OceanaGold Q1 2026 Earnings Call - Record Free Cash Flow and Zero Debt Balance Sheet

Operator: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the OceanaGold Corporation Q1 2026 earnings call and webcast. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we’ll conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for an operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, May seventh, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Rebecca Henare. Please go ahead.

Bryce Adams, Analyst, Desjardins Securities0: Good morning, and welcome to OceanaGold’s first quarter 2026 operating and financial results webcast and conference call. I’m Rebecca Henare, Vice President of Investor Relations. We are joined today by Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, Marius van Niekerk, Chief Financial Officer, and Bhuvanesh Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer. The presentation that we will be referencing during the conference call is available through the webcast and on our website. As we will be making forward-looking statements during the call, please refer to the cautionary notes included in the MD&A and annual information form. All dollar amounts discussed in this conference call are in US dollars. I will now turn the call over to Gerard for opening remarks.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thank you, Rebecca, and good morning, everyone. We started 2026 the way we intended to: safely, responsibly, and to plan. The first quarter sets us up well to deliver on our 2026 guidance and underpins a year that we expect to be even stronger than the stellar year we had in 2025. In the first quarter, we produced just over 130,000 ounces of gold and 3,200 tons of copper. This, combined with a continued strong gold price environment, delivered record quarterly revenue and record operating cash flow while generating $255 million of free cash flow in the quarter. We also continued to actively return capital to shareholders, returning $97 million through dividends and buybacks in the quarter, which was just under 40% of free cash flow.

This is in line with our expanded capital returns program for the 2026 year, with target dividends and buybacks of up to $432 million planned for the year. Even after these capital returns and after continued investment in our growth and exploration projects, we strengthened the balance sheet significantly. We finished the quarter with cash up 30% at $620 million and with zero debt, once again having the strongest balance sheet in OceanaGold’s 36-year history. During the quarter, we released updated technical reports for Haile, Macraes, and Didipio, each of which extended mine life and improved the value of those assets. At Wharekirauponga, our drilling has confirmed both the continuity and extension of a newly defined southern high-grade zone, which is a very encouraging result for our flagship growth project.

Pleasingly, we also made some incredible progress on the Waihi North Project during the first quarter, and I’m excited to share that this month we began portal development and have commenced tunneling underground towards this phenomenal ore body. Lastly, we listed on the New York Stock Exchange on April 7, which was a big milestone for the company in joining the largest and deepest capital market in the world, which we expect will provide increased trading liquidity and greater access for investors to purchase our shares in the U.S. market. Turning to guidance, the Q1 result shows we are on track to deliver our 2026 plan. Using the midpoint of guidance as a reference, we are nearly a quarter of the way towards each of the gold production, copper production, and capital guidance ranges that we outlined at the start of the year.

As expected, AISC for the quarter sits above our annual guidance range, reflecting the timing of capital and waste stripping expenditures. As production increases, with the second and fourth quarters expected to be the strongest of the year, and with access to high-grade ore from Ledbetter open pit at Haile beginning in quarter 2, unit costs are expected to step down progressively throughout the year. The company continues to monitor potential cost pressures relating to the ongoing, well now paused, Iran conflict, which Marius will speak to later on. A quarter very much in line with the shape of the year that we set out in February, and we expect an even stronger second quarter result. This slide shows how we allocated cash in the first quarter, and it’s a very clear picture of our capital allocation priorities in action.

One of the priorities we identified this year and at these gold prices was to increase investment in our operations, including improving the integrity and resilience of our mining and process plants. This quarter, we invested $85 million in sustaining capital, which covers these investments, as well as deferred stripping and capitalized mining. We invested $45 million in growth capital during the quarter, advancing the Waihi North Project and developing at the Palomino Underground at Haile. We also invested $11 million in exploration across the portfolio, progressing towards what will be a record exploration spend this year. The first quarter had $97 million of direct shareholder returns. This included $77 million of share buybacks under our $350 million buyback program and $20 million of dividends, reflecting the tripled quarterly dividend that the board approved for 2026.

After all of that investment and all of that shareholder returns, we still added $143 million of cash to the balance sheet in the quarter, a 30% increase in our cash position from year-end. In line with our capital allocation framework, this quarter we funded the business, accelerated the growth pipeline, made the balance sheet significantly stronger, and returned meaningful capital to shareholders. I’ll now turn the call over to Marius, who will discuss our financial results in more detail.

Marius van Niekerk, Chief Financial Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thank you, Gerard, and good morning, everyone. Q1 delivered a strong set of financial results on the back of a record average realized gold price. Strong operational delivery and disciplined cost management converted the gold price directly to the bottom line, resulting in a record earnings per share. Comparing the first quarter against the same period last year, these are some of the highlights: Record EBITDA, which was up 116%. Operating cash flow was up 122%. Free cash flow was up 271%, where we’ve generated $255 million for the quarter. These are very meaningful step-ups, and with increasing production and unit costs expected to come down, we are well-positioned to continue to generate significant free cash flow for the remainder of the year.

We continue to place a strong emphasis on our per share metrics. As you can see here at the bottom, our strong financial results this quarter also translated into meaningful step-ups across the per share metrics compared to the same period last year. With free cash flow per share up 290% and operating cash flow per share also setting a new record. Importantly, this financial result is being delivered alongside continued investment in growth, increased capital returns, and a stronger balance sheet, all of which makes up the capital allocation framework Gerard spoke to earlier. Given the Iran conflict, I wanted to take a moment to address our exposure to oil prices, which mainly relates to diesel. To date, the direct impacts on our operations have been limited, and supply chains have continued to support normal business operations.

However, we remain conscious that sustained higher diesel prices and supply chain factors have the potential to impact our operating and capital costs. We’ve done extensive work to map our consumables supply chain, and we’ll continue to proactively identify and manage risks where we can. Higher diesel costs during the quarter were largely offset by our diesel hedging program. Diesel comprises about 6% of our consolidated AIC guidance for 2026, with the majority of that consumption at Haile and Macraes, our open pits operations. At those two operations, we’ve hedged approximately 80% of our diesel requirements at the equivalent Brent price of $65 per barrel through to the end of 2026. As a result, we are substantially protected from diesel price volatility at our two largest diesel-consuming assets.

To put it all into context, with the diesel hedges in place at Haile and Macraes, should oil prices of $100 per barrel prevail for the remainder of 2026, we would expect the impact to be in the order of $25 per ounce higher than our assumptions used when setting guidance. That is based on what we know today. I’ll now pass it over to Bhuvanesh to discuss our operating performance.

Bhuvanesh Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thank you, Marius, and hello, everyone. At Haile, we produced about 42,000 ounces of gold in the first quarter. The quarter went largely to plan despite significant winter weather events, with production expected to step up materially through the remainder of the year. Ledbetter open pit and high-grade underground stopes will be the primary ore sources for the remainder of the year. This is expected to deliver the step-up in production we have guided from quarter 2, where we expect to produce around 60,000 ounces and further increasing in quarter 3 and quarter 4. The weather conditions experienced in the quarter also gave us the opportunity to accelerate waste stripping at Snake Pit by a couple of quarters, which de-risks ore production for 2027. During quarter 1, this shows up in AISC as a result of lower stockpile build.

Development of the decline towards Palomino Underground commenced in the quarter, in line with the plan to achieve first ore in 2028. Drilling at Horseshoe Underground also continued in the quarter, targeting the resource conversion and extension opportunities in the lower and western portions of the deposit, with drilling at Ledbetter Underground focused on resource conversion targets. At the end of March, we released the updated technical report for Haile that confirmed the transition of Ledbetter to an underground mine by 2029, supporting a sustainable production profile of above 200,000 ounces per year through to 2031. Macraes had a strong start to the year, producing about 52,000 ounces of gold in the first quarter at All-in Sustaining Cost of $1,506 per ounce.

Innes Mills continued to deliver in line with plan, providing access to high-grade open pit ore in the quarter. Waste stripping at Coronation North also began during the quarter in preparation for ore access in quarter 3. The 1st quarter was always meant to be the strongest of the year at Macraes due to good ore presentation in the Innes Mills open pit. Gold production is expected to step down in quarter 2, then further in the 2nd half of the year, with full year production expected to be in line with our guidance. An updated technical report for Macraes was released at the end of March and confirmed a mine life extension to 2032 at a conservative $2,200 gold price assumption.

Importantly, with a record exploration spend plan for this year, we are continuing to evaluate further extension opportunities at Macraes that could potentially extend the mine life into 2040s, given the leverage of this asset to the current gold price environment and the inherent optionality at the site. Macraes continues to be a great example of how disciplined operational execution drives real value, particularly at today’s gold prices. At Waihi, we produced about 17,000 ounces of gold in the first quarter at All-in Sustaining Cost of $2,055 per ounce. Production was in line with plan despite two record-breaking rain events during the quarter, which is a real credit to the operating team and reflects the improved resilience of the operations.

On exploration at Fuaherikiki, our drilling during the quarter confirmed the continuity and extension of the newly defined southern high-grade zone that sits outside the reserves. These are very encouraging results that support the growth potential we see in this ore body. We continue to focus on resource conversion drilling in the first half of the year and begin further step-out drilling during this new zone and other areas in the second half. Capital expenditure for the quarter included $20 million invested in the Waihi North project. Construction continued on the service trench and the water treatment plant site, with both projects expected to be substantially completed in quarter 2. Bulk earthworks and the preparation of the box cut at the Willows portal site progressed as planned during the quarter.

The mining contractor was mobilized in quarter one, and excitingly this week, the portal was constructed and the development has commenced, beginning our underground tunneling journey towards the Wharekirauponga ore body. At the DPO, we produced about 20,000 ounces of gold and 3,200 tons of copper in the first quarter. Excitingly, during the quarter, we resumed lateral development activities in the lower levels of the underground, which sets us to resume development of the decline this quarter. With improved access to the lower levels, exploration drilling from 1 drill rig was also be able to recommence in panel 3 during the quarter, with 2 more rigs planned to mobilize in quarter two. Regional drilling also continued during the quarter at True Blue, an area of known mineralization 800 meters northeast of the DPO, to evaluate the lateral extent of the mineralization.

As released during the quarter, the updated technical report for the Didipio demonstrated stable production and a mine life extension to 2037, reinforcing the long-term value of this low-cost, high free cash flow asset. I will now turn the call back to Gerard.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thank you, Bhuvanesh. In summary, the first quarter was a strong start to what we expect to be an outstanding year for OceanaGold. We are committed to safely and responsibly delivering on our 2026 guidance, with an increase in gold production and a decrease in All-in Sustaining Costs as the year progresses. We expect to continue to generate strong free cash flow and maintain a healthy balance sheet, with the current gold pricing environment providing meaningful upside to our cash generation potential. It’s great to be able to share today that we have already begun development of the tunnel towards the Wharekirauponga ore body, and we expect to continue to make significant progress on this exciting growth project during the course of the year.

We’ve already demonstrated results of our exploration spend this year with outstanding results at Wharekirauponga, and we look forward to sharing more results from our programs across the portfolio in due course. Our focus remains on creating long-term sustainable value for our shareholders, with 2026 positioned to deliver another year of strong shareholder returns through our increased dividends and share buybacks. Lastly, I just want to recognize the tremendous efforts of the many great people who work at OceanaGold for the strong start to the year. Our first quarter results reflect their hard work, their operating discipline, and I want to thank my everyone that works at OceanaGold for their efforts in delivering that. I’ll now turn the call over to the operator and open up the line to take any questions.

Operator: Your first question comes from Ovais Habib with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Ovais Habib, Analyst, Scotiabank: Thanks, operator. Hi, Gerard and OceanaGold team. Congrats to you and your team on a solid free cash flow that was generated in Q1 and also the commencement of the underground decline at Wharekirauponga. you know, amazing, you know, advancement on that front. congrats on that. Couple of questions from me. Just starting off, in the MD&A and at the beginning of this call, you provided good detail on the diesel hedging program, as well as the sensitivity of the diesel price on AISC. Thank you for that. Marius, are you seeing any sort of issues with getting reagents or explosives to the New Zealand and Philippines sites? Can you give us any sort of color on stockpiles at currently at site as well?

Marius van Niekerk, Chief Financial Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Hi, Ovais. A couple of things there. We’ve got a weekly process where we review our stock and our supplies. Right now we’re not seeing any other issues, especially in the explosive sites. We are managing our diesel and the diesel supply site is also manageable right now. Also from a storage capacity perspective, we’re managing that through our sites. From our perspective right now, not any issues to be aware of.

Ovais Habib, Analyst, Scotiabank: Excellent. Thanks for that, Marius. Just moving on to Haile. You talked about, you know, due to weather, you accelerated waste stripping at the snake pit. Is this going to have any sort of impact on the AISC guidance for Haile that you provided? I believe it’s between $1,500-$1,700 an ounce.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: I’ll take that, Marius. I mean, it’s certainly, we’ve had the effect of increasing our production stripping or our waste stripping, I should say, for Haile. Nothing that is outside the guidance range yet. If we deliver on our strongly on our production, we expect to remain inside the guidance range, but probably in the top half of it.

Ovais Habib, Analyst, Scotiabank: Okay. Thanks for that, Gerard. Just moving on to Macraes. You know, you mentioned that there’s a potential to extend mine life beyond 2040s. Are you seeing any potential on expanding existing pits, underground opportunities? You know, can you give us a little bit more color on this upside?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: You wanna take that one, Bhuvanesh?

Bhuvanesh Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Yeah, sure. Hi, Ovais. Macraes continues to basically being a star in this nice gold price environment as well. The pit extensions, there are all kinds of pit extensions, but primarily the Innes Mills pits, which can extend for 9, 10, and 11. The Coronation North, which is 6 and 7, the Golden Bar. And then we will do the Golden Point underground extensions as well as a result of that. It’s a combination of all of those items that probably extends the mine life into 2040s.

Ovais Habib, Analyst, Scotiabank: Bhuvanesh, thanks a lot for that. When would you start providing additional color on that and kinda showcasing to the market that, you know, that’s actually the case?

Bhuvanesh Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: We’re currently in the feasibility study as well, so we expect that to be finished sometimes next year as well. You know, post that, we would probably have the technical report ready to show that to the market.

Ovais Habib, Analyst, Scotiabank: Awesome. Thanks, Bhuvanesh. Gerard, that’s it from me. Thanks for taking my questions.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thank you, Ovais.

Operator: Your next question comes from Fahad Tariq with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Fahad Tariq, Analyst, Jefferies: Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. Exploration is clearly a key focus this year. When should we expect the next set of exploration results, specifically at WKP?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Well, thanks, Fahad. Yeah, you’re right. I mean, we expect to put out regular results for each of the sites because we have increased the spend at each site. We only put out results for WKP, gee, in the last fortnight. You know, it’ll be a little while before you get the next lot. Of course, as and when we get, you know, great drill core that warrants it to come out, we do. The next exploration update will likely be in respect of one of the other assets rather than WKP.

You know, you should expect one to two more over the course of this year in relation to WKP, given the density and this, you know, the stellar results we get from it.

Fahad Tariq, Analyst, Jefferies: Okay, great. Maybe one for Marius, just the cash on the balance sheet has grown so quickly. Just what is the minimum cash you’d like to maintain on the balance sheet? I guess it’s a good problem to have, but what is the use of the excess cash beyond the buyback target?

Marius van Niekerk, Chief Financial Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thanks, Fahad. We actually don’t have a minimum cash target right now. I think that capital allocation framework will guide us. We’ve been very consistent in it and very clear. We, you know, we have a sizable growth project that we’re busy with. We’re comfortable that we can manage that growth in capital.

Fahad Tariq, Analyst, Jefferies: Okay.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: I’ll just supplement that too. If we put out a $350 buyback program. Last year, we started the year with a $100 million share buyback program, and as we delivered strongly into and through the year, we upsized it to $175 and executed that in full. Marius is right, we don’t have a minimum. Obviously, if we continue to build cash and absent any other use inside the business or outside the business, we’re not just going to build cash continually. You could expect that if we face that scenario, the opportunity exists to increase dividends and/or buybacks.

Fahad Tariq, Analyst, Jefferies: Okay, great. Then maybe just that last point that you mentioned on opportunities outside the business. On M&A, which maybe is not a priority right now, or maybe it is, but just thoughts on the criteria that you would be looking at broadly?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Yeah. The number 1 criteria is that we can generate value from the activity. I mean, we have a diversified portfolio, each of which has presently growth optionality. We have, you know, growth options across the spectrum from early stage to mature. We don’t feel the imperative to have to do, but we do have a team that looks. Criteria number 1, gotta create value for our shareholders. Invariably, that’s going to, you know, mean that there’s some form of resource or exploration upside and/or the ability to operate the asset better and/or apply some kind of knowledge advantage that we have.

We said in the past that, you know, the areas that we’re looking at, geographically, would be the three areas that we currently operate in: USA, Philippines, New Zealand, and Australia and Canada. That’s quite a large sandpit for us to look at. I think as the cash balance has got stronger, you know, it’s certainly given us a great opportunity to be able to be active at any stage of the development spectrum, you know, early stage, mid stage, or operating assets. Yeah, we’ve got a lot of flexibility, a lot of opportunity inside of that geographic remit. The number one criteria is, are we confident that we’re going to create value for OceanaGold shareholders?

Bryce Adams, Analyst, Desjardins Securities: Thank you very much.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thank you, Fahad.

Operator: Your next question comes from Bryce Adams with Desjardins Securities. Please go ahead.

Bryce Adams, Analyst, Desjardins Securities: Good morning, all, and thanks for the update. I want to ask on WKP and the potential timeline there. Great to see that underground development has commenced. I assume not far in from the portal. Can you comment how far the face has advanced so far? I mean, that’s a bit of a micro question, but thinking longer term, if first ore is still 2032, are there opportunities to bring that forward or it’s just a, it’s just a long slug to the ore body?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: I wouldn’t call it a long slug. It’s an exciting journey towards this world-class ore body, Bryce. I think we’re about 10 to 12 meters in. Bhuvanesh can be precise. You know, one of the opportunities that we have, and it’s worth reminding, that we did have a, as part of our permit, a allowable doubling of drill pads and doubling of drill rigs that we can apply to this drilling. You can expect to see us have more exploration results come to market. As we journey from the portal, the, you know, 6 or so km to the ore body, you know, we have some targets along the way that, you know, of, you know, known mineralization that we could you know, potentially source.

Obviously, you know, within the, within the corridor of the mine permit, if we find gold along the way, and this is, you know, a super geologically rich district, you know, the potential does exist for us to find gold along the way. You know, the main prize is to get to the known ore body as fast as we can. Excitingly, this is why I started with the exploration drill results, I mean, the ore body has migrated closer. Well, it hasn’t actually migrated. Our understanding of the ore body has brought it a half a kilometer closer to the portal as a result of exploration spend.

You know, over the course of the coming years, you can expect we will update the mine plan to reflect the ore body understanding as we’ve advanced it. You know, it because it is a linear journey, you know, we, there is the potential to get there sooner as a result of that ore body being closer to the portal relative to the original expectation.

Bryce Adams, Analyst, Desjardins Securities: Yeah. Thanks for that. Yeah, I was gonna ask about underground drilling from WKP. Like, you obviously you can’t do it too close to the active face. I mean, what’s the timeline to using that underground development as a, as an exploration platform? Could that be this year or is it more likely next year?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Well, it’s probably more likely next year. We’ve got to get down. Again, Bhuvanesh, you know, can supplement after I finish talking with the precise time. We’ve got to get down about 200 odd, 300 odd meters to the start of, you know, the core twin decline to the ore body. It’s along that pathway, you know, we’re unconstrained to, you know, to drill off to the sides, you know, provided we stay inside the mine, the mine permit, you know, which is a sizable area. Bhuvanesh, when do we get down to the twin decline proper?

Bhuvanesh Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: I think mid-next year we would probably be in a situation where we would be roughly 70, 80 meters in from the twin decline, which is where when we turn right towards the ore body. Mid-next year we would have some opportunities to probably put some drill cuttings there and then start exploring from those cuttings as well. There are some known mineralization areas around Fuaherikiki, around Arama areas, which are in and around those pieces. Remember there is some olden mines in there as well, which had some known mineralization from that area can also be explored as well. Mid-next year is what we are expecting, hopefully even earlier than that.

Bryce Adams, Analyst, Desjardins Securities: Okay. Thanks for all that. Thanks for the face advance. I think you said 10 to 12 meters. Is that something that you would, you know, plan on reporting on in your, in the next quarter updates and on a go-forward basis?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: I guess so. I mean, it’s our number one growth project. We like to, you know, it, we’re, you know, pleased. We’ve, as Bhuvanesh mentioned, you know, we mobilized quickly. We’ve done an enormous amount of work. Yeah, it’s a, it’s one measure. Hopefully, Bryce, we can match that meters advance with, you know, some further drill results just to, again, I think they like the value of this, of this ore body.

Bryce Adams, Analyst, Desjardins Securities: Thanks so much. Appreciate all of that. Congrats.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thank you. Thanks, Bryce.

Operator: Your next question comes from Don DeMarco with National Bank. Please go ahead.

Don DeMarco, Analyst, National Bank: Thank you, operator. Good morning, OGC team. I guess some of the questions have already been asked, but looking at your capital return program, yeah, certainly the theme this year is harvesting free cash flow and, you know, a couple standup quarters in Q2, Q4 coming up. You know, with your capital returns, are you looking to execute this opportunistically, balance it evenly throughout the year, or maybe lean into some of the heavy free cash flow quarters?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thanks, Don. I mean, if last year’s any guide, you know, we, it was roughly 40/60 split in terms of the buyback. We want to, you know, whilst we’re, you know, confident of delivering on our guidance and so forth, you know, the allocation, you know, should be of cash that is being generated. As we get, you know, further through the year and as the results, you know, are proven to be stronger, that’s when we probably, you know, amp it up. We, you know, give instructions to the broker to buy and just sit back and operate pursuant to that. Obviously, we’re not buying in closed periods and the like. You know, we’re fairly systematic and even.

You know, as you saw, we did $77 million in the first quarter alone, which is entirely in line with that, you know, that cadence I spoke of.

Don DeMarco, Analyst, National Bank: Okay, great. That’s all for me, and good luck with the rest of the quarter.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thank you, Don.

Operator: Your next question comes from Cosmos Chiu with CIBC. Please go ahead.

Cosmos Chiu, Analyst, CIBC: Hi. Thanks, Gerard and team. Maybe my first question is on the, your full year guidance. If I work out the math, you know, you’re running at about 23% for the full year in terms of sustaining CapEx, 34% in terms of deferred and capitalized stripping, 16% in terms of growth, and then 19% in terms of exploration too. To sum it up, you’re slightly less than a quarter’s, less than 25% on growth CapEx and exploration. More than 25% on deferred. You kinda talked about that in your prepared remarks, but I guess to sum it up, is that, you know, to your expectations in terms of what you’ve kinda chewed through in Q1?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thanks, Cos. Again, as Bhuvanesh said, we, as a result of particularly cold weather, we pivoted the stripping into State Snake pit, which elevated it. The actual dollars out the door from our mining activity in cash terms was unchanged. It’s just because at the top of Snake, you’ve just got a higher strip ratio. You take more of that to your AIC charge. It’s as I said, no higher level of cash than what it would’ve been had we done the stripping in Ledbetter. Yeah, it’s by definition, it’s a little more stripping than we intended.

It was a value decision and the right decision on a multi-year basis to deploy the equipment and people that we had to do the activity that we could given the weather conditions. You know, as we said, you know, we expect the later quarters to be stronger with the profile that we set, you know, the second and fourth in particular. That, you know, just combined with the fact that we’re otherwise well on track, we expect that number to, the AIC to pull inside, you know, the guidance range.

Cosmos Chiu, Analyst, CIBC: Yep. How about the growth CapEx? You’re running at about 16% year to date or in Q1. That’s sorta as expected.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Yeah. In short, it’s nearly always in growth capital. I mean, we mobilized heavily, for example, at WKP.

In the quarter. Obviously, now that we’re into the decline, that will increase at a stronger linear clip on a quarterly basis. We’ve got other works that we’re doing as we hope to show with photographs and the like over upcoming quarters. No, we expect our growth capital to be in line with guidance by the end of the year.

Cosmos Chiu, Analyst, CIBC: Great. I ask these questions to kind of show you that I can do math. Talking about mathematics, if I were to take what you know, repurchased in shares in Q1, $77 million, it does not annualize to $350 million. Gerard, as you mentioned, that’s in line with your kind of internal cadence. Was it due to blackouts in Q1? Was it due to, you know, your technical reports that were gonna get reported in Q1, and so you have blackout periods? Was it due to pricing? Why was it less than a quarter’s worth?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Yeah, look, all of the above. As I said, you know, 40/60 was the pattern. We want to have earned it before we spend it. You know, it is our total returns, dividends, buybacks are 40, just under 40% of our free cash flow for the period. As I said, as we deliver more, we expect to, you know, to amp that up more. You’re right. We had some big news items, whether they be exploration results, tech reports, you know.

probably a shorter quarter in which to buy relative to other quarters for the year.

Cosmos Chiu, Analyst, CIBC: Yeah. Maybe one last question. Congrats on getting listed on the NYSE. It’s been a month now, I think exactly a month. Has, you know, that listing met your expectations in terms of what you’ve set out to accomplish?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Short answer, yes. We’re early days into it, Cos. If I look at yesterday’s numbers, we had 1 million shares traded on the various Canadian exchanges, and we had 100,000 shares traded on the NYSE. You know, what’s that? A shade under 10% of the total. It has grown progressively. We did have 1 day early in the, in the first week or so when it was a quarter of all trading. You know, it, you know, we understand and we look at the journey that others have taken to get the volumes up. It’s gradual. It’s not immediate.

I am very pleased with the steady uptick in volumes of traded since we listed. You know, very happy. It’s only been a month.

Cosmos Chiu, Analyst, CIBC: Great. Thanks, Gerard. I’ll see you next week. I’m looking forward to the mine tour, and I assume that you’ll be there. Thanks, Gerard.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thank you, Cosmos. Appreciate it.

Operator: Your next question comes from Harrison Reynolds with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Harrison Reynolds, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Hi. Good morning, OceanaGold team, and congratulations on a solid quarter. Wanted to dig into the Haile outlook a little bit more. I believe you outlined a target of approximately 60,000 ounces of production in Q2, and wondering if you could provide some detail around that target, your sort of comfort on it and, you know, what that, you know, maybe a range, you know, around 60,000. Is that plus or minus 5%, or, you know, what would you anticipate, you know, the range to be?

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Well, around $60,000 is what we put in the MD&A, Harrison. I’ll let Bhuvanesh color in the drivers of it. I mean, I think it’s, you know, there’s no point in us, you know, being more specific than what we’ve articulated. It’s Bhuvanesh, do you want to talk about, you know, what’s driving that uptick in the quarter?

Bhuvanesh Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Sure. So, Harrison Reynolds, the ore sources, as I said, was, is from 2 places. We continue to basically mine in the Ledbetter 3, so that’s the first ore source. The second ore source, which is probably going to be the bigger driver in quarter 2, comes from the underground high-grade stopes as well, which is from one of our levels, which is the 850 level, which we, which is what is going to be supplementing, the grade that we would basically be seeing, which then translates into the ounces as well.

Those are the two primary drivers that probably continue to, you know, lift the pro ore ounce profile that we see both in quarter 2 and then step up in quarter 3, and then, you know, it’s pretty similar range in quarter 4 is what we will basically see as of quarter 2 as well. That ends up the year with the guidance that we have provided.

Harrison Reynolds, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Understood. Yeah, I know it’s a fairly specific target and, you know, just wanted to understand sort of the drivers a bit more. Also wondering, you know, is this something that you’re gonna continue to provide? I think it’s the last couple quarters now you’ve provided kind of a one-quarter ahead outlook at Haile.

Bhuvanesh Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Uh, probably-

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Yes, of course.

Bhuvanesh Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Sorry, go ahead, Gerard.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: No, you go, you go, Bhuvanesh.

Bhuvanesh Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: No, I think, when we have really good, you know, sight of the ore sources, we always do that. For providing a quarter ahead is probably we have been getting really good at it as well. That is, that is something that we always aspire for.

Harrison Reynolds, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Okay.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Yeah. In addition to having the confidence, Harrison, Haile’s our largest producer. It’s 45% of guidance this year. It was lighter in the first quarter. We just wanted to give investors the confidence of for all the reasons that Bhuvanesh said that we had a basis for being able to say what it is going to be in the next quarter and to give people the comfort that we have line of sight of the ore that’s going to deliver it.

Harrison Reynolds, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Got it. Yeah, I always appreciate the extra disclosure, so thank you and good to see the confidence.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Thanks, Harrison.

Operator: There are currently no more questions on the phone. I’d like to turn the call over to Rebecca Henare in case there are questions on the web.

Bryce Adams, Analyst, Desjardins Securities0: No questions on the web. Thank you, operator.

Gerard Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer, OceanaGold Corporation: Okay. I think that leaves it to me. That concludes our webcast and conference call. A replay will be available on our website later today. On behalf of the management team and everyone at OceanaGold, thanks for joining us today, and we wish you a very pleasant rest of day. Bye for now.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.