Westgold Resources Ltd

ASX:WGX

Q4-2025 Earnings Call

[Shane Murphy]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Westgold Resources quarterly conference call for the fourth quarter of FY '25. Your first speaker for today is Wayne Bramwell, Managing Director and CEO. I'll now hand you over to Wayne.

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Today, I'll provide a quick overview of the quarter and the full financial year. After that, Aaron and Tommy will each share a summary of their areas before we move on to your questions. We'll assume you've reviewed today's quarterly docs and keep things brief and ready for questions.

Let's start. Slide 4. FY '25 was a transformative year in Westgold's evolution. We completed the Karora transaction in August last year, a move that significantly increased our scale. Integrating the businesses took time, and operational difficulties we encountered meant we had to revise our expectations midyear. That was a tough but necessary decision.

We finished the year strongly with an annual record of 326,384 ounces of gold production. Q4 was a quarterly record for Westgold, producing 88,000 ounces. This is a clear demonstration of what this portfolio is capable of when these mines perform.

We also built $132 million in treasury over the year, a result that reflects a business with growing and enhanced cash flow capability.

Slide 5. Safe and profitable ounces is our operational mantra. Safety remains our top priority, and I'm pleased to report continued improvement across key metrics. Quarter-on-quarter, our TRIFR rate fell from 6.2 to 5.6, a 10% improvement.

Slide 6. This slide speaks to our business strategy and illustrates Westgold's journey from early FY '23 to now. Our model in FY '23 was simple: Stabilize; invest; and then build cash. Post the Karora transaction in August '24, we are following the same model: Stabilize; invest; and build cash.

Now let's jump to Slide 8. Our FY '25 performance was impacted by the ramp-up at Bluebird, South Junction and Beta Hunt. Fleet haulage reliability at Beta Hunt impacted our ability to access higher grade zones costing us circa 4,000 ounces in the quarter. These issues, while frustrating, are being addressed. From a CapEx point of view, we were right on target and a little under on exploration, a result of timing differences from exploration and project expenditure. Westgold will provide its FY '26 guidance to the market in August and a 3-year outlook after we release our resource and reserve update in September.

With that, I'll pass the mic to Aaron to provide an operational overview.

[Aaron Rankine, executive]

Thank you, Wayne, and welcome to all on the call today. Slide 10 highlights the strengthening operational performance of the business. In Q4, we saw mining rates increase across all sites, with notable contributions from Bluebird, South Junction, starlight and the commencement of Lake Cowen. These gains were partially offset by lower grades at Bluebird, Fender and Beta Hunt as well as the introduction of Lake Cowan pits, which is lower grade than our underground ore sources. Importantly, we've also lifted mill utilization and throughput in the Murchison to absorb these increased mining volumes.

In the South, the sale of Lakewood has reduced our milling footprint with Higginsville now taking more of the Beta Hunt feed, showing early signs of improvement with a ROM stockpile available. Looking ahead, we see clear tangible opportunities to drive our cost of production down by continuing to improve operational performance in our mines and mills, the introduction of higher grade Great Fingall ore and optimization of Beta Hunt with the improved infrastructure.

We'd like to have delivered more production this quarter, but importantly, we did deliver a 10% increase in gold quarter-on-quarter. While Q1 FY '26 we'll see some moderation due to a planned increase in development requirements at South Junction, Westgold's overall trajectory remains strong.

Slide 11 gives us a closer look at the Murchison, where we saw improved production from all 3 mills, resulting in a strong uplift in gold production this quarter, up from just under 43,000 ounces in Q3 to nearly 55,000 ounces in Q4. A key driver was Meekatharra with improved access into South Junction. That allowed us to mine several larger, more productive stopes, proving up our stoping method for the ore body.

Importantly, we've now transitioned the Bluebird South Junction mine design to a predominantly longitudinal access. This significantly reduces reliance in development in ultramafic ground and development overall, whilst retaining the long-term production profile. The change does set us back from reaching higher productivity levels in the short term, particularly for the first half of FY '26.

Our key operations also had a solid quarter. Ore from the Upper Cave expansion at Big Bell is coming through steadily, and work to establish additional access points continues. This is allowing us to defer capital spend on Big Bell deeps while maintaining strong output from the mine.

Additionally, at Q, we're on track to commence mining stopes in the main Great Fingall orebody this October. That's a critical milestone for delivering higher grades in the Murchison and expanding our margins going forward.

At Fortnum, Starlight continues to outperform with accessed multiple high-grade zones in the Galaxy area and the site delivered outstanding mining rates this quarter. With ventilation upgrades completed and more planned, we're well positioned to sustain strong performances from Starlight going forward.

Let's jump to Slide 15. Here, we summarize the evolving performance of our Southern Gold Fields operations. The sale of the Lakewood mill at the end of Q3 was a strategic decision and the right one. Divesting it has simplified our operations, will reduce our long-term costs and deliver $85 million in upfront value, allowing us to focus on lower cost processing at Higginsville. Our plan was to maximize the throughput of higher-grade ore sources through the Higginsville operations to offset the reduction in milling capacity. Unfortunately, that wasn't fully realized this quarter, predominantly due to reliability issues in the haulage fleet at Beta Hunt. These issues restricted access to higher grade zones deeper in the operation, which, in turn, lowered the mill grade. These are our oldest trucks in the fleet, which will be replaced in Q1 FY '26.

Two Boys continues to be a standout performer. It's now delivering improved grades and mining rates quarter-on-quarter and is another example of creating value with the drill bit.

On infrastructure at Beta Hunt, we've made solid progress. The clean water supply project at Beta Hunt, I'm glad to say, is complete, and the primary ventilation upgrades, while slightly delayed, are due for commissioning later this month. These upgrades will nearly double ventilation flows when at full capacity and support the mine production ramp-up to greater than 2 million tonnes per annum.

Additionally, the new rising main installation is complete and works on associated primary pumping are underway.

We've made great progress in the Southern Goldfields, and with the remaining key issues restricting productivity being resolved in the near term at Beta Hunt, we expect a stronger performance from the Southern Gold Fields throughout FY '26.

With that, I'll hand over to Tommy to talk to the financials.

[Su Heng, executive]

Thanks, Aaron, and hello to everyone on the call today. On to Slide 20. This slide, in a nutshell, shows the strength of our financial performance in Q4 FY '25. We delivered a record net mine cash flow of $171 million, up from $87 million in Q3. This was driven by a combination of higher gold production, 88,022 ounces and a realized gold price of $5,174 per ounce, which was $2,486 per ounce, above our all-in sustaining cost of $2,688 per ounce. Importantly, this result reflects the continued disciplined, cost control and operational leverage. The increase in all-in sustaining cost dollar amount is reflective of the increased mining activity, which resulted in increased gold production, thereby reducing our all-in sustaining cost per ounce quarter-on-quarter. That's a testament to the work done across our operations to improve mining efficiencies and optimize cost structures.

The gold sold figure of 71,500 ounces versus gold produced of 88,022 ounces reflects the timing of gold sales. We closed the quarter with $96 million in bullion, which has already been realized in FY '26, and Westgold remains fully unhedged, giving us full exposure to the rising gold price. With $364 million in cash, bullion and liquid investments plus $215 million undrawn corporate facility, our available liquidity now sits at approximately $614 million. This positions us exceptionally well to fund growth, absorb volatility and continue delivering strong returns to shareholders.

Slide 21. Before I hand back Wayne to wrap up, I would like to touch on the cash flow waterfall graph. We built $132 million in cash, bullion and liquid investments this quarter, closing with $364 million on hand. This was driven by positive operating cash flows, supported by strong margins and improving cost control.

On capital allocation, we invested $27 million in growth projects, primarily at Bluebird South Junction and Great Fingall and a further $12 million in plant equipment upgrades across the portfolio. These investments are aligned with our strategy to lift mine productivity and reduce our operating cost base. We also received $20 million from the stage proceeds of the liquid divestment during the quarter, which contributed to our cash build. We had received $25 million in the previous quarter, and the remaining $25 million is to be received in November 2025.

The working capital movement of $22 million is the timing of creditor payments. Overall, we're in a strong position. Our balance sheet is robust. Our investments are targeted, and we are well funded to execute our growth strategy heading into FY '26.

With that, Wayne, over to you to close.

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Thank you, Tommy. Slide 25. Westgold has 3 objectives in FY '26: To sustain growth; lower our cost; and enhance our cash flow. In the Murchison, we're setting up Bluebird South junction for long-term success. The transition to a longitudinal stoping design will allow us to consistently deliver 1 million to 1.2 million tonnes per annum from this asset. That scale means the Bluebird South Junction will be able to largely underpin the mill capacity at Meekatharra, significantly reducing our reliance on haulage from other sites.

The commencement of mining the virgin stopes at Great Fingall in Q1 will mark another milestone for Westgold and inject grade into our merchants and processing hubs.

In the Southern Gold Fields, we expect outputs to continue to lift at Beta Hunt as many of the infrastructure upgrades are either completed or commissioned. We'll also continue to grow the Fletcher Zone following the release of its maiden 2.3 million ounce resource. Drilling will continue throughout FY '26 as we work towards reserve conversion and long-term mine planning.

Across both regions, we're very focused on rightsizing the package, simplifying this portfolio, prioritizing high-value prospects and ensuring every asset contributes meaningfully to free cash flow.

Simplistically, FY '25 was about integration. FY '26 focuses on enabling stable growth and consistent execution. We're well funded, well positioned and ready to deliver.

With that, I'll open up the webinar for questions. Thank you.

[Shane Murphy]

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Alex. At Bluebird, does the switch from transverse to longitudinal stoping impact the longer-term target mine tonnage of 1.2 million tonnes per annum?

[Aaron Rankine, executive]

Yes. Thank you for the question. Alex, this is Aaron. I'll take that. In short, absolutely not. That production targets are well and truly available to us to get after. What it does do is defer our ability to create enough accesses through the orebody to get to that. So we're working hard to get our development rates up and create those work areas. But the beauty of this orebody is the scale that we've got. It enables us to create more than enough work carriers with the longitudinal method. And it will be a partly longitudinal. We'll still be creating 3 to 4 accesses per level, which gives us plenty of working fronts. And given the significant tonnage per vertical meter, this mine will get to that run rate without a problem. Probably just to add to that, while we're talking about this mine, the performance in Q4, we've seen the stopes start to produce out of Bluebird and they're performing really well, which is excellent for us.

[Shane Murphy]

Your next question comes from Andrew. You see 400,000 tonnes of [ toll ] trading access at Lakewood over 2 years at minimum. It looks like you may have gotten more volume through Lakewood in Q4, perhaps plus or minus 100,000 tonnes, then the toll trading agreement implies which would be approximately 50,000 tonnes per quarter.

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Thank you, Andrew. Wayne here. Well spotted. Yes, we did process more than our 50,000 tonnes through Lakewood during that quarter. The Black Hats had additional capacity available. So we had additional ore. So yes, we did take opportunity there, and we'll continue to do so because now we do carry a stockpile of crush stock at Beta to take opportunity of additional toll trading opportunities that may exist.

[Shane Murphy]

Your next question comes from Larry. What is the core reason behind the reforecasting of ventilation upgrade delays at Beta Hunt? Given they are installed next week, can this provide immediate grade improvements? Or do we have to await the new fleet?

[Aaron Rankine, executive]

Yes. Thank you for the question, Larry. Aaron again. I'll take that. Look, the ventilation project for Beta Hunt was a long and complicated project, and it's seen some several minor delays that has led to it being delivered later this month in the coming days. In short, no, we don't need to wait for an upgraded fleet this quarter. We've already made moves and the advantage we've got with a large fleet across our business and our improving productivities, how we've been able to leave additional fleet from our other operations to support this, and we've already rolled some new fleet in to Beta Hunt. So the fleet problem is largely resolved. We've also improved some maintenance practices on these older trucks to improve the reliability. So largely, the fleet issues will go away from now, events coming.

[Shane Murphy]

Your next question comes from Curtis, and the question is, will there be dividends and/or share buybacks?

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Thank you, Curtis. That's a very easy one to answer. And the answer is yes. Basically, we'll make announcements around our capital allocation post the release of the full year financials, which will be in August. But certainly, dividends are something which we are committed to paying annually, and formal announcement of the quantum post the release of our full year accounts.

[Shane Murphy]

Next question is from Ray and he's disappointed with the share price appreciation of Westgold versus its peers. He would like to ask if, in addition to operational improvements, will we see more storytelling to the market to attract investment.

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Thanks for your question, Ray. Look, FY '25 was a tough year for Westgold. It was an inflection point whereby we effectively doubled the scale of the business. You have to invest money to make money. In FY '25, we invested a lot across all of our assets. The focus for FY '26 is really simple. It's not about storytelling. It's about delivery. And you can be the judge of how we go on that over the next 4 quarters.

[Shane Murphy]

Next question is from Chris, and it relates to Meekatharra. He's asked, how do you see the proportion of mined versus stockpile and crushed ore processed at Bluebird changing over FY '26 and implications for costs.

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Yes. Look, I'll take that one. So over the course of FY '26, we will see significant reduction in stockpile processing at Meekatharra with 2 key events being the increase in productivity out of the Bluebird mine and the introduction of the new Murchison ore purchase agreement. So that will -- the cost will be delivered in our guidance when it's put out. But with that changing profile, there is a significant reduction in our cost of production out of Meekatharra over the course of the financial year.

[Shane Murphy]

Our next question comes from Hugo -- sorry, 3 questions from Hugo so I might just do them one at a time. The first question is, can you provide an update on where expansion studies are at and expectations for timing of upcoming milestones for those studies?

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Thanks, Hugo. Wayne here. I'll take these ones. In terms of expansion studies, these -- let me unpack that in 2 ways. We are going through a process of debottlenecking every one of our processing plants. What we saw in certainly Q4 was increased throughput from all of our processing plants as we're starting to squeeze more through these things by making small changes.

In respect to the expansion study at Higginsville, we are literally about to sign an award the study for the expansion of that processing footprint to 2.6 million tonnes per annum. There's a key point in this study. The study will nominally say we're expanding Higginsville from 1.6 to 2.6. But specifically in the study, we're asking the engineers to oversize the key processing equipment such that this plant can be expanded up to circa 4 million tonnes per annum. As soon as we award that, we'll make an announcement probably in the next quarter, but very much, we know that we can squeeze more out of the existing plants and a formal study to detail the expansion of Higginsville is literally about to be signed.

Can you please provide more color on the ramp-up profile of Bluebird to the 1.2 over the coming quarters. I may -- I think Aaron has spoken to that a little bit. I may throw back to Aaron on that one.

[Aaron Rankine, executive]

Yes. Thanks, Wayne. Thank you, Hugo, for the question. So with the change of the access design, we -- over the first quarter, we need to -- there will be some moderation in the production rates. We've accessed South Junction in Q4 to prove up our stoping methods. We now need to build enough access points that will continue to grow over the course of the financial year. So we expect a somewhat linear increase in productivity over the year with an exit rate close to that 1 million to 1.2 million tonnes per annum and setting up FY '27 for sustainable production at those run rates.

[Shane Murphy]

And the last question from Hugo is related to the balance sheet. It's highlighted the balance sheet is positioned for capital returns. Should we expect the dividend over and above the $0.01 per share minimum?

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Thanks again, Hugo. Absolutely. You should expect that we should deliver a minimum of $0.01 per share, and I'll be seeking approval from the Board post the full year accounts coming out to do that.

[Shane Murphy]

Next question comes from David, and it's about exit run rate of production. He would like to know how confident is Westgold that the production from the month of June -- he has estimated at 34,000 ounces based on Wayne's comments and quarterly results -- is sustainable in quarter 1 FY '26 and beyond?

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Yes. Look, I can take that one again. As highlighted a couple of times, quarter 1 will be somewhat moderated due to the Bluebird operations. However, throughout FY '26, I'd suggest we'll wait for our guidance to provide more specific detail on that. But it wasn't an exceptional performance out of any of the mines. It's a real proof of the sustainable run rates that this portfolio can deliver.

[Shane Murphy]

Next question relates to synergies from Charles. What is the amount of synergies that have been realized to date? And what is expected in the future? This is obviously a reference to the Karora merger.

[Su Heng, executive]

Thank you, Charles. I'll take that. It's Tommy here. As noted in Page 17 of our quarterly report, we have identified and realized $54 million to date. $49 million was the target for the full year post the merger. Obviously, we will continue on this synergy path now that we've got by the business. Thank you.

[Shane Murphy]

The next question comes from Stephen. Some of the larger gold mining companies are using AI center programs to fine-tune mining operations. Is this being considered at Westgold?

[Aaron Rankine, executive]

Aaron, again. I'll answer that question. In short, yes, we are currently actually undertaking a trial using some of our data under confidentiality so I can't specifically mention the company. But absolutely, it's on our radar.

[Shane Murphy]

Ladies and gentlemen, this time, there are no further questions. So we might just pause to allow for anybody to put anything in.

Next question comes from Chris. Can you please highlight upcoming milestone news such as guidance or resource updates, et cetera?

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Thanks very much. We -- upcoming milestones and releases will really be around our FY '26 guidance, our reserve resource update in our 3-year outlook. They're probably the 3 most price critical releases over the next few months.

[Shane Murphy]

Next question is from Cameron. He asked is there are any more details on noncore asset sales.

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Thank you, Cameron. Absolutely, in terms of improving the portfolio, we'll be starting a process of divestment of noncore assets in August.

[Shane Murphy]

So at this time, there are no further questions. So I'll hand over to Wayne to conclude today's webinar.

[Wayne Bramwell, executive]

Thanks again, Shane, and thank you for everyone patching in today. Look, FY '25 was tough, and our team really leaned in to deliver the result that we did. FY '26, look, there's different challenges ahead, but we can certainly see the business now is tracking with the different momentum. Our focus very much is about consistency in delivery. The erratic outputs over the last few years, there's been reasons for that. And our capital investment and the team we have in place now is starting to reduce that erratic output. Consistency in delivery is the focus for FY '26, and with that comes higher returns for our shareholders.

[Shane Murphy]

Thank you, everybody. And that concludes today's webinar...