speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Good morning, everybody. My name is Bayer Schnell, and it is a privilege for me to present my first set of results to you in my capacity as CEO. I'm joined today by our Financial Director, Boipelo Lekubo, in presenting the operational financial results for the half-year ended 31 December 2024. Please take note of our safe harbour statement. Albany delivered a stellar set of interim results. Our underground recovered grades increased to 6.4 grams per tonne ahead of our full year guidance. Group production was about 25,000 kilograms or 800,000 ounces for the first half, also ahead of guidance. Our oil and sustaining costs remains well controlled and on track to beat guidance too. In rand terms, all-in sustaining costs was about 972,000 rand a kilogram, or just under 1,690 US dollars per ounce. All-in costs for the reporting period, which includes our major capital, was just over 1 million rand per kilogram, or 1,810 dollars per ounce. And it's because of our relatively low capital intensity that this is not much higher than the all-in sustaining costs. We generated record interim operating free cash flows of 10.4 billion rand, or 579 million US dollars. The operating free cash flow margin has expanded to 29% as a result of our investment in quality ounces and, of course, the high gold price we received. Our headline earnings per share has grown by 33% to 12.70 per share, or 71 US cents per share, and we are delighted to announce a record interim dividend payout of 1.4 billion rand for the half year. As South Africa's largest gold producer, our goal is to produce safe, profitable ounces and improving our margins by delivering on our four strategic pillars. Responsible stewardship is at the heart of our actions and is core to our decisions. Operational excellence inspires us to do better and be better every day. Cash certainty is not only important to our shareholders and stakeholders, but also to us. As such, we manage our costs and focus on improving our efficiencies. For capital allocation to be effective, we take into account human, social, resource and financial capital, amongst others. Our decisions are made for the long-term benefit of all our stakeholders. To maximize value, we have grouped our assets into four quadrants, each with its own risk profile and specific role in contributing towards our growth strategy. These quadrants are, firstly, our South African high-grade underground assets, our high-margin, low-risk South African surface and tailings retreatment operations, our international copper gold portfolio, and our South African underground optimized assets. With our specialized mining skills and unique operating model to unlock further value in our gold and copper assets going forward. At Harmony, everything begins with safety. We are embedding a proactive safety culture focused on leading indicators as we continue on our journey to zero harm. Recent events remind us we must do more with urgency, with unity and with unwavering resolve to achieve this objective. We are resolute in our determination to ensure that every Harmonite returns home safely every day. We are intentional about safety and take personal ownership to ensure that our workplaces are safe. The necessary systemic changes have been implemented throughout the company and and we continue to develop safety leadership through our humanistic culture transformation program called Tibakotsi. We are also conducting regular executive visible felt leadership initiatives to reinforce the importance of safety. Fostering a safe culture remains an ongoing journey for us. We are encouraged by the long-term improvement in our lost time injury frequency rate to 5.52% and a loss of life injury frequency rate of 0.02 in this half. This reinforces our belief that zero loss of life is indeed possible. Moving to the operational highlights. Solid mining discipline has resulted in excellent grade control and consistent predictable production. Recovered grades at our South African underground operations increased to 6.4 grams a tonne. This performance has been driven primarily by our high-grade mines in Padeng and Moab Kotsong. With good momentum and consistent delivery at most of our mines, we are pleased that the total production remains on track to meet the upper end of our full-year guidance. Cash operating costs are predominantly RAND-based and remain well managed. The majority of our costs comprise labour and electricity in South Africa, And a five-year wage deal was signed with our unions last year, while baseload energy supply from ESCOM is regulated. As a result, our cost increases are largely fixed and predictable. Total cash operating costs in RAND terms increased by 9% in the first half. This increase was in line with plan and mainly due to annual inflationary increases. The unit cost, cash operating cost per kilogram, increased by 14% to about 814,000 rand a kilogram, or about 1,400 US dollars per ounce. Due to inflation, planned lower production at Hidden Valley and lower production at the South African optimised assets. Royalties increased by 46% due to the higher gold prices, which have improved revenue and also profitability. All in sustaining costs remained under control, and we are on track to meet full-year guidance. This is mainly due to our embedded cost controls, biorecovered grades, and by-product credits we receive from uranium and silver production. Our all-in sustaining costs for the first half of the financial year was just over R970,000 a kilogram, or about $1,690 per ounce. Our investment in quality ounces has moved us down the global cost curve. So Harmony is a transformed company, delivering consistently higher margins. This is a result of disciplined capital allocation and sound cost controls. The Harmony portfolio has changed significantly, having de-risked and is delivering improved profitability. Operating free cash flow margins at Eden Valley have remained exceptional at 50%, and this mine contributed 17% towards group operating free cash flow. Margins at the South African high-grade operations increased to 40%, with these two operations now contributing half of group free cash flow generation. The South African surface operations continued to perform well, with margins doubling to 34% year-on-year. The margins at our South African optimized portfolio remained flat at 11%. These minds continue to make a valuable contribution to our free cash flow and play a vital role in funding our growth aspirations. We at Harmony are on an exciting growth path and have clearly mapped how we will achieve our plans. Maintaining a disciplined and responsible approach to capital allocation is critical in creating long-term value. Not only does this drive growth, but it increases shareholder and stakeholder confidence. We have a balanced capital allocation framework, focusing on five core areas to ensure alignment with our values and our goals. We will always prioritise safety as we work towards zero harm. This goes hand in hand with productivity enhancements and is in line with our belief that a safe mine is a profitable mine, not the other way around. We have built a strong balance sheet, which is in a net cash position. and our major capital is directed towards de-risking our portfolio by investing in our higher-grade surface and international assets, all aimed at increasing the quality of our ounces and improving our margins. This is evident in our expansion projects at Mpuneng, Moab Kutsung, our South African surface retreatment operations, and Iwakapa. Value-creative M&A is intrinsic to our strategy, and we are actively pursuing opportunities to improve the quality of our portfolio further. We are in a position to pay a consistent dividend in line with our dividend policy, ensuring that we reward our shareholders alongside achieving our growth aspirations. Our approach to capital allocation is reaping the necessary rewards, and we intend maintaining this disciplined approach. Our aim is to improve the quality and profitability of our portfolio over time, ensuring high-quality reserve conversions with improved free cash flow generation. This production profile illustrates the evolution of our production mix from where we are today to where we are planning to be in the future. As we mine out our optimized assets, represented by the red section, the quality of our ounces improves. The introduction of neotrim copper through our international projects will drive margins higher over time. These charts illustrate how the production mix changes and how Harmony will become an even more profitable, de-risked and diversified company over time. Harmony has taken the strategic and deliberate decision to invest only in gold and copper. These complementary metals offer counter-cyclical diversification and provide a natural hedge against volatility. The combination offers a strategic balance between safe haven investment in gold and global demand for copper. They also offer synergies in production, particularly in geological proximity in copper-gold porphyries like Wafi Gold Pool. Both these metals have solid fundamentals, driving demand and growth which tie in well with our project pipeline. By focusing on these two metals, we are creating a focused, efficient, and more profitable harmony with exciting long-term growth prospects. As we mine out the optimized assets and bring on quality replacement and growth ounces, we expect the contribution from these marginal assets to decrease to around 9% of production over time. In turn, our international gold copper industry South African surface source operations will represent a far larger portion of production offering a lower risk asset portfolio. This clearly illustrates how we have re-engineered the company. To ensure we achieve this plan, we are allocating the bulk of our major capital towards these projects that will result in margin expansions. For this financial year, we are investing over 2 billion rand at our high-grade projects, Moab, Kotsong and Mpuneng. We have over 1 billion rand earmarked for our high-grade or high-margin surface operation projects, mainly at Mineway Solutions. The Eden Valley mine has been allocated close to 600 million rand and studies are underway to determine if we can extend the life further by expanding existing tailing storage facilities. This demonstrates our clear intention to improve the quality of our portfolio whilst paying dividends at the same time. The acquisitions of Mpening, Moab Kotsong and Mineway Solutions were transformational for Harmony. This is evident in our overall improved results. We are therefore investing in these transformative assets to ensure they continue creating value for years to come. Phase 1 of Kereeran tailing storage facility expansion at Mineway Solutions was delivered on time and on budget. Phase 2 is currently underway and we expect to have it completed before the end of calendar year 2025. Mineway Solutions steady state production is over 100,000 ounces over its life per annum. The projects at Mob Kutsong and Mpeneng are progressing well and will extend the lives of these mines to at least 20 years. These projects have added a combined 5.2 million ounces of gold reserves and will ensure steady state production at Mokot Song of over 200,000 ounces and at Mpuneng of over 250,000 ounces per year. Both mines will deliver an average recovered grade of about 9 grams per ton. These projects demonstrate our commitment to gold mining in South Africa, ensuring that they continue delivering excellent margins at a low oil and staining cost for years to come. The feasibility study updates that EVA copper is progressing well. We have completed the technical aspects and are awaiting the final permitting amendments. EVA copper is now expected to produce between 55 and 60,000 tons of copper per annum and 14,000 ounces of gold as a byproduct over its 15-year life of mine. Conceptually, this translates to a mine of a similar size to some of our high-grade underground assets. The oil in sustaining costs is anticipated to be in the middle of the global industry cost curve, and we are targeting first copper in 2029 calendar year, subject to the completion of the study and board approval. At Wafi Golpu, negotiations of the special mining lease are ongoing. Our comprehensive project pipeline is well sequenced and manageable. Our timing is deliberate and ensures project capital remains affordable and does not put pressure on the balance sheet or on our capacity to deliver successfully. These projects are catalysts to meaningfully sustain production and expand our margins while driving costs down. We have a clear strategy and a clearly mapped pathway to becoming a global leader in gold and copper mining, producing higher quality ounces and delivering higher shareholder returns. Allow me to hand over to my colleague and financial director, Boipela Lekubo, to discuss the financials. Over to you, Boipela.

speaker
Boipelo Lekubo
Financial Director

Thank you, Bez, and good morning to everyone. Please note that we report in rand and select U.S. dollar figures are included in the annexures. Harmony delivered an exceptional financial performance and outstanding earnings growth during this interim reporting period. This was on the back of operational consistency and a higher average gold price received. Group revenue increased by 18% to R37 billion, mainly due to the 23% increase in the RAN gold price. Net profit increased by 33% to R7.9 billion, while the rolling 12-month EBITDA increased by 28% to over R22 billion. The strong operating free cash flows we continue to generate resulted in our balance sheets shifting further into a net cash position of 7.3 billion rand. Headline earnings per share increased by 33% to 12 rand 70. Harmony's investment in quality ounces has resulted in record operating free cash flow generation in this interim period. We've also delivered an impressive three-fold expansion in margins since FY22. Total operating free cash flow for the group increased by 46% to $10.4 billion, or $579 million in the first half of this financial year. While the gold price has been a significant tailwind, our ability to deliver to plan, alongside the transformation of our portfolio, has enabled us to deliver yet another strong financial performance. High operating margins have boosted our balance sheet and we're well positioned as we head into the second half of this financial year. This is evidenced in our ability to produce to plan and the average of the higher gold price we received rather. Gold prices have further increased to around 1.7 million a kilogram compared to the average of 1.4 million per kilogram we received during this reporting period. Our planned FY25 total capital intensity remains affordable at around R225,000 a kilogram or $415 an ounce. We continue to protect and lock in margins through an effective hedging program. We typically hedge between 10% and 30% of production over 36 months as per our 30-20-10 program limit. so please refer to our hedging table in the annexures for more information on that. Our net cash position has increased significantly to R7.3 billion over the past 30 months. EBITDA growth has been excellent, and our 12-month rolling EBITDA is currently at R22 billion. Given our comprehensive project pipeline, which includes the highly anticipated Eva Copper project in Australia, we are strengthening our balance sheet. We have almost 18 billion rand or 1 billion US dollars in headroom made up of cash and undrawn facilities. We remain flexible and agile should we need to deploy capital. As it relates to the project that Bayers referred to earlier, we've been able to comfortably fund the various capital demands within the company. As it stands, we're able to fund EVA from our own cash flows and available facilities. Our balanced capital and allocation framework, solid cash flows, and balance sheet strengths have once again allowed us to pay a dividend. Our dividend policy ensures we're able to reward our shareholders alongside achieving our growth aspirations. We are pleased to declare a record interim dividend of $2.27 or $12 per share. We continue delivering geared year-on-year dividend increases. Total cash returned to shareholders in the first half of FY25 is R1.4 billion, while we've returned over R4 billion to shareholders since FY21. This demonstrates confidence in our plans and our cash flows. Allow me to hand back to Bez to conclude. Thank you.

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Thank you, Boipelo. Harmony has a de-risked and diversified asset portfolio offering near-term copper optionality. We are South Africa's largest gold producer and have close to 75 years of specialised gold mining experience in South Africa. We have been operating in Papua New Guinea for over two decades with a presence in Australia over the same time. We delivered a strong first-half performance and reiterate our full year guidance. Harmony continues to generate stellar cash flows and our balance sheet is robust, flexible and in a significant net cash position. The gold price has continued to rally, further enhancing our strong financial position. We however remain disciplined and responsible with our capital allocation and we will not deviate from our risk-based approach to decision making. Having a balanced approach to capital allocation will enable us to deliver on our growth aspirations and ensures we continue to create real, long-term value for our shareholders and our stakeholders. This, to us, is mining with purpose. Before we take questions, I would like to thank each harmonite for their dedication and commitment towards ensuring we consistently achieve our goals safely. I would like to thank our board, shareholders and stakeholders for their continued support. I thank you. Jared, we'll now take questions from the audience.

speaker
Boipelo

Thank you. I think I just want to move to this side so we can see the audience sitting behind that fellow over there. Sure. All right. Arnold, we'll start with you.

speaker
Arnold van Graan
Analyst at NetBank

Yes, good morning, everyone. Arnold van Graan from NetBank. Bayer, again, congrats on a stellar set of results. And this sort of adds on to the question and where I'm going with it. So you've been part of the Harmony journey and, you know, you showed the progress over time where you've transformed the company and doing very, very well. So my question is what change do you bring to this role? You know, looking at the base, looking at what you have, what do you change? What will you change from a strategic perspective and I guess the way the company is run and operated? Thank you.

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Thanks, Arnold. Tough question. I think the job of any manager, any CEO is to create value for shareholders. So, you know, we as a management team have had, you know, a breakaway. We've got a scheduled board boss for art where we will, you know, map the clear pathway around what we see in the future. I am extremely excited about the future that Harmony holds given the ore bodies we already own. If you think of Harmony today and Harmony in 10 years from today was the ore bodies we already own. If we bring those ore bodies to fruition and we build those mines, as we alluded to, Harmony is going to be an even better company in my view than it is today. So, yes, you know, Harmony is on a high. You know, I've been part of the journey. We've got a phenomenal management team. I think this team have got a – a can-do attitude, Arnold, and the team has got resilience in the sense that we want to take the company even further from here. I guess it is a question, if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it. So we will be responsible and balanced in the way that we take our decisions forward. We've seen the value that that brought with rewriting the Harmony stock over the last few years around what we have been doing. But we as managers are not just here to maintain the status quo. We need to make sure we add value to our stakeholders and our shareholders. Questions?

speaker
Boipelo

Have I got any questions on the line from Chorus Call perhaps?

speaker
spk08

Yes, we have questions on the line. The first question we have is from Adrian Hammond of SPG. Please go ahead.

speaker
Adrian Hammond
Analyst at SPG

Thank you, operator. Morning, Baz. I'd like to ask you about shareholder returns. So the dividend policy is quite clear that as you ramp up the capex forever, it certainly will detract from dividends. But I see within six months' time, you should have enough cash to fully fund EBITDA. So how do you think about returning value to shareholders if your dividend policy isn't really aligned?

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Thanks. Thanks, Adrian. We see value to shareholders as a combination of dividends and also share price appreciation. Yes, indeed. We are gating EVA copper through our board later this year. That is a key catalyst for us in terms of taking stock of where we are with the position we are on the balance sheet. So it's early to comment now. That pathway we have in terms of the EVA project lying ahead, I think we just want to get through that and then take it from there. Our operations continue to have good momentum, and that will stand us in good stead going forward.

speaker
Adrian Hammond
Analyst at SPG

Okay, so perhaps special dividends down the line?

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

It's too early to comment on that. We've got a statement dividend policy, Adrian, that talks about 20% of net free cash, and we've got EBACOP coming up, and we first want to get that done.

speaker
Adrian Hammond
Analyst at SPG

Understood. If I can just follow on with the profile you gave us on your slide certainly talks to a bit of a gap coming through. How should we think about opportunities to fill that gap in terms of M&A? Are you going to pursue assets that are in operation and we have seen some news flow with Harmony mentioned pursuing certain assets in Australia. So perhaps you can just give us some understanding of what opportunities you're looking at there. Thanks.

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Indeed, Adrian. Firstly, I mean, what we show on the screen is production. That's not necessarily profit or value or earnings. I mean, you did notice that the quality of the assets improve, you know, as we get into the valley that we've got in the production profile there. So we are under no severe pressure to do anything at any given time. I mean, the quality of the ounces that remain as the optimized assets mine out, you know, will ensure that there's a healthy contribution, you know, in terms of the profitability of the company. We continue to look at M&A. You know, it is something that we keep an active brief on. I mean, at the moment, gold prices are at record high, and it's important that we find value. And if we don't find value, we won't do anything. So we intend to keep that disciplined capital allocation. I think we saw how good it was for Harmony in the last few years, and that's the approach we want to intend keeping going forward, Adrian.

speaker
Adrian Hammond
Analyst at SPG

Thanks, Baz, and yeah, well done again on the great set of numbers.

speaker
Boipelo

Thanks, Adrian. Any other questions online?

speaker
spk08

Yes, we have a question from Rene Hochreuter of NOAA Capital. Please go ahead.

speaker
Rene Hochreuter
Analyst at NOAA Capital

Hello again, Baz, and team. Just following on on that value or that dip in production that Adrian was talking about just now, there's two ways of possibly refilling it, including the asset quality of your company. How far beyond 6.4 grams a tonne of recovered grades underground could you push your grades? And secondly, would it be at all possible to move life equal forward by about four or five years to fill that gap?

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Thank you, Renee. Renee, pushing harder than 6.4 grams a tonne would affect the sustainability, you know, of these quality ore bodies. And given our capital allocation decisions on these ore bodies, we are in it for the long term. We want to create maximum value over the life of mine. And to do that, one needs to mine to the average grade of the ore body. And in particular, Adam Puneng... You know, you don't have that much flexibility. You mine the sequential grid mining method to maintain your mining fronts and keep the seismicity ahead of the faces. So, you know, high grading and all-body like opening, you know, would have a, you know, a value destruction in the longer term. So, you know, we won't be doing that. We like to mine and optimize the all-body to the average reserve grade. Your second question, apologies, Renee, if you'll just repeat that.

speaker
Rene Hochreuter
Analyst at NOAA Capital

I know we've been waiting for it for a long time, but is it in any way possible to push it forward by five years or bring it forward by five years?

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Yeah, Rene, we wish we could. I mean, that's a phenomenal ore body. It is in the process of concluding the permitting of that asset. And just briefly for the audience, what you have is – from the day that you actually have the permit in your hand, you've got a maximum of 33-ohm months for FID. So that 30 months is then used, you know, to update the feasibility study, you know, sort out your funding options. And that is the three partners, remembering that this is ourselves, Newmont, and P&G as a state through Kumul and the landowner participation. So Yes, the key date is that permit. From the permit, the maximum of 30 and then into construction. So we're very excited about that asset, Rene. It's a quality tier one copper gold block cave mine. So the quicker we can bring that to value for our shareholders, the better.

speaker
Rene Hochreuter
Analyst at NOAA Capital

Thanks very much. Thanks, Bert.

speaker
Boipelo

Any more questions?

speaker
spk08

We have no other questions. It's on the conference call.

speaker
spk00

Thanks, Payas. I think mine is more into the structural review of the executive committee. And I mean, it's a role that you've previously held of the group COO. And one would check that because I don't see that on the structure, that then suggests that that responsibility then gets delegated to the various units or areas or whatever division. And does it also mean that that was a transitional role so that we can be able to ensure that there's a balance in the organization? Thank you.

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Felix, thanks for the question. You know, how we respond to that is structure always follows strategy, so it's important for us as an executive team and a management team to clearly embed what we want to do on the strategy and then find the optimum structure to fulfill that strategy. As to the team, we have got a phenomenal and world-class management team in Harmony. We are proud of who we got. If you look at our photos, we are proud of the diversity we have, you know, the gender diversity, race diversity, as well as diversity of thought and intellect. So this team is a phenomenal team. I mean, the results of this business came up with over the last few years as testimony of not one single person or a CEO or anything like that. It's a collective effort from a whole team. We have announced a deputy CEO with the CEO announcement. So the group chief operating role for now, you know, I don't necessarily see that we would need something like that. I mean, Floyd Masimula is the deputy CEO. in charge of the South African business. And depending on how the business grow from here, we will re-evaluate that. But it's important that one takes structured decisions after you have clearly defined where the business is going.

speaker
Boipelo

Are there any more questions online?

speaker
spk08

We have a question on the conference call.

speaker
Boipelo

Okay. Go ahead.

speaker
spk08

Question is from Felicity Robson of Bank of America. Please go ahead.

speaker
Felicity Robson
Analyst at Bank of America

Thank you for taking my question. Grades at Hidden Valley have seen a step down this year compared to last. How can we think of grades for the rest of the year and going into 2026?

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Thanks, Felicity. Yes, as guided in the previous period, we mined a high-grade part of the ore body called Big Red. We did guide that we will mine through that area and that grades would normalize to, you know, to the stated grades and the guided grades. So the grade drop at Hidden Valley was anticipated and guided. So going forward, I mean, we've got the guided grade that is out there for Hidden Valley. So that's a good benchmark to work from for the city. And then, you know, there's obviously also the reserve grade, which is also part of the deck in the annexures.

speaker
Felicity Robson
Analyst at Bank of America

Yes, thank you.

speaker
Arnold van Graan
Analyst at NetBank

Arnold? A question on EVA. EVA is very important for Harmony. Executing that on time in budget will be transformative, but it is different, right? It's a different jurisdiction. You're very good miners. You've done a lot of projects in South Africa, but I still get a sense this is a different type of mine in a different jurisdiction. So just give us some comfort around the execution and how you see that and how you see that risk and how you're going to manage that to make sure that in a year from now, two years from now, we're sitting here, EVO's delivered as planned and that there's no major hiccups. Look, it's mining and it's a project. There are those things, but I guess this must be... high on your agenda, things that you absolutely have to execute spot on. Thank you.

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Spot on, Arnold. I mean, it is a greenfields project in a, well, not so new jurisdiction. You know, people forget that we've had a presence in Australia for 20 years already, and we include it in today's presentation from where we support the PNG operations. So we've got some fantastic human capital sitting idling in Brisbane, supporting one mine in Papua New Guinea. And what one must also maybe keep in mind is a lot of the resources that were involved in the Wafi Goldpu work, I'm talking about a few years ago when there was momentum in terms of the study and the project work has been allocated to the EVA project study work. So we've got phenomenal human resources in the Brisbane office. These guys are, you know, ready to go. I mean, they can't wait to build this mine. But you are quite right. I mean, we haven't built a big greenfields mine for some time in Harmony, so it is a different animal. It's a different thing. We are trying to de-risk the project as much as we can in the planning side, on the input side, similar to what we did when we overhauled the production process, you know, eight or nine years ago, Arnold, and to capacitate that properly. You know, a lot of work's going in to professionalize our PMO capability, our project management office capability, and, you know, we've, as a management team, have, you know, realized that, you know, we've got a little bit of catch-up to play in that space, and that work is happening now. So, you know, at the time we, you know, we get to gate it through the board, you know, we'll be ready to launch on executing that project. It is... A fairly short-term build, probably about three years, so it will be fairly capital intensive, albeit we're comfortable that our position we are in can filter capital, but it's probably a three-year capital spend. Pretty vanilla in the sense that it's an open-cast mine with a standard flow sheet plant, so it's not something that's on the leading edge of technology that hasn't been done ever before in the world, so it's a proven flow sheet, proven technology, and we we're comfortable that with the work we are doing now, we could, you know, give ourselves a good chance to get that right on. But yes, it is. I mean, a key KPI of this management team will be executing projects and executing projects well going forward, and particularly Eva Kopp as the first one. What a goal to the big prize later. Thank you. It puts me at ease.

speaker
Boipelo

Baz, I've just got a question which has come through online. I'm from Valhalla and Varsov at Rosendale Partners. I just wanted to ask, In terms of the special mining lease for Wafi Golpu, it's been almost two years since the MOU was signed, the framework MOU. I just want to touch on what are the remaining sticking points, and what is actually holding up the process?

speaker
Bayer Schnell
CEO

Yeah, thank you for the question. It's been much longer than two years coming. But how one should think about this, if you look at permitting of greenfields projects in many jurisdictions globally today, You look at 15 to 18 years. I mean, that is how long it takes to bring a big new mine into production. So Wafi, Golpu, I wouldn't say is that much different if you look at it relative to that. Yes, it is frustrating. Yes, we would have wanted to be further down the track. What is holding up the process is getting the – remember the state has got an option to exercise up to 30% equity in the project – And it's about splitting the pie in an equitable manner between the parties, the two JV parties and the state. The state's portion being 20% Kumul, the state-owned mining company, and 10% the landowners. We are saying it is worth the wait. I mean, it's a phenomenal asset. It is also a mining lease in Papua New Guinea. It's got a 40-year tenure. And in the 40 years, PNG has showed that they do not deviate from the conditions set out in that permit. So it's a 40-year marriage. You know, you can think of it as getting the prenup right in terms of making sure that this relationship, you know, between the three parties can bring this mine in as good as it could be, you know, into fruition for the benefit of not only PNG, you know, our shareholders, but obviously our shareholders and all the stakeholders. I mean, I think that mine would bring meaningful economic change to a country like PNG. So all I would say is aligned. Ourselves and our JV partners are fully aligned in terms of progress in the permitting process, and it's just getting through, you know, getting through the bureaucracy of actually getting, you know, everybody over the line.

speaker
Boipelo

Thank you. Do we have any more questions from the audience? Online, anything?

speaker
spk08

We have no questions on the conference call.

speaker
Boipelo

All right, great. I think we can conclude there. So thank you very much for all who joined today. It's been a pleasure. And thank you, Boaz, for presenting today. If you do have any further questions, please reach out to the Harmony Investor Relations team and we will help you out. Thank you very much. Have a good day.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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