Northern Star Resources Limited

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Northern Star June 2026 Quarterly Results Conference Call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr Stuart Tonkin, Managing Director and CEO. Please go ahead.

Good morning and thank you for joining us on the call today. With me on the call is Chief Financial Officer Brian Gurner, Chief Technical Officer Steve McClare and Acting Chief Operating Officer Jim Coxon, whilst Simon Jessup is out of country. I'd like to begin with the most significant highlight for the company in the recent period. The Phimison expansion project is complete. Commissioning is underway, with plans high-end and ramp-up to follow in the coming months. I can't understate how important this milestone is to the business at this time, and I'd like to acknowledge and thank our people and contracting partners who have completed this project on time and to a very high quality over the past three years. The KCGM of the cornerstone asset of Northern Star, now set with production increasing, capital spend decreasing coupled with a reducing hedge bulk, all point to significant cash generation in the near term driving increased shareholder returns. During the June quarter, we sold 433,000 $2,698 an ounce. All three production centres generated positive net mine cash flow, delivering more than $1.1 billion for the year. Pleasingly, operational improvements were evident across the portfolio, with record mining rates at KCGM, stronger milling performance at Jundi, record quarterly sales at Thunderbox, and another outstanding cash flow performance from Pogo. At KCGM, we achieved record mining volumes with open pit material movement of 88 million tonnes per hour and underground mining of 3.2 million tonnes per hour, both demonstrating the calibre of our owner teams and the intensity of activity growing this premium asset. We're looking forward to showcasing this operation this Sunday prior to the Diggers and Dealers Conference next week. The June quarter marked an important milestone for Northern Star, with KCG and mill expansion completed and entering commissioning on schedule. This represents the transition from project delivery to operations and is a defining step in positioning this business for the next phase of growth. This is a tremendous achievement by our project team over the last three years. Importantly, our operations team have also safely maintained the aged plan to deliver 10.3 million tonnes in FY26. and will be as pleased as anyone to migrate from this aged and unreliable infrastructure to the new processing facility established for future decades of efficient gold production. Reaching the commissioning phase of Stage 1 at KCGM is a significant achievement, and Stage 2 remains on track for completion in the first half of FY27, creating an integrated processing hub that improves gold recovery and a simpler and cheaper operating model there. At the remaining Kaggleley operations, Carrasoo Dam transitions to underground mining and processing of stockpiles as open pit activity concludes at Warbrook. The South Kaggleley and Kananda Bell operations consistently deliver and continue to contribute strong cash flow to the group. Yandel delivered stronger production of both Jundee and Thunderbox in the quarter, with Jundee now operating under a more optimised mining schedule based on year-term cash flow generation. And I credit both Northern Star Team and Burn Cup on the pace at which they have implemented these changes for the benefit of the operation. ATDO improved milling throughput at a rate of 6.5 million tonnes per annum and great uplift from Aurelia and Bannockburn delivered 67,000 ounces of gold salt. Pago operation closed out the year very strong with June quarter sales of 82,000 ounces generating mine operating cash flow of US dollars $177 million in the quarter. Our asking team continues to improve the consistency and quality of this operation, and now with decades of life ahead, FOGO offers significant opportunities to self-fund growth. At any, the project also continues to progress as planned, with managed aquifer recharge trials commencing during the September quarter, and final investment decision remaining targeted for late FY27. During the quarter, the company released its annual mineral resource and oil reserve update at that 31st of March, which delivered 26% growth in resources to 88.9 million ounces at an impressive discovery cost of $23 an ounce, and delivered a 27% increase in reserves to 28.4 million ounces under Peter's significant line life. Importantly, our most significant discovery growth is centred on the large-scale, low-cost assets of KCGM, POGO and HEMI. As we've outlined this morning, we intend to provide FY27 group guidance together with our FY26 financial results in August. The KCGM, all commissioning during August, will provide meaningful operating data from the expanded processing plant. That information will allow us to better assess Overall, we're entering FY27 from a position of strength. The portfolio continues to generate strong cash flow. We've successfully transitioned KCG expansion projects into commissioning, and we focus on delivering a safe and disciplined ramp-up of what will become cornerstone processing health within our portfolio. I'd like to thank our 10,000 employees and contractors. and further underpin the quality platform that Northern Star is today. You are the true contributors to value creation. Keep your sense of humour and thanks very much. I'll now hand over to Ryan.

Thanks, Jude. Good morning, everyone. As demonstrated in today's results, Northern Star remains in a strong financial position as we enter FY27. Our portfolio continues to generate significant cash flow while we invest in the next phase of growth across the business. At 30 June, the company held cash and building of $1.2 billion, and importantly, we achieved this while continuing to invest in our growth projects and returning capital to shareholders through our on-market Share Buyback program, with 129 million of shares purchased during the quarter. In addition, we had $1.75 billion of undrawn corporate facilities available at year end, providing liquidity and flexibility to support our growth objectives. Our operating assets continue to perform strongly from a cash generation perspective. For FY26, all three production centres generated positive net line cash flow, contributing approximately $1.2 billion for the year. As Sue mentioned, Pogo again delivered an outstanding result, generating a record annual net line cash flow of Australian $609 million. demonstrating the value created through the transformation of the asset over the recent years. The company generated significant cash earnings also during FY26, and we expect the final figures to be in the range of $2.86 to $2.9 billion. Turning now to the June quarterly cash movements shown on figure 8, the business generated online free cash flow of $206 million during the quarter, supported by improved operational performance across the portfolio. As Stu discussed earlier, the key milestone during the quarter was the commencement of the commissioning of Stage 1 at KCGEM Mill Expansion Project. Stage 1 of the project entered commissioning on schedule, marking a significant achievement after more than three years of engineering, construction and execution. During FY26, capital expenditure on the project totalled $713 million, while operational readiness expenditure totalled $322 million as we prepared the operation for expanded throughput rates. As we move into FY27, our focus is firmly on safe, disciplined commissioning and ramp-up. The existing processing plant will continue operating through July and August, which tie into the expanded processing facility scheduled for September. Commissioning will follow a measured approach designed to ensure safe, reliable and consistent operating performance before progressively ramping up throughput. While our immediate priority is the successful commissioning and ramp-up of KCGEM, we continue to progress the next stage of growth at HEMI, where we are focused on advancing permitting, engineering and project development activities. During FY26, expenditure totaled $104 million, with final investment decision anticipated late in FY27. The project remains an important component of Northern Star's long-term growth strategy. Exploration also remained a priority, with FY26 expenditure of $217 million, supporting resource growth, as you mentioned, and mine life extensions across the portfolio. More broadly, we enter FY27 with a strong balance sheet, a portfolio generating significant cash flow and a clear pathway to future growth through both KCGEM and HEMI. Thank you. I'll hand back now to Harmony for Q&A.