Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Barrick 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. As a reminder, this meeting is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to John Thornton, Barrick's Chairman. Please go ahead, sir.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I would like to introduce the board of directors who are here with us this morning. Helen Cai, Brian Greenspun, Brett Harvey, Mark Hill, Anne Kabagambe, Robert Samek, Loreto Silva, and Pekka Vauramo. I would also like to welcome the members of the Barrick management team who are here with us this morning. There is an old story about a child who walks to a distant shore to find a special seashell to bring back to his teacher. When the teacher remarks on the beauty of the shell and marvels at the great distance the child had walked to find it, the child replies, "Long walk part of gift." Many people focus only on our sector's equivalent of the seashell, the minerals. Understandably so. We depend so much on them, we divide human history into its ages.
Gold has not only held cultural significance for millennia, we use it in circuit boards, smartphones, satellites, spacecraft, medical treatment, and for storing and transferring value. Copper is essential to wiring, heating, power grids, medicine, agriculture, AI data centers, batteries, chargers, solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, smart grids, and much, much more. Just as the long walk is as important as the shell, Barrick is more than just minerals. We create thousands of jobs, 97% of which are in our host countries. We pay billions in taxes and royalties every year. We build schools, clinics, roads, water treatment facilities, and renewable energy plants. Many of these long outlast our mining operations, enriching the communities with which we partner. Despite these contributions, and despite having the best assets and pipeline in the industry, we disappointed you and ourselves on safety and performance. No more.
We have restored Barrick's discipline and ambition. We improved safety and performance across our portfolio. We produced record free cash flow. We more than doubled net earnings. We returned record capital to shareholders. We streamlined and strengthened our executive team. We focused our regions. We sold our non-core assets and achieved a substantial net cash position. We resolved Mali. We doubled Fourmile's resource. We rebuilt our guidance from the ground up, and we are meeting it. These steps are just the beginning. We are working to deliver durable, diversified, and responsible value, attracting the duration capital that is the fastest-growing capital source globally. Our first priority is consistent execution, safe, reliable delivery on ounces, costs, and growth, unlocking more value year after year. From there, our strategy marries two ideas, focused teams backed by scale. Teams dedicated to focused groups of assets know the terrain and communities.
They are responsible and accountable. They are nimble, fast, and effective. These smaller teams are then strengthened by our scale, balance sheet, geopolitical insight, and global platform. They can also benefit from the investments we intend to make in technology, particularly artificial intelligence, which has the potential to transform every element of mining, from operations to exploration to evaluating acquisitions. Only a company of Barrick's size can make such investments at a global scale. While our partnership culture and obsession with talent will allow us to attract the best people in a constrained market. The IPO of our North American gold assets is an example of bringing these two principles together. The team can focus exclusively on the assets, no need to respond to matters across a large global portfolio, while Barrick can contribute its distinctive benefits.
The market can value the assets directly, and since Barrick will retain a substantial majority interest, all of our investors can benefit. Over time, more of our assets will have dedicated teams with more operational autonomy, combining the benefits of being both global and local, large and small. We also expect to make disciplined investments in our best assets, target prudent acquisitions, and reduce risk. We will continue to make a priority of returning capital to shareholders. What will not change are the fundamentals. Barrick will always be an iconic Canadian company with a dual listing, a global reach, and a long-term approach. We will focus on gold and copper. We will prioritize operational and human excellence. We will remain a company of partners and fellow owners. These last words are not rhetorical. We know that we are only as good as the people with whom we surround ourselves.
Our engagement with our fellow owners, our host communities, and our stakeholders is very real. We also know that many others depend on the care with which our work is done. You can see that reflected in everything from our operational imperatives to our compensation incentives and long-term community commitments. Finally, our executives, our board, and I maintain a significant financial and personal stake in Barrick. We believe in the importance, indeed the magic, of ownership. Therefore, both personally and as your Chairman, I thank you on behalf of the board for your continued trust and support. I will now ask Mark Hill to act as Chairman of the meeting for the formal business. Thank you.
Okay, thank you, John. Good morning, everyone. With your consent, I will ask Joe Heckendorn, Barrick's Corporate Secretary, to act as the secretary of the meeting and representatives of the TSX Trust Company to act as scrutineers. We are pleased to host a virtual meeting format for this year's meeting so shareholders can attend virtually by live webcast regardless of their geographical location. There are three matters to deal with as part of the formal business of the meeting: the election of directors, the appointment of an auditor, and an advisory resolution on executive compensation. As described in detail in the information circular for today's meeting, registered shareholders who held shares on March 9th, 2026, the record date for this meeting, and duly appointed proxyholders are entitled to vote at this meeting using electronic ballot.
Our information circular and other proxy materials contain full details about how to register yourself or a proxyholder to participate at today's meeting. If you are not a registered shareholder or a duly appointed proxyholder, you are attending this meeting as a guest. Shareholders who have already voted by proxy do not need to complete an electronic ballot unless you wish to change your vote. The virtual platform will be open for voting on all three resolutions at the same time. This will allow you to choose to vote on each resolution immediately or wait until each resolution is presented to cast your vote. Shareholders and proxyholders participating through the virtual platform may submit a question at any time by clicking the message icon displayed on your screen, composing a question, and selecting the send icon.
Following the formal business of the meeting, we'll be happy to respond to questions submitted through the virtual platform. As the scrutineers have confirmed that a quorum of shareholders is present, I declare that the meeting to be properly constituted and the virtual platform open for voting on all resolutions. The annual report, the consolidated financial statements, and the auditor's report have been mailed to shareholders who have requested them. We would be pleased to deal with any relevant questions during the general question period. We will now proceed with the election of the directors. The board has determined that the number of directors to be elected in this meeting is nine. The board's nominees are Helen Cai, Brian Greenspun, Brett Harvey, Mark Hill, Anne Kabagambe, Robert Samek, Loreto Silva, John Thornton, and Pekka Vauramo. I will move that each of the board's nominees be elected.
Please record your vote for the directors through the virtual platform now. The next item of business is the appointment of an auditor. The board recommends PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to be appointed auditor of Barrick to hold the office until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders or until its successor is appointed, and that the directors be authorized to set the auditor's remuneration. I move that the board's recommendation be approved. Please record your vote through the virtual platform now. We will now consider the third and last item of business set out in the notice of the meeting. Please note that I will close the virtual platform for voting after this item. Please ensure that you record your vote on all resolutions. The third matter to be voted on is the advisory resolution on executive compensation.
The Board of Directors has adopted a non-binding advisory vote relating to executive compensation. The Board recommends that the advisory resolution regarding the company's approach to executive compensation as set forth in the information circular be approved. I move that the Board's recommendation be approved. Please record your vote through the voting virtual platform now. For those of you who have not voted on all of the resolutions, please do so now, as I'll shortly close the virtual voting platform.
Okay, I will declare the voting platform closed, and the formal part of this meeting is now concluded. We'll report the voting results once the scrutineers have tallied the votes. We would now be happy to respond to any questions relating to the business of the meeting. As a reminder, shareholders and proxy holders participating in our meeting through the virtual platform may now submit a question by clicking on the message icon displayed on your screen, composing a question, and selecting the send icon. We would like to give as many of you as possible the opportunity to participate, so please be reminded that all questions should be concise. If we can begin with the first question.
Our first question comes from Catherine Coumans. It is actually a set of questions relating to the Veladero Mine. Her first question on the topic is: Was there an unauthorized release of effluent from the Veladero mine in October or November 2025?
Thank you, Catherine. Thanks for the question. The answer to that is no, there wasn't.
Her second on this topic is: Will Barrick release the results of weekly water testing conducted throughout 2025, especially in November?
Actually, I'm gonna hand that to Grant, our head of sustainability, to respond to that.
Thanks, Mark. These results are provided to the government of Argentina as per our permit requirements. In addition, we do participatory monitoring on a regular basis with our communities, and the results are shared with them, too.
Okay, thanks, Grant.
Finally on this topic, will Barrick release the full analysis of the dead fish carried out by SGS, the laboratory contracted by the mine?
Grant, do you wanna respond to that as well, please?
The results of that analysis, showed that this was a natural event and, was not caused by any discharge from any industry, in Argentina.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Lateef Johar Baloch. The nature of the question is: How does Barrick intend to justify its position in Reko Diq, particularly with respect to the Baloch people?
Okay. Well, obviously, I've been involved with Reko Diq since the very start. I was the first person on the ground when we restarted Reko Diq. I mean, on my first visit, we engaged with the local communities in [Humai] and the area. We have involved the Baloch people throughout this whole process, and we have strong support from them, that community and the Nokkundi as well. That would be my response.
We have another question from Catherine Coumans. The nature of it is: How does Barrick respond to the alleged shootings of local Kuria by police contracted in North Mara?
Okay. Well, I can't really comment on what the local police do. Obviously, don't control the local police. That is up to the government of Tanzania. I really haven't got much else to add to that.
Thank you. That concludes our questions.
Thank you. Now we can just run through the voting results. The scrutineers have confirmed that each of the director nominees named in the information circular has been elected with at least 81% of votes in favor. The appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the auditor has been approved with 91% of the votes in favor. The advisory resolution on the company's executive compensation approach has been approved with 81% of the votes in favor. Detailed final voting results for all the items of the business today's meeting will be filed on SEDAR+. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the meeting, and thank you for attending the annual meeting.
This concludes today's meeting. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.