Northern Star Resources Limited

Good morning and thanks for joining us. With me today is Chief Operating Officer Simon Jester and Chief Financial Officer Ryan Gurner. I am pleased to present the group's March quarter performance, despite adverse weather having an impact. With these events now behind us, we are focused on maintaining the strong operational momentum so far seen in the June quarter. And I am particularly proud of our people who demonstrated resilience during the period and delivered our results in a safe manner. Thank you. For the March quarter, we sold 401,000 ounces of gold at an all-in-sustaining cost of Australian dollars, $1,844 an ounce, generating underlying free cash flow of $143 million, which is up 40% from the December quarter. Each of our production centres remains in a positive free cash flow position, and as a group, we remain financially resilient billion. This financial strength allows us to fund all of our growth investments, exploration activities and capital management initiatives. As you can see in our results, KCGM stands out this quarter, providing a glimpse of what's in store for this asset going forward. KCGM, our largest and lowest cost asset, delivered a groups highest free cash flow per ounce. This performance is driven by increased access to the high-grade Gold Pike North material, an area we will be mining for the next five years. Getting access to this material was a multi-year effort, but the financial returns have been exceptional, and the three-year effort was well worth it. For the KCGM mill expansion, the enabling works were completed and on-site construction advancing to plant. Exciting to see this activity underway at KCGM, which will double the plant's throughput to 27 million tonnes per annum and lift production to 900,000 ounces per annum by FY29. And this will establish KCGM as a top five global gold mine. For FY24, we expect to produce 1.6 to 1.75 million ounces of gold at an early sustaining cost of Australian dollars, $1,810 to $1,860 an ounce. an ounce. Before I hand to Simon, Pogo continued to perform well with net mine cash flow of $21 million, bringing its full year contribution to date of $90 million. Quarterly gold sales were 59,000 ounces at an early sustaining cost of US$1,567 an ounce. During the quarter, Pogo had a plan shut as well as experienced some unplanned downsizing, which has since been resolved. Grades were lower than expected due to stoke mine sequencing, although grades have increased so far during the June quarter. And pleasingly, mine development rates continue to strengthen, averaging a monthly rate of around 1,600 metres a month from five development jumbos. Simon will now speak to the Australian operations.

Thank you, Stuart. For the Kalgoorlie Production Centre, including Casey Jam, Karasu Dam, Kanana Bell and South Kalgoorlie, We sold 227,000 ounces of gold, up 3%, at an Australian all-in sustaining cost of $1,592 an ounce, down 5%. This production delivered a mine operating cash flow of $302 million, up 5%, quarter on quarter. on the Casey Gem Mill expansion, plus $32 million on Casey Gem open pit mine development and the new tail storage facility, which has a 147 million tonne capacity. At Casey Gem, open pit material movement was slightly lower than our planned movements at 15.8 million tonnes in the quarter, due to rain and prioritisation of the movement to Golden Pike North, Arroyo Brown Hill and the East Wall. The Open Pit team has been successfully managing the priorities well with another 30,000 ounces mined from Golden Pike North. We remain on track to regain full access to Golden Pike North in FY25. Underground mining volumes for the Kalgoorlie region were flat at 1.51 million tonnes and 2.5 grams to deliver 123,000 ounces. The higher grade was driven from Casey Gem and Karasu Dam as we regained access to improved scheduled areas. KCGEM's underground operations increased development 16% to 3.8 kilometres for the quarter, with the FIM underground area achieving its first mined ore during the quarter. The development will continue to ramp up quarter on quarter as a key lead indicator for opening up new mining fronts, followed by production increases. The Karasu Dam underground mines all performed well with 53,000 ounces mined in the quarter. Open pit movements increased 10% to 1.1 million BCMs despite significant and constant rain impacting results. The Kalgoorlie operations increased mine ore volumes while a paste plant at South Kalgoorlie was successfully commissioned during the quarter to ensure maximum extraction of the high-grade plus 5 grams per tonne motor room ore area. Processing volumes in the Kalgoorlie Production Centre reduced 15% from a combination of planned major mill shutdowns, unplanned regional power interruptions in Kalgoorlie and significant rain across the region, causing interruptions to maintenance and the supply chain. Despite these challenges, KCGM's gold increased 13% quarter on quarter to 127,000 ounces as underground and open pit mine grades improved. Pleasingly, the recovery at Casey Gem also improved 2% from a range of improvements across the plant. Canal Nabel had significant power outages during the quarter from the grid, while Karasu Dam milling was also impacted by rain. The Casey Gem Mill expansion spent the $95 million with staged handover work areas to the major contractor. The primary crusher excavation was completed with the first concrete pour completed during April. The new mill footprint and coarse ore stockpile areas are on track to be handed over in the June quarter. The engineering and design works are progressing well with 35% complete and remain on track. We are very pleased with the on-ground construction activities which have commenced on time and to plant. At our Yandall production centre, including Jundee, Thunderbox and Bronzewing, we sold 114,000 ounces of gold at an Australian oil and sustaining cost of $2,070 an ounce. This production delivered a mine operating cash flow of $101 million, while we spent $64 million on growth capital projects. Primarily, $21 million was spent on the Aurelia open pit. At our Jundi operation, development advanced for 6.9 kilometres with 780,000 tonnes of ore mined and 73,000 ounces. Processing achieved above nameplate mill throughput despite significant rain impacts, which meant reagents to site were impacted. The mill head grade was lower due to a drawdown of low-grade stocks and mine head grade. The Jundi renewable project progressed well with the 16 megawatt solar farm and 12 megawatt battery to be commissioned early in the June quarter. The 24 megawatt wind farm foundations have all been poured and we are waiting for the large crane to install the turbines during H1 of FY25. The Thunderbox underground operation achieved 490,000 tonnes of ore mined at a slightly higher head grade of 1.8 grams per tonne. The Wonder Underground mine ramped up throughout its first full quarter of operation, averaging 292 metres a month, and will be on all during the German quarter. This is a great start by Northern Star Mining Services and is already putting this mine well ahead of budget. For the quarter, the underground and open pit operations successfully mined 1.37 million tonnes of ore above what the Thunderbox process plant milled. At the Thunderbox process plant, we milled 1.13 million tonnes for the quarter and sold 45,000 ounces of gold. The throughput averaged 735 tonnes per hour for the quarter, Availability was a low 70% for the quarter, with a major shutdown completed in February, followed by significant conveyor belt issues and a lack of ability to rectify with the major lightning and rain events. Our ball field was also flooded, leading to a lack of water getting to the process plant. The focus is on achieving a step change in mill availability. improvements made in Q3 are resulting in increased runtime. Our goal is to stabilise throughput above 5 million tonnes per annum while we address availability across the plan. I would now like to pass over to Ryan, our Chief Financial Officer, to discuss the financials.

Thanks, Simon. Good morning, all. As demonstrated in today's quarterly results, Northern Star remains in a robust financial position. Our balance sheet remains strong as set out in Table 4, Page 9, with cash and bullion of $1.1 billion and remain in a net cash position of $174 million at 31 March. Despite the challenges faced during the quarter, our assets continue to generate positive free cash with the group's growth capital being funded from operations. Figure 9 on Page 10 sets out the company's cash and bullion investments movement for the quarter, with the key elements being Quarter on quarter total cost reduction of both the cash cost and all the sustaining cost level, resulting in the business generating $524 million of cash flow from operations. Prudent capital expenditure totaling $298 million, $38 million of exploration investment and $45 million of lease payments resulted in banking $143 million of free cash flow for the quarter. Importantly, all production centres continue to generate positive net mine for cash flow. Growth capital investments in the quarter related to key growth projects, including waste removal at Finn South and the East Wall at Casey Gem, development at Fim Underground, development at Palfrey Underground and Woolworth Open Pit at Karasu, development at Aurelia Open Pit and Wonder Underground, and $95 million for the Casey Gem plant expansion. which includes work performed and commitments in respect of the enabling works, which are now completed, with construction activities at the site being progressed. Total spend for FY24 is expected to be approximately $415 million, with the reduced spend relating to the timing of some procurement packages being finalised. It is important to note that this is not expected to impact the date for practical completion, with engineering, design and construction remaining on track as planned. Also during the quarter, the company paid its interim FY24 dividend of 15 cents per share, totalling $169 million during the quarter. On other financial matters, year-to-date depreciation and amortisation of 695 per ounce is at the midpoint of the guidance range of 650 to 750 an ounce, and is expected to remain within that guidance range for the full year. For the quarter non-cash inventory charges for the group, $12 million, with the majority of these non-cash inventory charges relating to the milling of historical stockpiles at Casey Gem and are a component of IBIDAR. In the March quarter, we commenced allocating mining costs associated with additions to the long-term inventory stockpiles at Casey Gem. Prior to the approval for the development of the Casey Gem Mill Expansion Project, which was made in June 2023, these stockpiles were carried at nil book value As previously communicated, processing of this material is scheduled to commence post completion of the mill expansion in FY26 and will generate significant cash flows to the business. The effect of this change has resulted in a $9 million net credit to cash cost per ounce in respect of Q1 and Q2, which has been recorded in the March quarter. Physicals relating to these long term stockpiles over the last three quarters of the financial year are provided on page 12 of the report. In respect to the company's on-market share buyback, no additional shares were purchased on market following the company's half-year results release. Up to $131 million remains outstanding with the program open until September this year. Notwithstanding the challenges during the quarter, we are confident of a strong finish to the year in respect of production, lower costs and robust free cash generation. From the delivery of higher milk tonnes and graded from KCGEM, higher grades at Jundi and increased processing output at Thunderbolts and Pogo, positioning our portfolio for significant cash flow generation, aligning to our company's purpose of delivering superior returns to our shareholders. I will now pass you back to the moderator for Q&A. Thanks very much.