Endeavour Silver Corp. (NYSE:EXK) Q1 2022 Results Conference Call May 11, 2022 1:00 PM ET
Company Participants
Trish Moran - Interim Head, IR
Dan Dickson - CEO
Conference Call Participants
Heiko Ihle - H.C. Wainwright & Co.
Joseph Reagor - Roth Capital Partners
Lucas Pipes - B. Riley Securities
Operator
Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Endeavour Silver First Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Trish Moran, Interim Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Trish Moran
Thank you, and good day, everyone. Before we get started, I would ask that you view our MD&A, the cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements and the risk factors pertaining to these statements. Our MD&A and financial statements are available on our website at edrsilver.com.
With us on today’s call we have Dan Dickson, Endeavour Silver’s CEO; Christine West, our CFO; and Don Gray, Endeavour’s Chief Operating Officer. Following Dan’s formal remarks, we will then open the call for questions.
And now, over to you, Dan.
Dan Dickson
Thanks, Trish, and welcome, everyone.
‘22 is off to a strong start. Not only was it a good quarter for our operating mines, we have been very active on building out the long-term future of the Company. First, let’s talk about operations.
Consolidated, Q1 production was up 4% year-over-year to 2 million silver equivalent ounces. This was more than enough to offset the impact of suspending our El Compas operations last August.
Guanacevi had a great quarter, driven by higher silver and gold grades. And based on where we are mining this high grade ore, it’s expected to continue in the near-term. In addition, we are purchasing ore from local miners, which is further enhancing our grades. This is also expected to continue into the second quarter.
At Bolañitos, gold grade and gold ounces produced were down in Q1 while our silver ounces and silver grades reached up significantly higher. Bolañitos production is expected to remain steady and continue to provide mine free cash flow throughout 2022. Ultimately, the first quarter puts us in great shape to achieve this year’s production guidance of between 6.7 to 7.6 million silver equivalent ounces.
As noted, consolidate production increased by 4% in the first quarter. However, revenue rose close to 67%. A lot of you listening today -- on today’s call are aware that we have opportunistically withheld metal in 2021. The bullion held at year-end had a market value of about $31 million. Spike in this quarter’s revenue is attributable to the sale of about half of that unsold bullion that we held at year-end. This bullion was sold throughout the first quarter at significantly higher prices than what we saw in December, which contributed to cash flow from operating activities of more than $22 million.