McEwen Inc. (MUX) Q4 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

It has fundamentally changed the investment framework for mining in Argentina, and we were among the first to secure these benefits. In October 2025, we released the results of our feasibility study, and I want to walk you through the headline numbers because they tell a compelling story. The base case at $4.35 per pound of copper gives us an after-tax NPV at an 8% discount of 1%. $2.9 billion, a 19.8% RR and a payback of 3.9 years. The project is designed for a 22-year life of project with an average copper cathode production of 205,000 tons per annum in the first five years and 148,000 tons per annum of the full life. Our C1 cash cost comes in at $1.71 per pound and all in sustaining costs at $2.11 per pound. placing Los Azules firmly in the lower half of the global cost curve. But here is what really excites me. At today's copper price of around $5.80 per pound, the economics are dramatically stronger. The NPV more than doubles to $6.3 billion. The IRR jumps to 30%, and the payback shortens to just 2.7 years. The NPV to CapEx ratio moves from just under 1 to 2. Every dollar increase in the copper price adds roughly $2.3 billion to the project NPV. For Max shareholders, that translates to approximately $18 per share of additional value for every dollar move in copper. Importantly, the feasibility study also identified significant upside beyond the base case. There is potential for an additional 33 years' life of mine, adding another 141,000 tons per annum of copper production through either Rio Tinto's Newton technology or a commercial concentrator. When you consider that full potential, you are looking at one of the largest and longest-lived copper assets globally. I want to emphasize something that makes Los Azules stand apart. This project has been designed from...