Comstock Inc (LODE) 2026 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Comstock Inc's first-quarter 2026 results and business outlook. I'm Zach Spencer, Treasurer and Corporate Secretary. Today is Thursday, May 7, 2026. We are streaming live, and this session is being recorded. A recording will be posted shortly after we adjourn in the Investor Relations section of our website.

各位下午好，感謝各位參加 Comstock Inc 2026 年第一季業績與業務展望電話會議。我是 Zach Spencer，財務主管兼公司秘書。今天是 2026 年 5 月 7 日（星期四）。我們正在進行線上直播，本場會議也將錄音。會議結束後不久，錄音將上傳至我們網站「投資人關係」專區。

Today, we filed our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, and issued a press release summarizing quarter end results. Both documents are available on our website. As a reminder, Comstock is listed on NYSE American with the ticker LODE. Joining me today are Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock's Chief Executive Officer; and Judd Merrill, Comstock's Chief Financial Officer. After their prepared remarks, we will take questions.

今天，我們已提交截至 2026 年 3 月 31 日止季度的 Form 10-Q，並發布新聞稿摘要說明季度末業績。兩份文件皆可於我們網站取得。提醒各位，Comstock 於 NYSE American 上市，股票代號為 LODE。今天與我一同出席的有 Comstock 執行長 Corrado De Gasperis，以及 Comstock 財務長 Judd Merrill。在他們的準備發言後，我們將進行問答。

We received more than 25 questions in advance of the call. If you have additional questions during the call, please use the Zoom Q&A window, and we will address as many as time allows. Today's discussion will include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties detailed in our SEC filings. Full risk disclosures can be found in our filings on the Investor Relations page and on the SEC website.

我們在會前已收到超過 25 個問題。若您在會議進行中還有其他問題，請使用 Zoom 的 Q&A 視窗，我們將在時間允許下盡可能多加回覆。今天的討論將包含前瞻性陳述。由於我們在 SEC 申報文件中所詳述的風險與不確定性，實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述有重大差異。完整風險揭露可於投資人關係頁面的申報文件及 SEC 網站查閱。

With that, it is my pleasure to introduce our Chief Financial Officer, Judd Merrill. Judd, you may begin.

接下來，我很榮幸介紹我們的財務長 Judd Merrill。Judd，請開始。

Good afternoon, everyone. I have a few prepared remarks, and then we'll move on through the slide deck here. The first quarter of 2026 reflects the continuation of the transformation we drove in 2025. But more importantly, it marks the beginning of execution at scale. We are now transitioning from a period of defined by successful balance sheet recapitalization, institutional banking and capital formation, and expanded and enhanced governance into a period focused on operational development, commercialization and monetization.

各位下午好。我有幾點準備好的說明，接著我們會往下看投影片。2026 年第一季反映了我們在 2025 年推動之轉型的延續；但更重要的是，這標誌著我們開始進入規模化執行的階段。我們正從一段以成功完成資產負債表再資本化、機構銀行往來與資本形成，以及擴大並強化公司治理為特徵的時期，轉向一段聚焦於營運開發、商業化與變現的時期。

Here are a few comments on the first quarter. As we discussed in our last investor call earlier this year, we completed an oversubscribed equity financing of $57.5 million in gross proceeds and $53 million net of offering expenses. Our cash balance at the end of the first quarter was just over $53 million, and this is after $14 million that's already been paid between August 2025 and March 31, 2026, and that's for our first facility and funds for our future recovery solutions for producing silver and copper and other metals is estimated at $10 million.

以下是對第一季的幾點說明。如同我們今年稍早上一場投資人電話會議所提到的，我們完成了一筆超額認購的股權融資，總募集金額為 5,750 萬美元，扣除發行費用後淨額為 5,300 萬美元。第一季末的現金餘額略高於 5,300 萬美元；而這是在 2025 年 8 月至 2026 年 3 月 31 日期間已支付 1,400 萬美元之後的數字，該款項用於我們的第一座設施；此外，未來用於回收解決方案、以生產白銀、銅及其他金屬的資金估計為 1,000 萬美元。

And our second facility is estimated at $13 million, and that won't be deployed until our first facility is up and running and scaling and is profitable. Of that first $14 million for the first industry scale facility, which many of you have registered to come and see on May 28 during our AGM, $6.8 million was used in the first quarter and now substantially all the capital expenditures for our first plant have been completed.

我們的第二座設施估計需要 1,300 萬美元，而該資金將在第一座設施建置完成、開始運轉、擴產並達到獲利後才會投入。在第一座工業規模設施的首筆 1,400 萬美元中（許多人已報名將於 5 月 28 日股東週年大會期間前來參觀），第一季使用了 680 萬美元，目前第一座工廠的資本支出已幾乎全部完成。

We also invested $7.75 million in SSOF, and this was at very attractive valuation. And after we committed to natural gas that can power up to 300 megawatts of power to those and to the other Comstock properties in Silver Springs, and now we're positioned for a higher value monetization. We also recognized $1.4 million cash gain on the sale of royalty rights associated with the prior sale of our Northern mining claims, reflecting continued progress in monetizing these non-core assets.

我們也以相當具吸引力的估值投資了 775 萬美元於 SSOF。此外，在我們承諾提供可支援最高 300 兆瓦電力的天然氣、供應該等設施以及 Comstock 位於 Silver Springs 的其他資產後，我們已具備以更高價值進行變現的條件。我們亦就先前出售北部採礦權所附帶之權利金權益出售，認列 140 萬美元現金收益，顯示我們在變現這些非核心資產方面持續取得進展。

And separately, we have also now agreed on preliminary terms for selling all of our remaining mining assets, and we're now in the due diligence process with the expectation of announcing a definitive agreement in the third quarter. Should this transaction happen, it would result in significant simplification, meaningful cash, cleaner and stronger balance sheet, and meaningful upside in annual cost savings.

另外，我們也已就出售所有剩餘採礦資產達成初步條款，目前正進行盡職調查，預期於第三季宣布具約束力的最終協議。若該交易完成，將大幅簡化公司結構、帶來可觀現金、使資產負債表更乾淨且更強健，並在年度成本節省方面帶來顯著上行空間。

We recognized revenue in the quarter from our pilot plant and deferred revenue from solar panel collections. And we expect -- and we are now starting to see both revenue and deferred revenue increase as we move forward this year as we bring the commercial plant online and begin showcasing it to customers in June.

本季我們認列了來自試點工廠的營收，以及來自太陽能板回收的遞延收入。我們預期——且目前已開始看到——隨著今年推進、商業化工廠上線，並於 6 月開始向客戶展示，營收與遞延收入都將增加。

Total operating expenses increased approximately $1.7 million, driven primarily by higher headcount supporting metals operations, higher facility costs, including our industry scale site at Silver Springs, increased professional, legal and commercialization-related spend as we expect marketing and sales and metals expenses going forward and also associated with various monetization transactions. From a below-the-line perspective, interest expense declined significantly year-over-year, and that's reflecting the elimination of the legacy debt obligations. And even as of this week, we're fully extinguished with no interest expense projected going forward.

營運費用合計增加約 170 萬美元，主要由於支援金屬業務的員工人數增加、設施成本提高（包括我們位於 Silver Springs 的工業規模場址）、專業服務與法律費用增加，以及與商業化相關的支出提升；我們預期未來行銷、銷售與金屬相關費用將持續，並且亦與各項變現交易相關。就損益表下方項目而言，利息費用較去年同期大幅下降，反映我們已消除歷史債務義務。甚至截至本週，我們已完全清償，預計未來不再產生利息費用。

And then interest income increased meaningfully, driven by our strong cash position. And then derivative-related impacts, while still present, were less significant than in prior year and should be low to 0 going forward with substantially all of our make-whole contingencies now satisfied. Net loss for the quarter was approximately $9.4 million, largely in line with prior year levels, with approximately half of that loss representing the mining and Bioleum segments and the other half representing metals and the corporation. We expect the sale of the mining assets to reduce cash spending by up to $1.5 million annually. And we also expect the resulting simplification to further reduce costs.

同時，受惠於強勁的現金部位，利息收入顯著增加。衍生性商品相關影響雖仍存在，但較去年同期不顯著；隨著我們幾乎所有的 make-whole 或有事項現已滿足，未來應會降至接近 0 或為 0。本季淨損約 940 萬美元，大致與去年同期相當；其中約一半虧損來自採礦與 Bioleum 事業部，另一半來自金屬事業與公司本部。我們預期出售採礦資產可使現金支出每年最多減少 150 萬美元，且因結構簡化而進一步降低成本。

Operationally, what matters here most is the quality and the timeliness of the execution underway. The increases that we have seen in operating expense are intentional. They reflect planned build-out of operational capacity, design and deployment of quality systems and industry scale, supporting infrastructure, including operations and sales and logistics. And we're also investing in the teams and systems required to support multisite growth. And at the same time, the reduction in legacy financing, mining and administrative costs and simplification of our capital structure has begun to show through in our financials.

在營運面，最重要的是目前執行的品質與時效。我們看到的營運費用增加是有意為之，反映了依計畫擴建營運能力、設計並導入品質系統與工業規模支援基礎設施（包括營運、銷售與物流）。我們也在投資團隊與系統，以支援多據點成長。同時，隨著歷史融資、採礦與行政成本下降，以及資本結構簡化，其效益已開始反映在財務報表中。

From a liquidity and capital standpoint, we remain in a very strong position. As we previously outlined, we are funded following our recent financings. We have eliminated substantially all of our legacy obligations and associated costs, and we've closed on some smaller sales and agreed to other mining and continued advancing multiple monetization pathways for our non-core assets, which we believe will be significant. And so what does this do?

就流動性與資本而言，我們仍處於非常強健的狀態。如先前所述，近期融資後我們已具備資金。我們已消除幾乎所有歷史義務及其相關成本，並完成部分較小規模的出售交易，也就其他採礦資產出售達成協議，同時持續推進多條非核心資產的變現途徑，我們相信其規模將相當可觀。那麼，這帶來什麼效果？

It positioned us to scale and operate our fully paid for first-of-a-kind industry scale facility, expand metal storage and logistic capacity in multiple states, finalize our first metal recovery designs and pilot a 1 ton per day system preferably at our existing location here in Nevada and then secure, permit and advance our second facility in Las Vegas.

這使我們得以擴大規模並營運我們已全額支付、首創的工業規模設施；在多個州擴充金屬儲存與物流能力；完成我們第一套金屬回收設計，並優先在內華達州現有據點試行一套每日 1 噸處理量的系統；接著取得、申請許可並推進我們在拉斯維加斯的第二座設施。

So looking forward, the financial model begins to change. As we move into 2026, we expect a shift from project-based revenue to throughput-driven revenue. We expect improving unit economics as feasibility scale. We expect the facility to be profitable at 20% utilization and the corporation as a whole at 50% utilization. So that is our focus.

展望未來，財務模型將開始改變。進入 2026 年後，我們預期營收將從以專案為主轉向以處理量（throughput）驅動。我們預期隨著可行性規模擴大，單位經濟效益將改善。我們預期該設施在 20% 產能利用率即可獲利，而公司整體在 50% 產能利用率即可獲利。這就是我們的重點。

At the same time, we remain highly dedicated on monetizing legacy mining and real estate assets and also advancing the SSOF-related opportunities and then accessing non-dilutive capital sources, including grants and industrial financing. So in summary, Q1 was successfully about positioning, deployment and readiness and the rest of 2006 (sic -2026) is execution at scale and monetizing our mining and real estate assets.

同時，我們仍高度專注於變現歷史採礦與不動產資產，並推進與 SSOF 相關的機會，且取得非稀釋性資金來源，包括補助款與產業融資。總結而言，第一季成功完成定位、部署與就緒準備，而 2006 年（原文誤植—2026 年）的其餘時間將聚焦於規模化執行，以及變現我們的採礦與不動產資產。

I will now turn it over to Corrado to go deeper into our operational progress and what we are seeing on the ground at metals. Corrado?

接下來我把時間交給 Corrado，請他更深入說明我們在營運上的進展，以及我們在金屬業務現場所看到的情況。Corrado？

Thanks, Judd. Yeah. No, it's an outstanding overview. We're positioning -- we position ourselves to monetize these assets just as Judd has outlined. We're doing it in the mining. We're doing it in SSOF, and it's all to support the growth of metals. So let's go into metals. I know that we spoke, was it two or three weeks ago with the year-end report. And I have to say that an incredible amount has occurred in the last three weeks. So I've been actually looking forward to this update.

謝謝你，Judd。是的，這是一個非常出色的總覽。我們正在——也已如 Judd 所概述的那樣——讓自己處於能夠變現這些資產的位置。我們在採礦資產上這麼做，在 SSOF 上也這麼做，而這一切都是為了支援金屬業務的成長。那我們來談金屬。我記得我們在年報時才通話，是兩週還是三週前？我必須說，過去三週發生了非常多事情，所以我其實一直很期待這次更新。

With metals, especially, we've now received, deployed, we're assembling and commissioning the facility. Many of you, as Judd said, will be out on the 28th to see it. Quite a few of you have come out over the last two months since January. And every time someone visits, even if it's three or four days in between or a whole week, the plant looks remarkably different. This will be not only the first industry scale, high-speed, high throughput, zero landfill solution, but it will be a showcase for everyone, frankly, but most importantly, our customers.

就金屬業務而言，尤其是，我們現在已收到設備、完成部署，正在組裝並進行設施的試車與投運。如 Judd 所說，許多人將在 28 日到現場參觀。自 1 月以來的過去兩個月，也有不少人前來參訪。每次有人來訪，即使相隔只有三、四天或一整週，工廠看起來都明顯不同。這不僅將是第一個工業規模、高速、高處理量、零掩埋（zero landfill）的解決方案，也將成為對所有人——坦白說——的展示平台，但最重要的是，將成為我們客戶的展示平台。

Our customers are gaining strong traction. They're strategic, they're regional, they're national. They understand as we engage them what we intend to do, but we will be able to show them as soon as June, and many have already scheduled appointments to visit in June and in July when we will be operating our first industry scale facility in Silver Springs. Of course, our objective, as Judd said, is to turn it profitable, ramping it up to 20% utilization, 50% utilization. And of course, we want to run it full.

我們的客戶正在獲得強勁的進展。他們是策略型客戶，他們是區域型客戶，他們是全國型客戶。當我們與他們接觸時，他們理解我們打算做什麼；而我們最早在六月就能向他們展示，且許多人已經安排在六月與七月前來參訪，屆時我們將在 Silver Springs 運行我們第一座具產業規模的設施。當然，我們的目標，如 Judd 所說，是讓它轉為獲利，將稼動率提升到 20%、50%。當然，我們希望滿載運轉。

We're also working on upgrading the downstream production line. We -- you'll see the CapEx that so far has been remarkably in line with our plan, but we've also stepped downstream to enhance recoveries, specifically for glass and we're already able to do that today. And as Judd said, by the end of this year, we'd like to have a 1 ton per day fully integrated metal recovery capability. We're not using the term refining. This is the last time Fortunato said I can use the word refining. We're recovering these metals to extremely high purities.

我們也在著手升級下游生產線。我們——你們會看到，截至目前為止的資本支出（CapEx）與我們的計畫驚人地一致；但我們也往下游延伸以提升回收率，特別是針對玻璃，而且我們今天就已經能做到。並且如 Judd 所說，在今年年底前，我們希望具備每日 1 噸、完全整合的金屬回收能力。我們不使用「精煉」這個詞。這是 Fortunato 說我可以使用 refining 這個字的最後一次。我們將以極高純度回收這些金屬。

And we are already recovering glass now to specifications that even two months ago, we didn't know that we could do. And the result of that, I'm going to go into a little deeper now, but it's resulted in a number of extremely large-scale companies that want to use our glass for things like fiber optics, for things like cement additives, a whole spectrum of uses. So we're upgrading the production line. We're going to be enhancing recoveries.

而且我們現在已經能把玻璃回收到符合規格的程度，甚至在兩個月前我們都不知道自己能做到。其結果——我接下來會講得更深入一些——已促使多家極大型公司希望使用我們的玻璃，用於光纖、用於水泥添加劑，以及各式各樣的用途。因此我們正在升級生產線，並將提升回收率。

And we've shifted from, frankly, worrying about where is all this glass going to find a home. We were worried about it in a professional sense. We were working very diligently on finding it a home. Initially, the values of those homes were pretty low. Today, they're high, and they're seeing forces for those materials. So that's a tremendous update, maybe one of the most salient for this discussion in the last three weeks.

而且我們已經從坦白說、擔心這些玻璃到底要去哪裡找到出路，轉變了。我們是在專業層面上擔心；我們一直非常努力地為它尋找出路。起初，那些出路的價值相當低。今天，它們的價值很高，而且市場對這些材料的需求力量正在顯現。因此這是一個重大的更新，或許也是過去三週在本次討論中最關鍵的更新之一。

We've also identified our second facility. We've already submitted the permits for that facility. We met with our regulators two days ago. It's an extremely positive advance forward. We won't, as Judd said, procure equipment for our second facility until our first one is up and running and frankly, until it's up and running and scaling up in terms of the throughput that's going through that machine.

我們也已確定第二座設施。我們已經為該設施提交許可申請。我們在兩天前與監管單位會面。這是一項極為正面的進展。正如 Judd 所說，在第一座設施啟動並運轉之前——坦白說，直到它啟動運轉並在處理量上開始擴大、讓機器的吞吐量提升之前——我們不會為第二座設施採購設備。

So we have a nice ability to toggle that amount. You've heard from us more often than not that the silver demand and the market for silver is strong. It's driven by photovoltaics. It's driven by electronics. But the deficit in the industry, which is reasonably nascent over the last half a decade, it is clearly persisting.

因此我們具備良好的能力去調整那個量。你們多數時候都聽我們說，白銀需求與白銀市場很強勁。它由太陽能光電所驅動，也由電子產品所驅動。但產業的供給缺口——在過去半個十年仍算相對新興——顯然仍在持續。

China seems to have a bigger implication to that persistence. So the outlook, of course, for silver, which exceeded $80 a share announced sorry, yesterday and is hovering right about $80 an ounce today remains very strong. Insofar as our process, the way to think about our offtake is that aluminum is steady Eddie. We've been selling our aluminum cleanly, clean aluminum since day one. It's absolutely the lowest maintenance part of our offtake stream.

中國似乎對這種持續性有更大的影響。因此白銀的展望——白銀價格昨天宣布抱歉、昨天已突破每盎司 80 美元，今天也在每盎司約 80 美元附近徘徊——仍然非常強勁。就我們的流程而言，理解我們承購（offtake）的方式是：鋁是穩定的主力。我們從第一天起就一直順利銷售我們的鋁——乾淨的鋁。它絕對是我們承購流中維護成本最低的部分。

The tailings, we've been selling, most of you know, to a less than optimal refiners. I guess the good news updating there is we had previously been shipping our tailings to Asia. We do now have and we have secured a boutique domestic offtaker. We're very happy about that because the economics are better and the logistics, of course, are much better. But we always still view that as a temporary condition because we are working feverishly on our own metal recovery process where we hope this year, you'll hear us prove and demonstrate that we can recover silver from these materials.

尾渣（tailings）方面，我們一直在銷售——多數人都知道——給不算理想的精煉商。我想這裡的好消息更新是：我們先前一直把尾渣運往亞洲。現在我們已經找到並確保了一家國內的精品型承購方（boutique domestic offtaker）。我們對此非常高興，因為經濟效益更好，物流當然也更好。但我們仍然把這視為暫時狀態，因為我們正全力以赴推進自有的金屬回收流程；我們希望今年你們會聽到我們證明並展示，我們能從這些材料中回收白銀。

That will be the first objective for 2026, the announcement that we are recovering our own silver at a 1 ton per day of pilot scale, of course, and then ultimately, that we're recovering copper, that we're recovering pure silicon and silica and then ultimately, the doré of these remaining critical minerals. I couldn't be more excited about the implications of that. That means that we would then be fully integrated selling all of our materials while still staying in the category of 0 waste domestically and overall. The glass was the one that I had mentioned previously and we have a [breakthrough] I'm going to show you the equipment associated with that.

那將是 2026 年的第一個目標：宣布我們以每日 1 噸的試點規模（pilot scale）回收自有白銀；接著最終我們將回收銅、回收高純度矽與二氧化矽，並最終回收這些剩餘關鍵礦物的金銀合金（doré）。我對其影響再興奮不過。這意味著我們將成為完全整合的業者，銷售我們所有材料，同時仍維持在國內與整體層面皆為零廢棄（0 waste）的類別。玻璃是我先前提到的那一項，而我們有一個[突破]——我將向你們展示與此相關的設備。

And let me talk about the capital because we've been remarkably on plan here. I think generally speaking, when we were talking in aggregates, we would talk about $12 million to $15 million as the ultimate capital. Judd mentioned $13 million. That's our real number for facility number two. We spent $11 million on the facility. I'm going to show you some pictures of it coming on -- coming together here in just a minute.

讓我談談資本支出，因為我們在這方面非常符合計畫。一般而言，當我們以總額來談時，我們會說最終資本約為 1,200 萬至 1,500 萬美元。Judd 提到 1,300 萬美元。那是我們第二座設施的實際數字。我們在第一座設施上花了 1,100 萬美元。我接下來會給你們看一些照片，展示它如何——如何在接下來幾分鐘內逐步成形。

That is for all of the equipment to load a panel, crush a panel, condition a panel, sort a panel, bag it, the entire process from literally soup to nuts that allows us those three streams. We ultimately spent another $1.1 million in power generating systems. There's a pretty pervasive understanding that the grids are weak, that the grids are short.

這涵蓋所有設備：上料一片面板、破碎一片面板、處理一片面板、分選一片面板、裝袋——整個流程，從頭到尾（literally soup to nuts），讓我們得到那三條產品流。我們另外又在發電系統上花了 110 萬美元。大家普遍理解電網很脆弱、電網供應吃緊。

We didn't plan on being supported by the grid, and we have our own strong natural gas feed right into our facility. And quite frankly, the capital for these power generating systems was a hair higher than the upgrades that were originally planned for the facility off the grid, but the cost of the power is actually lower. So we're very happy about that.

我們原本就沒有計畫依賴電網供電，而且我們的設施有自有的強勁天然氣管線直接供應。坦白說，這些發電系統的資本支出比原先規劃的離網設施升級略高一些，但電力成本實際上更低。因此我們對此非常滿意。

There was $2 million that's been spent. These are money spent that you're looking at. There's $2 million that was spent on leasehold improvements. Comstock Metals spent that money. The landlord is responsible for that money. That money will come back from the landlord. We had a need for speed. And so we got all that done. The building looks incredible. That includes not just building and leasehold improvements to 600 Lake Avenue, but the entirety of the storage complex, which is the number just below it, $1.1 million, and you see the pictures to the side of the fencing and the storage, which is all coming online by the end of this month, many of you again will see all of that.

已經花了 200 萬美元。你們看到的是已支出的金額。其中有 200 萬美元用於租賃物改良（leasehold improvements）。Comstock Metals 先行支付了這筆錢。這筆錢應由房東負擔，並會由房東返還。我們需要速度，所以我們把這些都完成了。建築看起來非常棒。這不僅包含對 600 Lake Avenue 的建築與租賃物改良，也包含整個儲存園區——也就是其下方那個數字 110 萬美元；你們在旁邊看到圍欄與儲存區的照片，這些都會在本月底前全面上線。你們當中許多人也將再次看到這一切。

So if you take out the leasehold improvements, we're just at about $13 million, remarkably right on plan. Like I have to say, the metals team has been exceptional in managing their capital budget and their capital spending. We are going to spend another $1.5 million, about half of that $1 million has already been spent for this product upgrade. What's happened, and I'll show you a picture of it right now, what's happened -- just give me one second here.

因此，如果把租賃物改良扣除，我們大約就是 1,300 萬美元，驚人地完全符合計畫。我必須說，金屬團隊在管理資本預算與資本支出方面表現非常出色。我們還會再花 150 萬美元，其中約一半、也就是 100 萬美元中的一半已經用於這次產品升級。發生了什麼——我現在就給你們看一張照片——發生了什麼——請給我一秒鐘。

What's happened is we have been engaged with some of the largest glass manufacturers in the country. And we were previously talking about using this glass for recycling bottles and tiles and bases. Now we're talking about fiber optics and cements. And we're presenting our glass, which is clean of laminates, plastics, glues and those kind of contaminants, but still has some dust on it, still have some small shards of aluminum in it. And so we assembled this Eddie system that you're looking at that magnetically removes all of the metals.

發生的是，我們一直與全國一些最大的玻璃製造商接洽。我們先前談的是把這些玻璃用於回收瓶子、磁磚與底座。現在我們談的是光纖與水泥。我們展示的玻璃已去除夾層（laminates）、塑膠、膠黏劑與這類污染物，但上面仍有一些粉塵，裡面仍有一些小碎片的鋁。因此我們組裝了你們看到的這套渦電流（Eddy）系統，以磁力方式去除所有金屬。

They're really just small traces of remaining metals and then cleans off so that our glass meets the highest specifications of the best glass manufacturers in the country, and we're in final stages of negotiation with multiple parties. I could say, frankly, that all of the parties want all of our glass. And so we find ourselves from a supply and demand position in a very, very good place.

它們其實只是殘留金屬的微量痕跡，接著再清潔，使我們的玻璃符合全國最佳玻璃製造商的最高規格；我們正與多方進入最後談判階段。坦白說，我可以說所有這些合作方都想要我們所有的玻璃。因此，從供需角度來看，我們處於非常、非常有利的位置。

In terms of the actual facility, this is an older picture that you've seen before with the facility filled, of course, with solar panels. That's not true anymore. The facility and the leasehold improvements have substantially all been completed. The equipment is being assembled. We took pictures as we were progressing through it just so you can get a sense of how it's laying out and how it's coming together.

就實際設施而言，這是一張你們之前看過的較舊照片，當時設施裡當然堆滿了太陽能板。現在已不是那樣了。設施與租賃物改良幾乎都已完成。設備正在組裝中。我們在推進過程中拍了照片，讓你們能感受到它的配置方式，以及它如何逐步成形。

By the end of this month, it will certainly fully be together and including the power generation and including the external scrubbing systems, everything is on site and being assembled and the storage facility, as you can see, fully fenced and really laid out extremely nicely now. The road -- the improvements are being made to the road just alongside it so that we can transport the material super efficiently, super expediently from storage into the processing facility.

在本月底之前，它肯定會完全整合在一起，包含發電系統以及外部洗滌系統；所有設備都已到場並正在組裝。儲存設施如你所見，已完全圍籬，現在的配置也非常完善。道路——就在旁邊的道路正在進行改善，以便我們能夠以極高效率、極快速度，將材料從儲存區運送到處理設施。

So a tremendous amount has been done with the core facility with the basic three up streams, a tremendous amount has been done with upgrading some of our offtake, especially in certainly the glass. And we've also made a tremendous amount of process on our metal recovery from these materials. We have designed this process. We have finalized the design of this process. We have engaged our major partners, pilot testing, bench testing is being done in a distributed fashion.

因此，核心設施在基本的三個上游流程方面已完成大量工作；我們也在升級部分承購（offtake）方面做了大量工作，尤其是玻璃。此外，我們在從這些材料中回收金屬方面也取得了巨大進展。我們已設計了這套流程，並已完成最終設計。我們已與主要合作夥伴合作，試點測試與台架測試正以分散方式進行。

And as Judd said, we expect it all to come together into an integrated 1 ton per day solution that we would prefer to have right at the 600 Lake facility. And that was what our meeting earlier this week with our regulators was about, and I couldn't have been happier with the outcome of those discussions. I want to show you the market as well. We're making continued progress with the market. We're making progress with strategic customers.

正如 Judd 所說，我們預期所有環節將整合成一套每日 1 噸的整體解決方案，而我們希望把它設在 600 Lake 設施。這也是我們本週稍早與監管機構會議的重點，而我對這些討論的結果再滿意不過。我也想向你們展示市場情況。我們在市場端持續取得進展，也在策略客戶方面取得進展。

We're engaged with strategic customers, both in terms of customer agreements, master service agreements and even in some cases, co-locating and joint potentially operating agreements. Those are fascinating. I think this picture that everyone has seen before shows how clearly California, Arizona and Nevada represent the oldest panels, the largest end-of-life market in the country. The next map that you're about to see was updated. This map that you're looking at is two years old.

我們正與策略客戶合作，涵蓋客戶協議、主服務協議（master service agreements），甚至在某些情況下，還包括共同選址以及可能的共同營運協議。這些都很有意思。我想這張大家之前看過的圖片清楚顯示，加州、亞利桑那州與內華達州代表了全國最老舊的面板、也是最大的報廢（end-of-life）市場。你們接下來要看到的下一張地圖已更新；你們現在看到的這張地圖是兩年前的。

The map that you're about to see, California, Nevada, Arizona is presented identically, but you start to see what's happening in the rest of the country. So just in the last two years, the expanded deployments across the southern part of the United States up the Eastern Seaboard and even into the Mid-Atlantic and Northern Midwest have been remarkable. So a part of this is what's happened in the last two years. Quite frankly, part of this is improvement of data, but you can see that this is not a regional play. The market is big.

你們接下來要看到的地圖中，加州、內華達州、亞利桑那州的呈現方式相同，但你開始看到全國其他地區正在發生的變化。因此，就在過去兩年，美國南部、東岸沿線，甚至延伸到中大西洋地區與北部中西部的擴大部署都相當驚人。其中一部分反映的是過去兩年實際發生的事情；坦白說，另一部分是資料改善所致。但你可以看到，這不是區域性的布局；市場很大。

People always ask me, well, what about new deployments? The solar industry has really hit some headwinds, hasn't it? My first reaction to that comment is we care less about what's being deployed today because we're end of life. Our market is the end of life. But rest assured, look at the projects that are under development.

人們總是問我，那新的部署呢？太陽能產業不是遇到一些逆風了嗎？我對這種說法的第一個反應是：我們其實不太在意今天部署了什麼，因為我們做的是報廢端。我們的市場是報廢端。但請放心，看看那些正在開發中的專案。

It doesn't seem or feel like the solar industry has hit a wall. It certainly has some headwinds politically and otherwise, but it's a relative statement -- to imagine that there isn't wide-scale deployment happening is certainly incorrect. And so we're stable with our projections. We feel very, very good about what this facility looks like running at 90% utilization. We feel really good about the ability to capture high yields of our silver once it's really the first step in our recovery process is to start recovering our own silver to be over 90%.

看起來或感覺上，太陽能產業並沒有撞牆。它確實在政治等方面面臨一些逆風，但那是相對的說法——以為沒有大規模部署正在發生，肯定是不正確的。因此，我們的預測保持穩定。我們對這座設施在 90% 產能利用率下的運行狀態感到非常、非常有信心。我們也非常有信心能夠在銀的回收上取得高良率；一旦真正啟動回收流程的第一步，也就是開始回收我們自己的銀，目標是超過 90%。

And with these higher silver prices, our metal recoveries start looking just as good, if not better, than our tipping fees. So this is the thesis. This is what we're working towards. This does not include higher recoveries of our own metals. This only includes the sale of glass, the sale of aluminum and the sale of those tailings.

而在銀價較高的情況下，我們的金屬回收收益看起來與我們的處理費（tipping fees）一樣好，甚至更好。這就是我們的論點，也是我們努力的方向。這裡不包含我們自有金屬更高的回收率；這只包含玻璃的銷售、鋁的銷售，以及那些尾料（tailings）的銷售。

So I want to pivot to Sierra Springs just for a couple of updates. Just as much, if not more, has happened here than even what's happening with the metals business. I think we can assure people, Judd is fully dedicated to the monetization and sale of all of our mining assets. Those -- we're in a diligence and close mode. That's a very, very big news.

接著我想把焦點轉到 Sierra Springs，提供幾點更新。這裡發生的事情不亞於金屬業務，甚至更多。我想我們可以向大家保證，Judd 全力投入於我們所有採礦資產的變現與出售。那些——我們正處於盡職調查與交割（close）模式。這是非常、非常重大的消息。

It's very good news. We cannot share any details until the definitive agreements are done, signed, sealed and delivered. And as Judd said, we expect that with high probability in the third quarter. The Sierra Springs opportunity, we are deploying capital to Sierra Springs. We allocated the specific capital to Sierra Springs. Their Board and our Board have approved a path to controlling this enterprise.

這是非常好的消息。在最終協議完成、簽署、蓋章並交付之前，我們無法分享任何細節。正如 Judd 所說，我們高度可能在第三季完成。Sierra Springs 的機會方面，我們正在向 Sierra Springs 投入資本；我們已為 Sierra Springs 分配了特定資本。他們的董事會與我們的董事會已核准一條取得並控制這家企業的路徑。

And the reason that we want to control this enterprise is because we were successful in securing power for this land. And I can't think of a stronger market to be selling or monetizing into. I was going to say I can't think of a better marketplace to be right now today in the world than critical minerals. But this demand for powered land is -- it's generational. It's exceptional.

而我們之所以想控制這家企業，是因為我們成功為這片土地取得電力供應。我想不出有比這更強的市場來進行銷售或變現。我本來想說，當今世界沒有比關鍵礦物更好的市場；但對「具備電力供應的土地」的需求——是世代級的，是非同尋常的。

And we're sitting on something that with power comes high value. So it's not only that we're sitting in a very widely recognized, highly attractive area for these data centers and these businesses. And everyone that's listed here is already here to mention the ones that we're talking to that want to come. It sits right in immediate proximity of all of the development that is occurring. When we used to say immediate proximity, we were saying 10 minutes up the road to Google, 12 minutes up the road to Switch, 15 minutes up the road to Apple.

而我們手上握有的資產，一旦有電力就具有高價值。所以不僅是我們位於一個廣為認可、對這些資料中心與相關企業極具吸引力的區域；而且這裡列出的每一家都已經在此——更不用說我們正在洽談、希望進駐的那些公司。這些土地就緊鄰正在發生的所有開發案。過去我們說「緊鄰」，是指開車 10 分鐘到 Google、12 分鐘到 Switch、15 分鐘到 Apple。

But that immediate proximity now is right across the street from our properties. So when we committed to essentially up to 300 megawatts of power, we put ourselves in a position with potentially 800, 900 acres of land to be monetizing right alongside what Microsoft, what Tract and what many of these other land power compute enterprises are doing. We do not want to become a land developer. We do not want to be a data land power compute company. We want to monetize these properties at the highest value.

但現在所謂的「緊鄰」，就是在我們物業的馬路對面。因此，當我們承諾基本上最高可達 300 兆瓦的電力時，我們讓自己站在一個位置：擁有可能 800、900 英畝的土地，可以與 Microsoft、Tract 以及其他許多土地／電力／算力企業並肩進行變現。我們不想成為土地開發商；我們不想成為資料中心土地電力算力公司。我們想以最高價值將這些物業變現。

And if there was a marginal increase between powered land and unpowered land, which was probably true three years ago when anyone in their mother could submit to the local public utility and get power, it's not true today. It's not true today. Today, if the land isn't powered, there's very little interest in the land. And if the land is powered, I mean, people are literally kicking your door down and fighting each other to get in. So we have some work to do to perfect and secure the land.

如果「有電土地」與「無電土地」之間只是些微差異——三年前可能確實如此，當時幾乎任何人都能向當地公用事業單位申請並取得電力——但今天不是這樣了。今天不是這樣了。今天，如果土地沒有電力，幾乎沒有人有興趣；而如果土地有電力，我是說，人們真的會把你家門踹開、彼此競爭只為了進來。所以我們還有一些工作要做，去完善並確保土地條件。

That's why we're putting capital in. By perfecting and securing the land, what I mean is with the same dollars, we not only get control of the entity, meaning greater than 50%, but we have all of the land, the titles, the water rights and power-secured, debt-free, obligation-free that we can then market to a major counterparty. When a company like Tract is quoted saying that they're spending $100 billion in this region in the next 10 years, you only have to come and visit us to see the 1,100-acre development that is underway by Tract on the Peru Shelf. You only have to come visit us to see the 1,500-acre development that's underway between us and the Peru Shelf. Peru Shelf is only 12 minutes away.

這就是我們投入資本的原因。我所說的「完善並確保土地」，意思是：用同樣的資金，我們不僅取得該實體的控制權（也就是超過 50%），還能把所有土地、產權（titles）、水權以及電力供應都確保到位，並且做到無負債、無義務，之後就能向主要交易對手進行行銷。當像 Tract 這樣的公司被引用表示未來 10 年將在此區域投入 1,000 億美元時，你只要來拜訪我們，就能看到 Tract 在 Peru Shelf 正在進行的 1,100 英畝開發案；你也只要來拜訪我們，就能看到在我們與 Peru Shelf 之間正在進行的 1,500 英畝開發案。Peru Shelf 距離我們只有 12 分鐘。

So in between us and them is another 6 minutes partway there. This is all happening right up the road, and their third development is right across the street from us. So powered land means everything. In fact, we've learned that talking about the land per acre is frankly a misnomer. What these enterprises do is talk about the land per megawatt. You need the land. You need roads. You need conventional infrastructure. We have that. Preferably, you want flat land.

所以在我們與他們之間，還有另一個開發案，位於途中再往前 6 分鐘的位置。這一切都在路上不遠處發生，而他們的第三個開發案就在我們的馬路對面。所以，有電土地意味著一切。事實上，我們也學到，以每英畝談土地其實是個誤稱。這些企業談的是每兆瓦對應的土地。你需要土地，你需要道路，你需要傳統基礎設施；我們具備這些。最好還要平坦的土地。

Everything that we're seeing developing around us is expending extraordinary dollars to flatten mountains, it feels like it seems like it looks like. But our lands are flat. They're much more valuable in that context. And so -- but you need power. Power enables everything, powered land drives the valuation.

我們看到周邊所有開發案都在花費驚人的資金去整平山丘——感覺上、看起來都像是在削平山一樣。但我們的土地是平坦的；在這個脈絡下更有價值。所以——但你需要電力。電力讓一切成為可能；有電土地推動估值。

So we're not paying per acre. We're paying per megawatt. How much are you paying per megawatt? A lot, a lot, right? So these valuations are getting very, very interesting to us. So I will say in closing that the metals business will be commissioned. By the end of this month, you will see a fully connected fully assembled plant. By June, it will be operating. By July, it will be operating continuously. So we're on track with that.

所以我們不是按英畝付費，而是按兆瓦付費。你每兆瓦付多少？很多、很多，對吧？因此，這些估值對我們來說變得非常、非常有意思。最後我想說，金屬業務將會完成試運轉（commissioned）。在本月底之前，你們會看到一座完全連接、完全組裝完成的工廠。到 6 月，它將開始運行；到 7 月，它將連續運行。因此我們在這方面進度如期。

Q2 operations and then ramping up a few months later than we originally hoped, but on track, nonetheless, to be operating in Q2, and it's a showcase. We are going to be very proud not only to show you how it operates, but we're even prouder now with the customers that are offtaking all of our materials. So that's some exciting. We will not trigger the purchase of equipment until we are really satisfied with everything we see on Serial Number One and with the flow of panels that are going through Serial Number One. That doesn't mean we haven't secured [Site 2]

第二季開始營運，然後比我們原先希望的時間晚了幾個月才拉升產能，但仍然按計畫在第二季投入運作，而且這將是一個展示案例。我們不僅會非常自豪地向各位展示它如何運作，更讓我們感到驕傲的是，現在已有客戶承接（offtake）我們所有的材料。所以這非常令人振奮。在我們對「第一號序列機」（Serial Number One）所看到的一切，以及通過第一號序列機的面板流量真正感到滿意之前，我們不會啟動設備採購。這並不代表我們尚未確保[Site 2]。

That doesn't mean it isn't efficient and intelligent to start the permitting, but you don't have to pull the trigger on the capital until the market suggests it's the right thing to do. We will expect -- we very strongly expect to announce the mining transaction in the third quarter, get that wrapped up and completed. As Judd said, we're going to get cash. We're going to retain upside. We're going to reduce cost, and we're going to simplify the company dramatically.

這也不代表現在開始辦理許可（permitting）不是有效率且明智的作法，但在市場顯示這是正確之舉之前，你不必就資本支出扣下扳機。我們預期——而且非常有信心——會在第三季宣布礦業交易，並把它收尾完成。如同Judd所說，我們將取得現金、保留上行空間、降低成本，並大幅簡化公司。

We expect news in the third quarter on Sierra Springs transactionally, that's not synonymous with it will be sold. We don't believe that. It will happen that quickly. But we do believe it will be positioned, and we will be engaged with meaningful counterparties to that end. And as I said last time, I do expect from there, it's 100, 120 days, we should have a lot of clarity on what the monetization strategy looks like.

我們預期第三季會有關於Sierra Springs在交易層面的消息，但這不等同於它就會被出售。我們不認為會那麼快發生。但我們確實相信它會被妥善定位，並且我們將為此與具實質意義的交易對手方接洽。正如我上次所說，我預期從那之後約100到120天內，我們應該能對變現策略的樣貌有相當清楚的掌握。

The options since we last spoke are bigger, they're broader and they're more probable. So the work there has been exceptional. For anyone that's been out since January, and there's been many of you, including our new directors, which I really appreciate taking the time to literally walk the earth, walk the plants, walk the projects there is a strong level of excitement about what's happening.

自從我們上次談話以來，可行選項更大、更多元，而且成功機率更高。因此那邊的工作表現非常出色。對於自一月以來到現場的人——你們當中很多人，包括我們的新董事——我非常感謝大家願意花時間真正「走在土地上」，走訪工廠、走訪各個專案；大家對正在發生的事情都感到高度興奮。

What's our end game? Our end game is to monetize mining assets, monetize Sierra Springs in the most intelligent way and enable our treasury to fund what is really turning out to be more than just a solar panel recycling business.

我們的最終目標是什麼？我們的最終目標是將礦業資產變現，以最明智的方式將Sierra Springs變現，並讓我們的資金庫（treasury）能夠為一項事業提供資金——而這項事業正逐漸證明它不僅僅是太陽能板回收業務。

Of course, that's what it is, but it's an industrial material business extraordinaire. So let me pause there, I think, Zach, and we can go to questions.

當然，它確實是太陽能板回收，但它更是一個卓越的工業材料事業。那我先在這裡停一下，我想，Zach，我們可以進入提問。

Thank you, Corrado. As I mentioned at the beginning of the call, we received more than 25 questions prior to the call. And I can see that we have quite a number of additional questions coming through Zoom. Corrado and Judd, our first question is, what are your future plans for your mineral and mining properties?

謝謝你，Corrado。如同我在電話會議一開始提到的，我們在會前收到了超過25個問題。而我也看到透過Zoom又進來相當多的追加提問。Corrado與Judd，我們的第一個問題是：你們對未來的礦產與採礦資產有什麼規劃？

So I think as we said there, we're selling them. So I think we were careful with our words previously. We used to say monetize and we thought there could be joint ventures. We thought there could be earn-ins. Those are behind us.

我想如同我們剛才所說，我們要把它們賣掉。我們先前在用詞上很謹慎。我們過去會說「變現」（monetize），並認為可能會有合資（joint ventures），也可能會有分期取得權益（earn-ins）。那些都已經是過去式了。

We have a clear path to full sale. Now full sale will mean we get cash, and as Judd said, meaningful. We may get some upside with equity. We most certainly will get upside with royalties. So we feel really good about what that value looks like to us. We also feel even better about redeploying that capital into our solar recycling business.

我們有一條清晰的路徑走向全面出售。全面出售代表我們會拿到現金，而且如Judd所說，是有意義的金額。我們也可能透過股權取得一些上行空間；而我們幾乎可以確定會透過權利金（royalties）取得上行空間。因此我們對這個價值對我們而言會是什麼樣子感到非常良好。我們也更有信心把這些資本重新部署到我們的太陽能回收業務上。

Thank you, Corrado. The next question is on Comstock Metals. Your competitors have publicly announced more than 15 grams per panel of silver. Can LODE confirm how much silver they are currently extracting per panel, not the theoretical maximum?

謝謝你，Corrado。下一個問題是關於Comstock Metals。你們的競爭對手公開宣布每片面板含銀量超過15克。LODE能否確認目前每片面板實際萃取到多少白銀（不是理論最大值）？

Yeah. Our competitors say a lot of things. So I think that it's very right to say 16, 17, 18 grams per panel. We're literally consistently seeing that for the majority of panels. Thin film panels, Zach, much less, okay, much less in the thin film panels, much less weight in the thin film panels. We're also getting, in some cases, wafers of rejected material for manufacturing clients that just have silver and silicon. So it varies. But for the substantial majority, we're talking about 0.5 ounce per panel, you call it 16, 17, 18 grams per panel. It's pretty steady Eddie.

是的。我們的競爭對手會說很多事情。我認為說每片16、17、18克是相當合理的。我們確實在大多數面板上持續看到這樣的數字。薄膜（thin film）面板，Zach，則少得多，好嗎？薄膜面板的含量少得多、重量也少得多。另外，我們有時也會收到來自製造客戶的報廢晶圓（wafers），那種材料基本上只有白銀和矽。所以會有差異。但就絕大多數而言，我們談的是每片約0.5盎司，你可以稱之為每片16、17、18克。相當穩定。

Now our objective is to recover a very, very high percentage of that number. What does that mean? Like over 90%. So today, we're generating tailings, silicon, silica, a lot of silver in it. We're sending those to a refinery. In the future, we want to be recovering those metals. We don't want to be getting paid for 45% or 50% of the silver. We want to recover and get paid for 90%-plus of the silver. When there's dust escaping or, let's say, residual on the glass, guess what, there's silver in that dust. So the upgrading of the glass results in the capturing and recovery of more dust and that means more silver.

我們的目標是回收其中非常、非常高的比例。這代表什麼？例如超過90%。目前我們會產生尾礦（tailings）——矽、二氧化矽（silica），裡面含有不少白銀——我們把這些送到精煉廠。未來我們希望自己回收這些金屬。我們不想只拿到45%或50%白銀的付款；我們希望回收並拿到90%以上白銀的付款。當有粉塵逸散，或例如玻璃上有殘留時，猜猜看，粉塵裡就有白銀。因此，提升玻璃的升級處理（upgrading）會帶來更多粉塵的捕捉與回收，也就意味著更多白銀。

So we expect to start at a reasonably high recovery and then just continuously improve and continuously capture and continuously improve the recovery of those minerals. So I don't know, like there's a lot of variation depending on the types of panels. Once we start operating the machine, we'll be able to estimate the percentage that we're capturing, and we'll be able to focus on, look, the pursuit is to the theoretical maximum. People might dismiss the theoretical maximum as hog wash. But if you don't know what the theoretical maximum is, you don't have anything to strive for.

因此我們預期一開始就能有相當高的回收率，之後再持續改進、持續捕捉、持續提升這些礦物的回收率。我不確定——因為不同類型的面板差異很大。一旦我們開始運轉設備，我們就能估算我們捕捉到的比例，並且能專注在：追求理論最大值。有人可能會把理論最大值斥為胡扯。但如果你不知道理論最大值是什麼，你就沒有努力的目標。

So it will be good to know what we're actually recovering and then just continuing to strive, you can never reach the theoretical maximum, of course, but we strive for that. So those two numbers, what we're actually recovering versus what we ultimately recover is what we would be reporting once we get into fuller operations. Understanding this is a first-of-a-kind operation, we don't know the answer yet.

所以，了解我們實際回收到多少，然後持續努力——當然你永遠不可能達到理論最大值，但我們會朝那個方向努力——這會很有幫助。因此，這兩個數字：我們目前實際回收多少，與我們最終能回收到多少，將會是我們在更全面營運後會對外揭露的內容。要理解的是，這是一個首創（first-of-a-kind）的營運，我們現在還不知道答案。

Thank you, Corrado. How much of the company's anticipated solar panel feedstock supply is already secured through long-term customer agreements? And what level of visibility does management have into future volumes?

謝謝你，Corrado。公司預期的太陽能板原料（feedstock）供應中，有多少已透過長期客戶協議被鎖定？管理層對未來供應量的能見度到什麼程度？

So we spent a lot of time talking about this even when our new directors visited a few weeks ago. It is the number one least certain item to be clear, okay, the number one least certain item. But saying it just like that, it isn't fair because we're signing master service agreements with large customers. We are working with companies that are very, very serious about how they manage their environmental liabilities. They show us that seriousness by paying us a tipping fee.

所以我們花了很多時間討論這件事，甚至在幾週前新董事來訪時也談了很多。要說清楚，這是最不確定的一項，好的，最不確定的一項。但只這樣說也不公平，因為我們正與大型客戶簽署主服務協議（master service agreements）。我們合作的公司在管理其環境負債方面非常、非常嚴謹。他們透過支付我們處理費（tipping fee）來展現這份嚴謹。

They also show us that seriousness by wanting to see certificate destructions very, very quickly. And so for us, bringing the system online starts to move major amounts of material. Now let's talk about that first low threshold that Judd mentioned at 20%. If you're talking about operating at 20% capacity, you're talking about moving 2,000 tons of material per -- 2,000 tons of material per month, okay? So we've got upwards to 6,000-plus tons of material sitting there, anxious and excited to start processing once the machine gets up and running.

他們也透過希望非常、非常快速地看到銷毀證明（certificate destructions）來展現這份嚴謹。因此對我們而言，系統上線就會開始推動大量物料流動。現在談談Judd提到的第一個低門檻——20%。如果你談的是以20%的產能運作，你談的是每月處理2,000噸物料——每月2,000噸，好嗎？所以我們現場已經堆放了超過6,000噸的物料，迫不及待、也很興奮地等著設備一啟動就開始處理。

And then we feel very comfortable that the business and the customers that we have would sustain that level. That level is not exciting, okay? It's kind of like a minimum threshold that we want to sustain first and foremost. It's neither is it a layup, right? Like we need to continue to work to bring those panels in and then to grow those panels up to much, much higher utilizations.

而且我們相當有把握，現有的業務與客戶可以支撐那個水準。那個水準並不令人興奮，好嗎？它比較像是我們首先要維持的最低門檻。它也不是輕鬆就能達成的事，對吧？我們需要持續努力把那些面板引進來，然後把處理量提升到更高、更高的稼動率。

But -- so a couple of thousand panels a month, I think, certainly out of the chute for three months is just sitting there waiting to be processed. We would probably do it at that lower rate because as we're ramping up, we're debugging, we're optimizing, we're tweaking and then we'll let the market let us grow from there. It's not -- it's the -- how much visibility do we have?

不過——所以我認為，一開始的三個月，每月幾千片面板確實就放在那裡等著被處理。我們可能會以較低的速率來做，因為在拉升產能的過程中，我們要除錯（debugging）、最佳化（optimizing）、微調（tweaking），然後再讓市場帶動我們從那裡成長。這不是——那麼——我們有多少能見度？

We have three, four, five months' worth of visibility. But once the machine comes online, once the panels start flowing, that will increase and that will improve as we move forward. I guess the most risk satisfying point is the utilization doesn't need to be that high. That is not in any way, shape or form meant to suggest we don't want it to be very high.

我們大概有三、四、五個月的能見度。但一旦設備上線、面板開始流動，這個能見度就會隨著時間推進而增加並改善。我想最能讓風險變得可接受的一點是：稼動率不需要非常高。這絕不是、以任何方式、任何形式在暗示我們不希望它非常高。

Corrado, how confident are you that the new equipment will run without any problems?

Corrado，你對新設備能夠毫無問題地運轉有多大把握？

We feel good about all the equipment. Let me say that pigmentically to specifically, each stage of our production from the main crushing systems to the conditioning ovens to the secondary shredding and separating systems. Each one of those is using the same engineers, the same manufacturer, the same supplier that we did and operated in the demonstration facility for over two years. We're coming on to 2.25 years now. That's good.

我們對所有設備都很有信心。我想更具體地說，從主要破碎系統、到調理烘箱、到二次粉碎與分離系統，我們生產的每一個階段，使用的都是同一批工程師、同一家製造商、同一個供應商——也就是我們在示範設施中使用並運轉了兩年多的那一套。我們現在差不多要到 2.25 年了。這很好。

But even better is the scale that we're operating the machine now, we're over 20 times scale from the demo to where we are today is a scale that Fortunato has operated with in past lives and past companies. So even though this is the first time that this scale is being applied to solar panels, it is not the first time that the scale is being applied to other materials. And so look, there's always bugs, there's always hiccups. But we generally are excited to get going and get operating, and we don't expect -- we certainly don't see any fatal flaws, but we don't -- and we do expect hiccups and bumps, but like nothing that's going to really derail our commercial process.

但更好的是我們現在操作的機台規模：從示範到今天，我們已經放大到超過 20 倍的規模，而這個規模 Fortunato 在過去的人生與過去的公司裡是操作過的。所以即便這是第一次把這樣的規模應用在太陽能板上，但這並不是第一次把這樣的規模應用在其他材料上。你看，總是會有 bug，總是會有小插曲。但我們整體上很期待開始啟動並投入運轉；我們不預期——我們當然看不到任何致命缺陷，但我們也確實預期會有一些小狀況與顛簸，不過不至於真正讓我們的商業化流程脫軌。

Thank you. Are you able to provide fiscal year guidance on revenue?

謝謝。你們能提供財年的營收指引嗎？

So we have not provided specific guidance. There are some people out there talking. I think I want to stick with, look, we're going to be processing a couple of thousand tons a month to start off. Once we get two or three months under our belt, once we've got further customer channel check, once we've got further customer visits, a lot of our customers have a box to check, which is to see this machine operating. I think it will -- we'll have much better guidance to come out from there.

我們尚未提供具體指引。外面確實有人在談一些數字。我想我還是維持這樣的說法：我們一開始將每月處理幾千噸。等我們運轉兩三個月、完成更多客戶通路查核、安排更多客戶到訪後——很多客戶有一個必須勾選的項目，就是要親眼看到這台機器在運作。我認為到那時候，我們就能給出更好的指引。

Okay. Moving on to SSOF. Regarding the Silver Springs properties, how do we best think about valuation of these assets?

好的。接著談 SSOF。關於 Silver Springs 的資產，我們應該如何看待這些資產的估值？

So this is where we've been talking internally about prices per square foot of land. And I could say to you that the numbers that we justify our actions are single-digit prices per square foot of land. We see the market for powered land in our immediate locality, us and the surrounding communities that are doing this now in double digits.

我們內部一直在討論土地每平方英尺的價格。我可以告訴你，我們用來合理化自身行動的數字，是土地每平方英尺的價格落在個位數。我們看到在我們所在地及周邊社區，具備電力（powered land）的土地市場價格已經是兩位數。

So that's right there a remarkable thing that we're investing at below single-digit thresholds where we expect fully to get above double-digit threshold in prices per square foot. But what we're hearing and learning from the market is that if you're a private company with small megawatts, I mean, if you don't have megawatts, you're not in the conversation.

所以這本身就很驚人：我們以低於個位數門檻的價格投資，而我們完全預期每平方英尺價格能上到高於兩位數門檻。但我們從市場聽到、學到的是：如果你是私營公司、只有小規模的兆瓦數——我是說，如果你沒有兆瓦數，你根本不在討論範圍內。

But you're talking 5, 10, 15, 20 megawatts, you're looking at people looking at the value of what you're delivering in $0.5 million to, I don't know, $0.75 million per megawatt kind of a range. If you're into bigger scale 100, 200, 300 megawatts, God willing 900 megawatts to a 1 gigawatt, then you're talking about $1 million to $4 million a megawatt. Those numbers are staggering, okay? So if you're talking about public entities with that kind of leverage, you're talking about high value. And this is exactly what our expectation is starting to elevate for Sierra Springs.

但如果你談的是 5、10、15、20 兆瓦，人們會用你所交付的價值來看，約在每兆瓦 50 萬美元到、我不知道、75 萬美元這樣的區間。如果你進入更大規模的 100、200、300 兆瓦，甚至但願能到 900 兆瓦到 1 吉瓦，那你談的就是每兆瓦 100 萬到 400 萬美元。這些數字非常驚人，好嗎？所以如果你談的是具備那種槓桿的上市主體，你談的就是高價值。而這正是我們對 Sierra Springs 的預期正在開始提升的原因。

People say, well, my God, if that's real, then this thing is worth more than your market cap. Well, that's what we're picking the correct here with this thing. And that's why we feel we need to monetize it because other people just -- if people have to come in and validate it, people have to come in and transact it for anybody to believe that it's real, we've got a remarkable amount of subject matter experts now coming in to give us second and third opinions on this position. And I can tell you, the positions are very good. So it's in progress.

有人會說，天啊，如果那是真的，那這個東西的價值就超過你們的市值了。這正是我們在這裡要釐清的地方。也因此我們覺得需要把它變現，因為其他人——如果人們必須有人進來驗證、必須有人進來交易，才會相信它是真的——我們現在有相當多的領域專家進來，給我們第二、第三意見。我可以告訴你，這些意見非常正面。所以事情正在推進中。

I've spent more time in the last 3 weeks on this than I spent in the last 30 weeks on it, and it feels very good. So finally, things are moving. I credit some of our directors to step in and support and helping me with this. I credit Judd for stepping in and helping to support me with this. It's not a one-man show. We're moving very strong. And the partners are -- I want to say lining up, but I feel like they're circling the wagons. It's really gaining traction here.

我在過去 3 週花在這件事上的時間，比前 30 週加起來還多，而且感覺非常好。終於，事情在動了。我要肯定我們部分董事介入支持並協助我；也要肯定 Judd 介入支持並協助我。這不是一個人的表演。我們推進得很強。而合作夥伴——我想說正在排隊，但我覺得更像是在集結力量。這裡真的正在快速取得進展。

I don't want to sound super overoptimistic. It's very, very complex. It's very detailed work. It's very diligent counterparties. But I guess, rest assured that we're doing the work to the level of detail and diligence that will meet their threshold for transacting, and we're pretty excited about that.

我不想聽起來過度樂觀。這非常、非常複雜；工作非常細；交易對手也非常審慎。但我想你可以放心，我們正以足以符合他們交易門檻的細節程度與盡職調查強度在做這件事，我們對此相當興奮。

With land sales, where will the capital be used?

如果有土地出售，資金會用在哪裡？

So our singular objective is to fund the growth, hopefully, exponential growth of our metals business. This is going to be a national -- evolving to an international industrial materials company. The entire supply chain is being constructed. One of the things that probably we haven't spoken about is the logistics network that the metals team is building. Our plant managers are out in California, our plant managers are out in Ohio. We're coordinating logistics. We're coordinating customers. We're coordinating suppliers. And the supply chains are outstanding. I mean we've got some customers.

我們唯一的目標是為金屬業務的成長——希望是指數型成長——提供資金。這將會是一家全國性——並逐步演變為國際性的——工業材料公司。整個供應鏈正在被建構。其中一件我們可能還沒談到的，是金屬團隊正在建立的物流網路。我們的廠長在加州，我們的廠長在俄亥俄州。我們在協調物流、協調客戶、協調供應商。而供應鏈非常出色。我的意思是，我們有一些客戶。

In the case of glass, not only was it pleasantly surprising that we're dealing with some of the largest glass manufacturers in the country, it was really pleasantly surprising that they have plants in some cases, within 30 minutes of our location. So glass doesn't travel far. When you're getting paid $20, $30, $40 a ton for something, you can't send it very far. So things are falling into place here very, very well. So number one place -- that number one place is the growth of the metals business.

以玻璃為例，不僅令人驚喜的是我們正在與全國一些最大的玻璃製造商合作，更令人驚喜的是，他們有些工廠距離我們所在地甚至不到 30 分鐘。玻璃不會運很遠。當你一噸只能拿到 20、30、40 美元時，你不可能把它運得太遠。所以事情在這裡非常、非常順利地到位。因此第一優先——第一優先就是金屬業務的成長。

Ideally, except for the money that we're spending to perfect the position in Sierra Springs and perfect the power going to those lands to enable those high values, except for that money, it's all metals. So monetize mining, redeploy to metals; monetize SSOF, redeploy to metals. So that's the ideal scenario. We're not funding Bioleum as we speak today. That's the elephant in the room.

理想情況下，除了我們用來完善 Sierra Springs 這個部位、並完善把電力送到那些土地以支撐高價值的支出之外，其餘全部都投入金屬。所以：礦業變現，重新部署到金屬；SSOF 變現，重新部署到金屬。這是理想情境。我們目前並沒有在資助 Bioleum。這就是房間裡的大象。

We're not funding Bioleum today. They have a runway to the end of this summer as they're raising their capital. I feel good about them raising their capital, but we're paying very, very close attention to that, right? It's a big investment. It's a meaningful value, and we feel good about the team doing that. But right now, we have no plans to fund anything other than metals and SSOF so that it can be monetized for metals. I hope that's clear.

我們今天沒有在資助 Bioleum。他們在募資的同時，資金跑道可到今年夏末。我對他們募到資金感覺良好，但我們也非常、非常密切地關注這件事，對吧？這是一筆大投資，是有意義的價值，我們也對團隊執行這件事有信心。但目前，我們沒有計畫資助金屬與 SSOF 以外的任何項目——而 SSOF 的目的也是為了變現後投入金屬。我希望這點很清楚。

Yes, it is. Thank you, Corrado. Can you provide an update on Bioleum and what you expect from the investment going forward?

是的，很清楚。謝謝你，Corrado。你能更新一下 Bioleum 的狀況，以及你對這項投資未來的期待嗎？

So I just will say two very, very salient things about Bioleum. Number one is that the bottleneck in that industry is feedstock. The bottleneck in that industry is feedstock. It's singularly the problem of the renewable fuel industry is there's only so much soybean and vegetable oils and so much used cooking oils. The government owns 16 billion gallons in the United States of renewable diesel and fuel, and there's only 4 billion being produced because there's not enough of those fat oils and greases, full stop.

我只想說關於 Bioleum 兩個非常、非常關鍵的點。第一，這個產業的瓶頸是原料（feedstock）。這個產業的瓶頸就是原料。可再生燃料產業的核心問題只有一個：大豆油、植物油、以及廢食用油的供給量有限。美國政府的可再生柴油與燃料目標是 160 億加侖，但目前只生產了 40 億加侖，因為那些油脂與廢油不夠——就這麼簡單。

What does Bioleum do? It takes the most abundant woody biomass, and it converts it into the highest yielding lowest cost, lowest CI score oils for feedstock. And it does it with a dedicated crop from Hexas Biomass, so we have not only the most lowest cost, but the most reliable feedstock source. That is a very easy pitch to make, in my opinion, to the capital markets. That pitch did not exist before a few months ago because Hexas only came online in December, and it's taken them a couple of three months to fully integrate Hexas into the solution. And now they have something that I think is completely differentiated and strong.

Bioleum 做什麼？它把最豐富的木質生物質轉換成作為原料的高產率、低成本、低碳強度（CI）分數的油品。而且它透過 Hexas Biomass 的專用作物來做到這點，因此我們不僅擁有最低成本，也擁有最可靠的原料來源。以我看來，這是一個非常容易向資本市場推介的故事。幾個月前這個故事還不存在，因為 Hexas 直到 12 月才上線，而他們花了兩三個月把 Hexas 完整整合進解決方案。現在他們有一個我認為完全差異化且很強的方案。

So that's the number one salient point about my own. The other one is they just simply need to attract the right type of right investors into that solution. So to answer your question, we would like them to get through a Series B and then go public. When they get to a Series B and then they go public, then they are a liquid investment that we have a lot of flexibility in how we monetize.

所以，這就是關於我自己的第一個重點。另一個重點是，他們只需要把合適類型的投資人吸引到那個解決方案裡。因此，回答你的問題，我們希望他們能完成 B 輪融資，然後上市。當他們做到 B 輪並且上市之後，他們就會成為一項具流動性的投資，我們在如何變現方面就有很大的彈性。

Is it possible that there is an attraction to that technology that there's attraction to that asset that they get acquired? That's also very possible, okay? So their route right now is Series A, Series B IPO. And I think they have a really good track to do that. The less dependency they need from us to do that, the happier we are because we have a global industrial supply chain that we're building for our metals business.

是否有可能因為那項技術、那項資產具有吸引力而被收購？這也非常有可能，對吧？所以他們目前的路徑是 A 輪、B 輪、IPO。我認為他們有非常好的軌跡可以做到。越不需要依賴我們來完成這些，我們就越高興，因為我們正在為我們的金屬業務打造一條全球工業供應鏈。

Thank you for that, Corrado. Can you highlight capital spending for 2026?

謝謝你，Corrado。你能說明一下 2026 年的資本支出嗎？

Yes. So I think Judd mentioned the $14 million was spent for the first facility, that's done. Everything is in place. We're waiting for the last few oven deliveries. These ovens are massive. So -- but and ovens are scheduled to come last. So we're constantly synchronizing those deliveries, but everything has arrived. Many of the oven components arrived. They're all -- they're coming in like every other day, right? So by the end of May, we not only do we expect everything to be there and assembled, that money is spent.

可以。所以我想 Judd 提到，第一座設施已經花了 1,400 萬美元，這部分已完成。一切都已就緒。我們正在等最後幾批烤爐交付。這些烤爐非常巨大。所以——但烤爐通常排在最後交付。因此我們一直在同步這些交付進度，但其他所有東西都已到位。許多烤爐的組件也已到達。它們——幾乎是每隔一天就到一批，對吧？所以到 5 月底，我們不僅預期所有東西都會到齊並完成組裝，那筆錢也就花完了。

We're going to spend another $1.5 million for upgrading for this glass system. We spent some of that already. The rest of it has already been ordered because these big glass companies, they say, hey, once you start shipping us this glass, you better not stop, right? So we've got some really big and exciting customers now that we are going to service with these materials. We will spend $10 million towards a 1 ton per day fully integrated metal recovery system, formerly known as refining, 1 ton per day metal recovery system that will start producing silver, copper, aluminum, silicon metal and also delays of very critical minerals.

我們還會再花 150 萬美元，用於升級這套玻璃系統。我們已經花了一部分。其餘部分也已經下單，因為這些大型玻璃公司會說，嘿，一旦你開始把這種玻璃出貨給我們，你最好不要停，對吧？所以我們現在有一些非常大、非常令人興奮的客戶，我們將用這些材料來服務他們。我們會投入 1,000 萬美元，用於一套每日 1 噸、全整合的金屬回收系統（以前稱為精煉），每日 1 噸的金屬回收系統，將開始生產銀、銅、鋁、矽金屬，並且也會回收一些非常關鍵礦物的延伸品。

I don't want to dismiss the silica and the silicon metal because think about this, 1 ton per day. If you have 1 ton per day and Fortunato is able to extract a pound of metal, we're going to be extremely happy. If you extract a pound of metal, you still have 1,999 pounds of material. Almost all of that is silica, glass, silicon metal. If we get that to specification grades that the market is looking for, then we're selling 100% of everything.

我不想輕忽二氧化矽和矽金屬，因為想想看：每日 1 噸。如果你每天有 1 噸，而 Fortunato 能夠萃取出 1 磅金屬，我們就會非常非常高興。你萃取出 1 磅金屬之後，仍然還有 1,999 磅的材料。幾乎全部都是二氧化矽、玻璃、矽金屬。如果我們能把它做到市場所要求的規格等級，那我們就是在把所有東西 100% 都賣出去。

It's exactly what our thesis is. That's exactly what our marketing is. And the values that, that will portend when we're recovering all the metals are multiples. So we're really, really looking to get that done. Of that $10 million, Zach, some of it is the equipment, okay?

這正是我們的論點。這也正是我們的行銷主張。而當我們把所有金屬都回收起來時，所預示的價值將是倍數成長。所以我們真的、真的很希望把這件事做成。在那 1,000 萬美元裡，Zach，其中一部分是設備，好嗎？

But it always and almost always, and I would say almost certainly in our case, manifests itself as R&D expense. Even if you've got tanks and recovery cells and washers and separators, it's going to be R&D expense because once we've proven the 1 ton a day, that stuff will go -- parts of that stuff will go into labs, and then we'll start building a 25-ton-per-day system, which would be more akin to the demonstration facility that we've been operating for over two years for the solar recycling.

但它總是、幾乎總是——我會說在我們的情況下幾乎可以確定——會體現在研發費用上。即使你有槽體、回收槽、清洗設備、分離器，它也會被列為研發費用，因為一旦我們證明了每日 1 噸的可行性，那些設備中的一部分會進入實驗室，然後我們會開始建造一套每日 25 噸的系統，這會更接近我們已經為太陽能回收運行超過兩年的示範設施。

And then once that's proven out and the final investment decision is achieved, then we'd go to like a 250-ton a day, which would be an industry scale first-of-its-kind metal recovery facility in the United States. So to your question, $1.5 million will be spent for upgrading downstream, $10 million will be spent. We think of it as investment in a 1 ton per day recovery system.

接著，一旦那套系統被驗證並且完成最終投資決策，我們就會走向像每日 250 噸的規模，這將是在美國的產業級、首創的金屬回收設施。所以回到你的問題：下游升級會花 150 萬美元，另外會花 1,000 萬美元。我們把它視為對每日 1 噸回收系統的投資。

The GAAP accountants will call it R&D expense. And then we will not pull the trigger on facility number two purchases until we're satisfied with the ramp-up of facility number one. Originally, we were thinking that could be early like May or June, but we really feel now that the earliest it would be would be August or September. And it could be later. And we're not in a hurry, right?

依 GAAP 的會計師會把它稱為研發費用。然後，在我們對第一座設施的爬坡（ramp-up）感到滿意之前，我們不會按下第二座設施採購的扳機。原本我們以為可能會在 5 月或 6 月初，但我們現在覺得最早也要到 8 月或 9 月。而且也可能更晚。我們並不著急，對吧？

What we're in a hurry to do is ramp up facility number one and turn this whole down thing profitable.

我們急著做的是把第一座設施的產能爬坡拉起來，並讓整個下游端變得有獲利。

Thank you, Corrado. We're coming up on time, and I think we've covered all of the important questions. If we did not get to your question, please send it to ir@comstockinc.com, and we'll do our best to respond either directly or we'll post the response on X. For anyone who is not following us on X, our main account is @comstockinc. Please follow us. Corrado, before we wrap up, please give us some final thoughts for the remainder of Q2 as well as overall 2026 objectives.

謝謝你，Corrado。我們時間差不多了，我想我們已經涵蓋了所有重要問題。如果我們沒有回答到你的問題，請寄到 ir@comstockinc.com，我們會盡力直接回覆，或把回覆發布在 X 上。若你尚未在 X 上關注我們，我們的主帳號是 @comstockinc。請關注我們。Corrado，在我們結束之前，請你分享一下對 Q2 剩餘時間以及 2026 年整體目標的最後想法。

Yes. I think I have -- we're in a great situation where I get to say that in 21 days, we're going to be speaking again. And in 21 days, at the Annual General Meeting, we've already got like 50-plus people registered. So it's going to be a great day. We're going to take a tour of the facility. You're going to see the showcase. Also, if you haven't registered for that, the deadline is like three days away. So please make sure you register. Otherwise, we're going to have to close that off. Logistically, we won't be able to handle it if people are still registering.

好的。我想我——我們處在一個很好的狀況，讓我可以說：21 天後我們會再一次發聲。21 天後，在年度股東大會上，我們已經有 50 多位人士註冊了。所以那會是很棒的一天。我們會帶大家參觀設施。你會看到展示區。另外，如果你還沒註冊，截止日期大概只剩三天。所以請務必完成註冊。否則我們就必須關閉報名。從後勤角度來看，如果大家還在持續註冊，我們將無法應付。

If you've gotten your proxies, please vote. We really would like -- we're really -- we're locked and loaded. Our Board, our management team, our balance sheet, we're locked and loaded. It's all about execution. And so we will not only speak three weeks from now about more execution. We will show you the visuals of that showcase and that plant coming online. And then Zach from there, it's all about the panel flow, right? The panel flow coming in and then the product sales going out like a normal real company. So we're looking forward to that. Looking forward to seeing everybody on May 28 as well.

如果你已經收到委託書（proxy），請投票。我們真的希望——我們真的——我們已經整裝待發。我們的董事會、管理團隊、資產負債表，我們都已整裝待發。接下來就是執行。所以三週後我們不僅會談更多執行進展，我們也會向你展示那個展示區以及工廠上線的視覺成果。然後 Zach，從那之後，一切就取決於面板流（panel flow），對吧？面板流進來，產品銷售像一家正常、真正的公司那樣流出去。所以我們很期待。也期待在 5 月 28 日見到大家。

Definitely. Thank you, Corrado. That concludes Comstock's first-quarter 2026 earnings call and business update. Thank you for joining us.

當然。謝謝你，Corrado。以上為 Comstock 2026 年第一季財報電話會議與業務更新。感謝各位參與。

Thanks, everyone. Speak soon.

謝謝大家。很快再聊。