Agnico Eagle Update | Jamie Porter and Jimmy Connor
Summary
Bloor Street Capital Inc. was paid a fee for producing this event. Bloor Street Capital Inc. and its affiliates may or may not hold …
Transcript
Jamie, thank you so much for joining us today. This year has been a record- setting year for Igno from an operational, financial, and also a share performance perspective. Can you just speak to some of the key drivers that contributed to Nico's success this past year? And what will be your priorities as we enter 2026 so you can maintain this momentum? >> Yeah, absolutely. Well, first off, uh, thanks for having me. I think, uh, you know, 2025 was a was a phenomenal year. We've we we've seen uh uh the the the level of increase in the gold price. I think it's good for the industry and it's been very good for Agniko. Uh I think our success throughout the course of 2025 was was really based on just doing what we said we were going to do. Um we had tremendous operational consistency throughout the year. um you know, we've hit our production targets and and despite the the the pressure on costs on on royalty costs coming from higher gold prices, uh we we plan to have have ended 2025 pretty close to our our the top end of our initial cost guidance. So, um we've really been able to deliver that margin expansion that investors expect when the gold price goes up, you know, by holding costs relatively flat. We've delivered tremendous margin uh expansion, corresponding free cash flow growth, and and we've been able to return a lot of that free cash flow to shareholders through uh our $800 million a year dividend and through record level of activity on on the share buyback. So, I think that's all been positive. Uh great year in 2025. The uh the gold price as we start 2026 is up, you know, over $1,000 relative to the average for 2025. So should be another good year from a financial perspective. Uh what do we need to do? We need to keep delivering and uh you know hitting our numbers every quarter. Um we need to keep showcasing the the value of our organic growth projects. So we're we're we're going to be advancing uh development of some some of that growth over the course of the next year. Uh a big catalyst for us this year is construction decision on our Hope Bay project in the northernmost part of None. that's likely to come out in in May. Uh and that's going to represent another 400,000 ounce a year uh producer uh and none of it for us. So So that's exciting. Uh we plan to also be able to provide uh our investors with with more detail on our fill the mill strategy at Canadian Malardic and how we see getting uh total gold production at that complex up to north of a million ounces here. >> Great overview. So as a reminder to our viewers, Agniko has 11 producing mines in four different countries. But for the just for the interest of time, I want to focus on those assets which are going to contribute to the greatest amount of growth. And I want to start with Detour. Detour is Canada's largest gold mine. It's located in Ontario and it's on track to produce 700,000 ounces with a pathway toward 1 million ounces. How are the current operations at Detour and how will you grow production by 30% in the coming years? Yeah. So, that's that that's absolutely right. I mean, Detour is a is a worldclass asset. It's it's one of the largest gold mines in the world currently and and once it's fully ramped up, but will likely be in the top five or six largest gold mines in the world and and it's located, you know, within about a 10-hour drive of our office here in Toronto. So it's in a very stable uh region that uh um you know part of part of that regional center in in the Abatibby where we've got five operating mines that that together represent about twothirds of our of our production. Uh at Detour as as you mentioned we've been operating uh you know around 650 700,000 ounces a year and we see the potential to ramp that up significantly. Uh Detour currently has 40 million ounces in reserves and resources. I mean, this is a this is a unicorn in in our industry to have uh a gold mine that that has a mine life akin to a base metal mine. Um, and that 40 million ounces we've got there over the last 5 years. So, we've gone from 20 million ounces of reserves and resources to 40 million ounces over the past 5 years at a discovery cost of about $10 an ounce. So there's been tremendous value uh creation through uh through exploration uh detour o over the course of the you know the relatively uh recent past. Uh the plan at detour currently it's a it's a bulk mining it's a large uh open pit relatively lowgrade mine where we're mining and processing about 77,000 tons per day of ore at a grade of about.9 g per ton. So we could keep doing uh what we're doing. You know, we're generating tremendous cash flow. Um you know, the operation's going very well. However, if if we keep the operation as is, this mine life, this mine will still be going in in the year 2080. So the challenge is how do we bring some of that value forward? There's two ways you can do that. One uh is by expanding the the mill and your processing capacity. Uh, two is by advancing the mining of of the higher grade parts of the deposit. And we're really doing both of those things. We put out a study in June of 2024 that envisions uh going underground uh via ramp and underground from the underground sourcing about 12,000 tons per day of what will be 2.2 g per ton material. So instead of the 0.9 that we're getting out of the pit, it'll be 2.2 g, which increases production. In addition to that, we're going to increase the mill from a rate of about 77,000 to 80,000 tons per day. So, you put those two together uh and we can see production getting up to about a million ounces a year by 2030 and based on that study staying at a million ounces a year for over 14 years now. I always like to point out that study was done at a point in time based on drilling that was done to the end of 2023. you know, since then we've spent tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars on exploration and we've significantly increased the the size of the underground resource. So, so really a detour, you know, that that that was the plan as of June 2024. Uh obviously, we're looking at opportunities to uh to to do do more and and and bring that production forward even further. And Jamie, you mentioned that this mine will be in production for many decades from now, but maybe you can just put that into perspective for our viewers, how rare that is for a gold mine. >> Yeah, I mean, the average gold mine, I'd say, has has, you know, maybe a 10-year initial life. And, you know, if you're lucky, uh, you're able to expand that, you know, another 5 to 10 years. I think, you know, Agniko's fortunate that we have a number of these large assets that have multi-deade lives uh based on, you know, just what we're doing currently at Detour out to the late 70s or early 80s at Detour. At Canadian Malardic, we have mine life out to the 2050s. Um, you know, a great example is our Lauron mine. It was started 37 years ago with an eight-year life and has been expanded five times and and you know, is still going strong and has an eight-year life today. So um there are [clears throat] these unique long life assets within the the the gold sector. Uh but they are quite rare. Typically you know an open pit oxide deposit uh you're you're lucky to get 15 or 20 years out of. >> So let's move on now and discuss Mardic. This is an open pit mine in the province of Quebec. It is transitioning from an open pit operation to underground. How is the transitioning going? >> It's going very well. So this is this is a a significant uh project that that we started back uh in the early part of of of this decade. Um we are basically I mean if you just just in terms of history uh this was an underground mine back in the 1950s through to the 1980s was restarted in uh 2010 as an open pit mining the the lower grade halo around the historic underground resource. Uh but we're we're we're depleting those pits. So the Canadian Malardic Pit was mined out a couple of years ago. We've got a couple of years left of mining at what we call the the Barnard pit. Um you know, similar to Detour, this is this is a bulk mining relatively lowgrade operation where we're currently mining and milling about 60,000 tons of ore per day at a grade of 1 gram per ton. As that Barnat pit gets depleted, we're going to transition to 20,000 tons per day from underground, but at three times the grade. So, a third of the the mill throughput at three times the grade means our ounce production stays basically flat around 550 600,000 ounces per year, but all of a sudden, we've got a bunch of additional mill upside. So, uh the the project's been going very well. We put out our our pea on on this uh in June of 2023. Uh we currently have ramp access down to a depth of about 1.1 km underground. Uh the shafts more than 2/3 done. It's down to about 1.3 1.4 km and we will look to fully transition from open pit to underground in in 2028. Uh and then of course the challenge is uh filling that the rest of that available mill capacity. So you mentioned that in your intro. Uh part of the strategy at Malardic is fill the mill and maybe you can just speak to the strategy. What exactly do you mean by it? >> Sure. So again going from uh we have a mill that that currently processes 60,000 tons per day. Uh starting in the the first full year will be 2029. We'll only be filling 20,000 tons per day uh from the underground. At that rate of 20,000 tons per day, we're still producing 600,000 ounces a year, but we've got 40,000 tons of daily excess mill capacity. So, we're looking at a number of things uh to to to help provide mill feed and and support keeping that that hungry mill as uh as as full as possible. Uh we're currently evaluating a second shaft. uh through that second shaft, we could we could look to uh mine and and ultimately process about another 10,000 tons per day from underground. So that could give us another 200,000 ounces a year of production. Uh we also have the Marban deposit that we acquired through the acquisition of 03 mining uh last year. Uh we see that as having the potential to give us a you know about 130,000 ounces a year. We'll be able to truck that. It's uh within about 15 km of uh of the mill. And in addition, we have our Wasamac deposit which is uh about 100 km away. Uh that'll be operated as about a 3,000 ton per day operation. Could contribute about 100,000 ounces a year as well. So if you add up all of the component pieces, we see a pathway to maybe 47,000 tons per day of uh of of milfeed. We're still going to have some excess capacity, but at just at that 47,000 tons per day, we're producing at a million ounces a year. So, there's uh there remains tremendous upside there in terms of the the fact that we will have available capacity. We're doing more exploration work than we've ever done uh in and around that that mill. We've got 25 drill rigs currently uh active out of the 130 across the company. So, we're we're exploring as uh as aggressively as we we can to try to source additional milfeed uh and maximize production from from that that infrastructure. But that that's really what what it's about in this industry. I mean, if you can leverage existing infrastructure, existing uh mill facilities, existing tailings uh and avoid having to go build uh brand new infrastructure, you you can generate very very strong returns. that many rigs go, the drilling contractors must be very happy with you. >> They I I think they are. I think uh the drilling contractors are are are doing well um across the industry now just given the the gold price environment that we're in. But yeah, I think we uh we work with uh upwards of 15 different drill contractors at any given time and we're keeping them very busy these days. Jamie, two other assets which will result in future growth for Agniko are Upper Beaver which is located in the Kirkland Lake District or area of Ontario and also Hope Bay which is located in Nunibet. Maybe you can just give us an update on what's happening there starting with Upper Beaver. >> Certainly. So Upper Beaver uh again at the same time we put out our study on uh on Detour Underground in June of 2024 uh we we put out an update on on Upper Beaver. So this is a uh a project that's about 20 km away from our Macassen mine in Kirken Lake. It it fits in well with our you know that strategy of of regional consolidation. Uh what we're envisioning is uh an underground operation about 5,000 tons per day uh would produce about 210,000 ounces a year for for well north of uh 10 years. So we have uh we we've started to do a fair bit of uh the infrastructure work. where we're doing some bulk samp sampling and and highintensity drilling just to firm up the the deposit before we make a a formal construction decision uh which is expected in 2027. But this has the the potential uh to be you know brand new production a new mine producing in 2031 uh at a rate of about 210,000 ounces a year uh right next door to you know our existing operations. So, it's uh it's going to be a high return project and certainly in this gold price environment as as the CFO I'm I'm always interested in the uh the cash flow and I ran the numbers the other day at spot gold. You know, Upper Beaver despite it being relatively small uh will generate uh again at these gold prices about US 550 million a year in after taxfree cash flow. So, it'll be a significant contributor to our overall uh free cash flow from one relatively small but relatively lowcost operation. And why don't we move on now and talk about Hope Bay? >> Yeah. So, Hope Bay, as I mentioned, is a is a significant catalyst for us this year. Uh, this is a project that we acquired from T-Mac Resources a number of years ago. Uh, they had scoped it at at a smaller size operating around 2,000 tons per day. Uh, and the reality in in in None of it, you you need scale. Uh, you you need mines that that can produce in a range of, you know, 350 400,000 ounces per year. uh because of the the challenging logistics and and and the higher fixed costs of of operating in uh in the Arctic and in that part of uh of Ninevea. So shortly after a acquired the assets, it it was shut down and turned uh over to the exploration stage and we've really spent the last 3 years drilling it trying to get a better understanding of you know the scale potential of of of the project. And fortunately, about 18 months ago, we we hit this zone that we call patch 7. Uh patch 7 has gone from zero to, you know, 1.7 million ounces in in in resources over the course of the the past year and a half. And we'll provide an update on on that resource at the end of this year. But, you know, spoiler alert, it it's grown even further. And why that that area is important, that patch 7 deposit is is important for the project is it represents a third mining front. So we'll be mining from uh what are called the Doris and and Madrid deposits but also from this patch 7 zone which is happens to be higher grade and some potential for for larger stove. So uh that's really been a gamecher for Hope Bay. We think that between Doris, Madrid, and patch 7, we can scale this project up at a rate about 400,000 ounces a year, which is which is really what what you need uh in order to be profitable to cover your fixed costs and and generate very strong returns in in in Nunovith. So, we'll have uh an update on that in May. We'll likely host an an investor and site visit and we may well have representation from uh we'll certainly be inviting members of the uh the Canadian government to attend as well. a very important project I think in terms of uh just Canada overall uh checks a lot of boxes for the Canadian federal government in terms of uh Arctic sovereignty, indigenous economic reconciliation. Um you know we we know how to operate there and we can provide uh uh you know a lot of benefits to uh that that region in northern Nineve. So, let's move on now and discuss your balance sheet. With gold trading over $4,500 an ounce, Ignos is creating a lot of free cash flow. How much free cash flow are you generating and how much cash do you currently have on the balance sheet? Maybe you can speak to how you're going to allocate all that cash in the coming months. >> Yeah, certainly. So, in in 2025, uh you know, we saw a pretty significant increase in in in free cash flow. we had uh you know quarters approaching a billion dollars um of of quarterly uh cash flow. So that's that's excellent and and we we've put that to to work really in in deleveraging uh the balance sheet and and and strengthening our overall financial flexibility. Um we've we will have repaid about a billion dollars of debt in uh in 2025 and uh we anticipate we're finalizing the numbers now but ending uh 2025 with north of $2.6 billion of net cash. So um you know phenomenal uh financial strength and and dramatic change from where we were a couple years ago with a fair bit of uh of net debt. So we've used that free cash flow to strengthen the balance sheet while at the same time increasing returns to shareholders. Uh we pay an 800 million US dividend annually and in 2025 we bought back about $600 million worth of stock. So total returns about 1.4 billion um which I I I think you know is appreciated by our shareholders represented about 30% of our free cash flow. So it was a good uh healthy level of return as we look into 2026. um you know obviously higher gold price environment today from where we were last year. Uh we will be accelerating some of our capital spending. Uh we we're bringing Hope Bay online. We're looking at opportunities to accelerate our organic growth pipeline where we can. Uh we'll be investing a record amount in in exploration in in 2026. Um despite all that though, I think there's an opportunity for higher shareholder returns again because the balance sheet's in such great shape. uh you know we don't need as much cash flow to be directed to to that. So uh we'll obviously look at a potential dividend increase and we'll certainly consider uh doing even more than we did in 2025 with respect to uh the share buyback. >> And Jamie, a big part of Agniko's growth strategy in the last few years has been growing by way of M&A. Will given all the free cash flow that you have, will you continue on with this strategy? Yeah. So, we have uh we have what we call our our five key value driver projects and and we've talked about uh majority of of of them today. Uh you know, Detour and expanding that operation from 700,000 ounces to a million ounces a year. Uh Canadian Malardic transitioning to underground and filling that mill and getting production at that complex up to a million ounces a year. Uh building Upper Beaver and having that come into production in in 2031. building hope and and last but not least u advancing our our joint venture project with tech uh called San Nicholas in the state of Zacatus in Mexico. So we have got a great organic growth pipeline that you know those five projects collectively represent about 1.3 to 1.4 million ounces of production. So we see the potential to grow our production by up to 30% over the next 5 to 10 years without doing anything at all. Um so that buys us the you know the ability to be very patient and very selective when it comes to external M&A opportunities. I mean obviously with a stronger balance sheet we have uh the ability to do more uh but we don't need to do anything. So we'll we'll we'll be uh extremely selective from from that perspective. >> And Jamie Agniko has always had a strategy of investing in juniors and helping them move along. And in the past year, Nico has made investments in Foran, Oiscoco Metals, and also Maple Gold Mines. What's the reasoning for investing in these juniors? And what traits do you look for when you make an investment? >> Yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, that strategy has has been consistent and that strategy has led to uh many of the operating minds that we have today. So, you know, the idea is is to get in and um you know, make an investment in in in these companies and and get a better understanding of of their project. uh o over time uh you know our overall strategy Agniko is a a global mining company but we focus on regions and and we we try to create a competitive advantage in those regions. So of the of of the portfolio companies that we've invested in the majority of them fit within those those regional centers where um you know we we we look to create that competitive advantage. Uh I I would say uh the the the process of of investing in select juniors is is consistent with what we've always done. We're looking at exploration potential. So if if a project that hasn't been developed yet, uh we're looking for the geologic potential uh you know for a mine that that could go for decades and decades. For producing operations generally we're looking at optimization opportunities. I mean can we make the mine more efficient? Can we um you know ramp it up to a higher level of production? Those are the types of things that we we evaluate when we're uh we're looking at at these targets. But we also take a lot of pride uh in being the partner of choice in the industry. You know, we partner with a lot of juniors where we we provide our our technical bench strength uh and resources to help them make their project better. Uh you know, at some point maybe we'll invest more or or buy them, maybe we won't. Um but you know, we're we try to be as helpful as possible uh in terms of being being a partner in moving these projects forward. One measure of success that IO has always focused on is gold production per 10,000 shares. Maybe you can just speak to this and why you think this is such an important measurement. >> Yes, we look at everything on a per share basis. Uh we're evaluating, you know, an internal or external transaction. We we need to be creating value per share. Uh that that is key. If you go back and and and look over the last uh 20 years, go back to 2005, Agniko was was operating just the Luron mine in northern Quebec, uh producing about 240,000 ounces a year. You know, you fast forward to now, we're producing, you know, 3.4 million ounces a year from from 10 operating mines. Uh so almost a a 14-fold increase in production. But what's most important is that production per share over that period has increased by a factor of three. And I' I'd suggest that that's peerleading. If you look at many of our peers, production per share is actually flat. Reserves per share are flat. Uh so, you know, the owners of our company, investors in in in gold mining equities, they want leverage to higher gold prices, sure, but they also want leverage to more exposure to gold per share. and and we can do that by having success through the drill bit. Uh we can do that by um you know expanding our operations and and and uh generating more more production on a per share basis. And we've we've done a great job over the last 20 years and and and hope to do the same going forward. Well, Jamie, this has been a great update and a great overview. And as we wrap up, you've already provided a lot of detail and what you and your team will be doing here in the coming months, but maybe you can just summarize for investors what they can expect in terms of news flow here in the next few months from Agniko. >> Certainly. So, about a month from now, we'll be uh providing an update on our Q4 2025 financial results and and with that, we'll provide our guidance for 2026. Um, you know, I think the market we've we've had a lot of discussions with investors and and analysts and our our objective really has been to maintain stable production over over the short term until we start to see production growth from our organic pipeline uh start up in in 2030 and that's when we'll start to see a stairst step increase in in production. So uh that's been our objective stable stable kind of near-term uh production. Um we are obviously going to see costs increase because of the impact of uh higher gold prices on on costs and you know we've seen that across the industry. Uh but with the gold price where it is our our margins are are going to continue to increase. So so so that will be an update uh on on on our 2026 plans. Beyond that the big catalyst for this year again is is uh Hope Bay and a construction decision on that project. Um but that's that's exciting. I think we'll we'll announce that uh in May and and we'll be investing significantly in moving that project forward and and uh with a view to to getting it into full production by 2030. Um later in the year, we're we're hoping to be able to provide more information and and uh support for our fill the mill strategy. So, uh, potentially update some of the studies we have on, uh, our W wasamac deposit and our Marban deposit and how we're going to incorporate those projects into the the overall pathway to a million ounces at Canadian Mardic. So, it it should be an exciting year. Uh, we we've got, like I said, you know, lots on the go, uh, lots of very exciting, very high return uh, organic growth projects, and we'll be able to to provide meaningful updates on those throughout the course of uh, the next year. Well, that was a great overview and I want to thank you very much for spending time with us today and I look forward to the next update. Thanks for having me. [music] [music]
Agnico Eagle Update | Jamie Porter and Jimmy Connor
Summary
Bloor Street Capital Inc. was paid a fee for producing this event. Bloor Street Capital Inc. and its affiliates may or may not hold …Transcript
Jamie, thank you so much for joining us today. This year has been a record- setting year for Igno from an operational, financial, and also a share performance perspective. Can you just speak to some of the key drivers that contributed to Nico's success this past year? And what will be your priorities as we enter 2026 so you can maintain this momentum? >> Yeah, absolutely. Well, first off, uh, thanks for having me. I think, uh, you know, 2025 was a was a phenomenal year. We've we we've seen uh uh the the the level of increase in the gold price. I think it's good for the industry and it's been very good for Agniko. Uh I think our success throughout the course of 2025 was was really based on just doing what we said we were going to do. Um we had tremendous operational consistency throughout the year. um you know, we've hit our production targets and and despite the the the pressure on costs on on royalty costs coming from higher gold prices, uh we we plan to have have ended 2025 pretty close to our our the top end of our initial cost guidance. So, um we've really been able to deliver that margin expansion that investors expect when the gold price goes up, you know, by holding costs relatively flat. We've delivered tremendous margin uh expansion, corresponding free cash flow growth, and and we've been able to return a lot of that free cash flow to shareholders through uh our $800 million a year dividend and through record level of activity on on the share buyback. So, I think that's all been positive. Uh great year in 2025. The uh the gold price as we start 2026 is up, you know, over $1,000 relative to the average for 2025. So should be another good year from a financial perspective. Uh what do we need to do? We need to keep delivering and uh you know hitting our numbers every quarter. Um we need to keep showcasing the the value of our organic growth projects. So we're we're we're going to be advancing uh development of some some of that growth over the course of the next year. Uh a big catalyst for us this year is construction decision on our Hope Bay project in the northernmost part of None. that's likely to come out in in May. Uh and that's going to represent another 400,000 ounce a year uh producer uh and none of it for us. So So that's exciting. Uh we plan to also be able to provide uh our investors with with more detail on our fill the mill strategy at Canadian Malardic and how we see getting uh total gold production at that complex up to north of a million ounces here. >> Great overview. So as a reminder to our viewers, Agniko has 11 producing mines in four different countries. But for the just for the interest of time, I want to focus on those assets which are going to contribute to the greatest amount of growth. And I want to start with Detour. Detour is Canada's largest gold mine. It's located in Ontario and it's on track to produce 700,000 ounces with a pathway toward 1 million ounces. How are the current operations at Detour and how will you grow production by 30% in the coming years? Yeah. So, that's that that's absolutely right. I mean, Detour is a is a worldclass asset. It's it's one of the largest gold mines in the world currently and and once it's fully ramped up, but will likely be in the top five or six largest gold mines in the world and and it's located, you know, within about a 10-hour drive of our office here in Toronto. So it's in a very stable uh region that uh um you know part of part of that regional center in in the Abatibby where we've got five operating mines that that together represent about twothirds of our of our production. Uh at Detour as as you mentioned we've been operating uh you know around 650 700,000 ounces a year and we see the potential to ramp that up significantly. Uh Detour currently has 40 million ounces in reserves and resources. I mean, this is a this is a unicorn in in our industry to have uh a gold mine that that has a mine life akin to a base metal mine. Um, and that 40 million ounces we've got there over the last 5 years. So, we've gone from 20 million ounces of reserves and resources to 40 million ounces over the past 5 years at a discovery cost of about $10 an ounce. So there's been tremendous value uh creation through uh through exploration uh detour o over the course of the you know the relatively uh recent past. Uh the plan at detour currently it's a it's a bulk mining it's a large uh open pit relatively lowgrade mine where we're mining and processing about 77,000 tons per day of ore at a grade of about.9 g per ton. So we could keep doing uh what we're doing. You know, we're generating tremendous cash flow. Um you know, the operation's going very well. However, if if we keep the operation as is, this mine life, this mine will still be going in in the year 2080. So the challenge is how do we bring some of that value forward? There's two ways you can do that. One uh is by expanding the the mill and your processing capacity. Uh, two is by advancing the mining of of the higher grade parts of the deposit. And we're really doing both of those things. We put out a study in June of 2024 that envisions uh going underground uh via ramp and underground from the underground sourcing about 12,000 tons per day of what will be 2.2 g per ton material. So instead of the 0.9 that we're getting out of the pit, it'll be 2.2 g, which increases production. In addition to that, we're going to increase the mill from a rate of about 77,000 to 80,000 tons per day. So, you put those two together uh and we can see production getting up to about a million ounces a year by 2030 and based on that study staying at a million ounces a year for over 14 years now. I always like to point out that study was done at a point in time based on drilling that was done to the end of 2023. you know, since then we've spent tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars on exploration and we've significantly increased the the size of the underground resource. So, so really a detour, you know, that that that was the plan as of June 2024. Uh obviously, we're looking at opportunities to uh to to do do more and and and bring that production forward even further. And Jamie, you mentioned that this mine will be in production for many decades from now, but maybe you can just put that into perspective for our viewers, how rare that is for a gold mine. >> Yeah, I mean, the average gold mine, I'd say, has has, you know, maybe a 10-year initial life. And, you know, if you're lucky, uh, you're able to expand that, you know, another 5 to 10 years. I think, you know, Agniko's fortunate that we have a number of these large assets that have multi-deade lives uh based on, you know, just what we're doing currently at Detour out to the late 70s or early 80s at Detour. At Canadian Malardic, we have mine life out to the 2050s. Um, you know, a great example is our Lauron mine. It was started 37 years ago with an eight-year life and has been expanded five times and and you know, is still going strong and has an eight-year life today. So um there are [clears throat] these unique long life assets within the the the gold sector. Uh but they are quite rare. Typically you know an open pit oxide deposit uh you're you're lucky to get 15 or 20 years out of. >> So let's move on now and discuss Mardic. This is an open pit mine in the province of Quebec. It is transitioning from an open pit operation to underground. How is the transitioning going? >> It's going very well. So this is this is a a significant uh project that that we started back uh in the early part of of of this decade. Um we are basically I mean if you just just in terms of history uh this was an underground mine back in the 1950s through to the 1980s was restarted in uh 2010 as an open pit mining the the lower grade halo around the historic underground resource. Uh but we're we're we're depleting those pits. So the Canadian Malardic Pit was mined out a couple of years ago. We've got a couple of years left of mining at what we call the the Barnard pit. Um you know, similar to Detour, this is this is a bulk mining relatively lowgrade operation where we're currently mining and milling about 60,000 tons of ore per day at a grade of 1 gram per ton. As that Barnat pit gets depleted, we're going to transition to 20,000 tons per day from underground, but at three times the grade. So, a third of the the mill throughput at three times the grade means our ounce production stays basically flat around 550 600,000 ounces per year, but all of a sudden, we've got a bunch of additional mill upside. So, uh the the project's been going very well. We put out our our pea on on this uh in June of 2023. Uh we currently have ramp access down to a depth of about 1.1 km underground. Uh the shafts more than 2/3 done. It's down to about 1.3 1.4 km and we will look to fully transition from open pit to underground in in 2028. Uh and then of course the challenge is uh filling that the rest of that available mill capacity. So you mentioned that in your intro. Uh part of the strategy at Malardic is fill the mill and maybe you can just speak to the strategy. What exactly do you mean by it? >> Sure. So again going from uh we have a mill that that currently processes 60,000 tons per day. Uh starting in the the first full year will be 2029. We'll only be filling 20,000 tons per day uh from the underground. At that rate of 20,000 tons per day, we're still producing 600,000 ounces a year, but we've got 40,000 tons of daily excess mill capacity. So, we're looking at a number of things uh to to to help provide mill feed and and support keeping that that hungry mill as uh as as full as possible. Uh we're currently evaluating a second shaft. uh through that second shaft, we could we could look to uh mine and and ultimately process about another 10,000 tons per day from underground. So that could give us another 200,000 ounces a year of production. Uh we also have the Marban deposit that we acquired through the acquisition of 03 mining uh last year. Uh we see that as having the potential to give us a you know about 130,000 ounces a year. We'll be able to truck that. It's uh within about 15 km of uh of the mill. And in addition, we have our Wasamac deposit which is uh about 100 km away. Uh that'll be operated as about a 3,000 ton per day operation. Could contribute about 100,000 ounces a year as well. So if you add up all of the component pieces, we see a pathway to maybe 47,000 tons per day of uh of of milfeed. We're still going to have some excess capacity, but at just at that 47,000 tons per day, we're producing at a million ounces a year. So, there's uh there remains tremendous upside there in terms of the the fact that we will have available capacity. We're doing more exploration work than we've ever done uh in and around that that mill. We've got 25 drill rigs currently uh active out of the 130 across the company. So, we're we're exploring as uh as aggressively as we we can to try to source additional milfeed uh and maximize production from from that that infrastructure. But that that's really what what it's about in this industry. I mean, if you can leverage existing infrastructure, existing uh mill facilities, existing tailings uh and avoid having to go build uh brand new infrastructure, you you can generate very very strong returns. that many rigs go, the drilling contractors must be very happy with you. >> They I I think they are. I think uh the drilling contractors are are are doing well um across the industry now just given the the gold price environment that we're in. But yeah, I think we uh we work with uh upwards of 15 different drill contractors at any given time and we're keeping them very busy these days. Jamie, two other assets which will result in future growth for Agniko are Upper Beaver which is located in the Kirkland Lake District or area of Ontario and also Hope Bay which is located in Nunibet. Maybe you can just give us an update on what's happening there starting with Upper Beaver. >> Certainly. So Upper Beaver uh again at the same time we put out our study on uh on Detour Underground in June of 2024 uh we we put out an update on on Upper Beaver. So this is a uh a project that's about 20 km away from our Macassen mine in Kirken Lake. It it fits in well with our you know that strategy of of regional consolidation. Uh what we're envisioning is uh an underground operation about 5,000 tons per day uh would produce about 210,000 ounces a year for for well north of uh 10 years. So we have uh we we've started to do a fair bit of uh the infrastructure work. where we're doing some bulk samp sampling and and highintensity drilling just to firm up the the deposit before we make a a formal construction decision uh which is expected in 2027. But this has the the potential uh to be you know brand new production a new mine producing in 2031 uh at a rate of about 210,000 ounces a year uh right next door to you know our existing operations. So, it's uh it's going to be a high return project and certainly in this gold price environment as as the CFO I'm I'm always interested in the uh the cash flow and I ran the numbers the other day at spot gold. You know, Upper Beaver despite it being relatively small uh will generate uh again at these gold prices about US 550 million a year in after taxfree cash flow. So, it'll be a significant contributor to our overall uh free cash flow from one relatively small but relatively lowcost operation. And why don't we move on now and talk about Hope Bay? >> Yeah. So, Hope Bay, as I mentioned, is a is a significant catalyst for us this year. Uh, this is a project that we acquired from T-Mac Resources a number of years ago. Uh, they had scoped it at at a smaller size operating around 2,000 tons per day. Uh, and the reality in in in None of it, you you need scale. Uh, you you need mines that that can produce in a range of, you know, 350 400,000 ounces per year. uh because of the the challenging logistics and and and the higher fixed costs of of operating in uh in the Arctic and in that part of uh of Ninevea. So shortly after a acquired the assets, it it was shut down and turned uh over to the exploration stage and we've really spent the last 3 years drilling it trying to get a better understanding of you know the scale potential of of of the project. And fortunately, about 18 months ago, we we hit this zone that we call patch 7. Uh patch 7 has gone from zero to, you know, 1.7 million ounces in in in resources over the course of the the past year and a half. And we'll provide an update on on that resource at the end of this year. But, you know, spoiler alert, it it's grown even further. And why that that area is important, that patch 7 deposit is is important for the project is it represents a third mining front. So we'll be mining from uh what are called the Doris and and Madrid deposits but also from this patch 7 zone which is happens to be higher grade and some potential for for larger stove. So uh that's really been a gamecher for Hope Bay. We think that between Doris, Madrid, and patch 7, we can scale this project up at a rate about 400,000 ounces a year, which is which is really what what you need uh in order to be profitable to cover your fixed costs and and generate very strong returns in in in Nunovith. So, we'll have uh an update on that in May. We'll likely host an an investor and site visit and we may well have representation from uh we'll certainly be inviting members of the uh the Canadian government to attend as well. a very important project I think in terms of uh just Canada overall uh checks a lot of boxes for the Canadian federal government in terms of uh Arctic sovereignty, indigenous economic reconciliation. Um you know we we know how to operate there and we can provide uh uh you know a lot of benefits to uh that that region in northern Nineve. So, let's move on now and discuss your balance sheet. With gold trading over $4,500 an ounce, Ignos is creating a lot of free cash flow. How much free cash flow are you generating and how much cash do you currently have on the balance sheet? Maybe you can speak to how you're going to allocate all that cash in the coming months. >> Yeah, certainly. So, in in 2025, uh you know, we saw a pretty significant increase in in in free cash flow. we had uh you know quarters approaching a billion dollars um of of quarterly uh cash flow. So that's that's excellent and and we we've put that to to work really in in deleveraging uh the balance sheet and and and strengthening our overall financial flexibility. Um we've we will have repaid about a billion dollars of debt in uh in 2025 and uh we anticipate we're finalizing the numbers now but ending uh 2025 with north of $2.6 billion of net cash. So um you know phenomenal uh financial strength and and dramatic change from where we were a couple years ago with a fair bit of uh of net debt. So we've used that free cash flow to strengthen the balance sheet while at the same time increasing returns to shareholders. Uh we pay an 800 million US dividend annually and in 2025 we bought back about $600 million worth of stock. So total returns about 1.4 billion um which I I I think you know is appreciated by our shareholders represented about 30% of our free cash flow. So it was a good uh healthy level of return as we look into 2026. um you know obviously higher gold price environment today from where we were last year. Uh we will be accelerating some of our capital spending. Uh we we're bringing Hope Bay online. We're looking at opportunities to accelerate our organic growth pipeline where we can. Uh we'll be investing a record amount in in exploration in in 2026. Um despite all that though, I think there's an opportunity for higher shareholder returns again because the balance sheet's in such great shape. uh you know we don't need as much cash flow to be directed to to that. So uh we'll obviously look at a potential dividend increase and we'll certainly consider uh doing even more than we did in 2025 with respect to uh the share buyback. >> And Jamie, a big part of Agniko's growth strategy in the last few years has been growing by way of M&A. Will given all the free cash flow that you have, will you continue on with this strategy? Yeah. So, we have uh we have what we call our our five key value driver projects and and we've talked about uh majority of of of them today. Uh you know, Detour and expanding that operation from 700,000 ounces to a million ounces a year. Uh Canadian Malardic transitioning to underground and filling that mill and getting production at that complex up to a million ounces a year. Uh building Upper Beaver and having that come into production in in 2031. building hope and and last but not least u advancing our our joint venture project with tech uh called San Nicholas in the state of Zacatus in Mexico. So we have got a great organic growth pipeline that you know those five projects collectively represent about 1.3 to 1.4 million ounces of production. So we see the potential to grow our production by up to 30% over the next 5 to 10 years without doing anything at all. Um so that buys us the you know the ability to be very patient and very selective when it comes to external M&A opportunities. I mean obviously with a stronger balance sheet we have uh the ability to do more uh but we don't need to do anything. So we'll we'll we'll be uh extremely selective from from that perspective. >> And Jamie Agniko has always had a strategy of investing in juniors and helping them move along. And in the past year, Nico has made investments in Foran, Oiscoco Metals, and also Maple Gold Mines. What's the reasoning for investing in these juniors? And what traits do you look for when you make an investment? >> Yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, that strategy has has been consistent and that strategy has led to uh many of the operating minds that we have today. So, you know, the idea is is to get in and um you know, make an investment in in in these companies and and get a better understanding of of their project. uh o over time uh you know our overall strategy Agniko is a a global mining company but we focus on regions and and we we try to create a competitive advantage in those regions. So of the of of the portfolio companies that we've invested in the majority of them fit within those those regional centers where um you know we we we look to create that competitive advantage. Uh I I would say uh the the the process of of investing in select juniors is is consistent with what we've always done. We're looking at exploration potential. So if if a project that hasn't been developed yet, uh we're looking for the geologic potential uh you know for a mine that that could go for decades and decades. For producing operations generally we're looking at optimization opportunities. I mean can we make the mine more efficient? Can we um you know ramp it up to a higher level of production? Those are the types of things that we we evaluate when we're uh we're looking at at these targets. But we also take a lot of pride uh in being the partner of choice in the industry. You know, we partner with a lot of juniors where we we provide our our technical bench strength uh and resources to help them make their project better. Uh you know, at some point maybe we'll invest more or or buy them, maybe we won't. Um but you know, we're we try to be as helpful as possible uh in terms of being being a partner in moving these projects forward. One measure of success that IO has always focused on is gold production per 10,000 shares. Maybe you can just speak to this and why you think this is such an important measurement. >> Yes, we look at everything on a per share basis. Uh we're evaluating, you know, an internal or external transaction. We we need to be creating value per share. Uh that that is key. If you go back and and and look over the last uh 20 years, go back to 2005, Agniko was was operating just the Luron mine in northern Quebec, uh producing about 240,000 ounces a year. You know, you fast forward to now, we're producing, you know, 3.4 million ounces a year from from 10 operating mines. Uh so almost a a 14-fold increase in production. But what's most important is that production per share over that period has increased by a factor of three. And I' I'd suggest that that's peerleading. If you look at many of our peers, production per share is actually flat. Reserves per share are flat. Uh so, you know, the owners of our company, investors in in in gold mining equities, they want leverage to higher gold prices, sure, but they also want leverage to more exposure to gold per share. and and we can do that by having success through the drill bit. Uh we can do that by um you know expanding our operations and and and uh generating more more production on a per share basis. And we've we've done a great job over the last 20 years and and and hope to do the same going forward. Well, Jamie, this has been a great update and a great overview. And as we wrap up, you've already provided a lot of detail and what you and your team will be doing here in the coming months, but maybe you can just summarize for investors what they can expect in terms of news flow here in the next few months from Agniko. >> Certainly. So, about a month from now, we'll be uh providing an update on our Q4 2025 financial results and and with that, we'll provide our guidance for 2026. Um, you know, I think the market we've we've had a lot of discussions with investors and and analysts and our our objective really has been to maintain stable production over over the short term until we start to see production growth from our organic pipeline uh start up in in 2030 and that's when we'll start to see a stairst step increase in in production. So uh that's been our objective stable stable kind of near-term uh production. Um we are obviously going to see costs increase because of the impact of uh higher gold prices on on costs and you know we've seen that across the industry. Uh but with the gold price where it is our our margins are are going to continue to increase. So so so that will be an update uh on on on our 2026 plans. Beyond that the big catalyst for this year again is is uh Hope Bay and a construction decision on that project. Um but that's that's exciting. I think we'll we'll announce that uh in May and and we'll be investing significantly in moving that project forward and and uh with a view to to getting it into full production by 2030. Um later in the year, we're we're hoping to be able to provide more information and and uh support for our fill the mill strategy. So, uh, potentially update some of the studies we have on, uh, our W wasamac deposit and our Marban deposit and how we're going to incorporate those projects into the the overall pathway to a million ounces at Canadian Mardic. So, it it should be an exciting year. Uh, we we've got, like I said, you know, lots on the go, uh, lots of very exciting, very high return uh, organic growth projects, and we'll be able to to provide meaningful updates on those throughout the course of uh, the next year. Well, that was a great overview and I want to thank you very much for spending time with us today and I look forward to the next update. Thanks for having me. [music] [music]