Wheaton Precious Metals Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 8, 2024

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Wheaton Precious Metals 2024 Second Quarter Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer August 8, 2024 at 8 am Eastern Time.

Operator

I will now turn the conference over to Emma Murray, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for participating in today's call. I'm joined today by Randy Smallwood, Wheaton Precious Metals' President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Brown, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Haitham Hodalei, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Wes Carson, Vice President, Mining Operations. Please note that for those not currently on the webcast, a slide presentation accompanying this conference call is available in PDF format on the Presentations page of our website. Some of the commentary on today's call may contain forward looking statements, and I would direct everyone to review slide 2 of the presentation, which contains important cautionary notes regarding forward looking statements.

Speaker 1

It should be noted that all figures referred to on today's call are in U. S. Dollars unless otherwise noted. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Randy Smallwood, our President and Chief Executive Officer.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Emma, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss Wheaton's Q2 results of 2024. I am pleased to announce that our portfolio of long life low cost assets has delivered another solid quarter generating $234,000,000 in operating cash flows resulting in record cash flows of over $450,000,000 for the first half of this year. This performance underscores the effectiveness of our business model in leveraging rising commodity prices while maintaining strong margins. The company has produced over 305,000 gold equivalent ounces year to date and we are well on track to achieve our 2024 production guidance of 550,000 to 620,000 gold equivalent ounces.

Speaker 2

The company also remains very liquid with $540,000,000 in cash at our quarter end and a $2,000,000,000 undrawn revolving credit facility, which when coupled with the strength of our forecasted operating cash flows provides strong flexibility to fund all outstanding commitments as well as the capacity to acquire additional accretive mineral stream interests. Our corporate development team remains actively engaged in evaluating new opportunities and we continue to see a healthy appetite for streaming as a source of capital for the mining industry. In addition, during the quarter, we published our annual sustainability and climate change reports and we are proud to have been ranked among the top 10 in Corporate Knight's 50 Best Corporate Citizens in Canada for 2024. As the founders and architects of sustainable streaming, this accomplishment is reflective of our commitment to operating responsibly in all facets of our business. Our performance in the first half of twenty twenty four supports our belief that the strength of our organic growth profile combined with favorable commodity price trends firmly positions Wheaton as the premier choice for high quality long life precious metals exposure.

Speaker 2

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Wes Carson, our Vice President of Operations, who will provide more details on our operating results. Wes?

Speaker 3

Thanks, Randy, and good morning. Overall production in the Q2 came in higher than expected, driven by strong out performances at Salobo, Penasquito and Antamina. In the Q2 of 2024, Salobo produced 63,200 ounces of attributable gold, an increase of approximately 23% relative to the Q2 of 2023, driven primarily by higher throughput. Salobo's strong production in Q2 is attributable primarily to the continued ramp up of the Salobo III expansion and sustained overall improvements at both Salobo I and II. On June 17, Vale reported a conveyor fire at Slovo III and on July 25, they announced that plant operations at Slovo III had resumed after a 31 day repair period.

Speaker 3

Vale has maintained their copper guidance for the year and we anticipate that any impacts to Wheaton's guidance will be minimal and offset by outperformance in the first half of the year. In the Q2 of 2024 Constancia produced 450,000 ounces of attributable silver and 6,100 ounces of attributable gold, an increase of approximately 7% and a decrease of 18% respectively relative to the Q2 of 2023. The decrease in gold production was primarily the result of lower grades due to planned stripping activity in the Pampacancha pit, which commenced in the Q2 and is expected to continue through the Q3 of 2024. Hudbay has reported that mill ore feed has now reverted to the typical blend of approximately 1 third from Pampacancha and 2 thirds from Constancia, which is expected to continue throughout 2024. In the Q2 of 2024, Penasquito produced 2,300,000 ounces of attributable silver, an increase of approximately 30% relative to the Q2 of 2023, primarily due to higher throughput, partially offset by slightly lower grades.

Speaker 3

Production in the Q2 continued to focus on mining in the Chile Colorado pit, which contains higher silver, lead and zinc metal and silver grades than the main Penasquito or Penasquito pit. Grades are expected to decrease slightly in the back half of the year as mining moves back into the Penasco pit. On July 31, 2024, Ivanhoe reported that construction of Platte Reef Phase 1 concentrator was completed on schedule subsequent to the quarter. Cold conditioning has started with water being fed through the concentrator and construction of Platte Reis shaft to head heater at approximately 60% complete. An updated independent feasibility study on an optimized development plan for the acceleration of Phase 2 is planned to be completed and published in the Q4 of 2024.

Speaker 3

In addition, a preliminary economic assessment on the Phase 3 expansion is expected to be completed at the same time, with the expansion forecast to increase Platte River's processing capacity up to approximately 10,000,000 tonnes per annum. Phase 3 expansion to 10,000,000 tonnes processing capacity is expected to rank Platte Reef as one of the world's largest platinum group metal, nickel, copper and gold producers. As mentioned by Randy, with over 305,000 ounces produced year to date, the company remains well on track to achieve our annual production guidance this year. Wheaton's estimated attributable production in 2024 continues to be forecast at 325,000 to 370,000 ounces of

Speaker 4

gold, 18,500,000

Speaker 3

to 20,500,000 ounces of silver and 12,000 to 15,000 ounces of our GEOs of other metals, resulting in an overall production of approximately 550,000 to 620,000 GEOs. Production is forecast increased at an industry leading rate of approximately 40% to over 800,000 ounces by 2028, primarily due to growth from operating assets including Salobo, Antamina, Penasquito, Moises Bay and Marmara. Development projects which are in construction and or permitted including Blackwater Platte Reef, Goose, Meryl Park, Phoenix, Queretama and Santo Domingo and pre development projects including Marathon and Copper World, from which production is anticipated towards the latter end of the 5 year forecast period. From 2029 to 2,033, attributable production is forecast to average over 850,000 ounces of gold equivalent ounces annually for the 5 year period. And that concludes the operational overview.

Speaker 3

And with that, I will turn the call over to Gary.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Wes. As described by Wes, production in the 2nd quarter amounted to 147,000 GEOs, a 7% increase relative to the comparable period of the prior year, with higher production from Salobo, Zinc Ruben and Penasquito being offset by lower production from San Dimas and Constancia combined with the cessation of production from Algesterral and Minto. Sales volumes amounted to 124,000 GEOs, a 4% decrease relative to the comparable period of the prior year, primarily due to timing of sales resulting from the relative changes in ounces produced but not yet delivered or PBMD, which resulted in a reduction in sales volumes relative to Q2 2023 of over 23,000 GEOs. Strong commodity prices coupled with our solid production base resulted in revenue increasing by 13% to $299,000,000 relative to Q2 2023. Of this revenue, 61% was attributable to gold, 37% to silver, 1% to palladium and 1% to cobalt.

Speaker 4

As at June 30, 2024, approximately 128,000 GEOs were in PBND, representing approximately 2.9 months of payable production, a slight increase from the preceding 4 quarters due to relative differences in timing of sales, but within our guided range of 2 to 3 months. G and A expenses amounted to $10,000,000 for the Q2 and the company continues to anticipate that G and A will total $41,000,000 to $45,000,000 for the year, with these figures excluding share based compensation as well as donations and community investments. On June 20, 2024, Canada's Global Minimum Tax Act or GMTA received Royal Assent and as such the income from our Cayman's Island subsidiaries will be subject to a 15% minimum tax. As we previously messaged, as the global minimum tax is retroactive to January 1, 2024, the company has recorded 2 quarters' worth of global minimum tax amounting to $51,000,000 in its financial statements for the period ending June 30, 2024, with $25,000,000 relating to Q1, 2024. Going forward, the quarterly tax expense associated with GMT will be recognized in our consolidated financial statements in the appropriate reporting period.

Speaker 4

Removing the GMP associated with the Q1 twenty twenty four earnings and other smaller items, adjusted net earnings amounted to $150,000,000 with the $7,000,000 increase from the prior year due primarily to the higher gross margin, partially offset by the higher income tax expense relative to the global minimum tax. I believe it is worth pausing here to emphasize that we were able to generate higher adjusted earnings despite the implementation of a 15% global minimum tax, quite remarkable. Wheaton continued to deliver robust cash operating margins in the 2nd quarter, resulting in cash flow from operations of $234,000,000 with a $32,000,000 increase from the prior year due primarily to higher gross margins. As mentioned by Randy, the strength of our Q2 cash flows resulted in cash flows for the first half of the year of over $450,000,000 representing a new record for Wheaton. Lastly, we declared a quarterly dividend of $0.155 per share, a 3% increase from the prior year.

Speaker 4

During the quarter, Wheaton made total upfront cash payments of approximately $45,000,000 $25,000,000 of which was relative to the Mineral Park stream and $10,000,000 of which was relative to the Cangrejos stream, with the remaining $10,000,000 relating to the Mt. Todd royalty. Additionally, the company made 2 dividend payments totaling $139,000,000 and disposed of its investment in Hecla Mining Company for gross proceeds of $177,000,000 When coupled with cash generated from operating activities, our overall net cash inflows amounted to $234,000,000 in the Q2 of 2024, resulting in cash and cash equivalents at June 30 of $540,000,000 We believe this cash balance combined with the strength of our forecasted operating cash flows and the fully undrawn $2,000,000,000 revolving credit facility, which was recently extended by an additional year, positions the company exceptionally well to satisfy its funding commitments and provides us with financial flexibility to acquire additional accretive mineral stream interests. That concludes the financial summary. And with that, I will turn the call back over to Randy.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Gary.

Speaker 2

In closing, we believe Wheaton is well positioned to continue delivering value to all of our stakeholders for a number of different reasons. Firstly, by offering our shareholders exposure to our diversified portfolio of long life low cost assets that we believe has one of the best organic growth profiles in the entire mining industry. Secondly, by continuing to generate strong operating cash flows and maintaining low predictable costs, which when coupled with our leverage to increase commodity prices, result in some of the highest margins in the precious metal space. Thirdly, a pipeline of significantly de risked development projects, which further supports our impressive organic growth profile of over 40% by 2028. And lastly, our commitment to sustainability and supporting our partners and the communities in which we live and operate.

Speaker 2

So with that, I would like to open the call up for questions, operator.

Operator

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. And your first question comes from the line of Richard Hatch with Berenberg. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thanks very much. Yes, morning Randy and team and thanks for the call. Just wonder if you might help us a bit with Salobo, clearly a better quarter, which is really good to see. But just wonder if you might be able to help us a bit as we look out into 2025, 2026, you're able to give us kind of broad expectations of grade and such like? I know it's one that's kind of sometimes a bit challenging, but any kind of color there would be super helpful.

Speaker 5

That's the first one.

Speaker 2

I'll let Wes take that one off.

Speaker 3

Yes, perfect. Thanks for the question, Richard. So we are starting to see a slight drop off in grades over the next couple of years, so into 2025, 2026. But with that, we're also seeing that the ramp up of Salobo III and really an increase in throughput there. So over the next few years, we do expect a slight increase in production and we'll see that continue really as Salobo III really comes online and comes to the others.

Speaker 3

So for the rest of this year, I mean, we see that kind of flattening of the production. And then as the throughput comes up on Slope of 3, we'll see a better year next year, I think, and into the next couple of years.

Speaker 5

That's really helpful. And then just on the business development kind of piece perhaps for Randy and Hayston. Can you just talk a bit about what kind of deals you're seeing at the moment? It feels like the diversifieds have got strong balance sheets, not necessarily looking for large sort of ticket sort of transactions at this point, but maybe as we go into the next sort of copper cycle, that opportunity might present itself. But just you're looking down the list of your current BD opportunities, are we still kind of mainly focusing on those gold producers and such like in the mid sort of few $100,000,000 ranges?

Speaker 5

Or are we seeing something a bit more large scale and such like? It would be helpful. Thanks.

Speaker 2

I'll let Heath and Matt answer that one.

Speaker 6

Thanks for the question, Richard. To put it simply, we've got a number of opportunities that we're actually advancing through the due diligence phase right now. I would say development stage funding is still the focus, although we are seeing a resurgence in some balance sheet strengthening opportunities. Majority of the opportunities we're seeing, it's probably fifty-fifty between polymetallic opportunities, which have a precious metal byproduct and actually precious metals companies that have very, very strong margins that are looking for continued growth. So it's a very robust market.

Speaker 6

I would say the majority of the opportunities fall somewhere between $100,000,000 to $700,000,000 in that range, with a couple of those being north of 500.

Speaker 2

Yes. I would say just to add to that, the deal size, the opportunity size seems to be a little bit bigger than what we've seen in say the last year. It seems to be a little bit more of an appetite and a lot of these projects are actually a lot closer to the production construction stage and production. So I think overall, it actually looks a little bit healthier, but it's still very busy on that front.

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Martin Fradier with Veritas Investment Research. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Thank you. If gold production in second half is similar to first half, you would hit at least the middle of your guidance range for gold and exceed the upper end of the guidance for silver. So the question is, is gold production expected to be weaker or stronger in the second half versus the first half? And in terms of silver production, if you expect a weaker second half versus first half?

Speaker 2

I'll let Wes add some color to that.

Speaker 3

Sure. So right now, Martin, we're looking at probably a split of about 52% in the first half of the year and 48% in the second half of the year on an overall basis. We are expecting a weakening in the gold production at Salobo with some of the impact from the fire and really just a lower grade particularly in the Q4. And then we are as mentioned on Penasquito on the silverside seeing that drop as they move back into the Penasquito pit. So overall, as I said about that kind of $52,000,000 $48,000,000 is about what we're expecting for the rest of this year.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. And in terms of Salobo, is the impact of the fire expected to be around 10,000 ounces in terms of production?

Speaker 3

It will be in that range, I would say. We're hoping lower than that certainly because they did get things back up and running fairly quickly. It wasn't one of the major conveyors and really just affected the 3rd line. So Slovo 12 were running through that period. And also during that period, they had some planned maintenance shutdowns during that period as well.

Speaker 3

So we haven't seen the full results of it yet, but that's in the range, hopefully slightly better than that.

Speaker 2

I think it might be worth just talking about the fact that Slobo outperformed a bit in the first half of this year. And I think that fire probably consumed up some of that outperformance. And so from an overall annual basis, it's probably net neutral. But that outperformance, as I said, was probably eaten up a little bit by the impact of the fire.

Speaker 7

Great. Thank

Speaker 6

you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Tanya Jakusconek with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Good. It's me. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Just wanted to come back just on the guidance.

Speaker 8

Thank you for the $52,000,000 But with all these little moving parts in the second half, just want to confirm, I think previously we were looking for fairly even Q3 equal to Q4. Should that is that something how we should be thinking about given the fire and some of the other grade movements?

Speaker 2

Go ahead, Wes.

Speaker 3

Yes. I would say that that is correct. It will be fairly even. I mean, there's a lot of moving parts, as you say, between the quarters there, but it is fairly even between Q3 and Q4.

Speaker 2

I think the impacts of the fire are going to Q3 and then we have definitely lower grades scheduled into Q4. And so it's probably going to split up pretty evenly there at this level.

Speaker 8

Okay. Thank you for that. And I just wanted to ask Gary, the DD and A forecast for the year, usually we get that in August in terms of depreciation. And sorry, maybe in your information provided there, we just had a number of companies report last night.

Speaker 4

Sorry, the question was with respect to what we expect G and A to be?

Operator

No, depreciation. No, depreciation. Depreciation. G and A. Depreciation.

Speaker 8

Appreciation.

Speaker 4

Yes. I mean, Tanya, we provide asset by asset depletion numbers in the MD and A, I would suggest looking at what we depleted for Q2 as an indication of what our per ounce depletion will be by asset.

Speaker 8

Okay. All right. So Q2 is a benchmark going forward. Thank you for that. And then can I just ask, Pason, just coming back to you on these transactions and opportunities that are out there and interesting that we have the 100 to 700 and a couple over 500,000,000 and you mentioned in sort of the development stage or early construction?

Speaker 8

How does platinum palladium fit in right now given their weak prices? Are those opportunities you're looking at in addition to the gold side, gold silver?

Speaker 6

I would say even on you're right, PGMs, given where PGMs prices have gone, there's probably a few opportunities in there that we're also looking at. I would say that we're still looking at the gold components of the PGM typically. If we're looking at anything else outside of the gold, it's maybe it's platinum and only to top up if they need more capital than the gold could provide them. But we're seeing not just the PJM opportunities, but obviously we're seeing some gold opportunities. People trying to capitalize on the strong commodity price to try and get some additional funding.

Speaker 8

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. And then where would the corporate transaction fit in as you look at the space?

Speaker 6

So we'll always consider looking at our peers and seeing if and when it makes sense for us to actually make any type of corporate transaction. I will say that at this point in time, it doesn't make sense to pay a premium on a multiple when I can still purchase streams at or below net asset value.

Speaker 8

Yes. No, I agree. And just as you look at the environment, I mean, I always hear everyone say there's so much out there, there's so much out there. Maybe just give us an idea from like a timing perspective because this is that I've heard so many comments on this, so many deals out there. Like how long does do these deals take to actually do like from the time you actually say, okay, we're working on something to actually do your due diligence.

Speaker 8

I know it's moment by moment each one has a different timeframe, but just so that we can understand from the moment you're saying you're seeing so much to actually completing some of these things, so that we can kind of understand the process? Thank you.

Speaker 6

Sure, Tay. I'm happy to answer that as well. So generally speaking, it's an opportunity. It depends on whether we're being proactive or reactive. Most of the time, we're proactive going out there looking at opportunities.

Speaker 6

Probably I'd say 20% or 30% of the time right now we're being reactive to opportunities coming in the door. Once an opportunity comes in the door, it takes us usually a couple of weeks to actually do our 1st pass mulch, just to see if it actually makes sense to put a stream on it. If we do that and we find that the asset can actually handle the margins are solid, the asset can handle the stream, we'll do a deep dive and that usually takes another couple of weeks. We'll somewhere along the way, we'll put out an indication of value. We will assuming the indication of value is interesting to the counterparty, Then we'll head to site.

Speaker 6

At the same time, we'll start working on term sheets. And once we typically conclude term sheets, we look to exclusivity. Once that exclusivity is attained, usually takes about another 4 weeks to get the defenders in place. So you're talking, we're start to finish anywhere from, I'd say, 6 to 8 weeks is a typical timeline for a stream.

Speaker 8

Okay. Thank you for that. I actually thought it was longer, but thank you for that.

Speaker 2

Sometimes it takes longer, but usually it has to do with database issues and stuff like that. It's always a matter of having to make sure that we're getting good information in when we're assessing these projects. And so sometimes that does drag on a bit.

Speaker 8

Okay. It's about 2 months would be something that we should kind of think about.

Speaker 6

Yes. I mean if you ask our lawyers, they'd rather we said 3, but we've done it in 4 weeks and it's taken as long as 3 months. So yes, it's probably a good average.

Speaker 8

Okay. Thank you for the color.

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Ralph Profiti with 8 Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Thanks, operator. Just one question from me. I did see some rephrasing of the Santo Domingo upfront payment that came with the updated feasibility study. And I'm just wondering where does that upfront stream payment rank in sort of the project capital spending? Is it sort of pari passu with the project financing or is it on project sanctioning?

Speaker 4

Just wondering how that works?

Speaker 2

That money goes in ahead of debt. And so it's in the earlier part of the construction phase. They have to commence construction and move forward, but it does go into the ground before any project debt goes gets applied to it.

Speaker 6

Well, that being said, we have to make sure that they have to ensure that the full funding package is in place and arranged before we would actually provide any capital.

Speaker 4

Understood. Got you. Thanks for that. Appreciate it. Thanks, Randy.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Haitham.

Speaker 7

Yes.

Speaker 2

Well, thank you everyone for your time today. We are pleased to have reported a strong first half of the year. We can try quality portfolio of assets, sector leading growth profile and commitment to sustainability provides all of our shareholders, all of our stakeholders with a solid outlook for the future and what we believe to be one of the best vehicles for investing into the gold and precious metals space. And as we celebrate our 20th anniversary throughout 2024, I am sincerely thankful to all of our stakeholders for being part of Wheaton's success and I look forward to a golden future together. We look forward to speaking with you all again soon.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, presenters. And this concludes this conference call for today. Thank you for participating. Please disconnect your lines.

Powered by Quartr
Earnings Conference Call
Wheaton Precious Metals Q2 2024
00:00 / 00:00