Earnings call transcript: Capstone Mining's Q3 2025 revenue surpasses expectations

Capstone Mining Corp. (TSX:CS) reported its Q3 2025 earnings, revealing a record quarterly revenue of $598.4 million, which exceeded the forecast of $558.28 million. The company achieved an adjusted net income of $49.4 million, translating to earnings per share (EPS) of $0.06, surpassing the expected EPS of $0.0392. Following the earnings announcement, Capstone's stock experienced a decline, closing down 4.06% at $12.33.

Key Takeaways

• Capstone reported record quarterly revenue, surpassing market expectations.
• Earnings per share exceeded forecasts, reflecting strong financial performance.
• Stock price fell by 4.06% post-earnings, despite positive results.
• The company maintained a robust liquidity position with over $1 billion available.
• Operational challenges were noted, including motor failures and drought impacts.

Company Performance

Capstone Mining demonstrated strong performance in Q3 2025, with revenue reaching $598.4 million, a record high for the company. This represents a significant improvement compared to previous quarters, driven by higher copper sales and favorable copper pricing. The company's operational sites are largely tracking within guidance ranges, despite some challenges such as motor failures at Mantoverde and drought conditions at Pinto Valley.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $598.4 million, exceeding the forecast of $558.28 million.
• Earnings per share: $0.06, above the expected $0.0392.
• Adjusted EBITDA: $249.2 million, up 106% year-over-year.
• Operating cash flow: $231.2 million before working capital changes.
• Net debt-to-EBITDA ratio: 0.9x.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Capstone's EPS of $0.06 surpassed the forecasted $0.0392, marking a significant positive surprise. The revenue of $598.4 million also exceeded the expected $558.28 million, highlighting the company's strong operational execution and market conditions. This performance indicates a robust quarter, with both earnings and revenue outperforming expectations.

Market Reaction

Despite the positive earnings report, Capstone's stock price fell by 4.06%, closing at $12.33. This decline may reflect investor concerns over operational challenges or broader market trends affecting the mining sector. The stock remains within its 52-week range, between $4.97 and $13.8, suggesting potential volatility in investor sentiment.

Outlook & Guidance

Capstone expects total copper production to fall in the lower half of its guidance range, with cash costs in the upper half for 2025. The company is focusing on operational execution, balance sheet strengthening, and advancing projects for 2026, including potential expansions at Mantoverde.

Executive Commentary

President and CEO Cashel Meagher highlighted the company's strategic positioning, stating, "We are well positioned to become a leading long-life, low-cost copper producer, playing an important role in providing the copper the world needs now and into the future." Meagher also emphasized the significance of U.S. administration policies, saying, "The focus by the U.S. administration on copper produced in the U.S. has been timely for us."

Risks and Challenges

• Operational disruptions, such as motor failures at Mantoverde.
• Environmental challenges, including drought conditions affecting production.
• Market fluctuations in copper prices and demand.
• Potential delays in project expansions and new developments.
• Regulatory changes impacting mining operations.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the exploration potential at Breccia Flores and the rationale behind the Santo Domingo joint venture. The company also addressed challenges related to Mantoverde's motor failures and discussed improvements to Pinto Valley's water infrastructure. Potential future partnerships were also explored, indicating strategic initiatives for growth.

Full transcript - Capstone Mining Corp (CS) Q3 2025:

Operator: Good afternoon and welcome to Capstone Copper's Q3 2025 results conference call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, October 30, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Daniel Sampieri. Please go ahead.

Daniel Sampieri, Investor Relations, Capstone Copper: Thank you, Operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today to discuss our third-quarter results. Please note that the news release and regulatory filings are available on our website and on SEDAR Plus. If you are logged into the webcast, we will advance the slides of today's presentation, which are also available in the investor section of our website. I am joined today by our President and CEO, Cashel Meagher, our SVP and Chief Operating Officer, Jim Whittaker, and our SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Raman Randhawa. During the Q&A session at the end of the call, we will also be joined by our SVP, Risk, ESG, and General Counsel, Wendy King, and our Head of Technical Services, Peter Amelunxen, who are available for questions. Please note that comments made today on the call will contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws.

This information, by its nature, is subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. For further information, please see Capstone Copper's most recent filings, which are available on our website at www.capstonecopper.com. Finally, I'll just note that all amounts we will discuss today are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise specified. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to our President and CEO, Cashel Meagher.

Cashel Meagher, President and CEO, Capstone Copper: Thank you, Daniel, and hello to all of you dialing in from the Americas, Europe, Australia, and around the globe. Today, we are pleased to present our third-quarter 2025 results and achievements. Q3 was marked by several key catalysts on our path towards transformational growth. This included sanctioning and beginning construction on our Mantoverde Optimized project, which will deliver near-term production growth at our flagship asset through a capital-efficient brownfield expansion. This also included announcing a minority joint venture agreement with Orion Resource Partners at our Santo Domingo project, representing a major milestone towards unlocking the value of the Mantoverde-Santo Domingo district. At the same time, we continued to strengthen our pipeline through exploration and support of our commitment to building a world-class, long-life copper district in the Atacama.

We achieved encouraging results from phase one of a two-year drill program at Mantoverde and announced a new exploration program at Santo Domingo and Sierra Norte. While we increase production to meet the growing global demand for copper, we remain committed to doing so responsibly. Earlier this month, we were pleased to publish our 2024 Sustainability Report, which demonstrated steady progress on our sustainable development strategy. We also received the Copper Mark award at our Pinto Valley site in recognition of responsible production practices in one of the oldest mining districts in the United States. As we execute our strategy in a responsible and safe manner, we continue to focus on operational excellence at our existing operations, as highlighted on slide five. In Q3, our operations delivered consolidated copper production of 55.3 thousand tonnes at a consolidated C1 cash cost of $2.42 per pound.

This is the third quarter in a row that our team has delivered lower cash costs, especially during times of strong commodity prices. Cost control across the business ensures that margins are protected and incremental value is returned to our shareholders. Our Mantoverde site experienced higher-than-normal downtime this quarter, primarily due to motor failures in the ball mill, in addition to five days of planned maintenance. Our team worked collaboratively with third-party experts to return Mantoverde to full operating rates sooner than initially anticipated and continues to advance a remediation strategy to mitigate the potential for future impacts. The lower throughput during the quarter was partially offset by record recoveries as we continue to progress towards design levels.

We look forward to demonstrating the full potential of Mantoverde over the remainder of 2025 and into 2026 as we enhance the consistency of operation, execute on Mantoverde Optimized, and progress our exploration strategy. At Mantos Blancos, we achieved another quarter of strong production and cash costs despite slightly lower throughput due to maintenance completed during the quarter. Arizona continued to experience severe drought conditions in Q3, which resulted in constrained throughput at our Pinto Valley mine. In the near term, we are focused on the implementation of our asset management framework to achieve stable operations at Pinto Valley. Longer term, we remain committed to unlocking the significant value of Pinto Valley, an asset strategically positioned in the United States with over a billion tonnes of resources. At Cozamin, we saw another steady quarter with strong production and low unit costs.

Based on our operating performance over the first three quarters, we have reiterated our production and cost guidance. We expect total copper production to finish within the lower half of the range and cash costs to finish within the upper half of the range for 2025. We are positioned well for a strong finish to the year. Amidst strong commodity markets, we look forward to demonstrating reliable copper production, lower costs, and strong cash flow generation while continuing to advance our production growth opportunities in preparation for a strong 2026. With that, I'll pass over to Raman for our financial results.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Thank you, Cashel. We are now on slide six. In Q3, strong copper production and commodity prices drove record quarterly revenue of $598.4 million. We note that copper sales were around 2,600 tonnes above payable production levels, primarily due to timing of sales at Mantos Blancos. LME copper prices averaged $4.44 per pound in the quarter, up 3% compared to $4.32 per pound in Q2, and we realized a slightly higher copper price of $4.49 per pound. LME copper prices are even stronger today at just above $5 per pound. With over 90% of our revenue derived from copper, we stand to benefit significantly from higher copper prices. C1 cash cost of $2.42 per pound decreased by $0.03 from last quarter and by $0.42 compared to Q3 last year, marking the third quarter in a row our team has achieved lower cash cost.

Solid production and cost control allowed us to realize strong gross margins of $2.07 per pound, or 46% in Q3, which represents a 7% increase over Q2. By protecting margins, we can ensure that benefits from strong commodity prices flow through to our bottom line. Record adjusted EBITDA in Q3 of $249.2 million increased 106% year-over-year, driven by higher copper production, lower costs, and stronger copper prices. This is the fourth quarter in a row we've generated record EBITDA as we continue to realize the benefits of our recently ramped-up mines in Chile. We also reported strong operating cash flow of $231.2 million before working capital changes. Net operating cash flow of $153.4 million was impacted by adjustments of $77.8 million, largely due to a build-up of accounts receivables at Mantos Blancos. We also reported adjusted net income attributable to shareholders of $49.4 million, or $0.06 per share in Q3.

As you can see from our financial highlights, we achieved record results in a number of areas representative of a commitment to operational excellence across our organization. Moving on to slide seven. On the bottom left-hand side, we summarize our available liquidity, which, as at September 30th, was greater than $1 billion, including $310 million of cash in short-term investments and $761 million of undrawn amounts on our corporate revolving credit facility. We finished this quarter with a consolidated net debt of $726 million. In Q3, we continued to see our net leverage decline with our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 0.9x at the end of Q3. This is the seventh quarter in a row we have seen improvements to this metric as we deleverage our balance sheet ahead of Santo Domingo.

The chart on the right-hand side of the page illustrates our EBITDA sensitivity of various copper prices based on our 2025 forecast, as well as upside related to MVO and Santo Domingo at run-rate productions. The level of EBITDA generation will enable us to continue to generate cash to deleverage our balance sheet, further enhancing our financial position. For the balance of the year, a 10% change in copper prices impacts our EBITDA by approximately $50 million, and at these production levels, a 10% change impacts EBITDA by close to $200 million over a full-year basis. Now I'll hand it over to Jim Whittaker for the operations review.

Cashel Meagher, President and CEO, Capstone Copper: Thanks, Raman. We are now on slide nine, where we will first run through our Mantoverde operation. Total production yielded 23,769 tonnes of copper at a record low combined C1 cash cost of $2.27 per payable pound. In Q3, plant throughput averaged 27.5 thousand tonnes per day, which, of course, was impacted by the ball mill motor failures we had previously disclosed and five days of planned maintenance. As a result of an investigation with third-party experts and the manufacturer, we now understand that the failures were caused by an issue with a part within the motors called the exciter. We have been focused on repairing the failed motors and remediating the remaining motors while also implementing further protections to avoid potential future failures.

This has resulted in a bit of additional downtime in October, but now, as we sit here today, we have completed the required repairs on all five motors, including two in the ball mill, two in the SAG mill, and one spare, with another spare ordered and on the way as additional contingency. We are eager to get back above design throughput levels consistently, especially now that we are not constrained to 32,000 tonnes per day from a permitting perspective. Copper grades averaged 0.7% in Q3, with the highest grades of 0.81% occurring in September. Importantly, during Q3, we achieved record recoveries of 85.8%. July had lower recoveries as we finished mining through the transition zone, similar to what we experienced in Q2. In August and September, recoveries significantly improved as we progressed to predominantly sulfide ore zones.

It is also worth noting that recoveries starting from late August were impacted by the processing configuration where we bypassed the ball mill because of the motor failures. Using only the SAG mill resulted in a coarser grind and overall lowered recoveries, so we are quite pleased with the performance on the recoveries this quarter and believe we are well positioned heading into Q4 and 2024. Mantoverde is trending towards the lower end of its asset-level production guidance range and the upper end of the cost guidance range for 2024. This is primarily due to downtime associated with the motors and impacts from mining through the transition zone earlier this year. In Q4 specifically, we are expecting throughput just below 30,000 tonnes per day average. Moving now to slide ten, we wanted to provide a status update on the Mantoverde Optimized project.

After receiving the permit approval from the Chilean authorities in July, we announced project sanctioning in August and began construction. Mantoverde Optimized is an extremely attractive project for us, adding 20,000 tonnes per year of copper production at a low capital intensity of around $9,000 per tonne. Our capital cost of $176 million. Our scheduling expectation for the project remains unchanged. In 2026, we are expecting an additional 10 days of maintenance currently planned for Q3 in order to complete the final tie-in of infrastructure required for Mantoverde Optimized. We then plan to ramp up throughput during Q4 with a goal to achieve consistent 45,000 tonnes per day throughput rate in early 2027. We look forward to progressing construction to unlock near-term production growth at our flagship asset. Now moving north to Chile, Mantos Blancos continued to deliver strong results in Q3, as highlighted now on slide 11.

Total sulfide and cathode production yielded 15,417 tonnes of copper at C1 cash cost of $2.24 per payable pound. Throughput averaged 18.1 thousand tonnes in Q3, slightly below design levels as a result of maintenance. As we continue to work through our Mantos Blancos Phase Two study, the team on site was able to continue to push the plant, reaching an individual maximum daily throughput over 28,000 tonnes per day in September. As a result of strong throughputs and recoveries year to date, which we expect to continue through Q4, Mantos Blancos is trending towards the upper end of its production guidance range and the lower end of its cost guidance range for 2025. Turning to Pinto Valley on slide 12. We produced 9,949 tonnes of copper during Q3, lower than we had expected as the severe drought in central Arizona continued for longer than we had anticipated.

The lower production level is based on operating at only two-thirds availability, with only four of six mills online for the majority of the quarter driven by these water constraints. The lower throughput was partially offset by stronger grades and recoveries compared to Q1 and Q2. I am very pleased to report that throughout October, water levels were high enough to support a ramp-up to full availability, with all six mills now operational. We are committed to mitigating the impacts of drought at Pinto Valley through a number of initiatives that are ongoing. This includes improving on-site weather water infrastructure, evaluating potential agreements with other closed mines in the area that have impacted water, which could be used in our operations, and also leadership changes to improve the tactical focus. For Q4, we are expecting throughput to average around 50,000 tonnes per day after accounting for the performance in October.

When combined with the performance through the first three quarters, Pinto Valley is trending below the lower end of its production guidance range and above the higher end of its cost guidance range. The focus of the current U.S. administration on growing domestic copper production has provided further endorsement for the strategic value of Pinto Valley. We remain committed to unlocking the value of the significant resource at Pinto Valley through the evaluation of the upside opportunities on our land package and within our broader district. In the meantime, we will continue to improve the reliability of the plant to drive higher production and lower costs through our asset management framework. Moving to slide 13. Building on the success of the first half, Cozamin delivered another quarter of solid results in Q3, producing 6,145 tonnes of copper at C1 cash cost of $1.51 per payable pound.

Cozamin is tracking towards the upper end of its production guidance range and the lower end of its cost guidance range for 2025. We continue to conduct exploration at Cozamin to evaluate the potential for mine life extensions or for potential improvements to the production profile. With that, I'd like to pass it back to Cashel.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Thanks, Jim. Turning to slide 15. We recently announced a joint venture agreement with Orion Resource Partners at Santo Domingo. This transaction represents the culmination of a competitive process to select the premier partner that will assist Capstone Copper in unlocking the considerable value at Santo Domingo. Through this next phase of a long-standing partnership with Capstone Copper, Orion will contribute up to $360 million for 25% of the Santo Domingo project. They will also contribute their pro-rata share of project CapEx. Included in the total consideration is a base purchase price of $225 million at FID, a further $75 million six months later, and $60 million in contingent payments based on certain milestones. We believe the established contingent milestone thresholds are very achievable and endorse the value we expect to continue to create by increasing the copper production profile and bringing on byproduct cobalt production.

In our view, an extremely valuable part of this transaction is the buyback option, which allows us to reconsolidate 25% of Santo Domingo for a predetermined price based on a return threshold applied to Orion's contributions. We view this as a call option for Capstone Copper and one that is likely to be accretive for our shareholders, especially in a rising copper price environment. Orion has also subscribed for $10 million in equity, which will be used to fund a new exploration program targeted at the areas eligible for contingent payments. I'm proud of our team for reaching an agreement that realizes significant value and de-risks our project funding requirements while also retaining future optionality through a buyback option. Turning to slide 16. We have outlined the path towards sanctioning Santo Domingo.

With the required permits in hand, the feasibility study published last year, and a joint venture agreement reached, we will continue to progress the remaining workstreams in parallel towards a sanctioning decision in the second half of 2026. Next steps include securing project financing, which has already kicked off and is expected to take 12 months. We also plan to continue to progress detailed engineering, targeting closer to 60% ahead of sanctioning, while also advancing the upside opportunities and potential district optimizations. From a Capstone Copper corporate perspective, we will continue to strengthen our balance sheet through internally generated cash flows and reduce our net debt leverage further prior to a sanctioning decision. Having recently completed the Mantoverde development project, 35 kilometers away, we are extremely well positioned to execute on the Santo Domingo project.

In pursuit of our vision to build a world-class long-life copper district in Chile's Tier One Atacama region, we are unlocking value through the drill bit, as shown on slide 17. Supported by an expanded budget for 2025 of $40 million, we continue to advance the initial two-year exploration program at Mantoverde, as well as our recently announced program focused on Santo Domingo and Sierra Norte. Related to this, we are pleased to announce we have signed an exploration option agreement with Annamy for more than 18,000 hectares of concessions surrounding Sierra Norte, further consolidating our position in the region. We've already received some encouraging results from phase one of the exploration program at Mantoverde, as highlighted on slide 18. This includes the potential to improve our grade profile in the near to medium term via Breccia Flores sector.

Additionally, the results from step-out drilling at Annamass and the Santa Clara Corridor, pictured on the slide, have provided us with increased confidence in our future expansion plans. We look forward to advancing phase two of the exploration program, which is underway. It follows up on the results from phase one, such as at Annamass and the Santa Clara Corridor, and will also include targets on the highly prospective northern corridor of our Mantoverde concession identified through an IP survey completed earlier this year. There are seven drill rigs turning on site at Mantoverde, and this program will continue to inform further opportunities for growth within the district. Turning to slide 19. During Q3, we achieved a number of milestones, a testament to the executable nature of our organic growth opportunities.

At Capstone Copper, we are proud to have created a strong pipeline supported by a solid, diversified foundation of operating assets. As we enter the final quarter of 2025, we will continue to focus on operational execution, strengthening our balance sheet, and prudently advancing our projects to position us well for 2026. With sanctioning of Mantoverde Optimized behind us, we are hard at work upgrading the operation to sustain 45,000 tonnes per day, funded by internally generated cash flows. At Santo Domingo, signing of a joint venture agreement arrangement marked a significant milestone. We are now working on securing optimal financing for the project while advancing the remaining workstreams in parallel towards sanctioning. Beyond MVO and Santo Domingo, we have a strong pipeline of low-risk, high-return projects in top-tier jurisdictions.

This includes an expansion at Mantos Blancos to unlock incremental copper production, optionality to realize synergies in the MVSD district, and the potential development of another major copper district around our Pinto Valley mine in Arizona. A strong copper price environment and growing consensus of increasing future demand supports our growth strategy, reinforcing the importance of remaining agile to execute responsibly. With that, I'll turn to slide 20 to conclude today's presentation. In the third quarter, our current operations performed well, allowing us to realize the benefit of strong commodity prices by delivering solid production and improving our cash costs, resulting in record adjusted EBITDA. We also took tangible steps on our path towards transformative growth. We are well positioned to become a leading long-life, low-cost copper producer, playing an important role in providing the copper the world needs now and into the future. We are ready to take questions.

Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star button followed by the number one on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star button followed by the number two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. First question comes from Ralph M. Profiti from Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc. Go ahead, Ralph.

Ralph M. Profiti, Analyst, Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc.: Thanks, Operator. Good afternoon, everyone. Cashel, what's the earliest we may start to see some of these Breccia Flores and MVS intercept material into the mine plan? You talked about sort of short-term and medium-term. I'm just wondering if that means sort of 2026 or 2027, or will you wait until a more comprehensive block model is established?

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Yeah, Ralph, thanks. I think what we've done is, with that exploration release, we've developed a platform by which we can communicate in the future ongoing exploration results. It's a rather large program, so for us to be able to incorporate and interpolate the results into a mine plan, we kind of want to have much of the program complete. I would suspect that that would be a 2027, sometime first half of 2027, to be able to really show what effect it has on, number one, Mantoverde Optimized, because some of the drilling will affect the stripping and hopefully a little bit of the grade of it.

The phase two will be an ongoing process because we have ambitions that that district and that fault will yield higher grades that are more accessible than the immediate pit where just expanding the size of it, such that we can optimize what we call Mantoverde II and determine where that center of gravity of future resources is to properly locate the expanded and the additional production facility that Mantoverde II would provide for.

Ralph M. Profiti, Analyst, Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc.: I see. I understand much clearer now. Thank you. I wanted a follow-up question on Santo Domingo, and I'm just wondering about the relationship between the $60 million contingent cash consideration that comes upon those three milestones and the potential exercise of that buyback right. I'm just wondering whether or not some of those conditions would happen before or after, or in concert with each other. Some help with that would be appreciated.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Yeah. That's a very good question. The way we look at it, certainly the upgrade of the Sierra Norte and the oxides, to us, that's something we're getting underway right away. We suspect that in the fullness of the development of Santo Domingo, that we will be able to realize two of the three payments during the development process. We look to enhancing the NAV by that drilling. Basically, number one, it's to improve the grades beyond year seven in the current production profile as published in September of 2024 for the grades or for the copper grades and production of copper from eight through '15. Also, to establish an oxide leaching facility at Santo Domingo, whereby we can utilize the capacity available in the SXEW at Mantoverde to complement that copper production. Probably we would meet those thresholds before commercial development or commercial production, I should say.

The threshold for our buyback is post-commercial production. It'll be hit or miss if we're ready with the cobalt, but we might be. It's a cobalt study during that process also, which is the remaining $20 million. I think what's important about those three items is they're enhancers to the NAV of Santo Domingo, which is distinct and different to what the buyback is based on, which is a multiple to the contributions that Orion makes during the construction and the buy-in to Santo Domingo. All that NAV created by those $60 million in payment are to our account and hopefully increase the NAV of the asset and therefore make our buyback of that 25% more attractive and accretive to Capstone Copper.

Ralph M. Profiti, Analyst, Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc.: Gotcha. I see. I'm much clearer now. Thanks, Cashel. Congratulations on a well-executed deal with optionality.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Thank you very much.

Operator: Next question comes from Orest Wowkodaw from Scotiabank. Go ahead.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: Oh, hi. Good evening. Wondering if we can get some more color on the progress at Mantoverde Sulfides. Specifically, obviously, you had the issues in September. Can you give us a sense of where throughput and recoveries were in October? Did I hear correctly that you were earlier guided to average throughput for the quarter of, I think, just below 30,000 tons a day? Did I hear that right?

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Yeah. Thanks, Orest. Yes, you did hear what the throughput ended up being due to the interruptions in production. Fortunately, Jim and his team were able to run the SAG mill independent of the issues we had, such that we could continue producing sort of at a half clip. We were able to maintain sort of production. With that being said, there's some detailed questions in there. I'll hand it over to Jim to answer more fully your question around October and some of the issues around what we experienced in Q3.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: Thank you.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Yeah. Cheers, Cashel. Yeah, it was a pretty tough quarter in general. As Cashel said, we managed to get through it kind of limping through because we did have a design option in the MVDP design that allows us to run the SAG mill direct to flotation. Although there was a moderate impact on recovery, we were able to partially operate. All in all, I think we had a pretty good month considering that during the same time, we were basically switching motor for motor and replacing the exciter, which is basically the part that controls the power into the main shell and frame of the motor in each of the five units that we have, which was quite complex. This was all done off-site. There was a lot of logistics involved, a lot of cranes involved.

We were working very closely with our partner Inga team to be able to perform all that work, which was quite complicated, actually. Right now, when we're looking at the plant, we've got four motors in place operating. We have one rebuilt spare that's on the deck. We do have a crane and everything at site in case we have any further work to do. We continue to work on the control systems and protections around those motors to make sure we have some consistent operation. As we mentioned in the text, October is going to be a bit of a difficult month.

We haven't closed out finally on the month and the data yet, but we're looking forward to a much stronger end of Q4 and bringing up the throughput to be able to push us into the line of our guidance, what we expected from Mantoverde, but we'll just be on the lower edge. We have a lot of work left in front of us. With respect to recovery, yeah, I can make a couple of comments. Obviously, with the tonnage changes and the configuration changes, it's been up and down a bit. During Q3, we did achieve recoveries above 90% during August, early in the quarter, which was very good for the group as we managed to get some confidence around running the flotation circuit and those configurations to push that recovery up.

Except for Q2, remember when we discussed we had a lot of altered material coming in or all of, I guess you would call it semi-oxidizing material coming in. Except for Q2, on a quarterly basis, we really saw the recoveries coming up and increasing. We were really looking at 82% in the early year. We were roughly 86% in Q3 of this year. We're really, really happy with the way that's going. It's running pretty steadily now. We're almost at the design recovery levels of, say, 87% and above. We expect to continue to achieve these recoveries in the mid to upper 80% in Q4 and then consistently look for these design recovery rates in 2026. As I said, a difficult quarter. Very, very complicated trying to maintain consistent flotation recovery when we're having these plant stoppages because of the motor issues.

I think we're able to get ourselves through it. Still some work to do. A lot of people on site, a lot of technical people, and the support from obviously Acinco and FLS and Inga team to help us through this issue. I think we're in really good shape to finish off the year and still some work to do.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: Just a follow-up. How much time did you guys lose in October with this issue? I thought this was largely behind you at the end of September.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: No, we were still working on that. Yeah. Go ahead, Cashel.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: No, yeah. Jim, go ahead.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: I was just going to say, a lot of the big impact was through Q3. Obviously, during this month of October, we were starting off full, but there was still, obviously, within our program maintenance, still continuing to work on the motors. As we disclosed during Q3, we did have that impact. We also took time down for maintenance, which was planned. We're still, during the month of October, even though we're looking very, very positive about the quarter, there's still some work to do on that, but we're able to manage that within our normal maintenance downs that we're working through with the motors.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: Okay, thank you very much.

Operator: Next question is from Dalton Baretto from Canaccord Genuity Corp. Go ahead.

Cashel Meagher, President and CEO, Capstone Copper: Thanks, operator. Good afternoon or evening, Cashel and team. I'd like to swing the conversation back to the Santo Domingo JV. Cashel, can you comment on how you guys made the decision on going with Orion? Like what sort of criteria? Was it the buyback option? Was it the fact that they were already a shareholder? Just any thoughts around that? Thank you.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Yeah. All of the above. Thanks, Dalton. Number one, obviously, we have a very good relationship with Orion. They were with John MacKenzie, our Chairman, part founders at Mantos Copper and founder in the new Capstone Copper. They were obviously one-third shareholders at one period of time and have worked with us quite cooperatively through the last number of years. They had insight into our project delivery, our project management, and our operating teams. With that being said, we had classical interest in this process whereby there were traders, smelters, sovereign wealth funds, and obviously private equity involved. We weighed the various benefits relative to one another, and there's one familiarity, knowing a partner and trusting them.

One of the things that became very important to us, besides maybe the classically seeking advantageous rates in financing for our ambitions to finance Santo Domingo, was recently Orion also has announced that they have partnerships with the U.S. government and the United Arab Emirates on various funds and access to funds. We feel that they can bring some of that to bear in the financing of Santo Domingo. That sort of leveled them out with some of the more classical players that would have that type of opportunity available to the funding of Santo Domingo. The other one is the buyback option. It sort of came to our attention during this TCRC process that when you have a partner in an asset, the copper you value the most is the copper you produce yourself.

Having a partner, while it's very important to de-risk the project, value the project, and finance the project, at some point, you covet the copper you produce that somebody else gets to sell, and that's the original deal. We sort of inspected with the various parties that were participating whether or not there was a possibility to buy back that asset, and lo and behold, that sort of suited the model of a private equity and certainly with Orion. We were able to come to an arrangement that we think is advantageous and is to our call as an option shortly after commercial production when the asset's at its most valuable. That became very attractive to us. I think that's what put it over the edge besides the familiarity that we have with Orion as a financing entity.

Cashel Meagher, President and CEO, Capstone Copper: That's really great, Cashel. Thank you for that. That sort of preempted my next question around project financing and the cost there. Maybe I'll ask a different one. Thinking broadly across the Mantoverde Santo Domingo complex now, you've got two different partners at either asset plus the DL600 at Santo Domingo. How does that play into your thinking around some of these synergies and the net returns to each asset? I'm just wondering if it opens certain doors and closes others.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: No, I think it keeps all doors open. One way or other, you mentioned the DL600, which is our tax stability agreement, and that'll keep the two entities separate irrespective for accounting purposes and tax calculation out of Santo Domingo and Mantoverde. It doesn't preclude us from establishing transfer pricing for any of the shared infrastructure or materials between the two areas. We'll just work through what those are and how they work out. I think what's important is in our process we did identify some strategic possible partnership whereby we could optimize the future design by sharing infrastructure within the region. To us, that's a very appealing improvement that we can execute on beyond what appeared in the 2024 technical report. That revolves around pipelines, desalination plants, and principally the port.

We'll pursue those in parallel with our financing efforts and our detailed engineering over the next year to de-risk the project and the project delivery further. We still think there's more upside to come out of Santo Domingo by that sort of negotiation. In addition, as I was speaking before, the opportunity to leach material at Santo Domingo and enhance the copper profile beyond year seven with the oxide and the Sierra Norte sulfides will be enhanced opportunities. Just utilizing the SXEW at Mantoverde, of course, will also enhance the NAV at Santo Domingo in the future and reduce the unit costs at Mantoverde. It's a very virtuous optimization where both assets benefit. That's the advantage of operating in a district.

Cashel Meagher, President and CEO, Capstone Copper: Thanks, Cashel. I'll jump back in here.

Operator: Next question is from Fahad Tariq from Jefferies LLC. Go ahead.

Ralph M. Profiti, Analyst, Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc.: Hi. Thanks for taking my question. On slide 11 on Mantos Blancos, what was the unplanned maintenance that happened in the quarter?

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Yeah, Fahad, thanks. I'll pass that over to Jim to answer.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: Hi, Fahad. Yeah. Thanks, Cashel, for passing that. At Mantos Blancos, we had some issues through the quarter with a final concentrate thickener. As you know, the Mantos Blancos site is very old. It started in 1957. When we were doing a routine planned maintenance, we encountered some issues around the base of our final con thickener, where basically 100% of the production passes through that thickener. What we found, we had some, I guess you would call some weaknesses in the structure below the thickener. We had to take a look at that, and that included draining the thickener, drilling through the base, investigating, and then refilling those void spaces that we found. There was a lot of very specific work done on that to make sure that it's not going to be an issue in the future.

It may be something that we'll have to revisit in our five-year planning to see if we look at any further replacement of that equipment. It was done very, very efficiently by the team on site. We had some external specialist contractors helping us with that work, and we were able to bring the thickener back on without any harm to anybody working on the job. There was a lot of movement, but a good focus on that. Mantos Blancos was able to come back up online, and actually now positioning to be at the high end of its guidance for the full year.

Ralph M. Profiti, Analyst, Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc.: Okay. Thanks. Maybe just switching gears, a question for Raman. On the balance sheet targets before sanctioning Santo Domingo, is it fair to say that those have been achieved? I'm just trying to square that because the net debt-to-EBITDA target has been met, so has the liquidity target. Is there further deleveraging that needs to happen? I'm just trying to understand those two points.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: Yeah. That's a good question. It's a good position to be in. We have met our targets. Our target was 1X, and we're at 0.9. We were at 1X last quarter. That doesn't mean, obviously, at this price environment, we're going to continue to delever ahead of Santo Domingo sanctioning. We're just putting us in a better position pre-FID. I'm looking forward to seeing that number go down even further.

Ralph M. Profiti, Analyst, Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc.: Is there another target that you're thinking of post-project financing? In other words, once you have the project financing in place, is there a higher leverage that you kind of wouldn't want to exceed?

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: During construction, I think we said we always want to be at least below 2X is kind of when we run our numbers. If you look at floor versus cap, I think we were getting below 1 and then no higher than 2X during construction because our EBITDA will be strong. When we're constructing Santo Domingo, it'll be north of $1 billion.

Cashel Meagher, President and CEO, Capstone Copper: Okay, that's very clear. Thank you.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: Thanks.

Operator: Next question is from Daniel Sampieri from Cormark Securities Inc. Go ahead.

Daniel Sampieri, Analyst, Cormark Securities Inc.: Yeah. Hi, Cashel and team. Can we just talk a little bit about momentum at Pinto Valley? It looks like you were mining at reasonable rates. Obviously, despite the drought, you were mining at a good clip. Does that mean you have the mine in a good place to provide good grades into 2026? Do you have the water to continue to sustainably run these mills, or is that still something that's a little nervous? Are there any upgrades that you've done to the mills during this downtime that could improve operational stability for 2026? Basically, how's the asset looking?

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Yeah. Jim, why don't you take that?

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: Yeah. Sure, Cashel. Thanks. Great question. It's good that you're noticing the mining uptick as we are too. We actually had a really good quarter on the mining side of the business. We hit a one-day record of about 190,000 tons moved through the last month. We've been taking a lot of steps to invest correctly at Pinto Valley. We have some new trucks that are coming online, and we're really starting to see the benefit of that. Between that, the work that we're doing on asset management, the work that we're doing on the operating system, we've seen consistent and steady increases in mining output at Pinto Valley, which is promising and sets us up for the future. On a grade basis, to tell you the truth, we're right on target where we expected to be through this year. Remember, it is a porphyry deposit.

It's kind of a lot of the same grade. There are small variances, but we're right on our target where we expect to be with that site. The big thing was really the water. Through the summer months, these one in 100-year droughts seemed to be happening more frequently. It was really tough through the summer months, and we obviously had to back off in the milling operation just because we didn't have water in our reservoirs to be able to run it. There are three main sources, I think you could say, of water that feed into that plant. We have three different groupings of action plans that are focused on those sources. One, you just have transport from well fields to the plant.

The focus there is making sure that our older pipeline systems are in good condition and we're investing in them correctly to make sure that doesn't become an issue for us in the future, just from the availability point of view of the equipment. There's also the evaporation aspect of it, which is about storage facilities and deposit reclaim. The reclaim water that we take back off of the tailings area is very important to us. When the water levels are so low, it makes it very, very difficult to receive filtered water. Some of it is about making sure now that we're into the winter months and we're receiving water, that we're not losing that water and we're taking care of those reclaim facilities. The other issue is seepage. Our oldest reservoir has some seepage through it, which basically is a loss for us.

We're currently running some projects right now to look at how we can mitigate that and minimize that in the future by different methods of kind of. Covering off, I guess you could say, that reservoir or the areas that we lose water into the base of the reservoir. A lot of work going on now to set up for the next year. We do think the data that we have tells us that next summer is going to be a tough summer, and it's dependent on us right now to be able to store water to be in better shape for the 2026 summer months.

Daniel Sampieri, Analyst, Cormark Securities Inc.: Thank you. With regard to just mill availability and stability, any works on that, I mean, you could improve the reliability of the mill throughput for next year versus what we've experienced in recent times?

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst, Scotiabank: Yeah. Absolutely. Our focus is really on asset management and maintenance. I think the biggest upside that we're going to see at Pinto Valley is being able to run the mine and the plant consistently. That means that the maintenance side of the business is going to have to give that uptime that we need. We're looking, obviously, right now into budgeting for the next year. We're looking at our position on the five-year plan. We're looking at higher values of that. That obviously will come out with our guidance in the future. We're a bit bullish on what we think we can do with our maintenance processes and actually bringing stability to that site.

Daniel Sampieri, Analyst, Cormark Securities Inc.: Okay. Thank you for your perspectives.

Operator: Next question comes from Craig Hutchinson from TD Bank. Go ahead.

Craig Hutchinson, Analyst, TD Bank: Hi. Good afternoon, guys. Just one follow-up question. Just on Pinto Valley, can you talk to some of the strategic initiatives you guys are looking at around Pinto Valley with Copper Cities? There seems to be, obviously, a huge focus from the U.S. administration to produce domestic copper. Any updates on that front or timing around future milestones would be appreciated. Thanks.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Certainly. Hi, Craig. The focus by the U.S. administration on copper produced in the U.S. has been timely for us. We still anticipate the end of this year being in a position whereby we can talk to our neighbors around what is the future and how is Pinto Valley involved. As the only operator within the district, we're still on time. We expect internally to be executing on that option agreement before the end of this year and then next year discussing what is the art of the possible within the area. Simply put, I think the industry understands that quite often cooperation with adjacent sites can produce more value for multiple companies or both companies, and that's what we're focused on. We hope in the first or second quarter of next year to have more news on what we can expect out of the future of Pinto Valley.

Craig Hutchinson, Analyst, TD Bank: Okay. Great. Thanks, guys.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Yeah.

Operator: Next question is from Adam Baker from Macquarie. Go ahead.

Adam Baker, Analyst, Macquarie: Hi, Cashel and team. Thanks for the call. Just maybe a quick follow-up to that question. Just wondering if you've had any engagement with BHP or is that something that you're working through internally with relation to Copper Cities? This is just on the back of Mark Henry being in the United States recently meeting Donald Trump. It appears that BHP is turning a lot more positive on some of their legacy assets in Arizona.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Yeah. Adam, thanks. Certainly. There's a lot of focus on U.S. copper. There's a lot of focus on domestic refinement. There's a lot of focus on the endowment of resources that exist in the American Southwest. What I would say is within our district, the Globe Miami, we're the principal producer. We're the only one with a sulfide plant. We do have a large resource. We have a billion tons at Pinto Valley. We do have right now, in our technical report, a mine life out to 2039 or 2038, and we do have opportunity to expand that out beyond 2050. We're working with our neighbors to understand if there's more value to be had there. A few years ago, we did announce that we went into an option agreement on Copper Cities to be able to evaluate how the two assets might work together to create more copper.

That remains sort of on target, and that work remains in progress. What I can say is if something materializes from that work, we think we'd be in a position to talk about that maybe in the first half of next year.

Adam Baker, Analyst, Macquarie: That's great. Thanks very much. Yeah, congrats on getting the deal done at Santo Domingo. Just wondering now that you've done the deal, you mentioned the pathway through the project financing route. Is there any room to bring in a third partner into the JV now that selldown's been complete? Just trying to think of this in context of some of the pre-existing infrastructure, which is in the region. Ports, etc.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: I think most avenues are on the table. Certainly, there is a possibility of that, to bring in a third partner to be able to access maybe infrastructure that can enhance the value overall of the project. We really haven't taken any sort of avenue of engagement off the table.

Adam Baker, Analyst, Macquarie: Got it. We'll watch this space. Thanks, Cashel.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Okay. Thank you, Adam.

Operator: Next question is from Anita Soni from CIBC World Markets. Go ahead. Anita, you are free to ask your question.

Anita Soni, Analyst, CIBC World Markets: Sorry about that. On mute. Just one quick follow-up on Mantoverde. I just wanted to close the loop on the expectations for Q4. 30,000 tons of copper, sorry, 35,000 tons of throughput for the quarter. In terms of the grade, I think you guys had mentioned 0.81% in October. Is that kind of the expectation for the remainder of the quarter as well? 91% recovery rates, is that also the expectation, or is it somewhat lower than that?

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Hi, Anita. Like Jim sort of was explaining, we're probably in October, what our target was—originally, our target before these interruptions with the motors was we would push beyond 32,000 tons a day because we had the permit to do so. What we were really hoping for was a good run rate through Q4 such that we could establish a good guidance while we perform the necessary works at Mantoverde Optimized to take us to the end of the year where we would ramp up to 45,000 tons a day exiting 2026. The way I sort of characterize it is we're somewhere between three-quarters and two-thirds of that 32,000 tons a day through October, but with the ambition to be up around 34,000, 35,000 through November and December is the way we look at it.

As far as the grade goes, I think we trend—I think the 0.81% isn't sustainable through the whole area, but high 0.7%s, low 0.8%s is sort of where we'll average out most likely for Q4.

Anita Soni, Analyst, CIBC World Markets: Okay. Thanks. That's it for my questions. Thank you very much.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: You're welcome.

Operator: Next question is from Marcio Farid Filho from Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Please go ahead.

Marcio Farid Filho, Analyst, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.: Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for the time. Just a quick follow-up maybe on the amount of this cost expectations into the fourth quarter. I think the guidance is to be on the high end of the cost. So far this year, I think performance has been better than expected, and maybe mostly on stronger byproducts as well. Just wondering how should we think about cost going into the fourth quarter? I know the ramp-up in terms of throughput might not be as strong as otherwise expected because of the motor failure, but it seems like the guidance is conservative at this point. Just wondering if there's anything else to be considered into the fourth quarter. Thank you.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Hi, Marcio. Yeah. Basically, I think the way we look at it, consolidated-wise as a company, we're sort of mid to high on the cost guidance where we see ourselves by the end of the year. Q3 obviously was a little higher cost, but we expect Q4 to improve on that throughout the balance of Q4. As I sort of stated, probably because of the denominator being a little lower in October, but with things trending the right way now for November and December, we can do a little better in Q4 than we did in Q3 with respect to Mantoverde's cost.

Marcio Farid Filho, Analyst, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.: Great. Thank you. Just a quick follow-up on Pinto Valley. Obviously, Mark Scott has been appointed as General Manager recently. It seems like the water issues are or can be expected to be resolved. Anything else in terms of operational turnaround that can be expected at Pinto Valley to improve the overall cost position there? What is Mark's kind of target going forward now? Thank you.

Raman Randhawa, SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Capstone Copper: Yeah. I think the way we sort of look at Pinto Valley, it's very much denominator-driven. Our ambition this year was to run the asset at 52,000 tons a day, and we sort of ran into that sort of drought situation. The way I always look at the asset is the asset on an instantaneous basis can process ore at 62,000 tons a day. We have six mills, and if we're running all six mills full out, that's what it is. Due to the age of the asset, what would be suggested best in class is 90% utilization. The best that asset can do when operating sustainably is about 56,000 tons a day. Mark's ambition is over the next year to year and a half, move it from what we're currently doing, 50,000 tons a day to 56,000 tons a day. That's with the asset as it is.

There are other improvement projects and items we're reviewing from our Mines Technical Services Group to enhance the opportunity for future production or production increases. Right now, the focus is on, as Jim mentioned, the asset management framework, which will allow the availability of the plant such that the ore can be delivered. The other is a management. Operating

Operator: system that Mark's bringing to the platform to be able to get more efficient work out of his maintenance group, out of his operating group, and therefore just be more operationally efficient and deliver on that operational excellence such that we can use that capacity that exists between the 50,000 and 56,000. It's not all maintenance. Some of it is the water, as Jim discussed, and the combination of the two, we believe, will allow us to deliver the full potential out of Pinto Valley over the balance of the next year or so.

Daniel Sampieri, Investor Relations, Capstone Copper: That's great. Thanks for the details.

Cashel Meagher, President and CEO, Capstone Copper: Okay. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Cashel Meagher for final closing comments.

Operator: Thank you, Operator. We look forward to updating you in February with our Q4 results. Until then, stay safe and feel free to reach out to Daniel, Michael, or Claire if you have further questions. Thank you for your continued support, and have a great day.

Cashel Meagher, President and CEO, Capstone Copper: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a great day.

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