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Date
Thursday, October 30, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. ET
Call participants
President & Chief Executive Officer — Ammar Al-Joundi
Chief Financial Officer — Jamie Porter
Executive Vice President, Operations — Dominique Girard
Executive Vice President, Operations — Natasha Vaz
Executive Vice President, Exploration — Guy Gosselin
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Takeaways
Gold production -- 867,000 ounces produced in fiscal Q3 2025, reaching 77% of full-year guidance as of September 2025.
Average realized gold price -- $3,476 per ounce in fiscal Q3 2025, which is $20 higher than the spot average.
Total revenue -- $3.1 billion in revenue for fiscal Q3 2025, setting a new record for the company.
Adjusted net income -- $1.1 billion, or $2.16 per share, in fiscal Q3 2025.
Adjusted EBITDA -- $2.1 billion, described as a record performance for the quarter.
Free cash flow -- $1.2 billion generated in the quarter, plus $400 million received from the sale of equity investments.
Net cash position -- $2.2 billion at quarter-end, more than doubling from the previous quarter.
Debt reduction -- $400 million in debt repaid, with gross debt reduced by over $1.6 billion in the last 18 months.
Shareholder returns -- $350 million distributed through dividends and share repurchases; $900 million returned year-to-date.
Credit rating upgrade -- Moody’s raised Agnico Eagle Mines' rating from BAA1 to A3 with a stable outlook in fiscal Q3 2025.
Total cash cost -- $994 per ounce in fiscal Q3 2025, impacted by approximately $60 per ounce of higher royalty expense due to gold price increases.
All-in sustaining cost (AISC) -- $1,373 per ounce for the quarter, projected to finish near the top end of the $1,300 per ounce full-year guidance range.
Cash tax payment estimate -- $1.2 billion anticipated as a significantly higher cash tax payment for fiscal 2025, to be funded in 2026.
Project pipeline progress -- Five major projects (Detour Underground, Canadian Malartic, Upper Beaver, Hope Bay, San Nicolas) advancing, cumulatively representing about 1.3 million to 1.5 million ounces of potential production, all from assets already owned and, in most cases, leveraging existing infrastructure.
Exploration program -- Over 370,000 meters drilled in fiscal Q3 2025 and more than 1 million meters year-to-date, with company-wide exploration meterage expected to reach between 1.25 million and 1.3 million meters for the year.
Remote operation technology -- Over 20% of underground tons at select mines are now moved via remote operation as of fiscal Q3 2025, raising productivity by 20% without increasing headcount.
Capacity expansion -- At Hope Bay, ongoing engineering is now approximately 25% complete; construction of worker facilities is underway to prepare for ramp-up.
Workforce retention -- Turnover in key Quebec sites reported at approximately 5%, attributed partly to new technology and improved work conditions.
Permitting and development -- San Nicolas project engineering advancing, with ongoing engagement with Mexican authorities for key permits.
Fosterville acquisition -- Agreement reached to acquire a 39,008-hectare exploration license adjoining Fosterville; transaction subject to government approval.
Summary
Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM +3.72%) delivered record financial results driven by peak gold prices and robust operational execution, with gold output reaching 77% of annual guidance by fiscal Q3 2025. Management emphasized significant cost discipline through productivity initiatives, such as remote mining technologies and efficiency programs, which supported improved margins even as royalty and all-in sustaining costs trended toward the upper end of guidance. The company demonstrated active capital management through ongoing debt repayment, aggressive shareholder returns, and a doubled net cash position, all concurrent with a Moody’s credit upgrade. Management outlined a clear strategy to advance five development-stage projects and a historically large exploration program, positioning the company for long-term organic growth financed by strong cash flow generation.
CFO Porter said, "At current spot gold prices, key financial return metrics such as return on equity could be as high as 20% for full 2025 year."
Cash flow for the upcoming $1.2 billion tax payment relating to fiscal 2025 has been proactively reserved from current cash balances.
Management confirmed that proceeds from equity investment sales are not automatically recycled into new investments, but instead evaluated alongside broader capital allocation priorities.
The company’s new subsidiary, dedicated to non-gold, non-copper critical mineral investments, is funded by existing noncore holdings and seed capital, with no ongoing funding obligation for the parent company.
Management described negotiations with the new federal government in Canada as resulting in "We've probably had more discussion with the new government on the importance of mining and the opportunity of mining to contribute to Canada we'd had with the previous government over several years."
Labor inflation is being modeled at 3%-5%, but total cost inflation is expected at 6%-7% for 2026, with company-wide initiatives aimed at offsetting these pressures through productivity gains.
Fosterville property consolidation is scheduled for completion within about two months, contingent on Victorian government approval.
Industry glossary
All-in sustaining cost (AISC): A comprehensive measure reflecting the full cost of gold production, including operating cost, royalties, sustaining capital expenditure, and corporate overhead.
PEA: Preliminary Economic Assessment, an early-stage technical and economic study of a mining project.
Full Conference Call Transcript
Ammar Al-Joundi: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our Agnico Eagle third quarter conference call. I'd like to remind everyone that we'll be making a number of forward-looking statements so please keep that in mind and refer to the disclaimers at the beginning of this presentation. Once again, we are pleased to be sharing a good news story with you. In a nutshell, with record gold prices, with strong and importantly, safe production, along with continued solid cost control, we are once again delighted to be reporting record financial results.
Across all metrics, our business is running well and beyond the record financial results, we continue to invest in the best pipeline we've ever had and we continue to invest in the most ambitious exploration program we've ever had, which continues to deliver exceptional results. With almost seventy years of history behind us, we have never been stronger than we are now, and we have never had a better future than we have today. Before I turn this call over to my colleagues, who will go through our business in more detail, I'd like to spend a few minutes to summarize the key takeaways.
One, we're reporting record financial results driven by, of course, record gold prices but coupled with strong and consistent operational performance. We delivered another exceptional quarter of strong production at 867,000 ounces putting us year to date at 77% of our full year guidance range. We sold that gold at an average price of $3,476 per ounce. Another record. And a full $20 per ounce higher than the spot average in the quarter. Well done to the treasury team. At the same time, we continue to work hard to control costs which means we continue to deliver benefits of these record gold prices to our owners through record margins.
While our reported Q3 cash costs of $994 an ounce are higher than the previous quarter, the majority of this cost increase is due to higher royalty costs which are a direct result of the higher gold prices. If we back out the impact of these higher royalties, which again are the direct result of higher gold prices, our Q3 cash costs would have been $933 an ounce, well below the midpoint of our cost guidance range. Year to date, our average cash costs are $943 an ounce. Again, if we back out the impact of higher royalties, our year to date average cash costs would be $909 an ounce.
Well below the bottom end of our cash cost guidance range for the year. All of this the record gold prices, the solid production, the continued good cost control has led to another quarter of record financial results for our owners. Record EBITDA, record adjusted net income, and record returns to our shareholders. Two, we continue to strengthen the company to strengthen the balance sheet, and to return record amounts of cash to our owners. We repaid $400 million of debt this quarter, We returned $350 million directly to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases and we increased our net cash position to $2.2 billion while at the same time receiving an upgrade in our credit rating.
Three, we continue to invest heavily in building the foundations of our future growth advancing construction, development, studies of our five key pipeline projects and investing heavily in an exceptional exploration program. Ed Malartic, we are ahead of schedule on the underground development, ahead of schedule on the shaft, and progressing studies for Marban Wassermak, and a potential second shaft. At Detour, the ramp order is built, We have begun building the ramp to access the underground and we continue to optimize the mill. At Upper Beaver, I was there just on Monday, We are on budget, and we are ahead of schedule. The team is doing an exceptional job.
At Hope Bay, we continue to get great drill results, and we are accelerating on-site activity. We've upgraded the port. We've we're upgrading the camp. We've emptied the mill building. We're progressing the Madrid ramp and we have completed the box cut for a ramp at patch seven. At San Nicolas, we continue to progress engineering on this high grade, high quality copper project in the best mining jurisdiction in Mexico. These projects cumulatively represent about 1.3 to 1.5 million ounces of potential production. All from assets we already own in regions we've been operating for decades and in most cases, leveraging off existing infrastructure in place.
At the same time, are investing more than we ever have by a wide margin in our exploration program. As Guy will illustrate at the end of this call, we continue to get truly exceptional results that will position Agnico Eagle well for decades to come. These three key messages are consistent with our story last quarter and are consistent with our focus over the past couple of years. But on this call, I've asked the team to spend some time on a fourth key message. I've asked the team to spend some time to talk about our continued focus on productivity.
Dominique Girard and Natasha Vaz will go through a few examples, to convey the message that even with gold at $4,000 an ounce, even with record financial results, our teams continue to be absolutely laser focused on improving productivity, At every opportunity, at every mine. We are proud of our teams and how hard they continue to work to deliver not only great and consistent results, which by the way make my job a lot easier, but to also focus every day on pushing themselves to operate even better and even safer. With that introduction, I will now turn over the presentation to our CFO, Jamie Porter, to review our third quarter financial results.
Jamie Porter: Thank you, Ammar, and good morning, everyone. Our operating teams delivered another excellent quarter. With strong cost control, particularly on a per ton basis. By delivering on our production targets and managing costs, our investors continue to benefit from margin expansion in a record gold price environment. A dramatically strengthened balance sheet and increased direct shareholder returns. We are in the strongest financial position in the company's history. The strong operational performance and cost control paired with higher gold prices to drive record financial results including record revenue of $3.1 billion, record adjusted earnings of $1.1 billion or $2.16 per share, and record adjusted EBITDA of $2.1 billion.
These are excellent financial results, delivering the leverage to higher gold prices you would expect. At current spot gold prices, key financial return metrics such as return on equity could be as high as 20% for full 2025 year. Gold production in the third quarter was approximately 867,000 ounces at total cash cost of $994 per ounce. And all in sustaining cost of $1,373 per ounce. We have achieved 77% of our full year production guidance to the end of September. Though we have budgeted lower gold production in the fourth quarter, we are confident in achieving the midpoint of our full year production guidance range 3.4 million ounces.
We are benefiting from record gold prices However, the higher gold prices do result in increased royalty expense. In the third quarter, cash costs were approximately $60 ounce, higher than what we had budgeted. Largely as a result of the increased royalty expense. Despite this, I'm pleased to report that our cash cost remained within our guidance range on a year to date basis and we still expect to be at or near the top end of our cash cost guidance range of $965 per ounce for the full year.
Our teams have done an excellent job managing costs the costs that are within our control, and continue to work on ongoing optimization initiatives Dominique Girard and Natasha Vaz will talk about later in this presentation. All in sustaining cost per ounce were higher than the prior quarter, primarily due to the increase in cash costs and the timing of sustaining capital spending. We also expect to be close to the top end of our all in sustaining cost guidance range of $1,300 per ounce on a full year basis. Our all in sustaining costs continue to be hundreds of dollars per ounce below those of our peers.
Again, this is the result of continued efforts by our team to control costs and continuously improve while maximizing the cost synergies and benefits resulting from our regional strategy. We move on to the next slide, We had another strong quarter of free cash flow generation. That directly and indirectly benefited our shareholders. Through direct shareholder returns to the dividend and share buyback, and indirectly through the strengthening of our balance sheet. We generated $1.2 billion of free cash flow this quarter, and added another $400 million through the sale of equity investments. Which allowed us to continue to strengthen our balance sheet.
Our net cash balance more than doubled in the third quarter increasing to $2.2 billion Given our strong financial position, we decided to redeem an additional $350 million of long term debt in addition to the $50 million of debt that matured during the quarter. Over the past eighteen months, we have significantly delevered the balance sheet, reducing our gross debt, in that period by over $1.6 billion. Reflecting this strength in credit profile and financial position, I'm also pleased to report that during the quarter, Moody's upgraded us from BAA one to a three with a stable outlook. We are, again, in the strongest financial position in the company's history.
Giving us the flexibility to take a balanced disciplined approach to capital allocation. We move to the next slide, We continue to deliver record shareholder returns this quarter. Totaling approximately $350 million in dividends and share buybacks and totaling $900 million on a year to date basis. This brings the cumulative shareholder returns in Agnico's history to over $5 billion. Majority of which has been returned in the last several years. Our capital allocation strategy remains unchanged we are well positioned in this gold price environment. We expect to continue to increase shareholder returns through increased share buyback activity and potentially through higher dividends.
We also expect to continue strengthening our financial position and flexibility by increasing our net cash position Given our profitability, we are expecting a significantly higher cash tax payment. Relating to the 2025 fiscal year in the 2026. This is estimated at approximately $1.2 billion We are allocating cash to fund that obligation. Lastly and importantly, we will continue to reinvest in our business order to bring our high return organic growth projects online. We have our five key value driver projects, Detour Underground, filling the mill at Canadian Malarta, Upper Beaver, Hope Bay, and San Nicolas. All of which generate solid returns at gold prices significantly below the current spot price.
At current spot prices, these projects have the potential to generate phenomenal returns. Detour, for example, once ramped up to 1 million ounces of annual production, has the potential to generate over $2 billion of annual after tax free cash flow at that mine alone at these gold prices. We will continue looking for opportunities to accelerate reinvestment in the business to drive long term shareholder value. At current gold prices, we're generating a lot of cash, but we will remain disciplined and continue to take a measure to approach to capital allocation. With a focus on increasing returns to our shareholders over the long term.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Dominique Girard, who will provide an overview of our Quebec, Nunavut Finland operations.
Dominique Girard: Thank you, Jamie, and good morning, everyone. Our Q3 results for Quebec, Nunavut and Finland continue to show strong and consistent operational performance just as we saw in Q1 and Q2. We are on track to meet year end guidance and we're positioning ourselves on good foundation for 2026. The production costs remain well controlled and as shown in the bottom right table here, we are seeing VCORD profit margin thanks to the gold price. I'm very happy of our team's leadership and mindset. Even with higher gold price, the focus remains on debottlenecking the operation and improved productivity As for example, this quarter, we have three mills that beat records, quarterly records at Middlebank, Medellin, and Goldex.
For the next two slides, Ammar asked Natasha Vaz and myself to explain more and give example about what we're doing at the site and regional level to control our cost to manage our business. You will hear not about cutting, cutting, and cutting, What you're gonna hear is gonna be more about productivity, improvement, integrating technology, leveraging skill set, and leveraging our people. The first example is gonna be Quetela lead led by the team that you could see here on that picture celebrating the 3 million ounces pour And the second one is gonna be about new technology implementation in underground. Next slide, please.
So the acute following the new shaft commissioning and ramp up, the team were struggling to meet their operational target at on the go. And from there, I need to recognize the leadership of Yeni, Mikko, and Kiyoski for taking action leveraging learning from similar initiatives done at Medellin in 2023. To drive mini meaningful change. So in June 2024, they've launched an underground productivity improvement program And as at media dean, their approach was built on ownership focused on what matters, and on problem solving. They work in collaboration with the employees They did benchmark to define what perfect shift could look like and to be more productive.
At the end, what they did they've worked with the guys driving the equipment. As you could see there, a scoop, to find how they could help them to be more productive. And some example like just being at the equipment faster than it was before is a it's an easy one, but it's thing that you that we kind of implemented to be more efficient. I will just show you some result of that if I take the two the two graph on the or bars on the left, the bottom one, you could see the ton mined per day improved by 13% year over year.
To the first nine months of 2024 compared to the first nine months of 2025. 13% more tons moved. Or mined from underground. This is with the same equipment same fleet, same people. More efficient. That allow them also to, do more by themselves and less relying on contractor which help to reduce the cost. And on the cost side, if you take the top one on the left, you could see that euro per ton mine site cost decreased by 4%. And this is despite inflation and higher royalty. So very good job to the Kitila team Thanks for that. Next slide. The second example is about implementing new technology of remote operation.
The gains with we are doing with those remote operation are not just helping us to control our cost and manage the business. It is it is more than just the current operation performance. It is also unlocking future growth project, enabling future growth project. All our of our project if we could improve what we use into our studies, in term of tons move tons mined, as well as we're gonna see at Odyssey if we could improve the REMS development speed this is significant improvement. So I will I will start with the example of s five in 2016 where they've implemented the first LTE system in the world underground.
Since that time, they really, really did very good progress. You could see with the yellow here, through the time, we are now approximately over 20% of the tons are done through remote operation. And how this is the gain? Where is the gain? Is there's there were some area sometime that we were not operating the equipment because we need to do to be out of the mind for ventilation purpose, for example. So the same skill set and the same thinking have been applied to a DC ramp. And you could see the jump done in the year in the 2023 when we started to do remote mocking and remote drilling, at Odyssey.
So we've increased the productivity by 20%. Again, same people, same team, just are using the technology. This is significant improvement. How it works? So you could see the people here sitting on the on the front of a of screen. In a in a seat, which is the same that than the one in the scoop So they are able to operate three to four equipment each. at And we're collaborating very closely with Sandvik at SZ5, with Epiroc, Odyssey to push those technology to do more and more. So this is helping us to control our cost. This is also enabling future projects. It is also an aspect on the workforce.
Natasha Vaz is gonna talk about opportunities and action on the workforce. But those type of thing are in the balance to help the workforce. So we are in Quebec. Approximately 5% of turnover. Which is fantastic And those type of initiative are helping us to have better condition for the workers or giving them great challenges to our professional We are this is helping for the retention. This is helping for the recruitment. And this is helping for the stability of our of our operation. Next step, stay tuned. We're moving into the fleet management system. So the blue that you see on the graph there this is still conventional hauling.
Now to be better in that area, we're implementing fleet management system underground We're gonna be in the first of the world to be to implement such a software advance like we're thinking about, the coming years, you're gonna hear about that. Next slide. Moving to the project pipeline. As Ammar mentioned, both projects are on track and evolving very positively. As Guy will talk later the drilling result keep adding value to the project. Very, very interesting. Canadian Malartic, in term of shaft sinking, we restart more conventional shaft sinking in Q3. We did the record in term of speed.
And we are about two months in advance of what we were planning initially when we updated the study in 2023. I would like also to highlight the construction team in Q3 did triple zero for seventy thousand hours. What is triple zero is no lost time no modified work, no medical aid, and seventy thousand hour this is equivalent of one guy working in a construction for thirty years. Congratulations to the team It's fantastic doing those type of achievement.
So to close on Canadian Malartic, the studies progress for division to 1 million ounces with the second shaft more than Wazamac, everything is on track and the construction team keep delivering what needed example, the administration's building is gonna be delivered in Q1. It's gonna be a good thing for the team. To be in better position. At Hope Bay, potential 400,000 ounces annual production from the good drilling IC. I think it's gonna be slightly more than that. Let's see where the study is gonna end. But in the meantime, we are the key thing is to advance engineering. So we are currently around 25% achieved on the engineering, and we are progressing between 34% per month.
Which bring us to the 40, 50% we were looking before greenlighting the project next year. Everything is in good position for that. Also, the construction team are preparing the field to be able to do the that heavy construction time. So you could see here on the on the picture, there's two new wings. Both of them were approximately 133 people per wing, so we're building capacity. We're gonna have six of them. Ready to go, for construction operation, and keeping in preparation. On that, I will pass the microphone to Natasha Vaz.
Natasha Vaz: Thanks, Dom, and good morning, everyone. So I'll cover the operational highlights for On Mexico, and Australia. The regions delivered good safety, operating, and cost performance this quarter. And along with the higher gold price, this led to record operating margins at both Macassa and Etitur. Now at Detour, as we continue to stabilize the mill at the higher throughput the team achieved another quarterly record mill throughput. The open pit mining rate in the quarter, however, was affected by slower progress around the historical underground workings. But grade is still expected to improve in the fourth quarter as we move into the higher grade domain pit. Over at Macassa, we had a really a good quarter there too.
The team continued to see some overperformance with higher than expected grades in localized areas. And then at Fosterville, production this quarter was on target following a very strong first half of the year. Now in terms of business improvement, similar to what Dominique Girard discussed, the teams, they continue to push hard to optimize our business. There is a constant effort to keep all of our operations at a state of optimal performance. It's just part of their DNA. And the optimization of the ore haulage system at Detour is a really good example of that.
It's a good example of the many initiatives that are going It's a good example of how the team is looking at ways to sustainably lower cost and improve efficiency. And this particular journey started ten years ago with incremental slow enhancements made over time and significant progress made, as you can see from the utilization and payload as noted on the graph. And the team, it they continue to look for ways of optimizing our unit cost by involving external experts to review their performance and help identify possible efficiency gains similar to what Dominique Girard was talking about at Katila. Not just as it relates to hall optimization, but really the entire mining cycle.
Another hot topic, and Dominique Girard touched on this, is related to the skilled labor shortage that the entire industry faces. Labor is a large portion of our overall cost. And our focus is to not just maintain our operational needs, but also secure the workforce to grow our business and at the same time, manage the cost. So we're taking a very proactive approach to workforce as we grow in Ontario by leveraging our regional strategy, by leveraging our competitive advantage, specifically when it comes to people. So our strategy to address the short and long term workforce needs is multilayered.
Of course, the first one is to ensure we continue to be a great place to work for our employees. By continuously investing in our people and by continuously leveraging the culture that Igneco has built we have increased the engagement levels of our team. And Macassa is a really great example of how powerful this combination can be. Since 2022, we have significantly increased production at Macassa, and at the same time, we've significantly improved safety performance. Say that a safe mind is not is a is a productive mind. In our experience, it's also a highly engaged mind.
In addition to that, we're investing in local workforce training This quarter, we started the underground school of mines for Macassa. Our plan is to, over a period of time, train local candidates to meet the increased demand for Macassa, for Upper Beaver, for Detour Underground. And while we remain focused on hiring First Nations, and local employees, we also seeing success in filling roles through our immigration program, for skills that are generally hard to recruit for in Canada. So I'm very proud of the team because even at these gold prices like Ammar was saying, their foot is still on the gas.
They continue to safely and responsibly make our minds more efficient more productive and ultimately reduce our cost. Now moving to the next slide, I'll give you a quick exam update on the three projects for Ontario and Mexico. As you're aware, the Detour Underground project plays a big part in the plans for the complex to be a 1 million ounce producer annually. It's still early days, but as Ammar mentioned, this quarter, we commenced the exploration ramp and have advanced just over 250 meters laterally. Also continuing with the infill and expansion drilling and continuing to see positive results. And Key will talk about that later on in the presentation.
As for Upper Beaver, during the quarter, there's been a lot of progress made in a short period of time. We did have the pleasure of hosting our board and our senior management team this week at Upper Beaver, but also Macassa. And they were complimentary, not just about the progress, but also the strong teams that we have on the ground. And I completely agree. In terms of the project, with respect to the shaft head frame, the structural steel and the cladding is completed. The winches have been roped up, and the service hoist is ready for commissioning. So shaft sneaking is still expected to commence in the fourth quarter.
And over at the portal, the excavation of the exploration ramp began at the July and has advanced over 250 meters. Finally, with respect to San Nicolas, we continue to engage with government and authorities and our stakeholders related to the key permits that are needed. In the meantime, we're continuing to advance the engineering of some critical infrastructures which will just help us further derisk and build confidence in the execution strategy. So all in all, good progress being made on the projects. And I just wanted to end by thanking the operations team and the projects team for another solid quarter. And so with that, I'll pass it over to Guy Gosselin.
Guy Gosselin: Thank you, Natasha, and good morning, everyone. First of all, I would like to start by taking a moment to thank the team at all sites another excellent quarter. Both safety, and productivity and cost control went extremely well. With an excess of a 120 drill rig in action, we've completed north of 370,000 meter of drilling in the quarter now exceeding a million meter year to date. That is ahead of our schedule by about 9%. Year to date in terms of meter. And our unit cost are approximately 8% below budget year to date as a result of our strong involvement at, you know, controlling cost. Our journey excellence program continues to deliver.
We're improving safety, by introducing more mechanized feature such as robotic arm technology to reduce weight lifting, and repetitive motion, and we are ramping up our unattended drilling capacity that allow for drilling between shift which is very beneficial for our underground mining sites. And in towards year end, continue to focus on key value driver expanding a little bit the drill program on several sites, such as Merban, Detour Underground, Hope Bay, and Canadian Arctic Odyssey. Where we have good exploration results that continue to believe the trail to support studies that will support studies to deliver on our vision. Of growth, for these assets.
From a result standpoint, I would like to comment on a few projects starting on slide 15 with Canadian Malartic. We currently have 29 drill rigs in action at Malartic, both on the ground and on surface at Odyssey, in the extension of the deposit, around the mine, including the recently acquired Marban project And once again, this quarter, I've seen some very exciting results. In the upper eastern portion of East Gouldie results are 4.8 over 25 meter at 800 meter depth In the area, we anticipate can get to millimeter reserve by year end. That could provide additional flexibility to accelerate ramp up of production in the upper portion of the E School B Deposit.
Then Also In The Lower Extension Of The East Gouldie with result of the 2.3 over 30 meter at 2,000 meter double surface. Which is also kind of aligned with our decision to extend the depth of the first shaft down to, eight hundred and eighteen hundred and seventy meter. And the deposit remains open at depth, and laterally and beyond the adjacent Marban project we've we've so far completed 96 drill on the property for 30 in excess of 30,000 meter. Since the acquisition since the drilling started in May following the acquisition. Mostly to test the eastern extension of the deposit.
On ground that belonged to Agnico prior to the consolidation And the result have the potential to increase the ultimate design with result of T3.3 over 11 meter 4.6 over 10 meter, approximately 2,200 meter east of the current open pit being considered. Now on slide 16, a detour. As mentioned by Natasha Vaz, the expiration ramp is now progressing well. We have we just with just over 250, almost 260 meter developed in a quarter. Reaching a depth of 43 meter below surface. 62 kilometer of drilling, were safely completed in the quarter.
With nine drill rigs that continue to infill expand the deposit from surface in areas that are targeted for the underground mine project, both below the saddle portion of the deposit with result up to three gram over 40 meter. 2.7 over 55 meter, and to the west of the pit, where the planned exploration ramp, which result pretty significant of two seven point four over 27 meter. The results so far should lead to growth in the underground mineral resources system at AkiraM, And based on these good results, we've added an additional 55,000 meter of drilling in the fourth quarter and expecting to achieve almost 220,000 meter. By the end of the year.
Now on slide 17, as discussed by Dominique Girard, Again, some very good result in exploration. Have six drill rig in operation. We've completed in excess of a 100,000 meter year to date. Expecting to achieve north of a 120,000 meter by year end. And we continue to see very strong results in the patch event area. First of all, in the southern extension of patch, with result of 26.7 over 10 meter 10.7 over 3.8, at shallow depth 350 meter below surface. Showing that the deposit remains open. To the south on the right hand side of that graph.
And two, at depth in patch seven, with very strong results up to 12.7 gram over 9.3 meter and 70 16.9 gram over 4.6 meter. Both at around 880 meter depth. In the strong new discovery at Patch Evans. That shows that the deposit remains open at depth. And laterally. So we anticipate that all of the good results we've seen at taupe this year will have a very positive impact on the mineral resources at year end and as mentioned by Dominique Girard, that all of that be integrated in our potential, project development scenario to be communicated in 2026. Then on slide 16, I would like to add a little bit more color on Meadowbank.
And I'll as you are aware, we're looking in a current gold price environment to look at opportunity to continue to operate Meadowbank So we've been, since 2024, It's validating some option for weight It pushback in the IVR area. But also continue to derisk. The underground extension of the deposit that is known to be still open at depth. And all of those, good results that we are displaying will be integrated our scenario analysis to evaluate the pushback scenario and eventually, to continue to mine from underground only with mill operation at a lower throughput. Once the open pit are fully depleted.
Finally, at slide 19, at Fosterville, not mentioned in our press release because it came out right after the cutoff of our press release yesterday, we're pleased to announce that we've reached an agreement with these two resources to acquire their 39,008 hectares exploration license that surrounds our mining lease at Fosterville. This will consolidate in total more than 260,000 hectares stretching over more than a 100 kilometer along the grate at Pauceville. To allow the continuation of the full investigation of those structure without any property boundary constraints and the transaction obviously is subject to the Victorian government approval. To and the closing is spec is expect to close within about two months.
So on that, I will return the microphone to Ammar Al-Joundi for some closing remarks.
Ammar Al-Joundi: Thank you, Guy. As you can see, we continue to work hard for all our stakeholders and we'll continue to build off the same foundational strategic pillars that have served us well over the past sixty eight years. We will focus on the best mining jurisdictions based on geologic potential and political stability. We will be disciplined with our owners' money making investment decisions based on technical and regional knowledge creating value through the drill bit, and through smart, disciplined acquisitions when it makes sense. We are uniquely well positioned with a quality project pipeline leveraging existing assets in the best regions in the world where we believe we have a strong competitive advantage.
And we will continue to be focused on creating value on a per share basis and on being leaders in our industry and returning capital to shareholders as evidenced by over forty two years of consecutive dividend payments and increasing share buybacks. And finally, before we open up for questions, I'd like to comment briefly on the current exciting gold environment both the gold price and the sector more broadly, including our recent investment in Perpetua. On the gold price, of course, nobody has a crystal ball and nobody can predict near term moves.
But it is very common that when a market moves up quickly, there is often a measured retracement and a period of consolidation before the next leg up. I think that is where we are on the gold price. Long term, we remain very constructive on gold and as all the factors that have pushed gold outperform over the last twenty five years, remain in place, and in many cases, have become more prevalent.
On the M and A front, while we do have the best organic growth in our history, while we continue to have great success in our exploration programs, and while we feel absolutely no pressure to do anything of course, we will continue to look at opportunities to create value more value for our owners through smart and disciplined opportunities. On the M and A side. Our owners want us to look at these opportunities Our owners expect us to look at these opportunities. It is frankly part of our job. Our investment in Perpetua is a good example of this.
Perpetua is one of the largest highest grade undeveloped open pit gold mines in The United States, To paraphrase one of our senior exploration people, it is the most exciting US based gold explorer exploration project she has seen in many, many years. Perpetua is also an investment in gold. Yes. There are valuable byproducts that will reduce cash costs but that's a good thing. This is what we do. We focus on geologic potential, and safe jurisdictions and we try to get in early to gain a knowledge advantage. Thank you again for joining us on this call. Operator, may I ask now that we open up the call for questions.
Dani: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Followed by the number one on your touch tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star key followed by the number two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Fahad Tariq of Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Fahad Tariq: Hi, thanks for taking my question. Ammar, can you talk a little bit about the noncore investments in Critical Minerals, like it's a new subsidiary. I'm just trying to understand what type of investments will be vended in or spun out in there. It sounds like it would be things like Canada nickel and maybe some other equity investments. And what is the future strategy of that subsidiary? Would it invest in like, make equity investments or actual project development?
Ammar Al-Joundi: Hi, Fahad. Thank you for that question. You're you're absolutely right. For example, Canada nickel will be in that subsidiary. I think as most of you know, there's been a lot of interest globally on critical metals. We are a gold company but we're also in my opinion, the best miners in the regions we operate and we're the largest, by far. Mining company in Canada. We get asked about critical metals all the time. We wanna remain a gold company And so what we've the approach we've taken which is consistent with being disciplined and consistent with our philosophy on capital allocation, is that it should be based on knowledge.
For the last three years, we've had a small team as again most of you know, looking at opportunities on the critical metals side. With everything that we've got going on, with the great pipeline we've got, with our continued focus on gold, we felt now was the time to let that small group of people have a little bit more independence and look at opportunities on their own.
So we've contributed small investments that are non gold, non copper, into that subsidiary We've given a little bit of seed capital And frankly, Fahad, it's their job to look at opportunities We are not obliged to invest more money We'll be supportive, but we'll also have a first shot at looking at what they're doing.
Fahad Tariq: Got it. And then maybe just switching gears Can you talk a little bit about how just government relations are going with the new federal government in Canada. Have you noticed changes in terms of the level of access to the government dialogue and any opportunities in particular for Nunavut infrastructure? Thanks.
Ammar Al-Joundi: That's again an excellent question. We have been very pleased with the new government. I'll give you an example. You know, while we are the biggest mining company in Canada, we really didn't get a lot of attention from the previous government. The weekend after the election, I got a text from Tim Hodgson. I'd I'd never met Tim Hodgson. He went out of his way to find out who I was and, I guess, who other, and I know he's talked to a lot of other mining executives And so, you know, you've gotta give a government credit when the minister in the very first weekend, reaches out to people on their on their, cell phone via text.
We know the teams there well. We've probably had more discussion with the new government on the importance of mining and the opportunity of mining to contribute to Canada we'd had with the previous government over several years. So we're we're very pleased. They are very smart. They're very engaged. And they really are interested in you know, leveraging off of what mining, for example, can do, for the average Canadian.
Fahad Tariq: Thank you very much.
Dani: Your next question comes from Anita Soni of CIBC World Markets. Please go ahead.
Anita Soni: Hi. Good morning, Ammar and team. First question is with respect to Hope Bay. What are you expecting to deliver by year end in terms of a resource update? And then what are you targeting for the twenty seven study?
Dominique Girard: I could start maybe with the study, and I will let Guy Gosselin, for the resource. On the study, we're expecting in the first half of next year to deliver PEA study with the engineering at over 40%. And, again, as we did at Medialdin, to really have a good view in the schedule and on the cost, we like to give information when we have enough of that engineering done. I'm very happy to see the progress with the team. And midyear, before midyear, next year, we're gonna we're gonna give you more detail on the all those KPIs I need to and that, I would pass it to Guy.
Guy Gosselin: Yep. So as a so for year end, I would say reserve will remain as last year. We're gonna be updating indicated and inferred resources. Integrating all of those new results we've been getting, extending patch seven. And along with what Dominique Girard did described, our study in 2026 with the new development scenario, new cost. So our desire would be to update to update Obey with a brand new, I know, PFS supported reserve and resources filing by the 2026.
Anita Soni: Okay. Thank you. And then just a question with respect costs. I know you talked about tariffs a little bit, and it seemed like it was the standard customary cautionary language. But is there any you know, is there any other I guess, I'm just trying to get an idea of what inflation what kind of inflation expectations you're seeing going into next year? Is it the typical 3% to 5%, or and, you know, you obviously talk about optimizations where you're you're to defray some of those three to 5%. You've done an excellent job this year of maintaining costs, within the original range despite a more than a thousand dollar gold price move.
But what can we what should we be thinking about going into 2026 and other moving parts like, you know, changes in grade and things like that.
Jamie Porter: Yeah. Anita, it's it's Jamie here. You know, we're we're obviously working through the budgeting process now. I think, you know, three to 5% is where we've seen labor inflation over the past several years. But across all of our costs, it's been closer to six to 7%.
Anita Soni: Okay. You know, if you go back over the last three years, the average cost inflation we've seen has been six to seven. Our guidance has been up on average by about 3%. We've been able to do a bit better than the rate of inflation over the last few years. Going into 2026, I think we're seeing a similar level of inflation, you know, in around six to 7%. Across all of our, you know, various cost components and, we're seeing the pressure on royalty costs as a result of the higher gold price. So we would expect, you know, cost of be higher next year to just based on the impact of higher gold prices.
But as we've talked about through the call today, we're we're we're always looking at opportunities to do better than inflation.
Anita Soni: Okay. Thanks. And that's it for my question.
Dani: Your next question comes from John Tumazos of John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead.
John Tumazos: Thank you very much. Could you review the rigs operating across the company. I think I heard there were 29 rigs at Malartic. And the meters were being increased 55,000 to 220,000 for the year. But could you give us that review across the portfolio, please?
Ammar Al-Joundi: Thank you for the question, John. I'm going to ask Guy Gosselin to comment on that.
Guy Gosselin: Yeah. So, basically, the 120 rig as reported, are spread over the operating mine, advanced project. I can go through me maybe with you offline if you wanna see. But, basically, yeah, we have those 29 rigs, the 220,000 meter, and additional 55,000 meter you're referring to. Pertaining to Detour, where we have those nine rig operating. So we haven't seen it and I would say quarter over quarter, we have the exact same number of rig. We've just seen an increase in productivity.
And we're trying wherever we've been getting some good results, especially in the pipeline, to keep drilling at the same pace during the fourth quarter Therefore, we're expecting that, you know, we will be in a position to go all the way to around 1.25, 1,300,000 meter. By year end. You know? Without spending much more because of the lower unit cost we've been getting with those productivity improvements such as the unattended drilling. Basically, what it means on the day to day is when the driller with the new rig that we are currently at we you know, revamping on each of the sites with collaboration of our entrepreneurs.
They're basically adding the function that when the gear the guy lift the rig at the end of the shift, for the blasting and gas clear up, you can just press the button. The drill continue to drill. Through in between shifts. So if you look at it, if you can drill three more meter at the end of the shift, three more meter at the end of the for an underground mine, it is quite significant. So those are the thing that with the same fleet of rig, we can get more done. And we're gonna continue to drill at the same pace because we have some good results.
And overall, we are expecting our global exploration budget for the company 525, including exploration project. To be about, right on right on right on that 5,000 and $555 million for the year based on our plus three forecast we just done.
John Tumazos: Could you just run through the several sites where the most rigs are running? I don't remember how many rigs were at each site.
Guy Gosselin: Yep. Well, maybe I can provide you with those detail offline, but we have those 29 in Monarchic. We have nine at 12 in Macassa. We have six at Dolby. So maybe I can provide you with the detailed list of the spread of our reg offline, John.
John Tumazos: Thank you.
Dani: Your next question comes from Tanya Jakusconek from Scotiabank.
Tanya Jakusconek: Oh, great. Good morning. Thank you so much for taking my questions. Morning, everybody. Do you just wanted to come and talk to you about a reserve and resource replacement to this year. Year end 2025. I think if I go through the what you mentioned we're gonna see increase in reserves at East Gouldie. That was really the only mine, the only deposit I've heard And then Resource Grove at Detour and Hope Bay. Is that correct?
Dominique Girard: Dee, can you leave comment? Oh, thanks. Yep. Yep. I can take it. So, we will also we are in good position to fully replace what we mine at Quetela, Macassa, and several of our site will see some partial replacement. We will also have Morban that will get into the mix, adding a first iteration of Morban. So net bottom line expecting to see a net growth net of mining depletion by year end by maybe I don't know. My guess, we should be up by quarter or half a million ounces year over year. Despite the fact that we've mined we've extracted 3.8 and will produce 3.45 this year.
So all in all, the drilling has fully replaced what we've mined out with a slight with a slight growth. Year over year.
Tanya Jakusconek: Okay. And should I be thinking, as you have done historically, that, you take your reserve and resource pricing and you look at inflation and adjust accordingly. So I know your reserves are at about $14.50. Your resource is at seventeen fifty. If I put that five, 6% or thereabout inflation, I get fifteen fifty and eighteen fifty respectively. Should I be thinking that's how you're gonna approach your pricing for your reserves and resources at your end?
Guy Gosselin: Well, that's a very good question. Obviously, with current gold price environment, we are at that question, and we're working on it. But our Yeah. Or low price assumption on some project where it's a life of mine extension scenario or where there is additional milling capacity. But our firm intention remains to keep the cutoff grade stable while, you know, as you described, offsetting inflation. Moving the gold price up in line with that inflation we see overall on the on the on the market.
Tanya Jakusconek: So then it's really, what you talk about is real actual of ounces rather than any movement in gold price for what you're seeing for year end.
Guy Gosselin: Yes.
Tanya Jakusconek: Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Thank you for that. Maybe over to you, Ammar, if I could about just the strategy on the overall portfolio, both from an investment equity standpoint and then also on your portfolio. Your asset you know, overall asset system, really. There are some smaller ones that you have, in there as well. So I'm just you know, interested in how you're approaching this Let's start with the equity portfolio.
Should I be thinking, you know, your you know, investing in, you know, perpetual was one investment, but should I be thinking that, you know, whatever sales or sales you make from that investment portfolio, it just gets reinvested into other equities rather than being thought about this gain as allocated to shareholder returns. Should I be thinking about it in that way?
Ammar Al-Joundi: Thank you, Tanya, for the question. No. The money is belongs to our owners. You know, we make strategic investments in things that we have looked at and think might have an opportunity to create value for our owners You know, we don't do it as a trading position. We do it really again, in line with our philosophy on being disciplined with capital. It's an opportunity to make an early investment to learn about a project that we might be interested in. And so if you take a look at something like Orla, and there's a long history there, you know, we eventually, Orla, did fantastic job They didn't really need us anymore.
There was a lot of money tied up. We took a we liquidated that position but that does not go into a pool that goes back into equity. That is our owner's money and that money everything competes for that money. Investments into our minds, technology, everything has to have a business case. So we do not simply take that gain and allocate it to future equity investments. It's our owners' money, and it gets treated like the rest of our owners' money.
Tanya Jakusconek: Okay. So it just goes part of your, you know, cash flow and then gets that allocated accordingly.
Ammar Al-Joundi: Correct.
Tanya Jakusconek: Okay. Thank you for that. And then in the portfolio itself, as you know, higher gold prices, everyone's looking at their portfolio and you know, some you know, you have a lot of big assets that you're focusing on coming up these five assets that you talked about. Anything that you see as anything within the portfolio for non core?
Ammar Al-Joundi: Yeah. I mean, there we I just looked at it this morning, you know, Jean and I talk about this all the time. You're right, Tanya. There are some things that you know, transition well, and we continue to be interested in. And as you would expect and as in the history of our company, there are some projects that while we invest in early we end up concluding don't make the criteria for our owners. And we will be disposing of them and frankly, again, you're right. At these current gold prices, it's not a bad time to you know, in some cases, sell those assets.
Tanya Jakusconek: Yeah. So when we're talking about assets, we're talking about assets, not investments.
Ammar Al-Joundi: Correct. Well, no. No. In this case, I'm talking about the equity investments.
Tanya Jakusconek: Equity investments. How about just, you know, overall within the portfolio? Just some smaller, you know, within the portfolio, anything in Mexico? You know, you've got some smaller stuff.
Ammar Al-Joundi: But that's not being I mean, the you know, you asked about Mexico. There are there are some things that are now pretty small and nonstrategic. We always look at opportunities to get the most value from any asset, whether that means we operate it or we sell it. I can assure you we do that with all of our assets. Including ones that are small. And so if there are some that you might wonder, well, why haven't you sold them? The simple answer is, can assume that we've looked at all the different opportunities and, have concluded on the ones that still make the most money, for our shareholders even if it's a small asset.
Tanya Jakusconek: Okay. Thank you. Thank you for taking my questions. I'll let someone else ask.
Dani: There are no further questions at this time. I will turn the call back over to Mr. Ammar Al-Joundi. Please continue.
Ammar Al-Joundi: Well, thank you, everyone, once again for joining us this morning. More importantly, thank you for being our friends and supporters over many decades. And many cases. Everybody one day early. Have a nice weekend. Thank you.
Dani: Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.