Pan African Resources Aktie

Good morning to all of you, and welcome to our 2026 final results presentation. Thank you very much for taking time out of your schedules to join us this morning. We will keep the presentation fairly brief with an opportunity for questions afterwards. Joining me in presenting today will be Marileen Kok, our Financial Director. A special word of thanks to the finance department and also to the rest of the amazing Pan African team for the excellent work in putting these results together.

You are welcome to refer to our SENS, RNS announcements and to the supplementary information available on the Pan African website, should you require detail not dealt with in today's presentation. Please note the disclaimers and information on forward-looking statements on Slides 2 and 3.

Reflecting on the last year, Pan African could not have chosen a better time to be a gold miner, and furthermore, to expand and increase our gold production by almost 40%. We have again made excellent progress in our strategy of positioning ourselves as a safe and sustainable, high-margin and long-life gold producer, with very attractive future prospects.

Pan African has the ability to continuously grow production by organic projects in the next years, something most larger peers cannot. The operations we commissioned over the last years have assisted in transforming the company. It is, however, not the end in terms of growth, and I look forward on elaborating on some of our near-term and longer-dated expansion initiatives later in the presentation. It is a pleasure to present this excellent set of results. However, I am even more excited about our future and also, as importantly, continuing to make a tangible and real positive difference to all stakeholders in the regions where we operate.

A lot has been said about the gold price, and we have to give credit to the rise in the fortunes of the yellow metal, which is reflected in this set of results. Having been in this business for some time, it does feel like the gold price at current levels is well supported with a general consensus view that there is likely to be further price upside in the years ahead. As I said, it is a pleasure of presenting this set of results. Some of the highlights over the last year include record gold production, record earnings and a very significant increase in our proposed record final dividend. Our statement of financial position is now completely degeared as anticipated, with an attractive and growing net cash balance on hand.

We moved to a London Main Market and were included in the FTSE 250 index. Pan African is now one of the largest gold miners listed in London. We completed the acquisition of Emmerson Resources, the consolidation of Tennant Creek and listed on the ASX now with the ability to use our paper to grow further in Australia. Pan African is incredibly well positioned to capitalize on current gold prices and our increasing production profile, and I look forward to sharing some thoughts and further detail on many of our initiatives and plans in the next slides.

We will start with Pan African health and safety performance, obviously critical in our business and then provide an overview of the group and our operating environment. Some key features from the year with detail on asset performance as well as our cost production and capital outlook. We will highlight some achievements in terms of renewable energy and ESG before allowing Marileen the opportunity to analyze elements of the group's financial performance for the year. The presentation will then conclude by outlining focus areas in the year ahead.

If we then proceed to Slide #6, our safety performance and our journey to zero harm. We continue to focus on safety initiatives and interventions and on maintaining an industry-leading record. We can also celebrate a number of safety milestones achieved during the reporting period. I would like to specifically mention the achievements of our surface business, now including Tennant, with these operations again achieving 0 lost time and reportable injuries for the year.

Slide #8. I believe Pan African offers a compelling investment proposition. We operate a well-diversified portfolio of producing gold assets in 2 jurisdictions with outstanding mining pedigrees. We have a high margin and stable operating base, generating very attractive cash flows, growing ever closer to 300,000 ounces of annual gold production. We have grown production by almost 40% in the last year, driven primarily by the ramp-up of MTR and Tennant Mines with further production growth anticipated in the next years. Our assets are long life and the group has a huge reserve and resource base for further expansion with some very exciting projects such as Royal Sheba, which we are now developing and also Poplar.

We have a proven track record of project delivery, excellent capital allocation and an attractive dividend, now also an interim dividend. And we have the ability to leverage the existing portfolio for further attractive growth. No need for us to go out and buy expensive assets with high valuations at this juncture.

Slide 9, the proof is in the pudding, or in the numbers in this case, an investment in Pan African in 2009 when the group in its current form came into being, would have increased some 70-fold versus a dollar gold price increase also attractive of around 5x. You also would have received an attractive dividend over the period further increasing returns on Pan African stock. The company is now well covered by analysts, and we have a diversified and supportive shareholder base.

Slide #10. We have built a unique portfolio of surface remining and underground assets. The addition of MTR and Tennant means that we now have 3 large mining complexes in South Africa and 1 in Australia, all contributing towards a material increase in gold production in the years ahead. Surface operations reduced unit costs and turn legacy liabilities into profit. Whilst the underground mines provide long life of mines, solid returns on investment as a result of a large sunk capital base and also attractive optionality, which we are bringing to account in a circumspect and considered manner, always thinking about the best way to allocate capital and generate sustainable attractive returns for our shareholders.

Slide 11. We have now successfully transitioned the business to be focused on long-life, low-cost surface remining assets. Going forward, we expect approximately 60% of our production from surface and certainly, the bulk of our earnings also.

Slide #12, a bit more detail on our current portfolio of assets. I think what is very helpful is that all of our operations now have extended lives with the shortest life being the BTRP at 5 years that excludes the development of Royal Sheba, which will add decades of life to that asset.

Slide #13, our operating environment. We continuously seek ways of making our business less susceptible to adverse external impact in South Africa and also now in Australia. We have definitely seen a rise in resource nationalism globally with the trend set to continue. Despite challenges, South Africa and Australia are generally stable and supportive of long-term value creation for shareholders and other stakeholders also. At Pan African Resources, we characterize our labor relations as constructive and stable, underpinned by a proactive consultative approach with recognized unions and structured engagement forums.

Pan African has in the past, consistently pursued longer-term collective agreements, and we have multiyear wage agreements in place at most operations. Some of the other focus areas include employee health and engagement initiatives. We are also very proud of our interactive smartphone app, which we are currently implementing for all of our employees and for most major contractors, creating a unique employee value proposition for a more engaged workforce. Improved productivity and safety are the main drivers behind the app.

Pan African's track record demonstrates that we can operate and grow in South Africa and do so very successfully. Our experienced Australian team will ensure the same success in that jurisdiction. We have found Australia's Northern Territory government very welcoming and supportive of our operation. It's a great place to do business, and we look forward to expanding our activities there.

If we then proceed to key production cost and financial features from the year on Slide 15. Gold production was up some 40%. Our final production number was marginally shy of 275,000 ounces. However, if we annualize the second half performance, it was almost 290,000 ounces, demonstrating the potential of our suite of assets. We are expecting production for the next financial year to be even closer to the 300,000 ounce mark or more. Our all-in sustaining costs, despite inflationary pressures and a stronger rand, came in within the guided range. Costs were impacted by employee option expenses as well as increased royalties and the processing of third-party material. A great financial performance and a number of records, which Marileen will elaborate on. Despite all of the growth and capital reinvestment, we are increasing our total dividend for the year by almost 110%. And having also initiated an interim payment earlier in the year.

Slide 16 demonstrates how nicely we have expanded margins in recent years now with meaningful contributions from MTR and Tennant Mines. Slide 18, we believe Pan African has a record second to none in terms of conceptualizing, construction and operation of tailings retreatment projects, now complemented by Tennant Mines also. These long-life assets form the cornerstone of our business, and we have further room to grow in the space detailed in the next slide. We are able to generate excellent returns on these projects at gold prices quite a bit lower than those prevailing at present.

If we then move on to more detail on the performance per operation, starting with Elikhulu on Slide 19. Clearly, a flagship asset for the group, 8 years of production remaining, producing at just over $1,200 per ounce for the year and currently the lowest cost operation in the group. Elikhulu delivered an excellent performance for the year, production up 14%. Plant feed for the year came exclusively from the Leslie/Bracken tailings facility where good mining and blending discipline supported both grade and metallurgical recovery. The asset generated more than $170 million of EBITDA for the year, more than double that of the previous financial year.

The construction of the Winkelhaak pump station is now also nearing completion ahead of when required. This will enable us to see material from both Leslie/Bracken and Winkelhaak in the next years. The extensive sonic drilling completed at Winkelhaak gives us much better geological and grade control information ahead of that transition. Looking forward, we expect another great performance and clearly excellent cash flow generation in the current gold price environment from Elikhulu.

Slide #20, the BTRP. Another good performance from our first gold tailings retreatment plant commissioned in 2013. As previously flagged, we have extended the life of this operation from surface remining only to now 5 years remaining. A flotation circuit to further improve recoveries, reduced costs and increased production will also be commissioned by December. The BTRP will, therefore, continue to form an integral part of Pan African tailings retreatment story for many more years. Over the longer term, BTRP's future is bound to that of our Sheba Fault production strategy as the operation will be converted to a hard rock circuit with the addition of an upfront crushing system.

That brings us to Slide 21, dealing with Royal Sheba. We are very excited to now be executing into what will become one of South Africa's first new gold mines in many years. Royal Sheba is an important part of our strategy to extend and diversify Barberton's production base. The key regulatory approvals have been obtained, the mining contract has been appointed and long lead equipment is now on order with the first development blast schedule for early in 2027. What makes Royal Sheba attractive is that this is a shallow free-milling ore body, close to existing infrastructure and with significant geological continuity still to be tested at depth. The current mine plan targets a total of approximately 200,000 ounces of gold or around 40,000 ounces per year at steady state. The new financial year project budget is approximately $15 million of which $8 million is project capital and $7 million relates to development.

Importantly, the current resource base case is not where we see the ultimate potential ending. We are investigating a backfill strategy that could allow extraction around historical stopes and pillars and increase the mine plan target to approximately 285,000 ounces. There is an additional strategic benefit in that using BTRP tailings as underground backfill could reduce surface deposition requirements and potentially facilitate retreatment of the Sheba Dormant and Camelot tailings facilities. So in addition to being a new underground production source, Royal Sheba could also be an enabler of a more integrated Sheba BTRP production and rehabilitation strategy.

MTR on Slide 22. As previously reported, we successfully completed the CIL and reactor expansion in December 2025, with the plant now comfortably treating 1 million tonnes of feedstock per month. Production from MTR was up almost 70%, with the anticipated production pick up in the second half, realizing exactly as anticipated and delivering adjusted EBITDA of $156 million for the year.

Going forward, MTR should deliver 55,000 to 60,000 ounces of gold production annually. Now we have to flag again that production will be lower in the first 3 months of the new financial year as we process the remainder of a low-grade, lower recovery calcine material. This is a localized feed issue rather than a structural concern for the operation. I'm pleased to report that we are on schedule as far as this is concerned. We've also completed the construction of a 3-megaliter water treatment plant on site and should start construction of a 20-megawatt solar facility in the next year.

On Slide 23, again, important to emphasize the socioeconomic and environmental benefits of the project. Concurrent rehabilitation is in progress. We are uplifting local communities, providing much needed economic and employment opportunities and working with law enforcement to eradicate illegal mining.

Slide 24, Tennant Mines in Australia. Tennant Mines should be viewed as a new Pan African operating hub rather than simply the Nobles operation. We entered a historically exceptional gold field in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction, built and commissioned the Nobles plant in less than a year, and we now control approximately 1,700 square kilometers across the Tennant Creek mineral field. The district is particularly attractive, because it combines known high-grade deposits with relatively limited modern exploration at depth. Less than 8% of historical drilling extends below 150 meters. We already have the central processing infrastructure and experienced operating team and multiple potential feed sources around that infrastructure.

Our strategy is, therefore, very much a hub-and-spoke model to develop the best deposits in the right sequence and use common processing and regional infrastructure whenever possible. Nobles provides the immediate gold production platform, while White Devil significantly strengthens the near-term feed profile. Beyond that, we also have Juno, Golden Forty and other gold opportunities and the substantial Warrego copper-gold resource. The objective is not simply to maximize production as quickly as possible. It is to sequence the portfolio in the most capital-efficient manner and create a long-life Australian business.

Slide 25, Emmerson acquisition and ASX listing. The Emmerson transaction completed in early July was strategically important because it consolidated our ownership of the principal Tennant Creek assets at exactly the point where we are beginning to invest more significantly in the district. Moving from the previous joint venture structure to 100% ownership, gives us much greater control of a capital allocation, mine sequence and exploration profiles and priorities.

It also removes a number of JV-related costs and economic leakage and means that future exploration success accrues fully to Pan African and to our shareholders. Following the transaction, we control a dominant land position of approximately 1,700 square kilometers in what remains a very underexplored mineral field, as I've said. The transaction was deliberately structured to preserve the strength of our balance sheet, while giving former Emmerson shareholders continued exposure to the upside through Pan African. The associated ASX listing is also strategically useful. We now have a natural Australian shareholder base and access to a capital market with a deep understanding of Australian and other mining assets.

Most importantly, the acquisition gives us the ability to make district-level decisions rather than JV level decisions. This is particularly relevant as we optimize White Devil, Juno, Golden Forty and Warrego and the broader exploration portfolio over the coming years.

Slide 26, Tennant Mines operating performance. FY '26 was effectively the first operating year at Tennant, and we produced just over 32,000 ounces while establishing the operation and progressively replacing lower grade crown pillar stockpile material with mined open pit ore. The ramp-up was slower than initially anticipated, principally because of the lower grade of the historical stockpile and the time required to establish sufficient higher-grade mining sources as well as commissioning constraints on the dry stack tailings circuit.

A number of processing modifications are now underway, including a fixed crushing circuit, secondary ball mill and belt filtration as additional capacity for dry stack tailings. These projects are aimed at improving reliability, throughput and unit costs. The most important change to the outlook, however, is White Devil. The current open pit envelope contains more than 3 million tonnes at 3.8 grams per tonne or approximately 350,000 ounces and remains open at depth and along strike. The technical work completed on White Devil has materially increased our confidence in the deposit as the principal high-grade feed source for approximately the next 6 years.

That allows us to take a much more measured approach to the development of the Juno and Golden Forty underground rather than developing 2 underground mines concurrently. With White Devil, we can phase that capital over a longer period. The result is a lower risk and substantially more capital-efficient development strategy while preserving Juno and Golden Forty as future high-grade growth options. Our near-term objective is, therefore, to establish Tennant as a reliable 50,000 ounce per year production platform and then grow from that base as the broader portfolio has developed over the medium term.

Slide 27, the Evander Underground. Evander was one of the standout operations in the last year, with production increasing almost 70% to 47,000 ounces and underground recovered grade increasing to around 11 grams per tonne. The investment made over the last several years is now translating into operational performance. The sub-vertical hoisting system is operating at design capacity and that's fundamentally improved underground logistics by replacing approximately 4 kilometers of conveyor handling.

Our focus is now on increasing productive face time as mining moves deeper. This includes additional underground transport infrastructure and the phased transition from pneumatic drilling to hydropower equipment using localized power packs. Higher drilling rates shorten the production cycle and become increasingly valuable as traveling distances increase. Geologically, we continue to be encouraged by the Kimberley Reef at Evander. Development on 24 Level has demonstrated persistent high-grade mineralization, whilst long incline borehole drilling into the 25 Level horizon has confirmed the down-dip continuation of the high-grade pay shoot.

This provides confidence in the transition from 24 to 25 Level and allows us to optimize the decline and future stoping layouts. Importantly, the production profile shown here is the current scheduled base case. It excludes potential extension into 26 Level and other areas within the existing 8 Shaft infrastructure. We, therefore, continue to see meaningful upside beyond the current reserve-backed production profile for Evander.

Slide 28, Barberton Mines. Barberton underground production increased by approximately 5%, driven principally by an excellent performance from Fairview where production increased 17% to almost 48,000 ounces. Fairview is a good illustration of why we continue investing in these very mature ore bodies. Development of the MRC remains central to Fairview's long-term production profile. And the last year again demonstrated the exceptional quality of this ore body. Mining has progressed into additional high-grade platforms, materially improving flexibility and reducing reliance on single production areas.

The mining platforms achieved grade in excess of 20 grams per tonne across the MRC and Rossiter systems. At the MRC specifically, the 263 Platform has delivered mining grades above 30 grams per tonne, with local areas exceeding 50 grams per tonne, demonstrating that very high-grade shoots continue within the ore body at depth. Rossiter has become an increasingly important contributor to the mining flexibility and high-grade production at Fairview. Development is progressing on the 50 and 56 Level elevations, opening additional mining fronts and improving access to the ore body. Underground sampling and production have confirmed the high-grade character of the Rossiter with ore delivered at grades above 20 grams per tonne.

The MRC continues to produce exceptional grades, while the revised mining approach on Rossiter has reduced dilution and delivered very high-grade plant feed. This is particularly encouraging given Fairview's operating history and it demonstrates that these ore bodies continue to perform extremely well after more than a century of mining.

At the same time, we are investing in the infrastructure required to sustain that performance. The 3 Shaft winder upgrade improves ore handling logistics, while development of the trackless ramp alongside 3 decline provides improved access to the deeper portions of the MRC. Exploration drilling remains focused on a down-dip extensions of both the MRC and Rossiter. So we are continuing to replace depletion as we mine. Fairview now has a 23 year life of mine. And together with Royal Sheba, it provides a very strong foundation for Barberton's long-term production.

Slide 29, Sheba and Consort. Our smaller Barberton underground operations had a more difficult financial year with lower production at both Sheba and Consort. At Sheba, the principal issue was lower head grade from the ZK orebody rather than an absence of geological potential. We are streamlining the mining and processing configuration and undertaking plant optimization to improve throughput and recovery. Importantly, underground drilling has confirmed the down-dip extension of the ZK ore body, including some exceptionally high-grade intersections.

One of the more notable results has been an intersection of up to 3 meters at 370 grams on 38 Level elevation. As always, with very high-grade Barberton intersections, individual results should not be viewed in isolation but they do demonstrate the exceptional tenure that the ZK system can contain. The development strategy is therefore aimed at gaining access to the deeper continuation of the ore body rather than simply optimizing the currently available stopes. Continued development and drilling should progressively provide additional mining platforms and allow better grade blending, which is important given the FY '26 head grade challenge.

At Consort, the focus has been on an operational turnaround following the rehabilitation of the PC Shaft infrastructure. That work has restored access to the 36 to 45 Level areas where higher grading mining blocks were previously constrained by infrastructure and ground conditions. Development is now focused on high-grade remnant blocks and structurally controlled ore shoots identified from underground sampling and historical production records.

Now Sheba and Consort are relatively small operations in the group context, but they contain very high-grade mineralization and existing infrastructure. The objective is, therefore, to extract maximum value from that installed infrastructure through selective, disciplined mining rather than chasing volumes. What is encouraging at Barberton is that we are seeing high-grade continuity across all 3 of our principal mining areas.

Slide #31, a section dealing with all-in sustaining costs. More than 90% of our portfolio produced at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,700 per ounce. Slide 32. Our production guidance for FY '27 is 280,000 ounces to just over 300,000 ounces for the year with production skewed to the second half, similar to what was the case last year. This is principally as a result of treating the calcined material at MTR in H1, accessing White Devil properly in H2 at Tennant and then also some higher grades forecast later in the financial year at Evander.

Slide 33 illustrates that our cost performance continues to be very much in line and better than the average for the global sector with most producers having experienced significant cost pressure in the last couple of years.

Slide 35, group capital projects. We continue to invest into our assets and into growth. FY '27 group capital is approximately $330 million, representing a significant but deliberate investment year with expenditure focused on an increasing production, extending mine lives, improving operating efficiencies and advancing our highest priority growth projects. Tennant Mines is the largest growth investment area with capital focused on White Devil and Nobles development, processing upgrades and exploration.

White Devil is being prioritized as the principal high-grade feed source, whilst initial box cut development preserves the option to progressively bring the high-grade underground deposits into production. In the South African operations, a significant portion of capital is directed towards extending and strengthening our existing underground production base.

At Evander, this includes development and infrastructure for the deeper 24 and 25 Level mining areas. While at Barberton, the major growth investment is in the Royal Sheba and Western Cross ore bodies together with infrastructure and exploration around the high-grade MRC, Rossiter and ZK ore bodies. At our tailings operations, capital is predominantly aimed at protecting and enhancing these long-life, low-cost production platforms. This includes the West Wits Pit deposition infrastructure and the milling circuit at MTR, completion of Winkelhaak feed infrastructure at Elikhulu and the BTRP flotation circuit.

Importantly, most of the capital is directed towards assets and projects that should provide the group with new ore sources, longer mine lives, improved processing performance and future production growth.

On the next slide, it's great to discuss some further near-term growth opportunities. Slide 37. Soweto is the logical next step in the development of our West Rand tailings business and potentially extends the MTR platform well into the future. The definitive study completed in June considered an integrated 600,000 tonne per month circuit adjacent to MTR, treating more than 108 million tonnes of mineral reserves, with a further 25 million tonnes available for potential conversion.

The key to the project is integration rather than duplication. We can use existing MTR infrastructure for elution, carbon regeneration, electrowinning, and smelting, which reduces capital and shortens the construction schedule compared with a completely stand-alone operation. The current plan envisages approximately 560,000 ounces over 15 years, producing 35,000 to 40,000 ounces per annum at a $3,550 per ounce gold price.

The project generates a post-tax NPV of approximately $109 million, an IRR of approximately 30% and a payback of around 3 years following commissioning. We have deliberately value engineered the project to a $216 million upfront capital bill. The environmental and water use approval processes are progressing as is work on deposition and pipeline servitudes. Once these matters are dealt with, we will be in a position to make a final investment decision. Strategically, Soweto is an attractive proposition because it combines additional low-risk gold production, utilization of infrastructure we already own, and the progressive rehabilitation of another substantial historical tailings footprint.

Slide 38, Tennant Mines organic growth. We are significantly increasing the exploration intensity across the consolidated Tennant Creek tenure with the objective of both extending known deposits and generating the next generation of mineable targets. The FY '26 regional program contained high-resolution aeromags, 3D magnetic inversion modeling, and geological interpretation and has already generated more than 10 priority targets for follow-up.

At the known deposits, drilling is focused on White Devil, Juno, Golden Forty and soon also Chariot, both to improve confidence in the existing mineral resources and to test strike and depth extensions. White Devil is particularly important because the current open pit resource remains open along strike and at depth, Therefore, the current mine design should not necessarily be regarded as the ultimate geological limits of the deposit. We have the plant and the land position. The exploration program is now about systematically demonstrating how much more of the Tennant Creek mineral field can ultimately feed that infrastructure, which includes also the feasibility on Warrego detailed on Slide 39.

Slide 40, Poplar. Now Poplar is one of the most significant opportunities in the South African portfolio. It contains a mineral resource of approximately 28.7 million tonnes at 7 grams per tonne for 6.5 million ounces, making it one of the largest unmined gold resources remaining in the Wits Basin. What makes it particularly interesting is its depth, the Kimberley Reef starts at approximately 500 meters below surface, and extends to around 1,200 meters, which is relatively shallow by Wits standards. This is also not a conceptual geological target as the ore body has an extensive historical drilling database that gives us a strong foundation for the current technical work. We are updating the previous pre-feasibility work to determine the optimal access and mining configuration for a potential operation, producing approximately 100,000 ounces per year. The concept contemplates 2 twin shafts and conventional breast mining.

ESG on Slide 42. We continue to be very proud of our achievements on this front particularly on progress with renewable energy, water treatment and social projects. We really do make a positive difference where we operate. The MyPAR app on Slide 43, rolling this out to all of our employees and major contractors, part of our focus on building a safe, high-performance and engaged workforce. To elaborate further on our renewable energy road map, on Slide 44, we are targeting more than 60% renewable energy in the next years.

I will now hand over to Marileen, who will provide an overview of the financial results for the year.

Thank you, Cobus. The 2026 financial year was indeed a year of records for the group, also from a financial perspective. The group's market profile changed during the year with a move to the main board of the LSE in October 2025 and inclusion in the FTSE 250 Index, and the ASX listing in June 2026.

Slide 46 highlights some of the salient features from the financial results. Revenue increased by 114% year-on-year to $1.1 billion, with the group benefiting from the record high spot gold price throughout the year. The average U.S. dollar gold price received increased by 55% with a 38% increase in gold sold for the year. The group was unhedged throughout the year and received the full benefit of the higher gold price. The increase in revenue, together with the group's continuous focus on cost discipline, resulted in a 169% increase in adjusted EBITDA and a 152% increase in attributable earnings.

Headline earnings increased by 207% to USD 358 million and HEPS increased by 200% to $0.1764 per share. Earnings per share increased by 146% to $0.176 per share. In the prior period, the gain on bargain purchase of $28 million as a result of the Tennant Mines acquisition was included in earnings per share, but not in headline earnings, which explains the difference between EPS and HEPS. There are no material differences between earnings and headline earnings in the current year.

Current year production costs and all-in sustaining cost in U.S. dollar terms were impacted as a result of the depreciation of the rand and Australian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar by 7% and 5%, respectively. Production costs were further impacted by processing of third-party material and lower-than-anticipated ramp-up of production from Tennant Mines, which increased unit costs. Higher employee share-based payment expenses linked to the company's share price performance and increased royalty payments arising from the elevated gold price also negatively impacted the unit cost of production.

Although the cost of production from these third-party sources are higher than the cost of the group's own production, the margin is still very attractive at prevailing gold prices and ensures that we utilize the group's full processing capacity. The impact of a full year of production from Tennant Mines and steady-state production for a full year from the MTR operations should also be taken into account when comparing the absolute cost of production as these operations were not fully commissioned in the corresponding reporting period.

Tennant Mines and MTR contributed to increases of approximately 37% and 14%, respectively, to the total group cost of production. The very substantial increase in cash flows from operating activities before dividend, tax, royalties, and net finance costs of 260% to USD 557 million, demonstrates the impact of growing gold production by 38%, while controlling cost increases in this high gold price environment. These cash flows assisted the group to de-gear the balance sheet by reducing the debt and ending the financial year with a significant net cash holding. The reduction in debt included the settlement of the PARS01 bonds, which is part of the group's inaugural issuance in the debt capital markets, full settlement of the MTR loan facility and all of the Australian facilities.

Slide 47 demonstrates the group's debt repayments and ability to generate cash. The debt redemption profile for the financial year was well ahead of contractual requirements. The group repaid a total of $149 million in debt, of which $119 million was voluntary payments during the current year. The MTR term loan facility was fully settled in January 2026 well in advance of the contractual repayment date of 31st of July 2029. All of the Australian operations debt facilities were also fully settled, which only leaves the group with a listed corporate bonds as outstanding debt at year-end with fixed maturity dates up to March 2028 and fairly muted redemptions over the next year.

The group's revolving credit facility and general banking facilities are undrawn and a number of very attractive banking proposals are currently being considered for the extension of these facilities, together with offers for the financing of the Australian operations. The group is very well positioned to fund future growth and continue returns to shareholders in the form of dividends with undrawn facilities of $79 million and cash and short-term investments of $246 million.

Slide 48 tracks the group's historical dividend payments and attractive returns to shareholders. The proposed record dividend of ZAR 0.65 per share for the 2026 financial year, combined with a maiden interim dividend of ZAR 0.12 per share will result in a total dividend distribution of ZAR 1.86 million (sic) [ ZAR 1.86 billion ] or approximately $113 million for the 2026 financial year. The proposed and interim dividend combined of ZAR 0.77 per share represents a 108% increase in dividend per share for the 2026 financial year.

The Board has also approved a share buyback program to purchase up to ZAR 500 million or approximately $30 million of ordinary shares of the company, commencing during October 2026. The Board believes that at the current share price, the company shares offer significant value given the quality and profitability of the group's existing operations and growth projects. The Board has therefore taken the decision to implement the program as part of the company's broader strategy to deliver value to shareholders. Purchases pursuant to the program will be made under the authority granted by shareholders at the company's 2025 Annual General Meeting on the main market of the LSE and on the JSE.

The proposed dividends for the 2026 financial year, together with the approved share buyback program to the value of ZAR 500 million or approximately $30 million will result in a payout ratio of approximately 40% of cash flow as defined by the dividend policy. The dividend will be proposed to shareholders for approval at the 2026 Annual General Meeting to be held during November 2026. We are very comfortable that Pan African has sufficient available liquidity after deployment of the attractive dividend to fund operations, together with further renewable energy initiatives and our very attractive growth projects.

Thank you. I will now hand back to Cobus to conclude today's presentation.

Thank you, Marileen. If we conclude on Slide 50 and to again reinforce some key points. we now have tailwinds from the highest gold price in history, and the group is completely unhedged and ungeared. We have a stable production base with costs well managed and we have a pipeline of very attractive growth projects. Clearly, in this environment, the group is generating significant cash flows. Let me reassure shareholders that we will, as always, continue to be incredibly prudent in terms of capital allocation and investment decisions. We have an outstanding track record in terms of generating sector-leading shareholder returns on an absolute and per share basis, and we will not compromise on this metric.

Thank you very much for your time this morning. We look forward to continue mining for the future and expanding our horizon in the year ahead.

Yes. Thank you, again. There's an opportunity for questions. Shall we see if there's anybody on the Chorus call that would like to ask a question.

Yes, we do have questions. First one coming from Laura Chan of RBC Capital Markets.

Congrats on the results. I have a couple of questions on my side. So firstly, on the Australian operations, do you mind commenting on potential inflationary pressures you're currently seeing at operations, in terms of any kind of inputs on the labor side of things? And what is a realistic level of AISC that you're targeting at steady state of 100,000 ounces? And yes, I'll start with that one.

Yes. So I think definitely, we've seen inflationary pressures in Australia and principally around diesel. And I mean I think we've been quite prudent in terms of the budget for this year. So we've allowed quite a significant increase in the price of diesel. And obviously, there are knock-on effects also on other inputs, which would include reagents, fuel transport and the like. So yes, it's -- I think sort of the budgets and the guidance in terms of cost does allow for a reasonable increase in the price.

And obviously, the other component is just availability, which was a concern at the start of the conflict. It seems to have been largely resolved. And as we said before, we now have quite a substantial stockpile of diesel on site to make sure we don't run out. Obviously, as we increase and move closer to 100,000 ounces, you're going to see the unit cost of production come down. But I think broadly, the all-in sustaining cost budget for the next year in Australia is...

$2,000 an ounce.

About $2,000.

And then that would further decrease as you said, if we ramp up to steady state and up to the 100,000 ounce level of production.

Okay. Understood. Do you mind saying what diesel price assumption you're using that's embedded in the cost guidance?

Yes, I think we've used a sort of a 10% sort of higher than spot.

So currently, for the 2 months of the year, we've been below the budget level. But as Cobus said, a conservative budget included for diesel for the upcoming year.

Okay. Understood. And just on White Devil, do you mind giving a bit more color in terms of the grade profile as it starts to ramp up in H2 '27 and the full year for '28?

Yes. So I mean, obviously, it's -- the grades, I mean, it's an excellent deposit in terms of grade. And as we've said, it's open at depth and open on strike. So we can expect, hopefully, to even increase the size of deposits further. But I think if we can sort of get close to sort of 2, 2.5 grams per tonne in addition to, obviously, what we're mining from elsewhere that sort of will allow us to meet our guidance for the year.

So it's great that we've managed to get into White Devil and we actually sort of -- I was sharing pictures earlier in this week of the first ROM ore the -- ore on the ROM stockpile. So yes, I mean, definitely, again, the grade is expected to increase. And then obviously, over the life, I think the life of mine grade is about 3.5 grams per tonne. So that's very positive.

Okay. Understood. And just last one for me. How are you thinking about phasing the CapEx for the Soweto Cluster project? Is fiscal year '28 the first year of meaningful spend?

Yes, most probably. It obviously is dependent on, as we've said, servitude and sorting those out, deposition, and then just final environmental permitting. You would have seen just the metrics of the project. We think it's a logical next step for us on the West Rand. So in all likelihood, if we can sort of get our, I guess, all of the approvals done and boxes ticked by, call it, December and then have a final investment decision early in calendar '27 or so call it, mid '27, then FY '28 is likely to be the first year of significant spend. It's about -- it'll be 2 years to get the project all up and running.

The next question comes from René Hochreiter of NOAH Capital.

Very well done, especially on the dividend. Very welcome. Just on the CapEx for the group. Is it fair to say that the Tennant CapEx will keep group CapEx at around $300 million a year beyond FY '28, or will that possibly reduce? What I've noticed is that, for example, for 300,000 ounces a year, you're spending about $300 million in CapEx. So if that had to go to 400,000 ounces a year, would your CapEx go up to about $400 million? I ask because I do my models 20, 30 years in my NPV models. So I'd like to get a sort of a direction on that one, if possible.

Sure. Look, I mean, obviously, increasing to beyond $300 million will mean more capital. But on the positive side, a lot of the capital, as a matter of fact, most of the capital we spend is actually sort of investing in the longer term. I mean you would use the example, say, of something like a Royal Sheba, which I mean, so you're looking at the universe of gold producers in certain jurisdictions, Royal Sheba would be listed by itself. It's to 3 to 4-gram per tonne ore body with a lot of potential to expand. So that's an example of where we're sort of spending growth capital which steady state will add 40-odd ounces a year to the group.

And then I mean, Tennant, there's a lot of growth capital being spent principally around White Devil, again, as I said, there's further upside on the White Devil deposit in years ahead. And we're very excited about Tennant. I mean it's not often that you get to control an entire gold field of 1,700 square kilometers with very limited modern exploration having been done. So I mean, we obviously -- we're always very circumspect on capital, and we need to get a return on that capital in this high gold price environment, we are spending more, but we think it's for the right reasons. As I've said, I mean if you go beyond the 300,000 ounces, yes, more capital. But then you look at the return on investment, generally, we're able to generate, and that's always front of mind for us.

Yes. No, understood. But yes, I assume you're not going to stop after Tennant or Royal Sheba, you're going to carry on. So as we've been doing for the last 10 or 15 years.

Yes. We've come to the conclusion in gold mining. I mean you're always mining a wasting asset. So you're either moving forward or your regressing. So I mean we prefer to move forward. And do -- but do so in a sensible manner, and it's great to obviously have the balance sheet in this shape where we have net cash. We're able to achieve all of our objectives, which means we grow, plus we generate very attractive cash returns for shareholders.

Thank you. At this stage, we have no further questions on the telephone lines.

Right. So we'll move to the webcast.

Thank you very much. We've got a few questions on the webcast. The first one is from Arnold Van Graan of Nedbank. Arnold says well done on a solid set of results. How do you balance growth CapEx and shareholder returns going forward? Any changes in approach here? Do you have ambitions to grow your Australian footprint further?

Yes. We always get asked this question on sort of capital allocation and the answer is that you always have to achieve that balance between cash returns to shareholders and then also growth and reinvesting in the portfolio. We've been able to do it very successfully, and we'll continue to just follow the same sort of approach we have in the past. In terms of expanding in Australia, I mean we continue to look at opportunities, but we're in a very fortunate position where, as I said, we've controlled a huge gold field with massive exploration upside, and that's really where the focus will be.

Clearly, we'd like to have more critical mass. So 50,000 ounces as a start, but I mean, 100,000-plus we think there's huge potential. So we're in a great position. We don't have to go buy anything expensive as we've said. Our base case is just to sort of develop our own very attractive asset base. And yes, I mean, obviously, I think we've demonstrated again that we can strike that balance between returns in terms of cash divvies and growth.

The next question is from Jandre Pieterse from Umthombo Wealth. Would you say the second half FY '27 production guidance run rate is a reasonable indication of what should be achieved in FY '28?

Sure. I mean the reason being you then have MTR through the calcine. The MTR has demonstrated run rate of almost 60,000 ounces annualized if you look at H2 of this last year. And then [ you're into Tennant, into White Devil ] plus a couple of sort of higher-grade areas at Evander. So I think it's quite achievable. And I think we've demonstrated again in H2 of this last year that we're able to get quite close to the 300,000 ounce per annum mark.

The next question is from Jasper Mainwaring at Berenberg. Could you please provide some more color on the operational turnaround at Tennant Creek, including the grade and production profile into FY '27?

Yes. So it's fair to say, I mean, with the ramp-up has been a bit slower than what we had hoped, pretty simplistically 2 issues. Number one, the plant throughput. Plant is already performing much better, probably 90% of capacity. We spoke about the capital we're spending on a fixed crushing circuit, increasing the flotation and the additional secondary mill. So that's going to most definitely stand us in good stead.

And then we'll be into higher grades at White Devil and other ore bodies, and that really will drive the turnaround to nearly 50,000 ounces. Plus then obviously, we have capital for one underground mining box cut this year, higher grading ore in the years ahead. But again, we'll develop in a circumspect and a very considered manner.

Thank you, Cobus. The next one is from Keith McLoughlin of Element Investment Managers. How do you think about inorganic or acquisitive expansions in terms of geographies and operational preferences, mining versus processing? Would you prefer to increase your exposure and returns to scale of existing operations and regions or aim for diversification?

Well, I think it's a combination. I mean we have our growth pathway pretty much mapped out in South Africa, as we said, expanding tailings. We're investing into the undergrounds. We're unlikely to go and invest into any more deep level asset underground. We sort of have our assets and they have a lot of growth potential by themselves. It's always difficult getting going into a new jurisdiction. You have to also take into account management bandwidth, time differences and the like. So I mean, we have Australia, which we have said is incredibly exciting.

But I mean it doesn't exclude us from looking elsewhere, but we have to compare new acquisitions, new projects with really what we have on the table internally, which again, we don't have to pay for the likes of Poplar, 6 million ounces, 7 grams per tonne, 500 meters below surface. Where in the world do you find these type of deposits, with obviously mining rights already issued plus all the processing capacity we have. So anything we buy or do would be, obviously, you have to be very attractive and again, generate the sort of returns that our shareholders have become used to.

Thank you. The next one is from Keenen du Toit of Vunani Securities. Well done on solid results and very nice mine visuals. Thank you, Keenen. Just a question on your pipeline. Is the Egoli project something that will still be progressed alongside Poplar or will Poplar's PFS guide a decision between one or the other?

Yes. we obviously continue to do some exploration or resource delineation drilling at Egoli. Our current sense is that potentially over the medium term Poplar could be a better project. It's a new mine versus having to rely on the 7 Shaft infrastructure. But I mean those options are still very much on the table. Big focus also includes obviously, 8 shaft and a development on 25 Level. So I mean, it's great for us to -- as a group to have so many projects and be able to rank them in terms of execution. So I mean, Egoli certainly not off the table, but we have to compare it with the other projects we have.

Thank you. I've got 2 questions from [ Peter Pelly ]. First one is, are you planning to extract copper from the gold and copper ore bodies at Tennant Creek?

Yes. Obviously, we have the Warrego project. We have a strategic interest in another developer in a gold field. That will be a Phase 2, but the potential is most definitely there having this area in the past having produced quite significant copper. So that's a Phase 2 that we'll most definitely look at, and I don't think it's valued really into our share price. But most definitely, it's something to do.

Okay. And the second one from Peter is what is happening in Sudan?

Not an awful lot. Yes. So I mean, as it's all care and maintenance and the cash burn is pretty much nothing. So we still have the licenses. But clearly, again, given what we have to do elsewhere in the group, it's not a huge priority for us.

Okay. The last question we have, again, from Arnold Van Graan of Nedbank. Would you hedge to protect Consort, Sheba to downside gold prices?

So I mean at prevailing gold prices, the all-in sustaining cost is still well below the gold price. I mean it would have to -- the gold price will have to come down significantly to put -- to make those operations not profitable. We -- shareholders tend to like us being fully unhedged, especially for a single commodity company like ourselves. They like the exposure to the gold price.

So previously, we've only entered into hedging if there's a significant project or if there's with significant debt or capital requirements. Otherwise, we tend to be and remain fully unhedged. At the moment, Consort and Sheba is not a significant portion of our portfolio. So I don't foresee us just hedging those 2 operations.

Thanks very much. There are no more questions from the webcast.

Great. Thank you again to all that has taken time. And if there are any -- if there's any other questions, you know where to find us.

Have a great day further. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning to all of you, and welcome to our 2026 interim results presentation. Thank you very much for taking time out of your schedules to join us today. We will keep the presentation fairly brief with an opportunity for questions afterwards. Joining me in presenting today will be Marileen Kok, our Financial Director. A special word of thanks to our finance department and also to the rest of the amazing Pan African team for excellent work in putting these results together. You are welcome to refer to our SENS and RNS announcements and to the supplementary information available on the Pan African website should you require detail not dealt with in today's presentation.

Please note the disclaimers and information on forward-looking statements on Slides 2 and 3. Reflecting on the half year past, Pan African could not have chosen a better time in the last 100 years or more to be in the gold business and furthermore, to increase our gold production by 50%. Pan African has again made excellent progress in our strategy of positioning ourselves as a safe and sustainable, high-margin and long-life gold producer with very attractive future prospects. Not many gold producers are able to successfully commission 2 new transformational projects within the space of 18 months.

Today, we are also announcing sizable near-term expansions to these projects. It is a pleasure to present this set of results. However, I'm even more excited about our future, about further growth in production and importantly, to continue making a tangible and real positive difference to all stakeholders in the regions that we operate. A lot has been said about the gold price, and we have to give credit to the rise in the fortunes of the yellow metal, which is, to some extent, reflected in the set of results. Suffice to say that if the current gold price is maintained, we can expect an even better second half to the financial year with increased production also.

Last year, we set some records. This half year was also a busy one for Pan African. We are again breaking records with the following worthwhile noting. We moved to the London main market and were included in the FTSE 250 Index. Pan African is now one of the largest gold miners listed in London. We achieved record half-year production results. We are reporting record profits, record headline earnings per share and record cash flows. We are initiating an attractive interim dividend to our shareholders, and we should be pretty much ungeared from a net debt perspective before the end of this month.

Over the last year, we reduced debt by more than $180 million, demonstrating the cash flow generating ability of our portfolio. By financial year-end, at prevailing gold prices, we should have accumulated a very healthy cash balance despite investing meaningfully in all of our growth initiatives. Pan African is now incredibly well positioned to capitalize on current gold prices and on our increasing production profile. And I look forward to sharing some thoughts and further detail on many of our initiatives and plans in the following slides.

On Slide #4, an overview of the presentation. We will start with Pan African's health and safety performance, which is obviously critical in our business. And then provide an overview of the group and our operating environment, some key features from the half year with detail on asset performance as well as our cost and capital outlook. We will then spend a couple of minutes on ESG before allowing Marileen the opportunity to highlight elements of the group's financial performance for the period. The presentation will then conclude by outlining focus areas for the year ahead.

If we then proceed to Slide #6, our safety performance and our journey to zero harm. We continue to focus on safety initiatives and interventions and on maintaining our industry-leading record. We can also celebrate a number of safety milestones achieved during the reporting period. I would like to specifically mention the achievements of our surface business, now including Tennant, with these operations again achieving zero lost time and reportable injuries for the half year. My commitment is that we will continue to do our utmost to ensure the safety of our people and operations in order to realize our goal of a zero harm working environment.

Slide #8. We believe Pan African offers a compelling investment proposition. We operate a well-diversified portfolio of producing gold assets in 2 jurisdictions with outstanding mining pedigrees. We have a high margin and stable operating base, generating very attractive cash flows, growing ever closer to 300,000 ounces of gold production per annum. We expect production to grow by almost 40% in the next year, driven primarily by the ramp-up of MTR and Tennant Mines. Our assets are long life and the group has a huge reserve and resource base for further expansion with some very exciting projects that we will discuss later.

We have a proven track record of project delivery, excellent capital allocation and a sector-leading dividend, now also with an interim dividend. And we have the ability to leverage the existing portfolio for further attractive growth. No need for us to go out and buy expensive assets at high valuations at this stage. Slide #9, the proof is in the pudding or in the numbers in this case. An investment in Pan African in 2009 when the group in its current form came into being, would have increased some 75-fold versus gold price increase also attractive of around 6x. We've also received an attractive dividend over this period, further increasing returns on Pan African stock.

The company is now well covered by local and international analysts and has a diversified shareholder base. Slide #10. We have built a unique portfolio of surface remining and underground assets. The addition of MTR and Tennant mines means that we now have 3 large mining complexes in South Africa and 1 in Australia, all contributing towards a material increase in gold production in the years ahead. Surface operations to reduce unit costs and turn legacy liabilities into profits, whilst the underground mines provide long life of mines, solid returns on investment as a result of a large sunk capital base and also attractive optionality, which we are bringing to account in a circumspect and considered manner, always thinking about the best way to allocate capital and generate returns for our shareholders.

Slide 12, a bit more detail on our current portfolio of assets. I think what is very helpful is that all of our operations now have extended lives with the shortest life being the BTRP at 6 years, excluding Royal Sheba. If we compare ourselves with the sector, many producers are running out of life on their assets or have to invest significant capital for future production, not the case for Pan African. We do not have to go and acquire more assets to maintain and grow production.

Slide 13, our operating environment. We continuously seek ways of making our business less susceptible to adverse external impacts in South Africa. We have now seen an extended period without any load-shedding. We are rapidly expanding our renewable energy footprint. Our mining rights are long dated, and we have multiyear wage agreements in place at most operations. At Pan African Resources, we characterize our labor relations as constructive and stable, underpinned by a proactive consultative approach with recognized unions and structured engagement forums. Pan African has in the past, consistently pursued longer-term collective agreements. And as I've said, we have multiyear wage agreements in place at most operations.

Some of the other focus areas include employee health and engagement initiatives. We are also very proud of our interactive smartphone app, which we are currently implementing for all employees, creating a unique employee value proposition for a more engaged workforce. Pan African's track record demonstrates that we can operate and grow in South Africa and do so very successfully. Our experienced Australian team will ensure the same success in that jurisdiction. We have found Australia's Northern Territory government very welcoming and supportive of our operation. It is a great place to do business, and we look forward to further expanding in that jurisdiction.

If we then proceed to key production cost and financial features from the half year past on Slide 15. Gold production was up more than 50%. Our guidance for the full financial year is 275,000 ounces or more, with production weighted to the second half of the financial year as MTR's expansion is completed, Tennant mines start mining higher grades from open pits, and we are firmly established in Evander's very-high-grade 24 level B-Line. We are expecting production for our next financial year to be even closer to 300,000 ounces. Our all-in sustaining cost for the half was $1,874, above previous guidance.

The primary reasons for overshooting on all-in sustaining cost was the rand-dollar exchange rate, employee option expenses as well as increased royalties and processing of third-party material. For the full financial year, with increased production, we expect all-in sustaining costs to decrease to between $1,820 to $1,870 per ounce. We expect to be net debt free by the end of this month. And importantly, the group remains entirely unhedged. And despite all of the growth and capital reinvestment, we are able to maintain our sector-leading dividend to shareholders, also now initiating an interim dividend.

Slide 16 should be an interesting one for our investors, demonstrating how nicely we have expanded margins in recent years, now with meaningful contributions from MTR and Tennant Mines and also the full impact of prevailing record gold prices not yet fully reflected. Slide 18. I think it is fair to say that Pan African has a record second to none in terms of conceptualizing construction and operation of tailings retreatment projects, now complemented by Tennant Mines also. These long-life assets form the cornerstone of our business. And we have further room to grow in this space detailed in the next slide, which presents a very compelling investment proposition.

If we then move on to more detail on the performance per operation, starting with Elikhulu on Slide 19. Clearly, a flagship asset for the group, just under 9 years of production remaining, producing at $1,200 per ounce, currently the lowest cost in the group. Elikhulu delivered an excellent performance for the half year, production up 15%, and we look forward to another great year and clearly excellent cash flow generation in the current gold price environment. The asset generated $78 million of EBITDA for the half year, basically the same as for the full previous financial year. We are also now constructing the Winkelhaak pump station ahead of when required. This will enable us to feed material from both Leslie/Bracken and Winkelhaak in the next financial year.

Slide 20, the BTRP, another good performance from our first gold tailings retreatment plant commissioned in 2013. As previously flagged, we have extended the life of this operation from surface remining only to 6 years. The capital requirements for this life extension, a relatively modest $4 million for the new Bramber pump station has now been spent and the pump station commissioned. The BTRP will, therefore, continue to form an integral part of Pan African's tailings retreatment and the Royal Sheba story for many more years.

MTR on Slide 21. We commissioned the plant in October 2024, ahead of schedule and below budget. We have now also successfully completed the CIL and reactor expansion in December and already achieved the expanded nameplate capacity in the same month. Production from MTR was approximately 10% lower than anticipated for the half as a result of processing an area with lower grades and recoveries. However, we expect a nice pickup in H2, which will also positively impact unit costs. Going forward, MTR should deliver 55,000 to 60,000 ounces of annual production. We are completing construction of a water treatment plant on site and should also start construction of a 20-megawatt solar facility before the end of the calendar year.

On Slide 22, we cannot say enough about the socio-economic and environmental benefits of this project. Concurrent rehabilitation is in progress. We are uplifting local communities, providing much needed economic and employment opportunities and working with law enforcement to eradicate illegal mining. Also a special mention to our MTR team for winning the Best ESG project in Mining Award at December's Resourcing Tomorrow Conference in London.

Slide 23, Tennant. We could not have chosen a better time to make this acquisition, which is now fully integrated into the group with the Nobles plant running at steady state. The Tennant Creek Mineral Field was historically one of Australia's highest grading gold provinces, located in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction and through our wholly owned tenements and the exploration joint venture with Emmerson Resources, we control some 1,700 square kilometers of very prospective ground in this mineral field. The initial life of mine at Nobles is 8 years. However, strategic exploration and studies are underway to improve this to more than 15 years, especially when considering our Warrego copper and gold deposit, containing 16.5 million tonnes of ore at 1.3% copper and 1.1 gram per tonne gold.

Historically, exploration in this area was only focused to near surface mineralization with less than 8% of drilling being done at depths greater than 150 meters. Slide 24. The construction of the Nobles plant was completed in April 2025, with the first gold produced only 1 month later. The project was completed ahead of schedule and within budget. Soon thereafter, in July 2025, full nameplate capacity of 70,000 tonnes was achieved. This has been carried through into the reporting period's production with Tennant mines producing almost 16,000 ounces, mainly from processing the Crown Pillar Stockpile, which is on surface and next to the plant.

It is expected for production to improve significantly in the second half as higher grade ore from the Rising Sun open pit with an average grade of 5.8 grams per tonne and from the Nobles open pit at approximately 2 grams per tonne are mined and processed. The forecast for Tennant Mines in FY '26 is to produce between 46,000 to 50,000 ounces of gold. The all-in sustaining cost achieved in the first half was impacted by the lower unit production from the low-grade Crown Pillar Stockpile and working costs incurred for the pushbacks at the relevant pits. This cost is anticipated to reduce in H2 as the unit production increases.

The initial life of mine of 8 years from current sources is targeted to increase to more than 15 years through systematic regional exploration around known mineralization, such as the Juno and Golden Forty deposits, along with more than 10 additional previously unknown targets that were identified through geophysical programs over the last 6 months. Juno contains resources of 262,000 ounces at a grade of 4.16 grams per tonne with a further large deposit successfully drilled below the Juno resources. This deposit remains open at depth, while the deeper load is also open at depth and on strike.

Similarly, the Golden Forty deposit, which is part of the Small Mines Joint Venture, holds some 114,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 7.25 grams per tonne, while multiple high-grade drill intersections occur close to the known resource and will be targeted for additional exploration and resource growth. About 6 months ago, we promised growth from Australia, and here it is. The group will invest further by increasing the throughput of the plant from 840,000 to 1 million tonnes per year. This will be done by adding 2 additional CIL tanks, a fixed crusher front end and a flash float circuit to minimize the effects of low-grade copper ingress into the circuit.

The accelerated development into the ore deposits at Juno and Golden Forty, which will both be mined underground utilizing a trackless decline system will form part of this strategic investment. Additional to these deposits mentioned is the White Devil shallow deposit of more than 600,000 ounces at 4.1 grams per tonne from where open pit mining can extract almost 400,000 ounces from the asset at an average stripping ratio of 20. The deposit at White Devil outcrops on surface and is open on strike and at depth. Initial oxide mining at White Devil will come in at an even lower stripping ratio of less than 10. We are in the process of finalizing the Major Mines Joint Venture agreement with our partner, Emmerson.

All of these developments will see the production of Tennant Mines grow from 50,000 ounces to approximately 100,000 ounces per annum over the next 3 years. Slide 26, the Evander underground, a much better performance for the period with production up by almost 90% and further improvements expected in the second half. The new infrastructure is fully commissioned and functioning as expected. All-in sustaining cost has also reduced nicely with the ramp-up in production. If we then proceed to Slide #27, dealing with Fairview, our flagship underground operation at the Barberton Mines Complex, a good performance with gold production up by 10% with mostly ore from the MRC and Rossiter orebodies.

We continue to build more flexibility at this operation and will invest in further development and refrigeration in the next years to support the operation's very extended life of mine of more than 20 years. The smaller underground operations at Barberton on Slide 28. In terms of Consort, the rehabilitation of the PC shaft has been completed and now enables the contractor to recommence mining on the high-grade 41 to 45 level mining sections. Additional development is ongoing on the MMR and the PC shaft to access mineral reserve blocks, which will give us access to more ground to mine.

Much better performance from Consort in the half with production up by 20%. As far as our Sheba mine is concerned, production was impacted by lower grades mined, and we again continue to develop in order to improve flexibility. Slide 30, the section dealing with all-in sustaining costs. Almost 90% of our portfolio produced at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,700 per ounce. Slide 31 illustrates that our cost performance continues to be very much in line and better than the average for the global sector with most producers having experienced significant pressure in terms of costs in the last couple of years.

On Slide 33, group capital projects. We continue to invest into our assets and into growth. For the full financial year, sustaining capital is fairly subdued in terms of growth in the next financial year. We are, however, using increased cash flow margins in fast-tracking developments, principally at Tennant and MTR. On the next slide, it is great to discuss some further near-term growth opportunities. Slide 35, the Soweto cluster at MTR. As we have said before, the Soweto cluster consists of more than 100 million tonnes of tailings with a mineral reserve of more than 500,000 ounces of recoverable gold. The pre-feasibility yielded some very attractive results. We can be producing between 30,000 to 35,000 ounces of gold annually at a very competitive all-in sustaining cost for an initial capital investment of some $160 million. The definitive study will be complete in the next months, whereafter our Board will finally assess the way forward.

Slides 36 and 37, some very attractive growth at Tennant also. Historically, the Warrego mine produced 41.3 tonnes or 1.3 million ounces of gold. 91,500 tonnes of copper and 12,000 tonnes of bismuth between 1973 and 1998. This project is a wholly owned asset, which contains a further resource of 219,000 tonnes of copper at 1.3% and 582,000 ounces of gold at 1.1 grams per tonne and remains open at depth. By itself, this is a large deposit with multiple exploration targets to the north and south of the current mine. A feasibility study is underway on the copper and gold strategy with results expected early in the new calendar year.

This study targets the production of 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes of copper per year, along with an additional 20,000 to 30,000 ounces of gold, while extending the life of Tennant mines past 15 years. Other third-party copper and gold sources in the region could support a hub-and-spoke strategy also. And finally, on growth, the Poplar project at Evander almost forgotten. Poplar is one of the largest remaining unmined projects in the Witwatersrand Basin and hosts more than 6 million ounces of gold at around 7 grams per tonne in mineral resources within Pan African's existing Evander mining right.

It is a shallow 500 meters below surface, high-grade Kimberly Reef system defined by extensive historic drilling that confirms reef continuity and structural definition. Poplar represents the northwest extension of the proven Kimberly Reef orebody currently being mined at Evander's 8 shaft, materially reducing geological and execution risk. An existing pre-feasibility study is being updated and is targeting 100,000 ounces per annum underground operation, utilizing conventional Witwatersrand mining methods and leveraging existing Evander metallurgical infrastructure, significantly enhancing capital efficiency and shortening the potential route to production.

Poplar does not represent exploration upside. It is a delineated high-grade underground growth platform within our existing operating footprint with a scale to materially strengthen the group's future cash generation and drive sustained shareholder returns. ESG on Slide 40. We continue to be very proud of our achievements on this front, particularly on progress with renewable energy, water retreatment and social projects. We really do make a positive difference where we operate. To elaborate further on our renewable energy road map on Slide 41, we are targeting more than 60% renewable energy in the next years. I will now hand over to Marileen, who will provide an overview of the financial results for the 6 months.

Thank you, Cobus. On Slide 43, you will notice the positive impact of the 62% increase in the average U.S. dollar gold price received and the increase of 59% in gold sold for the reporting period on the financial results. Revenue increased by 157% period-on-period to USD 487 million, with the group fully benefiting from the record high spot gold price throughout the reporting period, whereas hedging was still in place for the prior period. The increase in revenue also resulted in an increase in adjusted EBITDA of 323% and an increase in earnings of 207% to $148 million. Headline earnings increased by 541% to $149 million and headline earnings per share increased by 512% to $0.0734 per share.

Earnings per share increased by 192% to $0.073 per share. In the prior period, the gain on bargain purchase of $28 million as a result of the Tennant Mines acquisition was included in earnings per share, but not headline earnings, which explains the difference between earnings per share and headline earnings per share. There are no material differences between earnings and headline earnings in the current reporting period. Production costs and all-in sustaining costs in U.S. dollar terms were impacted during the current reporting period, mainly as a result of the appreciation of the rand relative to the U.S. dollar by 3.2% and the increase in share-based payment expenses as a result of the increase in the share price by more than 140%. Further cost increases included higher royalty payments as a result of the higher gold price and increased profitability of the operations and payment for third-party material treated at the Evander and MTR operations.

Although the cost of production from these third-party sources is higher than the cost of the group's own production, the margin is still very attractive at prevailing gold prices and ensures that we utilize the group's full processing capacity. The impact of a full 6 months of production from the Tennant Mines and MTR operation should also be taken into account when comparing the absolute cost of production as these operations were not fully commissioned in the corresponding reporting period. Tennant Mines and MTR contributed to increases of 25% and 19%, respectively, to the total group cost of production. Unit cost of production are expected to decrease during the second half of the financial year as a result of an increase in production, given that the group's production cost consists of a large fixed cost component.

This will ensure that full year unit cost of production will be between $1,820 and $1,870 per ounce as per the revised cost guidance at an exchange rate of ZAR 17 to the U.S. dollar. The very substantial increase in cash flows from operating activities before dividend, tax, royalties and net finance costs of 588% to USD 260 million demonstrates the impact of growing gold production by more than 50% while controlling cost increases in this high gold price environment. These cash flows assisted the group in paying the record net dividend in December of $44 million and to de-gear the balance sheet by reducing net debt by 80% from $229 million to $46 million.

The reduction in net debt included the settlement of the 4 SO1 bonds, which was part of the group's inaugural issuance in the debt capital markets and also early repayments of the MTR term loan facility. Slide 44 demonstrates the ability of the group to generate exceptional cash flows at prevailing gold prices. At current gold prices, the group will be fully de-geared from a net debt perspective by the end of the month. The expected debt redemption profile is obviously well ahead of contractual requirements. The MTR term loan facility was fully settled in January 2026, well in advance of the contractual repayment date of 31st of July 2029.

The group's revolving credit facility and general banking facilities is undrawn, and the group is currently busy finalizing the extension of the maturity dates of these facilities as they constitute a key component of our core working capital facilities. A number of very attractive banking proposals are currently being considered for the extension of these facilities. The group's remaining outstanding debt facilities currently consists of the listed corporate bonds in South Africa, combined with the funding facilities for the Australian operations from the Northern Territory government and a private financial institution.

I'm also pleased to report that we are in the process of settling the Australian debt facilities, and this will be completed before the end of the financial year. Slide 45 tracks the group's historical dividend payments and attractive returns to shareholders. The record dividend of $0.37 per share for the 2025 financial year resulted in a net payment of USD 44 million during December 2025. This dividend represented an increase of 68% compared to the dividend for the 2024 financial year. The group has also now initiated interim dividends with a ZAR 0.12 per share dividend approved by the Board for payment in March 2026. We are very comfortable that Pan African has sufficient available liquidity after payment of dividends to fund operations, together with further renewable energy initiatives and our very attractive growth projects. Thank you. I will now hand back to Cobus to conclude today's presentation.

Thank you, Marileen. If we conclude on Slide 47 and to again reinforce some key points. We now have the tailwinds from the highest gold prices in history, and the group is completely unhedged and pretty much ungeared. We are expecting further production growth in the half year ahead, and we have a pipeline of very attractive growth projects. Clearly, in this environment, the group is generating very significant cash flows. Let me reassure shareholders that, as always, we will continue to be incredibly prudent in capital allocation and investment decisions. We have an outstanding track record in terms of generating sector-leading shareholder returns on an absolute and per share basis, and we will not compromise on this metric. Thank you very much for your time this morning. We look forward to continue mining for a future and expanding our horizons in the period ahead.

Thank you again for joining us this morning. And there definitely is a bit of time for questions. So let's do the conference call first, if you don't mind.

[Operator Instructions] At this stage, we have no questions from the telephone lines. I will now hand back for questions from the webcast.

Thank you very much. We have a few questions on the webcast. The first one from Dylan Griffiths of Foord Asset Management. I appreciate the updates to guidance for FY '27. You've given us a range of 50,000 to 54,000 ounces of official guidance for Evander, but noticed the presentation slide on Evander suggests circa 70,000 ounces. I understand you're into some good grades at 24, 25 level. Could you reconcile these 2 estimates for us?

Thanks, Dylan. Yes. So 100%, we're mining the B-Line on 24 level. It really is exceptional grades. And that's partly the reason for the really nice increase in production from the Evander underground during this period. You're 100% also correct, 70,000 ounces, if one looks at the life of mine is not an unreasonable expectation from the underground. And as we continue into 25 level and we ramp up 25, definitely, we can expect an uptick in production from the underground. For next year, we want to be a little bit conservative still in terms of the production. So we're quite comfortable 50,000-54,000. Hopefully, we can do better. But again, we're quite excited about the prospects for the Evander underground. As we said, the infrastructure is working well and a lot of scope to grow. So you can expect increases from Evander in the coming years from a production perspective.

Thank you, Cobus. The next question is from Herbert Kharivhe of Absa. Please comment on the state of the cyanide market. Some of your competitors are reporting supply challenges. Is the current supply from Sasol sufficient to service increasing demand as gold mining activity increases across the country, especially from cyanide-intensive operations like tailings?

Yes, I can't comment on our competitors or peer companies. But fortunately, Pan African had the foresight to install briquetting plants for cyanide at all of our operations, which means we can import cyanide if so required. So that was very good planning from our perspective. Obviously, it's well spoken about it. There was a shortage in the South African market given challenges from our supplier. But Pan African is very well set up in that we have flexibility. So generally, we don't see those shortages impacting our operations. And also from a cost perspective, over the recent years, because of the large increase in the sort of cost of cyanide, it's pretty much sitting at import parity at this point.

Thanks, Cobus. Nkateko Mathonsi from Investec asked about, please give us color on Tennant all-in sustaining cost. And where is it likely to land in H2 FY '26 when production is double that achieved in H1 FY '26? And following on Tennant, Arnold asked, will you have to make any additional payments at Tennant to buy out partners or property holders?

Well, the all-in sustaining cost, we've guided will come down in Tennant as we produce more ounces. There's a lot of fixed costs. Obviously, also, we spend a bit of money on accessing open pits, et cetera. But units of production always reduces costs. So you can expect lower costs from Tennant. And in life of mine, the cost should be a lot lower as we ramp up. And you would have seen that we have given a lot of guidance in terms of moving to 100,000 ounces of production at Tennant in the next 3 years, which I think will be very good. And that excludes any growth from Warrego, which can give us a lot of copper and gold. So it's quite exciting. In terms of payments, Marileen, there are some payments still to be made, which we factored into all of our numbers.

Yes, yes. All of the royalty payments and everything is included in all of our numbers. And yes, there's no additional payments for any expansion included in the current numbers.

Thank you very much. And Arnold again from Nedbank. What is your underlying year-on-year all-in sustaining cost inflation. If we strip out the impact of royalties and share-based payments, will you be able to keep a lid on cost given the high -- given the current high gold price?

Thanks, Hethen. So if you look at our current cost base, and as you've rightly pointed out in your question, Arnold, and we strip out the exceptional items for the appreciation of the rand, the share-based payment, and then also the surface sources, you'll see that our all-in sustaining cost is then very close to what it actually was last year. The biggest cost base we have is in rand with the Australian operations just coming on board in the last 6 months.

So if you look in absolute rand terms, the costs are very well controlled. It's basically only electricity where our increases are above inflation. All of our other cost increases is in line with inflation now. And we also managed to get some good savings there through the use of our renewable energy and after the restructure of the Barberton workforce following the Section 189. So those savings actually offset some of the electricity increases, resulting in our rand cost base increasing in line with inflation only.

Thanks, Marileen. Chris Reddy from All Weather Capital asks regarding your point on the potential for strong cash balances should gold prices hold, what is your view on buybacks versus special dividends?

Chris, it's always a controversial one. Some people love buybacks and some investors don't like them at all. So we try and, I guess, balance the views from investors. But the bottom line is, I mean, in this environment, we -- despite spending a lot of money, obviously, in expanding production so significantly over the last years, we should have no debt by the end of this month. And that's obviously, we're sort of rewarding shareholders now with an interim dividend. You expect -- can expect increased dividend payments, and we'll continue to assess the opportunity for buybacks as we have in the past and balance that obviously against also the very exciting and value-accretive growth that we have in the portfolio and that we've discussed and outlined.

Thanks for this. There are 2 questions regarding the third-party material. Bruce Williamson from Integral asks, how secure and sustainable is the third-party material you are processing and could it grow? And Arnold wants to know how do we ensure this material comes only from legitimate sources?

Well, I'll ask, firstly, on the first bit. Look, it's not -- it's obviously it's quite profitable at this gold price. It's not something that we're banking on long term to sustain our operations. It's good when it happens. And obviously, it ensures efficiency in terms of keeping our plants full. We think there's a lot of scope, specifically on the West Rand from the cleaning up. It's such a huge area. So I mean, we're even sort of investigating the merits of putting up a hard rock circuit as part of MTR. So that could be a very good development in the next year or so. We're not banking on it continuing, but it is very good if it does. In terms of compliance, we take compliance very seriously. Marileen, do you?

Yes, we've got a legal team checking all of the permitting and licensing of anyone who supplies material to us to make sure that they've got the necessary documentation in place and that we only procure from legitimate sources.

Thanks very much. Herbert Kharivhe from Absa again. With such a strong project pipeline, is it accurate to say production will likely be closer to 400,000 ounces by FY '29 with tailings accounting for approximately 250,000 ounces?

Herbert, I think, sort of -- look, we're in a very fortunate position from an organic project perspective, and we've outlined the really exciting Soweto development. We've outlined what we're doing at Tennant and obviously also a bit medium, longer term Poplar. So I mean Pan African is in the enviable position that we can grow and we don't have to go buy anything at this very expensive gold price. About the 400,000, I mean, we certainly will continue to look to grow production as we have been. There's no reason why we can't materially increase production over the medium term, I think. And in the next while, we'll sort of look at the medium and longer-term plans and outline where we see things going. But most definitely, you can expect further production growth into the future.

Thanks a lot. The final 2 questions, one from Nkateko at Investec. Is hedging not attractive at current gold price and prevailing volatility, particularly considering the number of potential projects in the pipeline?

Thanks, Hethen. So yes, although it is very attractive to lock in margins at these gold prices, our shareholders have indicated to us that they especially like the exposure to the gold price, and that's why they invest in a single commodity company like Pan African Resources. Historically, we've used hedging only as a risk mitigation tool if we've got a big capital project or if there's big debt payments. But Cobus said, being fully de-geared now and giving the shareholders that exposure to the gold price that they want, we don't currently contemplate any hedging, no.

Thanks a lot, Marileen. Finally, a question from Sven Lunsche at Miningmx. Your Barberton and Mintails operations are in areas with high Zama Zama activities. Can you provide more details on your measures to reduce their impact?

Yes. We have an excellent security team. It's really a core function. And again, maybe it's the right forum to thank our security team for all the excellent work they do in keeping our people and our assets safe. There's definitely an increased focus and there's an onslaught, most definitely, and we see a lot of influx illegal immigrants from Mozambique in the light of Barberton. But that's part of what we do is we keep it under control. We work with law enforcement. We'll continue to do so and make sure that we can mine for many more years.

Thanks very much, Cobus. There are no more questions on the webcast. I understand there are 2 on Chorus Call.

So we move to the conference call.

At this stage, we have one, which comes from Jasper Mainwaring of Berenberg.

Thanks for the update and the color provided on the FY '27 CapEx guidance. Looking ahead, as you move into FY '28, how should we be thinking about CapEx given the number of the growth projects you mentioned today and as you move into a net cash position?

Thanks. Well, our forecast, is that by the end of this financial year, we'll already be in a net cash position. So there is an increase in capital in FY '27 as we've guided. To take a step back, FY '26 capital is pretty much in line with what we've said before. But I mean, the primary increase in '27 relates to MTR and even more importantly, to Australia. We're going to spend $100 million in Australia. But in exchange for that, we're growing production to 100,000 ounces, excluding copper gold from Warrego. I think that's really fantastic growth. So the bottom line is in this gold price and even at a lower gold price, I mean, we can afford to continue to increase dividends, and we can grow, as we've indicated. And yes, we'll still be net cash.

So that's a very enviable and good position for us to be in. In terms of capital for FY '28, all things being equal, you can expect the number to come down. I mean I look at our portfolio, I mean, we're spending the last bit of money now on Elikhulu for the life. Evander underground capital will reduce further as we go further into steady state. Barberton, we continue to spend, but that is very sensible spend at this point. And MTR, a bit of money still on tailings. But the bottom line is most of the capital we're going to be spending in the next years will be on increasing our production profile for many years to come into the future.

Thank you. There are no more questions.

Thank you to everybody that's taken the time to dial in and to join us today. And if there are any further questions, you know where to find us. Thank you very much.