Greetings and welcome to the Q4 and Full Year 2022 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, Friday, February 24, 2023. I would now like to turn the conference over to Toby Caron, Treasurer and Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead..

Thank you, operator. Welcome to Centerra Gold's fourth quarter and full year 2022 results conference call. Please note that presentation slides are available on Centerra Gold's website to accompany each speaker's remarks. Today's call is open to all members of the investment community and media in listen-only mode.

Following the formal remarks, the operator will give the instructions for asking a question and then we will open the line to questions. Please note that all figures are in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted.

Joining me on the call today are Paul Wright, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer; Paul Chawrun, Chief Operating Officer; and Darren Millman, Chief Financial Officer.

I would like to caution everyone that certain statements made today may be forward-looking and as such, are subject to known and unknown risks which may cause our actual results to differ from those expressed or implied. Also, certain measures we will discuss today are non-GAAP measures.

Please refer to the description of non-GAAP measures in our news release and MD&A issued yesterday evening for a more detailed discussion of material assumptions, risks and uncertainties, please refer to our news release and MD&A, along with the audited financial statements and notes and all of our other filings which can be found on SEDAR, EDGAR and on the company's website at centerragold.com.

And now, I'll turn the call over to Paul..

Thanks, Toby and good morning, everyone and thank you for joining our fourth quarter and full year 2022 conference call. I'd like to start the presentation by speaking to Centerra's short-term strategy as we continue to maintain our goal of establishing a stable and strong platform for future growth.

This entails firstly obtaining all the regulatory approvals to restart operations at our Öksüt Mine. Continuing to optimize operations and exploration at the Mount Milligan Mine, advancing the Goldfield Project with initial resource estimate midyear 2023, followed by a feasibility study.

Updating our view on the Molybdenum Business Unit which future will be described as MBU, including the issuance of a pre-feasibility study detailing a potential restart of the Thompson Creek Mine and this is to be delivered in Q3 of 2023. Moving on to Slide 5. Firstly, an update on the Öksüt Mine.

In January 2023, we received notices of approval for the operating license extension for a period of 10 years as well as an enlarged grazing land permit allowing for the expansion of the mine areas. These 2 important approvals demonstrate the continued support for both the company and the Öksüt Mine.

Also in January 2023, the amended EIA was submitted for regulatory review. This remains in process with government authorities now reviewing our technical studies to support our EIA amendment.

The mercury abatement retrofit to the ADR plant is now complete and following regulatory approvals which are underway, we will be positioned to process gold at the rate of 35,000 ounces per month.

As of December 31, 2022, there were 100,000 ounces of gold stored in carbon and 200,000 ounces recoverable in the inventory on the heap leach pads and in stockpiles. Concerning the recent tragic earthquakes in Turkey, there were no injuries to our employees or contractors and fortunately, no damage to the infrastructure at the dip mine.

I will speak more to this on the next slide. Moving on to Öksüt. The company reported Q4 2022 and full year 2022 gold production of 53,000 ounces and 244,000 ounces, respectively.

There were 189,000 ounces of payable gold and 74 million pounds of copper produced by Mount Milligan in 2022 and 55,000 ounces of gold produced and sold by the Öksüt Mine in Q1 2022 prior to the shutdown of operations on March 18, 2022.

In January, we announced Mount Milligan's guidance for the year which includes gold production of 160,000 to 170,000 ounces, copper production of 60 million to 70 million pounds, gold production costs of $900 to $950 an ounce and all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis of $1,075 to $1,125 an ounce.

As mentioned earlier, the company continues to evaluate strategic options for the MBU, including a potential restart of the Thompson Creek Mine based on the continued strengthening of molybdenum prices and positive medium-term outlook. A prefeasibility detailing must restart of Thompson Creek is planned for Q3 2023.

At Goldfield, we continue our advancement of the project and completed approximately 50,000 meters of drilling in 2022 which will be incorporated in our planned initial resource estimate midyear. Moving on to Slide 6. In 2022, we had a number of ESG highlights and I won't touch on all of these.

But first, I would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the people of Turkey and particularly those who lost loved ones due to the natural disaster.

In support of the Turkish government's efforts, Centerra has mobilized an emergency response teams from the Öksüt Mine to assist Turkish state emergency preparedness authorities and regional disaster response organizations. The company continues to provide equipment and material support to the ongoing recovery activities were possible.

And we have coordinated with one of our mining contractors to support the recovery effort with equipment and supplies as well as trucks and crews and continue to assist the local authorities in providing temporary housing. Moving forward in Q4 2022, Centerra successfully completed the full rollout of the responsible gold mining principles.

This has been a consistent and committed effort from many Centerra employees, especially at our Mount Milligan and Öksüt operations. We recognize and appreciate all this hard work.

Additionally, the company continued to demonstrate that safety remains Centerra's top priority, having achieved 1 million hours of milestone without a lost time injury at the Mount Milligan Mine. I'll now pass the baton over to Paul Chawrun who will walk through Centerra's operational highlights for the third quarter..

The Thompson Creek Mine currently under care and maintenance with a restart under evaluation and a prefeasibility currently under preparation. The Endako Mine currently on care and maintenance with no medium-term plans for a restart given our focus on Thompson Creek and the Langeloth Metallurgical Facility based in Pittsburgh currently in operation.

This facility purchases and processes third-party molybdenum concentrate from mines and upgrades this into molybdenum products to be sold predominantly to the U.S. steel and chemical markets. Under Thompson Creek Metals, Langeloth was fed by the Thompson Creek and Endako mines.

This facility is also a part of our focus for the pre-feasibility assessment of a potential restart of the Thompson Creek Mine. And now I will pass on to Darren, our Chief Financial Officer, to discuss the financial highlights..

a value and per instituted gold equivalent ounces and evaluation of capital equipment outside if you refer to Note 7 of the financial segments for further detail. The all-in sustaining costs reported for the quarter was relatively high compared to the previous quarter.

This was primarily driven by lower copper production in Q4 and thus resulting in lower copper credits. Paul has explained this earlier with the ore presented to the mill in Q4 being high gold grade, low copper grade.

I would highlight also in 2022, all our operating cost metrics were either within guidance or perform better in the 2022 guidance range previously provided. Now I will be speaking to Slide 17. For the full year, Centerra produced 244,000 ounces of gold and 74 million pounds of copper.

Given the inventory levels at Öksüt tunnel restart, recent operational performance, we are well placed as we move into 2023. In Q4, we returned $23 million to shareholders in dividends and share buybacks with a total of $60 million in returns to shareholders in 2022.

And in early February, we initiated changes to the streamlined and corporate structure and reduced workforce levels at regional and corporate office with an average with an overall 20% reduction in headcount of. The company has exited 2022 with a cash balance of $532 million and over $900 million in liquidity.

Given our strong financial position, the Board has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share. Those are my closing comments. With that, I'll pass it to Paul to finish off..

Okay. No, thank you very much, Darren and Paul. At this stage, operator, I think we'll open up for questions, please..

All right. Well, thank you very much all for attending. And we look forward to speaking on our next quarterly call and enjoy your weekend. Thank you, operator..

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's call. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a good day..