update on the water pipeline that you need for Buenavista?

從長遠來看，是否有任何理由認為這些數字不應該一樣？第二個問題是關於墨西哥尾礦壩的許可證，我們聽說一些公司在獲得這些許可證方面遇到問題，他們不得不放慢生產速度，或者他們正在考慮在未來必須這樣做，除非他們獲得這些許可證。您的情況是否也存在這樣的情況？另外，布埃納維斯塔所需的供水管是否有更新？

Okay. Well, we have -- the difference that you mentioned, Alfonso, refers to the difference between the copper contained in our mine production vis a vis the refined copper that we sell. As you know, we sell about 75% of all the copper production that we do is sold as refined copper or further process copper such as [rocks] (technical difficulty) if you see our production of copper and the sales, usually, they are slightly lower, the sales in volume compared to the production volumes that we report. That's one of the reasons why you see this over time.

好的。嗯，我們有——阿方索，你提到的差異是指我們礦山生產中所含的銅與我們銷售的精煉銅之間的差異。如您所知，我們生產的銅產量中約75% 是以精煉銅或進一步加工的銅（例如[岩石]）的形式出售（技術難度），如果您看到我們的銅產量和銷售量，通常情況下，它們是與我們報告的產量相比，銷量略低。這就是為什麼隨著時間的推移你會看到這種情況的原因之一。

And your second question, I'm so sorry, could you repeat it please?

你的第二個問題，很抱歉，你能再說一次嗎？

Yes, sure. Regarding tailing some dam permits in Mexico because you got some companies that have some problems?

是的，當然。關於在墨西哥取消一些大壩許可證的問題，因為你們的一些公司存在一些問題？

Yes. No, we haven't had any problems with that. We're currently working to have all of our tailings dams, not only operating with the safe that we need them to have in order to maintain our operations at a sound pace. But nothing to report in that regard. We are basically looking into growing the capacity of these tailing dams. And we are so far with no issues about this.

是的。不，我們對此沒有任何問題。我們目前正在努力建造所有尾礦壩，不僅要使用我們需要的安全設施來維持我們的正常運作。但在這方面沒有什麼好報告的。我們基本上正在研究提高這些尾礦壩的容量。到目前為止我們還沒有這方面的問題。

Excellent. Any update on the water pipeline for Buenavista?

出色的。布埃納維斯塔供水管有什麼更新嗎？

No, for now, it's basically as has been reported before.

不，目前來說，基本上和之前報道的一樣。

Myles Allsop, UBS.

邁爾斯·奧爾索普，瑞銀集團。

Great. Thank you very much for taking the question. Maybe a few quick questions, follow-ups. So with Tia Maria, since your activity has been picking up over the last few months, have you seen any social unrest? Clearly, that's been an issue for many years with Tia Maria. But do you feel you have more acceptance by the local community at this juncture?

偉大的。非常感謝您提出問題。也許是一些簡短的問題，後續行動。那麼蒂亞瑪麗亞（Tia Maria），由於過去幾個月你的活動增加，你是否看到任何社會動盪？顯然，這一直是蒂亞瑪麗亞多年來的一個問題。但您覺得此時此刻您是否得到了當地社區更多的認可？

Much better local acceptance to the project. Obviously, there are some people that will never change their mind. They don't like mining and they are protesting. But so far, we are seeing that the majority of this live population, which is roughly speaking, a little bit more than 50,000 people live in this province of Arequipa. Of those 50,000, we see interest in the project to move on.

當地對該項目的接受度大大提高。顯然，有些人永遠不會改變主意。他們不喜歡採礦，他們正在抗議。但到目前為止，我們看到大部分人口（粗略地說，略多於 50,000 人）居住在阿雷基帕省。在這 50,000 人中，我們看到了對該項目繼續推進的興趣。

People is registering themselves into a website that we have opened for job offers. So we're seeing a very positive development in that regard. And we will obviously -- we are making efforts to explain that the project will be environmentally safe for the people of Islay. I think is the case with our operations in the southern part of Peru, where we have no issues regarding environmental matters with the local population of Moquegua, Tacna, and Ilo.

人們正在我們為尋找工作機會而開設的網站上進行註冊。因此，我們在這方面看到了非常積極的發展。顯然，我們正在努力解釋該計畫對艾雷島人民來說是環境安全的。我認為我們在秘魯南部的業務就是這種情況，我們與莫克瓜、塔克納和伊洛當地居民在環境問題上沒有任何問題。

Yes. Okay. And then maybe going back to the capital allocation question earlier. Where does M&A fit within -- obviously organic growth is clearly the priority, but there are a few opportunities in Europe and so on at the moment. Where does that M&A kind of optionality sit within the priority of management?

是的。好的。然後也許再回到之前的資本配置問題。併購適合哪裡——顯然有機成長顯然是優先考慮的，但目前在歐洲等地有一些機會。這種併購類型的選擇性在管理階層的優先事項中處於什麼位置？

Well, the company is always open to review any opportunities that we have on the M&A -- of M&A issues. At this point, we're not looking into anything specific. We are working on organic growth. But if there is a good opportunity out there, our responsibility as management will be to analyze it and to report to our Board of Directors and ask them for a decision on that.

嗯，公司始終願意審查我們在併購問題上的任何機會。目前，我們還沒有研究任何具體內容。我們正在努力實現有機成長。但如果有一個好的機會，我們作為管理層的責任將是分析它並向我們的董事會報告並要求他們做出決定。

Is there any really like Tier 1 assets that you're interested in, like proper big 120,000-plus thousand tons? Or would you look at smaller opportunities as well?

您是否真正感興趣的類似一級資產，例如 12 萬噸以上的大型資產？或者您也會考慮較小的機會嗎？

We have made both things in the past. So the answer is yes and yes. We're -- we are looking to assets that have over 100,000 tons of copper production as long as they are a good fit with our current operations, meaning by this mainly copper and low cash costs. Then that can be assets of 100,000-plus size or smaller assets that are close to our operations as has been the case with Pilares, for instance. We have developed that deposit and is feeding our Caridad operations right now.

這兩件事我們過去都做過。所以答案是肯定的。我們正在尋找銅產量超過 10 萬噸的資產，只要它們適合我們目前的業務，這意味著主要是銅且現金成本較低。然後，這些資產可以是規模超過 100,000 的資產，也可以是靠近我們營運的較小資產，例如 Pilares 的情況。我們已經開發了該礦床，現在正在為我們的 Caridad 業務提供資金。

On certain conditions, but for smaller assets, it should most likely be relatively close to where we have our major operations. For bigger ones, that's a different story.

在某些情況下，但對於較小的資產，它很可能應該相對靠近我們主要業務的所在地。對於更大的人來說，這是一個不同的故事。

Okay. That makes sense. Maybe last question just on Mexico. Obviously, we've had the elections. And Do you think that there's -- the new government and the policy will impact your operations potentially in Mexico?

好的。這就說得通了。也許最後一個問題只是關於墨西哥。顯然，我們已經舉行了選舉。您認為新政府和政策會影響您在墨西哥的業務嗎？

Obviously, there has been kind of incremental challenges, shall we say, over the last six years. And just on that El Pilar project as well, it's never really talked about because it's so small, but is that still got all the permitting? Is it actually moving forward? Or is that still on hold? Is El Arco viable under the current administration?

顯然，在過去的六年裡，我們可以說，出現了一些漸進的挑戰。就在 El Pilar 專案上，它也從未真正被談論過，因為它太小了，但這仍然得到了所有許可嗎？它真的在前進嗎？或者說還處於擱置狀態？El Arco 在現任政府領導下是否可行？

For El Pilar, we are looking into some issues regarding the recovery of the SX-EW solution. We're working on that. For the other concern that you indicated on the question for -- with the new policies of the coming government, we have to see when they present them. At this point, we have no specific issues to comment on this.

對於 El Pilar，我們正在研究有關 SX-EW 解決方案恢復的一些問題。我們正在努力解決這個問題。對於你在這個問題上所指出的另一個擔憂——對於即將到來的政府的新政策，我們必須看看他們何時提出這些政策。目前，我們沒有具體問題對此發表評論。

Jon Brandt, HSBC.

喬恩·布蘭特，匯豐銀行。

Good morning, Raul, thanks for taking my questions. Just two really quick ones for me. Just on Tia Maria, I know you're reviewing the CapEx that you have, but I'm more curious about the timing. I believe you're looking at a potential startup in the second half of 2027. Do you see any risks that, that maybe slips into 2028? If you could just talk a little bit about the timing as you see things.

早安，勞爾，謝謝你回答我的問題。對我來說只有兩個非常快的。就蒂亞瑪麗亞而言，我知道您正在審查您的資本支出，但我更好奇的是時機。我相信您正在尋找 2027 年下半年的潛在新創公司。您認為 2028 年可能有任何風險嗎？如果您能談談您所看到的時間安排。

And then second question is you mentioned the possibility of expanding the Cuajone mine. I'm hoping you can give us a few more details around that. And if there are any other similar type sort of smaller brownfield projects that you might have at your other mines that could help boost production in the coming years?

第二個問題是你提到了擴大 Cuajone 礦的可能性。我希望您能給我們更多細節。您的其他礦山是否有任何其他類似類型的小型棕地項目可以幫助提高未來幾年的產量？

Yes. Thank you for your question, Jon. In the case of the Tia Maria current timeline, the best that we have at this point is finishing the project by the first half of 2027, initiating the ramping up and having the project stabilized and operating at full capacity by some time between the second and the third (technical difficulty)

是的。謝謝你的提問，喬恩。就Tia Maria 目前的時間表而言，我們目前最好的辦法是在2027 年上半年之前完成該項目，啟動加速項目，並在下半年和下半年之間的一段時間內穩定該項目並滿負荷運行。（技術難度）

Okay. Thank you very much. First, let me excuse ourselves for what just happened. So sorry about that. We'll go on with the Jon Brandt question -- second question on the Cuajone expansion. The idea is to increase the capacity of the Cuajone operation by about 1/3 of its current capacity. Nowadays, Cuajone can mill about 90,000 tons of minerals per day on the Cuajone concentrator.

好的。非常感謝。首先，讓我為剛剛發生的事情道歉。對此感到非常抱歉。我們將繼續討論 Jon Brandt 的問題——關於 Cuajone 擴展的第二個問題。這個想法是將 Cuajone 工廠的產能增加到目前產能的約 1/3。如今，Cuajone 選礦廠每天可研磨約 90,000 噸礦物。

It Is to build new facilities that will allow Cuajone to increase its milling capacity to 120,000 tons of material. That's basically as I say and let me stress, we're still working on that. We have not Board approval, which is important that you keep in mind. I think that I already covered the other question about on the kind of projects that we have been looking at.

其目的是建造新設施，使 Cuajone 將其研磨能力提高到 120,000 噸材料。這基本上就是我所說的，讓我強調一下，我們仍在努力解決這個問題。我們沒有獲得董事會的批准，這一點請您牢記在心。我想我已經討論了關於我們一直在關注的項目類型的另一個問題。

David (inaudible), CICC.

大衛（聽不清楚），中金公司。

Good morning, Raul and team. This is David from CICC. Just one quick question on your pricing for copper. We know that the COMEX copper price tends to have some premium over LME copper price in some time this year. And given that our customers are mainly based in Americas, so I just wonder, shall we assume that the COMEX copper price would be a better referencing index for your copper sales instead of the LME copper price in most of your contracts?

早安，勞爾和團隊。我是來自中金公司的大衛。只是一個關於銅定價的簡單問題。我們知道，今年某些時候COMEX銅價往往較LME銅價有一定溢價。鑑於我們的客戶主要位於美洲，所以我想知道，我們是否可以假設，在你們的大部分合約中，COMEX 銅價會比 LME 銅價更適合你們的銅銷售參考指數？

Okay. David, we do have most of our sales from the Mexican operations are priced using the COMEX price. For the Peruvian operations and some of the copper concentrate sales of the Mexican operations, we have to reference the LME price. And well, for now, it looks more attractive selling on the COMEX market, but that could change very quickly this year. It is, as you say, there's this arbitrage has been favoring the COMEX market due to the relatively scarcity that we're seeing in this -- in the market that prices will commence vis-a-vis the LME market.

好的。大衛，我們墨西哥業務的大部分銷售確實是使用 COMEX 價格定價的。對於秘魯業務和墨西哥業務的部分銅精礦銷售，我們必須參考LME價格。目前，COMEX 市場上的銷售看起來更具吸引力，但今年這種情況可能很快就會改變。正如您所說，這種套利一直有利於 COMEX 市場，因為我們在該市場中看到的相對稀缺性 - 在該市場中，價格將開始相對於 LME 市場。

But that's something that may vary over time. So we are, for that reason, having a portion of our sales in COMEX terms as well as the LME terms for some other portion of our sales.

但這可能會隨著時間的推移而改變。因此，基於這個原因，我們的部分銷售額以 COMEX 條款表示，而其他部分銷售則以 LME 條款表示。

Raul, I'm not showing any further questions in the queue. I will pass it back to you for final comments.

Raul，我不會在隊列中顯示任何其他問題。我會將其傳回給您以徵求最終意見。

Thank you very much, Carmen. With this, we conclude our conference call for Southern Copper.

非常感謝你，卡門。至此，我們結束了南方銅業的電話會議。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's conference. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，感謝你們參加今天的會議。您現在可以斷開連線。