NexGen Energy Ltd. (NXE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to NexGen's Inaugural Investor Day. Thank you for joining us. Before we begin, please note that today's webinar includes forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Please refer to the relevant disclaimers on our website for further information. I'll now turn it over to Leigh Curyer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

Welcome to NexGen Energy's Investor Day. Everything you see in the video, the data centers, the cities, the factories, the AI needs power. We all agree the cleanest, densest most reliable form of that power runs on uranium. To provide some context as to how much power uranium generates, this tiny uranium fuel pellet, Well, just 3 of those can power a typical North American household for over an entire year. That's the equivalent to approximately 8.1 tonnes of coal and for going over 16.5 tonnes of carbon emissions. That's it. That's all it takes. Demand for uranium is rising sharply, and it's accelerating from here. Today, there is approximately 400 gigawatts of nuclear-generating capacity globally, supplying just under 10% of the world's total electricity. As we speak, more than 88 gigawatts of new nuclear capacities under construction, representing approximately 20% growth by 2032, and that's just the beginning. As of 2026, 38 countries pledged to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050. That would increase global nuclear generating capacity from approximately 400 gigawatts today to over 1,200 gigawatts over the next 25 years. That's a 3x from where we are today. Unprecedented heavy demand is underway for this key energy fuel. Thus far, the uranium supply response has struggled. Existing mines are depleting, which means the next generation of supply is under construction today. New uranium mines take on average 15 to 20 years to progress from discovery through to production. As we move through the second half of this decade and into the next, legacy supply diminishes, creating an even greater supply gap. The industry faces a significant challenge. NexGen is part of the solution. Arrows production is only replacing what is expected to come offline in the early 2030s. So stack is the reality. We want to see a meaningful supply response til the 2040s given the long time lines. And as mentioned, these discoveries still need to happen. A decade ago, uranium was only USD 17 a pound. Today, the long-term price has hit a record $97 a pound. That's a 5x in prices, and yet we're barely seeing a supply response. The demand and supply gap is getting greater. The deficit, as we sit today, is approximately GBP 60 million per annum and growing. From here, the gap between what the world needs and what the world can produce only gets wider. The world requires substantially more uranium. Let me show you what we're doing about it. Full production, NexGen will produce approximately 30 million pounds of uranium annually, the equivalent of powering more than 46 million homes over the course of a year. That is every single house in the top 5 populated states in the United States of America. In 4 short years, the length of an undergraduate degree, Rook I will be the Western World's #1 uranium producer, incorporating elite top-of-class environmental performance and technological innovation, ensuring optimal safety standards for our valued team members. The next 40 minutes is a walk-through on exactly what we're constructing. The major milestones will be presented by team members responsible for the actual execution on the ground. You'll see the schedule. You'll see the phased capital plan, you'll see the people building it. And you will see why this asset at this moment with this team is the most important project under construction today. From discovery to production, we're already approximately 75% of the way through that journey. The next stage of construction is the final 25%, and this is where substantial value is unlocked. It's where a world-class discovery becomes a world-class mining operation. It's where NexGen becomes the #1 Western world uranium producer and it's where one of the most strategic clean energy assets on the planet continues to deliver for shareholders, communities, governments and the globe. Everything from this point is about execution. I'd like to introduce you to members of the NexGen construction team led by Chris Copley, who have every single day of the next 48 months mapped out. Chris, over to you.

Thanks, Lee. Let me take you inside one and show you exactly what we're building. Hi. I'm Chris Copley, Project Director at NexGen Energy. And NexGen, I lead the integrated delivery of the Rook I project bringing together our engineering, procurement, construction, project controls and contracts teams to ensure the project is delivered safely, efficiently and in alignment with our cost schedule and quality objectives. The Rock I project is a conventional underground mine. And on average, 1,300 tonnes of ore is moved to surface each day. The ore itself is in stable hard rock conditions and the ore body is vertically stacked allowing the use of gravity ore and waste passes to put 1,300 tonnes per day into context. It's the equivalent volume of just 1 double-decker bus of uranium ore moved to surface each day. We've been successfully operating a camp at Rook I since 2013. Today, we have just under 490 hard walled beds and nearly 570 beds in total, including softball accommodation. Our accommodation complex is expandable up to 700 beds total with an additional 200 beds nearby. We have year-round highway access, a 13-kilometer dual-lane access road to site, and the first phase of the airstrip is complete. Importantly, we've demonstrated our ability to execute through delivery of a $100 million early works program with material completion on time and on budget. The major activities defining the critical path are number one, preparation of the shaft pads; number two, sinking of the exhaust shaft; number three, commencement of underground development; and finally, number four, completion of the underground tailings management facility or UGTMF and the underground material handling systems. Here's a high-level view of the project time on major activities. I'll break these down in more detail in the animation. In the video, you can see our access wrote and expanded accommodation facility. The accommodation facility is commissioned, complete and occupied. We've also completed construction of a 3,000-foot exploration airstrip, enabling the handling of propeller aircraft. The main focus during the second half of 2026 is site development earthworks to prepare the site for shop sinking. During this period, we will complete the following: Construction of the waste management and construction facility pads and installation of temporary facilities and utilities, extension of the site runway from 3,000 feet to 5,840 feet to enable the landing of jet aircraft Construction of the affluent diffuser road and in water pipeline for water management, construction of the production and exhaust shaft terraces, start of concrete foundations for the shaft head frames, hoist house and winch house, and installation of the shaft freeze plants. In 2027, installation of the temporary shaft infrastructure continues and the freeze plants are activated in the first quarter. As spring arrives, work begins on expanding the site footprint with the construction of the mill terrace pads, access road, waste rock storage facility and site water management features, including runoff ponds, dewatering ponds and water treatment monitoring ponds. Development of these features continues through 2027, and they are completed prior to the winter months. 2027 also marks the construction of the temporary effluent treatment plant and environmental analytical laboratory, which will be used to treat processing groundwater recovered during main shaft sinking occurring in 2028. Pre-syncing for both jobs begins midyear and is completed by the fourth quarter, allowing the start of headframe and hoist house construction to begin. In parallel to shaft sinking, we begin construction of the processing plant and its supporting ancillary buildings, including the operations effluent water treatment plan. By fall of 2028, the majority of surface buildings will be erected with the processing plant continuing to advance through the winter months. In 2028, we start the main sync of both the exhaust and production shafts, reaching the basement rock interface in June and August of 2028 for the exhaust and production shafts, respectively. By the beginning of 2029, we had shaft bottom of the exhaust shaft and commenced underground development. Underground mining is carried out through proven long-hole stoping and transfer stoping methods. Mining begins with the establishment of ore drives and crosscuts at regular intervals throughout the deposit. These workings are equipped with ventilation, services and ground support systems, providing safe and efficient access to the ore body. Long-haul drills create either parallel or fan-shaped drill patterns between sub levels. The drill holes are approximately 114 millimeters in diameter and range from 5 to 30 meters in length. Whole spacing is carefully designed to optimize fragmentation, minimize dilution and maximize ore recovery. The holes are charged with explosives and blasted. Following each blast, the mine's high-capacity ventilation system, delivering approximately 620 cubic meters of air per second, clears blasting gases in just 15 to 21 minutes, allowing mining activities to resume efficiently. Following ventilation clearance, load haul dump units or LHDs, collect the broken ore and load it into underground haul trucks. The halt trucks transport the ore to strategically located ore passes, where it flows down to underground ore bins. There, remotely operated rock breakers reduced the material to approximately 300 millimeters in size before it is transferred on to the underground conveyor system. The conveyor network carries the or to the shaft loading pocket, where is it loaded on to the production shaft skip. Each skip has a capacity of 17 tonnes, pasting the ore to surface for processing through the ROCI surface facilities. This highly efficient mining and material handling system supports the operation's ability to achieve its planned production profile while maintaining industry-leading operating costs. By the third quarter of 2030, all surface and underground features are completed and deliver first ore for the start of commissioning and production. In just over 4 years, Rook I transitions from a construction project into the world's largest uranium mining operations. We have built an integrated project team for the development of the Rock I project that is comprised of highly skilled professionals across underground mining, uranium processing, radiation protection and project execution. Every work stream has clear accountability the right expertise is brought to the conversation early and decisions are made by the people closest to the work. That integrated ownership model is a key reason we've been able to advance the Rook I project with discipline, speed and alignment across all functions. I'll now pass it to Dylan, who will discuss training and labor.

I'm Dylan Smart. Vice President of Regional Development at NexGen Energy. At NexGen, my role is simple: ensure local communities, our partners and our success. We work every day to maximize business opportunities create meaningful careers and build long-term economic prosperity throughout the region. What makes this model especially powerful is how tightly it is aligned with execution. We are delivering training and lockstep with project development. That means people are gaining the right skills at the right time for opportunities that are coming. At the core of this project is a belief that goes well beyond development itself. We believe that the most meaningful and lasting impact we can create in Northern Saskatchewan is through people, through education, trading, and long-term career development. Since 2022, we've been taking that commitment directly into the communities. We have delivered training programs on the ground in partnership with the local leaders. And today, nearly 700 participants have completed programs ranging from project readiness, radiation and environmental courses and skilled trades development through electrical, carpentry. What's important here, it's not just the scale, it's the approach. We're not waiting for the project to drive workforce readiness. We are building that workforce in advance, and we are doing it with the communities, not around them. And we are continuing to build that momentum. In the summer of 2026 alone, we are training over 60 students across water management, heavy equipment operations and pathways to the future program, which is focused on preparing participants for careers in the mining sector. Rook I is located in the most favorable geological settings in the Athabasca Basin, significantly reducing what is traditionally a dominating risk for underground operations. The next section will walk you through how the geological conditions are known and understood and the methods we have deployed to minimize risk associated with shaft sinking and underground development. I first want to give you a visual representation of the rock quality we have at Rook I. There is no better explanation of the geology than seeing it firsthand. First, we'll spray some water over these rocks. So you can see what happens when we add moisture. So from left to right, we have Athabasca Sandstone. We have our host rock, which has been sampled from the pilot hole of the shafts. And we have our high-grade mineralization, which has been sampled and that's why it's broken up. Moving to the sandstone. You can see it just crumbles apart and squeeze. This is why Sandstone settings are so challenging to develop. Ground conditions like this require constant ground freezing to hold it together. Now compare this to hard rock. This is the rock we're sinking the shaft into. As you can see, it's solid and technically competent, which gives us a high degree of certainty on development costs and rates. And finally, the ore itself. It's been spliced for sampling, but what's important here is that the mineralization sits within that same competent basement rock you just saw. So unlike deposits sitting at or above on conformity and the sandstone, we're mining in strong stable ground from development right through to production. We often get asked how Rook I compares to Jansen. The simple answer is they are completely different projects. Rook I is shallower with smaller shaft diameters and uses conventional shaft sinking methods. Jansen is a much deeper project and softer, more variable ground conditions, requiring a deeper ground freeze and very different execution approach. While both projects involve shafts, the geology, engineering and construction methods are fundamentally different. We have assembled an experienced management team with deep shaft sinking and construction expertise that will be managing the full shaft contract. Their involvement throughout the process has enabled informed decision-making during both the engineering phase and contractor selection process. to further derisk the project and inform the final design, we completed an extensive geotechnical and hydrogeological investigation drilling program. This included drilling of 60 holes along with a central pilot hole extending to approximately 950 meters depth. The objective was straightforward. Understand the ground conditions, identify any potential water-bearing zones and validate the design assumptions. We encountered competent, stable ground conditions with no significant ground water activity beyond the near surface environment. A significant milestone in the shaft sinking program is reaching basement rock. We reached basement rock in both the exhaust and production shafts in mid-2028. Once basement rock is reached and the hydrostatic shaft liner is completed, the temporary ground freezing stops and hydrological and geotechnical risk is greatly reduced. Now let me show you how the shaft sinking process works. There are 3 distinct ground conditions the shafts will pass through. The first is approximately 50 to 80 meters of overburden, consisting of sediments and glacial TIL. The second is unconsolidated rock extending to roughly 150 meters deep, and below that lies the competent basement rock at approximately 150 to 175 meters for the exhaust shaft and 200 to 225 meters for the production shaft. To safely pass through the overburden and unconsolidated rock, we will freeze the upper 150 to 200 meters surrounding the shafts. The freeze plant circulates chilled brine through a series of pipes creating a frozen cylinder around the shaft and providing a stable environment for excavation. Freeze preparation begins in late 2026 with freezing commencing in early 2027. The initial freeze is 3.5 months before excavations begin. Resyncing then begins the third quarter of 2027. Through the overburden, we expect sync rates of approximately 1 meter per day increasing to 1.5 meters per day through the unconsolidated rock. These rates are industry benchmarked for shafts sunk and frozen conditions. As shaft sinking progresses, we will continue to verify conditions using a pro cold drilling program. This allows the team to continually assess the ground below, identify and adapt accordingly as required. Once we reach competent basement rock in mid-2028 for both shafts, the hydrostatic liner is completed, temporary freeze turned off and the project rest greatly reduces from geotechnical and hydrogeological perspective. Sinking rates then accelerate to 2.5 to 2.9 meters per day, and the shaft liner system transitions to a simple non-hydrostatic liner. Once shaft bottom is reached, conventional underground equipment is hosted down the shaft to begin lateral development. Once we reach shaft bottom, underground development begins maintaining the critical path, the focus now shifts to developing the stopes and key infrastructure. By mid 2029, we achieved breakthrough between the production shaft and the exhaust shaft, connecting with 2 shaft networks. This completes the full ventilation circuit and provides a second means of egress clearing a way for production ramp-up.

Hi, I'm Bryan Dyck, Lead Processing and Metallurgy and NexGen Energy. In next Gen, my role is to ensure that the Rook I process plant delivers exceptional performance, reliability and efficiency right from the start. We are building a conventional mill processing ore with low impurity risks from deleterious elements such as Arsenic, plant is optimized for a maximum 5% head grade with an average grade of approximately 3%. The flow sheet is proven, conventional and designed for high recovery rates using established methods successfully implemented in the Athabasca Basin. The advantage we have today is the ability to build on decades of operational experience, learning from past challenges, while integrating modern automation and safety systems. The milling process is well established is designed with flexibility to mill the range of ore grades expected across the mine life. There's opportunity to mill future ore sources and continue to utilize the full 30 million-pound per year capacity of the mill. Ore arrives from underground integrated stockpiles and is blended by a loader to feed the grinding circuit. Ore a size through a grizzly screen with the oversized material broken by a rock breaker. Ore passing through the screen is carried on the conveyor belt to feed the semiautogenous grinding mill. The order is ground by a combination of steel grinding balls and the ore itself while it's mixed with water to create a slurry suitable for pumping and leaching. The uranium is dissolved in the solution through a conventional leaching process using acid and peroxide. The uranium-bearing solution is then washed and separated from the solids and collected for further processing. The uranium solution is purified, removing minor impurities and concentrated in the solvent extraction process. The remaining asset is neutralized and gypsum solids are washed and removed from the process. The uranium is precipitated as yellow cake then thicken and washed. The yellow cake is dried and heated to produce a dense, stable uranium concentrate product. The final product is packaged into sealed drums and prepared for shipment. The flow sheet utilizes proven technologies that have been used successfully across the uranium industry for decades, simple, conventional and proven.

One of the most differentiated aspects of Rook I is how we manage processed ore known as tailings. Traditionally, the mining industry has relied on storing the majority of tailings on surface, enabled by the hard rock conditions of the Arrow deposit a purpose-built underground tailings facility or UGTMF, will be developed to allow 100% of the tailings to be deposited back underground. Tailings are transported underground through a dedicated borehole adjacent to the production shaft. They are placed into mind out chambers as well as paste backfilled into mined-out stopes and fully stored underground as the mine develops. The facility itself is built progressively in alignment with the mine plan, allowing tailings management to become an integral part of the mine and not separate from it. And the result is simple. No surface tailings dam, none. Now let me hand it over to Neil, who will walk you through how we are integrating best-in-class technology across the site from day 1 of operations.

My name is Neil Chiles. I'm the Director of Information Technology at NexGen Energy. At NexGen, I lead the technology strategy for the Rook I project, designing a digitally native mine from the ground up, automation, remote operations and real-time data built in from day 1 to make one of the world's most significant uranium projects safer, faster and more efficient for decades. Most existing mines were not designed to be automated. They were retrofit. We have the rare advantage of designing automation from day 1, not first-of-a-kind best-of-class applied right from the get-go. We will have a remote operations center throughout and auto controlled vehicles from the surface with the goal of having a few people underground as possible. Let me show you what we will be implementing as part of the build. We are designing the operations from inception around safety, efficiency, reliability and real-time decision-making and enabling the operations to be operated remotely. Now I will hand it back to Leigh and Travis.