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Good morning. My name is Anis, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Copper Mountain Mining Corporation Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]Please note that comments made today that are not of a historical factual nature may contain forward-looking statements. This information, by its nature, is subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause the stated outcome to differ materially from actual outcomes. Please refer to Slide 2 of today's presentation and Copper Mountain's second quarter 2021 management's discussion and analysis for more information.I will now turn the call over to Gil Clausen, President and CEO of Copper Mountain.
Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Starting on Slide 3. With me presenting are Rod Shier, our Chief Financial Officer; and Don Strickland. Don was our Chief Operating Officer up until the end of the second quarter. So he'll speak to our operating results today. He's now our EVP of Sustainability. Don has been leading our ESG initiatives and the achievements we've had to date. And this move was a natural transition when we're making large strides in these areas. The new role allows Don to focus 100% of his efforts to ensure that we're achieving our sustainability objectives.Also with us today on the call is Eric Dell, who is our new Senior Vice President of Operations. He transitioned to this position on July 1 from his role of General Manager at the Copper Mountain Mining.I'll begin by providing a brief update and summary of the quarter, Don will give a more detailed discussion on our operation and ESG initiatives, and Rod will speak to our financial results. I'll conclude with an exploration update and our outlook, and we'll then open up the call to questions.Turning to Slide 4. We've continued to have solid production, nearly hitting another record this quarter, all while maintaining low cash costs. Grade was the main driver of our production performance as we continue to mine a higher proportion of ore from Phase 3 as we have higher grade from Phase 3. We expect grades and production to be more moderate in Q3 as we move to higher output from Phase 2, which has lower grade. We also expect a higher percentage of Phase 2 ore planned in Q4 for the commissioning of ball mill #3. Don will get into more details on our development and mine sequencing plan.Due to solid production in the first half of the year and our outlook for the entire year, we're increasing our production guidance range to between 90 million and 100 million pounds of copper from the original guidance of 85 million to 95 million pounds. As a result of our strong production and low cost, we saw improvements across all financial metrics compared to last year. Notably, we posted record operating cash flow despite sales lagging production due to shipment timing at quarter end.During the quarter, we closed a USD 250 million bond financing, which allows us to access 100% of excess cash at the mine, enabling the company to invest in our assets, including improving production efficiencies, developing our growth projects in BC and Australia and on exploration drilling.I'll now turn the call over to Don, who'll go into more details on our operating results and development plans.
Thanks, Gil. Starting on Slide #5. The mine delivered another very strong quarter, producing 25.5 million pounds of copper and 29.6 million pounds of copper equivalent production. This is very close to the record production achieved in Q1 of 25.5 million pounds of copper and 30.4 million pounds of copper equivalent production. As Gil has noted, production in the first half of the year was very strong with 51 million pounds of copper and 60 million pounds of copper equivalent production. This high-quality production resulted in a C1 cost of USD 1.38 per pound, [ all-in ] capitalization of $7.1 million of deferred stripping costs associated with waste stripping of Phase #4. An all-in cost of $2.06 per pound was achieved after accounting for deferred waste stripping and $14.1 million of sustaining capital, lease and administration expenses. Sustaining capital increased with the installation of water management infrastructure. And lease payments increased related to the haul trucks.Turning to Slide #6. Mining of high-grade ore from Phase 3 continued to be the key driver for the solid quarterly production. A mill feed grade of 0.42% copper was delivered in Q2, identical to the mill feed grade delivered in Q1. Mill feed continued to be supplied from phases #2 and #3 as shown on this slide, with mine bore being evenly split between these 2 phases during the quarter. Phase #3 ore feed to the mill will moderate in Q3, and then Phase #2 ore supply will increase in Q4. This will result in lower mill feed grade in Q4 while conditioning and ramping up production on ball mill #3. 6.3 million tonnes of waste was moved from Phase 4 during the quarter, accounting for 53% of waste movements. Phase #4 mining is progressing well and will be the main ore supply for 2022 and into 2023. The 1-kilometer trolley ramp is nearly complete with 0.7 million tonnes of material moved during the quarter. This project is on schedule to support commission in the first phase of trolley assist later this year.Turning to Slide #7. The team continued to push the mill concentrate filtering production to record levels to handle a 0.42% copper mill feed grade delivered during the quarter. We did continue to retract the mill tonnage at times while processing very high-grade ore. This was required to balance mill tonnage with copper concentrate filtering capacity. However, we are advancing installation of a second concentrate filter press to eliminate this restriction. I'll discuss this in more detail later. The mill continues to operate reliably with higher-than-planned operating time for the quarter and year-to-date. The comparison 2020 second quarter and 2020 first half mill operating time, as shown on this slide, were slightly lower. This was due to a larger scheduled mill maintenance shutdown in April of 2020 for changing the site mill liners.Turning to Slide #8. The installation of ball mill #3 is a key project. It will increase mill tonnage to 45,000 tonnes per day, achieve a finer grind to improve overall metal recovery by 3% to 5%. Construction continues to progress well and continues on schedule for the start of commissioning in late Q3. During the quarter, the project concrete work was completed, the primary structural steel installation was completed, mill's shell assembly was well advanced and the main mill drill drive transformers were installed. It's important to note the mill drive transformers installed for ball mill 3 are the same as the upgraded oilfield transformers we recently installed on the existing SAG and ball mills to support reliability.Turning to Slide #9. After installation of ball mill 3, our long-term mill plan, as outlined in the 65,000 tonne per day prefeasibility study, includes installing an additional concentrate filter press and increasing cleaner circuit capacity. We have completed engineering on both of these projects and [ are advancing ] construction to complete these projects around year-end. A duplicate filter press will be installed in an extension to the existing concentrate storage building, as shown in the schematic on the right of this slide. This will allow the mill to operate at maximum tonnage rates while processing higher-grade ore for extended time periods. To achieve a significant increase in cleaner circuit capacity, a single large location column will be installed inside the existing mill building as shown in the schematic on the left of this slide. This will support maximum cleaner circuit recovery on all ore types. Both of these projects are part of our long-term plan and generate significant value. Thus, we are simply moving them forward in our plan.I will now turn over the call to Rod to go over our financial results.
Thank you, Don. Turning to Slide 10. As noted by Gil, the mine had a strong second quarter that included sales of 21.7 million pounds of copper, a little over 6,500 ounces of gold and 121,000 ounces of silver. Revenue for the second quarter was $142 million, net of pricing adjustments and treatment charges. This was based on an average copper price of USD 4.33 per pound of copper as compared to USD 2.43 per pound of copper for Q2 2020. This was a 56% increase in revenue in Q2 2021 as compared to Q2 2020 and was a result of higher sales volumes and metal prices realized in Q1 2021. It should be noted that copper production during the quarter was about 3.8 million higher than sales due to timing of shipments and the revenue associated with these pounds will be recognized in Q3 2021.Cost of sales for the second quarter of 2021 was $56.3 million as compared to $60.8 million for the second quarter of 2020. Q2 2021 cost of sales was net of $8.1 million of deferred stripping costs as compared to 0 deferred stripping costs in Q1 2020. This all results in a gross profit of $85.8 million for the second quarter of 2021 as compared to $30.3 million for the same period in 2020.Turning to Slide 11. Net income for the quarter was $38.7 million in Q2 2021 or about $0.12 per share as compared to $31.9 million or $0.12 per share in Q2 2020. Net income included a noncash unrealized foreign exchange loss of about $400,000 as compared to a noncash unrealized foreign exchange gain of about $14.5 million in Q2 2020, a differential of approximately $14 million, which was primarily related to the company's debt that is denominated in U.S. dollars.In the second quarter of 2021, EBITDA was about $81 million and adjusted EBITDA was $74.5 million. Cash flow from operations was $94.6 million in the second quarter of 2021 as compared to $15.7 million for Q2 2020, with investments of $33.7 million during the quarter into capital projects, which was primarily for the ball mill 3 expansion and contact water management systems at the mine site. During the quarter, the company was successful in completing a USD 250 million bond issue. Proceeds from the bond issue have been used to retire the mine's senior credit facility. In addition, the company was able to retire 100% of the related party debt that was due to Mitsubishi Materials Corporation. And the company has placed USD 32.2 million in escrow for the final repayment of the JBIC term loan that will occur on August 16 of this year. As noted by Gil, this was a significant event for the company as it removed the bank's restrictive cash flow waterfall from the mine's cash flow and allowed the company to be repaid about $70 million in cash. This cash will be used together with future cash flow from the mine to advance the Eva Copper Project without any further equity dilution to the company as we are now entitled to 100% of the cash flow from the mine until the intercompany debt of USD 260 million is repaid from the mine to the parent. And after that, we will be sharing dividends with Mitsubishi based on our respective ownership interests. This is truly a transformational financing for the company. This financing has also simplified our balance sheet for investors as we now only have the bond debt outstanding after the final payment to JBIC is made. Our total debt at the end of Q2 2021 was CAD 393 million, including the JBIC debt that will be repaid in the middle of Q3 this year as noted earlier. Based on our Q2 2021 results, including the ending cash position of $191 million and the 12-month trailing EBITDA, we now have a net debt to trailing EBITDA of 0.71, significantly improved over the comparative period for Q2 2020. The company is now very well positioned for its next step in the growth plan.Now I'll turn it back to Don to provide an update on our ESG initiatives.
Thanks, Rob. Starting on Slide #12, we are on track to achieve our 2021 sustainability objectives. We continue to quickly implement the Mining Association of Canada's Towards Sustainable Mining, or TSM, system. We're on track to achieve our target of a minimum A or Yes rating on all TSM protocols by the end of this year. We also continue to advance our net-zero GHG objective. Commissioning of both ball mill #3 and the first phase of trolley assist this year are 2 key steps in our carbon intensity reduction plan. These projects will provide full year GHG intensity benefit in 2022. We're also on track to complete our planned 25 hectares of annual progressive reclamation. We are now in our fourth year of progressive reclamation, and we continue to incorporate learnings from the last 3 years in our reclamation activities. Scale of our completed progressive reclamation is now a very visual demonstration of our commitment.I now turn the call back to Gil.
Thanks, Don. Turning to Slide 13. In addition to the development projects we're advancing, we're investing heavily in the ground. We've commenced drill programs in both BC at the Copper Mountain Mine and in the Mount Isa region in Queensland, Australia. In BC, our program for the year features approximately 25,000 to 30,000 meters of diamond drilling focused on expanding reserves and resources at New Ingerbelle and the Copper Mountain north and main pits. These deposits have significant inferred resources beyond our current pit limits, and we intend to drill and upgrade these resources.In Australia, we have a regional exploration program currently underway, which includes 6,000 meters of RC drilling and 1,200 meters of diamond drilling. The focus is on understanding our geophysical and geochemical results on the Cameron project. Cameron is located about 40 kilometers south of our Eva project development and consists of high-potential copper and copper gold targets. We're cautiously optimistic about Cameron's potential, and this drilling program was designed to test our geological models and, if successful, will lead to further investment in drilling. The goal is to find our next potential mine development project beyond Eva and our existing land position in the Mount Isa region. We expect to announce results in the second half of the year. Slide 14. Looking at the remainder of 2021, we have some significant milestones ahead: exploration disclosures for Copper Mountain in Australia, as I just mentioned; the commissioning of ball mill 3 is on track for the third quarter; and we are also continuing to move our Eva Copper Project forward. Our Eva development plan is to complete project financing work early in the fourth quarter of this year while advancing detailed engineering to deliver a complete final construction estimate for our Board's consideration. The Board plans to make a construction decision on Eva by year-end.We're raising our 2021 production guidance range to 90 million to 100 million pounds of copper, and we're maintaining our all-in cost guidance. As mentioned earlier, we expect grades and production to moderate in the third quarter as we move mining proportionally more from Phase 2 of our main pit, which has lower grade, and then into Q4 as we plan more Phase 2 award during the ramp-up phase of the plant to 45,000 tonnes per day.As part of optimizing our operation, we'll install an additional cleaner flotation column and another concentrate filter press later this year, as Don outlined. The extra flotation and filtration capacity will allow the company to maintain throughput capacity during periods of high-grade production up to our capacity limit of 50,000 tonnes per day. We are increasing our development capital guidance for the year to USD 40 million from USD 33 million.This year is an exciting year for Copper Mountain as we invest and advance our organic growth plans. We continue to have strong financial and operating results, and we're focused on derisking and reaching our growth objectives. The company is well positioned to achieve our vision to triple copper production from 2020 levels within 5 years and doing it the right way. I'll now -- we should now open up the call for questions.
[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Orest Wowkodaw with Scotia Bank.
Gil, it feels like you're obviously gearing up for a development decision for Eva by year-end. I'm just curious, as you're going through the process here in terms of detailed engineering, are you seeing any material inflation at this point on the CapEx number? I think the last published one was USD 382 million. And I'm just curious if you still think that's a pretty good number or has the move in steel prices and labor and so forth potentially pushed that higher.
Orest, thanks for that question. We've got a lot of analysis ongoing now as we really flesh out the basic engineering phase of the project, and we are updating the capital estimate. As we do more and more detailed engineering, we're going to get a tighter and tighter estimate. We have seen some obvious increases in some of the metal prices. We have had the opportunity to effect some value engineering as well concurrently. So we've actually cut some steel out of the design, et cetera, just in terms of tightening up design and the contingencies we allowed for in the last study. So far, everything is tracking reasonably well, but we'll know more as we move through this process to a number for year-end. But so far, no major surprises.
Okay. And is the -- I mean based on your catalyst time line, it sounds like we should anticipate the project financing for Eva to come ahead of that CapEx update. Is that correct?
Well, we're going to have a CapEx update that will be established in the -- towards the end of the fourth quarter officially. I mean we're obviously working on that estimate, and it's continuing -- how can I say, it's a continuing estimate that's going to get -- that gets refined. The project financing is clearly one where we're going to have to have that construction estimate in place before we can actually finalize that financing. But we're going to get a good indication of how it's going to be structured and who the players are and how the elements of that financing are going to take shape early in the fourth quarter. But we'll have everything buttoned up with the final construction estimate towards year-end.
Okay. And is it fair to say at this point you plan to go at 100% Copper Mountain ownership?
I would say that that's a fair assumption to make.
Okay. And just switching gears, one more question, if I may. Thanks for updating the development CapEx guidance for this year, the USD 40 million. Can you also give us an updated sustaining capital and stripping number for this year?
I think I'll turn that one over to Rod. Rod?
Sure. Thanks, Gil. Orest, I would expect our deferred stripping to be similar to the first half of this year. So you're not going to see it too different there. Our sustaining capital, we've certainly seen a little bit of growth there just with respect to the contact water management systems that we've installed and continue to install at the mine site. So I would expect a little bit of growth there from what we were guiding earlier in the year.
Okay. Okay. And I assume both of those updated numbers are factored into your all-in sustaining cost number that you're putting out there.
Yes. Correct. Yes.
Your next question comes from Craig Hutchison with TD Securities.
Orest asked my questions on Eva. Just -- but in terms of the ball mill commissioning phase, you guys mentioned it'd be kind of complete here in Q3. When do you guys expect to be at full 45,000 tonnes per day?
Well, I'd like it to be 2 days after commissioning, but I don't think that that's necessarily going to happen. But I think we'll see construction completed and both, I think, the wet commissioning and then into full commissioning phase towards the end of the third quarter, and we'll be steadily ramping up production. I think the most important element for us to consider is to make sure that we have a balanced circuit as we move through the fourth quarter and try to determine and assess the impact of that circuit on our downstream processes like our flotation circuits and our filtration circuit. So we're hopeful that we can ramp up pretty quickly here, Craig. But we're going to be cautious. And hence some of the reason why we're factoring in and putting through some of our lower-grade material at that time in Q2 or a higher proportion of Q2 is that we want to make sure that we can stabilize that circuit and not have to deal with really high-grade material at the same time.
Okay. And just in terms of the cash -- sorry.
No. No, go ahead.
I just wanted to ask you a question on just in terms of cash taxes. You guys are obviously still in a sort of deferred tax situation noncash. When do you guys sort of expect to be paying kind of full cash taxes on your income?
Craig, great question. Certainly, with the strong copper prices we've seen, we're seeing our tax pools be depleted fairly quickly, and we are anticipating next year we're going to see more cash taxes being paid by the company.
We have a follow-on question from Stefan Ioannou with Cormark Securities.
Yes. It just sounds like, obviously, Eva is sort of getting a time line wrapped around it now. Just wondering, looking out to the potential 65,000 tonne a day expansion at Copper Mountain, are you going to be doing any of the permitting stuff in the meantime while Eva sort of takes shape? Or can you just maybe give us an update on sort of those efforts at Copper Mountain for the longer term?
Well, I think Don pointed out that we're investing in the back end of the circuit here right now with these 2 projects, both the filtration and the column. And in fact, they were part of the 65,000 tonne per day study. So we're making sure that within our existing footprint here right now and our existing operations, we can incrementally improve the performance of the plant that would sustain -- those investments would sustain through to 65,000. I think we're advancing in our discussions with the permitting authorities, and I'll let Don follow up a little bit more on that, but I think things are tracking pretty well.
Yes. I guess we're moving along in our plan as to get the permitting ready to advance for 65,000. And we're -- at the same time, I think Gil has alluded to, we're doing a lot of exploration. And so we want to have a good look at the full scale of what Copper Mountain can be without going too far down that road. So I think it's probably fair to say that we're focused on optimizing Copper Mountain, and Eva's the big one in front of us right now to really nail down by the end of the year.
Your next question comes from Bryce Adams with CIBC Bank.
Actually, just one is left to ask. It's a clarifying one on the ball mill commissioning work here in Q3. The wording in the press release implies that commissioning hasn't started yet. Is that correct? And if so, how many weeks do you expect that process to take if that -- if you can even estimate that? That's it for me.
All right, Bryce. Listen, we're going to be completing construction. We still have -- as you saw in those images, we've got a lot of work done. We're putting the mill ends -- the trunnions in place in the mill end, and we'll be doing the remaining electrical tie-ins. We still have to put in the -- we're building the tower for the cyclones and cyclone packs, and we've got to get the -- we've got all the foundations in place, but we've got to put the e-house in as well and do all the electrical connections and instrumentation work. So those are the things that are remaining to be done, in a nutshell and -- but we're right on track for doing the wet testing of the circuit in the -- towards the later end of the third quarter so that by the end of the third quarter we're running that mill and we're starting to line it out. And when we say commissioning in the third quarter, that's what we meant. The plant is starting -- the mill is turning and it's starting to produce, and we're putting feeds to the mill, and then we'll be just sort of testing it up and ramping it up and testing the operating parameters of that circuit over the -- into the fourth quarter. But you would -- I would expect to be conservative that you'll just see a ramp-up in production to 45,000 tonnes per day in the late Q3 and into Q4 and maybe halfway through Q4 as we're just testing out the operating parameters grind versus throughput.
Yes. Okay. I guess if you go back to earlier in the year when you were putting a project schedule together for this expansion, in that schedule, how many weeks would you allow for commissioning? Or is it something that you just -- it's more reactive and you take it as it comes?
No. The original schedule we put together, that's sort of what the project is. I guess we [ can say ] that we are right on that schedule. Despite COVID and everything that's happened, we're right on the schedule. And we had -- obviously, in that schedule, there's time for -- if you want to get into the details of the mechanical commissioning of every component. But really what [indiscernible] is we plan to, as Gil said, put slurry and rock and ore through this mill late Q3, and that we have a ramp-up throughout Q4 to get to our full design production of 45,000 tonnes per day and 150-micron grind. And so I'm not specifically answering your question in terms of how many weeks. I think it's -- the 2 key things we're stating here is that we are on our schedule that we originally set for the year. And in terms of ore supplies going through the mill, it will be late Q3 and will be fully commissioned in Q4.
Your next question comes from Pierre Vaillancourt from Haywood.
Just a clarification. Maybe Rod, if you could answer. In terms of the financing for Eva, are you planning on doing any equity for this? Or is this going to be mostly carried by debt and cash and cash flow?
Thanks, Pierre. Good question. And as noted earlier, I mean, freeing up the cash flow of Copper Mountain has made this possible where we can fund the project without any further equity dilution to the company. And so we do not plan on equity for Eva. We see that coming through with project financing and lease capital. And we've engaged Endeavor Financial earlier in the year, as you know, and we're just going through that process now, and we expect to have that completed around the end of the year in time for the Board to make a decision.
Okay. And I would assume as well that means no streaming, no royalty attached to that, yes?
I never say never to anything. We look at all options. But our primary goal is to get project financing in place for the project.
Okay. And ballpark number, Rod, for how much you're going to need?
Again, we're being flexible on that as we fine-tune the capital number. So we're going to be -- I think, have some flexibility there as we deal with some unique funding situations out of Australia that have similar things that you saw in the Copper Mountain funding where you can try to get some longer-tenor debt from some government agencies.
Okay. Okay. Just one quick question for Don. Just interested to know, in your position as a sustainability guy for Copper Mountain, do you have any specific CO2 goals -- CO2 emissions goals? And where are you now? And where do you want to go? And how is it going to be implemented? Are you going to ramp up the trolley assist and find other things? Maybe just kind of give me a quick view how that's going to evolve.
Yes. Thanks for the question. Obviously, we set ourselves a pretty bold target to be net-zero by 2035 for GHGs. And so -- we didn't show it in this slide show, but in previous shows we've put that graph in with 8 steps that we had defined to get us down in that 0.7 range of tonnes of CO2 per tonne of copper. And so with the new role, certainly, we're spending a lot of focus on how we're going to get that to 0. And that's going to take, from our perspective, we've identified trolley as one step, 45,000 tonne a day as another step. We had, I think, 8 steps in our plan that we laid out. So now it's how do we get down to 0, and that's going to be partnerships and pushing technology and working with some key players to help us achieve that. So I guess that's our high-level objective is to continue to be innovative, as we've done on a number of things, and work with experts in the field and try out technology and advanced technology as we're doing with trolley to get us to that net-zero. So I'm sure over the next few quarters, we'll have more meat on the bones of that discussion and have a lot more clarity on how we're going to get there.
So where -- so you're saying the CO2 right now, it's 0.7 tonnes per tonne of copper?
No. Sorry. We're presently at 3 -- or we were at -- 2019, we were at 3 and then we dropped it down to 2.3. And with the steps we've outlined, that would bring us down to around the 0.7 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of copper equivalent. And so we've got a number of steps defined to get us down into that range, which would make us the lowest open pit -- the lowest GHG intensity open pit company in the world. And so really the step is now what's beyond those actions. So we've got things like renewable diesel, a number of pieces of the puzzle there. But yes, where we are right now is at the end of last year we're at 2.3 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of copper equivalent, and that's Scope 1 and Scope 2.
Okay. So I mean you'll still be -- I mean you'll always be emitting CO2. It's a matter of finding enough credits to get to net-zero is what you're saying?
Yes. We reduced our CO2 as much as we can, and then we have the final offsets, as you say, to offset the remaining CO2.
Okay. And then, of course, you've got SO2 as well to contend with. Is that coming down?
No. No, we don't have SO2. So when we talk CO2, we talk CO2 equivalent, which is basically CO2, methane and NOx. Those are the key components that make up the CO2. But we're talking all-inclusive CO2 improvement, which is the full impact on environment.
One thing to add, Pierre, just of note here is that the goal to get to zero, as Don pointed out, and he's talking about new technology, that could be hydrogen or battery or others. If we do get success in that area, then likely we'll be going down to a true net-zero CO2 for our major haulage fleet, which, of course, is the vast component of all the CO2 emissions on our property. And certainly, the easier ones or the smaller ones that we can get at, whether it's light vehicle fleets, et cetera, are much easier nut to crack in terms of electrification. That technology exists today. So it's all about battery technology or hydrogen advancements. So we are going to be working with those suppliers, and we'll have more to discuss in subsequent quarters about this. We're really excited that Don has taken on the sustainability role, which covers a pretty broad spectrum in our company, but it requires that focus and he's the right guy to do it. So, thanks.
Any idea how much that's going to cost?
Yes. Actually, we think that there's a net economic benefit here. Significant one, as a matter of fact. We're going to see cost reductions as a result of this, in our view. So we don't perceive this to have an impact on our cash costs in a negative way.
Your next question comes from George Topping with Industrial Alliance.
Great. Just one remaining question for me. And that's how large or small a role are you expecting the derivative instruments to play sort of red line on production sold forward or under callers that you won't go ahead with? Can you just give us your thoughts on that as it stands in the current market?
Yes. George, I mean I think our philosophy as a Board has been to look at those types of derivatives. Like we put puts in place in the last quarter as more or less like an insurance policy. So we acquired puts to set a floor price for copper. And it was at a time when we felt it was important to make sure that we protect the cash flow as we build cash up for our growth plans and that's an important element. Our -- this is something we discuss with our Board on an ongoing basis, what our program should be with respect to risk mitigation, and it's an ongoing discussion. I would say, as it stands right now, that's our philosophy. It's just -- it's protecting the downside, and we do that through the acquisition of insurance, which is in the form of buying copper puts.
Okay. That's great. It just leaves the upside totally open. Better even than callers. So if you get a sale [indiscernible] that would be great.
Well, we'll see how things roll out for the project financing. And as you know, everything is a negotiation at the end of the day and everything has a cost and when you're trying to look at risk mitigation on a project financing. So that's all going to be part and parcel of our discussion with our Board going forward with Eva financing. So I'm not going to rule out callers in the future, but our view is that puts give us the protection that we need.
There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Clausen, you may proceed.
Well, listen, I just want to thank everybody for joining us on the call today. And just a reminder to all, stay vigilant and cautious and get your shots. Thanks very much, everyone. Have a great day.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.