Centerra Gold at Midwest IDEAS: cash flow funds growth push By Investing.com

Wednesday, 26 August 2026 — (CGAU) used the 17th Annual Midwest IDEAS Conference to lay out a long-term plan built on cash flow, mine-life extensions and a staged growth pipeline in North America. Management said the strategy gives the company room to expand without relying on dilutive equity, though the shares still trade below peers on a net asset value basis.

Key Takeaways

• Centerra said its current value is largely tied to Mount Milligan, with the rest of the portfolio effectively offered to investors at little or no implied value.
• The company has more than 1 billion in liquidity, no debt, and a plan to fund growth from operating cash flow and existing cash.
• Thompson Creek is on track for first production in mid-2027 and is expected to be a major free cash flow catalyst.
• Mount Milligan’s mine life has been extended to 2045, while Öksüt may gain one to two more years through optimization work.
• Centerra continues to return capital through buybacks, dividends and steady exploration spending.

Strategic overview

Centerra said its portfolio is designed around two producing assets that fund a longer-term development pipeline. Mount Milligan in British Columbia and Öksüt in Turkey are the company’s main cash engines, while Thompson Creek, Goldfield and Kemess are the next growth steps.

• Mount Milligan produces 140,000 to 155,000 ounces of gold and 50 million to 60 million pounds of a year.
• Öksüt produces 120,000 to 135,000 ounces of gold a year.
• The company said its enterprise value is about $4 billion, or about 0.5 times net asset value, below a peer average of 0.7 times. With a market cap of $4.62 billion and trading at a P/E ratio of just 7.57, the stock is currently near its 52-week high of $24.32. According to InvestingPro analysis, which provides Fair Value estimates and financial health scores for over 1,400 US stocks, investors can access detailed valuation metrics to assess whether CGAU’s discount to peers represents a genuine opportunity.
• Management argued that Mount Milligan alone, based on the September 2025 pre-feasibility study, is worth roughly the company’s current enterprise value.
• That view, the company said, leaves the rest of the portfolio, including growth projects and mineral exposure, with limited or no valuation in the market.

Financial results and capital allocation

Centerra highlighted a strong balance sheet and a self-funded growth model. The company said it had CAD 451 million in cash as of June 2024, a CAD 600 million undrawn credit facility and more than CAD 1 billion in total liquidity, with zero debt. The financial strength is reflected in a debt-to-equity ratio of just 0.02 and a return on assets of 23.5% as of the last twelve months. An InvestingPro tip confirms the company holds more cash than debt on its balance sheet, supporting management’s claim of self-funded growth.

• Öksüt has generated CAD 780 million in free cash flow since June 2023.
• Mount Milligan has generated CAD 245 million in free cash flow since the September 2025 pre-feasibility study.
• The company is targeting CAD 200 million in share repurchases this year.
• Centerra also pays a quarterly dividend with a yield of about 1% to 1.5%.
• Annual exploration spending is set at CAD 40 million to CAD 50 million.

Management said the capital plan is sequenced to avoid overlapping major projects. That approach, it said, should allow the company to fund growth without going to market for new equity or taking on restrictive debt or streaming deals.

Operational updates

Mount Milligan

Centerra said Mount Milligan has become a more reliable operation after changes in mine planning and geological understanding. The company said the asset is now delivering against its plan more consistently.

• The mine life has been extended to 2045 through a second tailings dam, adding about 10 years.
• The operation has delivered three straight quarters in line with the pre-feasibility study mine plan.
• Grade control drilling now gives the company 6 to 18 months of visibility on mineralization.
• Better ore blending is helping improve recovery in the copper flotation process.
• The company expects a 10% increase in mill throughput in 2028 and about a 1% recovery improvement.
• Water supply risks have been reduced after new sources were identified.

Management said the improvement is not only due to higher metal prices. It said the new team has a better understanding of the complex geology and can now plan the mine more effectively.

Centerra also said its economic assumptions remain conservative. The Mount Milligan pre-feasibility study used a gold price of CAD 2,500, while company guidance is based on CAD 3,750, below current spot prices near CAD 4,500.

Öksüt

Öksüt remains an important cash generator for the company, even though its mine life is shorter than Mount Milligan’s.

• The Turkish mine produces 120,000 to 135,000 ounces of gold a year.
• Current mine life runs to 2029, with about four years remaining.
• The company is studying a one- to two-year extension through low-grade oxidized material mining.
• Residual leach potential is also being reviewed for more output.
• Results from the optimization study are expected with year-end disclosures in February 2027.

Centerra said Öksüt has already generated CAD 780 million in free cash flow since June 2023 and is helping fund the Thompson Creek restart without weakening the balance sheet.

Thompson Creek molybdenum restart

Thompson Creek is the company’s next major catalyst. Centerra said the restart project is on schedule and on budget, with first production expected in mid-2027.

• The restart is a three-year project that began in 2024.
• Remaining capital spending is CAD 182 million.
• The work includes capital stripping and mill refurbishment.
• The mine has existing infrastructure, which lowers complexity compared with a new build.
• Concentrate will be shipped to the Langeloth roaster in Pittsburgh for final processing.
• The study used a molybdenum price of $20 a pound, while current market prices are about $33 a pound.

Management said the project should become a free cash flow inflection point once production begins. It also said the higher current molybdenum price could lift cash flow above study assumptions if prices hold.

Goldfield, Kemess and other growth projects

Centerra outlined a staggered development path that avoids large capital demands at the same time.

• Goldfield in Nevada is expected to start production in late 2028.
• Goldfield carries total capital spending of CAD 252 million, with CAD 233 million still to spend.
• The project is expected to produce 100,000 ounces of gold a year at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,392 an ounce.
• Kemess in British Columbia is expected to reach first production in late 2031.
• Kemess is expected to require CAD 771 million in capital and produce 171,000 ounces of gold and 61 million pounds of copper a year at an all-in sustaining cost of $971 an ounce.
• The Kemess pre-feasibility study is expected in mid-2027, with a feasibility study and construction decision to follow.

Management said the sequence is deliberate: Thompson Creek should be producing before Goldfield ramps up, and Goldfield should be in production before major spending begins at Kemess.

Exploration and portfolio building

Centerra said it is spending CAD 40 million to CAD 50 million a year on exploration, split evenly between brownfield and greenfield work.

• Brownfield work is focused on Mount Milligan, Kemess, Goldfield and Öksüt.
• Greenfield work covers Canada, the U.S. and Turkey.
• Canadian work includes British Columbia and Ontario.
• U.S. work includes Nevada, Utah and Idaho.
• The company also holds strategic equity stakes in junior miners, including Thesis Gold and Silver and Liberty Gold.

Management said brownfield drilling has already shown potential to extend mine lives beyond current plans. It also said the junior investments may support future acquisition opportunities.

Q&A highlights

Mount Milligan economics and geology

In response to questions about whether Mount Milligan’s improvement was mainly due to metal prices, management said the gains are operational. It said the new team has a better handle on the geology and better mine planning tools.

• Grade control drilling now helps forecast mineralization 6 to 18 months ahead.
• That visibility supports better ore blending and higher recovery rates.
• Earlier problems, management said, came from limited geological understanding and weaker blending decisions.

Water supply

Asked whether water remains a problem at Mount Milligan, management said the issue has been addressed.

• Previous drought-related shortages in northern British Columbia were mitigated through new water sources.
• No water supply issues have been reported in recent years.

Conservative pricing assumptions

Centerra said its models use cautious metal price assumptions, a common practice in mining.

• The Mount Milligan pre-feasibility study used CAD 2,500 gold.
• Company guidance uses CAD 3,750 gold.
• Current is near CAD 4,500.
• Management said the gap gives the company downside protection in planning.

Turkish asset strategy

Management said it is not actively trying to sell Öksüt. Instead, it sees the mine as a strong cash generator that can be mined through while it still adds value.

• Öksüt has a clear permitting structure and a stable operating setup, the company said.
• A past environmental incident led to a one-year shutdown, but permits were later restored.
• Because the mine life is relatively short, management said a sale would likely not capture full value.
• Keeping the asset in production helps fund Thompson Creek and the rest of the portfolio.

Thompson Creek timeline

When asked why the restart takes three years, management said the schedule reflects the work required, not delays.

• Capital stripping is needed to reach ore.
• The mill needs refurbishment.
• Long-lead equipment requires extended procurement and installation.
• The company said the project remains on schedule and on budget.

What investors may watch next

Centerra pointed to several near-term milestones that could shape investor interest over the next year.

• February 2027: Öksüt optimization study and possible mine-life extension.
• Mid-2027: Thompson Creek first production and the start of free cash flow generation.
• Mid-2027: Kemess pre-feasibility study.
• Late 2028: Goldfield first production.

Management said the next 6 to 9 months could bring more investor attention as Thompson Creek moves closer to production and the free cash flow inflection point.

Management view on valuation

Centerra said the market has not yet fully reflected the value of its portfolio. Lisa Wilkinson, vice president of investor relations, said, “When you look at Centerra’s value, it is essentially Mount Milligan with a mine life to 2045, excluding the upside, and you get the rest of the portfolio for free, essentially.”

She added that the company has been able to improve operations through better planning rather than relying only on higher metal prices. “It’s not necessarily just because metal prices have increased,” she said. “It’s actually that the new management team has taken the time to really try to understand the asset.”

Wilkinson also said the company can fund growth without turning to the market for new shares or restrictive financing. “We can use that cash flow to help fund our self-funded growth profile,” she said. “We have run this analysis at lower gold prices than at spot, and we still feel comfortable that we can fund our growth projects without having to go to the market for dilutive equity financing or constrictive debt or streams.”

On Thompson Creek, she said the current molybdenum price backdrop may prove favorable if it lasts. “Our study at Thompson Creek was done at $20 per pound moly price, and moly prices right now are at $33 per pound,” she said. “So it is going to be even more cash flow than we expect if moly prices stay at current levels.”

She also said the company expects the restart to become a key catalyst. “I do believe that we will see a free cash flow inflection point one year from now,” she said. “I would imagine you would start to see more investors coming in in the next six to nine months.”

Readers can refer to the full transcript below for more detail on the company’s plans, assumptions and project timelines.

Full transcript – 17th Annual Midwest IDEAS Conference:

John McNamara, moderator, Three Part Advisors: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the 17th Annual Midwest IDEAS Conference. I am John McNamara with Three Part Advisors. Our first presentation of the morning is Centerra Gold. Centerra is a Canadian-based gold mining company with operations across Canada, the U.S., and Turkey. The shares are dual listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CG, and on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CGAU. With us for management is Lisa Wilkinson, VP of IR. Lisa.

Lisa Wilkinson, VP of Investor Relations, Centerra Gold: Thank you so much, and good morning. Thanks for joining today. My name is Lisa Wilkinson. I am the VP of IR at Centerra, and I have been with the company for just over three years. Actually, before I get started, we will be making forward-looking statements. Centerra is a mining company based in Toronto, and we mine gold, copper, and molybdenum. This slide here shows our assets on a map. Our first mine is our flagship operation is Mount Milligan in British Columbia. It is a gold copper asset that produces 140,000-155,000 ounces of gold and 50-60 million pounds of copper. Our second asset is Öksüt in Turkey. It is also in production, generating 120,000-135,000 ounces of gold. Aside from our producing assets, we also have a growth portfolio.

We have two growth projects that will bring us growth in gold and gold in copper. Goldfield in Nevada is our next asset to come online. It is going to come online in 2028. It is a gold heap leach project, open pit, fairly straightforward, and I will get into some of those details in a moment. Kemess is a gold copper project, very similar in size and scale to Mount Milligan. It is a little bit further out. We are in the study phase right now, but based on our preliminary economic assessment we published in January, we expect our production to start in late 2031. We also have a suite of molybdenum assets. Molybdenum is used as a strengthening agent in high-performance steel, so it has applications in pipelines, aerospace, defense, and green energy. We have two molybdenum mines, pure molybdenum mines, Thompson Creek in Idaho and Endako in British Columbia.

We also have a roaster based in Pittsburgh, which is where we will ship our concentrate from Thompson Creek to be roasted into final molybdenum products and sold to U.S. steel companies in and around the Pittsburgh area. That is the walkthrough of our assets. But again, we operate in very safe jurisdictions. Our focus is North America, our growth is in North America, and Öksüt in Turkey is a great place to operate. We have a very strong balance sheet. We have CAD 451 million of cash as at the end of June, and we have over CAD 1 billion of liquidity with no debt. We also are returning capital to shareholders. We have an active buyback program where we have said we would buy back CAD 200 million of shares this year, and we have been paying a quarterly dividend for the last six and a half years.

Our current dividend yield is about 1%, 1.5%. Our shares have done very well, so that has come down a little bit. Looking at the compelling value proposition, as I said, we have great operating assets producing gold and copper in good jurisdictions of North America and Turkey, with a strong management team and a lot of growth in the portfolio. However, we are trading at a discount to our peers. As you can see on the graph on this slide, we are trading at 0.5 times our net asset value compared to our peers, which are averaging 0.7 and some are even closer to one. But we believe that as we deliver on our operations, consistently execute, deliver on our growth plan, we believe we have the potential to rerate. Another way to look at our valuation is based on our resources in the ground.

You can see on the graph on the left, we have 21.4 million gold equivalent ounces of resource in the ground, which is fairly middle of the pack. However, 98% of our resources are based in Canada and the U.S., which are very safe jurisdictions. When you look at the graph on the right, you see that it is basically at the bottom in terms of a value on a per ounce basis. Again, we have a very attractive valuation in a safe jurisdiction. Three and a half years ago, we had a management turnover and we had a new management team come in place. At that point, we put in place a new strategy. We are now focused on maximizing the value of every asset in our portfolio.

Our management team systematically went through every asset in the portfolio to daylight value and show investors a path forward to realizing that value. I will walk you through each asset here as part of our strategic plan. First, at Öksüt in Turkey, it is a short mine life. It ends in 2029, but it is generating a lot of free cash flow. It has generated $780 million of free cash flow since June 2023. We are currently looking at trying to extend the mine life beyond 2029. We will have a study out later this year that is going to see what that could look like. We hope that it would be about one to two years. It is not going to be anything major like five to 10, but all of that, even the one to two years, will be very good cash flow addition for us.

At Mount Milligan, our flagship operation in British Columbia, in September of 2025, we published a pre-feasibility study that looked at adding a second tailings dam for additional capacity, which allowed us to extend our mine life by 10 years to 2045. Since that September PFS, we have delivered three consecutive quarters against that plan, and we have generated over CAD 245 million of free cash flow. The mine life extension strengthens Mount Milligan as a long-life gold copper asset in a very good jurisdiction. As part of the PFS, we are looking to increase throughput at our mill by about 10%, which should come online in 2028. Next, moving to our molybdenum assets. We published a strategic plan for our US Moly assets, which include Thompson Creek, which is the pure molybdenum mine in Idaho, and the roaster in Langeloth. We published a plan that looks at restarting Thompson Creek.

It’s a past operating mine with infrastructure already in place. We look at restarting that and then shipping that concentrate to Langeloth to be roasted into final molybdenum product. There is strong synergies between the two, shipping the concentrate from the mine to the roaster in Pittsburgh, and the economics were very strong, and we moved forward with that plan. It’s a three-year restart for Thompson Creek, which started in 2024, and we are only one year away from first production, starting in mid-2027. Now shifting to the rest of the portfolio, which is more of our growth. Last August, we announced our Goldfield project and that we were moving forward with that growth in gold. Goldfield is located in Nevada, which is a very mineral-rich jurisdiction. It has an attractive economics in a top-tier mining jurisdiction.

Seven-year mine life, so it’s quite short, but there is a large land package that we own where we are continuing to explore, and there’s a lot of junior mining companies in the area where we could look to consolidate the region. Production would be about 100,000 ounces for the peak years of, there’s four peak years, with a fairly low all-in sustaining cost of $1,392. The key here is the initial CapEx is quite low at $252 million to bring this mine online. Again, first production is scheduled for late 2028, and this is going to be our first pure gold growth that we will be bringing online in our portfolio. The next project we have is Kemess.

As I said earlier, it is very similar in size and scale to Mount Milligan, and it’s a strategic opportunity for us to build a second long-life gold copper asset in British Columbia. We published a preliminary economic assessment that shows an initial 15-year mine life, annual production of about 171,000 ounces of gold and 61 million pounds of copper at an all-in sustaining cost of $971, which is quite low for the industry peers. The initial CapEx to bring that mine online is $771 million. We are continuing to study Kemess. We have to go through a pre-feasibility study and then a feasibility study before we make a decision on starting construction. Our PFS is expected to be completed by mid-2027. We also have exploration in our portfolio to help us with growth.

We are focused on brownfield exploration around the assets we currently operate, Mount Milligan and then our project of Kemess. We’ve had very encouraging results, and we continue to explore in those areas. We also have a greenfield and generative exploration program that’s focused on the jurisdictions we currently operate, which is Canada, the U.S., and Turkey, and we have had some good findings. We are quite positive that that will lead to some prospects in the future. We are making strategic equity investments in junior mining companies, including Thesis Gold and Silver and Liberty Gold, and these would complement our internal exploration programs and provide that longer-term prospectivity that we may be able to acquire one of those assets in the future. Our full exploration guidance is $40 million-$50 million for the year.

After walking through our strategic plan, this essentially is Centerra on a page. Mount Milligan, you can see, is our current operating asset, gold and copper, 20-year mine life. You can see the bar at the end, exploration potential. We believe there is mineralization in the ground for multiple decades of production beyond 2045. At Öksüt, again, I said it was a short mine life to 2029, but we are looking to see if we can extend that by one to two years, and there will also be residual leach, because with the leach pad, we believe there’s gold still left on the pads, and if we can re-rinse that, we will get some additional production as well. At Goldfield, that’s our project coming online. You can see it starts in late 2028. We have about CAD 233 million of CapEx remaining.

We have spent a little bit, and that will bring us seven years of mine life at very low risk. Kemess, again, we’re still in that study phase, so the CapEx has not yet started, but we do anticipate if we do move forward with a decision that CapEx would start in 2028, and it would be about CAD 771 million to get us to first production. That first production is expected to be in late 2031. Again, Kemess has the same mineralization structures as Mount Milligan, so there is a lot of exploration potential to move beyond that initial 15-year mine life. At the bottom, we have the molybdenum assets. This is where we have only one year left to first production at Thompson Creek, CAD 182 million, and then first production is mid-2027. Once Thompson Creek is mined out, it’s about a 12-year mine life.

The potential could be to bring our second pure molybdenum mine in Endako online after that, but for now, Endako will stay on care and maintenance. You can see here the key is that we don’t have two major projects going on at the same time. We have staggered the capital spend, so when Thompson Creek finishes and comes online, we will then move to Goldfield and ramp up CapEx in 2027 and 2028. Once Goldfield is up and running, then we would move into CapEx for Kemess. It strategically gives us a staggered approach that allows us to fund our growth profile from existing cash flow and our liquidity. Before I move off this slide, this shows our growth in gold and copper. I want to touch a little bit on value here.

If you look at our market cap less our cash balance, our enterprise value right now is about $4 billion U.S. And if you look at Mount Milligan, we just put out a pre-feasibility study last year at this time, and it showed a value of Mount Milligan with a mine life to 2045 with the same value as our enterprise value. Again, when you look at Centerra’s value, it is essentially Mount Milligan with a mine life to 2045, excluding the upside, and you get the rest of the portfolio for free, essentially. You get an operating asset in Turkey generating strong cash flow. You get two projects in gold and copper with Goldfield and Kemess, and you get the optionality of molybdenum and what that could look like in our portfolio.

We do have a growth profile, but we also have an undervaluation that we are not realizing all the value for this. As we continue to execute on our operations and deliver on our projects, we believe that we would re-rate, and we have already seen that in our share price. As I mentioned, our growth profile with projects at Goldfield, Kemess, and our molybdenum assets, we believe that we can fund all of that growth and CapEx from our existing liquidity. We have CAD 451 million of cash, CAD 600 million undrawn on our credit facility, and we are generating strong cash flows every quarter. With that, we believe we can fund our organic growth opportunities, we can continue to return capital to shareholders, paying the quarterly dividend, and we have ramped up our buybacks to CAD 200 million this year, and continue making equity investments for the future growth of our company.

We have run this analysis at lower gold prices than at spot, and we still feel comfortable that we can fund our growth projects without having to go to the market for dilutive equity financing or constrictive debt or streams. Looking ahead, we have got our upcoming value drivers at all of our assets. At Mount Milligan, we are focused on executing against our PFS mine plan that we published back in September of 2025. We have already been able to deliver on several quarters against that PFS mine plan, and we are focused on continuing that execution. In 2028, we are also expecting to be increasing our plant throughput by 10% as part of our PFS mine plan, which is also expected to improve recoveries by about 1%. At Kemess, we are focused right now on continuing studying for our project. Our PFS is scheduled to be published in mid-2027.

Just keep in mind that we still would move to a feasibility study after and then make a decision on construction, which is expected likely in 2028 with first production in 2031. At the Öksüt mine in Turkey, we are focused on publishing an optimized mine plan with our year-end disclosures in February. That is going to look at adding an additional mine life to the resource using the low-grade oxidized material at the bottom of the pit, and also looking at what that residual leach could look like as well. We will have some of that information available in February of 2027. At Goldfield, we are focused on continuing to develop that project. We have launched early works, and we have started construction and procurement items. That is what is taking place this year, and we are on track for first production in late 2028.

At our US Moly assets, Thompson Creek is less than one year away from first production, and we are ramping up production at Langeloth, which is our roaster, such that when Thompson Creek is online, Langeloth is closer to full capacity. To wrap up, I have got Centerra’s strategy here on one slide. We have a self-funded long-term growth strategy focused on North America. On the left, we have our two assets, Mount Milligan and Öksüt, which are generating cash flow at this point, and which will then help fund our growth projects, which are in the middle Kemess and Goldfield. We also have exposure to strategic minerals from our US molybdenum assets, Thompson Creek and Langeloth. We believe that if we can continue to deliver on this strategic plan, deliver on our operations, we believe that our shares should rerate.

So far, in the year to date, we are one of the top performing mining stocks in our sector, and we still believe that at the trading values we are at right now, there is still room for additional upside in our share price. With that, I will stop and see if there’s any questions. Yeah.

Unidentified speaker: On Mount Milligan, has it gotten better, or have the economics just gone up because copper and gold have gone up? There was a time when it was struggling.

Lisa Wilkinson, VP of Investor Relations, Centerra Gold: Yes. The question here is, at Mount Milligan, has the asset gotten better, or has it just gone up because of metal price? At Mount Milligan, the last few years, we have struggled with the performance at Mount Milligan. That is mainly because it is quite a complex geology. To really understand, you have to know a forward look on where your grades and the type of mineralization you’re mining. You also have to have correct blending into the mill with certain types of ore, because it is a copper flotation plant. When you end up with high grades of gold in the mineralization, it doesn’t recover as well through a copper flotation plant. You really have to understand, which is the part of the work we did through the PFS process. With the PFS, we have published a very achievable mine plan.

We have started doing our grade control drilling, where we can see now looking out 6-18 months, what the grades will be in the areas we’re mining. Which is allowing us to then create stockpiles and better blend to the mill to optimize our recoveries on the end. I would say that it’s not necessarily just because metal prices have increased. It’s actually that the new management team has taken the time to really try to understand the asset, and we have a better handle on the complex geology that we have at Mount Milligan, and we are confident that we can now deliver on the plan that we have.

Unidentified speaker: Thank you. Is water an issue at all anymore?

Lisa Wilkinson, VP of Investor Relations, Centerra Gold: Yeah. The question is water an issue anymore? Several years ago, there was some drought in northern British Columbia, and at the time, we did experience some water shortages. However, since then, again, with the new management team coming in place, we’ve taken more precautionary actions, and we’ve mitigated those risks by tapping into new water sources to make sure that that never happens again. So, so far, in the last number of years, we haven’t had that situation. Exactly.

Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

Lisa Wilkinson, VP of Investor Relations, Centerra Gold: Yeah. Yeah.

Unidentified speaker: You mentioned that in your model, you guys valued gold at lower than today’s price. Are you able to give us any insight on how much lower?

Lisa Wilkinson, VP of Investor Relations, Centerra Gold: Yes. Mining companies are generally quite conservative when they are creating their mine plans. Usually when we do our economics for our evaluation, we run our studies. For example, the Mount Milligan PFS that we just published in September, we used a CAD 2,500 gold price. Of course, we did sensitivities up to current spot, which is we did CAD 4,500. We do sensitivities, but any time that we are planning our mines, we’re always using lower metal prices to be conservative. I will say also, our guidance is based on CAD 3,750, I believe. Yeah.

Unidentified speaker: How much CapEx do you spend on exploration on your projects that you either have actively or are actively producing and looking for, to extend the mine lives?

Lisa Wilkinson, VP of Investor Relations, Centerra Gold: Yeah. The question is, how much are we spending on exploration around our mine sites? We are spending this year, we have CAD 40 million-CAD 50 million in exploration spending. It’s split fairly evenly between brownfield exploration, which would be exploration in and around the current operations. Mount Milligan, and then our project Kemess, Goldfield, and Öksüt, because you want to make sure that you’re exploring to make sure you have, if you can expand the current assets you own. Then half of that spend is also slated for greenfield and generative exploration programs. We have several joint ventures in the areas we currently operate. Which is Canada, the U.S., and Turkey. We’ve got joint ventures with junior mining companies that are exploring for us in British Columbia. We also like Ontario as a jurisdiction. Very mineral rich as well.

In the U.S., we have projects and joint ventures in Nevada, Utah, and Idaho, which are also mineral rich. In Turkey, we are looking in jurisdictions very close to where Öksüt is, but maybe not on the property itself. If we can find something nearby where we can truck the ore to our Öksüt facilities, that would make it economic.

Unidentified speaker: That is a reversal from a few years ago, where you were really looking to sell off the Turkish assets. That is probably with the pricing environment change, that maybe you believe that you can extend the mine life.

Lisa Wilkinson, VP of Investor Relations, Centerra Gold: Yeah, so the-

Unidentified speaker: Take a look at it.

Lisa Wilkinson, VP of Investor Relations, Centerra Gold: Yeah. The question is: Is that a shift from if we were looking at selling Öksüt before? I would say that I don’t know that we were looking to ever really sell Öksüt. It’s a great cash generator for us. It’s actually helping to fund our Thompson Creek project. You can look back and see we’ve been working on Thompson Creek for the last two years, and we haven’t had to really dip into our cash balance in order to fund the CapEx at Thompson Creek. That’s largely because of the strong cash flow we’re generating at Öksüt, which is going to the investment in Thompson Creek. I don’t know that we’ve ever really looked at selling it. We get the question a lot, given our portfolio is focused on North America. Why do you have this asset in Turkey?

But I would say that it’s a good place to operate. They have a clear permitting structure. We haven’t had any issues. There was a slight environmental mishap, completely Centerra’s fault, three and a half years ago. We were shut down for a year in order to rectify the situation, but we did get our permits reinstated, and we have been generating a significant amount of cash flow since then, and things have been operating well. I don’t know that if we did sell our asset in Turkey, you would be able to get the full value for the asset, especially at spot. For us, our strategy is to mine out Öksüt and just collect the cash flow until it ends its mine life. Typically, there’s only four years of mine life yet left.

We’re looking to maybe extend it by one or two years, but for such a short mine life, you wouldn’t likely get full value for those assets. Again, we can use that cash flow to help fund our self-funded growth profile. Yep.

Unidentified speaker: Looking down over the next year across your various projects, what would you say are one or two milestones that you can roll out on?

Lisa Wilkinson, VP of Investor Relations, Centerra Gold: Yeah. Great question. What should investors be looking at for milestones at our projects? I think the first and the next big milestone would be what that future mine life at Öksüt would look like. That is going to be coming out in February, so that is going to be the next study that investors can look at. I will say investors have really taken to Centerra, and it is demonstrated in our share price performance over the last year because we have really clarified the portfolio with putting out studies. We have published the PFS at Mount Milligan in September, so that gave investors clarity on the 20-year mine life. We have published and decided to move forward with Goldfield, and so that gave clarity to investors in terms of valuation. We just published the preliminary economic assessment at Kemess in January, which also gave clarity.

We were already moving forward with the molybdenum assets. Now investors have a very clear picture and can value and model out what each asset in our portfolio looks like. With that, the next one to come out would be the Öksüt life of mine optimization, which is going to show likely one to two years of additional mine life and then a residual leach. I think the next big milestone after that would be Kemess publishing our pre-feasibility study, which is going to come out in mid-2027. In the same timeline, it would be also first production at Thompson Creek. When we look at molybdenum, we have a little bit of a delayed development pipeline, so we still have one year of a capital investment before we reach free cash flow at molybdenum at Thompson Creek.

I do believe that we will see a free cash flow inflection point one year from now, which is going to be a really great investor catalyst. I would imagine you would start to see more investors coming in in the next six to nine months as we approach that first production and free cash flow inflection at Thompson Creek and our molybdenum assets. Our study at Thompson Creek was done at $20 per pound moly price, and moly prices right now are at $33 per pound. So it is going to be even more cash flow than we expect if moly prices stay at current levels.

Unidentified speaker: Why is Thompson Creek taking so long to restart? What are the issues?

Lisa Wilkinson, VP of Investor Relations, Centerra Gold: Yes. The question is why is Thompson Creek taking so long to start? It was a three-year construction period. There is a lot of infrastructure already in place, and I will just jump to a slide so you can see some of those. There is already an existing pit. It was an operation that went on to care and maintenance in 2014. You can see there is an open pit. There is already a mill facility there. It is just a lot of refurbishment. What is taking so long, we always said it was going to be a three-year build, so we are on track in terms of schedule, and we are on track for cost. What takes so long is that a lot of the CapEx is moving rock. Capital stripping in order to move the rock to get to the ore deposit. That is one piece.

The other piece is just there is long lead items in terms of the mill, and we have to refurbish the mill, and it required a few pieces of equipment. We had baked all of that into our schedule, and we are still on track for mid-2027. We have held that for the three-year period we have been working on this project. Okay. Well, thank you so much for attending the presentation.

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