Hecla Mining Co/De/ Q1 FY2021 Earnings Call

Good day, and thank you for joining us. Welcome to the Hecla Mining Company Q1 2021 Earnings Conference Call. All participants are currently in listen-only mode. There will be a question-and-answer session following the presentation. I would now like to introduce your speaker for today, Anvita Patil. You may begin.

Thank you, operator. And welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Hecla’s first quarter 2021 Financial and Operations Results Conference Call. This is Anvita Patil, Hecla’s Assistant Treasurer. Our financial results news release that was issued this morning, along with today’s presentation, are available on Hecla’s website. On today’s call, we have Phil Baker, Hecla’s President and CEO; Lauren Roberts, Hecla’s Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Russell Lawlar, Hecla’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Any forward-looking statements made today by the management team come under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and involve risks as shown on slides two and three, in our earnings release and in our 10-Q and 10-K filings with the SEC. These and other risks could cause results to differ from what is projected in the forward-looking statements. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures cited in this call and related slides are also found in those documents. With that, I will pass the call to Phil Baker.

Thanks, Anvita. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our call. We had a very strong first quarter, demonstrating excellent operational and financial performance. Our quarterly adjusted EBITDA reached a record for the Company, exceeding our previous high by $12 million. We achieved the highest cash gross margin and the second highest revenues in our 130-year history, driven primarily by strong production and cost performance across all of our operations. At Greens Creek, we’re reducing our cash cost and all-in sustaining cash cost guidance for the year, and Lauren will elaborate on that shortly. The fundamentals of our balance sheet reflect several consecutive quarters of improving performance by Hecla, putting our balance sheet in excellent condition. It's worth noting that our first quarter typically ranks among our lowest cash flow quarters. Over the past 30 years, around 20 of those quarters were the lowest, and when they weren't, they were usually the second lowest. Considering our operating plans and the expected reversal of the working capital buildup, we anticipate significant free cash flow generation for the rest of the year. Although the first quarter was strong, we believe the remainder of the year will be even better. Consequently, the Board has announced an increase to our dividend policy. Our silver-linked dividend payment occurring at $25 will rise by 50% to $0.03 per share annually, which Russell will discuss further. We are returning approximately 28% of our free cash flow in the first quarter to shareholders. As silver prices rise, shareholders will have the opportunity to benefit from additional free cash flow generation. Our operating performance was also very strong, and despite this success, we maintained a low all-in frequency rate of about 1.71 for the first quarter. Additionally, our sustainability report, which will be released in May alongside the annual meeting, highlights our ESG performance. The title of the report reflects our focus on having a small environmental footprint while providing significant benefits, as our underground mines have an exceptionally small footprint and are mainly powered by alternative energy sources. This has resulted in some of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per ounce in the industry. We are committed to policies and actions that make Hecla a uniquely positive ESG investment, and we will emphasize this at the annual meeting. We will also update our exploration efforts at the annual meeting, but for now, we will hold off on that. I can say we have achieved some of the best drilling results in the Company's history, and as you will see in a few weeks, we are just getting started on some of these programs, which have the potential to be highly beneficial. I look forward to the rest of the year, and with that, I will pass the call to Russell.

Thanks, Phil. Turning to slide six. Hecla continued to strengthen its balance sheet as we ended the first quarter with $140 million in cash aided by record margins from higher prices and strong operating performance. With cash almost doubled since the second quarter 2020 from consecutive quarters of strong free cash flow, we delivered a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 1.4 times, well below our target of two times, while providing the liquidity position at $390 million. Looking at slide seven, our realized silver margins have continued to increase as costs stay low and silver prices increase with every dollar in margin, translating to free cash flow. If you look at the gold portion of the bar, you see that our margin this quarter was about double the second and fourth quarter of last year, and about 50% more than the third quarter. And it gets only partially reflected in our free cash flow, because of working capital changes. First quarter free cash flow was $16.5 million after negative working capital changes of $29.3 million using interest payments of $18.4 million and the timing of incentive compensation payments related to 2020 performance and higher accounts receivables from timing of concentration. But maybe more important is the trailing 12 months free cash flow of $121 million. We see the future 12 months having the same or better free cash flow with current prices. Moving to slide eight with the growth anticipating our free cash flow over the remainder of the year, the Board has approved an increase to our silver-linked dividends of $0.01 per share. This equates to a 50% increase in the dividend rate at the $25 per ounce threshold to $0.03 per year. This increase to the silver-linked dividend reflects our confidence in Hecla’s free cash flow generation. At $25 per ounce realized price, the enhanced dividend policy has an implied yield of 7.4% tied to the silver price. The return from this dividend policy, which is tied to the price of silver, distinguishes Hecla from investing in an ETF or the metal, and is unique for the industry. Continued strong operational performance and higher silver pricing drive our 2021 free cash flow expectations, which should continue to grow from our first quarter performance. With that, I’ll turn the call to Lauren to go through our operations.

Thanks, Russell. I’ll start on slide 10. First and foremost is our focus on safety. Our teams continue their exemplary safety performance, and our all-in injury frequency rate in the first quarter was 1.71, which is a reduction of 72% since implementing a revised safety and health management system in 2012. Our operations teams have done an outstanding job of improving this aspect of the business. While we are a little higher than our 2020 full year results, we are focused on reducing it further. On slide 11, at the Greens Creek mine, we produced 2.6 million ounces of silver and 13,200 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $1.59 per ounce for the quarter. We’re lowering the cash cost and all-in sustaining costs guidance due to higher byproduct credits, more favorable smelter terms, lower treatment charges, and the reclassification of mine license tax to income tax. While smelter terms will be better for all of 2021, in the first quarter, we realized another benefit due to a customer meeting prior purchase obligations. This benefit will not recur later in the year. With these changes, updated cash cost guidance for Greens Creek is lowered to $1.50 to $2.25 per ounce and all-in sustaining cash costs are lowered to $6.50 to $7.25 per ounce. Greens Creek’s consistent delivery and low cost combined with high silver prices generates very strong free cash flow. Moving to slide 12, the Lucky Friday achieved full production in the fourth quarter of 2020 and produced 0.9 million ounces of silver in the first quarter of 2021. Production at the mine is expected to exceed 3.4 million ounces this year. We anticipate the grades to improve as we mine deeper, increasing the projected production to around 5 million ounces annually by 2023. No significant planned outlay of capital is required to achieve these goals. In addition, we are testing and optimizing various mining method changes and other initiatives to improve safety while increasing productivity of the mine. We’ve made no change to our outlook at the Lucky Friday. Unlike Greens Creek, the Lucky Friday produces a relatively small amount of zinc. The dramatic improvement in zinc concentrate treatment charges as compared to last year therefore has less impact. At the Casa Berardi mine, shown on slide 13, we had a strong first quarter with production of 36,200 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,272 per ounce. Our investments in the mill to improve reliability and recovery are yielding great results. And the mill has maintained greater than 90% availability since October of 2020. Our business improvement activities will continue in 2021 and are expected to reduce costs further and to increase cash flow generation from the mine. Our ongoing focus to improve productivity and to reduce costs are underpinned by multiple factors, and we’re starting to see a downward trend in AISC. All these efforts together with others in the pipeline are positioning Casa Berardi to deliver consistent production at lower costs. Our 2021 guidance for Casa Berardi remains unchanged and production is expected to exceed 125,000 ounces at all-in sustaining costs of $1,185 to $1,275 per ounce. Moving to slide 14, at the Nevada Operations, we produced about 2,500 ounces of gold from a stockpiled bulk sample of refractory ore that was processed at a third-party roaster. For the rest of the year, production is expected to be in the range of 17,000 to 19,000 ounces of gold, from the processing of oxide ore at the Midas mill and an additional 22,000 tons of refractory ore through third party facilities. Roughly 12,000 tons will be sent to a roaster and about 10,000 tons to an autoclave. We expect the Fire Creek mine and the Midas mill will be placed on care and maintenance by the end of the second quarter. We remain very excited about our Nevada properties. In addition to the exploration spend in Nevada, we’ll be investing another $5 million in pre-development activities this year at Hollister to access the Hatter Graben. With that, I will return the call to Phil.

Thank you, Lauren. Let’s move to slide 16, which outlines our consolidated production guidance for 2021 through 2023. At this time, there are no changes to that guidance. Let’s concentrate on the cost outlook presented on the slide. We’ve notably reduced our silver cost outlook, largely due to byproduct credits and lower treatment charges at Greens Creek, as Lauren mentioned. This updated guidance adds approximately $3 per ounce to our expected margin. At current prices, we anticipate generating around $10 per ounce in free cash flow specifically from our silver operations. Additionally, thanks to the stability of our operations at Greens Creek and Lucky Friday reaching full production, along with the increased grade at Lucky Friday, our U.S. silver production is projected to hit about 15 million ounces by 2023, which is double our output from 2018. Before we open the lines for questions, I would like to discuss silver in greater depth, more than we have in previous calls. If you look at slide 17, it's important to acknowledge that this is a unique moment for silver. The decline in photographic demand, which has constrained total demand over the past two decades, is now behind us. Industrial demand has been growing at a rate of 2% per year over the last ten years and is expected to continue, bolstered by factors similar to those driving copper, particularly the ongoing energy transition. Industrial demand has remained robust for the last 20 years and appears set to strengthen further given current fiscal and monetary policies. Moreover, miners are facing significant challenges in reversing a five-year decline in mined silver production. We are producing 110 million ounces less than the peak in 2016. Returning to previous production levels will be challenging. If industrial demand continues to grow at the same rate as the last decade, we anticipate that the world will need an additional 70 million ounces of silver annually. While this may not seem considerable at first glance—making up only 7% of the current market—meeting this demand would require the addition of seven new mines each the size of Greens Creek, the largest silver mine in the U.S., or a substantial increase in production from existing producers. This situation suggests that even if all companies in the industry aim to grow their silver production, achieving an output equivalent to seven Greens Creek mines seems unlikely. However, if such production does occur, it may be in riskier regions. We believe the market is well-positioned for a significant shift in silver dynamics over the next decade. This upcoming shift may not resemble traditional silver squeezes anticipated by investors, but nonetheless, demand is already outpacing supply and will likely continue along this trajectory. As a consequence, prices will rise, with the shortfall being supplemented by above-ground stocks. Reflecting on 2020, when both ETF and coin demand surged, prices increased by 50% above the average silver price of 2018 and 2019. So, as we consider the projected low and high silver prices over the upcoming decade, we expect to see higher lows, with prices unlikely to drop significantly below $18 to $20 per ounce. As for the highs, there’s no reason silver shouldn't follow the trend of gold and copper, both of which have either reached or neared their all-time highs. Thus, a price of $50 per ounce for silver is quite plausible. Lastly, I encourage you to think of silver as the precious copper or industrial gold. This comparison stems from silver's unique position: it shares applications with copper but, unlike copper, is also an investable commodity with various investment vehicles available. In contrast to gold, only about 20% of silver demand is for investment, while gold sees about 10% of its demand stemming from industrial uses. Thus, view silver as precious copper or industrial gold. Hecla is uniquely positioned as the largest silver producer in the U.S., accounting for a third of all domestic silver production, and we are witnessing growth in our output. As the oldest silver mining company, we have a track record of outperforming others in the sector when silver prices rise, a trend we anticipate will continue over the next decade. With that said, I’d like to open the lines for questions.

We have a question from Heiko Ihle with H.C. Wainwright.

Phil, congratulations on the silver-linked dividend increase and the terrific day in the market for your shareholders, and I assume yourself as well. Two quick ones from me. The slightly lower silver grades at Greens Creek due to normal variations in the orebody, as you put it. It seems like the year as a whole will still be pretty unchanged. But, do you anticipate the same trend in Q2 by the second half to be better, or is there already improvement in the current quarter? I mean, we’re essentially halfway through it.

Well, look, the guidance we gave on production is unchanged. And so, we’ll have variations quarter-to-quarter. That’s one of the things I have discovered after 20 years of being associated with Greens Creek is quarterly fluctuations can be quite high. But, almost every year, it has met either its tonnage or its grade guidance or goals, and obviously this year isn’t any different. Lauren, let me ask you to give a little more color.

So, we mined from a multiple zone array at Greens Creek. Consequently, the grade delivered to the mill can vary by where we happen to move mining at any point in time. And of course, we build a plan for the year. And we typically achieve the plan for the year. But, internal to the year, we may make adjustments in the mining sequence. And that’s why you see the variability that Phil spoke of. And there’s also some natural variability in the orebody that is a very consistent, very reliable orebody. And I would say, on average, it delivers us a bit more metal than we expect. So, I see no reason for things to look different for the full year, Heiko.

You mentioned the treatment charges. Can you just sort of walk us through what you’re seeing sort of impact wise in Q2, so far, please?

Well, Q1 had an unusual situation in that we had a customer that fulfilled obligations that really went back to 2019. And the treatment charges were significantly lower in 2019 and 2020. We had that big jump up. And then, 2021, we had a reduction. So, we had about a $4 million benefit in Q1 that’s not going to be repeated. So, that’s why you don’t see costs even lower. Russell, do you want to add to that?

Yes. Just to add to what Phil had said is that we had a non-recurring benefit of about $4 million in Q1 at Greens Creek. And then, for the rest of the year, the treatment charges at this point had been set. So, we should see some relative stability in those treatment charges, based on our shipments.

And do you recall what the differences in the zinc treatment charges from 2020 to 2021?

Close to $150 a ton. Not quite, but pretty close. So, it almost got cut in half.

Yes. And remember that the zinc and the lead treatment charges for 2021 were not set until April?

Yes. Last month or so.

And then, just one quick clarification, your provision for closed operations and environmental matters, you were at $3.2 million, so this is due to an increase at historic. Is that a one-time thing or is there any recurring cash?

We would expect that this reflects the obligation that we will have at that property? It’s an old Ranchers Exploration property, uranium property. And we think this will fully cover the obligation. But you never know. But, do not anticipate it recurring.

Our next question comes from the line of Trevor Turnbull with Scotiabank.

Thank you. Phil, I have another question regarding silver at Greens Creek, but from a longer-term perspective. We've observed that the reserve grades for silver have remained relatively stable over the past few years as you have updated them. However, the head grades you have been mining over the last few quarters and years have progressively increased and are significantly higher than the reserve grades. Can you provide your insights on how you anticipate this will develop in terms of a reversion to the mean? When do you expect the silver grades to align more closely with the reserve grade in your sequencing plans?

Sure. About three years ago, we introduced a new mine plan designed to allow us to extract higher grades, and that’s exactly what has happened. We anticipate that the grades will decline over time, and like any competent miner, we will prioritize mining the highest grades first. Nevertheless, to maintain our production at around 10 million ounces, our focus will be on increasing the throughput. Initially, when we began operating, we were at 1,850 tons per day. We are currently at 2,300 tons per day and have maintained that for nearly five years. Our challenge will be to enhance the throughput through the mine, particularly since a significant amount of material comes from long hole stopes, and we plan to shift to cut and fill methods. This will pose challenges, but the culture at the Greens Creek operation has always been about improving the mine, and I am confident we can sustain our production levels even as the grades decline. Lauren, do you have anything to add?

I would just add that we have plenty of time to work on this issue. The decline or the reversion to something more like the reserve mean is a number of years out. And of course, we continue to grow there. So, we may have some exploration success that is helpful. But, we’ll plan as if the grade reverts at some point. And in order to compensate for that, we’ll be looking to increase throughput. And we’ll also put some effort into looking at recovery and some of the satellite zones, which can be a bit lower. So, we’ll work on both of those things. We’ve got a number of years to work on it. The good news is, we’ve just completed some detailed review of the mill grinding circuit in the mill, which is typically the limiting factor, and we’re in really good shape on the grinding circuit.

So, you mentioned recovery, and it is interesting also to look at the recovery improvements that have happened over the course of the last decade. I want to say, it’s 10 recovery points...

Yes, it’s insignificant.

And we’re still only at 78% recovery, with 80% recovery being that...

In that range.

No, I appreciate that. And it’s good to know you’ve got some runway at these grades and certainly time to keep the continuous improvement going to Greens, which we have been noticing. So, I appreciate that. Thanks, guys.

Thanks, Trevor.

The next question comes from the line of Lucas Pipes with B. Riley.

Good morning, everyone, and I’d like to extend my congratulations on a very strong start to the year. My first question is about Lucky Friday. To provide some context, there are many developments occurring at the moment, particularly regarding mining methods. Could you please elaborate on the changes that have taken place on the ground and how that transition is progressing? Thank you.

The main challenge at Lucky Friday is seismicity, which causes about 20% of our stopes to be unavailable roughly 20% of the time. We are exploring two solutions: a drill and blast method and a remote vein miner. We are currently testing the drill and blast approach. This method involves larger blasts designed to induce seismicity over a wider area of the mine, rather than drilling in a more limited, incremental manner. Although it's still early in the process and we face many challenges, we are making progress as planned. If we can effectively resolve the issues with seismicity that limit stopes' availability, there is significant upside potential. We anticipate that in 2022, we could begin testing the remote vein miner, regardless of the method, we are committed to improving mine throughput. Our infrastructure suggests we could potentially increase production by about 50%, so we are optimistic about finding a way to better manage seismicity. Lauren, do you have anything to add?

I think it’s all about the seismicity and getting the heading availability up. And this work began as a means to improve the safety performance in the mine and the management of seismicity. In the course of pursuing that work, a typical blast at the Lucky Friday, under the previous mining method, it’s a round-by-round thing, which maybe is a few hundred pounds of explosives at a time. And we’ve been doing some big de-stress rounds to relieve the seismicity sort of tens of thousands of pounds of explosives at a time. And what we observed is that it generated some positive effect in terms of delivery of broken ore to the mill. So, we’re capitalizing on that as a potential means to improve productivity and production both. And that’s the path that we’re moving down now. I still say there’s much to be done in terms of experimentation and refinement of the method, but the early results are quite promising.

And Lucas, the other thing I’ll add is that seismicity is not a new issue for the Lucky Friday. You go back to 87, 88, there was a change in the mining method to deal with seismicity then. So, this is an ongoing issue that this mine has had. And I suspect 30 years from now, 40 years from now, somebody else will say, we can improve the mining method in some fashion and deal with seismicity.

Very much in evolution.

Thank you for the helpful overview. I wish you the best of luck as you work to enhance the efficiency, safety, and output of this appealing operation in the long term. I appreciate that. My second question is regarding Montana. There were some comments in the release, and I'd like to ask if you could provide more details on your expectations for potential development at your properties and how much of a priority this is in the current environment. Thank you.

Well, Lucas, it’s a big priority for Hecla because it’s our largest single resource. At any of our properties, it’s the third largest undeveloped copper asset as well as being this large silver asset, 330 million ounces of silver resource. And so, we’re trying to go as rapidly as possible to get underground, so that we can do the drilling to prove that we will not have a negative environmental impact and to develop a mine plan to best mine these ore bodies. There was a court decision that has caused us to say, okay, we probably need to evaluate whether everything is in the right place for being able to accelerate getting underground. And we haven’t come to a conclusion with that. But, you’ll certainly hear more over the course of the next couple of months about what course of action we’ll take. But, I can assure you, there is no priority that’s higher for Hecla outside of our existing operations than the Montana assets.

And with the court case, was that a challenge to the record of decision?

Yes. So, there are two properties, Lucas. There’s the Rock Creek and the Montanore. It’s actually the same orebody. It’s just been faulted off. And we bought two separate companies. So, it’s been on two separate tracks. And so, it was a court opinion on the Rock Creek property that would suggest that the biological opinion necessary for the permit needs to consider the mine as if it’s in production, rather than just the exploration of the Rock Creek mine. So, that’s what we’re evaluating is what does that mean for the work that’s being done on the biological opinion for Montanore? And of course, it’s not just our decision. It’s the decision of the Department of Interior and the fan of Forest Service.

Very helpful. And in terms of the potential timing impacts. You mentioned this is a very high priority to get on the ground. Like, what case, how much extra time would a resolution of this court...

Lucas, I don’t have the timing of it to be able to give that to you. As soon as I do, we will let everyone know.

The next question comes from the line of Ryan Thompson with BMO.

Just a couple of questions for me. Maybe just the first one, at Nevada, you’re guiding to 17,000 to 19,000 ounces for the rest of the year. Can you just sort of walk us through how we should be modeling that, sort of quarter by quarter and just timing of when those refractory ores going to be processed?

The short answer is, the majority of it comes in Q2 because we’re running the material through the Midas mill. The remainder is really in the hands of the third-party processor as to when they’re going to blend it in with their normal material. And so, I think you can anticipate that’s over the second half of the year, the majority of that ore that’s going to the third-party processors. So, I don’t know. In terms of ounces, Lauren, do you have any recollection of...

I would expect the majority of the ounces in Q2, probably two-thirds or three-quarters of the ounces in Q2.

And maybe just sort of more of a high-level question. You made some very interesting comments on the silver market and your view on the silver price. Can you maybe just tie that into a discussion on growth? In silver, we’ve seen a couple of your peers recently make acquisitions of gold mines; your last couple of acquisitions with Klondex and Casa were both gold mines. Can you maybe just tie that into a discussion of M&A and sort of what you’re seeing in the market and how you’re thinking about the Company’s sort of silver to gold revenue mix?

M&A is always a consideration for us, but it's not our top priority right now because we have growth prospects with Lucky Friday. We believe that our improved mining method for managing seismicity will allow that growth to continue. Additionally, our Montana assets could generate production comparable to both Rock Creek and Montanore combined. Overall, we expect to see three to five properties coming into production over the next decade, whether they are silver or gold. We have a strong outlook for the silver market this decade, and while gold is also receiving attention, we will share more about our exciting exploration efforts in Nevada, which focus primarily on gold but also involve significant silver. We appreciate both metals, but we believe that silver is currently the stronger investment.

The next question comes from the line of Matt Farwell.

Hi, this is Matt Farwell with Roth Capital. Thank you for taking my question. I have a brief inquiry regarding inflation within the broader economic landscape. There's a lot of discussion about inflation and lower interest rates. However, it appears that your costs remain stable. Could you comment on which areas of cost might be impacted if the commodity rally continues? Additionally, could you address how the lower interest rate environment, despite inflation concerns, is positively affecting your credit, cost of credit, and cost of capital, ultimately leading to an improved rating by credit rating agencies?

In relation to inflation, about 50% of our costs are related to labor, with energy accounting for roughly 10%. Other costs are relatively minor due to the characteristics of our mines. Our main exposure lies in wage inflation, which we are monitoring closely. We are in a strong position to attract talent, as we are located in desirable areas. However, I noticed at the Lucky Friday site that housing costs and availability are rising, presenting challenges beyond just wage expenses. Do you have anything to add regarding inflation?

In terms of the cost structure that you mentioned, Phil, a large portion is labor, but we’re not exposed to a significant degree to, say, fuel, for example, because of the operations that we have. A lot of our power comes from, say, hydropower or renewable sources. So, we don’t always see the inflation there, where others might be generating power.

I think structurally, because we operate high-grade underground mines predominantly, we’re not as exposed to shifts in commodity prices as some other companies. As Russell said, fuel is relevant but it’s not a huge factor, whereas large open-pit operations, it might be moving hundreds of thousands of tons a day, it is a much larger factor. Our reagent consumption is modest. Our steel consumption is modest. So, we pay attention to those things. And where we can be strategic and protect ourselves, we do, but they’re not huge exposures.

In terms of our debt, we are looking forward to the time when we can start calling some of those bonds. It was a necessary deal that we executed, but we believe it can eventually be replaced with something significantly less costly. We have the option to call the bonds, and we are about one or two years into the deal, so we still have two years to go. I expect that we will see a refinancing opportunity when we can call the bonds. We feel that the rating agencies are slightly lagging behind in terms of our appropriate rating, which may not be surprising to you or them. However, we anticipate that, over time, our ratings should improve, and both Russell and I share that belief.

The next question comes from the line of Guy Berkeley.

First of all, you’ve done an excellent job. You’ve done an excellent job. But boy, how did you run on and pick up that Nevada property? That’s a gold mine?

Well, that’s yet to be done. But, we’re working on it. And we’re very excited about the opportunities that all four properties that we acquired and the Klondex acquisition. Realize that we acquired them because we saw the potential for very high-grade mineralization. You take Midas, its history was 25, 30 years of producing at an average grade of close to 0.8 of an ounce. So, we think there’s more of that to be found. And we’re excited by the exploration that we’re seeing.

You’ve done an excellent job. I agree with Phil, Mr. Baker, that among the two options, silver is the superior choice. It’s the fastest option. I believe he’s absolutely correct, considering that solar panels require silver, electric cars need silver, and even the phone we're using contains silver. He’s right on target. Regarding that discovery in Montana, I drilled an oil and gas well in that area, and it looks promising. The silver and copper you found in Montana is impressive. If you decide you no longer want it, perhaps you could sell it. There would be at least 50 entities interested in purchasing it.

All right. Well, I can assure you that Mr. Baker agrees with everything you’ve said. So, thanks very much for...

He’s done his homework and I’ve done my homework. And I’ll tell you, it’s great. Thank you very much. The only problem is, I don’t understand why your stock is as low as it is. Because, if it isn’t twice the price it is into this year, I’ll eat this...

All right. Well, thanks very much. Guy, we should either go on to the next call or…

Okay. Thank you.

Thanks very much.

Okay. Well, operator, are there no other people in the queue? There are no further questions.

Okay. Thank you very much. So, I really appreciate your participation in the call. Should you have a question that you weren’t able to ask, please reach out to us. There’s information on the press release. And Russell can talk to you or I can talk to you. So, please feel free to reach out. And please stand by for our annual meeting, and I think it’s on the 19th of May. At that time, we’ll be giving a presentation on our ESG and our environmental, our exploration. So, thanks very much. I hope to see you on the 19th. Thanks. Bye.

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.