Evolution Mining Limited

Thank you, Rachel. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to today's conference call with Evolution Mining. As Rachel said, my name is Peter O'Connor. I am General Manager of Investor Relations at Evolution Mining. Today, we have lodged four announcements with the ASX platform. Firstly, the September quarter FY23 quarterly production update, an expiration update covering our cow, mangari, and also our annual report for FY23 and our sustainability report for FY23. We have four members of our leadership team from Evolution Mining attending the call today to talk to specifically the first two of those announcements, the quarterly update and also the exploration report. In attendance, we have our Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Laurie Conway, our Chief Operating Officer, Bob Fulker, our Chief Financial Officer, Barry Vandermeer, and our VP of Exploration Discovery, Glenn Masterman. And with that, Laurie, over to you.

Thank you, Peter. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us as we outline the results for the September quarter as released on the ASX this morning. Prior to discussing our performance for the quarter, I want to comment on the current gold price. We know that there are many drivers to the gold price, and one of these is geopolitical unrest. That said, the ongoing situation in Israel, which is contributing to a higher gold price, is one of the drivers that we're not comfortable with. The civil unrest and atrocities which is resulting in such devastation to so many people, including loss of life, is deeply saddening and we sincerely hope the situation is able to be resolved promptly. For this reason, we're a bit more subdued about the benefits we are receiving from the higher spot gold price today. At the June quarterly and our full year financial results, I outlined that we work to finish FY23 so as to set up set us up to deliver improved results and financial performance in FY24 and beyond. The September quarter has seen us track to that plan. On the sustainability front, a recordable injury frequency reduced further to 8.3, continuing the trend of recent quarters. We also confirmed during the quarter that we had reduced our emissions in FY23 by 11.2% over the FY20 baseline. This places us well on track to achieve our commitment of a 30% reduction by 2030. At the end of the first quarter, we remain on track to deliver our guidance of 770,000 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,370 per ounce plus minus 5%. We knew that the first quarter was going to be a low-production and high-cost quarter due to a number of factors, including the ramp-up at Ernest Henry, the planned shutdowns at a number of our processing facilities and the utilisation of lower-grade material, including some stockpile material, which carry higher non-cash inventory values. For the quarter, we produced 158,000 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,612 per ounce. As we move through the year, we'll see production increase as we access more higher-grade material at Cowell and Red Lake, and the AISC will trend down. Bob will go through our operational performance shortly. Financially, we generated an operating cash flow of $280 million at a rate of over $1,700 per ounce. This is a 42% increase over the June quarter. However, it reflects the benefits of Ernest Henry returning to the reliable cash contributor that it was before the impacts of the weather event in March. All operations were cash positive before major capital, generating a combined $245 million, which shows that the business is returning to an improved cash generation position. This will increase further as we move through the year and should push us well over the billion-dollar annual rate. If the spot price is maintained, then cash flows will be materially higher again and contribute further to our deleveraging of the balance sheet. On the projects front, we made good progress at Mangari 4.2 project, previously known as the Future Growth Project, with the main EPC contract awarded during the quarter. The contract locks away over 60% of the total project costs. However, more importantly, we've been able to confirm the construction will be within the original project schedule and budget while the required workforce has been secured, as has the associated accommodation. The project team had a kick-off meeting with the contractor last week and activities will ramp up in the coming months. When we approved the project, we talked about the potential to grow the resource base, targeting underground opportunities to support the ability to sustain for longer the 200,000 ounces per annum post-expansion production rate. Today we announced some excellent drilling results from two new structures within the Kandana Mining Centre at Genesis and Solomon. These results give us confidence in the potential for longer periods of higher-grade material being fed to the expanded plant. Just as exciting are the results at Cowl in the underground mine, with significant results between Delwini and Regal showing upside potential outside the existing mine resource. Glenn will take you through these results soon, but what it does confirm is that the organic growth opportunities we outlined at our Investor Day have much more upside potential and we'll continue to work on these opportunities to further improve the financial returns of the projects and the assets. I'll now hand you over to Bob for an update on the operations.

Thanks, Laurie, and good morning, everyone. As Laurie mentioned, our safety is trending nicely. All operations are currently dedicated to further improvements through their safety improvement plans and implementing an online critical control verification system. Production in the September quarter of 158,000 ounces was consistent with the previous quarter and we expect quarterly production to improve through FY24. Notable highlights for the quarter were Ernest Henry back to normal operation. Operating mine cash flow improved to $280 million for the quarter. and the Mangari 4.2 growth project commenced and remains on schedule and budget. Turning to Cal, their cash flow improved significantly during the quarter, and we expect this trend to continue through the remainder of the year. The high-grade underground mine project is now in ramp-up phase to circa a million tonnes this year, and will underpin the 18% lift in production. Capital to spend is also forecast to be significantly lower. The CNL achievements for the quarter was on the scheduled completion of the planned processing plant maintenance, the accommodation village becoming fully operational, and paste delivered underground has commenced. In summary, CAL has returned to the substantial cash generator for the group, generating $112 million in operating on cash flow in the September quarter, combined with a reducing capital expenditure profile. Ernest Henry is on track to deliver production and cost guidance. They have successfully restored production to normal operating levels as guided with 20,000 ounces of gold and 13.5,000 tonnes of copper produced for the quarter. Operating mine cash flow improved significantly to 110.6 million for the quarter. They also delivered a record underground development both under evolution and prior ownership. with an impressive 3,114 litres completed during the quarter. This is a testament to the site team's continued focus on improvement. The future growth plans continue to progress, and the life extension feasibility study remains on schedule for delivery in the March FY25 quarter. Over to Red Lake. They remain on track to deliver our full-year guidance. The September quarter production was in line with the previously guided range of 15% to 19% of the FY24 production. and the quarterly production is expected to improve as the year progresses. Workforce reductions were completed during the quarter to align headcount with the production fleet requirements. This represents an annual saving of approximately $12 million. Remediation work has progressed nicely to ensure the future or continuity from a coastal mine. The work program highlighted in the figure on page five of the September quarter outlines the immediate solution of the number three pass and a near-term solution of the raised board number four pass. This pass is scheduled for completion in the December quarter. In the longer term, the ramp breakthrough will provide an alternative for both ore haulage and mine access. Pleasingly, the oil and sustaining cost reduced by 16% compared to the previous quarter for an AISC of $2,552 per ounce, with the underlying cost trending to improve. so cost trend continuing to improve. We remain on track for the FY24 AISC guidance of $2,000 Australian per ounce. A key highlight for the quarter was the significant improvement in the operating mine cash flow to $27 million Australian. This was the best operating mine cash flow in almost three years. In conclusion, Red Lake has right-sized the workforce, delivered positive operating mine cash flow, addressed the near-term haulage constraints and remains on track to meet FY24 guidance in production and cost. Mangari's production is on track to meet this year's guidance. The September quarter was in line with expectations given the reduced ore availability during the ramp-up at the Paradon mining hub. Mill throughput was maintained by the processing of stockpiled ore. In coming quarters, we will see improved production and a reduction of the stockpiled ore processed reversing a non-cash inventory charge seen in the September quarter. The new Paradigm Mining Hub is expected to achieve full ore production during the December quarter and will contribute to the higher quarterly production at Mangarra. Mount Rawdon is on track to deliver FY24 production guidance and delivered consistent production in the September quarter. They continue to make a valuable contribution to the group, generating $8.2 million in operating mine cash flow. In summary, We remain on track to achieve our FY24 production and all-in sustaining cost guidance. The September quarter was in line with our expectations given the resumption of normal production at Ernest Henry and the planned maintenance activity at a number of the operations. Pleasingly, all operations were cash flow positive at the operating mine level before major capital with $245 million generated. Thank you for your time and I'll pass it over to Glenn for an exploration update.