TORONTO Aug 27, 2015 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of McEwen Mining Inc earnings conference call or presentation Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 3:00:00pm GMT TEXT version of Transcript ================================================================================ Corporate Participants ================================================================================ * Rob McEwen McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO * Perry Ing McEwen Mining Inc. - VP, CFO * Nathan Stubina McEwen Mining Inc. - Managing Director ================================================================================ Conference Call Participants ================================================================================ * John Moran - Private Investor * Mark Lightner - Private Investor * Brett Reiss Janney Montgomery Scott - Analyst * Bill Towers - Private Investor * Ralph Wagner Wagner Investment - Analyst * Martin Tremblay - Private Investor ================================================================================ Presentation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the McEwen Mining second-quarter 2015 financial and operating results conference call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Rob McEwen, chief owner. Please go ahead, Mr. McEwen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [2] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, operator. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our second-quarter 2015 conference call, where we're going to cover our operating and financial results for the quarter. I'd like to start by saying we had an excellent quarter, strong production, generated very healthy operating profits and cash flow. Our star performing asset was our El Gallo mine in Mexico that delivered outstanding production cost per ounce. And here with me today to give you the details are Perry Ing, our VP and CFO, and Nathan Stubina, our Managing Director. Perry? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perry Ing, McEwen Mining Inc. - VP, CFO [3] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, Rob. Overall, as Rob mentioned, we experienced an excellent quarter from a production standpoint, which helped to drive down our costs and increase our cash flow and our treasury. Our consolidated gold equivalent production was up 36% to 39,000 ounces in the quarter, compared to 29,000 ounces in the same quarter in 2014. As a result, our earnings from mine operations doubled to $13.4 million, compared to $6.6 million in the same period of 2014. This strong performance despite a weaker metal price environment is reflected in our broadened treasury, as we ended the quarter with cash and gold of $27 million, compared to $17 million at the end of the first quarter and $15 million at the beginning of 2015. I'm also pleased to report that with the collection of $6 million in insurance proceeds resulting from the robbery at our mine in Mexico -- we collected this balance in July, and our cash and gold balance now stands in excess of $32 million. Looking into our performance from a cost standpoint, we reported a consolidated gold equivalent cash cost of $700 an ounce, which is $200 less than the prior year, and all-in sustaining costs of $1,050 an ounce, which is $350 less than the prior year. This was driven by the exceptional performance at our El Gallo 1 mine, where we produced over 17,000 ounces of gold at a cash cost of $350 an ounce and all-in sustaining costs of $550 an ounce. This compares to production of only 8,000 ounces at a cash cost of $850 and all-in cost of $1,250 in the same period in 2014. So therefore you see that the strong production, combined with savings in input costs and recent Mexico peso devaluation, are all contributing factors to our low cost. In Argentina at the San Jose Mine, despite difficult operating conditions our partners have been able to keep cash costs flat at just over $930 an ounce and have been able to decrease all-in sustaining costs by nearly $100 to $1,215 an ounce. We are able to report that we've received a small dividend of approximately $0.5 million during the second quarter from the San Jose Mine. Overall, looking at our overall financial statements, we did report a net loss of $14.5 million or $0.05 a share. However, the majority of this was due to noncash asset impairments reflecting certain claims that we are dropping in Nevada, which will result in annual savings of $600,000 per year and do not impact any of our mineral resources in Nevada. Our adjusted net income, stripping out the results of this impairment as well as foreign currency effects, we did report adjusted net income of $1.8 million or $0.01 a share. A couple of other things I'll touch on before I turn the presentation over to Nathan. To enhance our liquidity, we did enter a credit facility during the second quarter with a local Mexican bank of approximately $5.5 million, secured against our outstanding VAT receivable balance. This facility will be retired as VAT amounts are collected during the year. We did announce in July that we were instituting a dividend to shareholders of record as of July 31. This corporate distribution will be payable on August 17. We would like to alert shareholders that this distribution is considered a return of capital and unless you are a 5% shareholder you should not be subject to withholding tax. The distribution would generally be considered a return of capital and would be tax-free, although we encourage you to consult with your tax professional. Just touching on our VAT balance, currently our VAT balance is about $10 million, of which $5.5 million is secured by the credit facility. Now I'll turn over the presentation to Nathan Stubina, our Managing Director. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nathan Stubina, McEwen Mining Inc. - Managing Director [4] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, Perry, and to all of our callers for the opportunity to review our Q2 and first-half results. First of all, I'm pleased to report a record quarterly production of 39,000 gold equivalent ounces for the quarter. Our consolidated 2015 production guidance remains unchanged at approximately 138,000 gold ounces. Let's begin with our look at our plant in Mexico. We produced over 17,000 gold ounces this quarter. This compares quite favorably with the 8,000 ounces that we produced during Q2 of last year and the 15,000 that were produced in Q1 of this year. The average ore grade processed during Q2 was around 3.7 grams per tonne. This compares to the 1.1 grams per tonne that were treated during the same period in 2014. These higher grades were always in the mine plan, and we expect the grades to drop back to the 2 gram per tonne level by early 2016 and remain that way for the remaining of next year. These higher grades explain most of the increased ounces produced during the quarter, but there were other process improvements that also were implemented this year. All of these factors compare -- contributed to the low all-in sustaining costs of $550 that Perry just mentioned. Now let's turn our attention to the San Jose Mine in Argentina. Our share of metal production for the quarter was over 11,000 ounces of gold and almost 800,000 ounces of silver. Both of these values are an improvement over the same quarter of 2014. Costs have remained level over the past year. For our 49% share of production from Argentina, the forecast for 2015 is maintained at 46,500 ounces of gold and 3.1 million ounces of silver. For the Gold Bar project in Nevada, which is 100% owned by McEwen Mining, we continue to advance the permitting process for construction and production of an open-pit heap leach project. An updated resource estimate and feasibility study is scheduled to be released in Q3 of this year. As outlined in our press release, we are incorporating several improvements to the project that will positively impact the economics of the project. For the El Gallo 2 silver project in Mexico, we are performing further metallurgical test work aimed at improving several recoveries, increasing reaction rates, and using less reagents. Just a few comments about exploration. We released an exploration update for Mexico on April 21 of this year. Our focus for the remainder of the year is to target near-mine targets. In the six months ending June 20, approximately $2.9 million were spent on exploration in Mexico. Thank you for the opportunity to review our Q2 results. I would like to reiterate that our consolidated annual production guidance remains unchanged at 96,500 gold ounces and 3.1 million silver ounces. I would like to conclude by mentioning that in Mexico, production during Q3 has been better than expected; and I look forward to reviewing these results with you during our next call. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [5] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, Perry. Thank you, Nathan. Just want to conclude with a few remarks. First, our dividend distribution will be paid on August 17, and I will be reinvesting my entire dividend back into McEwen Mining. I believe that's a very good investment right now. I think we are at the bottom of the gold market. We're starting to see evidence of increasing M&A activity. There was actually a blog yesterday, a Barron's blog that was picked up by the Wall Street Journal, that I'm not sure I agree with the wording, but it was saying analysts are wildly bullish on gold. I haven't found any wildly bullish analysts lately, but they were saying they expected higher prices by year-end -- not of the order that I like, but. So as I said, this was an excellent quarter. Our cash balances went up; our production went up; our operating costs went down. We're just delivering on guidance, and we're looking forward to producing 138,000 ounces of gold equivalent at year-end and in-the-money cost. At this point I'd like to open the session up for questions. ================================================================================ Questions and Answers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Operator Instructions) [John Moran], private investor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Moran, - Private Investor [2] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello, Rob, Nathan, Perry. I have two questions. One is, if the grams per tonne are going to decrease from 3.7 to 2.0, what impact will that have? The other is, if you're delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, what would be the impact of that as well? Thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [3] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All right. Thank you, John. We do expect the grade to go down to 2 grams per tonne next year. For the course of this year, we'll see the grades going lower, but we'll still be better than 2 gram. And most of next year will be 2 grams, and we expect next year to be producing about 50,000 ounces of gold at Mexico. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Moran, - Private Investor [4] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Will that impact the profit that you make next year, the revenue and profit? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [5] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold price is going to have the biggest bearing. But to answer your question, our costs will be a bit higher as a result of producing less gold. The New York -- our New York listing, we're working to resolve that situation and we think we'll be able to ensure that we remain listed on the New York Stock Exchange. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Moran, - Private Investor [6] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you very much. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [7] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your next question is from [Chris Allen]: I have two questions. What were the Nevada properties that were dropped? And why haven't we seen more insider buying of McEwen Mining? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [8] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, Chris. Properties dropped were properties that surrounded some of our existing properties that we felt there were large holding costs, and we were reducing some of our operating expenses, and we didn't see -- we hadn't seen much in the way of prospectivity of those properties at the current prices. And in terms of -- and the Mexico was the same. Inside buying? We have some blackout periods. By reinvesting the dividend, I will be making a large investment back into the Company's shares, and that will be happening in the next few weeks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [9] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Mark Lightner], private investor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Lightner, - Private Investor [10] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. Thank you for this earnings report, Rob. My question is similar to the issue of the delisting from the New York Stock Exchange. Could you share with us, like, how much time does the Company have to work out this problem? And how are you going about it, to work out the problem? Would you be considering a reverse stock split? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [11] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, Mark. The New York listing is an important part of our strategy, so we're working diligently to get our stock back up above $1. One consideration, although it's not a high priority at the moment, is looking at a consolidation. In terms of timing, we have six months given by the Exchange; so that would be in January. However, since we're -- if you wanted to do at consolidation, that would require a shareholder meeting, done at an annual shareholder meeting. And we traditionally have our annual shareholder meetings in June of the year, late May, early June. So that would give you some time frames to consider. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Lightner, - Private Investor [12] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, thanks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [13] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your next question comes from [Matthew Gallisdorfer]: As MUX mines through the higher grades at EG 1, what should investors expect the average grade mined going forward into calendar year 2016 and onward? At what point in time should investors expect to realize grades to trend towards average grade shown in the resource estimate? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nathan Stubina, McEwen Mining Inc. - Managing Director [14] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, as mentioned, going into 2016, at the beginning of 2016, the grades will drop to the 2 gram per tonne range, so they'll slowly decrease through this year. It depends on the stockpiles and so forth. But for around 2016 that should be around 2 grams per tonne. I'm just going to go back and comment on something John mentioned. Even though the grades are dropping, a lot of the initiatives that we're implementing this year on recoveries and costs will continue through next year. So we expect to have a better performance next year from those. Thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [15] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next question is from [Stewart Bailey]: Thank you for your positive attitude during these difficult times for gold and silver investors. At age 71, I can honestly say I've never lost $1 million on paper and never have I felt I had made a mistake. Time will prove me right. Is trusting you with my retirement dollars -- and the question is, would McEwen accept 100 million shares of stock in exchange for Los Azules? Cost to buyer $70 million to $100 million and our outstanding shares would drop to 205 million. Please buy MUX on the market. Just 5 million shares would send a message. Maybe better return on investment than drilling right now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [16] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Could you say that again? I'm sorry, I didn't fully follow that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [17] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The question was: would McEwen accept 100 million shares of stock in exchange for Los Azules? Cost to buyer $70 million to $100 million and our outstanding shares would drop to 205 million. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [18] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let me rephrase that. He's suggesting if we sold Los Azules, would we use the proceeds to buy back our shares? At the moment we would -- our plan is to develop our pipeline of projects, and that would be the first place we would be putting our money, not doing a share buyback. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [19] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brett Reiss, Janney Montgomery Scott. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brett Reiss, Janney Montgomery Scott - Analyst [20] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good morning. Mr. McEwen, could you update us on the political and country risk situation in Argentina and how it impacts our investments in that theater? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [21] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Certainly, Brett; thank you for the question. Political risk in Argentina comes from the standpoint of them changing the rules of the game, imposing higher levels of tax. There is an election this fall, in October. The current President is at the end of her term and is unable to be reelected. There are two candidates running. They are both aware that the country needs foreign exchange and foreign investments. So we're expecting to see some changes, including a devaluation that would have a positive impact on our operations, particularly our operating expenses because it would be in local currency. So you're starting to see some players in the market looking at Argentina and seeing how they can position themselves for better days coming ahead. I don't see the political risk getting any worse than what it is. I feel that we've -- if you want to say we're at the bottom of that specter, and it's going to get better as we go forward. It might not get better quickly, but it will get better. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brett Reiss, Janney Montgomery Scott - Analyst [22] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Right. I appreciate that. But if the candidate from the present party in power gets reelected, you feel the reality of Argentina is such that that person's policies will be more business-friendly than the current President? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [23] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I do, Brett. It's just the reality of the situation is they're financially constrained and they have to come out with and invite foreign capital back into the country. So yes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brett Reiss, Janney Montgomery Scott - Analyst [24] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great. Thanks for taking my questions. I appreciate it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [25] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next question is from [Bob Polis]. Can you give an update on Visible Gold? And are you considering a reverse split of MUX? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [26] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In terms of Visible Gold, it's -- they're exploring in northern Quebec. We have a small investment in that firm, and I expect that we'll be hearing drill results sometime in the fall. In terms of reverse split, we mentioned it earlier on in the question period, that it's our -- it's not something -- we'd like to do other things before considering a reverse split to get our share price up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [27] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Lightner, private investor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Lightner, - Private Investor [28] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a follow-up question actually to the previous one. You mentioned that you'd like to do other things other than reverse split, possibly consolidation. I'm sorry for my ignorance, but what do you mean by consolidation? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [29] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. A reverse split and a consolidation are basically the same thing. So that is our -- it's one of the options on the table, but it's ranked quite a bit lower than other options at this moment that we're looking at. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Lightner, - Private Investor [30] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh, I see. So you're not looking at reverse split and you're not looking at consolidation? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [31] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Lightner, - Private Investor [32] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, thanks for clarifying. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [33] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Operator Instructions) [Bill Towers], private investor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Towers, - Private Investor [34] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, thanks, Rob, for hosting this call. I thought the quarter was quite good, so a couple quick questions. I guess the first one is as far as moving Gold Bar forward. I know you're coming up with a project plan in the next couple months. But I guess is -- do you look forward towards providing some -- I guess, will you be doing another drill program next year or is there -- or is the plan to really begin preparing towards moving that towards production? Then I guess the second question I have is as far as additional cost cuts. I saw that you weren't able to quite push down your overhead costs vis-a-vis last year. But you have additional cost cuts in mind both in Mexico and I guess, to a lesser degree, in Argentina that will move the needle a little bit further rather than -- I know a lot of the gains have been through higher grade. But if you could just talk a little bit about some of those initiatives, that would be greatly appreciated. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [35] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, thank you, Bill. Regarding Gold Bar, our strategy is to push the permitting forward and then explore after we've got the permit in hand. In terms of cost-cutting, in Argentina that's in the hands of our partner, Hochschild Mining. They are -- they have done a good job this year containing costs, and they hopefully will be able to reduce costs further, although they are high. But they're hoping to bring those down. In Mexico, better than 50% of our costs can be -- they're as a result of the contractors we're using. We'll be having discussions with them to see how we can save money with their contract, and preserve their profits but maybe operate more efficiently. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Towers, - Private Investor [36] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. No, that's kind of -- I guess the other question I have is really as far as an exchange rate. We've seen the Mexican peso go down substantially really in the last few weeks, the same thing with the Argentinian peso. Do you see this having a positive impact on second half of the year's results? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perry Ing, McEwen Mining Inc. - VP, CFO [37] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, Bill; it's Perry. Yes, certainly when we started the year we were budgeting a peso exchange rate of about 14.5, I believe; and we're now seeing 16.25 to 16.5, and that second leg down was in the recent three to four weeks. So I do expect you'll see additional cost savings there. We're seeing, just in terms of the mining input costs, the typical consumables like cyanide, we're starting to see more flexibility there. I think we will be pressing all of our suppliers to reduce our input costs, so I think we will be squeezing every dollar we can on the input cost side. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Towers, - Private Investor [38] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. Well, thank you so much, guys. I appreciate it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [39] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You're next question is from [Michael Midlach]: Rob, outside of El Gallo 2 and the Gold Bar project, what is the plan to grow production? Is MUX clear to pursue M&A? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [40] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We've maintained a fairly active surveillance of the market and looked at a number of situations. Continue to believe that an M&A transaction -- the right one -- would improve our presence in the market and our opportunities to grow the Company and to satisfy our goals of getting into the S&P 500. Next question. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [41] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Ralph Wagner], Wagner Investment. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Wagner, Wagner Investment - Analyst [42] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, good morning. Yes, Rob, your last question partially answers the question. I wrote you an email to the Company; didn't get an answer back yet. This whole area of consolidation what has been going on in Canada, especially people like New Oban and Osisko and other people buying and trying to build new companies, a lot of them are very smart people just like you, have gone forward and consolidating companies by bringing three or four companies together into one. You have done that before. You have a lot of experience. So the question is: why have not we moved earlier or right now, something more active? Without any inside information, I'm just trying to get this Company off that $1 share. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [43] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. That's our objective as well, Ralph. As I said earlier, we've been -- looked at a number of situations. We haven't found the one that we thought would best benefit our shareholders. I'm quite confident that we'll see something in the marketplace. Really looking for a situation where there might be a company with a large shareholder or shareholders that are similarly inclined to our thinking of no debt or low debt, relatively low cost, and protecting the share capital. I've observed a number of transactions where people have been very focused on building their project, and they financed at the bottom of the market and diluted their shareholders incredibly. And that definitely isn't in the interest of our shareholders or myself. So it's looking for like-minded investors in another company that feels by combining with ourselves we can build a larger and stronger Company. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Wagner, Wagner Investment - Analyst [44] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. Stay here on that, and then does your final follow-up, just how do you see the next six to 18 months? How do you see the gold market emerging? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [45] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I see it getting better. There's been a lot of cost reductions and rationalization going on in the industry. Exchange rates have played a very big role in the profitability of the industry that's appearing. I do think that somewhere along the way the dollar is going to resume its fall against gold, and we'll see a lot more investors starting to look at gold is a place to have some of their financial assets. And this run, when it does start, will go higher than the last run. So I think a positive period for gold. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Wagner, Wagner Investment - Analyst [46] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great. Thank you very much. Just one other comment if you might. Any thoughts on this emergence of the importance of Bitgold offering? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [47] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's another product out there. They've merged with GoldMoney. The fellow who ran GoldMoney, James Turk, was a very good fellow. If he saw this as a good place to put his money, it's probably an interesting product look at. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Wagner, Wagner Investment - Analyst [48] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. Thank you very much. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [49] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Martin Tremblay], private investor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Martin Tremblay, - Private Investor [50] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, good morning, Robert. I've got two questions. You referred to reverse split as probably like a last resort. You said you're looking at other options. Can you give us more details of two or three other options that you're looking at? Can you expand on that a little bit? My other question is in regards to dividend payment. Wouldn't it have been a better idea to just to repurchase shares of the Company? It seems to me that that would have been -- me as an investor, I would have preferred that. And getting $0.005 per share, I understand -- yes, we can reinvest the money in, but I'm afraid it's not going to make a dent on the value of the stock. So those would be my two questions if you don't mind expanding on that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [51] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sure. Alternatives -- and they are going to be very broad. One would be an M&A transaction, combining with another company to build something that has more presence in the market and more diversified production base. Another is just continuing to improve on the economics of our projects, and through exploration. I recognize those are broad terms, but that's the extent of those alternatives. In terms of the dividend, if our first payment is going to be $1.5 million approximately, that would buy a little less than 2 million shares. I'm not sure that would have had much of an impact on the market. The return to shareholders was within our ability, and I think it's a good discipline. There is no tax on the distribution, as well. So it's about the same impact. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Martin Tremblay, - Private Investor [52] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Very good. Thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [53] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. McEwen for closing remarks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob McEwen, McEwen Mining Inc. - Chairman, CEO [54] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you very much, operator. I wish to thank everybody who joined us for the call, and good luck with your investments going forward. We're going to see better prices. Thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [55] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.
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