MP Materials Corp. (MP) 2021 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the MP Materials Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. My name is Charlie, and I will be coordinating your call today. (Operator Instructions)

各位女士、先生，歡迎參加 MP Materials 財務業績電話會議暨網路直播。我叫 Charlie，今天將由我協調本次會議。（接線員指示）

I will now hand over to your host, Head of Investor Relations, Martin Sheehan, to begin. Martin, please go ahead.

現在我將把時間交給本次會議主持人、投資人關係主管 Martin Sheehan 來開始。Martin，請開始。

Thank you, operator, and good day, everyone. Welcome to MP Materials' First Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. With me today are James Litinsky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MP Materials; Michael Rosenthal, Chief Operating Officer; and Ryan Corbett, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝接線員，大家好。歡迎參加 MP Materials 2021 年第一季財報電話會議。今天與我一同出席的有：MP Materials 董事長兼執行長 James Litinsky；營運長 Michael Rosenthal；以及財務長 Ryan Corbett。

To follow along with our discussion today, we encourage you to download our slides from our investor website. Before we get to James and Ryan's opening remarks, I'd like to remind you that during today's call, we will make certain forward-looking statements that do not constitute historical facts under the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

為了便於各位跟上我們今天的討論，我們鼓勵各位至投資人網站下載簡報。在進入 James 與 Ryan 的開場致詞之前，我想提醒各位，在今天的會議中，我們將發表若干前瞻性陳述；依據 1995 年《美國私人證券訴訟改革法》（United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995）的安全港條款，這些陳述不構成歷史事實。

Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this communication. For more information about factors that may cause actual results to materially differ from forward-looking statements, please refer to the cautionary language in the earnings release and in our filings with the SEC, including the Risk Factors section in our recent SEC filings.

前瞻性陳述係指基於目前的預期與假設，對未來事件所作的預測、推估及其他陳述，因此存在風險與不確定性。本次溝通中的前瞻性陳述，可能因多項因素而使實際未來事件與之出現重大差異。關於可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述出現重大差異之因素的更多資訊，請參閱財報新聞稿及我們向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交之文件中的警示性文字，包括我們近期 SEC 申報文件中的「風險因素」章節。

During the call, management will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe to be useful in evaluating MP Materials' operating performance. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the MP Materials' financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP.

在本次會議中，管理層也將討論若干非 GAAP 財務衡量指標；我們認為這些指標有助於評估 MP Materials 的營運表現。這些指標不應被單獨看待，亦不應作為依 GAAP 編製之 MP Materials 財務結果的替代。

A reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in our current report on Form 8-K filed today and can be found on our website, investors.mpmaterials.com. And please check our investor website regularly and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, where we often provide news and information on the company.

上述指標與最直接可比之 GAAP 指標的調節表，已收錄於我們今日提交的 Form 8-K 當期報告中，亦可於我們的網站 investors.mpmaterials.com 查閱。也請各位定期瀏覽我們的投資人網站，並在 Twitter、Instagram 與 LinkedIn 追蹤我們；我們經常在上述平台發布公司新聞與資訊。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Jim. Jim?

接下來，我把電話交給 Jim。Jim？

Thanks, Martin, and thank you to everyone joining us on the call this afternoon. I'm going to cover a few things today. First, I will recap the highlights of our outstanding first quarter results. Second, I will provide a quick update on our Stage II optimization plan in Mountain Pass. Then I will turn it over to Ryan for some more color on our performance. And finally, I will make some closing comments before opening it up for Q&A.

謝謝你，Martin，也感謝今天下午加入電話會議的各位。我今天會談幾件事。第一，我將回顧我們非常亮眼的第一季業績重點。第二，我會快速更新我們在 Mountain Pass 的第二階段（Stage II）最佳化計畫。接著我會把時間交給 Ryan，補充更多關於我們表現的細節。最後，在開放問答之前，我會做一些結語。

Let's start with the first quarter highlights on Slide 4. We achieved record first quarter production and sales volumes. These numbers show the significant operating leverage we can achieve when higher NdPr prices meet best-in-class production costs.

我們先從第 4 頁投影片的第一季重點開始。我們創下第一季產量與銷售量的新高紀錄。這些數據顯示，當較高的 NdPr 價格遇上同級最佳的生產成本時，我們能夠實現顯著的營運槓桿。

Our revenue nearly tripled year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was up more than sixfold. And our adjusted EBITDA margin more than doubled year-over-year to over 57%. I will talk more about our record sales and production volumes in a minute.

我們的營收較去年同期幾乎成長三倍。調整後 EBITDA 成長超過六倍。而調整後 EBITDA 利潤率較去年同期增加一倍以上，達到 57% 以上。稍後我會再多談一些我們創紀錄的銷售量與產量。

The other big highlight in the quarter was our Green Convertible bond offering. I would like to spend a moment on the green convert. I know the initial market reaction to the transaction was not as we had hoped, but I would like to take you all through our logic so you can better understand why we did it and what this means for long-term value creation.

本季另一個重大亮點是我們的綠色可轉換公司債（Green Convertible）發行。我想花一點時間談談這次綠色可轉債。我知道市場對這筆交易的初期反應並非如我們所期望，但我想帶各位了解我們的邏輯，讓各位更清楚我們為何這麼做，以及這對長期價值創造意味著什麼。

First, as we talked about last quarter, we are seeing activity accelerating in the electrification and decarbonization supply chain, particularly related to EVs. The scale of the global acceleration in capital investment is mind-boggling. A recent IEA report stated that while it took 10 years to reach 10 million EVs on the road in 2020, they expected that over the next 10 years, by 2030, this number would climb to 145 million. This may seem like staggering growth, but that will may be up 7% of the global fleet. And this excludes 2- and 3-wheelers, where there is also huge potential for electrification. By the way, the IEA report followed up their EV study right away with a look at critical materials.

第一，正如我們上季所談到的，我們看到電氣化與去碳化供應鏈的活動正在加速，尤其與電動車（EV）相關。全球資本投資加速的規模令人難以置信。國際能源署（IEA）近期一份報告指出，2020 年全球道路上的電動車達到 1,000 萬輛花了 10 年時間；而他們預期在接下來 10 年，到 2030 年，這個數字將攀升至 1.45 億輛。這看起來可能是驚人的成長，但那也僅約占全球車隊的 7%。而且這還不包含二輪與三輪車，這些領域同樣具有巨大的電氣化潛力。順帶一提，IEA 在發布 EV 研究後，隨即又針對關鍵材料進行了探討。

So MP is not capital markets-reliant, but we are opportunistic. We now have the firepower to make what we believe are extremely attractive, highly accretive investments towards our mission, regardless of market conditions. And if attractive opportunities do not present themselves, we can always return the capital to shareholders, the largest of whom is me. We believe this option value in our very conservative capital structure is valuable to us all.

因此，MP 並不依賴資本市場，但我們會把握機會。我們現在具備火力，無論市場狀況如何，都能朝著我們的使命進行我們認為極具吸引力、且高度增益（highly accretive）的投資。若沒有出現具吸引力的機會，我們也可以隨時把資本回饋給股東，其中最大股東就是我。我們相信，在我們非常保守的資本結構下，這種選擇權價值對我們所有人都很有價值。

Second, some of you have heard me talk about the importance of the green bond market. I have been a vocal proponent of this mechanism for the electrification and decarbonization revolution. Better pricing the externalities across global industry will instill further capital markets constraints on the bad actors and benefits on the good actors. I strongly believe that this bifurcation is just getting started. It is a moral and financial imperative that we position MP to be one of the good actors for this decade-plus seem to come. It will likely shape conversations with industrial and government participants in the years to come. We see it already.

第二，有些人聽過我談到綠色債券市場的重要性。我一直是將此機制用於推動電氣化與去碳化革命的積極倡議者。更妥善地為全球產業的外部性定價，將使資本市場對不良行為者施加更多限制，並讓良好行為者受益。我堅信這種分化才剛開始。從道德與財務角度來看，我們都有必要讓 MP 在未來十多年成為「良好行為者」之一。這很可能會影響未來數年我們與產業及政府參與者的對話。我們已經看到了。

So we look forward to the challenge of our shareholders and the market holding us to these higher standards and believe this is a source of competitive differentiation in our industry, particularly when you look at our competition in rare earths.

因此，我們期待股東與市場以更高標準來要求我們，並相信這將成為我們在產業中的競爭差異化來源，尤其是當你把我們放在稀土領域的競爭環境中來看時。

So in the end, I think the green bond created very attractive low-cost optionality for us. I believe it enhanced our value creation prospects as various stakeholders gained further confidence that MP is a reliable thought leader. We believe we have the proper platform for the future, and we will continue to build upon our reputation for execution, both operationally and financially.

總而言之，我認為這次綠色債券為我們創造了非常具吸引力、低成本的選擇權。我相信，隨著各方利害關係人對 MP 作為可靠的思想領袖更具信心，這也提升了我們的價值創造前景。我們相信我們已具備面向未來的正確平台，並將持續在營運與財務兩方面建立我們的執行聲譽。

In conclusion on the quarter, Stage II is on track and Stage III is accelerating. I will discuss these, but let's move on to Slide 5 first to cover more detail on our strong execution in the quarter.

就本季而言，第二階段（Stage II）進度如期，第三階段（Stage III）正在加速推進。我會再進一步說明，但我們先到第 5 頁投影片，來更詳細地談談本季強勁的執行成果。

Starting on the top left, you can see that our sales volume was up 18% versus last year. Q1 is usually seasonally weak due to Chinese New Year, but with the impact of a COVID year-over-year comparison, coupled with even greater demand from increased electrification, we do not see much usual seasonal impact. By the way, logistics have been a real challenge throughout the world lately. So our operations team deserves a lot of credit for navigating such difficult conditions to a great result for us all.

從左上角開始，你可以看到我們的銷售量較去年增加 18%。第一季通常因農曆新年而呈現季節性偏弱，但在 COVID 造成的年對年比較效應，加上電氣化帶動更強勁的需求之下，我們並未看到太多典型的季節性影響。順帶一提，近期全球物流一直是很大的挑戰。因此，我們的營運團隊在如此艱難的條件下仍能取得優異成果，值得高度肯定。

And on the top right, you can see the strong pricing we achieved for concentrate as the market appetite for NdPr continues to power higher. Pricing for NdPr increased throughout Q1 and remained very strong through April. Pricing for concentrate saw a similar pattern in Q1 and remained strong. Also, do not forget that our concentrate sales represent commensurate separated NdPr in the market. Stage II production means we will enjoy that massive uplift of refined product revenue without creating incremental global supply of separated NdPr.

而在右上角，你可以看到我們在精礦（concentrate）方面取得的強勁定價，因為市場對 NdPr 的需求持續推升。NdPr 的價格在第一季一路上升，並在 4 月仍維持非常強勁。精礦價格在第一季也呈現類似走勢，並持續強勢。此外，別忘了，我們的精礦銷售在市場上代表著相對應的已分離 NdPr（separated NdPr）。第二階段（Stage II）投產意味著，我們將在不增加全球已分離 NdPr 供給的情況下，享受到精煉產品營收的大幅提升。

Our revenue in a given quarter is, obviously, a function of sales volumes and price. There can be modest timing differences between production volumes and sales volumes over time, particularly due to shipping. Yet, long-term financial results are ultimately driven by our ability to produce as much as we can, as efficiently as we can.

我們在某一季度的營收，顯然取決於銷售量與價格。隨著時間推移，生產量與銷售量之間可能會出現些許時間差，特別是因為運輸因素。然而，長期財務結果最終仍取決於我們能否以最高效率，盡可能多地生產。

Internally, we closely watch our throughput or feed rate. The recovery or what percentage of the REO fed into the mill results in sale of product on an REO basis and plant uptime as main drivers of our business. And production volumes remained strong in the quarter with 9,849 metric tons produced. Over the last 12 months, we've produced nearly 39,000 metric tons of rare earth oxides in concentrate.

在內部，我們密切關注處理量（throughput）或進料速率（feed rate）、回收率（recovery）——也就是投入磨礦流程的 REO 有多少比例能以 REO 基礎轉化為可銷售產品——以及工廠稼動率（plant uptime），作為驅動我們業務的主要因素。本季產量仍然強勁，產出 9,849 公噸。過去 12 個月，我們在精礦中生產了近 39,000 公噸的稀土氧化物。

You can also see here that production cost remained very low at $1,475 a metric ton. Costs were up a bit versus last year in large part due to timing of plant turnarounds and the reagent trial we talked about last quarter, which was completed towards the end of January.

你也可以在此看到，生產成本仍維持在每公噸 1,475 美元的低水準。相較去年，成本略有上升，主要是因為工廠歲修（turnarounds）的時點，以及我們上季提到的試劑測試（reagent trial），該測試於 1 月底前後完成。

We also increased hiring in anticipation of future growth. We now have over 320 dedicated employees doing incredible work towards our mission. These are challenging jobs with high expectations. And the MP team knows we have some naysayers. The idea that an American company can compete globally in rare earths, while preserving stringent environmental standards, does not serve the preferred narratives of certain opportunists. But here we are.

我們也因應未來成長的預期而增加招募。現在我們擁有超過 320 名全職員工，正以令人驚嘆的工作投入我們的使命。這些都是高要求、具挑戰性的工作。而 MP 團隊也知道外界有一些唱衰者。認為一家美國公司能在稀土領域於全球競爭、同時維持嚴格環境標準的想法，並不符合某些投機者偏好的敘事。但我們就在這裡。

Most importantly, I would like to tell you very humbly that we recently hit a milestone of going 365 consecutive days and over 400,000 work hours without an injury causing someone to miss work. Fantastic results, like we reported today, only mean something when they occur behind a first priority: cultural focus on safety.

最重要的是，我想非常謙卑地告訴各位，我們最近達成一個里程碑：連續 365 天、超過 400,000 個工時，沒有發生造成員工需要缺勤的傷害事故。像我們今天所報告的這些優異成果，只有在其背後以「安全」作為第一優先、並在文化上聚焦安全時，才真正有意義。

Let's move on to Slide 6 for a quick update on Stage II. As many of you know, Stage II is our plan to move from today's profitable concentrate production to separating rare earth oxides. Success means we will have restored the downstream production of these critical elements to the United States of America. Stage II is also expected to provide significant upside to our financial profile, which Ryan will talk about in a bit more detail. Last quarter, we covered some details of our optimization plan, including CapEx, and how we believe we significantly derisked Stage II relative to last year.

接著我們看第 6 頁，快速更新第二階段（Stage II）。如各位所知，Stage II 是我們從目前具獲利性的精礦生產，邁向稀土氧化物分離的計畫。成功意味著我們將把這些關鍵元素的下游生產恢復到美利堅合眾國。Stage II 也預期將為我們的財務輪廓帶來顯著上行空間，Ryan 稍後會更詳細說明。上一季我們談到優化計畫的一些細節，包括資本支出（CapEx），以及我們如何相信相較去年已大幅降低 Stage II 的風險。

We made a lot of continued progress during the quarter. We completed the pre-civil site work. The foundation work for critical new equipment is in progress. The fabrication of the roaster is nearly complete, with delivery expected very soon. Some ancillary components of the roaster and material handling equipment have actually already arrived on site. The fabrication of the salt crystallizer is nearly complete, and we actually have key portions of it delivered in on-site as well. See the cool photo on the left side of the page there.

本季我們持續取得大量進展。我們已完成土建前的場地作業。關鍵新設備的基礎工程正在進行中。焙燒爐（roaster）的製造幾乎完成，預計很快就會交付。焙燒爐的一些附屬組件以及物料搬運設備其實已經運抵現場。鹽結晶器（salt crystallizer）的製造也接近完成，我們也已將其中關鍵部分交付並運至現場。請看頁面左側那張很酷的照片。

So net-net, we're making a lot of progress executing Stage II, and I look forward to keeping you posted. Now with that, I will turn it over to Ryan. Ryan?

總而言之，我們在執行 Stage II 方面取得了很大進展，我也期待持續向各位更新。接下來我把時間交給 Ryan。Ryan？

Thanks, Jim, and hello, everyone. Jim already covered a few of the financial highlights, but let me give you some additional thoughts on the quarter, and I'll begin on Slide 8.

謝謝，Jim，各位好。Jim 已經涵蓋了一些財務重點，但我再補充一些本季的看法，我將從第 8 頁開始。

As Jim pointed out, our year-over-year revenue nearly tripled, but we also saw over 40% growth compared to Q4. This was driven by 46% growth in realized pricing to nearly $6,000 per metric ton of REO.

如 Jim 所指出，我們的年對年營收幾乎成長到三倍，同時相較第四季也成長超過 40%。主要動能來自已實現售價成長 46%，稀土氧化物（REO）每公噸接近 6,000 美元。

Meanwhile, our adjusted EBITDA increased over 80% from Q4. Jim also mentioned the leverage of our model from NdPr pricing. Our REO product margin increased from just over $1,200 per metric ton a year ago and $2,500 in Q4 to over $4,400 in Q1, driven almost entirely by the price of NdPr and its impact on the price of our concentrate, the result of which is that sequentially, our revenues increased $18 million, whereas our EBITDA increased $15 million. So as we've discussed, the vast majority of incremental revenues flow through to the bottom line, causing our sequential EBITDA margin to improve almost 15 percentage points.

同時，我們的調整後 EBITDA 較第四季增加超過 80%。Jim 也提到我們的商業模式對 NdPr 價格的槓桿效應。我們的 REO 產品毛利從一年前每公噸略高於 1,200 美元、第四季的 2,500 美元，提升到第一季超過 4,400 美元，幾乎完全由 NdPr 價格及其對精礦定價的影響所驅動。因此按季來看，我們營收增加 1,800 萬美元，而 EBITDA 增加 1,500 萬美元。正如我們討論過的，絕大多數的增量營收會流向最終損益，使我們的按季 EBITDA 利潤率提升近 15 個百分點。

Compared to the first quarter of 2020, the 70% flow-through of revenue to EBITDA is less stark, although still excellent, primarily driven by the growth in headcount as we prepare for Stage II and the build-out of our public company infrastructure. However, our sequential performance is more indicative of what we expect in the future.

相較 2020 年第一季，營收轉化為 EBITDA 的 70% 透過率（flow-through）沒有那麼明顯，但仍然非常出色，主要是因為我們為了 Stage II 以及建置上市公司基礎設施而增加人力。不過，我們的按季表現更能反映我們對未來的預期。

And finally, regarding the impact of Stage II on our financials. Assuming current NdPr pricing and our expected cost of operating Stage II we gave back in July, on an apples-to-apples basis, our Q1 product margin of $4,400 per metric ton of REO produced through the mill would roughly double at full run rate production through Stage II.

最後，談到 Stage II 對財務的影響。假設 NdPr 價格維持目前水準，且以我們在 7 月提供的 Stage II 預期營運成本為基礎，在可比（apples-to-apples）的前提下，我們第一季每公噸 REO（經由選礦廠生產）的 4,400 美元產品毛利，在 Stage II 達到滿載運轉（full run rate）時大致可翻倍。

Now we have a way to go to get Stage II up and running and to run rate production levels in 2023 and anything can happen to the pricing of NdPr in the meantime, but we did want to give you a feel for the improved profitability Stage II brings to the table.

當然，我們距離讓 Stage II 上線並在 2023 年達到滿載產量仍有一段路要走，而在此期間 NdPr 的價格也可能發生任何變化，但我們希望讓各位感受一下 Stage II 能帶來的獲利能力提升。

Lastly, I would add that our Q2 is shaping up to be strong, driven by NdPr and concentrate pricing. Of course, the West Coast ports are still experiencing delays and so as with this past quarter, the timing of shipments is the primary unknown. However, for the full year, we continue to expect full year production to increase slightly versus 2020, resulting in very strong full year 2021 results, given what we're seeing in the market.

最後補充，我們的第二季看起來將會很強勁，主要由 NdPr 與精礦定價所帶動。當然，美國西岸港口仍在延誤，因此如同本季，出貨時點仍是主要未知數。不過就全年而言，我們仍預期全年產量將較 2020 年小幅增加；考量我們在市場上看到的情況，這將帶來非常強勁的 2021 年全年成果。

Moving on to the next slide. Last quarter, we looked at our full year cash flow of Stage I operations. Here, we've updated it for the first quarter. And similar to last quarter as well, in the appendix, you'll see a detailed walk of how we get from our adjusted EBITDA to our reported operating cash flow and then our reported free cash flow.

接著看下一頁。上一季我們檢視了第一階段（Stage I）營運的全年現金流；這裡我們已更新為第一季的數據。並且與上一季相同，在附錄中你會看到我們如何從調整後 EBITDA，逐步推導到已報告的營運現金流，進而到已報告的自由現金流的詳細說明。

But looking specifically at Slide 9 on the left side of the chart, you can see our free cash flow for the quarter was a use of $10 million. But adjusted for our offtake paydown of $11 million, the CapEx spent on our Stage II optimization, plant recommissioning activities and related projects in the quarter as well as onetime deal expenses, our Stage I process generated over $21 million of normalized free cash flow in the first quarter. That's over $80 million on an annualized basis compared to $34 million in fiscal year 2020. That's also a very strong 35% free cash flow margin, up from 25% for the full year 2020.

但若特別看第 9 頁圖表左側，你可以看到本季自由現金流為淨流出 1,000 萬美元。不過，若調整回我們 1,100 萬美元的承購（offtake）償還、本季用於 Stage II 優化、工廠重新投產（recommissioning）活動及相關專案的資本支出，以及一次性交易費用，我們的 Stage I 流程在第一季產生了超過 2,100 萬美元的常態化自由現金流。年化超過 8,000 萬美元，相較 2020 財年的 3,400 萬美元大幅提升。自由現金流利潤率也達到非常強勁的 35%，高於 2020 全年的 25%。

Keep in mind that the offtake balance is essentially debt. But per U.S. GAAP, the impact of the paydown of that agreement because our offtake partner retains a portion of the cash from sales of products to pay down the obligation, the impact runs through operating cash flow instead of financing in the cash flow statement as might be expected, which is why we believe it's relevant to add it back to our free cash flow for a comparable metric.

請記住，承購餘額本質上等同於債務。但依照美國一般公認會計原則（U.S. GAAP），由於我們的承購合作夥伴會保留部分產品銷售現金以償還該義務，因此該協議償還的影響會在現金流量表中列入營運現金流，而非如一般預期列入籌資活動。這也是為什麼我們認為，為了取得可比的衡量指標，把它加回自由現金流是有其相關性的。

Moving to Slide 10. I'll give a quick update on our balance sheet. As discussed earlier, the green bond resulted in net proceeds of over $672 million and, combined with our performance in the quarter, results in a cash balance of nearly $1.2 billion at the end of Q1.

接著到第 10 頁。我快速更新一下資產負債表。如先前所述，綠色債券帶來超過 6.72 億美元的淨募資款項，並結合本季的營運表現，使我們在第一季末的現金餘額接近 12 億美元。

In addition, the balance of our offtake agreement was reduced to $60 million in the quarter. As many of you are aware, the SEC recently issued guidance regarding the accounting treatment of warrants typically associated with SPACs and de-SPAC issuers. Each company's situation is unique, and we have closely evaluated our specific facts and circumstances considering this new guidance.

此外，我們的承購協議餘額在本季降至 6,000 萬美元。許多人也知道，美國證券交易委員會（SEC）近期就通常與 SPAC 及去 SPAC 發行人相關的認股權證（warrants）之會計處理發布指引。每家公司的情況都不同，我們已依據這項新指引，並考量我們的具體事實與情況，進行了審慎評估。

In consultation with our outside legal counsel and external auditors, we believe that our outstanding public warrants continue to meet the requirements for equity classification and that no change in accounting treatment or restatement is necessary.

在與外部法律顧問及外部審計師諮詢後，我們相信我們尚未行使的公開認股權證仍符合權益分類（equity classification）的要求，因此不需要變更會計處理或進行重編（restatement）。

Additionally, regarding the public warrants, we announced on Tuesday our intention to redeem these warrants and require a cashless exercise during the redemption period. Given our capital position, this allows us to reduce dilution to our shareholders by foregoing the cash underlying the warrant strike price. With the strong confidence we have in the cash flow profile of our current and go-forward plan, this was the value-maximizing path for shareholders.

另外，關於公開認股權證，我們在週二宣布我們打算贖回這些認股權證，並在贖回期間要求以無現金方式行使（cashless exercise）。鑑於我們的資本狀況，這讓我們可以不收取認股權證行使價所對應的現金，從而降低對股東的稀釋。在我們對目前及未來計畫的現金流輪廓具有高度信心的前提下，這是能為股東創造最大價值的路徑。

With the conversion ratio discussed in our redemption notice and excluding the impact of the convertible note, as it is out of the money, our current share count is approximately 178.3 million shares.

依照我們在贖回通知中所討論的換股比率，並排除可轉換票據的影響（因其目前為價外），我們目前的流通股數約為 1.783 億股。

Now I'll turn it back to Jim to wrap up.

現在我把時間交回給 Jim 做總結。

Thanks, Ryan. Before Q&A, I would like to take a moment to summarize why we believe MP is so well positioned to become a Western champion of the electrification and sustainability revolution. First, we have a co-located set of unique world-class assets. These are our ore body and our nearly $2 billion state-of-the-art processing and separation facility.

謝謝，Ryan。在問答之前，我想花一點時間總結我們為何相信 MP 具備極佳條件，成為西方電氣化與永續革命的領軍者。第一，我們擁有一組同址（co-located）的獨特世界級資產：我們的礦體，以及我們近 20 億美元、最先進的加工與分離設施。

Let me start with our ore body. We have a bastnaesite ore body, which contains north of a 7% mix of rare earths, one of the highest anywhere in the world. Most mines are in the 1% to 2% range and some speculative mines are well under 1%. That means our competition must mine 3 to 7 times more total rock to get the same REO output out of the ground. And that in turn means more reagents, more processing and more time. That all means much higher operating costs.

先從我們的礦體談起。我們擁有一個氟碳鈰礦（bastnaesite）礦體，其中稀土混合品位超過 7%，是全球最高之一。多數礦山的品位在 1% 到 2% 之間，有些投機性礦山甚至遠低於 1%。這意味著，我們的競爭對手必須開採 3 到 7 倍的總岩石量，才能從地底取得相同的稀土氧化物（REO）產出。進而也代表需要更多試劑、更多加工與更多時間。這些都意味著更高的營運成本。

Additionally, a bastnaesite ore body allows for roasting without the use of additional chemicals, at lower temperatures and with fewer potential emissions. We also do not have the radioactivity issues you may have read about elsewhere. These factors compound our early advantage from both a cost and environmental impact standpoint.

此外，氟碳鈰礦礦體可在不使用額外化學品的情況下進行焙燒，且溫度更低、潛在排放更少。我們也沒有你可能在其他地方讀到的放射性問題。這些因素使我們在成本與環境影響兩方面的先發優勢進一步放大。

And then we have a $2 billion state-of-the-art co-located facility in California. There are a few such facilities of this scale, and none in the world that are co-located with the mine like we have at Mountain Pass. This further reduces transportation, shipping and environmental costs. We believe the quality of our ore body, plus this state-of-the-art facility, positions us to become the world's lowest cost producer of separated NdPr, assuming we execute.

再來，我們在加州擁有一座與礦山同址、投資 20 億美元的最先進設施。如此規模的設施屈指可數，而全球沒有任何一座像我們在 Mountain Pass 這樣與礦山同址。這進一步降低運輸、航運與環境成本。我們相信，我們礦體的品質，加上這座最先進的設施，使我們在執行到位的前提下，有望成為全球分離 NdPr 的最低成本生產商。

Second, we have structural and financial advantages. Those advantages are scale, time to market and scarcity value. All are aligned with a compelling long-term demand outlook for our primary product.

第二，我們具備結構性與財務上的優勢。這些優勢包括規模、上市（進入市場）時間與稀缺性價值。這些都與我們主要產品長期需求前景的吸引力相一致。

Remember that just building a plant of enough scale to compete will take years and bear significant costs, especially with escalating materials prices like we talked about on our last call. Hopefully, we gave some of you an early hint at this emerging industrial trend that was subsequently confirmed by many companies this earnings season, including Berkshire Hathaway this past weekend.

請記住，僅僅是建造一座具備足夠規模、能夠競爭的工廠，就需要多年時間並承擔可觀成本，尤其是在材料價格上漲的情況下——正如我們在上次電話會議中談到的。希望我們當時已經讓各位對這個正在浮現的工業趨勢有了些早期提示，而在本次財報季，許多公司也隨後證實了這點，包括上週末的波克夏海瑟威。

Materials and labor inflation is happening across the economy, which means the replacement cost of many things is headed much higher. We believe this trend is a powerful tailwind for MP's structural advantage beyond simply a reasonable expectation that the price of NdPr should move up with inflation and then some due to demand.

材料與勞動力通膨正在整個經濟體中發生，這意味著許多事物的重置成本正大幅走高。我們認為，這一趨勢是推動 MP 結構性優勢的強勁順風，不僅僅是合理預期 NdPr 價格會隨通膨上升，並且在需求帶動下還可能更高。

Other than a competitor potentially building a refining plant in Texas, which is still not financed or permitted, let alone broken ground in construction, we do not see any material western supply coming online anytime soon. There has not even been any significant fundraising for such projects despite NdPr pricing climbing north of $85 a kilo.

除了某個競爭對手可能在德州興建精煉廠之外——該項目仍未融資或取得許可，更遑論動工——我們看不到任何實質性的西方供給會在短期內上線。即便 NdPr 價格已攀升至每公斤 85 美元以上，這類專案仍幾乎沒有出現任何顯著的募資。

The often told joke is that rare earths are not rare. That's true, but it misses the bigger point. What is extremely rare is a scaled, economically viable deposit. And the time, cost and expertise to bring any such deposit online only compound that scarcity.

常被講的一個笑話是：稀土其實不稀有。這話沒錯，但忽略了更重要的一點。真正極其稀缺的是具備規模、且在經濟上可行的礦床。而將任何此類礦床導入量產所需的時間、成本與專業能力，只會讓這種稀缺性更加凸顯。

Third, our Stage I process is profitable and cash-generative. We did go public via a SPAC, and our business is levered to electrification. One could simplistically bucket MP with the hyper-speculative electrification group, many of which, we believe, will not generate cash flow for years and some others which also may have very aspirational projection targets.

第三，我們的第一階段（Stage I）製程具備獲利能力並能產生現金。我們確實是透過 SPAC 上市，而且我們的業務受益於電氣化。人們可能會簡化地把 MP 歸類到高度投機的電氣化族群中；我們認為其中許多公司多年內都無法產生現金流，另一些公司的預測目標也可能相當理想化。

Yet, our existing operations are not speculative, and we have materially outperformed the original Stage I projections we laid out at the time of our go-public announcement in July of last year.

然而，我們現有的營運並非投機性質，而且我們的表現已顯著超越去年 7 月宣布上市時所提出的第一階段原始預測。

In addition, our Stage II is fully funded and expected to come online sometime next year. Obviously, our expectation is that this will accelerate our financial performance.

此外，我們的第二階段（Stage II）已全額到位，預計將在明年某個時間點上線。顯然，我們預期這將加速我們的財務表現。

Fourth, we have an owner-operator culture with a sustainability focus. From my earlier discussion on the green bond, you know that we believe our platform gives us a competitive advantage. Every qualifying employee was granted shares when we went public, and I remain the largest shareholder of the company. We are committed to our vision and our incentives are aligned with you.

第四，我們擁有以永續為核心的「所有者—經營者」文化。從我先前對綠色債券的討論中，你們知道我們相信我們的平台帶來競爭優勢。公司上市時，所有符合資格的員工都獲配股份，而我仍是公司最大股東。我們致力於我們的願景，我們的激勵也與各位一致。

And lastly, we are at the ground floor of what we believe will be a decade-plus transformational growth opportunity. Some of you may have seen a cover story in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday about the evolution of the auto supply chain for the age of electrification. We also treated it the other day, in case you missed it. The auto industry faces existential risk from the past practice of just-in-time manufacturing.

最後，我們正處於我們認為將持續十年以上的變革性成長機會的起點。本週二《華爾街日報》有一篇封面報導談到電氣化時代汽車供應鏈的演變，一些人可能已經看過；我們前幾天也提到過，以防你錯過。汽車產業正面臨來自過去「即時化生產（just-in-time）」做法的生存性風險。

This new era is one where the ability to vertically integrate the supply chain is a source of strategic advantage. Companies are now competing for the kinds of scarce resources that are exactly what we have at MP. This is why you have seen companies like Tesla and others talking about mining in recent months. The semiconductor mess makes us an even hotter topic, and we see it now in conversations.

這個新時代中，能夠垂直整合供應鏈是一種策略性優勢來源。企業如今正在競逐各種稀缺資源，而這些正是我們在 MP 所擁有的。這也是為什麼近幾個月你看到特斯拉等公司在談論採礦。半導體的混亂讓我們成為更熱門的話題，我們也在對話中感受到這點。

Our Stage III efforts continue at a furious pace. I know many of you want lots of details, but we will share with you what we can when we think appropriate. I would point out, though, that regardless of the path we take, our mission is to restore the full domestic supply chain. And remember, this is not just about the auto supply chain, rare earth permanent magnets are also important to so many growth industries of tomorrow, like, wind turbines and drones and then maybe some currently unexpected ones like air taxis. Who knows exactly what will come next, but the opportunity is ours.

我們的第三階段（Stage III）工作仍以極快速度推進。我知道各位想要很多細節，但我們會在認為合適的時候，分享我們能分享的內容。不過我想指出，無論我們採取哪條路徑，我們的使命都是重建完整的國內供應鏈。請記住，這不僅僅關乎汽車供應鏈；稀土永磁體對許多未來的成長產業也很重要，例如風力渦輪機與無人機，甚至可能包括一些目前尚未預料到的領域，例如空中計程車。誰也無法確切知道接下來會是什麼，但機會在我們這邊。

With that, let's go to Q&A. Operator?

接下來我們進入問答環節。接線員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from David Deckelbaum of Cowen.

（接線員指示）我們的第一個問題來自 Cowen 的 David Deckelbaum。

I just wanted to discuss, just so I'm clear, on trajectory through the year. The -- in the first quarter, it looks like there was some delayed sales to the shipments. You talked about the ports still having some issues, but was this a global issue? Did the canal at all have any impacts on slowed shipments in 1Q? And should we naturally see a catch-up in the second quarter?

我想討論一下，為了確認我理解正確，關於今年的進展軌跡。第一季看起來出貨端有一些延遲導致銷售遞延。你們提到港口仍有一些問題，但這是全球性的問題嗎？運河是否對第一季出貨放緩有任何影響？而我們是否應該在第二季自然看到補回？

Ryan, why don't you take that?

Ryan，你來回答一下？

Yes. Sure. David, I'd say our original expectation that we flagged on the last call was that just given the congestion we had seen in the L.A. Port, given we ship out of Long Beach and L.A. Port, that shipments, frankly, are lumpy. We're only able to get product to the port within a certain period of time of that product planning to leave the port. And so when there is congestion, that limits our ability to ship out product.

好的，當然。David，我會說我們在上次電話會議中提到的原先預期是：鑑於我們在洛杉磯港看到的壅塞情況，且我們是從長灘港與洛杉磯港出貨，出貨量坦白說會呈現不均勻（lumpy）。我們只能在產品計畫離港的某個時間窗口內把產品送到港口。因此當出現壅塞時，就會限制我們把產品運出去的能力。

What we did see as a pretty heroic effort from our operations and logistics teams to get out, from what you saw, a very significant portion of our production did sell in the quarter, and that's why production volume and sales volume matched pretty closely this quarter and in even better shape than what we even see typically seasonally in Q1, given we tend to see a seasonal Q1 slowdown on the shipping side from Chinese New Year on the import side.

我們確實看到營運與物流團隊做出了相當出色的努力，讓你所看到的——我們在該季度售出了非常大一部分產量。這也是為什麼本季的產量與銷量非常接近；而且考慮到第一季通常在出貨端會因中國農曆新年（進口端）而出現季節性放緩，本季的狀況甚至比我們一般在第一季的季節性表現還要更好。

I'd say the ports have become a bit less congested, but it is still something that we watch very closely. And so what I would say is that it's something that we have on our radar that we continue to watch. We think it should improve over the course of the year and, certainly, we think on a medium, long-term basis, it's -- our full year sales in production should match very, very closely. We just want to be clear that in any given quarter, shipping can impact revenue recognized just given that lumpiness.

我會說港口壅塞已稍微緩解，但我們仍非常密切地關注。因此我要說的是，這是我們持續關注的事項。我們認為它應該會在今年逐步改善；而且當然，我們認為在中長期來看，我們全年銷售量與產量應該會非常、非常接近。我們只是想說清楚，在任何單一季度，出貨的波動性可能會影響已認列的營收，原因就在於這種不均勻性。

I'll try to just stick to 2 questions here so I can be kind to others. But Jim, you talked about sort of progressing on Stage III. And I guess, I just wanted to square your comments with, you talked about the success, obviously, in the green convert. When we think about those proceeds, do we think about that as being sort of held for investment in Stage III? Or do you look at those converts as being flexible beyond what you've already outlined between Stage II and Stage III, perhaps, for other potentially accretive opportunities that we're not thinking about?

我盡量只問兩個問題，讓我對其他人友善一些。不過 Jim，你談到第三階段的推進。我想把你的評論與你提到的綠色可轉債成功發行做個對照。當我們思考那筆募集資金時，我們是否應該把它視為用於第三階段投資而保留？還是你把這些可轉債視為比你先前在第二階段與第三階段之間所概述的用途更具彈性，可能用於其他我們尚未想到、但可能具增益（accretive）的機會？

Well -- so you know that, obviously, if you look at the business, we have a cash flow positive business today in our core. Stage II is limited amount of capital relative to our cash balance. I think the way to think about it is, we have a fortress balance sheet and a platform that is increasingly becoming the thought leader in this western supply chain in our space.

嗯——所以你知道，顯然如果你看我們的業務，我們目前核心業務是現金流為正。第二階段所需資本相對於我們的現金餘額而言是有限的。我認為可以這樣理解：我們擁有堅實如堡壘的資產負債表，以及一個在我們這個領域的西方供應鏈中，正日益成為思想領袖的平台。

And so what I would say is that convert really created a lot of optionality in our capital structure to take advantage of what we see out there. And if we don't find a very attractive way to utilize that capital, we can return it to shareholders. And again, we are -- we've come at this from an investment perspective.

因此，我想說的是，可轉債確實在我們的資本結構中創造了很大的彈性，以便把握我們在外部看到的機會。若我們找不到非常具吸引力的方式來運用這筆資本，我們也可以把它回饋給股東。再強調一次，我們——我們是從投資的角度來看待這件事。

So we're fully aware of returns on capital and making sure that things make sense. We're going to stay on mission. I mean we're not -- if the question is, is the capital going to be utilized to kind of go in some other direction or something like that, we are plenty busy with our near-term plans of executing Stage II. And then as I've said plenty, we have a pretty great Stage III team that I work closely with of sort of material scientists and technologists and business development folks.

所以我們非常清楚資本報酬，並確保一切都合乎邏輯。我們會堅守使命。我的意思是——如果問題是，這筆資本是否會被用來走向其他方向或類似的事情，我們在短期內忙於執行第二階段（Stage II）的計畫就已經夠忙了。然後如我多次提到的，我與一支相當出色的第三階段（Stage III）團隊密切合作，團隊成員包括材料科學家、技術專家以及業務開發人員。

And so we are looking very closely at a number of buy/build and/or JV opportunities, as I've said. You can imagine that the chatter up and down the supply chain has just dramatically accelerated. I mean it was already very loud back last year. I think that, that just -- again, look at the Wall Street Journal a couple of days ago and think about what's happening in the supply chain with semiconductors.

因此，正如我所說，我們正在非常仔細地評估多項併購／建置（buy/build）及／或合資（JV）機會。你可以想像，供應鏈上下游的討論聲量已大幅加速。我的意思是，去年那時候就已經非常熱烈了。我認為那只會——再一次，看看幾天前的《華爾街日報》，想想半導體供應鏈正在發生的事情。

And so I think the fact that we now have positioned ourselves as not only a credible counterparty, not that we weren't, but I think that this just sort of adds to the momentum with respect to that. But also, it shows that we are holding ourselves to account in the capital markets with the kind of standards that both consumers and our industrial potential partners would want to hold us to just creates a lot of value sort of writ large.

因此，我認為我們現在把自己定位成不僅是一個可信賴的交易對手——並不是說以前不是——但我覺得這進一步推動了相關動能。此外，這也顯示我們在資本市場以消費者與潛在工業合作夥伴希望我們遵循的標準來自我要求，從更宏觀的角度來看，確實創造了很大的價值。

And so that's sort of the logic behind it. But again, I would remind you that we're all -- we are the large shareholders here. So we're not looking to go on sort of fantasy directions and other ways. We're really looking to complete our mission, do so in a proper way and make a lot of money for shareholders.

這就是背後的邏輯。不過我也要提醒你，我們——我們自己就是大股東。所以我們不會想要走什麼幻想式的方向或其他路線。我們真正想做的是完成使命，以正確的方式完成，並為股東賺很多錢。

Our next question comes from Timna Tanners of Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行（Bank of America）的 Timna Tanners。

So I wanted to circle back on the long-standing guidance you've had in the past of $250 million EBITDA by the time that Stage II is fully ramped up, assumably full year 2023. And I might have heard this wrong, so I just wanted to clarify. I thought others might appreciate it. There was a comment saying that when Stage II is fully up and running, EBITDA could be double at current prices what it was in the first quarter.

我想回到你們過去長期提供的指引：在第二階段（Stage II）完全爬坡完成時（推測是 2023 年全年），EBITDA 為 2.5 億美元。我可能聽錯了，所以想確認一下，也覺得其他人可能會希望釐清。有一段評論提到，當第二階段完全上線運轉時，以目前價格來看，EBITDA 可能會是第一季的兩倍。

And first off, I guess, I just wanted to clarify if that's true? And if that were true, then the run rate would be about, I want to say, $264 million. So can you just let us know if that was indeed the right way to think about those comments?

首先，我想確認這是否屬實？如果屬實，那麼年化運行率大概會是——我想大約 2.64 億美元。你們能否告訴我們，這樣理解那些評論是否正確？

Yes. So the number...

是的。所以這個數字……

Go ahead, Jim.

你先說，Jim。

Ryan, do you want to -- well, let me just say, the number that you're referencing refers to the number that was in the go-public transaction from July of last year and that represented a number based on a midpoint of potential NdPr prices with, specifically, $70 NdPr. We obviously are sort of in the mid-80s today. You can do the math.

Ryan，你要不要——嗯，我先說一下，你提到的那個數字，是指去年 7 月上市（go-public）交易時的數字，那是以 NdPr 價格可能區間的中位數為基礎計算的，具體而言是以 NdPr 70 美元為假設。我們今天顯然大概在 80 多美元的中段。你可以自己算一下。

We also said on last call that we believed that we were able to make some improvements on our potential operating costs from what we see with respect to a normalized 2023 on an apples-to-apples basis versus last year. We haven't updated guidance for new prices, but I think with those moving parts, you can probably put together numbers and think through the significant operating leverage that we have.

我們也在上一次電話會議中提到，我們相信相較於去年，在以同一基準（apples-to-apples）比較、並以 2023 年常態化情境來看時，我們有機會在潛在營運成本上做出一些改善。我們尚未因新價格而更新指引，但我認為把這些變動因素納入後，你大概可以自行推算數字，並思考我們顯著的營運槓桿。

Ryan, I don't know if you want to add on to that.

Ryan，你要不要補充？

Yes. Yes, Timna, I think there's some confusion. I'm just talking about product margin versus total EBITDA. So I think that's the disconnect. We were talking about product margin looking at our current production in Stage I. If we were separating it, that product margin would double. But to Jim's point, no change in our guidance whatsoever in terms of what we think the cost structure looks like pro forma for Stage II.

是的。是的，Timna，我想這裡有些混淆。我剛剛談的是產品毛利（product margin），不是整體 EBITDA。我想落差在這裡。我們談的是以第一階段（Stage I）目前產量來看產品毛利；如果把它拆開來看，那個產品毛利會翻倍。但如 Jim 所說，我們對第二階段（Stage II）成本結構的預期（以備考口徑 pro forma）之指引完全沒有改變。

So as Jim mentioned, that midpoint of $70 of NdPr, we had guided to approximately $250 million of EBITDA. If you look at the slides and information that we've put it at that time, we did sort of a low and high NdPr case as well, just to sensitize for you what that looks like, in that $90 case that's in our slides was $352 million of EBITDA. Absolutely no change from that guidance.

所以如 Jim 提到的，以 NdPr 70 美元的中位數假設，我們指引約 2.5 億美元 EBITDA。若你看我們當時提供的投影片與資訊，我們也做了 NdPr 的低情境與高情境，讓你了解敏感度；在投影片中的 90 美元情境下，EBITDA 是 3.52 億美元。這些指引完全沒有改變。

Okay. That's super helpful. And then if I could, a second question is, I recognize that you talked about Stage III but aren't prepared to elaborate on what that might look like. I appreciate that. But just wondering if you can comment on any thoughts about heavy rare earths and separation or production there and when we might get any update on timing for Stage III, please.

好的，這非常有幫助。那如果可以的話，第二個問題是：我知道你們談到第三階段（Stage III），但還沒準備好詳細說明會是什麼樣子，我理解也感謝。不過想請問你們是否能評論一下對重稀土（heavy rare earths）以及其分離或生產的任何想法？以及我們何時可能收到第三階段時程的更新，謝謝。

Sure. So on the heavy side, the only thing that we have put out publicly was that we have a project with VOD, and that release sort of was late last year and that speaks for itself. We haven't said -- otherwise said anything with respect to heavies. So I'll just let that speak for itself.

當然。關於重稀土這一塊，我們唯一公開發布的是我們與 VOD 的一個專案，那份新聞稿大概是去年底發布的，內容本身已經說明了一切。除此之外，我們沒有——沒有再就重稀土發表其他說法，所以我就讓那份公告自行說明。

And then as far as Stage III updates, obviously, as you can imagine, we understand the investors want to know as much as they possibly can, and we'd love to be as transparent as we possibly can. But we have to just kind of keep moving forward and do what we think is right.

至於第三階段的更新，顯然你可以想像，我們理解投資人希望盡可能知道更多，我們也希望盡可能透明。但我們必須持續往前推進，做我們認為正確的事。

We want to make sure that whatever it is that we sort of tell you or share is heavily vetted, real or whatever. We're not looking to kind of put out a bunch of stuff until it's appropriate. And so that's really all I have to say on that front. Obviously, we'll make Stage III announcements as soon as we possibly can when appropriate.

我們想確保我們告訴你或分享的任何內容，都經過充分審核、確實可行等等。我們不想在不適當的時候就發布一堆資訊。所以這部分我能說的大概就這些。顯然，在適當時機、且我們能做到的最早時間，我們會發布第三階段的公告。

Our next question comes from Sathish Kasinathan of Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行（Deutsche Bank）的 Sathish Kasinathan。

So my first question is on Stage -- commercial side of Stage II -- makers saw any potential offtake agreements for your Stage II products?

我的第一個問題是關於第二階段（Stage II）的商業面——你們是否看到針對第二階段產品的任何潛在包銷／承購（offtake）協議？

So -- you cut out there, but I think you asked, do we have any offtake contracts for Stage II?

所以——你剛剛訊號有點斷，但我想你問的是：我們是否有任何第二階段的承購合約（offtake contracts）？

Yes, yes. Have you had any discussion on that?

是的，是的。你們有就此進行任何討論嗎？

Well, you can imagine that, I mean, from quite a while ago, but you can imagine that conversations are particularly hot these days given everything that's happened in the supply chain and specifically semiconductors and, frankly, the importance of our space I referenced in IEA report that just recently came out. We actually also tweeted that. And then there was a follow-up around critical materials. We really do see what we have as being extremely strategic to the downstream OEMs and, frankly, other industrial participants as the world electrifies.

嗯，你可以想像，從相當久以前開始——但你也可以想像，鑑於供應鏈發生的一切，特別是半導體，以及坦白說我在最近發布的 IEA 報告中提到我們這個領域的重要性，這些對話在最近特別火熱。我們其實也在推特上發了那則內容。之後還有一則關於關鍵材料的後續。我們確實認為，隨著全球電氣化，我們所擁有的資產對下游 OEM 以及坦白說其他工業參與者而言都極具戰略性。

[I've taken] the view and, frankly, I think it's fair to say we got a little bit of maybe criticism isn't the right word but questioning last year about why we wouldn't sign offtake contracts. And what I had sort of consistently said is that I believe that we are headed into a game-changer regime here. We have a very strategic asset, and the world wants what we've got. And so we want to make sure that whenever we do contract that we are doing so in a way that we think maximizes value for all of us.

我一直抱持的看法是——坦白說，我想可以說我們去年受到了一些（也許「批評」不是最貼切的字）但確實有人質疑：為什麼我們不簽承購合約。我當時一貫的說法是，我相信我們正進入一個會改變遊戲規則的環境。我們擁有非常具戰略性的資產，而世界需要我們擁有的東西。因此，我們希望確保一旦簽約，是以我們認為能為我們所有人最大化價值的方式來簽。

And so to the extent that we wanted to go out and sign a contract, I'm highly confident we could do so, but we have not done anything at this time and, obviously, never say never, we could change our minds tomorrow, and you could see something, but we have not to date done anything.

因此，如果我們想出去簽一份合約，我非常有信心我們做得到，但截至目前我們還沒有做任何動作。當然，凡事沒有絕對，我們明天也可能改變想法，你可能就會看到一些進展，但到目前為止我們尚未做任何安排。

Yes. And this is Ryan...

是的。這裡是 Ryan……

Yes. Go ahead, Ryan.

是的，你說，Ryan。

Yes. Just real quick, I think I'd flag also, obviously, the thing that I think people lose sight of is, this is not new supply, right? This supply is being consumed in the market today. And so we have all the confidence that this can be consumed in the spot market, and I think, to Jim's point, the reason we're not trying to lock in prices here is because we're incredibly bullish on the future pricing of the materials.

是的，很快補充一下：我也想提醒，大家常忽略的一點是，這不是新增供給，對吧？這些供給今天就在市場上被消耗。因此我們非常有信心，這些產品可以在現貨市場被吸收。而且我想呼應 Jim 的觀點，我們之所以不想在此刻鎖定價格，是因為我們對材料未來的價格走勢極度看多。

Obviously, never say never, as Jim said. I think the other thing to keep in mind is, we do have what we view as a very strategic asset in our current offtake arrangement and marketing ability into the Asian market. And so I think we can continue to leverage that as we would like to with Stage II product. It's not limited to Stage I product.

顯然，正如 Jim 所說，永遠不要說永遠。我認為另一個需要記住的重點是，在我們目前的承購安排以及進入亞洲市場的行銷能力方面，我們確實擁有一項我們視為非常具策略性的資產。因此，我認為我們可以持續加以運用，並如我們所願用於第二階段（Stage II）產品。這並不僅限於第一階段（Stage I）產品。

Okay. My second question is on the market. So one of your peers talked about Chinese players looking to expand capacity over the next 3 years. Do you have any insights on whether these are processing capacities or just on the mining side? Or what it means to the overall market?

好的。我第二個問題是關於市場。所以你們的一位同業談到，中國業者在未來 3 年內希望擴充產能。你們是否對這些產能是加工端的產能，還是僅在採礦端，有任何洞見？或者這對整體市場意味著什麼？

Yes. I'm glad you asked that. I found that -- some of that commentary out there, whether it's companies or analysts or media, I find a little perplexing. I have a totally different view of it. So for -- let me first say, nobody knows what's going to happen in the next month or couple of months on pricing, that, in the short term, commodities can be obviously extraordinarily volatile. So with that caveat, I think when it comes to China, you really have to think -- instead of looking at sort of western media or sort of western protagonists, if you will, I think it's best to actually look what they're doing and saying inside China.

是的。我很高興你問到這個。我發現外界的一些評論——不論是公司、分析師或媒體——讓我覺得有點困惑。我對此有完全不同的看法。所以——我先說，沒有人知道接下來一個月或兩個月的價格會怎麼走；短期內，大宗商品顯然可能極度波動。在此前提下，我認為談到中國時，你真的必須換個角度思考——與其看所謂西方媒體或西方的敘事者（如果你願意這麼說），我認為最好其實是看他們在中國境內實際在做什麼、說什麼。

And in March, the current Head of the Ministry of Industry and Information, MIIT, who's also the previous Chairman of Chinalco, the largest -- one of the large state-owned aluminum and rare producers, made some very interesting public statements. And by the way, the MIIT is the primary regulator of the rare earth industry and much of China's overall industrial development. So this was the head of that.

而在 3 月，現任工業和資訊化部（MIIT）部長——他也曾是中鋁（Chinalco）前董事長；中鋁是最大的——也是大型國有鋁業與稀土生產商之一——他做了一些非常有意思的公開發言。順帶一提，MIIT 是稀土產業的主要監管機構，也是中國整體工業發展很大一部分的主要監管者。所以這是該部門的負責人。

And so according to the reports, he stated that rare earth producers face a number of environmental problems with excessive mining and refining kind of creating low prices. He actually went on to say that the prices reflect earth, not that they're rare. And then -- and I was surprised this didn't get further coverage. He went on to say that over the course of the Chinese dominance, market dominance, rare earths have been over-extracted, resulting in environmental devastation and that prices for these, and this is a direct quote, "Industrial gold doesn't reflect their full value."

因此，根據報導，他表示稀土生產商面臨多項環境問題，過度採礦與冶煉在某種程度上造成了低價格。他甚至進一步說，這些價格反映的是「土」，而不是它們「稀」。然後——我很驚訝這沒有獲得更多報導——他還說，在中國取得主導、取得市場主導地位的過程中，稀土被過度開採，導致環境遭到破壞，而這些產品的價格——這是直接引述——「工業黃金並未反映其完整價值。」

So he -- and by the way, he obviously -- these are -- to refer to it as industrial gold is quite an interesting thing. And for the head of MIIT, in an organization that's really focused on the economic development, to talk about externalities in such a strong way was fascinating.

所以他——而且順帶一提，他顯然——把它稱為「工業黃金」是相當有意思的說法。而 MIIT 的負責人，在一個真正聚焦於經濟發展的組織裡，以如此強烈的方式談論外部性，令人著迷。

And so I actually believe and our team believes and, again, it's China. We're just kind of trying to read tea leaves that Chinese government policy has shifted from one of market dominance at any cost sort of to wanting a more sustainable, profitable industry that better reflects the overall costs of the externalities.

因此，我其實相信、我們團隊也相信——再次強調，這是中國，我們只是試著從蛛絲馬跡中解讀——中國政府政策已從「不惜一切代價追求市場主導」轉向希望建立一個更可持續、且更具獲利性的產業，並更能反映外部性整體成本。

And if you think about it, this actually flips with common sense. The rare earth industry is, call it, $4 billion, $5 billion globally. Now I think it's going to grow by many multiples over the coming years. But this is a -- this feeds into a $1 trillion-plus opportunity downstream. And look at the New York Stock Exchange, right, there are massive Chinese companies that are now competing globally.

如果你想一想，這其實符合常識。稀土產業全球規模大概是 40 億到 50 億美元。現在我認為未來幾年它會成倍成長。但這個產業其實支撐的是下游超過 1 兆美元的機會。再看看紐約證券交易所，對吧，現在有很多大型中國公司正在全球競爭。

And so why would the Chinese government -- and again, this is just our opinion from what we read, so -- but why would they subsidize industrial gold for the rest of the world when they're competing against the rest of the world? And so I think that because the last cycle was really sort of a quick boom-bust around the demand shock and there was, obviously, the debacle of our predecessor that really had nothing to do with China, and there's sort of a lot of talk in the media, I think people are missing the bigger picture thing of what's happening here. And I always like to say that the next decade very rarely looks like the last decade.

那麼中國政府為什麼——再次強調，這只是我們根據閱讀資訊所形成的看法——但為什麼他們要為世界其他地方補貼「工業黃金」，同時他們又在與世界其他地方競爭？因此我認為，因為上一個週期其實是由需求衝擊引發的快速繁榮—崩盤，而且顯然還有我們前任公司的那場鬧劇，那其實與中國無關；再加上媒體上有很多討論，我認為人們忽略了這裡正在發生的更大格局。我一直喜歡說，下一個十年很少會長得像上一個十年。

And so I think people are backward-looking. And I'd also like to just sort of slap a $70 number on NdPr and say, "Oh, okay, at $70, that's the price of marginal development and then therefore prices can't go beyond that." And that's just not how things work in the real world. This is painstaking work. We've been at this for quite some time. These are multibillion-dollar facilities. Even if you had unlimited capital and unlimited human capital and you have the ore body and you had the permitting, none of which exists in scale right now in the western world, this still takes several years.

所以我認為人們是在用後照鏡看問題。我也想說，有些人喜歡把 NdPr 貼上一個 70 美元的數字，然後說：「好吧，70 美元就是邊際開發成本，因此價格不可能高於此。」但現實世界不是這樣運作的。這是非常艱鉅的工作。我們在這上面投入了相當長的時間。這些都是數十億美元等級的設施。即使你有無限資本、無限人力資本，而且你有礦體、也拿到許可——而這些在西方世界目前都不存在足夠規模——即便如此，仍然需要好幾年。

And so China, in our view, has already shifted to a policy of profitability because they're not focused on the last prior decade, they're focused on the forward one. And so I just think people are missing that. Again, it's our opinion. It's what we see. Things could always change. But that's really our perspective on this. And so I think that we are headed into -- again, with a caveat that the short term is always potentially messy, we are headed into a 2.0 cycle. And I do believe, I've said this repeatedly, that prices in the new cycle typically go to the inflation-adjusted prior peak and then some. And I believe that. So that's our perspective for what it's worth.

因此，在我們看來，中國已經轉向以獲利為導向的政策，因為他們不是聚焦於過去那十年，而是聚焦於未來那十年。所以我只是覺得人們忽略了這一點。再次強調，這是我們的看法，是我們所看到的情況。事情當然也可能改變。但這就是我們對此的觀點。因此我認為，我們正走向——同樣先提醒，短期總是可能比較混亂——我們正走向一個 2.0 週期。我確實相信，而且我也反覆說過，新週期中的價格通常會回到經通膨調整後的前一個高點，甚至更高。我相信這點。以上就是我們的觀點，供參考。

Our next question comes from Ben Kallo of Baird.

我們下一個問題來自 Baird 的 Ben Kallo。

We're ending our 2 weeks of heavy earnings, and you've been there before. Inflation comes up a bunch and labor and -- when you talk about Stage II, Stage III. I guess my question is just about -- in Mountain Pass where it is, how you -- how labor is. I guess, again, people are working at your company. I guess that is my first question.

我們剛結束兩週密集的財報季，你以前也經歷過。通膨被提到很多，還有勞動力以及——當你談到第二階段（Stage II）、第三階段（Stage III）時。我想我的問題主要是——在 Mountain Pass 那個地點，你們的——你們的勞動力狀況如何。我想，再次強調，人們在你們公司工作。我想這是我的第一個問題。

And then the supply chain, like, through China, you talked about it a bit. Is there more on-shoring, like, a greenfield is better opportunity to do something else, like, to acquire something in China because of worries about the trade tensions?

然後是供應鏈，例如經由中國的部分，你剛才提到一些。是否有更多在岸化（on-shoring）？像是綠地（greenfield）專案是否是更好的機會去做其他事情，例如因為擔心貿易緊張而去在中國收購某些資產？

Yes. So on your point on inflation, it's a great question. I believe you were on our last call, and I think we, hopefully, can get credit for giving folks an early kind of view on this before it became commonplace this quarter. We were seeing significant rises in prices across materials, across lots of things. And we worked furiously to get our Stage II optimization contracted. And so I think that, that was a great strategic asset that we achieved for our shareholders.

是的。關於你提到的通膨，這是個很好的問題。我相信你也參加了我們上一通電話會議，我希望我們能因為在本季這成為普遍議題之前，就較早向大家提供了某種前瞻觀點而獲得肯定。我們當時看到材料等各方面的價格都在顯著上升，涵蓋很多項目。我們也全力以赴，讓我們第二階段（Stage II）最佳化的合約能夠簽定。因此我認為，這是我們為股東取得的一項很棒的策略性資產。

I think that -- and you're seeing this in the capital markets, there's a bit of a regime change, where you're seeing the commodities producers really starting. And it's not -- obviously, it's not rare. It's steel. It's copper, where you're seeing some of these things get going, and there's -- I think people aren't realizing this is a new cycle, right? We've had a decade long bear market. And in the real world, things are just not as easy to just slap our new supply. It's not all [shale].

我認為——而你也在資本市場看到這點——有點像是制度環境（regime）的轉變，你會看到大宗商品生產商真的開始動起來。而且這不——顯然不只稀土。還有鋼鐵、銅，你會看到其中一些開始啟動，而且——我認為人們沒有意識到這是一個新週期，對吧？我們經歷了長達十年的熊市。而在現實世界裡，事情並沒有那麼容易就能「快速補上」新的供給。不是所有東西都像[頁岩]那樣。

And so the way to think about it is, these kinds of businesses typically actually have the most upside operating leverage to that phenomenon. So to the extent that you believe inflation is here, to the extent that you believe commodities prices are higher, these are the kinds of companies you want to be investing in. And if it's a cycle just getting going, it's just getting going. Again, that's my personal view.

所以應該這樣理解：這類企業通常對這種現象具有最大的上行營運槓桿。因此，如果你相信通膨已經到來，如果你相信大宗商品價格更高，這就是你想投資的那類公司。而如果這個週期才剛開始，那它就是才剛開始。再次強調，這是我個人的看法。

As far as our labor, to answer your question, it's -- when you look at the math, it's very small relative to the operating leverage that comes from pricing as the sort of the cycle kicks in.

至於我們的勞動力，回答你的問題——當你看數學關係時，相較於隨著週期啟動、價格帶來的營運槓桿，我們的勞動力影響其實非常小。

And so we, I would say, from a talent perspective, our -- like anyone out there, we're looking -- we're actually growing quite a bit. We've sort of stated that, but I think our going public and, frankly, the importance of our mission, both from an environmental and national security standpoint, really sort of strikes the passion of a lot of people. And so I think that we've seen a lot of really talented people who want to come join us and then obviously we've been hiring them.

所以我會說，從人才角度來看，我們——跟外面任何人一樣——都在找人——我們其實正在相當程度地擴編。我們也算是已經說過這點。但我認為我們上市，以及坦白說，我們使命的重要性——無論從環境面或國家安全的角度——都確實激發了很多人的熱情。因此我認為，我們看到許多非常有才華的人想加入我們，而我們也顯然一直在聘用他們。

And so we -- our team just continues to grow. And so I think that our ability to kind of build talent is still there. I think we have the benefit of, again, being such a unique company, unique set of assets. But I would imagine it is sort of very hard out there in general for what that opinion is worth.

所以我們——我們的團隊持續在成長。所以我認為我們培養人才的能力仍然在。我想我們的優勢在於，再次強調，我們是一家非常獨特的公司，擁有獨特的一組資產。但就這個看法的參考價值而言，我想整體外部環境確實相當艱難。

And I would also say, I think that, again, speaks to the strategic advantage we have because whoever is out there trying to raise capital and, again, we have seen no capital formation in the western world for this stuff. Whatever they thought it cost last week, it's a lot more expensive, and it's going to be a lot more expensive next week.

我也會說，我認為這再次凸顯了我們所擁有的策略性優勢，因為外面任何想要募資的人——而且我們也看到在西方世界，針對這類項目幾乎沒有資本形成——不管他們上週以為成本是多少，現在都貴得多，而且下週還會更貴。

And so that just sort of speaks to the reflexivity of kind of what we're facing today. And so again, yes, labor costs can go up, but I think that we have attracted a lot of talent and, hopefully, we'll continue to attract great talent. If you have friends that are engineers, send us their resumes. We're always looking for great people. But I think that's what we're seeing. Those trends that you're witnessing are a tailwind for us, we believe.

所以這某種程度上反映了我們今天所面對情勢的反身性。因此再說一次，是的，勞動成本可能上升，但我認為我們已經吸引了很多人才，而且希望我們會持續吸引優秀人才。如果你有工程師朋友，請把他們的履歷寄給我們。我們一直在找很棒的人才。但我認為這就是我們所看到的情況。你所觀察到的那些趨勢，我們相信對我們而言是順風。

The only thing I'd add on that...

我唯一想補充的是……

Yes. Go ahead, Ryan. Go ahead, Ryan.

是的。請說，Ryan。請說，Ryan。

Yes. Ben, I think some context to -- just on sort of location. I think we obviously are proud of the fact that we have really what we think is the only co-located asset, and we're in the Mojave. And so when we say that, people think of us being in the middle of the Mojave, but we're 45 minutes outside of the city of Las Vegas. And so our ability to attract talent, it has not been an issue at all. We've been able to grow pretty well, both on the corporate side and the operations side, and I think you can see in the results.

是的。Ben，我想補充一些背景——主要是關於地點。我想我們當然以我們擁有、我們認為是唯一的共址資產而自豪，而且我們在莫哈維（Mojave）。所以當我們這麼說時，大家會以為我們在莫哈維沙漠的正中央，但其實我們距離拉斯維加斯市區只有45分鐘車程。因此我們吸引人才的能力完全不是問題。我們在公司端與營運端都能相當順利地擴張，我想你也能從結果中看得出來。

The reason we continue to be able to drive pretty significant efficiencies, growing production despite many fewer production days this quarter year-over-year is the fact that we have been adding, for example, probably the best maintenance asset we've had, plant maintenance, ever. And we expect that to continue. And we're gearing up ahead of Stage II, and we expect to be able to kind of extract efficiencies out of that as well just given the quality of the folks that we've been able to attract.

我們之所以能持續推動相當顯著的效率提升，並且在本季相較去年同期生產天數少了很多的情況下仍能提高產量，是因為我們一直在增補人力，例如我們可能新增了我們有史以來最好的維修資產——也就是廠務維護方面。我們預期這會持續。我們也在為第二階段（Stage II）提前整備，並且預期也能從中進一步擷取效率，這都要歸功於我們能吸引到的人才品質。

So that has not been an issue. And to Jim's point, importantly, if inflation is here, the leverage for us is just right, where prices on our product will go up. We'll have a bigger impact than the impact to our costs from a labor perspective.

所以這並不是問題。而且呼應Jim的觀點，重要的是，如果通膨真的在這裡，我們的槓桿位置剛剛好：我們產品的價格會上升，而其影響會大於勞動面成本上升對我們造成的影響。

The one thing I wanted to hit on, on your second question about sort of the on-shoring, and is it better to do something greenfield in the U.S. versus having some sort of JV or something, we're obviously not going to comment on specifics of Stage III, but I think your question hits on exactly why we think we have such an incredible competitive advantage, both in our current business and in our potential Stage III, where we are the only co-located asset of scale.

我想回應你第二個問題中關於回流（on-shoring）的部分，以及在美國做綠地（greenfield）專案是否比做某種合資（JV）之類更好。我們當然不會評論第三階段（Stage III）的具體細節，但我認為你的問題正好點出為什麼我們認為自己擁有如此驚人的競爭優勢——不論是在我們目前的業務，或是在潛在的第三階段——因為我們是唯一具規模的共址資產。

And so absolutely, our customers and the end users of these products, the industrial end users, are seeing what has happened with the supply chain with semiconductors. And having a mine on one continent and a processing facility on another continent and then another piece of that on a third is just not an acceptable risk for some of these customers.

所以完全沒錯，我們的客戶以及這些產品的終端使用者——工業端的終端使用者——都看到了半導體供應鏈發生的事情。把礦放在一個大陸、加工設施放在另一個大陸，然後再把其中另一段放在第三個大陸，對某些客戶而言就是不可接受的風險。

And so I think we're just absolutely in full position, given our co-location and the scale of our asset. And I think that will sort of -- that is the competitive advantage when we think about Stage III and moving into magnetics is access and secure access to raw materials.

所以我認為，考量到我們的共址以及資產規模，我們絕對處於完全有利的位置。我也認為，當我們思考第三階段並進入磁性材料（magnetics）時，這就是競爭優勢：取得原料的能力，以及安全、穩定地取得原料的能力。

Right. Maybe on that front, too, just -- so we had some lithium guys report today. And the question always is like how difficult is to get lithium. And there's a bunch of -- I think, Jim, you talked about like the juniors out there trying to make a mine. And so you've got Lynas down there in Australia. How long does it take to make a mine like you guys have -- if you guys had to guess from your engineers?

對。也許在這方面再追問一下——所以今天有一些鋰相關公司發布了報告。大家總是會問：取得鋰到底有多困難？而且有一堆——我想，Jim，你提到外面有些小型公司（juniors）想要做出一座礦。然後你看澳洲那邊的Lynas。像你們這樣的礦，如果要建成，大概要多久——如果你們要根據工程師的估計來猜？

Yes. I mean -- well, that's -- and we -- it's a great question, and we try to make that point because there's -- this is hard. It takes years. I mean it's -- and you need -- one, you need an ore body to start, right? If you don't have an economic ore body -- you often -- sometimes you'll hear from juniors, sir, we have this new technology, right? We have -- we're going to -- we have a smarter way to process that. I'm typically skeptical of those claims.

是的。我的意思是——嗯，這——我們——這是個很好的問題，我們也試著強調這一點，因為——這很難。需要好幾年。我的意思是——而且你需要——第一，你得先有礦體，對吧？如果你沒有具經濟性的礦體——你常常——有時候你會聽到一些小型公司說，先生，我們有這個新技術，對吧？我們有——我們要——我們有更聰明的處理方式。我通常對這些說法持懷疑態度。

I mean you might as well -- I think if someone came out and said, I have a new way to make -- [some guy in his garage said], I have a new way to make a computer chip, and I'm going to compete against Intel and build a fab, and it's only going to cost me $1 billion, I think people would be a little skeptical in -- with some of these juniors out there that are making these claims. I think there's a little bit of that. We're just -- there needs to be a significant capital raised, but it really does require -- this is a chemical plant. I mean it's complex and difficult to do.

我的意思是，你不如——我想如果有人出來說，我有一種新的方法來做——[某個人在自家車庫說]，我有一種新的方法來做電腦晶片，我要跟Intel競爭並蓋一座晶圓廠，而且只要花我10億美元，我想大家會有點懷疑——對於外面一些提出這類主張的小型公司也是一樣。我覺得有點類似。我們只是——需要募集大量資本，但這確實需要——這是一座化工廠。我的意思是，它很複雜，也很難做。

And so one, you've got to start with the ore body. And so if you have 1% ore body, you just can't be economic, again, unless you change the laws of chemistry.

所以第一，你必須從礦體開始。所以如果你的礦體品位只有1%，你就不可能有經濟性，再次強調，除非你改變化學定律。

And then -- but then from there, you've got to get financed, you've got to get permitted. And then by the way, you have to go and hire tons of people who know what they're doing. And frankly, the only people in the Western world who have any experience doing this is at -- are at MP Materials. And so we just think that this is really just such a powerful source of strategic advantage for us.

然後——但接下來，你得拿到融資，你得取得許可。然後順帶一提，你還得去聘用大量真正懂行的人。坦白說，在西方世界，唯一有任何相關經驗的人就在——就在MP Materials。我們因此認為，這對我們而言真的是非常強大的策略性優勢來源。

We've also said that we believe the lowest risk, nearest term, highest return on capital, source of new supply would be, one, us getting more efficient in Mountain Pass. That's obvious. But it is us doing some kind of expansion at Mountain Pass, where we made an investment. And now obviously, I'm not saying anything today, and we would obviously kind of be very specific if we were to make an announcement on that front. But that would be likely the nearest term sort of source of western supply, at least as far as we see it today.

我們也說過，我們相信風險最低、時間最近、資本報酬率最高的新供給來源會是：第一，我們在Mountain Pass變得更有效率。這很明顯。但也可能是我們在Mountain Pass做某種擴建，因為我們已經做了投資。當然，我今天不會說任何細節；如果我們要在這方面發布公告，我們也會非常具體。但就我們目前所見，這很可能會是西方供給在近期最可能的來源。

And so again, I just think that this idea that you'll see all sorts of western supply -- I mean, we haven't even yet really seen real capital formation, let alone actual facilities, and that will take time. And by the way, even with an experienced operator that, in theory, would ship material from the other side of the world to here, you still have to be -- you have to get the financing in place and you have to get permitted, and you've got to build it. And so anyway, you get my point. I just think that there's a lot of stuff here.

所以再說一次，我只是覺得這種想法——你會看到各式各樣的西方供給——我的意思是，我們甚至還沒真正看到實質的資本形成，更不用說實際設施了，而那需要時間。順帶一提，即便是有經驗的營運商，理論上要把材料從世界另一端運到這裡，你仍然必須——你必須把融資到位、取得許可，還得把它建起來。總之，你懂我的意思。我只是覺得這裡有很多事情要做。

You have -- you basically have people. I get this question all the time. "Jim, rares aren't rare." Well, yes, we -- that's totally beside the point. What's rare is actually having an ore body that can be done economically than having the human capital, the financial capital, the expert -- and then going out and making it happen over a number of years.

你會——基本上會有人。我一直被問到這個問題：「Jim，稀土並不稀有。」嗯，是的，我們——那完全不是重點。真正稀有的是：擁有一個能夠以經濟方式開採的礦體，然後具備人力資本、金融資本、專業——再花好幾年把它真正做成。

And so that's -- again, I just -- I think people miss that. And so we try to -- hopefully, that's helpful color. I don't know, Ryan and Michael, if you want anything on that?

所以這就是——再說一次，我只是——我認為大家忽略了這點。所以我們試著——希望這些補充說明能有幫助。我不知道，Ryan和Michael，你們是否想補充？

No. That's good.

不。這樣很好。

Yes. I mean the only thing I'd say is, to your point on lithium, I think that's why we're so incredibly bullish about our particular piece of sort of this electrification materials is the supply-demand function in rare earths. It is just much more difficult to add supply than many of the other materials. I think we're all incredibly bullish, all of these materials, given the demand that we see, but I think the critical differentiator. All of us likely will see this demand boom, but the supply and how difficult it is to add supply is what's very unique and, pun intended, rare in our space.

是的。我的意思是，我唯一想說的是，呼應你對鋰的觀點，我認為這也是為什麼我們對自己在這個電氣化材料（electrification materials）領域中的特定環節如此看多：稀土的供需函數使得新增供給比許多其他材料困難得多。我想我們對所有這些材料都非常看多，因為我們看到需求正在上升，但我認為關鍵差異在於：我們很可能都會看到這波需求榮景，但供給端以及新增供給的難度，才是我們這個領域非常獨特、也（雙關語）「稀有」的地方。

Yes. And just -- I'm glad, Ryan addressed the lithium point. I guess I forgot to do that. Lithium just, as an example, there are -- you have a lot of production in South America, then you have sort of the North Carolina area and Nevada. There are lots of areas where, to the extent the investment is made, with time, you can get product online. And again, as Ryan said, we're bullish all of this stuff. I think just the game-changer that's happening in the commodity space with respect to electrification is pretty amazing. But this is very different than lithium for the exact reason that you have to find an ore body that can be economic just to get in the game. And we don't know of one that exists in the western world today.

是的。而且我很高興 Ryan 提到了鋰的部分，我想我剛才忘了說。以鋰為例，南美有大量產量，另外在北卡羅來納州一帶以及內華達州也有一些。很多地區只要投入資本，隨著時間推進，就能讓產品上線供應。再說一次，如 Ryan 所說，我們對這些都很看好。我認為在商品領域、就電氣化而言正在發生的這種顛覆性變化相當驚人。但這與鋰非常不同，原因正是你必須先找到一個在經濟上可行的礦體，才能入局。而我們目前不知道在西方世界今天是否存在這樣的礦體。

Our next question comes from Serena Rocha of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）的 Serena Rocha。

I'll apologize in advance if this was already asked. I got disconnected for a minute from the call. But I'm wondering if you could give us some additional color in terms of the pace of CapEx, either as we think about the rest of this year or thinking Stage II? Overall, how do we -- do we assume just a steady pace within that budget and the timeline minus what was spent this quarter? Or could it be more weighted towards the back end of the project or lumpy throughout? What's the best [way to think] about that?

如果這個問題之前已經有人問過，我先道歉。我剛才通話中斷了一分鐘。但我想請教，您能否就資本支出（CapEx）的節奏提供更多說明，不論是看今年剩餘時間，或是看第二階段（Stage II）？整體而言，我們是否應該假設在該預算與時程內（扣除本季已支出部分）維持穩定的支出步調？還是可能更偏向專案後段，或在各期間呈現不均勻的波動？我們應該如何最好地理解這件事？

Yes. We have not given any guidance around sort of specific timing on Stage II CapEx. But maybe, Ryan, you can sort of not answer the question in a more artful, detailed way and give any helpful color.

是的。我們尚未就第二階段（Stage II）CapEx 的具體時間安排提供任何指引。不過 Ryan，也許你可以用更巧妙、更細緻的方式在不直接回答的同時，提供一些有用的補充說明。

Yes. No, there is certainly the chance for it to be lumpy. I think we did sort of discuss at a very high level. As with any of these projects, it's a little bit lighter in the beginning, and it gets a little bit heavier towards the end as parts of the project complete. So I wouldn't -- I certainly wouldn't draw a straight line. There will be lumpiness just based on certain milestones that are achieved. But certainly, I'd say, you saw our spend this quarter. Next quarter will be lighter than I'd say the following few quarters.

是的。不，確實有可能會呈現不均勻的波動。我想我們之前在非常高的層次上有稍微討論過。就像任何這類專案一樣，初期通常會比較輕，隨著專案各部分逐步完成，後期會變得更重。所以我不會——我當然不會畫出一條直線來看。支出會因為達成某些里程碑而出現波動。不過我會說，你們看到我們本季的支出；下季會比接下來幾季更輕一些。

We have time to take one more question. So Subhasish Chandra from Northland.

我們還有時間再接一個問題。接下來是 Northland 的 Subhasish Chandra。

You might have explicitly referred to it -- I hopped on the call late. You might have explicitly referred to it. But that IEA report, it talks of 2 things: reduced supply through control of illegal mining in China and then also perhaps tightened processing because of this revised waste solution act -- solid waste solution act, which seems like it's about 6 months old. Can you elaborate on that? And sort of, do you have an opinion if those are meaningful events to kind of a response to that scenario that China will just flood the globe with supplies?

你們可能已經明確提到——我比較晚才加入電話會議，你們可能已經說過。但那份 IEA 報告提到兩件事：一是透過管控中國的非法採礦來降低供給；二是因為修訂後的廢棄物處置法——固體廢棄物處置法——可能也會使加工端趨於收緊，而這部法看起來大概已經施行約 6 個月。你們能否就此多做說明？另外，你們是否認為這些是重要事件，足以回應那種「中國會用供給淹沒全球」的情境？

Yes. And so I covered this, but I'll just -- I will -- I think it's a great question because it's really critical to understand, I think, that there's -- that idea of flooding -- in our opinion, from what we read there, obviously, anything can change. But that idea of flooding is really a backward-looking thing without recognition of sort of Chinese strategic imperatives and pronouncements. The most senior Chinese rare earth official, the Head of the MIIT, refers to rare earths as industrial gold and wants the prices to reflect the environmental externalities.

是的。我之前有提到，但我再補充——我認為這是個很好的問題，因為我覺得要理解「淹沒市場」這個概念非常關鍵：依我們的看法、根據我們讀到的內容（當然任何事情都可能改變），所謂「淹沒」其實是一種回顧式的想法，沒有認知到中國的戰略需求與相關表態。中國最資深的稀土官員——工信部（MIIT）負責人——把稀土稱為「工業黃金」，並希望價格能反映環境外部性。

And so -- and if you just think about it logically, I don't see how China would benefit from subsidizing in the industry so that the western world can now compete better with their dominant downstream companies, which is where the jobs and dollars and yuan are at stake, right?

而且——如果你從邏輯上想，我看不出中國為何要透過補貼這個產業，讓西方世界如今能更好地與其占主導地位的下游公司競爭；而下游才是工作、美元與人民幣利益所在，對吧？

So I just think that the world has evolved enough where the access to resources are really of such strategic value and that they want to compete downstream. And so they don't want to destroy their environment to help western competitors.

所以我只是認為，世界已經演變到資源取得具有高度戰略價值的程度，而他們想在下游競爭。因此，他們不會為了幫助西方競爭者而破壞自己的環境。

Again, opinion -- we just -- this is just based on kind of what we read in here. And so I think that -- I take that at face value to the extent that the head -- rare earth regulators are saying that prices need to reflect the idea that they're rare, not that they're earth and calls an industrial gold, I think that it's fair to think that rare earth prices particularly relative to where they are today and, frankly, on a dollars basis, are probably headed higher. But that's our perspective on it.

再次強調，這是觀點——我們只是根據我們在這裡讀到的內容所做的判斷。所以我認為——如果稀土監管機構的負責人表示價格需要反映「它們很稀有」，而不是「它們在地球上」，並稱其為「工業黃金」，那麼合理的推論是：稀土價格，特別是相對於目前水準而言，而且坦白說以美元計價的角度來看，可能正朝更高的方向走。但這就是我們的看法。

Yes. And Subash, on your question on illegal mining and the reduction there, I think one important nuance that some don't appreciate also is, when you've seen announcements about increased quotas, which I think people like to focus on those headlines, but in our opinion, a significant amount of that is bringing illegal mining into the regulated fold because of exactly what Jim just laid out kind of trying to clean up the environmental impact which their country and their citizens are demanding.

是的。Subash，關於你提到的非法採礦以及其減少的問題，我認為還有一個重要的細節是有些人沒有注意到：當你看到提高配額的公告時，我想大家很容易只聚焦在那些標題；但依我們看法，其中相當一部分其實是把非法採礦納入受監管的體系，正如 Jim 剛才所說，目的是清理環境影響，因為他們的國家與公民正在要求這麼做。

And so it -- when people look at supply models and take the increased quotas and just add that and don't make the right adjustments to illegal mining, which admittedly is hard, so by its nature, it's hard to measure. But that is -- with what we've seen in the industry there, that is a lot of what's going on. And so I think that, that is a pretty important factor in driving the supply balance in China.

因此——當人們看供給模型時，把提高的配額直接加上去，卻沒有對非法採礦做正確調整（這點我們也承認很難，因為它本質上就難以衡量），但就我們在那個產業所看到的情況而言，這正是很多事情正在發生的原因。所以我認為，這是影響中國供需平衡的一個相當重要的因素。

Okay. No, that's very helpful. So we might be double-counting if we don't include the illegal mines when it comes to...

好的。不，這非常有幫助。所以如果在計算時沒有把非法礦納入……我們可能會重複計算，因為……

Exactly. And when it comes to -- yes, when you're adding to supply from increased quotas, I think the thought would be look very closely at how much of that is already contained in the market but is illegal mining.

沒錯。當談到——是的，當你因提高配額而把供給加上去時，我認為應該非常仔細地看其中有多少其實已經包含在市場裡，只是屬於非法採礦。

There are no further questions. So I will now hand the call back over to James Litinsky.

沒有其他問題了。現在我把電話交回給 James Litinsky。

Okay. Sure. Thank you. Well, thank you, everyone, for listening today. We are sort of very proud of our execution here. I think the team did a really great job, and we look forward to next quarter's updates with you, and have a great night.

好的。當然。謝謝。也謝謝各位今天的收聽。我們對於在這裡的執行成果感到非常自豪。我認為團隊做得非常出色，我們也期待在下個季度向各位更新進展，祝各位晚安。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

各位女士、先生，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以掛斷電話。