Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 23, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Siren Fisekci - Vice President of Investor Relations

Michael Steinmann - President & Chief Executive Officer

Sean McAleer - Senior Vice President & Managing Director of Guatemala

Steve Busby - Chief Operating Officer

Conference Call Participants

Craig Hutchison - TD Securities

John Tumazos - John Tumazos Very Independent Research

Operator

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Pan American Silver Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2022 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the conference over to Siren Fisekci, VP, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Ms. Fisekci.

Siren Fisekci

Thank you for joining us today to discuss Pan American Silver's Q4 2022 results. This call includes forward-looking statements and information and makes reference to non-GAAP measures. Please see the cautionary statements in our MD&A for the period ended December 31, 2022 and news release and the presentation slides for our call today, all of which are available on our website.

I'll now turn the call over to Michael Steinmann, Pan American's President and CEO.

Michael Steinmann

Thank you for joining our call today. I'm looking forward to discussing with you the major event of 2022 which is our transaction to acquire the Latin American assets of Yamana Gold. Shareholders of both Pan American and Yamana overwhelmingly approved the transaction in January and we expect it to close some time this quarter.

But first, let's recap Pan American's 2022 results. Pan American produced 18.5 million ounces of silver and 552,500 ounces of gold in 2022. Silver production came in at the top end of the revised range we issued in November, while gold production was in line with our original operating outlook.

Gold production in the fourth quarter was the second highest on record, driven by back-end loaded production from Shahuindo and La Arena as we had expected and communicated. Both silver and gold production were impacted by reserve grade shortfalls in Phase 9b of the open pit at the Dolores mine while silver production was further impacted by mine sequencing into lower silver grade stopes at La Colorada in the second half of 2022.

Ventilation conditions in the La Colorada underground mine improved in the second half of 2022 following the installation of 2 booster fans and the commissioning of a refrigeration plant. We expect to complete sinking of the new concrete line shaft late this year and equip the shaft with ventilation fans during 2024 which will further improve access to the higher-grade zones of the La Colorada vein deposit.