Welcome to the December 2025 Greatland Resources Town Hall meeting hosted by Ticker TV, where we collect your questions and put them to Shaun Day, Managing Director of Greatland Resources. 2025 has been a simply extraordinary year for Greatland. The man sitting beside me has always had a bold strategic vision for the group. This year, he and the Greatland team have delivered that vision in spectacular fashion.
I'm going to keep my introduction brief, as you already know what an amazing year 2025 has been for the group, which leaves more time for Shaun to unpack your questions. Before we get there, Shaun is going to deliver the Havieron feasibility study presentation. Do enjoy that, and we'll come back to you in a few minutes time. Shaun, over to you.
Thanks very much, Donald. Thanks to Ticker TV for providing the platform to connect us with our shareholder base. It's really appreciated. As Donald said, what I'll try to do is go through the Havieron Project feasibility study presentation quite briefly. We'll try to keep it under 20 minutes, and that will leave more time to go through the questions with Donald, which have come from shareholders, which I think is what people most enjoy on this platform.
With that, let me just start with the overview of Havieron, which we very much see as a foundation asset for us at Greatland. Its long life, over 17 years, is the third longest underground reserve life in Australia, and that's behind the assets of you know, majors in Australia. In the mid-cap space, it really is quite unique. We also have a lowest quartile cost, which we think is exceptional and talks to the quality of the asset. It's over 4 million ounces in that 17-year mine plan.
Of course, the ore will come back to the existing Telfer mill, and we're also fully funded for it, both with cash at bank, which you've seen an extraordinary build of cash at bank with AUD 750 million generated over the last 10 months, plus the AUD 500 million debt facility from Tier 1 banks. How does this translate in terms of the life of mine? The life of mine that we've gone to the market with is over 50 million tonnes, delivering that 17 years.
Nine of that is steady state. You'll see we ramp up to hit that steady state production, and we include the ramp down within that 17-year period. We'll talk to some slides later. There's a huge opportunity to extend that mine life, both to extend that steady state, but indeed extend Havieron well beyond the current 17 years. We produce around 266,000 ounces of gold per annum, plus almost 10,000 tonnes of copper.
As part of this updated feasibility study, we increased the reserve by 55% by tonnes or over 36% by ounces. We now have over 38.5 million tonnes in reserve. To deliver the project, it's around AUD 1.065 billion to deliver the project to free cash flow.
As I said, with AUD 750 million in the bank, we almost have three-quarters of that already in place. Of course, we're partway through. That's our cash balance at 30 September 2025. You've seen over the last few quarters us continue to generate free cash flow, and we're optimistic we can continue to do that into this December quarter that we're presently in.
Then finally, we're delivering a steady state AUD 1,600 to 1,610 all-in sustaining cost, which translates to just over $1,000 all-in sustaining cost, which is exceptional. Again, puts it in that lowest quartile, certainly within Australia, but also globally. We generate over AUD 5.4 billion of free cash flow from Havieron.
That's at, we think, somewhat conservative long-term gold price of AUD 4,500. We've used that not because that's our belief that the gold price will come off to that number, but we felt that would resonate in the market and show the quality of the asset at a very reasonable gold price. When you take that up to spot, which incidentally today is trading around AUD 6,350, it's getting very close to AUD 10 billion of free cash flow.
NPV, that would translate to around AUD 5.4 billion or AUD 2.9 billion at that lower gold price. That delivers 22% or 22.5% IRR or over 31% at spot price and a payback there of four years or even three years at spot. The financial metrics of this Havieron study are tremendous.
Really what we're delivering here is a project you'd normally see in a major. You have second largest project in Australia and the third largest coupled with the third largest gold processing in Australia. When you look at that reserve, you know, we sit behind the two Newmont assets, you know, the world's largest global major, Cadia and Tanami. Next is Havieron in terms of that underground ore reserve. This is a good slide.
This just breaks up the Australian gold sector into quartiles. I think what's fantastic about Greatland is we actually have two assets. Both our assets in that ideal quartile of this map, which is the intersection of low all-in sustaining cost and good production volumes.
With the life extension opportunities we think we have at both Havieron and Telfer, the bubble size, the size of the mine there, I think we have a lot of opportunity to increase in time. This is where we sit in terms of all-in sustaining costs. As you can see, Havieron sitting there right at the my left end of this chart, so actually second lowest in Australia. This study is based on it being a completely standalone Havieron.
If you believe that we continue to extend the mine life of Telfer, then you'd see cost sharing with Telfer, which would actually really put us in a league of our own at Havieron. Then you see the Telfer cost. This is based on the fiscal year 2026 guidance.
It was lower than this in fiscal year 2025 and certainly the first quarter of this year, again, lower. Even at that higher guidance range, we're still sitting around mid-pack, which we think for an asset that we inherited that was seen as highest quartile, the direction of heading at Telfer, I think is really really positive for Greatland. This is just an overview of the asset itself. We drive down into that Havieron ore body. It's an underground ore body. The main decline is already 75% almost in place.
It's already over 300 m vertical progressed. Then you can see that straight decline, that second conveyor decline that we'll be bringing down from surface. That will take a little bit longer because, as I said, that main decline has a big head start.
Newcrest did a lot of work taking that decline down over almost three years. We'll start with the main decline truck haulage, but then we'll bring in that second decline, the conveyor decline, to ramp it up. You want that to be a straight line because conveyors like moving in straight lines rather than around corners.
This is again just a cross-section of that ore body. You can really see the in-mine infrastructure that we put in place here and that conveyor decline coming into a point where we have an underground crusher, where we'll feed all our ore into that underground crusher, and then it will be conveyed at surface. The ore plan right now is really focused on that southeast crescent, that blue shade area.
You can see the broader expanse of this ore body, particularly as you start spinning it around. There's a huge opportunity once we're in Havieron and once we're in that underground, and we have all that infrastructure in place just to drive out to the right of screen and take the rest of that ore body. This is where we feel 17-year mine life is an exceptional start, but Havieron even gets better. This is just the surface.
As people are aware, Havieron's already partly built, so a lot of the infrastructure is already there. We'll be adding to it as we build a second new can but also add some evaporation ponds and the second decline entry. Also fully costed within the feasibility study w e're actually doing some modifications to the Telfer plant on train one that will deliver that higher recoveries at Havieron.
Also again, if we're extending the Telfer life, Telfer will also get the benefits of that additional infrastructure, a tails leach circuit and a new CIP carbon in pulp circuit, which we think has the opportunity to notch up Telfer recoveries as well on that train one. This is a good schematic on this side in terms of the life of mine plan. I mentioned before the stages in the ramp up, and you can see the yellow trucks that's where we start with, where we ramp up, where we're just doing truck haulage up that main decline. Around year four, we turn on the conveyor, and we ramp up to that steady state.
Also on this slide, you can see post year 12, there's a bit of a ramp down. Again, very confident that we can bring. There's over 3.1 million ounces already delineated to JORC standard, sitting outside that mine plan. We're really confident in the opportunity to extend that. Then below those gold lines effectively show you the ounce profile, which averages around 266,000 ounces per annum, plus that 9,600 or 10,000 tonnes of copper through that core, steady state period.
This slide I'll just be brief too, but this just shows the cash generation and below the line you see the CapEx expenditure. A couple of years where we're developing the mine, then it rapidly moves to free cash flow, although we continue to spend CapEx as we put in that second decline.
You get to a mine that's generating over AUD 800 million per annum and that spot even higher than that, potentially. We think it's what this sets us up, the platform at Greatland in the long run is exceptional. Remembering we bought the assets with a less than 18-month mine life. We've already delineated it less than 12 months later to be 17 years. This is just a chart of the CapEx, and I won't spend a lot of time on this slide other than say, look, the real emphasis here is in-ground.
A couple of hundred million dollars on plant, but really a lot of what's happening at Havieron is developing that in-ground infrastructure, the decline down, the conveyor, the ventilation, both in that initial phase, but particularly in that expansion phase.
It's very much leveraging the existing surface infrastructure, and we just need to put in the underground to bring up that ore. In terms of the quality of this asset, the funding position is exceptional. Not only have we generated that AUD 750 million in just over three quarters, and again, we think there's an opportunity to continue that cash generation, but a group of Tier 1 banks, ANZ, ING, HSBC, plus Westpac and NAB have come in for a AUD 500 million debt facility.
Previously, we talked about the support around a project financing facility. This is better. It's a low-cost corporate facility, so we can use those funds however we want to, but it really underlines that we are fully funded to deliver Havieron.
The fact that we can attract Tier 1 banks that are not imposing hedging on us at low cost and the flexibility, and particularly a seven-year facility, are really unique features, and it shows what these Tier 1 banks, how they consider the quality of Havieron and the existing Telfer mine. We've talked about it being fully funded, but you can see with existing cash plus that debt, we have a comfortable margin above the funding requirement.
Of course, the ongoing opportunity to mine at Telfer gives us an ability to create even more buffer and even create insulation where perhaps we're not even drawing that debt if Telfer can deliver, continue to deliver, and of course, with the support of a strong gold price. I won't go through the NPV sensitivities.
They're there for you to look at, other than to say, we've actually put a bias where we've done more lower prices. The reason we've done that, again, we're confident about the trajectory of the gold price that's gone up since we did this slide. We love the fact that this works through the cycle. Even if the gold price was to almost 1/2 to AUD 3,750 an ounce Australian, that would still have a value of around AUD 2 billion.
We like the fact that this lowest quartile asset works through virtually any cycle. Just the upsides. Look, we think there's a lot of upside at Havieron. This is very much a stand-alone study, but when you bring it as co-processing with Telfer and you share cost, you get lower cost.
There's more, where there's 3.1 million ounces or 80 million tonnes outside the mine plan. We're gonna continue to drill Havieron, so we believe we can add. Of course, at Telfer, we're really confident about the opportunity for mine life extension. In terms of within Havieron itself, you can really see here the blue lines are what we're actually consuming as part of that mine plan. That green area, that ounces per vertical is what sits outside of that initial Havieron mine plan.
So a huge amount of ounces are there, still there to be taken, leveraging that infrastructure we're putting in. Then finally, this is really just talking to Telfer. Just finish off with these final two slides. Telfer mine life has a huge amount of opportunity, both at the two open pits, Main Dome and West Dome.
Underground Main Dome and West Dome, and we're particularly excited about that West Dome, and I know we have some questions on that. Plus, we've still got over 20 million tonnes of stockpiles, and we continue to invest in the drill bit with over 240,000 m being drilled. Then this slide just gives a bit of an illustration of what you can do with the cost structure. Right now, we're producing illustratively at Telfer between AUD 15 to 17 a tonne. The study assumes AUD 37 a tonne if we're just doing that 4 million tonnes of Havieron.
So, if you are co-processing, again, you can start getting down that average cost. Same applies to site services, sustaining CapEx, and a host of values where we think we can put further downward pressure on cost. With that, I might just pause the presentation. It's available to go through the rest but then turn to Donald so we can go through the questions from shareholders.
Shaun, thank you very much indeed. It's fantastic and fascinating as ever. I love hearing you talk the detail of Havieron, of Telfer. It's absolutely brilliant. I just love it. Welcome back to everyone. Thanks to all those who contributed excellent questions or certainly in terms of quality and quantity, we're always very grateful for that.
We find it very useful just to find out what exactly you guys are thinking so that we can actually then you know get the management to answer these things. Let me call on Paddy Gall, who expressed our appreciation for all the things t hat you guys have been doing very well, I thought. He basically at the start every person has written at the start of their.
This is unique. At the start of their question, each and every person has said how fantastically well you guys have done. I thought I would quote Paddy Gall. He said, "I would like firstly to congratulate you and all the team on a very successful first year of ownership and operation of Telfer Havieron." It's amazing to see where we are now from a standing start and all credit to you and everyone in the organization.
I think you would appreciate everyone in the organization is a big part of this. There's the whole team, not just the headquarters, but those folks on the ground, everyone has been working their butts off and it has just delivered. It's just amazing. Well done. Thank you.
That is a great lead in by Paddy, but it is a team game. I think that's very much the emphasis there. It's built up from first principles, that site, and look, we've really been delighted how that integration has gone, how we've brought it into Greatland, and what we've been able to deliver through that.
Which takes me very neatly to my first question. I'm gonna ask you a very open question which looks backwards, which is unique. You know, I never ask backwards-looking questions, but how would you sum up the journey that Greatland have been on over the last few years? You've gone from AIM-listed junior in Western Australia, Tasmania, all sorts, to one of Australia's top ten largest gold producers. Oh, my lord. With much more high grade, low-cost gold yet to come from Havieron, as you have literally just told us about. How would you summarize the journey?
Yeah, look, Donald, I think you've been an important part of that journey and so I have a lot of shareholders dialing in today. Look, this is very much what we set out to achieve. I think, you know, my background has been, you know, at Straits, at Sakari, at Northern Star, and, you know, here at Greatland, where in each case, we took a platform and we grew it from single asset to multi-asset, multi-billion-dollar platform.
That's what I thought was the opportunity here at Greatland. You know, the team led by Callum Baxter that discovered Havieron just did, you know. That's a once in a lifetime discovery. It's a premier asset. Then we had this opportunity where it was sitting in the shadow of the headframe of Telfer to potentially bring both assets together and unlock that value.
This is somewhat, you know, that Northern Star play where you come in and you say, "This is not a focus for a major, but as a mid-cap laser focus, the opportunity can be exceptional." That's, you know, very much the lesson I took from Northern Star, and that's the vision I bought here. Although there's been some twists and turns on the way and no journey is linear, this is what we set out to achieve for shareholders and, you know, we're delighted the team's been able to bring that forward.
You've had a degree of good fortune behind you as well, though. I mean, the timing of the gold price, all sorts. It's all gone your way, Shaun. It's quite extraordinary.
Well, the harder... [crosstalk]
You have some sort of, you know, lucky touch about you.
Well, the harder we work, the luckier we are. No, certainly there's been a tailwind from the gold price, and we bought an asset for AUD 540 million. I'm talking Australian here, and we're trading comfortably above AUD 5.4 billion less than 12 months later. This is an exceptional outcome. Again, we saw the opportunity. We thought, you know, and when we were doing due diligence on this asset, we saw the opportunity at Telfer. You know, in terms of Havieron, this second decline, ramping up to this much bigger, much longer life asset, that's something that we started work on in 2022.
We're running our own, you know, studies and doing first principles mine reviews as to what an unconstrained mine plan could deliver out of Havieron, and that's always been the focus of if given the opportunity, we would show what an unshackled Havieron can actually deliver.
You refused to be a junior when you were playing with the majors.
Well, that's a whole interesting episode in itself how we navigated Newcrest, but I don't think it could've worked out better. We're grateful for the opportunity and the platform they set up, and of course, the relationship with Newmont to complete that transaction was just a top-tier relationship, and we couldn't speak more highly about that Newmont organization.
What might your priorities be over the next two or three years? If you had to say, with your laser focus, what might those priorities be?
Look, we have a very clear focus ahead of us. Look, we wanna deliver Havieron and, you know, there's no relax about that. This is a major, you know, + AUD 1 billion project, so that's a huge focus for us. In parallel, we want to continue to invest in the drill bit.
At Telfer, demonstrate that mine life. I think that's where there's a real opportunity to, again, recast how people think about that asset by demonstrating the mine life and that's where we bring out the JORC Resource in time, the reserve, and then ultimately, we'll be able to describe to the market what a combined Telfer and Havieron case looks like. That's the opportunity ahead of us, and that's our real focus right now, is to work toward both the Telfer opportunity but also deliver Havieron in parallel.
Do you have the management team in place to actually deliver across those two projects?
Yeah. We feel. Look, we're gonna continue to augment and we want to bring in more good people whenever there's an opportunity to. I think, too, if you look at what we achieved this year in terms of the integration, setting up a SAP system from scratch, the Havieron study, the financing, the listing, there's just a huge list of things we achieved this year with that team. I think, you know, we do have the capital in place to achieve some pretty fantastic outcomes. Again, it's a team game. We kind of said that with the first question.
Mm.
You know, the strength of the team we have in place I think is a great virtue for us, and that applies to the site team. You know, when you buy an asset off a major, you get all these really capable people who had careers at Newcrest and Newmont, and that's been part of our strength as well.
I've heard feedback from Telfer that the team at Telfer have never been as well-treated. New gymnasiums, better food, everything's been sorted out. They're as happy as Larry.
Well... [crosstalk]
Is that how you've heard it fed back?
We're on a journey, and yeah, look, those values... [crosstalk]
Everyone's always happy.
We have been engaging. Yeah. I think it's continuous improvement. Look, again for us, Telfer is our one operating asset. We're laser focused on it, and we do want to deliver that for our staff.
Mm.
We want to bring them along the journey of Greatland, and we want them to have long careers. Again, I think one of the sea changes for people at Telfer is for a decade, they've been told Telfer's gonna close in two years. Now, it kept being shunted forward another two years, but now they're being told, "This mill will be spinning in 17 years' time." You know, that's a profound difference.
Mm.
You know, this isn't a transitory part of your career. You can have your complete career at Greatland and Telfer have one, and that, I think, you know, I think that's an exceptional opportunity for staff.
It is because it means that they're settled, their families are settled, their lives are settled. It's a big deal.
Yeah. Look, we've reintroduced family days where we fly out, you know, families and kids to see that site, so families can appreciate where they work because, yeah, even by Australian standards, Telfer is kind of in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah.
So... [crosstalk]
It's a tough place.
It's great to get the families out there, so they have some appreciation of the super hard work, you know, their family member is contributing.
Great. Right. I've slightly gone off piste here. I do apologize, but on behalf of all the people who've asked these great questions, here they go. Mark Smith and Andrew Henderson ask, "Are Greatland actively monitoring other gold exploration projects in the region? And would the board consider purchasing such projects and the relevant licenses if it was thought to be in the best interests of the company and shareholders?"
Yeah. Well, look, firstly, we're really confident in our own mine life. You know, 240,000 m of drilling, we are by far the most active driller in the Paterson, and this is existing mine life extension, and you see the mill is full. We think the opportunity is to maintain that mill being full, the third largest mill in Australia, just with the existing Telfer opportunities. Look, we're also undertaking our own regional exploration. Yes, we closely monitor what else is happening in our postcode. We are a monopoly provider of infrastructure in that area.
We think everything ultimately comes to our mill, and we're happy to do that in joint venture. We're happy to acquire. We're happy to toll treat. There's a number of ways you can solve it, but we're certainly open for business. We're spoiled for choice right now because of our own ore, but we're very comfortable to work with our neighbors, and we actually want to encourage other people to do exploration in the Paterson.
Mm.
It's a great postcode for exploration.
Great answer. This ties in. Are you concerned about the possibility of another major move again if Greatland Resources doesn't act quickly to further consolidate the region? The way you always talk about the mining industry, it's almost as if you're all friends rather than enemies, which is fascinating.
Yeah. Look, I do see it as a collegial sector. Yeah, I know most of the other gold, you know, CEOs and senior teams, and I think we have a camaraderie, yeah, we all want the sector to flourish. We want our people to flourish. We want it to be safe. We want it to be successful. I think there is a camaraderie, and we apply the same when working with junior companies in the Paterson.
You know, we're there to support and help. We have infrastructure. You know, we want them to be successful because ultimately we have our own interest in them being successful because we think that all will come into our mill at some stage.
Their success becomes your success.
Exactly. In terms of another major, look, it is elephant country. You've got Rio Tinto up there in the north with the Winu asset, Telfer and Havieron, a collective, you know, + 30 million-ounce endowment. That is a big gold deposit by global standards. You know, this is a huge endowment. It is elephant country. Having said that, to replicate the infrastructure we have in the Paterson, probably that mill alone would be north of AUD 2 billion today. Our incumbent advantage, I think, is significant.
Right. Dipsad. Where would a Q&A session be without Dipsad? He says, "It's been an absolutely fantastic year since the acquisition with a decent re-rate as a producer" since he's the only person mentions the share re-rate. We'll pause and say, have you enjoyed the share re-rate?
Oh, the share re-rate. I'm a shareholder. I think it's good for all of us, and.
We've enjoyed that, yes.
I think there's some, you know, some greater opportunity if we can deliver what we've described in terms of life and execution on that.
Well, I'm hearing that. There's more to come. It's been good, but there's more to come. The market and institutional audience no doubt need to see Telfer reserves grow in first half 2026 on top of a well-received Havieron DFS to grow the market cap further. Here's the question. There is a question. What steps do the team plan to take to help drive interest in Greatland Resources in 2026 as we are very much growth play as an investment? What are you gonna do in terms of marketing yourselves?
Yeah, no, it's a good question by Dipsad, and I think picking up how well the Havieron feasibility study was received is important. Typically, when you come out with, you know, feasibility studies, it's a dip in the market. So I think, you know, we got that right.
The team in terms of how we presented that to the market, I think that people were expecting it to be a long life, lowest quartile, high quality asset, and I think we put the ball down the fairway in terms of delivering that. In terms of what we do from here as well, not just in terms of delivery, which is operationally at Telfer, but also construction at Havieron, we have a very clear plan.
You know, we want to come out with a JORC resource update in the March quarter, so next quarter. I think that's really significant. Look, a lot of that will be in-field drilling as well, so part of it is consolidating what we already have. We move into a JORC reserve update the following quarter, the June quarter.
That sets us up in fiscal year 2027. I'd probably like to complete studies demonstrating the opportunity at the West Dome underground and the West Dome, that big Stage 2 Extension opportunity. I think once we've got those in place, which are not going to be, you know, the same volume of study that you see with Havieron. These are more internal studies. Once those are completed, I think it sets us up in fiscal year 2027 to establish that integrated mine plan and an outlook of what Havieron and Telfer look like when operating together.
The Telfer hub.
The Telfer hub model.
Yeah. Great. I find them slightly existential questions from Carl Dawson. They're really big questions. What's the biggest risk to executing the plan for Telfer and Havieron? And what are you doing to mitigate it? That's one part. The other one is, people always ask this, so inevitably someone asks it, do you see a future where the company moves from London and is entirely on the ASX? Existential risk, what's the biggest risk, and are you ever gonna move fully onto the ASX?
Yeah. No, thanks. Well, let me answer that in two parts. Look, the you know, we think the risk-return opportunity is heavily in our favor at Greatland. Look, again, there's no relax. We're delivering a billion-dollar project. You know, there's lots to do. It's a multi-year project of execution. That's really important to us to get that right. Similarly at Telfer-
I'm gonna press you. What's the biggest risk though? He's asking you what the biggest risk is.
Look, I think it's just getting down that second decline, that conveyor decline. We've got to do that from surface. I think pleasingly that main decline is already 321 m vertical. We need to take it less than 100 m
down further to get into the ore body. That takes us into production, it takes us into free cash flow. Just how long it takes to get that second decline, I think people can remember that Newcrest fell behind their target development rates. We think there's some lessons learned from that. We think we'll be laser-focused. We like to think we can deliver on time, on budget.
Was it the geology? Was it the water? I mean, what were the issues?
Um... [crosstalk]
How can you do this?
Yeah, that Permian zone, I think through those aquifers, the ground can be a little bit softer. Ironically, in underground mining, you actually like the ground conditions to be hard. You want it to support itself. You can actually go through it quicker, the harder it is. Just where it's a little bit softer, that's where we take it slowly and we use additional ground support. Once you're in the country rock at Havieron, the ground conditions are just ideal. It's just getting through that top layer. I think that's important for us, but yeah, we want to do all this safely.
I think one of the record achievements we're really pleased about at Telfer, for instance, is we've taken the injury TRIFR rate from about 10.0 to 14.0 under Newcrest down to 6.0 to 7.0 after 12 months of our ownership.
Mm-hmm.
In addition to all the operating and cost savings, we're doing it safer as well and that's what we wanna do there. In terms of the second limb of the question, look, we're really grateful for the support that we've had in London and we wouldn't be in the position we are without that support in London. Just to take people's mind back to September 2024, it was the largest mining equity raise on London on any exchange since 2017. The support here is wonderful.
We're having the town hall shortly, and we get a great turnout, which we're really appreciative of. I think the London listing's gonna continue to be a feature of us, and I think this week you've seen the London listing on a bit of a tear, leading the Aussie exchange. You know, they like race cars. One can outperform the other from time to time, but I think the collective strength is great. They're two of the world's premier exchanges.
You've always appreciated the London Stock Exchange, though, haven't you? You've always been a fan.
I've always been a bit of an Anglophile, so it's a pleasure to get up here.
No, I'm sure the LSEG are very grateful to hear you say things like that. That's always good. Okay.
The reforms of the LSE, I think, are really helpful.
They're heading in the right direction, aren't they?
I think so, yeah. More should be done, but definitely the direction of travel is good.
Good to hear. Tibor Zolnoki asks about the Havieron development schedule. It's an interesting question. Is it a deliberate policy to slow the development down while stockpiling cash to pay for some of it from the profitable Telfer operation? Or are you, in fact, proposing to speed up the Havieron development to take advantage of the current high gold price? Slow it down, speed it up.
We've already done a heck of a lot of stockpiling of cash. We're up to AUD 750 million.
How much more does he want?
I'd like to think there's the opportunity at the current gold price to have another positive quarter in December. Now, that quarter's not finished. There can be twists and turns. I think the cash stockpiling, Telfer has almost paid for Havieron inside of 12 months. That is remarkable. You've got one of the top gold assets in Australia paid for inside a year by Telfer. I think that limb of what we need to do is well and truly achieved.
I wouldn't describe the rate that we've put in there as conservative. We've been realistic. Now, we think we can achieve it. In fact, the development rate is slightly slower than what you saw under Newcrest in terms of our assumptions. It is a much bigger development, multiple heads. We think where we've come when you benchmark it, we think we've got the balance about right. I think people should expect us to deliver in line with the schedule, not thinking it's a conservative.
Okay, debt funding from Dipsard, Tibor Zolnoki again, Stephen Bridge. The subject of debt funding for Havieron always stirs passionate debate in the retail investor community. To summarize, they find it hard to work out, given that you're throwing off cash at the moment, why you would need a debt facility, why you want to go be debt funded. Given that you've, you know, you've got all good things in your hands already.
Well, as anyone who's taken out a loan knows, the best time to borrow money is when you don't need money. You know, we've put this AUD 500 million facility in place. It clearly demonstrates that we're fully funded, which I think is part of the positive market reaction that we had. I don't think anyone's now worried that we have to raise equity to deliver Havieron, and that was a really important milestone. It may be if we continue to enjoy operational success coupled with a high gold price, that we don't need to draw that debt.
It's a luxury to have that debt. And if you're going to have debt, the facility that we put in place, I think is an exceptional one. A seven-year corporate revolver, so flexible loan, I think is unique in the space that we occupy. Wh ich again, those big banks do due diligence. It's a little bit of verification of how the big banks think about our asset platform.
Yes. You described it as a seven-year facility, and those are quite unusual, aren't they?
Yeah. Look, you'd normally see a revolver facility up to five years. You know, three to five years. To come out with seven years. Again, it talks to the uniqueness of having a 17-year mine life plus a JORC inventory of millions of ounces, 3.1 million ounces more. You know, this is not a normal asset for that space in the market.
I think they're glad to have you as a client, aren't they?
I think so. Put it this way. I don't think there were many banks that didn't reach out to us during that process.
Happy days.
Yeah. We got to pick the eyes out of the market, which is... [crosstalk]
I wish you hadn't said that. That's an Australian phrase, is it? Very good. Stephen Bridge, David Love, Akin Kumar ask about the possibility of introducing the dividends or share buybacks, once Havieron is fully funded, with Stephen reminding us that you're a dividend kind of guy.
Thank you. I think I have used that phrase before. I am a dividend kind of guy. We had a dividend at Straits. We had a dividend at Sakari. We had a dividend at Northern Star. Look, our first port of call is to make sure we're fully funded for Havieron. We're a long way down that track. We want to obviously have a buffer as well, but I think, look, share buybacks, dividends are a really important milestone, and I think it's a good discipline of equity to understand that we should be returning money to equity holders.
It's something we aspire to do. You know, to be open with you, I don't think it's imminent. We need to make sure that we are fully funded for Havieron, and we probably want to be put in a position where we don't feel we need that debt. You know, again, tell me the gold price and I can give you a better indication on timetable, but it's certainly something we clearly aspire to do.
No, that makes perfect sense. I'm sure people wouldn't entirely be expecting you to say it's happening. I don't think they expect that, to be perfectly frank. Stephen Bridge again. Greatland, I was sitting on a significant cash pile. Are we making the best use of that cash? And what sort of returns do we expect to make from our cash holdings? Well, there you go. People are looking at the detail of your business.
Well, right now we lend money to banks. Yeah, look, we manage that through deposits with banks. We want to get a return. We want to outperform inflation in terms of those returns. Equally, we are reasonably measured. We think we have, you know, some really good operating assets that generate the free cash flow. We do want to protect that cash for shareholders, and so we can redeploy into high-earning assets. We're not doing any exotic investments with it.
It's very straight down the line, just looking at, you know, generating kind of high-quality counterparts. Basically, those banks that we just read out are really our relationship banks. We try to keep competitive tension within those five banks to get the best returns we can.
Have you deliberately not gone for a number? I suspect he's after a kind of... [crosstalk]
Oh, look, if you look at Australian interest rates, you'd be expecting north of [inaudible]... [crosstalk]
Standard.
A percent.
Yeah.
Which is higher than probably standard, but when you're a larger depositor, you can normally get a more competitive rate. I think our reserve bank governor came out and said that the next direction of interest rates, which is likely up, which as a depositor is good news, and is also good news for gold typically.
I think I did describe you as lucky.
Yeah.
D idn't I, Shaun? Some Telfer production questions next. Simon Roscoe, for years you've always been very positive about the growth potential for Telfer and the extension of its mine life, given your experience at Northern Star. You've already referenced Northern Star, already today. Have even you been surprised at what's developed since acquisition, the scope of what you're finding in terms of volumes and grades at the likes of the open pit Stage 2 Extension and West Dome underground?
Well, look, in terms of that Northern Star experience, we bought six assets from majors, and I think four of those had a mine life of less than 12 months. All six of those are still operating a decade later. I think that tells you something about the opportunity to extend mine life, and particularly at current gold price, that puts, you know, even more opportunity before you. Look, we're very confident about the mine life extension. Let me emphasize Havieron as well.
I think there's some great opportunity to continue to add ounces there, but Telfer is an immediate focus for us. That's where we're doing that 240,000 m of drilling. I think we saw that opportunity through due diligence. We love the fact that Telfer was underinvested.
That's what made it such a dripping roast for us. The two areas where we've probably exceeded expectations, firstly, that West Dome underground. Even on due diligence, the site team was saying, "We must drive out there. It's a great opportunity." To drive out there and have the highest average grades at Telfer since the 2005, you know, restart as the much bigger beast we know today is as good a outcome as you possibly could have hoped for.
Look, the week before the feasibility study came out, so it was a bit overshadowed, we came out with another 15 intercepts on that West Dome underground. It just continues to blossom. That's been an exceptional opportunity, and we continue to have two rigs and probably hopefully get a third rig onto, on the drilling of that West Dome underground.
The other area that we've been really pleased with is that West Dome open pit, that big Stage 2 E xtension. There's a lot of focus on the infill drilling right now on the stage seven that we're cutting back and into the beginning and crossing into that Stage 2 Extension, but we like what we're seeing there. We're gonna continue to drill that out, and just the volume of that area is really significant to add that extend that base load feed. But also importantly, once Havieron comes online, it actually slows down how much ore you even need at Telfer.
You know, this really will be, you know, if all these new three areas come on, West Dome underground, that big West Dome expansion, plus we have Havieron ore, you know, we'll feel mill constrained notwithstanding it's the third largest mill in Australia. That's the opportunity before us.
Hmm. Wow.
Yeah. No, it is exceptional, but again, it's not unique to this site, but we definitely saw the opportunity and that's what made us want to pursue this.
Right. John Doyle's question. When do you expect the Cat 6090 shovel and the new mining fleet to arrive? Where will it be deployed? What impact will it have on Telfer's schedule and mining grades?
Yeah. No, great question. Look, the Cat 6060 shovel we should have in the March quarter, arriving shortly. That will be deployed into that West Dome open pit, initially on that Stage 7 Extension, and ultimately, I hope it's deployed into a big Stage 2 Extension. In terms of the truck fleet, although we have bought a couple of new Cat 793s onto site, and they'll also kind of be arriving in that March quarter, we've been refurbishing the existing fleet, full life of chassis rebuilds.
We're bringing those on basically two by two. We've already had a couple of new ones arrive from site, but that will continue through fiscal year 2026 and fiscal year 2027 as we renew that truck fleet and set us up for a longer life.
Surprising you for having a canny thing to do.
Yeah. Look, it's those, especially with that Caterpillar gear, it's big, heavy frames, beautifully built.
Yeah.
They really can be rebuilt and that's actually the competitive advantage that Caterpillar would articulate to you. That's because they build such high quality, such big, heavy frames, even though you pay a little bit more up front, which obviously predates our ownership, but they lend themselves to very cost-effective rebuild. Your life-cycle truck cost is lower because of the quality of the Cat gear.
Who knew? Wow. Every time I sit down with you, Shaun, I learn. Paddy Gall. Okay. I'd like to ask, how confident are you that Greatland will be in a position to mine enough from stage seven in 2026, we've just been talking about these to make up for any shortfall once the stockpiles are depleted at the end of the March quarter? I think Simon referenced the new machinery that had been ordered and may bring the production forward from that area.
Yeah. Look, firstly, one of the reasons we've renewed that open pit fleet is to de-risk mining. You know, better availability of gear actually gives you higher productivity. We believe that the Stage 7 Extension in West Dome open pit creates the base feed for fiscal year 2027, fiscal year 2028. Those are the year ended 30 June 2027 and year ended 30 June 2028.
That's kind of where we're currently focused and in terms of stockpile, although we use a lot of the high-grade stockpile, really all the high-grade stockpile during the course of this year to fiscal year to June 2026. We still have over 21 million tonnes of stockpiles at surface. Again, that's over a year of mill feed in and of itself to augment any twists and turns in that production profile.
There's still a lot of stockpile left. Is it low-grade stockpile or is it... [crosstalk]
Well, it's a lower grade. It's not the high-grade stockpile, so we do distinguish it. Again, it's economic and at, particularly at this current gold price, we actually direct tip a lot of that. We either call it low-grade stockpile or partially costed material. We actually typically right now will prioritize direct tipping that rather than putting it onto the stockpile just to save the rehandling cost. The outcomes you've been seeing in the past quarters already reflect us putting a lot of that material through the mill.
There is no shortfall... [crosstalk]
We're... [crosstalk]
No gap.
R eally confident. Obviously, we've got to execute the mine plan, but we feel we can achieve that.
Thank you. Richard Spark asks, are the mineral resource estimate and the feasibility study both required for the West Dome extensions at Telfer? If the MRE is expected in March 2026, when might we expect the feasibility study?
It's a good question by Richard. We bring out that mineral resource estimate in the March quarter. Yes, we will do studies, but these are not the extravaganza that the Havieron feasibility study, big billion-dollar commitment. These are run of mine, just extension of what we're already doing. Yes, we'll complete internal studies to make sure we're getting the return on investment that we want.
But they are basically something that we do almost routinely, such as going into stage seven, we completed an internal study. We'll want to get them completed. I see them more as milestones that we want to achieve before we really want to stretch ourselves out and kind of try to explain that integrated mine plan.
Now, I'm not sure I entirely agree with this question cause I personally think that the share price has been positive. I think I've been thrilled with everything I've seen out of your operation in the past months, year. Tony Sherston of Buffer don't though. There you go. We can't please everyone all of the time.
Many AIM investors have expressed their surprise at the poor market response to the increasingly great results and prospects coming from the ongoing Telfer development. Are you surprised? Let's just wrap this one in as well. Shaun, are you disappointed in the effects of the dual AIM, ASX listing or has this actually delivered what you expected? Oh.
Well, it's a great week for this question because AIM, the London market, is leading Australia this week. It's a good time to ask that question. In other weeks, you've seen the opposite, where the ASX has probably stretched out a bit above the LSE listing or the AIM listing. Look, I think both have their individual strengths. I think combined you get some really meaningful liquidity.
Probably a little bit more liquidity these days in Australia, but both are strong. Look, I think both have performed to expectations. We think. Again, we've bought an asset for AUD 541 million and we're trading north of AUD 5.5 billion twelve months later. Well, you know, this is good.
What's been, I think, good and what we've wanted to see in that Australian listing is more index buying, and more passive, investor or institutional holders, and we've seen that. I think having that whole new group of investors come in has strengthened our position. I think it has supported the share price, but also it's diversified our shareholder base. I think all of those are good for the medium to long- term.
Do you expect to be more passive and, more institutional?
Yeah, we do. I think there's been some events, you know, more recently where you've seen some of that as well. We think that you continue to see those opportunities.
Great. Right. Development questions next. We're cracking on. Chris Thompson asks, Shaun. Oh, this is a good one. Shaun, brilliant development at Telfer. What a bargain. What about the decline at the big prize Havieron? Well, there you go. He's bull's-eye from Chris Thompson.
Yeah.
You said that's what you were worried about.
Yeah. Look, it's a real focus for us. It's a multi-year decline development. You know, getting that ramp down is really important. What I think is hugely de-risking, though, is the fact that the main decline is already 321 m vertical advance. That's over 2,100 m by change in terms of how far that decline is down. We're gonna do both. We're gonna continue that main decline. We're also gonna start the conveyor decline, but we'll get into that ore body a lot earlier with that main decline, which will allow us to start hauling ore to surface. In terms of timeframe, you've kind of got to go slower to go quicker.
What I mean by that is, rather than all our gear working on that main decline, some of it will be doing the that conveyor decline. We'll also be putting in additional ventilation, so that's drives out to bring in that ventilation.
Then once you get that extra ventilation in place and you can take the gear off doing that preliminary work, you get it on the productive ramp down that drives into the ore body, plus with more ventilation you can bring in extra gear, you get a bit of a double whammy in terms of your ramp up. That's why we can take it to circa 4 million tonnes once we get that all in place. Lots to do. We're really pleased with how it all hangs together.
Here we go. Stuart Girvan is happy, though, so somebody's happy. That's good. "I thought the definitive feasibility study, RNS, was excellent in terms of actually understanding the position to date with Havieron." Isn't that amazing? Someone actually writing to say how happy they are with your IR.
Yeah.
I just wondered if there's still a requirement for formal RNS confirming a decision to mine at Havieron and Telfer, for that matter, and if so, over what timeframe?
Yeah, look, I think firstly, just to acknowledge, I think that the team did an amazing job at getting the tone right in that feasibility study. Even the, you know, the kind of 100-page kind of executive summary that came with it, I think had a lot of information, and I think again got the tone really right in terms of how it was engaged by the market, and we had some really positive feedback there, which I think was all part of that very positive market reaction.
In terms of, you know, the broader sense when we do get EPA approval, which remember, is still a gating factor for us, I think then we'll be in a position to do a final investment decision and that FID will, I expect, be a separate announcement.
Stuart Woolston, who asks about your EPA announcement. When do you expect that, and explain what that's all about.
Yeah, look, in Australia, we now have two EPAs, so there's a little bit of duplication at the federal or commonwealth level and at the state level. Historically, it was only done at the state level until relatively recently. Look, we are well advanced with the state EPA approval. I think that's well in hand. Similarly, progressed with the federal that typically in Australia takes a little bit longer these days. We are advanced there. Remember, Newcrest started this in 2021. It's a four-to-five-year process, but we think we're definitely in the final phase.
We took the approach in the study to describe permitting plus one, permitting plus two, because we didn't want to be definitive about the government approvals, albeit we're very confident that we'll get both and all the necessary approvals by 30 June 2026, so kind of in the next kind of six months. Albeit, as I said, we are trying not to be definitive, but equally, we're trying to be open about where we currently see it, and we have a good relationship with both the state and commonwealth EPAs, and the feedback we're getting right now is very positive.
I think also importantly, when it did go out for public comment, there was only two submissions made, one by the Indigenous group, which was supportive, and I think getting a supportive submission from the Indigenous group shows the maturity and the quality of the relationship we have there. I think that's reasonably unique to get that support.
Greatland generally have a very good relationship with Indigenous peoples.
We do. It's something we really value.
Oh, I can see that.
The second comment was actually completely off base talking about offshore oil permits. That was a bit of an odd submission. I think that gave us, but I think also gives EPA a very firm footing to move forward on.
Okay. I can see we're sadly coming to the end. We've been on air for about an hour, but we've got another 10 minutes or so to go. Quickly to exploration questions. Mustn't forget exploration. Next question comes from the well-known Greatland commentator, Stuart Hinds. He says, "Excluding Telfer, can you tell us of any exploration tenements that are awaiting assays to be returned, and what tenements you plan to drill in 2026?" Good question.
Yeah, look, we’re gonna continue to invest in that drill bit. Look, the center of gravity for us is obviously in mine, but I think he’s also wants to understand that broader regional exploration play. I think we want to continue to step out of the region for the moment. I think Ernest Giles is something that there’s ongoing activity at, and that shouldn’t be lost. We think it’s a high-quality opportunity.
You've always liked Ernest Giles.
I have. We go into the region itself. We have a broad-based, you know, pattern that we're gonna be doing, and I think we got up to four rigs in regional exploration this year, during the course of fiscal year 2025, and I think we'll probably get similar, if not more in fiscal year 2026. A real focus for us is what's known as the southeast hub. These are satellite deposits, somewhat understood already on a mining lease, 100% owned by Greatland, captured within our Indigenous Land Use Agreement. They could come into the ore body probably quicker than any other ore body maybe outside of Havieron, which is underway.
That's also a bit of a focus that we've handed across to that regional exploration team, and we shared some intercepts there at our last quarterly update. We'll have another quarterly update. We like doing that quarterly, and we've separated it out from the production profile to give it a bit more visibility and emphasis because it's important to us.
Mm-hmm.
There's gonna be continued there, but that southeast hub, I think that's probably an area to watch.
Great. Okay, thank you. I'll remember that one for the future. Jonathan Dixon, Nick Taylor, Simon Roscoe, they're all interested in O'Callaghans and tungsten. Let me read three questions. Answer it in one, but I'm gonna read three parts, and essentially, it's the three questions put together. What value do you assign to O'Callaghans and the tungsten? What are the obstacles to monetizing this by mining it ourselves rather than selling? Fair enough.
What's the plan for O'Callaghans, Australia's largest tungsten deposit, and why hasn't GGP included it in any resource estimates? Part two. Part three, JP Morgan ha ve just forecast a gold price of $5,000 an ounce and copper at AUD 12,000 a tonne for 2026. Are we having tungsten for dessert?
Look, let's start with the gold copper. Those price forecasts are tremendous, and I think a lot of the market sees opportunities in gold and copper. We couldn't have a better mix of commodities. Now let's focus on O'Callaghans, which is our tungsten-copper asset. Delighted with the question cause it is a bit of a sleeper in our portfolio. It is. It's one of the world's great tungsten deposits in terms of grade and size. Certainly, sitting outside of China. There is a very good quality asset in Canada, but arguably this is next on the list.
It's a great asset for us and critical minerals now are really getting a lot of attention both with the Australian government, Japanese government, US government of course, and there is actually an Australian-US government critical minerals agreement. It's a real focus for us. This was fully drilled out by Newcrest. I think it was, say, 2012 to 2014 pre-feasibility study done, but virtually done to feasibility study standards.
Newcrest once upon a time had O'Callaghans in their reserve, so not just resource but all the way into reserve. We are going to be looking at potentially reintroducing that. Can't say whether it will fit into this March quarter because to be honest, we are focused mainly on the gold.
We would like to do it and it's certainly on the radar, and we are thinking, you know, in terms of the question on value and how we would monetize it. We're very much thinking about the best way to do that. That may not necessarily be Greatland owning a tungsten division, but we'd certainly like to create value for shareholders and we, that will be a bit of a focus for us as to how to solve that puzzle and, you know, create value around this event, which I think there's an array of corporate solutions for.
Oh.
I think people should be confident that we'll unpack them during the course of the next calendar year.
This doesn't sound like an outlier though. This sounds like a really serious proposition.
Oh, look, it's a high-quality asset. Even the fact that it has base metals with it, you know, principally copper, is hugely advantageous.
Crikey. The copper even adds to the tungsten value.
Well, it does. It virtually doubles the effective grade of the tungsten. That's how important that base metal is to it. It's a really interesting asset. It's been a bit overlooked.
Mm-hmm.
I think critical minerals clearly is a bit of a time to focus.
This is... [crosstalk]
There's this bifurcation away from China.
Yep.
I think, you know, having reliable Western supply chains, and I think tungsten potentially is part of that equation. We're excited.
Mick Taylor, he's on the reliable Western supply chains angle. I believe there's been meetings in Washington with several Australian mining companies, with officials from agencies in the Trump administration, and they're taking equity stakes in American mineral companies, for example, MP Materials. He says, "I appreciate you probably wouldn't be able to say anything, but is this something we're looking at or likely to look at in the future?" I'm gonna ask you separately, would you like someone taking it from the US administration taking a stake in Greatland?
Well, maybe not a stake in Greatland, but there's ways where they could potentially take a stake in the tungsten O'Callaghans deposit. Potentially I think the potential for off-takes with high quality government you know Department of Defense or someone else I think that's very attractive. Look, we're seeking to and to some extent have got you know O'Callaghans on the radar for that and you know we're excited about where those discussions. We actually think the approach by Western governments of creating that underwritten price so the price can't be manipulated by China.
Price floor.
A price floor, I think is a really sensible way for the market to decide what are the high quality assets in that space.
Would you like to see a price floor established for tungsten?
Well, I think yes. I think it works very well where the market says, "Hey, look, if we can deliver a stable price around market prices where they won't be interfered with, you know, that gives you the confidence then to develop and fund an asset."
Crikey. There you go. When I ask you questions, Shaun, I never quite know what you're gonna tell me and there you go. You never fail to. You don't disappoint. Right. Stuart Woolston, Holman, we've spoken about him. Here we go. Final question just around the Q&A. We've had a brilliant Q&A session. You've been really. I've been quite tough with you and you've responded fantastically. I'm very grateful for all that. Question from Dipsad.
Of course, we're gonna have the final question from Dip, and he talks about the integrated mining outlook due from mid-2026 after the WDU and Telfer updates have been released to market in first half. Those are the missing puzzle pieces for investors, as he puts it. They want to have a more accurate picture of the shareholder value from the Telfer-Havieron hub.
Can you be more specific around those release timeframes?
Yeah, look, I think Dipsad is correct in terms of we think they are the puzzle pieces that we need to deliver.
Mm-hmm.
People can better understand. I think there's a reasonably good understanding of Havieron right now. You know, fresh from that feasibility study, I think we've done well at explaining the upside that we didn't bake into the financial elements. I think the upside right now, we actually think is a lot around Telfer because Telfer is still perceived as this short life asset.
You know, we hope to demonstrate with all that drilling, with the upcoming JORC resource, that Telfer actually is a whole lot more than that in terms of life expectancy, and we can already demonstrate what Telfer Life does in terms of free cash flow. For me, look, I think what we can say with confidence is a March quarter JORC resource, a June quarter JORC reserve. Perhaps w e'd like to get into a cadence of doing those updates every March and June quarter respectively.
If we maintain the intensity of drilling, perhaps we do a mid-cycle update, and that would really lend itself to trying to get out that outlook at, you know, on the back of that. I also, you know, there's a lot we'd like to incorporate West Dome Underground. We'd like to incorporate that larger West Dome open pit. There is some internal work we need to do because when we go out, we want to be confident.
Do you think the team to hear you talking about these, this extra work you want to add into the schedule that they're gonna groan, or are they gonna go, "Shaun is quite right. We want to work harder"?
I think when you tell geologists they can have more rigs, they're as happy as clams. Look, I think the team is really excited about delivering that life cycle and I think this is the opportunity and I think what, you know, the site team are enjoying is there is now this owner that wants to invest in the asset, that wants to demonstrate its full potential, that wants to value the staff and give them a long-term opportunity. I think all of that means that, you know, the ship is sailing in the same direction.
Okay. Let me quickly have a look. Yeah. We're officially out of time. We've been on air about one hour and 10 minutes. You've done brilliantly, Shaun. It's been a joy as ever. I've learned so much, and thank you, and thank you indeed for coming across from Perth, Australia, to be with us, for which we're genuinely grateful. Thank you. We've received so many questions, and as ever, we won't be able to answer them all. The ones that we do ask, you get a really full answer from Shaun. Thank you very much indeed for asking them. I thank you for the quality, I thank you for the quantity, and I thank you for your time.
The lucky of those of you who can actually make it to the town hall meeting tonight, you're very lucky because you're in for a treat. It's gonna be absolutely fantastic. If not, I look forward to seeing you online at the next town hall meeting. Thank you very much indeed for watching.