Compania de Minas Buenaventura SAA Sponsored ADR Aktie

Good day, and welcome to the Compania de Minas Buenaventura Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Sebastian Valencia. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our second quarter 2026 results. Today's discussion will be led by Mr. Leandro Garcia, Chief Executive Officer; also joining our call today and available for your questions are Mr. Daniel Dominguez, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Juan Carlos Ortiz, Vice President of Operations; Mr. Aldo Massa, Vice President of Business Development and Commercial; Mr. Renzo Macher, Vice President of Projects; Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar, Vice President of Geology and Exploration; Mr. Jose Malca, Vice President of Sustainability; Mr. Roque Benavides, Chairman; and Mr. Raul Benavides, Director.

Before I hand the call over, please, let me touch first on a few items. On Buenaventura's website, you will find our press release that was posted yesterday after the market close. Please note that today's remarks include forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions. While management believes that assumptions, expectations and projections are reasonable in view of current available information, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. I encourage you to read the full disclosure concerning forward-looking statements within the earnings results press release issued on July 30, 2026. Let me now turn the call to Mr. Leandro Garcia.

Thank you, Sebastian. Good morning to all, and thank you for joining us today to discuss the quarterly results of the company. On Slide 2 is our cautionary statement, important information that I encourage you to read. Today, we will talk about our second quarter 2026 performance, our main achievements and our priorities for the future. After the presentation, we will be able for Q&A session where our team will be happy to answer your questions.

Next slide. I would like to begin with a brief overview of our operational performance during the second quarter of 2026. Consolidated gold production increased 12% year-over-year to 30,500 ounces, primarily driven by the continued ramp-up of San Gabriel. Consolidated silver production increased 2% year-over-year to 3.6 million ounces, mainly supported by higher production at Yumpag, while copper production increased 2% year-over-year to 13,500 tons, reflecting a stable production at El Brocal.

San Gabriel produced 2,800 ounces of gold during the quarter and began commercialization in the second quarter of 2026, marking its first contribution to Buenaventura sales volumes. More details on the project's ramp-up and key developments are presented in the following slides. In addition, after quarter end, we received approval to increase Yumpag's mining throughput from 1,000 tons per day to 1,200 tons per day, an important milestone toward unlocking additional production capacity. Our capital allocation remains focused on projects and assets that enhance productivity, support growth and create long-term value for shareholders. CapEx totaled approximately $98 million, primarily allocated to San Gabriel, El Brocal and Uchucchacua and Yumpag, supporting productivity, operational reliability and future value creation.

Moving on the next slide, I would like to summarize our second quarter financial performance. Our operational performance, combined with the favorable metal prices translated into another quarter of robust financial results. Total revenues increased 43% year-over-year to $529 million. EBITDA from direct operations reached $277 million, increasing 113% compared to the same period last year. Importantly, EBITDA margins expand from 35% to 52%. Net income reached $261 million, representing a 165% increase year-over-year and reflecting a stronger operational performance across our core assets.

Our balance sheet remains a key strength of the company. We closed the quarter with $759 million in cash and $692 million in total debt, maintaining a net cash position of approximately $67 million. Net debt-to-EBITDA remained at negative 0.05x, underscoring the financial flexibility of the company. At Huanza, our power generation subsidiary, we reduced the outstanding balance of the financial lease from $63 million to $50 million, with the remaining balance to be amortized through 2031.

Year-to-date, dividends from Cerro Verde reached $274 million, including $118 million received in July. Moving on the cost applicable to sales trend. Starting with copper cash, performance remained stable year-over-year, mainly at El Brocal. Silver cash increased compared to the same period last year, primarily reflecting higher commercial deductions associated with price-based escalators at Uchucchacua and Yumpag. And finally, gold cash was impacted by the commencement of commercial sales at San Gabriel.

During the quarter, the operation recorded cost applicable to sales for the first time as it continued progressing through its ramp-up phase. As production and sales volumes remain below expected steady state levels, current unit costs are not yet representative of the operation's long-term cost profile. Next slide, please. As mentioned earlier, San Gabriel continued progressing through its ramp-up phase during the second quarter. While throughput remained constrained by tailings management and filtration challenges, the operation continue advancing across all key areas of development, and we remain focused on achieving a stable and sustainable ramp-up.

At the mine, we have completed the primary ventilation infrastructure and continue advancing the development of the full mining fleet, which will support future production growth. At the same time, we expect to begin undercut mining below cemented field during the third quarter, representing another important operational milestone. Within the processing plant, our priority remains stabilizing throughput and improving operating performance. Current efforts are focused on moisture control, filtration performance and metallurgical optimization with recoveries expected to continue improving during the second half of the year.

On the tailings side, we expect filter tailings compaction to begin during the third quarter, while ongoing expansion works are designed to progressively support higher throughput level as the operation advances towards steady state conditions. On the next slide, we highlight our strong free cash flow generation in the second quarter of 2026. Solid operational performance supported by dividends received allowed us to close the quarter with a cash position of $759 million. The chart also reflects the dividend payment we made in May. Importantly, this balance does not yet reflect the $118 million dividend received from Cerro Verde in July following the quarter end.

Before opening the line for questions, I would like to leave you with 4 key messages. First, San Gabriel continued advancing through its ramp-up phase during the quarter. The operation began recording commercial sales in the second quarter of 2026 and is now starting to contribute to Buenaventura's results. While we continue working through the challenges inherent to any ramp-up process, our focus remains on achieving stable and efficient operations that will become an increasingly important contributor to the company's growth.

Second, we continue executing our growth strategy across the portfolio. A key milestone was achieved at Yump, where we received approval to increase the mining rate from 1,000 tons per day to 1,200 tons per day. This represents the first step towards unlocking the operations full potential while we continue advancing the next phase of expansion. Third, explorations remains part of our DNA. As we continue unlocking growth opportunity across our portfolio, we remain committed to extend our life of mine and supporting the long-term sustainability of our production growth. We believe that growing production and replenishing resources must go hand-in-hand to ensure long-term value creation.

Finally, the combination of strong operating performance, disciplined capital allocation and favorable commodity prices environment continues to strengthen our cash generation and balance sheet. This financial strength give us the flexibility to invest in our growth portfolio, execute our long-term strategy and continue delivering value to shareholders through our dividend policy. Thank you for your continued interest and support. We appreciate your time today and look forward to answering your questions. Operator, please go ahead.

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

I have 4 questions, if I could. I'm going to start with San Gabriel first. Maybe someone can just provide me some insights into how the mining and the processing are doing relative to your block model now that you've gone commercial. And also in the underground and in the processing facility, what do you still need to do to optimize any -- I saw the recoveries need to be optimized, but anything else to get you to that steady state?

We -- as I told you before, we are very focused on San Gabriel. We have a plan to deliver the -- what we -- what was our guideline for 2026 and ending the ramp-up in the middle -- in the midst of 2027. Maybe Juan Carlos can give you more color in this topic, please. Please, Juan Carlos.

Sure, Leandro. Tanya, regarding the mine, the underground mine, we're feeling comfortable with the progress that we have in the new mining method, the undercut and fill. We are already in the first undercut field beneath the original mining layer with cemented backfill. So we are doing okay according to the plan. We are ramping up production. We are opening new phases and now we are according to the plan. So the underground mine is moving ahead. It's according to our plans. We will have the fourth fleet for underground mining for Buenaventura by the end of August and 2 additional fleets for future development underground with a contractor by November according to the plan. So the underground mine is moving along.

Regarding the processing plant, we have 2 lines of work. One is related to the increase of throughput and the second one is increasing recovery. Regarding the throughput, we are facing some problems with the press filters. Remember that we are using dry stacking for tailings disposition. So we need to filter all the tailings. We are having some problems with the structure basis of the foundation of the filters. Remember, they are high-pressure filters. So when they are loaded with full pressure, they start to generate a back movement in the structures. And according to the tolerance that we have to have in these structures, we are on top of that beyond that. So we need to do further work to reinforce the structure, put some additional steel and reinforce with new structures, additional structure on top of what we have in the building.

We have 3 filters, so we need to do one by one to reinforce the filters. Once these tasks are committed, we are on track to reach full capacity from that processing plant. Regarding the recoveries, coal recoveries. It's a very complex ore. We are following all the parameters that we do have. We need to fine-tune our set point for all of them and put and use additional reagents. We have some preg-robbing coal in the ore, generating a lot of troubles. So we need to add additional reagents, new reagents that we don't have in Peru. So we are bringing these reagents in August to start testing it at industrial scale. We already tested them at a lab scale. They are giving good results. They are part of the solution.

And probably, we will start finding the right dosage of the reagents for reducing impact of the preg-robbing that we are already facing in the second quarter. With that, we expect to reach about 70% gold recovery by the end of 2026. The following actions to go beyond 70% recovery, gold recovery probably are linked with an additional circuit for flotation. Probably we need to remove all the coal, all the organic matter that we have in the ore, not only use the reagent that I mentioned at the beginning of my comments, but probably we need to remove that coal in order to avoid further complications in the process.

So the flotation circuit is being designed. Probably we need to get all the permits and all the designs ready by the end of the year and make the implementation of this new flotation circuit for coal and partial sulfides refractory sulfides by the end of 2027. So there are 2 milestones. The first one, reaching 70% gold recovery by the end of 2026. And beyond that 70%, close to the 85% that we have in our budget, probably by the end of 2027.

Okay. And just so I understand the issue that you're having with the recoveries has got to do with organic matter that's sitting with the gold.

Yes, it's organic matter, and there is a small fraction of the gold that is into sulfides. It's becoming a little bit harder to extract that gold out of the sulfide. So we believe the best option is to do a complete flotation, not only for the organic matter, coal, but in addition to that, the flotation of the sulfide as well.

Okay. So it's 2 things. Okay. It's both the sulfides and organic matter. Okay. And then the second question I have is just on the cost overall. Besides the inflationary pressures you are seeing from higher fuel prices and maybe royalties paid, are you seeing any other inflation in terms of labor or any other consumables or any issues with the supply chain and what you need for your costs?

This is Daniel. We don't see or we don't foresee at this point in time any major inflation effects. As we were speaking last quarter, the impact of higher diesel prices had an effect of around 5% in our OpEx, probably having diesel at the same levels as the last quarter, the impact could be around 5% to 7%. Also, as you mentioned, the workers' profit sharing is also increasing slightly our costs, but nothing else. We don't have energy issues and other reagents or consumables are keeping the same price for Buenaventura, at least.

Okay, Daniel. That's good to see. And I guess when I have you on, what about expectations for dividends from Cerro Verde for 2026 and longer term? I mean we're doing above the guidance range you provided. So what would you guide for us for Cerro Verde dividends?

Well, for the first half of this year, Cerro Verde has already distributed close to $160 million. We have already reported another $120 million. This is for Buenaventura stakes. We have already reported $120 million of dividends that will be -- or have been already paid in July. So this adds up to around $274 million. We expect between $50 million to $100 million in addition to this by the third or by the fourth quarter. So in total, we should be receiving between $350 million, $380 million of total dividends for this year.

And Daniel, should I be thinking similar level for next year?

Probably Yes, depending on the price, could be $50 million or $80 million less. Remember that the dividend that we received in January was a dividend that came from the previous year.

Yes. So maybe $300 million.

Yes, which is higher than what we have been receiving.

Our next question comes from Carlos De Alba with Morgan Stanley.

Good to be here. Just in terms of all the initiatives that you are pursuing in San Gabriel to address the challenges, what are the CapEx and OpEx implications? How much CapEx are you investing in those initiatives? And is cost going up? And if you can maybe just remind us what are the CapEx expectations for this year and maybe next year? And then what is the cost looking like the OpEx for San Gabriel once you stabilize the operation?

Carlos, the total CapEx we expect to spend this year is around $500 million. We already have expended in the first half around $200 million, $220 million. All the investment we have to do in San Gabriel and El Brocal and all our flagships are according to what we expected in the guidelines and mainly are related also in opportunities that we have found taking advantage of the prices that we have opportunities to do the CapEx for -- keep the CapEx for next year, we can go forward a little bit.

Another type of CapEx that we are identifying is the -- how we are going to prepare for the El Nino phenomenon. So we -- that will be the guideline for this year. In terms of especially the CapEx for San Gabriel, it's around the rest of the year is around $60 million around that number. I don't know, Juan Carlos, if you want to give us some more idea.

Leandro. In the case of San Gabriel, all the comment that I made regarding the increase in recovery for 2026 are not material in regard to OpEx and CapEx are more on the fine-tuning of the existing infrastructure and using additional reagents that replace other reagents that we have been used before. In the case of the increasing throughput, as I mentioned, we need to reinforce the structures that hold the 3 filters, press filter for tailings.

We are working on the engineering for this reinforcement. Top of my head, I would say something between $5 million to $10 million. But probably we need to do the engineering and probably will be in the lower range, but it's something that we need to still work on to have something that really solve the problem. But at the same time, it's fast to be implemented with the existing constraint because the filters are already mounted on their bases.

So Juan Carlos, it's basically an impact -- a small impact on CapEx, but no real impact on OpEx.

No, we will probably follow our budget for OpEx in the year. Of course, the impact would be a lower throughput than expected that will impact the cost by ton, but not the overall amount of dollars that we spend along the year.

Okay. And what will be the cost of adding the additional flotation circuit?

We haven't finished engineering so far. We expect it to be in the order of $15 million, probably for next year.

Sorry, $50 or $15?

1-5, 1-5.

And that does not increase the cost significantly, the OpEx cost, the additional circuit there?

No, maybe $1 or $2 per ton out of $130. So it's not material, maybe 1% increase on cost to capture 10% more on recovery.

Right. Okay. Yes. So you will be getting closer to 80% recovery. Okay. Okay. All right. And then on Cerro Verde, great to see the CapEx coming through. Just on production, what is the expected copper production this year and next in Cerro Verde?

It has not changed. It's the same guidance. It's a little lower than the prior year, but it has not been any change in the guidelines. Let me...

If you allow me, Leandro, the production of the 6 months of 2026 is about 187,000 tons of fine copper, 187,000. Probably it's a very steady operation, probably we can expect the same production for the remaining 6 months of 2026. So it's going to be around 370,000, 380,000 tons of copper for 2026.

Okay. And you will be getting -- and what will be the -- will the percentage of the Cerro Verde production that you're getting change in the coming quarters?

No. No, we have a contract of 40,000 tons of concentrate.

All right. Then on Julcani, there was a big shift in the production mix between gold and silver. What is the outlook for the remainder of the year? And I don't know if you have a view on 2027.

We have -- after the more production we have, we have changed where we are concentrating in another area of the production. That's the reason why the production of silver lower a little bit from our guideline. However, the gold increased for the new areas we are working. As you know, we are in a process that in this quarter, we expect to have some news of -- if we have arrived a final decision to to sell Julcani and we have the plan until 2026. But however, we -- once we end this process, we will see if we continue -- we can give you the guideline for the 2027 year.

Okay. But for the second half of 2026, this mix of gold and silver should remain stable or the mining plan suggests something different?

No. We continue with the same -- in the same areas, yes.

Okay. All right. And then finally, on Uchucchacua and Yumpag CAS, there was a significant increase, almost doubled, and it is mentioned there that it was driven by price-based escalators. So as silver has come down, how do you see CAS adjusting it back down? Just if you can share any color given the importance of that operation and the big increase in CAS that we saw in the second quarter.

Well, as I understand, the base escalator, the price that we use as base for the contracts of this part of the year, the first 6 months was around $35. For the new contracts, I think we are fixing that base in $50. I don't know, Aldo maybe can give you more information.

Yes, Leandro, you are right. For the first half of the year, we have this floor price of $35 per ounce. And these contracts are going to end in August this year. And from September to December, we're going to start with a new base of $50 per ounce.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Cesar Perez-Novoa with BTG.

My first question relates to Yumpag. You received the approval to increase your throughput rates by 20%. My question is, how is this expected to impact silver production going forward? And could you actually quantify this potential increase and discuss whether this scale-up might affect improve the cost structure of this asset?

Yes, taking consideration that we have received at the half of the year, we are now ready to begin production at 1,200 tons per day. We expect that 10% increase of what we were thinking at the beginning of the year.

Okay. Okay. And is this going to have, Leandro, any impact or improvement on the cost structure for this mine?

Yes, sure. Juan Carlo, please.

Yes, it's going to have a positive impact. We dilute our fixed cost by 20%. But in addition to that, by the fourth quarter of this year, we are connecting the Yumpag operation with the national electrical grid. So we replace all the power generated by electricity -- cheaper electricity. So the outcome by the end of the year is going to be a double effect. The effect is going to be a cost reduction in the order of 15% to 17% lower than the operating cost of the initial -- the first half of the year.

All right. Can you also assess the current progress on the Trapiche copper greenfield given how high copper prices are, the cash flow that you're generating, the substantial dividends you're getting from Cerro Verde, is there any scope to accelerate the development time line?

Thank you, Cesar, for this question. Here with us is Renzo, he can give you an idea of what we are going on in Trapiche. Please, Renzo, ahead.

Yes. And thanks for the question. Yes, actually, due to the increase in copper prices, the opportunity of exploiting the primaries, which is -- which are currently open underneath the secondary sulfides, it becomes -- it's getting closer to a reality. So we are going to be spending the next year, 1.5 years in understanding if it's a business. And meanwhile, we're going to keep reducing the current risk of the project, which is the access road, the power line, the licenses and try to get a bit -- a deeper dip into the acid consumption.

All right. And this is my last question. Has El Nino had any operational impact to date? Or any -- do you have any concerns about future effects? If so, which mining areas, operations or logistics, do you see at most risk, if any, of course?

Yes, Cesar, thank you for your question again. We have identified some risk in our risk management meetings. We have seen all our main operations and what will be the effects. We are part of the increase -- a little increase in CapEx is related and is added to what we thought in the beginning of the year, we are going to spend in that. So we have had additional CapEx around $12 million. And maybe Juan Carlos can give you the idea -- exact idea on what are the activities we are making and what we are preventing.

Sure, Leandro. Since the end of April that we have the early alert of El Nino, a strong El Nino brewer, we start treating our safety committees for preventing any potential damage from these impacts, heavy rains. So we already put a committee in each of the mines. Each of the mines have a map, all the potential risk that we have. And we authorized an increase in CapEx of about $12 million to be spent in the rest of the year 2026 in order to be prepared for larger rainfall, increased pumping capacity, power for the pumps, water treatment facilities, reinforcement of certain critical structures like water dams or reservoirs.

So we are working on that regard. We have a very strong technical committee working on that regard. So far, we haven't had any damage like probably you heard the news about the damage for heavy rainfalls in Chile. We don't have that in Peru. But we are preparing for probably a strong rainfall in the next rainy season starting in December 2026.

This concludes the audio portion of the Q&A session. I'd like to turn it over to Sebastian Valencia for webcast questions.

The last question comes from [ Jurak Dominik ] from [indiscernible]. Given the recent price drop in gold, any risk that production in Orcopampa, Tambomayo could be reviewed?

Well, I think my first answer is no. We permanently are reviewing the value that we add with any ounce we produce, but we are building a plan for Orcopampa, Tambomayo for the following years. We continue in that trend.

At this time, there are no further questions. I would like to turn the call over to Leandro for final remarks.

Okay. Thank you, Sebastian. Before we conclude today's conference call, I would like to thank you for the time and effort dedicated to joining us today. Your participation and input are greatly appreciated. Thank you again, and have a wonderful day.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Compania de Minas Buenaventura First Quarter 2026 Earnings Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. And please note that this call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's call, Mr. Sebastian Valencia, Head of Investor Relations. Mr. Valencia, you may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our first quarter 2026 results. Today's discussion will be led by Mr. Leandro Garcia, Chief Executive Officer. Also joining our call today, and available for your questions are Mr. Daniel Dominguez, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Juan Carlos Ortiz, Vice President of Operations; Mr. Aldo Massa, Vice President of Business Development and Commercial; Mr. Alejandro Hermoza, Vice President of Sustainability; Mr. Renzo Macher, Vice President of Projects; Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar, Vice President of Geology and Exploration; Mr. Roque Benavides, Chairman; and Mr. Raul Benavides, Director.

Before I hand the call over, let me first touch on a few items. On Buenaventura's website, you will find our press release that was posted yesterday after market close. Please note that today's remarks include forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions. While management believes these assumptions, expectations and projections are reasonable in view of the current available information, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. I encourage you to read the full disclosure concerning forward-looking statements within the earnings results press release issued in April, on April 29, 2026.

Let me now turn the call over to Mr. Leandro Garcia.

Thank you, Sebastian. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today to discuss the quarterly results of the company. On Slide 2 is our cautionary statement, important information that I encourage you to read. Today, we will talk about our first quarter 2026 performance. Our main achievements and our priorities for the future. After the presentation, we will be available for Q&A session where our team will be happy to answer your questions.

Next slide, please. I will start with a summary of our operational results for the quarter, follow by an update on our permitting status. Gold production was 30,000 ounces, up 80% year-over-year, mainly due to the ramp-up operations at San Gabriel. As production volumes continue to ramp up, the company expects to begin recovering sales in the second quarter of 2026. Silver production reached 3.9 million ounces, up 6% year-over-year compared to 3.7 million ounces in the same period last year.

This increase was mainly driven by higher production at El Brocal. The result is in line with the mine plan for the quarter with focus on processing ore that had been previously classified as low-grade silver ore. Uchucchacua and Tombomayo also contributed to this result. At Uchucchacua, production increased due to higher throughput and higher silver content. At Tambomayo, production improved as we prioritize higher grade ore from the upper sections of the mine. Copper production in this first quarter reached 10,900 tons, down 11% year-over-year. This decrease was mainly driven by lower production at El Brocal as we focus on processing silver ore.

Turning now to permitting. I will briefly review the permits received. During the first quarter of 2026, we received Stage 1 of the operating permit for San Gabriel. This approval authorizes us the start of operations to process and commercialize the mine for. Also at San Gabriel in April 2026, we received the water use license. This permit allows the storage and use of water at the Agani dam. At Yumpaq, the second ITS received in the second quarter of 2026, allows us to increase ore extraction to 12,000 tonnes per day. In addition, we expect to receive the mine plan modification in the third quarter of 2026, as planned, which is required to achieve this level of production.

At El Brocal, the first ITS approved in the first quarter of 2026 increases mine extraction capacity to 17,000 tonnes per day, in line with the company's medium-term strategy. Finally, Trapiche, the Environmental Impact Assessment approved in the first was approved in the first quarter of 2026. This permit provides environmental certification for the construction and operation of the project. Overall, this permitting milestones help and low capacity support ramp-up and increase operational certainty across our portfolio.

Moving on the next slide, I would like to summarize our first quarter results, starting with revenues. Total revenues reached $625 million in the first quarter. more than doubling year-over-year, reflecting stronger operating performance and a more favorable market environment. Looking at EBITDA from direct operations, we achieved $386 million, more than 3x higher year-over-year with margins improving from 41% to 62%. And stronger operations resulted in a net income of $355 million, 142% year-over-year increase. On the capital allocation side, this quarter totaled $81 million, mainly focused on San Gabriel, alongside sustaining investment and Trapiche aligned with our growth priorities.

After the quarter end on April 2026, Buenaventura received $59 million in dividends from its stake in Cerro Verde. Total dividends received year-to-date 2026 amounted for around to $157 million. Finally, all of this is reflected in our balance sheet strength. The quarter ended with a cash position of $760 million and a total debt of $708 million, resulting in a net cash positive position. Moving on the cost applicable to sales starting with the corporate cash, changes are mainly explained by developments at El Brocal, where we see higher personnel costs. These are mainly driven by increased workers' profit trading provisions, reflecting improved profitability.

In addition, higher cement consumption and foreign exchange impact affected cost. These effects were partially offset by improved commercial terms. Silver cash increased due to higher personnel costs. personnel costs, together with higher commercial deductions related to escalators, mainly at Uchucchacua in June. Gold Cash increased versus the same period last year due to higher personnel costs, lower throughput, reducing scale efficiencies and higher exploration costs at Orcopampa and Tombomayo.

On the next slide, we highlight our strong free cash flow generation in the first quarter of 2026. Solid operating performance supported by dividends received allow us to close the quarter with a cash position of $760 million. To conclude the presentation, I would like to share a few final thoughts. First, San Gabriel entered the ramp-up phase during the first quarter of 2026 and began contributing to Buenaventura's results in line with expectations. Number two, we continue to make progress on permitting or regulatory approvals across the portfolio, supporting the disciplined execution of the company's long-term strategy.

Third, execution across the portfolio remain consistent, delivering predictable results are reinforcing balance sheet strength and financial flexibility.

Finally, cash generation remained robust and well diversified across direct operations and affiliate companies supported by continued inflows from several. Thank you for your attention. I will hand the call back to the operator to open the line for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

[Operator Instructions]. The first question today comes from Carlos De Alba with Morgan Stanley. Your line is now live. Please ask your question.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. So I have three questions, if I may. The first one, can you provide more color and details on how San Gabriel ramp-up is going? What are the challenges might be bottlenecks that you are facing at this stage? And what is the expected output for the second quarter at San Gabriel?

The second question is on Trapiche strategy. Clearly, you've got now the environmental approval you have a very strong balance sheet. Have you decided if you are going to pursue this project and build it on your own? Or is doing it together with a partner is more likely.

And then finally, on dividends, what are the expectations for further dividend from Cerro Verde in addition to the ones that you have received today, including the $59 million in April? Thank you.

Thank you, Carlos, for your questions. Well, in beginning for the -- for the first question about San are. As you know, we are in the first stage of the ramp-up, we have challenges. But up to now, we are in line with expectations. Maybe Juan Carlos Ortiz can give you more details about how we are going with San Gabriel. Please, Juan Carlos.

Sure, Leandro. Thank you, Carlos, for your question. The problem that we have in the first quarter in San Gabriel were related to the conclusion of the commissioning, the training of our team and starting to run all the machines as a sequence of a system, right? It's a crushing, milling, elevation, filtration of the tailings. So we have some progress in that regard. We are almost finishing with all the commissioning part, the mechanical assurance that everything is in place.

Now we are training our people and start doing the tuning of every single sir. For instance, we have some challenges with the high moisture of the ore getting a stick in the conveyor belt for the crushing secret. This is going to be solved in the coming weeks. First because we are entering the right season and two, because we are changing the system to remove the plays in the screening of the crushing ship. There in the milling circuit. We have some function of electronic device. We already found the trouble, and we switched the that is that part with a new one.

So we are running okay right now with the grinding mill incentivation from the mechanical point of view, we have a small challenge like the speed of the pumps and some resizing of some small boxes. So to avoid any potential -- to avoid potential stilling of the slurry. And in the filtration part, we are pretty much a 50% delivery from the vendor. We finished all the commissioning part, and now we are putting the enterprises to filter the tails with a 50% program. We are running with 8 bars of pressure. We are moving step by step up to reach the 14 bars that is considered in the design.

So that's from the processing plant in the tailing down, we are starting right now in second half of May, we will start putting the tailings out of the temporary reservoir start to drive the tailings and probably due will start placing the tailings in the tailing down. So that's going to be the first time we do that in San Gabriel. We anticipate some training process to be transferred to the team from the team of Tambomayo to the team of San Gabriel to do exactly what we learned to do in Tombomayo, how to drive the tailings, how to renew the moisture, how to place the tailings in the tail reservoir and how to compact those tailings.

So that's exactly the agenda of the second quarter that we have, we expect to solve most of the majority of the most sensitive issues for the throughput and from the mechanical availability of the producing plant in the second quarter.

And as we anticipated earlier previous conference call, the main constraint will be the area that we have available in the dam, and we have started working at the bottom of the valley. So we don't have that much area available. Every single lift that we compacted, we gained additional areas. So gradually, we will increase tonnage as an average. We expect to finish 2,000 tonnes per day by the end of December 2026 and reached full capacity 3,000 tonnes per day by the end of 2027. So that's pretty much what we're doing right now, Carlos.

Yes. Going back to the -- your second question about -- we are far from that decision. If we go alone or we call for a partner to construct and to develop that project. We are in stage of investigating all geotechnical, more drillings we need. Maybe Renzo can help us what we are facing this year and the following 2 years until we reach the feasibility study. Please, Renzo, go ahead.

Sure. Carlos, we're going to be continue derisking the project in regards to asset consumption, asset pricing and asset logistics does not to be one of our main goals to continue exploration of the primary -- and we're going to be starting -- as we finish the environmental impact assessment study, we're going to be starting with the next permit or the next social permit, which is the previous consultation from this place.

Carlos, going back to your question about dividends from Cerro Verde. Well, we foresee an excellent year for Cerro Verde. The operations are going as planning. And that we don't have dividend payment policy, but I think this year in cash generation, will be extremely good. But we have some expectations, Daniel, please.

Leandro, thank you, Carlos, for your question. Yes, as Leandro was saying, Cerro Verde will generate a lot of cash this quarter or this year. considering that the price of copper is over $12,000 per ton. We expect Cerro Verde to generate in excess of $2.5 billion of EBITDA. They have small CapEx, $350 million to $400 million. In taxes, they should be paying around $1 billion. We don't have any debt -- so the free cash flow for this year in Cerro Verde, considering the current prices for copper should be in the order of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion.

They already have cash in their balance, the minimum cash required for the operations. So they should be distributing around $200 million to $200 million to intra from which they have already distributed $160 million from January to April.

The next question comes from Tanya Jakusconek with Scotia Bank.

Great. Good afternoon, everybody. I wanted to follow back on San Gabriel. I appreciate all of the hard work you're doing on getting the ramp-up and there's always something going on mechanically and other. But I must say I am surprised about the clay in the ore I didn't realize that there was play in the ore. Can you just remind me what exactly what minerals do you have? And how are you removing this? And are you surprised you have play in New York?

Yes. We will have two types of clays. I don't know [indiscernible] properly, but it's [indiscernible] that's a kind of expansive clay that we have in the deposit, it varies from 1% to 8% in different places of the deposit. When we transfer the ore from the mine. So when we track the ore from the mine, we will usually have between 4% to 5% moisture, no more than that. But we will put the ore in the stockpile surface during the rainy season, the moisture can go up to 40%, only for the raining coming down into the stockpile.

And this clay because it's an expensive -- swelling clay, I think that's a technical term, generate a lot of problems in the crushing [indiscernible] because it's very sticky. And start getting into the boxes in between the tannery point of the crusher into the conveyor belt or at the end of the convert belt, either stockpile or into the stockpile into the figures to the mill.

The solution to that -- there are two things that we are analyzing, using screen that you use water, so we can spray water on top of the ore while it is passing through the surface of the screen to remove the flat fraction. That's one option. It's not going to take that much time. And the other is you see what we're using Brocal or where we use also can, that's a drum where we have like screen around the surface of the drum. So we can wash the ore as sea travel to the ground. That is something that we're using Brocal for many, many years when we process the ore from the open pit. And also we use that in [ Hulcani ] because the ore -- the ground also has -- depending on the area that might have a high content of clay and complicated questions here would -- so that's going to be the solution for the clay areas underground for the next rainy season that is starting in December, January next year.

Is this clay consistent throughout the ore body or is it just in patches. And have you seen -- like once you get it through the crushing circuit and through the conveyor, does it negatively impact your recoveries.

No, it's not impacting negatively the recovery. We need to make a little adjustments in the density of the slurry in order to reduce the cost. We go to 1,400 grams per liter the cast goes too high. So we need to go down to 30 -- 20, 1,320 grams per liter. So in order to have a fluid slurry. That have all the geological properties as -- has been designed and the interaction between the cyanide, the gold and the activated carbon works as flat. So it's not sensitive issue is also something that we need to find a way, how operatively treat this material whenever we are bringing that into the processing plant.

Okay. And sorry, did you answer if it's all over the ore body? Or is it in specific areas?

We are studying that because we have a detailed distribution of clay. We have information, but we have not developed a model of clay distribution in deposits. We have a distribution of coal silver, cargo, organic carbon, but we don't have a distribution of play. So we're working on that because we have the information in the log in record. So we are building that model in order to make probably a blending and try to avoid being over, let's say, 6% total place into the feeling of the processing plant. Right now, we have certain days where maybe 85 sometimes 9% clays. That's when we start getting problems along with the rainy season. Today, rainy season is not going to be a problem.

Okay. And the second, maybe someone can answer for me. As you're aware, with the volatility of oil prices and other things going on around the world. I just wanted to understand how you in Peru are managing supplies coming in country. And I just want to understand whether you are seeing any constraints in getting supplies into country and/or to your mine site like we did in COVID, are you planning to increase your working capital or stockpile selective consumables. So maybe just where are you seeing any pressures on the supply chain front for your company, if any?

Daniel?

Thank you, Leandro. Tanya, we are not -- we have not seen any major disturbance or problems in the supply chain. Diesel has increased price rather than being difficult to get more diesel. The price has increased 50%. And also this component, the diesel is around 5% of the total OpEx that we have. So the percentage of increase in our costs is around 2% to 2.5%. We think that this will be the case for the entire year. Regarding the other supplies like cyanide or sulfuric acid. We don't see any problems in the supply of these reagents or supplies. We have in our minds, the 1 month of stock for the continuous operation. And also in Lima, in the port of Kauai, we have an additional 3 months for our critical supplies. So we don't foresee any problems with any supplies.

So Daniel, it's not a supply issue getting to side is more a cost issue of just going to cost you more.

Yes, exactly.

Okay. And then my final question, if I can, and someone in the team wants to take this, maybe for us sitting in North America. Just a flavor of -- with the elections going on, what is happening in Peru from both a fiscal regime and maybe social as well with new leader in place. Can someone give us some insights into the politics of Peru.

Thank you, Tanya. Well, finally, the two candidates that will pass for the value for the [indiscernible] are not finally defined. [indiscernible] is for sure there, but still counting the votes for [indiscernible]. But the important thing here is the new composition of the Senate and the deputy camera. If you see those results, you will appreciate the distribution that is more center and center right. We do not foresee any changes in legislation.

Of course, there will be some demand. But I think the -- we feel comfortable how the new -- this new Congress has been elected. That will guarantee some kind of piece in terms of new ideas or new things that they normally the social unrest can ask. But -- and the campaign has been quite EC has not been much we might problems in the regions. So we are confident that the business area and business performance will go ahead well in the following years.

So can we assume that there's no changes to taxes and/or royalties?

There should be some voices that would ask, but I don't think that the composition of the Congress, the new Congress will pass that call.

Okay. And what about on the permitting front, is there the potential for this new government to make permitting and getting permits a lot easier?

Well, if depends on who is finally the winner. We try always to communicate the difficulty and the bureaucracy and the length that it takes to be granted a permit. So it's a common ask from the mining sector and from the investor sector to facilitate the granted on permitting, right? We all hope, right?

[Operator Instructions]. The next question comes from Cesar Perez-Novoa with BTIG.

Yes. Going back to the San Gabriel contained Clay. If I heard correctly, when you incept the screen mass panel, which I think it's what you're going to use, will that have an impact over OpEx at the mine, and will this have any additional CapEx spend? I guess not, but I want to confirm if this is technically feasible or not?

Well, the -- we're in the stage of developing the options. As I mentioned, we have two options to have what we call Banana screen. That's something that has a shape with a higher low at the beginning. And then you watch quite -- that machine cost in the order of $300,000, probably at a rule of thumbs, 3 to 1. The total CapEx for that piece of machinery has been working on site is around $1 million. That wouldn't be the additional cap we need to incur to be sure that [ credit note ] to be a problem in the crushing and right sequin the future.

From an operating point of view, maybe now $0.10 per ton. That's a very, very small additional cost that we expect to run these additional sequence in San Gabriel. So it's more of the CapEx of the year, an additional $1 million to add this component to the flow sheet of the processing plant.

Okay. No, that's very clear. It's essentially a relevant cost for the incremental spend.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, with that, we will be concluding today's audio question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Sebastian Valencia, Head of Investor Relations for any webcast questions.

Thank you, operator. The fourth question comes from [ Jorgen Rosano from Calpasac ]. We have seen some cost pressures related to personnel expenses. Is this something you expect to continue through the year? And could you provide more color on the main drivers behind this increase and whether it's related to wage adjustments, higher headcount, contractor costs or the ramp of San Gabriel.

Sorry, the increase in the costs related to personnel is coming from the higher workers' profit sharing. We -- as we are having higher profits in Buenaventura and in Brocal, we have to pay more pro-worker profit sharing, so it has increased from 2.5 million last year to almost 19 million this year. But this is most of these go to the cost of sales in the -- for each mine and also it goes to the administrative expenses.

And in terms of wages, there have been no major increases. We have increased only with the inflation rate. And in terms of head count, in the mines, specifically El Brocal and Uchucchacua, we had additional operators for the new equipment, but these have not made a big difference compared to last year. So basically, the difference is because of the higher workers' profit sharing.

Thank you, Daniel. And the final question comes from [indiscernible] Buenaventura corporate policy is still to remain in hedge in copper, gold and silver?

Yes, Sebastian. Yes, our policy right now really, we can't hedge, but we prefer not to hedge. We will go with the market. Probably everybody is aware we have a lot of problems with [indiscernible] the past for some hedging. And as far as I know, any outage from [indiscernible] of the mining companies is positive, and we prefer not to hedge for the time being.

Thank you, Leandro. At this time, there are no further questions. I would like to turn the call over to the operator.

That concludes the question-and-answer session of today's conference call. I would like to turn it back over to management for closing remarks.

Thank you, and after -- before we finish, I want to thank Alejandro Hermoza, Vice President of Sustainability, that this is his last conference call with us. He has been with us almost 25 years. He has been an important pillar of this team. And of course, we foresee continue -- Alex, to be a continued part of our family. And doors always are open, and we will miss a couple of coffees with you. Thank you, Alex for all your effort and the best for you in this new stage.

And for all our -- for all that we are with us today. I would like to thank for your time and effort dedicated to joining us. Your participation and input are greatly appreciated. Thank you again, and have a wonderful day.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes Buenaventura's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Results Conference Call. We would like to thank you again for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Compania de Minas Buenaventura Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] And please note that this call is being recorded.

I would now like to introduce you to your host for today's call, Mr. Sebastian Valencia, Head of Investor Relations. Mr. Valencia, you may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter 2025 results. Today's discussion will be led by Mr. Leandro Garcia, Chief Executive Officer; also joining our call today [indiscernible] for your questions are Mr. Daniel Dominguez Vera, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Juan Carlos Ortiz, Vice President of Operations; Mr. Aldo Masa, Vice President of Business Development and Commercial; Mr. Alejandro Mossa, Vice President of Sustainability; Mr. Renzo Maher, Vice President of Projects; Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar, Vice President of Geology and Exploration Mr. Roger nails, Chairman; and Mr. Rahul Buenas, Director.

Before I hand the call over, let me first touch on a few items. On Buenaventura's website, you will find our press release that was post yesterday after market close. Please note that today's remarks include forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions. -- while management believes that these assumptions, expectations and projections are reasonable in view of the current available information, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. I encourage you to read the full disclosure concerning forward-looking statements within the earnings result that was issued on February 26, 2026.

Let me now turn the call to Mr. Leandro Garcia.

Thank you, Sebastian. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today to discuss the quarterly results of the company at the year-end. On Slide is our cautionary statement, important information that I encourage you to read. Today, we will talk about our 2025 performance, our main achievements and our priorities for the future. After the presentation, we will be available for our Q&A session. our team will be happy to answer your questions.

On the next slide, I will start by providing a summary of our strong results for the year. Copper production in the full year of 2025 reached 52,400 tons, down 8% over a year. This was mainly because the company processed stockpiles with higher precious metal content, following a sharp increase in precious metals. This was in broker. Silver production reached 15.6 million ounces, 1% higher compared to the 15.5 million ounces produced during the same period last year. in line with our annual expectations. Gold production was 121 [indiscernible] ounces, down 18% year-on-year, mainly due to lower output at Orcopampa and Tambomayo, consistent with the 2025 planned mining sequence. EBITDA from our direct operations in full year of 2025 was USD 112 million. which represents an 88% increase compared to the $431.5 million in 2024.

Net income for the full year was $830 million compared to $416 million in 2024, which include $157.3 million from the sale of [indiscernible]. The year-end -- we ended with a cash position of $530 million and total debt of $710 million, resulting in a leverage ratio of 0.22x.

Moving on to San Gabriel. As of note, San Gabriel has reached 99% overall progress. CapEx for the project in the fourth quarter of 2025 was $153 million, primarily allocated to the completion of the processing plant construction. After the quarter ended on January 29, 2026, Buenaventura received a $98 million in dividends from stake in [indiscernible]. Finally, the Board approved a dividend of $0.99 per share. With this approval, total dividends declared over the past 12 months reached $1.35 per share at ADS.

Moving forward to our 2025 guidance. Regarding gold production, our primary focus is in San Gabriel, which is expected to become our main gold-producing assets in the coming years, playing a key role in our long-term growth strategy. We anticipate a stable copper and silver production at both [indiscernible], maintaining consistent output levels. For 2025, we expect total CapEx of between $385 million and $415 million, around $200 million to $220 million with sustaining CapEx mainly focus on mine development, tailings and ventilation [indiscernible] as well as readiness and ramp-up works at San Gabriel.

CapEx for 2026 is expected to be between $185 million and $195 million, mainly focused on the completing of San Gabriel and advancing [indiscernible].

Moving on the cost applicable to sales trend. -- per cash increased in the fourth quarter of 2025, mainly due to higher personnel costs driven by improved profitability, increased cement consumption and foreign exchange impacts at [indiscernible]. Silver cash increased due to higher commercial reductions up nonpayable value and escalators. Additionally, there were increased or throughput, partially offsetting lower grades at [indiscernible]. Gold cash has increased due to lower throughput, reducing scale efficiency at Orcopampa and [indiscernible].

On the next slide, we will present free cash flow generation. The fourth quarter cash position increased during the quarter, mainly driven by net cash inflows from operating activities.

Moving on to Slide 6. I would like to highlight a key milestone achieved last December. We produced our first dore bar at San Gabriel, and we have received initial operating permit. The water license is expected in the coming weeks. For 2026, our production guidance is between 48,000 and 55,000 gold ounces. -- there are still some pending milestones to achieve full potential. This includes the expansion of tailings driving areas and average on the ventilation system. We expect to complete this management enable a stable 2,000 tons per day throughput in the third quarter of 2026 and continued ramp-up. San Gabriel's cumulative progress has reached 99% overall completion by fourth quarter of 2025, primarily driven by finishing the engineering and procurement as well as the construction at 98% of advance.

On the next slide, we are showing the processing plans progress, the primary crusher mechanical works at 100% and both mechanical works are at 100% also. And finally, the sealed tanks mechanic work ended with 100% achievement.

Moving on, we can see the progress of the main components of the plant. Moving on to Slide 9, we are showing the progress made at the filter tailings plant, which is now complete.

To conclude the presentation, I would like to share a few final thoughts. Consistent copper and silver output supported by steady operations at [indiscernible] ensuring operational reliability. Solid performance from filed companies, [indiscernible], is operating at full capacity with were distributed $98 million in dividends attributable to Buenaventura stake. San Gabriel has entered in spin its transition phase, moving from project execution to ramp up during the first half of 2026, positioning the operation to achieve a stable 2000 tons per day throughput in the third quarter of 2026.

A supportive environment allows us to step up exploration investment to reinforce our reserves and resources base while advancing progressive closures to enhance efficiency. A strong cash flow generation, a solid balance sheet at a disciplined capital allocation enabled us to return the value to shareholders for affirming our commitment to investor returns.

Thank you for your attention, and I will call back to the operator to open the line for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Carlos De Alba with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your questions.

So first one is maybe on CapEx. Leandro, significant increase on CapEx versus what expectations are in the sell side consensus and also -- and probably more intriguing versus what you guys told us just a few months ago in your Investor Day. So maybe can you please provide some detail as to what happened in those last months that led the company to significantly revise all the CapEx. I have a couple of other questions.

Thank you, Carlos, for your question. mainly, primarily in San Gabriel, the pending works are related to earthworks and continue to the -- for the ramp-up of the project. Maybe Renzo can explain the pending issues to be resolved and have the production steady.

Yes, sure. Yes, effectively, we are going to be -- we have some remaining works on earthworks, especially after the rainy season where kind of all the water systems and the roads are starting to be tested with rain. So there are some minor loss semi failures that we need to cover and fix some channels to [indiscernible] waters that are going to need additional care and we need to continue with the routing for the water dam for the last part of the grounding. So that plus closing some contracts for some additional quantities and material in the plants, that is already finished.

And all these failures just eventuated or the company discovered them as the ramp-up started?

Well, when you -- when we finish the earthworks, it is still untested. So this is -- we are currently in the middle of the rainy season. So you're still you keep finding things that can be improved or think they need some extra work to be finished. If there are certain roads are not working as expected, and we need to do alternative growth in some areas can be accessed with that, but anything major.

Okay. All right. And then on San Gabriel, thank you for the color on the ramp up. Just what is behind the lower guidance for production this year, similar, I guess, to CapEx, a little bit of a surprise or a surprise given that just a few months ago, you guided to a higher number.

Yes, as we anticipate, we were -- we continue working in the ramp-up and putting all the things away and in order to reach by phases, the production of the design plant. So -- we are going to reach the 3,000 tonnes per day next year. We are making all the efforts to reach as soon as possible. But we foresee a production of 2,000 tonnes per day all this year. And actually, the ventilation, we have to improve the ventilation for -- in order to work on the high-grade areas. We are -- we have a little flexibility of the higher-grade areas. So we are planning to work in only 3 galleries. Well, maybe Juan Carlos can give the exact explanation of the component of our production.

Yes, Leandro, thank you. Well, number one, as you mentioned, Leandro is the all the components that are still pending for construction and permitting. We will finalize the construction and get the permit granted the final operational permits by the second quarter of this year. At that time, we will have all the area for trying the tailings and for combustion of the ties inside the reservoir. -- we have partial permits already set up for commissioning. We have to have the deferred by the second quarter of this year.

In addition to that, the mine, it's really scaling the production plan because after the accident that we have late December last year, we need to redesign the ventilation ship with we need to triple the amount of air pressure that we need to push into the [indiscernible] to dilute all the cases that we have underground. In order to that, we are bringing more ventilators, more funds, more electrical devices in order to power these agreements. And the consequence of that also in order to have a higher control of the ventilation and the risk linked to gases in underground is that we are losing part of the flexibility that we expected to have in 2026, the flexibility there to mine high-grade areas in 6 different levels, now we're going to be restricted to mine only in 3 levels.

So by throughput, it will be the same by the gold grade, it will be lower. We are not mining high-grade areas. We are going to be restricted to 3 levels, which we need to mine the high grade and the average grade to complete the throughput that we compromise with the processing plant. The main reason therefore is the lower grade that we are mining in this initial year 2026.

Thank you Juan Carlos. And then maybe one more, with a very significant increase in gold and silver prices, I mean others as well, but -- is the company foreseen any changes in the mining plan that was presented late last year and maybe the guidance will change. Can you offer some color there?

Well, we have reviewed the mining plans of all our operations. And well, the only change we foresee realized is this San Gabriel, right? In copper, we still with the same objective and silver also.

The next question is from Tanya Jakusconek with Scotiabank.

Just if I could finish off on San Gabriel. I just want to make sure I understand just of the growth capital of $185 million to $195 million, how much of that is San Gabriel? And what is going to the earthworks and what's going to ventilation?

Yes. Thank you, Tanya. Thank you for your question. Maybe Renzo, you have the figures there.

Yes. Thanks for the question, Tanya. From that in San Gabriel is going to be like $160 million. That includes the closing of all the contracts that we have, that's probably half of that. And the other half is additional work in the artworks. I think the ventilation is more in the sustaining CapEx.

Okay. So you've put it there. Okay. Understood. And maybe if I could just get to Daniel to just give me some more guidance. I found that exploration in G&A was lower than I expected in Q4. So can you give me some guidance on G&A for 2026 exploration and dividends from Yanacocha, including the dividend payout, whether you're reviewing that with your Board meeting in March.

Thank you for the question, Tania. The G&A that we expect for the entire 2026 will be around $60 million to $70 million, which is similar to what we reported in year 2025. This increase compared to previous years is because the workers' participation in profits, number one; and number two, due to the stronger Peruvian currency. Then for explorations, we have the explorations in the mining side, in the operating sites, which will be around $60 million to $70 million. We have increased our budget in exploration because we are focusing on more labors in San Gabriel, in [indiscernible]. And also in the nonoperating side, we'll be disbursing some cash for the other projects that we have greenfield projects and this will be around $20 million to $30 million. Our total budget for exploration is between $90 million and $100 million compared to the $70 million that we have been disbursing in the past.

And finally, for dividends, what we expect to receive from [indiscernible] this year is around $200 million, a little bit higher than what we received in year 2025. And what we decided at the Board meeting yesterday that was that we were going to pay for this time as the prices are going well and our CapEx for San Gabriel has basically been completed. We will pay of the net income of the previous year from 2025. Remember that our dividend policy is not less than 20% of the net income of the year. We have increased that to 40%, and we will continue evaluating in the future depending on the prices and also with our CapEx program.

Okay. And then just maybe my last question comes on permits and just on [indiscernible] sulfide. So we're still looking for that study to come out in Q1 on the [indiscernible] sulfide I think it was H1, the conceptual study on the project. And then on the permitting side, just on San Gabriel, I know we're waiting for this water permit. What's taking so long? And then asset sales, if I could, where is that going on some of your asset sales? And are we hoping to get those done this year? .

Thank you, Tanya. In the -- for the third question, [indiscernible]. We are just ending the study. We have to discuss internally with [indiscernible], which are the following steps we need. We should inform to the market sure in the first half of this year. What are the following positive news for the project. So we continue working on that, but we have to well supported in the Board of [indiscernible] and get the approval to continue.

In terms of [indiscernible] following the San Gabriel, the authority has already visited us. We are just waiting for the permit to be signed. So we expect in the following couple of weeks we hope to receive -- to be granted of this permit. And well, the last question about was?

Asset sales, yes. .

Well the -- yes, yes, sorry. We continue evaluating this asset. We are in the last part of the taking a decision. And as soon as we arrive to a conclusion, we will inform to the market.

Yes, we will make a huge analysis about the asset sales. We haven't taken a decision yet in order if we are going to sell or not. But you have to take into consideration that this increase in pressure metals prices, really, you have to think a lot if you want to sell or not an asset right now. but we are still analyzing, and we will take a decision very soon.

The next question is from Cesar Perez Novo with BTG Pactual.

My question relates to Yumpaganutukcequa. Could you comment on why cost applicable to sales rose 16% in the quarter I believe you attribute this to larger throughput of low-grade mineral but also there are some commercial deductions and you also mentioned increased nonpayable value. Can you please explain this what it is?

And my second and final question would be regarding guidance, thank you for G&A and exploration data, but it would be really useful if you could complement this, if possible, with revenues and EBITDA for 2026.

Maybe I will explain a little bit about these reductions in the escalation.

Yes, of course. Go ahead.

Thank you very much for the question. We have 2 main reasons that here. The first one is when you sell the silver concentrate with less than 2,500 grams, usually, the payable for that concentrate is between 60% and 70%. When you sell a silver concentrate with higher than 2,500 grams, the payable is between 90% and 95%. In the last quarter, we produced more silver concentrate with lower grade. That's why that reduction is a lot more. And the other reason is the escalerators. We have escalators process in our contracts. And due to the sharp increase in the price of silver -- right now, these escalators are applying to the contracts. What does it mean that if in the upper range of the escalator is $50 per ounce and the price of silver is $100, apply a percentage of the price, you understand?

Yes, yes, I do. I do. All right. Okay. So those would be the 2 main reasons. .

These are [indiscernible] the cost is higher.

Yes. And the -- if possibly, you could provide some guidance for EBITDA or revenues.

Thanks for your question. If we consider prices at levels of 4,500 for gold, $70 per silver and 12,000 for copper, we should be in the range of revenues at $1.8 billion to $2 billion. This includes close to $100 million of sales from the concentrate that we buy from [indiscernible] from Freeport. The EBITDA that we expect for the total year will be around $800 million and $1 billion.

The next question is from Fernando Gil with [indiscernible]. .

Just a quick question regarding the Investor Day targets. I remember you announced that 3 mines are under permanent strategic review [indiscernible]. Could you tell us what is the current status of these mines? And are you starting to do some actions separately or together? And has there been any process, formal process for any kind of sales. Yes, that would be.

Thank you, Fernando, for your question. Well, we already began the process and analyzing the feasibility of cross-selling this unit, this mine. However, [indiscernible] explained in the minutes before with the increasing price in metal in the prices of gold and silver we are reanalyzing the possibility. We have been continued advancing on this process. We are close to make a final decision. And if there will be sold apart each by each unit a separate or as a whole. We were open to all the possibilities. But by now, the higher possibility, higher alternate, the best alternative is if we sell it to sell it separately.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is a follow-up from Carlos De Alba with Morgan Stanley.

Just on dividends. Like the $0.99 per share approved by the Board, when do you expect to pay that? And also the $200 million in expected dividend from San Roberto, when do you expect you would get that money?

Yes. So this proposal of dividends have to be approved by -- in the shareholder meeting. But Daniel, please go ahead.

Yes, Carlos. The dividend payment should be for April, the second quarter of this year. And regarding [indiscernible] dividend, we have already received in January from [indiscernible]. And we expect $50 million by July and another $50 million by the fourth quarter of this year.

So that's $150 million, but you said $200 million.

In January yes, $50 million in July and in the fourth quarter, another $50 million.

Ladies and gentlemen, with that, we will be concluding today's audio question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Sebastian Valencia, Head of Investor Relations for any webcast questions.

Thanks, operator. At this time, there are no further questions. I would like to turn the call over to Leandro.

Thank you, Sebastian. Well, before we conclude today's conference call, I would like to thank you for the time and effort dedicated in joining us today. Your participation and input are greatly appreciated. Thank you again, and have a wonderful day.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes Buenaventura's Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Results Conference Call. We would like to thank you again for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Buenaventura's Investor Day. Thank you for joining us today. At today's session, we will highlight our progress in implementing Buenaventura's strategy and the strong financial foundations that supports our long-term vision. We're excited to share how we are unlocking the full potential of our flagships and advancing on our exploration and project pipeline. Before we begin, I would like to cover a few important items. Please note that today's remarks include forward-looking statements based on management's current views and assumptions.

While we believe these assumptions, expectations and projections are reasonable in view of the current available information, we are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. For those attending in person, the presentation QR code is printed on the back of the batch and attend cards at each table. For webcast participants, the presentation can be downloaded from the download tab on the webcast window. There will be a Q&A session after the presentation.

We will first answer the in-person questions and then the questions from the webcast. Webcast participants may submit your questions online. Today's presentation will be led by Mr. Leandro Garcia, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Daniel Dominguez, Chief Financial Officer; and Mr. Juan Carlos Ortiz, Vice President of Operations. Also joining us and available for your questions is Mr. Roque Benavides, our Chairman.

Let me now turn the presentation over to Mr. Leandro Garcia.

Thank you, Sebastian. Good morning to all, and thank you for coming to be with us in this day that is very important for us to present our view of Buenaventura for the following 15 years. You have been witnessed of what has Buenaventura passed through the last 5 years. We have experienced difficult times. But however, with a lot of effort, teamwork, investment in our explorations, stability in our operations, we have been able to surpass difficult times. Today, we are a different company, and you have seen the turnaround that we have been able to make in the last 2 or 3 years.

In this time, we have excited to put in production Yumpag, San Gabriel in the near December of this year. And we have reached stabilizing our four flagships. So we have a very good and excellent expectations for the following years. Today, we are in the position in the market capitalization around the 81st company. We expect to be in the following 15 years inside the top 50 companies in market capitalization. For this, in terms of gold production, we are in the level of 63, and we expect to be inside the 45 top 10 -- top 45 producers of gold.

In terms of silver, we are in the 15th position, and we expect in the following years to be in the top 5. And in terms of copper, now we are in the 34th position, and we have the expectation to be inside the 25 top companies of producing copper. And during these year, we will try to get another time our investment grade to be in the Tier 1 of the new consolidated mining standard initiative that these organizations, the ICMM, the Copper Mark are trying to form, and we will be offshore part of this mining standard.

As you know, we -- our revenues is a mix of 50% base metals and 50% precious metals. We feel very comfortable with that mix of production, and we will try to maintain that mix in the long run. Of course, our EBITDA will be at least 30% of our -- as a margin. Buenaventura has a strategy for sustainable value creation. And this value creation stands for mainly these four elements. We are -- our balanced metal mix position us to capture opportunities and mitigate risks in a rapidly changing world, changing world being the energy transition, the data centers, all the resources the data centers need, the artificial intelligence, the technology and the population growth.

We are going to be focused on our four flagships, Cerro Verde, we are partnership -- we have a partnership with Freeport-McMoRan and is one of our main assets Uchucchacua and Yumpag, our silver complex, Brocal, our copper mine and San Gabriel that will be the center of the main producer of gold for the company that will be beginning production in the third week of this December. We will be focused also in operational excellence. We continue all our efforts to reduce our cost and to be able to reach the best practice and to be located in the second -- at most in the second quartile of the cost curve.

And of course, our disciplined capital allocation that will maximize the returns for our shareholders. Well, this is today with a stable production and a predictability, we are able to present what we foresee for the following 15 years. In terms of production, we foresee in the long run, a production of gold between 200,000 ounces per year and -- from 200,000 to 220,000 ounces per year, coming from today around 120,000, 130,000. In silver, we expect to be producing in the long run, 5 years from now, around -- between 20 million and 22 million ounces per year.

And in gold, including Trapiche, plus the production of Brocal, we are going to be producing between 120,000 and 130,000 tonnes of copper. One of our main value of our company, we have increased the life of mine on all our flagships -- on all our mines. And that has been the effort in the last 5 years. Today, we can say that we have surpassed the life of mine that we plan to have. Today, we used to plan 5 years for underground mines and 10 years from the open pit mine. Today, you will see during the presentation of Juan Carlos that we have reached and surpassed that objective, that goal.

In cost optimization, we're still making all the efforts to be in the second quartile. And our promise is to generate mines and projects that at least obtain $100 million of EBITDA each year and with a 30% margin. And financial strength, we will be able and we will work to not go higher than 2x our leverage rate. You have to remember that 6 years ago in -- 5 years ago in 2021, in the worst moment for the company, our leverage ratio was 6x our EBITDA. Today, as of September 2025, we are in 0.45. So we have made a lot of efforts, and I think it's a good work that we have made since our -- all our mines.

And the maturity -- sorry, we promised at least no less than 7 years of maturity to have a planning to foresee all our operations. We have shown this graph in the last presentations. Our pillars of growth will be our own mines, our organic growth, our projects and, of course, the possibility to inorganic growth. And this chart, I will be explaining the short term, midterm and long term. And this is what I mean. In the execution today, we have advanced, as you know, in Cerro Verde an operational excellence.

We support the administration, the running of the company by Freeport, and we go with them on all the efforts they made to maintain the type of production, the type of results they get every year. In Coimolache Oxides, we are working to extend the life of mine, re-leaching the current pads and looking opportunities to re-leach the waste dump -- sorry, to use the waste dump of the prior years as new mineral ore because remember, the cutoff in years 2011, 2012 was different than the cutoff we use today. Today, that waste is mineral. So we are going to work and trying to recover the mineral deposit in those waste dumps.

In the case of La Zanja, also the same strategy. We are going to look for the waste dump we have made in -- during the past years. And there are opportunities to recover more gold from those operations. In the case of San Gabriel, as I told you before, we are working to get the first gold bar on December 20 of this year. Talking about our little mines, our legacy mines, we continue evaluating the next stage to have for those mines. We have to be responsible with these mines because as you remember, we have been there for many years, and we have a lot of responsibility of all the communities that we have in the surroundings, and we have to be cautious of what decision we make with these legacy mines.

Of course, we understand that the size doesn't fit with the mines that we want to work our -- for example, our flagships. But we have to be very cautious on what are the second phase of these mines. In the midterm, from the next -- the following 5 years, you will see Brocal producing 70,000 tons of copper per year. That means our current production of 13,000 throughput -- 13,000 tonnes per day as our throughput will be changed to 17,000 tonnes per day. And in terms of Uchucchacua and Yumpag, our silver complex, the increased production will be from the -- today throughput of 3,500 tonnes per day to 6,000 tonnes per day. That will allow us to reach more than 20 million ounces per year in silver production.

And M&A opportunity, we are -- we will be alert to any opportunity to balance our metal mix and diversify in top-tier jurisdictions. In terms of the long run, we will be witnessed of the Phase 2 of San Gabriel that we plan to treat 4,000 tonnes per day. We have our Coimolache Sulfides that is today is in the scoping stage study. Trapiche that is in the feasibility and permitting stage. La Zanja Sulfides that is an exploration project and Algarrobo in the north of Peru.

Talking about our ESG practices. Now Buenaventura operates in 8 regions in Peru and have more than 15,000 colleagues that work with us. 64% of those colleagues are from -- of the total workers are from the local -- in the surroundings of the area, in the local communities. One of our greatest values in our culture is safety. And we make a lot of strategies to keep our -- all our workers safe and they can return safe and alive to their homes. We have a phrase in Buenaventura that says if it is not safe, don't do it. And we try to give the power of -- to empower our people to say no if they feel there is something with risk and can evolve in a fatal accident. This year, we have 0 fatal accidents.

In terms of social and how we relate with our communities, we -- yearly, we buy in services and goods, $240 million of the surrounding communities. That gives the business in order to increase their economic possibilities to develop. One other strategy we have is to leverage government funds to our local areas. We help them to leverage -- this is accumulate -- this amount is accumulated during the -- since the beginning of this strategy to invest in the three main areas that we have identified that and we want to develop in our communities, infrastructure, education and health in order to close the gaps that we have found when we arrive to those areas.

In terms of environmental, we are very glad to announce that 100% of our energy is renewable energy, mainly from our hydroelectrical plant once. And talking about the greenhouse gas emissions, our effort is to reduce year-by-year these emissions. And you will see in the next slide also. In terms of governance, we have updated our code of ethics and conduct this year. The last one was in 2017 and the first was in 2006 or '07. This is an update in order to reinforce our commitment to integrity. We are committed in compliance to have a strong regulatory compliance and effective risk management.

The last 3 years have been -- we have been able to have a great performance in permitting. We have been granted of very important permitting that give us continuity of our operations. We -- in this -- in the more important permit that we are awaiting are, first, the San Gabriel operation permit that will be -- we expect to be granted in the following weeks. And El Brocal, we expected in the operational permit in the first quarter of 2026. This permit will allow us to increase the size of our tailing management -- tailing dump. So we have continued operation for the midterm.

And Yumpag, the next permit will we are working on is to increase the production from 1,000 to 1,200 per day tonnes. And in the third quarter of 2027 to be granted of a permit to work -- to produce 3,000 tonnes per day. As I told you, our water resource management -- sorry, our renewable energy is 100% renewable source. We have made a lot of advance in the water management. We now recirculate in our underground mines, 88% of the water. And the greenhouse gas emissions, if you can see in this chart is reducing year-by-year.

Now maybe it's time to talk about a little bit of what is the political situation coming next year. You know next year will be the elections in Peru in April in 2026. During the campaign, normally, there arise issues about nationalization, royalties, increased tax, but you know that any actual change really require approval and technical review and of course, political consensus. You will hear about these topics. But I think the context is completely different in today that we have in 2021.

Recent polls have name Rafael Lopez Aliaga, former banker and the former mayor of Lima leading the race, following by always Keiko Fujimori and Mario Vizcarra that is the brother of Martin Vizcarra, our former President. But up today, it's very early to foresee which will be the winner, of course. The elections in Peru are defined in the last month, really. No dominant left wing contender has yet emerged. The context for the population is completely different, as I told you, as it was in 2021. Our macroeconomic fundamentals remain solid.

We have a Central Bank very strong and the performance of the Sol Peruano have been very good with all the price -- the commodity prices, all the accounts, the national accounts looks very good. At the regional level, political sentiment is shifting from left to right. We see Ecuador, we see Argentina, the recent rotation in Chile. And so we expect new changes and good changes from Peru. We -- personally, I am very positive. Now I will present Juan Carlos Ortiz, who will give you the glance of what will be -- what should you expect for the production for the following years. Thank you.

Thank you, Leandro. Thank you for joining us today. We would like to start just showing you this picture of Yumpag. It's a very compact operation that was done by all the facilities that we have in surface, but that we will see in a minute is a very significant value generator for the company. First, I would like to start with this overview of our portfolio. These figures are the projection of reserve by the end of December this year, 2025, where we have about 15 years of gold reserve, 8 years of silver reserve and 16 years of copper reserve and production.

So now we will develop that in detail, which assets are going to be part of this production and also give you some color about the geology that is the fundamental part of the growth and continued growth of this asset and not only the ongoing asset, but also the project that we are developing in our portfolio. Starting with the production profile. We have, in that part, the gold profile. As Leandro mentioned, we're going to be in the range between 160,000 to 180,000 ounces of gold per year, as you can see in this forecast production for the consolidated production of Buenaventura, is not including the production coming from Coimolache nor Cerro Verde, it's only from our consolidated operations.

Further to the right, you see the copper production in the case of -- in this case, particularly for El Brocal production in that the number you see pretty much the guidance range for the coming years. And important to mention early on this presentation is that even if we do have a profile of 50,000 tonnes of copper per year in the coming 3 years, we're working to develop the next increase or expansion in El Brocal that will allow us to be on the range of 60,000 tonnes of copper per year. Something similar happened, you see further down to the left of the profile of silver production.

We are ramping up production in Yumpag as well as in Uchucchacua, and we will be reaching about 20 million ounces by the year 2028. We are working right now with all the permit engineering, of course, developing the productions underground and continue with exploration to support this ongoing operation, not for 8 years, as I mentioned before, but way, way more than this range of time. And also in the case of Uchucchacua, we will have some production of zinc and copper, as you see in the lower corner of the presentation.

Now I would like to start with the video about San Gabriel, how it's looking the project as of today.

[Presentation]

You see the processing plant already in the southern part of the country. This is the mine edit, the underground workings. They have an overview of the processing plant, 100% complete. Right now, we are starting with C3 commissioning process and C4 in December. So we expect to have the fair gold bar pool by the end of December, a few weeks down the road. And our integration with our surrounding communities is not only being part of the mining but also integrated as a good neighbor and integrate our key stakeholders into our profile of growth -- growing together.

And something important here is that it's not only the launch of the C3 and C4 commissioning process for San Gabriel. It's something that we would like to share with you is how it's going to be the ramp-up of the production and why it's taking more months than a usual operation in the -- in this view, you can see the planned view of the operation. I will focus now on the way the tailing dam is going to operate. The central part where we have the filtration plant, 3,000 tonnes per day capacity. And to the left -- to the right, you can see the reservoir where we will stock all the wet tailings during the rainy season.

After the rainy season, we will take all the tailings up to these drying platforms. We will bring all the material by truck. We dump the material in these platforms. And with dozers, we will start to spread that tailings in order to reduce the moisture content from 20% down to 10% moisture. Once the tailings are drying, we will bring them to the final position where you see that the tailings are being placed at the bottom of this V-shaped valley that we are using as a final reservoir. And you see that at the beginning, at the bottom is a small area that we have. But layer by layer, we are growing in elevation and gaining more area.

And the more area means that we have more tonnage to be placed on a yearly basis. So that's how it's going to look like some years down the road once all the compaction is completed. So this means that in the initial year 2026, we will be in the order of 2,000 tonnes per day out of the full capacity of 3,000 tonnes per day. Why? Because we're going to be starting to place the tailings at the bottom part of the valley, where we have a little limited area. While we start putting more layer on top of each layer, we will increase the area, the compaction area, and we will be matching the production from the processing plant with the capacity to compaction of tailings in the final tailing reservoir. That's the reason we will have this production profile.

Next year, it's going to be around 2,000 tonnes per day. In 2027, we will be around 2,800 tonnes per day. And in 2028, we will reach full capacity as a throughput, how much tonnes we will process in a year. They will be in that order of magnitude like Phase 1. And in Phase 2, we are planning to increase production, optimizing the processing plant in order to reach 3,500 tonnes per day. Translating that production throughput into gold production, down below in yellow, you see the production in gold terms. Next year, it's going to be in the range of 75,000 to 80,000 ounces of gold. Next year, 90,000 to 95,000 ounces and then in the order of 100,000 ounces of gold per year. That's for Phase 1.

Phase 2 is going to be beyond that number when we de-bottleneck the plant, we get experience to know how to operate this processing plant, the ore that we have in there and to get the whole of the ore that we are putting through this processing facility. So we expect to be in Phase 2, reaching 3,500 tonnes per day and go over 100,000 ounces of gold per year. Important to mention also is that correlated with the increase in throughput is going to be a downward trend in the operating cost. If we put cost expressed on dollars per ounce of gold produced, cash cost, C1, we will be having this trend starting next year with $2,000 per ounce of gold and bringing it down to around $1,500 per ounce of gold.

How it's going to be working like that? Of course, throughput is key. Increasing the throughput will allow to dilute all the fixed cost in the operation. But in addition to that, the mining method that we do have is something similar that some miners in Nevada do here like Barrick and Newmont, they do in the underground operation they have in Nevada. They have a main method called Under Drift and Fill in which you need to drive a tunnel then you backfill it with cemented backfill. And once it's completely hard, 21, 28 days later, you go one lift beneath that. So you're using the top lift as a roof for the next lift underneath.

The most expensive part of the mining metals is driving the top cut. That's where you need to put heavy roof support. Once you are one layer beneath that, it's way cheaper. At the beginning, you're going to be 100% of the production coming from the top cuts. But gradually, this blend will equilibrate in 1/3 of the production of gold coming from the top cuts and 2/3 of the production coming from the under cuts. That's way, way cheaper. So that put that also that cost structure coming down.

And number three is that we are continuing to develop the mine. We will keep doing the mine deepening for the next 3 years. So once we completed that in year 2028, '29, costs will be reduced again because developing will be done. We will continue to do exploration. Probably there is more to be going further in depth. But at this time, it's -- the completion of that task will allow also to reduce the operating cost for the remaining 17 years life of mine of San Gabriel. So that's for the gold production.

If we move now to copper. Copper at this time in the next 5 years is going to be produced in El Brocal mine. Before getting into the production numbers, I would like to go a little bit deeper into the geology of El Brocal. At the left, we see a plan view of the deposit. This area with red, green and orange is the underground mine that have been mined for the last 25 years. The geology of the deposit is volcano at the center, and there is a mineralization all around the volcano, like a donut-shaped ore body. In the last 25 years, we only mined the northern part and a little bit of the western part.

Now we are driving tunnels to develop the western phase and also the eastern phase around the volcano. There is about 5 kilometers more to continue and close the ring around the volcano. It will take at least 5 years full steam to develop all this area for exploration and for mine development. We do have geophysics and few drill holes that confirm mineralization all around. So now the task is to get access to that area. So 25 years of production here and a big future to continue. In that northern part, where we see all the red, orange and blue dots is where we do have the next 17 years of production of El Brocal. This is where we have our reserve.

And the plan is to continue to ramp up production very slightly in the next 3 years, 2026, 2027 and 2028 because we do need to do some mine development, mine adding, ventilation, deepening the mine, prepare the mine for all the water that we are going to collect at the bottom of the mine and do some minor change in the processing plant. The ore is way harder than it was in the open pit. So we need to make some arrangement in the crushing and grinding circuit in order to allow to increase production with the existing footprint.

So the investment that we are going to do in exploration, mine development and processing plant upgrading will lead us to jump into almost 70,000 tonnes per day in El Brocal. We do have the permit to 25,000 tonnes. So probably we need to do only minor change in our permit profile in order to accommodate additional set of equipment between or incorporated into the existing license that we do have. How that -- it looks like now in production terms, as I mentioned earlier, the production of copper will be around 50,000 tonnes of copper per year up to the year 2029, we do have the expansion happening, reaching 17,000 tonnes per day and reaching a 60,000 tonnes per day copper production.

Along with the copper, we have silver and gold production, as you can see there, also working or keeping -- bringing us additional credits for the copper production. It will translate that into our cost structure in copper. We are bringing it down to $5,000 per tonne of copper. This is a combination of two factors. One, of course, is the credits coming from silver and gold. The increase in price is also helping us to reduce our overall copper cost. And number two, we do have a penalty for the arsenic content in our ore.

And the market right now is changing a lot, and that penalty is coming down year-by-year. So the cost of producing copper, in particular in El Brocal is coming down from these two market conditions from the increasing value of the gold and silver credits and also by the reduction of the arsenic penalties. In addition to that, we are changing our business model in El Brocal. For the last 15 years, the mine was operated by a contractor. This year, 2026, we are buying $20 million of equipment. We're doing the mining and developing by ourselves.

So we are reducing our cost by being more efficient, capturing that 30% general administrative and profit from the contractor and doing that work by ourselves, but not only doing that -- the same work because we're bringing larger equipment. Instead of having 10-tonne loaders, we're moving to 20-tonne loaders in the underground operation, so to make our cost structure more competitive as well. So the combination of all these factors will allow us to increase production and reduce the cost to a level of $5,000 per tonne of fine copper.

In the case of Uchucchacua and Yumpag, this is our silver assets. They are pretty close to each other. You see further to the center of the slide in red, all Uchucchacua areas that we have been mining in the last 50 years and some 7 kilometers to the east, we have Yumpag. All along this fault, the Cachipampa fault. So there is some ground to explore in between. We are coming from Yumpag to the south and from Uchucchacua to the north to connect and fill the gap in between. We are getting good information. All the exploration, particularly in Yumpag is showing good evidence of mineralization of bonanza style mineralization. What we call bonanza is more than 20 ounces of silver per ton, is a ton of ore that is worth more than $1,000 per tonne.

So high value with a cost of around $150 per tonne. So it's a big margin generator, a big volume generator. And we do have evidence that the mineralization continues to the north, continues to the west and continues further down below. But we are not also -- we're not only concentrated in the production in between these two assets, the Uchucchacua and Yumpag. We are opening the district for exploration as well. We do have Chonta to the north. It's about 4 kilometers to the north. We have evidence of copper mineralization in there, a standard type.

We are starting -- right now, we have the permit to start doing the geophysics and probably next year, we will start with the infill drilling -- or start with drilling in the project. And also, we have an old mine Pozo Rico in this corner. And we have, in general, a district of 5 kilometer by 5 kilometers in we are going to concentrate our exploration. Our processing plant is close to Uchucchacua. So we can easily incorporate any additional discoveries into our existing footprint for the long term. We do have room for tailings. We have permits for increasing capacity to 6,000 tonnes.

We will do some accommodation for a particular ore that we are going to incorporate to the production, but there was minor change probably won't need any heavy permitting in addition to what we already have. Based on the existing reserve in these 2 areas, Uchucchacua and Yumpag, we have this profile of production in the lower part of the slide. We do have a ramp-up production to 2,500 tonnes per day in Uchucchacua, more on the polymetallic type of ore. Whereas in Yumpag, we will be reaching 2,000 tonnes per day in the coming years.

Basically, here, the -- the constraint that we have are permitting. We are expecting to have the first permit to 1,200 tonnes per day by June 2026 and to 2,000 tonnes per day in 2027. So continue increasing the production as a throughput. If we translate that production into silver ounces, we do have here the profile of production. In the case of Uchucchacua, only for silver, it's about 4 million ounces per year, we will be reaching that level of production. And in the case of Yumpag, we will be close to 20 million ounces of silver, just Yumpag itself. This is Yumpag at 2,000 tonnes per day. And we -- as Leandro mentioned, we are filing for a permit for 3,000 tonnes per day.

So probably we can increase that. We will have the permit to do so, and we need to keep at the same pace of production, also doing the exploration in the mine. But it's a very important and very relevant asset for ourselves because you can make the math. You can have here the cost -- C1 cost for producing a silver ounce in the order of $9 per ounce, $10 per ounce with the current price, you can make easily the margin that we are making here in Uchucchacua and Yumpag. It's about almost $40 per ounce of silver.

And if we have a combined production in the order of 20 million ounces, you can make -- that these assets could be in the potential range of $600 million to $700 million of EBITDA or margin per year, just Yumpag and Uchucchacua. So it's a very significant asset. The first picture that I show, small footprint, very compact operation, where we are planning to do our high performance teams is having a impact -- a significant impact in our portfolio production.

Now I would like to talk about a little bit of Coimolache. We have been discussing previously that Coimolache was kind of at a limited speed because we do have to wait for the permit to put our process -- our pad, our leaching pad in full range. We get that permit back in August. We are now operating at full speed in the leaching pad, and that explains the increase in production that we have down below in yellow from 48 ounces -- 48,000 ounces of gold. We have a profile over 60,000 ounces of gold this year and going over 100,000 ounces of gold next year.

As Leandro mentioned here, we are revisiting the whole district Coimolache for gold first. First, looking for the low-grade areas around the existing open pits. Number two, looking for revisiting the stockpile of the waste dump that we have generating for the last 15 years. In the first evidence that we do have, we have areas of that waste dump that was dumped 10, 12 years ago that now have a grade that is economic to be fitted into the process -- the leaching pad. So we are drilling that area. And probably by the second quarter, we have the results to know how much of that material could be incorporated in the production plan.

The idea -- the internal idea is to keep driving or operating at around 100,000 ounces of gold for the coming 2, 3 years in the Coimolache, bringing that material that is already broken and available and putting in the leaching pad to add additional ounces of silver -- gold for our production. The other opportunity that we do have in here, we are learning how to re-leach our material, how to, again, remove the material in some places of the pad to another place and at the same time, mix it with oxygen and allowing the leaching reaction to happen again.

So we do have also material in the pad -- in the lower layers of the pad, the original, the older ones that we can take from the bottom and bring it to the top in a sequence that allow us to recover the gold that was remaining in that stockpile or that value that were stock in that area. So we do have these actions altogether in our plans. And we have a small scale here, mining the mining oxides up to 2029, mining the low-grade pushbacks and laybacks on the open pits, 2028 and 2029. Also, that's important in a minute, mining the mixed ore, that's a combination or a transition between the oxides and the sulfides down below and processing also the low-grade material and re-leaching the pad.

Coming back to the mining, the mixed ore or what we call the transitional ore. Transitional ore is what's in between the gold and the copper. The main area that holds this kind of reserve is the Tantahuatay open pit. So what we are doing right now is preparing the open pit for the transition to copper. So we are doing all the pushbacks, all the laybacks, all the ramp access. We do have all the land that we require. And we will have at the bottom of the pit, a big area where all the copper sulfides are established. So we will reach -- we will do the pre-stripping of the copper, we're recovering the gold contained in the upper layers. So we'll be -- by 2031, we will have the copper all open in our project.

At the same time, most of the waste that we are generating will be backfilled in the old open pit, the gold open pit of Mirador and Tantahuatay West. These two will be the backfill. And part of the waste to do the pre-stripping of the copper will also be part of the dyes for the future tailing dam. So we are preparing the transition between gold and copper in the coming 5 years. Along with the drilling, along with the engineering, along with the permitting, we'll be doing all the transition in the existing footprint to be ready to make an easy transition to copper in 2021, 2022.

So that's a key part of our strategy, not only generating value and cash with the mining of the gold, but also preparing the footprint for an easy transition, a lower CapEx, quick transition into flotation plant for copper. This is what I was mentioned also, the sulfide transition. The trade-off studies for the copper sulfide will be ending this year. We will start or continue with the conceptual study in 2026. We are going to be drilling, doing the infill drilling in 2026, 2027 and start working with the pre-feasibility study at the same time.

So we expect to have the pre-feasibility study at 2028. Probably at that time, we can start filing the permits while at the same time, working for the pre-feasibility and detailed engineering on the project. So it's progressing in the same time, we are mining the gold. So mine gold will be financed, the stripping, the engineering and all the needed CapEx for transition into the copper. But this is not the only project copper that we do have. We do have Trapiche. Trapiche is also evolving in a good way.

We expect to have the environmental permit granted early next year for the leaching operation. We expect to complete the power line right of path to buy all the land to bring the power line into the operation. We expect to complete all the negotiation for accessing the land in 2026 and complete also additional drilling, geotechnical, hydrogeological for the tail engineering. So the feasibility, detail engineering and probably the construction permit will be by the end of 2027, early 2028. So Trapiche is also on track to become the next project to be delivered for our own project portfolio.

Alright, now I'll pass to Daniel/

Thank you, Juan Carlos, and good afternoon to everybody. Thank you for joining our investor presentation. In this part of the presentation, we will talk about financial performance and our strategy in terms of capital allocation. As all we know, 2025 was a very solid year for Buenaventura, not only because of the higher metal prices because also due to the strong production in most of our operations.

In terms of revenues, this year, '25, we will generate between $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion. And our revenues will be pretty stable during 2026 and 2028, with production coming from San Gabriel and offset by the depleted mines, Orcopampa and Tambomayo. In year 2029, we expect an important increase in production with additional silver coming from Yumpag, Uchucchacua and of course, El Brocal increasing its copper production. As you can see, the prices that we are assuming are for gold, $3,200 per ounce; for silver, $35; and for copper, $9,500 per tonne.

This increase in revenues will have a consequence in the EBITDA. For this year, we expect an EBITDA of around $550 million to $600 million. And for the following years, using the conservative prices that I mentioned, for year 2026, we expect around $475 million of EBITDA and a slight increase in the EBITDA for the following years to peak in year 2029 in close to $750 million. This year, 2029, as I mentioned, will be boosted by increasing production from Yumpag and Uchucchacua and, of course, El Brocal. We will show later, and Juan Carlos has already shown our strategy to reduce costs and to increase the EBITDA margins. As you can see, we -- this year, we will report around 40% of EBITDA margins. And this will be maintained in the order of 40-plus percent for the following years.

Regarding costs, we strongly believe that in an environment of high metal prices as we are right now, we need to strengthen our cost control and cost reduction strategy. For this, we have strategies in all of the mines that we operate, as Juan Carlos has mentioned. This year, we will start San Gabriel operation. We will start the ramp-up of San Gabriel next year and the cash cost that we estimate is around $2,000 per ounce. This is because we will be ramping up the operation during the year.

When we get to the 3,000 tonnes per day production or 3,000 tonnes per day throughput and continue with some of the initiatives that we are going to start at San Gabriel, such as the transition from top cuts to undercuts and the increasing the recovery by implementing the flotation plant, then we will reduce the cost of San Gabriel down to $1,500 to $1,400 per ounce. At El Brocal, this year, we will report around $6,000 per tonne cash cost. And we will reduce this gradually to $5,000 per tonne.

How are we going to do this? Basically, by increasing the throughput. We will increase the throughput to 15,000 tonnes per day in 2, 3 years. And in year 2029, we should be reaching the 17,000 tonnes per day throughput at El Brocal that will permit us to dilute the fixed costs and decrease the cash cost to and stabilize it in $5,000 per tonne. At Uchucchacua, this year, we will report a cash cost of around $12 per ounce, Uchucchacua and Yumpag and we -- as Juan Carlos mentioned, we will reduce this cost down to $9 to $10 per ounce, basically by increasing the throughput at the plant to 4,500 tonnes per day. Remember that currently, we are producing at a rate of 2,500 tonnes per day.

And finally, at Coimolache, we will reduce the cost significantly for from $1,400 per ounce down to $1,100 per ounce by increasing the throughput and placing more ore in the leach pads. Get it into capital expenditures. This year was a strong and intensive year for capital expenditures in Buenaventura. We have disbursed or we estimate to disburse this year around $400 million in CapEx from which $300 million is devoted basically to San Gabriel construction. The remaining $100 million is basically for sustaining CapEx at El Brocal and Uchucchacua.

For the following years, we will have a peak of sustaining CapEx in year 2026, $229 million, basically for San Gabriel tailing dam storage facility, the waste dam and the mine development. At El Brocal, we will build during '26 and '27, the paste backfill plant and of course, the tailing dam expansion. And finally, at Uchucchacua and Yumpag, we will complete or we will start the construction of the transmission line, continue with the mine development at both mines. And also, we will add some trackless equipment.

For the following years, the sustaining CapEx between '27 and '29 will come back to the former levels of sustaining CapEx, which is in the order of $100 million to $120 million. And on top of this, we will have some growth CapEx devoted to Trapiche initial or early studies and land purchasing. As you all know, we have 20% -- almost 20% in Cerro Verde, which is a strategic asset for Buenaventura. We expect a streaming of $150 million to $170 million of dividends per year in a very stable long term. As you can see, Cerro Verde is generating more than $2 billion of EBITDA per year. They have very small CapEx, around $300 million, $320 million, and they have no debt.

So we expect Cerro Verde to continue distributing to Buenaventura dividends in the order of $150 million to $170 million. Going to our cash flow generation. In the past, we have been -- we have had a negative cash flow generation due to the construction of San Gabriel. And before that, due to this SUNAT's issue and we had also to paralyze operations at Uchucchacua in year 2021. However, since next year -- starting next year 2026, we will have positive free cash flow. We expect $150 million of cash generation in year 2026, basically with the $450 million EBITDA that we will generate and the dividends that we received from Cerro Verde.

The CapEx, as I mentioned, will be in the order of $340 million. In year 2027, we expect to finish the year -- or to start the year, sorry, with a capital -- or a cash position of $600 million. The $350 million, the EBITDA that we will generate in year '27, $600 million. Capital expenditures will be reduced to $170 million. We will continue receiving dividends from Cerro Verde. So we expect to generate $400 million of free cash flow in year '27. The same for year 2028, we expect a free cash flow worth $400 million. And in year 2029, when having El Brocal increasing the throughput, the final production and Yumpag contributing with almost 14 million, 15 million ounces of gold.

We expect to generate $500 million and finish the year 2029 with a cash position of between $1.8 billion to $2 billion. It's very important to consider that in this cash flow generation -- in these estimates, we are not considering the dividend payment, which, of course, we will consider every year. And finally, our capital allocation strategy will be focused on operational stability, strategic expansion and dividend payout. We will finish the year with $660 million to $680 million of cash and a debt of $710 million. This will give us the lowest leverage ratio that we have had in the last 5 years.

As Leandro mentioned at the beginning, 5 years ago, when we issued our first bond -- international bond, our leverage ratio was in excess of 5x net debt over EBITDA. The sustaining CapEx this year will be focused on improving, optimizing our current operations to increase the life of mine at El Brocal, San Gabriel and Uchucchacua and Yumpag. Growth CapEx, of course, our main projects, Trapiche, then Coimolache. We have also Algarrobo for the long term, dividends we need to resume our dividend policy with our shareholders, which is not less than 20% of the net income from the previous year.

And now I give back to Leandro.

We are approaching to the end of our presentation. And we want to highlight our commitment to these five concepts. First, operational excellence, essential to unlock the value of our current operations. Project development in order to have the best projects we can make and get the best value of them. Inorganic growth, to be alert of any opportunity that is presented to us in order to balance our mix production that we want to maintain. Commitment to our shareholders, delivering solid, sustainable results and rewarding their trust. And finally, vision for the future, building the foundation for long-term success.

Before end, I want to -- I'm sure that some of our colleagues are watching this presentation in Lima in Peru and also I want to thank them, especially the guys, our colleagues in the mines. They work very hard with -- in an altitude of more than 3,800 meters above sea level. And their work is the responsible of what we have been presenting here today. Of course, all the support areas, permitting, human reserves, explorations, logistics, finance and everyone there. Thank you very much, and we really appreciate all the effort in the last 5 years. Thank you. Thank you very much, and thank you for coming today.

Now we may begin with the Q&A questions. Please, Carlos.

Carlos De Alba with Morgan Stanley. On San Gabriel and maybe a little bit more of where do we stand in terms of the testing, the trials -- the dry testing completely done, so you're ready to production? And if not, or even if they are done, what is still pending for you to really be able to produce that first bar in 4 weeks?

Well, we already got the connection to the National Grid. So we do have power now with the National Grid. We can start commissioning the whole circuit, no machine by machine, but the whole circuit altogether. We do start last week of that work. We are fully commissioning the crushing or passing through the crushing circuit, filling the ore wing.

Next week, we will start with the wet commissioning of the two mills, the SAG mill and the Ball mill. We already have all the test dry, now we are starting with the slurries. And we have week by week scheduled for wet commissioning of the grinding, leaching and in December, the second week, we will start doing the filtration. At the same time, we were collecting all the carbon loaded with gold in order to start the recovery of the production of the gold precipitates. That's -- it is scheduled to have the first gold bar by December 20, in pretty much 1 month.

And then on the tailings management of San Gabriel, it's a very comprehensive operation. I wonder how much is the cost per ton or how does that compare to other operations that you have, just given how complicated the logistics seems to be?

We will have the experience of doing that in Tambomayo. In Tambomayo, we have been doing that for the last 8 years. The process of filtration, transportation to a reservoir where we store the tailings for -- during the rainy season, then taking out for drying and compaction is the whole process of dry stacking. So it's -- we're doing exactly what other companies do for dry stacking in their own businesses. The cost is a run rate of $9 to $10 per tonne from filtration up to the last step of compaction.

The good thing about that is that you were doing your closure at the same time you were doing your compaction. So you are not leaving any cost to the end-of-the-life of the project. You are doing your closure at the very same time. And the other important thing is that it's a kind of a dry area in the country. So you recover more than 85% of the water and doing that, you recycle 85% of the water. The only water missing is the remaining moisture that is left on the tailings to keep it altogether. So it's very efficient metal. We have been doing that for the last 8 years in Tambomayo. We in Peru have experienced doing that in some other operation as well.

[indiscernible] put in order is gold miners to process all their heap where there's a lot of gold that would not be economic, let's say, 1,100 or 2,000 I think other people are going to do the same. Are you planning that?

Yes. In the case of Coimolache, in the open pit in 2010, 2011, we have a different cutoff, like 0.2, 0.25 grams of gold per tonne. Right now, our cutoff is below 0.1 grams...

0.1?

Yes, right now. In the past, it was 0.25 grams. So between 0.1 grams and 0.25 grams, there is some quantity of material in our waste dumps, all right, that need to be reprocessed. So we are redrilling the waste dump and the early result that we do have is that almost 50% of the material that is placed as waste can be reclaimed, put it in the pad for leaching and the low, low-grade material will go to a new waste dump.

Do you have a guess at how much it would cost per tonne to process?

Very little because there is no blasting, there is no transportation because it's very close to the pad, comparison to the pit, open pit the waste dump are in between the open pit and the leaching pad, so halfway in between. So we need to load it and place it whatever it is needed into the pad. The quantity of reagent needed, it's similar to the ongoing fresh ore that we have. So it's going to be in the range of $1,000, $1,200 per ounce of gold, in line with what we were doing right now, a little bit of...

$10 to $1,200 per ounce?

$1,000 to...

$1,000 to $1,200 per ounce?

Yes.

So at 3,200 or 4,200, you make $2,000 or $3,000 an ounce.

That's correct.

You're going to do that?

Yes.

Other people will do?

Yes. In La Zanja, in Coimolache, we are also revisiting the low-grade areas in Orcopampa mine, the underground operation, also waste dumps in the Orcopampa area. So everything is under review.

Do you currently have a hedging strategy? Or do you have hedges out there now? Or do you plan on incurring it? And that's for gold, you could have separate for gold, silver and copper.

In the past, we used to hedge. We hedged copper, we hedged gold. And in Peru, we have the IRS, the local tax authority that doesn't understand at this point in time what -- how to -- how the rules for hedging should be. So in this environment with the IRS not understanding this tool that is very common in the market, we will be very cautious. But it's always over the table. We understand that it's important to hedge especially for our bondholders. But first, we need to understand to let the IRS -- the local IRS to understand these tools.

Well, if we don't have any more questions. I'm turning to Carlos.

Maybe one on the SUNAT. Any update on the case that you're still fighting? That will be a very nice money back to their balance sheet.

The case is progressing slowly. We are having some wins and some losses that will continue in the court. So we have recovered slightly -- a small portion of the total amount of the case, which is $550 million. We have recovered $30 million, $35 million, but this will take a long time. It's not only one case. These are four separate cases that are running in separate courts with separate lawyers. So we think that we could win some cases and continue progressing in other ones.

Our expectation is to win as a total around -- between 50% and 60% of the amount.

And long term at the end -- and that ending is 5 years from now or...

3 years.

3 years. Okay. And then on Coimolache, what is the expectation as you transition into copper sulfides? Would you continue to operate the asset? Or what is the idea there?

No, that is a discussion that we have to make with our partners. We are working today on the project to develop a profitable project. Let's see, if we can continue working as business as usual.

And last one for me, sorry, for monopolizing the mic. The cash cost trends that you showed today, if we looked at the cash that you report for your operations, can we assume the same decline on a percentage basis, both...

Yes.

Well, now turning to the Q&A questions from the webcast. Our first question comes from Juraj Domic at LarrainVial. You mentioned M&A opportunities in the Strategy 2024 slide. Are you considering seeing the precious metals plus copper? Or are you considering new metals or markets?

No. We are considering to stay in the metals we feel comfortable. Gold primarily, we think that we should look for additional production of -- production in the following 6 years. So will be mainly our -- we are looking for gold mines.

And the second question is, given the current prices, should we expect a reserve increase in Tambomayo and Orcopampa and thus further production down in 2026?

No. We will continue to -- with exploration in these two properties. Of course, now with the increasing price, we are more comfortable looking for mid-grade or low-grade materials in the district. But with the current structures and veins and ore bodies, we have limited room for increase in -- with the current price. It's more on the potential nearby the operation than in the ongoing structure that we are mining as of today.

Our next questions come from [indiscernible] Securities. Could you provide some CapEx figures from the planned expansion at the El Brocal and Uchucchacua and Yumpag area? Also, could you share expected CapEx for the Coimolache oxide project?

In the case of El Brocal, for -- more of an expansion is modification. We have been running for 17,000 tonnes per day in the past, but it was with very soft ore. Now we need to accommodate the hard rock copper coming from the underground mine. So we need to put an extra set of crushers and probably additional flotation cells. So it's not that big, probably in the area of $100 million -- less than $100 million CapEx to make all the transition from soft rock into hard rock at 17,000 tonnes per day.

In the case of Uchucchacua, probably it's going to be -- we don't have a definite budget so far, between $50 million to $60 million to increase to 6,000 tonnes per day. We do have the power, the water, the tailing dam, it's going to be more to accommodate an additional crushing and grinding circuit for processing the ore. And in Coimolache, we start very early on the engineering. So we don't have a definitive figures so far.

Our next question comes from Cesar Perez at BTG. Regarding the reduction on arsenic-related penalties applied to El Brocal copper concentrate, to what extent can this be attributed to shifting market tolerance parameters, advancing chemical assay precision or the influence of an expected concentrate volume resulting from the marketing integration of Cerro Verde copper ores?

Well, we actually don't have any problem to sell all our concentrate of El Brocal. Actually, we think that we have the capacity to sell twice the total concentrate we produce today. We have -- as Juan Carlos told us, we have seen a decrease in the penalties. So there is room for more concentrate -- in this concentrate -- this composition for the market.

But also in addition to that, market condition, also we are kind of fine-tuning the quality of our concentrates. Instead of going to high copper, high arsenic, we are going to a middle point where the market prefer to have the quality of the concentrate. So we are kind of switching the quality of the concentrate, reducing a little bit of the copper, but at the same time, reducing the amount of arsenic that goes linked to the copper and the market prefer that particular quality rather than the previous one, high copper and high arsenic at the same time. So it's a market, but at the same time, we are doing our task in the operation.

The next question comes from Omar [indiscernible] Compass. Why does the sustaining CapEx increase so much in 2026? Also, in Cerro Verde, we do expect the unit to increase processing capacity.

Cerro Verde, we think that the production will be stable -- stabilized at [indiscernible] tonnes per day. The production will be similar from this year. In terms of CapEx for the following year, well, there are -- as Juan Carlos mentioned, there are some additional investment that we have to make in the tailing dams, you would have seen the videos is a stage by stage -- state-by-state complement. So we -- and announced in Uchucchacua, we -- and El Brocal, we have to make all the waste management investment in order to warranty the long-term production.

Maybe to add and put some figures to what Leandro said, at San Gabriel, next year, we will have a CapEx of around $60 million devoted to what Leandro said and Juan Carlos, basically to complete some of the tailing dams and waste dumps that we have are already building. And at El Brocal, there will be around $80 million to $90 million CapEx for the purchase of equipment and also the management of the tailings.

The next question comes from Alexander [indiscernible] at S&P Global. Trapiche looks to turn Buenaventura into an increasingly copper-focused producer. Given that project CapEx will be considerable for both, will Buenaventura seek for joint venture partners?

Well, maybe 4 years ago, 5 years ago, I will respond that we may look for a partner for Trapiche. Today, our answer is may not. Maybe we can do it by ourselves. As you have seen the figures shown by Daniel, we have a very high cash expected during the years. Our focus today has to be -- to prepare an excellent project, quality project. So we are going to invest the best in all the studies we have to develop in order to have profitable project. And in El Algarrobo, also, we are very positive in all the things we are going on with the community and our neighbors, but it's kind of in a longer stage. We expect a -- we expect to generate that project after we construct Trapiche.

Correct. And finally, [ Gabriela Bend at Lucro ] Analytics. Please, can you give us more information on your expected dividend payments?

Well, yes, our policy is at least 20% of the profit. So we will be -- we are going to resume that policy. This year already, we are paying dividends 20%. And we will, of course, evaluate to pay in excess of that 20%.

With that, we have concluded the Q&A questions. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for being with us today and spending a couple of hours. And next year, we will have the 30th anniversary of being in the New York Stock Exchange. So since now we invite you to come with us to celebrate the 30 years of being a listed company in New York Stock Exchange. We will send you the invitations properly.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Compania de Minas Buenaventura Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. And please note that this call is being recorded.

I would now like to introduce you to your host for today's call, Mr. Sebastian Valencia, Head of Investor Relations. Mr. Valencia, you may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our third quarter 2025 results. Today's discussion will be led by Mr. Leandro Garcia. Chief Executive Officer. Also joining our call today and available for your questions are Mr. Daniel Dominguez, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Juan Carlos Ortis, Vice President of Operations; Aldo Massa, Vice President of Business Development and Commercial; Mr. Alejandro Hermosa, Vice President of Sustainability; Mr. Anson Maher, Vice President of Projects, Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar, Vice President of Geology and Explorations; Mr. Roger Aries, Chairman; and Mr. Arenas, Director.

Before I hand the call over, let me first touch on a few items. On Buenaventura's website, you will find our press release that was posted yesterday after the market close. Please note that today's remarks include forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions. While management believes that its assumptions, expectations and projections are reasonable in view of the current available information, you may caution not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. I encourage you to read the full disclosure concerning forward-looking statements within the earnings results press release issued on October 30, 2025.

Let me now turn the call to Mr. Leandro Garcia.

Thank you, Sebastian. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today to discuss the quarterly results of the company. On Slide 2, this is our cautionary statement, important information that I encourage you to read.

Today, we will discuss our third quarter of 2025 performance, highlighting key achievements on our strategic priorities going forward. After the presentation, we will be able for our Q&A session, where our team will be happy to answer your questions. Next slide.

I would like to highlight a few key areas that contributed to our strong third quarter results. Copper production in the third quarter of 2025 reached 12.8000 tonnes, down 24 year-on-year. This is mainly explained because in the third quarter of the last year, all the ore stockpile during the Eldrocas voluntary temporary suspension in the second quarter of 2024 was processed.

Silver production reached 4.3 million ounces, 3% lower compared to 4.4 million ounces produced during the same period last year. The decrease was mainly due to lower production at Chakan Upa in line with expectations, partially offset by increased production at Brocal and Qian.

Gold production was [ 3,894 ] ounces, down 21% year-on-year. mainly due to lower output at Orcon Papa and Tambomayo, consistent with the 2025 planned mining sequence. EBITDA from direct operations in the third quarter of 2025 was $202.1 million, which represents a 48% increase compared to the $136.5 million in the same quarter last year. Net income for the quarter was $167.1 million compared to $236.9 million in the third quarter of 2024, which include $157.3 million from the sale of Chapello. The third quarter ended with a cash position of $486 million and a total debt of USD 711 , resulting in a leverage ratio of 0.41x.

Moving on to San Gabriel. CapEx for the project in the third quarter of 2025 was $92 million allocated to completing the construction of the processing plant to enable the start of commercial production in the fourth quarter of 2025. As of now, San Gabriel has reached 96% overall progress. Construction is 95% complete.

On September 5, 2025, Coimolache received a new operating permit, allowing fresh ore placement on a new level of Tantavatized leach platform and adjacent surface areas. This milestone enables full capacity production at both the mine and the leach pad. Finally, Buenaventura Board of Directors has approved a dividend payment of 0.1446 per share ADS.

Moving on to cost applicable to sales trend. Copper cash decreased in the third quarter of 2025, mainly due to the positive contribution of byproducts at El Brocal. Silver cash increased driven by higher commercial deductions related to tailings sales at Uchucchacua and lower ore grades at up. Gold cash has decreased due to higher volumes sold.

On the next slide, we will present free cash flow generation. The third quarter 2025 cash position decreased during the quarter mainly driven by the net cash outflows from investing activities and financing activities. In terms of financing activities, when Buenaventura redeemed the remaining $149 million of its 2026 notes at par, including a great interest.

Moving on to Slide 6. Third quarter 2025 CapEx related to San Gabriel was $92 million, allocated to completing the construction of the processing plant. As of September 2025, San Gabriel's total CapEx has reached $681 million. We are moving forward steadily and remain on track to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to timely approval of the necessary permits.

As part of this progress, the Ministry of Energy and Mines granted San Gabriel, a power transmission concession. Mine development has been completed and mining preparation activities are underway using Buenaventura's owned fleet. The commissioning plan is now being implemented with the C1 and C2 commissioning already completed. San Gabriel's cumulative progress has reached 96% overall completion by third quarter 2025, primarily driven by finishing the engineering and procurement as well as the construction at 95% of advance.

On the next slide, we are showing the processing plans progress. The primary crusher mechanical works are at 100%. The SAG and ball mills mechanical works are at 100%. And finally, the CIL tanks mechanical works are at 100%.

Moving on, we can see the progress of the main components of the plant. Moving on to Slide 9. We are showing the progress at the filter tailings plant that currently is at 96% overall progress.

To conclude this presentation, I would like to share a few final thoughts. First, a stable and continuous production of our at our flagships. We are making progress in our efforts to increase throughput while prioritizing cost efficiency.

Second, solid performance from our affiliate companies, Coimolache, new operating permit will enable production at full capacity. We are expecting to produce over 8,000 ounces of gold next year. which will lead to higher cash flow in the coming quarters.

Third, strong cash flow generation and a solid balance sheet driven by the outstanding performance of Buenaventura's flagship operations. enabled us to return value to shareholders and resume our dividend policy.

Finally, the San Gabriel project has achieved 96% overall progress. The new power line concession will allow us to complete commissioning in the coming weeks on track as we aim for our first gold bar by fourth quarter of 2025.

Thank you for your attention. I will hand the call back to the operator to open the line for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

[Operator Instructions]. Our first question comes from Carlos De Alba from Morgan Stanley.

Yes. Hello. Thank you, and good morning, everyone. So I wanted to maybe go back a little bit and make sure that we get a little maybe more color, Leandro, on what is still pending for San Gabriel. And when do you expect to get maybe those permits that are pending? And if there is anything else from a government approval perspective, how confident are you that with the recent changes in government that we have seen in the country, you're going to get them relatively on time. And to the extent that there might not be on time, if that possible delay will be weeks, days, weeks or months.

And then related to that, is you did mention you expect to the total production for the year in San Gabriel, but what is the sequence that we should be contemplated in the model. And given the benefit that you have in ramping up this project, I mean, very amid very high gold prices. When can we see when do you expect San Gabriel to be EBITDA neutral or display start to break even?

Thank you, Carlos. Well, we are coordinating previously since weeks ago, the final permits for San Gabriel. We are confident that we will be granted of all, and we will and this year with the production of 2 bars. Maybe Franco can give us more detail and then the Juan Carlos or these can help us for the sequence of the production. Please, Renzo.

Sure. Yes, all the permits are in line to be able to produce the first over towards the end of the year, it is a matter of when the authorities go up. We don't foresee any problems on that. And regarding what is pending in San Gabriel are the power should be arriving this Sunday and then it's somehow -- in the 33 and C4, and that is going to take us a couple of months to complete.

For the production sequence and Juan Carlos can help us.

Yes, maybe before sorry, I may have lost my connection for a second there. So can you repeat what is happening with power. So you're getting access power this week or today or tomorrow, is that what you said? And then why won't take 2 months or to ramp up?

Sure. So power line construction is complete. All the arrangement with the other users is complete. The permit from the authority is complete. The energy station will happen on Sunday, and then we can start the commissioning process. The commissioning process will take around a couple of months because we need to stabilize power first, then we're going to start feeding the mills, feeling all the of the plant with water. And then as soon as we can start crushing and milling, we're going to be feeling all the circuits up to the tailing storage facility. And then we're going to start adding to that to start the crop of bold, and we expect that to be finishing towards mid-December.

Okay, Carlos. And regarding your question about production, as Corenso mentioned, this year is going to be the initial gold bars by the end of the year. And in January, we will start doing the operational ramp-up with an operational ramp-up in January. And as we mentioned before, we need to pay attention to the construction process or contraction, but filtration, desiccation and compaction of the tailing -- in the tailing because the shape of the tail reservoir is a V-shaped valley. We need to start from the bottom where the area is limited. And as long as we are compacting the tails and raining elevation, we will extend and gain more available area for combaction.

Due to that, the production this year on a global basis is going to be in the order of 70,000 to 90,000 ounces of gold next year, and we are working in -- along with the project team with the commissioning monitoring all the process, trying to do our best to be on the upper range of this guidance.

Carlos. And maybe just, I don't know, Daniel, or when do you expect to start breaking even at current gold basis? We're going to start with the high grade at the beginning. So it's going to be pretty soon, I would say, the first or the second quarter, we will probably be reaching breakeven. Even if we are not working at full capacity, we will be over breakeven, I would say, by the second quarter next year.

Thank you very much. Good luck.

[Operator Instructions]. Ladies and gentlemen, with that, we will be concluding today's audio question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Sebastian Valencia, Head of Investor Relations for any webcast questions.

Thank you, operator. At this time, there are no further questions. I would like to turn the call over to Leandro Garcia.

Thank you, Sebastian. I would like to thank you for the time and effort to join us today. your participation and input are very appreciated. Thank you again, and have a wonderful day.

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes Buenaventura's Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Results Conference Call. We would like to thank you again for your participation. You may now disconnect.