Endeavour Mining plc

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Endeavor Mining's first quarter 2026 results webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After management's presentation, there will be question and answer sessions. So for those who wish to ask a question, please dial in to the phone line. Please note that due to time constraints, we will be prioritizing questions from covering analysts. Today's conference call is being recorded. And the transcript of the call will be available on Endeavor's website tomorrow. And I'd like to hand the call over to Endeavor's Vice President of Investor Relations, Jack Garman. Please go ahead, sir.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Endeavor's Q1 2026 results webcast. Before we start, please note our usual disclaimer. On the call today, I'm joined by Ian Cockrell, Chief Executive Officer, Guy Young, Chief Financial Officer, Jaria Traore, Executive Vice President of Operations in ESG, and Sonia Scarcelli, Executive Vice President of Growth and Exploration. Today's call will follow our usual format. Ian will first go through the highlights of the quarter, then I will present the financials, and Jaria will walk you through our operating results by mine, before handing back to Ian for his closing remarks. We'll then open the line up for questions. I'll now hand over to Ian.

Thanks, Jack, and welcome to everyone joining us on the call today. Now, Q1 2026 was a record quarter for Endeavor, with a strong operational performance and elevated gold price underpinning a very strong financial result. Production of 282,000 ounces was in line with our plan, and we expect to see progressive improvements as we move through the year as stripping activity opens up progressively higher-grade ore through to Q4 later on this year, while all in sustaining costs on a royalty-adjusted basis also came in towards the lower end of our guidance in the quarter. This performance translated into a record free cash flow of $613 million, and that's equivalent to $2,176 per ounce produced. That's a 29% increase over the prior quarter. Through the year, we'll continue to focus on our margins and maximizing free cash flow from every ounce that we produce. This free cash generation transformed our balance sheet. We moved from net debt of $158 million in the previous quarter to now a net cash position of $405 million at the end of this quarter, a $563 million swing in just three months. Given the strong balance sheet position and our outlook, We're going to look to increase our shoulder returns through supplemental dividends within our H1 2026 dividend announcement and through continued opportunistic share buybacks. At prevailing gold prices, we expect supplemental returns to be at least double our $1 billion minimum commitment over the next three years. On organic growth, as we announced last week, the Assa Food DFS confirms a high-quality, long-life asset that has very strong project economics. Early works are underway, and we're targeting a final investment decision before the end of this year. On the exploration front, we're accelerating resource definition of our Vindaloo Deeps target, and we expect to deliver main resource in the first half of this year. Simultaneously, our new Ventures Exploration Program continues to expand our exploration footprint into the most prospective tier one gold provinces with the latest strategic investment into Guyana. And I'll take you through each of these areas in a bit more detail. On slide seven, you see production was 282,000 ounces down from Q4 due to planned lower grades mined and processed, but in line with the mine sequence. All in sustaining costs were higher in the quarter, largely due to higher gold price driven royalty costs with some small impacts from the stripping activity and the higher power costs at minor. But despite higher costs, our all-in sustaining margin of $2,976 an ounce was $751 per ounce higher than in Q4, as margins continue to consistently expand alongside the higher gold prices. On slide 8 in the full year guidance, you can see group production and all-in sustaining costs remain on track to achieve guidance. The Q1 production of 282,000 ounces represents approximately 26% of the low end of our guidance range, and we're expecting higher production in the second half of the year, peaking in Q4 as per our planned mining sequence. On costs, while first quarter all-in sustaining costs of $1,834 an ounce sits slightly above the guidance range, this reflects higher royalty costs as a direct result of the rising gold price. On a gold price adjusted basis, back to our budgeted level, underlying all-in sustaining costs of $642 an ounce were in the lower half of the guidance range. And let's say that's based on our $3,000 gold price. On capital, we expect both sustaining and non-sustaining capital to be weighted towards the first three quarters of the year, aligned with our stripping programs. while growth capital of $500 to $100 million is now expected to support early works at Asifru, mostly in the second half of the year. So overall, we're confident in our full-year outlook and expect to see improvements throughout the year. Free cash flow reached a record $613 million in Q1, up 29% from Q4, an equivalent to $2,176 per ounce of gold produced. But we remain focused on maximizing free cash flow for every ounce that we produce. And as operational performance improves throughout the year, we expect to at least partially offset some of the impact of higher taxes in Q2 and Q3. The strong free cash flows enabled us to rapidly deleverage the balance sheet in Q1, reducing net debt by $563 million and moving to a net cash position $405 million at quarter end. And this provides the financial flexibility to deliver a world-class organic growth project ASIFU whilst we pay out sector-leading returns to shareholders. As you know, our leverage target through the cycle is less than 0.5 times net debt to adjusted EBITDA. That remains the case, but we do not intend to maintain a very large net cash position either. So we'll stick to our capital allocation model and look to increase shoulder returns while prioritizing Asafoos development as well as our exploration program. On slide 11, our shoulder returns program is quite clear. Between 26 and 28, we're committed to return at least $1 billion to shareholders and will maintain this commitment down to a goal price of $3,000 an ounce. And at prevailing gold prices, we could return more than double that minimum commitment to shareholders. Given the strong gold prices so far this year, we're on track to return a significant supplemental dividend when we announce our H1-26 dividend in our Q2 results. So far this year, we've already completed $54 million of share buybacks. And we'll continue opportunistically and make up a significant component of our supplemental returns. On to our sector-leading organic growth on slide 12. Now, last week, we published the results of our definitive feasibility study, strengthening our confidence in the ASIFU project and its potential to transform our portfolio, driving production growth, lowering costs, and delivering long-term value. We discovered ASIFU for $13 million in 2022, and based on the DSS at a $4,000 per ounce gold price, the project now has an after-tax value of over $5 billion with an internal rate return of 55%. Now, that's value creation and reflects the highly prospective region and the ability to accelerate projects quickly from discovery to production. The Estafu project will be relatively similar to other mines that we've built, albeit bigger. The DSS outlines a 5 million ton per annum gravity and CIL processing plant optimized to support a smoother production ramp-up and to add additional redundancy to give optionality to expand the plant in the future as we develop and further expand the exploration resource in the immediate vicinity of the mine. Early works are already underway. Procurement of long lead items has started. Detailed engineering and design is progressing and key tenders are already out. We have also launched land compensation negotiations as part of the resettlement action plan, which we need to finalize ahead of starting resettlement, which is on the critical path. We're targeting a final investment decision before the end of this year and then a construction period of 24 to 30 months. Once construction starts, the resettlement, mining pre-stripping, and ore commissioning are on a critical path to production. The resettlement is required for mining to start, so developing the resettlement action plan is a key part of our early works program. Acid food has the potential to be one of our largest, lowest-cost assets with the longest mine life. Capable of producing 320,000 ounces of gold per year, at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,000.26 per ounce over the first eight years of its planned 16-year mine life. The DFS also reflects our increased confidence in the mine plan, underpinned by nearly 100,000 meters of additional close-spaced drilling. This has increased reserves and resources and introduced made and proven reserves and measured resources, providing a much higher level of certainty over what we will mine and when. de-risking the ramp-up and early production profile. And importantly, we see significant exploration upside in the immediate vicinity of the mine that will support continued growth in reserves and resources and further enhance the mine plan over time with the potential to sustain production higher levels over this period for much longer. Looking at the exploration at Assafu on slide 14, Most of our drilling is being focused on the ASIFU deposit itself. We've just started to step out beyond ASIFU. We've already identified 20 highly prospective targets on this property that we are prioritizing with a guided $10 million spend for this year. We'll focus on advancing the Parlour Trend 3 deposit for the 2025 maiden resource, defining Parlour Trend 2 maiden resource, and exploration drilling at the parlor trend southwest and Kumenagari. At Astaflu, we've discovered a new and highly fertile mineralized greenstone belt, and through our own land package and our strategic partnership with Kulu Gold, we expect to unlock significantly more value across this belt. Now Astaflu is key to our organic growth outlook. and along increased production at Savadala Masawa, we're targeting 27% growth in production to 1.5 million ounces by 2030, with a solid position in the first quarter. On slide 16, following the launch of our new exploration strategy late last year, we've increased our exploration guidance to $100 million for this year, and we will prioritize adding near-mine resources across the portfolio expanding resources at the acid food deposit and nearby targets, whilst advancing new ventures to replenish the longer-term organic project pipeline. And as you can see on slide 17, we're pleased that we signed a strategic investment of $20 million with Altair for a 9.9% stake. The Yarnershield is one of the four Tier 1 gold provinces that we are targeting through our Greenfield and New Ventures programs. And given the Guyana Shield is a continuity of the West African Burimian, we have a good understanding of the geology as well as the structural context. Now Altair has one of the largest consolidated land packages in Guyana, covering highly prospective ground to the south of recent significant discoveries at Oko West and Okogane along the same shear zone. So we're excited about the prospectivity and the proceeds from our investment will be deployed to accelerate these exploration programs. Before I hand over to Guy, I just wanted to touch shortly on ESG. As a long-term partner in West Africa, we will always strive to deliver sustainable value to all of our stakeholders. In 2025 alone, we contributed $2.8 billion to host economies. And over the last six years, we've contributed $12.9 billion. This consistent delivery of value alongside continued improvements in governance, stakeholder engagement, and ESG management systems, is increasingly being recognized. And as a member now of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, we met all transparency expectations in 2025, performing strongly relative to our peer group. In addition, our ISS rating has been upgraded, placing us in the top 10% of our sector, in line with the other strong ESG ratings we continue to maintain. With that introduction, let me hand you over to Guy, who can take you through the Q1 financials. Guy, over to you.

Thanks, Ian, and hello to everyone. As Ian said, Q1 was a very strong quarter financially, driven by the higher gold price and consistency in our operational performance. The realized gold price increased by $937 an ounce to $4,810 an ounce, supporting our record financial performance. While quarter-on-quarter production was down slightly and costs were up partially as a result, adjusted EBITDA increased by 29% and adjusted net earnings increased by 64%. On the cash flow side, operating cash flows were up 21% and free cash flow was up 29%. On slide 21, you can see that adjusted EBITDA reached a record $880 million, up 29% quarter over quarter, and our adjusted EBITDA margin also increased significantly by some 12% to 65%. The high EBITDA reflects the combination of high gold prices and lower operating expenses due to the lower production, while the improved margin demonstrates our ability to leverage the benefits of increased gold prices in our earnings. Moving on to slide 22. Operating cash flow was up 21% to $737 million compared to Q4 2025 due to higher gold prices and low operating expenses, despite increased cash taxes and an increased working capital outflow related to trade and payables, inventory, and receivables. Looking now at the operating cash flow improvement in some more detail on slide 23. The increase in the realized gold price added $169 million to operating cash flow. Gold sold decreased by 24,000 ounces to 278,000 ounces in Q1, which impacted operating cash flow by 99 million. Operating and other expenses were 156 million lower than Q4 due to a number of factors. Firstly, lower nominal mining and processing costs on the back of the lower production. The completion of the hedging program last year where we recorded a loss in Q4. and these were partially offset by higher royalties. Income taxes paid increased by 23 million to 46 million, reflecting the timing of corporate income tax payments as expected and provisional withholding tax payments at Sabadala Masawa. On that point, please note for the full year we've increased our cash tax guidance from 600 to 700 million to the revised total of 660 to 770 million dollars. reflecting higher withholding tax payments related to an increase in cash repatriation on the back of higher gold prices. Cash income tax guidance is unchanged for the year. Finally, working capital was a 91 million outflow, a 75 million increase on last quarters. Key drivers of the increase were a reduction in payables, which we expect in Q1, along with increased VAT and stockpiles. Turning to VAT first, VAT balances increased in Q1. Sorry, whilst VAT balances increased in Q1, we've seen some positive developments in April with a resumption in direct VAT reimbursements in Burkina Faso, a reduction in processing times in Senegal, and higher levels of reimbursements in Cote d'Ivoire, which, if maintained, will positively impact our Q2 working capital. The stockpile increase is due to some deferral and stripping at Hyundai and the concomitant stockpile drawdown. along with higher mining volumes at ITI. Both these trends are expected to normalize through the rest of the year. Although less material, we have built up supplies of some critical consumables like fuel and explosives to help mitigate any potential impacts from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Turning to slide 24, free cash flow reached a record 613 million in Q1, up 29% from Q4, despite the lower production and higher ASIC taxes and working capital outflow. Free cash flow has increased each quarter since Q2 2025, as we are benefiting from higher gold prices and successfully converting the majority of additional margin into free cash. The outlook remains very strong at current gold prices, particularly in H2 of this year. I would remind you, however, that for Q2, we expect free cash flow to be lower as a result of seasonal tax payments. This is normal regional tax seasonality with higher corporate income and withholding tax payments representing approximately 65% of our full-year payments to be paid in the quarter. On slide 25, our cash flows significantly improved our net debt position as shown here. We started the quarter with net debt of 158 million and ended with 405 million of net cash. As detailed on the previous two slides, Operating activities generated 737 million of cash flow in the quarter. Investing outflows were 125 million, including 75 million of sustaining capital, 45 million of non-sustaining capital, and 6 million of growth capital. Financing activities included a net 75 million drawdown on the revolving credit facility, alongside 27 million of share buybacks, 8 million of lease payments, and 4 million of financing fees. all of which leaves us in a net cash position of $405 million at the end of the quarter. As Ian mentioned earlier, we do not intend to build a large net cash position and will continue to follow our capital allocation model of increased shareholder returns after prioritizing assets for development and exploration requirements. Finally, moving on to net earnings. Earnings from mining operations increased to $776 million, reflecting the high gold price, partly offset by royalties and sustaining capital. Other expenses decreased with the higher Cote d'Ivoire royalties in the prior quarter now being reported as part of our cost of sales. Deferred tax was a $97 million expense compared to a $53 million recovery in the prior quarter. The change reflects the accrual of additional withholding taxes ahead of expected increased cash upstreaming as a result of the higher gold prices as I referenced earlier. Adjusted net earnings were $442 million for the quarter, or $1.53 per share, up 65% from Q4. Thank you, and I'll now hand over to Jaria to walk you through the operating performance.

Thank you, Gary, and hello, everyone. Before discussing our operating results, I want to talk about safety, which remains our top priority. We were deeply saddened that one of our contractor colleagues suffered fatal injury at Manaus on 6th of March, as we have previously reported. Following the incident, we've launched a comprehensive investigation and we've identified several areas of improvement, particularly around contractor onboarding, supervision, and ongoing training. These actions are now being implemented across all our operations. Despite this incident, our total recordable injury frequency rate of 0.72 on a 12-month basis has improved during the quarter and remains one of the lowest in the sector. And we continue all our efforts to eliminate fatal risks. Before turning to the mind-by-mind review, I wanted to touch on our first quarter performance compared to guidance on slide 29. As Ian mentioned, we are on track to meet full-year guidance with performance weighted towards H2, as production and costs are expected to improve at Hyundai, MANA, and ET in the second half of the year, and this in line with the mine plans. For quarter one, group production was lower compared to last quarter of 2025 due to lower grades at Sabadola Masawa, MANA, and ET, but again, in line with the mining sequence. The oil and sustaining costs were higher this quarter due to gold sales, higher royalty costs, and increased stripping activity. Overall, we are pleased with our progress to date. Starting with Hyundai on slide 13, production increased as we mined and processed higher grades from the Kerry West and Vandaloo main pits. Oil and sustaining costs have increased, but largely due to higher royalty costs at higher realized gold prices and to higher sustained capital from increased wet stripping at Curry West and heavy mining equipment improvement. We will continue stripping at the Vendaloo Man Pit pushback, which will support access to better grade to improve production for the year, with costs only expected to realize the benefits later in the year, once the majority of the stripping has been completed. On slide 31, at ET, production decreased as we mined lower grades from the backer tool and water pits, while we also processed lower tons due to scheduled mill maintenance in quarter one. Oil and sustaining costs at ET has improved due to lower sustaining capital and the benefit of byproduct silver sales, despite the higher gold prices and lower gold sales. Similar to Hyundai, ETI's performance is expected to be weighted toward H2, as blended grades are expected to increase through the year. On slide 32, you can see that production at MANA was lowered quarter over quarter due to lower grades and the weighing down on mining activity in the Sioux underground deposit, where the reserves are nearly depleted. Similarly, Oil and sustaining costs were higher due to the lower levels of productions and sales, as well as higher royalty costs related to gold prices and the continued use of higher cost self-generated power. On cost, we expect that the grid power availability will improve during quarter two, as the grid in Burkina Faso adds new capacity. We are also continuing to improve the resilience of our grid connection at MANA through the automation of the underground ventilation system and the installation of a new transformer and capacity bank, which is expected to improve productivity and operating costs. In H2, the mining feed from the WANA underground deposit is expected to be supplemented with ore from the open piece of Banner Camp, supporting slightly higher grades throughput, and production. Moving to Sabadella Massawa on slide 33. Production decreased due to lower-grade mine and process compared to the quarter 4, 2025, but in line with the mine sequence. Oil and sustaining costs increased due to lower gold sales, higher royalty costs related to the increased gold price, and higher sustaining capital. As 2026 progresses, we expect to see steady performance from the CIL plants as improved rates are offset by slightly lower throughput. While on the bio side, we expect continuous improvement in throughput and recovery as the ongoing optimizations work continues. At the end of quarter one, we published a technical report for Sabadella-Masawa. And it's also important to remember that this is a conservative reserve-only outlook that we intend to optimize and smooth out through additional explorations and sequencing. The study outlined significant production growth into the high 300,000 ounces by year 2029, with an average production over the next five years of 335,000 ounces per annum. The significant increase in production is expected to be driven by the ramp-up of underground mining at the Karikunda and Goloma deposits. As the mining ramps up, it's projected to deliver higher grades to the CIL plants, coupled with high grades to the BIOPS plants from the Massawa North Zone deposits. We will expect to smoke this production profile through sequencing of Massawa North Zone, and conversion of additional reserves, which would allow us to achieve and maintain production in the mid-300,000 ounces range for longer. Lastly, turning to Lafayette on slide 35. Production increased as we mined higher grades from the main pits. We also benefited from improved recovery, which have increased following the completion of processing plant optimizations project. Oil and sustaining costs have also increased due to significant increases in sustaining capital related to the planned weight stripping this year and higher royalty costs due to the higher realized gold prices and the increased royalty rates. As stripping continues, we expect rates to decrease through the next quarter before again improving as we move into the next pushback and the second half of 2026. Overall, as you can see, the performance has been consistent and predictable during quarter one. And as a result, we're well positioned for the rest of the year. Thank you for your time, and I will end over to Ian.

Thank you, Geria. As you've heard, we're off to a strong start operationally. We've delivered another record quarter financially. But our key priorities from here are quite clear. Firstly, deliver on production and cost guidance. Secondly, maximize free cash flow for every ounce that we produce to ensure an optimized balance sheet so that we can deliver sector-leading organic growth and sector-leading share of returns, whilst remaining a trusted partner to our host countries. We certainly look forward to updating on that progress throughout the year. With that, I say thank you, and now I'll hand back to the operator who will be in a position to open up the Q&A. Thanks very much.

Thank you. To ask a question now, please press star 1 and 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 and 1 again. There may be a short pause while we compile the Q&A roster.

Once again, that's star 1 and 1 for questions.

We will now take our first question from the line of Alan Gabriel of Morgan Stanley. Please ask your question, Alan. Your line is open.

Yes, good afternoon and thank you for taking my questions. The first question is for you, Ian. The cash balance is building very rapidly on today's gold prices and you can easily finance as a full, meet all your capital returns commitments and still have a significant cash pile that is left. although that's a good problem to have, it also brings some scrutiny on capital allocation. So how are you thinking about M&A at this point in the cycle? And do you think you have the capacity to take on a sizable project like Asafo and pursue M&A at the same time? That's my first question.

Thanks, Alan. Yeah, look, it's a bit of a Hollywood problem, you know, having the cash and, you know, the already well-defined organic growth pipeline. You know, irrespective of how much cash we have on our balance sheet. We are, as you know, we're really focused on growing this business in an organic fashion. We have lots of opportunities to do that. That's our principal focus. Our other focus is obviously on the expiration side. And I think the investment in Altair gives you another clear indication. That's where we would You know, we're happy to sort of put our money. We are patient capital investors. We seek, you know, the right opportunities to go in to create, you know, really outsized value returns to shareholders. It would be nice to do it, you know, every quarter. But, you know, we're taking a longer-term perspective on that. With respect to M&A, you know, we constantly look. And if the right opportunity came along, obviously we would look at it. To date, we've looked at several opportunities, but nothing has eventually turned out to be positive. But we're not averse to M&A, but our principal focus obviously is on organic growth.

Thank you. That's very clear. And the second question is probably for Guy on the cost or for the energy cost impact on the business. Maybe if you can talk to us a little bit more about the diesel exposure across the group. How do you see the conflict impacting your cost base? Are you seeing any supply stress emerge on the supply chain? Because you seem to have managed this very well in Q1. So how are you thinking going forward of these dynamics? Thank you.

Hi, Alain. So let's just talk a little bit about the difference, in our minds anyway, between the security of supply and then the pricing risk. So to the first part, security of supply, as a general comment across all of our sites, we do not rely particularly heavily on fuel or any other related consumables that transit through the Strait of Hormuz. We've got refineries that we rely on, broadly regional, but in particular in Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal, and the crude input into those refineries is predominantly coming from Nigeria. We do have some other refined products that are coming from northern Western Europe, but As a result of all of that, and in discussion with our suppliers and a test of their business continuity planning, we don't perceive security of supply to be the key issue. It is what you've referred to more a question of pricing. When we look across the portfolio, and again, just bearing in mind that fuel is anywhere between 10% and 15% of operating costs, so it's significant, but not that material. When we run numbers bearing in mind local pricing, then we come up with a $10 per ounce ASIC impact roughly for every $10 on the price of a barrel of oil. that is what we've seen so far and when we look forward into the remainder of the year that's what we're anticipating so if i look purely at price variance at the moment we can expect to see roughly a 25 increase in our q2 costs relating purely to the price of fuel the one other thing i would just quickly touch on and jory mentioned it in in her presentation but The volume of our consumption of fuel does depend to some extent on grid availability. So where we see declines in grid availability, we will see higher volumes for self-generated power, and that in and of itself will drive a cost increase. So subject to the grid availability, roughly $10 per ounce for every $10 per barrel. Thank you. That's very clear. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now take our next question from the line of Oves Habib of Scotiabank. Please ask your question, Oves. Your line is open.

Thanks, operator. Hi, Ian and the Endeavour team. Congrats on Q1 beat and really a great start to the year. Ian, a couple of questions from me. The first one was answered in regards to the supplies as well as the cost impact on the Middle East side, so that was good. Thank you very much for that. Just moving on to Asafu. Ian, you released a robust DFS on Asafo. Permits have been received. What's keeping you back on pressing the green light to start construction on the project?

Yeah, thanks Uwais. Look, as you know, as far as Asafo is concerned, we already have the environmental permit. We have the exploitation permit. We're currently in negotiation with government around the mining convention. Obviously, it's important that we get that done. Part of that process involves the creation of a local entity, and that's a normal administrative process. I have to say, the government of Côte d'Ivoire have been incredibly supportive on this project. They recognize the importance to the country as well as to us. And, in fairness, are really sort of trying their best to make sure that all necessary permits, approvals, whatever, are, you know, sort of being expedited. In terms of what is it that is still outstanding, obviously, one of the key issues, as we mentioned in the presentation, was finalization. On the resettlement, we have two villages that sit on top of the ore body. We're in negotiations with those communities and seeking their assent and approval to get moving. That is necessary before we can actually start mining activities because both those villages would potentially be within the normal sort of blast perimeter for the starter pit. One of the other issues to be addressed is there is a national road that runs through the footprint of the pit that needs to be diverted. We are very close to concluding the optimal diversion of that road. There's been some to-ing and fro-ing on that, but we're close to getting that concluded. Those I think are the the two key outstanding issues. And obviously, I think it's always important as far as negotiations are concerned, the government knows that we're keen to progress, they're keen for this project to progress, but it's important that we keep our options open. But to give you some idea of our confidence that the project is going, we've already committed up to, it's about $80 million worth of pre-expenditure, principally aimed at long lead items, such that this is another way that we can help de-risk the project by making sure that long lead items can be manufactured, transported, and delivered well on time, and they don't delay any of the build program. So we're We're running several things in parallel. I'm still reasonably comfortable that by the end of this year, we will formally announce the project. But I think you can see just by what we're actually doing already, we do believe that this is not a question of if this project goes, it's merely a question of when. It's as simple as that.

Got it. Thanks for that, Ian. And just maybe moving on to the exploration side and maybe this is a question to Sonia, she's online. Obviously, you guys have a large exploration program for 2026. Just want to hear in terms of which, you know, target or area Sonia is more excited about and when should we start receiving some exploration results.

Yeah, look, I'll pass on to, Stonia is with us. I'll pass on, but I can tell you she's excited about all the areas.

Yes, thank you. Yeah, for the question. It depends how much time you have for me talking about the exciting pipeline. Look, if I just started to talk about a couple of areas, definitely we have a great result at Vindaloo Deep in Onda, and we are planning to actually report the results of the median resource in the H1. So more to come on that with also a clear understanding of the upside potential. But then if we move into the other areas, we have exciting results in Sabodala Massawa. We have completed a full portfolio review and identified over 20 new opportunities in the pipeline. with the first one coming with a very clear resource, made a resource by the end of the year as a causata. So that's very exciting. And in parallel, we also have identified more underground potential in the area, both in Sabodala and Sofia, more to come toward the end of the year with the concrete results. Then, if we switch gear to call the water, there is plenty data to look at this more around which 1 we prioritize 1st, but it continues to surprise us in a positive way. We had a very great result at the back end of last year, both into the green field and brownfield opportunities. And we are now in field drilling on the brownfield close to the plan. And then after a lot of the work that we did in the past couple of years was really to get the confidence on the source. We have that it's moving on with the, and there is now quite a large potential of the under explore the brownfield opportunities that we are progressing in parallel. get a better feeling those are less mature in terms of exploration activities we will be able to give a little bit more better understanding both toward the end of this year as well as the next year but overall it's a very exciting pipeline within our existing areas excellent thanks for that sorry go ahead now i was just going to feel

Ladies and gentlemen, please remain on the line your conference will resume shortly. Once again, please remain on the line your conference will resume shortly. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain on the line. Your conference will resume shortly. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain on the line. Your conference will resume shortly. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain on the line. Your conference will resume shortly. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain on the line. Your conference will resume shortly. Thank you. We have the speakers back.

Please continue.

Sorry, could the last speaker please re-ask the question? I think we just completed Ove's question and we're moving on to the next.

You have any follow-up questions, Ove?

No, I'm good. Thank you so much for answering my questions.

Thank you. Apologies for cutting you short there, Ove, but we had an electronic glitch here.

Thank you. We will now take our next question from the line of Richard Hatch of Barenburg. Please ask your question, Richard. Your line is open.

Thanks for your time and congrats on a very good quarter. You're delivering as you promised you said you would and you're generating that free cash flow which is really good to see. Just two questions. Firstly, just given the volatility that we're seeing in Mali, can you just talk a little bit around if that's creating any kind of instability in the broader region, if you're seeing anything in that regard to your operations. And then secondly, just on Vindaloo deeps, you did sort of talk briefly about it there, but I just wonder if you might just be able to expand a bit more about what you're hoping to show the market on that when you update on the resource and how we should think about that into the short, medium, and longer term. Thanks.

Yeah. Richard, thanks. Look, I think as everybody knows, Mali does not fall into any of our jurisdictions where we have operating assets. We have an old legacy asset, the Kalana mine, that we're in the process of selling. That sell process continues. And certainly our understanding is that the type of activity that civil unrest is taking place, does not appear to have migrated right down towards Kalama. It's a relatively, in Mali terms, much more benign region. So we have no immediate impact on our operations due to Mali. In terms of the potential for spread across from Mali to elsewhere, At the moment, no. I mean, the obvious place where there might have been some spread was into Burkina Faso. The situation in Burkina appears relatively calm. We're not seeing any deterioration in the local situation. The security forces are on top of things in that country. We're working hand in glove with them. And again, we're not experiencing any current issues, and we're not anticipating any issues into the immediate future. As far as Vindaloo-Deets is concerned, as Sonia said, we will be, in a short period of time, we'll be coming out with an update on the size of the resource and timing of of when that would start coming into the plan. We've still one or two minor things to finalize, but as soon as that is ready for publication, we will come to the market. What I would say is I don't think the market is going to be disappointed. I think they're going to be very pleased with what's coming out of Dingaloo Deep.

Okay, very clear. Thanks. Look forward to that. Cheers.

We will now take our next question from the line of Amos Fletcher of Barclays. Please ask your question. Amos, your line is open.

Yeah, good afternoon, everyone. I have a couple of questions. The first one was just on working capital. Obviously, there's quite a lot going on within the working capital line this quarter in particular. But it was, I guess, quite a surprise how big the build was. I was just wondering, Guy, whether you can give us a bit of a steer on how you expect it to play out over the next few courses. Thanks.

Sure, Amos. Thank you. Yes, working capital outflow was relatively significant. So I touched on it in the presentation, but maybe just walk through that again with a focus on stockpiles, which is roughly two-thirds of that outflow. The stockpile increase is obviously in relation to mining tonnage, and the difference between our original expectation and our actual Q1 was an element of deferral of some of the waste stripping, particularly at Hyundai, revolving around both production profile and fleet availability. So this is something that we expect to see pick up again in Q2 and marginally at the start of Q3. As we pick up in stripping activities, we should be seeing naturally something of a drawdown on stockpiles. Further stockpile drawdown is anticipated at Sabadala Masala going into the second half. So, with regards, sorry, and Le Figuet continued increase in stripping activity as well. So, with the majority of our sites looking to do some stockpile drawdown, the types of build that you saw in the first quarter should not be repeating over the remainder of the year. And then, without going into any detail, as it wasn't part of the question, but I think there are positive trend indicators on both the VAT and the consumer bills as well. So, hopefully, the level of working capital bill does not repeat through Q2, Q3, and Q4.

So, potential for further bills at smaller levels over the next couple of quarters, you'd say?

So, we could see bills depending on sites. So, As an example, we'd love to see some more stock at Manor, making sure that we've got plant utilization. Lafigue, Hyundai, and Sabadala should see some stockpile drawdown.

And then the second question, I just wanted to ask for, I guess, a broader update on the Senegal Mining Code revision process. Have there been any developments to report over the last few months on that?

Yeah. new developments to report on that as yet.

Great. That's all my questions. Thanks.

Thank you. We will now take our next question from the line of Kerry McRory of Canaccord GenoT. Please ask your question. Kerry, your line is open.

Hi. Good morning and congrats on the great start. Maybe just another question for Guy. You've got over a billion dollars in cash now, but still have some money drawn on the credit facility. Just wondering, I assume you're going to pay that down later this year. And is there any plans to pay down the Cote d'Ivoire debt early or just leave that as is for the schedule?

Okay. To the first question, the RCF drawdown, I think you know it pretty well. So you'll remember we've got a cash cycle effectively that means predominant off-shoring capacity comes via OPCO dividends. OPCO dividends, we will pay our withholding tax in Q2 effectively allowing us to commence with the repatriation in Q3. Feed of that repatriation dependent on mine site cash levels, that money comes offshore, utilize that to pay down the RCF. Current forecasts, we should have the RCF down in Q3 as soon as we get our opcode dividends up. And on the Cote d'Ivoire debt? Thank you. I was really struggling to try and remember the second part of your question, but I appreciate it. The Cote d'Ivoire debt, no. I think we'll keep that in place, Terry. So where we see, as you can probably imagine, there is both cash and liquidity plus tax advantages advantages for us to be holding local debt so um no we wouldn't look to to pay that off early um we would we would have alternative uses for for that cash so i expect the the the codes of our facility to remain in place and amortized as as already disclosed okay great thank you

Thank you. We will now take our next question from the line of Anita Soni of CIBC. Please ask your question. Anita, your line is open.

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Most of them have been asked and answered, but I just wanted to ask about, have you had any recent conversations with the S&P TSX about index inclusion? I understand from the tech perspective the tech process, but the S&P has reached out to stakeholders to look at including companies that are not incorporated in Canada in the TSX. And I know you were removed a couple of years ago, so I'm just wondering if you had any recent discussions with them.

Anita, Jack has informed me that there is obviously talk of inclusion in the index of companies on TSX that are not Canadian domiciled. So that would obviously be a tailwind for us, but we haven't had any detailed conversation. So our understanding is it's early doors, but nothing tangible from our perspective in terms of contact, no.

Okay, thank you.

That's it for my question.

Thank you.

We will now take our next question from the line of Mohamed Sidibe of NBCM. Please ask your question, Mohamed. Your line is open.

Good morning, guys. Good morning, Tim, and all of my questions have been answered. I just wanted to maybe ask a question on the timing of CapEx for Asapu as it relates to the pre-expanded shares of $50 to $100 million that you got into for the year. Thank you.

Mohamed, very simply, What we have done is we've identified the long lead items, basically buying in to the queue for mill shelves, big HPGR kit and what have you. So we flagged the level of expenditure around about plus minus $80 million. I think you could say that that expenditure would be spread over the years. They're all going to come in one lump sum. We are in the process of discussing with various suppliers, getting the final quotes from them. And once that's done, obviously there will be an element of timing of that. So you should assume it will be spread out over the balance of the year.

Thank you, and congrats on a great quarter.

Thank you. We will now take our next question from the line of Felicity Robson of Bank of America. Please ask your question, Felicity. Your line is open.

Thank you for taking my question. You've provided an update on Sabadala's production profile. Could you provide some color on where you see further scope to supplement this, maybe with resource conversion or exploration in the near term? Thank you.

Thank you, Felicity. I think we, as you mentioned, are very happy to have published the NI43-101, whereby we are stipulating that there will be an increase in production. Badola-Masawa is purely currently on the mineral reserves. We've seen already an increase when you look at the production profile, 2026 versus 2025. What we are also seeing is that from 2029 we'll see a significant increase all the way to three in the mid 360 at least for the next five years. However, I think to answer your question, definitely there's an additional site at Sabadola-Masawa for resource conversions and additional exploration. For this year, we actually have a budget of almost 15 million to increase those resources at Sabadola-Masawa. Maybe Sonia will have additional information.

Yes, just to add to what Giles has said, we see the increase of production in the late 20s driven mainly from the underground development and coming to the pipeline. That's bringing in a very high-grade ore for Columa and Careconda, which is very exciting. And then beyond what Jari already talked about in terms of exploration upside, we have identified several opportunities both in the exploitation permit and exploration permit that we started to add to the profile in the next couple of years. Starting with the Makana, which is brownfield nearby the CL plant of non-refractory oxide. And then moving to Kautara, as well as we are looking at some of the further underground potential. So we definitely have identified opportunities to maintain that pipeline and that profile beyond the end of the 2020s.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now take our final question for today from the line of Frederick Bolton of BMO Capital Markets. Please ask your question, Frederick. Your line is open.

Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. I just want to follow up on Ibrahim's and Mohamed's questions on Asafo. So there is a 396 million in non-sustaining capital, which I think is on top of the great capex you have in your financial model. Can you please give me some color on what's within the non-sustaining capex But then you'll grant capital of $250 million for allocatable owner's costs. That seems to be quite high when I compare that against other projects of similar size. Can you dive into what might be driving the $250 million?

Thank you.

It was breaking up a little, but I think I've got more or less what you were after. So the key element of the non-sustaining is effectively stripping. So I would just remind everyone, ASIFU is relatively deep. So we have a very substantial pre-mining and stripping requirement at ASIFU before we get into the ore body. So the fundamental driver of the non-sustaining CAPEX. At that point, Fredrik, on the owners, we do have elements within the owners' costs that when we compare it to our previous projects would be regarded as slightly higher. I think what we've attempted to do is ensure that we have incorporated and encapsulated all specific costs associated with ASIFU. So wherever we have people working on ASIFU, bringing teams in, one of which, for example, we are going to be doing, which is a more fundamental cost management team that is being brought in, as well as lessons learned from previous projects where we felt that we needed to be able to ramp up slightly earlier in terms of operational readiness. Those are the key factors driving the owner team costs.

Does that also include the management for the resettlement and the preparation for the highway diversion?

We have the costs associated with the roads diversion and power diversion in the infrastructure line. But you're absolutely right. There is a fairly significant effort going into the resettlement that Ian touched on earlier, and that would be included in the onus costs, yes.

Okay, brilliant. That's all for me. Well done. Have a great quarter. Thank you.

Thank you. And that's the end of the question and answer session.

Thank you, everybody.

Please continue, sir.

Okay, thank you, Oprey, and thank you, everyone, for your time. I hope you've heard how pleased we are with the first quarter and how it's set up for continued success throughout the rest of the year. We look forward to meeting up with you again in the mid-year when we give our Q2 and H1 results. Thank you all for listening today. Much appreciated. Thank you, and goodbye.

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect your lines.