Dundee Precious Metals Aktie

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the DPM Metals Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions].

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker for today, Jennifer Cameron. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning. I'm Jennifer Cameron, Director of Investor Relations, and I'd like to welcome you to DPM Metals Second Quarter Conference Call.

Joining us today are members of our senior management team, including David Rae, President and CEO; and Navin Dyal, Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that all forward-looking information provided during this call is subject to the forward-looking qualification, which is detailed in our news release and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call. Certain measures referred to during this call are not measures recognized under IFRS and are referred to as non-GAAP measures or ratios.

These measures have no standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The definitions established and calculations performed by DPM are based on management's reasonable judgment and are consistently applied. These measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Please refer to the non-GAAP financial measures section of our most recent MD&A for reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures. Please note that unless otherwise stated, operational and financial information communicated during the call are related to continuing operations and have generally been rounded.

References to 2025 pertains most to the comparable period in 2025 and references to averages are based on midpoints of our outlook or guidance.

I'll now turn the call over to David Rae.

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. I want to start by recognizing the dedication of our teams across all operations whose commitment to safety, operational excellence and responsible mining continues to drive our success.

We delivered exceptional results in the second quarter, generating free cash flow and earnings while continuing to, sorry, record free cash flow and earnings while continuing to advance our growth strategy. The ongoing ramp-up of the Vares mine and continued advancement of our growth pipeline, including the major discovery of the Brevene South Porphyry have further demonstrated DPM's position as a growing European-focused precious metals producer.

Moving to the highlights of the second quarter. We produced approximately 103 ounces gold equivalent and remain firmly on track to achieve our 2026 production guidance for the 12th consecutive year. We continue to deliver strong margins with an all-in sustaining cost of $1,214 per ounce gold equivalent sold compared to an average realized gold price of $4,375 per ounce.

We generated a record $227 million of free cash flow, driven by strong operating performance as the ramp-up of Vares drives production growth. We continue to return capital to shareholders, returning $58 million or 25% of free cash flow through our share buybacks and dividend payments. And we ended the quarter with $761 million of cash and $1.2 billion of total liquidity.

Let me now turn to our operations and growth projects in more detail, starting with Vares. We're making significant progress at Vares, and we're on track to achieve the ramp-up to full production by year-end. We are achieving development rates over 400 meters per month and have done so since October last year.

We processed 117,000 tonnes in the quarter and a 48% increase quarter-over-quarter. The planned shutdown of the processing plant to complete tie-ins for the additional tailings smelter was completed in seven days and well ahead of schedule. This allows for reduced downtime in the second half of the year when we anticipate higher production rates.

Vares produced approximately 35,000 gold equivalent ounces during the second quarter with an all-in sustaining cost of $563 per gold equivalent ounce sold. Navin will have some additional color on the all-in sustaining cost at Vares and our guidance expectations. We are on track to achieve the ramp-up to the 850,000 tonnes per year run rate by year-end.

During the quarter, we started commissioning of the second water treatment plant. Construction of the paste backfill plant is well set and the second tailings continue to advance. Both of these are expected to be operational before the end of the year.

We initiated our surface drilling program during the second quarter, drilling at priority targets at the Piatra Craiului area alongside advancing 3D models and conducting geophysical surveys to support target generation. Most importantly, we progressed the development of our future leadership for Vares, including key positions for mining, processing, technical services, finance, HR and legal and lay the foundation for our long-term success in the country.

In short, Vares is exceeding our expectations, and we're excited about its contribution to our growth in the years ahead.

Turning now to Chelopech. Our flagship operation delivered solid production of approximately 57,000 gold equivalent ounces in the second quarter with an all-in sustaining cost of $1,174 per gold equivalent ounce sold and it is on track to achieve its guidance for the year.

We're very pleased with the progress of the Wedge Zone target. Delineation drilling continued during the second quarter and results confirmed and extended the high-grade mineralization. This mineralized zone is currently defined over approximately 170 meters along strike with 130 meters in width and 300 meters of vertical extent.

The target remains open along strike and down dip with strong potential for further expansion. Initial metallurgical test work indicates that mineralization is amenable to flotation processing using the existing flow sheet at the Chelopech plant, supporting the Wedge zone's potential to augment the existing mine plan. We are planning to complete an initial mineral resource estimate for the Wedge Zone by year-end as part of our annual mineral resource and mineral reserve update.

We're also actively evaluating decline contractors and advancing technical work to support an economic study for wedge. We continue to anticipate commencing the decline towards Wedge from existing operations by year-end using internal resources.

In June, we announced a major new discovery of the high-grade copper gold porphyry mineralization at the Brevene South Porphyry target. This is our fourth significant discovery since 2023, continuing our remarkable exploration track record. Initial results from drilling, including 713 meters at 2.5 grams per tonne gold equivalent demonstrates the potential for scale and continuity with broad continuous intervals of high-grade copper gold porphyry mineralization.

That particular hole, which was in progress as we reported, continued for over 1 kilometer and was terminated in mineralization. A large phyllic alteration envelope exceeding 1,000 meters by 1,500 meters indicates a substantial hydrothermal system with the BSP target remaining open in multiple directions and at depth.

Given the significance of this discovery, drilling continues with five high-capacity rigs dedicated to the target and up to 15,000 meters planned through to the end of the third quarter. In parallel, we continue to progress the technical work required to support the conversion of the Brevene exploration license to a mining concession under the well-defined Bulgarian permitting process.

On completion of the current phase of exploration work, which ends in September 2026, DPM plans to submit a final report in support of a commercial discovery certificate. At this point, and while the process to convert Brevene to a commercial discovery is underway, we will not be able to conduct drilling activities on the Brevene license. However, BSP remains open towards the southeast flank of the Chelopech mine concession and we intend to immediately move to testing the target from within the mine concession.

Wedge and BSP are two great examples of how we have transformed our growth outlook, creating an exceptional project pipeline that sets DPM apart from other mid-tier producers. Today, we have several attractive growth opportunities, including Coka Rakita, where we are advancing permitting this year to support a construction decision.

We continue to advance permitting in line with the well-defined Serbian process to support the start of construction in early 2027. The special purpose spatial plan, which was initiated in November 2025 and is a key permitting milestone continues to progress well and is expected to be approved and adopted in the second half of 2026.

Following that, we anticipate submission of the exploitation field application. Most of the baseline studies required for the environmental and social impact assessment have already been completed, and it is expected to be submitted at year-end.

We are maintaining close and proactive engagement with the relative authorities and stakeholders to support the permitting process, and we remain confident in the overall progress at Coka Rakita. Project execution readiness and operational readiness planning continue, leveraging the project's proximity to our Chelopech underground mine and our new Vares underground mine, to support training and development of key personnel and practices for future operating roles.

We initiated a 20,000-meter drilling program at the Coka Rakita license during the second quarter. A significant component of the drilling program is allocated to infilling and extending mineralization at Dumitru Potok and increasing the drill density. Upon completion of the drilling, we intend to update the mineral resource estimate for the Rakita.

An additional drilling program is also underway at the Potaj Cuka license targeting the same Northwest geological trend of Coka Rakita and Dumitru Potok projects.

With a significant gold, copper inferred mineral resource already defined at Dumitru Potok and the prospect open in several directions, we look forward to advancing the drilling program and continuing to define the potential of this organic growth prospect. As we reported earlier this month, production at Ada Tepe concluded as scheduled on July 15, 2026.

As the first new mine in the Balkans in over 40 years, Ada Tepe has been a testament to DPM's ability to permit, build and operate a world-class asset and implement standards that go above and beyond what is required. I want to express my deepest gratitude to everybody who has been a part of this exceptional story.

I particularly want to acknowledge the community for welcoming us, partnering with us and working with us to create a world-class example of how mining can be conducted responsibly with standards that go above and beyond those required and for the benefit of all stakeholders. We now have the opportunity to demonstrate responsible mine closure with 95% of the mine area expected to be returned back to the nature of 2000, the European Union's Nature Protection network.

I'm proud of what we have accomplished at Ada Tepe, and I'm confident that we are leaving a positive legacy for future generations. Before handing the call over to Navin, I will summarize our 2026 priorities, delivering on the ramp-up at Vares advancing Coka Rakita to a construction decision and daylighting value from our discovery of 2 Tier 1 potential gold-copper deposits.

We will continue to execute on these priorities and with the same commitment to responsible, efficient mining, financial discipline and value creation. I'll now turn the call over to Navin for a review of our financial results.

Thanks, Dave. I'll be touching briefly on the financial highlights for the quarter and conclude with some commentary on our balance sheet and return of capital program.

Overall, DPM delivered record quarterly revenues, earnings and free cash flow, benefiting from higher metal prices and the addition of Vares to our portfolio. Looking at our earnings and cash flow, revenue of $362 million for the quarter was 94% higher than prior year due primarily to higher realized metal prices and the inclusion of Vares's pre-commercial production revenue of $110 million.

Adjusted net earnings in the quarter of $211 million or $0.95 per share more than doubled compared to the prior year due primarily to higher realized metal prices and the inclusion of Vares, partially offset by higher income taxes and cost of sales.

Adjusting items, which were not indicative of the company's operating performance primarily included a $33 million reversal of certain provisions at Vares and a $10 million loss on settlement of a previously recognized receivable related to the DPM tolling agreement. Cash flow provided from operating activities for the quarter of $271 million reflect an increase of $172 million compared to the prior year due primarily to higher earnings generated in the period and the timing of deliveries and subsequent receipts of cash, partially offset by higher annual cash redemptions under the share-based compensation plans, reflecting DPM's strong share price performance. The timing of payments to suppliers and higher income taxes paid.

Free cash flow of $227 million for the quarter reflects an increase of $133 million compared to the prior year, due primarily to higher adjusted net earnings generated in the quarter. Taking a look at our cost metrics in the first half of 2026, all-in sustaining costs of $1,470 per gold equivalent ounce sold referred to herein as GEO compared to an average realized gold price of $4,6.35 per ounce, reflecting the high-margin, low-cost nature of our operations.

All-in sustaining cost per GEO sold was comparable to prior year. At Vares, all-in sustaining cost per GEO sold was below the low end of its 2026 guidance range due primarily to the capitalization of certain pre-commercial production operating costs with commercial production anticipated by the end of the third quarter, all-in sustaining cost per GEO sold is expected to be within the guidance range at Vares.

On a consolidated basis, all-in sustaining cost at Vares was largely offset by higher costs at Chelopech and Ada Tepe due primarily to higher labor costs, a stronger euro relative to the U.S. dollar and higher royalties reflecting higher metal prices as well as the impact of mark-to-market adjustments to share-based compensation expenses.

Mark-to-market adjustments to share-based compensation expenses resulted in an increase of $95 per GEO sold for the first half of 2026 compared to an increase of $122 per GEO sold in the prior year. We are on track to meet our all-in sustaining cost guidance for the year, and we're closely monitoring the market dynamics outside of our control, which impact costs such as metal prices, foreign exchange rates and oil prices and their movements compared to our guidance assumptions.

In terms of our capital spending, sustaining capital expenditures of $3 million for the quarter were lower than prior year due primarily to no capital expenditures at Ada Tepe as the mine reached the end of its life in July 2026.

Growth capital expenditures of $28 million were higher than the prior year, reflecting capital expenditures at Vares, including the capitalization of certain pre-commercial production operating costs, partially offset by lower capital costs related to the Coka Rakita project due primarily to timing of expenditures.

We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet and cash position with a consolidated cash balance of $761 million, no debt and a $400 million undrawn revolving credit facility. With our significant financial returns and robust free cash flow, we are well positioned to fund our growth opportunities and exploration prospects while continuing to deliver peer-leading capital returns, peer-leading returns to shareholders through our enhanced share buyback program.

In the first half of 2026, we repurchased over 2.1 million shares at a total cost of $75 million under the company's normal course issuer bid, or NCIB, and paid approximately $18 million of dividends. From July 1 to July 30, 2026, we repurchased approximately 800,000 shares at a total cost of $27 million, bringing year-to-date repurchases to approximately 3 million shares for an aggregate cost of $102 million.

We continue to deploy our capital in a disciplined manner that balances our desire to reinvest in growing and optimizing our business with our commitment to return capital to our shareholders. In closing, we continue to deliver strong performance from our mining operations and continue our track record of generating significant free cash flow. We remain in a strong cash position and are focused on growth. I will now turn the call back to Dave for his concluding remarks.

This is an exciting time for DPM. DPM today is a premier mining business with industry-leading margins, lower risk development assets due to their scale and quality and a disciplined capital allocation strategy that has delivered share price outperformance for several years.

We remain focused on executing our strategy to deliver above-average returns to our shareholders as a mid-tier precious metals company with a clear path forward to drive value.

I'd now like to open the call for any questions.

[Operator Instructions]

First question of the day will come from the line of Fahad Tariq of Jefferies.

On Coka Rakita, can you talk a bit about just the level of dialogue between yourselves and the government as you think about getting the permit in the second half of this year and just the comfort level in starting construction in early 2027.

Yes. Thanks, Fahad. So with Coka Rakita, largely our main activities are with people in the administration of the different bureaus. So this would be Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Energy, Construction, Environmental, with the bulk of that being more towards the spatial planning activities at the moment, which are led by a sort of mix of discipline. So there's regular conversations going on there to understand the expectations on delivery. And I would say that, that is leading to our ongoing confidence in terms of delivering against expectations in terms of timing. So next things to watch for are the conclusion of spatial planning, the EIA and leading to the move to an exploitation permit. And just to reiterate, we're confident of being able to get the permission to go ahead with the construction early in the new year.

Okay. Great. And then just switching gears to maybe the balance sheet. The cash balance has grown substantially over the last year and is back to pre-Adriatic levels. Can you just talk a bit about just the use of cash? I mean, it sounds like Coka Rakita is easily well funded. The $200 million in buybacks, I mean, there could be an opportunity to go higher. Just any high-level commentary on potential use of cash on the balance sheet going forward?

Sure, Fahad. Yes, I'll take that one. As you know, we have got a great track record of being prudent capital allocators. The approach that we take is focusing on our balance sheet strength, capital returns and reinvestment in the business. And as you heard from Dave, we've got tremendous opportunities, we believe, within the business over the coming years.

So that's definitely taken into consideration. And then when it comes to just the levels of buybacks and even the sustainable dividend that we have, discussions with our Board are, there's a healthy debate at the Board level in terms of capital returns and looking at our capital needs over the coming years and balancing that with a healthy returns. So our dividend is set at a very sustainable level, as you know. And again, we've had a tremendous success over the years of buying back our shares. And that's perhaps the avenue that we're going to continue to take to really ensure that we ensure a healthy capital return back to our shareholders.

Maybe just adding to that, if you consider our track record of exploration success, we clearly have the ability to direct some of our free cash flow generation into some pretty exciting projects. So you'll continue to see an increase, even if it's a relatively small number overall in terms of exploration. So we've gone from $50 million to $60 million to currently $70 million over the course of the last three years. We've said already that while we exploration while we wait for the commercial discovery, we're going to go aggressively after the porphyry and additional activities around Wedge Zone. Keeping in mind that there is a potential for additional opportunities around Whitestone given that we have very little drilling below Chelopech. So you're right about the ability to buy back more in terms of the NCIB at this point. We've talked about $200 million. But as you sort of indicated, there is a possibility of us increasing that.

Our next question is coming from the line of Eric Winmill of Scotiabank.

Congrats on a great quarter. Just wondering about Wedge Zone Deep. Obviously, great to hear that you want to start the decline efforts there possibly before end of this year. Just sort of curious, I know it's still early days there but wondering if you have any estimates in terms of CapEx or timing or how much drilling is required ultimately after you get the resource out in terms of being able to convert that into mineable areas.

Good question. So we obviously have intent to go after this with the idea being that this could influence what's going to happen in 2028. So the sooner we do that, the better certainly intend to commence the development before the end of the year. There is work that needs to be done ahead of the transition through to the group, the company, let's say, that is going to do that development on our behalf.

And this is something that we've done and also considered for Coka Rakita and if you recall, counted into the increase in the capital cost for Coka Rakita. So the reason why we're doing this is we see an increasing requirement for capability that's been demonstrated at Chelopech and in fact, at Vares, but is becoming more in demand as we have success with Wedge Zone and as we prepare for Coka Rakita. So let's come back to your question about work that's planned.

We do intend with our own team to commence that development. That will be largely intended to set up services and allow the separation of activities between mine operation and the contract work that's going to develop. A little bit of additional context. We have three ways to get at Wedge Zone and these things we are evaluating. We're in a period of engineering at the moment. So your other questions about capital spend and some other commentary, that's something we'll update as we get closer to the end of the year.

Okay. Fantastic. And then maybe just on BSP Porphyry. I know you're going to go through the permitting process there, converting it to commercial discovery. I know it's always tough to comment on regulatory time lines, but any thoughts here in terms of how long you're expecting the permitting process there?

Yes, it's a good question. And obviously, we'll keep people updated. There's two different dynamics to this. The one is that historically, it's taken some time. to get these it's well defined in terms of what has to get done. It can be a little bit more of an issue in terms of how long the government has actually committed itself to actually look at these time lines and do more to provide confidence and shorten.

So we're in a dynamic where two things are going on. So, the one is there's a typical time line, but at the same time, the government is intent on trying to shorten these things. And as you know, there's a very big difference between timelines in, say, Serbia and time lines in Bulgaria. So, we'll update on this, but something like 15 to 18 months is not unusual to get to the point where we're going to be drilling again on Brevene.

There will be a good amount of work, which we haven't commented on too much here, but we've got publicly on our website the commentary about where else we are drilling and we want to complete drilling before we actually complete the activity at the other thing Eric, as you know from the visits and for those who weren't on the visit recently, the information we have published on our website that comes from that visit, we are excited about the prospect that really this translates across that boundary into Chelopech actually towards zone deep and slightly below zone deep.

So, we see lots of potential to Chelopech and the concession. And the reason why that's interesting is we're not waiting for anything in terms of timeline there. This will get straight into a question of what we need to do in terms of overall permitting within the existing concession and that's much more something within our control. So, we see the potential that those two could split, you could end up with an in Chelopech concession project on the porphyry, which will then grow into what we've already identified and are currently delineating within Brevene. So this is really exciting for us in addition to what we've identified and what we continue to develop at Wedge Zone.

Excellent. Maybe just one more quick one, if I can squeeze it in. But on the Coka Rakita camp, so clearly, big resource potential there, resource update, I guess, following the drilling. Any thoughts there in terms of how you prioritize that or maybe some of the areas that you see the greatest potential for additional resource growth?

You can expect to see additional news coming on this as we close out this particular phase of activity on drilling. So I would anticipate a number of news releases looking at what's happening in Serbia, particularly around Dimitrovgrad because we haven't really updated that since the end of last year. And we'll come back to what's happening at Brevene. We'll come back to what's happening elsewhere.

So in the Potaj Cuka license and other considerations about what's been happening around Coka Rakita and so on. So we see a pretty active series of interactions on how this exploration is going and what our future plans are. But it's really exciting to now have two what we consider to be Tier 1 opportunities within the organization that one in Bulgaria, one in Serbia.

And just another comment on Serbia. We still haven't got any further really than two kilometers out from Coka Rakita. So we still have another four to five kilometers north, south and a few kilometers east to west that we still have to go to. And we have targets of porphyries that we've identified that could be the sources of future material at depth, and alike and that ultimately resulted in the historical Timok discoveries at surface. So we're still looking at that connection but following that trend. At the current you'll see a number of different things. Serbia will be one, Chelopech will be another in terms of reporting Wedge Zone will be.

Our next question is coming from the line of Don DeMarco of National Bank.

First off, at Vares, what was the magnitude of the pre-commercial cost capitalization benefit in Q2 in terms of dollars per ounce? And was this just a one-off for this quarter? And is it baked into guidance? Or is it fair to say you might be tracking the lower end of the cost guidance range as it stands right now?

Sure, Don. So I'll put the half year amount. It's the total amount capitalized. We capitalized $48 million in total with respect to growth capital at Vares, of which $37 million of that related to the pre, what I call capitalized operating costs. We actually give two ranges of guidance effectively for Vares.

One is on a gross basis before that capitalization. And that number, I believe, was around $260 to $275 per tonne of ore processed. And then we provided a net number, which essentially equates to about $120 a tonne, which is actually the year-to-date number that you see in our tables for Vares. So what I would say is that we provided enough, I think, information for participants to understand exactly what we're doing in the accounting because the accounting can get a bit complicated. But it should be done by the third quarter, again, as we achieve commercial production that everything else will start flowing through to our all-in sustaining cost, cost per tonne P&L, and that's what you're going to start seeing come the fourth quarter.

Okay. Great. So you're looking at commercial production in Q3 for Vares then? And what are the actual triggers for commercial production?

Yes. So the triggers for commercial production is a continuous processing rate for 30 days, and we're using a criteria of basically 60% throughput capacity. Okay. And you expect that to come sometime this quarter than in Q3?

Correct. Okay. Great. And then Chelopech was also below the low end of the ASIC guidance range, and it's a good problem to have, right? But should we take this like to imply that you expect a reversion to higher costs in the back half of the year?

Yes. I would say that Chelopech is pretty consistent. And relative to what we provided in terms of guidance, we expect to be within the midpoint of the guidance for Chelopech. So I wouldn't infer necessarily that it's materially higher costs in the second half of the year. We've kind of alluded to some of the cost pressures that we've seen, namely FX assumptions that we have relative to the prior year. Labor costs are always a bit sticky. So that's always something that we see on a year-over-year basis. But everything else, it's really just normal course. Oil is obviously, as we've outlined before, something that we're closely monitoring and could impact costs depending on, obviously, the situation that's happening in the Middle East.

And our next question is coming from the line of Jeremy Hoy of Canaccord.

Just a follow-up on Eric's question on the Coka Rakita camp. You've mentioned that there's a resource update coming at the end of the current drilling. What's the sense you're getting? Will you be targeting an initial economic study on these porphyry opportunities shortly after the resource update? Or is there still a lot of work to be done on the exploration front to get a handle on the scale before moving to economic studies?

Yes. I mean we recognize that the initial resource estimate is just simply the starting point, getting to something at a PDA level is definitely a priority for us in all of the opportunities that we have. So in terms of timing of that, we're going to provide more information as we're progressing. First thing is there's much to come in terms of dimensions and initial resource estimate on these different assets, potentially more to come from the possibility of other waste zones.

So it's very dynamic. But we are very focused on what do we need to do in terms of drilling density given the nature of the material. And what does that translate to in terms of timing and making sure that we're able to prioritize that work. That's sort of around what you were asking, but hopefully, that gives you what you need. Yes. I appreciate that the several opportunities ongoing and there's a lot of work in prioritization to be done. Well, looking forward to updates there.

My other question is on Vares. Wondering if you can give us an indication on what you're seeing for grades so far this quarter and what we might be able to expect into Q4 so far in the year with the stronger precious metal grades and throughput expected to strengthen through the back half, it looks like you're tracking pretty comfortably towards upper end of guidance, potentially above there. So any indication of what we're seeing for grades would be helpful.

Yes. So it was actually at the mill this morning. So things are going very well. In terms of grade, we're a little cautious. While it is that we're still establishing the updated life of mine plan, a little more cautious than we might be say typically. But it is really this integration has gone extremely well, really happy with what's happening.

We've now got close not only bottom of Zone 1 where we started 90% of the production Zone 2 access to the sort of top end area towards the Northwest in terms of Zone 3 and Zone 4, which is also at the bottom of that asset. So our development has just been exceptionally strong. So opening that up gives us an opportunity to get more confidence in terms of production rates to more working places on which to operate. continue grade control drilling that will ultimately translate into more confidence on grade.

But I would say we're happy with the outlook that we have. And clearly, as you sort of alluded to, we are easily on track so far in H1 to meet guidance I'd say we're being a little cautious. And at this point, I'm not too sure there's a lot of need to do let's say we're very confident about our ability to achieve by...

Our next question is coming from the line of Frederic Bolton of BMO Capital Markets.

So just a question on exploration in Bosnia. In your MD&A, you talked about the technical assessment of the Draskovac sediment-based. Can you expand a bit more on that and tell us what's going on there?

Difficult but let me give you the context of what it is that we are doing at the moment. So we have been looking and prioritizing along the line of opportunities in the kilometers that we have between the mine and the mill.

We've been doing some work in an area that was not very close to the mine. I think that was one of the other things we've been the quarter with the new group that we put together on exploration that external and internal resources and our team has been doing and geophysics in order to target.

So we're pretty excited about what we see in the opportunity. We do think there's more than has been previously identified. And obviously, now that we have the team operating in the fashion that we're looking for based on what we've already got established in Bulgaria and Serbia, we're anticipating more information to come out at this stage. I don't know if I answered your question. Apologies, it was difficult to hear your question.

That's sort of broadly answered my question. And then moving towards , progress have you got in terms of setting up drilling for the Rupice Northwest Deposit particularly in the Kakanj municipality.

In order to access Rupice Northwest there are agreements that we need to complete with the Kakanj municipality. So we're very happy with the relationship that we have and that's come a long way. There are some things that are coming up, which I think are important and very much in the mind of what's happening to Kakanj through Q4, we'll be able to get into a more serious conversation that I already sort of indicated perhaps not so clearly, we'll be in position underground from two different points in order to explore into that area. So we are anticipating to be on track with the ability to do some work in that area towards the end of Q4.

There are no more further questions in the queue. And I'd like to turn the call back over to Jennifer for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. And as you heard from Dave, lots of exciting news to come, and we look forward to keeping you all updated through the fall on a lot of the activities that we have going on. And for everyone in Ontario, I hope you all have a great long weekend and look forward to seeing you all in the fall.

This concludes today's program. thank you so much for joining. You may now disconnect.

Hello, and welcome to DPM Metals Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. If you participate in today's meeting and disclose personal information, you will be deemed to consent to the recording, transfer and use of same. If you disclose personal information of another meeting in today's meeting, you will be deemed to represent and warrant to Computershare and the company that you first obtained all required consents for the disclosure, recording, transfer and use of such personal information from all appropriate persons before your disclosure.

It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Juanita Montalvo, Chair of the Board, who will chair today's meeting. Ms. Montalvo, the floor is yours.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of DPM Metals. My name is Juanita Montalvo, and as Chair of the company, I will chair today's meeting. This year, we are once again holding our meeting in a virtual format via live webcast, allowing for broader participation by our shareholders and proxy holders regardless of geographic location while ensuring full opportunities for engagement. Participants can join from anywhere, ask questions and vote in real time. We also welcome guests who are joining us today to listen to our meeting.

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Following the formal part of the meeting and management's presentation, there will be a Q&A session where all shareholders, proxy holders and guests are welcome to ask questions of a more general nature. To deal with all questions in a timely fashion, questions of a similar nature will be answered once. If we are unable to address your question during the meeting due to time constraints, a representative of the company will reach out to you following the meeting with a response.

Voting on all matters will be conducted by electronic ballot. To allow sufficient time for voting, the polls will be open at the beginning of the meeting. I remind you that only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders who have properly logged in with their control numbers or user name will be asked to vote on each business item and will be able to see motions being brought forth at this meeting on their screens.

If you are a registered shareholder and you have already voted by proxy, you do not need to vote again unless you wish to change your vote. If you plan to vote at the meeting, you may choose to vote on each resolution immediately or wait until after an item is discussed or following the conclusion of discussions on all voting matters. To vote, simply click on your choice for or withhold or against as applicable. A confirmation message will appear to show your vote has been received. To change your vote, simply change your selection. The votes you have submitted on each polling item at the time the poll closes will be recorded. Totals in favor or against or withheld, as the case may be. For each resolution item will be tallied by the scrutineers once the voting is completed, and the Chair will report on the outcome of all motions at the end of the meeting.

To expedite the formal part of the meeting, David Rae, DPM's President and CEO, will be moving all motions as the proxy appointee. Following the formal business, David Rae will provide an overview of our operating performance and growth outlook and respond to questions.

This past year marked an important period for the company, including our name change to DPM Metals, Inc., the completion of the acquisition of our Vares operation, and the expansion of our market presence through a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. Before we proceed, I would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support as well as our employees, management team and Board members for their dedication and contributions over the past year.

We will now proceed with the formal portion of today's meeting. The 2026 Annual Meeting of the shareholders of the company will now come to order. I declare that the polls are open on all resolutions and will remain open until the last item of business of the meeting has been completed. Kelly Stark-Anderson, Corporate Secretary of the company, will act as Secretary of the meeting. For the purposes of this meeting, I appoint Computershare Investor Services as scrutineers to compute the votes of any polls taken at this meeting and to report thereon to the secretary.

The items of business for today's meeting are set out in the management's information circular of the company dated March 19, 2026. Once again, we have provided meeting materials to shareholders using notice and access. Each shareholder has been sent a notice advising that the meeting materials are available on our website at www.dpmmetals.com. Physical copies of the meeting materials were only provided to shareholders who previously requested paper copies. The meeting materials were mailed on April 2, 2026. Unless there's any objection, which may be voiced only by registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders by using the instant messaging service of the virtual interface, the Q&A feature icon, I will dispense with the reading of the notice of meeting.

Copies of the management information circular and other meeting materials are available under the company's profile on the SEDAR+ website. As no objections have been received, we will continue.

Our transfer agent, Computershare Investor Services, Inc., has attested to the proper mailing of the notice calling this meeting. The transfer agent has filed with me proof of service of such mailing, and I direct that a copy of such proof of service be retained with the records of the company. I have been advised that there are 2 or more people attending the meeting who hold or represent by proxy voting shares, representing more than 25% of all outstanding voting shares of the company. Therefore, a quorum of shareholders is present, and the meeting is properly called and duly constituted for the transaction of business.

I have received the scrutineer's report, and I direct that their formal report be retained with the records of the company.

As the first item of business on the agenda for today's meeting, I present the audited consolidated financial statements of the company for the year ended December 31, 2025, together with the auditor's report to the shareholders thereon. Copies of such documents have been mailed to the shareholders who requested them.

The next item of business is the election of directors. In accordance with the advanced notice bylaws of the company for nominations of directors by shareholders, we did not receive any notice of any director nomination for this year's meeting. Accordingly, the only persons eligible to be nominated for election as directors of the company, are the persons recommended for nomination by management.

The 8 directors to be elected by the shareholders of the company shall hold office until the close of business of the first Annual Meeting of Shareholders of the company following election or until their successors are elected or appointed. Nominated as directors for the ensuing year or until their successors are elected or appointed are the following: Nicole Adshead-Bell, Robert Bosshard, Jaimie Donovan, Martin Horgan, Kalidas Madhavpeddi, Juanita Montalvo, David Rae and Marie-Anne Tawil. Each of the persons nominated has confirmed that they are prepared to serve as a director.

I would also like to take a moment to welcome Martin Horgan, who is standing for election as a director for the first time this year. Mr. Horgan brings significant leadership experience in the mining industry, and we look forward to the perspective and expertise he will contribute to the Board. Since there are no other nominations, a motion to elect each of the individual nominees as directors has been moved. And unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business.

The next item of business is the appointment of the auditor of the company for the ensuing year and to authorize the directors of the company to fix the auditor's remuneration. The Board of Directors of the company has approved, subject to shareholder confirmation, the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants as the auditor of the company. It has been moved that PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants, be appointed as auditor of the company until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders and that the Board of Directors be authorized to fix the auditor's remuneration. Unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business.

The next and final item of business is to pass a nonbinding advisory resolution accepting the company's approach to executive compensation as described in the circular. It has been moved that the nonbinding advisory resolution accepting the company's approach to executive compensation be approved and confirmed. As we mentioned, voting today is being conducted by electronic ballot. I will now take a moment for registered shareholders and appointed proxy holders to complete voting.

[Voting]

For those of you who have not yet cast your votes, please do so now. We will provide registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders approximately 1 more minute to complete the ballots.

[Voting]

Once the electronic balloting closes, the voting page will disappear and your votes will automatically be submitted.

[Voting]

Voting is now closed. I would ask that the scrutineer compile the report regarding the results of voting on all business matters. However, I've been advised that based on the proxies we have received to date, votes have been cast overwhelmingly in favor of all matters presented to date. Each of the director nominees received more than 98% of votes in favor of their election as a Director of the company to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed. 91.42% have voted in favor of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the auditor of the company and to authorize the Board of Directors of the company to fix their remuneration. 98.32% have voted in favor of passing a nonbinding advisory resolution accepting the company's approach to executive compensation.

I declare that each of the 8 nominees have been duly elected as directors, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has been duly appointed as the auditor of the company and the nonbinding advisory resolution accepting the company's approach to executive compensation has been duly passed. Detailed voting results will be filed on SEDAR+ and by press release following the meeting.

The formal items of business as set out in the notice of meeting have now been dealt with. It has been moved that this meeting now terminate. As there are no further business to come before the meeting, I declare the formal part of the meeting to be concluded.

And I will now turn the meeting over to our President and CEO, David Rae, who will provide an update on our 2025 performance and strategic priorities. David's remarks will be followed by a question-and-answer period.

Thank you, Juanita. It's my pleasure to provide a brief overview of performance in 2025. And our continuing efforts to deliver superior value to our stakeholders. I will outline why we are excited about what lies ahead for DPM in 2026 and beyond, given our future pipeline, our success in exploration and our proven ability to optimize assets.

First, let me draw your attention to the cautionary statement on Slide 6, as I will be discussing forward-looking information during my remarks as well as the non-GAAP disclosures outlined on Slide 7. Our excellent 2025 results and solid Q1 performance reinforced the DPM strengths that underpin our strategy to be a premier mining business, delivering above-average returns to our investors. First, we are a responsible and efficient operator. In 2025, we once again achieved our gold production guidance, continuing our exceptional 11-year track record of delivery. And we announced yesterday with our Q1 results, we are on track to deliver our 2026 guidance targets.

Importantly, we achieved this track record while maintaining our high standards in safe and responsible mining, setting a new record for safety and delivering strong environmental performance. We are proud to once again be featured in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook, which highlights the world's leading companies in sustainability. Second, we are developing a peer-leading growth pipeline. In 2025, we acquired the Vares operation, adding near-term production growth as we ramp up the operation to full production by the end of this year. We continue to advance the Coka Rakita project through permitting, targeting start up of construction in 2027. We also published an initial mineral resource estimate for the Dumitru Potok and other Rakita camp discoveries, which are all within 1 kilometer of Coka Rakita, and which highlight the Rakita camp's potential as a Tier 1 gold asset.

In November, we announced the discovery of a new high-grade zone at Chelopech in a previously underexplored area of the mine, representing an exciting opportunity to further extend our flagship operation. Thirdly, we are fully funded for growth. We've consistently delivered free cash flow generation, including a record $505 million in 2025. We currently have approximately $1 billion of total liquidity, allowing us to internally fund our growth profile. At the same time, our investors are benefiting from our low-cost high-margin gold production as we return excess capital to shareholders through our share buyback and quarterly dividend.

Overall, we are pleased to see our accomplishments in 2025, resulting in DPM being one of the top-performing stocks among mid-cap precious metals producers.

Our accomplishments in 2025 have laid a strong foundation for the future. I'd now like to turn our attention to our asset portfolio and highlight where we see potential to unlock future value. Our flagship asset, Chelopech continues to underpin our success, bolstered by our 20 years plus experience operating and optimizing the operation into the low-cost efficient mine it is today.

The updated life of mine plan we published in February extended mine life to 10 years and sustains an average production level of approximately 160,000 gold equivalent ounces. This does not incorporate the Wedge Zone Deep discovery, located 300 meters from existing mine infrastructure and with the initial drill results demonstrating gold grades that more than double Chelopech's reserve grade. This has the potential to benefit our next 3-year outlook for Chelopech. There are also multiple exploration targets across the 4,100 hectare land package, including the Chelopech North and Brevene licenses, which surround the Chelopech mine concession and where we are completing a 50,000-meter drilling program this year.

At our new Vares operation, we're on track to achieve the full 850,000 tonnes per year processing rate by year-end. From day 1 under DPM's ownership commencing in September 2025, we focused on embedding DPM's health and safety practices at Vares operations, ensuring the well-being of our people remains our top priority. We've also transformed local training programs to accelerate development of future leaders and engage with stakeholders, both very important steps as we build a strong foundation for long-term success. We have continued to make strong progress at Vares with development rates in line with expectations and the paste backfill plant on track for commissioning in the third quarter.

Our track record of optimizing assets and driving efficiencies gives us the confidence that we can unlock additional value at Vares just as we've done at Chelopech. Our growth priority in 2026 is advancing Coka Rakita permitting to support a construction decision. Late last year, we completed the feasibility study for the Coka Rakita project as planned. confirming robust economics for a high-margin underground gold mining operation, contributing almost 190,000 gold ounces annually for the first 5 years at first quartile life of mine all-in sustaining cost of $644 per ounce of gold sold.

In November, we achieved a key permitting milestone with the approval to initiate the special-purpose spatial planning process. Permitting activities continue with a detailed permitting time line focused on supporting start-up of construction in early 2027. We are maintaining close and proactive engagement with the relative authorities to support the permitting process, and we remain confident in the overall progress at Coka Rakita.

In terms of our exploration activities at the Rakita camp, in early December, we announced initial mineral inferred resource estimates for Dumitru Potok, Frasen and Rakita North of 2.6 million ounces of gold and 1.9 billion pounds of copper. The mineral resource estimates demonstrate the Rakita camps potential as a district scale gold copper system with all 3 prospects remaining open in multiple directions, and sitting alongside several other high potential targets along the 6-kilometer trend.

Within 14 months of announcing these initial discoveries, they have rapidly grown into a significant gold copper inferred mineral resource, a remarkable achievement over a short period of time, underscoring the significant potential of the Rakita camp. Together with the Coka Rakita feasibility study, this confirms the Rakita camp as a Tier 1 gold asset for DPM, offering a real combination of scale, grade and longevity. In mid-March 2026, we received a normal course renewal of exploration permits for the Coka Rakita license as anticipated, and we've initiated a 20,000-meter drilling program. We look forward to sharing our progress over the course of the year.

In 2026, we have the opportunity to establish a new track record for responsible mining as we prepare for the end of Ada Tepe's mine life. As the first new mine in the Balkans in over 40 years, Ada Tepe has demonstrated DPM's ability to permit, build and operate a world-class asset. Our goal with our approach to responsible mine closure is to ensure that the community will continue to thrive and grow long after our operations have ended. And our closure plan includes rehabilitating and returning 95% of the mine area back to the Natura 2000 protected area.

We recently launched a micro site to highlight the story of Ada Tepe, the benefits DPM stewardship of the asset has generated for the local community and outline our plans for its future as a fully rehabilitated site. This is an exciting time for DPM and our shareholders. Our future is a growing precious metals producer, offering a peer-leading development pipeline and proven approach to capital allocation is underpinned by our exceptional operational track record.

We are focused on executing on our strategy to deliver above-average returns for our shareholders as a mid-tier precious metals company with a clear path forward to drive value. In closing, I want to take this opportunity to thank our global teams for their dedication to delivering another year of outstanding results, our communities for their ongoing partnership and our shareholders for your ongoing support as we work to generate superior value as a premier mining business.

I'd be happy to take any questions from the audience.

For anyone wishing to ask a question, you may type in your questions through the meeting, the virtual interface, under the Q&A chat function. While we allow a moment for any questions to populate, David, we have been getting a lot of questions about the potential of Chelopech and Wedge Zone deep target, and you note that it wasn't incorporated into the new life of mine plan. What is the timing you're thinking about how we begin to see the benefits of the new discovery? And what is its long-term potential?

Yes. Thanks, Jennifer. Wedge Zone Deep is a relatively new discovery at Chelopech that we announced just after midyear last year. We immediately set about working on a 10,000-meter drilling program, which we've completed in Q1. The intent from this point is to look at that. We've got various pieces of work going on, including metallurgical test work, whereby we can evaluate the means by which we would go about getting to and recovering the material from this area.

Just for clarity, this is 300 meters below the existing workings. And in combination with that being close to existing workings and ventilation, it also represents a rather interesting opportunity. This is the first time we've really done any active drilling below sea level, which at Chelopech is 750 meters below surface. And the reason for that was there had been an assumption that high sulfidation epithermal formations as is Chelopech would not have the particular conditions for formation below that level. So this is something very interesting in that we found something at this level, and we're now looking to see how that might imply the possibility of further high-grade additions to the reserves and resources at Chelopech as we understand and characterize this and look to bring it into our future planning for Chelopech. So having just extended the mine life from 8 years to 10 years, this is now looking to bring in the potential of high grade, medium- to long term ounces into the Chelopech portfolio.

So this is exciting because at the same time, we're extending life. We're also finding higher-grade material to offset some of the decreases in grades you typically see in an asset such as Chelopech. In addition to that, we are adding additional licenses around the Chelopech license, and it just so happens that this zone butts up against what is going to be called the Chelopech North license, which we're anticipating receiving during the course of this year. That's an additional package to the North and with that, there's another that we're working on, and we're busy taking through the very well-defined Bulgarian process to take a license through geological discovery, commercial discovery and ultimately apply for a concession.

So the excitement is that we're discovering things in new areas and changing our concept of what our future might look like. And in addition, we're bringing in additional license series into the concession. So we're very excited about the future of Chelopech and what this might mean.

Great. A question from the chat function. Can you talk about how the progress of Vares ramp-up is proceeding? And what are the key milestones to watch for in 2026?

Yes. Thank you. So as we've indicated, Vares commenced the operational resumption in January as expected. Between September, taking over ownership, having operated through September, we -- as we said we would have planned shutdown during the fourth quarter to basically make the changes that we needed to make to refocus the efforts on decline development and in order to open up the operational opportunities underground. Happy to say that we've successfully met our development targets and the advances that we have planned in ventilation and expanding the lateral development to be able to increase the working faces from 2 through to 6 through the course of the first quarter through to our Q3 and into Q4 situation.

So just to talk quickly about the ramp as we anticipated. We're currently on track, produced 900,000 ounces of silver in the first quarter at operating costs below $1,000 per ounce per GEO. Q2, we're anticipating taking up to 20 days in order to prepare for expansion, which is -- or expansion, let's say, further development through to meet full capacity, which is installing an additional tailings filter. We'll be taking downtime in Q2, which we'll be able to accommodate within the plan, which will then derisk our Q3 and Q4 activities. And 2/3 of the total production is going to come in the second half of the year, and we're very much on track in order to deliver that. So I would anticipate in Q3, achieving commercial production and in Q4, we anticipate operating at a full production of 850,000 tonnes per year rate at Vares.

That concludes the Q&A portion of the meeting.

That's all the time we have for questions. So I thank you for your continued interest and the support of DPM Metals. We have appreciated your participation today. If we were unable to answer your questions in the time allotted, we will follow up directly with you as soon as possible. Shareholders are always welcome to ask questions by e-mailing our Investor Relations department at [email protected]. Thank you very much.

This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.

Hello, and welcome to the DPM Metals First Quarter 2026 Earnings Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the call over to Jennifer Cameron. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning. I'm Jennifer Cameron, Director, Investor Relations, and I'd like to welcome you to the DPM Metals first quarter conference call. Joining us today are members of our senior management team, including David Rae, President and CEO; and Navindra Dyal, Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that all forward-looking information provided during this call is subject to the forward-looking qualification, which is detailed in our news release and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call. Certain financial measures referred to during the call are not measures recognized under IFRS and are referred to as non-GAAP measures or ratios. These measures have no standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Definitions established and calculations performed by DPM are based on management's reasonable judgment and are consistently applied. These measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with IFRS. Please refer to the non-GAAP financial measures section of our most recent MD&A for reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures.

Please note that unless otherwise stated, operational and financial information communicated during this call are related to continuing operations and have generally been rounded. References to 2025 pertain to the comparable period in 2025 and references to averages are based on midpoints of our outlook or guidance.

I'll now turn the call over to David Rae.

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. I want to start by recognizing the dedication of our teams across all operations whose commitment to safety, operational excellence and responsible mining continues to drive our success. We started 2026 from a position of strength, delivering record quarterly results and continuing to progress our growth strategy. Our recent acquisition of the Vareš mine and continued advancement of our growth pipeline have further demonstrated DPM's position as a growing European-focused precious metals producer.

Let me start with the highlights of the first quarter. We produced approximately 84,000 gold equivalent ounces and remain firmly on track to achieve our 2026 production guidance. We continue to deliver strong margins with an all-in sustaining cost of $1,686 per gold equivalent ounce sold compared to an average realized gold price of $4,955 per ounce. We generated a record $203 million of free cash flow as the ramp-up of Vareš drives production growth. We continue to return capital to shareholders, returning $34 million or 17% of free cash flow through our share buyback and dividend payments, and we ended the quarter with $575 million in cash and close to $1 billion of total liquidity.

Let me now turn to our operations and growth projects in more detail, starting with Vareš. Integration and ramp-up activities at Vareš are continuing to advance very well. Mine production restarted in January as planned, producing approximately 29,000 gold equivalent ounces during the first quarter with an all-in sustaining cost of $892 per gold equivalent ounce sold. We are on track to achieve the ramp-up to the 850,000 tonnes per year run rate by year-end and development rates have increased over the course of the quarter and have met our Q1 goals. Construction of the paste plant is progressing well. And during Q2, we're planning a 20-day shutdown in the processing plant for the installation of tie-ins for the second tailings filter. This will allow installation of that filter with minimal impact to the higher production rates that we're anticipating in the second half of the year.

We do expect to begin the surface drilling program during the second quarter, drilling at priority targets at Rupice-Borovica targets in addition to advancing 3D models and conducting geophysical surveys and mapping to support target generation. In short, Vareš is off to a strong start, and we are excited about its contribution to our growth in the years ahead.

Turning now to Chelopech. This delivered a solid production of approximately 43,000 gold equivalent ounces in the first quarter with an all-in sustaining cost of $1,497 per gold equivalent ounce sold. Production is expected to increase in the second quarter, and Chelopech is on track to achieve its guidance for the year. During the first quarter, we completed the 10,000-meter drilling program at the Wedge Zone Deep target as planned. With results from drilling to date demonstrating grade higher than reserve grade, the Wedge target represents an opportunity to enhance mill feed grade and gold production potentially from 2029. Interpretation, modeling, geotechnical and metallurgical test work are being advanced to support an initial maiden -- sorry, an initial mineral resource evaluation for the Wedge Zone Deep target. And we look forward to providing an update on those results and significant drilling intercepts within the second quarter.

We expect the Chelopech North concession to be granted this year. And concurrently, the Brevene exploration license is completing its 50,000-meter drilling program and is progressing through a well-defined permitting regime. On April 16, we celebrated the final production blast at Ada Tepe. As the first new mine in the Balkans in over 40 years, Ada Tepe has been a testament to DPM's ability to permit, build and operate a world-class asset. We have the opportunity to establish a new track record as we prepare for Ada Tepe's next chapter of responsible mine closure. We have been working towards the development and support of small and medium enterprises to develop viable businesses independent of the mining industry. And our goal is to ensure that the community will continue to thrive and grow longer after our operations have ended.

Our closure plan includes rehabilitating and returning 95% of the mine area back to the Natural 2000 protected area. We recently launched a micro site to highlight the story of Ada Tepe, the benefits of DPM's stewardship of the asset and how that's generated value for the local community and outlines the plans for its future as a fully rehabilitated site.

Our growth priority in 2026 is advancing Coka Rakita permitting to support a construction decision. We continue to advance permitting in line with a well-defined Serbian process to support the start-up of construction in early 2027. The special purpose planning process, which was initiated in November 2025 and is a key permitting milestone continues to progress well and is expected to be approved and adopted in the second half of 2026. We're maintaining a close and proactive engagement with the relevant authorities to support this permitting process, and we remain confident in the overall progress at Coka Rakita.

In mid-March 2026, we were pleased to receive the normal course extension of the exploration permit for the Coka Rakita license as anticipated, reflecting that well-defined permitting process in Serbia. We initiated a 20,000-meter drilling program, and we have 9 drill rigs currently active with more to come. A significant component of the drilling program will be allocated to infilling and extending mineralization at Dumitru Potok and increasing the drilling density prior to initiating an economic study.

An additional 20,000 meters of drilling in 6 to 8 drill rigs will be dedicated to the Potaj Cuka license to the north of Coka Rakita, targeting the same Northwest geological trend of Coka Rakita and Dumitru Potok projects. With a significant gold, copper inferred mineral resource already defined at Dumitru Potok and the prospect open in several directions, we look forward to advancing the drilling program and continuing to define the potential of this organic growth prospect.

Before handing the call over to Navin, I'll summarize our 2026 priorities. First, we aim to deliver on our ramp-up commitments at Vareš. Second, we're going to advance Coka Rakita to a construction decision and following up on the significant exploration potential within our existing portfolio, each with the potential to drive meaningful value for our shareholders. We will continue to execute on these priorities with the same commitment to responsible, efficient mining, financial discipline and value creation.

I'll now turn the call over to Navin for a review of our financial results.

Thanks, Dave. I'll be touching briefly on the financial highlights for the quarter and conclude with some commentary on our balance sheet and return of capital program. Overall, DPM delivered record quarterly free cash flow and earnings with our financial results benefiting from the addition of Vareš to our portfolio and higher metal prices. Looking at our earnings and cash flow. Revenue of $310 million for the quarter was 115% higher than the prior year due primarily to higher realized metal prices and the inclusion of pre-commercial production revenues from Vareš. Adjusted net earnings in the quarter of $168 million or $0.76 per share more than doubled compared to the prior year due primarily to higher realized metal prices and the inclusion of Vareš, partially offset by higher income taxes and cost of sales.

Cash flow provided from operating activities of $155 million reflects an increase of $100 million compared to the prior year due primarily to higher adjusted net earnings, partially offset by changes in working capital related to timing of payments of suppliers and cash reduction of certain deferred share units. Free cash flow of $203 million reflects an increase of $124 million compared to the prior year due primarily to higher adjusted net earnings.

Taking a look at our cost metrics. All-in sustaining costs of $1,686 per gold equivalent ounce sold referred to herein as GEO compared to an average realized gold price of $4,955 per ounce, reflecting the high-margin, low-cost nature of our operations. All-in sustaining cost per GEO sold was 12% higher than the prior year due primarily to a stronger euro relative to the U.S. dollar and higher royalties, reflecting higher metal prices at Chelopech and Ada Tepe as well as higher royalty rates at Ada Tepe. Mark-to-market adjustments to share-based compensation expenses increased our all-in sustaining costs by $186 per GEO sold compared to an increase of $188 per GEO sold in the prior year. We are on track to meet our all-in sustaining cost guidance for the year, and we are closely monitoring the market dynamics outside of our control, which impact costs such as metal prices, foreign exchange rates and oil prices and their movements compared to our guidance assumptions.

During the first quarter, the increase in crude oil prices, which started to see at the beginning of March, has had a minimal impact on our all-in sustaining costs. Given the potential impact of sustained higher oil prices on diesel and freight costs, which account for approximately 3% and 12%, respectively, or in aggregate approximately 15% of our total all-in sustaining costs, we've provided an oil price sensitivity for the balance of 2026. Each $10 per barrel change in the oil price is expected to impact the company's all-in sustaining costs by approximately $11 per GEO sold, comprising an estimated $3 per GEO sold impact from direct diesel costs and $8 per GEO sold impact from freight costs included in selling costs. We are continuing to monitor these market dynamics and have a comprehensive supply chain strategy to adapt to these global market challenges and identify and mitigate emerging risks.

Looking at the aspects of our costs that are more within our control. On a cash cost per tonne basis, performance at Chelopech and Ada Tepe were in line with our expectations for the quarter. At Vareš, DPM continues to evaluate opportunities to optimize the cost structure during this transitional year. In terms of our capital spending, sustaining capital expenditures of $3 million were lower than the prior year due primarily to no capitalized stripping costs at Ada Tepe as a result of its upcoming mine closure, partially offset by the timing of expenditures at Chelopech.

Growth capital expenditures of $34 million were higher than the prior year due primarily to the capital expenditures at Vareš, including the capitalization of certain pre-commercial production operating costs, partially offset by lower costs related to the Coka Rakita project due primarily to timing of expenditures. We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet and cash position with a consolidated cash balance of $575 million, no debt and a $400 million undrawn revolving credit facility. With our significant financial strength and robust free cash flow, we are well positioned to fund our growth opportunities and exploration prospects while continuing to deliver peer-leading returns to shareholders through our enhanced share buyback program.

Towards the end of March, we renewed our normal course issuer bid, enabling us to repurchase up to 11 million common shares, approximately 5% of our public float, supporting our plan to return up to $200 million to shareholders in 2026. We repurchased approximately 700,000 shares at a total cost of $25 million. Combined with our $0.04 per share quarterly dividend, we returned 17% of our free cash flow to shareholders in the first quarter.

Year-to-date, up to the end of April 2026, we have repurchased in aggregate approximately 1.1 million shares for a total cost of $40 million. We continue to deploy our capital in a disciplined manner that balances our desire to reinvest in growing and optimizing our business with our commitment to returning capital to our shareholders.

In closing, we continue to deliver strong performance from our mining operations and strive to maintain our track record of generating significant free cash flow.

I'll turn the call back to Dave for concluding remarks.

Thanks, Navin. This is an exciting time for DPM. Our future is a growing precious metals producer, offering a peer-leading development pipeline, a proven approach to capital allocation, underpinned by an exceptional operating track record for continued share price appreciation. We remain focused on executing our strategy to deliver above-average returns for our shareholders as a mid-tier precious metals company with a clear path forward to drive value.

With that, I'd like to open the call for any questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Fahad Tariq from Jefferies.

You mentioned in the press release higher labor costs. Can you just maybe talk about the dynamics there and what you're seeing?

Fahad, it's Navin. Yes. So primarily there's two components to this. One is when we first took over Vareš, we had realized that the cost structure for Vareš included a heavy component to that. And so the -- as we look to the balance of this year, we're going to be looking at that structure and localizing -- looking to localize the workforce there, thereby reducing what we're seeing as a starting out higher labor cost at Vareš.

At Chelopech, as you know, we have a 2-year collective agreement in Bulgaria. We're in the middle of that agreement. And every year, we actually go back and reflect on and look at labor increases every year. So what you're seeing there in terms of 2026 compared to 2025 are two things. One is the Vareš impact of the higher labor costs. And the second thing is really just the natural update for labor increases that we see year-over-year.

Okay. And then just on the balance sheet, given the growing cash balance and how quickly it's grown, can you just remind us what is the minimum cash balance you'd like to keep? And what is the strategy there? Is it to build up the cash to self-fund Coka Rakita? Or is it just -- we should expect that to be distributed in capital returns through the rest of this year?

Great. Yes. As you know, we have a great track record of being prudent capital allocators. I mean our approach does definitely focus on ensuring that we have a really, really strong balance sheet but also recognizing that we need to reinvest in the business. So Coka Rakita is going to -- as you will see, as you saw in our guidance that we put out for this year, as we advance Coka Rakita through this year, we expect to see capital, both pre-commitment and possibly even committed capital as part of the construction costs later this year. And given that Vareš is in a transitional year, we are seeing higher capital this year until we can reach commercial production by the end of the year. So we are reinvesting in the business. And on top of that, I would also add that exploration -- this year happens to be probably the best -- the most -- the year that we expect perhaps most or committed the most in terms of our exploration program. So for all those reasons, I think what -- the way we're thinking about cash is ensuring that we have enough cash to advance and grow our business, but also ensuring that we return a healthy amount to shareholders in the form of our stable dividend as well as continuing our share buyback program, which we're targeting up to $200 million this year.

We do look for opportunistic M&A, although with our organic growth portfolio, that's not something that we have to do anything untoward. There's no stretch. We would be looking for something that has particular synergies for our organization such as we found with the Adriatic transaction, which was brought in Vareš. So that completes the picture of our capital allocation opportunities.

Our next question comes from Cosmos Chiu from CIBC.

Maybe my first question is on Vareš. As you mentioned, the processing plant will be shut down sometime in Q2 for 20 days. Has that happened? And if it hasn't happened -- hasn't started yet, when could it start? And then at the same time, when the processing plant is undergoing a shutdown, will you continue to mine underground adding to potential stockpiles? Do you have any stockpiles in place? If not, are you going to use that equipment to continue underground development instead? Could you maybe touch on some of those items?

Yes. Very good question. So that shutdown will happen in the second quarter. It's anticipated that it's going to happen in May. Of course, we continue to refine that. So it may well be that those 20 days get reduced. But effectively, what we're saying is better to do that now at the production rate in Q2 than do that in Q3 and Q4 when there's going to be significantly more opportunity for us to demonstrate the potential of Vareš.

In terms of what we do during that time, we've got a little bit of a different dynamic perhaps than elsewhere. This material on surface will oxidize faster than it does at Chelopech. So there's a little bit of discipline in terms of what we do to make sure we don't compromise recoveries. We're very confident of our ability to get the recovery we need and everything working as we require to get the material mined into surface and across to the process plant. So given that confidence, we actually have the ability to swing the activities. And as you say, we continue with development and -- decline development as our priority. Ventilation development is another thing that will help feed into readiness for the growth in later quarters. But at this point, if you keep in mind the sort of the idea that we're able to do more on mining than we've demonstrated on the process plant at this point. So therefore, not really a concern in terms of what we do during this time in terms of being able to keep up with the process plant capacity.

Great. And Dave, as you mentioned during your prepared remarks and in the MD&A last night as well, you are hitting targeted development rates underground. What might that be? Is that something that you can share with us? And then to get to the 850 tonnes per day by year-end, we've talked about the advancement rate. We've talked about the ventilation. And how about the paste backfill plant? As you mentioned, that's going to be completed sometime in Q3. Is that also sort of on a critical path as well?

I'll talk paste plant first. So the paste plant is as much as anything else a cost control measure. So we can actually run at full production without the paste plant, but we'll use more cement [indiscernible] consolidated aggregate. So really, what happens when we bring that in, we've got the ability to optimize that plant to run well and the driver will be actually getting that facility working effectively and everybody trained and understanding what you need to do relative to controlling cement costs. So that's from the paste plant point of view.

If you look at the development rates, we're north of 400 meters per month at the moment, and that's a combination of well above that. So that's a combination of decline development. It's a combination of ventilation and also lateral development. And then the last point is what's sort of dictating our tonnage. One of the things that I think we've mentioned is that at the moment, we're sort of on a two, heading for three sort of stope production. So the more you increase that, the more flexibility you've got, the more capability you have in order to manage your production and your mix of materials and grades to the mill. So the plan is that we will basically move from that 2 towards 4 by the end of this quarter and will be 5 or 6 as we actually get into the last quarter of the year. Does that help, Cosmos?

Yes. Yes. That's perfect, Dave. And then maybe one last question. As you mentioned, all-in sustaining cost was $1,686 an ounce in Q1, which included $186 from share-based comp. But you also mentioned that you are maintaining a $1,300 to $1,450 an ounce for the full year. So when I -- maybe I'm just being too cute here, but when I try to compare these numbers, Navin or Dave, are you saying that even including the $1,686, you will hit the $1,300 to $1,450 for the full year? Or should I back out the $186 an ounce?

Yes, yes. I think you probably back it out. I mean the one thing with share-based compensation or mark-to-market adjustments on that is that we definitely don't budget work during the year because it's entirely dependent on the movement of our share price. So as you would have seen in the first quarter, share prices for all mining companies kind of moved up. It's kind of pulled back with the onset of the war. So equally so, you could see a pullback or a negative kind of adjustment there kind of going forward depending on where share prices move. Now all of us would love to see our share prices kind of move up in one direction, but we typically try to think about it without those mark-to-market adjustments as we kind of issue our guidance because we don't budget for the year.

Yes. Perfect. Perfect. It's kind of like taxes, it's not good. But at the same time, it means that you're making more profit. It means that your share price is going up. So it's kind of good.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Don DeMarco from National Bank.

Yes. So maybe just adding to some of Cosmos' questions. I see it's encouraging to see that the Vareš ramp-up is so far so good. And you talked about advancing the decline lateral development. And I might have missed it, but can you comment on the quarter-by-quarter variability in grade and throughput over the balance of the year as you work toward that 850,000 tonne per year target?

Off the top of my head, I can't recall the average for the year. But Q1, I think we said was -- particularly if you look at silver grade was higher than we originally anticipated. Now having said that, keep in mind that the course of progress of Vareš has us doing a number of different things, which build on our understanding. So we've done additional grade control. If you remember, we talked about that in Q1 that we would do additional work. By the end of Q1, we were up to the first half. By the end of Q2, we'll have completed all grade control for the rest of the year. What I can't tell you yet is how that reconciliation is influencing the grade that we're getting. But at the moment, it's certainly not negative. So it's quite possible that what's going to happen is that we'll see higher grades coming through, particularly in silver and gold. And we saw that in Q1, very nice problem to have with just under 1 million ounces of silver produced.

And so if you -- the information that we have in the guidance, we don't typically go more than that. But just as a sort of rule of thumb, you're going to see a lot of increase in confidence in the information that's coming as we complete grade control, and we're doing additional work, and it's all part of decline development and working off the decline and sort of getting ahead of where we're producing. So just the last comment, 90% of our production this year is from Block 1, and that sort of does simplify things in terms of the projection going forward. So as we know more, we will reflect that in our guidance, but I think that's as much as I can do right now, Don.

Okay. And then just shifting over to -- in Bulgaria, there were some elections last month. And I'd just be interested to hear your thoughts on if there's any read-through to the Chelopech operations in general, maybe permitting. And of course, there's a Bulgarian royalty. Some of that's been in flux recently. Maybe you could talk about the implications of the new government on the fiscal regime surrounding mining.

Sure. The -- I mean, let's start off with the royalties. Yes, there was a change, which took effect from the start of the year, really only affects Ada Tepe on the basis that as part of that contract different from what we have for Chelopech, that had a clause whereby if the royalties were to increase, they would be brought. And there we were on a sliding scale of 1.5% to 4.5%. Clearly, we're running at the 4.5%. So what's happened now is that that's moved to 6%. So that's why you're seeing an increase in royalty at Ada Tepe. We're not subject to that at Chelopech until we come to the renewal of the concession, which at this point is 2025. But of course, we progress that earlier.

So the other question that people typically ask, and I'll come back to your other one at the moment about time lines and permitting and things like that is what's the sentiment of the change in government. And I think there were some concerns about exactly whether the continuing alignment with the EU would be something we would see. And I think the President and the new Prime Minister has been at pains to point out that he's very much EU aligned and NATO aligned. So from that point of view, no concerns. Sort of last but not least, there's been a particular agenda of the new government and part of that includes moving on those things, which are important for foreign direct investments as well as working on how he sort of roots out the things that are slowing down these processes and preventing the traction for groups coming in country. So we think what that will mean is it will mean greater transparency and actually a faster movement on the permitting process. So we always talk about it being well defined, but we also say it's been slow historically in Bulgaria relative to, say, other countries in the region. We're actually encouraged to see some signs and the President has been stating this that we can anticipate reductions in those processes and simplifications in those processes. And I think the next thing to watch for then is what happens to Coka Rakita North [indiscernible] Chelopech North. We've also got a Coka Rakita North, but I was talking about Chelopech. So there's going to be a government that's got much more capability to make things happen than it has been historically. And I think all of these things are actually a positive for Bulgaria.

Our next question comes from the line of Jeremy Hoy from Canaccord Genuity.

Most have been answered already. So maybe give you guys an opportunity to plug some of the exploration potential. The Rakita prospects, it's clear those are building scale. There's a lot of focus there. It looks like there's potentially a stand-alone operation on that property. But between Vareš, Chelopech and the other regional prospects at Rakita and the nearby properties, is there anything you'd like to highlight as an opportunity, which you see providing significant uplift to NAV at some point in the future?

I think first, our exploration team has been doing an absolutely outstanding job of delivering value. I believe the latest on our numbers are $15 an ounce for the discovery costs, including at Coka Rakita to this point. So that's been quite extraordinary. Obviously, we're very excited about what's happening at Coka Rakita. And to the north, there are other similar sort of pencil porphyries to what would be triggered for Dumitru Potok. So there's definitely more potential. And in that sort of 5 to 6 kilometers north-south, 2 to 3 kilometers east-west, that's really what we refer to principally as Potaj Cuka. And we're busy doing sort of surface work and some drilling on that at the moment and have anticipation of doing more in the balance of the year. You'll hear more about that going forward, and there is some commentary about that in the MD&A.

Let's talk about Chelopech a little bit. Chelopech as long as I've been with the company has been an 8-year mine life. And last year, we turned that around to 10 years. And if you look at it, some part of that was actually with a reduction in grade. But now what we're seeing with things like Wedge Zone Deep are pretty exciting. So we've done our 10,000 meters of work. We're actually evaluating that and it's our intent in the second quarter to actually come out and talk a little bit more about that. We talked about that potentially impacting our production activities from 2029. We think that's very realistic. And the grades here are roughly 3x the reserve grade for Chelopech. So that's really exciting.

And there's also -- there is no drilling down there to speak of. So this was something that was historically of the view that there was no -- there were these sort of parameters for the formation of the high sulfidation [indiscernible] below the old sea -- the sea level, not -- the sea level. So below 750 meters at Chelopech. And this has been discovered as we get into that sort of 900 and 1,000 meter. So we're interested to figure out whether this is a dislocation. It's something that's moved from a higher level of different location or whether it's a secondary pulse. And that could make a significant difference to our future. So we're getting pretty excited about Chelopech and our team has been very active with 20,000 meters of drilling in different places and 50,000 meters just in Brevene as we advance that from a geological discovery to a commercial discovery. So while the excitement in the last couple of years has principally been around Serbia, we think Chelopech is going to be a significant part of things going forward as well.

Now at Vareš, as we've mentioned in the script, we're actually already drilling in the Vareš areas, and we're anticipating doing a lot more between now and the end of the year. So we brought in some new contractors and working with those 2 different contracting teams on the basis of what we've learned from Serbia and actually controlled by our leadership from Serbia and from Bulgaria. So we're anticipating very interesting things there between now and the end of the year. So I think we're going to have a bit of a richness to talk about is my hope in terms of what we see at the moment. It's not just going to be a complete Serbian story with Chelopech underpinning all of that. I think it's -- we're going to have 3 assets that are demonstrating the potential to increase life and maybe even impact on medium-term production.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn it back over to Jennifer for closing remarks.

Thanks, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We look forward to continuing the conversation and sharing further updates. In the meantime, if you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out, and we'll see you next quarter. Thanks a lot.

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the DPM Metals Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Earnings Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Jennifer Cameron. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Thank you, and good morning. I'm Jennifer Cameron, Director of Investor Relations, and I'd like to welcome you to the DPM Metals Fourth Quarter and Year-end Conference Call. Joining us today are members of our senior management team, including David Rae, President and CEO; and Navindra Dyal, Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that all forward-looking information provided during this call is subject to the forward-looking qualification, which is detailed in our news release and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call. Certain financial measures referred to during this call are not measures recognized under IFRS and are referred to as non-GAAP measures or ratios. These measures have no standardized meanings under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The definitions established and calculations performed by DPM are based on management's reasonable judgment and are consistently applied.

These measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with IFRS. Please refer to the non-GAAP financial measures section of our most recent MD&A for reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures. Please note that unless otherwise stated, operational and financial information communicated during this call are related to continuing operations and have generally been rounded. References to 2024 pertain to the comparable periods in 2024 and references to averages are based on midpoints of our outlook or guidance.

I'll now turn the call over to David Rae.

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. 2025 was an excellent year for DPM and demonstrates DPM's strength of disciplined capital allocation and operational excellence that underpin our strategy to be a premier mining business. First, we are a sustainable, responsible and efficient operator. In 2025, we achieved our gold production guidance, extending our operational track record to an exceptional 11 years. At the same time, we continue to deliver strong margins with an all-in sustaining cost of $1,082 per ounce of gold sold compared to an average realized gold price of $4,323 per ounce.

Most importantly, we've accomplished all of this while maintaining a high standard for responsible mining with a strong safety and environmental track record that has ranked us at the top of our industry for the past 5 years in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment.

Second, we're focused on developing quality assets. In 2025, we transformed our growth profile by acquiring the high-margin Vares operation, advancing Coka Rakita to feasibility while defining Dumitru Potok and outlining a 10-year mine life with potential to extend at our flagship mine, Chelopech. We completed an initial mineral resource for the Rakita camp, which together with the results for Coka Rakita, confirms the Rakita camp is a Tier 1 gold asset for DPM, offering a rare combination of scale, grade and longevity.

Third, we maintain a strong financial position to support our growth. We've consistently delivered free cash flow generation, including a record $505 million in 2025, and we returned over $145 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. And we currently have $1 billion of immediate liquidity to deliver high-return growth.

Overall, we were pleased to see our accomplishments in 2025 result in DPM being one of the top performing stocks of mid-cap precious metals producers. As we enter 2026, we are focused on execution and growth, delivering an average of approximately 350,000 ounces of gold equivalents annually over the next 3 years and continuing to maintain our competitive cost position.

Turning to Vares, the new addition to our portfolio and a key driver of our near-term growth, integration and ramp-up activities are continuing to advance very well. From day 1, we focused on embedding DPM's health and safety practices at Vares, ensuring the well-being of our people remains our top priority. Development rates have continued to progress in line with plan and mine production recommenced in January. This progress is the result of our efforts to transform training programs for local employees and engaging with stakeholders, both important steps as we build a strong foundation for long-term success.

Our 2026 guidance for Vares reflects this fact, and this is a transitional year for the operation. Production is expected to increase quarterly as we progress the ramp-up to 850,000 tonnes per year as a rate we expect to achieve in Q4 and then continuing in future years, with the second half of this year represents approximately 2/3 of our 2026 production. This year, we're accelerating precious metals production with gold and silver production higher than previously communicated in the PFS for gold equivalent production of over 100,000 ounces.

Cash flow and margins are expected to be higher than the PFS as a result of the increased precious metals production and higher prices, more than offsetting higher operating costs that we anticipate this year. Consistent with our approach across all of our operations, we will continue to evaluate opportunities to optimize the cost structure for 2027 and beyond, targeting the cash cost per tonne metrics outlined in the technical report. Our track record of optimizing assets and driving efficiencies gives us the confidence that we can unlock additional value at Vares just as we've done at Chelopech. In short, Vares is off to a strong start, and we're excited about its contribution to our growth in the years ahead.

Turning now to Chelopech, our flagship asset that continues to underpin our success. We're expecting consistent high-margin production in line with the updated life of mine plan we published last week. We're pleased to achieve our target of increasing Chelopech's mine life to 10 years. However, it is important to note this does not incorporate the potential of the new Wedge Zone Deep discovery and the prospectivity of Chelopech North and the Brevene exploration licenses. With results from drilling to date demonstrating grades higher than reserve grade, the Wedge target represents an opportunity to enhance mill feed grades and gold production potentially from 2029. Initial drilling results from this discovery made in a relatively underexplored area of the mine concession demonstrate this is an area of high -- that is highly prospective for additional discoveries.

We are currently completing a 10,000-meter drilling program in the first quarter and expect to provide an update in the second quarter. Additionally, we expect the Chelopech North concession to be granted this year and concurrently, the Brevene exploration license is progressing through a well-defined permitting regime. Our growth priority in 2026 is advancing Coka Rakita permitting to support a construction decision. Late last year, we completed the feasibility study for Coka Rakita as planned, confirming robust economics for a high-margin underground gold mining operation, contributing almost 190,000 gold ounces annually for the first 5 years at first quartile life of mine all-in sustaining cost of $644 per ounce of gold sold.

Based on the positive results, we're proceeding to execution readiness and construction permitting with first concentrate production anticipated in the first half of 2029. In November, we achieved a key permitting milestone with the approval to initiate the Special Purpose Planning process. Permitting activities continue with a detailed permitting time line focused on supporting start-up of construction in early 2027. Most baseline studies required for the environmental and social impact assessment have been completed and the approval and adoption of the Special Purpose Spatial Plan is expected in the second half of 2026, following which DPM anticipates submitting the exploitation field application in accordance with the Serbian permitting process. We are maintaining close and proactive engagement with the relevant authorities to support this permitting process, and we remain confident in the overall progress at Coka Rakita.

In terms of our exploration activities at the Rakita camp, in early December, we announced initial Mineral Inferred (sic) [ Inferred Mineral ] Resource Estimates for Dumitru Potok, Frasen and Rakita North of 2.6 million ounces of gold and 1.9 billion pounds of copper. The mineral resource estimates demonstrate the Rakita camp's potential of the district-scale gold-copper system with all 3 prospects remaining open in multiple directions and sitting alongside several other high potential targets along a 6-kilometer trend. Within 14 months of announcing these initial discoveries, they've rapidly grown into a significant gold-copper inferred mineral resource, a remarkable achievement over a short period of time, underscoring the significant potential of the Rakita camp.

Drilling is currently paused on the Rakita license, the Coka Rakita license pending the normal course renewal of permits and is anticipated to recommence in the second quarter of 2026. Upon renewal of the permit, we're planning 20,000 meters of drilling, of which a significant portion will be allocated to infilling and extending mineralization at Dumitru Potok and increasing drill density prior to initiating any PAA -- PEA or other economic study Meanwhile, active drill testing is ongoing on the neighboring Potaj Cuka license to the north of the Rakita license.

Before handing the call over to Navin, I'll summarize our 2026 priorities. We intend to deliver on the ramp-up at Vares. We're going to be advancing Coka Rakita to a construction decision, and we're going to be following up on the significant exploration potential within our existing portfolio, both in Serbia and in Bulgaria, each with the potential to drive meaningful value for our shareholders. We will continue to execute on these priorities with the same commitment to responsible, efficient mining, financial discipline and value creation.

I'll now turn the call over to Navin for a review of our financial results and a detailed look at our guidance.

Thanks, Dave. I'll be touching on the financial highlights for the year, provide an overview of our 2026 guidance and updated 3-year outlook and conclude with some commentary on our balance sheet and return of capital program. All of my remarks will focus on results from continuing operations unless otherwise noted.

Looking at our financial highlights for the year, we achieved consolidated production and costs in line with our guidance and delivered record financial results, including revenue of $950 million, adjusted net earnings of $443 million or $2.39 per share. Cash flow provided from operating activities of $492 million and free cash flow of $505 million. Our record financial results reflect our strong operating performance, the low-cost nature of our operations, a favorable commodity price environment and the initial contribution from Vares following the closing of the acquisition of Adriatic last September.

Looking at our earnings and cash flow in more detail. Revenue was higher than the prior year due primarily to higher realized metal prices and post-acquisition revenue from Vares, partially offset by lower volumes of gold sold at Ada Tepe. Adjusted net earnings increased compared to the prior year due primarily to higher revenue, partially offset by higher cost of sales and higher mark-to-market adjustments to share-based compensation expenses. Adjusting items, net of taxes, not reflective of the underlying operations of the company include a $27 million noncash fair value adjustment on inventories at Vares recognized in cost of sales. The 2025 Bulgarian levy of $22 million, acquisition-related costs for Adriatic incurred by DPM of $15 million. The fair value -- and the fair value adjustment on Vares copper stream liability of $9 million.

Cash flow provided from operating activities was higher than the prior year due primarily to higher earnings generated in the period, partially offset by the timing of collections from sales and payments to suppliers, the payment of the 2025 Bulgarian levy and higher income taxes paid. Free cash flow, which is calculated before changes in working capital, was higher than the prior year due primarily to the higher earnings generated in the year.

Taking a look at our cost metrics. All-in sustaining costs of $1,121 per ounce of gold sold for the year were 29% higher than the prior year due primarily to higher mark-to-market adjustments to share-based compensation expenses, lower volumes of gold sold and a stronger euro relative to the U.S. dollar, partially offset by higher by-product credits reflecting higher realized prices for copper and silver sold.

Mark-to-market adjustments for share-based compensation expenses resulted in an increase of $242 per ounce of gold sold in 2025 compared to only $28 per ounce of gold sold in 2024. In terms of our capital spending, sustaining capital expenditures of $33 million for the year were lower compared to 2024 due primarily to changes in deferred stripping costs at Ada Tepe as a result of the changes to the stripping ratios compared to 2024, and it was in line with the mine plan. Growth capital expenditures of $56 million for the year were higher than the prior year as a result of costs related to the Coka Rakita project being capitalized from the beginning of 2025.

Last night, we provided an updated 3-year outlook for production and all-in sustaining costs. Following the addition of the silver and polymetallic Vares mine, we are transitioning to gold equivalent ounces reporting for production and all-in sustaining costs. We will no longer be reporting all-in sustaining costs on a byproduct basis. Over the next 3 years, metal production is expected to average approximately 350,000 ounces of gold equivalent ounces per year. The growth in production is driven primarily by the contribution from Vares and stable production at Chelopech, partially offset by lower production at Ada Tepe as it reaches the end of its mine life by mid-2026. All-in sustaining costs over the next 3 years is expected to average approximately $1,450 per gold equivalent ounce sold.

This outlook incorporates variations in metal production and sales year-over-year as well as the impact of higher local currency operating costs, combined with a stronger euro relative to the U.S. dollar assumption in 2026 as compared to 2025. At Vares, as the mine achieved commercial production, we will be evaluating opportunities to optimize the cost structure in 2027 and beyond, targeting the cash cost per tonne metric outlined in the Vares technical report. We are forecasting higher investment in exploration over the next 3 years, reflecting our success in generating value through exploration, especially in 2026 with potential to increase in future years dependent on the success of the company's exploration prospect.

Sustaining capital expenditures over the next 3 years show stable spending at Chelopech and primarily underground capital development at Vares. Our 3-year outlook for growth capital primarily relates to the Coka Rakita project, which is expected to commence construction in early 2027 and achieve first production concentrate in the first half of 2029. In 2026, growth capital expenditures also include expenditures related to Vares to support the development and ramp-up to commercial production as well as limited expenditures related to the Loma Larga project, pending resolution of the revocation of the environmental license.

We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet with a consolidated cash balance of $498 million, no debt and a new undrawn credit facility. The new credit facility has capacity of $400 million and an accordion feature that takes capacity up to $550 million with more favorable terms, added flexibility and lower pricing. The strength of our balance sheet is a testament to our focus on disciplined financial management, providing us with the flexibility to fully fund growth and our exploration process.

We've consistently demonstrated our disciplined approach to capital allocation, which is based on 3 fundamental considerations: maintaining a strategic cash position to fund organic growth and pursue strategic transactions, reinvestment in the business to grow value and the long-term sustainability of the business and returning excess capital to shareholders through a mix of dividends and share repurchases with a view to maximizing total shareholder returns over the long term. We remain focused on returning capital to investors through dividends and share repurchases, reflecting confidence in DPM's future and our commitment to generating shareholder value.

During 2025, we returned a total of $145.5 million to shareholders through the repurchase of approximately 10 million shares for a total cash payment of $116.1 million and $29.4 million of dividends paid. Our current NCIB expires in March. Board of Directors has approved the renewal of the NCIB subject to approval by the TSX. Reflecting our confidence in DPM's future and commitment to shareholder value for the calendar year 2026, the Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $200 million of the company's shares -- $200 million worth of the company's shares.

In closing, we continue to deliver strong performance from our mining operations, and we are in a strong cash position to achieve our guidance and continue our track record of generating significant free cash flow.

I will now turn the call back to Dave for concluding remarks.

Thanks Navin. This is an exciting time for DPM and our shareholders who were rewarded in 2025 with top quartile share price performance. Our future as a growing precious metals producer offering a peer-leading development pipeline, a proven approach to capital allocation, underpinned by an exceptional operational track record for continued share price appreciation. We remain focused on executing our strategy to deliver above-average returns for our shareholders as a mid-tier precious metals company with a clear path forward to drive value.

I'd now like to open the call for any questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question will come from the line of Fahad Tariq with Jefferies.

On Coka Rakita, the permitting, can you maybe just talk through the specific remaining permits? Is it just a special purpose spatial plan? Or is there something else? And have there been any surprises so far as you've gone through the permitting process?

Yes. Thanks for the question. So there are a couple of different things that comprise the work that's required to be completed to get the EIA and the permitting for construction. So at the moment, we have a number of things happening at the same time. The one is this Special Purpose Planning process, which effectively is like a land use permit, where what we do is we give information on what it is that we plan to do. So this will be road access, land conversion, use of things like power, water, tailings, rehabilitation, all of these things. And the way that works is that the government requests input on a standard process looking for what are the other things that people might want to see in the work that we submit such that we can provide confidence and clarity in terms of what it is that we need to do. That process of those questions has been completed, and there is a group together, which is now progressing this work that will be required for us to answer the SPSP process as we call it.

So we anticipate that over the next couple of months, we're going to respond to those questions, recognizing the bulk of that work is already done as part of our engineering process and really just looking at any remaining questions that there may be that we provide input into. So we anticipate that being done early in the second half of the year. In addition to that, we're also going to be completing a Serbian feasibility study, recognizing, again, a lot of that work has already been done, but you need to do that with local companies and local engineering people, part of them are actually already within our project team.

So we'll be completing that at the same time and anticipate that being ready in Q -- let's say, Q4, early Q4 of this year. On top of that, we'll be looking to complete an EIA and looking for approval of that late this year, early next year, let's say, January. And then with all of that, we anticipate we'll be in a position to have a construction permit. So again, early in the first quarter next year. Hopefully, that helps.

That's very clear. And then on the Rakita camp, I guess, a drilling permit, is that just a normal course? Is there anything different there?

Yes, it's normal course. So we get an 8-year exploration license, which runs in 3 plus 3 plus 2. We've completed the first 3 years of activity. We then provide a report saying this is what we did relative to what we said we were going to do. Here's what we plan to do in the next phase. All of that has been done, and we're just waiting now for the response from the ministry. So it is normal course.

Okay. And then finally, just switching gears to just more strategically on M&A. I noticed the upsize to revolving credit facility. Loma Larga, sounds like the environmental permit still needs to be resolved there and spending has been minimized. I don't know, just piecing it all together, is there something to read through in terms of potential M&A and potential acquisitions to replace Loma Larga with something else?

Yes. Maybe I'll just start with the revolver here. So, yes, the revolver is essentially a working capital facility for us. So it's not meant to be for any given particular purpose around M&A transactions. It's really just for us to have that available liquidity. So maybe I'll turn it back to Dave to maybe respond to that.

Yes, don't need anything into that in terms of the project activity that we have gone forward or the potential status or intent in terms of Loma Larga. With Loma Larga, we're intent on preserving value. And to that end, we said initially that we would let things flatten down. And then there's going to be a necessity of a few different activities, but part of which includes engagement.

So -- we'll talk more about Loma Larga as we progress through this year. I think there's been a couple of thoughts along the lines of where is our primary focus as an organization. And pretty clearly, that's within the Balkans at the moment, where we have both Chelopech with an extended mine life. We've got some -- a lot of excitement around Vares and our ability to make things happen there plus tremendous success of our exploration team in Serbia and also Chelopech.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question will come from the line of Eric Winmill with Scotiabank.

David and team, congratulations on the strong quarter here. Just a quick question on my side, if you don't mind, on Bulgaria. Any additional updates there in terms of what you're seeing on the ground? It sounds like we're having election possibly later this year. I know they took on the euro earlier as well. Also maybe some changes to the royalties here, but it looks like Chelopech is mostly grandfathered. Wondering if that's the same for the new concessions as well or some of the outlying areas. I appreciate it.

Okay. So the euro is a seamless transition. That, of course, we've been fixed in terms of the Bulgarian led to the euro. for many, many years now. And that now recently has translated into a full adoption within not just the Euro zone and membership from the EEA to the EU, but also with the acceptance adoption of the euro from the 1st of January. So all of that's gone well.

In terms of the election process, you're correct. There is actually an election that's anticipated that's going to be at some point in April. This is not unusual, and we've had quite a few changes in government over the last number of years. There's a well-understood set of processes around working with the authorities on mining, and we've not seen any changes in that with changes in government. So happy to say that it's sort of operations normal in terms of what we're doing. And yes, we do anticipate that there's going to be some elections coming up in April.

The last question that you asked was about the royalty. There was a royalty for those mines whereby there was a clause -- sorry, Navin, did you want to...

Yes, I could just jump in here. Yes. So Eric, on January 30, the Bulgarian government adopted new royalty rates for mining concessions, increased the royalty rates for gold from 2% to 6% and for copper from 2% to 5%. Now you're right as well, these new rates do not apply to the existing Chelopech concession, which has fixed royalty terms. They do apply minimally to Ada Tepe, but given that Ada Tepe is reaching the end of its mine life, we've already included that in our outlook for next year -- or for this year.

Now the Chelopech concession does expire in 2029, and we do expect that the new rates to apply upon the renewal. And as well as to your question around whether applies to the concessions? It would apply to any new concessions we have such as Chelopech North or Brevene concessions once those concessions been granted.

Yes. So the difference between the timing of the 2 different permits, the concessions between Ada Tepe and Chelopech. Chelopech was already in place and has no clause or increases, which can be brought in. That's why we're confident that stays until we renew the concession, whereas Ada Tepe was something new that was brought in and say, 2016, 2017 and in that, if there were any changes then they would apply. So that's why the difference between the two.

Okay. Fantastic. Really appreciate the extra clarity. Maybe just one more from my side, if you don't mind in terms of M&A. How important do you see M&A as part of your strategy here going forward?

So we're obviously very opportunistic in terms of if we identify something that makes sense as an organization, that we'll act on it. But I think you can also see, Eric, that we've had a great deal of success in terms of developing our organic growth portfolio. And happy to say that from where we were 5 to 6 years ago to where we are now, we're in a very different position. So we continue to watch for M&A actively, but we need something that would make a difference and that we're not chasing on value in order to pick something up.

So no necessity to have something. But if we find something of interest, we'll certainly engage. So at this point, though, regardless, if you look at adding 4 million gold equivalent ounces last year, that certainly sends a message in terms of what we can do with our existing portfolio. So we look but no need to engage unless we see something particularly interesting that's going to really help create something accretive to the organization going forward.

I would now like to hand the conference back over to Jennifer Cameron for closing remarks.

Great. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. If there's any further questions, please feel free to reach out, and we look forward to talking to you guys over the coming weeks. Thanks, and take care.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to DPM Metals Investor Virtual and Q&A Session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Jennifer Cameron, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and thank you all for joining us. As mentioned, I'm Jennifer Cameron, Director of Investor Relations, and I'd like to welcome you all to our virtual Q&A session. A few hours ago we held an Investor Day event and the recording, along with the presentation materials are available on our website. We're holding this call to provide analysts and investors who are located in other time zones, the opportunity to ask questions of our leadership and technical teams.

Before we get started, I'd like to remind you that all forward-looking information provided during this call is subject to the forward-looking qualification, which is detailed in the presentation on the Slide #2, and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call.

I will now turn the call over to David Rae, our President and CEO, to start things off with some brief opening remarks, following which we will open the lines for questions.

Welcome to our Investor Day. On behalf of DPM's entire team, I'd like to thank you for joining us. Our Investor Day comes at a particularly exciting time for DPM. Over the past few weeks, we've announced several key updates that mark important milestones in our growth story and that underline our growth profile and value we are realizing from operation -- from the exploration. This has included the discovery of a new high-grade mineralization at Chelopech, our flagship operation. The feasibility study at Coka Rakita, which confirmed a high-margin, low-cost operation that will generate significant returns for shareholders and the initial resource estimates for Dumitru Potok, Rakita North and Frasen, which demonstrate that the Rakita camp district scale has potential, and the progress we've made at Vares since we became the owner and operator 3 months ago.

Importantly, we're entering this next phase of growth from the position of financial strength. With over $400 million in cash on the balance sheet, no debt and undrawn credit facility and the significant free cash flow we are generating from our high-margin operations, we are fully funded to advance our growth priorities and exploration activities. This strong financial foundation gives us the flexibility and confidence to execute on our strategy and deliver value for shareholders.

Another important area that provides us with confidence as we enter our next phase of growth is the strength of our team. Today, you have the opportunity to hear directly from the technical leaders and subject matter experts who are driving our growth projects, exploration activities and operational priorities.

I'm pleased to introduce our team, starting with Iliya Garkov, our Chief Operating Officer; Mirco Nolte, Vice President of Projects; Tsvetomir Velkov, Vice President of Technical Services; Stefan Metodiev, Director Exploration; and Ross Overall, Director of Corporate Technical Services. This team will be able to provide you with deeper insights into our assets, our recent achievements, and our excitement for the future.

We'd now be happy to take any questions.

[Operator Instructions] First question comes from Adam Baker from Macquarie.

David and team, sorry, I had a bit of issue getting connected, but I'm here now. So I completely miss the start, apologies if this is a bit of a recap of something that you may have already said. But just focused on the Rakita camp, particularly around the resource for Dumitru Potok, I know it is very early days, but you've got 84 million tonne resource there now is pretty sizable. If we'd assume a 60% resource to mining inventory calculations, you could get to, say, a 50 million tonne mining inventory there. I'm just wondering if you have had any initial thoughts around what the upside potential could be from a mill capacity standpoint? Noting that your copper equivalent grade is similar to that 2.2% level. And have you assumed pretty conservative recoveries, certainly by my numbers, you could get to 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of copper equivalent over a 14 to 15-year mine life. So just keen to hear your thoughts around that project moving forward?

So we're pretty excited with this new discovery, and it's only a kilometer or so away from Coka Rakita. We do see these 2 assets is quite different, though. So it's possible to put the material from Dumitru Potok and the other assets in that area through the Coka Rakita mill, but I wouldn't consider it to be a good use of that capacity. So if you were to look at this and you were to look at the profile that we talked about earlier today, that's going to come out of Coka Rakita. What we're going to have is we're going to have a little over 200,000 ounces for the first few years and averaging 190 or so thousand ounces over the first 5 years. So what I would expect is really with Coka Rakita, we're looking to find other very similar ore bodies, which are amenable to both gravity and flotation as that circuit is set and basically extend that life of mine and increase that early profile in terms of production. So that would be first prize for us in terms of that look.

So coming back to Dumitru Potok, we would agree with you that there's some real potential for scale. Ross and Stefan can talk a little bit more about this, but I feel -- we feel there's more as opposed to just conversion on what we already have in that area and particularly as we look further north. And what we would see is a dedicated facility going in for that, probably somewhere in the early 2030s, 2033, something like that, and it's going to be dedicated to that type of material. So basically, you could have 2 lines of production in and around that stage.

Maybe what I'll do at this point is just ask Ross if you had any thoughts that he wanted to add in terms of what we're trying to do with discovery, and perhaps with Stefan some comments as well about our exploration activity.

Yes. Thanks, Dave. So I'd add there is some scale here. There is some size and looking for instance, of metrics like timing for vertical needs on those areas with in excess of 150,000 tonnes per vertical meter at Dumitru Potok itself. So these are metrics lend themselves to very high production rate. We've initially sort of looking at 2 million to 5 million tonnes per annum production rate. We really haven't got a number in mind yet, but these are the sort of ballpark we're thinking about. And we tend to agree with some of your comments that the sort of feeling we would have in terms of metal production [ upside here ].

In terms of upside, I'll turn it over to Stefan.

Hi there. Stefan Metodiev here. With the growth mentioned here, [indiscernible]. Thinking about the broader picture to the stock, we know that Coka Rakita is there. So our further infrastructure will be developed there. And the condition on lower level of the same marble unit is down so far from the product Dumitru Potok, Rakita North target. So going further between the Rakita North and Dumitru Potok would have the volume presumably, but we're quite confident on the geology.

The upside potential to the North remains open. Again, we believe that next year the first item will be aiming more of the contact terms with the high grade that we are mentioning, and extrapolating further on the same state we are already having some to discuss about the [ acquisition ]. So yes, the upside is near. And also on gross, not everything that we have drilled is improved, it's in the published resource. We believe that we can put more tonnage there by including the existing on target and also [ that addition ].

Yes. Sorry. It's a little bit hard to hear you guys -- you considered me fairly. I seem to be able to hear you better David. Just a further question to this. Clearly, quite a good project. You've got a lot of corporates globally facing compelling of a project. I'm just wondering, have you given any thought to -- I know it's early days and it's exciting as your main growth lever in the portfolio outside of Vares. Have you given any consideration to divesting this if the right offer came forward?

We should think about divesting?

Yes. Just a question on divesting. I know it's a very exciting project at Coka Rakita and the Rakita camp. And if the right price came forward, would that be something you'd consider?

No. It's never say never, but clearly, the prospectivity and the opportunity here is significant, and I don't see that we would be amenable to an early consideration on that. We'd want to know more about what is there. So hopefully, I understood you correctly that we're referring to our Serbian assets. But at this point, we see them as really core to our future together with Chelopech and Vares.

Okay. I couldn't be clearer. Yes, I might jump back in the queue to see if there's any other questions.

[Operator Instructions] So a follow-up question from Adam Baker from Macquarie.

Looks like it's just me, so it does. Just maybe let's go to Chelopech now. The Wedge Zone, some pretty interesting drilling results that you've had out recently there. When do you envisage that this could potentially be incorporated into the mine plan there?

I think we were talking today about, obviously, we've got further work to do in terms of understanding the scale. It's very early days yet. But one of the things that we're very good at, at Chelopech is looking at how we can bring things in early on, particularly where the grade is higher than the resource grade in order to basically give us a better sort of near-term profile. Iliya, I think you mentioned that you were looking at the possibility of having access to this in 2029. Did you want to comment more?

Yes, we're looking how we can bring this on the stage to be able to do the test blastings on the first stope there are about 2029. That's what at the moment we are analyzing how we can bring this stope, not later.

Okay. That's great. And what about the metallurgical characteristics of the ore? How does this compare to the preexisting material that you're mining at Chelopech?

Well, we were right now working on the -- roughly 2 mains, this is more tougher and with less or more growth based on this initial range that we just reported. Eventually speaking, the ore doesn't make a very big difference from what we see in Chelopech mine. We're talking about semi-massive to massive sulfides and sulfide salts. And this really looks like they have more upper parts of the -- some of the main ore bodies in the mine itself. So I don't expect any variables, but maybe with the next release that we do with the additional billing, we already have some initial testing results.

Maybe stepping across the Vares, you've indicated things are going very well there. Grades above expectations, particularly for 2026. What is it that is making you so optimistic based on the original technical report really a couple of months ago?

So maybe I'll start, and Iliya, if you want to chip in. So based on the progress that we've made so far on focusing our efforts on decline development and then following that up with optimization work around drill and blast and support for the cycles, we're quite confident that we're going to be able to get to the area of the mine that we need along the sort of the idea being that by Q4 next year, we're at full production of 850,000 tonnes per year for that last quarter and basically ramping up from January through until September. So I'll let Iliya comment, but the high level is that we're seeing good alignment with our expectations, and we're dealing with any opportunities and anything that we need to improve along the way. Go ahead, Iliya, do you want to add some comments?

A little bit more details what make us not optimistic. We already achieved -- start achieving the development rates, which we plan to achieve from January next year. We already achieved those rates on November and that makes us much more comfortable. We will be there where we plan to be. Also, we've been able to pull one of the testing stopes where we will optimize blasting parameters. That has already moved to December. And in this perspective, we also -- or from this angle, we are also ahead of the schedule.

So decline development and readiness for blasting and the sort of work on sort of cycle around development, decline development, but also on production. All of that is absolutely looking at or slightly ahead of what we wanted it to be. So far, so good.

Thank you for the questions. That concludes our Q&A session. I will now hand back to Jennifer.

Thank you all for joining us. Hopefully, if you have any further questions, please feel free to contact any of us at any time. We're happy to connect you with members of our technical team at any point to help clarify any of these pieces. And particularly for those in Australia, we hope to see you all in person sometime soon. So thank you for your time today, and we look forward to connecting in the future.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Good afternoon everyone Investor day Baoli person webcast. Before we give the material regard and for elevation provided during the call under the core presentation and operate -- just a couple of on where we end we should be a comfortable for questions diesel. We have a [indiscernible] we ought to for a question of the year versus in the case of divergency we expect to as facility and certainly a -- we're going to begin saying that a review of a especially the most recent exported, which asked in November are Cosan broader. And it will take our network and a acquired content we're using a that with Aston for those please on will say or as violations are rate will be for.

With that [indiscernible].

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to us. On the 1 side late for. And we continue to post participation in virtually depreciated businesses this investor day comes particularly exciting time for DPM. And over the acres we can on several base aniline story and the underlying product profile and value that it would be the solution. This has included the starting of the new micronization as at operation. Also the feasibility study in Catarina, which we increased to results in the bus operations that will generate since shareholders. Also the initial usual assessment phase anaesthesia the oversales the U.K. on 1 of financial perspective to support growth? -- important sales growth and financial stats keep in mind that the situation that the acquisition late -- so with the 4 million impact on the balance sheet, no debt and a nonown credit facility and the significant cash flow that we have generated, we are well positioned to fully support

Strong financial the flexibility and confidence to execute on our strategy and deliver value for shareholders.

Moving to today's speakers. Iliya Garkov is our Chief Operating Officer. We're going to have Mike Nolte talking about our projects, and he's the VP of projects. We'll have Tsvetomir Velkov. He's the Vice President of Technical Services, and we've got Stefan Metodiev talking about exploration and Ross Overall, who is our Director of Corporate Technical Services. This team will be providing deeper insights into our assets and our recent achievements and our excitement for the future.

And now I'll ask Stephan to start things off by taking you through the new wedge deep discovery at Chelopech.

Thank you, Dave. Good morning, everyone. So yes, we're going to start with some geologies and exploration. -- everything in mining starts with George, everybody knows that. So we're very excited to announce our new discovery in Chelopech, probably some of you know that these systems are quite constrained in space. So that's what we were thinking as well. after long thinking over the structural context of the deposit, we decided to draw into a zone that was considered as a no go very deep. And below the level of economic mineralization. So finally, we're successful. I'm proud to say that we hit a zone that is having a significant material impact I hope in the near future for the mine.

We're talking about a similar style of menization, massive sulfides. Very good grades that you can see on the screen, about 300 meters below the level of the nearest block that is under mining in the moment. So we have a strong potential, not to expand only this zone, but now we are looking on the deposit on a different approach, different angle. And we're planning extensive exploration at that level around the mine for similar ore bodies, very concentrated, massive to semi-massive sulfide very good gold credit, a bit less copper.

But at the moment, this is perfectly fitting our strategy for going forward. move forward, you can interrupt any time if you have any questions. The zone has been intersected so far with the 4 drill holes. We have 2 more ongoing right now, and we're dedicating about 10,000 meters in the next quarter or 2 quarters to keep drilling. And meanwhile, we are already planning ideally infrastructure to reach the ore body and put it in production, hopefully in the next year or so.

We hope that we have no constraints and no limitations on the drilling technically speaking. So in the next quarter, 3 to 4 months, we're able to provide more details on the volume and the grade of this ore body.

On the chem scale, outside of the mining concession, we have one pending mining concession that you can see in gray Polygon outside of the Magenta 1 that is the ongoing concession. We have expectations to get additional concession rights for this ground in 2026, where we already have constrained very good resource will be back to this ground with additional drilling considering the good high metal prices at the moment.

So Chelopech Siver about to come in 2026. Meanwhile, we have the bigger license around called Brevene that is over 27 square kilometers. We have multiple targets, different style of menization we're drilling right now there with 8 rigs at the moment, ramping up probably to 12, 13 rigs in the next month. We have again, high sulphidation porphyry targets. Our main goal is Volta that is just north of the concession where we have multiple intermediate sulphidation veins, base metal and gold -- the mine itself is with a strong position, still in very good shape.

As you can see, we have over 1 million ounces of gold, 4 million ounces of silver. And to 140 million pounds of copper as a reserve resource.

Moving to Coka Rakita and service.

Sorry, Stefan sir, sorry, we had 1 question coming over the webcast. which is what led us to decide to drill in that area to discover the Webstone view?

Yes, I was expecting that one. Well, as I said, most of the attention that has been paid to this deposit, Georgica speaking, was focused on the geochemistry and petrology petrographic we start rethinking the structural context here. We know that the basin that hosts the deposits of Copec has a significant drop down over this normal fault that you can see on the left-hand side of the size the so-called [ petrolympol. ]

So we know that this normal folding is dropping down significantly the whole basin to the south. So thinking about this and knowing that on top -- in static license or this so-called Chelopech Silver mining concession, we have the wechzone target that very well demonstrates the drop-down of a whole block -- we were thinking how much we can extrapolate down going further. And if we have another book that has been dropped down significantly. So really over thinking again and again on the structural context.

We decide that there is a significant potential around this regional fault to have a normal movement and a drop of ore bodies now.

There is a second geological concept that we might have a telescoping of the system, and we have a second or later inputs that can produce fertile hydrothermal events. -- or could be a combination of both. But right now, we are sticking to the structural mostly.

Okay. Stefan there's a question at the back.

Sure. care as posed to the reserves. And comment on the development that might be involved in the time? Question on the development time line in order to get this into production.

Yes. Well, we have a conceptual internal decline that is under consideration. I cannot speak exactly on the time lines. It will take the mining crew to project properly think about ventilation. We're already talking about 300 meters deeper. So it's getting a bit warmer. And I think some of my colleagues can reply on that on the mining side.

Okay. What we are planning the first quarter of next year, we do have a targeted a workshop about how to mining this area on that debt. We're looking around 2029, we to be in position to start production from there because that is in current mining license. When I say production, that means to have a first stop establish and start of the posting tests.

And then another question from -- coming from the webcast is for the Wedge zone Deep discovery. Is there any early interpretation on what's driving the potentially higher grade?

What's driving.

Yes.

Well, if we're speaking about the same impulse of hydrothermal activity, I think it's the same source. -- what might believing is as a geologist is the porphyry that we know that exists on the -- between the hanging wall and the footwall of this major fault is too tiny and too shiny to be driving the whole system. So we keep exploring in the area to find the real source of that.

And knowing other deposits on the TTM in the near neighborhood, there should be a bigger driver, bigger Magmatic Center I would say, a bigger porphyry that we hope that we get into really soon. We have some indications, but it's too early to speak about. We're looking actively for not only one, but multiple sources for this system.

Okay. Going to Serbia. So first to say a few words about the district scale of the geology around and how we went to the discovery of Coka Rakita, maybe some of you have already heard the story, and I won't go in too much details, but we're speaking about the Western flank of the Temmigmatic complex that was considered as unfertile broadly. -- just until our original discovery to Coka Rakita.

So we're talking about the camp-scale multiple targets districts, I'll call it. So the deposits that I mentioned here and the new announcements that we have, not only on Coka Rakita, but the [indiscernible] as well just speak about the scale of this magmatic hydrothermal cell. We're talking about a few cubic kilometers of very intense alteration, multiple stocks and as it's mentioned here, we have several styles of different alteration and neurotization. This is really a huge chance an honor working in such environment.

And we are -- I do believe that we're on the gate of a flip of the geology there. That's how we discovered Coka Rakita after a long conceptual thinking. And after the discovery to Coka Rakita, we start thinking what else could be there. So first hole that we decide to go deeper, start seeing mineralization exactly where we were expecting it. We're talking about porphyries, current carbonate replacement sediment hosted everything just in few square kilometers. And we have a huge land package that we continue drilling right now with 10 rigs, hopefully, expanding in the next 3 months up to 15, 16 rigs.

So it's a discovery that we should not speak only for the Timok zone, but for the whole [ Tatum ] built. Coka Rakita itself doesn't have many equivalents globally speaking. We know about 1 similar deposit in Ecuador, and we personally have heard for another 1 in China, but not too much. details can be found for that one. So we're talking for gold-bearing exist current hosted in the sandstone unit that you can see in yellow on the section to the right. most of the ore is hosted in the sandstones, very limited as an [indiscernible] the green units that is dirit, sea-lice body, very small copper credits there.

What's interesting and makes Coka Rakita unique is the very lumpy nugget gold. We have a few millimeters grain size of the gold that comes mostly as a free gold native or attached with some sulfides, but the sulfide content is very, very low. That makes the deposit even more attractive. We have very good results on the flow sheet.

So here, I'm going to ask Ross to continue with these resources. Thank you.

Hi, everyone. Ross Overall, Corporate Director of Technical Services. So just a quick walk-through of what we did for the lead-up to the FS in terms of resources and reserves. So -- in the lead up to the FS, we looked at drilling and targeting the high-grade course. So draw hole spacing is around 30 meters consistently across the deposit. But where we anticipate the first years of mining, we're actually getting down about 15 meters spacing.

So very good control, very good understanding of the deposit geology, and that speaks to the models that we generated. The resource itself, you can see the table there, exclusive of reserves indicated an inferred constrained to DSO shapes at a 2-gram cutoff. So the resource consistent hangs together, we understand it well. The reserve coming out of the PFS, we saw a few optimizations and a few opportunities we wanted to look at in more detail.

First was the geotech drilling. So we did about 7 geotech holes across the deposit and another half a dozen are on the decline. We improved the engineering model. We understood the geotech ground conditions that are that fed into the stope design assumptions. So the stopes slightly enlarged versus PFS. And also, we took a bit more time during this estimate to actually refine some of the stopes.

The previous PFS was using more straight DSO outputs, but we actually took those out but this time did some manual corrections. End result is that we improved our conversion from resource to reserves, increasing some of the tonnage as you can see.

One of the other things we did was look at the cutoff grade. So we optimize that by adding an additional marginal cutoff for stopes that are accessible. And we also looked at, again, adding a bit more definition to the marginal cutoff development. End result is we increased the reserves tonnage and contained gold by 10% and 11%, respectively.

Okay. There's no questions, Tsvetomir.

Good morning, everybody. Tsvetomir Velkov, tech services, VP. Thank you for joining us. On the mining side, what I can share in this stage of our project will continue to improve all the aspect of our mine design. Improvement into the development while having multiple aspects. -- put significant effort adding axillary infrastructure at this phase to ensure that our future mining plan will be done in terms of some critical infrastructure like explosive onerous store maintenance workshop was relocating the better zone of the mine.

Talking for the ground condition would complete our geotechnical drilling program on time, what the results showed that around 90% from overall infrastructure of the project are locating Roma with good parameters, which give for future when operation are in production phase, observing the ground behavior to a traditional improvement. Based on the results, we also revised our ground support regime and optimize them. and also relocate some of the critical infrastructure like a ventilation shaft and the main ventilation zone into the better ground conditions, taking into consideration the results of our geotechnical gelling program.

Also, we put effort and to improve our ventilation system, as I mentioned, revising the exhaust entry systems moving near to the ore bodies. And as I mentioned, the ventilation shaft and main ventilation rises are also moved into the better ground.

In terms of the stocks, what I can share, all of them was refined and adjusted manually. So this significant exercise at additional ounces into our inventory. The watering system also has improved, aiming to achieve the estimated water levels. And the main pump station also was relocating into the bottom of the mine. We also have improved recoveries based on the additional methodological test work. And all this exercise actually resulting end of the day to increase done in the first years of our project. This is on high level on the mining side.

As I said, we continue to improve in very deep details of respect of our mine design. If there is no question, I will give to Mirco to continue with our project.

Thanks, Tito. Good morning, all. Mirco Nolte, at VP, Projects. Give you a bit more information about the Coka Rakita project and the feasibility study results that we released a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure you would have seen. So Tito and Ross took you through the reserves, the resources in terms of processing designed. We have 850,000 tonne per year processing plant. It's a very standard combination gravity, flotation circuit with overall recoveries close to 90%. And we're fairly comfortable with this flow sheet. It's the same size as our tape process plant, which allows us to use some of the infrastructure, some of the refurbished equipment once a tape is closed down middle of next year, we'll use some of that for the Coka Rakita processing facility.

A note on the tailings. So those -- the tailings that's not used underground will be stored in the dry stack tailings facility, which minimizes the footprint, but it also derisks the permitting time line for us in Serbia. Just a quick overview of what the site looks like. We're doing the feasibility study, we've got an op we've really looked to optimize the layout and make sure it's optimize not just for construction, but for operation as well.

I used to -- the natural photography wherever possible and basically -- sorry, have the ore flow sort of a gravity from the crushing circuit all the way down to tailings. In the background there, you'll see the dry stack tailings facility towards the end of life of mine.

As [ Tito ] mentioned, all the mine design optimization and schedule optimization, has resulted in a really favorable grade profile for us. So you'll see we're seeing 10 grams a tonne for the first couple of years, which results in more than 200,000 ounces per year in the first couple of years and averaging out at around 190,000 ounces per year for the first 5 years of the project.

Our on-site operating costs are around $80 a tonne which puts the project in the top decile in terms of low-cost operators, gold producers with the all-in sustaining costs of the life of mine, less than 65,650 per ounce.

Initial capital of estimate is at around $450 million and well within DPM's capability to fund with existing cash and cash flow generation. We did see an increase of around 18% from a PFS estimate to the FS estimate. It's mainly driven by a weaker U.S. dollar, inflation, some scope and design changes, specifically around the mining and the earthworks volumes and imported material.

A question for [indiscernible].

[indiscernible].

So we -- the current circuit has a gravity circuit and it's around 40% to 45%. And -- and within that gravity circuit, we're producing a high-grade [indiscernible] icon and are -- all right. So we've brought the -- we developed a project from discovery through to feasibility in under 3 years. And we envisage or the target is to be in production and producing first concentrate in the first half of 2029. Now that we've been gotten the go ahead to commence the spatial planning process in Serbia.

We have more certainty on the permitting time line. And if we look ahead, basically for the next year, it's all around moving the permitting along and getting execution ready for -- in the construction -- when we receive the construction permit in early 2027, to be ready for that FID, final investment decision in early 2027.

DPM has been present in the local community for more than 20 years. We continue the positive engagement, the community investment that's earned us the trust of the local community. We continue to engage both at a regional and at a national level with authorities, making sure they understand the project, making sure they understand the impact of the project. And it's the social acceptance and also this proactive engagement of the various stakeholders, local, regional and national level that really derisks the permitting time line for us for the project.

So lastly, just to wrap up, Coka Rakita, a low-cost, high-margin project with ZAR 2.2 billion NPV at 3,500 gold. At that gold price, it's a year payback on the initial capital and IRR close to 70%. And DPM is in a position financially, technically and execution-wise to execute this successfully over the next few years. Thank you.

Questions from the webcast, and we'll likely also touch on this topic when we move into the broader Coka Rakita camp. But the comment -- the question is, the recut camp resource update was great to see in terms of adding additional scale for the Coka Rakita project. Can you please comment on what it means for future development of some of these deposits. Will it be possible to access for [indiscernible] from existing Coka Rakita underground infrastructure and also from a processing standpoint, given the seemingly different mineralogy and lower grades, would it be efficient to use the same processing circuit.

Thanks for the question. So yes, the metro product discovery is early days. The work -- technical work around that has kicked off and then is ongoing. Yes, there are certain synergies in terms of utilizing certain infrastructure. At the same time, it's a different scale deposit. We're talking quite a different scale. So -- at this stage, we probably don't see the Coka Rakita processing facility being suitable for what we envisage for the metroproduct. Having said that, there would be other synergies beyond our local presence there. The infrastructure that we have in terms of administration potentially some of the portion of the decline could be used for that, absolutely. So we're considering that at the same time, we're not -- the Coka Rakita project studies, permitting is not being distracted by that. So that's ongoing in parallel to what we're focusing on at Cocoa.

And the next question is actually related to the permitting time line for Coka Rakita. Can you provide a little bit more detail in terms of next steps? And what are the key milestones investors should be expecting for 2026?

Sure. So like I said, the special planning process has just kicked off. We asserted in government on the 14th of November and then got into force on the 22nd of November. So that gets the permitting process going, if you want to call it that. We envisage going through that process and receiving the approved spatial plan towards the middle of next year, early Q3 and the next big milestone after that to look out for would be our exploitation permit using the special planning information and our Serbian feasibility study, we're foresee receiving the approval of the exploitation field in Q4 next year.

And that allows us to submit the environmental impact assessment, which is run in parallel over the next 15 months. and get approval for that in early 2027, and that all pulled together to get the construction permits in Q1 2027.

Perfect. I have another question from the webcast, but if there's anyone in the room over here front.

Cost that you use for your feasibility study in terms of benchmarking, did you benchmark it to like Chelopech, did you benchmark it added Tape? How much conservatism have you factored into your cost estimates for FS.

Specifically CapEx, OpEx or both?

I guess, are reading. -- what that I think is important..

Sure. All right. So first of all, I guess, as most of you know, benchmarking CapEx is always tough. Every project has certain aspects. You are able to benchmark the processing facility. That's fair enough that that's most apples-to-apples, certain things that you -- is harder to benchmark how your earthworks, the volumes there that you really are different for every project.

So yes, we've benchmarked in terms of productivity, unit rates, commodity prices, all of that has been benchmarked for the region. We have the regional presence, both in Bulgaria and now Bosnia. So we're comfortable on the CapEx side of things. On the OpEx, that's, let's say, easier to benchmark. There we've got of underground operating mine at 2.2 million tonnes. This is sort of half the throughput. So yes, -- we can benchmark a few things there and then have, and then we've aligned with that.

And on the processing side, again, the processing flow sheet and what we're going to be running at Coka Rakita, basically the Adata flow sheet was a gravity circuit so stuck on to it up the front with a few details at the back end that are different in terms of past plant and so on. So once again, a very good data point for us to benchmark and what we've seen in terms of both CapEx, sustaining CapEx and OpEx is a very reasonable assumption. I don't think we've baked in too much conservatism. I think we expect to have a realistic executable estimate there.

And look how much inflation have you factored into your numbers?

So our base estimate is estimate Q2 2025 estimate. We've not factored in inflation beyond what we foresee the labor cost being next year. So no, we've not factored in inflation at this stage.

Question right here.

If I remember correctly, I think you've used 1,900 gold for your resource and 1,600 gold for your reserves. And I'm wondering if the applicability of those numbers to the current environment, but also if you run a scenario or sensitivity analysis, what sort of difference would it make to your current mine plan?

Sure. So that's -- thanks for the question. That's an exercise we do as getting out of the gate into the new year is just refining the cutoff grade with metal price assumptions, costs, et cetera. We've looked at the sensitivity. So at the moment, the average cutoff grade for the reserves is about 2 grams a tonne at the $1,600. If that -- if we were to use a price closer to, call it, 2,500 tonnes, that would add at least 1 more year of life of mine, we call it around 1 million tonnes to the reserve.

Having said that, that only considered measured and indicated resources. There's obviously quite a bit of inferred, which doesn't fold into the reserve at this stage. So overall, though, it wouldn't drastically change the mine infrastructure. We sort of understand where these areas are that could be added into the reserve and we see that as an opportunity that we'll pursue over the next year in terms of detailed engineering.

I should follow up. If you leave material behind, would it be easily accessible afterwards, if you wanted to add a life of mine, let's say, for instance.

Yes. Well, we wouldn't leave material behind first of all. So you always have your long-term plan. And then in the short-term planning, you do consider more recent, more relevant metal prices. So we make sure we don't sterilize material and leave it behind. So that's -- I hope that addresses the question.

And then the things that -- well, when you do change a metal price or drop your cutoff grade, the material that comes in is sort of around the age of the ore body, so if you lower grade material that then falls into it. So at the core of the ore body where we mine the first 2 years, that's all 7-plus grams a tonne. So there's not a big risk there of leaving material behind that is team uneconomical.

The exploration at Coka Rakita, can you just talk about whether it's happening? Or is it focused more on the Rakita camp? Just given the great difference between the 2, right? You think there would be a prioritization of Coka Rakita, but just curious.

We'll speak later on the chems exploration. But to Rakita,we have targets related to extension to the north in a different host. They're more related with the metropolitanization in the Marvels, but we're going to speak a bit later. We're planning about 20,000 meters of drilling just around Coka Rakita in this 2 square kilometers and another 20,000 meters going further on the belt.

We got a question at the back.

Maybe my question follows the last 1 in some way. You've got the mill nameplate at $850 million, is that the right size? I mean it sounds like there's some synergies without a type. But in the event that you find additional resources, is it easy to scale that mill up a little bit bigger?

Yes. So I mean, it depends what you -- when you talk scale, but I would say there's at least a 30% to 50% scale capability. And the reason we're fairly confident about that is that we're taking a SAG mill from other [indiscernible] with a 3-megawatt motor.

This ore is quite a bit softer, less abrasive and we're converting it into an ag mill for OpEx savings, et cetera. So the way you increase throughput there is then add steel balls and go from ag node to sign node and go up from 850 to north of 1 million tonnes a year on the grinding circuit, the crushing circuit is sized for only running half a day. And then we have space in the plant to add another flotation train.

So all in all, the short answer is yes. It will need a bit of work. But -- and then we're talking expansion in terms of 22% to 40% increased throughput, where we're not talking doubling throughput at this stage for the Coka Rakita circuit.

We've got 2 questions from the webcast. First one is what is the square meter footprint of the tailings facility?

I need to get back to you on that, Jennifer or the person to take that down and then we can.

Perhaps you could talk about the capacity that we've envisioned for it and how it relates to Cord.

Sure. So the capacity is 3.2 million tonnes, if I'm not mistaken, of the dry stack tailings facility. And once again, working with our engineer record and the consultants there, we have capacity to more than double the size basically. So we've got 100% capacity increase on that tailings facility for more reserves that we might find or might bring into the life of mine plan.

Perfect. And this one may actually go to Ross. But in terms of the -- sorry pardon me, looking at the actual drill results for Coka Rakita, there are very -- there's a number of very high-grade intervals. Are the top cuts used in the resource estimate too conservative? And how would you expect the resource to reconcile when the deposit is actually mined?

Yes. We actually did a resource optimization sensitivity review. We run about 50 different resource estimation parameters, and we basically waited them and chose the optimum parameters. The cutoff, I think we've used around 86%, I think, for Coka Rakita. That seemed like not too optimistic, yet not too conservative somewhere in the middle, and we've been using that consistently, and it seems to be a good sensible top cut to use for the project. In terms of the deposit itself, the grade continuity is very good.

And you can see from the results that we publish, the grades, high grades, continuous and the model is quite -- it's not too difficult to capture that because I think the continuity is there.

In terms of reconciliation, we've done something different in that we've done screen fire assays consistently throughout the deposit. So not every company does this. We've done screen fire assays consistently all across the mineralized footprint above, I think it's a 1 gram or 0.8 gram threshold. So that's the optimum assaying approach for that mineralization start, and I think it gives us confidence that when we come to reconcile we're going to be getting good numbers from that.

Any other questions from the room before we move on to the next topic. Thank you. Okay. So I'm going to move on to talk about the Rakita camp, which I think some of those questions we can revisit in these topics, starting with Stefan.

Sure. I hope I'm able to answer the questions that were given just a few minutes ago on the camp scale exploration. So you can see on the map here, we have 3 major licenses, 1 is Chocolate, where the positive Coka Rakita hosted and the metro. -- partially Frasen as well, -- and then we have Potato license to the north quite big client package that costs our main targets for the next, I would say, year -- so we're going to split the work between these 2 licenses and a bit of sterile is the license to the south, where we have similar Georgica environment on the western boundary of this big Montoni inclusion that you see in purple.

We are talking about really following up on known targets like Valja Saka. It's a target north of the mill we believe that it represents the same geological environment, just another fertile magmatic stock. We have 8 drilling on this target at the moment.

We're looking for shallow sandstone and Marvel hosted gold silver carbonization, but also we're looking for deep targets. The host stratigraphy is such that it dips to the east with about 40 degrees. So as far as we step further east, we're going under covered deeper and deeper. We're already testing targets at kilometer plus debt under the epichlastic cover.

We did lots of geophysics. We did including seismic survey, very extensive. We're continuing with empty survey to the north, and we're going to step building up the geological understanding stepping to the north and to the east on all the targets there, like [indiscernible] Visits are very further. The Visor the yellow circle to the very north where you can see we have one operating at the moment, trying to figure out the stratigraphy.

We have confirmation. That's what gaps there. So we just need to find the next fertile inclusion that we have good signs on the geophysics about have to be moving, as I said, to the south as well. We know that the geological environment on [indiscernible] is very similar. We have the same sandstones. And therefore, we are looking for targets of Coka Rakita style. And MT is helping quite a lot. We can see conductive domains and alteration and mineralization of the style of the metropolis very contrast on that. We can see very good contrast between conductive and resistive domain.

So we're testing everywhere where we can see the shadow and a very sharp boundary. So that's a cross-section along the magmatic hydrothermal sell of Coka Rakita, the metro potion Frasen I would go it. It's I would say, in a way, classical, classical domain of porphyry, proximal currents and state bonds deposits in a very confined space. If we look on a broader scale, all the discoveries that we had in the past, a sediment hosted to the north, we consider them now just as a signature of what's happening around.

We have several intrusions on the context of 1 of them called to we have this outstanding copper mization copper gold enization with some good silver credit. Going more shallow, we see strata-bound hosted again in the marbles the different style and different sulfur ratios, a bit more sulfides. And then we transition in towards another porphyry that you see in the center of this section called Frasen that I do believe is causing the difference in the metal endowment in the marbles going further close to surface.

So we go from more copper-rich towards more gold-rich events. And right now, we're pending just a couple of months to renew the license here and bring back uric during only on Frasen porphyry because we see this very confined pencil like McMacBody that is running good gold grades. Looking on 3D and chemscale potential I just mentioned, most of the ore bodies are open in multiple directions. So the vertical contact at the metropolis very -- could be very challenging and technical perspective, but we -- I do believe that we found a way to drill from the intrusion outside towards the contact cures, and that's the plan for the first 10,000 meters once we have the rigs back on surface there.

The ore body is open to the north and to the south we have a constraint only to the east where we have this big magmatic picture. Then going further up in the section, -- as I said, the stratigraphy is dipping to the east. So when we move towards chocolate that is west southwest of the metro, we have started boltonization hosted in the marbles, quite significant footprint.

We're talking about maybe 1.5 square kilometers of a strata that has been confirmed to be [indiscernible] at a different scale. So that's the target that we have Coka Rakita North going further North, the Fresnorphyry with the Frasson, state bond mineralization that transits from copper, copper gold, gold into some base metals at surface.

I have no reason to believe that -- there is no other ore body nearby. We're looking just for step-by-step exploration to find the next good fertile intrusion that we have good signature about in all the geophysics that we have done in the last couple of years.

I hope you're able to see the picture here for the geologists in the room and online -- it's a huge variety in this dialog mization that we see. There is a transition coming from east to -- from West East of more oxide to more sulfide mineralization. What has to be highlighted here is the incredible grade that we are facing.

We're facing 5%, 6%, 7% of copper with up to 10, 12 grams of gold. We have some good native copper intervals that are so far showing very good recoveries on simple flotation. The state bonds and mono-like carbonate replacement are on the contact with Marvel between Marvel and conglomerate. This is something that is already proven, so we know where to search for them.

We know that this stratigraphy continues to do not as well and today. So we're brave enough to go deep and find more of that. About the footprint, it was already mentioned, the [indiscernible] is significant as a size, and it's still open in 2 directions.

We are talking for a relatively narrow, but extremely high-grade copper gold menization at the contact that is transitioning in towards more bornite, [ chalcopyrite ] copper gold going further out in distance.

Here, we have only 1 of the doses mentioned, but it's very representative for the mediation. You see over 100 meters with 1.5% copper and 2.7 grams of gold with significant creative silver now. I won't stop more on the mineralization style and..

Before we move on to the met testing. Just a couple of questions that we've gotten focused on the exploration piece. So one question is about the metropolitan intrusion and where we're seeing the higher concentrations of grade and with -- can you talk a little bit about what is the potential for further exploration around that intrusion? And what is the approach we're taking in 2026 in terms of drilling out that section more?

Yes, sure. You can see the inclusion here on the right-hand side of the section. Really, the high -- ultra-high grade contact car are like a show that is not thicker than 200 to 150 meters around the intrusion. We do have open space to the north, where we're planning to put the holes maybe first in once we have all the permitting for drilling.

I cannot say what is the volume. I would say that we know that only even in that section, we see 2 intrusions and both of them have mineralization in intrusion and outside of it. So open to the north, open to the south and moving to the next inclusion to the Northeast and Northwest of it.

So I hope this answers the question as a scale, I wouldn't say a volume, but I know that right now, even in the published resource that we did a few days ago, we still don't reach the drill density that the resource guys are requiring. So just infilling between holes that we have good intersects should increase our volumes, I would say, significantly.

Okay. And then the next question, just in terms of stepping back and thinking more broadly about the system. Do we -- what do we think is driving the source of the system? And what are we thinking in terms of the overall scale stepping out from the immediate Coka Rakita area.

[ Tumomimatic ] complex consists of at least 3 phases of magmatic activities. And in the past, it was considered that only first and second phase are productive where the big porphyries from the Solvia town are hosted. The magmatic Phase II the 1 in pinkish here, the big monsoon it was considered been because the monzonite is bearing so far.

We managed to prove that this western boundary of the whole basin is productive in an incredible way. Actually, if you think backwards the porphyries of Bor and [indiscernible] big ones, they historically are recording this high-grade contacts cards. But nobody was thinking that actually these cards can exist in Phase III because Phase III was considered to be on Forti.

So on the chem scale, I just think that we have to continue drilling more and step into the east. We proved that this porphyry is being low-grade or high-grade that exist on every few kilometers, I would say, even more denser. So it doesn't mean that we'll continue finding every kilometer of porphyry, but we know that the whole system here and the one that you see in the map couldn't be driven by only 1 single intrusion, so I would say that between Korkan and Valja Saka drill holes, we know that there is another inclusion. We see it on the surface, and we have to drill at the right spot at the right debt to see where it contacts with the marbles -- if we find that, I have a strong belief that we'll find another mineralization body there.

Okay. I've got 1 more question from the webcast, but if there's anyone in the room, please feel free. But the question is just in terms of the -- our step-up targets, how are we prioritizing that? How are we identifying the next set of exploration targets that we'll be drilling.

Well, we're trying to not be overexcited. We cannot put the 10 rigs at a time, but we're probably going to aim anything between 15 and 20 in few months. So we're stepping slowly, making sure that we understand the geology, the structural complication, the post mural and similar structural complication is a big thing in investment discount. So understanding structures here is of high importance. We already see that even in the [indiscernible], we have on the recent drilling between Valja Saka and Dumitru Potokay, we have a significant step down in the stratigraphy. So we have to be step-by-step moving in order to be successful.

For example, if we just put all the risks all over, it will be very hard to get a constant Georgica model. And it's essential. That's the reason why we have these 2 discoveries just in less than 3 years. because we were stepping slowly at the same time being aggressive enough once we find something that makes sense for us. That's the reason we have 8 rigs on Valja Saka right now. We know that it's worth it. We see some good results, and we have to go step by step. Yes, we have a question over there.

Thanks very much. So you're calling this a camp now, which is obvious given the number of discoveries here and the pace discovery seems to be accelerating. I know in the resource, you mentioned the possibility of additional infrastructure here. to target some of these new areas. And so it's still early days, but just wondering how you see this ultimately envisioning and how you can leverage the synergies here from Coka Rakita going forward?

Or logically speaking, we see lots of synergy. And I honestly, has been the most positive in the room, I guess, I would expect another orebody like to correct or somewhere nearby. We know that this calcite sandstones are a very confined state. So it's about what kind of intrusion is nearby. And if it goes to [indiscernible], gold rate or it turns into something that is more corporate.

On the production side, I would leave my colleagues to speak about how we see the synergy because as there was a question before that, how we accelerate that, this will take us time to find out. But on the exploration side, I have no problems with that. yes.

Thanks. So we touched on sort of what synergies they are and how we potentially see this going forward. I think one near-term synergy that we see is practically speaking, is some of these targets are quite deep, drilling them from surface is not technically difficult and expensive costly -- so once the Coka Rakita decline starts in 15 months from now, there's a good opportunity to use that infrastructure to get closer and drill roll this from underground drill this out from underground. So that's something quite near term and that we see could be a synergy.

I could be missing it, but I don't see an obvious source of the mineralization for Coka Rakita in terms of an intrusion, and where it's placed state-wise relative to the other intrusions and this one being in the sandstones as a positive limestone term marble. Do you know where that mineralization has been driven from our other cost [indiscernible], the same 1 that is we drive in neutral product? And if that's the case, which way do you go for your next target?

Yes. That's a good question. Thank you. The green unit here is a direct, [indiscernible], we have multiple phases of magmatic activity there that we believe are driving the system. One targeting perspective is how far east we can step and drew in the sandstones on top of this Montondirect as well. So we know that the source of quite is this inclusion with a hydrothermal activity that's been caused later. How we found Coka Rakita North and it made us think about the [indiscernible] is that we knew that in stratigraphy, we have limestone/marbels in between.

So one of the first holes that we seek from Coka Rakita going through the ore body of Coka Rakita, but continuing 1.2 kilometers to reach the limestones. The first hole starts showing some bornite in the limestone. So if we step on the chem scale, it's really nearby marbles from Coka Rakita. This bluish contour on the map on the left-hand side, this is the footprint of the Maro confirmed mineralization start to bound like. So back to your question, I think that this marble should be chasing all the way to the basement contact that is 15 kilometers to the north. It's about how we find the intrusions.

And I think that in seismic data, we start seeing good signs for the intrusion themselves. And as I mentioned, the empty survey is showing us a good contrast of conductivity. So once we have these 2 parameters, we are ready to stick a hole there. It could be just a stratigraphic confirmation, but in 1 or 2 attempts and with all the navies that we're using, we're able to achieve an exact point of penetration where we want to be. So yes, the Magnus are driving everything here.

We have 3 or 4 generations of magmatic activity. We're trying to date them. They're very close in timing. But more or less, we start understanding which one is the fertile and it's very common now to start making our geological conceptual thinking where this fertile phase is.

Can I ask quickly about permitting again? How does this regional exploration? How is it getting permitted? How is it getting integrated into a permitting of Coka Rakita, as you mentioned, some of that decline could be used to target some of the deeper drilling. So again, how does this fit into the bigger picture? Maybe it's too early. And when you do decide to go ahead with this regional or some of this regional upside, would that need additional permitting later on? Or have you started thinking about that upfront so that when the time comes, it's less -- it's more incremental versus something completely brand new.

I will answer this couple of questions because I see here are 2 questions. The first 1 about the permitting of the exploration permitting, there is a very well-established process 3 years plus 2 years, plus 2 years. For Coka Rakita, we just finished the first 3 years exploration. We submit the report to the government. And after that, within 2 to 3 months, we are receiving -- we will receive the extension for the next 2 years. It's a pretty similar process in Bulgarian all this part of the world is pretty similar processes.

So far, we didn't have any delays on the permits with entire comp there about how that will work together with Coka Rakita, Dumitru Potok, et cetera. what are our current plans from the 1 -- from the bottom decline of Coka Rakita access, to have access on the right, say, Northeast to accessing the Dumitru Potok to be able to make the next drilling campaign from underground, much more faster, much more efficient and cost effective. Does that answer your questions?

Just to add on the exploration, Iliya was speaking for the overall exploration process for permitting adopting surveys very we're dealing mostly with private lines, taking just a couple of weeks to put a recon position where we want. This is a significant improvement on the legislation. And globally, right now, you might be waiting for years for dopants very, very, very flexible.

Yes, there was another question.

Yes. thinking at a high level, strategically, Coka Rakita gets you guys above the 500,000 ounce gold equivalent mark Chelopech, you could extend mine life there, that could sustain that level for longer term. with these prospects here, are you thinking that you'll be able to sustain that level for longer? Or is there a potential additional upside to the production profile potentially to I would think, 700,000 ounce gold equivalent, that sort of range.

Yes, we are definitely looking to step up. We are working by 2029 with to be a bit different company.

To talk about interest in terms of what next steps we're going to have. We'll dive into it on the death push-up mineral resource estimate. But in terms of how we're thinking about developing that resource and how that can translate in terms of timing.

By first half of 2029 Coka Rakita will be in production. The clear pitch, what we're looking at the moment is to sustain for next few years, the same 2.2 million tonnes, also to ramp up in [indiscernible] achieve -- or to meet the design production rates there. For the Dumitru Potok that definitely will up more last year, but also as production. What we are looking for that higher level, if I can say.

That definitely will be another long-haul stopping mine. At this stage, we just can't predict how much that will be, but we're looking to achieve from there say by 2032, 2033 to be in early production stage.

A question from the webcast. Can you walk us through the metallurgical risk at Coka Rakita, given the complex menerology, how confident are you in your concentrate assumptions?

Mirco speak about concentrate.

Thanks for the question. It's -- the metallurgy isn't too complex. We've done extensive test work through all the phases. We've done gravity recoverable gold, extended tests on that. We've done all the flotation work. So we don't see that as a risk. Like I said, at this stage, I believe the assumptions are very reasonable. In fact, in the early stage of life when we're seeing the 10 grams a tonne feed those recoveries should be north of 90%. And then as the grade drops closer to 5 and 4 grams a tonne towards the end of life of mine, obviously, that drops down a bit. So we're confident about the 88% that we have in our models, where there's extensive test work, both gravity and flotation that backs that up.

Perfect. That's actually a good segue into the next section of the presentation. As we move into the met test work that we've done for the digital pathogen or reserve estimate. So let's move forward with that use.

Hi, everyone. So going into the Dumitru Potok resource work, we actually kicked off the net test work earlier this year. We basically tried to map out as best we could, the key mineralization as sandwiches using different geochemical ratios. And we mapped out basically different sulfide assemblages, the Prize zone, which is more polymetallic, that's the carbonate replacement zone, the kit North, which is more marble hosted, scan type mineralization.

And then you're not seeing it on the map, but we also did some testing on the Frasen porphyry as well. That test works just a bit late. We couldn't use it for any of our modeling. But we'll look at that, I think, when it comes later this year, early next year. Initial results are positive. Some of the characteristics we can talk about will be the one mill index or Coka Rakita in that same sort of energy requirements, grindability requirements.

The rougher cleaner test that we did, we consistently saw very fast float kinetics, which is very positive. When you have so much native copper and complex sulfur assemblages, they flow quite quickly based on the test tube we were seeing. So producing very high concentrate grades in minutes of flow test work, which is quite an attractive property. The testing generated sellable concentrate grades. We're not seeing any issues with that.

No real deleterious elements to talk about, even though there's more work to do, but our initial screening doesn't show the -- there's numerous areas of optimization. I think firstly, GM is probably the 1 we're going to focus on. There is some variability in test work, but for copper rich, for copper gold scans, it comes with a territory. This is not unexpected. We know there'll be variability in mineralogy, methological performance. We've got the team who are going to be able to drive this. So that will be a big focus on the next phase of test work. the test plan itself, there's a lot of optimization we could do.

So just one point now we wanted to highlight was looking at trade-offs between rougher versus cleaner stages. So it was quite exceptional, some of the rougher recoveries and roughly concentrate as we got. So do we need that extra cleaning stage? That's a question we'll be looking at later on that could save on costs and also on make operational life a lot easier if we just have that single stage.

So lots of optimization, and we'll be looking at that later as we continue to the initial inferred mineral resource. So I think the numbers are there, 2.6 million ounces, just under $2 billion of copper. I guess dementia portal, as you've seen following the drill results, that's where the grade is, that's where the width is and the tunnels as well. So a significant higher grade, higher tonnage core within the deposits that we've modeled.

I think I'd like to highlight how good our understanding of the geology is Stephane's got an exceptional team, but he's backed up by over 20 years of exploring on this cap. So the strategy is well understood relationships, the timing, we've got a good handle of that. So even though it's an inferred resource, we've got a solid geological understanding beneath that.

The resource itself, we did a bit of work on the net smelter return calculations, so we developed around recovery models. We've also got good cost data. We can draw on from Chelopech, from our smelter contracts. And we've used an initial $50 per tonne cutoff just basically by benchmarking different underground solo open stoping operations between 2 million to 5 million tonnes per annum production rates, 50 was sort of in the middle, it seemed like a good cutoff to start with.

But obviously, there's more work to do on that -- just 1 other point. For Dundee, if you look at Coka Rakita, we drilled that our -- and we sort of knew the footprint, and then we went to the market with an initial resource. But we're doing something different here in that we don't have the deposit footprint really covered yet. We've drilled out and we found these significant results, and we want to show the potential early on.

So this is an initial estimate. There's potential to grow. And we're really confident with the next phase of drilling, we'll be able to grow this thing. We're not really thinking about PEA, only scoping study. I think it's too early, we just need more drilling. We need to sort of bolster the models, understand the continuity, work on the GMF, things like that.

And then I think once we've done the drilling later next year, we might be able to come back and look at the resource and decide what we're going to do with it. You can see the resource there Yes. So it's very exciting, significant result and a testament to how productive the Rakita and Timor campus.

So a question from the webcast, just picking up what pretty much what you just said, but the maiden resource is very exciting, but it's limited by the amount of current drilling. How do you think the grades and tonnage might evolve versus the estimate as more drilling and data becomes available? And then the follow-up to that is what are the areas of the highest potential in terms of increasing the resource around Dumitru Potok.

Yes. I think the Dumitru Potok contact cars, you see the 2 scans in the cross section and the Manta like Sky. That's where we see the grade. That's where we see the very favorable recoveries I think that's why we'll be focusing, looking at infilling and extending them. My guess is we'll be able to grow that, but consume we'll probably be looking at cutoff. We'll be looking at some of the other operational constraints. So we'll probably see tonnage increase, but hopefully grade increase as well. But I guess that's kind of something we'll be looking at. We can't really give you a straight answer just yet.

Okay. A question on the front.

I think Iliya just mentioned that the potential of the metro product, adding to life of mine or also increasing production. And if I understand that correctly, how would you increase production in the sense that you're limited by how much time that you can process, 85,000 tonnes. And if you displace material, say, from the metraprot which is about 1 gram gold and on ground copper, wouldn't you be displacing higher grade gold stuff to process this -- and given size, not sure can you can increase life of mine. But given the size, doesn't it look like it's especially gross, right?

As Ross said, if you are going to increase the pane here. wouldn't you rather contemplate a standalone production as opposed to increasing life of mine?

Dumitru Potok protocol will be a different mine that will be not additional Coka Rakita. There any more questions?

Just clarify the time line? If I may, I think you had said that first stopes arm waving in 2029 of first production in 2032 or something like that? For Demetropoulos, what would be a conceptual potential time line?

For Coka Rakita production in its first half of 2029 for the Metro proto conceptually. Now we are looking 2020-2023 to be in production. But do we need more work to do.

If I can just add 1 thing. I think we're assuming that Coka Rakita is well defined and that's it. what I think is a reasonable assumption is there's going to be materials more similar to Coka Rakita than to Demetriou. So the concept is that you can see the great profile at Coka Rakita we have a couple of early years, more than 200,000 ounces.

Clearly, as we're looking, we're going to be looking to find other things like that, that we can bring into that profile. So you extend the life of mine, but you also extend out that higher grade portion which will be produced through the facility we're bringing from Adata and building at Coka Rakita.

So with Dumitru, we are thinking about that as a separate stream. And I've sort of said this before, really added to -- if you eureka, that's a pilot plan compared to what we need for Dumitru Potok. These are significantly different scales.

Another question just in terms of what is the gorilla drive drill grid that you'll be targeting in terms of the next phase of drilling and resource upgrades?

Yes. I think right now, it's quite variable. We had a lot of challenges drilling at that depth. So the drill holes, you can see on the cross-section of navigational holes. We really try to make sure we hit the point as best as possible, but it was challenging. I think we'll be looking to sub 180-meter spacing, at least on the contact cars. We're probably not going to get to an indicated resource next, but we'll have a much more higher confidence in third resource that we might be able to look for a scoping study or something like that.

And what's the timing for that?

The timing, I think this year, we'll do the 20,000 meters that Stefan has spoken about. That will be done, I think, by Q3, I would imagine, and we'll look at the resource, we'll review it, and then we'll make a call on the next steps then if it will be a resource update and then leading into a PEA or there'll be a resource, and we'll continue to drive.

We just don't know that's the footprint. We don't know the size of it. And I think -- we really have to understand how big the siting is before we start getting into detailed marketing study.

And just to add on that, we just first face after discovery after, I would say, confirmation of our Georgia intending model. The first phase was aiming to have a good constraint and very good control on the geology. So we achieved that there are holes that are not included in the resource because of the distance, but we're quite confident that by infilling, we won't have serious interruptions. We might have displacements because of structures.

But next phase will aim at we have to fill the gaps in between and try to extend to north and south, not right. I think we'll extend it. It's a matter of technical challenges that Ross speaking, but I think we are improving on that as well. And every next car is getting more successful.

First few holes were taking 2 to 3 months each home. Right now, we're able to achieve 1 hole per month, 1.5 months, and I think we can get better than that.

Thank you. Two questions. What are the logistics or what would you have to do an exploration decline?

I just didn't pick up the first part. Okay. Thank you for the question. The exploration decline, what are our current plans. Actually, that's to start from the bottom Tokaito access decline. In a few hundred meters to turn in Northeast and from there, actually, where -- what we are looking to have a 1 permit for construction of the decline.

And from this to start the other the exploration because that is under 1 and the same, say, comp as permitting, we are looking, say, by the end of the next year, we to be able to start our latest this beginning of 2027 to start to decline next year, we to do the prep work

So the permitting is about a year process for a decline?

More or less, yes. models. Okay. Second question, not too worried about building kiss a small operation clearly come back. But at Cureus and even Olympias floor. There's -- we thought there was a lot of slack in the labor force in Greece, and it wouldn't be a problem for skills and it turned out there was one, okay? And then they started taking workers in different countries for El Dorado.

Just what is your -- I know this is a mining area. What is your anticipation just in terms of the build? Is there getting the right skills, et cetera? Is there any problems with unions as there was at [indiscernible] Olympias, any barriers like that you worry about in building in mine.

Yes. Actually, we don't expect to have because so far, we have really good -- okay, the unions that are our employees even now. We have there around 250 people, plus around 150 contractors, and we don't have issues. We don't have challenges. We have a well-established relationships and good level of trust. That's why we don't expect. Actually, what we find now for us is not that difficult to attract people, very well-qualified people in this region. And for 6, 7 general labor positions actually, we have more than 50 applications with very well qualified and with underground experience, miners.

Recognizing it's still early days here metropole and some of the other targets. But just confirming here, you're thinking access would be basically through the bottom of Coka Rakita? Or would you develop separate access -- and then I guess separately, are you considering sublevel cave at this point or something more productive?

And maybe another 1 I could, like phrasing it's hard to tell, but would that be more of an open pit target? Can you permit open pits or are these all underground?

That's what we are targeting now is to have this development and this exploration decline to be able to define really the ore bodies there. And based on that, we'll have a different access and different ventilation system, which will be separated by -- from Coka Rakita system. That will be 2 different -- will be 2 different mines.

For the mining methods, the most preferable from a social perspective is open stopping with backfill. So we were stopping with Pace. That's from the social perspective, that is the most accept, we didn't discount any mining methods at the moment. However, it's a bit earlier to say exactly in which mining method will go to use.

And just one more, if I could. On the billing side, though just confirming you are thinking about a separate mill and separate tailings.

Yes. Yes.

If there's any other questions on the Coka Rakita or the truck or the Rakita camp. I think we can we'll ask now. Otherwise, we will move forward and take a quick break. It says 10 to 11:10 on the slide, but we're moving a little quickly. So we'll ask everyone to be back at 10:40 Eastern.

[Break]

All right, everyone, we're going to pick right back up after the break. If you guys could please retake your seats. All right. Welcome back. We're now going to move into Vares since I'd like to invite Iliya, our Chief Operating Officer, to kick us off in that section.

Okay. Welcome to Vares operation. Very high level, the initial operational life is around 15 years. Well throughput capacity, 850,000 tonnes per annum. I will not go to reach all those. But just the most important only sustaining cost, how we see this at this moment and how we evaluate this around $500 per 1 since we took over, we -- we take 1 decision. Let's stop it and reurup everything, reshape the mine and start mining like mining guys.

What means that the deposit, the design and everything was for sublevel stopping with backfilling with no backfill fuel plant constructed and starting from top down. Or if I can take this bottle the things being like that we said, okay, let's stop it and for those 4 months, put in things back how it should be. We push -- we prioritize the decline in rent access. I may well -- I will come back to this later on.

Just to use this slide, we start pushing the declines to go to the bottom of the mine after Block 2, what you can see. We will be there by the end of the November 2026. We are planning to restart the production from January 2026 and split the main ore body in cube or blocks like block 1 and block 2. And at the same time, the developed Axis Block IV and Block 3 in Rupee Northwest part.

Why we're doing this first to put the things right there where they need to be. The open stoping, sublevel stoping with backfilling the required bottom-up. Second, to have -- to utilize the mine waste, which we will produce for backfill and to give time to construct the backfill paste plant, which now is under construction.

For -- in between those 2 blocks, Block 1 and Book as well as Block and Block IV, we're planning to leave sea pillars, same as in Chelopech. We already learned there how we do very efficient to extract those pillars without of any significant challenges related to ground stability or dilution and our losses. Exactly the same knowledge we will apply there.

I will go back now to increase the density of the drilling. At the moment the mesh is 40/40. We're looking to -- within drilling, we to be able to achieve 15 by 15 or maximum 2 -- at the moment, we have a under.

The second one is in mobilization beginning of January, that also will start in January 2026. In total, we are looking to drill between to 55,000 meters for next 3 years. However, we're looking to accelerate this program. At the moment, we -- we completed the drilling, which is needed to cover the first half of production of next year. We're planning the production rate by the end of the Q3 with to be on 850,000 tons of annual base.

And end of the Q3 and Q4 we to be on that design production levels. What makes us sure we will be able to achieve this. We already accelerate the development rates. We already are -- have over 415 meters per month only on the declines. At the same time, the sublevel development for the next year production is already completed from January, where we will start busting the stopes. I don't know how that work the laser. Yes, you can see. That's where we will start from January, February, March next year from bottom up of this.

Just as benchmarking in Chelopech our cost per meter for 25 square meters waste development, fully supported with mesh shotcrete and split sets, including the labor costs, is around $2,200 per meter. In Vares, at the moment, we are targeting that were around USD 40,00 USD 4,500. Where is coming this big difference? -- is predominantly from drilling blasting patterns and efficiency. When you drill 4 meters and you have a 2.5 meters advance, actually, you have 1.5 meters wasted. We already have great, great results with optimization of the drilling and blasting patterns.

We are working directly with our blasting suppliers there with Maxim to train the local workforce and improve their skills. For December, actually, the next 2 weeks, we will start blasting tests for the production earnings in the same -- with the same aim. -- to optimize the drilling blasting patterns and to be able to have -- to secure the ground stability. Not because we have consumers. We don't have concerns about that. But the aim is if we need to pre-support something that's to be pre-supported before we start production even during the development rates. You already can see how it's looking no.

At the moment, a different kind of fuel backfill was tested there, cemented rock fuel, aggregated fuel and also the Pope was not done in the industrial scale. When I talk about the ventilation, all those which is direct, that's what we are looking to be what is our ventilation design. We're busy to develop this event decline as well. That is the access to rupia Northwest for those books here.

And also, you can see the system of the return air races. How we are planning to do that. We are already in the discussions with our contractors from Chelopech for raise boring. And we are expecting within end of January to have a finalized contract with them, they to cover all our needs there as well.

The first slopes race with an optimized pattern was blasted and the difference is less than 5% between design and the actual, which is close to cost effect.

Any questions about if you're drilling Mineral Resources improvement?

Yes. Thank you very much for the update. Just confirming what you said was going to be ready by November 2029. And in terms of next year, any sort of guidance in terms of how we could think about the year, like first half, back half weighted production by tonnes?

By 2029, we will complete the entire infill drilling program. For the next year, for the first half of the year, we already covered with the drilling. And within December, January, February, we will cover the second half of the year with infield drilling.

From here, the mine looks very twisted. Okay. With the decline we are here, we are passing the [indiscernible] Northwest access. And we are planning to start the production from here. All that is developed, and we are ready there.

Production for next year? Or is that...

That will come from that will come from this level. And in the end of the year, 2 stops from here. November, December, we will be here at 135 level.

And then as we ramp production throughout the year to reach the targeted throughput rate by Q4, can you talk about how that throughput will be ramping up?

Yes. Okay. Quarter-by-quarter, we're looking to ramp up in September next year, we're looking on monthly production rates to be equal to 850,000 tonnes per annum, which is 70,000 to 75,000 tonnes per month, September, October, November, December.

Okay. Jeremy have a question?

Just a quick confirmation. That 50 to 55 kilometers of drilling you're planning to do. That's all in fill whole.

One back Yes. Yes.

Okay. That's just infill to be carried out over the next 3 years, I'm assuming we'll talk about exploration a bit later.

That is not the regional exploration that is just in fuel drilling. Grade control plus resource development drilling.

All right. The question was about what do we expect to be the ramp rate. So what we said is that we're going to -- given we've only had the asset now for 3 months, we're going to update the 2026 outlook at the end of February. So this is with the Q4 results. And we'll also give the 3-year outlook. But just in principle, we're at the -- basically, at the bottom of Block 1, 90% of the production comes from Block 1 next year. So basically, what we will be doing sort of in that activity as well ramping up.

So the first quarter will be significantly less than the second quarter. And at the end of the third quarter, we'll be at a full production rate at 850,000 tonnes per year annual equivalent. Fourth quarter is fully at that rate. So we'll give more clarity about what that is. with the 2026 update. So at this point, we have those plans in place. We've developed to the point we need.

We'll start mining early in the new year. We're already testing the blasting patterns and the -- with the explosives provider and the support that we'll go into that. All of this is intended to be able to give us what we're looking for in the past at the right efficiency with the right fragmentation. Right -- it's cold is crazy. All right. So with the right dilution and so on. So we're pretty confident about where we've got 3 months in. We completely refocused activities at the mine focused on decline development rather than it was more lateral development and secondary consideration was decline development. We've done that successfully. We're working with the teams to be able to make the change from an expat labor force to a local labor force. So we've been recruiting in order to make that happen and where we have people already in place basically working through the process to have people competent and capable of doing this. And we're doing that with a mix of different teams. So we brought people in from Chelopech and you might look at this in consideration of what's going to be happening with Coka Rakita as well.

So what we're doing here is we're testing the operational readiness that we prepared for Coka Rakita and the lead of operational readiness in the former General Manager of Atopic previously, the maintenance lead for Chelopech. So we've got this broad background of expertise. That person is actually there at the moment, working with Iliya and the team in order to support the development of these skills. And what I'm saying is that between the teams that we brought in from Chelopech, some external support in terms of professional services, we're very happy with the way we've been progressing the different elements of this work such that we'll be able to do 2 things.

One is to achieve the expected levels of efficiency in terms of both development and mining and also transfer those skills. So it's largely going to be a local labor force able to do this. So at the moment, we've got around 85 expats at site. We anticipate that reducing dramatically during the course of next year, which has 2 benefits. One is better local ownership, of course, as people start to feel the benefit of our mining in this area. -- but also making sure that we're bringing down the costs associated with this initial commissioning and development of the mine that is associated with bringing experienced people as experts.

So I would say overall, there was 1 slide in there that you skip through that I think is really important in all of this. Everything that we're doing has been very clearly focused on making sure that not just our employees, but our stakeholders are very engaged in this future. So we've been reaching out actively to the communities and the leadership and looking to make sure that we develop constructive relationships for the future of this asset. That has a number of impacts, but one of them is what was just touched on a few moments ago. And that's making sure we've got the right exploration opportunities where we feel there's real potential. And Northwest of this asset is certainly one area where we feel there's good opportunity, and that's associated with [indiscernible]. So what you see here is the opening of a new information center that we did in the course of the last quarter in the original engagements that we've had there. don't know there's any questions.

Dave, we have one from the webcast just in terms of -- what are we thinking in terms of optimizations beyond reaching nameplate throughput. There was talk at 1 point from the previous owner about expanding up to 1.3 million tonnes per annum. How are we thinking about that in terms of how we're prioritizing the work -- and is there -- do we think there is that opportunity to increase throughput beyond the 850 tonnes.

Yes. So the first thing that we do is make sure that we're fully utilizing what we've got. So if you think about it, when we first arrived, there were a few different things that were constraints that we need to make sure that we released. So the first one was tailings. So getting in place a tailings facility for the first 5 years and preparing for the second 5 years of operation was a priority.

The other thing is making sure that we're utilizing the metallurgical facility, which has been a constraint to date. -- and also the haulage making sure we're using this effectively. So it's not just the mine. It's also the haulage, it's also the metallurgical facility and the tailings. So the way to fully optimize that is not to start by thinking you're going to expand, but to figure out what you can actually do with what you've got.

We're pretty good at this in terms of an operating company. We pride ourselves in our ability to optimize. So what we've done first is by going to bottom-up rather than top-down, that straightaway gives you some efficiencies in terms of costs. So if you have a look at the PFS, we talked about moving from $130 a ton to $100 a ton. And with that, you also get 2 things. You get better ore body recovery and you get reduced dilution.

So now think about what that means when you come out of the mine or using the whole road for the same amount of transportation, you're getting more ounces moved across to the mill. Similarly, if the mill is constrained, you're better utilizing the capacity of the mill and the same with the tailings facility. So the first thing for us is like to get everything working the way it should.

Now by moving into Zone 1, Zone 1 is actually a little higher in grade than what is the overall resource grade for the ore body. So we've already said because we've sort of heard comments that people may be a little worried about whether we're going to achieve the PFS. It's one of the reasons why we came out and not giving numbers, but we said we're going to beat on tonnage, we will beat on grades. And the bottom line of that is that's going to mean there's going to be more ounces coming out next year. But just to be clear, we'll clarify exactly what that's going to be in the information that will come out at the end of February. But we're very confident about our ability to do this and everything so far in terms of the work that we've done is supporting this.

So now to get to the idea of, well, what do you do after do you consider opportunities to expand? I think first of all, we've got our focus fully set on let's get efficiency where we are. that's, like I said, going to decrease cost by about 30%. So that's already a pretty significant change if you can make that happen. But on top of that, we'll also realize there'll be other opportunities for efficiencies. So from that, then we'll determine the next steps.

So during the course of next year, we're putting in an additional tailings falter. So it's already been expanded from 50 to 55 place before we took over. That should get to close to the full capacity requirement of the mill. And this previously was a constraint. In addition to that, we've got a second mill going -- sorry, second tailings filter going in the second half of the year. So that'll totally release that constraint.

In terms of milling, there are some constraints, but we can have a look at what we can potentially do in terms of combination between blasting fragmentation, crushing and milling in order to optimize that in terms of both costs and efficiencies. So the bottom line is that very much a work in progress. But as you've seen where we built Chelopech to 2 to 2 million tonnes, -- and then within 2 years, we're at 2.2 million tonnes. I think that's more what you might expect from our activities as opposed to just jumping to something that's bigger.

Now being said that, we are going to be looking at exploration, looking to develop our understanding of the ore body, looking to extend beyond the 15 years that we have in the PFS. And obviously, as we do that, we'll look at how we debottleneck how we look to create future value. So I'll pause there other questions?

Okay. There is a question about one slide we haven't touched on yet, which is about the paste backfill plant just in terms of timing? And what does that -- how is that factor into the ramp-up that we expect in 2026.

The plan is the best backfill plant to be commissioned and fully operational by the end of the Q2. We will need this from production point of view in the middle of Q3. So far, everything is on track. The stores, which will be opened the first quarter in the second quarter. We will fuel cement to fill from the waste, which we produce from the declines.

And as David said, our focus now is to fix the pace, then to optimize and then to look for the opportunities to make the next step of the increasing production and productivity.

Excellent. Another question just in terms of one of the things that DPM highlighted the initial phases when we talked about the acquisition was the strategy around expats and bringing in and developing the local lever. Can you talk a little bit about how that has progressed since over the past 3 months? And where our plans in respect of talent development.

Okay. Thank you for the question. At -- yes. We started with 85 exports. At the moment, we are 77. We are looking by mid next year or to be on half of those and in the end of the next year, we have around 10 to 12 exports, which are the future trainers for Coka Rakita. That's what we are working for.

Where we are with the training. So far, at the moment, all frontline supervisors, the ship [indiscernible], all of them are locals. The superintendents level, all of them, excluding one are local.

At the moment, we have training programs, which we take people from Coka Rakita Chelopech. And also, we have a trainer from Chelopech, to Vares, we have from Chelopech to Vares, the trailers. And just, again, I will go to the development rates on the declines. 6 months ago, the rate was around 15 to 20 meters per month. Our last month, November, finished with 415 meters. I will say we are well on track with training Coka Rakita people.

[indiscernible] that was now versus the number?

Around 15 to 18 meters in the decline in 5, 6 months. Are usually leaving this kind of for almost the end of the presentation because for us, that is the base, but also the future of the base of the current and the future of the company, everywhere where we are.

The stakeholder engagement, I will translate to the mining world. Those stakeholders are our employees. And those employees are our best agents of influence. They are our best representatives. We've been able to open information center in [indiscernible]. And why that is very important for us. if you see here on the right side, where is the Block 3 is written, that's where is the border [indiscernible] municipality.

With developing -- establishing and developing trustful relationships, we are looking to unlock for exploration activities this part -- what is the difference between 1 and the rest of the [indiscernible] countries. Actually, a lot of things depend on municipality stake permits, not from the upper levels in the government.

And there is a great potential to increase the life of mine. If you look from this, that is the right size. In reality, that is Northwest. Let me show -- yes. Yes, the Vares is -- the operation is here. We have a potential to increase here, but also a great comp, which in a few minutes, I will give a chance to my colleague, Stefan to talk a little bit more about that.

At the moment, we had several meetings with the local authorities. Each one of those meetings being very positive. During those meetings, we invite authorities they to come and to visit Chelopech to understand what we are looking for and what kind of standards we are operating.

Just a few days ago, they've been deputy ministers level, plus the lead person from different directors different spectra from Bose 6 people in total, including combining, including environmental and including the geology, of course, they've been surprised what they saw in Chelopech. But what was the most important thing they said, we're pretty sure you will have the same standards there. Otherwise, you will not invite us here.

Now we have a pace to hold you accountable on. And what, again, what they said. You have our full support to modernize our mining industry in Bosnia and to attract more investments.

Okay. Okay. Should we move to exploration.

If there is no more questions about that, I will ask Stephane just to step up to talk about -- sure.

Thank you, Ili. well, a few things to say on the exploration potential here. We have a very significant line package. We're talking for over 40 square kilometers of exploration ground. The people before us were good in acquiring land. So the permitting regime in the country is quite favorable, getting permits for drilling takes just again, similar to Serbia just a couple of weeks or a month. What we are planning, and it's already going on is really to relook on the model of what this deposit means.

I'm not a fan of drilling for the sake of drilling, filling gaps with drill holes is costly and doesn't bring much success, except you're very, very lucky. We want to continue the effort and the team is quite competent on that and confident to build up a model and we explore based on the model. So far, the rupee mine is considered as aesthetics, what I see there on a very first look is that we have an overprint of something that looks like VMS.

And for those of you that have exploration experience, should understand that the exploration potential and the way we look on exploration is completely different. So we're stepping back now. It doesn't mean that we won't be drilling. You see that we have 20,000 meters for next year plan, but we have to spend this money and meet her smart. So we're going to start from brownfield exploration near mine, as Iliya was saying, expand to the Northwest when we have the permits. But meanwhile, do all the testing that we have in this pizza West license that you see. We have some very good geophysical signatures.

We believe that there might be some deeper potential as well. So we're going to start from the norm towards the known expense over the build that you can see it spreading almost 15 kilometers along this Northwest Southeast take. One important thing to highlight here is that in this belt, we have multiple deposits of different styles.

We have a siderite iron ore mine in the middle. We have several occurrences that have been mined in [indiscernible] time, I think. So -- and they never been followed up. We started seeing some donation on the metal endowment. We see more copper going south but it's still to come. We have to build up the concept. We have to build a model and start thinking based on that, what else is there.

We see already some copper endowment structures at surface. There is a mapping crew doing that basic work now. So if I have to use Iliya's rhetoric, I would say that we are trying to -- let's stop and do the exploration, the way that exploration people do it. We have to be really smart and develop a concept and then -- the company is quite keen to funds in the next step. So this 20,000 meters, I see them just as touching the ground. And if we find something of significance next year, we'll increase that budget. -- as much as it's needed.

Stefan, where do you think the greatest potential in terms of resource expansion will be for Vares package?

Yes, of course, we'll be looking for the near-mine opportunities first. We have a quite contrast geophysical anomaly just southeast of the known deposit. Of course, once we have the permits to go northwest, we'll do that as well. But expanding the resource of New mine is our high priority, we'll continue going further Southeast, of course, depending on distance and infrastructure, we might be talking for a completely different mine in the future. But for now, exploration potential is all over this dinner right belt.

The geology is there. It's complicated. It will take time to realize structures and all that, but we're planning some geophysics for that respect as well. So potential, I would say, if I have to answer shortly, all the way in the white polygons that you see. But we'll start from the Northwest. Next year, we'll be focus to expand along the belt.

Is there any questions in the room regarding Vares.

So the question was, what was the historical problems with [ Hakone ] and why had the previous owner been able to drill?

I would say they have a different approach to the local communities. And for me, that was a strange way to build the trust. I will not go to comment their actions. They did it what they did it. That's why they didn't been able to go and take or whatever they -- our approach is, I would say, at opposite. First, we build the trust, then we start educating people what we are looking for, and then we go and do it for -- if I recall now, for 3, 3.5 months already, we presented there, we have a good progress with building the trust.

And there is one visit is just 1 of the examples. We are planning to organize a visit for local municipalities leaders in Q1 next year to Chelopech. They took come and to see -- they have a great experience with the coal-mining. They don't have I will say, almost any experience with underground hardrock mining, they used to have a lot of open pits, hard rock open pits like iron and late zinc, but not underground for the means coal mining.

What are the key issues that the community is concerned with?

Like I will say, like everywhere else, water, air pollution and the employment -- that's what.

Okay. So nothing in particular that sticks out or you could say in Momalarga, it's the water. There's no overarching concern that?

No. I will say that is not concerns about tons that's being concerned about the whole mining industry, how during the common time how the mining companies used to operate. without not that much here, what will be after them or when production is completed, that's why we pay attention a lot to invite it to not tell them we will do this or the other. We say, come and see how we operate, come and talk with our guys over there, not just with our guys like our employees, but also with our stakeholders because our languages are not that different, and they can talking between.

By the way, 3 years ago, we organized similar visit from the Jacobs municipality to [indiscernible] pitch and the people we just let them for almost half, they to go to speak with the local guys outside of us. Then what can be more open and more transparent than that.

For anyone who is not aware of Jakavi as the community located close to the Coka Rakita.

All right. realizing you've only had the asset for 3 months, but has there been any surprises to the positive or on the other side to the negative or anything that you can see maybe taking longer than you had originally kind of expected?

That is like you buy a house. You always will find something there. Yes, we did it very, very detailed due diligence. That's why I will say surprises not. But yes, we find different things after we took over. Because one thing issue to be there for 2, 3 days, completely different thing is so to be every day, 24 hours.

If I can say surprise, that will be more on this perspective, the willingness of local to take day to take the lead -- they've been -- I -- if I can classify or if I can work reward like that, somehow, they've been negligent. -- election been neglected. I have some kind of doubts because the change when the local superintendents took over the date was sixth of October. Actually, since then you can see a lot of progress on the also implementation of the standards, any kind of standards, safety, even though working relationships, how people interact in between them, 1 symbol now, which is easy when you go there, you rarely will see somebody stay on surface.

Then previously, that what was the common or to bluster pace, the decline phase and to wait 36 hours for ventilation, that means something or ventilation is at sufficient. They have a great even much more than capacity. But when you don't regulate those, like we can put it a bit on here to all windows and doors. We'll not do anything, just we will run power and just go around.

That's why I will say that was a really good surprise if we can talk about the surprises, how people been ready to step up and how ones they are when they say, I don't know. That's what I like to love.

Just related to some of the other questions. This is an historic mining area at a lot of pits. Is there -- what legacy issues are there for the area is, whether it's water or any other contamination. And how if at all, does that impact what's been done so far in terms of building this mine?

There are if we can talk about the legacy, there are 2 kinds of legacies. So one of the legacy is during the commonist time how the mining industry used to operate in all our -- this part of the world. In this legacy, we have great support from any authority. They understand up that is not created by us, and that are the things which are 60, 70 or 80 years old, they're far away from the mine. However, they are looking from us with to implement high-level standards and they to be able to learn from these standards and to apply even in their like own operating mines.

The other -- the second kind of legacy is from the previous owner from Adriatic. Again, if I can classify this like legacy, they missed 1 very significant, very important step during development of the project, and that is the operational readiness. And as legacy being built something like that's okay to revenue, or you just need to build something and that will start to operate itself just like that.

Then we -- so far, I think we've been very successful to explain and educate people, you need this. You don't get -- even if you buy a new car for the first 3, 4, 5 days, even weeks you drive this a little bit careful until you learn how to drive. That's what is the operational reads.and that's what was like. That's why I don't classify this like legacy. Of course, there are things, which didn't be looked from the operational point of view. And that's why we design or reorganize the things.

That's what is one of the things is the with asphalt, [indiscernible] on the roads. Of course, that's a managed the water. And also increase the efficiency of the take. So far all these which are to the local villages all that was assaulted. People have been really, really happy when they see this. You come and the good things start happened. That's what was the feedback.

And the other, the road between rupee mine and the at process plant, around 70% we've been able to complete the asphalt and because now there is already winter when is the spring when the snow is melted, we will finish, let's say, by mid next year, all that will be completed. And there was also one temporary tailings facility, which we need to remove.

We started around 40% of that is removed. That's what was the critical part the rest will mark cheaper remove for the same reason because it's slow always been.

The water quality and the surrounding communities in the whole area is it's reasonably good.

Water quality is but it's a drinking quarter. And again, our approach is the same like in Chelopech. The water is very, very key resource, not just for us, that is for every way. Everybody needs drinking water.

As we've kind of dived in more on Q&A. -- get a broader question over the webcast. Just looking at our Loma Larga project, -- has there been any progress on government tax or an arbitration decision regarding the canceled environment, dental permit for LomoLarga? I think we'll -- so Mickey restaff our SVP of Sustainable Development, who is leading the Lumada project, we'll take that question.

Yes. Thanks, Jennifer, and thanks for the question. We maintain all the options open for now. And what I'm going to say is that it's important for now to let the situation to depoliticize, -- and we're looking, obviously, not only on the next step that we need to take on, but also for the whole journey until this mine is actually put in operation. So not in a hurry to get into and making a decision for now. It's important for the motions to come down. where after that, we can engage with stakeholders and have a constructive dialogue. Are there any other questions? Yes, Eric.

Just a quick question on Vares the tailings. Can you remind me, you built a new road, I think, is that correct? And how is the tailings capacity there? And I guess that roads in service now, I guess you're trucking are you at right.

At the moment, the current earnings facility, which is permitted, it's -- the first stage is permitted, which secured 5 years of production. And we are busy to design or actually to review the design and complete the permit for the second stage, which will give another five years.

And then can you just remind me with Ada Tepe winding down next year, can you just remind me of what sort of the remediation sort of cost timing and plans are there?

Okay. The mining operation will be completed by middle of IPO. First week of July, the process the whole material will be processed. And since then, we will start the final [indiscernible], which is for -- it's planned for in total for 18 months until end of 2027. And after that, have 3 years post closure monitoring -- post-closure monitoring after water [ quality ].

What's the estimated sort of cost over that period?

I will come back to you.

Yes. So that was EUR 14.5 million total closure liability. Okay. If there are no further questions, just a reminder for those of us in the room, we'll be serving lunch shortly after the close of the formal presentation. But for now, I'd like to invite Dave to come back up and provide some closing remarks.

Thank you.

Thanks very much, everybody. So we've had a chance to walk through some of the details of what it is that we're doing, but maybe let's just step back for a moment. So if we have a look at the acquisition of [indiscernible] and we look at the add-on to what we got with Chelopech, there's a couple of things to know. So first of all, next year, you can see that we've got the groundwork in order to extend the reserve life at Chelopech beyond 10 years. Historically, this has been 8 years. And then if you look at the resources with a typical conversion rate, you're looking at 15 years in total. So we're looking to really push that out. And we're doing that by virtue of increasing the real estate and the opportunities by getting these additional licenses move through to concessions. And we're also looking a little more creatively at what have been the previous lines of thought that you might test in order to be able to find additional material and [indiscernible] is a good example of how something that previously we thought was not an opportunity has now turned out to be an opportunity.

So bringing together, Chelopech plus [indiscernible] our two operations in 2027, when we're on full production with both will be at 425,000 equivalent ounces per year, gold equivalent ounces. And then with Coka Rakita on top of that, we're anticipating commencing in 2029. That's going to be in the first few years at a rate depending on when we started in the year, closer to 200,000 ounces per year over and above the equivalent ounces at [ 600 ]. So we're starting to head now towards the 800,000 ounces per year. Then you've got the [indiscernible] it's very early yet. But I think the idea that by 2032, 2033, we'll have something coming in from that at this point, early days, but that's the type of thing that I think is realistic.

Let's talk about some of the other things that we're doing. So at the same time that we're looking at using our current plans. And basically, if you look at [indiscernible], we're lifting and shifting what it is that we've learned in the operation in terms of both the preparation for Ada Tepe and the routine operation at Chelopech, we're taking that across to [indiscernible] and building on the work that's been done by Adriatic. And some of that work by the way has been very good. Some of it leaves room for optimization. And of course, that's exactly what we're doing. So bringing in things like short interval controls, the -- basically, the practices that we have, that's been something we've been able to recognize and prepare for and keep in mind, we're preparing for Coka Rakita. We're now basically having a chance to refine that with [indiscernible] to once again pass on to Coka Rakita after this.

So we're pretty excited about the way all this is working together. It's building out a high-margin portfolio not just ounces, but high margin similar to what we've had at Chelopech and Ada Tepe historically. So we're pretty excited about the ability to generate a free cash flow that supports our growth ambitions going forward.

So if we come back then and unless there are any other questions, as we bring today's events to a close, I just want to reiterate that we're really excited about the way it is that we've managed to translate some of these opportunities into this future outlook in terms of production. The progress we've shared with you today reflects the dedication and expertise of our team. And I just want to reiterate what Iliya has been saying and others have been saying, our team we see and the ability to do what we do is very much down to how we integrate and we actually talk to our shareholders, and we take them along on the journey so that they're excited to see this impact on their future as much as we're interested in seeing an impact on ours. We're very confident in the foundation that we've built and combined with our existing growth prospects and financial position, we do believe this will allow us to deliver our growth ambitions and generate strong returns for our investors.

Something that I would like to do before we conclude is I'd like to take a moment to recognize two of our team members that we sadly lost this year. So one is Peter Gillin, our Chair, and I'm happy to see Andrew join us today. Thank you for making the time. And also, Paul Ivascanu, who we lost unexpectedly recently, who was our VP of Exploration. Both played important roles in shaping the achievements we're discussing today, and we're deeply grateful for their contributions, and they will always remain a part of our success story.

Other than that, what I would like to do is thank you again for joining us today, both in person and online, and we look forward to sharing more milestones with you in the months ahead. Thank you.

Thank you, everyone. And for anyone on the webcast, that concludes our event. Thank You.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the DPM Metals Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Jennifer Cameron. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning. I'm Jennifer Cameron, Director, Investor Relations, and I'd like to welcome you to the DPM Third Quarter Conference Call. Joining us today are members of our senior management team, including David Rae, President and CEO; and Navin Dyal, Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that all forward-looking information provided during this call is subject to the forward-looking qualification, which is detailed in our news release and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call. Certain financial measures referred to during this call are not measures recognized under IFRS and are referred to as non-GAAP measures or ratios. These measures have no standardized meanings under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The definitions established and calculations performed by DPM are based on management's reasonable judgment and are consistently applied. These measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with IFRS. Please refer to the non-GAAP financial measures section of our most recent MD&A for reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures.

Please note that unless otherwise stated, operational and financial information communicated during this call are related to continuing operations and have generally been rounded. References to 2024 pertain to the comparable periods in 2024 and references to averages are based on midpoints of our outlook or guidance. I'll now turn the call over to David Rae.

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. I'm proud to report that DPM delivered record financial results during the quarter, including record revenue, earnings and free cash flow, results that reflect reliable high-margin production from our portfolio and the strength of the current gold price environment. Highlights from the third quarter include solid production of 64,000 gold ounces and 7.8 million pounds of copper, continued strong margins with an all-in sustaining cost of $1,168 per ounce of gold sold compared to an average realized gold price of $3,635 an ounce. Record free cash flow generation of $148 million, which further strengthens our financial capacity to fund growth.

During the quarter, we achieved a major milestone with the closing of the Adriatic acquisition, successfully bringing the high-grade Vareš operation into our portfolio and transforming our long-term production profile. I'm pleased to report that integration activities are progressing very well. From day 1, we focused on embedding DPM's health and safety practices at Vareš, including the well-being of our people, and this remains our top priority. We've also begun to transform training programs for local personnel and engaging with stakeholders, important steps as we build a strong foundation for long-term success.

Looking ahead, we are advancing our priorities at Vareš, including driving the decline to the bottom of the ore body and advancing construction of the paste backfill plant. We're on target to achieve a ramp-up to an 850,000 tonne per annum rate by the end of next year. I'm also pleased to note that we're now expecting higher production at Vareš in 2026 than previously anticipated as a result of higher tonnes gold and silver grades compared to the Vareš PFS. We will provide a detailed update on our expectations for 2026, along with our 3-year outlook in February.

Turning now to review our operations in more detail and starting with Chelopech. Chelopech produced 44,000 ounces of gold and 7.8 million pounds of copper with an all-in sustaining cost of $671 per ounce of gold sold. Cash costs of $63 per tonne of ore processed were on target for the quarter, reflecting Chelopech's track record of solid efficient operations, and the mine is on track to meet its 2025 guidance targets for 2025, subject to market dynamics. We continue to prioritize in-mine and brownfields exploration work to further extend mine life at Chelopech, targeting a 10-year plus reserve life.

During the quarter, underground drilling was primarily focused on the Wedge Zone Deep target, which is located on the northern flank of the Chelopech mine concession, approximately 300 meters below existing mineral reserves. This newly discovered zone of high-sulphidation mineralization is presented as a zone of continuous high-grade mineralization over an interval of approximately 150 meters downhole and has been outlined in two close-spaced drill holes to date. Further drilling is in progress from multiple locations to better understand the extent of the mineralization.

Production at Ada Tepe increased in the third quarter as anticipated, producing approximately 19,400 ounces of gold with an all-in sustaining cost of $1,030 per ounce of gold sold. Ada Tepe is on track to achieve its guidance for the year.

Turning now to the Loma Larga project in Ecuador. I want to provide an update on recent developments and our path forward. At the end of September, we released the results of an updated feasibility study, which highlighted the potential for the project to deliver attractive returns. During the second quarter, we achieved a significant milestone with the issuance of the environmental license. This was the result of a rigorous process to ensure high Ecuadorian standards were applied to the development of the project. We're confident that our environmental management plan and robust environmental protection measures not only complied with those standards, but also reflect DPM's proven track record of responsible development and our commitment to international best practices.

However, in October, we received notification from the Ministry of Environment and Energy that the environmental license for Loma Larga was revoked. We are evaluating all available options to preserve value and optionality for our shareholders, including assessing legal avenues. In line with our capital discipline, we're planning to minimize further spending on the project until this issue is resolved and have reverted back to our original guidance for 2025.

We continue to focus on developing quality growth assets such as Coka Rakita. The feasibility study is advancing on schedule and on track for completion by year-end. We successfully completed all surface and underground geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling, and we're now moving the design forward to the basic engineering level. Planning for project execution and operational readiness is proceeding as planned, ensuring that we are well positioned for the next phase of development.

As we noted in our news release last night, most of the baseline studies required for the environmental and social impact assessment have been completed. The Certificate of Resources and Reserves has been approved by the technical committee, and we look forward to initiating the Special Purpose Spatial Plan once approved to do so. Based on an updated permitting time line, we now expect mine construction to commence in early 2027 with first production of concentrate targeted for the first half of 2029.

We are maintaining close and proactive engagement with the relevant authorities to support this permitting process, and we remain confident in the overall progress at Coka Rakita. Key technical work streams are advancing as planned, and our proactive stakeholder engagement continues to support our path forward -- sorry, our path toward receiving the necessary approvals and advancing development activities on schedule. We're closely monitoring permitting time lines and implementing mitigation measures to ensure that we're ready to move forward with construction as soon as approvals are in place.

In terms of our exploration activities at the Rakita camp, we continue to be excited by the impressive drill results which are clearly demonstrating the existence of a large copper gold system analogous to other large porphyry skarn systems globally. Results from Dumitru Potok are continuing to confirm the presence of a large high-grade gold-silver skarn system -- copper-gold-silver skarn system, with the mineralization concentrated along both the eastern and western sides of an intrusion. In September, we released results from one of the most significant intercepts at Dumitru Potok to date with 132 meters grading over 3.9% copper. Down the same hole, there was a 20-meter gap and then another 76 meters at 2.47% copper equivalent. On the western side of the intrusion, we extended the widest extent of mineralization by approximately 200 meters to the south and drilling to date has outlined about 600 meters of strike length of high-grade skarn contact mineralization.

We also continue to see strong results in the Rakita North, Frasen and Valja Saka prospects, all located within 1 to 2 kilometers from Coka Rakita. Located adjacent to planned Coka Rakita infrastructure, the Dumitru Potok has the potential to unlock additional value and growth potential for an already high-margin, high-return organic project.

We are targeting resource estimates for the Dumitru Potok, Rakita North and Frasen targets by year-end and have increased our exploration budget as we continue to target high potential areas within the 6-kilometer trend that we have identified to date. Based on drilling to date, mineralization has been detected over a 1-kilometer strike length up to 300 meters vertically and up to 500 meters away from the intrusion.

I want to pause for a moment in order to acknowledge the significant contribution Paul Ivascanu, our Vice President of Exploration, who tragically and unexpectedly passed away in October. Paul was more than a leader at DPM. His passion, mentorship, which developed an impressive exploration team and his unwavering commitment to our values has left a deep impression on all of those who worked with him. Under his leadership, our exploration team's efforts have significantly transformed the future of DPM, driving the discovery of Coka Rakita, Dumitru Potok and identifying many other opportunities. On behalf of all of us at DPM, I extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends who we are keeping in our thoughts.

I'll now turn the call over to Navin for a review of the financial results.

Thanks, Dave. I would also like to acknowledge Paul's contribution and our condolences to his family and his friends. Returning to our quarter results, I'll be touching briefly on the financial highlights for the quarter, provide an update on our guidance for the year and conclude with some commentary on our balance sheet. All of my remarks will focus on results from continuing operations, unless otherwise noted.

Looking at our financial results. Third quarter highlights include revenue of $267 million, adjusted net earnings of $129 million or $0.73 per share, cash flow provided from operating activities of $185 million and free cash flow of $148 million. Overall, we saw record financial results during the quarter, which reflected our strong operating performance, the low-cost nature of our operations, a favorable commodity price environment and the initial contributions from Vareš following the closing of the acquisition of Adriatic on September 3 of this year.

Looking at our earnings and cash flow in more detail. Revenue was $267 million in the third quarter, an increase of $120 million compared to 2024 due to higher realized metal prices and higher volumes of gold sold as well as the inclusion of $42 million of post-acquisition revenue from Vareš. Adjusted net earnings in the third quarter of $129 million or $0.73 per share increased by $83 million compared to the prior year due primarily to higher revenue, partially offset by higher mark-to-market adjustments to share-based compensation expenses, higher depreciation expense and a stronger euro relative to the U.S. dollar. Adjusting items for the quarter, not reflective of the underlying operations of the company include a $25 million noncash fair value adjustment on inventories at Vareš recognized in cost of sales and Adriatic acquisition-related costs incurred by DPM totaling $10 million.

Cash flow provided from operating activities of $185 million for the quarter was higher than the prior year mainly due to higher earnings generated during the period and the timing of sales and payments to suppliers. Free cash flow, which is calculated before changes in working capital was $148 million for the quarter, an increase of $77 million compared to 2024 due primarily to higher adjusted net earnings generated in the quarter.

Taking a look at our cost metrics. All-in sustaining costs per ounce of gold sold for the first 9 months of 2025 of $1,136 were 32% higher than 2024 due primarily to higher mark-to-market adjustments to share-based compensation expenses, lower volumes of gold sold and a stronger euro relative to the U.S. dollar, partially offset by lower freight charges. Mark-to-market adjustments to share-based compensation expenses resulted in an increase of $193 per ounce of gold sold compared to an increase of $43 per ounce of gold sold in 2024. We continue to expect our 2025 all-in sustaining costs to be between $780 to $900 per ounce of gold sold, keeping in mind that our all-in sustaining cost guidance remains subject to external factors such as mark-to-market impact of DPM share price as well as metal prices and foreign exchange movements relative to our guidance assumptions.

In terms of our capital spending, sustaining capital expenditures of $9 million for the quarter were lower than 2024 due primarily to lower expenditures on mobile equipment at Chelopech as expected and lower deferred stripping costs as a result of lower stripping ratios at Ada Tepe in line with the mine plan. Growth capital expenditures of $10 million for the quarter, excluding $2 million of capital spending at Vareš were higher than 2024 as a result of costs related to Coka Rakita project being capitalized from the beginning of this year.

Last night, we provided updated guidance for 2025, reflecting our success year-to-date with our exploration activities in Serbia. Based on positive results, exploration expenses are now expected to be between $49 million, $54 million, up $5 million. In July, we had increased our growth capital expenditures related to Loma Larga. However, following the revocation of the environmental license, we now expect 2025 growth capital expenditures for the project to remain at the original guidance range of $12 million to $14 million in 2025, and we plan to minimize spending at the Loma Larga project until the issue with the environmental license is resolved.

Our 3-year outlook does not reflect the operating and financial results of Vareš as we expect minimal production for the balance of 2025, consistent with the Vareš Technical Report that we filed in June of this year. As the Vareš mine ramps up to achieving commercial production by the end of 2026, the mine's 2026 production is now expected to be better than previously anticipated with higher ore processed and higher gold and silver grades when compared to the Vareš Technical Report. We will provide an updated 3-year outlook for Vareš along with our corporate guidance in February 2026.

We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet and cash position. At the end of the quarter, after spending $400 million in cash for the Adriatic transaction, $136 million to retire Adriatic's debt and a total of $137 million returned to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks under the company's normal course issuer bid, or NCIB, our consolidated cash position was $414 million. With our strong free cash flow generation, balance sheet, no debt and a $150 million undrawn revolving credit facility, we are in a unique position with the financial strength to fund our peer-leading growth pipeline, invest in compelling exploration prospects while continuing to return a portion of our free cash flow to our shareholders.

In closing, we continue to deliver strong performance from our mining operations and continue our track record of generating significant free cash flow. We remain in a strong cash position and are focused on our growth.

I will now turn the call back to Dave for his concluding remarks.

Thanks, Navin. This is an exciting time for DPM and our shareholders as we look to our future as a growing precious metals producer, offering a peer-leading development pipeline, a strong balance sheet and capital returns, all of which are underpinned by our exceptional operational track record. Our portfolio is generating solid consistent results, and we are very well positioned as one of the lowest cost, highest growth producers.

We are generating strong free cash flow and delivering peer-leading returns to shareholders. We're focused on executing a safe, efficient ramp-up at Vareš. We're nearing completion on the Coka Rakita feasibility study. We have substantial financial strength to fund growth opportunities and exploration, and we are focused on executing our strategy to deliver above-average returns for our shareholders as a mid-tier precious metals company. DPM has a clear path forward, and we're very excited about our future.

I'd now like to open the call for any questions.

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Fahad Tariq of Jefferies.

First on Vareš, you mentioned that you expect 2026 production to be higher than previously anticipated. I appreciate we'll get the guidance in the first quarter. But maybe just talk about where the higher tonnage is coming from. The higher gold grades and silver grades, I believe that's a function of probably resequencing and maybe ore sorting, but where is the higher tonnage coming from? What process improvement is leading to that?

Yes, there's nothing on ore sorting, just to be clear, in terms of our outlook. What it's coming from is we brought in our teams to work with the Vareš team that we've acquired. And we worked on what we can do during the course of next year, that primarily focused on development initially. And then as we open up the different ore bodies, what that then means in terms of our access to those ore bodies translating to tonnages, grades, but also including things like mine recovery, dilution and so on.

As we've done that, we've recognized an ability to do more than was in the original plan in terms of copper and gold grades, silver grades and also tonnages. And a lot of that will come down to the efficiency. So this is based on progress that was made ahead of acquisition and in month 1 after acquisition as well as our assessment with the capital investments that we've been making that can increase the reliability, throughput rates and sort of online times that we can anticipate. So basically, it's relatively early still. But based on what we've seen so far, we are optimistic that the PFS has been conservative in terms of its outlook. Just the last comment. It doesn't mean that on day 1 in January that we start off out of the gate at the tonnage that we described and you just divide by 365. Of course, I know you realize that. But we'll give some indication of what that ramp is going to be during 2026. But you'll notice we've been quite deliberate about meeting the 850,000 tonnes rate in the last quarter of next year.

Okay. That's clear. And then maybe switching gears to Coka Rakita and the permitting. Can you just provide any additional color on the level of dialogue with the government? Maybe what led to the -- it's a slight delay, but what led to the slight delay in the time line? And yes, just anything else you're keeping an eye on?

So as you'll understand, we're actually busy completing the next phase of reporting with the technical report. So there's obviously a revision that comes in as part of that. So we've looked at the overall situation. Our ongoing discussions with the government are very fruitful. We're very happy with that. Our ongoing discussions with our stakeholders is the same. And we've just taken the view of where are we at this point and what do we anticipate and recognize that we needed to revise that guidance. So what we've done, we've added 4 to 6 months to that guidance at the moment.

Basically, if we look specifically at what's going on, there was an activity in midyear where a number of the different ministries were involved with some technical experts, what we call the technical committee. They looked at the Certificate of Resource and Reserves, where we provide some fulsome disclosure and information, which allowed that technical group to be able to come to a conclusion. They supported the project and that decision then triggers looking towards a spatial plan, and we were just waiting for a confirmation that we could actually start to proceed with that. So in the meantime, none of these things happen as a start-stop sequence. We do preparation while we're waiting for these triggers to occur so that we're ready to engage fully in terms of -- we're not waiting for these things to happen before we get ready with all the information.

So it is one of these situations where we continue to work with the authorities. We continue to provide the information provided and answer any questions that come up. But I would say that I'm very happy with those relationships that we have ongoing, and we are confident that we'll be receiving the SPSP within the near future, which will allow us to move this project forward. There's a number of different activities that have got to happen, but really, we're focusing on the ESIA baseline studies and the release of the EIA and the exploitation permit, which would then trigger the construction for Coka Rakita. So where we previously said that time line would be mid-2026, we're now saying early 2027.

Got it. And then maybe just a quick one for Navin. I think in the MD&A and in the comments, there was a discussion about the strengthening of the euro. Is there an FX strategy -- hedging strategy at the company?

We do have the ability to put on hedges. We actually have utilized, if you recall, we used to hedge the Namibian dollar when we have the smelter. We look at that periodically in terms of whether or not we should be hedging. Typically, what we've done is, though, is that when we have significant capital expenditures that, for example, in the upcoming capital spend for Coka Rakita, we might look to otherwise hedge the FX exposure related to that. But for ongoing business, especially when it comes to euro, you're looking at -- historically, I tend to look at gold and euro kind of moving in the same direction. So as the strengthening of the euro happens, you typically have the gold market kind of improving as well. So it acts as a bit of a natural hedge. So we kind of just kind of watch that. And then if there is any change to that assumption, then we might take some positions there, but typically not in the past when it comes to euro.

And our next question comes from Wayne Lam of TD Securities.

Maybe just a follow-up at Coka Rakita. Just wondering if there's any read-throughs or knock-on impact from Rio Tinto's mine being deferred in terms of permitting implications? Or do you guys see the two projects as fairly mutually exclusive?

Yes, we see them as mutually exclusive.

Okay. Great. And then maybe at Ada Tepe, can you give us an update on the expected timing in terms of the wind down in operations? Is that still slated for midyear next year? Or is there any ability to extend out the operations incrementally given the higher gold price?

Yes. Thanks, Wayne. So we're still planning that we'll wind down mining and process operations in Q2 next year, no change to that. Sorry, -- so changing in gold price environment, does that mean that, that opens up the opportunity for other material to be brought in? No.

Yes, exactly.

In terms of infrastructure, sorry -- thank you to your question. We still plan to obviously disassemble the main infrastructure, which is primarily around the process plants, so crushers, mills, other pumping, piping, buildings, this type of thing. Plan will be that we will start to disassemble that at the end of that period where we close the mine operations, close the process operations. And then we'll disassemble that and we'll refurbish it. A good part of that still at Ada Tepe and some part of that in Chelopech, and then it will be stored ready for movement to Coka Rakita. Basically, as we get the infrastructure in place and we have the civils ready to receive the equipment, it will be moved to time with that.

Okay. But with the higher gold price, so there's no potential for further extension even with the higher gold price?

No.

Okay. And then maybe just last one at Chelopech. Can you talk a bit about the cost pressures you're seeing there on the labor side? And if we think about the levy that was paid in Bulgaria in Q1, should we be thinking about something similar as we think about the year-end here, particularly with the stronger metals price environment? Or was that a one-off event?

Wayne, yes, we consider that -- starting with the last question first. That levy we're considering a one-off event. We've got no indications that would suggest that this would be repeated for next year. When it comes to pressures on labor, we have -- every 2 years, we have renegotiated agreements with our workforce. And we just completed one this year and hence, why we're seeing that kind of translate into this year's cost. We planned for this as well, and we take an appropriate amount in consideration to our budget. I think that's just something that we're seeing not just in Bulgaria, but elsewhere globally. I mean, I think labor is sticky when it comes to increases. And -- whereas we're seeing benefits elsewhere such as our freight costs, which have been reduced significantly over the past year, labor certainly is one that we continue to see increases there. But again, our workforce is extremely skilled, as you would appreciate in Bulgaria, and we consider that in the negotiations as well.

[Operator Instructions] And our next question comes from Raj Ray of BMO.

And first of all, I'm deeply saddened to hear about the news on Paul. My sincere condolences to the entire DPM team. I've got a couple of questions. First up on Coka Rakita. With the feasibility study expected, Dave, is there any change of scope or anything you can highlight that we should be looking forward to? And also in terms of the reserves update, what is expected to be included in that? And secondly, on capital returns, it's probably for Navin. Is there a potential for a boost up in capital returns? We see in Q3, there wasn't any buybacks. So as we go into Q4, is there potential for boosting of capital returns?

Okay. Yes. Thanks, Raj. In terms of changes of scope, we've got the feasibility study coming out in the fairly near future. So I would suggest let's wait for that to come out. It gives you an awful lot more detail. But what I would say is we're very happy with the way that's progressing. No sort of nasty surprises with that. So -- and looking forward to really getting on with that construction. I think the one thing that we've seen sort of touched on, but perhaps maybe some still miss, I'll make this comment for everybody here that we alluded to the fact that having Vareš puts us in a very good position in terms of our operational readiness. So one of the things to keep in mind is we're testing things that we've developed at Chelopech at Vareš at the moment, which feeds into what is going on for 2026 in order to bring us to the production numbers that we have and the efficient numbers that we have, which we'll put out in February next year. That then translates into readiness for Coka Rakita. So there's also that dynamic.

So earlier, Wayne asked about what's happening with the equipment and are we still going to move it. There's that dynamic coming in as well, which was not there when we did the pre-feasibility study. So our confidence is obviously increasing as we do more engineering, and you'll see that reflected in the pre-feas. Keep in mind, any significant changes we typically do ahead of pre-feas. And really, all we're doing is we're working through the sort of dynamics of the costing and increasing confidence between the pre-feas and the feasibility study. So at this point, no scope changes.

And Raj, I'll just address your second question on capital return. So in the third quarter, as you can appreciate, we were pretty busy wrapping up the acquisition of Adriatic for much of the quarter. We also ran into some -- we had some upcoming disclosures that occurred at the end of the quarter as it related to Loma Larga's technical report. And as you can appreciate also in the fourth quarter, we have a significant amount of news flow up and coming with the Coka Rakita technical report, the initial resources for the three deposits that will carry us through. So I would say that from a fourth quarter expectation around buybacks and the like, I think it would continue to be minimal. However, it remains a considerable implement in our toolbox here, and we definitely consider a return -- a healthy return of capital to shareholders important. And so while you may not see a significant amount for the remainder of this year, I think you can expect to see that we will revisit that next year.

And our next question comes from Jeremy Hoy of Canaccord.

Just a quick one for me. It's on Loma Larga. A lot of momentum building in Eastern Europe there. And clearly, Loma Larga becomes, I think, less critical overall to the story. But has there been any dialogue since the revocation of the environmental permit with the government or stakeholders? Or are you essentially at an impasse there?

What we've said is that we are engaging with stakeholders, and there will be a necessity to engage with the government. You'll understand that at the time, there was a number of things that were going on and the revocation came about at a time which is most disappointing given what happened with the EIA issue. And the clear demonstration from the environmental ministry that our standards were robust and in line with what was required for this project and would stand the test globally in any place that we operate. So somewhat disappointing that, that happened. And there were a lot of things that were going on at the time. It will be necessary for us to consider what our options are. But basically, we're assessing all of our available options to preserve the value and maintain optionality for our shareholders. And that includes evaluating legal avenues. And I think more than that at this point, I'm not really able to discuss.

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn it back to Jennifer Cameron for closing remarks.

Well, thanks, everyone, for joining us, and we look forward to speaking over the coming months and look forward to sharing some of our upcoming news flow with you all. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out. And thank you.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.