Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. Stock

Good morning. Welcome to Wesdome Gold Mines conference call to discuss the company's financial and operating results for the 3 and 6 months ended June 30, 2026. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Your host for today is Trish Moran, Wesdome's Vice President of Investor Relations. Ms. Moran, please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I'd like to point out that during today's call, we may make forward-looking statements as defined in the Canadian securities law. I ask that you view our slide presentation for cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements and the risk factors pertaining to these statements. Please note that all figures discussed on this call are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted. Our press release, MD&A and financial statements are available both on SEDAR+ and on our corporate website, wesdome.com. With us on today's call is Anthea Bath, West Elm's President and CEO; Phil Yee, our Chief Financial Officer; Tyler Mitchelson, our COO; Jono Lawrence, Senior Vice President, Exploration; and Kevin Lonergan, SVP, Technical Services. Following management's formal remarks, we will then open the call to questions. And now over to Anthea.

Thank you, Trish, and good morning, everyone. Q2 was another strong quarter for Wesdome and another demonstration of how fundamentally this company has changed. We delivered net income of $94 million and $42 million of free cash flow and ended the quarter with more than $390 million in cash after returning more than $80 million to our shareholders through our share buyback program.

At Eagle River, increasing throughput reflects our deliberate move towards a larger, more productive operating model. We're beginning to leverage our fixed cost infrastructure and expect those benefits to become increasingly visible as throughput grows. Kiena also delivered a strong quarter on production and costs. In July, we blasted the first production stope at Presqu'ile, establishing 3 active mining horizons and achieved the breakthrough of our new ramp from surface. There's another number from the quarter worth highlighting, and that number is 8. For the first time in Wesdome's history, both Eagle River and Kiena are underpinned by reserve-based mine plans extending approximately 8 years.

Last week, we filed the independent technical report supporting those plans, culminating nearly 3 years of work to build longer life, more predictable and more resilient operations. And that changes the conversation. We now have greater time, financial capability and operational flexibility. We can now move beyond asking the question about extending our mine lives and increasingly ask what can these 2 mining districts ultimately become.

Importantly, the ATF plans are not the limits of either asset. Opportunities dependent on further optimization, exploration, resource conversion and technical work are not actually even included. The technical report established foundation. Our opportunity is now to build beyond that.

At Kiena, our immediate priority remains operational execution, reliable production across multiple mining fronts and continued productivity improvement. We see a pathway over time to increase annual production. That opportunity comes from 2 reinforcing drivers: improving mine productivity and exploration success that increases ounce per vertical meter and create additional high-quality mining fronts.

The recent Norbenite discovery is just one example. Together with additional mining fronts, the better equipment utilization and higher productivity, this creates the potential to grow production while leveraging the existing infrastructure that's already in place. That upside is not included in the current reserve plan and requires further upgrading execution, drilling and technical evaluation.

Beyond the existing mine, Kiena East, which includes Zone 134, Dubuisson and Shawkey are pointing to a broad opportunity that we're systematically evaluating. These are early stage and require considerably more work, but they are changing how we think about Kiena, not simply as a mine, but as an infrastructure platform within a much larger mineralized district.

At Eagle River, the reserve plan provides a larger, more resilient operating base and sees us filling the mill as early as next year. It also preserves important flexibility. If we continue replacing high-grade reserves at the pace that we've been achieving, we retain the ability to resequence this plan and potentially defer global model material for years.

Beyond the underground mine, Mishi-Magnacon and other bulk deposits provide the opportunity to evaluate an integrated open pit and underground development, leveraging existing Eagle River infrastructure. We expect to advance conceptual work over the next 12 to 18 months to assess mining and processing scenarios and guide future investment. Increasingly, we see Eagle River as a high-grade underground mine at the center of a far broader regional mining and infrastructure opportunity.

Finally, the technical reports identify conceptual exploration targets of approximately 2.4 million to 6.3 million ounces across Eagle River and Kiena. These are conceptual targets. They're not resources or reserves, but they illustrate the scale of the opportunity beyond our current plans. Importantly, much of the infrastructure and operating platform required to systematically test these opportunities is already in place.

8 years is an important milestone, but it's not the destination. It's a platform from which we can build the next generation of Wesdome. Since 2023, we have strengthened our operations, extended our reserve life, built our balance sheet and significantly increased the capabilities of the organization. Collectively, that has changed what is possible for this company, Wesdome. Our ambition is to progressively build 2 premier Canadian mining districts capable of supporting multiple mining centers around established infrastructure while generating significant long-term value.

We increasingly see our opportunity is district scale and not mine scale. The model is straightforward. Exploration creates more and better mining opportunities. Operational improvement allows us to extract more value from them and existing infrastructure allows us to translate both into growth efficiently.

And our competitive advantage extends beyond geology. The technical capability, the leadership, the capital discipline, the culture and the community relationships we have built are increasingly important to our ability to capture that opportunity. We are not pursuing production or scale for their own sake. We are focused on growing intrinsic value per share. Scale should be the outcome of creating value, not the objective.

Our longer reserve lives, strong balance sheet and cash generation give us the ability to be prudent in investing returns justified, returning capital where appropriate and remaining selective on external opportunities.

Three years ago, our priority was to strengthen the foundations of Wesdome. Today, those foundations are largely in place. We believe the opportunity in front of Wesdome is considerably larger than the company you see today. Our responsibility now is to convert that opportunity into value deliberately, systematically and per share. And with that, I'll hand over to Phil to walk you through the financials.

Thank you, Anthea. Good morning, everyone. Turning to Slide 8. Q2 2026 was a strong quarter. Revenue came in at $267 million, leading to net income of $94 million or $0.64 per share. Adjusted for a $2.3 million impact of nonrecurring payments, adjusted earnings per share was $0.65 per share.

EBITDA and net cash flow from operating activities were $170 million and $88 million, respectively. Free cash flow in the quarter was $42 million or $0.28 per share compared to $53 million or $0.35 per share in the second quarter of last year. The year-over-year decrease reflects several items, most notably the timing of a $21 million prepaid tax installment in Q2 of 2026. We expect quarterly free cash flow to significantly increase in the second half of the year.

Turning to Slide 9. On a consolidated basis, AISC per ounce of gold sold was USD 1,763 in the quarter. At the site level, Eagle River came in at just over USD 2,000 per ounce sold, reflecting a 17% increase in ounces sold and certain onetime costs, which taken together make it difficult to see the positive underlying cost trend we are seeing at the operation. We expect AISC per ounce sold at Eagle River to be lower in the second half of the year.

At Kiena, AISC was USD 1,497 per ounce sold, driven by higher contractor costs supporting the development of Presqu'ile. Year-over-year sustaining capital also decreased due to timing. Corporate G&A of nearly $11 million included costs primarily relating to unplanned corporate development and the technical reports. We continue to diligently manage our corporate G&A costs. Margin resiliency is a priority for us, and we are taking concrete steps to make improvements across 3 areas.

The first area is supply chain. Over the past 6 months, we have strengthened the team and improved structure and processes around inventory and supplier management and key contract improvements. Already, savings of several million dollars have been identified with several more million expected by year-end. Savings are anticipated to flow through progressively over the next 12 months.

Supply chain is a structural and meaningful opportunity to optimize costs and improve efficiencies across our operations. The second area we are reviewing is reducing our reliance on contractors. We see a meaningful economic opportunity to transition certain roles from external contractors to our permanent workforce. Our HR team is actively developing plans and programs to support this transition at both sites. Thirdly, we are reviewing maintenance practices across business with a focus on further reducing unplanned downtime and lowering overall costs and capital costs. These 3 initiatives represent a coordinated effort to drive improved margin resiliency over time. Our ambition is to be a sector-leading low-cost producer.

Turning to guidance on Slide 10. While we are reaffirming full year production and cost guidance, we have made a few updates to the guidance table to align with our internal forecast. At Eagle River, we continue to expect full year production of 105,000 to 115,000 ounces at an average grade of 11.5 to 12.5 grams per tonne compared to initial guidance of 13 to 14 grams per tonne.

In the second half, the continued integration of global model ore into the mine plan is anticipated to reflect higher mill throughput and slightly improved grades relative to the first half of the year. We are also reducing our depreciation and depletion guidance to $100 million from $130 million previously. This reduction is a direct result of the meaningful increase in our mineral reserves announced in June.

With respect to CapEx, we continue to invest in high-return organic growth initiatives to improve operational flexibility, increase mine life, execute on our fill-the-mill strategy and pursue growth. Based on our most recent forecast, full year consolidated capital could track up to 10% higher than the initial guidance of $205 million, primarily driven by the timing of growth expenditures at Kiena. Management continues to diligently assess the timing of these costs.

Turning to Slide 11. We closed the second quarter with a cash balance of $391 million. Importantly, that is after returning more than $80 million to shareholders through our normal course issuer bid during the second quarter. Including our revolving credit facility, total liquidity was roughly $746 million as of June 30, and we expect that figure to remain strong as we move through the year. Our balance sheet remains debt-free and flexible, and we are deploying capital with discipline. Our priority is to return meaningful capital to shareholders while investing in our organic growth strategy.

I'm pleased to highlight 2 recent important milestones in our capital return program. First, at the end of June, we initiated a quarterly dividend. The first payment is due at the end of September. On an annualized basis, the dividend amounts to approximately $0.12 per share. While modest to start, it reflects our confidence in the durability of our free cash flow profile and our commitment to a disciplined shareholder-first approach to capital allocation.

Second, alongside the dividend announcement, we expanded our share buyback program to up to 6% of shares outstanding. Since last November, we've repurchased nearly 8 million shares at roughly $24 per share or approximately $190 million in total, a meaningful demonstration of our conviction in the intrinsic value of this business. Commensurate with the implementation of the NCIB last year, our Board approved the repurchase of up to 10% of our public float. As we progress through the program, our capital allocation thinking continues to evolve alongside our business.

Buybacks are one tool in the toolkit, and we will continue to use that opportunistically. We believe our financial flexibility is a strength and shareholders can expect us to deploy capital where we see the highest return, whether that's in the ground, on the balance sheet or returning value directly to you. Metrics such as return on capital remain paramount in our decision-making. According to the latest calculations, we continue to rank third across the industry on this measure, reinforcing our disciplined approach to deploying capital. With that, I'll turn it over to Tyler to walk you through our operational performance.

Thank you, Phil, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin where we always begin, safety. In the second quarter, we recorded 0 lost time incidents. Our TRIFR was 1.67, slightly above the prior year quarter, serving as a reminder, there's always more work to do.

What is particularly encouraging is the significant improvement this quarter in our high potential incident frequency rate, which declined 69% year-over-year to 0.67. This reflects the strong commitment to safety across our organization, focusing on critical risks and the continuous improvements being made every day.

Last month, we completed the implementation of our company-wide 10-point critical hazards program. Building on that progress, we are now developing a comprehensive mobile equipment safety standard, focusing on addressing our highest risk hazards. At Wesdome, safety is a nonnegotiable, and our actions reflect that commitment every day.

Moving to Eagle River on Slide 13. Before diving into the details, I want to step back and frame 2026 in the proper perspective. Both Eagle River and Kiena are in the midst of a deliberate value-creating transition to new long-term mine plans. And while there is meaningful work still ahead, we are committed to shaping these assets into the low-cost, predictable, scalable producers we know they can be.

Eagle River has fundamentally -- has been fundamentally changing for several years, and that pace has picked up in H1 with the integration of the global model ore as part of our updated mine plan. This reflected a strategic shift towards a value-focused operation, one that prioritizes improved mill and mine utilization over the long term, not just quarter-to-quarter ounce maximization, the change has started, but it is far from done.

Eagle River performed in line with our mine plan. During the second quarter, we processed over 72,000 tonnes through the mill, producing 22,000 ounces at an average grade of 9.7 grams per tonne. As mine output increases, the mill is responding well by increasing throughput. Quarterly grade variation is a natural feature of our ore bodies and sequencing. Grades on a given level can range from 6 all the way up to 30 grams per tonne. In July, grades averaged nearly 12.5 grams per tonne, reinforcing our confidence in a stronger second half.

The operational setup also supports our confidence. The next 300 zone stope is fully drilled off with approximately 25,000 tonnes ready to mine in the coming months at grades reaching up to 25 grams per tonne. Analysts who joined our mine site tour in mid-July saw this impressive stope and our preparations firsthand. Based on our forecast, we remain confident in delivering Eagle River's full year production guidance. The fill-the-mill story at Eagle River is gaining real traction, and the numbers back it up.

Throughput averaged nearly 800 tonnes per day in Q2, a nearly 50% improvement year-over-year, and we are targeting a further 10% increase in the second half. This puts us firmly on track to fill the mill in 2027, as outlined in our recently filed technical reports. At Eagle River, our 8-year reserve mine life plan projects average daily mill throughput of approximately 988 tonnes per day, but we are not satisfied with stopping there.

We are actively assessing opportunities to push the mill. As we continue to optimize and embed operational improvements, we see a credible path to ratcheting up tonnes per day beyond the current 80% overall equipment effectiveness. The operational improvements behind this throughput growth are broad-based and measurable.

As you can see on Slide 14, since 2025, milling rates are up 14%, unplanned downtime down 60%. Mill operating time and energy efficiency are both up 12%. These are not one-off wins. They are a result of a fundamental shift from reactive to proactive system-based maintenance embedded across scheduling, mining practices and site management. The mine is running more reliably and more efficiently than ever, and we expect that trajectory to continue.

Moving now to costs. Eagle River's cost per tonne in Q2 was $631, essentially unchanged from $626 in Q2 of 2025, a result we are pleased with given the inflationary pressures broadly felt across the industry. And while tonnage costs are essentially flat year-over-year, it is worth noting that the quarter included identifiable one-off items that added approximately $45 a tonne.

Additionally, it is important to highlight that we are starting to see the fixed cost benefits of nearly 50% year-over-year increase in daily mill throughput and its positive impact on the fixed cost leverage that underpins our fill-the-mill strategy. We expect this to be more visible in our unit costs through the balance of the year as onetime items roll off.

As grades normalize in the second half and production strengthens, we expect Eagle River's all-in sustaining costs to return in line with full year guidance. In the first half of the year, Eagle River invested $27 million against the full year budget of $105 million. Capital deployment will ramp up meaningfully in the second half with spending focused on critical infrastructure investments that are required for the long-term future of the operation.

Turning now to Kiena on Slide 16. The updated mine plan at Kiena is focused on improved operational flexibility and the implementation of the operating model for stability first and then growth. Kiena delivered an exceptional second quarter with production rising 28% year-over-year to more than 22,000 ounces, driven by a 13% increase in tonnes processed and a strong average grade of just over 11 grams per tonne. This performance reflects an expanding mine flexibility and executing with discipline. The 129 and 136 levels within Kiena Deep remained our primary sources of mill feed, contributing roughly 540 tonnes per day.

Importantly, we have added Presqu'ile as an active mining horizon at Kiena. The first production stope was blasted in July, and we expect commercial production in Q4. This brings us to 3 active mining horizons with the fourth at Level 142 expected to come online in 2027.

Expanding optionality at Kiena is a meaningful derisking of the asset and a foundation for greater growth, predictability, planning stability going forward. With multiple active mining horizons and a growing platform, we have built the infrastructure for sustained scalable growth at Kiena. While we expect operational momentum to continue, this is still an emerging program. The benefits are still coming through, and we are not finished building.

The implementation of the operating model is driving meaningful improvement. Paired with the major projects to enhance operational flexibility, including additional mining horizons and site infrastructure upgrades to move people and equipment more efficiently, this model is foundational to Kiena's long-term growth plan. While it is early days, productivity metrics are trending positively. Mobile equipment availability is up 10% to 15% year-to-date. Daily average tonnes for the mill have risen by about 30% since last September and milling rates have increased by 10% to 15% from 2025.

Stope cycle operating delays have declined by approximately 30% year-over-year. Continuing our focus on these improvements and the additional mine flexibility gives us confidence in the H2 ramp-up to deliver on our guidance. Kiena's Q2 cost per tonne were $526, flat compared to the prior year quarter. This reflects a deliberate cost of building operational flexibility, including bringing additional mining horizons online, investing in maintenance, our current reliance on contractors.

We view these as transitional and not structural. As Kiena Deep and Presqu'ile ramp up to full utilization following commercial production in Q4, fixed cost leverage will become increasingly evident in the per tonne cost profile. Total capital expenditures in the first half of 2026 were $54 million, including approximately $36 million in growth capital.

Elevated spending reflects contractor costs tied to the completion of the new ramp construction as well as accelerated development at Presqu'ile and Kiena Deep. Both investments directly advance our long-term production capacity. The breakthrough of the new ramp in Q2 represented a significant operational milestone. It established direct access from surface to the bottom of Kiena Mine. This enhances the flexibility for material and equipment movement and critically enables our ventilation expansion project, the project, which will double ventilation is a key enabler for higher mining rates and underpins our 3-year production outlook.

For the balance of the year, growth capital will continue to further push for scale development and the ventilation fan upgrades. Sustaining capital will further extend the Kiena Deep ramp to the 142 level with additional investment in exploration, ventilation on demand and power factor improvements to enhance efficiency and reduce our operating costs over time.

Collectively, these investments position Wesdome to deliver on its production growth targets. While we have a way to go yet, stability is gradually taking hold at Kiena. Equipment availability has improved following several quarters of disciplined maintenance work. Since implementing our new operating model in H1, stoping delays relative to plan have declined by 30%. That is a clear and measurable indication that changes we are making are delivering results. The implementation of the operating model is now advancing, and we are focused on embedding processes, improving schedule adherence and reducing variability across the operation. The achievement of these milestones will position Kiena as a more stable and operationally flexible than any point since its commercial production began and provide the foundation that can deliver on Kiena's long-term growth profile. With that, I'll turn it over to Jono to review exploration.

Thank you, Tyler, and good morning, everyone. Exploration at Wesdome continues to be the engine of long-term organic value creation for shareholders. With 1.4 million ounces of mineral reserves, the largest in company history and 8-year reserve-based mine plans at both Eagle River and Kiena, we are building from a position of strength.

Our focus is on extending that runway, growing inventory and covering the next phase of value. Increasingly, technology is accelerating our ability to do that. Better tools, richer data sets and artificial intelligence, which I will address in a moment, are allowing us to allocate exploration capital with greater precision and confidence than ever before. Our 2026 exploration program totaled 270,000 meters, one of the most ambitious programs we have undertaken. Year-to-date, we have drilled approximately 110,000 meters across the portfolio, representing more than 40% of the plan.

Drilling is second half weighted with a particularly aggressive third quarter already underway. Underpinning all of this is capital discipline. Our exploration management system guides capital deployment to meet short, medium and long-term objectives. The EMS enables upscaling of drill programs efficiently and cost effectively whilst maintaining quality in financial and technological returns.

Every exploration target is assessed on size, geologic confidence and cost metrics with the objective of derisking target ounces by efficiently designed drill programs. The completion of exploration drifts on Levels 109 and 134 at Kiena is a good example of this, where underground development was executed with the aim of converting previously expensive drill target areas into areas that could be tested with efficient, effective drill programs. That is how we run an aggressive exploration program while protecting returns on every dollar of capital invested.

At the same time, operating some of the best gold endowed districts globally means we maintain a healthy risk appetite. Testing new ideas and those conventional targets is inherent to systematically exploring these districts, and it is how exploration ideas ultimately convert into gold bars.

Let me now walk you through the key highlights asset by asset. Turning to Slide 19. At Eagle River, our exploration program is built around 4 interconnected objectives: replacing annual depletion at grade to sustain the reserve base, scaling our asset through reserve and resource growth, advancing new discoveries within the Eagle River Mine complex as well as in the broader highly prospective land package and unlocking bulk scale lower grade potential as part of uncovering the district's potential.

At Eagle River, our 2026 program totals 145,000 meters with approximately 82,000 meters completed through the end of June, split roughly equally between growth drilling and delineation conversion. On the bulk scale opportunity, the Mishi-Magnacon area continues to demonstrate meaningful brownfield potential. Surface drilling targeting both open pit and underground mineralization at Mishi continued in Q2 and will continue throughout the second half of the year.

We are also advancing other prospective bulk scale targets along the Mishibishu Deformation Zone, namely Magnacon East and the Feather River area and in other areas, including Dorset West and the Cameron Lake iron formation. These are areas that broaden the long-term optionality of the Eagle River land package.

Turning to Slide 20. In conjunction with the updated technical reports, we published initial exploration targets at Eagle River. We identified over 160 opportunities that were distilled into 11 priority targets, representing a combined exploration potential of 1.5 million to 3.4 million ounces. This is not a speculative target list. It is grounded in a structured data-driven methodology that clearly defined near, medium and long-term catalysts. Each opportunity was ranked and prioritized to ensure capital is deployed where it has the highest probability of converting into shareholder value.

To sharpen our targeting, we engaged specialized consultants to apply AI-based modeling to Eagle River's extensive data set. At its core, this tool works by aggregating multiple level datasets, including drilling, geophysical, geochemical and geologic information to generate prospective areas for hosting gold mineralization. The workflow does not run in a vacuum. We've built a feedback loop with our teams where geologists review the AI-generated opportunities against their own field knowledge and interpretation.

The result of that iteration is geoanalytical targeting. It's not a black box producing a target list, but an interactive process led by our exceptional team that grows with every round of review, converting data into forward-looking opportunities that we can act on.

Slide 21 shows the output of that AI initiative overlaying on the same plan view as the previous slide. The AI models generated prospectivity rankings across the entire property with area scoring above the 90th percentile flagged as high priority. Five new high-priority prospectivity areas have already emerged from this work, including Feather River South hosting 2 areas with minimal surface work; Mishi West at the convergence of the Iron Lake deformation zone with the Abbey Lake structure; North of Mishi in a strain shadow of intrusion and possible second thrust zone similar to the Mishibishu deformation zone. Rook Lake West and a strain shadow of intrusion where the Dorset Deformation Zone may be trending.

The Southeast portion of the Cameron Lake iron formation is a complex area with favorable host lithologies and structure. The takeaway is straightforward. AI is accelerating our ability to identify potential high-value targets earlier with greater capital efficiency and increased confidence than a traditional approach would allow.

These efficiency maximizing tools, they optimize time for our teams and their programs and will play an increasingly important role in how we advance our growth pipeline. Incorporating AI into our workflow leverages time and the skills of our excellent exploration teams to increase the potential of delivering more ounces per meter drilled.

Moving to Slide 22. Let's look at the progression of our high-grade underground program at Eagle River. Drilling in the first 6 months of the year is focused on the 6 Central, 800 and 700 zones. 6 Central is an increasingly important focus area at Eagle River. Growth drilling continues to confirm down plunge continuity at grades and widths, consistent with prior reporting.

At 800 Zone, we targeted a gap in drill coverage coinciding with up plunge extension intersecting shear zones with quartz veining. Assays are pending. At 700 Zone, highlight intercepts include 28.9 grams over 2 meters, confirming mineralization continuity in the shallower parts of the mine. Taken together, these results reinforce that Eagle River continues to deliver at depth and along strike. Grade and continuity are holding. The pipeline of targets is active, and we are systematically building the confidence needed to convert exploration success into future reserves. Eagle River is a mine that continues to deliver to the upside.

Moving to Kiena on Slide 23. At Kiena, our primary exploration objectives mirror Eagle River, replace at grade, convert and expand, deliver new discoveries and advance lower-grade bulk tonnage opportunities. and we are making tangible progress on all fronts. In the first 6 months of the year, we've drilled approximately 29,000 meters with approximately 55% focused on growth and 45% on delineation and conversion. On the bulk tonnage opportunity, a land-based rig has commenced drilling at Shawkey South. Shawkey South is part of a group of targets, including Zone 134 and Dubuisson, collectively known as Kiena East.

The drilling will evaluate a bulk tonnage style quartz-tourmaline vein associated mineralization at depth. These Kiena East targets exhibit mineralization characteristics analogous to other significant Abitibi operations and represent a meaningful source of incremental long-term value.

While we have a lot of great results so far this year, the standout story at Kiena is the Norbenite footwall discovery announced in June and shown on Slide 24. Drilling from the new Level 134 exploration drift has confirmed the mineralized zone beyond the Norbenite fault in areas previously interpreted as barren footwall. The results were exceptional. Hole 52W1 returned 6.9 grams over 42.1 meters, including 8.3 over 29.5 meters. Hosted in basalt, a potentially more favorable host rock than the schist mineralization typical of Kiena Deep.

This intercept sits approximately 40 meters beyond the Norbenite Fault and correlates with a 2022 hole, which returned 9.9 grams per tonne over 83 meters located roughly 150 meters vertically below. Together, these results define a new mineralized corridor spanning at least 150 meters vertically. It's open in all directions with untested ground extending above it to the footwall zones.

The scale of this corridor and its openness and grade is what makes this discovery so compelling. Two follow-up holes were drilled in Q2 that we're looking to infill the 150-meter zone between holes 52W1 and 52W10. Whilst assay results are pending, the new holes intersected geology with similar thickness, veining and localized observations of visible gold as the previously reported holes, growing confidence in the continuity of the mineralization.

We believe the Norbenite footwall has the potential to be transformational for Kiena's long-term resource profile. Drilling continues to delineate the geometry and extent of this corridor, and it is a program we'll be tracking closely for the remainder of 2026. Beyond the Norbenite footwall, our teams have been active across multiple fronts, as you can see on Slide 25.

On the 109 level drift, drilling of the VC zone has intersected basalt hosted mineralization within 100 meters of the drill bay. The mineralization is interpreted as a potential new zone separate from the VC zone itself. Follow-up holes are underway to confirm. Notably, the VC zone shows a mineralization style analogous to Kiena Deep and remains open at depth. VC is close to infrastructure. It projects approximately 350 meters from the 107 level at Kiena Deeps even closer from the 109 exploration drift from where we are drilling, and it has the potential to grow our reserve ounces per vertical meter at the shallower levels.

On the 134 level, 2 drills are confirming continuity of the high-grade Kiena Deeps A and the Kiena Deep footwall zones and will remain in place for the balance of the year. From the 33 level, drilling targeting the Northwest continuation of the Shawkey Main towards the Wish deposit has intersected quartz vein at target depths with assays pending.

Finally, similar to the AI initiative at Eagle River, we are planning to deploy AI-based targeting at Kiena beginning in Q4. This will allow us to incorporate data from this year's deep drilling programs into the workflow before modeling begins. The results at Eagle River have given us confidence that this approach will generate material value at Kiena as well.

Looking into the second half of the year, Q3 will be our most active drilling quarter. Summer barge and land-based drilling are underway at Kiena alongside our deep continuous drilling. And at Eagle River, helicopter supported drill programs are active. Every meter we drill this summer is building the density and confidence required ahead of our next mineral resource and reserve update. Several assay results are expected back through the third quarter, and we plan to issue press release updates in late Q3 and into Q4.

Every meter drilled this year is drilled with the objective of conversion into mineable ounces, mine life extension and the optionality that will define Wesdome's next decade. We remain focused on unlocking value across the portfolio, and we'll continue to share results as they become available. Operator, please open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Harrison Reynolds with RBC Capital Markets.

Congratulations on a good first half of the year and appreciate the detail provided so far. Just on the buyback, you've been buying back stock at a good pace, $8 million of $9 million authorization, big buyback in July. Can you talk a bit more about what you're seeing in terms of value in the buyback? What drove that large buyback in July and how we should think about the cadence going forward?

I would say it's really reactive to the market coinciding with the drop in the gold price. The way we set up our buyback is really based on our -- basically our PNAV, our trailing PNAV. So I think you would see the volume increase is really tied to the dips in the gold price. I think that's pretty well answers the question, I think.

Yes. No, understood. And then shifting to operations. It was great to see both sites earlier this summer. And at Eagle River, good to hear about the ongoing conceptual study on Mishi and regional potential at Eagle River. Obviously, it's early days, but could you outline some of the potential trade-offs you're looking at with Mishi and how incremental you think that could be for Eagle River's output?

Harrison, I'll comment to that, and I'll hand over to Tyler as well. But I think -- I mean, right now, we're still in the early stages of that. I think we're getting quite excited about what we're seeing. We're looking at it in a phased approach as well as a larger -- from a larger perspective.

So phase-wise, first of all, how do we incrementally grow the operation with what we have quickly so we can get it quickly into the mill. But secondly, what is the scale of the region itself? The work we're doing in conceptually understanding the potential targets across all of these open pits is going to define the scale of the potential opportunity in front of us, which we'll then use to actually work on the processing and mining options that are available to Wesdome to do that.

My feeling is that this is going to be quite a substantial growth opportunity for Wesdome. It's just a function of time. We are currently working on the technical review initiatives that are needed to actually unlock this, which includes the metallurgical test work, the sampling as well as some of the -- even the opportunity to do all sorting in certain ways as well to maximize the value of the region. So there's many, many things that are influencing this right now. The only thing I do know is it's going to be substantially larger than what we thought it would be. We just need to do the work. Tyler, do you want to add?

I think you've captured it well. I think the exciting part about this is the optionality that's sitting in front of us right now. You've got -- we did see the portal as we drove by into Magnacon as some near-term potential there, but also what does that whole district look like. And every time we drill a hole, it seems to be getting bigger and more potential there. So it's great having the optionality gives us tons of flexibility in the short, but also in the long term as well.

I think, Harrison, what's happened in the last while is with us having put out these technical reports and having the opportunity to review these mines from what we thought they were before as discrete systems. I think the fact that we understand now is more big complexes and even Eagle River mine itself, looking at it for more of a what is this perspective rather than a discrete mining opportunity. I think this is a question this entire team needs to ask itself is what is the scale even of what we know, let alone the scale of what the region offers.

And I think that's going to be the learning work that we're going to do over the next short while. This is really reflecting on what is Eagle River actually from its own perspective, what is the region actually from that perspective. And then that will articulate into the work we'll do from a conceptual study perspective. But it's still early, but it's quite exciting.

Next question comes from the line of Don DeMarco with National Bank Financial.

Maybe just to dig into the Eagle grade guidance adjustment a little bit. I saw the reference that you're bringing more of the global analysis into the model. But really, what prompted that reduction? Was there a change in sequencing, maybe more dilution, difference in reconciliation since the guidance was laid out? Maybe if you could just add some incremental color on this.

Tyler, can you take that?

Sure. Don, I think as we are starting to get the global model information and we updated the models and started running through what is optimizing the sequence that we could from the stopes that we had in there. Some of this is, as you saw when you were on the tour on a level, you got anywhere from 6 grams to those 30-gram areas. And so we extended some of those drifts out, picking up some of the lower grade, high-margin material because we're already there.

So this has been an ongoing process, I'd say, for the last 3 months of looking at the sequence. I think what we have in place now for the second half of the year, the sequence is pretty much set, and we'll just continue to try to drive productivity and keep pushing. You saw the tonnes going through increased in the second quarter on pushing even harder for the third and fourth quarter, bringing more of this material forward. So it's the opportunistic to take those value-adding tonnes through as we drive the productivity.

Okay. And the Kiena costs are pretty strong in Q2. You're in front of a back-end loaded year. So do you expect the cost to trend lower into Q2, commensurate with the production increase? Or will the introduction of the Presqu'ile ore sort of moderate those costs a little bit?

I can comment a little bit here, and I'll let the guys follow on, if I may. I think what you'll see is from an efficiency perspective at a cost per tonne level, yes, and from a cost per ounce perspective, but you'll also see sustaining capital increase as well. So I think they'll offset to some degree, Don. So -- but I think we guide towards -- we said we'll remain within guidance. I think ultimately, we should land there, but the 2 will have a bit of a countering effect. I don't know if there's anything to add from my team.

Yes, Don, it's Phil here. I would also point out that for Kiena, because of the continued development at Presqu'ile that growth capital, mainly due to the timing of equipment may trend upwards. I mean we're still working, managing that process, but that potentially has -- if the timing comes in as it may, it may result in slightly higher growth capital by the end of the year.

And Don, we're pushing development pretty hard as well because I want to get more meters here if I can.

It's a wise thing to keep doing, Don, if we just -- from our perspective is to -- if we have the opportunity to use productivity levers to drive more development, we're going to do that, and we should do that because that's going to create value for ahead of ourselves.

Okay. I appreciate the color. And then just for a final question, shifting over to exploration. Jono, I appreciate all the color you provided. And obviously, there's a lot going on.

When we look ahead to the next resource update, and I know you just had one out, but looking at the next year, I mean, how is the program balanced between expectations for infill or that is converting up some of the endowment you have right now or expansion of what the endowment is? And do you kind of get the sense, now you've been drilling for a few years, but momentum is building with respect to resource accretion? Just trying to get some early insights into that next update given the magnitude of the current program.

Thanks, Don. Good question. Look, one thing that we've got to highlight that at the end of the year update, we have been drilling all year and our efficiencies in drilling, especially Longyear at Eagle River over twice 2 months this year and the 6 months, they've reached 10,000 meters, the teams with the 4 rigs underground, they have been increasing in their efficiencies, and it's been fantastic to see. There -- we are actually holding them back whilst we adjust other areas for drilling. We have a lot of assays coming through to build into it. And the design of our programs is broadly like 50% between the growth conversion and infill.

So whilst we will see opportunities to push the growth side of things, we maintain that discipline. It may go to a 60%, 40% ratio, but we wouldn't change dramatically to, say, a 75%, 25% or even a 70%, 30% ratio on pushing the growth, we maintain our conversion and delineation work as we go through.

I do see areas as the results are coming through of the step-out programs showing us that we have growth opportunities, and we are looking at a disciplined approach on the conversion of those so far. But our ratios at the moment, we are not looking at changing. It's a step process that we'll see each year, we grow and replace our reserves and we start to step out and grow our geologic potential, which will infill to convert to inferred and give us that inventory that we can look forward to in years to come. We're slowly building the base for that now, Don.

Your next question comes from the line of Wayne Lam with TD.

Yes. Maybe just as a follow-up to the grades at Eagle River. I was just curious if the grade revision was also mostly just a function of a lower Q2 as I think it implies 12-plus gram per tonne, which is kind of close to what you did in Q1. So I just want to confirm with the increase in tonnage over the coming quarters, if you still see the sustained high grades kind of in the 12-plus gram range in the back half of the year?

I mean I'll answer and I'll let Tyler complete, he's probably jumping into. I mean, Wayne, the reality is, and I think as Tyler explained this a lot, we start to build in this better sequence. If you think about the mine plan, it was updated in the first quarter of this year, from the work we did at the end of last year. So you can imagine there has been a change in the mine planning side, as you can imagine, because we only closed the models at the end of last year and only got the mine plans to Tyler first quarter this year.

So that is -- it's natural, it's correct. It's nothing -- there's nothing that's about like somebody didn't deliver well or any of that. It's a function of that transition towards a value-based mining company that's driving tonnes and the right process.

The big thing here is about making sure we -- I can say we honor the ore body that Wesdome has, and we look after in the right kind of way. So when we're in the areas, we take advantage of leveraging those stopes that are there at the right time. So I would really want everybody to understand there's nothing wrong in the grade here. In fact, you should probably see this as an opportunity more than anything else. The only time it becomes a problem is when you can't keep your sequence or your productivity at the right level. And I think Tyler has explained to you how he is strongly working on marrying the 2 together, both the tonnes as well as productivity to drive that value through the mill.

So yes, your grade does go up in the second half, and that's predominantly part of the sequence. And we said that before. We made the comments in the technical report where we put out that release that we'll see double-digit grade, we believe. And we still believe that, that's going to continue because what we would do is we're going to keep drilling out the higher grade and keep pushing on our efficiencies and drive that, that high grade remains the base of what Wesdome continues to do. So yes, the grade will go up purely because of the sequence, not because we've done anything special.

It's the mine plan we have in front of us, Wayne. And I think as Anthea has said, that's the sequence we have, it's pretty much locked in right now. Focus of the team is really around pushing the productivity. If we can cycle faster, we bring more material through, but that is going to be at the grade that's in the sequence that we have.

Okay. Understood. At Kiena, just on the kind of expectations coming from Presqu'ile as you get ore over the coming quarters, is there a ramp-up in grades to the mill expected from Presqu'ile as the amount of stoping ore increases from that area? And is the proportion of tonnage still in kind of the 250 tonne per day range to start? And just curious what the exit run rate is for the year target for Presqu'ile?

Yes. As we ramp up the stopes, it will ramp up gradually going into Q4. Q4, we expect to be kind of at a run rate of that 300 to 400 tonnes per day, kind of 600 to 700 out of the Kiena Deep. So pushing towards the total of 1,000, and then we should be at that rate going in through 2027.

Okay. Great. And then maybe just last one for Phil. Just on the comment on the buyback in relation to your internal NAV model. I was just wondering if you might be able to share with us what kind of gold price you use on that internally? And just curious if you guys view the buyback as significantly accretive in using 1x cash to buy back the shares?

Wayne, Well, it's -- I mean, the gold price has an impact, but it's really the impact of the gold price on the share price. The approach we've taken to the buyback is really tied to a trailing PNAV. So if -- as you've seen the gold price swing, you've seen the share price swing as well. If the share price swings below the trailing PNAV, it provides an opportunity to buy at a price that's going to be opportunistic. I mean, overall, our buybacks have been at an average around $24 a share, considerably below where the share price has been trading when it's been on an upswing. Sorry, can you repeat the second question, if you don't mind, Wayne?

Yes. I was just wondering if you guys view the buyback as significantly accretive using 1x cash to buy back the shares. And just on that comment, with the kind of share price that you're using as like the swing factor with the shares having performed pretty well, like does that kind of mean that as the share price continues to outperform, then the buyback execution -- like the pace of the execution will slow down?

Exactly. I mean that's the opportunistic approach to it. And I mean, I think given the amount of buyback at this point, and I mean, the share price has been performing well, I would expect it to slow down. And we look at our I mean we look at our capital allocation continuously as our business evolves, and we've seen the impact of the technical reports, for example, and how that's kind of changing the business. So from a -- you ask me from an accretive perspective, I would say that buybacks are just one tool. And we look at it as purely an opportunistic tool, but there's other things that we look at as well. And we need to continue to assess our position and our capital allocation going forward. As I've mentioned before as well, we've got a dividend being initiated in September. So that's one more tool. I hope that answers your question, Wayne.

Yes. That's great. Nice to see the operational momentum with the building strategy and the strong buyback program. So best of luck in the months ahead.

That concludes our Q&A session. Thank you all for joining, and you may all disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

Good morning. Welcome to the Wesdome Gold Mines conference call to discuss the company's updated Mineral Reserve and Resource Estimates and the highlights of its updated technical reports. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Your host for today is Trish Moran, Wesdome's Vice President of Investor Relations. Ms. Moran, please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I'd like to point out that during today's call, we may make forward-looking statements as defined under Canadian securities law. I ask that you view our slide presentation for cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements and the risk factors pertaining to these statements.

Please note that all figures discussed on this call are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted. Our press release is available both on SEDAR+ and on our corporate website, wesdome.com. With us on today's webcast is Anthea Bath, Wesdome's President and CEO; Philip Yee, our Chief Financial Officer; Tyler Mitchelson, our COO; Kevin Lonergan, Senior Vice President, Technical Services; Jono Lawrence, SVP, Exploration; and Raj Gill, SVP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Following management's formal remarks, we will then open the call to questions.

And now over to Anthea.

Thank you, Trish, and good morning, everyone. Yesterday's release is a defining milestone for Wesdome, and I want to be direct about why. This is not just a reserve and resource update. It validates that our strategy is working, and it marks a clear step forward in our transformation into a larger, stronger and more valuable Canadian gold producer.

First, we have established the largest mineral reserve base in the company's history, providing 8-year reserve-based mine plans at both Eagle River and Kiena. That is a major improvement. Second, we have a production profile that is expected to grow up to 230,000 ounces by 2028, while maintaining a cost profile that supports margin resiliency through the cycle. Third, we have a much deeper organic opportunity set. Inferred resources have nearly doubled, and we have identified multiple areas of upside through resource conversion, productivity improvement and testing of the significant exploration target potential.

And fourth, our stronger operating platform supports a more mature capital allocation framework. We now have more visibility into free cash flow generation over the longer term, which gives us the ability to fund growth, maintain financial flexibility and return capital to our shareholders through both the newly established dividend and our most recent expansion of the share buyback program.

The investment thesis for Wesdome is straightforward, and I would argue, increasingly differentiated. The updated mine plans provide a durable foundation. Our balance sheet and cash flow provide financial flexibility. Our assets provide significant organic growth, and our capital discipline ensures that growth converts into long-term shareholder value, not just production volume.

Slide 6 visually shows our transformation, what we have delivered and what we are building towards. From 2023 to 2025, we've executed the first phase of our strategy, stabilizing operations, bringing Kiena Deep into production and improving execution. Production jumped from 123,000 to 186,000 ounces in just 3 years and put the business on stronger footing. For 2026 to 2028, we have a reserve-backed production outlook of 180,000 to 230,000 ounces per year with broadly stable all-in sustaining costs.

The combination of volume and growth with cost discipline is what drives free cash flow expansion and ultimately, what funds returns to shareholders across different gold price environments. At Eagle River, the strategy is deliberate, protect the high-grade foundation while using our global model to identify additional economic tonnes near existing development. These fill the mill tonnes improve flexibility, extend mine life and better leverage our fixed cost base and critically, they are additive. However, as high-grade tonnes are delineated, they displace the global model material. The high-grade strategy remains central and remains intact.

At Kiena, the updated plan delivers a stronger high-grade platform with clear pathways to improve execution, to increase productivity and to advance future growth through resource conversion and exploration. The reserve base plan is now stronger, but it's not the ceiling. And that distinction is important for how you should think about the upside in the Wesdome story.

The right side of Slide 6 maps that pathway beyond the reserve plan. This is not guidance. It is a framework for how we expect to create incremental value through 3 specific levers: productivity and execution improvements, resource conversion and through exploration. Each of these levers represent value creation that sits above and beyond what is already in the reserve-backed plan. Wesdome is in a stronger position than it's ever been before. We have a credible foundation and a clear set of initiatives that can add value beyond that base over time.

Slide 7 reflects something that is fundamental to how we run our business. One way we measure success is on a per share basis, not by absolute production growth or ounces in the ground. That distinction matters because production growth without per share value creation is not the strategy. It is a proverbial treadmill. I cannot stress enough that we are not chasing ounces. We are focusing on ounces that generate margin, convert to free cash flow and make each share worth more over time. We build value through the cycle, not by relying on the gold price and not through acquisitions, but by systematically improving the quality, the scale and the cash flow potential of both our assets.

Discipline is the other side of that commitment. Our reserve plans are built on cash, on a gold price assumption of USD 1,800 per ounce. That is a deliberate choice. It gives us confidence that the mine plan is resilient and that the cash flow profile is durable across a range of market conditions, not just the current environment. The updated mine plans presented to you today strengthen that case. The result is a per share value proposition, we believe that is compelling, high-quality Canadian assets, growing production, longer mine life, resilient margins and meaningful organic upside that carries low execution risk.

The final point I want to make relates to cash flow and capital allocation on Slide 8. We're pursuing growth from a position of financial strength, and that is another meaningful differentiator. Our asset quality, balance sheet and cash flow profile give us the ability to simultaneously invest in exploration and development, to maintain financial flexibility and to return capital to our shareholders. Our quarterly dividend announcement alongside our ongoing share buyback reflects our confidence in the longevity and the resilience of this business. This is not a pivot away from growth. It is a reflection of the platform that we have built.

In summary, today's update marks a defining step in Wesdome's transformation. We have delivered against the core strategic objectives we set out for the business. The business is larger, stronger and more mature than it was 3 years ago. And just as importantly, we believe there's still a lot more value to unlock.

With that, I'd like to turn the presentation over to Kevin Lonergan, our Senior Vice President of Technical Services, who will walk you through the updated mineral reserves and resources and give an overview of the work behind these updated mine plans.

Thank you, Anthea. Turning to Slide 10. My message today is simple. We delivered. We did what we set out to do. This wasn't just a replacement -- reserve replacement exercise. Our goal was to build longer life, more durable operating platforms at both assets, and that's exactly what we delivered. Company-wide reserves grew 17% despite 185,000 ounces of depletion. Eagle River reserves were up 39% and its mine life extended from roughly 4 to 8 years. And Kiena replaced high-grade depletion and extended its mine life by an additional year.

Both operations now have 8-year reserve-based mine plans that take them through 2033. The work to get to this point was holistic and took nearly 2 years. The end result, we have 2 assets that are larger, more flexible and better positioned for future growth than they were 1 year ago.

Let's go to Slide 11 and take a look at Eagle River, where the impact of our technical work is quite visible. Reserves grew 39% to 676,000 ounces after accounting for 117,000 ounces of depletion. Approximately 2/3 of reserve additions came from the global model. The balance of the ounces came from conversion of high-grade inferred resources and new high-grade additions from the global model. Impressively, for every ounce we mined in 2025, we replaced with more than 2.5 ounces.

The global model was a deliberate strategic initiative. The question set out to answer was, can the broader mineralized system surrounding the high-grade core be converted into economic mineable inventory? The answer is emphatically yes. Eagle River's reserves were generated using the same cutoff grades and mining assumptions as previous years. This wasn't a product of aggressive mining input parameters. It was the result of better geological understanding and successful reserve conversion. The global model translated into mineable reserves that can be sequenced and scheduled within the operating plan. It gives us more tonnes, flexibility and ways to create value from infrastructure that already exists. That is the most important outcome.

Turning to Slide 12. I want to address the question any investor would ask, and that is, average reserve grade is lower. What does this mean? Does this mean the asset quality is declining? It is not, and the data tells a clear story. The lower average grade reflects addition of economic ounces tonnes across the global model. These tonnes are not replacing the high-grade core, a point clearly demonstrated in the technical report. Additionally, reserve ounces above 15 grams per tonne grew year-over-year. And more notably, reserve ounces above 20 grams a tonne also saw an increase.

The high-grade inventory that was always -- that has always driven Eagle River remains intact and continues to grow as reflected in the growing number of high-grade zones that remain open. What has changed is that we now have a broader reserve inventory surrounding the high-grade core. To be clear, the global model added flexibility, not dilution. We preserve the high-grade character of Eagle River while simultaneously building a larger production platform around it.

Slide 13 highlights why the reserve additions at Eagle River are strategically important. Not all ounces are created equal, location matters. Reserve inventory in the upper levels of the mine above the 1,000-meter level more than doubled to 380,000 ounces year-over-year and represented 64% reserve growth. Because these ounces sit in the upper levels of the mine, they generate significant operational value. Why does this matter? Well, firstly, these ounces sit close to existing development, ventilation, haulage routes and infrastructure. Secondly, they create additional mining fronts for improved sequencing flexibility as we've seen Eagle River double the number of mining fronts to 40.

Additionally, these ounces improve utilization of people, equipment and fixed infrastructure, leading to greater operational efficiency. This provides support for our fill-the-mill strategy and most importantly, they provide optionality. Historically, high-grade discoveries were required just to sustain the production platform. Today, the platform is already established. Future high-grade additions can now be incorporated into an existing reserve base and used to further enhance feed quality and value. Eagle River is now in the strongest position in its history.

Moving to Slide 14. The Kiena story is distinct and equally compelling. While we built a larger and more flexible platform at Eagle River, at Kiena, we built operational confidence and established a stronger technical foundation with a mineral reserve base of 711,000 ounces that replaces depletion while maintaining the high-grade profile and the technical intelligence derived from rigorous work across geology, geotechnical, mine design, stope optimization, sequencing and first principles cost modeling. The result, a technically robust, executable mine plan with measurably higher confidence across all key parameters.

Additional material sources, including Presquile and Dubuisson, diversify production and reduce single ore body dependency. The technical work completed creates levers to future growth at Kiena Mine. The infrastructure already exists, the mill has excess capacity, the underground platform is in place. Every incremental tonne accreted directly to value.

Moving to Slide 15. Kiena Deep is getting better with every drill hole. There are more ounces per vertical meter across a wider footprint with stronger geological confidence. Underground mining costs are largely fixed per level. When each horizon holds more ounces, these fixed costs are spread over a larger base, driving better unit economics and higher equipment utilization. It also means less execution risk. A broader, more continuous ore body gives us multiple working phases, deliberate stope sequencing and consistent ore feed rather than chasing isolated pockets with incremental development capital.

The bottom line, Kiena Deep is growing, better defined and more productive per vertical meter. Paired with the flexibility of shallower zones like Presquile, Kiena now has a more reliable and efficient mine plan.

Moving to Slide 16. While I have focused today's discussion on reserves, I want to provide a few comments on the resource update as it provides an important perspective on the future growth potential for our assets. Total resources increased 87% over the past year, a strong outcome primarily -- driven primarily by fourfold growth at Eagle River's Mishi deposit.

The story around Mishi goes beyond the resource update. It's a potential new growth opportunity within the district, independent of Eagle River underground operation. Two important takeaways stand out for the resource update. One, both Eagle River and Kiena have the scale to support long-term growth; and two, meaningful opportunity exists beyond the expanded reserve base we've established today. In short, we have converted technical work into longer life plans today while preserving meaningful upside for tomorrow.

With that, I'll hand over to Jono to walk through the exploration upside beyond our current reserve base.

Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. Turning to Slide 18. Today marks a significant milestone for Wesdome. We are publicly disclosing exploration targets across our asset portfolio for the first time in the company's history. As you can see, on a consolidated basis, we have identified a series of exploration targets with potential mineralization of 2.4 million to 6.3 million ounces with targets grading between 0.6 and 26 grams per tonne. These targets represent a high-quality portfolio of opportunities, spanning near-mine extensions, historical mine reactivations and greenfield discoveries across both assets. They were developed through a disciplined approach, including systematic drilling, rigorous geologic interpretation and a comprehensive review of decades of historical data. The target potential is structured and evidence-based. Collectively, the targets define what we believe is a meaningful and tangible growth runway for Wesdome.

Moving to Slide 19. The global model program at Eagle River has fundamentally changed how we see this asset. We are not talking about a single ore body anymore. We are talking about high-grade mineralization distributed across 3 kilometers east-west and nearly 2 kilometers vertically, with reserve and resource shapes extending well beyond the flagship 300 zone into shallower areas that leverage existing infrastructure and drive down unit costs. That matters because this is how we fill the mill. And critically, several of these ore sources are entirely independent of the 300 zone.

We have identified high-grade zones with extensions capable of replacing annual depletion by 10% or more over many years while also improving feed grade. Our model defines 4 distinct mining horizons, upper, central and lower, spanning the top 1,500 meters at 500-meter intervals and deep covering material below 1,500 meters. All 4 sit proximal to existing infrastructure, keeping capital intensity low and accelerating conversion.

The high-grade replacement program is already underway. This slide maps our major 2026 drill targets, our new updated MRMR statement. Our statement next year and every year after will be the scorecard. We'll show you exactly how we're delivering, which should be reflected in growth in both resources and reserves.

Now to Slide 20, a long section of Eagle River that tells a compelling story. This section represents mineralized domains within 3 main shear corridors that trend west to east within a diorite body that is over 800 meters thick north, south. The view is a stacking of mineralized domains. We have mapped every historic and current drill result above 20 grams per tonne, and there are great many of them. What emerges is clear, the high-grade plunging shoots are continuous. Where they appear to close off, it's not geology. It's simply where drilling stopped. We have no geologic reason to believe these systems end. That conviction is built directly into our exploration tiering.

Recent results are validating the model. The 800 zone has been extended 300 meters down plunge, same system, same mineralization, continuous. 6 Central is a high-grade pocket defined over 700 meters with potential continuation over 500 meters down plunge, significant upside. A recent intercept of 0.5 meter at 618 grams per tonne in the 300 zone outside the known high-grade shoot confirms that additional high-grade shoots remain to be discovered as we drill deeper. The takeaway is straightforward. Depth is not the constraint. It is an opportunity. Every meter we drill is a meter closer to the next potential high-grade discovery.

Turning to Mishi on Slide 21, a deposit that sits at the heart of our regional growth strategy. For those newer to the story, Mishi is an open pit deposit located in close proximity to our Eagle River mill. It was mined intermittently over 20 years starting in 2002. The slide showcases the growth in the resource since year-end '24 based on drilling and updated geological models and the extent of the new $2,100 resource pit shell. Importantly, the strike potential beyond the new resource shell extends at least 1.5 kilometers further to the west. And with continued drilling, we believe we can continue to grow the resource. That represents compelling upside, supported by well-understood geology and existing infrastructure.

Mishi is a cornerstone of our hub-and-spoke regional strategy. There's a framework designed to define 4 to 6 bulk tonnage targets, each in the 500,000 ounce range, sufficient to underpin a centralized processing facility. This is a capital-efficient model that leverages our existing asset base while building a scalable production platform. This program represents the core focus of our surface exploration program over the next 2 to 3 years is a disciplined, methodical approach to resource growth with a clear sight to value creation.

On Slide 22, the 1.5 kilometer strike continuation to the west of the current resource shell highlights the open pit potential of the deposit, whilst drilling today continues to highlight the underground potential, which remains open at depth. In addition, we are advancing a review of the nearby Magnacon deposit, a past-producing underground mine located approximately 1 kilometer east from Mishi. Current work at Magnacon is focused on validating historic data, refining the geologic model and evaluating mineralization potential to support drilling and resource delineation.

Slide 23 provides details on Eagle River's exploration targets. Our systematic review of 164 exploration opportunities has been distilled into 11 priority targets, representing combined exploration potential of 1.5 million to 3.4 million ounces. This range is geologically grounded, not speculative. Eagle River has already produced over 2 million ounces in its 30-year history with a current reserve base of nearly 700,000 ounces, making this target range entirely consistent with established precedent. The 11 targets span 3 categories: underground mine opportunities, historic mine and advanced exploration targets and greenfield targets. Together, these targets define a structured data-driven program with clear near, medium and long-term catalysts.

Moving to our mine in the Abitibi on Slide 24. Kiena's exploration thesis mirrors Eagle River's structure around the same 3 strategic focus areas: high-grade extensions. targeting increased ounces per vertical meter through down plunge extensions at Kiena Deep, Footwall and Norbenite Footwall, where recent drill results confirm structural continuity. Incremental mill feed. Near surface and near mine zones, including Presquile, Northwest, B Zone, VC, K109, North Zone, Martin and Wish, providing a steady pipeline of lower-grade feed to optimize mill utilization and bulk tonnage step change production. These are longer-term opportunities at Shawkey 9 and 10 as well as Zone 134 and Dubuisson, collectively referred to as Kiena East with the potential to materially re-rate this asset.

A key point on Kiena Deep. The mineralized system begins at approximately 900 meters depth and extends for a further 1,000 meters, yet the vast majority of our deep drilling to date has been concentrated around this mineralized trend. Laterally, extensions below 500 meters remain largely untested. That changes. New drill platforms established at levels 33, 134 and 109 give us access to test down plunge continuity for the first time, opening a new chapter in Kiena's exploration story.

On Slide 25, at Dubuisson, we have evaluated an alternative development scenario that moves beyond selected high-grade mining to consider the broader intrusive host blocks. This is unlocking the potential for a bulk tonnage mining approach and adding meaningful optionality. What makes this scenario compelling is the grade profile. Even when the full geologic package is included in the model, the presence of high-grade mineralization supports an attractive average grade. Paired with the lower cutoff grades that are inherent to bulk mining methods, this approach has the potential to deliver additional tonnes and ounces beyond what the current selective mine scenario would recover. In short, Dubuisson offers optionality.

Slide 26 provides details on Kiena's exploration targets. Our systematic review of 63 opportunities has been distilled into 14 exploration targets organized across the same 3 strategic focus areas as at Eagle, down plunge high-grade continuities, extending the high-grade system at depth to drive ounces per vertical meter, incremental ore feed, near-mine opportunities to sustain and optimize mill utilization, bulk tonnage, step change production. These are longer-term targets with the potential to materially re-rate the asset. These targets span near mine, historic mine and greenfield categories and on a regional basis, extend to include Wesdome and Siscoe properties, broadening the pipeline beyond the immediate Kiena footprint.

Slide 27 speaks to something fundamental about Wesdome, our long and consistent track record of reserve replacement even while growing production. Exploration has been and will remain a core pillar of the business. It is precisely this story of discovery and sustained production that underpins the strategic decision to refocus investment on organic growth. We are clear-eyed about where we have been. Historically, both assets were managed around relatively short reserve lives, not because the geology was lacking, but because the scale of exploration investment was insufficient to fully unlock what these mineral systems contain. The constraint was never the ground. It was capital, and that is now behind us. With a strong balance sheet, Wesdome is backing exploration with conviction.

As shown on Slide 28, our 2026 exploration budget is $55 million, targeting 270,000 meters of drilling, a minimum level of investment we intend to sustain over the next 2 to 3 years. This reflects a deliberate shift in philosophy away from short-term reserve replacement and towards a more systematic growth-oriented program designed to establish a visible and durable organic growth pipeline. The data supports the targets. The infrastructure is in place. The teams are ready. This is why we are moving now.

Across both Eagle River and Kiena, what I have personally seen gives me genuine conviction. This is not only in what we have built, but in what lies ahead. The potential is incredibly exciting. We are committing to a 3- to 5-year exploration horizon, and we are holding ourselves accountable. Progress will be reported annually alongside our updated mineral reserves and resource statements, giving you a clear, consistent and transparent framework to measure our execution against the targets we have laid out today.

And with that, I'll turn over to Tyler, who will walk us through the operational benefits of everything covered and what it means for our business going forward.

Thank you, Jono. Starting on Slide 30. These technical reports validate our fill-the-mill strategy, and the results are tangible. Through our global model initiative, we added significant tonnes to inventory, unlocked underutilized infrastructure and replenished and exceeded prior year depletion of our high-grade ounces. To the point, we grew the business without diluting quality.

Ongoing exploration continues to confirm high-grade continuity beyond reserve boundaries, giving us conviction in our ability to replenish reserves over time. The outcome, a larger, more flexible inventory that supports higher mine productivity and mill utilization while maintaining the grade profile that drives our margins and cash flow.

At Eagle River, we now have a genuine runway with an 8-year reserve-backed plan changes how we run the business. It lets us invest in infrastructure with confidence, leverage our fixed cost and plan for growth rather than just continuity. Importantly, it gives us the ability to attract and retain people. At Kiena, the reserves underpin a long-life plan and our operating model work is already improving stability and productivity, setting the stage to grow beyond the 2P case. Exploration across multiple zones is adding tonnage and flexibility, giving us more levers to optimize the mine plan over time.

Turning to Slide 31. Near term at Eagle River, we are focused on operational stability and productivity while upgrading the mill feed as additional high-grade ounces are converted to support our 3-year outlook to maintain our double-digit grade to enhance shareholder value. Our operating model built on disciplined planning, execution and data-driven decisions is already starting to deliver measurable results aligned to the technical report.

Over the last 9 months, mill throughput is up 15% to 20%. Unplanned mill downtime has been reduced by 75% with recent mill availability reaching 92%. Our underground ore movement is up 15% to 20%, with data points showing we can achieve rates above 1,200 tonnes per day. And overall equipment availability is up 20% through our enhanced maintenance program. We are now demonstrating that our operating model philosophy can work and we can deliver on filling the mill. We are already adopting this strategy through leveraging our mill capacity with incremental value-added tonnes.

We're also investing in our workforce, attraction, training and retention. Our best crews are delivering development rates meaningfully above industry average. And the investments in camp and infrastructure will help us attract and keep the talent we need for long-term performance. On mechanization, we anticipate that moving away from manual to more mechanized equipment will improve our mine development productivity by 20% to 25%. It is a structural improvement on how we operate.

The global model adds ounces across multiple zones, allowing for optionality within the mine, focusing on both operational effectiveness and grade to deliver the most value-accretive tonnes to the mill. The geometry of these zones gives us genuine flexibility in mine planning. The opportunity ahead is to continue upgrading the quality of mill feed by prioritizing higher-value tonnes and displacing lower grade material where the mine plan allows.

When combined with the productivity gains we are already seeing, this creates a compelling pathway to incremental value beyond the current technical report. We are very excited about the longer-term work that Jono continues to do. Regional exploration in the northern zones, particularly with Mishi-Magnacon, is opening multiple mine plan options and highlighting sustainable growth.

Moving to Slide 32. At Kiena, we've established the baseline for long-term potential, and we are executing against it. The same operating model, the same maintenance discipline. Mobile equipment availability is up 10% to 15% year-to-date. Milling rates are up 10% to 15% from 2025. Reduction in our operating delays have been 70% year-over-year, improving cycle times.

As well, average tonnes per day going through the mill are up approximately 30% since September of 2025. Workforce capability remains a major lever. Our strongest development crews are demonstrating the full potential and continued investment in training will help scale these practices across the operation.

Ramp access from Kiena Deep and multiple available mining horizons gives us real flexibility at how we sequence the mine plan and drive production. The results of our recent drilling and exploration are very encouraging, identifying new mining zones, extensions and opportunities to unlock more ounces per vertical meter, ultimately improving productivity and efficiencies in our operations and delivering more value to our business. Kiena's largely unexplored land package represents genuine long-term optionality, and there are several development scenarios we are only beginning to define.

Moving to Slide 33. Wesdome is delivering today while building for tomorrow. With our updated mineral reserves and resources, both Eagle River and Kiena now have a stronger operating foundation and exploration work is adding meaningful optionality beyond the current mine plans. Near term, we are embedding operational excellence across both assets with disciplined planning, coordinated execution and a performance culture anchored in the Wesdome operating model.

In parallel, we are maximizing the value of the assets we already own by improving productivity, increasing infrastructure utilization and leveraging our fixed cost base to drive lower unit costs and maintain the resilience of our business. Over the medium term, the next 2 to 5 years, the opportunity is not just replace but grow high-grade ounces through resource conversion and targeted exploration in priority areas, including the 300 Zone and 6 Central at Eagle River and underground extensions at Kiena.

During that time period, we see a clear pathway to a sustainable 200,000-ounce-plus production profile, supported by consistent execution, mine life extension, higher productivity and better utilization of our existing infrastructure. This next stage is about scalable growth, category conversion and operational optionality, building a stronger, more resilient business that compounds and create sustainable shareholder value.

It is no longer simply a mine life extension story. What we are building deliberately and on the basis of demonstrated exploration success is a larger multi-asset district scale gold producer with improving asset quality and a growing production platform. We are really confident in that path, and we look forward to continue to demonstrate it through operational discipline and continuous organic growth.

Our growth is supported by assets we already own, infrastructure that is already in place and opportunities our teams are actively advancing. That gives us the ability to fund growth internally while maintaining discipline and financial flexibility. The investment case is not simply about becoming larger. It's becoming -- it's about becoming better, better margins, longer mine life, stronger free cash flow, great organic optionality and a more disciplined return of capital to our shareholders.

The reserve and resource growth, mine life extension, exploration success, production outlook, productivity upside and capital return framework we are announcing today all point in the same direction. Wesdome is becoming a larger, more resilient and more valuable company. And we believe we're still in the very early phases of realizing the full potential of these beautiful assets.

And with that, we'll now open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Wayne Lam of TD Cowen.

At Eagle River, I was just wondering if the guided production profile of 100,000, 120,000 ounces '27 and '28, does that include the Mishi open pit? Or where are the additional resources coming from given the reserve base declines to 100,000 in '27 and 95,000 in '28? And then the reserve case has a declining production profile with the increased tonnage offsetting the lower grades. So just wondering if that kind of implies that, that higher grade material in the 13, 14 gram range is essentially depleted, which is necessitating an increase in tonnage to offset -- to sustain the production profile?

Okay. Wayne, I'll try and help with that. Thanks for the question. It's a really good one. The high-grade core of Eagle River remains very, very strong. So it's right there. So what we showed in the technical report is that we've replaced the high grade at the same level as before. We added in additional tonnes from the global model, which were at a slightly lower grade, absolutely. The reality is that we'll keep replacing high-grade depletion year-over-year at a depletion plus 10-plus percent, whatever it might be, that Jono and his team deliver to assure that we continue to keep the grade profile through the mill at the right grade.

I think Tyler mentioned double-digit grade for the next 3 years is foreseeable what you can see already, but it will go beyond that as we keep adding it. The reason why you don't put high grade in immediately is because of capital efficiency of drilling the high grade out. So the first phase was to bring in the growth model, global model initiatives and thereafter, we'll consistently start delivering on these targets.

What Wesdome did over the last 2 years to prove to you and give evidence of the high grade is in the drilling work we did as well, where we showcased the extensions beyond what we currently know. And you'll -- this come through in the exploration targets that came out as well. So these will now be systematically drilled in a capital efficient way as we unlock the mine.

What should excite you, Wayne, is that why you can understand and believe the story is that we've opened up multiple new high-grade areas, which are just starting. And he shows that Jono shows that in the exploration target he points out. So I think how you should look at this is we've been able to show we can fill the mill with what we already have. And the story of Wesdome, which has been consistent in that we continue to replace high grade is still very, very much intact, in fact, it's going to grow because we've now unlocked more potential to do more of that.

Okay. Great. And then maybe just next question. Just on the significant improvement in unit costs at Eagle River that's budgeted starting in '27. We've already seen a pretty big improvement in productivity with the improved mining dilution over the past year. So just wondering what the driver was of that additional 25% step down in cost optimization budgeted in the mine plan? And is that simply just a function of economies of scale? Or just curious what the main driver was behind that?

The main driver is economies of scale, and we didn't even leverage it all to be truly honest with you, Wayne. So this is about fixed cost leverage where it's obvious. So where your machines are only working x percent of the time because you're not able to actually leverage them correctly, this is what it really is. I mean, Kevin, do you want to add anything more to that?

Yes. We do have a high fixed cost ratio at Eagle River. And as we increase our tonnage throughput, we're just essentially diluting that fixed cost. And just to reinforce Anthea's point with a larger footprint mine with more working areas, we just naturally see a higher utilization of our workforce, and we can clearly see that in the metrics on tonnes per person is increasing from 14%, 38% on meters per person. So we're seeing those economies of scale to your point.

Okay. Perfect. And then maybe just last one, just at Kiena. If I look back to the multiyear guide that was provided in early '25, Kiena was expected to do 95,000 to 110,000 ounces. Now that seems like it's kind of been deferred out to a more progressive ramp-up into 2028. And so I was just wondering if maybe you could kind of outline some of the challenges you've seen in kind of ramping up that underground and kind of the improved flexibility that you expect to see there over the next couple of years?

Great question as well. And I'm going to turn it over to Tyler, but just going to make a comment first, and you can test and see if I'm right. But the reality is that the opportunity to add tonnes into Kiena mill is one of the single biggest value drivers for Kiena. So exactly what you're saying is true. We've been conservative to some degree in the way we looked at it in the plan, but that's the right thing to do as we showcase the delivery of our efforts, right, Tyler?

Yes. Look, I think, Wayne, what we've put in the model and what Kevin's got in the 2P is what we've demonstrated so far. Now based on the information of some of those stats that I shared and what we're doing right now and the improvements we're seeing on stability and predictability, we do see improvements, definitely productivity and efficiency improvements available to us as we ramp up through the rest of this year and into 2027. So I think there's definitely opportunities.

When we look at the mine sequencing and some of the work that Jono is doing as well, gives us even more opportunities beyond what's in that 2P estimates right now. And I think working through those fundamentals of the maintenance programs and the operating model, while it's maybe not that exciting, really drives a lot of productivity and cost efficiencies in the business. So I think there's opportunities there.

Congrats on getting the 2 studies out and best of luck in the months ahead.

Your next question comes from the line of Luke Bertozzi of CIBC.

Congrats on the solid update. I just had a question on Kiena and the 3-year production outlook. When I'm looking at the outlook, the range looks relatively tight in 2026 and 2027, but then widens quite a bit in 2028. Can you walk us through the swing factors between the low and the high end of that range?

I mean it's essentially a little bit to what Wayne was asking earlier, where we're probably a little bit more conservative as you ramp it up. But Tyler, I'm going to rather let you just answer that leverage right.

Yes. And I think that it's based on the mine sequencing that we see in front of us right now and our productivity improvements. So I think if you look at Kiena, you're seeing a bit of a wider range there, depending on how we can sequence and what we're seeing with productivity improvements, probably a narrower range in range of Eagle. I think that as we execute for the rest of this year against our operating model and start delivering some of these fundamentals, we'll start seeing more stability and start being able to narrow that range going forward.

With no further questions, that concludes our Q&A session. We thank you for your participation. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

Hello, and welcome to the Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders of Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Ed Dowling, the Board Chair of Wesdome Gold Mines. The floor is yours.

Thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 2026 Wesdome Gold Mines Limited Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders. My name is Ed Dowling, and I'm Chair of the Board of Wesdome. And I'll preside as Chair of this Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders in accordance with the company's bylaws.

Joining me is Rob Kallio, Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, will act as Secretary for the meeting today; also joining us today in the room are other members of the Board. Anthea Bath, Louise Grondin, Jacqueline Ricci, Brian Skanderbeg, Faheem Tejani, who is with us in spirit but can't be here today; Edie Thome; and just in the nick of time, Bill Washington.

In addition to Anthea and Rob, I'd like to introduce the other members of senior management here with us today. Phil Yee, who is our Chief Financial Officer; Tyler Mitchelson, who is the Chief Operating Officer; Raj Gill, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations; Jono Lawrence, Senior Vice President Exploration and Resources; Christine Barwell, Senior Vice President of Human Resources; Jim Dainard, Vice President of Finance; Joanna Miller, Vice President of Environmental Sustainability; Ms. Moran, Vice President of Investor Relations.

Once the meeting is terminated, a short presentation will be given by Anthea. I'll now call the meeting to order. I appoint Rob Kallio, Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the company to act as Secretary of the meeting. I'll ask the Secretary to set out a few rules for the orderly conduct of the meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good morning, everyone. As this meeting is being held in a hybrid format, both in-person and virtually via Computershare's platform, we think it's necessary to set out a few rules for the orderly conduct of the meeting. Questions in respect of a motion can be submitted by a registered shareholder or duly appointed proxy holder using the messaging service of the platform. Click the Q&A icon in the upper right-hand side on your screen. Once you have finished typing out your question, click the send button.

Questions will generally appear shortly after they are submitted and may be addressed at the end of the meeting, provided that questions regarding procedural matters or directly related to motions before the meeting may be addressed during the meeting. Shareholders here today in person may ask questions regarding procedural matters or directly related to the motions before the meeting at any time.

For those registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders attending the meeting virtually, voting was opened at the beginning of the meeting and will remain open throughout the meeting. This will allow you to choose to vote on each resolution now or wait until the conclusion of the discussion on each resolution prior to casting your votes. Only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders of the company are permitted to participate in the online voting. Shortly after the final resolution is proposed and voted on, we will close the online voting.

For those registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders attending the meeting in person, voting for each resolution will be conducted by paper ballot. If you have not received your ballots, please see the scrutineer immediately. You may choose to fill out each ballot now or wait until the conclusion of the discussion on each resolution prior to completing the applicable ballot.

I will call for your return -- I will call for you to return all the ballots to the scrutineer after the final resolution is proposed and voted on. If you have already voted in advance of the meeting and do not wish to change your vote, then you do not need to do anything. For those who have not yet voted, we encourage you to vote when called upon to do so. The notice calling this Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders was dated April 17, 2026, and was mailed to shareholders along with the company's management information circular and the form of proxy on April 21, 2026.

During the course of this meeting, reference may be made from time to time to matters discussed in the management information circular. If any shareholders are unclear as to the meaning of certain terms, please refer to the management information circular, which is available through the virtual interface for this meeting as well as the company's website and on SEDAR+.

Finally, pursuant to Section 9.10 of the bylaws of the company, quorum for the transaction of business at a meeting of shareholders is two individuals present in person, each being a shareholder entitled to vote at the meeting or duly appointed proxy or proxy holder for an absent shareholder that is entitled to vote, holding or representing in the aggregate, not less than 10% of the issued shares of the company enjoying voting rights at the meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I request that you please table and attach to the minutes of this meeting, proof of the mailing indicating the notice of Annual General Meeting and Special Meeting, the management information circular and the form of the proxy were properly mailed to shareholders. We will now proceed with the formal business of today's meeting.

For the purposes of this meeting, I appoint Roxanne Parsaud and Josette Koffyberg as Computershare Trust Company of Canada act as scrutineers for the meeting report on the number of shareholders present in person or by proxy for the purposes of establishment of the quorum, tabulate the votes and to report to the secretary in the foregoing. For the purpose of establishing the quorum, voters present, both virtually and in person will be counted.

Mr. Secretary, I understand the scrutineer's preliminary report has been provided.

Yes, it has, Mr. Chair. The scrutineer's preliminary report shows that there are present at this meeting 252 shareholders in person or represented by proxy, representing an aggregate of 94,953,710 common shares for total representation in person and by proxy of 64% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the company.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I ask that you please attach a copy of the scrutineer's final report on attendance to the meeting -- minutes of this meeting. I therefore now declare the quorum is present, that this meeting is properly constituted for the transaction of business for which it's been called.

As stated in the notice of the meeting, there are four proposals to be voted on today, being the election of directors of the company for the ensuing year, the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as independent auditors of the company for the ensuing year, the approval of ratification of the company's equity incentive plan and the advisory vote to approve the Board's approach to executive compensation. Each of the above proposals is discussed and detailed in the management information circular.

As was explained in the subsequent filing of the management information circular as all shares to be issued under the company's employee share purchase plan will be purchased through the open market through the facilities of the TSX will not be issued from treasury and the ESPP will no longer be put forward as a shareholders' approval at this meeting. In order to expedite the formal business of the meeting, we have arranged for certain shareholders to make second and formal motions at the appropriate time.

I'll now place before the meeting the audited consolidated financial statements of the company for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, together with the auditor's report thereon. It is not propose to ask shareholders to approve the financial statements, but management of the company would be pleased to answer any relevant questions following termination of the meeting.

Next item of business is the election of the directors of the company to hold office until next Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of Wesdome or until successors are elected and appointed. Management information circular, which was mailed to shareholders contains the names of 8 nominees. The process of voting will be on an individual basis, shareholders can vote or withhold from voting on the election of individual directors. The company's bylaws require advanced notice of the company's nomination of directors for election at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of not less than 30 days prior to the date of the annual meeting.

Since no nominations were received by the company, the only nominees set out in the management information circular are eligible for election. For the sake of convenience, I now place the nomination of election of directors of the 8 individuals: Anthea Bath, Edward Dowling, Louise Grondin, Jacqueline Ricci, Brian Skanderbeg, Faheem Tejani, Edie Thome and Bill Washington.

I now request that a motion that the individuals be so nominated be elected directors of the company to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until successors are elected and appointed, subject to the company's articles and bylaws.

I so move.

I second the motion.

Motion now on the floor. Please vote on your ballots.

[Voting]

Next item of business is the appointment of the auditors of the company for the ensuing year. and to authorize the directors of the company to fix the remuneration of the auditors. And the recommendation of the Audit Committee, Board of Directors of the company has approved, subject to shareholder confirmation, the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP to serve as auditors of the company until the next annual meeting of shareholders and authorize the directors to fix the auditor's remuneration.

I will now ask a motion to approve these matters.

I so move.

I second the motion.

The motion is now on the floor, please vote your ballots.

[Voting]

The next item of business is the approval and ratification of the company's equity incentive plan set out in the company's management information circular.

I'll now ask for a motion on these matters.

I so move.

I second the motion.

Final matter is to deal with the consideration of an advisory vote to support the company's approach to executive compensation as disclosed in the information -- company's management information circular.

I'll now ask a motion for a nonbinding resolution set forth in the company's management information circular.

I'll now ask a motion for a nonbinding resolution set forth in the company's management information circular.

I so move.

I second the motion.

If you're attending the meeting in person, we kindly request that you return all paper ballots to the scrutineer at this time.

Polls are now closed. I ask the scrutineer to please complete the report regarding the results of voting on all matters and deliver a report to the Secretary of the meeting.

Mr. Chair, I have been advised by the scrutineers that the proxies deposited for the meeting have been voted in favor of each of the resolutions as follows: each of the 8 nominees have been elected as directors of the company to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed. The appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the auditors of the company has been approved, and the Board of Directors of the company has been authorized to fix their remuneration.

The company's equity incentive plan has been approved and ratified. And on an advisory basis, the company's shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the company's management information circular dated April 17, 2026. The final results of the voting will be announced in a press release and filed on SEDAR+ in accordance with the policies of the TSX.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I'll ask that the results of the poll be included in the minutes of the meeting. As the formal business of the meeting of shareholders of the company has now been completed, I'll ask for a motion to terminate the meeting.

I so move.

I second the motion.

Thank you. As there's no other business for the meeting, I declare the meeting terminated. I'll ask Anthea to say a few words.

Thanks, Ed, and good morning, everyone. It's really great to be with you today and talk a little bit more about last year. As noted on the slide that's going to come up in a second, I'll be making some forward-looking statements.

Let's talk a little bit about 2025, which was a foundational year for Wesdome. We produced more gold than ever. So we did it safely, with 0 lost time injuries. The combination of record production and an unwavering commitment to safety is something the entire team at Wesdome should be proud of. And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our employees and other contractors for doing that. Your hard work bolstered by strong gold prices translated into record financial metrics.

Notably, we generated $278 million in free cash flow, and we closed 2025 with a debt-free balance sheet and approximately $700 million in liquidity. The progress over just 2 years has been quite considerable. Last November, we introduced capital allocation framework and initiated a share buyback program. This was a clear signal of both our confidence in Wesdome as well as our commitment to returning capital to our shareholders.

And last year's achievements went well beyond the financials. At Kiena, operational flexibility improved significantly as we added several exploration drifts and tripled the number of active mining areas, including bringing on our new Presqu’île Zone, which has meaningfully enhanced our optionality at Kiena Mine. At Eagle River, we advanced our Fill-the-Mill strategy. We improved our operational efficiencies, and we doubled our developed inventory, strengthening this foundation for continued operational momentum. We also quadrupled Eagle River's land package through the acquisition of Angus, significantly expanding our district-wide opportunities.

And 2025 marked a major commitment towards exploration, the beginning of our multiyear program that saw more than 200 kilometers across both our properties in just the first year. Two weeks ago, we reported another record quarter, extending our multiyear trend of sequential financial growth and strengthening of our balance sheet. We announced the completion of the first tranche of our normal course issuer bid at the end of April, buying back more than 3 million shares of [indiscernible] since November.

And at the same time, we announced a second tranche of up to another 3 million shares. We've already started opportunistically purchasing. We are proud of how we stack up against our peers as well as other senior gold producers. Both our first quarter free cash flow margin of 42% and our 36.5% return on invested capital ranks Wesdome amongst the highest in the gold mining industry. And we expect 2026 to be another great year, both financially as well as operationally. As well, we've also delivered a major milestone. We've got a major milestone underway, the issuance of our updated technical reports, both of our mines.

It has been 4 to 5 years since we last issued updated technical reports for our mine. Eagle River and Kiena are two of the highest grade gold mines in Canada and exploration has always been central to our story given our mines are situated on such prospective gold packages. However, Wesdome's focus for many years was on annual reserve replacement and not necessarily only on resource growth. For most of its history, Wesdome maintained a 3- to 4-year mine life with a disciplined approach, but it was one that limited the company's long-term perspective.

Three years ago, we changed all of that. We made a deliberate decision to transform Wesdome, shifting it from a short-term replacement logic through to a systematic growth-oriented exploration strategy. That decision is backed by meaningful investment, $55 million this year alone. We have more than tripled exploration spend since 2023, and both the exploration team and the drill program have been rebuilt from the ground up. We now have a clear 3- to 5-year plan with over 225 identified targets across both our packages, many in high probability categories.

In 2026, we're drilling over 270 kilometers across both of our properties. One thing is clear, there's lots more to discover, and we'll be mining for decades to come. In late June, we'll issue a press release with highlights from the updated technical reports, provide revised mineral resource and reserve estimates and showcase Wesdome's longer-term outlook. Even with only 1 year of the expanded exploration program complete, June will allow us to show the first tangible quantifiable output of our plan to transform Wesdome.

At Eagle River, our focus has been twofold. First, adding reserve to the upper sections of the mine to incrementally increase tonnes to extend the mine life and to improve our mill utilization. And secondly, deepening our understanding of the high-grade system and its potential to extend well beyond historical reserve life.

At Kiena, the objectives have been slightly different. The focus has been on replacing high-grade inventory while advancing new mining fronts to support higher throughput and longer-term production growth. Two assets, two different paths, but both aligned around longevity, consistency and sustainable value creation. And value creation isn't just a priority at Wesdome. It's embedded in our DNA.

Over the last 10 years, we've delivered a shareholder return of a compound annual growth rate of 32% -- 32%, which is a testament to the discipline, to the vision and to the relentless execution of this team. This long-term performance reflects the high quality of these ore bodies. Going forward, we are focused on our consistency, longevity and our growth. Thanks so much.

That concludes my remarks, and I'd like to just hand over to the floor if there are any questions for us today.

And any questions online? And with that, I invite everybody in person to join management and the Board for refreshments at the back of the room. Thank you so much.

This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.

Good morning. Welcome to Wesdome Gold Mines conference call to discuss the company's financial and operating results for the 3 months ended March 31, 2026. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Your host for today is Trish Moran, Wesdome's Vice President of Investor Relations. Ms. Moran, please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I'd like to point out that during today's call, we may make forward-looking statements as defined under Canadian securities law. I ask that you view our slide presentation for cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements and the risk factors pertaining to these statements. Please note that all figures discussed on this call are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted.

Our press release, MD&A and financial statements are available both on SEDAR+ and on our corporate website, wesdome.com.

With us on today's webcast is Anthea Bath, Wesdome's President and CEO; Phil Yee, our Chief Financial Officer; Tyler Mitchelson, our COO; Jono Lawrence, SVP, Exploration and Resources; Raj Gill SVP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations; and Kevin Lonergan, SVP Technical Services. Following management's formal remarks, we will then open the call for questions. And now over to Anthea.

Thank you, Trish, and good morning to everyone. Support of my strong production, Q1 was a company best with record revenue, net income, EBITDA and operating cash flow. We generated $126 million in free cash flow and closed the period with over $430 million in cash even after repurchasing nearly $50 million of our owned shares.

Beyond financial results, we are making meaningful progress on initiatives that will drive long-term value for this company.

Safety remains foundational. Across both Eagle River and Kiena, we are building on a strong track record with continuous improvement programs firmly in place at each site. At Eagle River, the strategy is working. We're expanding operational flexibility by opening more mining areas. Combined with better stope productivity and higher mill utilization, this should translate into lower unit costs as fixed costs are spread over higher output. The results are showing up a steady production and a strong operating cash margin.

At Kiena, the operational improvements implemented over the past year are starting to translate into tangible results. Increasing operational flexibility, including the breakthrough of the ramp within the next week, combined with feed from the New Presqu'ile Zone marks an important inflection point for this mine. With many more stopes available at any given time, Kiena is progressing toward a more stable, consistent and predictable operating profile and unlocking its capacity to grow.

Exploration is a core pillar of this Wesdome growth story. And in 2026, we are leaning in, drilling more than 270 kilometers. The news flow has started with a release detailing high-grade growth at Kiena and at the end of March and another update on the global model work at Eagle River earlier this week. We closed the quarter with an exploration teaching designed to give the market a clearer deeper line of sight into the long-term prospectivity of our large land packages. With over 220 targets, many of which were in categories with a high relative probability of conversion, one thing is very clear. There's a lot more to discover and I have no doubt we'll be mining for decades to come.

As we look ahead to the updated technical reports for both Eagle River and Kiena this summer, I want to be clear about what these updates represent and why they matter. What the market will see in our late June release is the first tangible and quantifiable output of a deliberate plan to transform Wesdome, a plan that was set in motion nearly 3 years ago. Historically, our operations were managed around relatively short reserve lives, even though both assets sit within highly prospective mineral systems. The limitation was never geology, it was the scale of exploration and the long-term investment required to fully unlock these assets. We made a conscious decision to change the company's approach, shifting from short-term replacement toward a more growth-oriented and systematic approach, an approach designed to establish a visible organic growth pipeline.

The updated technical reports will demonstrate the first tangible outcome of that strategy. At Eagle River, our focus has been twofold. First, to add reserves to the upper sections of the mine to incrementally increase tonnes, to extend mine life and to maximize effective utilization of an existing processing infrastructure. While adding high grade will always be our priority, our drilling programs are also targeting areas close to infrastructure, where we can add additional economic tenants that can be brought into the mine plan efficiently and at a relatively low discovery cost. These areas, while lower in grade than the high-grade [indiscernible] zone are still economic. They improve operational flexibility, and most importantly, they provide a top-up mill feed that can cost effectively support the pursuit of high-grade targets in the pipeline across multiple areas in the mine.

The second focus of Eagle River has been on deepening our understanding of the high-grade system. We believe Eagle River has the potential to evolve beyond its historic 3-year reserve life by unlocking additional areas where shallower high-grade extensions are increasingly probable. Over time, this has the potential to improve ounce density per vertical meter and enhance the overall quality and flexibility of the mine plan.

At Kiena, the objectives have been slightly different. While we continue to seek opportunities to replace high-grade depletion, we also see opportunity across the land package to identify new mining fronts, including Level 33 and across the northern corridor of this property. The updated technical work at Kiena will demonstrate progress in rebuilding that high-grade inventory while advancing the pipeline of opportunities that can support higher throughput and production growth over the longer term.

So while Eagle River is currently focused on adding incremental ounces and operational flexibility, Kiena is focused on strengthening and expanding its pipeline, 2 different priorities, reflecting 2 different assets at different stages, but both aligned with building longevity, improving consistency and creating a stronger foundation for sustainable value creation.

It's important to remember that what we report in June is a snapshot in time, reflecting drilling only through the end of 2025, and it's really just the beginning. We're now well into the second year of a multi-exploration program. As drilling intensity increases and our geologic understanding deepens, we are systematically building the platform to do far more than extend mine life. We are laying the foundation to reshape Wesdome's long-term growth profile and ultimately to redefine what this company can become. And I'm pleased to say that we can pursue and fund exploration, unlocking the full potential of our large prospective land packages, all while returning -- continuing to return capital to our shareholders. Last evening's announcement that we're proceeding to a second tranche and our share buyback program is a direct reflection of that confidence.

And with that, I'll hand over to Phil to walk you through the first quarter financial highlights.

Thank you, Anthea. Good morning, everyone. Turning to Slide 7. Q1 2026 marks another record quarter as strong gold prices and solid production continued a 2-year trend of sequential financial growth. Record results this quarter included revenue of $300 million, net income of $119 million or $0.79 per share, EBITDA of $212 million and operating cash flow of $162 million and free cash flow of $126 million or $0.84 per share.

Our free cash flow as a percentage of revenue is 42% and ranks among the highest in the gold sector.

Margin expansion is a priority for Wesdome irrespective of gold price as the company delivers initiatives designed to reduce costs.

Turning to costs on Slide 8. On a consolidated basis, all-in sustaining cost per ounce of gold sold was USD 1,707 per ounce. AISC at Eagle River was $1,616 per ounce, while Kiena was $1,844 per ounce, each driven by higher contractor, consultant and maintenance consumable costs. The primary cost pressure point across the business is higher wages given the competitive labor environment. We are also monitoring broader industry inflation in fuel and consumables. And while our exposure is not material and availability is not a concern currently, we are taking proactive steps to mitigate potential supply chain disruptions.

Corporate G&A of $10 million in Q1 was in line with plan for Q1 and is expected to decrease in subsequent quarters.

We are maintaining full year consolidated production and cost guidance.

Moving to Slide 9. To support your modeling, I want to summarize where we are after the first quarter. Eagle River production is expected to be evenly distributed across all 4 quarters. Kiena's Q1 was the lightest quarter with approximately 60% of annual production weighted to the second half of the year, supported by the ramp-up at Presqu'ile. Consolidated AISC is expected to peak in Q2, then decline as savings from supply chain initiatives are realized. Both sustaining and growth CapEx remain in line with guidance for the year. Depreciation is expected to decline following publication of our updated mineral resource and reserve statement at the end of June as it is calculated as a percentage of 2P reserves.

Exploration expense guidance is on track for $30 million for the year, $15 million per site at Eagle River and Kiena. And our effective tax rate on pretax income remains at 35%.

Turning to Slide 10. As of March 31, 2026, our cash balance grew to $431 million, even after deploying $49 million to repurchase our shares at a substantial discount to where the shares are trading today. Including our revolving credit facility, which is fully undrawn, total liquidity now exceeds CAD 770 million, and we expect this to continue strengthening throughout the year.

Our balance sheet remains debt-free, and we are deploying capital with discipline, investing $205 million in CapEx this year with approximately 45% directed to growth and a record $55 million exploration budget. In April, we completed the first tranche of our NCIB, repurchasing 3 million shares for $68 million. As announced last night, we are proceeding with a second tranche to repurchase up to an additional 3 million shares.

Given our strong and growing cash generation, we are well positioned to execute on our organic growth plans, preserve operational and strategic flexibility and continue returning meaningful capital to shareholders.

With that, I'll turn it over to Tyler to review operations.

Thank you, Phil, and good morning, everyone. First quarter was solid across both sites. Starting with safety, we had zero lost time incidents and a total recordable incident frequency rate improved 13% year-over-year. As our programs mature, we are enhancing our focus on critical controls and nonnegotiable standards as they relate to potential high-risk incidents. Across both sites, people remain our biggest challenge, but also our biggest opportunity. Attracting and retaining quality talent is a top priority and its importance to safety, operational stability and cost control cannot be understated.

Moving to Slide 12. In Q1, Eagle River performed in line with expectations, delivering 28,000 ounces, roughly 25% of the full year guidance midpoint. Average grade came in at 12.5 grams per tonne as anticipated, reflecting planned mine sequencing and processing of 11,000 tonnes from the low-grade stockpile.

We are starting to see some of the results of our global model work coming into production. Opportunistic planning of incremental lower grade areas is providing more tonnes to the mine plan for the rest of the year. Furthermore, we can also measure the productivity improvements from this material. Net of one-off costs, we're seeing a direct reduction in our cost per tonne, proving to us the strategy is working.

Strategic initiatives undertaken at both the mine and the mill are starting to pay off. Mill throughput has been increasing on a fairly consistent basis, averaging approximately 800 tonnes per day compared to an average of 600 in 2024 and 700 in 2025. Stope productivity is improving, up more than 20% quarter-over-quarter and trending upward. Proactive maintenance is now fully embedded site-wise with 80% or better schedule compliance. This is in line with industry best practices and is driving measurable reliability gains.

The path to 1,000 tonnes per day is clear to us. To get there, underground flexibility is our top priority and required processes, equipment and infrastructure are being put in place.

As part of our longer-term strategy, we continue to invest in key projects at Eagle River and capital spending is stepping up through the second and third quarter. We are making a critical investment in a full camp replacement, something that will dramatically increase our ability to attract and retain talent at Eagle River. And as an added benefit, replacing camp will allow us to realize significant operational savings as we consolidate 13 separate structures into one building.

We are also gearing up to support higher throughput rates and increase scale in the years ahead with additional capital for targeted power and tailings improvements.

After a few months in this role, what is immediately evident to me is the breadth and depth of the team at Eagle. Strong on-site leadership and a mindset of continuous improvement gives me confidence in our ability to execute on our long-term strategy.

Moving to Slide 13. Kiena is off to a solid start in 2026, producing 17,500 ounces in what we anticipate will be the softest quarter of the year. With the receipt of the Presqu'ile operating permit in January, we have begun processing development ore and stockpiles, contributing more than 2,000 ounces of ore.

Overall process grades were in line with our reserve grade, averaging 10 grams per tonne for the quarter.

I'm pleased to report that the ramp connection to Kiena Deep is imminent. With this, we will have a second means of accessing the mine, which materially reduces the risk associated with having our shaft as a single point of entry and represents another major milestone for the operational flexibility at Kiena.

Ventilation room development continues to progress with fan installation and commissioning targeted for around year-end. This marks the last step in creating operational headroom we need to capture new opportunities underground. And importantly, capital spend at Kiena tapers off in the second half as both the ramp and the ventilation programs are brought to completion.

Beyond the ramp, we've done a lot of work to create operational flexibility, and we now have 3 active mining horizons in Kiena Deep, up from 1 just a year ago. The impact was tangible in Q1. For the first time, we marked 2 stopes simultaneously, a meaningful step forward that reflects several quarters of deliberate targeted work. We also just started mining our one, Level 136, giving us a third level open in Kiena Deep concurrently, a major milestone by any measure. In addition, we are developing at Presqu'ile with production ramping up through the back half of the year. And with new underground drifts in place, we are seeing noticeably more effective drilling across the operation. As a result, stability is beginning to take hold, equipment delays have been dramatically reduced, allowing us to shift our focus towards productivity.

This reflects the impact of several quarters of sustained work to improve our maintenance processes, and we're seeing that translate into stronger equipment availability.

Since rolling out our operating model this quarter, operating delays relative to previous year's performance are down 70%, a clear indicator that the changes we're making are working. For the balance of 2026, our priority is to embed these operating processes, tighten our schedule adherence and continue reducing variability across the operation.

Looking ahead, Q2 is off to a strong start. Production ramped up through March and exceeded 7,000 ounces in April. Development rates at Presqu'ile has accelerated. First stope is being prepared for mining before the end of Q2, our first near-term surface ore body at camp. We currently have a high-grade stockpile of development ore from Presqu'ile and expect to process it over the next few weeks, delivering a step change over Q1. Full production from Presqu'ile is expected by year-end.

I'm genuinely seeing the impact that leadership stability is bringing to the operation. Kiena is stabilizing, and it is progressing towards the operation we know it can become. There is still work ahead of us, we're addressing it systematically one item at a time. Boxes are being tipped, projects are being delivered, Kiena is on track and we are confident in the plan.

I'd like to make one final comment on cost before I pass across to Jono. As mentioned at the beginning, the importance of labor availability to cost cannot be understated. Continued tightness in the labor market, not just in Val d'or, across the industry is driving our reliance on contractors to supplement our labor needs. This is not new. Over the last several years, we've been working actively on our attraction and retention programs, and these continue to be a top priority. Our commitment to transitioning labor to our own employees is resolute, but it will take time.

And now over to Jono for exploration.

Thank you, Tyler, and good morning, everyone. 2026 is a landmark year for exploration. We're drilling more than 270,000 meters, up significantly from 200,000 meters in 2025. Our new hybrid strategy balances reserve replacement with growth across all time horizons, keeping the pipeline full and mineral inventories moving in the right direction. We're not just drilling more, we're drilling smarter. Data integration and technology are driving how we identify geologic patterns, mineralization trends and resource gaps. On March 30, we hosted our 2-hour analyst teaching, walking through our evolving strategy, growing target pipeline and the disciplined process behind our resource growth and new discoveries.

Our 2026 exploration program is off to a strong start to Eagle River, with results to date supporting resource growth and conversion potential. Slide 15 highlights the progress made in 2 key zones, 6 Central and the adjacent 800 Zone. In 6 Central, 4 holes tested the down plunge extension of the high-grade shoot and the results delivered. We confirmed a further 100-meter extension, bringing the total to 700 meters since discovery in late 2024. At the 800 Zone, 11 holes focused on infill and conversion demonstrated great continuity at depth and sharpening our confidence in the zone's geometry and grade distribution. Critically, both zones, including the high-grade shoots, remain open at depth, making them a priority focus for high-grade reserve replacement.

We've also been drilling deep surface holes beneath both zones to test the continuity, and we plan to issue an update on these results in the coming weeks.

Turning to Slide 16, a look at our global model outcomes. Last year, we drilled over 40,000 meters on global model targets. Since the start of this year, we've added another 16,000 meters. Of the 32 initial targets, 9 remain untested or partially tested and the number of targets outside existing resources continues to evolve as the program advances. This year, we're planning 80,000 to 90,000 meters of conversion drilling, which includes targets outside the global model.

One example stands as a strong demonstration of what this program can deliver, the 711 Zone. In Q1, we targeted a previously untested portion of the 711 centrally located in the mine with established underground access and at intermediate depths, a textbook global model target, 17 holes later with confirmed continuity and high-grade mineralization with multiple intercepts over 10 grams per tonne. Confirming not just mineralization, but continuity and high grades is particularly encouraging, especially in a mine with 30 years of production history. This area remains open, and we're pushing to bring it into the mine plan in the short to medium term.

Before leaving Eagle River, there are other areas that are growing. Firstly, Falcon 311. Drilling has identified potential mineralization extending 100 meters to the west and 150 meters down deep. Secondly, at the 711 zone, we've confirmed continuity in the base. And thirdly, at Falcon 720, drilling has improved confidence in geometry with the zone remaining open at depth, towards surface and to the west. Together, these results strengthen our confidence in near-term conversion opportunities and the broader resource growth potential at Eagle River.

Looking ahead, we will be releasing results from some of our longest drill holes to date, extending more than 1,500 meters from surface. We plan to publish these proof-of-concept results ahead of our June technical report release.

Moving to Kiena, the completion of the exploration platform on Level 134 has been truly transformative, improving drilling angles and significantly reducing drill hole distances into Kiena Deep and the B zones. In Q1, we announced the discovery of 6 new lenses at Kiena, a direct outcome of enhanced drilling access. Three of these new lenses were identified in Kiena Deep, one the A2 structure and 2 in the Footwall Zone. Beyond the new lens discoveries, we've also seen increased continuity of both known lenses in Kiena Deeps and Footwall Zone with expanded vertical and lateral extents. We expect this to drive meaningful mineralization growth in Kiena Deeps over the medium term, translating into higher ounces per vertical meter.

Exploration drilling at Kiena Deep has continued during the quarter with holes now testing a previously reported intercept on the far side of the Norbenite Fault. And a historical drill hole in this area intercepted more than 80 meters at 10 grams per tonne, and we have been actively following up around that intercept. Drilling through the Norbenite Fault presents technical challenges. However, a discovery in this area would be generally transformative for the asset. We look forward to providing an update to the market later this year.

To Slide 18, we announced the discovery of 3 new lenses at B Zone in Q1, along with the identification of high-grade mineralization within the zone. Continued drilling and improved angles have allowed us to interpret -- reinterpret the zone. We're now modeling it as 4 distinct lenses rather than a single lower-grade lens. We've also identified a corridor of higher-grade intercepts that has the potential to improve the economics of the zone. This area is a high priority given its proximity to existing infrastructure adjacent to Kiena Deep. Should we define economic mineralization here, the path to production would be relatively straightforward.

A brief update on the remainder of the Kiena program. Drilling has commenced at the VC zone, another prospective ore source located near underground infrastructure. And we completed 10 surface holes at a target South of the Kiena mine in an area with geology analogous to the Malartic mine. Look for updates on both programs in the coming months.

Our surface exploration program is set to ramp up in the coming weeks as seasonal conditions improve. Surface rigs have been mobilized to Shawkey will be planned to drill for several months through the summer. We're also looking forward to deploying our barge mounted drills at Northwest, Wesdome, [indiscernible] and Dubuisson. There's a great deal of activity ahead, and we'll keep the market informed as the results come in.

Operator, you may now open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Luke Bertozzi from CIBC.

Congratulations on the strong quarter. I'd just like to get a sense of the cadence of buybacks going forward. I believe in the past, you viewed the buyback as an opportunity to repurchase shares when they're trading below net asset value. Does that continue to be the view? Or should we expect buybacks to continue regardless of share price fluctuation?

Luke, it's Phil. Yes, I would say the strategy going forward is really to be opportunistic as we have in the past based on NAV per share. And as you know, we've announced the second tranche. And as we continue to grow our cash, I would say that we will continue to look at further opportunities as well.

Your next question comes from the line of Allison Carson from Desjardins.

My first question is just on Kiena. It's great to hear that things are ramping up at Presqu'ile. Can you give us a little bit more detail on the contribution we should expect from Presqu'ile in Q2 in terms of production?

Yes. Sure. So I am handing over to Tyler for this one.

Yes, as we go into Q2, we're going to start the stoping actually at the end of June. So we'll see the ramp up. Generally, you'll see a 60-40 split between Kiena Deep and Presqu'ile towards the end of the year so...

So will we get any production from Presqu'ile in Q2, though? You said you were going to process some low grades -- or some of the stockpiles as well?

Yes. We're continuing to do development in Q2. So we're pulling development ore in the first stope should be coming out the second part of Q2.

Okay. Great. And then my next question is also on shareholder capital return. It's great to see you expanding the NCIB. Are you looking at linking your capital return program to anything like a percentage of free cash flow in the future?

Allison, it's Phil. I mean the focus right now is really on the second tranche of the NCIB and to be consistent from a -- as I mentioned earlier, we look at being opportunistic in that program. And then as we grow our cash, we'll look at other options to expand our capital allocation strategy. And we haven't finalized our approaches at this point yet, but obviously, all the various options are being considered. And I would say that's one of them.

[Operator Instructions] And there are no further questions. This does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, welcome to Wesdome's Gold Mines conference call to discuss the company's financial and operating results for the 3 and 12 months ended December 31, 2025. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Your host for today is Trish Moran, Wesdome's Vice President of Investor Relations.

Ms. Moran, please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I would like to point out that during today's call, we may make forward-looking statements as defined under Canadian securities law. I ask that you view our slide presentation for cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements and the risk factors pertaining to these statements. Please note that all figures discussed on this call are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted. Our press release, MD&A and financial statements are available both on SEDAR+ and on our corporate website, wesdome.com.

With us on today's webcast is Anthea Bath, Wesdome's President and CEO; Philip Yee, our Chief Financial Officer; Tyler Mitchelson, Wesdome's interim COO; Jono Lawrence, Senior Vice President, Exploration and Resources; Raj Gill, SVP, Corporate Development and IR; Kevin Lonergan, SVP Technical Services. Following management's formal remarks, we will then open the call for questions.

And now over to Anthea.

Thanks, Trish, and good morning to everyone. Financially, this was a very strong quarter for Wesdome, and it kept the best year in the history. We produced more gold than ever before, and we did it safely with 0 LTIs recorded during the year. Strong production performance, combined with accelerated gold prices translated into record results across the business, including revenue, net income, EBITDA, net cash from operating activities and free cash flow.

For the year, we generated $278 million in free cash flow, and we ended the year with more than $350 million in cash on our balance sheet. In 2026, at current gold prices, we expect to generate significantly more free cash flow than we did the last year. But last year's achievements went well beyond record financial and production results. We made meaningful improvements in health and safety across our operations, and I'm so proud of that. At Kiena, we tripled the number of mining areas under our control. At Eagle River, our developed inventory is double that of a year ago. Through the acquisition of Anders Gold, we quadrupled Eagle River's land package.

We also established for the first time a clear and disciplined exploration strategy and delivered the first 200 kilometers of drilling in this program. At the corporate level, we strengthened our balance sheet. We expanded our revolving credit facility, and we introduced a capital allocation framework that includes returning capital to our shareholders through a share buyback program. And finally, we strengthened our leadership bench with the addition of Phil Yee as our CFO, Tyler Mitchelson as our interim COO and most recently, Christine Barwell as our SVP, Human Resources. These are important achievements that position us well for the future.

Turning to 2026. As everyone knows, last year was a challenging year at Kiena, and we recognize that we disappointed the market. As a result, our guidance for this year is very deliberate. This approach does not reflect any lack of confidence in our assets. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I'm confident that you'll see improvement quarter-on-quarter as we show what Kiena can actually do. Before I talk about exploration in more detail -- sorry, 2026 will firstly mark a year beginning at West. And before I do that, I'd just like to talk a little bit about exploration and frame the strategy that underpins our approach.

At its core, our strategy is built on leveraging two key quality and high potential assets. First, we control exceptional land packages at both Eagle River and Kiena, and our work over the past 2 years has significantly improved our understanding of the scale and the continuity. Secondly, we have a substantial existing infrastructure that is currently underutilized relative to the scale of the geological systems that we do control. Through disciplined exploration and the application of our global and geological models, we are working to demonstrate the true scale of these systems and to extend the life of our mines well beyond what the market currently recognizes.

Exploration is therefore a central part of our long-term life of mine extension and value creation strategy. In 2025 marked the first year of the structured multiyear exploration program. As we grow the resource base and extend mine life, we also unlock another important driver of value, our cost structure. A significant portion of our operating platform is fixed. As we bring more ounces through existing infrastructure, those fixed costs are spread across great production. This has the potential to meaningfully improve costs and our margins as well.

This combination of extending mine life for exploration while leveraging existing infrastructure to improve costs is a powerful strategy for creating long-term value. We're now in the second year of this exploration program. The plan is to drill up to 270 kilometers this year and what's truly exciting is that roughly half of our exploration budget is dedicated to discovery drilling, testing true greenfield targets, both near mine and surface for the first time in many, many years. As you can imagine, with all this drilling, we'll be updating the market on our progress on a regular basis.

At least two or three news releases will be issued, leading to the filing of our updated technical report, a very, very important milestone for Wesdome this year. These reports will provide a reset for the market and clearly demonstrate the runway that we see ahead, which is what we've been working on since I arrived. The release we issued in June in advance of these reports will be framed like a conceptual study, showcasing how we see the long-term potential of both Eagle River and Kiena.

Importantly, the technical release will also showcase our strategy to continue extending and replacing high-grade reserves while highlighting the addition of significant valuable tonnes near existing infrastructure. June release will highlight why we believe the market should appreciate the potential to extend and grow mine life at both Eagle River and Kiena.

We also outlined what we see as a clear low-risk and high return path to increasing production while driving down costs across the portfolio. This will be the first time Wesdome has provided a comprehensive long-term road map for unlocking the full value of our assets. Before I hand things over to Phil, I'd first like to thank my entire team at Wesdome for their hard work and dedication last year. I'm proud of each and every one of you.

Additionally, I'd like to officially welcome Tyler Mitchelson, our new Interim Chief Operating Officer. Tyler brings more than 30 years of mining experience across multiple commodities and jurisdictions. He has held technical, commercial and site-based operational roles throughout his career, combining deep technical experience with strong operational leadership and business discipline. He has successfully implemented operating models across five different mines, transforming systems and processes while delivering measurable improvements in safety, reliability and productivity. We're really thrilled to have Tyler join the Wesdome team.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Phil to walk you through the financial results.

Thank you, Anthea. Good morning, everyone. It's great to have you on the team, Tyler.

Turning to Slide 7. You will see a clear trend, sequential growth quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year across the past 2 years. 2025 marked a milestone year for Wesdome, delivering record annual financial results driven by two key factors. Record production exceeding 185,000 ounces, right in line with our revised guidance and an average realized gold price of USD 3,475 per ounce for the year. The impressive results speak for themselves. Compared to 2024, revenue increased by 64% to $914 million.

Net income rose 2.5x to $349 million or $2.32 in earnings per share. Both EBITDA and operating cash flow nearly doubled, reaching $600 million and $457 million, respectively, and free cash flow more than doubled to $278 million or $1.85 per share. While stronger gold prices helped to drive last year's impressive results, our free cash flow margin expanded to 31% in 2025. This remains among the highest in the gold sector, and we expect to drive the free cash flow margin percentage even higher in 2026 as we reduce costs and benefit from high gold prices.

Turning to costs on Slide 8. On a consolidated basis, both cash costs and all-in sustaining cost per ounce of gold sold increased by 4% year-over-year to USD 976 and USD 1,518 per ounce, respectively. These amounts were both within revised guidance for the year. Eagle River's full AISC was USD 1,446 per ounce sold. The fourth quarter AISC was the highest of the year, driven by higher tonnes milled at lower grade as we opportunistically extended development into a lower grade area of the 300 Zone that was not previously included in our existing resources. This was a unique and timely opportunity to set up Eagle River for success in 2026.

As we outlined our guidance for 2026, we anticipate that Eagle River's AISC will increase due to higher royalties from higher revenues and new payments related to First Nations. Sustaining CapEx is expected to be largely consistent with 2025. All-in sustaining cost per ounce of gold sold at Kiena increased in the fourth quarter relative to Q4 2024, primarily due to higher sustaining CapEx resulting from timing of equipment and machinery deliveries. We expect Kiena's full year 2026 all-in sustaining cost per ounce sold to decrease as higher gold production is anticipated to offset lower input costs. In 2026, we have a number of initiatives underway to reduce costs, focusing on supply chain optimization, improving efficiencies through automation, reduced reliance on contractors and improving our processes.

Turning to Slide 9. As of December 31, 2025, our cash balance was $354 million, nearly triple what it was at the end of fiscal 2024. Wesdome has a strong debt-free balance sheet and combined with our undrawn revolving credit facility, total liquidity is now nearly CAD 700 million and will continue to strengthen this year. Based on our budget, we expect to generate approximately $350 million in free cash flow in 2026.

However, I should note that our budget was based on a gold price below USD 4,000 per ounce. At USD 5,000 gold, our free cash flow generation should exceed $500 million or over $40 million a month. As our cash position increases, we remain committed to improving operational infrastructure, advancing key organic growth initiatives and disciplined capital allocation. This year, we are spending $205 million in CapEx, including approximately 45% of that in growth capital initiatives. We are also committing $55 million to drill approximately 270,000 meters in 2026 to support our organic growth project.

In addition, we plan to fully execute our share repurchase program objectives in 2026. Wesdome's financial position continues to be very strong. Our return on invested capital significantly increased in 2025 to approximately 36% from 23.6% in 2024. This being most of our peers and seniors. We intend to improve upon that position in 2026 by delivering on production and reducing costs.

With that, I'll now turn it over to Tyler to review operations.

Thank you, Phil, and good morning, everyone. I'm very pleased to be part of the team here at Wesdome. While I've only been here about 8 weeks, I've already spent considerable time at site, getting to know our people and our operations.

My first impression, there is no question that Eagle River and Kiena are high-quality assets. Unlocking their full value starts with a disciplined mining through a consistent operating model and the building blocks are already in place. Our focus now is integrating them into a clear operating framework, enabling more data-driven decisions and delivering more stable, predictable performance.

Turning now to Slide 11. Let's look at safety. Something I deeply care about. In 2025, we had no lost time incidents and our total recordable incident frequency rate improved by 60% over the prior year. This is an incredible accomplishment in just 1 year and reflects a meaningful and deliberate shift in safety culture. Our commitment is quite simple. Everyone goes home safe every single day.

Let's move to Slide 12. Eagle River delivered exceptional performance in 2025, producing a record 113,000 ounces at 14 grams per tonne. We closed the year with a strong Q4, producing nearly 24,000 ounces while achieving the highest amount of underground tonnage ever mined and milled in a single quarter. Our team's disciplined focus on dilution control delivered measurable improvements throughout the year. Importantly, these are now embedded into our operating practices going forward. To provide a little bit more clarity around Q4, our Q4 grade of 10 grams a tonne was planned. Low-grade ore development was included in the plan to opportunistically extend the mining zones in the 300 kilo, unlocking stope inventory for 2026 while strategically drawing down our stockpile to keep the mill running at optimal capacity.

As we continue to ramp up underground funds, our processing capacity is ready, reflecting the benefits of the investments made in the last year. In November, we ran the mill at over 1,000 tonnes per day, demonstrating we can confidently handle higher throughput as we work towards filling the mill. In 2025, we focused on several key operational improvements. We advanced our proactive maintenance program and the results have been quite significant. We achieved a 30% improvement during the year, and our target is 80% planned maintenance by the end of this year, bringing us in line with industry best practices. We also continued transitioning from contractor reliance to a stronger in-house workforce.

This program launched in late 2024 is delivering results. Last year, Wesdome crews completed 55% of the total development meters, a 40% increase year-over-year. Today, all crews are Wesdome managed, supported by contractors as we continue recruiting. The end result, Eagle River enters 2026 benefiting from previous initiatives, including the operational improvements as well as substantial stope inventory, and this sets us up for operational success and another strong performance this year.

If we go to Slide 13, outlines Eagle's 2026 guidance and upcoming milestones. 2026 production guidance is targeting 105,000 to 115,000 ounces at 13 to 14 grams per tonne, slightly lower grade than in 2025. This year's mine plan reflects significant investments in development with a 10% increase year-over-year to reduce our reliance on the 300 Zone with over 50% of the tonnes coming from Falcon, 600 and other areas. This aligns with our strategy to bring in new zones and build flexibility underground. is a joint effort between our exploration group and our operation steam.

AISC is expected to increase in 2026 to between USD 1,525 and USD 1,675 per ounce gold sold, mainly driven by higher cash costs associated with royalties and payments to First Nations. We are planning to spend about $105 million of capital, including $60 million sustaining, which is largely consistent year-over-year. What is really exciting for the first time in years, is the focus at Eagle River is shifting towards building a foundation for the future. And we have $45 million earmarked for growth CapEx. To support higher production rates, for upgrading equipment and adding new more mobile fleet.

We are upgrading and expanding our camp capacity so we can attract and retain talent. At the same time, we're improving our site infrastructure and investing in exploration drilling, tailings and power. When we published the results of our technical report in June, the rationale for these investments will become clear. Momentum is building at Eagle River, and we look forward to another good year.

Moving now to Kiena on Slide 14. Kiena wrapped up 2025 producing 73,000 ounces, which was within revised guidance range. Fourth quarter production was the strongest of the year, achieving 23,000 ounces. As Kiena Deep hit plan, grade reconciled well, the new Presqu'ile Zone contributed 2,500 ounces and our mill proved its capability, averaging over 1,100 tonnes per day in December with extended periods of more than 1,300 tonnes per day. My takeaway, as the mining rates increase and we feed more material through the mill, Kiena's infrastructure is ready to scale.

n 2025, there's major focus on operational flexibility at Kiena, as shown on Slide 15. By increasing our development by 12% year-over-year, we increased our active mining areas and are now operating in three different zones, two in Kiena Deep and one at Presqu'ile triple what we had for most of last year when we are mining just one zone. This is a game changer for Kiena.

As well, several key infrastructure projects started last year are well underway. The ramp connection to surface is nearing completion and our ventilation upgrade expected within the next year will support higher production rates. We've also built two new drilling platforms for Kiena Deep, including the 109 drift extension, which will allow us to efficiently test the high-grade BC zone and the 134 level will further test extensions at Kiena Deep. Finally, the development for 142 is progressing on schedule and will add another mining horizon by year-end.

On the operational support side, significant progress has also been made. Maintenance improvements from 2025 are being embedded to ensure equipment is reliable, available and aligned with our operating plans. We filled 50% of the employee vacancies and are building the team needed to retain key skills, reduce reliance on contractors. Supply chain work is also underway, which will reduce our cost and support our maintenance program, and we are progressing well in the implementation of our operating model.

As you may recall, as well last year, we commissioned an independent review of our critical infrastructure. We've begun proactive maintenance on key priorities and are developing a 3-year infrastructure plan. While there's still more to do, we believe the positive impact on performance is just around the corner.

Moving to Slide 16. In terms of what you can expect from Kiena in 2026, we've taken a conservative approach to Kiena's production guidance with 60% of the production expected in the second half. This reflects three key factors. First, Q1 will be the lightest of the year. Due to plant sequencing as well as a deliberate decision to focus our maintenance work our execution planning and set us up for the rest of the year. Second, production from Presqu'ile, which has already started, will begin to ramp up in the second half. Third, we'll begin to see the value of the work initiative from 2025 related to systems, process and workforce development.

Unit costs are projected to decrease year-over-year driven by increased throughput and operational efficiencies. As well, growth capital Kiena will decline substantially this year as we complete the Kiena ramp and advance towards final completion of the ventilation infrastructure for Kiena. The bottom line, operations at Kiena are starting to show improvement, and you should start to see these compounding in the second half of the year. I'm really happy to have the opportunity to work at Wesdome during this exciting period of growth.

And now over to Jono to review exploration.

Thank you, Tyler, and good morning, everyone. 2025 is a pivotal year for exploration. At the beginning of the year, we stepped back, stepped down the program to the fundamentals and established a pathway leading from a short-term focus on replacing production ounces to an aggressive hybrid focus on both replacement and growth.

Through the process, the team developed a new appreciation for the scale of the opportunity in front of us. The result is a more strategic and systematic approach focusing on data. Specifically, the integration of information with technology to identify geologic patents, transit mineralization and gaps in our understanding. We strengthened our exploration toolbox plan incorporating a fast processing of geophysical data, which is enhancing our targeting process and building a more robust pipeline.

For the first time in Wesdome's history, we now have a clearly defined short, medium and long-term strategy. In addition to replacing reserves, we are focused on growing resources and making new discoveries. 2025 was a foundational year, setting the base for a multiyear exploration strategy. Let's look at what was achieved at Eagle River. In mine, extensions were confirmed at 9 zones. First, we doubled the 6 central zone to 600 meters, showcasing the down plunge continuity with initial step-out drilling, subsequently supported the space infill drilling.

Importantly, assays continue to demonstrate the high-grade nature of the zone, which is similar in grade to assays in the top 300 zone at similar depths. The zone remains open down plunge. We also confirmed the interpretation of the 300-fold zone as a separate structure and that both the 300 and the 300-fold zones remain open down plunge. Next, the extension of the 720 Falcon Zone towards surface and to the West was confirmed. And at the end of the year, we completed the first phase of the global model drilling for the upcoming technical report.

Global model drilling targets predominantly unclassified material above cutoff grade, which was left behind during historic mining activities. As part of the fill the mill strategy, this material has the potential to add incremental tonnes and ounces of grade without displacing existing high-grade ore. Regional exploration was just as successful. In 2025, the team made a critical structural reinterpretation along the Mission Magneton corridor, which potentially has major implications for property-wide exploration.

Following our acquisition of Angus Gold last June, we consolidated the data with our own and reprioritized Dorset deposit, which has historical resource that we expect to update later this year. Finally, using IP surveys, we've identified new drilling targets to the west of the Eagle River mine and at Abby Lake. The Abby Lake results are exciting. The IP survey covered a 10-kilometer zone of coincident geochemical and magnetic anomalies along a portion of the regional Buchasca deformation zone, a conduit of mineralizing fluids.

Turning to Kiena. Kiena made great strides in 2025. We demonstrated that Kiena is not just hired, it is truly world-class. with a standout intercept of 2,350 grams over 2.9 meters. Further drilling in the areas above the footwall zone identified a new high-grade A Zone lens that remains open. Drilling has also extended lenses of the high-grade footwall zone.

Further drilling will be conducted to test the continuation both at depth and beyond the Northern Fault zone, which currently constrains the drilling and interpretation. We've added three new lenses to the B zone and infill drilling has highlighted that it has the potential to host higher grades than previously thought with logging a visible gold in the main lens.

We identified a potential extension of the original [indiscernible] mine to the Northwest towards the Wish area and the highlight of the summer drilling program was the discovery of a new zone located beneath the Dubuisson North and South zones. Along with this discovery, our geologists made a structural reinterpretation that has led us to think of Dubuisson more as a potential bulk tonnage deposit at impressive grades.

The style of mineralization at diorite that quartz veining is similar to what we have drilled at Short South deposit and which is reported at the nearby Goldex deposit. Notably, the majority of drilling at [indiscernible] South and Dubuisson is still within 600 meters of surface, well above the deep mineralization ranges in [ Yadkin ]. Processing of high-resolution magnetic data that we collected in late 2025 has identified anomalies beneath Dubuisson and between the Wesdome and Siscoe deposits. These will be drill tested in 2026.

Looking at Eagle River, this year's program will be the largest in the mine's history with roughly 145,000 meters of drilling planned. About half of the drilling is focused on new discoveries with the balance supporting Phase 2 of our global model work and continued expansion of the 300, 311, 6 Central and South zones. In the second half of 2025, drilling was focused on converting 11 global model targets to contribute to the feasibility studies. A similar number of global model targets are planned to be drilled in the first half of 2026.

The Eagle River mine is hosted in an intrusive diorite approximately 2.5 kilometers long by 0.8 of a kilometer wide. The [ dorite ] remains relatively untested by drilling, especially at depth and along the Northern [ Comact ] corridor. The potential for discovering new mineralized structures. As part of our exploration strategy, we are drilling deep holes to test extensions of the 300, 311, 6 Central and 800 zones. Early work beneath the 800 and between Falcon 720 and 311 is complete, and we're already planning follow-up holes.

This spring, we'll advance Dorset and Cameron Lake through infill drilling to move them towards resource definition with both having the potential to strengthen our longer-term pipeline. At Mishi and [ Magnicon ], we're beginning to see a broader extent of low-grade mineralization and higher grades at depth beneath the Mishi pit. The mineralization remains open along trend and down plunge. Additionally, the geological setting at Mishi and Magnicon is starting to assemble other similar settings in the Abitibi that host deposits, giving us a new way of focusing our exploration. Finally, we'll test several new regional targets, our first true early-stage or greenfield exploration on the property in many years.

Moving to Kiena. The 2026 program is equally exciting. We have 125,000 meters planned focused on laying the groundwork for a multiyear growth strategy. More than 60% of these meters are dedicated to resource growth and making new discoveries. The extension of the exploration drift on Level 109 will be completed this month, and we will restart drilling of the C zone. Our previously reported intercept at the base of the zone, 43 grams per tonne over 5 meters remains open. The zone is a high priority for resource and reserve growth.

From Level 1 through 4, our new drill platform is giving us an excellent drilling angle into the deepest part of the Kiena Deep, where we previously intercepted 15 grams per tonne over -- sorry, over 83 meters. This intercept is on the other side of the Norbenite fault structure and is currently not included in resource models. The intercept remains open in all directions and follow-up holes planned for the first half of 2026.

At Dubuisson, we've already commenced deep drilling from Level 33 to test the geophysical anomalies identified last year. As soon as weather conditions allow, we'll mobilize two barges to expand that program, follow up on 2025 targets and test new areas. We're also launching the first land-based exploration program in several years, targeting Shorty South, Short Maine and new greenfield areas south of the mine. The Shorty South program is very notable as it will define the extent of the [ Dara ] hostages for mineralization. There is significant opportunity in front of us.

To wrap up, over the next several years, we'll be aggressively managing our target triangle, expanding our pipeline and advancing opportunities towards making discoveries that could transform our operations and define the next chapter at [indiscernible]. The best part of this is just to begin. We are starting to delight the potential of the mineralizing systems we have at both our assets, deliver on our higher expectations, and we believe the next breakthroughs are on the horizon.

Operator. You may now open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Jeremy Hoy from Canaccord Genuity.

First 1 for me is on the upcoming technical reports in the disclosure, you mentioned that they were expected to demonstrate the longevity of these assets. So I was wondering, to the extent that you can, if you could potentially preview what we might expect. My thinking that this new geological model and some of the near-mine drilling would help to extend mine lives, but regional exploration would be left for a later date. Is that thinking correct? And might we expect any incremental increase in throughput at either of the operations?

Jeremy, thanks for the question. I think it's multifaceted. The idea there will be a release at the time which will explain to you how the potential will give you -- give you a view on the extent of the mine life extension of what we know today in 2P reserves as well as showcase how the exploration program will grow further, if that makes sense.

Beyond that, you should be able to see or get a sense of the regional potential beyond that as well. So I think it's going to be a very interesting release Ken, it will be a little bit behind because we're doing -- it will give -- you have more of a sense of the scale of the opportunity from a geological potential as well as some of the addition on the reserve level. The geological model work at Kiena will happen a bit later. Does that answer your question, Jeremy?

Yes. I guess, similarly on the topic of growth, the balance sheet is growing. There's no debt. Could you provide us your latest thoughts on M&A?

Obviously, nothing has changed to how we feel about M&A. We're going to keep focused on looking at per share value for our shareholders at the time and looking for value and quality in this aspect. We -- nothing has changed really, Jeremy. We remain very disciplined and prudent in the way we look at this.

Got it. Appreciate it. And the last one for me is just on the payments to First Nations that were factored into cost guidance for this year. Could you provide a bit more detail that might help us model those out going forward?

I think I'll hand over to Tyler, you want to -- at this stage, I can't comment on the exact numbers because we're finalizing the agreement as it is right now. All we can say is we're making great progress with our First Nations on these agreements. And hopefully, we can soon...

Your next question comes from the line of Don DeMarco from National Bank Financial.

First question at Eagle. Just wondering if you could provide a little more color on the pivot into the development or whether that worked out as you had hoped? And whether -- do you expect the increase in throughput and reduction in grades that we saw in Q4 to be limited to Q4 or carry into Q1?

Sure. Like in Q4, it was truly was an opportunity as we are developing that, realized that there was more mineral potential at the end of each one of those fills. So we extended it on each side, which gives us more stopes for 2026 that we can pull in that actually wasn't in the plan. So it gives us a bit of flexibility there.

Going forward, we don't expect that grade to continue. Our plan, as we said in the guidance is around that 13, 14 grams a tonne, and we expect to continue on that. It gives us the opportunity with additional stopes available to work on our sequencing for margin opportunities and capacity increases through the mill.

I think -- I mean I just want to add on that I think this is really great that the mine of the plan. And I think they did a great job of assessing value that was not in and they could do...

Okay. Then maybe as a second question for Jono. And again, this builds on Jeremy's question. Looking ahead to these technical reports, I mean, what is the cutoff date for the resource estimates that will feed into these reports? And approximately how many meters will go into each of the updates? And is it going to be a blend of infill and expansion or primarily one or the other? I'm just trying to understand maybe the magnitude of drilling that's going to support these reports.

Sure. Good question. Good question. So the technical reports are predominantly based on a database cutoff at the end of December. There's a portion on a few of the deposits where we pushed it out to middle of January for assays to come through, but that's based on some 207,000 meters of drilling that we completed in the year.

Bear in mind, added to that is that part of our work with the global model is that we've been reviewing a lot of the historic data, drill holes, channel set and mapping underground and working on the database and validating that information and bringing that in.

That's all part of the growth that we're doing and standardizing and data quality work at the deposits. So we will see not just surface exploration, underground exploration, but impacts on the conversion, delineation drilling plus some open pit material that we've been drilling as well, and we've mentioned mission end.

I think just to add grade really hasn't changed year-over-year as the resource that's really resource is that?

Yes. Don, we've kept the same cutoff grade as last year earlier work, and that's currently under review as part of the technical feasibility studies.

Okay. And just as a final question, and this would also be to Jono. We're looking forward to the exploration teach-in, but looking at all the targets you have and the potential upside -- maybe if you could just -- what is your pecking order for maybe the top three exploration priorities?

Top picking order without drilling down too much on rate always. We're looking at our growth strategy and fill the mill. So we do have a balance of grade that's underground and close to the mine. Number one.

Two is in our target triangle, opportunities that are looking higher grade but don't have a lot of drilling in them at the moment, what we call our Tier 5 and 6 is advancing those that we have fruit that's available in the coming years. They are the two main ones. And then the third one would be longer-term step-outs that we call our Tier 6 as a conceptual. We've got to balance through setting those up so that we test these geophysical and structural models that are coming through. So we've got a balanced approach for drilling not just this year, but for the next 3 years.

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Allison Carson from Desjardins.

Congratulations on a great quarter. My first question is just on labor in Val d'Or. I was wondering if you can give us a little bit more color on how you're seeing turnover and labor availability at Kiena? And have there been any impacts on the operation either in a positive way or a negative way?

Yes, that's a great question, and thanks, Allison, for your question. This is -- the labor situation is very challenging Val as you rightly put and it's something that we -- I've said this before to the market, again, it's something that sits top of our in terms of how we think about the business. We obviously keep looking at this. What we're currently doing is we're building out various programs, which will build a labor strategy that's very strong for operations.

Our turnover rates are far higher than we like them at the moment. So we need to fill that right now, what we're doing is we're filling this up with contractors, which are way more expensive as you probably know. So there is redundancy built in the back of that, which is not very helpful. So you can imagine why we are focusing strongly on the labor strategy in that case.

But I think we -- the work we've done over the last 2 years in building our compensation structures and all these other things like cultural as well as understanding what our employees might working on various surveys with our employees to understand what matters to them and building out a long-term life of mine that shows people a future.

I think those will start to bring through as we start to keep building on the business as a whole. So I'm really hoping that we will get is more stability and stickiness in this. Obviously, another big thing that this team cares about is leadership and each the leaders with the culture we want. And I think that's been enhanced in the work that we've been doing over the last while.

Great. That's very helpful. And just one other question for you. In terms of capital -- return of capital to shareholders, we've seen several of your peers to give a small dividend. Is this something you're considering with the strong free cash flow generation that you're expecting for this year?

Sorry, I did not hear you. Can you say that again, please? Sorry.

Yes. I would say in terms of return of capital to shareholders, we've seen several of your peers start to give a small dividend. Is that something you're considering with strong free cash flow generation expected this year?

I'm going to hand over to Phil...

I mean, return on capital is front and center, top of mind as we continue to grow our balance sheet and dividends are a consideration and will be looked at as we progress through the...

That concludes today's question-and-answer session. Thank you for joining Wesdome Gold Mines Q4 2025 Conference Call and Webcast. You may now disconnect.

Good morning. Welcome to Wesdome Gold Mines' conference call to discuss the company's financial and operating results for the 3 and 9 months ended September 30, 2025. As a reminder, this call is being recorded.

Your host for today is Trish Moran, Wesdome's Vice President of Investor Relations. Ms. Moran, please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I'd like to point out that during today's call, we may make forward-looking statements as defined under Canadian securities law. I ask that you view our slide presentation for cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements and the risk factors pertaining to these statements.

Please note that all figures discussed on this call are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted. Our press release, MD&A and financial statements are available both on SEDAR+ and on our corporate website, wesdome.com.

With us on today's webcast is Anthea Bath, Wesdome's President and CEO; Philip Yee, our Chief Financial Officer; Guy Belleau, Wesdome's COO; Jono Lawrence, SVP, Exploration and Resources; Raj Gill, SVP, Corporate Development and IR; and Kevin Lonergan, SVP, Technical Services. Following management's formal remarks, we will then open the call to questions.

And now over to Anthea.

Thank you, Trish. Good morning, everyone. Financially, it was a strong quarter, our best yet. Exceptional production performance amplified by accelerating gold prices translated into record revenues, net income, EBITDA, net cash from operating activities and free cash flow, which at almost $80 million boosted our cash balance to more than $265 million.

Eagle River is having an outstanding year. Annual production is projected to be the highest in the mine's 30-year history. There is strong momentum across the operation. Ramp development in the 300 Zone is running a full year ahead of production plan, an outstanding achievement by the team. We've also seen a meaningful reduction in dilution, and that's having a direct positive impact on grade and productivity.

Costs continue to trend downward, and we're now in a solid position with more than a month's worth of ore stockpile on surface, supported by almost 3 months of developed underground inventory. The Eagle River team is seasoned, capable and they know what great performance looks like. While 2025 results are tracking well, the journey continues on what remains a multiyear transformation. The team's focus is firmly on building the next chapter of success.

Kiena has had its own wins this year, despite its challenges. I'm pleased to report that we are now in 3 mining horizons a little ahead of what we told you before, giving us more operational flexibility. As well, as a safeguard, we have temporarily increased operational redundancy by bringing on additional labor and equipment on an interim basis. Step by step, we're resolving the challenges.

October was Kiena's best month of the year so far with production of more than 9,500 ounces. Despite progress made, we're adjusting Kiena's full year guidance again this quarter, because we need to ensure the consistency remains there. In mid-August, our outlook suggests we could recover the shortfall stemming from July's infrastructure downtime. While Kiena Deep delivered strong performance through August and September, we couldn't catch that gap completely as contractor execution challenges and underperformances at Presqu'ile limited our ability to fully close this gap.

Importantly, there are no new issues. Our focus remains on executing against the known challenges, particularly around operational discipline and flexibility and driving performance to the levels that we expect. October results demonstrate that we're making clear progress in the right direction. Our commitment to the market remains clear. We're strengthening how we plan, manage and mitigate operational risk. And we're maintaining transparency so you have a clear view of the steps we're taking and our progress.

In terms of guidance for 2025, on a consolidated level, we're comfortable that we will achieve the mid- to upper end of our new production range of between 177,000 and 193,000 ounces. To achieve our guidance, it is anticipated that Eagle River will finish the year near the top end of its production guidance, which, as you remember, was raised in August.

Kiena is now expected to come in between 72,000 and 78,000 ounces and cost guidance has been increased to reflect the short-term fixes to create redundancy. With ore from 3 mining horizons, Kiena Deep, Presqu'ile and the 136-level and more than 9,500 ounces in October being mined, we believe that we've been very prudent with our revised production guidance.

With respect to 2026 guidance, we're in the middle of the budget process and we'll issue an update in mid-January. In terms of CapEx next year, as part of the work for the upcoming technical report, we're looking at the infrastructure at both Eagle River and Kiena through a long-term lens to ensure we are well positioned for the future. Some of those capital requirements may be reflected in the 2026 guidance.

Looking ahead over the next 6 to 12 months, there are major initiatives underway that will enhance our future success. At Kiena, the advancement of the Presqu'ile ramp towards the Kiena ore body is a top priority. The July hoist disruption demonstrated just how critical it is to have a secondary way to move material and people. The breakthrough of the ramp is scheduled for completion in Q1.

The main ramp at Kiena Deep continues to advance towards level-142, which will open another new mining horizon in 2027. At Eagle River, the global model work is progressing rapidly with drilling underway to convert the first batch of targets. We're very encouraged and excited by what we're seeing. We're moving as quickly as we can ahead of the December '26 drilling cutoff date for the technical report. We split the drilling into 2 phases. The first phase will finish this year, just highlighting the scale of the opportunity that we have ahead of us.

On the exploration front, the excitement is just beginning. And remember, we're only in the first year of our 5-year program. Both exploration results and the global model work will go into next year's updated technical report as we look to showcase the potential of our very special mines.

Lastly, we have taken an important step in our commitment towards delivering long-term value and returning capital to our shareholders. A couple of weeks ago, we announced a normal course issuer bid, and we've now received TSX late last week.

And now I'd like to introduce our new Chief Financial Officer, Philip Yee. Although Phil really needs little introduction as he's well known to many of you. Phil has many years of senior financial experience and he is highly respected in the industry. We're absolutely thrilled to have him on our team.

With that, over to Phil to walk you through the quarter's financial highlights.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the warm welcome, Anthea. After serving as an independent director and Audit Chair of Wesdome, it's a pleasure and certainly a big change to be here as part of the executive team. The company has substantial growth potential, and I look forward to helping advance our strategic initiatives and continuing our long record of creating value to shareholders.

Now let's go to Slide 8, which provides a summary of Wesdome's key financial highlights for the 3 and 9 months ended September 30, 2025. It was another record-breaking quarter for the company, driven by all-time high quarterly production, together with an average realized gold price of more than USD 3,500 per ounce.

The result was a significant improvement in Q3 2025 financial KPIs over the comparative quarter in 2024. Revenues increased by 57% to $230 million. Net income more than doubled to $87 million, or $0.58 per share. EBITDA grew by 77% to $150 million. Net cash from operating activities nearly doubled to $118 million, and free cash flow grew by 2.5x to $79 million, or $0.52 per share.

We have one of the highest free cash flow yields in the gold industry, clear proof of our ability to generate meaningful cash while fully self-funding our organic growth. And one more point on cash generation. It's especially relevant with the recent surge in spot gold prices. For every USD 100 increase in the gold price per ounce, our annualized free cash flow rises by roughly CAD 15 million to CAD 20 million.

Moving now to Slide 9. On a consolidated basis, for the third quarter of 2025, cash costs increased by 7% year-over-year to USD 944 per ounce, while AISC averaged USD 1,419, essentially unchanged from the same period in 2024. Eagle River is beginning to make meaningful progress in transforming its cost structure, delivering AISC of USD 1,203 per ounce, a 29% reduction in just 1 year. In contrast, Kiena's AISC increased to USD 1,899 per ounce, primarily due to the cost of interim measures taken to enhance operational redundancy on a short-term basis and a significant decrease in the number of ounces sold. As we work to improve execution at Kiena, we expect elevated costs to continue through to the end of the year. Likewise, we expect Eagle River's AISC to increase in Q4 due to the timing of planned sustaining capital expenditures.

Turning to Slide 10. As at September 30, 2025, our cash balance was $266 million, an increase of $143 million since the end of 2024. Including our revolving credit facility, Wesdome's total liquidity now exceeds $600 million. With a strengthening balance sheet and a commitment to disciplined capital allocation, we've developed a framework to guide spending decisions. First and foremost, we will continue to fund high-return organic growth initiatives such as mine life expansion, exploration and asset optimization to ensure our infrastructure is ready for the next phase of growth. Next, while still retaining financial flexibility, as announced on September 21, our plan is to return capital to shareholders through opportunistic share repurchases.

To sum up, Wesdome's financial position is solid. Our return on invested capital ranks in the top 3 across both our peer groups and the seniors. We intend to protect that position by continuing our long record of disciplined capital allocation.

With that, I will now turn it over to Guy to review our operations.

Thank you, Phil. Good morning, everyone. Let's move to Slide 12. Eagle River continues to perform well. The team produced over 34,000 ounces in the third quarter, beating its previous production record by more than 10%. More tonnes were mined and processed than in any other quarter in the operations history, driven by improvement in extraction efficiency.

Eagle River is also delivering strong grades, thanks to significant reduction in dilution and positive grade reconciliation. Year-to-date, development over grade and stope dilution are down more than 10 and 20 percentage points, respectively, compared to 2024. For context, a 20-point reduction in stope dilution boost average grade by over 10%, directly supporting stronger operations and the bottom line.

Eagle River is strategically positioning itself for future success. We are a full year ahead in ramp development within the 300 Zone. Underground, we're maintaining a healthy 3 months of developed inventory. On surface, our 25,000 tonne stockpile is helping us balance production volumes and optimize grades. At the same time, we're making measurable progress on cost improvement and operational efficiencies and the results speak for themselves. Eagle River's all-in sustaining costs for the third quarter were USD 1,203 per ounce, the lowest of the year so far. While absolute costs increased with higher tonnage, they were more than offset by stronger gold sales and efficiency gains from our continuous improvement program.

One of the more impactful of these initiatives has been the gradual shift to bringing more development meters in-house. Our goal was 50%, and I'm proud to report we've now exceeded that mark for 3 consecutive quarters. This move not only reduces our cost per meter as our crews are more cost effective than contractors, but also ensures we maximize the return on the capital invested in our equipment. Eagle River has evolved into a stable, reliable operation, and it's now starting to reap the benefits of the last 12 months working, optimizing costs and improving efficiency. The team is on track to achieve the top of its production guidance, which was revised upwards last quarter. As Anthea mentioned, the team is already focused on taking steps towards its next phase of growth.

Now let's move to Kiena on Slide 13. In mid-August, our forecast indicated we were on track to meet revised guidance of 80,000 to 90,000 ounces with high-grade material actively being milled. Actual performance did not align with the forecast. Kiena's production of approximately 16,200 ounces was the lowest of the year despite the fact that Kiena did operate well during the month of August and September. This trend continued into October, Kiena's best month of the year so far as production surpassed 9,600 ounces. Additionally, only 1 high-grade stope was delayed from Q3 in the sequence and was successfully mined in October. So all this to say, the problem in Q3 was not Kiena Deep. The problem was at Presqu'ile due mainly to underperformance by the development contractor. They were under-resourced, resulting in lower process tonnage and ounces produced.

There are 2 takeaways. First, we're currently transitioning from contractors to in-house teams and will be there within this month. This will improve productivity rates and get our development meters back on track. Second, we've factored the delay into our updated guidance. Overall, we're comfortable with our updated guidance at Kiena to 72,000 to 78,000 ounces, supported by contribution from Kiena Deep and Presqu'ile as well as development ore from our 136 level. With respect to cost during the third quarter, Kiena's all-in sustaining cost was USD 1,899 per ounce. These elevated unit costs reflect temporary increases in resourcing and equipment as well as a lower number of ounces of gold sold.

Turning now to Slide 14, I'd like to reiterate what we're doing to improve Kiena. As of today, we're mining across 3 different areas, a vast improvement from just a couple of months ago. We're progressing with our independent review of critical infrastructure. Maintenance practices and equipment availability have improved to the levels required to maintain the plan going forward.

By the first quarter of next year, there will be 2 major advancements, a new ramp to surface to augment our shaft, providing 2 independent ways to move people and materials to surface, plus 3 new exploration platform. Towards the end of next year, the ventilation upgrade is expected to be completed. Several improvement initiatives are underway at Kiena, and we look forward to sharing the results as they materialize.

And now over to Jono to discuss exploration.

Thank you, Guy. Good morning, everyone. Starting on Slide 16, Eagle River. Drilling at the 6 Central Zone has progressed well and is delivering exactly what we hoped it would. Since we started drilling this zone late in 2023, we have extended the deposit to over 600 meters down plunge. What's exciting is that the high-grade results we're seeing are reminiscent of early day results at the top of the high-grade 300 Zone at similar depths. The location of the 6 Central near existing infrastructure makes drilling very efficient. During the third quarter, we also continued drilling the 720 Falcon and 311 zones from underground to evaluate the lateral and up plunge continuity at 720 and down plunge continuity at 311. Initial results have been positive in both zones and drilling will continue through year-end.

Now over to Slide 17. The global model is central to our fill-the-mill strategy, evaluating Eagle River holistically while reviewing differential cutoff grades. The global model initiative targets incremental underground material near existing infrastructure. While high-grade ore in the current plan remains untouched, this material offers a chance to add incremental tonnage at attractive margins due to its location.

Initial work identified 32 targets and ongoing analysis continues to reveal additional opportunities. Since quarter 3, 4 drill rigs have been dedicated to the first phase of drilling, a 40,000-meter program testing approximately 60% of these targets. Progress has been strong. 45% of the planned meters completed on 20 targets and encouraging results so far. Drilling will continue through year-end with results feeding into the updated 2026 technical report. The second phase of drilling will commence early next year on the remaining targets.

Slide 18 shows how our regional exploration program is shaping up. In quarter 3, drilling wrapped up at Dorset. Data processing is underway with an updated resource estimate expected early Q1 2026. The Dorset rig has moved to Magnacon, where it is verifying historic underground surveys, assessing potential mineralization beneath existing workings, twinning historic holes, and evaluating continuation of higher grades.

At Mishi, drilling to test logical, geological and structural concepts is nearing completion. This includes deeper targets for high-grade mineralization beneath the open pit. The proximity of Mishi and Magnacon to the plant, combined with limited down plunge exploration and potential for higher grades highlight strong upside potential. Mishi/Magnacon area is emerging as a prime target for further significant mineralization, especially reinforced by recent structural and lithological mapping along the Mishibishu deformation zone that has identified fold-related controls on mineralization. Next steps include additional mapping as well as pole-dipole IP surveys and follow-up drilling.

At Cameron Lake, drilling continues to test the continuity of higher-grade zones and extend non-mineralization along trend and at depth. So far, the zone has been traced over 1,000 meters at surface, with previous results highlighting broad lower grade bulk tonnage potential. Regional exploration is in full swing and excitement is building around the potential. We expect to issue an exploration news release before year-end, showcasing updates from our work.

Now let's turn to Slide 19. As highlighted last quarter, the completion of new underground drilling platforms is unlocking exciting opportunities at Kiena. Drilling is now underway from the new Level 134 platforms, including much improved angles to test both Kiena Deep and the B Zone.

At Kiena Deep, drill results continue to better define the Footwall zone, extending known lenses and increasing confidence in the validity of the geological model and high-grade nature of the lenses. Drilling at B Zone continues to support the interpretation of multiple mineralized lenses with some localized visible gold. The area presents an important opportunity to advance Kiena's fill-the-mill strategy, as it has potential to provide incremental tonnage near existing infrastructure.

Development of the 109-level exploration drift extension commenced in the third quarter and drilling of the VC Zone and nearby North zone targets are scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2026 after the new development is completed. The VC Zone remains a top priority as it historically returned a high-grade intercept at the base of the mineralization wireframe, is open at depth, and it demonstrates mineralization style analogous to Kiena Deep.

The standout development at Kiena this quarter was our summer barge drilling program. With a short window to execute, it was critical to hit the ground running, and the program has exceeded expectations. In Q3 alone, we drilled 23,000 meters from barges, targeting the Northwest zone, the 134 Zone, the West Zone deposit along the Northern Corridor and Dubuisson.

Beyond drilling, we have also completed a high-resolution drone magnetic survey across the entire Kiena land package that will give us more granularity into the geology and structures on the property and their association with gold mineralization.

Zooming into Dubuisson on Slide 20, our summer drilling program focused on a couple of key objectives, completing infill and geotechnical drilling to support an updated mineral reserve in 2026 and testing lateral and down plunge continuity of the ore body. The surface rig at Dubuisson completed 30 holes in Q3, leading to 2 critical outcomes. First, the new drill core analysis shows Dubuisson veins dip shallowly to the north, meaning past underground drilling potentially ran parallel to these veins, not across, limiting the effectiveness of prior testing.

Second, surface drilling intersected a new mineralized zone located between and below the Dubuisson North and South zones. This discovery is exciting given the thickness and grade and it underscores the potential for bulk tonnage mineralization at Kiena.

Along with the Shawkey South Zone, Dubuisson now represents 1 of 2 significant diorite hosted systems identified to date. Additional drilling is underway to confirm these 2 findings and if validated, future drill programs at Dubuisson will be redesigned to target the deposit from north to south at optimum angles from surface.

Given these new insights, drilling Dubuisson from underground has been paused to refine our geological model with resources retasked to support the Shawkey drill programs. The Shawkey 22 mineralized area and the potential link between Shawkey Main and the Wish zones are becoming a key focus area for exploration drill testing from the level-33 exploration drive. The general area presents an opportunity to find significant mineralization with the potential to provide incremental tonnage near infrastructure. More assay results from the summer program are pending, and we anticipate releasing an updated press release on Kiena before year-end.

To wrap up, our long-term exploration strategy is just getting started. Over the next 3 to 5 years, we'll be focused on growing resources and making new discoveries. The momentum is strong. The opportunities are significant, and we can't wait to share more results as we drive forward.

Operator, you may now open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Ralph Profiti with Stifel.

Two questions for Anthea and Guy on Kiena, if I may. There was one particular stope that was given us issues in Q2 as it related to poor delineation and dilution. Just wondering what's become of that particular stope? Has it now been delineated to give us some predictability on dilution? And is it still in production over the next several quarters? And how are we looking overall on Kiena Deeps as it pertains to getting ahead on delineation?

Thanks, Ralph. Great question. And just on that stope, that stope is no longer in production. And we've used that stope to understand a little bit more about our practices and procedures and ensure that the procedures are strong going forward. So that stope is no longer in mined and hasn't been mined since Q2, if I'm not mistaken.

Correct.

In regards to our delineation program going forward, I'm going to let Jono just give you an update quickly.

Yes. So delineation has been completed for Q4, and we're starting to drill the stopes in the budget for 2026 programs commenced.

It will be ready by when?

We've commenced now. We should be finished by about January on those programs.

So it will be fully delineated at that point.

Great. Very clear. I appreciate that. As a follow-up, you mentioned in some of your prepared comments about some of the steps that you've been taking at Kiena looking into 2026. And I'm just wondering, over the last several months, have you tried to get ahead of the preliminary findings of the external infrastructure review? Or do you expect incremental steps need to be taken? And I'm just wondering where do you expect that independent review to take us on issues like ventilation and development?

Another really good question. I think the program itself is holistic. I mean I think what it's going to tell us is short-term opportunities to improve infrastructure beyond. We're obviously getting results on time likely.

Correct.

In the program itself and taking into consideration.

I think the last one has taught us that we're learning too much around our infrastructure where we don't like to. So we need to get to the bottom of really understanding criticality and the risk associated with current infrastructure setup. So I think the answers will come out, but I don't expect it to be something that's going to be profound or I don't believe it will be. It will probably encourage us on accelerating and improving the robustness of the systems relative to the risk profile we'd like to operate at.

Yes, it's part of continuous improvement. We don't expect any major findings. I think that we're already aware. It's part of continuous improvement and looking forward to the conclusion of the investigation.

Your next question comes from the line of Wayne Lam with TD.

Maybe if you could just provide maybe a bit more detail on the progress made with the development of the Presqu'ile ramp. And has there been a delay in the access to the level-33? And then if so, is the prior guidance at Kiena for 2026 that you guys had provided still achievable next year? Or will that be reevaluated?

Wayne, thanks for the question. Presqu'ile ramp itself will break through in quarter 1, but it hasn't delayed access to the entry into the Presqu'ile ore body, which is developing, which we mentioned to everybody we're a bit behind on. Kiena 136 level we have come in when we said we would come in, in fact, maybe a little bit ahead of what we said to you before. So that's continuing as it is.

Regarding the guidance for 2026, we're currently reviewing all the plans. We're going through the mine planning right now and doing a more detailed risk review with the team on that, and we'll get back to the market with an update.

Okay. Great. And then just want to confirm in terms of the additional mine fronts coming online and the development having been spent on that now, as we look to next year on the growth capital spend at Kiena, should we be modeling something like a much more meaningful reduction relative to the $65 million spent this year?

Yes, I would believe so. I would believe that with Kiena, Presqu'ile ore body coming into production, commercial production at some point in the year, and then it will -- we should see the growth capital reducing as there's no -- we're not starting significant development anywhere else on a new ore body.

Okay. Great. And then maybe just last one. Just wondering at Kiena, whether you have been seeing greater turnover at the mine. And just wondering if you had just a bit more detail on the cost pressures you're seeing on the labor side there?

Yes. I think that's a great question. Turnover is one of our biggest concerns at Kiena and we've seen high turnover. In fact, you saw it in other contracts. Our contract experiencing the same. Yes, it's something we continue to work on. It's something that we worry about all the time. But yes, it's nothing different from what we've seen before. We just sort of keep assuring that -- your second question, Wayne was on the bottleneck?

No, it was just on labor cost pressures.

I think from a labor cost perspective, the thing is when you don't have your -- when you've got high turnover and you're having to fill vacancies you're using contractors, which is higher cost obviously for the operation. And then also you're building site redundancy as well when you're managing this change. So it certainly has impacted us.

We've seen it in our numbers. But I've got to say all the efforts that are going in, understanding the people strategy and how we actually differentiate Wesdome hopefully will come into play and we'll get more stickiness from that perspective and enhance this going forward.

Your next question comes from the line of Don DeMarco with National Bank Financial.

Welcome to Phil. So congratulations on the continued buoyant free cash flow another quarter. But my first question, I think I'll just continue on with the -- some of the labor challenges that you've commented on. What do you think the root cause is there? I mean is Agnico -- is it just a competitive place to be with respect to Agnico or are there other industries that are pulling labor away? And what is the source of that competitiveness in the labor?

I think the market is extremely competitive as a whole for labor across the country, Don. And I think we're seeing it very strongly in Val d'Or at the moment. I think there's also a challenge there on sort of accommodation those things that you’re building this out. Challenges are getting a bit harder. So I don't believe it's unique to Val d'Or alone. I think the market is buoyant as we know across multiple industries. I don't know if that helps at all.

Okay. Yes, that's understood. So to my next question then, Phil, you mentioned Wesdome's strong free cash flow yield. And we see this quarter, cash and liquidity is increasing again. Can you share your strategy with respect to capital allocation? Like I see the NCIB that was announced post quarter. Are you looking to build up a kind of a war chest to cash? Or what are you thinking here in terms of going forward in the next 12 months or beyond?

Don, I think the NCIB is really, I think, a very practical and relevant strategy to return capital to shareholders, and it's limited at 2%, which at today's share price, it's around $60 million. So that's a reasonable percentage of the free cash flow generation. And we also have to be in a good position to support the growth strategy.

So a lot of the cash, the free cash flow buildup and liquidity will be available to help this company grow internally as well. So I don't think that's really changed in terms of the overall strategy going forward.

Okay. And with respect to that growth strategy, particularly looking at M&A, can you provide some color on maybe the type of assets that you might consider in terms of jurisdiction, stage, underground or open pit? And we saw recently that Core put a bid in for Probe. Was Probe an asset that might have fit Wesdome's M&A selection criteria?

I think as we've always said, we do things that are going to be accretive and value adding to our shareholders. We don't need to do anything urgently. Our focus, as we've said to the market has to date to Canada and mostly playing to the strength of Wesdome largely. We obviously review this consistently as well.

I'm going to hand over to Raj to add a couple more comments here.

Yes, Don, I think what you can see is the general trend of Canadian assets trading at a premium. And I think Wesdome is well positioned from that standpoint, right? We continue to be conservative and really focusing on industrial logic and want to act from a position of strength, ultimately, right?

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Allison Carson with Desjardins.

I think most of the questions around Kiena have been answered. I just had one more remaining. The mining permit at Presqu'ile hasn't been received yet and it's expected in Q4. Is there a chance you don't get it going into Q1? And what does that mean? Does it mean you can't take stope to Presqu'ile? Or can you continue to use the bulk sample permit?

Yes. I mean the bulk permit as we told the market before was around 17,000 tonnes, and that's what's going to be mined in this year. So we -- as you know, it's going through its normal process and it's following. It will continue. We were hoping to get it at the end of October and it's obviously slightly delayed. Does it affect Q1? Yes, it would. Certainly affect Q1 because we would have really mined through the bulk permit at that point in time.

So it is definitely a risk, but something we're not unaware of and something we're working hard to keep doing whatever we need to do to make sure we get it through.

That concludes our question-and-answer session. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.