The Audit Committee and the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. Jason is up for re-election at this meeting, so you will hear from him later. Next to Jason is Vicky Binns. Vicky is a member of the Audit Committee, and on Vicky's left is Tommy McKeith. Tommy is Chair of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. Next to Tommy is Fiona Hick. This is Fiona's first AGM. She joined the board on the 1st of July and is up for election at this meeting. She is on the Risk and Sustainability Committee, and you will hear from her later as well. Next to Fiona is essentially the person who today is our guest of honor, Jim Askew. This is Jim's last AGM, and as your director, he says he will remain a shareholder and will be at the next AGM actively as a shareholder.
As one of the founding directors of the company, Jim is retiring from the board after 13 years of outstanding service, and we're fortunate that he's joined today by his wife, Joanna Askew, who's been a huge supporter of Jim and Evolution. Next to Jim is our Company Secretary, Evan Elstein. Evan is also the VP for Information Technology, Communication, and Corporate Affairs. I also want to introduce to you members of our leadership team who are present here today. I may just ask them to quickly stand up as I introduce them, starting with the newest members of the team, Matt O'Neill, Chief Operations Officer. Matt joined us from Glencore on the 1st of June and again is making a big difference to the way we operate and the success of this company. Similarly, Nancy Guay is the Chief Technical Officer, also started on the 1st of June.
Nancy joined from Agnico and a great hire for Evolution. I think I'm the only person who can pronounce our Chief Financial Officer's surname correctly: Barrie van der Merwe. Barrie, welcome, and Barrie's the CFO. Glen Masterman, VP Discovery, Paul Eagle, VP People and Culture, Fiona Murphet, VP Sustainability. Kieran Smith is an apology because he's working on something as the VP Business Development. We do have all of our site general managers here today. I'm not going to introduce them by name. Have them stand up. We also have a number of colleagues here today as well.
These are the people, if you think Evolution has done something well over the last 12 months, these are the people who are doing it, and I really encourage you to speak to them, engage with them after the AGM because we really are fortunate to have such a talented and committed group of people in our organization, and they are all here as shareholders as well. The order of proceedings for today will be as follows: we'll work through the formal business of the meeting pursuant to the agenda set out in the notice of the meeting that was issued on the 17th of October 2024. Copies of the notice of meeting are available at the front door. After all the agenda items have been dealt with, the formal AGM will be closed. Lawrie will then give a company update presentation, and any questions will be addressed.
It's hard to believe, but this is the 13th Annual General Meeting of Evolution Mining, and many of you here today, our shareholders, have been on the journey for that whole time, and we really, really appreciate it. But I'd encourage you not to get off the train yet because the fun is only just starting. I stand here before you today the most optimistic and confident I have been about our business. The prices of gold and copper are high, and there is good reason to believe that they will continue to go higher. We have transformed our portfolio of assets and have multiple exciting growth opportunities before us.
Evolution has grown to become the second largest ASX-listed gold producer with 33 million ounces of gold and 4.1 million tonnes of copper in resources, with our average mine life now at least 18 years, and that's based only on reserves. But what makes me most confident is the depth of talent and capability we've been able to attract and develop in our organization. Put simply, your company is in great shape, and I will spend more time explaining that to you later and the reason why I'm so confident. But as we look back over the last 13 years, the global environment and geopolitical context in which we are operating today is remarkably different to when we first set out as a small Australian company. The long-term structural shifts underway globally are fundamentally changing the world.
Globalization is being replaced by nationalism and tribalism, and a critical juncture in world geopolitics has been reached, the gravity of which should not be underestimated. You can see multiple examples of this for our industry in the extraordinary measures being taken by some host countries that jeopardize the safety and well-being of people and the value of assets, the most recent example being in Mali. This higher-risk global operating environment reinforces the merits of our company strategy that has been in place since our inception. Our six assets are situated in the tier-one jurisdictions of Australia and Canada, which stands us in good stead in the increasingly unstable global environment. I've often made the points that Australia is God's gift to miners, and I believe that still remains the case today. We are a vast, underpopulated, geologically prospective country that is a great place to mine.
But we have the opportunity, and in fact, I would argue the obligation to make it even greater. While the mining industry in Australia employs just 2% of the workforce, our contribution to our country's success is materially outsized. Over the last decade, just the last decade, our industry has delivered the federal government one tax windfall after another, totaling a staggering AUD 365 billion. Each surge of national income from mining booms has underpinned our country's housing and superannuation wealth and kept Australians near the very top of global rankings of GDP per capita. The opportunity and the challenge for Australia is to future-proof our industry's success so that the next generation can benefit as much as we have. This requires us to do things differently because the world has changed.
To me, a different approach starts with an aligned federal and state government policy that incentivizes us to become world leaders not only as miners, but in every part of the value chain. This includes processing, environmental science, safety, technology, green energy, and education. It also means we should set ourselves up to become the center for capital raising for the global resources industry, where companies across the globe raise funds in Australia because we have the best and most efficient equity and debt market for our sector. We need to ensure we always have a world-class regulatory process, a competitive tax and royalty regime, cheap, reliable, and preferably green power, a growing motivated talent pool, and strong, consistent, and reliable government support. We need a commitment to education and training.
I think it is an appalling situation, and I hope you agree with me, that today we have fewer places in universities for geosciences, geology, mining, engineering, and other necessary degrees, essential degrees for our industry than we did a decade ago. When young people are deciding their career paths, they need to be attracted to our industry because they know they will get a world-class education to lead to an exciting, lucrative, and all-around rewarding career. We need vision and commitment to ensure that when young people in the tech space aspire to develop the next breakthrough technology, they think of mining first. And finally, we need to be showcasing the great things our industry does so that all Australians understand its importance to not only our future, but to theirs too.
To achieve this, our industry and government must take a long-term strategic view and be prepared to make big and bold decisions, looking beyond the short term with an eye to the future and selflessly considering the generations that follow. Our sustainability report details some of the actions we are taking, including our commitment to engaging all stakeholders transparently and openly, our net-zero transition, our inaugural First Nations Summit where we brought together First Nations partners from Australia and Canada, and our vision of transforming our Mount Rawdon operations into a pumped hydro power station. I'll talk more about Mount Rawdon's future shortly together with our graduate program, which is a hallmark of our long-standing commitment to education and training. Looking back and reflecting at 2024 for Evolution, it was a year that was characterized by record financial performance supported by positive results in the very important sustainability area.
We continue to deleverage our balance sheets and invested in project opportunities to grow our business. This is a testament to our strategy and capital allocation discipline. In the 12 months ending June 2024, we kept our people safe, and we delivered record financial performance. Importantly, we also reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 12% against our 2020 baseline. We contributed as a company AUD 2.7 billion to the Australian and Canadian economies, including AUD 419 million to local and regional businesses around our mine sites. As a business that prospers through the cycles, the board and I are proud that we were able to declare two more dividends during FY24 to take our record to 23 consecutive dividends. Since 2013, we have returned over AUD 1.2 billion to you, our shareholders.
As we continue to deleverage the balance sheet and maintain a disciplined approach to our capital investments, we do expect to see further improvements in dividends. Recently, in August, we did suffer a cyber attack, which fortunately we were able to largely contain and minimize any business interruption. We are taking the opportunity to upgrade our cyber defense capacity and also ensuring that any individuals affected are well supported. I must also note that during the year in review, Mount Rawdon, which has been part of Evolution since the beginning, recorded its final year of mining and is now processing stockpiles ahead of its planned conversion into a pumped hydro power station. This is the end of a great era.
Fittingly, Mount Rawdon gold was used to craft this year's Melbourne Cup, a tribute to an asset who, with the strong support of its community, has produced gold for 23 years, repaying its acquisition price tag plus ongoing CapEx outlay many times over and making a very significant contribution to Evolution. Having been part of our company from its inception, Mount Rawdon's 240-strong workforce has played a key role in helping set the spirit and direction for the company we are today. Over the last four years, in partnership with renewable energy experts, ICA Partners, we have completed a feasibility study to assess the conversion of our Mount Rawdon mine into a AUD 7 billion plus pumped hydro energy storage project. The project would have a life of 80 years and the potential to generate up to 20 gigawatt hours every day, which is enough to power 2 million homes.
This study is now complete and unequivocally demonstrates that Mount Rawdon is the most advanced and cost-efficient pumped hydro project in Australia. So, ladies and gentlemen, friends, colleagues, Mount Rawdon may well surprise us by having the longest life of any asset in our portfolio, just not as a gold mine, but as a renewable infrastructure asset. At Evolution, we aspire to create an environment where all of our 5,800 employees and contractors go home better than how they arrived, where people are healthy and safe, where they have a voice and can contribute at work, home, and in the community. Our values, which we have had since our inception, continue to guide our behaviors and daily decisions with safety, excellence, accountability, and respect, anchoring our culture, and we are well placed to deliver the Evolution experience for our people.
One of the programs that I am most proud about is our graduate program. For the last 11 years, we've been hiring talented young people to journey with us on a two-year graduate program that exposes them to different areas of our business and supports the development of their personal, technical, and commercial skills. The success we have had is truly amazing, with many of these talented young people now in senior positions across our company. However, we have more work to do in attracting and retaining women to our business, with 19% female representation against our target of 22%. Encouragingly, our intake of female graduates continues to increase, with females now making up 25% of our 2024 graduate program. We will keep building our talent pipeline and ensure its diversity so we can attract and retain the best and brightest to our business.
We have assembled an outstanding portfolio of gold and copper assets. Our balance sheet is strong, and our investment-grade rating has been reaffirmed. In this environment, we want to continue to reduce our gearing, which is currently around the 23% level. As I have said many times in the last few months, both internally and externally, this is the time for us to make money for our shareholders and bank it rather than spend it. And with the first quarter complete and a positive start to the financial year, we have a solid platform from which we can build. Finally, I want to recognize the enormous contribution Jim Askew has made to the success of our company. When I first had the idea of starting Evolution, Jim was the first person I called.
I knew that Jim was an essential ingredient to build a great company, and calling him is probably one of the best decisions I've made. At every stage of this company's journey, Jim, with Joanna at his side, has made a significant impact. His depth of experience and knowledge of all things mining is absolutely unrivaled. But it's also, and maybe even more importantly, his recognition and understanding that culture and values are so critically important to a company's success. Jim, on behalf of the board and everyone at Evolution, and I'm sure all the shareholders here today, thank you for your contribution. We understand the privilege we have had to have you as a colleague and a friend. We've been fortunate that in Fiona Hick, we have been able to find someone that I'm confident will comfortably fit into Jim's giant shoes.
Fiona, welcome to your first of what will hopefully be many AGMs. Finally, on behalf of the board, thank you, our shareholders, for your ongoing support as we remain true to our purpose of delivering long-term stakeholder value. We are excited about the future and look forward to continuing to implement our vision of inspired people creating a premier global gold company. Thank you again for attending this year's AGM. Before turning over to items of business, I will hand over to our Company Secretary, Evan Elstein, to note some procedural matters for today's meeting.
Thank you, Jake. This is a meeting of Evolution shareholders. As such, only shareholders, their appointed proxies or corporate representatives, are entitled to make comments, ask questions, or vote. All other attendees are welcome as observers. As the written questions received from shareholders prior to the meeting are of a general nature and not related to any specific resolution, they will be read out and addressed in the Q&A part of the meeting. You'll be given the opportunity to make comments or ask questions in relation to the resolutions to be considered by the meeting. Shareholders with questions relating to specific resolutions are requested to ask them at the time the resolution is to be considered by the meeting.
At the appropriate time, the chair will ask shareholders who wish to make a comment or to ask a question to raise their hand. The microphone will be passed to you. Please state your name before asking your question and wait for that microphone to be provided. The chair has determined that we will hold a poll in relation to all the items of business. The process will be that we will go through each resolution and then conduct the poll with respect to all of the resolutions. After the completion of discussion and before the vote on the poll is taken for each item of business, the total number of vetted proxies for that item and the manner in which they have been directed will be displayed on the screen.
These numbers will be as at the closing time for receipt of proxies, which was 11:00 A.M. Sydney time on Tuesday, November the 19th. As noted in the notice of meeting, the chair intends to vote proxies for the chair in favour for the resolution. For the purposes of the poll, Reggie Hebron of Link Market Services, the company share registry, which has examined and prepared summaries of the proxy forms received, has been engaged to act as the returning officer, and Danielle Wang of PwC, the company's auditors, has been engaged to observe the poll and procedures before a determination of the results is made. When you registered your attendance at this meeting, voting shareholders and proxy holders were given a yellow admittance card. The card provides for the holding of a poll on any of the resolutions put to shareholders.
On this card, you'll find a series of boxes for voting. You must tick or mark the for or against boxes for your vote to be valid and counted for each resolution. If you wish to abstain from voting, please mark the abstain box on your voting paper next to the relevant resolution. If you are a proxy holder, you may only vote on open or undirected votes allocated to you. If you wish to split those votes, you may write those open or discretionary votes separately in the for or against boxes. If you are a proxy holder and you do not lodge a vote on any of the resolutions, the votes on those resolutions will pass to the chair of the meeting to exercise pursuant to the Corporations Act of 2001. The chair must comply with the direction of the shareholder.
When no instructions have been given to the chair on how to vote, as set out in the proxy form circulated to shareholders, the chair has been expressly authorized to exercise those votes and intends to vote those shares in favor of all resolutions. If you have any questions in this regard, please make yourself known to a representative from Link Market Services before lodging your voting paper. Once all the resolutions have been read and the questions relating thereto have been addressed and you have finished marking your card, representatives from Link will collect all voting cards. After the votes have been counted and reviewed by the external auditor and after the company presentation, the results of the poll will be released on the ASX platform and displayed on the company's website following the conclusion of the meeting.
I'll now ask the chair to proceed to the ordinary business of the meeting as set out in the agenda that appears in the notice of meeting. The notice of meeting was dispatched to shareholders on 17 October 2024, and accordingly, the meeting is deemed to have been properly convened. Back to you, Jake.
Thanks, Evan. I can advise that a quorum of members is present and call the meeting to order. The first item on the agenda is to receive and consider the financial statements of the company for the year ended 30 June 2024. The annual financial report of the company for the year ended 30 June 2024, together with the associated reports of the directors and auditors, have been made available to all shareholders electronically or in hard copy. I will ask the company secretary to record that the report was tabled at the meeting. The company's auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is represented today by audit partner Brett Entwistle. If there are any questions specific to the conduct of the audits, the preparation and contents of the auditor's report, the accounting policies adopted by the company in relation to the preparation of its financial statements, and the independence of the auditor in relation to the conduct of the audits, Brett will take these questions.
Are there any questions related specifically to the financial statements? There don't seem to be any questions. So, as there are no questions on the financial statements, I will now proceed to the resolutions as set out in the notice of the meeting. I will now go to resolution one of the agenda. The resolution to adopt the remuneration report is set out in full on the screen and in the notice of the meeting. I will take the resolution as read. Are there any questions? As there are no questions, I'll go to the next resolution, which is resolution two of the agenda. The resolution is to elect Miss Fiona Hick as a director of the company, as set out in full on the screen and in the notice of the meeting.
Miss Hick is an executive with 29 years' experience in minerals and energy industries, having held senior roles at Rio Tinto, Woodside Energy, and Fortescue Metals Group. Miss Hick was appointed to the board of Infrastructure WA effective 6 August 2024. Miss Hick also joined the board of Incitec Pivot Limited on 1 September 2024. Miss Hick is a member of the Risk and Sustainability Committee. The board, with Fiona abstaining, unanimously support her election. I'll now ask Fiona to say a few words.
Thanks, Jake. Good morning, everyone. My name is Fiona Hick, and it's a privilege to have been asked to join the Evolution Mining Board and to be seeking your support for election today. As Jake said, I've been in the mining and resources sector since the mid-1990s. Since then, I've been fortunate to work in a variety of roles that I believe have equipped me with a comprehensive understanding of the resources industry, from leading strategy to operations, innovation, technology, sustainability, and stakeholder engagement, and I believe this positions me well to contribute to Evolution's future.
I strongly support the vision of Evolution Mining, inspired people creating a premier global gold company, and I think Evolution's well positioned. Strong demand for gold and copper, high-quality portfolio with growth options, great team, and a focus on delivery, and in particular, Evolution's values: safety, excellence, accountability, respect, very much aligned with my own. So I'm committed to using my experience to support the company's continued success and appreciate you considering my appointment. Thank you.
Thanks, Fiona. I'll take the resolution as read. Are there any questions? Fiona, you did a fine job. There are no questions. I'll now go to resolution three of the agenda. The resolution to re-elect Jason Attew as a director of the company, as set out in full on the screen and in the notice of the meeting. Mr. Attew has been a director who retires in accordance with clause 81D of the constitution of the company and being eligible for re-election is seeking re-election as a director. Jason is a mining industry veteran who has dedicated 25 years to the sector. He is also president and chief executive officer of Osisko Gold Royalties.
Jason Attew was appointed to the board as a non-executive director in December 2019 and serves as a member of the audit committee and the nomination remuneration committee. Jason, I'd ask you to say a few words.
Thank you, Jake. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Jason Attew. I'm very pleased to be joining you this morning. I've been on the board of Evolution for the past five years and have seen firsthand the company execute on its strategic plan. By way of background, I'm based in Toronto, Canada, and I've dedicated over 25 years to the metals and mining sector. Not only have I served in an advisory capacity during my many years in investment banking, but also bring a wealth of operational knowledge from my time at Goldcorp, a leading North American senior gold producer prior to its acquisition by Newmont.
I'm currently the president and CEO of Osisko Gold Royalties, a mid-tier public royalty company that provides growth capital and acquisition solutions to the mining sector. This operational experience set provides a unique perspective and a value-added lens to Evolution in areas of capital management and governance, financial controls and reporting, risk management, integrated value assurance, stakeholder consultation, capital markets, and regulatory compliance. By being based in Canada, I'm able to provide the Evolution team with on-the-ground intelligence and access to North American opportunities and executives. It has been and is a genuine privilege and honor to serve on a board whose leadership and diversity fosters an environment that not only encourages an open discussion on all issues, but also provides the ability to provide a dissenting view in the spirit of cooperative exploration.
This, in my mind, has been the reason that Evolution has succeeded in the steady value creation that shareholders have benefited from to date and will continue to benefit from in the future. Thank you.
Thanks, Jason. I will take this resolution as read. Are there any questions? Also, a fine job, Jason. No questions. The next resolution, I have an interest in the outcome, so I will hand the chair of the meeting over to Tommy McKeith, Chair of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee.
Thanks, Jake. I now go to resolution four of the agenda. The resolution to issue performance rights to Mr. Jake Klein is set out in full on the screen and in the notice of meeting. I'll take the resolution as read. Are there any questions? Looks like we dodged questions, Jake, so over back to you. Not even from our colleagues over here.
I'll now go to resolution five of the agenda, the resolution to issue performance rights to Mr. Lawrie Conway, as set out in full on the screen and in the notice of meeting. I'll take the resolution as read. Are there any questions on this one? As there are no questions, I'll go to resolution six of the agenda. The special resolution for the renewal of proportional takeover provisions is set out in full on the screen and in the notice of the meeting. I will take the resolution as read. Are there any questions? No questions, so I'll go to resolution seven of the agenda. The special resolution for the financial assistance in relation to the acquisition of shares in Evolution Mining, Northparkes Pty Limited, is set out in full on the screen and in the notice of the meeting. I will take the resolution as read.
Are there any questions in relation to this resolution? As there are no questions, I'll go to resolution eight of the agenda. The special resolution for the financial assistance in relation to the acquisition of shares in Northparkes Mining Services Pty Limited is set out in full on the screen and in the notice of the meeting. I'll take the resolution as read. Are there any questions in relation to this resolution? As there are no questions in relation to the resolutions put to the meeting, I will now open the poll. Please, can you all fill out your voting cards? As a reminder, if you have any questions relating to the poll, please ask one of the representatives from Link Market Services before lodging your voting card. And representatives from Link Market Services, please start collecting the voting cards when they're ready. Yeah.
The results of the votes will be released on the ASX platform and on our website once the counting has been completed and reviewed by the excellent auditor and proceedings concluded. So, friends, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the formal business of the meeting. I really thank you all for your attendance and formally declare the AGM formal part closed. And we'll now hear from Lawrie Conway, the Managing Director and CEO. Following the presentation from Lawrie, we will open the floor for general questions and discussion with Evolution's board and executives. And I assure you that I will be able to find someone to answer a question if I can't.
Thank you, Jake. Nice suit, by the way. Jim, you don't have to leave straight away. You're not allowed. Jake, could you keep the meeting open for a little bit longer? That's the quickest exit I've ever seen, Jim, but good morning, everyone, and it is really pleasing that you've been able to attend the AGM this morning. I'm going to give a brief overview of the organization. Jake touched on a lot of where we're at, and I do agree with him. We're in a really good spot at the moment, and it is from the hard work and effort that, as Jake mentioned, the 5,800 employees and contractors are doing each and every day across our business, so I do want to just go through a few things about FY24 for you. We did have record financial performance in a number of key areas in terms of net profit, EBITDA, earnings per share, and everything.
But more importantly, what we set out to do in the second half of FY24 was to get ourselves set for FY25 because we knew it was a big year that was coming ahead for us. And so we saw that hard work pay off in the second half of the year, as you see. Our underlying profit was up 135% to $482 million, which was a record. That was on an EBITDA margin up 24% to 47%. And if you think about it, that was achieved at a gold price of around $3,200 an ounce in FY24. And we're currently sitting about $800 an ounce higher, which gives us the confidence about building cash flow into the organization. So we saw our cash flow up 417%. That was through a year, obviously, in FY23 when we had the outage at Ernest Henry.
That was a low cash flow year for us. But it's still at AUD 367 million. As I said, at $3,200 an ounce, that was a very good year for us. That enabled us to reduce our gearing 22% down from 33%-25%. But if you actually consider our gearing at June and September last year were the same. We reduced that gearing over a nine-month period rather than over a full year. On the back of improving our cash flows and reducing the gearing on our balance sheet, we turned our attention to start to increase our returns to the shareholders. That saw our full-year dividend of AUD 0.07 up 75%, with the biggest increase coming in our final dividend. As I said, that was to set us up for FY25.
I thought I'd touch just briefly on where we are at the end of the first quarter. Really, we did have a solid performance across the entire portfolio. It was done safely. As you can see there, our TRIF reduced 7.4% to 7.12%. If you consider in FY24, we reduced by 13%. Over two years to June 2024, we reduced by 28%. We are certainly getting better in terms of our safety perspectives. However, for Matt and Fiona and the operations general managers, the key focus is more around how we're managing our critical and material risks, how we're spending time out in the field with our workforce to make sure that our leading indicators are more important than our lagging. We saw record cash flow at Red Lake in the quarter.
When we released our results and our guidance in August, we said the primary focus at Red Lake was to get it to be consistent and reliable in its production and to start returning cash to the organization. And John and the team there through the second half of FY24 started to stabilize the operation. And we saw that in the September performance, which was a credit to them to get that record cash flow. That then gave us a group cash flow of AUD 108 million. So if you look at it, as I said, AUD 367 million last year, we got AUD 108 million in the first quarter. So we are certainly seeing the benefits of the metal prices flow through. And as Jake said, it is time for us to bank that rather than just keep spending it.
That increased our cash balance by 20% up to AUD 484 million and reduced our gearing to 23.9%. Our next goal is to get that below 20%. Overall, we like operating in a steady-state environment around the 15%. So we are trending in the right direction and we'll continue to do that. So for this year, just to remind you, our guidance is 710,000-780,000 ounces and 70,000-80,000 tons of copper at a very low $1,475-$1,575 an ounce. It does show the benefit of having copper in our portfolio, which now makes up about 30% of our revenue. And it gives us that buffer when metal prices move against you in the gold. That copper revenue does provide us that support.
So at the end of the first quarter, 26% of our full-year production, midpoint of guidance, says that we are, as I said, well on track to deliver the year. And so what does that mean? I mean, the first thing that I draw your attention to on this slide, Jake did talk about Mount Rawdon, so I'm not going to go into that in much detail, but we finished operating or mining in the September quarter, and we are now processing stockpiles through to the end of this year. And if you consider that then that finishes operations this year, all of those assets on this slide outside of Mount Rawdon were not in our portfolio in 2011 when we commenced as Evolution. So it shows that our strategy works, whereby we do not get emotionally attached to an asset when it is the right time to sell it.
We have sold it. When it's the right time to acquire an asset, we've acquired an asset. That's lifted our average mine life from five years when we started to now 18 years as a minimum. As Jake said, there's a lot more opportunities there. Then the other piece is the quality of those assets. These assets are generating a 15% annual rate of return for the portfolio, which is a credit to the team in terms of identifying those right assets to acquire. Briefly, if we look at each of the assets, Cowal is an absolute great cash contributor for this group, generated AUD 125 million of free cash flow in the first quarter of this year. It's got 16 years of mine life. When we acquired it, it actually should have stopped operating a few months ago. It was due to finish in 2024.
It now has 16 years ahead of it. We've built a new underground mine, which is now ramping up to 2 million tons per annum this year and next year, 2.4 million tons. That grade is two and a half times the grade in which we operate the open pit. And that is going to be a fundamental piece of that ongoing cash contribution that we have there. And more importantly, Glen and the team are very excited about the exploration prospects of further extending that mine life at Cowal in the underground. Ernest Henry, which we acquired in 2016 and has fully repaid its investment, sorry, we fully acquired it in 2021, but we first had investment in 2016. That has all been repaid, and we still have 16 years of mine life ahead of us.
We have a feasibility study that's in train at the moment that will finish in March 2025 about extending the mine below the 1,200 level and giving us 16 years plus there. But we do have additional ore sources in and around Ernest Henry. We've got extra capacity in the plant at 8.5 million tons. We're mining at 6.8 million tons. And so we are looking at ways that we can increase the production rate as well as extend the mine life at Ernest Henry. As I mentioned earlier, Red Lake is starting to become a more stable operation for us. John and the team need to keep going on that to get quarter-on-quarter improvements in terms of that asset.
If you do look at it, the benefit or the outcomes that we saw in September was on the back of for the four quarters to September, we had increases every quarter in production and reductions every quarter in the all-in sustaining costs. We're certainly heading in the right direction there. Mungari, we approved last year an expansion of the processing capacity to 4.2 million tons per annum. That project is tracking very well in both schedule and budget, and that will extend the mine life out to 2038, gives us production going from 130,000 ounces this year to 200,000 ounces for at least the first five years post-commissioning of that plant. We've certainly got a heavy focus at Mungari on the underground exploration potential so that we can maintain that 200,000 ounces for longer than the first five years.
Northparkes, which we acquired just 12 months ago, has delivered absolutely for us in the first year. In the first seven months, it generated AUD 74 million of free cash flow. It celebrated its 30 years in August this year. It's got 600 million tons in resource. It processes at around 6.5 million tons per annum. So it's definitely got more than 30 years. Our job is to increase the processing rate, Glen to keep discovering things so that it can actually outlast the Mount Rawdon pumped hydro project and become our longest operating asset. So when you look at it, we're very fortunate to have a portfolio of these assets, as I said, 18-year mine life with a lot of potential, good rates of return.
But more importantly, there's no urgency for us to have to go and acquire other assets because I don't think there's many portfolios in the gold industry where every single asset has mine life extension or production growth opportunities and gives us the flexibility about when we actually do those projects. And as Jake mentioned, it's time to bank the benefits of the higher metal prices by reducing our gearing. That gives us a lot more flexibility of when we can bring these projects online. And when we do, you'll see, as I said, at 15% rate of return as the average, we can certainly do better going forward. So lastly, as I said, we are very well positioned as a company.
We've still got to deliver the next three quarters to deliver this year and show that we are getting back to being a consistent producer of safe production and cash flow. We do have that high-quality portfolio that I've just walked through. Jake mentioned we continue to maintain an investment-grade balance sheet that is deleveraging very quickly. With that consistent delivery, that cash flow will build. We've made a lot of changes in the last couple of years, both at our general management level and at the leadership team level, and that is starting to drive the improved performance that you're seeing here today, so we have a very good team in place. And we do have some very good tailwinds that are coming in terms of gold and copper prices that can generate improved cash flows for us moving forward, so thank you for your time this morning.
With that, I'll hand it back to you, Jake.
Thanks, Lawrie. We have had a number of questions submitted prior to the meeting, so it's probably easiest if I run through those and answer those as best as I can. You're welcome to delve further into them if you have further questions around that and also ask any other questions subsequent to this. So first question is, does BlackRock or Vanguard have any interest in EVN? If so, what is their interest? Do they have any representation at the board? Do they have any influence in any functions of the company? If so, what do they influence? So they're not substantial shareholders, so it's not appropriate for me to disclose whether they are shareholders. They do not have any representation at the board.
They do not have any influence other than we respect them if they were to be shareholders as shareholders, and there is no additional influence. Our company could promote the second question. Our company could promote better its standing as a leading copper producer. We are building a leading gold miner, not a leading gold and copper miner. Make a presentation of our company copper credentials. That feedback is noted. Thank you for the feedback. We do produce 75,000 tons of copper a year from two outstanding assets being Ernest Henry and Northparkes. And it does represent around 30% of our revenue. So we are very happy owners of those copper assets, but noted that someone thinks we could be doing a better job in promoting it. Another question is, is the company achieving its strategic goals? If not, where is it failing?
I think the company is achieving its strategic goals. Hopefully, we laid that clearly out over the presentations which we've done. Another question is, is the company managing to achieve its strategic goals? Seems similar to the prior one. Which commodity is not producing the expected returns? As I said, I think the company is achieving its strategic goals. Both gold and copper are great commodities to be in. Interestingly, the gold price has actually outperformed the copper price this year, and even over a period of 30 years, the gold price is up seven times and the copper price is up about four times, but for those who are interested in the copper supply demand dynamics, I would encourage you to have a quick read through what BHP released on the ASX a couple of days ago when they took investors through their Chilean copper opportunities and assets.
And they set out very clearly the very compelling demand story and the very limited supply for copper assets going forward. This question is around the annual report, which says, "I like the annual report printed, but many companies have without any evidence assumed that I do not want to receive it or printed proxies. How do I find whether Evolution is sending report or proxies by mail? I have no problem with companies choosing the default to be no action. I assume the current push is to suppress shareholder voting." Shareholders do have the option to change their communication preferences in the Link Investor Centre. For the current year, more than 250 were mailed to shareholders, and we also have extra copies here and available. So I'd encourage anyone who wants one to just ring reception and we'll send them out to them.
Why does Evolution not have a DRP? Will Evolution implement a DRP in the future? That is something that we will consider. I think issuing shares at values which we don't think reflect the value of the company is dilutive. So that has been the reason it's been suspended for a long period of time. But it is something that the board will consider going forward. What is Evolution's hedging policy strategy moving forward? As many analysts are predicting much higher gold prices over the next few years. Yes, we hope they're right. Our hedging strategy is that at the moment we are largely unhedged. We have 95% of our production unhedged. We put in place a little bit of hedging, 5% of our production around what we'd call capital preservation when we were investing capital in the Mungari expansion and at Red Lake.
It is not our intention, and it hasn't been something that the board has discussed around hedging going forward. Next question, what process will the company follow to rehabilitate the surrounding environment when a mine under the control of the company is closed down? This includes what monies have been set aside for this process. So that is a good question. Each of our operations has a mine closure plan that sets out our relevant closure obligations, strategies, and activities required to ensure the land is rehabilitated or transformed to another long-term sustainable state consistent with relevant stakeholder requirements. A rehabilitation provision is held within the business to finance these activities, and each jurisdiction's government holds a form of surety aligned to their relevant legislation.
Page 95 of our FY24 Annual Sustainability Report provides further details about our approach to mine closure, rehabilitation, and legacy management, including the government-registered rehabilitation liability values and forms of surety. Those are all the questions that we've had submitted prior to the meeting, so we'll now open the floor to questions. Now, Keith, this is a three-part question.
No, no, Jake. It's just a general question. I know you said, but can you please refresh us? What's your dividend policy, and does it change if you make serious money? Currently, the gold price is possibly heading for $1,000 an ounce higher, and you've said you don't intend to acquire new assets.
So our policy is 50% of free cash flow, essentially. In the past, we've actually paid a bit more than that because we've decided to make it up and reward shareholders. So the policy is 50%, and that is the policy going forward. In the event that there were windfall gains because of commodity prices, it is something that the board would consider. But right at the moment, our focus is on deleveraging, getting our balance sheet down to that 15% level, ensuring that we can self-fund all of our organic growth opportunities and reward shareholders with dividends.
Hi, good morning. Yeah, I have a question in reference to the share purchase plan. How much money was raised up to the time that we closed on the 16th of the 1st? I'm a happy shareholder, but I do have an issue about the timing of the share purchase plan. On the day the plan closed, the shares closed at AUD 3.75 on the 16th of the 1st. When the company issued a production report the next day, within 24 hours on the 17th of the 1st, the shares crashed to AUD 2.97. In hindsight, do you think closing the share plan and issuing a production report within 24 hours was a wise decision?
Thank you for your question. Do we know how much was raised in the SPP? It would be in an announcement. But the one thing I would say is that it actually the SPP did not close until the end of January. Prior to the 16th, we extended that because what we had seen is up until that point, because it was over the Christmas New Year holiday period, we had feedback that investors hadn't had a time, pardon me, to get it in by the 16th. So we actually extended it, pardon me, to the 30th or thereabouts. The price that was issued was after the quarterly because it was the five-day average up until the closing of the SPP. And I will check with Rocky as to the final amount, but it was not based on the price before the quarterly.
We'll come back to you on that.
Yes, hello. After the US elections, the price of commodities, in particular gold and copper, did take a bit of a slide. There's been a slow recovery since then. We're now to $6.50 USD per ounce. Given Trump's policies around tariffs, do you expect the price of commodities, in particular gold and copper, to continue rising in the future?
Look, I mean, I think the comments I can make are personal because I don't think that Evolution's job is to predict the gold and copper price. So our job is to manage our assets efficiently, bank the margin that we can. I think there are very compelling reasons to think that the gold and copper price will go higher. We've got to remember that AUD 4,000 Australian dollar gold price is extraordinarily high already. I think last year we did our budgets and forecasts for the 12 months, June to June, at a AUD 3,300 gold price. So it wasn't long ago that the gold price was quite 20% lower than it is. So it has had a fantastic run.
And what we keep on thinking about as a board, as a management team, as an organization, is that we can't assume that the gold price is just going to go higher. I think that's been a failure of gold companies in the past, that they've built their businesses on the assumption that the prices would extend further. The copper story, I think, is compelling. That's why we are strategically very happy to be owners of copper assets. There is this increased demand that looks like it's been consistently forecast related to electrification and various other things. And there just aren't a lot of copper discoveries.
So having been able to secure, and it was part of the real rationale from the board perspective and from the company's perspective to try and secure an asset like Northparkes, which is a 30-year-plus asset producing 25,000-plus tons of copper a year in a jurisdiction which we really like to operate in.
Good morning, Jake?
Morning.
First of all, I'd just like to congratulate you on such a great record. Thank you. Natural result and your sustainability and everything else about the company at the moment. It's just a quick question around your Triple Flag stream obligations in regard to the Northp arks purchase. I was hoping that you could explain that a little bit more.
I'm going to hand that over to Lawrie, who will explain it with accuracy that I may not be able to.
Thanks, Jake. So when we acquired Northp arks, CMOC had entered into a streaming arrangement with Triple Flag in 2020, which requires the delivery of metal, of gold and silver, through to a period of, I think it's 650,000 ounces, which takes it through basically at the moment to the end of its life of mine. So of the production, we ultimately end up with 40% of the gold, and Triple Flag receives 60% of that gold.
Each month that we produce, Barrie and the team are then required to sell our 100% share, and we own 80% of the asset, and then transfer 60% of that to Triple Flag. Thanks. While I just have it, just to go back to the earlier question, it was on the 9th of January that we extended the SPP out to the 30th of January. The stock was then issued at AUD 3.06, which was based on the five-day average up until the end of January. That was post the quarterly. That impact of the production for the December quarter was ultimately taken into consideration by that five-day period. In terms of we issued 10.3 million shares, raising AUD 32 million out of the SPP.
Thanks, Lawrie. I will also just note that the way in which we think about assets and the way we monitor assets. We actually did bid on that Triple Flag stream at Northparkes when it was sold. We couldn't get to the same value Triple Flag did, but that shows you how long we've been interested in that asset for.
You mentioned, Jake, that the energy capacity of Mt Rawdon was going to be two gigawatt hours per day. But of course, it can only pump up half a day and then generate half a day at most. What's the actual power of the generating equipment at Mt Rawdon in gigawatt hours?
So it's not there yet. There's a feasibility study done. So it'll be two gigawatts being pumped for 10 hours is what's planned. No, no, it's 20 gigawatt hours a day, which is very substantial. So generally, during the times when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, which is during the day, the power is cheap and plentiful, and that's when we'd be pumping the water back up to the upper reservoir. And then during times when storage is required and firming capacity, which is generally at night, then you'd release the power from the generators.
The key in this whole renewable transition, as everyone knows, Australia has a lot of sun. It has a lot of wind, and you need to think about battery storage effectively or the storage when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining. And it's a critical part of it. It is the most strategic part of it. And I think a pumped hydro is best thought about as a giant battery.
I'd like to congratulate you on the thing. I've been a shareholder right for a long, long time, even before Evolution when we came into the transfer. I'd like to also congratulate you and all the different shares I hold in companies. You're the only person that's actually had a decrease in salary this year in their basic. Everyone else's, every other company, they want more and more and more, but you, I've looked in the report, you've had less. Congratulations . Good job and less money.
Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Tommy, did you hear that? Keep decreasing.
Are there any government incentives to do further exploration in gold and copper or any other minerals?
No is the short answer. And I think it's something that Australia is missing. At the moment, it is all up to private capital to fund exploration. As you've seen, the government has policies around critical minerals, but it doesn't really have incentives around the establishment of those critical minerals. So I'm seeing Glen smile over here and nod his head. Australia has a lot of metal to discover, but it is going to be deeper and more difficult to discover than the past deposits. And I think when we talk about alignment of government's strategy to private capital, that would be one area that we'd certainly encourage.
Anything else? Looks like all questions have been asked. So just to wrap up, again, thank you so much. There are a number of familiar faces here who have been long-standing shareholders. This is a cyclical business. We've certainly had some challenges in the last couple of years operationally, but in the last nine months, we have really reestablished our footing. I think that's a credit to the people in this room. Right now, there are people in Canada working underground at night. There are people across our sites working. They are the people who are the real champions of Evolution.
This is a company that has some wonderful and great people. Some of them are in the room today. I encourage you to engage with them, talk to them. Really, there are 5,800 great people out there on our sites right now. Thanks very much and appreciate your support. Thank you.