Newmont Corporation

Hello and welcome to Newmont's fourth quarter 2025 results and 2026 guidance conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Newmont's Group Head of Treasury and Investor Relations, Neil Backhouse. Please go ahead.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining NEMON's fourth quarter 2025 results and 2026 guidance conference call. Joining me today are Natasha Paul-Yoon, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Peter Wexler, our Interim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer, and Francois Hardy, our Chief Technical Officer. They will all be available today to answer your questions at the end of the call. Before we begin, please take a moment to review our cautionary statement shown here and refer to our SEC filings, which can be found on our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Natasha.

Thank you, Neil, and thank you all for joining today's call. At the beginning of this year, I transitioned into my new role as Chief Executive Officer of Newmont, and I want to be clear that the priorities that guided me as Chief Operating Officer and that contributed to Neuron's success in 2025 remain firmly in place. As CEO, I will continue to focus on the following key areas. Firstly, ensuring that safety remains the highest priority across the organization, embedding efficiency, including cost and capital discipline into everything that we do, demonstrating that we are the best owners and operators of our assets by driving continuous improvement and greater operational consistency developing the highest return projects in our portfolio, ensuring our business has the runway to operate for decades to come, and enhancing shareholder returns by improving our per share metrics and returning capital to shareholders in a predictable manner, which we believe will support stronger price performance over time. Together, these priorities position us to strengthen our business, enhance returns, and building during value for all of our stakeholders. Turning now to our results. The fourth quarter of 2025 marked a strong finish to a year of continued progress at Nearmont. We achieved our full year guidance, improved our operational performance, and strengthened our financial position, reflecting disciplined execution across the business. Our consistent focus on operational delivery combined with a deliberate and patient approach to balance sheet management, has positioned us to continue returning capital to shareholders while improving our financial resilience. Building on that momentum, today we are introducing an enhanced capital allocation framework structured to be sustainable through the cycle. At its core, it's a dividend designed to grow on a per share basis, supporting by ongoing share repurchases that permanently reduce our overall share count. As a first step, we have increased our quarterly common dividend by 4% with predictable future growth potential. With that in mind, on today's call, we will review our full year 2025 results and then walk through Newmont's 2026 guidance and the enhanced capital allocation framework. But first, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the tragic loss of one of our team members, Matthew Middlebrook, following a fatal incident at our Tanami operation earlier this month. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to his family, friends and colleagues, and we are focused on supporting them however we can during this very difficult time. An investigation into the circumstances that lead to the incident is underway, And we are committed to fully understanding what happened and taking the next reactions to strengthen the systems and controls we have in place to ensure that everyone who walks through our gates go home safely every day. Turning now to our operational performance in 2025, we successfully achieved our production and cost guidance for the year. We produced 5.7 million ounces of gold from our core portfolio. as well as 28 million ounces of silver and 135,000 tons of copper. We benefited from the cost savings and productivity initiatives implemented last year, which helped us mitigate pressures associated with a higher gold price environment and supported further margin expansion. In addition to achieving our absolute and unit cost guidance for 2025, we were able to meaningfully improve our G&I guidance for 2026 by $100 million, which equates to a 21% improvement. This operational and cost discipline contributed to record earnings and free cash flow on both the quarterly and annual basis, generating $2.8 billion in free cash flow in the fourth quarter and $7.3 billion for the full year. We also generated $4.5 billion in proceeds to date from the successful completion of our non-core divestiture programs And notably, we returned $3.4 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Finally, at the end of 2025, we achieved commercial production at a half on north, bringing over 300,000 ounces of gold production into the portfolio this year. Over the last few years, Newmont has been on a transformational journey, aimed at curating a world-class portfolio of operations complementary gold and copper growth opportunities. In 2024, that transformation accelerated as we integrated new assets, began divesting non-core operations, and improved our understanding of the potential of our portfolio. And in 2025, this focus shifted to stabilization and optimization with a deliberate emphasis on cost control, productivity improvements, project execution, and expanded exploration activities. At the beginning of last year, we indicated that Newmont would benefit from a more stable production profile, and that is exactly what we delivered, demonstrating both the strength of our underlying portfolio and the capability of our people. And as I'll discuss in a moment, we continue to advance value-accretive growth options, including the initiation of a mine life extension program at Ligue 1 and the expected completion of Newmont's feasibility study for the Red Cross block guides in the second half of the year. Understanding this portfolio is the industry's strongest reserve and resource base, providing long-term visibility and confidence. And with this, I will turn it over to Franschois to review our 2025 reserves and recent exploration success.

Thank you, Natasha. And hello, everyone. Today, we announced that our gold reserve base stands at 118 million ounces, supported by an additional 149 million ounces of gold resource. Together, representing approximately 40 years of production life with meaningful near-mine upside potential at many of our operations. In addition to holding the industry's largest gold reserve and resource base, Newmont also has one of the largest copper endowments within the gold industry. providing significant organic optionality to further diversify the portfolio over time. Following a thorough review, we have increased our reserve price assumption for 2025 from $1,700 pounds to $2,000 pounds. Even with this increase, our reserve price assumption remains conservative at more than 20% below the three-year trailing average and well below spot. our reserve grade remained unchanged year over year when adjusted for the assets divested in 2025. It is worth noting that while our reserve price assumption may not change every year, we conduct a disciplined annual review process to ensure it remains appropriate and reflective of evolving views on near and long-term price. While the divestment of non-core assets was the primary driver of year over year change in reserves, there are a few additional movements worth highlighting. At Yannacotcha, we reclassified approximately 4.5 million ounces from reserve back to resource, following the decision to indefinitely defer the Yannacotcha SoFast project, better aligning the reserve base with our updated development strategy as we prioritise other opportunities at and around the site and continue advancing closure activities in non-operational areas. This was partially offset by several meaningful reserve additions, unrelated to gold price or cost escalation, including at Tannemeyer and Lichia. And then at Buschak, where we are seeing significant exploration success, converting approximately 740,000 ounces from resource to reserve. Our exploration activities also delivered promising results at a half a cell, where we added approximately 2 million ounces to resource in 2025. Exploration remains one of the most strategic levers to extend mine life, grow reserves, and create long-term value, which I'll expand upon as we turn to the next slide. Newmont's exploration program is tightly integrated across our 12 managed operations with approximately 80% of activity focused on near mine and brownfields programs, which are designed to replace reserves, extend mine life, and leverage our deep all-body knowledge to unlock future upside. The remaining effort is targeted at select greenfield opportunities that provide longer-term optionality for Newmont. While we're seeing encouraging results across the portfolio, our focus today on Booth Jack and our half-hour, where the work underway clearly demonstrates the strength of our approach. At Booth Jack, our focus is near-mine drilling, guided by extensive all-body knowledge delivered a meaningful result in 2025. So in addition to the reserves I mentioned earlier, drilling activities also delivered new resources adjacent to where we're currently mining. And importantly, we have made a new discovery in the dozer zone, as highlighted on the slide, with several significant intercepts, including 20.9 meters at 154 grams per ton downhole. representing another potential high-grade mineral zone and a key focus of our 2026 growth program. Together, these results reinforce the value of targeted exploration around existing infrastructure. They increase our confidence in Bruce Jack's longer-term potential and highlight the broader district-scale opportunity within the Golden Triangle. Shifting now to our Hafez South. Exploration beneath the Subika and the Pensu open pits continues to point to the next phase of high-grade underground growth. Based on current results, which are indicating grades higher than the current mine average, we anticipate exploration activities will deliver approximately 4 to 5 million ounces of new gold reserves in 2026. This would meaningfully extend the life of Subika underground mine and support the potential development of a new underground mine at Pensu. both leveraging the existing surface infrastructure and processing capacity at Ahafa SA. Looking at our broader portfolio, we're also seeing encouraging exploration developments at Merion, which we plan to provide a more comprehensive update on later this year. I'll now turn the call back to Natasha.

Thank you, Francois. 2025 was a milestone year for projects, punctuated by the successful commissioning of Ahafa North. a major achievement that now enables the mine to begin delivering an average of 300,000 ounces per year. And we are pleased to report that the total capital spent for the project is expected to come in at the lower end of our estimated range at approximately $950 million. Building on this strong momentum, we continue to advance our two other major projects in execution towards completion. Beginning with a second expansion at Tanami, With a 1.5-kilometre concrete shaft lining now complete, we are shifting focus to equipping the shaft and completing construction of the underground crushing and associated materials handling system. Construction for the head frame and mechanical work is expected to be completed in late 2026, with full project completion still on track for the second half of 2027. At Kyria, development for both panel kites continues and we are progressing towards CAIF completion at PC2-3 in the fourth quarter of this year as planned. In addition, I'm pleased to announce that in December, we fired the first drawbell at PC1-2, making an important milestone for this project and initiating the next critical phase of CAIF development. And we continue to advance Thailand's work at CAIDEA while progressing the necessary government approvals to support continued operations beyond the current facilities for decades to come. In addition to these major projects in execution, we received full funds approval for the near-shore barrier mine life extension at Lahere, which involves the construction of an in-ground concrete water seepage barrier, unlocking access to over 5 million ounces of of low-cost ounces from the carpet ore body and extending the year's mine life to be beyond 2014. And we continue to advance the feasibility study at Redcrest for the block cave expansion project, with full funds approval targeted in the second half of 2026, when we plan to provide a more fulsome update. With the strong progress made in 2025, we are well positioned to continue delivering value from our world-class portfolio in 2026. Now I want to take a look now at 2026. And as with 2025, we are providing high confidence one year guidance within a plus or minus 5% range, along with a few of the key drivers supporting longer term production growth. Beginning with production. Our 2026 guidance remains consistent with the indications provided on our third quarter call with total attributable production of 5.3 million ounces, including 3.9 million ounces from managed operations and 1.4 million ounces from non-managed operations. This outlook reflects the year-on-year changes from the planned mine sequencing at Ahofo South, Penasquito and Kadia, as well as the production impact from the Boddington bushfires in December. But we are pleased to report that the recovery following the fires is going well. and our team has successfully repaired the critical water supply infrastructure and processing operations have now restarted at full levels. This guidance also incorporates lower than expected ounces from Nevada gold mines and Piblo BAO, as indicated by the managing partner. And importantly, through a careful assessment of our mine plan at Yanacocha, and in light of the current gold price environment, we have identified a highly capital efficient plan which leverages current infrastructure to continue mining operations through 2026 and into early 2027, adding additional low cost ounces that are expected to benefit our production profile in early 2027 with further potential upside. For the full portfolio, we expect production to be relatively evenly weighted throughout the year with a modest second half weighting of about 52%. And as previously indicated, 2026 represents a trough in our production cycle due to planned mine sequencing across several operations. As we position the portfolio to return to production growth in 2027 and beyond, maintaining our longer-term outlook of approximately 6 million ounces of gold and 150,000 tons of copper annually. Turning now to our cost outlook. As mentioned at the start of the call, we have made great strides towards improving and managing the cost within our control, and this will remain a key priority in 2026, especially when operating in a volatile macro economic environment. Last year, we committed to measuring the success of our cost and productivity program by our ability to control absolute cost. And in 2026, the only expected increases to our cost applicable to sales are those directly linked to timing impacts and higher gold prices, including production taxes, working participation costs, and third-party royalties. Importantly, even with these price-linked impacts, all in sustaining costs are expected to be more than $100 per ounce lower than they would have been without the cost savings initiatives launched last year, demonstrating the structural improvements we've made to our cost base. As previously indicated, we are providing guidance on a by-product basis going forward, consistent with our industry peers, while continuing to report both by-product and co-product costs for comparability. On that basis, 2026 all-in sustaining costs are expected to be approximately $1,680 per ounce. This assumes a $4,500 per ounce gold price. a $60 pound silver price, and a $5 per pound copper price. And for every $100 increase in gold price, we expect a $6 increase in our all-in sustaining costs due to taxes, royalties, and profit sharing payments. Beyond the macroeconomic impacts, the year-over-year change is primarily driven by the reasons we addressed on our third quarter call, including lower gold production from planned mine sequencing changing in inventory at multiple sites, and the timing shift of sustaining capital from 2025 to 2026. But without the $150 million shifting from 2025, we now expect sustaining capital of about $1.95 billion in 2026. Of that, roughly 52% is weighted to the second half of the year, primarily related to tidings work at Boddington and Cadia to support production capacity and future mine life, as well as the advancement of the ventilation work at Tanami, which is expected to be completed this year. Turning to development capital, we expect to invest about $1.4 billion in 2026 as we advance our major projects in execution, continue the feasibility study work at Red Cross, and progress the mine life extensions at Lihir and Cerro Negro. We expect 55% of total spend to be weighted to the second half of the year, primarily due to the start of the work on the Lihir near shore barrier. We also expect a modest step up in exploration and advanced project spend to about 525 million this year, as we continue to invest in value creating near our existing assets, including Rooster, Hafer South and Merian, as Pranjwal previously touched on. Reclamation spend for 2026 is expected to be around $850 million in line with 2025, primarily related to the construction of water treatment plants at Yannapocha, which are expected to be completed in 2027. Once complete, we expect total reclamation spend to return to more normal levels of between $300 and $400 million in 2028. In the first quarter of 2026, we expect to make over $1 billion of tax payments, primarily due to accruals made in 2025. As a result, and in addition to normal working capital seasonality, we expect first quarter free cash flow to be lower than the fourth quarter of 2025. Looking ahead, our longer term production growth profile is supported by several clear and executable drivers. The continued ramp up of a half on north, delivering new low cost ounces beginning this year. The completion of the Boddington Stripping Campaign in 2026, enabling access to higher gold and copper grades beginning in 2027. The completion of Tanami Expansion 2 in the second half of 2027 as planned. The ongoing development of the Kaidea Panel Caves, extending mine life into the middle of this century. and access to low cost houses at Lihue, following the completion of the nearshore barrier, extending mine life well into the 2040s. Together, these opportunities provide a clear path to renewed production growth, supported by disciplined capital allocation and a portfolio designed to deliver value through the cycle. I will now turn the call over to Peter Wexler to walk through our enhanced capital allocation framework. Thank you, Peter.

Thank you, Natasha, and hello, everyone. Our capital allocation priorities and commitment to discipline remain unchanged and supported by a focus on maintaining financial strength and flexibility, reinvesting in our business to ensure long-term sustainable free cash flow growth on a per share basis, and returning capital to shareholders in a consistent and predictable manner. With that in mind, our enhanced capital allocation framework begins with net cash from operation and then prioritizes that cash be allocated first to sustaining capital and our dividend, which are intended to be commitments that will remain consistent throughout the commodity and investment cycle. Second, cash will be allocated to development capital and our balance sheet targets, which may flex based on our needs and our priorities. Third, excess cash available after these priorities are met will be allocated to share repurchases. Starting with the two priorities designed to be consistent through the cycle, we will continue to allocate free cash flow to strengthen the longevity and integrity of our portfolio through targeted investments in critical infrastructure, which may entail elevated sustaining capital over the next few years as we work to maximize the long-term value of our portfolio. We will also pay a sustainable cash dividend of $1.1 billion per year, creating significant per share growth potential for multiple metrics as ongoing share purchases continue to reduce our overall share count. For the fourth quarter 2025, we have declared a dividend of 26 cents per share, reflecting the per share growth potential embedded in this new approach. Following these consistent commitments, development capital spent and our net cash position may vary over time to reflect portfolio needs, and broader macroeconomic conditions. We will invest development capital to advance our current projects and prepare for the next phase of growth with a clear focus on responsibly advancing our highest return opportunities while maintaining strict capital discipline and a clear commitment to value creation. At the same time, we will maintain a resilient balance sheet anchored by a $1 billion net cash target plus or minus $2 billion and underpinned by a minimum cash balance of $5 billion. This provides the flexibility to return capital to shareholders while funding our capital programs through the commodity price cycle and driving sustainable production growth and operational efficiency. Once these priorities are achieved, we intend to deploy excess cash on a rateable basis to share repurchases. This approach is expected to drive sustained per share growth in our dividend and provide shareholders with greater exposure to the strong free cash flow generated from our portfolio. Even with the recent increase in our share price, our shares represent an exceptional value given our world-class portfolio of long-life operations and our deep pipeline of gold and copper projects. With that, I'll turn it back to Natasha for closing remarks.

Thank you, Peter. In closing, 2025 was a year of execution and follow through as we achieved our full year guidance, finished the year strong with a strong financial position, optimized our cost structure, advanced project capability, delivered meaningful exploration success, and returned capital to shareholders, reinforcing the solid foundation we have built and the potential of this organization Building on that, we are well positioned to drive margin expansion and generate robust free cash flow from our world-class portfolio of operations, projects, and exploration opportunities. Our scale as a quality and project optionality allows us to capture upside in favorable markets while remaining flexible through the commodity cycle. And finally, we are anchored by resilient balance sheet and a disciplined capital allocation framework, which has enabled us to implement our enhanced approach to return capital, delivering predictable and sustainable returns to shareholders with a clear path to first share growth. As we look ahead to the rest of 2026, while we are operating in a rapidly evolving geopolitical and macroeconomic environment, our confidence comes from clear understanding of our portfolio, a disciplined, responsible approach to investment focused on delivering results and long-term value for our shareholders. Just before I turn to Q&A, I want to briefly address the recent announcement by our Nevada Goldmines joint venture partner. At this time, the only information available to us is what has been publicly disclosed and as stated in our recent press release. Our primary focus remains on working with a managing partner to improve performance of these assets and generate long-term value for Newmont shareholders. As disclosed in our 10-K, we have issued a notice of default to our joint venture partner related to operational performance and management of Nevada gold mines. We do not have any additional information to share at this time and confidentiality provisions in the joint venture agreement prevent further comment on the notice of default. With that said, we look forward to addressing any questions about new month operational and financial performance. I will now hand it back to the operator to open the call for questions.

Of course. We will now begin the question and answer session. We ask that you please limit inquiries to one primary question and one follow-up question. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touchtone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. At this time, we will pause to assemble our roster. The first question comes from the line of Lawson Winder with Bank of America Securities. Your line is now open.

Thank you very much, operator. And hello, Natasha and team. Very solid result. Nice to see for the end of the year to wrap it up strongly. If I could ask about CapEx and the and I apologize for that siren in the background, just the CapEx. Dariush Mozaffarian, As it sounds like there could be some potential upside through red Chris and Marian, could you talk to those two projects and the update that we're going to be getting on those later in the year and and whether that could lead to higher cap action with currently been guided. Thank you.

Miriam Hacker, I'm close and it was a little bit noisy. So I'm going to Just to repeat your question to make sure, you're asking about CapEx and whether CapEx would increase with the Request Project and Merion. Is that what you're asking?

Exactly. Thank you very much.

Okay. Thank you, Lawson. Firstly, Lawson, we are on track to talk a little bit more in detail on Request Project towards the second half of the year. Our capital guidance, as we have stated it, is on average the 1.8 on sustaining capital, 1.3 on development capital. And we did say that that would be average over a period of time. The capital allocation framework also allows us to, within the context of seeking that guidance, allowing us to make decisions on value-accretive projects as they come along, and we will be disciplined in how we allocate any capital to further development projects. The Marion example that Franchot has spoken about is certainly a future opportunity that we will be able to share more information upon later in the year.

Okay. I look forward to that. If I could just on a separate issue with your JV partner and a gold mines barrack. Have the 2 entities had any further discussion on on 4 mile and potential mechanism for vending that into the joint venture? Where does that currently stand?

Our current discussions have been predominantly around the improvement of the performance of Nevada, and I think a very constructive relationship to work together to improve that performance, which we believe would be in the best interest of all of our shareholders.

Understood. Thank you very much, Natasha.

Thanks, Elton.

Thank you for your questions. Our next question comes from the line of Josh Wilson with RBC. Your line is now open.

Thanks very much. Just going back to the long-term growth targets of six-minute advances, is there any timeframe that can be disclosed on when that target is expected to be achieved and maybe what are the larger drivers for that?

um josh thank you thank you for that question um as i think as we've indicated over the last while is that we'll continue to give you one one year guidance we have completed our um asset reviews we just completed all of our long-term plans and as we conclude this work and vehicles to maturity we will be able to give you a better guidance after what that um what that profile would look like And we certainly expect to be able to do that towards the end of this year.

Thanks. And I guess I can't ask about NGM directly, but maybe indirectly related to some of the speculation in the media about M&A. Could you clarify maybe what the company's views are on M&A today and maybe just how this plays into the current gold price environment? Thank you.

Josh, a really good question. Firstly, we're really happy with our portfolio of assets and our pipeline of projects. And as we do the work on the back of all of our asset reviews, certainly enough potential in our own portfolio. We continue to evaluate our portfolio of assets, and that's just the right thing. We believe it's the right thing to do. It's part of the continuous work that we need to do. And as we find value of creative opportunities to make any changes to our portfolio, we will do that, but it will happen in a disciplined way and within the context of our capital allocation framework.

Great. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your questions. Our next question comes from the line of Daniel Major with UBS. Your line is now open.

Hi. Thanks for the questions. First one, just to be clear on the capital allocation waterfall that you provided, should we be reading that in terms of the commitment to the buyback, that if you were to go above the threshold, so a billion plus or minus, you would we should assume in our models that 100% of free cash flow would be returned to shareholders through buybacks. And if that is the case, would that be done during a quarterly period or an annual period?

Thank you. Thank you for that question, Daniel. So your assumption is accurate, and I think that's why we, in the cash flow waterfall, we've set it out with clear expectations of where we want our cash to be, all driven to a resilient balance sheet. As now just as a reminder, share buybacks will be rateable. And as we come to the end of the program, and you would know that at the moment we still have $2.4 billion left on our $6 billion approved program, we will go back to our board for approval for any additional buybacks.

Okay, that's clear. Thank you. And then a follow-up on the cost guidance, and you've changed sort of headline guidance from co-product to by-product. So on a like-for-like basis, your 1935 co-product guidance for ASIC. First, what is the like-for-like for CAS as well?

We don't guide CIS, Daniel, but it would be in the order of $1,430. Okay. Okay, thanks.

And then maybe just a follow-up on that cost dynamic. On slide 16, you provided the drivers of the inflation through the year. If we look at those those buckets, inventory change, working capital and volumes, would it be fair to assume those would reverse in the subsequent one, two years?

Yes, Daniel, probably worthwhile to just quickly step through that. In the prepared remarks, we spoke about volume and I've given you the underlying drivers that will reverse the volume. Sustaining capital, you will remember that the portion of that is sustaining capital that we've moved from 2025 into 2026. And we will see an elevated level of sustaining capital whilst we're still busy with Kaidea and Boddington tailings. The changes in inventory, you are right, it's predominantly driven this year by the fact that we are treating stockpile material at Penesquito. and that we are not adding any stockpile material at Leehue. And then we will see a change at Yannaculture going forward as well, where we're not mining anymore and putting material. So those changes I mean, then is purely just a factor of where we are on our normal cap mining cycle. I think what is important and I want to highlight that our cost applicable to sales has stayed constant year on year. and just want to direct you towards that as well and the work that we've done last year on making sure that we can keep what is in our control on cost stable here on here.

Thank you for your questions, Daniel. Our next question comes from the line of Tanya Jackie-Sconnick with Scotiabank. Your line is now open.

uh great uh good evening everybody um thank you for taking my two questions um i'm going to start um natasha just um on the nevada gold mine i'm interested in your views on as you've had time to spend time on the property and look at what needs to be done to maximize shareholder value can you review with us what you think we need to tackle to maximize shareholder value and how long that's going to take?

Tania, thank you for that question. I will kick off the question and I will ask Franchois, who led the team, who was there, to add anything as FEC said. Firstly, we welcome the approach that we've seen from our JID partners with the challenging leadership to work together to improve the Nevada gold mines performance. And to that extent, we used the same kind of methodology that we've used for our own operations by really understanding district potential and working our way through opportunities, really thinking about the entire Nevada and Nevada operations as a district. and working it back all the way to near-term and short-term productivity improvements. And so it's exactly the same that we've done at the model.

Thank you, Natasha. And thank you, Tanya, for the question. I think just to build on what Natasha said, the opportunity is to fill them all effectively and use a portfolio approach to how we do that, and also to blend the different types of material that is available there. I think there's also some short-term opportunity in terms of optimizing plans across the portfolio rather than on a site-by-site basis. But those are probably the main drivers for that potential there at NGM.

I'm sorry, the implementation, how long do you think all of this takes?

Yeah, look, it's an ongoing partnership at the moment with our JV partners. You know, we did a review in December, and we continue to work through the action plan accordingly.

Okay. And then my second question, I'm still on Nevada gold mines. Just want to confirm, I understand that you have, you know, on, I forget, February 3rd, notice of default to Barrick. Can you just... provide us just the process from this default, how we go forward, and if it's not resolved. You just want to know the proceedings of what happens. I know there's a time period of where you try to resolve it, and if not, there's a court. I'm just trying to understand the timing of that and if the court is in Nevada, if there's no resolution.

Thank you, Tanya. I'm going to hand that question over to Peter Wiggison.

Thank you, Tanya, for your question. You're absolutely right, and you have access to the agreement, which was publicly filed, and it sets out detailed timelines for both how any disputes between the partners are resolved, as well as the jurisdictional, where it would be decided, or if it ever gets to that stage. But you have that all right in front of you, actually.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your questions. Our next question comes from the line of Hugo Nicolasi with Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open.

Oh, hi, Natasha and team. Thanks for the update. Two questions from me, please. Look, the first one, I appreciate the emphasis on share repurchases as the key use of excess operational cash flow, but it appears that some of the more medium to longer-term growth projects seem to have lost their emphasis a little bit, such as the retreat cave, and definitely deferring Yanacocha sulphides and some of the other resources like Nueva Union, Norte Arabieto, Gatlock Creek, Konga, Lubukina, Wafikolpu, to name a few, they don't seem to be priorities for this decade. Do you see room for further divestments of resources from the portfolio? Or conversely, should we take the comment that you're exploring more opportunities in the region around Yanacocha that you're actually still inquisitive from here?

Yeah. You know, there's lots in that question, so let me just see how I can unpack that. Firstly, we've deliberately built this portfolio of assets with the intent to develop and grow it, first point. Second point, we will do that in the disciplined manner that we set out in our development, in our capital education framework. So important to note. Your question around Peru, Peru remains central to and key to our portfolio. You shouldn't read the fact that we have walked away from the Anaculture Sulfates project as any indication to the potential that we have in the Kiddush project and the Congo project in Peru. As we've concluded, as I mentioned earlier, and we've completed the asset reviews and developing the prior profile going forward, all of these projects are under review. We've got a very clear framework in which we review these projects to sequence them appropriately in the project. The request project specifically benefited from the unfortunate incident that we had last year when we had the tidy and delete line but it benefited us in highlighting just areas of opportunity to improve design and there's no other indication than just any opportunity to improve design at Reckless.

Got it thanks and then a follow-up then maybe on costs You know, great to see the cost savings initiatives you worked on last year coming through. Are you able to just provide some more detail on the magnitude of those cost savings that are hitting that 2026 outlook number and then any further cost out targets you're looking to try and deliver this year?

Yeah, probably a couple of ways that you can look at that, Hugo. The first thing is, as I said earlier, cost attributable to sales start constant year on year. So we've basically offset inflation. Another way that you can think about it is that signings allowed us to reduce $100 per ounce from our cost. So that is a good other way of doing it. So our all-inclusive signing cost would have been $100 per ounce higher if we didn't have that. Also, I want to point you to the G&A reduction. In the prepared remarks, we've spoken about a 21% reduction in G&A from guidance to guidance, and you will see that our G&A is well aligned last year with this year. So just a couple of markers that you can look at. We also, as we've done, as we've retired debts, and repurchase shares, we've also seen a reduction in cost of about $230 million between those two elements. As we go forward, some of those, we had two focus areas for cost reduction, headcount and non-headcount reduction. The headcount reduction has been completed and the future continuous work that we have through operational productivity and discipline All goes back to the continuous non-headcount reduction, and we've made some significant progress to embed our sidings in our cost structure.

Great. Thanks, Natasha. I'll pass it on.

Thank you for your questions. Our next question comes from the line of Anita Sunny with CIBC. Your line is now open.

Hi, good evening Natasha and team. Thanks for taking my questions. I just wanted to ask about the Tanami expansion too. Just seeing the total spent to date, it's about 1.3 and you're spending about three and a half, sort of 350 million, 330 this year. And the project total is 1.7 to 1.8 with still a significant amount of time to go. So will you hit that 1.7 to 1.8 or will you be near the upper end or slightly above that?

We are right on track to hit those targets, Anita.

Okay. My other one is a somewhat quick one. On the capital allocation framework, you said plus the net cash position of $1 billion, but I see plus or minus $2 billion. I think maybe someone else mentioned plus or minus $1 billion. I wanted to clarify that and then also ask, it seems like a pretty wide range. How do you make that decision that you know, we're going to keep an extra $2 billion of cash instead of buying back shares at this point.

Hi. Hi, Anita. That's a very good question. That was a very disciplined approach by the board to take a look at the ability for the company to withstand volatility across commodity cycles and ensure that our fixed dividend is always payable and we can meet our commitments. It can flex up and down depending on where we are in both the cost cycle, the price cycle, as well as the other needs for some of the near-shore projects that we might want to execute on that would be cost-accretive with our financial discipline fully in focus. So that's how it was arrived. It was a very thoughtful process with the board of directors to ensure the long-term resiliency of the company.

Anita, it is $1 billion plus or minus two. And it is clearly set out in slide 10. So the detail is clearly set out there for your reference.

Yeah, I just thought I heard someone say $1 billion plus or minus one. So I just wanted to clarify that. But I did see the slide that said plus or minus two.

Thanks. Thanks, Anita.

Thank you for your questions. Our next question comes from the line of Daniel Morgan with Bear and Joey. Daniel, your line is now open.

Hi, Natasha and Tim. Hi, Natasha and Tim. My question is, Gold and Copper are at all-time highs. You have some of the best assets in the industry. Is there an opportunity to do a bit more on de-bottlenecking, brownfield expansion? Is this something that should be worthy of greater consideration? I mean, if I look at a lot of the messages today, you've got a new capital allocation strategy which appears to speak to a focus on returning cash rather than growth. Can you just talk about that? Thank you.

Thank you, Daniel. And a really relevant question and something we continuously evaluate. So, Daniel, firstly, we make sure that the baseline of our production remains sustainable through the cycle. I think that's an important evaluation. So that is... Then we continue to look at short-term opportunities. In our prepared remarks, I referred to Jannekocha specifically, where we have seen an additional cut in the PIPs that we will be taking. So the really near-term opportunities we are focusing on are those where we have low capital investment, because the moment you start to talk about capital investment, there's time associated with it. So low capital investment means quick to market, It considers constraints like tidings dam capacity, because we do need to consider the cost and the time to ensure that we've got long-term tidings capacity. So that needs to be considered as part of the economic evaluation. And then the next constraint would be our processing plants. So we have no constraints and we can make sure that it comes to market quickly with low risk, we are absolutely pursuing every opportunity. So a very good point.

And are there, I know you've got Red Cris this year, but I mean, maybe you can just cast the market's eyes to potential assets across the portfolio, which have those opportunities for de-bottlenecking where there's a plant that has very capital efficient expansion or Ample tailings or, you know, what are the assets where if we thought creatively about growth beyond, say, Red Chris, that we should be thinking about?

Daniel, you're now talking just brownfields expansion, right?

Correct, correct.

Yeah, I've got. Uh, so a couple a half of South and we definitely in franchise mentioned in in these prepared remarks on and we actively pursuing that development underground development that goes hand in hand with the exploration work that we're doing. I'm a whole phone north at the brownfields expansion. There's a potential for us to basically duplicate what we've done at the whole phone north today. So so that's a definite definite opportunity for us. If we look across and we look across to the hue, we've just concluded 14A, so we will have access to hybrid all day and the nearshore barrier will give us access to further hybrid material. If we go to Tanami, as we complete Tanami, there's certainly opportunities there for us. I'm just thinking through, I think I've touched on all of the main ones, Bruce Jack, of course, and Frances just reminded me here of Bruce Jack. Bruce Jack, there's two opportunities. The one would be that we are looking at stub sizes. That is easy for us to do to develop our stub sizes slightly larger, capturing the value of just what the ring around the current stub sizes, slightly lower grade, but we do have the capacity in both the plant and the tidings in the Indian Tidings Dam. Then I'm going to quickly jump over to Argentina at Cerro Negro. We are pursuing an open pit that we should be able to access and start mining on towards the end of the year. And then, just a reminder that BC-2-3 basically will be up and running by the end of the year and BC-1-2 following just after that. So, a number of opportunities for us, some of which we've touched on already, but some of them not necessarily marked on law.

Thanks so much, Natasha and Tim.

Thank you for your questions. Our next question comes from the line of Martin Perdier with Veritas Investment Research. Your line is now open.

Yes, thank you. My first question is related to Newmont and the relationship with BAREC. So there is this news about you having a right of first refusal. Could you confirm that you have that right of first refusal, and what does it mean? Can BARIC do an IPO without your consent, or that will be violating the agreement?

Thanks, Martin. Peter Wichler will take your call.

Thank you, Martin, for the question. The rights for both parties are spelled out in the agreement. We don't have any other information than you do on the IPO, and anything else would be a theoretical exercise. So we'll let you, and as noted to Anita, to review the agreement and make that determination for yourself.

OK. And in terms of IANACOCHA, how much is in book value of IANACOCHA still there? I know you're stopping the development and you did some impairment, but I'm assuming there is quite a bit more there in the book value.

So on sulfide, book value was in the order of $78 million, Martin, and conga is in the order of about $900 million.

So 900 in Congo and how much in the other one? 78.

And the 78 million in fall 5 is predominantly in the equipment that's still there that we will be putting up for sale.

Great, thank you.

Thanks, Martin. Thank you for your questions. Our next question comes from the line of Levi Spry with UBS. Your line is now open.

Yeah, hi, Natasha and team. Thanks for your time. Just one quick one back to Tanimai. So can you just confirm the status there currently and what's imputed in your guidance for this year and the rest of the ramp up?

Sorry, Levi, I don't think we've heard you properly. Would you mind repeating? what's happening right now on site at the town and what's computers in your gardens this year and next okay and and levi i assume you are asking um in relation to the faith and fatality that we had yeah yeah is it currently operating and when will it turn back on when you expect it okay all right thanks thanks for that martin uh levi i just want to make sure i'm clear on your questions The operational side of Tanami has been up and running within about four days after the incident. After the incident, we shut down the entire site. We made sure that all of our colleagues are looked after and that everybody is getting assistance through our EID process. And we wanted to make sure that people's focus is on operations so that it can be safe. and didn't want to distract their attention. So operations fully up and running. The project, other than the shaft infrastructure, so we stopped all work on the shaft infrastructure, but development for the ventilation underground infrastructure is back to normal operations. And the shaft infrastructure, we will start up as soon as we've completed our internal investigation. and make sure that we understand the root cause of the incident and make sure that it doesn't happen again. So what has been included is our normal production at Tanami. That's what's been included in our guidance.

Thank you. Thanks, Natasha. Thanks.

Thank you for your questions. Our final question for today will come from the line of Adam Baker with Macquarie. Your line is now open.

Hi, Natasha. I'm just wondering, from a corporate perspective, how you considered to lift your reserve and resource assumptions, noting that your resource gold price assumption is now $2,000 an ounce and your reserves at $17. You know, why did you determine to do this? Do you think this is still too conservative? And I guess, how did the team land on that number? Thank you.

Thank you, Adam. I'll ask Frans Johari to answer that question.

Yeah, thanks for your question, Adam. I think we go through quite a rigorous process in terms of how we define our goalpost assumptions. And we look at many, many different market assumptions and direction. And the one we tend to align with reasonably closely is the three-year trailing average. And at the time of setting our 2026 gold price assumption for reserves, we were just above 80% of the three-year trailing average, which is typically what we like to be in the low 80s, a low to mid 80% of the three-year trailing average. And obviously it's shot up since then. We don't believe it's too conservative. We have a rigorous process if we look at our total portfolio and we look at how we structure and look at our long-term mine plans and the like. So at this stage, the 2000 is the right number for us, but we continue to evaluate short-term opportunities and the like. And I'll just point to reminding you that the mine plan assumptions and the reserve and resource assumptions that we make or two different numbers that we optimize against.

Thank you.

Thank you for your questions, Adam. This call, this concludes the question and answer session. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Tom Palmer for any closing remarks.

Thank you so much, operator, and it's still Natasha Fulgham here. And thank you for everybody for joining our call today and looking forward to our next quarterly call. Thank you.

That concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation and you may now disconnect your line.