SilverCrest Metals Inc. (NYSE:SILV) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call November 9, 2023 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Eric Fier - CEO
Chris Ritchie - President
Pierre Beaudoin - COO
Conference Call Participants
Eric Winmill - Scotiabank
Garrett Goggin - Stansberry Research
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to SilverCrest reports Second Quarter (sic) [Third Quarter] 2023 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Thursday, November 09, 2023.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Eric Fier. Please go ahead, sir.
Eric Fier
Thank you, operator. Good morning, everybody and thanks for joining. Today, we will be providing commentary on our Q3 2023 results. After which, we will be happy to take questions. The slide deck we will be referring to is available on our website at silvercrestmetals.com under the Investors tab.
Before I get started, I would like to direct you to the forward-looking statements on Slide 2. All figures discussed this morning are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated. All of the ounce and per ounce references discussed will be based on silver equivalent ounces sold unless otherwise specified. Our silver equivalent reference are based on a gold per silver ration at 79.51:1.
On the call with me today is Chris Ritchie, President; and Pierre Beaudoin, Chief Operating Officer.
Starting on Slide 3, Q3 marked another successful quarter for Las Chispas, and we remain on target to meet our 2023 sales and cost guidance. Our strong operating margins continued to substantial free cash flow in the quarter. Las Chispas continues to perform well with gold sales of 14,500 ounces of gold and silver sales of 1.53 million ounces. Silver equivalent sales totaled 2.68 million ounces, bringing year-to-date sales to 7.69 million ounces, positioning us well to meet our annual guidance of 9.8 million to 10.2 million ounces.
All-in sustaining costs in the quarter were better than expected and compares favorability to the annual guidance. Pierre will discuss the factors that led to this in his portion of this presentation. We remain debt-free and our total treasury assets increased by nearly 40% from Q2 to $81.7 million. Our financial strength and resilience are unique attributes that deserve attention in the market where accessing capital is both difficult and expensive. Our robust free cash flow and healthy balance sheet provide us with significant capital allocation flexibility, which we used in the quarter to optimistically explore, buy back shares, and increase our bullion holdings.