Mandalay Resources Corporation

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Mandalay Resources Corporation's Q1 2025 conference call. Today's call contains forward-looking statements, which reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the company based on information currently available to the company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results of the company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the current expectations are disclosed under the heading Risk Factors and Elsewhere in the company's annual information form, dated March 28, 2025, available on CDAR and at the company's website. Mandalay Resources disclosed its financial results at market close. You can access their consolidated financial statements and MD&A on either the company's website or through our profile on CDAR. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Joining us today on Mandalay's call are Fraser Boucher, President and CEO, Tashim Ahmed, Executive Vice President and CFO, Ryan Osterberry, Chief Operating Officer, and Chris Davis, our VP, Operational Geology and Exploration. I would like to turn the call to Mr. Fraser Boucher.

Thanks, Operator, and for everyone joining the call today. This morning, we'll primarily review Mandalay's first quarter performance with some commentary on the proposed merger of equals with Hallucane Resources. Please note, all dollar references made in this conference call are in U.S. dollars. Mandalay started 2025 on a good note. The theme this past quarter was clear. Transformation through disciplined execution, prudent capital allocation, and continued exploration investment. In the first quarter, we delivered a 41% -over-year revenue increase to $78 million, supported by strong metal prices. We also achieved a 152% -over-year increase in net income to nearly $15 million. Importantly, we ended the quarter with over $88 million in cash and no debt, a testament to our operational consistency and financial discipline. Now, free cash flow generation over the next quarter at similar gold prices to this past quarter will not quite replicate Q1 due to planned increased capital investment and taxes owing. Subsequent to the quarter, we announced a transformative transaction for Mandalay with a proposed merger of equals with Hallucane Resources of Australia. The combined company will have three well-established cash flowing mining operations in tier one jurisdictions, a pro forma production base of approximately 180,000 ounces by 2026, and enhanced scale to pursue a rerating opportunity. That rerating opportunity is based upon increased free float, share trading liquidity, indices inclusion, and dual listing on both the Australian Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange. We're confident this is the right strategic move to unlock long-term value for both Mandalay and Hallucane Resources shareholders. I would now like to hand the call over to different members of my executive team to recap the solid quarter results which have followed on from the exceptional year we had in 2024. First, Ryan Osterberry, our Chief Operating Officer. Ryan?

Thanks Fraser. From an operational standpoint, quarter one of 2025 was a mixed but expected quarter. Our consolidated gold equivalent production was 22,342 ounces, down 10% from quarter one last year, but in line with guidance. Starting with Costa Field, as planned, quarter one of 2025 was a transitional quarter for the site. We produced just over 9,500 ounces of gold and 161 tonnes of antimony. This 20% -over-year reduction in gold output and 60% reduction in antimony was due to lower head grades as we mined scheduled areas of the shepherd and ewell veins which were at the lower end of our grade distribution. Gold head grade averaged 0.96g per tonne, down from 12.4g per tonne, and antimony dropped to just below 1% from 2.2%. Mining volumes decreased 18% -over-year to just over 25,500 tonnes. This was a reflection on the production being mined from the extremities of the deposit, hence the mucking and backfilling cycle times were substantially increased. Coupled with a dedicated safety drive with slow production, that was adopted for quarter one this year after poor performance in this discipline at the end of 2024. Capital Development was focused on establishing a new exploration drill drive. On the processing side, we delivered a 5% increase in throughput to just over 34,400 tonnes. The improved two-stage crushing circuit is performing well, feeding a finer and more consistent product to the mill, which contributed to more stable plant performance despite lower grades. Looking ahead, once the new tailing storage facility comes online in Q2 2025, we expect to see a notable reduction in tailings related costs. The facility will provide approximately six years of additional capacity and remove the need for necessary payslip operations that have inflated our unit costs in recent quarters. As for Bjorkdal, the quarter showed some encouraging signs. We produced 10,827 ounces of gold, a 4% increase from quarter one of 2024, driven by improved underground mine grade from the main zone and enhanced mill throughput and recoveries. Underground ore mine decreased 9% to just over 225,000 tonnes, due to restricted access to one of our production fronts in February, as well as temporary equipment constraints, specifically a shortage of load availability impacting backfilling activities. That said, we saw a strong rebound in ore development, advancing nearly 1,100 metres, a 29% increase from quarter one of last year, aided by the mobilisation of a dedicated contractor to bridge the gap on delayed 2024 development. Processing volumes were just over 355,000 tonnes, up 3%, thanks to operational improvements and finer screen trials that increased plant reliability and efficiency. We also made strategic equipment investments, including a new cable bolter, an advanced air equipment replacement programme, which is essential to sustain productivity and improve operating consistency in the quarters ahead. To summarise, both sites executed to plan and we are now better positioned for stronger production and improved cost performance in the second half of the year. Now over to Hashim.

Thank you, Ryan. Q1 2025 was a solid financial quarter for Mandalay. We delivered strong revenue and profitability, despite lower production and higher cost pressures. Revenue increased 41% year over year to $78 million, up from $56 million supported by higher realised prices as gold averaged $3,046 per ounce and antimony averaged nearly $35,000 per tonne, more than double last year's price. Net income rose 152% to $15 million, up from $6 million a year ago, reflecting that price leverage, even as we face inflationary and operational cost pressures. That said, cash operating costs per ounce increased 30% to $13.48 and all in sustaining costs rose 40% to $2,004 per ounce. Mainly due to lower consolidated gold equivalent production down 10%, increased sustaining capital, particularly in-field drilling at Costerfield and accelerated development at Biocno. Capital expenditures totaled $16.7 million, up from $13.1 million last year. These investments were front-loaded and in line with our 2025 plan, with key allocations including completion of the new tailing facility at Costerfield, ramp up in mine development and strategic underground equipment replacement at Biocno. Despite this higher spend, we generated $11.2 million in free cash flow, maintaining a healthy financial position. We ended the quarter with $88.3 million in cash and no debt, after fully repaying our $20 million revolving credit facility in 2024. We also have $35 million in undrawn credit facility. We remain well capitalized and focused on disciplined capital allocation that supports long-term value creation for our shareholders. I would like to now pass the call to our VP Exploration and Operational Geology, Chris Davis. Chris?

Thanks Hashim. Exploration continues to be a strategic pillar of value creation for Mandalay. At Costerfield, drilling is in a ramp-up stage for Trueblue, with three drill rigs turning and a fourth scheduled to commence soon. Efforts are focused on delivering extension and greater context around the exciting results obtained late last year. As a reminder of our February resource and reserve update, Trueblue showed impressive growth, quadrupling its inferred gold equivalent ounces to 96,000 at an exceptional grade of 22.6 g per ton. This is a compelling pipeline target that may become our next mineable zone. As for Near Mine, we drilled aggressively across Cuffley Deeps, SubKC and Kendall Zones. We're investing in infill drilling to convert inferred resources into indicated and to extend high-grade mineralization. In Q2, drilling will commence on the SubKC conversion program as the underground platform is completed. Drilling will also test the depth extension of the Brunswick South deposit. Meanwhile at Björkdal, drilling has been focused on North Zone and the Eastern Extension area, building on the encouraging results of 2024. We also plan to recommence work at the Storheden target, roughly 800 meters northeast of the current mine. The expanded resource base helped increase reserves by more than double the depletion of 2024, extending the mine life to over 10 years. As of our February 2025 update, Mandalay's combined reserves grew 9% -over-year to 815,000 gold equivalent ounces, while a combined measured and indicated resources increased 14% to almost 2 million ounces. I would now like to return the call to Fraser.

Thank you, Chris. To summarize, Q1 2025 was a solid start to the year, highlighting disciplined capital deployment, high metal prices and strong financial performance, despite temporary in-situ metal-grade headwinds. We will enter Q2 with momentum and expect stronger production, although it will be coupled with higher capital plus tax payments. But there will be lower capital spending expected in the second half of the year. We are also excited by the exploration potential, most notably at True Blue, our coster field operation in Australia, reflecting exciting gold and antimony drill intercepts. And where three drills are turning and a fourth will be mobilized soon. Exploration remains a key strategic pillar, delivering value for shareholders, and we are committed to investing in this part of our business. Let me conclude by taking a few moments to discuss the combination of Mandalay Resources with Alkane Resources. As noted previously, we see this as a true merger of equals. In fact, based on the exchange ratio, Mandalay shareholders will own 55% of the pro forma company, and will have three of their current Mandalay directors, including myself, sitting on a six-board seat. And of those six directors on that board, there will be a new chair who is independent of both Mandalay and Alkane. The shares of the combined company will be dual-listed on the TSX and ASX. This will give Mandalay shareholders easy access to trading liquidity, while providing exposure to the potential for a rerating driven in part, as I stated earlier, by indices inclusion. Most notably, the ASX 300, but also the JDXJ. And this should drive incremental demand for the shares. Since announcing the transaction, we have seen an increase in the share price of both Mandalay and Alkane, in addition to price outperformance relative to our peers. More importantly, I have seen and heard firsthand how excited both Mandalay and Alkane shareholders are about the potential of this transaction. I spent a week in Australia marketing in support of the transaction, and will soon spend another week and a half marketing in North America and Europe. The reaction in key financial centers such as Sydney and Melbourne was very encouraging. Investors in Australia, Asia, North America and Europe see the powerful platform this combination presents, with enhanced scale of over 650 million US in market cap, that's about 900 million Canadian in market cap, and just over 1 billion Australian in market cap, all pre-rerate. Also diversified operations in exceptional jurisdictions, and with exciting organic exploration potential across the portfolio. All of this is underpinned by a robust balance sheet that pro forma will be significantly net cash positive at close, and which provides a platform for future growth with notable free cash flow generation and healthy operating margins. At this point, I will be pleased to open up this conference call for any questions. Operator, if you could please provide instructions to everyone participating, if they have any questions they would like to ask. Thank you very much.

Thank you. At this time we will conduct the question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. I'm showing no questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Fraser for closing remarks.

Hi Fraser. There's actually a couple of questions that came across the webcast. The first one is, given your financial results during the quarter were excellent, revenue and earnings were both up significantly. Based on a strong performance and momentum in your business, why merge with Alking now?

Thanks for that. Again, to emphasize, we strongly believe that this is a great strategic fit for all the reasons I've shared. Really, since I joined the company two years ago in terms of a desire to grow, to get increased trading liquidity, increased capital market scale, diversification, remain in tier 1 jurisdictions, index listing. So all of this lines up exceptionally with Alking where we started discussions seven or eight months ago. So we think it's a great fit both strategically and operationally. And it's met all our stated criteria. So irrespective of both our and their recent strong performance, to us that does not change the overall thesis and conclusions that we've drawn in terms of this merger. So we've done a lot of due diligence inside and the respective boards of each company have strongly recommended this transaction.

There's another one. What is your outlook for Antimony? Was Mandalay's Antimony production an important factor in this transaction?

Well, look, I don't usually try to predict what the price of Antimony is going to be, although we do believe that will continue. There'll be continued strong demand for Antimony, and it certainly has helped with our overall financial performance. It was certainly a nice side benefit, but this was not a leading driver in terms of why the deal was done by either side in terms of our Antimony production. And as a strategic mineral, we as a pro forma company will remain the largest producer from a single company in the Western world of Antimony. And it's rightfully attracted more investor attention lately and certainly has contributed to valuation. So Alcane's excited about that as well. But yeah, I can't really give a prediction on what the cost or the price of Antimony is going to be going forward.

Thanks, sir. Last one. As a Mandalay shareholder, what do you expect the transaction to close and what do I need to do?

Look, both sides, of course, are going to require a shareholder meeting. And we're working on the materials now for the Mandalay shareholders and circular information. We accept those materials, which will include information on Alcane's assets, convert the 43-101 from JORC, all the pro forma financials. We hope to have that filed by early June at the latest. Shareholder both targeted about 45 business days, let's say one month after that, by the end of June or early July latest. So those materials be going out. We expect close after that vote to be three or four weeks later at most, we would hope in July. It's subject to Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and Swedish Foreign Direct Investment approvals, although we feel that's a very low risk that's not going to be supported. We're not going to be able to do that. We're going to have to wait for the next two or three weeks. But we will certainly keep everyone informed. But really, the takeaway for now is a Mandalay shareholder. You don't have to do anything. And I do emphasize this will be dual listed. There will be no delisting going on here. The Mandalay shares that close will convert to an Alcane share, but they will still trade on the Toronto stock exchange where we expect healthy liquidity on both exchanges. So we'll keep everyone posted. And remember, the Mandalay board has unanimously recommended that Mandalay shareholders support this transaction by voting in favour. So we hope that we'll see success there and we'll keep the market informed.

There are no further questions.

Okay, look, thank you, everyone, for joining. And look, as we advance the Alcane transaction, our focus does remain on maximizing shareholder value through both continued operational execution, ongoing exploration work, as you've heard about True Blue and Sub-KC at Costerfield, as well as North Zone and Store Heaton at Bjorkdahl, as well as starting to work on ensuring there's a smooth integration with the two companies on successful close. Again, this transaction is fully aligned with our growth strategy that was set and established two years ago when I joined of a vision to become a mid-tier gold producer. And it certainly establishes a platform for enhanced cash flow generation and greater market visibility and what we strongly believe will be a significant rerating. So thank you, everyone, for your time. Operator, thanks for hosting the call.

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