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Perseus Mining

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September 16, 2024 at 8:30 AM (MDT)|Broadmoor Hotel & Resort

Jeff Quartermaine

CEO & Managing Director

Mr Jeff Quartermaine is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Perseus Mining Limited, a mid-tier ASX/TSX listed gold mining company, headquartered in Perth, Australia. Jeff has more than 35 years’ experience at board and senior management level with ASX and TSX-listed resources companies involved in gold and base metals exploration, development and mining in Australia and several developing countries including Sudan, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, PNG, Philippines and Chile. He holds both post graduate business management (MBA) and undergraduate engineering (BE) qualifications and is a Fellow of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants (FCPA).

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Sticking to our Africa. The the next presentation we're gonna hear from Perseus Mining. Perseus is the A SX list gold producer with assets in Africa. And to talk to us about perseus, we have managing director and Ceo Jeff Quarterman. Jeff. It's great to have you here. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. And thank you very much for attending this presentation. Thank you also to people who are watching this remotely this morning, it is my pleasure to, to talk to you about Perseus mining, which is an African focused company that without doubt is delivering outstanding performance and growth for those who aren't overly familiar with perseus. as is stated, we are an A SXTSX listed company domiciled in Australia but exclusively focused on the African continent where we have multiple mines in multiple jurisdictions. We're involved in exploration development and production activities over the years. We've become a very consistent producer of gold at a very low cost in relative terms. So over 500,000 ounces of gold attributable and costs around the $1000 per ounce mark. We have a very strong balance sheet strong cash flows which can underpin future growth as well as returns to shareholders. And importantly, we have a very strong social license to operate. This is essential for anyone wanting to work successfully in Africa. And as I say, governed by a very experienced board and management team who not only have spent time on the African continent, but also in this business, which is terribly important to be able to deliver success. Now, in terms of our, our structure, the company market capitalization at the moment, it's about $2.4 billion. So we've come some way over the last few years. As you can see on the right hand side there with the share price growing steadily over a period of time relative to the gold price, largely in recognition of the performance of the company. We've got, our ownership has also changed over a period of time. And now we have roughly an even split between Australia where we're domiciled the United States and the rest being UK Europe and, and some Asian influence as well. So it's a fairly widely held stock, lots of free float and, and owned by people around the world. As I said, we have three operating mines. The first of our operating mines was the Dyan mine which we built in Ghana back in 2012. Today, that mine is probably one of the lowest cost 200,000 ounce gold producers in the world, which I think is a statistic that would come as a surprise to some people who have been following the mine over the last 12 years or so. But through efficiency improvements and a lot of hard work, we've been able to get the mine running at around $1000 an ounce, all inside costs, which delivers a fairly healthy margin at the current gold price. Having moved from Edan, we went to Sasi, which is in Cote d'ivoire, the far north of Cote d'ivoire and built a mine there in 2018. That's the Sasi mine. It was a small mine. It was built for a specific purpose and that purpose was to help us to understand operating in a new country, a new jurisdiction to be able to generate a second income stream and to be able to demonstrate our bona fides to the government and the communities in Cote d'ivoire as a reliable partner. And that was terribly important because shortly after that, we moved to build our third mine, which is the Yayoi mine in, in in Cote d'ivoire. And we've done that and that's turned into a a terrific asset for us. We acquired that from, from Amara in 2016 and have expanded the reserve quite substantially from what it was. And we've put ourselves into a position where we've got a fairly long life ahead of us out of that operation, all up the group's produced about 3.7 million ounces of gold. It will be around 4 million ounces by the end of this calendar year. But certainly the key point, this is that by having a diversified portfolio, by having multiple jurisdictions, multiple mines, we've been able to take the volatility out of operating on the African continent and to be able to position ourselves to be a reliable, consistent producer of gold and cash. Our guidance that we've given for the, for this current period has us producing, as I was saying, around the 500,000 ounce mark for this calendar year. In fact, where we sit today, we're about what is it two months into the, into the into the last half year. We're, we're tracking very well on that guide the production guidance very well on that. And in fact, our costs are below the bottom end of the the costs range. And that's a pattern that we've been displaying very consistently over a long period of time. Perseus has become known for delivering on its promises. It's become known for delivering guidance consistently over a long period. In addition to those three deve operating mines, we, we've also got to build ourselves quite a healthy portfolio of development projects and that's important because as everyone in this business knows it as every day goes by, you're depleting your resource and you need to replenish. So over a period of time, we've pulled together quite a healthy portfolio, as they say of projects that are moving along the development pipeline. Now, perhaps the, the first of these is the underground mine at Yayoi. This is going to be the first industrial scale underground mine in Cote d'ivoire. And so that's a very exciting proposition for the country, but it's an exciting proposition for us as a business as well because this will be our first underground mine. And with the skills that we'll develop through this, we'll be able to deploy that skill set elsewhere. On the projects that we have. the estimated capital cost is around 100 and $30 million including infrastructure and development costs. Most of the costs of that will be funded from cash flow from the Aoi mine itself. So it isn't a, a major financial burden on the business, but a very important piece that we have added and one that will leave the the operation on in good shape for many years to come. We're looking at taking a development decision in October in a couple of weeks time. We'll be mobilizing our contractor next year and be starting work. portal works around the middle of the year and be immediately in a mineralized ground from that point forward and that, that all will be going through the mill, I mean, the the commercial production in April 2, 2027 is something of a a definitional issue, but we'll certainly be producing gold off that that structure virtually immediately. The second of our projects in the in the development pipeline is the Ian Saga project in Tanzania or Tanzania, as I'm told it's called. now this is a project that we acquired earlier this year with the successful takeover of all Corp. And you know, we are really very, very happy with this particular transaction. Tanzania has had a bit of a checkered history in recent times, but I'm very pleased to say that our experience has been nothing other than very, very positive and the way the country is going, we've had very, very strong support from the government. All licenses have been developed. We've started early works on various things. We're already building relocation housing on the site and we expect to be taking an investment decision around December this year. The capital costs at this point looks as if it'll be in the range of 4 to $500 million but where it actually lands will be the product of a detailed feed study that's underway at the present time. But this is a very exciting opportunity for us. As I said, a decision in December this year commenced construction early next year and producing gold by early 2027 at a time when our production profile from the other mines would be starting to diminish by, by you know, normal attrition. So keeping our production levels around the 500,000 ounce per year plus and the important thing is entirely funded off cash off the balance sheet. We don't need to get any external financing whatsoever. This is going to be an internally funded exercise. Another development project that we have in the pipeline is the Mao San project in Sudan. Now, this was acquired in 2022 and gave us first mover advantage into one of the most prolific mineral provinces in the world under explored as well. I should say. Now, as is well known, the war broke out in or an internal civil war broke out in in Sudan in April last year, which has certainly put our activities on hold for the time being. However, the goal is not going anywhere and we're patient and I do believe that in the fullness of time, this project will be developed into an outstanding project. We were extremely pleased with the exploration results that we are achieving up to the time where we slowed operations down, confirming the quality of the ore body and giving us significant optimism about perhaps an extension of that. So one of these days things will settle in Sudan. We have no doubt about that when that is, I can't actually say but certainly that project is there and ready to be brought into our development pipeline at the appropriate time. More recently, we we acquired a 19.9% in predictive discovery. This is a, an investment at this stage of the game. I should hasten to add that we have no current intention to to take this company over. But we are going to take a very close look at the, at the project itself and to determine whether in fact, it's worth going the extra mile to to you know, to acquire the thing. Now, you know, as the current owner of the of the deposit says this is one of the most exciting development, gold projects globally. And West Africa's next tier one gold mine, we're happy to go along with that description and over the next few months, we will confirm the validity of that statement by doing some serious due diligence. And at that point, we will make a decision as to what we're going to do. So we, we look at at those three operating mines and say, well, ok, so what does that do for shareholders? Well, in a, in a nutshell, you know, our operating and financial performance has been extremely strong and has set us up very, very well for the future. The basis of it was about 510,000 ounces of gold last year. But very importantly in all insight costs of 1000 and $53 an ounce and you don't need to be a genius to figure out with the gold price where it is and where we believe it's tracking to that the cash margin for every ounce of gold produced is very substantial. In fact, last year it was around $1000 an ounce. Obviously, it's pushed up somewhere from there. Now, what that's given us is about 500 million notional cash flow for the year us, of course, leaving us with a cash balance at the end of the year end of June of $587 million and no debt. So that's a fairly healthy, healthy position to find ourselves in, in terms of earnings and financial metrics profit before tax of 467 million profit after tax of $365 million a very credible performance. We believe operating cash flow very strong and what this has meant is that we were able to take a very close look at our, our capital management strategy and we decided on a final dividend of 3.75 cents or five cents for the year. In addition to a share buy back. Now, you can see from these charts here that the financial metrics across all measures have been steadily growing over the last four or five years. And I think that, you know, that that's certainly a a trend that is pleasing is going to be very difficult to keep it moving upwards in, in that particular mash fashion, but provided we can keep it at these levels. I think that our shareholders are going to benefit quite significantly from our endeavors. And that brings us to the issue of capital management, which has been a very hot topic for us because investors are saying, well, you're generating such a lot of cash, you've got such a lot of cash on the balance sheet. What are you going to do with it? Well, quite clearly, what we are doing is is balancing the needs of that capital between keeping ourselves reliable and, and strong and being able to operate in a multiple of environments. We are also of a mind to ensure that our social license to operate is extremely in extremely good, good shape. We were also of a mind to build the growth portfolio, the pipeline of projects and what we have. you know, beyond that point, we're very keen and happy to share that with our shareholders. And as I say, the dividend of five cents was around a 22 and a bit percent, 2% yield. And we've also announced a, a share buyback of up to 100 million over the next 12 months, which is another 2.3% yield. So all up the yield was a little over four per cent from perseus for our shareholders in this latter year. And you can see from this chart that there has also been, you know, as well as a steady increase in the cash flow and profitability dividends have tracked along in a similar fashion. Now I mentioned our social license to operate and I can say that this is, you know, exceedingly important for us as a company working where we do on the African continent, we work very you know, diligently to comply with as many of the global standards as, as there are. And there's a heck of a darn lot of them and the day they converge to a single standard will be a day that will make our life a lot happier. I have to say, but certainly complying. you know, with the the Gold Council standards is a, is a major objective of ours. And that's something that we've been doing quite successfully. And what that has related to is that we've made a very, very substantial contribution to our stakeholders. And this chart here shows a slide here shows you, you know exactly what it is that we have. In fact, as a company delivered over the last 12 months to, to our stakeholders. So the economic benefit to the economy is $735 million. That includes, of course, you know, taxation and wages, you know, money spent in the country, et cetera, et cetera. 96 per cent of our employees are employed from the countries in which we operate. And in fact, I'm very pleased to say, referring to Edan previously, 100% of our employees are Ghanaians, that 100% of our employees and management are local people and they're doing an outstanding job. 89% of our procurement comes locally. We, we do this in a very safe manner. We're working very hard on greenhouse gas emissions and the like to ensure that they are of a, of a standard that, you know, people are, are, are requiring and you know, to, to be able to confirm our position, we are doing limited third party assurance at the present time. So the data that we're talking about has been validated largely by external auditors. And, you know, you can see from this chart, the contribution to the to the to the host countries has been quite significant and has been growing steadily over a period of time. Now, you know, the, the, the strong work that we have been doing hasn't really converted into full appreciation of the share price. And this chart here shows a few financial metrics, investment metrics relative to our, our global peers. Now, everybody would say, you know, I'm, I'm undervalued and I'm sure that, you know, you've heard that a few times over the last half a day and you're gonna hear it a heck heck of a lot more in the next couple of days as well. But I do think that there's a a fairly strong case to be made when you look at these statistics. And in fact, that is the case with perseus. So where does that leave us? Well over the last few years, we've we've transformed our company very quietly into one of the more successful gold companies on a global scale in terms of production, cash flow earnings, positioning on the cost curve, etcetera, etcetera. We have have worked very hard to do the following things to build an asset portfolio that provides short-term production, as well as long-term growth. And you know, we believe at this particular time that we have two of the best projects, undeveloped projects in Africa in our portfolio and have a decent stake in a third. We've got a, a balance sheet that can comfortably fund those aspirations without any reference to the banking market or to the equity market about $600 million on the on the balance sheet today. And we have an unshakeable bond with our host countries and host communities and that is extremely important, you know, as I say in the jurisdictions where we are are able to operate, you know, the to be able to build up that trust with the shareholders with the the stakeholders is important and of course, that comes about as a result of having trustworthy, reliable and and talented teams of people right from the board through the business and you know, doing what we say we're going to do. That's something that as a company we're terribly proud of now. You know, despite all this success on the field, as I said, we do believe that we suffer an African discount, we think it's fairly well unjustified, but people do have their own views that are entitled to those. We would certainly say that by any measure, perseus represents a an outstanding investment opportunity even now, even after all of the things that have been achieved and announced, and we would very strongly recommend that the stop to be considered very carefully because we firmly believe that the best is yet to come. So, thank you very much. Thank you, Jeff. We might have time for a quick question if there's any there's one in the audience, please. Thank you. You no. Can you hear me now? So if, if I can ask you an easy question and a harder question, the easy question is, could you just please clarify what your guidance is for for fiscal 25 gold production in, in Asic? And then the harder question goes to your buy back. So I understand the capital allocation rationale for buying back your shares. But aren't you taking away from liquidity? And that seems to be one of the key issues for investors and and perhaps why not? They're not buying gold equities? Well, the, the let me go to the, the easy question first, Well, it, it's, it's a touch over 500,000 ounces and it's a touch over $1000 an ounce. So that's,, that's the easy one. I mean, we, the costs have been up a little bit in the last quarter for reasons that we've explained to the market will be, but we'll settle back down. So that's easy in terms of the share buy back., I don't believe that it is damaging our liquidity to any marked degree in determining the level of the buyback. We've taken serious account of what the company would look like under a range of operating conditions, gold prices, etcetera, etcetera. We've also looked at the amount of capital that we're due to deploy over the next 12 to 24 months and beyond. You know, we've got a very good line of sight on those things. We know precisely what it is that we need to continue to spend to maintain that social license. So in terms of our tax obligations, our payments to communities, et cetera, et cetera, and we believe that that then leaves a balance of cash that can be directed towards shareholders. Now, we haven't, you know, allocated the entire amount. This is a starting point. This is the first buy back that we've done. And you know, we'll be working, you know, working through this over the next 12 months to see particularly how it actually actually, you know, works and benefits our shareholders now, the important thing though is that, and this is the takeaway from it is that I think you can be absolutely clear and those who know us would, you know, know what I'm talking about. If we say that we can do this and we can do it in a way that's comfortable, then we can. And you know, the fact that that, you know, we have generated that large surplus, of course, is partly due to our hard work, but clearly is partly due to the very good gold price as well. Let's be frank about that. And in the event that the gold price was to turn down dramatically, then we would clearly need to reconsider our our choices. But based on the analysis that we've done today, we, our liquidity is not under pressure to any mark degree at all. Thank you, Jeff that we are out of time for questions.


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