AIC Mines Limited

I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Aaron Colloran, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Mel. I'll provide a brief overview of the June quarter and then open for questions. The June quarter was a good quarter. As you'll see from the chart on page four, though, page four of the quarterly, it was a good quarter that contained our worst month and our best month. It was a rollercoaster ride of a quarter, but a great effort by the Eloise team to deliver the quarter on guidance and bring the year home on guidance. Thank you to the team at Eloise, but for the record, I don't need the suspense. I'm happy for you to come out of the blocks hard each quarter and then coast home. Eloise produced 3,202 tonnes of copper in con and importantly sold 3,469 tonnes of copper in due to the big stockpile decision we had at the end of March. Costs were down, a great all in sustaining cost result of Aussie $4.58 per pound which translates to US $2.98 a pound sold and an AIC of Aussie $4.90 per pound copper sold as the level of capital spend decreased as the budget year came to a close. So lots of copper sold, plus low costs, saw an excellent cash flow result. Aloise generated net mine cash flow of $16 million after capital expenditure. A great little mine, a truly great little mine. Aloise achieved its quarterly guidance and also full year FY25 guidance. For the full year, Aloise came in 3% above the production target, 5% under the AISC target, and 2% under the AIC target. An amazing level of accuracy there. It's almost as though we know what we're doing. This is the second year and eighth quarter in a row that Eloise has met or exceeded guidance. We do know what we're doing at Eloise. We have a great team at Eloise led by Ben McInerney. Thank you to the team. Turning now to Jericho. During the quarter, the Jericho site-specific environmental authority and associated progressive rehabilitation enclosure plan were approved and a minor amendment to the Aloise environmental authority was also approved. So we now have all the approvals we need for the Jericho mine and the Aloise plant expansion. We are good to go. Good to develop, construct, mine and process. We appointed GR Engineering to construct the new plant items. Earthworks commence in August and construction will commence in October with an expected commissioning period in the December 2026 quarter. One thing I want to reiterate is that although we have engaged GR Engineering to expand the Aloys plant to 1.1 million tonne per annum capacity, Key equipment is being upgraded to one and a half million tonne per annum capacity to allow for a straightforward later expansion. The oversize equipment provides the flexibility to do the second stage expansion quickly and cheaply. We estimate as cheaply as $10 million. Including the oversize equipment upfront avoids higher costs and delays associated with retrofitting or replacing equipment. Given the exploration success we're having at Jericho, and I'll talk more about that later, We are very confident that over time we can ramp up production from Jericho alone to 1.5 million tonnes per annum. Adding the potential for extensions at Eloise and for regional exploration success, I'm confident that we could maintain that rate for well over 10 years. At a 1.5 million tonne per annum throughput rate, copper production is 100% higher than where it is today and operating costs are expected to be 20% lower. Production up and costs down has a big impact on cash flow. It'll be a great asset. The Jericho access drive was at 1549 metres of its planned 3000 metre total distance at the end of the quarter. It remains on schedule to reach first development ore in June 2026. The real highlight at Jericho though was the resource extension and infill drilling we did at the north end at Matilda North, Jolly and Tucker. These chutes are all shaping up as high grade continuous chutes as good as anything in the centre of Jericho. This has important positive implications for the mine ramp up and we are looking at the potential for faster ramp up now. Also, don't overlook the drill hole completed at the Billabong shoot. A 380 metre step out and bang, we hit 4.1 metres, estimated true width, grading 2.4% copper. It was a big quarter for financing, a very big quarter. We locked in US $40 million prepayment facility with Trafigura. We launched a two-trunch $55 million placement to institutional and sophisticated investors. We entered into a $25 million surety bond facility with Swiss Re, and we launched a share purchase plan to raise up to $10 million. There is a lot of information released about those transactions, so I won't cover that again here, other than to say that with only one tranche of the placement issued the second to be issued on shareholder approval at an egm on 20th of august and the spp is still open our issued capital is a bit hard to work out so we have included a reconciliation on page 18 of the quarterly also worth noting is the surety bond facility it's not a big transaction but it's something of a breakthrough transaction for aic mines It's one of the first surety bond facilities to be put in place by a junior mining company and is significantly cheaper and more flexible than the previous arrangement. Less than half the price we were paying previously. Now to guidance. We are expecting a slightly better year in FY26. The guidance ranges are set out on pages 18 and 19 of the quarterly, so I won't read them out here. FY26 should again see good cash flow from LOEs. You'll note, though, my normal caution. The comment on page 18 that achieving the cost guidance will require tight cost control given the increased depth and complexity of operations at LOEs. Don't try to read between the lines here. That is a fair and reasonable statement and is a reflection of our cautious style and that our numbers aren't padded, that's all. Note also that we are currently benefiting from historically high gold prices. Gold revenue is treated as a byproduct credit, so reduces our all in sustaining cost. The AISC guidance assumes a gold price of $5,000 per ounce, which compares to the current price of around $5,150 per ounce, Aussie dollars. A change in the gold price of Aussie $500 an ounce impacts our all in sustaining cost by approximately 10 cents a pound. So long may the current prices last. That concludes my review, so I'll ask the operator to open the lines for questions. Thank you, Mel.

Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Richard Adams, who is a private investor. Please go ahead.