Q1 2026 Northern Star Resources Ltd Activities Report Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Daniel Morgan - Barrenjoey Markets Pty Ltd - Analyst : My first question relates to costs, really. You've said costs were lower than planned, and it looks like lower than market expectations. How much of this is lumpiness of spend, noting that sustaining CapEx, you're run rating $576 million versus $750 million guidance. Obviously, CapEx can be lumpy. Yes, just wondering how much -- what initiatives really drove this cost outcome? How sustainable it is? And how much is it just lumpiness?

Question: Daniel Morgan - Barrenjoey Markets Pty Ltd - Analyst : And then just with the production plans, I mean, you flagged this 20,000 ounce impact in the December quarter. I mean, reading the notes, it appears that you think some of this will be caught up through the year? Or can you just, I guess, expand on the production impacts and whether they can be caught up?

Question: Daniel Morgan - Barrenjoey Markets Pty Ltd - Analyst : And last question is just looking at the key drivers across the business in terms of production outcomes in the quarters ahead. What are the key drivers? And what is the expectation towards the December quarter, key drivers being tonnes grade. Obviously, you're not going to have any mill outages apart from what you flagged at Jundee this quarter. Can you just run through that? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 22, 2025 / 10:00PM, NST.AX - Q1 2026 Northern Star Resources Ltd Activities Report Call

Question: Daniel Morgan - Barrenjoey Markets Pty Ltd - Analyst : And sorry, I imagine Golden Pike is going to be skewed or weighted to the second half of this financial year.

Question: Levi Spry - UBS AG - Analyst : Maybe I could just pick up on that Golden Pike North piece, Simon. So will we see materially higher grades start coming through from the open pit at KCGM this quarter? Or are you seeing them now?

Question: Levi Spry - UBS AG - Analyst : Yes, nice one. And could I just ask a question around Hemi. Maybe just sort of reiterate sort of time lines that you're expecting. And I think maybe there's been some comments around a sort of 2.5-year build. Have I picked that up correctly? Just how do we think about the next steps forward there later in the financial year?

Question: Matthew Frydman - MST Financial - Analyst : A couple of questions on various undergrounds. Maybe firstly, at Jundee, Simon mentioned the disappointing grades during the quarter, running at about 2.5 grams a tonne, whereas I think your reserve grade is closer to 4 grams a tonne. That asset seems to have fairly consistently underperformed the reserve grade, at least in most of the recent quarters. Can you point to any perhaps recent grade control drilling or otherwise, I guess, what gives you confidence that those grades are going to improve in the second half of the year, as Simon alluded to?

Question: Matthew Frydman - MST Financial - Analyst : Got it. That's pretty clear. And then maybe a similar question then on the KCGM underground. You talked about the circa 3 million tonne per annum run rate being achieved in the quarter, but obviously, the grade a little lower due to the proportion of development. When does that sort of mix shift? Or in other words, when do you reach that inflection point on development where you're sort of hitting both the tonnage and the grade coming out of the KCGM underground?

Question: Matthew Frydman - MST Financial - Analyst : Any particular timing around that? I mean, obviously, you've said 3 million tonnes of volume this year, 4 million tonnes next year. Is that at something close to reserve grade? Or yes, what's the sort of timing around that?

Question: Mitch Ryan - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Firstly, can we spend a little time at Jundee? Can you help me understand the impact on the crushing circuit? So you've reconfigured it into the SAG mill. What's the cost and time frame to return it back to the sort of design flow sheet?

Question: Mitch Ryan - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Okay. So sort of that's the 10,000 ounce impact and then potentially a little hit to operating costs as well over the same time period.

Question: Mitch Ryan - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Yes. Yes. Cool. And then my second question just relates to Hemi, and you've given us obviously a bit of an update there. But specifically on the negotiations with the traditional owners, how are they progressing? Do you have a rough time frame of when you would expect those to be concluded?

Question: Hugo Nicolaci - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : I just want to dig into the cost at KCGM a little bit more. It looks like the open pit mining costs have started to normalize back to about $8 a tonne. The underground costs sort of tracking around that $40 million a quarter in terms of spend. Are you able to just comment sort of directionally what those rates should be going forward for the rest of the year? Should we see the open pit continue to improve and the underground sort of just pick up as you do more development?

Question: Hugo Nicolaci - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Fantastic. It's all positive from a cost piece. And then just on the processing side, it looks like the processing costs have sort of stayed at that $41 a tonne from last quarter. I think sort of 6, 12 months ago, that was more like low to mid- $30 a tonne. Is that just the rate now going forward as the mill sort of approaches end of life? And how should we think about as the expansion comes online? I think historically, you've talked to a $7 a tonne reduction. Should we be thinking that number potentially then bigger?

Question: Hugo Nicolaci - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Yes. It sounds like potentially some significant room there. But one more, if I could, just on the corporate overhead piece, that just seems to have increased across most of the assets versus the run rate over the last 12 months. Can you just comment on what's driving that and we should expect that to normalize going forward from this quarter?

Question: Andrew Bowler - Macquarie Group Ltd - Analyst : Just one on costs for me. From memory, Northern Star has a gold price linked staff incentive scheme. I was just wondering if the recent gold price lift is something that can be accommodated in the current guidance for this year? And if so, is there any sort of lumpiness to expect in those payments over the year that might be meaningful for us?

Question: Andrew Bowler - Macquarie Group Ltd - Analyst : Understood. And maybe just one more on the labor force. I mean, obviously, there's been some articles written about the strength of the gold sector in Western Australia, but obviously, some other resources industries are suffering a little bit as well. Is there any broad comments you can make about the state of the industry at the moment, how you're finding availability of skilled staff? Is there another level of tightness coming? Or is it very much being offset by some weakness elsewhere?