Thor Explorations Ltd.

Thor Explorations Ltd.

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Q2 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptAugust 17, 2026

Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Thor Explorations Limited investor presentation. Questions are encouraged; they can be submitted at any time via the Q&A tab that is situated on the right-hand corner of your screen.

Please just simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during the meeting itself.

However, the company can review all questions submitted today and will publish responses where it's appropriate to do so on the Investor Meet Company platform. Before we begin, as usual, we would just like to submit the following poll, and if you could give that your kind attention, I'm sure the company would be most grateful.

I'd now like to hand you over to CEO, Segun Lawson. Segun, good afternoon, sir.

Segun Lawson

Good afternoon. Welcome, and thank you.

I'm pleased to be here again presenting our Q2 2026 financial and operating results. For the benefit of those who are new here, I will start with an overview.

Thor Explorations is a West Africa focused gold producer with a presence in three countries: in Nigeria, where we have what I would describe as our flagship project, the Segilola gold mine, which is now in its fifth calendar year of gold production, and forecast to produce between 75,000 and 85,000 ounces of gold this year. Our second project is the Douta project in Senegal, where we are at the final stages of reaching our final investment decision, so that involves finalizing our negotiations with our financiers and with the government of Senegal for the mining convention.

We are looking to build that project during the course of the next few months and aiming to be in production, should I say, in the next couple of years. Finally, we are in Côte d'Ivoire, where we've assembled a prospective portfolio of five exploration licenses now, and we're advancing exploration, particularly on our two priority licenses, and low-cost exploration on the other three.

To recap that, in Nigeria, our production in 2025 was just about 92,000 ounces. This year, we expect to produce between 75 and 85,000 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost guidance of between $1,000 and $1,200 per ounce.

In Senegal, our project there is 100% owned by us. We have a global resource of just under 2 million ounces and a reserve of 1.2 million ounces, grading over a gram per ton.

We were very encouraged by the preliminary feasibility study which we released earlier this year, which showed a pre-tax NPV 5% of $908 million using a $3,500 gold price. In Côte d'Ivoire, as I mentioned, we are pushing ahead with exploration on what is very prospective and exciting ground of Birimian greenstone.

From a capital markets perspective, we're listed on both the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and the TSX-V market of the Toronto Stock Exchange. We have had a very volatile share price performance over the last couple of months, and I will go into my opinion on our valuation later on in this presentation.

What I would like to emphasize here is that we do continue to be supported by our institutional shareholders, and in terms of price targets and on our coverage, it's not just my opinion, it is a consensus opinion that we are undervalued, and there is significant upside potential in our valuation. How did we perform in Q2?

It was a steady and strong performance. I think the process plant and the mining operations have been in a steady state for quite a while.

We mined just over 1 million tons as we get towards the final southern end of the open pit. That was a mine grade of 1.54 grams per ton, and that has been steady through the course of this year.

I still see a big takeaway here really in the terms of the ore stockpiled. Our ore stockpile has been growing as we continue to maintain a throughput head grade of just over 2.5 grams per ton.

We now have about 58,000 ounces of gold on our stockpile, grading at 0.74 grams per ton. The significance of this is we have already sunk all these costs.

We have mined this gold, and we have about 2 years worth of throughput material using a $4,000 gold price, round about $260 million of gold just sitting on the stockpile at the moment. In terms of our processing performance, that has been steady through the course of the last five quarters as well, processing about 240,000 tons per quarter.

As a grade, as I mentioned earlier, we are maintaining about just over 2.5 gram per ton head grade. The recoveries have been stabilized as well, coming in at 93.3%.

We recovered 18,500 ounces of gold and poured just over 19,000 ounces of gold during the quarter. Financially, it's been another very strong quarter.

We are in a steady state of production. We have been very disciplined with our costs, and we are continuing to produce in a very high gold price environment.

The gold price has come down from the previous two quarters, and we still managed to generate revenues of $77.6 million, of which was a $48 million in profit for the quarter. As you can see, if you look at in terms of our liquidity, our cash flows from our operating activities have continued to grow quarter-on-quarter, and so has our working capital position.

We finished the quarter with a net cash position of $218.6 million with a working capital position of $230.8 million. We've been continuing to strengthen our balance sheet, grow our cash reserves, and we have done this all whilst maintaining our dividend policy and returning money to shareholders on a quarterly basis at a rate of 1.25 Canadian cents per share.

Since we announced our policy in April last year, we have returned $38 million US back to our shareholders, and we will continue to do so on a quarterly basis. Another big takeaway from this quarter was, even though we had this strong performance, we did have over 7,500 ounces of gold which remained unsold in the period, and we have sold subsequent to the end of the period in Q3.

To summarize that in a snapshot, we sold over 17,000 ounces of gold from the 19,000 ounces we poured. If we look on a half-yearly basis, it has been an excellent start to the year.

In terms of revenue, $151 million over the first 6 months of the year is a record. Our EBITDA of $108.4 million over the first 6 months of the year is another record.

Our net profit for the first 6 months of the year, which was $95.5 million, of which $48.7 million was in the quarter, is also a record. I guided you towards our stockpile at the end of Q2 of 58,400 ounces, which is roughly, at the throughput rate we're going now, is about 2 years worth of plant supply.

We finished this with an adjusted net cash position of $218.6 million. The company continues to perform well operationally.

The mine continues to produce. We have no issues with our costs.

We are continuing to produce gold at a very high margin. Our balance sheet continues to grow.

Our liquidity position continues to improve, and our net cash position is forecast to continue to grow through to the end of the period. The reason I emphasize on this is I would like to discuss for a couple of minutes on our valuation, which we don't normally do.

I would like to probably turn attention to this really based on our recent share price performance despite our strong financial performance. If we look at our P/E multiples, compared to our peer group, we are trading at a material discount given the cash we have in the bank, our net cash position, and the fact that we continue to have exploration upside.

Same with our enterprise value to EBITDA ratio as well. Compared to our peer group of 3.5%, we're trading at 1.3 on a 1-year ratio, 1.4x on a 2-year ratio.

Then if we look at our price to net asset value, again, we're in the bottom quartile compared to our peers. I say this prior to moving on to the exploration section because if we look at our valuation of, let's say, $740 to $750 million Canadian or half a million United States dollars, we have a net cash position of about $220 million and a stockpile sitting there with an additional $250 million.

In the unlikely event we were to switch off all the lights and stop operating without finding another ounce of gold or producing further than the stockpile, this year we would have the same amount of cash as our market capitalization. Obviously, that is a very unrealistic scenario.

We have material exploration upside to deliver to our shareholders, and I'll talk you through that through our exploration potential. Last week, we press released a set of drill results.

We've been drilling away underneath the Segilola pit for a while now. It has been a challenging exercise trying to understand this unique ore body.

I think the two key takeaways are, firstly, there's a significant amount of gold that has been drilled underneath the pit. Secondly, is that as we drill, we get more information as to what is controlling this mineralization, the direction it's plunging, and the fact that it continues to remain open at depth.

Our deepest holes are now fully open at 400 400 meters, pardon me, below the final pit design. As a strategy now, and I've mentioned on our last couple of calls, we are chasing a minimum number of ounces prior to updating our, should I say, mine life and mine plan, and that number is round about the 300,000 ounce mark.

We believe that's a good number to plan from even at a reduced throughput rate, that would actually add material mine life to the end of the open pit. We are getting some traction with this strategy, and we are continuing to push ahead.

We have four rigs currently operating that we own ourselves. We're able to drill at a low cost flexibly, and even as the drilling campaign continues, one of the conversations we're currently having internally is to add to our fleet of drilling rigs to see how we can accelerate our drilling activities.

If we look at our drill results in cross section, you can see in these three different cross sections, ranging from the north of the pit to the south of the pit, the final pit design, we're intersecting wide, high-grade gold mineralization at hundreds of meters below the final pit design. For me, it's not a question of if there is more gold here, or if this mine life will be extended.

It's how much there is and how much the mine life will be extended by, and that's what we continue to work towards. These intercepts are strong, high-grade, ranging between 5 and 11 grams per ton.

We've had our widest intersections at depth, 19.5 meters, grading at over 3 grams per ton, and that remains open. We're truly excited to keep infilling this mineralization both down-dip and also working our way back up towards the bottom of the open pit.

This is all going ahead. We will be continuing this and looking to make these underground development decisions over the next 3 to 6 months, and that's the timeline we're giving ourselves to reach this minimum number of ounces of mineable, extractable gold underneath the pit.

Moving over to Senegal, we have a project where we have been drilling and advancing through various stages of development. It's been organically developed by ourselves right from grass roots.

We drilled the first discovery hole in 2012. We've drilled a significant amount of meters here, over 133,000 ounces, and with the reserve and resource sitting where they are, we've had a very low discovery cost of round about $8.50 per ounce.

This deposit is in the Birimian rocks in the Kéniéba inlier in Senegal, and I think for us now we have established our land position there, we've continued to grow it with prospective ground by adding what is a very prospective addition, the Boussankoba license, which has generated 14 kilometers of gold-in-soil anomalism, which we've been spending the course of the year drilling, and we are now looking to, first of all, release some results, and then, secondly, add whatever discovered ounces here to our global resource at Douta. I think at the moment we have a reserve, should I say, of 1.2 million ounces, grading over a gram per ton, and a total global resource of just under 2 million ounces.

What is encouraging about this is that we, prior to making these additional discoveries and adding this additional ground, we completed our preliminary feasibility study, which was economically robust. It showed a 12.5-year mine life with a capex requirement of $254 million, at a $3,500 gold price, a payback period of under 1 year, with a post-tax IRR of 61%.

The project is designed in two phases: a very low-cost initial oxide phase of 4 years, which would produce 400,000 ounces, and then extending beyond that. Part of the activities we've done post preliminary feasibility study is drilling out additional oxide resources to extend that phase one.

The oxide phase currently stands 4 years with the primary ore phase running approximately another 8 years. This will generate very strong cash flow with the oxide phase all-in sustaining costs below $1,500 per ounce.

If we look at a higher gold price of $4,250, the project NPV goes up to $1.4 billion. This project is a project which we have been advancing through the course of the year.

I will come to a small progress update later on in this presentation, but it's a project which we are positioning ourselves to reach that final investment decision this quarter over the next 4 to 6 weeks. To summarize the resource, what we have here is the original Makosa resource with Makosa Tail and the Baraka resource, and completely prior to the PFS undrilled 14-kilometer strike length of mineralization in Boussankoba.

Looking at Baraka 3, when we completed the preliminary feasibility study, one of the things we noted was there was scope for growth in the oxide and in the fresh. There were areas within the pit shell and along strike that were deemed as inferred and couldn't be included in the reserves.

One of the first-pass activities we ticked off earlier this year and at the beginning of Q2 was to convert the inferred ounces into indicated, and this was a successful, should I say, venture which we will also be incorporating into our updated resource. We did the same with Makosa, Makosa East, and Makosa Tail, where we had previously inferred material within the pit and down-dip.

We have now drilled and looked to convert that to additional resources and reserves as well. We think the upside here, which changes this to, should I say, the district scale project, will be the drilling out of the acquired Boussankoba license.

We kicked off a 40,000-meter drilling program this year on five targets. We are now reaching the end of that program, and we do have a significant amount of drill results that we are collating and putting together in a series of press releases as we receive all the drill results, which should continue to be released through the course of this quarter.

We have the exploration ongoing. We're currently completing this 40,000-meter drilling program.

In terms of reaching final investment decision and where we are on the development plan, we are pretty much at the final stages of discussions with our financing parties. We are able to, should I say, put a significant amount of the required funding from our balance sheet, and this will be combined with project financing.

There will be no shareholder dilution required to build this project. The other key requirement for us is receiving our mining convention with the Senegalese government.

I'm pleased to say we've had very, very progressive talks with the government of Senegal and the Ministry of Mines, who've been extremely supportive. We are at the final stages of that.

We've had a number of iterations and drafts received by ourselves and gone back to the ministry, and we expect to close that off in the next couple of weeks. We are looking to make that final investment decision this quarter and push ahead with this build in Senegal.

That would be our second mine to add to the ounces we're producing in Nigeria, and this is a long-term production mine, which at the moment is designed to run for 12 years. However, the 40,000 meters of drilling we have done this year, and we will continue to do, is looking to enhance the project, particularly enhance the life of the first phase of the project.

Finally, I will move on to Côte d'Ivoire, where we have our early-stage portfolio of now five licenses. I won't give too much of an introduction to the country.

It's been a success story in terms of gold discoveries and gold mines being built. We added the Louodiba license last quarter, and we have focused our exploration on the Guitry and the Marahoué projects.

The Guitry project, which we own 100%, we have had an initial successful drilling campaign last year, and then this quarter prior to drilling out the discovery we made last year, we've carried out a permit-wide auger drilling campaign, which has been successful in delineating six mineralized drilling targets. As you can see from the picture on the right-hand side, these range from 1.5 kilometers in strike length to 400 meters in strike length.

What we're now doing in the current period is closing off the auger drilling in the untested areas to see if there's any connectivity between all these six targets. We're extremely encouraged to have these, and where we are positioned now is to come at the end of the quarter, the beginning of Q4, to drill out all these different targets.

If we can repeat the success we had last year and the beginning of this year, which was our initial discovery at [Krakadoukou?] , on any of these additional targets, we're onto something very exciting for us as a company and also for a company our size.

We very much look forward to that. Then lastly in Côte d'Ivoire, we have our Marahoué license, where we had an extremely encouraging start with the soil geochemistry and the rock chip geochemistry on the Birimian greenstone.

We have designed quite a substantial drill program, which you can see on the right-hand side. That drill program was slightly delayed, but I'm pleased to say we're well stuck into that now.

I don't have results in this presentation, but there will be results out this quarter in the next few weeks. This is a very important project for us, really because of how excited we are of the initial exploration results.

This project has a strike length of a 5-kilometer mineralized zone in terms of soil and rock chips and a parallel 3-kilometer mineralized zone. We're very encouraged by the mapping that's gone on, the geophysical surveys has gone on, and the initial drilling that we have carried out here.

Without saying too much prior to the results being released, we look forward to updating the market with our drilling results here in Marahoué, which will be in the next 2 to 3 weeks certainly. I'll finish off by saying we continue to produce gold at a high margin.

We continue to generate very strong cash. Our balance sheet is growing now materially on a monthly basis.

We maintain our guidance, 75,000 to 85,000 ounces, and we maintain our all-in sustaining cost of $1,000 to $1,200 per ounce. We're targeting extension of the mine life through that vision of additional underground resources and delineation of near-mine resources.

I will also mention that in addition to the mine life extension, there's another 2 years, or should I say, over $250 million of gold, of which the costs have already been sunk, sitting on our stockpile to go through the process plant. We're finalizing our permitting approvals for Douta to reach a final investment decision this quarter and commence construction still on time in this second half of the year, and we're very much looking forward to pushing forward with our second mine as a company.

In Côte d'Ivoire, we're very encouraged by the exploration results we've had both at Guitry and Marahoué, and look forward to updating the market with these results as we continue to progress. Lastly, we continue to maintain our dividend policy and responsibly returning money to our shareholders whilst we continue to grow our balance sheet.

We are making sufficient provisions to keep our dividend policy, to grow our balance sheet, and to fund the construction of our second mine with our own internally generated cash, project financing, and, importantly, without the need to have any shareholder dilution. That's everything, and I'm happy to proceed to the Q&A session.

Thank you.

Operator

Perfect, Segun. That's great, if I may just jump back in here.

Thank you very much indeed for your presentation this afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions just by using the Q&A tab that is situated on the right-hand corner of your screen.

Just while Segun takes a few moments to review those questions that have been submitted already, just like to remind you that a recording of this presentation, along with a copy of the slides and the published Q&A, can all be accessed via your Investor dashboard. Segun, as you can see there, we have received a number of questions, thank you to all of those on the call for taking the time to submit their questions.

Segun, at this point, I'll hand back to you to address those where appropriate, and if I pick up from you at the end, that'd be great. Thank you.

Segun Lawson

Okay. Okay.

Quite a lot of questions. I think 35 questions.

I will work my way through them and do the best I can. Thank you.

The first question is, "Looking at the medium-term production profile of Segilola, how should investors think about the floor for the annual output over the next 3 to 4 years?" I think that's a good question.

I think, if we look at from where we are now and we take a complete base case, we will have This is a base case based on our DFS reserves of 500,000 ounces, which we've already exceeded. We have 75,000 ounces this year, and then we are looking at a stockpile of, should I say, 60,000 ounces over the course of the next 2 years, which would be 30,000 ounces a year at a very low cost of production.

Now, obviously, we intend to add to that. It's not just a stockpile we intend to produce.

Like I mentioned in the presentation, which hopefully answered your question, we are looking to define an underground resource and reserve with the number in mind we have being 300,000 ounces. Depending on what the throughput rate is of those 300,000 ounces supplementing the the the stockpile production, that can range from the base case we have of 30,000 ounces up to between 50,000 and 60,000 ounces per year.

It's too early to say, and I I probably not it's probably not a good idea to to say what my personal expectations are prior to the completion of the drilling of this underground resource reaching this number and producing a resource statement. Nevertheless, we will have an updated resource statement for the underground at the end of at the end of the year, and we are looking to We have the target number in mind.

However, we will be regardless or not if making this target number, we do feel it is necessary to have an upgraded resource released. Okay.

Next question: "Any plans to rebuy the stock?" Look, we we we have this question pretty much every time.

I I think it's something that's also on for discussion internally, given the really cheap valuation versus our peers. It would make sense.

We we have looked at this previously. The issue was the amount of stock we could buy and the period of time it would take, given the the regulations guiding buybacks on the AIM market.

One thing I will say, since we we first looked at it, our volumes have massively increased, and it's something we we can keep discussing internally. We haven't made any decisions on this.

I think at the moment returning the mechanism we're using to return money to our shareholders is the dividend policy, which we believe which we believe is sustainable. However, look, the more we believe we're undervalued, which which we are, if you think we have a project which we we're aiming to be fully funded this quarter, and has an NPV of around about $1 billion, and we've we can build that without any shareholder valuation, we do think this share price is extremely cheap at the moment, and a rerating would almost be inevitable.

"At this stage, do you have a sense of potential capex costs might be for any extension of Segilola, particularly if the mine moves underground?" At this stage, we are in the we are carrying out studies.

Third-party consultants are are carrying out these studies. I can't give you a definitive answer on the capex yet, but we we do believe we have sufficient provisions for this as well.

"What's holding up the Douta final investment decision? Is it expected in Q3 2026, or will it be Q4 2026?"

The Douta final investment decision, like I said in the presentation, on the financing side, we believe we're pretty much there, no issues. I would say the the main delay has come in getting our mining convention finalized.

There has been a change in minister in Senegal as well, which obviously had a period of delay through that. I'm pleased to say, I've me myself and the team have had a very good, should I say, correspondences and meetings, series of meetings with the with the new minister and his his office and with the government.

This has progressed very quickly since he's been in office, and we do expect this mining convention to be finalized over the course of the next few weeks. We we are targeting, and we do expect realistically, a final investment decision on Douta this quarter, Q3 2026.

"When can an updated MRE be expected? I'm guessing this is Douta."

We we are aiming to update the Douta MRE once we have all the results of the 40,000-meter drilling program and the infill drilling which we've already carried out, and we will we're aiming to have that out in Q4 this year. The next question is the buyback question, which I've just addressed.

"What are the risks you're most concerned about at Douta?" Look, we've been we've been very pleasantly surprised with with how the government and how the negotiations have gone with the government.

We are using our EPC partner that built our mine in Nigeria to build our mine in Senegal, we have very good relationship. We have very recent mine building experience.

We are building a gold mine in a high gold mine high gold price environment. We we remain very encouraged, but, however, geopolitically globally, there there continue to be a lot of risks.

There's a risk of price escalation, and there's, there's risks of, escalation in global oil prices as well, which which could have an effect on the on our all-in sustaining costs as well. Like any project in the world of this size, of this magnitude, there is a a risk there is the underlying execution risk.

Like I say, look, we we try to mitigate what's in our hands. We have the the mine building team, good experience, and I think most comforting, we we have the support of the Senegalese government.

"Can you provide some clarity on the company's tax position for 2027?" Yes, the company currently has is still under the pioneer tax exemption and has no corporate tax to pay on Segilola in 2027.

"When can we expect some clarification on the company's gold production target and sources of that gold for 2027?" Yes, as per our guidance, the the gold production is 75,000 to 85,000 ounces from the open pit resource.

Like we do, and we continue to do, we blend some from the stockpile. We maintain a a throughput grade of just over 2.5 grams per ton.

"Can you expand on the gold stockpile, where it comes from? Is this all that is lower grade and therefore hasn't been put through the plant?"

Yes, that's exactly right. The the lower grade material, sub-1 gram mostly, is is put on the stockpile.

We try and there there are some very high-grade areas of the ore body, we try and blend low grade and the high-grade material to get our throughput head grade of 2.5 to 3 grams per ton. What we can't put through to when we blend, we put on the stockpile there.

Obviously, when we started producing and when we did our feasibility study, gold was trading sub-$1,500 per ounce, the stockpile has got increasingly valuable and a lot more economic for us. "When are you targeting the updated Segilola MRE?"

I think I mentioned that in my presentation. We would look to update the MRE before the end of the year.

"What is the estimated all-in sustaining cost for deep pit mining at Segilola?" The AISC for anything in the pit remains between $1,000 and $1,200 per ounce.

If we are referring to the underground, that will be we will get those numbers as part of the ongoing studies that are being carried out. "When is the first mining of the satellite deposit?

Is there any drilling being done in these deposits this year? If yes, can you share any results?"

Yes, there has been drilling been done. We in Q1, I believe, we released We had some of them in our presentation.

We can include them in this presentation when it goes on our website. There is ongoing drilling at the moment.

It is going at a bit of a slower rate because we are in a very heavy rainy season, and we will, yeah, we will be looking to update our results there as well. "Does the 300,000-ounce target include the satellite deposit?"

No, this is what we're targeting in underground. "Does your AISC quoted for Segilola include the drilling costs?

If so, which drilling costs?" Yes, it doesn't include the exploration drilling, but it uses it includes all the drilling required for development and during, should I say, ongoing operations, drill and blast, for example.

"Thor appears inexpensive relative to cash it's generating. What do you think the market is getting wrong about the company, and what specifically will cause the valuation discount to close?"

Look, it's it's, like I say, we're trading very, very cheaply compared to our cash. I think there are there are a number of factors.

One perhaps could be the jurisdiction. We're still the only large-scale gold producer in the country.

I think maybe the there is still a big question mark over the the mine life extension, and I'm sure once once we have some a definitive statement on that in the public, that will be a major catalyst to help people see the cash generation here. I think the next significant milestone will be the Douta final investment decision.

This is a real mine with over with over at $4,200 gold, over $1 billion worth of money to return to our shareholders, of which $400 million will be in the first 4 years of production, all to be built from our own resources and without any shareholder dilution. I think these will be these are major catalysts that will close that valuation gap.

Also So, that would be in Nigeria and Senegal. Also, we have a portfolio which is completely not looked at in Côte d'Ivoire and has the ability to deliver multiple multi-million ounce resources based on what's been discovered in the country and based on, the the the size of mines we're we're chasing, given our land package and our initial exploration results.

These these are our targets. We think there's a lot of value to be unlocked.

We think our value is not just future forecast. Our value is underpinned by existing cash and cash flow, development in Senegal, and what I can only describe as a blue-sky opportunity we have in Côte d'Ivoire.

The next question I believe I've already answered. "CMCL, which you included in your comparable valuation slide, has had multiple director buys, whilst Thor directors/management are not buying shares at these 52-week low levels."

Look, I think it's it's well-publicized Thor is Thor's board and management have significant skin in the game, owning well over 14% of the company, and very supportive shareholders and bought shares on on numerous numerous occasions even after the payments of dividends. I think, yeah, look, that those are all personal decisions by the directors and and management.

"If you process the stockpile at 0.74, what do you estimate the all-in sustaining cost would be?" Look, like I said, all for the stockpile, significant amounts of these costs have been sunk already from an operating perspective.

It would just be processing costs, which I believe at the current rates would be no higher than about $450 per ounce. "What's the percentage split you're aiming for at Douta between project financing and your own cash?"

Right now, we're being very conservative. We think we can do a 45% cash and 55% financing, and that gives us sufficient headroom to increase our leverage should we choose to further down.

Next question has been also been answered. "Also, do you know if Thor is subject to the 15% top-up tax for 2026, or does the pioneer status override that?"

The pioneer status is our governing regulation on this. "Great work, good luck with everything."

Thank you very much. I've answered the Douta financing questions.

"Could you remind us how much upfront cost of Douta will be and what proportion will be funded from the existing balance sheet, loans? I understand there will be no share dilution."

Yes, the Douta upfront total Douta project cost is if well, our PFS was $254 million. If we put a 10% contingency on that, is where I expect would be reasonable guidance.

We expect to fund 45% cash and 55% financing. "What is the current royalty rate at Segilola?"

The current royalty rate at Segilola is is 15% of the ad the the ad valorem price, which is prescribed by the ministry, which works out to round about just over $25 per ounce. I've answered Okay, there there are a lot of repetitive questions here.

"What work is required before construction can be begin at Douta the Douta? When do you expect to realistically begin construction?"

We expect to commence the project in Q3. When I say commence project, that means begin the EPC contract, ordering of the long-lead items, and start doing the initial civil works.

We we expect to start in Q3 and construction activities throughout the course of the rest of the year. "If you are going to fund 45% of Douta and the rest debt, you should have about $150 million-ish spare.

Can we expect a special dividend?" Look, we haven't we haven't considered that just yet, and I think it would be prudent to keep a a contingency buffer.

"Are you planning to hold a large percentage of cash relative to market cap longer term, or is it temporary now because of holding it for Douta capex?" Yes, look, a lot of it is, as I mentioned, 45% of the Douta funding is coming from our own cash reserves, we're going to push a lot of cash towards the towards the Douta capex.

In the longer term, as, once we derisk Douta, who knows what our scenario will be? Ideally, we're we're aiming to build another mine after after Douta, and hopefully that will come from our Côte d'Ivoire portfolio.

We don't know what might be out there that we we might be able to to have inorganic growth through an acquisition. I guess the cash gives us gives us optionality.

I think I'll do two more questions. These capex again.

More buyback. "When is the first" I think I've answered that.

"Marahoué, you mentioned rock chips. Was there any artisanal mining before?"

There wasn't There was artisanal activity in the area, not actual nothing semi-mechanized mechanized or extensive on our existing targets, no. More buyback.

Seems buyback is on a lot of is is very topical, and I will we we will we will discuss that internally again. I think I've covered everything.

If there are additional questions, I'd be happy to we'd be happy to respond as a company by email. Thank you very much.

Operator

Perfect, Segun. That's great.

If I may just jump back in there, thank you very much indeed for being so generous with your time and addressing all of those questions that came in from investors this afternoon. Of course, if there are any further questions, we'll make those available to you after the meeting.

Segun, perhaps before already now just looking to redirect those on the call to provide with their feedback, which I know is particularly important to yourself and the company, if I could please just ask you for a few closing comments just to wrap up with, that'd be great.

Segun Lawson

Yes. Look, like I mentioned and made a bit of a theme of this presentation, we do believe we're significantly undervalued, not over.

We do believe we're significantly undervalued. We are generating strong cash, we're returning money to our shareholders, we're building a project that's worth over $1 billion in terms of NPV, which we own 100%.

We have growth coming from exploration in three jurisdictions, and we have blue-sky exploration potential in Côte d'Ivoire. We're diversified by stage of development and jurisdiction.

We are continuing to unlock value, and personally and as a company, we're very excited by the next 6 months and the next 18 months ahead, where we're really transforming as a company from a single-mine open-pit producer to a multiple-mine multiple-jurisdiction producer with a very strong balance sheet and still a significant growth potential. Thank you.

Operator

Perfect, Segun. That's great.

Thank you once again for updating investors this afternoon. Could I please ask investors not to close this session, as you will now be automatically redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback.

On behalf of the management team of Thor Explorations Limited, we would like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That now concludes today's session, good afternoon to you all.