Centamin (CEY) — Investor Presentation

0:01 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the CENTAMIN PLC Investor Presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged. They can be submitted at any time via the Q and A tab situated on the right hand corner of your screen. Simply type in your questions at any time and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself. However, the company can review your questions submitted today, and we'll publish responses on the Investor Meet company platform. Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll, and I'm sure the company would be most grateful for your participation. I'd now like to hand over to Martin Horgan, CEO. Good afternoon.

0:34 Thank you very much, Mark, and good evening, everybody, and welcome to this CENTAMIN's retail investor presentation. As mentioned, I am Martin Horgan, CEO. I'm delighted today to be joined by my colleagues at Ross Gerard, CFO, and Alex Bartekar, Head of Corporate Comps. Just moving on to the, the disclaimer, which I'm sure you all, no doubt have read. It's, your pleasure. I'll just open up with a quick review of our portfolio. Delighted, with this, this picture, and the changes that have occurred over the last several while as well. When we look at that, what I see there really is an integrated pipeline of organic growth opportunities for our business. I think really exciting for us, across two of the great geological terrains, of the world from gold exploration perspective. We've got the Permian in West Africa and, of course, the newly emerging Arabian new beach shield in Egypt, across into Saudi Arabia as well. I think that really underpins our belief in the drill bit and how exploration really is the engine room of our industry, and, of course, by extension center.

1:37 I think as I mentioned earlier this year as well, the other thing I'm delighted about, of course, that slide is that for the first time now, in the company's history, that also contains non Sukari reserves, on that slide as well. And really what I see is a base to build from, and build our business and our vision of trying to develop a multi asset, multi jurisdictional company. As I say, I think in terms of the opportunity to build on the success of Sucari and deliver organic growth opportunity through Doropo, and then with the opportunity in EDX, I think it's a really exciting future ahead of us. At least a common slide that you'll have seen over the years and what I'm saying that we're consistent, around in terms of our strategy of how we intend to develop, CENTAMIN going forward. Clearly, first bucket is that value maximization of Sukari, our primary asset, in Egypt. And, of course, on to the second leg around growth and diversification.

2:27 That's growth both in Sukari, but also, in Code du Paar given us that diversification as well. And, of course, throughout that journey, remaining committed to stakeholder returns. And Ross will talk a bit later about our continued commitment to our dividend policy there as well. Alongside, of course, how we've been delivering that over the last sort of three and a half years, I think we've an awful amount of work an awful lot of work over the last three years. And it's really the opportunity to put this slide together caused you to pause and think about how much work we've actually done. When we're looking back to 2020, when we think about the the first phase of work that I've joined the business, we'll run that initial sort of review of Sukari, that first point of the, the optimization work, and that's sort of what we call the, life of asset phase one. Moving into 2021 then, we continue to develop and understand our geological approach to Sukari, and that led us back to the life of asset sort of phase two updates, where we bleed the road map back to 500,000 ounces. But importantly as well, so when to look at the rest of the portfolio, you've made to Doropo as a development opportunity.

3:28 And of course, that work with the government around the Eastern Desert exploration opportunity within broader Egypt and then built it to secure those 300 sorry, those 3,000 kilometers of new ground across the Western Desert. In terms of Sukari itself, back into 2022 now, with our increased geological knowledge and confidence, allowed us to transition to owner mining in the underground, supported by that 33% increase in underground reserves. We commenced field work across the Eastern Desert Of Egypt. And, of course, and corporately, a a big step forward, a big change for us was securing a $150,000,000 RCF facility with a group of leading international banks. And onto this year, the latest life of mine plan and final iteration that we've released a couple of weeks back. Now the finalization of the, regulatory framework for Egypt and the first drill program across CEDX, the completion of the prefeasibility at the ROPO and the recent commencement of the feasibility work, and the ESIA, and, of course, our ability to put some gold price protection there as well. We've covered a huge amount of guaranteed in the last three years. I think what we're starting to see now is the benefit of that work coming through there, as we look to really optimize that portfolio and deliver that vision for multi asset, multi jurisdictional producer.

4:37 I think in parallel with that, however, that one of the things we've looked at is to make sure that we have consistency of delivery. I think that was one of the first challenges that was put down to me when I first joined. Can we optimize the portfolio? But in parallel with that, can we get to CUTI operating on a consistent basis? I'm delighted to say that as we sit here today, we remain on track for this year's guidance. In terms of our production year to date, we're still maintaining our target of the 450,000 to 480,000 ounces, albeit now at the slightly lower end of that target range. Delighted with the cost performance, absolutely fantastic year to date at twelve forty, just at the bottom end of our guidance. CENTAMIN is in the bottom end there as well. And in terms of CapEx, a really solid investment profile, put into the year as part of that three year rolling plan, which is going to roll off very shortly and allows us to maintain our guidance, but bring some earlier projects early into this year as well, which Ross will talk to a little bit later on as well. So a really strong performance across that and the folks on delivery at Sukari alongside that portfolio optimization as well.

5:32 And with that, maybe I'll hand it across to Ross.

5:37 Thank you, Martin. Good evening, everybody. Core to our strategy is our financial strength and maintaining a robust balance sheet to fund that growth and our company objectives. As you would have seen with our third quarter, we finished the quarter with available liquidity of $276,000,000 which, as you can see, is comprised on the pie chart of cash and cash equivalents of $79,000,000 financial instruments valued at $11,000,000 fully owned on hand, dollars 23,000,000 and our gold and silver sales debtors of $14,000,000 With the good operational results to date, the part mentioned, and resulting cash flows generated, we've been able to fund investments from both corporate and cash flows during this elevated period of reinvestment without drawing on the 150,000,000 RCF facility.

6:29 So from an overall liquidity standpoint, the $150,000,000 RCF represented in gray remains fully available and provides a total liquidity pool of some $276,000,000 to work with. Also implemented a gold price protection program, which supports the remainder of 2023 and the first half of twenty twenty four cash flows, providing more certainty and further balance sheet flexibility over the remaining tail of our peak reinvestment period, which is scheduled to finish in mid-twenty twenty four. Talking a bit about our capital allocations, we have been very clear that this is our last full year of a significant three year reinvestment program in the Sukari mine. 2023 has an elevated level of growth CapEx of some $273,000,000 which is budgeted for this year.

7:22 As a number of those studies in these multiyear projects move towards completion, we expect the CapEx to reduce from 2024 and beyond.

7:30 In terms of our main 2023 key projects, the accelerated waste stripping program is now at 80% complete. Underground development is on schedule. Our new drilling as part of our EDX program is complete, and fleet expansion purchases have been accelerated into 2023. Our grid power connection is expected to be complete at the back end of 2024, and the gravity circuit continues to be advanced. I think it's important to highlight that with the good performance during this year, we have been able to deliver these projects without utilizing the RCF and actually been able to use the good performance to date to bring forward almost $20,000,000 worth of CapEx originally scheduled for 2024 into 2023 and to maintain our annual guidance of that $273,000,000 that I mentioned.

8:19 And that mainly relates to fleet purchases, acceleration and the power line deposit in terms of the good tie in. I'm always delighted to talk about the commitment to shareholder returns. This will be our tenth consecutive year of dividend distributions. As Martin mentioned, we recently strengthened our dividend policy, which is to continue to use group free cash flow generated and applying a 30% minimum priority payment of those dividends dividend calculation to those cash flows, but now calculated before growth CapEx. This is to be funded by debt or surplus cash flows. And thereafter, any surplus cash flows would be assessed against both balance sheet requirements and the application of further shareholder returns.

9:06 As you would have seen from the interim dividend, the Board decided to distribute a total of 53% to the first half group free cash flow before treasury funded growth CapEx. And you'll see on the right hand side of this slide, that was calculated by taking group free cash flow, adding back the growth project CapEx that was financed from treasury of some 1,800,000,000 creating a pool available for cash flows available for distribution of $41,000,000 applying that 30% minimum distribution per dividend policy and then assessing that surplus cash flow for discretionary capital allocations and applying a Board interim dividend supplement. So in summary, Board applied that minimum 30% of free cash flow and then took a further third of surplus cash flows available, rounded up to $02 per share, which was taken as a dividend to clear.

10:00 This is a clear illustration that we've been able to apply an enhanced policy, which applies both objectives of financing our growth opportunities, but also maintaining consistent and sustainable shareholder returns, particularly over this period of significant reinvestment. I'll now hand back to Martin, who will talk a bit more about the CENTAMIN in more detail. Thanks very much, Ross. So I was asked back in 2020, you know, why don't you take the job at CENTAMIN? You know, the opportunity arose. Why don't you take on the CEO position? I think, to be honest with you, one of the great sort of drivers for me was was the opportunity to work at Sukari Gold Mine. People often talk about sort of tier one assets, these world class assets, and I genuinely believe at the time and even more so that Sukari definitely represents, one of the world's greatest, gold mines. It's a world class ore body, and I think the challenge was then at that point was to put a a world class mine around it. And I think that's what we've been busy over the last three years looking at.

10:55 And, really, that's the intention, of course, was to have Sukari reset and optimize and consistently performing Sukari to be that engine and that foundation that allows us to realize both our growth aspirations, both in Egypt and Cote D'Ivoire and elsewhere. And also, as Ross has mentioned, maintain that commitment to be able to provide dividends on a through the cycle basis. So with that challenge in mind, we set about, we broke Sukari down into a number of constituent parts. We've analyzed each of those parts, and we put them back together. And we were delighted a couple of weeks ago to announce the life of mine plan. I'm delighted even more than that, for the results that we found. So people talk about tier one assets and and what is that a bit? At least 500,000 ounces of production, lower, half of the cost curve, and at least a ten year life. And delighted to say that we've been able to tick all three of those boxes as part of that life of asset review that we've done now with this latest optimized revision of the plan. So gold production sits at just above 500,000 ounces over the period of 2032.

11:53 Clocks down a little bit from the last two years, and hence dragged that average down, but certainly, an eleven year mine of life... Life of mine. Sorry. In terms of the cost, I think that was fantastic. Delighted that as an outcome on that life of mine basis, seeing that sitting at below the thousand. The cost curve fiftieth centile at the moment sits about $11.50, 1,200. So that's well inside that fiftieth centile, as I mentioned before, of course, at eleven years. And, of course, we believe there's good opportunity to further improve on that with further geological success both inside the concession. And I think importantly and excitingly outside the concession, around the Eastern Desert exploration work we're doing near to Sukari as well. So I think that's a fantastic result and really has repaid our faith, in Sukari, and really set us up as the real engine, with which to drive our strategy forward as well.

12:44 So let me take a little bit of a closer look at what does that actually look like, in terms of the plan. Well, clearly, here we have a a graphical demonstration of the ounce profile, of the remaining life of mine, and, of course, our all important, all in sustaining cost that works with that as well. So a couple of things that stand out to me on this basis is is firstly, these are... We have the darker bars, which represent our, lifetime plan based on reserves, And then we have the lighter colored sandbar sitting on top of that as well. And that's where we've assumed that there is resource conversion, from the underground mining operation as well. So the first thing that jumps out to me is that as you can see there is that the substantive part of our life of mine is now fully based on reserves and certainly out to the end of this decade. And then we start to see some of that underground resource conversion come in to effectively maintain that 500,000 ounce profile as well. So so gives us a great sense of confidence in the next number of years and plenty of time to target that work and to convert that resource, even grow that resource and then convert that to reserve to to top of that plan as well. So I think that's an excellent result for us, and and really gives us a great deal of confidence over the next decade to push on with Sukari as well.

13:55 I think as I say, the 500,000 ounce level, I think we've well flagged that heading into this service work. We felt a good deal of confidence over the last sort of twelve, eighteen months we could get to the 5,000 ounce mark. I think the big surprise is around that cost base. I'm delighted to see that, coming in there, and that really sort of excellent profile gives us that through the cycle ability to generate excellent cash flow, from the asset in a range of gold prices and allow us to both deliver that growth and stakeholder return targets for us as well. Just bringing us on to the cost curve. As I say, this is the 2025 forecast cost base in the sector. As you will see, this is an asset only basis. This doesn't include the corporate overhead from there as this is an asset only, a global cost curve. But from where we were in financial year 2022, you can see that we were in the the top quartile of cost mind at that point in 2022.

14:52 And as we forecast into 2025, when we see some of those projects coming on stream that we're just finalizing right now, that sits as a... At just over a thousand, a 42 and well inside that 15 percentile. And then when we take into consideration the full life of mine cost, which, of course, benefit from those lower costs towards the end of the mine life when you're through... Sometimes through the stripping and the end of that development, that's a really impressive nine two two average, which is inside the bottom quartile as well. But I think that's a fantastic achievement. I think that to me is one of the, the great successes of this latest iteration of work there to really place Sukari in the right part of the cost curve to generate strong cash flows, right through the gold price cycle, and help to support that business case as well. So I think that's an excellent piece of work.

15:39 And I guess the question was, you know, how did we derive that life of mine plan? What has changed effectively? Well, actually, I I think, you know, it's relatively simple. And I think that's always a a pretty strong point, actually. There's not anything particularly clever that's been done about this. You know, I talked back in 2020 about focusing on people and processes. They would drive that cultural change around how we're looking to reset the business. And with that cultural change, we then look at sort of ensuring we base the business on sound principles. And from a planning perspective, that meant having long term plans, driving short term targets, and it meant getting really good data, collecting that data, and then using good engineering and science effectively to do bottom up planning that drives supportable and realistic plans as we go forward. And that really has been the secret to this whole process here.

16:28 In terms of the the work done itself, we've started to move away from reliance on external consultants. We've increased our in house capacity. So we're always looking to to make sure that we own these plans. We have to deliver against them. We get them ex... Externally benchmarked and reviewed by expert consulting and engineering groups, but really, we did a sense of ownership with these plans as well, which I think is important. In terms of input parameters, we've been consistent with our gold price. We've assumed $14.50 for the last three years. We continue to assume $14.50 long term gold price. We haven't played with any of the the inputs there. On an operating cost basis, we've taken the 2023 cost base and we've rolled that forward. We're not assuming there's any drop off in the cost base at all as cyanide or grinding media return back to historical levels. We've assumed the inflation that we've seen baked into the current prices stays here for the medium term as well. I think importantly, and one of the key drivers, of course, there is around diesel price.

17:20 In the previous iteration of the plan, we'd used about 50¢, per liter, which is the spot price at the time. In terms of this long term planning exercise now, we've moved that up to 75¢ a liter, and we think that's a long term defensible plan, and underpins a prudent sense, to the parameters that we use for those as we go forward as well. So delighted with the... With that. We think it's a good engineering, good science, put together by an owner's team, externally reviewed, and using sensible long term defensible inputs as well. And then when we look at the individual components that make up the plan, we've talked a lot in the past about our focus on geology. It really is the the bedrock of the business. If you don't get the geology right, nothing else flows from here. We thought initially that would give us a better geological understanding, leading to better planning and better execution, and it certainly has done that.

18:05 But also, it's given us that great growth, and we've had over two new ounces to reserves over the last three years, as well, which is absolutely fantastic result by that geological team. Something deeply, sort of sort of unsexy is around the geotechnical framework of the mine plan. We've put a lot of focus on that, since I've been on board. We spent about $3,000,000 between some specific geotechnical drilling and to get the life of mine parameters that we needed for the full full life cycle of the open pit planning. And alongside that, it builds a full structural model to really make sure that we understand the environment of Sukari open pits at works within. And, of course, the other thing we've done is constructed and now commissioned a paste fill plant, which allows us to operate the underground in a more safe and efficient manner, but also allows us to tackle some of legacy buoys that the open pit interacts with as it reduces down as well. So we've got a much better understanding of the geotechnical framework as well.

19:02 That's given us a real advantage I'll talk to in a second. In terms of the mining itself, well, we fully engineered the underground, expansion plan. We flagged that as a prefeasibility study last year. We've now done that work. We've we've completed that, and we're pretty happy that we can see ourselves step up from the current about 1,000,000 tons per annum coming from the underground, run a fine ore up to about 1,400,000 tons now at steady state over the next two to three years as we ramp up as well. But I think the big step forward, has been around the open pit. We'll look at that in a bit more detail in a second from now. And in terms of the projects, the big two there, of course, well, the big three, I should say. Sorry. Solar plant has been delivered, and that's there for us now. It's been about a year in position now. Saves us about 22,000,000 liters of diesel a year. That's about $18,000,000 in realized cost savings, about 60,000 tons of CO two equipment as well. So really successful story for us around our decarbonization strategy and also cost saving as well. And as we said, look to... Or the... To the future, the grid connection, again, which will come soon, the ability to to continue to reduce operating costs and carbon emissions around that gravity circuit which should allow us to optimize, the process recovery increase at at the ounces as well. So I think that's been a a really good piece of work there, from basically bottom up first principles, long term plans, driving short term targets. So that's really the framework of which we've been able to deliver this, this life of mine update, and that confirmed that tier one status as well. But maybe looking at a couple

20:33 of areas now of where those changes have come, and really with a focus, I guess, on on costs. So I talked before about the geotechnical environment we're working in. Put simply, we've got a geotechnical data now. We've been able to steep in the open pit slopes a little bit, predominantly in the north end of the pit. In addition, we're having now pay still available to us. We've been able to, to sort of deal with some of those legacy voids and actually change the shape of the open pit as well. And by doing that, we've been able to pull out about a 160,000,000 tons of waste out of the open pit plan. So we use kind of rounding numbers of about $2 per ton for an open pit operation per ton mined and moved. And that's about $320,000,000 of cost out of the open pit over the life of mine. And that's absolutely fantastic.

21:20 That is a real benefit to the business. So the $3,000,000 on geotechnical engineering work plus the construction of the paste plant, which is about $20,000,000, has enabled, in this case, to save $320,000,000 of operating costs as we go forward. So that's fantastic. And, of course, there's additional benefits, reduced carbon because we're moving less waste. And actually, it had a nice flow on impacts

21:42 as to how we manage our open pit fleet and it's actually reduced, the requirement to further capital investments in the open pit fleet. We now have reduced volumes of tons of waste to be moved as well. But the other thing it did for us is allowed us to redesign the pits, with some slightly steeper stopes now, allowed us to access them all earlier. What you've been able to do for, of course, now is it allows us to bring some of those ounces forward into the mine life as well. Graph on the bottom left hand side there was the previous plan. We need about 11,000,000 tons a year from the open pit, and you will see that

22:12 there is a a shortfall from the period twenty five to twenty nine where we're not able to fully fill the mill with open pit material. And historically, we have been running on stockpile material. Fast forward to the new plan now with those deeper soaps with earlier access to ore, we've been able to bring those open pit tons forward. And as you'll see now, we've done substantially less on stockpile material, as well. So so we've saved waste. Dollars have come out of the plan. It's allowed us to bring ounces forward, gives a better consistency in mill feed, better ounces, and now we're dividing a a lower number of dollars of operating costs by a high number of ounces and help to really drive, those cost savings that I mentioned before on the all in sustaining basis, which is fantastic. And that really uniquely sort of encapsulated by that graph on the right hand side there that shows the improved strip ratio, that we've seen previously, to the new plan and certainly the front end of the plan as well, which is fantastic.

23:06 The other big cost component was around the grid connection. Sukara uses about 50 megawatts of power a day. Sorry. It's baseload. At the moment, we're using, obviously, diesel generating, equipment, diesel gensets, and we've got, they provide that base load of 50 megawatts. During the daylight hours, we're about 30 megawatts of solar and about 20 megawatts of diesel. That's about eight hours a day. And then the balance of the day, you have sixteen hours, we're purely on diesel. So in terms of exposure to diesel price, in terms of, c o two emission, obviously, the question is, can we beat that? So one of the things that we've been very lucky with is that Egypt has invested significantly over the last, few years on its both grid, power generation capacity but also its distribution. So Egypt now has a internal generating capacity of about 55 gigawatts across the country and has a base demand of about 30. So there's a significant amount of excess capacity within Egypt at this stage. On top

24:04 of that additional, capacity, that's blended between gas, a number of gas fired units from CENTAMIN, but also a significant amount of renewables coming into the grid, through both solar and wind as well. So that's how Egypt's power generation has changed. In addition to that, we've got about 3,000 kilometers now of high voltage distribution around the country. And for the first time now in CENKARA's history, we've now got a high voltage power line running about 20 kilometers for the mine site. So with that, we engage with the ministry, the Ministry of Electricity, doctor Shaka. We look to the ability and the feasibility to do that, to connect to the grid. We believe we can do that. We've contracted with to attend the process. We've selected a preferred bidder. And having gone through some technical evaluation with that that bidder, we now believe we can deliver this project for about $46,000,000 of capital expenditure.

24:57 And at current diesel prices, that's a $41,000,000 per saving per annum going forward as well. So just over a one year payback on this project. Of course, given the fact that the grid uses gas and a fairly significant amount of renewables in this, We think the current renewables are around about 20% of the current grid capacity, announced the plan to be up to about 40% by 2030. But clearly, gas and renewables, has a benefit, compared to using diesel as well from a carbon emission basis. And as you can see there, really, we now fully displace diesel from power generating within the business and thus remove our exposure to those diesel prices as we go forward. It really then just becomes about open pit, so that the mining equipment is the primary diesel user. And of course, that redesigned open pit and reduced waste mining tons, that further reduces our reliance on diesel as we go forward. So here we have a wonderful happy confluence of a really good ESG project that further delivers into our decarbonization strategy and saves a substantial amount of costs as we go forward as well. So delighted with that. We plan to have the project constructed and commissioned into 2024, and that will be powering the mine going forward from 2025.

26:09 Ross mentioned before about CapEx. Clearly, there's been a significant investment in the mine over the last three years. That was part of that investing for the long term. Obviously, the capital waste drilling sorry, the capital waste mining, sort of projects has been one of the big, sort of pieces of work that we've had to do, a fixed volume, 120,000,000 ton program with them. They performed excellently, and actually are slightly ahead of the plan at this stage, but that rolls off in the middle of next year. So that means now substantially behind us. We've got our reinvestment in grid this coming year, and additional trucks to round out the fleet capacity. And really, we're through that, we're substantially into the a more normalized sustaining capital program as we go forward as well. So after a fairly patient investor base over the last three years and significant capital reinvestment, we're now sort of six to eight months away from that being sometimes behind us and then getting back to some serious cash flow generation and cash harvesting as we move forward with a reset Sukari.

27:12 But really, we don't stop there. I think that that Sukari time is probably 90% of the value on the table at this stage. The number of smaller opportunities that we'll continue to look at in the sort of culture of continuous improvement we look at. We believe we'll continue to grow with resources and reserves at the mine site, predominantly in the underground at this stage. But we think there's plenty of opportunity there. And, of course, that exciting ground, outside of the mine lease area itself. We think we'll expand the dump leach. That'll help us to increase the ounce profile, not substantively, but but, a nice maybe 10,000 to 15,000 ounces of additional cost additional ounces, sorry, at a very competitive cost as we move that material from there. We think there's a few smaller opportunities around further geotechnical optimization.

27:57 I think we've substantially captured the large amount of that, We think there'll be small opportunities to improve there. I think there's an opportunity around waste, always from the open pit with a number of tons to move up the life of mine. Can we now do it more effectively, more efficiently and save ourselves some dollars on

28:13 waste mining costs as well further? Some further optimization on the processing plant. And the final thing, of course, is our our solar expansion. And the opportunity there is to basically get ourselves onto a 100% solar during daylight hours, leaving the grid connection purely for for the hours of darkness. So six hour... Sorry. Eight hours a day on solar and sixteen hours a day on grid. And that would really sort of continue to sort of make additional cost savings and really help to drive towards that decarbonization strategy as well. So lots of still to do at Sukari. Delighted with that sort of the work we've done. We think we're very happy with the outcome. We're going to publish a quarterly one on one off the back of that. Happy to share that with the world in the market and redemonstrate the sort of the robustness and the resilience of the Sukari mine and identify those further opportunities as we continue to refine and improve the operation.

29:04 So people have asked me over the last week or two as we do some sort of investor marketing. With Sukari substantially the way there, where does the next step change come from in Egypt? Where do you go from And I think the reality, of course, is this opportunity that we have in the Eastern Desert or EDX, as we call that, here in the company. Over the course of this year, we've completed our negotiation process with governments along with our industry partners, Barrick. We've been just through about a two year cycle of negotiation with the governments of Egypt. We're looking to obviously start or restart to reenergize the broader mining sector. We have all been on the... On common economic terms. So they're set to that 5% NSR royalty, 22 and a half percent corporate tax rate, 15%, effectively net profit interest government carry, and then obviously contributions to community development funds as well. So a pretty standard and solid, set of economic terms. And over the last couple of years, we are partners at Barrick.

30:04 We both jointly negotiated the, the additional terms around the edges of that, around stability, sort of hierarchy against existing laws, dispute resolution as well. So we believe what we have now is a is a modern framework that will basically attract... Will be attracted to the international mining community that should really start to see the the sector picking up from here. And importantly for us now, set the framework for any discoveries that we make, across our exciting ground, within EDX as well. Three main blocks we're looking at. The Nubris block sits around the Sukari concession, the red rectangle you can see there. That is the Sukari mining concessions. Clearly, we've got to try and cover as much ground around that with the intention of trying to find a satellite feed that could come into and extend the mine life. And then to the north, we've got Umruss and Najjd.

30:52 And there are two areas where if we were to be successful, they would have to be standalone opportunities given there, so do their distance from the Sukari mill as well. Suffice to say that given our position in country, given our confidence of operating there, we've actually started work. We started work about fifteen months ago at Nagros, a greenfield area. It's not very green as you can imagine, but in the sense that there's been no discovery there before. This really was a a virgin territory. So back to first principles, grassroots exploration techniques. And through that over the last fifteen months of the usual work of blade and soil sampling, mapping follow-up to sampling and mapping, and then sort of have that target generation.

31:36 Within that, we generate initially seven, which ultimately became eight targets. We've actually just completed last week, the initial maiden RC drill program across those eight targets in and around the Novus block as well. So we'll be waiting now over the balance of this year for assays to come back in from the lab. And once we have those assays, we'll be obviously looking to share them as well. And clearly, we get the opportunity to try and find

32:00 a target that could, of course, be mined commercially, and then brought into the Sukari facility. And therefore, that means the sort of the barrier to success or the hurdle rate of success within low risk for us is significantly lower than if you are having to build an entire mine from scratch as well. Some of the work we've done internally, we believe that something as little as a couple of 300,000 ounces of target at about a one and a half four... 1.4, 1.5 gram type grade would be additive to the mine plan. Now clearly, we'd like to find something bigger, but actually, it just tells you that with the... Having the Sukari operation, close by within 20, 30 kilometers away means that, actually, what would constitute an exploration success is significantly lower for us, within CENTAMIN as well. So as I say, yeah, results in the lab, we're we're patiently and expectantly walking up and down outside the maternity ward, waiting for the, those results to come through.

32:53 And, of course, once we've got those, we'll be looking to share those with you via the usual channels. I talked before about about West Africa. When I joined the business, it's an exploration portfolio, quite frankly, a cost center, not really any real strategic or operational direction to try and, take those projects and turn them to account. I think the key aspect here for this round discipline to try and assess those projects as quickly as possible to see if they had development potential. And if they did have development potential, move them on as quickly as possible. And if they didn't have development potential, to drop them, and save time and money and focus on efforts elsewhere as well. And so delighted that through that process, the Doropo project in Northern Cote D'Ivoire came through, to our mind, has been something with some real development potential as well. So located located up in the Northeast of the country, not too far off the Guinea Fassau border, has been in operation, for quite some time, a relatively rural part of, of Cote D'Ivoire with limited infrastructure at this stage.

34:04 I've got certain areas the government is very keen to see, developed, in terms of industry, to help, sort of community development in that area. So in terms of project itself, I sort of talk about two things here normally. From a mining perspective and a technical perspective, it's a relatively simple project, a series of eight shallow... Relatively shallow pits, all with very similar geology metallurgical properties. They would be mined by using conventional truck and shovel. I think the deepest pit we've got is about, just about a 100 meters, maybe a 110 meters, and they're relatively small amounts of material moving up to 25 to 30,000,000 tons per year. We move a 130,000,000 tons a year at Sukara, as you can see, it's a small operation, and a low to one strip ratio of that 4.1, to strip ratio there as well. So mining, pretty straightforward.

34:55 Standard processing flow sheets, nothing particularly exciting there. A pretty good recovery on a nonrefractory basis. It's a pretty standard micron... Sorry, grind size, 75 to one zero six micron as well. Tailings in the standard line facility and then connections to the national grid as well. So so I think for power generation. So I think from a a technical perspective, a pretty straightforward project, to be honest with you. Nothing particularly sort of challenging about it. It does sit within this, this rule, sort of relatively underdeveloped community. And I think the art of making the ROFO work will be to ensure that we have a a, where possible avoidance strategies around impacts on local communities, and where those... Where it's unavoidable to make sure that we reduce any impacts, and where we do have impact, look for mitigation measures as well. And the secret, of course, of that is getting out early with your baseline and very early into your consultation phase as well.

35:53 We're busy with the ESIA at this stage. That will be looked to be submitted by end of year. With feasibility finished in the second half sorry, into the first half of next year. In terms of project itself, that prefeasibility study, we see a nice project, a couple of million ounces of reserve plus minus, delighted with that. You know, a 175,000 ounces per annum over the life of mine as an average production level in excess of 200,000 ounces over that first five years as well. Pretty happy with the all in sustaining. Again, that right part of the cost curve that we're looking at. We think CapEx for

36:30 construction, having benchmarked it across a number of other operations is is sensible and prudent. I think you can probably beat that as we get to feasibility stage. And when you put that together, we see a pretty attractive opportunity with a a pretty good IRR at a long term price of 1,600. Your CapEx is just about your same as your NPV, which is always a good indication, and that 26% IRR meets our hurdle rates as well. So with that done, as I say, we've pretty much moved into feasibility study.

36:57 The intention is to have that feasibility study finished, during the first half of next year, license application with government, and then I guess a financial investment decision, the FID, late twenty four, early into '25. And on the assumption that that is approved and goes forward, then we can see sort of first goal, we know about an eighteen to twenty two month period thereafter as well. So it's full drawdown of Doropo, and that's a key component of delivering an organic multi asset, multi jurisdictional producer. So to wrap up quickly, make sure everyone's sort of, importantly, banging on here, this is what I really like. I I love this chart. For when I joined in three years ago to where we are near now. This really encapsulates that vision of that multi asset, multi jurisdictional producer.

37:44 It shows that targeting in a set of 700,000 ounces production, in the middle of this decade and beyond. And that gives us that growth opportunity both at Sukari, where we believe continue to improve the resource, and reserve base both inside and outside the lease, and then adding to ROFO production. And, of course, in CENTAMIN, all important, all in sustaining target as well. It gives you production growth, political and country risk diversification at the right asset level and ability to generate strong cash flows right through the cycle and continue to fund that growth element while continuing to stay and remain focused on stakeholder returns. So on that there, the investment case, I'll leave that slide on the screen at this stage. And with that, I'd like to hand over to Alex, for any questions that you might have for Ross and I.

38:32 Wonderful. Thank you, Martin. And thank you to all the investors who presubmitted questions, many of which were addressed during the presentation. So we'll take those as answered. But if you would like further clarification, please feel free to get in touch. And then first, starting with the balance of the presubmitted questions, and then I'll go to the investor meet live. So so if anything else comes up, please feel free to submit it there. So Martin Ross, by far and away, the most frequent question we've received has been on on the share price. One one one person particularly encapsulated saying, the analyst published very positive reports on CENTAMIN, and the life of mine predictions are encouraging. And with gold price now approaching $2,000 or even touching it today, Why is it that the shares are languishing at this low level?

39:18 Thanks, Alex. Yeah. Look, we've just got an investor roadshow last week around our institutional shareholder base, and we met a number of our current shareholders and also potential new shareholders. We're always looking to try and find that marginal investor. Look, think the sort of the conversations we're having with the analyst community, with bankers, with current investors and even potential new investors is that I think there is a high level of satisfaction with the work done. I think everyone is sort of excited for what TUCARI can deliver. The fact that we're very close to the end of that sort of reinvestment phase or substantive reinvestment phase now, I'm very happy with that. I I think the the general feeling is sort of twofold around the price. One is that we find ourselves in a in a challenging UK equities market.

40:06 I think the general sort of broker feedback and banker feedback is that a number of money managers and investors, are facing redemptions and return to liquidity, in terms of holding cash. So you are in a in a in a challenging, mid cap UK market scenario where trying to find marginal buyers difficult. So so I think that's the kind of the context, and CENTAMIN is not alone, in that basis. And I think, really, unfortunately, with the terrible events, happening in in in Israel and Palestine right now, I think the BBC is is part of its news coverage is doing a great job on educating a lot of people around regional geography. And, of course, people are looking at a a proximity play, with Egypt to that, that particular, sort of the terrible conflict.

40:51 And I think we're seeing a bit of contagion, in the... Sorry, a bit of the pressure on the gold price because of contagion risk around those Middle Eastern politics as well. One of our main investors, from a large UK specialist resource investor email this afternoon, he said, right mine, right commodity, wrong location. And I think, unfortunately, that's where we find ourselves at this stage. I think just touching on that, the reality is, of course, is that the Sukari mine is a long way away geographically from Northern Sinai, the border of Israel. So certainly, in terms of our ability to operate uninhibited, that continues to be the case. We believe that will be the case going forward. Egypt itself is a key regional ally across there, both for Western Europe and North America, as well as a number of the Arab states across the Middle East as well. So I think Egypt has a key strategic role

41:46 here, international support, in that as well. So I think unfortunately, we are catching, the wrong end of the of the concerns around sort of regional stability at this stage and Egypt's role within that. The practicality of boots on the ground is a very different story. But I think when you put that sort of concerns and a risk of attitude into a fairly sort of apathetic and weak equity markets that we're seeing that share price performing or not performing as the case may be as well, which is hugely frustrating for us all.

42:18 But with hopefully a reasonably quick resolution and normalization of situation in the region, We'll start to see that sort of coming back from there as well. So, no, as a as a significant shareholder myself, I think I share everybody's frustration, with that. But I think with a long life asset at Sukari, with the potential of EDX, with Egypt, you know, important in the region, I think, you know, sort of, we'll continue to to to operate Sukari, and believe that that will come back over time. Thank you. And then just staying with that for for a moment, do you expect the the conflict with... Within Israel and Palestine... Do you think that that could impact our life of mine inputs?

43:04 I can only assume that's kind of cost inputs. Yeah. Look. Look. I think I think operationally, no. I think that that is fine. I think mine mine inputs. Look. Again, I think, you know, we talked about long term planning cycles before. So hence, you know, the use of the $14.50 dollar gold price for your long term planning assumptions on open pit and underground. We're not plugging in $2,000 an ounce to try and drive the mine plan. Similarly, diesel price, a long term assumption of $0.75 So I think on a like of mine basis, I think we're at the correct sort of prudent point of what our sensible long term assumptions are on current sort of, you know, current sort of understanding of where the world is. No. So I don't anticipate that, unless we see a structural change in the gold price or the deal price, for example, then, no, I think we've got the right prudent assumptions, and we can, we can navigate that from there. So, I I don't really see that at this stage.

44:00 Okay. Thank you. You stated a moment here moment here that you think the shares were cheap at this level. How many shares do the board and management hold, and could they be tempted to buy more as it's viewed, very... As it's viewed as a strong show of confidence to the market? Yeah. Look. Look. Absolutely. I I think, you know, in terms of the the... There's always a question comes up. So I look at... I think in the first point, maybe just to separate management as Ross and I and the broader team and then and then the board. So the board don't actually get awarded any performance shares. So so it's under The UK, system areas that, they don't get options or or, you know, induce those sort of vesting of shares on performance as well. So any shares that the Board hold, they have purchased themselves.

44:50 And I think correct, it's about 1,000,000 shares, I think, this stage, sits, within the board, sort of more broadly. And for Ross and I, there's a couple of targets that is good governance. So to be at about sort of UK governance wants us to be at about 200%, of our base salary in in a core holding and and building that up over time. Personally, I'm at about 60% of my annual salary at this stage in shares held. Continue to make, on market purchases.

45:21 Well, I don't call inside information clearly. And, obviously, then, also, Ross and I benefit, from a, sort of long term incentive plan, and around 50% of the performance of the equity element of that is linked to share price as well. So so I think in terms of in terms of purchases of share... Ourselves, Ross and I have made a number of purchases over last couple of years, and I can't talk to Ross. But, you know, going forward, we'll continue to, to look to do so when when appropriate when able to do so. And as I say, a significant element of the compensation of the management team is linked to equity. And 50% of that KPI that triggered that is around relative share price as well. So I think we're all fairly you know, fully invested in the business, and look to share that pain as well.

46:09 You. Oh, and then one more on the shares before we move on to some questions around the mining. But, is the board considering a share buyback at these levels? Rob, I'll maybe given that sort of capital allocation framework, that sits a bit with you. Sure. Thanks, Martin. Alex, just confirmation that share buybacks have always been considered as part of that capital allocation framework. I think as we've gone through this reinvestment phase and where we were, the use of funds and those allocations were more around that reinvestment. But certainly, at current share prices and where we are, definitely part of the part of the conversation. So, yeah, absolutely in the mix and in discussion.

46:51 Thank you. It's gotta be balanced against all all that capital allocation in our projects, but certainly, yes. Make... Makes sense. So then just moving on to the mining side, there seems to be some confusion. So in, the life of mine presentation, similar to the one you just gave now, you stated that there was a 40% improvement in the life of mine strip ratio to 6.5 to one from last year's average of 10.8 to one. However, the life of mine average for 2015 technical report was approximately six to one. Please, can you explain why today's strip is still a little bit higher or today's like of mine strip is a little bit higher than that last technical report in 2015? Oh, okay.

47:38 This was about eight years ago. Look. I I think there's a number of factors at play here. Clearly, you know, we've put a significant amount of work into the geological understanding of of the ore body. That's driven a number of, of changes in in sort of, you know, the resource modeling, collected reserve modeling as well.

47:56 And, and, of course, sort of as we've looked to to understand that, it helps to drive the sort of open pit economics. So so I think the the the quantum leap forward in geological understanding, as I've mentioned, is now full life of mine geotechnical information of the open pit. I believe in previous iterations, they've taken available data and effectively projected that forward. So there may have been some sort of assumption in there. I think, you know, we are now working on a on a on a a very solid base as well from that. So so... And then, of course, sort of that pit designs, that come off the back of that change geological model around all, modeling and then also the the waste modeling around geotechnical, you know, plus eight years further mining and knowledge down the track when that 2015 policy one zero one was done is that it's, you know, slow change. I would argue that between six and six point five to one, it's not substantially different. It's a little bit different, but I would argue that our 6.5 is one that we have now is based on a lot more operating data over the last eight years and a lot more current data around both geology and and geotech as well. So, it's it's actually, to me, slightly surprising to me. It's a it's a real sort of endorsement of it. The fact that it's sort of eight year down the track in this holy data there is that, actually, we're coming out with a not very different, number as well. But, but, yeah, look, I think it's just a function of of time and and better, long term data knowledge that allows us to come with more accurate plan.

49:22 Great. Thank you. And then, one, this is this is going back in time again a little bit. But in 2020, at the end of twenty twenty, we announced that there was some movement detected in the west wall of the open pit. When was that fixed, and has that high grade material been mined? Oh, yeah. A long time ago. Those ounces that were were were sort of, you know, deferred from the end of twenty twenty, they were actually mined in early twenty twenty one. And in fact, that sort of localized area of instability, it didn't actually fail, but it was actually an area of of minor movements. That wall has now changed changed completely, to be honest with you. When we, if I can just go to this slide here,

50:03 that's, I don't know if people are able to see the cursor, but underneath the eye of the Sukari there, that's where that's, that's where that incident... Sorry, not incident, but that's where that instability, sorry, was identified. And that was a good 20, 30 meters away from where that was as well. So that that was an issue that was a a very short term, sort of, sort of, sort of, geotechnical, incident picked up in 2020. We took a prudent approach. So it's not to cause an issue. It didn't actually fail in the end. Those ounces were actually mined in 2021, and that wall, has been moved back substantially since as we moved the process down and opened up the pit, and now

50:43 ancient history effectively as we go forward. So so, no, I I I think that's, that's not really... That... Not even an issue that we think about anymore, to be honest with you. Great. Thank you. And then just, quickly moving to the grid. So is there a risk that the electricity rates will be raised in Egypt?

51:03 Like everywhere, yes. Absolutely. Of course. You know, of course, we all we all look for how to place your cost can move, of course. So, yes, there's a risk to everyone's electricity bill here in The UK as well as Egypt anywhere. What I would say though is that the the the differential in pricing, between sort of the grid connection and and moving away from diesel is is is, is so significant that that even a even a doubling of electrical tariff that we played in Egypt, would still, not make a substantive dent in those, those costs over there as well. So, yes, absolutely. And it would take

51:40 a multiple sort of change in the, in the sort of the rate paid before then actually that became uncompetitive economically with diesel. You'd still get the current benefits of it, anyway and, of course, reduced volatility to the diesel price, which is one of the issues that you face from time to time as well.

51:58 Thank you. And then just a question on, on Bati West or our assets in Burkina Faso. So the company indicated that that we'd relinquish the licenses. However, it was noted that in 2023, there was to the tune of $775,000, of further costs, attributed to Burkina Faso. You know, where are we with regards to the process of fully exiting the country? Sure. Well, look look look like any good corporate citizen, you don't just sort of down tools and walk out of the country. So there was a process, you know, decision to to relinquish, you know, a corporate, one that engages with governments and and notifies them, And then there's a process of of effectively handing over data collecting, getting the data, the court shares, all those bits and pieces together. They effectively belong to government writing reports in terms of having that back as well. So there's a whole process in terms of a formal handover of the sort of the data and the information

52:56 to government. There is any minor rehabilitation work required around sort of field camps. And then, of course, there is proper treatment of retrenched workforce where one then sort of, you know, ensures that its its workforce is treated in law in in in the connection or... Sorry, in line with local labor law, and people are given, you know, proper and correct redundancy payments as well. And then finally, of course, there are legal fees

53:22 around the sort of the winding up itself in terms of, you know, making the regularly... Regulatory filings required for that as well. So so, unfortunately, these things, you know, certainly, the Frankfurt phone code in West Africa as well, It it just takes a bit of time to do these things properly. Mhmm. And and we want to do things properly. We don't just wanna drop things and walk away and leave as well. We we are exiting the the country in an orderly manner, making sure that we do things correctly because Africa is a small place ultimately. And how you behave in one country, very quickly gets done elsewhere as well. So there will be some legacy costs bleeding into into this year, as we look to make a proper

53:59 and correct exit from the key as well. But I think that should be substantially done this year calendar, and then should not be any further cost going forward with that. Thank you. Ross, one for you. How much does the CENTAMIN for gold purchases?

54:19 That is a very interesting question coming through, but it's a very insignificant amount that comes through in terms of the amount that's owed. So basically, just to clarify that question, is it is gold and there's an arrangement in terms of foreign currency that we have with the central bank. So the central bank doesn't owe us any significant amount of money, but basically, what happens is that we sell gold across and exchange that our US dollars for Egyptian pounds. It's all arms length, and it's done under arms length wholesale agreement. But, basically, there's a very nominal amount that was owed representing a couple of thousand dollars net receivable in EGP. I think it is to the tune of about 15,000 to 16,000 US dollars, and that was timing in terms of when the transactions are closed off.

55:12 It's fully Thank you very much. Fully fully fully disclosed the manual report if you wanna look at the terms of the arrangement.

55:20 Yes. Thank you. So conscious that we're coming up to the hour, and I still have a quad... A handful of more questions to get through. So I'm gonna just quickly turn to the q and a on on the investor meet. Please, can you confirm if your aircraft geomapping at Sukari was extended over EDX, or do you intend to do so?

55:40 We have not yet, done any airborne surveys outside of the concession agreement. That was done. We will wait for the assay results to come through of the EDX Douglas block later this year, early next. And then I think if there is, you know, depending on on sort of what interest or or or not as the case might be, If we were to have some interest, from those assay results, then I think there would be motivation to to fly sub blocks of the full blocks in in in detailed areas as well. So short answer, no. Only conception to date. That remains a viable tool for us. And if we have exploration success, then I would imagine that that's one tool we would roll out going forward in 2024. Let's hope that's the case. Another comment here. With junior a minus having had their market cap smashed, is now not a good time for selective acquisitions before the market recovers?

56:35 I would say that that that sort of, you know, we have a a busy BD sort of profile now. I think that sort of, you know, the the ability to to to look at certainly early stage opportunities around exploration, there is a, you know, fertile ground now to to potentially look at the type JV earnings with earlier stage opportunities. I think, you know, we continue to look at development opportunities, and then obviously continue to look at, sort of, you know, producing opportunities as well. But

57:07 I certainly would agree that certainly AIM and TSX, at the end of the market is that, you know, they are they are tough times for those companies, and that might be an opportunity for us to to to, you know, leverage our financial robustness. And also recognizing the skills we have in terms of our exploration, geological team there, have done some excellent work, you know, both Sukari and more broadly across CENTAMIN and a long track record of success drives that as well. So so, yeah, that's something that we are actively pursuing at this time now. Yeah.

57:38 Wonderful. And are you confident you can maintain good business relationships with the Egyptian government? Look. It's been a real focus the last couple of three years of of building those relationships with our primary sort of interlocutor, the Ministry of Petroleum, and then more broadly across other other sort of, you know, Egyptian institutions as well. Look, I think, you know, it's something that we like at a broad based approach. You know, we're... I I mentioned being a good corporate citizen, looking at our workforce, looking after the the sort of, you know, our our... You know, all our stakeholders and partners' interest there as well. And and and, yes, look, I think by being a good citizen, by doing the right thing,

58:16 for the short, medium, long term, and sort of being, you know, being visible there, engaging, and listening, I think is a good partner does do, then then I would hope that one could always maintain those good relations. Thank you. And that actually brings on to another one thing that that there's been, a rumor of a recent workers' strike. Has that been resolved? That would be news to me. If there was a workers' strike, I'm certainly not aware of one. Mhmm. Ross...

58:41 Unless it's Ross who's gone on strike in Jersey. Ross, are are you on the right stage? No. No. Absolutely nothing. That's all I'm talking No. No. No. No strikes.

58:53 Are there any other associated significant minerals, that you believe to be to be exploited alongside gold in Egypt?

59:02 Look. I would say very quickly on that one. The Arabian Nubian shield, same on the Saudi side as it is on the Egyptian side. In Saudi, there's things like the Jabal Saeed mine, which is currently run by Maarten, a state owned company, and Barrick. They offer a they offer a copper gold mine, there. So that tells you that there's certainly copper gold potential within the Arabian Nubian shield. Looking a bit further south, you might remember Nevsun, polymetallic operation down in Eritrea. That's at bottom the end of the Arabian UV shield. And one would say the Hassai mine in Sudan, formerly owned by Lamancha,

59:36 that's, that also was a polymetallic, gossam as well. So so certainly, the Arabian UV shield does, you know, elsewhere outside of Egypt, host polymetallic, and base metal operations. And so as a mining engineer and archaeologist, I tread carefully, one would argue that there there must be geological potential within Egypt for things other than gold as well, for sure.

1:00:02 Gosh. I just keep coming in. Sorry. Is it known where... Oh, I just jumped on. Is it known where the ancient Egyptians used to mine for gold?

1:00:12 Yeah. Look. I I I think there are good historic... Well, we know there are good historical records of of known, sort of mining sites. I mean, Sukari itself, we we... We've known from an archaeological work that's been done over the last twelve months. But we know that, that that gold was being mined at Sukari during the time of the pharaohs. You know, we've got evidence, on-site away from the main pit. It's it's all fine. There's no barriers to operations, just to be very clear. But we know that the gold has been mined as well. So so there are a number of sort of even, like, known areas. Still lots of artisanal sort of workings that

1:00:45 are out there in the desert to be discovered. And it's one of the best tools you can use in exploration to go find out where the where the artisanals have been, what they're left behind as well. So so, yes, I I think there's been lots of lots of research around this and modern techniques using satellite imagery, and airborne surveys will continue to sort of highlight those potential areas.

1:01:04 Great. Okay. So, four more left. Is the market giving you value for Doropo? If so, what? And if not, why? That's a very good question. I I don't, certainly, analysts are certainly analysts are are now starting to pay attention with the PFS with reserves. I think that they are certainly coming through. Is that translation through to... From an investor perspective? I don't suspect so just yet. I don't think that that is there. I think that's in for free at this stage, I'm honest with you. But I think as you move into sort of, you know, feasibility stage now and post feasibility, when you've got something that... With a definitive, you know, cost and path to to to cash flow, I think that's really when, you know, one could really hope it sort of kicked into there. So I would say not...

1:01:49 I don't personally believe it is at this stage of what you think, Ross. But I think I think the feasibility that people have to. No. I I think so, Mark. Not only gets fully factored in. You know? It's coming coming to to the fore, but not baked in.

1:02:04 I 100% agree with that. Will expected improved future cash flow drive dividend growth? Mister mister Gerard, our CFO, with your framework for dividend, Ed Ross?

1:02:17 I think think absolutely in terms of the balancing of... As as as we navigate out of this peak CapEx period, we can see the end of that, that falling off May, June next year, we're going to enter into some significant cash flow generation. It's that balance around having that flexibility with the RCF, having some treasury, getting some project level finance done at a Doropo project level and balancing out all those pillars that we have ahead of us. But absolutely, I think we've navigated the peak of our investment now and pick your gold price, fuel price as we go forward. But, you know, I'm I'm very confident in terms of navigating that going forward and and impact on what that means for both our investment and growth and our distributions.

1:03:06 And and our, I guess, our dividend distributions and the way that's calculated is very transparent. As you calculate and look at the cash flows going forward, certainly would hope that it's on the up and positive.

1:03:23 Great. Thank you. And then just just one more request for clarification around the exit in Burkina Faso. More reference to the full year '22 annual report, there was a 2,000,000 license renewal fee. That that sounds like a bigger amount. You know, could you elaborate a little bit more on what that was?

1:03:47 Sure. So sorry. Sorry. I was on mute there. Was chatting away to myself on mute there. So so that that would have been the the the license renewal that was required, as part of that. So just to sort of step back, we did the technical evaluation of, of Doropo Doropo or Batty West. At that point, we could see a project that maybe had 800,000 ounces of reserves at roundabout a sort of one and a half gram type head grade. And and we felt at that stage that, that that ultimately that wasn't a CENTAMIN style

1:04:20 project that that that that maybe a very lean and hungry junior could make that work. But certainly, it was not something that we would look to both spend our time and bandwidth or or money on developing. You know, that wouldn't fit, you know, 100,000 ounce per user wouldn't fit within within the sort of a sensible portfolio. The ROPO of 200,000 ounces clearly would do. So at that stage, this was still pre coup, we decided to renew the licenses, keep them current and valid, and then seek, if we could, a, an exit to try and sort of find a home for for Batty West, with maybe a a a hungrier, smaller, group that that actually could be sort of meaningful for them as well. So so we renewed the the the permits. We sort of launched into a process of trying to identify potential partners either to acquire, earn in, or or or sort of effectively sort of, you know, recoup some of the funds that we've invested in that project.

1:05:15 And then, obviously, post that situation that that we sort of moved into the period of political instability. With that, obviously, the the prospects of finding a a company that would take, you know, a smaller project on in a country that had been suffered a double coup, effectively was then sort of incredibly challenging. And with that sort of political and security situation worsening with a marginal project and inability to find that is that that's when we made the decision to effectively hand that back. The $2,000,000 fee to government,

1:05:49 at that point, you've already invested quite a substantial amount of money into the project, both in terms of drilling historically and so on. And that was really a defensive move to see if we could find that exit for ourselves at that point. And obviously, to find an exit, you have to have a valid license package as well. So unfortunately, political and security events moved against us. We paid the fee to governments, and that will be disclosed in our report, as you said. And then events moved against us, unfortunately. That was and then that had to be written off. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as we all know. We'd obviously foreseen the coming political and security storm, then maybe we would have just relinquished the project down and then handed it back and walked away. But that was the background there. Yes. So unfortunate to the events of the Kiena Pass Hotel clearly.

1:06:40 And then, sort of that relinquishment post that relinquishment would just be in the normal wrap up and wind up mode, in terms of those fees from there. And just to clarify that, Martin and Alex, I I think if you're referencing a... I think the total spend was 2,900,000, but not all of that is pure licensing. You know, that would be the total spend in Bikina for that period. I don't know exactly, but it wasn't all just licensing. Licensing. Yeah. Yeah. There's been a license renewal, Ross. And then as you say, that that... We we took the decision at that point to to spend the... To to renew the permits and the licenses in the option and the only ability that we could try and divest the project to start a third party, but moved against us at that point. Yep. Yep. Well, thank you for that clarification. And then just the last question, with gold heading to an all time high and the sentiment share price near lows, what catalyst can you get people excited about in the near term to regain some confidence in the market?

1:07:36 I think... So look. I I think in terms of immediate near term is that EDX, EDX, EDX, sort of results that come through. You know, I think let... Let's wait and see what happens there. I think that's obviously a near term. We have our resource reserve update later this year. And, obviously, we'll be publishing an update on both Sukari and the Doropo resources. Sukari resource and reserve of the Doropo resources. And then looking into next year, you know, the finalization of the capital waste stripping that's finally behind us, the connection to grid, to deliver those cost savings from there as well, as we go. So so look, think there's a number of, of catalysts as we go forward. One would hope and and pray that that's, in terms of of the humanitarian issues happening in region now that that's accompanied by a stabilization and a calming of the of the current situation, and continue to to sort of, you know, push that good news that we're delivering into, hopefully, a more stable market, more stable region and improved conditions for the market as well.

1:08:37 That's great. Alex, thank you very much indeed. Ross Martin, thank you for your time as well this afternoon. I know that investor feedback is going to be important to you both, and I'll surely redirect those on the call to give you their feedback. But I wonder before doing so, if I may, Martin, just come back to you for a few closing comments. You very much. Well, thank you, everybody, for taking the time to listen in. Hopefully, a bit more color on the sort of situation. Look, I think huge amount of significant sort of positive work has been done right across the portfolio. I think that's a very business... Very different business today than it was three years ago. I've got a lot of confidence, looking forward at both CENTAMINEDX and the prospects for the repo as well. And as I say, it's a number of near term catalysts coming up over the next six months that

1:09:26 will continue to help you drive a recovery in the share price. So thank you everybody for the time and for listening in. If there are any questions that are unanswered, please feel free to reach out to our mutual channels sort of through the website, through social media, and then via Alex or ourselves. I'm happy to try and engage with many of you as possible and get those questions back to you. That's great, Martin. Thank you very much indeed. Can I please ask investors not to close this session? We'll now automatically redirect you to the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the company can better understand your views and expectations. This may take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure it'll be greatly valued by the team. On behalf of the management team of CENTAMIN PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and good evening to you all.