Electra Battery Materials Corporation (ELBM) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Electra first quarter 2023 results conference call. (Operator Instructions) And the conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你的支持。這是會議操作員。歡迎參加 Electra 2023 年第一季度業績電話會議。 （操作員指示）會議正在錄製中。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the conference over to Joe Racanelli, Vice President, Investor Relations with Electra Battery Materials Corporation. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給 Electra Battery Materials Corporation 投資者關係副總裁 Joe Racanelli。請繼續。

Thank you, Jillian. Thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. We released our results for the first quarter last night. The material is available both on SEDAR and our website.

謝謝你，吉莉安。謝謝大家今天早上加入我們。我們昨晚發布了第一季度的業績。該材料可在 SEDAR 和我們的網站上獲取。

Today with me are Trent Mell, company's CEO; as well as Craig Cunningham, our CFO. And joining us for the first time is Renata Cardoso, our VP of Sustainability. We will be using a presentation this morning and I encourage you to follow along from our website. At the end of management's discussion, we will be opening up the call to questions from analysts who do cover us.

今天與我在一起的是公司首席執行官特倫特·梅爾 (Trent Mell)；以及我們的首席財務官 Craig Cunningham。首次加入我們的是我們的可持續發展副總裁 Renata Cardoso。今天早上我們將使用一個演示文稿，我鼓勵您按照我們的網站進行操作。在管理層討論結束時，我們將開始向關注我們的分析師提問。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Trent for his opening remarks.

現在我想將電話轉給特倫特，讓他致開幕詞。

Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everybody. Lots to discuss today and thank you for joining us. We will, as always, open the call up to analysts for questions. But before doing that, I'd like to review some of the developments we've had in what remains a busy time for us and an active Q1.

謝謝你，喬，大家早上好。今天有很多事情要討論，感謝您加入我們。我們將一如既往地邀請分析師提問。但在此之前，我想回顧一下我們在繁忙且活躍的第一季度取得的一些進展。

So first quarter, yeah, like I said, remains busy as we were in 2022. Probably the most notable milestone for us was our battery recycling or black mass refining demonstration plant. Huge accomplishments there that we will talk about later in the call. But that first of its kind, plant-scale recycling demo in North America, to our knowledge, first MHP production, we produced a very high-quality lithium carbonate. We produced a graphite product, and the demo plant has allowed us to continue to develop our IP and improve our process in a large-scale environment. I do have Mark Trevisiol online who can take some questions on that later on.

所以，是的，就像我說的，第一季度仍然像 2022 年一樣忙碌。對我們來說，最值得注意的里程碑可能是我們的電池回收或黑色大規模精煉示範工廠。我們將在稍後的電話會議中討論其中取得的巨大成就。但據我們所知，在北美首次進行工廠規模的回收演示，這是首次 MHP 生產，我們生產了非常高質量的碳酸鋰。我們生產了石墨產品，演示工廠使我們能夠在大規模環境中繼續開發我們的知識產權並改進我們的工藝。我有馬克·特雷維西奧爾在線，他稍後可以回答一些問題。

We also closed a convertible debt, retiring our old debt generating proceeds of USD14 million off of that. Other developments in the quarter included the sale of some non-core assets in the Canadian cobalt belt, particularly silver. We also released a new resource estimate for our Iron Creek copper and cobalt asset, an asset that continues to show big prospectivity with validation of what we believe to be a sister to our Iron Creek, an area known as Ruby.

我們還關閉了一項可轉換債務，償還了我們的舊債務，從中產生了 1400 萬美元的收益。本季度的其他進展包括出售加拿大鈷礦帶的一些非核心資產，特別是白銀。我們還發布了 Iron Creek 銅和鈷資產的新資源估算，該資產繼續顯示出巨大的前景，並驗證了我們認為是 Iron Creek 的姐妹地區（稱為 Ruby 的區域）。

And then really pleased to have Renata, our VP of Sustainability and Low Carbon, on the call with us. She is truly a global leader in sustainability and a great fit for us because one of our key differentiators is our low-carbon footprint. I don't think anybody on the planet can have as good or better of a footprint as our and it's something that we brag about with good reasons. So we're not just going to talk to you not just about that but some of the developments we've made in our own sustainability journey, which as she likes to remind me, is a journey that has no end.

然後非常高興我們的可持續發展和低碳副總裁 Renata 與我們通話。她是可持續發展領域真正的全球領導者，非常適合我們，因為我們的關鍵區別之一是我們的低碳足跡。我認為地球上沒有任何人能夠擁有像我們一樣好或更好的足跡，這是我們有充分理由吹噓的事情。因此，我們不僅要與您談論這一點，還要談論我們在自己的可持續發展之旅中取得的一些進展，正如她喜歡提醒我的那樣，這是一個沒有終點的旅程。

And at the end of the call, we're going to talk a little bit about some of the more recent developments. The Board tech committee recently approved a rebase line review of our top capital cost estimates for the refinery project. We'll talk a little bit more about the desktop study on black mass, and I'll touch upon the strategic review, which we also announced in today's press release.

在電話會議結束時，我們將討論一些最新進展。董事會技術委員會最近批准了對煉油廠項目最高資本成本估算的重新基準線審查。我們將更多地討論有關黑色彌撒的桌面研究，我將談談我們也在今天的新聞稿中宣布的戰略審查。

So with that, I will turn it over to you, Renata.

那麼，我就把它交給你了，雷娜塔。

Thank you, Trent. Good morning, everyone. Moving on to slide 6.

謝謝你，特倫特。大家，早安。繼續看幻燈片 6。

As we said before, Electra has a deep commitment to sustainability and contributing to the global energy transition. This commitment is reflected in our core values and our mission as you can see on screen. Our mission, which is focused on providing low-carbon, ethical and traceable materials to the global battery supply chain is at the heart of everything we do and highlights some of the priority topics that we covered in our sustainability report.

正如我們之前所說，Electra 堅定地致力於可持續發展並為全球能源轉型做出貢獻。正如您在屏幕上看到的那樣，這一承諾體現在我們的核心價值觀和使命中。我們的使命是為全球電池供應鏈提供低碳、道德和可追溯的材料，這是我們所做一切的核心，並強調了我們在可持續發展報告中涵蓋的一些優先主題。

Moving on to slide 7. We present our approach to sustainability. Our framework that was developed in partnership with our stakeholders and encompasses a number of critical aspects such as climate change, human rights, health and safety, and respect to indigenous peoples. This framework helped us to underpin our ESG activities in 2022 when we developed our ESG policies, implemented our whistleblower channel, and became members of the responsible minerals initiative, RMI, which allows us to assess our suppliers' compliance to OECD guidelines.

轉到幻燈片 7。我們介紹我們的可持續發展方法。我們的框架是與利益相關者合作制定的，涵蓋了氣候變化、人權、健康和安全以及尊重土著人民等許多關鍵方面。該框架幫助我們鞏固了 2022 年的 ESG 活動，當時我們制定了 ESG 政策，實施了舉報渠道，並成為負責任礦產倡議 RMI 的成員，這使我們能夠評估供應商對 OECD 準則的遵守情況。

Moving on to slide 8. We can see a summary of our ESG scorecard that you can find in our sustainability report. Our results you see here reflect our construction phase. So numbers will change to reflect the future developments of our plans. However, it's very important to highlight our safety record of zero high-consequence work-related injuries, informing how well our sites are managing this major priority for us now and always.

繼續看幻燈片 8。我們可以在我們的可持續發展報告中看到 ESG 記分卡的摘要。您在這裡看到的結果反映了我們的建設階段。因此，數字將會發生變化，以反映我們計劃的未來發展。然而，非常重要的是要強調我們零嚴重後果工傷的安全記錄，讓我們了解我們的工廠現在和一直以來如何很好地管理這一重要優先事項。

For those unaware, our sustainability report was released in January and is available from our website.

對於那些不知道的人，我們的可持續發展報告於一月份發布，可從我們的網站獲取。

That concludes my remarks. I will now turn it over to Craig, who will review our financial highlights.

我的發言到此結束。我現在將其交給克雷格，他將審查我們的財務亮點。

Thank you, Renata. Thanks, everyone, for joining us this morning. As Joe mentioned, we filed our Q1 statement at the end of yesterday, and let's take everyone through some of our highlights. To begin, we'll start with liquidity. Liquidity position is on slide 10.

謝謝你，雷娜塔。謝謝大家今天早上加入我們。正如喬提到的，我們在昨天年底提交了第一季度聲明，讓我們向大家介紹一下我們的一些亮點。首先，我們將從流動性開始。流動性頭寸位於幻燈片 10 上。

At the end of Q1, we had approximately $12.9 million of cash and marketable securities. This was up from $8.4 million held at the end of the prior quarter. The increase was primarily driven by the USD51 million convertible debt offering that we closed on in February. That offering provided us $50 million in net -- $50 million in gross cash proceeds. The increase was partially offset by refinery commissioning costs, expenses related to the black mass trial, and higher general and administrative costs for the period.

第一季度末，我們擁有約 1290 萬美元的現金和有價證券。這高於上一季度末持有的 840 萬美元。這一增長主要是由我們 2 月份完成的 5100 萬美元可轉換債券發行推動的。此次發行提供了 5000 萬美元的淨收益，即 5000 萬美元的現金收益總額。這一增長被煉油廠調試成本、與黑色大規模試驗相關的費用以及該期間較高的一般和管理成本部分抵消。

I'd also like to point out that at the end of Q1, that cash balance did not include any amount of the $5.1 million that we are still yet to receive from government investments but should be received in the coming quarters.

我還想指出，在第一季度末，現金餘額不包括我們尚未從政府投資中收到但應在未來幾個季度收到的 510 萬美元。

So at the start of Q2, to our cash and marketable securities position has declined while we have continued to settle a number of our advancements on the refinery. Cash management is maintained -- cash measure is a key part of the company. We will be continuing to undertake measures to protect the cash and reduce some of our exposures.

因此，在第二季度初，我們的現金和有價證券頭寸有所下降，同時我們繼續解決煉油廠的一些進展。維持現金管理——現金計量是公司的關鍵部分。我們將繼續採取措施保護現金並減少部分風險敞口。

As mentioned, we completed our $51 million convertible debt financing. If we move to slide 11, we will be able to see a summary of some of these terms there. Although we did go over these in Q4, it will provide a quick update and some additional information there.

如前所述，我們完成了 5100 萬美元的可轉換債務融資。如果我們轉到幻燈片 11，我們將能夠看到其中一些術語的摘要。儘管我們確實在第四季度回顧了這些內容，但它將提供快速更新和一些附加信息。

Again, when we completed the $51 million in financing in February, we retired the original USD36 million of outstanding 2026 notes at par value, plus the accrued interest. The conversion price ratio used in the new 2028 notes is USD2.48. In addition to the notes, investors were entitled to 10.8 million of warrants. Those warrants are available for five years with the same strike price of USD2.48. Additionally, these notes allowed us to have a lower minimum cash balance of USD2 million.

同樣，當我們在 2 月份完成 5100 萬美元融資時，我們按票面價值以及應計利息收回了 3600 萬美元的 2026 年未償還票據。新的 2028 年票據使用的轉換價格比率為 2.48 美元。除票據外，投資者還有權獲得 1080 萬份認股權證。這些認股權證的有效期為五年，執行價格相同為 2.48 美元。此外，這些票據使我們的最低現金餘額降至 200 萬美元。

You will notice in our Q1 result, the impact of settling the 2026 notes and creation of the 2028 notes resulted in a $19.9 million one-time loss recognition. This relates to the settlement and then initial recognition of the 2028 notes. That is a non-cash loss, primarily driven from the fair valuation method used in the package of financing.

您會在我們的第一季度業績中註意到，結算 2026 年票據和創建 2028 年票據的影響導致了 1,990 萬美元的一次性損失確認。這涉及 2028 年票據的和解以及隨後的初步確認。這是非現金損失，主要是由融資方案中使用的公允估值方法造成的。

I would now turn over the updates to Trent, who will take you through the refinery project economics.

我現在將把最新情況轉交給特倫特，他將帶您了解煉油廠項目的經濟學。

Thanks, Craig. All right, back to the refinery. I do have Dave Marshall on the line for questions as well later on. Dave, our VP Engineering, led the rebase line review with our EPCM contractor EXP. And so, by way of reminder, on slide 13, we did withdraw our guidance on February 14, became apparent that just with the ongoing supply chain issues that we're all well aware of, compounded by the receipt of some damaged equipment, inflation, the likes I haven't seen since the -- I guess, since the '80s, and all of the pressures that that put against us that we needed to pull that and review our capital cost estimate. So we'll go through that a little bit now.

謝謝，克雷格。好吧，回到煉油廠。稍後我也會聯繫戴夫·馬歇爾（Dave Marshall）詢問問題。我們的工程副總裁 Dave 與我們的 EPCM 承包商 EXP 一起領導了變基線審查。因此，在幻燈片 13 上提醒一下，我們確實在 2 月 14 日撤回了我們的指導，很明顯，我們都清楚地意識到持續存在的供應鏈問題，再加上收到一些損壞的設備、通貨膨脹等我自 80 年代以來從未見過的情況，以及所有給我們帶來的壓力，我們需要取消這一點並審查我們的資本成本估算。所以我們現在稍微討論一下。

The study was completed at eighth day with EXP. We then had a third-party estimator complete an independent review as well of that and following which it's gone through a tech committee. So we had a pretty good scrubbing of the numbers. And with the amount of detailed engineering and procurement done and much of the long lead stuff now on site or in transit, we're feeling pretty good about where we are in terms of our estimation.

該研究在第八天通過 EXP 完成。然後，我們讓第三方估算師完成了獨立審查，然後通過了技術委員會。所以我們對數字進行了很好的清理。隨著詳細的工程和採購工作的完成，以及大部分長期交付的東西現在在現場或運輸途中，我們對我們的估計感到非常滿意。

So as I say, it was completed with a -- I do estimate now of USD110 million to USD121 million. We spent just under $50 million of that. We do have some additional funds, as Craig outlined, that are coming in, but it is apparent that we are going to need more money in order to complete that process.

正如我所說，它的完成成本是——我現在估計為 1.1 億美元至 1.21 億美元。其中我們花費了不到 5000 萬美元。正如克雷格所概述的那樣，我們確實有一些額外的資金正在流入，但顯然我們將需要更多的資金才能完成這一過程。

And if you look to slide 14, you can see how the variances stack up against different components of the project. And they take freight as an example, never predicted 5x increase in the cost of freight, but these are the kinds of things that replicated, higher labor costs, higher steel, concrete, and so on. And so, it's been some challenges, but we're making our way through it. And I think we've got a pretty good idea of what the way forward looks like.

如果您查看幻燈片 14，您可以看到項目不同組成部分的差異如何疊加。他們以貨運為例，從未預測貨運成本會增加 5 倍，但這些都是重複的事情，更高的勞動力成本，更高的鋼材、混凝土等等。因此，這是一些挑戰，但我們正在克服它。我認為我們已經非常了解未來的發展方向。

Another perspective, looking at it again through slide 15 gives you the workup to both the low end of the range and the higher end of the range. What we've done here is we went right back to the original estimate, just for transparency to show where we were with our study documents.

從另一個角度來看，通過幻燈片 15 再次查看它，您可以對范圍的低端和高端進行處理。我們在這裡所做的就是回到最初的估計，只是為了透明地顯示我們的研究文件的進展情況。

Our control budget by way of reminder, wasn't $62 million but $80 million when we started construction. But this just shows you the workup of the study. It doesn't quite show the control, but where we think we're coming in right now. And again, Dave is here. If you wanted to work through that, there's more details in the press release.

提醒一下，當我們開始建設時，我們的控制預算不是 6200 萬美元，而是 8000 萬美元。但這只是向您展示了研究的結果。它並沒有完全顯示控制，但我們認為我們現在正在進入的地方。戴夫又來了。如果您想解決這個問題，新聞稿中有更多詳細信息。

So as I said, we're going to need more capital. If you look on slide 16, in terms of our next step, it does now focus our attention with some of our partners on funding the gap. We've got commercial partners that we've been talking to for some time. Government agencies, federal, provincial, US, as well that are in the mix, and then some strategic partners as well. Until that time, things are going to be a little bit slower in terms of how we execute.

正如我所說，我們將需要更多資金。如果你看一下幻燈片 16，就我們的下一步而言，它現在確實將我們與一些合作夥伴的注意力集中在為缺口提供資金上。我們已經與一些商業合作夥伴進行了一段時間的交談。聯邦、省、美國等政府機構都在其中，還有一些戰略合作夥伴。在那之前，我們的執行速度會稍微慢一些。

We've got a small team on site that continue working that through. But it is really a question now just managing the capital, managing our expenditures, and getting ready to resume construction once we've lined up the remaining portions of the capital. So we can come back to that in the questions.

我們在現場有一個小團隊繼續解決這個問題。但現在真正的問題只是管理資本，管理我們的支出，並在我們安排好剩餘部分的資本後準備恢復建設。所以我們可以回到問題中來。

Let's maybe turn it back to Craig now, if I may, on the black mass study starting on slide 17 and 18.

如果可以的話，現在讓我們把話題轉回到克雷格身上，從幻燈片 17 和 18 開始進行黑人群體研究。

Thank you, Trent. In addition to the update on the refinery, which we released yesterday, and Trent just walked through, we'd like to provide a overview of our black mass scoping study. As a reminder, we started this scoping study based off of the very positive results we had seen from our demonstration plant, which we commissioned in December and have been running throughout the quarter.

謝謝你，特倫特。除了我們昨天發布的煉油廠的最新情況以及特倫特剛剛走過的情況之外，我們還想概述我們的黑人質量範圍研究。提醒一下，我們根據從示範工廠看到的非常積極的結果開始了這項範圍界定研究，該工廠於 12 月投入使用，並在整個季度都在運行。

We have received a lot of interest related to that capability from various stakeholders within the supply chain for EVs. The recovery and production of lithium-carbonate products, as shown on slide 18, was also something that has generated considerable interest. So the success of our black mass trial project is a significant underpinning to as joining at an MOU with the Three Fires Group, which we also recently announced.

電動汽車供應鏈中的各個利益相關者對我們的這種能力表現出了濃厚的興趣。如幻燈片 18 所示，碳酸鋰產品的回收和生產也引起了相當大的興趣。因此，我們的黑人大規模試驗項目的成功是與三火集團簽署諒解備忘錄的重要基礎，我們最近也宣布了這一點。

If we move to slide 19. There's a summary of the highlights of the scoping study and what some of the indications could be for a potential black mass recycling plant located in our Temiskaming facility.

如果我們轉到幻燈片 19。這裡總結了範圍界定研究的要點，以及我們 Temiskaming 工廠內潛在的黑色物質回收工廠的一些跡象。

As you can see on slide 19, the scoping study is based on processing 2,500 tonnes of recycled material per year, indicating on some compelling economics. Most notably, we'd be building -- or permit black mass operation using our existing footprints at our refinery. They would cost in the range of approximately US6 million to complete and construct, and will deliver attractive rate of return and a payback period of less than two years.

正如您在幻燈片 19 中看到的，範圍界定研究基於每年加工 2,500 噸回收材料，表明了一些令人信服的經濟學原理。最值得注意的是，我們將利用我們煉油廠現有的足跡建造或允許黑色大規模運營。它們的完成和建造成本約為 600 萬美元，並將帶來有吸引力的回報率和不到兩年的投資回收期。

Some of the -- to focus the economic highlights of that potential opportunity, we would be predicting an EBITDA in year one approximately $12.6 million and in year two of $9.9 million and carrying forward in a similar fashion that way. Some of the key assumptions that are built into the model are using analyst consensus for estimates on commodity prices over the coming years, as well as consensus prices on reagents for the same period.

其中一些——為了重點關注這一潛在機會的經濟亮點，我們預計第一年的 EBITDA 約為 1260 萬美元，第二年的 EBITDA 約為 990 萬美元，並以類似的方式結轉。該模型中內置的一些關鍵假設是使用分析師共識來估計未來幾年的商品價格，以及同期試劑的共識價格。

Moving to slide 20, the next steps with our like mass trial. The results we've achieved today in black mass trial are rather encouraging. We -- rather encouraging and supportive of the market outlook. Looking ahead, we anticipate the first commercial deliveries of products produced through the demonstration plant to happen in Q2.

轉到幻燈片 20，我們接下來要進行類似的大規模試驗。我們今天在黑人大規模審判中取得的結果相當令人鼓舞。我們對市場前景相當鼓舞和支持。展望未來，我們預計示範工廠生產的產品將在第二季度進行首次商業交付。

And we also expect to continue to refine our hydrometallurgical process through our batch analysis and improve our processes. Pending completion of our trial, we will evaluate the results and demonstrate a path towards commercialization of this technology and potential opportunity.

我們還希望通過批量分析繼續完善我們的濕法冶金工藝並改進我們的工藝。在試驗完成之前，我們將評估結果並展示該技術商業化的途徑和潛在機會。

This concludes my comments. And I would like to turn the call back to Trent for his closing remarks.

我的評論到此結束。我想將電話轉回給特倫特，讓他發表結束語。

Thank you, Craig. Now to round this, slide 22 now. And before I do the concluding remarks, I just want to say a word or two about black mass as well.

謝謝你，克雷格。現在為了解決這個問題，請播放幻燈片 22。在我做結論之前，我也想就黑人彌撒說一兩句話。

The benefit of this picture shows you the significant advantage we have and why we were first to produce for the refined black mass on a plant scale, because we've got this legacy refinery that you see before you that has been commissioned by Mark and our skilled team at site. And it really is a huge accomplishment. There's a lot of black met -- a lot of battery shredding happening in the industry, but thus far, nobody is doing this. Nobody is taking that black mass and refining the six critical materials -- minerals in their -- into their constituent elements.

這張圖片的好處向您展示了我們擁有的顯著優勢，以及為什麼我們首先在工廠規模上生產精煉黑色物質，因為我們擁有您面前看到的這座傳統精煉廠，它是由馬克和我們熟練的現場團隊委託建造的。這確實是一項巨大的成就。業界有很多黑遇見——很多電池粉碎的事情發生，但到目前為止，還沒有人這樣做。沒有人將這種黑色物質提煉成六種關鍵材料（其中的礦物質）作為其組成元素。

And so, our approach has been fairly straightforward, but also different. It really is about proving out our IP. And that's what we've been doing. And once you proved your IP, you can then partner. And we've had lots of visitors coming to your site, receiving our product, looking at what we're doing. And it's once you've done your proof and your partnerships that then you can start building out the plant. And we look to build this out on a modular basis, growing with the market incrementally so that we don't get too far ahead of ourselves or where the market is.

因此，我們的方法相當簡單，但也有所不同。這確實是為了證明我們的知識產權。這就是我們一直在做的事情。一旦您證明了您的知識產權，您就可以成為合作夥伴。我們有很多訪問者來到您的網站，接收我們的產品，查看我們正在做的事情。一旦您完成了證明並建立了合作夥伴關係，您就可以開始建造工廠。我們希望在模塊化的基礎上構建它，隨著市場的增長而逐步增長，這樣我們就不會超出自己或市場的水平。

So a big, big congratulations to the team, our metallurgical team, our operating team, and the leadership, for pulling off what is a huge accomplishment that I would say is probably not getting enough recognition.

因此，向我們的團隊、我們的冶金團隊、我們的運營團隊和領導層表示熱烈的祝賀，祝賀他們取得了一項巨大的成就，我想說，這項成就可能還沒有得到足夠的認可。

But with that, I'll move on to just some closing remarks. And the first bullet there, as we said in our announcement today, we have disclosed that we've launched a strategic review to evaluate potential alternatives that could help us address our funding shortfall to complete our refinery project. The black mass does give us an alternative, but there is a bigger capital lift required on the refinery and capital requirements on the black mass as well.

但接下來，我將繼續講一些結束語。第一個要點，正如我們在今天的公告中所說，我們已經透露，我們已經啟動了一項戰略審查，以評估潛在的替代方案，這可以幫助我們解決完成煉油廠項目的資金短缺問題。黑色物質確實為我們提供了另一種選擇，但煉油廠需要更大的資本提升，黑色物質也有資本要求。

So I won't talk today about the process, and we will report back when we do have something to say, but at this point, it would just be speculation and rumors. So we're going to leave it as disclosed in the press release.

所以今天我不會談論這個過程，當我們確實有話要說的時候我們會回來報告，但在這一點上，這只是猜測和謠言。因此，我們將保留新聞稿中披露的內容。

And now, maybe some shareholders may be surprised by the development. I think it's good to take into account that the context in which we sit today when we started this project in late 2019 and into 2020 coming out of COVID, real interest rates were negative. Access to capital was much different than it is today. The equity markets were favorable, and we were moving into a period where chemical refineries like ours were receiving pretty generous multiples.

現在，也許一些股東可能會對這一發展感到驚訝。我認為最好考慮到我們今天所處的背景，當我們在 2019 年底啟動這個項目時，到 2020 年疫情結束後，實際利率為負。獲得資本的途徑與今天有很大不同。股票市場有利，我們正在進入一個像我們這樣的煉油廠獲得相當豐厚市盈率的時期。

And over the past to the 1.5 years, it's been a different tone. Equity markets for small caps are getting tougher. Liquidity is harder; interest rates are harder -- or higher, I'm sorry. And as a result, access to capital has become considerably more challenging.

從過去到 1.5 年，情況有所不同。小盤股的股票市場正變得越來越艱難。流動性更難；抱歉，利率變得更難——或者更高。結果，獲得資本變得更加困難。

And as I look to 2023, looming recession seems to be the growing consensus. What this company needs and the only thing we need is a stronger balance sheet. And however, we want to achieve that. Everything else, I think, is in our favor, the macro tailwinds. We've got a process; we've got a location with permits; we've got people; and we've proven out a lot of what we have set out to do; and we're well into construction with long-lead equipment on site. But of course, you need that balance sheet and that partnership to help you get that across the line.

展望 2023 年，即將到來的衰退似乎已成為越來越多的共識。這家公司需要的、也是我們唯一需要的就是更強大的資產負債表。然而，我們希望實現這一目標。我認為，其他一切都對我們有利，即宏觀順風。我們有一個流程；我們有一個有許可證的地點；我們有人；我們已經證明了很多我們計劃要做的事情；我們正在現場使用長周期設備進行施工。但當然，您需要資產負債表和合作夥伴關係來幫助您實現這一目標。

So we have anticipated for some time 2023 was going to be challenging, and that's why we did start taking steps, frankly some time ago, to make sure we would complete our vision and succeed with what we have laid out over the last couple of years. As you know, the outlook for the EV battery market is extremely bullish. We keep seeing announcements here in the continent. I think it's taken the industry by surprise that the speed at which things have picked up, no doubt, bolstered by the US inflation Reduction Act and other incentives that are there across the sector in North America.

因此，一段時間以來，我們預計 2023 年將充滿挑戰，坦率地說，這就是為什麼我們不久前就開始採取措施，以確保我們能夠完成我們的願景，並成功實現我們過去幾年所製定的目標。如您所知，電動汽車電池市場的前景極其樂觀。我們不斷在非洲大陸看到公告。我認為，毫無疑問，在美國通脹削減法案和北美整個行業的其他激勵措施的推動下，事情的加速速度讓整個行業感到驚訝。

So against this more favorable outlook, we're very committed to completing the refinery project, capitalizing on our first-mover advantage, moving forward with our black mass and our Bécancour plans.

因此，在這種更有利的前景下，我們非常致力於完成煉油廠項目，利用我們的先發優勢，推進我們的黑色彌撒和貝坎庫爾計劃。

And with that, I'll thank you and open it up to questions.

在此，我將感謝您並接受提問。

(Operator Instructions) Matthew O'Keefe, Cantor Fitzgerald.

（操作員說明）馬修·奧基夫、坎托·菲茨杰拉德。

Hi, good morning. So a lot in there, just a couple of questions on. Let's start with the refinery. So it sounds like you're current stalled construction here. When you do just figure out your cash issue and you reengage in construction, how long would it take to complete the build and get it commissioned?

早上好。裡面有很多，只有幾個問題。我們先從煉油廠開始吧。看來你們目前的建設陷入停滯。當您解決了現金問題並重新投入建設時，需要多長時間才能完成建設並投入使用？

Yeah, that we -- thank you, Matt, and good morning. We haven't disclosed that, in part because it really is capital dependent. So we continue to receive equipment. I think comfortably, conservative number, realistic number once we've got funding in place ready to go might be 14 months. You could do it faster; you could do it slower. But where we are right now with detailed engineering is at 98%, 99% procurement.

是的，我們——謝謝你，馬特，早上好。我們還沒有透露這一點，部分原因是它確實依賴於資本。所以我們繼續接收設備。我認為，一旦我們準備好資金到位，保守的、現實的數字可能是 14 個月。你可以做得更快；你可以做得慢一點。但我們現在的詳細工程進度是 98%、99% 採購。

Largely, the big stuff is done. So we've got some piping and cables and whatnot that we need, but a lot of that custom fab, SX tanks, and all that have, been received or coming. And so, really, it's execution now. And so, we're talking about a couple hundred people on site doing piping and electrical work. And what that schedule looks like is going to be a function of how your funding aligns and how quickly you can crew up.

基本上，大事已經完成。所以我們有一些管道和電纜以及我們需要的東西，但是很多定制工廠、SX 儲罐以及所有這些都已經收到或即將到來。所以，實際上，現在就是執行了。因此，我們談論的是現場有數百人從事管道和電氣工作。這個時間表的樣子將取決於你的資金如何調整以及你可以多快地組建團隊。

Okay. And on the financing side. You said you're -- you spoke a lot about partnerships and aren't going mention too much about who or what. But are we looking at across the gamut here from traditional lenders to automakers to either strategic -- like other mining companies or processors? Or is it more narrow than that?

好的。而在融資方面。你說過你談到了很多關於合作夥伴關係的問題，但不會過多提及誰或什麼。但我們是否正在關注從傳統貸款機構到汽車製造商，再到戰略性機構（如其他礦業公司或加工商）的所有領域？或者比這更狹窄？

It's pretty broad. We talked about in the presentation, the $5.1 million that we expect to receive from government. There are a couple of other streams, two or three other streams, including application with the US Department of Defense. They're hard to predict what those look like, but certainly, a lot higher than $5 million each of the other streams I'm looking at.

它相當廣泛。我們在演示中談到了我們期望從政府收到的 510 萬美元。還有其他幾個流，兩個或三個其他流，包括向美國國防部申請。他們很難預測這些內容會是什麼樣子，但可以肯定的是，比我正在查看的其他每個流媒體的 500 萬美元要高得多。

The downstream partners, yeah, I think that's going well. The reality is with a rebase line underway, we needed to get this out in order to complete those conversations. So I can think of one downstream partner in particular that's not in the public domain that wants to have the conversation now, that we've got this back out, so they can understand how they are part of a bigger solution. And then of course, the strategic process and what that may yield.

下游合作夥伴，是的，我認為進展順利。現實情況是，隨著 rebase 線正在進行中，我們需要解決這個問題才能完成這些對話。因此，我可以想到一個不在公共領域的下游合作夥伴，他們現在想要進行對話，我們已經把這個問題收回來了，這樣他們就可以了解自己如何成為更大解決方案的一部分。當然，還有戰略流程以及可能產生的結果。

Okay. And then if I could ask one more question just on the black mass. For you -- you said $6 million CapEx, actually two things there. One, maybe explain how -- that doesn't sound like a lot to generate $10 million of EBITDA. Maybe you can explain what goes into that. And does that require the completion of the refinery in order for you to engage in the black mass processes?

好的。然後我是否可以再問一個關於黑色彌撒的問題。對你來說——你說 600 萬美元的資本支出，實際上有兩件事。一，或許可以解釋一下如何實現——聽起來對於產生 1000 萬美元的 EBITDA 來說並不算多。也許你可以解釋一下其中的內容。是否需要完成煉油廠才能參與黑色大規模加工？

Yeah, I'll let Mark talk to that high level what we're doing -- because the refinery, and I know you've been you've been through there, the refinery is running today, right? We're running -- we can run up to a tonne of material per day through that plant. And so, it's basically taking what we've got for the demo plant, adding some tanks, building out a bigger lithium circuit, and scaling that up using what we have. So unlike a new build, the feed handling system is there, the warehouse, the lab, the maintenance crews.

是的，我會讓馬克與高層談談我們正在做的事情 - 因為煉油廠，我知道你已經去過那裡，煉油廠今天正在運行，對嗎？我們正在運行——我們每天可以通過該工廠運行一噸材料。因此，它基本上是利用我們為演示工廠所擁有的資源，添加一些儲罐，構建更大的鋰電路，並利用我們所擁有的資源進行擴展。因此，與新建建築不同的是，飼料處理系統、倉庫、實驗室和維護人員都在那裡。

And Mark, maybe I'll let you add some narrative to that.

馬克，也許我會讓你添加一些敘述。

Yeah, sure. Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Matthew, for your question. If you toured the plants, the plant has about 64 vessels that over lifetime, that has evolved to a hydrometallurgical facility that has several streams or had several streams in its history. Right now, under this current footprint, we're using about a dozen or so of those vessels. So when we go to 2,500 tonne per annum plant, we'll be using a lot more of the dormant vessels that are just lying there right now and not really doing any work for us.

好，當然。大家早上好，謝謝馬修提出的問題。如果您參觀過這些工廠，您會發現該工廠擁有大約 64 艘船舶，在整個生命週期內，這些船舶已發展成為擁有多條流程或在其歷史上擁有多條流程的濕法冶金設施。目前，在目前的足跡下，我們正在使用大約十幾艘這樣的船隻。因此，當我們建設年產 2,500 噸的工廠時，我們將使用更多的休眠船隻，這些船隻目前只是躺在那裡，並沒有真正為我們做任何工作。

So that's the leverage that we have here. It's a lucky thing to have because it really allows you to limit the capital spend and get into production quicker. So that's the asset -- leveraging the asset that we have to maximize the rate at which we can run. And you can see the profitability on these numbers is quite significant. So that's a bird's eye view of that.

這就是我們在這裡擁有的籌碼。擁有它是一件幸運的事情，因為它確實可以讓您限制資本支出並更快地投入生產。這就是資產——利用我們擁有的資產來最大化我們的運行速度。你可以看到這些數字的盈利能力是相當可觀的。這是一個鳥瞰圖。

Okay. So just so I'm clear, so you could run this, like you could [dupe] $26 million right now and have some cash flow before you complete the refinery for the cobalt?

好的。所以我很清楚，所以你可以運行這個，就像你現在可以[欺騙] 2600 萬美元並在完成鈷精煉廠之前有一些現金流？

Well, what this plan does, what this scoping study did was the spend that would need to be done would occur over 12 months from getting the financing on that spend. Some of these vessels would be dual purpose, and some would have to be replaced if the hydroxide project gets full financing. But in the near term, this gets you operating and generating cash much quicker.

嗯，這個計劃的作用，這個範圍界定研究的作用是，需要在獲得該支出融資後 12 個月內完成支出。其中一些船隻將具有雙重用途，如果氫氧化物項目獲得全額融資，則必須更換一些船隻。但在短期內，這可以讓您更快地運營和產生現金。

If we have full funding on the project, cobalt hydroxide, the cobalt sulphate project, then some of these vessels would have to be replaced. And that would be part of additional capital for keeping the rate going, so to speak for black mass.

如果我們對氫氧化鈷、硫酸鈷項目有全額資金，那麼其中一些船隻將不得不更換。這將是維持利率不變的額外資本的一部分，可以說是黑人彌撒。

And that, if I may, just to be totally clear, $6 million becomes $6 million-plus if you want to run these two concurrently, that is to say the cobalt plant and the 2,500 tonne. Then yeah, the idea of the $6 million, this is a very quick and profitable way for us to get the cash flow with a quick return, but you are borrowing some of the equipment that otherwise go to the cobalt plant so there would be a higher number associated with the 2,500-tonne standalone.

如果可以的話，我想徹底澄清一下，如果你想同時運營這兩個工廠，即鈷廠和 2,500 噸工廠，那麼 600 萬美元就變成了 600 萬美元以上。那麼，是的，600 萬美元的想法，這對我們來說是一種非常快速且有利可圖的方式，可以快速獲得現金流並獲得快速回報，但是您借用了一些原本會流向鈷廠的設備，因此與 2,500 噸獨立設備相關的數量會更高。

Okay. Do we have a number for standalone?

好的。我們有獨立的號碼嗎？

Truthfully, no. No, we'd be guessing -- we're working on a 25 -- we're working on a -- what would a 5,000 tonne look like, that will come in time, but that would be an order of magnitude larger because now you're building out structures and whatnot. But compared to a greenfield, you're not -- obviously, we got our permits, which is massive, but you've got your infrastructure and power and water, there's so much already there that when I say orders of magnitude, we're not talking a hundred million, maybe you're talking half of that to get a 5,000-tonne plant.

說實話，沒有。不，我們會猜測 - 我們正在研究 25 - 我們正在研究 - 5,000 噸會是什麼樣子，這會及時到來，但這會大一個數量級，因為現在你正在建造結構和諸如此類的東西。但與綠地相比，你不是——顯然，我們獲得了巨大的許可證，但你已經擁有了基礎設施、電力和水，已經有很多東西了，當我說數量級時，我們不是在談論一億，也許你說的是一半就可以建立一個 5,000 噸的工廠。

But again, this is just orders of magnitude. We need to do the work. Because of everything that's there now, we're building on to existing structures and facilities and equipment.

但同樣，這只是幾個數量級。我們需要做這項工作。由於現有的一切，我們正在現有的結構、設施和設備的基礎上進行建設。

Jake Sekelsky, Alliance Global Partners.

Jake Sekelsky，聯盟全球合作夥伴。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. So just following up a bit on the black mass operation. Do you expect to announce a full economic study before moving to commercialization there? Are you comfortable moving forward with the work that's been done so far on the 2,500-tonne a day scenario?

大家好。感謝您回答我的問題。所以只是對黑色大規模行動進行一些跟進。您是否期望在商業化之前宣布一項全面的經濟研究？您是否願意繼續推進目前已完成的每天 2,500 噸方案的工作？

Yeah, back to my point I made about proving out your process, your IP, and then partnering, we're at the partnering stage now, leveraging somebody else's balance sheet, whether it be through a commercial relationship or otherwise. So yeah, there'll be more work required. This is a desktop. So this is that -- Mark's team got this up and running for $3 million, recommission the plant and get the plant going on a demonstration basis.

是的，回到我所說的關於證明你的流程、你的知識產權，然後合作的觀點，我們現在正處於合作階段，利用別人的資產負債表，無論是通過商業關係還是其他方式。所以，是的，需要做更多的工作。這是一個桌面。這就是——馬克的團隊花費 300 萬美元將其啟動並運行，重新調試該工廠並讓該工廠進行示範。

So it's that same crew of operators and metallurgists that came up with this work. We're still doing our mets and modeling among other things that there will be more work required. I think we'll be able to share some of this publicly as well as the results of the study slightly redacted, but we'll have a report available on our website to give you a sense of the amount of work that was done.

因此，正是由同一批操作員和冶金學家完成了這項工作。我們仍在進行測量和建模等工作，因此還需要做更多的工作。我認為我們將能夠公開分享其中的一些內容以及稍微編輯過的研究結果，但我們將在我們的網站上提供一份報告，讓您了解已完成的工作量。

Got it. Okay. And then just switching gears to the Three Fires agreement that you guys announced about a week ago. Could you provide any color on the pricing mechanisms that you guys are considering under that agreement or is it still too early stage to talk about that?

知道了。好的。然後就轉向你們一周前宣布的三火協議。您能否提供有關你們根據該協議考慮的定價機制的任何信息，或者現在談論這個還為時過早？

Okay. So yeah, maybe just Three Fires, just by way of background, I think the best way to describe it in economic development, a group that represents a number of indigenous First Nations communities around the Great Lakes area. And of course, we've got two very large cell plants that are coming into their territory. And I think from their perspective, circularity and recycling aligns with their values. And they've got access, I suppose, to capital and access to government officials eager to help build capacity.

好的。所以，是的，也許只是“三把火”，僅作為背景，我認為在經濟發展中描述它的最佳方式是，這個團體代表了五大湖地區周圍的許多土著原住民社區。當然，我們有兩個非常大的細胞植物正在進入他們的領地。我認為從他們的角度來看，循環和回收符合他們的價值觀。我認為，他們可以獲得資金和渴望幫助建設能力的政府官員。

And so, the -- where we are right now on the MOU, we haven't outlined the economic split, but the high-level concept with Three Fires and this was them reaching out to us with the idea. You've got the refinery; you don't need four of those. What you do need shredding capability and a dedicated feed. And so, why don't we work together to build out the shredding capability in Ontario and have a good size collection and shredding facility for whatever the sources might be. And the broad parameters would be that they would help with the siting, the location, the property, and the initial capital.

因此，我們現在在諒解備忘錄中，我們還沒有概述經濟分裂，而是與三火的高層概念，這是他們向我們提出的想法。你已經有了煉油廠；你不需要其中四個。您需要的是粉碎能力和專用飼料。因此，我們為什麼不共同努力在安大略省建立粉碎能力，並為任何來源建立良好的尺寸收集和粉碎設施。廣泛的參數是它們將有助於選址、位置、財產和初始資本。

We would bring our expertise, both in refining, and also on the shredding side to help make that a reality, operatorship, the profit share as we would see. But what that really does, Jake, is it provide us now with a captive feed source, which I think is really the future. I think this idea of buying black mass in the open market is going to come and go because as battery plants start to pop up, nobody is going to sell you their feed only to buy it back again. And so, this sets us up for what I would say the second generation of the black mass market as we see it evolving.

我們將利用我們在煉油和粉碎方面的專業知識來幫助實現這一目標，運營和我們所看到的利潤份額。但這真正的作用是，傑克，它現在為我們提供了一個專屬的飼料來源，我認為這確實是未來。我認為在公開市場上購買黑色物質的想法將會時起時落，因為隨著電池工廠開始出現，沒有人會向你出售他們的飼料只是為了再次買回來。因此，這為我們所說的第二代黑人大眾市場奠定了基礎，因為我們看到它正在不斷發展。

Makes sense. Okay, that's all for me. Thanks again.

說得通。好吧，這就是我的全部了。再次感謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Gordon Lawson, Paradigm Capital.

戈登·勞森，範式資本。

Hey, good morning, everyone, and congratulations you got into this stage. My questions are in line with what's already been asked. But the forecasted decrease in EBITDA, is that largely based on consensus commodity price forecast or are there other factors at play?

大家早上好，恭喜你們進入了這個階段。我的問題與已經提出的問題一致。但 EBITDA 的預測下降主要是基於大宗商品價格的共識預測還是還有其他因素在起作用？

Before I hand it over to Craig. The EBITDA that we presented there, Gordon, relates just to the black mass, right? Other EBITDA that we had previously presented was for the cobalt sulphate production activities. But as we've indicated, we withdrew those guidance numbers earlier this year. So numbers today are presented just for the scoping study on black mass.

在我把它交給克雷格之前。戈登，我們在那裡提出的 EBITDA 只與黑人群體有關，對嗎？我們之前介紹的其他 EBITDA 是針對硫酸鈷生產活動的。但正如我們所指出的，我們在今年早些時候撤回了這些指導數字。因此，今天提供的數字只是為了對黑人群體進行範圍研究。

Correct. But the products coming out of that -- the black mass recycling, are you generating EBITDA based on commodity prices, correct?

正確的。但由此產生的產品——黑色大規模回收，你是否根據商品價格產生 EBITDA，對嗎？

That's correct, yeah.

這是正確的，是的。

Okay. So as for the mill, is there an opportunity for debottlenecking or additional fine tuning? The mill is now being used for different product than originally designed. So I'd assume there's room for improvement there unless you prefer to keep it as is for the future cobalt production, correct?

好的。那麼對於工廠來說，是否有機會消除瓶頸或進行額外的微調？該工廠現在用於生產與最初設計不同的產品。因此，我認為那裡還有改進的空間，除非您希望在未來的鈷生產中保持原樣，對嗎？

Do you want to take that, Mark?

你想接受這個嗎，馬克？

As far as block mass processing, yeah, we've been -- since we started this back in December, we have been tweaking the process as we go. In fact, that's one of the things that is nice about this whole demonstration is that it gives us that ability to increase recoveries, increase throughput by getting feedback on what's working well and what isn't working so well and then moving forward.

就塊批量處理而言，是的，自從 12 月份開始以來，我們一直在不斷調整流程。事實上，整個演示的好處之一是，它使我們能夠通過獲得有關哪些內容運行良好、哪些內容運行不佳的反饋，然後繼續前進來提高回收率和吞吐量。

As the hydroxide project, we've done a pilot plant, a complete pilot plant on that right through to processing and manufacturing cobalt sulphate. So we're pretty confident in our flow sheet, and the people that we've -- the vendors that we had involved with supplying equipment have supplied equipment to other cobalt sulphate plants around the world. So there's a level of confidence that we have in that process.

作為氫氧化物項目，我們已經建立了一個試點工廠，一個完整的試點工廠，一直到加工和製造硫酸鈷。因此，我們對我們的流程非常有信心，我們的人員——我們參與供應設備的供應商已經為世界各地的其他硫酸鈷工廠提供了設備。因此，我們對此過程有一定程度的信心。

But overall, the opportunity that we have right now for the black mass circuit is really adding value to our steps moving forward and expanding out to 2,500 tonnes. Yeah, there is ongoing tweaking that we're doing almost every week here and finding little ways to improve recoveries, as I mentioned, at full production rates.

但總的來說，我們現在為黑人大眾巡迴賽提供的機會確實為我們前進的步伐增加了價值，並將產量擴大到 2,500 噸。是的，我們幾乎每週都會進行持續的調整，並找到一些方法來提高恢復率，正如我提到的，以全生產率。

And Gordon, I'd say -- as Mark said, this plants had a couple of iterations ready to produce nickel and cobalt, copper products in the past, silver even. What it hasn't produced is lithium. So if I were to think of a bottleneck today, it's building out that circuit, right? This is a circuit that we introduced as part of a demo plant. So to go continuous, we'd want to continue adding that capacity.

戈登，我想說的是，正如馬克所說，這家工廠已經進行了幾次迭代，準備生產鎳、鈷、銅產品，過去甚至是銀。它沒有生產出鋰。因此，如果我今天要考慮一個瓶頸，那就是構建該電路，對嗎？這是我們作為演示設備的一部分引入的電路。因此，為了持續發展，我們希望繼續增加容量。

But did -- yeah, to the bigger cobalt hydroxide plant, we looked at that early. And so, our decision to buy a larger crystallizer, which is now having some knock-on effects on our CapEx, but to go from a 5,000-tonne crystallizer to a 6,500 tonnes cobalt-contained crystallizer, that would have been a bottleneck. And you got to size that right out of the gate.

但是，是的，對於更大的氫氧化鈷工廠，我們很早就進行了研究。因此，我們決定購買更大的結晶器，這對我們的資本支出產生了一些連鎖反應，但從 5,000 噸結晶器到 6,500 噸含鈷結晶器，這將是一個瓶頸。你必須一開始就確定它的大小。

And that's a -- tankage is certainly not an issue. It may be when we go from 5,000 to 6,500, but I think we successfully address that potential bottlenecks two years ago. And when I looked at the cobalt projections of any one of the big three, or any one of the big automakers, this plant's total capacity for cobalt is going to exceed any one auto manufacturer's requirements by about 2027. So I think it was the right decision there.

這就是——儲罐當然不是問題。可能是我們從 5,000 人增加到 6,500 人的時候，但我認為我們在兩年前成功解決了潛在的瓶頸。當我查看三大汽車製造商之一或任何一家大型汽車製造商的鈷預測時，到 2027 年左右，該工廠的鈷總產能將超過任何一家汽車製造商的需求。所以我認為這是正確的決定。

Okay, great. Thanks very much for the color.

好的，太好了。非常感謝你的顏色。

Thanks, Gordon.

謝謝，戈登。

That is all the time we have for questions today. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Joe Racanelli for any closing comments.

這就是我們今天提問的時間了。我想將會議轉回給喬·拉卡內利（Joe Racanelli）徵求結束意見。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us. We will be available for any follow-up questions. Please do reach out to us. We're happy to answer any of your questions. And again, thank you for participating today.

謝謝大家加入我們。我們將隨時解答任何後續問題。請聯繫我們。我們很樂意回答您的任何問題。再次感謝您今天的參與。

That concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與並祝您度過愉快的一天。