OceanaGold Corporation

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good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the oceana gold corporation q1 2026 earnings call and webcast at this time all lines are in listen only mode following the presentation we'll conduct a question and answer session if at any time during this call you require immediate assistance please press star 0 for an operator this call is being recorded on thursday may 7 2026 And I would now like to turn the conference over to Rebecca Hanari. Please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to Oceana Gold's first quarter 2026 Operating and Financial Results webcast and conference call. I'm Rebecca Hanari, Vice President of Investor Relations. We are joined today by Jared Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mary Soneker, Chief Financial Officer, and Bhuvanesh Nalhotra, Chief Operating Officer. The presentation that we will be referencing during the conference call is available through the webcast and on our website. As we will be making forwarding statements during the call, please refer to the cautionary notes included in the MD&A and 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, Rebecca, and good morning, everyone. We started 2026 the way we intended to. safely, responsibly, and to plan. The first quarter sets us up well to deliver on our 2026 guidance and underpins a year that we expect to be even stronger than the stellar year we had in 2025. In the first quarter, we produced just over 130,000 ounces of gold and 3,200 tons of copper. This, combined with a continued strong gold price environment, delivered record quarterly revenue and record operating cash flow, while generating $255 million of free cash flow in the quarter. We also continued to actively return capital to shareholders, returning $97 million through dividends and buybacks in the quarter, which was just under 40% of free cash flow. This is in line with our expanded capital returns program for the 2026 year, with target dividends and buybacks of up to $432 million planned for the year. Even after these capital returns and after continued investment in our growth and exploration projects, we strengthened the balance sheet significantly. We finished the quarter with cash up 30% at $620 million and with zero debt. Once again, having the strongest balance sheet in Oceana Gold's 36-year history. During the quarter, we released updated technical reports for Hale, McCrae's and the Didipio, each of which extended mine life and improved the value of those assets. At Ferakiriponga, Our drilling has confirmed both the continuity and the extension of a newly defined southern high-grade zone, which is a very encouraging result for our flagship growth project. Pleasingly, we also made some incredible progress on the Waihi North project during the first quarter, and I'm excited to share that this month we began portal development and have commenced tunnelling underground towards this phenomenal ore body. Lastly, we listed on the New York Stock Exchange on April 7, which was a big milestone for the company in joining the largest and deepest capital market in the world, which we expect will provide increased trading liquidity and greater access for investors to purchase our shares in the US market. Turning to guidance, the Q1 result shows we are on track to deliver our 2026 plan. Using the midpoint of guidance as a reference, we are nearly a quarter of the way towards each of the gold production, copper production and capital guidance ranges that we outlined at the start of the year. As expected, AIIC for the quarter sits above our annual guidance range, reflecting the timing of capital and waste-stripping expenditures. As production increases, with the second and fourth quarters expected to be the strongest of the year, and with access to high-grade ore from Leadbetter Open Pit at Hale beginning in quarter two, unit costs are expected to step down progressively throughout the year. The company continues to monitor potential cross-pressures relating to the ongoing, or now paused, Iran conflict, which Maris will speak to later on. So a quarter very much in line with the shape of the year that we set out in February, and we expect an even stronger second quarter result. This slide shows how we allocated cash in the first quarter, and it's a very clear picture of our capital allocation priorities in action. One of the priorities we identified this year and at these gold prices was to increase investment in our operations, including improving the integrity and resilience of our mining and process plants. This quarter, we invested $85 million in sustaining capital, which covers these investments, as well as deferred stripping and capitalised mining. We invested $45 million in growth capital during the quarter, advancing the Waihi North project and developing the Palomino Underground at Hale. We also invested $11 million in exploration across the portfolio, progressing towards what will be a record exploration spend this year. The first quarter had $97 million of direct shareholder returns. This included $77 million of share buybacks under our $350 million buyback program and $20 million of dividends, reflecting the tripled quarterly dividend the board approved for 2026. And after all of that investment and all of that shareholder returns, we still added $143 million of cash to the balance sheet in the quarter, a 30% increase in our cash resistance from the year end. In line with our capital allocation framework, this quarter we funded the business, accelerated the growth pipeline, made the balance sheet significantly stronger, and returned meaningful capital to shareholders. I'll now turn the call over to Maris, who will discuss our financial results in more detail.

Thank you, Gerard, and good morning, everyone. Q1 delivered a strong set of financial results on the back of a record average realized fall price. Strong operational delivery and disciplined cost management converted the gold price directly to the bottom line, resulting in a record earnings per share. Comparing the first quarter against the same period last year, these are some of the highlights. Record EBITDA, which was up 116%, operating cash flow was up 122%, and free cash flow was up 271%. where we've generated $255 million for the quarter. These are very meaningful step-ups, and with increasing production and unit costs expected to come down, we are well positioned to continue to generate significant free cash flow for the remainder of the year. We continue to place a strong emphasis on our per share metrics, and as you can see here at the bottom, Our strong financial results this quarter also translated into meaningful step-ups across the per share metrics compared to the same period last year, with free cash flow per share up 290%, and operating cash flow per share also setting a new record. Importantly, this financial result is being delivered alongside continued investment in growth, increased capital returns, and a stronger balance sheet. all of which makes up the capital allocation framework Jarrod spoke to earlier. Given the Iran conflict, I wanted to take a moment to address our exposure to oil prices, which mainly relates to diesel. To date, the direct impacts on our operations have been limited, and supply chains have continued to support normal business operations. However, we remain conscious that sustained higher diesel prices and supply chain factors have the potential to impact our operating and capital costs. We've done extensive work to map our consumables supply chain and will continue to proactively identify and manage risks where we can. Higher diesel costs during the quarter were largely offset by our diesel hedging program. Diesel comprises about 6% of our consolidated AIC guidance for 2026, with the majority of that consumption at Hale and McRae's, our open-pit operations. At those two operations, we've hedged approximately 80% of our diesel requirements at the equivalent brand price of $65 per barrel through to the end of 2026. As a result, we are substantially protected from diesel price volatility at our two largest diesel-consuming assets. To put it all into context, with the diesel hedges in place at Hale and McCrae's, should oil prices of $100 per barrel prevail for the remainder of 2026, we would expect the impact to be in the order of $25 per ounce higher than our assumptions used when setting guidance. That is based on what we know today.

I'll now pass it over to Bhuvanesh to discuss our operating performance.

Thank you, Marius, and hello, everyone. At Hale, we produced about 42,000 ounces of gold in the first quarter. The quarter went largely to plan despite significant winter weather events with production expected to step up materially through the remainder of the year. Lead better open pit and high-grade underground stoves will be the primary ore sources for the remainder of the year. This is expected to deliver the step up in production we have guided from quarter two, where we expect to produce around 60,000 ounces and further increasing in quarter three and quarter four. The weather conditions experienced in the quarter also gave us the opportunity to accelerate waste stripping at Snake Pit by a couple of quarters, which de-risks all production for 2027. During quarter one, this shows up in all in sustaining costs as a result of lower stockpile build. Development of the decline towards Palomino Underground commenced in the quarter in line with the plan to achieve first ore in 2028. Drilling at Horseshoe Underground also continued in the quarter, targeting the conversion and extension opportunities in the lower and western portions of the deposit, with drilling at Leadbeater Underground focused on resource conversion targets. And at the end of March, we released the updated technical report for hail that confirmed the transition of lead beta to an underground mine by 2029, supporting a sustainable production profile of above 200,000 ounces per year through to 2031. McRae's had a strong start to the year, producing about 52,000 ounces of gold in the first quarter at all-in sustaining cost of $1,506 per ounce. Innes Mills continued to deliver in line with plan, providing access to high-grade open pit ore in the quarter. Waste stripping at Coronation North also began during the quarter in preparation for ore access in quarter three. The first quarter was always meant to be the strongest of the year at McRae's due to good ore presentation in the Innes Mills open pit. Gold production is expected to step down in quarter two, then further in the second half of the year, with full year production expected to be in line with our guidance. An updated technical report for McRace was released at the end of March and confirmed the mine life extension to 2032 at a conservative $2,200 gold price assumption. Importantly, with a record exploration spend plan for this year, we are continuing to evaluate further extension opportunities at McRae's that could potentially extend the mine life into 2040s given the leverage of this asset to the current gold price environment and the inherent optionality at the site. McRae's continues to be a great example of how disciplined operational execution drives real value, particularly at today's gold prices. At WAHI, we produced about 17,000 ounces of gold in the first quarter at all-in sustaining cost of $2,055 per ounce. Production was in line with plan despite two record-breaking rain events during the quarter, which is a real credit to the operating team and reflects the improved resilience of the operations. On exploration at Ferric Araponga, our drilling during the quarter confirmed the continuity and extension of the newly defined southern high-grade zone that sits outside the reserves. These are very encouraging results that support the growth potential we see in this ore body. We continue to focus on resource conversion drilling in the first half of the year and begin further step-out drilling during this new zone and other areas in the second half. Capital expenditure for the quarter included $20 million invested in the Wahi North project. Construction continued on the service trench and the water treatment plant site with both projects expected to be substantially completed in quarter two. Bulk earthworks and the preparation of the box cut at the Willows portal site progressed as planned during the quarter. The mining contractor was mobilized in quarter one and excitingly this week, the portal was constructed and the development has commenced, beginning our underground tunneling journey towards the Ferre Caraponga ore body. At the DPO, we produced about 20,000 ounces of gold and 3,200 tons of copper in the first quarter. Excitingly, during the quarter, we resumed lateral development activities in the lower levels of the underground, which sets us to resume development of the DECLA in this quarter. With improved access to the lower levels, exploration drilling from one drill rig was also be able to recommence in panel three during the quarter, with two more rigs planned to mobilize in quarter two. Regional drilling also continued during the quarter at True Blue, an area of known mineralization 800 meters northeast of DDPO to evaluate the lateral extent of the mineralization. And as released during the quarter, the updated technical report for DDPO demonstrated stable production and a mine life extension to 2037, reinforcing the long-term value of this low-cost, high free cash flow asset. I will now turn the call back to Jared.

Thank you, Bhuvanesh.

So in summary, the first quarter was a strong start to what we expect to be an outstanding year for Oceana Gold. We are committed to safely and responsibly delivering on our 2026 guidance. with an increase in gold production and a decrease in oil and sustaining costs as the year progresses. We expect to continue to generate strong free cash flow and maintain a healthy balance sheet, with the current gold price environment providing meaningful upside to our cash generation potential. It's great to be able to share today that we have already begun development of the tunnel towards the Ferrochiro Poma ore body. and we expect to continue to make significant progress on this exciting growth project during the course of the year. We've already demonstrated results of our exploration spend this year with outstanding results at Faro Care Apartment, and we look forward to sharing more results from our programs across the portfolio in due course. Our focus remains on creating long-term, sustainable value for our shareholders, with the 2026 position to deliver another year of strong shareholder returns through our increased dividends and share buybacks. Lastly, I just want to recognise the tremendous efforts of the many great people who work at Oceana Gold with a strong start to the year. Our first quarter results reflect their hard work, their operating discipline, and I want to thank everyone that works at Oceana Gold for their efforts in delivering that. I'll now turn the call over to the operator and open up the line to take any questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, should you have a question, please press star followed by one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to remove your hand from the queue, please press star followed by two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. Just a moment for your first question. And your first question comes from Owais Habib with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Operator. Hi, Gerard and Oceana Gold team. Congrats to you and your team on a solid free cash flow that was generated in Q1, and also the commencement of the underground decline at Parapanga. Amazing advancement on that front, so congrats on that. A couple of questions from me. Just starting off, so in the MD&A and at the beginning of this call, you provided good detail on the diesel hedging program, as well as the sensitivity of the diesel price on ASIC. So thank you for that. Marius, are you seeing any sort of issues with getting reagents or explosives to the New Zealand and Philippines sites? And can you give us any sort of color on stockpiles currently at site as well?

Hi, Ovis.

So a couple of things there. So we've got a weekly process where we review our stock and our supplies. Right now, we're not seeing any other issues, especially in the explosive side. We are managing our diesel and the diesel supply side is also manageable right now. Also from a storage capacity perspective, we're managing that through our sites. So from our perspective right now, not any issues to be aware of.

Excellent. Thanks for that, Maurice. And then just moving on to hail, you talked about, you know, due to weather, you accelerated waste stripping at the snake pit. Is this going to have any sort of impact on the ASIC guidance for hail that you provided? I believe it's between 15 and $7,900 an ounce.

I'll take that, Marius. I mean, it's certainly, we've had the effect of, increasing our production stripping or our waste stripping I should say for hail but nothing that is outside the guidance range yet. If we deliver strongly on our production we expect to remain inside the guidance range but probably in the top half of it.

Okay thanks for that Gerard. And just moving on to McRae's, you mentioned that there's a potential to extend mine life beyond 2040s. Are you seeing any potential on expanding existing pits, underground opportunities? Can you give us a little bit more color on this upside?

You want to take that one, Bhuvanesh?

Yeah, sure. McRae's continues to basically be a star in this nice gold prices environment as well. The pit extensions, there are all kinds of pit extensions, but primarily the Innes Mills pits, which can extend post 9, 10, and 11. The Coronation North, which is 6 and 7, the Golden Bar, and then we will do the Golden Point underground extensions as well as a result of that. So it's a combination of all of those items that probably extends the mine life into 2040s.

And Bhuvanesh, thanks a lot for that. When would you start providing additional color on that and kind of showcasing to the market that, you know, that's actually the case?

We're currently in the feasibility study as well. So we expect that to be finished sometime next year as well. And, you know, post that, we would probably have the technical report ready to show that to the market.

Awesome. Thanks, Bhuvanesh. And, Jirag, that's it from me.

Thanks for taking my questions. Thank you, everybody.

Your next question comes from Fahad Tariq with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. Exploration is clearly a key focus this year. When should we expect the next set of exploration results, specifically at WKP?

Thanks, Fahad. Yeah, you're right. I mean, we expect to put out regular results for each of the sites because we have increased the spend at each site. We only put out results for WKP in the last fortnight, so it'll be a little while before you get the next lot, but of course, as and when we get great drill core that warrants it to come out, we do. The next exploration update will likely be in respect of one of the other assets rather than WKP. You should expect one to two more over the course of this year in relation to WKP, given the density and the stellar results we get from it.

Okay, great. And then maybe one for Mary. It's just the cash on the balance sheet has grown so quickly. What is the minimum cash you'd like to maintain on the balance sheet? I guess it's a good problem to have, but what is the use of the excess cash beyond the buyback target?

Thanks, Fahad. We actually don't have a minimum cash target right now. I think that capital allocation framework will guide us. We've been very consistent in it and very clear. And we have a sizeable growth project that we're busy with. So we're comfortable that we can manage that growth in capital.

Okay.

That's a tough one, that too. I mean, if we put out a 350 buyback program, last year we started the year with a $100 million share buyback program. And as we delivered strongly into and through the year, we upsized it to 175 and executed that in full. So Marius is right. We don't have a minimum, but obviously if we continue to build cash and absent any other use inside the business or outside the business. We're not just going to build cash continually. You could expect that if we face that scenario, the opportunity exists to increase dividends and or buybacks.

Okay, great. And then maybe just that last point that you mentioned on opportunities outside the business. On M&A, which maybe is not a priority right now, or maybe it is, but just thoughts on the criteria that you would be looking at broadly.

Yeah, well, the number one criteria is that we can generate value from the activity. I mean, we have a diversified portfolio, each of which has, presently, each of which has growth optionality. We have growth options across the spectrum from early stage to mature. So we don't feel the imperative to have to do, but we do have a team that looks. So criteria number one, got to create value for our shareholders. Invariably, that's going to mean that there's some form of resource or exploration upside and or the ability to operate the asset better and or apply some kind of knowledge advantage that we have. We said in the past that the areas that we're looking at geographically would be the three areas that we currently operate in, USA, Philippines, New Zealand, and Australia and Canada. So that's quite a a large sandpit for us to look at. And I think as the cash balance has got stronger, it's certainly given us a great opportunity to be able to be active at any stage of the development spectrum, early stage, mid stage or operating assets. So we've got a lot of flexibility, a lot of opportunity inside of that geographic remit. But the number one criteria is Are we confident that we're going to create value for OCEANA Gold shareholders?

Thank you very much. Thank you Farhad.

Your next question comes from Bryce Adams with Desjardins Securities. Please go ahead.

Good morning all and thanks for the update. I wanted to ask on WKP and the potential timeline there. Great to see that underground development has commenced. I assume not far in from the portal. Can you comment how far the face has advanced so far? And I mean, that's a bit of a micro question, but thinking longer term, if first ore is still 2032, are there opportunities to bring that forward or it's just a long slug to the ore body?

I wouldn't call it a long slug. It's an exciting journey towards this world-class ore body, Bryce. I think we're about 10 to 12 meters in. Bovenus can be precise. And one of the opportunities that we have, and it's worth reminding that we did have a, as part of our permit, a allowable doubling of drill pads and doubling of drill rigs that we can apply to this drilling. So you can expect to see us have more exploration results come to market. As we journey from the portal, the six or so Ks to the ore body, we have some targets along the way that of known mineralization that we could potentially source. And obviously, within the corridor of the mine permit, if we find gold along the way, and this is a super geologically rich district, the potential does exist for us to find gold along the way. But the main prize is to get to the known ore body as fast as we can. Excitingly, and this is why I started the exploration I mean, the ore body has migrated closer. Well, it hasn't actually migrated. Our understanding of the ore body has brought it a half a kilometre closer to the portal as a result of exploration spend. So, you know, over the course of the coming years, you can expect that we will update the mine plan to reflect the ore body understanding as we've advanced it. And, you know, because it is a linear process,

journey um you know we you know there is the potential uh to get there sooner as a result of that all body being closer to the portal uh relative to the original expectation thanks for that yeah i was going to ask about underground drilling from wnp um like you obviously you can't do it too close to the active face i mean what's the timeline to using that underground development as a as an exploration platform could that be this year or is it more likely next year

Well, it's probably more likely next year. We've got to get down, and again, Bill Van Esch can supplement after I finish talking with the precise time. We've got to get down about 200 or 300 odd metres to the start of the core twin decline to the ore body. And it's along that pathway, we're unconstrained to drill off to the sides, provided we stay inside the mine permit, which is a sizable area. Bhuvanesh, when do we get down to the twin decline proper?

I think mid-next year we would probably be in a situation where we would be roughly 70, 80 metres in from the twin decline, which is where when we turn right towards the overbody. So mid-next year we would have some opportunities to probably put some drill caddies there and then start exploring from those caddies as well. There are some known mineralisation areas around Vahari Kiki, around Arama areas, which are in and around those pieces. And remember, there is some old mines in there as well, which had some known mineralization from that area can also be explored as well. So mid next year is what we are expecting, hopefully even earlier than that.

Okay. Thanks for all that. And thanks for the face advance. I think you said 10 to 12 meters. Is that something that you would plan on reporting on in the next quarter updates and on a go forward basis?

I guess so. I mean, it's our number one growth project. We like to, you know, we're, you know, pleasing. As Bhuvanesh mentioned, you know, we've mobilised quickly. We've done an enormous amount of work. And, yeah, it's one measure. Hopefully, Bryce, we can match that metres advance with, you know, some further drill results just to, again, I think daylight the value of this ore body.

Thanks so much. I appreciate all of that. Congrats.

Thank you. Thanks, Bryce.

Your next question comes from Don DeMarco with National Bank. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, OGC team. So, some of the questions have already been asked, but looking at your capital return program, certainly the theme this year is harvesting free cash flow and a couple standout quarters in Q2, Q4 coming up. With your cap returns, are you looking to execute this opportunistically, balance it evenly throughout the year, or maybe lean into some of the heavy free cash flow quarters?

Thanks, Don. I mean, if last year's any guide, it was roughly 40-60 split in terms of the buyback. We want to, whilst we're confident of delivering on our guidance and so forth, the allocation should be of cash that has been generated. So as we get further through the year and as the results are proven to be stronger, that's when we probably amp it up. We give instructions to the broker to buy and just sit back and operate pursuant to that. Obviously, we're not buying in closed periods and the like. So we're fairly systematic. And even, as you saw, we did $77 million in the first quarter alone, which is entirely in line with that cadence I spoke of. Okay, great.

That's all from me, and good luck with the rest of the quarter. Thank you, Don.

Your next question comes from Cosmos Chu with CIBC. Please go ahead.

Hi, thanks, Jared and team. And maybe my first question is on your full year guidance. If I work out the math, you know, you're running at about 23% for the full year in terms of sustaining CapEx, 34% in terms of deferred and capitalized stripping, 16% in terms of growth, and then 19% in terms of exploration. So to sum it up, you're slightly less than a quarter, less than 25% on growth CapEx and exploration, more than 25% on deferred. You kind of talked about that in your prepared remarks, but I guess to sum it up, is that to your expectations in terms of what you've kind of chewed through in Q1?

Thanks, Coles.

I mean, as Bhuvanesh said, as a result of particularly cold weather, we pivoted the stripping into snake pit, which elevated it. The actual dollars out the door from our mining activity in cash terms was unchanged. It's just because at the top of snake, you've just got a higher strip ratio. So you take more of that to your ARC charge. But it's, you know, it's, as I said, no higher level of cash than what it would have been had we done, you know, the stripping in Leadbetter. So, yeah, by definition, it's a little more, Peter Allcroft- The stripping than than we intended, but it was a Bayou decision and the right decision on a multi year basis to to deploy the equipment and people that we had to do the activity that we could, given the weather conditions. But, you know, as we said, you know, we expect the later quarters to be stronger with the profile that we said, you know, the second and fourth in particular, and that, you know, just combined with the fact that we're otherwise well on track, we expect that number, the AIC, to pull inside, you know, the guidance range.

Yeah, and how about the growth capex? You're running at about 16% year-to-date or in Q1. That's sort of as expected.

Yeah, in short, nearly always in growth capital, we mobilized heavily, for example, at WKP in the quarter. But obviously now that we're into the decline, that will increase at a stronger linear clip on a quarterly basis. And we've got other works that we're doing now. as we hope to show with photographs and the like over coming quarters. But no, we expect our growth capital to be in line with guidance by the end of the year. Great.

I ask these questions to kind of show you that I can do math. But talking about mathematics, if I were to take what you repurchased in shares in Q1, $77 million, it does not annualize to $350 million. Jared, as you mentioned, that's in line with your kind of internal cadence, but was it due to blackouts in Q1? Was it due to your technical reports that were gonna get reported in Q1? And so you have blackout periods, was it due to pricing? Why was it less than a quarter's worth?

Yeah, all of the above. And as I said, 40, 60, was the pattern and we want to have earned it before we spend it. Our total returns, dividends and buybacks are just under 40% of our free cash flow for the period. But as I said, as we deliver more, we expect to amp that up more. But you're right, we had some big news items, whether they were the expiration results, the tech reports, you know, it's probably a shorter quarter in which to buy relative to other quarters for the year.

Yeah. And maybe one last question. Congrats on getting listed on the NYSE. It's been a month now, I think exactly a month. Has, you know, that listing met your expectations in terms of what you've set out to accomplish?

Short answer, yes. We're early days into it, Cos. If I look at yesterday's numbers, we had a million shares traded on the various Canadian exchanges and we had 100,000 shares traded on the NYSE. So what's that? A shade under 10% of the total. It has grown progressively. We did have one day earlier in the first week or so when it was a quarter of all trading. We understand and we look at the journey that others have taken to get the volumes up. It's gradual. It's not immediate. But I am very pleased with the steady uptick in volumes of traded since we listed. Very happy. It's only been a month.

Great. Thanks, Jared. I'll see you next week. I'm looking forward to the mine tour, and I assume that you'll be there. Thanks, Jared.

Thank you, Klaus. Appreciate it.

Your next question comes from Harrison Reynolds with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, Ocean and Gold team, and congratulations on a solid quarter. I wanted to dig into the hail outlook a little bit more. I believe you outlined a target of approximately 60,000 ounces of production in Q2, and wondering if you could provide some detail around that target, your sort of comfort on it, and, you know, what that, you know, maybe a range, you know, around 60,000, is that plus or minus 5%, or, you know, what would you anticipate, you know, the range to be?

Well, around $60,000 is what we put in the MD&A, Harrison. I'll let Bhuvanesh colour in the drivers of it. I think there's no point in us being more specific than what we've articulated. Bhuvanesh, do you want to talk about what's driving that uptick in the quarter?

Sure. So the ore sources, as I said, is from two places. We continue to basically mine in the lead beta-3. So that's the first ore source. And the second ore source, which is probably to be the bigger driver in quarter two comes from the underground high grade stops as well which is from one of our levels which is the 850 level uh which we which is what is going to be supplementing uh the grade that we would basically be seeing which then translates into into the ounces as well so those are the two primary drivers that probably continue to uh you know lift uh the pro ounce profile that we see both in quarter two and then uh step up in quarter three And then, you know, it's pretty similar range in quarter four is what we will basically see in quarter two as well. So that ends up the year with the guidance that we have provided.

Understood. Yeah, I know it's a fairly specific target. And, you know, so just wanted to understand sort of the drivers a bit more. And also wondering, you know, is this something that you're going to continue to provide? I think it's the last couple of quarters now you've provided kind of a one quarter ahead outlook at FAO.

I think when we have a really good site of the O sources, we always do that, and then providing a quarter ahead is probably we have been getting really good at it as well, so that is something that we always aspire for.

In addition to having the confidence, Harrison, Hale is our largest producer. It's 45% of guidance this year. It was lighter in the first quarter. We just wanted to give investors the confidence for all the reasons that Bhubanesh said that we had a basis for being able to say what it is going to be in the next quarter and to give people the comfort that we have line aside of all that's going to deliver it.

Yeah, I always appreciate the extra disclosures, so thank you, and good to see the confidence. Thanks, Harrison.

There are currently no more questions on the phone. I'd like to turn the call over to Rebecca Hanary in case there are questions on the web. No questions on the web. Thank you, operator.

Okay, I think that leaves it to me. So that concludes our webcast and conference call. A replay will be available on our website later today. On behalf of the management team and everyone at Oceana Gold, thanks for joining us today, and we wish you a very pleasant rest of the day. Bye for now.

This concludes today's conference call. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.