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Centerra Gold Inc.
10/29/2025
Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Sentara Gold third quarter 2025 conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star, then 0. I would now like to turn the conference over to Lisa Wilkinson, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications with Sentara Gold. Please go ahead, ma'am.
Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Sentara Gold's third quarter 2025 results conference call. Joining me on the call today are Paul Tamori, President and Chief Executive Officer, David Hendricks, Chief Operating Officer, and Ryan Snyder, Chief Financial Officer. Our news published yesterday outlines our third quarter 2025 results and is complemented by our MD&A and financial statements, which are available on CDAR, EDGAR, and our website. All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Presentation slides accompanying this webcast are available on Sentara's website. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements which are subject to risks that could cause our actual results to differ from those expressed or implied. For more information, please refer to the cautionary statements in our presentation and the risk factors outlined in our annual information form. We will also be referring to certain non-GAAP measures during today's discussion. For a detailed description of these measures, please see our news release and MD&A issued last night. I will now turn the call over to Paul Timore.
Thank you, Lisa, and good morning, everyone. In the third quarter, we sustained robust margins and generated nearly $100 million of free cash flow, driven by strong operational performance at Uxford and elevated metal prices. Golden copper production in the quarter was almost 82,000 ounces, and 13.4 million pounds respectively. Our cash balance increased over $560 million in the quarter, demonstrating our ability to fund the Thompson Creek Restart Project while returning $32 million of capital to shareholders through disciplined share buybacks and our quarterly dividend. We also continue to deploy capital strategically through our equity investment in Liberty Gold, reflecting our balanced approach to growth and value creation. Our self-funded growth strategy continues to advance across multiple fronts. We published the Mount Milligan pre-feasibility study, which I'll come back to, and we also expect to publish a preliminary economic assessment for ChemMass in the first quarter of 2026. Together, these assets form a robust pipeline of long-life gold and copper projects in British Columbia. In Nevada, development has advanced at the Goldfield project, which provides Sentara with additional exposure to future gold production. In the quarter, engineering progressed as planned, early mobilization efforts progressed on site, and we are building out a dedicated project execution team. These early actions mark important steps towards project readiness and position Goldfield for disciplined and efficient execution. Each of these growth opportunities, as well as the Thompson Creek Restore Project in Idaho, can be funded using our existing liquidity and cash flow from operations, positioning Centera to deliver sustainable low-risk growth while maintaining our strategic approach to capital allocation. In September, we announced the results of the PFS from Mount Milligan, extending the life of mine by approximately 10 years to 2045. This is supported by an optimized mine plan delivering average annual production of 150,000 ounces of gold and 69 million pounds of copper from 2026 to 2042, followed by the processing of low-grade stockpiles from 2043 to 2045. The study outlines disciplined non-sustaining capital expenditures of approximately $186 million, most of which are not required until the early to mid-2030s, all fully funded from available liquidity and future cash flow. Key investments include $114 million for a second tailing storage facility to be spent across 2032 and 2033 and providing the potential for future raises which could add multiple decades of storage capacity beyond the 2045 life of mine. $36 million for ball mill motor upgrades and flotation cells in 2028 to increase process plant throughput by about 10% to 66,000 tons per day and increase recovery by approximately 1%. And lastly, $28 million for five new haul trucks to support longer haul distances, higher material movement rates, and stockpile development. Proven and probable reserves increased significantly to 4.4 million ounces of gold and 1.7 billion pounds of copper, representing a 56% and 52% increase respectively from year-end 2024. Recent drilling confirms mineralization remains open to the west of the current resource pit, and Sentara continues to advance exploration aimed at expanding the mineral resource and assessing opportunities to extend the mine life beyond the updated plan. The PFS reaffirms Mt. Milligan's strong economics with an after-tax NPV of approximately $1.5 billion at $2,600 per ounce gold, which increases to over $2 billion at $3,500 per ounce of gold. Mt. Milligan remains a strategic cornerstone asset in Sentara's portfolio with 20 years of mine life, meaningful gold and copper production, strong cash flow, and a significant opportunity for future exploration potential in a top-tier mining jurisdiction. Now I'd like to share an update on our sustainability initiatives. As part of our climate change strategy and commitment to sustainability and operational innovation, we're advancing a renewable diesel pilot project at Mount Milligan. This initiative will establish clear reliability metrics, account for seasonal variations, and evaluate performance analytics across our fleet. By exploring renewable diesel, we aim to meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions at Mount Milligan and move towards lowering Sentara's overall carbon footprint. At the same time, Mount Milligan's Life of Mine Extension marks a major milestone in advancing Sentara's Gold Growth Strategy and reaffirms our commitment to social responsibility. This includes the launch of the 8th Pre-Employment Training and Education Readiness Program, which supports unemployed and underemployed First Nations members in local communities through skills training, followed by direct employment opportunities. Between 2023 and 2025, we've also achieved double-digit growth in our local spend with First Nations-owned and affiliated businesses. That same commitment drives our work at UTSUT, where our community initiatives endeavourly focus on education, sports, environment, and social development. Through these programs, we are proud to have supported more than 13,000 students helping to build stronger, more resilient communities where we operate. And with that, I'll pass the call over to Dave to walk through our operational performance highlights.
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