Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the press conference and the results conference devoted to presenting the KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. for the third quarter of 2024. We are here accompanied by the representatives of the board of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., Iga Dorota Lis, Vice President of the Board for the Assets Management, Vice President of the Board for the Development, and Vice President of the Board for the Production.
We also have Janusz Krystosiak with us, Director of Investor Relations Department, that will lead the second part of the conference, during which you will have the opportunity to ask questions. Let me just inform you that our conference is being transmitted online. The questions can also be asked online and via email ir@kghm.com, and all the answers are going to be published in the Investors tab on our website. Now I'm giving the floor to Vice President Zbigniew Bryja.
Welcome on another results conference. You know some of us, and then in terms of Iga Dorota Lis, President Iga Dorota Lis. Well, you will learn about her knowledge and competencies, and I'm sure she will convince you that she is a perfect fit for the team. And we will all together be competent in giving you all the information that we've prepared for the conference. So we are in limited numbers here since it's a heated moment for the mining industry. We are here with you. Two members of the board perform their duties outside of the headquarters, and our president of the board has fallen ill. I'm sure he's supporting us. He's listening to our broadcast right now. All the best to him. That's it in terms of introduction, just to orient you a bit more. And we appreciate you.
We value and respect you, so we want to present our results as best as possible. Right now, we're in the middle of the Barbórka events. We have first meetings, events related to the miners' day, so-called Barbórka. That's why we are in festive uniforms right now. The next conference takes place in February. The next results conference takes place in February, so probably you wouldn't have a chance to see us in such great uniforms. So we respect you. We want to also present to you as best as possible in our festive uniforms. And we are, well, here we are miners, and we have years of experience in working in the company. That's it in terms of introduction. Let me move on to the first slide, and then we will then take it over one after another.
Summation of the first nine months: stable increase of production and results. You will see it in the detailed slides. In the first nine months of 2024, KGHM has noticed a marked increase: 3% of production of copper, 534,000 tons, which is a third percent of increased production. The revenues increased by 2% in this period. In terms of macroeconomic environment, on one hand, it was beneficial.
On the other, relation to Złoty and Dollar distorted that a bit, taking into account the increase of copper prices by 6% U.S. dollar per ton. Unfortunately, this is the exact amount, the percentage that the relations between Złoty and Dollar worsen. That's why there is no change in copper price in Polish Złoty. In terms of silver prices, we have increases both in terms of dollars. That would be 16% and 9% in terms of Polish Złoty.
Extraction of ore, there is no more or less no change compared year on year. Production of copper in concentrate by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. increased by 0.3%, and in the capital group by 3%. So 0.3% and then 3% in terms of group production. And then production of metallic silver by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. was - 10.8%, but there are many factors contributing to that. As you know, silver is a result of the currently exploited ore deposits. That's one thing. Second, we have gone through a major overhaul in Głogów I copper smelter that was finished recently. And we also had the Kaldo furnace being renovated in Głogów in the Noble Metals smelter. That is why we have had more disruptions, let's say, but we will perform the assumed amounts by the end of the year.
In terms of indicators, higher CapEx execution by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. by 16% year on year, + 2% of increase in revenues in the group by PLN 26 billion. And then debt indicator, so liquidity indicator measured as net debt to Adjusted EBITDA, and this is 0.9. And as you know, this is the safe level up to 2% is safe, is considered as safe. So there is no risk related to that. Here are some of the data I already mentioned. So this is the summation of the first nine months divided into group and KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. So revenues in the group rose by PLN 26.139 billion, and the KGHM Polska Miedź PLN 22 billion, Adjusted EBITDA higher both in terms of group and in terms of KGHM Polska Miedź.
Then net profits, as you can see, PLN 1.3 billion in the group and PLN 1.2 billion in KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. That's it in terms of the general information. Now, I would like to ask President Mirosław Laskowski to continue. Ladies and gentlemen, key product indicators for the first nine months of 2024. We talked about the number, the amount of payable copper production in the whole group is 544,000 tons divided into the assets.
KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. similar level of production year on year, 5% decrease of payable copper production in Sierra Gorda caused by the lower metal global copper content and lower metal recovery. And KGHM International marked increase on the Robinson Mine. The increase of production here in Robinson Mine was by 24,000 tons of payable copper year on year, as you can see on the chart. Then the distribution in given metals.
We talked about copper a lot, silver as well. Let me just add that the shutdowns in the Precious Metals department, there were two, and then compared to 2023, we had only one. That is why we had the discrepancies in our production, so the base for the last year was just high. And the shutdowns also contributed to lower production of gold coming from KGHM S.A. And the higher production of gold by 20,000 ounces did not offset these losses that were borne by the Precious Metals. Then molybdenum production, I mentioned that. We also mentioned that on the previous conferences. It's a - 34% production less in Sierra Gorda mine compared to last year, caused by lower concentration of molybdenum and lower capacity in general. Here you can see the production results of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A.
I wanted to say two words: stable and solid results, because it's quite comparable to last nine months, last year, year on year. Let me just remind you that our mines are 60 years old, over that. The way they are extracted is, well, up to the limits. We're moving away from the mining shafts. Our goal is to be solid and stable in terms of our production throughout the next years. I also wanted to point your attention to bar number three, showing the amount of electrolytic copper of own inputs. This is at the level of 284 tons from own concentrates, similar to year on year to nine months 2023 and in our plans, as it was emphasized with President Szydło. I'm sending my warmest regards to him, and he asked me to point your attention to that.
Our long-term goal is to keep the production of electrolytic copper in KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. from own concentrate on high level of 280 tons, which is 60%-65% of overall production. Iga, please take over and talk about our international assets. I would like to first and foremost welcome you. I'm the first time on this such conference as a member of the board responsible for international assets and foreign assets. And I would like to share with you information about the production results in terms of Sierra Gorda mine. Let me just remind you that we are a shareholder of 55%. And the next slide will also talk about KGHM International. In terms of Sierra Gorda, as it was mentioned by the president, we have the lowest production of payable copper compared to 2023.
This results mainly from extracting copper with lower copper content and lower recovery. This is partially compensated by a higher volume of processed ore, almost 4%. But that influences not only copper production, but also other metals in Sierra Gorda or from Sierra Gorda. So we have adequately lower level of production of molybdenum year on year, as it was mentioned, by 35% compared to 2023. And similarly to copper, it was mainly due to extraction from areas with lower metal content and lower recovery compared to ore mined in the prior year. And then in terms of noble metals, we have a decrease, 5% decrease year on year. And we have one increase, silver production, by 6% year on year. Moving on to KGHM International, as you know, our basic asset here is the Robinson Mine.
In here, we can point out that compared to nine months 2023, the production of payable copper has markedly increased by 21.4 thousand tons. That resulted from higher copper production by the Robinson Mine, both in terms of, well, in terms of Robinson, we also see copper increase, + 30%, + 57% of recovery, and + 50% of mining extraction compared to the similar period in 2023. Some words of explanation why these differences are significant last year. We were in the intermediary area. Right now, we are in West 5 mining area, rich area. This is where we extract the majority of our ore. There was better concentration of zinc and minerals that are soluble in copper that contributed to lower results last year. There were also some equipment emergencies last year.
And in terms of the smaller assets or minor assets that we have within KGHM International in Sudbury, so McCreedy West mine noted lower extraction by 20% year on year and lower concentration of copper in the ore by 40%. Carlota mine. Here, everything goes according to plan. The stripping was carried out to start extraction in the Cactus pits.
That is why we have lower volumes there, both in terms of heap and lower copper concentration and PLS. Silver production, Sudbury, lower silver content in ore and lower volume of ore extraction in general. So these two factors contributed to the fact 50% less silver content in ore. That's why we have lower results here. In terms of noble metals, TPMs, McCreedy West, - 20% of extraction. And to finish up on a positive note, we have increased the production of gold in Robinson Mine.
As it was said by the president, because we increased the extraction by 20% of Troy ounces. That was because of the gold concentration higher than of 136%. In terms of 2024 perspectives, as I said, we are right now in the West 5 pit. This is a very rich deposit, and we don't expect any major deviations in terms of payable metals production in 2024. Then we are preparing for 2025 as well, when we will start extracting Liberty deposit. Next slide, please. Okay, in terms of investment and development initiatives, this is my area, so let me present some information about that. Implementation of investment program, this is PLN 2.5 billion, and then the expected capEx execution is the capex target for 2024 is PLN 3.9 billion. We're trying to use all the assumed funds.
We still have some time, so this is, yeah, this is for first nine months. Year on year, PLN 2.167 billion. Right now, the CapEx and the CapEx budget target was PLN 3.2 billion. Then let me comment on the first pie chart here. Out of PLN 2.5 billion, PLN 2 billion are devoted to mining. It's difficult to explain sometimes to our interlocutors that mining is quite a specific activity where the mine is evolving all the time, aging all the time. With every day, we are one meter forward, and then we need to get rid of the one meter behind us. The next scope would be smelters, metallurgy. They are of similar age as mines, but they need less investment because they are well developed. We just renovate them, develop them, and that's it.
They are in the same place. Mines require constant investment related to development of the resource base, connecting the further mine shafts and so on and so forth. So these are not comparable areas. Mining consumes a lot more CapEx than any other area. Second pie chart shows you the distribution by category, and it's quite analytical, I would say.
Replacement 34%, maintaining mine production 38%, and 26% is development. Not enough, I would say, well, we need a lot more as a person responsible for development in our board, then maintaining is just keeping our production capabilities or recovering these capabilities, allowing us to perform the production plan, so just keeping afloat, and then development, that's just 26% out of these three areas. This is the least investment area. We're trying to devote more, and then, but the first chart speaks for itself. These are old mines, old smelters.
As every facility, it needs higher, not only respect, but also higher investment to keep it working. That's it in terms of comments of the first slide. Moving on, this is the CapEx execution in key investments. I would just like you to focus on the first aspect, Deposit Access Program. This is the light brown area, PLN 522 million. This is the program that was based on performing 30 km of corridors excavated. In total, I think that's 44 km of all the corridors. These are the areas of future production, not only the shafts that we will base further excavation centers in, but we also use it to direct air, water, ice water as well for the evaporation aggregates.
This is the biggest investment because the area of our deposits right now is 500 sq km, an enormous area, and it requires such assets, such funding. Then the next one is outfitting of the mines. So that needs to, well, that, for example, we need to perform all the conveyor belts and pipes and so on. Then the next one is replacement of the machine park. And for many years, we have the same strategy. We exchange the machine park every five years. So drillers, loaders, and anchors. So the basic, I would say, mining equipment, it requires every five years. The investment is high enough, sorry, the financial requirements are high enough to maintain the equipment older than that is just too big. So first, we renovated 251 machines, and we already purchased 167 machines in the first nine months. Then mine dewatering, another thing.
This is the topic that interested the media. The citizens of the region were interested because the situation was very difficult in terms of the retention area on the Żelazny Most reservoir. We're doing everything we can to stabilize the situation right now and then improve it in the long run. Out of PLN 300 million, 320-330 million devoted to that particular area at the beginning of the year, we're planning to add PLN 113 million more. To increase it by a third because, well, not only calming down the situation, but also providing a foreseeable, stable situation.
So the piping here, the pump chambers, we're working on the whole grid of pipes, both underground and on the surface, that will allow for dewatering of water of different saline composition so that we are in line with the legal parameters, environmental constraints, and so on. And we also want to enable the deposition of the post-flotation waste on the flotation reservoir. So we are dividing the waters underground, on the surface, and then other equipment that took the majority of the budget for this investment. And then the next area, hydrotechnical plants for the IAS. We are right now in broad consultations. We are in, sorry, the Żelazny Most tailings storage facility. We are right now increasing the escarpment to 200, the dam height to above 195 meters.
Everything is going in the best way so that we will obtain next year an environmental permit to the height of 205 meters. In terms of major investments and renovations in our processing plants, apart from these mills and flotation devices, the big cost here, one of the biggest costs, and this is almost PLN 200 million, was the renovation in Głogów I smelter and refinery. Maybe Vice President Laskowski may talk about it a bit more. Well, you surprised me, but yes, I'm willing to share that. So the renovation in Głogów I smelter planned for 70 days, planned in mid-August till mid-October, did not influence the production of electrolytic copper because the departments of electrolytic refining worked without interruption because we had spare anodes collected. It finished on the 20th of October this year.
Of course, we started the flash furnace as planned. As you can see, there are detailed information here, but I just wanted to talk about the exploitation. Today we have a meeting, evening meeting, due to the successful finishing or commencement of the finishing of the project. Okay. Now exploration, looking for resources and deposits that are going to be exploited in the future. This is Kulów-Luboszyce and also Grodziszcze, Radków-Grodziszcze. Advanced work is being carried out. PLN 77 million is being devoted into that. I talked about Żelazny Most, maintaining shafts, PLN 76 million out of it, PLN 73 million for SW4 shaft complex.
And then the other adaptation project, 39 million, resulting from the changing law, the EU directives, for example, or state legislation changing, both in terms of OHS and matters related to the Głogów smelter, building of the concentrate warehouse, and so on. So in terms of development, this is very broad scale, but still take a look how little we talk about works in smelters, and we focus on mines more.
As I said before, mines need, well, require higher funding and maintenance. And this is the slide that I promised you that I won't show, but I have it here. This is the area about the so-called Deep Głogów mine. This area that we focused in the past. We have four, sorry, six excavation areas here. And this area has been ventilated, well, has been connected. And last year, that was the GG1 shaft.
Please take a look at one figure here. The second quarter, well, the increase of production between Q2 and Q3 2024, + 2%. But then if you compare it year on year, this increase of production is by 16%. Every square meter of the shaft being created contributes to the increased production. Please remember that and make sure that others hear that because some people say that, well, our needs to build new shafts, well, they are depreciating the need to build new shafts.
No, we need more money for the KGHM to be able to be functioning. So on this total area of 500 square kilometers, 31 shafts were active. Right now, we have 29 shafts, well, 30 including GG1. This is an enormous area. Right now, we need to build three more shafts, Radków, Odra, so GG2, and Gaworzyce shaft as well.
One of them would be an exhaust shaft, and the second one, the intake shaft. These shafts would be mainly ventilation ones, not extraction ones per se of the ore. Why? Because the extraction installations would take all the diameter of the shaft, so we would be able to transfer less air through it. Another conclusion, if these were the ventilation shafts, the basic extraction shafts, that would be a level of 1,000 meters.
With each shift towards of the extraction towards Odra, Bytom Odrzański and Luboszyce, every shift would lengthen the transport routes and the installation, dewatering routes, AC routes, and so on. That is why the investment contributes to PLN 2 billion out of PLN 2.5 billion of total CapEx investment. It is a cause and result connection. These are not distant and neutral to us. It is all interconnected.
Please note that how important building these new shafts is for us. If we will have new shafts, KGHM will continue its operation. If we don't, we will lower the production. We will not provide enough of the resource. This is basic for us, and we are focusing on that. Okay, thank you very much. Next speaker takes the floor.
Me again, so several information about financial results of the entire group, KGHM group. The revenue after nine months of 2024, the level of PLN 26.139 billion, 2% more than in the previous year. And this increase is about KGHM International. Adjusted EBITDA at the level of PLN 6.186 billion, 44% more than in the same period last year. And the increase of EBITDA by PLN 1.9 billion, it's about KGHM International, PLN 1.594 billion. And also in Poland, Polish, it's PLN 240 million.
Another slide showing our revenues. This 2% increase we reached thanks to higher volume that we sold by PLN 414 million, especially in KGHM International, but also thanks to the price of silver, copper, and gold. And here our revenue increased by PLN 1 billion 500 million. Unfortunately, we didn't have good exchange rate of Polish zloty to dollar. It was 3.96 last year, and now it's 4.23. That's why we had such decrease of PLN 1.5 billion. We had also positive results in the revenues due to derivatives.
It's increased by PLN 36 million. And now costs, different costs, expenses by nature for nine months 2024. In the entire group, it was at the level of PLN 24 billion 492 million, 3% less than in the same period last year after deducting or excluding impairments, purchased metals, raw materials, and minerals. This increase was even higher because it's 5% decrease.
The biggest results we are associated with the use of technological material, fuels, energy factors, and purchased metal bearing materials. We have it both for KGHM International and KGHM Poland. Iga, you can now continue with C1 unit cost. In terms of C1 unit cost, which is key for you from the point of view of location of KGHM on the market, I can start from the capital group.
In terms of capital group, the C1 unit cost for nine months of 2024 was $2.75, and it's lower than the cost of the previous year. It's lower by 6%. As you can see in the second part of the slide, well, it was affected by the cost of C1 in KGHM International. We have seen here decrease that is significant in terms of Sierra Gorda and KGHM Polska Miedź S.A.
This cost was realized at the higher level than in the previous year. So we see here increase starting from KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. The increase in C1 for nine months in 2024 was $3.00 and was higher by 2% than in the previous year. Please note this white part because this is the cost of the minerals extraction tax increases year on year.
Today, it increased up to 35% of the entire unit cost. And actually, it shows how important it is for us in KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. In terms of KGHM International, so a key aspect here has Robinson Mine. It's a very important asset. And for first nine months in 2024, it was $1.69 dollar per ounce of sold copper, which means 68% lower than in the same period last year. This decrease is directly associated with improved Robinson Mine situation.
We are in the West 5, and we have increase of volume. So, well, it affects in lowering the cost of C1. But in terms of Sierra Gorda, C1 cost was $1.81. You can see that this is increased by 17% due to the fact that we had lower volume, as I said, despite offset with the amount. Well, the volume was lower, and we sold lower. It's not only about copper, but also about molybdenum.
But what is also important here is that in Sierra Gorda was the increase of costs such as energy, fuels, and spare parts. Thank you. I would like to thank members of the board for presenting their results, and now let's move on to the part of Q&A, so now you're welcome to ask questions. If there are no questions from the room, I will ask the first question that appeared on our email.
I will translate. Bank of America asked KGHM International how much space we have to improve the operation. Has it already been achieved or not? So I will take this question. Yes, we see optimization or possibility of optimization of operation in terms of KGHM International, but we also divide Sierra Gorda and KGHM International.
And I would like here to indicate that we need to optimize operations and costs in Sierra Gorda, first of all. The Robinson results as the main assets are okay as per today, but we still see some possibilities, mainly when we talk about more Robinson. I would like to say that the mine is one aspect. Another aspect is the enrichment of the ore. And here we will focus on optimizing our operation and lowering the costs. But I think that more optimization will be provided in Sierra Gorda. Okay, thank you.
If I can ask more, so maybe more about international assets. Paweł Kuchalski from Santander asks if in 2025, CapEx will be in international as high as in the current year, or maybe it's exceptionally high in 2024. I would like to say that it's difficult to now evaluate for 2025. I'm not going to answer this question right now. Today, we are preparing the budget for 2025.
In the next days, I will receive the block model, and only then we will be able to answer such questions. Thank you. Paweł Kuchalski asks about Victoria Project. Can you comment on that? Yes, we are analyzing this project. I would like this year to return to you with the conclusion of the analysis of the Victoria Project. Today, Victoria Project is at the level of 600 meters, and we're still working on that.
And I think you will get details at the next conference. First, we need some internal discussion. Okay, any questions from the room? Maciej Wiśniewski. Victoria Project, where is it located? Canada. Oh, in Ontario. Thank you. Reuters asked a question. How do you provide the macroeconomic situation in the Q4? How do you assess this situation with the American dollar, and how will it affect the results? We are not doing any forecast.
We don't forecast results or the financial results. We are in the half, in the mid of the Q4, and we see the situation on the market. We know what's going on and how it will affect our results. Well, we will discuss it in a second. And we don't want to forecast. Yes, actually, I agree with you. We are not an investment bank. We don't analyze it.
We adjust to the present indicators that are on the market, and we are trying to react and to optimize our production and sales to have as best results as possible. Please introduce yourself and ask the question, and please turn on the microphone. Krzysztof Kolanko, Bankier.pl, with reference to the last questions, how do you secure the currency and the ratio of Polish złoty to American dollar? We won't disclose it.
We don't want to disclose our policy with this regard. Yeah, I would like to agree with you. We don't provide such detailed data. We can only confirm that, yes, we secure ourselves and we look after the KGHM Group security. Of course, we have adopted some measures to do so, but we are very flexible and due to many reasons, we are not going to disclose our policy. I have a question.
Have you established the increase of remuneration for the next year? Yes, according to the collective agreement, we will do it at the beginning of the year. So right now, we cannot give you any information. We referred to the average indicator from the sector. We are still waiting for such data from Q4. Yeah, the board has adopted the resolution to give premiums for the Q3, and it's in accordance with the resolution of the collective agreement.
It is 2% for Q3, which means that it is about 7% of the monthly remuneration. Of course, we are talking still about 2024, not 2025. I'm reviewing our inboxes. I'm checking if there are any more questions. Morgan Stanley, we already talked about it, about factors shaping the cost of the cash, of the money. So Ms. President has already commented on C1 cost, C1 unit cost.
So maybe we can wait for more questions that will appear. I don't see any questions. I would like to remind you that all the answers to the questions that have been asked will be available at KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. website in the tab Investors. I would like to complement, or I would like to add that the continuation of our dialogue will be conducted in the following years. We will have the days of investors.
We will have investors' chat that will be available. Mr. President Krzyżewski, CFO, asked me to tell you about it. We will organize some meeting, online meeting dedicated to all of you. We will provide more analytical perspectives, so it will happen in the following days. And we will try to answer your questions in the following days because maybe today we were not able to give you all the details.
And we also promised you to give you the space to deepen the knowledge about the results that we've presented today. As far as I remember, the day of investor is also connected with the visiting in our departments, on our sites. Yes. So yeah, we want to offer something new. So we are still waiting for this event, the day of investor. I would like to ask about the yesterday scandal in Collegium Humanum.
Do you, in your company, conduct any activities to detect the problem? No. Thank you for the question. Today, we will only answer the question about financial results. Please send this question to our inbox. Are there any other questions? If not, thank you for participation in the conference. Members of the board, thank you as well. Thank you for presenting the results. And hopefully, see you next time.