Gold.com, Inc. Q2 FY2025 Earnings Call

Welcome to Barrick's Results Presentation for the Second Quarter of 2025. This event is being recorded, and a replay will be available on Barrick's website later today. I will now turn the call over to Mark Bristow, President and CEO of Barrick. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you very much, and a very good morning and good afternoon to everyone, and thank you all for joining us today. It's a pleasure to be here, back in London with the weather having been fantastic. I'm here to take you through our second quarter results and share the progress we're making across the business. Quarter 2 was a productive quarter for Barrick, one where we built on the positive momentum from quarter 1 with stronger production, continued delivery from our Tier 1 assets and solid progress on our growth projects. We continue to perform in a global environment that remains uncertain and at times even uneven, reinforcing the value of a diversified portfolio, disciplined capital allocation, and the ability to operate effectively across a range of settings. Our performance this quarter speaks for itself. The portfolio is delivering. Our balance sheet remains strong, and the second half is shaping up to be even better. We're growing real value through delivery. And while the market hasn't fully recognized this yet, we see it as a clear opportunity. Before we begin, I'll just remind everyone that today's presentation contains forward-looking statements and financial measures that are subject to a number of risks and assumptions. You'll find the full cautionary in the appendix to this presentation and on our website, which you can read at your leisure. So starting with group highlights. This was another quarter delivered in line with plan as we continue to leverage the high gold price. Production tracked our guidance and the second half is set to deliver more in line with the guidance we laid out at the start of the year. Earnings per share more than doubled versus last year with adjusted earnings per share at $0.47, the highest since 2013. We finished the quarter in a net cash position, which allowed us to continue buying back shares while strengthening the balance sheet. In line with our performance dividend policy, the Board has approved a total dividend of $0.15 per share, which includes a $0.05 performance top-up. Operationally, we are pleased with the progress across the portfolio. Nevada Gold Mines and Pueblo Viejo delivered solid results. Lumwana started to show its true potential. The ramp-up at Goldrush is gaining momentum. And of course, Fourmile keeps growing as we'll discuss later. On the operational front, this was another quarter with all the arrows pointing in the right direction. Production improved across the portfolio with solid contributions from Nevada Gold Mines, Pueblo Viejo, Kibali, and Lumwana. These assets are delivering as planned, setting us up for a stronger second half. In copper, we saw a clear year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter improvement, production volumes up and unit costs coming down. Attributable gold production increased. And importantly, we continue to see a reduction in all-in sustaining costs. As we discussed at the start of the year, controlling all-in sustaining costs is a key focus area for us, and we are starting to see that discipline coming through in the numbers. And as we continue to focus our portfolio on long-life Tier 1 assets, we completed the sale of our interest in the Donlin Gold project for $1 billion. The sale reflects our disciplined approach to capital allocation and further sharpens our growth pipeline. Turning to the group's financial results. The combination of improved operating performance and a stronger gold price has delivered the best quarterly adjusted earnings per share in over a decade. We can see a significant improvement in revenue, net earnings, and adjusted net earnings, with all three tracking upwards compared to quarter 1 and the same quarter last year. Our attributable EBITDA growth reflects stronger margins and net cash provided by operating activities came in at $1.33 billion, up 35% from last quarter if we exclude interest and income taxes. Free cash flow improved, supported by the gold price and disciplined capital allocation, and as I mentioned, earnings per share increased to $0.47, aligning with the operational and market tailwinds we've discussed. The trend here is clear. Barrick is on a positive trajectory with even more to come. This slide really highlights the product of our clear and consistent capital return framework. It reflects the disciplined approach we take to allocating capital, ensuring we deliver long-term profitability across our portfolio while building value through the growth of our Tier 1 assets and new projects. In the first half of the year, we've already returned $753 million to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share buybacks. That is even before the performance dividend we declared which will be paid out in quarter 3, in line with our capital return framework. And importantly, this is just the first half of the year. All indicators point to an even stronger second half as we continue to deliver on our plans. As we all remind each other every day, in Barrick, health and safety remains a core priority. In this quarter, we saw further improvements across both leading and lagging indicators. Year-to-date, we've achieved a 50% decrease in Lost Time injuries and a 37% decrease in Total Injuries compared to the same period last year. These gains reflect both stronger frontline engagement and the effectiveness of our critical control verification program, which remains central to how we manage risk and embed a culture of safety across all our sites. Let's now turn to operations, starting with North America. This was the first quarter where Nevada Gold Mines led the group's performance, driven not only by production but by progress on key growth projects. As we've said before, the complex is transitioning to a predominantly underground operation. To support development, we initially brought in contractors, but now we're shifting back to self-perform as the capacity of our in-house teams improves. At Goldrush, the ramp-up continues in line with plan, as we move towards nameplate capacity. At the same time, we're super excited about their potential at Fourmile. Fourmile is a 100% owned asset which is effectively an extension of the Goldrush orebody, except better. I'll speak more about that a little later. At Nevada Gold Mines, we saw increased gold production this quarter, reinforcing the financial strength of the portfolio and helping drive a reduction in all-in sustaining costs. That trend is expected to continue with further cost improvements anticipated by the end of the year. Production gains were driven largely by higher volumes at Carlin and a reduction in sustaining capital contributed to a lower overall all-in sustaining costs. With all major planned maintenance shutdowns now behind us, we're well positioned to deliver an even stronger second half. Turning now to Fourmile. This asset is rapidly competing to be the largest and highest grade gold discovery in the industry this century. Since we last showed you this picture, the orebody potential has grown significantly, and the grade is also increasing. Let me pause here to reflect for a moment. As you'll recall, our resource was calculated at the end of 2024, and as shown in this table is represented by the red outline of this graphic. The black dotted outline is where we expect to convert this year, and where all indications point to us doubling the current resource or more. Even more exciting is what's shown by the green outline on the slide, where we are continuing to define significant high-grade orebody extensions. Fourmile is no doubt emerging as a generational asset. If you look at Goldstrike underground, which was, as some of the older folks in this audience will remember, was the maker of Barrick then. Goldstrike underground today has produced some 13 million ounces at a grade of around 10 grams a tonne. Our current exploration drilling, which is adding to the previous drilling, is really highlighting the potential. It's been a long time since we've seen these numbers of intersections at these grades with these thicknesses, and what you have is an extension of Goldrush. And this is now accessing host rock that is brittle. We've now got these large breccia bodies that are delivering the grade. It's also important that these large bodies are competent. So when you intersect them, the core is continuous. That's not normal in Carlin style orebodies, where you usually have many breaks in the core when you drill through the orebody. When you take a look at it on a like-for-like basis, whether you use Goldstrike or Goldrush, the unit underground mining costs will be substantially lower. The other part of this is the geometallurgy, and we are now well down the road and making intersections across that purple patch you see on the screen because there's indications that a significant amount of this orebody could indeed be not double refractory, but single refractory ore. That will be the focus for the rest of this year, framing the potential of this orebody. We've resisted the temptation to bank it, really to get our head around the size and grade of this orebody, and then we'll start thinking about the next step. The next natural step is to look to access it from underground. We have an opportunity with minimal permitting to do that from the old Bullion Hill site, and we believe we will save $500 million to $600 million in drilling compared to drilling from the surface, which involves long and complicated holes. So what I want to leave you with, and I'll definitely be talking about this every quarter going forward, is the significance of this resource. The difference really should be considered here is that this is a world-class tens of millions of ounces, and it's right in the middle of infrastructure, the Nevada infrastructure. It's not something that you have to establish in some complicated place in other parts of the world. So I'll leave you with that. When you look at the intersections of multiple meters, 10, 20, 30, 50 meters at 1 and 2 ounces per tonne rather than grams per tonne, it's very significant. Let's move on to Latin America and Asia Pacific, which delivered another solid performance this quarter. It's worth noting that this was a very challenging region when we started out back in 2019. At Pueblo Viejo, we made further progress on the plant expansion, supporting improved throughput and production quarter-on-quarter. Veladero continued to trend well, and at Zaldivar, we secured a new mining permit for that operation that extends the lifespan of the asset now through to at least 2051. We also continue to advance the permitting process at our El Alto exploration project. At Pueblo Viejo, we delivered, as I said, a solid improvement in gold production this quarter on increased plant throughput while also driving unit costs lower. The modifications completed last quarter are working well, and we expect continued momentum as throughput ramps up further in the second half. You would remember that we did not go down in the whole process, but on parts of the process for a period of 35 days in Q1, really focusing on debottlenecking the throughput. Construction of the new tailings storage facility is advancing with access roads currently underway, and engineering design optimization is going forward. The focus this year has been on debottlenecking the plant and improving throughput, and that progress is clearly reflected in the production trend that you see here. The slight decrease in throughput on the third bar on the top is the quarter where we were shut down for a while. Throughput continues to rise with steady growth expected through the second half. As a reminder, Q1 was impacted by a planned shutdown, but the overall trend is firmly upward. We're targeting throughput of 12.8 million tonnes per annum by 2026. Importantly, we continue to optimize the Life of Mine. While the ramp-up has been gradual, we are managing the blend more aggressively by adding older, higher-grade stockpiles during this phase, which is being built into the plan. And we'll be updating as we go and as we progress our test work on the old stockpiles. We have a significant reserve base in stockpiles at Pueblo Viejo. As mentioned earlier, the resettlement action plan at PV is progressing well. A key milestone in this quarter was the signing of a formal agreement with the affected communities, which has resolved all outstanding issues through a commission process mediated by the country's Public Defender and the Catholic Church. With that in place, families are now moving into the new horizons housing estate each week, and we're seeing steady progress on this important social commitment. And it's worth noting a lot of these folks living within effectively the jungle and singular houses which they didn't own. This housing estate comes with a preschool, primary school, middle school and ultimately a technical high school, and you can walk to school from your home. This housing estate is modern and features running water. Everyone gets a title deed; this is a very important part of developing a value base for people in emerging markets. Let's move now to Reko Diq, where we've made further progress in advancing this world-class project. Fluor has now been formally onboarded as the EPCM engineering partner, and the design of the tailings storage facility has now been completed. Early works are underway, and the project remains on track. Reko Diq continues to represent a significant long-term value opportunity for Barrick, a truly world-class asset with meaningful upside. We've also made good progress on the project financing, and with the bulk of the due diligence complete and documentation well advanced, we continue to work to complete the financing this year. Six years ago, as I mentioned in Latin America and Asia Pacific, the opportunities were limited. Today, it's a region with significant exploration footprint and meaningful value upside. Over this period, we've rebuilt our exploration team and established a portfolio of tangible near- and medium-term opportunities. We've had encouraging results in Argentina with prospects that could extend the Life of Mine at Veladero. In Pakistan, drilling extending our new discovery at Bukit Pasir is ongoing, and we have already identified a new discovery in that mining license. To point out this new discovery, we've had some drill intersections that are some of the best drill intersections ever drilled in the porphyry complex of Reko Diq, with hundreds of meters of intersections at continuous 0.8% copper. We're also advancing new targets through drilling in the Dominican Republic and in Peru, further strengthening our future growth pipeline in the region. Turning now to Africa and the Middle East. This quarter focused on unlocking the value potential across the region as one of our main cash generators of the group. We saw a solid performance across the portfolio with encouraging improvements at Kibali, which I'll speak to in more detail shortly. In Mali, we continue to manage the situation in a measured and constructive manner. We are continuing with arbitration and are committed to finding a path forward for the benefit of all stakeholders. For those of you tracking updates closely, I encourage you to visit the microsite we recently added to our website. Kibali delivered another strong quarter with higher production and improved unit costs across the board, supported in part by a reduction in sustaining capital. We also commissioned the solar power plant and battery energy storage system, further strengthening Kibali's position as one of the most automated and also one of the greenest gold mines in the world. Tanzania delivered another on-track quarter with North Mara continuing its steady performance. At Bulyanhulu, work continues on the expansion project with a focus on a second access and production area to support future growth. Gold sales during the quarter trailed production slightly in Tanzania as we adapt to the new legislation requiring 20% of the production to be reserved for in-country trading with an associated royalty reduction benefit. Now moving on to Zambia and Lumwana, we are very excited about our progress at the Lumwana super pit expansion. The operation continued its steady upward trajectory with year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter increases in production and a positive reduction across all key metrics. The expansion project itself is well on track. We've refined the development plan, and Lumwana has self-funded the project through operating cash flows so far this year, and we expect to do that for the rest of the year at current spot prices. Once complete, the expanded operation is expected to deliver 240,000 tonnes of copper per year, supported by a 52 million tonne per annum processing plant and a mine life of more than 30 years. If you look at last year, quarter 2 2024, production copper produced was 25,000 tonnes; quarter 1 2025, 27,000; quarter 2 2025, 44,000; with a corresponding drop in the unit cost per pound of copper and all-in sustaining costs. That's very material. And that's where our focus is. Lumwana is a mine that, since Barrick acquired it, never made a profit until 2020. It was all about discipline and unit costs. Today, we are going to expand that, and we need the all-in sustaining cost to be under $3. That would prove our feasibility model extremely well. Africa and the Middle East remains well positioned to replace its reserve depletion again this year. A hallmark of the region throughout many years that has been operating. This quarter, we continued to advance near-mine exploration with standout progress along the ARK corridor at Kibali with drilling extending mineralized loads and confirming significant exploration upside. The ARK sits right next to the main KCD orebody, which is the real basis of Kibali's value. Greenfield programs are also progressing across the region in Tanzania, the DRC, and across the Central African copper belt, specifically in Southern DRC and Zambia. In addition, we continue to advance our early-stage exploration in Saudi Arabia, further reinforcing the depth of our pipeline across this region. This slide really speaks to the strength and resilience of our portfolio. While we continue to work towards a solution for Loulo-Gounkoto, it is important to note that even without it, the underlying value of our portfolio still significantly exceeds our market value. Barrick remains a peerless opportunity to invest in a world-class gold and copper business; few, if any, companies in the sector can match the depth or quality of the growth you see here. We grew production in quarter 2, and the second half, as I have repeatedly said, is set to deliver both higher volumes and lower costs in line with our full-year guidance. At the same time, we're replacing the gold and copper we mine and growing by 30% organically by 2029. This is a portfolio we are building to deliver over the long term with Tier 1 assets, world-class people, and a disciplined capital allocation strategy backing it all. It is our opinion that Barrick remains one of the most compelling investment cases in the gold and copper space today, an enterprise with world-class assets, a clear growth strategy, and the balance sheet to fund that growth without diluting our shareholder equity. We are consistently delivering on our promises, growing production, replacing our reserves, and returning more capital to shareholders. This is a company built on the foundations of long-life assets, strong partnerships, financial discipline, exploration excellence, and a sustainable operating model—the pillars that underpin everything we do. In a world searching for real assets, strong partners, and responsible growth, Barrick stands apart. Few can match what we offer, and fewer still can do it without debt or dilution. Thank you very much for your attention, and we'll be happy to take questions.

Perfect. Daniel Major from UBS. Nice to see you in London, guys. Yes, a few questions from me. So the first one on Loulo-Gounkoto. I appreciate the best solution would be a restart, etc. But can you give us any timelines around the key milestones to look forward to in the arbitration process, what we should be looking for in the event that a resolution can be reached?

I think we're not at that stage yet where we don't believe that we can find a resolution. I've always said, Dan, that when you engage in talking, there's always an opportunity. Of course, there's been some activity in Mali, which complicates the process, but as far as the exit process goes, the tribunal has been appointed. The Malian authorities have nominated their member to the tribunal as of now, and we have an independent President. So it's constituted. We've already presented our first application for interim relief measures, focusing on cautioning everyone not to damage the assets while we try and seek a solution. We will continue to engage through other treaty programs between Canada and Mali, and we have representation in-country through our legal counsel, which is experienced and knows the area well, as well as some of our executives still in the country. We also have third-party mediation ongoing. So there's a lot of effort going in, and as I say, we still communicate. It would be unwise and you've seen some efforts to try and take this discussion or dispute into the public domain. We're mindful that we should not do that. We’ve built a site on our website that updates people on the facts, and we'll continue to build on that so that someone who wants to see how it's progressing can do so. In all my years in this game, it's not a good practice to negotiate in the public domain.

Okay. And then the next question on divestments. It looks like you're kind of moving forward with Hemlo, Tongon. Zaldivar had the water permit extended, so we've got visibility on the life of mine of this asset now. What's the fit in the portfolio? And then I guess the same question for Porgera; is that a core asset as it stands today?

Well, I think we've got enough to get done in the short term. So let us finish that; we'll come back to the others, Dan. I reminded somebody today that when in 2019, we closed the merger with Barrick and Randgold, Hemlo was on for sale then. We invested quite a lot into Hemlo to reestablish it as a viable operation. As we've seen, there's a real appetite for these types of mines. Our view is that there's a time where we have to test our portfolio against our disciplined approach to Tier 1 long-life assets that can get us through all the cycles in the commodity space, and it's good practice. You know we are one of the few miners that have added 110 million ounces of gold equivalent ounces to reserves in Barrick in the last six years. So we invest in our future. We've brought some significant new reserves in the form of Reko Diq and converted big reserves in PV and Lumwana.

Okay. And then just one more, if I could, on Fourmile. Looks like some exciting results going forward. Does this change the way that you're thinking about the scope of the operation going forward or the timeline given the growing scale? How do you see that?

So there's a lot of water still to flow under the bridge in Fourmile. We have shortened the timeframe, and we would like to have a sort of scoping position for the project by the end of this year. We'll then decide what the next step is—will it be prefeasibility or feasibility—exactly how we take it to the next step. When you look at Fourmile and how it fits into the Nevada Gold Mines, if you take Fourmile and place it in the middle of the Nevada Gold Mines, which is where it should actually be, it can replace some of the feed in the roasters—our constraint—at 3 to 4 times the grade. This enhances the profile, adds life, and drops the costs. It proves to be a very valuable asset within that complex. We have worked very hard at our partnership with Newmont in Nevada Gold Mines, and we will continue to do so. We’ve shown that we can permit mines in the United States. We permitted Goldrush and Robertson recently, and that was before the Trump administration. The current administration has made it much easier by focusing the permitting process to ensure that it doesn’t get hijacked by litigation, making it efficient without attempting to change the regulations. Those regulations are proper and align with our global view. I would just add too, we are very active in the brownfields and greenfields extensions to the Nevada portfolio—the joint venture portfolio—as we expand further afield within Nevada as Barrick itself.

Investment Management.

I haven't followed the company for a while, so I have two questions out of ignorance. First, on Loulo, the—on the balance sheet, the book value of the assets has been partially impaired, completely impaired. What is the situation there?

Let me pass it on to Graham. It's an accounting procedure given the current situation, and he's the best man to explain that.

Yes, so as Mark said, from an accounting point of view, once the government appointed the administrator to take control of Loulo-Gounkoto, that meant we no longer had control of that asset. And therefore, from an accounting point of view, when you no longer control assets, you can't consolidate them. We took two actions: we deconsolidated the assets and effectively wrote off the assets and liabilities on the balance sheet. We then conducted a valuation of our investment because we still own 80% of that asset, and we can still expect to benefit from it. We did a valuation using several metrics, including risk-adjusted cash flows that we expect over time. The difference between those was approximately $1 billion before tax, about $600 million after tax, which is what was reflected in the P&L. I'd point out that we also sold the Donlin asset during the quarter. We recognized a gain on that, which was around $750 million, or about $600 million after tax. So effectively, we had a loss and a gain that offset each other, which is why you see adjusted earnings and net earnings roughly the same.

Okay. Thank you so much, much clearer now. And the second question is just to have a bit more color on the project that you have in Saudi Arabia, Jabal Sayid, if I pronounced it correctly, both in terms of ownership structure and in terms of development expectations, etc.

So it's a small high-grade copper mine underground. It's got a 10-year life still. We've been very successful in adding life and increasing production. It's a very low-cost producer. It's paid back all its loans and debt and is a significant contributor towards this partnership. It's owned 50-50 between Ma'aden and Barrick. We're essentially the only foreign operators because we operate the mine. We are partners, equal partners with Ma'aden, but we operate the mine. What it's proven is that you can operate in Saudi. We've expanded our partnership with Ma'aden in the exploration front, both around Jabal Sayid, and more recently, we are looking to build beyond that partnership. That's been key for us; we've built many partnerships in my career in complex jurisdictions. Saudi is the state mining company effectively, great depth, with a focus on bulk mining, which is its value. We see that portfolio of exploration rights across the Arabian Shield as highly prospective for both gold and copper.

We've expanded our partnership with Ma'aden in exploration around Jabal Sayid, and we are looking to develop that partnership further. This has been crucial for us as I've developed many partnerships in complex jurisdictions. Saudi is the state mining company and has significant resources, focusing on bulk mining, which is valuable. We view the portfolio of exploration rights across the Arabian Shield as very promising for both gold and copper.

Just a quick question on Lumwana and the electricity situation in Zambia. Is there any update on the availability and some of the power plants there?

Yes. Nice to see you, Justin. We've put a lot of work into doing the feasibility on the expansion for power. We did a big survey of the whole Zambian power grid. We managed that power in the short term with the low water levels in the Zambezi River by working with the state power utility to connect through the grid from neighboring countries at a much lower cost than diesel. We discovered was a significant loss of power in the grid due to poor synchronization from various sources. In partnership with First Quantum, we've worked to address that, and our estimate is around 500 megawatts of power that we can unlock. We've invested in technology to resynchronize that power and unlock some of that lost power. We are also funding additional redundancy power lines to create loops in the feed. This is all in partnership with ZESCO. We believe we'll be able to support the expanded demand for power expansions there. There are several power projects within the Zambian grid that need investment, but they can deliver low-cost power. People are now talking about exporting power from Zambia to DRC, which is a huge reversal because DRC is the true power source in Central Africa. Tanzania has recently completed a significant hydro facility which, when fully developed, will have considerable capacity. Negotiate now to connect infrastructures in that region for power.

There is an increased demand for power expansions. Several power projects within the Zambian grid require investment, but can provide low-cost power. There is now discussion about exporting power from Zambia to the DRC, which is a significant change since the DRC has traditionally been the main power source in Central Africa. Tanzania has recently finished a major hydro facility that will have substantial capacity once fully developed. It is important to negotiate now to connect the infrastructures in that region for power.

Just a couple of questions on the sequential outlook for the back half of the year. One would be Pueblo Viejo, particularly the focus on improving recoveries. Do you still target 85% recovery in Q4? Or how are you thinking about that? The other would be the Nevada Gold Mines cost trajectory. How do you feel about the path to lower gold unit costs in the back half of the year?

If you do the math, Matthew, there's an improvement in production across the group, and particularly at Nevada Gold Mines. Right now, if you adjust for the increase in gold price, we're guiding that we'll get there, certainly on a group basis out to the end of the year. On Pueblo Viejo, the big focus is throughput. With the delays in the expansion, especially the tailings facility, it's got a substantial stockpile that we blend with the fresh ore. Some of that stockpile is high grade but deteriorating. Back in 2019, we evaluated those stockpiles extensively. We started another campaign, looking at that mix and also adding older, higher-grade stockpiles during this phase. What it does in today's gold price environment is it improves cash flow because the stockpiles, of course, have already been paid for. We'll update you on that as we progress. There has always been a debate around recoveries and the profile. In due course, we'll keep you posted on what that looks like. Graham, do you want to add?

I would just add that in terms of guidance for the second half of the year, obviously, we guided 46% for Q1 and 54% for Q2. Each quarter is supposed to sequentially improve.

We touched on our downtime earlier in my presentation. We had a lot of downtime: Gold Quarry, Goldstrike roaster, autoclaves, and motor replacements in Kibali. We experienced intermittent downtime for 35 days in Pueblo Viejo. We've got a reasonably good run up to the end of the year, supporting Graham's outline of how we expect to perform. So there's no magic in the numbers.

Just a little bit of a follow-up on Pueblo Viejo, just what Matt asked. So, substantially higher grades, could you just let us know what the stockpile stands at in terms of millions of tons or how many tons you would be looking to go through as you resequence?

So it's a lot. Simon, are you on the call? Anita let—it's around 10 million ounces in stockpiles. It’s about 20 million tons out to the end of the life, so it's substantial. I can get the numbers; they are disclosed in our filings.

An update on the tailings. Can you just give us an idea of—I mean, you're pushing the throughput. That's been pretty high and pretty good throughput at Pueblo Viejo. When we think about the tailings facility, how much room do you have ahead of you, and how should we be thinking about the second phase, and when do you need that?

We've got out until 2030, with some flexibility to extend the life of the current tailings facility included in that. We're focused on scheduling the construction of the tailings facility to be able to receive the tailings out towards the back end of this decade.

All right. And then just moving to Turquoise Ridge, can you remind me; you are blowing through stockpiles there too, right? I mean, you're mining much higher grades than you're putting through the process plant. When do you think you'll be reverting more to get to a higher blend of the underground material versus stockpiles?

It's important right now with some of the high grade; it's high carbon material. You need to blend to manage the recoveries. The Life of Mine plan is managing that blend. The throughput, as you saw in this quarter, still has some headroom. The recoveries are in good shape, and Turquoise Ridge is a significant asset. There are other opportunities in the open pits.

Yes. Can you hear me?

There was a question about stockpile tonnage and grades at Pueblo Viejo.

Yes. Sorry, one second. I need to get those numbers.

I'll ask my last question and then move on.

I'll come back to you.

Lastly, regarding Porgera. I understand it's a minor contribution, but it appears you're making substantial progress in returning to the previous run rates after facing those issues with the land side. What should we expect in the second half of the year, and how does 2026 look?

We've really reoptimized Porgera. If you look at the dividends we've paid out, and the percentage dividend that comes to the two investors, we are busy recouping the investment we made during care and maintenance. There’s a stronger cash flow component of every dollar we make back to the investors; it’s vital that we receive that back. At the same time, we're still one of the most significant contributors to the treasury in Papua New Guinea. You may have seen the Prime Minister recently issued a press release praising Porgera for its contribution to the treasury. Graham, do you want to add?

In terms of your earlier question on production outlook, the outlook is slightly more than the first half but not materially more.

I think it is worth all analysts reaching out to our team to note Barrick's policy. We do not design Life of Mines to maximize NPV; we design them for long-term delivery to fully optimize the orebody. That's always been our approach and will continue to be. When you're building models, you'll need to account for our philosophy, which is quite different from others in this industry. We do not seek big production growth in front followed by cliffs at the back end of your Life of Mine.

Our next question will come from Josh Wolfson with RBC.

Going back to Slide 10. Just looking at some of these outlines, the existing resource looks to be significantly less than half of what the footprint is that's sort of in the green there. Then also the grade looks—maybe 50% or a little higher than that, but the grade is substantially lower than the existing resource versus what's sort of been delineated. So some big updates at this asset. I guess, first of all, is that the right way of thinking about things? The second part of this is there was an initial PEA that was issued in late last year that talked about over 0.5 million ounces in production rates per year and a throughput rate associated with that. Should we still consider those economic criteria applicable if this reserve ultimately turns out to be what looks like on this page?

Josh, I don’t know where to start. How much more do you want? So we are busy with this evaluation. The numbers we've shared at the end of last year are still in the table embedded. We're getting new results every day; they've got to be verified. These are long boreholes that take time to drill. The preliminary numbers were based on the drilling up to that stage. The continuity is proving to be much better than we thought; these are big breaches. When we show you the orebody in a tour that follows up, you can see there's significant potential. The black dots are boreholes finished, and the yellow ones are still being drilled. The modeled interpretation is based on early-stage drilling; significant numbers still need to come out of this orebody. Our correction; the yellow ones are ones drilled in 2025, and some drilled and results are pending. It's a modeled interpretation based on the early-stage drilling we've done; continuity is proving much better than we thought.

I'll see you there. I guess the second question is thinking about the valuation of the stock and also, I guess, in context of the upside at Fourmile. How are you thinking about capital allocation? When I look at this quarter's results, buyback levels were healthy—they increased from last quarter. There was also a big disposition that helped cash position, but some of that went to the dividend; that might not be repeated in the future, but it might be. So bottom line—how would you be allocating cash going forward, and how important is the buyback?

We're on track to—committed to that $1 billion buyback strategy where we’re year-to-date at $411 million. That's how we manage it. As per our capital allocation, we're quite disciplined in managing our capital allocation. Graham and I have been that way certainly ever since we've worked together. Do you want to add something, Graham?

The combination of the performance dividend and buybacks gives us that ability to take advantage of the situation as we see it. Right now, we have the $1 billion earmarked. To the extent that we line up with excess capital, we have options. We can increase the buyback if we've consumed it all. We're always looking at opportunities, and we can continue to pay a performance dividend. It's about taking advantage of our options and keeping flexibility. But certainly, buybacks are something we will increasingly focus on, given the fact the shares are undervalued.

If you look at Lumwana when we guided overall capital, the Lumwana contribution is at a stage now where unless the copper price weakens, we’ll cover capital this year. That brings the headline $2 billion down materially going forward. If you take Barrick's 5-year plan, it's fundable from internal resources. On the sale of non-core assets, some goes for buybacks—it makes sense to take out production. Some goes back to shareholders; that’s extraordinary benefit. In business, when you do something unexpected, you should share it with owners, and that's what we do. On the capital side, we’re comfortable being able to fund our future and important to realize—once we prove the financing of Reko Diq, it takes away the market obsession with gearing that people keep writing about.

The last question will come from Tanya Jakusconek with Scotiabank. It seems Tanya is experiencing some audio issues, so we can proceed to the next question.

Could you update us on your Canadian tax loss position, whether they expire at a particular point in time? American ones do some time; how does that interact with the decision to sell Hemlo or maybe buy something to replace it?

We have around $2 billion of ordinary losses, roughly another $2 billion of capital losses. As a rule, they expire in around 20 years, but some of them don’t expire at all. We have considerable headroom and runway on those tax losses. In the context of the disposal of Hemlo, they would certainly be useful in protecting the proceeds of that sale considerably.

Our last question will come from Martin Pradier with Veritas Investment Research.

My question is on Tanzania. What is the price at which you have to sell that 20%?

So it's a market-related price, spot price. That's why we hesitated this quarter—just to get everything right. We want to get the gold back from the refinery in a refined form or sell it to others in Tanzania, but it must go through the Central Bank. We've agreed on how to conduct check assays. Disagreements must be settled on how we will do that. The positive side is we receive a 3% benefit because we don't pay export duties as an internal process. It’s significant.

If you could share how advanced you are in the conversations about Tongon? I’ve read news that there were some offers. Could we see something by the end of this quarter?

I can say without fear of contradiction: don’t listen to rumors from some of these reporters. These processes are controlled and run by our investment banking partners. We do not disclose where we are until the process is closed. We definitely engage with our host countries, but it would be unprofessional to leak or disclose progress or even participants involved. Well, thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Not a particularly enthusiastic day for gold today, given rumors about charges on gold bars that came out at the end of last week. However, as a business, a solid performance on the back of the start in quarter 1 shows a very clear destination for delivering overall this year. This reflects how we allocate capital and the tremendous value embedded in this organization. When you grow NAV, it's a challenge to daylight it; much easier to do M&A, but organic growth truly creates value in mining, and we are extremely well-positioned to deliver on that. Thank you very much for your attention, and we will be happy to take questions.

This concludes today's event. Should you have any questions, please contact Barrick's Investor Relations department. Thank you for joining us.