Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. ($WDO)

Good morning, welcome to Wesdome's Gold Mines conference call to discuss the company's financial and operating results for the 3 and 12 months ended December 31, 2025. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Your host for today is Trish Moran, Wesdome's Vice President of Investor Relations. Ms. Moran, please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I would like to point out that during today's call, we may make forward-looking statements as defined under Canadian securities law. I ask that you view our slide presentation for cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements and the risk factors pertaining to these statements. Please note that all figures discussed on this call are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted. Our press release, MD&A and financial statements are available both on SEDAR+ and on our corporate website, wesdome.com. With us on today's webcast is Anthea Bath, Wesdome's President and CEO; Philip Yee, our Chief Financial Officer; Tyler Mitchelson, Wesdome's interim COO; Jono Lawrence, Senior Vice President, Exploration and Resources; Raj Gill, SVP, Corporate Development and IR; Kevin Lonergan, SVP Technical Services. Following management's formal remarks, we will then open the call for questions. And now over to Anthea.

Thanks, Trish, and good morning to everyone. Financially, this was a very strong quarter for Wesdome, and it kept the best year in the history. We produced more gold than ever before, and we did it safely with 0 LTIs recorded during the year. Strong production performance, combined with accelerated gold prices translated into record results across the business, including revenue, net income, EBITDA, net cash from operating activities and free cash flow. For the year, we generated $278 million in free cash flow, and we ended the year with more than $350 million in cash on our balance sheet. In 2026, at current gold prices, we expect to generate significantly more free cash flow than we did the last year. But last year's achievements went well beyond record financial and production results. We made meaningful improvements in health and safety across our operations, and I'm so proud of that. At Kiena, we tripled the number of mining areas under our control. At Eagle River, our developed inventory is double that of a year ago. Through the acquisition of Anders Gold, we quadrupled Eagle River's land package. We also established for the first time a clear and disciplined exploration strategy and delivered the first 200 kilometers of drilling in this program. At the corporate level, we strengthened our balance sheet. We expanded our revolving credit facility, and we introduced a capital allocation framework that includes returning capital to our shareholders through a share buyback program. And finally, we strengthened our leadership bench with the addition of Phil Yee as our CFO, Tyler Mitchelson as our interim COO and most recently, Christine Barwell as our SVP, Human Resources. These are important achievements that position us well for the future. Turning to 2026. As everyone knows, last year was a challenging year at Kiena, and we recognize that we disappointed the market. As a result, our guidance for this year is very deliberate. This approach does not reflect any lack of confidence in our assets. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I'm confident that you'll see improvement quarter-on-quarter as we show what Kiena can actually do. Before I talk about exploration in more detail -- sorry, 2026 will firstly mark a year beginning at West. And before I do that, I'd just like to talk a little bit about exploration and frame the strategy that underpins our approach. At its core, our strategy is built on leveraging two key quality and high potential assets. First, we control exceptional land packages at both Eagle River and Kiena, and our work over the past 2 years has significantly improved our understanding of the scale and the continuity. Secondly, we have a substantial existing infrastructure that is currently underutilized relative to the scale of the geological systems that we do control. Through disciplined exploration and the application of our global and geological models, we are working to demonstrate the true scale of these systems and to extend the life of our mines well beyond what the market currently recognizes. Exploration is therefore a central part of our long-term life of mine extension and value creation strategy. In 2025 marked the first year of the structured multiyear exploration program. As we grow the resource base and extend mine life, we also unlock another important driver of value, our cost structure. A significant portion of our operating platform is fixed. As we bring more ounces through existing infrastructure, those fixed costs are spread across great production. This has the potential to meaningfully improve costs and our margins as well. This combination of extending mine life for exploration while leveraging existing infrastructure to improve costs is a powerful strategy for creating long-term value. We're now in the second year of this exploration program. The plan is to drill up to 270 kilometers this year and what's truly exciting is that roughly half of our exploration budget is dedicated to discovery drilling, testing true greenfield targets, both near mine and surface for the first time in many, many years. As you can imagine, with all this drilling, we'll be updating the market on our progress on a regular basis. At least two or three news releases will be issued, leading to the filing of our updated technical report, a very, very important milestone for Wesdome this year. These reports will provide a reset for the market and clearly demonstrate the runway that we see ahead, which is what we've been working on since I arrived. The release we issued in June in advance of these reports will be framed like a conceptual study, showcasing how we see the long-term potential of both Eagle River and Kiena. Importantly, the technical release will also showcase our strategy to continue extending and replacing high-grade reserves while highlighting the addition of significant valuable tonnes near existing infrastructure. June release will highlight why we believe the market should appreciate the potential to extend and grow mine life at both Eagle River and Kiena. We also outlined what we see as a clear low-risk and high return path to increasing production while driving down costs across the portfolio. This will be the first time Wesdome has provided a comprehensive long-term road map for unlocking the full value of our assets. Before I hand things over to Phil, I'd first like to thank my entire team at Wesdome for their hard work and dedication last year. I'm proud of each and every one of you. Additionally, I'd like to officially welcome Tyler Mitchelson, our new Interim Chief Operating Officer. Tyler brings more than 30 years of mining experience across multiple commodities and jurisdictions. He has held technical, commercial and site-based operational roles throughout his career, combining deep technical experience with strong operational leadership and business discipline. He has successfully implemented operating models across five different mines, transforming systems and processes while delivering measurable improvements in safety, reliability and productivity. We're really thrilled to have Tyler join the Wesdome team. And with that, I'll turn it over to Phil to walk you through the financial results.

Thank you, Anthea. Good morning, everyone. It's great to have you on the team, Tyler. Turning to Slide 7. You will see a clear trend, sequential growth quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year across the past 2 years. 2025 marked a milestone year for Wesdome, delivering record annual financial results driven by two key factors. Record production exceeding 185,000 ounces, right in line with our revised guidance and an average realized gold price of USD 3,475 per ounce for the year. The impressive results speak for themselves. Compared to 2024, revenue increased by 64% to $914 million. Net income rose 2.5x to $349 million or $2.32 in earnings per share. Both EBITDA and operating cash flow nearly doubled, reaching $600 million and $457 million, respectively, and free cash flow more than doubled to $278 million or $1.85 per share. While stronger gold prices helped to drive last year's impressive results, our free cash flow margin expanded to 31% in 2025. This remains among the highest in the gold sector, and we expect to drive the free cash flow margin percentage even higher in 2026 as we reduce costs and benefit from high gold prices. Turning to costs on Slide 8. On a consolidated basis, both cash costs and all-in sustaining cost per ounce of gold sold increased by 4% year-over-year to USD 976 and USD 1,518 per ounce, respectively. These amounts were both within revised guidance for the year. Eagle River's full AISC was USD 1,446 per ounce sold. The fourth quarter AISC was the highest of the year, driven by higher tonnes milled at lower grade as we opportunistically extended development into a lower grade area of the 300 Zone that was not previously included in our existing resources. This was a unique and timely opportunity to set up Eagle River for success in 2026. As we outlined our guidance for 2026, we anticipate that Eagle River's AISC will increase due to higher royalties from higher revenues and new payments related to First Nations. Sustaining CapEx is expected to be largely consistent with 2025. All-in sustaining cost per ounce of gold sold at Kiena increased in the fourth quarter relative to Q4 2024, primarily due to higher sustaining CapEx resulting from timing of equipment and machinery deliveries. We expect Kiena's full year 2026 all-in sustaining cost per ounce sold to decrease as higher gold production is anticipated to offset lower input costs. In 2026, we have a number of initiatives underway to reduce costs, focusing on supply chain optimization, improving efficiencies through automation, reduced reliance on contractors and improving our processes. Turning to Slide 9. As of December 31, 2025, our cash balance was $354 million, nearly triple what it was at the end of fiscal 2024. Wesdome has a strong debt-free balance sheet and combined with our undrawn revolving credit facility, total liquidity is now nearly CAD 700 million and will continue to strengthen this year. Based on our budget, we expect to generate approximately $350 million in free cash flow in 2026. However, I should note that our budget was based on a gold price below USD 4,000 per ounce. At USD 5,000 gold, our free cash flow generation should exceed $500 million or over $40 million a month. As our cash position increases, we remain committed to improving operational infrastructure, advancing key organic growth initiatives and disciplined capital allocation. This year, we are spending $205 million in CapEx, including approximately 45% of that in growth capital initiatives. We are also committing $55 million to drill approximately 270,000 meters in 2026 to support our organic growth project. In addition, we plan to fully execute our share repurchase program objectives in 2026. Wesdome's financial position continues to be very strong. Our return on invested capital significantly increased in 2025 to approximately 36% from 23.6% in 2024. This being most of our peers and seniors. We intend to improve upon that position in 2026 by delivering on production and reducing costs. With that, I'll now turn it over to Tyler to review operations.

Thank you, Phil, and good morning, everyone. I'm very pleased to be part of the team here at Wesdome. While I've only been here about 8 weeks, I've already spent considerable time at site, getting to know our people and our operations. My first impression, there is no question that Eagle River and Kiena are high-quality assets. Unlocking their full value starts with a disciplined mining through a consistent operating model and the building blocks are already in place. Our focus now is integrating them into a clear operating framework, enabling more data-driven decisions and delivering more stable, predictable performance. Turning now to Slide 11. Let's look at safety. Something I deeply care about. In 2025, we had no lost time incidents and our total recordable incident frequency rate improved by 60% over the prior year. This is an incredible accomplishment in just 1 year and reflects a meaningful and deliberate shift in safety culture. Our commitment is quite simple. Everyone goes home safe every single day. Let's move to Slide 12. Eagle River delivered exceptional performance in 2025, producing a record 113,000 ounces at 14 grams per tonne. We closed the year with a strong Q4, producing nearly 24,000 ounces while achieving the highest amount of underground tonnage ever mined and milled in a single quarter. Our team's disciplined focus on dilution control delivered measurable improvements throughout the year. Importantly, these are now embedded into our operating practices going forward. To provide a little bit more clarity around Q4, our Q4 grade of 10 grams a tonne was planned. Low-grade ore development was included in the plan to opportunistically extend the mining zones in the 300 kilo, unlocking stope inventory for 2026 while strategically drawing down our stockpile to keep the mill running at optimal capacity. As we continue to ramp up underground funds, our processing capacity is ready, reflecting the benefits of the investments made in the last year. In November, we ran the mill at over 1,000 tonnes per day, demonstrating we can confidently handle higher throughput as we work towards filling the mill. In 2025, we focused on several key operational improvements. We advanced our proactive maintenance program and the results have been quite significant. We achieved a 30% improvement during the year, and our target is 80% planned maintenance by the end of this year, bringing us in line with industry best practices. We also continued transitioning from contractor reliance to a stronger in-house workforce. This program launched in late 2024 is delivering results. Last year, Wesdome crews completed 55% of the total development meters, a 40% increase year-over-year. Today, all crews are Wesdome managed, supported by contractors as we continue recruiting. The end result, Eagle River enters 2026 benefiting from previous initiatives, including the operational improvements as well as substantial stope inventory, and this sets us up for operational success and another strong performance this year. If we go to Slide 13, outlines Eagle's 2026 guidance and upcoming milestones. 2026 production guidance is targeting 105,000 to 115,000 ounces at 13 to 14 grams per tonne, slightly lower grade than in 2025. This year's mine plan reflects significant investments in development with a 10% increase year-over-year to reduce our reliance on the 300 Zone with over 50% of the tonnes coming from Falcon, 600 and other areas. This aligns with our strategy to bring in new zones and build flexibility underground. is a joint effort between our exploration group and our operation steam. AISC is expected to increase in 2026 to between USD 1,525 and USD 1,675 per ounce gold sold, mainly driven by higher cash costs associated with royalties and payments to First Nations. We are planning to spend about $105 million of capital, including $60 million sustaining, which is largely consistent year-over-year. What is really exciting for the first time in years, is the focus at Eagle River is shifting towards building a foundation for the future. And we have $45 million earmarked for growth CapEx. To support higher production rates, for upgrading equipment and adding new more mobile fleet. We are upgrading and expanding our camp capacity so we can attract and retain talent. At the same time, we're improving our site infrastructure and investing in exploration drilling, tailings and power. When we published the results of our technical report in June, the rationale for these investments will become clear. Momentum is building at Eagle River, and we look forward to another good year. Moving now to Kiena on Slide 14. Kiena wrapped up 2025 producing 73,000 ounces, which was within revised guidance range. Fourth quarter production was the strongest of the year, achieving 23,000 ounces. As Kiena Deep hit plan, grade reconciled well, the new Presqu'ile Zone contributed 2,500 ounces and our mill proved its capability, averaging over 1,100 tonnes per day in December with extended periods of more than 1,300 tonnes per day. My takeaway, as the mining rates increase and we feed more material through the mill, Kiena's infrastructure is ready to scale. n 2025, there's major focus on operational flexibility at Kiena, as shown on Slide 15. By increasing our development by 12% year-over-year, we increased our active mining areas and are now operating in three different zones, two in Kiena Deep and one at Presqu'ile triple what we had for most of last year when we are mining just one zone. This is a game changer for Kiena. As well, several key infrastructure projects started last year are well underway. The ramp connection to surface is nearing completion and our ventilation upgrade expected within the next year will support higher production rates. We've also built two new drilling platforms for Kiena Deep, including the 109 drift extension, which will allow us to efficiently test the high-grade BC zone and the 134 level will further test extensions at Kiena Deep. Finally, the development for 142 is progressing on schedule and will add another mining horizon by year-end. On the operational support side, significant progress has also been made. Maintenance improvements from 2025 are being embedded to ensure equipment is reliable, available and aligned with our operating plans. We filled 50% of the employee vacancies and are building the team needed to retain key skills, reduce reliance on contractors. Supply chain work is also underway, which will reduce our cost and support our maintenance program, and we are progressing well in the implementation of our operating model. As you may recall, as well last year, we commissioned an independent review of our critical infrastructure. We've begun proactive maintenance on key priorities and are developing a 3-year infrastructure plan. While there's still more to do, we believe the positive impact on performance is just around the corner. Moving to Slide 16. In terms of what you can expect from Kiena in 2026, we've taken a conservative approach to Kiena's production guidance with 60% of the production expected in the second half. This reflects three key factors. First, Q1 will be the lightest of the year. Due to plant sequencing as well as a deliberate decision to focus our maintenance work our execution planning and set us up for the rest of the year. Second, production from Presqu'ile, which has already started, will begin to ramp up in the second half. Third, we'll begin to see the value of the work initiative from 2025 related to systems, process and workforce development. Unit costs are projected to decrease year-over-year driven by increased throughput and operational efficiencies. As well, growth capital Kiena will decline substantially this year as we complete the Kiena ramp and advance towards final completion of the ventilation infrastructure for Kiena. The bottom line, operations at Kiena are starting to show improvement, and you should start to see these compounding in the second half of the year. I'm really happy to have the opportunity to work at Wesdome during this exciting period of growth. And now over to Jono to review exploration.

Thank you, Tyler, and good morning, everyone. 2025 is a pivotal year for exploration. At the beginning of the year, we stepped back, stepped down the program to the fundamentals and established a pathway leading from a short-term focus on replacing production ounces to an aggressive hybrid focus on both replacement and growth. Through the process, the team developed a new appreciation for the scale of the opportunity in front of us. The result is a more strategic and systematic approach focusing on data. Specifically, the integration of information with technology to identify geologic patents, transit mineralization and gaps in our understanding. We strengthened our exploration toolbox plan incorporating a fast processing of geophysical data, which is enhancing our targeting process and building a more robust pipeline. For the first time in Wesdome's history, we now have a clearly defined short, medium and long-term strategy. In addition to replacing reserves, we are focused on growing resources and making new discoveries. 2025 was a foundational year, setting the base for a multiyear exploration strategy. Let's look at what was achieved at Eagle River. In mine, extensions were confirmed at 9 zones. First, we doubled the 6 central zone to 600 meters, showcasing the down plunge continuity with initial step-out drilling, subsequently supported the space infill drilling. Importantly, assays continue to demonstrate the high-grade nature of the zone, which is similar in grade to assays in the top 300 zone at similar depths. The zone remains open down plunge. We also confirmed the interpretation of the 300-fold zone as a separate structure and that both the 300 and the 300-fold zones remain open down plunge. Next, the extension of the 720 Falcon Zone towards surface and to the West was confirmed. And at the end of the year, we completed the first phase of the global model drilling for the upcoming technical report. Global model drilling targets predominantly unclassified material above cutoff grade, which was left behind during historic mining activities. As part of the fill the mill strategy, this material has the potential to add incremental tonnes and ounces of grade without displacing existing high-grade ore. Regional exploration was just as successful. In 2025, the team made a critical structural reinterpretation along the Mission Magneton corridor, which potentially has major implications for property-wide exploration. Following our acquisition of Angus Gold last June, we consolidated the data with our own and reprioritized Dorset deposit, which has historical resource that we expect to update later this year. Finally, using IP surveys, we've identified new drilling targets to the west of the Eagle River mine and at Abby Lake. The Abby Lake results are exciting. The IP survey covered a 10-kilometer zone of coincident geochemical and magnetic anomalies along a portion of the regional Buchasca deformation zone, a conduit of mineralizing fluids. Turning to Kiena. Kiena made great strides in 2025. We demonstrated that Kiena is not just hired, it is truly world-class. with a standout intercept of 2,350 grams over 2.9 meters. Further drilling in the areas above the footwall zone identified a new high-grade A Zone lens that remains open. Drilling has also extended lenses of the high-grade footwall zone. Further drilling will be conducted to test the continuation both at depth and beyond the Northern Fault zone, which currently constrains the drilling and interpretation. We've added three new lenses to the B zone and infill drilling has highlighted that it has the potential to host higher grades than previously thought with logging a visible gold in the main lens. We identified a potential extension of the original [indiscernible] mine to the Northwest towards the Wish area and the highlight of the summer drilling program was the discovery of a new zone located beneath the Dubuisson North and South zones. Along with this discovery, our geologists made a structural reinterpretation that has led us to think of Dubuisson more as a potential bulk tonnage deposit at impressive grades. The style of mineralization at diorite that quartz veining is similar to what we have drilled at Short South deposit and which is reported at the nearby Goldex deposit. Notably, the majority of drilling at [indiscernible] South and Dubuisson is still within 600 meters of surface, well above the deep mineralization ranges in [ Yadkin ]. Processing of high-resolution magnetic data that we collected in late 2025 has identified anomalies beneath Dubuisson and between the Wesdome and Siscoe deposits. These will be drill tested in 2026. Looking at Eagle River, this year's program will be the largest in the mine's history with roughly 145,000 meters of drilling planned. About half of the drilling is focused on new discoveries with the balance supporting Phase 2 of our global model work and continued expansion of the 300, 311, 6 Central and South zones. In the second half of 2025, drilling was focused on converting 11 global model targets to contribute to the feasibility studies. A similar number of global model targets are planned to be drilled in the first half of 2026. The Eagle River mine is hosted in an intrusive diorite approximately 2.5 kilometers long by 0.8 of a kilometer wide. The [ dorite ] remains relatively untested by drilling, especially at depth and along the Northern [ Comact ] corridor. The potential for discovering new mineralized structures. As part of our exploration strategy, we are drilling deep holes to test extensions of the 300, 311, 6 Central and 800 zones. Early work beneath the 800 and between Falcon 720 and 311 is complete, and we're already planning follow-up holes. This spring, we'll advance Dorset and Cameron Lake through infill drilling to move them towards resource definition with both having the potential to strengthen our longer-term pipeline. At Mishi and [ Magnicon ], we're beginning to see a broader extent of low-grade mineralization and higher grades at depth beneath the Mishi pit. The mineralization remains open along trend and down plunge. Additionally, the geological setting at Mishi and Magnicon is starting to assemble other similar settings in the Abitibi that host deposits, giving us a new way of focusing our exploration. Finally, we'll test several new regional targets, our first true early-stage or greenfield exploration on the property in many years. Moving to Kiena. The 2026 program is equally exciting. We have 125,000 meters planned focused on laying the groundwork for a multiyear growth strategy. More than 60% of these meters are dedicated to resource growth and making new discoveries. The extension of the exploration drift on Level 109 will be completed this month, and we will restart drilling of the C zone. Our previously reported intercept at the base of the zone, 43 grams per tonne over 5 meters remains open. The zone is a high priority for resource and reserve growth. From Level 1 through 4, our new drill platform is giving us an excellent drilling angle into the deepest part of the Kiena Deep, where we previously intercepted 15 grams per tonne over -- sorry, over 83 meters. This intercept is on the other side of the Norbenite fault structure and is currently not included in resource models. The intercept remains open in all directions and follow-up holes planned for the first half of 2026. At Dubuisson, we've already commenced deep drilling from Level 33 to test the geophysical anomalies identified last year. As soon as weather conditions allow, we'll mobilize two barges to expand that program, follow up on 2025 targets and test new areas. We're also launching the first land-based exploration program in several years, targeting Shorty South, Short Maine and new greenfield areas south of the mine. The Shorty South program is very notable as it will define the extent of the [ Dara ] hostages for mineralization. There is significant opportunity in front of us. To wrap up, over the next several years, we'll be aggressively managing our target triangle, expanding our pipeline and advancing opportunities towards making discoveries that could transform our operations and define the next chapter at [indiscernible]. The best part of this is just to begin. We are starting to delight the potential of the mineralizing systems we have at both our assets, deliver on our higher expectations, and we believe the next breakthroughs are on the horizon. Operator. You may now open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Jeremy Hoy from Canaccord Genuity.

First 1 for me is on the upcoming technical reports in the disclosure, you mentioned that they were expected to demonstrate the longevity of these assets. So I was wondering, to the extent that you can, if you could potentially preview what we might expect. My thinking that this new geological model and some of the near-mine drilling would help to extend mine lives, but regional exploration would be left for a later date. Is that thinking correct? And might we expect any incremental increase in throughput at either of the operations?

Jeremy, thanks for the question. I think it's multifaceted. The idea there will be a release at the time which will explain to you how the potential will give you -- give you a view on the extent of the mine life extension of what we know today in 2P reserves as well as showcase how the exploration program will grow further, if that makes sense. Beyond that, you should be able to see or get a sense of the regional potential beyond that as well. So I think it's going to be a very interesting release Ken, it will be a little bit behind because we're doing -- it will give -- you have more of a sense of the scale of the opportunity from a geological potential as well as some of the addition on the reserve level. The geological model work at Kiena will happen a bit later. Does that answer your question, Jeremy?

Yes. I guess, similarly on the topic of growth, the balance sheet is growing. There's no debt. Could you provide us your latest thoughts on M&A?

Obviously, nothing has changed to how we feel about M&A. We're going to keep focused on looking at per share value for our shareholders at the time and looking for value and quality in this aspect. We -- nothing has changed really, Jeremy. We remain very disciplined and prudent in the way we look at this.

Got it. Appreciate it. And the last one for me is just on the payments to First Nations that were factored into cost guidance for this year. Could you provide a bit more detail that might help us model those out going forward?

I think I'll hand over to Tyler, you want to -- at this stage, I can't comment on the exact numbers because we're finalizing the agreement as it is right now. All we can say is we're making great progress with our First Nations on these agreements. And hopefully, we can soon...

Your next question comes from the line of Don DeMarco from National Bank Financial.

First question at Eagle. Just wondering if you could provide a little more color on the pivot into the development or whether that worked out as you had hoped? And whether -- do you expect the increase in throughput and reduction in grades that we saw in Q4 to be limited to Q4 or carry into Q1?

Sure. Like in Q4, it was truly was an opportunity as we are developing that, realized that there was more mineral potential at the end of each one of those fills. So we extended it on each side, which gives us more stopes for 2026 that we can pull in that actually wasn't in the plan. So it gives us a bit of flexibility there. Going forward, we don't expect that grade to continue. Our plan, as we said in the guidance is around that 13, 14 grams a tonne, and we expect to continue on that. It gives us the opportunity with additional stopes available to work on our sequencing for margin opportunities and capacity increases through the mill.

I think -- I mean I just want to add on that I think this is really great that the mine of the plan. And I think they did a great job of assessing value that was not in and they could do...

Okay. Then maybe as a second question for Jono. And again, this builds on Jeremy's question. Looking ahead to these technical reports, I mean, what is the cutoff date for the resource estimates that will feed into these reports? And approximately how many meters will go into each of the updates? And is it going to be a blend of infill and expansion or primarily one or the other? I'm just trying to understand maybe the magnitude of drilling that's going to support these reports.

Sure. Good question. Good question. So the technical reports are predominantly based on a database cutoff at the end of December. There's a portion on a few of the deposits where we pushed it out to middle of January for assays to come through, but that's based on some 207,000 meters of drilling that we completed in the year. Bear in mind, added to that is that part of our work with the global model is that we've been reviewing a lot of the historic data, drill holes, channel set and mapping underground and working on the database and validating that information and bringing that in. That's all part of the growth that we're doing and standardizing and data quality work at the deposits. So we will see not just surface exploration, underground exploration, but impacts on the conversion, delineation drilling plus some open pit material that we've been drilling as well, and we've mentioned mission end.

I think just to add grade really hasn't changed year-over-year as the resource that's really resource is that?

Yes. Don, we've kept the same cutoff grade as last year earlier work, and that's currently under review as part of the technical feasibility studies.

Okay. And just as a final question, and this would also be to Jono. We're looking forward to the exploration teach-in, but looking at all the targets you have and the potential upside -- maybe if you could just -- what is your pecking order for maybe the top three exploration priorities?

Top picking order without drilling down too much on rate always. We're looking at our growth strategy and fill the mill. So we do have a balance of grade that's underground and close to the mine. Number one. Two is in our target triangle, opportunities that are looking higher grade but don't have a lot of drilling in them at the moment, what we call our Tier 5 and 6 is advancing those that we have fruit that's available in the coming years. They are the two main ones. And then the third one would be longer-term step-outs that we call our Tier 6 as a conceptual. We've got to balance through setting those up so that we test these geophysical and structural models that are coming through. So we've got a balanced approach for drilling not just this year, but for the next 3 years.

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Allison Carson from Desjardins.

Congratulations on a great quarter. My first question is just on labor in Val d'Or. I was wondering if you can give us a little bit more color on how you're seeing turnover and labor availability at Kiena? And have there been any impacts on the operation either in a positive way or a negative way?

Yes, that's a great question, and thanks, Allison, for your question. This is -- the labor situation is very challenging Val as you rightly put and it's something that we -- I've said this before to the market, again, it's something that sits top of our in terms of how we think about the business. We obviously keep looking at this. What we're currently doing is we're building out various programs, which will build a labor strategy that's very strong for operations. Our turnover rates are far higher than we like them at the moment. So we need to fill that right now, what we're doing is we're filling this up with contractors, which are way more expensive as you probably know. So there is redundancy built in the back of that, which is not very helpful. So you can imagine why we are focusing strongly on the labor strategy in that case. But I think we -- the work we've done over the last 2 years in building our compensation structures and all these other things like cultural as well as understanding what our employees might working on various surveys with our employees to understand what matters to them and building out a long-term life of mine that shows people a future. I think those will start to bring through as we start to keep building on the business as a whole. So I'm really hoping that we will get is more stability and stickiness in this. Obviously, another big thing that this team cares about is leadership and each the leaders with the culture we want. And I think that's been enhanced in the work that we've been doing over the last while.

Great. That's very helpful. And just one other question for you. In terms of capital -- return of capital to shareholders, we've seen several of your peers to give a small dividend. Is this something you're considering with the strong free cash flow generation that you're expecting for this year?

Sorry, I did not hear you. Can you say that again, please? Sorry.

Yes. I would say in terms of return of capital to shareholders, we've seen several of your peers start to give a small dividend. Is that something you're considering with strong free cash flow generation expected this year?

I'm going to hand over to Phil...

I mean, return on capital is front and center, top of mind as we continue to grow our balance sheet and dividends are a consideration and will be looked at as we progress through the...

That concludes today's question-and-answer session. Thank you for joining Wesdome Gold Mines Q4 2025 Conference Call and Webcast. You may now disconnect.