Kinross (KGC) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• President and Chief Executive Officer — J. Paul Rollinson
• Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer — Andrea Susan Freeborough
• Chief Operating Officer — Claude J. Schimper
• Senior Vice-President, Technical Services and Projects — William D. Dunford
• Senior Vice-President, External Relations — Geoffrey P. Gold

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TAKEAWAYS

• Production -- Total production was just over 2,000,000 ounces for the year and 484,000 ounces in the fourth quarter, meeting guidance.
• Cost Metrics -- Full-year cost of sales was $11.35 per ounce and all-in sustaining cost (AISC) was $1,571 per ounce; fourth quarter cost of sales was $12.89 per ounce and AISC was $1,825 per ounce, both higher sequentially due to higher gold prices and mine sequencing.
• Margins -- Margin per ounce rose to $2,283 for the year and $2,847 in the fourth quarter, reflecting a 66% increase versus a 43% rise in the gold price.
• Free Cash Flow -- Record free cash flow of $769,000,000 in Q4 and $2,500,000,000 for the full year, leading to net cash of approximately $1,000,000,000 at year end.
• Adjusted Earnings -- Adjusted earnings were $0.67 per share in Q4 and $1.84 per share for the year.
• Operating Cash Flow -- Adjusted operating cash flow reached $1,100,000,000 in Q4 and $3,600,000,000 for the full year, both records.
• Capital Returned -- Approximately $1,500,000,000 was returned to debt and equity holders during the year.
• Capital Expenditures (CapEx) -- Attributable CapEx totaled $362,000,000 in Q4 and $1,180,000,000 for the year; 2026 CapEx guided at $1,500,000,000 ($1,050,000,000 non-sustaining, $450,000,000 sustaining).
• Liquidity -- Year-end cash stood at $1,700,000,000, total liquidity at $3,500,000,000, and no near-term debt maturities remaining.
• Credit Rating -- Moody’s upgraded the company to Baa2 from Baa3 in December.
• Dividend Policy -- Annual dividend is increasing by $0.02 per share, or 14%, following a 17% increase in Q4, totaling a 33% annual rise; plan to return 40% of free cash flow to shareholders in 2026 through dividends and buybacks.
• 2026 Guidance -- Production is forecast at 2,000,000 ounces, evenly split across quarters, with cost of sales of $1,360 per ounce and AISC of $1,730 per ounce at a $4,500 gold price—AISC is up 10% over 2025, driven by 4% royalties, 5% inflation, and 1% mine sequencing.
• Major Operations -- Paracatu and Tasiast contributed 1,100,000 ounces combined, exceeding midpoint of guidance; Paracatu produced 601,000 ounces at $978 cost of sales, Tasiast 503,000 ounces at $884 cost of sales, both in line with guidance.
• US Projects -- Construction proceeding at three US projects (Phase S at Round Mountain, Curlew, Redbird 2), targeting over 3,000,000 ounces production, $4,300,000,000 NPV, 59% IRR, and average AISC of $1,660 per ounce.
• Resource Base -- 1,200,000 ounces of reserve added before depletion; resource base expanded by 1,600,000 ounces M&I and 3,400,000 ounces inferred, now totaling 27,000,000 ounces M&I and 17,000,000 ounces inferred.
• Great Bear Project -- Surface construction for AEX is 80% complete; provincial One Project One Process permitting designation received; targeted first gold remains late 2029, subject to permitting and impact statement submission at quarter-end.
• Labor Contracts -- Five-year collective agreement at Tasiast and two-year at La Coipa signed; Paracatu labor contract currently under negotiation, considered routine.
• Sustainability -- 1.5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions achieved via over 30 projects; top mining governance ranking maintained in Globe and Mail survey; ongoing healthcare donations in Mauritania cited.
• Exploration -- Brownfield exploration supported 1,200,000-ounce reserve addition and new resource potential, with significant high-grade intercepts highlighted at Tasiast West Branch, Fort Knox Gil, and Bald Mountain Rat pit.

SUMMARY

Kinross Gold Corporation(NYSE:KGC) delivered record free cash flow and adjusted operating cash flow, significantly strengthening its balance sheet and enabling an increased capital return program anchored by a 40% free cash flow payout target. New construction starts across three high-margin US projects, each with rapid payback and substantial NPV, represent a key strategic shift toward organic growth. The resource and reserve update highlights continued inventory expansion, underpinned by exploration success and elevated gold price assumptions, offering extended production visibility through the decade. The Great Bear project advanced both technically and on the permitting front, with provincial regulatory streamlining potentially accelerating development timelines. Management remained disciplined in cost guidance, attributing a 10% AISC rise largely to external royalty and inflation drivers, while sustaining operational execution at legacy assets.

• The company received a Moody’s upgrade to Baa2, restoring its investment-grade balance sheet status.
• Adjusted earnings per share were $0.67 in Q4 and $1.84 for the year.
• Liquidity at $3,500,000,000 eliminates any near-term refinancing risk, with debt maturities now extended to 2033 and 2041.
• Buybacks will be the primary vehicle for returning shareholder capital, supplementing a steadily rising baseline dividend.
• Permitting momentum at Great Bear is reinforced by the “One Project One Process” Ontario framework, with federal permitting also advancing and a targeted 2029 first gold milestone.
• Upcoming catalysts include quarterly execution on share repurchases, submission of the Great Bear Project impact statement, and a formal project update for Lobo Marte later in the year.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• AISC (All-In Sustaining Cost): Comprehensive per-ounce cost metric for gold production, including cash costs, sustaining capital, and corporate expenses.
• AEX: Advanced Exploration, referencing early-stage surface and decline development activities at the Great Bear project.
• M&I (Measured and Indicated): Resource classification indicating reasonably well-defined confidence in estimated mineral content.
• One Project One Process: Ontario permitting initiative providing streamlined provincial approval processes for major mining projects.
• NPV (Net Present Value): The present value of the expected future cash flows from a mining project, discounted at a specified rate.
• IRR (Internal Rate of Return): Discount rate at which the net present value of all cash flows from a project equals zero, commonly used for mining investment decision-making.
• EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment): Regulatory study required for new mining projects, assessing environmental and social impacts prior to approval.
• Phase S: Specific development phase at Round Mountain, transitioning from open-pit to underground mining, with implications for cost structure and mine life.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Thanks, David, and thank you all for joining us. This morning, I will provide an overview of our fourth quarter and full-year results, highlight our operations and projects, discuss our outlook for the business going forward, and review our achievements in sustainability. I will then hand the call over to the team to provide more detail. Looking back, 2025 was another strong year for our business, underpinned by consistent operational and financial performance. We produced just over 2,000,000 ounces and achieved our cost guidance, demonstrating a rigorous focus on cost control. As a result, our margins increased by 66% compared to a 43% increase in the gold price. This margin expansion resulted in record free cash flow generation for our business, with $769,000,000 generated in Q4 and $2,500,000,000 for the full year. This free cash flow strengthened our balance sheet and allowed us to return significant capital in 2025. In addition to returning approximately $1,500,000,000 of capital to debt and equity holders, we also ended the year with approximately $1,000,000,000 of net cash. With respect to operations, Tasiast and Paracatu continued to anchor the portfolio in 2025. Together, they accounted for approximately 1,100,000 ounces for the full year, more than half of our production, at strong margins. At Paracatu, full-year production of over 600,000 ounces exceeded the midpoint of guidance, with production exceeding 500,000 ounces for the eighth consecutive year. At Tasiast, full-year production also exceeded the midpoint of guidance and the mine was once again our highest-margin operation in the portfolio. In La Coipa, we delivered on full-year production guidance and saw strong performance in the fourth quarter. In the U.S., our assets delivered another solid year of operations, with full-year guidance achieved. Turning now to our projects. In 2025, we continued to make excellent progress across our attractive pipeline. In mid-January, we announced that we are proceeding with construction of three high-quality organic growth projects, which will extend mine life and benefit the long-term costs of our U.S. portfolio. Each of these projects demonstrates compelling economics at a range of gold prices and represents a strong case to invest capital to grow the overall value of the business. We also saw notable progress across our broader resource base, with resource additions at several assets enhancing our strong resource optionality and long-term production outlook. We also continue to advance our two world-class development projects, Great Bear and Lobo Marte. At Great Bear, surface construction for the AEX is well advanced and we look forward to starting construction of the exploration decline later this year. I am very pleased to report that we were just designated under the Ontario One Project One Process, which Geoff will elaborate more on. For the main project, detailed engineering and permitting continues to advance as we work with the Ontario and federal authorities, including the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. The third and final phase of the impact statement submission remains on schedule to be filed at the end of this quarter. At Lobo Marte, we are progressing baseline studies and plan to submit an EIA by Q2, and we look forward to providing a project update later this year. With respect to our outlook, we are reaffirming our stable multiyear production profile. Production of 2,000,000 ounces for 2026 and 2027 remains consistent with our previous guidance. And we are introducing a new year of production of 2,000,000 ounces for 2028, at which time our new higher-grade U.S. projects are expected to come online, coinciding with higher-grade mining at Tasiast. Together, we expect this will provide an organic offset to cost inflation through grade enhancement within the mine plan. Looking further ahead, we expect production to remain around the 2,000,000-ounce level through the end of the decade, supported by the higher-grade mining at Tasiast, U.S. projects, open-pit extensions at La Coipa, and the start-up of Great Bear. As with everyone in the industry, costs are expected to increase compared to 2025, primarily on higher royalties and inflation. However, I want to stress that we are holding the line on what we can control through continued cost discipline. With respect to future capital allocation plans, we will continue to remain disciplined to ensure that we are investing in our operations to maintain a reliable low-risk business, growing net asset value through continued pipeline development and strengthening our balance sheet while also returning meaningful capital to shareholders. The outlook for our business remains very robust, and Andrea will speak more on our plans to return capital to shareholders later. Turning to sustainability. In 2025, we continued to advance several priorities across this important area. In Q2, we will publish our annual sustainability report, which will provide a detailed review on our sustainability performance and initiatives throughout 2025. Some highlights from the past year include: under the heading of environment, we completed an energy efficiency program delivering an estimated 1.5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through the implementation of more than 30 projects across our sites. Under the heading of social, in Mauritania, we donated medical supplies to our longstanding partnership with Project C.U.R.E. and Mauritania’s Ministry of Health. To date, the program has supported more than 70 health clinics. And under the heading of governance, we were once again named the top-scoring mining company in the Globe and Mail’s annual corporate governance ranking, including maintaining placement in the top 15% of companies overall. With that, I will now turn the call over to Andrea. Thanks, Paul.

Andrea Susan Freeborough: This morning, I will review our financial highlights from the quarter and full year, provide an overview of our balance sheet and our capital allocation plan, and discuss our outlook

Andrea Susan Freeborough: and guidance.

Andrea Susan Freeborough: We finished the year producing just over 2,000,000 ounces, in line with guidance, with 484,000 ounces produced in the fourth quarter. Cost of sales of $12.89 per ounce and all-in sustaining cost of $18.25 per ounce in the fourth quarter were higher compared to the prior quarter

Andrea Susan Freeborough: as expected,

Andrea Susan Freeborough: due to higher gold prices and lower planned production related to mine sequencing. Full-year cost of sales of $11.35 per ounce and full-year all-in sustaining cost of $1,571 per ounce were in line with guidance despite the impact from higher royalties. Margins were strong at $2,847 per ounce sold in Q4 and $2,283 per ounce for the full year. Our adjusted earnings were $0.67 per share in Q4 and $1.84 per share for the full year. Adjusted operating cash flow was a record $1,100,000,000 in Q4 and a record $3,600,000,000 for the full year. Attributable CapEx was $362,000,000 in Q4 and $1,180,000,000 for the full year, in line with our full-year guidance.

Attributable free cash flow was a record $769,000,000 in Q4 and a record $2,500,000,000 for the full year. Turning to the balance sheet. We continue to strengthen our financial position with significant cash flow generation in 2025, $700,000,000 of debt repayments, and significant growth in our cash position. In Q1, we repaid the remaining $200,000,000 on the term loan we used to fund the acquisition of Great Bear. And after redeeming our 05/2027 senior notes in December, we ended the year with $1,700,000,000 in cash, approximately $3,500,000,000 of total liquidity, and net cash of approximately $1,000,000,000. We now have no near-term debt maturities, with $500,000,000 due in 2033 and $250,000,000 due in 2041.

In December, we received a credit rating upgrade, Moody’s Investors Service upgrading our rating

Andrea Susan Freeborough: to Baa2 from Baa3.

Andrea Susan Freeborough: Also in December, we renewed our $1,500,000,000 revolving credit facility, restoring the five-year term. Turning to our guidance and outlook. We are forecasting production in the range of 2,000,000 ounces for 2026, remaining consistent with previous guidance. Production is expected to be relatively evenly split across the year at approximately 490,000 to 510,000 ounces each quarter. With respect to cost this year, we are guiding $13.60 per ounce for cost of sales and $17.30 per ounce for all-in sustaining costs

Andrea Susan Freeborough: at a gold price of $4,500 per ounce.

Andrea Susan Freeborough: The expected increase of 10% for all-in sustaining costs compared to 2025 is driven by three factors:

Andrea Susan Freeborough: First,

Andrea Susan Freeborough: higher royalty cost due to higher gold prices, resulting in an approximate impact of 4% or $55 per ounce. Second, overall cost inflation of 5% or $75 per ounce. And the remaining 1% is primarily related to mine plan sequencing across the portfolio. With the increase in costs largely related to noncontrollable factors, our cost guidance continues to demonstrate our effective cost management strategy. Our capital expenditure guidance of $1,500,000,000 for 2026 reflects annual inflation and planned higher capital investment as we reinvest more in our business to extend mine lives and increase production in the late 2020s and 2030. Approximately $1,050,000,000 of our total CapEx is expected to be non-sustaining, with the remaining $450,000,000 expected to be sustaining capital.

Looking ahead, our production guidance of 2,000,000 ounces remains unchanged for 2027. And we have now added another year, 2028, to our stable 2,000,000-ounce

Andrea Susan Freeborough: profile.

Andrea Susan Freeborough: Capital expenditures for 2027 and 2028 are expected to be approximately in line with 2026, subject to ongoing inflation and potential other project opportunities for the 2030s that are currently under study.

Andrea Susan Freeborough: As Paul noted,

Andrea Susan Freeborough: we will maintain our disciplined capital allocation strategy, which includes reinvesting in our business, where we have chosen to increase capital expenditures by $350,000,000 this year, continuing to strengthen our investment-grade balance sheet, and returning meaningful capital to shareholders. This year, we are targeting to return approximately 40% of our free cash flow back to shareholders through both dividends and share repurchases. Our shares remain a strong return on invested capital, considering our attractive valuation and free cash flow yield. With respect to dividends, we are further increasing our dividend by $0.02 per share annually, or 14%, following a 17% increase we announced in Q4, for a total increase of 33%.

Also, as a reminder, as typical for us, we expect Q1 to be a higher cash outflow quarter due to annual tax payments in Brazil and Mauritania and semiannual interest payments on the remaining senior notes. We expect to start executing our share buyback program next week. I will now turn the call over to Claude to discuss our operations.

Claude J. Schimper: Thank you, Andrea. I would like to start with our safety culture. In the fourth quarter, our risk management practices continued to be strengthened across all the assets, ensuring that our highest-risk activities are consistently and effectively controlled in the field. Building on our safety excellence programs, we continue to enhance capability at the frontline by investing in our field supervisors, equipping them with practical tools, targeted training, and visible leadership expectations to improve the quality of our critical control verifications. In December, we signed a five-year collective labor agreement at Tasiast and a two-year CLA at La Coipa.

Claude J. Schimper: Reflecting our ongoing partnership with our employees and ensuring stability for both the local workforce and our businesses in Mauritania and Chile. Our culture of operational excellence, which is backed by dedicated site teams, continues to drive strong performance from our operations. Beginning with Paracatu, the mine delivered another strong year of production, exceeding 600,000 ounces, resulting in significant cash flow. Full-year production of 601,000 ounces exceeded the midpoint of guidance. Cost of sales of $978 per ounce were below the midpoint of guidance. Production of 155,000 ounces in the fourth quarter increased over the prior quarter due to timing of ounces processed through the mill, partially offsetting lower planned throughput.

Paracatu is expected to produce 600,000 ounces at a cost of sales of $12.40 per ounce in 2026. Tasiast delivered another strong year of operations with full-year production of 503,000 ounces at a cost of sales of $884 per ounce, both meeting guidance. Tasiast was once again our lowest-cost operation in 2025, delivering robust cash flow. In the first quarter, the site delivered 126,000 ounces at a cost of sales of $1,002 per ounce. Production was higher over the prior quarter due to higher grades and stronger throughput. Tasiast is expected to be slightly higher in 2026 and 2027 compared to the technical report due to ongoing mine plan optimization.

The site is expected to maintain production at around the 500,000-ounce level until we are back into higher grades in 2028.

Claude J. Schimper: In 2026,

Claude J. Schimper: Tasiast is expected to deliver 505,000 ounces with a target cost of sales of $1,050 per ounce and is expected to be our lowest-cost operation once again this year. La Coipa delivered a strong final quarter with production of 67,000 ounces, improving over the prior quarter on higher mill throughput. Full-year production of 232,000 ounces was in line with guidance. In 2026, mining at La Coipa will continue to take place at the two open pits, Phase 7 and Puren, and blend the ore feed into the process plant. La Coipa is anticipated to produce 210,000 ounces at a cost of sales of $1,320 per ounce in 2026.

Our U.S. assets collectively delivered full-year production of 676,000 ounces at a cost of sales of $1,426 per ounce, in line with guidance. Production of 136,000 ounces in the final quarter was on plan. In Alaska, fourth-quarter production of 65,000 ounces was lower compared to the prior quarter, and cost of sales of $16.73 per ounce was higher as a result of planned mine sequencing, including lower contributions from Manh Choh. At Bald Mountain, we produced 38,000 ounces at a cost of sales of $1,192 per ounce, and production was lower over the prior quarter while costs were higher due to planned mining of lower-grade areas at the Galaxy and Royal pits.

At Round Mountain, production of 32,000 ounces was lower compared to the prior quarter as Phase S continued to transition into initial ore while processing from lower-grade stockpiles, resulting in a higher cost per ounce sold. With that, I will now pass the call over to William to discuss our resource update and projects. Thanks, Claude. I will start by providing an update

William D. Dunford: on our year-end reserve and resource. For this year, we have updated our reserve price to $2,000 per ounce and our resource price to $2,500 per ounce. The intention was to be more reflective of the recent gold price environment while still maintaining discipline and a focus on strong margins. Starting with reserves, I am pleased to report that we added 1,200,000 ounces of reserve before depletion. At Paracatu, we saw a 700,000-ounce addition,

Claude J. Schimper: largely offsetting depletion through mine design optimization and successful near-mine exploration.

William D. Dunford: At Bald Mountain, we added 200,000 ounces before depletion,

Claude J. Schimper: primarily through conversion of resources to reserves at the five satellite pits that were approved as part of the Redbird 2 project.

William D. Dunford: At Tasiast, we added 200,000 ounces before depletion,

Claude J. Schimper: with additions both at West Branch in the existing pit design and at the Fennec satellite pit.

William D. Dunford: At Round Mountain, the transition to underground replaced just over 1,000,000 ounces of lower-margin,

Claude J. Schimper: lower-grade open pit reserves,

William D. Dunford: with approximately 1,200,000 ounces of higher-grade, higher-margin underground reserves, fully offsetting our depletion. We are pleased to continue to see this type of progress in our reserve base,

Claude J. Schimper: extending mine life as we advance exploration, optimizations, and project studies across the portfolio.

William D. Dunford: We have also grown our resource base by 1,600,000 ounces of M&I

William D. Dunford: and 3,400,000 ounces of inferred. These resource additions were spread across our portfolio and were reflective of both exploration success and the impact of higher gold prices as we continue to hold the line on cost.

Claude J. Schimper: Increasing the size of potential future open pit laybacks at some assets.

William D. Dunford: Just as we are holding the line on costs, we are also holding the line on our cutoff grades to ensure we maintain the margin and quality of our resource,

Claude J. Schimper: and only saw a small resource addition

William D. Dunford: from additional mill feed at the end of mine life

Claude J. Schimper: at the higher gold price.

William D. Dunford: We are pleased to see these strong additions to enhance our long-term resource optionality. You can see on this slide a summary of that significant resource optionality, which now includes 27,000,000 ounces of M&I and approximately 17,000,000 ounces of inferred. These resources, which include a number of projects across our operating and development sites, form the pipeline of potential opportunities that we are progressing to support our production profile through the end of the decade and into the 2030s. Our January announcement of progression to construction across three high-return projects in the U.S. is a great example, demonstrating the depth and quality of the significant resource base and how we are progressing these projects into our business plan.

Phase S at Round Mountain is a low-cost, bulk-tonnage, underground opportunity that extends operation through 2038, with average annual production of approximately 140,000 ounces.

Claude J. Schimper: Curlew is a high-grade underground

William D. Dunford: that leverages existing infrastructure at the Kettle River mill,

Claude J. Schimper: and at the historic Curlew Mine to bring online an additional high-margin mine

William D. Dunford: that produces up to 100,000 ounces per year. And the Redbird 2 project is a highly efficient extension of mining at Bald Mountain, providing the next anchor pits alongside five satellite pits that combined deliver 640,000 ounces. We have progressed the construction across these three projects on the back of strong margins, with an average AISC of $1,660 per ounce, quick paybacks of less than two years,

Claude J. Schimper: a combined NPV of $4,300,000,000,

William D. Dunford: and combined IRR of 59% at $4,500 gold. Together, they are expected to add over 3,000,000 ounces of production, just based on the initial resource and mine plan inventory

Claude J. Schimper: we have drilled to date.

William D. Dunford: We are excited to be moving ahead with three high-quality projects as we continue to execute our portfolio grade-enhancement strategy. Beyond our initial life-of-mine at Phase S and Curlew, to go out to 2038, both projects have significant potential for mine life extension

Claude J. Schimper: down dip

William D. Dunford: and further enhance our return on asset value.

Claude J. Schimper: At Phase S,

William D. Dunford: we have recently completed drilling 220 meters down dip, which has demonstrated mineralization continues, with similar strong width and grade, providing further confirmation of our hypothesis that the system extends significantly down dip. This mineralization provides potential for both mine life extensions and for mining rate increases, through opening of more mining horizons, potentially increasing the production rate. At Curlew, Stealth and Roadrunner exploration development completed last year has provided drilling access to target wide high-grade resource extensions in these areas to augment our production profile in the mid-30s, and drilling is now underway. As you can see on the slide, we have seen strong intercepts outside of the current resource and mine plan inventory.

Claude J. Schimper: In both of these zones. Good width,

William D. Dunford: and grades that have potential to extend the mine life and enhance the margins of the asset. Exploration will continue to be a priority for these two sites, and we look forward to providing further drilling updates through 2026. With these three projects now progressing to construction, expected to come online in 2028,

Claude J. Schimper: our focus is now shifting to adding value-accretive production in the 2030s. This slide shows a summary of some of the longer-term projects in that extensive resource

William D. Dunford: base that are our next focus to progress. I will come back to an update on Great Bear, which is next in line, shortly. Moving across to Chile,

Claude J. Schimper: at Lobo Marte, the project team continues to advance technical work

William D. Dunford: as well as baseline studies to support our upcoming EIA submission, and we look forward to providing a project update later this year.

Claude J. Schimper: At Tasiast,

William D. Dunford: we continue to see positive results down dip at West Branch and are studying both open pit and underground optionality there for mine life extensions in the 30s. At Paracatu, this year, we will be progressing technical and baseline studies and refreshing the mine plan to refine our view given the extent of resource base. Beyond these projects, we are continuing to progress exploration and studies for pit layback opportunities that you can see in our resource base across our portfolio, with a strong focus on Paracatu, Fort Knox, and La Coipa Extension. Now moving to Great Bear.

Both the AEX program and main project are progressing well, with the main project on schedule for first production later in 2029, subject to permitting.

Claude J. Schimper: Starting with updates on AEX, we made strong progress on-site

William D. Dunford: construction. Surface construction for AEX is 80% complete. As Paul noted, we look forward to construction of the exploration decline later this year pending receipt of provincial permits, which Geoff will comment on shortly. With respect to the main project,

Claude J. Schimper: which remains on track,

William D. Dunford: detailed engineering and technical work continue to advance well. Detailed engineering is now approximately 35% complete. Initial major equipment procurement for process plant and surface infrastructure is already underway, with contract awards in progress. Manufacturing of selected long-lead items is anticipated to commence later this year. With respect to exploration at Great Bear, in 2025, our efforts shifted to focus on regional exploration across a 120-square-kilometer land package.

Claude J. Schimper: Deep drilling completed up to 1.8 kilometers along strike

William D. Dunford: of the main LP Fault, returned encouraging results, indicating high-grade mineralization beyond the current resource base. Drilling on the broader land package outside of the main LP trend also returned encouraging results. We will progress additional drilling to follow up on these results along trend and on the broader land package this year. I will now hand it over to Geoff to discuss the permitting progress at Great Bear. Thanks, Will. Permitting of the AEX program and the main project continue to advance as we work hand in hand with the Ontario and federal authorities. Focusing on AEX, we continue to work with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to finalize the two remaining AEX permits.

We anticipate receiving these permits and to commence construction of the decline by Q2 of this year. Turning to the main project, which remains on schedule, work has commenced on both federal and provincial permits.

Geoffrey P. Gold: Federally,

Geoffrey P. Gold: we continue to work with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, IAAC, to advance the project impact statement. The first two of three phase submissions for the project’s impact statement were filed on time in September and December respectively. The third and final phase is scheduled to be submitted at the end of Q1 of this year, as previously noted. As a reminder, finalizing the impact statement and receiving the final impact assessment report from IAAC is the critical first step to obtaining the other federal and provincial permits we require to construct and operate the Great Bear mine.

Work has also commenced on other main project federal permits, with technical documents submitted to Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada during the quarter. Provincially, we were pleased that the main project was recently designated for the One Project One Process permitting framework by the Ontario Minister of Energy and Mines, Steven Lecce. This helpful initiative aims to better coordinate, integrate, and streamline Ontario mining project authorizations, permitting, and Indigenous community consultation, which we support. We expect this more coordinated framework will facilitate the Ontario component of Great Bear permitting and targeted first gold production later in 2029. Respecting Indigenous communities, we continue to advance the negotiation of benefits agreements

Andrea Susan Freeborough: dollar budget in 2026. We had a strong year of brownfields exploration, driving both the significant reserve additions we spoke about earlier and identification of additional resource potential across a number of projects, a few of which I will now highlight. First, at Tasiast, we have continued to see positive results at West Branch. With 2025 deep drilling demonstrating that mineralization continues at least 1.8 kilometers down plunge of our existing underground resource. Next, in Alaska, the team spent 2025 building on our knowledge of the Gil satellite deposit at Fort Knox, alongside opportunity drilling near the Fort Knox pit to enhance the optionality of our next layback.

Results at Gil were encouraging, with a few highlight intercepts shown on the slide, strong grades and widths, including a 15.2 gram per tonne intercept over more than four meters. Gil is a satellite opportunity with potential to augment production in future phases of the Fort Knox main pit. And as a last highlight, at Bald Mountain, efforts have continued to explore our large land package at the site, and we were successful at bringing in the 200,000-ounce reserve add I mentioned earlier, primarily through satellite pit extension. We have also seen strong results outside of those satellite pits that were added to reserves as part of the Redbird 2 project.

One highlight was the drilling at the Rat satellite pit. We saw intercepts with significant grades and widths, including 10 grams per tonne over 16 meters. Rat is one of more than 40 historic mining areas on the property and will be a focus to explore and study for potential to complement our next anticipated anchor pit at Bald Mountain, the Top pit. You can find more details on the strong results from our 2025 brownfield program and our plans for 2026 in our press release. Moving to our greenfields program, we completed approximately 40 kilometers of drilling across targets in Canada, the U.S., and Finland. In Canada, exploration was primarily focused in Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Ontario.

At Snow Lake in Manitoba, we saw exciting new results both from our first drill program on the McCafferty property, including an intercept of four meters at 34 grams per tonne, and from grab sampling on the SLG property, which returned a number of results with strong gold grades. These properties further complement the high-grade vein system we have outlined at Laguna North, providing critical mass to support further exploration work in the area. In New Brunswick, work consisted of mapping and drilling in the Williams Brook JV property, where gold-rich quartz veins were identified at the Lynx Hill.

At Red Lake North in Ontario, fieldwork also identified several high-grade quartz veins, and rock grab samples returned numerous strong grades, the highest assay returning 65 grams per tonne. In Nevada, we completed two drill holes at the PWC JV project to test for lower-plate, Carlin-type host rocks. The program returned a 149-meter mineralized intercept, confirming the presence of Carlin-type disseminated gold. Our work this year will focus on following up on this exciting result. We continue to be encouraged by our success identifying earlier-stage brownfields and greenfields opportunities to progress into our resource base and projects pipeline. We plan to build on this success in 2026. I will now turn it back to Paul for closing remarks. Thanks, Will.

After delivering on our commitments in 2025, we are well positioned for a strong 2026. Our business is in great shape both operationally and financially.

J. Paul Rollinson: With a number of upcoming catalysts for the year ahead, including ongoing return of capital through our dividend and share repurchases, continued strengthening of our balance sheet supported by strong operational performance and cash flow generation, advancing our projects pipeline, including the U.S. projects discussed in January, as well as Great Bear and Lobo Marte, which we intend to provide a project update on later this year, and continued exploration intended to bring in new projects and mine life extensions. Looking forward, we are excited about our future. We have a strong production profile. We are generating significant free cash flow. We have an excellent balance sheet. We have an attractive return of capital.

We have an exciting pipeline of both exploration and development opportunities. And we are very proud of our commitment to responsible mining that continues to make us a leader in sustainability. With that, operator, I would like to open up the line for questions. At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to

Operator: ask a question, please press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. First question comes from the line of Fahad Tariq with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Fahad Tariq: Hi. Thanks for taking my question. On Great Bear, the One Project, One Process designation, I believe Kinross is the first major mining company to receive that. Can you maybe talk about the relationship with the provincial government and whether this could help get Great Bear into the Major Projects Office designation at the federal level? Thanks.

Geoffrey P. Gold: Yeah, sure. I will take that question. Let me start by saying that we were pleased by the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Mines’ decision to designate the Great Bear project for inclusion in the One Project One Process, and we believe this designation represents an important milestone. I am going to talk about both processes. At the One Project One Process level, the main benefit of the designation is a more streamlined and integrated approach for the provincial component of main project permitting, and it gives us a single point of contact at the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Mines to coordinate all required provincial authorizations, permitting,

Geoffrey P. Gold: and First Nations consultation. And so as a result, we expect that will help facilitate

Geoffrey P. Gold: the provincial piece of main project permitting and targeted first gold production in late 2029.

Fahad Tariq: And

Geoffrey P. Gold: we have worked hand in hand through this process with the Ministry of Mines and other provincial permitting agencies, and we are pleased with the relationship. It is a strong relationship as we continue to work together to develop the project. On your federal piece of the question, I can tell you that we have been in touch with the federal Major Projects Office, and they, along with other federal agencies, are aware of the Great Bear project and its potential significant

Geoffrey P. Gold: economic and sustainable benefits for predominantly Ontario, but Canada and Indigenous communities.

Geoffrey P. Gold: And it is absolutely possible to obtain designations under both the One Project One Process permitting framework that I talked about previously and the federal National Project of Interest framework, but we have elected at this juncture to not apply for that federal designation. We believe that with the benefit of the One Project One Process designation that we currently have, along with the fact, as Paul noted, that

Geoffrey P. Gold: we are far enough along with the federal impact assessment process overseen by IAAC. As we told the markets, we will be filing the third and final phase of our impact statement at the end of Q1, so we believe we are well positioned for our targeted first gold production in late 2029. Great. Appreciate the detailed response. That is very clear. And then maybe just switching gears to 2026 cost guidance. Can you just break out the impact of the royalties, the higher royalties because of the higher gold price, and underlying cost inflation? Thanks.

Andrea Susan Freeborough: Sure. I can take that. It is Andrea. I will start with talking about all-in sustaining costs. Our total all-in sustaining cost guidance is up about 10% over 2025, and most of that is related to those two items, inflation and higher royalties on gold price. So, of the 10% increase, 5% is inflation and 4% is royalties from using the $4,500 gold price versus where we were for 2025. And then there is about a 1% increase that is left, and that is really puts and takes across the portfolio on that mine plan sequencing. When we look at cash cost, there is a bigger increase, so the increase looks like 20% year over year.

Half of that 20% is the inflation and royalties. And the other half is sequencing as well. There is a bit of a different impact there that is kind of accounting characterization of our stripping costs. We started to see this starting in the second half of last year where stripping costs moved from being characterized as sustaining capital at some of our assets into operating costs. So we see the increase in cash costs but the offset of that is in sustaining capital. That is why there is no impact or a very small impact on the all-in sustaining cost guidance.

I would say overall, we are moving the same spend; it is just the characterization of cost shows up differently.

Fahad Tariq: Okay. Great. Thank you very much.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Major with UBS. Your line is open.

Daniel Major: Hi, and thanks so much for the presentation. First question

Daniel Major: just on the capital allocation and cash returns going forward. I think it is great that you are anchoring a capital return to free cash flow going forward. But I suppose two parts to the question. Is there a preference or can you comment on the split between ongoing buybacks and potential special dividends to get to the 40% of free cash capital return? And then 40% of free cash flow with a $1,000,000,000 net cash position implies you are going to continue to build net cash. What are you going to use that for? And is there a maximum limit above which you would pay it all out to shareholders?

J. Paul Rollinson: I will start, and Andrea can jump in. The first part of the question, we have a baseline dividend that is meant to be there forever, and the bulk of the return of capital really comes in the form of the buyback. We like the buyback. We think a lot of our investors prefer the buyback. One of the things we like about the buyback is it does come with that benefit of reducing our share count and therefore improving our per-share metrics. We reduced our share count last year, and our intention is to do that again this year.

So in terms of the preference between dividend and buyback, we will do both, but the greater volume or total of cash will be returned through the form of the buyback. Looking forward, I think our focus is to get the appropriate return of capital, and that is why, as you acknowledged, we focused on a percentage of free cash flow. That is the focal point. We do realize that in the context of current prices, there will be more cash flow and, therefore, more returns than we had last year. So we are increasing. But at the same time, we are reinvesting in our business.

We do expect in the context of spot that our balance sheet will continue to strengthen. But the point there is we also have to look at the other side of it. With these higher gold prices, as we have already seen, we expect higher royalties, higher taxes. We just demonstrated with the announcement on the U.S. projects, we have lots of optionality in our pipeline. And we will take a steady-as-she-goes approach with the balance sheet, while reinvesting in our business with the appropriate return of capital, expecting that we may have higher taxes, royalties, and opportunities to reinvest in our business.

Daniel Major: Okay.

Daniel Major: Thanks. Then a follow-on to that. In terms of the inorganic options, are you actively looking at many opportunities at this point?

J. Paul Rollinson: I would say we get the question reasonably frequently. We do have a very strong internal technical team. We do look at opportunities, particularly if there is a process. But I would say we are hard markers. We are not under any pressure. When you look at our reserve-resource—really more of our resource optionality—we have lots of depth in our organic portfolio. We have given good visibility on our guidance for three years and beyond. So we do not feel under any pressure. What that means is if we saw the right thing and we felt it created value, we would have a look at it.

We certainly do not feel under any pressure, and we are quite happy with the organic profile as it looks today. As I said, our objective really with the free cash flow is to continue to grow our per-share metrics.

Daniel Major: Great. Thanks. And then last one for me. I think I see you slowly changed the way of the accounting for the tax payables. But just on that, in terms of Q1 now we are past the year-end, what we should be expecting in terms of the cash outflow. And you have obviously given the guidance for cash for the full year. And then with respect to the run rate, the capital return free cash flow will be lower in Q1 because of the tax payments. Should we read that you will slow the buyback? Or will you just look to distribute that at a similar rate through the year?

Andrea Susan Freeborough: We, as I noted in my remarks, have not started the buyback yet just because of the more significant cash outflows in Q1, largely related to tax, and I will come back to that. But we are planning to get on the buyback next week. So, on the whole, Q1 may be lower than the rest of the year. But given we are targeting the 40% of free cash flow for total return of capital, it will be a bit of a calibrate-as-we-go throughout the year. And then we will report back each quarter. Like last year, we do expect to be in the market systematically, sort of daily throughout the year, repurchasing our shares.

In terms of the tax payments, in Q1, we expect to be paying over $400,000,000, and that is largely related to 2025. And then we gave the guidance for the full year, but $500,000,000 of that is related to 2025.

Daniel Major: Alright. Probably closer to $600,000,000. So $400,000,000 in the first

Daniel Major: the first quarter and then the remainder of the $1.25. So $1.25 over the year. Okay.

Andrea Susan Freeborough: Great. For

Andrea Susan Freeborough: tax, we sort of have the lowest payment in Q3, Q1 the highest, then Q2.

Daniel Major: So

Andrea Susan Freeborough: more weighted to the first half and Q1 being the highest. Okay. Great.

Daniel Major: Thanks a lot.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Carey MacRury with Canaccord Genuity. Your line is open.

Carey MacRury: Congrats on the strong year.

Carey MacRury: Just going back to the 40% target, just to clarify that is for 2026, and that is a number that you will revisit, I guess, in 2027?

Andrea Susan Freeborough: That is right.

Carey MacRury: Okay. And then just in terms of the 2,000,000 ounces, is there a

Carey MacRury: quarterly progression we should be expecting or pretty flat quarter to quarter like last year?

Andrea Susan Freeborough: Pretty flat quarter to quarter.

J. Paul Rollinson: Okay. Yeah. As Andrea noted in her comments, we like to arrange sort of consistency, but obviously, 2,000,000 divided by four, that is 500,000, but you have ups and downs. So we think anything 485,000 to 515,000—490,000 to 510,000—that is kind of the average.

Carey MacRury: Okay. Great. That is it for me. Thanks.

J. Paul Rollinson: Thanks.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Tanya M. Jakusconek with Scotiabank. Your line is open. Great. Good morning, everyone. Hello? Can you hear me?

J. Paul Rollinson: You cut out, Tanya. I can hear you now again. Can you hear me now?

Operator: Hello?

Carey MacRury: No.

J. Paul Rollinson: Yep. Yep. Okay. Perfect. Great. Thank you for taking my questions.

Tanya M. Jakusconek: Some have been asked, but I just wanted to follow back on the contract renewals. Are there any other ones that are coming up for renewal this year for your labor contracts that we should be aware of?

Claude J. Schimper: Yes, Tanya. There is. We are currently busy working through the Brazil Paracatu contract negotiations. Those are pretty standard. We do them almost annually or every eighteen months. It is slightly different to the other sites. A bit more legislative as well. So it is just a bit more of a process, and that is why it has taken on into this year. But for the rest of the sites, as you know, our U.S. sites have them, and then it is Tasiast and Mauritania. Generally, we completed, so we are

J. Paul Rollinson: You know what I thought? And I should be thinking about labor

Claude J. Schimper: the inflation and wage inflation in that 4% to 5%. Would that be fair?

Claude J. Schimper: Yeah. It is really relative to the country. Inflation in Mauritania was, it is like, 10%. Brazil, it is about 8%. So relative to each country. And then overall for us as a portfolio, it is in the 4% to 5% range.

Tanya M. Jakusconek: Okay. So it is not out of line. Okay. Thank you for that. My second question is on Great Bear. And thank you for the information on the permitting side. Hopefully, we get that permit in Q2. That will be good to see. But I read that you are going to give us an update later in the year on the Great Bear. What exactly are we getting in terms of an update? Is it a new technical study? Maybe just some clarity on what is coming.

J. Paul Rollinson: Yeah. It may have come out a little bit on the script. The update we are going to provide is on Lobo Marte. We were talking about Great Bear and Lobo at the same time.

Tanya M. Jakusconek: Is

J. Paul Rollinson: I do not know that there is a specific update that we are planning. It is just continued milestones

J. Paul Rollinson: in the case of Great Bear,

J. Paul Rollinson: getting those two remaining permits, starting the decline, filing the third and final impact assessment filing. So there is not a specific deliverable that I think we are thinking about with Great Bear. In the case of Lobo, we will be filing the EIA and plan to give a project update

Tanya M. Jakusconek: on economics.

Tanya M. Jakusconek: Right. Okay.

Tanya M. Jakusconek: Now that makes more sense because I was just like, what is coming on Great Bear that needs an update? But okay. Thank you for that clarity. And then my final question is there is a slide that we talked about—you talked about on some mine life extensions—and Paracatu was there. I am just wondering, years ago, there was a potential to do a layback that would add quite a bit of ounces on Paracatu. Is that what you are still thinking about? Is that something that is practical and makes sense?

William D. Dunford: Yeah. You can see that there is a variety of layback optionality both in reserve and resource at Paracatu. You can see that we put about 700,000 ounces into the reserve this year as it converts. That is material that is now in our strategic business plan. And that is a further redesign of the layback. So that full reserve is now approved and part of our business case. An easy way to think about the direct business case is laybacks that sit in the reserve. Then there is also a significant multimillion-ounce resource that we are looking at for the next stage of optionality there. Okay.

Tanya M. Jakusconek: Okay. Perfect. Thank you so much. Those are all my questions. I will turn the call back over to J. Paul Rollinson for closing remarks.

J. Paul Rollinson: Great. Thank you, operator, and thanks, everyone, for joining us this morning. We look forward to catching up with you all in person in the coming weeks. Thank you for dialing in.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today’s call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

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