Barrick Mining Corporation

Welcome, everyone, to Barrick's fourth quarter 2025 results presentation. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. As a reminder, this event is being recorded, and a replay will be available on Barrick's website later today. I will now turn the call over to Cleve Rickert, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Mariana, and good morning, everyone. We hope you've had an opportunity to review the press release we issued before the markets opened this morning. This presentation deck is also now available to download on our website. Presenting our results today are Mark Hill, Barrick's President and CEO, and Graham Shuttleworth, Senior EVP and CFO. Other members of Barrick's management team will be available after our prepared remarks for Q&A. Before we begin, please note that we will be making forward-looking statements. This slide includes a summary of the significant risks and factors that could affect BAREC's future performance and our ability to deliver on these forward-looking statements. This material is also available on our website. I will now hand it over to Mark.

Okay. Thanks, Clive, and thanks, everyone, for joining us for this call this morning. BAREC finished the year in very good condition. We delivered on our 2025 operating plan. and this resulted in multiple financial records. We also completed the operational review we discussed last quarter and have taken a number of actions, which I will touch on later. We achieved a resolution to the dispute in Marley, securing the release of our detained colleagues and resuming control of the asset. Record-free cash flow allowed us to repurchase $1.5 billion of our shares, as well as increasing our dividends. Turning to our performance in Q4, we built on last quarter's momentum and posted strong financial results. As I said, we logged several company records, including adjusted earnings per share, cash flow, and importantly, shareholder returns. Production increased from last quarter to the highest level of the year, which resulted in an 82% increase in EBITDA versus last year. We increased our basic dividend by another 40%, and adopted a new dividend policy. Cash flow for the quarter was up 96% from last year and we logged a year of record annual cash returns to our shareholders. Four Mile continues to grow and we're excited about advancing this 100% owned gold asset. Finally, consistent with the announcement we made in December and following rigorous analysis, the board has decided to move forward with preparations for An initial public offering of Barrick's North American Gold as an asset aimed at maximising the shareholder value. We are targeting to complete the IPO by late 2036 and will keep you updated on progress throughout the year. Returning to safety and health, our operational and financial achievements were overshadowed, unfortunately, last year with four fatalities. Last quarter, I made that commitment to making sure safety was our top priority, and this continues to be the company's number one focus for 2026. Clearly, there's more to be done because Q4 wasn't where we needed it to be. But our highest priority is that all our people go home safe and healthy at the end of each day, and I'll continue to work with myself and the Exco team to achieve and maintain that goal going forward. And moving on to the operational highlights. Operationally, our business performed well in Q4, and importantly, we delivered on our guidance to steadily lift production throughout the year. Gold production was 5% higher than Q3, driven by a 25% increase in dollar, and quarter-on-quarter increases across the NGM site. Our processing facilities ran well, and PV's throughput rose to another record high. Full year gold production of 3.26 million ounces was in line with our guidance. Copper production increased 13% from Q3, driven by higher throughput at the liner. Also, as I said before, we completed the operational review we discussed in the last quarter. So some important outcomes of that. We've now restructured our business units, putting PV in North America region. which places all our key autoclave processing bacillus under common leadership so that we can share best practices. Tim Cribb, previously overseeing RecoDig, has moved to take over North America. Operational ownership, particularly in Nevada, is back in the hands of the operator. The mine plans have been reviewed from the bottom up and we're entering 2026 with high confidence in our guide. I'll touch on this work a bit later, But now let me turn it over to Graeme to discuss the financial pilot.

Thank you, Graeme. Thank you, Mark. As most of you will know, this is my last earnings call. And I must say, it is a real pleasure to finish on such a high note. Quarter 4 was a record quarter across almost every financial metric. The combination of our sequential increase in production and record high bull prices added to our strong financial foundation. and sets us up with a lot of flexibility going forward to continue delivering significant cash returns to shareholders. Shown here on the right, revenues increased 45% from quarter three, driven by increased production and sales and a 21% increase in our realized gold price. Net earnings nearly doubled from the prior quarter, and we reported record quarterly cash flow, free cash flow, earnings per share, and a record cash balance. For the year, we reported $7.7 billion of cash flow from operations and $3.9 billion of free cash flow, up 71% and 194% from a year ago, and another company record. When you consider our gold sales volume declined 13% in 2025, with one of our key assets not operating for most of the year, those results are even more impressive, and we're excited about the year ahead. A tributal capex ended 2025 below the low end of our guidance, as our engineering partners came on board and we refined our spending schedules, particularly at our biggest projects at Rekerdik and Lemwana. The graphs on the right-hand side of this slide highlight Barrick's financial value position. Our attributable EBITDA increased 53% versus the prior quarter on higher margins as a 21% increase in the gold price dropped to the bottom line. Importantly, we steadily increased our attributable EBITDA margin through the year tracking the gold price higher, and demonstrating the operating leverage our business provides to the gold price. All of this enabled the highest annual shareholder returns in Barrick's history, with more to come. We ended the year with a net cash position of $2 billion. Building on the capital allocation framework we highlighted last quarter, Barrick's balance sheet is in phenomenally good shape. and our future capital investment programs are well-funded. Suffice to say, Barrick is generating significant excess cash flow in the present environment. As I mentioned earlier, we generated $7.7 billion in operating cash flow, of which we reinvested $3 billion back into the business and bought back $1.5 billion of our stock, reducing our share count by 3%. You will recall that with our Q3 results, we increased the base dividend by 25% to 12.5 cents per quarter. But on the back of the strong annual results, the board has authorized a further 40% increase to 17.5 cents per quarter. In addition, the board has determined that it will target to pay out 50% of attributable free cash flow, incorporating a further discretionary component to reach the target, On this basis, the board has authorized a Q4 dividend payable in March of $0.42 per share, which is a 140% increase on the Q3 dividend. This new policy will replace the previous performance dividend policy, and at the same time, given the focus of cash returns to shareholders through increased dividends, the board is determined not to renew the annual share buyback program. I will now turn the call back over to Mark.

Okay, thanks, Graeme. So turning back to our operation and looking first at North America, where we had a strong performance. Gold production increased 11% from last quarter, driven by a 25% quarter-on-quarter increase at Carlin. Phoenix production hit its guidance range for the year, while Cortez and Turkelage Rig achieved the top end of their rankings. Importantly, we did not hydrate the operation at the end of the year. We rather maintained focus on consistent, disciplined delivery and compliance to our plan. As a result, we are seeing a smoother transition from December into January. This has helped to achieve one of the best starts of the year since the NGM joint venture was established. The Carlin Roaster had its highest January throughput in the last five years. In fact, the new management team and the focus on operational discipline the processing team at Carlin has delivered its best 60 days since the formation of the joint venture. The underground mines at Carlin, Turquoise Ridge and Goldrush have also had their best boundaries since the joint venture formation in terms of Tons Mine and development. This performance is exactly what we wanted to achieve from the operational review we highlighted last quarter. The teams have rebuilt their plan from the bottom up based on achievable metrics, the mines implemented this disciplined approach to their operation, enabling delivery of these solar results in Q4 and now in January. It is also clear that we've experienced challenges attracting and retaining talent at NPM. As a result of that, we have looked at many employment conditions as part of the operational review. We will be adjusting the remuneration framework to help to attract and retain the best people, and importantly, we'll be simplifying the bonus structure at the operational level to focus clearly on safety, our number one focus for the year, and then production, costs and growth. We also restructured the executive team, both at the group level and in North America. We've added a chief technical officer, Megan Tibbles, and an evaluation team. So this brings stronger operational experience into our senior leadership. PB had a better year with plant throughput up 12% and gold production up 8% from 2024. That said, the recoveries are not where we expected them to be. As we said last year, the main issue is the performance of the weathered stockpile. There is metallurgical inconsistency across those 90 million tonnes of stockpiles and we are not getting the same results in the plant that we saw in the lab for the initial feasibility study. We undertook extensive test work in 2035 and this will be reflected in the updated 43-101 report which is due out next month. So although the life amount recovery rate is lower, we have been able to extend the life to 2048, maintaining the total overall ounce of produce. Work on the new TSF is progressing well, and the housing project is well advanced with more than 600 homes constructed and over 300 families now resettled. So just briefly on formal, which continues to demonstrate its potential as a world-class gold asset in Nevada, 2025 was a major de-risking year. We successfully delivered on our commitment to double four miles resource at a higher grade. And as you can see from this updated model, there's a lot more to come. The next step will be working on the Bullen Hill declines, which will enable efficient resource conferment from underground access. So moving down to South America and Asia Pacific region, which includes Bellavera and Forgeron, This region also performed well against its plan in a quarter and a year. Balladero exceeded the top end of its 2025 guidance and beat its cost guidance by over $100 an hour. Work is continuing at Balladero to expand the result. In the same vein, Corbera achieved the top end of its guidance range while keeping costs within guidance, demonstrating strong operational flexibility. So on Africa Middle East region, they achieved their production guidance and point out for the seventh consecutive year. And as I've said, we successfully resolved the dispute in Mali during the release of our incarcerated colleague. At Kabali, the ARC discovery delivered significant progress in 2025 and 3.5 million ounces to resources, including 1 million converted to reserve. Further drilling in 2026 is expected to continue to grow this high potential discovery. North Mara reported a strong finish to 2025, with production in the top half of its 2025 guidance range, and Bull and Hulu overcame grade dilution and dewatering challenges in Q4, ending the year within guide. So we've regained operational control at Luluk and Kotterat at the end of the year, and we are ramping up the most accretive to steadily increase throughout the year. And lastly, copper. So La Mina finished the year on a high, with production up 11% over Q3, thanks to higher throughput, ending the year with a record high annual production. C1 cash costs were up in the quarter due to the higher maintenance and interim power cost. And the super pit expansion is tracking slightly ahead of schedule, with good progress during the quarter on the mill building, which is on the project's critical path. Okay, so let's move over to guidance for 2026. So we expect our gold production to be in the range of 2.9 to 3.25 million ounces. Our 2025 gold production, as I said, was 3.26 million ounces. But to give you a like-for-like comparison, that's about 3 million ounces if we remove Tongon and Hemlock, which were sold at the end of the year. We expect Lulu Concotta's ramp-up to be the main contributor to the production increase in 2026, along with slightly higher production from PV. Carlin and Turco's REITs production is expected to be marginally lower due to the open pit seedlitzing and the grade in the mine plant. Across the year, we're expecting gold production to be split about 45% in the first half and 55% in the second. Higher production in quarters three and four will come from the ramp-ups of Lulu Concotta and Gold Rush, and the timing of the shutdown at NPM. For copper, we're guiding 190,000 to 220,000 tonnes, which compares to the annual production of 220,000 tonnes in 2025. Production is expected to be highest in quarters two and three and lowest in Q1, mainly driven by grade at the minor. And looking a bit further ahead, we continue to expect production uplift in 2027 and again in 2028. But turning now to reserves and resources, for our 2025 gold price assumptions, we used $1,500 per ounce for reserves and $2,000 per ounce for resources, both modestly higher than last year. And for copper reserves, we used $3.25 per pound for reserves and $4.50 for resources. So today, Barrick, we hold one of the largest reserve and resource bases in the industry. And as of year end, Barrick's attributable proven and probable gold reserves totaled 85 million ounces. On the resource side, attributable measured and indicated gold resources totaled 150 million ounces, with a further 43 million ounces of incurred resource. While there were declines as a result of divestitures, we continue to see strong organic growth across the asset in Nevada and at PVT. Turning briefly to copper, our pivotal proven and probable reserves remain stable at 18 million tonnes. Copper resources increased with measured and indicated resources of 24 million tonnes and an additional 4 million plus tonnes in the inferred category. Overall, our reserve and resource base continues to support long line lives and a strong production outlook. So just to wrap up, in 2025, we demonstrated disciplined execution, delivering an operating plan, strengthening our balance sheet, advancing our growth pipeline, and returning record cash to shareholders. Looking ahead, we enter 2026 with momentum, flexibility, and a clear plan forward. So just before we move to questions, I just want to acknowledge Graeme and thank him for his leadership and significant contribution he has made to Barrick over the past seven years. Under Graham's stewardship, we strengthened our balance sheet, reinforced capital discipline, and delivered record financial performance and shareholder return. So on behalf of everyone at Barrow, I want to thank him for his commitment and wish him well in the future. Also, as announced, Helen Kye will be joining us as CFO on March 1st, and I look forward to working with her as we continue to execute our growth strategy and drive long-term value for the shareholders. So thank you, everyone, for your contingent interest and support. And I will just remind you, I have just about the whole EXCO team sitting around the table with me, so we should be able to manage any questions that you have. I'll hand it back to the moderator. Thank you.

Thank you. For the Q&A session, we'll use the raise hand feature in Zoom. If you'd like to ask a question, click on the raise hand button at the bottom of your screen. Once prompted, please unmute yourself and go ahead. We'll now pause for a moment to assemble the queue. Our first question comes from Daniel Major at UBS Securities. Daniel, your line is open. You may unmute and ask your question.

Hi, can you hear me okay? Yeah, we can hear you, Daniel. Great, thanks. And to Graham, good luck in the future. Yes, my first question focuses – my first question is just around the IPO potential. And really, I guess it's a question at a strategic level why you believe a partial IPO of NGM and PV – would unlock more value than a full separation of those assets from the remainder of the group. I mean, if we look at previous examples in the sector, conglomerate discounts exist due to complexity of organizations, and this won't dramatically reduce the complexity of Barrick.

Okay, thanks, Daniel. I'm going to hand it over to Brett.

Thanks, Dan. Dan, I think, as you can imagine, The board and the team have gone through a lot of different permutations. And you'll recall we spoke about this last year as well when we first mentioned the opportunities that we were examining. And, you know, they've done a lot of analysis and looked at different outcomes, different permutations. And at the end of the day, they feel that this is the best opportunity that's going to drive value up for shareholders. We believe that the current portfolio of assets in North America is substantially undervalued within Barrick. And by doing the North American IPO, we'll be able to shine a light on that valuation and that value. that light will then translate into a re-rank for all Barrick shareholders. So that's the focus. That's the intention. And at the end of the day, that was the view from the board that that was going to drive the most value of all of those options.

Okay, thanks. And then maybe a follow-up question on what would be the intended proceeds from the IPA.

Thanks, Dan. Again, we're in the middle of that process at the moment. There's still a lot of work that's going to have to be done between now and when we go live, and as we indicated, that's likely to be in the fourth quarter. All of that will be determined as part of the preparation work for the IPF.

Okay, thanks. And then just maybe another follow-up on this similar topic. Have you had a discussion with Newmont around the clauses in the JV agreement pertaining to changes of ownership of the Nevada JV?

Thanks, Dan. Yeah. I think, as you can imagine, we're very well aware of all of the legal contracts and documents that we have, and we would always honour and respect those contracts and documents. We're comfortable with the progress that we're making, and we'll continue to progress down this road.

Okay, great. Actually, if I could just get one more in. Graham, what's the latest on the record of financing?

Thanks, Dan. Yeah, I mean, as you saw in the press release, the board and the management are a little concerned about the security situation on the ground in Balochistan. There's been some escalation in security events there. And as you know, our primary focus on everything we do is the safety and security of our people. So they've asked us to do a review of that situation, and so clearly as part of that review, we've indicated to the lending consortium that we need to complete that before we can close the financing. So we'll work through that, and then we'll take it forward after that.

All right. Thanks a lot, and good luck. Thank you.

Our next question comes from Fahad Tariq at Jefferies. Fahad, your line is open. You may unmute and ask your question.

Great. Thanks for taking my question. Mark, right at the outset, you mentioned that at Nevada, you've done a comprehensive mine plan review from the bottom up. Can you maybe talk a little bit more about how that's changed and has been reflected in the updated guidance and maybe particularly on Carlin? Thanks.

Okay, sure. I'll give a bit of an introduction, and then I'll hand it actually over to Tim, the new COO. So, look, we went back to the teams, and there had been some top-down numbers generated over the last 12 months. And so we just asked the teams to go back and run the mine plans using current productivities that we were actually achieving, and then building in, obviously, upside for... productivity improvements only if there was an actual plan and a target to get up to those productivity. So it wasn't just a let's increase things by 10%. Unless there's an actual plan for that continuous improvement, then it was taken out. So it's why I said at the end too that we have a much higher confidence and certainly in January we're off to a good start. of achieving our guides. But I'll hand over to Jim if you want to add anything to that. Yeah, thanks, Mark.

I think, as Mark said, it's about that certainty in delivery of the plans. So you will see some reductions in some of the mines, like you have probably noticed in Carlin. So we do see some of them having a lower production, but we're much more confident in the delivery of that production. And I think As Mark said and as he highlighted in the outset, that performance at the Carlin Roaster, having a record throughput in the last 60 days since the joint venture was formed, that highlights when you can move to a planned maintenance structure and we can cut out the interruptions and the reactive maintenance. Overall, we expect to get better results. So I think that's at the core of why we reset these plans and built them on actual fast performance.

Okay, great. And then just on RECODE, because you were asked about it in the previous question, is it fair to assume that all options are on the table up to and including divesting the asset? Thanks.

I think it's too early to say that. I mean, we had the board meeting yesterday, and they basically asked us to go back and review the project across all areas. So we're in the first stages of that and working out what we're going to look at and what options we're going to look at. You want to add, Tim, in the background?

Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you.

Our next question comes from Lawson Winder at Bank of America. Lawson, your line is open. You may unmute and ask your question. Lawson, your line is open. Please unmute.

Thank you very much, operator. And hello, Mark, and hello, Graham. Thank you for today's presentation. If I could ask one follow-up on Barrick North America, is the intention for Barrick North America to be domiciled in the United States?

Again, there's a lot of work going on on that project, and as it's determined, we'll keep you updated.

On capital return, the new dividend policy is very clear and makes a lot of sense. How might share repurchases factor into capital return going forward?

At the moment, Lawson, the board is very clear that they want to focus on dividends. I will say from my experience, of engaging with shareholders. You know, this is an area where everybody has a strong opinion. And I know you're never going to please everyone because, you know, some people favor dividends and some favor buybacks. But for now, the board is very focused on dividends and hence the reason why they have not renewed the buyback approval.

Okay, very clear. On Villadero, How would you describe that asset in terms of the importance to the overall portfolio? And would you go so far as to describe it as non-core? And have you explored the salability of that asset? And then, if so, could Pasqualama potentially be packaged as some sort of sale with Velodero? Thank you.

So, last time we haven't, no, Velodero is not non-core. And, in fact, it's one of our top performing assets in the last 12 months. So, We haven't looked at debasing it, if that's what you're asking.

Okay, great. Thank you very much, Mark. Thanks, Graham.

Our next question comes from Anitha Soni at CIBC World Markets. Your line is open. You may unmute and ask your question.

Everyone, thanks for taking my question. So first question, Mark, just moving to PV, I just want to understand what the guidance is based on in terms of grades, recoveries, given that, as you mentioned, the recovery rates are fairly low. I did see you have still some of the blending of stockpiles. Is the plan to take out the stockpiles or continue to forge on with the recovery? the stockpiles blended in and try to fix the recovery rates with those stockpiles.

Okay. Well, let me start off the answer, and again, I'll hand it over to Tim. But obviously, the 90% was in the feasibility study. We're not going to achieve that. We're targeting 84, but to get to the 84, we're going to have to do the blending and a few other things, right? So we're currently sitting, I think, Tim, around 75%, 76%. And so we'll then ramp up over the next years as we get more confidence in how we blend the stockpiles into the fresh material and when we can actually get up to that 84%. And there's also some projects we have to do as well. But Tim, you want to expand on that?

Yeah, thanks, Mike. I think the key is to define the projects. We have Hatch working with us at the site on the key projects that we can look to deliver the improvement from 76% up to 84%. Those stockpiles do make a key portion of the feed over the coming three to five years, so it is important that we do optimize that and get report which is coming out at the end of February that will obviously have a lot more detail on this but for the LOM assumption we have basically updated the full recovery model to incorporate this latest test work so we've ran that through the life of the mine.

Sorry just to reiterate that the updated 43-101 which will obviously have all of this information will be available at the end of February.

Right, and I guess the question that I had as a follow-up for that part of it is, do you expect to retain all of the ounces that you reported in the reserve resource statement at year-end in that 43-101, or will that potentially take some of the ounces out?

No, no, we expect to maintain 10, correct? Yeah. Yeah.

And then my second question was just with respect to the IPO. I know you're saying you'll have an update at year-end on that. Sorry, it will be completed by year-end. But could you give us an idea of what portion of Nevada gold mines and four-mile North American assets, what portion of those assets do you intend to IPO? I've heard ranges between 10% to 15% and north of 30%, but I'm not sure what you guys are

I think it's fair to say it'll be on the lower end of that and be a minority part of those assets.

So more along the lines of 10% to 15%?

Sure, yes.

Okay, thank you. That's it for my questions for now.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from Bennett Moore at J.P. Morgan. Bennett, your line is open. You may unmute and ask your question.

Good morning. Can you hear me all right? Yes, we can hear you, Bennett. Thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to come to Molly, and since gaining control back there, what has the dialogue been with the government, and what are the states of the assets, and is there any incremental investment required there?

Okay, Bennett, let me hand it over so that you can give us an update.

Hi, Bennett. The relationship is really better shape than we expected. So we started with feeding low-grade stockpiles and at this point we've now started up all three of the underground lines. So, if you would have seen in our guidance that for Ludo Vincotto this year, we are guiding between 260 and 290,000 ounces for ritual.

Thanks for that. And, you know, now with the employees no longer detained and the worst seemingly behind, just wanted to get your latest thoughts on a potential asset sale there. Have you seen any interest or dialogue from other parties?

Now, I think at this point the focus is really on ramping up that mind and restoring the relationship, and everyone's really committed to do that.

All right. I'll get back in the queue. Thank you. Thanks, Ben.

Our next question comes from Carrie McGrory at Canaccord Genuity. Carrie, your line is open. You may unmute and ask your question.

Hi, good morning, guys. Can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you, Kerry. Yeah. Just going back to the IPO, just wondering about the timing. I mean, production in Nevada has come down pretty much consistently every year. Looks like it'll be lower again this year. So just wondering why now and not, you know, when Nevada looks a bit more stabilized.

Okay. So, look, Kerry, this is my view. I've spent a lot of time in Nevada over the last four months, as you can imagine. So I think Nevada is stabilized. And I think what we've demonstrated in a very short time, far quicker than I thought, that we have given control back to the general manager. We have a very strong team in Nevada like we've had for 20 years. And you've seen the performance in Q4, and January is even stronger again. As I said, I think the best January we've had in five years. So I am completely comfortable that they're going to deliver this year every quarter, which you're going to see before we go to this IPO. And I think we're now in a position where we won't disappoint and that production over time will actually grow. And again, Tim, anyone else, feel free to chime in if you've got anything else.

Okay, and maybe just on the 2027 outlook, if you can sort of walk through sort of the big, you know, what's moving from 2026 to 2027. Very simple.

Is that, sorry, Gary, is that for the group or at NGM?

No, no, group level.

Yeah, so the biggest move is really our continued increase at Lilo-Goncota and a small increase at Nevada and then an increase at PB. So those are the three key areas.

Okay. Okay, that's it for me. Thanks, guys, and congrats, Graham, and all the best. Thank you.

Our next question comes from Josh Wolfson at RBC Capital Markets. Josh, your line is open. You may unmute and ask your question.

Yeah, thanks very much. I noticed the new guidance methodology doesn't include costs or CapEx indications for the next couple of years. You know, the historical guidance of the company did indicate that there was a cost reduction over time. How should we think about costs going forward after 2026? Thank you. You want to address that?

Yeah, I mean... Josh, obviously, we didn't give you guidance, so I'm not about to give you guidance now. But I think, you know, broadly, I would say the flat would probably be a better way of thinking about it.

Thank you. And then another question on the IPO. I'm wondering how is the company thinking about the management of NUCO and what sort of governance rights will Barrick have with the state, given it still will be controlling? And then sort of along those lines, how is the company ensuring that both Barrick shareholders will be aligned with the NUCO shareholders? Thank you.

Well, look, Josh, I think it's too early to say. I mean, we're starting a nine-month process, and as I said, we'll keep you updated as we move along, but I haven't got the answers to those questions at the moment.

Thank you very much. Thanks, Josh.

Our next question comes from Martin Perdier at Veritas. Martin, your line is open. You may unmute and ask your question.

Thank you. My question is, if you can unpack a little bit the big cost increase from this year from the outlook compared to 2025, what are the big drivers, if you can provide some color for gold and for copper, please?

Thanks, Martin. Really, there's sort of three buckets, two of which are the most significant. The first one is the gold price assumption. so can you hear me yeah i can hear you can you hear me okay moderator can you hear me yes we can hear you loud and clear martin we can hear you as well martin can you hear us looks like we've lost martin

We can move on to the next question. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, you can click on the raise hand button at the bottom of your screen. Our next question comes from John Tumazos at Very Independent Research. John, your line is open. You may unmute and ask your question.

Thank you very much. Barrick sold 31 million ounces of gold resources for $2.55 billion or $82 an ounce. Will you sell any more gold? Is it because you don't have enough managers for all of your properties? Or would you reverse course and buy gold to offset the gold you sold?

John, I think it's not a question of just selling gold for the sake of selling gold. It's really about focusing on a strategy. Our strategy has always been to focus on our tier one high quality assets. And the dispositions that we've made have been in respect of those assets that didn't fit that strategic filter. So we have definitely continued to invest in gold going forward. you know, in line with our strategy. We definitely believe in gold and the focus of this company going forward is very much around gold. But it's, you know, within the constraints of the strategy.

You still there, John?

Thank you.

As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please click on the raise hand button at the bottom of the screen. This concludes our Q&A session. Back to Cleve for any closing remarks.

Great. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you again on our first quarter results call in May. Please get in touch with us if you have any further follow-up questions. Thanks again. Thanks, everyone.