Kellogg Company Price & Performance (K)

Thank you and good morning. With us today, we have Paul Rollinson, CEO and from the Kinross Senior Leadership Andrea Freeborough, Claude Schimper, Will Dunford and Jeff Gold. For a complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties which may lead to actual results differing from estimates contained in our forward looking information, pretty easily refer to Page three of this presentation, our news release dated February 12, 2025, the MD and A for the period ended 12/31/2024, and our most recently filed AIF all of which are available on our website. I will now turn the call over to Paul. Thanks, David, and thank you all for joining us. This morning, I will provide an overview of our fourth quarter and full year results. Highlight our operations, projects and provide an outlook for the business going forward and make a few comments on our achievements in sustainability.

I will then hand the call over to Andrea Claude and Will provide more detail. With respect to Q4, we delivered a strong quarter producing just over 500,000 ounces.

With respect to the full year, once again, we achieved our market commitments delivering over 2,100,000 ounces. We also delivered on our full year cost of sales and all in sustaining cost guide which demonstrates our strong focus on rigorous cost discipline As a result, we generated record free cash flow of more than $1,300,000,000 which more than doubled against the prior year. This record cash flow generation also benefited from strong operating margin which outpaced the relative increase in the gold price. Our operating margins increased by 37% compared to a 23% increase in the realized gold price maximizing the benefit of the gold price for our company. With respect to our operations, our two largest assets Tasiast and Paricutu were both standouts. Together, accounting for approximately 1,200,000 ounces for more than half of our production. Tasi has had an exceptional year delivering record annual throughput, production and cash flow and once again was our highest margin operation in the portfolio. Perrigotia delivered a full year production exceeding the midpoint of guidance and exceeding 500,000 ounces for the seventh consecutive year. At La Coipa, we delivered our full year production guidance as work continues on long term optimization of the mill.

At our U. S. Operations, had another solid year with production and costs on plan. Turning now to updates on our projects. In 2024, we continue to make excellent progress across our pipeline. In particular, we reached an important milestone at Great Bear with the release of the PEA in September.

With the PEA, we have confirmed the top tier potential of this asset with estimated average annual production of approximately 500,000 ounces at an impressive all in sustaining cost of approximately $800 per ounce.

On the Great Bear advanced exploration program, we have received all the necessary permits for our current activities And we expect to receive the two remaining permits when they are required later in the year. The yearly works activities including tree clearing, and earthworks commenced prior to year end and construction of the exploration decline is planned to commence later this year. Regarding permitting for the main project, we continue to work with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and we plan to file the Impact Statement later this year. At Round Mountain, underground development at Phase X is progressing well. With over 3,300 meters developed to date, and 21 kilometers of drilling completed last year, As outlined in our news release, we are continuing to see strong exploration results from Phase X reaffirming our vision for a high productivity, low cost underground mining operation At Bald Mountain, we have unlocked additional value from the approximate 4,000,000 ounce resource base with the conversion of nearly 1,000,000 ounces into reserves, This conversion marks an important first step in extending the mine life evolved where we now see a strong case to proceed, with initial mining at the Redbird Pit. We are proceeding with a disciplined approach expecting that Redbird could ultimately extend production from Bald through 02/1931.

Will is going to discuss more on this opportunity later. We also continue to advance work on and Lobo Marte in Chile. Before moving to our outlook, I'd like to comment on our year end reserve and resource pricing update. Given the stronger prevailing gold price environment, we have revised our gold price assumptions which aligns with industry peers. Our reserves are now determined on a $1,600 a ounce gold price and our resources on a $2,000 per ounce gold price. Although our price assumptions have moved higher, we are not planning to reduce the cutoff grades to our mills. As our focus remains on maintaining strong margins. Moving to our outlook, we are reaffirming our stable multiyear production profile Production of 2,000,000 ounces for 2025 remains consistent in our previous guidance. As previously guided, based on mine plan sequencing, production from Tasiast will be lower this year and Paracatu remains on track to deliver higher production this year. Looking to 2026, our production outlook of 2,000,000 ounces remains consistent with previous guidance We are introducing a new year of production of 2,000,000 ounces for 2027. Beyond 2027, we expect production to remain around 2,000,000 ounces through the end of the decade.

Maintaining production at this level will be based on future production from our pipeline of project opportunities. Which include Redbird extensions have fall, open pit extensions at La Coipa SpaceX underground at Roud, currently in Washington State, and Great Bear to round out the decade. We will continue to advance these initiatives and we plan to update you on our progress as we move forward. In 2024, we prioritized debt repayment and we have now fully repaid our $1,000,000,000 term loan. Our quarterly dividend remains in place as our baseline return of capital. In the current gold price environment, our business is generating significant cash flow. And if this current gold price holds, we are planning to return additional capital to shareholders later this year in the form of a share buyback. Andrea will speak more on this shortly. I'd like to comment on some of our achievements since In 2024, we once again demonstrated strong commitment to sustainability by operating responsibly and advancing our strategy across this important area. In May, will publish our 2024 sustainability report which will provide a detailed review on our sustainability performance and initiatives throughout the year. Some highlights from this past year include completing more than 15 energy efficiency projects across the portfolio placing us on track to achieve a 30% reduction in emissions intensity by 02/1930.

We provided flood relief aid to communities in Brazil and Mauritania We received a sustainability award from the Canadian Council for the Americas and we were the top scoring gold company and top 10% overall in the Global Mail's Annual Corporate Governance Survey. Lastly, I'd like to take a moment to thank Katherine McLeod Seltzer for her significant contributions to Kinross and the Board, over her twenty year directorship with Kinross. Catherine has been an independent board member since 02/2005 and Chair of the Board since 2019, Catherine will be retiring from her role at our AGM in May and we are pleased to announce Kelly Osborne, will take on Catherine's previous role of Independent Chair. With that, will now turn the call over to Andrea. Thanks, Paul.

This morning, I will review our financial highlights from the quarter and full year, provide an overview of our balance sheet and our capital allocation plans, and discuss our guidance and outlook. As Paul noted, we delivered production in line with guidance in 2024.

Full year attributable production was 2,130,000 ounces, with production of 501,000 ounces in the fourth quarter.

Q4 sales of 518,000 ounces were slightly above Cost of sales of $10.96 dollars per ounce and all in sustaining cost of $15.10 dollars per ounce in the fourth quarter were higher compared to the prior quarter as expected mainly due to lower planned production from Tasiast and Paracatu. Full year cost of sales of $21 per ounce and full year all in sustaining costs of $13.88 dollars per ounce, were also in line with guidance. Margins were strong at $15.67 dollars per ounce sold in Q4 and $13.72 dollars per ounce for the full year. Our adjusted earnings were $0.2 per share in Q4 and $0.68 per share for the full year.

Adjusted operating cash flow was $614,000,000 in [indiscernible] approximately $2,100,000,000 for the full year. Attributable CapEx was $279,000,000 in Q4 and $1,050,000,000 for the full year in line with full year guidance, Attributable free cash flow was a record $34,000,000 in Q4 and was also a record $1,340,000,000 Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the year with $612,000,000 in cash and approximately $2,300,000,000 of total liquidity. We repaid an impressive $800,000,000 against our and after making a subsequent repayment of $200,000,000 our $1,000,000,000 term loan has now been fully repaid. We have now fully paid for the acquisition of Great Bear on just the third anniversary with fewer shares outstanding than prior to the transaction.

Over the last twenty four months, we have reduced our net debt by approximately $1,400,000,000 and our net debt to EBITDA from 1.7 times to 0.3 times as of year end. Our business is generating strong cash flow in the current gold price environment and with the term loan now fully repaid, we're well positioned to consider additional return of capital for our shareholders. We are in the process of renewing our NCIB, and based on recent gold prices, we expect to initiate a share buyback program later this year. As typical for us, we expect Q1 to be a cash outflow quarter. In addition to the $200,000,000 term loan repayment that we made in February, We also have our annual income tax payments in Brazil and now Mauritania and our semi annual interest payments As such, we'll provide an update on return of capital plans with our Q1 results in May. Turning to our guidance and outlook. As Paul noted, we're forecasting production in the range of 2,000,000 ounces for 2020 remaining consistent with previous guidance. For costs, we're guiding $11.20 dollars per ounce for cost of sales and $1,500 per ounce for ASICs. Cost of sales ASIC are both up approximately 10% compared with 2024.

The expected increase is driven by three factors: which mainly includes structural changes to our portfolio this year. First, production guidance of 2,000,000 ounces relative to 2,100,000 ounces last year resulting in a denominator impact on our fixed costs and on sustaining capital in the case of all in sustaining costs. Second, with a lower planned contribution from Tassius this year, we will see a smaller benefit from our lowest cost mine. Last, modest overall cost inflation of 3% to 4%. Our capital expenditure guidance of $1,150,000,000 for 2025 reflects annual inflation and planned higher capital spend as we continue to advance Great Bear. Approximately $615,000,000 of our total CapEx is expected to be non sustaining. Looking ahead to 2026, our production guidance of 2,000,000 ounces remains unchanged from our guidance update last year. Beyond 2026, we have introduced another year of production guidance of 2,000,000 ounces for 2020 in line with 2025 and 2026. Subject to ongoing inflation, in 2026 and 2027 in order to continue to bring projects within our pipeline into production. I'll now turn the call over to Claude to discuss our operations. Thank you, Andrea.

In the fourth quarter, we officially launched our health and safety brand, [indiscernible] And commence work on establishing Safe Ground leadership development programs that will be tailored and delivered to four specific groups: Executives, Managers, frontline supervisors, and operators. In 2024, our operations delivered on our full year production and cost guidance. And we are encouraged to see our culture of operational excellence continue to drive strong results from our operations. Production of 501,000 ounces in the fourth quarter Starting with Tasiast, the mine delivered record throughput, production and cash flow. Record full year production of 622,000 ounces at an impressive cost of sales of $681 pounds drove record free cash flow from our lowest cost operation. In the fourth quarter, DASIS delivered production of 139,000 ounces at a cost of sales of $725 an ounce.

Production was lower over the prior quarter Production at Tasiast is expected to be lower in 2025 as mine continues transitioning into lower grades. As is expected to deliver 500,000 ounces, with the target cost of sales of $860 per ounce, and is expected to be our lowest cost operation once again this year. Parika 2 delivered another strong year. With production of 529,000 ounces exceeding the midpoint of guidance, The cost of sales of $10.39 dollars pounds which was below the midpoint of guidance. Into higher grades in the fourth quarter. Reduction of 124,000 ounces was lower over the prior quarter. As stronger grades were offset by lower throughput resulting from the timing of some mill maintenance, and mine sequencing. Production at Barricka 2 is expected to be higher and costs lower this year as mining continues within the higher grade portion of the fed. Paraglut II is expected to produce 585,000 ounces at a cost of sales of $10.25 dollars per ounce in 2025. At La Coipa, fourth quarter production of approximately 59,000 ounces improved over the prior quarter on stronger mill throughput. Which offset lower grades, Full year production of two forty thousand ounces was in line with guidance.

The site team continues to manage throughput while long term mill optimization initiatives are being implemented. [indiscernible] anticipated to produce 230,000 ounces at a cost of sales of $10.60 dollars per ounce in 2025.

Moving to our U. S. Operations year as expected Following the start of production from Manchow, early in the third quarter, Collectively, The U. S. Sites delivered full year production of 731,000 ounces at a cost of sales $13.13 dollars pounds which was in line with guidance.

Production of 179,000 ounces in the final quarter was on plan. In Alaska, fourth quarter production of 92,000 ounces was lower compared to the prior quarter.

And cost of sales of $13.20 dollars pounds was higher due to the timing of the processing of the Manchow ore. At Bald Mountain, we produced 45,000 ounces at a cost of sales of $11.44 dollars per ounce. And production was in line over the prior quarter our costs were slightly lower due to the timing of sales. At Brown Mountain, production of 43,000 ounces was in line compared to the prior quarter. Cost of sales of $17.64 dollars per ounce was higher due to the accounting of higher cost ounces from the leach pads. Mining at the Phase S Open Pit remains on schedule with initial production expected to begin in the second half of the year With that, I'll now pass the call over to William to discuss our projects. Thanks, Claude.

We've just released our annual reserve and resource. I'd like to start out by providing that update and then I'll discuss the growth projects that sit in our resource and underpin our potential future production profile.

We are currently in a phase where we are focused on drilling and developing our earlier stage Higher grade growth projects like Great Bear, Phase X, Lobo Marte and Curleau. As a result, the majority of our additions year came in the inferred category where we saw a 1,700,000 ounce increase.

We did also see some additions in the M and I category, which were largely offset by conversion of 1,000,000 ounces out of M and I into reserve at Balmain.

We have updated our reserve and resource gold price assumptions.

From $1,400 to $1,600 and from 1,700 to 2,000 respectively.

The intention of this was to be more reflective of the current gold price environment.

With the increase in our gold price, are taking a balanced approach and our objective was not to drop cut off grades to grow resources. Instead, we are focused on margin and quality of our resource additions to extend our mine lives and bring on higher grade growth projects. As you can see by the overall increase in resource grade. To that end, you can see on this slide an overview of the significant resource optionality for both mine life extensions at our existing mines and new production from growth projects.

With 26,000,000 ounces in M and I, and another 13,000,000 ounces in inferred. These resources form the pipeline of potential opportunities that we are progressing to support our production profile through the end of the decade and into the 2030s. This slide gives an indication of the level of study of these opportunities. We have our base case which includes reserves and already approved projects, and provides the production in our guidance window through 2027. Second, we have several growth projects at an advanced stage of study that offer potential to add production both through the end of the decade and beyond into the 30s. And third, we have several opportunities within our project pipeline that are at an earlier stage of study and offer potential to contribute to our 2030s production profile. We remain excited about our internal prospects which are further augmented by today's strong gold price and we will continue to maintain a disciplined approach progressing these projects into our production profile with a focus on margin and return. Old Mountain offers a recent example of bringing these pipeline into our production profile. In mid-twenty twenty four, we received our permits for the Juniper package and on the back of this, we have converted approximately 1,000,000 ounces of resource to reserve in the Redbird Pit.

We have split Redbird into two phases, We have improved and already started mining Phase one which contains 270,000 ounces and will take production into 2028.

Phase two containing approximately 690,000 ounces of M and I could begin in 2026 and extend production from Bald Mountain through 02/1931. This phased approach lowers the initial CapEx and risk and pulls forward earlier production from Phase one into 2027 while we continue to optimize our design execution plan, [indiscernible] The initial CapEx of $120,000,000 for Phase one is primarily pre stripping costs as Phase one leverages the existing leach pad capacity thereby minimizing our initial capital risk. Project has an all in sustaining cost of $1,500 per ounce and a strong return at today's gold price. We also continue to focus on additional optionality at Bald Mountain outside of Redbird including looking at small satellite pit opportunities that could be combined with Redbird two. At Tasiast, we have completed a new mine plan on the back of the 2024 reserve update. As this production over the next three years is expected to be lower driven by mine plan sequencing and lower milled grades as we focus on stripping West Branch 5.

It has been a focus for the Tazius team to increase production in the '25 through '27 window through operational improvements, design optimizations, and unlocking satellite opportunities. This work has added approximately 100,000 ounces over this three year period as compared to the mine plan update we provided in 2023.

Optimization at Tasiast is ongoing with additional satellite opportunities being evaluated. Studies to explore underground potential are also progressing with recent drilling at West Branch intersecting wide mineralization 700 meters down plunge of the existing resource. Moving from our operations to our growth projects, the Curlou team has been successful in adding high quality resources over the last couple of years. Further enhancing the potential of the project. As part of our year end resource update, we are pleased to report a high grade resource addition at Kerlib.

This is the addition of 125,000 ounces at nine grams per tonne [indiscernible] which continues to be open both along strike and Not only are we seeing strong grades in its own, but it's also coming in at a very bit mineable width averaging just over five meters.

This focus on high grade extension itself will continue in 2025 with an expanded drill program target further extensions at depth.

Now shifting focus to Phase X, where development and drilling continues to progress well, We have now expanded drilling into the upper zone of the exploration target. And you can see the results continue to support our thesis of a bulk underground operation in the range of three to four grams per tonne. Providing potential for higher margin supplemental production at Rail Mountain.

In 2025, we will be completing our initial infill drilling program and we anticipate the release of an initial underground resource with our twenty five year end resource update, At Grey Bear, early works construction for advanced exploration commenced in November.

As can be seen on the slide, tree clearing is now complete and earthworks for excavation for the exploration infrastructure has commenced. We are excited to have broken ground are focused on progressing civil works and permitting over the coming quarters to allow us to start the exploration decline later this year. Moving to the broader exploration update, our team had another strong campaign in 2024. With approximately three twenty kilometers of drilling completed across Minax, Brownfields and Greenfields. As detailed in our press release, program produced notable results across several locations.

We provided an update on Great Bear back in September highlighting the successful addition of over 500,000 ounces of high grade inferred resource at depth and the strong results of our PEA. We also highlighted the drilling at depths below the PEA inventory and resource that demonstrates the significant upside potential for further resource additions. Following the success of this 2024 drilling, and the results of the PEA, they've shifted our focus at Great Barrier to regional exploration work on the 120 square kilometer land package.

We've already provided updates on Kirlu and Phase X, so I will move on to our other U. S. Assets.

At Fort Knox, the program focused on two main areas: growth around the Fort Knox pit and around the Gilside We saw some good intercepts across both areas indicating potential for additional mill feed and this work will be followed up on in 2025. At Bold Mountain, with near term mine extensions established, through the approval of Redbird One, the 2025 exploration campaign will focus on conversion of the inferred resource in Redbird two and on generative projects, At Tasiast, we added 110,000 ounce to reserves in 2024 through the addition of the Fenyx Satellite Pet.

Exploration in 2025 will focus on further expanding mineralization at the underground target and drilling out additional satellite pit opportunities on the wider land package. Moving to Chile, our Brownfields program further delineated Porfrid mineralization and in 2025, we will follow-up on these results and also progress exploration of known trends on the La Coipa license.

In Brazil, our brownfields program focused on testing targets along the Northwest Corridor from Perix 2 with results showing similar style and grade of mineralization [indiscernible] Moving to our Greenfields program, approximately 45 kilometers of drilling was completed on targets located in Canada, The U. S. And Finland. In Manitoba, our drilling at Laguna continued to define high grade sheer hosted vein systems And in 2025, we will focus on increasing the critical mass of mineralization to support further work. In Nevada, drilling was completed across several prospective properties with potential for Carlin and low sulfidation gold mineralization. This drilling included an initial diamond drill hole at the PWC JV project in September, which successfully intersected lower plate carbonates associated with the Cortez District at depth. In Finland, we progressed both base of tilt drilling for target delineation and follow-up diamond drilling, which showed some high grade intercepts at Long East. In Finland, we will follow-up on these successes in 2025 and continue our exploration of this under explored greenstone belt.

Overall, we are encouraged with our success identifying and progressing earlier stage opportunities such as SpaceX, Curlou and Great Bear. I will now turn it back to Paul for closing remarks.

Thanks, Will. After delivering on our commitments in 2024, we are well positioned for a successful 2025. Our business is in great shape both operationally and financially, with a number of key milestones for the year ahead. Including repayment of our term loan, pre stripping at Redbird, advancing permitting across Great Bear, Kerlu, La Coipa and Lobo Marte advancing exploration decline infrastructure at Great Bear reinstating our share buyback plan, initial production from Phase S satellite mining at Fanaat and an anticipated year end resource at Phase X. In summary, we are excited about our future. We have a strong production profile We're generating significant free cash flow We have an excellent balance sheet We have an attractive dividend and plan on returning additional capital we have an exciting pipeline of both exploration and development opportunities We are very proud of our commitment to responsible mining that continues to make us a leader in sustainability. With that operator, I'd like to open up the line for questions. All right. Thank you. And we will now begin the question and answer session. Your first question comes from the line of Mike Parkin with National Bank. Please go ahead.

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question.

Great presentation really like Slide twenty and twenty one there in terms of all the upside you've got that you're working on. So looking forward to updates there.

Just a question on Kinross, this is a task, it's operationally of the fourth quarter.

How many days was that shutdown Hi, good morning, Mike. It's Claude. Yes, we did a shutdown for about four to five days. We did some relining stuff and changing some belts and things. So [indiscernible] And from a production point of view, because we entered into the lower grade section, which was in anticipation of this year going forward, We still maintained our throughput. [indiscernible] Yes, that's what I was kind of getting at, because like when I just for that. On eighty seven operating days, you're over 25,000 tons per day. So it's like the second consecutive quarter. You're not quite 10% above nameplate, but consistently kind of hitting above the target What's kind of driving that? Is that just you've got some spare capacity in the front of the circuit that you're utilizing and do you see that kind of continuing going forward?

And what was the baseline assumption in terms of throughput for guidance?

Yes, Mike, all of that is as planned. Order to do an average of 24,000 a day, you need to do some days at 53,000 So we're well within the nameplate. It's really just about our ability to use our CI initiatives and all of these things to have more and longer extended runs at a higher rate. So we had a a tremendous quarter in terms of throughput and as I said, we went to lower grade, the production was slightly down. But we're well set up and we've started the year very strongly as well now. Given that we've taken the opportunity to maintain when we could.

Okay. And in terms of the limiting factor there is are you more mill constrained or pig constrained in terms of getting or either out of the pit or the mill.

And I think the ultimate constraint is the plant, because we've got some stockpiles And as we manage through from Phase four at the bottom of the pit now going into Phase five stripping, we will balance production through stockpiles and mine performance Ultimately, we've designed this plan to run an average of 24,000. There will be times that we average slightly above that and other times slightly below, but after some tough years and we're pushing the boundaries and the limits and we constantly learn more about the plant and how certain things behave. And it will be a balance of make sure sure we maintain our recovery levels We don't push the tons too hard to then start losing on recover. Okay.

And then switching over to the exploration side of things in the reserve and resources, the underground at Round Mountain you keep hitting these really high grade structures How is that being kind of captured in the reported reserves and resources with respect to where is your capping grid that app. What you're reporting versus like what you're kind of realizing at the drill bit.

Yes, we don't have an underground reserve or resource. At Phase Act at Round Mountain yet. The resources on the books and reserves are all open pit. We're hoping after this infill drilling that we're doing now, that's the reason we're doing it is to get an initial underground resource out at the end of the year this year. With our annual update. [indiscernible] in the high grade Okay.

Yes, because you can I think I remember you guys guided the market kind of three to four grams historically in terms of where the underground could kind of [indiscernible] The feeling that's maybe a bit conservative given the consistent [indiscernible] putting in the market? [indiscernible] [indiscernible] We don't want to get ahead of ourselves and that is why we're doing the drill drilling. And you can see on Slide 25 and what we released that we've got a pretty extensive table on the right hand side that shows all of the drilling in that upper right portion of the exploration target. And you can see there both the wider intervals and the narrower intervals with the higher grade highlights. We want to get the bigger resource and we want to get the bulkier deposits you can see a more representative idea of the grade in those wider intervals. And we do still see it being in that three to four gram That's ultimately how we're going to maximize the economics on this. Is by going to bulk mining with these pretty exceptional wide zones.

Okay.

Well, looking forward to the update. Congrats then.

And your next question comes from the line of Anita Sweeney with CIBC. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning, Paul and team, and congrats to the whole team on a very successful year on many fronts. And I agree with Mike on that slides twenty and twenty one. It's good to see those slides again, especially from companies with a track record of actually executing on what they say they will do. A question on the On the Redbird addition, On the Phase two, could you give us an idea what additional incremental capital would be needed to get that additional 700,000 ounces in.

Yes. Look, we're still working on Phase II. That's why we've approved Phase I. The main benefit of or one of the many benefits of phasing this is that the Phase one cash flow that comes from those early ounces is intended to pay the majority of the CapEx for Phase two. To keep that site relatively cash flow neutral as it strips Phase two. So we don't have an exact sense of the CapEx yet and we need to complete our work. But that's the idea is to try and keep our current gold prices above zero as we strip Phase two.

Okay. And then just a question for finance team and Paul. Just wondering when it comes to the share buybacks that you were talking about in the second half of the year, is it just basically kind of getting through the cash outflows that you expect in Q1 and then if gold prices stay where they are you could start executing on that in Q2 or is it more back No, I think that's exactly as you described it. Anita.

Again, from my perspective, we haven't we have been consistent with our capital allocation philosophy. As we say all the time, it's needs of the business, needs of the balance sheet, return of capital to shareholders, We did, of course, repay the debt that was our priority in 2024. As Aria said, all the cash we've built up here, while we've been paying down debt, about to pay a bunch of that out as we do seasonally in Q1. So we want to we want to get through that kind of get our cash back up Hopefully, we're still in the same kind of gold price environment and we think that is the right time be thinking about turning back on the buyback. [indiscernible] a big picture, I guess, Great Bear and I'm just wondering if you've seen any on the permitting front, have you seen any change in I guess The government standpoint in terms of how motivated they are to get these permits to.

Yes. Look, I mean, I think it's a safe assumption that when there's an election, things kind of slow down in terms of the bureaucrats. But I'll get Jeff to kind of expand on it. He's on the front line of that one.

Thanks, Paul. Yes.

No, Paul is right as a practical matter. There is a little bit of a slowdown, but we've spent a lot of both provincially and federally connecting with the regulators and building relationships there.

And as a result, those permits will will continue to advance and we're still expecting to get the remaining permits that we require [indiscernible] Okay. And then lastly, I just wanted to ask on on Fort Knox, Manchow.

There's a bit of variability in the in the tonnage that's coming through. I understand some of it has to do with the weight restrictions and winter and I believe ice and things wane or I could be wrong about that, but I just wanted to get an idea of what the standard kind of tonnage that you would expect expect out of Manchow would be and those are pretty good grades at this past quarter as well. So I just want to comment on [indiscernible] correct. As we go through seasonal things in the North, we end up with different load restrictions. We also have one load restriction that came after the feasibility study that we've had to adjust for. And given the balance number of trips, on a daily basis, but we expect to do an average of 200,000 to 220,000 back because as you can appreciate, we switch from very low grade port knocks to higher grade manchou and then back to Fort Knoxville Our average is about 220,000 that And we expect to maintain Sort of one of quarters, it's updated.

Sorry, so 220,000 ks tons per quarter or [indiscernible] All right.

Okay. Thank you very much. That's it for my question.

And your next question comes from the line of Josh Wolfson with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Yes, thanks very much. On the capital returns program, I understand the motivation to act maybe a bit conservatively repay the debt. Wait for some higher cash flow periods. Just wondering how the team is going to be evaluating the buyback in the context of how the share price has performed. It's been phenomenal year to date, phenomenal year over year is that going to influence the quantum of the buyback or is it going to be a more mechanical or formulated process?

Yes, I'll take that and Andrea, feel free to jump in. Good question.

Look, I think it's all about the right balance. I mean, number one, we still see our shares as undervalued. We also we'll think about that in the context of spot. So you can look at our valuation share price in the sense of consensus, With the consensus gold price, you can also look at it in the context of spot. And in both cases, we're undervalued Having said that, it's not lost on me or us that here we are record gold prices, really good share prices, is this the time to be buying back your shares? We still think it is. But I think it requires balance and focus and that's how we're coming at it. We'll be thinking about it in those terms. It won't be just necessarily an automatic formula.

Good. Thanks. And then one other question on the tax guidance that was issued Should we be assuming going forward, I guess, full tax rates at both Tasiast and La Coipa? The number seems to have gone up year over year and I just want to make sure that it's maybe combination of maybe capital being repaid as well as gold prices having increased.

Yes, it is both, Josh. So So starting with Mauritania, we 2024 was the first year that we became income taxable in Mauritania. So If we look at the tax cash tax guidance, about $200,000,000 of it is payments that we'll actually make in Q1 that are related to 2024. So yes, that is both Mauritania, coming in as well as higher gold price impacting Brazil and Chile where we're also paying more significant taxes. And then the rest of that guidance is just tax installments that we expect to pay throughout 2025.

Got it. Thanks. And sorry, just to clarify, I'm retired corporate tax rate or 25% or is there is it still a low tax year versus steady state? [indiscernible] still normal tax [indiscernible] Got it.

Thank you.

And your next question comes from the line of Sorry, go ahead. Question. Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Carrie MacRury with Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, everyone. Just maybe back on capital allocation. I know [indiscernible] in terms of the cash balance, like are you guys thinking about building up cash balance ahead of Great Bear? Is there a minimum cash balance that you want to maintain? And then I guess the second question is the term loan is gone. There's no debt due till 2027. Just broadly speaking in terms of debt, are you comfortable maintaining that debt I. E. Kind of keep Sure. Thanks, Kerry.

I'll start with the that part. You're sort of hitting it right on with We look forward to the 2027 note of the next maturity and we do plan, we would like to repay those notes. So that's kind of back of our mind as we think about the cash balance and so if we think about what we'll allocate to share buybacks, we're balancing as we always do, needs of the business. So that's the CapEx, going forward for this year. And then with an eye to the balance sheet, again, in the back of our mind, we want to make sure we can repay those twenty twenty seven notes.

And then balancing that with additional return of capital. So that's sort of how we're thinking about it. Our cash balance was a bit higher at the end of the year. But as Paul noted, some of that a lot of that gets paid out in Q1.

With the $200,000,000 we paid to finish repayments on the loan as well as the tax payments and we've got interest payments in Q1. So we'd like to get back to where we started the year and then we'll look to allocating some of the excess cash out in the form of buybacks.

Okay, great. And then maybe just mechanical question, but just in terms of the quarterly sequence of production, you did 500,000 ounces quarter 2,000,000 ounces as the guidance. Should we be expecting relatively consistent production through the year or is there sort of seasonality we should It's relatively even consistent as we look out to this year.

Okay. And then maybe just one last one on La Coipa. You mentioned permitting and some laybacks. Just wondering if you could give us a bit of color on Yes, we've got our current what you see on the reserves takes us through 2027 in terms of the mine plan and then the permitting that was discussed there in the press release is really just for further extensions of the open pit there. We've got a additional oxide pits very similar to what we've been doing So kind of steady as she goes, but there is some permitting required as a part of that. To bring that in through the end of the decade.

So potential to take that to like 02/1930 or so? [indiscernible] it all depends on I guess gold price, but those be able to take us at least through 02/1930. We do have a meaningful inventory potential there. You can see it on our resource statement. So the potential it could go beyond that.

But Okay, great. And maybe one last quick one.

You mentioned should we be expecting a forty three-one hundred and one report or no?

Yes. We'll most likely update that resort that report with our AI this year.

Great. That's it for me. Thanks, everyone.

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Lawson Winder with of America, please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, guys.

Nice update.

Wanted to ask about your commentary on exploration at La Coipa And just get a sense in terms of your optimism around the ability to add to resources there? Is that something we can expect to potentially see as soon as 2025? [indiscernible] I mean our focus there really is we already have the resources on the bulk through 02/1930. So we're not massively focused on expanding a lot beyond that at the COPPA. There is a lot of good targets. It's pretty prolific ground out there. Variety of historic pits in the area. So we had mentioned we will be doing some testing around some of those pits looking for lower strip, higher margin kind of pushbacks in those pits. So there's a lot of exploration potential. But as you saw this year, our real focus right now is drilling off these new growth projects that are coming into the higher grade to support pulling those ultimately into our production profile and reserves.

But we will do some exploration of La Coipa as well.

And I'll just jump in on that. I mean, part of the part of the consideration in that part of Chile where we operating Region 3 at Acame is water.

And we have existing permitted pumping water wells that support La Copa, but we want to think about La Coipa's future and also Lobo Marte, which we're advancing. So We're trying to find the right balance between continuing to grow resources looking to bring Lobo online towards the end of the decade, and working within our existing water permits. That's perfect.

You addressed my follow on question. And then would like to also just ask again about capital return and your thoughts on dividend level, which is I mean, I think, abundantly sustainable at the current level and potentially sustainable at a higher level. Is that something you're also considering?

Look, I think just We just want to be careful. We want to be balanced. There was a question earlier, does it make sense that the share price We think it does, given our relative value. And so as I said, needs of the business were well maintained. We keep a well capitalized business. Which we believe reduces operating risk, We focused on paying down the term loan We've just completed that. Cash out quarter. We want to kind of strengthen the balance sheet again. So needs of the business, needs of the balance sheet, And then we should be in great shape to see where we are in the current in that environment as we look out to the second quarter. As to what the appropriate what feels like the appropriate kind of proportion of free cash flow to allocate to the buyback [indiscernible] So if I'm hearing your answer, the preference is buyback over over dividend. Is that that fair? That's correct.

Great. Thank you very much.

And your next question comes from the line of Tanya Jakusconek with Scotiabank. Please go ahead. [indiscernible] For 2024.

Just wanted to go back to maybe Claude. Can you on the sequencing of your mine plans, through 2025. Can you just remind me major shutdown, if any, are at any of your operations? I'm trying to offset like the seasonality that you get Fort Knox. So I'm just trying and the wet season in Brazil. So I'm just trying to see when your downtimes are any of your other operations?

Tanya, for the last couple of years, been working towards flattening that [indiscernible] through scheduling maintenance activities in a way that they're more a part of the process We don't have major upgrades and shutdowns at any of the sites now. And so it's typical mow maintenance of some of them will have [indiscernible] Barricka two is a couple more days depending on which it's the segment or the Bormel.

So we're managing that and to Andres point early on, this is the year that we've actually got the the tightest range between every single quarter. So we're going to manage that and and manage the performance of each of the site supporting Okay, that's good to hear.

And maybe Andrea, just you didn't answer the question on what minimum cash do you think you need to hold on the balance sheet to run this 2,000,000 ounce business?

It's I mean, it's typically we've had if we look back over the last number of years, our average cash balance has been about $500,000,000 So That's where we typically like to be and some of that is just efficiently moving cash around [indiscernible] As a minimum.

As a minimum.

Right. But again, we are thinking about the future. We are thinking about those notes. And again, Tanya, we're going to look for the rate balance, if you will, on free cash flow as to return and continuing to strengthen the balance sheet.

No, yes, I appreciate that. Just wondered what that what you would feel comfortable on holding just for a 2,000,000 ounce business.

I could just continue maybe to actually Paul for you. Just I'm looking and listening to and thank you for that.

Slide on Page 20.

About your 2,000,000 ounce production profile till the end of the decade, I think that would assume you have Laquita and those additional pits, laybacks or whatever. That gets you to the end of 02/1930. The end of the decade. When do you have curlew in? Is that a 28? Could we fit in? And I remember once conference calls would be about 100,000 ounces with is that still feasible?

Yes. No, I think you're right in the zone there. Tanya.

When people have asked us in the past about how we will make ounces towards the end of the decade. I basically say there's four things.

Two of which we just keep doing what we're doing. That's we keep mining at La Coipa, we keep mining at Bald Mountain, So that's the two that we keep doing. And there'll be two other things that are new that we haven't been doing. And that is Kirlo and Phase X. And as you've seen with the results on the drilling, they're moving along very nice We're really happy with how they're going. Will, why don't you a little bit about timing and how those come in?

Yes. I think you can see we've been expanding the resource at Curlou in a very positive way, which was the goal a couple of years ago and we've gone gotten to that point where we're more comfortable on the economics and the margins and return There is one main remaining permitting action that we spoke spoken about before, which is really just getting the permit to increase the height of that tailing storage facility we convert to dry stack tailings. The rest of our permits are in place. So that is a bit of a milestone permit in terms of controlling the timeline. After that, we've already we're already at the ore body underground We're already in a pretty good position to get into development fairly quickly. So we do we haven't released specific guidance yet, but 2028 is a reasonable assumption. On how we go through that permitting and construction path.

Okay.

And then how do you think about then external opportunities versus your internal opportunities, you've got a lot for life extension and then obviously we've got Lobo Marte, Maricunga, [indiscernible] Towards the end of the decade and into the 2030s. How do you look at your evaluate external opportunities? Would you say you're more focused on production versus development Look, I think the key here is we don't feel under pressure to go out and do anything [indiscernible] gain production immediately. We're very happy with our internal pipeline portfolio. That allows us That allows us to be patient and really look for value, whether it's in an earlier stage or in a production When I get the M and A question, which I get a lot, I mean, think the history speaks a lot for what we have I mean, really, if you go back and you look at what acquisitions have we done, in the last ten years, there's maybe three or four We did the Round Mountain Vault back in 2015.

Bolt on, synergistic, We purchased some power plants in Brazil in 2018. Manchow and Peakgold in 2020.

So we're very careful We do look at external opportunities, but we have to see the value proposition And if we do, we'll move forward. But it's It's challenging sometimes to find those value opportunities. Great beer obviously was the last time we did an external that was We purchased that in 2022 and we're extremely pleased with love to find more of those if they exist, but we're not feeling under pressure go out and do something just for the sake of maybe getting higher production.

I appreciate that. I just wondered if you thought there's opportunities for you to add additional inventory like beyond 02/1930, whether that made sense for you. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] when I sometimes get the question, I'm not say worried about towards the end of the decade, when I'm thinking about the future of the company, we are We're thinking about mid-30s and beyond And so, that's kind of the timeline we're thinking about. So if there's good opportunities to add we think is quality to the inventory, we'll look at it. But it's quality. And again, I would say, one of the advantages we've had over the last few years in terms of our cost structure is a lot of the newer stuff that we have brought on and some of this is internal, whether it was the restart of La Coipa or the ramping up of the mill of Cassius, we've been bringing on quality, meaning better grades and those better grades have driven our margins, which has been a natural offset some of the cost pressures that maybe some others have faced.

Okay. If I could just squeeze one last question in for Jeff. Can you just give me an update on the two remaining permits that we require on the AES program. And negotiations with First Nations, with two First Nations how that's going and what's the timeline of getting all of that Sure. Tanya, so yes, so let me we'll start with your AX question, if that's okay.

The two remaining permits that you're referring to one is what we refer to as industrial sewage treatment and construction permit.

Which we call an ECA.

Which stands for Environmental Compliance Approval.

And we don't obviously need that today, but we're we're targeting to get that sort of later in the spring.

And the second outstanding permit is our operations permit to take water.

Which again we don't require today, but we're targeting the back half of 2025 later in 2025.

For that particular permit. We have to be clear, we have everything we need.

For our current EEX activities and have received four of those permits to date. [indiscernible] First Nations question that you asked about, Relations there are very strong.

I won't go into a lot of detail on that one, but we are in the midst of Negotiations with them on our project agreement or what's more commonly called an IBA We've exchanged drafts. We've had economic discussions. That's And we are we're sort of targeting the back half of 2025 to get something done there. And last but not least, obviously, on the main project, we're in the midst of our federal permitting process there. Which involves the filing of what we call an impact statement.

And again, we're targeting the back half of 2025 to get that done. Does that answer your questions, Sonia?

Just on the negotiation with First Nations, would it be safe to assume that all the negotiations are just sort of the normal and classic items that are being done in other mining areas in the Red Lake District, let's say, that are normal to what's been already approved in them?

Yes. Yes. Yeah. We're there isn't yes, we're not sort of trailblazing here. You would expect to see the customary provisions that you would typically see in an IVA and we're discussing those in our negotiations.

Okay, great. Thank you and good luck.

Thank you. And there are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn back to Paul Rawlinson for closing remarks. Great. Well, thanks, operator.

Look forward to catching up with you all in person in the coming weeks and months. Thank you.

Thank you, presenters. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.