Allied Gold Corporation

Please stand by, your meeting is ready to begin. Thank you all for joining us this morning. Before I turn the call over, I need to advise that certain statements made during this call today may contain forward-looking information and actual results could differ from the conclusions or projections in that forward-looking information, which include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, cost of production, capital expenditures, future metal prices, and the cost and timing of the development of new projects. For a complete discussion of the risks, uncertainties, and factors which may lead to actual financial results and performance being different from the estimates contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to Allied Gold's press release issued yesterday announcing first quarter 2024 results. as well as management's discussion and analysis for the same period and other regulatory filings in Canada. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded and will be available for replay later on today. Replay information and the presentation slides accompanying this conference call and webcast are available on Allied Gold's website at alliedgold.com. I will now turn the call over to Peter Moroney, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead, Mr. Moroney.

Operator, thank you very much. So let's dig right in. We have a portfolio of mines which we said would be subjected to optimization initiatives, and the improvements would begin in 2024, and we would show sequential quarter-over-quarter improvements. These key operational initiatives were advanced in this last quarter, and they support a planned production and cost improvements which we expect to show meaningfully, particularly in the second half of the year. Production during the quarter was just over 8% higher than the comparative period where we produced 78,000 ounces by comparison to our over 85,000 ounces for the first quarter of this year. And that 85,000 ounces is consistent with guidance, sequencing expectations, and positions us very well for the expectations for the year. As Bazzi will speak to, Sadiola was a main focus with a standout master class performance. Cost of sales, cash costs, and all in sustaining costs on a per ounce sold decreased since the fourth quarter. And we want to emphasize that when we report our costs, we report on a per ounce sold, not per ounce produced. And despite the fact that the number of ounces sold in this most recently completed quarter was lower than the fourth quarter, we still delivered all in sustaining costs, cash costs, and cost of sales per ounce sold that were lower than in the fourth quarter. Operational cash flows improved significantly, with over $38 million being generated. And we have to again emphasize that the costs are better and revenue per ounce is better than in prior quarters. And in the first quarter, cash flow was generated at an average realized gold price of $2,053 per ounce, and spot prices are now significantly exceeding This realized price with over $300 better in terms of spot price, and it appears as if the gold price will continue to trend higher. In order to be prudent, we entered into zero-cost gold collars for approximately 30% of our production, roughly 10,000 ounces per month from May to March of next year, a total of 110,000 ounces. And what we have done with that is that we have secured a floor of $2,200 per ounce on that production. And that is well above our budgeted expectations for gold price. And we also have all of the upside to above $2,800 per ounce. So we protect ourselves on the downside and we have significant exposure to the upside. We emphasize that this was a should-have, not a must-have. Our operational and financial position is strong, but we think it's prudent to mitigate price risks. And in this case, we have almost complete upside with significant downside protection. Moving on to how we create sustainability and improvements in our operations, and that was the point of the first quarter. We prefer, beginning with contract mining and owner mining, we prefer owner mining, recognizing that it takes time for training and it requires capital to be in an owner mining situation. Ultimately, that is the objective. But in the meantime, we've been taking steps to better integrate mine contracting efforts into our performance drivers. We transitioned mining operations at Agbao to a unified contractor. We've said we're treating the Cote d'Ivoire assets given their proximity, given that we have an access road between Agbao and Bonnecro as a complex and with a unified contractor. This assists us in delivering operational synergies in future quarters. We're not finished with this program. We expect to continue to integrate mine contracting efforts into our performance drivers and that will also allow us to be able to determine how we deal with mine contractors at our Kermuk project and what we do with further optimizations and improvements at our existing mines. Processing improvements and mine sequencing at Bonner Crow were an important part of what we were doing in the quarter. We completed these processing enhancements in the first quarter. It did require a plant shutdown. We went through that process. And we are now in an excellent position to be able to deliver better production at Bonnecourt over the course of the next three quarters for this year and into 2025 and 2026. And in terms of Agbow, and again, as Bazzi will speak to, it's expected to be second half of the year weighted with a 40-60% production profile. reflecting an anticipated improvement of operations after the transition to this new mine contractor, which we completed in the first quarter. We had a strong performance at Satiola and we significantly increased production with over 48,000 ounces and all in sustaining costs that were more than $300 per ounce better than in 2023. We made an advanced new oxide discoveries. We previously reported that in an announcement relating to our exploration efforts that was at the mine and that will provide further oxide feed at the existing plant and the future plant for longer. We're integrating the high-grade ore from Diba to boost 2024 production. This will represent a significant component of Satiola's output for the year and into 2025 and a part of 2026, supplemented by these new oxide discoveries that we've made at the mine itself. We've progressed Kermuk. We spent on budget of $11 million. We're on track for the year. We've completed the EPCM team mobilization. We're advancing engineering and formal procurement. We're defining project procedures, logistics. We're advanced in our discussions relating to a power purchase agreement, the importance of power at that mine with the very low cost in Ethiopia. So all in all, then, we're advancing Kermuk, and we'll see some significant improvements occur over the course of the next several quarters. And the results to conclude for the first quarter are in line with our guidance for production and costs. We do expect sequential increases in production in the second and third quarter, with production in the fourth quarter consistent with the third. And while Agbao stands at about 40-60 split in terms of production, second half weighted to first half, We expect overall to be at a range of about 45% for the first half and 55% for the second half, all for the reasons given. And very significantly, to recap, the improvements of Bonnegro that were made to the plant, the effort that we've undertaken at Agbow to integrate mine contractor management, and the significant production expectations that come from DBA at Sadiola. And with that, let me pass it to Bazzi, our Chief Operations Officer, for more detail on the operations.

Thank you, Peter. Good morning to everyone. During the quarter, the company produced 85,177 ounces and sold 85,136 ounces. The cost per ounce sold stood at $1614 for sales, $1397 for cash cost, and $1562 for oil and sustaining cost. Looking at the quarterly operating results by mine, Sariola had a strong quarter and fully met expectations with a reduction of 48,333 ounces compared to 40,533 ounces in a comparative prior year period, representing an increase of 19%. The initiatives undertaken at the end of the fourth quarter, predominantly focused on crushing and screening initiatives, continued throughout the first quarter and were successfully maintained and operated. Results were also positively impacted by the higher feed grade. Debar continues to progress on plan and is expected to deliver its first production later in the second quarter. Our cost per ounce sold stood at $1263 for sales, $1172 for cash costs, and $1240 for oil and sustaining. Moving to Bonnecro, production was 18,631 ounces. Following a detailed operational assessment which was conducted at the end of last year, certain operational improvements and process adjustments were identified and planned for 2024. A short stoppage on the processing plant was carried out during the first quarter, allowing the company to undertake in certain areas of the flowsheet some improvements, as well as to improve management matters on the mine. The plant throughput variability reduced significantly after these improvements, and processing performance has now fully stabilized. Despite the processing impact during the quarter, consistent positive mining performance has ensured mining activities remain on plan. At Akbel, production came in 18,216 ounces. The first quarter performance was strong, despite the transition to a new mining contractor, which is now complete. The oxide feed blend ratio at the Akbel plant was enhanced by continuous production from Akbali, which has consistently met great expectations and provided significant flexibility during the first quarter. At ACBEL, expected cost reductions are to be achieved mainly through the increase of production in subsequent quarters and after a contracted changeover, as well as mining and processing optimizations. With that, I will pass over to Jason, our Chief Financial Officer, to discuss young financials.