Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Ivanco 961 Financial Results Conference call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time you need assistance, please press star-0 for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, May 7, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tommy Horton. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Hello, everyone. My name is Tommy Horton, and I am the Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development for Ivanhoe Mines, and it is my pleasure to welcome you on our first quarter 2026 conference call. On the line today from Ivanhoe Mines, we have Founder and Co-Chairman Robert Friedland, President and Chief Executive Officer Marna Klerter, Chief Operating Officer Tom Vandenberghe, Chief Financial Officer, David Van Heerden, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Best Relations, Alex Pickard, and Executive Vice President, Technical Services, Simon Bottoms. We will finish today's call with a question and answer session. You can submit your questions using the Q&A box on the webcast page as well as through the conference operator via the telephone line. If we've run low on time, our investor relations team will endeavor to collect all questions and follow up accordingly. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that today's event will contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Details of the forward-looking statements are contained in our May 6th press release, which can be found on CDAR Plus and on our website. www.IvanhoeMines.com It is now my pleasure to hand over to Ivanhoe Mines founder and co-chairman Robert Friedland for his opening remarks. Robert, please go ahead.

Thank you very much and good morning to all of you on this call. I find myself in a beautiful morning in Southern California. We're about 30 years into our efforts in the Congo and it's really great to talk to everybody today with so many tailwinds behind our back and our morale so high as our team executes on a number of important initiatives to really turn Ivano Mines into one of the best tier one mining companies in the world. We have a lot of problems in the world in the Middle East, and today we're hoping for a peaceful settlement. It may take time. but it's becoming increasingly obvious to everyone in a world where energy is everyone's critical concern, and by that I mean the hydrocarbon coming out of the state of our mutes and all the other chemicals like helium and sulfuric acid that come with the natural gas, that the world will continue to press for an energy transition to diversify away from exclusive reliance on hydrocarbons coming to the strait of our moose, which is roughly 20% of the world's energy. This means that observers like Mercurio, one of the major metals traders, has pointed out that the second half of this year could see an unprecedented demand for copper, literally a stock out, where we could have crazy prices. We are extremely bullish with the supply-demand situation. in copper metal over the next five years, level the second half of this year. As one of the copper producers that is the least exposed to hydrocarbon in the production of copper, Ivano Mines is in a favored position. Our energy is provided by stable hydroelectric power, and you'll recall that we have made great strides in that regard, both in upgrading the electrical grid in the Congo and expanding our hydroelectric assets. And in addition to that, we now have the largest solar field with battery backup that has ever been built in the mining industry. The largest solar field on the African continent will start up next month, producing about 60 megawatts of uninterruptible green power. We expect to double that and in time even triple that So there's an abundance of power coming into the Congo that does not rely on hydrocarbon. The quantum of hydrocarbon that we use to produce copper as a unit of copper production is the lowest in the world. We have a tremendous tailwind in pricing, and we have an unbelievable tailwind in what we're finding with the drill dig in the western forelands. So we are confidently executing a turnaround plan to put Kamokakula right at the top of the world's copper mines, the highest grade mine in the world. It will produce over 500,000 metric tons of copper for a long, long time every year, even without the western forelands. And with that, I think we'll go into the specifics of the quarter, and I'd be happy now to turn this over to marna our chief executive officer and president who has worked so hard and made so much progress in the last quarter and along with the rest of the team thank you marna

Thank you Robert and good afternoon, good morning everybody. I think this is quite a great photo. It showcases the Labeta corridor in action and that was the first shipment of anode sitting at the Labeta port in Angola. So a lot of infrastructure development happening in Africa and as Robert mentioned in his opening remarks, Not only are we a producer of copper, but we're also a user of copper with all the renewable work we are doing with our hydropower outlets that we've, you know, the turbines that produce the energy that we use are very copper-intensive. Also, we are in the process of commissioning the 16-megawatt solar field at Samoa. It will be up and running. progressively from June onwards up until August. And then also at Te Pushi, we are planning to do a 10 megawatt solar spawn. So really exciting what's happening on site to move away from the use of diesel. So, if we move over to the next slide, it's been a very busy quarter with all our annual filings behind us, which included our updated technical report that outlines our pathway to be a producing excess of 500,000 tons at Kamoa-Kakula from 2028 onwards. At Kamoa for the quarter, we produced in excess of 71,000 tons of blister and anode. And we did this at a very low C1 cash cost, below our guidance, of $2.58. Our margin was boosted by a 44-cent smelter benefit. The smelter at the market cooler produced over 117,000 tons of sulfuric acid, and that received an average realized price of $467 per tonne. But asset prices are rising rapidly, and by June it will increase to about $725 per tonne, and our forecast is that this will also increase in excess of $1,000 per tonne in the near future due to the scarcity of sulfuric acid and import restrictions from Zambia. In April, we attended our triple milestone celebration with our Japanese and Vatican-American Parliament partners at Plattree's, And this celebration earmarked the completion of Shore 3 that increased our hoisting capacity fivefold. And it will really change our destiny because we will be able to fast track our underground development We also celebrated the breaking of ground for the earthworks of our 5H2 concentrator, and this will increase our production to over 450,000 ounces of platinum, palladium, rhodium, and gold from the fourth quarter of next year. Yes, the fourth quarter of next year is around the corner. And in the third half, then, was the commencement of the widening of Shoft 2. Papushi also had record production in excess of 65,000 pounds and a joint record cash cost of 86 cents per pound of being produced. Our management team also worked on a comprehensive contingency plan due to the macroeconomic uncertainty. And part of this plan is to ensure the availability of diesel, putting in place strategic orders to ensure we have business continuity over the next 12 months. If we move over to the next slide, we were also busy as we published our ninth sustainability report in April, showcasing all the great work our teams do on site. And this report is available on our website. and measures our performance against our four pillars, our governance, our people, our prosperity, and our planet. And I invite all our listeners to please go and download this report and read it thoroughly so that you can understand the great work we do. With that as the introduction, I will now hand over to David van Lertgen, our CFO, to take you through our quarterly financials. Thank you, David.

Thank you, Marna, and good morning and good day to everyone joining the call today. And the anodes we see on the screen is pretty apt. As this is the first quarter, you will see the benefit to Kamala of producing and selling anodes from our own smelter as opposed to the sale of concentrate like in the past. The smelter benefit will be a bit of a recurring theme today, but that's for good reasons. We can move to the next slide. Camargo Cooler sold almost 67,000 tons of payable copper in the form of anode and blister in the first quarter. The copper in concentrate produced through the mills was a little less than the tons sold, leading to a decrease in copper in inventory on hand. And copper in inventory on hand was still more than 40,000 tons. However, the smelter really performed well during the quarter. So a little more of the inventory on hand is in the form of anodes and therefore ready to be sold. We expect to further destocking and to take place in the second quarter. Revenue was buoyant by the higher copper price, with a copper price realized of $5.79 per pound. And total revenue of $862 million includes $15 million relating to the sale of sulfuric acid and a $10 million negative impact on the mark-to-market of production for ourselves. Moving on to the next slide. Cost of sales in the first quarter of 2026 was $2.58 per pound of payable copper and saleable product produced. With grades similar to Q4, the drive lower was really the smell for benefit, but more on that and the details of that on the following slide. Power cost increased to about 18% if illustrated on a percentage of C1 cash cost, but the jump is more to do with the smelter power usage rather than it is with the impact of higher fuel prices. Q1 cash cost was slightly below the bottom end of our guidance range. And in our Q1 guidance, which we revised, or full year guidance, which we revised at the end of March, we did build in some provision for diesel prices being temporarily elevated. And the current prices are quite a bit higher than what we've experienced in Q1. Having said that, sulfuric acid has really proven to be a great edge against the rising diesel price. as we have seen the selling price of asset rise significantly as the conflict around almost continues. Recently, Kamawa was able to conclude a sales contract at $725 per ton, which is much better than the $460 per ton realized in Q1. So because of that, Kamawa is a lot less sensitive than some other producers to the current pricing environment. We do caution, though, that if the current prices for the high strength sulfuric acid and diesel remain at the current levels, I'm going to estimate that and our C1 cash costs will be probably 5% higher than initially estimated. But if all other assumptions hold, then 5% higher at the bottom of our cost range, at the bottom of our range, or even 5% higher at the midpoint of our guidance range, would still be well within our guidance. But as Manu mentioned, we do think that the sulfuric acid price still has some legs, even at the current levels. Kamal Kukula recorded EBITDA of $397 million for Q1, and that's a nice continued hold on the region's growth trajectory at a margin of 46%. This was achieved irrespective of the lowest done sold due to the higher copper price and the Schmalter benefits. We look at the Schmalter benefits a little bit closer on the next slide. Here we illustrate a waterfall to better illustrate the movement in our cash costs. On the left-hand side, we start with an average C1 cash cost of the second half of last year. And we do this because Q4's cash cost was a little bit elevated, so we think this is a better reflection. But it's pretty clear to see what goes, the improvement into Q1. and the smelter operating cost of 26 cents is easily offset by the reduction in logistics cost and the sulfuric acid credits and the savings in pcs in total the smelter caused between 60 and 70 cents saving on a per pound basis if a saving of the urban export taxes are included other than the smelter and gmi is also lower mainly due to the non-recurrence of one of the items explained in Q4, and then mining and processing was also a little higher this quarter due to the slightly higher bale cost, but the low absorption of fixed costs due to the relatively lower production in Q1 also contributed. Next, we show the Port Run Quarter Iberdoll Waterfall for Kamakukula. Here you can see that the $112 million of the quarter-on-quarter EBITDA increase was due to the higher average copper price for Q1 compared to Q4 last year. Then you see the benefit of the smelter once again, and mainly smelter-driven savings on logistics and PCEs and the assets credits moved EBITDA higher by $94 million and $50 million respectively. while operating and other costs also improved when compared to Q4. The $92 million impact of re-measurement of contract receivables, which represents the mark-to-market of perfect yield price sales relates more to Q4 than it does to do with Q1 this year. In Q4, we recognized a gain of $82 million, while in Q1, included a loss of $10 million, which together accounts for the negative $92 million you see on the screen. But when looking at that a little bit more closely, you will see that proper took a bit of a dip at the end of the quarter. So we have provisioned price sales measured at a copper price of $5.52 per pound at the end of the quarter. And since we've consistently seen higher copper prices ever since, we do expect a positive re-measurement in Q2. Lastly, you can see the impact of selling almost 12,000 less payable copper tons in Q1 compared to Q4 last year. We move to Kapushi on the next slide. Another record of tons produced and sold at a realized length price of $1.47 per pound total length led to a record revenue for Kapushi of $162 million for the quarter. Cash costs were well maintained at the bottom end of our cash cost guidance range and at the same levels as the previous quarter. That translated into quarterly EBITDA of $58 million for Kibushi. The zinc price has remained fairly consistent and above the Q1 levels in Q2 to date, so we do expect another good quarter for Kibushi in Q2. Moving to Ivan & Mines' consolidated net result from the next slide. EBITDA for the quarter was higher than the three quarters before and driven by the increased share of EBITDA from Kamal Kukula and the continued growth in EBITDA from Kapushi. This was a little bit offset by our continued investment in exploration, particularly on the western foreland, but we continue to see great results, as you will see when Alex takes you through the updates there a little bit later. Results for the quarter was impacted by a tax settlement that occurred at Kamaukakula. Because of the settlement and the inclusion thereof in the share of loss from Kamaukakula of $42 million, Avanor recorded a loss of the taxes of $2 million for the quarter. And this would have been a profit of $71 million if the settlement had not occurred. And other than that, we do continue to maintain strong liquidity levels, and that's illustrated on the next slide. So, Ivano had $754 million of cash-in-cash equivalents and short-term deposits on hand at the end of March, which is a really good and strong position to be in. Our pro rata net debt increased slightly, but actually because of the reduction in cash over the previous quarter, rather than an increase in debt. The pro-rata net debt ratio for the trading 12 months, even though it's still very comfortable at 2.4 times, it includes the impact of the lower EBITDA in Q2 and Q3 last year, and would have been much lower and comfortably below 2 if it is recalculated using an annualized Q1 2026 EBITDA. Our bond has continued to trade well, underlining that it is very much a pool of funds available for us again in the future if needed. And it is great to see that Fitch has updated their credit outlook for itemized depositors. If we turn to where we are planning to spend some of our cash on the next slide, The capital expenditure on each of our projects remained in line with expectation and the guidance for each of them are reconfirmed. For Platte Reef, the Phase 2 project fund was closed on 30 April with the first draw successfully completed. And this is just one of many big steps taken recently towards making sure that phase two development is completed in Q4 next year, which is only about 18 months away. And I'm sure the team will touch on the other big milestones achieved recently there. Also, my and the Japanese consortium contributed $65 million towards phase two development last month. And that just underscores their support for the management team and the project as a whole, which is great. And it even further reduces the remaining capital that needs to be funded by to bring Phase 2 to completion. And with that, I hand over to Tom van den Berghe, our Chief Operating Officer, to start the operations and projects update portion of today's presentation.

Thank you, David. My name is Robert. I'm . got a picture in front of us here which is while we were standing and using our time at the concentrators we've been doing project 95. So what you see here in the picture is project 95 which we've been commissioning and building and are just about to get up and running on phase one and phase two concentrators. So we expect them to be fully up and running and commissioned in around to June. Thank you. If you look at our concentrating and look at our grades, what you can see there is we've been milling. Combined copper ore grade process has been at 2.32%. That's obviously got to do with as we go around, and we've achieved the accesses to the front of the Cthulhu East portion. The phase three concentrator has been supported by and can circle very well, and we've actually done well about our design capacity. Again, we're sitting 35% above the design capacity. We're equivalent to milling a rate of 6.3 million tons per annum, and we're currently moving some of the ore that we're overproducing from there across to the cooler. So that is playing out well. Those mines are performing well. They are reconfigured and generating what they're required to do, to generate. Phase one and phase two concentrators are operating at approximately 60% capacity. Our stockpiles, we've completed milling them that were there, and we're now starting to treat the fresh air coming in. They're fresh ore, apologies, coming across from Kamara and Kinshawkal to Kukula. So the turnaround in Kukula is on its way. We can see the tonnage in the daily basis is coming up, and it's looking positive at this stage. The holdings are taking place at the eastern side, and we're busy at the moment building the pump stations. The combined copper recovery, as you can see, is sitting at 85%. and then east has a quarter one of 61,000 tons. Project 95 should be well commissioned by June, and then that will add further to the above as we get into the high-grade areas on the west side of Cthulhu and on the Cthulhu east side. Thank you. What you see in the picture in the background here is some of our new accesses. So this is Consortial Suit. What this does is it allows us to access the ore body right in the middle. It increases our efficiency, reduces our costs, and enables us to get materials. We've moved in a much shorter route across to Kukula as well. So it is quite functional from the point of view of putting it exactly where you put it in the ore body here. This box cut, as you can see in the picture, is a roundabout complete, which could last this morning, and we are in completion. And the Kahala box cut, which is on the Kamara side, also accessing a new ore body, has also been completed, and we're busy with accessing the portals at the moment as we speak. So what you're seeing there, the spare capacity, we will start filling up that spare capacity with the additional time that will come out of, the Kamoa area, the Kahala area, and then as we get more into Kotoko, and we'll build that Kukula, and we'll fill up our concentrators. So as you see there, 2027, 2028, we'll have a processing plan that will be fully ramped up and back to where we were before. So you can see the mining rates of 11,000 tons per month from H2 2026, and then the peripheral development around Kukula, as I mentioned earlier. The northeast portion is unwell. We managed to effect the holding, but we're doing the planning around the pump station and getting that into place. The south-east pump station has already been built, and we intend to commission that in the next month, and that will take us further ahead. The actual mining, there are ends that are heading to the front of the northeast. They're progressing well, and we've accessed the west, and we're busy mining the west at this stage.

Thank you. Next slide.

The fathering and salivating tons per annum smelter is at 60% capacity. Just to remind the audience, we commissioned this in December and it's been performing very well. The actual run rate is good and you see there that the capacity is at 60%. We are able to achieve that. We've been able to manage that capacity. At the same time, as you heard from London and from Robert and from David, Amounts of acid we've also been generating through the smelter has been great, and you'll see that on the next slide. But at this stage, we have 15% more production than the concentrate produced. So you'll see that Camaro-Kakula produced 71,000 tons of blister anode in quarter one 2006. And then we do some tall treatment work at the moment where we investigate in the third parties and ensuring that we can effectively put other material through. and make sure that we ramp up the smelter and we improve our margins in the smelter area. So the smelter's performing well. It's been stable for the last quarter as we did the commissioning and as we've worked it up to the capacity, up to the pool capacity of 60%. Thank you. There you'll see the acid trucks. So this is acid going into the The areas in the DLC, as you would know and as you've heard, the sulfuric acid has been a win for us. We've seen a massive benefit. As you can see at the bottom, 725 rand per ton, so we've got new contracts that are priced in. That is double what we actually put into our cash costs, so we've seen a significant benefit. We've had a guidance of around 400 to 500. and currently we're pricing up and we've heard money being positive about potentially we could even see more as the sulfuric acid constraints pretty almost are still in place. So this is obviously used with a lot of other copper belt smelters and Zambia export controls and it's used by other copper producers and we are the fortunate ones to be able to produce sulfuric acid itself. The sulfuric acid sold at the mine gate was sold to six off takers and the price was fixed on the short term. but all these contracts are all going to be with the price that's going to end. And then the Central African copper belt consumes about 8 million pounds, and we have the ability to feed into that and supply to that. So there's a supply constraint, and obviously we're able to meet some of that from outside. Thank you. What you see in the background here is the 60 megawatts of constant solar power, which will be available. There's a first portion coming available in the next month, and then it ramps up in July. If you look at the picture, you'll see there's little white markers on the right-hand side of the slide here. Those are the lithium ion batteries that we actually then feed from the solar farm. So this constant supply is not a peak supply. This is 60 megawatts of 24-hour supply. The Congo is significantly blessed to be in a high solar belt. So we generate between five to seven kilowatts per square meter. In Europe, it will only be half of that. And in winter, we actually produce more solar power. So we have 12 hours of sunlight across all days in the area. But in winter, with the less cloud cover, we actually get even more solar power. What this enables us to do is to reduce our reliance upon diesel. It enables us to have a cheaper form of energy. It's also a constant form of energy. So we have two constants, and that's the hydropower, and then now we have the solar power as well. So what you'll see here is we are basically heading to closing up the solar facility with 15 megawatts of constant supply. That will then effectively assist us to reduce our reliance upon diesel-generated power, which will effectively land up in us lowering our costs. We also have hydropower that comes in from the grid, and that also enables us to have a good green energy and at a lower price, and we're not dependent on diesel, except people are generators, which we have to be picking every now and again to make sure we can get the right power. So what you see here as well is the solar power capacity. We have the potential to go up to 120 megawatts. We just signed off another purchase agreement for 30 megawatts, and that's for quarter three, 2027, and we're busy with the tender for the fourth portion, which is another 30 megawatts, and that takes up to a total of 120 megawatts. There is also a further space, obviously, in the complex to do further, but where we are right now, we've got 60 megawatts coming up in July that will be fully commissioned by then, and that will reduce our costs quite significantly. Thank you. Excellent. I'm going to hand over to Tom in Boston. He's going to take us through Papushi and he'll take us through Patrick as well. Tom, over to you. Thanks. Thank you, Tom.

Turning now to Papushi where we set another consecutive quarterly production record of 65,000 tons of zinc produced within the quarter. Also further extending the run of high process recovery rates of more than 90% with associated head grades of 37% per quarter. This production and cost run rate comfortably positions Caprushi to deliver within its annual guidance range of 240,000 to 290,000 tonnes for 2026. Added to this, we have started the tender process for the construction of a solar battery energy storage facility, which will further drop these already standout costs. We continue to work on options with our joint venture partner, Jeckony, to realise the value of other by-product critical metals from the Caprushi concentrate. Next slide, please. Looking now for the awakening of the giant flat reef deposit, where the 4 million tonne Shell 3 on the right-hand side of this slide has successfully been commissioned for hoisting the first state wall from a flat reef ore body earlier in the quarter. The commissioning of Shell 3 with associated underground materials handling infrastructure, including underground crushers and conveyors, represents a major project will ultimately enable the commencement of phase one production alongside building up a stockpile ahead of the construction of the phase two concentrator. Next slide, please. So turning to the phase two development, here you see SHA-2 on the right-hand side of the slide, which is one of the largest slides on the African continent, designed to hoist approximately 8 million tonnes per annum. shaft is currently being widened targeting to reach a full bore diameter down to approximately 100 meters depth later on in the quarter this shaft is scheduled to be commissioned at the end of 2028 and with all wasting in the third quarter of 2029 will ultimately support the future production ramp up to 11 million tons with the phase 3 expansion so now turning to the next slide looking for the a key project milestone to deliver the first feed for the Phase 2 Concentrator by the end of 2027. The earthworks for the Phase 2 Concentrator have successfully commenced at the beginning of April, with completion on track for the end of 2027. And this will ultimately produce over 450,000 ounces of platinum, palladium, radium and gold, as mentioned by Marlon earlier. And as you will see from this timeline, we're currently well positioned with key contract awards underway and first concrete pours due to commence in Q3 later this year. This will also be accompanied by the commencement of the earthworks for the Phase 2 TSS alongside the concentrator construction. The next slide, please. As you will see, despite the recent cool-off in PGM pricing associated with global geopolitical instability, We're still currently 61% above the feasibility basket prices for platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold, which were assumed at the time of the study. The critical nature of these metals has recently been recognized with the USGS categorizing rhodium as one of the highest risk metals to support the continuity of the automotive sector into the future. Added to this, platinum, palladium, and copper have all been categorized as critical and indispensable to the construction of data centers, green technologies, as well as catalytic converters. Given the recent rise in copper and nickel prices, this potentially represents approximately $70 an ounce credit to further reduce the already standout $599 per ounce basket price for the Phase II cash costs. shown on this slide. So now I will hand over to Alex, who will take you through the exciting developments at our Western Forelands exploration project.

Thank you very much, Simon. It's Alex Pickard speaking. And last but certainly not least, I'll be taking you through an update on our exploration activities. Across the group, we have a massive year plan for exploration. We've recently increased our budget to over $120 million for the year. of which $86 million is earmarked for the Western Forelands. And for that $86 million, we budgeted 96 kilometers of drilling for the year, which is by far the largest ever year of drilling in the Western Forelands. The diagram or the map on the right-hand side is giving a few breadcrumbs just in terms of what you might expect to see when we put out our updated resource, which is coming out within a couple of months. But really, there are three main focus areas for the drilling that we've been doing, at least in the Makoko District of the Western Kaldun. So, area number one that we've highlighted is the extensions of Kitoko to the south, where we're seeing very high-grade intercept depth. And then, added to that, we are also connecting the drilling in the area between Kitoko and Makoko West. And basically, if you look on the diagram, all of the holes that are shown there are holes that have been drilled since the previous resource. So they give you an idea of the additional continuity of the ore body that we've been demonstrating. The second area highlighted as number two in the red box is infill drilling between the Makoto West and the Makoto Central areas. These are some of the sort of shallower potentially open pitable resources that we have on the licensed area. And then thirdly, we have the Eastern extension Makoto Central which is really working back towards Kukula West, which is not shown on the diagram. But basically, Kukula West is only about seven or eight kilometers from the extension holes to Makoko on the eastern side. So, all of these activities are very promising. We have an updated Waxing Fallen's mineral resource to look forward to planned for mid-2026. So, you know, somewhere around the end of July. Sorry, end of June, early July is when we will be putting that out with a lot more information. And another thing to add, part of the budget that we have in the Western Faultlands is a much greater focus on initial project development activities. So that's really looking at the critical path to fast track the Western Faultlands into production. And we'll be putting out a lot more information on that in the upcoming press release around the mineral resource. And then finally, looking at all of the new horizons that Ivano Mines is currently drilling in. As I mentioned, that $120 million global budget, about $20 million of that is earmarked between the two projects on the left-hand side and the center of the page. So that's in Angola and Zambia. This is searching for Western Portland-style sedimentary copper on very, very large license packages, multiple sizes, multiple times the size of the Western Portland license package. In Angola, we have started a drill program. of 6,400 meters with two diamond drill, diamond core drill rigs. That is really to test and understand better the stratigraphy of the underlying mineralization in that area. And then in the northwest province in Zambia, we've been working to basically set up for a productive year of exploration, a 7,000-meter drill campaign with 14 holes of diamond will be commencing over this dry season starting in May. And then $20 million will also be spent, roughly speaking, in the Chusarisu Basin in Kazakhstan, which is an Ivanhoe Mines joint venture where we're basically earning into a majority position. So we have a license area there of about 17,000 square kilometers. The $20 million budget for this year is basically expanding the diamond drill program to 40,000 meters across this very big land package. So lots going on across the board in exploration, lots of things that we have to tell you about as the year progresses. And with that, I will hand back to Tommy Horton to share the Q&A.

Thank you, Alex. We now begin the question and answer session. Covering analysts, you may submit your questions to the operator via the phone line if you haven't done so already. Questions can also be submitted through the webcast, and any questions submitted that we are unable to address our investor relations team will endeavor to follow up. So, operator, over to you to answer the phone lines.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as an reminder, if you have any questions, please put star one. First question comes from Watson Winder from Bank of America Securities. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, Robert, Amara, and Team Piggy for today's update.

I might, can I ask about the task cost at Coelco Cooler? They were below the items, which is impressive, and you provided some color on the call about the outlook, but I'm still a little bit hard-pressed to see how if sulfur prices stay at current levels and sulfur sales remain near Q1 levels, how C1 cash costs won't be toward the lower end of the range, even with higher diesel prices. And you've guided to the risk of potentially 5% higher C1 cash costs. Can you just help us appreciate some of the nuances in that risk? Perhaps if sulfur volumes expected to fall, or is diesel maybe just that much more impactful than maybe we had thought? I appreciate it. Thank you.

Yeah, happy to take that, Wilson. I think key things to consider or what we consider on diesel is not just the absolute cost of the diesel we use in our generators, but also through the full supply chain and include basically logistics costs. I mean, what we did mention or what we did try and sort of illustrate is that, when setting our guidance we did expect and we did cater for elevated diesel prices specifically and then the stock price of sulfuric acid. So the fact that we are below our guidance range in Q1 is is largely because in Q1 the prices were not yet elevated. So we've baked in some sense of elevation already in the current pricing. So that 5% is really an estimation that if over the next nine months there is no additional upside on the sulfuric acid over the current pricing, but the diesel prices remain at maximum level, then you could calculate a roughly 5% impact on cash cost in total for those periods.

Very helpful. Thank you. And if you could just provide a little bit of color on the sulfuric acid production outlook. So, there is a lot of sulfuric acid produced in Q1. Do you anticipate that to continue trending upward from here?

Yeah, we do expect that to continue to trend nice upwards. I think the production is expected to increase and that is partly because of the fact that we are feeding more Kamau ore than Kukula ore. We would have probably estimated I think, or zero or so ago, but the expectation is definitely for the sulfuric acid production to continue to increase quarter on quarter, and probably around 400,000 tons of sulfuric acid still could be produced, yeah, for the remainder of the year.

Okay, thank you very much for taking my question. No problem.

Thank you. Next question comes from Daniel Major from UPS. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thanks for the questions. So, yeah, first just one on specifically and just maybe to follow up on Wilson's question to help us a little bit. Can you just give us what your consumption per quarter is and what the assumption for pricing was embedded in the guidance relative to the stock price?

Yeah, I think it's important to remember that when you set out guidance, guidance is based on a range. So it does assume a range of possible prices and specifically when you look at something like diesel where you look at a pricing environment that you think could be temporary only and that brings bit more variability and so and but having having said that we we use around 30 million liters of diesel um a month and it will it will uh well that's sort of what we used in the first quarter 30 million liters of diesel and sorry Thanks, yes. Good point. In the first quarter we used roughly 30 million litres expect that usage to come down as the solar plant comes online, as Tom explained. So that will be a little bit less. Average diesel price in the first quarter was roughly $1.80, including the levies that's charged in the BRC. And at the moment, it's probably double that.

Okay, that's helpful. Thank you.

Just to add, it's also important to note that we can to some degree change our diesel mix. So there are certain things that we can do in terms of only running concentrators when they are available, for example, not switching them over to generated so we can tweak down that 10 million liters that were included within two trim months to a lower consumption level. And then the plan would be to switch in the solar and reduce our diesel usage even further. So that will offset the increase in pricing that we are seeing. So there are certain levels that we can pull with our current production scenario as well to manage our costs.

Okay. That's useful. Thank you. The second question on Comirka Kula, you de-stocked some inventory during the first quarter. Can you give us a guidance on how much you would expect to continue to de-stock inventory during the remaining quarters? And then it seems you're still toll-treating some at Concentrate at Lulaba. Is that correct? or will that stop in the subsequent quarters?

Yes, thanks, Daniel. That is currently on contract and we're open to you, but for later quantities going forward, we're rolling out that current contract and, I mean, just depending on how quickly we return to the production levels above what else Malta can produce. I mean, it's good to have that local smelter as an additional option just to provide additional charity. And then in terms of the e-stocking, I think I can tell you what I would like, but we do expect that the stocking still to be a little bit gradual over the next two quarters, so probably I think seven and a half thousand would be a good expectation for Q2 with another seven and a half in Q3 as an expectation, and then we'll see from there. Okay. Thanks.

And then... Sorry, Dan.

The other thing just to add on the Lullaba smelter is that that smelter is closing down for maintenance for two months, which I think is basically most of May and June.

Okay, so lower volumes in Q2 than I guess told. Okay. Yeah. Thanks, Alex. Yeah, and then another question if I could. You referenced in your slides the liquidity at the group level. The cash balance at the JV level is relatively low. What was it, like 160 million or something? Yeah. Is there capacity to raise further debt in BRC, or would you expect to put more equity into the joint venture to improve the liquidity position?

Yeah, we're looking at a number of options, Daniel. There is definitely capacity, not necessarily in-country specifically, but from offshore lenders to provide in-country facilities through some of the mechanisms we've put in place for previous funding. And there's definitely capacity and there's definitely a willingness from the current lender group to add to the current power range to Kamal Kukula. So that is something we are looking at and considering adding to as needed. And then, I mean, there might be some additional equity injections from ourselves and Zijin as well. It's a bit of a trade-off discussion, but yeah, it's another consideration. I mean, at this stage, as you would have seen, our cash balance is more than sufficient to be able to provide Kamaku Kula with a bit of a cash flow cushion. And the Yeah, there's options on the Bible.

Okay, great. Thanks. I'll get back to you.

Thank you. Next question comes from Andrew Mikachuk from Zemo Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Thank you for taking questions. Just a quick follow-up question for Tom. The If I could just get you to give us, again, the color you discussed on how Q2 is looking versus Q1. Are you already in a position where some of the Kamoa tons are coming down to the phase 1, phase 2 concentrator, or is that more of a QH2 type situation?

No, no, the answers are positive, yes. We are currently moving funds from Kamoa and Kinsoka to Phase 1 and Phase 2. So the mines at Kinsoka and Kamoa are running at full capacity, Phase 3 is at full capacity, and we're moving some funds across there.

And generally, that would be a little bit better than what's, say, portrayed even in today's press release as to the guidance for the balance of the year, the way I interpret it. reader portion of the press release, the interpretation is that those extra tons are not really arriving until the second half. So you're seeing some acceleration on that. Is that fair to interpret?

Yes, I would say that's fair to interpret like that.

Yeah. And second question also for you, Tom. The wording around this toll treatment, what kind of trajectory or timeline should could be imagined like if additional sources were found is it a fairly quick situation of just tracking it over and treating it in your spare capacity at the smelter or um is there an extended period of qualification and testing and blending or something that we should be aware of

I can just talk about, we do need governmental approval to talk to us about this, and that was like a couple of weeks, months to two months to sign, and then we are already in the discussion, so it's very possible to get that additional contract, and then Tom can just answer you from a technical perspective.

But the government missions and then obviously testing and understanding how and where they suppose it is. So the determination of where the actual material comes from will determine where we stick it in. But it will probably be in the phase one and the phase two concentrators because that's where the capacity sits.

Sorry, I'm just referring to the additional concentrate into the smelter.

No test work required, just calculations based on the mineralogy and the analysis of the third-party feed. So literally a day's work. We'll know how to fit it in. It's all about the energy balance, so very quick.

And just conceptually, There are clearly mines creating concentrate in countries. It's a question of coming to a commercial agreement. Is that the reality of it?

Yes. So the government's actually also encouraging this because they would like a beneficiary product transported. So they actually approached us to see if it's possible. But we just need to get the permitting in place. And then there are multiple... that we have been in discussions with already, so we should be able to get this out there as soon as possible.

Okay. Well, that answers my question. Thank you very much. I'll pass the microphone to the next speaker.

Thank you. The next question is a follow-up from Daniel Nature with UBS. Please go ahead.

Hi. I didn't know I'd be back on so quickly. Yeah, a couple of other follow-ups. First in Platte Reef, when are you going to start expensing and reporting the results from the division, moving it from it being capitalised?

So, Daniel, we expect to achieve commercial production sort of by mid-year. So, in terms of accounting standards, you will see some revenue from flat relief already in the second quarter, but it'll really be a closer reflection of close, more what we expect of steady state one, phase one production from Q3 onwards.

Okay. Thanks. And then just sort of follow up on the cash flow through the business. I mean, you noted around the liquidity at the Kamoa joint venture and the near term outlook. Given this kind of $2.1 billion on a 100% basis of debt within the joint venture, given the challenges you've seen at Kamoa, would it be fair to assume you're going to prioritize paying down that debt as the mine ramps up over the next 12 to 18 months and we probably don't see a huge amount of cash paid out to the shareholders?

Yeah, I think, Daniel, it's a modelling question with a number of different variables. I think it is safe to say that any... any date extensions uh will probably be done over a a medium to longer term and because Kamawa can carry it and it it makes sense to have a fair level of um data at the joint venture level as well so I don't think the assumption should be that we will um draw that that we would and settled that joint venture level debt before and sending funds up to the shareholders. I think we're agreed and at least that's our understanding that it makes sense to have a healthy level of debt at the Kamoa and joint venture level and it just makes sense to utilize their balance sheet as well. And in terms of the timing, when cash will flow upwards, that's very much copper price and production dependent.

Okay, that's very helpful. Thanks a lot.

Thank you very much for the questions on the phone. I will turn the call back over to Tommy Harton.

Thanks very much, Operator. Just reviewing the webcast, I've got one here, which is directed towards Tom. If you could provide a sort of quick update on dewatering on the east side of Kukula, please.

Yeah, sure. Thanks, Tommy. So we've 74% dewatered in total. It remains the code to be holding the water with the large pumps. And the reason for that is so that we can do the construction of the pump station in the southeast. So that southeast pump station has been constructed. We should be commissioning it in the next two weeks. That will then start allowing us to do the stage in the watery. On the top, on the northeast, we affected our first holding in the last two weeks, and we are currently doing assessments and planning as to where the pump station on the northeast will go. In the interim, what we've also done is we've looked at means and ways of assisting the pumps and reducing the reliance on any potential sort of blackouts or trip-outs and we've got a processor busy working on that at the moment. That's still a work in progress but that will enable us to further do dewatering. So we're pumping around about 4,700 litres a day currently and maintaining that. So it's good enough update. Thanks Tommy.

Thanks, Tom. Just one last question on Western Forelands and what our sort of medium to long-term plans are with respect to that project. So maybe Alex or Marna, you'd like to answer?

Yeah, I'm happy to take that, Tommy. I mean, look, I think first of all, a lot will be revealed when we put out the updated results, and we'll talk a lot more about the sort of project development activities and the timelines that we are thinking about. But, I mean, basically what we already have at the Western Tollens is certainly enough of a critical map to support a standalone milling operation. And, you know, while we haven't necessarily seen kind of cooler grades of 5% to 6%, you know, 2% to 4% grades are very profitable, and some of them can be mined, you know, in quite a shallow and efficient fashion. So, you know, the plan is once we've got this resource update out, we are going to basically move into kind of more intensive scoping activity, which are going to then sort of put the Western Forelands on a kind of project development timeline as well as a continuing exploration timeline because there's still a hell of a lot of exploration to be done and a lot of the drilling that we're doing this year is still step out and also more broadly regional in the Western Forelands outside of the Makoko District. So we'll be sort of running a two-pronged strategy of continuing that exploration at the same time as doing more infill drilling, increasing the level of confidence in the existing resource areas, and moving into a kind of scoping and more of an engineering and feasibility study stage. So, yeah, that's a sort of high-level overview.

Thank you, Alex, and we are at time. So at the one-hour mark, this concludes the Ivanhoe Mines First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Call. Thank you all again for attending today, and we look forward to speaking with you all again soon about our many exciting milestones ahead. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating, and we ask that you please disconnect your lines. Thank you.