Earnings call transcript: Wesdome Gold Mines Q1 2025 earnings beat expectations

Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. reported a robust financial performance for the first quarter of 2025, surpassing earnings and revenue forecasts. The company achieved an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.42, exceeding the expected $0.3729, and reported revenue of $187.62 million, above the forecasted $177.23 million. According to InvestingPro data, the company maintains excellent financial health with a "GREAT" overall score, supported by strong profitability and growth metrics. Despite these strong results, the stock showed a modest increase of 0.42% in after-hours trading.

Key Takeaways

• EPS and revenue both exceeded market expectations.
• The company reported significant year-over-year growth across key financial metrics.
• Stock price reaction was modest despite strong earnings results.
• Zero debt and substantial liquidity position highlight financial strength.
• Continued focus on exploration and production growth.

Company Performance

Wesdome Gold Mines showcased a strong start to 2025, with significant improvements across financial metrics compared to the previous year. The company reported a 5x increase in net income, reaching $62 million, and nearly tripled its EBITDA to $120 million. InvestingPro analysis indicates the stock appears undervalued based on its Fair Value model, while maintaining impressive profitability with a 65% gross margin and 35% return on equity. This performance reflects the company’s successful operational strategies and favorable market conditions, including a 38% increase in gold prices.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $198 million (86% increase YoY)
• Earnings per share: $0.42 (5x increase YoY)
• EBITDA: $120 million (nearly tripled YoY)
• Free Cash Flow: $48 million (2.5x increase YoY)
• Cash Balance: $168 million

Earnings vs. Forecast

Wesdome Gold Mines exceeded analysts’ expectations with an EPS of $0.42 against a forecast of $0.3729, marking a 12.7% surprise. Revenue also surpassed forecasts, reaching $187.62 million compared to the expected $177.23 million. This strong performance underscores the company’s effective management and operational efficiency.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings announcement, Wesdome’s stock experienced a modest increase of 0.42%, closing at $16.85. While this movement is relatively subdued given the earnings beat, the stock remains near its 52-week high, reflecting overall positive investor sentiment.

Outlook & Guidance

The company anticipates a second-half weighted production for 2025, with Presque Hill expected to contribute 10,000 ounces. Wesdome is targeting 35-40,000 tons from Presque Hill within the year and plans to potentially increase its exploration budget by $5 million. Technical reports are expected in the first half of 2026, providing further insights into future performance. The company’s strong momentum is reflected in its impressive 49.8% price return over the past six months, as tracked by InvestingPro’s advanced technical analysis tools.

Executive Commentary

Anthea Bath, CEO, remarked, "The year is off to a good start, and we’re pleased to be sharing with you another quarter with solid results across the board." Jono Lawrence, SVP Exploration, emphasized the company’s strategic focus, stating, "Our strategy is designed to generate incremental additions to resources in the near term, to generate at least one new discovery in the medium term."

Risks and Challenges

• Potential production and exploration cost increases could impact future profitability.
• Market saturation or broader economic conditions may temper stock performance.
• Strategic integration of the Angus Gold acquisition poses execution risks.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about Wesdome’s tailings capacity, which the company confirmed is sufficient until 2037. Questions also focused on the hybrid mining approach and potential capital deployment strategies, highlighting investor interest in operational efficiency and growth plans.

Full transcript - Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (WDO) Q1 2025:

Conference Operator: Good morning. Welcome to Westham Gold Mines conference call to discuss the company’s financial and operating results for the first quarter ended 03/31/2025. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Your host for today is Trish Moran, Westum’s vice president of investor relations. Ms.

Moran, please go ahead.

Trish Moran, VP Investor Relations, Westham Gold Mines: Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I’d like to point out that during today’s call, we may make forward looking statements as defined under Canadian securities law. I ask that you view our slide presentation for cautionary language regarding forward looking statements and the risk factors pertaining to these statements. Please note that all figures discussed on this call are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. Our press release, MD and A and financial statements are available both on SEDAR plus and on our corporate website weststone.com.

With us on today’s webcast is Anthea Bath, West Elm’s president and CEO Guy Baloo, our COO Fernando Ragone, our CFO Jono Lawrence, SVP exploration Raj Gill, SVP Corporate Development and Investor Relations and Kevin Lonergan, SVP Technical Services. Following management’s formal remarks,

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: we will then open the call to questions. And now over to Anja. Thank you, Trish. Good morning, everyone. The year is off to a good start, and we’re pleased to be sharing with you another quarter with solid results across the board.

Starting with health and safety, we continue to see reductions in our lagging indicators. By way of example, our total recordable incident frequency rate is the in the first quarter is at its lowest level in more than four years, a result that demonstrates that our efforts to build the safety culture are working. As shown on slide four, we produced nearly 46,000 ounces, and our quarter one financials captured the upside move in the gold price and set many quarterly records, revenue, EBITDA, net income, free cash flow. Importantly, these records were set on a per share basis as well. We also increased our liquidity to $318,000,000, which included a hundred and $68,000,000 in cash and a $150,000,000 of undrawn full capacity on our revolver.

As we go through this quarter’s results, there are three key messages that we want to emphasize. Firstly, as outlined in release, operating performance is expected to be second half weighted, primarily driven by Skill All coming online in the second half of twenty twenty five. ’2, we are making progress on embedding our principles of optimization and value creation across these operations. And thirdly, we’re advancing the Fulham Hall strategy, which will daylight value for our shareholders. Post quarter end, we announced the acquisition of Angus Gold, a transaction expected to close by the June.

The acquisition is a strong fit within our strategy. As you can see on Slide five, it offers a unique opportunity to consolidate and expand the perspective land position around Eagle River, quadrupling it to roughly 400 square kilometers. This transaction underscores our long term commitment to Eagle River and will meaningfully enhance our regional greenfield exploration pipeline. We are the logical acquirer of Anders with a strong balance sheet, established infrastructure and strategic relationships, we’re in a great position to build on the impressive groundwork already laid out and accelerate both exploration and development across the combined land package, creating real value for our shareholders. Moving to slide six, our organic growth strategy, what we call the fill the mill, has the potential to unlock significant additional value to our shareholders over the next three to five years.

If you recall, the strategy has three pillars, namely the global resource model initiative, strategic exploration, and cost optimization. Work related to each of these initiatives is ongoing, and we’ll be incorporating to new technical reports for both Eagle River and Kiena next year. Let me update you on what we hope to achieve on each of these assets. At Eagle River, the focus of the global model initiative is on incorporating all available data. To get there, we’re completing the QAQC processes to qualify the database, including all historic drilling that was recently digitized.

We have modeled the target areas and designed an aggressive drill program aimed at maximizing conversion. We want to ensure we can revisit the potential for restart at the historic Meshia and Magnecon areas. Moving to Kiena, our ultimate aim is the same, but our focus areas to unlock value are different. Whereas the Eagle River technical report is looking to drive drive value primarily from the global model resource model initiative. At Kiena, we look to unlock value through a combination of cost optimization, inclusion of near surface deposits along 33 level, and holistic strategic mining planning.

There’s much work upfront to be done to publish these two technical reports in 2026, and we’ll certainly keep you updated along the way. Now over to Guy to review the quarter’s operating highlights.

Guy Baloo, COO, Westham Gold Mines: Thank you, Antia. Good morning, everyone. The year is off to a solid start. Moving to Slide nine. Eagle River delivered a strong quarter one performance, producing approximately 29,000 ounces, up 16% compared to the same quarter in 2024, driven by sequence and dilution control.

As planned, approximately 65% of tons produced came from two zones, three hundred seven twenty Falcon. The average head grade at Eagle River was above the guidance range for the quarter due to two main factors: carryover of material from a high grade stope in the 300 Zone from late twenty twenty four into Q1 and positive grade reconciliation in a stope in the 720 Falcon zone. Sequencing remains compliant to the overall plan for the year end. In the second quarter, process grades are planned to be back within the guidance range. As we open up new mining fronts, we’re creating optionality and flexibility within our mining plan, resulting in a higher level of predictability.

Notably, we have increased our available stope inventory to three months and are establishing new mining areas for sustainable production such as six, eight and five zones. 300 zones development is planned to be one year ahead of the production front, giving us ample time for delineation of the ore body at depth. As part of our plan to set up Eagle River for long term success, a continuous improvement program has been implemented and is beginning to see results. One of our focus areas has been a transition from contractor to owner operated activities. Plans are in place to transition the surface ore haulage to owner operated by the end of the second quarter, and we also continue to see a progressive transition of the underground development meters.

Another focus has been on maintenance and warehouse improvements. By investing in infrastructure and improving our practices in these areas, we can significantly enhance equipment availability and reliability. Furthermore, dilution control continues to improve, contributing to Eagle’s reverse positive results, particularly in long haul stoping through a multiphase program initiated late in 2024. On the processing side, throughput increased to an average of six sixty seven tonnes per day, an increase of 18% over the first quarter of last year and 10% above the 2024 average. This reflects the success of our 2024 initiatives to boost drilled and developed inventory as well as operational debottlenecking and optimization.

All in sustaining costs for quarter one were $13.37 dollars per ounce, including $13,000,000 in sustaining CapEx. In 2025, we’re also making investments to improve mill reliability and upgrade infrastructure during a two week scheduled shutdown this month. We’re proud of Eagle River’s performance to date and are excited about what lies ahead. Turning now to Kiena on Slide 10. Our focus remains on ramping up Kiena Deep and delivering value to our shareholders.

In quarter one, Kiena produced about 16,700 ounces, double the output of quarter one twenty twenty four. While it was planned that Q1 would be the lowest production quarter of the year due to planned sequencing, there was also a delay in the sequencing of some key high grade stoping and development areas due to lower than planned equipment availability, which is being addressed. Maintaining strict adherence for the mining plan remains a critical performance driver for Kienaadi. The second quarter is expected to improve, and the back half of the year is projected to represent 60% of total production as outlined in our guidance release in January. Overall grade reconciliation of Kena Deep is trending well to block model grades, and the mine delivered an average head grade of 10.8 gram per tonne in quarter one twenty twenty five despite processing a small volume of lower grade material from the recovered stope.

In the quarter, we experienced a delay in the sequencing in some key high grade stoping and development areas due to lower than planned equipment availability. To improve performance, our focus remains on maintenance reliability, mine planning and execution and increasing available mining fronts as we move towards first production from Presque Hill and mining at level 136 next year. The hybrid cut and fill mining method continues to be implemented in specific area and is yielding better than expected results with a significant reduction in dilution. Moving from mining to processing, the mill performed well in quarter one twenty twenty five, processing five forty one tonnes per day, up 7% year over year. Associated production costs per ton were $489 a ton, a 5% increase over Q1 twenty twenty four, primarily due to higher mining and site administration costs.

All in sustaining costs for the quarter were $14.12 dollars per ounce and includes $9,000,000 in sustaining CapEx. Another $9,000,000 in sustaining CapEx, mostly related to delivery of our first battery electric trucks, was carried over from quarter one to quarter two. These new energy efficient vehicles, the first ones for Welleslow, will improve material movement and free up ventilation capacity. There is a lot going on at Kena beyond day to day operation. Let me highlight the status of several ongoing projects.

First, we recently completed the exploration drift on Level 134, setting us up for drilling success with two active underground platforms. Next, 136 is expected to be completed in Q3, establishing a second mining horizon. Our goal is to have three minuteing fronts by year end. The Presque Hill continues to advance towards a year end completion target. This 2.5 kilometer ramp is the final major step in gaining access to material in the upper portion of the Kiena mine and a critical component of achieving our fill the mill strategy.

Across the Presqueville deposit is already established, and our guidance calls for up to 10,000 ounces from the area in 2025. It’s a busy year at Kiena, and the team remains sharply focused on safe, disciplined execution. And now over to Jono to discuss exploration.

Jono Lawrence, SVP Exploration, Westham Gold Mines: Thank you, Guy. Good morning, everyone. So during my first four months at Westone, I’ve had the opportunity to have robust conversations with the exploration and geology teams at site, visit our extensive land packages, familiarize myself with the geology and review past drill programs and results. From this collaborative work, the teams now have revised West Dome’s exploration strategy to better support the company’s organic growth plans. The key shift in focus has been from short term reserve replacement to a longer term growth oriented thinking.

We’ve come up with a program that creates the most value for our shareholders by effectively supporting our short, medium and long term growth aspirations. Going in reference to Slide 12, I’m going to highlight this strategy, which is a time guided resource generative approach, resulting in a project pipeline designed to extend the life of our mines. The strategy is designed to generate incremental additions to resources in the near term, to generate at least one new discovery in the medium term and to extend the mine life with further discoveries in the long term to deliver stable production and cash flow beyond 2028. The strategy has three aims. The first is to support our life of mine over the next twelve months by replacing depletion, growing our resource base and supporting our fill the mill strategy.

The second is to extend our life of mine over the next one to three years by evaluating the continuity of deposits both laterally and at depth and targeting discovery of at least one new deposit. We do this by continuous global portfolio management, constant ranking of opportunities and district consolidation. The third element of our strategy is to transform our life of mine in the long term by taking an holistic approach to the exploration and mineralization potential in our districts. Understanding the geometallurgy and mineralization style of potential targets, balancing the grade and volume characteristics of targets and the potential economic upsides in a rising gold price environment and regional consolidation. These two aims are critical as exploration is a truly iterative and data driven process.

The tool that we have chosen to manage our global exploration program is the target triangle. While not a new concept in the industry, spending the last few months assessing our property wide prospects of both assets has really given me a sense of the tremendous opportunity that we have at Westone. As you can see from Slide 13, we’ve taken the approach of ranking our targets in terms of priority. Our consolidated global view of the current opportunity at West Dome includes 76 targets in the Tier four, five and six categories. As you can see, there’s no shortage of target opportunities for us to work on.

Now that we have our list of targets, both Eagle and Kiena are in the target selection and probability weighted ounce potential stage. This is a critical part of the process and it will help rank the targets for prioritising work and associated budget activities. Our primary objective for the rest of the year is to complete detailed geologic evaluations of the mining permit areas and surrounding claims. And at Eagle, this includes the Eagle River, Michi and Magnecon claims and the exploration claims immediately adjacent to these areas. Valuation will focus on two aspects surface target areas defined during the ranking process and underground targets defined as part of the global model fill the mill work processes.

While the process at Kiena is similar, the unique nature of the ore body under the lake requires us to use slightly different tools. To help delineate and fine tune targets, a high resolution drone magnetic survey will be executed over the lake and permit areas. The survey will deliver more detailed information than previously available, which could help identify key features that contribute to development of the mineralized loads. Stay tuned. Before I wrap up, let me give you a brief update on our exploration programs in the first quarter.

Starting at Eagle on Slide 14, drilling at the six central zone is successful in confirming the continuation of mineralization down plunge at similar thickness and grade. The latest interpretation of drill sites in the 300 Zone indicates the presence of a separate sub parallel structure to that hosting the main 300 Zone mineralization. Initial assays in this zone, now known as the 300 fold, scored continuation of thickness in the tenor of mineralization with down plunge continuation open for further exploration. Results are also indicating that the mineralization is plunging at a more moderate angle than the steeply plunging main 300 zone. This is a key interpretation as it highlights the variability of the plunge of the shoots and this gives exploration opportunities for testing down plunge continuation.

Finally, during our surface drilling programs, we drilled five holes at P anomaly D and 11 holes at the Birch Vein on the Eagle River splay. Two of the holes at Pipe P anomaly D intercept anomalous gold and several holes at the birch vein have intercepted smoky quartz veining with strong biotite alteration. Assays are pending. Our work continues to follow-up on these results and we’ll be discussing more on these areas in the press release in quarter three. Turning to Kiena on Slide 15.

The focus in the first quarter has been on preparing development for the rest of the year’s drilling. Currently, there are six rigs underground with barge drilling expected to commence in July. The exploration drift on the 109 Level was completed and drilling commenced targeting the VC Zone. It’s a top priority for us to drill in 2025. VC Zone historically returned a high grade intercept at the base of the mineralization wireframe and the mineralization is open at depth and demonstrates a style that’s analogous to Keener Deep.

Drilling to date has been unsuccessful due to poor ground conditions between the drilling bay and the BC zone. We are reviewing options to extend the underground development to a more optimal location, which is expected to enable more effective drilling of both the BC zone and the nearby North Zone targets. Drilling continues at Pina Deep and we remain encouraged with the results we are seeing, particularly in the football zone. Excitingly, preparation of the first two drill platforms on the 134 exploration drill is almost completed and drilling is expected to commence at month’s end. Drilling from this platform will target both the Kiena Deep and Football zones giving us more optimal drill at intersection angles.

Exploration drilling also commenced from Level 33, confirming the continuity of the porphyry hosting the Shawky 22 zone and work has progressed on setting up platforms to drill Dubuisson and Douchenne in July. An exploration update is explained to be released later this quarter. Now over to Fernando, who will take you through this quarter’s financial results. Thank you, Jono, and good morning, everyone.

Fernando Ragone, CFO, Westham Gold Mines: Turning to Slide 17. We have achieved a strong gold production of nearly 46,000 ounces, a 37% increase over the comparative quarter in 2024. The year over year increase in ounces produced was driven mainly by accessing a greater proportion of high grade ore from the 300 stone at Eagle River and a high grade ore from Kiena Deep. Recall that we were still advancing the ramp in Q1 last year, and we did not start mining and processing Kiena Deep material until around mid April twenty twenty four. On a per ounce basis, we have seen another sequential decline in quarterly earnings sustaining costs to $13.66 per ounce, which include about $230 for sustaining exploration and development in the first quarter.

Now moving to Slide 18. The first quarter of twenty twenty four twenty twenty five was really solid from a financial perspective. Revenue increased 86% year over year to $198,000,000 driven mainly for a significantly higher production and a 38% increase in average realized gold price per ounce sold in U. S. Dollars.

During the first quarter, the company recorded net income of over $62,000,000 or $0.42 per share, an increase of almost 5x over the prior year due to the increased production on a higher average realized coal price. In addition, compared to the first quarter of twenty twenty four, cash margin was up by 74% to hundred and $28,000,000. EBITDA nearly tripled to hundred and $20,000,000. Net cash from operating activities grew by 72% to $80,000,000, and free cash flow increased by about two and a half times to $48,000,000. We have a clean balance sheet with zero debt.

Our working capital increased to hundred and 81,000,000 from $131,000,000 as of 12/31/2024, due primarily an increase in our cash balance, which grew by $45,000,000 during the quarter to $168,000,000 at the March. The Anguis acquisition is scheduled to close by the June. And therefore, you should model the cash portion of the purchase of approximately $31,000,000 in your Q2 cash projections. Between cash on hand and our fully undrawn senior secured revolving credit facility, we had $319,000,000 in liquidity. I should mention that we’re currently in discussion with a group of banks to renew our revolving credit facility, which matures in late August.

We will keep you appraised of our progress in that area. As a reminder, on Slide 19, outlines our guidance for 2025. The only change I would note, and again, this is effective with the Angus transaction, is that our annual exploration spend is expected to increase by up to $5,000,000 following the closing of the transaction. Lastly, for those of you who did not picked up in our management information circular file a couple of weeks ago, Grant Thornton, who has been our auditor for more than twenty years, had changed its overall strategic direction. As a result of that, we’re changing our auditors.

Subject to shareholders’ approval, Ernest and Jan will assume auditor responsibilities in relation to the period ended in June 30. We would like to thank Grant Thornton for the many years of service. With that, operator, you can now open the line for questions.

Conference Operator: Thank you. If have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, press 1 a second time. If you are called upon to ask your question and are listening via speakerphone on your device, please pick up your handset and ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking your question. Again, it is star one if you would like to ask a question.

And our first question comes from the line of Wayne Lam with TD Cowen. Your line is open.

Wayne Lam, Analyst, TD Cowen: Yes, good morning guys. Just wondering maybe on the recent Angus Gold transaction, given the proximity of the operations to the prior Mishi pit, would there be an accelerated pruning process to operations today if everything was drilled off? And then maybe just curious in terms of the future tailings storage, what’s the current capacity remaining? And what does the permitting timeline look like for construction of the next facility?

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: Hi, Wayne. It’s Antient. Thank you for your question. Can I just ask you just to help me a little bit with your first question regarding Angus? What were you what were you asking?

Wayne Lam, Analyst, TD Cowen: Just wondering what that permitting timeline might be.

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: From a tailings perspective? Or from a

Wayne Lam, Analyst, TD Cowen: Like, in terms of in terms of advancing it into operations. Like, if everything was drilled off, would you guys be able to mine it today? Or or, you know, you’d have to go through it and get an operating permit?

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: Yeah. Absolutely. I think there would be a whole process around that. So the focus right now at Angus is to get a drilling program that supports, you know, the development of a resource in the right way. Following that, we start the permitting processes accordingly.

Your second question on the tailings is we have we have sufficient tailings, obviously, to run the growth plan quite substantially for the period of the how far ahead, Kevin?

Guy Baloo, COO, Westham Gold Mines: Twenty thirty seven.

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: Eight thirty seven. And so so the the tailings from are well managed within Eagle River.

Wayne Lam, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay, understood. Thanks. And maybe Akina, can you maybe provide us a bit more detail on the planned switch to the hybrid mining approach with the greater cut and fill? Just wondering if that’s a function of dilution control or ground conditions? And would that entail a scale back in underground mining rates at Kiena Deep or impact the fill the mill strategy?

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: Again, let me maybe reiterate the message on the hybrid model. The hybrid model is to optimize the dilution within the mine, which we see as an opportunity in recovery. So do we we see it only impacting, I think, a third of the ore body for 2025, and it’s slowly coming in. I think he told me he’s already done two stopes this year of the total stopes that are being produced. And this should increase slightly in 2026 in terms of percentage of the total stopes that are actually been impacted by it.

We do not see it impacting the sequence or the timing underground.

Wayne Lam, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay. Great. Thanks. And maybe just last one at Priskill. Seems like pretty good progress there.

Are you guys ahead of schedule on development there given the mining of ore this quarter? And then what would the targeted tonnage contribution be on a go forward basis?

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: So we are on track on the development to deliver as per plan for per scale for this year, and, obviously, this continues into next year. And it ramps up year on year. Tonnage contribution for next year is what you’re asking, Wayne, or for this year?

Wayne Lam, Analyst, TD Cowen: Maybe for next

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: year. We’re what in year.

Conference Operator: We’re going

Andrew Mikitchook, Analyst, BMO Capital Markets: in

Conference Operator: National Bank. Your line is open.

Don, Analyst, National Bank: Thanks, operator, and good morning, Anthony and team. Congratulations on a strong quarter. So first question, Akina, there was a you mentioned a delay in sequencing of some key high grade areas due to lower than expected equipment availability. Has this been resolved, and is it potentially reoccurring?

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: So so, Don, it is definitely due to availability of equipment, and it is understood, and we’re with it.

Don, Analyst, National Bank: Okay. And was it something that came about toward the like, how much of an impact did it have, and and how, you know, how should we think about it going forward in terms of timing of expectation to get resolved?

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: I think what you should see this is normal operations issues that we need to manage, and we’ll manage it. I don’t think you should see it as a concern. The problem with Kiena is that you run five stopes a month typically. So when you delay on a stope, it will go over, you know, into the next quarter. This this is the reality of not managing these things perfectly in this kind of mind.

However, we understand it very well, and we’ll continue to solve it.

Don, Analyst, National Bank: Okay. So so you mentioned that you’re reiterating your back end loaded year, but maybe should like, Keene, would we expect q two to be maybe just a touch soft then or or really no material impact? Is this

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: You could see key you should see q two increasing from q one, certainly, but it’s aligned with our plan.

Don, Analyst, National Bank: Okay. Great. And then just carrying on with Wayne’s questions on press kill. Maybe if you could are you still on track to come out with updated technical reports early next year? And in those reports, would we see the contributions from Presque Isle?

You mentioned tonnage next year. What are you thinking about first pour through the mill this year and tonnage this year? How much more you got spare mill capacity certainly at Kiena. How much of that mill capacity might this utilize once it gets ramped up?

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: It’s a good question. Just on the technical reports, I think we we’re saying within the first half of next year is what we’re aiming for. I wanna reaffirm the importance of making sure that the inputs into that report are there, which is really around the QAQC of our current drill database into the the digitized database. That’s the key the key criteria point that’s going through. For preskill for 2025, we had between thirty five and forty thousand tons that are in the current plan, and that increases.

Preskill will serve to be a part of the technical report going forward. And you could probably imagine that we won’t, in the technical report, see more than in the current reserve between Cote D’Ivoire Besson as well and other potential areas that Joan is able to to drill out this year, that it will not see the full utilization of the mill, I believe, within the technical report for Kiena.

Don, Analyst, National Bank: Okay. Great. Thanks for that. And then perhaps just as a final question. The balance sheet is getting stronger, and we would expect that to continue.

What are your plans for the cash? Do you want to stockpile dry powder in the event of M and A or potential next mine development? Or are you considering a potential dividend or share buyback program?

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: Great question. Again, as we all know, hopefully after the AGM, we can appoint Ed into his seat as our chairman. And, you know, we certainly gonna be having these conversations with Ed. I think just from a capital movement perspective, the most important thing is really on organic opportunities in the current operations. So I’m looking left towards my friend Jono here and pushing here.

I’m driving the exploration program as hard as we can. So that’s one of the the strategic pillars that we’re driving within Westone right now. They’re after, I think we as we’ve always said, we remain very prudent on everything we’re doing with regards to capital deployment, and we’ll make those decisions on with our shareholders in mind, obviously. And then if there’s money to spend, that’s a conversation we’ll be having with our board, and we’re hoping to talk to the market at the second half of the year to discuss those thoughts.

Don, Analyst, National Bank: Okay. Okay. Great. Well, we’ll look forward to to those developments as they progress. Anyway, that’s all for me.

Thanks again, and good luck with the rest of the quarter.

Conference Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Andrew Mikitchook with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Andrew Mikitchook, Analyst, BMO Capital Markets: Thank you for letting me ask some questions. There’s some great ones already been asked. Can we come back to the developed ore tons for both Eagle and Kiena? I think I scribbled down that there was three months available stopes for Eagle. How does that contrast with maybe where you were previously and where you want to get to?

And then I didn’t hear any sense of where you are on the similar situation for Kiena in terms of how it’s developed and where you want to get them to, please.

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: Just on with regards to Eagle River, I mean, I think our baseline, I can’t be perfectly clear on it, but we do know it’s significantly higher, right, Keith, in terms of the Yep. Inventory. And and we we’re targeting and tracking the three months if we’re really making sure we deliver at minimum in their operation. For Kiena, it’s a little bit different. Kiena is currently still very much just in time on their operation.

And we’re obviously working on opening up the other mining front in level one thirty six to assure that value as well and get more flexibility within the mine. And then, obviously, with Preskill, that adds the third mining front will be the second in the sequence, which gives us the next level of flexibility. So so this is something that you’ll hopefully will see next year starting to grow further. When we speak about ramp up, this is the kind of stuff we speak to around. This is the flexibility we like to give us that ability to be much more certain going forward.

So this is this is the kind of initiative that’s really gonna drive a much more stable execution from us.

Andrew Mikitchook, Analyst, BMO Capital Markets: K. So just to be clear, so that three months at Eagle that’s there today, you guys would look to increase that with time. Is is that fair?

Anthea Bath, President and CEO, Westham Gold Mines: Three months is sufficient at at at Eeling with with respect to what we believe is good for us from that perspective, from a developing. Yeah. It’s a sweet spot for us from that side. Obviously, from a drilled outside, it’s a bit further. We do it each of these parameters might be slightly different.

But, yes, we’re comfortable with that level.

Andrew Mikitchook, Analyst, BMO Capital Markets: Okay. And then just one last question on this exploration, the pyramid, I think kind of puts everything into perspective, the one that was up on the presentation. But my question is how long in terms of time or even dollars would it take to incorporate the Angus acquisition into that? Is that something that would take just a few months? Or is it a more material amount of work to integrate that into the process?

Jono Lawrence, SVP Exploration, Westham Gold Mines: Andrew, hi it’s Jono here. Look we had a look at the opportunities on the Angus ground before we initiated the transaction. We definitely do see upside in that property and when the transaction is finalized, we’ll be going through that data in a very aggressive manner and treating it in the same methodology that we have for our existing assets all around Eagle. Timing wise, we would be doing drilling this year in the second half, utilizing and advancing the programs at Dorset as well as over at the Einstein formation. More background information for us, but also setting the grounds for work in 2026 and 2027.

So confirmation drilling, proof of ideas, validation of some holes, but definitely drilling and advancing. More work will set up in 2026, but we will be aggressive in processing and reviewing that data as soon as the transaction finishes.

Andrew Mikitchook, Analyst, BMO Capital Markets: Okay. Well, thank you very much. I will sign off and let others ask questions. Questions.

Jono Lawrence, SVP Exploration, Westham Gold Mines: Thanks, Andrew.

Conference Operator: And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question and answer session and also concludes this morning’s call. If you have any further questions, please contact Trish Moran at trish. Moranwestome dot com. Thank you for participating today, and you may now disconnect.

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