Pan African Resources Aktie

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.

Good morning to all of you, and welcome to our 2025 final 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. This will be the first time Marileen reports on a full year of financial results for the group in her role as Financial Director. A special word of thanks to Marileen, the 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 last year, I believe Pan African has 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 12 months. Certainly, a key highlight from the last year was bringing MTR into production ahead of schedule and below budget. This is an asset with a life of almost 20 years after the expansion currently underway, producing some 60,000 ounces per annum at a world-class all-in sustaining cost with further growth potential in the near term.

We also concluded the acquisition of Tennant Mines in Australia, an asset in a Tier 1 jurisdiction and then proceeded with the incumbent Australian management team to deliver this project on budget and on schedule. And we are pleased to report today that Tennant's gold plant at Nobles reached steady-state throughput in terms of tonnes in July just after year-end.

On our other surface assets, we have now successfully completed the project to extend the life of the BTRP at Barberton by another 6 years from tailings sources only. At our underground operations, we successfully restructured the Barberton underground with an estimated cost saving of approximately ZAR 200 million for the next financial year from this initiative. Consort at Barberton is also now cash flow positive, producing some 10,000 ounces per annum.

Financial year 2025 was also a year of records. We achieved record half year production in the second half of the financial year. We are reporting record profits and record headline earnings per share. We are proposing record dividends to shareholders for approval at the upcoming Annual General Meeting. In U.S. dollar terms, our proposed dividend is up almost 80% year-on-year. And we are expecting to be degeared from a net debt perspective before the end of the 2026 financial year at prevailing gold prices. In the second half of the financial year, we repaid debt of almost $80 million, demonstrating the cash flow generating ability of our portfolio.

I believe Pan African is now 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 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 last year, including our new operations at MTR and Tennant Mines 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 year. The presentation will then conclude by outlining focus areas for the year ahead.

If we 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 with all of our operations achieving 0 lost time and reportable injuries for the year. MTR managed to complete construction, some 1.8 million man hours worked with only 1 lost time injury.

In terms of safety at our underground operations, we unfortunately suffered 2 fatal accidents, one at Evander in December of last year and the second at Barberton Sheba in June, after achieving more than 10 years fatality-free at Sheba. We are also saddened to report a fatal fall of ground accident at Evander post year-end. We again wish to extend our condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of our deceased colleagues. My commitment is that we will continue to do our utmost to ensure the safety of our people and operations. We do, however, need all stakeholders to work together to realize our goal of a zero harm work 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. We expect production to grow by almost 40% or more 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 and development. We have a proven track record of project delivery, excellent capital allocation and a sector-leading dividend. And we have the ability to leverage the existing portfolio for further attractive growth. No need for us to go buy expensive assets at high valuations at this juncture.

Slide #9. I guess 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 38-fold. This is a gold price increase also attractive around 4x. You also would have received an attractive dividend over this period, further increasing returns on Pan African stock. Earlier this week, we announced our intended move to the main market in London. The size and prospects of the group are such that we have outgrown our current AIM listing.

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 the material increase in gold production forecast for the year ahead.

Surface operations 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 continue to bring to account in a circumspect and considered manner, always thinking about the best way to allocate capital.

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. As I've said, not many gold miners can boast the fully funded production growth that we will deliver in the next year with a portfolio also well diversified.

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, which is still quite a while. If we compare ourselves with the sector, many producers are running out of life on their assets or have to spend 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. Pan African's track record demonstrates 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 the 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 business there.

If we then proceed to key production cost and financial features from the year past on Slide 15. We produced just under 200,000 ounces of gold for the year, an increase of 6% from the prior year. In the second half of the financial year, we delivered record production, mostly on the back of MTR. Our guidance for the next 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 commences mining in higher grades from open pits, and we are firmly established in Evander's very high-grade 24 Level B-Line.

Our final all-in sustaining cost for FY '25 was $1,600 per ounce, slightly above previous guidance of $1,525 to $1,575 per ounce. The primary reasons for overshooting on AISC or all-in sustaining costs were a hedging loss of $30 per ounce and a rand-dollar exchange rate 2% stronger than forecast in our guidance. Importantly, the group is completely unhedged from the 1st of July of this year. For the next financial year, with full years of production from MTR and Tennant Mines and increased production from Evander 8 Shaft, we can expect unit costs to decrease in real terms. We expect an all-in sustaining cost per ounce of between $1,525 to $1,575.

We further expect to be net debt free in the next year at prevailing gold prices. And despite the $32 million impact of the hedges, we delivered record profits and headline earnings in FY '25.

And finally, despite all of the growth and capital reinvestment, we are able to maintain our sector-leading dividends to shareholders. We are proposing a record dividend for approval at the upcoming Annual General Meeting.

Slide 16 should be an interesting one for investors, demonstrating how nicely we have expanded margins in recent years, and this excludes any meaningful contribution from MTR and Tennant Mines and also the full impact of prevailing record gold prices.

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. These long-life assets now form the cornerstone of our business. And I believe we have further room to grow in this space, which should be very attractive for our investors.

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 under $1,100 per ounce. Gold production remained stable as expected for the year. We look forward to another year of more than 50,000 ounces of production and clearly excellent cash flow generation in the current gold price environment. The asset generated $80 million of EBITDA for the last year.

Importantly, Phases 3 and 4 of the Kinross tailings facility, the final expansion were delivered on budget and on schedule. 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 from FY 2027.

Slide #20, the BTRP, another sterling performance from our first gold tailings retreatment plant commissioned in 2013 and the lowest cost producer of gold in the group. As previously flagged, very exciting news for the BTRP is that we have extended the life of this operation from surface remining only to 6 years. The capital requirements for this new initiative was also relatively modest, some $4 million for a new pump station. BTRP will, therefore, continue to form an integral part of Pan African's tailings retreatment story for many more years.

I'm also pleased to report that the new Bramber remining infrastructure will be delivered before the end of September this year, again, on budget and ahead of schedule.

MTR on Slide 21. We commissioned the plant in October of last year, ahead of schedule and with savings of approximately $8 million to upfront capital. We built all of the plant and infrastructure in about 14 months, a testament again to Pan African's ability to secure, conceptualize, fund and then execute world-class mining projects. In December, we were already exceeding the plant's nameplate capacity by more than 10%. In the current gold price environment, payback on this $130 million initial investment should be approximately 2 years with a project life of almost 20 years when we include the Soweto reserves.

All-in sustaining costs were elevated during ramp-up. Going forward, we expect these to ease to below $1,200 per ounce in the year ahead and then further going forward. We are now expanding the MTR operation to 60,000 ounces of annual production. This expansion is on schedule and should be complete early in the 2026 calendar year.

On Slide 22, the Soweto cluster consists of more than 130 million tonnes of tailings with a mineral reserve of more than 500,000 ounces of recoverable gold. We believe we have enough gold reserves at the Soweto cluster to sustain a stand-alone operation, treating some 1 million tonnes per month over an approximate 10-year life of mine. The feasibility on this option will be concluded by the end of this month. Given our presence in the area, there is definitely also scope for the consolidation of tailings facilities we do not already own.

On Slide 23, we cannot say enough about the socioeconomic 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.

Slide #25. I think the acquisition of Tennant Mines caught most of our shareholders by surprise given the jurisdiction. But by the time we concluded the acquisition, we had spent more than a year assessing the assets and working closely with the management team. The investment in Tennant Mines ticked all of Pan African's boxes in terms of deploying capital for growth with the following brief points worth emphasizing.

Project had certainly low construction risk in a Tier 1 jurisdiction, a quick payback on investment. We secured a dominant position in the gold field and built the largest ever processing facility to operate there. The area has very exciting exploration potential with an experienced local management team taking ownership of project delivery. It is not often that one can acquire an asset like this and commission it 6 months later.

Slide 27. We are pleased to report that the Tennant Mines processing plant at Nobles is now fully commissioned with production forecast at 46,000 to 50,000 ounces in the year ahead at an all-in sustaining cost of just below $1,600 per ounce.

Slide 28. As we have said, the Tennant Creek gold field offers some very exciting potential.

Slide #31, the Evander underground. As previously flagged, a disappointing performance for the year. The delay in commissioning of the sub-vertical shaft for wasting impacted us severely. Thankfully, this project is now fully completed. The new infrastructure is pretty much doubling our wasting capacity with fewer cumbersome conveyors, lower unit costs with a higher mine call factor. We are guiding 46,000 to 50,000 ounces of production for the next financial year with further production increases in later years. All-in sustaining unit costs will obviously reduce commensurately with the ramp-up in production.

If we proceed to Slide 32, dealing with Fairview, our flagship underground operation at the Barberton Mines complex. We would have performed a bit better if it wasn't for multiple Eskom transformer failures in November, which we estimate cost us more than 2,000 ounces of production. At Fairview, we continue to source the bulk of our ore from the MRC and Rossiter ore bodies with development to the 263 Platform well on track.

Rehabilitation of existing ramp infrastructure from 38 Level downwards is also progressing according to schedule. This decline will be used to transport personnel and material to the working faces on the 3 Shaft section and will further alleviate logistical pressures on 3 Shaft, which will then mainly be used for rock wasting and improving logistics.

The smaller underground operations at Barberton on Slide 33. In terms of consort, the rehabilitation of the PC Shaft pillar has been completed and now enables our 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. I am pleased that the operation was cash flow positive in the second half of the financial year to the tune of some ZAR 50 million and sustainable at these levels.

As far as our Sheba Mine is concerned, we have successfully completed the restructuring and look forward to improved production in the year ahead with significant cost savings in terms of our labor bill.

On Slide 35, the section dealing with our all-in sustaining costs. 85% of our portfolio produced at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,425 per ounce, impacted by lower underground production, some once-off items mentioned previously and the stronger rand-U.S. dollar exchange rate.

Slide 36 illustrates that our cost performance continues to be very much in line or better than the average for the global sector with most producers having experienced significant cost pressures in the last couple of years. As I mentioned earlier in the presentation, the next financial year should see further improvements with full years of production from MTR and Tennant Mines and increased production from the Evander underground.

On Slide 38, group capital projects. We continue to invest into our assets and into growth. For FY 2026, sustaining capital is fairly subdued in terms of growth. We are, however, using increased cash flow margins in fast-tracking development at Nobles, the Winkelhaak pump station at Elikhulu and obviously, the expansion of MTR.

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 15% renewable energy by 2027.

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

Thank you, Cobus. I'm very excited to present the full year results to you today for the first time as Financial Director. For presentation purposes, amounts and percentages have been rounded. From Slide 43, you will notice the positive impact of the increase of 36% in the average U.S. dollar gold price received and increased gold production on revenue for the year ended 30 June 2025. Revenue increased by 45% to $540 million relative to the prior financial year. The increase in revenue also resulted in an increase in adjusted EBITDA of 60% and an increase in earnings of 78% to $142 million.

Headline earnings increased by 47% to $117 million. The gain on bargain purchase of $28 million as a result of the Tennant Mines acquisition is excluded from headline earnings and is the main reason for the variance between earnings and headline earnings. Earnings per share and headline earnings per share both increased by 73% and 42%, respectively.

During the financial year, just over 105,000 ounces, representing 53% of gold sales were committed in terms of the hedging transactions and did not benefit from the spot gold price, resulting in an opportunity cost of $26 million as a result of the synthetic forward transaction and a hedge loss of $5.8 million as a result of the zero-cost collar transactions. The purpose of the hedging was to secure full funding for the construction of the MTR operation. The group is now fully unhedged from the 1st of July 2025 and will benefit from the prevailing record high gold prices.

Production costs and all-in sustaining costs was negatively impacted by approximately 3% as a result of the appreciation of the rand against the U.S. dollar when compared to the previous financial year. The realized losses associated with the hedging, as mentioned before, had a 2% or $30 per ounce adverse impact on the all-in sustaining cost. Further above inflation increases are primarily attributable to the electricity costs and mining contract and processing costs, including reagents.

The lower production as a result of the delay in the commissioning of the vent shaft hoisting project at Evander underground also negatively impacted unit cost of production due to the large fixed cost base of the operation. The increase in operating cash flows of over 70% to USD 155 million is primarily as a result of the increase in the gold price during the period, coupled with cost control discipline, resulting in the realization of high margins.

We spent $158 million (sic) [ $168 million ] in CapEx during the year, which resulted in an increase in net debt of 41% to $151 million compared to June 2024. The bulk of the capital expenditure related to the completion and commissioning of the MTR and Tennant Mines operations as well as the Evander underground 24 to 25 Level project.

Slide 44 demonstrates the ability of the group to generate excellent cash flows at prevailing gold prices. At current gold prices, the group is expected to be fully degeared from a net debt perspective before the 2026 financial year-end. The expected debt redemption profile is well in excess of the contractual requirements. The group net debt peaked in December 2024 at $229 million with the completion of the MTR project and the Tennant Mines project finance included on the group's balance sheet from the effective date of the acquisition. The group reduced net debt by approximately $80 million or 35% to $151 million in the last 6 months of the current financial year, clearly demonstrating the cash flow generation potential of our current operations.

The green loan facility dedicated to the funding of the group's renewable energy projects was also settled in full by the 30th of June 2025. The net debt-to-equity ratio of approximately 20% as at 30 June 2025, obviously leaves us with very significant headroom.

The group's debt facilities currently consist of a revolving credit facility, the term loan for the MTR project and 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. The term loan only matures in June 2029, but will be redeemed well in advance of the maturity date. The contractual debt redemptions associated with the debt facilities are fairly muted over the next 12 months and consists primarily of the quarterly repayments on the MTR term loan facility and Tennant Mines facility, monthly repayments to the Northern Territory government and the maturity of the Par SO1 listed bond and the RCF redemption in June 2026.

The RCF facility is currently undrawn, and the group will commence with the process to refinance this facility in the near future. It's likely that the RCF will again be extended as has been the case in the past as it constitutes a key component of our core working capital finance facilities.

Slide 45 tracks the group's historical and proposed dividend payments. The proposed record dividend is ZAR 0.37 per share, which will result in a gross dividend distribution of ZAR 864 million or approximately $49 million at the closing exchange rate for the 2025 financial year. The proposed dividend is an increase to the dividend of the previous financial year of 68% in rand terms and 77% in U.S. dollar terms. The proposed dividend for the 2025 financial year, together with the share buyback program announced, will result in a payout ratio of approximately 38% of cash flow as defined by the dividend policy. The dividend will be proposed to shareholders for approval at the AGM to be held in November 2025.

The dividend provides an attractive return to shareholders whilst ensuring that the group has enough available liquidity to fund operations, together with further renewable energy initiatives in the near future.

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

Thank you very much, Marileen. If we conclude on Slide 47 and to again reinforce some key points. We now have tailwinds from the highest gold price in history, and the group is completely unhedged. Even with slightly lower gold prices and our record dividend, the group should be degeared in terms of net debt before the end of the 2026 financial year.

We have just commissioned and ramped up arguably the most successful gold tailings retreatment project in South Africa's history, below budget and ahead of schedule, and we will grow this operation further in the near term. Our Elikhulu, MTR and BTRP operations are performing really well and generating fantastic returns and cash flows and will do so for many more years.

Tennant was acquired with very limited dilution to shareholders, less than 6% of our market cap at the time. We are now producing from this asset in a Tier 1 jurisdiction within 6 months of acquisition, having constructed the largest processing plant to ever operate in this gold field by a factor of 3. We are growing gold production very materially in the year ahead with 60% of our production ounces from surface. Consort Mine has turned a corner and Fairview will continue to tick along as it has for many years. Evander Mines will perform much better with the subvertical hoisting shaft complete. Clearly, in this environment, the group is currently generating very significant cash flows.

Let me reassure shareholders that as always, we will 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 a future and expanding our horizons in the year ahead. I think we'll start with taking any questions from the conference call.

The question comes from Richard Hatch of Berenberg.

First question is just on the CapEx guidance for '26. I think the market was at $71 million and you're guiding to $146 million. Now I appreciate that some of that is, as you say, the gold price is high, so you bring forward some projects. But can you perhaps just give us a bit more color as to what's driving the CapEx going higher than what the market was looking for?

And then if we look into 2027, how should we be thinking about the CapEx profile of the group as it stands just on a directional basis, please? That's the first one.

Thanks, Richard. Yes. So to your point, we are -- we've decided in this gold price environment to bring forward quite a bit of capital. The first major item would be the Winkelhaak pump station at Elikhulu. That's about $20 million. And I mean that's going to give us flexibility for the remaining, call it, 8 years of life after the end of this year at Elikhulu. And the capital there is going to be fairly muted afterwards. So we're bringing that forward.

Secondly, obviously, we have the expansion of MTR. So that's going to be done in January, February latest. That's quite a big ticket item. And then we also have the TCMG capital. So I mean, which is mostly growth capital.

And I think lastly, the Evander underground, there's a bit of capital that was carried over from last year. And then there's quite a bit of development happening in 24 to 25 Levels. So clearly, I mean, the benefit of this gold price and with the low cost of our operations that we can afford to spend this capital and still have increased dividend by almost 80% and then still expect it to be degeared by the end of FY '26. So sustaining capital for the group in terms of guidance, it's $50 million.

$40 million to $50 million.

Call it $50-odd million sustaining capital. Clearly, if we can continue to grow the business and do so generating returns, we have now a lot of flexibility in spending capital and generating attractive returns.

Okay. And then as we go into '27, so we should see it drift more towards that $40 million to $50 million. Is that the right way to think about it?

Well, it's -- call it, $50 million sustaining and then there will continue to be a bit of growth capital, but that's very well justified. I mean, you would have seen in the write-up, I mean, a project like, say, Warrego in Australia doing drilling and some of the intersections coming back 5% -- 5 grams a tonne gold and anywhere from 2% to 10% copper. So those would be very attractive growth projects.

So yes, I mean, your sustaining CapEx, Barberton will continue as it has been, not a lot of sustaining capital to be spent Elikhulu, MTR. You're going to see capital coming down on the Evander underground as we now sort of have moving into 25 Level. And then TCMG base case capital is -- that includes sustaining and growth would be in the order of about...

$5 million to $10 million.

Yes, sustaining capital, call it, $5 million, call it, $10 million [indiscernible].

Okay. Helpful. And then the second one is just on the Soweto cluster. I appreciate you've got a feasibility coming up on that in the next sort of month or so. But how should we think about final investment decision on that project? And just again, in terms of growth, whether it's incremental to MTR or whether it's a life extension, how are you -- where are we sort of -- where is the thinking on it at this point?

So Richard, yes, it's dependent, obviously, on the feasibility study. If we do elect to build another plant, I mean, that's going to be sizable capital. I don't want to put numbers out there. But again, at this gold price or even a lower gold price, just given the attractiveness of these projects, you can expect, again, a 2-, 3-year payback on a capital number.

But I think as a base case, I mean, MTR obviously has been a fantastic success. So we started 50,000 ounces. We now are in the process for fairly limited capital expanding to 60,000 ounces. I mean what Soweto at the very least will give us is additional feedstock, and we can look to ramp up, say, to 1.2 million, 1.3 million tonnes, just the existing plant. That means you're going to have attractive growth, another, call it, 15,000 ounces out of MTR and that operational growth on that basis for 15 years.

So I mean, I guess those are the options. Do we go big bang on Soweto? Obviously, the sort of -- there are risks, but it's something that we've done many times successfully. But a base case, I think shareholders can look forward to further expansions at limited capital, generating very attractive returns.

Okay. So sorry, just one follow-up on that. So on balance of probabilities is the view that it's more going to be, as you say, that incremental plant feed to take you up to that 1.2 million to 1.3 million and take volumes up to more like 75,000 ounces a year rather than to put your words on it, a big bang CapEx number. So more kind of like incremental but longer life, very, very high margin rather than a perhaps a slightly shorter life but still very low-cost operation with a high CapEx number.

Yes. Look, I mean, it's too early to preempt what we'll do. But I mean, if you look at our track record in terms of capital allocation, I don't think you need to be concerned. I don't want to say to shareholders, they can bank the expansion to, say, 1.2 million, 1.3 million, but that's the logic step for us as a base case.

At this stage, we have no further questions from the lines.

Shall we go then to e-mailed questions?

Thank you. We've got a few questions from the webcast. The first one is from Martin Creamer at Mining Weekly. Martin wants to know in what direct or indirect ways would a London main board listing help South Africa as a whole economically and otherwise?

Well, Marileen and the teams have worked incredibly hard on getting us to where we are with this process. It's a next logical step for us. I think we've outgrown AIM given the market cap and the production level. And it's going to give us access to increased investor base. The London market, I think, is -- would be quite amenable to another gold counter of size being listed. It gives us scale in terms of indexation.

Indexation, yes.

So yes, a number of benefits from that perspective.

Thank you. We've got a question from Mark Bentley from Share Society. I was concerned to read about the 3 recent fatalities. What was the principal cause, breach of safety protocols, equipment failures or geophysical activity?

Mark, yes, it's very sad for us also and very difficult. So let's just start out by saying that, I mean, really, our surface business has done fantastically well. I mean we sort of moved and completed a whole year of production with no lost time or reportable injuries on any of our surface assets. Industry-leading in terms of underground safety records. But that being said, it's still not acceptable to have fatal accidents. We -- again, all of the corrective measures are detailed in our SENS, RNS announcements. We are fortunate in that we don't have huge seismicity. So it's not geotechnical issues. The fatalities were very different in their nature. And the bottom line for us is, as a group, we can and will do better. But it's not only ourselves. I mean we need to have buy-in from all stakeholders. And that means all of our employees need to follow policies and procedures and also our unions and all of the other stakeholders that are involved, and that's the key message.

Question from Arnold van Graan from Nedbank. Well done, good results. What's next from a strategic and growth perspective? Is it possible to buy more assets for value at this gold price?

Arnold, I think we have a good track record, again, on allocating capital. We are in a very fortunate position in that we're not running out of any life or running out of life on any of our assets anytime soon. Organically, we can continue to grow. We've spoken about MTR. Elikhulu will be nice and stable for 9 more years, but more growth we'd like to do at Barberton. Most of the growth now is funded at Evander 8 Shaft. Obviously, Australia, very prospective. And that's just been our, I guess, mantra over the years. We don't do expensive deals. We are very conservative. And certainly, for this year, the focus mostly will be banking the growth that we've now paid for and seeing all of those benefits crystallize in terms of production numbers, costs and ultimately cash flows.

Thanks, Cobus. Mark Bentley again from Share Society. Are you considering paying an interim dividend at the half year stage in FY '25, '26?

Mark, let's first start by saying, I mean, certainly, the balance sheet has a lot of flexibility now. We already are paying a very attractive dividend, sector-leading, I think, would be fair. The dividend is an increase of almost 80% from last year, and that's after all of the capital we spent on growth over the last 12 months. But that being said, I mean, we constantly look at ways of returning more capital to shareholders and making our story more attractive. So we certainly don't want to rule out an interim dividend at this stage. And we always weigh up cash returns versus buybacks versus reinvesting in our portfolio and then growth. And I mean, we -- I think successfully, we'll continue to maintain a balance on all of those requirements.

Thanks, Cobus. We've got 2 CapEx-related questions from Herbert at Absa. I think we've covered the first one. How should we think about CapEx over the next 3 to 5 years? What is the minimum baseline sustaining CapEx? And the second part, I think, what is the CapEx required to develop TCMG to realize the volumes over the next 5 years?

So I mean the sustaining capital for the group, we've guided now, so circa $50 million. TCMG's baseline number, it's about $40 million to $50 million, but it depends on the growth.

And the number of open pits and rate of development we do go into the underground operations.

Yes. So I mean, the bottom line is we have a very attractive business in Australia and the capital we spent, we will generate quite attractive returns. And as I mentioned, the likes of the Warrego project in itself can sustain quite a large-scale business over time. So those are the options that we are looking at as far as TCMG is concerned.

Okay. Another CapEx question from Lebo from Truffle. Is it fair to assume the same amount as Mogale for Soweto cluster in case you decide to build a stand-alone plant for the Soweto cluster?

Lebo, it's probably going to be more if we do build a stand-alone plant. And why is that the case? I mean the plant would be -- have more or less the same throughput. And there's obviously been a bit of inflationary adjustments after we constructed MTR. But then we will have to build a new tailings facility. We -- in terms of MTR had the benefit of for the first years utilizing the waste [indiscernible] pit. So that will be an additional capital item.

And then secondly, also the pumping infrastructure, it's about 15-odd kilometers of pumping and piping, which wasn't the case at MTR. So you can expect a higher capital bill. But again, at this gold price or even a lower gold price, I mean, that sort of capital should pay back in, say, circa 3 years. But again, I mean, we recognize that if we do undertake Soweto, it's a big bang number, as I've said. And I mean, at the very least, we'd like to think shareholders can bank on a little bit of production growth at limited capital if we just expand the MTR facility.

Thanks. A question from Arnold again. Did you suffer any production losses due to the illegal mining challenges at Barberton?

Look, illegal mining, as we've highlighted, is a big issue for us. And again, I want to congratulate our security team for all of their efforts in keeping our people and assets safe, which we will continue to do. We constantly suffer production losses, and it's theft from, unfortunately, our employees and then also the illegal miners. So we require the cooperation of all stakeholders and role players, including the police, and we work very well with police on a national level. So thank you for that. And yes, I mean, definitely, it also demonstrates, I guess, the potential still after 140 years of mining that you have so many illegals underground. But no doubt, I mean, there's a lot of gold theft, and we constantly work at ways of reducing that issue.

Thank you, Cobus. Another Barberton-related question from Bruce Williamson of Integral Asset Management. Can you please give some insight into the Rossiter Reef methodology and the level of reduced dilution and higher grades?

Yes. So Bruce, like with all ore bodies at Barberton, unfortunately, like these are not the easiest of ore bodies to understand and then mine. They're not tabular. I mean, as you know, they sort of are undulating. But the Rossiter has been quite a good benefit for us in terms of topping up production from the MRC. So we have 3 sort of lines into the Rossiter, continue to mine it, continue to do exploration. So it probably gives us about 20% of the Fairview -- 20%, 25% of the Fairview gold at this point. So -- but I think it's exciting. I mean there's more work to be done. And hopefully, we can prove up a larger ore body in Rossiter over time.

The issue with Barberton is not the quality of the ore bodies. It really is the infrastructure after 140 years of mining. I mean nobody ever expected that we'd be mining at these depths for so long. So that's why we get to continue to reinvest and invest into infrastructure and optimization.

Thank you. There's a question again from Lebo at Truffle. What are your thoughts on special dividends?

Well, we had a big debate on that, I think, Lebo, not big, but it's something we consider. But special dividends, I mean, I think the dividend that we are now proposing is at a level that we can quite comfortably sustain. And as we said, I mean, it's a balance between growth and reinvestment and returning cash to shareholders. And I do think we are very competitive from that perspective. At this point, there's no sort of, I think, ask or prospect to go and do special. I think our dividend level is very attractive.

Thank you, Cobus. And I think we can end off with a question on the London listing again from Ryan Seaborne at 36ONE Asset Management. Ryan says, congratulations on great results. Will you be doing a roadshow prior to the main board listing? And when is the expected listing date?

Thanks, Ryan. We are busy in the process of all of the submissions, the required submissions to the FCA. The current time line, we would expect to complete the listing process somewhere in October. We are embarking on a roadshow now post our results. So we will consider if there's any demand for an additional roadshow before the admission in October.

Yes. I think the guidance is that we should -- we're looking to have the process completed by the end of December.

Last question that just come in or a comment. May you please formalize 3-year CapEx guidance given the strong pipeline of projects?

Sure. That's something we could look to provide more clarity on, no problem. But I think the positive is that, obviously, I mean, we're able to very comfortably fund the levels of capital to sustain and grow. And as we've said, any growth capital would come and increase production and increase the returns to the business and to shareholders.

Thank you. There are no more questions from the webcast.

Thank you to all for joining us today.