Good afternoon. My name is Dennis, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the B2Gold First Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Mr. Johnson, you may begin your conference.

Thanks, operator. Welcome, everyone, to the conference call today. Obviously, operator said we're here to talk about the first quarter results for 2022. The news which we put out is quite inclusive, we better – we’ll give you a little summary of some of the highlights about it, update you on a few things, and then we'll open it up quite quickly for your questions. We're pleased with the quarter. We had a significant leap versus our budget on operating cost, all-in sustaining cost and earnings, cash flow and earnings. So a very good quarter. And we can talk a little bit more about what that means in the context of going forward, but we're very pleased with that. And once again, I think some -- many of you realize the challenges that the industry is facing in terms of sort of all the inflationary pressures, et cetera. So we'll continue to remain committed to doing our thing and then focusing on where we can -- avoiding the full impact of higher costs where we can, and we can talk about that a little bit more. In terms of the focus, obviously, continue to be a profitable, responsible gold miners as we go forward. We're externally in a strong financial position, as you know, with a tremendous cash balance, virtually no debt and being the highest dividend. See, Barrick’s just came out today with -- even with their bonus dividend, they're still behind us. I think we're at 3.8% yield today, which is the highest of the gold producers. But we're also very committed to continue to grow the company. So we want to find a balance between dividend and rewarding our shareholders for our great performance and their support, but also being able to continue to grow the company.…

Thanks, Clive, and good morning, everyone. So just running briefly through the operating results and some of the sort of key financial results that we've reported for the quarter. Firstly, on the revenue side, revenue of $366 million, and that reflects the sale of 195,000 ounces at an average realized price of $1,874 per ounce. So high gold price during the quarter, and sales were about 7,000 ounces higher than budget, which really mirrors the higher production that we saw in the quarter than budget. Speaking of production, the total consolidated production, including our share of Calibre's results, was 209,000 ounces, and we saw a higher-than-budgeted production at each of our 3 mines. Fekola is 102,000 ounces, so just 1,000 slightly above budget on slightly above budget. That was mainly due to higher than budgeted processed grade and offset by lower-than-budgeted process tonnes. And the process tonnes were lower as a result of a reduction in the saprolite processed. And that causes us a precautionary against some of the potential supply chain problems that we saw rising in Mali from sanctions earlier in the quarter. We prioritized the processing a higher fresh ore -- higher-grade fresh ore in the period to reduce reagent consumption. And that was a temporary measure. I would say the sanctions continue there, but our supply chain was normalized, and we've built up regular levels of reagent and fuel at site now. So as a result of that, saprolite was reintroduced back into the circuit at the end of February and processing is ongoing as budgeted. Remind you as well, Fekola's gold production is expected to be significantly weighted to the second half of the year as we had guided when we put out our budgeted numbers. And that's because the second half is really when…

Over to Bill, who will talk about a few more operational updates actually predict particularly on the Anaconda

Yes. I definitely wanted to spend just a little bit of time talking about regional Mali development and what it all means. I think there's a lot of questions and maybe misunderstanding on what we've got going on there. So I'm going to kind of work my way through it, hopefully, in a logical fashion, remembering that we have increased the mill to produce 9 million tonnes per annum, which really is kind of the basis of all the beginning stuff. So at 9 million tonnes per annum, we've always talked about our ability to process an additional 15% saprolite material. Currently, what is included in the Fekola life of mine plan is only the Fekola open pit and the Cardinal deposit, the early Cardinal deposit reserve. We have, since then, as you know, freed up the Menankoto license, the Bentako license and consolidated by getting the Bakolobi license. So basically, we have the entire belt from Fekola all the way north to Bentako North. What that allows us to do is to have some optionality in where we're going with this. We have previously announced and we're discussing with the government right now, the potential to truck from Anaconda, which consists of Menocoto and Bentako or maybe potentially separating those and doing individually. Both of those studies are complete. Both of those studies have environmental and social impact assessments ready to go. It's just a question now of which way we want to go. So we've also talked about the need to optimize the entire belt. So we additionally have a study going with little consultants where we're going to take a look at what is the best way to process or what is the most economic way to process ore from all of the various sources. That study…

And so we did assume the worst case that potentially we couldn't get something in a timely fashion.And so we did change our mining sequence in Q1 and the material we were milling -- but we've quickly realized that our success was that we were going to be able to bring everything in, so we went back to normal operations.

And so we did assume the worst case that potentially we couldn't get something in a timely fashion.And so we did change our mining sequence in Q1 and the material we were milling -- but we've quickly realized that our success was that we were going to be able to bring everything in, so we went back to normal operations.

There's reasons why ramp gold back in the day are now back, and many other companies have had great relationships in Mali, financing and gold mines to be responsible. We do some great community stuff, which is all detailed on our website. But it's a good place to be. Mali is a good country to be in gold mining and that has not changed, and we do not anticipate that changing. So as the government reaches agreement about new elections within hopefully in the next couple of years, get back to democratically elected government, we believe that Mali is going to be a good adders to be. Still is the capability, as we've demonstrated to show significant additional major gold deposits, world-class deposits. So we think we may go to another one here with Anaconda. Just remind people when we acquired Fekolafirstly fromPapillon, we did an excellent job of taking it through the first stage and into a feasibility study. We had 4 million ounces in total resources. So clearly, we more than doubled that. And we think we're really scratching the surface up literally almost with Anaconda. So Mali is a good place to be. And we'll continue to champion Mali as other companies will try to help people understand why we're there and then why it's a great opportunity going forward in addition to continuing our geographical diversification with some of the things that we are doing now. So Columbia. I just wantto touch on it, in case there may be a question on this. But I'll give a little summary where we are, as we said and as you know, we're completing a feasibility study and will be available in the third quarter. We're working closely with our partner, AngloGold Ashanti, we’re the operator, a 50-50 joint…

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Habib Ovais with Scotiabank.

Congrats on a good quarter, especially on the cash cost and all-in sustaining costs. So just starting off on that, regarding the guidance for first half, Q1, obviously, all-in sustaining costs came in at $1,036, guidance for the first half is around $1,250 to $1,290. Mike, you touched a bit on catching up on costs over the year. But are you being conservative on this guidance or -- for H1? Or are you expecting cost to be significantly higher in Q2? Or these costs are going to be spread out throughout the year? .

Well, overall, like I said, I think we can expect that we'll see the benefit. It was a very strong Q1. So we will see some of that roll into the first half for sure. I think we can expect that. But is it conservative to not reguide the half? Probably. But like I said in my comments, the prices are quite volatile, and we are seeing quite a bit, especially in the all-in sustaining cost side, we're seeing some timing differences. We were quite a long ways under in Q1. So you've got to remember that when you look at that all-in cost for Q1. We expect to see that reverse. I don't know the exact timing of that yet through the year. So we just felt because of some of the volatility you see in operating costs and particularly in fuel. And then the timing of that CapEx that it was better just to maintain our guidance for the halves as we have them. and for the year overall. But yes, to answer your question, half 1 is probably still conservative by maintaining that guidance.

Sounds good. Just quickly switching gears to Anaconda. Bill, your team is looking to complete a PEA on Anaconda as a stand-alone. Several discussions have been in terms of Anaconda kind of becomes kind of within the Fekola complex. Now within that, are you able to share infrastructure withFekola in any way and possibly reduce CapEx to develop an Anaconda?

Yes, for sure. I mean that's probably one of the things that I should have talked about. When you talk about capital cost for constructing an entire mill and infrastructure, you've really got to cut a lot of that out. I mean if you look at things like right now, we're looking at how do we align our regional tailings facility because that's a big capital cost. The caps are things you could expand. The workshops could be shared. All of that, the warehouses, so really everything outside of the mill, even the power, right? Remember that, we've got that additional 30 -- was it -- 36 megawatts of solar power there. So we've got extra capacity, and we're looking at it right now, which is one of the things we didn't really -- I didn't emphasize, but we just picked up that Bakolobi property, which fits between the 2, but that -- not only is that a good exploration target, that's an amazing opportunity for us to consolidate our infrastructure as I said, things like tailings facility, roads, solar plant, the -- we needed that room to the east. So there's a lot of good things really associated with that backlog and license.

And my last question is for Clive. I mean in regards to development of Gramalote or potential development of Gramalote, is that completely exclusive of building Anaconda? I mean if you go forward with Gramalote, does that impact Anaconda? And if you go forward with Anaconda, does that impact Gramalote?

Yes. Good question, Ovais. Bill can help me here. But we don't think so. We've always said we're not going to try and build with our tremendous construction team. We're not going to try and build 2 significant mines or mills at the same time. But if you look at the potential sequencing we're targeting at Gramalote to go, a lot of the infrastructure will start as soon as we can get. We have a permit -- but get the permit, we reissued with some of the changes that we've made or updated, I suppose. But if you look at the timing of all that, and we've looked at it quite closely, of course, we definitely wouldn't see an issue where the earthworks crews that would be doing the initial work at something like Gramalote-- and we would then potentially be able to move on. But this is also subject to, of course, the additional results that would justify potentially in Anaconda and the saprolite building another mill. We don't know how far off we are to look at that, we may not get that far off in terms of the resource already and the kind of results we're seeing. But first of all, the priority there is to start trucking the saprolite down, but if things go to what we hope, while we're trucking the saprolite down for a number of years, a couple of years, whatever it's going to take to get to full productivity to build a rollout of Anaconda as appropriate. We would be producing 8,200,000 ounces a year from the saprolite but while we build the mill and then you just segue into the saprolite and everything else goes through the new Gramalote. But if you look at the timing of that, atGramalote, we see Gramalotebeing not first ahead of the saprolite. That's just the road building exercise, which we do -- not going to say it's no brainer for us, but pretty much is when you look at what we've done, not only in Mali, but around the world in terms of road construction, et cetera.So the first step is really pretty straightforward building a road,and we expect to get the permit by the end of the year. And as Bill said, there's multiple sources for ore to feed the Fekola mill with saprolite material. So the rest of that has truly unfold with a lot of drilling this year, I'm hoping by the end of this year, we'll have a better idea of whether we think that another mill is likely to be the way forward, and then we'll start working on that permitting now. So while we're doing that, we could very well be building a mill at Columbia, if appropriate, at Gramalote. So we don't see a big a sequencing issue or problem because when you're talking about Phase 2 at Anaconda being a new mill, that would probably slot it after Gramalote of what we see today.

Your next question comes from Geordie Mark with Haywood Securities.

And I'll follow on from a nice and similar question there. Maybe with solar, if I can, because I think it's a very interesting topic. 20% of your power is supplied from solar in Q1. Does it warrant expansion of that plant, given the obvious trade-offs or quick paybacks on the oil prices and the potential expansion of Anaconda going forward? Or would you keep it at 36 megawatts?

No. Well, maybe you could -- we're doing the studies right now, Geordie, for sure. We see absolutely the possibility to expand that as solar plant. Remember, not only are we bumping up against what do we do engineering-wise as far as production. But you also have these ESG components, which everyone is focusing on more and more. And the reality is that that is one that you can really get some bang for your buck because we know it makes sense. We know that there's financial payback on it, and it's a good story, right? It's actually the right thing to do there.

Okay. I mean -- and maybe an extension on that one. How about -- maybe it's obviously facility at Otjikoto that -- and you were, I believe, if I remember correctly, looking at potentially something at Masbate, but I'm not sure whether that's still on the cards?

Yes. So let's handle the Otjikoto one first. The Otjikoto one, what we've actually identified there because Southern Africa has been so aggressive in putting on renewable energy, Namibia has really returned from a net consumer of power to a net generator of power. So what we're seeing now is that the power lines are delivering power at much, much cheaper cost than we had envisioned even when we designed the plant. So we have the ability now, and we're in the process of connecting to the overhead power line, which will once again reduce our costs. And once again, we get the ESG credit because that power is generating from the hydro plant, kind of hydro plant up north and solar power. So we're going to get some benefit from that. We don't know exactly how much. But what we see is on off-times -- off-peak times will generate off the power grid and save money that way during the daylight hours, of course, we run off solar power and very little actually on each [Indiscernible] going forward after kind of starting in Q3. And then the Philippines, of course, we're looking at it. That's one of those -- if you've been there, you know that land is at a premium in the Philippines. So the question there is now where do you put it? Dennis is working with John Rajala really to identify areas even things like -- do you -- is there a potential floating them in the tailings facility, the old waste dump area. All those areas are being looked at, but certainly, we're having a hard, hard look at that.

Okay. Great. And maybe 1 more question there before turning things to others. Maybe on Anaconda, again, in terms of if you can remind us what potential scale you would be looking at we're considering in the PEA through futures satellite facility or sell status facilities? And then I'll leave it there.

Yes. I would say too preliminary to say right now, given the fact -- I mean, we do know that we want to truck between 1 million and 1.5 million in Phase. What Phase 2 looks like, don't know. What I will tell you is that we started out at 4 million tonnes per annum in Fekola. We're now at 9%. And I remember the last time you asked me, can we go even more than that. So I would imagine it's probably something at or less to start with, with the ability to expand.

Your next question comes from Anita Soni with CIBC.

Similar question on Fekola, I guess, Geordie asked kind of what I was getting to in terms of the overall size of a stand-alone facility. I know you're saying it's too early, but I was hoping that I could get maybe just 1 more detail of where would you -- when would you think that would start up if you're looking at something around the 4 million tons per annum mark.

Yes. Can I give you a bunch -- so I'm madly waving my hands and putting air quotes in the air right now, right, because we don't have any of that data. I mean let's just think about this. So if we could do a -- let's say, we could do a preliminary study this year, the optimization and kind of a trade-on study and say that it looks like it's a go. And I know that there'll probably be a resource out of next year that we could then probably put a study on. So let's say it takes us 6 months to do the study, at the same time, we're ordering equipment. The equipment comes in, 2.5 years to build it. My math shows that it's kind of 2026.

Okay. And then second question would be in terms of overall, I guess we're always trying to figure this out or at least I am. But Fekola proper, without the Cardinal deposit and without the Anaconda deposit, what's kind of a baseline scenario of what we should expect on that asset for the next 5 years?

I think that information was put out in the PA, if you're talking about just Fekola proper -- sorry, the updated feasibility study, which happened in 2020, then you have to overlay Anaconda on top of that and, of course, Cardinal and the underground and the increase in mill throughput.

Okay. So if I go back to the 2020 PEA, that's a good starting base.

Yes. It's not the PA, it's actually a feasibility study, but yes.

There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Johnson, back over to you.

Okay. Thanks, everyone, for your time. And if there's other questions that occur to you, feel free to reach out to Randall Chatwin, and he will put you on to the member of the executive team that will be the appropriate one to find the answers to your additional questions. So thank you for your time, and have a good day. Thanks, operator.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.