Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the board and management team, I'd like to welcome you to the 2023 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders for Sandfire Resources Limited. My name is John Richards, and I'm the Chair of Sandfire. I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, the Whadjuk people of the Noongar Nation, as well as the First Nations people of the lands on which Sandfire conducts its business. I've been advised that a quorum is present, and declare the meeting open. To those of you watching and listening online, thank you for joining us. I'd like to introduce the other members of the board, who are all in attendance at the meeting. From my right, Brendan Harris, our CEO and Managing Director. To his right, Jen Morris, who is standing for re-election today.
Jen is Chair of the People and Performance Committee. To Jen's right, Paul Harvey, who joined us recently and is standing for election today. Sally Langer, who is Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee. Rob Edwards, Chair of the Risk and Sustainability Committee, and Sally Martin. And on my left, Sophie Raven is the Company Secretary. There are also a number of the Company's advisors attending our meeting today, and I welcome, in particular, David Newman and Angela McElroy in the middle there, who are from Deloitte, the Company's auditors, and who will be available to answer questions at the appropriate time. I will now deliver my address, and this will be followed by a presentation by Brendan. 2023 was a busy and successful year for Sandfire, where the company continued its transition into a global copper producer of significance.
Importantly, during this period of growth, Sandfire achieved a record-low total recordable injury frequency of 1.6 for the year. Safety is fundamental for Sandfire, and our continued focus on safety and well-being of our people is at the forefront of our business values and strategies. We continued to establish the foundations for more consistent and predictable performance at our cornerstone asset, MATSA. We also constructed and commissioned our Motheo copper operations in Botswana, and we wound up mining and processing at our legacy asset, the DeGrussa Copper Mine in Western Australia. The seamless and safe transition of DeGrussa into care and maintenance during the latter part of FY 2023 would not have been possible without the dedication and efforts of our Sandfire team. Looking to the future, our geology teams discovered the mineralized Olivo and San Pedro zones at MATSA and the A1 deposit at Motheo.
At last year's AGM, we announced the appointment of Brendan Harris as CEO and Managing Director, and we were thrilled to officially welcome him to the company in April. Brendan brings a broad range of leadership, commercial, and technical skills to Sandfire, as well as experience in managing diversified international mining operations. Brendan has already made a major positive impact to the company. Guided by our new shared purpose, we mine copper sustainably to energize the future. Brendan has worked with the board and leadership team to sharpen the company's focus and further refine our strategy to deliver safe, consistent, and predictable performance as we look to unlock the strategic value of our processing hubs and broader land holdings.
To deliver that strategy, Brendan has built an executive leadership team with a breadth of multi-commodity and international experience that is well-placed to guide Sandfire through the next phase of its development. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture which enables everyone to achieve their full potential, and we want to be judged by our actions in doing that. 18 months ago, we had an executive team of three men, the CEO, CFO, and COO. Under Brendan's leadership, the team has expanded to a larger, highly skilled, more focused, and diverse team of seven, where three members are female. Our board also includes three women, making up 42% of the directors. In September, we welcomed Paul Harvey as a new non-executive following a formal recruitment process.
Paul is an experienced resources executive with operational and project leadership built from 35 years' experience in the global resources sector. His appointment followed the retirement of Roric Smith at the end of June. We thank Roric for his major contribution to Sandfire, and he continues to provide guidance to our exploration team. I'd also like to take a moment to recognize and thank our Chief Operating Officer, Jason Grace, in the middle of the front, who filled the role of acting CEO for October 2022 until Brendan's commencement, and Jason was pivotal in delivering the on-time commissioning of the MATSA operations. Sandfire reported a robust operating performance in FY 2023, with copper equivalent production of 132,000 tons and underlying group EBITDA of $299 million and an operating margin of 32%.
Brendan will shortly provide a more detailed financial and operating results summary. The board is also pleased with the progress that has been made on our response to climate change, and we are in a strong position to achieve our new interim company-wide target, whereby we will reduce absolute emissions by 35% by FY 2035 from our FY 2024 baseline, which includes MATSA. This interim target, coupled with our commitment to have 50% of our electricity needs met by renewable sources by 2030, places our business firmly on a path towards achieving net zero emissions. Brendan will provide more detail, but it is pleasing that our outlook for the current financial year sees group copper equivalent production increasing by 10%. With the ramp-up of MATSA to more than compensate for the end of production at DeGrussa.
With respect to Resolution 1 at the meeting, the non-binding resolution to approve the remuneration report, I can advise that 35.43% of proxy votes received have been cast against that resolution. If following a vote on Resolution 1 on a poll at this meeting, at least 25% of the votes cast on this resolution are voted against the adoption of the remuneration report, then this vote will constitute a first strike under Section 250U of the Corporations Act. Leading up to this meeting, Jen Morris, as Chair of People and Performance, and I have spoken with many of our shareholders. During this engagement, we received positive feedback on the direction of the company, our recent performance, and our business strategy. We also appreciate the feedback received in relation to Sandfire's historical remuneration decisions. We've heard your concerns, and we're responding.
Pleasingly, we've noted positive sentiment around the changes made for FY 2024, where you can see that we've taken steps to address legacy issues while maintaining a reward framework which attracts and retains the talent required to run the business safely and deliver value in the longer term. This significantly enhanced modern remuneration framework that extends across the core elements of base pay, short-term incentive, and long-term incentive, creates the sustainable and robust platform we needed. You can be sure that your board will apply this framework consistently and in a disciplined way into the future. I'd like to thank my fellow directors for their continued dedication to and passion for Sandfire. Yours is a board where the directors are fully engaged and applied their experience in support of management.
On behalf of the board, I would also like to thank the entire Sandfire team for their contributions to the company and acknowledge the great work of the executive team. My recent visit to our Motheo operations was a particularly inspiring experience. I had the pleasure of meeting many team members and hearing about the positive impact that our mine is having on individuals as well as the broader community in the Ghanzi region. To you, as shareholders, thank you for your ongoing support. I will now pass over to Brendan for a summary of operations and financial results, and then we move to the official proceedings of the AGM. Thank you.
Thanks, John. Good morning to everyone. Good afternoon, depending on where you are today, and particularly those in Perth and to those online. It is a privilege to meet with you at my first AGM as Sandfire's CEO. It is an exciting time to be leading Sandfire as we grow internationally to become a global copper producer of significance. Since joining the team in April, I've seen all of our copper operations and projects in Spain, Botswana, Australia, and the USA, and I've been particularly impressed by the capability of our people, their commitment to our values, and their pride in our company. This has filled me with even greater confidence that we will deliver for our communities, host governments, and shareholders in the short, medium, and longer term.
To further establish the platform from which we plan to grow and prosper, we worked with our people through the second half of FY 2023 to co-create a shared belief and a new aspirational purpose. A shared purpose we can all relate to. We mine copper sustainably to energize the future. It builds on our successes of the past, it reflects who we are today, and what we want to achieve in the future. We've also established a new executive team. Please stand as I introduce you. Cath Bozanich, our new Chief Sustainability Officer. Scott Browne, our Chief People Officer. Jason Grace, our Chief Operating Officer. Richard Holmes, our Chief Development Officer. Megan Jansen, our new Chief Financial Officer, and Victoria Twiss, our new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer. Like me, I know they're looking forward to speaking with all of our shareholders after this meeting.
Of course, a safe business is a productive business, and in FY 2023, we achieved a record-low TRIF of 1.6. I'm pleased to confirm we've maintained our positive trend, recording a further improvement in our TRIF to 1.2 at the end of September. These outcomes are a function of hard work and our team's strong safety mindset, knowing we can never be complacent as we embed our Don't Walk Past operating philosophy and system of risk management and control that our growing business quite simply needs. Nothing is more important, and I say nothing is more important than the safety of our people. To be truly successful in the longer term, our workforce must reflect the communities we live and work in. With the changes I referred to earlier, over 40% of our most senior team is female.
This is the same for our board, as John mentioned, and we firmly believe this level of representation is not only achievable for our broader business, but vital if we are to attract and to develop the talent to enable us to achieve our true potential. As a growing copper producer that believes fundamentally in the need to electrify and decarbonize the global economy, we recognize the need to also decarbonize our own business. So following the major step we took this past year when we secured green carbon emissions-free energy for all of MATSA's power requirements, we also announced a new interim target for Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions, whereby we'll reduce them by 35% by FY 2025 from our FY 2024 baseline.
This is not only the smart thing to do, it's simply the right thing to do as we chart our course to Net Zero. Reflecting on our financial performance across FY 2023, we generated underlying EBITDA of $259 million on underlying revenue of $797 million, for an operating margin of 32%. From there, our still elevated D&A expense of $270 million, I might add, that reflected the recent acquisition of MATSA and primarily its known reserves, and our underlying financing expense of $45 million led to an underlying loss of $45 million. And with continued growth in our business, we held $113 million in cash at the end of September, for net debt of $454 million.
Looking ahead, we're performing well, and we're on track to deliver group production cost and CapEx guidance for FY 2024. The 17% increase in copper equivalent production reported for the September quarter laid the foundation as Motheo achieved commercial production within 45 days of the commencement of our commissioning activities. A truly remarkable outcome. Motheo is going from strength to strength. Having proven the processing plant's initial design capacity of 3.2 million tonnes per annum in its first full quarter of operation, I can confirm today that Motheo has been regularly operating in excess of this rate through the month of October. With successful commissioning of additional filtration capacity, we're also starting to draw down unfiltered concentrate stocks.
The rapid and low-cost expansion project, designed to take Motheo's capacity to 5.2 million tons per annum, is also on track, with wet commission of the new ball mill to commence in December. We plan to ramp up plant throughput to this expanded rate through the March quarter, before testing operations longer-term potential. Of course, we're yet to see the benefit of high-grade ore that will come from the A4 pit from the September quarter, and I should note that pre-strip activities are now underway as planned. Put simply, there's no doubt in my mind that Motheo will be a low-cost, highly cash-generative operation for our shareholders for many, many years to come. Turning to MATSA. We reset our approach in the second half of FY 2023, and we are seeing promising results, including the improving consistency and predictability we've been striving for.
In the September quarter, we achieved annualized mining and processing rates of 4.6 million tons and 4.5 million tons respectively, and started to build additional stock on the ROM pad, supporting better performance and recoveries in the float cells. With its access to 100% green, carbon emissions-free power, and byproducts of zinc, lead, and silver, MATSA is well-positioned to thrive in the metals-intensive world we see evolving into the future. These two high-quality operations establish our strategic position in two highly prospective copper provinces, being the Iberian Pyrite Belt and the Kalahari Copper Belt. And as we speak, our team is developing a multi-year plan to materially increase the life of these businesses, leveraging recent discoveries at San Pedro and Olivo at MATSA, and A1 at Motheo.
This is some of the most value-adding, and highest returning work we can do for our shareholders, given our ownership of two well-capitalized modern processing hubs that provide us with a distinct advantage in these regions. And to round this out, at Sandfire America's Black Butte project, we continue to make good progress on our Lowry study, and we're set to test a high-grade extension at Johnny Lee across the remainder of FY 2024. Together, these programs should position us to take the investment decision at Black Butte in the next circa 24 months. None of this, of course, would have been possible without the DeGrussa, which has been a tremendous asset for the company across much of the last decade.
Having produced its last ton of saleable concentrate, the operations seamlessly transitioned to care and maintenance during the latter part of FY 2023, and we've since determined that the best outcome for shareholders will relate to a discrete asset sale rather than its full divestment. This also means we will- we will remain in the Meekatharra District as we complete closure and rehabilitation activities in the years to come. But most importantly, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the incredibly dedicated team at DeGrussa for their invaluable contribution to the past, present, and future of Sandfire. So to summarize, we're firm believers in the multi-decade electrification thematic that is in its infancy. This structural shift in the global economy underpins the strong long-term outlook for copper, and we're ideally positioned.
With our strategic operating position in two highly prospective copper belts and continued success at Motheo, we are primed to deliver more than 50% growth in copper equivalent production across the two years to the end of FY 2025. As a relatively new member of the Sandfire team, I'm convinced there is no better place to be, and I'm honored to be leading our team through this exciting period. To our valued shareholders, thank you for your support and for joining us today. A sincere thank you to my fellow directors and Sandfire colleagues for your dedication and commitment as we strive to create that unbeatable team. Thanks, John. Back to you.
Thank you, Brendan. We will now move on to the formal part of the meeting, which is to consider the financial statements and to vote on the resolutions which were set out in the notice of meeting. Please follow the instructions provided to vote during the formal meeting or if you wish to speak and ask a question of the board or management. A letter with details of this notice of this annual general meeting and explanatory statement was mailed to all registered members on 31 October 2023, and sufficient notice of the meeting has been given. Unless anyone has any objections, I will take the notice as having been read. I will now hand over to the Company Secretary, Sophie Raven, to explain the voting procedures. Thank you, Sophie.
Thanks, John. Voting on all resolutions will be conducted by poll. The company's share registry, Automic, will process the poll votes at the end of the meeting, and the results will be announced to the ASX once they're available later today. Representatives from Automic Group, the company's share registry, who have examined and prepared summaries of the proxy forms received, have been appointed to act as returning officer and to conduct the poll today. Shareholders that are in attendance that have already submitted a vote by proxy should note that your votes will already be counted towards the poll. You do not need to lodge another vote unless you wish to change your proxy instruction.
Shareholders in attendance that have not submitted a vote by proxy and wish to vote today on the resolutions being put to the meeting, can do so by following the instructions provided in the online meeting guide released on the company's website and on ASX. Your votes must be submitted prior to the poll being closed at the end of the meeting for them to count. As reflected in the notice of meeting, the Chair intends to vote all available and appropriately authorized proxies that he holds as Chair in favor of each resolution. I'll now hand back to the Chair, John Richards.
Thank you, Sophie. Minutes of the last annual general meeting. The minutes of the last annual general meeting held on 30 November 2022 are available for inspection by contacting the company secretary via the company's registered office details. Now, moving to the formal business of the meeting. The first agenda item is to receive and consider the company's financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2023, together with the directors' report and the auditors' report, as set out in the company's 2023 annual report. The Corporations Act 2021 requires that the company lay the financial statements and reports before the meeting. The 2023 annual financial report of the company, including the financial statements and the directors' and auditors' reports, have been circulated to shareholders, and I now table these documents.
There is no requirement for members to vote to approve the financial statements, but you are, of course, welcome to ask questions or comment on them. At this stage, I would like to invite any questions from the floor. No? I will now pause to check with the Company Secretary if any written or verbal online questions have been received on this item of business. No. We will now move to consider the resolutions. It should be noted that Resolution 1 is a non-binding resolution, and Resolutions 2 to seven before the meeting are ordinary resolutions requiring a simple majority of votes cast by shareholders present, in person, by proxy or representative, or online, and entitled to vote on the resolution.
The text of each resolution and the proxies received in relation to that resolution will be on the screen as we work through the business of the meeting, and I don't intend to re-read the text of each resolution. Resolution 1. The first resolution for today's meeting relates to the adoption of the remuneration report, as set out in the company's 2023 annual report. Please note that the key management personnel and their closely related parties, such as a close family member and any controlled companies, are not permitted to vote on this resolution unless they are doing so as an appropriately authorized proxy. Shareholders should note that the vote on this resolution is advisory only and does not bind the directors of the company. On Resolution 1, a summary of the proxies for this resolution is set out on the screen in front of you.
At this point, I would like to invite any questions from the floor. I will now pause and check with the Company Secretary if any written or verbal online questions have been received on this item of business. No questions. Resolution 2. This resolution deals with the election of Mr. Paul Harvey as a director. Paul was appointed to fill a casual vacancy to the board on the 12th of September 2023 and retires in accordance with the Constitution. Being eligible, he offers himself for election as a director. Paul's qualifications and experience are set out in the detail, in detail in the next meeting. Paul is considered by the board to be an independent director and is a member of Sandfire's Risk and Sustainability Committee, the Audit and Finance Committee, and the Nominations Committee.
The board, other than Paul, who is abstaining from making a recommendation, unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favor Resolutions 2. Before putting this resolution to the meeting, I'll ask Paul to say a few words about his background and his involvement at Sandfire.
Thank you, John. Good afternoon, everyone, and to those joining us online. My name is Paul Harvey. I was appointed as an independent non-executive director of your company in September this year, and I'm up for election today. I'm a mining engineer by background from the WA School of Mines, with 35 years of operations and executive leadership experience across our sector. My career spans a wide range of global locations, commodities, and cultures, and I've been fortunate to live and work in Africa, Australia, and North America. Most of my last 20 years have been in senior executive roles with BHP and the South32. I also hold an independent non-executive directorship at De Grey Mining. I'm a member of the Wyloo Metals Advisory Committee and senior operating partner at London-based private equity firm Appian Capital Advisory.
I’m also a fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a member of AICD. I’m grateful and excited by the opportunity to join the board of Sandfire Resources, and to bring the best of my experience and capability to bear, to support management and for the benefit of the company and you, our shareholders. Thank you.
Thank you, Paul. Resolutions 2, a summary of the proxies voted for this resolution is set out on the screen. I would now like to invite any questions on this resolution from the floor. I will now pause to check with the Company Secretary if any written or verbal online questions.
No questions.
No Resolution 3. this resolution relates to the re-election of Ms. Jennifer Morris OAM as a Director. Jen was appointed to the board on the first of January 2021 and retires in accordance with the Constitution. Being eligible, she offers herself for re-election as a director. Jen's qualifications and experience are set out in detail in the notice of meeting. Jen is considered by the board to be an independent director and is the Chair of Sandfire's People and Performance Committee, as well as a member of the Risk and Sustainability Committee and the Nominations Committee. The board, other than Jen, who abstains from making a recommendation, unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favor Resolution 3. before putting this resolution to the meeting, I will ask Jen to say a few words about her background.
Great. Thanks, John. Good afternoon, everyone. Hi, I'm Jen Morris, and to all our shareholders, thank you for your incredible support. Sandfire is truly one of the most exciting companies on the ASX today. Our business has a great responsibility. As the world steps into the world of renewables and clean energy, copper is an essential material. In fact, these technologies require up to something like five times more copper than non-renewables. So there is no mistake that our purpose statement, which you have heard our CEO, Brendan, mention today already, strongly and proudly says, "We mine copper sustainably to energize the future." I've been a non-executive director with Sandfire since January 2021.
Since joining the board, I've had the pleasure of seeing Sandfire transition from an Australian miner with one asset up the road near Kalgoorlie, to a copper-focused company with global ambitions and significant projects in two of the world's most prospective copper belts with the Iberian Pyrite Belt and the Kalahari Copper Belt. I have enjoyed playing my part in this transition, and that transition has driven an extraordinary level of change, transformation, more to do, and incredible opportunity and optimism for the company and its shareholders. With my fellow directors, I was involved in the leadership renewal of the company, which was of paramount importance and a key decision. We needed a leader with experience, technical credibility, someone with lived experiences from a global company, the breadth of what Sandfire was stepping into. Appointing the caliber of Brendan delivered on that.
But perhaps Brendan's greatest strength is the ability to bring the team together, set realistic but high performance expectations, and establish new standards of how we work together as Sandfire, the Sandfire Way. From there, Brendan has built out his executive team, and we are delighted with that, and you've heard all of them introduced here this morning. With my role, I have the added responsibilities of being Chair of the People and Performance Committee, member of the Risk and Sustainability Committee, and also the Nominations Committee. There has been much talk about remuneration so far in this AGM season. For us, our focus and requirement has been to establish a new remuneration framework that is commensurate with the company that stands here today and builds it for the future.
We believe that we have done that, and I am pleased with the endorsement we have received from our framework from FY 2024 onwards. I'm currently on a number of other boards, from public to private, large to small, mining to financial services. I believe I bring a strategic mindset, plenty of energy, shaped by leadership roles across the various sectors, and a strong dedication to and understanding ESG principles, which is essential to our board's continued focus on sustainability. I'm pleased to offer myself for re-election today to continue to work for shareholders and the company as we establish and expand our global operations. We have plenty to do. Thank you.
Thanks, Jen. Resolution 3, a summary of the proxies voted for this resolution is set out on the screen. At this point, I will invite questions from the floor. No? Any online-
No.
-Questions? No. Okay, Resolution 4. Resolution 4 relates to the grant of FY 2024 LTI rights to Brendan Harris or his nominee. Mr. Harris has been offered 249,810 FY 2024 LTI rights under the company's FY 2024 LTI plan, each with a nil exercise price and an expiry date of three years from the date of issue. The grant of these FY 2024 LTI rights is the subject of Resolution 4. If Resolution 4 is passed, the company will grant the FY 2024 LTI rights to Mr. Harris or his nominee. If Resolution 4 is not passed, the company will not grant the FY 2024 LTI rights to Mr. Harris and will need to consider alternative ways to remunerate and incentivize Mr. Harris, including by payment of cash. ...
On Resolution 4, a summary of the proxies voted for this resolution is set out on the screen in front of you. At this point, I would like to invite any questions from the floor. No. Any online questions? No. Thank you. Resolution 5 relates to the approval of the company's updated equity incentive plan, which will then align with market practice. If Resolution 5 is passed, the company will be able to issue awards under the plan up to the maximum number set out in this notice. The board, who have no interest in the outcome of Resolution 5, unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favor of Resolution 5. On Resolution 5, a summary of the proxies voted for this resolution is set out on the screen. At this point, I would like to invite any questions from the floor. Any questions online? No. Resolution 6.
Resolution 6 relates to proposed amendments to existing awards to reflect the company's new equity incentive plan. Under the terms of the plan, any amendments to the plan may be given retrospective effect to the awards offered under the previous version of the plan. The retrospective application of the changes to the plan will enable the efficient and streamlined administration of the plan moving forward. On Resolution 6, a summary of the proxies voted for this resolution is set out on the screen for you. At this point, I will take any questions from the floor. No questions online? Okay, Resolution 7. Resolution 7 seeks shareholder approval of vesting entitlements. Further details as to Resolution 7 and the consequences of passing or not passing this resolution have been set out in the notice of meeting.
On Resolution 7, a summary of the proxies voted for this resolution is set out on the screen for you. Are there any questions from the floor? No. Are there any online questions? No. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I will now hand over to the share registry representative to provide an overview of the poll voting process and to conduct the poll.
Thank you, John. The persons entitled to vote on this poll are all shareholders, representatives, and attorneys of shareholders and proxyholders who hold yellow voting cards. If you are a proxyholder, a summary of your votes to which you are entitled has been attached to the yellow voting card. If you are intending... Sorry, if you are attending in more than one of those capacities, you will have been issued with as many yellow voting cards as you have separate capacities. If anyone believes they are entitled to vote on this poll in any capacity and does not have a yellow voting card, please raise your hand now and one of our team will assist you. I will now go through the procedures for filling in the voting cards for this poll.
If you wish to record all your votes in favor of this resolution, please place a mark in the For box. If you wish to record all your votes against the resolution, please place a mark in the Against box. If you mark the For or Against box, for your vote to count. If you require assistance on completing the voting card, please raise your hand. When you are finished filling in your voting card, please raise your hand and your card will be collected. I will now hand you back to the chair to close the poll.
Thank you. I'll now wait for a moment while people have the opportunity to complete their voting cards. Oh, do I need to do this? Okay, I now declare the poll closed. Representatives from the share registry, Automic, will now process the poll, and the results will be announced to the ASX once they're available. That completes the items on the agenda for our meeting today. At this point, I would like to invite any general questions from the floor. Len?
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Len Roy from the Australian Shareholders Association, representing 26 shareholders. We've watched the Sandfire pathway and progress over the last few years, and we can see you've gone from the DeGrussa high copper very good financial returns, and you're in that transition journey to developing Motheo and the acquisition of MATSA, and that seems to be going really well, and I commend you on that. I particularly commend you for the reduction in the debt from $788 million to $572 million. That must have been a challenging decision at the time, and some shareholders who are very dividend conscious may have an opinion on that. But I think you've taken the wise decision, and you're using capital wisely in that regard.
I'll make a comment that assuming copper prices remain similar to this year, generally similar, we envisage the financial years of 2024 and 2025 to be strategically important for Sandfire in terms of managing the debt. The capital expenditure and the capital raising or potential capital raising. Presumably, the Motheo Mill, with current capacity of 3.2 million tonnes per annum, will need to be shut down for the period when on-site engineering and capacity upgrade to 5.2 comes into effect, physical effect. I guess I have two questions, and I'll put one to you, and then after that, we'll put the second one. We already have Motheo throughput guidance of 42,000 tonnes per annum for 2024. So presumably, the mill shutdown would be planned for calendar year 2025 or possibly calendar year 2026.
Could you advise us on what is the expected shutdown duration?
Thanks, Len. I'll let Brendan take that question, if I may.
Thank you. You've done your research, which is wonderful. Thank you,
Welcome, Brendan.
No worries. It makes my job a lot easier because this is actually another very good story for us. We've often referred to the Motheo expansion as a low cost and rapid expansion
The reason for that is the timing of the discovery and resource definition around A4 was just very fortuitous, in the sense that it enabled the team, through that early phase, to effectively design much of the processing, systems and the actual physical units to actually run at a much greater rate. So it actually enabled the team to envisage that expanded capacity of 5.2 million tonnes per annum. What that means is, we look at the primary crusher, it has up to 7 million tonnes of capacity already installed. The SAG mill, we think, can run likely in excess of 5.2 million tonnes per annum, and much of the filtration and float circuit capacity has already been designed again to envisage that 5.2 million tonne per annum rate.
All the operational-
So in effect, when you think about that circuit, it really is the new ball mill that gets you up to that 5.2 million tonnes per annum. Jason wouldn't like me to say this, but so in effect, it's, it's a rather simple expansion in the scheme of expansions. And that means that the shutdown that we envisage for mine activities is actually planned for the coming month of December. At the back end, it's already in the guidance that you see. We see it maximum about a two-day shut, around two days. Then, really, what the major part of the expansion project is, is the pre-strip activities at A4 that we've recently commenced with the approvals from the Botswana government. We have a very good relationship with the government there, and they've been incredibly supportive.
That work will be ongoing through the first half of next calendar year, such that A4 will start to present ore to the crushing and flotation circuit through the start of FY 2025. So from the middle of next calendar year. And it's that high grade that then gives Motheo that kick in production up around and above 50,000 tonnes of copper equivalent. And that's really what underpins that, as I referred to, more than 50% growth in our copper equivalent tonnes over those two years from to end of FY 2025. So it's a good story. It's not a major shut. It's already built into the guidance.
Thank you very much indeed, Brendan, for that, clarification. Mr. Chairman, my second question was more on the finance side, so, whoever you think is appropriate there. Given the planned outputs in the current financial year, 2024, MATSA 93,000 tonnes and Motheo 42,000 tonnes, and given current copper pricing, best guess there, is it planned to have another capital raising in the next 6- 12 months?
Thank you for the question, Len. You're right, we've provided copper equivalent production guidance for FY 2024, as you've noted. We've also provided guidance for FY 2025 at a combined level, which provides, implies even more growth in production, across the two years to the end of FY 2025. And the investments to deliver that production are being made and largely have been made. With the expansion of Motheo to be complete at the end of this calendar year, and with the high-grade A4 open pit to come in at the start of FY 2025, we expect Motheo to be a strong cash generator from about that time. More broadly, we're not uncomfortable with the level of debt we're carrying, I think $454 million net debt at September?
Inclusive of $113 million cash on the balance sheet. With an enterprise value of, I think about $2.5 billion, and given the investments we're making in the business, of course, that we're looking to pay down debt as quickly as we can. That's the prudent thing to do. As cash flow allows, we'd like to have a bit more financial flex-flexibility, but, yeah, and, and expect to give ourselves that over time. In summary, look, we're always reviewing our capital structure, but beyond that, I can't add anything.
Well, I do appreciate what you said, because there is a reconciliation, what Brendan said, in terms of the timetable. So, I do appreciate that. If I may, just add some comments on the sustainability report, Mr. Chairman?
Please. Please.
There's four points we really like about it. There's the alignment with the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures, and that'll head into the more new global specifications and advisory things on sustainability reporting. But we like the fact that you've got that alignment. We also like the fact that you've got incentivized remuneration in the sustainability report. From a shareholder perspective, we see that as a logical thing. Not everybody includes the Bureau Veritas acknowledgement of the report, and you've clearly have got that as an independent assurance, and it's commendable.
Finally, you've got the decarbonization pathway, which gives confidence to shareholders that there is indeed a pathway, and you are on it, and there may be some turbulence and challenges along the pathway, but at least you've got a public declared pathway. So, we feel the sustainability report is very commendable, and I'm just looking at Jenny there and Sally, and so welcome back to Sandfire, and I hope to see you after the meeting, but full marks. Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Len. Are there any other questions from the floor? No. Do we have any online questions? We have no further questions. Okay, with no further questions, thank you very much for your attendance, and I will now close the meeting.