KGHM Polska Miedz S.A. ($KGH)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the conference devoted to discussing the results of the KGHM Group for the first quarter of 2026. The results are going to be presented by Mr. Remigiusz Paszkiewicz, President of the Management Board; Janusz Krystosiak, Director of the Investor Relations department. I would like to tell you that our conference is transmitted online. And during the second part, we'll have a Q&A. [Operator Instructions] I'd like to welcome you all, and I would like to welcome all our online audience.

Ladies and gentlemen, well, let me start with the following statement. We know the figures very well. We know the results of the entire KGHM Group. For the first quarter, I would like to discuss several aspects of these results, especially the macroeconomic environment in which we obtained record high, very good results that we have not witnessed for even a decade of our activity. As far as the economic factors go, I would like to say that we did have very high levels of volatility and lack of stability in the market. We have not faced that since 2008. New war that affected the prices of energy factors, especially gas. Additionally, uncertainty regarding further paid activities regarding the change of the Chief of this committee. And these changes also affected the prices of the American dollar. And we know that the American dollar is the basic currency in the market of copper and precious metals. When the war started, gas prices went up and also, we needed to adjust metal prices. As a result, the demand for investment gold rose. And I'm talking about coins and about bars and central banks also were engaged in the prices, but also private and public investors affected this demand. As a result, precious metal prices, especially silver, went up. And in our case, it is very, very important because we are the second greatest producer of this metal in the world. And this trend of these high prices of metals because copper after the adjustment actually go back to the high levels was maintained until the end of Q1. As far as our activities go, how did we react in this situation? First of all, we pursued very reasonable, very reliable sales policy. We do have increased inventories, but we also had that in the Chinese copper exchange. So we were very conservative and basically, all the players in the world pursued this conservative action, but the demand did not decrease. So very conservative, very reasonable sales policy. Next, our results are due not only to the very conducive market, but also better compared to the previous year and previous quarters, better operational and cost activity. And here, I would like to mention energy factors. When the prices of gas increased, we, for example, launched our gas -- we switched off our gas dependency, and we used energy from the network, from the grid. And as a result, we compensated our costs because we only faced a very small increase in the energy factories compared to the last year. And I'm talking about single millions of Polish zloty compared to the entire pool of costs for energy, for gas and other fuels. Next, we started using the opportunities offered by the market. So we use the local content, and we are the leader in Poland as far as cooperation with companies and businesses and suppliers go and also other entities whose services we are using in Poland. We decreased the cost of materials and services, not only because we obtained better prices, but because of the decreased use. And we managed to do that. We were successful in this area despite the fact that the production levels remained the same. As far as the production level goes, an 8% increase in the payable copper production. In the entire group, we faced a production that was higher by 4% and the cost side was very well controlled. And even though due to natural reasons and certain factors related to the natural causes, we had a certain volatility in our assets. We did have a 4% increase in the production of payable copper in the group. So as a summary, our adjusted EBITDA was over 2x higher compared to Q1 last year and 3x higher profit for the period compared to the last year. And these are record high results starting from 2014 and 2012. So for over a decade, KGHM Group has not had these results, and I'm talking about the contribution of international assets as well. So record high results for over a decade. And now I would like to give the floor to Mr. Krzyzewski, who is going to comment on the financial side and maybe he will talk about more details about the costs and inventories. And then I will give the floor to Anna Sobieraj-Kozakiewicz and other Vice Presidents of the Management Board so that they can talk about details about our production and development and our international assets. So that will happen in a minute. And now Vice President.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Before I move on to my part, I would like to give you a couple of words of introduction. I'm going to talk about finances. If I were to list three features that accompanied us in Q1 and that contributed to these record high results, I would say that, first, monetization of resilience. And we've been talking about that for a long time. We've been building this resilience for a long time, and we've been doing a lot in that direction. And this quarter showed us that we are very well prepared and that we can find our place in this market very well. And the second feature, the second aspect, and I'm sure that you know that,the world is going fast -- the world is going faster, developing faster is we have actually faced that as well, and we need to react in a very rapid way. This volatility, this changeability happened, and there were various changes in the world, but this is becoming something normal. This requires resilience from us, preparation from us, but also flexibility and fast decision-making. And we actually face that every day. We make decisions, hundreds of decisions every day and also through the prism of certain financial aspects. And the third feature may be more personal. I feel like this is an annual conference, not a quarterly conference because for the first three months, we faced numerous, numerous events and probably they would be enough for an entire year, not a quarter. But if we were to look at single months, January, as Mr. President said, the 29th of January, historical high prices of copper, 14,500 gold 1200 5,100. And silver also record high prices. So January and February, these were the months that were the points that were optimum for us. And from hindsight, I could say that these were perfect moments to implement our sales policy. And that was the positive information, but negative information in Poland, energy prices were very high in January, not much sunlight, not much wind, very high cost of generating energy. And in a minute, we are going to show you that this did not affect negatively our company and actually, we were able to manage our sources of energy very well, and we did not increase our cost base, but actually, we use this momentum to optimize our production. I'm going to show you the production cost in a minute. February, on the one hand, this is winter, obviously, but it surprised us, and it affected our logistics also from the harbor side, but also we had different challenges and our railway logistics as well and road logistics as well. And also Mr. President said that we had certain shifts in inventories. However, our deliveries and sales to the customers were successful. We are able to, for example, use railway transport instead of marine transport. So the customer is the most important thing for us. So we try to focus on that, and we try to address these changes in the environment. And we tried to achieve timely deliveries. So that's a good thing. And another thing that happened in February, and we discussed that with Mr. President, we visited Denmark in February, and we signed an agreement with one of our -- and this is a producer of cables. This is one of our customers. This is one of the first agreements that we signed. And this is a special agreement, why volume, EUR 5 billion to EUR 7 billion. This is the value of the agreement of the contract. And the second element is this is a 10-year contract. So from the point of our strategy and geopolitics, I can say that in 5, 7 years, we are going to be able to supply this volume. And we are a mining company. We are a metallurgical company. We produce the wire rod, copper wire rod, and we are a producer that can answer this demand. And from the -- in the time perspective, long-time perspective, this is something that we can use to build our monetization and value. And in the next quarters, we are going to implement that, and we are going to act in this way with our strategic customers. And March roller coaster. Every day, basically, something happened. The Hormuz was closed -- the Hormuz strait was closed then. This affected the prices of gas. It grew 2x. And again, in our financial metrics, there's no negative impact. Last year, we decided to secure gas prices. And this year also, we made some transactional decisions, and that secured us from the financial side. And as a result, we safely navigated this conflict.And from 14,500 to 12,000, prices dropped. And you can see this enormous changeability and volatility that accompanies us day by day, moment by moment, hour by hour. Maybe let me tell you something about energy prices and this energetic aspect in March. In March, [ PSE ] , our energy operator, ask us to join the DSR system, and we receive assets because our energy grid actually provides energy to the network. We had a test. This test was very successful, and we were remunerated for that. And this is something that shows that the energy aspect is very important for us and our energy generating sources are very important. We manage that very well, and we are very flexible in a short period of time. We can react to the changing environment. And last but not least, as far as energy goes, this pertains to the future. And Also, it relates to the European Commission decision from the 23rd of December. And nonferrous mining can actually receive remuneration from the energy high sectors and energy-intensive sectors. And Poland is obliged by the European Commission to implement that by the 30th of June. And as far as finances go, this should be related, we hope, with additional EUR 100 million every year that we should receive. And so far, we did not have this element. So this is a new element that will be very important for us. So if I may summarize all this in one sentence, this quarter in one sentence, I would say that -- we do not manage a company just quarter-by-quarter. We focus on a long-time horizon, and we probably are going to multiply this quarter by 4, but maybe you think if this is possible, -- probably not, but there are so many factors to take into account. I would like to say that this Q1 contributed to these results, business results, and that's why we have this record high performance. We are very positive about the quarters to come. And now I would like to give the floor to Anna Sobieraj-Kozakiewicz.

Let me just say one thing, which I want to express at the end of this part of our presentation. But after a detailed discussion of all the months in the quarter, let me now thank all the associates, all my colleagues from the entire KGHM Group, miners, metallurgy workers, all the others who have supported us so greatly in implementing decisions, they're preparing these decisions. They watch what's going on in the company and on the outside. And I would like to wish all the best to the metallurgy workers on account of the holiday. We are celebrating this very, very important moment and celebration. So now I think -- sorry, wrong order. So when it comes to national assets in the basic segments of our operating activities like copper production, extraction, production of copper in concentrate, electrolytical copper, electrical silver, we were -- in comparison with other quarters, we see the absolute numbers and percentages. But when it comes to important things that will happen at KGHM, we have been preparing for months to the overhaul at [ Glogow II ] by amassing a large inventory of anodes in order to be able to continue to work over this three month overhaul period that will start on the 20th of June and will finish on the 26th of September this year. So we will keep informing you on an ongoing basis about what's going on in this respect. Ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to production results of international assets, our main assets, Sierra Gorda, in the first quarter of this year, we've recorded production at the level at 20.6 kilotons of payable copper. That's slightly less by 1% in comparison with the first quarter of last year. But this value is quite similar when it comes to commentary on by part, A slight deviation shows the weather situation at Sierra Gorda in February. We were dealing with downpours of rain at the Atacama Desert. As you know, this desert is the driest place on earth yet. Once in several decades, there are downpours heavy rains, which, of course, affects the operation of the mine. So we had to deal with such heavy rains in February. But when it comes to production results concerning copper in the first quarter, they are as we expected as our budget targets were above slightly by 2% when it comes to molybdenum production, 80% increase of molybdenum production in comparison to Q1 of last year. So nearly 11% higher than budget target for the third quarter. When it comes to silver production, again, an increase in comparison with the reference period last year, so by 54% to 7.7 tonnes of silver. When it comes to gold and precious metals, we've seen a decrease, but it's a result from the quality of the ore we are mining at the moment. When it comes to production results of KGHM International, as you can see from the numbers here on the slide, we've seen a decrease of 31% in comparison with Q1 of 2025. This is a result of mining lower quality copper ore, which we've reported on production from West 5 moved to -- from West 5 pits to the Liberty pit, which has lower quality parameters of the deposit and a certain instability, geotechnical instability of this deposit. So we can see that these production results for the first quarter are slightly lower. Nevertheless, the mine is working very intensely to reach the production target by the end of this year. When it comes to silver production, given the disposal of the Sudbury assets, we don't have the silver from there. at Robinson and Carlota mines, we're not producing silver when it comes to gold. Also because of the quality of the ore mine. At the moment, we have recorded a 37% decrease quarter-to-quarter. So I think that's a full stop now. As for a comment, I would like to share with you the financial position of EBITDA of international assets, stable our international assets continue to contribute to the EBITDA of the entire group at the level of 20% despite the fact that the production is about -- has the share of 70%, more or less. And given the fact that the cash cost of C1 are at a very competitive level, I think it's $1.02 at 0 gold per pound for the KGHM International, even less because we are helped by metal prices and good processing premium. The EBITDA is at stable level. The international assets are contributing positively to the entire group. In the first quarter, the foreign assets paid $175 million to the group, including 165 million by Sierra Gorda and 10 million from KGHM International. When it comes to Sierra Gorda, in total, it has paid 30 million of loans. It has paid back. So half of what was paid last year. So we are in a positive mood, and we hope -- we know that the loans will be paid back on schedule.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. When it comes to CapEx for the first three months of this year, we have been seeing what we said last year that we are focusing on development. Those proportions between development, maintenance are changing in favor of development. You see we have 24% rise of expanded share on development in comparison with the reference period. Maintenance the lower value results from the fact that we've completed some investment when it comes to the dewatering and drainage system investment when we are continuing other.But the target we had to secure mines against inflow of water. So we have this on a safe level. Replacement, again, I will tell you more in detail, an increase in comparison with last year by 16%. Why we are preparing for the major overhaul of the Glogow II smelter. As has already been mentioned, coming back to development, deposit Access and mining, it's being made. So the ordering of mines outfitting and as we got the permit at the 205-meter sub-sea's level with the [indiscernible] most facility. replacement of mining machinery and then preparation of this major overhaul. That's all as far as the main categories are concerned. This slide is slightly different to what you might be used to when we used to just show you a map and comment on mining and extraction in GG-1 area. Let me remind you maybe it's not very visible. This is the GG-1 shaft GG-2 under construction and [indiscernible] shaft under construction and [ Glogow ] marked here. 24% of production from domestic assets. So we are moving north, as you can see very clearly. So the focus of our production is moving north. Hence, continued work research and development work that will be used there. When it comes to the construction side, GG-1, we've dismantled the surface facilities, and we are completing work when it comes to outlining and outfitting. We have various permits. And at the bottom, you see the air cooling station, surface station, we are increasing its capacity to 40 megawatts, so very advanced work, I think we'll be able to manage that on target. Retkow-Grodziszcze, GG-2, the shaft, as you can see when we are advanced way ahead. And as you can see, geological service are going on. So drilling -- and we are assessing the structure and to say whether we can put the shaft here or not or move it slightly. When it comes to GG-2, we know now that -- these will be the final places where site when the shafts will be there. Now that's all as far as mining is concerned, because we have 657 million of plan. So we've already done 602 million. But I would go on in the metallurgy, preparation for the shutdown and overhaul maintenance for Glogow II. So we're launching that this year. And I think we will finish this year what we've been in for two years at the Legnica smelter. So permanent started sheet interaction with the payment strategy system. Same when it comes to [indiscernible]. It's a place where we're preparing to launch a new line at the wire rod plant. So concept is being done to prepare the plans for the future facility. When it comes to R&D work, as I've said, the focus of our mining activities is moving north. So a lot of work is being done when it comes to prototyping machinery that would be working there at the head. So automatic bolting rig, we've been winning for that four years, the experimental unit is working, and we will finish this work that we report by the end of this year. And after all the shortcomings have been removed, we will order the machine, the same when it comes to electric power drill. These are -- well, these have always been energy powered, but it's about the transmission. Then replacing humans when it comes to furnace. So we already have one robot for the [ Glogow I ] smelters. So the most difficult things power jobs will be replaced with machines, like working next furnaces. It's not only machine for mines and smelters. Occupational health and safety. We are doing concept work with Mr. Laskowski, prototyping vests, providing safety for workers working in high temperatures, but also we're working on solving the problem of waters with higher mineral content. So reverse osmosis that we've tested in Lubin, in the Lubin mine, very good result, although water there is not as contaminated as here. So it was easy to achieve. So we want to do that for other mines because the problem of water high water salt content and getting into the [indiscernible] river is keep coming back. In addition to that, work relating to problems with satellite testing of surface information and so on. So a lot is going on in this respect as well. Thank you very much. So ladies and gentlemen, to end this financial part, let me ask for the next slide. When it comes to revenues, let me draw your attention to one aspect mentioned [indiscernible], considering wire rod. When we look at the sale of [indiscernible], 52% in this quarter were processed products or wire rod. So this is part of our strategy. We are moving into products with high added value, so more processed, which also generates an additional margin. When we looked at the cost structure, as has been mentioned by President, what has been generated by the operational leverage with the growing macro, we've managed to keep the cost on a specific level. So we see the rise in the EBITDA in all segments. From the point of view, it's silver, and this has enabled us to generate such a significant result, which we have delivered in the first quarter. When we look at its revenue strictly revenues. Next slide, please. We see the macro impact. The biggest item is the mainly silver despite a delicately lower volume, but the sales both in April and May, we are catching up on that. It doesn't stem from the fact that there has been no demand. No, it's been our well-thought-out strategy. So these slide divisions, we see the they do not worry us. But of course, the exchange rate dollar had a negative impact. But all in all, the results we have is quite significant, and we are improving the EBITDA margin we see on domestic assets. Next slide, expenses by nature. If we look expenses by nature all in, we see 21% rise, two categories we have outside our control, tax, which has risen by over 20% and purchased materials, metal bearing materials, they also increased our revenues. As Mr. Laskowski has said, this is our deliberate strategy in smelting of scrap and purchase materials seeing as macro from the point of view also of golden sulfuric acid, it has enabled us to generate additional margin. So we are going with the production also through financial aspects. But again, look at the costs under our control, year-on-year, we have a rise of 2% below inflation. Well, that's the best result quarter or quarter year-on-year for many years. So that's what we've been talking about. That's our ambition that within this cost optimization program, which we -- which is within every aspect of activity, our everyday work produces results as we can see. Coming back to I have mentioned, energy. We have two items. First, energy and energy factors, as you can see on this bar and then gas which is hidden among the materials. First, we exceeded on energy by PLN 43 million. First, we produce more. So we consumed more energy. And the price element didn't have as much impact. We produce less from gas. Gas prices rose, we we're able to optimize that. So if we add these two amounts, PLN 35 million, less cash, so the difference is PLN 89 million with a higher use of energy factors. So we haven't seen that rise in principle. What we said at the annual conference, we ask upholding our ambition to keep the prices of energy factors of the course of the year, which is an ambitious target. But we have a lot of optimization activities in order to achieve that. On the next slide, we see the C1 costs, unit cost, as Madam President also said, 35% fall of C1, as you can see in the numbers here. But this is a product of everything, production, cost side, all these elements affect C1. In Poland, quite an interesting situation, demonstrating that any equation has its advantages and disadvantage. So C1 fall from 3.15 to 1.91. But if we deduct the tax 2.45. So without the tax, C1 is below 0, but that's the result of the amount of associated metals silver, mainly in international assets has already even said 0.7, 1.02. We are performing year-on-year well. So from this point of view, costs and C1 are very much under control. And financial results. The key element that is positive is EBITDA. And Sierra Gorda and positive loan result quarter-on-quarter exchange rate differences also positive, also income tax, better result, but the tax is higher. So all in all, our profit is over PLN 3.5 billion. And finally, cash flow. Yes, indeed, on the one hand, this cash flow requires more information, but Present Laskowski talked about that. So we have two factors. First element resulting from the production cycle. Even though the smeltering refinery is out, we want to provide the same amount of cathodes, and we need to build inventories as far as anodes go, and we do build this inventory, but we have calculated everything, and we know it's profitable especially from the point of view of financial aspects and business leverage. And also, we made up a lot of factoring. We decreased financial costs. And at the same time, we decreased our debt that was registered also outside the indices. So our working capital is more efficiently used but we can go back to this instrument as need be. But when you look at the entire year, and I would like to ensure you that the amount of inventories volume-wise is going to go down by the end of the year. So this working capital in Q4 is going to be released. And as Ms. Vice President said, we expect certain flows from Sierra Gorda, so this effect should be enhanced due to positive cash flows that we are going to register. So that is it from me. Thank you very much. And at the end of this part, when we talk about our story, I would like to say that -- or maybe let me start again. So that result is better than the market consensus. And you know together with the analysts, you know what the results are going to be. So I'm sure that you are aware that the results are higher compared to the market consensus. As a result, our capitalization increased as well. I would like to say that we went back to one of the biggest companies as far as capitalization go, one of the biggest mining companies in the world, we rank 42. And to now Q&A. So the first question, please?

I have two questions. One to Mr. Krzyzewski and then one to Mr. Sobieraj-Kozakiewicz investment plans. We have record high financial performance for Q1 2026. If we add to that the situation in the global market, so copper prices, do you plan to adjust your financial plan? And I'm talking about investments in particular. Should we expect some shifts here? And the second question to Ms. Sobieraj-Kozakiewicz, Chile KGHM, Chile. Could you talk more about this project? Could you talk more about the assumptions of this project? And do you think that this project is going to result in the international asset increase in terms of the value?

Okay. Let me answer the first question. Maybe Mr. [ Kozakiewicz ] will add something. So financial aspects. Well, we do have almost PLN 5 billion of net debt. And first of all, I would like to decrease the debt of the group and our costs. And I would like to prepare the company for the future, stable position, comfortable position. So that's the answer to your question. And the second aspect, why are copper prices so high? Well, even if you have extraordinary cash, you cannot accelerate global production. It doesn't work that way. Investment projects have their own calendar and their own schedules. Even if you increase your assets, and we always want to be very effective financially, sometimes you just cannot pursue certain operations even if you invest more cash. So from this point of view, I do not see short term any further investment in CapEx in order to increase production because it doesn't work that way. Let me add one thing. We would like to invite you to the strategy presentation at the beginning of July. And during that presentation, we are going to talk about our investment plans for the years to come. This year, there are no changes. We want to spend further PLN 4 billion on CapEx, and we want to maintain the CapEx level that will allow us to implement our, well, ambitious projects pertaining to investments. As far as any adjustments to our investment plans, no, we are not thinking about that because in our multiyear investment plan, we think that PLN 4 billion is enough. And we try to manage the plan in such a way as to use these assets in a very efficient way. At the end of the year, we always collect projects that are of interest to our group and the value of these projects are about PLN 5.5 billion. But there are various stages of these projects. And sometimes you cannot implement a given project in any given year because simply, it's not ready. So this PLN 4.1 billion that we have to use this year is an optimum value, optimum amount. We have four shaft yards that are being invested in currently. And I cannot remember any other moment in my history, maybe this happened before I came to KGHM when we had four shafts in an investment plan. So GG-1, GG-2, Retkow and [ Gaworzyce ], four shafts at different stages of development. So in three of them, the investment stage is already developed, but still it's an early stage. So no huge investment. But GG-1 actually already moved from the biggest investment phase, PLN 3 billion, PLN 2.89 GG-1. So PLN 1.5 billion is the shaft pipe. So we have PLN 800 million still to dispose to work on the shift openings. And also, we have investments for the lining. This is still ahead of us. And we do have money for modernization investment in smelters and refinement plants. And still, we are within this PLN 4 billion. So this PLN 4 billion is a very satisfactory level of investment. If we have any additional assets, then we will use them. We have two shafts at the sinking level. So yes, a lot to do. We are going to probably work on these investments for two, three years to come.

Okay. So KGHM Chile and an agreement that we signed with Freeport McMoRan in Chile, of course. This is an agreement that defines our partnership in an early exploration phase. It does not define the joint venture agreement in the future. So we do not have 100% details yet. We are talking with our partners about any potential areas when we can explore for new ores and deposits. And we know that in Chile, these deposits are huge. So we want to be present there. We want our presence to be strong. But this is a [ 4-month ] agreement at this point, and it defines cooperation framework. Later on, maybe JV agreement is going to be signed. But right now, we are at a very early stage, and we cannot tell you more at this point. However, as you know, KGHM Chile is a company that provide services for Sierra Gorda. But also, it does have a group of geologists that work there for Sierra Gorda, but they also explore the areas in the vicinity. So [ Calisa Leo ] drills are being made. That's why we would like this company to develop organically. So that's my comment on this. And another question, please.

[indiscernible] newspaper. My question is probably to Mr. Krzyzewski because we are talking about the first quarter. So we had a rise up to PLN 1.9 billion. So what about this mechanism? Why -- despite increased investments, PLN 157 million, there is -- well, I haven't found any effect. So how does it really look?

Ladies and gentlemen, in accordance with the act -- the legislation, the indicator for this year has changed. So if it hadn't been for this change, we would have paid way over $2 billion. The formula on which this tax is based depends on the price. And we can say that the cutoff point for silver because this act of parliament specifies the maximum level of tax. And on silver, we've reached this level at $56, $57 per ounce. So the tax has reached its maximum level. When it comes to copper, it's on the rise. But it's -- this increase is quite high to the power. So the cutoff point for copper is about $15,000 per tonne. So we are very close to that point yet we can say that this extra tax -- windfall tax is on the rise, but the results are on the rise. This is a highly dynamic situation, and this is closely correlated. We are talking all the time as the Board with the Ministry of Finance, so showing the various scenarios. And this year, about PLN 600 million provided for a plan of a tax reduction. So it's PLN 10 billion over 10 years. So we will observe that, but the tax base is behaving like the macro. Are there any questions from the floor?

I have a question about the very good results, but we have this figure, PLN 286 million of loan. What was that loan for?

Let me answer to you. As we look at liquidity over the last periods, we've had over PLN 3 billion in factoring. And from the point of view of liquidity, it was recorded in working capital and operating flows. Now we're down to 0 basically as of now at the end of March, it was PLN 800 million. Now it's down to 0. So we've had to extend this financing. But please, we're paying back when it's the most expensive, we're continuing where it's the least expensive. So that's a technical issue. So the debt of the company globally, including factoring and debt -- bank debt, it has fallen down considerably. So the stability -- financial stability of the company is increasing every quarter.

So a question to Mr.[ Bry ]. We've heard at the European Congress that KGHM is strongly entering the electromobility battery market. Will those investments be on the current assets or we are building something new? Will it be [indiscernible]? Or are there any plans for that?

Well, we are entering this in the sense that we need electromobility, we need batteries, although not all the machinery underground can utilize them, drillers, boating rigs, carriers carrying people, loading machinery, they need so much power we have to exchange batteries, they place batteries every several times per shift. So that's the most expensive part of the machine. So the company producing equipment for us, [indiscernible] and [ MineMaster ] in Lower [indiscernible] , so local content again, although not our group. These are companies producing drills and bolting rigs. We are experimenting with battery power, but we are experimenting with vehicles crew carrying vehicles. We will buy some more such vehicles. The battery safety is a prime factor for us and norms and standards concern surface. We have to do such tests because as you realize, a fire on the ground is dangerous. Underground, it's a disaster. So briefly speaking, it will take some time. But when it comes to electromobility, yes, we are looking at this, what types of batteries we can use. [ ZAMAN ] is open to that, and it will be -- this is a company that will provide us with such equipment. So I understand that you maybe mean what we would like to do something innovative with other alloys, let's say. Let me stress that all the new ideas we are considering when it comes to location, they are focused mainly on the Legnica smelter, but to have powder to produce. Yes, and let me stress again, we said that at the Congress, we are exploring this with entities interested cooperation when it comes to obtaining new products, new alloys, new pellet powder products. Perhaps Mr. [indiscernible] will add to that.

Well, indeed, we have to add something to that. We are thinking about powders for producing foil used in batteries. And another thing at Legnica smelter, and we have been doing testing alloys, metal plus non-metallic material, so lead and calcium alloy used in batteries. We've done such text. There are companies interested in such alloys. Any other questions from the floor? Janusz, the floor is yours now.

Thank you very much. Now for questions asked online. We've already talked about the change in the inventories effect, but we need a little more explanation. Analytical centers are asking for explanations and the vision of such a great effect of change in inventories given the constant macro. Is it an effect after the sale of the products and use of semi-finished products is reversed a little bit with the cost of sales? What can we expect in the following quarters given this reversal effect, I would like to ask for a slide we have about capital inventories?

Yes. As you can see, we are looking on the volume side, global volume, we are at the peak -- the volume peak when it comes to inventories, there are changing proportions resulting from repairs, overhaul processing and so on. I wouldn't like to go into details. The volume has peaked. It will continue until June, and then we will release volume. When it comes to price, the price of inventories is based on the real average cost of production. So if macro is stable, we can say that from the point of view of changes in the valuation of inventories, we will not see that and the lowering volumes should release working capital. But changes -- macro changes may lead to a valuation from the point of view of working capital the valuation of inventories. To illustrate that, what does it mean after the first quarter? The value of inventories increased by PLN 2 billion, 2/3 of that increase is an increase on -- from the point of view of valuation and 1/3 is from the point of view of value of this volume. We can see that the beginning is lower than the end of the quarter. So that's what I'm talking about, 2/3 and 1/3. By December, we should be below the opening. So this should continue to fall below the level we saw at the end of last year.

Sticking to flows and question from [indiscernible], Ipopema Securities. Cash conversion, working capital EBITDA ratio. The EBITDA in the first quarter was PLN 5.5 billion, but given such high prices of metals, the demand for working capital increases and the tax burden -- mineral tax burden. What part of this EBITDA has translated into operating and free cash flow?

Perhaps in the next quarters, some of that will be eaten by the higher taxes, for example. From that point of view of that risk, from the point of view of working capital, we don't see that. But from the point of view of tax, the only risk or a factor we need to take into account, we are paying advanced income tax, and we will see that in the following years, we will pay the difference resulting from the calculated tax and taking into account what we paid in advance. What we saw between 2023, 2024, there was a big difference then. So we can see that it's the only factor which from the point of view of cash flow and converting cash flow should take place. From the point of view of working capital, we are saying that the factoring we have, we have PLN 3 billion, which we can use any time over a short period to release some. But looking continually at the third and fourth quarters, we see from -- on the side of volume and the flow from international assets, there will be many events supporting our liquidity. And we assume that the liquidity at the end of the year will be very high.

Question also from [indiscernible]. It's about the performance of Sierra Gorda. It has improved its result year-on-year, but its contribution to the group was limited with regard to KGHM Polska Poland. So what about other leverages, greater coverage of molybdenum unit costs or possible expansion of capacity? Do the current copper prices changing change the priorities for this Sierra Gorda asset?

Well, that's an interesting and complex question. When it comes to operational performance of Sierra Gorda, it's a dissatisfying level. When it comes to processing and the production of molybdenum -- processing of copper production of molybdenum, it has stabilized. So everything is under control. When it comes to operating costs, working with our partners, South32 and the management of Sierra Gorda, we are actively working to maintain those costs in check in order not -- for them to rise year-on-year, although the prices of metals are conducive to that situation. When it comes to development and expansion, we are talking about investment plans for expanding the mine to add fourth grinding line. So we are revising documents. And at the right moment, we will inform you about our decisions. I think it's an answer to this question.

Dan Major from UBS. KGHM has announced a payment of the dividend, PLN 1.5 per share, so 15% of dividend -- 15% of the profit for the period for the parent company. If the prices of copper and silver continue at this level, do you expect that this dividend indicator will rise as of this year?

Well, our dividend policy, we are maintaining, we see no need to change it. According to this policy, by 30% of the profit is paid in the form of dividend. Key -- two key points. We are analyzing short, mid- and long-term liquidity, taking into account of what Mr. Bryja has said and the investment project that will evolve if we see that we build shareholder value through investments and better results, we will try to provide this value. Well, it's hard to define now what the macro will look, what our environment will look. We can imagine any possible scenario in which the dividend will be higher or lower, but we will make this decision on the basis of the data we have as we have the results for the next period.

Robin [indiscernible], Kepler Cheuvreux the unit cost in Poland minus the anode slime, it has increased year-on-year? Of course, personnel costs have increased and energy costs have increased year-on-year by 9%. You've talked about hedging on gas volumes or LNG. So should we expect higher increases of energy costs in the following quarters?

Well, let me we will reply in writing. We may not be able to find them in the financial statement. When we look at the volume and the prices of energy versus gas because we have to interpret it together. We don't see such a threat when it comes to precious metals credit unit costs. And when prices continue to rise and we have the hedging at 55% and the non-hedge side, we may perform worse, but we are working differently in such a situation with our sources. We will continue to work in order to keep the energy prices in check. So we would like to maintain this rate -- this price year-on-year unchanged.

Thank you very much. Do we have any other questions from the floor? I'm still looking for online questions perhaps. Having analyzed the questions that we are receiving, I would like to say that the view is that you are interested in the financial points which we discussed. So there are no new questions. Thank you so much for participating in the conference. And I would like to invite you to participate in another one. And I would like to thank everyone. Thank you so much. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]