OceanaGold Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
February 22, 2024

There are 10 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning and afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the OceanaGold Q4 and Year End 2023 Webcast and Conference Call. At this time, note that all lines are in a listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Also note that this call is being recorded on Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 10 am Eastern Time. And I would like to turn the conference over to Rebecca Harris.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good morning, and welcome to OceanaGold's 4th quarter year end 2023 results webcast and conference call. I'm Rebecca Harris, Director of Investor Relations. Today, we are joined by Jared Bond, President and Chief Executive Officer Marius Van Niekerk, Chief Financial Officer David Montano, Chief Operating Officer, Americas Peter Sharp, Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific and Craig Feebrey, Chief Exploration Officer. Also present is Brian Martin, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Investor Relations. The presentation that we will be referencing during the conference call is available through the webcast and on our website.

Speaker 1

I would also like to remind everyone that our presentation will be followed by a Q and A session. As we will be making forward looking statements during the call, please refer to the cautionary notes included in the presentation, news release and MD and A, as well as the risk factors set out in our annual information form. All dollar amounts discussed on this conference call are in U. S. Dollars.

Speaker 1

I will now turn the call over to Jared for opening remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Rebecca, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the call. I'd like to start by recognizing some of the 2023 highlights through the lens of the 5 pillars of our corporate strategy. 2023 was our 3rd consecutive year of safely and responsibly delivering on consolidated production guidance. We know that meeting production guidance is a key expectation of the market, and I'm pleased that each of our operations delivered a strong 4th quarter result to get us solidly within the production guidance range.

Speaker 2

Our total recordable injury frequency rate was 4.4 per 1000000 hours worked. We remain committed to creating a safe workplace at OceanaGold. And in support of this, in 2023, we commenced the rollout of our refreshed behavioral based safety program and our new Stop and Think risk assessment tool across all sites. These programs empower our workforce to work safely and to mindfully identify risks before performing a task. The second pillar of our strategy relates to making sure we have the right culture.

Speaker 2

Pleasingly, the results of a new comprehensive survey of all our employees showed that we have a highly engaged workforce with a high intention to stay at Oceania Gold. We will work with the detailed results of this survey to identify where and how we can improve our culture even further in 2024. Yesterday, we also released our annual reserve and resource update in which we declared an initial reserve at Palomino Underground at Haile and showed an increase in indicated resources at Ferriquiriponga to over 1,000,000 ounces at a world class gold grade of 15.9 grams a tonne. Both the achievements at Palomino and Farukiruponga, in addition to successful ongoing exploration at Didipio, which we shared last year, demonstrate the upside potential of our asset base and our ability to add value to the drill bit. Craig Feeberry will speak more about this later on.

Speaker 2

In 2023, we strengthened our balance sheet and increased returns to shareholders. We generated free cash flow of $42,000,000 which is after the significant investment in building Haile underground and increased exploration spend. We've refinanced our debt facilities on improved terms, and we returned to paying dividends to shareholders. We expect to continue to strengthen our financial position in 2024, both through the generation of more free cash flow and with the proceeds of the upcoming listing of 20% of OceanaGold's Philippine Inc. Finally, with the move of our corporate office to Vancouver, we're now closer to and more engaged with our investor and analyst community.

Speaker 2

We increased the number of investor site visits, and we upgraded our trading platform to provide better access for U. S. Investors to trade our shares. Our strong performance across the business in 2023 allowed us to meet all 2023 consolidated guidance numbers, both the original and revised, with the exception of the original all in sustaining cost guidance as a result of the impact of Mill Zone at Haile, which we discussed last year. This successful delivery of guidance was powered by a strong 4th quarter, which was driven by high grade ore coming from Horseshoe Underground at Haile, improved throughput from operational efficiencies at Macraes and earlier than planned access into high grade areas of the mine at Didipio.

Speaker 2

This slide shows what's truly unique about Oceania Gold, being a strong rate of organic production growth and declining all in sustaining cost over the next 3 years. We are well into a high organic growth phase and expect to produce approximately 13% more gold in 20 24 than we did in 20 23, with production growth of at least 30% over the next 3 years. This increase is driven largely by a transformation in the production profile and the cost profile at Haile, which takes shape in 2024. This exciting organic growth profile and declining levels of growth capital, which you see on the right hand side of the slide, positions the company to generate strong free cash flow over the coming years. I'll now turn the call over to Marius, so he can discuss our 2023 financial results and 2024 guidance in more detail.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Jared, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to share that we generated a record full year revenue of $1,000,000,000 in 2023, driven by strong gold sales at record average realized prices. As you can see on this slide, our annual gold sales, revenue and adjusted EBITDA have increased each year since 2020. And at today's gold price, combined with the 3 year outlook, we expect our financial position to remain strong in the years to come. Our 2023 full year operating cash flow per share of 0.56 dollars and our adjusted earnings per share of $0.16 are in line with analyst consensus estimates.

Speaker 3

Our financial position remains strong with $170,000,000 in net debt, good liquidity and a low leverage ratio of 0.41x at the end of the year. Moving on to the 2024 full year guidance. Year over year production growth of 13% is driven by increased gold production at both Haile and Waihi. Haile benefits from an increased contribution from the higher grade Horseshoe underground as well as access to a higher proportion of open pit ore from the Leadbetter Pit in the second half of the year. Waihi production will also increase from the prior year as mining advances into an increased ratio of higher grade fresh stope material.

Speaker 3

We have higher pre stripping at both Macraes and Haile in the first half of the year to allow for access to more open pit ore in the second half. The impact of this on a consolidated basis is that the Q1 of 2024 is expected to be the weakest, with approximately 55% to 60% of 20 24 gold production weighted to the second half of the year. The consolidated AISC profile follows the same trend expected to be significantly higher in the Q1 and higher than that in the Q4 of 2023. AISC is then expected to come down quarter over quarter through 2024. We have taken opportunity to bring forward some capital works and to optimize the Lead Peter Pit at Haile.

Speaker 3

This has resulted in the unit cost and that of the company being higher in 2024 than we projected this time last year with benefits flowing into 20252026. We also continue investing in our business through growth capital and exploration and expect to spend a similar amount in total as we did in 2023. As we advanced the decline at Horseshoe to access nearly added reserves at depth. I will now turn the call over to David to discuss our

Speaker 4

Thank you, Marius, and hello, everyone. 4th quarter coal production at Haile was approximately 38,000 ounces, a healthy increase in the Q3. This increase was driven by a significant contribution from higher grade ore from the Horseshoe underground. During the same period, projects continued in Ledbetter Phase 2 pre stripping and this momentum is expected to continue through 2024. From a cost perspective, we were impacted during the year by the shortfall in grade at the now completed Milestone pit, that costs did rebound from the high in Q3 during the last quarter of the year.

Speaker 4

Looking ahead to 2024, we are expecting a greater contribution from low grade stockpile material being processed through the mill during the Q1, while we continue advancing in the Ledbetter pit and we expect to access the main ore body of Ledbetter Phase 2 in the second quarter. Considering the timing of open pit ore availability and the ramp up of horse to underground during the first half of the year, our production profile for 2024 is expected to increase quarter over quarter and our all in sustaining costs to progressively decline in each quarter as well. Our annual production at Haile is projected to be 60 to 65 weighted towards the second half of the year. Now talking about the Haile expansion. In 2023, Haile experienced a remarkable transformation with the starting of operations at the Horseshoe underground mine.

Speaker 4

In 1 year, we established underground mining in 2 different levels, optimizing all the structures, efforts that resulted in 83,000 tons of ore produced in 2023 at a grade of 5.32 grams per ton. Mentioned earlier, the underground is expected to continue to ramp up until it reaches full annualized run rates of approximately 750,000 tons per annum by new year 2024. I would like to highlight that we now have added Palomino to reserves. This is an additional 380,000 ounces of underground ore with a target to start mining in 2027. Impact of this will be detailed in an NI 40three-1 hundred and one technical report to be released at the end of March 2024.

Speaker 4

On surface, we completed the expanded water treatment plant in 2023. This was an important milestone in managing our contact water on-site. Haile has now treated over 75% of historic contact water inventory and it is anticipated that the remaining contact water inventory which now sits in the snake pit will be treated and discharged during the first half of twenty twenty four. This advances to our commitment to responsible operations and responsible stewardship at Haile. The final point I would like to talk about is that we are currently working on a trade off study that evaluates the potential for Leather Phase 4 to be mined as an underground.

Speaker 4

While it is currently improving the mine plan as an open pit, given the high stripping ratio, we believe it could improve the site economics to mine these deposits as an underground and we're studying the viability of doing so. We will keep you updated as this work progresses, including additional drilling throughout the year. I will now turn the call over to Peter to discuss Didipio and our New Zealand assets.

Speaker 5

Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. Didipio had an exceptional 4th quarter delivering gold production of 43,000 ounces and copper production of 3,800 tonnes, which helped us to deliver and exceed the top end of our annual production guidance. Our Q4 results were underpinned by the ability to mine high grade stopes in the top of the ore body, enabled in part by earlier than planned progress of our Crown Pillar strengthening project. This strong production for the year helped to deliver an all in sustaining cost of $7.30 an ounce, which was within guidance that we lowered with our Q3 results. Last month, we also announced the results of the underground optimization work at Didipio, which is indicating an ability to increase underground mining rates from the current 1,750,000 tonne per annum to approximately 2,500,000,000 tonne per annum, which would deliver a major benefit by offsetting lower grade stockpile feed through the mill.

Speaker 5

This, in combination with some impressive exploration results at depth last year, will inform an updated NI 40three-1 hundred and one report that is planned to be released early next year. I'm very proud of the Didipio team for all they've accomplished over the last year, and I think we all look forward to what 2024 brings. Now on to Macraes. Macraes produced 36,000 ounces of gold in the Q4. Last year, the team delivered an increase in the average daily volume of tonnes milled through the year, which we believe can continue to be delivered sustainably going forward.

Speaker 5

These efficiencies came about through the implementation of a number of continuous improvement initiatives and resulted in Macraes producing near the top end of its 2023 production guidance and lower end of its all in sustaining cost guidance. As announced in our resource and reserve update released yesterday, we took the decision to remove the Round Hill open pit from reserves at Macraes as a result of the identified geotechnical risks and low economic returns. An updated NI 40three-1 101 technical report from Macraes is expected to be released by March 31, 2024. The Macraes site has a track record of mining lower grade material at low unit costs and one of our key focus areas during the 2024 year will be to identify areas of mineralization that exists outside of our current mine plans which could be considered for future mining if gold prices were maintained around current levels. Now onto the North Island and New Zealand, where Waihi produced approximately 13,000 ounces of gold this quarter.

Speaker 5

4th quarter was an improvement from the 3rd quarter as the mining sequence included ore from the high grade skins of remnant stopes. 2023 was a challenging year, however, as we started the year with significant rainfall in the first half, which restricted access to high grade areas of the mine for a prolonged period. For our 2024 guidance, you'll see that we've increased our expected production output compared to 2023, and we have also widened our guidance range to reflect the ongoing variability that we expect to encounter as we continue to mine the remnant stopes in the historic workings of Martha Underground. I also want to take the opportunity to highlight the resource addition of Martha Underground here as well. This ability to add ounces in close proximity to our existing operation helps to extend current mine life at Martha Underground, which in turn bridges the gap to when we can access Whirakiraponga.

Speaker 5

As a reminder, Whirakiraponga is part of the Waihi North project, and yesterday we announced an increase in indicated resources at Whirakiraponga. The other development that occurred in 2023 was a change in the national level government in New Zealand. The new incoming government has made public statements in support of development across multiple sectors, including mining and plans to accelerate timelines for getting major projects consented and permitted. We are watching closely as the new government unveils their plans to establish what they are referring to as a fast track one stop shop process. Serra Kirraponga continues to demonstrate impressive exploration results and with the change in government, we look forward to what this could mean as we continue to advance the Waihi North project.

Speaker 5

I'll now hand it over to Craig to provide an exploration overview.

Speaker 6

Thanks, Peter. As mentioned, we released our annual reserve and resource update yesterday. And I'm very pleased to say reserve additions more than offset group depletion through mining before investments. Haile contributed significantly to group reserves with the addition of almost 500,000 ounces from Horseshoe Underground and Palomino. This year was also a milestone year, delivering over 1,000,000 ounces of new measured and indicated resource, the 350,000 ounces of that coming from our growing Wharikuriponga deposit in New Zealand.

Speaker 6

As planned, we've been undertaking the Round Hill operations sorry, Round Hill option study at Macraes to understand the geotechnically complex plan of tailings empowerment removal. Ultimately, the economic return didn't justify the technical risk of undertaking this project and was removed from reserves and resources. As we look at 2024, drilling at each of the sites is off to a great start. At Haile, we have 32,000 meters planned to build on the success of 2023 and continue to expand our underground opportunities. Drilling is focused on Ledbetter Phase 4 conversion, testing the downdip extension of the high grade Horseshoe mineralization, testing the Northeast extension to Palomino where we copper, gold, porphyry mineralization lends itself to continuation at depth as we're confirming through exploration.

Speaker 6

Here, we've been focused on expanding the underground with conversion of mineralization in Panel 2 and defining an initial resource on Panel 3. With approximately 28,000 meters planned at the mine this year, we're well positioned to continue the expansion of Panel 3 resource and further define the depth extensions recently intersected. We also have some exceptional regional targets both within the FTAA and the neighboring exploration license that's in the final stages of approval. And we'll share more about these as approval is granted and land access agreements are finalized in the coming months. And finally, at Waihi, we have 36,000 meters of drilling underway where we continue to grow the Martha underground and test the size potential of the EG vein at Wharaw Kiraponga, where we've just reported over 1,000,000 ounces at 15.9 grams per tonne gold and an indicated resource and another 350,000 ounces at 9 grams per tonne gold as inferred.

Speaker 7

And with

Speaker 6

the high grade mineralization continuing as we step south on the EG bank, we're vein, we're excited and looking forward to what this year's drill program will deliver. And with that, I'll now turn the presentation back to Jared.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Craig. I'll take the opportunity to remind you all that we recently strengthened our management team with the addition of Bhubanesh Malhotra as the Chief Technical and Projects Officer, who joined us a month ago. Bhubanesh has over 25 years of experience in technical and operational roles across multiple commodities and most recently was with Rio Tinto. His experience will be In summary, we safely and responsibly delivered on our 2023 production guidance, which I'm very pleased with. We remain focused on our goals for 2024, including increasing the high grade underground ore fleet from both Highland and Didipio, continuing to advance the Waihi North project safely and responsibly maximizing the free cash flow generation of the company growing reserves and resources by investing in exploration and finally, reducing debt and increasing returns to shareholders.

Speaker 2

I'll now return the call to the operator and open up the line for any questions.

Operator

Thank you, sir. And your first question will be from Wayne Lam at RBC. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Hey, morning guys. Just wondering on the updated 3 year outlook, maybe on the cost side, aside from the deferral at Ledbetter, just wondering if there's other drivers of that on inflation pressures or is that also a function of higher realized cost as you've actually had a quarter now mining underground?

Speaker 2

Thanks, Wayne. Fair question. Look, there are probably 3 main drivers of costs that, that save a different from what we had this time last year. 1, which is what everyone's experiencing, and that's labor rate inflation. And our labor rate inflation, which will impact directly through employee wages but also indirectly through contractors and other service providers sits in the mid single digits.

Speaker 2

So when it's that exposure to your cost base is, I don't know, 40 odd percent in terms of labor costs, you do have that pressure. As it relates to things like procurement and what we're spending through goods and services, with the exception of activity driven costs such as ground support as we develop Horseshoe Underground, we're actually really pleased with the control and moderated level of inflation there. So it tends to be activity driven rather than cost inflation outside of labor rate. Secondly, as it relates to the biggest shift in the unit cost actually comes from the activity level. We have, as a result of optimizing the plans at particularly Haile and Macraes, you're seeing some shift in expenditures that impact the all in sustaining costs.

Speaker 2

So at Haile, for example, we've optimized Leadbetter pit and some of the costs associated with Westpac Phases 23 have been brought forward into early years, which increases the cost. The dividend of that is greater flexibility, and you really start to see it in say 2026 onwards. And you can see that big lift there in production and also the reduction in all in sustaining costs as a result of that investment. As we're producing more, obviously, we want to get ahead of the curve on lifts, tailings lifts. And then the other is a mix issue.

Speaker 2

The 3rd issue would be a mix issue as we've taken a more modest outlook on Waihi's contribution and then the removal of Macraes Round Hill open pit that has shifted the shape of some of the production as well. So a bit of a dip and increase in the unit costs in say, 24, 25 before better access to war out of Macraes in the later years. So in summary, labor rate inflation, a bit of activity mix, and then a reshaping of things such as the Westpac and stripping and tailings lifts.

Speaker 8

Okay, great. Thanks for that detail. That's really helpful. Maybe just on Macraes, you guys had noted an increase in production outlook over the 3 year period, But at the same time, Round Hill was removed from the reserves. Just curious, how many ounces does Round Hill kind of account for?

Speaker 8

And just wondering what's driving potential growing production profile at Macraes? And how should we think of the kind of remaining reserve life there?

Speaker 2

Yes. Great question, Wayne. I mean, a lot of that detailed answer will come with the 40 three-1 101 that will come out at the end of March. So if you can hold your breath for 6 weeks for the detail, it'll come. But if you look at in terms of the removal of Round Hill, that cost us 500,000 ounces in reserves.

Speaker 2

And where some of the clawback of that effect is coming from a production recoveries we're getting from that higher milling rate, so holding or improving recoveries at this higher milling rate, which is great testimony to the team there. Whilst we suffer a bit of a dip in access to the Round Hill pit with a bit of investment will get access to ore in the outer boundaries of those that 3 year period. And combined with this increase in million rate is kind of offsetting in part or moderating the effect of the loss of Round Hill. To the reserve question, again, that will come out reserve life, that will come out in the 40 three-one hundred and one. I think Macraes first minted its first ore in December, sorry, 1990.

Speaker 2

I don't think its life was supposed to be the 34 years that it's got to so far. And I think the reserve life is circa 2028 based on the last extrapolation of reserve info. We will continue to explore and go deeper near where we exist presently. And of course, it will all depend on price. So at around current price levels, Macraes can make money at reserve prices, which are presently $1500 an ounce.

Speaker 2

Obviously its reserve life will be shorter than longer. So it's not wishing to it's kind of a long answer, not wishing to obfuscate anything, but rather show you the kind of drivers of what you'll see in the 40three-1 101 when it comes out.

Speaker 8

Okay, great. Thanks. Yes, certainly a long history there and hopefully more to come. Maybe just last one for me. Can you just provide a bit of color on the government share payable at Didipio?

Speaker 8

I'm just curious when is it paid out in cash through the year as it's accrued? And then just on the historical tax receivable, can you shed some light on kind of what happened there on the write down? And is there any read through to the overall relationship in country?

Speaker 2

So the government share, in summary, we accrue quarterly, pay annually. The payment occurs in April. So that's straightforward. The tax case, I'll hand it over to Maris for all the detail. But in summary, we paid taxes that we didn't feel we needed to under the FTAA, but the way the tax laws work in most jurisdictions, it's better to pay and then try and get a refund.

Speaker 2

We've been trying to get a refund for a decade on some of those taxes paid, Just as time has passed and particularly now that we're in the recovery period of the additional government share, we in essence became cash neutral by not persisting with the case. We already had the credit and if we got a refund, it would go to the government anyway. So we found ourselves in a position where there was no merit to continue. And to your third point, absolutely nothing as a read through to the relationship with the government there. It is strong.

Speaker 2

It is good. This is a tidy up of a legacy matter. Marius, anything you want us to cover on the government the tax case? I've got nothing,

Operator

Thank you, Wayne. Thank you. And Your next question will be from Oreste Habib at Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Hi Gerard and Oceana Gold team, A couple of questions for me. Just a follow-up on Wayne's question regarding the production increase and kind of cost increase going into 2025. Is the sustaining capital that you're kind of bringing forward essentially assisting you to get higher production in 2026? Is that kind of what you were trying to explain?

Speaker 9

Correct.

Speaker 7

Okay. So in terms of production increasing in 2026, where do we see the bump coming from? Is it essentially from Haile then?

Speaker 2

Mainly from Haile and a little bit from Macraes as well.

Speaker 7

Okay. Thanks for the clarity on that. Then just kind of moving sticking with Hale, I guess. Haile underground seems to be performing well. That's great to see.

Speaker 7

Any color you or David can provide on drilling and development? Essentially, I just want to figure out how far ahead of production are you on both ends?

Speaker 2

David, do you want to take that?

Speaker 4

I can take that one. So we are actually going on plan of development and the drilling too for the year. So we have mined 3 stops in Q4 of 2023 and then we're ready to mine the next 2 stops in Q1. So we're advancing right on a budget. And drilling also we're a little bit ahead of the budget that we plan for the year and we're getting some good intercepts down at the bottom of the horseshoe on the ground.

Speaker 7

And David, in terms of the first three stopes that you mined, seemed like it was kind of in line with your expectations, above your expectations. And also in terms of what you're drilling so far, how is that kind of reconciling in terms of are we getting some positive reconciliation or still fairly in line?

Speaker 4

Some of the stops are coming in line and we got a stop that was actually a positive reconciliation. And the second case on the next steps that we're currently managing. We have slightly positive reconciliation on those 2. And the drilling that we're doing down at the bottom is also either in line or slightly positive.

Speaker 7

Okay, good color. Thank you for that. And just moving on to Palomino then, great to see an initial reserve there. You always are looking to come out with, I believe, a tech report at the end of March. I mean, just kind of initial thoughts here, David.

Speaker 7

How are you looking to kind of develop into Palomino? Is it kind of through a drift from Horseshoe or Scepter ramp? Can you give us a little bit more color on any sort of initial thoughts there?

Speaker 4

So we have the initial like we're working on the pre feasibility now and the idea is to drive a decline from Horseshoe into Palomino and then a bent shaft from the surface. So that's our initial thought. Obviously, that may change on the feasibility report, But that's what we're doing currently. That's what we're planning currently.

Speaker 7

Okay, perfect. That's it for me guys, and thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 8

Thank you, Vasce. Appreciate it.

Operator

Next question will be from Farooq Hammad at Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Speaker 9

Hey, good morning, everyone. Apologies if this question was asked. Maybe I didn't catch it. But Gerard, maybe a question for you, just kind of looking bigger picture. As your production ramps up this year and over the next couple of years and your balance sheet starts to kind of clean up or it already has been fairly cleaned up, but then you've got proceeds coming from the Didipio IPO and you have proceeds from that sale of the asset in New Zealand, and that balance sheet starts to look pretty clean.

Speaker 9

What's your kind of hierarchy of where you're going to start spending your excess capacity or excess liquidity and free cash flow kind of as your operations start to kind of hit their stride here and probably towards the back end of the year, you start to see a much cleaner liquidity position?

Speaker 2

Yes. Thanks, Farooq. And I'll take I'll leverage one word you use, which is clean. And just to reemphasize the point that relative to many other companies in our space, our balance sheet is as clean as they can be. We have bank debt and we have finance leases.

Speaker 2

We have very few and only minor legacy royalty arrangements on a couple of our assets. It's a very simple, clean balance sheet to understand. And that compressibility of that bank debt and then the finance leases is means that, as you say, as we generate free cash flow during the year and get the proceeds from the Didipio partial listing depending on what the gold price is and subject to outperformance, we could be in a net cash position by the end of 'twenty four. If you look at Slide 5 on the presentation, you can see there that the visible committed growth capital in 2025, 2026 is step change lower than what it was in 2023 and what we'd expect it to be in 2024. As we progress things like the Palomino development, the Drift and Shaft that and development that David just spoke of, that would be a growth capital investment option that will provide us attractive returns.

Speaker 2

As and when we progress going deeper into the development of Didipio, there'll be some money required to do that. Both of those are strong payback and particularly Didipio has a particularly strong payback. And then in the outer areas for reasons that Peter said, with the potential for us to be included on the fast track list of New Zealand government projects, the opportunity to spend or invest in the building of Whirakiraponga, which given the grades that you saw announced yesterday, make that an exciting project for us. I guess that all summarizes, say, we have growth capital options that are attractive. And then beyond that, you can expect that we would keep the balance sheet strong, and then you can expect that we will look to increase shareholder returns.

Speaker 2

So in summary, invest in attractive growth options, keep the balance sheet strong and return capital to shareholders. And that capital return can take a form of either increase the dividend or share buybacks depending on the price of the shares at the day. And again their future choices that we have once we get into that position of having that choice.

Speaker 9

That's great messaging, Gerard. Thanks for that. And then maybe just a little bit of housekeeping. In terms of the timing of the asset sale in New Zealand, when that will close and the timing of the closure of the partial IPO of Didipio. Is that are both of those events expected to close with proceeds being received in the first half of this year?

Speaker 6

Well, the sale of

Speaker 2

the Black Water, that's the $30,000,000 that will happen sometime during the year. It's a little bit out of our control, subject to regulatory approvals. So we expect that during the year probably early second half. But we're not in control of that one so much. With the Didipio or Oceania Gold Philippines Inc, we're expecting that or targeting that to be listed in May of this year.

Speaker 8

Okay,

Speaker 9

great. Thanks. That's it for me.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Faruk. Appreciate it.

Operator

And at this time, we have no other questions registered. Please proceed.

Speaker 2

Look, thank you, everybody, for joining the call. It's on behalf of everyone at Oceania Gold Management and Employees Board, We appreciate your interest in and support of the company. Wish you the best for the rest of the day. Have a safe day.

Operator

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. And at this time, we ask that you please disconnect your lines.

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