Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. ($WDO)

Hello, and welcome to the Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders of Wesdome Gold Mines LTD. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Ed Dowling, the Board Chair of Wesdome Gold Mines. The floor is yours.

Thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 2026 Wesdome Gold Mines Limited Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders. My name is Ed Dowling, and I'm Chair of the Board of Wesdome. And I'll preside as Chair of this Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders in accordance with the company's bylaws. Joining me is Rob Kallio, Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, will act as Secretary for the meeting today; also joining us today in the room are other members of the Board; Anthea Bath; Louise Grondin; Jacqueline Ricci; Brian Skanderbeg; [ Fahim Tahini ], who is with us in spirit but can't be here today; Edie Thome; and [ Justine Washington ]. in addition to Anthea and Rob, I'd like to introduce the other members of senior management here with us today. But [ Phil Lee ] who is our Chief Financial Officer; Tyler Mitchelson, who is the Chief Operating Officer; Raj Gill, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations; Jono Lawrence, Senior Vice President Exploration and Resources; [ Christine Barrel ], Senior Vice President of Union Resources; [ Jim Danard ], Vice President of Finance. [ Joanna Miller ], Vice President of Environmental Sustainability; [ Ms. Baron ], Vice President of Investor Relations. Once the meeting is terminated, a short presentation will be done by Anthea. I'll now call the meeting to order. I [ went ] Rob Kallio, Vice President and General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the company to act as Secretary of the meeting. I'll ask the secretary set a few rules for the orderly conduct of the meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good morning, everyone. As this meeting is being held in a hybrid format, both in person and virtually by Computershare platform, we think it's necessary to set out a few rules for the orderly conduct of the meeting. Questions in respect of a motion can be submitted by a registered shareholder or duly appointed proxy holder using the messaging service of the platform, click the Q&A icon in the upper right-hand side on your screen. Once you have finished typing out your question, click the send button. Questions will generally appear shortly after they are submitted and may be addressed at the end of the meeting, provided that questions regarding procedural matters or directly related to motions before the meeting may be addressed during the meeting. Shareholders here today in person may ask questions regarding procedural matters or directly related to the motions before the meeting at any time. For those registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders attending the meeting virtually, voting was opened at the beginning of the meeting and will remain open throughout the meeting. This will allow you to choose to vote on each resolution now or wait until the conclusion of the discussion on each resolution prior to casting your votes. Only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders of the company are permitted to participate in the online voting. Shortly after the final resolution is proposed and voted on, we will close the online voting. [ For ] those registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders attending the meeting in person, voting for each resolution will be conducted by paper ballot. If you have not received your ballot, please see the scrutineer immediately. You may choose to follow each ballot now or wait until the conclusion of discussion on each resolution prior to completing the applicable ballot. I will call for your return -- call for you to return all the ballots to the scrutineer after the final resolution is proposed and voted on. If you have already voted in advance of the meeting and do not wish to change your vote, then you do not need to do anything. For those who have not yet voted, we encourage you to vote when called upon to do so. The notice calling this Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders was dated April 17, 2026, and was mailed to shareholders, along with the company's management information circular and the form of proxy on April 21, 2026. During the course of this meeting, reference may be made from time to time to matters discussed in the management information circular. If any shareholders are unclear as to the meaning of certain terms, please refer to the management information circular, which is available through the virtual interface for this meeting as well as the company's website and on SEDAR+. Finally, pursuant to Section 9.10 of the bylaws of the company, quorum for the transaction of business at a meeting of shareholders is two individuals present in person, each being a shareholder entitled to vote at the meeting or a duly appointed proxy or proxy holder for an absent shareholder that is entitled to vote, holding or representing in the aggregate, not less than 10% of the issued shares of the company enjoying voting rights at the meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I request that you please table and attach to the minutes of this meeting. Proof of the mailing indicating the Notice of the Annual General Meeting and Special Meeting, the management information circular in the form of the proxy were properly mailed to shareholders. We will now proceed with the formal business of today's meeting. For the purposes of this meeting, I appoint [ Roxane Prasad ] and [ Josette Koffyberg ] as Computershare Trust Company of Canada act as scrutineers for the meeting, report on the number of shareholders present in person or by proxy for the purposes of establishment of the quorum, tabulate the [ book ] and the report to the secretary and the foregoing. The purpose of establishing a quorum voters present both virtually and in person will be counted. Mr. Secretary, I understand the scrutineer's preliminary report has been provided.

Yes, it has, Mr. Chair. The scrutineers' preliminary report shows that they are present at this meeting, 252 shareholders in person or represented by proxy representing an aggregate of 94,953,710 common shares for a total representation in person and by proxy of 64% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the company.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. As that you please attach a copy of the scrutineer's final report on attendance of the meeting -- minutes of this meeting. I, therefore, now declare the quorum is present that this meeting is properly constituted for the transaction of business for which it's been called. Stated in [ under ] of the meeting, there are 4 proposals to be voted on today, being the election of directors of the company for the ensuing year. Appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as independent auditors of the company for the ensuing year; the approval of ratification of the company's equity incentive plan and the advisory vote to approve the Board's approach to executive compensation. Each of the above proposals is discussed and detailed in the management information circular. As was explained in the subsequent filing of the management information [ sort ] as all shares to be issued under the company's employee share purchase plan will be purchased through the open market through the facilities of the TSX will not be issued from treasury and the ESPP will longer be put forward as a shareholder approval at this meeting. In order to expedite the formal business of the meeting, we've arranged for certain shareholders to make second and formal motions at the appropriate time. I'll now place before the meeting the audited consolidated financial statements of the company for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, together with the auditor's report thereon, it is not proposed to ask shareholders to approve the financial statements, but management of the company would be pleased to answer any relevant questions following termination of the meeting. Next item of business is the election of the directors of the company to hold office until next Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of Wesdome or until successors are elected and appoint management information circular, which was mailed to shareholders contains the names of 8 nominees. The process of voting will be on an individual basis, shareholders can vote or withhold from voting on election of individual directors. The company's bylaws require advanced notice of the company's nomination of directors for election at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of not less than 30 days prior to the date of the annual meeting. Since no nominations were received by the company, the only nominees set out in the management information circular are eligible for election. For the sake of convenience, I now place the nomination of election of directors of the 8 individuals, [ Edward Dowling ] Louis Randon, Jacques Leriche, Brian Scaneberg; Rahim Tajin, Ed. Tom and Bill Washington. Now request that a motion of the individuals be nominated to be elected directors of the company to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until successors are elected and appointed subject to the company's articles and bylaws.

I so move.

I second the motion.

Motion now on the floor. Please vote on your ballots. [Voting]

Next item of business is the appointment of the auditors of the company for the ensuing year. and to authorize the directors of the company to fix the remuneration of the auditors. And the recommendation of the Audit Committee, Board of Directors of the company has approved, subject to shareholder confirmation, the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP to serve as auditors of the company until the next annual meeting of shareholders and authorize the directors to fix the auditor's remuneration. We'll now ask a motion to approve these matters.

I so move.

I second the motion.

The motion is now on the floor, and please vote your ballots. [Voting]

The next item of business is the approval and ratification of the company's equity incentive plan set out in the company's management information circular. I'll now ask for a motion on these matters.

I so move.

I second the motion.

Final matter is to deal with the consideration of an advisory vote to support the company's approach to executive compensation as disclosed in the information company's management information circular. I'll now ask a motion for a nonbinding resolution set forth in the company's management information circular.

I so move.

I second the motion.

If you're attending the meeting in person, we kindly request that you return all paper ballots to the scrutineer at this time. Polls are now closed. As the scrutineer to please complete the report regarding the results of voting on all matters and deliver reports to the Secretary of the meeting.

Mr. Chair, I have been advised by the scrutineers that the proxies deposited for the meeting have been voted in favor of each of the resolutions as follows: each of the 8 nominees have been elected as directors of the company to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed. The appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the auditors of the company has been approved, and the Board of Directors of the company has been authorized to fix their remuneration. The company's equity incentive plan has been approved and ratified. And on an advisory basis, the company's shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the company's management information circular dated April 17, 2026. The final results of the voting will be announced in a press release and filed on SEDAR+ in accordance with the policies of the TSX.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I'll ask that the results of the poll be included in the minutes of the meeting. As the formal business of the meeting of shareholders of the company has now been completed, I'll ask for a motion to terminate the meeting.

I so move.

I second the motion.

Thank you. As there's no other business coming for the meeting, I declare the meeting terminated. I [ will ] ask Anthea to say a few words.

Thanks, Ed, and good morning, everyone. It's really great to be with you today and talk a little bit more about last year. As noted on the slide, it's going to come up in a second. I'll be making some forward-looking statements. Let's talk a little bit about 2025, which was a foundational year for Wesdome. We produced more gold than ever. So we did it safely, [ the ] last time in -- the combination of record production and an unwavering commitment to safety is something the entire team at Wesdome, so proud of. And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our employees and other contractors for doing that. Your hard work bolstered by strong gold prices translated into record financial metrics. Notably, we generated $278 million in free cash flow, when we close 2025, the debt-free balance sheet approximately $700 million in liquidity. The progress over just 2 years has been quite considerable. Last November, we introduced capital allocation framework and initiated a share buyback program. This was a clear signal of both our confidence in Wesdome as well as our commitment to returning capital to our shareholders. And last year's achievements went well beyond the financials. [ Keener ] operational flexibility improved significantly as we added several exploration and tripled the number of active mining areas, including bringing on our new [ reskill ] zone which is meaningfully enhanced optionality at [ in ] mine. At Eagle River, we advanced our fill-the-mill strategy. We improved our operational efficiencies, and we doubled our developed inventory strengthening this foundation for continued operational momentum. We also quadrupled Eagle Real's land package to the acquisition of [ Angus ], significantly expanding our district wired opportunities and 2025 marked a major commitment towards exploration, beginning of our multiyear program that [ forisraw ] more than 200 kilometers across both our properties in just the first year. Two weeks ago, we reported another record quarter, extending our multiyear trend of sequential financial growth and strengthening of our balance sheet. We announced the completion of the first tranche of our normal course issuer bid at the end of April. I am back more than 3 million shares even since November. And at the same time, we announced a second tranche of up to another 3 million shares. We've already started opportunistically purchasing. We are proud of how we stack up against our peers as well as other senior gold producers. Both our first quarter free cash flow margin of 42% and our 36.5% return on invested capital, ranks Wesdome amongst the highest in the gold mining industry. We expect 2026 to be another great year, both financially as well as operationally. As well, we've also delivered a major milestone. We've got a major most underway, the issuance of our updated technical reports both of our mines. It has been 4 to 5 years since we last issued updated technical reports of our mine. Eagle River and [ Kiena ] are two of the highest grade gold mines in Canada. And exploration has always been central to our story, given our mines are situated on such prospective gold packages. However, Wesdome's focus for many years was an annual reserve replacement and not necessarily only on resource growth. For most of its history, Wesdome maintained a 3- to 4-year mine life was a disciplined approach, but it was 1 that limited the company's long-term perspective. A few years ago, we changed all of that. We made a deliberate decision to transform Wesdome shifting it from a short-term replacement logic through to a systematic growth-oriented exploration strategy. That decision is backed by meaningful investment, $55 million this year alone. We have more than tripled exploration spend since 2023. And both the exploration team and the drill program have been rebuilt from the ground up. We now have a clear 3- to 5-year plan with over 225 identified targets cost both on packages, many in high probability categories. In 2026, we're drilling over 270 kilometers across both of our properties. One thing is clear, is a lot small to discover, and we'll be mining for decades to come. In late June, we'll issue a press release with highlights from the updated technical reports provide revised mineral resource and reserve estimates and showcase Wesdome's longer-term outlook. [ Semanwith ] only 1 year of the expand exploration program complete, June will allow us to show the first tangible quantifiable output by plan to transform Western. At Eagle River, our focus has been twofold: first, adding reserves to the upper sections of the mine to incrementally increase [ tonnes ] to extend the mine life and to improve our mill utilization. And secondly, deepening our understanding of the high-grade system and its potential to extend well beyond the historic reserve life. [ Akin ] objectives have been slightly different. Focus has been on replacing high-grade inventory while advancing new mining fronts to support higher throughput and longer-term production growth. Two assets to different parts are both aligned around longevity, consistency and sustainable value creation. And value creation isn't just a priority at Wesdome. It's embedded in our DNA. Over the last 10 years, we've delivered a shareholder return of a compounded annual growth rate of 32% at again, 32%, which is a testament to the discipline to the vision and to the relentless execution of this team. This long-term performance reflects the high quality of these ore bodies. Going forward, we are focused on our consistency, longevity and our growth.Now I'd like to just hand over to the floor if there are any questions for us a bit. And any questions online. It was that, I invite everybody in person to join management and the Board for friends at the back of the...

This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.