Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Evolution Mining Limited September 2022 quarter results. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Jake Klein, Executive Chair. Please go ahead.
Thanks, Ashley, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. As always, we really do appreciate it. This morning I'm joined by my colleagues, Bob Fulker, our Chief Operating Officer, Glenn Masterman, our VP Discovery, and Lawrie Conway, currently our CFO and Finance Director, and who will move into the newly created CEO role effective 1 January. I'm sure you all feel as shocked as we do at Evolution at the sudden passing of Peter. Peter was a person of integrity, humility, and passion for our industry, and we pass on our deepest condolences to his family, his friends, and his colleagues at IGO. Our industry has certainly lost a true leader.
Likewise, we were equally saddened by the two tragic deaths in the gold industry in Western Australia over the last couple of weeks, and the devastating impact we know this has had on these workers' families, friends, and colleagues. These events have made us at Evolution stop, pause, and reflect. Our own safety performance improved in the quarter, but as a business and as an industry, we must remain vigilant and continue to ensure that we provide a safe space, both physically and mentally for everyone who works with us. Turning to our quarterly report, I have to say that we are very pleased with the start we've had to the year. This quarter's production of 161,000 ounces was in line with our plan, where major planned maintenance was completed across our cornerstone assets to set up the year.
Mount Rawdon was the only exception where the team dealt with heavy rain, which limited access to the pit and impacted its production by 6,500 ounces. Our all-in sustaining costs of AUD 1,513 an ounce, while elevated by AUD 145 an ounce this quarter due to the achieved copper price being lower than planned, still positions us as one of the lowest cost gold producers in the world, and we expect to see the AISC come down in the coming quarters. Encouragingly, the copper price has also recovered late in the quarter and is now trading around $1,100 per ton higher. We are on track to deliver FY23 production and cost guidance, with quarterly performance expected to improve in the coming periods.
Our portfolio generated very strong operating cash flow of AUD 206 million, and its quality is reflected in the very high operating margin of 52% for every ounce we produced. All capital, major and sustaining, was funded by operational cash flow. This is particularly pleasing given the two major projects that we are currently investing in at Cowal and Red Lake, which both of these projects remain on schedule and budgets. With our investment grade credit rating reaffirmed and available liquidity of AUD 923 million, our balance sheet is well positioned to support our growth in low cost production of 25% over the next two years. Just before handing over to Bob, something we haven't to date talked a lot about on our quarterly calls is the potential value opportunity for our pumped hydro projects at Mount Rawdon.
Against the backdrop of the Queensland Government's recent commitment for 70% of the state's energy supply to be from renewables by 2032, we were very pleased that the Queensland Coordinator-General recently declared our pumped hydro project a coordinated project, which confirms the strategic significance of the project in the state. We are well advanced on a joint feasibility study with ICA Partners for the development of a project that has the potential to provide up to 20 GWh of renewable energy storage, which is a huge amount. During the quarter, the geotechnical drilling program confirmed that the location for the upper reservoir is suitable and competent rock quality exists for the underground powerhouse chamber.
The grid connection process commenced with an application made to Powerlink and discussions continued with potential interested offtake parties and infrastructure investors which are exploring pathways to participate in the project. We are growing increasingly confident and excited about the potential to not only demonstrate this as a model mine closure, but an asset that has material value to our shareholders. With that, I'll hand over to Bob.
Thanks, Jake, and good morning, everyone. The September quarter has been strong operationally, with some headwinds in the eastern states of Australia from the La Niña weather patterns. Pleasingly, our TRIFR dropped slightly over the quarter to 10.15, with a 16% improvement at Red Lake over the same period. All sites are generating a positive operating cash flow and the year's guidance is sound, with a planned quarterly ounce increase over the year from Red Lake and the Cowal underground. At Cowal, production is lower than the June quarter due to the planned biannual processing plant shut. Our performance is in line with the year's guidance, with first underground stope ore during the June quarter 2023. Mine grade was 0.83 g per ton, with processing grade at 1.03 g per ton.
These will also increase through the year. The underground project is progressing well with the key call-outs being the underground development has ramped up by 27% to 2.4 km for the quarter. The paste plant construction has commenced. Accommodation village has significantly progressed, and the underground fixed infrastructure spend has also commenced. Last month, we also locked in the long-term power supply agreement, securing future power and delivering a pathway to meet our emissions reduction target of 30% by 2030. If you move on to Ernest Henry, copper and gold production were in line with budget, and we are seeing an improved cave draw after the scheduled infrastructure shutdown and draw point rehabilitation during the September quarter. Operating mine cash flow remains strong at +AUD 100 million for the quarter.
The mine extension pre-feasibility study is progressing to plan and will be completed this quarter and incorporates the new resource model published in August. Ongoing drilling shows encouraging signs for further ore body and resource extensions, but I'll leave this to Glenn. Red Lake's turnaround has continued through the quarter with some key notable improvements being zero recordable injuries in September. This is a significant milestone in their safety journey. Mine and processing grade increased by 13% to 5.8 grams per ton, and the models continue to reconcile well. Mechanical bolting saw good progress with the Aviation zone fully transitioning, and the first stope ore from Upper Campbell was delivered with better than expected grades at 7.9 g per ton. Processing tons were lower than the June quarter due to the scheduled upgrade of the Campbell Mill tertiary crushing circuit.
This upgrade allows the team to continue to push the plant's limitations, and this coincides with the recent approval to lift the throughput to an average of 2,200 tons per day. Costs are expected to trend down over the year as high-grade production from the Upper Campbell increases and cost and efficiency benefits from the new equipment are realized. With the physicals now being delivered over the last quarter, I'm pleased with what I saw at Red Lake prior to the investor trip. On great improvements. The mill optimization study remains on track to deliver a recommendation for go-forward this quarter, and I'd like to thank you all for visiting Red Lake last month. I do appreciate the time and effort this takes and believe that we demonstrated an exciting positive change.
Mungari had a strong production start to the year, and it's in line with plan. The AISC increased from last quarter due to the maintenance activity accelerated from future quarters and a higher portion of contract labor currently supporting the operation. The site continues to focus on filling vacancies. It has been slower than we anticipated in the current market. This, along with a lower realized gold price versus last quarter, resulted in a lower operating mine cash flow, and the Mungari future project is on track. At Mount Rawdon, as with most of the eastern side of Australia, it's been affected by the current La Niña weather systems. They have a water mitigation strategy in place and are progressively mining as the pit is dewatered. During non-pit time, we're treating low-grade stockpiles, and this is affecting our ounce profile.
Site has also been fast-tracking work that was planned for later in the year when there's spare mining capacity. As an example, the southern TSF buttress is ahead of schedule. In summary, a good start to the year, and I'd like to hand over to Glenn.
Thank you, Bob, and good morning, everyone. This morning, I'll provide a brief update on our exploration progress during the quarter. Our main highlight is from Ernest Henry, where the surface drilling program has been returning excellent results that extend mineralization and will add to the recently updated mineral resource. At our Cue JV in Western Australia, we received further impressive results which continue to build on the existing mineralization footprint. We also completed a small exploration deal 20 km south of Cowal, which gives us the ability to secure full and continuous tenement coverage across some highly prospective targets we want to explore. Firstly, at Ernest Henry, we have started receiving assay results returning wide intervals of copper and gold mineralization from the surface drilling program which commenced back in April.
Importantly, I'd like to clarify that none of the new surface results were available at the time to inform the mineral resource update we announced in August. However, we will incorporate these results when we rerun the numbers in the annual year-end update of our group, mineral resources, and ore reserves. The drilling has carefully targeted gaps in the PFS extension area where no previous drilling existed. Pleasingly, we are realizing results that are better than expected. What I'm really excited about is that the new drilling is connecting mineralization between Ernie Jr. and the main ore body, which will add metal to the mineral resource right where we want it for the PFS. At Cue, a significant mineralized footprint has been delineated by diamond drilling, which extends 1.6 km along strike.
Geological modeling has identified at least four key lodes, which have been confirmed in the new drilling results. Further drilling and modeling in the December quarter will evaluate the potential to define these key lodes over minable widths that, all being well, can support estimation of the maiden mineral resource. Finally, the option to acquire two important exploration licenses near Cowal from Strategic Energy Resources ensures our access to this high-prospective ground without the requirement to purchase the tenements up front. Under the option agreement, we have two years to complete the necessary work to assess potential for a significant discovery while retaining the ability to acquire a 100% ownership interest in either or both licenses. The exercise price has been agreed at AUD 1 million per tenement. With that, I'll hand over to Lawrie.
Thank you, Glenn. Good morning, everyone. This morning, I'll provide an update on our financial performance for the September quarter as outlined on pages 6 and 7 of the report. Operating mine cash flow of AUD 206 million for the quarter, which is the equivalent of around AUD 1,266 per ounce sold. Sustaining capital was below plan at AUD 44.5 million, while major capital was on plan at AUD 151 million. Guidance for both sustaining and major capital remains unchanged at AUD 190-240 million and AUD 530-600 million dollars respectively. All sites were cash flow positive before major capital investment, with most investment being in our major underground growth projects at Cowal and Red Lake.
In terms of metal prices, the achieved copper price for the September quarter was in line with the previous quarter at $10,873 per ton, but was lower than the copper price used in our FY23 all-in sustaining cost guidance of $12,500 per ton. The spot price of gold, however, is around $200 per ounce higher than the gold price achieved in the September quarter. This more than offsets the lower copper price in terms of our cash flow. We ended the quarter with a cash balance of just under AUD 400 million. We finalized the renegotiation of our revolver and performance bond facilities in early October for a further three years out to October 2025.
On the back of our reaffirmed investment-grade rating in the August annual review, our banking syndicate confirmed their view of the strength of the balance sheet, with the facility being renewed on the same commercial terms as the expiring facility. We took the opportunity to increase the size of the revolver facility to AUD 525 million, as this will provide further strength to the balance sheet as well as increase our liquidity. The revolver is undrawn and our liquidity is AUD 923 million. This liquidity and the fact our first quarter was successful gives us confidence that we're able to fund the two major projects in execution during FY23. When these come into production at the end of the year, our cash generation will increase. I think it is worthwhile touching on our gearing level.
We ended FY22 at 27% gearing, and with this year being a capital-intensive year and our most capital-intensive year in this plan period, we expected gearing to increase. This is why we did the US private placement last year, to increase our cash and to align the debt profile to the cash flows. We also knew our revolver facility was due to be renewed, and we have now done that. What does seem to be missed in the analysis of the balance sheet and the gearing is that nearly 60% of our debt is due in 7-9 years from now. Therefore, if we look at our gearing from a perspective of how we service our term loans over the next few years, our gearing would be between 16% and 18%, even allowing for the final payment to Glencore in January.
All this said, we continue to proactively manage our balance sheet through disciplined operating and capital cost control during this capital-intensive period and in a volatile metal price environment. Thank you for your time this morning, and I now ask Ashley to open the line for questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Kate McCutcheon with Citi. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Jake and Lawrie. Thanks for the call and balance sheet commentary. A question on copper prices at EHM. Realization of $10,873 for the quarter. My Bloomberg is telling me the prices were $11,300 or so. Can you just remind me on the timing there, how often are you paid? And I guess the QP and the terms with Glencore in terms of the realization to copper prices. Is it average over the month or at the time that the con reaches the smelter, et cetera? Thanks.
Thanks, Kate. That's definitely a question for Lawrie, who's been educating us all on QP periods and provisional payments for some time. Thanks, Kate. Yeah, the average if you take the spot LME price was as you said. We have at any point in time four months worth of shipments that are open to quotational period pricing. They are priced at the moment on a four-month moving average, and that average is generally the five-day price at the end of every month, except for the final month when it is the full 30 days of that month. What we saw is in July, you have the repricing of the previous three months of shipments and the July shipment priced.
That's probably what reduced the realized price for the first quarter, because what we saw in August and what we saw in September is the spot price was sitting around $11,600-$11,800 a ton. Therefore for those two months of shipments plus July, there wasn't as much an impact. It really relates to the last three months of shipments in the FY22 year that reduced the achieved price for this quarter.
Yeah. Okay. That was clear. Thanks, Lawrie. Maybe a question for-
I just-
Yeah.
I was just gonna add, if you wanna look at then the June quarter, we finished the year at AUD 12,200 thereabouts. In the June quarter, those previous 3-4 months of shipments were revalued down from about AUD 14,000, and that's how you ended up with about AUD 10,800 in the June quarter.
Yes, I think, Kate, the easiest way for me to try and understand it is that there's both an adjustment and the price of the shipment that you're getting. It, you know, it can be up or down, that adjustment, depending on. But you are gonna have an adjustment each quarter.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you. That's clear. Maybe a question for Bob here. At Cowal, on prior site visits, we were talking about recoveries from the flotation tail leach giving you another 4%+, and the site was talking about 86%+ aspirational. We've been tracking at 82%. What's changed here, and how should we think about recoveries at Cowal moving forward?
Thanks, Kate. Cowal's recovery at the moment is in line with the metallurgical algorithm, and that actually goes from tonnage as well as the mineral type and the throughput. The current year, we're looking at from a yearly perspective around that 82%-84% mark for Cowal. That is what we are planning. It changes on a monthly and a quarterly basis, depending on the feed grade. As the year goes on, each quarter at Cowal, our feed grade does actually increase through the year, and we've said that previously. That's the basic way to look at it. I don't know if I've answered the question.
Okay, we might come back. Just on guidance for 2023 at Cowal, what kind of head grades and tons are planned for the rest of the year? I guess you'd have to mill record quarterly tons at Cowal and get a better grade from here. Keen to understand if that's the plan to hit those guidance numbers.
Kate, Lawrie's pulling out the plan now, so he's the best placed to answer that.
I get QPs and the H, Kate?
Thanks.
No.
I bet you're off here.
If we look at it on a grade profile, grade mined this quarter was very much in line with the June quarter and is starting to increase the grade processed similarly at 1.03. What we see as we move into stage H2 two, you get up over 1.1-1.15, and then Q3, Q4, you're averaging 1.2 grams per ton. That's processed. What we see in terms of the tonnage through the mill, you'll be getting between 2.1-2.3 million tons in each of the quarters, depending on the shut. We've got two shuts, major shuts at Cowal in the year. We've done one.
You'll have one more in probably the third quarter is when it's scheduled. It may overlap between the third and fourth quarter actually, and that's what we'd see for the year to get those. Bob talked about the recoveries we're expecting for the year.
I guess we'll set a flag and remember that we are planning to get 500,000 tons from the underground, mostly in terms of development or this year, and there's only 74,000 ounces this last quarter. That will add to the grade as well.
Yeah. We have our biannual shutdown, the second one, Kate, in February, so that's Q3. We do have another one in May, but the May is a smaller one, and it's just a planned maintenance replacement.
Okay. That kind of 1.2 target you set in Q4, that includes the underground feed, correct? That was a head grade number.
Yes.
Okay, cool. Can I sneak in one final quick one? Just your comments on the rationale for lifting the revolver capacity.
That one's definitely one for Lawrie again.
Kate, look, I mean, the view there for us in looking at the balance sheet is saying that we know through the course of this year, the production comes at the back end of the year. The capital is invested in the front end of the year. We've seen volatile metal prices. We are seeing gold above our plan, copper a bit below the plan, and so our view over the course of the next three years, making sure that the balance sheet has adequate liquidity for any unforeseen circumstances. That's the rationale behind it. You know, at this point, it's undrawn. If we delivered a plan and metal prices stay where they are through the year, we expect that we can finish the year without needing to use it.
At the same time, we have a revolver for the reason that if you do need it, you can draw on it.
Okay. Thank you.
Thanks, Kate.
Your next question comes from Matt Greene with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, management team. Hope you're all well. Bob, first question for you perhaps. Just on Red Lake, the Campbell mill, with the new tertiary crusher. If I recall from the site visit, you're also looking to expand the leach capacity there, to support the recovery levels at the increased throughput. Just looking at the quarter, I mean, recoveries are pretty good. Are you still thinking you need this?
Yeah. What you saw when you were there was the crusher and screening circuit on the tertiary. We did that first, or we've done that and completed that first to now push the plant again. The leach and the other optimization of Campbell are actually part of the optimization study that's going on. And that really is, as you say, we're pushing the plant to see where the next constraint is. We've got contingencies for where we find that constraint. At the moment
That's great.
You'd probably say we don't need it, but we're pushing the crusher now upwards. We've got the ability through the license to treat 2,200 tons per day for the full year at Cowal now. We're gonna start seeing where the next bottleneck constraint is.
That's great. Thanks. Just on the mill optimization study, can you just provide some high-level context on the scope of the study and what this might involve? Also just on the timing, when do you expect to release this to the market?
Yeah. The high level options that the guys are looking at include when do we bring Bateman in, how do we actually optimize the processing plant? What is it better to actually do a grinding upgrade with that leach upgrade we just talked about at Campbell before we bring Bateman in from a cost and a margin perspective? Or is it better to bring that Campbell in in 1-3 plants? You know, philosophically, the more we can get out of the fewer plants, the better from a cost perspective it will be. They're all the permutations that the team is looking at to see how we actually bring it in. Oh , is it pre-feas? We're in pre-feas at the moment.
That will be finished this financial year, and then we'll go into the next stage.
Okay, great. Just on the power contracts, firstly, congrats on the Cowal contract renewal. I was just wondering, I mean, you've got Rawdon and Ernest Henry left. How have your negotiations gone there? Are you seeing signs that those could come in line with budget as well?
Yeah, that's a Lawrie question. I just take his line lots. I'll hand it over to Lawrie.
Matt, all sites are contracted. You know, Ernest Henry was in place with Glencore on a back-to-back, and we're working through the stages of transitioning that across to our own contract. We're not seeing any change in our cost structure there to what we guided in the June 27 outlook and the guidance in August. Mount Rawdon's probably been the most problematic one for us to put a contract in place because of, you know, two years of mine life left, in terms of mining and then the processing of the stockpiles. That's been a contract that's now in place for four years. Given the markets, it's a bit higher than we would have expected or would have liked, sorry, not expected.
It's still within the plus/minus range that we'd expect from a group level on our total operating costs. Mungari, the market, which isn't linked into the national energy market, that contract for the next two years has been put in place with minor movement in costs from the expiry, but within the FY23 guidance and FY24 outlook numbers that we provided for the group. I think Lawrie understates a little bit what he and his team have been able to achieve there because the Cowal eight-year contract is a fixed price contract, and in the current conditions is a very, very good outcome for us, both in securing power and the competitiveness of the pricing for an eight-year period.
That's helpful. Thank you very much. I'll just squeeze one last one in. Just on the group free cash flow in the quarter, if we were to achieve flat commodity prices over the next few quarters, you've commented on the available liquidity, but are there any levers you can pull across the business to lower spend?
Yeah, Matt, I mean, you know, if the metal prices are flat from where they are today, I mean, we achieved AUD 2,414 an ounce in the September quarter. Gold's AUD 2,600 an ounce today. That would mean that our group cash flow quarter-over-quarter would actually increase. We also see that as we go into Q3, Q4, the capital profile reduces and we should be getting more production to get to that 720,000 ounces. We don't see that, you know, Q2- Q4 is the same as Q1 from a cash generation perspective. You know, from ours then the levers we have around that, if we were to see metal prices move against us or cost change materially.
You know, when we look at costs, our labor reviews for the year have been done. They came in line with the 5-6% increase that we talked about in June and in the August results. You know, there's nearly 50% of our cost there. I think that we're dealing with turnover that probably gives us the greater issue around productivity rather than cost. Power, as I said, have now been put in place and are in line with the guidance and outlook we've provided. The other levers we really have comes down to discretionary activity. We've got sustaining capital, AUD 190-AUD 240. We've got some flexibility if we need to defer, cancel capital there.
Paul Glenn knows that he's a discretionary area that may have to give up some of his drilling if we need to. We also obviously have a number of other things at each of the sites that we look at in terms of discretionary spend that we can pull back. Yeah, where we look at it from the balance sheet perspective, as I said earlier on the call. You know, we're servicing our debt. Our debt in the near term is matched to our cash flow. Metal prices are volatile, but if we see them stay where they are, today for the rest of the year, we actually end up with a better cash position.
If they go back to what we achieved in the first quarter of the year, then we still come out of FY23 in a good position.
Thanks for the context there, Lawrie. That's all from me. Thanks, gentlemen.
Thanks, Matt.
Your next question comes from Daniel Morgan with Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Hi, Jake, Lawrie, and Tim. First question is just, what are some of the obligations you've got from a cash flow perspective, outside of project spend? Is stamp duty still payable and, the Glencore payment? Thank you.
Yeah, I think, as we flagged, Dan, it's, there's AUD 200 million due to Glencore, and there's approximately AUD 100 million of stamp duty payable. All of that is built into those numbers, which Lawrie was quoting the 16%-18%, short-term and/or four-year-end gearing levels, which he is referring to. And it's all taken into account in those numbers he is quoting, in terms of, you know, our view as to, the need to draw on that revolver if we needed it, which based on current prices and our plans, we don't think we need to draw that revolver.
Yeah, sure. Is there an inventory unwind due at all? I mean, last quarter, you sold less than you produced. Is there an unwind coming in terms of gold sales that might benefit the cash flow?
I mean, really, Daniel, it comes down to when the last day of the quarter is, determines a lot of our inventory. We balance with when we pour and when we ship. We've got some arrangements now in place at Red Lake that actually has improved the turnaround times to what it used to be. Inventory drawdowns are really gonna depend on the concentrate shipments and when they get shipped to Glencore at Ernest Henry. Certainly some concentrate, which will build up through the first half of the year at Red Lake. When we get a salable quantity and parcel, that's when we'll draw down probably right into Q4 more than anything.
They're the only ones that are really around rather than when the last day of the quarter is.
Yeah, sure.
If you look at December, my rough remembrance is that 30, 31 is a Saturday and a Sunday, so the sites will wanna pour as close as they can at on that weekend, but they'll do their last shipment in the last week of December, so you'd see an inventory build up. I haven't looked at what the March quarter end would be.
Dan, looking at your numbers from Visible Alpha, it looks like you've got our AISC at AUD 1,480, so that's pretty close to where we achieved this quarter in a quarter, which we think will improve pretty materially over the next three quarters.
Yeah, sure. On the cash flow, I mean, you expect the business the performance to improve in the next few quarters, but are we gonna be getting net cash inflow? You know, when is the balance sheet gonna improve in terms of a quarterly basis? Like we're still gonna have cash burn for the next couple of quarters, are we not?
Well, I mean, I'll let Lawrie answer that. Bear in mind, you had an AUD 55 million dividend payment and a debt repayment of AUD 45 million this quarter, and a working capital shift of about AUD 100 million in terms of changes to the cash flow. Lawrie?
Dan said most of it, but I think, you know, when we look at the cash flows before major capital, you'll start to see that increase quarter-over-quarter, depending on where metal prices land. Then when you look at it after major capital, it actually that gap narrows because most of the capital needs to be spent, certainly for Cowal, coming into the start of the fourth quarter as we move into production and similarly at Red Lake as we come into increased production at Upper Campbell. You know, it does build, but that's, you know, as I said, we finished the year AUD 575 million of cash.
We put that in place knowing what we needed to draw in the year. I mean, I struggle with people's rationale that you cannot build two new mines in a capital-intensive year to bring them onto production without actually drawing on cash. That is how you actually build the mines.
Yeah. Understand that. Just last question is just on Red Lake. It looks like you pulled your first stope up in the Upper Campbell. Looked like a pretty good grade. I mean, was that in line with your expectations? Just wondering how that went and the dilution management of that stope. I know it's only one stope, but-
Yeah. I mean, I think it's early days. It was in line with our expectations and yeah, obviously Upper Campbell's the highest grade reserve grade. It's 7 g reserve. We're excited to be getting into it, but it's too early to make upside predictions on the grade.
Fair enough. Thanks for your answers. Cheers.
Your next question comes from Levi Spry with UBS. Please go ahead.
Good day, guys. Thank you for your time and the call.
A couple of studies due this quarter, particularly the DFS for the Mungari. Can you just remind us, or I guess especially on timing, when this quarter and also what the scope was that we can expect for the project?
Yeah. Levi, it's a plant expansion study which we're finishing off the feasibility study by the end of this year. You know, the NPV analysis suggests that it's positive and it helps bring in a lot of material from the surrounding areas, given the very large inventory base. You know, noting Lawrie's comments that the only two projects that we have actually committed to are the Red Lake Upper Campbell mine and the underground mine at Cowal. We need to assess it with respect to our capital allocation over the next couple of years.
Yep, yep. Thank you. Just with your last update, I think you'd sort of delayed effectively the FID on that as a result because on the back of markets as much as funding and balance sheet. Is that. Just, I'm trying to recall.
It is.
our last update on the project. Yep.
It was based on the capital costs and the ability to deliver.
Yep.
Obviously it does need to be matched with our balance sheet and our requirements. You know, clearly, you know, we understand the focus and the scrutiny on the balance sheet. We feel very confident about it. We feel very confident in the robustness of the balance sheet, particularly the timing of the debt repayments. You know, it is a big capital year this year, and we need to deliver those two big projects. That gives us the growth, the organic growth, and then Mungari potentially adds to that. Yeah, we also have the increasingly exciting Ernest Henry study, which is evolving as well.
Yep. Thank you. Thanks, Jake.
Thanks.
Your next question comes from Andrew Bowler with Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Yeah, Jake and team. I guess just staying on Mungari. I was reading the quarterly comment about contract labor being used and, you know, due to the tightness in the labor market. Just after a bit of an update on your thoughts about how the labor market in WA is looking. We're hearing, you know, a bit of mixed messages from WA-based miners over this side of Australia. I guess how it compares to East Coast as well. Are you seeing tightness emerge or is labor market easing in the East Coast? Yeah, just some thoughts on that.
I think it's definitely more challenging in Western Australia for us. You know, I just looked at an update on Mungari. You know, certainly the March to June period was a period where we lost employees. In the last three months, we've had net gains. We've added to it. We've actually been able to reduce the workforce by 5% and still deliver, but that's through efficiencies. Yeah, I mean, we are using too much contract labor hire and would prefer to get those into permanent positions and recruit, but it is challenging.
All right. Thanks for that. Just a question on rainfalls, probably, better ask the bureau, but I mean, obviously we're looking like we're gonna have another, wet summer, on the East Coast of Australia. Obviously, Mount Rawdon seems to be dampened by heavy rainfall, but have you got any comments, or indications of how that might affect the Cowal Open Pit and, you know, where it is in its interstage cutback and how that might affect movements over the summer period or are you pretty confident, of a consistent performance there despite predictions of heavy rainfall? Cheers.
I'm glad you called it a summer 'cause it doesn't quite feel like it at the moment. Yeah, I mean, it clearly is, you know, something that we're very focused on. You know, safety is our priority in terms of our people and everything. You know, we're preparing, we have plans in place. Cowal does benefit from having a very large stockpile, and therefore, you know, the risk is really the ability to get into the pit and mine higher grade material versus the stockpile material. You know, Bob and his team and the site team are putting in place everything they can to ensure that we are well prepared for any incoming weather.
It does present a risk that we're, you know, well aware of and focused on.
Thanks. Last one from me. Just on the Mount Rawdon pumped hydro project. Clearly shaping up to be quite an interesting project. I'm just wondering, as you're working through the studies there, have you got any updated thoughts about how you might monetize that or, you know, sell it, JV it, keep it for ESG reasons or that sort of stuff or any updated thoughts on that?
I think it's evolving. As we're kinda getting back to potential investors who wanna participate in the project, we're trying to figure out the best pathway to value creation for Evolution. Yeah, it will not be a draw on Evolution's capital base beyond the feasibility study. We've committed to fund the feasibility study. I think there's a value crystallization point there. Whether that is a sell-down by ICN ourselves, whether it's an exit from the asset or whether it's a in specie distribution to shareholders in some way so that you can decide whether to participate or not on the upside of the project is yet to be determined.
I think some of the important sort of points of crystallization of value is clearly an offtake party, and we have several who are interested, and then, you know, an investor group and how to marry that up with the offtake party as well.
No worries. Thanks for that, Lawrie Conway. That's all from me, gents. Cheers.
Your next question comes from Alexander Barkley with RBC. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, everyone. Just one quick question from me. I saw the mill shut times for Ernest Henry in the release, but not Cowal or Red Lake. Forgive me if I missed those, but how long was the shut for those sites during the quarter?
The Red Lake one, I think we had about two weeks of production of the Campbell mill, which was out as we were doing the timing of that new crusher. Bob, the Cowal shut?
I'm trying to remember. Was it four or five days?
5, 6 days.
Yeah.
Five or six days at Cowal.
I think so. Okay, great. Thanks very much, guys.
Thanks, Al.
Your next question comes from Alistair Harvey with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yeah, morning, gents. Just wanted to get a bit of clarity around the Ernest Henry resource drilling. You mentioned you're looking at extensions to the PFS region. Is this gonna be factored into the study that we're expecting this quarter? Beyond that, how much more drilling is planned before the cutoff date to the next resource and reserve update early next year?
Yeah, Glenn's excited to finally get a question. He's disappointed that his great drilling results have been put on page 8 and 9 of the quarterly. I encourage everyone to look at them because they're pretty good.
I thought I was going to breeze through with that, and I see put to the fire. Al, thanks for the question. So these new drilling results will be incorporated in our annual MROR update, and they will inform the PFS study in terms of some of the extension areas that we can incorporate in that, profile between the 1,175 and, sorry, 1,125 and 775, which is, you know, the vertical profile that is the subject of the PFS. In terms of cutoff dates for drilling, we'll take everything up to around about the end of November, as we start to then work through the MROR update.
The beauty about a copper deposit is that we can actually use information based on you know the drilling observations to model domains, obviously not grade, but that can inform the estimate as well. That will be built into the assessment at the end of the year. There is some additional drilling that will be planned in the future that will support you know the feasibility study presuming we're guided through to that. That's the sort of plan for the moment in the drill program.
Just, Al, to remind you that the MROR update comes out in February. Cutoff is December, but we'll release it in February.
Yes, thanks. Thanks, gents. Maybe another one for Glenn, seeing as he's been neglected. Just wondering about. Did you mention that the Cue JV could be looking to do a resource there? Like, just wanting to kind of get my head around timing and how you're thinking about scale there.
Yeah, look, I think, Al, it's shaping up that way. There's a couple of key targets there. There's West Island, where a lot of the diamond drilling of late has been focused, and I'd like to see us drive in that direction. The area where I think we have a higher probability is what we call the A Zone, and that's a target that was drilled early on, you know, during the earning phase. Look, all things being equal, you know, we are not that far from sort of hitting the earn-in milestone, which will then enable us to you know, claim the 75% interest that we've been investing in.
I'm aiming to be able to coincide, you know, some form of resource update, you know, with that timing. That's the plan. I expect it'll be modest with, you know, obviously the ability to grow.
Thanks, Glenn. Maybe just a quick follow-up there then. Like, once you hit that earn-in milestone, is there any potential to monetize that stake? Kind of thinking as well, obviously, you guys have still got the stake in Navarre. Like, how are you thinking about these things as core parts of the portfolio?
We continue to assess them. I mean, Cue invested in because we thought it had real upside geological potential, and Glenn will make that call once you've earned in the 75%. You know, I think it's certainly encouraged us whether it's of a scale that we should pursue or not, but it definitely looks like it's created value.
Just one more quick one. Did you guys have a timing for the study at the Ponte Pedro? Sorry if I missed that before.
Yeah, middle of next year, so June next year.
No worries. Thanks very much, guys.
Thanks.
Your next question comes from David Radclyffe with Global Mining Research. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, Jake and team. So I just had a follow-up question on the pumped hydro. Obviously, you guys see hidden value there, but does that mean internally now you've actually got a view on what the project value might be and maybe when you can start to share that with us? In terms of, you know, new potential investors, is it really the feasibility study that's the key there next year to help sort of frame that? Or the indication to investors is sort of not as focused on the feasibility study? That's my first one.
Yeah. Thanks, David Radclyffe. I mean, the challenge with being in a project like this is that it's difficult for us to articulate a value right now because a lot depends on the offtake, whether it's a 1 GW or a 2 GW and the length of the offtake contract. You know, those are really the drivers. What the mix is between locking in the offtake and leaving some of it variable, and that depends somewhat on the investor base. It's difficult to put a value on it because I'd be quoting numbers off a spreadsheet, which is too early to do. It has got me excited and enthusiastic and, you know, we're gonna take this to maximum value for Evolution shareholders. That'll be June next year.
Certainly, the feasibility study work to date has not identified any red flags with respect to the potential of this pumped hydro to be developed. You know, the main drivers are gonna be the offtake and the Powerlink connection to the main grid seems fine, and we've started that application. Yeah, I think the pumped hydro is a really hidden option within Evolution's portfolio. Difficult to value, though. I'll leave that to you. You're the expert, aren't you, on that?
Thanks, Jake. Maybe just to focus on a follow-up. I mean, obviously, the market is very much focused on the balance sheet, so let's just take that to another level. In terms of your listed and unlisted investment portfolio, does holding those investments still make sense today, either way or is there, you know, potentially some hidden value there that we're not seeing?
Yeah, David Radclyffe, I mean, they're there for us in terms of what we saw as potential investment in particular projects. Over time, we assess when's the right time to exit them like any other asset. Yes, there is option for us on those. Right at the moment, we haven't got any plans around them.
I think just, David, to reiterate, I mean, Lawrie and I have this conversation, you know, on a daily basis because we obviously see and hear the scrutiny on our balance sheet. We talk about it a lot. From our perspective and based on our plans and based on our commitments, and based on our planned gold price, which is $2,400 an ounce, we feel very confident that we shouldn't be starting to potentially impact opportunities ahead of us by pulling levers to reduce cash outflow. We knew we were gonna spend AUD 600 million this year. Lawrie told us a year ago that this is gonna be a big capital year. We prepared the balance sheet for that.
The operations are going well. We're kind of, I suppose, a bit on a different track in terms of the scrutiny which the balance sheet's getting, particularly given the long-dated nature and the 3.5% cost of that debt than other people have. Yeah, we will continue to assess it and continue to look at it. Right at this point, we feel very comfortable with the balance sheet and actually pleased that we've put in place a large capital component of it at such low cost and long-dated.
Great. Thank you. I'll pass it on.
Thanks.
Your next question comes from Peter O'Connor with Shaw and Partners. Please go ahead.
Hi, Jake and Lawrie. Just further to that, the revolver feels like insurance, which is a pragmatic and prudent thing to do. What is the cost of that insurance, Lawrie? Is it material?
No, Peter. I mean, when you look at it, when it's undrawn, it's half of, you know, half of your margin at best. Then when it's drawn, you're obviously paying similar interest rates to the two term loan facilities that we've got in place. It is insurance.
Okay. To your comments about the levers a few questions ago, you talked about exploration. I was just surprised using the words exploration and discretionary in the same sentence. How much of an exploration spend is actually discretionary?
Glenn's yelling at me, "None." Peter, it was in the context of saying that we know where all of our expenditure goes, be that in group overheads, in discovery, in operating costs at our operations, in capital costs at our operations, and knowing which ones you can and can't do. Yes, Glenn is right. It's not discretionary. If we look at the, you know, around AUD 60 million that we've committed to in the plan this year at
In discovery, you are not talking in the tens of millions when you're spending AUD 1.3 billion elsewhere. It is an item though that we can always look at, and Glenn's aware of it.
Okay. Jake or Lawrie, just a question on the labor. Again, it's been a focus of a lot of calls in the last week, the particularly regional issues out of WA. So first, could I ask the question, how regional labor pressure, both availability, skills, et cetera? Is it West Coast versus East Coast and Canada? And then secondly, it feels like it's not as much bums on seats as an issue anymore, it's about skills. And if that is correct, how long does it take and how much does it cost and how much do you forgo productivity to get those skill sets up?
I mean, I think it is a case of different regions. Western Australia is definitely challenging. I'm getting some feedback from somebody, but.
Peter, you wanna go on mute?
You know, the West Coast has been a challenging area for a while, and it remains that. As I said, in the last three months, we've seen, you know, net gains as opposed to outflows of people in the three months prior. There are a number of projects being built in WA, and that continues to be stressful. The East Coast, maybe it's because of our sites are more residential, particularly Cowal and Rawdon. Maybe it's 'cause there's slightly fewer opportunities for people to move easily without relocating their family, but turnover rates are much lower. Likewise in Canada, turnover rates are low.
The town is residential and has a large workforce which is committed and available to the site. Peter, did that answer your question?
Yes. Sure. Just on skills check, it seems like there's a drag on skills more than bums. What's the issue and how do you address that? How long does it take? I'm thinking as much from an industry perspective as an Evolution, 'cause it feels like it's a safety issue and it's a productivity headwind.
Yeah, Peter, it's Bob speaking. As Jake said, it really is regionally discrete. If we look at Western Australia and Kalgoorlie, we are succeeding better than we were in past quarters, getting actually skilled people into the business. If we go back 3-4 months ago, you know, getting a loader operator wasn't a problem, but getting a tele-remote or a production driller was really seriously challenging. We seem to be picking them up now. We did have a period of time when we lost tradespeople, so fitters and electricians. We seem to be picking them back up again now.
The ones that we've shifted with is, and I'm talking about Kalgoorlie again, we've shifted some of the focus from the local to the Perth market with those higher skill levels. We've still got 80%-85% of our people living in Kalgoorlie. We just did some sort of side shifts in where we're looking. If we have to get a green person to get them up to a loader remote or drilling, that's not weeks or months. That's a long period. It's a lot easier, and we've been doing this as well, is moving our current internal people up through the ranks and then bringing people in at that lower truck driver and nipper level.
If you look at the eastern states, we do have a significantly lower turnover. Ernest Henry, even though it's FIFO, has a lower turnover than most FIFOs I've seen. The team up there is pretty stable. It's actually not really a major issue from a skills perspective. We haven't had a problem at Cowal getting truck drivers and the like. The underground with Barminco, they seem to be getting their skill levels okay.
Thanks very much.
There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Klein for any closing remarks. Thanks, Ashley. Look, I appreciate everyone participating on the call and all the questions we did get, and encourage you to ring in if you do have further questions that you want answered. Just before we close the call, I do wanna recognize Martin Cummings. It is his last quarterly reports with Evolution. Martin, I'm sure it's something you will miss enormously this part of it, but there is a huge amount of work that goes into these quarterlies. Martin's been with the company for nine years. The last six, he's been commuting from Brisbane and has made a decision that he really wants to spend more time with his family, and that's very understandable, but sad for Evolution.
He's done an enormous amount of great work for Evolution as the General Manager Commercial, and most recently, Investor Relations. We wish you all the best. We'll have the opportunity at the AGM, which we hope everyone will come to. It is sad to see you leave, but we understand the reasons. Thanks, everyone. Appreciate it.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.