Good morning, welcome to Newcrest Mining's FY23 half-year financial results conference call. This is Tom Dixon, Head of Investor Relations for Newcrest. This call is being recorded today, Thursday, the 16th of February, 2023. I would like to remind you that Newcrest is a U.S. dollar reporting entity, and all dollar references in the slides today are to U.S. dollars. Any references to the prior period are to the six months ending 31 December 2021. Just to note that we also request you limit to two questions per caller in our Q&A session at the end of this call, please rejoin the queue if required. With that, I'll now hand over to Sherry Duhe, our Interim Chief Executive Officer. Thanks, Tom. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. It's a pleasure to be talking with you all again. With me on the call today is Dan O'Connell, our interim chief financial officer, Craig Jones, our interim chief operating officer, and Suresh Vadnagra, our chief technical and projects officer. Today, we'll give you an overview of the company's performance over the half year, including progress achieved on some of our key growth opportunities. Dan will then take you through the financial results, and we'll then be very happy to take any questions. Now, while we're here today to talk about the results, I would like to acknowledge the non-binding indicative proposals received from Newmont. Today, we announced that the Newcrest Board has unanimously rejected the latest proposal on the basis that it does not represent sufficient value for Newcrest shareholders. The board has, however, decided to allow Newmont access to limited non-public information on a non-exclusive basis so that they may consider any future proposals on terms that appropriately reflect the value of Newcrest. There's of course, no certainty that any further discussions with Newmont will lead to a revised proposal. We'll continue to keep the market informed of any material developments in line with our continuous disclosure requirements. Moving forward, as always, please take the time to read the company's standard important disclaimers on slides two and three. Newcrest remains relentlessly focused on safety, building an empowered and inclusive culture, and developing our sustainability credentials across our business. We were deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life at our Brucejack mine in October. This news was devastating and a stark reminder that safety must always be our first and foremost fundamental priority. We have completed a comprehensive review of safety at Brucejack, and we're applying our learnings across the business to ensure safety remains at the forefront of everything that we do. Safety at Newcrest is more than just aiming to eliminate incidents and injuries. We're focused on preventing and eliminating sexual assault and sexual harassment from our workplace, and our Respect at Work program is progressing to ensure everyone across our global workforce feels safe, respected, and valued. On the sustainability front, I'm pleased to report that we continue to progress multiple carbon emissions reduction initiatives as part of our group net zero emissions roadmap. We're also supporting our local communities through the Newcrest Sustainability Fund, and we have a number of programs underway as we strive to make a positive, sustainable difference. Before we go through our half year performance, I really want to highlight the strength, capability and depth of leadership we have on the Newcrest executive team. I'm personally fortunate to have worked across different executive teams and iterations of those teams at multiple companies, and I'll say that our team here is one of the most capable, talented, and diverse that I've seen. Our executives complement each other's strengths, whether it be across delivering commercial strategies and outcomes, focusing on operational discipline, delivering large-scale CapEx projects, managing risk, or strengthening culture. We want a culture where our people are excited to come to work. I've said this many times internally, I personally want people to be empowered, enabled, and accountable, because that's what's going to deliver exceptional results for all of our shareholders. We have a clear strategy executed over a number of years, that means today we're uniquely positioned with a quality portfolio of long life, Tier One gold and copper assets. We continue to maintain our long reserve life advantage compared to our peers. We have a high quality development pipeline, importantly, a significant and growing exposure to copper. Our industry-leading exploration and technical capabilities, coupled with a robust balance sheet, position us well to execute our growth strategy. Operationally, we continue to have a strong and strategically advantageous presence in Australia, led by our world-class Cadia mine. Newcrest is also the leading gold miner in the Tier One jurisdiction of British Columbia, our recently published life of mine plans at Lihir shows exciting upside potential. Let me take you through some of the key achievements for the first half. On the production front, gold ounces increased by 25% compared to the same time last year, while copper production was up by more than 30%. Cadia continued to deliver very attractive cash margins for the business, and Lihir saw record material mine during the half. We also continued to maintain a sharp focus on cost control across the global portfolio with our group all-in sustaining costs marginally lower at $1,089 per ounce. We generated just under $430 million of cash from our operations, and our first half profit was a solid $293 million, in line with our expectations. Our first half performance, together with the cash received from Lundin Gold following early repayment of the gold prepay credit facility, has enabled us to reward our shareholders with an interim dividend of AUD 0.15 per share and a special dividend of AUD 0.20 per share, both fully franked. These dividends demonstrate confidence in our balance sheet, our ability to fund our growth pipeline, and our commitment to shareholder returns. Our growth strategy continued to accelerate during the first half. I'll touch on key milestones achieved and the rest of our exciting growth portfolio in a little more detail. In the last six months, we've successfully executed Cadia's two-stage plant expansion project. Mine development on the next panel cave, PC23, is also on track. The first drawbell was successfully fired in September, and our underground infrastructure is now in place. We expect first ore production to be delivered to the mill in the next month or so. Cadia also marked a key strategic milestone in November with the PC12 feasibility study approved to execution. PC12, as you'll know, is the next panel cave at Cadia after PC23, and its development is expected to recover around 20% of Cadia's significant resources. The study delivered impressive financial returns with an IRR of 18% and an NPV of $1.4 billion over 16 years. Additionally, we've also applied our technical expertise in deep underground mining to create a more efficient cave. With substantially increased ore production across the life of the project, we now expect to deliver additional gold and copper production over the next decade and beyond. Moving on to Lihir, we were pleased to release the findings of the Phase 14A feasibility study last month. Its development is another great example of our innovation and creativity in action, with the cutback expected to deliver gold production from an additional high-grade ore source, which would have otherwise been inaccessible through standard mining techniques. The study outlined a higher confidence plan for Lihir. Over the past year, our team's been working hard to improve our knowledge of the cutback area, with its design and stability now well supported by geotechnical drilling. A key driver to increasing production at Lihir is accessing the higher grade mineralization in the Kapit ore body as soon as possible. Phase 14A allows us to add high-grade ore into the plan sooner, helping us to bridge the gap before we get to Kapit. Looking forward, we are assessing exciting options to apply steep wall technologies in the north and east of the Kapit ore body and an alternative lower cost and simpler seepage barrier design. Together, these have the potential to access additional high-grade zones outside the current ore re-reserve and extend Lihir's elevated production profile well beyond FY31. There are very few mines in the world that can show an indicative production profile for 20-plus years with a further 20 million ounces of gold resources that are not currently in the mine plan. We're excited by the possibilities at Lihir, and we look forward to providing updates as the design optimization and associated impact on our longer-term production profile progresses. It's been nearly 12 months since we added Brucejack into our portfolio, and we continue to see the upside potential of this Tier One asset. The transformation program at Brucejack is making great progress. We're on track to deliver around 50% of the ongoing synergy benefits by the end of this financial year. Our Edge program is well underway to target further cash flow improvements. Our progress on the debottlenecking study to increase mill capacity is really pleasing. We've already progressed the study to pre-feasibility. We expect to lodge the permit application in the next month or so. We're also very encouraged by our exploration program. Brucejack is one of the world's highest-grade operating gold mines and has significant exploration upside. Recent drilling has delivered outstanding results across the Valley of the Kings and Golden Marmot discovery within the surrounding brownfields. These results continue to support the potential for significant resource growth. With so much potential, we look forward to providing further updates on the Brucejack transformation program. We continue to believe that Red Chris will soon be a Tier one operation capable of producing a significant amount of gold and copper at very attractive cash margins for many years to come. We're excited by the substantial and increasing exposure to copper, which Red Chris is expected to provide in the future. We continue to progress the Block Cave feasibility study with several optimization opportunities underway to add further value. The feasibility study is due to be completed in the first half of FY24, and we believe this captures only part of the longer-term opportunity, given the success our exploration team has had to support future potential resource growth and mining optionality. Our East Ridge discovery has delivered excellent drilling results, with mineralization continuing to expand outside of our current resource estimate. Our first exploration target was defined at East Ridge last year. Pleasingly, the East Ridge system continues to remain open at depth. The exploration decline is also progressing at pace, helping us to further explore the Red Chris deposit underground and allowing us to build on our success and experience with Block Cave developments in Australia. FY23, as you'll know, remains an investment year for Red Chris. Together with Brucejack, we're very excited for our future in this Tier One jurisdiction. Moving on to slide 12, we were delighted to further extend the life of our Telfer operation, again highlighting our ability to maximize the potential of our assets. As you're aware, Telfer is strategically positioned in the highly prospective Paterson Province. We are considering potential options to expand the resource base in the open pits and underground to unlock additional value. The nearby Havieron Project provides significant optionality to further leverage the existing Telfer processing infrastructure. Havieron's been a great exploration story. We continue to assess several opportunities to maximize value and de-risk the project through the feasibility study. Lastly, our equity interest in Lundin Gold, owner of the Fruta del Norte mine in Ecuador, continues to deliver significant value. Following the early repayment from Lundin Gold for the gold prepay credit facility in January, Newcrest has received over $450 million of cash flows from the FDN financing facilities. This is a tremendous example of a high returning asset. As you know, we're always looking to expand our existing assets through exploration success, with our key focus areas right now being Red Chris, Brucejack, and Havieron. As I highlighted earlier, strong drilling results across these key areas continue to support our view for significant resource growth potential. We're actively looking to grow our copper portfolio in particular, and that progressing our search for the next tier one copper and gold assets, working with the best partners to capture the best ground while leveraging our exploration capabilities and unique mining technical expertise. We recently announced six new emerging projects in highly prospective jurisdictions with some promising results already received at the Spring Peak project in Nevada with our new partners, Headwater Gold. We look forward to sharing further positive news as we drive the next generation of profitable growth for the company. With that, I'll now pass over to Dan, who will run through Newcrest's financial performance for the first half. Thanks, Sherry. Good morning. It's great to have a good set of financial results to talk you through. In the current period, we delivered an underlying profit of $293 million, an operating cash flow of $429 million, and an AISC margin of $585 per ounce. The result is notable given we were faced with drought conditions at Lihir, as well as the temporary suspension of operations at Brucejack following the tragic fatality in October. Pleasingly, we expect our operating and financial performance to improve in the second half. With the continued momentum in gold and copper pricing and a competitive cost structure, we are well-positioned to deliver a strong full-year financial result. Our outlook for FY23 has not changed as we continue to monitor the impact of cost inflation globally. Although the energy market remains relatively elevated and we continue to see high demand and constraints across labor, we are seeing cost pressures easing in some markets, such as steel and shipping. We maintain our strategies to ensure that these areas of relief quickly flush through to our cost base, and we are well-positioned to maintain strong cost control into the second half. Newcrest is in great shape, and we are on track to deliver our FY23 group production and cost guidance. We are delivering healthy returns to our shareholders, and we are investing in projects that will deliver value for decades to come. As Sherry highlighted earlier, we are very pleased to announce today an interim dividend of $0.15 per share and a special dividend of $0.20 per share. As highlighted on the slide, the special dividend represents the full distribution of cash received from Lundin Gold following the early repayment of the gold facility. Newcrest continues to maintain its very strong balance sheet, and our debt maturity profile is well managed. Our balance sheet strength enables us to be resilient through the market volatility and puts us in an outstanding position to fund the exciting phase of growth we have ahead of us. We retain considerable capacity to execute our pipeline of organic growth projects with access to $2 billion in liquidity. Our debt maturity profile is well managed. Our next corporate bond repayment is not due until 2030, and we have a low weighted average bond coupon rate of only 4.3%. Moving on to slide 18. Our balance sheet is well-positioned and set up to fund our major capital projects. As this slide highlights, our strong free cash flow and debt reduction over many years has put Newcrest in an excellent position, well within our financial policy metrics. We also have a long-standing focus on cost discipline and an ongoing commitment to disciplined capital management, which provides us resilience into the future. Importantly, we continue to maintain our investment-grade credit rating, which is a key external measure of the financial strength of our company. Of course, allows us to access competitive debt capital markets if and when needed. Thanks for your time, and I'll now pass back to Sherry. Thanks, Dan. I'll close by saying that Newcrest has a strong value proposition, and we are very well-placed for future success. We have an outstanding growth portfolio of tier one assets with industry-leading long reserve life and a high-quality development pipeline. We're investing in a profitable and sustainable future that can deliver returns for decades to come. We have a significant and increasing exposure to copper, a key commodity for the energy transition, and we have an incredible overall pipeline of gold and copper growth projects and the commercial, financial, technical, and operational capability to deliver them. Newcrest has upside potential through our successful exploration programs and our innovation capabilities to further maximize the value of our tier one assets. This is a fabulous place for the company to be. Thank you for listening, and with that, we're happy to take any questions. Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Rahul Anand from Morgan Stanley Australia. Please go ahead. Oh, thank you, team. Look, the first one from me is around the dividend. I just wanted to get perhaps a bit more color in terms of the dividend payment. You've termed the $0.15 as the ordinary, the $0.20 as the special. Obviously, policy is 30%-60% free cash. You had negative free cash for the period with a $0.15 per share minimum. I just wanted to understand that $0.15 per share is an annual number, right? Which would then mean that perhaps the ordinary should have probably sat at $0.075, which is your minimum. Or is the policy for the $0.15 to be per period? Yep. Raul, that's a great question. The minimum and the $0.15 is an annual figure. You're correct in the implication behind that we've chosen to pay above that minimum at the half. Our dividend policy, which is unchanged, has always taken into account current period performance and of course, modeling forward in our ability to fund all of our growth projects under a array of different sensitivities around, you know, cost profiles, gold and copper prices, et cetera. Based on, you know, the solid results of the period, how we see things going forward for the second half, and our retained guidance on production and cost, we felt really confident that we could pay above that minimum and still maintain the balance sheet strength and flexibility to fund our growth that we require. Oh, okay. Yep. Thanks for that clarification. It's just I think the classification as ordinary, which perhaps confused me. That's fine. The second question's around Lihir. At the half year you're running behind your year to date run rates at a group level, largely driven by Lihir. What gives you confidence that you can bridge that gap in the second half? Can you talk a bit about sort of, you know, you've got one half of maintenance coming up as well at the asset and then, you know, how you're seeing the ore body progress? Perhaps if you could close that one off with the Phase 14A feasibility study. You've mentioned today obviously the potential to extend the elevated production profile beyond FY31. If you can provide a bit more color around that and what's changed, that'd be much appreciated. Thank you. Sure. I'll take a start on that. Then Craig Jones, who is here with us, may want to jump in and add a bit. If you think about kind of what has happened in the first half of the year, the biggest single contributing factor were some quite extraordinary weather patterns and, you know, lack of rain. I'm pleased to say that Craig and I went out to visit the site a few weeks ago and brought the rain with us. We've had a better period of rain, and obviously we can't predict what happens with that through the second half of the year. You know, the results that we've seen in January and February have improved significantly, and we had a look very closely at our production guidance, and it's remained unchanged. We have, however, signaled that we expect Lihir will come in towards the bottom end of that range. As it relates to Phase 14A, as you'll have seen in the release that we put out, there are a number of things that we're looking at that are not yet quantified in those long-term indicative production profiles that we've put out post 2031. The success that we're seeing in Phase 14A is giving us new knowledge and technical capability that can be worked into that, and there'll be more information on that to come once those studies mature. Craig, would you add any other technical details on that? I think you covered it pretty well, Sherry. I think, you know, this half, we expect to have a higher milling rate because, primarily because of the water situation. We'll also expect to see, you know, grades to continue to improve. Sorry, I don't think we can hear you, Craig. Speak louder. Is it on or? Yeah. Can you hear me? Yeah. I think Sherry covered it pretty well. This, this half we expect to see higher milling as a result of not having the impact of water that we had in the first half. We can also expect to see higher grades as we move through the mine. You know, record mining production for the half really sets us up well to continue phasing through the pit into the higher grades. I did faintly hear some of that. I think that was all from me. Thanks. Thanks, Raul. We'll check the mics. I think just to reiterate what Craig has said, that we are expecting to see higher mill throughput in the second half, and as we know, 14A helps us to build that bridge to the higher grades in the Kapit. We'll continue progressing towards that. Okay. Thanks for that. Cheers. Thank you. Your next question comes from Kate McCutcheon from Citi. Please go ahead. Hi. Good morning, Sherry. Good morning. Just a question on the balance sheet. I noticed that you drew more debt this half, but you've also elected to pay out the special. Can you just talk me through your thinking there? Yep. Kate, I'll have a go at that one. I think it's further to the question that I just answered from Raul. When we look at what dividend we'll pay out, we don't just look at our current position on the balance sheet, but we look at the next several years out under a range of scenarios in terms of gold and copper prices, you know, project progress, et cetera, to make sure that we have maintained our balance sheet strength and that we can fund through the period. That may result in certain periods in paying out a dividend that exceeds the positive free cash flow for that period, but we look at that on a multi-year basis in order to make that determination, and that was what enabled us to feel confident in this period we could pay above the minimum. Okay. I guess my question is, you drew down, was it almost $400 million new debt, but then you're paying out a divvy? Just the rationale. Maybe if I can take that one, Sherry. The special dividend is a pass-through of the funds received from Lundin Gold on their repayment of the gold facility. We received those funds at the start of January, so they're not featuring in the cash balance you see for the half year, is the first point on the special, so that's a direct pass-through. As Sherry said, as it relates to the underlying, you know, interim dividend, we've considered the balance sheet under a range of scenarios and are very comfortable that we can both fund future growth and, you know, the, this, interim dividend. Okay. Thank you. Turning to Telfer or I guess Havieron, what are the next things to work through there before the market will get an update on the feasibility study? I can't see any timing on when we're looking to get that. Interested in your thoughts on that project. Is it still core and something that you're still wedded to for Telfer's future past FY25? Yeah. Thanks for that, Kate. Indeed, we haven't put a time frame out, and that was deliberate because there's quite a range of options that we're thinking about right now in terms of looking at what's the most value accretive way to take forward, not only the Havieron project and the optionality that that brings into the portfolio, but also looking at other options for extending the life cycle further in Telfer. Then, as I mentioned on the, in my remarks, also looking at the wider Paterson Province. There's a lot of priority being put into that work, a lot of focus in that from the team. We're not gonna rush that. We'll take the time that it needs to take, and when we're ready to give an update, we'll bring that out to the market. Okay. Just to clarify, the plan to FY25 is the standalone Telfer. It's not relying on anything satellite to bring down those fixed costs. I'm just trying to understand when the critical timing is to understand the future. Yeah. That's right. That's a standalone piece. The optimization studies of Havieron as they come forward would inform, you know, how and if and how that might change in the future. Telfer's done a great job over the years. Okay. Of continuously managing their costs and extending the life cycle, and that's part of those further life extension efforts that are also ongoing. Okay. Is stage happy with no ore gap under the current timing that you're looking at with everything? Sorry, I didn't hear. Can you repeat that, Kate? Sorry. You're confident that you're not gonna have an ore gap. I'm just cognizant that there's no timing on Havieron. Yeah. I, yeah, I think I probably just have to- There might be an ore gap. Yeah. I probably just have to say, Kate, that we'll update once we get to the feasibility study on Havieron. That'll be the next update on that. Okay. Thanks, Sherry. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from Levi Spry from UBS. Please go ahead. Good morning. Thanks for the call, Sherry. First question, I guess, is just around the offer. You rejected it as inadequate, but you're allowing DD. I'm just interested in the strategy here. Maybe you can talk us through how you're thinking about the value of NEM paper, as you think particularly want to call out there. Then I guess in terms of the value of your paper, is there any studies or anything like that you can bring forward? I'm thinking about the Red Chris feasibility study in particular. Yep. Thanks for the question, Levi. I guess I should first clarify it was an offer, it wasn't a proposal. we are not offering, I would say, full due diligence, if that's what you're suggesting. I think the offer to Newmont is to share, you know, limited non-public information simply because, you know, the second proposal that we rejected, we just don't simply see that that offers sufficient shareholder value. we are, you know, in the spirit of being reasonable, willing to have some conversations to help Newmont better understand the total value of our portfolio. you know, we are a great company with low-cost mines, with a long reserve life and a growth pipeline. You know, in answer to the second part of your question, you know, obviously we know our portfolio very well. We know, what we think the upside opportunity is, and we'll continue to, as before, progress all of the studies, you know, to the point that they reach technical maturity, so we can release them to the market. That's really unchanged, you know, in the face of this, offer and approach. you work on their, the value of their paper? Yeah, I wouldn't speculate at all on the value of their paper. That would be a question for them to answer. We're really focused on, you know, our own company, progressing our strategy, and then helping them understand the full value of our company. All right. Okay. Thanks. Just in terms of Lundin, obviously they're going really well. Can they repay any more of these facilities back quicker for you to flush out? I'd say that's a matter for Lundin to consider, and consider in light of the debt arrangements that we have in place with them. Yeah. Well said, Dan. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from Daniel Morgan from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead. morning, Sherry and team. You just said in reference to Levi's questions that you know the portfolio very well, but I'm not sure the market would share that on some of your key assets like Red Chris, Havieron, Golpu, amongst others. You know, just wondering, are you considering releasing to the market a lot more information on these assets so the market can appraise the Newmont proposal versus a standalone one? For instance, Havieron, Well, you talked about a range of outcomes just then. shouldn't we open up to the market more of what this might look like? Thank you. Yep. Daniel, thanks greatly for that question. I think the simple answer to that is that, you know, whenever there is material information that we have that is technically mature, you know, on an ongoing basis, we always release that to the market. We've, you know, currently in this period, as I've mentioned, we've released the feasibility study outcomes for both Cadia PC12 and for Lihir 14A. The next two off the block, as you've mentioned, would be Red Chris and would be the Havieron optimization, and that work is, you know, ongoing with priority. As soon as we have that information, we'll be releasing that to the market as well. Okay. Thank you. Just on, you know, maybe Golpu. Are you refreshing numbers on Golpu as a, as a priority now that, you know, there's a proposal or offer from Newmont, and, you know, shareholders may want an updated vision of what that could look like? I know it's been a number of years since the last set of numbers you've given us. Yeah. Thanks for that question as well. I'll take a crack at it, and then Suresh is with us on the line. He's actually in PNG today, so he may want to add something to that. Daniel, in this case, I think that it would be premature for us to kick off a bunch of technical work that could be costly and, you know, will take some time to go through until we are sure that we've got a line of sight to a mutually agreed fiscal agreement. That remains our focus right now, working, you know, with the government, working with our joint venture partner to determine, can we reach that win-win solution that works for all of us, and that would then be a trigger for us to recommence that technical work. Suresh, if you're still on the line, you may wanna add anything to that. I'm on the line, I don't have anything to add. I mean, our focus right now, as you said, is very much on finalizing an agreement with the state as well as with our joint venture partners before we would commence any meaningful technical work. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Mitch Ryan from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Thank you, Sherry and team. Just one question from me with regards to the Newmont deal. You've obviously declined the offer as you clearly stated, but can you please confirm whether Newmont has or has stated an intention to sign the NDA and take you up on your proposal? Mitch, thanks for that. Look, what we've said in the release is what I can say. We have rejected the offer. We have shared that news back with, Newmont. We've made the offer subject to, you know, NDA, et cetera, to engage on limited non-public, information that, you know, the next step is with them to decide what they want to do with that. Okay. They haven't yet signed that NDA? That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Pardon me, Mitch, are you still on the line? You may have muted your line. No, that's it. That's it from me. Thank you. I only had one question. All right. Thank you. Your next question comes from Anita Soni from CIBC. Please go ahead. Hi. Good evening or good morning for you guys. Sherry, just a question. You mentioned the dividend. You were using a range of scenarios on your free cash flow outlook on various metal prices. Could you just let me know, one, the metal price ranges that you were using, and two, the outlook timeframe that you were looking at when you determined that you had enough free cash flow for the dividend declared? Thanks for that, Anita. I think on the first one, we run a range of different price scenarios, and we don't publicly disclose what those are. I think suffice it to say, we also run a range of other downside sensitivities, as I say, around, you know, cost projections, capital cost, et cetera, just to really stress test and make sure that even in, you know, sort of a black swan type of event, we would still have a stable balance sheet, but we don't publish those prices. Then the second part of your question, can you repeat that again? The timeframe on which you expect to be able to deliver that, yeah, free cash flow. Yep, the timeframe. Then on that, we really run out over a whole series of years. Obviously, the bigger focus will be over the next two to three years. We do run long-term profiles just to check across the cycle, given the significant growth projects that we have in play. Okay. Just to ask follow-up on a comment you made, when you were talking about acquisitions. You mentioned copper and copper and gold acquisitions. Could you kind of repeat what you said? I kind of missed that, and I was just trying to understand where you stand right now in terms of actively looking for, perhaps, you know, like, what size of transactions are you looking at, when you're looking at copper or copper gold transactions? Yep. Anita, just to clarify on that because it's a really good question. I wasn't implying any sort of explicit acquisition opportunities that we were looking after. I made a couple of comments, one more generally, and just in terms of how we see copper growth in the future. That one's mainly related to the next two projects that we have that could, you know, if completed in the case of Red Chris plus Wafi-Golpu, get us well over 50% of copper in the portfolio, you know, around the end of the decade. I did make another comment that you might be referring to around exploration, and that's obviously much more on the front end of things, where it's, you know, relatively small amounts of spend, but could lead to some very exciting things in the future. We continue to focus, of course, also on gold, but copper has a special place in our heart for all of the many reasons that we've been talking about. Okay. That's it. I'll get back in the queue for the next question. Thank you. Your next question comes from Andrew Bowler from Macquarie. Please go ahead. G'day, all. Just quickly on the Newmont offer, can you give us an indication of how long you'll give them access and sort of how long this process could take, or is it sort of up to them how fast they go at this stage? Andrew, that is a great question. Look, you know, I have to remind that this was an unsolicited offer. The company has not been put up for sale, and we have rejected their offer. As such, as you can imagine, we haven't put any timetable on the offer to share some limited non-public information should they choose to take us up on that. No worries. Just on Brucejack, you've got that debottlenecking study that's obviously through to the PFS stage now, and you've got permitting to come. You talked about lodging that in the third quarter this year. Can you talk about what needs to be done before that happens? Is that lodging, is that time critical to meet the construction window? Or, or you think, you know, the modifications will be small enough you'll be able to do it without the seasonal construction window? Yep. Thanks. That's a great question. I might let Craig jump in and help on that, given that he's just come out of managing that asset in the last month here. Sure. The focus obviously is doing all the right technical environmental studies before we put any permit application in, for consideration by regulators. That work's underway. In terms of timing, it's not timing critical for us at the moment. We have capacity within the existing permit conditions to run at higher rates, and we'll continue to do so, to the limits of our permit application that we currently have. Not, not time critical for us at this point in time. In terms of the ore sorting you're looking at at the moment, can you just give us an idea of the scale of the potential of that project and the potential for the grade uplift that you might see? Yeah. That's your comment, too. It's early days on that one. We're seeing some promising results from the test work that we've done so far. We will need to run some, you know, larger scale trials to really get confidence in any results before we'd be able to talk about them. There's some pretty interesting and promising results we're seeing so far. No worries. That's it from me. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from Matt Greene from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead. Hi. Good morning, everyone. My first question is just on Lihir, probably a follow-on from Rahul's question earlier. The Phase 14A study was due in the December quarter, and that's slipped into this year. Whilst Phase 14A is obviously front-end production, it was quite a material change to that life of mine profile. I guess the question is there risk here at Lihir of a write-down, just given you've reset expectations on mill throughput? And I think, if I recall, some of those re-recovery studies just weren't feasible in the current environment. Yeah, I guess is there risk of a write-down at Lihir? Yeah. I might let Dan take a crack at the write-down question in light of the, you know, ongoing impairment testing we do, where there have been no write-downs triggered in this period. I would say that, you know, as we've talked about when we released that study, you know, a lot of work went into the last year in really getting, you know, what I'd call a high confidence production profile, that we've put out, albeit indicative, long-term profile. There are a lot of things that we're looking at that could actually significantly improve that profile post-2031. What we didn't want to do, though, was build those in until we had more technical maturity around those. As I say, we've got lots of new, really good information coming in from the learnings of 14A that will help inform those optimizations so that we can get them to a technical maturity where they're bankable. Dan, do you want to Yeah, sure. ...say anything around the write-down review process? Oh, look, I'd simply refer you to the fact that we regularly do impairment testing and did so, looking at both Telfer and Lihir in the current period. You know, we take into account a range of considerations, and one of those considerations is obviously that revised profile, revised indicative profile, and you'll see that there was no impairment in the current period. Okay, thanks. Just to clarify there, you tested it on the revised life of mine profile that you announced a few weeks back with these results? Yes, absolutely, as you would always do- Okay. Anytime we reach a milestone decision, particularly where that's something that's announceable, that has to be factored into the testing and also, of course, reviewed by the external auditors. As Dan has said, that did not trigger any impairment of that asset. Understood. That's clear. Thanks for clarifying. My second question's just on Red Chris. The study, if I recall, I think you were expecting it the second half of last calendar year, so it's about a year late on the optimization. Can you just talk us through what you're looking at here and perhaps a bit of an update on the Undercutless Caving trials that you've been doing? Are you looking to integrate that into the Red Chris study? Okay, that's great. If Suresh is still on the line, given that he's got carriage of that project, I might let him talk a bit more about the details. I think we've covered the high level already. Suresh, if you're there, if you want to share a bit more flavor on the optimization work we're doing on Red Chris? I absolutely, I'd love to talk about the optimization work that we're doing on Red Chris. Firstly, you know, our original timeframe for the release of the study was this half of this financial year. We're now saying that the study will be completed in the first half of FY24, so it's not a 12-month delay as you previously suggested. It's not a delay either. It's an extension. There are a number of value optimization options that we would like to run to ground and incorporate into the study rather than then handling them or dealing with them subsequently to the study. That includes looking at different extraction level footprints to try and, you know, optimize for value as well as optimize for cash flow. It's looking at different comminution circuits. Just looking at the plant modifications and saying, "Well, can we do things in a, in a better way than what we previously thought through the PFS?" As well as looking at the timing for the plant expansion relative to the ramp up in the caves, right? That's related to looking at different footprint options as well. You know, I think in terms of the study itself, it's progressing well. We're pretty excited about some of the value optimization options that we're looking at, and are looking forward to sharing those with the market once we've completed the feasibility study. Sorry, there was a second half to the question, you broke up a little bit. My line in PNG wasn't great. If you could just repeat that, I'll answer that as well. Yes. Thanks, Suresh. Thanks for clarifying that on Red Chris. The second part was just on the Undercutless Caving trial that you've been doing. Right. Yeah, look, I think the Undercutless trial we were doing in Cadia has been impacted in terms of its schedule by a number of issues in Cadia, which we've spoken about previously in the market, including the VR14 vent related issue. We're about to recommence the trial sometime in the near future and intend to progress it. Absolutely, we're still very focused on understanding the opportunity that Undercutless Caving offers us and incorporating it into some of our future caves, right? Not just in Red Chris, but potentially into some of the future caves in Cadia as well. That's very helpful. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Your next question comes from Daniel Morgan from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead. Thank you. In your release on Newmont, you said you've opened up DD on a non-exclusive basis. Just wondering, have you had others knock on the door for some or all of your assets? Would you open it up to others on a similar situation? Yep. Daniel, I think you probably know what answer I'm gonna give to this question. I'm not able to comment or speculate on any other conversations, other than those that, you know, are material and market sensitive and ready to be shared. I would just clarify again that, you know, we've offered some access to limited non-public data to Newmont. It's to them to decide if they wanna take us up on that offer, and then, of course, for us to discuss what that might look like. Thank you. Yep, that, understand. Just to follow up, you know, would you consider either a sale of Havieron, Telfer, I mean, that's a tier two asset according to your map, and/or, your stake in Lundin Gold, which although that, is going very, very well, might be attracting a holding company discount in your structure? Thank you. Yeah. Thanks, Daniel. You're definitely fishing here. Look, I think what I can say is that, you know, we continue to focus on our strategy, which is a great strategy. We've got a fantastic portfolio of assets and growth projects. We are very focused as much as we've ever been on capital discipline and really rigorously looking at our growth opportunities to make sure that if they are to progress, they meet our hurdle rates. In the case of Telfer and Havieron, you know, we've got this optimization study that will really inform our future steps, not only for Havieron, but Telfer and the wider Paterson Province. Obviously, we continue to look at our portfolio at all times to make sure that we're investing in the best projects and holding the best assets going forward. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Your next question come from John Tumazos from John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead. Okay. Thank you for your presentation, and I apologize for not knowing all the details of your company. First, could you give us a little background on the Namosi project in Fiji? I searched on your website and something came up about a woman's farmer's market, which I'm sure is appetizing, but probably we need to know more about the geology. Second, in Red Chris and Wafi-Golpu, where there's a lot of capital that maybe the other partner can't fund, how do the dilution formulas work, where if you spend and the partner didn't match, how much does your stake increase? How quickly? Okay. Thank you, John, for your questions. I'm not really sure I know what the women's farmer's market reference is either. Might have to do some googling to myself to see what that is. I went into the search on your website, and that's what came up. Okay. I might, given that Suresh also has carriage of all of our longer term projects, inclusive of Namosi, let him give you just a two-liner overview of the project. It is one that's pretty far out into the future, but could be quite exciting for us. In regards to Red Chris, Suresh may also wanna have something here, but, you know, the specific details around our joint venture partnerships and any dilution clauses are confidential in nature, so we wouldn't be able to talk in details around that. Suresh, is there anything you would add there? Yeah, exactly as you said, right? In terms of the, our JV partners and the dilution mechanisms that might be part of those JV agreements, those matters are confidential, and we can't necessarily discuss them right now. Having said that, you know, we work very, very closely with our JV partners on both of these projects. We're very clear on the approach that we're taking to the development of those projects, the capital costs associated with them, and provide them with the detail that they require to be able to understand, you know, how they support the project as well. I mean, it is a real partnership and a collaborative partnership. In relation to Namosi, I also don't know the reference that you're making, and we might have to go and have a look at our website to understand that a little bit better. You know, Namosi is an interesting project. It's a great copper deposit, albeit low grade. You know, some of the challenges associated with developing that deposit are more related to waste management. Where, how do we deal with the tailing storage facilities? Where do we locate them? How do we manage some of the waste rock from the mine as well? Some of the other challenges are related really to infrastructure, so predominantly port and plant, you know, given the location that it's in and then some of the limitations of the infrastructure that currently exists in that location. No, we haven't done any meaningful studies on the Kapit for a while now. We constantly, in my language, kick the tires on it and try and rethink about the Kapit and look at whether we can think about them in a different way. At the moment, there aren't any active studies going on. To the first significant digit, could you tell us what the tons and grade are? I'd need to look that up and I think if you look at our resource and reserve statements, you know, I'm pretty sure that the Kapit resources are in there, and that'll give you as good an indication of that as you would need. Thanks for those questions, John. Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask questions, please press star one on your telephone. You have a follow-up question from Anita Soni from CIBC. Please go ahead. Hi. Thank you. I wanted to ask about your Respect at Work program. I think it was introduced about eight months ago now. I think I recall it, you know, at year-end in 2022. I'm just wondering what initiatives you have taken and what sort of results are you seeing? I'm just trying to, you know, understand how effective that program has been to deal with the issue. Yeah. Thanks, Anita. I think it's probably safe to say that, you know, this is going to be an ongoing priority of our company as it is for our industry and society at large, you know, for evermore to come. There have been any number of things that have come out in terms of training to employees, having lots of different line lead conversations to help develop a common vocabulary around how we talk about this and how we help each other eradicate, you know, poor behaviors from the workforce. We certainly have seen an increase in reporting as a result of that, and that's encouraging, not because things are happening, 'cause we don't like them to happen, but because we're finding out about it and being able to deal with it. A recent key step that we've taken is actually to put some new roles in place at each one of our sites. We're calling them Respect at Work Managers. We've also just put in place a corporate Respect at Work general manager. That's really important to have people that are partnering with all of our site managers and line managers at each site, and again, across the company to help build up that vocabulary, the training, the support and the mentoring to get to where we need to go. This one for me, Anita, is one that I'm particularly passionate about because, you know, in my 30-year career, too many bad things have been happening for too long, and there wasn't a way to actually address those things or to help people to work through that. Whilst it's, you know, sounds a bit silly to say that you're excited about something like this, I actually am, because I look forward to a day when we're not having these conversations any longer 'cause these things are gone out of the workforce. I've got two children who I'd love to, you know, invite to come and work in the mining industry one day, and I think this is taking us down that road to where, we can make this a safe and respected place to work each and every day. Okay, my second question as a follow-up is just sort of following on one of the other questions in terms of the studies and disclosures. You did say that once you get to, you know, a certain level that you disclose the results of the study. I have to say as a North American analyst, the results of the study are just, you know, from my perspective, are really, it doesn't compare to what we get in North America, because we are able to tire kick the fundamental technical assumptions on what's delivered out there. I guess the question is: If you're trying to daylight value in your company, wouldn't, you know, being a little bit more forthcoming to the analysts in the market in some of these things that you could disclose, the way they're disclosed in North America, help that effort? If you're not going to, isn't it not reasonable to assume that you're probably gonna continue to have a discount because people can't wrap their heads around or, you know, tire kick and get comfortable with some of your assumptions and estimates? Yep. Thanks, Anita, probably would love to have a offline conversation with you on exactly what you're saying that would help kick the tires more because, as I've said, we will be updating this year as we get to the feasibility study on Red Chris, which we're really excited about. Also, you know, as we get to the full year, we'll be giving a more fulsome update on what's happening at Brucejack in the transformation program. Certainly at that time, once we feel like those things are properly technically assured, we really want you to have a full understanding of the great potential that we're seeing in both of those assets. Well, what I'm talking about is NI 43-101 documents where the actual feasibility study and, you know, the engineers signing off and all the check samples and everything, the statistics that went behind everything is disclosed so that, you know, people can take a look at. Yeah. I had some of these questions on 14A two weeks ago, I mean, I didn't really get an adequate answer in terms of, you know, what pit wall angles and how you were coming up with them. In any event, I'll leave it at that. Thank you. Okay, thanks. Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Sherry Duhe for closing remarks. Okay. Well, thanks everyone for calling in today. I know it's a very busy day of results. Really appreciate your time and look forward to continuing to keep you updated on all the great things that are happening in Newcrest. Thanks again.