Oceanagold update: debt-free balance sheet, Haile growth, and a fully permitted Waihi North Project

Oceanagold enters 2026 with four producing mines, a debt-free balance sheet, and, in the words of the company's Gerard Bond, a strong, low-risk organic growth profile. Speaking with Jimmy Connor in a video published February 4, 2026, Bond walked through every asset, the balance sheet, and the news flow investors can expect this year. All figures below are as he stated them.

## The company at a glance

Bond describes a producer with 35 years of operating history, four mines in three countries, and 2025 production guidance of 450,000 to 520,000 ounces of gold. Haile in South Carolina is the largest mine at roughly 40% of output. Two New Zealand operations, MacRaes and Waihi, add about another 40%. Didipio, a copper-gold mine in the Philippines, makes up the remainder.

## Haile: the largest producer, set up for 2026

Haile's 2025 guidance was 170,000 to 200,000 ounces at an AISC (All-In Sustaining Cost — what it really costs to produce an ounce, including the spending needed to sustain the mine) of about $1,850. Bond credits a waste-stripping campaign completed in the third quarter of 2025 with opening access to higher-grade open-pit ore, which he expects to power a strong fourth quarter and a strong 2026. The underground mine, in his words, "hit its straps" in the back half of the year.

Exploration sits at the center of Haile's future. The company announced the Pisces discovery in February 2025, between the Horseshoe underground mine it is currently mining and Palomino, which it plans to bring into production in 2028. Bond says better definition under the Leadbetter open pit could point to a new underground ore source, and a new target called Clydesdale was identified in September behind Palomino. Beyond the site, an earn-in agreement covers Brewer, a gold-copper porphyry target about 13 kilometers away, with drilling starting this year. He notes 2025 was the company's largest exploration spend ever, and that a residential workforce with low turnover and a 200-year local mining heritage make South Carolina a favorable place to operate.

## MacRaes: low grade, still cash-generative

MacRaes marked its 35th year in 2025 with guidance of 135,000 to 150,000 ounces at an AISC around $2,000 per ounce — high, Bond says, because the ore is low grade. He argues the mine still generates strong free cash flow at current gold prices, and that production should rise in 2026 after a well-executed stripping campaign in 2025.

The exploration case rests on roughly 35 kilometers of mineralized strike. Bond says the company will spend more on exploration at MacRaes in 2026 than in recent years, and that mine planning should move up from the $1,750 per ounce reserve price used as of December 2024.

## Didipio: the low-cost copper-gold engine

Didipio, a gold-copper porphyry that Oceanagold built itself, has operated since 2013. Because one process recovers two metals, costs are low: 2025 guidance of 85,000 to 105,000 ounces at an AISC around $800 per ounce. Bond calls it a strong free cash flow generator with a supportive community and workforce.

The mine also carries exploration upside. Bond cites roughly 7,000 hectares of ground around the operation, the True Blue target 600 meters from the mine, another called the Fox, and drilling about 9 kilometers away. The ore body being mined remains open at depth, and he sees scope for a higher rate of underground extraction.

## Waihi: the long-term growth option

Waihi, acquired from Newmont in 2015, carried 2025 guidance of 55,000 to 70,000 ounces, and Bond said in the third-quarter results that production should land at the upper end. The long-term story is the Waihi North Project, 10 kilometers north of the operation. The plan calls for a portal about 4 kilometers north of the process plant, with ore moved entirely underground back to the plant — no surface impact in a forest park. Bond cites a reserve grade of 9 g/t (grams of gold per tonne of rock) and a resource grade of 17 g/t, and says a technical report from about a year earlier shows Waihi growing from roughly 70,000 ounces to around 220,000-250,000 ounces at peak once the project is fully operational.

He calls the full permits the New Zealand government granted on December 18, 2025 the best Christmas present he has ever received. Through the first half of 2026 the company is mobilizing its tunneling contractor, doing bulk earthworks at the portal, and upgrading power, with production from the deposit targeted for the early 2030s.

## Balance sheet and shareholder returns

At the end of September 2025 the company held $335 million in cash with no debt, and Bond expects a strong fourth-quarter addition to that balance, with realized gold prices about $1,000 per ounce higher than in the third quarter. His stated hierarchy: invest in high-return organic growth, keep funding exploration, maintain a strong balance sheet, and return capital. He credits exploration with adding about 5 million ounces to reserves at an average finding cost near $50 per ounce. In 2025 the company doubled its dividend and bought back $175 million of shares. Bond also says Oceanagold would consider acquisitions in the US or Canada, noting it already operates in the USA and is headquartered in Canada.

## What to watch in 2026

Bond points to two technical reports in March covering Haile and MacRaes — together about 70% of the business — a Didipio technical report in the first half, continued Waihi North progress, a steady flow of exploration results, and a New York Stock Exchange listing in April 2026.