Endeavour Mining plc

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Endeavour Mining's Q2 and half year 2023 results webcast. Please note management's presentation today will be in video format here on our webcast platform. After management's presentation, there will be an audio only question and answer session. So for those who wish to ask a question, please dial into the phone line for questions. Please note that due to time constraints, we will be prioritising questions from covering analysts. Today's presentation is being recorded and a replay of the video and the transcript will be available on Endeavor's website tomorrow. I would now like to hand the call over to Endeavor's Deputy CFO and Head of Investor Relations, Martino De Ciccio.

Hello everyone and welcome to Endeavor's Q2 and half-year 2023 results webcast. Before we start, please note the usual disclaimer. Today's format will be similar to what we did for our end of year results. We have prepared a video which matches the slide order of the PDF results presentation which is available on our website homepage, so feel free to follow along. We hope that you find this more engaging and enjoy the video content. Sebastian will start with a recap of our key accomplishments for the first half year. Then Jaria will talk about our latest ESG initiatives. Guy will then outline the financial results before Mark provides a detailed operational review. And finally, Jono will update us on the exciting progress being made at our Tanda Iguala discovery, so make sure you stay tuned until the end. After Sebastian's closing remarks, we'll open the floor to questions. And now, I will hand it over to Sebastian.

Thank you, Martino, and hello everyone. For the first half of the year, we've continued to deliver again six key focus areas with the goal of unlocking near-term value for all of our stakeholders. I'll go through each area in detail, but as a quick summary, on the operational front, we are on track to meet our full year guidance for the 11th consecutive year. In line with our strategy of actively managing our portfolio to focus on higher quality assets, we were pleased to close the sale of our non-core Bungu and Wanyo mines during the period. The quality of our portfolio is set to further increase as our two gross projects, the Sabah de la Massawa Biox project in Senegal and the Lafigue project in Côte d'Ivoire, are progressing well. Both are on budget and on schedule to commence production in Q2 and Q3 24 respectively. Alongside this year's investment in our organic pipeline, we are pleased to continue to deliver attractive shareholder returns and have declared a H123 dividend for $100 million. On an annual basis, this represents $25 million more than the minimum dividend commitment for the year. Given that the Sabah de la Massawa expansion and the Lafayette Greenfield build are expected to both increase the group production and lower our cost base, they will further enhance our capability to reward our stakeholders. As such, our goal is to increase our shareholder returns program once our organic growth projects are completed, thereby ensuring that our efforts to unlock growth immediately benefit all our stakeholders. On the exploration front, in the first half of the year we have accelerated our exploration efforts at our Tenda Iguala discovery where we have drilled over 95,000 meters during the last six months. As such, we've decided to increase the full-year drill program at Tenda to 180,000 meters and remain on track to publish a resource update later this year. As part of our ESG strategy, we've launched several new initiatives which aim to protect the places where we operate and promote sustainable socio-economic growth in our host communities. We've also launched the construction of our Sabodala solar plant which has the dual benefit of reducing our emissions and decreasing our operational cost. I will now dive deeper into each of these themes, starting with our asset sales. The divestment was well aligned to our long-term strategy of progressively upgrading the quality of our portfolio. You will probably recognize my favorite magic box chart. As you can see, our non-core Bungu and Huanyu mines were clear outliers in the portfolio, with higher costs and shorter mine lives. they were also our two smallest mines. The divestment of these mines allows management to focus on the core mines while also increasing our geographic diversification. Prior to the sale, Burkina Faso represented 55% of this year's production, while it now represents 44% of production from our continuing operation. This is expected to decrease to around 30% next year following the completion of the La Figue build in Côte d'Ivoire and the Sabah de la Massawa expansion in Senegal. We were pleased to sell the assets to a trusted Burkina Bay focused business that shares our commitment to operate the mines in the best interest of employees and local stakeholders. We wish again to thank our Bungu and Wanyong employees for their commitment and professionalism and local stakeholders for their support which has contributed to Endeavour's success over the past several years. We wish them further success. Overall, we expect to add proceeds of more than $300 million from both assets, comprised of upfront and default payments, in addition to NSRs, which also allows us to retain further upside. These proceeds will allow us to complete our ongoing constructions with a healthy balance sheet, accelerating our ability to increase our shareholder returns program. Following the divestment of Bungou and Oignon, we have updated our production guidance to around 1.1 million ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of below $950 per ounce. So far this year, we produced 511,000 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of below $980 per ounce, which places us on track to meet our guidance for the year. As we have previously guided, we expect performance to be weighted toward the second half of the year, as we expect stronger production at lower costs at our Hyundai, Sabah de la Massawa and Manor Mines. And as you can see on the screen, we are pleased that this operating performance continues to be achieved safely with a sector-leading safety record. Looking at the half-year production and the all-in sustaining cost trend, you can see that production decreased in line with the guided trend, while all-in sustaining costs remained below 1,000. Marc will run you through the mine-by-mine asset performance later, but at a high-level production decreased at Hyundai and Sabadora Masawa due to an increased focus on stripping activity, which resulted in lower-grade ore being processed. While at MANA, production decreased due to an increased focus on underground development, with supplemental ore being sourced from the lower grain Maula open pit. At a group level, this was partly offset by increased production at ET, which is on track to achieve another very strong year. In light of our efforts over the past six months, we are on track to achieve a stronger performance across our mines in the second half of the year. Turning to our operating cash flow, before working capital movements, you can see a modest decrease as the higher goal price only partially offset the expected lower production at higher cost. This cash flow profile is linked to our mine plan sequencing, which as mentioned earlier is expected to yield stronger cash flow in the upcoming quarters. As an aside, you can also see with the grey shaded area that the cash flow from the discontinued operation continued to fall each period, further demonstrating the rationale behind the divestment. While in the short term we expect to generate stronger cash flow through our flagship assets, by this time next year we expect to see a significant uptick in cash flow as both our gross projects will have been commissioned. To look at them in more detail, let me first elaborate on our Sabadola-Massawa expansion project. We are extremely excited about this project because of both its strategic and financial benefits. Once this expansion is completed, the Sabadola-Massawa mine will rank as a Tier 1 asset capable of producing more than 400,000 ounces per year, thereby increasing the quality of our portfolio and further diversifying our production base. In addition, based on the exploration success to find oxide ore, we are confident to be able to further boost production in the short term. I will let Marc provide details on the build within his section, but at a high level, construction work is progressing on budget, with 75% of the $290 million initial capital cost now committed. He is also tracking on schedule with first gold from the BIOX plant expected during the second quarter of next year. Moving now to our next growth project which is our La Figué greenfield development in Côte d'Ivoire. It will be another cornerstone asset for the company with an envisaged annual production of over 200,000 ounces over the initial 13-year mine life at a low all-in sustaining cost of below $900 per ounce. Construction activities have ramped up fairly quickly as you can see. We have now committed around 60% of initial capital with costs in line with expectations and we are on track for first production in Q3 next year. As you see in the production chart, these two projects will deliver growth next year with the full year benefits seen in 2025. We see production increasing to above 1.3 million answers in 2025 with strong potential for further increased production based on the continued outperformance at ET and Hyundai. We also anticipate bringing in more oxides at Sabadola-Massawa to lift production well beyond 400,000 oz. And in addition, we see Lafigue outperforming its nameplate capacity as most of our plants do. But equally important, this growth will allow us to maintain industry-leading all-in sustaining costs of below $950 per oz. Shifting now to our ongoing exploration efforts, which continue to generate excitement amongst the team, so far this year we spent over $50 million with a significant focus on our greenfield discovery Tenda Iguala. And owing to the ongoing success there, we have decided to increase this year's budget from $65 million to $80 million for our continuing operations. In the first half of the year, we drilled over 95,000 meters at Tenda, which is already more than the 70,000 meters originally planned. With the updated budget, we are now targeting to drill 180,000 meters this year. Tenda Iguala continues to show its potential to be a Tier 1 asset and we are excited to work towards publishing an updated resource estimate later this year. But our exploration success isn't limited just to Tenda. We've made significant progress across our producing assets. At Hyundai, for example, we've identified extensions at the carry pump and carry waste deposits. Also at Hyundai, we have potentially made a game-changing discovery as we confirmed high-grade mineralization below the Vindaloo deposit, which shows the potential to delineate a sizeable high-grade underground resource. We will be following up on this in the upcoming drill programs. At Sabadola-Massawa, we are expanding resources at Kiesta, Nyakifiri and Kerekunda, which could provide non-refractory ore and help leaf production. At E.T., we are looking to expand resources at the Flotuo, Walter-Bacatuo and Iopleu-Légaleu deposits, and we are testing also new targets. While at MANA, we've been busy testing ore chutes at Oona Underground and expanding resources at the Maula and Niafe open pits. This success across the group leaves us well positioned to meet our five-year discovery target, which has been updated to reflect the divestment of the non-core Bungu and Wanyu mines from 15 to 20 million ounces of indicated resources to 12 to 17 million ounces of indicated resources over the 2021 to 2025 period, at the low discovery cost of less than $25 per ounce. While we continue to grow our business organically through our development projects and exploration, another important capital allocation priority for us is to continue to return capital to our shareholders. For H1, we have announced a dividend of $100 million, which on an annualized basis would represent $25 million more than our minimum dividend for this year. These REIT rates are commitment to paying supplemental shareholder returns despite our other capital allocation priorities this year, including significant growth and exploration. In addition to our dividend, we have returned over $20 million in share buybacks year-to-date, which means that since the launch of the program in early 2021, we've bought back more than $250 million worth of shares, representing over 11 million shares, which is equivalent to approximately 5% of our current shares outstanding. To put this into context, it means that approximately $200 per ounce produced in H1 was returned to shareholders. Or to put it in another way, 10% of our revenue was distributed to shareholders, corresponding to over 30% of our operating cash flow. It also means that we returned an attractive indicative yield of over 4% for the half year, coupled with, of course, strong value creation by unlocking our growth potential. Overall, this means that our progressive shareholder returns program has now returned over $750 million in the form of dividends and share buyback since we declared our first dividend in 2020 and commenced payment in early 2021. To put this in context, we've returned approximately 13% of our market cap since the beginning of our returns program. Another way to look at it is that we delivered significantly more than the capital required to build a new mine. Looking ahead, Once we finish our current two builds by mid-next year, we then expect to refocus on further strengthening our balance sheet and increasing our shareholder returns before potentially launching a new build, thereby ensuring that our efforts to unlock growth provide immediate benefits to all our stakeholders. Before I hand over to the team, I just wanted to reflect on our LSA listing following its two-year anniversary. We are very pleased with our listing given that over 50% of our trading volume is now occurring on the UK line. This is a great outcome given that we didn't issue equity into the UK along with our listing. As you can see on the chart, getting included into the FTSE 100 NMSCI UK indices has clearly helped drive appetite for our stock. The volume increase is also reflective of the change in our shareholder base, which has seen UK and European shareholders climb up the register. Now I will hand over to Jahia to share some ESG initiatives with you.

Thank you. In our recent result webcast, Sebastian has mentioned how mining has the potential to be one of the most impactful industries in contributing to improvements in living standards, particularly in West Africa where we operate. During this webcast, we often take the opportunity to share some of our latest ESG updates. And I am pleased to announce several new environmental initiatives that we've launched this past quarter. In April, we committed to the reforestation of 30 hectares of Croisalier forest located near our ET mine in Côte d'Ivoire. This is aligned with our biodiversity strategy to protect and preserve the places where we operate. It also serves to support new green jobs and sustainable livelihood through program management, monitoring and evaluation. In June, we launched our Toward Zero Plastic Strategy on World Environmental Day with awareness campaigns and public area cleanup across our site and communities. The two-year strategy also aims to work with our suppliers to reduce the generation of plastic waste and most importantly, encourage the development of projects that recover and add value to the remaining plastic. More information regarding our ESG initiatives and performance is detailed in our sustainability report which was launched earlier this quarter. As part of our drive to continually improve our disclosure, we have continued to augment our reporting with an ESG data center and dedicated fact sheet outlining how we manage our key impact. We continue to make significant progress with the implementation of our ESG strategy, and I look forward to sharing more examples in the quarters to come. Thank you.

Thank you, Jaria, and hello to everyone joining us today. Sebastian covered the high-level half-year picture, so I'll walk you through the quarterly variations. In summary, our production from continuing operations was up 10% this quarter over the first quarter, while our all-in sustaining cost was up 5%. The stronger production, along with a 4% higher realised gold price, drove significantly higher net earnings and EBITDA, while our operating cash flow was lower due to the seasonally higher tax payments. I'll now take you through the details, starting with our all-in sustaining cost. Our quarterly production from continuing operations increased by 25,000 ounces to 268,000 ounces as production increased at both Hyundai and Sabadala Masawa, driven by improvements in process grades in line with the mine sequence and higher recoveries. All-in sustaining costs increased to $1,000 per ounce. This was due to higher costs at ETI as a result of increased reliance on self-generated power and at MANA due to an increased focus on underground development. Owing to the strong gold price during the quarter, we maintained a robust all-in sustaining margin of $947 per ounce. Turning now to our operating cash flow, which decreased by 23% to $159 million in Q2 as a result of the higher taxes paid during the quarter. Typically, we make higher tax payments in both Q2 and in Q3. In Q2, we pay our full year tax payments for the prior year and provisional payments for the upcoming year. And in Q3, we typically upstream cash from our operating entities and pay withholding tax on this cash. As an aside, you will see in the gray in the chart the cash flow from discontinued operations, which were not generating significant cash flow for the group. This underlines an advantage the sale of the non-core assets will have, allowing management to refocus our efforts on the cash-generative core assets. Here you can see a bridge of our quarter over quarter variances in operating cash flow. Moving from left to right, you'll note that we benefited from a $61 higher realized gold price, as well as an increase of 6,000 ounces of gold sales. Our operating expenses and other items increased as a result of higher volume-related mining costs at Hyundai and Sabadala Masawa, and increased processing costs across the group, given higher tons milled, as well as increased corporate and exploration costs. As mentioned, the income taxes paid increased by $64 million in Q2 compared to Q1 due to increased payments across the portfolio related to the timing of final tax payments in relation to the 2022 tax year and provisional payments for 2023. There was also a lower working capital outflow as the cash outflow in inventories driven by stockpile bills was partially offset by an inflow of prepaid expenses at Sabadala Masala. Overall, this meant that we generated $159 million in operating cash during the quarter, equivalent to 64 cents per share. Moving on to our net debt position, you can see that we continue to maintain a healthy financial position with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.15 times. As depicted in the waterfall chart, our net debt of $50 million as at the end of Q1 was reduced by the $159 million in operating cash flow generated from all operations for the quarter, and then offset by investing activities of $214 million. This included $22 million of sustaining capital, $61 million of non-sustaining capital, and $104 million of growth capital, which is mainly related to the Sabadala-Masawa BIOX expansion and the Lefige-Greenfield project. We also incurred $26 million in investing activities at our discontinued assets. Financing activities was a net outflow of $73 million, mainly comprised of the settlement of $29 million worth of call rights with Taurus, linked to the Teranga transaction. In addition, we incurred $19 million of interest payments on our outstanding debt facilities and completed around $9 million of share buybacks. There was also a $7 million gain on the re-measurement of cash on hand, which is held in non-US dollar denominated currencies. Overall, this means that we ended the quarter with a net debt of $171 million. As you can see from the evolution of our historic net debt, given the quick payback periods of our assets, our business has the potential to absorb debt during construction phases and rapidly deleverage itself. Our current leverage ratio stands at 0.15 times net debt to adjusted EBITDA, which is well below our target of 0.5 times. As such, the group is currently in a robust financial position with significant liquidity headroom to support our ongoing phase of growth while allowing us to continue to pay attractive shareholder returns. If we look at our debt structure, in order to manage short-term offshore cash flows during the quarter, we increased the size of our RCF to $645 million while maintaining the same favorable terms. And we drew down a further $155 million on the facility. In addition, in July, we have taken advantage of favorable financing terms in West Africa to arrange a $167 million term loan with a syndicate of West African banks, locking in competitive pricing for the five-year instrument. This term loan is a cheaper source of financing because it mitigates any requirements to upstream and downstream cash, which naturally incurs withholding taxes. We believe that our diversified long-term debt structure has us well positioned to continue to deliver our near-term growth with significant financial flexibility. Switching now to analyzing our profitability, our adjusted EBITDA increased by $13 million to $253 million, and we maintained an attractive EBITDA margin of close to 50%. As you can see here, the EBITDA margin has been fairly stable, while the operating cash flow showed more variability due to tax payments. Moving lastly to our net earnings, where I'll just focus on a number of key line items, we reported an increase in earnings from continuing operations, partially offset by an increase in exploration costs, in line with higher exploration activity at our Tandere Gwela Greenfield property in Cote d'Ivoire. We benefited from gains on financial instruments, from the unrealized gains on gold collars and gold forwards as the gold price increased in Q2, which compares to a loss in Q1, the combined effect of which was significantly higher net and comprehensive earnings as compared to last quarter. Adding back the impairment of $15 million related to exploration permits, Reversing the $30 million gain on financial instruments and a number of other smaller adjustments results in adjusted net earnings of $79 million for the quarter. I'd now like to hand over to Mark, who will take you through the details of our operations.

Thank you, Guy, and hello to everyone on the call. Before I discuss our operating results, I'd like to touch on our strong safety performance. Over the last 12 months, our lost time injury frequency rate was 0.09, well below the industry average of 1.14, which is very encouraging, considering we are currently building two new growth projects and increasing our staffing levels every quarter. Despite this, we had one LTI at our continuing operations during the period, so we still have some work to do as all these types of incidents are preventable. We are focused on improving training, frontline supervision and reviewing operating procedures to ensure that we eliminate all reportable incidents. Moving to our operations, I am pleased that the group remains on track to achieve full year production and cost guidance with a strong performance anticipated for the second half of the year. In fact, three out of the past four years have seen production weighted towards the second half. I will talk to each mine in a bit more detail, starting with Sabadala Masawa. However, given the time constraint, I will focus only on the continuing assets. At Sabadala Masawa, we are continuing to see the benefits of our ability to quickly bring new discoveries and existing resources into production. As an example, we were able to commence mining at the Nakafiri East deposit in late quarter two, following a six month intense drilling program. As a reminder, this pit is close to the processing plant and access was possible once the village resettlement project was successfully completed. The Nyaka Ferry Pit will provide supplemental higher grade non-refractory feed to the plant and replace ounces from the Sophia North Pit. Production increased as a result of a higher average grade being processed due to the increased contributions from the Massawa and Bambariya Pits. Higher tonnes milled and higher recovery rates compared to the previous quarter. All-in sustaining costs also improved during the quarter, benefiting from higher gold sales and lower sustaining capital as we completed less waste capitalisation during the period. In the second half of 2023, we expect to introduce additional higher-grade oxide feed from the McAllenthan Pit, which is just north of the Sophia North Pit, which should further improve average grades. At Sabadala Masawa, we are fortunate to have so many resources in close proximity to the plant, which provides options to manage ore types and grade through effective sequencing and blending. Moving on to the expansion project, I'm really happy to see how the biops plant construction is going, along with all of the other infrastructure. The structural, mechanical and piping work packages are all starting to take shape and we remain on budget and importantly, scheduled for a quarter to 2024 startup. As Sebastian stated, so far approximately $217 million, or 75% of the initial $290 million growth capital has now been committed, with pricing in line with expectations. As shown in the photos, the biox reactors and concentrate feed installation are now complete, COEL foundations have been installed with tank construction underway, and the neutralisation tanks are nearing completion. We have made significant progress since we launched construction in the first half of 2022. The critical path items are the power plant construction and processing plant construction activities associated with the biots reactors. Last week we received the first tonne of bacteria on site, which will serve as the feedstock to progressively grow and ramp up the bacteria population over the coming months, using a separate set of small tanks to ensure that we have large enough volumes of bacteria to start production in quarter two next year. The 18 megawatt power plant extension is advancing on schedule and we now have all three generators installed. We expect them to be fully commissioned by the contractor by the end of the year. We look forward to keeping you updated each quarter as the project approaches completion in quarter two next year. And while we are talking about Sabadala, we are very excited to launch the construction of a 37 megawatt solar facility. We will install the solar plant around three kilometres away from the processing plant. To ensure we can regulate power availability, we will be adding a 16 megawatt battery system as well. The solar plant and battery system is expected to allow Sabadala to function on only one generator on clear sky days, reducing fuel consumption by around 13 million litres a year. That is equivalent to a 24% reduction in our CO2 emissions. In total, the initial capex for the project will be $55 million, of which $10 million will be incurred in 2023, with the remainder in 2024 ahead of startup in Q1 2025. Importantly, power generated from the solar plant will cost around 1.4 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to 18 cents for our self-generated power. This is a perfect example of an optimisation initiative that will not only reduce our costs but also reduce our emissions and help to put us firmly on track towards our 2030 emissions targets. Now moving on to our Hyundai mine in Burkina Faso. Production increased during the second quarter in line with the mine sequence as we finished the current phase of pre-stripping at the carry pump pit. This allowed us to restart ore mining and introduce higher grade oxide ore into the mill feed. As a result, tonnes of ore mined and milled and average process grades increased in the quarter. All in sustaining costs decreased as a direct result of the higher volumes of gold sold during the quarter. This was partially offset by slightly higher mining and processing unit costs. As we head into the second half of the year ore is expected to be sourced from the Cary Pump and Vindaloo Main Pits with supplemental feed sourced from the Cary West Pit. Production is therefore expected to be stronger in the second half of the year as there should be less stripping activity and we expect to have access to higher volumes of higher grade ore across the carry pump and Vindaloo main pits. I have just returned from a short trip to Itty which had a very strong start to the year with a record throughput. There was lots of activity on site to anticipate the wet season and it is pleasing to see how far the mine has come with their preparations over the past four years so that they can minimise disruption from rain events. The strong performance in the first half of the year was due to a strong mill throughput, coupled with high-grade ore from the Itty Walter and LaPlante pits, along with high recovery rates. Due to the strong first-half performance, particularly in terms of throughput, which has been achieving well above nameplate capacity, we have taken the decision to accelerate the construction of the second TSF to ensure that we have sufficient tailings storage capacity for the near future. Last year we identified the opportunity to add a re-sign circuit to improve recoveries, optimise costs by lowering cyanide consumption, potentially recovering additional gold and silver and reducing WAD cyanide in the tailings. The re-sign project is approaching completion and should be fully commissioned in the second half of the year. Looking at further opportunities to optimise the operation, we have decided to launch the primary crusher optimisation project. The mineral sizer is an additional crusher that will run in parallel with the existing jaw crusher and is expected to allow us to remove a number of high cost mobile screens and crushers and re-handle for the soft oxide ore which is too sticky to go through the crusher. This will enable throughput to be maintained above 6 million tonnes per annum regardless of the ore blend. At MANA we are focused on advancing the underground development at Woyna so that we have sufficient mill feed to maintain production once the open pit feed from the Mayula pit is depleted in half one of next year. As a result of the underground development activity, production at Manor decreased during the second quarter, as lower average grades were processed from Weiner Underground as well as CU Underground. Mayulla Open Pit is a low-grade ore source to provide supplemental feed to the mill, so the main focus will always be the underground mines. All in sustaining costs increased due to the lower volumes of gold sold, the increased focus on underground development, and higher volumes of open-pit tons mined. We expect to see a higher rate of production in the second half of the year as development work undertaken will enable increased access to stoaps at Woyna. Stoap production at CU is expected to advance into higher grades in the second half of the year. Moving on to our second development project, the Le Figuet Greenfield project in Cote d'Ivoire, where we are making significant progress. It is really exciting to see the project advancing, now that more than 50% of the initial $448 million CAPEX has been committed, and the project is tracking on budget and on schedule for start-up in Q3 next year. We are now using the Airstrip which has been approved for flights which will really help the logistics as activity levels continue to increase. As a reminder, Le Figuet has an envisaged annual production of over 200,000 ounces a year over its initial 13-year mine life, at a low all-in sustaining cost of below $900 per ounce. The build was only launched in Q4 last year, following completion of a definitive feasibility study that confirmed Le Figuet's potential to be a cornerstone asset for Endeavour. You can see the good progress we have made on civil and structural works as the primary crusher, high pressure grinding roll, bore mill, reclaimed tunnel and CIL tanks are all being built. Not shown in the photos is the water storage dam where construction is complete, whilst water harvest dam and TSF construction are both progressing well. The mining contractor has commenced to mobilise into site and is building the necessary infrastructure. Construction of the 225 kilovolt power line continues to progress well. We are working around the wet season and are targeting to complete tower foundations beforehand so that we can advance on tower erection during the second half. The key milestones for the remainder of the year are the process plant, power line and TSF construction, as well as the start of mining in quarter four. We are very pleased with the progress made at Le Figuet and it is always very impressive to see a project advance from nearly nothing less than 12 months ago to a project that we expect to be producing from in less than 12 months time. Thank you and I will now hand over to Jono to provide a detailed update on the exploration program at Tanda Aguila.

Thanks Mark, and hello everyone. Given the significant drill program underway at our Tan de Iguala Discovery in Cote d'Ivoire, I wanted to provide a more detailed update. We are very excited by the positive drilling results we have been getting, which is why we have already exceeded our original plans for 2023, with more than 95,000 metres drilled so far this year at the project, of which 82,000 have been drilled at the Asafo deposit. We have been expanding the program using 10 rigs and we focus on converting mineral resources from inferred to indicated status. At the same time, we are delineating new resource to increase the overall size of the resource base. Our exploration team benefits from being part of a larger group, with the ability to reallocate capital to projects that meet our investment criteria. That means that thankfully, we've been able to increase our initial exploration guidance for the full year from $65 million to $80 million, with all the increase being allocated towards Tanda Reguela. As a result, we have been able to increase our target of drilling 70,000 metres this year to a staggering 180,000 metres. Our maiden resource of 3 million ounces at 2 grams per tonne was defined based on around 60,000 metres of drilling, focused within a small portion of the identified mineralised trend. Since defining those resources late last year, we've extended the mineralised strike length by over 900 metres as you can see on the map. That's 300 metres to the north-west and 600 metres to the south-east. As a result, we expect to include additional resources and a resource update in the second half of this year. At the Asafo deposit, within the dotted line on the map, we initially identified a significant fault structure that was separating the Boremian volcanic rocks to the northeast from the Tarquayan sandstones to the southwest. This structure proved to be a significant conduit for mineralization, which is hosted adjacent to the structure within the tarquine sediments on the southwest side, as you can see on the map. We like the Asafo deposit a lot. The mineralization is thick. It's continuous, particularly on the northeast side of the deposit, snuggled up against the fault structure. It starts at surface and extends down to over 300 meters depth. Since discovering Asafo, we have identified several similar structural and geologic targets on the Tanda-Iguala permits, and we have around 10 targets within a six kilometre radius of Asafo that have the potential to be satellite deposits. During the first half of 2023, almost 14,000 metres out of the 20,000 metres planned for the full year drilling program was completed across these targets. We continue to be encouraged by the results of the program, namely at the Parlour Trend 2 and 3 targets, which locate 4 kilometres southwest of the Asafo deposit, and at the Conjugon target, which locates 4 kilometres southeast of the Asafo deposit. At the Parlour targets, reconnaissance drilling has confirmed similar structures to Asafo, with a fault structure separating the Berymian volcanics from the Tarquian sediments. Mineralisation has already been identified over 600 metres along a north-west strike and it remains open along strike and at depth. At the Conjugarn target, the structural contact between the Tarquian basin rocks and the Berymian basement has been well defined through geophysics. This has confirmed that the prospective structure hosting Asafo continues over 20 kilometres, extending four kilometres to the southeast to the Conjugan target and five kilometres northwest of Asafo towards the Gabango target. During the second half of 2023, the exploration program will continue to delineate both the Pala and Conjugan targets, while reconnaissance drilling will begin at the Gabango target. We are very excited about what we're seeing at Tanda Aguela. We see this as being the potential for our next cornerstone mine. I remain available for questions on Tanda Aguela and our exploration prospects at the end of the presentation. I will now hand back to Sebastian.

Thank you, Jono, Chahaya, Guy, and Mark. As you can see, we have continued to deliver against our key objectives during the first half of the year and remain on track to meet our full year guidance. We now enter the second half of 2023 with a higher quality portfolio and are progressing well towards unlocking our organic growth projects next year. With Sabadola Massawa and La Figue completed, we will further upgrade our portfolio by increasing production while lowering our cost base. This will of course position us to generate strong cash flow which will in turn allow us to continue to reward our stakeholders. None of the progress we've made would be possible without our team and I would therefore like to thank them for their continued hard work and dedication. Thank you for joining us. I will now hand over to the operator for Q&A.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, you will need to press star 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. We will be prioritising questions from covering analysts at this time. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star 1 1 again. Once again, please press star 1 1 if you wish to ask a question. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A queue. Thank you. And we'll now take our first question. The first question is from the line of Oves Habib from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Hi, Sebastian and Endeavour team. Just a couple of questions from me. My first question is around sustaining capital for 2023. So now you've got multiple projects, essentially, that looks like they hit all at the same time in 2023. So do you see sustaining capital reducing into the second half and into 2024, or should we expect similar levels going into 2024?

Thanks, Obayis. Yes, I agree. Overall, we are expecting sustaining capital to decrease in the second half versus the first half. And then it's really the non-sustaining capital and the gross capex which are picking up.

So, and so, so in terms of the sustaining capital side side, then, you know, going into 2024, do you see any more additional, you know, uh, you know, obviously, uh, high capex projects coming up or is that, is that tapering off?

No, I mean, in, in, in 24, I mean, it's gonna, it's gonna start, uh, you know, reducing, uh, bearing in mind that 23 was a bit of a, in particular in H1, uh, high, You're also in terms of stripping at the number of mine sites. We won't have, I mean, the same level 24. In terms of other capex, and I'm looking at excluding, I mean, the gross capex, we've got, obviously, this year, the resign project, which is, you know, it's been a big one. We've already given, I mean, the very strong results at ET, started also the mineral sizes. in order to have that ready, I mean, in 24. So we'll have, you know, a part of it in the capex in 24. And that's about it.

Okay, good stuff. Thanks for the color on that question. And then just moving on to Q3. Q3 is primarily the rainy season. How should we be looking at Q3 compared to Q2? And really, is your operating team prepared for the rainy season?

Yeah, so I think we, you know, the team has prepared, you know, this time, I mean, for, you know, the rainy season. Usually, I mean, we tend to have, you know, Q2 and Q3, which are a bit in line, so we should have, you know, slightly higher this time Q3 versus Q2, and then a significant growth in Q4 as we access, you know, higher grades and get all the benefits of the H1 stripping.

Got it.

And the next question is... Overall, the key point is feeling comfortable that we are on track with our guidance. We flagged early on at the beginning of the year that we were weighted towards H2 and...

Okay, thanks. Thanks for that Sebastian. And my next question is for Juno. I mean, you know, obviously you've increased your exploration program at TANDA. Will you be able to incorporate all the drill results that you're looking to complete at TANDA for the resource update? And then, you know, maybe a follow up to that would be in terms of the resource update, would that resource update be looked, you know, to be brought into a study? And when should we expect that study?

So just to let you know, I mean, to continue on that, but key point is initially we had close to 70,000 meter drilling program for Tenda this year. We did 95, I mean, in the first half, and now looking at doing 180,000 meters, you know, which is a huge commitment. I guess it probably translates, you know, the high confidence and excitement that we have around, you know, the Tenda Iguala discovery. We are expecting to provide an update in around November in Q4 this year. But, you know, maybe, Jono, you want to comment on timing?

Yeah, thanks, Sebastian. Habib, timing-wise, late quarter four, 2023, we'll do a resource update. We are doing internal ones as we go along, and we will be able to capture all the assays. At the moment, even with the 10 rigs on site, At any given week, we've got anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 samples sitting at the laboratory. They've been very good and dedicated to us. The turnaround has been very good, and we're just modelling and updating the information that comes through every two or three months so we can keep track of our interpretations. That resource update will form the basis then of our studies work for early next year, and that will lead on to some further activities.

Okay, thanks for that, Juno. And just shifting gears a bit over here, this is for Sebastian. This is to the situation in Niger. Now, Endeavor doesn't have any real exposure in Niger, but Sebastian, can you provide any color or thoughts on Niger and any impact to the current portfolio?

What is interesting is to monitor how the COVAX organization is going to react. You saw that they gave an ultimatum until Sunday to reinstate the president, and they took a very, very tough and strong stance. So I think it's important. I always said that, you know, I see... more stability in this region, thanks, I mean, to the power, I mean, of ECOWAS. So, I think it will be a good test, I mean, for them over the next few weeks. So, to be monitored.

Okay, thanks, Sebastian. I had some more questions, but I'll get back to you. Thanks for taking my questions.

Thank you very much, Abhay.

Thank you. We'll now take the next question. Please stand by. This is from the line of Don DeMarco from National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, Sebastian and team. Maybe I'll just start off carrying on along the lines of the previous caller's questions on Tandiguala. So to Juno, more specifically, there was an original target of about 4 to 5 million ounces at the year-end update. Are you still maintaining that, or do you think you're near the higher end of that range now, perhaps above that range?

Thanks, Don. I remember that when we made the first announcement on Tenda Iguala last year, the next question we had is, when is the asset going into production? So I think we just need to do the work step by step. We still have this target of 4 to 5 million ounces by the end of the year, which will be you know, already a huge milestone after, you know, less than two years of drilling. I think the increased efforts we're putting there is just, you know, showing how, again, excited we are and how promising we see this. And, you know, we want to continue to build up our organic growth pipeline. And Tendai Gwala is clearly, you know, starting, I mean, to be, you know, at the top of the line for the next key projects.

Okay, fair enough. Yeah, I remember before that maiden resource last year, you had a certain target, and then the actual maiden resource was much higher. But fair enough. We'll just wait to see what this is. Congratulations on that progressing nicely. Next question. Can you comment on expectations for taxes paid in Q3 and Q4?

Sure. Maybe I'll ask Guy if you want to.

I think probably just to take a quick step back on the overall tax profile, it may be useful for us just to understand that Q2 and Q3 are generally higher tax-paying quarters for us. That's predominantly down to just the overall timing of both our final and provisionals, which will be in Q2 and Q3. The other big impact that you will have clearly seen in the numbers is the withholding tax. So that came through our expense line in Q2 as we had finalized the dividends that we're going to be looking to upstream our cash on, and that will effectively become payable in Q3. So we'll still see some cash out in Q3, but I think on an annualized basis, one can expect Q2 and Q3 to be slightly higher than Q1 and Q4.

Okay. Thanks for that. Final question over to Manna. Can you just add a little bit more color on the working with the contractor and the underground development that's going on there and the expectations for a rebound into the back half of the year?

Sure. I'll ask Mark to answer that and give a bit of color. I think what's important with Manna going second time on the ground and for us as Endeavor setting up, I mean, Warner properly, is the fact that we see MANA as a key case study for building up our internal capabilities for underground capacities, as we see promising underground potential in a lot of our existing portfolios, whether it's Hyundai, ET, or Sabadola-Massawa. And this is why we're putting a lot of effort and taking very seriously the right steps to build up capacities and ramp up at Werner. Mark, maybe you want to give some colleagues? Yes.

So we brought in a new contractor who's also new to West Africa, and I think the ramp-up probably by us and by them just in terms of getting the equipment, the supply chain, personnel and so forth. And so we didn't get the anticipated production from the first half of the year. We are seeing improvement in the last month or two and it's just progressively improving. So we do expect to see a far better performance in the second half of the year.

Okay, great. And I guess also related to MANA, just strategically, are you comfortable with your production weighting in Burkina Faso at this point? I mean, obviously, it's been reduced with some of the recent divestments. Is this a level that you're comfortable with, with just MANA, or rather MANA and Hyundai?

Yes, and there are different reasons, I mean, for that. One is once we have Sabah de la Massawa BIOX project and La Figue up and running, overall, I mean, we'll see Burkina Faso coming down to a bit less than a third in terms of production contribution. So we'll have, you know, an evenly split portfolio between the three countries, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burkina. The other thing which is obviously very interesting in, you know, the strategic move we did by taking out Bungu and Wanyu, who were becoming non-core, is to refocus all our efforts into the Hyundai Belt. So as you know, MANA and Hyundai are very close to each other. So it allows, I mean, to refocus all the management but also our security efforts into one single area, which is obviously one of the safest parts, I mean, of the country. So much easier, I would say, I mean, to manage the current environment.

Okay. Thank you for that. That's all for me.

Thank you, Don.

Thank you.

Thank you. We'll now take our next question. Please stand by. This is from the line of Kerry McCrory from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

Good morning or good afternoon. I'm just wondering if you could give some color on the cost outlook for the second half. I know production was up, you know, 10% quarter-over-quarter, but costs are also up 5%. So, should we still be aiming for the midpoint in guidance or maybe at the higher end, if you can just give some color on the cost outlook?

Sure. I think the short answer, Kerry, is given that, you know, we're targeting to be within guidance overall on the cost, the increase in production will allow, I mean, all in sustaining cost, I mean, to fall into the guidance. and therefore ensure that we are overall for the year within guidance.

Okay, and then maybe just on ITI, I mean, it's done 1.8 million tons two quarters in a row, which is quite a bit higher than the historical run rate and certainly well above nameplates. Is that a sustainable level that we should be looking at, or are there other factors driving some of that?

Yeah, look, we're very happy with the performance at ET and a lot of it's also driven by the blend where you've got more oxide material and so forth. The wet season is always more challenging, so we will see the numbers drop a little bit in the wet season.

Overall, I think that we're very pleased to see how ET has been performing for the last two years and demonstrates our ability to better and better master, I would say, the blend and the throughput. This is why we feel that, you know, by bringing mineral sizes, you know, going forward, this would allow us also, I mean, to maintain a pretty strong throughput irrespective of the different blends. And I think if we can have a target of 6 million ton, you know, on a regular basis, you know, for ET, that would be, you know, a huge, huge achievement.

Okay. Fair enough. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll now take our next question. Please stand by. This is from the line of from CIBC World Markets. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. Most of them have been answered, but I just want to touch upon inflationary pressures and what you're seeing. Could you perhaps go through some of the major drivers of inflation? and unit costs, and give us some color on what you're seeing there, if you're seeing any relief in any of these areas.

Sure, thanks, Anita. I think the key point is probably on the fuel side. That's one of the major drivers of cost increase over the last 12, 18 months. I mean, through the high inflation period, and if you recall, there is a bit of lag on our side in West Africa around those parameters. So we would expect, as we flag in the beginning of the year, some reduction in cost on the fuel side in the different countries where we operate. So that's something that we're foreseeing, and that's probably one of the key drivers. I mean, the rest is overall in line, and we haven't seen further inflation, which I think is a good thing.

Okay. And then in terms of the lag, can you quantify that in terms of how many months? Like, is that a six, nine month lag in terms of, I guess, just the amount of inventory you would have?

Yeah, we said, I mean, it was, you know, around six to nine months lag versus, you know, North America and Australia, which means, you know, starting in beginning of Q3 and up to beginning of Q4, you know, to see some drops. We started to see some in Senegal. We're waiting to see that now in Côte d'Ivoire and in Burkina.

Okay, that's it for my question.

Thank you. Thank you, Anita.

Thank you. We'll now take our next question. Please stand by. This is from the line of Raj Ray from BMO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, Sebastian and Tina. My first question is on the underground discovery at Vindaloo. I know it's early days, but can you comment on what does it mean, assuming it pans out as you expect, Is that something that could be brought ahead in your mine plan that could add to your production profile at Hyundai? So that's my first question. Second is on the solar plant at Sabadala Masawa. Is it possible to quantify what the cost impact would be, given that you're looking at a biox and power consumption there? So the solar plant, what impact will it have on your processing costs and overall costs at Sabadala Masawa? These two questions, and you have a follow-up question.

Thanks, Raj. Maybe Mark, I mean, on the underground potential for Hyundai, you want to comment?

It's very early days. The exploration team has drilled a handful of holes into the underground it's quite a large sort of bulk deposit, so we need to do a fair bit more work to ascertain how we'll mine it. It'll be somewhere between a narrow vein and a bulk method. But it looks very interesting, and I think it'll certainly be quite a nice project to advance for Hyundai and certainly sitting underneath the Bindaloo main pit and right next to the processing plant, it'll certainly be something that we'll be pushing as hard as we can with the exploration team.

And interestingly, as I was saying earlier, as we are building up internal capacities at MANA, which is very close to Hyundai, it will be easy if we are able to move at some point into underground at Hyundai to transfer some of those expertise and competencies from MANA to Hyundai. On the second question, which is the solar part for Sabah de la Massawa, We're expecting the solar plant to produce at about 1.4, 1.5 cents per kilowatt, which means compared to HFO-generated power, which is around 18 cents per kilowatt, so that's significant savings. Overall, this could represent up to about 22% to 25% of cost reduction for Sabadola-Massawa per year. So obviously very, very interesting for having this solar to reduce our power cost.

And Sebastian, on that solar, is there potential to further expand to the solar capacity in the future or do you think this is the optimum size?

Look, we've done a number of studies to look at expansion. And obviously the first step will be to get this in and then to determine, you know, because any sort of expansion, you're really looking at sort of load shifting as well. So you're having to add batteries and so on. So it's not straightforward in terms of a natural progression, but we'll certainly do the work to see whether there's something else there.

The interesting thing on the electricity supply, I mean, for Sabadola-Massawa is that One option also on the table is to connect them into the grid. There is a plan in-country to bring up the electricity in the area of Sabado-Ramasawa, so that could be down the road also an option. In particular, with the gas discoveries, this should bring down the electricity cost on the grid down for the country. The other thing that we are looking at is potentially wind power. given that the Sabadola-Massawa is in a corridor of attractive wind for windmills. So a lot of options there, I mean, to continue to try to improve down the road our cost base for Sabadola-Massawa.

Thanks for that, Sebastian. And one last question, if I may ask you a bit of a difficult question. With respect to your portfolio, what potential do you see for adding assets? I did see the news on TASIEST. Is that something you're still interested in? Are you willing to also look at jointly making a bid with someone? I mean, or any other assets that you think could fit into your portfolio? Down to four assets, 1.1, you are adding Sabudana Masawa, you have Lafige, and also Tandai Gila down the line. If you were to add a quality asset, would you take the call?

Sure. I think that what's important is, first of all, we've got a very strong organic growth pipeline. Despite the fact that we sold, I mean, two assets, next year on a full year basis with Tenda Iguala and Lafigue, I mean, we'll go back to 1.3, 1.4 million ounces. And then with the perspective of Tenda Iguala, even grow further. So the good thing is the baseline. We've got a strong organic growth pipeline that allows us to produce, I would say, a good quantity of answers, and in particular quality answers, given the cost profile of those answers. On M&A, I think what's important is to continue to remain extremely disciplined. And while it's sometimes unfortunate to see leaks, it does have the advantage of, I guess, showing to the market that we are doing our homework to evaluate assets that may fit our criteria, but we are able to also very easily walk away if we are too far away on price expectations. And I think it's the advantage of, you know, not being under pressure to do any acquisition given the strong organic growth pipeline. So, you know, we'll continue around those lines. There is no need, I mean, for M&A, and therefore we'll continue to be extremely disciplined when looking at stuff.

That's great, Sebastian. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Raj.

Thank you. We'll now take the next question. Please stand by. This is from the line of Daniel Major from UBS. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thanks for the questions. Most of mine have been answered, but a couple more. Firstly, just on Tangier Weller in terms of, I guess, the scale of the potential project will obviously be determined by the exploration progression. But is there any limitations to the size of sort of or the size of the operation, depending on the success of how the exploration pans out.

Sure. Well, you know, I think the difficulty is that it's very early days. And what excites me is that usually my exploration team, Jono and his team, tend to be quite conservative. This time they are, you know, pretty upbeat. And, you know, the feeling is that, you know, it's a tier one type asset. Now, you know, let's do the homework and we'll see, you know, what we come out with it.

Okay, thanks. And then the next question, a bit of a modeling and financial question. You typically pay dividends to minorities in the third quarter. You've obviously just sort of been in the process of disposing of assets. It's a somewhat volatile number. Can you give us any steer on the timing and the magnitude of expected dividend payments to minorities through the balance of the year?

Sure. We've got the vast majority of our dividends coming through in two challenges. There's roughly just over 20% will come through in Q3, and then we're expecting the remainder to come through in Q4.

And can you give us a steer on where we should be thinking the magnitude of dividends to minorities for the full year?

The overall magnitude, if I take total amounts paid plus associated tax and friction costs, it's around $200 million.

Okay, thank you. And then, yeah, the final one, I mean, I guess you've alluded to the moving parts around CapEx for 2024, to see direction down from where we sit this year. But is it possible to give any early sort of indicative range, I suppose, in terms of where we would expect total CapEx, including... including project spend to sit. And the second follow-up to that on the capex, if I look at the cash capex incurred in the cash flow statement relative to the sum of sustaining on sustaining and growth, I think there's somewhere in the region a kind of $70 million difference, i.e. you paid less in cash than you've reported in total capex. Would you expect to cash that all up in the remaining two quarters of the year?

Sure, I mean, you know, early days, but, you know, overall we would expect on the gross capex side, I mean, to be around $200, $250 million. So the vast majority, I mean, is really in 23 cash out. In terms of sustaining and non-sustaining capex, I guess we know it should be around $150, $200 million cash out. given the new portfolio size with two less assets. Yeah, that's probably where we would be aiming at. But a bit early days as we haven't done yet budget for 24.

That's very useful. Thanks, Sebastian. And then just the difference in the balance of the year on the cash capex versus the reported.

Did I say that? This is effectively, as you would expect, the difference between our committed and accrued versus the actual cash outflow. There is a delta. I think there's a natural one during the overall phasing of the project, which will clearly narrow towards the end. But we don't see any significant issue with that. It will narrow towards the year end.

Great. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. We'll now take our next question. Please stand by. This is from the line of Amos Fletcher from Barclays. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks, guys. Just a couple of questions from my side. I guess the first one is slightly following up on one of Dan's questions there. Is there anything you can do to reduce the effective cost of capital with holding taxes? add to when you want to move cash around the group in particular I'm thinking when you want to return capital is there anything you can do to sort of you know bypass that or otherwise avoid it and then second one just on Kalana project obviously you haven't said much about that of late overshadowed by events in Cote d'Ivoire which is great what's going to happen to that project thanks

Sure, thanks Amos. On the overall capital front, I think the best way to mitigate is to put in place local financing and we'll report that in Q3 because we just indicated a term loan in country for a bit more than $150 million locally, in particular for La Figue, which is a way to be a bit more efficient overall in terms of capital movement. On Calana, I would just say that there's been some optimization done around the latest results that we got, and we'll probably publish later this year, some updates on Calana. For the time being, as you saw, the priority is delivering the two existing projects and then to line up the next two ones, and the next two ones would go into construction sometime in 2025-2026, so we still have some time around those projects.

Thank you. We'll now take the next question. Please stand by. This is from the line of Sandeep Pitti from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning and good afternoon. I had a few questions. So firstly on decarbonization. So basically, what's the total capex required to achieve 2030 decarbonization targets? We have seen the first announcement today by way of solar plant construction. And how do you plan to phase it out?

So for the total capex, I mean for the solar plant at Sabadola Massawa is $55 million. and the expectation is to have the solar plant fully commissioned up and running beginning of 2025. I would say that 20% probably is going to be incurred this year and the most of it is going to be incurred next year. We are in parallel also looking at potential for solar plants in Côte d'Ivoire and still in discussion for a solar plant for Hyundai in order to reduce our overall production cost. So, you know, obviously, solar is extremely competitive, and this is why we are accelerating on this front, which is both, I mean, for reducing our cost and reducing our CO2 emissions.

Perfect. Based on those three projects, will you be in a good position to achieve a 30% reduction in overall emissions by 2030?

Yes, completely. I mean, that's the objective. We've also ensured that there was alignment around those objectives with top management compensation. So I think there are strong incentives to make sure that we are able to have a total emission per ounce below 600 by end of 25. And clearly those projects are part of that strategy.

Perfect, thank you. And then a question on dividend. So can you please help us think through total shareholder returns for 2023? Should we be expecting close to US dollar 300 million in total, similar to 2022 levels? Or because of the growth projects, should we be close to $240 million, which is the annualized number for 1H?

No, I think we're still committed to what we said initially, which is to be in line with 2022 shareholder returns level, which was around $200 million for dividends, around $100 million for buybacks. We just committed $100 million as part of H1, which is in line with the I mean, for this year, which on an annualized basis is already $25 million higher than the minimum dividend that we had set back in 2021, but in line with 22. And on the buyback, you know, it's been clearly a slow start. I mean, beginning of H1 with only $20 million completed so far, but that's mainly because of, you know, the significant capex that we had on the project side. So we wanted to make sure that we were all on track and would expect this, I mean, to significantly increase in H2. Perfect.

Thank you. And then a question on Tanda Aguela. So what are the next milestones post you update the market on resource by the end of the year? And in thinking about the timelines, so what about the pre-feasibility study and first production? Is it still 2028 or will it be brought forward? because of the good progress that we have seen so far?

Sure. I think, you know, we all need first, I mean, to see the results of the 23 campaign. So part of those results will be published in November, but it will have only, I mean, the all the drillings that have been done until end of August. So we'll have then to wait for further update in Q1 with the full results of this 23 campaign. And only once we have that, we'll be able to plan what are the next steps.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. We'll now take our next question. Please stand by. This is from the line of Harman Puri from Bank of America Securities. Please go ahead.

Hi, fashion team. Thank you for taking my question, and sorry if you've already touched upon this. My line was cutting in and out earlier. It's just on capital returns in 2024 and beyond. Will you be putting out a sort of like a multi-year plan similar to the one currently in place with minimum thresholds, and if so, When do you plan to announce this?

Thanks, Armin. I think that once we will have completed the build next year of the two projects, our goal is clearly to be able to continue to increase the shareholder return program. while at the same time strengthening our balance sheet. We will look, therefore, to provide a further outlook on this next year. But at a high level, our program is a progressive dividend. So if the gold price remains above $1,500 and our leverage below $0.5, net debt to EBITDA, we should be in a good position to continue along our current trend. We've been prudent in 23 to allocate capital across this year's priority. And therefore, as it is a big year, CapEx of 22, our goal is to really finish the bells in a strong position and then see how we can continue to increase our program in 24.

Perfect. That's very clear. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll now take our next question. Please stand by. This is from the line of William Dolby from Berenberg. Please go ahead.

Hi, guys. Thanks for your time today. Just a quick one. On MANA, I know you've covered some of this already. you sort of guiding slightly below on production. I just wonder if you could give a little more of a steer on how much difference you're expecting versus guidance and what steps you're taking to improve the asset and where you expect it to go into 2024 with volumes and costs.

Well, I think on MANA, as we said, we've been cautious because like all underground mines, when you are setting them up, you can have some slow start, which is what we've seen in H1. We're expecting this to accelerate in H2. So let's see. I think it's a moving part. I mean, we're clearly... targeting the lower end of the guidance, that's for sure. But we need to see how the contractors are going to ramp up. Ultimately, the objective for us is to be able to ensure that going forward, MANA is able to produce between 180,000 to 200,000 ons, in particular from the two undergrounds, Sioux and Wana, and to be back below 1,000 or in sustaining cost, which is the target for this asset.

Okay, great. Thank you. And just one quick follow up. I know you've probably covered this a couple of times, but just to clarify on the dividend, 100 million in the first half, so annualized coming up above your target. Should we be then putting into our numbers a beat for the year? Is that what we can expect?

Yes, I think, you know, we would expect, I mean, the second half to be at least, you know, $100 million. So, annual basis, I mean, target is, you know, clearly $200 million. And then on top of that is to continue to accelerate on the buyback program. So, a bit like last year where we had the slow start, I mean, on the buyback in H1 and then, you know, more aggressive in H2. I would expect, I mean, the same this year.

Okay, perfect. Thanks a lot.

Thank you, William.

Thank you. And there are no further questions, so I will now hand back to Martino de Ciccio for closing remarks.

Thank you, Erin, for joining the call today. We, of course, remain available for questions offline. Thank you again.

Thank you. This does conclude the conference for today. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.