Fortuna Mining Corp

Greetings. Welcome to the Fortuna Mining Q2 2026 Financial and Operational Results Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Carlos Baca, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Thank you, Holly. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Fortuna Mining's second quarter 2026 Financial and Operational Results Conference Call. Joining today's call on behalf of Fortuna are Jorge Alberto Ganoza, President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Luis Dario Ganoza, Chief Financial Officer, David Whittle, Chief Operating Officer, West Africa, and Cesar Velasco, Chief Operating Officer, Latin America. Today's webcast presentation and Q2 2026 results materials are available on our website at fortunamining.com. Before we begin, please note that statements made during today's call are subject to the reader advisories included in yesterday's news release, the webcast presentation, our management discussion and analysis, and the risk factors outlined in our annual information form. All financial figures discussed today are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated. The technical information discussed on this call has been reviewed and approved by Eric Chapman, Fortuna's Senior Vice President of Technical Services and a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. Today's remarks will provide a concise overview of our second quarter results and the priorities guiding the business through the balance of the year. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jorge Ganoza.

Thank you, Carlos, and good morning to all. Thanks for joining us. The second quarter was another strong quarter for Fortuna. We delivered solid operating performance, generated significant free cash flow, Maintained a very strong balance sheet and advanced the two principal value drivers for next phase of growth, the Fegela Plant Expansion and the Yanda Sud Gold Project, which together are key to delivering approximately 60% growth in annual production by mid-2028. Operationally, we produced 72,217 gold equivalent ounces in the quarter, and 145,089 gold equivalent ounces year-to-date, keeping us on track to achieve annual production guidance. We experienced a fatal accident at our Seguela mine involving a contractor truck operator. Our thoughts remain with his family, colleagues and all those affected. Safety remains our highest priority. with a renewed focus on heavy model equipment controls, contractor management, and field verification of critical controls. For the quarter, our total recordable injury frequency rate was 121. And Cayoma and Lindero ended the quarter with 1,154 and 990 days respectively Free of lost time injuries, commendable performance for these two mines. Financially, the second quarter was a strong quarter across all key metrics, even with realized gold and silver prices lower than the exceptionally strong first quarter. Sales worth $318 million, adjusted attributable made income $75 million, or 25 cents per share, and adjusted EBITDA of $200 million, representing a strong EBITDA margin of 63%. Free cash flow from ongoing operations was $85 million, bringing free cash flow from ongoing operations for the first half of the year to $260 million. At mid-year, the business has generated $661 million in sales, $420 million in adjusted EBITDA, and $186 million in adjusted attributable net income, or $0.62 per share. This performance is translated directly into shareholder returns. During the second quarter, we returned $82 million through share buybacks. and year to date we have returned $106 million or approximately 41% of free cash flow from ongoing operations through the repurchase of 10.8 million shares. We believe this demonstrates the quality of the portfolio and the focus of our capital allocation priorities. We're funding growth, sustaining a strong balance sheet and returning meaningful capital to shareholders all at the same time. While free cash flow was lower quarter over quarter, this was primarily due to the timing of income tax payments and higher sustained capital, partially offset by favorable working capital movements. With that as context, the bigger story for Fortuna is that we have moved from defining our next phase of growth to executing it, anchored by Diamba Suite and Seguel Atlant Expansion. and supported by strong cash generation and net cash balance sheet. During the quarter, both projects reached important milestones. At the AMBA suit, the feasibility study confirmed a robust development project in Senegal. At Segela, the board approved the 30% plant expansion in Cote d'Ivoire. I will leave the detailed execution plans, timelines and operating details to our Chief Operating Officer for West Africa, David Whittle. Together, these projects provide the production foundation for Fortuna's next step change in scale and support our task to exceed half a million ounces of annual gold production by mid-2028. Importantly, this growth is within our control. It is driven by assets already in our portfolio, in jurisdictions where we have operating experience, technical capability, and established teams. Not by acquisitions or external opportunities. At the AMBA suit, our focus is on advancing the project through the remaining permitting and the stabilization of tax regime. At Ceguela, the approved expansion builds on an asset that continues to demonstrate strong operating performance, geological potential, and scalability within our established West African platforms. The balance sheet remains a major strategic advantage. At quarter end, we had cash and short-term investments of $606 million, total liquidity of approximately $756 million, and a net cash position of approximately $435 million. This financial strength allowed us to fund the concurrent development of the Seguedo plant expansion and the Vian Basu project while preserving flexibility for exploration B.Sc. B.Sc. B.Sc. B.Sc. B.Sc. B.Sc. B.Sc. B.Sc. B.Sc. B.Sc. B.Sc. Importantly, the cost drivers within our control support ASIC remaining within our annual guidance range. The factors that we need to monitor closely are external, royalties linked to metal prices, Argentina macroeconomic conditions, diesel, consumables, and contractor indexation, all of which could affect our three-year ASIC guidance. With that now, I will now turn the call over to the operating team to review the quarter in more detail. We can start with David Whittle, Chief Operating Officer for West Africa.