Gold.com, Inc. Q4 FY2021 Earnings Call

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Barrick 2021 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results Conference Call. During the presentation, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded, and a replay will be available on Barrick's website later today, February 16, 2021. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mark Bristow, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you very much. And very good morning to everyone, and good afternoon to those on the other side. And again, welcome to Barrick's quarter four and year-end results presentation. It's been three years now since we started on this journey. And Barrick is clearly achieving its goal of industry-leading value creation and sustainable profitability, as I'm sure you'll agree with me when you review our results for 2021. By any measure you apply, returns to shareholders, strength of balance sheet, peerless assets, prospect pipeline, a long record of exploration success and delivery on our commitments, Barrick is a leader in the sector. And the fact that our share price does not reflect this makes Barrick’s case for investment even more compelling. Please take note of this cautionary statement, which is also available on the Barrick website. So, let's start by looking at last year's highlights. And you couldn't possibly get a better set of KPIs. We delivered on our production guidance for the third year in a row. Nevada Gold Mines confirmed that it is indisputably the world's number one gold complex and achieved a quarterly production record for quarter four. Copper's contribution to the bottom line is increasing. All our operational sites maintained or achieved their ISO health and safety and environmental accreditations. We more than replaced our reserves, net of depletion at a better grade. Our wealth of advanced exploration targets will support this replenishment and consequently, our business plans well into the future. And finally, we generated significant cash flow and materially increased returns to shareholders. The operating results reflect a good all-around performance, including meeting production guidance for the third year in a row, notwithstanding some considerable headwinds during the year. And the financial results also show we did well against the leading and lagging indicators. Free cash flow for the quarter grew again. And despite cash returns of $1.4 billion to shareholders, we were net cash positive for the second year in a row. At the same time, we delivered strong per share growth with adjusted earnings for the quarter increasing by 46% versus quarter three. This is our health and safety report, which tracks our journey to zero harm. We're particularly proud of our continued campaign against COVID. Almost 60% of our employees are now fully vaccinated, well above the average of the general populations in our host states and countries. We've also seen a meaningful decrease in our total recordable injury frequency rate year-on-year, which is pleasing. Sadly however, a tragic fatality in January has set us back, and we are reengaging with all our workforce to realize our goals in this regard and to reinforce the importance of that journey to zero harm. We'll start as normal, the operational overview in North America, where Nevada Gold Mines is Barrick's real value foundation. We are building our presence there from a strong base, and we are looking at green and brownfields opportunities across the United States, where Donlin is a particularly interesting prospect, as well, of course, as in our home country, Canada. Nevada Gold Mines delivered a stellar performance crowned by a production record in quarter four, as well as a strong free cash flow of more than $2.3 billion for the year. This was driven by the three Tier 1 mines, Carlin, Cortez, and Turquoise Ridge. And in the face of some operational challenges, proving again that assets of this size and quality can handle whatever you throw at them. The exploration team delivered real value for Nevada Gold Mines and increased reserves by 9.4 million ounces, measured and indicated resources were increased by 7.4 million ounces, and inferred resources by 5.3 million ounces. This is after disposals and acquisitions, and before depletion. The additional reserves came from Goldrush, Turquoise Ridge, and Leeville, and importantly, the resource growth came from Carlin and Turquoise Ridge. And so, as we build this geology and mineral resource management, we manage the replacement of the gold that we mine, an important component in long-term sustainable mining business. There is still more to come from Goldrush in the short-term, and longer-term prospects for the continued expansion of the complex asset base are very good. As we all know, the environment in Latin America has become quite dynamic. And while we still have some legacy issues there, we are getting on the front foot in dealing with them. We have put a lot of effort into strengthening our presence, completing transforming Veladero, and sending our exploration teams along the Andes, across the full length of Argentina and Peru and into Guyana and Suriname to hunt for new opportunities. Negotiations around Porgera have progressed to the point where we envisage restarting the mine in July. But we have excluded production from our guidance for the time being until we have everything agreed with the PNG government. We've also set up a new Asia-Pacific team to broaden our horizons in this enlarged region, which we see as having significant growth potential. The Tier 1 Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic was one of our star performers, achieving a record mill throughput for the third year in succession. Production and costs were in line with guidance for the year. The plant expansion and mine life extension project continues to make good progress. Although, as we previously flagged, supply chain disruptions have delayed the timing of the project completion from July to the end of this year. Consequently, we have updated our 2022 production and capital guidance to take this into account. In conjunction with the government, the selection and permitting process for the new tailings storage facility is underway. And once completed, this project will deliver a super mine capable of producing more than 800,000 ounces of gold per year, up and beyond 2040. And in fact, most of that period, it's above 900,000 ounces a year, and we have two years where we go over 1 million ounces. The transformation of Veladero in Argentina has probably been our biggest success in the region, where we have turned it from a struggler into a significant contributor with production forecast at around 460,000 ounces for this year. The Phase 6 heap leach facility was commissioned in 2021, and the first stage of Phase 7 is scheduled for completion by the middle of this year. The cross-border connection to the Chilean power grid was also completed last year, and it will be switched on when we get that final permit from the Argentinian government. This connection will not only cut Veladero's costs but will be another important component of the group's clean energy drive. Over now to Africa and the Middle East, which for the third year in a row, achieved the top end of production guidance. It also kept up its record of reserve replenishment, replacing 165% of the ounces depleted by mining on a 100% basis. During the year, the region paid out just under $1 billion in dividends to its stakeholders. And at Loulo-Gounkoto in Mali, production and costs were comfortably within the guidance ranges, demonstrating the value and stability of Tier 1 assets. The complex continues to forecast a robust five-year production plan and brownfields exploration across the two permits continues to show upside. Across the border in Senegal, we've doubled our land position and continue to generate robust results from the Bambadji joint venture. Kibali also delivered a pleasing performance with all metrics within the guidance ranges and mineral reserves net of depletion increased for the third successive year at this operation as well. The mine paid $200 million in dividends last year, this being the first step in the process of repatriating the cash to joint venture shareholders from the DRC. Like Loulo and Loulo-Gounkoto, Kibali continued to find new orebodies within the main mining area, all accessible from the existing infrastructure, with multiple opportunities identified to add reserves in the future. In Tanzania, the two previously moribund mines we took over from Acacia have been transformed beyond recognition, last year, producing in excess of 500,000 ounces of gold together. North Mara is on track to become a new, fully integrated open pit and underground operation this year and has the foundation for a ten-year plan with plenty of opportunities to expand on it. The ramp-up of Bulyanhulu's mining and processing operations has been completed, and the mine is set to produce well in excess of 200,000 ounces per annum for at least 20 more years. Our copper operations remain a key differentiator and continue to make a real contribution to the group's bottom line. In quarter four, this business produced 126 million pounds of copper and generated an all-in sustaining cost margin of around $200 million. Lumwana in Zambia is a long-life mine, which will be profitable at any realistically conceivable copper price. In Saudi Arabia, we're looking at expanding our presence along with Ma'aden, our joint venture partners at Jabal Sayid. On our own account, we're also investigating opportunities within the Nubian Shield in Egypt. And at Zaldivar in Chile, we achieved a production guidance and completed the chloride leach project, which is scheduled for commissioning this quarter. Each of Barrick's global network of mines continues to invest in a social license to operate, which we work hard to maintain. Unlike others, we at Barrick did not discover ESG just a few years ago. Sustainability is at the very heart of our business. And it's not a virtue signaling exercise. Of course, caring about the people and the environments impacted by our operations is a moral imperative, but it also makes good commercial sense as Barrick's partnership philosophy has proved time and again. This year, we'll again be publishing a detailed sustainability report, which among other things, objectively rates our performance against all critical ESG metrics. We also remain in the 95th percentile of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and in the top 5% for environmental policy and management, mineral waste management, closure and social impact. We've also improved our CDP rating from a C to a B. We will be one of the first in the industry to start reporting on forestry. One example of Barrick's sustainability commitment in action is our mine closure policy, which is designed to leave behind healthy thriving communities when we end mining operations. We reclaim as we go along, last year, restoring more than 700 hectares to their former state. Well-planned mine closure can even be a source of economic benefit. For example, the production of sulfide concentrate at the Golden Sunlight mine, which was closed in 2019, not only removes a potential source of environmental contamination but provides Nevada Gold Mines with sulfur fuel and pays for the rehabilitation of this mine. An important component of our sustainability strategy is closed alignment with our host communities. A notable instance of this partnership philosophy in action is how we turned the tailings mess we inherited at North Mara into a facility that meets international standards and is acceptable to the authorities and the communities surrounding there. Sustainability is all about the future, whether it's our ESG commitments or ensuring we are sustainably profitable and invest properly in that future by consistently expanding our asset base. We published our annual reserve and resource declaration last week. Attributable, proven and probable gold reserves and resources both grew net of depletion, and at higher grades. While copper showed a slow reduction, there are many opportunities already identified to reverse this. In both cases, upgraded geological models are supporting the group's rolling ten-year business plans. These plans are also underpinned by our strong balance sheet. Prior to announcing the merger with Randgold in 2018, Barrick had a net debt burden greater than $4 billion. Since then, we have generated significant free cash flow and divested non-core assets. As at the end of 2021, in addition to being in a net cash position, we have also returned almost $2.5 billion in cash to shareholders over the past three years. We have a strong record of growing shareholder returns over the past five years, as shown in this slide. With this quarter four dividend, we are extending this track record and increasing the base payout to $0.10 per share, up from $0.09 from quarter three. To enable shareholders to anticipate future returns and as we promised, the Board has approved a performance-based dividend policy tied to the net cash available at the end of each quarter. The Board has also approved a $1 billion share buyback program. As you can see from this slide, we expect our free cash flow from operating mines to increase over the next five years, no matter what commodity price one assumes. It's worth noting that for every $100 per ounce increase in the gold price, the attributable free cash flow generated by our gold operations increases by around $1.5 billion, thanks to the operating leverage provided by our six Tier 1 assets. Similarly, for copper, for every $0.50 per pound increase, the attributable free cash flow increases by around $800 million. This is our five-year gold production forecast based on a gold price of $1,700 per ounce and it incorporates the cost impact of royalties at higher forecast gold prices. Our declining capital investment and all-in sustaining costs should ensure a growing free cash flow at any reasonably foreseeable gold price. The same is true of copper, which is already contributing some 20% of our bottom line and is well set to improve on that. In particular, our investment this year and in 2023 at Lumwana for stripping and new mining equipment sets the stage for some significant production growth at this asset from 2024 onwards. This is our ten-year gold production forecast. It's important to note that this is entirely based on our current operations and does not take into account the many real growth opportunities that are within our reach, including Porgera, Donlin, Nevada, our South American and African portfolios and the prospects consistently being uncovered by our exploration teams in and around our existing regions as well as our new frontiers. So, ladies and gentlemen, getting back to our value-creating story that I started the presentation with. I believe Barrick offers the market a uniquely attractive investment opportunity. We have what is undoubtedly the best asset base in the business with six Tier 1 mines and more waiting in the wings. All our mines have a ten-year business plan, based not on wishful thinking, but on geological understanding, proper engineering, and commercial reality. We have a significant and growing copper business, which is already providing meaningful free cash flow to the group. In an industry running out of raw material, we keep expanding our reserves. Our strong balance sheet will fund our investment in growth projects. We have a long record of exploration success and a high-quality target pipeline. Sustainability, as I said in the presentation, has long been a strategic business priority. We have an industry-leading approach that is entrenched in Barrick's DNA, informing every decision we make. Compliance with standards, of course, remains important. However, it is now a natural byproduct of our strategy rather than the primary output of the team. And finally, we have delivered on our commitment to grow shareholder returns and have now established a clear framework on how this will evolve going forward. So, again, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention. Before I pass back to the operator to take questions, I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce Christine Keener, who is our new Chief Operating Officer for North America. As you know, Catherine Raw left us at the end of last year. We're delighted to have Christine join our team. She has actually recently been with myself and the team out at Nevada. She's in the saddle. And Christine, we welcome you to the team. I'm sure many of you will ensure to have time to discuss matters with Christine going forward. So with that, thank you for your attention. Again, the greater Barrick team, some of them are here with me in Toronto or online where they are not in Toronto, and will be delighted to take questions should you have any.

Our first question is from Cleve Rueckert with UBS. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks for taking my question. And congratulations on finalizing the dividend policy and a good set of results, Mark and team. I've got two questions. The first, Mark, just on the 10-year outlook on slide 28. I appreciate you gave just a synopsis of a couple of the areas that could add to that forecast. Aside from Porgera, I don't know if you could give us a little bit more color on potential growth opportunities kind of before that 2027 timeframe that's laid out there on the slide, where, if you have any confidence in adding to that outlook kind of in the near term?

In the near term, we have several promising opportunities, including Porgera. In Nevada, there are exciting new targets near existing infrastructure and initiated projects, such as the area between Twin Creeks and Turquoise Ridge. Additionally, we are expanding our greenfield exploration efforts in Nevada. We are also evaluating interesting opportunities in the DRC and have exciting exploration potential in Senegal, across from Loulo-Gounkoto. We're continuing to develop our projects along the Andean trend, with a significant focus on extending the life of Veladero, which is part of the Pascua-Lama infrastructure. We're working diligently to understand the resource potential, especially on the Argentinian side of the project, targeting a strong evaluation by 2024. Furthermore, we're addressing the arbitration award for the Reko Diq project in Pakistan, which remains an important aspect not currently reflected in our share price. We are exploring new frontiers in Egypt and looking to expand our partnership with Ma'aden in Saudi Arabia, with geologists now also working in Guyana and Ecuador. Overall, we are optimistic about reaching our goal of 4.8 million ounces per year, relying on our significant Tier 1 assets. For instance, Carlin is a major producer, generating 1.6 million ounces and showing longevity. In Nevada, Cortez is expected to grow rapidly to 900,000 ounces annually, aiming for 1 million ounces over the next ten years, making it a vital contributor to Barrick’s bottom line. Additionally, Turquoise Ridge is on a steady ramp-up that could produce between 650,000 to 700,000 ounces. We are also excited about our prospects in Tanzania, particularly with our platforms like Bulyanhulu, which still has processing capacity. We need to find another mining front to enhance our operations at Bulyanhulu, requiring us to bank another vein system. North Mara now has a consistent 10-year production plan of around 300,000 ounces annually, with further potential upside. Mark and his team are starting to focus on our Asia Pacific strategy, and we see growth opportunities in this region. Although South America poses challenges, history shows that such environments often present new opportunities. We are enhancing our exploration teams in South America and Africa, and we have built a strong exploration team in North America. There are many organic growth prospects ahead, and as is often the case in mining, a significant discovery can transform everything and create substantial value.

Switching gears a little bit, thinking more about capital allocation. I know you'd like to talk about M&A. You're sort of always assessing M&A. It seems like sort of the deal, at least the competition for deals has been somewhat intense over the last couple of years. I guess, this presentation really focused a lot more on the organic growth opportunities, and now you're sort of reinforcing the buyback and the dividend. I mean, is your thought process around M&A changed at all in the last couple of months or last year?

Not at all. As you know, I often discuss M&A but have executed very few transactions. However, the M&A we have completed has undeniably created value. I want to emphasize that the current competition for M&A is primarily about survival, resulting in very high-priced deals, which we do not pursue. People are aware of our approach. We've been in the industry for a long time, and some in the audience even longer. We have a strict filter for evaluating opportunities. Overall, I believe we've been performing reasonably well. Our deals and Newmont's acquisition of Goldcorp have generated real value for the industry. Reflecting on recent transactions reminds me of 2012 and 2013. We're not interested in that kind of activity, nor do we need to make purchases to sustain our operations. We have a strong foundation, similar to what we had at Randgold Resources. Our goal is to enhance the value platform we've established. When we announced the merger with Randgold in 2018, we made it clear that our focus would be on high-quality assets managed by the best teams, with an emphasis on profitability and sustainable returns for our shareholders, and that is the direction we aim to pursue.

Our next question is from Josh Wolfson with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

So understandably, strategies and philosophies change over time and adapt to the market. Historically, for Randgold and Barrick, share buybacks have not been one of the primary factors for capital allocation. As part of the new strategy, it is something which is more prominent. Mark, could you perhaps walk us through what's changed and why this is the right move?

Josh, throughout the time I've known you, you've aimed to alter my strategy, which has always been focused and clear. However, we do respond to certain circumstances. One such situation is the belief that our share price is undervalued. In this context, it makes sense to consider buying back stock. I don't see how this can be viewed as a change in strategy; it just makes sense. This is a temporary measure that we can utilize for valid reasons, which we've clearly stated. We remain focused. I have consistently paid dividends based on our strong profit and loss statement. To maintain a robust P&L, it’s essential to have quality assets, and to manage our balance sheet and debt structure effectively, which we've accomplished. Everything is aligning well. In September 2018, we committed to reducing debt, cleaning up our balance sheet, concentrating on high-quality assets, and ensuring sustainable value creation for our shareholders and stakeholders.

I will do my best to avoid altering the Company's strategy, but please don't hold me to that. Regarding the new five-year outlook for production, it appears we might see a decrease of approximately 100,000 ounces over the next couple of years. What could be the reason for this? Is it related to price volatility, or are there other factors at play?

This year, there is a change in the production balance due to the expansion at Pueblo Viejo, which we had communicated earlier, resulting in a decrease of 100,000 ounces. Production will rebound next year as we complete the expansion. The growth from 4.4 to 4.8 million ounces is straightforward. We've also suspended operations at Long Canyon and are currently evaluating whether to keep that asset, as we prioritize the quality and longevity of our holdings. Another asset, Hemlo, has had its ramp-up reset, as we've faced challenges in getting the mine back on track following disruptions caused by COVID. We made a commitment to bring in contract miners, but travel restrictions prevented the Australian teams from entering Canada. We are reassessing that operation. These factors affect our production profile, which we believe will return to around 4.8 million ounces. These figures represent our plans, not forecasts.

Our next question is from Matthew Murphy with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Hi. Similar question on the charts, guidance, outlook on CapEx, though, this time. The way I'm looking at it, it looks like CapEx is up around $200 million to $300 million a year. Do you disagree with that? If it is up, what are some of the drivers there?

Yes, a major factor influencing our capital is the focus on Lumwana. The African and Middle East team managed to reduce costs significantly, halving the mining expenses. We're also increasing our investment in equipment and planning to make some additions to the crushing circuit, which is a substantial change. The capital needed for Porgera and its ramp-up is not included in the forecast yet. I'll hand it over to Graham to provide further details.

The key drivers, as Mark has already touched on, are some changes in the mine plans. We've obviously had some carryover of capital from 2021 into 2022 and a little bit beyond related to the delays in the PV expansion. That was our biggest growth capital project, and that's carried over a little into 2022 because of global supply chain constraints. The other area where we are investing more is in the copper business in Lumwana, where historically that's been a little starved of capital. We're really investing in that business because we see a lot of growth opportunities. You can see that in the profile of the Lumwana ramp-up over the next five years, where we've got new fleet and other initiatives that will increase our availabilities. So, that's a big factor coming through as well.

Matthew, the most important thing is the next year is our last big capital year, and then it starts coming down. When you look at Barrick and its five-year plan, all you need to do at the end of the five years is continue those graphs for the ten-year plan. What you see is a growth in cash flow, free cash flow because of that declining all-in sustaining cost. Whatever gold price you run the model at, you get an increasing cash flow in the ten-year plan.

The only other point I was just going to make was just in the AME region where we have got a little more capital in Tanzania, which is related to the redevelopment of those plans that Mark has already talked about. The ability for us to ramp up that production following the completion of the feasibility study at Buly as well as the mine redesign at North Mara, where we've now got both the open pit and underground coming back into the plan. So, there's a little more capital in there. At Loulo, where we've got the expansion of our solar plant. That's all linked into our GHG reduction plans where we're investing in solar capacity.

We also have an additional 200 megawatts in Nevada. I would like to highlight, Matthew, our program and our strategy for a 30% reduction that we've laid out. All the projects are achieving 15% internal rates of return at a long-term gold price of $1,200. Even though they are new and align with our greenhouse gas emission commitments, they also lower costs and provide significant returns for our business and investors.

Hey Mark, is that with a carbon price, or is that just business as usual doing that?

It's just business as usual. One of the things we stuck with is we didn't get caught up in this rental stuff. We waited until the solar technology and market was such that you could own your own solar cells and install and derive the full benefit of solar energy. Again, Barrick, with the experience we've developed in Africa as well is that we've grown our knowledge and understanding of microgrids and power generation.

That's right, Mark. I think the only other one was probably the PV lime kiln. We're doing a field switch there from heavy fuel oil to natural gas, and that will also give us around about 127,000 tonnes CO2 equivalent savings on an annual basis.

Patrick, when you shift to 2050, thinking longer-term, what role or need do you see from poly regulatory and value chain support to make your and ICMM’s, all the peers that have committed at 0 2050 become more viable or more achievable?

Thanks for your continued focus on sustainability topics, especially on today's call. We believe that this requirement is necessary in your sector, not as a competitive advantage, but as a competitive necessity. We're also looking forward to your sustainability report and appreciate the work by Grant Beringer there. With this in mind, can you provide a little bit of color on the biggest additional projects that you have under investigation for this target?

So we've already started with a big conversion of gas from heavy fuel to gas and DR. We've built a lot of additional capacity to manage microgrids and DRC. We've installed a big battery in the DRC. We're going to put in more batteries now. The goal is to take out the spinning reserve, the thermal spinning reserve during the big water periods. The way it works is we originally tested the battery on managing the demand of the shaft, the hoist. It was pulling lots of power, and we had to spin diesel engines to deliver that power when the demand was there. What we've done is put a battery in there. The hydro then keeps the battery charged, and the battery can react to that demand. We're expanding that battery capacity, making it form the grid and ensuring the hydro keeps the batteries charged. It's a significant improvement. With that knowledge, we've transferred it back to Mali where we don't have a grid at all, but we have a lot of sun. We trialed a 20-megawatt solar. It's worked exceptionally well. We're going to triple that and add battery bases to it. We will want to retire the highest-spending diesel machines, and we've got these big heavy fuel baseload machines. With our Nevada power station, we've committed to work to replace the coal with natural gas, and we're progressing on that. In Chile, as you know, the Pascua Lama infrastructure was designed to access the Chilean national grid, which is probably the greenest grid in the world. We've now got permission to connect to the grid, and it is now accessible by Veladero. That will cut costs significantly. We also invest in grid stabilizers in Tanzania.

Our next question is from Adam Josephson with KeyBanc. Please go ahead.

Mark and Graham, good afternoon. Thanks very much for taking my questions. I appreciate you're doing so. Mark, can you talk about your gold cash cost and ASIC guidance for '22? You're expecting them to be up about 5%. I know you mentioned in the MD&A that it's the full-year impact of the Nevada mining tax and general cost inflation, specifically energy. But can you just talk about the buckets that are comprising that expected 5% inflation? And how much is energy, labor, materials, et cetera? And then why you expect those cash costs to decline year-over-year in '23, if I read that slide correctly?

The key drivers on costs are we've always forecast our five-year plan at $1,200 gold. This year we've changed that. It doesn't change the production profile. But what it adds at $24, Graham, is $24 to the cost. When you back calculate everything, it all stacks up. We get close to what we said we would do. Of course, we're looking to manage it. The team has taken $300 million out of our supply chain procurement business. We've targeted another $50 million to $80 million this year. We've rolled out a brand-new data platform that integrates all information across the group. We've got two more mines to do, Porgera and Jabal Sayid.

I would just point out that the inflation we're guiding for is about 5%. The biggest bucket of that is really on the energy side, oil and diesel, which has a big impact on our costs. For every $10 increase in the price of oil, it's about a $6 per ounce impact on cash costs. Natural gas also has a big impact. A $1 change in gas price has a $3 impact on cash costs. We're working hard to manage that by consolidating shipping.

We're also exposed to labor pressures across the mining industry. But we have less exposure due to our strategy of employing national employees. We have a lower proportion of expatriates, where the pressure has been largely coming from.

And just one follow-up on that. So from '22 to '23 in terms of gold cash costs, you all have the royalty issue presumably. And you won't have the impact of the Nevada mining tax. So you're thinking that your cost savings efforts will more than offset any incremental energy, labor, freight, materials cost inflation. Is that the right way to think about it?

Yes, it's a combination of those mitigants, but also when we look at the increase in production. We're effectively going from 4.4 million ounces to 4.8 million ounces. A large chunk of our costs are fixed.

Our stock went quite far down and on a historic basis, it was even not according to consensus undervalued. We wanted all the tools to deal with a lower stock price.

Our next question is from Tanya Jakusconek with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Congrats on a good end to the year and the shareholder return policies. I have 2 questions, if I could. I just need clarification on one. So my first question is on the DRC and the repatriation of your share of the $500 million. I just want to confirm that you have all the necessary signatures in place to take the money out of the DRC. If you do, just a mechanism of how we're going to take it out, please?

So we don't need any signatures. It's a standard procedure. The first step of the payment was at the end of the third quarter last year; we paid out a $30 million dividend to practice the process. Then another $170 million at the end of the year. We are paying out $300 million, $300 million, and then $400 million; we will do it in 1- to 3-week slots. That's the plan. Just so everyone understands this: we've never said that we could take it out. I've always been very clear it wasn't our money and that anyone was trying to keep it there. We've had to go through a lot of processes, and it's only recently that we have a fully aligned cabinet that's aligned with the parliament to address the requirements. We've got to get to that point. The money sits in our bank account in DRC, attracting an 8% interest. There’s a big motivation to settle this. We're expecting another $300 million imminently this month. That will be followed by another $300 million. The deal is we will pay out the first tranche to just practice the process. $500 million total, and then moving forward, we will pay 50-50, 50 to dividends and 50 for continued borrowing down debt.

Okay. So $600 million in Q1 and the remaining $400 million on a 100% basis already in Q2?

We might surprise you.

I requested a quick question, just on your copper strategy. I wanted to understand a little bit about how Reko Diq fits into that strategy and just where we are on this asset?

So right now, the asset we have is the arbitration award which we share with Antofagasta. We're working on converting that into something meaningful. That doesn't end up with the Pakistan government having to write a big check. Reko Diq is an opportunity that we've been working on, where everyone will benefit: our shareholders and the Balochistan government. It would be fantastic in our ten-year pipeline. It’s a real deal. But it’s not in our ten-year pipeline right now.

There are no further questions registered at this time. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mark Bristow for any closing remarks.

Right. This has been a marathon session. Hopefully, you would have recognized it was in my presentation this time; it was all the questions. We're really focused on getting this message out. There's a lot of detail in our MD&A. We thank you for your questions. Again, if there are any further questions, we are always available. So again, thank you for affording us all this time, and we'll see you soon, hopefully down in Florida. Thanks again.