Iamgold Corporation Ordinary Shares

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IAM Gold first quarter, 2026 operating and financial results conference call and webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing star, then zero. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Graham Jennings, VP Business Development and Investor Relations for IAM Gold. Please go ahead, Mr. Jennings.

Thank you, operator, and welcome everyone to our conference call this morning. Joining us on the call are Renaud Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Martin Denison, Chief Financial Officer, Bruno Lemelin, Chief Operating Officer, Ankit Shah, Chief Strategy Officer, and Annie Topia-Legacy, Chief Legal Officer. We are calling today for Mayan Gold's Toronto office, which is located on Treaty 13 territory, on the traditional lands of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, and the Chippewa, and the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. At Mayan Gold, we believe respecting and upholding Indigenous rights is founded upon relationships that foster trust, transparency, and mutual respect. Please note that our remarks on today's call will include forward-looking statements and refer to non-IFRS measures. We encourage you to refer to the cautionary statements and disclosures on non-IFRS measures included in the presentation and the reconciliations of these measures in our most recent MD&A, each under the heading non-GAAP financial measures. With respect to the technical information to be discussed, please refer to the information in the presentation under the heading qualified person and technical information. The slides referenced on this call can be viewed on our website. I'll now turn the call over to our president, the CEO, Renaud Adams.

Thank you, Graham, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before I start, I'd like to welcome Ankit Shah, who joined IAMGOLD on Monday as our chief strategy officer. Ankit, who many of you on the call are familiar with, brings to our team nearly 20 years of strategy, corporate development, and capital markets experience at a very exciting time for this company. So welcome, Ankit. IAM Gold is off to a strong start to 2026. In the first quarter, we produced 183,600 attributable ounces of gold, positioning us well to achieve our full-year guidance of 720,000 to 820,000 ounces. The quarter was marked by robust financial results, with revenue exceeding $1 billion and mine-side free cash flow of $525 million. The cash flow we are generating is allowing us to execute on all funds, as in the first quarter alone, we returned $260 million to shareholders through our share buyback program and repaid $100 million of debt on our credit facility while increasing our cash position. These results reflect the significant leverage of our business as to the current gold price environment, and more importantly, the quality of the asset we have built and the teams that operate them. But what excites me most is where I am gold is headed. I believe we are entering one of the most catalyst rich periods of company's history. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we expect to deliver updated technical reports across each of our assets, Cote Gold, Westwood, ESACAN, and the Nelligan Mining Complex. These studies are expected to outline a larger, longer-life production profile that we believe will redefine how the markets view Zion Gold. At Cote, the year-end technical report is expected to contemplate the significantly larger-scale operations incorporating both the Cote and Gosselin, supported by an updated mineral resource estimate coming this quarter. At Nelligan, we are advancing one of the largest pre-production gold camps in Canada towards a preliminary economic assessment next year. And at Westwood and Issaqan, we see meaningful potential of mine life extension and production growth. We will get into the detail on each of these through the presentation today. When I look at IAMGOLD today, with $2 billion of EBITDA generated over the last 12 months, a strengthening balance sheet and increasing production profile, catalysts ahead of every asset and meaningful capital being returned to shareholders, I see a company that is delivering on its promises and building something very exceptional. We are well positioned to create significant value in 2026 and beyond, and I look forward to walking you through the details. And with that, let's get into the quarter. Starting with health and safety, in the quarter, our total recordable injury rate was 0.44, a measurable improvement from the prior year period. I would like to highlight two big achievements in the quarter, as the second in mind, achieved a milestone of triple zero in the first quarter, and Westwood achieved its first full quarter at the zero tripper, a goal every mine site strives to reach. I want to thank our teams across our operation and in the field for their continued commitment to safe and responsible mining, as safety is where it starts for us. Looking at operation, and as noted, IM Gold produced 183,600 ounces to our account in the first quarter. At go-date, a tributal production of 52,300 ounces was impacted by reduced throughput due to unplanned downtime associated with wear and tear on a conveyor belt as crushed ore volume significantly increased following the commissioning of the second corn crusher. This belt will be replaced in May. after which we expect to operate at full capacity with an improving cost profile through the year, as the bottlenecking of the secondary crusher allows us to phase out the aggregate crusher. Meanwhile, SACAN and Westwood both have a very strong start to the year, demonstrating the value of having a diversified portfolio of producing assets. Cash costs, including royalties, were $1,301 per ounce and a quarter, tracking well within our full-year guidance range. Including royalties, cash costs were $1,608 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs were $2,124. It is worth highlighting that both COTE and ISACAM carry significant royalty structure, which are directly linked to the gold price. and a quarter where the gold price realized was nearly $4,900 an ounce. The royalty component is naturally higher than what our guidance assumed at $4,000. As a reference, this worked out to around $115 per ounce increase in cash costs for a $1,000 per ounce increase in the gold price from royalty alone. Meanwhile, on the input cost, The ongoing conflicts in the Middle East has introduced additional volatility to energy markets, and we did see oil prices move higher towards the end of the quarter. The second in particular has meaningful exposure given its reliance on diesel and heavy fuel oil to power both the processing and the mining fleet. On a consolidated basis, a $10 per barrel increase translates to approximately $12 per ounce increase in cash costs. We are actively monitoring energy price movement and potential supply chain impacts across all of our operations. With that, I will pass the call over to our CFO to walk us through our financials matters. Martin.

Thank you, Renaud, and good morning, everyone. The current gold market and our operating results have resulted in good financial results and considerable free cash flow being generated, which allows us to continue to execute on a capital allocation strategy to maximize value. We produced $524.6 million of mine sites free cash flow, that is operating cash flows minus capital expenditure from each operation. $228.4 million of the funds was used to strengthen our balance sheet by repaying $100 million of the credit facility, and we also increased cash by $128.3 million. For the shareholder return component, we purchased $260 million, or $12.9 million, of iron-gold shares as part of the share buyback program. Subsequent to quarter end, we purchased an additional 2.1 million shares for $40 million. which brings the total shares repurchased by Ungold since the start of the program last December to $350 million, or 18 million shares. In addition, we completed the debt repayment component of our plan and paid down the remaining $100 million balance of the credit facility, making the full facility available. The company intends to continue to use cash flow from ISACAN to fund its share buyback program, at approximately the same rate that cash is generated and repatriated from SACAN over the course of 2026. Naturally, the actual number of common shares that may be purchased, if any, and the timing of such purchases will be determined by the company based on a number of factors, including the gold price, the company's financial performance, the availability of cash flows, consideration of uses of cash, and our strategic allocation. In terms of the financial position, At the end of the quarter, IAMGOLD had $550.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, with $100 million drawn on the credit facility, resulting in liquidity at the end of March of approximately $1.1 billion. With the $400 million term loan repaid at the end of last year and the repayment of our credit facility, IAMGOLD today is in the net cash position. a significant milestone for a company that a year ago was carrying over $800 million in net debt. Within cash and cash equivalent, we note that $281.9 million was held by ICICAN at the end of the quarter. The cash abundance at ICICAN increased during the quarter and will be used to fund tax payments in April and the government of Burkina Faso's portion of the 2026 dividend payable in June. The company uses dividends and shareholder account structure to repay trade funds in excess of working capital requirements from SACAT. Turning to our financial results, revenues from operations total $1 billion from sales of 211,500 ounces. On a 100% basis, at an average realized price of $485 per ounce. The record gold price and operating results resulted in adjusted EBITDA of $666 million in the first quarter of the year, which brings the trailing 12-month EBITDA to a total of approximately $2 billion. At the bottom line, adjusted earnings per share for the quarter was $0.67. Looking at the cash flow reconciliation for the quarter offers a good visualization of the major drivers in the quarter. We see good conversion of EBITDA into operating cash flow with $629.5 million of operating cash flow before working capital changes. As stated earlier, the significant operating cash flow allowed for the funding of our capital expenditure of $101.6 million, $260 million under the share buyback program. We paid $100 million off the credit facility, while still resulting in an increase in cash of $128.3 million. As we look ahead, with our debt repayment goal achieved, We will continue to share buyback program using cash flow from SACAN and the remaining cash going to our balance sheet to further strengthen it as we evaluate the best use of the funds to increase value of the business. We are evaluating an appropriate time to induce a dividend that would likely be at the end of the year or early next year. It is worth reinforcing on how we think about our capital allocation framework today. The Canadian platform consisting of Cote d'Ivoire and Westwood is generating sufficient cash flow to fund the company's Canadian operations and corporate activities, as well as our internal growth plans over the next three years. This is important because it means that the cash flow of Mr. Kahn can be directed to fund our capital return to shareholders that currently consists of the Share Buyback Program, and we believe there is compelling logic to that. The market has historically applied the discounted cash flows generated in Burkina Faso By repatriating those funds to Canada and using it to repurchase our shares at current market value, we are effectively converting cash that the market discounts into full value equity for our shareholders. We continue to evaluate the program and believe that this is currently the most prudent use of capital. And with that, I will pass the call to Bruno Levinen. our Chief Operations Officer, to discuss our operating results and outlook. Bruno?

Thank you, Martin. Starting with Cote Gold. Looking at the quarter, Cote produced 74,700 ounces on a 100-person basis. Mining activities total 9.3 million tons of material mined, with 3.6 million tons of ore, representing a strict ratio of 1.6 to 1. Total tons mined were lower in January and February. The operation completed overburden removal activity required to open up the pits while managing seasonal winter conditions. Mining activity increased in March, drilling and blasting commands in the pushback area. The rate of mine in the quarter was 0.99 grams per ton in line with the mine plan. Net throughput in the quarter was 2.3 million tons. As we noted in our results, throughput was limited due to downtime on the CD10 conveyor, which feeds material from the primary and secondary crushers to the screening building. This downtime was primarily due to the increased load on the conveyor following the installation of the secondary crusher, putting additional stress on areas of the conveyor belt that had private wear and slices. We were able to refine our repairs in early April. We then saw improved performance of the belt when the plant averaged 32,000 tons per day over the month. Later this month, we are installing a new heavier gauge belt, which will allow for the circuit to resume full operation above . In summary, the Silicon Dell situation is not structural in nature, but an isolated, non-recurring early life item. We are seeing fewer of these as the operation stabilizes, marking an important step forward versus the past 12 to 24 months. Cote is transitioning into a phase focused on operating discipline and consistent execution. Head grades for the first quarter was 1.07 gram per ton in line with the guidance for the year of 1 to 1.1 gram per ton with recoveries of 93%. We continue to be very pleased with the reconciliation between reserve model, group, grade model, to mill feed and production. Production is expected to increase quarter over quarter as to put increases in Q2 and on higher grades in the second half of the year. We remain on track with Cote's production guidance of 390 to 440,000 ounces for the year. Looking at costs, Cote reported first quarter cash costs excluding royalties of $1,369 per ounce and all in sustained costs of 2,109 waters per annum. We have been clear with our plan to lower our cost this year, and that plan is still in place. Our goal is to exit the year at sub-490 ton mining costs and processing costs in the mid-teens. The primary drivers to lower costs this year are fourfold. First is to increase tons through the mill and higher production. Second is to significantly reduce and remove the reliance on the compacted aggregate crusher. Third is with improved maintenance cycle and iterative performance improvement. And fourth is to realize the operational efficiencies as the kit is opened up. The second foam crusher is operating well, which has removed the bottleneck on this area of the secondary crushing circuit. Later this quarter, the increased capacity will allow us to phase out the usage of the aggregate crusher, which we contracted last year to allow the plant to hit its 2025 goals. We have already realized benefits beyond the additional volume capacity with the HPGR seeing an immediate reduction on wear of its rollers, which will translate to less roller replacement over the course of a year. As Renaud pointed out, costs at Cote Gold are impacted by higher gold prices. In the first quarter, royalties accounted for $335 per ounce, or 20% of cash costs. Further, and this is something that we've been asked about frequently of late, is the impact of rising oil prices. The benefit at Cote is that The plants in our shovels are connected to the low-cost hydro grid. So effectively, only our mining fleet is directly impacted by fuel prices. Based on our estimates, this translates to about $7 per ounce increase in cost per $10 increase in the price of oil. With the path forward this year to a higher production and lower cost, All eyes turn to what is next for Cote. The first step is the upcoming updated mineral resources estimate, which will combine both the Cote and Gosling zone into a single block model. The goal is to see additional upgrading of ounces into measured and indicated. The resource base will form the foundation of the Cote-Gosling Extension Mine Plan. which is still on track to be announced in the fourth quarter of this year. The report will envision a near-term expansion of the Côté plant to 50 to 55,000 tons per day, targeting a significantly larger reserve base from the updated resource estimate. We expect the extension to be highly accretive on a NAV basis as the near-term capital required for the plant extension is relatively modest. The permitting and larger technical requirements for additional tailings management and opening of gas length will likely be staged out many years in the mine's path. Turning to S1, the mine continues its strong production, producing 36,300 ounces of the quarter, as underground activities perform very well with excellent mucking and hoisting performance. Underground mining totaled 106,000 tons in the quarter with an average head rate from underground of 9.85 grams per ton. The Yadzikokan fits a lower ore mine of 60,000 tons. Operations prioritized waste stripping to open up access to additional ore with opportunities to further extension or further extension. Their throughput in the third quarter was in line at 303,000 tons at the blended average grade of 404 grams per ton in recoveries of 92%. Together, Westwood produced $110 million of mine-type free cash flow in the first quarter, bringing the last 12 months of cash flow generation to $242 million. Westwood demonstrates what discipline, execution, and incremental optimization can deliver safe operation, stable production, expanding optionality, and strong free cash flows without step-change capital. As a result of the strong quarter, cash costs average $1,217 per ounce, and orange's sustained costs averaging $1,733 dollars per ounce, well below the guidance ranges for the year. We have seen a modest mining cost increases on the per unit basis associated with increased driving duties and higher explosive costs. Looking ahead, our teams are quite excited for the future of Winslow. This year, we are spending about $30 million on expansion capital that has been used to explore and test the eastern extension of the mine, which you can see circled here on slide 13. We are seeing a thickening of mineralization in this area. Our project teams are currently drifting into this area to conduct bulk testing. The company plans to publish an updated technical report for Westwood in the second half of 2027, which is expected to extend the life of mine and highlight the potential for gold mining in this eastern zone. This approach would potentially support higher overall underground throughput, and this conceptually would allow for increased gold production at improved mining costs, allowing the mill to be filled with higher margin material. Turning to SACAN, the mine reported record production of 111,900 ounces on a 100-person base. ASGRADE continues to benefit from the positive reconciliation as mining progresses deeper into Phase 7 as a result of this. from performance mine site free cash flow from ESACAN was $302.7 million in the quarter, bringing the total cash generated by ESACAN over the last 12 months to $803.6 million. On operation, mining total 11.9 million tons versus ore tons of 2.2 million tons, translating to a strip ratio of 4.4 to 1. The higher proportion of waste was a result of the initial pushback of the dip extension in the Laoupipe. The mill reported an inline throughput of 3.1 million tons, which was a good achievement as the plant completed its annual showdown. Head grades averaged 1.24 gram per ton, coming off the record grade last quarter. Despite the positive reconciliation impact in Phase 7, We are maintaining our guidance for the year of 1.1 grand per tonne as additional ore from Laos is brought into the mine's land. The second cost came within guidance ranges with cash costs excluding credit fees of $1,083 per ounce and un-sustained costs of $2,125 per ounce. Mining costs benefited in the quarter due to free digging of the initial saprolyte benches of the Laotip, resulting in reduced explosive consumption. While on a project basis, these savings were offset by higher energy and consumable costs and the replacement of the liners. And second costs also have exposure to the gold price. In the first quarter, the strong oil price translated to rail fees accounted for $597 per annum, or 35% of cash flows. Further, SICAM is heavily reliant on oil and diesel. Based on the usage between living and mining, it is estimated that the $10 increase in the price of oil per barrel would equate to about $20 per ounce increase in cash costs and in sustained costs, respectively. At this time, our fuel supply has not been impacted by the conflict in the Middle East, though risk to price and supply have increased. The company is actively monitoring the situation and implementing measures that are within its control. ESSACAN continues to be a highly cash-generative asset, delivering strong free cash flow while offering optionality to an updated mine plan, targeting a potential five-year expansion of its current life on mine. In the first half of 2027, I am going to expect to release this updated plan, which would extend ESSACAN's life to 2033. This work will also support with the government of Burkina Faso ahead of license renewal in 2028. Today, this account holds 4.4 million ounces of measured and insulated resources with further upside supported by ongoing drilling. With that, I will pass it back to Renaud.

Renaud? Thank you, Bruno. This brings us to the Nelligan Mining Complex. The first quarter was the first full quarter that we controlled the consolidated district and our exploration teams have been drilling to expand mineralization at Philiber, Nelligan, and Monster Lake while prioritizing targets for further discovery. This year, we will be drilling over 60,000 meters to advance the project so we can release our initial PEA study to the market in the first half of next year. The Nelligan Mining Complex already has a significant minerals inventory of over 4.3 million ounces of measured and indicated and 7.5 million ounces of inferred resources. And we believe there is meaningful upside to those numbers. Many of these deposits and targets have not had a sustained or well-funded exploration program behind them. That is changing now. and we expect the mineral inventory to continue to grow as we put capital to work across the district. We expect the study to outline a project with a central processing facility being fed from multiple ore sources within the 17-kilometer radius. Considering the mineral's wealth and potential for growth and the fact that IMGOL owns 100% The Nelligan Mining Complex has the potential to be among IMZO's largest mine. The Nelligan Mining Complex is already positioned as one of the largest pre-production gold projects in Canada. What makes it truly compelling is the combination of district scale, consolidation across multiple million ounces deposit, the ease of access, the combine of underground and open pit mining, and the fact that it is located in Quebec, one of the top premier mining jurisdictions in the world. Taken together, we believe this attributes positions Nelligan as a premium asset in our portfolio and one where we expect to unlock significant value as we advance the project through the study process. So with that, I want to thank our shareholders for your support. We truly believe that will be an exciting year for IMGO with significant value growth opportunities ahead, including the upcoming resource update at Cote, the Cote expansion study later this year, followed by next year where we outline a mine life extension in the second and the first half of the year, an initial study wrapping economics around Milligan mining complex also in the first half of next year, and a mine life extension on the ground at Westwood in the second half of next year. So altogether, we have significant value accretion catalysts ahead. And with that, I would like to pass the call back to the operator for the Q&A portion of the call. Operator?

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. We will pause for a moment as callers join the queue. The first question comes from Satish Kashinathan with Bank of America.

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. My first question is on SKN. Are you seeing any risks in terms of potential supply disruptions for diesel or fuel oil over there? How much inventory do you currently have on site? You also talked about the direct cost impact from higher oil prices, but how should we think about the indirect inflationary pressures?

Or maybe Martin, you take that one, please.

Morning, Sadiq. We are de-risking the fuel supply at ISACAN. We have supply at site that's five to six weeks, and we try to maintain that at a maximum capacity. But then what we have also done is we continue to secure additional fuel out the supply chain. So we have secured that fuel. So for the next two to three months, SACAN has already secured sufficient fuel. The impact, as we stated, for the direct impact on the actual cost per fuel that is linked to the market price is about $20 per ounce for every $10 per barrel. There is other costs at Issacan as well. There's taxes on fuel and those impacts, but we have not seen other inflationary pressures at Issacan or the other mines at this point, and it's hard to estimate those. If you look at our energy costs as a company, it's about 20% of our operating costs and our consumables is about 15 to 16%. So that's kind of like the level of our cost structure that could be impacted by inflationary pressures. But it's hard to, I think for anyone to predict at this point, what exactly that would look like.

Okay, thanks for the color. My second question is on Cote. How should we look at the quarterly cadence of production and cost, especially for the second quarter with the reduced operating capacity and the scheduled maintenance shutdown in May? Should we expect the average milling rates and cost to improve versus the first quarter, or is it more like a second half story?

Good morning.

We expect that once we have completed the shutdown in May, middle of May, like it's meant to be on May 20th. We're going to be replacing the conveyor belt and we're going to be replacing also the HPJR tires that were supposed to be changed earlier in the year. And we are going to make some adjustments in certain areas, but after that, we're going to resume to full operation and even going beyond the main plate capacity. So what it would entail is after that, the expectation is both on the mining side and milling side, the unit costs are expected to decrease and to have a sharp improvement in terms of global production water over water.

This is Graham. And you'll note in our release that we refined our throughput guidance for Cote to 12 to 13 million tons per year.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the additional color and congrats on a strong year-to-date buybacks.

Thank you.

The next question comes from Anita Soni with CIBC.

Hi, good morning guys. Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to ask a little bit about Westwood. So this quarter, a little bit lower production from the Grand Duke deposit or from the open pit. I'm not sure if it's still Grand Duke, but how long does that, how long do you expect to have that? Or I think it said into Q into 2027, but I was just trying to figure out, you know, when it ends and sort of the ramp up in 2026 in terms of the tonnage over the course of the year.

Good morning, Anita. This is Bruno. Good question. We are seeing from Grand Duc to be extended even beyond 2027. We have also options, Phase 5, that could go even beyond to 2029. That's what we're doing right now. We're currently evaluating those options. So Grand Duc has been like a great support for Westwood. And the moment that it will be fading off, it would be also a great moment for the eastern zone that I'm referring to, the thicker part of the underground at Westwood to replace that material.

If I may add, Anita, so what I really like about the work that's been done and the drilling that took place in the last two years, our effort has always been, you know, to protect the production profile on an upside, the basis, the potential phase five of the Grand Duke, you know, should we be able to maintain this up to 2029-30, Followed after that, you know, by an increase of the underground in the East Room. So this is the focus right now. So you don't see any gap. And if anything, you know, continued to increase profile. It's a bit of about the same thinking. And I appreciate Burkina Faso's different situations we monitor and so forth. But the best, of course, would be to completely offset the gap and fit the Nelligan camp, you know, also being capable to maintain the production profile. So that's really the focus at this stage, understanding that we would be continuing to monitor the situation in West Africa.

Yeah, and I guess what I was driving at with on the Westwood was, you know, this quarter you had very good costs and very, you know, a lot of mining from the underground and with the Grand Duke ramping up, you know, I'm just curious to see how the, like the... theoretically the overall mining cost per ton should actually drive down more with more underground, sorry, more of the open pit ore coming in. So I'm just trying to get a handle on, you had a significant cost speed in the first quarter at Westwood relative to your guidance. So I'm just trying to figure out how those, like how I should be thinking about cost for the rest of the year.

Good morning, Anita. It's Martin. So I agree we had a great quarter if you look at the dollar per tonne for the underground mine. We do expect it to maybe increase just above the 300 level again for the rest of the year, that it might not be staying at that level. So closer to that 325 for the full year again, as we saw in the past. So, yeah, we don't expect Q1 to be the norm for the rest of the year.

We wish so, but we do understand that there are some zones, some areas in the mine that requires maybe more support and so forth. So you cannot really just, it really depends where the guys would be, where the team would be mining. But our focus is to remain at the lower cost, but I appreciate that we'll be mining out a sector as well at higher cost.

Okay. And my other question on Coté on throughput was, answered in one of the other questions going above nameplate. So I'll leave it there and get back in the queue if I have any follow-up. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. The next question comes from Tanya Chakaskonek with Kosher Bank.

Oh, great. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking my questions. Maybe I'll do the financial one first. Um, Martin over to you to maybe talk about, um, the 400 million dividends, um, after tax that you're getting in Q2, um, from ESECAN. Should I do think that all of that now could be going to share buyback, um, in like Q2 or Q3? How should I be thinking the payment of this 400 million over for the share buyback from a quarterly perspective?

Good morning, Tania. So we have about 200 million left on the shelter account for last year's dividend. We expect that cash to be repatriated by June or July of this year. And then the reason why there's a bit of a slowdown is because of the tax payments we have to make in Q2, as well as the government is getting the 100 million portion of the dividend. So the cash that we bring in, we expect for the remainder of this quarter to spend approximately 40 to 50 million a month. We already did 40 million in April. So kind of like getting to that 400 million for the year. Likely on the cashier buyback, they will continue to evaluate. But that 400 million that we then declare in June is then a new shareholder account of 400 million. And then as we then repatriate cash from its account, we would then continue to use that to potentially fund share buybacks for the second half of the year into next year. Gold price dependence is the exact sequence of that, but we have good vision on the next quarter, second half to the middle of the year.

Okay, great. That's very helpful. And then my other financial question is just on the taxes. We're quite low in 2021. When I look at your guidance and what you paid, significantly lower. Maybe just a little bit about what's happening there and how you see the rest of the year coming out in terms of taxes.

From a cash tax perspective, we've paid about 14% if you take our guidance, cash taxes. We still think our cash tax guidance is intact and maybe If you look at it for how it's spread over the course of the year, like 14% to 15% in Q1 and Q4. And then the remainder is spread over Q2 and Q3. And that's, again, driven by if the cash tax payment in Q2 and the withholding tax payment on the dividend, that's normally either end of Q2 or beginning of Q2.

Okay. So I should see that.

So 10% in Q2 and Q3.

Yeah. Okay. Okay. Perfect, thank you for that clarification. And then just moving to some of the technical questions. Maybe, Renaud, over to you to, you know, as I think about this updated resource that is coming out on Cote Gosselin at the end of, I think it's this quarter, end of Q2, or in Q2, should I be thinking, and I think I heard that we're upgrading the measured and indicated So should I be thinking that that 20 million ounces that you have outlined, should I be thinking that 2 million of inferred gets moved into measured and indicated and there will be no increase to the reserves that you reported of 7 million ounces? Or should I also be thinking that that 20 million overall should get bigger? Just trying to understand what to expect.

No, thanks for the questions. We've been socializing this quite a bit. If you look at our year end mineral resource, we were sitting below the 19 million and the 18.5 plus million of measure indicated. There were still some holes to be integrated in the database. We've done some work in the saddle as well. Our confidence remains, as you say, that there will be additional conversion to MI to our objective of 20 million ounces of measure indicated. And as you drill, as you continue to improve your input as well. So we would all clarify this, but the most important thing is our objective remains 20 million of measure indicated, and that will form the basis for the reserves. We will not This slows the reserve, obviously, because we'll trigger the need for the report right away. So we're going to clarify in Q2 our resource, and the reserve then will be a measure of a factor of conversion of the $20 million. Obviously, we're expecting a significant increase in reserve out of the $20 million, but that will be clarified in the study as it comes out at the end of the year.

Okay. Thank you for that. That's what I thought was going to happen, but I just wanted to make sure. And then just maybe on, you know, I know we talked a little bit about these costs coming down at Cote on both the mining and the processing. As we think about this new study that's coming out in Q4 for this, you know, complex, should I be thinking that, you know, the new study should have, you know, costs of under $4 a ton for mining and processing and that $12 to $14 a ton as a combined entity. I mean, they were quite high this quarter as we know for various reasons, but I'm trying to understand if I am going to be benchmarking on that, you know, under $4 a ton and $12 to $14 on the processing.

The you're absolutely right. Appreciate you know that in in the short term our cost has been hired. You know, and as we highlighted in Q2 last year, the use of the Greggett plan is is a is a big portion of it. Not having the capacity and the dry and short. All this have been tested. We've been using as well some external review as well to revalidate all this. We're talking about visibility, you know, level type of studies. So we remain extremely confident. We understand and appreciate our costs are higher, but I think we have good visibility about what has to be done. So this is the focus as we park the aggregate and focus on reducing. It's not going to be all in one year. It's going to be spread over a couple of years to three years, how well are highlighted heading to the expansion. So maybe, Bruno, just quickly, what you see as the main focus in the second half of the year in terms of cost reduction.

Yeah, Daniel, like for the mining costs, you will see those mining costs directly in the second and for the rest of the year. First of all, it's because the volume really is a thing for Q1. As we expect, the volume to increase or unit costs are going to go down. Second is we have also made, like, a great improvement in drilling blasts, increasing our performance by 65% of late. We're also going to receive four additional 793 cuts, increasing hog. So we're putting everything in place to be successful, to be below the $4 a ton before the end of the year. Same thing happened for the mining cost. The moment that you take out, remove the aggregate crusher, the contractors, and demobilization of other contractors, you'll see also a sharp reduction in cost. We are also making improvements here and there. As it should, it's part of the optimization phase. And as Renaud pointed out, that optimization phase is going to take a good two years to make sure that we keep putting a downward pressure for the cost. So we're quite confident that the 43-101 is going to be well supported by assumptions that are realistic.

Okay. Understood. So a basis to go forward on that. And maybe just my final question, as I thought about The rest of the year, and I know in the previous, in February, the guidance had been that Ethicam production would be relatively stable through the year, as was Westwood, and then Cote would see quarter-on-quarter improvement. And we saw a stronger second half. So how are we looking at the overall company for production profile for first half, second half?

Go ahead, Bruno. Yes. It's going to be much stronger, as we mentioned, for Cote. The grades are going to be over in between 1 and 1.2. So we have to expect a stronger H2. Or if I can, it's going to be quite stable. We need to, and we mentioned that we're going to remain within guidance as we start implementing the Lao ore into the mine plant. Westwood is just like the only thing that we need for Westwood is just being a stable operation. Stable and safe operation. 1,000 ounces a month on average and more we can be optimistic. So overall you will see a much stronger H2 as opposed to H1. And I think this is what we also disclosed last quarter that H1 would be the software to take into account the winter conditions and software changes for the HPGR changes that can come with it. So I think right now everything falls in place.

Yeah, no, that's what you had, Lad. I just wanted to make sure. Thank you.

Thank you.

The next question comes from Mohamed Sidibe with National Bank.

Hi, Renaud and Tim, and thanks for taking my question. Maybe I could maybe ask a question on the underground. We've now seen two quarters of mining rates above that 1.1 thousand tons per day and grades over that 9.8 grams per ton mine. So could you maybe help me understand how to think about the next few quarters in terms of mining productivity in the grid over the coming quarters? Thank you.

Renaud?

Yes. The hoisting, the mucking is going very well. Our targets are close to 1,000 tons per day. And in fact, we're exceeding those metrics every day now. It's done through optimization and better engineering, better preparation. Hoisting, you know, we have a 4,000 tonne per week capacity at Westwood, so we have plenty of capacity at the hoist, so it's not constrained. Therefore, that's the reason why it gives us great hope that whatever improvement that will be done at Westwood will become an immediate catalyst into the coal production of the month. But overall, what we plan is We plan what we do and we do what we've done. So trying to make sure that we have stabilized the operation and we improve in an increment manner the Westwood operation on all metrics. The meter of advance per day, meter per minute shift. The drilling is going very well also and we have a new SIMBA drill coming in. So the drilling performance is also improving very well. The ability of our mining crews to rearm new zones are improving also with the algorithm that we have developed over time. So overall, it's going well.

And I appreciate that you've seen, you know, like quite a significant increase. I mean, again, it's a little bit of the questions on the cost side. Depends a bit where you mine as well. What we want is reliable and safe operation. Are we going to see a continued increase? The focus is really to deliver, you know, sustainable and safe operations. So we're very comfortable, really like the last quarter. But I think like being in the zone of the 1,000 to the 1,200 is a good zone. And we're going to always prioritize the safe operations, Mohamed. But I appreciate your questions.

Thanks for that. That's very helpful. And maybe if I can ask a second question on Cote Gold, on the improvement on the process cost. And sorry if I missed this, but is the improvement of the maintenance timeline for the HPGR already reflected in that expected cost improvement you have for the end of the year? Or is that a positive surprise following the installation of the current process?

Thank you. No, I wouldn't call it a positive surprise. I would say a validation of what has been our belief since the start Again, with the short of capacity and the dry, we knew we were feeding the HPGR slightly outside of the design criteria with the coarser ore, which was accelerating the wear on the machine. So since we've commissioned the second cone and we've been in capacity to return to the design criteria, we've seen an automatic and overnight change. And we expect the change of the tire now to get back to the lifespan that we're expecting. So yes, we're not expecting another change of tire this year, and therefore it is built in the reductions of cost post the change. Great. Thanks for taking my questions. Thank you.

The next question comes from Josh Wilson with RBC.

Yeah, thank you very much. I apologize. I just want to clarify a couple of things. I'm having trouble hearing some of the data points. Just going back to some of the details on Cote, you know, this comment about the plants operating above main plate in the second half of the year and some of the tonnage numbers that was provided, you know, the numbers look to imply about maybe 10% to 15% above main plate in the second half. I just want to clarify, does that sound correct? And then is it reasonable to assume that those throughput levels can be sustained beyond 2026, even before the expansion takes hold?

Yeah, when we say that we can produce above main plate, we have more than many days above 36,000 tons per day, even eating 42,000 tons per day, many times. With the addition of the second cone crusher and also allowing the geometry of the ore protecting now the HPGR, which is going to be running very efficiently, we expect to remain into that zone between the 36 and 42 in average. So that's very promising for us. With the shutdowns that we have in August and other shutdowns that we have in certain areas, we are still evaluating and planning an overall average throughput of 36. But overall, like when you have a very well run rate, it goes well beyond 36.

What we've experienced, Josh, with the second column is, you know, for only a few weeks, unfortunately, before we started to have the issues on the conveyor. So the objective has always been to stabilize at the 36. So what we've seen is effectively, of course, if you want to reach 36 when you upgrade, you need to be above. But you also heard Bruno say, earlier talking about slightly better grade as well. So it's not just a matter of throughput. It's a matter that we should access as well better grade in the second half. But the priority at this stage is to demonstrate that minimum 36 average all time in the dry, in the wet. As you crush finer, you will unlock more potential in the wet as well. So for the first stage first is as soon as we change a tire, we change the bell, we park the aggregate plan. The focus in June is to demonstrate that we actually can operate at an end point. Then will come the optimizations on the step-by-step basis. But so far, so good for what we've seen with the crusher.

Okay, got it. And then your comment about the better grade, the number was mentioned on the call. Again, I apologize for not being able to hear. It was said it was 1.1 to 1.2 in the second half. Is that correct?

Between 1 and 1.2.

So we did 1.07, the first quarter, and you could see a quarter above the 1.07. So we say 1 to 1.2, and hopefully we'll see quarters above the 1.1.

Okay. And then last question. I know it's sort of been mentioned by some of the other participants just on mining costs for Cotea. I mean, I wouldn't necessarily extrapolate the current quarter. And obviously, there's a lot of volatility on the energy side of things. But, you know, what is a reasonable sort of mining cost for us to assume in the second half of the year when you factor in maybe, I'm not sure what sort of energy price to use. I'll let you guys figure that out. But maybe just these higher throughput levels, what would be the target steady state? Thank you.

Martin, you can get some details, but I can say that at this stage, the focus is absolutely to bring those mining costs below the four as we exit the year. Martin?

Josh, one thing we didn't mention earlier was that we've actually put in some price protection for oil at Cote. So for June, as well as for all of Q3, 90% of Cote's oil is hedged at a price of about $80 per barrel. So if the price goes above $80 per barrel, it doesn't impact our cost further during that period. And we still participate if the price goes below that. So that will help offset some of that cost as well to get us close to that four.

So as we exit the year, as we achieve our objective to drop our mining below the four, and get the mailing more towards the 15 as we exit. That is the main focus at this stage, knowing that there would be some more optimization to continue to take place, so.

Great, thank you very much.

Thank you, Josh.

Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Graham Jennings for any closing remarks.

Thank you very much, operator. Thanks everyone for joining us this morning. As always, should you have any additional questions, please reach out to Renaud or myself. Thank you all. Be safe and have a great day.

Thank you. This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day. Thank you.