MP Materials Corp. (MP) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and thank you for attending today's MP Materials Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Austin, and I'll be your moderator for today. (Operator Instructions)

各位下午好，感謝各位參加今日 MP Materials 2022 年第二季財報電話會議。我是 Austin，將擔任今天的主持人。（接線員指示）

I would now like to pass the conference over to our host, Martin Sheehan, with MP Materials. Martin, please proceed.

現在我想把會議交給我們的主持人、來自 MP Materials 的 Martin Sheehan。Martin，請開始。

Thank you, operator, and good day, everyone. Welcome to the MP Materials Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. With me today from MP Materials are Jim Litinsky, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Michael Rosenthal, Founder and Chief Operating Officer; and Ryan Corbett, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝接線員，各位好。歡迎參加 MP Materials 2022 年第二季財報電話會議。今天與我一同出席的 MP Materials 團隊成員包括：創辦人、董事長兼執行長 Jim Litinsky；創辦人兼營運長 Michael Rosenthal；以及財務長 Ryan Corbett。

Before we get to our opening remarks, as a reminder, today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements relating to future events and expectations that are subject to various assumptions and caveats. Factors that may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from these statements are included in today's presentation, earnings release and in our SEC filings. In addition, we have included some non-GAAP financial measures in this presentation. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in the appendix to today's presentation and earnings release. Any reference in our discussion today to EBITDA means adjusted EBITDA. Finally, the earnings release and slide presentation are available on our website.

在我們開始開場致詞之前，提醒各位，今天的討論將包含前瞻性陳述，涉及未來事件與預期，並受各種假設與限制條件所影響。可能導致公司實際結果與這些陳述存在重大差異的因素，已載於今日簡報、新聞稿以及我們向 SEC 提交的文件中。此外，我們在本簡報中亦包含部分非 GAAP 財務衡量指標。與最直接可比的 GAAP 財務衡量指標之調節表，可於今日簡報與財報新聞稿的附錄中查閱。今天討論中任何提及 EBITDA 之處，均指調整後 EBITDA。最後，財報新聞稿與投影片簡報已公布於我們的網站。

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 all for joining us this afternoon. Let me start by giving you a quick rundown on our plan for today's call. First, I will open with the highlights of the quarter, followed by Ryan's review of our financials and KPIs, and then I'll return to update you on Pages 2 and 3 progress and address some highlights from our just published and inaugural ESG report before opening the call up to Q&A.

謝謝，Martin，也感謝各位今天下午加入我們。我先快速說明一下今天電話會議的安排。首先，我將以本季重點作為開場，接著由 Ryan 回顧我們的財務表現與 KPI，之後我會再回來更新第 2 與第 3 頁的進度，並在進入問答前，說明我們剛發布、也是首次發布的 ESG 報告中的一些重點。

So let's get started on Slide 4. Our second quarter results continue to demonstrate solid execution. In the quarter, we produced 10,300 metric tons and sold 10,000 metric tons of rare earth concentrate. Both figures are consistent with last year's second quarter. Given the significant increase in construction on site, investment in maximizing the long-term value of the mineral resource as well as planning and coordinating for Stage 2 commissioning, we are really pleased with the team's ability to focus and deliver on hitting world-class production and shipping targets. Similar to last quarter, we executed well throughout the quarter, maintaining cost discipline and benefited from record realized prices. This resulted in another quarter of solid financial performance.

那我們從投影片第 4 頁開始。本公司第二季結果持續展現穩健的執行力。本季我們生產 10,300 公噸並銷售 10,000 公噸稀土精礦，兩項數據均與去年第二季一致。鑑於現場施工大幅增加、我們投入以最大化礦產資源的長期價值，以及為第二階段（Stage 2）試車進行規劃與協調，我們對團隊仍能專注並達成世界級的產量與出貨目標感到非常滿意。與上季相同，我們在整個季度執行良好，維持成本紀律，並受惠於創紀錄的實現價格，帶來另一個季度的穩健財務表現。

Revenue was up 96% year-over-year to $143.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA was up 137% to $110 million. Our adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 13 points to 77%, and we earned $0.43 per share in adjusted diluted EPS, an increase of 139%. This strong financial performance brought our year-to-date normalized Stage 1 free cash flow to approximately $227.7 million. Ryan will provide additional detail on the KPIs that drove this strong performance in just a minute.

營收年增 96% 至 1.436 億美元。調整後 EBITDA 年增 137% 至 1.10 億美元。我們的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率擴大 13 個百分點至 77%，調整後稀釋每股盈餘為 0.43 美元，增加 139%。這項強勁的財務表現，使我們年初至今（normalized）的第一階段（Stage 1）自由現金流約為 2.277 億美元。Ryan 稍後將就推動此強勁表現的 KPI 提供更多細節。

But first, with regards to Stages 2 and 3, as we previously highlighted, our primary focus continues to be on completing construction of our Stage 2 optimization project this year, which remains on track. Construction pace continued to ramp and we expect to maintain the current pace into the fourth quarter. We remain on target for mechanical completion by year-end, and we've begun pre-commissioning, which includes checkouts and initial performance testing on both legacy and new circuits in preparation for commissioning.

不過首先，關於第二與第三階段（Stages 2 and 3），如我們先前所強調，我們的主要重點仍是於今年完成第二階段優化專案的施工，目前進度仍按計畫推進。施工速度持續提升，我們預期將把目前的節奏維持到第四季。我們仍以年底前達成機械完工為目標，且已開始進行試車前作業（pre-commissioning），包括對既有與新增迴路進行檢查與初步性能測試，為正式試車（commissioning）做準備。

In addition, our Stage 3 facility is going vertical in Fort Worth, and we remain heavily focused on key hires, procurement of long-lead equipment and other items tracking for a late 2023 start of product for magnetic alloy. I'll provide a few more details on Stages 2 and 3 in just a minute.

此外，我們位於沃斯堡（Fort Worth）的第三階段設施已開始立體施工（going vertical），我們仍高度聚焦於關鍵人員招募、長交期設備採購及其他事項，並持續朝 2023 年底前開始生產磁性合金產品的目標推進。我稍後會再提供第二與第三階段的更多細節。

But first, let me turn the call over to Ryan to run through our results in a bit more detail. Ryan?

不過首先，讓我把電話交給 Ryan，請他更詳細說明我們的業績。Ryan？

Thanks, Jim. And as Jim just highlighted, Q2 was another strong quarter operationally and financially, and we delivered it even as construction activity at Mountain Pass approached its peak. As I go through the details, I'll point out how the numbers reflect both continued efforts to optimize production and step up in Stage 3 related work.

謝謝，Jim。正如 Jim 剛才強調的，第二季在營運與財務面都再度表現強勁，即使 Mountain Pass 的施工活動接近高峰，我們仍交出成果。在我說明細節時，我會指出這些數字如何反映我們持續優化產量的努力，以及第三階段相關工作的提升。

On Slide 6 and starting with the bottom left graph, as Jim mentioned, production volumes remained very solid, in line with last year's output at 10,300 metric tons. There are a few considerations in comparing period-to-period that I'll remind everybody about. As we stated in prior quarters, while we remain focused on Stage 2 precommissioning, we were always working to optimize our Stage 1 reagent gains as well as looking to understand bottlenecks and trade-offs to maximize REO production over time.

在投影片第 6 頁，先從左下角圖表開始，如 Jim 所提，產量仍非常穩健，與去年相當，為 10,300 公噸。比較各期間時，有幾點需要提醒各位。如我們在前幾季所述，雖然我們仍聚焦於第二階段試車前作業，但我們也一直在努力優化第一階段試劑使用效益，同時了解瓶頸與取捨，以在時間推移下最大化 REO 產量。

A major advantage of our ore body is consistency and neurology, but we continue to optimize our feed grade and composition to maximize the life of mine, which can drive some lumpiness quarter-to-quarter, but supports production growth over the medium and long term. This is particularly true this year as we incorporate changes afforded by the new and larger mine plan and lower cutoff grade as discussed on our fourth quarter call. Also, recall that we typically take at least a 1-week shutdown for preventive plant maintenance in the second and fourth quarters. So we generally have lower output in those quarters, which we saw here in Q2 sequentially.

我們礦體的一大優勢是穩定性與均質性，但我們仍持續優化入料品位與組成，以最大化礦山壽命；這可能導致季度間數據出現些許波動，但有助於中長期的產量成長。今年尤其如此，因為我們納入了更大規模的新礦山計畫與較低的截止品位（cutoff grade）所帶來的變化，這點我們在第四季電話會議中已討論過。另外也請記得，我們通常會在第二季與第四季至少停機一週進行預防性廠房維護，因此這兩季的產出一般較低，本次第二季的環比下降亦符合此情況。

As we mentioned, a major focus for the remainder of the year is completing the transition to Stage 2 operations particularly in the concentrate drying and roasting areas that tie directly into our existing flotation and concentrate filtration circuits. As we prepare for Stage 2 commissioning and our second semiannual outage in the fourth quarter that may include additional Stage 2 tie-ins, we expect Q3 production to look similar to the first quarter of this year. We currently project that our fourth quarter outage may be slightly longer than the prior years.

如我們所提，今年剩餘時間的一大重點是完成向第二階段營運的轉換，特別是在精礦乾燥與焙燒（roasting）區域，這些環節與我們既有的浮選與精礦過濾迴路直接相連。隨著我們為第二階段試車以及第四季第二次半年期停機（可能包含更多第二階段的系統銜接）做準備，我們預期第三季產量將與今年第一季相近。我們目前預估第四季停機時間可能會比往年略長。

Moving clockwise on the chart to sales volumes, our logistics team continues to manage well through a highly dynamic shipping environment, allowing us to continue to shift the vast majority of our production each quarter. As you see on the top right, pricing remained strong in the quarter, up about 90% year-over-year and 1% quarter-over-quarter. On a sequential basis, recall that NdPr pricing had a recent high in the early March time frame. And given the slight lag in our realized prices versus market agencies, some of that strong March pricing was realized in our Q2 results. NdPr pricing has recently pulled back to below $120 per kilogram. And given our realized pricing is highly correlated with NdPr pricing, we expect to see a decline in our Q3 realized pricing versus Q2 in the mid-teens percentage points if current prices hold, although it will remain nicely ahead of last year's Q3.

沿圖表順時針看至銷售量，我們的物流團隊在高度動態的航運環境下持續妥善管理，使我們每季仍能出貨絕大部分產量。如右上角所示，本季價格維持強勁，年增約 90%，季增 1%。就環比而言，請回想 NdPr 價格在 3 月初曾達近期高點。由於我們的實現價格相較市場報價機構存在些微滯後，部分 3 月的強勁價格反映在第二季結果中。NdPr 價格近期已回落至每公斤 120 美元以下。鑑於我們的實現價格與 NdPr 價格高度相關，若目前價格水準維持不變，我們預期第三季實現價格相較第二季將下滑約十幾個百分點（mid-teens），但仍將明顯高於去年第三季。

Lastly, on the bottom right graph of the slide, core Stage 1 production costs despite inflationary pressure, remain roughly in the $1,300 to $1,400 per metric ton range. Keep in mind, we are usually on the higher end of this range during quarters with a maintenance shutdown.

最後，在投影片右下角圖表中，儘管面臨通膨壓力，第一階段核心生產成本仍大致維持在每公噸 1,300 至 1,400 美元區間。請注意，在有維護停機的季度，我們通常會落在此區間的較高端。

In the second quarter, excluding the growth in Stage 2 advanced recommissioning related costs, year-over-year core production costs were roughly flat at just over $1,400 per metric ton. The higher year-over-year Stage 2 related costs were mostly associated with impacts from the restart of our combined heat and power plant early this year as well as continued hiring of the operation and maintenance of future circuits.

第二季若排除第二階段先進再試車（advanced recommissioning）相關成本的增加，核心生產成本年對年大致持平，略高於每公噸 1,400 美元。年對年較高的第二階段相關成本，主要與我們今年初重啟熱電共生（combined heat and power）電廠所帶來的影響，以及持續招募未來迴路之操作與維護人員有關。

As you will recall from our last earnings call, the heat and power plants must run at a certain minimum power output for operational and permit compliance, and as such, is currently generating power in excess of Stage 1 needs, which we are primarily dissipating at our load banks. The cost of this temporary inefficiency represents just over half of the $350 per metric ton impact in the quarter and will, of course, continue for the next couple of quarters as we commission and scale Stage 2 operations.

各位應記得我們在上次財報電話會議提到，熱電共生電廠必須以某一最低發電量運轉，以符合營運與許可（permit）規範。因此目前其發電量超過第一階段需求，我們主要透過負載箱（load banks）將多餘電力消耗掉。這項暫時性低效率的成本，占本季每公噸 350 美元影響的略高於一半；當然，隨著我們試車並擴大第二階段營運，這種情況仍將在接下來幾個季度持續。

The Stage 2 related costs impacting our overall production costs went from about $290 to $350 per metric ton sequentially, mainly due to lower quarterly shipping volumes in the denominator. And of course, given our focus on getting the Stage 2 commissioning, we will ramp our hiring in the back half of the year.

第二階段相關成本對整體生產成本的影響，環比由每公噸約 290 美元上升至 350 美元，主要是因為季度出貨量較低，使分母下降所致。當然，鑑於我們聚焦於推進第二階段試車，我們將在今年下半年加速招募人員。

Summarizing our results on Slide 7, you can see that on a year-over-year basis, revenue was up 96%, adjusted EBITDA up 137%, diluted adjusted EPS up 139%, and EBITDA margins increased 13 percentage points, all primarily driven by higher realized pricing and with regards to our profitability metrics, cost controls and production efficiencies outweighing inflationary pressures. Quarter-over-quarter comparisons for all 4 metrics were primarily impacted by the lower shipments in the quarter versus Q1.

在第 7 張投影片彙總我們的結果，您可以看到，以年對年來看，營收成長 96%，調整後 EBITDA 成長 137%，稀釋後調整 EPS 成長 139%，且 EBITDA 利潤率提升 13 個百分點；這些表現主要由更高的已實現售價所帶動。而就我們的獲利指標而言，成本控管與生產效率的提升抵銷了通膨壓力。就季對季比較而言，這 4 項指標主要受到本季出貨量較 Q1 低的影響。

Moving to Slide 8. Year-to-date, normalized Stage 1 free cash flow grew to $227.7 million through the end of June, driven by higher operating cash flows generated from improved profitability. Net capital expenditures totaled $117.5 million year-to-date with another approximately $32 million of CapEx-related payables on the balance sheet at the end of the quarter. As we talked about earlier this year, CapEx will be backloaded, ramping as the year progresses, primarily related to our 3 key investments. First, completion of the (inaudible) portion of the Stage 2 construction and related investments in Mountain Pass; second, our Fort Worth magnetics facility; and lastly, initial investments in heavy separations and recycling at Mountain Pass.

接著看第 8 張投影片。今年截至目前，經常化的第一階段自由現金流在 6 月底前成長至 2.277 億美元，主要由獲利能力改善所帶動的更高營運現金流所驅動。今年截至目前的淨資本支出合計 1.175 億美元，且在本季末資產負債表上另有約 3,200 萬美元與資本支出相關的應付帳款。如同我們今年稍早提到的，資本支出將後置，並隨著年度推進而加速，主要與我們 3 項關鍵投資相關。第一，完成 Mountain Pass 第二階段建設中（聽不清）部分及相關投資；第二，我們的 Fort Worth 磁材工廠；最後，在 Mountain Pass 進行重稀土分離與回收的初期投資。

So while Stage 1 strong cash flow has funded our investments to date this year, we would expect to see the impact of the higher CapEx spend on free cash flow in the back half of the year, but we will only need to draw modestly on our fortress balance sheet to absorb this ramp in spend.

因此，雖然第一階段強勁的現金流已為我們今年迄今的投資提供資金，但我們預期在下半年會看到較高資本支出對自由現金流的影響；不過，我們只需要適度動用我們堅實的資產負債表來吸收這一波支出爬升。

Regarding the balance sheet, we took advantage of the recent rise in treasury rates to invest a portion of our cash balance into higher-yielding short-duration U.S. government-backed securities in the quarter. As such, we closed the quarter with approximately $600 million of short-term investments in addition to $654 million of cash and cash equivalents for a total balance of $1.26 billion of cash equivalents and short-term investments. You will see the impact of this move from cash into short-term investments on the cash flow statement when we file our 10-Q.

就資產負債表而言，我們利用近期美國公債利率上升的機會，在本季將部分現金餘額投資於收益率較高、存續期間較短、由美國政府背書的證券。因此，我們在季末持有約 6 億美元的短期投資，另有 6.54 億美元的現金及約當現金，合計現金約當物與短期投資餘額為 12.6 億美元。當我們提交 10-Q 時，您將在現金流量表中看到這項由現金轉為短期投資的影響。

In summary, another strong quarter across the board for the company's operations. Production, cost control and demand for our product continue to highlight the significant early success of our 3-stage strategy, which gives us further confidence in our ability to execute on Stages 2 and 3.

總結而言，公司營運各方面本季再度表現強勁。產量、成本控管以及對我們產品的需求，持續凸顯我們三階段策略在早期取得的重大成功，並讓我們對於執行第二與第三階段更具信心。

And with that, I'll turn it back to Jim. Jim?

接下來我把時間交還給 Jim。Jim？

Thanks, Ryan. Let's turn to Slide 10 to discuss our progress on downstream expansion in the quarter. Here is a good shot of our concentrate dryer in calciner, two of the major Stage 2 optimization projects at Mountain Pass. We mentioned last quarter that construction had reaccelerated, and we have now hit peak effort on site. We also mentioned adding a night shift. And as such, we now have craft labor, think electricians, pipe fitters and iron workers on-site nearly 20 hours a day, 6 days a week, over 2 shifts. We expect to sustain this effort into the fourth quarter. In certain areas where construction is more advanced, our project team has already begun mechanical checkouts of construction and started identifying a punch list of items to complete the job.

謝謝，Ryan。我們看第 10 張投影片，討論本季在下游擴張方面的進展。這裡是一張我們煅燒爐（calciner）中的精礦乾燥機（concentrate dryer）的照片，這是 Mountain Pass 第二階段兩個主要的最佳化專案之一。我們上季提到施工已重新加速，而現在現場已達到最高投入。我們也提到新增夜班。因此，我們現在有技術工種人力——例如電工、管道裝配工與鋼構工——在現場幾乎每天 20 小時、每週 6 天、分兩班運作。我們預期將把這樣的投入維持到第四季。在某些施工較為超前的區域，我們的專案團隊已開始進行機械查驗（mechanical checkouts），並開始列出待辦清單（punch list）以完成收尾工作。

For the balance of the project, the remaining critical path items are largely related to piping, electrical and ancillary equipment installation. We do continue to work through isolated supply chain issues, but at this point, nearly all process equipment, tanks, pumps, steel, pipe, electrical wire and process instruments are on-site. Chips and other automation control equipment have proven the most unpredictable supply chain challenges, and we are working diligently to manage through those.

就專案其餘部分而言，剩餘的關鍵路徑項目多與管線、電氣以及附屬設備安裝相關。我們確實仍在處理零星的供應鏈問題，但截至目前，幾乎所有製程設備、槽罐、幫浦、鋼材、管材、電線與製程儀表都已到場。晶片與其他自動化控制設備一直是最難預測的供應鏈挑戰，我們正努力不懈地加以管理與因應。

The great news is that as of today, we don't see any impediments to starting performance testing in the fourth quarter, largely in process sequence, beginning with the concentrate dryer, calciner and lead circuit. This will be a very important first step in our recommissioning efforts. And regarding the recommissioning of existing assets, we also made important progress on a number of fronts in the second quarter. we completed upgrades to our NdPr separation facility, completed work on parts of our impurity removal and iron removal processes, continued upgrades to process automation, hardware and software, completed work on part of our brine recovery and treatment facilities and recommissioned our upgraded brine concentrator facility, which is a critical precursor to successfully operated our salt crystallizer and maintaining site-wide water balance.

好消息是，截至今天，我們看不到在第四季開始性能測試的任何阻礙；測試將大致依製程順序進行，從精礦乾燥機、煅燒爐以及前段回路（lead circuit）開始。這將是我們重新投運（recommissioning）工作的非常重要的第一步。至於既有資產的重新投運，我們在第二季也在多個面向取得重要進展：我們完成了 NdPr 分離設施的升級，完成了部分雜質去除與除鐵流程的工作，持續升級製程自動化的硬體與軟體，完成了部分鹵水回收與處理設施的工作，並重新投運升級後的鹵水濃縮設施；這是成功運轉鹽結晶器並維持全場水平衡的關鍵前置條件。

We also continued front-end engineering of our heavy rare separation and finishing circuits and began key procurement activities. We also advanced our integrated magnet recycling plans to provide the most comprehensive and efficient recycling capability for various end of life and process waste across our 2 sites. Many other optimization projects are underway, and we are excited that they are also on pace to be complete to support Stage 2 commissioning and operations.

我們也持續進行重稀土分離與精製回路的前端工程設計，並啟動關鍵採購活動。我們也推進整合式磁材回收計畫，以在兩個據點為各類報廢產品與製程廢棄物提供最全面且最高效率的回收能力。另有許多其他最佳化專案正在進行中，我們很高興它們也按進度將完成，以支援第二階段的試車與營運。

Moving to Stage 3 on Slide 11. It's early but we are off to a great start. If you will recall last quarter, we showed a picture with the initial grading of the site underway. You can see in this updated picture that concrete slab-on-grade is poured, and we started going vertical with the walls. So most of the foundations are completed as our underground utilities.

接著看第 11 張投影片的第三階段。雖然還在早期，但我們已取得非常好的開局。各位若還記得上季，我們展示了一張場地初步整地的照片。從這張更新的照片可以看到，地坪混凝土（slab-on-grade）已澆置完成，牆體也開始往上施工。因此，大部分基礎工程以及地下公用設施都已完成。

We have also established a supply base for all our major process equipment and have placed the orders for key long lead manufacturing equipment to support the start of alloy production. Importantly, we continue to grow a talented team with a focus on project execution and process and product engineering.

我們也已為所有主要製程設備建立供應基礎，並已下單採購支援合金生產啟動所需的關鍵長交期製造設備。重要的是，我們持續擴充一支以專案執行、製程與產品工程為重點的優秀團隊。

Moving on to Slide 12. I just wanted to briefly touch on our inaugural ESG report, which we published a week or so ago. You can find it on our website under the Sustainability heading or in the Investor section under Resources. There are some great highlights listed on the slide, although I won't go through at all. The most important things to know are: one, our mission will create a western supply of sustainably sourced raw materials that are critical to electrifying the world; two, we operate the most environmentally responsible rare earth production site in the world, a significant competitive advantage for us going forward; and three, we know that it is our people that drive our success. So we remain very focused on hiring and developing a diverse and talented workforce. We view our owner-operator culture as another key competitive advantage for us. And we continue to grow and add new talent across our Mountain Pass, Las Vegas and Fort Worth locations, adding nearly 50 people in the second quarter and bringing our total head count to roughly $450.

接著看第 12 張投影片。我想簡要提一下我們約在一週前發布的首份 ESG 報告。您可以在我們網站的「永續」標籤下找到，或在投資人專區的「資源」中找到。投影片上列出了一些很棒的重點，雖然我不會逐一說明。最重要的三點是：第一，我們的使命將建立一個可持續來源的西方原材料供應，這些原材料對世界電氣化至關重要；第二，我們營運的是全球最具環境責任的稀土生產基地，這將是我們未來的重要競爭優勢；第三，我們知道推動成功的是我們的人才。因此，我們仍非常專注於招募並培育多元且優秀的勞動力。我們將自有營運者（owner-operator）文化視為另一項關鍵競爭優勢。我們也持續在 Mountain Pass、Las Vegas 與 Fort Worth 擴編並引進新人才，第二季新增近 50 人，使總員工數達到約 450 人。

So in wrapping up, I wanted to highlight that in early July, we reached our 5-year anniversary as a company. I realized to many of you that we've only been a public company for about 20 months. But the original formation of the company by Michael and myself dates back to 2017.

最後總結一下，我想強調我們在 7 月初迎來公司成立滿 5 週年。我知道對許多人而言，我們成為上市公司大約才 20 個月。但我與 Michael 在 2017 年就已著手公司最初的成立。

Thanks to the MP team, Mountain Pass is now producing more annual REO content than it ever has in its 70-year history. And therefore, that means that the United States of America has never before produced as much rare earth content domestically. To highlight and reward the incredible efforts of the team and to show our commitment to our owner-operator culture, in July, we awarded all nonexecutive employees a restricted stock grant. So not only is the U.S. capability in our industry stronger than it has ever been, but we are continuing to build upon our culture of shared success across all members of our team. MP is already a remarkable success story over the past 5 years, but our team operates with the mindset that MP is an iconic American company just getting started on its journey. I remain incredibly optimistic about our future.

感謝 MP 團隊，Mountain Pass 現在每年的 REO 含量產出已超過其 70 年歷史上的任何時期。因此，這也意味著美利堅合眾國在國內生產的稀土含量，前所未有地達到最高水準。為了表彰並回饋團隊令人難以置信的努力，也為了展現我們對自有營運者文化的承諾，我們在 7 月向所有非主管級員工授予限制型股票。因此，不僅美國在本產業的能力比以往任何時候都更強，我們也持續在團隊所有成員之間建立共享成功的文化。過去 5 年，MP 已是一個非凡的成功故事，但我們的團隊以「MP 是一家標誌性的美國公司，旅程才剛開始」的心態在運作。我對我們的未來仍然極度樂觀。

With that, let's open it up for questions.

接下來，我們開放提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is with Matt Summerville from D.A. Davidson.

（接線員指示）我們的第一個問題來自 D.A. Davidson 的 Matt Summerville。

First, Jim, on the last call, you gave a little bit of an overview on what you thought was driving NdPr pricing at that point kind of heading south off of the late February, early March high. And I was wondering if you could kind of do a similar market assessment on what you think is driving more recent pricing actions of [120] a kilogram. And then I have a follow-up.

首先，Jim，在上次電話會議中，你稍微概述了你認為當時是什麼因素在推動 NdPr 價格，從 2 月底、3 月初的高點開始走弱。我想請你就近期每公斤 [120] 的價格走勢，做一個類似的市場評估，談談你認為是什麼在驅動最近的價格變動。然後我還有一個追問。

Sure. So Matt, well, as I said last time, and you'll always hear me say every time, commodities are commodities and no one really knows and they're driven by supply and demand, and it's hard to predict. What I would say is this is ultimately a market. And in the last few months, the global economy has really obviously deteriorated. Post Russia, there's been a lot of challenges. We've seen across the commodity landscape, prices have come down. And so certainly, any commodity is not going to be immune from that.

當然。Matt，正如我上次說的，而且你每次都會聽到我這麼說：大宗商品就是大宗商品，沒有人真的知道，價格由供需驅動，而且很難預測。我想說的是，這終究是一個市場。而在過去幾個月，全球經濟顯然已經惡化。俄羅斯事件之後，出現了許多挑戰。我們看到在整個大宗商品領域，價格都下滑了。因此，任何大宗商品當然都不可能對此免疫。

As we think about our commodity, which -- a large growth case is, of course, going into the auto supply chain. Actually, auto sales in the U.S. are really good sort of relative to where they were prior to the price decline beginning because there have been such shortages and backlogs. And frankly, employment is still great. So even as we -- it feels like -- and it is, we -- my belief is we're in a recession, it started throughout -- beginning of the year on a real basis. Employment is still strong. So that means auto sales continue strong. And so we don't see that here.

當我們思考我們的商品時——其中一個很大的成長案例當然是進入汽車供應鏈。其實，美國的汽車銷售相較於價格下跌開始之前的水準真的很好，因為一直存在嚴重的短缺與積壓訂單。而且坦白說，就業仍然非常強勁。所以即使我們——感覺上——而且確實如此，我的看法是我們正處於衰退之中，它在實質層面從——年初就開始了。就業仍然強勁。這意味著汽車銷售仍然維持強勢。因此我們在這裡沒有看到那種情況。

I would say on the Chinese side, it's always hard to read the tea leaves in what's going on over there. But certainly, with all of the lockdowns, you've seen sort of a setback in auto sales there. And so there's nothing that we see with respect to our market, in particular other than sort of that kind of the dramatic geopolitical landscape that is impacting everything. What I would say and just stepping back, Matt, to give further context because I think it's important to view it all from the landscape of at least, yes, for my macro view.

我會說在中國那邊，總是很難從那裡正在發生的事情中讀出端倪。但可以確定的是，隨著各種封控，你已經看到那邊的汽車銷售出現某種程度的回落。因此，就我們的市場而言，我們沒有看到特別的情況，除了那種正在影響一切的劇烈地緣政治局勢。我想說的是，退一步來看，Matt，為了提供更多背景，因為我認為從至少——是的，就我的宏觀觀點而言——的整體環境來看待這一切很重要。

If you recall, early last year when -- in early '21 when people were talking about transitory inflation, I think I was one of the early people to come out and say, I don't think it's so transitory. The better analogy is thinking about the reverberating supply chain shocks of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo and what that did to the economy. And then, I think as the year unfolded, people realized it wasn't transitory. I still think that, that analogy holds. I think that we've hit this period where we've now -- the economy has now taken a hit because of all the factors that we don't need to rehash.

如果你還記得，去年年初——在 21 年初，當人們在談論暫時性通膨時，我想我是較早出來說我不認為它那麼暫時的人之一。更好的類比是去想 1973 年阿拉伯石油禁運所造成的供應鏈衝擊回響，以及它對經濟造成的影響。然後，我認為隨著一年展開，人們意識到它並非暫時性的。我仍然認為那個類比成立。我認為我們已經進入這樣一個時期：我們現在——經濟已經因為所有那些我們不需要再重述的因素而受到打擊。

And so commodities prices have pulled in, and I think there's a bit of sort of celebration out there, if you will. But if you go back to that '70s analogy, and again, there's no such thing as a perfect analogy, but there was a period of a year or so in the mid-70s where things pulled back, growth slowed, but then actually because the supply challenges weren't solved, they accelerated higher even again into the late '70s. And I actually think we're in sort of that period where we've had this pullback. So all commodities have kind of pulled in.

因此大宗商品價格已經回落，我想外界有一點——如果你願意這麼說——的慶祝。但如果回到那個 70 年代的類比，而且再次強調，沒有任何類比是完美的，但在 70 年代中期曾有大約一年左右的期間，情勢回落、成長放緩，但實際上因為供應面的挑戰沒有被解決，價格在 70 年代後期又再度加速上升。我其實認為我們正處於那樣的階段：我們經歷了這次回落。所以所有大宗商品都某種程度上回落了。

But whether the next 3, 6, 9 months are fine or challenging or very challenging. As we look out a year or 2 or beyond when eventually markets pick back up, particularly with all the investment going into electrification, I think we're going to see a reacceleration pretty much irrespective of what the Fed does, barring some Volcker like true dramatic spike. But again, these are supply issues. And so you can't deal with supply issues just by short-term cutting demand because, ultimately, economies need to grow on a real basis over a long period of time.

但接下來 3、6、9 個月是順利、具挑戰性或非常具挑戰性，尚未可知。當我們把視野拉到一年或兩年甚至更久，當市場最終回升時，特別是在大量投資投入電氣化的情況下，我認為我們將看到再度加速，幾乎不受聯準會作為影響，除非出現像 Volcker 那樣真正劇烈的飆升。但再說一次，這些是供給問題。因此你無法僅靠短期壓抑需求來處理供給問題，因為最終經濟需要在很長一段時間內以實質基礎成長。

Anyway, give your apology -- and if I didn't -- just to end that, I think it goes without saying that, of course, we sell everything we can make we certainly don't, in any way, see impact. So we remain very bullish that everything that we've said before about the rise of electrification and the demand for NdPr, we're very bullish. So go ahead. What's the follow-up?

總之，請接受你的道歉——如果我沒有——最後補充一下，我想不言而喻，當然我們能賣多少就賣多少，我們確實完全沒有看到任何影響。所以我們仍然非常看多：我們之前所說的關於電氣化崛起以及對 NdPr 的需求，我們非常看多。所以請繼續。後續問題是什麼？

Got it. Yes, I was just going to ask if you could give a little more help on how the unabsorbed production costs for Stage 2 will ramp in the back half? Because it sounds like you have somewhat of a milestone perhaps coming in the fourth quarter when you start to test some of the equipment, some of the facilities. So relative to that $350 million, how much chunkier if you will, will we get from there in the back half of the year.

了解。是的，我只是想請你再多說明一下，第二階段（Stage 2）的未吸收生產成本在下半年會如何爬升？因為聽起來你們在第四季可能會有某個里程碑，開始測試一些設備、一些設施。所以相對於那 3.5 億美元，下半年從那之後會變得多「厚重」（chunkier），如果你願意這麼說的話？

Yes. Matt, it's Ryan. I can take that. I'd say if you look at the $350 million sequentially versus the $290 million, if you do the math on the product that was sold through versus those numbers, the total dollars didn't actually change that meaningfully. The ramp on a per unit basis is to your point, you're getting the descaling from a lower sequential shipment. I'd say if you look at those dollars and how those may change over the course of the year, as we talked about in the prepared remarks, about half of that impact is the inefficiency of the combined heat and power plant that will certainly continue.

是的。Matt，我是 Ryan。我可以回答。我會說，如果你看 3.5 億美元相較於 2.9 億美元的連續變化，如果你用已售出產品的數量去對照那些數字做計算，總金額其實沒有那麼顯著地改變。以單位基礎來看，正如你所說，你看到的是因為連續出貨量較低而產生的去攤薄（descaling）。我會說，如果你看這些金額以及它們在今年過程中可能如何變化，正如我們在事先準備的講稿中提到的，大約一半的影響來自熱電共生（combined heat and power）電廠的低效率，這部分肯定會持續。

And then the other half is primarily related to labor and other associated costs that I do think will start to scale a little bit in Q3 and a bit more in (technical difficulty). We don't have specific guidance on that, but I think it is fair to assume, obviously, taking into account the ups and downs of sequential production if you just look at it on a dollars basis. Certainly in Q4 as we start to meaningfully ramp hiring, you will start to see a bit more of an impact. I'd also flag though that based on the type of costs we're incurring, those costs can find themselves in capitalized project costs as well. So it's not like all of our hiring is going to make its way into this. But I would be prepared for a little bit of a step up in the back half of the year.

另一半主要與人力以及其他相關成本有關，我確實認為這些成本會在第三季開始稍微擴大一些，並在（技術問題）中再多一些。我們對此沒有具體指引，但我認為可以合理假設，當然要把連續生產的起伏納入考量，如果你只用金額角度來看。尤其在第四季，當我們開始有意義地加速招募時，你會開始看到影響再多一些。不過我也要提醒，基於我們正在發生的成本類型，這些成本也可能被歸入資本化的專案成本。因此並不是我們所有的招募都會反映到這裡。但你應該為下半年出現一點上台階式的增加做好準備。

And then the one other thing I'd flag overall on this point certainly is, we've made very clear as we ramp that this will become a transition year as we move into producing our Stage 2 products. And so you can expect, certainly, to your point, I think, the impacts of that on the financial statements as we begin to ramp. Obviously, we're extremely excited about the progress we've been making. But the reality is as we transition, you will start to see that.

另外還有一點我想整體補充：我們已經非常清楚地說過，隨著我們爬坡，當我們轉向生產第二階段產品時，這將成為一個過渡年度。因此你可以預期——也呼應你的觀點——當我們開始爬坡時，這些影響會反映在財務報表上。顯然，我們對目前取得的進展感到非常興奮。但現實是，隨著我們轉換，你將開始看到那樣的情況。

Our next question is with Robin Fiedler from BMO. Robin.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 的 Robin Fiedler。Robin。

Nice quarter. I have a question on the Inflation Reform Act. In the proposed build, there is section on potential production tax credit about 10% for critical material processing, specifically in your case. But I'm curious to know if you have any insight into that and how that might look like for you guys specifically? And if it is passed, would this be applied to each stage of your operations or maybe just Stage 2, for example? Any kind of unique insight you might have into that would be -- would be great.

這一季表現不錯。我有一個關於《通膨改革法案》（Inflation Reform Act） 的問題。在提案版本中，有一個關於關鍵材料加工的潛在生產稅額抵免（production tax credit）約 10% 的章節，特別是就你們的情況而言。但我想知道你是否對此有任何見解，以及這對你們具體而言可能會是什麼樣子？另外，如果它通過，這會適用於你們營運的每一個階段，還是例如只適用於第二階段？你若有任何獨到的看法會——會很棒。

Sure. So Robin, well, big picture, just to lay the background. The bill is -- of course, it's not passed. And I've heard there was a headline that they're going to a vote Saturday, who knows. But from what we see from the bill, obviously, it goes without saying that it's -- it will accelerate electrification, EVs, wind turbines, electric (inaudible) pumps, it's really fantastic for our supply chain. And of course, it's just sort of a more positive fuel to the fire of all the things that we've been talking about and the importance of everything that we've been doing. This has obviously been the mission that we've been on.

當然。Robin，先從大方向說明背景。這項法案——當然——尚未通過。我也看到有新聞標題說他們將在週六進行表決，誰知道呢。但就我們從法案內容所看到的，顯然不言而喻，它——將加速電氣化、電動車、風力渦輪機、電動（聽不清）幫浦，這對我們的供應鏈非常棒。當然，這也只是為我們一直在談的所有事情，以及我們一直在做的事情的重要性，再添一把更正面的柴火。這顯然一直是我們所投入的使命。

So when we think about all of the supply chain challenges that we've had and now we've said repeatedly, government and industry wants us to get more stuff onshore. This -- both this bill and the CHIPS Act are all great and positive steps forward. So really great. I mean I think it's fair to say that this -- the bill kind of came out there, and it was somewhat of a surprise to everyone because it was just people weren't expecting.

因此，當我們想到我們面臨的所有供應鏈挑戰，而我們也一再表示，政府與產業都希望我們把更多東西移回國內（onshore）。這——無論是這項法案還是《CHIPS 法案》都是很棒且正向的前進步伐。所以真的很好。我是說，我認為可以公平地說，這——這項法案就這樣出現，對所有人來說都有點意外，因為人們就是沒有預期到。

And if we look at the content as what's in the bill today, it's fantastic for us. And we do -- yes, to answer your question directly on the production tax credit, we believe that our operation will be eligible for that. It's certainly -- we have to read the fine print and what's passed and make sure our tax team is working closely on which aspects of the stages of our operation specifically apply, if you will. And -- but I would -- I think it's fair to say from initial reading, it should be very good for us. And so we're happy to see it. And it will be -- it is something that will be a material benefit to us as we see it. As written, of course, anything can happen and certainly, it hasn't passed. But it's pretty great.

如果我們看今天法案中的內容，對我們非常有利。而且我們確實——是的，直接回答你的問題，關於生產稅額抵免，我們相信我們的營運將符合資格。當然——我們必須仔細閱讀細則，以及最終通過的版本，並確保我們的稅務團隊密切合作，釐清我們營運各階段中哪些面向具體適用，若你願意這麼說的話。然後——但我會——我認為從初步閱讀來看，這應該會對我們非常有利。所以我們很高興看到它。而且——就我們所見，這將——會為我們帶來實質性的利益。當然，按目前文字內容，任何事都可能發生，而且它確實尚未通過。但這相當不錯。

Understood. And maybe just a quick follow-up on that and somewhat related. Yes, go ahead. Go ahead, finish your thought. Go ahead.

了解。那也許就此再快速追問一下，算是有點相關。是的，請繼續。請繼續，把你的想法說完。請繼續。

No, I was just going to say, for those who don't know, maybe know, but it's a tax credit has written. So it's 10%, whatever that cost means is, it would mean 10%, and that's actually a credit you would get. So it could be -- this could be material dollars to us, which is great. Sorry, go ahead.

不，我只是想說，對於那些不知道的人——也許知道——這是一項稅額抵免（tax credit），法案裡有寫。所以是 10%，不管那個成本的定義是什麼，意思就是 10%，而且那其實是你會拿到的抵免額。所以這對我們來說可能是——可能是相當可觀的金額，這很棒。抱歉，你請繼續。

And I just say this has passed, and obviously, I agree with you, certainly helped to accelerate all these end markets that you would benefit from. And earlier this week, we saw Lynas decide to upsize their capacity plans ahead of even what they were originally planning. Just curious, with everything going on, like have you guys thought about potentially changing plans on the upstream side or is it still likely more of a focus for you maybe only after Stage 2 and 3 are completed?

我想說這已經通過了，而且很明顯我同意你，這肯定有助於加速你們會受益的所有這些終端市場。本週稍早，我們看到 Lynas 決定把他們的產能計畫上調，甚至超過他們原先規劃的水準。只是好奇，在目前這些情況下，你們是否有考慮在上游端可能調整計畫？還是你們仍然比較可能把重點放在等第 2 與第 3 階段完成之後？

Well, as you know, I've always said that my belief is that the quickest, lowest risk, highest return additional Western supply would be expansion at Mountain Pass. And I feel very strongly about that. I would tell you that our near-term priority is getting Stages 2 and 3 executed, right? We're obviously just beginning -- about to begin commissioning. And so we want to make sure that all hands are on deck to make sure that we get what we have in the coming months done right. So that's the primary focus.

嗯，如你所知，我一直都說我相信最快、風險最低、報酬最高的額外西方供應來源，會是擴建 Mountain Pass。我對此非常有信心。我會告訴你，我們短期的優先事項是把第 2 與第 3 階段執行到位，對吧？我們顯然才剛開始——即將開始試車（commissioning）。所以我們要確保所有人都全力以赴，確保接下來幾個月要做的事情都做對。所以這是主要焦點。

But over time, it's certainly adding additional capacity is a very high return endeavor for us. I would -- I can't really address their specific announcement. It was hard to see in that announcement. Obviously, you'd have to ask them about their own capacity expansion, how much of that was really kind of catch-up CapEx or other cost overruns versus sort of prior numbers. And again, that's more of them. But I can tell you that the takeaway I had from that release from what we see and I think that it's just a really, really powerful thing to reiterate is that supply in this space requires scale.

但從長期來看，增加額外產能對我們而言確實是高報酬的工作。我——我無法真正評論他們那個特定公告。從那個公告裡其實不太容易看出來。很明顯，你得去問他們自己的產能擴張，有多少其實是某種追趕式資本支出（catch-up CapEx）或其他成本超支，而不是相對於先前數字的純增量。再說一次，那是他們的事。但我可以告訴你，我從那份新聞稿得到的重點，結合我們所看到的情況，我認為值得一再強調的一點是：這個領域的供應需要規模（scale）。

And particularly when you have a growth market like this, there'll be a lot of what I'll call juniors out there doing capital formation, there'll be a lot of people raising capital, as they should. I mean, it's -- we need more supply. And so the reality is, though, is this is -- look at their numbers, look at our numbers, the amount of capital invested. This is a scale business that requires a lot of investment and time and you don't -- you take years. And so I think that it just is another data point to remind everyone that we're really well positioned and to sort of take advantage of this growth cycle. And to the extent that there are parties out there that learn the hard way what I'm saying, I think that we'll be in a good position to, frankly, help those parties and get that supply online.

而且特別是在這樣的成長型市場裡，會有很多我所謂的初階公司（juniors）在做資本募集，會有很多人募資——他們也確實應該這麼做。我的意思是——我們需要更多供應。但現實是，這是一個——看看他們的數字、看看我們的數字、看看投入的資本規模。這是一門需要大量投資與時間的規模型生意，你不是——你需要好幾年。所以我認為這只是另一個數據點，提醒大家我們的定位非常好，能夠把握這一波成長循環。而且如果外面有一些參與者用比較艱難的方式學到我在說的這些，我想我們會處在一個很好的位置，坦白說，去協助那些參與者，讓那些供應上線。

And then lastly, I would say, and I think that this is an important thing to highlight with respect to their announcement is I did notice that one thing, and I only would reference it because I think it's an important thing to mention about MP is that with respect to their announcement, one of the things that was a big component of it was bringing their environmental standards up to speed, so to speak, with something closer to the dry tailings process we have at Mount Pass. And so we have repeatedly to discuss how much investment and how important that was that we are the most sustainable producer in the space.

最後我想說，而且我認為就他們的公告而言，這是一個值得強調的重點：我確實注意到一件事——我之所以提到它，只是因為我覺得這對 MP 很重要——就是在他們的公告中，有一個很大的組成部分是把他們的環境標準提升到位，某種程度上更接近我們在 Mountain Pass 採用的乾式尾礦（dry tailings）流程。因此我們一再討論過，為了成為這個領域最具永續性的生產商，那需要多少投資，以及那有多重要。

And so frankly, it was great to see them make some of those -- announced and hopefully make some of those investments too because we all want to make sure that production in this space is environmentally friendly as it can be. But I do also think it again highlights how far ahead we are and we're proud of that.

所以坦白說，很高興看到他們也宣布——並希望他們也能落實——其中一些投資，因為我們都希望這個領域的生產能盡可能環境友善。但我也認為，這再次凸顯我們領先了多少，我們也為此感到自豪。

Our next question is from George Gianarikas from Canaccord Genuity.

下一個問題來自 Canaccord Genuity 的 George Gianarikas。

Great results. So I'd just like to ask a little bit about several announcements that we've seen from some of the major traditional auto OEMs regarding battery and EV materials. I'm sure you've seen them from recently from Ford and GM. Obviously, GM is already a partner, but I'd like to just kind of pick your brain on what's happening with you guys and what you kind of see over the next 12, 24 months, call it, in terms of additional announcements, additional deals just because the scurry to secure material seems to be at an apex. And I'm wondering what that means for MP.

成果很棒。我想稍微問一下，我們最近看到一些主要傳統汽車 OEM 關於電池與電動車（EV）材料的多項公告。我相信你們也看到了，最近 Ford 和 GM 都有。很明顯 GM 已經是合作夥伴，但我想請你分享一下你們這邊的情況，以及你們對未來 12、24 個月（大概這樣）在更多公告、更多交易方面的看法，因為搶著確保材料供應看起來已經到達高峰。我想知道這對 MP 代表什麼。

Yes. Well, let me give you the takeaway punch line, and then I'll give you some detail, but I think the best way to describe it, we are not demand constrained. We are very supply constrained in this space. There is no shortage of -- there's no shortage of OEMs that recognize that all aspects of the critical materials -- supply chain, obviously, with the announcements you just mentioned are important. But in particular, our space, given the unique attributes, frankly, of our industry as well as the unique attributes of Mount Pass and some of the benefits that we can provide with respect to certainty and rule of law jurisdiction and environmental standards.

是的。嗯，我先給你一句重點結論，然後再補充一些細節：我們不是需求受限。在這個領域，我們非常受限於供給。——不缺——不缺認知到關鍵材料供應鏈各個環節重要性的 OEM；你剛提到的那些公告也說明了這點。但特別是在我們這個領域，考量到我們產業本身的獨特特性，以及 Mountain Pass 的獨特優勢，還有我們在供應確定性、法治管轄區（rule of law jurisdiction）與環境標準方面能提供的一些好處。

And so -- and I would also add -- it's not just auto, right? It's wind, it's other -- there are a number of verticals for electrification that this will be relevant for. And as auto scrambles for materials, that, of course, means other areas need to scramble as well. And so that's a long-winded way of saying the conversations continue and have increased. I wouldn't really address any specific conversations other than to say that we really believe that we have something very valuable and strategic and our -- we also want to make sure that the deals -- remember that these deals take whether -- I'm not going to address a specific deal, but these deals that we might do, if you will, or have done are long-term deals. And it's really important that we get the economics right to maximize return for shareholders. And it's really important that we also, as an organization, do deals and take on the kind of partners that we think are going to be great long-term partners for our business.

所以——我也要補充——不只是汽車，對吧？還有風電，還有其他——電氣化相關的垂直領域都會與此相關。當汽車業在搶材料時，當然也意味著其他領域也得跟著搶。所以用比較冗長的方式來說就是：對話仍在持續，而且已經增加。我不會評論任何特定對話，只能說我們真的相信我們擁有非常有價值且具戰略性的資產；同時我們也要確保交易——請記得，這些交易不管——我不會談某一筆特定交易——但我們可能做的、或已經做的這些交易，都是長期交易。非常重要的是，我們要把經濟條件談對，以最大化股東報酬。同樣也很重要的是，作為一個組織，我們要做交易、選擇合作夥伴時，要挑我們認為能成為我們業務長期優秀夥伴的對象。

And so we are spending -- I mean that's -- a significant chunk of management time thinking through all the iterations of the deals and JV type opportunities that we have. And I think it's fair to say if you this is only really accelerating because we know that where penetration is in electrification, and we know where it's going. And of course, if the Inflation Reduction Act passes, it will accelerate even again. And so we're in a great spot, and we just need to execute.

因此我們投入——我的意思是——管理層相當大一部分時間都在思考各種交易結構的不同版本，以及我們擁有的合資（JV）類型機會。我想可以說，如果你——這只會持續加速，因為我們知道電氣化目前的滲透率在哪裡，也知道它將走向哪裡。當然，如果《通膨削減法案》（Inflation Reduction Act）通過，還會再加速一次。所以我們的位置很好，我們只需要把執行做好。

May I ask a follow-up to that. Just when you think about future deal structuring, is there a potential for demand just for your rare earth material? Or do you plan on structuring everything going forward from a magnet perspective? Or does it not matter whatever the most economic return is?

我可以就此再追問一下嗎？當你們思考未來交易的結構時，是否可能會有需求只是針對你們的稀土材料？還是你們計畫未來所有結構都從磁材（magnet）的角度來安排？或者其實無所謂，只要以最高的經濟報酬為準？

Well, the answer is there's certainly demand for both. You may have heard me historically say that I think long term, our magnetics business could -- will be larger than the underlying current expected output of our ore body today, right? Because we have the ability to take advantage of the opportunity to really grow in magnetics. We have the ability to grow horizontally and take other feed or who knows what unfolds in the future as far as more material.

嗯，答案是兩者當然都有需求。你可能聽我過去說過，我認為長期來看，我們的磁材業務可能——也將會——大於我們目前礦體在今天所預期的基礎產出，對吧？因為我們有能力把握磁材領域真正成長的機會。我們有能力做橫向擴張，採用其他原料（feed），或未來隨著更多材料的出現，誰知道會怎麼發展。

But to answer your question, we certainly have opportunities on both 2 and 3. And I think you should expect us to be economic, and we're an owner operator culture, as you know, I'm the largest shareholder. And so we're thinking about this from a -- what is the most thoughtful way we can maximize long-term enterprise value for MP as well as make sure that we are doing things, again, just going back to what I said before, it's just so important is making sure that we can take on things that we can execute. And so we're always thinking about risk and reward and those trade-offs. And we won't be in a rush.

但回答你的問題，我們在第 2 與第 3 階段兩邊當然都有機會。我認為你應該期待我們以經濟性為導向；而且如你所知，我們是一種業主營運（owner-operator）的文化，我是最大股東。所以我們在思考的是——我們如何以最審慎的方式，最大化 MP 的長期企業價值，同時也確保我們做的事情——再回到我之前說的——非常重要的一點是，確保我們承接的是我們能夠執行的事情。因此我們一直在思考風險與報酬，以及那些取捨。我們不會急。

We are -- I think when you look at these deals, you see that given what we have, we're years and billions ahead. So we just need to make sure that we frankly don't mess up that position. And the way we don't mess up that position is by being thoughtful about what the right long-term deals are and then making sure that we're a good partner to our partners.

我們——我認為當你看這些交易時，你會看到以我們目前擁有的條件來說，我們在時間與資金上都領先好幾年、好幾十億。所以我們只需要確保我們坦白說不要把這個位置搞砸。而我們不把這個位置搞砸的方法，就是審慎思考什麼才是正確的長期交易，然後確保我們能成為合作夥伴的好夥伴。

Our next question is with Ben Kallo from Baird.

我們的下一個問題由 Baird 的 Ben Kallo 提出。

Just on pricing differential between what you think domestic production will be versus going through China if there is one. That's my first question.

就你認為國內生產相較於若經由中國（若存在差異）的定價差異而言。這是我的第一個問題。

Ryan, do you want to take that?

Ryan，你想回答這個問題嗎？

I assume, Ben, you're talking about magnet.

Ben，我猜你是在談磁鐵。

Anywhere along the process for Stage 2 or Stage 3 is if you'd expect to get a premium.

在第二階段或第三階段的流程中任何一段，你是否預期能取得溢價？

Well, what -- obviously, with oxide, we sell a commodity that is dominated by the Chinese supply chain and therefore, has been and will be for some period of time going forward priced as a China domestic product. I do think, though, what you're seeing and back to Jim's comments a moment ago about the required scale to really grow supply at China as you're seeing the scaled players outside of China gain scale, including us. And so over time, will that manifest in a different type of pricing scheme for our products is absolutely possible. It's something that we talk about and think about.

嗯，這個——顯然，就氧化物而言，我們賣的是一種大宗商品，且由中國供應鏈主導，因此過去一直、未來一段時間也仍將以中國國內產品的方式來定價。不過，我確實認為，你所看到的情況——回到 Jim 剛才提到的、在中國真正擴大供給所需的規模——隨著中國以外的規模化業者（包括我們）正在擴大規模，長期來看，這是否會反映在我們產品不同類型的定價機制上，絕對是有可能的。這也是我們一直在討論並思考的事情。

But at the end of the day, right now, for the short term, this is priced on a China domestic basis. I think when you get to looking at magnets, it is not a commodity, and it's a lot harder to make any specific comment about pricing other than to say we've been very clear from the beginning about what our strategy is in the magnetic space, which is to build our capability as quickly as we can, get to scale, drive significant scale and come down the cost curve as quickly as we can. That's exactly what we've done at Mountain Pass on the oxide side, and that's exactly what we hope to do on the magnetic side. The reality is that day 1, our goal is not to try to come out and beat China on pricing. That's not realistic with a 1,000 metric ton facility, but that's also not necessarily what customers are looking for day 1.

但歸根結底，就目前短期而言，仍是以中國國內基準來定價。我認為當你看磁鐵時，它不是大宗商品，因此很難對定價做出任何具體評論；只能說，我們從一開始就非常清楚地說明了我們在磁材領域的策略：盡快建立能力、達到規模、推動顯著的規模化，並盡快沿著成本曲線下降。這正是我們在 Mountain Pass 的氧化物端所做的事，也正是我們希望在磁材端做到的事。現實是，在第 1 天，我們的目標不是一開始就以價格擊敗中國。以一座年產 1,000 公噸的工廠來說那並不現實，但這也未必是客戶在第 1 天所追求的。

And so I think we have a great opportunity to partner with the right partners, as Jim just talked about and get to scale as quickly as possible to come down that cost curve. There are a lot of things that we are able to do as somewhat of a greenfield in the magnetic space as it relates to automation and other process technologies.

因此我認為，我們有很好的機會與合適的夥伴合作——如 Jim 剛才所說——盡快達到規模，從而沿著成本曲線下降。作為磁材領域某種程度上的綠地（greenfield）新進者，我們在自動化及其他製程技術方面有很多可以做的事情。

And importantly, one thing that's underappreciated about our competitive advantage in the magnetic space is part of the reason the market is so liquid on the magnet side in China is they have the ability to deal with the waste that comes off of the process steps of magnet making due to their separation capabilities in country. We will not just have it in country, we'll have it integrated into the same company. And so I think that the competitive advantage we get by having Mountain Pass and our Stage 3 facility integrated, should not be underestimated and it's something that we intend to continue to leverage over time as we grow scale. So I know that hopefully, that addresses your question overall, Ben.

而且很重要的是，外界常低估我們在磁材領域的競爭優勢之一：中國磁鐵端市場之所以流動性很高，部分原因在於他們能在國內憑藉分離能力處理磁鐵製造各製程步驟產生的廢料。我們不僅會在國內具備這種能力，還會把它整合在同一家公司之內。因此，我認為 Mountain Pass 與我們第三階段設施整合所帶來的競爭優勢不容小覷；這也是我們打算在規模擴張的過程中持續加以運用的。希望這整體上回答了你的問題，Ben。

That's great. And I know, Jim, you said you're focused on Stage 2 and 3 before anything else. But are you doing work now on expansion at Mountain Pass?

很好。我知道 Jim 你說在其他事情之前會先專注於第二與第三階段。但你們現在有在做 Mountain Pass 的擴產工作嗎？

Well, sure. You should imagine that we are -- these are very long lead items, and you should imagine that we're thinking about long-term growth. For example, when -- if you look at our business, about a year ago or a little over a year ago after we went public, having a magnetics business was something we said to the market was a 2025-plus vision, if you will, and -- but we were working on it. And then I think it's fair to say that you fast forward a year ahead and you see -- I mean even we're really -- I'm really proud of the team. I mean, what we've accomplished in the last year and change on the magnetics and moving that forward is just extraordinary. It's because we just -- we continue to grow at just outstanding human capital on that front. And obviously, we have tilt walls going up and a long-term deal with GM and a business that's really taking shape. And it's awesome and exciting to see. And I mean that's a long-winded way of saying that it's sort of hard to discuss 2 years ago kind of what that was.

當然。你可以想像，我們——這些都是交期很長的項目，你也可以想像我們正在思考長期成長。舉例來說，如果你看我們的業務，大約一年前或一年多前我們上市後，磁材業務是我們對市場所說的 2025 年以後的願景（如果你願意這麼說），但我們當時就已在做相關工作。我想可以公平地說，往後快轉一年，你會看到——我的意思是，我真的為團隊感到非常自豪。我們在過去一年多在磁材方面所完成並推進的成果非常卓越。這是因為我們持續在那一端累積非常出色的人才資本。顯然，我們已經開始立起預鑄牆（tilt walls），也與 GM 簽了長期合約，整個業務正在成形。看到這些真的很棒也很令人興奮。我的意思是，這一大段話其實是在說：要去談兩年前那時候的狀況其實有點難。

But if you fast forward 2 years, look at what we have today. And so we are looking at all sorts of ways to grow the business in earlier stages, mid-phases later stages. And I think we'll be able to do that for years to come. And so you should assume that we're thinking about all the things we can and just -- but again, we have to take it step by step and do the things. I mean you said we have to execute in the coming months on getting Stage 2 going. So we'll take this one step at a time.

但如果你往後快轉兩年，看看我們今天所擁有的。因此，我們正在以各種方式在早期階段、中期階段、後期階段來擴大業務。我認為我們未來多年都能做到這一點。所以你應該假設我們正在思考所有我們能做的事情——只是再次強調，我們必須一步一步來把事情做好。你說得對，我們必須在接下來幾個月把第二階段啟動並執行到位。所以我們會一步一步來。

Our next question is with Corinne Blanchard from Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題由德意志銀行的 Corinne Blanchard 提出。

Most of my question have been answered, but I just add maybe 2. The first one on pricing. Spot pulp price in China may be interested to give your view about the way you think it would continue over the next 6 to 12 months. And then the second question, can you just remind me what are the next big stage for the Stage 3 for the textile facility?

我的大多數問題都已經被回答了，但我再補充可能兩個。第一個是關於定價。中國的現貨紙漿價格——我想請你談談你認為未來 6 到 12 個月會如何走勢。第二個問題，你能否提醒我第三階段紡織設施的下一個重要里程碑是什麼？

I'm sorry, what was the last part? You said the next big...

抱歉，最後一部分是什麼？你說下一個重大……

The next stage for the textile facility, the Stage 3 extension.

紡織設施的下一個階段，也就是第三階段的擴建。

The next stage. Okay. Well, let me do the first part and then I'll... Yes, next sure. So the -- so on the first part, I covered some of the pricing of NdPr earlier. But actually, one tiny thing that I just realized I didn't cover that I think is actually relevant is this is a seasonally weak period, the kind of some of the summer months in NdPr. So for what it's worth, this is that. But again, I would just remind you that it is a market, right? And we've seen all global commodities pull back and I would just reiterate my comments about we never -- whenever I'm asked a question on pricing, I honestly, I have no clue in the very short term and then in the medium and long term supply and demand are going to be the drivers. And from everything that we see. And then, of course, as we covered earlier on the Inflation Reduction Act or all the things that -- or some of the OEM announcements and prepayments for commodities, from everything we see in the supply chain, whether it's on the business side or on the government side, people are trying to accelerate this transition.

下一個階段。好的。那我先回答第一部分，然後我會……好的，當然。第一部分——關於 NdPr 的定價，我先前已經談到一些。不過有一個小點我剛剛意識到我沒有提到，但我認為其實相關：這是一個季節性偏弱的時期，也就是 NdPr 的某些夏季月份。供你參考，是這樣。但我仍要提醒你，這是一個市場，對吧？我們看到所有全球大宗商品都在回落。我也想重申我之前的評論：每當有人問我價格問題，老實說，我對非常短期的走勢完全沒有把握；而在中長期，供需將是驅動因素。就我們所看到的一切而言——當然，如我們先前談到《通膨削減法案》（Inflation Reduction Act），或是一些 OEM 的公告與對大宗商品的預付款——從供應鏈的各個面向，不論是企業端或政府端，人們都在試圖加速這個轉型。

And there's a realization that we don't have enough of this stuff, and it's -- the easy thing about commodities is you can do the math and look at the supply and the demand, and you can make estimates about growth and then look at what's out there. And so I think that the supply-demand dynamic in our space is -- there's really no other commodity I'd rather be in. I mean it's really awesome, and we're well positioned. And so -- but as far as kind of the pullback from a few months ago to now, other than sort of the market and obviously, China was shut down for a while. Your guess is as good as mine on that front for short-term movement.

而且大家也意識到我們沒有足夠的這些材料。大宗商品的「簡單之處」在於你可以做數學：看供給與需求，對成長做估算，再看看市場上有哪些供給。因此我認為，我們這個領域的供需動態——坦白說，沒有其他大宗商品是我更想身處其中的。這真的很棒，而我們也處於有利位置。所以——但至於從幾個月前到現在的回落，除了市場本身之外，顯然中國也曾停擺一段時間。就短期波動而言，你的猜測跟我的一樣。

As far as Stage 3, I think -- and feel free to follow up if I missed sort of the intent of the question. But the next step so that really the -- what we're doing right now is we're building the facility, and we're getting all ordering and designing the process flow, getting all of the equipment and building the team. And the first step will be -- obviously, we'll complete the facility. We'll get the equipment ready for alloy production. And as we've said, we expect late 2023, we will be selling alloy to GM. And then from there, we will continue to go down into magnets and we -- our dealers will be making magnets for them in 2025. So that is -- I think that was the steps -- the question on the steps for Stage 3. Did I miss that? Or if you want to follow up.

至於第三階段，我想——如果我誤解了問題的意圖，也歡迎你追問。下一步其實是——我們目前正在建造設施，並在訂購與設計製程流程，取得所有設備並建立團隊。第一步將是——顯然，我們會完成設施建置，讓設備準備好進行合金生產。正如我們所說，我們預期在 2023 年底會開始向 GM 銷售合金。接著，我們會持續往下游推進到磁鐵，而我們——我們的經銷商將在 2025 年為他們製造磁鐵。所以這就是——我想這就是第三階段步驟的問題。是我漏了什麼嗎？或你想再追問。

Next question is with Lawson Winder from Bank of America.

下一個問題由美國銀行的 Lawson Winder 提出。

I just wanted to ask about the concentrate pricing discount. So the discount that you guys get for your concentrate versus spot oxide prices, it appears to be trending pretty solidly lower. It looks like it was flat this quarter versus last quarter, but if I just look on a longer-term basis, clear trend downward. Now I suspect this reflects that the Chinese industry is much longer separation than it is concentrate, but I'd love to get your views on what you think is driving that and whether you think that could continue downward. And I mean, at some point, we get to the situation where selling concentrate into China is actually a higher value-add than selling oxide given the 25% tariff.

我只是想請教一下精礦定價折扣的問題。也就是你們的精礦相對於現貨氧化物價格所享有的折扣，看起來趨勢相當明顯地在走低。這一季看起來和上一季持平，但如果我拉長時間來看，趨勢很清楚是往下。現在我猜這反映出中國產業在分離端的供給相對精礦更為充裕，但我很想聽聽你們的看法：你們認為是什麼在驅動這個變化？以及你們是否認為這個折扣還可能繼續往下？我的意思是，到了某個點，我們會不會進入一種情況：在有 25% 關稅的前提下，把精礦賣到中國其實比賣氧化物更有附加價值。

Lawson, it's Ryan. I can take that. Would I stay on the discount as we've talked a little bit about this before in terms of trying to triangulate the implied discount. Because of the way the market works in China, obviously, there is really a discrete market that we're selling into for separation facilities versus obviously, it tracks quite closely to the NdPr price. But there are some supply and demand nuances. And the way those tend to manifest is when NdPr pricing goes up, the discount implied tends to go down, and vice versa. And so obviously, you've seen the trend over the last couple of years, NdPr pricing has gone in one direction, and so our discount has gone in the other. To the extent the flip happens, you would see the flip side of that.

Lawson，我是 Ryan。我可以回答這題。關於折扣，我會延續我們之前稍微談過的內容，也就是嘗試去三角驗證隱含折扣。由於中國市場的運作方式，很明顯我們銷售的對象是分離設施所面對的一個相對獨立的市場；但同時，它又會相當緊密地跟隨 NdPr 價格。不過其中仍有一些供需面的細微差異。而這些差異通常呈現的方式是：當 NdPr 價格上漲時，隱含折扣往往會下降，反之亦然。所以你看到過去幾年 NdPr 價格朝一個方向走，我們的折扣就朝另一個方向走。若未來出現反轉，你也會看到相對應的反向變化。

In terms of your comment on oxide versus concentrate, what I would say there is that we continue to be very bullish on the opportunity to sell oxide outside of China. We've been very clear that, that will take some time as we transition. But I think just look at the actions of the other players in the market, don't just take our word for it. Clearly, with the capacity additions that you're seeing from other players in the space, there really is a significant amount of unfilled demand for our product outside of China, and that has always been the strategy for moving downstream into Stage 2. And then, of course, building up our own internal consumption on Stage 3. So that remains the focus.

至於你提到氧化物相對精礦的問題，我想說的是，我們仍然非常看好在中國以外銷售氧化物的機會。我們一直很清楚地表示，隨著我們轉型，這需要一些時間。但我認為你可以看看市場上其他參與者的行動，不必只聽我們說。很明顯，從你看到其他同業在這個領域新增產能的情況來看，中國以外對我們產品仍有相當可觀、尚未被滿足的需求；而這一直是我們往下游推進到第二階段（Stage 2）的策略。接著當然是在第三階段（Stage 3）逐步建立我們自身的內部消耗。因此這仍然是我們的重點。

And then maybe just a follow-up on that. Are you somehow able to kind of quantify what your expectation is in terms of how much of your product you'll be selling outside of China, maybe in year 1 or 2? Maybe it's a little too early, but I know you have been developing your own internal selling capability. Just wondering if you might have a little bit more clarity on that than you did maybe a few a couple of quarters ago.

那我再追問一下。你們是否能以某種方式量化你們的預期：例如在第 1 年或第 2 年，你們會有多少產品銷往中國以外？也許現在還有點早，但我知道你們一直在建立自己的內部銷售能力。只是想了解，相較於幾季前，你們現在是否對此有更清楚的掌握。

It is certainly safe to assume that we have a bit more clarity now than we did then. But at this point, we're not giving specific forward guidance. I'd say that the trends that we've been talking about broadly continue to accelerate. And you're starting to see not just certainly the supply additions on our commodity, but supply additions on the magnetic side, in areas outside of China. And so you can expect that, obviously, that's going to come with the requisite incremental demand.

可以很確定地說，我們現在的確比當時更清楚一些。但目前我們不提供具體的前瞻指引。我會說，我們一直在廣泛討論的那些趨勢仍在加速。你開始看到的不只是我們這項大宗商品的供給新增，也包括磁材端在中國以外地區的供給新增。因此你可以預期，這顯然會伴隨所需的新增需求。

And so as Jim mentioned, we continue to try to be very methodical in how we approach these deals, certainly with our initial Fort Worth magnetics facility being sub-10% of our demand. We will, in the short term, have a significant amount of oxide to sell into the open market, and our goal is to sell as much of that outside of China as we can.

因此如 Jim 所提到的，我們在推進這些交易時仍會力求非常有條不紊。尤其我們在 Fort Worth 的初期磁材工廠，其產能不到我們需求的 10%。短期內，我們會有相當數量的氧化物需要在公開市場銷售，而我們的目標是盡可能把其中更多賣到中國以外。

Our final question shall come from Abhishek Sinha from Northland.

我們最後一個問題來自 Northland 的 Abhishek Sinha。

So most of the question have been answered. I just wanted one thing. For your downstream business, other than GM, have you seen any other noticeable interest from any other parties that you could share with us?

大部分問題都已經被回答了。我只想再問一件事。就你們的下游業務而言，除了 GM 之外，你們是否看到其他任何一方有明顯的興趣，且可以跟我們分享的？

So well, as I kind of discussed and I'll just reiterate, we -- yes, I mean the amount of customers who -- I love -- I'll just use my favorite line, which is we're not demand constrained, we're supply constrained. There's a lot of interest from a lot of parties. It's not just the OEMs, it's OEMs, wind and a number of other use cases. You should imagine we're having conversations, but we're not going to name specific parties and when we have something specific, we'll obviously share it with everyone.

好的，正如我剛才有提到的，我再重申一次：是的。我的意思是，有意願的客戶數量——我最愛用的一句話就是：我們不是需求受限，而是供給受限。有很多方都很有興趣。不只是 OEM，還包括 OEM、風電以及其他多種應用場景。你可以想像我們正在進行許多對話，但我們不會點名特定對象；等到有具體進展時，我們當然會對外分享。

Sure. And then just a follow-up for the GM contract. So I know it just was about like late '23, you'll be selling alloy and then 2025, you'll have some magnets and stuff. So is there any time line constraints that you are contractually bound by GM? Or I mean, is there anything that could put a company in terms of time line constraints?

了解。那再追問一下 GM 合約。我知道大概是在 2023 年底你們會開始銷售合金，然後到 2025 年會有一些磁鐵之類的供應。所以在時程上，你們是否有任何被 GM 以合約方式約束的期限？或者說，有沒有任何可能讓公司面臨時程限制的條款？

Well, I don't want to discuss any specific terms of any specific deal. But -- so I couldn't go into that, but I think what you're asking is are we -- can we -- how quickly can we get this going, I think, or is there some -- what are the risks, so I can kind of address it from both directions, if you will. And I would say that we are working as quickly as possible, frankly, for 2 years from -- at least 2 years, the biggest question we typically get from government and industry actors is how quickly can you get this all done, right? Is people want this supply chain restored, it's strategic economically, it's important national security wise.

我不想討論任何特定交易的具體條款，所以我無法深入那部分。但我想你問的是：我們能多快把這件事推動起來？或者是否存在某些風險——我可以從兩個方向來回應。我要說的是，坦白講，我們正以最快速度推進。至少過去兩年來，我們從政府與產業界最常被問到的問題就是：你們能多快把這一切完成？大家都希望這條供應鏈能被恢復，這在經濟上具有戰略意義，在國家安全層面也很重要。

And so the ability to have a complete end-to-end mined in the United States of America, metallize it, alloy it and turn it into a magnet having the full supply chain here is important to all of us. And so we've been working as quickly as we can. So we're trying to get that done as soon as possible.

因此，能夠在美國境內完成端到端的流程——在美國開採、進行金屬化、製成合金並最終做成磁鐵，讓完整供應鏈都在這裡——對我們所有人都很重要。所以我們一直盡可能快地推進，目標是儘快把它完成。

As far as issues where if something were to take longer? Is there some kind of issue with that. I mean I think that people are pretty well aware that there's all sorts of disruption in the world. There's supply chain challenges. And so -- but we're planning ahead for that. I mean, I think we -- if you kind of look at the progression of our Stage 2 and there were a number of items that created challenges throughout the way as I like to say, it's a knife fight.

至於如果某些事情花更久，是否會有什麼問題？我的意思是，我想大家都很清楚，世界上有各種各樣的干擾，有供應鏈方面的挑戰。所以——但我們也在為此提前規劃。我是說，如果你回頭看我們第二階段（Stage 2）的推進過程，途中有不少事項都帶來挑戰；我常說，那就像一場刀戰。

But the big thing, and I think that maybe this will sort of help remember that as we're building this out, one, we're certainly you would imagine that we're in constant contact with any major -- certainly GM, who's a publicly stated deal, but any major customer that we would ever have, we would be in constant contact with and make sure that we're fully transparent about our operation. But we do have -- the rare earth magnet supply chain is a (inaudible) item, right? So it's not just industry that wants to help us down -- the downstream industry wants to help us get online as soon as possible, but the Department of Defense does as well.

但重點是——我想這或許有助於大家理解——當我們在建置這些能力時，第一，你可以想像我們會與任何主要客戶保持持續聯繫——當然包括 GM（這是已公開宣布的合作），以及任何我們可能合作的主要客戶——並確保我們對營運狀況完全透明。第二，稀土磁鐵供應鏈是一個（聽不清）項目，對吧？所以不只是產業界、下游產業希望協助我們盡快上線，國防部也同樣如此。

And so we try to utilize that when appropriate to get things that are having trouble. And certainly, as we look around, I think the world has -- some of these issues have really eased up, and I think we've done a good job again on navigating the stuff in our Stage 2. And we have lead time on Stage 3, and that work is ongoing today. And so hopefully, we've learned some lessons from the prior process to make this process easier. But of course, there'll be -- there are always new challenges, but we have our knives sharpened and ready, and we just keep moving forward to get it done.

因此在適當的時候，我們會嘗試運用這些資源來解決遇到困難的事項。而且就我們所見，世界上有些問題確實已經緩解；我認為我們在第二階段（Stage 2）處理這些事情方面再次做得不錯。第三階段（Stage 3）也有其交期，我們目前仍在持續推進相關工作。所以希望我們已從先前的過程中學到一些教訓，讓這次更順利。當然，仍然會——總是會有新的挑戰，但我們已把刀磨利、準備好了，會持續往前推進把它完成。

That concludes today's Q&A. So I'd like to pass the conference back to the management team for any closing remarks.

以上為今天的問答環節。接下來我想把會議交回管理團隊，請他們做結語。

Yes. Well, thank you, everyone. We appreciate tonight, and we look forward to seeing you all soon. Have a great night.

是的。謝謝各位。我們很感謝今晚大家的參與，也期待很快再與各位見面。祝各位晚安。

That concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位參與。您現在可以掛斷電話線。