Sandfire Resources Limited

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Sandfire Resources FY26 Financial Results Conference call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. If you wish to ask a question, you'll 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. Brendan Harris, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. Please go ahead.

Thank you and hi everyone. Welcome to our results call for the 2026 financial year. Our executive team is here with me today for the Q&A which we'll get to after Megan has taken you through our financial results and Jason has provided an update on our exploration program that spans Spain, Portugal, Botswana and South Australia now that we're on the ground in the Kunamona. doing the work needed to confirm the value proposition for our exciting copper-gold project, Calcaroo. I should also note that our President of Exploration, Scott Thomas, joins us for the Q&A and he's looking forward to discussing the growing success of our infill, extension and regional drilling program and the mineralised systems we've intercepted at Natsa and Mateo that are highly encouraging. But before we start, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we stand, the Whadjuk people of the Noongar Nation, as well as the First Nations peoples of the lands on which we conduct our business, with how I respect their elders and leaders past, present and emerging. As always, we'll start with safety. As I mentioned in our call in July, our thrift declined incrementally to 1.6 at 30 June, a level that compares very favourably with global benchmarks. Yet despite this, it was also our most difficult year, as we reported our first-ever fatality when our 34-year-old colleague Ivan Manuel Vazquez-Barrido from Constructionist Mary was fatally injured at our Magdalena mine on 25 February. We must continue to believe it's possible to have a workplace that is injury-free, where systems, processes and culture come together to ensure even the lowest probability, high consequence risks are understood, identified, controlled every hour of every day, 365 days a year. And it goes without saying that belief will never be enough. We have to do the work, which in our case is covered by three very distinct and interconnected workstreams. The continued refinement and embedment of our systems and processes, further strengthening our critical controls via our Principal Hazards Program of Work. The infield training we're undertaking, which we refer to as our Don't Walk Past Program of Work, that's designed to reinforce behavioural expectations for all employees and contractors, which in turn connects with the psychological safety training we have underway that defines the shared accountability we all have to create a working environment where everyone feels safe to speak up and intervene whenever something just doesn't look or feel right irrespective of a team member's seniority or title. That's because nothing will ever be more important than the health and wellbeing of our people. With that, I'll hand over to Megan to walk you through our record financial results, increasingly strong balance sheet and the confidence we have in our business, which collectively underpinned our board's decision to declare our first dividend in more than four years. Megan, over to you.

Thank you, Brendan, and good morning to everyone on the call. I'm pleased to present our financial results for FY26. As Brendan touched on, we have delivered record operating and financial results for the year. underpinned by robust operating performance across the business and buoyant commodity markets. We have delivered record sales revenue of $1.7 billion and underlying EBITDA of $867 million for a more than three-fold increase in underlying profit to $350 million and a statutory profit of $354 million. Digging deeper, at Mateo, Underlying operations EBITDA increased by 45% to $461 million at a 62% margin as the operation capitalised on strong commodity markets and low TCR fees. The operation achieved record mill throughput of 6.1 million tonnes for record copper equivalent production of 59.7 thousand tonnes in financial year 26. This has allowed the operation to continue realising economies of scale benefits, albeit also experiencing a 16% increase in underlying operating unit costs to $46 per tonne, or within 5% of annual guidance, or $44 per tonne. Primarily driven by the transition of the higher cost A4 mine from development into production, a significant increase in price-linked royalties and higher power and fuel prices. Notwithstanding these pressures, Mateo remained highly cost competitive, achieving an implied C1 unit cost of $1 a pound across FY26. At Master, underlying operations EBITDA increased by 71% to $499 million at a 55% margin, primarily driven by higher commodity prices and lower TCR fees, which more than offset a modest increase in underlying operating costs. primarily associated with the strengthening of the Euro when measured against the US dollar, for an underlying operating unit cost of $89 per tonne, also within 5% of annual guidance. Despite these pressures, our valuable by-products of silver, zinc and lead ensure that MATSA remains highly cost competitive, achieving an implied C1 unit cost of $0.88 per pound of copper across financial year 26. Below the line, our DNA expense of $318 million was broadly consistent with last year. Our underlying net finance expense of $19.6 million decreased from $44 million in financial year 25, reflecting the full repayment of debt during the year and transition to a net cash balance of $353 million at 30 June 2026. Our underlying income tax expense increased to $178.9 million, reflecting the significant improvement in the group's profitability for an underlying effective tax rate of 34%. The group's underlying effective tax rate continues to be impacted by the limited ability to recognise benefits associated with tax losses in Australia and the USA. It should also be noted that the Government of Botswana enacted new tax legislation effective from 1 July 2026. which includes a 2.5% increase in the minimum tax rate that can be applied and removes the upfront capital deduction for capital investment whereby mine development expenditure will now be deductible at an annual rate equal to the greater of 100% of capital investment divided by the expected number of years of activity to which the expenditure relates or 10% per annum. Importantly, the increase in the minimum tax rate is not expected to have a significant impact on Mateo, given the profitability of the asset, whilst the removal of the upfront deduction for capital investment will not have a material impact over the life of mine, following the completion of the capital intensity phase and utilisation of all associated capital losses. Total expenditure across the group increased by 11% to $230.6 million as we commenced construction of our new tailing storage facility and procured mining equipment at MAPSA. which was offset by a decrease at Mateo as we completed the A1 pre-feasibility study, the ramp-up of the A4 open pit mine, the Stage 3 lift of our tailings storage facility and our plant de-bottlenecking project. We also invested $5.2 million at Kalkaroo, primarily directed toward the establishment of site infrastructure and commencement of the planned 130km infill and extension drilling program. Our business and balance sheet has been fundamentally transformed across the last two years. We added a significant $750 million to our balance sheet over the past two years, finishing the year with a net cash balance of $353 million, demonstrating the cash-generating capabilities of our quality operations for our shareholders. Our positive operational and financial outcomes have enabled our board to declare success a fully-cracked final dividend of 35 Australian cents per share in respect of financial year 26. This decision has been made in accordance with our unchanged capital management framework, which considers the cash-generating capability of our assets, our expected payments in the September quarter, and the maintenance of a cash buffer, which will allow the group to navigate geopolitical uncertainty while preserving capacity to invest in the business and pursue value-accretive growth opportunities, all with confidence. With that, I'll hand over to Jason to give a summary of the updated mineral resource and ore reserve estimates and the exploration results we released to the market this morning.

Thank you, Megan. I'm pleased to provide a summary of our updated mineral resource and ore reserve estimates which we released today, as well as some exciting new exploration drill results at both MATSA and MATEO. Starting with our resource and reserve update at MATSA, The update today reflects our team's deep and growing knowledge of the mineral systems at MATSA, which has been built upon a foundation of discipline, technical evaluation of historical data, new geophysical surveys and our ongoing infill and extension drilling program. We have added 3.9 million tonnes of new reserves before mining depletion, building on our strong track record of converting resources to reserves. The updated resource and reserve estimates reflect our strong understanding of the geological controls of economic mineralisation in this highly prospective belt. We're particularly pleased to have declared a maiden ore reserve for A1, which is more than offset mining depletion across the complex. The maiden A1 reserve of 5.6 million tonnes at 0.91% copper and 7.4 grams per tonne silver provides approximately one year of additional life at Mateo. The planned development of this resource buys more time for our team to build upon the exciting exploration results that I will talk you through shortly, as we seek to establish a minimum of 15 years reserve life for this high-margin mining complex. I'm also pleased to announce exploration drilling results for a number of near-mine exploration prospects at both Matza and Mateo. Starting with Matza, exploration drilling at Magdalena West continues to evaluate the potential for extensions to the Matza II West mineralised system and the western extent of the Matza-Olivo lens. We have completed a total of 46 near-mine exploration drill holes at Magdalena West, which has successfully identified mineralisation up to 200 metres to the west of the new FY26 resource boundary. Exploration Drilling will continue to evaluate the continuity, distribution and the extent of mineralisation within the Masa II West trend. Also at Masa, we have confirmed a new high-grade polymetallic massive sulphide intersection at the La Juliana Prospect near Aguas Benitez. The prospect is located approximately 700 metres southeast of the Castillejitos ore body and was targeted following interpretation of a downhole electromagnetic anomaly identified from earlier drilling. Drilling results at La Juliana includes hole CCM90 with a 14.4 metre intersection at 0.4% copper, 14.5% zinc 4.4% lead, 0.6 grams per tonne gold and 158 grams per tonne silver. The prospective stratigraphic corridor remains underexplored over approximately 1 to 2 kilometres in strike length and warrants further evaluation as a very high priority target. At Mateo, exploration drilling at the A1 deposit has continued to evaluate the down dip extensions of mineralisation beyond the current resource and reserve footprint. Seven drill holes were completed north of the existing A1 resource, with copper mineralisation intersected in each of the seven drill holes, indicating that the A1 system remains open beyond currently defined limits and continues to demonstrate potential for further growth. Follow-up drilling is planned to further test the continuity, geometry, and the extent of mineralisation within the northern extension area. And lastly, Exploration Drilling at April West has been designed to evaluate the prospectivity of copper mineralisation associated with the contact between the Dakar Formation and the Ngaka Pan Formation, or NPF for short. Three diamond drill holes were completed to test the continuity of historically identified mineralisation located approximately 800 metres west of the A4 deposit. Copper mineralisation was intersected in drill hole A4DD318 which included 19 metres at 1.1% copper and 9.5 grams per tonne silver from 742 metres down hole. This supports the interpretation of a suitable host environment along the NPF contact for a potentially large mineralode system and provides encouragement that this geological setting may represent an additional exploration opportunity adjacent to the existing A4 mine that has the potential to support a semi-bulk underground mining operation that could substantially extend the life of Mateo. The exciting results that we've released today reinforce our confidence in the prospectivity of the Iberian pyrite and Kalahari copper belts and the potential for new discoveries. Looking ahead to FY27, we are planning to step up drilling by 27% to a planned 55km across the Iberian pyrite and the Kalahari copper belts. In addition to this, we are excited by the Strategic Exploration Alliance with Havilah Resources in the Kurnamana Province, where despite recent heavy rainfall, the Havilah team recently commenced drilling at the Bookstam Prospect. At Kalkaroo, our project team has made a great start in establishing infrastructure required for drilling and pre-feasibility study activities. The team commenced the circa 130 kilometre drilling program during the period and since this time access to the site has been significantly impacted by rainfall in the region. However we are looking forward to executing the largest drilling campaign on this exciting deposit since its discovery. I'd like to thank our talented exploration projects and technical teams for their dedicated dedication and tenacity in producing these exciting results. And with that, I'll hand back to Brendan.

Thanks, Jason and Megan. You've both had, obviously, a great 12 months, and there's so much to be proud of as we enter the 2027 financial year from a position of strength. Looking ahead, I'm sure everyone's seen we've now provided our full suite of usual guidance for the coming year, extending to cost and capital expenditure. Importantly, the numbers are aligned with prior commentaries. production guidance is unchanged. Operating unit costs for both maps from Mateo are expected to be $1 per tonne higher year-on-year at $90 and $47 per tonne of ore processed respectively, with both assets operating at less than $1 per pound of payable copper on a C1 basis. Similarly, total capital expenditure is expected to increase to $299 million, marginally below the circa one-third increase we flagged in July. These funds are being invested wisely, with the year-on-year differential largely accounted for by the $51 million we intend to invest at Kalkaroo, which Jason just spoke to, where, as he mentioned, we believe we've created one of the best risk-reward equations in the industry. But there are and can be no shortcuts. To unlock the potential of this project, we have to do the work, and as you can expect, there will be a steady stream of use flow over the next 12 months once we get back on the ground and the rigs are spinning. Separately, I should note that the planned increase in deferred waste stripping at Mateo represents another temporary peak in the profile, with the level of development expected to fall sharply again in FY28, as depicted on slide 29 of our investor slide deck. From a discretionary perspective, we have another aggressive year of exploration planned for FY27. with an unrelenting focus on the drill bit in the Iberian, Pyrite and Tallahari Copper Belt and the Coonamona Province as we strive to define the 15 years of reserve life that we crave. And finally, I can confirm that the strategic review of our 87% interest in Sandfire America, which of course owns the 100% stake of the Black Butte project, is very well advanced and we expect to provide a formal update before the end of the current quarter. So in summary, we have the talented people. We have two increasingly well-positioned assets producing the commodities the world needs at the right time. Our balance sheet is strong. We're returning excess capital to shareholders in the form of a fully frank dividend. And over the next 12 to 18 months, we've got the opportunity to better define and unlock what we believe to be one of, if not the best, copper and gold development opportunity in Australia. With that, let's go to questions. Thank you.

Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star 2. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up your handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Nick Tryon with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Brendan and team. My question relates to slide 22 and 28 of your presentation deck where you've outlined a production target for FY29. They're relatively flat for each asset. Can you just talk to the error bars around those targets? What opportunities do you see in the business to materially increase those profiles above what you've talked to in those slides?

Thanks, Mitch. Very good question. I think we've provided these profiles out to sort of back into 29 previously. and of course I think what you'll notice is that nothing's changed other than the prices that are used to actually create a copper equivalent figure, a metal equivalent number. So again, a good story for us and it's easy to forget that only around 12 to 18 months ago, having done a lot of work through the optimisation material, we bought forward a substantial amount of metal production. and filled the gap that was based in the original feasibility study. And so, again, that is built into those numbers. The error band, look, truthfully, it's been very clearly espoused to me by some of our larger shareholders that it wasn't customary to use point estimates and that providing some sort of a range actually reflects just the inherent risk in a business. That's all those ranges represent. The midpoints are still effectively a good indication of how we see the P50 equation playing out. At the moment, at Mateo, I think it is fair to say that we have some scope in terms of throughput capacity, but we're not of a view that at the moment it makes sense for us to run that hard or harder than the sort of 5.6 million tonne per annum optimised rate because, if anything, it means that we can focus on recovery we can make sure we maximise the value of every tonne that we put through the mill. And of course, in the event of any, I guess, outcomes that are beyond our control, such as rain or wet weather or other factors, we have some surge capacity and we think that's a good way to run that business. Now, of course, if some of the things play out as we're hoping, and Jason sort of touched on some of those in terms of the exploration potential, and start to give us that real confidence in the longevity beyond the current defined reserve limits and push us out towards our 15 years, I think it's fair to say that we have that capacity to really question whether there is incremental opportunity at Mateo. And I call it virtually free in terms of the capacity we could bring on and is somewhat proven. MATSA, again, easy to underestimate, but the team has... done an incredibly good job over recent years to prove the nameplate capacity of that plant. And you'll see in the numbers this year, we're really pushing hard to make sure we're matching both the mine and the mill at those extended or capacity type rates. And for us, that's a really good story. The most important thing for us is consistency and predictability. You know, yes, it's always nice to have growth in a business. but volatility is actually, I think, the biggest issue on a rating and the way our market prices and equity. So for us, it's more important to prove that we can be consistent and predictable and manage our costs, maximise margin, feed that through to our balance sheet and return excess capital to shareholders if we can't find better ways to put that money to work. So I hope that helps. Jason, anything you'd like to add to that?

The only thing I'd add to that is really just reinforcing the stability aspect that Brendan was talking about. If you look at it, and Brendan mentioned it before, this guidance or that outlook out multi-year is consistent with prior years, and that does reflect that we do have quite a robust and annual planning cycle. And what we're seeing at the moment with a lot of our in-field drilling, particularly at MATSA, our understanding of the ore body at both MATSA and Mateo, it's really giving us a robust, optimised sort of three to five-year plan out in front of us. And then a lot of things that Brendan was talking about there, particularly around near-mine exploration, it really starts to bring in optionality, right, to bring in a higher value of all sources should they present themselves, which is really important for us. The only other point I would make is we do have a very active business improvement philosophy and approach here. We do think, and we are doing a lot of work on options to lift recoveries further at both of our assets. and that's the one thing and I touched on that back at the quarterly is that we see particularly at Mateo and also at MATSA that value proposition and we see particularly elevating our recovery is an area that we can add value for the future.

Thanks Mitch. Thank you and just my second question just around the capital management. framework, obviously a very strong dividend, which clearly people have liked. But I just wanted to understand what the board has sort of arrived at in the net cash position, as I think that the company should retain going forward, and in colour, a dividend like that would be appreciated. Thank you.

Look, thank you. And look, one thing I'll just state beforehand to Megan, just at the high sort of order, is we in no way have a philosophy of sort of desiring that she'll be hit on a day. We just want to be known for being very disciplined with the way in which we think about capital, the way we allocate it, the types of, if you like, opportunities that we'll cherish, like Calcaroo, where, as I mentioned, we think the structure... So Calcaroo is a fantastic project opportunity. The structure of the deal is what makes it great. It makes it great both in terms of the potential it provides for us, but also for Havilah. And that win-win is actually, we think, what's going to work. hopefully very, very well for our shareholders. So I just make that overriding statement. It's about the long-term disciplined allocation of capital that matters for us, Megan.

Thanks, Brendan, and thanks for the question, Mitch. And probably just to start with, there's no change to our capital management framework that we published for the first time about a year ago. In terms of the considerations that the board worked through in writing at a dividend of Australian 35 cents per share. Clearly, we're in a strong net cash position at the end of June with 353 million net cash balance. And there was also a contemplation of financial year 27 quarter one upcoming payments that tend to be a bit seasonal in nature. So you've got your bonus payments, you've got insurance premiums and a number of sort of seasonal payments that tend to occur in Q1. So we've taken that into account. We've also been consistent in expressing our desire to maintain a robust balance sheet and that targeted net cash position. But given current geopolitical uncertainty, we've also maintained a little bit more of a cash buffer and we've taken that into account in contemplating what was an appropriate amount to return to shareholders. and so 353 million net cash with that dividend we'll still be maintaining an appropriate prudent net cash buffer going into financial year 27 to ensure that we can confidently continue to invest in our business across our exploration portfolio and the opportunities that lie within. and doing so in a way that we aren't risking the balance sheet. I should note, just in closing, we still maintain US$226 million of ranking credits available to support further efficient distribution.

Yeah, thanks, Megan. And maybe just mention a couple of things that I might add. So, Megan mentioned those ranking credits. It's easy to forget those ranking credits diminish in value in real terms every day they stay on our balance sheet. So we think it's a It's a prudent decision given we've got the capacity to start directing them back to our shareholders. But please make no mistake that we believe very strongly that our shareholders would prefer that we prioritise the growth of our business into what is a marketplace that is going to demand units, but it's about finding the right units at the right price that have an ability to deliver an excess return for our shareholders. Having built that additional buffer that Megan talked to, given the economic climate, what we're showing you above that level is we are very happy to give excess capital back to shareholders, return it as long as there's an effective way and efficient way to do so. And I think that's really what people should focus on, is that is our intention. We've said that for three years now. Now, we don't believe in building just a war chest on a balance sheet. That's not our philosophy. If we can't use capital... and our shareholders have the ability to put that to work and generate an excess return, that's what should happen. If and when down the track we have an opportunity to invest and the return is compelling, we should go back to our shareholders and have a conversation. So there's no change to that view and hopefully that helps. But we're not going to be a company that's going to define a payout ratio. I understand there are people who would like that, but if you think about the fact set of Sanfire and the way that our balance sheet works, the way our earnings and cash flows are generated, the jurisdictions in which they're generated, what that means in the fullness of time for franking, it wouldn't be financially rational for us to do so. Of course, going back to that point of primacy, that we believe that there is demand from our shareholders for us to look for opportunities to grow the business. Thanks, Mitch. Thank you.

Thank you. Your next question comes from Jane Dredfern with RBC. Please go ahead.

Hi, Brendan and Tim. Good morning. Congratulations on a strong result and a nice dividend. We covered the dividend in detail, so I think we're good there. Maybe just ask about Black Butte and the strategic review. In the event that Sandfire does decide to traverse its stake in Black Butte, is it reasonable to assume that the sale proceeds may be used to pay special dividends to shareholders? Thank you.

James, great question. And forgive me, I'm going to be really quite short on this one. Samphire America is a publicly listed company. It's not appropriate for me to speculate one way or another as to where this process is going to land. All I'd say to you is that you can assume that we will continue to be very disciplined with all of the decisions we make and we would always be very disciplined how we think about capital on our balance sheet that is in excess of our requirements. So apologies for skirting the issue there, but I'm sure you can understand.

That's totally fine, Brendan. Thank you. Maybe just one more on the dividend, just not to lay with the point, but You mentioned that we're not going to have a, or Sandfly's not going to have a defined power ratio going forward and that, you know, the dividends will remain discretionary based on having a strong balance sheet and so on. But is there any other guidance you can provide just in terms of forecasting dividends for us going forward, please?

Yeah, look, and I don't want to sound cute, but I was sort of thinking about this again this morning and I think about some of the analysts that I sort of worked alongside, you know, close to 20 years ago when there was no such thing as guidance on anything. So I sort of reflect on these things a lot. We sit back and think deeply about just what's rational. And for us as a company, being in the privileged position of being a producer, supplying commodities into a world that's going to need more and more of what we produce every day is a good place to be. We should be aiming to build... a business that can provide more of those units over time, which means we should be looking for opportunities to invest. It is just very hard to find those opportunities at the moment and that is a reality. We don't believe in just building a war chest because if we do, that capital sits there and it diminishes in real terms every day in terms of the value to our shareholders. Again, if there's an opportunity for people to invest to generate that excess return through time, it's better that they have the opportunity to do that. I think Megan's given you some really good guidance and that is that whereas we've said historically once we get to a dollar of net cash on the balance sheet, we'll look to return excess capital, the world has got quite a lot of uncertainty attached to it today. The geopolitical risk is certainly elevated as an example whilst we're very confident at the moment in terms of the availability of fuel and supplies and general consumables for our business. with the conflict in the Middle East, things can change quickly. And so the fabric in the very short term could change quickly. So we've said quite openly that we think, in a rough rule of thumb, in the order of $300 million of additional capital on our balance sheet, i.e. net cash, is a wise position to hold. Again, as we go above that, a decision every day, and obviously particularly as you go to these milestones of results and half-year reporting and so on. But as we move above that level, it's likely that we will consider that to be in excess of our needs unless there's a better use for those funds. So hopefully that gives you something that you can work on from a spreadsheet perspective. But again, it's just not logical for us to provide a payout ratio. No, it does. It does. Thank you, Brendan. Appreciate that. Good man. Thank you, James.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Paul Young with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Hi Brendan, thank you Jason, I hope you're all well. A little bit of information you provided today on exploration and resource and reserve updates which is great. First observation is in all the drilling you've done over the last 12 months or so, just to say it doesn't look like it's been actually reflected yet in the resource and reserve, particularly and Magdalena have gone backwards a little bit or declined a little bit. So first question is around just the update on a go for it. I presume we have to wait another 12 months to see the draw results reflected in the resources at MATA?

Yeah, look, very good observation, Paul. Jason reminds me every day because I get impatient that, you know, your R&R statement is sort of lagging by about six to nine months. So you're really only seeing the results of six to nine months ago coming into the R&R statement that you see today, and that's because you've got to build it right through your long-term planning cycle and obviously how that then feeds into our statement. And you'll notice on the presentation, and I think it's really well illustrated, that for instance in the deeps at Magdalena Down Dip, not only have we confirmed mineralisation that extends beyond the limits of the current resource reserve boundaries, but we've identified commercial intercepts of mineralisation. So we know that the numbers are going to grow there. Obviously, as we can get on the ground, Paul, you get the demonstrate at the surface, locked away, which is really procedural. The development drive across from Olivo and all of those things in between, will we be able to pepper that ground? So yes, there's already drill holes, which we are yet to incorporate in the statements, and there's a lot of work to do to really fill that out. So yeah, I hope that helps Paul.

Yeah, it does. So maybe a further question just around, you know, just assessing some of the potential upside. And Jason went through around, you know, talking through specifically at Mateo and the intercepts at depth at A4, which are really interesting. We've also got the high-grade zones at A1, although, you know, albeit that looks like it'd be quite high-stripped. and A1 is high strength. And their La Juliana looks really interesting because that's very high ground, particularly on the zinc side. And Magdalena at depth, you know, popper looks good, zinc doesn't. And it looks actually quite like it's thinning out a little bit as you go deeper in Magdalena. So I'm just curious around how you summarize actually the prospectivity here. And am I right by thinking that La Juliana and actually the results at at A4 are probably the most interesting.

I'm going to throw to the team, and I'm really keen to get Scott on the call. But what I would say is that I think you're right. We're excited about the A4 Underground. Jason will talk to that. The Juliana looks fascinating, actually, and there's more to it. It's more than the grade that matters, and Scott will talk to that. The only thing I'd say when you look at A1, you're right, the strip's higher, but it may be that you punch off the open pit and you've got good grade. The key thing for there is proving continuity, so I still think there's a lot of potential. What we haven't really talked about is, you know, six months ago, sort of goes back to your earlier question, we accelerated the infilling extension drilling at T3 and A4 that's underway now that's yet to be captured in any of this data as well. But maybe I'll throw to Scott first off on the Juliana. It is one hole. We're not wanting to dismiss that, but there are attributes and characteristics of that whole that really have Scott and the team interested. Just for those who don't know Scott, along with John Garrity, they're the chaps who took their knowledge from DeGrosse, was one of the small sort of expat representative teams that went across there where we knew we needed real geoscientific skill and power. they have been in the underground remodeling the whole of that sequence across Magdalena, Aguas Tanita, Sotiel over the last number of years. Now obviously we've promoted Scott to head up exploration globally. The key thing when he talks about Juliana, it's important that he understands these ore bodies. He actually understands the way that they present themselves probably in a way that not many people do. So Scott, over to you.

Thanks Brendan and thanks Paul for the question. When it comes to to the Iberian Pirate Belt and the Kalahari as well. We've always believed in the prospectivity that we have in those two regions and those two belts. And we have spent a fair bit of time over the last 12 months restructuring our geology group to include our near mine exploration underneath the exploration umbrella. And Brendan has said we've doubled down on the drill bit, but the only reason we've been able to do that is because we do have that technical foundation in place now. And over the last few years at Magdalena, We spend a lot of time really trying to understand that whole body at both Agostinos and Magdalena. I'm sorry, at Mazza. The lithology, the structural geology, the mineralization domains, all that's been rebuilt from the ground up, which has really given us that platform to establish a really competitive and aggressive drill program in FY26 that will continue into FY27. When it comes to La Fuliana, Whilst it's a really good result for us, 14 metres, 14% zinc, 0.4% copper, the really interesting bit for us is the mineral assemblage and the type of mineral species that we have there in those particular ratios. And what we generally see when we see that type of mineral assemblage is that it's actually part of a bigger system. So whilst that result on its own is quite encouraging, The fact that it's that type of mineral species in that setting, that's what's really driving a bit of excitement for us around that La Juliana prospect.

I think it's fair to say, Scott, that from your perspective, it's very rare to see such a large slab as Valerite and Galena. It's not part of the redox system that merges from zinc to lead to copper. It's unusual to see it unless it presents. And obviously, we've got the EM plate that we're yet to test.

Correct. So this intercept is built off of the previous EM plate that we had, and we do know that drilling and EM in this part of the belt is very successful for us. But what Brendan is trying to allude to here is that when we see this mineral assemblage across this redox boundary, we generally see some copper speciation as well and some higher-grade copper cores that are associated with a periphery of high-grade zinc.

So that's probably, I think, La Juliana, one hole, a lot of work to do. Just maybe quickly before we go to Jason, on Magdalena down there, I understand Paul's questioning around thinning, but you've got quite a different perspective, so maybe if you can just quickly summarise that.

Yeah, at Magdalena, I think that was thinning, we generally see some pinching and swelling in those oil systems as well. So whilst we have seen some lower grades and some thinner intercepts, they are still commercial. And we do have an untested EM plate as well down flange on the existing intercepts. So there's still a lot of information there to be excited about and encouraging for us as an exploration group.

Yes, so Paul, before we go to Jason, I'm keeping with Magdalena. As we know now, we've confirmed that the mineralised system extends well beyond the limits of the defined resource and reserves. We haven't been able to test fully the area because of the Dermacea, so the tenure above is yet to be, if you like, awarded to Sandpire. So we can't go and find an ore body beneath there and not hold the tenure. So we're hoping that that should be resolved. It's sort of a day-by-day proposition, so that will start to open that up. Jason, just on A4 underground.

If we address your queries there, Paul, about Matera in particular and A4 and A1, Firstly, your observations are broadly correct. So if you look at it, we're very excited about the potential of our A4 West and a potential, and as I mentioned in my speech earlier there, a potential sort of semi-bulk underground concept there sitting below the A4 open pit. If you look at particularly what we're excited about, now while the grades are sitting around the 1% mark, It's the scale that this opportunity presents that's really interesting for us. So particularly if we're looking at intercepts around 20 metres, 20 metres plus in some cases, what it means for us is tonnes per vertical metre from an underground mining opportunity is really elevated, particularly when you compare to other mines that have been mined in the belt using underground methods. And what that really does is potentially has a significant reduction in unit costs, as well as the ability to scale up and have potential to fill the mill at a five to six million ton per annum rate. So that's what we're looking at at the moment. Scott and his team are finishing off their drilling program. We will assess those opportunities. And depending on the results, we'll look at whether that moves into a study phase or not. If I move on to A1, you're absolutely right. If you look at it, it is a high stripping ratio all-body already. With the down-dip extensions, we expect that we will hit those open pit economic limits at some point in time. But with some of the grades that we're seeing, they're probably higher in tenor than we've seen anywhere else in the belt. So it does represent potential for a smaller scale, higher grade underground concept there towards the end of open pit mining at A1. So that's where our thinking is largely. But overall, very excited, particularly about the A4 opportunities.

Yeah, okay, very interesting. Requires another discussion, I think. Lastly, just more broadly, but just lastly for me, the hole at A4, is that your deepest hole in Botswana today?

No, it's not. We have some further holes that are a long strike or a long trend, and if you look at it broadly, as this zone moves towards the west from A4, it does get marginally deeper, so it is shallow plunging, but it is closer to surface and also closer to the base of the A4 open pit back towards the west.

And maybe, Paul, just I'm cognizant we're taking quite a bit of time, but I'm sure there's a lot of people who are interested in this. We want it to do itself. We are drilling literally as we speak. We're stepping back towards the boundaries of the pit, back towards where we already know we have a large, deeper NPF level of mineralisation. We would expect to have results to talk to when we report our next quarterly results.

Okay. All right. All very interesting and fascinating. Thanks. Thanks all. Thank you, Paul.

Thank you. Your next question comes from Adam Baker with Macquarie. Please go ahead.

Morning, guys. Thanks for the time. Just maybe at the MAPA resource update, I mean, just the noticeable part there is the big uptick in resources at Sotio, about 17 million tonnes, due to the improved plant recovery, high metal prices. which increase NSR. I guess just how does this change your thinking about the satellite mine moving forward? I mean, you know, historically it's done between 150 to 300 kt. You know, is it time to re-evaluate things here or, you know, you're happy with how things are going at the moment on the back of this resource update? Thanks.

We're always looking, Adam, as you'd imagine, as to how we optimise that the overall sort of sequencing of these three mines that of course may in time be supplemented by others. It's a complicated blending, if you like, matrix that the team is always looking to optimize. I think the thing that's difficult in this is, of course, you know, we've run the Hill of Value work. We've talked to you about that before. It's always trying to assess what delivers the best long-term value outcome for our shareholders, which is a combination of cash flow today versus longer-term opportunity and extension of life. I think the thing that complicates all of this is, you know, whether it's the Juliana or, you know, another sort of Castellahitas-type opportunity, it's easy to forget we don't need a lot of high-grade material to create the sort of blending outcomes which substantially increase life because we've got SoftEL. So SoftEL provides a really important sort of blending opportunity for us as we think about that life extension and moving towards 15 years. So there's probably not much more that we really want to add at this stage. We've talked before that we're unlikely to be the leader of trying to develop hydrometh-type technology and solutions for Sotiel. We're always monitoring that space and the developments in the region, but we don't feel we've seen a lot of progress on that front. But again, I think it's just about how do we optimise this over time. Part of that's going to be heavily reliant on the sorts of exploration results we see, both within the existing Magdalena and Agustinillas footprints, but also some of these near mine opportunities

Peter, thank you. And just on the map outlook for the three years, you know, 89 to 99, you know, just looking at the past few years, I mean, we have had that kind of drop off in copper metal output, you know, looking at midpoint of FY27, about 52 kT of copper, where it's you know, in FY25, that's about 55, but obviously with a better offsetting, got an increase in zinc. You know, I'm just trying to understand, I guess, how this trend is continuing moving forward. Are we still going to get an increase in zinc metal contribution, you know, out to FY29, or is this the kind of level that we're seeing in FY26, sorry, in FY27 forecasts that were expected in this new outlook? Thank you.

No, thank you, Adam. Good question again. Look, we expect at this stage relatively steady, perhaps slightly better as we move towards the back of the profile. So, no, that trend we don't expect to continue. Look, I might just add, because we typically get asked about the production profile also within the year, just to reiterate that we expect production to be more evenly spread across the quarters. So, you know, I think what that really is illustrative of is that comment we've made a number of times now that we are better set up operationally across our mining complex, whether it be in Botswana or Spain, than we have been for three years. We've got more degrees of freedom at MATSA with Olivo and San Pedro in production. With A4 now deeply into the oil body, we've really opened up those high-grade zones both across T3 and A4, so we're effectively oil-bound for circa 24 months. So not only do we see a good steady profile out to to the back end of this decade. But, you know, we see a lower risk profile barring something unforeseen, you know, an event outside of our control. We see a lower risk profile for the business as we're entering 27 and going into 28. So, you know, the business is well positioned.

That's great. Thanks for the input. I'll hand it over to you. Thanks, Adam.

Thank you. Your next question comes from Daniel Morgan with Byron Joey. Please go ahead.

Hi Brendan, Jason and Tim. Just on Mateo, page 29 of the presentation shows a big drop in stripping in FY28. I'm just wondering based on the current reserves which you've outlined today, what is the life of my strip at the current time? I appreciate that this obviously will change over time, but what's the current strip? Thanks.

Yeah, I think Jason's about six, is it? Yeah, on the consolidated, it's about six and a half. Six and a half, yep. And so there hasn't been any material shift. We've remodelled, we've learned a lot around the ore bodies, but there are no material shifts in terms of how these things play through. We're always, as you know, hesitant to provide this driven profile too far beyond two years because, as you've seen already since we commenced, that things happen in the business, we optimise, and we make decisions, as we should, continually to maximise long-term shareholder value based on how circumstances have prevailed, either at a point in time or over a period of time. So hopefully that helps. I think it's an important chart for you to see how these things develop.

Yeah, of course. And maybe just to that point, just in the reserve statements, it looks like you're using $4.50 a pound copper, 122 zinc and 40 an ounce silver. which one could argue is appearing more conservative by the day. Are the ore reserves, you know, how sensitive are they to these assumptions? And if prices are higher, how do you make sure you retain the optionality? Thank you.

Yeah, look, I'll pass over to Jason. Maybe just a couple of comments up front. You know, I mentioned earlier how we made the decision a few months back because we completed the A1 drilling and we sort of had a bit of money in the kitty and we had some drill rigs sitting around. So we actually chose to accelerate and bring forth the infill and extension drilling at T3 and A4. Part of that reason is basically wanting to make sure that we have drilling information earlier, given the lags I talked about earlier when answering one of Paul's questions, such that as we're thinking about price and the world's thinking about price, to make sure we've got as much information as we need to ensure that we can optimise our plans around that. and so it is something we are spending a lot of time thinking about. I'll pass to Jason because the potential impacts of price are very different depending on the NSR itself of the blocks or the sequences we're mining. Maybe Jason if you quickly go across the complex.

Building on that as well, Brendan's right, it depends on the nature of the ore body and particularly the amount of low grade or low NSR material that kind of sits on the periphery of a lot of these ore bodies and it also is influenced by our mining methods. So if I step through underground selected mining methods at MATSA, there's limited impact there at Magdalena because overall it's a high NSR, high margin ore body. So we don't see it's overly sensitive to increases in pricing assumptions. This is where Aguas Pinitas and Sothiel are different in that they have more stock work material and more low NSR material available sitting outside or beyond our existing mining boundaries. So there is more of an impact at Aguas Pinitas. There's certainly a large impact to be had there when you see our resource to reserve conversion at Sothiel but it depends on the pricing there and particularly we start to see It's on our sensitivity mine plans that we actually look at. We see there there's real interest or potential increase at $5.50 or getting close to $6 at Sotiel. If I go to Mateo, Mateo is likely to impact T3 and A4 by increasing the strike length of those two open pits. and Brendan touched on there. We've actually been doing a lot of drilling work to promote inferred resources in these areas so we can progressively bring them in over time and we've already done the conceptual life and mine plans there but we do know when we need to make those decisions at what point in mine life as well. At A1, I think A1, I touched on it before, it's already high strip ratio. It will depend on the grade of the material that we're seeing down dip. I think there's scope to increase that pit size somewhat, but probably more likely we'll transition to an underground concept if there's continuity at all further down.

Thanks, Dan. Thank you so much for your perspective. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. Your next question comes from Tim Hoff with Canaccord. Please go ahead.

Okay, thanks for the discussion. It's been a really good one around mutter. That's a really simple one there. You've got a significant resource base, and that converts to reserves. At what point, or is there a point that you'd actually look to that and say it needs an expansion to be able to process that volume of material?

Thanks, Tim. Look, yeah, I've got a fairly simple answer to that one. We're working really hard to push towards this sort of arbitrary 15 years of life. For want of a better sort of answer, we believe that's where an asset moves into that sort of quasi-long life territory where your investors can have confidence that you're going to capture cycles and irrespective of short-term volatility, deliver the long-term value proposition. The last thing we would want to do is to get to 15 years and then add capacity and actually end up back where we started. Now, if we're really successful, as successful as we could hope to be, and we start to see potential well beyond that, of course, there are things that we can start to discuss and debate. But, you know, we're a long way from that. And I think, you know, one of the analysts I think this morning made the point, you know, some really nice information here, but there's a lot of work to do. And you probably noticed in my speech, I talk about needing to do the work. We acknowledge there's a lot of work to do. We're seeing really encouraging results. but a lot of work yet to do to prove the 15 years of life, and we've got to prove that to ourselves, and then we've got to convince you.

Yep, and keep those drill routes spinning. That's the other question, is around TCRCs. We saw them go negative at Nosteo. Obviously, that's a historical sort of deal at Musta. But what are your off-tech partners sort of talking about at the moment for indications for this next year? housing fund.

Thanks for the question, Tim. So at MATSA, as you're aware, the concentrates are subject to long-term off-take agreements. In respect to calendar year 26, those rates are locked in with copper TCRCs at zero and zero and zinc at $85 a tonne, so that'll prevail for the remainder of calendar year 26, while Mateo is fully exposed, i.e. not under long-term offtake. At Mateo, last quarterly, we provided some colour around the progress under our recent sales tender, through which we locked in effectively 70%, 80% of calendar year 26 sales and around 70% of calendar year 27 sales. Through that process, we've seen these come in the range of around, on average, minus $100 or thereabouts a ton for 2026, with a slight step down in 2027. Now, there's still a portion of our concentrates in the tail, let's call it 30%, that will be subject to spot sales, and we are hearing of some favourable terms that are being secured in the market with some TCR fees in the range of anywhere between minus $100 and minus $200 per tonne. And that gives us some flexibility and some options for our 2027 sales, which are at spot.

Fantastic. Thanks for that.

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr Harris for any closing remarks.

Look, apologies. I'm somewhat embarrassed that we've taken the full hour. I know it's a really busy time. I know some of the questions were answered with lengthy sort of discussions, but hopefully in the areas that are of real interest to you. You know, really, really appreciate your time. We're looking forward to seeing many of you as we get out on the road over the next week or two. We're presenting at Copper to the World and ADU next week, so we're looking forward to telling more of our story. but again, really appreciate all of the interest. I think we've had a good year but humility is a really important thing for us here and we're staying humble and focused on the basics and we want to get better at those every day. Thanks again everyone. Take care.

Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.