OceanaGold Corporation

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Oceana Gold Corporation Q1 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, our lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you need assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Rebecca Harris. Please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to Oceana Gold's first quarter 2024 results webcast and conference call. I'm Rebecca Harris, Director of Investor Relations. We are joined today by Jerry Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, Marius van Niekerk, Chief Financial Officer, David Londano, Chief Operating Officer, Americas, Peter Sharpe, Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific, and Craig Fiebrey, Chief Exploration Officer. The presentation that we will be referencing during the conference call is available through the webcast and on our website. I would also like to remind everyone that our presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. As we will be making forward-looking statements during the call, please refer to the cautionary notes included in the presentation, news release, and MD&A, as well as the risk factors set out in our annual information form. All dollar amounts discussed in this conference call are in US dollars. I will now turn the call over to Jared for opening remarks.

Thank you, Rebecca. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. We are pleased to have safely delivered first quarter production in line with plan in a period of record high average realised oil prices. We had strong production from our three largest sites and we were free cash flow positive, despite it being a quarter in which we were investing to set up a stronger remainder of the year. During the quarter, we released updated technical reports for both Hale and McRae's. The mine plan at Hale now includes the addition of a second underground mine, with Palomino projected to increase the average fee grade, improve the economics and extend the life of Hale. McRae's technical report showed its updated mine plan, though it's important to note that this is a reserve case based on a $1,500 an ounce gold price. We see plenty of potential for a longer mine life at McRae's at higher gold prices. We also release multiple exploration updates during the first quarter, which Craig will cover off on later. Each of these exploration updates highlight the organic growth potential we have in close proximity to our existing mines. The best form of growth is organic growth. And in our case, we have a number of options which mainly relate to increasing access to higher grade ore to feed existing mills. This is low risk and high return growth. Finally, last month we hosted analysts and investors at our hail mine, and we were really proud to show off the site, particularly the Horseshoe Underground mine. We continue to open up new development headings in line with our plan to reach full production rates there by the end of this second quarter. This next slide shows how we're tracking compared to our guidance ranges. As outlined when we set guidance in February, quarter one was expected to be our lowest production quarter of the year, with our production profile to be second half weighted, and this is driven by the timing of access to higher grade ore at all sites. Our first quarter result is in line with this. Open pit stripping is on track at Hale and Macraes, and we are entering new ore phases in both open pit mines. Together with the ramp up at Hale Underground, this will help drive a stronger second half at both of those sites. Given the production profile across the year, our first quarter all-in sustaining cost per ounce is higher than we expect for the remainder of the year. With the benefit of more ounces produced in each subsequent quarter this year, we expect the all-in sustaining cost to come down quarter over quarter and be within our guidance range by the end of the year. Our capital projects are on plan. The main items are open pit stripping and tailing storage facility expenditures at Hale and McRae's, continued capital development at Horseshoe Underground at Hale, and ongoing permitting and study costs at WKP. 2024 is a year of delivery for Oceana Gold, and our plan is for progressively stronger quarters for the remainder of the year. We are on track to achieve the projected annual growth in production reduction in unit cost, and generation of strong free cash flow. I'll now turn the call over to Marius, who will discuss our financial highlights for the quarter.