What Management Said
Read the full Q4 2025 transcript ↗This means we delivered over 95% of this gold price increase to the benefit of our shareholders, delivering on our core mandate of providing gold upside leverage to our owners. Our resources are at a record 47.1 million oz, up almost 10%, and our inferred oz are at a record 41.8 million oz, up a remarkable 15.5%. The real excitement this morning is that Agnico Eagle is in the best position we've ever been in, and we're already aggressively advancing our next phase of growth and growth per share. This growth is from the highest quality projects in the best jurisdictions in the world.
This growth is from projects we already own, in jurisdictions we know well with existing teams and in most cases, leveraging off existing infrastructure. In our industry, growing in stable jurisdictions, leveraging existing infrastructure not only delivers to our owners the best return on capital, but also the best risk-adjusted return on capital. At Hope Bay, where we're working on a study that supports a 400- to 425,000-oz per year operation, we saw a 46% increase in inferred mineral resources, primarily from Patch Seven. With that introduction, I will now turn over the presentation to our CFO, Jamie Porter, to review our third quarter and full year results.
As Ammar mentioned, we delivered record financial results in 2025, driven by a strong operating performance, disciplined cost control, and a supportive gold price environment. For the full 2025 year, we exceeded the midpoint of our guidance, with gold production of 3.45 million oz, underscoring our consistent track record of execution. Both were slightly above the top end of our guidance ranges due to higher royalty costs, driven by an average realized gold price of $3,454, nearly $1,000 per ounce above our guidance assumption. Our total cash costs would have been $937 per ounce, $42 per ounce lower and below the midpoint of our guidance, again, reflecting strong cost discipline and execution by our operating teams.
- Record full-year 2025 results: 3.45M oz gold, exceeding the midpoint of guidance
- Record Q4 adjusted earnings ~$1.4B ($2.70/share) and record Q4 free cash flow over $1.3B ($2.62/share)
- ~$4.4B free cash flow for the year; repaid ~$950M debt and ended 2025 with $2.9B cash
- Record shareholder returns of $1.4B in 2025 (dividends + buybacks); dividend raised 12.5% to $0.45/quarter
- Record reserves 55.4M oz (+2.1%), resources 47.1M oz (~+10%), and inferred 41.8M oz (+15.5%)
- Strong gold-price leverage: captured ~95% of the gold-price increase as cash costs rose only $76/oz YoY
- Full-year total cash costs ($979) and AISC ($1,339) came in slightly above the top end of guidance, driven by higher royalties
- Q4 costs rose quarter-over-quarter on higher royalties, lower production volumes, and higher Meadowbank costs from the mine-life extension
- 2026 cash costs guided up ~$100/oz, with royalties, a stronger Canadian dollar, inflation (~4-5%), and lower-grade mining sequences
- Detour Lake saw pit delays this year and a slower, more measured mill ramp to 29M tons
- Declining reserve grades flagged at Macassa and Fosterville, plus a large ~$1.3B cash tax liability due in February
Guidance Changes
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Total cash costs (midpoint) | 2026 | $1,070/oz |
| All-in sustaining costs (midpoint) | 2026 | $1,475/oz |
| Gold production | next three years (2026-2028) | 3.3-3.5M oz per year |
| Quarterly dividend | 2026 | $0.45/share (+12.5%) |
| Budgeted gold price assumption | 2026 | $4,500/oz |
| Share buyback (NCIB) limit | 2026 (renew in May) | up to $2B |
| Long-term production growth | over next decade / early 2030s | up to 20-30% growth, path to over 4M oz per year |
Performance Breakdown
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Total cash costs | +$76/oz | Cost discipline held the increase to $76/oz even as gold rose ~$1,700 YoY, delivering ~95% of the price gain to shareholders |
| Realized gold price | ~$3,454/oz, nearly $1,000 above guidance | Supportive gold-price environment; higher prices also raised royalty costs |
| Mineral reserves | +2.1% to 55.4M oz | Successful exploration, conversion, study delivery, and the Marban acquisition, net of ~15M oz mined since the 2022 merger |
| Inferred mineral resources | +15.5% to 41.8M oz | Strong drill results, notably Patch 7 at Hope Bay and East Gouldie/Eclipse at Canadian Malartic |
| Free cash flow | ~$4.4B for the year | Strong operating performance, disciplined costs, and record gold prices |
Earnings Call Themes & Trends
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital returns | Returned ~1/3 of free cash flow in 2025 | Targeting 40%+ of FCF; 12.5% dividend hike and NCIB limit up to $2B, with special dividends possible if prices stay high | — |
| Detour Lake underground | 2024 study used only 4.6M oz in the initial mine plan | Resources now 5.5M oz M&I + 5.8M oz inferred; tripling investment (~$200M accelerated) toward a mid-2027 go-ahead, UG output possibly as early as 2028 | — |
| Canadian Malartic fill-the-mill | 2023 study: 9M oz, mine life to 2042 | Added ~9M oz reserves; first East Gouldie production this quarter, first shaft in 2027, second shaft targeted 2033, potential 1M oz/yr with Marban and Wasamac | — |
| Hope Bay redevelopment | Acquired 2021 (TMAC), target north of 350K oz/yr | Study supports 6,000 tpd / 400-425K oz/yr, ~$2B CapEx; +46% inferred resources; study and possible approval in May with ~$300M added 2026 capital | — |
| Upper Beaver | Project sanction planned mid-2027 | Ramp ahead of schedule, shaft sinking reached 155m; adding $100M to accelerate first production to 2030; over 200K oz/yr potential | — |
Q&A Summary
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