Elevra Lithium Ltd (ELVR) 2026 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day and welcome to the Elevra Lithium Limited FY 26 half year results.

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Thank you.

I'd now like to welcome Lucas Dow, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, to begin the conference. Lucas, over to you.

Thank you. Welcome everyone. I'm Lucas Dow, Managing Director and CEO at Elevra Lithium, and I'm pleased to present the financial year 2026 half year results.

I'm joined today by Christian Cortes, Chief Financial Officer.

Sylvain Collard, Chief Operating Officer and President of Canada, and Andrew Barber, Chief Development and Investor relations Officer.

Our agenda for today's call is described on slide 2. Specifically, we will cover our operational and financial results, provide an update on the achievements since closing the merger between Siona Mining and Piedmont Lithium, and provide a market update.

I'd also like to mention that unless otherwise stated, all references to dollar amounts today are in US dollars.

We'll begin by providing an overview of the first half results for Ffi 26, which can be found on slide 4.

We produced approximately 96,000 tons of spodumen concentrate during the first half of the fiscal year and sold approximately 92,000 tons. Our financial position has improved, with revenue increasing by 8% to $86 million and we ended December with $81 million in cash.

This was the first half year operating as a la lithium following the closure of the merger between Siona and Piedmont, and we've made significant advancements in growing our resource base and positioning the company for near-term growth through an expansion of production at NAL or North American Lithium.

Christian will provide more detail, but we generated $5 million in synergies over the 4 months post-merger completion and remain on track to achieve our stated goal of more than $15 million in annual recurring savings.

Moving now to slide 6, North American lithium NAL produced 96,156 dry metric tons of sporamine concentrate during the first half year, reflecting continued stable operations with production 7% lower than the prior corresponding period.

Ore availability was below expectations in the areas immediately adjacent to historical underground workings at NAL, which drove the need to supplement ore delivered to the mill with a higher percentage of volcanic rock, which contains lower lithium content and higher iron content than anticipated.

This in turn reduced lithium recoveries during the December quarter, and we're implementing specific actions in the pit and our stockpile and on our stockpiles to minimize the impact of future production.

It is important to note that the ore availability challenges are of a temporary nature and not reflective of the NAL ore body. That is to say, these impacts were temporary rather than structural issues.

Despite the reduced concentrate output, now generated $5 million in operating cash flow, and we are pleased to report that this was the best safety performance delivered to date.

Moving to slide 7.

We were pleased to report an increase in the mineral resource and all reserve estimates at NAL and MGLA during the half year.

At NAL we saw a 124% increase in the reserves, and this formed the basis for the evaluation of increased annual production in the NAL Brownfield expansion scoping study, which was released in mid-September.

Mobilland continues to show that the acid is a large, high grade resource and now stands as one of North America's largest single lithium deposits.

After incorporating the final results from our 2024 drill program, we were pleased to report a 30% increase in the mineral resource estimate to 120 million tons with a grade of 1.19%. A significant majority of the resource is included in the indicated category, which generally provides for a high rate of conversion to reserves.

Back now to NIL on slide 8, we provide more information about the proposed NAL brownfield expansion.

Consolidating the ownership of NAL under one company to allow for increased annual production was a key driver of the merger between Seona and Piedmont.

And we believe that a brownfield expansion is one of the most attractive lithium development projects across the industry.

We released a scoping study for the expansion on 15th of September which contemplated increasing the life of mine annual production to 315,000 tons of concentrate per year at a reduced C1 unit cost of $630 per ton with an estimated capital cost of $270 million.

The increased production and reduced unit costs create a compelling financial case to move forward with the expansion, and new permitting information received since the completion of the scoping study has informed and accelerated approach to the expansion.

Our accelerated approach will yield incremental production sooner with an estimated 15 to 20% increase in annual production delivered in the first stage, prior to reaching expanded nameplate capacity of 315,000 tons of concentrate per year.

This approach should also reduce the upfront capital intensity due to the staged nature of the expansion, and we will provide more detailed operational and financial benefits when we finalize the updated scoping study next quarter.

Turning to the merger of Siona and Piedmont on slide 10, I'd like to provide a brief update on the major milestones which were accomplished over the 6 month period.

We received strong shareholder support and completed the transaction while also completing a placement with Resource capital funds, RCF to provide additional financial flexibility.

On the corporate side, we established a unified board and management team, completed our name and ticker transition.

Listed American depository shares and executed a share consolidation.

Operationally, we aligned functions across the organization, identified meaningful synergies, and prioritized our broader project pipeline to focus on capital efficiency.

Overall, the merger is positioned a lever with stronger foundations, improved financial flexibility, and a clear pathway to execute on our operational and growth strategies.

I'll now pass over to Christian.

Thank you, Lucas, and good morning to all.

A few items to highlight before I take you through the financial performance of Vere's first half year.

The operational and financial results reported in the December 2025 half-year include 4 months of legacy bid month and six months of Sayona following the completion of the merger at the end of August 2025.

Eebra elected to change its reporting currency from AUD to US dollars during the half year. As such, prior corresponding period, amounts have been restated to US dollars for comparative purposes.

The amounts shown in the presentation have been rounded to the nearest million.

Moving to slide 12 to expand on the Javier's operational and financial overview.

As mentioned by Lucas, NAL's half-year production of 96,156 dry metric tons.

Was a 7% decrease compared to the prior half year.

Which was negatively impacted by temporary mine-related performance during the December quarter.

Cells volume concentrate totaled 91,991 dry metric tons.

With 3 parcels delivered to customers, a 20% decrease from the prior corresponding period.

Due to changes in shipping scheduling and lower inventory levels.

Despite the reduction in sales volume.

Revenue increased to $86 million over the period.

This was a function of a 34% increase in the average realized selling price.

To $937 per dry metric ton on an FOB basis as the company benefit from significant improvement in market conditions as lithium prices climbed to a multi-year highs.

Unit operating costs per ton sold were $814 per dry metric ton during the half year.

Which was 6% decrease from the prior corresponding period.

Excluding impact from inventory movements, unit cost per ton produced were $831 per drive metric ton.

Which was a 14% increase driven by lower production and increased dripping and processing costs.

At group level, Elera delivered its meeting underlying EITA profit of 1 million compared to a prior period loss of 25 million.

The group used cash in operating activities of 28 million during the period, which included 5 million of cash flows generated by NAL.

Offset by cash outflows of 24 million associated with combined merger transaction costs of Elevre and Legacy Piedmont.

While Piedmont merger costs were accrued prior to completion date.

14 million were subsequently paid by Allegra.

Cash balance at the end of the period increased to 81 million from 69 million in the prior comparable period.

Mainly due to the receipt of proceeds from capital raise completed in the half year.

Partially offset by cash outflows from operations and capital expenditure.

I will address in further detail either that performance and casual movements in the following slides.

Moving to slide 13.

NAL delivered an $11 million underlying even that profit in the half year.

Compared to a $19 million loss in the prior comparable period.

The removal of the legacy optic agreement post-merger has further improved Elever's ability to capture market-aligned pricing and realize logistic cost synergies of 1 million.

Which were reflected in NAO's underlying profit.

Corporate expenditure of 9 million includes 4 months of legacy Piedmont.

And on a restated basis is 4 million lower than the prior comparable period. Combining legacy companies' overheads.

Due to strong realization of synergies.

Annualized synergies remain on track with targeting the range of 15 to 20 million.

Most of which are expected to be reductions in corporate costs.

The group profit after income tax of 74 million for the half year reflected a material 116 million increase from the prior comparable period.

Due to the improved underlying EBITDA.

And net benefits from extraordinary items associated with 156 million of NAOs in permanent reversal.

And a write up of inventory of 9 million.

Which was partially offset by a net 74 million cost related to Piedmont's acquisition accounting.

Moving to slide 14.

Prior year underlying Ital loss of 25 million.

Has been adjusted in this slide to include Legacy Piedmont's standalone costs of 8 million for the 4th month comparable period.

Underlying EITA of 1 million profit in the half-year ended 31st December 2025.

Was a significant improvement compared to a prior period adjusted loss of 33 million.

Largely due to the recovery in lithium prices, boosting profits by 2022, 22 million.

And an improvement in unit costs of spojamine sold of 6 million.

Furthermore, Eebra delivered a reduction in costs of 5 million.

Related to synergies achieved in the 4 in the 4 month period as a merged company.

The improvement in profit associated with volume in the half year.

Relates to a reduction of volume sold when compared to prior comparable period, which reported higher volume sold at a loss.

Moving to slide 15.

Opening cash balance of 47 million increased by 72% during the half-year period.

To 81 million.

NAO's net operating cash flows were 5 million as the operation turned into profit during the half year.

Outside of NAO operating cash flows included 9 million outflow related to corporate activities.

And 24 million out attributable to merger-related costs, of which 10 million were attributable to Allegra.

Inclusive of accrued 2 million at 30 June 2025.

And 14 million of Piedmont merger-related costs, which were accounted for prior to merger completion and subsequently paid by Allegra.

Investing net cash inflows were 20 million for the period.

Mainly due to the cash balance contributed by Piedmont on merger completion date of 34 million.

And 2 million inflow for sale of land from Legacy Piedmont.

This was partially offset by NAL's capital expenditure of 16 million.

Finally, the group received proceeds of 44 million from an equity placement completed in September 2025.

Moving to slide 16.

Elera's net position, net asset position was significantly bolstered during the half-year period, increasing by 82% from 311 million at the end of June 2025.

To 565 million at the end of December 2025.

The significantly improved balance sheet is the result of the benefits of the merger.

Which resulted And Piedmont contributing 58 million of net assets to Allegra.

An equity placement of 44 million which was conditional upon merger completion.

And the reversal.

Of impairment at NAL of 156 million.

Which reflects higher future sales prices expected from the elimination of the legacy of the agreement with Piedmont.

Elebra is well positioned into the future with a stronger balance sheet at the end of the half year.

I'll hand back to Lucas.

Thanks Christian. I'd like to provide some commentary on the market.

On slide 18, you will see that spogamine concentrate prices rose sharply over the period and this had a positive impact on the business.

Pricing troughed in the middle of 2025, but strong demand heading into calendar year 2027 led to a stronger rebound.

The demand outlook remains strong, with expectations that lithium demand will double over the remainder of the decade, and lithium pricing will be a factor we consider when developing our growth projects. Lithium remains a relatively small and immature market, and we expect to see further volatility in lithium prices.

Pricing can change quickly, and this is why we believe it is important to remain disciplined in our execution.

And continue producing throughout periods of low pricing to capitalize on positive pricing momentum.

I'd like to end my remarks in slide 19. As we look to the second half of 26, we remain on track to deliver within the guidance ranges we presented as part of our December quarterly results.

We will now take questions.

If you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. That is one if you wish to ask a question.

And your first question, cons of Austin Yun from Macquarie. Your line is open.

Mornings and team, just a question on the reversal of the impairment of 150 million, in the half, just can't understand what are the underlying assets being impacted. Did you, reverse the value for the downstream cow centers at North America this year, and that will be appreciated.

Thank you.

Thanks Austin, I'll pass this across to Christian, he can walk you through exactly what was the underlying elements in relation in relation to the impairment reversal. Christian, over to you.

Thanks, Lucas. Hi, Austin. Thanks for the question.

The reversal excludes effectively any individual assets that we have impaired. So coming back to your question, any downstream assets that effectively came through had already been impaired. There is effectively no reversal associated with those items.

So, the 156 million that we're reporting is effectively. The assets that are effectively being used at operations and that is effectively net of the associated appreciation that these assets would have effectively reflected in the P&L if they had been at at that gross stock value for the halffi.

Okay, thank you. Just a quick follow-up. So how should we think about the decrease in China's going forward?

Should we anticipate a step up on the DNA side going forward?

Yeah, I mean, obviously the carrying value of the assets at NAL.

A portion of those are depreciated based on life of mine.

Other assets that are specifically expected to be replaced, at a shorter period, they have a shorter, depreciation use life. Now, when we talk about expansion in the event of some of that, equipment being replaced sooner in the future, we'll obviously have to assess.

Change in the depreciation.

Useful life of those specific assets.

Thank you, that's clear. The second question is on the company growth outlook, like, yeah, well, we're going to be waiting for this, brownfield expansion study, but outside of North America, keen to understand the update on you, what your project, has there been any update, understanding that the project is still waiting for the government approval, yeah, but any update on that front?

Thanks Austin, you will have seen that Atlantic Lithium provided an update to the market in recent days, indicating that, they've got no additional news on the ratification process, so commentary's consistent with what we've provided. So really nothing to report at this stage, Austin, in terms of, progress at a lawyer.

Understood. And lastly, just a question on the operational front.

It's coming to spring for the northern hemisphere. Any color you could provide on the mining condition, I know usually this period is a bit muddy, and it could hinder the material movements.

I'm not sure if there's anything that that we can provide.

Thank you.

Thanks Austin, I can certainly tell you that Sylvain continues to send me photos of him shoveling snow off his roofs, so we've had plenty of snow this winter, but encouragingly, the mitigation actions that Sylvain and the team put in place last winter have worked well, and we haven't seen any impacts, so we're still really in the throes of winter on site, Austin, so we really haven't seen any melting as yet, but, Sione and the team are really well set up to be able to manage it, so we're not expecting any impact and we've had a strong start to this quarter.

Thank you, I pastor.

Thanks, Austin.

Your.

Your next question comes from the line of Roger Spencer from Cannacor Genuity. Your line is open.

Thank you, morning, Lucas and Christian. Austin beat me to the punch, on the Ria, questions and status there. My remaining question I guess is, a little bit bigger picture. Rio have, opted to invest further in Beckanco and Namaska. What might that mean for your offtake and product marketing strategy in the medium to longer-term, clearly.

There's a plan from Rio to integrate with Wabuchi, but, having an operating conversion facility, I'm not going to say down the road, but certainly, within relatively close proximity could have some benefits for you guys. And, are you in a position to say whether you've had conversations with them around product marketing?

Reg, I'll pass to Christian, Christian's since, moving in has taken ownership of the marketing book as well as obviously, as part of his CFO duties, so Christian, you you might want to provide some color in response to Reg's question.

Thanks, Lucas. Hi, Reg. Yeah, I mean, that was a very recent announcement from Rio. If you look closely at that announcement, Reg, Rio is effectively suggesting that first production coming out of Becancore is estimated to be in 2028.

We obviously don't have insight to understand in detail what does that mean, but if that is their plan and expectation.

Obviously, there's no short-term opportunities to supply them with products. In the event of that changing, it would make sense for both companies to look at a way in which we can effectively support them with feedstock before they integrate their offstream, but.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what additional.

Yeah, what additional details they provide in the next six months.

Understood. Thanks, Christian. Do you have any idea what the status of Wabuchi is at the moment? Because there seemed to be commentary around beck and call, but nothing on Wabuchi itself.

No, Reg, I have, I really have no insight as to, what they're deciding to do with either of those two upstream assets, the The galaxy asset and the Wabuchi asset. I believe they've indicated that we're going to come back with further details as to how they see Canada developing overall later this year, but that's the best of my understanding to date.

Excellent. That's.

Great. Look, thanks very much, Christian, and thanks Lucas and team.

Thanks, Rich.

Thanks, Rich.

As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. And your next question comes from the line of Noel Parks from Tuohy Brothers Investment Research. Your line is open.

Hello, good morning. I just wondered if you had any, thoughts on Albemarle's, recent comments about, Kings Mountain and, restarting there. It sounds like, despite a good bit of, rationalization of, where they're putting capital that has moved a little higher up their list and, with some deployment of resources there. So just any thoughts on, whether there might be any read through, Carolina Lithium.

I think, Noel, in terms of Carolina lithium, and probably just to restate, Elaborate strategy, we're very much a hard rockspogamine concentrate producer, so, we're good at exploring, developing and operating hard rockspojamine mines.

Our Carolina project contemplates it being an integrated facility, and just given the nature of the size of the ore body and the grade of the ore body, for it to be competitive, it really needs a, Lithium hydroxide facility or a lithium carbonate, plant in close proximity to it to effectively vertically integrate and make it cost competitive. Given our expertise is not in that space, for us to be able to advance Carolina in a meaningful manner, we're, we are engaging in seeking out technical partners, but that technical partner will need to be able to bring operating capability and also an appropriate balance sheet. There's clearly good support from the US government in terms of bringing, downstream processing onshore and into the US and so we'd expect that, good government support would be there, but the key to the puzzle is finding that technical partner, and until we've done that, it's really a case of us just pushing, Carolina along in terms of permitting and rezoning and those sort of enabling activities, so, probably not a great deal for us to take from Albemarle's musings in that space, Noel, but Carolina remains a strategically important project, within our portfolio, having said that, our immediate focus is very much around the NAL brownfield expansion.

Great, thanks a lot.

Thanks. Currently, currently.

There are no further questions on the phone lines, so I'd like to hand back for written questions.

Thank you, I do have a question, which you've partly answered, Lucas, about providing an update on the assets other than NAL and your thoughts about how they contribute to the overall portfolio evaluation.

Thanks, Andrew, and so I think just to reiterate, NAL is our immediate focus, we've got near-term brownfield expansion capability, and Sylvain and the team are already working through that work. Effectively, we'll break that down into three phases, but the first phase being very much focused on de-bottlenecking and being able to bring that incremental 15 to 20% of volume, to life during the course of calendar year 27, with the ensuing stages the following calendar years 28 and 29.

As we mentioned with the war, we obviously like that project.

Technically it's great. A few challenges around the JV structure that, we picked up as part of the merger. We're working with Atlantic in a constructive way on that, but it's going to be difficult for us to motivate capital under the terms of the existing JV structure, so that's an area that we continue to work with Atlantic on.

The, other areas, our other projects, Mobland, in the sequencing, environmental baselining and and study work has commenced. Historically, greenfield projects of the size of Mobland will require at least 5 years of permitting. Now Prime Minister Kney has made reference to endeavoring to want to shorten that. We'll clearly take advantage of that if that is the case, but we're at this stage, we're, our baseline or base plan is, on historical performance around that 5 years. So, the team in Quebec is working through diligently around the environmental studies. We will also provide an economic study based on the increased resource base. We expect to undertake that during the second half of this calendar year.

And then finally, I've touched briefly on, Carolina, as I said, Very strategically important projects have got value in our portfolio, but it's really the key to unlocking the value there is being able to find, a partner that can bring the expertise to be able to, build and operate a downstream li lithium, Chemical conversion facility and in in addition to that would be likely government support and funding that would enable that to occur, so that's a quick snapshot Andrew of the status of the projects in the portfolio.

Alright, thanks. The Next question is, what's the current cash margin at prevailing spot prices and what floor price would ensure NAL remains cash flow positive?

Yeah, I'll just provide a couple of initial comments. Obviously the, cost guidance that we provided, will give people an indication of where floor price needs to be already be operating cash flow positive. At NAL, and we'll also, providing an indication of where our corporate costs are. I think folks can, read through and work those out for themselves, and similarly, you'll be able to extract the margins based on the prevailing price. We're shipping, concentrating the orders of 5.2 to 5% concentrate grade, so you've obviously got a great adjust S6 prices in line with, those elements, but Christian, anything else that you wanted to add there?

Well, I guess, because, we put out guidance right recently about what we expect.

Effectively the cost of goods sold to come out on a dry metric ton in the range of 860 and 880.

So, as you explained already, it's a Calculation of effectively estimating, at 5% of, spoamine concentrate that we're putting in the market if we are receiving market price.

Anyone can effectively TRY to work out what's the price that we're expecting to receive based on.

Current price indexes and as they move through the rest of the six month period.

And with the cost of goods sold that we provided, I think that's a pretty good estimate of what the cash margins will come at in the remaining period of the FY26.

Fiscal year.

Thanks Christine Christian.

Just, can you comment beyond Banggrove lithium, are there any other, discussions around off-take or hydro around hydroxide conversion?

We've seen, we've been approached, and there's ongoing conversations in relation to potential offtakes, but, obviously they're confidential in nature. If there's anything, to update in line with our continuous disclosure obligations, we'll be sure to inform the market.

Great, thanks, and just a further question on nail expansion, just can it be accelerated any further than what what we've outlined and has there been any change in supplier behavior in terms of bringing new supply in onto the market?

So, short answer, I think, the excellent work that Sylvain and the team have done around improving the schedule for bringing the brownfield expansion online and in a staged approach, it's unlikely that we'll be able to accelerate that, significantly, further than what we've, we have done since September. I think it's, it actually is a really great result from the work of Sylvain and the team. And then, sorry, Andrew, on the second component was, There was a second component there on that question.

It was with regard to supplier behavior, bringing new production into the market.

Has there been any change in in what you've seen?

Yeah, I think the short answer is, not to date, and the reality is that, and then of course, if the question's framed in the context of the Brownfield expansion, whilst the volume will be meaning for us, meaningful for us at a leverer, in the scheme of the market, it's not going to disturb or distort pricing. So, none of those sort of indications have had a direct impact. Obviously, there's been some suggested potential restarts of capacity or idle capacity in Western Australia. Obviously they're now priced into the market, so, I think, people should see, people should take what what they're seeing in terms of spot prices as a decent read-through of a fully informed market at this point.

Thanks, there are no further questions from the webcast, but I think there might be one more from the call.

Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Harrington from Petra Capital. Your line is open.

Thank you, Lucas, Christian Andrew. Question about, uptake.

Where, where's the top three destinations? Is everything still going to China? Where's Tesla in your, Figuring, and sort of what's the sort of view for the next, let's say 20-30, of how you'd like your off-tech to shape up.

In terms of destinations.

Christian.

Thanks Andrew. Christian, over to you.

Hi, Andrew. Thanks for your question. With regards to the how we reported, out of the 3 parcels that we effectively delivered, one of those went to the US, the remaining went to China.

As we look forward for what will be the remaining of this financial year.

I would expect a similar split, i.e., one shipment.

Or one delivery to the US and the remaining to China.

I mean, more importantly, your question on how do we see this developing in the next years, it really is a function as to how the supply chain develops in the region. Ideally, we would obviously like to support customers that are based in the Americas region, but the reality is, there's very little conversion capacity at the moment. As that effectively changes over time and that grows, we believe that we'll be well placed to serve that part of the world.

But until that happens, unfortunately, the majority or.

Most of.

The entire conversion capacity is in China.

Okay, thank you. And what's besides Corpus Christi, where else, is on the horizon, in North America and Betancourt, obviously.

Yeah, so the question was asked about Bec and Core which has guided that they'll likely continue with progressing that project this year, but again, first production expected in 2028, that leaves obviously, a GAAP as to when those requirements will come through and if they do, whether it's going to be effectively serviced by their integrated supply, i.e. their, they're upstream coming online.

And as we announced, Mangrove has the ambition to effectively build conversion capacity in the region. So, assuming that is successful, we'll be well placed with that non-binding MOU that we already announced a month ago or so.

Okay, cheers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

There are no further questions on the phone line, so I'd like to come back.

Thank you, and I just want to say thank you everyone for joining the call, and we look forward to speaking to you at our next quarterly update.

Thank you.

That does concludes our conference for today.

Thank you for participating. I will disconnect.