Iamgold Corp. Aktie

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IAMGOLD Third Quarter 2026 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions]. The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Graeme Jennings, Vice President, Business Development and Investor Relations for IAMGOLD. Please go ahead, Mr. Jennings.

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone, to our conference call this morning. Joining us on the call are Renaud Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer; Marthinus Theunissen, Chief Financial Officer; Bruno Lemelin, Chief Operating Officer; Ankit Shah, Chief Strategy Officer; and Annie Torkia Lagace, Chief Legal Officer.

We are calling today for IAMGOLD's Toronto office, which is located on Treaty 13 territory on the traditional lands of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabe, Chippewa, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat peoples. At IAMGOLD, we believe respecting and upholding indigenous rights is founded upon relationships that foster trust, transparency and mutual respect.

Please note that our remarks on this call will include forward-looking statements and refer to non-IFRS measures. We encourage you to refer to the cautionary statements and disclosures on non-IFRS measures included in the presentation and the reconciliations of these measures in our most recent MD&A, each under the heading non-GAAP financial measures. With respect to the technical information to be discussed, please refer to the information in the presentation under the heading Qualified Person and technical information. The slides referenced on this call can be viewed on our website. I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Renaud Adams.

Thank you, Graham, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. The third quarter was another safe and steady quarter for IAMGOLD. We produced 186,900 attributable ounces, bringing year-to-date production to 558,600 ounces. We are on track to meet full year guidance and expect the fourth quarter to be our strongest led by Côté. A year ago, IAMGOLD carried more than $800 million of net debt. Today, we are in a net cash position with more than $1.6 billion of liquidity.

Over the last 12 months, we've generated $2.4 billion of adjusted EBITDA and since launching our buyback program last December, we have repurchased over 32 million shares or nearly $600 million. Yesterday, we notified [ Franco Nevada ] that we have exercising are right to repurchase half of its gross margin royalty on Côté approximately $525 million. IAMGOLD will fund the full amount and keep the full benefit lowering cost Côté's gas costs, including royalties, by roughly $150 an ounce starting in 2027.

Put simply, we are using our balance sheet to retain more value of our largest, longest life Canadian asset. Operationally, the third quarter was a turning point at Côté. Its first full quarter with our [ attractive ] crushing. In September, the plant averaged 37,100 tonnes per day above nameplate, and processing costs fell to $15.36 per day per tonne. September showed what the operation can deliver, and we expect a strong finish to the year. Meanwhile, this account remains the engine behind our buyback and Westwood is tracking toward the upper end of its guidance.

Looking ahead, every asset has a meaningful catalyst through 2027. It started this quarter with the updated Côté mine plan, which will come by Côté and [ Goslin ] for the first time, followed by studies across Essakane, Nelligan and Westwood through 2027. This is where IAMGOLD stands today with a strong balance sheet, significant capital return to shareholders and a portfolio of long-life Canadian-focused assets with real growth ahead.

With that, let's get into the quarter. Starting with health and safety. Our total recordable injury frequency rate is tracking at 0.57 for the year with no significant environmental incidents reported. Our health and safety and environment teams continue to redefine what responsible mining is today, and I thank them for their commitment to each other and our community.

On production, we have produced nearly 559,000 ounces attributable year-to-date. We need about 151,000 attributable ounces in the fourth quarter to reach the low end of our consolidated guidance, well below what we produced in each of the first 3 quarters of the year.

On costs, year-to-date cash costs, including royalties, are $1,251 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs, including royalties, are $1,821 per ounce. We expect both to finish in the upper range of the annual guidance. Both Côté and Essakane carries royalties that are directly linked to the gold price. With our realized gold price year-to-date averaging more than $500 above our 4,000 guidance assumption, royalties as a range, $370 per ounce this year or $45 per ounce above guidance.

On input, we saw inflation of about 3% on certain commodities input in the first 9 months within our expectations. Labor rates and retention continue to be a significant priority for IAMGOLD, particularly in Canada. On energy, as noted here, a $10 per barrel most in oil represents about $12 per ounce on a consolidated costs, including indirect inflation equating to an approximate $25 per ounce cost increase above our guidance.

With that, I will pass the call over to our CFO, to walk us through our financial results. Marthinus?

Thank you, Renaud, and good morning, everyone. Strong operating results and supportive gold price environment again translated in significant cash flow. Mine-site free cash flow was $404.3 million in the quarter, bringing year-to-date minted free cash flow to $1.3 billion.

Operating cash flow before working capital and taxes for the first 9 months was $1.7 billion. Working capital adjustments included $65.3 million of VAT refunds that is again received this year. The operating cash flow funded capital expenditures of $320.3 million, $542.6 million of share repurchases, the net repayment of $200 million on our credit facility, $34 million paid to the government of [indiscernible] for each portion of the [ Secant ] dividend and $27 million of revolving taxes on our gold portion of the dividend.

The net result is an increase in our cash balance of $344.7 million since the start of the year. In August, we also completed the sale of our 35% interest in the [ Bank Baji ] joint venture in Senegal for $69.7 million or $48 million net of taxes and transaction costs. As a result, at September 30, IAMGOLD at $766.6 million in cash and cash equivalents with our $850 million credit facility undrawn for total liquidity of approximately $1.6 billion. Our only remaining debt is the $450 million of senior notes due October 2028, redeemable at [indiscernible] since October 15. We will continue to evaluate the most efficient use of our balance sheet with respect to the lines.

Of our cash at quarter end, $321 million [indiscernible]. Cash is account both up between distributions and after quarter end, a further $135.8 million was repatriated to Canada.

Turning to our financial results. Revenues for the third quarter was $856.5 million from sales of 19,900 ounces at an average fuelize gold price of 4,277 per ounce, slightly above the market price of $4.263 per ounce for the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter was $503.9 million. Adjusted net earnings attributable to equity holders were $237 million or $0.42 per share compared with $17.9 million or $0.30 per share in the prior period.

Earnings were primarily adjusted for the gain on sale of the [ Bombardier ] assets. Incurred capital expenditures were $19.7 million in the third quarter and $329.4 million year-to-date. Our full year total capital expenditure guidance of $500 million plus or minus 5% is unchanged, which implies a step-up in spending in the fourth quarter.

Within that total, we have reduced sustaining capital at Côté Cote $230 million on an attributable basis from $160 million due to the reprioritization of resources and the forest projects of 2027. This is an offset by increases in staining capital is [ accounting ] to $105 million from $165 million due to the change in the mining sequence that resulted in additional capitalized waste stripping.

Turning to capital returns. During the third quarter, we repurchased and canceled approximately 7.6 million shares to $134.7 million at an average price of $17.58 per share. Since the program began in December '25, we have repurchased 32.1 million shares for $592.6 million at an average price of $18.47 per share. Our current normal course issuer bid runs to December 11, 2026. And subsequent to quarter end, our Board authorized the company to seek [ T6 ] approval for a new normal course issuer bid for further 12 months for up to approximately 10% of our outstanding shares.

The buyback continues to be funded by cash repatriated from Essakane. In June, [indiscernible] a dividend of approximately $500 million from its 2025 earnings. IAMGOLD's portion, net of the government share and folding taxes is approximately $400 million. Of this amount, we have received a total of approximately $225 million since June, with the balance expected to be distributed through the rest of '26 and early 2027, as Essakane generates cash in excess of its working capital needs.

Under [indiscernible] about our royalty, as Renaud mentioned, we have delivered an irrevocable notice to repurchase 50% of the [ Franco-Nevada ] 7.5% gross margin royalty on Côté. [ Sumitomo ] elected not to participate. So Iron Gold will fund the full price of approximately $525 million from available liquidity and retain the full economic benefit reducing our effective gross margin royalty from 7.5% to 2.14%. We expect the transaction to close in December with economic effect from January 1, 2027.

This is an important transaction as it allows us a greater share of the cash flow from our largest asset. This is squarely within our capital allocation framework. Cash flows from our Canadian operations, fund our Canadian growth at Côté, Westwood and Nelligan, as well as the tanker royalty repurchase through further strengthening of the balance sheet and a possible introduction of a dividend, which we are contemplating initiating in 2027. Gas from Essakane continues to fund the share be an approach we continue to evaluate for 2027. And with that, I will pass the call to Bruno Lemelin, our Chief Operating Officer, to discuss our operating results and outlook. Bruno?

Thank you, Maarten. Starting with Côté Gold. Côté produced 92,000 ounces on a 100% basis in the third quarter or 64,400 ounces to our account. This brings production for the year to 262,900 ounces on a 100% basis. On the mining side, we moved a quarterly record of 12.4 million tonnes of total material. This included 3.8 million tonnes of ore at a strip ratio of 2.3:1. Gray mine was 0.93 grams per tonne, in line with the mine plan as we continue to open up the pit through the pushback.

We expect good mining rates in the fourth quarter as the fleet that supported the contractor crusher is back in the pit. The pioneering on the pushback is mostly complete and 3 new our trucks come into service. In the plant, we mailed 2.9 million tonnes, which averaged below nameplate for the quarter due to the extended annual shutdown in August and the planned first quarter running on owner-only crushing.

By September, the improvement was clear. The plant averaged 37,100 tonnes per day or 1.1 million tons in the month, above mainly of 36,000 tonnes per day, with record crusher in HPGR throughput. Net grades in the quarter averaged 1.1 grams per tonne with recoveries of 90%. Recoveries were lower than in prior quarters due to downtime on one of our 2 verticals early in the quarter. With both items both in operations, recoveries have improved. And we continue to optimize grind size through the circuit reconciliation of the reserve model to mill feed and production continues to be excellent.

Looking at the fourth quarter, we expect the plan to average nameplate of about 36,000 tonnes per day with higher grades as mining moves into higher grade zones of the mine plan. With that, we expect Côté to finish at the lower end of its guidance range of 390,000 to 440,000 ounces on a 100% basis.

Turning to costs. Cote reported third quarter cash costs, excluding royalties of $1,243 per ounce, cash costs of $1,544 per ounce non-insustained cost of $2,056 per ounce. In dollar terms, production costs were down 5% from last year as we began to see the benefit of owner-only crushing. On a unit basis, mining costs were $4.77 per ton, which remained above target due to contractor support for pioneering work on the dip pushback plus our exclusive costs and [indiscernible] prices. We expect mining costs to decline in the fourth quarter on higher volumes and as pushback related activities went down.

Milling costs were $18.92 per ton for the quarter, down from $20.85 in the second quarter. The best data point is September, in which mining averaged $15.36 per ton. Our targets are unchanged. We plan to exit 2026 at about $4 per ton for mining and about $15 per ton for milling. For the full year, we now expect cash costs, excluding royalties of [indiscernible] to be above the top end of our guiding range of $900 to $1,050 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs, excluding royalties at the top end of the $14.75 to $1,625 range.

We expect fourth quarter costs to be lower with more ounces, more tonnes and better unit costs. Royalties at Côté were $301 per ounce in the quarter or 19% of cash costs. With the repurchase of half of the Franco Nevada royalty, this will reduce the royalty impact on cash costs by approximately $150 per ounce. Now that to what comes next to Côté. We remain on track to release the updated Côté mine plan and mineral reserve estimates this quarter, followed by the technical report shortly after.

For the first time, this plan will bring Côté and [ Gasline ] together into a single bit and one mine plan. With the consol data, we expect the plan to show an increase in reserves and mine life. It will also set out a near-term path to take the plant from 36,000 tonnes per day to 40,000 tonnes per day. This comes from debottlenecking and targeted improvements to the existing plant.

The second comp pressure is already in place and work has started on the third [indiscernible], which we expect to install early in 2027. The remaining elements include improvement to the repeat systems additional final dam capacity and likely additional [ leach ] tax. In parallel, we are continuing trade-off studies on a larger expansion. Given the size of the combined Côté and Gazlay resource, we see meaningful long-term potential and our focus is on determining the right scale and the right path to unlock it. The Phase 2 pushback underway today also give us more flexibility in the pit as we evaluate those options.

Turning to Westwood. Domain produced 28,500 ounces in the third quarter and 97,100 ounces year-to-date. We now expect Westwood to finish at the upper end of its guiding range of 110,000 to 130,000 ounces. Underground, we mined 99,000 tonnes of ore at 8.9 grams per tonne, tons or 10% higher than the prior year period on favorable stop sequencing and improved mining recovery and grade benefited from sequencing and lower dilution.

The mill processed 309,000 tons at a blended grade of 3.0 grams per tonne with recoveries of 94%. Most importantly, Westwood generated $51.7 million of mine site free cash flow in the quarter and $218.2 million year-to-date. I also want to expand on the gold-bearing log type material, our mill team identified at the bottom of the [ pregnant ] solution tank during a review of the electro-winning circuit.

The material is believed to have accumulated over a number of years. It has been recovered and placed in drums with a total combined weight of 14,700 kilograms. Samples and stated solid content of 19% to 27% and gold content in the saves of 6% to 7%. For illustrative purposes only, using the average of those ranges, the material could contain approximately 30,000 answers of growth.

I want to be very clear. This is not an estimate of a recoverable or payable goal of production or of the financial benefit. We do not have a representative sample of the material. The illustration is subject to significant uncertainty and it should not be regarded as a reliable estimate and the actual goal recovered may differ material. The material will be processed by an external refinery and subject to completion of refining in assay, we expect the gold recovery to be reflected in our fourth quarter production results, although there can be no assurance as to the quantity or timing. [ Penygold ] recovered from this material is not included in our 2026 guidance.

Turning to costs. Cash costs at Westwood were $1,794 per ounce in the quarter and all-in sustaining costs were $2.118 per ounce. Year-to-date cash costs are $1,529 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs are $1,980 per ounce, both within our guidance ranges. Costs per ounce were higher this quarter compared with the first half of the year, reflecting fewer ounces sold and more drilling in store preparation on the ground with underground mining cost of $322 per ton.

Looking ahead, we have invested $12 million of expansion capital so far this year on development into the eastern zone of the mine to support the study of bulk mining options. The updated technical report planned for the second half of 2027 is expected to highlight that potential. Both mining could potentially support higher underground throughput at a lower mining cost, replacing the lower grade feed from transit with higher grade feed from underground. We see this as a meaningful opportunity for Westwood, and we look forward to advancing that work.

Turning to Essakane. The mine produced 94,000 attributable ounces in the third quarter or 10,500 ounces on a 100% basis. Year-to-date, Essakane has produced 277,500 attributable ounces, and we are on track for our guidance of 340,000 to 380,000 ounces mining totaled 11 million tonnes, including 3 million tonnes of ore.

The mill processed 3.3 million tonnes at a head grade of 1.1 gram per ton, both mining and milling rates were in line with plan, which reflects the continued strong management of our supply chain by the team at Essakane. Most importantly, I can continue to generate strong cash flows. Mine site free cash flow was $27.1 million in the quarter and $735 million year-to-date on a 100% basis. Looking further ahead, we plan to publish an updated technical report for Essakane in mid-2027 which is expected to outline the potential to extend the mine life up to 2035 through additional phases in the Essakane and [ adjacent ] periods.

Turning to cost. Essakane, a strong quarter. Cash cost, excluding royalties, were $1,122 per ounce, 21% lower than the prior year period. Cash costs were $1,603 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs were $2,063 per ounce. Mining costs were $5.44 per ton, down from $7.13 a year ago as the satellite and the transition material in the level that requires less drilling and lasting.

Royalties were $481 per ounce or 30% of cash costs. Our average royalty rate was 11% in the quarter compared with 9% a year ago. On energy, our fuel supply and costs have not been materially impacted by the conflict in the Middle East today, although fuel prices increased by about 3.5% in September, and we continue to monitor the risk closely. For the year, we expect cash cost, excluding royalties, to be within the guidance range of $1,150 to $1,300 per ounce and all-in sustained costs excluding royalties at the top end of 1,550 to $1,700 range.

Finally, on the matter of the government bit, requiring companies to use local refineries and Burkina Faso. As we noted, we have received a temporary exemption from this reform. Meanwhile, we are working closely with the government and related stakeholders to ensure there is no interruption in the refining process. With that, I will pass it back to Renaud. Renaud?

Thank you, Bruno. Beyond our 3 operating mines, the Nelligan mining complex in Quebec is where we see the next chapter of IAMGOLD. The complex holds 4.3 million ounces of indicated and 7.5 million ounces of inferred mineral resources across a dominant land position of approximately 134,000 next year, making one of the largest preproduction gold camps in Canada.

This year is about drilling, and we have expanded our program, Nelligan from 18,000 to up to 30,000 meters focused on upgrading ounces and testing extensions along strike and at depth. And at Monster Lake from 15,000 to at least 20,000 meters following high-grade hits deeper in the Megan zone. In total, we have completed more than 70,000 meters across Nelligan, Monster Lake and Philibert so far this year. All of the primary deposits is within the 7-kilometer radius which support our vision of the central processing facility fed by multiple ore sources.

On October 27, we released our latest drill results from the complex, and we continue to build our confidence in what we have in the [ Shibugamu ] region. What stands out to me is that all 3 primary deposits are moving in the right direction. At Nelligan, mineralizations continue down plan with several intersections grading well above the current resource average. Fall [ N26 72 ] is a good example. It intersected 77 meters at 2.23 grams per tonne, well below the current narrowise envelope, at more than twice the average resource rate.

At Monster Lake, we have extended the high-grade [indiscernible] to a depth of 600 meters and the grades are holding or [ ML-25-293 ] returned 7.7 meters at 24.5 grams per tonne, starting 750 meters down the hole. And at Philibert, our first drilling program come from the previously defined zones and grades and point to further potential debt.

Given this result, we intend to run a substantially larger drill program at the complex in 2027. We expect to publish a primary economic assessment for the complex in 2027 which will bring the larger 2026 drills per gram into the study and bring these deposits together into one development concept for the first time, and we see the potential for the complex to continue to grow well beyond.

Stepping back, Nelligan, Monster Lake and Philibert are each 100% owned by IMG, so our shareholders return to full benefit of the value we create. With continued success, we see the potential for Nelligan mining complex to become one of the largest assets in IAMGOLD's portfolio over time, and we are excited about the work ahead.

With that, we will progress to questions. I want to congratulate our teams for another quarter of safe income system execution. IAMGOLD is on track for our production guidance. We have generated nearly $1.3 billion of mine site free cash flow so far this year and we have returned close to $600 million to shareholders through our buyback since December '25, all while building a net cash position and a strong balance sheet. At the same time, we are investing in our future. And through 2027, every one of our asset has a clear catalyst, which will demonstrate the potential of our portfolio from a position of financial strength. Thank you for your continued support. Operator, you can now open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions]. The first question comes from Anita Soni with CIBC World Markets.

Congratulations on a solid quarter. Firstly, at Côté, it's good to see the reduction in processing costs in September. It looks like you got down to that 15-ish mark that you were targeting. Would that be sustained into Q4 and 2027?

Renaud?

Yes, that's the plan. Actually, the goal for Q4 is to sustain the momentum that we have at operating at nameplate capacity for the whole quarter. So this is the goal. And we believe that with that current production level it should be like in line with that target.

Okay. And then would that also -- that 36,000 tonnes per day, is that the goal in the $15 a ton for 2027? Or are there other shutdowns or maintenance that we should be thinking about?

No major shutdown until the end of the year and for 2027.

Okay. And then on mining costs for on mining costs, I just wanted to go over what you need to do in Q4 and 2027 to drive that closer to the sub-$4 per tonne mark. And is that ultimately what you see as the target still? Or are you still targeting something closer to the mid-3s on that -- on mining cost per tonne?

So what do you need? I'm assuming it's a pushback and opening up the pit from what I recall from the mine tour, but now that we have some numbers around it, I just wanted to get a little bit more color on what you need to do to drive those costs down.

Yes. In Q4, we're going to rely less on the rehandling and taking a reset from the low-grade stockpile. So we're going to try to maximize most of the expected target of the mill. So you will increase the [ FCC ] the whole fleet. After that also as we expand the pit, you're going to be able to have better packet definition, larger blast also working on fragmentation loading [ FMC ] as well. So we have a very good plan ahead to decrease the cost from where we are now towards the $4 and even like mid in the mean [ 3 ] like later on. That's our goal.

Okay. And then the last one I'm going to ask and I'll jump back in the queue and then other people ask questions. Mart -- this one is for Maarten. Can you just walk me through how that royalty would be modeled? I just want to make sure that I've got it correct, but I would just assume the revenue times 2.14%, and that would be the royalty portion of your cash cost. Is that correct?

It would be revenue less cash costs, so your gross margin times with 2.1. And that is for IAMGOLD, if you model IAMGOLD at 70%. The asset on its own yes, 3.75%. The 30% that we now own from -- that was previously by assuming [indiscernible] what is reducing our portion at 17% further from 3.75% to 2.1%.

Yes, that's where the complexity comes in. I might need a follow-up call. So yes, I was just trying to figure out exactly how you would report these cash costs versus what the -- like the effective benefit. So I'd be modeling those the gross margin at 3.75% if I model is at 100% basis and then applies anyway, we'll take it offline. I think I'm running myself in short both on this one.

The next question comes from [ Fahad Tariq ] with Jefferies.

On the Côté royalty buyback, can you just confirm that you're using cash on the balance sheet to fund the $525 million and not adding debt? And then second, just any thoughts around how you came to the decision on the buyback now. Any internal models on the payback period, IRR, et cetera, would be helpful.

Good morning. So for the royalty -- sorry, I missed part of your question. But basically, for us, we will be using cash from the balance sheet. We're going to continue to use cash as it comes in from its again to buy back shares as well. If there is a need, we may have to draw on a credit facility, but it would be very short term if we have to do that. The timing for us makes sense now because then it is effective on the first of January next year, and it's keen for the next year.

If you look at the valuation that Bank of Nevada did on the asset 15 years ago when they bought the royalty from a third party, we are buying it at that same valuation effectively, but the gold price environment is a lot higher. So that is what is having the impact for us. And the additional 150,000 -- $150 per ounce is also a big contributing factor for our decision to do this. So it gives a good return. It's all dependent on gold prices. And I think having the full study later this year will help people understand that, [indiscernible].

Okay. And then on that study, can you just talk about the how you're thinking about how we should be thinking about the reserve price assumption? And then also, just to confirm, will that study only show the 40,000 tonnes per day base case? Or is there like some sort of upside case that will also show higher expansion?

No, the -- Renaud here. So to make it shorten also the study somewhat a bit of an update kind of the new base case of 2022, where the asset was moving from 36 towards 42 with additional equipment that are currently being installed. So it's going to highlight the full resource potential as we've discussed, Côté [indiscernible], which will be turned into the reserve. We're going to use $2,100 an ounce for the reserve price for the study. And it does not highlight beyond, but we'd highlight production profile that we allowed to try to rethink and execute on time should we decide down the road to have an expansion without losing the production profile. That is that easy objective.

And on the reserve price?

The [ $2,100 ] an ounce.

The next question comes from Mohamed Sidibe with National Bank Financial.

Just wanted to ask a question on the Burkina refining order and on November 1 requirement. I think you noted that you do have a temporary exemptions on that requirement. First, how long does that last? And secondly, is this requirement impacted in any way, shape or form the cash repatriation on settlement timing that you currently have and the benefit that you have of basically taking cash out of SK?

Yes. So here is that there's kind of nothing really new here. I mean this refinery, the government announced like it wasn't more than a year ago, the construction of refining with the view to give them a chance as well to refine in-house from the small scale up to the commercial. There is quite a bit of a ramp up and so forth. So there is no date on the exemption.

So business as usual for the time being, and eventually down the road, it would be -- there would be discussions with the refiner. And our view on this is when everything and everyone is ready and there could be a potential for us to a refining in-country a portion of all but there's quite a bit of work to be done before we get there. In terms of any change or things like that in the process.

So Maarten, if you want to add anything. But for the execution per se, there is no -- the real risk of the impact here is really working capital and if it delays the gold sales process, but there's very good alignment with the government in these discussions because once the gold gets exported, that's when it triggers the royalty payments to the government as well.

So everybody wants to, of course, make sure that we can convert the gold into cash as quickly as we can. And that we've been allow us to not have that working capital impact. If it is a bit slower, there would be some working capital, but it doesn't affect our ability to create cash, it may just slow it down slightly.

Great. And then for my second question, just on the Westwood large I know that in the MD&A, there is a potential mention of the gold coming in or landing in Q4. But could you maybe give us a little bit more color on the refining, the assay time lines and how you're working through this.

Maarten?

So the material is being shipped in batches to the external refinery and processing has just started this week. So we expect over the course of November and first half of December to finish that process so that we should at least the assays because we're doing batches, we will be able to then convert it into sales as well. So when we get to the end of the year, we should have a good understanding.

The next question comes from [ Harrison Reynolds ] with RBC Capital Markets.

IAMGOLD team, and congratulations on the good quarter and I appreciate all the details provided so far. I wanted to follow up on the slide there. Do you have any indication early days still, but on the payabilities you might receive on the gold? And also, is there an opportunity to recover this material from the circuit on a go-forward basis?

Renaud, do you want to give some color to that?

Yes. So in terms of moving forward, we have modified our standard operating procedures. So this type of event don't occur again in all future opco that could evade like the electrowinning cell would be captured and taking into account that in every month. So it's mostly the -- the process has been improved with the team that when we investigated this area, we're able to measure as to how we could improve the system.

So yes, the answer is yes, it's going to be managed on a market basis, but no -- the most important thing I think here is that to know that we do not feel that there's been loss of goal over those years. I think for those of you that know the installation. So while the -- while the processing facilities recovered at AI rate and function is extremely well, but it's not necessarily the most modern. So there is always a gold in circuit that you expect to recover 4 of the year at the end of the facilities. But in this specific case, they were a goal being accumulated in one specific area that we have not noticed before. This is done now. And moving forward, you should not expect any adjustment.

Got it. And on the payabilities of that material, what are your early discussions with the refiner like as it relates to how much you might get paid for the gold it's commercially sensitive information, so I can't give you the exact rate, but it is the same as when companies with [indiscernible] carbon fines or material involved with more [indiscernible].

So it's the same that you would get normally in those prices, mid to high mid to very high 90%. Yes.

Got it. And just one last one. Good to see the metrics reached at Cote in September and I appreciate the detail you gave so far. But anything you can provide on how operations trended in October? Were you able to be near nameplate throughput and how costs were tracking on a month-to-month basis?

We do not have visibility yet on the cost of October because -- but operationally speaking, I could say that our trends continue. We're very, very pleased to how since September has been operating and the tendency and the written has continued in October.

[Operator Instructions]. The next question comes from [indiscernible] with Scotiabank.

Congrats on the strong quarter. So first will be on the Q4, just based on your guidance and year-to-date, so like in Q4 will be a bit stronger on production? And do you have any directional color on the unit cost?

If you refer to call it per se, as our own, of course, you've seen the production tribal or 400 basis to date. Clinicians we say we remain very, very confident to hit. So by definition, it has to be a strong quarter, and we're very confident that the team can pull -- we've achieved [ 15, 36 million ] costs in September, and we think that we could achieve towards [ 15 million ] for the full quarter. This is the objective. We still have, as Bruno has mentioned earlier, I mentioned that cost remains a little higher, but we feel strong that while we may not totally achieve our objectives, but we think you'll see an improvement in the Q4 on the mining cost.

And third, [indiscernible] well positioned to come patients. So that's what I could say so far for Côté. We definitely need a strong quarter to meet. We are fully aware of it. But as we mentioned on the throughput and so forth, so it's going well.

Right. Absolutely. And turning on to 2027. What kind of inflation assumptions should we like assume and what inflation have you seen like amount of cost $27 million over [indiscernible]?

Yes. We're going through the budget process. If we look at the impact of inflation based on the current inputs, not in the impact of drivers, we are seeing 3%, maybe 4%, depending on the operations. So between -- in that range of 3% to 4% would be the inflation assumption for next year, excluding the impact of diesel.

So diesel has an impact mainly at Côté Gold in [indiscernible], say about 1% of the total operating cost is for diesel and energy. So it does not have a significant impact, but it does have an impact, and we continue to look at putting in additional gold hedges at Côté [indiscernible] the price is less predictable, but it also doesn't change that often because of the way that it's purchased in [indiscernible]. So that's kind of our main assumptions that we're seeing thus far.

Right. Absolutely. Turning to the Nelligan, the [ PEA ] coming next year. So [indiscernible] a cut of date for the drilling? And will you be incorporating like combined economics of Nelligan, Monster Lake and [indiscernible].

Yes. The [ PA ] is going to give us -- could any idea of the tonic nature of Nelligan, the plant will have to look at if we can combine Monster Lake as an underground operation the mitigant pit and also Philibert altogether and see how long over we have and kind of the cost structure that we can have in the area. We're working also on the general arrangement plan to locate infrastructures and how big they are going to be and like a preliminary cost of all those items. So yes, mid-2027, we will have a first lens of what Milligan could look like.

Right. And the cut of date of drilling with the end of year or early next year? Sorry, could you repeat that one? For the [ PEA], the kind of paid for the drilling when you like kind of update your [indiscernible] and resources?

Yes. At year-end. Correct. And you will understand that every other aspect has advanced extremely. The most important was ready to complete as much as possible the Philibert, and we confirm from the -- what we had acquired back in '25 to incorporate it. But of course, when it comes to overall cost and capital and so forth and infrastructure, we've advanced enormously. And as we complete the drilling, do the [indiscernible] and the complete resource will just incorporate the work and be on time for me at '27.

The next question comes from [indiscernible] with [indiscernible].

So with 2026 sustaining capital of SK increased from $165 million to around like $200 million. Should we expect stripping expenditures to remain at similar levels in 2027?

Good morning, [indiscernible]. So we are working through our budgeting process, and we are looking at that. But for Essakane for next year, we will be spending additional capital to advance the [ Block I ] and mine life extension. So the capital would be slightly higher, but we are just working through those numbers as part of our planning process at this point.

And at the West or underground mining costs increased like $20 per ton in Q3 partly due to additional store preparation. So as underground development progresses, should we expect these costs to normalize in the next year?

On the underground side, you refer the [indiscernible] on. I think -- and we have discussed that one largely. Like if you look at '26, '27, '28, this should be somewhat pretty similar years. as we continue to work on the Eastern and incorporation of the [ Eastern Corridor], while they will never be perfectly copy based, but you should expect '27 to be somewhat in the range of '26. Yes. And the guidance for '27, of course, will come early in' 27 for the plan of '27. And with the plan of Côté, of course, would highlight somewhat a little more than a year.

And the next question is a follow-up from Anita Soni with CIBC World Markets.

Just a couple more questions. Firstly, can I go back to the Côté [indiscernible] study. Are you still targeting around 70% to 75% conversion of the 20 million ounces that you have in global mineral inventory at this point?

Well, we've received -- we believe our resource update, which has highlighted the 20 million. And of course, you have to go through some sort of the deflation of the year. So if you do all the math, yes, we continue to be very confident that we could convert that to 70% less.

Yes. And then now that you're I guess, I mean, like if -- I'm trying to anticipate how to model [ Gosselin ] within the profile. Would it be fair to say that it goes near the end of the mine life, if you're going to try to sequence the tailings dam into an empty Côté. I'm just trying to get an understanding of that in light of the royalty, right? I think part of the economics of that buyback of the royalty is that you're buying it ahead of the [ Golflind ] update?

So the sequence that favors the 40,000 tonne per day scenario is more sequential, more linear. So we focus much more on Côté for the beginning of the life of mine and subsequently [ Gasline ] last. And we're actually -- yes. So which we that creates some opportunities, of course. But again, this is the new -- this is kind of an updated what we call like really new base case, and we highlighted I think, a pretty interesting production profile for the next years to come. But eventually, down the road, we maintain the door open, of course, to eventually go towards an expansion, but this is not for this time.

Yes. I was just trying to figure out a way to quickly model this because I'm currently just using the Côté and then have some [indiscernible] value for [indiscernible]. But to try to show the economics on that royalty buyback, I'd have to start to model [ Goslin ] ahead of your update, but -- and then just on the Burkina the requirement to refine in country.

How long does that exemption last? And how do you see these -- I mean, early days, but what kind of things should we be thinking about if you do have to refine in country in terms of the cost and the cost impact?

On term of exemption, there is no date. I mean, they literally just inaugurated the refinery. And as I mentioned, there's also all the scale -- the small-scale mining as well. We'll see. There is no date extension. So we continue -- as a matter of fact, I think we were like shipping this week and so forth and as business as usual. In terms of cost per se, as mentioned, Maarten, as mentioned, is not so much about cost more than making sure we don't create further delays.

Thank you. This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Graeme Jennings for any closing remarks.

Thank you very much, operator, and thanks to everyone for joining us this morning. As always, should be on additional questions, please reach out to Renaud and myself. Thank you all. Be safe. Have a great day.

This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IAMGOLD Second Quarter 2026 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Graeme Jennings, Vice President, Business Development and Investor Relations for IAMGOLD. Please go ahead, Mr. Jennings.

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone, to our conference call this morning. Joining us on the call are Renaud Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer; Marthinus Theunissen, Chief Financial Officer; Bruno Lemelin, Chief Operating Officer; Ankit Shah, Chief Strategy Officer; and Annie Torkia Lagace, Chief Legal Officer. We are calling today from IAMGOLD's Toronto office, which is located on Treaty 13 territory on the traditional lands of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabe, Chippewa, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat peoples. At IAMGOLD, we believe respecting and upholding indigenous rights is founded upon relationships that foster trust, transparency and mutual respect.

Please note that our remarks on this call will include forward-looking statements and refer to non-IFRS measures. We encourage you to refer to the cautionary statements and disclosures on non-IFRS measures, including the presentation and the reconciliations of these measures in our most recent MD&A, each under the heading non-GAAP financial measures. With respect to the technical information to be discussed, please refer to the information in the presentation under the heading Qualified Person and Technical Information. The slides referenced on this call can be viewed on our website.

I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Renaud Adams.

Thank you, Graeme, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. It was another strong and safe quarter for IAMGOLD. We produced 188,100 ounces of gold in the second quarter, bringing our year-to-date production to 371,700 ounces, positioning IAMGOLD firmly on track to meet our full year guidance of 720,000 to 820,000 ounces. Our company continues to generate strong cash flow with nearly $900 million of mine site free cash flow produced year-to-date. This allows us to invest in our assets, strengthen our balance sheet and return capital to our shareholders at the same time. Since December, we have repurchased more than $0.5 billion of IAMGOLD shares. These repurchases reflects our confidence in the company's future and our view that our shares represent compelling value. That confidence is built on the growth we have across each of our mines. Over the coming quarters, we expect updated studies at Cote, Essakane, Westwood and Nelligan.

Our next phase of value creation starts at Cote. The first step is the updated mine plan and the technical report, which remains on track for the end of the year. For the first time, this plan will bring the Cote and Gosselin deposit together, building on the more than 20 million ounces of measured and indicated resources across the combined zone. The updated plan will define a near path to -- a near-term path to increase throughput towards 40,000 tonnes per day through targeted debottlenecking of the existing plant. This work is expected to be low cost and high return, supported by a larger reserve base and a longer mine life. In parallel, we are advancing trade-off studies on a larger expansion of Cote. We have adjusted the scope of this work to reflect the significant size and opportunity at Cote. We are taking the time to assess the full scale of the asset, evaluating multiple scenarios to ensure that Cote is positioned to deliver value for generation to come.

At Essakane, we continue to see strong cash flow generation, which remains a key driver of our share buyback program. In the first half of the year, we plan to release an updated mine plan that is expected to outline a mine life extension to 2035. At Westwood, our Quebec underground mine continues to redefine itself as a stable cash-generative operation.

Next year, we are excited to outline a path to extend mine life and increase underground throughput with the potential to transform Westwood into a larger, higher throughput, lower cost operation. And of course, at Nelligan, we are advancing one of the Canada's largest emerging gold camp toward an initial economic study next year, marking an important step in defining its long-term development potential. In summary, IAMGOLD is performing well, generating strong cash flow, returning capital to shareholders and building real growth for the years ahead.

With that, let's get into the quarter. Starting with health and safety, our total recordable injury frequency rate was 0.70 for the quarter and is tracking at 0.56 year-to-date. I would like to recognize the Westwood team in particular, both continuous focus on safe operations set a strong standard. Safety come first to us, and I want to thank our teams across our operations for their ongoing commitment to safe and responsible mining.

Turning to operations. IAMGOLD produced 188,100 ounces to our account in the second quarter. At Cote, attributable production was 67,300 ounces or 96,200 ounces on a 100% basis, which was made possible as the plant operated at near full capacity in June following the conveyor belt replacement and the commissioning of the second crusher. Essakane and Westwood also delivered strong quarters with grades slightly above forecast. Cash costs, including royalty, were $1,289 per ounce for the quarter and $1,244 per ounce year-to-date. For the full year, cash costs are tracking towards the upper half of our guidance range with improvement expected in the second half as Cote production increases. All-in sustaining costs, including royalty, are likewise tracking towards the upper half of the guided range.

As a reminder, both Cote and Essakane has royalty structure tied directly to the gold price. With the realized gold price averaging over $4,600 per ounce year-to-date, royalties have added approximately $380 per ounce so far this year, about $55 per ounce above our guidance assumption. We continue to monitor inflation and energy market volatility closely. In the first half of the year, certain input costs increased by approximately 3%, in line with our expectations. In the second quarter, oil prices were approximately $25 to $30 per barrel above our guidance assumptions, adding about $35 per ounce above our cost guidance.

With that, I will pass the call over to our CFO to walk us through our financial matters. Maarten?

Thank you, Renaud, and good morning, everyone. The combination of strong operating performance and a favorable gold price environment continued to generate significant cash flow during the quarter. Our capital allocation strategy is to deploy funds to sustain and optimize our operations, fund our expansion and mine life extension initiatives and then use remaining funds for strategic opportunities and shareholder returns. Net cash from operating activities totaled $445.1 million during the quarter, an increase of $359.3 million when compared to the $85.8 million of cash from operating activities in Q2 2025. We used the operating cash flow to fund $115.6 million of capital expenditures the full repayment of the remaining $100 million outstanding on the credit facility, $74 million paid to the government of Burkina Faso related to the Essakane dividend distribution and $147.9 million of shares repurchases under our share buyback program.

As Renaud noted, since we initiated the share buyback in December, IAMGOLD has repurchased approximately 28 million shares for $510.4 million, which equates to approximately 45% of our mine site free cash flow returned to shareholders, a clear signal of our confidence in the value of our shares. In June, we further enhanced our financial flexibility by amending the credit facility, increasing total capacity from $650 million to $850 million, extending the maturity to 2030, improving covenant terms and lowering overall borrowing costs. The amended facility also includes a further $250 million accordion feature, providing additional liquidity potential. As a result, we ended the quarter with $501.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, no amounts drawn on the revolving facility and total available liquidity of approximately $1.35 billion.

Revenues for the second quarter was $856.9 million on sales of 195,100 ounces at an average realized gold price of $4,384 per ounce. This was slightly below the quarter average as production was weighted towards the back end of the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter was $507.1 million and adjusted net earnings attributable to equity holders of $241.6 million or $0.42 per share compared with $77.3 million and $0.13 per share in the prior period. On a trailing 12-month basis, adjusted EBITDA has increased to approximately $2.2 billion.

Cash flow from operating activities, excluding working capital adjustments, was $442 million in the quarter, an increase of $315.6 million year-over-year. Mine site free cash flow was $368.9 million in the second quarter, a $228.4 million or 169% increase compared to Q2 2025. Year-to-date mine site free cash flow was $893.5 million, a $613.5 million or 29% increase compared to the same period in 2025. Taken together, these results reflect the fundamental transformation of the company's financial position. Just over a year ago, IAMGOLD carried more than $800 million of net debt. As of June 30, 2026, the company is in a net cash position with an undrawn and increasing revolving facility and the balance sheet capacity to fund growth and return capital to shareholders concurrently.

And with that, I will pass the call to Bruno Lemelin, our Chief Operations Officer, to discuss our operating results and outlook. Bruno?

Thank you, Maarten. Starting with Cote Gold. Cote produced 96,200 ounces on a 100% basis in the quarter, bringing the year-to-date production to 170,900 ounces. Strong production is expected in the second half, putting Cote well on track to meet the production guidance of 309,000 to 440,000 ounces this year. The story of the quarter is really the story of June when the plant operated at near full capacity following the conveyor belt replacement in May and the commissioning of the second cone crusher earlier in the year.

On the mining side, we moved 11.7 million tonnes of total material with 3.1 million tonnes of ore at a strip ratio of 2.8:1. Grade mine averaged 0.86 gram per tonne, both the strip ratio and the grade reflects where we are in the mine plan. We worked on pushback areas and focus on opening up a new bench to set up the second half of the year. In the plant, we milled 2.9 million tonnes. We managed throughput early in the quarter ahead of the CV10 conveyor replacement in late May. Once the new heavier gauge belt was installed, we ramped the plant back to nameplate and processed over 1 million tonnes in the month of June alone. Head grade averaged 1.12 gram per tonne at recoveries of 93%.

And I would note that reconciliation between our reserve model and mill feed continues to sit well within expected tolerances. The most significant operational milestone in the quarter was discontinuing external contractor crushing by the end of June. We are already seeing the benefits as the processing cost in June averaged $17.72 per tonne, down from an average of $22.5 per tonne over the prior 3 quarters. We have seen additional operating improvement. First, with better sized material now feeding the HPGR. We are seeing improved wear rates on the rollers. A longer HPGR lifespan should translate into lower maintenance costs and better crushing circuit ability going forward.

Second, the mining fleet that had been dedicated to rehandling material for the contract crusher is now being redeployed on 2 mining activities. Combined with 3 new haul trucks coming into service, we expect mining rates to step up in the second half. Looking forward, we anticipate the plant averaging nameplate of 36,000 tonnes per day over the course of the year and head grades between 105 and 115 gram per tonne. Production is weighted to the second half on both higher throughput and higher grades.

Turning to costs. Cote reported second quarter cash costs, excluding royalties of $1,245 per ounce and all-in sustaining cost of $2,082 per ounce. Costs remain elevated on external contractor crushing, contractor support for the conveyor repair and scheduled maintenance, compounded by higher diesel prices. On a unit basis, mining costs averaged $4.49 per tonne mined and milling costs $20.85 per tonne milled in the quarter. Both remain above where we intend to operate and the path to improvement is clear. On mining, the contractor crusher required significant rehandling and tied up haul truck utilization.

With the contractor phased out and 3 new haul trucks coming into service, that capacity returns to the pit. On mining, June's cost of $17.72 per tonne gives us a real-world data point for what the circuit delivers without contracted crushing. We are targeting mining costs of $4 per tonne and mining cost of $15 per tonne by year-end with further reductions expected into 2027. On capital, we invested $54.6 million at Cote in the quarter on attributable basis capital expenditures are to be weighted to the second half on equipment delivery timing and project schedule. Putting that together for the year, we expect cash costs, excluding royalties at Cote, near the top end of our $900 to $1,050 per ounce guidance range and AISC, excluding royalties at the top end of the $1,475 to $1,625 range.

Cote carries a 7.5% gross margin royalties and various net smelter return royalties, which accounted for $309 per ounce in our cash costs or 20% of cash costs. Costs are expected to improve through the second half on higher production volumes, the removal of contracted crushing, improved maintenance cycles and greater efficiencies as the pit opens up. With a clear path to higher production and lower cost, attention now turns to the next phase for Cote. On June 1, we announced an updated mineral resource estimate that, for the first time, combined the Cote and Gosselin zones together into a single block model.

On a 100% basis, measured and indicated resources increased to 20.3 million ounces with 3.5 million ounces of inferred. This larger resource base will support our updated technical report and life of mine plan, which we expect to release towards the end of the year. The plan is expected to show a significant increase in both reserves and mine life. It will also set out a near-term path to raise processing capacity beyond the current nameplate of 36,000 tonnes per day towards a sustained rate of about 40,000 tonnes per day. That first step comes from further debottlenecking and targeted plant improvement, not from a major new build. It includes accelerating certain works such as an additional Verde mill.

In parallel, we are evaluating longer-term expansion scenarios beyond 40,000 tonnes per day through technical infrastructure and permitting studies. Our objective is to determine the right scale and the right development path for Cote. For a project of this size, scope and importance, it is critical we determine the optimal long-term expansion strategy. The additional nonrecurring sustaining and expansion capital we are investing to date supports that work. The plant improvements provide improved ability and capacity. The Phase 2 pit pushback gives us operating flexibility in the near term, and it also prepares the ground for a larger operation. We are reducing the risk of the bigger build well before we commit to it. We also continue to grow the resource. At Cote and Gosselin, we are drilling over 30,000 meters to test the extensions to the Northeast to improve confidence in the resource and to convert inferred ounces into the indicated.

Turning to Westwood. The operation delivered another strong quarter, producing 32,400 ounces, supported by solid underground performance. Year-to-date, Westwood has produced 68,600 ounces, positioning well on track with our guidance target of 110,000 to 130,000 ounces. Underground mining totaled 104,000 tonnes at an average grade of 8.4 grams per tonne with the guaranteed open pit contributed 109,000 tonnes of ore as waste stripping continued to position the pit for future production.

Mill throughput was 287,000 tonnes at a blended grade of 3.75 grams per tonne and recoveries of 94%. Throughput was lower than the prior year due to a planned mill shutdown early in the quarter, but overall operating performance remained strong. Most importantly, Westwood generated $56.5 million of mine site free cash flow during the quarter and $166.5 million year-to-date. The operation continues to demonstrate the value of the technical and operational changes implemented over the past years, delivering safe and reliable production, strong margins and meaningful cash flow generation.

Turning to cost and outlook. Westwood continues to perform well across both operational and financial metrics. Cash costs were $1,606 per ounce in the quarter and all-in sustaining costs were $2,163 per ounce. Year-to-date, AISC is averaging $1,921 per ounce which is tracking below our full year guidance range. While we have seen modest cost increases related to additional drilling activity and higher explosive costs, overall cost performance remains strong. Looking ahead, our focus is on unlocking the next phase of value at Westwood. This year, we are investing around $30 million of expansion capital to advance exploration and development activities in the eastern extension of the mine, where drilling continues to demonstrate encouraging results, including a thickening of the mineralized system.

Our teams are now advancing underground development into this area and conducting bulk testing to better understand its long-term potential. We expect to publish an updated technical report in the second half of 2027. This work is expected to support an extension of mine life and evaluate the potential for more productive bulk mining methods within the Eastern zone. If successful, this could support higher underground throughput, improve mining costs and increase production over time.

Turning to Essakane. The operation delivered another strong quarter, producing 88,400 attributable ounces, an increase of 15% over the prior year period. Year-to-date, Essakane has produced 183,500 ounces, putting the mine well on track with our guidance targets. Performance in the quarter continued to benefit from positive grade reconciliation as mining progressed deeper into Phase 7, consistent with what we have observed in previous phases of the deposit. Mining activities totaled 12 million tonnes during the quarter, including 2.5 million tonnes of ore, while waste stripping remained elevated as we continue to advance the adjacent Lao pit.

Despite the higher stripping requirements, the operation delivered solid throughput of 3.2 million tonnes with head grades of 1.13 grams per tonne and recoveries of 88%. Most importantly, Essakane continues to generate substantial cash flows. Mine site free cash flows totaled $162.1 million during the quarter and $464.8 million year-to-date, even after a $60.2 million tax payment. Over the last 12 months, Essakane has generated more than $800 million of mine site free cash flow, highlighting the strength of the asset in the current gold price environment. As we look into the second half of the year, mining will remain focused on Phase 7 and the development of the Lao pit. While grades are expected to normalize as additional Lao ore enters the mine plan, the operation remains well positioned to achieve annual production guidance and continue generating significant free cash flow.

Turning to costs. Essakane delivered a strong quarter. Cash costs, excluding royalties, were $1,214 per ounce, a reduction of 22% from the prior year period and all-in sustaining costs, excluding royalties, were $1,691 per ounce. The improvement was driven largely by unit cost performance in the pit, where open pit mining costs fell to $4.79 per operating tonne from $6.02 a year ago as 3D gain in the initial saprolite benches of the Lao pit reduced both explosives and energy consumption.

Milling costs also improved to $18.88 per tonne as the liner replacement was completed in the first quarter this year rather than the second. Royalties accounted for $510 per ounce, representing approximately 30% of cash costs and an increase of $220 per ounce over the prior year period. This reflects both the higher gold price and the current royalty regime in which our average royalty rate in the quarter was 12% against 9% a year ago. Looking beyond 2026, we intend to publish an updated technical report in the first half of 2027, which is expected to demonstrate the potential to extend Essakane's mine life through 2035, supported by additional phases in the Essakane pit and the adjacent open pits.

With that, I will pass it back to Renaud. Renaud?

Thank you, Bruno, and congrats to you and your teams on strong and safe operational results.

Turning to growth. Beyond our 3 operating mines, the Nelligan mining complex in Quebec is where we see the next chapter of this company. Nelligan now holds 4.3 million ounces of indicated and 7.5 million ounces of inferred mineral resources. The consolidations completed last December gives us 100% ownership of one of the largest preproduction gold camps in Canada on a single contiguous land package. Our focus this year is on drilling. We have budgeted approximately $24 million across the complex in 2026 with programs at Nelligan, Philibert and Monster Lake. Roughly 45,000 meters of close to 70,000 meters are complete, and we expanded the Nelligan program during the quarter from 18,000 to 24,000 meters on the strength of results to date.

Mineralization remains open along strike and at depth, and we expect to release drill results later this year. What makes this district compelling is not any single deposit, but the relationship between them. All of the primary deposit sits within 17 kilometers radius, which supports the conceptual vision of a central processing facility fed from multiple ore sources. That is the concept our teams are working to define. We expect to publish an inaugural technical report for the complex in the first half of 2027, which will bring this deposit together into a single development concept for the first time. Nelligan has the potential to become one of the premier development projects in Canada. And with the deposit still open, our focus remains on growing the resource and defining the full scale of the district.

Before we open the line for questions, a few closing thoughts. This was another quarter of safe, consistent execution. We remain on track for guidance. We have generated nearly $900 million of mine site free cash flow year-to-date, and we ended the quarter in a net cash position with nearly $1.4 billion of liquidity while returning over $0.5 billion to shareholders since last December. Looking ahead, we have work underway across every asset. At Cote, an updated technical report later this year, integrating Cote and Gosselin for the first time with a much larger reserve base, a longer mine life and a near path to approximately 40,000 tonnes per day. The consolidated resource point to a larger operations over time, and we'll continue to advance that work.

At Essakane, an updated mine plan in the first half of 2027, evaluating a mine life extension through 2035. At Westwood, mine life extension and underground expansion study in the second half of 2027. And at Nelligan, our inaugural technical report in the middle of next year. Each is about the same objective, understanding the full scale of what we hold and doing it from a position of financial strength.

Thank you for your continued support. Operator, you can now open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Sathish Kasinathan with Bank of America Securities.

My first question is on the Cote expansion study. Could you maybe provide a bit more color on what changed over the past 3 months that drove the shift to a more phased approach? Are you now leaning towards a much larger expansion, maybe doubling the capacity to 70,000 to 80,000 tonnes per day? Or did you come across some technical findings that require more time to complete the studies?

Okay. So thanks for your questions, and happy to provide more questions. And Bruno, you can add to it. Not to read between beyond more than, call it, disciplined and diligent capital allocation at this stage. It became obvious over the last few months as we advance and continue to look at the opportunity that this large resource base at Cote and Gosselin provide for potentially multiple different scenarios. And quite frankly, when you're looking at the next 3 years, we'll be pretty much executing on the same. It doesn't really matter of the scenario. The next 3 years are a lot around focusing on the improvement on reducing our cost, or hitting our 36,000 on a very sustaining basis and then slowly ramping up to 40,000. We're going to continue -- we're not going to waste our time line, obviously, we're going to continue with our baselines. We're going to work on migrations thus all what is required to potentially.

But as you mentioned, it's not so much about the -- is it like a 50,000, 60,000, 70,000 more than we just don't want to limit ourselves on the multiple and take just more time to really assess different scenario. So if you remember back in 2022, the company released the 43-101, the 36,000 moving towards 42,000 from which now we're sitting at about $7 million of reserves. So the opportunity here is to update this with the new projections from 36,000 to roughly 40,000. We could potentially do a little more, but -- and update our cost and so forth and just continue to assess and just pick what we think is the best. This is one of the top resource base in Canada. It's not about rushing the outcome of this, but really take the time for proper and discipline in that.

There is no technical challenges beyond. It's just multiple opportunities. We have mentioned recently, of course, up to very recently, the opportunity to go up to 50,000, and we were challenging ourselves, do we do the dry right away at a higher throughput. So clearly, there is opportunities at Cote that deserve a little more of disciplined look at and come out down the road with what is the best. So again, nothing to be worried about. Definitely no technical challenges, more than disciplined and diligent approach.

Bruno, happy if you want to give anything.

Yes. So the main objective of this technical report is also to valorize confirm the reserve on Gosselin side. So you will see a large expansion on the reserve side coming from that report.

And quite frankly, as Bruno mentioned, there's very low to mill differences. We will capture the massive increase of the reserve base. In the short term, the 40,000, 50,000 and so forth, this is not what drives the value more than the extension of the life of mine and the massive expansion of the extension of the reserve base and so forth and work diligently to hit the 36,000 consistently and up to 40,000, lowering our costs, open the pit. So again, pretty much the same execution over the next 2 years. We'll use the time for environmental baseline and advance, whatever. There is some permitting that could advance as well, water and so forth. So we'll be more specific in the report, and we'll be capable to provide the next 3 years for this. And again, depending on the expansion down the road, it doesn't really change the next 3 years.

Okay. Looking forward for the update in fourth quarter. Maybe my second question is on the -- on your capital allocation priorities. Great to see continued strong buybacks. With the company now in a net cash position and generating strong free cash flow, what is your latest thinking on buying back the 50% Cote royalty from Franco-Nevada and on the initiation of dividends? And where does M&A fit into this priority list?

Maarten, please go ahead.

Sathish, we continue to look at buyback opportunity of that royalty at Franco, and there's many reasons why it would make sense for us. The price would be the same as the price that was set a year ago in a much lower gold price environment, and there's many other impacts, including reducing the cost structure and burden on Cote. So we continue looking at that. In the future, we can fund that with internally generated cash flow, and we have until April of next year to make that decision. So we are very -- looking at that very closely. The price doesn't change. So there's no real reason for us to do it earlier than when it makes economic sense to do so. On the dividend, we continue to look at this year as a good year to buy back shares, and we'll continue using the Essakane cash flows to fund that buyback. And then beginning of next year, as we are in that net cash position, as you mentioned, it would start making sense for us. So we are looking at that dividend starting early next year.

Any thoughts on M&A?

I don't think so. We'll comment on M&A at this stage. We remain very focused and continue to create value for our shareholders.

The next question comes from Mohamed Sidibe with National Bank.

Congrats on the strong operating quarter there. Maybe just a follow-up on the expansion to the 40,000 tonnes per day there. So if I recall correctly, the prior target expansion to 50,000 tonnes per day also was understood to have a doubling of the dry line, a third Verde mill and increased by or capacity. So for this debottlenecking to 40,000 tonnes per day, can you provide us with a little bit more color on how we should think about capital for that optimization versus the previously, call it, maybe $500 million and change that was envisioned for the 50,000 tonne per day case.

Well, essentially, as I said, the next -- the most important thing is the next 3 years is pretty much the same scenario. So if you remove like the expansion and you're looking at optimizations, we have discussed at large -- this year, we're spending around $80 million, $85 million in growth capital to open the pit, prepare the pits for larger volume and so forth. So we're advancing well. And you could expect this spending to continue in '27, '28. And at that point, we hope that the pit will be fully opened and well, not fully open to the full, but provide for larger volume mining and more efficiencies.

We're also spending more sustaining capital this year to improve in some aspects, and I expect that to continue as well as we want to install the repeat system in the fines and the course and proper continuum of operations. This is a huge ticket item. We'll improve some infrastructure as well as we continue to expand the mine fleet. So there would be some needs for our maintenance facilities as well, improvement and so forth. And the next 3 years is really about positioning the sites to be a very strong low-cost long-term asset. This is the focus.

So not much of a difference to what we have. We have already discussed in the past of the next 3 years. And the only thing is we have mentioned that the 50,000 starting maybe 29,000, 30,000 could be in the range of the $500 million to $750 million of capital. This was really to bring it from 40,000 towards 50,000. And this is what we're parking for the time being until we have a better view of what is the optimum scenario. But expect the execution pretty much on the sustaining capital optimization, improvement of infrastructure and operational equipment around the crushing to continue and the growth path to -- on the mining side to continue. So no change there. The only difference so far is about the $500 million to $700 million of extra capital expansion that we're for the time being.

That's very helpful. And then maybe if I can move on to Cote into the quarter. Great to see the process cost improvement in June. And I think mining costs were also lower quarter. So how should we think about mining and processing costs? Specifically, I think you pointed to about $18 per tonne realized in June on the process cost front. But how can we think about that improvement into Q3 and Q4 at the asset and into 2027 towards kind of your target of $415 million there?

This is Bruno. First, we have a program that is tracking those costs, and we have like close to 31 in meeting and tracking those costs and trying to get them down. But I will say that the reduction or the elimination of the contracted crushing is going to help because now the fleet, like I mentioned, is going to be fully dedicated to exit mining. So that will increase the volume of mining. So just on a volume basis, that will increase -- that will help decreasing your unit costs.

Also, we are adding new units in the fleet. And after that, our continuous improvement program has identified, like I mentioned, 31 incentives that we're tracking. And we're very, very confident and we're feeling strong that we're going to be able to meet our $4 targets on the mining side by year-end. Same thing is happening with processing. What happens is we have -- the second cone crusher is helping to have the best granulometry entering the HPGR. So the size that goes -- the top end that goes to the HPGR is as per spec, we expect longer life from our rollers or tires at the HPGR. So in the past, we used to change them twice a year. Now we expect to change them once a year. So that's going to have a big impact on our -- positive impact on our maintenance cost and also availability because you don't stop the HPGR for nothing. So increased availability, improved granulometry like better efficiency in your maintenance cycle. We have also identified a numerous amount of incentives from our cost improvement program. And we are very well positioned to be meeting our $15 per tonne target by year-end.

Great. And then if I may, a final question for Maarten. Just on the income tax payment for the remaining second half of the year. How should we think about that spread for the remaining about $100 million and $115 million there?

So for the income taxes, we made a larger payment in Q2 in Burkina, and that's normally what happens. It's your catch-up payment every year because we do pay quarterly payments. And then the future payment is based on what you expect it to be. So the income tax payments for the remaining of the year is between $35 million to $40 million per quarter. And then we also will be paying the withholding tax on the new declared dividend in Burkina Faso of $26.8 million in the third quarter. So we are still kind of like falling in that range of $205 million to $250 million for the year.

The next question comes from Anita Soni with CIBC.

Congrats on a strong operational quarter. I think a lot of the questions have been asked and answered. I just wanted to -- I guess, with Bruno talking about the mining rates, I was going to ask about the stripping. How should we think about that to the back half of the year because I think the beginning of the year was a little lighter on the stripping side than I had expected. This is at Cote.

Yes. The stripping ratio should be around, I'd say, about 2.6 tonnes to 1.

And that's in the back half of the year. Okay. Any change to the grade in the back half of the year? I know you guided to 1.05 to 1.15. But any variability like in terms of like lower than higher or higher than lower in Q3 versus Q4?

That's correct. So we expect stronger head grades or grade mine in the second half of the year, like I mentioned, like ranging between 1.05 to 1.15 gram per tonne, so which will help having a stronger H2.

Okay. And then just in terms of going back to the study, could you just clarify for me like in simple terms, what we should expect to see in the study? So a path to 40,000 tonne per day with the CapEx associated with that? And then longer term, what would you be including in that -- in the study that you'll release in Q4? Or I guess, is it in Q4 with Q4 results?

Yes. We expect to release the results of the report at the end of this year that will indicate how we can valorize the Gosselin reserve. Like I mentioned, the main objective of this report is to understand how many reserves we have from Gosselin. So we expect a large expansion in our reserve base when you tie the Cote and Gosselin block model altogether, it's called the super pit concept. So that's objective one at a 40,000 tonne per day cadence and it's adjusted cost structure. So this is basically what we need to be expecting. But also in that technical report, there's a section on future opportunities, and that's where we're going to also indicate what we see in the future in terms of potential expansion.

If I could just add one thing, Anita. So the way to really looking at is, let's say, at the 36,000 to up to 40,000, I think it's fair to say that you maximize the depletions of Cote before you have the obligation to cross and start mining the Gosselin. So you maximize potentially in pit co-disposal and so forth as we have largely discussed. As you advance the throughput towards the 50,000 and eventually beyond the 50,000 comes the obligations to start Gosselin a little quicker to a point that a scenario like a 70,000, basically, you would be mining as soon as possible both pits. So that's really where it's being played. So that capital allocations versus benefits, and we want to do like the proper -- continue to work hard on the trade-offs and so forth. And again, as I mentioned, focusing on the next 2, 3 years on optimizations, which basically is the same. But as we advance in time, the game is there. The game is about balancing capital allocations versus how fast and quicker you want to build, you want to mine Gosselin and what does that play in the capital allocation. So this is really how we trade.

Okay. So that was going to be my next question. With respect to the tailings capacity under the 40,000 tonne per day scenario, is that -- is the capacity you have sufficient to what you would expect the 40,000 tonne per day scenario and the reserves that you would incorporate with this study at year-end? Or would you have to do some additional funding?

Yes. So that will require like right now, the TSF or the TMF has a capacity up to 233 million tonnes. So of course, by just including Gosselin, you will need additional tailings capacity. That's what the project team is currently looking, adding more capacity, but also looking at other options like disposal, like Renaud mentioned. So those are the kind of trade-offs that are going to be published in the technical report at the end of --of the 2.

As a rule of thumb, there is maybe somewhat around the 200 million tonnes of tailings that is like where do they go. But yes, there wouldn't be any issues to find the space for. But as you increase the throughput of the mining, as you reduce your change of co-deposal, but you would just build extra capacity larger, but it's all fit.

I'm sorry, and co-disposal meaning that you would be placing some ore within parts of the Cote pit that have been depleted and somehow sectioned off.

That is correct.

That is correct. So there is an opportunity here as Cote is depleted that not just use it for tailings, but eventually some waste as well.

The next question comes from Matthew Murphy with BMO Capital Markets.

I had a question on Essakane. You have another dividend declared. And while you're studying this mine life extension, how much cash do you keep in Burkina? And do you have to let that build up a bit in the event you go forward with the extension?

Go ahead, Maarten. I'm so sorry, we're looking for the answer.

So it's our decision how much cash we keep in Burkina. At the moment, it depending on the timing of the year and when the tax payments and payments like that is scheduled, it's between $100 million to $200 million. When we look at next year, there is more than enough cash flow for Essakane to fund all of the potential mine life extension by itself and then still a considerable portion to repatriate to IAMGOLD. So the timing of the cash flow means we don't really need to build up a larger balance there. It's just is sufficient as they generate cash to fund additional capital.

Got it. Okay. And then this latest dividend, like should we think about that when it comes out in regular payments that that's like a year-long process and then you look at the next dividend?

Yes. So the current dividend that we declared, the $400 million of our portion, if the gold price averages about $4,000, it will take 3 quarters, maybe a bit more than 3 quarters for us to get there. And then we are into the new cycle almost again. At a higher gold price, it could happen faster, but we'll balance that with the funding of our mine life extension as you referred to as well.

The next question comes from Tanya Jakusconek with Scotiabank.

Just so that I understand completely on this Cote and some of your cash flow that would be going out. Renaud, I think you said that $80 million, $85 million of expansion capital for the next couple of years just to keep that -- get to 40,000 tonnes per day and maintaining that would be about -- for 3 years, that would be about $250 million or thereabout. And then I've got this $350 million potentially going out for Cote royalty, if I was to buy that back. Should I be thinking then that, that expansion of 500 -- to 50,000 tonnes per day would be something that probably you wouldn't look at spending until '29, 2030 time frame? I'm just trying to see the cash flow and what sort of things are going out.

Okay. No, thanks. And Maarten, you would add to it. But the $85 million of the growth capital that I referred to, it's pretty much for the mining side of the business, right? So we have a plan to open enlarge the pit of Cote, increase the fleet and be more efficient. So that's on the mining side and there's a gross capital. Some of the improvement, like we discussed to go to the 40,000, you would definitely put repeat system and improve some aspect operational, but this is not the expansion per se. So that would continue.

So to your point, you're right. So far, what is not no longer on the paper, and we'll see how we go as we continue is the extra probably $500 million to $700 million that we have accounted for starting potentially in '29 over '29, '30 to bring it from the 40,000 to the 50,000. So that portion only is part. But anything else, expect the organic -- I expect the growth capital for the mine component to continue in '27, '28 and expect our sustaining capital to have a component like this year of improvement. And the quickest we could install those repeat system, the quicker we get to the 40,000. So that would be the priority. We may increase it to go faster, but roughly the next 3 years is really about limiting the capital as much as possible to the 40 stage. And Maarten, happy to.

Yes. Thanks, Renaud. So like this year, we are spending about $50 million of capital to help us increase the efficiency of operation and reduce the unit cost. We include that in sustaining cost in our reporting, and we expect to continue to spend up to that amount every year maybe a bit more in the next couple of years. And that is to fund the initiatives that Bruno also alluded to, to bring down the unit cost. And the payback on that is pretty good because the amount of tonnes in this large resource, any improvement on your dollar per tonne cost pays back that capital pretty quickly, and that's why we want to make this investment in the next few years.

Okay. So that's in your $160 million plus or minus sustaining costs that you have guided for this year. I guess what I'm really trying to get at is for us to get to that 40,000, which you're going to be providing in the study, from the mining side, there's something from the processing side, there's something, the allocation of growth between expansion and sustaining is sort of for the 2. So how should I think of that cost for the complex your share for the next 3 years? Should I be thinking it's $160 million plus $85 million for the next -- per annum for the next 3 years?

I'm afraid, Tanya, we cannot be that precise to be very frank because that's exactly what is the last portion that we're refining as we speak, is the capital for each block. We would be releasing those numbers in the fourth quarter. So you'll be fully equipped to foresee the next 3 years as soon as the latest December. So I would not advance too much on it, and I would refer to the upcoming report, which will clarify our next 3 years.

Okay. We'll wait for that. Maybe just on the -- I look at that complex, processing facility, and I see the 4 deposits. How should we be thinking about that from a conceptual level and a high level? Is this a camp that could do 300,000 ounces, 400,000 from 100,000 each from each deposit? I'm just trying to think of what could this complex do?

Yes. The complex has definitely the resource base to eventually come up with a scenario that could be probably as high as 400,000. This is our objective here. So some sort of -- not saying that it a cam it doesn't have any potential beyond the 2035, but it's very important to us that we find a way for the continuum here and eventually, should the mine doesn't go beyond 350. So at least we have a continuum but in Canada. So we think with the starting of Nelligan, with Philibert and with the underground of Monster Lake, the concept of the 3, we're working and generating something that's between the 300,000 and the 400,000, but we're definitely looking at towards the 400,000 per annum.

Okay. We'll look forward to that study as well. And then maybe just lastly, just how should I be thinking -- you gave guidance on Cote for the second half of the year with a higher throughput, higher grade. How does Westwood and Essakane, how do they look for Q3, Q4? Is it evenly distributed? Or is there anything greater throughput that I should know about?

For Essakane, it's going to be pretty much even, a little bit stronger on the Q4.

Sorry is that for Westwood? A bit stronger in Q4.

I thought you were talking about the second. So yes. So for Westwood, it's stronger in Q4 than Q3.

We did have a very strong H1 at Westwood. So H1 times 2 will definitely put beyond. So -- but we see in H2 that would be strong, but not necessarily stronger than H1. And I think Essakane, Renaud.

Essakane because you have the rainy season right now. So it's going to be just at that lower than Q4, not materially.

The next question comes from Carey MacRury with Canaccord Genuity.

Just a quick one for me. You mentioned the performance at Cote in June. Just wondering how it's gone through July now and into August, if that's still running at nameplate.

Well, it goes very well, like the thing that we're seeing is the addition of the second cone crusher is giving us like great performance. I call it peak performance that goes even beyond the 36,000 tonnes per day. The name of the game is to have sustainment, is to have that short-term performance and to be having it like sustain over time. So this is our current plan right now. So that's what we've been doing in July, great results, but what we want to do is to be able to have that kind of performance along over the year, and then we can have a good baseline for what is the next bottleneck and how we can get to the 40,000 tonnes per day.

But right now, that's what we work, but we really like what we see with the addition we made lately with the second cone crusher, HPGR that is well aligned, the interface between the mine and the mill. So we see great integration between the mine team, the mill team. And we see peak performance that are really impressing us. But the fact here is that we need to have those kind of performance to be sustained over time.

So still comfortable with the 36,000 for the second half of the year.

Yes. No, everything is in place to average it. And there's a little bit of a transition getting used to not having the aggregate plans to rely on. So it's like you rip the abandon and you run to -- we had a good month of June. Like Bruno says, we see several days with peak about. So now it's about learning to stabilize and producing those tonnes. So -- but the capacity is there for sure.

Just, I need to mention that in August, it's our annual shutdown. So we need to take that into consideration.

How long is the shutdown?

5 days.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Graeme Jennings for any closing remarks.

Thank you very much, operator, and thanks, everyone, for joining us this morning. As always, should you have any additional questions, please reach out to Renaud or myself. Thank you all. Be safe, and have a great day.

Thank you. This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IAMGOLD First Quarter 2026 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions].

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Graeme Jennings, VP Business Development. and Investor Relations for IAMGOLD. Please go ahead, Mr. Jennings.

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone, to our conference call this morning. Joining us on the call are Renaud Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer; Maarten Theunissen, Chief Financial Officer; Bruno Lemelin, Chief Operating Officer; Ankit Shah, Chief Strategy Officer; and Annie Torkia Lagace, Chief Legal Officer.

We are calling today from IAMGOLD's Toronto office, which is located on Treaty 13 territory on the traditional lands of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. At IAMGOLD, we believe respecting and upholding indigenous rates is founded upon relationships that foster trust, transparency and mutual respect.

Please note that our remarks on today's call will include forward-looking statements and refer to non-IFRS measures. We encourage you to refer to the cautionary statements and disclosures on non-IFRS measures included in the presentation and the reconciliations of these measures in our most recent MD&A, each under the heading non-GAAP financial measures.

With respect to the technical information to be discussed, please refer to the information in the presentation under the heading Qualified Person and Technical Information. The slides referenced on this call can be viewed on our website.

I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Renaud Adams.

Thank you, Graeme, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before I start, I'd like to welcome Ankit Shah, who joined IAMGOLD on Monday as our Chief Strategy Officer. Ankit, who many of you on the call are familiar with brings to our team nearly 20 years of strategy, corporate development and capital markets experience at a very exciting time for this company. So welcome Ankit.

IAMGOLD is off to a strong start to 2026. In the first quarter, we produced 183,600 attributable ounces of gold. positioning us well to achieve our full year guidance of 720,000 to 820,000 ounces. The quarter was marked by robust financial results with revenue exceeding $1 billion and mine-site free cash flow of $525 million.

The cash flow we are generating is allowing us to execute on all fronts. As in the first quarter alone, we returned $260 million to shareholders through our share buyback program and repaid $100 million of debt on our credit facility while increasing our cash position.

These results reflect the significant leverage of our business as to the current gold price environment and more importantly, the quality of the asset we have built and the teams that operate them. But what excites me most is where IAMGOLD is head.

I believe we are entering one of the most catalyst-rich period of company's history. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we expect to deliver updated technical reports across each of our assets. Cote gold, Westwood, Essakane and the Nelligan Mining Complex. These studies are expected to outline a larger, longer life production profile that we believe will redefine how the market views IAMGOLD.

At Cote, the year-end technical report is expected to contemplate the significantly larger scale operations incorporating both the Cote and Gosselin, supported by an updated mineral resource estimate coming this quarter. At Nelligan, we are advancing one of the largest preproduction gold camps in Canada towards a preliminary economic assessment next year.

And at Westwood and Essakane, we see meaningful potential of mine life extension and production growth. We will get into the detail on each of these through the presentation today. When I look at IAMGOLD today, with $2 billion of EBITDA generated over the last 12 months, a strengthened balance sheet and increasing production profile, catalyst that has every asset and meaningful capital being returned to shareholders.

I see a company that is delivering on its promises and building something very exceptional. We are well positioned to create significant value in 2026 and beyond and I look forward to walking you through the details.

And with that, let's get into the quarter. Starting with health and safety. In the quarter, our total recordable injury rate was 0.44, a measurable improvement from the prior year period. I would like to highlight two big achievements in the quarter. As the Essakane mine achieved a milestone of "triple zero" in the first quarter, and Westwood achieved its first full quarter at a zero TRIFR, a goal every mine site strives to reach.

I want to thank our teams across our operation and in the field for the continued commitment to safe and responsible mining as safety is where it starts. for us.

Looking at operation. And as I noted, IAMGOLD produced 183,600 ounces to our account in the first quarter. At Cote, attributable production of 52,300 ounces was impacted by reduced throughput due to unplanned downtime associated with wear and tear on the conveyor belt as crushed ore volumes significantly increased following the commissioning of the second cone crusher.

This belt will be replaced in May, after which we expect to operate at full capacity with an improving cost profile through the year as debottlenecking of the secondary crusher allows us to phase out the aggregate crusher. Meanwhile, Essakane and Westwood, both had a very strong start to the year, demonstrating the value of having a diversified portfolio of producing assets.

Cash costs, including royalties, were $1,301 per ounce in a quarter, tracking well within our full year guidance range, including royalties, cash costs were $1,608 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs were $2,124. It is worth highlighting that both Cote and Essakane carry significant royalty structure, which are directly linked to the gold price in a quarter where the gold price realized was nearly $4,900 an ounce.

The royalty component is naturally higher than what our guidance assume at $4,000. As a reference, this worked out to around $115 per ounce increase in cash costs for a $1,000 per ounce increase in the gold price from a royalty alone.

Meanwhile, on the input cost, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has introduced additional volatility to energy market, and we did see oil prices move higher towards the end of the quarter. Essakane in particular, has meaningful exposure given its reliance on diesel and heavy fuel oil to power both the processing and the mining fleet.

On a consolidated basis, a $10 per barrel increase translates to approximately $12 per ounce increase in cash costs. We are actively monitoring energy price movement and potential supply chain impacts across all of our operations.

With that, I will pass the call over to our CFO, to walk us through our financials matters. Maarten?

Thank you, Renaud, and good morning, everyone. The current gold market and our operating results have resulted in good financial results and considerable free cash flow being generated, which allows us to continue to execute on our capital allocation strategy to maximize value. We produced $524.6 million of mine-site free cash flow that is operating cash flows minus capital expenditure from each operation.

$228.4 million of the funds was used to strengthen our balance sheet by repaying $100 million of the credit facility and we also increased cash by $128.3 million. For the shareholder return component, we purchased $260 million or $12.9 million of IAMGOLD shares as part of the share buyback program.

Subsequent to quarter end, we purchased an additional 2.1 million shares for $40 million, which brings the total shares repurchase by IAMGOLD since the start of the program last December to $350 million or 18 million shares. In addition, we completed the debt repayment component of our plan and paid down the remaining $100 million balance of the credit facility, making the full facility available.

The company intends to continue to use cash flow from Essakane to fund its share buyback program at approximately the same rate of cash generated and repatriated from Essakane over the course of 2026. Naturally, the actual number of common shares that may be purchased if any, and the timing of such purchases will be determined by the company based on a number of factors, including the gold price, the company's financial performance, the availability of cash flows, consideration of uses of cash and our strategic allocation.

In terms of the financial position, at the end of the quarter, IAMGOLD at $550.2 million in cash and cash equivalents with $100 drawn million on the credit facility, resulting in liquidity at the end of March of approximately $1.1 billion. With the $400 million term loan we paid at the end of last year, and the repayment of our credit facility, IAMGOLD today is the net cash position, a significant milestone for a company that a year ago was carrying over $800 million in net debt.

Within cash and cash equivalent, we note that $281.9 million was held by Essakane at the end of the quarter. The cash balance at this account increased during the quarter and will be used to fund tax payments in April and the Government Burkina Faso's portion of the 2026 dividend payable in June. The company uses dividends and shareholder account structure to repatriate funds in excess of working capital requirements from Essakane.

Turning to our financial results. Revenues from operations totaled $1 billion from sales of 211,500 ounces. On a 100% basis at an average realized price of $485 per ounce. The record gold price and operating results resulted in adjusted EBITDA of $666 million in the first quarter of the year which brings the trailing 12-month EBITDA to a total of approximately $2 billion. At the bottom line, adjusted earnings per share for the quarter was $0.67. Looking at the cash flow reconciliation for the quarter, offers a good visualization of the major drivers in the quarter. We see good conversion of EBITDA into operating cash flow with $629.5 million of operating cash flow before working capital changes.

As stated earlier, the significant operating cash flow allowed for the funding of our capital expenditure of $101.6 million $260 million under the share buyback program. We paid $100 million of the credit facility, while still resulting in an increase in cash of $128.3 million. As we look ahead with the debt repayment goal achieved, we will continue to the share buyback flow by using cash flow from Essakane and the remaining cash going to our balance sheet to further strengthen it as we evaluate the best use of the funds to increase value of the business.

We are evaluating an appropriate time to induce a dividend that would likely be at the end of the year or early next year. It is worth reinforcing on how we think about our capital allocation framework today. The Canadian platform, consisting of Cote Gold and Westwood is generating sufficient cash flow to fund the company's Canadian operations and corporate activities as well as our internal growth plans over the next 3 years.

This is important because it means that the cash from Essakane can be directed to fund our capital return to shareholders that currently consists of the share buyback program. And we believe there is compelling logic to that. The market has historically applied the discounted cash flows generating Burkina Faso. By repatriating those funds to Canada, and using it to repurchase our shares at current market value, we are effectively converting cash with the market discounts into full value equity for our shareholders.

We continue to evaluate the program and believe that this is currently the most prudent use of capital. And with that, I will pass the call to Bruno Lemelin, our Chief Operations Officer, to discuss our operating results and outlook. Bruno?

Thank you, Maarten. Starting with Cote Gold. Looking at the quarter, Cote produced 74,700 ounces on a 100% basis. Mining activities totaled 9.3 million tonnes of material mined with 3.6 million tonnes of ore, representing a strip ratio of 1.6:1. Total tonnes mined were lower in January and February. The operation completed overburden removal activity required to open up the pit while managing seasonal winter condition.

Mining activity increased in March as drilling and blasting commenced in the pushback area. Grade mined in the quarter was 0.99 grams per tonne, in line with the mine plan. Mill throughput in the quarter was 2.3 million tonnes. As we noted in our results, throughput was limited due to downtime on the [ CV10 ] conveyor, which feeds material from the primary and secondary crushers to the streaming building. This downtime was primarily due to the increased load on the conveyor following the installation of the secondary crusher, putting additional stress on areas of the conveyor belt that had prior wear and slices. We were able to refine our repairs in early April. We then saw improved performance of the belt when the plant averaged 32,000 tonnes per day over the month. Later this month, we are installing a new heavier gauge belt, which will allow for the circuit to resume full operations above.

In summary, the Silicon belt situation is not structural in nature, but an isolated nonrecurring early line item. We are seeing fewer of these as the operations stabilize, marking an important step forward versus the past 12 to 24 months. Cote is transitioning into a phase focused on operating discipline and consistent execution. Head grades for the first quarter was 1.07 g/t, in line with the guidance for the year of 1.0 to 1.1 g/t with recoveries of 93%. We continue to be very pleased with the reconciliation between resource model, grade model to mill feed and production.

Production is expected to increase quarter-over-quarter as throughput increases in Q2 and on higher grades in the second half of the year. We remain on track with Cote's production guidance of 390,000 to 440,000 ounces for the year. Looking at cost, Cote reported first quarter cash costs, excluding royalties of $1,369 per ounce and all-in sustaining cost of $2,109 per ounce. We have been clear with our plan to lower our cost this year, and that plan is still in place. Our goal is to exit the year at sub for that refund mining costs and processing costs in the mid-teens.

The primary drivers to lower cost this year are fourfold. First is to increase tonnes through the mill and higher production. Second is to significantly reduce and remove the reliance on the contracted aggregate crusher. Third is with improved maintenance cycle in iterative performance improvement. And fourth is to realize the operational efficiencies as the pit is opened up. The second cone crusher is operating well, which has removed the bottleneck on this area of the secondary crushing circuit. Later this quarter, the increased capacity will allow us to phase out the usage of the aggregate crusher, which we contracted last year to allow the plant to hit its 2025 goals.

We have already realized benefits beyond the additional volume capacity with the HPGR seeing an immediate reduction on wear of its rollers, which will translate to less roller replacement over the course of the year. As Renaud pointed out, costs at Cote Gold are impacted by higher gold prices. In the first quarter, royalties accounted for $335 per ounce or 20% of cash cost. Further, and this is something that we've been asked about frequently of late is the impact of rising oil prices.

The benefit at Cote is that the plant in our shovels are connected to the low-cost hydro grid. So effectively, only our mining fleet is directly impacted by fuel prices. Based on our estimates, this translates to about $7 per ounce increase in cost for $10 increase in the price of oil. With the path forward this year to a higher production and lower cost, all eyes turn to what is next to show for Cote. The first step is the upcoming updated mineral resources estimate, which will combine both the Cote and Gosselin zones into a single block model. The goal is to see additional upgrading of ounces into measured and indicated.

The resource base will form the foundation of the Cote, Gosselin expansion mine plan, which is still on track to be announced in the fourth quarter of this year. The report will envision a near-term expansion of the Cote plan to 50,000 to 55,000 tonnes per day, targeting a significantly larger reserve base from the updated resource estimate. We expect the expansion to be highly accretive on a NAV basis as the near-term capital required for the plant expansion is relatively modest. The permitting and larger capital requirements for additional tailings management and opening of Gosselin will likely be staged out many years in the mine plan.

Turning to Westwood, the mine continued its strong production, producing 36,300 ounces in the quarter as underground activities performed very well with excellent mucking and hoisting performance. Underground mining totaled 106,000 tonnes in the quarter with an average head grade from underground of 9.85 grams per tonne. The open pit saw lower ore tonne mined of 60,000 tonnes. Operations prioritized waste stripping to open up access to additional ore with opportunities to further expansion or further expansion. Mill throughput in the third quarter was in line at 303,000 tonnes at a blended average grade of 4.04 gram per tonne and recoveries of 92%. Together, Westwood produced $110 million of mine site free cash flow in the first quarter, bringing the last 12 months of cash flow generation to $242 million.

Westwood demonstrates what disciplined execution and incremental optimization can deliver safe operations, stable production, expanding optionality and strong free cash flows without step change capital. As a result of the strong quarter, cash costs averaged $1,270 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs averaging $1,733 per ounce, well below the guidance ranges for the year. We have seen a modest mining cost increases on a per unit basis associated with increased drilling activities and higher explosive costs.

Looking ahead, our teams are quite excited for the future of Westwood. This year, we are spending about $30 million on expansion capital that is being used to explore and test the eastern extension of the mine, which you can see circled here on Slide 13. We are seeing a quickening of mineralization in this area. Our project teams are currently drifting into this area to conduct bulk testing. The company plans to publish an updated technical report for Westwood in the second half of 2027, which is expected to extend the life of mine and highlight the potential for gold mining in this Eastern zone. This approach could potentially support higher overall underground throughput, and this conceptually would allow for increased gold production at improved mining cost, allowing the mill to be filled with higher margin material.

Turning to Essakane. The mine reported record production of 111,900 ounces on a 100% basis. As grade continue to benefit from the positive reconciliation as mining progresses deeper into Phase 7. As a result of the strong performance, mine site free cash flow from Essakane was $302.7 million in the quarter, bringing the total cash generated by Essakane over the last 12 months to $803.6 million. On operation, mining totaled 11.9 million tonnes versus ore tonnes of 2.2 million tonnes, translating to a strip ratio of 4.4:1. The higher proportion of waste was a result of the initial pushback of the pit extension in the Lao pit.

The mill reported inline throughput of 3.1 million tonnes, which was a good achievement as the plant completed its annual shutdown. Head grades averaged 1.24 grams per tonne coming off the record grade last quarter. Despite the positive reconciliation impact in Phase 7, we are maintaining our guidance for the year of 1.1 gram per tonne as additional ore from Lao is brought into the mine plan. Essakane costs came within guidance ranges with cash costs, excluding royalties of $1,083 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs of $2,125 per ounce. Mining costs benefited in the quarter due to free digging of the initial saprolite benches of the Lao pit, resulting in reduced explosives consumption. While on a project basis, these savings were offset by higher energy and consumable costs and the replacement of the liners. Essakane costs also have exposure to the gold price. In the first quarter, the strong gold price translated to royalties accounting for $597 per ounce or 35% of cash costs. Further, Essakane is heavily reliant on oil and [indiscernible]. Based on the usage between milling and mining, it is estimated that the $10 increase in the price of oil per barrel would equate to about $20 per ounce increase in cash costs and in all-in sustaining costs, respectively.

At this time, our fuel supply has not been impacted by the conflict in the Middle East, though risk to price and supply have increased. The company is actively, effectively monitoring the situation and implementing measures that are within its control. Essakane continues to be a highly cash-generative asset, delivering strong free cash flow while offering optionality to an updated mine plan targeting a potential 5-year extension of its current life of mine. In the first half of 2027, IAMGOLD expects to release this updated plan, which would extend Essakane's life to 2033. This work will also support the discussion with the government of Burkina Faso ahead of license renewal in 2028. Today, Essakane hosts 4.4 million ounces of measured and indicated resources with further upside supported by ongoing drilling. With that, I will pass it back to Renaud. Renaud?

Thank you, Bruno. This brings us to the Nelligan Mining Complex. The first quarter was the first full quarter that we controlled the consolidated district and our exploration teams have been drilling to expand mineralization at Philibert, Nelligan and Monster Lake, while prioritizing targets for further discovery.

This year, we will be drilling over 60,000 meters to advance the project so we can release our initial PEA study to the market in the first half of next year. The Nelligan Mining Complex already has a significant mineral inventory of over 4.3 million ounces of measured and indicated and 7.5 million ounces of inferred resources. And we believe there is meaningful upside to those numbers.

Many of these deposits and targets have not had a sustained or well-funded exploration program behind them. That is changing now, and we expect the mineral inventory to continue to grow as we put capital to work across the district. We expect the study to outline a project with a central processing facility being fed from multiple ore sources within the 17-kilometer radius, considering the minerals wealth and potential for growth and the fact that IAMGOLD owns 100% of the Nelligan Mining Complex has the potential to be among IAMGOLD's largest mine.

The Nelligan Mining Complex is already positioned as 1 of the largest preproduction gold projects in Canada. What makes truly compelling is the combination of district scale consolidation across multiple million ounces deposit. The ease of access, the combined of underground and open pit mining and the fact that is located in Quebec, one of the premier mining top premier mining jurisdictions in the world.

Taken together, we believe this attributes positions Nelligan as a premium asset in our portfolio and one where we expect to unlock significant value as we amend the project through the study process.

So with that, I want to thank our shareholders for your support. We truly believe it will be an exciting year for IAMGOLD with significant value growth opportunities ahead, including the upcoming resource update at Cote, the Cote expansion study later this year, followed by next year where we outlined a mine life extension at Essakane in the first half the year, an initial study wrapping economics around Nelligan mining complex also in the first half of next year and a mine life extension expansion underground Westwood in the second half of next year.

So altogether, we have significant value accretion catalysts ahead. With that, I would like to pass the call back to the operator for the Q&A portion of the call. Operator?

[Operator Instructions]. The first question comes from Sathish Kasinathan with Bank of America.

My first question is on Essakane. Are you seeing any risk in terms of potential supply disruptions for diesel or fuel oil over there? How much inventory do you currently have on site? You also talked about the direct cost impact from higher oil prices, but how should we think about the indirect inflationary pressures?

So maybe, Maarten, you take that. Please?

Sathish, we are we are derisking the fuel supply at Essakane. We have supply at site that's 5 to 6 weeks, and we try to maintain that at maximum capacity. But then what we've also done is we continue to secure additional fuel up the supply chain. So we have secured that fuel. So for the next 2 to 3 months, Essakane has already secured sufficient fuel.

The impact, as we stated for the direct impact on the actual cost per fuel that is linked to the market price is about $20 per ounce for every $10 per barrel. There is other costs at Essakane as well. There's taxes on fuel and those impacts. But -- we have not seen other inflationary pressures at Essakane or the other mines at this point, and it's hard to estimate those. If you look at our energy cost as a company, it's about 20% of our operating cost and our consumables is about 15% to 16%. So that's kind of like the level of our cost structure that could be impacted by inflationary pressures. But it's hard to -- I think, for anyone to predict at this point what exactly that would look like.

Okay. My second question is on Cote. How should we look at the quarterly guidance of production and cost, especially for the second quarter with the reduced operating capacity and the scheduled maintenance shutdown in May, should we expect the average milling rates and cost to improve versus the first quarter? Or is it more like a second half story?

We expect that once we have completed the shutdown in middle of May, like it's meant to be on the May 20 -- we're going to be replacing the conveyor belt, we're going to be replacing also the HPGR tires that were supposed to be change earlier in the year. And we are going to make some adjustments in certain areas.

But after that, we're going to resume to full operation and even going beyond the nameplate capacity. So what it will entail is after that, the expectation is both on the mining side and milling side, the unit costs are expected to decrease and to have a sharp improvement in terms of gold production quarter-over-quarter's.

This is Graeme. And you'll note in our news release that we refined our throughput guidance for Cote for to 12 million to 13 million tonnes for the year.

Okay. congrats on a strong year-to-date buybacks.

The next question comes from Anita Soni with CIBC.

I just wanted to ask a little bit about Westwood. So this quarter, a little bit lower production from the Grand Duke deposit or from the open pit. I'm not sure if it's still Grand Duke. But how long does that -- how long do you expect to have that ore? I think it said into 2027, but I'm just trying to figure out when it ends and sort of the ramp-up in 2026 in terms of the tonnage over the course of the year.

Anita, this is Bruno. Good question. We are seeing from Grand Duke to be extended even beyond 2027. We have also options Phase 5 that could go even beyond until 2029. That's what we're doing right now. We are currently evaluating those options. So Grand Duke has been like a great support for Westwood. And the moment that it will be tailing off, it would be also a great moment for the Eastern zone that I'm referring to the bigger part of the underground at Westwood to replace that material.

If I may add, Anita, so what I really like about the work that's been done and the drilling that took place in the last 2 years, our effort has always been to protect the production profile on an upside basis. The potential phase 5 of the Grand Duke, should we be able to maintain this up to 2030, followed after that by an increase of the underground in the East. So this is the focus right now. So you don't see any gap, if anything, continued increased profile.

It's a bit of about the same thinking, and I appreciate Burkina Faso is a different situations we monitor and so forth. But the best, of course, would be to completely offset the gap and fit in that again camp also being capable to maintain the production profile. So that's really the focus at this stage, understanding that we would be continuing to monitor the situation in West Africa.

Yes. And I guess what I was driving at with on the Westwood was this quarter, you had very good cost and very -- a lot of mining from the underground. And with the Grand Duke ramping up. I'm just curious to see how the -- theoretically, the overall mining cost per tonne should actually drive down more with more underground -- sorry, more of the open pit ore coming in. So I'm just trying to get a handle on -- you had a significant cost beat in the first quarter at Westwood relative to your guidance. So I'm just trying to figure out how those -- like how we should be thinking about costs for the rest of the year?

It's Maarten. So I agree, we had a great quarter, if you look at the dollar per tonne for the underground mine. We do expect it to maybe increase just above the $300 level again for the rest of the year that it might not be signed at that level. So it tries to do that $325 million for the full year, again, as we saw in the past. So Yes, we don't expect Q1 to be the norm for the year.

We wish so, but we do understand that there are some zones, some areas in the mine that requires maybe more support and so forth. So you cannot really just it really depends where the guys would be where the team would be mining. But our focus is to remain at the lower cost, but I appreciate that we'll be mining out the sector as well, but higher cost.

Okay. And my other question on Cote on throughput was after in one of the other questions going above nameplate. So I'll leave it there and get back in the queue if I have any follow-up.

The next question comes from Tanya Jakusconek with Scotiabank.

Maybe I'll do the financial one first. Maarten, over to you to maybe talk about the $400 million dividend after tax that you're getting in Q2 from Essakane. Should I be thinking that all of that now could be going to share buyback in like Q2 or Q3? How should I be thinking the payment of this $400 million over -- for the share buyback from a quarterly perspective?

So we have about $200 million left on the shareholder account for last year's dividend. We expect that cash to be repatriated by June or July of this year. And then the reason why there's a bit of a slow down is because of the tax payments we have to make in Q2 as well as the government is getting the $100 million portion of the dividend. So the cash that we bring in, we expect for the remainder of this quarter to spend $40 million to $50 million a month.

We already did $40 million in April, so kind of like getting to that $400 million for the year, likely on the share buyback, we will continue to evaluate. But that $400 million that we clear in June is then a new shareholder account of $400 million. And then as we then repatriate cash from Essakane, we would then continue to use that to potentially fund share buybacks for the second half of the year into next year. Gold price payment is the exact sequence of that. But we have good vision on the next quarter settlements in the middle of the year.

Okay. Great. That's very helpful. And then my other financial question is just on the taxes were quite low in Q1. When I look at your guidance and what you paid significantly lower, maybe just a little bit about what's happening there and how you see the rest of the year coming out in terms of taxes?

So from a cash tax perspective, we've paid about 14%, if you take our guidance, cash taxes. We still think our cash tax guidance is intact. And maybe if you look at it for how it's spread over the course of the year, like 14% to 15% in Q1 and Q4 and then the remainder is spread over Q2 and Q3. And that's again driven by the cash tax payment in Q2 and the revolving tax payment on the dividend that's normally either end of Q2 or beginning of Q3, 10% in Q2 and Q3.

Okay. Perfect. And then just moving to some of the technical questions. Maybe Renaud, over to you to -- as I think about this updated resource that is coming out on Cote Gosselin at the end of -- I think it's this quarter, end of Q2 or in Q2. Should I be thinking -- and I think I heard that we're upgrading the measured and indicated category. So should I be thinking that, that 20 million ounces that you have outlined, should I be thinking that 2 million of inferred gets moved into measured and indicated and there will be no increase to the reserves that you reported at 7 million ounces? Or should I also be thinking that, that $20 million overall should get bigger? Just trying to understand what to expect.

Thanks for the questions, and we've been socializing this quite a bit. If you look at our year-end mineral resource we're sitting below the 19 million and the 18.5-plus million of measured indicated. There were still some holes to be integrated in the database. We've done some work in the saddle as well. So in short, our confidence remains, as you say, that there would be additional conversion to MI to our objective of 20 million ounces of measured indicated and as you drill, as you continue to improve your inferred as well.

So we would all clarify this, but the most important thing is our objective remains 20 million of measure indicated, and that will form the basis for the reserves. We will not disclose the reserve, obviously, because we'll trigger the need for the report right away. So we're going to clarify in Q2 our resource and the reserve then will be a measure of a factor of conversion of the $20 million. Obviously, we're expecting a significant increase in reserve out of the $20 million, but that will be clarified in the study as we come out at the end of the year.

Okay. That's what I thought was going to happen, but I just wanted to make sure -- and then just maybe on -- I know we talked a little bit about these costs coming down at Cote on both the mining and the processing. As we think about this new study that's coming out in Q4 for this complex, should I be thinking that the new study should have cost under $4 a tonne for mining and processing in that $12 to $14 a ton as a combined entity.

I mean, they were quite high this quarter, as we know, for various reasons, but I'm trying to understand if I am going to be benchmarking on that under $4 a ton and $12 to $14 on the processing.

The -- you're absolutely right. I appreciate that in the short term, our cost has been higher. And as we highlighted in Q2 last year, the use of the graded plant is a big portion of it, not having the capacity and the dry and short, all this have been tested. We've been using as well some external view as well to revalidate all this. We're talking about feasibility level type of study. So we remain extremely confident. We understand and appreciate our costs are higher, but I think we have good visibility about what has to be done.

So this is the focus as we part the aggregate and focus on reducing. It's not going to be all of 1 year. It's going to be spread over a couple of years to 3 years, how well I highlighted heading to the expansion. So maybe, Bruno, just quickly, what you see as the main focus in the second half of the year in terms of cost reduction.

Yes, Tanya, for the mining costs, you will see those mining costs in the second and for the rest of the year, mainly due -- first of all, it was a volume really good thing for Q1. And as we expect the volume to increase, our unit costs are going to go down. Second is we have also made like great improvement in drilling glass increasing our performance by 65% of late. We're also going to receive 4 additional 7 mine cost increasing volume. So we're putting everything in place to be successful to be below the $4 a tonne before the end of the year. Same thing happened for the mining cost, the moment that you take out -- remove the aggregate crusher, the contractors and demobilization of other contractors, you'll see also a sharp reduction in cost. We are also making improvements here and there as it's part of the optimization phase. And as Renaud pointed out, that optimization phase is going to take a good 3 years to make sure that we keep putting a downward pressure for the cost. So we're quite confident that the 43-101 is going to be well supported by assumptions that are realistic.

Okay. Understood. So a basis to go forward on that. And maybe just my final question, as I thought about the rest of the year, and I know in the previous -- in February, the guidance had been that Essakane production would be relatively stable through the year as with Westwood and then Côte would see quarter-on-quarter improvement, and we saw a stronger second half. So how are we looking at the overall company for production profile for first half, second half?

Yes. It's going to be much stronger, as we mentioned for Côté, the grades are going to be between 1 and 1.2. So we have to expect a stronger H2. For Essakane, it's going to be quite stable. We need to -- and we mentioned that we're going to remain within guidance as we start implementing the ore into the mine plan. Westwood is just like the only thing that you need for Westwood is just being a stable operation, stable and safe operation, 1,000 ounces a month on average and something more, we can be optimistic.

So overall, we will see a much stronger H2 as opposed to H1. And I think this is what we also disclosed last quarter that H1 would be the softer to take into account the winter conditions and changes for the HPGR changes. So I think right now, everything falls in plan.

Yes. No, that's what you had last. I just wanted to make sure.

The next question comes from Mohamed Sidibe with National Bank.

Maybe at Westwood, if I could maybe ask a question on the underground. We've now seen 2 quarters of mining rate above the 1,100 tonnes per day and grades over that 9.8 grams per tonne mined. So could you maybe help me understand how to think about the next few quarters in terms of mining productivity and the grade over the coming quarters?

The hoisting, the marking is going very well. Our targets are close to 1,000 tonnes per day. And in fact, we're exceeding those metrics every day now. It's done through our optimization and better engineering, better preparation. Hoisting, we have a 4,000 tonne per day capacity at Westwood. So we have plenty of capacity at the hoist. So it's not constrained. Therefore, that's why it gives us a great hope that whatever improvement that will be done at Westwood will become a new catalyst into the production of the mine.

But overall, what we plan is we do -- we plan what we do and we do what we've done so trying to make sure that we have stabilized the operation and we improve in an increment manner the Westwood operation on all metrics. The meter per -- meter of advance per day meter per man shift. The drilling is going very well also, and we have a new Simba drills coming in. So the drilling performance is also improving very well. The ability of our mining crews to new zones are ensuring also with the algorithm that we have developed over time. So overall, it's going well.

I appreciate that you've seen like quite a significant increase. I mean, again, it's a little bit of a question on the cost side. It depends a bit where you mine as well. What we want is reliable and safe operation. Are we going to see a continued increase? The focus is really to deliver sustainable and safe operations. So we're very comfortable, really like the last quarter. But I think like being in the zone of the 1,000 to the 1,200 is a good zone, and we're going to always prioritize the safe operations, Mohamed, but I appreciate your question.

That's very helpful. And maybe if I can ask a second question at Cote Gold on the improvement on the process cost, and sorry if I missed this, but is the improvement of the maintenance time line for the HPGR already reflected in that expected cost improvement you have for the end of the year? Or is that a positive surprise following the installation of the cone crusher?

No, I wouldn't call a positive surprise. I would say a validation of what has been our belief since the start. Again, with the short of capacity and the dry, we knew we were feeding the HPGR slightly outside of the design criteria with the coarser ore, which was accelerating the wear on the machine. So since we've commissioned the second cone and we've been in capacity to return to the design criteria, we've seen an automatic and overnight change. And we expect the change of the tire now to get back to the life span that we're expecting. So yes, we're not expecting another change of tire this year, and therefore, it is built in the reductions of cost post the change.

The next question comes from Joshua Wolfson with RBC.

I apologize. I just want to clarify a couple of things. I'm having trouble hearing some of the data points. Just going back to some of the details on Cote. This comment about the plant operating above nameplate in the second half of the year and some of the tonnage numbers that was provided, the numbers look to imply about maybe 10% to 15% above nameplate in the second half. I just want to clarify, does that sound correct? And then is it reasonable to assume that those throughput levels can be sustained beyond 2026 even before the expansion takes hold?

Yes. When we say that we can produce above nameplate is we have more than many days above 36,000 tonnes per day, even 42,000 tonnes per day -- with the addition of the second cone crushers and also allowing the geology of the ore, protecting now the HPGR, which is going to be running very efficiently, we expect to remain into that between the 36 and 42 in average. So that's very promising for us. We -- with the shutdowns that we have in August and other shutdown that we have in certain areas, we are still evaluating and planning an overall average throughput of 36. But overall, like when you have a very well run rate, it goes well beyond...

What we've experienced, Josh, with the second cone is for only a few weeks, unfortunately, before we started to have the issues on the conveyor. So the objective has always been to stabilize at the 36. So what we've seen is effectively, of course, if you want to reach 36 when you upgrade, you need to be above. But you also heard Bruno earlier talking about slightly better grade as well. So it's not just a matter of throughput. It's a matter that we should access as well better grade in the second half.

But the priority at this stage is to demonstrate that minimum 36 average all time in the dry, in the wet. As you crush finer, you will unlock more potential in the west as well. So -- but the first stage first is as soon as we change the tire, we change the belt, we park the aggregate plan. The focus in June is to demonstrate that we actually could operate at the nameplate, then we'll come the optimizations on a step-by-step basis. But so far, so good for what we've seen with the crusher.

Okay. Got it. And then your comments about the better grade, as the number was mentioned on the call, again, I apologize for not being able to hear. It was said it was 1.1 to 1.2 in the second half. Is that correct?

Between 1 and 1.2.

Yes. So we did 107 in the first quarter, and we -- you should -- you could see a quarter above the 107. So we said 1 to 1.2. And hopefully, we'll see quarters above the 1,1.

Okay. And then last question. I know it's sort of been mentioned by some of the other participants just on mining costs for Cote. I mean I wouldn't necessarily extrapolate the current quarter. And obviously, there's a lot of volatility on the energy side of things. But what is a reasonable sort of mining cost for us to assume in the second half of the year when you factor in maybe -- I'm not sure what sort of energy price use. I'll let you guys figure that out, but maybe just at these higher throughput levels, what would be the target steady state?

Maarten, you can get some details, but I can say that at this stage, the focus is absolutely to bring those mining costs below the as we exit the year. Maarten?

Josh, one thing we didn't mention earlier was that we've actually put in some price protection for oil at Cote -- so for June as well as for all of Q3, 9% of Cote oil is hedged at a price of about $80 per barrel. So if the price goes above $80 per barrel, it doesn't impact our cost further during that period. And we still participate if the price goes below that. So that will help offset some of that cost as well to get us close to that $4.

So as we exit the year, as we achieve our objective to drop our mining below the 4 and get the milling more towards the 15 as we exit, that is the main focus at this stage, knowing that there will be some more optimization to continue to take place.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Graeme Jennings for any closing remarks.

Thank you very much, operator, and thanks, everyone, for joining us this morning. As always, should you have any additional questions, please reach out to Renaud or myself. Thank you all. Be safe, and have a great day.

Thank you. This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day. Thank you.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IAMGOLD Fourth Quarter 2025 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, I would like to turn the conference call over to Graeme Jennings, Investor Relations for IAMGOLD. Please go ahead, Mr. Jennings.

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone, to our conference call this morning. Joining us on the call are Renaud Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer; Maarten Theunissen, Chief Financial Officer; Bruno Lemelin, Chief Operating Officer; Annie Torkia Lagace, Chief Legal and Strategy Officer; and Dorena Quinn, Chief People Officer. We are calling today from IAMGOLD Toronto office, which is located on Treaty 13 territory on the traditional lands of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. At IAMGOLD, we believe respecting and upholding indigenous rights is founded upon relationships that foster trust, transparency and mutual respect.

Please note that our remarks on this call will include forward-looking statements and refer to non-IFRS measures. We encourage you to refer to the cautionary statements and disclosures on non-IFRS measures included in the presentation and the reconciliations of these measures in our most recent MD&A, each under the heading non-GAAP financial measures.

With respect to the technical information to be discussed, please refer to the information in the presentation under the heading Qualified Person and Technical Information. The slides referenced on this call can be viewed on our website.

I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Renaud Adams.

Thank you, Graeme, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Last year was a monumental year for IAMGOLD. It is a year in which the company reported record revenues of nearly $3 billion enjoying gross margin of over 40% and generating operating cash flow of over $1 billion, which is notable $702 million generated in the fourth quarter alone.

Now everyone on this call is aware that this is a historic time in the gold market, as the gold price increased nearly $1,700 per ounce over 2025 and exiting the year at just over $4,300 an ounce, which is still more than $600 an ounce lower than where we are today. So while we're not alone in realizing this gold market, we believe IAMGOLD is particularly well positioned to capitalize on this market for the benefit of our shareholders, stakeholders and partners.

In 2025, IAMGOLD achieved significant milestones, including record quarterly productions across all sites. The first full year of production at Cote Gold, the establishment of a framework at Essakane that enables cash movements to be made at any time of the year, and the consolidation of assets in Chibougamau-Chapais, Quebec, to position the Nelligan mining complex as among the largest preproduction asset in Canada.

On the financial side, we closed out the legacy gold prepay obligation midyear, delivered the balance sheet through the repayment of the $400 million high cost term loan and established a share buyback program that purchased $50 million in IAMGOLD shares in December and an additional $50 million so far in 2026, and we will continue to do so, driving up our per share valuations, all things being equal. This is a company that is taking a leadership position in the industry. IAMGOLD is a modern gold mining company that is proudly Canadian with strong cash flow and significant long-term growth opportunities ahead. We mine with a mining redefined purpose in mind, putting safety responsibility and people first. We hold ourselves accountable and embrace change, and drive innovations at every level from smarter systems to better ways of working.

Now there are many highlights to discuss for IAMGOLD today. So let's get into it. Looking at the highlights from the year and the fourth quarter, we start with our safety record. Over the course of the year, our total recordable injury rates was 0.60, which was down from the year prior. We are focused on advancing our critical risk management program, including an important integration of contractor into the IAMGOLD way of safety management with a goal to reduce high potential incidents.

On production, IAMGOLD closed out the year with a very strong fourth quarter in which all our mines reported record gold production. On a consolidated basis, attributable gold production for the fourth quarter was 242,400 ounces, a 28% improvement quarter-over-quarter, driving total production for the year to 765,900 ounces achieving the midpoint of the company's 2025 production guidance.

The strong fourth quarter operating results helped to drive down costs on a per ounce basis. All-in sustaining cost per ounce sold was $1,750 for the fourth quarter and $1,900 for the year within the guidance range of $1,830 to $1,930. As discussed last year -- last quarter, costs this year have faced upward pressure due to the record gold prices directly translating to higher royalties. The impact of these royalties on cash costs continue to increase through the year to where they accounted for an average of approximately $330 per ounce or 24% of cash cost in the fourth quarter 2025.

As we look ahead through this year where we will uncover opportunities to grow the value of our asset, we will stay diligent on our commitment to operational excellence and discipline. While we will not be able to control the gold price, we can control our cost structure and ensure that cost improvement opportunity [ compounds ] with our production profile. At Cote, we will continue to fine-tune our mining, milling and maintenance practices to position the project well for the upcoming expansion phase.

With that, I will pass the call over to our CFO, to walk us through our financial highlights. Maarten?

Thank you, Renaud, and good morning, everyone. It was indeed a transformational year for IAMGOLD, as our solid operating results, coupled with record gold prices helped to fast track our strategy to unwind the financial leverage put in place to both Cote and allowed us to also start returning capital to shareholders in December. In the fourth quarter, the company generated record mine-site free cash flow of $626.6 million, bringing the year total to $1.2 billion. On an asset basis, in the fourth quarter, Essakane contributed $340.4 million and Cote contributed $197.0 million of attributable mine-site free cash flow.

The record mine-site free cash flow was used to improve our financial position as the company's net debt was reduced by $468.8 million to $344.4 million at the end of the year, while also returning $50 million to shareholders. On the balance sheet, we completed the repayment of the $400 million term loan and also paid $50 million on our credit facility, reducing the balance to $200 million as at the end of December. IAMGOLD had $422 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year and approximately $446 million available on the credit facility, resulting in total liquidity at the end of the fourth quarter of approximately $868 million.

Excess cash at Essakane is repatriated through dividend and shareholder account payments, of which the company receives its share on its ownership net of withholding taxes. The shareholder account structure was introduced in 2025 and functions like an intercompany loan and allows for the company's portion of the dividend to be paid monthly using cash generated in excess of working capital requirements.

The new structure allowed for cash flow in the fourth quarter, resulting from strong operating results and record gold prices to be repatriated in record time, and IAMGOLD received $291 million of payments from Essakane through the fourth quarter. Approximately $197.5 million of our consolidated cash balance was held by Essakane at the end of the year. And subsequent to year-end, these funds, combined with free cash flow generated in January, was used to make further payments against the shareholder account by Essakane, and IAMGOLD received $171 million so far this year.

The other notable event was the establishment of the share buyback program. In December, the company repurchased and canceled approximately 3 million shares for approximately $43 million at an average price of $16.87 per share through a share buyback program. Subsequent to quarter end, up to the timing of our results release, IAMGOLD has purchased an additional 2.6 million shares for $50 million. For the remainder of the year, we are planning to use the cash repatriated from Essakane in 2026 to fund our buyback program. And at a gold price of $4,000 per ounce, we estimate that this could be between $400 million and $500 million during the year.

The NCIB allows for the purchase of approximately 10% of IAMGOLD's public float that was outstanding as of November 2025. All common shares purchased under the NCIB will be either canceled or placed under trust to satisfy its future obligations under the company's share incentive plan. This initiative reflects management's confidence in the company's long-term value and its commitment to disciplined capital allocation. We believe the alignment of strong cash flow generation from this account and our share buyback program represents a clear value accretive opportunity for the company and our shareholders.

The company intends to use the free cash flow generated by Essakane as a base level to repurchase shares under the share buyback program as the cash is generated and repatriated over the course of 2026. Naturally, the actual amount of common shares that may be purchased, if any, and the timing of such purchases will be determined by the company based on a number of factors, including the gold price, the company's financial performance, the availability of cash flows and the consideration of other uses of cash, including capital investment opportunities returned to stakeholders and debt reduction.

Turning to our financial results. On a full year basis, revenues from operations totaled $2.9 billion from sale of [ 817,800 ] ounces on a 100% basis at an average realized price of $3,549 per ounce excluding the impact of the gold prepay arrangement.

The strong operating results and record gold price resulted in adjusted EBITDA of approximately $1.6 billion in 2025, compared to $780.6 million in 2024 and $338.5 million in 2023. At the bottom line, adjusted earnings per share for the year totaled $1.23 up from $0.55 the prior year.

Looking at the cash flow reconciliation for the year. It is a good visualization of the major drivers of our financial position to end 2025. The significant operating cash flow allowed for the delivery and conclusion of the gold prepay arrangements midyear, funding all capital programs at operations, significant delevering of the balance sheet, payment of a record dividend of Burkina Faso that allowed us to set up the shareholder account that we used to repatriate funds into Canada and the start of the NCIB program in December.

As we look into this year, our priorities from a financial and capital allocation perspective are to deploy funds to areas where we see the most value add to our company, which includes the continuation of the share buyback program, utilizing cash flows from Essakane, becoming net cash positive following the repayment of the remaining balance of the credit facility, fund our operations as outlined in our guidance to ensure they are positioned well exiting the year and ensuring that we have the financial capacity to support opportunities to improve our business.

And with that, I will pass the call to Bruno Lemelin, our Chief Operating Officer, to discuss our operating results. Bruno?

Thank you, Maarten. Starting with Cote Gold, as Renaud noted, it was a very strong end to the year for Cote fourth quarter attributable gold production of 87,200 ounces or 124,600 ounces on a 100% basis. The success of Cote beyond just the fourth quarter. In its first full year of operation, Cote has produced 399,800 ounces on a 100% basis, achieving the top end of our guidance estimates.

During the year, our Cote teams achieved success after success every day on many fronts, operational stability, maintenance, environmental monitoring or workforce engagement. Cote Gold completed the ramp-up and demonstrated nameplate throughput of 36,000 tonnes per day over a period of 30 consecutive days ahead of schedule in June. It was a very strong 2025 with Cote now adding strong 3 consecutive quarters in a row of the mine hitting its target and its stride.

Focusing back to the quarter, mining activity totaled 11.1 million tonnes. Ore tonnes mined were a record of 4.5 million tonnes in the quarter with a strip ratio of 1.5:1. Mill throughput in Q4 totaled 2.9 million tonnes. Head grade for the fourth quarter was a record of 1.44 grams per tonne as a result of the combination of higher grade direct feed ore, a low strip ratio over the quarter and stockpiling of lower grade ore.

The installation of the additional secondary crusher was completed in November and commissioned in December with both cone crusher tested and operating in parallel. As we discussed later, last quarter, we elected earlier in the year to bring in a temporary contractor aggregate crusher to supplement Cote's crushing capacity to improve the availability of the secondary crushing circuit. This allowed the plan to achieve its throughput milestone but at a higher cost as well -- as we will discuss on the next slide.

With the 2 secondary cone crushers now operating, the company plans to phase out the temporary crushing circuit over the first half of 2026. Looking at costs, Cote reported fourth quarter cash costs of $1,265 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs of $1,688 per ounce. We continue to see mining and processing unit costs above where we would like them to be. A major driver of cost this year has been associated with the temporary crusher. The decision to move ahead nameplate by 5, 6 months allow for maximizing [ tonnes ] versus waiting for the installation and ramp-up of the second cone crusher in an important time for the project in the market.

Looking at mining costs on an annual basis, they averaged $4.20 per tonne in 2025. We expect to see cost improvement through 2026 as further operational improvements are made, including the elimination of the contracted aggregate plant and reduction of contractors.

Milling unit costs on an annual basis averaged $20 per tonne. There is a direct relationship with the amount of ore crushed with the temporary crusher in our processing costs. We expect that the removal of the aggregate plant will reduce processing costs by $4 to $5 per tonne. Additional savings are expected as we improve the life cycle of the HPGR rollers and fine-tune our maintenance cycles.

Looking ahead, 2026 is the year in which our operations team is focusing on fine-tuning Cote at 36,000 tonnes per day. This year, the operations team will be focusing on unit cost improvement to stable and efficient mining and milling practices. It is important for our team to be able to operate Cote with an expected specification before we expand the operation further.

On cost, all-in sustaining costs are expected to be in the range of $1,725 to $1,925 per ounce sold, which reflects an additional $50 million or about $185 an ounce of nonrecurring sustaining capital investments to improve the operating efficiency, and the long-term operating cost structure. These include the implementation of our refeed system for the coarse ore dome, additional maintenance facilities and improved dust mitigation measures.

Expansion capital this year is estimated at $85 million for IAMGOLD. As we look to grow Cote, it is clear we can accelerate basic expansion projects. This includes a strategic pushback that will provide both operational flexibility in the near term and optionality for the expansion as well as the acceleration of certain expansion related improvements to the processing plant, including an additional vertimill in early 2027. This leads us to what is next for Cote, the Cote Gosselin expansion mine plan. In the fourth quarter of this year, we will release the details of the updated mine plan that envision a near-term expansion of the Cote plan, targeting a significantly larger ore base from both Cote and Gosselin. Alongside our financial results last night, IAMGOLD announced its updated mineral resources and reserves estimates. In the estimate, we saw a significant upgrading of ounces from inferred to measured and indicated at Gosselin, which now is estimated to have 6.9 million ounces of indicated ounces and 1 million ounces of inferred sources.

Combining Cote and Gosselin, the Cote Gold project currently is estimated to have M&I resources inclusive of mineral reserves and on a 100% basis of 18.2 million ounces and an additional inferred mineral resources of 2.2 million ounces. Work will be ongoing this year to incorporate the end-of-year drilling and then combine their minimum resources estimate and pit shells into a single model. As currently designed, Cote has the mining capacity to average an annual ore mining rate of 50,000 tonnes per day versus our current nameplate processing rate of 36,000 tonne per day.

As part of the 2026 technical report, we will look to find the right balance between an increased processing rate with mining rates targeting the combined Cote Gosselin super.

Turning to Quebec. In the fourth quarter, we saw Westwood produced a record 37,900 ounces since mine restart as the underground returned high grades coupled with strong throughput in the plant. Underground mining activities in the fourth quarter average 1,129 tonnes per day, translating to 105,000 tonnes in the quarter, a record volume from underground since the mine restart with an average underground mine grade of 9.87 grams per tonne.

During the first 3 quarters of the year, mining activities on the ground operated to lower-grade stope and adjust blasting technique. In the fourth quarter, Westwood refined stope design, sequencing and blasting while returning to higher grade stopes as per mine plan.

Mining of the Grand Duc satellite open pit continued in the quarter with 174,000 tonnes mined with a head grade from the open pit averaging 1.19 grams per tonne. Grand Duc open pit life has been extended into 2027. We expect Grand Duc to contribute a similar amount of ore to the plant this year with -- at a slightly lower grade of between 1.1 to 1.2 grams per tonne.

Mill throughput in the third quarter was 299,000 tonnes at an average grade of 4.21 grams per tonne and average recoveries of 93%. Plant utilization was 92% in the quarter, up from 75% in Q3 and in line with the average expected for 2026. As a result of the strong fourth quarter, costs on a per ounce basis declined notably. Cash costs in the fourth quarter averaged $1,288 per ounce and all-in sustained costs averaged $1,719 per ounce, well below the average of the year of around $2,100 per ounce.

The cost improvement was also assisted by lower unit costs while with mining costs -- the milling unit cost declining due to the high volume of ore mining mill. Looking ahead, to this year, Westwood production is expected to be in the range of 107,000 to 113,000 ounces. Mill throughput is expected to average 1.2 million tonnes in 2026 with blended head grade expected to average 3.44 grams per tonne over the course of the year with a fairly flat production profile quarter-over-quarter to the year through the year.

Cash costs at Westwood are expected to be in the range of $1,500 to $1,650 per ounce sold and all-in sustained costs in the range of $1,950 to $2,100 per ounce sold. Sustaining capital expenditures guidance is $55 million primarily consisting of underground development, renewal of the mobile fleet, upgrades in the mill and general maintenance. Expansion capital is expected to increase this year to $30 million, which is primarily associated with development works and drifts to support the study of options to extend the mine in the eastern parts of Westwood underground that could potentially be amenable to bulk mining.

Looking at our mineral resources and reserve update, Westwood more than replaced depletion over 2025, with 1.1 million ounces of mineral reserves to date. Further, M&I resources inclusive of mineral reserves increased by 682,000 ounces or 40% to 2.4 million ounces as of December 31, 2025, with an additional 1.5 million ounces of inferred ounces. We are looking forward to conducting additional drilling underground at Westwood this year as we believe there is still significant potential at depth to the east and west of our current underground operation.

Turning to Essakane and continuing with the Q4 team, the mine reported record production of 138,100 ounces on a 100% basis equating to 117,300 ounces on our 85% mining interest. Mining in the fourth quarter totaled 9.4 million tonnes, an increase from the prior quarter with higher ore tonnes mined of 4.1 million tonnes for a strip ratio of 1.3:1 in the quarter. The average grade of mine ore in the fourth quarter was the highest grade mine in the year as the mine sequence deeper into Phase 7.

The mill reported strong throughput in the fourth quarter of 3.2 million tonnes at an average head grade of 1.5 grams per tonne considering the quarter-over-quarter step-up we have seen this year. The plant achieved recoveries of 88% in the quarter, which was below the 90% average for the year as Essakane typically sees higher graphitic carbon in the higher-grade zones, though this is mitigated with blending.

Similar to Westwood, Essakane saw an improvement in cost per ounce and unit cost per tonne on the higher volumes. For the fourth quarter, Essakane reported cash cost of $1,471 per ounce and all-in sustained cost of $1,674 per ounce. As Renaud noted in his earlier remarks, royalties in the current gold market are having a measured impact on industry cost structure. And this is even more pronounced in Burkina Faso, where the new royalty decree was implemented in 2025 with royalties now uncapped and tied to gold price. In the fourth quarter, royalties accounted for $460 per ounce or approximately 36% of Essakane's cash cost.

Accordingly, when we look at this year, we have guided to cash costs excluding royalties and cash costs including royalties at the gold price assumption of $4,000 per ounce. Cash costs excluding royalties are expected to be in the range of $1,150 to $1,300 per ounce sold and including royalties in the range of $1,600 to $1,750. All-in sustaining cost is expected to be in a range of $2,000 to $2,150 per ounce sold.

On the production side, Essakane attributable production is expected to be in the range of 340,000 to 380,000 ounces or 400,000 to 440,000 ounces on a 100% basis, similar to production in 2025. With a production profile expected to be fairly flat quarter-over-quarter this year, mining activity will target Phase 6 and 7 in the Lao pit that is adjacent to the Essakane main zone. Our mineral resources and reserves -- Essakane reserves decreased by 640,000 ounces due to depletion and geologic model adjustment for a total of 1.7 million ounces. However, measured and indicated mineral resources reported a 50% increase in funds, offsetting a 26% decrease in grades for a total of 4.4 million ounces in measured and indicated, and an additional 853,000 ounces of inferred. We are currently studying the Block 3 project, which would add an additional 5 years of life of mine expanding Essakane until at least 2032.

With that, I will pass it back to Renaud.

Thank you, Bruno. I just want to take a moment to highlight the exciting development from the fourth quarter in which IAMGOLD acquired Northern Superior and Mines d’'Or Orbec consolidating their assets and properties with our assets in the Chibougamau-Chapais region of Quebec to form the Nelligan Mining Complex, which is now composed of the following deposit and high-value target. Nelligan, Monster Lake, Philibert, Chevrier, Lac Surprise, Croteau and Muus. The Nelligan Mining Complex already has a significant mineral inventory of over 4.3 million measured and indicated ounces and 7.5 million inferred ounces, positioning the project among the largest preproduction-stage gold project in Canada.

The close proximity of the primary deposits to each other supports a conceptual vision of the central processing facility being fed from multiple ore sources within the 17-kilometer radius. This year, we are substantially increasing our budget to allow for a comprehensive exploration program, which will look to expand the mineralized footprint of both Nelligan and Philibert while testing Monster Lake at depth in addition to a regional exploration program or high priority targets to further grow the potential of the project. Our teams are very excited for this project, and we will be putting the pedal to the metal to have a preliminary economic assessment on the Nelligan complex in 2027.

With that, I want to thank our shareholders for your great support. We truly believe it will be an exciting year for IAMGOLD with significant value growth opportunities ahead and many catalysts ahead.

And now I would like to pass the call back to the operator for the Q&A. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] And our first question today comes from Mohamed Sidibe from National Bank.

Maybe I'll start with Essakane and with the M&I increased year-over-year and the potential extension of the mine life of that asset. How should we think about Essakane within your broader portfolio and specifically, as the license is potentially expiring into 2029, please.

I'll give some first comment, and I'll ask Bruno to complete more on the potential we have here. But we've been going really on the step by step. I thought we had a wonderful '24, '25. The team is working hard. You've seen the increase in the resources. We see more and more possibility of expansion. The most important thing is what I would call the acceptance of all of it, right? So we understand the geographic and geopolitic and so forth. But the reality is we've been operating this mine pretty steady state, no interruptions for nearly 3 years now. We found and -- congrats Maarten and his team and Bruno has found a very creative way to allow for cash flow. At those prices, we see a good opportunity of using this cash flow to reward our shareholders.

So I think over the next few quarters, we just need to continue to beat the drum and execute on our plans and continue to repatriate and reward our shareholders. And as we advance in '26, Bruno and his teams will complete some work. We definitely see an expansion potential, which we need to continue to work and prove. But we're not there yet, but I think we've come a long way to make Essakane a very strategic element of our portfolio.

Bruno, if you want to add anything?

Yes. So thank you, Mohamed, for your questions. I've been at Essakane, like I started with IAMGOLD at Essakane in 2014 and since then, the life of mine has not stopped getting extended. So it should not come too much of a surprise. What is really good is we were able to find those additional resources within the fence north of Phase 7. So we have now Phase 8 and Phase 9 and 10 north of where we are currently mining. In South, we have the Lao pit that is also getting -- we're seeing an extension of the current Lao pit that also tried to connect South of the Essakane main zone. So there's a saddle zone and now we believe those 2 connects together.

So it gives us confidence that we could be targeting at another 5 years of life of mine. That's what we're going to be coming with when we're going to start engaging with the government. It shouldn't be like too much of a problem when we first meet with the officials in terms of having the license to be extended by another 5 years, which would bring us closer to 2032, 2033.

So we're not -- again, decision to be made probably later as we advance in the year in preparations for '27 plan. But meanwhile, we expect another great year and maximum free cash flow out of the asset repatriated and apply towards the shareholder program, share buyback. So more to come.

Maybe I'll switch to Cote Gold, specifically on the unit cost. I think, Bruno, you touched on the milling cost potentially improving $4 to $5 by the second half 2026. Could you give us a little bit more color on mining costs and where you expect to exit maybe 2026 and what we should be thinking in terms of modeling there for Cote Gold?

Yes. So the mining costs for 2026, as we are making adjustments, some adjustments are taking time. So now we're implementing [ any one or some ] plan. There will be some testing. We should be at the year at around $370, $380 a tonne as we are getting -- we brought new equipment, new drills. We are also doing the pushback, Mohamed. And by doing this pushback, there's several infrastructure that needs to be relocated like the towers for the autonomous suite and everything. So there's a lot of activities surrounding the mining activity, that's the reason why we see [ diminishment ] in unit costs. However, it's going to take some time to see the long-term mining costs, not for this year.

So what I could add to this is like at the early stage, we've seen some -- yes, we've seen some deficiencies, some areas that need some improvement. We put more capital this year addressing some like Bruno just mentioned, if you want to optimize your mining costs, well, you need to optimize your OEE, your overall performance. To do that, you need now a larger pit. You need like maintaining your -- this has all been taken into account. It may not be all achieved in '26, as Bruno mentioned. But as we file and as we present our long-term plan, we will, if needed, integrate some additional improvement in '27, '28. But the objective is over the next -- with a big chunk in '26, but over the next 2 to 3 years. We really see a path forward with the possibility of reducing the cost and bringing Cote into one of the best unit costs for this large-scale Canadian.

And then when you combine with the average grade and the possibility to uplift that we've seen the grade this year and the low strip ratio of Cote, everything is in place at Cote as we optimize the cost to make it a very attractive overall all-in sustaining costs. We've discussed the royalty. There's not much we could do more than we do have a provision of buyback, which we would really pay attention to as we unlock our full potential of this scenario. So we're in a good position. We appreciate that there's a lot of work to do, Bruno and his team this year. But we feel very confident that we have a path forward and we'll try to make it as much as possible this year, but it may extend a bit in '28.

Our next question comes from Sathish Kasinathan from Bank of America.

My first question is on Cote. On Slide 11, you mentioned that the mine plan for Cote is likely to include stage capital. Can you maybe provide a bit more color on what it means? Are you still targeting the 50,000 tonnes per day run rate or maybe even more? How should we think about it?

I think the reference to the stage capital here is to being capable to focus from expansion to tailings down the road, to opening Gosselin. So what we're saying is that there is not a need to do everything on a day 1 to make an expansion at Cote Gold. As a matter of fact, you -- the Cote itself is enough to justify the expansions and eventually Gosselin. So when we say stages, we see now 6, 7 and 8, Bruno and his team is accelerating some aspect in the pit and opening the pit and so forth. So that's going to be in place by the time. And we say '29 is a focus on the expansion, '29, '30 and we have enough tailings capacity in place. So there would be a stage impact. So we just want to clarify that. It's not like you need to build everything and have everything in place on day 1. The capital will be staged capable to be fully funded through the free cash flow of the asset.

Okay. That is clear. Maybe one question on Essakane. So you received $171 million of cash this year at the start of the year, of which $50 million was spent -- was already used of buybacks. And you still have $219 million left from the last year's dividend declaration. So for the full year, is it fair to assume like a minimum of $390 million of share buybacks could be achieved in 2026 and depending on how much dividend is declared for this year, we could see potential upside to the number?

So we had $408 million of the shareholder accounts outstanding at the beginning of the year. And as you mentioned, we already received $171 million against that back. We expect that remaining balance to be repaid by the end of the second quarter, during the third quarter. But then when we get into that period, we will be declaring the 2025 dividend where the shareholder account will be reloaded again.

So based on our projection, there would be more than enough shareholder accounts available this year to continue with the program where we can move money out of Burkina Faso every month as the asset generates free cash flow above its excess working capital. And then -- so the free cash flow attributable to IAMGOLD this year should -- we should be able to match that to buy back shares in the program.

Okay. Congrats on the strong quarter.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from Anita Soni from CIBC.

Congratulation on a strong quarter and a strong year. I just wanted to ask a little bit more about Cote and Gosselin. I think you noted in the MD&A that there would be an update on the reserve -- another update on the reserves and resources for Gosselin in Q2. And my apologies if you addressed it in the opening comments, I was hopping between...

Thank you for asking, Anita on this. So it's cutting here. So sorry about that. So go ahead.

I was just going to say, what were you expecting to provide with the Q2 update?

Thank you for asking this. As Bruno showed in his portion, talking about the mineral reserve, mineral resources. So not a surprise on the resource side. It was just a depletion, as you know, like the big consolidating both Gosselin and Cote through. On the resources side, we've come quite a bit a long way and have delineated some, but this is kind of an ongoing work. So to your point, we expect to complete probably late Q1 and maybe like we're talking about Q2 potentially, but the target is by the end of Q1, somewhere there, we would complete the resource update, if you call. The final one that would serve for the plan.

We're comfortably sitting in more than 18 million ounces, but there is more drilling to be incorporated. There is a merge of the block models as well. We're still discussing the final price to be used and so forth, but we had this objective of the saddle zone as well as Bruno just pointed out to me. So as you combine the block model, so you create that saddle zone that we've drilled as well. So it's not the final -- not to look at the resource update at Cote has the final work toward about our objective of 20 million ounces and we're still planning to discuss those results late Q1, early Q2.

Okay. And how much more drilling would that have incorporated versus what you just did? I think you converted 2 out of the 3 million ounces of inferred into M&I category. But how much more would that bring on stream? If you could just tell me like as a percentage of the drilling update? Or if you want to tell me they have the number of ounces, that would be great, too.

We still have 29 -- 25 holes to be included. And we have also the campaign on the saddle zone that needs to be included as well.

So enough -- and again, like the merge of the block model as well, like technically should also create some. So we feel very, very strong, Anita, if without giving a final number because we haven't seen it, but we feel very comfortable towards objective of 20 million ounces MI plus.

Yes. And then I just want to follow up on the Essakane reserves and resources as well. I noticed the grade declined. Is that -- have you -- I mean, I'm just -- I guess, you've had positive grade reconciliation at the asset. How are you basically calculating your depletion at the asset? I'm just -- like are you just basically saying, okay, well, we ended up -- we thought this ore body would be 1.2 and it ended up being 1.5. So we're deducting the 1.5 off of the average. Is that the way you're doing it? Or did you include the positive grade reconciliation in the calculations?

Yes. So the -- we changed the block model and the block model that we'll be using this year has taken -- we have to do some adjustments. But moving forward, the block model is going to be [ cool ] to be a little bit more conservative. Therefore, that's the reason why you see the grades are going down. It does not exclude the possibility that we will see faster reconciliation specifically when you get those higher grade zone like we were doing in Phase 7. What we're trying to cap a bit is that kind of positive reconciliation in our future resources estimate. So we have something more about [indiscernible].

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Sam Overwater from Scotiabank.

It's Tanya. I have a few questions, if I could. I just wanted to follow up on Anita's question on the reserves and resources that's coming out on Cote in Q2. So just so that I understand, so we're still targeting that 20 million out overall number. What the reserves and resources and other will show is just more of a conversion or an upgrade into the M&I and reserve category with those additional 25 holes. Is that a proper way to think about it?

The way to look about it is we feel strong that when the exercise is done, we will achieve our objective of 20 million of MI and from which Bruno and the team will put the mine plan to it and convert as much as we can within an economic plan to reserve. So obviously, the reserve that we have released at the end of the year is only reflecting the all plan depleted. So we're moving from this to the new plant consolidated from which new economics mine plan. So we're definitely going to see and expect a significant increase in reserve. We just need to complete the work. But the starting point will be hopefully a 20 million-plus MI resource base, and we feel very strong about the economics of those pits. So more to come, but we feel strong about a significant increase in reserves.

Okay. Okay. And then how should I be thinking about this capital because you talked about a lot of this capital now being spent with $85 million or thereabout at Cote this year. How should I be thinking of the study? And I think at one point, we were thinking of $100 million to $200 million in capital. How should I be thinking about the capital for all of this?

I guess if I would have all the detail, Tanya, we would have probably been a little more because we're still in trade-off. So the way to look at it is I think the growth capital that we're going to be deploying over the next few years should normally bring the pit to a point of expanded capable to provide for the -- now the mill itself, which will be the main capital of '29, '30, we're still in the trade-off and so forth. No, I do not believe you build an expansion today for $100 million to $200 million total capital but we believe that it could probably be achieved below the $500 million, but we still have to do the work.

Okay. I'll take a look further into it. Just on 2 other things, Bruno, I think you gave some guidance for how the year is panning out for us quarter-on-quarter stable for both Essakane and Westwood. What about Cote?

Okay. Fair question. Cote is going to be lower for the first half of the year because we have the maintenance plan for the HPGR [ tire roll ] change in March or April. That's going to be a 5-day shutdown. We will have supplement fines ore material to feed the mill, but we're going to be running at a slower pace. We also have -- we did a very good end of the year 2025 and we took advantage of Q1 to take a lot of other maintenance. So overall, we need to expect Q1 and Q2 to be lower than Q3 and Q4.

And generally, summertime at Cote is very good, like last year, Q2, Q3, Q4, we produced 36,000 tonnes per day almost like 36,000 ounces a month in average. So that gives you a bit like the kind of seasonality that we have, like we have a seasonality due to winter conditions in Q1. In Q2, we do some planned maintenance on the HPGR, and after that we are rolling until the end of the year.

Okay. So should I be thinking like a 45-55 or is that...

Yes. I guess, anywhere between like the zone of around 40, 45, as you say. Definitely, H2 will be much stronger season-wise, second crusher fully up and running, HPGR reline and plus any other optimization that's going to come. So yes, I think it's fair to think that our second half could be at the 55% of the year.

Okay. And Renaud, I have you on for my one final question. Dividend, I mean we had talked on one of the previous conference calls that you were potentially thinking that once all this is done, the dividend plan could be implemented. Where are you on that?

I think we feel very strong that on the step by step. I mean, as Maarten discussed, I think the first thing first is on the share buyback. There is no doubt that let's call the Canadian platform would most likely be an excess cash as well in those prices, something we're going to revisit with our Board at the end of Q2, see how the share buyback goes. Is there an opportunity to increase the share buyback using a bit of the Canadian excess? Do we start incorporating dividend?

So I think we're going to have this conversation post Q2 for the second half as we realize the free cash flow on the Canadian side as well. So we feel very strong that Essakane should normally go towards share buyback. The question is after what is the next in the row. And I think we're going to postpone the decisions for the second half of the year.

And this will conclude today's question-and-answer session. At this time, I'd like to turn the floor back over to Graeme Jennings for closing remarks.

Thank you very much, operator, and thanks to everyone for joining us this morning. As always, should you have any additional questions, please reach out to Renaud and myself. Thank you all. Be safe, and have a great day.

This brings to a close today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

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" BofA Securities, Research Division

" Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets, Research Division

" CIBC Capital Markets, Research Division

" National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division[ id="-1" name="Operator" /> Thank you for standing by. This is your conference operator. Welcome to the IAMGOLD Third Quarter 2025 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] The conference call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Graeme Jennings, Vice President of Investor Relations for IAMGOLD. Please go ahead, Mr. Jennings.

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone, to our conference call today. Joining us on the call are Reno Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer; Martin Newson, Chief Financial Officer; Bruno Lemelin, Chief Operating Officer; Annie Torkia Lagace, Chief Legal and Strategy Officer; and Dorna Quinn, Chief People Officer. We are calling today from IAMGOLD's Toronto office, which is located on Treaty 13 territory on the traditional lands of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabe , the Chippewa, Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. At IAMGOLD we believe respecting and upholding indigenous rights is founded upon relationships that foster trust, transparency and mutual respect.

Please note that our remarks on this call will include forward-looking statements and refer to non-IFRS measures. We encourage you to refer to the cautionary statements and disclosures on non-IFRS measures included in the presentation and reconciliations of these measures in our most recent MD&A, each under the heading non-GAAP Financial Measures.

With respect to the technical information to be discussed, please refer to the information in the presentation under the heading Qualified Person and Technical Information. The slides referenced on this call can be viewed on our website.

I'll now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Renaud Adams.

Thank you, Graham, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. This is an exciting time for IAMGOLD with another quarter of production, led by strong performance at Cote Gold and Esakana mines, helping to fuel record cash flow generation for the company. The current strong gold market has been very well timed for IAMGOLD, coinciding with the advancement of our assets, allowing the company to advance our strategic plans ahead of schedule.

We are proud of this transformation and also to introduce today our new logo and refreshed brand, which we believe reflects who we are today. We are extremely proud of our roots and history. But now our name stands for innovative, accountable mining. IAMGOLD is a modern gold mining company that is proudly Canadian with strong cash flow and significant long-term growth opportunities ahead. We mine with a mining redefined purpose in mind, putting safety, responsibility and people first. We hold ourselves accountable and embrace change and drive innovations at every level from smarter systems and technology to better ways of working.

There are many highlights to discuss for IAMGOLD today from our operations, financial achievement and an improved share buyback program, which remains subject to TSX approval. We will also discuss our forward-looking plans, including the expansion scenario for Cote Gold, which is expected to demonstrate significant upside to the current mine plan at Cote.

Finally, we will cover the recent announcement of acquisitions to consolidate the Chibougamau region in Quebec to create an elegant complex. These transactions further position IAMGOLD as a leading modern Canadian-focused multi-asset gold mining company. I am proud of our team's achievement and remain confident in our ability to deliver enduring values for our investors and partners while maintaining a steadfast commitment to safety and accountability.

Turning to the quarter, and we're now on Slide 5. At IAMGOLD, the safety of our people and communities remains our top priority. In the third quarter, our total recordable injury rate was 0.56, a 15% improvement year-over-year on a 12 months rolling average and comparing well with our industry peers. We are focused on advancing our critical risk management program, including an important integration of contractor into the IAMGOLD way of safety management with the goal to reduce high potential incidents.

Looking at operations on an attributable basis, IAMGOLD produced 190,000 ounces of gold in the third quarter. The quarterly performance was led by strong results at Cote, which produced a record 106,000 ounces on a 100% basis. followed by improved quarter-over-quarter attributable production at Essakane as the mine saw grades bounce back while mining deeper into Phase 7 of the pit. Year-to-date, IAMGOLD has reported 524,000 ounces of attributable production.

As we will walk through in a moment, production is expected to be the highest in the fourth quarter, positioning the company well to achieve our guidance target of 735,000 to 825,000 ounces of gold this year. On a cost basis, IAMGOLD reported third quarter cash cost of $1,588 an ounce and an all-in sustaining cost of $1,956 an ounce. Costs remain higher year-to-date as the record gold prices directly translate into higher royalty compound with the new royalty regime in Burkina Faso as well as higher unit costs at Cote from an increased proportion of supplementary contracted crushing to stabilize operations during our first full shutdown and until the second cone crusher is installed in the fourth quarter.

Cash costs and all-in sustaining costs for the year are expected to be at the top end of the guidance range, though we expect to see a strong end to the year with higher expected cash flow in the fourth quarter on an improved production and higher margins.

With that, I will pass the call over to our CFO to walk us through our financial highlights. Maarten?

Thank you, Rud, and good morning, everyone. It was indeed an important quarter for IAMGOLD as we were able to use the strong financial results to take significant steps towards our goal of delevering the company and advancing our plans to reward shareholders. Mine site free cash flow was $292.5 million in the third quarter, a record achieved of IAMGOLD's high production levels following the ramp-up of project, increasing the company's exposure to the gold price during a record high gold price environment.

The record mine site free cash flow improves our financial position and the company's net debt was reduced by $210.7 million to $813.2 million at the end of the third quarter. IAMGOLD had $314.3 million in cash and cash equivalents and approximately $391.9 million available on the credit facility resulting in total liquidity at the end of the third quarter of approximately $707.2 million.

As we noted last quarter, Essakane declared a significant dividend in June of approximately $855 million, representing all of the undistributed profits of Essakane up to and including the 2024 financial year. IAMGOLD's 85% portion of the dividend net of taxes was approximately $680 million and is expected to be paid over the next 12 months through a revised framework that enables payments to be made at any time of the year based on the cash generated in excess of working capital requirements by Essakane.

At September 30, $186 million of IAMGOLD's consolidated cash and cash equivalents was held by Essakane in Burkina Faso. -- which was used to pay IAMGOLD a dividend of $98 million in early October. The remaining portion of the company's dividend receivable was converted into a shareholder account with the first payment against the shareholder account of $56 million also received in October. The company expects to receive monthly payments going forward. These funds were used to make additional payments of $170 million against the company's second lien notes with $130 million of the original $400 million remaining outstanding on the 4th of November.

Holistically, when we consider our liquidity outlook under high gold price environment, we are in the fortunate position to continue to repay debt and commence in the not-too-distant future on another of our strategic initiatives, which is to reward our shareholders. Accordingly, subsequent to quarter end, our Board of Directors approved a share buyback program to be put in place through an NCIB program, allowing for the purchase of up to approximately 10% of IAMGOLD's outstanding common shares. All common shares purchased under the NCIB will be either canceled or placed under trust to satisfy future obligations under the company's share incentive plan.

IAMGOLD will file a notice of intention to implement an NCIB with the TSX and which is subject to TSX approval. Following the approval, IAMGOLD will be allowed to purchase these common shares over a 12-month period in the open market. This initiative reflects management confidence in the company's long-term value and its commitment to disciplined capital allocation. The actual number of common shares that may be purchased if any, and the timing of such purchases will be determined by the company based on a number of factors, including the company's financial performance, the availability of cash flows and the consideration of other uses of cash, including capital investment opportunities and debt reduction.

Turning to our financial results. Revenues from continuing operations totaled $706.7 million from sales of 203,000 ounces on a 100% basis at a record average realized price of $3,492 per ounce. Cost of sales, excluding depreciation, was $324.2 million and adjusted EBITDA was a record $359.5 million compared to $221.7 million in the third quarter last year. At the bottom line, adjusted earnings per share in the third quarter was $0.30.

Looking at the cash flow waterfall on the left side of Slide 7, we can see the year-to-date impact on our operating cash flow of the gold prepay deliveries, which we completed in June as well as the impact of the second lien term payment and the dividend payment to the government of Burkina Faso following its account driven declaration. On a mine site free cash flow IAMGOLD generated $292.3 million in the third quarter, including $135.6 million from Cote and $150.5 million from Essakane, driven by higher revenues due to the higher realized gold price, partially offset by higher production costs.

And with that, I will pass the call to Bruno Lemelin, our Chief Operations Officer, to discuss our operating results. Bruno?

Thank you, Martin. Starting with Cote Gold, it was a strong quarter with Cote reaching new milestones while maintaining stable performance at the processing plant. Notably, the plant underwent its first full shutdown in August, which was executed successfully. I'm very proud of our team at Cote. It's important to remember that it's still the first full year of operation at the mine with nameplate throughput achieved at the end of Q2.

Our teams are learning every day how to better position Cote for success, including the refinement of the mine plan of the maintenance schedules and identifying efficiency to drive continuous improvement.

Now looking at the third quarter, Cote produced 106,000 ounces on a 100% basis, which is a record quarter of production for the mine. Mining activity totaled 11.5 million tonnes in the quarter with 3.8 million ore tonnes mined equating to a strip ratio of 2:1. The average grade mined was 0.96 gram per tonne in line with plan and demonstrating good reconciliation with our reserve and grade control model.

Looking ahead, mining activities will continue to work on extending the pit perimeter to support efficient gold mining and also in preparation for the future expansion of Cote. On processing, mill throughput totaled 3 million tonnes in the quarter, averaging near nameplate in July and September. The first annual maintenance shutdown in August was successful with the comprehensive maintenance cycle completed and including the replacement of the high-pressure grinding roll tires, relining of the ball mill, changes to the primary crusher outer shell and additional maintenance work on the electrical infrastructure.

Head grade averaged 1.18 gram per tonne with feed material comprised of a combination of direct feed ore and stockpiles. Mill recoveries averaged 94% in the quarter, which continues to be above design rates.

Turning to cost. A major driver of cost this year has been associated with the temporary aggregate crusher, which is being contracted to support the processing plant. The plant was built with a single secondary cone crusher as part of the crushing circuit. And through day-to-day operations, we learned that this is a bottleneck. This has been addressed with the addition of a second cone crusher to sustainably achieve the nameplate throughput rate and provide redundancy during shutdowns.

We accelerated the push to achieve nameplate to midyear from our original target of Q4 in part because we found a way to maximize throughput and offset the bottleneck by incorporating an additional refeed system using a contractor aggregate plan. Moving ahead, nameplate by 5 to 6 months allows for maximizing tonnes milled today versus waiting for the second cone crusher to provide the additional facility. This may account for an extra $4 per tonne milled, yet brings the opportunity to monetize tonnes already mined through the end of the year.

In the third quarter, the aggregate crusher processed a higher proportion of ore due to the shutdown in August. The use of the aggregate crusher is expected to be reduced following the installation of the secondary cone crusher in Q4 and eventually eliminated. Looking at mining costs, we averaged $4.51 per tonne in the third quarter. Mining costs are higher than planned due to higher tire and wear and also impacted by the operation of the aggregate crusher and the feed system. The aggregate crusher requires the utilization of mining equipment to feed it, including haul trucks and a shovel, resulting in higher amounts of rehandling that is accounted to mine. These trucks will decrease into 2026 as further operational improvements are made and the elimination of the contracted aggregate plan.

Milling unit costs also increased in the quarter, averaging $22 per tonne mill. The temporary aggregate crusher system has a direct impact on our processing unit cost as it is more costly to operate. And in the third quarter, we rely on it more due to the August shutdown. Overall, we estimate around $6 per ton was associated with the cost of the aggregate crusher in the third quarter. Maintenance costs to replace the HPGR tire and wear components accounted for $1.87 per tonne during the quarter. Unit costs are expected to decline over the course of 2026 following the installation of the additional cone crusher in the fourth quarter of this year.

Looking ahead, we remain confident in our Cote Gold production guidance of 360,000 to 400,000 gold ounces on a 100% basis, which is essentially a doubling of production from last year. As noted here, we expect cash costs to exceed the top end of our updated guidance range of $1,100 to $1,200 per ounce sold, primarily due to a combination of higher royalties impacted by a significant increase in gold price, an increase in the expected usage of the supplementary crushing during the year to support the mill feed and the expensing of certain parts and supply that were previously expected to be capitalized.

Taken together, Cote is performing very well from operation of this site less than 20 months after pouring its first gold. We are looking forward to seeing the impact of the installation of the second cone crusher in Q4 on availability and throughput paving the way for future expansion option, which leads us to what is the most exciting slide, the advancement of the Cote Gas and super pit scenario.

As we have discussed previously, we are working towards announcing in 2026 an updated mine plan that envision the Cote operating at a higher throughput, targeting a significantly larger ore base from both Cote and Gosselin. The first step is drilling out the super pit of Cote and Gosselin to provide the resource foundation for the mine plan. Our drills are busy at work with over 50,000 meters drilled so far this year with the goal to infill and upgrade mine and bring the bulk of mineralization there into measured and instated.

Our currently designed, Cote has the mining capacity to average an annual ore mining rate of 50,000 tonnes per day versus our current nameplate processing rate of 36,000 tonnes per day. As part of the 2026 technical report, we will look to find the right balance between an increased processing rate with mining rates targeting the combined Cote Gosselin super pit. In this scenario, we anticipate a mine plan that prioritize the expansion of the plant, which should be implemented years before other major capital items that would be part of the super pit scenario, including tailings capacity expansion and all.

The updated mine plan and technical report is expected to be completed by the end of next year. And in the interim, we will continue to focus on optimizing Cote, reducing our cost profile and capturing low opportunities for operational improvements and capacity expansion.

Turning to Quebec. In the third quarter, Westwood produced 23,000 ounces, bringing the year-to-date production to 76,000 ounces, tracking below the bottom end of the guidance range of 125,000 to 140,000 ounces. The third quarter at Westwood saw similar results as prior quarters this year as mining activities underground operated to lower grade stopes encountering areas of challenging ground conditions resulted in higher-than-expected dilution and lower mining recoveries. The teams are implementing mitigation measures that include changes in blasting techniques and refinement, stope design and sequencing.

We are already seeing improvements from these efforts in October with the average grade so far this month from underground averaging over 9 gram per tonne in the month.

The Grand Duc open pit added another quarter of decent ore volumes with a reported of 315,000 tonnes mined. Open pit activities from Grand Duc are currently being evaluated for an expansion and extension of the pit. The outline scenario would push the pit into Phase 4, which would allow for mining until 2027. Mill throughput in the third quarter was 250,000 tonnes, which was below the average throughput rate over the previous quarter due to a 14-day shutdown of the plant in July for the replacement of a critical gear in the grinding circuit, resulting in plant availability in the quarter of 75% versus 90% in the same prior year period. We expect to see mill throughput return to near 90% as we see in the fourth quarter.

As a result of the low availability and lower tonne mill, we saw an increase in milling unit costs in the quarter. Likewise, mining costs also remained elevated due to an increase in the number of stopes prepared underground to set up the mine for the remainder of the year, combined with an increase in mining cost, labor cost and exclusive and power consumption. Together, cash costs were $1,924 an ounce in the quarter.

Looking at this year, as noted, Westwood production is expected to be below the bottom end of the range of 125,000 to 140,000 ounces. Accordingly, and despite unit cost improvement expected in the fourth quarter, annual average cash costs are expected above the guided range of $1,275 to $1,375 per ounce and AISC is expected to be above the range of $1,800 to $1,900 per ounce.

The turnaround in October is expected to be sustainable as we continue to refine stope design and the varying underground condition at Westwood. Despite the challenges in the first 9 months of this year, I'm very proud of the team there as they have demonstrated their innovative and accountable mindset to operation, safety and environmental care.

Turning to Essakane. It was a strong quarter for the mine with production of 108,000 gold ounce on a 100% basis or 92,000 ounces based on our 85% interest. Production rebounded on higher grades as mining activities were deeper into Phase 7. Mining activity totaled 8.7 million tonnes with ore tonnes mined of 3.2 million tonnes, equating to a strip ratio of 1.7:1. Total tonnes mined was lower than prior periods as the mining fleet did not operate at full capacity in August due to a fuel shortage in the country. The situation improved in September and the mining fleet was able to operate at capacity to end the quarter and into October.

Net throughput was 3.1 million tonnes at an average head grade of 1.18 grams per tonne. The transition to the higher grade benches in Phase 7 was initially expected earlier in the year, but was realized in the third quarter. Grades have continued to reconcile positively to the reserve model in October, positioning the mine for a strong fourth quarter.

On a cost basis, Essakane reported cash costs of $1,737 per ounce and AISC at $1,914 an ounce in the quarter, an improvement on the prior quarter. Despite the production improvement costs remained elevated in the quarter. Over the same period last year, royalty costs have increased 61% on a per ounce basis due to the strong gold market and the new royalty decrease. Royalties accounted for $283 an ounce in the third quarter. Additional drivers include a higher proportion of mining costs being expensed as well as higher maintenance activities and an increase in consumable costs, including diesel and grinding media.

With the equivalent labor, contractor and facility costs also increased due to the appreciation of the local currency, which is drag to the euro. Looking ahead, we estimate that Essakane will be at the midpoint of the 100% basis estimate of 400,000 to 440,000 ounces, which equates to the lower end of the attributable production guidance target based on 85% of 360,000 to 400,000 ounces.

Production is expected to be higher in the first quarter due to the higher grade as the mining sequence move in the primary zone of Phase 7. Cash costs are expected to be at the higher end of the guidance target of $1,600 to $1,700 per ounce sold and AISC is expected to be $1,850 to $1,950 per ounce sold.

Looking beyond next year, we are initiating conversations with the government on the mining lease renewal when ours expires in 2028. While the cost of operations in country have risen, Essakane continues to be a world-class mine and an important member of the Burkinabe. The mine has over 2 million ounces in reserves and is positioned to generate significant free cash flows moving forward.

With that, I will pass it back to Renaud to discuss our latest exciting news coming from Chibougamau Chapais. Renaud?

Thank you, Bruno. I really want to take a moment here to talk about our news from the 2 weeks ago when IAMGOLD announced the proposed acquisitions of Northern Superior in Orbec mine for total consideration of approximately $267 million in shares of IAMGOLD and approximately $13 million in cash. The strategic rationale for these transactions are clear when you look at this map here. Our goal was to consolidate IAMGOLD's land position and gold resources in the Chibougamau Chapais district, where IAMGOLD Nelligan and Monster Lake assets are located, creating the next great Canadian mining camp.

Our Nelligan deposit has 3.1 million ounces indicated and another 5.2 million ounces of inferred with rapid growth from minimal drilling in recent years. Nelligan is a large-scale open pit style of deposit with average grades around 0.95 grams a tonne. Monster Lake located approximately 15 kilometers north of Nelligan is a high-grade underground style project. Prior to the acquisition announcement, we were looking at putting out economics on Nelligan and Monster Lake envisioning a project that would take most of the ore feed from Nelligan with a high-grade kicker from Monster Lake. The potential additions of Philibert may result in a revised time line of technical study and proposed mining scenario.

Northern Superior's primary asset, Philibert, is an open pit style deposit located 8 kilometers northeast of Nelligan. Philibert has estimated mineral resources of approximately 2 million ounces at an average of 1.1 grams of gold, making it at this time, smaller but yet higher grade than Nelligan. In the consolidated scenario in a conceptual mill to pit and underground complex mine plan, we envision Philibert as having the potential to be the initial deposit due to the higher grade infrastructure advantage, providing important synergies versus a stand-alone Nelligan.

This year, we have drilled over 16,000 meters at Nelligan and over 17,000 meters at Monster Lake, with both projects having seen the programs upside and continued success at the drill pit. Upon completion of the transaction, we look forward next year to putting together a comprehensive program at Philibert to extend and expand mineralization as we look to bring all these assets together.

As of today, the combination of Nelligan and Monster Lake with Northern Superior's assets an Orbec's property, which are now referred as the Nelligan Mining Complex will rank as the fourth largest preproduction gold camp in Canada with estimated mineral resources of over 3.8 million ounces indicated and 8.7 million ounces inferred. The closing of the proposed transactions remain subject to shareholder votes from both Northern Superior and Orbec shareholders as well as other customary closing conditions for transactions of that nature.

Together, this asset has a bright future, and we look forward to welcoming the Northern Superior and Orbec shareholders to the IAMGOLD team. It will be an exciting year for us with significant value growth opportunity ahead and many catalysts, starting with the upside scenario for Cote Gold, but also including the advancement of the Nelligan mining complex as well as the valuable contribution of Westwood and Essakane. So thank you for your support.

With that, I would like to pass the call back to the operator for the Q&A. Operator?[ id="-1" name="Operator" /> [Operator Instructions] First question will come from Sathish Kasinathan with Bank of America.

Congrats on a strong quarter in addition to initiate share buybacks. My first question is on Cote Gold. So once the secondary crusher is installed, can you give us a sense of like what the anticipated cost improvements could be? Maybe talk about how you see the exit rate of cost as you exit 2025?

Yes. It's an excellent question. As we mentioned, we appreciate the very high record free cash flow at Cote and everywhere, but that doesn't take away our focus on cost. We made a conscious choice in the Q2 to maintain the aggregate plant functioning, maximizing throughput, maximizing grade by allowing more rehandling and maximizing grade and production and free cash flow it has worked just perfectly.

Now as you've mentioned, moving forward. So as Bruno mentioned in his note or Maarten both, there's about $6 a tonne right from the start on a per tonne of ore by using and operating the aggregate plant. And we think that with the second crusher, we'll be capable to generate our own stockpile internally. So that's one of the focus. So right from the start down the road, and I'm not saying that's going to be a walk in a park in a quarter.

But on the milling side, definitely, our objective remains to stabilize eventually down the road towards the $12. We appreciate that there are other assets maybe that could do slightly better. But for us at $12, we believe with the kind of design and configuration, that's probably achievable. There will be some transitions, of course, Q1, probably a transition as we enter Q2.

On the mining side, yes, we appreciate the -- again, there's rehandling has been a big component of it. Could we stabilize in the short term more towards the 350. So we're working on our plan as we speak. But we believe that the big component here is to be capable to operate without the aggregate plan, which will have a big effect. There's other aspect we need to improve. We need to improve significantly tire consumption, life on it. There's probably room to improve significantly, 50%, 60% consumption. So all that will have an impact on it.

Our objective remains down the road to be as close as the $3 per tonne mine. I know there's been inflation is all over the place and everyone is facing the same. But this is an objective, not going to be there at the start of the year, but as we advance in the year, 3 and 12 remains our strategic target. And that's the risk become pure math. You mine at the reserve grade as we're doing, you try to uplift your grade as you separate the lower grade. And with the 400,000 ounces plus and with a better unit cost and a very low strip ratio at Cote, we definitely see this asset performing amongst the best leading on the cost side. That's what we see. Bruno, do you want to add anything?

That's exactly right. The mining costs will have better performance once we stop using the aggregate crusher, producing much more leading inland. There's also many projects in terms of improving drilling performance as we drive vertically in the pit with less fracture time. So we expect improvement quarter after quarter.

No, no, that's what we could say at this stage as we complete our plan for next year.

Yes. That's helpful. Maybe one follow-up on the share buybacks. So I understand that you will begin share repurchases after you pay down the $130 million in debt. But is there like a minimum target in mind maybe tied to a certain percentage of free cash flow that we should look at in terms of the potential for buybacks going forward?

Once we have the program in plan by the end of the year, it gives us that flexibility to start allocating capital to the different parts of the business. And we're kind of looking at it in third, where we would look at internal growth and opportunities as well as we still want to repay the amount drawn credit facility, $250 million. And then the third part is buying back shares. We don't have to do this sequentially. We can do all of this at the same time.

So we were kind of breaking it down into 2/3 and starting next year, we'll look at the cash being generated and then do it that way. So that's kind of as close as a percentage, I guess, 1/3 that we can give at this point.

[ id="-1" name="Operator" /> The next question will come from Tanya Jakusconek.

On the balance sheet. I really was impressed on you getting your net debt to EBITDA down so low versus Q2. Sorry, the 4 calls going on at the same time. So I've missed a lot of yours. I want a clarification, if I could. Slide 11, you have a new technical report and mine plan to be released in the second half of '25. I thought that was coming in the second half of '26. Has that been moved forward?

No. If there was any mention to '25, that would be a typo or a mistake, Tanya. But no, we remain with disclosure of our next Cote Gold expansion late '26.

No, no. I just -- I joined when you talked about Westwood and so it was a slide before, and I noticed that and I said, Oh my God, they've moved it. I wasn't aware of it. Okay. No worries. And just maybe still on Côté, if I could. You talked about bringing the processing cost down to about $12, the mining cost down to 3. We had talked on the previous conference call that you thought you would get there by mid-2026. Should it be fair to say that we're still looking for that second half of '26, where we should see these costs get into that range? Is that a fair assumption?

Well, there is one thing that we don't control and it's some external factors. So let's start with that, like if there is an inflation. So I'm looking at our peers, I'm looking at what we could eventually do, and this is our objective. I think the parking the aggregate plan, you would start like transitioning in Q1 and starting in Q2, you must see the effect of much less rehandling, more direct feed to final destinations, a little bit of -- we're going to continue to rehandle around the HGO and if your mine, your grade is lower for a period of time, you would swap in an NGO.

But yes, starting Q2, this is where we start seeing effect of it and continue to work very hard towards achieving the lowest. But we need to control our consumptions, mostly around, of course, mentioned tires and rehandling and so forth. I think we're competitive when it comes to the procurement and so forth. So it's really on consumptions and better control of our maintenance. We believe that the HPGR should be running better at 2, allowing to feed it at a smaller size and so forth and increases life.

So it's not just like a ticket type of item, but the big impact would start with the pricing. And the cost will be what it would be in the sense that we cannot control some external factor. But what we can control, this is our intention in '26 to get it done.

Okay. SO I should sort of mid-'26 that we should hopefully be there.

Yes, mid-'26 you should start.

Yes. Okay. And can I just come back? I wanted to -- one more technical, if I could. On just on your reserves and resources, I'm asking all companies, what are you thinking about in terms of pricing as you get your mine plans in place and start thinking about your pit shells and so forth. What pricing assumptions are you looking at for year-end 2025 and 2026 sort of inflation in cost?

The most important aspects are the reserve. And as we're relooking at Côté and so forth. We're very comfortable to remain at the 1,700 or so for reserve at Côté, and we're going to -- we'll look at as well what the industry is aligning and so forth. So there is no real rush there. Essakane is a longer short-term life of mine. So there's an ability here to increase a bit and maximize cash flow down there. But typically, for our main asset like Côté, we're not seeing more than 1,700 at this stage for the year-end exercise. And we're also testing the long-term resource deposit like the Nelligan and so forth.

We'll be testing it probably up to 2,500 as a resource exercise. But we'll be disciplined. We're not intended to use the full gold price in the short term and like to see how the industry -- eventually, of course, we're going to pick the price for the Côté study and so forth, but it is not our intention to transform our asset in low grade using the gold price.

Okay. And if I can ask a financial question. I just -- I saw your debt target, your net debt to EBITDA down to 0.74. And I think I heard that we still have another $250 million in 2026 that we want to reduce our debt by. So I'm just wondering, one, is that correct? I should think about another $250 million for 2026. Do we have a net debt-to-EBITDA target you're comfortable with so that I can -- and a minimum cash balance on the balance sheet, so I can then sort of look at my share buyback.

So that is correct. We $250 million drawn on the credit facility, and we would like to pay that down in 2025 or 2026. But we also have $130 million left on our second lien that we plan to do this year. So that then leads us to next year. We think $200 million to $250 million is a good minimum cash balance for our company. Over time, as I mentioned earlier, we will probably build that up as 1/3 of the capital allocation would go to that. But that's kind of the main benchmark is $200 million to $250 million minimum cash and then pay down that $250 million.

So from a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio, that would bring us down to 0.5 or maybe even less. We are comfortable with 1 and lower, but we also understand it's a very high gold price environment. So we don't put all of our targets for net debt-to-EBITDA using a high gold price. So we're kind of looking at it what would it be at lower gold prices as well. So we don't want it to be much higher than in a lower gold price environment.

Okay. That's great. And if I could squeeze in an exploration question. I would really like to talk a little bit about the Nelligan camp. And maybe, Renaud, I'm keen to -- you said there are synergies of that entire camp. It's never going to be called the Nelligan camp once this is done. Can you talk about like is it going to be -- are you envisioning like one central mill to sort of treat all of these ores? Like how are you envisioning this?

Well, the -- I have the pleasure to be leading the Rosebel Gold Mines at the very early days of IAMGOLD following the takeover of Cambior. And at the very early days when I rejoined this company, and I was looking at this camp, there was like a kind of an obvious type of look alike, if you will. And I'm sure you're very familiar as well with the Rosebel concept back in time where we started with 2 and eventually had 6 mining areas and so forth. I like that one even further because of the high-grade underground component as well that comes at play.

So the kind of the close is for us, and we've operated this place for many years. So we have a pretty good understanding and mining experience. But think of it as a bit of a kind of a Rosebel concept back in time, definitely a center processing facility kind of gravity center and fed and hopefully, multiple mining sources that eventually comes and go as you advance in time. So that's the closest example I could take -- I could think of.

And one tailings facility or should I think of that as well?

Sorry. Yes, definitely. Yes. One tailing. But again, with the new concept and minimizing footprint and the importance of protecting and minimizing environmental footprint, I could see over time, a kind of a use as well of depleted pit to be incorporated in the scenario of how you minimize for tailings purpose. So early stage, but this is our concept here. So the priority will be Philibert, Nelligan, and Monster Lake and eventually, hopefully, as we continue to drill, maybe incorporating more areas.

Look forward to hearing more about it next year.

[ id="-1" name="Operator" /> [Operator Instructions] Our next question will come from Anita Soni with CIBC World Markets.

Similar position to Tanya with a number of competing conference calls. So I apologize if I missed anything. But I just want to follow up on Tanya's questions around costs going into next year. I guess I was just trying to understand if as we look at Cote and sort of push towards higher tonnage sort of things that you're thinking about what are the inflationary factors that you're facing on the mining cost front? And where do you see some offsets in terms of maybe pushing higher tonnes?

You were breaking up a bit Anita. Maybe on the mining -- well, if we got your questions on the inflationary aspects on the cost and so forth, yes, we did see some pressure, but it's more around -- we don't see necessarily like on the pressure on the procurement side. And Maarten, you can add to this. I think it's really around the productivity and creating -- moving more towards bulk mining, as Bruno said, as we open the pit even further and creating more phases and minimizing the movement of equipment during blast. This is all productivity. This is all like same equipment, more movement, less rehandling and the tire and improving on drilling blasting. This is like the most important aspect of '26. that would probably get us to a significant improvement.

There's no reason for Côté to lag its peers when it comes to the best mining we could do. But we've been very restricted, we haven't allowed the group to really mine within the perfect setting and force a lot of rehandling and so forth. So we need to be patient here and give a chance to the winner here to run the race. Bruno?

Just to give you an example at the mill maintenance, we've done like numerous operation to try to find the right liners for secondary cone crusher like more than one, I guess. So 5 different type of liners were tested out. And now we are very glad to see that we have one that is performing very well that's going to double the lifetime of the liner. So we expect improved productivity, improved production, and lower cost on the tonne basis. But when you start an operation like the size Côté you need to do some predictors, you need to have an interactive process on some areas to find the best part that will trigger your top line. And that's what we do. It takes sometime, but we know where we have to work on.

Okay. I know these operations take some time to ramp and you've done a good job.

Yes, exactly. And you mentioned more than once. And this is the thing maybe we sound like not direct to the question, but the reality being is from the commissioning, the building of the '23 to the full commissioning in '24 and you're looking at this year, our first year was to really eliminated any red flag remaining and so forth. 90% recovery at the mill, perfect reconciliation, mining at the mining grade, proven our concept of minimizing on segregation and make it more like work. And as you could see 3 quarters in a row where you've actually been capable to uplift at the mill. So those are all like significant milestones for us at the very early days.

To say that we enter '26 and that what we want is an average for 4 years of the 36 with a full focus on the cost and you turn back and you look at what this group has achieved to date and now the mission is on the cost, and we're going to have the same focus and the same discipline and attacking this. I have all reason to believe that we're going to do like great, great, great improvement on this and that would be the first time really where we're going to be focusing on.

So from -- it's kind of the next logical step for us after focusing this year on throughput and free cash flow and ounces and so forth. So I have all reason to believe, Anita, that you're going to see great things coming out of Côté as we make it our priority next year.

Yes. So for most of the operations that are doing well, year 3 is definitely the optimization year and that's year 2026.

Absolutely.

So can I just ask just one more question in terms of grades. The mill plant feed has been above the mine grade, right? You had created something is in stockpile previously. But now the mining the grades are sort of in the 0.9 level this quarter. What should we be expecting like what the grade profile looks like going into next year? Is it going to be more along reserve grade? Or will you still have a couple of quarters of mill feed…

I'll pass it to Bruno.

Anita, this is Bruno. We have already like good inventory of high grade at the end of Q3. But the question is if we mine at 0.96, how long are we going to be able to mill at a grade above that. So we are currently looking at our 2026 budget and intent is still to mine higher proportion of ore that would have grade above the average grade. So the goal for Côté is definitely to be averaging mining at average grade, but the first three years is going to be a little bit above that. So we are talking about 1.1, 1.2, which will give us like a good path forward 400,000 gold ounce per annum. And while we are increasing capacity at the mill the grade will be reduced, but still protecting that 4, 4.50 level.

Yes, if I may just add something to it. It has a lot to do as well with the volume you mine, correct? So if you look at this year how do you move from 0.96 mine to uplifting above 1.1 at the mill has a lot to do with, not super segregation, at least remove the lower grade glass from your inventory and just talk about the long term. So that practice could continue a little bit down the road. So I am confident by mining the reserve we will be capable to continue to uplift along the line of what we're seeing here.

[ id="-1" name="Operator" /> The next question will come from Mohamed Sidibe with National Bank Capital Markets.

Apologies, I missed the start of the conference call due to conflict there. But on the grade front, but not at Côté, but maybe at Westwood, given the challenging ground conditions, I think you've seen improvement in October in terms of the underground grade there. How should we think about Q4 and maybe next year 2026 as we think about the Westwood grades and the mining rate there?

Go ahead, Bruno.

Mohamed, so the plan or if I can explain Westwood on the east side as areas with less challenging ground conditions, but with lower grade. On the central zone and western zone it has the ability to give better grades but with more challenging ground condition. So what -- when we started facing those challenging ground conditions, we just shifted our strategy and resequence the production mine tonnes toward the east. So that's the reason why you see the lower grade since the beginning of this year.

Since then, we have readjusted the way that we do our blasting pattern, drilling patterns, stope design, stope parameters to take into account these ground conditions. I'm very pleased to say that we have been very successful in October in those zone and the average grade that we collected was above mine grams per tonne. And right now, what we have is we have an inventory of almost 1.5 months in front of us that are accessible. So I think the algorithm that we have developed over the past few years is working fine, but we just need to refine it further at the stope level so we can safely and profitably each so that we have in the sequence. So we just had to make some readjustment.

So for the Q4, we expect a very strong Q4. And for 2026, it's going to be a balancing act between how much stope we're going to be scheduling in the east side and the central zone. So it's a risk adjusted type of plan. And again, Westwood is a mine that needs to deliver 10,000 gold ounce a month to be on [ XO ]. So very, very confident about the rest of the year and 2026 bodes very well.

If I may just add to this, and thank you, Bruno, for this. To be very frank, like the mine like we did extremely well in '24, rehabilitated all the zone. There is maybe some aspect of it that maybe we try to run a little bit before walking. But the plan is I really have all the confidence that it's pure engineering, and we're already seeing quite a bit of turnaround and back on our feet. But the way we look at the mine is like we'll be absolutely happy, as Bruno says, an average of $10,000 a month, a mine capable to operate sub-2,000, bringing like significant free cash flow and longevity.

So that's how we think of this mine for the next 2, 3 years. The future could be very exciting, depending on what happens in uncovering all the resources to the east and so forth. So more to come on that one. But for the time being, when I look at the next 2, 3 years, we'll be absolutely happy with the mine predictable capable to deliver if it's 10,000 a month, sub 2,000. With that, we'll be very happy and it would do very well for us.

That's very helpful. And if I could maybe shift to Essakane. I think you noted -- again, maybe you already commented on this, but you noted that you had in August a fuel shortage in the country. As you're looking at your operations now, we've heard kind of neighboring countries having issues and know that some of the Ivory Coast energy being provided to Burkina may have had some challenges there as well. But are you seeing any impact from fuel pressures at operation at Essakane currently? Or what is the latest that you can provide us on that front?

So Mohamed, we are not using the same route as Mali does. So we have a very specific supply routes for fuel. So that's one. The second thing is that we have more than 48 days of inventory at site. So it gives us enough time to rearrange our logistics should we have like some hiccups. We have enough to maintain the operations uninterrupted. So it requires good logistic efforts, and we have continuous support from the government, allowing us to bring the fuels at sites at the appropriate time. But the main strategy was to make sure that we have enough fuel depo at Essakane so we can withstand a long period of time without supplies arriving to Essakane. So in a sense, we're not using the same roads. We don't see the same type of pressures as Mali and so far the other strategy that we have is increased inventory at site.

Great to hear. And a final question maybe on the complex and great consolidation of the complex there. What should we look at in terms of next key steps for this complex? I know that you're advancing an exploration campaign there with potential resource update in early 2026. But how could we look at this beyond what are the next key steps for the zone?

So just quickly on it. So expect us like focusing on resource growth in '26, the incorporations of Philibert. So we need to answer one question that is really key. How big could that Philibert be and how does it fit in the mine plan, right? So this is the very, very key focus of '26, increased drilling program. We'll be aggressive but smart about proven record from the team. I'm not concerned at all there. And I think we will do a very good use of money deployed there. But that's the very short term.

And as I mentioned, we were hoping of maybe putting some sort of a study in '26, but I think it's worthwhile like getting great answers from. Objective with almost 12 million already. So we could only shoot for the 15 million, 20 million camp. And this is what we're going to be doing. We're going to drill, drill, drill and hopefully having a very good update resource update late '26. Having said that, Nelligan and Monster Lake will be somewhat updated at year-end with the drilling of '25 in it. But look at it as resource grows in the next year or 2, and then we'll start putting study out there. And anything we could advance and start putting in place, we'll do it. But we have a high, high level of confidence that this is going to be a mining camp. Bruno, if you want to add anything to this?

[ id="-1" name="Operator" /> This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Graeme Jennings for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, operator, and as always thank you, everyone, for joining. If you have any questions please reach out to Bruno or myself. Thank you all. Be safe. Have a great day.

[ id="-1" name="Operator" /> This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for your participation, and have a pleasant day.