Q4 2025 Aura Minerals Inc Earnings Call

February 27, 2026

Speaker #1: Welcome to the fourth quarter 2025 earnings call. This conference is being recorded, and the replay will be available on the company's website at AuraMinerals.com/Investidores.

Speaker #1: The presentation will also be available for download. This call is also available in Portuguese. To access, you can press the globe icon on the lower right side of your Zoom screen and then choose to enter the Portuguese room.

Speaker #1: After that, select mute original audio. Para acessar nossa conferência em português, clique no ícone do globo ao lado inferior direito da sua tela Zoom e selecione a opção Portuguese Room.

Speaker #1: Ao acessar a nova sala, certifique-se de mutar o áudio original. We would like to inform that all attendees will only be listening to the conference during the presentation.

Speaker #1: And then we will start the question-and-answer section when further instructions will be provided. Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that any statements that may be made during this conference call regarding the company's business prospects, operational and financial projections and goals, or the beliefs and assumptions of Aura Executive Board and the current information available to the company.

Speaker #1: These statements may involve risks and uncertainties, as they relate to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should be aware of events related to the macroeconomic scenario, the industry, and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the respective forward-looking statements.

Speaker #1: Present at this conference, we have Rodrigo Barbosa, President, and CEO, and Kleber Cardoso, CFO. Now I will turn the conference over to Rodrigo Barbosa.

Speaker #1: You may begin the conference.

Speaker #2: Thank you and good morning all. I'm super proud to be here, sharing a few informations, not only the results but all the strategic advancements that Aura is pursuing.

Speaker #2: If I remind all the investors here and analysts about our strategy, we are very much executing right on track with our strategy. The strategy is, number one, to increase production through development of greenfield projects.

Speaker #2: Number two, to increase resources and reserves, as we see significant potential in our current deposits to increase the reserves. And number three, continue to grow through M&As and address our daily trading volume, our multiple.

Speaker #2: That is, still discounted compared to our peers. And doing all these three, while we continue to pay significant dividends to our shareholders. And I'm glad today that I will be able to walk you through that we've been executing in all of those three areas.

Speaker #2: While we pay dividends. So number one, first going to the results, and I ask to put on the first page. In terms of executing greenfield projects and also improving the results, we see again the company going on record high production on quarterly basis and also on a yearly basis.

Speaker #2: On a quarterly basis, which we have already disclosed to the market, we produced 82,000 gold equivalent ounces, up 11% compared to Q3 2025 and up 23% compared to Q4 last year.

Speaker #2: On annual production, 28 to 280,000 ounces of production 9% up at constant price. And at guidance prices, excluding MSG acquisition that was not on the budget and was not on the guidance, we were very much in line with the middle and actually slightly above the middle of the guidance with the market.

Speaker #2: The combination of a higher production cost under control and higher gold prices drove us to hit $208 million in the quarter, with the gold price at $4,090.

Speaker #2: While MSG was only for one month and Borborema is still at its final nominal capacity, when we look at the year, we reached $548 million of EBITDA with the gold price at $3,400.

Speaker #2: If I remind the investors, since '23, we've been doubling the EBITDA, coming from $135 million to $270 million, now $540 million. And if you're taking into account the last EBITDA of $208 million with the gold, and put the new gold price, and then put a higher production, we'll see that we'll be able to, during this year, perhaps maintaining this gold price, double again our EBITDA if the current gold prices continue to be as strong as it is today.

Speaker #2: On the all-in sustaining cash cost, we are glad also to disclose to the market that we have not only reached the guidance, but we are slightly below the low end of the guidance, and I will talk more through this during the presentation.

Speaker #2: Higher gold price cost under control we have a very also strong recurring free cash flow of close to 100 million dollars on last quarter.

Speaker #2: Understanding that we are also investing in inventories, investing in developing the mines, which put some low grade into the inventory, so some working capital is allocated as an inventory as low grade. We leave the low grades of the mines that are entering production to the further years, while we now focus on higher grades.

Speaker #2: And I will talk more about this also during the presentation. Combination of strong cash flows and although we acquired MSG we continue to be in a very and paid dividends we continue to be at the low leverage ratio Kleber is going to walk you through that Aura has been able to grow without even leveraging our cash flows that coming from the operations being more than enough to fund our acquisitions and our greenfield projects while we also count with a leverage to fund those projects freeing more cash to be distributed to our shareholders.

Speaker #2: A good news it's a net loss of 20 million dollars that means that gold price continues to appreciate and if you take out this known cash non-recurring losses we'll see that during the year they are just a net income was 206 million dollars and Kleber is going to walk you through all the details how to achieve this 200 million dollars.

Speaker #2: For the year 2026 we have a strong continue to have a strong production coming from our operations and some increase on all in sustaining cash costs some increase in also in CapEx due to positive news.

Speaker #2: We are now expanding Almas we are coming from Almas we built at 1.3 million tons plant with last year we finished above 2 million tons we are now upgrading to 3 million tons to the plant that means that we have to develop the mine that needs to raise the tailings then.

Speaker #2: We are also advancing in Era Dorada. We just announced Era Dorada early works. We also acquired MSG for $76 million. MSG has structurally a higher sustaining CapEx and a higher CapEx during the year of the turnaround, and structurally will be higher than our average. However, the price that we paid for MSG more than justifies this higher CapEx, sustaining CapEx, and also higher sustaining cash cost, which we will walk you through also during the presentation.

Speaker #2: Very important additional events again we close MSG we got the license for early works in Era Dorada which we already started the early works we are now finishing all the analysis all the studies to be able to go and approve in the board a full construction.

Speaker #2: Yesterday we also announced a major milestone for Borborema which we obtained the license to move the road reaching now 1.5 million ounces just with the relocation of the road freeing additional 670,000 ounces of reserves into the project while we continue to analyze during the next few weeks for the AIF or 20F to be released by the end of the March we are updating all our resource and reserves based on higher gold price which means lower cutoff that will free more reserves into all across our operations.

Speaker #2: Major milestones that we conquered—also, it's after lifting the Nasdaq and after the new issues in $200 million—Aura came from, in one year, $1 million or $2 million being traded per day, now reaching $100 million per day, addressing the low trade environment that we had. Now, being attractive for major investors to invest in the company.

Speaker #2: And finally, not least, announcing again a very strong dividend of $0.66 per share on a quarterly basis, which gives a yield over the last 12 months of 6.2% for shareholders, while we made acquisitions, while we ramped up Borborema, and while we're doing all these growth projects.

Speaker #2: So in summary we can see that we are very much delivering on the long-term strategy. Number one we are increasing production and developing the greenfield projects.

Speaker #2: Borborema last year again on time on budget commercial production in September. Then we also acquired MSG this is the third avenue is continue to grow through M&As address daily trade volume so on the third avenue we acquired MSG and we significantly increase daily trading volume which is helping us to attract more bigger investors although yet we are still discounted compared to our peers.

Speaker #2: And the second avenue to increase resource and reserves again with the Borborema we increased Borborema reserves by 82% of reserves significantly increasing cash flows of this project and I can also walk you through a little bit the importance of this additional 670,000 ounces which I will do during the presentation.

Speaker #2: So, very much increasing production, increasing resources and reserves, and addressing the multiple through daily trading volume and also new acquisitions. In terms of safety, super proud—and again, now all those numbers are putting Aura as a benchmark in the world in the sector. Not only did we have the full year without any single lost time incidents, but now we're achieving over 18 months with no lost time incidents, which puts Aura at a benchmark in the world in terms of safety. Any well-managed company will give you strong levels of safety and also strong results.

Speaker #2: In terms of stability of the structures, again, we make reviews every quarter, every month, through external consultants, and all our geotechnical structures are at satisfactory levels.

Speaker #2: Next slide. So when we look on the quarterly basis on the production that we have already disclosed now we see since Q1 2025 a constant growth on production through a combination of the ramp up of Borborema and lastly still not only December the acquisition of MSG for the further quarters we should see now continue to grow in terms of production on a quarterly basis as MSG now comes a full quarter and then gradually we should also improve production from our other operations.

Speaker #2: When we looked on the guidance we see that Aranza Azul the production when you consider the same metal prices of the budget we see that we were very much in line with the guidance in terms of production I'll get attention for those that are not used to looking carefully our numbers Aranza Azul we have we sell copper and gold concentrate and then we convert all the copper into gold equivalent ounces when to do that you get just the revenues the revenues from copper and you divide by the gold price.

Speaker #2: The higher the gold price the lower the conversion into the gold equivalent ounces so when you look the number of Aranza Azul and you see the gold equivalent ounces decreasing along the last year is not because we are decreasing production but it is mostly because the gold price is appreciating which is positive for our whole company and that conversion goes to a lower gold equivalent ounces which is also translates to higher owing sustaining cash costs because you divide by the total cost by the gold equivalent ounces gives you and the gold equivalent ounces is lower so that gives us a higher owing sustaining cash cost but that is because of a good news of a gold appreciating.

Speaker #2: Apoena we've been able to develop faster than we were projecting during the year so we could also produce above the guidance. MINOSA very much in line with the guidance ALMAS also very much in line with the guidance and Borborema is where we were a little bit below the guidance that's because we had the project we had some minor issues with the agitators of the CIL tax that did not jeopardize the ramp up but as this drove to a low was driving to a lower recovery we decided just to put for a couple of months very low grades instead of a high grades not to lose the long-term not to lose recovery on that project that droves the production down while we preserved those that high grade golds when we could finished the fix on the CIL tanks which took us just a couple of months not jeopardizing the ramp up again not jeopardizing reaching nominal capacity and not jeopardizing the recoveries that we reached after we changed those parts on the CIL tanks.

Speaker #2: Next. So, in terms of our sustaining cash cost excluding MSG, I'm proud to also show the market that we not only could be within the guidance—which is the next slide—but also slightly below the low end of the guidance, fulfilling what we promised to the markets in terms of production and also in terms of cost.

Speaker #2: If we take out the MSG or owing sustaining cash costs for Q4 would have been 1,363 and as we know and as we acquired MSG we know MSG had over 3,000 of owing sustaining cash cost which doesn't scare us I think that was that was the positive point on acquiring MSG was to see those high owing sustaining cash costs and project and believe that during the turnaround of this year we'll be able to drive that owing sustaining cash cost to below 2,000 for the up for the years ahead not this year but for the years ahead.

Speaker #2: Next. So just quickly going to the guidance I just I mentioned to you in terms of production very much in the middle slightly above the middle of the guidance the on the cash costs per gold equivalent ounces also we reached the finish the year at 1,070 the low end of the guidance was 1,078 owing sustaining that translates also to a lower owing sustaining cash cost finishing 1,368 and the low end of the guidance at 1,374 and also very much in line with the guidance in terms of CapEx x understanding that there was a year that we also built Borborema and decided to move forward with the expansion of ALMAS on the first phase and now we are going to the second phase of the expansion of ALMAS.

Speaker #2: Next. So for the 2026 an overview here of the guidance and then Kleber can go in a little bit more detail in the next slide but in terms of production now we project full year of Borborema full year also of MSG although MSG still during this year on 2026 and MSG we are not focusing to produce the most at the lowest cost we are focusing on preparing that mine to be able to produce over 80,000 ounces per year and below 2,000 for the next year so this year is a turnaround although during this year imagine that we should we projected at producing 50 to 60,000 ounces of production even if the cost is above 3,000 per year owing we have a the price gold price today is 5,200 so it's 2,200 of free cash flow margin in in a turnaround year for MSG that price converted to 50 or 60,000 ounces means that the the free cash flows and maybe that will be way above this is 100 120 130 million in this project that we acquired for 76 in the year that we yet we are not focusing on production we are not focusing on on cost we are focusing on preparing that mine to higher production along the next years.

Speaker #2: In terms of and that higher owing sustaining cash cost which Kleber is going to explain is translated to of MSG is translated to higher cash cost in our consolidated levels higher owing sustaining cash cost also in our consolidated levels and Kleber is going to explain that 65 to 80 percent of this increase is explained by MSG and then we have other factors that we will disclose got in more details during the presentation.

Speaker #2: In terms of CapEx, it's the same situation. It's a year that we are investing — MSG, we are expanding Almas, Almas, we are doing the pushback of the pit to fast access. Also, the underground development, we are expanding the capacity of the plant. We are already doing this expansion project — it is not the full investment in Era Dorada, but yet already the first groundwork and the first early works. So, there's a lot of capital that's been committed for good news, which is that we are expanding production, expanding to go at 600 or even above 600, are preparing the company goes above to 600,000 ounces of gold equivalent in the upcoming years.

Speaker #2: In terms of production again Aranza Azul that decrease it comes from mostly metal prices although Aranza Azul is where we are more stable and getting more lower grades during the next years while we continue to explore opportunities to decrease the cost of mine and the cost of plant to offset this slightly lower grades in Aranza Azul Borborema the range of 65 to 77,000 ounces this is also counts that we are working and we should publish it or new resources and reserves the old AIF now the 20F by the end of March that means that we are updating our resources and reserves and all the mine plan of the company based on the new cutoff with a higher gold price that means with the higher gold price we reduce the cutoff we can free and release and convert more resources into the reserves on the other hand the the grades average grades goes down but all in all it's it builds value it's a positive news because we are now assessing grades that was not economically viable in the past with this higher gold price we've been able to access more ounces on total although it's a lower than former grades that we were projecting in the past so that it's a positive news that has on the long term that has minor impact on the short term.

Speaker #2: So next slide. Kleber. Yes sure Rodrigo so good morning everyone. So let's start with understanding the main drivers behind the impact of the increasing first in the owing sustaining cash costs the expected owing sustaining cash costs in 2026 is expected to increase between 262 and 407 compared to 2025 and as we can see here on the right side on the top the main driver for the increase by far is MSG that's bringing up our weighted average cash cost explains 70 to 80 percent of this increase.

Speaker #2: The metal price effect that Rodrigo was explaining—the gold equivalent conversion—because gold prices, on average, in ’26, if you take market projections, are above the average of ’25, so accelerated more than copper price. So that explains another 5 percent in OI increase. The second impact that we have is in Almas. In Almas, due to mining sequencing, this year we're doing a pushback in the mine and having a higher strip ratio, so the costs and lower grades are also due to mining sequencing. So the cost, they increase this year; this is not expected to be repeated, for example, in 2027. And we also have a Tendency expansion this year in Almas. So, in Almas, it's mostly non-recurring, this effect.

Speaker #2: And then other impacts are marginal we we we have a slightly minor worse cash costs in Minoza for example but better cash costs in Apuena so the compensate each other.

Speaker #2: So then on the bottom understanding the the main increases behind the sustaining CapEx is a similar story so 75 to 70 percent of the increase we're expecting to see an increase in 26 compared to 25 between 15 and 70 million dollars of which about two thirds are MSG first because it's an underground mine so it has a higher sustaining cash cost so we should not expect going forward to see sustaining CapEx for MSG comparable to the other open pit Brazilian mines so it's going to be higher but also it's a turnaround year as we have been communicating we're going to be allocating some additional capital especially maintenance in MSG.

Speaker #2: In ALMAS it's the same reason ALMAS explains another 15 to 20 percent of the increasing in the sustaining CapEx for the same reason the pushback a portion of the the waste is capitalized as sustaining CapEx and explain also a portion of this increase.

Speaker #2: And finally of course Borborema is going to be operating for a full year in 25 we had just three years of commercial production for Borborema removes sorry and then in 26 we'll have a 12 months of course that brings a higher sustaining CapEx.

Speaker #2: And finally when we look at the expansion CapEx what is in the our guidance for 26 mainly is ALMAS underground development and the plant expansion that we are investing to increase the plant capacity to 3 million tons until the end of the year Apuena we have the second year of the north pushback that we are planning 25 to 26 to invest in in in in the north phase three pit to have a higher higher grades from 27 so this is the second year in Borborema we have a filter press expansion so the filter press now is the current bottleneck that we have at the plant so by expanding the filter press we can go beyond the nominal installed capacity that we have today at the plant and also is going to help us prepare for potential expansion of the plant in the future and also we're going to be investing in engineering studies for potential expansion now that we were able to get the permits to move the roads.

Speaker #2: The Era Dourada as well—we're investing in the early works, and we have then some other impacts such as Matupá, and some investment in the projects.

Speaker #2: Actually Rodrigo.

Speaker #1: Thank you all. So I think one major milestone that we also achieved again no you next slide is the license that we've been discussing with the national authorities that we finally signed an agreement of partnerships to move that road that is releasing 670,000 ounces of gold on the mine sequencing just hypothetically hypothetically if you get the gold price as of today 5,200 and then you imagine how owing sustaining cash costs of 1,500 to reach your normal according to our mine sequencing which is below this we see and then you multiply by these 670,000 ounces you see that the company with this is will be able to generate along the years more than two 2.5 billion dollars pre pre-tax in this project that's the size of the magnitude that this additional ounces can can can generate and of course we don't want to go from we already have 15 16 years old 16 years life of mine that we expand to above 20 25 we don't want to do do this that's why we made the plant flexible and now we are advancing on engineering studies and water access in order to expand the capacity of the plant perhaps up to 4 million tons that will drive us to a significantly higher production after we finish and we conclude the the expansion.

Speaker #1: We are now working on engineering we are now working on water access and we believe during the second semester more towards the fourth quarter we'll be able to present a high detailed and a new feasibility study for this project using now a higher capacity while we also we're doing and we should expect for the the 20F by March this project is very sensible to cut off grades so as gold price is going up we are changing the the price for cut off which means that we can now access as I was mentioning lower grades that was not an economically viable in this project now becomes viable so we should expect further increase in reserves by the end of March when we publish the new resource and reserves for the entire company particularly here in Borborema.

Speaker #1: Again I mentioned that we are delivering on the greenfield projects on time on budget remind Borborema the first ALMAS now Borborema we are delivering on new acquisitions we close MSG in December and we also told the markets we've been telling the market for the last many years that we had to address the daily trade environment and here it is the very successful results of our listing in NASDAQ moving from TSX and then listing in NASDAQ that we're coming from 1.52 million dollars per day now reaching on average in February 100 million dollars per day with a combination of NASDAQ plus B3 so that will also help us address the multiple according to the analysts we are still traded with a discount compared to our peers and we will not only change the peers coming from the production of a 300,000 ounces on average last year or this year to above 600,000 ounces and then also with the higher daily trade volume and higher reputation as we are delivering our projects we should address this discounted compared to our peers and maybe even be with a premium compared to our peers as we continue to grow.

Speaker #1: So with that I I I conclude here the more high level analysis Kleber is going to drive and walk you through to the details of the results and then I come back for questions.

Speaker #2: Okay thank you. So we we we we start with a summary of the main financial KPIs that we are reporting for the quarter for the year and also comparing with the previous quarters as we Rodrigo mentioned and we see the results here a combination of a higher gold prices in the fourth quarter and increasing production in the fourth quarter as well there was a substantial increase in our net revenues closing the quarter with 322 million dollars and bringing our annual revenues beyond 920 million dollars in 2025.

Speaker #2: The adjustabilidad is the sixth quarter in a row that we deliver a record high adjustabilidad at 208 million dollars considering in Q4 average gold prices closed to 4,000 dollars per ounce and bringing our annual EBITDA to 547 million dollars as well and also the last 12 months also the sixth in a row that we see increasing.

Speaker #2: When we move to net income we're reporting a net loss of 20 million dollars basically for the same reason that we report a losses in some of the previous quarters due to the sharp increase in gold prices during the quarter which is good news but it brings no cash losses related to our outstanding gold derivatives.

Speaker #2: Excluding those no cash losses which amounted about 82 million dollars in the quarter and certain other no cash items we see that we had also an improvement in the adjusted net income reaching 73 million dollars in the quarter.

Speaker #2: And then in terms of cash and then debt we see we continue in a very comfortable position in terms of balance sheet there was some increase in our net debt in the quarter but that's basically because in Q4 we paid for the acquisition of MSG and unlike many other cases many other companies when they make acquisitions that are maybe some reduction in dividends we didn't reduce the dividends in Q4 we kept paying dividends above our minimum dividend policy because our balance sheet allows for it.

Speaker #2: So and then we can see as a result we close the year also with a low very low net debt over EBITDA in the last 12 months below 0.3 times.

Speaker #2: Now moving to understand the main items between the adjustabilidad and net income for the quarter if we see a breakdown of the adjustabilidad of 208 million dollars ALMAS and Borborema were the top performers performers about 50 million dollars in the quarter each we highlight of course Borborema considering it was only the first quarter of commercial production and is almost our highest EBITDA so it shows all the potential that we have in this mine MINOSA and ARANZAZU also coming very strong 48 and 41 million dollars respectively APUENA delivering EBITDA of 22 million dollars and the MSG 10 million dollars MSG also I'd like to highlight for a couple of reasons first is what's just one month and one month that we didn't see yet any impact of any turnaround in terms of production and in terms of cost and we already and with gold prices at a much lower levels that we have today and we already generated 10 million dollars in a month for an investment for an acquisition that that we paid 73 million dollars so it shows the type of returns that we should expect for this acquisition.

Speaker #2: When then moving to financial expenses I mentioned already we had an 82 million dollars no cash losses related to the gold outstanding gold hedges and we also had a 22 million dollars realized the losses related to the derivatives that expiring during the quarter.

Speaker #2: Income tax expenses increased compared to the previous quarters basically because the our results from the operations also increased so it's it's in the same proportion on this quarter we had a no recurring order expenses that's mostly related to provisions that we did on year ends related to potential partial no recoverability of certain VAT credits that we have mostly in Honduras and also in Brazil.

Speaker #2: Then with that we we we see our net income of minus 20 million dollars but then bringing back the no cash items mostly the unrealized losses with the derivatives we come to a net just the net income of 73 million dollars.

Speaker #2: Now, moving to understand in detail the change in the cash position during the last quarter, we see on the left side of the page we started the quarter with about $350 million in cash. Here, on this more left side of the page, we can see what's the cash flow—recurring free cash flow—which is the cash flow generated by the, now the six mines in production, not including any investment to expand our business.

Speaker #2: We see we generated 94 million dollars already deducting the realized losses with the gold derivatives. That cash was almost enough to pay for all the capital allocated to growth the business in the last quarter we invested 103 million dollars mainly the MSG acquisition and also expansion CapEx the first steps in ALMAS mainly here for the underground mine development and plant expansion.

Speaker #2: And to the right side more the financial light items highlighting as a indicated before as well 40 million dollars dividend payments. Next page yeah and then when we move to the year the the cash flow by the mine is in production generated to over 250 million dollars in cash which was more than enough to pay for all the the investment in growth in 2025 was one year that we invested significantly in growth so we invested to Borborema construction the second year of Borborema construction the acquisition of MSG acquisition of Elaborada acquisition of Altamira shares investment in exploration to increase our mineral reserve reserves and resources that was funded entirely funded by the cash flow recurring free cash flow from the operations.

Speaker #2: And to the right side of the more financial light items we highlight the cash we returned to our shareholders mainly through dividends 116 million dollars and the net proceeds we received from the NASDAQ IPO 200 million dollars and that brings our cash position closer to 90 million dollars at the end of the year.

Speaker #2: This is the last slide and then we open to questions thank you.

Speaker #1: We are going to start the question and answer session. For investors and analysts if you wish to ask a question please press the raise hand button.

Speaker #1: If your question has already been answered you can leave the queue by clicking on put hand down. Please hold while we pull for questions.

Speaker #1: Our first question comes from Enrique Marquez with Goldman Sachs.

Speaker #3: Hey everyone thanks so much for taking my question so quickly on guidance I 2026 so I just wanted to make sure here what is already implied in this guidance because there are technical report updates coming up which should impact reserves and eventually grades which might weigh on production but at the same time you have some processing capacity expansion expected for for this year so I just wanted to confirm exactly and try to better understand what is already implied in this in this 2026 guidance that you guys just released and also on a second topic a lot of things going on I think that's great but it would be also great if you guys can just help us map everything that is that is going on so just any update on on timing for Elaborada or Matupat to be taken to the board to eventually increase the processing capacity for ALMAS is what is what is the timing for that and it just to confirm is is ALMAS expansion already board approved the the processing capacity and lastly just any timing for AURA to join the GDX index is there any prerequisite missing for that that's it thank you so much.

Speaker #4: Thank you for the question Enrique and yes as you mentioned a lot of going on in AURA and again another year that we continue to prepare the company to reach over 600,000 ounces of production so going step by step what you should expect and then first question is for the budget of this year we are not considering old gold price we already using new gold price based in new cutoffs that we update the market so there's this lag a little bit on the what we forecast on the budget and what we will publish now on by by March so we already reducing the average grade to some of the mines based on high on lower cutoff and higher gold price which is a good news because we're going to free ounces in terms of reserves for the the long term and for overall it generates NPV for the company although in some cases might slightly be drive to a lower production so that's a part of the questions that you made that I could answer then there are a few things that's going on in AURA so you also asked about ALMAS it's already included on the budget it's already included on CapEx for us to expand the capacity and also do to raise the tailings dams or prepare the tailings dam for this new capacity up to 3 million tons of the plant already preparing this to receive higher grade material as an underground while underground is not totally developed we'll put average and and medium grade that's already on the stockpile because the mine is working faster than the plant and we have some important stockpile that to use on the higher capacity of the plant while we don't want to finish that we go we should finish the year or early next year at 3 million tons per year at the plant but we have projects to go up to 4 million tons but that will depend on some more positive geological information that we are investing in the project so we should expect this 3 million tons already hired approved and should be implemented by early should be already in full production by early next year or or by the end of this year while we have projects and we have ideas and we have discussions to go up to 4 million tons but that will depend on more exploration results that we are conducting as we speak right now.

Speaker #4: On this also on this for this year Borborema we are as Cleber mentioned we are increasing capacity of of the of the filters that will give us a possibility to go beyond the nominal capacity that we should reach along the second semester while again we are also preparing this doing engineering that's already approved in the board and doing now studies for water assessments to double the capacity and we would like to be able to approve this in the board by the end of this year for the new capacity for Borborema.

Speaker #4: On MSG is the year of turnaround we are although we are generating positive cash flows we are not focusing on production and we're not focusing on short-term gains we are focused on building the right plan and the right structure so that we can finish the year with a very good view that for the next years we'll be able to produce above 80,000 ounces with the below $2,000 of all in sustaining cash cost so that means that we are preparing the mine we are doing underground development in advancing again if I remain the investors one of the the reasons that MSG lost productivity and lost production and the plant become idle is that they are doing the the the mine six is is they lost productivity doing underground development and they start doing top bottom that increased dilution that reduced the speed so that that creates a lot of complexity so now we need to do all the proper underground development in order to do from bottom to up that means one year of a lot of underground development and preparing this so that we can do the the right methodology underground and then fulfill the capacity of the plant that will drive us to produce extra extra ounces and significantly reduce dilution significant dilute reduce also the all in sustaining cash cost.

Speaker #4: So and the final question you made was.

Speaker #3: It was regarding the index the GDX GDX.

Speaker #4: The index yes.

Speaker #3: Yeah just if there's any prerequisite missing.

Speaker #4: No I think we are reaching but we need to reach for two consecutive quarters and each quarter you need to prove that your daily trading volume was higher on the the last two so we believe we'll be eligible for GDX although there's some it's not 100% sure because there is some analysis that the team do but we believe that we'll be eligible to GDX by the second semester between third to fourth quarter of this year.

Speaker #3: Great thank you so much.

Speaker #1: Our next question comes from Edgar de Souza with Itaú BBA.

Speaker #5: Hi Rodrigo hi Cleber Natasha thank you for the question so my my first question regarding the the steel on the guidance prediction expectations came in slightly softer than what we were expecting particular at Borborema I wanted to understand I don't know if Glauber is connected here but maybe if not for sure you can help me Rodrigo how much of this lower production profile in Borborema is a direct consequence of incorporating material that was previously above the cutoff and that's a a broader portfolio level how are you approaching cutoff optimization in the current gold pricing environments to what extent are you trading near-term grade and free cash flow for longer life of mine and higher total value extraction let's put this way.

Speaker #5: Then my second question moving to the the the the the main positive news from from the release is regarding the expansion at Borborema and the the road relocation so I wanted to understand the the next steps from here what is the expected timeline for the physical relocation of capacity could reach around 4 million tons how much of this incremental processing capacity could be gradually added in a brownfield scenario similar to what you did in Almas how much of the expansion would require a more significant CapEx maybe a new ball meal and and how should we think about water availability as a constraint until which levels can you produce with the current water availability that you have and and for which levels this would require a more significant investment for water availability there.

Speaker #5: Those are my questions. Thank you, guys.

Speaker #4: Okay I will start and then I think Glauber is here with us he can finish but on the on the on the production for Borborema mostly of the reduction in production comes from lower grade that comes from a lower cutoff right and then we always we don't and that's one thing that we do in all right and that actually it's this mine that drove us to be here today with the successful story we don't take decisions to favor only short-term we think the company as a whole what builds the best value although sometimes hurts the short-term and there's example of Borborema is a very good example because we know that we have a lower production but overall as we will should see during the the publications of the 20F we'll see an increase in resource and reserves so that means we are significantly increase NAV of the company although that on the yearly on the this yearly basis means slightly lower grades which is translated to a lower production.

Speaker #4: On the on the CapEx I'll let Glauber explain but I'll give a a overview of the plant it takes probably two years in terms of construction to to to relocate the road which is the same time that we will do an plant expansion and the plant expansion will require a CapEx the plant is not at 4 million tons the plant was built for 2 million tons flexible and prepared to receive new investments and then go to 4 million tons but I'll let Glauber walk you through more and what we are thinking about on this expansion.

Speaker #4: Is Glauber here, otherwise, or is the mic off?

Speaker #3: Okay sorry. Yeah good morning everyone so yeah as Rodrigo comment so we we that this this drop on grade is is is a positive thing in fact it's it's much more our becoming economical right now this new price and what we are doing right now can bring some impact in the short-term but it's a big benefit in the in the long-term so we in fact we are preparing the the mine for higher capacity or higher production that we are doing the engineering the plant in the CapEx answer your question so it's basically build a new parallel plant so now we what we are doing is the bottleneck the filter area is the constraint that we have right now to increase capacity but we already approved we already hire all the the service and construction and we will build the the the the or we will implement the new filters in this year we expect to be done in the in the beginning of the next semester of this year.

Speaker #3: In parallel all the engineer to expand the plant we don't have the the total CapEx right now but we need to expand the CIL circuit the meal circuit and the crusher circuit also it means that everything it's it's prepared to expand because we just need to connect with doubt impact the the the the actual production but it's something that require require CapEx to to be done.

Speaker #5: Thanks.

Speaker #4: And in the meanwhile we are doing all the water assessment that that's ideas there's a a project also to do to increase the capacity to to to treat gray water from the city or receive gray water from other cities so there field discussions going on right now and it takes time but we don't believe it's going to be the issue.

Speaker #5: Great. Thank you.

Speaker #6: Our next question comes from Guilherme Nipes with XP.

Speaker #7: Hi guys, good morning. Can you hear me?

Speaker #4: Yes.

Speaker #7: Okay so so I have two questions here on our side as well my first one is on on the reserves report so could you guys share any any key shifts any takeaways from the reserve report and also if you have any shifts on on geological interpretation and also on long-term assumption for gold prices as well and if you could guys share also news on on the underground mining for Almas Borborema plant expansion and and the increased reserves at Matupá so any news on on on the updated reserves report and my second question is on capital allocation of course you guys have a lot of projects going on but it's we still see balance sheet room for for as gold prices are holding higher as well we still see room for for the acquisition so we'd like to understand what are the the priorities now and if you guys are also looking for acquiring other assets here in Brazil as well and in Latin America as well.

Speaker #7: Thank you.

Speaker #4: Okay no thank you for the question unfortunately we cannot disclose what will be on the AIF yet that will be published on the on the by the end of March but as you mentioned we are working on the new cutoff for the current mines that we have that can affect some of the mines and cannot affect in other mines depend on the the distribution of the grades in that mine Borborema as I mentioned has some sensitivity to this so it can be affected by a lower cutoff than increase which is already translated on the budget so we'll see the the already the the grades going down as you mentioned we are working on Matupá we're doing analysis on Serrinhas doing analysis also in in those that were passed down in Pacanche that we acquired and perhaps some of those already be able to incorporate into the X1 so we should expect also the new report including part of the the resource and reserves of the X1 and also or Pacanche then underground we continue to do underground development and also reaching the right level then we we continue to do intensify exploration that although we've been having a very important and interesting interception that confirms the the underground mine that takes more time so we should expect a more towards the end of the year that we can consolidate all the information but we don't want to waste time that's why we're already doing all the underground development because we believe that this will become a mine and we don't want to waste time doing all the studies while we develop the underground so in terms of MNA as you mentioned the company is it's a significantly increasing EBITDA and cash flows again if you take it back in the last two years we doubled more every year we doubled the EBITDA 23 136 then 24 270 25 now 540 with the last quarter of a 210 million dollars with the gold price 4,000 and MSG only one month or you can already imply that we are significantly already on the running rate above the the last year and that of course although we can although we've been able to if you look what has happened to our in the last four years we had the highest dividend yield in the world of our gold price we acquired Borborema we built Almas we built Borborema we acquired MSG and yet we have a low leverage and that was with the gold price of 2,500 and 30,000 now we are with the gold price at 55,200 with higher production so we should expect for the upcoming years more than we've done in the last years in terms of we'll be able to generate a higher cash pay more dividends now we have more cash also to do more acquisition we want to continue to do acquisitions we know very much how to get to beyond 600,000 ounces that we published last year but that by itself is going to generate a lot of value to us but we know that the right multiple starts when you get closer to a million ounces so we want to continue to pursue growth through MNAs we are America players we don't feel we have the knowledge and expertise for the other continents but in the Americas we like gold and we also like copper so we should expect from our acquisitions either in gold and also in copper mostly in countries that we feel that has democracy some institutional strong institutional entities so that give us the minimum security to to to invest we'll also like project that has it's a well-developed in terms of geology maybe needs further exploration but just to convert resources into reserves and then implement our projects that already as we saw Brownfields that we believe that's not perhaps the core of other companies and that they might sell so if you see an angle to buy them and reduce and generate values that's what we see basically what you should see for our for the upcoming years is what we've done in the last years with now higher production and higher gold price higher cash flow so more intensified that's very clear thank you our next question comes from Marcelo Arazi with PTG hi guys good morning a few questions on my side as well we can see that we are seeing a slightly wide range of production guidance that what we were used to can we say that is this related to a more conservative approach or and a large number of assets or it can be read as a sign of a more challenging or more hard to predict conditions and a second one on CapEx is this level of sustaining CapEx the new reality for the company or the the full year 2026 print is inflated by the turnaround project in MSG can this eventually impact the dividend distribution given your policy of of 20% of the EBITDA minus the sustaining the sustaining CapEx and just a final one if I can on on the Guatemala CapEx the guidance is already accounting for the early stage investments but with the the eventual project approval can we expect some some CapEx revision for this year thank you guys thank you Marcelo for for the questions and I think for for this higher all these sustaining cash costs in high CapEx this year is neither more challenging neither more conservative actually it's a good news it's a good news that the company is being able to buy MSG for 76 million dollars and only one month without the as Kleber mentions we have 10 million dollars EBITDA MSG structurally has a lower all in sustaining cash cost MSG structurally has a a high higher all in sustaining cash cost and higher also sustaining CapEx but that's how we generate returns we put these assets into our consolidated basis it affects negatively but doesn't mean that it's a challenge that actually we see this more as an opportunity the proper work and we are very confident that for the upcoming years we'll see that we'll be able to reach above 80,000 ounces and below 2,000 dollars of all in sustaining cash cost nevertheless in a single month we generate 10 million dollars without any new any any turnaround so and the other increase that we have comes from positive news also again Almas we've seen a very strong opportunity to increase capacity so that increase also our our our CapEx not that another factor that increased the CapEx is Era Dorada because we felt then we got the license that we this the the former company could not get for several years so we already started early works and then going to the final questions that you made we are it is not on the CapEx the full construction of Era Dorada so as we go to the board and as we approve the full construction of Era Dorada this is when we then we we'll add a new CapEx for the project as we we published already last year the updated feasibility study the CapEx of this project is close to 380 million dollars of course it doesn't happen in the full year actually most of the CapEx goes towards the the end of the the investments so but if we approve in the board then we'll then we will have we incorporate on our guidance this year so again the the higher CapEx that you see in this this year is way more as challenge thank you Rodrigo and just a quick follow-up could this impact the dividend distribution given your policy no we've been able to to do everything so our policy is 20% of the EBITDA minus recurring CapEx actually we've been able to pay 50 60% above the policy and then we see no reason that we affect this for the upcoming years except if there's some major acquisition that we believe that is a super high return and super high value added then perhaps we go to the policy but we should expect this the policy or above the policy for the upcoming quarters thank you our next question comes from Lawson Winder with Bank of America okay thank you very much operator and hello Rodrigo and team good morning and thank you for the update could I actually start by asking maybe a bit of an expanded question on the index inclusion so there are US indices for which Aura would technically qualify like some of the Russells and are are even much more widely followed than than the gold indice I mean is there any discussion of potential inclusion or potential inclusion in the Russells on the horizon we are monitoring and we have a plan this year to be included in all the indices that we can fulfill so we already were included above 30 different indexes but as you mentioned I think we have way more opportunity to to reach those major index funds that can not only helps with the pricing on the on the on the multiple but we also increase significantly our daily trading volume so definitely is in our agenda okay fantastic on Borborema could could you just confirm that the recovery is in Q1 26 to date are now hitting design capacities and if not what's left and sort of in what quarter should we think about that hitting the design recovery rates Robert you want to answer this but we are at the design around but yeah recovery we are at we we are at the design so it's not it's not a issue in fact to run the plant in the capacity that was designed is it isn't being an issue for us so it's a the the difference in production is mainly related to the the grades that we are feeding due to this strategy to to expand the pit with this new reserves and new cutoffs so just going to continue to answer Lawson that was a good question the mill is running super well actually we see room the mill to run even above the capacity CIL tanks the same that's why Kleber mentioned that where we have now although we are already at the anonymous capacity the filters are the bottleneck once we do these investment the filters then we can go beyond nominal capacity because everything else is running super well okay if I could ask about Matthew Pa from from both the point of view of CapEx and and annual production so one you guys have been investing a fair bit in exploration into Matthew Pa does that have any implications for what you're anticipated annual production rates will be like I mean at least for example at the investor day you highlighted 55,000 ounces a year from from that asset and then conversely I mean if that's the case what are we looking at in terms of a a magnitude of potential increase in upfront CapEx for Matthew Pa Matthew Pa I think we continue to to have this view of a 55,000 ounces we are not changing the nominal capacity of the plant what we are doing now is invest in exploration to expand the resource and reserves this this project has a resource of 400,000 ounces right below in terms of reserves but we say he is and with also based on we see a significantly room to expand the resource and reserves which then will fill that's the right time to start the construction and as we did with Almas we prefer to build this project prepare the plant to be flexible and expand because we know that we will even continue to expand resource and reserves beyond what we have today beyond what we will publish in the in the AIF so that that we can then increase the plant and understanding that if you change too much the design of the plant as of today even though we might see an opportunity it's a whole different new environmental license process so we prefer to respect what is in the license environmental and then during the years talk to the agents and then see opportunities to do amendments and then increase gradually the plant okay fantastic and if I could ask one more question just on Appawena I mean that mine continues to impress you guys are are planning to mine much higher grades than we had modeled at that asset in 2026 are these higher grades now sustainable into 2027 I think yes and we should reach higher grades by the second semester and then we'll last towards a couple of years so that we're it will be maintained I think we believe that we can put this mine into to 50 60,000 ounces of production on the running rate after the second semesters of this year if not go beyond depending on some of other exploration that we are doing at the mine it's a difficult mine but full of potential yeah and you guys have done a great job operating it so well done thank you very much for taking the questions thank you our next question comes from Mateus Moreira with Bradesco hi Rodrigo Kleber Natasha thank you for for taking my questions my first question is on Almas I would like to better understand the rationale behind the production guidance for for the mine I mean considering the the ongoing plant expansion and the fact that the mine is already operating at an analyzed one rate above the published guidance the numbers appear somewhat conservative to us are there maybe any operational bottlenecks or specific factors that you have already identified that could justify this more cautious approach so that's my first question and my second question on on M&As I would like to hear to explore a little bit more this topic within Aura's capital allocation framework and considering that the company is now operating at a different level of cash generation than in the past what type of assets in terms of size makes sense for for the company today and if possible could you comment on on geographic preferences you've already touched on this a little bit earlier but in the past you mentioned that potential expansion into North America does that still make sense strategically thank you thank you so in Almas we are operating at 2 million tons but we will go through expansion and reach 3 million tons by the end of the year so this is a a process that is going to happen during the year so today we are still yet below what we expect to be until the end of the year so that is also reflected on the production Almas also first year started with a higher grade so there is a lower grades coming in now during this year we will add a higher grades again when we we have the underground coming in so we should expect Almas for the next year after the underground then continue to increase our production together with the higher capacity and if we have a positive results on the exploration then we can even expand further to 4 million tons and then we'll see another step up and exploration so Almas I think you should you should see that some conservative scenario during this year but gradually continue to grow while we continue to expand capacity and then access higher grades when the underground mine come online in terms of a project I think we want to build the way to reach to a million ounces I think that's where companies start to become relevant and then also start to get a fair multiple we know very much how to get to 600,000 ounces so to go beyond this we will need a few acquisitions of course as you mentioned that we are growing and we have a larger balance sheet and we have a larger also higher production so that a meaningful more meaningful acquisitions should be coming online but again there's the higher the production the higher the acquisition is the higher also the CapEx so we will balance the internal rate of returns where this the right size 80,000 100,000 150 we saw sometimes even above 150 but that will really depends on the return we see and what the angle for Aura to generate the value right it's America's as I mentioned and you asked about North America I think I think is intuitive to think that down the road Aura will expand into North America.

Rodrigo Barbosa: We have this possibility of having credit life in the digital media. Comparing January with last January, we'll see a drop comparing January and January. We noticed that the penetration within the credit operation operations according to the credit life, were very similar to the beginning of 2025. That's why we are developing this work, to increase the number of clients that could take this kind of insurance. Now, we are in digital media. In December, 86% of the concessions for the workers were happening through digital media. It's a great opportunity. We talked about that with you, our historical penetration and credit life insurance in digital media is around 30%. 3 in 10 clients are entering in this journey of credit hiring through digital media.

comparing January and January, but we've noticed that the penetration within the credit operation, uh operations,

According to the credit life, we're very similar to the beginning of 25.

That's why.

we are developing this work to increase the

the number of plants that could take this kind of insurance.

No, we are in digital media.

In December, 86% of the concessions.

For the workers were happening through digital media. So it's a great opportunity. We talk about that with you. Our historical penetration and

Credit life, insurance in digital media is around 30%.

Rodrigo Barbosa: They also hire credit life. This is very important to us because we are bringing value to the client. We don't even have to offer this product to them. They come to us. We've been enhancing the portfolio. We've been studying that. We've observed how the peers are offering this product and how we should offer the product. We have this work group working on that. We disclosed the release. Now the retail executive is also a board member to reinforce this commitment of workforce that we have, that we can bring the results. This is a very important point. In our board, we have a statutory from retail, from mortgage. They are board members. We try to bring this ecosystem together. In practice, this is the idea of credit life insurance.

So, 3 in 10 clients are entering in this journey of credit hiring through digital media. They also hire a credit life, and this is very important to us. So, because we're bringing value to the client, we don't even have to offer this product to them. They come to us.

And we've been enhancing the portfolio. We've been studying that.

Served, uh, how the peers are offering this product and how we should offer the product. So, we have this work group working that—

We disclosed.

The release. But now, the retail executive is also a board member to reinforce this commitment of Workforce that we have so that we can bring the the results. So that's a very important point.

That our board, we have statutory from retail, from mortgage. They are board members. So we try to bring this ecosystem together. So, in practice,

Rodrigo Barbosa: This year, we have the digital media, but we don't have a INSS, so we must increase this journey, and after the implementation of the super app, capture all this audience to increase the client point. Thank you so much.

This is the idea of credit life insurance. So,

Uh, this year, we have the digital media, but we don't have any infrastructure. So we must increase Journey.

And after the implementation of the super app, capture all these audiences,

To increase.

The client, thank you so much.

Operator: Thank you, Arnold. Our next question comes from Mr. William Barranjard from Itaú Bank.

Thank you, Arnold. Our next question comes from Mr. William Bahane from Bank.

William Barranjard: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the presentation. Two quick questions. Back to credit life insurance, I wanted to understand if with this change, we can see a sales rerouting. You're not selling credit life, but maybe you're selling other segments. The second question concerning insurance, is concerning vehicle premiums, which is increasing a lot. Do you understand that this is a segment that we could see increasing this year or maybe in next years?

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the presentation. Two quick questions.

Back to better life insurance. I wanted to understand if with this change, we can see a sales rerouting so you're not selling credit life, but maybe you're—

Selling other uh, segments.

And the second question concerning insurance.

Is concerning.

Uh, vehicle premiums, which are increasing a lot. Do you understand that this is a segment that we could see increasing this year or maybe next year?

Rodrigo Barbosa: Thank you for the question, William Barranjard. Let's talk about this rerouting of the credit life that you commented. There's this offering because the client wants that protection, and we protect that with life insurance. It's not happening the same way as it happened with credit life insurance. Why is that? Because the credit life insurance is, it has, as one of the components, the coverage of the debt or part of the debt, and is traded within the journey of credit concession. It has its own peculiarities concerning the calculations and so on. That on the one hand, is making the process easier for the client, but on the other hand, when it's not there, it's harder for the client to understand that they have the possibility to hire that insurance. We offer that, but there's no one-to-one conversion. This is natural.

Thank you for the question, William.

Let's talk about this rerouting of the credit life that you commented.

There's this offering because the client wants that protection, and we protect that with life insurance, but it's not happening the same way as it happened with credit life insurance. And why is that? Because the credit life insurance has, as one of the components, the coverage of the debt or part of the debt and is—

Traded within the journey of credit confession. It has its own peculiarity.

The clear concerning the calculations and so on.

Is.

Making the process easier for the client. But on the other hand, when it's not there, it's harder for the client to understand that they have the possibility to hire that insurance. So we offered that, but

there's no no 1-to-1 conversion.

This is natural.

Rodrigo Barbosa: Yes, we are working with the offer of life insurance in this journey. Just to add to what Edgar had said, this is in line with this repositioning from the bank, with custom centrality. Caixa has this sales process that is very qualified when we observe other peers.

But yes, we are working.

With the offer of life insurance. And this journey,

Just to add to what Edgar said.

This is in line with this repositioning from the bank with—

With custom centrality.

Q4 2025 Aura Minerals Inc Earnings Call

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