OceanaGold Corporation

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Oceania Gold Corporation Q3 2025 earnings call. At this time, all lines are in lesson-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, November 6, 2025. And I would now like to turn the conference over to Hayley Mayers. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to Oceana Gold's third quarter 2025 operating and financial results webcast and conference call. I'm Haley Mayers, Vice President of Investor Relations. We are joined today by Jared Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, Marius Van Niekerk, Chief Financial Officer, and Bhuvanesh Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer. The presentation that we'll be referencing during the conference call is available through the webcast and 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 U.S. dollars, I will now turn the call over to Jared for opening remarks.

Thank you, Hayley, and good morning, everyone. The third quarter was a solid one, in line with our expectations, where we safely and responsibly executed to plan. We are now in high-grade awe at both Hale and McRae's, which is why we expect the fourth quarter to be the strongest of the year. This also underpins our confidence in meeting full-year guidance, lowering our unit costs, and generating significant free cash flow in this fourth quarter. As a fully unhedged gold producer, we continue to benefit from today's favorable gold price environment. Most of the gain in average realized gold price was converted to the bottom line, and we delivered yet another strong quarter of free cash flow generation to the tune of $94 million. We have a superb balance sheet with zero debt, and cash of $335 million, up 12% from the last quarter. This increase in cash is after investing in our business and after the $46 million of capital returned in both dividends and buybacks during the quarter, reflecting our disciplined capital allocation framework. Our balance sheet strength provides us the flexibility to continue investing in our organic growth pipeline, which remains a focus for us. I'm pleased to say that the early works construction activities at the Waihi North project are progressing well and we remain on track for fast track permanent approval of this project by year end. We are very much focused on maximising shareholder returns and this third quarter was one in which we generated strong free cash flow ahead of market expectations, increased our cash balance and returned a record amount of cash in the quarter to shareholders via dividends and buybacks. As of today, we have completed $100 million of share repurchases this calendar year at an average price of $19.64 Canadian per share. I'm pleased to say that the Oceania Gold Board has approved a substantial 75% increase in our share buyback program for this 2025 year, raising the total amount of planned buybacks up to $175 million. Widening the lens, I want to highlight just how focused we are on generating and sustaining an attractive return on capital. Our rolling 12-month return on capital employed is 17% over the last 12 months. Over the same period, we've delivered $422 million of free cash flow, which represents a free cash flow yield of approximately 15% on our average market capitalization over that same period. Both of these metrics demonstrate how we are executing well, how we are successfully converting the strong gold price into bottom line results, that we're generating significant free cash flows, and that we are deploying capital effectively. Looking ahead, we're confident that the fourth quarter will be our strongest of the year from a production standpoint, and we remain on track to meet our 2025 full year guidance. Our consolidated gold production at the end of the third quarter represents 70% of the midpoint of our guidance range, in line with plan, while our year-to-date oil and sustaining costs is at the top of the guided range. The projected strong fourth quarter production is expected to drive our oil and sustaining costs back within our full-year guidance range, which is exactly how we always expected this year would play out. Total capital investment is expected to be in line with guidance. Sustaining capital and growth capital expenditures are anticipated to be higher in the fourth quarter, including further spending on early works associated with the Waihi North project. In summary, we are pleased with the strong operational and financial performance year-to-date, and looking forward, we remain confident that we're well-positioned to achieve full-year guidance, progress our growth options, and continue to increase returns to shareholders. I'll now turn the call over to Marius, who will discuss our financial results in detail.

Thank you, Gerard, and good morning, everyone. This quarter, our focused operational performance translated into a record quarterly revenue of $449 million, supported by a record average realized gold price of just under $3,500 per ounce, which is still well below where spot gold prices are trading today. I'm pleased to highlight a few other key metrics this quarter. Adjusted EBITDA reached $211 million and was up 18% compared to Q3 last year, resulting in a healthy margin of 47%. Adjusted net profit was $93 million and adjusted EPS was 40 cents, representing increases of 40% and 48% respectively. Operating cash flow per share was 93 cents, up 41% versus last year. We generated a strong free cash flow of $94 million in the quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to $283 million. The balance sheet is clean, we have zero debt, and our cash balance increased to $335 million. These results highlight our focus on maintaining cost and capital control and reinforcing our financial strength to continue delivering shareholder value. With our balance sheet in the strongest position ever, we have the flexibility to continue funding our exciting organic growth opportunities while also returning capital to our shareholders through our dividends and our upsized share buyback programs. In addition to maintaining our quarterly dividend this quarter, we bought back $39 million of shares at an average price equivalent to around $24 Canadian per share. Having fulfilled our previously announced $100 million buyback program for 2025, the board has now approved a 75% increase for the remainder of the year, raising the targeted share buyback to $175 million for 2025. Together with $24 million in share repurchases made last year and our doubled dividend in 2025, by year end, we expect to have delivered over $225 million in capital to shareholders, and that's over the previous 18 months. This demonstrates our clear commitment to delivering capital returns to our shareholders while maintaining a strong balance sheet and funding our growth projects. I'll now pass it over to Bhuvanesh to discuss our operating performance at each of our sites.

Thank you, Marius, and hello, everyone. Ore production at Hale was 30,000 ounces in the third quarter, which was our planned lowest production quarter of the year as we advanced phase tripping at Deadbedder phase three, which unlocked fresh ore towards the end of the period. We are confident that the fourth quarter will be a strong quarter comparable to the first quarter driven by the high-grade ore from Lead Better III positioning us to achieve our full year guidance. Third quarter all-in sustaining cost was above our guidance range as expected, reflecting the lower production volumes and capital investment on waste stripping and increased sustaining capital. We maintain our all-in sustaining cost outlook for the year as we expect unit costs to decrease significantly in the fourth quarter in line with the expected improved production profile. During the quarter, we also released some exciting exploration results, highlighting the high-grade mineralization at several deposits across the property, notably at Leadbetter Phase 4, Horseshoe Underground, and the early-stage Pisces and Clydesdale targets. The exploration success enjoyed year-to-date continues to highlight attractive upside for low-risk organic opportunities. Work on Leadbetter Phase 4 trade-off study continues to progress well. We are on track to release an updated NI43-101 technical report by the end of Quarter 1, 2026 with the results of this work. Now on to the DPO. During the quarter, DDPO delivered coal production of approximately 22,000 ounces and copper production of 3,100 tons in line with our full-year plan. In the quarter, we successfully completed the dewatering of the deep line and expect to be at normal underground mining rates by the end of 2025, keeping us well on track to meet our full-year guidance. We continue to pursue our underground optimization plans to support our growth. In the third quarter, we increased our investment in sustaining capital with planned spending on underground pumping infrastructure and ongoing lifts to the tailings storage facility. We expect this investment to continue into the fourth quarter. With investments in mine water resilience in the second half of 2025, we expect all its sustaining costs to be around the top of the guided range for the full year. We remain excited about our exploration prospects with ongoing drilling at multiple targets. This quarter, we continue to explore our near mine targets Napatan and Defox. In the fourth quarter, drilling will resume at True Blue, an area of known mineralization approximately 800 meters away from the DDPO mine. Additionally, resource conversion drilling from the underground is expected to resume shortly following the successful dewatering of the decline. We're making good progress and remain on track to reach our targeted underground mining rate of 2.5 billion tons per annum by the end of 2026. We expect to release an updated technical report in the first half of 2026 outlining this plan to the market. We remain excited about NTDPO's future growth opportunities. Moving on to McRae's. This quarter, McRae's delivered improved core production of 33,000 ounces as waste stripping at Innes Mills 8 began unlocking fresh ore towards the end of the period. Looking ahead with access to fresh ore at Innes Mills 8, we are confident in the significant fourth quarter uplift in production, positioning us well to achieve a full year guidance for production and costs. We remain excited about our potential opportunities to unlock value at McRae's. We are continuing to evaluate many options available to extend the mine life given today's high gold price environment, leveraging the value of our industry leading low mining unit costs. We expect to share more with the market in an updated technical report at the end of quarter one, 2026. WAHI delivered another strong production quarter of just under 19,000 ounces of gold, maintaining the progress achieved with the underground improvement plan initiated in 2024. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of stronger performance at WAHI, which is testament to all the hard work done by the team there. This great turnaround at WAHI in recent quarters has positioned the site to deliver gold production around the high end of its guidance range for 2025. Now onto our exciting WAHI North project. I'm pleased to say that our fast track application progressed through the commenting phase in the third quarter and is currently in the panel consideration phase, which includes us responding to requests for information. Our expectation remains that we will be permitted by year end and will be able to start the underground decline towards Kerikereponga in 2026. Early works activity continues to progress with the construction of the service trench, civil works, and Willow's bulk earthworks all commencing this quarter. We are on track to spend a guided $45 million this year helping the project to be ready to start in earnest when we receive that approval. Turning to exploration at Ferry Caraponga. Exploration focused on confirming the extent of mineralization of the southern end of the deposit, which remains open. As part of our fast track application, we are also seeking approval to increase the number of drill sites and double the number of allowable drill rigs, which will accelerate efforts to define this exciting deposit. Back at WAHI, exploration drilling is focused on resource definition and conversion and expansion of the Mata underground. With the improved underground performance and solid progress on permitting of the WAHI North project, we remain very excited about WAHI's future. I will now turn the call back to Jarek.

Thank you, Bhuvanesh. In summary, this was another good quarter for Oceania Gold and in line with our full-year plan. We expect the fourth quarter to be our strongest of the year, setting us up well to meet our full-year guidance and generate substantial free cash flow at today's gold prices as a fully unhedged gold producer. Our balance sheet is in excellent shape. We returned a record amount of capital to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. Our 2025 buyback program has been substantially increased by 75%, and the fast-track permitting approval of the Waihi North project is expected by year-end. We're also targeting a listing on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2026, which we believe will provide enhanced trading liquidity and access to a wider range of potential investors, both of which should drive value for shareholders. All this is possible through the dedicated efforts of the many tremendous people who work at Oceana Gold and a big call out of thanks to them for all their hard work. I'll now turn the call over to the operator who will open up the lines for any questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star, fall by the one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised, and should you wish to cancel your request, please press star, fall by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys.

One moment, please, for your first question. Thank you.

And your first question comes from the line of Oveis Habib from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Hi, Gerard and Oceana Gold team. Congrats to you and your team on a great quarter and really great to see Hale and McRae in the higher grade order. Also, really great to see the significant increase in the share buyback program. So that was really good to see and really depicts how confident you guys are on your free cash flow profile. A couple of questions for me, Gerard. Number one, starting off with, you know, you've got a lot of studies coming up in 2026. There's the Hale Tech Report, McRae's Tech Report. You've got the DDPO Underground PFS as well. In terms of the free cash flow and free cash flow profile that we see going into 2026, that seems to be very strong. So the question is, do you see any major CapEx projects going into 2026 based on these expected studies?

Hi, Bess. Firstly, thanks for the questions. Look, I mean, the cash flow requirements of those studies or the mine plans that will be reflected in those studies will be available in 2026 when we release them. But there's nothing, unlike, say, the Wahine North project, there's nothing more than we're doing than updating the mine plans for latest reserves, latest reserve assumptions, and latest estimates of activity and the mine plan itself. There is nothing of a vastly different nature in capital that we're expecting to be associated with any of those three assets, Hale, Macraes, or DDPO.

Fantastic. Thanks for that color, Gerard. And just kind of moving on to DDPO then, Q3 looked fairly similar to Q2. Things have improved. Obviously, there were some underground water issues at the beginning of the year. Is that all now behind us? Any color on that would be great.

Well, I think Bhubanesh covered it in the call, and I'll hand it over to Bhubanesh again. But as he said, we have completed the dewatering of the decline, and by the end of this year, we expect to be at normal underground mining rates in full. Bhubanesh, anything else to add on that?

No, I think you covered it well. Thanks, Jared.

Okay, thanks for that. And then just moving on to why he is expected to finish the year around the top end of his production guidance. And this is definitely a big improvement over the past couple of years. Are you now confident in this performance continuing to 2026?

Vinish, do you want to take that?

Yeah, sure. Thanks, Abhay. We are very confident about our production profile moving forward from WAHI. I think we now have a great handle of the mining in out there as well. So, yeah, we feel very confident about our ability to capture and maintain that rate.

Okay. Thanks, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Thank you, Abhay.

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Harrison Reynolds from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, Oceana team. And yeah, congratulations on delivering another strong quarter. It sounds like well set up heading into the end of the year. I'm wondering if you might be able to provide a bit more detail on these upcoming tech reports for Hale and McRae's. I know you touched on it a little bit in the last question. but sort of trying to understand what they might include. I think about the McCrae's mine life extension, and I think that's underappreciated, but trying to maybe think about which phases are actually going to get included in this report. And over at Hale, some of this exploration has been interesting, but I'm wondering, are we going to get details around those targets at all, or is it just going to be updating production schedules and costs?

Everyone wants a spoiler alert ahead of the... You're going to rob all the excitement of February if we keep talking. Look, I mean, hail, we've been saying for a while now, we're studying how we're going to approach the mining of Leadbetter 4. It was always, and in the last technical report, shown to be an open pit mine, but as a result of the great drill results we had and the shape of the ore body as defined by that drilling, what the study will do is make a determination and reflect the decision on how we're going to mine that lead bed of four ore bodies. So that's probably the primary change. We've had some tremendous drill results at Hale as foreshadowed, but I don't think much of that's going to alter the mine plans beyond what I've said in relation to Leadbetter 4. At McRae's, its last reserve estimate was done for the whole company was at a reserve price of $1,750 an ounce. And we said that we are going to, we're looking at having a higher reserve price for McRae's and all sites. And when we... update that technical report at a higher reserve price, the amount of mineralization at Macraes is such that you can expect a degree of mine life extension of some magnitude because it is an ore body that's sensitive to price. And so at these higher gold prices, and we're always going to make sure that our reserve price isn't chasing two-spot gold, we're going to make sure we have a very healthy margin on mining activities at all sites. But McRae's is sensitive to the gold price, and we expect that that increase will allow us to mine more ore for longer at McRae's. And they are the primary reflections.

That's great detail. And maybe just one more from me. I think it's exciting to see that there's going to be more drills on the Waukee North project post-permitting, but can you talk a little bit about what's going to be targeted from those drill rigs? Is that going to be more infill drilling, or are you going to start to do step-outs and define the size of this ore body?

Yeah, great question, Harrison. I mean, to put it in context, we're doubling the amount of drill pads that we can drill from. That will give us tremendous flexibility and choice as to how we approach the drilling as opposed to being limited to the drill pads that we have had for many number of years. And that said, doubling the amount of drill rigs. we'll always have a choice and they're not mutually exclusive. We can do a bit of both. It is an exciting ore body. I think there is merit in doing some infield drilling and there's merit in doing step outs. And again, we're only to date focused on one of the veins. There's also the opportunity to focus on some of the other veins in the region. I think... The district has a long period of time to unveil what's possible there, and again, this next year is going to be a step change in drilling activity to help unveil all that. Great.

Thanks so much, and thanks for taking my questions.

Thanks, Harrison. Appreciate you being on the call.

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Sahed Tariq from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. At Waihi, it sounds like the underground improvement plan is going really well. You've seen higher throughput, higher grades, lower costs. Are there similar opportunities at other mines in the portfolio to bring costs down?

Thanks. Short answer is yes, but I'll let Bhuvanesh color that in for you, Sahed. Thanks for the question. Bhuvanesh?

Thanks, Pat, for the question. Yes, there are other opportunities across our portfolio to really factor the cost. Currently, we are undertaking all of those opportunities as well, and probably Hale being a nice one to take that into account as well, specifically when you look at the trade-off study between the open bid and the underground. So that's a great example to factor that outcome. Similarly, at McRice, we're looking at all opportunities as a part of the mining studies that are in out there as well. And at EDPO, the way we basically have been mining at EDPO, specifically in relation to how our stop sequencing work, we are always looking at those opportunities as to how to get the cost of the alarm sustaining cost down.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Fahad. Thank you.

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Cosmos 2 from CABC.

Please go ahead.

Thanks, Jared and team. Maybe my first question is on something interesting that you mentioned in your MD&A. As you mentioned in your MD&A, you'll be releasing your 2026 guidance with full year 2025 results, and it will reflect updated economic influences from current market and operating environments. So I guess my question is, Jared, is that an indication that you'll be looking at sort of inflationary factors or are you looking at sort of changes from the higher gold prices and changing opportunities? You kind of answered that question in your answer to Harrison on McCrae's in terms of potentially bringing in more ore. But is that what we're talking about? Inflation? Are we talking about opportunities from a higher gold price? What do you mean by that statement?

Yeah, I mean, it's everything costs, right? I mean, we start with the physicals and then we have to have an overlay of what it's going to cost and what we're going to be investing in. And, you know, the mine plans will direct the activity and the activities can shift ever so slightly depending on what the mine plan takes us to and the experience of the year. And, you know, market... They can reflect anything, including inflation, exchange rates. I mean, we operate 50% of our business is outside of the US, and so we update as to the New Zealand dollar and the peso, input costs, and so forth. So it's a comprehensive, normal update of what we expect the economics and physicals of the business are going to be.

So pretty much everything. But I guess, you know, to ask it more concisely, have you thought about what gold price assumption you might be using for your technical reports coming up that could drive how you run the business at least into 2026?

Short answer, and I think I alluded to it previously, we are going to increase the reserve price. A reserve price of $1,750 is... Too low. So it will go up. It doesn't change the activity set of any of our assets in 2026 at all. And the primary change that and it doesn't change much of the reserves of any site with the exception of McRae's. because, as I said on the call, it's the one that's most sensitive to price. And you can just see the difference between the reserves and the resources at McRae's, and the resources at McRae's are booked at $19.50. So as we migrate from reserve to resource, you're going to see some level of those resources come into reserve, and that will extend life, but it won't alter the activity of 2026 all that much from what we expected otherwise. Great.

Maybe switching gears a little bit, Jared, as we all know, Q3 was going to be the weakest quarter for the year for Oceania. And despite that, you still generated very good free cash flow, $94 million positive free cash flow. Can you remind us of any kind of seasonality in your free cash flow quarter over quarter? For example, I know that you need to pay for your FTAA each and every April, but is there anything else that we should be aware of?

Not really, Coles. I mean, I think the largest single lump is, and I'll give Marius time to think and he can colour in if I've missed something, but the largest single item of lumpy spend is that additional government share that's paid in April of every year and that's flagged. in the full year results that we released in February. We, through the course of this year, we did have some seasonality in the electricity price that we experienced in New Zealand, but it's kind of not all that significant. And then the other seasonality we can have you know, weather events affecting shipping of copper concentrate out of Dedipio, but that all washes out in the course of a year anyway. So nothing material. Marius, anything come to mind or Bhuvanesh?

The only two, hi there, Carl, the only two that come to mind is obviously your CapExpense profile, Carl, depending on where you are in that quarter, and then also You know, from a shipment perspective, yes, you could have weather events impacting it, or you could have some stock holding at either site or port at the back end of the period. So that would influence, for instance, the IPO this quarter had some sales that came from inventory in the prior quarter.

Great. Thanks, Mariusz. And maybe one last question. Great to see share buybacks. You've reached your $100 million target, now increasing it to $175 million. But I guess my question is, as Marius mentioned, you repurchased shares at Canadian 24. Oceana shares have done very well. Now, 3185 Canadian. So I guess my question is, is there some kind of upper limit in terms of when you might start considering or re-evaluating the velocity in which you repurchase shares?

Yes, we are mindful of value calls. We have our own view on value, having regard to modeling and various assumptions, and we don't go above that limit.

Okay. And at this point in time, Jerry, can you share with us, are we going to expect Share buybacks of $75 million in Q4, or is that, again, based on what you're observing in terms of value, in terms of the share price?

I can say that we will be commencing that buyback at today's share price. And what happens thereafter, Cos, is, again, subject to the parameters we put around it. But I think what we have shown is that when we said we were going to buy back shares at the start of the year of $100 million, we executed to that. And I think just generally, at a macro level, I think that gold equities, not all gold equities, but certainly Oceana gold equities, still have a way to go to reflect fully or even part of the uplift in spot gold.

Great. Thanks, Gerard, Marius, and team for answering all my questions. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you, Cos. Appreciate it.

Thank you, and your next question comes from the line of Don DeMarco from National Bank. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you, operator, and thank you for taking my questions. First off, to these technical reports, Jared, what is the timing of both the Hale and the Craystack reports? Are they going to both be out before 2026 guidance is released?

No, they'll come out in the end of the first quarter of 2026. But the essence of them will be reflected in the 26 guidance. Okay.

And of course, as has been discussed in some of the questions, with the HALETEC report, you're looking at, you're faced with the decision of how to approach lead better for. This analysis is ongoing. We'll look to the report for what your decision is. What are some of the variables that you're including in your analysis that might drive the decision? Grade, capex? differences in throughput between the different scenarios in the mine life. What are some of the factors that you're looking at in weighing both options?

Joel, great question. Bhuvnesh, do you want to take that one?

Yeah, sure. Thanks, John. So we've been looking at the value-based decision as well. So the decision basically is made about the NPV that we will generate and then the IRR that will get out of the decision that we need to make as well. And as you know, probably in the case of the open pit, given the amount of waste that we need to strip to the ore, that probably is a huge amount of time that we spend in that space as well. So we're taking a value-based decision that probably generates the best outcome. This is what the trade-off studies will be taking into account.

Okay. Great. And, you know, great to hear that, you know, Q4 is going to expect to be the best of the year. And really, there's a clear path into 2026 as well. Would you expect that stretch to continue into 2026? I mean, in a general sense, and of course, we'll look for details of the guidance, but it seems like a clear path carrying on the strength from Q4 into next year.

Yeah, and whether the quarter volume is exactly the same, but the drivers of that uplift definitely carry through into 26. I mean, this has all been about accessing grade at our two largest operations. Hale and Macrae's this year represent 70% of our projected production. And next year, that combination grows even larger because of this access to the higher-grade ore at Inners Mills 8 at Macraes and Leadbetter 3 that we've been investing in this year. That's what I think is particularly exciting. We have been investing in the access of those large oven pits. This year, it's still generating tremendous free cash flow. And then next year, when you're feeding higher-grade ore, that's what's the primary driver of the uplift in gold production in 2026.

Great. Thank you very much. That's all for me.

Thank you, Don.

Thank you. And there are no further questions at this time. I will now hand the call back to Gerard Band for any closing remarks.

That concludes our webcast and conference call today. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. A replay will be available on our website later in the day. On behalf of the management team and everyone at Oceana Gold, I wish you a very pleasant rest of the day. Bye.

And this concludes today's call. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect.