Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Ian Reed and as Chairman of the Board of OceanaGold Corporation, I would like to welcome you to today's Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders. As it is now 5 p. M. Canadian Eastern Daylight Time and a quorum is present, I declare the meeting open.
To begin, I will introduce my fellow directors attending this meeting, including the new directors standing For election, Mr. Michael McMullen, Mr. Paul Benson and Ms. Sandra Dodds. Mothers McMullen and Benson joined the Board in May after robust engagement with our shareholders who share our passion for the near and long term success of OceanaGold.
Mr. Michael McMullen is a geologist with nearly 30 years of experience in the mining industry across Australia, North and South America, Asia including the Philippines, Africa and Europe in all phases of mining development. He has broad based mining experience with precious and base metals including gold and copper from both surface mining and underground operations. While serving as CEO at Detour Gold And prior to that as President and CEO of Stillwater Mining Company, he delivered significant value to shareholders through operational improvements. Currently, Mick serves as an Executive Director of Venturex Resources Limited.
Mr. Paul Benson is a mining engineer with over 35 years of experience across Australia, North and South America, Asia and Europe in Mine Development Operations and Capital Markets. He has broad based experience with precious and base metals, including gold, silver and copper from both surface and underground operations. Most recently, Mr. Benson established and served as CEO of SSR Mining prior to its merger with Alacer Gold.
Prior to this, Mr. Benson served CEO at Troy Resources and held various senior management and operational roles at BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and RGC. Ms. Sandra Dodds is also a new appointment joining in November 2020. She's an experienced director with over 25 years as an operational and financial executive.
Prior to her time as CEO of Infrastructure at Broad Spectrum, Ms. Dodd spent 10 years at Downer EDI Limited in several executive roles, including as CFO for Downer Works Global, Executive General Manager Operations and CEO of Downer Asia. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to welcome the new directors, and we look forward to them playing a critical role in the advancement of our organic growth pipeline, which we believe presents a significant opportunity to deliver value over the long term. Also on the call today are Michael Holmes, President and CEO of Oceana Gold, who was appointed to the Board early last year and Craig Nelson and Catherine Genac, who joined in 2019. Our 2 longest serving Board members, Mr.
Jeff Ravey and Mr. Paul Sweeney will not be standing for reelection and will retire effective today. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul and Jeff for their service to OceanaGold in their respective roles as Chair of the Audit and Financial Risk Management and Sustainability Committees. We wish you the best in your future endeavors. For today's meeting, 7 directors are standing for election or reelection to the Board, including Mr.
McMullen, Mr. Benson, Ms. Dodds for election and Mr. Holmes, Mr. Nelson, Ms.
Zunack and myself for reelection. We also have in attendance Mr. Ben Gargette, a representative from our auditor, Pricewaterhouse in Australia and his colleague, Mr. Scott Thompson. At this point, I advise that for governance purposes, particularly considering the various locations from which attendees are joining us.
And as provided for in the company's constitution, I exercise the right to call for a poll on all resolutions. Today, as with last year, we will be using the Lumi mobile AGM app to allow attendees to view the webcast, submit questions and for registered shareholders and proxy holders to cast votes on the items of business. Pressing the speech bubble icon will open the messaging facility. From here, you can send in questions and comments. Please note that due to the time available, we may not be able to address all questions sent through.
You will, however, receive a confirmation in the app that your message has been received. When we arrive at the formal business meeting, I will call for a poll to be opened on all items. For the registered shareholders and proxy holders, the resolutions will appear in your app along with for and withhold for and against voting options depending on the resolution. Simply select one of these options to cast your vote. You can change your vote as many times as you wish up until the close of the polls.
Any third party proxies appointed by the registered shareholders for the meeting should vote in the same manner. The voting option selected via the app will cause any discretionary votes you may hold to be cast as selected. Underlying instructions from holders will automatically be cast at the close of the polls. When voting is closed, The final voting selection entered into your app will be recorded. These votes will be added to the proxy votes received prior to the meeting and the results of the meeting will be tabulated and announced to the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Australian Stock Exchange after the conclusion of the meeting.
After we complete the formal business of the meeting, I'll invite Michael Holmes, OceanaGold's President and Chief Executive Officer to provide an update about the company. If you're logged in with Lumi, you can switch between screens of the presentation, voting resolutions and messages and questions from attendees. If there is a pertinent question from a shareholder through Lumi, I will voice this at the meeting as appropriate and respond to that. Also on the call today are members of Executive Committee of Oceana Gold. We will now move to the formal business of the meeting.
I've requested Liang Tang, Company Secretary, to serve as recording secretary for the meeting. Christopher Dedrick of Computershare Investor Services, the registrar and transfer agent for the company is present and will act as scrutineer for the meeting. We will first consider the financial statements of the company for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 and the auditors report. This is a non binding item for discussion and does not require a vote. If there's no discussion, we will move to the next order of business.
Is there any discussion on this item? Hearing none, we will now move to the voting on the abide in the AGM Notice of Meeting and Management Information Circular. You can only vote for or withhold on the first two resolutions. The app will now display the resolutions and your voting option. Voting will remain open during discussion on the resolutions.
I will also provide you with a notice that the polls are about to close. Resolution 1, election of directors. To consider and if thought fit, pass the following 7 items as ordinary resolutions. Details of the person seeking election and reelection are set out in the notice of meeting and management information circular. Item 1, Let Mr.
Ian M. Reid be elected as a Director. I note that the management holds 332,000,000 and 70 4,060,000,000 proxy votes in favor and 147,882,780 withholding votes. Are there any questions in relation to this resolution? Item 2, that Mr.
Craig Nelson be elected as a Director. I note that management holds 400 and 63,453,203 votes in favor and 16,503,637 withholding votes. Are there any questions in relation to this resolution? Item 3, that Ms. Catherine Zimack be elected as a Director.
I note that the management holds 459,000,000 319,530 proxy votes in favor and 20,000,000 637,310 withholding votes. Are there any questions in relation to this resolution? Item 4, let Ms. Sandra Dodds be elected as a Director. I note that the management holds 462,391,578 proxy votes in favor and 17,565,000 262 withholding votes.
Are there any questions in relation to this resolution? Item 5, that Mr. Paul Benson be elected as Director. I note that management holds 478,626,919 proxy votes in favor and 1,330,021 withholding votes. Are there any questions in relation to the resolution.
Item 6, that Mr. Michael McMullen be elected as a Director. I note that management holds 478,599,004 100 and 77 proxy votes in favor and 1,357,463 withholding votes. Are there any questions in relation to the resolution? Item 7, that Mr.
Michael Holmes be elected as a Director. I note that management holds 300 65,943,636 proxy votes in favor and 114,000,000,000,13,204 withholding votes. Are there any questions in relations to the resolution? Resolution 2 is the appointment of auditor to consider and if not fit to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution. To appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor of the company for the ensuing year and to authorize the directors to fix their remuneration.
I note that management holds 522 1,733,635 proxy votes in favor and 9,385,181 withholding votes. Are there any questions in relation to the resolution? If there's no further discussion, I will close the poll on each of the first two resolutions in the next few minutes. I now declare the poll closed. We will now open the voting on the remaining resolutions.
You can only vote for or against on these resolutions. The app will now display the resolutions and your voting options. Voting will remain open during the discussion on this resolution. I will also provide you with a notice that the goals are about to close. Resolution 3, Advanced Notice Policy.
To consider and if not fit, pass the following resolution as an ordinary Resolution. The approval of the company's advanced notice policy disclosed in Schedule C of the accompanying management information circular. I note that management holds 400 and 46,206,485 proxy votes in favor and $33,750,455 against votes. Are there any questions in relation to this resolution? Resolution 4, performance share rights plan.
To consider and if not fit, passed the following resolution as an ordinary resolution. The reapproval of the company's performance share rates plan as disclosed in the accompanying management information circular. I note that management holds 400 and 21,999,000 and 66 proxy votes in favor and 57,412,913 against votes. Are there any questions in relation to the resolution? Her 5th resolution is on advisory vote on executive compensation.
To consider and if not fit, passed the following resolution as an ordinary resolution. The approval of the company's approach to executive compensation as disclosed in the accompanying management information circular. I note that management holds 457,000,000,868,000 629 proxy votes in favor and 21,543,360 against votes. Are there any questions in relation to the resolution? As there is no further discussion, I will close the poll on the final resolution in the next few minutes.
I appoint Christopher Dedrick of Computershare to be the Returning Officer and to conduct the poll. I now declare the 2nd poll closed. Ladies and gentlemen, I now declare the poll closed. We are pleased to announce that all resolutions have passed. Detailed results of the meeting will be announced to the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Australian Stock Exchange later today.
Thank you once again for attending the meeting. I now declare this Annual General Meeting closed. I'll turn it over the presentation over to Michael Holmes, President and Chief Executive Officer. Michael?
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and hello, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here today and provide you an update on Oceana Gold. The logistics of our Annual General Meeting are different this year in light of travel restrictions. And for those who joined virtually, thank you for being here.
Over the course of the presentation, I will discuss the current state of our business and operations, including 2020 results. More generally, I will take you through our strategic focus, in particular, our significant organic growth pipeline. We will also review our 2020 sustainability report and our ongoing commitment to responsible mining. Before we proceed, note that the presentation contains forward looking statements, which by their very nature are subject to some degree of uncertainty. There can be no assurances that our forward looking statements will prove to be accurate as future results and events could differ materially.
We ended 2020 having achieved several of our key initiatives while navigating an operating environment complicated by the effects of a global pandemic. We delivered on our commitments both in the near term And the long term. And in particular, we delivered on our revised full year consolidated guidance with an exceptional 4th quarter from Haile, finishing the year strong. In fact, we delivered 1 third of our full year production at the lowest cost. Adding to an already robust Q4 last year, we hit key milestones for our project growth projects through the year, including mine life extensions at Macraes, advancing our view of the Greater Waihi District and optimization of the Haile Underground.
Waihi processing restarted at the end of last year and we achieved first gold production from Martha Underground shortly thereafter. The project continues to ramp up nicely, and I will share more details on this as we move through the presentation. Finally, we secured our balance sheet to ensure delivery of our projects on the optimal time frames, irrespective of the timing of a restart at Didipio. 2020 was a challenging year for OceanaGold. And as you can We remain in the bottom quartile of the total shareholder returns for the year.
In the first half of twenty twenty, We saw the impact of our operations related to COVID-nineteen. The global pandemic impacted all of us both personally and professionally, And I commend our team for their agility and their commitment to the safety of our workforce to the extent that it was within our control. The protocols implemented kept our workers safe, and we are maintaining the strict health and safety measures in place for the foreseeable future. At Haile, increased workforce absenteeism related to COVID-nineteen and the extreme weather hampered productivity. The impact of these factors contributed to a downgrade of the full year guidance at Haile mid third quarter, which negatively impacted the company's expectation for the full year.
The operational challenges we faced last year put considerable pressure on the share price. However, we are now looking forward to delivering on the company's 2021 commitments and the continued advancement of our organic growth opportunities over the next several years. Our ability to deliver long term value for our shareholders, is predicated on delivering consistently on our commitments. We have been actively managing our liquidity in response to the suspension of operations at Didipio as well as the near term risks associated with the global with the COVID-nineteen pandemic. In 2020, this included executing the gold presale arrangements to re profile and better align operational cash flow with our near term growth plans.
The well supported equity raise And finally, the execution of the $250,000,000 revolving credit facility that will not mature until December 2024. After having taken these steps, we can now move forward with confidence and deliver our organic growth projects, while at the same time retain their full value and optionality in the hands of the shareholders. As at March 31, our cash balance was $145,500,000 And our net debt stood at $163,400,000 The reduced cash balance represents the planned investment in our organic growth projects. For the near term, we are prioritizing the reinvestment of our cash flow in our high margin growth projects, which we believe represent attractive investment returns and will drive long term sustained returns to the shareholders. As we move through this period of investment and as our production and margins increase, the focus will shift to relocating the free cash flow to shareholders and debt holders.
Turning to ESG. Last We launched our 2020 Sustainability Report, which was based on the globally recognized Global Reporting Initiative Framework. The report was independently verified and highlights our environmental, social and governance performance. It also highlights indicators that are material to our business and our stakeholders and captures opportunities for improvement. In 2020, we made significant progress in a number of areas, including climate change, human rights, Biodiversity, and we implemented a plan to deliver compliance with the World Gold Council's responsible gold mining principles.
We led the industry and took immediate climate action. This included the release of an updated statement of position on climate change that sets a net zero operational greenhouse emissions goal by 2,050. Also as part of our journey to understand climate chain risks, we commenced a reported we commenced and reported on our first assessment of Scope 3 emissions. We significantly bolstered our approach to human rights, including the implementation of the human rights training across our Board and management teams. Having completed a human rights impact assessment at Didipio in 2019, we completed an assessment at Haile and commenced them at Waihi and Macraes in 2020.
We elevated our approach to biodiversity offsets and demonstrated best practice rehabilitation and closure. This included the development of a biodiversity management framework, including operational standards that detail management's performance requirements. In addition, at the Rifton restoration project, 2020 marks significant rehabilitation achievement, including the rehabilitation of over 130 hectares of the roughly 260 hectares of Stearns, and planted approximately 800,000 seedlings. We received independent external assurance confirming our progress towards the responsible gold mining principles compliance by the end of 2022. This assurance required us to demonstrate an internal assessment against the gold mining principles And work plans that identify how we will reach full compliance at our offices and each of our operations.
Looking ahead to 2021, we are building on our 2020 achievements and advancing key initiatives that keep us at the forefront of best practice globally. We continue to develop work plans and targets related to the very pressing global issue of climate change. This includes our commitment to provide 2,030 climate change reduction targets in line with the task force on climate related financial disclosures by the end of 2022. We are assessing how we respect and protect human rights across our operations. And in 2021, we will release a report outlining the results of our human rights impact assessments.
We are also implementing our biodiversity standards across the portfolio. And in 2021, operations will establish biodiversity baselines and management approaches that commit to no net loss in areas natural habitat and net gains in areas with critical habitat. We will also continue to progress towards the goal of 100% compliance of the World Gold Council's responsible gold mining principles by the end of 2022. Our overall ESG performance has been recognized by the major ESG rating agencies, And we maintained our A rating with the MSCI, an outperformer rating by Sustainalytics, putting us among the elite ESG performance in the mining industry. We are also ranked 4th overall in the mining industry through the VIGIO 3rd party reporting methodology.
Responsible mining is fundamental to the way we do business. We have operated a sustainable business for the past 30 years by applying robust ESG practices across the company. And we know this is critical to ensure we deliver to the communities in which we live and work. Turning to the next slide. Oceana Gold is a resilient and dynamic gold miner with a strong and sustainable future.
The company has 4 operations, 3 of which are currently producing gold and silver. The Didipio Gold Copper Mine is located in the Philippines and currently remains in a state of operational standby. Typically, this asset produces approximately 110,000 to 120,000 gold ounces and 12,000 tonnes of copper annually at first quarter all in sustaining costs. For 2021, we expect to produce 340,000 to 380,000 gold ounces at an all in sustaining cost of approximately $11.25 per ounce. We have a sizable mineral endowment across our operational footprint.
And through the drill bit, we have successfully expanded our resource base, particularly in New Zealand. We are excited about our future and the company's ability to deliver long term value for shareholders with increasing gold production, reducing costs, expanding margins and excess Free excess free cash flows as we build out our organic growth pipeline, which we believe to be one of the best in the industry. Over the next 3 years, we'll bring online 3 new underground mines and expand our existing open pit operations, all in geopolitically stable jurisdictions. In 2021, we expect 20% higher production at lower all in sustaining costs compared to 2020, while we continue to invest in not only sustaining production, but growth over the near, medium and long term. 2021 is our peak capital year, particularly for growth capital as we advance our significant organic growth projects.
The successful restart of Didipio operations will increase production margins on top of the growth profile mentioned. Additionally, we are working with all stakeholders in New Zealand to responsibly go through the permitting process at Whara Kiraponga, an asset we believe will become the crown jewel of the Oceana Gold portfolio. Moving on to Slide 16 and advancing our organic growth is key to delivering long term shareholder value, And we are doing this in 2 geopolitically stable jurisdictions, New Zealand and the United States. In the Americas, we are progressing surface works for Haile Underground and expect to begin portal development with the receipt of the SEIS and related permits. Martha Underground underpins the Greater Waihi District as we currently see it.
And the project is on track with milling restarted and ramp up underway with expected production of 35,000 to 45,000 gold ounces this year. As we develop the Martha Underground, we will continue to invest in the drill bit. The majority of our current exploration activities are in New Zealand, where we plan on drilling approximately 80,000 meters with 10 drill rigs. 4 are actively drilling at Martha Underground and 2 at Whara Kirapongma. We believe the Waihi District represents the largest value creating opportunity we have in our portfolio.
Moving to the South Island, where Macraes mine life extension to 2028 is supported by the Golden Point underground and open pit expansion opportunities, including deepdell and laybacks of existing open pits. The Golden Point portal development is progressing to plan and is on track for 1st production in the Q4 of this year. Turning to the Americas. And we are pleased with the operating and productivity improvements delivered at Haile year over year, but there is still more room to improve. 1st quarter production was slightly lower than expected due to lower mill throughput, the causes of which has since been resolved by the Hale team.
That said, if you compare the most recent quarter to the last quarter, Gold production was over 50% higher, largely due to the improved mining productivity. Over the course of 2020, Full commissioning of the 19 Komatsu 730e haul trucks increased hauling capacity by 30% and the successful implementation of the management operating system succeeded in delivering Haile's best quarter yet in total mining movements, up 24% year over year and 7% quarter on quarter. We expect to produce 150,000 to 170,000 ounces of gold in 2021 at Haile, over 60% of which will be delivered in the first half of the year with the second quarter expected to be the strongest quarter of the year in terms of production and costs. The Haile supplementary environmental impact statement process continues And the company is expected the record of this decision and related permits in the Q4 of 2021. Meanwhile, the company is progressing the surface works for the Haar underground with the initial portal development planned to commence upon completion of the permitting process.
Currently, Haile Underground is scheduled to commence production in late 2022. In the event that there is further delay in the permitting process, the company will update the market of potential impacts as appropriate. We believe the future of Haile is in the underground. The highest grade in the Haile resource is from the Horseshoe deposit, which on its own is an exciting deposit. What we look forward to is extensive underground drilling to prove up additional resources at Horseshoe, further extensions of the deposit and also to test the mineralized corridor between Horseshoe and Palomino and potentially beyond.
The company has commenced a review of the Haile operation in an effort to maximize its value over the life of the mine. These efforts will be focused on driving further productivity improvements through mine optimization. These include reviewing mine designs and sequencing, involving more selective mining and grade control, water and waste management opportunities such as bringing forward in pit backfilling where we seek to cut the capital required for the build out of future waste rock stacks. The management of these have added additional to the current costs, which remain higher than what was previously assumed. We will also be reviewing further underground opportunities and trade off studies with the open pits where some of the future phases have high strip ratios.
Although the company believes we will achieve the costs over the long term, we are focused on driving lower costs in the near term. We will also continue to drive further efficiencies in the process plant, mainly achieving a steady state grind size and recoveries. The studies, as mentioned above, were expected to be completed in early 2022 and fully integrated into the future planning thereafter. The work related to the continued Haile performance improvements will be overseen by a newly established Board Technical Subcommittee. This committee will fully engage with the company's technical working team who are focused on driving maximum value and return on capital of the operation over the life of the mine.
Also, our new Board of Directors, Mick McMullen and Paul Benson will bring a wealth of technical and commercial experience and their skill sets will prove to be invaluable as we drive additional value for our assets. Development of the Martha Underground continues to progress on budget and on schedule. And the month of May included the highest rate of monthly development achieved to date. Also, during the first half of the year, we declared our first reserve at Martha Underground of 620,000 ounces of gold, grading at 4.3 grams per tonne. And in 2021, we expect to drill an additional 27,000 meters.
In our view, this is a producing asset with significant upside potential. The operation successfully replaced the SAG mill and milling recommenced in mid June, which underpins a successful restart of the processing as planned. The company expects to deliver 35,000 to 45,000 gold ounces this year as part of the ramping up to 90,000 ounces 90,000 to 100,000 ounces of gold per year over the next 2 years. We continue to believe that Ferraquiripama located 10 kilometers north of Waihi represents an incredible opportunity within the Greater Waihi District. Wharakiruponga is a major discovery with an indicated resource of 421,000 gold ounces and inferred resource of 717,000 gold ounces, grading between 12 13 grams per tonne, based only on 35,000 meters of drilling and primarily on 1 of the 3 vein structures identified thus far.
We expect to deliver an updated pre feasibility study for the project in the first half of twenty twenty two And continue to define the potential of this high quality asset. Macraes has been and we expect it will continue to be a steady source of free cash flow for the company. Full year 2021 guidance at Macraes of 155,000 to 165,000 ounces of gold is unchanged with second half production stronger than first half and the third quarter being our strongest at Macraes. Golden Point underground development is well underway and first production is on track for the Q4 this year. Over time, the Golden Point underground will replace production from the Frasier's underground.
And along with the additional open pit opportunities at Deepdale, Innis Mill, Frasies West and Gaytan, It will be the primary ore sources underpinning the Macraes mine life extension to 2028. We consider Didipio an integral part of our portfolio, and its restart is a key focus for us in 2021. Currently, the FTAA is with the Office of the President for review and approval. This follows re endorsement from key government agencies, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, amongst others. During the quarter, the company has successfully transported to Didipio's site 700,000 liters of fuel and other critical Supplies and Parts.
Didipio is currently in a state of operational standby, poised for transition to a restart of production. Once fully ramped up, Didipio will produce approximately 10,000 ounces of gold and 1,000 tons of copper per month at 1st quartile all in sustaining costs. We believe achieving full run rates could take up to 12 months following the granting of the renewal. In the meantime, we expect a staged restart that begins with the recruitment of our workforce and training, particularly of the underground workforce and the implementation of the COVID-nineteen protocols to safeguard our workforce. We expect to commence trucking upon the receipt of the renewal.
These activities will include the delivery of additional supplies and Equipment required to restart the operations and the export of the concentrate produced not yet shipped. Processing is expected to start within several weeks upon restart. And we will feed the plant with the stockpile door, which we have 19,000,000 tonnes on stockpile in the in stockpile on the surface. The cash flows from this production will fund the capital development required for ramping up underground operations to 1,600,000 tonnes of ore mined per year from underground. The Didipio mine is world class and we operate to the highest ESG standards.
We look forward to restarting operations and contributing significant social economic benefits to host communities, municipalities, provinces and the Philippines, particularly in this post pandemic economic recovery period. In summary, we're focused on what's to come. We are confident that our organic growth will deliver real value over the long term and delivering that is critical to creating shareholder value. Oceana Gold is a resilient and dynamic gold miner with a strong and sustainable future. We are excited about our organic growth, and we believe it is amongst the best in the industry and represents decades of opportunity.
We also recognize that long term value is not reflected in our current valuation. To unlock that value for shareholders, we remain focused on delivering our short term commitments, restarting operations at the DPO and realizing the growth potential that is all our own. I will now turn it over to Alisa for questions. Thank you.
Hi, Michael. There are no further questions at this time.
Thank you, Elisa. That concludes our conference call. And on behalf of the Chair, directors and the executive management team, we thank you for joining us today. Goodbye for now.