Capstone Copper Corp. (CS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, and welcome to Capstone Copper's Q3 2026 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Thursday, October 29, 2026. I would now like to turn the call over to Daniel Sampieri. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today to discuss Capstone Copper's third quarter results. Please note that the news release and regulatory filings are available on our website and on SEDAR. If you are logging in to the webcast, we will advance the slides of today's presentation, which are also available in the Investors section of our website. I am joined today by our President and CEO, Cashel Meagher; our SVP and Chief Operating Officer, Jim Whittaker; and our SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Ramanpreet Randhawa. During the Q&A session at the end of the call, we will also be joined by our SVP, Technical Services, Peter Amelunxen, and our SVP, Risk, ESG, and General Counsel, Wendy King, who are 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.

Thank you, Daniel, and hello to all of you dialing in from the Americas, Europe, Australia, and around the globe. Today, we are pleased to present our third quarter 2026 results and achievements. We delivered a solid quarter of financial performance, supported by robust copper prices in Q3. As highlighted on Slide 5, our operations produced 45,200 tonnes of copper at consolidated C1 cash costs of $2.95 per pound in Q3. We achieved record EBITDA for the eighth consecutive quarter despite conducting planned maintenance across our portfolio. This performance was underpinned by strong contributions from Cozamin, Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde. With 3 quarters of the year behind us, we note that we expect to finish at the low end of our production guidance range and the high end of our cost guidance range. Our production so far this year has been impacted by more unplanned maintenance at Pinto Valley, in part due to the deferral of the maintenance shutdown from May to September, plus our decision to lower cathode output at Mantoverde to maximize cash flows. Our unit costs have been impacted by the lower production in addition to higher input costs, notably on diesel and sulfuric acid. We have also increased our capital expenditure guidance by $40 million, mostly resulting from higher capitalized stripping due to higher diesel prices plus changes in the mine sequence at Mantoverde. Q4 is set up to be our strongest quarter of the year, supported by the Mantoverde optimized ramp-up and higher grades at Mantoverde and Mantos Blancos. Our performance year-to-date has generated almost $280 million in free cash flow from operations, enabling us to redeploy capital into our accretive growth opportunities. During Q3, this included completing critical project tie-ins for our MVO project, advancing the study to define the next phase of growth at Mantos Blancos, and progressing detailed engineering ahead of a sanctioning decision at Santo Domingo. This third quarter, we were also excited to announce our acquisition of the San Pietro project as illustrated on Slide 6. San Pietro adds approximately 16,000 hectares to Capstone's district-scale land position in the Atacama. Not only did this transaction provide an immediate increase in mineral inventory, but it also provided a platform for further resource growth through substantial exploration upside. We look forward to leveraging our regional expertise to advance optimization opportunities, identify potential synergies, and progress a coordinated district development strategy. Moving to Slide 7. To ensure we are well positioned to advance our peer growth pipeline, we took steps to streamline our portfolio and further strengthen our balance sheet during Q3. In September, we announced the divestment of Cozamin to Luca Mining for up to $385 million in total consideration, including $275 million in upfront cash. Cozamin has been an important part of our portfolio, providing stability and strong cash flows as Capstone matured into a diversified copper producer. We extend our sincere thanks to everyone at Cozamin for their dedication to operational excellence and safety. Given the strong operational track record of the Luca team in Mexico, we believe they will be excellent stewards of the mine. It is an ideal time to optimize our portfolio through this divestiture, which we expect to close in the fourth quarter. This transaction not only enhances our financial position, but also allows leadership to focus on advancing high-return copper organic growth opportunities in Chile and the United States. And with that, I'll pass over to Ram for our financial results.

Thank you, Cashel. We are now on Slide 9. In Q3, we recorded copper production of 45,200 tonnes. LME copper prices averaged $6.40 per pound in the quarter, up 6% compared to $6.05 per pound in Q2, and we realized a higher copper price of $6.61 per pound. After subtracting our C1 cash cost of $3.95 per pound, we delivered strong gross margins of $3.66 per pound or 55% in Q3. We continue to experience cost pressures and volatility in energy and commodity prices, including oil, steel, and sulfuric acid. Rising energy costs during 2026, particularly diesel prices, have impacted our costs by approximately $80 million annualized or $0.16 per pound compared to 2025. Sulfuric acid prices, meanwhile, have approximately doubled, although we have taken steps to reduce our exposure and have locked into fixed-price contracts. Notwithstanding those impacts, we reported record adjusted EBITDA of $358.3 million, which increased 1% quarter-over-quarter and 44% year-over-year. This marks our eighth consecutive quarter of record EBITDA. Lastly, we reported adjusted net income attributable to shareholders of $93.8 million or $0.12 per share in Q3. Now turning to Slide 10. Our available liquidity at quarter end was maintained at over $1 billion, including $263 million of cash and $826 million of undrawn amounts on our corporate RCF. The decrease in our consolidated net debt to $564 million, combined with record EBITDA, drove a further reduction in our net leverage with a net debt-to-EBITDA of 0.4x at the end of Q3. With the expected closing of the Cozamin sale in Q4, we forecast a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of approximately 0.2x at the end of the year. Our balance sheet is in great shape, and we are well positioned to advance our accretive growth pipeline. Moving on to Slide 11. In Q2, we spoke about some of the proactive steps to protect margins and maximize cash flow amidst the current inflationary environment. This included temporarily causing higher calcium carbonate feed to the Mantoverde heap leach to reduce our exposure to elevated sulfuric acid prices. We view our cathode business as incremental, with most of our cash flow generated by the sulfides. This is illustrated through the charts and the graphs on the slide using Mantoverde as an example. Prior to the completion of the Mantoverde development project or the concentrator in 2024, 100% of Mantoverde's production was the cathodes. In 2025, once MVDP was ramped up, Mantoverde's mix shifted to almost 70% sulfides, which represented 96% of Mantoverde's EBITDA. This theme has become even more pronounced in 2026 year-to-date with the implementation of the cash flow optimization strategy last quarter to prioritize higher-margin sulfide production. Having the ability to adjust our business, the sulfide-to-cathode split at Mantoverde gives us very valuable flexibility in how we respond to input cost pressures. To protect margins and to reduce exposure to asset prices, we will continue to prioritize lower-cost sulfide production through projects and cash flow optimization strategies. With that said, in 2027, we expect a similar level of copper cathode production to the 2026 forecast based on current elevated sulfuric acid prices. We will retain the flexibility to increase the cathode production if asset prices decline or copper prices increase further. To further protect margins in 2027, we have entered into approximately 6,000 tonnes of copper collars to ensure margin on a portion of our cathode production. Now I'll hand it over to Jim for the ops review.

Thanks, Raman. We are now on Slide 13. We will start with our Mantoverde operation. For Q3, total production yielded 20,806 tonnes of copper at a combined C1 cash cost of $1.77 per payable pound. This represents a $0.20 per pound improvement in combined cash cost compared to Q2, a direct result of our cash flow optimization strategy to protect margins by prioritizing lower-cost sulfide production. Plant throughput averaged a strong 33,000 tonnes per day for the quarter, 3% above our design capacity despite the 15-day planned shutdown in September for the MBO sulfide concentrator tie-in. This included a record monthly average throughput of 40,386 tonnes per day in August. For Q3, we are pleased to see strong recoveries at an average of 87.7%, while copper grades of 0.65% were slightly below expectations due to inclement weather in Chile, which occasionally caused safety concerns in the mine that meant we had to pull from lower-grade stockpiles. Thankfully, given the location of Mantoverde at low elevation, the weather impacts were limited to a modest deferral of higher-grade material. We expect grades to improve further at Mantoverde in the fourth quarter. In Q3, we continued to implement our cash flow optimization strategy at Mantoverde in response to elevated sulfuric acid prices by temporarily pausing heap leach production. Heap leach production resumed in September once we progressed into oxide ore with lower calcium carbonate grades requiring significantly less acid. Taken together, strong throughput and flexibility in our mine planning enabled Mantoverde to deliver Q3 combined unit cost about 20% below the low end of its cost guidance range. Moving now to Slide 14. We are excited to announce that the sulfide concentrator tie-ins for the Mantoverde optimized project are complete. During the planned shutdown period, over 1,000 contractors from over 40 different companies were on site to complete the remaining work on the concentrator tailings facility and desalination plant. We are proud of the team at Mantoverde for safely and efficiently executing this high-return brownfield expansion project, which represents an important step in our Mantoverde Santo Domingo district growth strategy. In October, we completed commissioning and began ramping up the new design throughput rate. We have hit several record throughputs so far, with our highest individual day over 53,000 tonnes. So far in October, we are averaging about 30,000 tonnes per day, including the last 2 weeks at approximately 47,000 tonnes per day. We continue to work towards safely and efficiently sustaining these higher throughput rates, and we are proud of our teams for the great work they have done so far. Turning to Slide 15. Mantos Blancos continued to deliver solid performance in Q3. Total sulfide and cathode production yielded 12,011 tonnes of copper at C1 cash costs of $3.96 per payable pound. Throughput averaged above design rates at 21,000 tonnes per day in Q3 despite completing 3 days of planned maintenance during the quarter. Our throughput performance has continued to improve following the debottlenecking project completed in Q3 of 2024. Sulfide copper grades of 0.66% were modestly impacted by the heavy rainfall in Chile, with higher grades expected in Q4. Unit costs at Mantos Blancos were impacted by higher diesel and sulfuric acid prices, which added $0.22 and $0.29 per pound, respectively, in addition to higher maintenance spend. We continue to work towards releasing a pre-feasibility study, including details of increased throughput from the concentrator plant and increased cathode production via historical tailings re-leaching expected in Q1 of 2027. Moving to Pinto Valley on Slide 16, which produced 6,358 tonnes of copper at a C1 cash cost of $6.11 per payable pound during Q3. In September, a tremendous amount of work was undertaken to directly target the main areas that have a constrained plant throughput throughout this year, including the primary crusher and the filter plant. Over a 16-day shutdown period, the filter plant was rebuilt, and then the mill was restarted using mobile crushers at approximately 1/3 availability, while the primary crusher rebuild continued. The commissioning of the primary crusher commenced on October 21, during which time additional required repairs were identified. These repairs are expected to be completed by November 2, at which point operations will restart. In Q3, operating rates and the timeline of the planned maintenance were also impacted by an increased frequency of localized storms and strong winds in Arizona. These severe weather events have continued into the fourth quarter. Unit costs at Pinto Valley this quarter were impacted by the lower production as well as higher maintenance spend and input cost pressures. The work done in Q3 was a significant step forward in delivering improved performance at Pinto Valley. Our near-term goal continues to be increasing availability rates to 90%. A coordinated effort between our asset management framework and people strategy has been focused on 4 key areas: people, mine, mill, and water. In 2025, we hired a new General Manager and a new mine manager while improving mine movement by over 40%. This year, we have continued to replace key management positions, completed important work in the mill, and improved on-site water infrastructure. Looking towards next year, we want to see what the plant can do following the work performed on the primary crusher and filter plant. Once we understand the new baseline, we will evaluate the best path forward to further increase throughput and recoveries. In parallel with improving production in the near term, we continue to work towards unlocking the strategic value of Pinto Valley on a longer-term basis. We remain committed to reviewing and evaluating numerous upside opportunities at Pinto Valley, both on a stand-alone basis and with a view to integrating district resources. In Q3, Cozamin delivered another quarter of strong, consistent results as highlighted on Slide 17. The operation produced 6,044 tonnes of copper at a C1 cash cost of $1.64 per payable pound. Cash costs year-to-date continue to be below the lower end of guidance, driven by higher silver byproduct prices. As Cashel mentioned, we announced the divestment of Cozamin during the third quarter. I wanted to reiterate our thanks to the entire team at Cosmin for your contributions to Capstone over the past 20 years. We believe Cozamin will be well positioned under Luca's ownership. The Luca team has the regional experience, focus, and commitment to invest in the mine's future for the long-term benefit of the workforce and surrounding communities. And with that, I'd like to pass it back to Cashel.

Thanks, Jim. At Capstone, we remain focused on unlocking meaningful production growth while prioritizing disciplined capital allocation and sustainable free cash flow. On Slide 19, we highlight some of the key catalysts delivered to date and those we look forward to executing over the next few quarters in pursuit of this goal. This includes MV Optimize, which represents another milestone successfully delivered at our flagship Mantoverde mine. With the sulfide construction tie-ins complete, we look forward to executing the next phase of our Mantoverde Santo Domingo district growth strategy, which aims to expand our world-class mining district in Chile, as seen on Slide 20. During Q3, we continued to advance towards a sanctioning decision at Santo Domingo, which is now expected in Q1 2027. This included progressing detailed engineering towards our target of approximately 60% completion, while evaluating the optimal financing strategy for the project and advancing potential infrastructure opportunities. Our financial position is in great shape, but we will continue to deleverage through internally generated cash flows prior to a sanctioning decision. In the fourth quarter, we also expect to receive the upfront cash proceeds from the Cozamin divestment, which will further enhance our balance sheet. Since the last feasibility study in 2024, we have made significant progress, both in terms of optimizing the project and maturing our company to ensure we are well positioned to enter a growth phase. We have improved the economics of the project in several ways, including forming a joint venture with a buyback option and acquiring surrounding properties to unlock the district-scale potential. Importantly, copper prices have steadily increased from an assumed price of $4.10 per pound in the study to spot prices of around $6.65 per pound today. As a company, we have materially improved our financial position, streamlined our portfolio, and enhanced our existing operations to form a strong foundation for future growth. While Santo Domingo is a key growth milestone in our pipeline, it is not our only opportunity to deliver incremental production. As shown on Slide 21, our multilayered growth pipeline includes low-risk accretive opportunities to deliver value in the same top-tier mining jurisdictions as our existing operations. In addition to Santo Domingo, this includes district-scale opportunities in Chile and Arizona and exploration upside across the portfolio. Most importantly, our growth pipeline is well aligned with the copper outlook, reinforcing the importance of continuing to accelerate growth to deliver value. We are committed to putting capital to work in order to sustain and optimize our assets, through investing in high-return growth projects and maintaining a strong balance sheet. Capstone is well positioned as we enter a period where execution can directly translate into value. We have near-term operational momentum, a permitted flagship growth project in Santo Domingo, and district scale optionality, which provides a strong foundation for Capstone to deliver the copper the world needs now and into the future. And with that, we are now ready to take questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Dalton Baretto with Canaccord.

Congrats on some really great numbers here. I wanted to start by asking about the MVDPO ramp-up. I think Jim said that over the last couple of weeks, it's been running steadily at 47,000 tonnes per day. And I'm just trying to understand what it's going to take to keep it going and any bottlenecks that you see between now and steady state?

Thanks, Dalton. One of the curiosities is, of course, that we entered the shutdown at more than what the previous nameplate was. It was 32,000 tonnes a day, and we were somewhere between 38,000 and 40,000. So we were very hopeful that we could enter, or we could ramp this up very quickly to 45,000. If you remember the way the guidance was constructed, we thought we'd end the year at 450. So I'm really pleased to see that the Montoverde team has been able to reach that number very early. But I'll leave it to Jim. I do believe there are minor things we can do also that can maybe be part of the completion of the MVO project and might provide the opportunity for future upside. Jim, did you want to add something there?

Yes, sure. I can speak to that, Cashel. Thank you. So just talking about the concentrator, yes, a really successful ramp-up. It's good to see the team hitting the numbers and above the averages. As Cashel mentioned, we took a bit of a conservative view. You're not quite sure you get into these expansions. And so in Q4 of this year, we're expecting to walk our way up to January. So as mentioned, yes, it's great to see us hitting those numbers. So in Q4, we don't really have any maintenance planned, any major downs. We'll be getting into our regular maintenance cycle again through next year. We'll be guiding to that, but we're basically designing that around the average design of a nominal 45,000 tonnes per day. So we've got great expectations for the year 2027 as far as throughput. Right now, the focus of the team is consistency, and that consistency drives recovery. And so that's where the short-term focus is right now. As Cashel alluded to, there's a second piece of the MBO project, which is the BioOx leaching project. This was something that was carried out kind of in parallel, but the focus is obviously on the concentrator. We have just finished bidding the construction contracts for that portion of the expansion, and we'll be building that in the heap leach pads through the next couple of quarters. We do expect to see first improved and increased leach production at the end of Q2 of next year. Again, we'll be guiding to that through the full-year budget, but it's that additional part of the MBO project that I don't think we talk about enough. So concentrator, yes, in great shape and ready to go, looking forward to 2027, and we've got the BIOX project just around the corner that we'll be bringing in as well through the 2027 year.

And then maybe staying on this topic of consistency. At Pinto Valley, what gives you comfort that once you're through this primary crusher rebuild, filter plant rebuild, that you'll actually get to 90% availability?

Yes. So I'll pass it on to Jim in a second, but I look at it in a very simplistic way. When you debottleneck something, you drive the critical or the bottleneck to a different area in the plant. And if we go back a couple of years on this journey of the asset management framework and the debottlenecking exercise we've had underway at Pinto Valley, it did start with the secondary and tertiary crushers, and then it went to our conveyances, and then we went to our mills and our thickeners, and we had to address some of the water infrastructure and some of our tailings. And what really gets me, I guess, sort of excited, or what convinces me that there's light at the end of the tunnel, and we're on the cusp of sort of debottlenecking Pinto Valley, is if you look at the assets we addressed over this shutdown, they were at the extremities of the plant. It was the primary crusher, so at the very start of the plant, and the copper filtration at the very end. And we've pushed the bottlenecks to the extremities. And so that really gives me a lot of hope, or I guess, well, it gives me a lot of confidence that we will be able to now start marching towards that nameplate capacity and experience much less unplanned maintenance and therefore, have greater throughput and greater production of copper. And so over the next year to 1.5 years, march our way towards its nameplate capacity in its current configuration, which we believe is closer to 56,000 tonnes a day. I don't know, Jim, did you want to add something to that?

Yes. Thanks, Cashel. I can just add a couple of points. I don't think it can be underestimated the amount of work that went on during the shutdown. I mean, we talk a lot about the primary crusher, and we talk a lot about the filter because they're single-line pieces of equipment. If they shut down, they will take down the entire plant. But really, the focus is there, but there was a massive amount of work that was going on through all other sections of the plant. We attacked the fine crushing plant, which is between the primary crusher and the grinding circuit. We're into the grinding circuit. We went through the flotation circuit, through the tailings area, into the water distribution, and also something that even I was surprised about: through the electrical distribution, we were changing and rerunning major high-voltage distribution lines through the plant to eliminate problems. So, with work going on the lines and the switchgear, adding isolation valves, really protecting ourselves against future downtime was the focus of the shutdown. And so, as I said, we were able to get a massive amount of work done. The primary will be coming up basically new and rebuilt. We've been able to rebuild the filter plant, which protects the back end. And so we're really looking for a strong November and December with respect to throughputs and closing off the year in a good space with respect to guidance.

And then maybe just one last quick one for me. On Santo Domingo, you're marching your way towards 60% detailed engineering. Any sense for what the CapEx number is looking like?

Yes, it's a good question. I think we feel more or less under the same scope as what was published in September of 2024 in the technical report that outlines the cost in 2023 dollars. I think we're really holding true to what the inflationary pressures would have been on that original scope, somewhere in the order of 20%. That original scope, keep in mind, contemplated that Capstone would build its own port for the iron ore concentrate. And we remain very optimistic that we'll be able to utilize existing infrastructure within the region, and we continue to work a dual path: one, to self-perform the port; and two, to utilize the port that currently exists. That would be a binary opportunity, I suppose, in the overall CapEx number. But we believe that we're holding true somewhere in the order of 20%. We look forward to completing this detailed engineering to the level where the major components and infrastructure are addressed. And like we said, that will be concluded in the first quarter and really allow us to move on to FID.

Your next question comes from Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank.

Can I just clarify: with the Mantoverde optimized, did I hear you say that the mill averaged -- was it 40,000 tonnes a day in the last 2 weeks or 47,000 tonnes a day?

It was 47,000.

47, so above nameplate already. Is that continuing here? Are you seeing that on a regular basis? Or was there something maybe, say, softer ore or something that would have artificially inflated that?

No. I think that's an entire possibility. I will keep in mind; I would like to declare victory, and I'm very positive we have. I would point out to average 45,000 at some point, you do 47,000 and at some point, maybe you do 43,000. But I would say all indications are that maybe that average is different. What we need to do is continue running the plant to understand exactly what it is, but it's not an ore characterization that's enabling that. It's just the current installed capacity that enables it.

Okay. Is there any reason to think that you might not operate at something close to nameplate for the rest of this quarter? Or is there still some scheduled sort of stop-starts here?

No. Like it's up and running now. I think in the beginning, in the first 2 weeks, we might have had a day of minor interruption. Maybe, Jim, you can give some more color, but I believe it's been operating quite consistently since we brought it up.

Yes, Cashel, I could just add a couple of points. Obviously, there were a lot of equipment change-outs during that process. I mean, the main equipment was left in place, but all the motor drives, a lot of the pumping lines, the pump systems, controls, and a lot of electrical and instrumentation were worked through. So we're still trying to work through that. We're doing it on the fly. Once we got the plant up and running, really, we're starting to pick up some things. But with our maintenance team, we're actually able to stay ahead of them. So that's not to say we're not going to be at 100% run time for the next couple of months. That's not going to happen. But I think if we're focused on the nameplate of 45 per day, we're definitely well positioned to be able to hold that and get to the end of the year and hit a strong 2027.

You mentioned also just trying to manage recoveries here. Should we expect a bit of a dip in recoveries here in Q4 overall just from the tie-in? Or do you think you can get back to that 90% level?

The recoveries are variable, dependent on where we're mining, anywhere between 87% and 91%. So we feel we're within that range. But Jim, if you want to give some more detail on that?

Yes, sure. On average, I mean, we are expecting, as I said, when we put this together into our budget, when we put it together in a recent view on the forecast, we still assume that we're going to be working through some things. So even though we're a bit bullish on the throughput, I think that what we put into our outlook until the end of the year was probably about 88% to 90% recovery. And that's going to take consistency and retuning the control loops around the flotation circuit at the higher flow rates. So yes, there's some work to do there. It will continue. But again, high 80s, that's a pretty good positioning for Merdi on recoveries.

No, that's fantastic. And just a final one, if I could. Just the decision to move the FID on Santo Domingo to Q1 from, I believe you were telegraphing previously, Q4 of this year. Is that intentional in the sense that you want to get the engineering to a certain level, perhaps get a third-party port agreement? Or is there something that's actually driving the, I guess, the pushback in that decision?

Yes, Orest, really, it's just the way things conspire to the end of the year; if something slips a couple of weeks, there's not much value in doing it over the Christmas period. And so we know that there are certain metrics with respect to engineering. There are certain processes underway with respect to bids on our desalination, bids on our port construction, and concurrent evaluation of utilization of existing infrastructure that have all just progressed, matured, but are just taking a little more time. And we feel that the prudent thing to do is to responsibly work through those items such that we have a very robust estimate and a very robust project to announce when we bring it to the Board for FID.

The next question comes from Marcio Farid with Goldman Sachs.

Is there any reason for the marginal delay in terms of potential FID for Santo Domino to early '27 versus I think expectations were for this year? Is there any specific in terms of -- is it the engineering that is running lower? Or is it just the final details around funding and potential agreement with the parts partner as well?

Yes. Again, very similar to the response I gave to Orest. It's the maturation of the engineering. It's the maturation of the bidding process on the desalination plant, the bidding process on the port, and also the maturation of discussions to utilize existing infrastructure in the district. And the way those are all progressing is really well, and there are no problems. It's just that things take a little more time. And we feel that the prudent approach is to finalize those processes before we're ready to bring the project to our Board for FID. So we establish certain standards we would maintain. And that's why this has slipped a month or 2 into Q1, so that we can reach those standards and be able to give a very robust estimate and a very robust project to our Board to approve for FID.

Just a quick one on Pinto Valley. Shutdown was a little bit longer than expected. I think you are still in the commissioning phase of the crusher there. When can we expect the mine to be running at full capacity and potentially some operational stability and improved costs as well?

Yes. Basically, Jim has told me he'll have this running very shortly. So I think he said November 2. So that's just a few days away. I'm looking forward to that. But maybe Jim can talk briefly about why this took a little bit longer. I know we had some surprises in some inspections. And so we took the prudent approach to be able to repair those things such that when we do get running, we can run sustainably and reduce our unplanned maintenance events. So Jim, do you want to give a little more color on that?

Yes. Sure, Cashel. I mean, in perspective, this crusher rebuild is just not like a top-end rebuild. We took this right down to concrete and started at the base. So there was a lot of work going on with respect to getting back to original alignments, original design, and having that all stacked up so it worked correctly. We went through one sequence. We started up. We weren't happy. We had some fit issues around the shaft and around one of the eccentric bushings. So we're back into that. We're taking care of that right now. We'll be recommissioning that primary crusher starting most likely Sunday night, and then we'll be bringing the circuit back up very quickly next week.

Your next question comes from Steven Hansen with Macquire.

I'm going to ask one on Santo Domingo after this one because you've answered a lot on it already. But just on asset pricing, could you just give us an update on how you're seeing the market into '27? I understand some of the contracting happens around LME Week. So post that, it would be good to get your thoughts on how that's looking. And maybe any potential mitigants you're looking at. to keep costs down and under control. I think Jim mentioned the BIOX project, which I assume is one of them, but just some color around that would be great.

Yes. We have a couple of projects. We have the MVO BIOX project. And earlier this year, we sanctioned a $45 million project for our pyrite augmentation, whereby we put pyrite in the agglomeration bins, and we'll be able to reduce and offset our costs, I think, conservatively by 20% of the volume we typically use in the dynamic heap leach. But maybe what we'll do is we'll give some color. Maybe, Raman, you can give some color on the asset cost and price, and recognize that our pyrite augmentation is for the production year of 2028. And maybe, Peter, after you talk about diesel, you can talk about that and our BIOX program and the benefits we'll get from both of those.

Thanks, Cashel. Yes, just from a sulfuric acid market price, currently, there's not a lot being bought on the spot market. But in Chile, the current published price is around $360 a tonne. So that's off the highs that you saw earlier this year at like $485 a ton. And November is the annual cycle where the sulfuric acid purchasers and the sellers or traders will get together and lock in an annual fixed price for a portion if you wanted to commit to a price for next year. Otherwise, you let it ride spot. CRU forecast for next year is roughly about $275 a tonne, so lower than spot. And we believe it should come in under a 3 handle as well, in the $250 to $300 a tonne range for next year for fixed contracts that we could put in place towards the end of this year. With that, I'll give it to Peter.

Yes. Thanks, Raman. Yes, there are 2 major projects on course at Mantoverde that will result in significantly reduced acid consumption. The first one is the BIOX conversion. The existing heap leach has been a conventional acid heap leach. We're converting it to a biooxidated heap leach by adding a bacterial augmentation system where we grow bacteria and add them to the ore before it goes on the heap leach, together with an aeration system underneath the pad to blow air into it and feed the bugs. They react with the copper sulfide in the ore and, in the process, create some acid byproducts as part of the chemical process undergone. It's not too much. I think it's about 5 kilograms per tonne, or maybe about 5% to 10% of the heap leach consumption in that pile. But when we add the pyrite augmentation, which has been approved recently and detailed engineering and equipment purchases are progressing, the pyrite adds a lot more sulfur that can be converted to the asset, and that's another about 15 kilos per tonne roughly. So when you add them 2 together, you're in the range of about 20% to 25% acid reduction in the heap leach. The pyrite project will be online starting early 2028, and the BIOX project will be online starting roughly at the end of Q1, early Q2 2027. Those are the 2 projects we've got.