NexGen Energy Ltd.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the NextGen Energy third quarter 2025 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star then zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Lee Currier, Chief Executive Officer and Director with NextGen Energy Limited. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Gaylene. Good morning. Thank you for joining NextGen's Q3 2025 Financial Results and Investor Conference Call. My name is Lee Currier and I am Chief Executive Officer of NextGen Energy. I am joined today by Travis McPherson, Chief Commercial Officer, and Benjamin Salter, Chief Financial Officer. During today's Q3 update, I'll provide the latest uranium market dynamics, which is simply unfolding faster than most industry observers anticipated. Driven by unprecedented huge uptake of nuclear energy across the globe, and the strategic execution of NextGen's offtake marketing strategy. Further, progress as we prepare for our first of two Commission hearings on the federal approval of RUC1 in a mere 13 days from now. In addition, all the RUC1 site activities and preparations, updates to execute on this generational project that will set a new benchmark in the economic, environmental and social stewardship for the sector. At the conclusion of this presentation, we'll move to the Q&A portion of the call, where you're invited to ask Travis, Ben and myself any questions. Throughout the course of today's call, we will be making forward-looking statements. Please visit our website for all the relevant disclaimers. In recent months, we've seen an unprecedented alignment of policy, capital and geopolitical priorities in support of nuclear energy and a growing understanding of the constraints impacting uranium supply. As recently as last week, the Nuclear Energy Institute, NEI, held its annual International Uranium Fuel Seminar in Charleston, South Carolina, welcoming industry executives from across the globe. The clear message from utilities was industry developments are advancing so rapidly Forecasts of electrical demand have increased over tenfold from as recently as those three years ago. There is crystal clear, unprecedented nuclear energy uptake momentum behind restart efforts at a number of the currently idled US nuclear facilities, with additional negotiations underway on the other idled sites, driven by additional late-take demand by the major tech companies. The full nuclear energy chain is undergoing rapid acceleration with utilities pursuing reactor uprates, extended life cycles, subsequent license renewals, all whilst they're evaluating SAMR deployment with major tech partners. This very simply is forecasting uranium demand at an accelerating speed. Just this last week, the U.S. government announced an $80 billion U.S. investment with Westinghouse to build new commercial reactors and have provided additional commitments to restart current idle reactors. But note, whilst recent mainstream headlines focus on the power generation component of this generational opportunity, in the United States, the government, through the 2024 Advance Act, has accelerated modernization within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and shortened key licensing timelines. While Energy Secretary Chris Wright's call to expand the Strategic Uranium Reserve reinforces Washington's focus on fuel security and long-term nuclear capacity, including from allied sources such as Canada. Adding to this momentum, the US and Australian governments recently signed a landmark critical minerals framework to strengthen cooperation across mining, processing and supply chain security. This agreement demonstrates a shared strategy among allied nations to ensure the stability and accessibility of key raw materials is necessary for geopolitical security. The only way to achieve the goals of all allied nations in this regard It's cooperation, and we anticipate more announcements to follow demonstrating this approach. JP Morgan, one of the syndicated banks in our recent North American 400 million financing, which I'll discuss shortly, is the latest major institution to announce a $1.5 US trillion 10-year plan to facilitate finance and invest in industries critical to economic security, and resiliency to assist companies in boosting their growth, innovation, and accelerating strategic manufacturing, a move serving as a concrete signal of finance backing nuclear and uranium, the key fuel in the value chain. Further, Morgan Stanley released its National Security Index, which included NextGen among the constituents, again reinforcing NextGen's unique role as a go-to solution provider to allied nations' needs for uranium supply. Specifically to the uranium market over the third quarter, spot prices rose 16% to $83.25 US a pound, driven by an increase in the liquidity to the market over August and September. This highlights how fast the market prices react when demand enters the spot market. NextGen recognises as demand hits the spot market, price discovery begins to emerge that efficiently signals true incentive pricing, which is in the interest of sellers and buyers. The increased liquidity in the spot market coincided with more supply disruptions over the third quarter. We witnessed widespread production guidance cuts around the globe, including the current producers at Casataprom and Cameco, where production issues have persisted, simply reflecting late-in-life mine challenges are present. Prior years, healthy inventories of on-hand levels are being rapidly exhausted and borrowed inventory levels are skyrocketing to meet post-off-take commitments at lower than current spot prices. These dynamics are reinforcing the need for a sustained higher price environment, a trend already materialising with the term price rising to $86 US per pound, its highest level since May 2008. The shift toward a higher for longer market is here, arriving at a pivotal time for advanced, build-ready projects like NextGen's Rook One. The work NextGen has done over the last 12 years is aligning with all of the market dynamics. But note, Rook One cannot service this gap alone. The forecast to mass supply deficit into 2030 requires multiple Rook Ones to come online, and they simply do not exist. Substantially higher prices in the future will be the consequence, and all our advanced development company cohorts in Canada, the US and Australia are incredibly well leveraged to forecasted high uranium prices of the future. In September, the scale and speed of this structural shift taking place in our industry was the key highlight from the World Nuclear Association's synopsis in London. Attendance reached a record 1,300 participants, up from 800 a year earlier, and the biannual fuel report upgraded all three global nuclear growth scenarios upward. Over the next 15 years, the upper case projects annual uranium demand reaching 530 million pounds per year, while the base case projects 391 million pounds. Today, demand is just under 180 million pounds. In 2024, primary supply was estimated to be 150 million pounds with the deficit made up of continued inventory drawdowns, which only prolong and exacerbate the challenges facing primary uranium supply growth. With demand far outpacing supply and global mine supply at the same level as it was 10 years ago, one can see the need for both significantly higher uranium prices as well as policy support to address regulatory timelines and their impact on capital formation. Notably, the WNA synopsis and in their report, the rising engagement from the technology sector was observed, with Microsoft formally joining the WNA, reflecting the growing nexus between AI-driven power demands and nuclear energy's key role as a clean baseload generation to reliably power this insatiable demand. As the uranium market enters its seasonally strong contracting period, we expect to see continued strength in uranium prices. And against this favourable backdrop, NextGen remains uniquely positioned with the world's most advanced, high-grade, build-ready uranium project to deliver a new, secure supply the world is depending on. With respect to contracting, negotiations with many utilities across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia continue to progress. Utility activity has intensified markedly, with counterparties actively seeking to secure long-term supply beginning in 2030 and beyond, a clear reflection of a tightening market fundamental and growing recognition that future supply will be challenging. Negotiations are advancing on offtake, where these forward-looking utilities are seeking to finance NextGen into production. We expect multiple agreements to be finalised in the coming quarters as utilities move to lock in future delivery schedules. A consistent theme across these discussions is the strategic emphasis on supply diversification, and this is where NextGen is truly unique. NextGen is the most material source of supply globally, that truly provides material de-risk diversification in terms of both technical, given its competent ground setting, and sovereign, being located in Canada. Utilities are increasingly looking to reduce reliance on state-sponsored producers whilst also addressing the reality that legacy mines are depleting and encountering consistent late-in-mine-life production issues. With the first Commission hearing only 13 days from now on November the 19th in Ottawa, and the second scheduled for a single day between February 9 to 13 in 2026, NextGen is excited to transition from advanced development to building the greatest natural resources project in recent memory immediately upon receipt of federal approval. This milestone represents the culmination of over a decade of rigorous technical work, community and Indigenous engagement, and regulatory process, and the curated expert team we have developed are construction ready. The support we've received has been significant. All four Indigenous nations located in the local priority area are legally supportive and publicly advocated of the immediate approval of the project, including the province of Saskatchewan, which continues to champion as a priority project. The CNSC staff have recommended approval in their technical assessments, and the Canadian government has increasingly recognised the critical role of clean, reliable nuclear energy in meeting climate and energy security objectives. That alignment across regulators, government and communities reinforces our unique and genuine approach to resource development. This is a story that Canadians are very proud of, as it is redefining multiple ways how resource projects can be and are now being developed both technically, environmentally and socially. We'd like to thank our investors for their support in our highly successful global equity offering this past month. With the close of our one billion Australian dollar raise, NextGen has further strengthened its financial position to advance the development of the RookOne project immediately upon final federal approval. Interestingly, the vast majority of capital was raised from outside of Canada, predominantly in Australia, where our registries were reflecting an ever-increasing Australasian profile, demonstrating NextGen's unique ability to attract hundreds of millions of investment dollars into Canada, capital that will directly benefit local communities, the province of Saskatchewan and the broader Canadian economy. Proceeds will support the balance of detailed engineering, pre-construction activities, and general corporate purposes, positioning the company to deliver on its next phase of execution and growth. The Australian raise has also positioned NextGen to meet the market capitalisation and liquidity thresholds for the ASX 200 index eligibility, the pre-eminent equity index in the Australian market. Our current cash balance stands at approximately $1.2 billion Canadian. with funding to complete the 2025 site program and initiate development for the first 18 months post-approval engineering, procurement, training and construction. We have purposely maintained full strategic optionality with a strong cash position and active negotiations with strategic investors and utilities amongst others, resulting in a variety of highly accretive financial alternatives. As we always have, we will optimise the financing alternatives in maintaining our patience with respect to the market, which continues to be recognised. Our production flexibility, which combined, will maximise the value of each pound of uranium we produce and sell, becoming the most leveraged company in the world to rising higher uranium prices. To our site activities. Since 2013, NextGen has successfully and safely delivered Rook 1 site activities covering all aspects of exploration, engineering, development and supporting infrastructure, totaling $706 million Canadian. During Q3 2026, construction of the exploration, accommodation and infrastructure, including the exploration airstrip, dual-way access road upgrades and the expanded exploration camp facilities, has been a terrific opportunity for NextGen to once again validate its planning, management and construction execution skills, incorporating NextGen's elite safety performance. This $98 million program is meeting precise design scope within approved budgeted cost and schedule with completion for early Q2 2026, all whilst maximising local Indigenous sustainable commerce and employment. There is simply no better preparation for after federal approval construction and the NextGen team is in place and ready to expand the same disciplines, safe, on budgeting and schedule execution in the construction of Rook 1. On the procurement front, upcoming critical path items are being secured and ready for deployment immediately following federal approval. We're also seeing exceptional interest in participation in many of our training programs and joining the NextGen team. We recently had over 1,300 applicants for only 20 open positions, a clear signal that the highly experienced team we've assembled is attracting professionals that want to be part of NextGen's unique elite standards culture. Turning to our exciting exploration program, Drilling at our basement-hosted Paterson Corridor East PCE discovery continues to deliver. Reported results validate the continuity of our high-grade subdomains and confirm that the system remains open for expansion in multiple directions. The profile emerging at PCE is incredibly exciting and speaks to the exploration potential for additional arrow-type discoveries on our dominant land position. Assay and scintillometer results are scheduled in coming months as they are received. This exploration, the largest reported in the Athabasca Basin for 2025, is strategic and forward-looking. With a typical discovery to production timeline of 15 to 20 years, identifying and advancing high-quality and technically superior deposits today is essential to sustaining long-term production optionality alongside Arrow. This is essential to sustaining the nuclear industry and the key role NextGen will play in stabilising energy infrastructure globally. We are undertaking to meet global demand supply deficits for the next 50 years, not just the next five years, which is NextGen's differentiator to the current uranium producers, and we are delivering it through the development of RUC1 into production post-approval and in parallel through the drill bit at PCE. As we move into the next phase, Our priorities are clear. Receive final federal approvals and mobilise to build the most strategic and significant new mining project globally. We're approaching this in the same way as we always have, with accountability, honesty, a continuous improvement mentality and a confidence to do things the right way. Our Indigenous community and our partners, the environment, regulators, Canada and the world population, all our shareholders, in a most efficient, highly accretive manner. Through years of dedicated effort, the NextGen team has transformed an underexplored ground into a national champion and a strategic asset of global significance. The macro backdrop has never been stronger. The rise of AI, the push toward energy security, and the need for economic growth through natural resource development have positioned NextGen as the epitome of the solution. The size of the prize has never been bigger, and upon final federal approval, we are approximately T-minus four years to after-tax cash flows that will take us into the top ten of global mining companies. The Government of Canada recognises the urgency and is taking meaningful steps forward with the passing of Bill C-5, the Building Canada Act. This Act aims to prioritise projects of national interest in order to advance Canada's economic resilience and independence, and leave Regis' unique position as the critical minerals deposit of the world. The success of this ethos relies on translating verbal commitments into accelerated execution and we're focused on doing our part. Canada has the opportunity to lead the world in critical minerals exports and with the commitments made in Ottawa to support accountability and timeliness, The economic and social growth that will come will benefit Canadians for generations to come. The outlook is unprecedented in terms of actioning such a positive generational opportunity for NextGen and all those advanced development companies in the sector that have been developing their projects to meet the insatiable demand. The nuclear industry environment is changing rapidly. Evolving market, uranium market fundamentals are set to provide unprecedented upsides. Those companies that will succeed have recognised the changing environment, have exhibited the courage to embrace it and lead it, looking to tomorrow and the next 50 years as opposed to looking backwards, relying on historical and outdated practices for comfort. The best way to deliver in the future is to create it, and that's exactly what NextGen have been doing since 2011, when a group of committed industry professionals went to the overlooked areas never explored against popular geological invention at the time, opposite side of the Athabasca Basin, and discovered what is now widely recognised as the world's best uranium project. From a geological perspective, NextGen has rewritten what is possible and still writing that story of PCE and beyond at Rook One. From an environmental and social perspective, set new standards in what can be achieved through genuine innovation and consultation. And from the shareholder return perspective, it's poised to deliver returns on a per dollar spent basis that sets a new watermark for the sector. Thank you to everyone on the team committed to this company. We're full of good energy. Now we'll open the call to questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin the question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. You'll hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the number two. The first question is from Ralph Profiti with CFO Financial. Please go ahead.