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Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the Tristel plc Interim Results Investor Presentation. [Operator Instructions] Before we begin, I would like to submit the following poll. And I would now like to hand you over to the management team of Tristel. Matt, good morning to you. Matthew Sassone: Hi. Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for Tristel's interim results H1 financial year 2026. I'm joined today by Anna Wasyl, Tristel's CFO; and Julija Shabanova, who is Tristel's Executive Director. I appreciate that Julija may be a new name to some of the investors that are joining us today. So let me just give a brief background into her. She's been Executive Director at Tristel and President of our U.S. subsidiary. This year actually marks her 20th year with Tristel. So she's a very long-serving member of the team. Julija has really been an instrumental part of the leadership team. She executed the scientific program with the FDA, securing our U.S. market entry and really has been leading our commercial efforts with working on the launch of our 2 key products there, Ultrasound and OPH. As we go through the presentation, Julija will be updating you all on the progress we're making in the U.S.A. So that being said, let me just also take a moment to acknowledge the announcement that was made earlier this year that I will be stepping down as Chief Executive at the end of the financial year. This was a deeply considered personal decision. Tristel is a business with exceptional people, a strong depth in its leadership and a very clear strategic outlook and trajectory. A little bit of background as to my reason why. Essentially, I was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that was impossible to turn down. But I do leave Tristel with the thought that the future is very bright. I remain fully committed to the business until the end of the financial year and supporting with a smooth transition as the business looks to identify its next Chief Executive. I am very confident that the businesses are well positioned to deliver long-term shareholder value. And as you will see from the set of results that we present today, the company continues to go from strength to strength. And as I said, the future is very bright for Tristel. That being said, let's start with the presentation. I appreciate that there may be some new investors joining us today. So let me just take a brief moment to explain Tristel, who we are and what we do. Tristel is an infection prevention company. We use our highly differentiated chlorine dioxide chemistry in order to prevent the transmission of microbes from patient to patient or patient to caregiver. What we do is pretty unique, and we address an unmet need in the market by providing high-level disinfection at point of care. I can answer some further questions if people have questions about the products we offer and what we do. But what I suggest is I now hand over to Anna, who will take you through the financial performance in the first half of the year. Anna Wasyl: Thank you, Matt. Good morning, everyone. I will walk you through our financial highlights. I'm very proud to present a strong set of numbers for the first half of the financial year. These are unaudited figures in our interim figures. We've been very happy to see 14% growth in revenues, reaching a record level of GBP 25.6 million. The growth came up both from our home market, our U.K. market as well as overseas market, and we're very happy to see significant growth in the U.S. that we will tell you more about. That growth flowed through the P&L with expanding margins. So our adjusted profit before tax went up by 11% to GBP 5.5 million. Adjusted EBITDA was up by 17%, and our adjusted EPS is at 9.36p. The adjusted measures are adjusted basically for share-based payments and exceptional items, which are related to CEO and CFO succession costs. Our cash and deposits reached GBP 13.3 million. We remain debt free. And we are planning for the interim dividend of 5.68p to be paid in April. I will move on to show our key indicators. I believe they are a strong reflection of our very good track record historically of financial performance. The first graph shows revenue track record, which, as you can see, has been consistently growing with a very short flat period during COVID times. What I'm very happy to see is that both this year as well as last year, we see a big portion of the growth coming from volume rather than price gains, meaning that we are delivering more procedures and gaining market. In terms of expanding cash generation, another KPI we are very proud of, we have generated GBP 6.7 million in cash in the first half of the year, and we continuously improve the cash flow generation kind of quarter-by-quarter. And that, of course, allows us also to -- for progressive dividends. When it comes to profitability, the bottom graph, we are currently at 29% of adjusted EBITDA margin, which is well above our commitment of 25%, and we believe that the outlook for the year remains similar. I have a summarized income statement here. There is also a complete income statement in the appendix to the presentation and of course, in our interims. These are unaudited figures. I have already mentioned the top line growth. Maybe another thing that's worth attention here is impact on our gross margin. So we had 81% gross margin compared to 82% in the first half of last year. The reason for that is that we have in-sourced production of wipes, and we already see the full cost impact of that in the first half of the year, so with increased depreciation as well as production staff. However, the savings have just started to be realized in the first half of the year. And we believe that the full rate of savings will be visible in the second half of the year, which is GBP 300,000 per our estimate. And that's basically because we have to sell off the inventory of the wipes that were purchased from the supplier prior to the in-sourcing project. Another development you can see here is increased administration and distribution expenses. That's really reflecting our strategy to continue investment in sales and marketing. You will also notice probably an increase in depreciation and amortization, and that's partially driven by the in-sourcing of the wipes machine, but partially also by a GBP 300,000 write-off of intangibles. Our adjusted PBT margin it's at 21%. The adjusted profit before tax went up by 11%. And as I mentioned before, our margins remain above the commitment. Looking at some balance sheet KPIs that I would like to draw your attention to. So firstly, net working capital that we have continuously seen improving. Currently, if you look at net working capital over revenue ratio over annualized 12-month period revenue, is at 15%. That speaks to operational efficiencies and positions us well for growth. When it comes to return on capital employed, we also see very strong ratio. We are currently at 25% ROCE and that speaks very well to the long-term value creation. And finally, progressive dividends. So as many of you know, we have been every year paying -- increasing the dividends paid. And we also this year, we aim at honoring the commitment for progressive dividends in the year. And the announced interim dividend is at 5.68p. That's flat compared to the first half of last year. However, in the full year, we still plan to increase the dividend per share. Complete balance sheet or I would say, summarized balance sheet here with a complete one in the appendix. I will not go through the details here because there are no major movements. And the balance sheet remains strong, cash positive, which gives us really plenty of financial capacity to support our investments and growth initiatives. The following slide, I will spend a little bit more time on, that's our geographic performance. So on a constant currency basis, the group has grown by 12.4%. And in our home market, U.K., we've seen continuously strong growth, only nearly 13% growth, which benefited from both procedure increase as well as very strong performance of our surface disinfection product line. What's important here to acknowledge as well is that we had a bit of a positive seasonality impact with some large NHS orders at the end of last calendar year. When it comes to the other European countries, we are very encouraged by the recovery of French market, which grew at 13%. We have strong leadership there. We have seen growth there coming from our core products in the Tristel Medical Device disinfection range as well as some increased utilization in our large accounts. Italian market has also grown 13%, also coming from our core products in medical device decontamination range. What we have also seen in Italy is an increased number in tenders for high-level disinfection, which for us means a mixture of contracting existing sales as well as new demand as we won these tenders. In other European countries, we also see double-digit growth, and we continue to invest there with the expectation to see further growth in the future. The APAC region is a little bit of a mixed performance. As you can see here, we have grown 0.3%. There are pockets of business there where we have very strong growth, double-digit growth in Singapore and Malaysia, for example. However, in other markets, we had a bit of a challenge, and I think specifically China. Similarly to what other medical device companies have seen, we also saw a market slowdown in China in the first half of this year. We are traditionally targeting mostly private hospitals, and we have seen some bankruptcies of the customers there. It seems to be related to the change in local policy and how the health care system is being financed. So we will monitor the situation going forward. And of course, we are looking at also diversifying more into other hospital types. I believe this is everything about the geographical performance. I will spend a little bit more time on explaining the American revenue streams, which I'm sure you're interested to hear much more about. And following this section, Julija will present in depth the performance on the U.S. market. So here, if you would like to look at global currency, our direct product sale has performed very well. As you know, we have launched in the first half of this year, Tristel OPH product, and that growth is -- or growth related to that launch is in the first line of direct product sales. We are very happy with that performance. It has been really taken up by customers faster than we expected. Our royalties, which are related to Tristel ULT, sales have reached GBP 116,000. That's more than complete annual royalties from last year. So we're also very happy to see that. And finally, our distributor sales in Canada and Chile have also shown double-digit growth. And with that, I'm going to pass to Julija. Julija Shabanova: Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Anna. So I'll provide a little bit of insight into U.S.A. performance. We had a strong first half. For Tristel ULT, our high-level disinfectant of ultrasound probes, the in-market sales are approaching USD 1 million, contributing $153,000 in net profit through royalty income. The sales volumes represent 320,000 procedures, equating 3x the procedure numbers from the same period last year. The growth is well balanced. We are seeing increased utilization within existing accounts alongside a healthy pipeline of new opportunities. High-level disinfection of ultrasound probes is performed across various departments in hospitals. For example, urology, emergency departments, radiology. Once we enter the health care system to address their immediate clinical need, we then focus on expanding product use across additional departments. Over the past 3 months, our partners have onboarded 90 new sites, and the team is currently progressing with 150 hot leads in evaluation stage with a further 140 in active engagement. Based on our current momentum -- sorry, something happened on my screen. Based on the current momentum, we expect to exceed $2 million in in-market sales by year-end, providing a strong platform to achieve and potentially accelerate our 5-year projections for capturing 4% market share by 2030. We have -- opportunity in high-level disinfection of ultrasound probes is developed in partnership with Parker Laboratories, a privately owned market leader in ultrasound gels with a 60-year heritage. The Parker sales team is fully trained and well established, and Parker has invested over the last 2 years to build a team of 10 sales representatives. Parker operates through a well-established network of national distributors, including Medline, Henry Schein, Cardinal Health, ensuring broad market access. In addition, Parker has recently secured agreements with group purchasing organizations, further streamlining procurement processes and expanding product availability through users' preferred vendors. The strategic partnerships with ultrasound probe manufacturers create valuable opportunities for co-marketing and referrals. For example, our collaboration with BK Medical and Exact Imaging, both specialists in urology provides immediate referrals because Tristel ULT is the preferred solution for urology probes. Those specific devices do not fit into currently available automated reprocessing systems and allow us market entry into the hospitals. The strong OEM relationships also support ongoing device compatibility validation. We have more than 1,200 probes already confirmed compatible with Tristel ULT. Inclusion of Tristel ULT in clinical standards, together with positive feedback from a growing user base is strengthening user confidence. Since launch, 4 key standards and guidelines have included chlorine dioxide foam as an appropriate high-level disinfection solution for ultrasound probes. Tristel ULT has been selected for evaluation by ECRI, an independent not-for-profit organization that assesses medical technologies. The result in report and discussion will be published in ECRI's Membership magazine, and the Membership represents 50% of U.S. hospitals. This is a significant independent assessment of Tristel ULT and is also highlighting focus on ultrasound decontamination in clinical practices. We continue to receive excellent feedback from users, and Tristel ULT will be featured an educational session at APIC 2026, further raising awareness within the infection prevention community. Our progress with Tristel OPH is equally strong. First half of financial year, the revenues are $88,000 and are ahead of our initial expectations as we anticipated some lag within procurement process. We have an excellent distribution partner in Advancing Eyecare Group and Advancing Eyecare distributes Tristel OPH through its portfolio of well-established brands, which provides immediate access through its existing vendor contracts. In preparation to our Tristel OPH direct sales, we established a Boston-based team comprising 3 roles: business development, marketing and digital product specialists. With that, we have secured 43 active users and have 160 opportunities in evaluation and engagement stages. Some of America's leading eye providers are choosing Tristel OPH. The product is manufactured in the U.S. by Parker Laboratories and our gross margins are in line with group targets with the scope for further improvements as we scale up. To maintain momentum and build our initial user base, we're actively expanding our commercial footprint. We are recruiting sales representation in Midwest and West Coast. We have signed a distribution agreement with Keeler USA, a manufacturer and distributor of ophthalmic diagnostic devices as well as supplier of wider equipment and consumables for ophthalmology clinics. Keeler USA is primarily serving nonhospital ophthalmology clinics and private practices, making this a highly complementary expansion alongside our direct sales teams that targets hospitals. We are also developing partnership with ophthalmic device manufacturers. These collaborations create multiple commercial touch points for us through referrals, marketing opportunities and co-exhibition opportunities, educational webinar opportunities. Together, they will strengthen our market visibility and support adoption and accelerate access to new users. Inclusion in device-specific IFUs, instructions for use remain an ongoing priority, and we are around 50% through implementing the updates of those device instructions for use. The multicenter study is underway with the intention of publishing findings in peer-reviewed journals. The objectives of the study is to highlight the risks associated with the ophthalmic device use, point out the lack of current feasible disinfection procedures and lack of guidelines, document the experience, hand-on experience of Tristel OPH use and ultimately provide best practice recommendations for high-level disinfection of ophthalmic devices. Tristel OPH is unique in enabling high-level disinfection with minimal disruption to clinical workflows. This positions us strongly to establish a leading role in the high-level disinfection of ophthalmic devices. With this, I'll conclude my update and hand over to Matt to talk about our future development. Matthew Sassone: Excellent. Thank you, Julija. As you can see, some really encouraging progress in the U.S.A. and some real continued momentum in the 2 products that we now have there. As we look to the future, the Tristel story is one of continued investing for future growth and by realizing the opportunity ahead of ourselves. We do that in many different ways and have many different strategic levers that we are pulling. Obviously, the most obvious is the investments that we do into our commercial teams, and that has continued. And actually, the business has intentions to accelerate that investment as we look to the year ahead. As previously communicated to investors, the greatest opportunity for growth is the geographic expansion. And what I like to refer to as raising all boats. What do I mean by that? I mean by taking the market share and the leading position that we have in the U.K. market and replicating that in the other markets where we are present today. And as Anna outlined, you can see that we're starting to really get some great traction, especially in our European markets. To augment that, obviously, we invest in the teams. And our plan this financial year was to have a 9% increase in the number of heads that we had with the vast majority of those heads being invested in commercially facing customer-facing roles. Given the strength of the first half of this year and sort of the outlook that we have, we've decided to accelerate and increase that investment, and we'll be adding a further 13 heads to our commercial organization this year. 9 of those heads will be commercial salespeople and 4, which I'll come to talk about will be more clinically focused. Those investments are going where we are seeing the growth. So we're targeting those towards the likes of Germany, France, Italy, the Middle East and into Asia. And this really strengthens our route-to-market, it enables us to sort of build on what we have today to win more business as well as drive increased utilization in those accounts that are using us today. Alongside this, we are rolling out a database sales effectiveness program using [ sort of like ] globally adhere to salesforce.com CRM as well as increasing our spending on promotional efforts and attendees -- attending trade exhibitions, et cetera. We do recognize that as part of this, we have to continually reinforce and expand our clinical leadership. Tristel obviously is well known and respected in the market, but we recognize that physicians and health care providers buy from one another. They buy from the recommendations. And as the business grows and matures, it's also we need to continue to invest in this part of our sort of team today. Today, we have 3 full-time equivalents that are focused on driving our medical affairs, our clinical research. And we're going to add to that. We're underway with recruiting a Chief Medical Officer and also 3 clinical portfolio leads. And really, this is all about enhancing our medical affairs capability, being able to invest more into sort of clinical evidence generation, drive more with regards to sort of guidelines and also expand our key opinion leader engagement program and build that advocacy around the globe. We've spoken about our strategic intent to build on our sort of digital foundation and drive our digital leadership. Today, we have the 3T platform, which is our sort of train, track and trace platform that supports the products and supports our customers today. I've spoken about how we have this sort of great digital footprint with our customers and how we want to build on that and create a multi-tier Software-as-a-Service program. We are -- we have those development programs underway and the team are working hard to sort of take what we have today and build a scalable recurring digital revenue stream for the business in the future. In addition to this, we also, in the first half of this year, launched our own sort of like private internal AI agent, which is really about sort of improving our operational workflow and supporting us in our daily tasks. This isn't about replacing -- AI replacing people's jobs. This is just about sort of like taking our internal data in a very sort of controlled and closed way and embracing technology to make the teams more effective and enable them to do more. And then finally, with regards to our digital leadership, we continue to expand and sort of try to react to customer asks and requirements. And we've done that by -- sort of by enhancing our online commerce platform and having a web shop. We're in the process of launching this out to markets. So at the moment, it is only sort of like available in select geographical markets, but we are -- have plans and the program is underway to expand that out across the globe. And then continuing to develop into our products and ensuring that as we look to the future, we have our product leadership. What I can say is we launched VISICLEAN recently. That launch has been underway. The reaction from customers is extremely positive. It is really a wow product. It does genuinely get that kind of reaction from our customers when they see it. And we have some customers that have already purchased the product. But VISICLEAN is definitely reengaging us with customers sort of reinforcing Tristel's leadership in this high-level disinfection field and enabling us to sort of grow our business and expand our business. But we're not stopping there. Yes. We have plans underway for new products in the medical device disinfection as well as the surface disinfection. But we also have evolved in our approach. We are now sort of entering sort of a mentality about rapid prototyping and testing, failing fast and then refining and moving forward. And what do I mean by that? Well, if we look at the medical device disinfection, we have a new product that's meeting a current unmet need by the customer. And we have a program and a trial underway in one European market that we are sort of testing, evaluating, refining our approach before we then move forward with the product development and move to what we would class as a commercial launch. We're doing the same in the medical surface disinfection, where we have identified, again, a significant unmet need by the customer. The current products on the market are not satisfying the customer needs. It's becoming a far wider issue and something that we -- where we feel that our chlorine dioxide chemistry could play a role. So we have undertaken and currently have underway 7 different evaluations in multiple different European markets where we are testing, again, testing the water, that rapid prototyping and really refining our approach. So when we do move to commercial launch, we have a much greater belief in our ability to drive success in that arena. And we continue to sort of invest in sort of by reinforcing our long-term growth pipeline with new products. So as you can see, the first half has been a strong performance. We have committed to our investors these metrics. And our performance is also enabling us to invest to ensure that we will have confidence in being able to meet these metrics as we look to the future. So our targets are between financial year 2025 to financial year 2030. We want to be able to drive double-digit revenue growth annually. First half of this year, we achieved and delivered 14%. On the EBITDA margin, the adjusted EBITDA margin, our commitment is to maintain a minimum of 25% annually. In the first half of this year, we achieved 29%. And then on our dividend policy, we continue to pay a dividend. And as we've alluded to in this presentation, in the first half, we'll be paying a dividend of 5.68p per share. So as we look to the future, what I can say to investors is the results are in line with expectations. The business remains firmly on track to meet the market expectations for financial year 2026. We have our strategic plan, and we are investing and executing upon that plan. We continue to invest in our commercial leadership, our clinical leadership, for example. And we recognize that international market expansion is our greatest driver for growth. This raising all boats will lead to our future success. We are greatly encouraged by the progress we're making in the United States. That sort of commercial momentum is clear. The flywheel is driving faster, but it's also supported by the core underlying activities. As Julija spoke about, those guidelines, having had -- having now got 4 guidelines in place, something that normally takes many, many more years in other markets. The team have done a really fantastic job in getting to this point. Our awareness in the market, the understanding of the power of chlorine dioxide is there. We can see that coming through both on the ultrasound, but also on the OPH product as well. And that early customer adoption is incredibly encouraging. Our strategic focus remains the same, and Tristel remains well positioned to deliver long-term shareholder value. So with that being said, that wraps up our presentation, and we'll now move to the questions and answers. Operator: That's great. Thank you very much indeed for your presentation. [Operator Instructions] While the company take a few moments to view those questions submitted today, I would like to remind you that recording of this presentation along with a copy of the slides and the published Q&A can be accessed via our investor dashboard. Matt, Anna, Julija, we have received a number of questions from today's meeting. And I wanted to start off the Q&A session with the first one here, which reads as follows. What specifically is your strategy and operational actions for growing sales in the U.S. as traction appears to be slow? Matthew Sassone: [ Julija? ]. Julija Shabanova: Yes, I'll take it, of course. We have a strong diverse infrastructure for distribution in place for Tristel ULT. It's with Parker and direct sales team as well as multiple distributors. We are seeing real progress through the last 6 months. Initial pace may have been slower than expected, but the work that we have carried out, the inclusion of our technology in standards and guidelines, the work with key opinion leaders and positive feedback from existing users are all making the difference. And we can really see that the pace of our progress is picking up. And with continued execution of our strategy, we are confident in delivering on the expectations that are set for next 6 months and beyond. And for the OPH specifically, we're investing in recruitment and expansion of the sales team. Operator: Next up, 2 questions on trophon. Nanosonics recently opened an office in the U.K. What can you say to investors to ease the concerns about the competitive threat from trophon? And the next one is, how do you plan to outcompete trophon in the long run? Matthew Sassone: Let me take that one. It's interesting because Nanosonics has been direct in the U.K. market since 2013, 2014. So -- and I think they've had an office for a period of time. So I wouldn't say recently opened an office and nothing has changed with regards to their operations in the U.K. as far as we are aware. What I -- to add to and build on that is continue to see Nanosonics as a competitor. But when we look at our performance that we've had in the U.K. and both at a sort of like the macro level, but also down at a customer level, we continue to win share. We continue to be successful. We continue to drive growth. So we kind of coexist with regards to sort of Nanosonics. They do have customers in the U.K., but we do not see their presence having a negative impact on our performance in the U.K. market. And that's been the same for the last decade or so. Outside of the U.K. market, the same can be said for some other markets as well where sort of Nanosonics is present. I suppose the sort of the real market where Nanosonics is, is the U.S. market. And when you look at their financial results, you'll see that about 90% of their revenues come from the U.S.A. So this is really where we are sort of competing. Nanosonics have been present in the U.S. market for many more years than us. We're only just getting started. And what we're seeing is, is that there are a number of customers in the U.S.A. where we are sort of addressing an unmet need where the sort of Nanosonics offering is not sort of acceptable to them or ideal for them. And we're able to sort of like provide a solution to those customers. As our business builds and as we're seeing when we look to the U.S. market, there are some instances where we have fully replaced sort of Nanosonics in those accounts. But on the main, we are cohabiting with them, and we're providing the same sort of like sort of solution to customers, which is high-level disinfection. As we look to the future, we feel with sort of the guidelines endorsing us, the traction we're getting, the independent sort of like organizations recommending us that will become a much stronger competitive threat to Nanosonics in the future. Operator: Thank you, Matt. And I know you've spoken about the U.S. in the previous question, but we had another one here on U.S. tariffs. How have U.S. tariffs impacted the business? Matthew Sassone: Anna, Julija... Anna Wasyl: I can take it. I mean, we have not seen a significant impact from U.S. tariffs basically because our partner that Julija referred to Parker Laboratories are manufacturing the products sold in the U.S. on our licenses. So basically, we -- this is a way that we have hedged against changes in tariffs. Operator: Perfect. Thank you, Anna. Next one here is, are you targeting certain background types of salespeople? Matthew Sassone: Yes. I will say it's a personal frustration of mine that we can't recruit salespeople as fast as I would like. And I have lots of discussions with the sort of MDs around the world about their recruitment and trying to accelerate. We are very choosy about the people that we hire. And what we want to have is ensure that we're getting people that really are able to sell the value of chlorine dioxide. And that is part of our success, and I respect the fact that the MDs are really taking their time to find the right individuals. It's very easy to recruit a salesperson to sell a medical device. But what you want is you want someone who truly believes in what they're selling. A customer can tell the difference. Someone who is an expert in the field is able to be that consultant to that -- to the customer and really support them. And that's what we look for. So our recruitment is probably slower than I like -- would like from a time perspective, but I greatly respect and endorse the fact that we are taking our time to find the right candidates because if you have the right individuals, they're the ones that make a difference. Operator: Perfect. An investor asking here, do you sell to Scandinavian and Baltic markets? If not, do you plan to? Matthew Sassone: Yes, we do. We have distributors in -- for all of the Scandinavian countries, and we work through them. With regards to the Baltics, yes, we have distributors in that part of the world as well. Operator: Is sales profitability rather than volume to value part of any sales incentive program? Matthew Sassone: What I would argue is we enjoy sort of like -- we enjoy high gross margins. We're a very profitable business. So from our perspective, what we're looking to do is to drive the utilization of our products, expand the number of procedures that we're being used on and sort of like ensure that we don't -- sort of don't, as a result of those efforts, dilute our profitability by sort of controlling and incentivizing our teams accordingly. So what do I mean by that? Well, for us, we track the number of procedures that we've been used on as well as looking at the sort of headline revenues. We have a tight control over our pricing, both at a sort of a global level and then at a more local and regional level. And also, we focus on the product mix and the split. So what I would say is that we are focused on profitable sales, but what we're primarily focused on is expanding our reach and expanding our share and realizing the opportunity ahead because we know that when we get the sale, that flows right away through to the -- through the P&L. Operator: Moving on topics to patents. What patents do you have? And when do they expire? Matthew Sassone: We have a suite and a family of patents and they are both sort of like geographical in reach and also have a sort of a big reach in regards to sort of what they actually protect. As I've explained to investors in the past, IP is not our only protection and the only sort of moat that we have for our business. We have -- at our core, we have a sort of trade secret about the way and the mechanism that we're able to create chlorine dioxide safely at point of care. We also have all the regulatory approvals around the world and the national guidelines endorsing our chemistry. And then as mentioned in the presentation, the working with the OEM, the original equipment manufacturers to have us written into their IFUs and endorsing us is also another part of our defensive moat. So there are many different sort of layers with IP just being one part of it. Operator: And the last question we've got here is, what is the worldwide market opportunity for VISICLEAN? Matthew Sassone: Yes. I would point investors to our sort of presentation that we gave in October where we gave a bit more details on VISICLEAN. So VISICLEAN is a visible verification that the health care provider has adequately cleaned the sort of ultrasound probe or the medical device and also it's a visible verification that the chlorine dioxide chemistry is being effective. So if you sort of like go and have a look at our presentation or some of the videos at the Investor Meet video from October last year, you'll be able to see us demonstrating that and see it working in practice. It is a sort of like an ancillary product to our DUO foam offering that we have, and it really is about sot of addressing the cleaning step before the higher level disinfection. So in the presentation we gave in October, we basically said, look, if we were to take -- if there was to be a one-to-one relationship between the number of DUO procedures that we sell and all of those customers then sort of using VISICLEAN, we're looking at somewhere in the region of 15 million sort of procedures being done with VISICLEAN. So there's a nice opportunity there for us with VISICLEAN. And we recognize it as a sort of like interesting and potentially profitable product within our fleet and our offering. Operator: Perfect. That's great. Thank you for addressing those questions from investors today. But before I redirect investors to provide you with their feedback, which I know is particularly important to you and the company, Matt, can I please just ask you for a few closing comments? Matthew Sassone: Yes. Absolutely. As investors can see, it's another set of strong results from Tristel. We continue just to sort of deliver as always against the market expectations, and we remain firmly sort of like on track to meet those guidelines. Tristel is a fantastic company with great products, brilliant people and the future remains very bright for the organization. Operator: Fantastic, Matt, Anna, Julija, thank you once again for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close this session as you'll now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback, which will help the company better understand your views and expectations. On behalf of the management team, we would like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and good morning to you all.
Operator: Good afternoon, and welcome to the Capstone Copper Q4 2025 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Monday, March 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Daniel Sampieri. Please go ahead. Daniel Sampieri: Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter results. Please note that the news release and regulatory filings are available on our website and on SEDAR+. If you are logged into the webcast, we will advance the slides of today's presentation, which are also available in the Investors section of our website. I'm joined today by our President and CEO, Cashel Meagher; our SVP and Chief Operating Officer; Jim Whittaker, our SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Raman Randhawa; and our SVP Risk, ESG and General Counsel, Wendy King. During the Q&A session at the end of the call, we will also be joined by our Head of Technical Services, Peter Amelunxen, who is available for questions. Please note that comments made on the call today will contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. This information, by its nature, is subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. For further information, please see Capstone's most recent filings, which are available on our website at www.capstonecopper.com. And finally, I'll just note that all amounts we will discuss today are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise specified. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to our President and CEO, Cashel Meagher. Cashel Meagher: Thanks, Daniel. And hello to all of you dialing in from the Americas, Europe, Australia, around the globe. Today, we are pleased to present our fourth quarter 2025 results and achievements. 2025 represented an inflection point for Capstone, with record copper production and EBITDA generation, driven by execution of growth and a commitment to operational excellence. 2025 was also marked by the delivery of several key catalysts as we continue to grow, including sanctioning of our high-return Mantoverde optimized project and unlocking the value of our Santo Domingo project through a partnership agreement. This year, we are focused on disciplined execution and reliable results from our portfolio of assets. This will ensure we are well positioned to advance our next phase of value creative growth. Starting on Slide 5. In Q4, our operations delivered record consolidated copper production of 58,300 tonnes at a record low consolidated C1 cash cost of $2.31 per pound. For full year 2025, we achieved our production and cost guidance, producing a record 225,000 tonnes of copper at a consolidated C1 cash cost of $2.44 per pound. This represents a 22% increase in output compared to 2024. During 2025, Mantoverde increased its copper production by 65%. We achieved above design capacity at various points in 2025, culminating with our best month of the year at close to 37,000 tonnes per day in December. In 2026, we look to build on our success as we execute on Mantoverde optimize to deliver meaningful incremental production at a low capital intensity. Mantos Blancos had a very strong year, achieving a 25% increase in output over 2024 and exceeding the top end of its production guidance. Our team is hard at work preparing the Mantos Blancos Phase 2 study, which contemplates a low capital intensity brownfields expansion to increase throughput using existing sulfide mill capacity. Arizona was impacted by severe drought conditions during 2025, which resulted in constrained throughput at our Pinto Valley mine. For the next couple of years, we have a solution in place to mitigate the risk of impacted production from droughts. Meanwhile, we will continue to progress the implementation of our asset management framework to improve the reliability of the operations, including a longer-term strategy around water. District growth, optionality continues to evolve, and we remain committed to unlocking the significant value of Pinto Valley and assets strategically positioned in the United States with over 1 billion tonnes of resources. Cozamin delivered another year of strong performance in 2025. The site achieved towards the high end of its production guidance range, marking the third year in a row increased copper production at Cozamin. 2025 was a remarkable year for Capstone, with record results across the business as highlighted on Slide 6. Our diversified portfolio of operations delivered within guidance as we ramped up projects at Mantoverde and Mantos Blancos, providing a strong foundation of growth. We advanced our peer-leading growth pipeline on a number of fronts, including derisking and unlocking the value of Santo Domingo through a joint venture partnership. Meanwhile, on the corporate side, we enhanced our financial position through our balance sheet refinancing strategy and achieved a significant reduction in debt leverage. We will continue to build on this success in 2026 as we focus on delivering dependable operational outcomes. We will also advance our pipeline of executable organic growth opportunities, including delivering Mantoverde optimize and advancing Santo Domingo towards a sanctioning decision as well as progressing studies and exploration programs. Meanwhile, we will continue to capitalize on strong commodity prices by deleveraging through internally generated cash flows, ensuring we are well positioned to advance our growth strategy. Our recently announced guidance as outlined on Slide 7, forecast total consolidated copper production of 200,000 to 230,000 tonnes at C1 cash cost between $2.45 and $2.75 per payable pound of copper. This represents largely stable production compared to 2025. While cash costs are expected to increase, driven by the impact of lower grade zones in the mine sequence at Mantos Blancos and Pinto Valley combined with modest inflation. Our portfolio of pure-play copper assets provides upside to strong copper prices, with the potential for continued cash flow generation to deleverage and reinvest in our pipeline of high-quality growth projects. For 2026, sustaining capital is forecasted to be approximately to $270 million as we continue to focus on optimization and improvements through our asset management framework as well as ESG and tailings initiatives. Expansionary capital guidance of $225 million is primarily comprised of $150 million to execute Mantoverde optimize as well as $15 million at Mantos Blancos and $60 million in Santo Domingo to advance future growth at those assets. Capital stripping and exploration are guided at $225 million and $70 million, respectively. Moving to Slide 8. A year of stability in 2026 will set us up for a strong 2027 and beyond as we work towards delivering the next major change in production with Santo Domingo. Taking a look at the bigger picture. The chart on this slide illustrates what sets Capstone apart from our peers, and that's our sector-leading permitted and executable growth. Over the past 2 years, we have increased copper production by 37% and decreased unit cost by 16%. That is a significant accomplishment in our industry and a testament to the executable nature of our growth opportunities and our best-in-class mine build and operating teams. Looking towards the future, our permitted growth pipeline alone has the potential to increase production by a further 70% and decrease unit costs by 30%. Beyond our permitted growth stands a robust pipeline of low-risk, high-return projects in top-tier jurisdictions. This includes a brownfield expansion at Mantos Blancos to drive incremental copper production, optionality to unlock synergies in the MV-SD district and the potential doubling of the capacity at our flagship Mantoverde operation. Our growth strategy is well supported by a strong copper price environment and growing consensus of increasing future demand, reinforcing the importance of retaining optionality within a portfolio to drive returns. With that, I'll pass over to Raman for our financial results. Raman Randhawa: Thank you, Cashel. We are now on Slide 9. In Q4, strong copper production and commodity prices drove record quarterly revenue of $685 million. Copper sales were around 2,600 tonnes below payable production levels, primarily due to timing of sales of Monteverdi, which would have increased EBITDA by approximately $24 million. LME copper prices averaged $5.03 per pound in the quarter, up 13% compared to $4.44 per pound in Q3. We realized a higher copper price of $5.36 per pound. LME copper prices are even stronger today at approximately $6 per pound. C1 cash cost of $2.31 per pound decreased by $0.11 from last quarter, marking the fourth quarter in a row, our team has delivered lower cash costs. Solid production and cost control allowed us to realize strong gross margins of $3.05 per pound or 57% in Q4, which represents an 11% increase over Q3. As commodity prices reached all-time highs to close out 2025, we remain focused on protecting margins through cost control across the business. Record adjusted EBITDA in Q4 of $308 million increased 79% year-over-year. The sales [ lag ] as noted primely would have increased EBITDA to approximately $332 million. This is the fifth quarter in a row, we generated record EBITDA as we continue to realize benefits of our recently ramped up mines in Chile and missed a strengthening copper price environment. We reported strong operating cash flow of $287 million before working capital changes. Adjusted net income attributable to shareholders more than doubled year-over-year to $75 million or $0.10 per share in Q4 2025. A record Q4 marks the end of a strong 2025, driven by increased production, lower cash cost and strong commodity prices. Moving on to Slide 10. On the bottom left-hand side, we summarize our available liquidity, which has doubled year-over-year to greater than $1 billion at year-end, including $304 million of cash and $711 million of undrawn amounts on our corporate revolving credit facility. We finished the quarter with consolidated net debt of $780 million. Absolute net debt increased in the quarter driven by a negative working capital adjustment of $109 million, tied primarily to timing of accounts receivable collections. We have continued to see our net leverage decline as we deleverage our balance sheet ahead of Santo Domingo with a net debt-to-EBITDA 0.8x at the end of 2025 compared to 1.5x at the end of 2024. The chart on the right-hand side of the page illustrates our EBITDA sensitivity at various copper prices based on 2026 expectations as well as our near-term growth with Mantoverde optimized at full rates, increase in grades at Mantos Blancos next year and the normalization of throughput in Mantoverde and Pinto Valley. The midpoint of our 2026 guidance represents EBITDA in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.7 billion at copper prices between $5.50 to $6.50 per pound. As we look into next year, we -- 2027 and beyond, we expect to see a significant increase in EBITDA approaching $1.7 billion to $2.3 billion or close to 40% growth [indiscernible]. And this is also indicative of our free cash flow growth potential as mentioned in 2027 and beyond. This level of EBITDA generation will enable us to continue to generate cash to delever our balance sheet, further enhancing our financial position as we prepare for the next phase of growth. Moving to Slide 11. As we experienced a period of robust commodity prices, we are focused on protecting margins to ensure that the benefits of higher prices flow through to the bottom line. Our operating costs for 2026 remained consistent with prior years with an expected 4% increase in absolute dollars, reflecting modest inflationary impacts, largely related to labor and sulfuric acid. The increase in our C1 cash cost guidance compared to prior year is more reflective of a denominator effect driven by lower copper grades as a result of mine sequence at Mantos Blancos and Pinto Valley. On a consolidated company-wide basis, year-to-date, we have seen much higher byproduct prices compared to our guidance assumptions, which should provide a tailwind for cost in 2026. At current spot prices, our C1 cash cost guidance would be reduced by $0.10 per pound. Now I'll hand it over to Jim for the operations review. James Whittaker: Thanks, Raman. We are now on Slide 13. We will start with our Mantoverde operation. For Q4, total production yielded 23,819 tonnes of copper at a combined C1 cash cost of $2.32 per payable pound. In Q4, plant throughput averaged 23,400 tonnes per day as the site conducted repairs to address the reliability of the mill motors, which resulted in approximately 16 days of downtime. The repairs to the motors included upgrading components, installing additional protections enabled the sulfide plant to reach record average throughput of approximately 37,000 tonnes per day in December. Today, all 5 motors are on site, which includes 4 motors in operation and 1 rebuilt spare, have been upgraded with additional protections installed to prevent the breakdowns we experienced last year from reoccurring. We have also enhanced the electrical delivery system with additional condition monitoring and changing out cables. As an extra layer of contingency, we have also ordered the second spare motor scheduled to arrive later this year. Copper grades of 0.79% in Q4 continue to reconcile well with the mine plan and block model. Q4 recoveries averaged 83.7%, impacted by the downtime in the mill associated with the motor repairs. Copper production and cash costs are forecast to remain stable in 2026. The as more consistent throughput from sulfide mill is offset by periods of impacted production, including a 15-day maintenance period to complete the construction tie-ins for the Mantoverde optimized project. On Slide 14, we have provided an update from Mantoverde optimized. Throughout Q1, we will plan to complete the final stage of procurement and commence Civil works before executing key construction contracts for the concentrator desalinization plant and the tailings facility in Q2 once the required equipment and supplies arrive on site. Our expectations to our capital cost of $176 million and time lines for the project remain unchanged. To reiterate, in Q3, we are planning to complete the project tie-ins for MBO before ramping up throughout during -- throughput during Q4, with a goal to exit 2026 at throughput levels of approximately 45,000 tonnes per day. We are eager to deliver near-term production growth at our flagship asset through MBO, which adds 20,000 tonnes per annum of copper production at a low capital intensity of around $9,000 per tonne. Turning now to Slide 15. Mantos Blancos finished strong in Q4 to close out a remarkable year. Total sulfide and capital production yielded a record 16,861 tonnes of copper at C1 cash costs at $1.94 per payable pound. Through exceeded design was levels in Q4, averaging 21.400 tonnes per day. The significant reduction of variability in the milling processes in 2025 is a testament to the capabilities for our asset management framework, which we are working on integrating company-wide. For 2026, we have guided to 48,000 to 56,000 tonnes of copper production at combined C1 cash costs of $2.85 to $3.15 per payable pound. The expected production decrease compared to 2025 is primarily driven by a 1-year period of lower copper grades, which are expecting to approximate 0.7% in 2026 due to mine sequencing with higher grades of 0.85% expected to return in 2027. The higher C1 cash cost at Mantos Blancos in 2026 also reflect the lower amount of capitalized stripping. As we continue to benefit from stabilizing throughputs in the sulfide mill, we are preparing for the next phase of growth at Mantos Blancos as we work towards releasing our Phase II study by midyear. Moving to the United States. We will now discuss Pinto Valley on Slide 16. We produced 11,423 tonnes of copper at C1 cash cost of $3.53 per payable pound during Q4, which marked the strongest quarter of the year for Pinto Valley. Due to prolonged drought in Central Arizona, which resulted in water constraints, we operated at 2/3 availability with only 4 of the 6 mills online for October before returning to full availability in November and December. Internally, we have dedicated significant time to build the strategy around improving reliability at Pinto Valley. They are 2 main components to this strategy. Our first priority is water. In the near term, this includes improving on-site water infrastructure, utilizing the pit bottom as additional water storage and assigning dedicated positions to manage water-related initiatives, while in the longer term, we are evaluating potential agreements with other closed mines in the area. Our second priority is increasing operational capacity through our people, strategy and asset management framework, including improving operations and maintenance management, integrated business and asset life cycle planning and our procurement processes. As part of this implementation, there is expected to be a 10-day maintenance shutdown, which includes replacement of the primary crusher mainframe. We now expect this shutdown to occur in Q3. The Pinto Valley mine development has already demonstrated a significant improvement with a 37% increase in material mine year-over-year in 2025. Over 2026, we are focused on replicating this success across the remainder of the operation. As we focus on improving production and cost at Pinto Valley, in parallel, we remain committed to unlocking significant value through the evaluation of upside opportunities on our land package and within our broader district. Over the course of 2025 and into 2026, we have seen an increased focus from the U.S. administration on growing domestic copper production, which has provided further endorsement for the strategic position of Pinto Valley. Cozamin delivered another quarter of strong results in Q4, as showed on Slide 17. The operation produced 6,170 tonnes of copper at a record low C1 cash cost of $0.98 per payable pound, benefiting from higher silver byproducts, which continue to represent a tailwind for 2026. Through this year, we will continue to conduct exploration to evaluate the potential for mine life extensions or improvement to the production profile. And with that, I'd like to pass it to Wendy for a safety and sustainability review. Wendy King: Thanks, Jim. We are now on Slide 18., where we will discuss our safety and sustainability highlights for 2025. In October, we published our 2024 sustainability report titled Concentrating on Performance, which details how we continue to build the capacity of our organization in pursuit of our business and sustainability goals. Key highlights from the report include the launch of an integrated health, safety and environment management system, which lays the foundation of a cohesive organizational approach. We also began to develop Capstone-wide standards for key areas of sustainability, setting minimum performance standards connected to our sustainable development strategy priorities. We continue to make progress on our sustainable development strategy during 2025, including advancing our climate risk assessment by developing a financial model to analyze various scenarios. Additionally, we were proud to receive the Copper Mark Award in recognition of responsible mining practices at Pinto Valley during 2025, joining Mantoverde and Mantos Blancos, both of which received the award in 2023. As a testament to our commitment to transparency responsible production, our Cozamin site also began the Copper Mark assurance process in 2025 and meaning all of our sites are now participants. Last, but certainly not least, 2025 represented the first year of our health, safety and environment program that we call CU Safe. During year 1 of this 3-year initiative, we completed our first safety leadership module with site management and executed Phase 1 of our mobile HSC database. We are already seeing evidence of its effectiveness. As a result of this program, we've achieved a year-over-year reduction in recordable injuries of approximately 30%. I will now pass it back to Cashel. Cashel Meagher: Thanks, Wendy. Turning now to Slide 20. Over the past few years, Capstone has navigated through a period of significant change as we built and ramped up mines. Following the execution of several key milestones, our portfolio of assets is now well positioned to support future growth. During 2026, we will remain focused on operational excellence to get the most out of our existing operations, while continuing to advance our pipeline of executable organic growth opportunities. At Santo Domingo, we have several remaining work streams ongoing prior to an FID expected in the second half of this year. These include securing an optimal financing strategy and progressing detailed engineering to approximately 60% as well as advancing upside opportunities and potential infrastructure opportunities. In terms of our financial position, we will continue to capitalize on strong commodity prices by deleveraging through internally generated cash flows and reducing our net debt leverage further prior to a sanctioning decision. In addition to advancing Santo Domingo, we've highlighted our other key priorities for execution over 2026 on Slide 21. We will upgrade Mantoverde to sustain 45,000 tonnes per day funded through internally generated cash flows. We will also look to release the Mantos Blancos Phase 2 study midyear. Both these projects are great examples of the type of low capital intensity brownfield expansions we like to prioritize, especially beneficial during periods of strong commodity prices. On the exploration front, we will continue to build on our success from 2025 with an expanded exploration budget of $70 million for 2026. One of our main priorities is to progress Phase 2 of the Mantoverde exploration program, with a focus on improving grades, adding mineralization and testing high-priority targets immediately north of the pit and along the 10-kilometer northern corridor. At Santo Domingo and the nearby Sierra Norte deposit, we focus our exploration efforts on advancing upside opportunities for incremental copper production in the region, specifically those eligible for contingent consideration under our joint venture agreement. Our team is eager to unlock significant value through exploration in pursuit of our strategy of building a world-class long-life copper district in Chile's Tier 1 Atacama region. At Capstone, we are proud to have created a peer-leading pipeline supported by an enhanced diversified foundation of operating assets. As we enter into a new year, our strategy has not changed. We will continue to focus on operational execution, strengthening our balance sheet and responsibly advancing our projects to ensure we are well positioned to execute our goals. The fourth quarter marked the completion of inflection year for Capstone. We achieved our guidance and delivered record results across a number of metrics, allowing us to realize the benefit of strong commodity prices. We also took tangible steps on our path toward transformative growth through execution of several key catalysts. We are well positioned to become a leading long life low-cost copper producer, playing an important role in providing the copper the world needs now and into the future. And with that, we are now ready to take questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Orest Wowkodaw from Scotiabank. Orest Wowkodaw: Obviously, this year, based on your guidance is more of a transition year. When I look at your Slide 8, and you've got a target there of approximately 265,000 tonnes of copper and you've labeled it near-term growth. Is there any reason for us not to think that 2027 could be something in that range? When I look at what's assumed in that 265,000, just based on the fine print, it feels like all those pieces are in place for 2027. Just wondering if I'm missing something or if that's being too optimistic. Cashel Meagher: Yes. Thanks for the question, Orest. I would think that is the closest characteristic of what we expect to produce in 2027. As you know, we've sort of been giving 1-year guidance year-over-year. You're absolutely right to identify that all those pieces are in place. Obviously, there's some optimization and execution that's not dependent to deliver on that 265,000, but the range is sort of where we're sort of thinking about the probability and we're not ready to provide the range yet. We're maturing all our long-term plans now as we speak, such that we can provide maybe that accuracy, again, with guidance next year. But we would be disappointed if we weren't able to achieve that next year. Orest Wowkodaw: Okay. That's great. And just as a follow-up, I'm just curious what you assume as a normalized throughput rate for Pinto Valley for the next couple of years? Cashel Meagher: Yes, that's a great question. I'll just sort of lead in and preface it by the process improvement we employed at Mantos Blancos and the asset management framework and the team that facilitated that there with consultants and internal expertise as well as the management team is what our deployment is at Pinto Valley. We've now been on that journey sort of for a year at Pinto Valley. Obviously, we had the overprint of the drought last year, which was unlucky, but we've sort of drought-proofed ourselves going forward for the next 2 years, and we'll see sort of long-term solutions thereof that we believe are perfectly executable. But the way I look at it is the instantaneous throughput of Pinto Valley is 62,000 tonnes a day and best-in-class of an asset of that vintage would suggest 90% utilization, accounting for unplanned and planned maintenance periods. So that would mean 56,000 tonnes a day. So we see ourselves from the beginning of this year where we sort of have built into what we call our prudent and reliable guidance from a 50,000 working our way through the year up to sort of 52,000 tonnes a day and then next year incrementally taking that up again. As we make these improvements in our maintenance program, switching it from a reactive process to a proactive process, we see ourselves marching in the next couple of years towards 56,000 tonnes a day on a reliable prudent continuous basis. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Dalton Baretto from Canaccord Genuity. Dalton Baretto: Cashel, maybe I can start by asking what -- meant the Mantoverde mill averaged in February. You're past the strike, you're passed a lot of the stuff from last year. Cashel Meagher: Yes. Yes. Thanks, Dalton. So always bringing up a plant from an unplanned interruption always has its challenges. But the team there has done a terrific job. It's sort of hit nameplate, that 32,000 tonnes a day and just right around 85% recovery. So we're really looking forward to getting back to what we achieved in December, which was through continuous production after working through some of the items that Jim outlined with respect to the motor, where we achieved 36,400 tonnes a day in December. And -- so we're looking towards getting back to that and building against that prudent and reliable guidance that we put out that is in and around that 32,000 tonnes a day. So that's what we achieved. Dalton Baretto: That's great. And then just maybe building on what Orest was asking around 2027. For 2026, you put your guidance, your stock was down on the back of that. And now for your longer term, it's down to 375 versus 420. I'm just wondering maybe you could sort of contextualize all of that for us a little bit more. And maybe hit on some of the key assumptions for 2026, in terms of what you receive for ramp-up at [ MVDP ], Pinto Valley, that sort of thing. Cashel Meagher: Yes. Yes. Great question. And yes, and thanks for noting those differences. When we speak about guidance, what is most frustrating is when repeatedly companies don't meet guidance. And so there are ways to build your plans, and they can be -- we use -- there is a -- there are terms, we use prudent, stretch and breakthrough. And when you repeatedly put out stretch and breakthrough while ambitions and processes are there, you really can only build on what you're capable of doing and what you've done. We believe what we've put out for guidance is a prudent forecast of what we can achieve with a certain amount of bumps in the road, and we have left ourselves for upside. And that upside as you sort of indicated is, we're not assuming we're instantaneously going to achieve after the August shutdown and tie-in of MBO, which is a 15-day shutdown the 45,000 tonnes a day throughput, we believe that's going to take a certain increment to ramp up, recognizing that, that comes near the end of the year. And having been in the mining industry for 30 years, when you have high grade or ramp-ups at the end of the year and you have a month delay, it can really impact your guidance and thereof. So took what we call the conservative approach and didn't book that. We sort of booked a lower ramp up through that last quarter. It still gives us 4 months to ramp up essentially what our pumps and pipes to what we're already achieving some days over 45,000 tonnes a day through our crusher and grinding circuit. So we have high confidence we'll be able to exceed the expectations at Mantoverde and start out 2027 at that 45,000 tonnes a day there. And really, that production is a major increment to that increase of what Orest had previously pointed out, the 265,000 tonnes, which is indicative of what we believe our guidance will be in 2027, that combined with a little more throughput at Pinto Valley back through the sequence in higher grades at Mantos Blancos and less down days through the year of 2027 because we won't have the MV-O tie-in or some of the major equipment downtime we're having at Pinto Valley. So all those things conspire to sort of that run rate of that 265. And just for the last part of your question, you mentioned, so the discrepancy with respect to the 400,000 tonnes of copper at the turbine -- completion and ramp-up run rate at Santo Domingo when we build upon all our other assets. Part of it is just the maturity of these mine planning processes and that characterization I get of being prudent and reliable. So part of it is the mine planning. But what I would say is we have a number of operational excellence and improvement projects where we believe over time, we'll be able to build that back over 400,000 tonnes, by that time, we achieved full production at Santo Domingo, principally for Mantos Blancos cost. We have 2 programs there, one that could add 15,000 tonnes of copper and concentrate with Mantos Blancos to 7,000 tonnes a day by bringing on to existing mills. And then we have the opportunity of 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes of cathode at our heap leach opportunities with respect to the old ripios or spent ore and some of the coarse fraction of the higher-grade residual from the 1980s and 1990s in the order of 140 million tonnes available to us at 0.3 copper. So those are just 2 examples, not to mention some of the other byproduct credits we see coming. Later this year, we hope to put out a feasibility study around some of our cobalt production, for example. All those will be contributory that we'll get back over that 400,000. We've sort of characterized that 375 as executable, prudent and permitted. And so we have more growth beyond that by the time we get to Santo Domingo. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Morgan from Barrenjoey. Daniel Morgan: Cashel, my question regards Pinto Valley and just drought-proofing initiatives. Can you just expand on the actions taken there? It sounds like there's water retention you're doing at the bottom of the pit. Just wondering, does that -- is that going to continue into 2027 at all and have any impact on the early part of '27? Cashel Meagher: Yes. Thanks, Daniel. Yes. So we call it our Northwest wall. We're doing a pushback there. The highest grade at Pinto Valley is in the bottom of the pit. So we're in a sequence where we're pushing back the pit. We get the opportunity now to store that water rather than in an old tailings facility where we typically have stored the water. So we'll get an opportunity to drain that tailings facility, take a look at it, understand for future value and the sequence of the mine is such that we'll be able to use that for fully 2 drought seasons. The drought season in 2026, the drought season in 2027. And we've already almost stored the total amount required that would have mitigated the drought last year in the bottom of the pit currently. So we're well set up, and then we will address the issues of water management beyond 2027 over these next 2 years while we utilize that opportunity of the pit to be able to store the necessary water we need. Daniel Morgan: And then can you just remind us again on the Mantos Blancos expansion that you're studying and planning to put out on mid this year. I'm not looking for numbers, but just can you remind us conceptually about what needs to be done to achieve your goals there? Like what can you leverage and what needs to be installed or improved? Cashel Meagher: Yes. Thanks. So the major bottleneck is actually we will have exhausted our course tailings -- sorry, our [ fines ] tailings capacity 3 years from now. And so as it is currently with the administrative process of receiving permits in Chile, you can work on 1 site at a time. We have 3 things we have ambition to permit at Mantos Blancos, One is bringing on 2 mills that we currently use when we go into a reline on our mill #8. Mill #8 is the new mill that was added in 2021 and 2022. When we go into that reline, we actually do compensate for our production by turning on these other 2 mills. The only reason we can't use them now really is because of permitting constraints on throughput and some downstream capacity issues that we need to build in. That's what we call Mantos Blancos 2, and that would add that additional 15,000 tonnes of copper per year to concentrate. So that program would probably -- we could probably execute that in less than a year provided we had the permits. But the permit is for the fines tailings impoundment. The current impoundment site is a combination dam and open pit. Our next site is an open pit we're currently mining, that open pit is called Phase 22. That will be ready a couple of years from now for more tailings. But the way the Chilean administrative process is, is that it takes 2 years for a full EIA for a tailings dam. Now we don't know if this is going to be the case, but the [ CAS ] administration has indicated they might, in the future, accelerate administrative processes. We think this could be a candidate for that because this isn't an impoundment structure or filling a hole. But conservatively, we're saying we'll have the permit submitted near the end of this year. It will take 2 full years to go through an EIA and then we'll get the opportunity for this new fines tailing impoundment site as well as Mantos Blancos 2 with the 2 mills. There's that other separate project I was talking about, where we can utilize some of the installed capacity in our SX-EW where we could see upwards of 20,000 to 25,000 tons of cathode being produced by leaching some of the ripios and coarse tailings that have some high residual oxide in secondary sulfide grades. That project, we're still working with. Probably the guidance for that project will be more to the end of the year than the middle of the year. But we're still figuring out what we can do if there's a possibility maybe to bring some of that copper forward outside of that permitting constraint, but it will be for another quarter. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Craig Hutchison from TD Cowen. Craig Hutchison: I was wondering if you could just provide some more color on the grade guidance for Mantos Blancos this year. The 0.7%, it's pretty lower than the tech report. When I look, I think you're supposed to be a little bit above 0.9% this year. Is that a function of negative grade reconciliation? Are you smoothing out your technical report? Just any context around that would be helpful. Cashel Meagher: Yes. This -- good observations, Craig. The reconciliation isn't in question. It works well. the tech report sort of evaluated, I would say, more of a -- well, it was published in 2021, and it was part of the merger of the 2 companies. We will be replacing that tech report later this year with a new tech report with more resolution on the mine planning. I would say that one was sort of flatlined, more or less out in the future years with less detail in the present years. And the present years they were looking at were -- more the years of '22, '23 and '24. Well, now we're out in '25, '26 and '27, and it doesn't have the resolution required. The sequencing we have, we're just into a low-grade portion. It has no concerns or considerations for any reconciliation. All our reconciliation is working out within normal tolerances. So we will be back into plus 0.85% copper in '27, '28 and '29. Craig Hutchison: Okay. Great. And then maybe just a similar question for Pinto Valley just because you're in the upper benches to assume grades in '27 are quite similar to 2026? Cashel Meagher: Yes. Yes, exactly. Probably in the order of 0.29%, we're pushing back that Northwest well. And there is some variability in there. There is some opportunity for dilution but that will be all to the upside of the guidance we have. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Lyndon Fagan from JPMorgan. Lyndon Fagan: Thanks for that. Look, I was hoping to just continue on the grade theme. Obviously, the guidance was pretty poorly received by the market for 2026. If we look into 2027, you've talked a bit about the Mantoverde grade. But what about the other assets? Are you able to give us a flavor for grades across the portfolio in '27 just to avoid that kind of sticker shock. Cashel Meagher: Yes. So I just sort of was talking about -- Lyndon, I was talking about Mantos Blancos, just to clear the deck here. That was, I think, the grade shock was the decrease to 0.7% from this year at 0.9% or 0.92%. And then so the next 3 years, like I said, what we are anticipating is to be above 0.85% for '26, '27 and '28. So that's Mantos Blancos. Pinto Valley will be at 0.29% for '27 -- '26 and '27. And then the following year during some time during the year, I can't say exactly just off the top of my head, what quarter yet, but we'll be back into the bottom of the pit. And the pit -- grade will start trending higher to the 0.32% to 0.33%, maybe even 0.34%. So that will be Pinto Valley sort of recovering. And Mantoverde, we're in 0.72% now, and we see ourselves in the next year in '27 sort of getting up for upwards of 0.9% -- 0.73%. sorry. So we're going to be pretty level going forward with the 0.7% to 0.73%. And Cozamin there's slight decrease in grades going forward right out to what we have as current end of mine life. Last year, we produced 25,000 tonnes of copper, and I believe 2031 is sort of scheduled for 80,000 tonnes of copper, and it's kind of more or less a decline from here to there. Lyndon Fagan: Just to clarify, Mantoverde, do you mind just running through the '27 and '28 outlook? And also, while we're at it, talking a bit about the oxide. It looks like the grades have fallen there. I don't know if it's temporary in '26, but maybe a bit of flavor of what's going on there as well. Cashel Meagher: Well, yes, yes, good identification base. Yes. So we're in a 2-year sort of lower cycle on the grades at Mantoverde and then they'll start coming up again on the oxides, yes. Lyndon Fagan: And sorry, the sulfide, what did you say again 'for '27 [ and '28? ] Cashel Meagher: 0.72%, 0.73%. So the same grade. Lyndon Fagan: Okay. Great. And then I guess the other part of guidance, which is pretty hard to get a handle on going forward is capitalized stripping. Are we trending around the [ '26 ] number for the next few years or going up or down, it would be good to get some flavor there, please? Cashel Meagher: Yes, yes. And again, as we've said, we're endeavoring to update a couple of our technical reports, certainly Mantos Blancos this year, and we hope maybe early next year, Pinto Valley because those are sort of the consumers of the larger strip and some of the capitalized stripping. Do have some sustainability and ambitions to meet certain standards and guidelines on some of the old infrastructure and tailings impoundment at both Mantos Blancos and Pinto Valley. So that will go this year and next year. Then we sort of see ourselves if you take off that -- so that run rate of capitalized stripping plus is in and around with sustaining CapEx, $600 million if you take off the expansion capital. So that -- we see that for 2 years. And then we see ourselves sort of maybe dropping to more like maybe $400 million to $500 million after the next 2 years for those 4 assets. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Marcio Farid from Goldman Sachs. Marcio Farid Filho: Quick one maybe on Santo Domingo. Obviously, you've reached our financial targets, moving on with the sanctioning, got the JV partner already. I think this the -- just a couple of things are missing. Obviously, the project finance facility hasn't been detailed yet. But also, I think just if you can provide some update in terms of where we are at in terms of the project finance discussions, but also any update on the development of Santo Domingo's profile would be great as well. Just trying to understand if the 2026 sanctioning [ the 2 ], a viable option. Cashel Meagher: Yes. Just maybe I'll just put it in a few words, and I'll pass it to Raman for exactly what our options are with respect to financing. But our goal is to be in a position in Q4 for sanctioning. And obviously, there's the macro environment. There are a lot of things external that might affect what that is. But our goal is to take what is in our control and be ready then. And so one is detailed engineering to 60%, another is to determine what is in -- within the scope of capital financing and what is out. As many of you know, there is a modular nature to some of the off-site infrastructure required for Santo Domingo like a desalination plant in a port. And there's everything from working with the current owner of a desalination in the port and a commercial arrangement to joint ownership to boot contract of infrastructure of our own assets to capitalizing our own assets. And it seems complicated. It's not that it's complicated, I suppose. It's just what is the best strategic outcome and the best value outcome. So we're working through those. We sort of set ourselves a goal to resolve that in the second quarter this year, such that we can then determine with that 60% detailed engineering, what a robust capital number is and what required financing we have. So with that, I'll just pass it over to Raman to talk about some of the ideas we have with respect to financing. And I'd just add, obviously, we did do the partnership agreement for the 25%. Raman Randhawa: Thanks, Cashel. Like Cashel mentioned, we got the Orion partnership, which brings in, obviously, $300 million and derisk kind of the financing plan when you look forward. And we're trading off a couple of alternatives. We got the base case of like traditional project financing, which could be done at the asset level that we've kind of kicked off already and that takes time, but it'll be in place for Q4 timing because you got to start that. But the other alternatives, we're also assessing in parallel are a potential mix of like a high yield and a bank debt piece that can be put in place as well to fully finance our project. As you know, the bank markets are open from a lending perspective in these robust copper price environment. So I think we're just trading off the cost of capital of the couple of alternatives and the restrictions and whatnot that come with it, assessing that and discussing that with our Board. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Adam Baker from Macquarie. Adam Baker: Just on the cathode production at Mantoverde. Looking back at the tech report, I think you had a rising to around 39,000 tonnes in CY '26. I know you noted on the call, lower grades driving lower cathode production. But do we have confidence we can get back up to the 39,000, 40,000 kt levels for cathode, noting the drop in this year's guidance. Cashel Meagher: Yes. I don't know if I caught the second part of your question, but let me get to the first 1 first, and you can repeat yourself maybe after that. The first part is, if you recall, we're -- versus the tech report, we're a little late on MV-O versus our ambition. And part of it was 5,000 tons of enhancement due to bioleaching and due to enhancements in our SX-EW and leaching processes. So that is one of the boosts we'll see is actually a gain in recovery that will happen in '27 versus '26. So I hope that sort of fills that gap for you. And did you have another part to your question? Adam Baker: Just to see if we could get back to 39 kt cathode production from Monteverdi, once MBO is fully ramped up. Is there anything to suggest that you can't get to those levels? Cashel Meagher: Yes, that -- and that is one of the key contributors there combined with some grade lift 2 years from now. So between the 2 of them, we'll get back closer to that 40,000 tonnes of copper. Adam Baker: And maybe just one for Raman on the taxation expenses, a bit of an uplift in the 4Q. A lot of that's obviously driven from higher profitability with higher copper prices. Can you just remind us of the income tax expense rates moving forward from here? Raman Randhawa: On the income tax rate, roughly kind of like it depends by jurisdiction. PV like 21%, Mexico is like 30%, you can use, and then Chile is not 30% to 35%. And just Chile's got that ad valorem tied to copper prices a bit, that kind of came up. But -- so slightly higher taxes perhaps in Q4 tied to a higher copper price. Operator: Our last question comes from the line of David Radclyffe from Global Mining Research. David Radclyffe: So I had a quick question on Pinto Valley slide. And the comment there in regards to district consolidation opportunities because that particular comment has been, I guess, flagged in the deck for many years. And today, we've seen a peer growing the U.S. business through M&A in the States. So maybe if you could comment to the extent you can on the potential for this to actually advance in '26. So any color you can provide and maybe what you see as the current roadblocks? Cashel Meagher: Yes. We continue to work with our neighbors and specifically with the exploration/amalgamation idea with BHP and Copper Cities. That has been ongoing as you've correctly identified for a couple of years. We are seeing, as you would see with either our peers or other letters of intent out there with BHP, that there is a renewed focus in the American Southwest to help generate more copper production. Obviously, we're well positioned having an operating asset for growth and incremental growth by bringing these things through rather than greenfield builds that are either shall be permitted or not permitted yet. So with respect to Copper Cities, we're evaluating the possible inclusion of other, I would call, satellite opportunities to see if they can enhance the prospects thereof. So all I can say is we really hope to be able to bring more light and more color to our plans later this year and that we're seeing more energy and more focus from our potential partners. Operator: That's the end of our Q&A session. I will now turn it over to Cashel Meagher. Please continue, sir. Cashel Meagher: Thank you, operator. We look forward to updating you in April with our Q1 results. Until then, stay safe and feel free to reach out to Daniel, Michael or Claire, if you have any further questions. Thank you for your continued support, and have a good day or evening. Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
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