Right, we could get going. Good day, everybody, and thank you for joining us for Harmony's results presentation for the financial year ended 30 June 2026. The past year demonstrated the value of a clear strategy executed with discipline, resulting in exceptional performance and a further strengthening Harmony's position as a growing global gold and copper producer. Our investment case continued to be underpinned by three factors, which is discipline delivery, portfolio progression, and enduring value. Collectively, they highlight the strength of our operational and financial performance, the advancement of our portfolio, and our commitment to sustainable long-term shareholder value. Before we begin, I will urge you to please take note of our safe harbor statement. This presentation contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, as outlined in our public disclosures and the disclaimer on this slide.
For us at Harmony, discipline delivery starts with what we set out to achieve and how we performed over the last 12 months. Discipline for us means three things: operating safely and predictably, maintaining our strict cost controls while the gold price runs, and converting the performance into cash certainty through effective capital allocation. I am pleased to say that in FY 2026 we delivered on all three of those, and we did so from a portfolio that is materially stronger than it was only a few years ago, with margins continuing to improve through disciplined capital allocation and portfolio optimization. Harmony today is a product of a decade of deliberate but disciplined investment. Thinking of Hidden Valley, Moab Khotsong, Mponeng, Mine Waste Solutions, Eva Copper, and most recently CSA, were all acquired to lower the overall risk profile and improve production quality. Together, these assets underpin our portfolio today.
Up to 2025, we focused on acquisitions and improving portfolio quality. From 2026 to 2030, our focus is execution, delivering and unlocking the value already embedded in what we own. Beyond 2030, we expect a cash inflection, stronger margins, lower real unit costs, and growing free cash flow. In Harmony, every decision we make is aimed at either improving safety, expanding margins, protecting cash flows, and creating long-term value through disciplined capital allocation. As our portfolio continued to evolve, we are pleased that the solid FY 2026 result reflect this quality and the opportunity inherent in our reserve base. These numbers highlight the benefits of consistency and delivering to guidance. On safety, we achieved our lowest-ever lost time injury frequency rate of 5.05. Zero harm would and always does remain our priority, and protecting our people at work is what matters most to us.
Tragically, we have lost six colleagues during the year, albeit significantly down from the previous financial year. To us, every lost life is simply one too many, and every effort is made to reach zero harm in Harmony. On production, we made gold guidance for the 11th consecutive year now. We produced 1.43 million ounces of gold and delivered 18,200 tons of copper at the upper end of guidance. Grades and costs too were both well within guidance, with gold all-in sustaining costs of ZAR 1.19 million per kg and copper C1 costs of $2.47 per pound. It is this consistency that turned a higher gold price into cash certainty. We delivered rather exceptional earnings growth alongside record shareholder returns.
Our headline earnings per share increased by 87% to ZAR 43.63 per share. The company declared a record final dividend of ZAR 7.50 per share for a total of ZAR 8.2 billion for the financial year. At Harmony, safety is our foremost priority always, and in the past financial year, we continued to make real progress. Our lost time injury frequency rate, as I said, of 5.05 per million ounce worked is the lowest in Harmony's 76-year history. This reflects years of investment in our people, but also in our infrastructure, some technological advancements, and also leadership visibility. As a good example of this post year end, Kusasalethu achieved an extraordinary safety milestone of 3 million loss-of-life-free shifts.
Many of you would think that 3 million is not that significant, but whilst 3 million has been achieved at other operations over the years around Harmony and in the country, this achievement is particularly significant given that it is the first ultra-deep-level gold mine in South Africa's West Wits region to achieve this safety milestone. This, to us, strengthens our belief that zero harm is in fact possible through relentless execution, but also through strong tripartite leadership and embedded proactive safety culture. On safety, our priorities remain clear. Prioritizing safety ahead of production, critical control verification at every working place, visible and heartfelt leadership supported by greater ownership, focused action on repeat and high potential incidents, and embedding technology where appropriate and learning into daily operating routines. At Harmony, we have said this many times before, we believe a safe mine is always a productive mine.
Operating leverage in our gold portfolio is significant and reflected in these results. The high-grade underground operations in Mponeng and Moab Khotsong produced 15 tons at 9 g per ton, with a 38% adjusted free cash flow margin. Mponeng was the primary driver of this performance, as Moab Khotsong moves into the ore gap we previously flagged. Performance from the South African underground optimized operations has also strengthened year-on-year. These assets produced 17 tons and margins expanded from 9% - 25%, lifting adjusted free cash flow by a phenomenal 284% to around ZAR 9 billion. Our surface and retreatment assets contributed around 7 tons at a solid margin of 46%. Our gold retreatment operations are the biggest by volume globally. These are low risk, high margin ounces that generate meaningful cash flow by recycling old tailings storage facilities. Our international assets delivered exceptional margins.
Hidden Valley, for one, had an outstanding year. It produced almost 6 tons of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of around ZAR 660,000 per kg or $1,200 per ounce. Globally competitive by any measure. Adjusted free cash flow margin continued to increase to an incredible 68%, supported by stronger silver by-product credits. As for CSA, that mine is now fully integrated and optimization is underway. In the eight months since acquisition, CSA produced 18,200 tons of copper at a low C1 cost of $2.47 per pound at a 22% adjusted free cash flow margin. While copper currently contributes 3% to group revenue, CSA has established an important strategic foothold in the metal and positions Harmony to benefit from its long-term growth potential. Our focus on execution and cost discipline continues to be reflected in the higher all-in sustaining cost margins.
In FY 2026, the average gold price received rose by 35% to ZAR 2.1 million per kg. Our all-in sustaining costs rose by 13% to ZAR 1.2 million per kg. The widening gap between these two numbers show our ability to capture the benefit of the higher gold price. The result is an all-in sustaining cost margin of 42%, up from 31% in the previous financial year. Therefore, our margin expansion is structural, driven by prudent cost management and continued improvement in portfolio quality. This strengthens our resilience across commodity cycles and gives us the financial flexibility to fund growth and deliver sustainable returns to our shareholders. I will now hand over to Boipelo, who will discuss our financial performance. Boipelo, over to you.
Thank you, Beyers. The resilience and financial flexibility that Beyers has described are evident in our results for the financial year 2026, with strong earnings, cash flows, and returns underpinning continued value creation for shareholders. I will show how strong earnings quality, cash conversion, and prudent capital management have created the flexibility to invest in growth, maintain a robust balance sheet, and continue delivering returns to shareholders. Please note that all US dollar conversions are provided in the annexures, and I will start first with the headline numbers. Financial year 2026 was a record year on many of our key financial metrics. Revenue increased by 34% to a record ZAR 100 billion. Somebody said not quite, but yes, 99.2. Net profit increased by 102% to ZAR 30 billion, and as Beyers mentioned, headline earnings per share increased by 87% to ZAR 43.63 .
That step-up is evidence of the operating leverage in our portfolio. Group operating cash flow rose by 48% to ZAR 33.6 billion, and group adjusted free cash flow increased by 54% to a record ZAR 17 billion. Cash and cash equivalents remained robust at ZAR 8.6 billion, and importantly, we achieved this alongside the acquisition of CSA. Liquidity stands at ZAR 17.1 billion and net debt at ZAR 852 million, leaving net debt to EBITDA at only 0.02 x. Growth, returns, and a near ungeared balance sheet in the same year place Harmony in a very strong position. The quality of our earnings improved this year, driven by sound fundamentals. This slide unpacks some of the once-offs and non-operating impacts from our acquisition and risk management strategies. Reported earnings were affected by a number of specific items, none of which are structural.
They include a ZAR 9.6 billion gold hedge loss within revenue. Our hedging program has been applied consistently and has locked in excellent margins as set out in the hedge table in the annexures. A ZAR 2.8 billion impairment reversal at Tshepong North, Tshepong South, Doornkop, and Kusasalethu on higher commodity prices. A ZAR 700 million foreign exchange translation gain due to the US dollar denominated borrowings and strengthening of the rand. A ZAR 1 billion loss, mainly due to derivatives relating to Hidden Valley Silver. These items also include acquisition related costs of ZAR 1.4 billion, fair value adjustments on streaming arrangements of ZAR 900 million, and finance costs of ZAR 1.6 billion, and taxation of ZAR 8.9 billion. This is the cost of growth and the consequence of improved profitability. Underneath all of this, the cost base performed in line with plan.
The net pre-tax impact of these items was approximately ZAR 17 per share. Our cash operating cost increases were predictable, controlled, and in line with plan. Excluding CSA and royalties, group operating costs increased by only 7%, comfortably below our planned mining inflation of 10%. Within that, labor, our largest single component, increased 8%, and we have two years remaining on the current wage agreement. Consumables increased by 6%, and our diesel exposure remains limited, with most of our operations supplied by Eskom. Electricity increased by 16%, which we continue to mitigate through the renewable energy program. The headline increase of 14% reflects higher royalties, which rose 77% on stronger profitability and the inclusion of CSA. This reflects a more profitable and growing business. The same discipline kept all-in sustaining costs under control, which we see in the next slide. Gold all-in sustaining costs came in comfortably within guidance.
The year-on-year increase of 13% was driven mainly by planned lower production, significantly higher royalties, and inflationary increases, which were in line with plan. Other factors that impacted all-in sustaining costs included higher by-product credits from silver and uranium, inventory valuations, and higher sustaining capital and capitalized stripping at our Hidden Valley and Kalgold operations. We continue monitoring and control each driver where reasonably possible. Strong free cash flow generation supported a record dividend for the 2026 financial year. Our policy is linked directly to free cash flow generation and is designed to be sustainable through commodity cycles to preserve balance sheet flexibility and reward shareholders alongside our growth aspirations. We declared a record final dividend of ZAR 4.8 billion, or ZAR 7.50 per share.
This lifts the full-year dividend to ZAR 8.6 billion or ZAR 12.80 per share at a yield of around 3.5% based on the closing share price on 25th August . The direct relationship between operational delivery, cash generation, and shareholder returns is clear. Alongside shareholder returns, it is vital we remain capable of funding our future. During the year, we implemented a funding platform to support the next phase of growth. The new facilities extended our maturity profile, refinanced existing debt, repaid the MAC Copper Bridge loan, introduced Australian dollar funding, and enhanced liquidity. We have reduced interest costs by securing lower spreads, including sustainability-linked and green loan structures. Our capital structure is aligned with an evolving gold and copper portfolio with currency matched to the assets. The market response was overwhelmingly positive, with the facilities approximately 3x oversubscribed.
With that, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our bankers for their ongoing support. This brings me to our strong financial position. We ended the year well-positioned to take Harmony forward. Liquidity of ZAR 17.1 billion, or about $1 billion U.S., supported by available cash and undrawn facilities, gives us significant headroom. Balancing growth, returns, and resilience is central to our investment case. We continue demonstrating financial responsibility, which ensures us to deliver on our strategic objectives. Allow me to hand back to Beyers to take you through the portfolio progression and our future. Thanks, Beyers.
Thank you, Boipelo. In Harmony, gold remains our foundation. It is the cornerstone of Harmony. Copper strengthens the portfolio, adding diversification, resilience, and future growth. This strategy is not about volume. It is a strategy about value. Value created through higher quality assets, better returns, and disciplined capital allocation. Growth always matters, but only if it strengthens the portfolio and creates long-term value for shareholders. Every ZAR and every USD in this business competes for risk-adjusted per share returns. We start by protecting the base. Safety, asset integrity, mining flexibility, and sustaining capital are imperative. This safeguards our people, ensures reliable production, and protects our cash flows. Next, we invest to improve our portfolio quality and duration. Low cost reserve conversion, higher grades, ongoing life of mine extensions all lift long-term value. Thereafter, we consider additional growth.
Inorganic and greenfield opportunities must demonstrate compelling risk-adjusted value creation and meet our strict investment criteria before we will allocate capital. This is done alongside paying returns to shareholders under our dividend policy. Financial year 2027 is a deliberate investment year as we sustain today, improve quality, and grow with discipline. Roughly 20% of our planned capital is being spent on protecting the base. This is through ongoing sustaining capital that keeps our mines safe and production reliable. Roughly 40% goes towards improving portfolio quality. Brownfields projects that enhance margin and extend the life of our underground operations remain our lowest cost route to reserve conversion. This is also sustainable mining in action, as these extensions are critical to those who depend on our mines for their livelihood. The remaining 40% of our planned CapEx is to fund our greenfields Eva Copper project.
Reserve conversion delivers compelling returns, as illustrated in the upcoming slides. Converting mineral resources to mineral reserves is a significant value lever and sits entirely within our control. Evidence of this is Mponeng, Moab Khotsong, Tshepong North, and Doornkop, where we have converted approximately 10 million additional ounces to mineral reserves at a very competitive USD 180 per ounce. The returns on these conversions are significant, too. Net present values range from ZAR 7 billion -ZAR 41 billion, with internal rates of return ranging from 30% - 65%. Critically, those internal rates of returns are based on a gold price assumption of ZAR 1.85 million per kg, which is significantly below spot. The geology, the grades, the mining methods are all well understood by Harmony, and we have high conviction in our ability to deliver on these projects. The same applies to our copper portfolio.
We have applied the Harmony operating model to CSA, mapping a clear pathway to 40,000 tons of copper per year. As a result, the safety performance has strengthened at CSA, with the lost time injury frequency rate at its lowest level since acquisition. Good progress was made on addressing the main operational constraint, which is the underground ventilation supply. The capital ventilation project remains on track, with the first vent rise now holed and complete. In dealing with improved flexibility, record development meters of 560 meters was achieved during June month. This accelerates progress on both the ventilation access works and decline development. Together, these advances improve access to future ore sources and support the long-term growth profile of the mine. CSA produced just over 29,000 tonnes on a full-year basis in FY 2026.
This profile builds to approximately 30,000 tonnes by FY 2027, 34,000 tonnes FY 2028, and 40,000 tonnes in FY 2029. CSA is delivering on the investment thesis that underpinned the acquisition. A high-grade, long-life asset with meaningful growth potential. Significant intercepts of up to 12% copper were already recorded outside the existing mineral resource. The drill program also includes a potential extension of more than 500 meters below the current mine. To that end, surface and underground programs continue, with almost 12,000 meters drilled in the fourth quarter alone. CSA has a solid track record of reserve conversion, which aligns well with Harmony's strategy of getting the best out of our ore bodies. At the Eva Copper project, we are making equally good progress. Original capital guidance remains unchanged, and first production is still targeted for the end of calendar 2028.
This is subject to timely receipt of relevant environmental approvals relating to the protected species found. In the meantime, we have adopted a staged execution approach, continuing work on already cleared areas while advancing the regulatory process. We are continuing to deliver the Eva Copper project in an environmentally responsible manner. Pre-mining has begun in the approved Little Eva area. Process plant construction is ramping up towards peak activity in calendar year 2027, and project capital spend remains within our original guidance range of $1.55 billion-$1.75 billion. This is subject to the regulatory approval and the necessary approvals. We have to date spent $275 million in FY 2026 and currently estimate FY 2027 capital expenditure of between $650 million and $680 million. The expected 20/40/40 capital allocation profile over the three-year period remains broadly unchanged. Although final timing and expenditure remain contingent on those approvals.
We will continue to provide updates on the progress as the process advances at Eva Copper. Eva Copper is expected to deliver average production of around 60,000 tonnes of copper and 19,000 ounces of gold over a minimum 15-year life. This is important. Our mineral resources and mineral reserve base continue to grow and, more importantly, improve in quality. Gold mineral resources were stable at 107 million ounces, whereas gold mineral reserves increased to 27.4 million ounces on additions from Tshepong North, Mponeng, Kusasalethu, and Eva Copper. On copper, mineral resources increased significantly by 18.5% to 7.4 million tons. Mineral reserves increased substantially by 71% to 4 million tons, driven by Eva Copper and CSA. Reserve grades remain excellent and reflect the higher quality portfolio in place. An endowment of this scale and grade in our business is rare. It gives us a competitive advantage, we believe.
Low cost, internal conversion, long duration, and better cash generation to come. It also lays the foundation for the company's next decade of growth and value creation. Diversification is making Harmony a stronger, more resilient business. We have evolved from a single commodity, largely South African gold producer, into a business spanning two commodities, gold and copper. In FY 2026, the Australasian operations contributed 16% to production. Over the next decade, Australasia is expected to grow to around 30% of group production, moving Harmony towards a 70/30 regional split. It is worth noting that this outlook excludes the Tier 1 Wafi-Golpu project, which is in the permitting process. The diversification we are showing here is therefore a floor and definitely not a ceiling. That shift reduces concentration risks, broadens our exposure to attractive commodities, and creates a more diversified and durable cash flow profile for our shareholders.
Harmony remains a 1.4-1.5 million ounce gold and gold equivalent producer. Beyond that, conceptual studies could extend the production profile further. At Hidden Valley, extensions could maintain production of 150,000 ounces per annum well beyond the current four-year life of mine. The West Wits and Free State reclamation projects could add a potential 100,000 ounces of new production from old tailings facilities, while further optimized extensions in South Africa could maintain approximately 100,000 ounces in annual production, illustrating a very different production profile going forward. Together, this is roughly 350,000 ounces of additional potential. All of this is conceptual at this stage and subject to our safe harbor statement. We are not chasing growth for growth's sake. We will simply not add ounces that reduces portfolio quality. The result is a higher quality portfolio, not simply a bigger one. Which brings me to why all of this matters.
In conclusion, disciplined delivery combined with portfolio progression is how we create enduring value. These outcomes are structurally higher margins, stronger free cash flows, and sustainable returns through the cycle for our stakeholders and our shareholders. Gold remains Harmony's foundation, supported by a combination of underground, surface, and retreatment operations. Our operational and investment plans strengthen that foundation through continued investment in our gold assets, while adding meaningful copper through CSA, Eva Copper, and over time, the Tier 1 Wafi-Golpu and Copper project. The focus now is on execution. Our FY 2027 guidance reflect safe, profitable and sustainable production. On gold, we expect production of 1.3-1.4 million ounces at an underground recovered grade of approximately 5.6 grams per ton. Gold all-in sustaining costs is guided at between ZAR 1.3 million and ZAR 1.395 million per kilogram.
On copper, we expect CSA production of between 28,000 and 30,000 tons at a recovered grade of above 3.5%. C1 cost guidance is between $2.55 and $2.65 per pound. Capital guidance for FY 2027 is as follows: ZAR 14.4 billion for our gold assets, ZAR 2.1 billion for CSA copper. For Eva Copper, capital of between $650 million and $680 million is planned. As I said earlier, this remains subject to environmental approvals pertaining to the endangered species found. This is Harmony's investment case. Harmony is a long-life gold producer with copper-driven growth and optionality. We are the only South African gold producer with a meaningful copper exposure. Combined with our track record of operational excellence, we believe that sets us apart. Together, this is a differentiated proposition. Cash generation today, optionality for tomorrow, and a management team with a track record to deliver on both.
I thank you for your continued support. Boipelo and I will now take your questions. Jared, over to you.
Thank you very much, Beyers. Boipelo, thank you. Do we have any questions in the room? Where can I start? Arnold, for you. There's a mic here.
Yes, good morning. It's Arnold van Graan from Nedbank. Three quick ones from my side. Boipelo, the first one is on your hedging program. I understand why you do that. It's to protect your SA optimized mines. Are you able to rethink that strategy just where the gold price is? Do you now have a bit more flexibility to try and eliminate some of the big swings that we've seen there? Beyers, on your growth, the SA surface seems to be quite further out. What's the reason for that? It feels to me like it should be more compelling and maybe higher up on the optionality ladder there. What's the constraint? Is it water or is it permitting? I guess for Boipelo, I know it sounds like a generic question, but it's not.
How are you going to control cost in this environment? I'm thinking particularly about Australia, because generally when you see commodity prices go up, costs tend to follow just given the nature of this business, and there's a lot of activity, especially from expansion and growth also pushing up costs. That's it from me. Thanks.
Thanks, Arnold. Where are you? Oh, okay. Sorry. Thanks, Arnold. Firstly, to start with the hedging, I think we've done quite well in terms of consistently applying the hedging program. It's by no means speculative. What we've seen, yes, there is that realized loss, almost ZAR 10 billion, I would say, that we've realized this year. But if you have a look at our net derivative liabilities, that is coming down quite sharply. At the half year that stood at around ZAR 12 billion, and it's now down to around ZAR 2 billion. It's also reflected in the annexures of the presentation with the hedging position where it sits now. We've locked in quite good hedges. As and when those mature, or rather the mature ones roll off, you'll start to see that realized loss come down.
A good way to look at it would be just to look at on the balance sheet where that liability short-term and long-term position is, and you can sort of guide where that loss will be.
The worst is behind probably.
I hope so. Yeah.
You want to take the cost one or should I just-
You can go. Yeah.
All right, Arnold, absolutely. If you look at the surface, adjusted free cash flow margin in the current year sat at 46%. So they are very compelling. All efforts are being made to bring those surface sources into production. They are ever constrained by matters of permitting in the sense that massive new tailings facilities need to be constructed for these projects typically. No dissimilar to what DRDGOLD announced a few days ago. That is the same for Harmony. So it is permitting these big tailings storage facilities and constructing them and obviously investing the capital to do so. There is getting your head around that. The other matter in our Free State reclamation project is water supply. We have 5.7 million ounces on surface in the Free State to process. These methods are hydro mining methods, as you know, and they are quite water intensive.
Water is a scarce commodity in the Free State. So it is finding solutions to bring the necessary quantums of water to the Free State, which could be piping water from Bothaville through the northern part of the Free State down to Welkom in order to do so. I can assure you, these are very attractive to us. They are organic opportunities that are right in front of us, and all efforts are being made to bring these operations into the Harmony portfolio and to add that 100,000 ounces potentially that we try to highlight in the blue sky on top of the life of mine.
Yeah. From a cost perspective, I think our cost basket is quite predictable, so to say. Obviously, yes, with the addition of Australia, and as that region grows, that basket will change somewhat, but it still is by and large labor. Then you have your electricity, water, et cetera, consumables. We are quite comfortable that we will be able to manage that as we have below mining inflation for now. Yes, that dynamic will change, but I think we are quite comfortable we will be able to manage it in the long term.
Thank you.
Doc, over to you.
Again, I would like to congratulate the team for a fantastic set of results, and as an asset manager in 11 years of meeting your guidance, there is no substitute for stability when you have a portfolio in an uncertain world. So congratulations. Really a great set of results. Secondly, I would like to thank you. Harmony is really the anchor of South African gold, and I am not quite sure if Johannesburg would be a ghost town or the Rand would be abandoned completely if Harmony hadn't stepped in and really exploited what I think is a fantastic endowment that we have here. So a word of gratitude for what you have done for the industry, what you have done for gold, and I am glad that the gold price is rewarding you for that. The third question is, you have diversified into copper.
It makes a lot of sense from, again, guaranteeing stability through the cyclicity of commodities. Are you contemplating perhaps investing in new operations in South Africa, perhaps acquiring or exploring further gold assets in South Africa or into the continent? Is that something that you would consider? Is it something that your team is evaluating or you are just too focused right now on actually making and delivering on what you currently have?
Yeah, I would take that, Boipelo. No, I think our plates are full at the moment. We've got lots of exciting things happening around us and lots of organic opportunity given that three time frames that I quoted in the presentation. No, I think first priorities for us now is execution, executing on the priorities that we've got and we've highlighted in the presentation. We do have our new business team continuously looking to try and find value. For us, it's all about a value conversation. I must say, given where commodity prices are, gold and copper at the moment, finding value is not easy, and hence we'll be disciplined enough to withstand that. So at the moment, hands are full.
Quite excited with what's right in front of us, and we particularly highlighted the three blue sky potential, which is also on our endowment that we can which is 100% within our control, and that is where our main focus would be.
Just thank you for that feedback. Harmony turned 76 yesterday.
I want to ask about uranium. I heard no comment about uranium at all. Is there any interest in the group, and where do you see it going?
Yeah, sure. Uranium, if I could just quickly circle back. Uranium at this particular time is not a primary ore horizon that we are mining. We are mining it as a by-product with our gold at Great Noligwa and at Moab Khotsong. We are mining the shaft pillar at Great Noligwa mine, and we are developing the Zaaiplaats project and mining the middle mine there. For us now, it is a by-product. We are actively looking at that space. There was a lot said about uranium. Quality opportunities are probably few and far between, so I wouldn't say uranium is a huge focus of ours. We do sit on the only uranium calcining facility licensed in South Africa in NUFCOR. That is underutilized at the moment. There's spare capacity in that facility and so is our uranium processing plant at Great Noligwa.
Should opportunities arise where we could better use that infrastructure or sweat the assets more, we would be interested to look at that. But opportunities in uranium locally in South Africa have been few and far between, I would say. Not an active focus area of ours at the moment, albeit we've got an active watching brief on uranium.
Can it not be as a by-product?
Apologies?
In the actual processing, doesn't it make sense when you produce the gold, you've still got uranium left that you reprocess what's left?
Yeah. Reprocessing of uranium ore dumps is an opportunity. I do not think that is necessarily that well developed from a technology point of view. To give you an idea, when Mine Waste Solutions was constructed by Chemwes a few years ago, there were going to be three gold streams and a fourth stream would have been a uranium stream in the thinking conceptually. When we took over the assets, we reevaluated that and where you sit today with gold prices and the resources we have on servicing gold, we turned that fourth stream into a gold stream. So at the moment, we felt that the returns on gold with that extra capacity far outweighed the returns on uranium. Now, that does not necessarily mean that that would be the case forever.
But at the moment, using infrastructure to reprocess gold tailings dams at these margins, as we spoke earlier as well, is very lucrative and very attractive and low-risk ounces.
Steven?
Hi. Steve Friedman from UBS. Two questions focusing on Australia specifically. I think the first one just on Eva, you have maintained your project capital and sort of start date. Maybe if you could just let us know in terms of what approvals still remain in the critical path, what are the execution risks there, and what would a six-month permitting delay do to first production and total project costs? And then the second one just on CSA. You have provided guidance on costs for 2027 which is sort of broadly in line with what you had for 2026. Just trying to understand why there is no sort of cost benefit with the volume increase and then maybe if you could just give us a bit more color. You have maintained the 40-kiloton steady state. What sort of cost could we expect at that steady state production?
Yeah. So I will start with Eva. As you know, we flagged previously that we discovered an endangered species on site. Where we are with the regulators, we are actively engaged in managing the process and we adopt what we call a staged approach to execution. And what that means broadly is that we have permission to continue on pre-stripped areas. So we continue production on pre-stripped areas. Fortunately, from a project development perspective, the area where the copper concentrating plant would be built was largely pre-stripped. So the copper concentrate plant which is a big portion of the capital expenditure is continuing undisturbed and that is good news from a project schedule perspective.
We have suspended work on areas that have not yet been cleared and those areas are subject to what is called a Referral 1 and a Referral 2 process, both of which have already been submitted to the authorities in Australia. We await feedback on that. Where we sit today, we have got no reason to believe that we cannot attain our capital guidance that we originally guided, that ZAR 1.55 -ZAR 1.75 as well as the project schedule risk of that first copper production by end of calendar 2028. That is where we are. It is a dynamic process and we are managing it. At this stage, I think it is fair to say that we are fairly comfortable that it is not the endangered species or the mine.
We think we are fairly comfortable that it can be the mine with the endangered species and managing that responsibly from an environmental management perspective and that is the space we want to own. We want to build a mine, but we want to do it in a responsible way and taking care of the planet and the environment. We are not at a stage where we are thinking of delays that would impact cost and schedule. With what we have got in front of us now, we still maintain where we are. As things unfold, we will come back to the market and communicate accordingly. As with CSA, it is early days. I think that is probably a fair assessment. We are getting our head around CSA and understanding the assets and as I said, it is fully integrated now.
What we did try and do in this presentation is map a clear pathway to the 40,000 ton production profile. That is what we have got on the screen now. We have given slightly longer guidance to just give comfort that we still do see the mine getting there. It is going to get there by solving the ventilation constraint and solving the flexibility constraints, and also taking good care of the infrastructure at the mine and continue to build that out. As we ramp that up, the cost would follow suit. We do not guide longer-term costs than year one. Work in progress. Real commitment in terms of making this mine a great mine for Harmony and extend this life even beyond what is in front of us. I think what is of particular interest is the success on the exploration already.
There is a high likelihood that this mine would be around for much longer than we currently think. Exceptional ore body, great people, and quite excited about the prospect that this brings. It is a nice dovetailing of the two mines, if I could just briefly touch on that. You have got this mine, which is an underground mine, lower volumes, exceptionally high grade. For the old-timers in the room, we always say grade is king. But dovetailing with Eva Copper, which is an open pit, bulk, lower grade mine, but a bulk mine. I do think the two complement one another well from that 100,000 tons of copper that we target in three years from today, coming out of the east coast of Australia, one in North Queensland and the other one in North New South Wales.
Thanks.
Bruce, yes, over to you.
Morning, everyone. Bruce Williamson, Integral Asset Management. It's just concerning your deep level gold mines. Often by the time you are mining off a vertical and maybe even tertiary shafts, your traveling times to get from shaft head gear to stope start exceeding an hour in and an hour out. So that reduced time on the face means that your drilling crews, your support, your cleaning and general maintenance start having reduced time and either guys take shortcuts or they miss blasts. What are you guys doing to negate that and make sure that you get your blast and you do all your maintenance?
Yes, traveling time, we always say in Mining 101 is getting today's blast in the tip tonight and out the mine on the very next shift, and get the people in efficiently and out efficiently, and also get the materials in and out efficiently. That's conventional mining 101. Now what we are doing in those respects is we have in fact adopted, it has been some time now, but there is a five day work week adopted at Mponeng, which goes together with a 12-hour working shift. So instead of having a normal eight hour 23 shift on 11-day fortnight cycle, we have reduced the amount of working days in the week so that the hours still comply with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Labour Relations Act in South Africa.
We found that gives us good face time at these deep mines like Mponeng, where you need X amount of hours to drill a face properly. You need X amount of hours to support a face properly. You need X amount of hours to make safe a face properly, and you need X amount of hours to clean a face properly. If you do not provide adequate time to do so, as you rightly say, you start to sacrifice quality. So instead of drilling four holes, people would drill three. When you do not drill four holes and you drill three, you break the hanging wall, you have adverse safety outcomes, you have advance for blast problems and all sorts of things like that.
The five-day work week, longer shift at Mponeng seem to work quite well to negate the traveling time constraint that we have at some of these mines. At other mines, for example, in Bekeisa, in the Free State, we are sinking chairlifts down the middle of the ore body in order to get crew quicker to the face. In other words, technological solutions to almost like this conveyor belt that you have at the airport. Well, I suppose a conveyor belt and walking for some of us is the same pace. But using technology to get people in and out of the faces quicker. There are some technological solutions, chairlifts and things that also help to get people into the face quicker. I think as Harmony, we understand these underground deep level gold mines well.
We know what solutions there are and we are trying to get people and material in and ore out as efficiently as we can. If you don't deal with those things, you do pay the price in productivity and safety and other things. It is very important that we continue to explore ways to get people in and out the working place efficiently and safely.
Any other questions? If not, I am going to move over to the call. Are there any call questions waiting for us?
Thank you, sir. We have a number. This one comes from Raj Ray of BMO. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, Beyers, Boipelo and team. Three questions, if I may. First on your CSA, I see that you mentioned the development meters have gone up to almost 560 as of June. Can you comment on what the steady state development meters you are targeting? Based on your capital guidance for the next three years, which is around, call it ZAR 100 million odd for sustaining. If I were to look at beyond that, what level of capital development do you expect to continue doing at a steady state? Is that level of sustaining capital, is it expected to remain at that level beyond the next three years? My second question is on your tax expense, and this is for Boipelo. Your profit before tax increased pretty substantially in the second half of fiscal 2026
compared to the first half, but your tax expense pretty much remained the same. Can you give us some color on if there were any offsetting impact and what should we be modeling going forward? My last question is a follow-up on Arnold's question on the hedge book. Boipelo, you mentioned your derivative liabilities have come down pretty significantly as of the end of June. Can you give us some idea what gold price were you assuming or has been assumed as of the end of June for that liability?
Because gold price at the end of June was ZAR 4,000. We are back up to ZAR 4,700. I am assuming that liability would have gone up. The reason I am kind of belaboring that point is, look, Harmony is generating almost $1 billion of free cash flow. You are maintaining very low leverage. You have over $1 billion of liquidity.
I understand you want to be consistent, but why is a larger hedge book still necessary? Those are my questions. Thanks.
Thanks, Raj. I will start with the CSA development one. As I said in the presentation, CSA is now fully integrated and the Harmony operating model has been implemented. To that effect, that is no different for development meters. So, excuse me for getting a little bit in the nuts and the bolts here, but we have got a model called the Iceberg Model, which sets specific risk factors for a specific mine, and that sets the specific development meters necessary for that mine to create the right face length flexibility in order to get consistent, predictable production. CSA is no different. So we have got set development targets for the mine.
I'm pleased to say that the team has responded phenomenally well in terms of the development performance, and they've been hitting their straps on the development, which bodes well for opening up more ore fronts, as we said in the presentation, as well as deepening the mine on those decline developments. So, the levels of 560 was a record. We don't require necessarily to blast a record every month there to create the necessary flexibility. But we'd be looking at doing more development instead of doing less development. What we have seen is development and flexibility is the one area, together with infrastructure, reliability, and safety, that gets a mine predictable, and to deliver consistent, predictable production. Very pleased with what we've seen in terms of development performance. We need more of it, and we'll continue to manage the asset to make sure that we create the necessary flexibility.
When you do not have flexibility, you're tempted to mine out of sequence. When you mine out of geotechnical sequence, you create bigger problems. So solving for the short term doesn't solve for the medium and the long term. And you recall that we have flagged that there was some out of sequence stoping that we had to correct, and we will not do that because it's important for us to deliver consistency over time.
Thanks, Raj. Just on the tax, you're going to have to help me because on the income statement, our tax expense is about ZAR 9 billion compared to four of the previous year. I think mentioned they were the same.
No, I was talking about half year on half year. Because your net profit before tax compared to H1 has gone up substantially, but your tax expense compared to H1 is pretty much the same.
Okay, I am going to have to come back to you because I do not have those numbers. I have full-year and full-year in front of me.
Oh, okay. Okay, yeah, we can take that offline. Thank you.
Okay. Yeah, we will revert back to you, Raj.
Yeah. On the hedging, just the mark to market. We do not disclose those price assumptions, but I can refer you to note 19 of the financial statements just in terms of how that is calculated.
Okay, thank you.
Any other questions coming in?
The next. Yes, sir. The next question comes from Adrian Hammond of SBG. Please go ahead.
Good morning, guys. Thanks for the presentation. For you, I have a question on Eva. Just remind us who you have the offtake arrangement with, and how critical is that feed to their strategy. Secondly, you make a big point around copper production scaling up to 100,000 tons and your diversification mix to Australasia region. Your forecast for the group production certainly is quite remarkable given it is for the first time I have ever seen a forecast from Harmony growing. We cannot help but notice that it is largely copper that is growing and gold that is falling. Could you just remind investors exactly how you foresee Harmony being positioned further as you grow and, certainly at these gold prices, you will continue to generate sufficient cash. I guess the question is, do you foresee further M&A in copper and where?
Or do you think that the mix for now is where you will remain? Thanks.
Thanks, Adrian. If I could, in the meantime, ask Sam to get us the life of mine slide on the screen that would help to talk about the last question, but perhaps on the offtake. Very important question, Adrian. The copper con from Eva Copper will go to the Mount Isa smelter. And it is important that one see that within the greater context of what is happening in the Mount Isa area with the closure of the Mount Isa mines, and the difficulty and the competitiveness with which smelters compete for concentrate. So it is in the interest of a lot of people that depend on that smelter and that area to get the Eva Copper mine going. I think there is a supportive environment to make sure that the mine happens.
And that first copper production date of end of calendar 2028 is important in the context of the greater continuation of the smelter in Mount Isa. So, from a stakeholder management perspective, public consultation, regulators, people are quite focused on getting that sequencing right and making sure that the smelter can be competitive, kept open, and can take that offtake from the Eva Copper mine. As for copper, thanks for acknowledging the upward forecast, Adrian.
That is quite good from you. So we have got the slide on the screen now. I think, Adrian, to your point, this is now gold equivalents. And the purpose of us showing that is to show that Harmony, in fact, remains a 1.4- 1.5 gold and gold equivalent producer. And we have included the blue sky three layers on top, which we have not done in the past. And that is what showed the declining profile.
Now those are conceptual as I flagged in the presentation, and there is still more work that needs to be done on those. But those are within our control. Those are on our tenements, and these are projects that we can bring to fruition. And that then results in a profile that look different to what we may have shown in the past. So by 2030 or so, it gets Harmony to a 70/30 regional split on production, 70% local, 30% offshore. And as I highlighted, that excludes Wafi-Golpu. And I say if Wafi-Golpu comes on, you will see how that also changes. So in that respect, we do not have a particular ratio in mind for copper and gold. We do not have a particular ratio in mind for offshore local production split. What guides our decision-making is value.
Whether it is copper or gold or whether it is local or offshore, where the value is, we will go. And we believe that we've demonstrated that capital allocation discipline in the last few years, and that's what's gotten Harmony to where it is today. And that next 10 year of delivery would be equally exciting in Harmony for us, copper and gold.
Thanks, Beyers. That doesn't help me much. But in the way to look about Harmony or how to describe Harmony going into the future, because whilst you say that you're interested in both copper and gold, depending on whether it meets your hurdles, it certainly then describes Harmony in a different manner that whilst it's a predominant gold player, it could shift. We don't know. You're saying that it could shift more into a copper play, and certainly that is an interesting play in itself given the premiums that copper companies trade at. So I think it's an important distinction to be aware of because it does change your investor and shareholder base going forward. But I wish you luck and I think it's certainly a sign of times changing in the gold space in general in the industry. Thanks.
Thanks for those comments, Adrian.
The next question comes from Rene Hochreiter of Noah Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, Beyers and team. Thanks for taking my question. Very nice dividend, but still a little bit behind your peers at about 3.6%, I think, if I calculated correctly. With your ZAR 28 billion CapEx, total CapEx in FY 2027, about 64% up on last year, will you be able to maintain your dividend payout in FY 2027 at sort of similar levels as 2026 or can we expect a drop? More a comment than a question, actually, because I think it will likely drop. The second question, if I may. Your ZAR per tonne costs at Mponeng were up 17% and at Moab Khotsong up 20%. Should we carry on modeling at this rate or can you get it lower going forward?
Firstly, just on the dividend. It is linked directly to free cash flow generation, so after all CapEx. With your sums, what we intend to do is at least it is consistent, and it will come out to be whatever it comes out to be. In terms of capital, we are quite comfortable that we will be able to fund that through cash as well as available facilities. I think it is quite
Self-explanatory, really.
Perhaps if I could add to what Boipelo is saying, Rene. We looked at it this morning. One of our peers is at 4.5%, Harmony at about 3.6% or 3.7% dividend yield. The main distinction in our view is we have got the Eva Copper CapEx right ahead of us, we know what it is going to be. Whereas, some of our peers have concluded some of those investments. So it is just a different timing, different phase that we are in. We believe, with the support of the board, the dividend that was declared takes cognizance of all of that. As we go forward, we will continue to be responsible.
But as in where we are, if you look at our plans going forward, the business is in a good position to continue to generate good cash and we will continue to allocate our capital responsibly going forward on the dividend.
Okay. Thanks for that. And your costs at Mponeng and Moab?
Yeah. Ramp ton is an important metric, and that is something that is very important. You would see that Moab, in particular, that mine is entering the ore gap now. What happens with the ore gap is tons go down and grade goes down for a period that started now. And so you will see some of that coming through, Rene, and that is going to be there for about 5 years. We have previously flagged that, so that will put pressure on cost. That is that structural phase between the lag of the new mine and the depletion of the old mine. Just a reminder, you recall when we acquired the asset, the asset had a fairly short life. And what Harmony does, when we acquire an asset, you buy the current life of mine, but you also buy the project optionality.
So we very quickly dusted off the feasibility study, put the Harmony stamp on that, and started the project to deepen the mine. So we are now in that ore gap area between Zaaiplaats, the new mine starting up, and the depletion of the middle mine and the old Great Noligwa areas. So that will have a cost impact. Perhaps just circling back to that is why it was important to augment the cash flow with CSA and get behind some of the Eva CapEx in this period to supplement for this area of ore gap of Moab. Ramp ton, we always keep a close eye on. We are managing inflation. There were some real impacts on inflation, Rene, that came through the system. I think Harmony did a fair job of getting through that.
Of course, if you do not produce all the tons all the time, your ramp ton gives you that uptick. I think the team is well in control of cost and cost discipline in Harmony, and will continue to keep a lid on our costs.
Great.
Just particularly on Mponeng, by any chance?
Yeah, no, same thing. It is important to-
Same story. Okay.
These mines have got large fixed cost. It is important to produce the tons or the ounces or the grams, whatever metric you use, in order to make sure that you maintain your cost, but also get the unit cost metric right. So it is both sides that need to work well together as you know, Rene.
Thank you very much. Understood. Thanks, Beyers.
All right. Thank you very much. I think with that, we are going to start wrapping things up. To everyone that has submitted questions online, I will get back to you, Herbert, Yandre, Bolalwa, Thoko, Teleki. I have got your names, I have got your questions. So thank you very much to everyone for joining us today. It is wonderful to see you all in person. Beyers, Boipelo, and the team, thank you very much for-
Thank you.
for the results today. With that, we say goodbye. Thank you very much