It's 11:00 A.M., so it must be 11:00 A.M., and let's get the show on the road. Morning, everyone. My name is Jake Klein. I'm Evolution's chair. It is a pleasure to welcome you to Evolution Mining's annual general meeting. Welcome, and thank you for joining us. Evolution acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation as the traditional custodians of the lands and waters of the Sydney CBD, and pay our respects to their elders past and present. We recognize their strengths and ongoing connections to the land, waters, and communities as the custodians of their culture. I'd also like to acknowledge our First Nation partners in Canada. In the unlikely events of an emergency, please leave via the emergency doors on either side of you to the left and right. Go through the courtyard.
Fire wardens will be in place to direct you and make your way directly to the front of the site and out of the gates. Upon exiting, please turn left and convene in the front of Hyde Park Barracks Museum at Queen's Square. I'd like to introduce our board members who are here today. Dialing in from our hometown in Perth, having just had an operation and unable to travel, is Andrea Hall. Andrea is chair of the Audit Committee and is a member of the Risk and Sustainability Committee. Andrea is up for re-election at this meeting. To my left is the one and only Lawrie Conway, who is Evolution's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Next to Lawrie is Peter Smith. Peter is the lead independent director. Peter is also chair of the Risk and Sustainability Committee. Next to Peter is Jason Attew.
Jason is a Canadian and a member of the Audit and Nomination and Remuneration Committees. Next to Jason is Vicki Binns. Vicki is a member of the Audit and Nomination and Rem Committees. Vicki's up for re-election at this meeting. To Vicki's left is Tommy McKeith. Tommy is chair of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. Next to Tommy is Fiona Hick. Yes, LJ, we did get the seating rights. It does match the script. Fiona is a member of the Risk and Sustainability Committee. Next to Fiona is our Company Secretary, Evan Elstein. Evan is also the VP for Information Technology, Communication, and Corporate Affairs. We have a number of people here, also from Evolution. I think this side of the room is pretty much all Evolution. We have some members of the leadership team, which I'd like to introduce to you.
The newest member of the LT is Fran Summerhayes, Chief Financial Officer. Fran joined Evolution on the 15th of September, 2025, after a long and distinguished career at BHP, and finally saw the light and joined Evolution. This is her first day here. Maybe just stand up, Fran. Matt O'Neill, Chief Operations Officer. Nancy Guay, Chief Technical Officer. And I'm under good authority that that is the correct way to pronounce your name.
Yes.
Glen Masterman, VP Discovery. Paul Eagle, VP People and Culture. Fiona Murfitt, VP Sustainability. Kiran Schmidt, VP Corporate Development. We do have a number of people who I think, as shareholders, really it would be worth meeting and talking to during the break or after the meeting. That is our general managers and colleagues in the room. We do have a number of people who are here from Evolution. They are all shareholders, as are you, and hence are here at the AGM as both owners of the company, but also representatives. I think the people, particularly the GMs of the site, are people who are making the Australian mining industry great in Australia and in Canada. General managers of the sites, maybe just stand up and people can see who you are. There you go. That handsome picture.
The order of proceedings for today will be as follows. We will work through the formal business of the meeting pursuant to the agenda set out in the notice of meeting that was issued on the 15th of October, 2025. Copies of the notice of the meeting are available at the front door. After all the agenda items have been dealt with, the formal AGM will be closed. Lawrie Conway will then give a company update presentation, and any questions received will be addressed. This is our 14th annual general meeting as Evolution Mining, and it's really good to see a number of familiar faces here as shareholders have been here, I think, at all 14 AGMs.
I thank you for joining us here today, and I'm pleased to share with you some of today's highlights, just as comments from me about the year under review, which was undoubtedly a very good year for Evolution and its shareholders. With sustainability integrated into everything we do, keeping our people safe, healthy, and well is central to who we are. This is why our safety performance improvement this year was very encouraging, with our total recordable injury frequency rate coming down to its lowest level yet. Whilst it is only one indicator, it should provide you, our owners, with a level of confidence in our continued and strong commitment in keeping our people safe. We will remain vigilant, recognizing that safety needs to be continually worked on and can never be taken for granted.
This year is best described as one in which we did what we said we would do, and we delivered. We were, of course, fortunate to be buoyed by high gold prices. It is hard to believe that the gold price is above AUD 6,000 an ounce. It is a tailwind, and it has benefited our entire sector, including Evolution. What has helped distinguish this year as particularly special for Evolution was our continued focus and discipline on margin over volume and ensuring we bank that upside from the higher gold price and return cash to you in dividends as our shareholders. This year, our board declared our 24th and 25th consecutive dividends, resulting in a full year dividend of AUD 0.20 per share, representing AUD 400 million in total dividends returned to shareholders in 2025.
Since 2013, when we paid our first dividend, our total return to shareholders stands at more than AUD 1.7 billion. In what was a record year for your company, we remain true to our discipline strategy, evidenced by our high-quality portfolio supported by an excellent team. As we continue to benefit from higher commodity prices and a sustained case for a bull market in gold, we are well positioned for the future. Evolution is now included in the S&P ASX 50 index and the MSCI index, which is something we would have considered really just aspirational when we began our journey of Evolution in 2011. We are now a well-established global gold mining company with the more recent addition to exposure to copper, committed to delivering long-term stakeholder value through low-cost production in a safe, environmentally, and socially responsible way.
We are at a positive juncture in our business, but we will never stop working to be better. We recognize this takes daily commitments, a desire to succeed, and a motivated team driven to continuously evolve and improve. As those external shareholders are not part of the business, I really respect and recognize the people in this room and the more than 3,000 people across our business who really do that every day, aspire to improve and succeed every single day. I stand here before you today as your now Non-Executive Chair, so any difficult questions can go straight to Lawrie, having transitioned at the end of the financial year from my executive role. We started this executive transition over two years ago because I think it was the right time for our company.
I am really proud how Lawrie and I have worked together to deliver this outcome seamlessly and now positions the company and the team very well for its next chapter. I am extremely confident in Lawrie's leadership as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, supported by his experienced team. The leadership team has been enhanced this year with the addition of Fran, who joined us as CFO from BHP. This follows the appointment of our Chief Operating Officer, Matt O'Neill, and Nancy Guay as Chief Technical Officer just 12 months ago. Evolution is in really good hands. As I said two years ago, the world has changed, and it keeps changing. Unfortunately, global tensions, political uncertainty, and what the future holds remains a worrying constant. This has been reflected in gold's remarkable price increase over the last year.
Our country's continued prosperity is dependent on the success of the resource sector. That really needs to be understood by the broader public. Our industry continues to play a pivotal role in Australia's economy. It contributes 57%, over half of total tax revenue, and is generating nearly half of the country's income. Evolution is extremely proud to be a significant contributor to this, delivering AUD 3.7 billion in economic value to Australia and Canada this year, which was a 16% increase over the prior year. At last year's AGM, I also said that Australia needs to be committed to education and training, and I am proud that Evolution is playing its part. We recently announced an AUD 1.25 million partnership with the University of Queensland to establish the Jim Askew Evolution Mining Fellowship, a five-year initiative focused on unlocking unrealized potential in ore bodies to improve safety, efficiency, and sustainability in mining.
It is named in honor of Jim Askew, one of our founding directors and a well-respected leader in the resources sector. The fellowship will fund a dedicated postdoctoral research position at UQ's Sustainable Minerals Institute. It will also support additional postdoctoral researchers and higher degree research students. We're proud to partner with UQ to support research that will help shape the future of mining. We believe that innovation and sustainability go hand in hand, and this fellowship reflects our commitment, driving progress, sharing knowledge, and creating value for the industry and the communities in which we operate. In what has been a record year for Evolution, it's somewhat fitting that it also marks the final chapter for Mount Rawdon as an operating gold mine.
We are well advanced in our vision to repurpose the site into Palms Hydro Station together with the Queensland government, and we welcome the Christopher Lee government's interest and involvement in this landmark project, which will facilitate low-cost renewable power and employment opportunities for decades to come. In the true spirit of our values and the essence of our culture, our Mount Rawdon team recently welcomed a very special visitor to site. Fortuitously and by coincidence, we were connected with David Muller, the person who had the vision to drill the first holes at the Mount Rawdon deposit almost 50 years ago, and which led over the many years to the making of a mine that has contributed so much to the region and Evolution.
David and three generations of the Muller family recently made their pilgrimage back to Mount Rawdon, marking a full circle and fitting final chapter for Mount Rawdon as a gold mine. I'd like to acknowledge and recognize David's vision and thank him for being one of those people in our industry that we depend on, someone with the knowledge, belief, and vision to go from a few drill holes to a mine that's created value for stakeholders for almost 25 years.
At a time when mental health is increasingly important, as we live in such a changing world, I was inspired by and proud of our Mungari team in Western Australia who decided to think differently when they completed the Mungari 4.2 million ton per annum plant expansion, and they painted one of their tanks in their expanded mill infrastructure blue with a bright, bold, and supportive mural with the words, "You're not alone." We hope all of our people feel that they are well supported wherever they are across our business, together with the people who live in the communities in which we operate. To my mind, this is one of the differentiating hallmarks of Evolution.
There are other fantastic examples of how we help across communities, whether it's our support for the CareFlight in northwest Queensland or finding ways to provide medical support to regional communities where access is so limited. For those of you who have attended previous AGMs, you may recall my enthusiasm about our graduate program. We have a bright future as a company, and it's the next generation of talent that we are attracting and retaining in our business who inspire my belief in our ability to continue to think differently, embrace AI, embed innovation and technology in our business. We have an excellent portfolio of assets. Our Cowal gold operation, which recently celebrated 20 years of operations, embodies this and is a perfect example of our strategy in action.
When we acquired Cowal in 2015, it was scheduled to finish mining in 2020 and process low-grade stockpiles for four years until closing in 2024, which was last year. We could see the potential of its world-class ore body, and under our ownership, supported and enabled by the appropriate regulatory approvals from the New South Wales and federal governments, Cowal's mine life has been extended time and time again. Over the last 10 years, the operation produced 2.6 million oz of gold, has paid over AUD 200 million in royalties to the New South Wales government, and last year alone, we spent over AUD 200 million regionally. Cowal is adding significant economic value and is creating positive social outcomes for the Central West New South Wales, and we are excited to know that this will continue at least into the 2040s with the opportunities for organic growth of plenty.
As I've said many times, this embodies our strategy and our quest to secure the full potential of our portfolio, together with pursuing strategic growth opportunities that we are well known for. Finally, on behalf of the board, thank you for your support. You are the owners of the company, and we totally respect that. It is your belief in our vision and purpose as a company that motivates us to deliver for you. We have a bold team, a clear strategy, and the absolute desire to succeed. Our future is bright, and I look forward to seeing what this year holds, building on the strong foundations, big tailwinds from the gold and copper price, and thank you for attending the 2025 annual general meeting. We will now go to the formal proceedings.
Before turning to these 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 very welcome as visitors and 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.
Please state your name before asking your question and wait for the microphone to be provided. The Chair has determined that we will hold a poll in relation to the items of business. The process will be that we will go through each resolution and then conduct the poll with respect to all 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 valid 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. Australian Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, 18 November 2025. As noted in the notice of meeting, the Chair intends to vote proxies for the Chair in favor of the resolution.
For the purposes of the poll, Reggie Hebron of MUFG Corporate Markets, the company's share registry, who have examined and prepared summaries of the proxy forms received, has been engaged to act as the returning officer, and Eve Aughrew of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company's auditors, has been engaged to observe the poll and procedures before 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 will 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 open or undirected votes allocated to you. If you wish to split these votes, you may write those open or discretionary numbers separately in the for or against box. 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 MUFG Corporate Markets before lodging your voting paper. Once all the resolutions have been read and questions relating thereto have been addressed and you have finished marking your card, representatives from MUFG Corporate Markets will collect your 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.
Thanks, Evan. I better not read everything you've just said. 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 2025. The annual financial report of the company for the year ended 30 June 2025, together with associated reports of the directors and auditors, have been made available to all shareholders electronically or in hard copy. I'll ask the company secretary to record that the report was tabled at the meeting. The company's auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is present today and represented today by their audit partner, Brett Entwistle.
If there are any questions specific to the conduct of the audit, the preparation content of the auditor's report, the accounting policies adopted by the policy in relation to the preparation of its financial statements, and the independence of the auditor in relation to the conduct of the audits, are there any questions related specifically to the financial statements? As there are no questions on the—oh, sorry. Sorry, go ahead. I think we need the mic because it is being—
My name's Kevin Daley. I've just got a slightly operational question as to how you respond to the high gold price. Do you try and maximize the grade of the ore you mine while the price is high, or do you use lower grade ore, which possibly wouldn't be possible, wouldn't be profitable when the gold price is lower, and accept the lower result? Or do you do some combination of this? Of course, that depends on the extent to which you can control the grade of the ore you mine.
That's a good question, and thank you for it. Given that it's not related to the financial statements, can I ask Evan to record that question, and we'll deal with it once the formal meeting has closed? We'll definitely address that. Any questions on the financial statements? There's one.
Steve O'Reilly, a shareholder. I'm just curious about the—oh, sorry. First of all, congratulations on a very successful year. I've been a shareholder for many years. It's great to see the doubling of the profit over the last few years. I'm just curious about the hedging position of the company and to what extent that may have changed as the gold price has increased substantially over the year.
Whilst it's not specifically related to the financial statements, I will answer that in saying that we have very minimal hedging in place at the moment.
50,000 oz.
50,000. There is only 50,000 oz left of hedging, which is rolling off in the near term. It is not our intention to put hedging in place. We used it as a tool to protect our capital investment, but it is not our intention to be a hedger of gold. Any other questions on the financial statements? As there are no further questions on the financial statements, I will now proceed to the resolutions as set out in the notice of the meeting. I 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 meeting. I will take the resolutions as read. Are there any questions related to this resolution? Given there are no questions, I will go to resolution two of the agenda.
This is a resolution to re-elect Miss Andrea Hall as a director of the company. It is set out in full on the screen and in the notice of the meeting. Andrea joined the board of Evolution Mining on the 1st of October 2017. She is an experienced non-executive director who currently sits on the board of ASX-listed company Berentie Group, where she is also chair of the audit and risk committee. Miss Hall is also a non-executive director of Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, Western Power, and Australian Naval Infrastructure. Andrea is the chair of the audit committee and is a member of the risk and sustainability committee. The board, with Andrea abstaining, unanimously support her election. I will now ask Andrea via phone from Perth to say a few words in support of her election. Andrea, are you there?
I am. Thank you, Jake. Good morning, everyone, and apologies for not being there in person. I'm excited by the opportunities that Evolution has before it, particularly the optimization, expansion, and transformation of our cornerstone assets and by our talented management team, and look forward to being able to contribute further to the continued realization of Evolution's strategy. The value I bring to Evolution is that I'm an experienced non-executive director and Audit Committee chair. As a former KPMG partner and as an experienced Audit and Risk Committee chair, I have a deep understanding of the financial and governance matters considered by our Audit Committee. Further, as a former risk consulting partner, I have a good understanding of both financial and non-financial risks that enable me to contribute strongly to the Risk and Sustainability Committee and more broadly to Evolution.
Whilst I have worked with mining entities, I've also worked extensively with non-miners and bring those perspectives to Evolution. Once again, it is a privilege to sit on the board of Evolution Mining, and I thank you for enabling that.
Thanks, Andrea. I will take the resolution as read. Are there any questions to Andrea? As there are no questions, I will go to resolution three of the agenda. This resolution is to re-elect Vicki or Victoria Binns as a director of the company, and it's set out in full on the screen and in the notice of the meeting. Vicki, being a director, retires in accordance with clause 8.1(d) of the constitution of the company and being eligible for re-election is seeking re-election as a director. Vicki joined the Evolution Mining Board on 1 April 2020 and is a member of the Audit and Nomination and Remuneration Committees. The board, with Vicki abstaining, unanimously support her election. Vicki, over to you to say a few words to support your election campaign.
Many thanks, Jake, and good morning, fellow shareholders. It is a privilege to address you today to seek your support for my re-election as a non-executive director of Evolution Mining. It has been a pleasure serving you and our shareholders, other key stakeholders, including our employees, our customers, our suppliers, and our First Nation partners, as well as the communities in which we operate. I am a mining engineer who has spent more than 40 years in the resources, financial markets, and commodity trading sectors, gaining extensive Asian and global experience in those areas. Since joining the Evolution Board five years ago, I have focused on bringing that balance of technical understanding and financial and commercial rigor to our discussions. The board works closely with management to ensure that every project and investment decision reflects both strategic vision and financial discipline.
Looking ahead, my priorities are clear: to uphold the board's independence, to keep a strong focus on operational excellence, and to make sure we continue creating cash and enduring value for all stakeholders in the short, medium, and long term. Evolution is a company with strong assets, strong leadership, and even stronger potential. I believe I have the energy, experience, and enthusiasm to continue to add value to the board to help ensure that Evolution remains one of the most respected and trusted names in the Australian resource sector. Thank you.
Thanks, Vicki. I will take this resolution as read. Are there any questions? As I have an interest in the outcome of the next resolution, I will hand the chair of the meeting to the company secretary.
Thanks, Jake. I'll now go to resolution four of the agenda. The resolution to increase the maximum aggregate annual remuneration for non-executive directors is set out in full on the screen and in the notice of meeting. Given the interests of the non-executive directors in this item, the board makes no recommendation to shareholders as to how to vote in relation to resolution four. I'll take the resolution as read. Are there any questions? Okay. As there are no questions, I'll hand the chair back to Jake. You're going to go back on the long walk. Back to your chair. Get a seat 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 the meeting. The board, with Mr. Conway abstaining, unanimously recommends that members vote to approve resolution five. I will take the resolution as read. Are there any questions?
Yes, Steve O'Reilly again. I'm just wondering if you could just clarify something for me, chair. Just looking at the various hurdles for the vesting and the various 25% components, I see there's like a peer group that we compared to. I think there's seven companies in the peer group, and some of the actual hurdles seem to imply that there's more. It talks about the ranking being ninth or eighth. I think, if I understand correctly, there's only eight companies in the analysis. I'm just curious about the ninth ranking. Even the eighth ranking, which would mean, I think, coming last in that group would generate quite a substantial performance rate.
That's not the intent. I think there are 15 peer companies that we'll be compared to. Eighth would be a 50% comparator.
Okay. I'm just looking at the notice. There seem to be seven companies listed from AngloGold Ashanti down to Westgold Resources.
Evan, have you got the notice of meeting?
Yeah. If you have a look, if you've got the notice of meeting in front of you on page 11, on page 13 of the notice of meeting, the peer group companies are listed there, and there are 14 companies plus Evolution makes 15 peer group companies.
Okay. Thank you.
Okay. Any other questions on that resolution? I'll now go to resolution six of the agenda. This resolution is for the issue of securities under the non-executive director equity plan, the NED equity plan, which is set out in full on screen and in the notice of meeting. I'll take the resolution as read. Are there any questions? As there are no questions in relation to the resolutions put to the meeting, I will now open the poll. Please, can you fill out your voting cards? As a reminder, if you have any questions relating to the poll, please ask one of the representatives from MUFG Corporate Markets before lodging your voting card. Can representatives from MUFG Corporate Markets please collect the voting cards? Where's your cards? Look at these guys. Glenn's voting in favor.
Straight down the middle, wasn't it, Glenn? Straight down the middle. Against, against, against, against. Straight down the middle. Bring your glasses. [audio distortion]
As the counting of the votes on these items may take some time, and as previously advised, the results will be released on the ASX platform and on our website once the counting has been completed and reviewed by the external auditor and proceedings concluded. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the formal business of the meeting. I thank you all for your attendance and formally declare the meeting closed. A presentation about the company will now be given by our Managing Director and CEO, Lawrie Conway. Following the presentation, we will open the floor for general questions and discussion with Evolution's board and executives present.
Thank you, Jake. Good morning, everyone. Firstly, Jake, thank you for staying on as non-exec chair. I think there's a lot of very happy shareholders, and I'm very happy because I get more time in my office without you in my office as previously the executive chair. I do look forward to that going forward. Prior to presenting this morning, I thought I'd just address the first question for you that you had earlier. I was going to get Matt and the general managers to explain each of their operations, but I thought Matt wasn't really up for that one. Quite simply, we don't adjust our mine plans immediately just because of the changing metal price environment. We have long-term plans. We use lower metal price assumptions for those.
As we operate and we see that there is an opportunity to take advantage of the higher metal prices, we will do that. If we look at our large open pit operations at Cowal and at Mungari, as we are mining those, we actually will stockpile the lower-grade material so that we put the higher-grade material through to maximize our margin. Across all of our operations in the underground, as we are mining those areas, we will look and see if there is economic material that we can extract and make more money in this metal price environment. We do not really change materially their operations just purely because of a short-term change in pricing. I think if we look at Mount Rawdon, that is probably a very good example. We finished mining there about 12 months ago.
Ben is trying to make sure we go into FY2027 and keep operating there, Jake, not this year, because we've got very low-grade material that are on the stockpiles that we had mined over the time. In this price environment, whilst it's a little bit higher in terms of our all-in sustaining costs, it actually makes very good money for us. That is really what we're doing across the business. Is there anything further that you want? Pleasure. Today, yeah. I just want to touch a little bit. Jake did speak about this in the opening speech. Touch a little bit on FY2025 and then turn our attention to what we're doing as a company going forward. Because effectively, delivering on the short term is what enables us to continue to execute against our strategy.
For me, what was pleasing was the work that we did through FY2024 in setting up for delivering an FY2025 certainly paid dividends for us. We got back to our mantra of we say, we do, we deliver by delivering to FY2025 guidance both from a production and cost standpoint. Importantly, as Jake laid out in his speech, we did that safely. We improved our total recordable injury frequency by 35% to get down to a record low five. It meant that we made sure that we did that safely. On that, we delivered guidance, as I said, and that delivery of guidance delivered us a record profit, which was double what it was the year before. That is two years in a row that we've doubled our profit. We generated record group cash flow just under AUD 800 million.
That was three times what we did the year before. It meant that the metal price environment that we're operating in flowed through to the bank account, which is important for us. For you as shareholders, we're able to reward you as well. As Jake said, we delivered a $0.20 dividend, $400 million returned to our shareholders, and tripling of our dividend. Importantly, that was done at a metal price that is well below what we're currently seeing. When we look at that, the foundations of FY2025 have set us up to deliver again in FY2026. We're on track to deliver that guidance whereby we'll maintain our low-cost, high-margin position. As I said, with a higher metal price environment, for you as shareholders, that means the cash flow that we'll generate in FY2026 will be materially higher than what we delivered in FY2025.
If we look at our strategy, the consistent execution of that strategy has significantly improved the quality of our portfolio. Firstly, all of those assets on this chart were not owned by the company when we started in 2011. All of the assets outside of Mount Rawdon have subsequently been sold since we started. The chart shows the quality of that portfolio. We've lifted our average mine life now to around 15 years based on reserves. We've got an average rate of return out of those assets of 18% since we've owned them. The chart shows there the reserve life and the production scale. More importantly, I'd turn your attention to the color and the size of the bubbles, which represents the rates of return that we're getting on those assets and how much of the investment that we've made in those assets has been repaid.
A couple of things just to call out for you. If you look at Cowal and Ernest Henry, the yellow means that we've repaid 100% of everything we've invested in those assets. If you consider that at Cowal, we paid just over AUD 700 million 10 years ago. We've had that fully repaid, and we now have a life out to 2042. For Cowal, which has been a very consistent performer for us, it delivered over AUD 855 million of operating cash flow just in FY2025 alone. If you turn to Ernest Henry, we acquired that in two parts in 2016 and 2021. We spent just on AUD 2 billion buying that asset. It's fully repaid. It was due to finish operating in 2026 and now has a mine life out to 2042. It's been a consistent cash generator since we've owned that in 2016.
Our most recent one is Northparkes, which we acquired in December 2023. It's been cash positive from day one. If you look at it, it's generated a rate of return in excess of 30% in just on two years. It really does demonstrate the quality of the portfolio that we've introduced at Evolution. I'll talk a little bit about the upside that we've got. You will note down the bottom, I was going to talk about it later, but Mount Rawdon, as we do finish operating that, and as Jake outlined in his speech, it's a very unique way to close a mine that you can leave a long-term legacy in that community through a renewable energy project. Jake's promised to have that done by February. Didn't say what year, though, did you, Jake?
Another part of our discipline in terms of our strategy is that we do use your money very wisely. When we acquire assets, we use a combination of existing cash, debt facilities, and equity. If you look at the equity, the important thing is that we've only ever raised equity for value-accretive acquisitions. We've never asked you for your money to fix the balance sheet. We've never asked you for your money to buy out hedge books or anything else. We have only used money to acquire value-accretive assets.
If you look at the chart there, it shows that if you participated in those equity raisings for Northparkes, Mungari, Cowal, and Ernest Henry and retained that equity holding, in addition to that average 18% per annum that you are getting out of the assets that was on the previous slide, your equity has generated an average rate of return over 30%. We do use your money wisely, and we value that when we come to you to ask for acquisition support. I want to just talk a little bit about each of the assets and where we are going into the future with them. The thing that really excites me about Evolution is that every single asset in our portfolio has options for extending mine life, growing production, and there is even more upside once we get into those assets.
It does demonstrate the work that we do in the due diligence when we go to look at these assets. Our most important part of that due diligence is what do we see as the upside that we can bring to that asset for you as our shareholders. The first one up is Mungari. We have just finished the expansion that Jake talked about. It was an AUD 250 million investment that the board made the decision in June 2023. We delivered that under budget and ahead of schedule. It now will move Mungari back to a major cash contributor for the group with production of around 200,000 ounces per annum for at least the next five years and a mine life out to 2038.
Cowal, in April, the board approved a AUD 430 million open pit continuation project, which extends the open pit, pardon me, by 10 years and guarantees the operation out to at least 2042. As I said, it has been a major cash contributor since day one. When we look at Cowal and the investment in the open pit continuation project, Cowal will be able to fund that itself and still return cash to the group as we go through that project over the next few years. Pleasingly, at the moment, it is ahead of schedule and it is on budget, which is great to see to Joe and the team. Ernest Henry, as I mentioned earlier, it was due to finish in 2026. We have now got a mine life out to 2040.
The studies that we've done over the last 18 months have enabled us to not only keep the mine life out to 2040, but we're able to keep the processing capacity at the maximum of 6.8 or at its capacity all the way out to 2040. The previous pre-feasibility study had it only running to about 2033 before that production rate had to decline. In addition to that, because we've got processing capacity, we have been doing a study on a Bert ore body, which is up at the top of the pit, that we can mine separate to the main ore body and therefore increase the processing rate and production rate at Ernest Henry. Northparkes has probably the largest sort of resource in terms of multiple ore bodies.
We're working on how do we expand not only the mine life, but also the production rate at that asset so that we can get greater returns than that 30% that we've been able to achieve in the first two years of ownership. At Red Lake, I think for us at Red Lake, the pleasing thing that John and the team have been able to do there over the last 18 months is get it back to being a consistent and reliable performer that's generating cash for the group. It generated AUD 75 million of cash in FY2025. When we get to the end of December, that'll be at least six quarters in a row that it's been cash positive for the group.
It is starting to do exactly what we want it to do, but it's also got some low CapEx growth options that we can start to look at now that we've got a much more reliable and stable operation. The other thing that I'd draw out is that these projects are all able to be funded over the next five years in our outlook that we've provided in terms of our capital. They are also going to be appropriately sequenced from not only a financial risk perspective, but from an operational risk perspective. In summary, we're very pleased to have you as shareholders for what we see as a high-quality portfolio of assets.
As Jake said, we have a very bright future ahead of us at Evolution, whereby we'll continue to safely deliver and consistently deliver the plan, bank the benefits of this high metal price environment, to continue to return to you as shareholders via dividends, and make sure we progress the multiple growth options that I've just walked through for you. With that, Jake, I'll hand it back to you.
Thanks, Lawrie. I'll now just initially address the question that was submitted. The question reads as follows. Now that Red Lake is finally showing a small positive cash flow relative to the size of the invested capital, is it time to consider gracefully exiting this poorly researched acquisition while demand for gold-producing mines is high as a result of record high gold prices? Will the board and management use the opportunity of record gold prices to offload the ill-advised Canadian asset? That's Red Verbatim.
The short answer to that, shareholder, is that, of course, all things will be considered in terms of maximizing the value of any asset. We are not putting this asset up for sale. As Lawrie described, this asset has now generated six quarters of positive cash flow, and we feel that there is significant value to be created by operating the asset. Notwithstanding that, nothing is ever off the table if someone was to walk in and bid a price which we thought was at least fair value or higher for the asset. The asset is not for sale. Any questions onto the floor?
Good morning, Chair, fellow shareholders, and representatives of Evolution here today. My name is Craig Lee. I represent the Australian Shareholders Association along with my colleague, Julieanne Mills. On behalf of the ASA, we'd like to congratulate yourselves on a fantastic year and particularly such a strong result, as you said, getting stronger by the year. It is obviously a great demonstration of the leadership shown by this company. I've got two questions. Just interested now that you've transferred to the non-executive position. At the ASA, we believe in moving—it's early days, I know—but moving to independent chairs. What are your thoughts on that into the future? Is that something that's on the horizon?
Craig, I think you—just to paraphrase—I think you meant moving to independent chairs, not to non-independent chairs, because you have a non-independent chair.
Yeah, exactly right. Exactly right.
Look, we recognize that from a governance perspective, that is a preferred position by groups like yourselves. It is something the board will take into account in due course. At this stage, the general sense and feedback from shareholders is that the current position of having a non-independent chair but having a lead independent director in Peter Smith is appropriate and suitable for the stage of the company.
Okay, that sounds great. Thank you. My other question is around Northparkes' Triple Flag streaming implications. Can you quantify the impact of the Triple Flag stream at Northparkes on the FY2025 revenue, cash flow, and the AISC, and explain how much further upside has effectively been sold forward through this streaming deal?
Before Lawrie scrambles to answer that question and finds the numbers, which she will know, I would have thrown it to Fran, but I think that is a bit unfair. I will just say that the streaming deal on Northparkes was done prior to our acquisition of the assets. Seamark owned the assets, and they put the streaming deal in place. When we did our diligence on the asset, we knew that that stream was in place, and we took it into account when we acquired the asset for AUD 550 million. Without that stream, the asset would have been significantly more valuable, and we would have had to pay a higher price. Just to clarify, it is not a stream that we put in place. Lawrie, do you have those numbers? I do not think you need to press that.
Sure.
Okay. I do not think so. It is told before.
Good to see you listen, Jake. Look, and Jake's right. We had to inherit that stream. I think a couple of things to be clear on, though, that the work that we did in the acquisition, we were able to make sure that for that stream, we get the tax deductibility of delivering that metal. Because under the previous arrangements and the previous owners, they were not able to have access to that. It is not that you are losing that full impact of that stream. If we look at it in FY2025, it was just over AUD 140 million that was delivered to Triple Flag. It impacted in terms of the revenue. It did not have an impact in terms of the all-in sustaining costs because it is on the revenue line, not the cost side. As we go forward, essentially, when you look at it, it is up.
Based on the current life of mine plan, the stage one of that stream will apply going forward for at least probably the next 20 years under the current operating environment that Northparkes is in, whereby they end up with 60% of gold and 90% of the silver.
Thank you.
Paul Hatfield. Red Lake has seen a decrease of 4.5 million oz compared to the estimate in December 2023. Are we likely to see any more decreases there? Was your fellow confident that what the established figures are correct?
It did experience a decrease, and we feel that we now have the assets and the understanding of the ore bodies to the point where there would not be a material decrease going forward.
Am I right in saying that it is 30 g per tonne on Red Lake? Is that somewhat the—I'm trying to work out from the report. I haven't had a chance to look at it.
There was an ore body that existed at Red Lake called the High Grade Zone that averaged 30-50 grams a tonne. Regrettably, that was mined out by the previous owners. And we left with an ore body of about five-ish grams a tonne.
Okay. Lastly, so Red Lake at the moment isn't included in the compound annual growth rate figures.
In terms of the returns on.
Yeah, it hasn't been going long enough to show a return?
No, it is showing a return now. It hasn't repaid fully its purchase price and investment. In due course, assuming it continues to consistently perform, it will certainly start repaying some of its capital investment.
Yeah, I'm just going by the slide. You didn't have Red Lake, were you?
No, it's not yet a gold color. Lori and John's job is to turn that red into gold.
Thank you.
You'll see that Red Lake is actually just sitting behind the Evolution Group average. It has a similar mine life. That is why it is identified on that chart, but it is sitting behind the Evolution Group average. We can show you that after.
Mr. Good, welcome. How are you?
Thanks, Jake. Just a simple three-part question. Only three parts today. All on dividends. With making so much money, do you intend to increase the payout ratio or make special dividends or pay quarterly dividends?
That is three parts of the same question, I think.
There are two more questions to go.
I think the reality is we are in a situation which we did not expect to be in. We are deleveraging materially faster than we expected to be. We are making and generating a lot of cash. Management's focus is on ensuring that that cash gets banked. How we deploy that cash in due course will be something that the board debates. Certainly, thinking about different ways of paying out dividends is part of that. The one thing that I will assure you that we won't do is that we won't reduce the hurdles for investment of your money into our portfolio of assets. We will remain disciplined. In the event that we have excess cash, we will determine how to deploy that outside to shareholders.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Thank you, Jake. Gary Pierce, a long-time very happy shareholder. My question was, I presume Lawrie did not throw you under the bus when you suggested you are going to have Mount Rawdon up and running by February next year, is it?
Mount Rawdon. Mount Rawdon has an option that the government of Queensland effectively own. They have spent close on AUD 40 million this year assessing the pumped hydro opportunity. Everything suggests that there are no fatal flaws to it and that it is the most advanced and most cost-efficient pumped hydro project to be able to be developed in Queensland. The challenges are that it is a significant investment. It is multiple billions of dollars. The Queensland government is moving towards determining whether they want to exercise the option, which would be in the first half of next year.
It will take probably two years after that and some hundreds of millions of dollars to get to an FID investment decision. It will take billions of dollars of investment to get it to be a 1.3 GW pumped hydro opportunity, which is part of the Christopher Lee government's plan. It is the best investment that they could make in renewable energy in terms of storage. There are a number of hurdles to go through. We will not, as Evolution, be investing in a pumped hydro asset. We will be relying on the government of Queensland to be doing that for us. It will be, in my view, one of the most unique opportunities to showcase how mining on a disturbed land site can be converted into renewable, long-term, multi-generational renewable asset.
I'm very excited and committed to doing that because I think it will showcase mining in a completely different way. That's something that the mining industry needs to do to demonstrate its credentials to the larger community.
Shankar Krishnan, I'm also a very long-time shareholder. Happy. Just wanted to ask you whether AI technology has got any impact on the way you do business.
I would say that the mining industry, and I'd put Evolution in that category, have been slow adopters of AI. It's something that Nancy and her team are looking at now. I think there are tremendous opportunities for embracing AI, particularly the speed at which AI is changing. The ability to implement that and introduce that to our business could have substantial and material changes. We are early stage. The mining industry are late adopters. I think it's a huge opportunity for both the industry and Evolution.
Morning, Jake. Morning. Another question about the pumped hydro. I love this concept. I think it's fantastic and support what you're doing. I think it will be great if it happens. I just have a few concerns around governments not actually putting the money in. If that doesn't happen, what is the backup plan?
Thanks. You should be concerned about the government putting in the money. They'll put it somewhere else, but they'll definitely spend it. The backup plan is to either close the mine as contemplated. Ben and the team and Fiona have done a lot of work in ensuring that, again, even if it didn't turn into a pumped hydro, it would be a model closure of a facility. It's something that Evolution could be proud of.
Of course, there is the potential of the stage five cutback and trying to access gold below that, which Evolution may or may not decide to do itself. If the gold price were to remain around AUD 6,000 an ounce, there is potential to potentially look at that. That is not something that we would like to do ourselves at this stage.
Sorry, just to follow that up, financially, do you have the funds there to support that remediation?
We do. It is accounted for in our financial statements.
Great. Thank you.
I have one more question. With respect to cash and cash equivalents you have in the balance sheet, do you hold gold also as an equivalent or?
We do not at this stage. It is something that we are contemplating. We do hold a lot of gold, but it is still in the ground and needs to be extracted. There are multiple million ounces that we do hold, but it does need to be extracted. It is something that is on our agenda as to how do we manage our treasury, given that we are now in the position where we have long-dated debt, which is low-cost debt. It is at less than 4%. The private bonds that we placed at a very opportune time. Now that Fran is contemplating this good problem to have that she may have too much cash. What does she do with it? Allocating it to gold is one thing that we are thinking about. Any other questions? No. Okay. I will just make one final comment as I sit in here listening to Lawrie's talk.
I mean, this is a long document, which we have put in many, many hours to create for you. When I was paging through it, it really does capture a year in which it has been fantastic for Evolution. It is the work not of a few people writing this report. It is the work of over 3,000 people working 24 hours a day. Our mines run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to try and develop and create what is in this document. I do encourage you to read through it. At least look at the photos. They are great. Thank you for your support. To this team over here, thank you so much for the contribution that you have made. You make Evolution the company it is today. Thank you.
We will now get to the good part of the meeting, and we'll be able to have some tea and cake, and you will be able to meet the people who are really creating the value for you.