Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IAMGOLD Corporation Fourth Quarter and year-end 2024 operating and financial results conference call and webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. During the conference call, at this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Graeme Jennings, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for IAMGOLD Corporation. Please go ahead, Mr. Jennings.

Thank you, operator. Welcome everyone to our conference call today. Joining us on the call are Renaud Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer; Maarten Theunissen, Chief Financial Officer; Bruno Lemelin, Chief Operating Officer; Dorinda Quinn, Chief People Officer; and Annie Torquiel Lagasse, Chief Legal and Strategy Officer. We are calling today from IAMGOLD Corporation's Toronto office in Canada, which is located on Treaty 13 territory on the traditional lands of the many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. At IAMGOLD Corporation, we believe respecting and upholding indigenous rights is founded upon relationships, trust, transparency, and mutual respect. Please note that our remarks on this call will include forward-looking statements and refer to non-IFRS measures. We encourage you to refer to the cautionary statements and disclosures on non-IFRS measures included in the presentation and the reconciliations of these measures in our most recent MD&A, each under the heading, Non-GAAP Financial Measures. With respect to the technical information to be discussed, please refer to the information in the presentation under the heading Qualified Person and Technical Information. The slides referenced on this call can be viewed on our website. I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Renaud Adams.

Thank you, Graeme, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Last year was a monumental year for IAMGOLD Corporation as the company achieved critical milestones that have positioned the company as a dynamic, modern, multi-asset, material gold producer with significant potential for free cash flow growth and expansion. IAMGOLD Corporation finished 2024 with total attributable gold production of 667,000 gold ounces, a 43% increase from the prior year and in line with our previously raised guidance estimates. This performance was driven by the successful startup of Côté Gold as well as exceptional operational output from Essakane and Westwood. Financially, the company took significant steps to improve its financial position and capitalize on the strong operating results and robust gold market. Highlights in the year include the completion of the repurchase agreement to return to the 70% interest level at Côté Gold, the successful net delivery and completion of half the legacy gold prepayment arrangement, all while still generating total adjusted EBITDA for the year of approximately $781 million, and further strengthening our balance sheet and financial flexibility with the bolstered credit facility resulting in us ending the year with total liquidity of approximately $767 million and the expectation of increasing free cash flow this year. Additionally, last night, alongside our financial results, we disclosed our updated mineral resources and reserve estimate. The highlights of which were a significant increase in ounces and grades at our Nelligan project, located in the Chibougamau region. With the update, Nelligan is now among the top largest gold deposits in Canada and is expected to continue to grow, all while being located in a top-tier mining jurisdiction. Another highlight from the mineral resources update was at Essakane, where the teams were able to increase the mineral reserves after accounting for depletion, suggesting…

Thank you, Renaud, and good morning, everyone. In terms of our financial position, at the end of the year, IAMGOLD Corporation had $347.5 million in cash and cash equivalents, and net debt of $859.3 million. The company has $220 million drawn on the credit facility and approximately $418.5 million remains available, resulting in liquidity at December 2024 of approximately $767 million. We note that within cash and cash equivalents, $46 million was held by the Côté Gold UJV, $130.2 million was held by Essakane, and $160 million was held in the corporate treasury. As we highlighted last quarter, but worth reiterating, Essakane paid a dividend during the second quarter of $180 million, of which the minority interest portion and withholding taxes were paid during the second quarter, and the company received a total dividend of $151.9 million. On November 30, 2024, the company issued a payment of $377.7 million to complete the repurchase of the 9.7% interest of the Côté Gold mine that was transferred to Sumitomo through the Côté Gold joint venture amending and funding agreement, returning IAMGOLD Corporation to its full 70% interest in Côté. The repurchase payment was funded through available cash balances and amounts available under the credit facility. On December 23, 2024, the company announced that it closed the sale of its 100% interest in the Karita gold project and associated exploration assets in Guinea for gross proceeds of $35.5 million. The definitive agreement to sell the Diakha-Siribaya Gold Project in Mali expired on December 31, 2024, and was not extended. The company is pursuing alternative options for the sale of this asset. Finally, as of today, the company has completed over half of its gold prepay obligations, having delivered 75,000 ounces into the 2022 gold prepayment range, of which 37,500 ounces were delivered in…

Thank you, Maarten, and congratulations again on your team's achievement last year. Starting with Côté Gold, I want to congratulate the team for their commitment and dedication to the safe ramp-up of Côté Gold. Since first gold, the mine has shown a systematic increase quarter over quarter in throughput and gold production. In the first year of operation, Côté Gold produced 199,000 ounces on a 100% basis. Looking at the fourth quarter, Côté produced 96,000 ounces on a 100% basis, which was a 41% increase from the prior quarter. A year ago on this call, we called for initial gold production in late first quarter, commercial production achieved in the third quarter of 2024, and set the target for Côté to exit the year at a throughput rate of approximately 90% of nameplate. We were able to achieve the first two of these milestones, with the mine achieving amongst the quickest ramp-ups to commercial production for a large-scale open-pit gold mine in Canada. Despite these successes, Côté was unable to sustainably exit the year at 90% throughput. In our early estimates, production guidance of 220,000 to 240,000 ounces was due to lower tons processed during the fourth quarter as a result of higher-than-expected downtime in order to conduct unplanned repairs. Mining activity totaled 10.8 million tons in the fourth quarter of 2024, modestly higher than the prior quarter, bringing the total tons mined for the year to 39.3 million tons, with an average strip ratio of 2.62:1. The average grade of mined ore was 0.97 grams per ton, with reconciliations between the grade control and reserve models in line with expected tolerance. Within the pit, the mine currently has two CAT 6060 electric shovels and 21 CAT 793 autonomous haul trucks now commissioned. Utilization rates of the primary mining equipment…

Please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. The first question comes from Anita Soni with CIBC World Markets.

Good morning, Renaud and team. A question on some of the challenges that you have had in January with the HPGR and some of the other crushers. You did issue guidance in January. Can you let us know whether or not your January guidance would have encompassed some of the issues you are encountering? I am just trying to understand the timing of these issues and whether or not we should be a little bit more conservative than what you had previously put out.

No. I mean, when we issued our guidance, we were absolutely in possession of all the information. We knew about the repair on the belt. We knew the repair of the guardrail, so that was all accounted for. We knew that we would change. It was already planned, anyway, to do a changeover of the rolls on the HPGR. So it was just advanced, but it is the same. So as a result, and as I just mentioned, we see Q1 a little lower than the rest, but we are going to pick up and increase with more tons processed in the second half. But no change, and we remain very confident about our guidance.

Okay. That is good to hear. I did have to see one lower with the changeovers happening.

Yeah. Yeah. And then in terms of the, sorry, the Oh, what was my question? Oh, sorry. The mining rates. How do you see that evolving over the course of the year?

We actually there yeah. There exist. As I mentioned, we were roughly in the 40 million mark for the 2024, the first year, successfully commissioned through the three additional trucks. We have already seen a pickup in the tons mined. Had a wonderful week in December at 150,000 tons. So to achieve 48 million tons this year is, like, moving from the previous average. It is about 10 million to about 12 million per quarter. We absolutely see this achievable. So we will see in Q1 because it is still in a ramp-up in the commissioning of the full commissioning of the trucks. But definitely, we see we have the capacity and the equipment, of course, to achieve our 48 million tons this year.

Okay. That is it for my questions. Thank you.

Thanks. The next question comes from Tanya Jakusconek with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking my questions. And I am just going to follow up from Anita's question on Côté. So just wanted to circle back, Renaud. Just as we think about and maybe just a bit more detail as we go through the quarter. So Q1 is weaker because of these changeovers that happened at the mill. Was anything else planned or is planned for downtime in Q2, Q3, Q4? As you do some additional repairs and or turnovers, I think there was something coming in later in the year as well that may have some downtime. So just trying to understand should I be thinking you had mentioned 3 million tons per quarter. But how should I be thinking of each quarter?

Yeah. I will ask Bruno to add a bit of color to this, but obviously, you know, like, as for the HPGR per se, that was an advancement from Q2 to Q1. So no real difference, but Bruno can get after this.

Thank you, Renaud. Good morning, Tanya. Good morning. Exactly what Renaud just mentioned, the roll replacement for the HPGR was scheduled to take place in May. Now we are understanding the wear pattern better. The other major shutdown is going to be the one in August, the annual shutdown. But with the wear pattern that we are seeing at the moment, it is very likely it is going to be shorter than expected also. Because we are seeing a wear pattern that is less aggressive than expected, so this is where we are right now, Tanya. We are understanding and learning the wear patterns of all our primary components. So the HPGR was a little bit faster, and the ball mill seems to be holding very well right now. Other than that,

So if you were to think about the quarter, would Q1 be the weakest, Q4 be the strongest, and do we see a progression upward, or are Q3 and Q2 equal? I am just trying to understand with this downtime in August.

Yeah. Because in Q2, you want to do the HPGR rolls replacement. So, essentially, Q2 is going to be higher than Q1, and after that, Q3 will also pick up in speed.

Okay. So you will So are you going despite all of these changes and things, you will see quarter over quarter improvements. Is what you are saying?

That is correct. Probably Q2, Q3 closer to each other for different reasons, but definitely Q1, the lowest, and Q4, the best. And as you say, like Q2, Q3, hopefully, Q3 a little bit more than Q2. We will be starting installations of the second crusher by mid-Q3, mid-Q2, early Q3. So should be minimal disruptions, but there is always some time to be done. So on that basis, you could argue that Q2, Q3 should be very similar or close to, but Q4 definitely should be our strongest.

Okay. And anything else on the critical path that we need to be aware of as we go through the year besides these changes that you have mentioned? Anything else? I mean, the mining, you know, we have got the three new trucks that are there about coming in. That is going to help on the mining front. But anything else that we should be aware of?

It is really all about the stability, Tanya, and I appreciate you know, like, during the commissioning, you know, every quarter, you know, unfortunately, this happened and so forth. But as Bruno mentioned, I think we have learned enormously from this. And, basically, it is all about okay. Of course, you have that design criteria of how many hours you should do, you know, and so far and the wear pattern and so forth, and you need to adjust some equipment, of course, maybe less familiar with some operators and more training. But globally, I think we have gone through the whole cycle. From the crushing to the grinding to the leaching, you know, and and green mine. I think we have gone through the whole cycle. We have a much better understanding of each of the equipment. So it is all about stability. So to answer your questions, we feel strong about the 48 million tons we are already seeing, you know, improvement in the pit, and as I have discussed, we will be less skewed and and and and supersurgations and allow for more performance and productivity of the pit. So we feel very strong. With the mining. And when it comes to the mill, it is really out of our possibility at this stage. And so we are really looking forward now with the last repair of the early mill to really push the gas. And crank up the tonnage. And and go for more stability and higher availability. And with that, you know the capacity is there. So as you are pro to 90% plus availability, you will be there. There is no capacity issues. It is just the stability matters. So so quite a long answer, but I thought I would clarify.

Okay. No. Thank you for that. And then I am just wondering on Essakane as well as you moved from this phase five into six and seven this year and and and yet there is less stripping. How does the profile look for the year there? I am just trying to understand overall for the company, how does the year progress? Does it that we start with, you know, a lower Q1 overall for the company and get to a higher Q4. I am just trying to get an understanding if there is any variability in Essakane and Westwood as well.

Yeah. Thanks for that question, and and the opportunity to clarify a bit because absolutely. So unfortunately, you know, at the same time, Q1 is a bit of a the quarter for for for Côté, you know, get a repair, the first half, and so forth. At the same time, we are entering phase six and seven. And and we have more than one discussed, you know, the the performance on the great reconciliation has you enter new faces at a very early stage versus when you are well established. And we have seen that in 2023, 2024 with phase five. We still have a phase five until probably midyear. But we are entering phase six, phase seven with a little bit slower, you know, on and less productive and great. So as a result, we we see Essakane potentially on target, but because of the six, seven, it could be that Essakane is slightly lower under Q1. And the pickup after that for the rest of the year. But originally, we were seeing about the same. But it could be possible that Q1 is slightly lower. And then the rest of the year.

Okay. That is helpful as well. So it kind of looks that, you know, you probably are seeing that quarter over quarter improvement for the company overall in 2025.

Okay. Good. So it is a fair comment.

Okay. And if I could just squeeze one more in, and it just is more strategic question for you. You know, just you you you mentioned, you know, over 90% of your M&I and inferred resources all sitting in Canada. And as we get, you know, Gosselin mine drill program study and then a better understanding of the mine plan for the whole complex. How do do you think it makes sense to keep Essakane within IAMGOLD Corporation? You know, you would then have your cash flow coming and do you think that by selling Essakane, remaining a totally Canadian company, you would get a better valuation.

I think you are talking about something that belongs more to the looking forward type of thing and yeah. You know, we are very pleased. At Canada. The truth is that we know, we have discussed numerous times, you know, the the strategic approach with Essakane and and, you know, they are we are looking at delivering our balance sheet in 2025, 2026. Strong free cash flow. Well, it is all about, you know, stability. Right? And, we we had a very strong 2024. We had no interruptions in our productions and that we have delivered in all metrics. To be very frank, you could argue, you know, that we have seen more stability in Essakane than a lot of large American banks, if you are. Take care. So I will not really comment on the details of our plan. What I know is that we have strong belief that Essakane will be a strong free cash flow producer and will make a huge difference for us for 2025 and 2026. As we are significantly improving our balance sheet. The rest belongs to stability, how things evolve, and so forth. So there is there is a lot at stake here. But we feel very confident to deliver another strong 2025.

Okay. That is a fair comment. Thank you very much for taking my question.

Thanks.

There are no further questions. I will now hand the call back over to Graeme Jennings for closing remarks.

Thank you very much, operator. And thanks everyone for joining us this morning. As always, should you have any additional questions, please reach out to Renaud or myself. Thank you all. Be safe and have a great day.

This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.