McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE:MUX) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call March 1, 2024 10:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Rob McEwen - Chairman and Chief Owner
William Shaver - COO
Jeff Chan - VP, Finance
Michael Meding - VP and General Manager of McEwen Copper
Conference Call Participants
Heiko Ihle - H.C. Wainwright
Joseph Reagor - ROTH Capital
John Tumazos - John Tumazos Very Independent Research
Operator
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to McEwen Mining's Q4 and Year-End 2023 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call. Present from the company today are Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner; Perry Ing, Chief Financial Officer; William Shaver, Chief Operating Officer; Stefan Spears, Vice President, Corporate Development; Michael Meding, Vice President and General Manager of McEwen Copper; Jeff Chan, Vice President, Finance; Carmen Diges, General Counsel and Secretary.
After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] I will now turn the call over to Mr. Rob McEwen, Chief Owner. Please go ahead, sir.
Rob McEwen
Thank you, operator. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome. I'm delighted to say we had a great year. Not only did our strategy to surface value of McEwen Copper and a very large copper project, Los Azules, delivered large gains, but also our gold and silver mines increased production and met guidance and reduce their production cost per ounce closer to industry averages. In addition, our exploration efforts delivered solid gains in -- at Los Azules and that's our properties in Timmins. And all of this allowed us to report a net income of $54.7 million or $1.15 per share, versus a net loss of $81.1 million or $1.71 in 2022.
These big swings in our bottom line are largely due to our investment in McEwan Copper and its 100% ownership in our massive Los Azules property.
Prior to last October, we own more than 50% of McEwen Copper. And as a result, McEwen Mining's financials represented the consolidation of its financials with that of McEwen Copper, where we have been spending hundreds of millions of dollars, advancing the Los Azules project first to an updated preliminary economic assessment, which we released in June of last year. And now we're driving towards completing a bankable feasibility study in the first quarter of 2025.
In October of last year, we completed our third financing of McEwen Copper. And as a result of that, our ownership dropped below 50% to 48% and that led to us no longer consolidating the financials of McEwen Copper, and it generated a significant gain, which is reflected in our financials, which was the strategy from the very beginning to surface value for McEwen Mining.