Agnico Eagle Mines Limited

My name is Ludi and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the NECO Eagle Minds Limited Q1 2025 Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press a star followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. And if you would like to withdraw your question, you may press a star followed by the number 2. Thank you. Mr. Amar, I'll gently, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our first quarter conference call this morning. We're pleased to be sharing with you another strong quarter with solid results across the board. Strong production, excellent cost control, record financial results, excellent progress on our growth projects, including our five key value drivers, and some really great exploration results at a number of our minds. Before we jump into the call, I'd like to remind everyone that we will be making a number of forward-looking statements, so please keep that in mind. As we go through the results of the quarter, there are three key messages we want to emphasize. One, we continue to deliver strong overall performance, and we're well positioned to continue to deliver that performance for the rest of the year. Two, we continue to strengthen all areas of our business, and three, we're making great progress on building the foundations of our future growth and future value creation for our owners. Starting with our first quarter operating and financial performance, in a year where gold prices have increased by over $1,000 an ounce, our gold production of 874,000 ounces and our cash costs of $903 per ounce were almost identical to our production and cost numbers in the first quarter of last year. This means we are delivering the full benefit of these rising gold prices to our owners. That's why our owners invest in us, and that's our job to deliver. We do this by delivering solid production and controlling costs safely, responsibly, and reliably. Not surprising, with good operational performance and record gold prices, we continue to deliver record financial results, record operating margins, record adjusted net income, and not just on an absolute basis, but also record adjusted net income on a per share basis. It's the per share metrics that matter, and it's the per share metrics that we will always focus on. The second key takeaway is our progress in strengthening the business. This quarter, we've returned a quarter of a billion dollars to our owners through dividends and share buybacks. At the same time, we've invested in moving forward the best pipeline in the business, we've made record investments in promising exploration, and we've largely eliminated our net debt. We continue to generate record cash flows, and we're well positioned to further increase returns to shareholders. Jamie will be going through our financial performance shortly. The third key takeaway, building the foundations of our future growth, is really the most important and the most exciting takeaway from today's call. An essential element of any quality business is sustainability. This is especially true for a company like Agnico Eagle, where our core strategy revolves around building a long-term, high-quality, sustainable business in the regions in which we operate. We're proud to have just published our 16th annual sustainability report, the highlights of which Carol Plummer, our EVP, People, Environment and Sustainability, will briefly review in a minute. A little later in the presentation, Dominic and Natasha will speak about the steady progress we continue to make on our five key value drivers. Number one, our ongoing work to get detour to over a million ounces a year. Number two, our vision to get Mellartic to over a million ounces a year. Number three, excellent construction progress at Upper Beaver, a brand new mine in a great region that could add over 200,000 ounces a year. Number four, continued great drill results and accelerating on-site activity at Hope Bay, with a target of over 400,000 ounces a year. And finally, five, continued good progress at San Nicolas, a high-grade, high-return copper project in the best mining jurisdiction in Mexico. And finally, Guy Gosselin will spend a few minutes highlighting some of the really excellent and exciting exploration results our team is delivering at some of the most promising ore bodies in the world. With that, I'll turn over the presentation to Carol.

Thank you, Amar, and good morning, everyone. Our 2024 Sustainability Report highlights our global approach and regional focus. Starting with safety, we continued our journey towards zero accidents, focusing on visible felt leadership in the field and identifying and mitigating risk. 2023 was the best year for safety in the company's history, and in 2024 we did not do quite as well. However, all of our sites are focused on reducing harm, and we will continue to focus on safe work in every job every day. Our approach to climate change continued to focus on energy efficiency, technology transition, and increased use of renewable energy. And we remain amongst industry leaders with a GHG intensity of 0.38 tons of CO2 equivalent per ounce, well below the industry average of 0.79. We're working to meet our commitments to reconciliation through the seven pillars of our Reconciliation Action Plan, and we are focused on training and developing our employees, listening and resolving concerns, and engaging frequently, preparing our employees and our sites to succeed. We're very happy to see improved engagement through our employee survey and, importantly, low turnover rates. And with that, I will pass over to James.

Thank you, Carol, and good morning, everyone. We had a great start to the year with another quarter of strong operating results and excellent cost performance, pairing with higher gold prices to drive record financial results, including record revenue of $2.5 billion, record adjusted earnings of $770 million or $1.53 per share, and record adjusted EBITDA of $1.6 billion. Gold production in the first quarter was approximately 874,000 ounces, a total cash cost of $9.03 per ounce, and all in sustaining costs of $1,183 per ounce. Gold production was very similar, as Amar mentioned, to the first quarter of last year. I'm pleased to report the costs were below the low end of our guidance ranges and actually right around where we were in the first quarter of 2024. The lower than expected cash costs were primarily due to higher than expected grades, driving higher gold production at several of our mines, as well as the cost benefit from the weaker Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar when compared to our budgeted assumptions of $138. These cost benefits were partially offset by higher royalty costs related to higher gold prices, and in a rising gold price environment, we do expect the burden of royalty costs to continue to increase. Every $100 increase in the gold price increases our royalty costs by approximately $5 an ounce. For the full year, we are maintaining our cost guidance and expect cash costs to be within the guided range of $915 to $965 per ounce. All in sustaining costs per ounce were lower than the guided range, primarily due to the timing of sustaining capital spend. We are expecting higher all in sustaining costs in subsequent quarters and expect to be within our guidance for the full year at $1,250 to $1,300 per ounce. We're very proud of the work our teams have done and their continued efforts at controlling costs and on continuous improvement, as our all in sustaining costs continue to be hundreds of dollars per ounce below those of our peers. If we move on to the next slide, pleased to report that the strong free cash flow we generated this quarter allowed us to continue to strengthen our balance sheet and increase our financial flexibility. We ended the quarter with close to zero net debt. As a reminder, we started in 2024 with approximately $1.5 billion in net debt. We have significantly de-leveraged the balance sheet over the past 15 months and intend to continue to strengthen the balance sheet and improve our financial flexibility while increasing returns to shareholders. We were also pleased that Moody's revised its rating outlook for the company during the quarter from stable to positive, which reflects our improving credit profile and strong financial position. We generated $594 million of free cash flow in the quarter, which was net of significant working capital flows, including tax installments and payments of over $500 million. At current gold prices, we would expect significantly higher free cash flow in subsequent quarters. If we move on to the next slide, looking back at 2024, we clearly prioritize returns to shareholders. Through dividends, share repurchases, and the reduction of net debt, shareholders benefited directly and indirectly by approximately $2.2 billion. In 2024, we returned approximately 43% of our free cash flow directly to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. This quarter, we returned approximately 42% of our free cash flow. Our capital allocation plan is designed to benefit shareholders in a rising gold price environment in several ways. We will continue to strengthen the balance sheet, increase our financial flexibility, and increase our share buyback. We believe that a strong balance sheet is a competitive advantage in this industry. We will also continue our program of strong shareholder returns through the quarterly dividend and share repurchases. At these gold prices, we see the potential to further increase shareholder returns and expect to be much more active on the share buyback. We will also continue to reinvest in the business by allocating capital to high return internal growth projects and high potential exploration opportunities. At current gold prices, we're generating a lot of cash, but we will remain disciplined to continue to take a measured approach to capital allocation with a focus on increasing returns to our shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Dominique who will provide an overview of our Quebec, Nunavut, and Finland operations.

Thank you, Jimmy. Good morning, everyone. We finished the quarter strong out of the gate, driven by operation meeting their target safely and help with geological upside at La Ronde and at Maratek Pit where additional answers were discovered around the old workings. In Q1, Mildine achieved a new tonnage record following last year's mid-expansion, averaging 6,200 tons per day. On the cost side, as Amar mentioned, the quarter was excellent with stable to slightly better cost than expected, thanks to the team's continued effort to improve productivity. This quarter, I would like to highlight Ketela's progress, focus on the shaft utilization and systematic productivity and cost-efficient improvement. We are starting to see positive results from this initiative with cost per ton coming in 5% below target in Q1. Looking ahead, there are three key projects that I would like to highlight today. These projects are closely tied to Amar's comment about leveraging our assets to create value. First one is the middle bank potential expansion. We continue working to extend middle bank life of mine beyond 2028. Our objective is to transition middle bank mine into an underground mine only after the pits are depleted, aiming to add five to six years of production at around 150,000 to 200,000 ounces per year. Given its location in Nunavut, this will not be the lowest cash cost ounces, but in today's gold price environment and the low risk associated with this, we are evaluating different scenarios and expecting primary funding by the end of this year. On top of that, the team is also working on a new scenario of doing a small pushback at the IVR pit to potentially unlock additional ounces in 28-29. Recognizing this potential, our site team actively developing a plan to maximize middle bank potential, creating a seamless bridge to future production at Hope Bay, which is my next project to discuss. Hope Bay is one of the largest, biggest opportunities we have into our portfolio that could add 400,000 ounces per year in the 2030s. Hope Bay path to success is clear. We are applying the same proven formula that led Miledin to success, with the same experienced team that conduct the study and the project construction. This quarter, we successfully finalized all the contracts with the engineering firm, and we believe we've assembled a team. The goal is to advance the detail engineering phase to approximately 50% completion by Q1-26. Given our confidence with the project, we are currently doing some preparation work at site by upgrading the camp facility, extending the airstrip, dismantling the mill, and completing early earthwork. We expect to report on Hope Bay in the first half of Q26. The last project update on my side is about our vision of Marar-Tic towards 1 million ounces gold producer. Next slide, please. To achieve our 1 million ounces production at Marar-Tic, we identified four key blocks. The first building block is the foundation, the current Odyssey Phase 1 project, transforming the site from the Canada's biggest open pit mine to the largest underground mine, gold mine, in Canada. The target is about 550,000 ounces per year for this part, and the project is progressing very well. The ramp is on target, shaft sinking as well, and we've reached a major milestone in Q1, achieving the commissioning of the temporary loading station at level 64, unlocking efficient transportation of rock and personal via the service ois. The first shaft is expected to be completed by mid-27. The second block for that 1 million ounces story is the second shaft at Odyssey. With the promising results we see in exploration, we are evaluating the possibility of a second shaft to mine in parallel to the first one, the massive East Goody ore body. The second shaft could contribute to another 220,000 ounces per year, which brings us to 770,000 ounces per year for the Odyssey project. There's two other blocks that we could lock on that. The first one or the third one is the Marban Pit, located 13 kilometers from the Marar-Tic mill. Marban was successfully added to our portfolio through the acquisition of O3 and could potentially contribute to another 130,000 ounces per year, which brings us to the 900,000. And the last one is Wasamac. Wasamac is a ,000-ton per day underground operation to be tracked at Marar-Tic. It is about 100 kilometers from Marar-Tic. Wasamac can potentially contribute to another 100,000 ounces per year. With all of the four building blocks together, we are reaching the 1 million ounces vision. Over the next five to six years, our focus will be on the studies, permitting, and construction, aiming to integrate these new ore feed into the Marar-Tic mill in the 2030s. We should be in good position to green light the second shaft Marban and Wasamac in early 2027. Now I would like to hand it over to Natasha.

Thanks, Dom. And good morning, everyone. So I'll cover the operational highlights for Ontario, Australia, and Mexico. All the regions delivered good safety, operating, and cost performance to start off the year. Detour poured their seventh millionth ounce in March and had the highest Q1 mill throughput with the lowest turnover seen since the mine began open pit operations. Weather, however, was challenging this quarter. We do factor in weather delays into our plans, particularly in the winter, but this was a very abnormal winter for us at Detour. So this quarter, we ended up mining less of the higher grade open pit material and instead fed lower grade stockpile, which was planned to be processed later in the year. Now at Macassar, we hit a few records in safety, in lateral development, and in ounces produced. But I think the highlight is that, similar to Detour, even in a highly competitive labor market, we hit a record with the lowest turnover in its history. And in terms of the production, Macassar had a pretty strong quarter two on the back of two stopes that overperformed. Fosterville, too, had a good quarter. Here we're working on progressive improvements to the ventilation system, and production is progressing at all three mining fronts. And of course, operational improvement efforts with a focus on cost control initiatives are continuing at all of our sites. Now if we look ahead, we're seeing a few exciting things on the go. I'll start with Macassar. We're focused in on mill optimization here. So we'll continue to work on initiatives to debong like parts of that circuit, reduce downtime, and further improve the mill throughput incrementally. At Fosterville, we'll continue to conduct further technical evaluations and drill to confirm the feasibility of increasing the annual throughput to an average of approximately 175,000 ounces. And at San Nicolas through the JV, we will continue to work on the feasibility study. Project approval is expected to follow, of course, dependent on the receipt of the permits and the results of the study. We anticipate all of this coming together towards the end of this year. And finally, on the next slide, I'll give you a quick update on the two projects that will give us the opportunity to grow low risk and profitable production in a very mining friendly jurisdiction like Ontario. And I'll start with Detour. This is a world class asset. Last year, we outlined a pathway for Detour to be a 1 million ounce producer annually for over a 14 year period. It's still early days, but this quarter, the overburden excavation was completed. The surface preparation was completed. As well, we received the permit to take water. So we're expecting to commence the ramp development in Q2. As for Upper Beaver, again, this is another low risk opportunity to grow the production profile in Ontario. This quarter, we continue to advance on both fronts, the surface setup needed for shaft sinking and the site preparation for the ramp. You can see in the picture that we've started advancing on the steel installation of the head frame and the hoist room. We're expecting both of them to be completed or commissioned in early Q4 this year and shaft sinking to commence soon after. As for the exploration ramp, we've completed the box cut. We're expecting to commence the ramp development in Q4 this year, if not a bit sooner. Both Detour Underground and Upper Beaver, they're really solid projects with strong risk adjusted returns and are going to be drivers of future growth at our Ontario platform. And we look forward to continuing to advance on these projects throughout 2025. And with that, I'll pass it over to Keith.

Thank you, Natasha, and good morning, everyone. First, on slide 12, I would like to take the opportunity to highlight the various exploration team at each mine and project site for our great health and safety performance, cost control, and productivity improvement initiative. When we look at the landscape in these photos coming from Old Bay, we realize that it is a tough environment and our people are doing an amazing job at working safely while implementing cost control and productivity initiatives. Overall, we had an excellent first quarter with 300 kilometer of drilling completed on all site with a focus on advancing our key value driver project. Here at Old Bay, we deliver better than budgeted drilling with almost 30 kilometer of drilling completed in the first quarter from high-space drilling and from the exploration gravel track that has greatly enhanced our site performance in Q4 and Q1. Globally, we have a total of 112 drill rig working on all sites of the company. I would also like to thank our drilling excellence team that continue to work closely with all of our drilling entrepreneurs to integrate new technology that will make drilling safer, more productive, and therefore more cost efficient. From a result standpoint, I will briefly comment on three projects, Old Bay, Canada Morartik, and Detour. So on slide 13 at Old Bay, we continue to see strong results in two very interesting areas. First of all, closer surface and patched event, which results up to 20 gram over 4.2 meter at only 240 meter below surface that could potentially be accessible early in our project development scenario. And secondly, in the gap between Sulock and Patch, closer to the proposed ramp, which results up to 24 gram over 9.5 meter. We anticipate these results will have a positive impact on the mineral resources at the next update. Now on slide 13 in Morartik at Odyssey, some very exciting results in three areas. First of all, the Upper East portion of the East Goldie that we anticipate will get to mineral reserves at year end this year. Secondly, the Lower Eastern extension of East Goldie with some pretty good results up to 5.3 gram over 27 meter, 6.6 gram over 17 meter, a couple of hundred meter to the eastern limit of the current resources and all of that between 18 and 1900 meter below surface. And third, in the Eclipse Parallel Zone, which results up to 3.7 gram over 59.7 meter. These strong results in the Lower East and Eclipse continue to enhance our scenarios for the location of a second shaft at Odyssey. And last but not least, at Detour, drilling continue to infill the deposit in area that are targeted for the underground mine project, both below the pit, in the saddle, in the central portion of the deposit, with some local very spectacular results up to 8 grams over 78 meter and to the west, close next to the planned exploration ramp, which results up to 3 gram over 44.5 meter. So we are, we had a very good start of the year in terms of drill results on our key value driver project. And we are in a very good position to deliver update on studies as discussed in our previous press release in February and mentioned by Natasha and Dominic. So on that I would like to return the microphone to Omar for some closing remarks.

Thank you Guy and thank you to the full team. The gold price performance over the past year has been remarkable. Our owners invested in gold because they had the correct view that gold prices would increase. And our owners invested in us because they had the correct view that Agnico Eagle is well positioned to deliver the full benefit of gold price increases to them. To deliver that full benefit, we focused on three things and we've delivered three things. One is production. We need to deliver the production we promised and we need to be able to grow production per share over time. And we're doing both. Two, we need to control costs. We're delivering not only solid cost control, but we remain disciplined with capital spend. And the projects we're investing in are all expected to generate good returns and they're the same projects that made sense at gold prices more than $1,000 below where they are now. This is our owners money and we're not going to spend our owners money just because the price of gold went up. And third, this is important, we need to deliver this production and we need to deliver these costs reliably, steadily, and with as little risk as possible. Operational risk, financial risk, political risk. We are going to stay with the same strategy that we've used now for almost 70 years. It works for us. It's not for everyone, but it works for us. We're going to focus on regions with multi-decade geologic potential and with the political stability that allows us to fine tune our strengths over multiple decades. If we take a look at just some of the discussion today, The team that's building the shaft at Malartic is going to be the team that builds the shaft at Upper Beaver. The team that's building Upper Beaver is the same team that just finished construction projects elsewhere in the company. Dominic made the point that the team building Hope Bay is the same team that built Malartic. And something that's really important that Natasha mentioned, which I think really sort of emphasizes this, We have the lowest turnover rates ever in the history of Detour and Macasa. This is how you build a competitive advantage. You not only leverage off your capital assets, but you keep the best people and you use them to their full extent. So with that, I'd like to turn it over to questions.

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press a star, followed by the number one on your cell phone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please speak of your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, please press a star, followed by the number two. And with that, our first question comes from the line up. Ralph, would you please go ahead?

Thanks, operator. And good morning, Lamar. Thanks for taking my questions. You know, it's very encouraging to see some of these internal zones start to bear fruit at Canadian Malartic. And the number two point on the fill the mill strategy slide, you know, sort of talked about this second chat. I'm just wondering how the medium term mine planning and the shop positioning might be impacted by eclipse. It does seem like eclipse may be closer in proximity to existing ramp infrastructure. And just wondering where where this potential, you know, if exploration proves out how that might fit into the medium term mine plan.

I just don't need speaking. It lips is going to be more, let's say, in the more mid long term thing because it's more deep. But this is really a zone which kind of help for the second shaft. But there is also some upside that we're not talking or maybe briefly talk at the upper east of East Goody and also some internal zone at the other side. So, you know, that's the area that we're looking at now. And then if we look at the area of the north that we're still working on, that could bring potential answers in twenty seven, twenty eight.

OK, that's encouraging. Thanks. The drilling at Marban, 24000 meter, just wondering, are we looking at infill resource expansion? And would it be would it be too soon to expect updated resources in the year and twenty five reserve update?

Hey, so I'll take that one. So good morning. So there are plans for Marban for this year. We want to provide sort of a first first snapshot of what it could be as we took over the project. But that new drilling is dedicated to fully investigate the Eastern extension because one of the facts over there is the the PIP as O3 was looking at it was property boundary constrained with land that Agnico already own in the eastern portion of the deposit. So we see some upside over there and that first phase of drilling is aiming to make a first kind of test of the shallow portion of that eastern extension on the claim that we we already had. And after that, we'll see. So I think we can anticipate the first update of Marban reserve and resources at the end of this year and maybe a second update by the end of twenty twenty six, which will be, let's say, most likely. The scenario will be developing, but we want to provide, let's say, step by step as is and with another first phase of drilling at the end of twenty six.

Great.

Yes. Excellent. Thank you for those answers.

And your next question comes from the line of Josh Wilkinson with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Thanks very much. Along the same lines that some of the questions that Ralph had at Malartic, I mean, I noticed the rig count is probably near a record, at least in terms of what we've seen in the sector. You know, is there any ability to leverage some of the some of the understanding here for what the potential of second shaft could be in the current design for the for the initial shaft and maybe look at reevaluating some scope changes and accelerate a second shaft? And along those lines, just understanding the timeline today, what you think is reasonable to think about for that second shaft. Thank you.

Hi, Josh. That's a very good question. In fact, we are evaluating right now. Should we go deeper with the first shaft? Because it is extending deeper and it's also in parallel looking how deep we go with the second shaft or not. We should have an internal concepts on that by the end of this year. It is really all to unlock the potential. For the second shaft, we need we need we're looking for two million ounces in infer. This is what we're looking for. So far, the drilling is very positive. So it makes sense. But the second shaft is going to target going to be also to be a product on shaft. So cheaper and easier to do. That's what we're looking for right now.

And sorry, the time frame that you think would be reasonable to think about the second shaft being in production.

We're talking in early 2030s.

Thanks. And then on some of the metal bank opportunities you mentioned for the IDR pit pushback and potentially the underground expansion, what would be the kind of rough capital numbers you think that that would be reasonable to assume there? Thank you.

I don't have the numbers, but that's going to be no big number because it's going to be just some stripping and development. As we already have all the facilities like the camp, the mill, the roads. So but I don't have the number.

But it's I mean, it's an important point because, Josh, this will allow us to extend the mine life with relatively very small capital. So Dominic made the point that these aren't going to be cheap cash cost ounces, but they're going to be, I think, exceptional return on capital ounces. And that's really what matters. Sorry, Don.

Yeah, just maybe something to add that we we didn't talk, but extending the mill, it's also meaning or the mill, the mine that is going to keep drilling. So that's also bring an interesting opportunity to eventually find more and to keep that running. So I'm very excited about that. It's a very great news and the team is doing wonderful work on that. Great. Yeah, thank you very much.

And your next question comes from the line of Anita Sony with TIBC World Markets. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, Amar and team and congrats on a good strong results and congrats your employees for delivering that results shareholders. The first question that I have is with respect to the cost. They came in below the bottom end of the cost guidance range for this quarter and you're maintaining the production. Sorry, the cost guidance for the year. Can you just give us an idea of where you're seeing the cost evolving over the course of the year to get to that higher

amount? Yeah, thanks Anita. It's Jamie. Yeah, we came in at nine oh three in the quarter, you know, below the low end of our guidance, which is nine fifteen to nine sixty five. We did benefit from the weakness in the Canadian dollar. I think the average, the Canadian dollar average one forty four in the quarter. We had some hedges in place. So our realized FX rate was one forty two. Much better than the one thirty eight that we budgeted. So, you know, that that that was a big contributor. Really the overperformance in terms of production obviously increased denominator and that helped as well. So we'd expect costs to go up and be fairly constant throughout Q2 through Q4.

And and and so just just to repeat a point we've made many times when you have a good operating quarter, you have a good cost quarter and we the team delivered a great operating quarter. You know, let's hope they continue to do it for the rest of the year. But but for now, we're maintaining our cost guidance.

So that's basically if you continue to assume an even sort of mid even divide by four on the midpoint of your original guidance or your guidance range, then that would put you back into the into your cost guidance range.

Yeah. And and at a exchange rate of one thirty eight and a bunch of other assumptions. That's why it's a great start to the year. We're delighted. You always want to be off to a good start. But it's still early in the year. So we expect to have a good year. We're very well positioned to have a good year. And we're going to keep working hard.

And then my second question a little bit further on Odyssey. I think Dominic mentioned you were looking for about two million ounces in order to develop that next shaft. Can you can you talk about how much you feel like you've delineated at this point?

And it's so obviously, you know, in order to make them a more robust case for the second shaft, we would like to see like for the first shaft, you know, an area with above an average grade north of three gram that will will be and where we're getting there. And you see those even those recent step out that depth where we got some better than average grade with good thicknesses and those results in these Gouldie. All of that is shaping up to define that two million ounces at better than average grade that Dominic is talking about. And when you look at the location to the east. So so I think it's a matter of getting getting getting the drill spacing. And some of those are whole are are quite long. So it takes some time to get the right drilling pattern to firm up sort of under a study. But I think we're we're we're within reach. You know, is it it's a matter of of maybe a year to get that all of that drilling in good shape and we'll be able to, you know, firm up the scenario where exactly it should go. But it smells good based on the high grade result we're getting in the East flank.

Thanks. I'll write that down for my notes. All good.

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Daniel Major with UBS. Please go ahead.

Hi, thanks very much. And great quarter. Yeah. First question. So the cash returns you've obviously hit the basically zero net debt and indicated an upscaling to the pace of the buyback. Two parts. I mean, is there any reason we should expect you to move into a meaningful net cash position or should we basically assume the majority of cash is returned to shareholders? And how are you feeling around the balance between special dividends and buybacks? Is this all buybacks? So would you consider a special dividend as a part of the distribution mix?

Yeah, thanks, Dale, for the question. I think, you know, as I indicated in my comments on the call, we're focused on certainly increasing returns to shareholders, but also continuing to strengthen our balance sheet and improve our financial flexibility. So, you know, we're comfortable getting to a net cash position and comfortable at the net cash position, you know, north of a billion dollars. We think that's a true competitive advantage in this business. In terms of the shareholder returns, I think we're going to do more on the share buyback. That's a big factor why we increase the limit, why we intend to increase the limit to a billion dollars over a 12 month period. So I'd expect more activity on the share repurchase side. And obviously, we've seen a lot of volatility in the gold price. We'll continue to evaluate the dividend policy based on that, but certainly an uptick in share repurchases in the quarters to come.

You know, I'll add that some are here at these prices, Agnico Eagle, and frankly, a lot of our peers should be making a lot of money. We should be generating a lot of cash, and that cash belongs to our owners. We will be returning the cash. The most important thing, in my opinion, is don't waste that cash. This is why we keep repeating, it's your cash, it's not our cash, and we're going to continue to be disciplined, which means that we're going to build the business, we're going to strengthen the balance sheet, and we are going to increase returns to shareholders. And it may be in a dividend, maybe it's a share buybacks, maybe it's probably a combination of all of those. But the real important question or the real important point is stay disciplined. Don't waste that money. Don't go out and do stupid things with our owners' money. And, you know, again, that's why we emphasize from the beginning, cost control, that's why we emphasize also capital discipline.

Great, thanks. And then maybe a follow up on the project front. Hope they look some good results there. Can you give us some more of an indication of timelines, if possible, around updated kind of studies, FID kind of trajectory?

Which project, old project?

Hope they were

looking in early 2026 to have a better final picture and potentially green light the project. So in the meantime, we're updating the study, doing detailed engineering. As we did at -A-Din before giving KPIs and what's going to be the cost, how long it's going to take, we would like to have more engineering done. And it's also when you're doing that engineering that you find solutions and you improve and you de-risk the project. So it is really our goal to be over 50% early 2026.

And we're also doing a lot of, as you mentioned, activity on the ground. We're getting ready not only with the engineering and the studies, but we're getting ready to get off the starting blocks very quickly. We're increasing camp space. We're upgrading some of the infrastructure. We're clearing out the old mill so that we have, frankly, an empty building to build the new mill in. So it's not just the studies and the engineering, but it's work on the ground.

Great. Thanks. Good luck.

And your next question comes from the line of Lassenwinder with Bank of America Securities. Please go ahead.

Thank you all for your good morning, Omar and team. Very nice to hear from you all and thank you for today's update. You talked about your cost control and it's extremely impressive, but you also noted there's a certain cost element royalties that's sort of out of your control. In a way, though, I mean, it could be in your control in the sense that you could buy back your royalties. And I'd like to know how you think about that. I mean, in particular, the Canadian Malartic royalty. I mean, is there an argument for buying those back in order to actually be proactive on controlling that one cost item you can't control? And then looking at it from another point of view, I mean, is that even still relevant given the extent to which the Canadian Malartic property has expanded beyond the bounds of the current royalty? Thanks.

Well, I mean, that's a that's a very logical question. And, you know, we're well aware of those royalties and we know there's a lot of speculation around those royalties. And often the answer is, of course, we look at that. We look at everything all the time. What makes sense for our shareholders? You know, those royalties are fantastic for I mean, that was the smart thing that that Cisco did. I mean, they found this thing. They set up the royalties good for them. I give them credit. You know, we look at it. If there's an opportunity for us to get it at a level that makes sense for our owners, we would do it. If if someone else has a lower cost of capital and makes more sense for them, you know, then then that's what capital distribution is. Discipline is all about. So very good question. Of course, we know about it. Of course, we look at it. And if the opportunity arises that it makes sense, great, but we're going to be disciplined.

And then when you think about the current footprint of Canadian Malartic, I mean, it is starting to expand beyond that current royalty. Is that a fair statement? And like, how does that, how does the expanding resource base and the future trajectory of resource growth at that property, you know, factor into this?

Well, you're exactly right. It the the ore body continues to expand and potentially well beyond the boundary of the royalties. And I mean, clearly, what I would say is we have probably better insight into that than it will not probably. We have better insight into that than anybody. So we do have an advantage in knowledge when it comes to capital allocation in that area.

Yeah, OK. Well, thanks for that perspective, Amar. And if I could just ask one follow up, thinking about your move into or back into zinc. Sorry, sorry to be clear. You guys historically have mined a significant amount of zinc, so you're moving back into zinc with your partnership with tech. And I mean, it makes a lot of sense. You produce a metal that trades at a significant sort of historical relative premium to a lot of the industrial metals. Is there an attraction to take some of those very high return profits you're earning on gold and invest it increasingly into base metals, like beyond what you're doing with Sam Neck?

Well, you know, we're we're a gold company. We're more gold centric than anyone else, and we're happy to be in gold. And certainly the last year has demonstrated that gold continues to do what it what it what it's expected to do. I mean, you know us well enough. We're a gold centric company, but we just want to make money for our owners. We want to do it responsibly and we want to do it safely. But we're always going to focus and try to leverage off the competitive advantages that we have. So, you know, if we find a copper mine in a region that we think has the geologic potential and we have a competitive advantage, we'd be open to that. Of course, but we're not, you know, we're a little different than some of our peers are our peers have, you know, they pick one metal copper. They said they'll go anywhere in the world to do it. And they've set targets for Agnico Eagle. We just want to make money for our owners, which means we're going to play off our strengths. We're open. We're a gold company, but we're open to other metals. If it makes a lot of money, they have to be in places that we're comfortable operating. And probably the most important thing is the amount that we do is going to be driven by opportunity to make money. It's not going to be driven by setting an arbitrary number of 30 or 40%.

Okay, very well said. Thank you,

Omar. And your next question comes from the line of the Rikujepri.

Hi, thanks for taking my question. Just looking at Macassar, very good grades in Q1, I think the highest in two years. And you mentioned it was due to two stops that performed. Was that a one off type of situation? Like, how should we be thinking about grades through the rest of the year at Macassar?

So now there's a few panels, as you know, Macassar, the grade varies a lot between half an ounce per ton and several ounces per ton. So it's again with the drill spacing pattern, it's very difficult to capture those jewelry box here and there. So sometime in some panel, you're going to get some outliers like that. And, you know, we may see some more, but they are difficult to predict with the drill spacing we're having. So we are enjoying it when they pass, but it's not something we can predict.

Okay, thank you.

And your next question comes from the line of John Tomasos with John Tomasos, a very independent research piece. Go ahead.

Thank you for your service to the company. I'm looking at the slide seven, slide 12, excuse me. I'm interested in the 24 gram intercept between Sioux Luke and Patch 7. Is it possible, Guy, that the two zones connect and are one zone? First. Second, at 24 grams, it would be 30 feet or so of $2,500 US rock at today's gold prices. What do you think the cost per ton will be when you have Hope Bay restarted? $250 a ton, $500. I'm wondering if that 24 gram intercept is 80 or 90% gross margin rock.

Well, maybe to answer on the cost, you have to look at it. We're looking to replicate something similar to Meliadeen. So you should look at the cost structure at Meliadeen, 6,000 tons per day, and we're generally between $230, $250 per ton if you look at the number. So, yeah, you're right. Those kind of intercepts are great. They're well above. But you have to look at it, as you know, on average. And to your first question, and as you can, as you see on the long section at slide 13, there are several overshoots within that panel. I'm not saying that they all are going to connect because typically those are kind of the structure is kind of an anastomal shear zone where there is some higher grade overshoot like as defined in the Patch 7 and Sioux Luke area. But I think that in between those recent results just demonstrate that, you know, there could be one or two other pockets in the gap in between the Patch 7 and the Sioux Luke. And this is what we're going to be focusing on because, you know, that would be very positive on the project. It's close from the plan ramp in between Sioux Luke and Patch. There's one or two other overshoot. And it's pretty similar to the pattern that was observed back in the day also in Doris. So it's a collection of overshoots along that trend. And those recent results just confirm our view that we could add up to maybe a million ounces between Sioux Luke and Patch. That's my that's my forecast.

Merci beaucoup. Bon chance.

Thank you.

And your last question comes from the line of Tanya Jagoskonek with Skosha Band. Please go ahead. Thank

you very much for taking my question. I have three questions. And first of all, congratulations on a good. I have questions if I could. Maybe, Amara, can I start with you just on the tariffs? You had a paragraph in your press release in terms of the impact of potential on your cost structure. Amara, can I just dive a little bit deeper into that in terms of trying to understand what portion of your cost structure, I'm assuming consumables, would be impacted and what within there would you be having the greatest impact? And then just on the labor side, because as you know, tariffs come through with the inflation. I'm just trying to understand also what labor negotiations you're going through in 2025 with your workforce. And then lastly, it would come through sustaining development capital and maybe any important or large sustaining or development capital purchases, new mine fleets, etc. that you could see yourself doing this year. So that's my first question. Thank you.

Thanks, Tanya. And I guess you've got a cold, so get better soon. So on the tariff side, I'll just kind of give a big picture and then go into a little bit of detail with some of the questions. So first of all, on the revenue side, we don't anticipate any impact. Zero. We have our gold refined outside of the United States and we don't expect any tariff impact on the revenue side. On the cost side, about 60% of our costs are either labor or energy and we don't see any tariff impact on any of that. On, let's say the 40% of other costs, one of the advantages that we have of mining in regions where mining has been going on for decades and where we've helped build a robust local supply chain is we get a lot of things locally. And so we will have some impact. It's impossible to say because it's the reciprocal tariffs that would affect us. And those are in flux and we don't know. But to make a long story short, no impact on revenue, no impact on labor, no impact on energy, maybe some impact on consumables, but relatively less than I think people would expect because of the local supply chains that we've got. And our high level assessment, and take this with a grain of salt because I don't think anybody knows where we're going to end up with tariffs. But in general, our view is to the extent that the tariffs have an impact, it would be, and we're guessing, in the sort of maybe 3 to 4% increase, but that would, of costs, but that would likely be offset by an equivalent or roughly equivalent weakness in the Canadian dollar. Again, I'm not an economist. We've done a lot of work on this. That's our assessment. On the labor side of things, I mean, we have great relationships with our teams. We've had our usual very constructive negotiations at the start of the year. That's all been set. We will continue to do things the way we've done them for years, which is with respect and with our partners. So we don't really see anything on the labor side. And finally, on the inflation side, I think that, again, I'm not an economist. It's too early to say. I think, though, that tariffs are going to be, in general, difficult for economies. And then you're going to have to weigh the inflationary pressure of tariffs versus the disinflationary issues associated with a slowdown in an economy. But again, I'm with a mining company. I'm not an economist.

None of us are economists here, Amar. Maybe just on the sustaining capital side. Any new, I'm just trying to understand any big capital within your capex that you purchased just feel have an impact as well.

Hi, Tanya. It's Natasha. So in terms of equipment, we're always buying equipment. But from what we understand, the equipment is not tariffed. So there's no issue on that end. Okay,

thank you for that. My second question, if I could, I just wanted to ask Amar on your strategy of your investment portfolio. I mean, this investment portfolio is getting bigger. And I'm wondering how you see this portfolio and sort of your strategy on it. I mean, historically, you have traded it and, you know, taking money off the table where you see fit. So how should I be thinking about this portfolio and your strategy and the investment of juniors? Yeah, I'll leave it there.

Yeah, Tanya, fair question, because it's gotten big. So I think there's two distinct parts to my answer. The first part is, yes, we're going to continue the strategy that we've had for decades, which is, you know, get in early with projects that we think have a lot of potential. And that's really gets to this whole capital allocation and our strong view that capital allocation has to be based on intelligence. So we make small investments early on in projects that are interesting. And we do it on purpose to learn about those projects and to be able to make a logical decision. And we want to continue to be, by the way, the partner of choice for some of these juniors in the regions we operate. It's a strategy that's worked really, really well for us. We're going to continue it. The second part, though, is, man, your position has gotten pretty big, Agnico. What are you going to do about it? And the honest answer to that is, frankly, gold price went to three thousand dollars and everything went up in value, which is not a bad thing. And we are reviewing our positions regularly, but I want to emphasize that the increase isn't because we've suddenly decided to double or triple our activity in that space. It's the same pace. It's the same strategy. We've just benefited on the investment side, like hopefully all of you have.

I appreciate that. It's just at a certain point, you know, when you look at your portfolio, does it look like that's what you had invested in now? It's way out of the money. And luckily,

luckily, it's way in the money. But I hear you.

And if I could just ask Jamie one final question on the capital returns, and I know Jamie, you are going to be more active on the share buyback in the next 12 months. But you also mentioned that you'd like to go to a net cash of a billion dollars to be competitive. Is that how I should be thinking? Or on the dividend side that, you know, you kind of want to get to that net one billion in cash before you would review the difference? Or what do you need to see that a gold price stability and that net cash of a billion before you would review the difference?

Yeah, excuse me, Ken. Yeah, I think you've touched on it. I think that's exactly right. We're, you know, targeting in the interim a billion dollars of net cash, and we'd like to see some stability in the gold price. And then we'll obviously reevaluate the dividend policy. I think for Q2 and likely for Q3, you know, the focus will be on higher returns via the share buyback. But we'll be evaluating the dividend and obviously having discussions with our board. And if the gold price stays where it is, there's a very good chance of an increase at some point in the future.

Okay, thank you very much for taking my questions and congratulations.

Thank you and get well soon.

And that concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn it back to Mr. Elmar El-Gendi for closing remarks.

Thank you, operator, and thank you everyone for participating this morning. As a reminder, we're hosting our annual general meeting today at 11 o'clock at Arcadian Court. And we hope to see as many of you there as possible. Thank you everyone and have a great day and a great weekend.

Thank you. And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.