Fortuna Silver Mines (FSM) 40-F2023 FY Annual report (Canada)

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 40-F

​

OR

​

​

For the fiscal year ended: December 31, 2023 Commission File Number: 001-35297

FORTUNA SILVER MINES INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

​

N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English (if applicable))

​

British Columbia, Canada

(Province or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

​

200 Burrard Street, Suite 650

Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3L6, Canada

604-484-4085

(Address and telephone number of Registrant’s principal executive offices)

​

National Corporate Research, Ltd.

10 East 40^th Street, 10^th Floor

New York, New York 10016

212-947-7200

(Name, address (including zip code) and telephone number (including area code)

of agent for service in the United States)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act.

None

(Title of Class)

​

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act.

None

(Title of Class)

For annual reports, indicate by check mark the information filed with this Form:

☑ Annual information form ☑ Audited annual financial statements

​

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report:

There were 306,587,630 common shares with no par value outstanding as of December 31, 2023.

​

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports); and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

Yes ☑ No ◻

​

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files).

Yes ☑ No ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Emerging growth company ☐

​

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the Registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

◻

† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.

☑

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.

☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b).

☐

​

​

​

DISCLOSURE REGARDING CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Disclosure Controls and Procedures.

Disclosure controls and procedures are defined in Rule 13a-15(e) and Rule 15d-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) as those controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the annual filings and interim filings and other reports filed or submitted by Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (the “Company”) under the Exchange Act is duly recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in rules and forms of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the Company’s reports and filings is accumulated and communicated to management, including the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

The Company evaluated, with the participation of its CEO and CFO, the effectiveness of its disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2023. Based on that evaluation, the CEO and the CFO have concluded that, as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 40-F, the disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in the Company’s annual filings and interim filings and other reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within time periods specified in SEC rules and forms and is accumulated and communicated to management, including the CEO and CFO, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures will detect or uncover every situation involving the failure of persons within the Company and its subsidiaries to disclose material information otherwise required to be set forth in the Company’s periodic reports.  The Company’s disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in the reports that the Company files or submits under the Exchange Act is communicated to management to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.

Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) and Rule 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) and has designed such internal controls over financial reporting to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board.

In designing and evaluating the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, the Company’s management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its reasonable judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Because of its inherent limitations, internal controls over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risks that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies and procedures may deteriorate.

Management assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023.  In making this assessment, management used the Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.  Based on this assessment, management concluded that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2023.  

​

See “Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting” in the Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, included as Exhibit 99.3 to this Annual Report on Form 40-F.  The Company’s auditors have issued an attestation report on management’s assessment of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.  See “Attestation Report of the Registered Public Accounting Firm” below.

Attestation Report of the Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. The Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 has been audited by KPMG LLP, Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Audit Firm ID 85. The required report is included in the “Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm,” that accompanies the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements as at and for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 40-F in Exhibit 99.2.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, there were no changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

NOTICES PURSUANT TO REGULATION BTR

None.

​

IDENTIFICATION OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE

​

The Company has a separately-designated standing audit committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Exchange Act.  The members of the audit committee are Kylie Dickson, Alfredo Sillau and David Farrell.  The board of directors has determined that each of Kylie Dickson, Alfredo Sillau and David Farrell is independent, as that term is defined in Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act and the Listed Company Manual of the New York Stock Exchange.  

​

AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT

​

The board of directors of the Company has determined that Kylie Dickson, a member of the Company’s audit committee, qualifies as an audit committee financial expert for purposes of paragraph (8) of General Instruction B to Form 40-F.  The SEC has indicated that the designation of Kylie Dickson as an audit committee financial expert does not: (i) make her an “expert” for any purpose, (ii) impose any duties, obligations or liabilities on her that are greater than those imposed on members of the audit committee and the board of directors who do not carry this designation, and (iii) or affect the duties, obligations or liabilities of any other member of the audit committee or the board of directors.

​

CODE OF ETHICS

The Company has adopted a “code of ethics” (as that term is defined in Form 40-F), entitled the “Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and Whistle-Blower Policy”, that applies to all of its directors, officers, employees, and consultants including its principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, and persons performing similar functions.

The Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and Whistle-Blower Policy is available for viewing on the Company’s website at www.fortunasilver.com under “About Company / Corporate Governance”.

​

​

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES

​

The required disclosure is included under the heading “Audit Committee” in the Company’s Annual Information Form for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 40-F in Exhibit 99.1.

​

​

PRE-APPROVAL POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The auditors of the Company obtain, as necessary, the pre-approval of the Audit Committee for any anticipated additional services required of the auditors for the coming fiscal year.  If other service requirements arise during the year, the Audit Committee will pre-approve such services at that time, prior to the commencement of such services.  During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, the Audit Committee did not approve any audit-related, tax or other services pursuant to paragraph (c) (7) (i) (C) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X, with the exception of certain financial statement preparation services relating to the statutory audits of certain of the Company's subsidiaries, the fees for which represented less than 5% of total fees for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023.

OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS

​

The Company does not have any off-balance sheet arrangements required to be disclosed in this Annual Report on Form 40-F.

​

MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE

The Company is currently not required to disclose the information required by Section 1503(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The Company is a “foreign private issuer” as defined in Rule 3b-4 under the Exchange Act and Rule 405 under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Company’s common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”).  Sections 103.00, 303A.00 and 303A.11 of the NYSE Listed Company Manual permit foreign private issuers to follow home country practices in lieu of certain provisions of the NYSE Listed Company Manual.  A foreign private issuer that follows home country practices in lieu of certain provisions of the NYSE Listed Company Manual must disclose any significant ways in which its corporate governance practices differ from those followed by domestic companies either on its website or in the annual report that it distributes to shareholders in the United States.  A description of the significant ways in which the Company’s governance practices differ from those followed by domestic companies pursuant to NYSE standards is disclosed on the Company’s website at www.fortunasilver.com under “Company / Corporate Governance / New York Stock Exchange”.

The Company’s corporate governance practices, as described on its website, are consistent with the laws, customs and practices in Canada.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

Exhibits 99.1, 99.2 and 99.3 to this Annual Report on Form 40-F for the year ended December 31, 2023 are incorporated by reference into the Registration Statement on Form F-10 (Commission File No. 333-237897) of the Company.

UNDERTAKING

The Company undertakes to make available, in person or by telephone, representatives to respond to inquiries made by the SEC staff, and to furnish promptly, when requested to do so by the SEC staff, information relating to: the securities registered pursuant to Form 40-F; the securities in relation to which the obligation to file an annual report on Form 40-F arises; or transactions in said securities.

​

​

CONSENT TO SERVICE OF PROCESS

A Form F-X signed by the Company and its agent for service of process has been previously filed with the SEC together with the Company’s Registration Statement on Form 40-F (File No. 001-35297) in connection with its securities registered on such form.

Any changes to the name or address of the agent for service of process of the Company shall be communicated promptly to the SEC by an amendment to the Form F-X referencing the file number of the Company.

​

​

​

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Exchange Act, the Company certifies that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form 40-F and has duly caused this annual report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereto duly authorized.

​

​

​

​

​

EXHIBIT INDEX

​

​

​