Operator: Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Greatland Resources September 2026 Quarter investor Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during Q&A time, simply press star, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press the star one again. For operator assistance throughout the call, please press star zero. Finally, I would like to advise all participants that this call is being recorded.
Operator: I would now like to welcome Shaun Day, Managing Director, to begin the conference. Shaun, over to you.
Shaun Day: Thanks, Paulie, for leading us in there and welcome everyone. Thanks for dialing in to Greatland September 2026 quarterly results. With me on the call is pretty much a full house of the executive team. We have Andrew Bolla, Rowan Krasnoff, Otto Richter, Monique Connolly. Also Nick Strong, our new Chief Operating Officer, is joining us on the call. What I will do is I will start by turning to slide 5. Look, just a really solid quarter we thought from an operational outcome. Beat the street, both in terms of gold production and also all-in sustaining costs with both being better than planned. That was really driven particularly by strong processing performance. That was particularly encouraging given we had the planned major shutdown for the year of 15 days, and that ran like a Swiss watch.
Shaun Day: The guys at site did a great job to bring that back online, and a really significant de-risking as part of the year. In terms of production, doing just over 70,000 ounces of gold we thought was very strong, particularly the copper production of well just over 2,900 tonnes of copper, we thought was really encouraging. This just puts us very comfortable in terms of that guidance range of 260,000 to 300,000 ounces for FY27. All-in sustaining costs. I thought that outcome was particularly strong coming in at AUD 2,925. That is right at the bottom of our all-in sustaining cost guidance for the year. When you look at that, this all delivered an operating cash flow of AUD 289 million.
Shaun Day: We saw a net cash build, and that net cash build was notwithstanding, we actually paid five months of tax during the quarter as we transitioned from a quarterly payment system to a monthly installment system. So notwithstanding that extra tax burden for this quarter, it was still a strong cash build performance. Plus, of course, we got the full permitting on Havieron, so we started increased spending there. We still closed the quarter with over AUD 1.3 billion cash at bank, debt-free. Together with the undrawn AUD 500 million debt facility, it means we have AUD 1.8 billion of liquidity available. What is really important about that is it de-risks. It gives us a clear pathway for delivering the organic growth profile we have at Havieron, but also across Telfer, which we will talk to a little bit more through these slides.
Shaun Day: The core highlights for this quarter, to my mind, was the permitting coming through on Havieron. That has been a journey, but we are delighted to have received that. Now we are in a position to go into the construction phase on our flagship Havieron development. The team has done a great job at spinning up in the weeks since that approval. You have seen work, particularly at surface, around setting up those evaporation pond construction and also clearing the pads for the ventilation blind bores. With that summary of the quarter, I will pass across to Otto Richter.
Otto Richter: Thank you, Shaun. If we turn to slide seven, we will now look at the key drivers of this good start to the financial year. We firstly look at the open pit, West Dome. The open pit total material mined, again, saw an increase quarter on quarter to just under 8 million tonnes, 7.9. This is our seventh consecutive quarter on quarter increase in total material mined since Greatland took ownership, and represents a 79% uplift in productivity since our March quarter last year. The continued growth is the result of higher trucking availability from our new and rebuilt trucks, consistent digger productivity, and an ongoing focus to improve bench turnover, and opening up those larger, more productive working fronts in stage 7.
Otto Richter: The open pit ore mined was also a record under Greatland ownership at 4 million tonnes for the quarter, while grade was consistent quarter to quarter on our mid 0.4, 0.45 grams a tonne. Stage 7 growth stripping continues with 2.8 million tonne waste mined for the quarter at a strip ratio of approximately 1.7, down again from the 2.3 strip ratio we had last quarter. The stage 7 strip ratio is expected to be around that 1.4, 1.5 for the remainder of FY27. If we now turn our focus to the Main Dome underground, we can see that the underground ore mined was also a record under Greatland ownership at 0.4 million tonnes for the quarter and up 19% quarter on quarter. The underground grade is at 1.33 gram per tonne gold, and this is in line with our plan for the quarter.
Otto Richter: Underground development, saw a seventh consecutive quarter of record development meters with just over 2 kilometers achieved. A good focus there or highlight is the second development drive to West Dome Underground, which is now complete with the breakthrough occurring just after the quarter end. The big benefit here is this extends that primary ventilation circuit to the West Dome Underground ore platform location and now allows us to open up more headings on that West Dome front. If we then turn to slide eight, we can see the processing outcomes from the quarter. We milled 4.9 million tonnes at a 0.5 gram per tonne gold head grade, with milled tonnes being a key area of strength while having successfully executed the planned 15-day mill shut, as Shaun highlighted.
Otto Richter: Our gold recoveries of 85% were in line with the plan and our prior guidance commentary at 85%, while our copper recoveries at 83% was definitely a standout for the quarter. Our stockpiles this quarter, we processed about 0.4 million tonnes of stockpile material, significantly down from the 1.3 million tonnes in the prior quarter. This is due to the record tonnes directly from the open pit and lower processing volumes during the plant shut, in the quarter. While we note that stockpile will remain an important contributor to our mill feed in FY27, we remind our listeners that our 1.4 million tonne of remaining high-grade stockpile will be blended into the mill feed evenly through the rest of the year.
Otto Richter: Our stockpile balances at the end of the quarter total 21 million tonnes, containing about 236,000 ounces of gold and another 10,000 tonnes of copper, which significantly de-risk the remainder of the year. On projects, if we look at the TSF 8 stage 4 construction, this remains on schedule for completion in our Q3 of FY27, and this will provide us capacity for processing out to the H2 of FY28. I will now hand over to Monique to talk to the costs.
Monique Connolly: Thanks, Otto. We will now move to slide 9. As Shaun outlined earlier, we achieved an all-in sustaining cost of AUD 2,925 for the quarter, comfortably within the FY27 guidance range of AUD 2,900 to AUD 3,330 per ounce. The strong all-in sustaining outcome was supported by good cost control, strong copper production and pricing, and gold production being ahead of plan. Our all-in sustaining cost margin for the quarter was a little over AUD 3,000 per ounce, resulting in an all-in sustaining cost margin of over 100%. Looking at the key operating items, mining costs of AUD 88 million were lower than the previous quarter, despite higher total material moved, largely due to improved productivity aided by a higher proportion of mining volumes from the more productive stage 7 mining areas.
Monique Connolly: Processing costs of AUD 90 million were in line with plan, but higher quarter on quarter, primarily from the costs associated with the planned major maintenance shutdown in July. Sustaining CapEx of AUD 37 million was in line with plan, though higher than the previous quarter due to increased underground development activity. Finally, site services cost of AUD 42 million was in line with plan and prior quarters performance. Turning to cash flow and finance on slide 10. We generated net revenue of AUD 485 million from sales of 72,000 ounces of gold and 2.7 million tonnes of copper. Gold sales were achieved at an average realized price of just less than AUD 6,000 per ounce. This resulted in Telfer's operating cash flows of AUD 289 million and a AUD 25 million cash build, which was after a tax payment of AUD 100 million and a step up in growth investment following formal project commencement at Havieron.
Monique Connolly: We closed the quarter with AUD 1.3 billion of cash, no debt and available liquidity of AUD 1.8 billion. As a reminder, Greatland remains fully exposed to any upside in the gold price, with downside protection via gold put options out to September 2027 at an average strike price of AUD 4,850. From a tax perspective, AUD 100 million paid in the September quarter comprised of June's quarterly tax installments of AUD 64 million and an additional AUD 36 million in tax payments for July and August, as we move from quarterly to monthly installments in the quarter. So effectively, 5 months of tax paid in September's quarter. Looking forward, ongoing monthly tax installments will be made for the rest of FY27, based on an assessed rate of approximately 12% of revenue from the ATO.
Monique Connolly: In addition, a catch-up payment that relates to FY26 of AUD 155 million is anticipated in the December quarter, given tax installments hadn't commenced until the June 2026 quarter. Finally, depreciation and amortization was AUD 73 million. Full-year depreciation and amortization is expected to be AUD 280 million to AUD 320 million, weighted towards the second half of FY27. The increase in depreciation from FY26 to FY27 results from the increased capital base established at Telfer following significant investment made since acquisition, particularly from the underground development stage 7 stripping, and the TSF construction list. I'll now hand back to Shaun for the remainder of the presentation.
Shaun Day: Thanks, Monique. If we jump across to slide 12, I'll just speak to CapEx briefly. We invested north of AUD 37 million into Telfer growth capital during the period. This is just this ongoing investment in mine life extension at Telfer. I think that for me, the highlight of the quarter was we completed the second drive out to the West Dome Underground. That completes the ventilation circuit, out to West Dome Underground. So I think that really sets us up for what we can achieve out there, on the balance of the year. And you're seeing that ongoing investment in the open pit mining fleet that enabled that 7.8 million tonnes of total material moved during the quarter, which is now an increase of 79% over the productivity of that open pit measured by TMM when we first took over. So it's just an outstanding result by the team.
Shaun Day: Moving across to slide 13. I think the narrative here is really that we're going through this investment phase and you're going to see the real benefits of this investment phase bringing in future years, but you're just starting to see the benefit of that open pit fleet renewal, in FY27. You'll see that consistently across FY28 and beyond, and also things like the power station upgrade. This is a de-risking event as we upgrade that power station and the switch room, and we think this just gives us a basis to be again, more de-risked, more consistent as we move forward. And then, of course, you've got Havieron spinning up. We've done the evaporation clearing for the evaporation ponds, also clearing for the blind bores, which is an important part of the ventilation circuit there. And you've seen us start tendering, and so far that tendering has been encouraging.
Shaun Day: We continue to walk that forward, but we are early in this Havieron process. I will now just jump across to slide 15. You can see our guidance metrics for FY27. We were slightly ahead in terms of gold production for the quarter, and also we are right at the bottom end of that all-in sustaining cost guidance. We still believe we are modestly H2 weighted in terms of ounce production. Getting behind us the largest of the planned shutdowns for the year, I think was really positive. Again, the team did a good job and it is a de-risking for us. Overall, our guidance is unchanged both in terms of gold production, all-in sustaining costs, but also for CapEx as well. I will now turn to slide 16.
Shaun Day: This is where for the last two quarters or so, it has been around just executing that initial growth phase out of Telfer. As we go into the balance of this financial year, we feel there is a lot of catalysts coming up. Firstly, the West Dome Underground drilling. That Pinnacles step out, that took the strike length of West Dome Underground from 600 meters to potentially 1.2 kilometers. We are excited about that. You have seen we have completed about 12,000 meters of underground drilling into that West Dome Underground area. That is that core area. That is where we have actually driven out to. Then we have got to move from one surface rig to three surface rigs as we better understand that 1.2 kilometers of additional strike length, which potentially takes West Dome Underground to a 1.8-kilometer strike length.
Shaun Day: Still open in both directions, plus vertically up and down and further out to the west. We are really excited just about the expansion opportunity there. Then we move into updating the JORC resource. That is a really significant update for us. We have presently got 12 rigs on site, and they have really been spinning for most of the last 12 months. The drill cut-off for our last JORC resource update was 31 December 2025. We think this is a substantial update. A lot of focus on targeting conversion, but you are also going to see that growth, particularly in the West Dome Underground, West Dome open pit. We would also like to put a maiden resource around that Main Dome open pit. That is important because, again, we love the fact that we have got this life extension availability at West Dome open pit.
Shaun Day: To have the contingency, the flexibility, the resilience of also having a mine plan around that Main Dome open pit, I think would be really encouraging for us. Plus, historically, that was a notch higher grade. Again, might give us some flexibility about how we approach that. We then go into the studies. The West Dome Underground, that should be the first cab off the rank. It is really a phase 1 study because we are just going to be looking where that 12,000 meters of underground drilling has gone into that first 600 meters of strike length. With the two drives out there, we have already started work on the third drive, being the haulage drive back directly to the underground crusher and hoist to surface. That has a lot of latent capacity in that. It is rated for 6 million tons per year.
Shaun Day: Presently, we use it for 1.25 million tons a year. It is really encouraging to have this high-grade opportunity. Then we look at the vertical stope work study. This sits below the old sublevel cave. Again, we think there is an opportunity to potentially bring this online. There is about 35 million tons of material in that VSC over certainly well north of 1.2 million ounces there. Again, we could bring it up that latent infrastructure in terms of the underground crusher and hoist. Those studies I think are really encouraging. Then we should complete our JORC reserve. That sets us up to really start describing how a long-term integrated Telfer and Havieron look together. Finally, obviously, we have this world-class O’Callaghans tungsten deposit.
Shaun Day: We are looking at multiple ways to unlock value, but it is certainly a focus for us to unpack this during the course of FY27. With that, I will now just turn to the summary slide, which really just talks about this being a strong quarter in terms of north of 70,000 tons of gold production, plus the outperformance on copper, and a bit of a de-risking event in terms of the processing infrastructure. Havieron is now underway. We got those secondary permit approvals. Really we are just spinning up now, but we are really pleased and tremendous hardworking team. The liquidity and the robust treasury situation with AUD 1.3 billion of cash at bank, no debt, together with undrawn debt gives us AUD 1.8 billion to deliver that growth, that portfolio of growth projects. Highlighting as well that, not just West Dome Underground, but also we are now underway at Havieron.
Shaun Day: Finally, look, we continue to have 12 rigs spinning at site and the opportunity to update that JORC resource, JORC reserve, and then be in a position to describe not just Havieron with a multi-decade mine life, but both Telfer and Havieron as a gold copper mining complex with multi-decade life. With that, and just before I pass across back to Paul for questions, we do have our new COO on deck, Nick Strong. We are delighted to have Nick join us. Joins us from Northern Star, but he has really hit the ground running since joining at the start of this month. Spent a lot of time with the team at site and really completes that executive team. I would also like to just acknowledge Otto, who has done a magnificent job as COO over the last three quarters, and you can see the success we have had.
Shaun Day: Otto has also been very focused on our long-term mine planning, so he will retain that Chief Technical Officer role, which will be his focus and really that link between Otto with multiple open pits, multiple underground production centers, bringing them into the mine planning and into the life of mine, and then passing across to Nick for execution. So the interaction between Nick and Otto is going to be a really important element of us moving forward, and I think that has been really positive to see since Nick has joined. With that, I might just offer to dial Nick in here and just throw to him, just for your first impressions, Nick, as you have joined Greatland this month.
Nick Strong: Yeah. Thanks, Shaun. As Shaun mentioned, I recently joined Greatland about 3 weeks ago on 5 October, and I have spent most of that time on site so far getting to know our team and getting up to speed on those operations. My first impressions is that we have got a very solid, motivated team in place. The operations and infrastructure are in really good shape. It is an exciting time to be there and certainly no shortage of work as we look to significantly upgrade our mill feed by delivering multiple high grade underground growth projects. I think the key things I will be focused on in FY27 are our operating discipline and our risk management as we manage multiple expansion fronts and continue to deliver into the FY27 plan. Havieron is an obvious growth front for us.
Nick Strong: However, there appears to be plenty of life left to Telfer Underground, and that is a very exciting place to be operating and expanding at the moment. I would like to share my appreciation for Otto, who has done a great job leading our operations since February, which is evident in these operating results. Otto and I will be working closely together going forward as we plan and execute on the integrated Telfer-Havieron mine plan. So I look forward in interacting with the investors and analysts as I get my feet under the desk. It is a great start so far. Thanks, Shaun.
Shaun Day: Thanks, Nick, and welcome aboard. With that, Paul, why do not we open it up for questions?
Operator: Thank you, Shaun. As mentioned, we will now begin the Q&A session. For those listening by phone and would like to ask a question, please press star, followed by 1 on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. To withdraw your question, simply press star 1 again. When called upon, please use your handset, ensure your line is unmuted, and be ready to ask your question. Your first question is from the line of Kate McCutcheon of Bank of America. Your line is open.
Kate McCutcheon: Hi. Good morning, Shaun, and well done on the new role, Nick. September quarter's annualizing below the CapEx ranges for the full year guide, how do we think about the cadence over the coming quarters for that Telfer growth CapEx?
Shaun Day: Look, for Telfer, I think it will be a steady progression as we go across the year. I think it ramps up a little bit across the financial year. You will probably see that with Havieron as well, obviously, as we go through the year. But again, we should be staying within that guidance as we see it today.
Kate McCutcheon: Okay. Havieron, I know that you are just getting started there, with tenders, et cetera. But compared to where you thought you would be when you made that FYG, are there any key areas you are ahead of the plan there? Conversely, any areas where there needs to be some catch-up, I guess?
Shaun Day: Look, we are three weeks in, so I am going to say we are bang on schedule, Kate. But I think give us maybe another quarter before we start trying to pick where there is any divergence. But so far, look, I think what was impressive is I think we got the permitting at 10:00 on Australian Western Standard Time on a Friday and by 3:30 that afternoon we had started work. So we were talking a lot to the EPA and to the national EPA. So we had a sense it was coming that week. So we spun off during the week. So we got off to a really good flying start.
Shaun Day: Probably the other key for us, I think the surface works are going to schedule. I think the other element to me, which I think will play itself out, is the tendering that we are doing presently to get some of those EPCs squared away. So far encouraging, but again, give us a little bit of time to get them contracted before we start being too definitive.
Kate McCutcheon: Okay. Nice one.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Levi Spry of UBS. Please go ahead.
Levi Spry: Hi. Good day, Shaun and team. Could you just talk through the next steps at Havieron a little more. Just confirming on the permits, what is outstanding? Is there anything outstanding in terms of activities? What is happening over the course of the remainder of the year? You mentioned the EPC for the tendering. What are the big ones coming up?
Shaun Day: Yeah. Thanks, Levi. Look, let me start with the permitting. Look, all the secondary permits are now in place. So effectively we are actively working both at surface and in the underground there. Indeed, doing starting the process for upgrading the haul road back from Telfer to Havieron and indeed doing the plant modifications at Telfer. So everything is spinning up. What you have seen initially, the focus for us were the evaporation ponds at surface. You might recall we are just sitting above that lower confined aquifer. We wanted additional evaporation pond capacity so that we could punch through that LTA. So that has effectively been the focus for us. With that clearing, we have also been doing the blind bore pads. Those blind bores are also on the critical path in terms of getting that ventilation down into that underground before we do stoping. So that is encouraging.
Shaun Day: In terms of the underground decline itself, just to remind people, we are 340 meters vertical, because this is already effectively half built. So we have started moving that forward. But again, it is very measured progress until we actually have those evaporation ponds, or at least evaporation pond 4, online, which is still more the end of October before we will have that actually online. Then in terms of tendering, that is underway. We have the EPCM tender, which is complete. We have the haul road. We have the mill modifications, the power line, and the blind bores. Those are probably the five main kind of contracts that spring to mind as the kind of under the 80/20 rule. We have the blind bores in place with Abergeldie. Again, that is largely consistent with the study.
Shaun Day: Abergeldie is an Australian group, one of probably the four world leading blind bore organizations in the world. They do a lot of work in that Hunter Valley. We think they are really well-placed to team up with us. Remember, we already have blind bore VR1 in place, then this is effectively putting in VR2 and VR3. The power line, the haul road, and indeed the mill modifications are all live tenders. So we are positive about where we are. But as I said to Kate, just give us weeks and months to actually get the outcomes of those before I am more definitive. Hopefully that gives you some pretty good color on where we are, Levi.
Levi Spry: Yeah, thanks for the extra detail. Thanks, Shaun.
Operator: And your next question comes from the line of Adam Baker of Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Adam Baker: Hi, Shaun. Welcome, Nick. Thanks for the update. Just maybe touching on the underground volumes. I mean, pretty solid performance during the quarter, 378,000 tons. Looks like it has been your best performance underground in three years there. You have also noted that you have had record development meters over the course of the quarter, over 2,000 meters. Just wondering, could this flow through to higher stope volumes in the upcoming quarters and what are we expecting from underground volumes for the rest of the financial year. Thank you.
Otto Richter: Otto here. I will take that one. For the rest of the quarter, we are looking at a fairly similar trend to what we currently have, especially in terms of our ounce production. The Telfer underground does offer quite a range of mineralization, ranging between narrower, lower tonnes and higher grade versus more multi-stockworks at lower grade. Where we are currently, while we are opening up that West Dome Underground, the focus is expanding those current areas, but also we have put some focus on the ESC over the last few quarters, and that is currently one of our main production areas. So from an ounce profile point of view, for the remainder of the year, we are looking at remaining consistent on that profile. That will be a mix, as I said, between higher tonnage, lower grade and lower tonnage, higher grades, depending on which areas we are mining in the sequence through the year.
Shaun Day: If I would just augment that, Adam. I think where we see the real step change is when we bring on that West Dome Underground. Obviously Otto is leading the study on that. That is this beautiful confluence of really high grade, the highest grade you have seen at Telfer since 2005, or highest average grade. An independent mining area, which I think will allow us to lift tonnes. That is why that latent infrastructure, having an underground crusher, underground hoist rated for 6 million tonnes, we are using about 25% of that. So the capital intensity of bringing West Dome underground online we think is really attractive. Right now, we plan to see that in FY28. But we have been really encouraged by the development we are getting out there. Then, of course, with Nick's background and pedigree, we are really keen to unleash him on that underground as well.
Adam Baker: Sounds good. I will jump back in the queue. Thank you.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of David Radclyffe of GMR. Your line is open.
David Radclyffe: Hi. Good morning, Shaun and team. First question was just a follow-up on Kate's question about the Telfer growth CapEx. It is obviously quite a way below the pace of the guidance, and you would need to average probably close to AUD 100 million for the balance of the three quarters to get to that level. If I could push you a little bit more to just understand what is happening there. Is the spend behind schedule? If so, what is driving it?
Monique Connolly: I will grab that one. Effectively, our Q1 was always going to be a little bit slower in terms of CapEx spend for growth at Telfer, purely because there are some long lead items that we were looking to place. It is definitely a ramp-up that was planned for the rest of the three quarters of FY27. I would also highlight we have around AUD 25 million of CapEx spend on the mining open pit fleet that we have spent, that has not yet been converted into CapEx. Purely from an accounting perspective, we treat that as a prepayment until it is delivered to site. Those long lead items, while we are progressing them, they just have not actually hit CapEx yet. I think very much on track to meet the guidance for FY27 with a slower Q1.
Shaun Day: And importantly, to Monique’s point, we have spent the cash, but it does not appear in CapEx, it appears in prepayments.
David Radclyffe: Yeah. Understood. That is very helpful. Then maybe as a follow-up there. You mentioned the ventilation is now done for West Dome. The plan is for 2028, but it certainly feels like it could come in a lot earlier. So, what has to happen at West Dome before we see some production this financial year rather than next?
Shaun Day: Look, let me answer that in two parts. Firstly, we are doing this third drive out. That will be a dedicated haul drive. That is about 1,500 meters of development, and that will bring ore directly back to that underground crusher and hoist, which we think is a long-term, really eloquent, elegant tramming solution. Right now, with that ventilation in with the two drives, that gives us access. I think we are going to get four headings in there, which we think can be productive. We stand off around 280 meters from that ore body. So what is most important for us right now is the drilling we are doing to make sure we put that infrastructure in the optimal position to deliver West Dome Underground efficiently over the medium to long term.
Shaun Day: We probably could drive in there a little bit quicker if we wanted to, but right now it is about doing it well. This is potentially transformational in terms of grade and volume to that Telfer underground. It is just we are not about doing record quarters, we are about consistent delivery. So although right now we are kind of really happy with where we are, and we probably could look at accelerating and perhaps there is a little bit of development ore in that June quarter, which is not in our budget or plan, but that is certainly the opportunity for us. But right now it is about getting it right.
Otto Richter: And from a study point of view, if I can jump in there. That infill drilling is planned to run through to roughly the end of the year. That will then give us our resource update. If you look at our previous resource that was released for West Dome Underground, there is a significant resource that needs conversion into reserves. As Shaun said, we are just waiting for that drilling to be finished, getting the assays back, updating the resource model, and then finishing the study in this phase 1 process, to get the reserve done and placement of that major infrastructure, and then waiting in serious anticipation for the remainder of the Pinnacles holes to come in.
David Radclyffe: Yeah. Brilliant. Thank you. That is very clear. Cheers.
Operator: Your next question is from the line of Daniel Morgan of Barrenjoey. Your line is open.
Daniel Morgan: Hi, Shaun and Tim. Do you plan to produce more in the December quarter? Just in thinking through it, you do not have a mill shut. Not a major mill shut. Mining productivity has clearly been improving, so I guess it comes down to grade and recovery expectations. Could you just talk about the December quarter?
Otto Richter: I will answer that in two ways. Obviously, as you said, we do not have the mill shut, so we are not looking at the downtime from the mill time. That is getting into the start of our wet season, which we have to take into account. We are currently planning a slight uptick in throughput based on the first quarter. As what we have said previously, we are slightly weighted towards the H2 of the year. At a high level, I think we will see a slight uptick from the first quarter, but largely in line from an ounce production profile.
Shaun Day: Yeah. Look, just to add to that, Daniel, I think that the real tick-up comes in the H2 of the year and in Q2, depending on. Look, we have probably exceeded where we forecast and budget our mining productivity, particularly in that open pit, which is, again, a great credit to the team. Right now, we assume there is a little bit more stockpile feed in that second quarter in terms of our forecast. What you saw in this September quarter, I think we only used 300,000, just shy of 300,000 tons of stockpile feed. You saw the high-grade stockpile effectively remain unchanged at 1.4 million tons. We do use it as working capital, so to speak, so there are tons on and tons off that stockpile. But we are happy with how things are going.
Shaun Day: But equally, we probably formally see that tick-up really happening in the H2 rather than in the December quarter. But if we can maintain the productivity of this first quarter, we put ourselves in a strong position.
Daniel Morgan: Thank you. Just on that piece regarding mining productivity versus filling the mill. Obviously, this is a big year of investment to get new ore sources up and running. I am just wondering, when do you think conceptually you might be able to fill the mill from fresh ore? Is that FY28? Thank you.
Shaun Day: Well, look. Thanks, Dan. We are pretty close, aren't we? I think of just under 5 million tons, 4.7 of that was fresh ore. We have, what is it, 21 million tons of stockpiles there. So when we are drawing it down at 300 tons a quarter, there is a plus 20-year stockpile there. So we feel that is beautiful. Just what it does for de-risking, what it does for consistency of performance. We really like that. If we can bring on the West Dome Underground, if we can continue that improvement in open pit productivity, for FY27, we still forecast using some of the stockpiles. Then, of course, in time, there is also the potential to bring on Havieron Underground and turn back on that VSC.
Shaun Day: We think we have multiple pathways where we are not using that stockpile and it is just long-term buffer for us, and we love the idea of having it there. There are multiple pathways where through productivity, through bringing on West Dome Underground, the VSC, and Havieron, where we effectively park up those stockpiles into the more medium to long term.
Daniel Morgan: Okay. Thanks very much, Shaun.
Otto Richter: Hugo, just a reminder there, although we said the July shut was our largest shut, we do have a shut in November as well. It will be a smaller one, but we are not going into the next quarter without any shuts.
Daniel Morgan: Thank you.
Operator: Your next question is from the line of Hugo Nicolaci of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hugo Nicolaci: Oh, hi, Shaun and team. Thanks for the update. Firstly, to the end of some of the previous questions. Maybe just starting with the open pit, you have talked to the strip ratio of stage 7. Can you just talk to more broadly how you see the overall material movements for the open pit progressing over the rest of the year?
Otto Richter: We currently have material coming from three stages, which is stage 7, stage 8, and stage 2. Stage 8 and stage 2 are our two deeper stages, and that is where the bulk of our ore or our higher-grade ore comes from. If you look in our release that was posted in figure 1, and then obviously stage 7 is opening up the larger surface areas. Through the remainder of the year, the bulk of the material movement will be coming from stage 7. Our high grade mainly comes from stage 2. Stage 8 is getting towards the end of its life, and that is tied into stage 2 now. The higher grade will come out of stage 2, obviously longer haul and slightly higher cost.
Otto Richter: Our main focus will move to stage 7 from a volume opening up, putting in 2 diggers up at the top towards the second half of the year, opening up the fronts in stage 7 and bringing that down, to where the higher grade in stage 7 kicks off.
Hugo Nicolaci: Got it. Thanks. That is helpful color. On the underground piece, if I go back historically, I think in your 2-year outlook, your plan was for the underground material for 2026 and 2027 to be about 3.5 million tons. Obviously, a number of reasons in the industry in terms of productivity and availability, maybe impacting that. Can you just talk to the tonnage rates you expect to continue ramping up, the Telfer underground from here and then what sort of exit rate you expect to end FY27 at?
Otto Richter: We are expecting to ramp up probably about, off the top of my head, about 30% more than what we are doing now towards the end of the year, from the underground. That depends on as we open up those underground fronts, the ESC is currently in full production. We are putting a lot of development into that previously. Down at the lower part of the mine, the bulk of our production comes from the A-Reefs and a little bit from the Bray area. One of the big focuses for the underground is also the copper that comes from the underground to complement that open pit copper feeds from it. We do look at areas not necessarily from just a gold grade point of view, but also from the copper contribution that comes from those areas and the blend that provides to the open pit ore.
Hugo Nicolaci: Great. That is helpful. Just maybe on the copper piece, look at some of your peers more recently who have reported very strong realized prices this September quarter just around provisional pricing and things on copper. Yours probably more in line with quarter average. Do you want to just remind us what your quotational periods are on the copper con?
Shaun Day: Well, we don't necessarily share the details of our off takes. What I will say is there's no long-term kind of off takes in place. We are able to fully participate in the market, which is hugely advantageous and I think is actually quite a good strategic asset for us that we are producing this copper concentrate. I think it gets a little bit lost that we are also a copper producer within our peer group. The TCRCs, the pricing, the payability on it is really attractive. Having said that, there's also gold in our. It's a gold copper concentrate. So it's important for us to focus on what we get as a return to that gold as well in there. But we think the pricing continues to improve on concentrate sales.
Shaun Day: I think if you have a look at us, we track the market pretty well, which shows you there's no unusual quotation periods in what we've got. I sold a copper con through the late 2000s where you had a big correction in the copper market. So I think I understand some of the risk profile associated with that, and I think we've got a very de-risked approach to copper concentrate sales.
Hugo Nicolaci: All right. Thanks for that, Shaun. Just lastly to clarify, so your integrated Telfer Havieron study is now due in the June H1 next year?
Shaun Day: I think what we would need to do before we came out with an integrated study is complete the JORC reserve. That is the foundation, as you appreciate, for us developing the life of mine on Telfer. That is due in about May, June 2027, so this year. We've obviously already got the Havieron element in place with that feasibility study. At that point, we are able to add them together, but I wouldn't say we'd be racing to get that out. We'd want to make sure we spent the time making sure we think through the nuances and how we present that. But, I think we'll have all the building blocks we need in place by May, June 2027.
Hugo Nicolaci: Right. Thanks. That was the last one.
Operator: And a reminder before we continue on to press the star 1 to join the queue. Your next question is from the line of Ben Lyons of Jarden. Please go ahead.
Ben Lyons: Thanks. Good day, Shaun, Monique, Otto. Just a quick one on Havieron, please. Sorry if I misinterpreted your comments on the current status, but did you say you are retendering the underground mining contractor at Havieron? Obviously, Barminco was up there for many years on standby for a restart of the decline. If so, just how you are weighing up the opportunity to maybe cut a few bucks on cost versus mitigating the risk of the potentially challenging ground conditions. Thanks, Shaun.
Shaun Day: Thanks, Ben. No, I did not mention Barminco. Barminco are there as you correctly identified. We are really confident working with Barminco. I mentioned also earlier that we are 340 meters vertical. That was done with Barminco. Very much what we have tried to do with Barminco is put the band back together in terms of bringing in a lot of the team there that had been through Havieron previously. So we think that history, that expertise, that experience adds to the de-risking of having been through the upper confined aquifer, having been through the middle confined aquifer, now dancing into that lower confined aquifer. We think the right balance of risk management is to do that again with Barminco.
Shaun Day: Barminco are also at Telfer, so we have some benefits of being able to kind of exchange people and equipment between the two sites, which has been also proven to be helpful. So for now, we are really comfortable with Barminco. I think, we get through the Permian layer and down to that beautiful rock conditions in the basement rock. Then I think, we can re kind of consider this from first principles. But look, we enjoy a good relationship with Barminco. They have done a good job. We think highly of them. I think they are probably Australia's premium underground contractor. So, it is a good relationship, but naturally, we always want to optimize that. As you described, if there is an opportunity to save some bucks over time, I think that is something that we would like to unpack.
Ben Lyons: Awesome. Thanks for clarifying, Shaun. Apologies for misinterpreting the comments.
Shaun Day: Yeah. All good, mate.
Operator: Your next question is from the line of Branko Skocic of JPMorgan. Your line is open.
Branko Skocic: Yeah, morning, guys. Thanks for your time. Just first question on the tungsten angle. I was just interested in how progressed discussions around O’Callaghans are. It does seem like the timeline slips a little to the back end of this financial year. I would also be interested if there has been any inbounds from governments or quasi-government-led entities for the asset as well.
Shaun Day: Yeah. Thank you. I will take that. So look, just a reminder for people who are not as familiar, O’Callaghans is our tungsten deposit. Ongoing discussions. Look, I do not want to name parties or talk to specifics here. I think we said on the last quarterly call that we were looking for an outcome this financial year, and that remains the case. We are really focused on it. All options are still on the table in that regard. So that ranges from a spin-out, a potential divestment, or potentially a joint venture. We are seeking to optimize and maximize value for our shareholders. We are deliberately being patient. We do not want to rush an outcome that we are not satisfied with. So look, that is the update. We still target an outcome this financial year.
Branko Skocic: All right. Appreciate it. Just back on the FY27 guidance. I was just wondering why you have not felt comfortable upgrading or at least narrowing, should I say, the guidance ranges given that strong first quarter of the year.
Shaun Day: Branko, I think that is a compliment. As in, it was a good first quarter. But look, we are one quarter in. Look, give us some time. It is an encouraging start, but I think for now, one quarter in, we are really happy in terms of, I think, de-risking delivery of that guidance, and then let us take it from there. But one step at a time.
Branko Skocic: No, too easy. Much appreciated. Thank you.
Operator: This concludes today's Q&A session. I would like to turn the call back over to Shaun for closing remarks.
Shaun Day: Thanks, Paul. Look, just to say thank you for everyone who's dialed in. We appreciate your time, and the really high quality of questions. Thanks for reading in, and thanks to the team here for putting this together. Thanks again, and we'll look forward to engaging again next quarter.
Operator: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect.
