AngloGold Ashanti Limited Sponsored ADR Aktie

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the AngloGold Ashanti Q4 2025 Earnings Release.

[Operator Instructions] Please note that this event is being recorded.

I will now hand you over to Mr. Stewart Bailey. Please go ahead, sir.

Thanks, is, and welcome, everybody, to our full year and Q4 results call. As always, Alberta and Jillian will walk through the presentation, but you do have other members of our senior leadership team that will be on hand for the Q&A afterwards as needed. I direct you all to the safe harbor statement at the beginning of the presentation, which has got important information regarding forward-looking statements.

Without any further ado, I'll hand over to Alberto.

Thank you, Stuart, and welcome, everyone. Let's talk, as always, with safety, we achieved our lowest ever lowest total recordable injury frequent rate at 0.97, 0.97 injuries per million hours worked. This was the first of a number of records set last year and by far the most important. This is another key milestone on our safety journey, again, outperforming by far the ACM member average.

Our main aim remains to ensure on places it doesn't creep in that we never stop learning from our mistakes and that we are diligent in applying these lessons. This morning, I heard a podcast on our results on a, they did a great job, but 1 thing that caught my attention, they talk about safety, but then they did tie it to the next part of the presentation. Such lower levels of safety lead to operational excellence. It means you have more plant maintenance. It means your processing plants are working like they should. You could never achieve the level of operating excellence without operation, the safety statistics that we have. So it is our highest priority, but it also leads the way to operational excellence.

I'm proud to report a strong set of numbers for Q4 and the full year. We set new records in cash flow, earnings and dividend deceleration. In the final quarter, we generated free cash flow of more than $1 billion. That's the most ever and more than 3x what we generated in the same quarter last year. As a result, we've declared $875 million to shareholders as a dividend in Q4 alone. When we can control, we continue to control very well. That's clear, especially when you look at our managed operations with higher contributions from Sukari, Obuasi, Siguiri, Garban Guardia. It's worth highlighting that we also produced 3.7 million of silver at CVSA in Argentina.

On the other side of the ledger, we saw lower production from IndoPrimand Southern wise Dan, as delivered a steady on-plan performance with improvements in recoveries and tonnes treated. Total cost for managed operations were only up 5% on year. This is the fourth year in a row where our cash costs are lower than inflation and royalties. So basically, we have had in real terms flat cash cost since 2021, the only company in the sector to have been able to achieve that.

Cash flow of almost $3 billion was up 204% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA grew 129% and headline earnings were up 186%. The balance sheet is in excellent shape. Even after record dividend payments, we were able to turn $567 million of net debt at the end of 2024 to EUR 879 million of net cash at the end of 2025. We have ample liquidity and no material short-term maturities. We've been clear that shareholders who have patient -- who have been patient through the commodity cycle must see direct benefit from this improved performance. That requires the guardrails of a clear capital allocation framework and a competitive dividend policy.

As a reminder, we are 1 year into our new dividend policy. It provides for a set of quarterly payout of $0.125 per share or around $63 million. It also provides for an annual true-up payment, bringing the payout to 50% of free cash flow. In Q2, we took the decision to make an additional payment of $350 million. That takes our Q4 dividend to $875 million and our total payout for 2025 to almost $2 billion. That approach takes us to a net cash 0 at the end of 2025.

It speaks to the strength of the cash flows from our business and to our confidence in the outlook as we pay out substantially all of the cash we generate this year. I want to emphasize this point because that's always in the questions, why you're going to do? Are you going to be too net cash positive. And I think this is a statement of our confidence in the future but the fact that we bring net cash to 0 at the end of '25. We will see what happens this year. we will see what we do at the end of the next year. But I think that we have set significant precedents in terms of how we deal with quarterly dividends, and I think this is another milestone for us.

With Obuasi continued to ramp up our Tier 1 assets now account for more than 70% of production and 80% of reserves. The 2025 results reflect the first full year consolidation of Sukari operation with a significant impact on both our financial and operating performance. At the same time, our Tier 2 assets continue to deliver strong results with margins well ahead of where our Tier 1 mines were a year ago. A healthy margin and exceptional cash flow leverage are visible across the portfolio, reflecting an active management approach. Completion of the Sevagrande sale on December 1, 2025, we'll ensure we can further sharpen our focus on the core business.

At Obuasi, we delivered what we said we would. -- producing 266,000 ounces, up 20% year-on-year. The result was supported by our investment in ventilation, material handling and better equipment availability that we're working hard to sustain. It also showed meaningful progress on our technical proof of concept, under hand and feel it working in the high-grade zones and lateral development, which is key to underhand drift and fill is advancing -- we were up actually 34% between Q1 of 2025 and Q4 of 2025 in lateral development. And that sets us in a very good stage for our forecast guidance for 2026. We aim to grow production again in 2026 to over 300,000 ounces, alongside a commensurate increase in cash flow contribution just on the side, this Obuasi produced about $1,300 of free cash flow per ounce in 2025, which was double for example, what Kibali, our non-managed operation produced in 2025, it's quite a turn of events from what was happening 4 years ago.

So can is a Tier 1 operation by every measure record delivery, strong margins and exceptional operational stability. It also has a world-class operating team that has shown itself to be hungry to improve the asset and to benefit from being part of a larger business. They are thriving in a more competitive and supportive environment. 2025 was a record for Sukari, delivering its best-ever production and enormous cash flow. In fact, when you look at the net acquisition cost for sentiment after stripping out the sale proceeds for ABC and Doropo and the cash on the balance sheet, we generated almost 1/3 of the purchase in our first year as owners and the best is yet to come.

The integration is fully complete. The full asset potential team has completed its first pass. We have identified our rough of opportunities to increase value from almost every perspective. We see opportunities, the most significant expanding the underground from 1.2 million tonnes moved to 2.3 on higher grade ore. We just need to develop a new portal and expand the fleet, and we will talk about this in another asset, the impact of the most important idea that was uncovered in the full asset potential. But there were others, a small heap leach project improve feed efficiencies and better recoveries in the plan, just to name a few.

From a geological perspective, the ore body is still open with potential to add ounces and we will be increasing our budget for exploration, brownfield exploration during 2026. Essentially, there's opportunity wherever we look. While we generated record cash flow, we are aggressively drilling to secure tomorrow. It is worth remembering that we have the industry's top exploration team.

They continue to deliver exceptional exploration results across our portfolio replacing depletion and upgrading resource confidence. This slide breaks down our mineral reserve numbers. We had another very strong return from our brownfield exploration program across a range of asset. We added 10 million new ounces of reserves more than 3x our depletion. And yes, Nevada added $4.9 million with the first time we serve from Alter but it wasn't the only one. We also showed a good spread from our operating assets, about $2 million after depletion with net additions at Get Obuasi Edu, Cuiaba and Kibali.

At Geita, which has been a particular focus for us, most of the 1.3 million ounces are in the open pit. Mining is a long-term game, and it's important to zoom out to look at the returns over time. Over the past 3 years, we've added almost 23 million ounces at an average cost of about $47 per ounce. That value is hard 10 beat. The holy grail for any gold companies at Tier 1 discovery in a low-risk jurisdiction with long life and strong growth potential. Our Arthur gold project is just that. We started only a few goes a few years ago as an ambitious exploration thesis in the BT District has now evolved into 1 of the largest and most significant greenfield codiscoveries of this century in the U.S.

Today, it transitions from a discovery into a major high return project. The first time mineral reserve of 4.9 million ounces is just the top of the iceberg, given the much bigger resource in the project area. I'd probably remind everyone that we complemented our original land position with 3 acquisitions that were very timely from Corvus, Core and Augusta and that really allowed us to consolidate what is probably the most important discovery and land position in Nevada in decades.

Let's take a step back and look at the project. Arthur is a fully consolidated district scale opportunity comprising the Merlin and silicon deposits. So large-scale continuous gold system. It features broadly disseminated mineralization of oxide high-grade vein system with thickness reaching about 150 meters. The mineralized footprint is extensive, measuring approximately 2.7 kilometers by 1.3 kilometers. The deposit, which is largely oxide is highly amenable to bulk mining methods and conventional processing.

We see a clear geological connection between Merlin and silicon there is significant room for continued mineral resource expansion to the west of Merlin and down dip and to the north at silicon. In fact, Merlin remains completely open to the west and south, and we have a drilling program underway to support further resource exploration. The study envisages a conventional oxide gold mill with carbon and lease. It features a 3-stage crushing circuit with high-pressure grinding roll along with a heap leach served for lower-grade material. It is as it's simple as it gets no auto claims, no double refractory ore and so many of the others that is called in Nevada. So I'm sorry to say, it's just a very simple project. This will be a conventional open pit operation using large-scale equipment.

The fleet will include electric growth troubles with 60 cubic meter buckets and ultra-class old trucks. Our pit phasing facing a design to target higher value near service material early in the mine life to accelerate payback. The width of the ore zones and simple pikeometry will allow for wide mining benches and highly efficient, straightforward mining layouts.

Let's look at some of the main highlights of the study, noting that a lot more detail will be available on March 26 when we release our technical report summary. We start with the initial probable mineral reserve of 4.9 million ounces for Merlin calculated at $1,950 an ounce. That's 88 million tonnes at 1.75 grams per tonne. We expect to produce roughly 4.5 million ounces over an initial 9-year life of mine, average production is around 0.5 million ounces, low with this edging up towards 800,000 ounces in the early years. We estimate cash cost of around $780 an ounce all-in sustaining at $950 an ounce. Initial project capital is estimated to be around EUR 3.6 billion noting that normal margin of favor for a PFS stage study.

Even using only this initial reserves and long-term prices, which allows us to make an economic case and to move ahead with permitting, returns at this stage are well north of 20%. Obviously, as we will see in the next slides, that total returns of the project will be much, much higher. When in factory spot prices, okay, well, obviously, the returns are higher. When you consider the full resource potential, they're higher, again, this project has, by almost any measure, the potential to be a defining asset for us and for Southern Nevada because the Merlin reserve is mainly oxide. It avoids the technical complexity and the risk of refractory precessing Crucially, disability level environment, hydrological and community baseline studies are already underway.

This would be a highly competitive asset even with only the initial reserve and mine life. But while the 4.9% of reservicing principal its own, there's an additional $6.5 million of mineral reserves at Merlin, and we are actively exploring the potential conversion in additional reserves actually, we plan for this year to target an additional 1.4 million ounces, in line with the online drilling program. And that's significantly more in the years ahead, both from our defined resource base and from the ongoing exploration campaign in the area which remains incredibly prospective.

And by the way, all of these bubble charts that you see, we wouldn't initial at this stage, additional CapEx required. We are essentially drawing from our current record cash flows to invest in a marquee asset to anchor our portfolio well into the 2050.

With that, I will hand over to Gillian to work through our record financial results and how our robust balance sheet supports this growth.

Thank you, Alberto. Strong cash conversion was a feature in 2025 and ensuring the stronger gold price translated to record free cash flow of $2.9 billion, almost 3x the $956 million generated in 2024. This increase underscores both our improved quality of earnings and stronger operating leverage where the business is converting the better price and operating performance into cash at a significantly higher rate. It also reflects a sustained deliberate focus on cost discipline, working capital management, capital allocation, reinforcing our ability to generate cash through the cycle.

In 2025, our cost profile remained under pressure. The tailwind offered by lower energy prices with oil down around 14% year-on-year was offset by realized inflation across our operating footprint. The standout feature of the year, of course, was the step change in gold price, which averaged $3,468 an ounce, a 45% surge over the 2024 average. This change represents a fundamental upward shift from the 1,800 to 2,400 an ounce range we've seen over the last number of years. Production increased 16% year-on-year to 3.1 million ounces in 2025, reflecting solid execution across our core assets. Managed operations were up 19% to 2.8 million ounces, driven mainly by the addition of Sukari and a 20% increase from Obuasi. Gas, CBSA and secure also contributed, and this was partially offset by iduprimeSunrise dam and the removal of MSG from the portfolio.

Cash costs from our managed operations were 5% higher at $1,252 an ounce, mainly due to higher royalties and inflation, both market-driven factors outside environment control. Nonetheless, costs were well contained through disciplined cost management, the benefit from Sukari and the continued delivery of full asset potential initiatives. ASIC for managed operations rose 5% and to $1,751 an ounce, reflecting planned reinvestment in sustaining capital, partially offset by higher gold sales.

2025 was a record year, delivering a step change in performance and translating operational execution into record cash generation. Earnings and free cash flow more than doubled, reflecting the 16% increase in production and a 45% increase in gold price.

Adjusted EBITDA was up 129% to EUR 6.3 billion, and basic earnings of $2.6 billion were up from $1 billion in 2024. I -- we saw a 143% increase in net cash from operating activities, $4.8 billion, even after accounting for higher taxes flowing from increased profitability. And as previously mentioned, free cash flow was up almost 3x to $2.9 billion, even after funding all CapEx and distributions to our JV partners. Our balance sheet was has been well and truly transformed. We entered 2026 with almost $1 billion in net cash, a big turnaround from the $567 million of net debt a year earlier. Our focus is unchanged, maintain discipline, drive operational improvements, maximize cash conversion and ensure high-quality returns through the cycle.

Let's have a quick look at our guidance scorecard for 2025. This performance demonstrates the consistency and discipline of our operating model across our 10 assets. We again delivered within guidance on the 2 core benchmarks of reliability, gold production and sustaining capital. While ASIC and total cash costs were marginally above the guided range, the variance was driven by higher royalties linked to higher gold price. We successfully managed controllable inputs, maintaining operational delivery and protecting our competitive position despite industry-wide headwinds.

Message is straightforward. We delivered on our commitments stayed disciplined on capital and further strengthened the resilience of our business. We are clear about isolating the controllable elements of our cost base. This transparency allows us to drive better cost performance. In 2025, cash costs were 7% higher at $1,242 an ounce. That increase was driven mainly by market factors outside of our direct control. Inflation, higher gold price-linked royalties, fuel and exchange rates collectively added around $86 a an ounce or 7% to that cost base.

In addition, the $12 an ounce added by the plant stoppage during Q3 at Secure was partially offset by better productivity at Tropicana following the 2024 rainfall event. Our managed operations worked really hard to improve the controllable areas of their cost base, disciplined execution, operational excellence and the full asset potential program helped to deliver a roughly 1% productivity benefit. This was achieved through higher throughput, better utilization and stronger operating routines. Volumes from Sukari provided another positive tailwind.

We remained focused on converting a higher gold price into free cash flow. And in 2025, we did exactly that. We see in the green bars, the price uplift of $3 billion and the higher gold sales volumes of $1 billion. This was primarily from Sukari's inclusion and strong cash flows from Kibali and the ongoing focus on managing our working capital.

The result is clear when you look at the improvements in free cash flows. This came despite higher operating costs driven by a combination of higher volumes, inflation, royalties, some higher contractor rates and also higher taxes from higher profits. In addition, capital spend stepped up as planned, driven by Sukari's inclusion in the portfolio. Dividends paid to noncontrolling interests were also $517 million higher year-on-year, again, a feature of Sukari's full year inclusion. The net of these factors was a record free cash flow of $2.9 billion in 2025.

In 2025, we generated cash flows from operating activities of $4.9 billion. This cash enabled us to reinvest in the business, strengthen the balance sheet, meet obligations to our JV partners and return value to our shareholders. We invested in sustaining capital, $1.1 billion and $459 million in future growth opportunities, $588 million was returned to our noncontrolling joint venture partners, and $953 million was used to strengthen the balance sheet as we moved into a net cash position. As Alberto mentioned, we declared an interim dividend of $875 million or USD 1.73 per share for the Q4 2025 period. This payout comprises 50% of free cash flow and an additional amount of $350 million, providing additional direct returns to shareholders and highlighting the continued confidence in the outlook for our operating performance and free cash flow generation in 2026.

This takes the total dividends for 2025 to a record $1.8 billion or USD 357 per share. At year-end, we had $4.4 billion in liquidity, comprising of $2.9 billion of cash and cash equivalents and the balance of undrawn facilities in our bank accounts. This balance sheet strength has been achieved while investing in safe stable production confidently driving projects through our growth pipeline and providing record returns to shareholders.

Let me now take you through our 2026 outlook, which is anchored in a portfolio that is performing, supported by a clear operating plan and disciplined value-led investment. For 2026, we are guiding group gold production of between 2.8 million ounces to 3.17 million ounces. Total cash costs for managed operations are estimated to be between $1,335 an ounce to $1,455 an ounce. This reflects a realistic view of the operating and macroeconomic environment, with the increase for next year comprising around half in royalties and half from expected inflation and foreign currency exchange movements.

The guidance comes in a year characterized by higher material movement across both underground and open pit operations. At the same time, we're investing to further strengthen the business and to unlock value. Sustaining capital for the group has guided at $1 billion to $1.14 billion. Our continued enhancements of our investments in the Sukari operations are anticipated to maintain the sustaining capital expenditure at our managed operations broadly in line with 2025 levels.

This is deliberate and value-accretive supporting reliability, improving operational flexibility and advancing for a potential program initiatives that are expected to drive productivity gains late -- from late $26 into '27. We are guiding group nonsustaining capital of $785 million to $835 million. In 2026, the key areas are Nevada, additional waste stripping at Sukari and tailings storage facilities at our Wasi and Sagari are focused on safeguarding the operating base creating the flexibility to unlock future production and manage our risks responsibly.

Looking into 2027, the continued ramp out of Obuasi underpins the uplift in production ounces while unit costs remained flat in real terms, reflecting the benefits of our cost leadership and productivity programs. We are not relying on the gold price to carry performance we are building structural competitiveness. Capital allocation remains disciplined. We expect sustaining capital to remain broadly consistent to 2025 and 2026 to support safe, stable operations while nonsustaining capital increases as we begin the construction of the North Ward project. This is exactly how we allocate capital, protect and sustain the base then invest selectively in the highest return growth opportunities, faced prudently executed rigorously and aligned to long-term value creation.

Overall, this guidance reflects a business with strong operational momentum, clear investment priority and continued commitment to cash generation, competitiveness and disciplined growth.

I will now pass back to Alberto to dive deeper on our 2026 focus.

Thank you, Julian. 2026 is about disciplined execution. In a strong gold price environment, discipline matters more, not less. Our focus is simple, protect margins, allocate capital rigorously and strengthen the portfolio. We remain focused on cost discipline and operational excellence across the portfolio. Through full asset potential, we are systematically looking for ways to offset inflationary pressures and royalty increases, particularly labor, energy and consumables. We are increasing the production contribution for our Tier 1 assets, which structurally lower our cost base and improves margin resilience. Active portfolio management remains core. We've been active in this area and we'll continue to optimize capital allocation towards assets that generate superior risk-adjusted returns. Sustaining capital is about conducting safety, reliability and asset longevity.

We are appropriately capitalizing our assets to ensure safe, stable and sustainable operations. We continue to invest in mineral reserve development to increase operational flexibility, particularly complex orebodies. Reserve replacement remains fundamental sustained reserve growth underpins long-term value creation. Growth capital is focused on high-quality, long-life projects, particularly in Nevada. These projects enhance jurisdictional quality and portfolio resilience. We are creating flexibility for life extension and brownfield growth across the portfolio by building new tailings and opening land to extend our mining operations.

We are prioritizing short-cycle, high-return organic projects at strengthening free cash flow generation. Operational excellence alone is not enough social and regulatory stability are equally critical. We remain deeply committed to our host communities and governments where we're providing real-time benefit from the higher gold price through taxes, royalties and meaningful participation in the value chain.

In this slide, we highlight an emerging picture of low-risk capital-efficient and very high return opportunities in our current operation footprint. It underscores what I've said repeatedly that the best opportunities for us like within the capital we're deploying today is funding low-risk, high-return projects at our current mines. These options have the potential to add between 10% and 15% of our current production profile during the next 3 years. We'll talk much more about this in detail in the second half of the year.

As previously mentioned, at Geita, we're advancing a project to live through put in the mill and increase production by around 20%. At Sukari, the capital we're spending on accelerated waste stripping and fleet upgrades will underpin a potentially significant mining expansion coupled with processing improvements like a new gramety circuit and absorption tank to boost recoveries. This will provide a healthy step-up in production. We are seeing similar organic growth across the rest of the portfolio.

At Seguiri, we're evaluating the potential to combine some of our existing dormant pits in Block 1 with the ramp-up of production from Block to bring this asset with its exceptional geology into the Tier 1 category. And Cuiaba, accessing the high-grade Viana ore body is a relatively straightforward opportunity to appreciably improve production. This is what disciplined capital allocation looks like, taking part of our record free cash flow and reinvest in low-risk, high-return opportunities that would optimize the value we can deliver from our world-class ore bodies. All of these growth projects will have a project management office and a BP growth dedicated to these organic projects for the next 3 years.

We are prefunding the health and expansion of these assets today, ensuring they remain highly profitable cash generators well into the 2030s. We made steady progress narrowing the rating gap relative to our North American peers. This hasn't been about addressing a single issue but rather a comprehensive plan over a number of years to strengthen every aspect of the business. Our fundamentals are robust. The portfolio is performing and the outlook is bright. We're delivering on our commitments, achieving consistent operational improvements, enhancing returns and positioning the company for sustainable growth.

And importantly, the higher gold price has flowed on to the bottom line. This has generated only the highest free cash flow yields in the industry or one of the highest. As you access our valuation metrics, we believe AngloGold Ashanti represents a compelling investment proposition, as you can see clearly in the graph, strong cash generation, disciplined shareholder-focused capital allocation, market-leading deal and a valuation that offers clear upside potential.

With that, I'll take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question from the line comes from Adrian Hammond of SBG Securities.

I've few questions. I'll list them in order. Firstly, the payout ratio is obviously welcome certainly exceeded your current base policy by margin. given where gold prices are, I get the sense that higher payouts are of the order of the day. But -- it's -- the question is where does this stop? Because at spot prices, you're going to generate significant amounts of money that you may not have a use for. So should gold prices stay where they are, what should we be modeling in terms of payouts as is 60% sort of the new benchmark for yourselves at spots? Or should we expect even higher payouts?

Secondly, on Slide 28, the organic growth options. I wonder if you can unpack that a bit more clearly. Just to confirm, you're seeing 10% growth on your base, so 300,000 ounces, and then correct me if I'm wrong, 100 from Gate. I assume that's from 2028, 100 from Security, when do you expect that? And then, I guess, the balance for Cuba and Sugar.

Thank you, Adrian. As always, very good questions and I probably can answer half of them. So Look, the payout ratio is 1 step at a time. We've done it. This is just an indication of how we think about things but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Again, we don't know the gold price where it's going to be. So this is just a commitment that if we have very gold prices, we will do something and we will explain what we're doing with it. So in the end, this is more symbolic. The $300 additional million was just, okay, we're going to get down to net 0 at the end of '25. And yes, we'll see what happens. As you know, in we have several options in how to deal with capital. So we'll be considering them and you will know of it.

What we won't do is tell you every quarter what we're doing with the money. But I don't want to anticipate if spot at this stage, I would just leave it there. On organic growth, we struggled a bit with saying because we were significantly increasing investment in growth capital. So we wanted to say that. But really, we will come with a very detailed of, as I said, asset by asset. And it's going to be those 4 plus Obuasi. The 10% to 15% would calculate it over the 3 million ounces. So yes, that's between 300,000 and 450,000 ounces by the third year. So we will give you lots of detail in this year. I think in the August, that's what we're planning. But we're very excited by this. And as I said, it's going to be Obuasi, it's going to be Sikuri, it's going to be Catacora it's going to be Cuiaba. Relatively low sort of investments.

You take Sukari, for example, which is a wonderful job that they did. We're increasing underground sort of movements from 1.2 million to 2.3 million higher grade ore -- and hence, we're just planning on this to build an additional platform and obviously, additional mining equipment, but we could do it through the same processing plant. And it has an impact of about 100,000 ounces. So I'll give you much more detail as we go through the year. But this is probably the most exciting project we have for 2026.

The next question comes from Josh Wolfson of RBC.

I noted this year, obviously, very positive initial reserve declaration, resources overall state stable with some of the disclosures earlier on the call about reserve conversion of an additional 1.4 ounces. How are you thinking about further expansion? How are you allocating exploration spending according to that?

Okay. Well, I'll answer something that there we have Marcelo Godoy on the call and Elasto help me. But Look, there's always a trade-off. You don't want to go too far advanced, again, on resource. We already have leases for the next 30 years or something like that. So there's always a Goldilocks point and the same with reserves, you needed to find a limb and say, okay, this is where we're going to start. But it's obvious when you see the chart that when we talk about 9 years, it's not going to happen like that. We're going to obviously go very quick. We're going to hike to about 800,000 ounces in the second or third year of production.

And by then, we will be bringing other ore bodies into reserves and all of that. We do see plan to add between 1 million and 1.4 million ounces in 2026.

But Marcelo? What else?

Yes. Thanks, Alberto. When you think about ARPU, you should be thinking about 12 million tonnes per year project. And that what came out of the prefeasibility study as an optimal size for the project. So any additional addition to the project, you should be using the additional life mine to in your models because that's what the the project is really about is continuing -- increasing the life of the project but continuing to produce 12 million tonnes per annum. And obviously, there are constraints that are made us arrive to that number. As you can see, we have lots of resources to produce that production rate for multiple decades, and exploration keeps just on giving. And every time we drill, we find more resources, which from our focus now is to get the project going and as soon as possible. And that's what the exploration team is focused on.

Got it. And then a question on, I guess, the 2027 guidance. I noticed the company included or disclosed the capital associated with North Bullfrog in 2026. I'm wondering for the 2027 numbers, what's the proportion of capital at North Bullfrog, and then what's the company assuming in terms of the Guinean royalty outlook? Is there a change incorporated? Or is it the existing rate?

So we're incorporating in North Bullfrog, I think about $4 million for 2026. I'll Gillian will happen with the rest we haven't incorporated anything on the gene and royalty. Again, we're having constructive conversations with the government. But at this stage, we will be premature. So Gillan?

Yes. So thanks, Josh. 27 North Bullfrog is $320 million. And then we've got about $90 million for other gold in the guidance as well.

Great. And if I can tuck in 1 more, just on the topic of M&A. On the disposition side of things, is CBSA still something that's under consideration. Maybe how are you thinking about that with significantly higher silver prices today. And then on the acquisition side, what's the current thinking

Thank you. Look, CBSA , it wasn't a secret that we were trying to have a a sale process. But with gold prices between we started the process and then 6 months later, like everything can change and silver, everything has changed. And so it just didn't make any sense for anybody nor for the buyer or for us in the value of the asset when it's going to produce the cash flow in the next 3 years is extraordinary. I have to say the guys over there, it's an extraordinary good team. There's a standard job that they're so far away on corporate that they produce, they're even better because nobody bothers them. So they are very, very quote and they have extended the mine life. We haven't declared it all. I know -- but they even managed to extend into the 2030. So we're happy owners with them. They do a very good job, and yes, the silver price and gold price for the next time has changed our vision. So we're happy to keep it at this stage.

By the way, the government has to shorten job, that was also the issue in the past that we couldn't get the cash flows now. It's like we're getting the cash flows out of the developed country, hopefully, Milan will stay there for a while. And then on M&A, you just heard us on our organic growth. It's -- we have such good opportunities. Obviously, the team always looks at things. But have said it in the past. It's a hard to pay a premium and still add value. Our criteria is always the same ad value -- net asset value to the company. And so yes, they still do the job. But I would say, 99.9% of the company is focused on that organic growth.

The next question comes from Patrick Jones of JPMorgan.

I ppreciate your comments earlier around the predictability of the dividend policy. But as I said, there's some buybacks this time it didn't make an appearance again the shareholder return slide. So I guess my question is, do you see a constitute the comment you gave was around you will consider buybacks from the supportive market conditions there on the slide. And what we're going to get the Board to shift is thinking from dividends to back.

This is something that we reassess. It's part of the book of buybacks, dividends, debt reduction. So this is part of the -- we always contemplate that at this stage, in this case, it was like we have a very good dividend. It's the most generous dividend policy. We're very flatter that several of our colleagues have -- competitors have copied it exactly. So that's a sign of flattery. But at this stage, we're happy where we are. So we'll just take it as I said, 1 step at a time, it didn't make any sense for $300 million to do a buyback. So it was clearly a supplementary dividend.

Now we will take it 1 step at a time, and we will be explaining what we do with the cash in every quarter.

And maybe just a follow-up question then on Arthur. Obviously, it's shaping up to be incredibly impressive product. Can you talk through what's kind of the eventual permitting and development time lines, the first output, particularly in light of the comments around North Bulfrog fraud CapEx coming up?

So the permitting for Arthur, it's always -- a lot of it is under control. What we can say is we will see this fast frac process, and there is incredible support both from the national government and from the state government. So we have made for the NPL with a lot of good progress. And -- but we don't want to give you time less because it's always so many things out of our control but we're quite encouraged, as I said, by the support.

Marcelo, anything you can add, please.

Yes. Look, we do -- I mean, we don't have exact times at the moment. But what we can tell you is that we want to have the road before the end of decade, and we will be producing in the beginning of the next decade. So that's the rough time lines we have at the moment, capitalizing on this fast track process for the Nipa process.

The next question comes from Tanu Akeso of Scotiabank.

Questions. Just wanted to start, Gillian, with you, if I could. Just to make sure I understand. So this dividend, still the base of $0.125 and the top up to 50% of cash flow. Is that now still going to be done quarterly? Or is that top-up still going to happen at the end of the year? Is just we had it quarterly before, and I'm just confused when this top-up happens.

So I'll start on that one. Just Look, the policy is that we pay at the end of the year because the spot price was so high last year, Well, those were the decisions to just say, okay, well, there's a lot of cash accumulated and let's do it by quarter. So I would assume in the spot price stays where it is, probably the Board will consider that again. But the policy is still that we only pay the 50% at the end. So we will take it quarter-by-quarter, Tanner.

Okay. Fair enough. And just coming back, if I could, to Gillian again on the capital, still on the guidance, you mentioned some big project capital Nevada, I think [indiscernible]can you just go through the growth capital, the big chunk for '26 and '27?

Yes, sure. I think -- so I think it's easier to maybe cover 271st given I've already talked about the Nevada element. So there's just over 400 between North or Fagan Arthur. We then always have the sort of need to continue to invest in tailings facilities. That takes up an amount across the portfolio. So we've got tailings management at Kibali Securities Obuasi, Idiremgata, so absolutely across the portfolio. And then there's some other capitalized it was at Sukari that you're aware of. We talked about it last year. There's a sort of a 3-year stripping campaign for Sukari.

I think then if you think about what does that look like for '26, we have lower than that spend for Navada. We've got the same stripping campaign in at Sukari and some investment in tailings and relocation as particularly in 2026, it really is required to unlock that reserve growth and the volumes that Alberto spoke about a little earlier on. So maintaining safe tailings facilities and making sure we are relocating communities, et cetera, to be able to unlock that value is a set of a focus for 2016 and beyond?

I'd just add quickly the there's $70 million on growth on Kibali, which I think is welcome. I think they're finally facing the pulp fact and it's good that they're investing in the growth of Kibali. So that is significant. And then yes, the rough numbers in going lebris, like 120 for all these tailings and different projects. It's about 45% on Kuba. That's for the growth project that we talked about before. Nevada is about $145 million. So you very you're up on close. That would explain a lot of the growth.

Okay. Great. And I'm going to have my next question come to Arthur, if I could. And I don't know who would want maybe Alberto you or Marcelo, maybe 1 of you can just walk us through what you can control, which is the next steps are drilling, then maybe when the feasibility study is coming out. And then obviously, when you do you expect to hand in your EIA so that we can understand what you can control. And over this period, Marcelo, do you think we can move the overall resource to 20 million ounces from close to 16 million?

Marcelo will help us with this, but just we can't pinpoint. We don't want to commit on timing because it's not in our control. But the rest, I think Mercelo can help you.

Yes. Look, we are going to start the feasibility study in Q2 of this year. So that's where we plan to do that and the federal permitting is something that we are going to be starting in Q1 2027. That's -- we have control over those days. Now the end of those processes is something that we don't necessarily have control that's why Alberto is not giving more information on that.

Yes. No, no, that's fair enough. I mean, you control your feasibility study, you control your drilling. I'm just trying to understand what you control, what the time line that you have in place and when you submit the...

Yes, this is -- the feasibility study starting in Q2 2026, we intend to be finalizing with that in Q4 2027. It's a normal timeline for a feasibility study of that size.

And then you would hand in your EIA at the end of 2027 as well?

Well, the EIA, you can start at the beginning of 2027 because it depends on the mine plan of operations, which is right now under development. So yes, we should be able to start that process in Q1 2021. .

Okay. And anything on the resource drilling over this period?

Look, I think at the end of the day, we want to convert as much as possible and 20 million would be great. But what we need to do now is just to get through the processing because we already have excellent grade and tonnage planning for the first 10 years of the mine. So everything that comes after that, we know it's there but it's not our highest priority right now.

I appreciate it much, Al. Just as a geologist, I look at the sections and the plan view and there's a lot more goals when are we going to get it I guess one has to dream. Second, my last question is actually for Alberto, if I could be in sort of your exploration and M&A outlook, we noticed that you or keep investing in junior as your latest 1 was in TSSGold here in Canada. Maybe talk a little bit about how you're viewing that sort of approach to part of your M&A focus

Well, we have -- fortunately, we have Terry here who leads all of that. So I'll let Terry help us.

And thank you for picking up the investment in thesis. We're really excited to work with you and the team there, let's say, advanced Lars Ranch project. But really, it's quite simple. We take a multipronged approach to growth. Alberto laid out. A lot of the organic opportunities within our brownfield sites. We also have greenfields exploration, which led to -- and we take strategic stakes as an interesting projects as well as, as Alberto said, we have the most optimal portfolio into the future.

Just a quick question. And is it likely to be a problem in the future?

[Technical Difficulties - Please refer to the preliminary transcript that will be posted shortly.]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the AngloGold Ashanti 2025 Q3 Results. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this event is being recorded.

I now hand you over to Mr. Stewart Bailey. Please go ahead.

Welcome to the Q3 results call. As normal, you have Alberto and Gillian doing the presentation. You have other members of the executive team available to answer questions after that presentation. Before we start, I would point you to the safe harbor statement at the front of the presentation, which contains important information regarding forward-looking statements, and we urge you to look at it.

I'll hand over to Alberto.

Thank you, Stewart. Safety remains our highest priority, and we're committed to eliminating severe injuries from all of our sites. Our TRIFR improved 17% year-on-year, and it's now at 0.96, well below the 2024 ICMM average. We're proud of this result and the strides we made in recent years, but we're always mindful that we're only ever as good as our last injury-free day. We will continue to work hard to mitigate risk and to learn from our mistakes and near misses.

I'm pleased to report another excellent quarter, showing clearly how momentum continues to build alongside the success of our business improvement interventions. This result, strong by any measure, is underpinned by the much improved resilience of our portfolio, steady delivery to plan and growth in free cash flow and earnings. We did set a number of new records. Free cash flow for the quarter was almost $1 billion and close to the free cash flow we generated for all of 2024, and we will pay half of that as a dividend.

Our adjusted net cash position of $450 million gives us our strongest balance sheet ever. Once again, we control costs very well despite persistent inflationary headwinds and higher royalties, the only cost that we reflect. Our performance marks the long-term industry trend of cost rising ahead of the gold price since 2021. Our cash cost and all-in sustaining costs have remained remarkably stable in real terms. This is the result of operational excellence driven by full asset potential, disciplined project execution and tight cost control.

What we can control, we continue to control very well. That's clear when you look at our managed operations. Production benefited from higher contributions from Obuasi, Kibali, Geita and Cuiaba. These strong performances were partially offset by lower tonnes and grades at Eagle, the temporary plant stoppage at Siguiri and lower underground tonnes and grade at Sunrise.

Obuasi delivered another steady on-plan performance in Q3. We're seeing the ongoing improvements in recoveries and treated. The result is supported by the investments we made in ventilation and also generally better equipment availability that we're working hard to sustain. Total cash cost for managed operations year-to-date was only up only 3%. We expect that number for the full year to be similar, only 3% up. And this is despite macro factors of 9% when you take into account the prevailing inflation rate of around 5% and the increase in royalties, which are linked to the gold price.

Let me clarify this. We expect to be within our guidance range, and that is before discounting the impact of royalties that we estimate for the year around $40 an ounce. Free cash flow at $1 billion was up 141%. Adjusted EBITDA grew 109%. Headline earnings were up 185%. The balance sheet is in excellent shape. We have ample liquidity, no material near-term maturities. At quarter end, even after record dividend payments in the first 9 months, we have moved to an adjusted net cash position of $450 million.

Let's have a quick refresher of our dividend policy. It provides for quarterly payout of $0.125 a share or around $63 million. We also provide for an annual true up payment, bringing the payout to 50% of free cash flow. We use this discretion to make that true-up at the half year, underlying it not only the extraordinary cash flow generation, but also our confidence in the outlook of the business. That took our dividend declaration for the half year to $469 million. We've done the same again for Q3 with a dividend declaration of $460 million, which matches in 3 months what we did in the first 6 months of the year. This provides one of the most generous and highest yields in the sector. And as normal, we expect a strong final quarter.

With Obuasi continued to ramp up, our Tier 1 assets now account for more than 70% of production and 80% of reserves. We expect to see the production share from our tier assets to rise still further. Our Tier 2 assets are also delivering a strong contribution. We are seeing healthy margins across the portfolio and exceptional cash flow leverage as we remain active managers of our portfolio. The sale of Serra Grande, which is expected to be finalized before the end of the year, will ensure that we can further sharpen our focus on the core business.

During this extraordinary turnaround journey we've been on since 2021, we continually assess where we can generate the most value. And the answer is clear, the best opportunities remain within. First, we are committed to lifting performance from our core assets, driving margin growth through cost discipline, which is continuing to do what we have done well in the past. Full asset potential has been invaluable in this regard, keeping cost flat in real terms -- cost per ounce in real terms. That's improved our position on the cost curve and helped us to reliably deliver on our guidance.

The insights from this program have also helped to a pipeline of organic growth options that are beginning to reveal themselves. This extends beyond Obuasi, which is starting to develop a consistent operating cadence as it ramps up. There are other projects under consideration to build scale and extend life at several other key assets. These are relatively low risk, low capital intensive opportunities that allow us to leverage our existing footprint, infrastructure and knowledge.

The returns, as you can imagine, are more than competitive. We'll flesh those out in the coming quarters, helping to daylight more value in this extraordinary portfolio of ours. And third, we're laying the foundation for the next stage of growth in Nevada, a world-class gold camp where we're building scale and optionality.

We committed to bringing some of our most exciting internal opportunities to life, and we'll start today with Geita, our marquee asset. For years, Geita has been viewed as a world-class mine and relatively short reserve life. That is completely changing. This is a Tier 1 operation by every measure, consistent delivery, strong margins and exceptional operational stability. What's often overlooked is the geological quality. Geita sits in the Lake Victoria Greenstone Belt on the Tanzanian craton, part of the same gold province that holds Kibali and North Mara. After 2 decades of mining, large parts of the concession remain underexplored with compelling structural and geotechnical targets pointing to significant bump-up potential along strike and depth.

Today, Geita hosts an open pit and multiple underground operations producing around 500,000 ounces per year, underpinned by 3.5 million ounces in reserves and more than 7 million ounces in resources. We're now showcasing the next chapter to Geita, a mine position to remain a Tier 1 asset for at least the next 20 years, but in reality, it's going to be much longer than that. Here, you see the simple road map to unlock further value. We're allocating a total of $50 million, an additional $15 million a year to exploration. With that investment, we expect to grow reserves by about 60% to increase life to 10 years or more from around 7.5 today to about 10 years or more.

Our focus is on near mine drilling with a priority of adding ounces to the 4 mining fronts we have established. We're working through a conceptual option to increase mill capacity. this mill expansion, which we conservatively forecast to cost around $100 million, we expect to grow production by 20% to about 600,000 ounces. Importantly, we're focused on maintaining margin here and not simply creating an expansion to push through lower grade material. We will update you as we move through the study process. At a proposed capital intensity of only $1,000 per ounce of incremental annual production, this is an extraordinarily profitable project.

We are looking to put this additional investment to work in an area with proven geological quality and longevity. Since we started ding up our exploration investment in 2021, reserve life has more or less doubled to current levels around 7 years. zoom out a little further, we've added 2 million ounces of reserves between 2017 and 2024, over and above the 4.3 million ounces of depletion during that period. That comes at a cost of $39 an ounce, which is exceptional value by any measure and reinforcing the quality of the geology and our exploration team.

The pipeline of targets is exceptionally rich. We've identified around 40 prospects already and believe that we will easily improve reserve life with an initial target of 10 years or more. We aim to achieve the first milestone by 2028. The first route marker for us is to see this reserve at around 4 million ounces by next year and then 5 million ounces by the end of 2028. We have set clear initial priority areas for this drilling campaign.

Given that exploration, Geita has been somewhat undergone over the past decade or more, there is a lot of low-hanging fruit. This slide shows both Geita Hill and Nyankanga underground mines, where we have established a solid track record of predictable production and an excellent understanding of the geology. Importantly, these deposits remain open at depth and development and drilling over the next years will lead us to more clearly define the extent of the deposits.

At Star and Comet, it's very much the same approach: resource definition drilling is aimed at defining the extension of the resource. At Nyamulilima, drilling has confirmed the extension of the ore body at depth with good potential to transition to underground mining in time. We have additional high confidence exploration targets with striking distance of the pit where we've already intercepted mineralization, including some high-grade areas.

So where does it will take? We have a world-class ore body supporting a compelling investment case. With the incremental exploration spend, we expect to leverage the large resource base growing reserve life to 10 years or more and keeping it at that level for many, many years. The mine has maintained a resource to reserve conversion rate of more than 30%. This will underpin the baseline production of plus 500,000 ounces over a reserve life of 10 years. Over the medium term, we will continue to progress the mill expansion opportunity, which will step up production to 600,000 ounces. We'll update you at key points for the feasibility process. That leaves Geita well positioned to unlock significant value and to sustain its Tier 1 for decades to come.

Now we move to Nevada. While North Bullfrog is our first step in Nevada after the Tier 1 discovery at which the Nevada strategy turns. It is one of the most significant gold discoveries in the generation and is in one of the world's top mining jurisdictions. This is not a modest asset. It's large with significant mine grade. As of our latest update, Arthur holds a resource of around 16 million ounces. The deposits are predominantly oxide, which is key. Our focus is currently on the Merlin deposit, where we have some more exceptionally high-grade intercepts during resource definition drilling.

These results reinforce our confidence in the project Tier 1 quality. When fully developed, the Arthur complex is anticipated to be long-life, multimillion pound producer, which will become the center of gravity for the AngloGold Ashanti and will become the largest and probably most longevity asset that we will have in the portfolio, giving us low-cost, low-risk, high-margin ounces and plenty of them. We are currently at the back of our comprehensive prefeasibility study, which will run through the remainder of the year. We expect to talk about the results of that prefeasibility study in our results in February of next year.

However, just in a quick anticipation, if you see in the graph, the #1, that's small green, that's where we are concentrating our efforts right now, and we already are seeing how we can quickly go in that area to about 800,000-plus ounces per year. And then when you look at the whole area, you can understand why we say that it's a multi-decade, multimillion ounce deposit.

The drill bit is our best tool for value creation. Our strategy is deliberately structured in 2 phases, each with a distinct purpose but one shared goal to turn a world-class resource into a long-life, high-return complex. Our immediate focus is to convert resource to reserve. We expect again to bring those results in February. This infill drilling program across Merlin and Silicon. We're delivering the data to finalize pit designs, grade control models and strip ratios for the PFS and FS. Once we've established a reserve base, we will pivot to growth, expanding the footprint and extending mine life.

I'll hand over to Gillian now to run through the financials.

Thank you, Alberto. Q3 was marked by record gold prices driven by continued central bank buying, strong ETF inflows and still in demand amid geopolitical tensions and the weakening U.S. dollar. Oil prices were up around 13%, lower year-on-year based on both the WTI and Brent crude indices. Inflation moderated across most of our operating jurisdictions, most notably in Argentina, while Brazil saw a moderate increase to 5.2%, up from 4.4% last year.

Our unrealized inflation rate, which represents CPI changes in the jurisdictions that we operate was around 4.7%, keeping an upward pressure on our cost base. We continue to actively look for opportunities to mitigate cost impacts across the business, which we continue to demonstrate within our cash cost performance.

Production was 17% higher year-on-year in the quarter at 768,000 ounces. From our managed operations, production rose 16% to 682,000, up from 586,000 ounces in Q3 of last year. This stems from the addition of Sukari with 135,000 ounces and a 30% increase in ounces from Obuasi. The result was also supported by growth at our other key assets, including Kibali, Geita and Cuiaba. These production gains were offset somewhat by the plant stoppage at Siguiri. Total cash costs for our managed operations increased by 5% with pressure from inflation at just under 5% and royalties, which rose in line with the gold price.

Market-driven factors beyond our control would have increased cash costs from $1,172 an ounce in Q3 of 2024 to $1,272 per ounce in Q3 of 2025. We were, however, able to reduce this to $1,225 an ounce through disciplined cost management, the addition of Sukari to the portfolio and the impact of our full asset potential program. All-in sustaining costs for managed operations rose 6% year-on-year to $1,766 per ounce up from $1,665 an ounce in Q3 of '24. That increase reflecting our planned reinvestment in stay-in business capital, partially offset by our higher gold status.

Our financial results for the quarter reflect another strong performance from our managed operations with a number of new records set. Earnings and free cash flow more than doubled year-on-year, driven by continued cost discipline, the 17% increase in production and the 40% higher average gold price. EBITDA rose 109% year-on-year to $1.6 billion, driven by price and sales volumes. This was partly offset by higher costs, which, as I've said, were driven by inflation and the increase in royalties. Basic earnings climbed to $669 million from $223 million year-on-year, again, bolstered by the price and the increase in volumes.

Net cash from operating activities was up 134% to $1.4 billion, reflecting improved operating fundamentals and cash conversion. After taking into account CapEx and Kibali cash receipts, free cash flow more than doubled to $920 million, as Alberto mentioned, another record. We ended Q3 with an adjusted net cash position of $450 million, another first for our company, and it compares to $906 million in net debt just a year ago. Our focus is unchanged. We are working hard to realize more operational improvements to maximize cash conversion, extend mine life and ensure we are disciplined in allocating capital.

This slide highlights our progress in strengthening our competitive position on the cost curve. Total cash costs were $1,225 an ounce in Q3, up 5% year-on-year. Market-driven factors, including inflation, royalties, fuel price and exchange added around $100 an ounce or 9% to the cost base. The planned stoppage at Siguiri added around $58 to cash cost as a one-off. Our managed operations continue to deliver significant improvement in the things we can control, delivering an 8% improvement from productivity gains through full asset potential program, particularly plant throughput, strong operational excellence across the portfolio and of course, the addition of Sukari volumes.

AISC from our managed operations increased by just 6% to $1,766 an ounce, reflecting our ongoing capital reinvestment. We remain focused on converting higher gold prices to strong free cash flow. Gold price gains of $683 million, higher gold sales driven by strong performance at Obuasi and the contribution from Sukari as well as the focus on working capital improvement all flowed through to free cash flow, offset by higher operating costs linked to the higher gold sales volumes, higher cash taxes on higher revenues and the planned increase in capital spend with the integration of Sukari.

This all supported the widening free cash flow margin, which almost doubled to 45% in just 1 year, reflecting the strong focus on ensuring that higher gold prices and increased margins really do flow to our bottom line. The balance sheet has never been stronger. We ended Q3 in a net cash position of $450 million, underpinning total liquidity of $3.9 billion. We're in an excellent position not only to fund our capital pipeline, but to continue returning capital to shareholders. And finally, we remain on track to meet our 2025 guidance in all metrics.

I'll hand back to Alberto for a wrap-up.

Thank you, Gillian. Since 2021, our total cash costs in real terms has trended lower versus a 19% gain for our peers. We have stayed flat, as you can see, the average of the peers in real terms has come close up to 20%. That led to a margin growth that has outpaced the same peers as a result. This has been enabled by our full asset potential, which focuses on producing more ounces with fewer costs, which has made us more competitive. We're working hard to ensure that we maintain this advantage.

Some years ago, the analysts would say, well, we trade at a discount because we have a lower margin. As you can see, now we have the same margin, but we still have somewhat of a discount that you'll see on the next slide. We made steady progress in narrowing the rating gap relative to our North American peers. This hasn't been about fixing a single issue, but rather executing a comprehensive plan over the past years to strengthen every aspect of the business. Our fundamentals are robust, our portfolio is performing and our outlook has never been more promising. We continue to progress Nevada.

Let me probably add, we're proud to have received this year the 2026 Thayer Lindsley Exploration Award that just underpins that this has been one of the most significant discoveries in the U.S. in more than a decade. We're delivering on what we said we would, achieving consistent operational improvements, enhancing returns and positioning the company for sustainable growth. And importantly, we've ensured that 94% of the gold price increase has flowed on to the bottom line.

Let me just explain this. If you multiply the dollars increase in the gold price by our tonnes, you get the increase in the revenue, 94% of that increase has slowed on to the bottom line to net operational cash flows. This has generated one of the highest free cash flow yields in the industry. Actually, if you look at the third quarter, we would be the highest free cash flow per ounce in the industry of any of the large companies.

As we assess our valuation metrics, we believe AngloGold Ashanti represents a compelling investment proposition, combining strong cash generation, a disciplined and shareholder-focused capital allocation framework, market-leading yield, predictability and valuation that offers clear upside potential.

With that, I'll take your questions.

Our first question from the telephone lines comes from Adrian Hammond of SBG.

Alberto and Gillian, I have a question for each of you, if we just start with you, Alberto. Since we last spoke on your results, it was a gold price that was at $1,000 an ounce or so below where we are today. So this certainly must change the way you think about the business or at least in shareholder returns. So you have a dividend policy and your free cash flow is certainly well in excess of what your immediate needs and plans are. So what is your strategy with dividends? Specifically, you've certainly done a true-up this quarter, and we could expect that, I assume, going forward, it spot persists. But certainly, you'll start building a lot of cash. So buybacks or increased payouts and debt redemption, are you able to talk a bit more to that?

Thanks, Adrian. Yes. Look, every quarter, we sort of talk about how we can obviously have our shareholders share in this gold price. And as I mentioned in my presentation, the fact that we have been able to pass all of the gold price by 94% into the bottom line. And so this was where we again said, okay, let's make an exception to the policy and let's distribute 50%. I've also said, I probably said in the first half that we will reassess things in February, and we will determine if there's any need for additional further capital allocations.

And as you mentioned, between debt reduction or dividends additional or buybacks. But we will talk about that in February of next year. I don't notice that there's many gold companies again are sort of comfortable with a positive net cash. Again, I think that there's limits to that, but I think we're far away from that. But in February, we will definitely deal with additional sort of ideas for capital distribution or allocation, let's say.

That's clear. And perhaps for Gillian. On costs, you're trending at the upper end of your guidance and certainly, royalties is putting pressure there that I'm assuming wasn't part of your assumption at the start of the year when you put these forecasts out or guidance out. So could you just reconcile what those assumptions were? And are you confident that given you're probably going to pay a bit more on royalties this quarter, why you think at least you should meet that guidance?

And then secondly, some of your peers have really started ramping up the reserve gold price assumption. I assume that's going to be a trend for the sector, but probably some more than others, which is telling in respect of what sort of capital you plan on investing in the business because those reserves will need infrastructure. So are you able to give us some sort of insight into your reserve gold price plans in respect of capital discipline?

Let me start with that, and Gillian will help me with the latter. But we did say, Adrian, very, very clearly that we were assuming that $2,350 gold price then. And that obviously, we love, as I said, the only cost we love is royalties because it's tied to the price, but that our guidance was excluding that. So if you look at where we'll end up in the year roughly, the impact of that, it will be about $40 an ounce on the cash cost. Having said that, we expect -- even without that, we expect to be right on the top end. And then with the royalties, excluding the royalty, we will be way within the cash cost.

As I mentioned, our managed operations, the non-managed has gone up more than we would have wanted Kibali, but our managed operations are only up 3% in nominal terms. So I think this will be one of our best years in terms of managing costs. And so we're quite happy about that. And then we will reconsider the gold price. But we said it before that we distinguish very clearly between if we're plan constrained or mine constrained. If you're constrained, there's just no point in changing the reserve or reserve gold price. If you're not, then we'll look at it.

But I would say that in general, our default is we're really not being changing anything because of the higher gold price. But we'll look at it and probably we will adjust it on a cost base, not so the cost of the industry have gone up, and then that's probably how we will look at it. But we will be probably along the most conservative in the industry in that regard because we just don't see a pointed. But Gillian?

Yes. So thanks, Alberto. As Alberto said, the focus is on maintaining grade in our operations and not changing that focus on rate because of gold price changes. You will know that our reserve price is $1,600 an ounce currently and resource price is $1,900. We do obviously do an annual assessment of that and would anticipate sort of marginal increases in '25, maybe $100 an ounce. But it's really looking at the change in the cost curve and its impact on us maintaining those grades rather than focusing on price, as Alberto said. I think the other thing we always do on major capital projects is look at price sensitivity regardless of that price that you set for reserve and resource. And that's just a standard thing that we would do anyway.

That's clear. Well done on a good quarter and look forward to some more insights into reserve extensions and life extensions, if you have.

Our next question comes from Joseph Reagor of ROTH Capital Partners.

Just a quick thing. Do you guys have any planned shutdowns like to the magnitude that was Siguiri in the quarter for Q4 that we should be aware of?

No. The quick answer, no. There's everything -- we expect a very strong fourth quarter right now. What we know and we will say what we don't know, we don't know, well, that's different. But what we hope we don't know and what we know we know, we're fine.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Tanya Jakusconek of Scotiabank.

Adrian asked a few of them. So I too look forward to hearing about the reserves and what's happening on that front. But I'm going to come back and I'm going to focus on Geita, if I could. I'm just looking at some of the slides you presented and thinking about the processing facility. So you said it's about $100 million to get that processing facility up. Just can you go through what exactly would be needed at the processing facility?

And then on the mining side, I see that you're going to be looking at 4 sources of production, 1 open pit and 3 underground. So I'm just trying to wonder how much money would be required to put in the underground? And on the open pit side, is there anything that I should be thinking about like a pit layback that would involve a lot of waste. So I'm trying to understand what's required on the mining side from the capital standpoint as well? That's my first question.

Tanya, look, on the second question, we already have 4 sources of ore. I don't see -- there's nothing that -- there's not a big chunk of, let's say, unusual capital that we would need on that. I think that's what makes it so strong and so predictable in those 4 sources of ore. So there's nothing about it. We are -- I'll ask Marcelo Pereira to give any details on the plant expansion. But it's still probably not even in pre-feasibility, but it is a project that is one of those when it comes, that will be a no-brainer, extremely profitable and relatively minor cost.

So it's a pure -- this all comes from full asset potential. Full asset potential is it addresses the 5 or 6 things that we're going to debottleneck and have the greatest rate of return. So this comes from that type of thinking. But Marcelo, is there any more details on that processing plant?

Absolutely, Alberto. And thanks for the question. Our plan is focused on optimizing as best as possible the capacity that we have in the plant without major investments. As Alberto has pointed out, we are planning to do investments in around $100 million as we are foreseeing now according to our level of the engineering for this plan. And our expectation is that we are going to add one additional milling capacity, but it's going to be confirmed by the engineering studies that we are confirming now. At this moment, we see very good capacity in the mill sir, which will not require additional investments. But all of these are going to be confirmed by the engineering study that we are performing at this moment.

Okay. So it looks like just upgrading of these components then at this plant. There's nothing really major to do beyond that. And it appears then on the mining front, continued open pit mining and underground would be development work. Would that be fair?

Yes.

Okay. That's great. Hopefully, one day, you get to see this asset as well. My second question, if I could. Alberto, it's to you. You started your presentation by talking about your best opportunities are within the company, so organic growth. So you've got Geita that's ramping up. You've got obvious -- sorry, Geita, Obuasi is ramping up, Geita opportunity now. You've got the Arthur Gold that's coming in towards the end of the -- well, after the end of the decade for Merlin. What about -- how do you balance that with M&A opportunities? We talked about safe jurisdiction, just selling some assets. How do you look about -- how do you think about that in terms of replacing those ounces and looking at your overall geopolitical risk profile?

Thanks, Tanya. Look, probably I'll start with your -- what you implied when you start the question. When we look at this opportunity like Geita, but also Cuiaba and its potential, the potential of Siguiri in the long term, it's just very, very impactful and very low cost. So it's actually very difficult to compete because the rate of returns of all of those 3 and others of Obuasi, as we expect from others is just extremely high. And so that's -- if you look at our brownfield exploration budget, it's increasing by about 40% or something like that. And that's what we're doing, exploring more in Geita, exploring more in Cuiaba, exploring more in Sukari. So just to delineating what we have multi-decade deposits.

And so that's -- as I said, that's where I would say the focus the bulk of the management team and 99.9% of the people is Yes, there is a group in BD that looks at opportunities I said before, it's difficult to do M&A because it needs to add value. I also haven't been shy in saying that we will focus probably in developed countries more than anything, like if we could have the next equivalent to or a bit smaller Tier 1 cost, it will be something that will -- and we can add value to the company, we will look at that. We will assess our opportunities. And if they're, for example, competitive I said before, probably we will lose, and that's fine.

We will only do something if it adds value. And that's about it. So yes, in summary, main focus is wonderful opportunities we have. We have a big team that is very good. and that its track record to date in terms of Corvus, Augusta and obviously, Centamin. And then it's very disciplined in selling things in selling what we sold in Africa and Serra Grande is very good. So then continue to try to do that. And yes, that's how we look at those things, Tanya.

Okay. And so should I be thinking that maybe the completion of the Cerro Vanguardia mine asset would be sold in 2025 as well? Or is that a '26 story for an asset sale?

I think it will be close. So either fourth quarter or first quarter of next year. Either this year first quarter of next.

And is that pretty much in your portfolio, you're done with the asset sales? I think you still have a royalty portfolio. Is that correct?

Sorry. What was the question?

I think I was just commenting that after we've done Cerro Vanguardia, that asset sale, are you done with asset sales? I think you still have a royalty portfolio that could be sold. But besides that, is that it on the asset sales?

I think it's small, but we can look at it. And then CBSA, again, let me probably reassess. We're in the process we have with offers, but as always, we never know if it's going to be concluded or not, but we know that will be concluded as soon as LSG. But the portfolio, the loyalty portfolio I don't think it's very significant for us right now. But I think Terry mentioned something. I don't know, Terry, I think you're on the call.

Yes. This is something we'll probably look at in 2026 because there's still the 2 ongoing sales process, as Alberto mentioned, which might come with contingent payments that will add to the existing royalty portfolio, but it's relatively modest, but something we'll probably look at next year.

At this stage, I will hand over for questions from the webcast.

All right. Alberto, Gillian, I'll go in no particular order here. But [ Shashi Shekhar ]from Citibank says, what is the total expenditure, capital expenditure you're planning to increase the reserve by 60%. So that's obviously a Geita question. And then to increase production to 600,000 ounces. On Siguiri, just is the processing plant operating at 100% currently? And when do you expect the mined but not processed ore that we produced in Q3 to be fully processed?

Okay. So the gate that we're increasing the budget from $35 million to $50 million, and that's going to be for some years, and that should take us to the 10-year to 4 million in 2026 and to 5 million ounces of reserve in 2027, '28. And then the 600,000 ounces, that's the plant and the plant is $100 million today, again, we'll see what it is. But we know that it will be a project that we will do because it's such a high rate of return.

Look, in Siguiri, the mine is operating normally. The plant is operating, but it will go at full speed again, probably the third quarter of next year. But because we're processing such high grade because the mine has not shut, we expect, for example, that for the year, Siguiri will still be up 8% versus 2024. So it will still be a very good year for Siguiri.

Right. The next question from [ Yamin Gosain ] at Laurium Capital. He says, team, well done on a wonderful set of results. The current CapEx run rate is around $368 million a quarter, implying $590 million in Q4 to reach the midpoint of guidance. Can we expect to see a big CapEx number in Q4? Or will some of this be rolled over into '26?

Thank you for the question. I think we would anticipate relatively stable capital spend in stripping ore development, et cetera. We do in Q4 some orders for fleet management strategy. And so you'll definitely see an increase, but we're well within our guidance range for the full year.

Good. There is another question here from Herbert Kharivhe at Absa. He says, what is the outstanding dividend payment from CVSA? And is it likely that you received an amount this quarter?

So we -- just to get clear, we have finalized our 2024 financial statements for CVSA, which allows us to pay up dividends through to our parent company. We have done that quite significantly actually in 2025. And so there's no restrictions on how much we can flow back through to the parent company. We, of course, will want to maintain working capital levels in Argentina, but we've made really good progress on cash lockups in that region, yes.

The cash lockups, I think if you look at it, we've gone from $176 million to $100 million roughly. So dramatically reduce the cash lockup is probably where we make the most gains. So obviously, that's not surprising given sort of that there's a panel in charge first time in a long time in Argentina. So things are better.

Thanks, Alberto. We have one from [ Larry Clarkson ] at Redington Intelligence, and he just wanted to understand if we've paid back any of our bonds over the quarter?

No.

The answer for that is no, Larry. And then just to sort of close up, there are a couple of questions, [ Martin at Mining Weekly ]. Martin, you've asked some questions on clean energy use installed and whatnot. If you would just allow me to come back to you after the call on those questions. And [ Jack Forbes ], Jack, you can get hold of me just to follow up on your question on [email protected], and we can have a discussion just around the difficulty you're having on that.

But other than that, we have no other questions. So Alberto, just maybe a closing remark from you before we wrap.

I haven't thought about that. But anyway, look, it's all about disciplined execution. It's really -- and when we talk about disciplined execution, it's 40,000 people who really do the work and deliver every day, and it's just pretty amazing to see. And it's been a journey the last 4 years, but seeing how everybody is seeing to that same tune and just being able to reliably and predictably deliver what we say we're going to do.

That's your ambition in mining, the highest ambition to do that, and we are, we have been able to do it. And just again, it's just that 40,000 people who understand and are really getting up every day and delivering that. So it's just for me, it's just a thanks to all of them, and thanks to our shareholders and investors, and we will keep trying to be predictable, reliable and at the top in other mining -- gold mining industry. Thanks.

Perfect. Thanks, Alberto. Thank you.

Thank you all. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's event. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the AngloGold Ashanti Q2 2025 Earnings Release. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now hand you over to Mr. Stewart Bailey. Please go ahead, sir.

Thanks, Judith, and good morning, good afternoon to everybody. Thank you for joining us for this Q2 2025 results call. We have Alberto and Gillian in the room and then also other members of our executive team available. Before we start, I would ask you just to look at our safe harbor statement at the beginning of the presentation, which requires important information, including regarding forward-looking statements. It is important and we urge you to read it. I'll hand over to Alberto.

Thank you, Stewart. I'm pleased to report another excellent quarter, showing continued momentum in the business. The result, which is very good by any measure, is underpinned by steady delivery to plan, a strong financial result with growth in free cash flow and earnings. Production from our managed operations was up 25% year-on-year. Earnings and cash flow were the strongest in recent memory. Q2 EBITDA doubled year-on-year and free cash flow was almost up 150%.

With almost $1 billion of free cash flow in the first half and leverage close to 0, the balance sheet is at its strongest level ever. Costs were again well controlled despite inflationary pressures and importantly, higher royalties. Our performance the long-term industry trend of costs rising in tandem with the gold price. Since 2021, our cash costs and all-in sustaining costs have remained remarkably stable in real terms, up just 2% and 1%, respectively. This outcome reflects our focus on ruthless cost control, disciplined execution and operational excellence.

Safety remains our highest priority and we're committed to eliminating injuries from our sites. We're proud of the strides we've made but always mindful that we are only ever as good as our last injury-free day. We work hard to mitigate risk and to learn from our mistakes and near-misses. Our TRIFR improved 17% year-on-year to 0.8 injuries per million hours worked. That's the lowest ever and it remains well below the 2024 ICMM member average.

What we can control, we continue to control very well. That's clear when you look at our managed operations. Production benefited from Sukari's inclusion and higher contributions from Geita, Obuasi, Siguiri and Cuiabá. Sukari has established itself as one of our top operations. Geita delivered another strong performance with increases in ore tonnes and higher grades from the open pits. Obuasi continued its ramp-up. Total cash costs for managed operations were only 6% higher, driven predominantly by inflation and higher royalties. And by the way, higher royalties is what we believe is the only good cost.

Free cash flow was $535 million, more than double last year's result. You see it too in our overall profitability. EBITDA also more than doubled to $1.44 billion. Headline earnings were up 151% to $639 million. We have ample liquidity, no material near-term maturities and leverage of 0.

Our dividend policy provides for a 12.5% payout each quarter of around $63 million. It also provides for an annual true-up of up to 50% of free cash flow. We've used discretion to make that true-up at the half year, which reflects not only the extraordinary cash flow generation of the first 6 months but also our confidence in the outlook of the business. That takes a dividend declaration to $0.80 a share or approximately $406 million. And it brings the total dividends declared for the first half of the year to approximately $469 million, clearly more than double at least what we've done in the past 15 years. That provides one of the most generous yields in the sector. And all things being equal, we expect more of the same in the second half. We will continue to evaluate further capital allocation options over the remainder of the year, with a particular focus on buybacks of shares or debt.

Our Tier 1 assets account for around 2/3 of production and 80% of reserves. We expect to see that production share rise at Obuasi ramp-ups -- as Obuasi ramps up. Our Tier 2 assets are also making a big contribution. What you see here are healthy margins and exceptional cash flow leverage. We remain active managers of our portfolio. The sale of Serra Grande ensures we properly allocate management time and further sharpen our focus on the core of the business.

During this extraordinary turnaround journey we've been on since 2021, we continually assess where we can generate the most value. And the answer is clear, the best opportunities remain within. First, we are committed to lifting performance from our core assets, driving margin growth through cost discipline. Full asset potential has been invaluable in this regard, keeping costs flat in real terms, has improved our position on the cost curve and helps us to reliably deliver our guidance.

This is now embedded in how we work and we see more opportunity to drive value. The insights from this program have helped us to unearth a pipeline of organic growth options that are beginning to reveal themselves. This pipeline extends well beyond Obuasi, which itself is starting to develop a consistent operating cadence as it ramps up. There are other equally exciting projects to build scale and extend life at Cuiabá, Siguiri, Geita, and Iduapriem. These are relatively low-risk, low capital-intensive opportunities that allow us to leverage our existing footprint, infrastructure and knowledge.

The returns are, as you can imagine, more than competitive. We'll flesh out in the coming quarters, helping to daylight more value in this extraordinary portfolio as ours. I think in November, we will be talking about -- start talking about data in more detail. And third, we're laying the foundations for the next stage of growth in Nevada, a world-class gold camp, where we're building scale, size and optionality.

We continue to uncover value in the U.S. where the overall quality of our discovery in Southern Nevada will deliver value to shareholders and a host of other local stakeholders for decades to come. The proposed acquisition of Augusta Gold consolidates this important district and improves our ability to unlock significant synergies across permitting infrastructure -- across permitting infrastructure and development sequence. It improves our ability to optimize capital, reduce execution risk and streamline stakeholder engagement. I will now hand over to Gillian to go over the financial results.

Thank you, Alberto. The gold price maintained its upward trend with the average price during the quarter $3,287 an ounce, a 41% increase year-on-year. The stronger gold price was influenced by sustained central bank buying, heightened geopolitical tensions, interest rate expectations and uncertainty around U.S. fiscal policy. U.S. CPI eased to 2.7% from 3% in 2024, with oil prices 27% lower than Q2 of the last year. Inflation moderated across most of our jurisdictions with significant disinflation in Argentina, down to 39% from 272% a year ago.

Inflation in Brazil moderated to 5.4% from 4.2% a year earlier. Our realized inflation rate, which represents CPI changes in the jurisdictions that we operate was around 4.6%, maintaining upward pressure on costs. We continue to look for opportunities to offset cost impacts from the macro factors we are exposed to.

Our managed operations drove the production outperformance for Q2 with gold production up 25% year-on-year to 729,000 ounces compared to 529,000 ounces in Q2 of last year. This reflects the contribution from Sukari and improved performances at key assets, including Obuasi up 31%, Geita up 20%, CBSA up 7%, Cuiabá up 6%, and Siguiri up 6%. The increase was partially offset by the 9% lower production from Kibali due mainly to lower tonnes and grade. Sukari contributed 129,000 ounces in its second full quarter, firmly establishing its role as one of the top producers.

Obuasi delivered strong 71,000 ounces in Q2 of 2025, a 31% year-on-year increase as grade improved and production ramped up steadily. Siguiri continued its strong operating performance from Q1, achieving 85,000 ounces in Q2, 5,000 higher year-on-year, supported by improved throughput and recoveries. Iduapriem experienced a challenging quarter with production down due to lower grades at Ajopa and processing of lower grade stockpiles.

Total cash costs for managed ops increased by 6%, stemming from continued inflation and higher gold price-linked royalties. These cost pressures were partially offset by full asset potential, operational excellence and the addition of Sukari to the portfolio. All-in sustaining costs at managed operations remained more or less flat in real terms. On a nominal basis, AISC increased by 4%, reflecting inflationary pressures and higher royalties. We remain focused on strong cost discipline, driving operational efficiencies and prudent capital allocation.

These results reflect another strong performance from the business. Earnings and free cash flow more than doubled, driven by continued cost discipline, a 21% increase in gold production and a higher average gold price. Adjusted EBITDA rose 111% year-on-year to $1.44 billion. The jump in both gold price and sales volumes drove this increase. This was partly offset by higher total cash costs, which reflects higher volumes, inflation and those royalty costs linked to gold price. In addition, adjusted EBITDA was also impacted by planned costs to manage legacy tailings facilities in Brazil, in line with our ICMM commitments and the care and maintenance costs at our CdS operations.

Basic earnings rose to $669 million from $253 million a year earlier. Net cash flow from operating activities was up 142% to just over $1 billion, reflecting improved operating fundamentals and cash conversion. Free cash flow of $535 million was more than double last year's number. Adjusted net debt fell 92% versus June 2024, reducing net debt to EBITDA to almost 0, significantly increasing our financial flexibility. Our aim remains to close the valuation gap with our North American peers by sustaining operational improvements, maximizing cash conversion, extending mine life and maintaining disciplined capital allocation.

Our cash cost performance continues to highlight the progress we are making to strengthen our position on the cost curve. Group total cash costs were $1,266 an ounce in Q2, 8% higher year-on-year due to the macro factors I described earlier. You can see from the chart on the controllables that Kibali's performance affected our overall cash cost position by around $18 an ounce. And we managed to claw back most of this through a strong performance from our managed operations.

If we pause for a moment to talk about royalties, again, as Alberto mentioned, we view as a good cost. We continue to see royalties move in lockstep with the gold price, which in turn ensures that our host governments and communities feel the direct benefit from our improved operations and the stronger gold price. A useful rule of thumb as you work through your models is that for every $100 per ounce move in the gold price causes roughly just around $5 an ounce corresponding move in cash costs linked to royalties.

Full asset potential continues to play an important role for us in mitigating the ongoing pressure on our costs. Group AISC rose 7%, while AISC for managed operations increased by just 4%, demonstrating continued strength in delivery of our sustaining capital program. We remain focused on converting higher gold prices into stronger earnings and free cash flow, which rose to $535 million in Q2 2025, up from $215 million in the prior year. The stronger gold price gave us a $700 million impact.

Higher gold sales driven by Geita and Siguiri and the contribution from Sukari added another $353 million to free cash flow. Operating cost increases of $216 million reflect targeted investments in asset integrity and inflation-linked inputs. The $140 million working capital outflow reflects a combination of normal operating cycle effects, seasonal timing issues and a few one-off items. Receivables absorbed $145 million, driven by the timing of gold sales, particularly at Sukari, VAT claims at Geita, Iduapriem and Obuasi, tax-related prepayments in Australia.

Inventories released $19 million, mainly driven -- mainly related to inventory in process and payables absorbed $14 million with the biggest component being the payment of our landholder duties in Australia linked to our 2023 redomicile. Capital expenditure rose in line with plan and reflects the integration of Sukari, reinforcing our commitment to sustaining and growing our asset base. You'll see the $150 million in dividends to noncontrolling interest, reflecting the strong performance from Sukari and the consequent payments to our partner, EMRA, in Egypt.

The second graph illustrates free cash flow margin over time. It is our free cash flow return as a percentage of revenue with the profile demonstrating improvement in returns as the gold price has increased over the last [ 8 years ]. This strong year-on-year expansion reflects improved operating cash flow and disciplined capital allocation across the portfolio.

We maintained a strong liquidity position and a robust balance sheet during the quarter, underpinned by continued financial discipline. Adjusted net debt decreased to $92 million at the 30th of June 2025, with the adjusted net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improving to 0.02x from 0.21x at the 31st of December 2024, reflecting strong cash generation and a more efficient capital structure. Liquidity remains substantial at approximately $3.4 billion, including $2 billion in cash and cash equivalents, allowing us to fund our pipeline, return capital to shareholders and navigate commodity price cycles with confidence. We are pleased to reaffirm our 2025 guidance on all metrics. Production is slightly second half weighted. And with that, I'll now hand back over to Alberto to wrap up.

Thank you, Gillian. Before we close, I want to take a moment to reflect on the broader picture. The business is in good health. We've made tangible progress on every one of our strategic priorities. More importantly, we're operating safely and that's a credit to every person across our business. We're delivering consistent growth from a portfolio anchored by high-margin Tier 1 assets backed by a strong pipeline of options. We've maintained cost discipline despite persistent inflation.

Since 2021, our cash cost and all-in sustaining costs in real terms have risen by just under 2%, while our peer average is significantly higher than 15%. That gap matters, especially in a strong gold price environment, and it speaks to the resilience we've built into this business. Financially, we're in an exceptionally strong position, low leverage, strong liquidity, long-dated maturities. While we've rebuilt the business between end 2021 and Q1 of this year, we paid $1.2 billion in dividends. And at the same time, we've ensured our assets and growth projects are properly capitalized.

Our new dividend policy will ensure shareholders see the fruits of the improved operating cadence, a higher gold price and much higher cash flow we're seeing now. We've been included in the Russell indexes, increasing visibility and relevance amongst U.S. institutional investors.

For as long as this company has been in existence, we've struggled with the disconnect of our production size and relative size to our North American peers. We know that this isn't the result of a single thing but rather the cumulative effect of a number of factors. We've gone about systematically addressing the issues over the past 3 years. Today, the fundamentals of the business are strong and the outlook even better. We're doing what we promised, and we're taking meaningful strides to achieve and reach our full potential. And as you screen the valuation metrics, we believe AngloGold Ashanti continues to offer an attractive investment proposition, strong cash flows, a shareholder-centric approach to returns, market-leading yield and a valuation that is far from demanding. With that, I'll take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] While we wait for the question queue to board, I will hand over for a question from the webcast.

Thanks, Judith. And at the moment, there is only one but I'll start with that, which is as you look at further options for capital returns, how do you think about share buybacks versus debt buybacks? And is there a risk buying back shares at the current price?

Thanks, Stewart. We just declared the highest dividend in memory. We went -- as an exception to the policy, the policy is that the 50% is at the end of the year. Because of the strong results, it was agreed with the Board that we would anticipate this, and that's where the -- we have the $465 million of dividends for the H1. We've said already that we will again contemplate options of buybacks of paying down debt at the end of the year. But we'll analyze that when the time comes. Right now, we're, again, happy to be able to provide this massive dividend. And at the end of the year, we'll see where we land.

Thanks, Alberto. There's one more that's just popped up, which is, could you just talk a little bit to your view on when that value gap with the North American peers will close?

It has already closed with probably the largest of the peers. And so we'll just -- I think it has closed, in some of them 100% in others, 2/3. So we just -- at this stage, I think that, that is more not an issue anymore. You're seeing -- look at the returns and you compare it with others that we provided, and they are probably as high as anybody else, look at the cash flows. So I think we're really in a very solid position right now.

But we won't stop. I think that we are very excited by the Full Asset Potential program and it's the potential to keep improving the business. So we will just keep going and with the same momentum and the same inertia that we have been doing in the past years. Let me probably just say we are very excited about what we're seeing in Sukari. I won't talk about numbers because we prefer to talk about when we deliver them. I'm just saying we're very excited. So yes, keep tuning.

Great. Thanks, Alberto. I think, Judith, let's go to the phone lines and then we'll come back to the webcast afterwards.

Our next question comes from Adrian Hammond of SBG Securities.

Firstly for Alberto, just to get a better understanding of the benefits of these indices. You've included yourself into 3 new indices and Russell. Do you have a sense of the capital that attracts the quantum and has that flowed?

I know it's about indices so the expert is Stewart and so I will hand it over to them. I didn't understand the last part, but maybe you did, Stewart.

Thanks, Alberto, and thanks, Adrian. I think obviously, the June 27th was the day that we entered those indices. And if you go and look at the volume charts on the AU line in the stock, you will have seen we did about 30 million shares that day. Actually, Yatish is saying closer to 40 million. So there was a big sort of entry into the stock. And from what we understand by the people who know these things is that the real sort of gain will come in the months that follow as the passives are in and that as the actives who benchmark against those Russell indices start to come in. So a really good start and -- but we hope it's just the beginning.

And if I could ask another question for Gillian just to get sense of how we should think about working capital in 2H. Certainly in 1H, it was quite a draw. Should we be thinking some of this reverses out? And there was also quite a few once-off costs relating to tax and restructuring. Is that now largely done or should we expect to see some more in 2H? And then if you could just remind us about the Kibali shareholder loan. How are the monies from the assets split between that loan and dividends? And where does that balance stand with the loan?

So I think -- and thanks, Adrian, for your question. Your line is a little fuzzy. So I'll address the first part of your question, which I think is in relation to working capital build in the first half and what we're anticipating for the second half. It really is just the timing impact. It's largely driven by our receivables, as you will have seen in the financials. It's predominantly receivables at Sukari actually. So of course, they're just embedding into our sort of systems and processes, and we effectively didn't get the funds for the last shipments out of that asset. And so that's the timing impact.

And then on the -- there's some increased VAT, as I mentioned. You'll look and you'll see that inventories and payables are actually relatively flat. We would want to see that unwind of receivables in the second half and maintain that sort of pressure intention on the other elements of working capital as well. So not anticipating any sort of further drawdowns there.

I think your second question was related to Kibali loan. Okay. So I suppose the key message there is we received $18 million in dividend and $77 million loan repayment for the first half. When we think about those contributions, they're effectively the return on the EAU. So the structure of whether it's a loan or a dividend is kind of irrelevant to us in the context of cash receivable. And then there's no more taxes expected from any restructuring. The landholder duty that we paid in Australia was the last outflow that we're expecting from

The next question comes from Josh Wolfson of RBC.

A couple of questions. First off on the capital, spending was light in the first quarter. It was an improvement in the second quarter. But still the overall spending in the first half of the year is relatively light versus the full year guide. Just wondering what we should be thinking about there in the second half and if the full year numbers still are applicable.

Would you like me to answer?

Well, I'll just start and then there is -- I think we are keeping the guidance. We expect a much higher number in the third quarter just from we're acquiring capital equipment in several of the assets and you'll see that in the third quarter. So I think we're keeping the guidance as is. Gillian, any more?

Yes, that's exactly right. So I think there's a little bit of lumpy spend in quarter 3 for fleet replacement. As Alberto mentioned, we're maintaining guidance at this point in time very nicely. So yes, that's on track.

Second question, I commend the company on cleaning up some of the portfolio with the noncore assets. There's been some articles in the press and views out there potentially about either consolidation or the divestiture of some of the company's 100% owned assets, specifically Tropicana and maybe Kibali. Any views there on how the company sees those assets in the portfolio today?

I haven't seen anything about Kibali, funny enough, but obviously, it's a Tier 1 fabulous asset. So why would we? And Tropicana, look, we don't comment on market speculation. I can say that we routinely receive inquiries about many of our assets. But I'll probably repeat what I've said in the past. Tropicana, Sunrise play a very important part in our portfolio in balancing between developed and developing countries. And at this stage, nothing is changing in that regard.

Sure. And then last question on Arthur. There's been a couple of transactions on the royalty side that, from my perspective, would support some very constructive views on what the outlook is for the asset. Information so far is pretty light here. I'm just wondering if there's any kind of indications on what the thoughts are for the production rate. And similarly, when can we expect to see maybe some more official numbers for the asset? Is that something late this year or earlier next year?

Okay, so thank you for that. We did notice. I did read -- and by the way, I asked ChatGPT to try to calculate the value of what they were thinking. And I'm very excited by that because [indiscernible] ChatGPT are obviously in the tens of billions so we're very excited by their views. But obviously, they don't have our views but our views are also very exciting.

We're working on the pre-feasibility study. We will finish it this year. I don't know if we will have time for the November results, but if not, we will discuss them in the February results where we are for the pre-feasibility study. I can tell you that the more we see about Arthur, the more we are excited by it. But just -- we just -- I just saw a picture of results of 50 meters at 50 grams a tonne and other sort of results. So this will definitely, without any doubt, will be the preeminent asset in the portfolio in AngloGold Ashanti. And the production numbers will be very surprising. But let me leave it at that for now.

Great. All right. Very much looking forward to that February update. I hope your ChatGPT is calibrated correctly.

Well, Perplexity did the same.

Our next question comes from Joseph Reagor of ROTH Capital Partners.

Most of my stuff was already answered but just kind of following up on the extra capital spending in Q3 with the refresh of the fleet. Should we see any benefit in Q4 and onwards from that reinvestment on the cash cost side?

So maybe I'll quick -- if you like, Alberto, I'll take it. I think the fleet replacement strategy is obviously kind of fairly well-thought through and long dated in advance. So that's really to support the 2026 plan. The good thing is in the last 18 months, we've been able to build out a sort of a group fleet management strategy that our CTO takes the lead on. So we're managing the fleet management replacement strategy really, really well, and we're happy with that. But that spend in Q3 is related to 2026 production volumes.

Okay. And then...

Go ahead. Yes, go ahead, please.

Yes, just following on that. So we could see some benefit in '26 then?

We've guided '26 volumes for now earlier in the year, so yes.

Look, if you want a cash cost and upside apart from full asset potential, so what hit us particularly hard this semester was Kibali. They were 30,000 ounces below 2024 and their cash costs were up 40%. And so at some point, we hope that they will return to sort of the better production days that they had in the past, and that would certainly help reducing their cash cost because, obviously, that was a big hit, a 40% increase. So I would expect, again, as they do better and hopefully, they will, that should be a benefit.

The other one where I would expect a better improvement is Iduapriem. Iduapriem, we talked about last time, had issues around the JV, too protracted, the uncertainty that, that implies. We've now taken control. There's new management coming in. We've rearranged technical support. And I'm excited. It's not in 6 months but probably in a year to 18 months, you'll also see the benefits from that. So there's still a lot of improvements that we see and positive impact on the cash cost that will allow us to continue this trend of basically flat in real terms or even slightly below.

Congrats on a great quarter.

Our next question comes from Raj Ray of BMO.

I got a couple of questions. I mean, first, great production results. Good to see the consistency continue. Comparing costs for Q2 over Q1, and Gillian, if I use your metric, gold price was up around $400 an ounce, that's $20 an ounce increasing costs just driven by gold price. But your production was up almost 9% so 68,000 ounces Q2 over Q1. So I'm wondering why the total -- if I look at the total cash cost, I was expecting it to be lower than Q1 but it's slightly higher. Anything else other than royalties that are impacting that?

I'll let Gillian go. But I -- so first, talk about managed operations. So on all-in sustaining, they were up 4%. I think it's -- obviously, we got the benefits of Sukari increase and everything, but 11% of increase in inflation and royalties, it's just difficult to compensate. So I actually think it is a good result, given those 2 forces. Now there's other countervailing but it's just massive just to -- the $60 an ounce in royalties, it's a good cost but still significant. But what else would you have, Gillian?

I think it's well covered, Alberto. They're actually very close in terms of like-for-like. Of course, there's the production impact and that's offset by those macro factors and a little bit of Kibali's challenged performance in the quarter. That's it.

Okay, that's good. And then Alberto, with respect to the Augusta acquisition, does it help in your permitting, given that you already have a permitted project there? You've got the old Bullfrog mine. I mean, are you seeing or are you expecting any benefit with respect to getting North Bullfrog permitted sooner? And then do you see further consolidation opportunities in Southern Nevada after this? Or you think you now have the land mass that you needed?

I'm here with Marcelo so I'll let him.

Thanks, Alberto. In case of Nevada, our projects continue to evolve. We are increasingly viewing them as a cohesive region rather than individual operations. In this context, the acquisition of Augusta represents a logical next step in consolidating our strategic position in the region. And more specifically, Bullfrog can potentially be considered a satellite deposit of North Bullfrog, while still in proximity to reward makes a compelling case for the 2 to be developed and mined in tandem.

Obviously, the big prize in the region, as you know, is Arthur and all those projects will be scheduled in time as value shows. Furthermore, this is an opportunity to further consolidate the region with access across the footprint. The acquisition allows us to revisit our plans for the surface infrastructure layout, which can be further optimized. So yes, I think that was a very good deal, and it's going to help us move the project forward and having a commanding presence in the district. Thanks, Alberto.

Yes, that's great, Marcelo. If I may, Marcelo, a quick follow-up on -- with respect to the whole permitting situation in the country right now. With the current administration, are you seeing things differently? Are things progressing faster than what you have seen over the last 3 years?

Look, they are not progressing quite fast quite yet. But look, based on the latest information we have available, we anticipate that the record of decision from BLM will be at the end of 2026 for North Bullfrog. We are working collaboratively with BLM and the administration is involved, and we really look forward to progressing this opportunity because the administration does recognize that it will bring significant investment and good paying jobs that can benefit the region. We haven't seen any process changes at this point that we can confirm that has changed those time lines for permit, but we'll surely let you know as soon as we have new information.

Let me add this. There is no doubt that the conversations we've had at higher levels with the administration are extremely constructive, and they are determined to accelerate things. So it will take some time. There's teams that need to be appointed and all of that. But we're quite confident that this will definitely boost our development in the region.

Our next question comes from Tanya Jakusconek of Scotiabank.

My 3 questions, I'm going to start still with Nevada. Just looking at your slide with the planned view of the property. I understand that there's a lot of drill rigs drilling the Arthur Gold project. When that pre-feasibility comes out late this year or early next, should I be thinking of a bigger deposit than the 16 million ounces of all resources that you're going to model off? Or should I be thinking that it's going to be a portion of that 16 million ounces that goes into that study?

Okay. Marcelo again.

Thanks for the question. In the case of Arthur, we expect that the reserves or the farm is going to be less than that number. In general, we have the resource and the reserves will consume part of that is a normal process. It's going to be a really big number. We are now doing fill drilling there so that we can get to reserves at the end of the year. So the team is really pushing really hard to get to the end of the year, finish the feasibility study and be able to declare reserves. It's only then, Tanya, we're going to have an idea of how large that pit is going to be. But we anticipate that in time, we are going to be able to consume a great part of those ounces that we have identified so far.

I probably would add that everything that we have and we've really consolidated the district for many decades, 4 decades or more, and we haven't explored it all. So I would just say we are focusing on Arthur, let's say, in the first 15 or 20 years. And it's, as I said, what we see is quite extraordinary but this will be around for decades at very high numbers.

Yes. No, I appreciate that we will have a reserve, which is obviously going to be smaller than the 16 million ounces overall. I just wondered if we were going to have an increase in that resource as well plus a declared reserve. So just trying to clarify that.

Yes. Tanya, we're going to have to wait to let you know when the drilling finishes but we expect increases for sure.

I would expect increases, yes.

Yes. Okay, perfect. And just on the acquisition of Augusta just so that I understand, you're viewing the Bullfrog project as a satellite for North Bullfrog so you'll be using the infrastructure at North Bullfrog. Is that what I understood?

Tanya, we don't have that definition right now, right? The acquisition -- we just made the acquisition. As was mentioned, we have optionality and we can choose to put that project sequence the way you see. But there's -- we are very focused on getting the permits for North Bullfrog at the moment, and that's the next step for the region why we continue to develop Arthur. If Bullfrog comes, it will be at later stage at the end of the North Bullfrog life because we also have all the time for permits and things like that. But it is something that gives optionality for North Bullfrog and we are going to be sequencing as required.

Okay. I just want to move to the financial side, if I could. Maybe for Gillian, just wanted to ask on the capital allocation so that I understand it correctly. So you've got this 50% of your cash flow -- free cash flow being paid back as a top-up at the end of the year. You've done it a bit earlier. As we go into 2026, I think you mentioned that we'd be reviewing maybe share buybacks, buying back some of your debt. Should I be thinking that this would be in addition to the 50% of the free cash flow? Or should it be part of that as a total overall capital return?

I'll start there, Tanya. It's in addition, obviously. We would expect that with the -- if the gold price continues where it is and our operational performance continues where it is, we would end up the year after the 50% payout with positive cash. And so then that's -- we will contemplate options of what to do with that. That's what we are referring to.

Okay. And if I could squeeze in 1 technical question. I really like the performance at Geita. Could someone just maybe explain to me what exactly is happening at that operation? I'm just trying to understand if it's grade-related, if it's less dilution that's doing quite well. And just wanted to have a little bit more on that one, if possible.

Yes. Well, it was -- yes, if you look at the comparison H1 to H1, I think Geita was 30,000 ounces more and Obuasi was 25,000 ounces more. I think there was -- I think it's just all the 4 sources of ore are performing very well and we expect it to be sustainable. But I think it's just better operational performance but full asset potential also has a role.

Yes. We -- thanks, Alberto. We did work quite a lot at Geita in the processing side so we are getting pretty good recoveries right now. So changes we are making in the plant improvements, we are making in the processing plant as a result of full asset potential have been showing really, really, really strong results, as well as mine productivity. We have improved quite a lot our development rates and the general performance at Geita. So we are pretty happy with the performance of Geita right now.

I think that also better grades just in the semester. But look, it's -- yes, I think grade improved from 2.6 to 3.2. But it's a combination of everything. We were actually visiting Geita some weeks ago and it's just performing -- I described it like a Formula One car. It's going very well, great leadership. And yes, everything this way that was really constructed when Richard was there, Jordinson, of having 4 sources of ore and having optionality is paying off.

Well, perfect. It's a real Ferrari. Congratulations.

At this stage, I will hand back for questions from the webcast.

Thanks, Judith. Alberto, maybe I'll just take these in no particular order, but could you give your current long-term gold price in evaluating projects and M&A activity? And are there any assets that you'd be interested in that could form part of your core assets?

Look, we're currently using the same that we have, I think, for research, which is $1,900. So we want to make sure that any project that we pursue makes decent returns at $1,900. Obviously, if the price is higher, much the better. So that's probably the answer there. The second part is what on M&A? What is the second part of the question?

I think just generally, have you got your eye on any assets that could form part of your core assets?

Probably, as I said before, we're focused mainly internally. There is a BD team whose job is to look at things. It's always very difficult. As I've said, we -- it took us a long time to 18 months to get to Sukari. We're very happy with it but that's always a difficult process. So people always look but the main focus of the company is internally, and we have wonderful opportunities.

And Alberto, I'm going to combine a few here, but just generally, can you give an update on Obuasi, how the underhand drift is going, how the Schloss is going?

So as we saw the 70,000, more than 70,000 in the quarter, we did well. If you look at underhand, it was about 9% higher quarter-on-quarter. Very important development that is crucial for the future of Obuasi. Development quarter-on-quarter up 21%. So it's just what does that mean that the big investment in the KMS and the whole project is beginning to pay the dividends.

The other interesting, probably, development, we have 2 pieces of equipment they call ECL. We got one and then we have now a second one. And they are having a lot of success in the Schloss methods, mining method in areas that would be sort of gray between underhand and Schloss and they're performing very well. So we are happy with the development. It's still like a work in progress of Obuasi. We are confident that we will be within the range for this year and more importantly, that we'll be able to make the additional jump in '26 to go within the guided ranges that we did for '26.

Great. Thanks, Alberto. The next one is given the top-up of the -- or the true-up on the dividend for the half year, would you anticipate moving now to half yearly payments on the dividend? Or are you going to sort of retain the policy of annual subject to discretionary changes along the way?

The latter. Yes, we have a policy. I think it's working. We don't like to change them. This was just extraordinary moments but they can repeat themselves. But yes, the plan is to keep the latter, to keep the policy as is.

Great. Alberto, final question is just on decarbonization. Given the strength of the balance sheet, given the strong cash flow, are you tempted at all to accelerate or do more decarb than the target that you've published? Or are you happy with the pipeline of projects and the pace that you've got going forward?

We're happy with the pace that we are in the pipeline of projects. You can see that, for example, the Tropicana is just an incredible sort of what we did over there. But let me repeat one thing that I -- how we view this, well, we do well by doing good. All of the projects are NPV positive. And so yes, they combine the 2 purposes and we will keep with that uptick. Going with the plan, there's no need to accelerate it at this stage.

Got it. Alberto, I think that's it. Would you like to just make a couple of closing comments?

Yes. Thank you. Look, the momentum is good, and it's always something that you are keen to maintain. We're happy with the leadership across all the regions of the world. We didn't talk much about Americas but Americas performed very well. Cuiabá, at some point, we talked about that it's a Tier 1. It's a truly Tier 1. It's probably -- it's not in the half year. It is the highest free cash flow per ounce around -- we expect around $1,400 per ounce of free cash flow after taxes in Cuiabá so they're performing well.

Australia is performing well and while we talked about the other assets in Africa. So it's about keeping the momentum. Full asset potential still remains the main game, and there is a lot of additional potential in the portfolio. And that's it, keep the momentum safely and effectively and efficiently and that's what we intend to do.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's event. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect.