kinda long but I'll post it any way:
Fortuna Silver Mines (FSM) Q3 2021 Earnings Call Transcript
snippet:
This has been a protracted complex negotiation where we achieved an arrangement to the satisfaction of the company and the sale authorities. Now what has painted a good quarter is this new issue where the Mexican Ministry of Environment, Semarnat, has on November 10, denied our request for a 10-year extension of the environmental permit of our San Jose Mine. This renewal process is something we started on May of this year. Semarnat is exciting two main reasons for the denial: one, not receiving requested information from us; and second, that we have an open evaluation for the regularization of 73 ancillary facilities not declared in the original 2009 Environmental Impact Statement.
With respect to the first point, we have already provided proof dating back to 2019, we have been submitting and complied with the share information. And second, we are of a strong view that the regularization of ancillary infrastructure, which is a process that we initiated in 2019 and is currently in the hands of Semarnat and evaluates the mitigation of impacts for a greenhouse, a soccer field, a weather station, a core check and drill core storage facilities, an office, a 40,000-liter fuel truck, a power transformer and other infrastructure of similar nature cannot provide grounds for a denial. Additionally, our legal team is also of a strong view that the regularization of 73 works does not form part of the request for the extension. The deadline for Semarnat to provide a response to our 10-year extension application expired on Saturday, October 23.
This was informed on a press release dated October 25. Before the October 23 date and as a precautionary measure, the company, we initiated legal actions in Mexican courts and obtained preliminary protection to continue operations considering a potential delay in obtaining the extension for a questionable denial. Our San Jose Mine is currently operating under the protection of these court actions. And we seek to strengthen this protection from the courts with the recent notification received from Semarnat.
Our legal team is evaluating and working on this. Our credit agreement, on our senior bank facility requires that we obtain a permanent injunction or similar protection before November 20. We have engaged with our lenders to provide for the flexibility and time that this circumstance requires. Additionally, we have not exhausted the avenue of dialogue with Semarnat and Mexican authorities.
We are pursuing all avenues available to solve this as soon as we can.
Precious metals accounted for 88% of our $162 million in sales. Silver accounted for 22% of sales. Our cost struck in line with our guidance range for the year at all our operations. San Jose exceeded cost inflation against the comparable quarter driven by lower silver and gold production stemming from lower grades and slightly higher opex of about 7%.
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