MP Materials Corp (MP) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending today's MP Materials Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Financial Results. My name is Tia, and I will be your moderator for today's call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to pass the conference over to your host, Martin Sheehan, Head of Investor Relations with MP Materials. You may proceed.

女士們先生們，下午好。感謝您參加今天的 MP Materials 第四季度和 2022 年全年財務業績。我叫 Tia，我將擔任今天電話會議的主持人。 （操作員說明）我現在想將會議轉交給您的主持人，MP Materials 投資者關係主管 Martin Sheehan。你可以繼續。

Thank you, operator, and good day, everyone. Welcome to the MP Materials Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Conference 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，祝大家有美好的一天。歡迎來到 MP Materials 第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。今天和我一起來自 MP Materials 的有創始人、董事長兼首席執行官 Jim Litinsky； Michael Rosenthal，創始人兼首席運營官；和首席財務官 Ryan Corbett。

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.

提醒一下，今天的討論將包含與受各種假設和警告約束的未來事件和預期相關的前瞻性陳述。可能導致公司實際結果與這些陳述存在重大差異的因素包括在今天的演示文稿、收益發布和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中。此外，我們在本演示文稿中包含了一些非 GAAP 財務措施。

Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in today's earnings release and the appendix to today's slide presentation. Any reference in our discussion today to EBITDA means adjusted EBITDA. Finally, the earnings release and slide presentation are available on our website.

與最直接可比的 GAAP 財務指標的對賬可以在今天的收益發布和今天幻燈片演示的附錄中找到。在我們今天的討論中提到的任何 EBITDA 都是指調整後的 EBITDA。最後，我們的網站上提供了收益發布和幻燈片演示。

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

有了這個，我會把電話轉給吉姆。吉姆？

Thanks, Martin. And thank you all for joining us today. Let me start with an overview of today's call. I will begin with the highlights of the year. Ryan will then review our financials and KPIs, Michael will then provide an update on our Stage 2 optimization at Mountain Pass. I'll return with a brief update on our Stage 3 magnetics business and some closing comments, and then we'll open it up for Q&A.

謝謝，馬丁。感謝大家今天加入我們。讓我先概述一下今天的電話會議。我將從今年的亮點開始。然後 Ryan 將審查我們的財務和 KPI，然後 Michael 將提供我們在 Mountain Pass 的第 2 階段優化的最新情況。我將簡要介紹我們的第 3 階段磁性業務的最新情況和一些結束評論，然後我們將開放它進行問答。

So let's get started on Slide 4. Since founding MP in 2017 and in our 2-plus years as a public company, we have been unwavering in our mission to restore the full rare of supply chain to the United States, and we made substantial progress on our mission in 2022 and so far in the early part of this year.

那麼讓我們從幻燈片 4 開始吧。自 2017 年成立 MP 以來，在我們作為上市公司的兩年多時間裡，我們一直堅定不移地致力於將供應鏈全部恢復到美國，並取得了實質性進展在我們 2022 年和今年年初的使命中。

Operationally, the team executed. We produced and shipped a record volumes again in 2022. Mining and ore delivery outperformed our updated mine plan. Maintenance teams stayed focused and relentless, which was reflected in outstanding uptimes. The Stage 1 operations and engineering teams continued to drive improvement in mineral recoveries while also increasing our feed rate into the mill. Execution at this level requires lots of unsung heroes working in tandem, taking on challenges, anticipating future ones and ultimately, thinking like owners. So to the entire MP team, we stayed safe, and we had another excellent year. Great job, and thank you.

在操作上，團隊執行了。我們在 2022 年的生產和運輸量再次創下歷史新高。採礦和礦石交付的表現優於我們更新後的礦山計劃。維護團隊保持專注和不懈努力，這反映在出色的正常運行時間上。第一階段的運營和工程團隊繼續推動礦物回收率的提高，同時也提高了我們進入工廠的進料率。這一級別的執行需要許多無名英雄協同工作、接受挑戰、預測未來並最終像所有者一樣思考。所以對於整個 MP 團隊來說，我們保持安全，我們又度過了一個美好的一年。幹得好，謝謝。

For 2022, the price of NdPr oxide and therefore, our concentrate product improved nicely versus the prior year. The combination of better realized pricing and the record volumes produced by the team resulted in a 59% increase in revenue and a 77% increase in adjusted EBITDA. The Stage 1 business generated $353 million in normalized Stage 1 free cash flow. That is a 67% cash flow margin just for the Stage 1 business.

到 2022 年，NdPr 氧化物的價格以及我們的精礦產品的價格與上一年相比有了很好的改善。更好的實現定價和團隊創紀錄的銷量相結合，使收入增長了 59%，調整後的 EBITDA 增長了 77%。第一階段業務產生了 3.53 億美元的標準化第一階段自由現金流。這是第一階段業務的 67% 的現金流利潤率。

The Stage 1 business, therefore, generated more cash flow than our entire capital expenditures for the year, most of which consisted of our significant downstream investments towards Stage 2 refining and Stage 3 magnetics. We believe these transformational moves to achieve our downstream mission will improve our profitability, reduce the volatility of our business and significantly expand our long-term enterprise value.

因此，第一階段業務產生的現金流量超過了我們當年的全部資本支出，其中大部分包括我們對第二階段精煉和第三階段磁性的重大下游投資。我們相信，這些為實現下游使命而採取的轉型舉措將提高我們的盈利能力，降低我們業務的波動性，並顯著擴大我們的長期企業價值。

Our ability to pursue such an important and exciting opportunity while self-generating the resources needed to do so is amazing. More importantly, it means we continue to maintain our fortress balance sheet with over $1.2 billion in gross cash and roughly $492 million of net cash at year-end. In a rising cost of capital and bifurcating economic environment, platforms with a high return on capital opportunity set and a capital structure like MPEs are scarce. But as I always say, we must execute, and I am proud of what the team has achieved recently.

我們追求如此重要和令人興奮的機會，同時自行產生所需資源的能力令人驚嘆。更重要的是，這意味著我們將繼續保持堡壘資產負債表，年底總現金超過 12 億美元，淨現金約為 4.92 億美元。在資本成本上升和經濟環境分化的情況下，具有高資本回報機會集和像 MPE 這樣的資本結構的平台很少見。但正如我常說的，我們必須執行，我為團隊最近取得的成就感到自豪。

We started commissioning our Stage 2 assets late in the third quarter and began producing roasted concentrate in the fourth quarter. These were critical first steps in the complex Stage 2 commissioning process. We also advanced the heavy rare separations project at Mountain Pass with continued progress on the front-end engineering design and long lead procurement.

我們在第三季度末開始調試我們的第 2 階段資產，並在第四季度開始生產焙燒精礦。這些是複雜的第 2 階段調試過程中關鍵的第一步。我們還推進了 Mountain Pass 的重稀有分離項目，在前端工程設計和長期採購方面取得了持續進展。

To remind you, the heaviest project is the one where we were honored to receive a $35 million grant from the Department of Defense, which was announced live by the President of the United States himself last February. Next, our Stage 3 magnetic efforts are accelerating. Recall that at the end of 2021, we reached an agreement to supply General Motors with NdPr alloy and magnets to support their entire Ultium EV platform. We signed the GM definitive supply agreement and also broke ground on our initial magnetics facility in Fort Worth early in 2022. We have made rapid progress and our goal remains to begin delivering alloy to GM late this year, followed by magnets in 2025.

提醒大家，最重的項目是我們有幸獲得國防部3500萬美元的撥款，這是去年2月美國總統親自宣布的。接下來，我們的第 3 階段磁工作正在加速。回想一下，我們在 2021 年底達成協議，向通用汽車供應 NdPr 合金和磁鐵，以支持其整個 Ultium EV 平台。我們簽署了通用汽車的最終供應協議，並於 2022 年初在沃思堡的初始磁性工廠破土動工。我們取得了快速進展，我們的目標仍然是在今年晚些時候開始向通用汽車提供合金，然後在 2025 年交付磁鐵。

And finally, earlier this week, we announced a distribution agreement with Sumitomo Corporation. Japan is the largest producer of neo magnets outside of China and thus, the largest market for refined NdPr products outside of China. Sumitomo will serve as our exclusive distributor of NdPr oxide in Japan and we will collaborate with them on the supply of rare earth metals and other products. We believe this agreement is an important and beneficial development as we now position for Stage 2 sales.

最後，本週早些時候，我們宣布了與 Sumitomo Corporation 的分銷協議。日本是中國以外最大的釹磁鐵生產國，因此也是中國以外最大的精煉镨镨產品市場。 Sumitomo 將作為我們在日本的 NdPr 氧化物的獨家經銷商，我們將與他們合作供應稀土金屬和其他產品。我們認為該協議是一項重要且有益的發展，因為我們現在正處於第二階段銷售階段。

There were many other success stories of the company throughout 2022, including the extension of our positive environmental and safety record, the creation of over 120 new jobs in California, Nevada and Texas in support of our mission and the publishing of our inaugural ESG report. All in, we have been busy. I will have more on Stage 3 and market view shortly.

整個 2022 年，公司還有許多其他成功案例，包括我們積極的環境和安全記錄的延續，在加利福尼亞州、內華達州和德克薩斯州創造了 120 多個新工作崗位以支持我們的使命，以及發布了我們的首份 ESG 報告。總之，我們一直很忙。我很快就會有更多關於第 3 階段和市場觀點的信息。

But first, let me turn the call over to Ryan to run through our financials for the year and quarter. Ryan?

但首先，讓我把電話轉給瑞安，讓他了解一下我們今年和這個季度的財務狀況。賴安？

Thanks, Jim. We'll turn to Slide 6. And as Jim highlighted, 2022 was another very strong year of operations for the company. Our production volumes increased for the fourth year in a row to a record 42,499 metric tons of REO in concentrate. The operations and maintenance teams continue to perform with our uptimes remaining at roughly 95% for the second year in a row. In addition, we continue to improve our throughput while optimizing our mineral recoveries. We believe there is incremental room for improvement here, but in the near term, the majority of our focus is on commissioning our Stage 2 assets.

謝謝，吉姆。我們將轉到幻燈片 6。正如吉姆強調的那樣，2022 年是公司又一個非常強勁的運營年。我們的產量連續第四年增加，達到創紀錄的 42,499 公噸 REO 精礦。運營和維護團隊繼續工作，我們的正常運行時間連續第二年保持在大約 95%。此外，我們在優化礦物回收率的同時繼續提高產量。我們相信這裡還有改進的空間，但在短期內，我們的大部分重點是調試我們的第 2 階段資產。

We shipped a record 43,198 tons of REO in concentrate during the year, a 2% increase over 2021. The increase was generally due to the timing of shipments. As a reminder, concentrate shipments have generally tracked our production volumes over time.

年內，我們運送了創紀錄的 43,198 噸 REO 精礦，比 2021 年增長了 2%。增加的主要原因是發貨時間。提醒一下，隨著時間的推移，精礦出貨量通常會跟踪我們的產量。

Moving forward, there will be some lumpiness as we transition to Stage 2 products, which I will discuss in a moment. On the top right chart, you'll see that our realized price per contained REO time increased 55% to $11,974, driven primarily by the strong demand for NdPr feedstocks in the market. Despite Chinese macro volatility over the course of 2022, continued EV penetration supported rare earth pricing. Lastly, on the bottom right graph, our production costs when excluding the ramp in expenses ahead of our Stage 2 commissioning increased a little over 5%. Despite some fairly significant inflation in 2021 and 2022, we were able to increase production efficiencies enough to maintain a fairly flat cost per ton for our concentrate. Note that this operational KPI, as reported, focuses purely on our concentrate business. So we will evolve these KPIs over the course of 2023 as we ramp our downstream products.

展望未來，在我們過渡到第 2 階段產品時會出現一些問題，稍後我將對此進行討論。在右上角的圖表中，您會看到我們的每包含 REO 時間的實際價格增加了 55% 至 11,974 美元，這主要是由於市場對 NdPr 原料的強勁需求。儘管 2022 年中國宏觀經濟出現波動，但電動汽車的持續普及支撐了稀土定價。最後，在右下角的圖表中，我們的生產成本在第二階段調試之前不包括增加的費用，增加了 5% 以上。儘管 2021 年和 2022 年出現了一些相當顯著的通貨膨脹，但我們能夠提高生產效率，足以維持我們精礦的每噸成本相當穩定。請注意，如所報告的那樣，該運營 KPI 僅關注我們的集中業務。因此，隨著我們增加下游產品，我們將在 2023 年期間改進這些 KPI。

Moving to Slide 7. On the top left, you will see revenues increased 59% to $527.5 million driven by the PxQ effect of both higher realized prices and slightly higher shipment volumes. And given the significant operating leverage we get from higher pricing, you will see on the top right that our adjusted EBITDA increased 77% in the year. That impact is also shown on the bottom left graph, where our adjusted EBITDA margin increased 8 percentage points to 74% in 2022.

轉到幻燈片 7。在左上角，您會看到收入增長了 59%，達到 5.275 億美元，這是由實現價格上漲和出貨量略微增加的 PxQ 效應推動的。考慮到我們從更高的定價中獲得的顯著運營槓桿，您會在右上角看到我們調整後的 EBITDA 在這一年增長了 77%。這種影響也顯示在左下方的圖表中，我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率在 2022 年增加了 8 個百分點，達到 74%。

And finally, on the bottom right, the significant impact of this leverage creates on adjusted diluted EPS, which increased over 102% to $1.68 per share. I will discuss some discrete tax items that impacted Q4, but for the full year, our strong earnings demonstrate both our enviable operating leverage and cost structure but also our strong tax position as a domestic producer of critical materials, which will only get better as we transition to Stage 2 and take advantage of some of the benefits of the IRA bill.

最後，在右下角，這種槓桿作用對調整後的攤薄每股收益產生了重大影響，每股收益增加了 102% 以上，達到 1.68 美元。我將討論影響第四季度的一些離散稅收項目，但就全年而言，我們強勁的收益既證明了我們令人羨慕的經營槓桿和成本結構，也證明了我們作為國內關鍵材料生產商的強大稅收地位，這只會隨著我們的進步而變得更好過渡到第 2 階段並利用 IRA 法案的一些好處。

Moving on to Slide 8. and our fourth quarter operational KPIs, you will see in the bottom left that our production remained strong in the quarter, up 2% versus last year at 10,485 metric tons of REO. Keep in mind that we have a regular 1-week maintenance shutdown early in the fourth quarter, which was the driver of the 4% decline in sequential production. Sales volumes on the top left increased 12% versus last year's fourth quarter and 1% sequentially, again, simply driven by the timing of shipments. We mentioned last quarter that we would ultimately be diverting about 2 weeks of inventory into the Stage 2 circuits or a little under 2,000 metric tons, which would occur over several quarters. So while we began this process in the fourth quarter, the impact was not material to our sales in the quarter. As Michael will discuss in a moment, we will have some roasted concentrate available for sale in Q1, but we do expect to begin more significant charging of our circuits as Q1 progresses.

轉到幻燈片 8 和我們第四季度的運營 KPI，您會在左下角看到我們本季度的產量保持強勁，與去年相比增長 2%，達到 10,485 公噸 REO。請記住，我們在第四季度初定期進行為期 1 週的維護停工，這是導致連續生產下降 4% 的原因。左上角的銷量與去年第四季度相比增長了 12%，環比增長了 1%，同樣，這僅僅是受發貨時間的推動。我們在上個季度提到，我們最終會將大約 2 週的庫存轉移到第 2 階段電路或略低於 2,000 公噸，這將在幾個季度內發生。因此，雖然我們在第四季度開始了這一過程，但對我們本季度的銷售額影響並不大。正如 Michael 稍後將討論的那樣，我們將在第一季度出售一些烘焙精礦，但我們確實希望隨著第一季度的進展開始對我們的電路進行更大量的充電。

Moving on to the top right, you can see realized pricing albeit very solid at $8,515 was down compared to both Q4 2021 and Q3 2022. About half of the year-over-year decline was due to unfavorable changes in foreign exchange as the yuan weakened versus the dollar. In addition, Chinese COVID lockdown and the impact on the Chinese economy likely reduced demand for NdPr slightly.

轉到右上角，您可以看到與 2021 年第四季度和 2022 年第三季度相比，已實現的定價雖然非常穩定，但仍為 8,515 美元。同比下降的一半左右是由於人民幣貶值導致外彙的不利變化兌美元。此外，中國 COVID 封鎖及其對中國經濟的影響可能會略微降低對 NdPr 的需求。

Looking at the volatility in the price of NdPr over the last year from a high of approximately $175 per kilogram and a low of $83, it's very important to note that fairly modest changes in supply and demand can move the market price fairly substantially. This is one of the reasons we are so confident in the long-term growth trajectory of our business. Given forecast of NdPr demand over the next decade or so are 3x today's output. The challenge of the world producing enough rare earths to keep up with this demand is clearly a favorable indicator for NdPr pricing over time.

從去年大約每公斤 175 美元的高點到 83 美元的低點來看 NdPr 價格的波動，非常重要的是要注意供需的適度變化可以相當大地移動市場價格。這是我們對我們業務的長期增長軌跡如此有信心的原因之一。鑑於未來十年左右的 NdPr 需求預測是今天產量的 3 倍。世界生產足夠的稀土來滿足這一需求的挑戰顯然是 NdPr 價格隨時間推移的有利指標。

I'd note that some of the positive leverage we saw in concentrate realized prices as NdPr prices went higher in recent quarters ended up going in the opposite direction as prices decline. This is in part driven by the variability in the implied discount we have to take in selling an intermediate feedstock to refiners overseas. While this effect will be moot once we are selling our own separated products, it's important to note that the realized price growth or decline in our concentrate sales over the course of this year. As always, will outperform as NdPr market prices rise and generally underperform as they decline. And of course, there is also the timing and volume of shipments, which impacted our average pricing in any given period.

我要指出的是，隨著近幾個季度 NdPr 價格走高，我們在精礦中看到的一些積極影響實現了價格，但隨著價格下跌最終走向相反的方向。這在一定程度上是由於我們在向海外煉油廠出售中間原料時必須接受的隱含折扣的可變性。雖然一旦我們銷售我們自己的分離產品，這種影響就沒有實際意義，但重要的是要注意我們今年集中銷售的實際價格增長或下降。與往常一樣，隨著 NdPr 市場價格的上漲，其表現將優於大盤，而隨著價格下跌，其表現通常會遜於大盤。當然，還有發貨的時間和數量，這會影響我們在任何特定時期的平均定價。

Moving to the bottom right graph, you will see that our production cost per metric ton increased 26% year-over-year and 17% sequentially, driven by the timing of maintenance costs during the quarter as well as higher payroll expenses, including an increase in employee headcount to support the expansion of Stage 2 operations and the impact of cost of living adjustments, which we talked about last quarter. The year-over-year comparison was also impacted by higher fuel costs as well as the recommissioning of our CHP plant at the beginning of the year, which is running suboptimally until we get to full Stage 2 power demand. Excluding the Stage 2 related costs, Stage 1 production costs were roughly $1,600 per ton in the quarter, impacted by the same factors just discussed but primarily driven by the timing of maintenance events across our mining fleet and our crushing facilities, which we view as discrete.

轉到右下角的圖表，您會看到我們的每公噸生產成本同比增長 26%，環比增長 17%，這是由於本季度維護成本的時間安排以及更高的工資支出，包括增加增加員工人數，以支持第二階段業務的擴張和我們上個季度談到的生活成本調整的影響。同比比較還受到更高的燃料成本以及今年年初我們的熱電聯產電廠重新投入使用的影響，該電廠在我們達到完整的第 2 階段電力需求之前一直處於次優狀態。不包括第 2 階段的相關成本，本季度第 1 階段的生產成本約為每噸 1,600 美元，受到剛才討論的相同因素的影響，但主要是由我們的採礦船隊和我們認為是離散的破碎設施的維護事件的時間驅動的.

Flipping to Slide 9. On the top left, our revenue declined 6% compared to the fourth quarter of last year as the 12% increase in shipping volumes was more than offset by a 16% decline in the realized price shown on the previous slide. Similarly, our quarter-over-quarter revenues were impacted by a more significant decline in sequential realized pricing. And on the top right graph, while adjusted EBITDA declined 23% year-over-year, mainly due to lower realized pricing, we still produce a very solid $55 million of adjusted EBITDA in the quarter.

翻到幻燈片 9。在左上角，我們的收入與去年第四季度相比下降了 6%，因為運輸量增長 12% 被上一張幻燈片中顯示的實現價格下降 16% 所抵消。同樣，我們的環比收入受到連續已實現定價更顯著下降的影響。在右上圖中，雖然調整後的 EBITDA 同比下降 23%，主要是由於較低的實際定價，但我們在本季度仍然產生了非常穩定的 5500 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA。

And although not on the page, $32 million in Stage 1 normalized free cash flow. The lower realized pricing also flowed through to our margins, which were nonetheless a healthy 59%. Importantly, on the bottom right, you will see that our adjusted diluted EPS increased 40% over last year's fourth quarter and 17% sequentially. These changes were driven by 2 factors. The first was the impact of the higher interest rate environment on our strong cash and short-term investment balance.

儘管不在頁面上，但第一階段的 3200 萬美元使自由現金流正常化。較低的實際定價也影響了我們的利潤率，儘管如此，我們的利潤率仍保持在 59% 的健康水平。重要的是，在右下角，您會看到我們調整後的攤薄每股收益比去年第四季度增長了 40%，環比增長了 17%。這些變化是由兩個因素驅動的。首先是高利率環境對我們強勁的現金和短期投資餘額的影響。

In the quarter, we generated nearly $11 million of interest income versus virtually 0 a year ago. These totals show up on the other income net line of our P&L, which you can find in the appendix of our slide deck or in our press release. The second factor was a large tax benefit in the quarter. The timing of new assets coming into service for GAAP purposes drove a change in the full year effective tax rate, which was recognized in the fourth quarter.

本季度，我們產生了近 1100 萬美元的利息收入，而一年前幾乎為零。這些總數顯示在我們損益表的其他收入淨額線上，您可以在我們幻燈片的附錄或我們的新聞稿中找到。第二個因素是本季度的大量稅收優惠。為 GAAP 目的投入使用的新資產的時間推動了全年有效稅率的變化，這一變化在第四季度得到確認。

We generally benefit from material tax deductions, including foreign-derived intangible income and depletion in excess of basis. which we had initially forecasted would not apply for this tax year but indeed end up providing us permanent tax benefits recognized in 2022 in addition to the temporary benefit of bonus depreciation on the assets we did place in service. Note that the timing of certain assets entering service, they continue to drive some volatility in book and cash tax rates as we complete our investment program. Absent this impact, I'd expect our tax rate to remain in the high teens until our geographic mix materially shifts.

我們通常受益於重大稅收減免，包括來自國外的無形收入和超出基礎的消耗。我們最初預測這不會適用於本納稅年度，但實際上最終為我們提供了 2022 年確認的永久稅收優惠，以及我們確實投入使用的資產的額外折舊的臨時利益。請注意，某些資產投入使用的時間，隨著我們完成投資計劃，它們會繼續推動賬面和現金稅率的波動。如果沒有這種影響，我預計我們的稅率將保持在十幾歲的高位，直到我們的地理結構發生重大變化。

Turning to Slide 10. We generated $353 million of normalized Stage 1 free cash flow in 2022. As Jim mentioned earlier, that more than covered the $308 million of growth CapEx during the year which covered the significant completion of Stage 2 as well as material investments in the Stage 3 building shell, engineering and early equipment costs. Very little spend remains in 2023 for Stage 2 with the overflow as discussed in prior calls, relating mostly to timing of payments. Importantly, our strong cash flow this year has allowed us to keep all of our powder dry, even as we've made tremendous progress on our mission. We expect CapEx this year to be roughly in line with 2022 with about $300 million in expected growth capital primarily supporting Stage 3 and in addition to our other growth projects.

轉到幻燈片 10。我們在 2022 年產生了 3.53 億美元的標準化第一階段自由現金流。正如 Jim 之前提到的，這超過了當年 3.08 億美元的增長資本支出，其中涵蓋了第二階段的重大完成以及重大投資在第 3 階段的建築外殼、工程和早期設備成本中。到 2023 年，第 2 階段的支出將很少，而且如之前的電話會議中所討論的那樣出現溢出，主要與付款時間有關。重要的是，我們今年強勁的現金流使我們能夠保持所有火藥乾燥，即使我們在我們的使命上取得了巨大進展。我們預計今年的資本支出將大致與 2022 年持平，預計增長資本約為 3 億美元，主要用於支持第 3 階段以及我們的其他增長項目。

From an earnings perspective, as we have talked about for some time, 2023 will be a transition year. As we work to ramp the separation facilities, we will continue to sell concentrate into the market with the revenue and cost profile you are used to seeing. Michael will discuss our commissioning progress in more detail in a moment. But as it relates to our annual results, I continue to expect Stage 2 separated product sales to begin in the second half of the year and be back loaded, in part because there will be added time to recognize revenue as we build out our sales channel and qualify products with customers.

從收益的角度來看，正如我們已經討論了一段時間，2023 年將是一個過渡年。在我們努力擴大分離設施的同時，我們將繼續以您習慣看到的收入和成本概況向市場銷售精礦。邁克爾稍後將更詳細地討論我們的調試進度。但就我們的年度業績而言，我繼續預計第二階段的分離產品銷售將在今年下半年開始並重新加載，部分原因是隨著我們建立銷售渠道，將有更多時間確認收入並與客戶一起鑑定產品。

These sales would also initially come with a lower margin profile ahead of us scaling to run rate volumes and profitability. And of course, some of our initial production will be shipped to Texas to begin the metal making process, delaying the actual recognition of sales until we deliver the end product to General Motors. Importantly, we will continue to prioritize the long-term and make the right investments in our Mountain Pass people and processes in 2023 to support separated product production for decades to come. In addition, we expect to grow our headcount and spending for Stage 3 with revenue for magnetic products not far away.

在我們擴大規模以提高運行量和盈利能力之前，這些銷售最初也會帶來較低的利潤率。當然，我們的一些初始產品將被運往德克薩斯州以開始金屬製造過程，從而延遲對銷售的實際確認，直到我們將最終產品交付給通用汽車公司。重要的是，我們將繼續優先考慮長期目標，並在 2023 年對 Mountain Pass 的人員和流程進行正確的投資，以支持未來幾十年的分離產品生產。此外，我們預計第三階段的員工人數和支出將增加，磁性產品的收入將在不遠的地方出現。

Regarding cash flow, we discussed our spending plans a moment ago, and have already flagged the working capital investments we expect to make as Stage 2 ramps. On that note, we are thrilled about the distribution agreement we announced Tuesday with Sumitomo to facilitate oxide sales into Japan and we'll continue to invest in broadening our geographic reach as our markets grow.

關於現金流，我們剛才討論了我們的支出計劃，並且已經將我們預計將進行的營運資本投資標記為第二階段的增長。在這一點上，我們對周二與住友商事宣布的分銷協議感到興奮，該協議旨在促進氧化物在日本的銷售，隨著我們市場的增長，我們將繼續投資擴大我們的地理覆蓋範圍。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Michael for a more detailed update on our Stage 2 progress. Michael?

有了這個，我會把電話轉給邁克爾，讓他更詳細地了解我們第 2 階段的進展情況。邁克爾？

Thanks, Ryan. It has been productive and fulfilling a few months of operation and commissioning though, of course, not without its challenges.

謝謝，瑞安。經過幾個月的運行和調試，它一直是富有成效的，當然，也不是沒有挑戰。

On the Stage 1 operational front, during the quarter, we experienced considerable external headwinds from construction, commissioning and weather. But our teams have done an excellent job remaining focused and we were able to achieve continued improvement in mineral recovery at the mill. Circuit uptime was slightly below the prior year but exceeded our conservative estimate.

在第一階段運營方面，本季度我們經歷了來自建設、調試和天氣的相當大的外部阻力。但我們的團隊在保持專注方面做得非常出色，我們能夠在工廠的礦物回收率方面取得持續改進。電路正常運行時間略低於上一年，但超出了我們的保守估計。

We made good progress in pre-commissioning and initial commissioning activities of Phase 2. This also included completing the remaining upgrade and pre-commissioning work of legacy circuits that are now already for use. We completed our first quarter operating the new concentrate filter, dryer and roaster, a great picture of which is shown on Slide 11. Broadly speaking, this process is playing out as previewed last quarter with certain expected challenges proving easily resolved, a large number of instrumentation nuisance issues that are also easily resolved, a certain proportion of known, unknown that have readily identifiable resolution timetable.

我們在第二階段的預調試和初始調試活動方面取得了良好進展。這還包括完成了目前已經投入使用的遺留電路的剩餘升級和預調試工作。我們在第一季度完成了新濃縮過濾器、乾燥機和烘烤機的運行，幻燈片 11 顯示了一張精美的圖片。從廣義上講，這個過程正如上個季度所預示的那樣進行，某些預期的挑戰很容易解決，大量儀器滋擾問題也很容易解決，有一定比例的已知，未知的有容易確定的解決時間表。

A few reliability issues that will be worked out over time and then a small number of unexpected issues that generated the greatest heading. Through it all, we made great progress. The primary process equipment is running quite well and many of the initial bugs that are in the rearview mirror. Even as we experiment with and tuned the equipment, we are able to consistently produce roasted concentrate that meets our desired specifications. The initial testing of the roasted con suggests that it should achieve the leach yield and serum rejection that we are targeting.

隨著時間的推移將解決一些可靠性問題，然後是產生最大標題的少量意外問題。通過這一切，我們取得了很大的進步。主要工藝設備運行良好，許多最初的錯誤都在後視鏡中。即使我們對設備進行試驗和調整，我們也能夠始終如一地生產出符合我們所需規格的焙燒濃縮物。對烤 con 的初步測試表明它應該達到我們的目標浸出率和血清排斥率。

This is critical to our cost competitiveness and production throughput. Initially, the vast majority of this product will be sold. But as the subsequent circuits in the flow sheet have brought online, more will be directed or invested towards making oxides. There are a handful of remaining issues that we are addressing before we are able to run at our full desired run rates through the calciners. But we will continue to attack these over the coming months as we had full steam into commissioning the balance of the Stage 2 assets.

這對我們的成本競爭力和生產量至關重要。最初，該產品的絕大部分將被出售。但隨著流程中後續電路的上線，更多的將被引導或投資於製造氧化物。在我們能夠通過煅燒爐以我們想要的全部運行速度運行之前，我們還需要解決一些遺留問題。但我們將在未來幾個月繼續攻擊這些，因為我們已全力投入調試第 2 階段資產的餘額。

As we approach the end of the first quarter, we have commenced commissioning all the remaining Stage 2 assets, so of course, some are further along than others. The most critical next step is putting into operation of leach circuit. This includes legacy equipment that will be operated under new process conditions alongside newly installed equipment and processes. Continuing the process flow, the impregnated leach solution will then pass through legacy purification and separation circuit. The legacy equipment have already completed their recommissioning activities, while new additions are currently being commissioned. As with leach we expect a period of troubleshooting and rebalancing when the new feed begins to flow.

隨著第一季度末的臨近，我們已經開始調試所有剩餘的第 2 階段資產，因此當然，有些資產比其他資產走得更遠。下一步最關鍵的是浸出迴路的投入運行。這包括將在新工藝條件下與新安裝的設備和工藝一起運行的舊設備。繼續工藝流程，浸漬後的浸出液將通過傳統的純化和分離迴路。遺留設備已經完成重新調試活動，而新增加的設備目前正在調試中。與浸出一樣，當新進料開始流動時，我們預計會有一段時間的故障排除和重新平衡。

The last circuits in the process will be NdPr finishing, a portion of which can be seen on Slide 12. I will reiterate that commissioning is and will be a nonlinear process. It is a series of 2 steps forward and 1 step back. As it pertains to our production ramp target, we would not expect commercial scale production of NdPr oxide yet in the first quarter, but we look forward to providing additional updates on our ramp on the Q1 earnings call. It is important to remember that the start-up of any one circuit does not determine the timing and ramp towards the final run rate of production.

該過程中的最後一個電路將是 NdPr 精加工，其中一部分可以在幻燈片 12 上看到。我將重申，調試是並且將是一個非線性過程。這是一系列向前邁出 2 步和後退 1 步。由於它與我們的生產爬坡目標有關，我們預計第一季度不會實現 NdPr 氧化物的商業規模生產，但我們期待在第一季度財報電話會議上提供有關我們爬坡的更多更新。重要的是要記住，任何一個電路的啟動都不會決定最終生產運行速度的時間和斜坡。

Certain circuits will be commissioned and troubleshot quickly and reach our desired run rates of production, certain others will overcome problems but take longer to ramp up throughput. And others will achieve run rate production easily but struggle with reliability and uptime. All in all, however, we remain confident in our targets. We are more excited than ever to be putting 4 years of planning on Stage 2 into operation. While we expect 2023 to challenge us to a greater extent than any time since 2018, I remain extremely confident and proud of our team and look forward to progressing and communicating our production ramp in subsequent calls.

某些電路將被快速調試和排除故障並達到我們期望的生產運行率，某些其他電路將克服問題但需要更長的時間才能提高吞吐量。而其他人將輕鬆實現運行率生產，但在可靠性和正常運行時間方面苦苦掙扎。然而，總而言之，我們對我們的目標仍然充滿信心。我們比以往任何時候都更加興奮能夠將第 2 階段 4 年的規劃付諸實施。雖然我們預計 2023 年對我們的挑戰比 2018 年以來的任何時候都大，但我仍然對我們的團隊充滿信心和自豪，並期待在隨後的電話會議中推進和溝通我們的生產坡度。

With that, I'll turn it back to Jim.

有了這個，我會把它轉回給吉姆。

Thanks, Michael. Turning to Slide 13. We -- this is a recent aerial picture of our Texas magnet manufacturing facility. You can see a lot of construction activity, and most of that action is now taking place inside the building, given that the shell is complete. Since we last talked in November, most of the key public utility infrastructure has been installed, gas, water and with electrical finishing up shortly. We are also beginning to see some of the long lead equipment arrive, including the HVAC systems, which are now being installed. And the procurement of other long lead production equipment continues. We also now have a fully functioning magnet research lab in place, enhanced by a number of key recent hires and with more to come as we continue to expand the team.

謝謝，邁克爾。轉到幻燈片 13。這是我們德克薩斯磁鐵製造工廠的最新航拍照片。你可以看到很多建築活動，而且大部分建築活動現在都在建築物內部進行，因為外殼已經完成。自從我們在 11 月上次談話以來，大部分關鍵的公用事業基礎設施已經安裝完畢，天然氣、水和電力很快就會完工。我們也開始看到一些長周期設備到貨，包括現在正在安裝的 HVAC 系統。而其他長鉛生產設備的採購還在繼續。我們現在還擁有一個功能齊全的磁鐵研究實驗室，最近招聘了一些重要的員工，並且隨著我們繼續擴大團隊，還會有更多的人加入。

Our magnetics team should all be able to move into the new Fort Worth facility by late summer. If you look closely in the picture at the top right of the facility, you will see where sizable office and lab space connects into the factory. Our goal is to make this site the center of the most cutting-edge magnetics efforts in the world. To update you on the market and conclude the prepared remarks, I would like to reiterate that I remain bullish on the outlook for our business.

我們的磁學團隊應該都能在夏末之前搬進新的沃思堡工廠。如果您仔細觀察設施右上角的圖片，您會看到相當大的辦公室和實驗室空間連接到工廠的地方。我們的目標是使該網站成為世界上最前沿的磁學研究中心。為了向您介紹最新的市場情況並總結準備好的言論，我想重申，我仍然看好我們的業務前景。

In 2022, despite an overall market contraction, global sales of passenger EVs climbed more than 50% to approximately 10.3 million units. There has been a profound global search and EV adoption and action in the United States, which has trailed China and Europe, is accelerating rapidly on the back of policies like the Inflation Reduction Act and a dramatic increase in new models available to consumers. And bear in mind that EVs are just one of several downstream applications driving growth. We also see growth and opportunity in wind turbines, robotics, consumer electronics and even power tools.

到 2022 年，儘管整體市場收縮，但乘用電動汽車的全球銷量增長了 50% 以上，達到約 1030 萬輛。美國已經在全球範圍內進行了深刻的搜索和電動汽車的採用和行動，這一直落後於中國和歐洲，在《降低通貨膨脹法》等政策的支持下，美國正在迅速加速，並且消費者可以購買的新車型數量急劇增加。請記住，電動汽車只是推動增長的多個下游應用之一。我們還看到了風力渦輪機、機器人、消費電子產品甚至電動工具的增長和機遇。

When you put this all together, looking out to 2035, with analysts predicting a threefold increase in demand for neodymium magnet and strong corresponding growth for NdPr. A threefold increase in NdPr demand would mean the world likely needs the equivalent of more than 15 Mountain Passes coming online over the next dozen years. Keep in mind that Mountain Pass is one of the largest producers of rare earths in the world today. Assuming such economically viable ore bodies were identified and cleared multiyear permitting processes, it would still take years and multiple billions of dollars to bring that supply to market.

當你把所有這些放在一起時，展望 2035 年，分析師預測對釹磁鐵的需求將增長三倍，而對 NdPr 的需求也會相應強勁增長。 NdPr 需求的三倍增長意味著世界可能需要相當於未來 15 年內上線的 15 個以上的山口。請記住，Mountain Pass 是當今世界上最大的稀土生產商之一。假設這種經濟上可行的礦體被識別並通過多年許可程序，將這種供應推向市場仍需要數年時間和數十億美元。

Therefore, even though the macro economy will usually drive short-term volatility in pricing, we remain convinced that there are huge tailwinds for our sector. MP's in-place assets are, therefore, extremely valuable. And our vertical integration strategy, coupled with our fortress balance sheet, will enable us to leverage all aspects of our platform to create additional value. With that, let's open it up for Q&A.

因此，儘管宏觀經濟通常會推動定價的短期波動，但我們仍然相信我們的行業存在巨大的順風。因此，MP 的現有資產非常有價值。我們的垂直整合戰略，加上我們的堡壘資產負債表，將使我們能夠利用我們平台的各個方面來創造額外的價值。有了這個，讓我們打開它進行問答。

Operator?

操作員？

(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from the line of Matt Summerville with D.A. Davidson.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自 Matt Summerville 和 D.A.戴維森。

A couple of questions. I guess I wasn't aware that between Stage 1 output and actual oxide that there would be an intermediary product in the form of roasted concentrate available for sale. Can you talk about what sort of quantity we might be looking at over what kind of time frame? And how much value does that particular process step add to Stage 1 output, i.e., how is that priced in the market? And then I have a follow-up.

幾個問題。我想我不知道在第 1 階段輸出和實際氧化物之間會有一種中間產品，以焙燒精礦的形式出售。你能談談在什麼樣的時間範圍內我們可能會看到什麼樣的數量嗎？該特定流程步驟為第一階段輸出增加了多少價值，即市場定價如何？然後我有一個後續行動。

Sure. Matt, it's Ryan. I can take that, and then we'll have Mike talk a little bit about roasted con and what it means for us and our progress. As it relates to the roasted concentrate there's not a material difference in economics in terms of selling price vis-a-vis the incremental cost of getting through the roasting step.

當然。馬特，我是瑞安。我可以接受，然後我們將讓 Mike 談談 roasted con 以及它對我們和我們的進步意味著什麼。由於它與烘焙精礦有關，因此就售價與通過烘焙步驟增加的成本而言，在經濟方面沒有實質性差異。

And in fact, the way I would think about the available volumes is it's not going to be a material departure from what you've seen in terms of regular concentrate sales over the next quarter or so. As we mentioned, we should be -- and we are all preparing for incremental volumes to begin charging the downstream circuits over time. But this is a relatively short stop on the way to production of finished oxide products. Mike, do you want to talk a little bit about roasted con and what that means for the process?

事實上，我認為可用數量不會與你在下個季度左右的常規精礦銷售方面看到的情況有實質性的不同。正如我們所提到的，我們應該——我們都在為增量容量做準備，以便隨著時間的推移開始為下游電路充電。但這是生產成品氧化物產品的一個相對短暫的停留。邁克，你想談一談關於烤肉的事嗎？這對這個過程意味著什麼？

Sure. Thanks, Ryan. Producing high-quality roasted con may be the most important single step in ensuring the cost competitiveness of our separation and finishing assets. So the production of roasted con is an important -- a very critical transition point for Stage 2. But in itself as a product itself is not the aim.

當然。謝謝，瑞安。生產高質量的烤肉可能是確保我們的分離和精加工資產具有成本競爭力的最重要的一步。因此，烤肉的生產是一個重要的——階段 2 的一個非常關鍵的過渡點。但作為產品本身並不是目標。

But as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, the initial testing on that roasted con give us really high confidence that the yield that we'll get out of that when we proceed into leach, any yields of getting NdPr recovery and rejecting the serum, which is a critical part of our process are going to be in the ranges that we're targeting. And this is really important for reducing reagent expense and improving the quality of the feed that goes to the purification and separation stages. They're also minor energy savings and maintenance savings from that as well. So it's an important product, but not necessarily an important long-term sales product.

但正如我在準備好的評論中提到的那樣，對該烘烤 con 的初步測試讓我們非常有信心，當我們進行浸出時，我們將從中獲得的產量，獲得 NdPr 回收和拒絕血清的任何產量，這是我們流程的關鍵部分，將在我們的目標範圍內。這對於減少試劑費用和提高進入純化和分離階段的進料質量非常重要。它們也因此節省了少量能源和維護費用。所以它是一個重要的產品，但不一定是一個重要的長期銷售產品。

Understood. And then just as a follow-up, one of you guys mentioned in your prepared remarks that you're feeling more and more confident about incremental mineral recovery coming out of Stage 1, but maybe taking a pause on that for obvious reasons as you're renting Stage 2. Timing-wise, how should we be thinking about when you can go attack that opportunity? And I guess how much upside relative to the output you generated in '22? Could we be looking at based on your domain knowledge at this point around that?

明白了。然後作為後續行動，你們中的一個人在準備好的發言中提到，您對第一階段的礦物採收量增加感到越來越有信心，但由於顯而易見的原因，您可能會暫停一下'重新租用第 2 階段。在時間上，我們應該如何考慮什麼時候可以抓住這個機會？我猜相對於你在 22 年產生的產出有多少上升空間？在這一點上，我們可以根據您的領域知識來考慮嗎？

This is Michael. I'll take that as well. I think I've mentioned this in the past before. We do have a lot of optimism that there's significant opportunity to improve the way we do things in our flotation process, our beneficiation process and the results of that. We have a team, growing team dedicated to that effort. We have continued to work towards that irrespective of the progress at Stage 2, so that's not hindered by the progress.

這是邁克爾。我也會接受的。我想我之前已經提到過這一點。我們確實非常樂觀地認為，有很大的機會可以改進我們在浮選過程、選礦過程和結果中的工作方式。我們有一個團隊，不斷壯大的團隊致力於這項工作。無論第 2 階段的進展如何，我們都在繼續朝著這個方向努力，所以這不會受到進展的阻礙。

Maybe some of the implementation could be impacted just by overall distraction, but we're pressing ahead with that. And I think there'll be incremental steps, incremental progress. We hope at some point, there's a greater progress, but we can't exactly predict the timing. Some of it is just incremental process improvement and some is more small investments that we believe could have a significant improvement. Hopefully, that addresses your question mostly.

也許一些實施會受到整體干擾的影響，但我們正在努力推進。而且我認為會有漸進的步驟，漸進的進步。我們希望在某個時候會有更大的進步，但我們無法準確預測時間。其中一些只是漸進的流程改進，一些是我們認為可以帶來顯著改進的更小的投資。希望這主要解決了您的問題。

The next question comes from the line of David Deckelbaum with Cowen.

下一個問題來自 David Deckelbaum 和 Cowen 的對話。

Congrats, Jim, Ryan and Michael. First, I just wanted to start off on the Sumitomo agreement. Obviously, a landmark agreement, trying to understand, I know it's early, but if you could give any sort of guidance around the potential volumes that could be sold here? Should we think about this as sort of consuming all of the available on NdPr oxide that you would have for sale not consumed in the Stage 3 operations for now. And then would there be an inherent premium that you would expect in terms of pricing relative to what you would sell into China?

恭喜，吉姆、瑞安和邁克爾。首先，我只想從住友協議開始。顯然，這是一項具有里程碑意義的協議，試圖理解，我知道現在還為時過早，但是您是否可以就可以在這裡出售的潛在數量提供任何指導？我們是否應該將此視為一種消耗所有可用的 NdPr 氧化物，您將出售這些 NdPr 氧化物，但目前在第 3 階段操作中未消耗。那麼，相對於向中國銷售的產品，定價方面是否會存在固有溢價？

Sure, David. It's Ryan. I'll take that. Obviously, we're pretty excited about our deal with Sumitomo, an important step, as you mentioned, to our also market in Japan, which, as you know, is the largest magnetic center outside of China. The way I think about this agreement is it's a distribution agreement. This is a relatively proven and efficient way to get to market in Japan.

當然，大衛。是瑞安。我會接受的。顯然，我們對與住友的交易感到非常興奮，正如你提到的，這是我們在日本市場邁出的重要一步，正如你所知，日本是中國以外最大的磁力中心。我對這份協議的看法是它是一份分銷協議。這是一種相對成熟且有效的進入日本市場的方式。

I think it's pretty clear that there's a growing need for diversity in Japan sourcing. And so what we see is with their desire to grow production and our view of an expected demand-supply imbalance coming in the market. We and Sumitomo are confident there's going to be a fair amount of demand for our upside there.

我認為很明顯，日本採購對多元化的需求越來越大。因此，我們看到的是他們增加產量的願望以及我們對市場預期供需失衡的看法。我們和住友相信，我們的上行空間會有相當大的需求。

So overall, it's an exciting first step for us with a major player in the market, as we talked about, certainly an opportunity, hopefully, to expand the relationship over time. I think the other thing I'd say on the economics part of your question, as you've heard from us just a minute ago, we certainly believe in the demand picture in our market.

所以總的來說，這對我們來說是一個令人興奮的第一步，正如我們所說的那樣，這當然是一個機會，希望隨著時間的推移擴大這種關係。我想我要說的另一件事是關於你問題的經濟學部分，正如你剛才從我們這裡聽到的那樣，我們當然相信我們市場的需求情況。

And so we do expect to transact on market-based prices. And so importantly, I'd say the terms that are offered to the end customers in Japan remain in our control. We haven't locked ourselves into any particular model. And so from that perspective, we'll continue to do what's best for the business.

因此，我們確實希望以市場價格進行交易。非常重要的是，我想說提供給日本最終客戶的條款仍在我們的控制之下。我們沒有將自己鎖定在任何特定模型中。因此，從這個角度來看，我們將繼續做對業務最有利的事情。

And I have a maybe kind of a follow-up for you. You talked in your prepared remarks about the IRA benefits. I know perhaps 10 days ago, the treasury kind of defined what would be eligible under 48C. Can you give us a sense on the line of what you think is eligible at this point in terms of your capital being spent on expansion projects for 48C? And what you would certainly see on the production tax credit side and when you might think that the timing of those benefits would be realized?

我可能會跟進您的情況。您在準備好的評論中談到了 IRA 福利。我知道大概 10 天前，財政部定義了 48C 下的資格。您能否告訴我們目前您認為在 48C 擴建項目上花費的資金符合條件的情況？您肯定會在生產稅收抵免方面看到什麼，以及您認為何時會實現這些好處？

David, it's Jim. So we're watching all of the 48C stuff like you are as well. It's still preliminary. There you have to -- the government is coming out with stuff and then there's going to be a period of submitting. And so it's still early to make sort of any kind of specific predictions or thoughts or guide you as to how we're thinking about that. Obviously, we're watching it very closely.

大衛，是吉姆。所以我們也像您一樣關注所有 48C 的內容。這仍然是初步的。你必須——政府正在拿出一些東西，然後會有一段時間提交。因此，現在做出任何類型的具體預測或想法或指導您了解我們的想法還為時過早。顯然，我們正在密切關注它。

The only thing I'd add on this 45 -- yes. Just real quick on 45x.

我唯一要在這 45 位上添加的東西——是的。 45x 真的很快。

It's 45x, Ryan, you wanted that?

是 45 倍，瑞安，你想要那個嗎？

Yes. The difference there being obviously different being a production tax credit versus based on capital. And so from everything we see, I think the guidance there is a bit more clear and straightforward, and we will be producing a product that we believe clearly qualifies into the 45x framework. And so as we ramp our ore oxide production, we expect to start benefiting from that by default as we produce those products.

是的。生產稅收抵免與基於資本的稅收抵免明顯不同。因此，從我們所看到的一切來看，我認為那裡的指南更加清晰和直接，我們將生產我們認為明確符合 45x 框架的產品。因此，隨著我們提高氧化礦產量，我們希望在生產這些產品時默認開始從中受益。

The next question comes from the line of Corinne Blanchard with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Corinne Blanchard。

Just trying to understand better maybe what could be 1Q and maybe the cadence of production, sales and EBITDA for the year. And I know you don't give defined guidance, but maybe if we go from consensus, how comfortable do you feel with the straight at minimus flat price I think you mentioned obviously going through a transition and having maybe lower margin towards the end of the year. So just trying to frame your cadence for the year.

只是想更好地了解第一季度可能是什麼，以及今年生產、銷售和 EBITDA 的節奏。而且我知道你沒有給出明確的指導，但也許如果我們從共識出發，你對直接以最低固定價格感覺有多舒服我認為你提到顯然正在經歷一個過渡並且在年底前利潤率可能較低年。因此，只需嘗試確定您今年的節奏。

Sure. Corinne, this is Ryan. I'll take that. What I would say is our expectation, obviously, that we laid out in our prepared remarks was that you should expect us to begin the transition to oxide sales in the back half of the year. Obviously, there'll be a little bit of a gap between as we bring production online versus when we're recognizing those sales into the P&L. And so we wanted to importantly make that distinction. I think to your point, as we look out at the way several folks have modeled the business, one of the reasons we flagged to you all the margin profile is, certainly, we feel, as Michael laid out, after the results that we've seen from our roasted concentrate, we're more confident than ever and what our eventual yields and results will look like as we get to run rate.

當然。科琳，這是瑞安。我會接受的。我要說的是我們的期望，顯然，我們在準備好的發言中提出的是，你應該期望我們在今年下半年開始向氧化物銷售過渡。顯然，在我們將生產上線與我們將這些銷售確認為損益表之間會有一點差距。因此，我們想重要地做出這種區分。我想就你的觀點而言，當我們觀察幾個人為業務建模的方式時，我們向你標記所有利潤率概況的原因之一是，當然，我們覺得，正如邁克爾所說，在我們的結果之後從我們的烘焙精礦中看到，我們比以往任何時候都更有信心，並且隨著我們達到運行率，我們的最終產量和結果會是什麼樣子。

But the important thing to keep in mind is just we've said this over and over again, 2023 is a transition year. So you can't expect our first kilogram of oxide to come out at the same cost profile as the kilogram that's coming out once we hit run rate. So from that perspective, hopefully, that gives you a little bit of color.

但要記住的重要一點是，我們已經一遍又一遍地說過，2023 年是過渡年。所以你不能指望我們生產的第一公斤氧化物的成本與我們達到運行速度後生產的那公斤的成本相同。所以從這個角度來看，希望這能給你一點色彩。

I'd say that while we make the transition, certainly, we've got our concentrate business and the roasted concentrate business in the background. But we'll continue to build the team and get operators online, ready for production and commercial production of Stage 2 as we get further into the year. So those are sort of the puts and takes from a production and sales perspective.

我想說的是，在我們進行轉型的同時，當然，我們在後台有我們的濃縮物業務和烘焙濃縮物業務。但我們將繼續建立團隊並讓運營商在線，為第二階段的生產和商業生產做好準備，因為我們將進一步進入今年。因此，從生產和銷售的角度來看，這些都是看跌期權。

Great. And then sorry, if I missed it also, but did you provide any commentary on the market itself, like in terms of like China pricing and kind of maybe where you think it could go over the next 6, 12 months?

偉大的。然後抱歉，如果我也錯過了它，但是您是否對市場本身提供了任何評論，例如中國定價以及您認為未來 6 個月、12 個月內可能出現的情況？

Sure. I'll take that. So we don't typically provide any commentary on pricing just because it's -- ultimately, it's a commodity, and it is volatile. I think China has been -- it's been really tough as it always is to read the tea leaves in China because it's China. And in particular, given the opening post-COVID as well as your Chinese New Year and all the moving parts. And I think if we look at the markets over recent months, there was sort of some excitement just in advance of the Chinese opening with the expectation that there would be sort of an explosion of growth out of that and then sort of a pullback around New Year and sort of maybe a settling in as far as sort of the world figures out what it means.

當然。我會接受的。因此，我們通常不會就定價提供任何評論，因為它最終是一種商品，而且是波動的。我認為中國一直 - 閱讀中國的茶葉總是非常困難，因為它是中國。特別是考慮到 COVID 後的開幕以及您的農曆新年和所有活動部分。而且我認為，如果我們看一下最近幾個月的市場，就會發現在中國開市前有一些興奮，人們預期會出現增長的爆炸式增長，然後在新春前後出現回調。就世界而言，年和某種意義上的安定下來意味著什麼。

My guess is that some of the things driving pricing in the very short term are probably the noncritical areas for the long term. And what I mean by that is -- and I just think you might find it helpful, Corinne, if you listen to -- if you remember in my prepared remarks, I referenced analyst research that kind of talked about the market for NdPr in magnetics being 3x the size it is today by 2035.

我的猜測是，一些在短期內推動定價的因素可能是長期的非關鍵領域。我的意思是——我只是認為你可能會發現它有幫助，Corinne，如果你聽——如果你記得在我準備好的評論中，我參考了分析研究，該研究討論了 NdPr 在磁性領域的市場到 2035 年將是現在的 3 倍。

And that's actually for people who are interested, it's -- that's not my data that's an Adamas Intelligence research report kind of looking at the rare earth magnet market outlook. What's really interesting about that and the reason I mentioned it is that if you look at the market today for NdPr demand in the growth, what are the current high-growth areas, which, of course, there will be some others, but in EVs and wind turbine. That today is only a little under 20% of the overall demand, and the rest is kind of standard things in general auto or consumer electronics or some of the others.

這實際上是為有興趣的人準備的，這不是我的數據，而是 Adamas Intelligence 研究報告，它是關於稀土磁鐵市場前景的研究報告。真正有趣的是，我提到它的原因是，如果你看看今天的 NdPr 需求增長市場，當前的高增長領域是什麼，當然，還有其他一些領域，但在電動汽車中和風力渦輪機。今天只佔總需求的 20% 以下，其餘的是一般汽車或消費電子產品或其他一些標準的東西。

And so that other 80% might be -- some of it will be much more volatile impacted by the economy in the short term. But then if you think about the 20%, and I think many have heard me say this before, but if you think about that 20% that is the ultra-high growth, growing -- compounding at, say, 30% a year or whatever. As you look out a decade from now, just those areas get you to maybe 3x the market in 15 years from now or so.

因此，其他 80% 可能 - 其中一些將在短期內受到經濟的影響更加不穩定。但是如果你想想 20%，我想很多人以前聽過我說過，但是如果你想想那 20% 那是超高的增長，增長——比方說，每年 30% 或任何。展望 10 年後，僅這些領域就能讓您在 15 年左右的時間內將市場規模擴大 3 倍。

That today, let alone the fact that, that other 80% that's kind of like a GDP influence area also may have some other areas that are high growth like robotics or power tools or so again, my guess is that the very short term is that we've sort of seen a very weird Chinese opening and sort of general malaise in the economy. But the areas of growth that we think are critical for long-term pricing and even by long term, I mean just a couple of years out, or through all of this we're growing extraordinary. And so we feel really confident that that's a great trend for us.

今天，更不用說其他 80% 有點像 GDP 影響的領域也可能有一些其他高增長的領域，比如機器人或電動工具等等，我的猜測是非常短期的是我們看到了一種非常奇怪的中國經濟開放和經濟普遍萎靡不振。但我們認為對長期定價至關重要的增長領域，甚至從長期來看，我的意思是僅僅幾年之後，或者通過所有這一切，我們正在變得非凡。因此，我們非常有信心這對我們來說是一個很好的趨勢。

The next question comes from the line of Carlos De Alba with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自 Carlos De Alba 與摩根士丹利的對話。

Congrats on the progress. A couple of questions. Just coming back to the Sumitomo agreement, is there any color that you can give regarding, is this agreement take or pay? Are there any specific volumes attached to the deal? Any color that you can provide there would be useful.

祝賀進步。幾個問題。剛剛回到住友協議，關於這個協議是拿還是付，你有什麼可以給出的顏色嗎？該交易是否有任何特定的數量？您可以在那裡提供的任何顏色都會很有用。

And then, my second question, it is around CapEx. So $300 million guidance for this year, similar to 2022. I think I remember you mentioning that $700 million was a comprehensive CapEx that you saw for Stage 2 and Stage 3. How do you see then the overall $700 million balance, it still remains in place? Or has there been any shift on that number?

然後，我的第二個問題是關於資本支出的。所以今年 3 億美元的指導，類似於 2022 年。我想我記得你提到過 7 億美元是你在第二階段和第三階段看到的綜合資本支出。那麼你如何看待 7 億美元的總體餘額，它仍然存在地方？或者這個數字有任何變化嗎？

Carlos, it's Ryan. I can probably hit both of those quickly. In terms of the Sumitomo agreement, this is a pretty standard type of distribution agreement. And so volumes and pricing is going to be market-based in consultation with our end customers. As I talked about, clearly, there's a desire and need for incremental volumes and diversity in Japanese sourcing. So we are confident there's a fair amount of demand for our upsides there. .

卡洛斯，是瑞安。我可能可以快速擊中這兩個。就住友協議而言，這是一種相當標準的分銷協議。因此，在與我們的最終客戶協商後，數量和定價將以市場為基礎。正如我所說，很明顯，日本採購中存在增加數量和多樣性的願望和需求。因此，我們相信那裡對我們的優勢有相當大的需求。 .

And so ultimately, as I think you're probably referencing some of our existing distribution agreements, ultimately, over time, we're going to have different contract terms and contract types. And so ultimately, that's the most efficient way for us to sell into the Japanese market at this point. As it relates to your CapEx question, what I would say there is in terms of the overall $700 million guide, which you are right, that was an all-in number thinking about the completion of Stage 2, bringing online the Fort Worth facility as well as the heavy rare earth separation facility at Mountain Pass.

所以最終，正如我認為你可能會參考我們現有的一些分銷協議，最終，隨著時間的推移，我們將有不同的合同條款和合同類型。所以最終，這是我們目前向日本市場銷售的最有效方式。關於你的資本支出問題，我想說的是，就 7 億美元的總體指導而言，你是對的，這是一個考慮完成第 2 階段的全部數字，將沃思堡設施上線作為以及芒廷帕斯的重稀土分離設施。

And so if you take that $700 million that we guided you to, I guess, almost exactly a year ago, I would say, in terms of what we see in those projects, other than sort of the normal inflation that I think everybody has seen from materials and things like that, there are no material departures from that guidance. So we still feel good about that number. And so you saw that of the CapEx we reported this year, about $308 million was growth capital for this year. We're talking about another $300 million in 2023. And so we continue to expect to be on track with the investment program that we communicated to you guys.

因此，如果你拿走我們指導你的那 7 億美元，我想，差不多就在一年前，我想說，就我們在這些項目中看到的情況而言，除了我認為每個人都看到的正常通貨膨脹之外從材料和類似的東西來看，沒有實質性偏離該指導。所以我們仍然對這個數字感覺良好。所以你看到了我們今年報告的資本支出，大約 3.08 億美元是今年的增長資本。我們正在談論 2023 年的另外 3 億美元。因此，我們繼續期望我們與你們溝通的投資計劃走上正軌。

The next question comes from the line of George Gianarikas with Canaccord.

下一個問題來自 George Gianarikas 與 Canaccord 的對話。

So recently, China, according to certain press reports has begun restricting the export of several technologies related to, NdFeB magnet production and rare earth refining. And I'm curious as to whether you think that will impact your ability to make magnets here in the United States.

因此最近，根據某些媒體報導，中國已開始限制與 NdFeB 磁體生產和稀土精煉相關的多項技術的出口。我很好奇您是否認為這會影響您在美國製造磁鐵的能力。

Sure. George, so no, we don't think that will impact our ability at all. We've been focused on this mission for quite some time. You certainly see the pictures of where we're at, and we have a long way to go, but we've got a really incredible team. And I think if anything, it just speaks to the importance of what we're up to and how important it is to have diversity in the supply chain for no other reason in that single point of failure risk. But to directly answer your question, there's no specific magnetic technology that we're counting on out of China or anything like that. So it should have no impact on us.

當然。喬治，所以不，我們認為這根本不會影響我們的能力。我們專注於這項任務已經有一段時間了。你肯定會看到我們所處位置的照片，我們還有很長的路要走，但我們擁有一支非常棒的團隊。而且我認為，如果有的話，它只是說明了我們所做的事情的重要性，以及在單點故障風險中出於其他原因在供應鏈中保持多樣性的重要性。但要直接回答你的問題，我們沒有指望中國或類似的特定磁性技術。所以應該對我們沒有影響。

And as a follow-up here, I'm sure you've noticed that there have been it seems like every day, there's an announcement of some OEM or some larger company taking a stake in or outright buying mines related to lithium or other metals. And I'm curious as to why you think we haven't seen that flurry yet when it comes to rare earth material and whether you think that's possibly on the comment. And I will give you some credit here that this is something that you talked about over the last couple of years is happening and it's finally here, but we haven't really quite seen an impact of your sector yet. Any thoughts there will be appreciated.

作為這裡的後續行動，我相信你已經註意到似乎每天都有一些 OEM 或一些更大的公司宣布入股或直接購買與鋰或其他金屬相關的礦山.我很好奇為什麼你認為我們在稀土材料方面還沒有看到那股熱潮，以及你是否認為這可能在評論中。我會在這裡給你一些信任，這是你在過去幾年裡談論的事情正在發生，它終於來了，但我們還沒有真正看到你所在行業的影響。任何想法都會受到讚賞。

Yes, sure. Great question. I mean, as you know, I've kind of been talking about this for a while, what I call the AOL-Time Warner moment of the auto supply chain where people realize that these worlds need to collide. I think it's still early innings. So when you say it's here, I mean, I think that this is sort of a just beginning process. I would argue, as far as rare earths, I mean, the practical reality is that there aren't that many parties out there. Lithium is pretty widespread around the globe. So our copper, nickel, some of the other commodities that you might think about. But with rare earth, you know who the key players are. And I think we executed our definitive agreement with GM about a year ago. And so certainly, GM is now -- has recognized the space and it's very early. And as I've said repeatedly, we've had conversations with lots of OEMs. Our deal is not exclusive, and we expect to build a bigger, broader magnetics business.

是的，當然。很好的問題。我的意思是，正如你所知，我已經談論了一段時間，我稱之為汽車供應鏈的 AOL-Time Warner 時刻，人們意識到這些世界需要碰撞。我認為這還為時過早。所以當你說它在這裡時，我的意思是，我認為這是一個剛剛開始的過程。我會爭辯說，就稀土而言，我的意思是，實際情況是那裡沒有那麼多派對。鋰在全球範圍內非常普遍。所以我們的銅、鎳，以及您可能會想到的其他一些商品。但對於稀土，你知道關鍵人物是誰。我認為大約一年前我們與通用汽車簽署了最終協議。所以可以肯定的是，通用汽車現在 - 已經認識到這個空間而且還很早。正如我反复說過的那樣，我們已經與許多原始設備製造商進行了對話。我們的交易不是排他性的，我們希望建立更大、更廣泛的磁性業務。

So I think the answer to your question is it has touched the rare side. I think what's a little bit unique about us is that we have a remarkable asset that we are cash flowing today. So in some of these other deals, you have essentially greenfield sites that need a lot of financing. They need to get potentially government capital, other equity capital. And so some of the deals that you may see are offtake/financing type deals, and every deal is going to look different. But so for ours, we're obviously very proud and excited of the deal we have with GM.

所以我認為你的問題的答案是它觸及了罕見的一面。我認為我們的獨特之處在於我們擁有一項非凡的資產，即我們今天的現金流。因此，在其他一些交易中，您基本上擁有需要大量融資的綠地。他們需要獲得潛在的政府資本和其他股權資本。因此，您可能會看到一些交易是承購/融資類型的交易，每筆交易看起來都會有所不同。但對我們來說，我們顯然對與通用汽車達成的交易感到非常自豪和興奮。

And I think you'll see a ton of -- a big variety of deals in this space. And yes, certainly, you're seeing some of the same rumors that we're seeing. But I think all roads lead to -- it speaks to the value of the franchise that we're building. So we're obviously excited to see all that. And obviously, it feels really good to have predicted something happening and seeing it come true. And I'll continue by saying that I just -- I think that you're going to see a lot more of that.

而且我認為你會在這個領域看到大量 - 各種各樣的交易。是的，當然，你看到的一些謠言和我們看到的一樣。但我認為條條大路通——這說明了我們正在建立的特許經營權的價值。所以我們顯然很高興看到這一切。顯然，預測某事發生並看到它成真感覺真的很棒。我會繼續說我只是 - 我認為你會看到更多這樣的事情。

The next question comes from the line of Ben Kallo with Baird.

下一個問題來自 Ben Kallo 與 Baird 的對話。

Along the same lines that I just -- Jim, I guess, for you. How do you think about offtake agreements? I know that you guys want to maximize the value before signing offtake agreements. But just with the volatility you saw this year and all the OEMs coming in, you're locking up lithium or other materials. Has anything changed in your view on the long-term agreements?

沿著我剛才——吉姆，我想，對你的同樣的思路。您如何看待承購協議？我知道你們希望在簽署承購協議之前最大化價值。但就在今年你看到的波動和所有原始設備製造商的加入，你正在鎖定鋰或其他材料。您對長期協議的看法有什麼變化嗎？

Sure, Ben. I think it connects into -- and I think I can expand on what I was saying a little earlier. But offtake, there's a variety of offtake agreements. And so I think some of the recent deals you might be seeing, it's always hard to tell what component of that offtake is a financing versus what component of that offtake is just offtake, right? And I think the good thing about the strong position that we're in with the fortress balance sheet that we have is that we don't need to view offtakes as any form of financing, right? We can be totally agnostic as far as that goes, we can look at in offtake or any kind of structure as what is the highest return maximizing value option for shareholders.

當然，本。我認為它連接到 - 我想我可以擴展我之前所說的內容。但是承購，有各種各樣的承購協議。因此，我認為您可能會看到最近的一些交易，總是很難區分承購的哪些部分是融資，哪些部分只是承購，對吧？而且我認為我們擁有的堡壘資產負債表所處的強勢地位的好處是我們不需要將承購視為任何形式的融資，對吧？就此而言，我們可以完全不可知，我們可以將承購或任何類型的結構視為股東回報最大化的最高價值選擇。

And so as I've said from the very beginning, we'll continue to do that. And we're in a really good position. And I think, particularly in our space, and maybe I should have touched on this earlier, but we'll -- because of the platform that we have, I do think -- and maybe it's a little early but maybe not. We're going to have some exciting opportunities, given our platform to be in situations where maybe sort of earlier expectations of things didn't work out so much and we can kind of come in and provide solutions.

因此，正如我從一開始就說過的，我們將繼續這樣做。我們處於一個非常好的位置。我認為，特別是在我們的領域，也許我應該早點談到這一點，但我們會——因為我們擁有的平台，我確實認為——也許有點早，但也許不會。我們將有一些令人興奮的機會，因為我們的平台所處的情況可能是早期對事情的期望並沒有那麼成功，我們可以介入並提供解決方案。

And so I think that's sort of an exciting opportunity for us, but we're seeing such an early stage of growth in the space that who knows. But I would also just say, obviously, I kind of say this repeatedly, and I appreciate that, but we'll -- we're not going to telegraph those before they happen. So if we do something, you'll see it announced, we're not going to sort of say, hey, we're pursuing this offtake or that offtake or whatever, we're going to -- you can imagine behind the teams we're having conversations, and trying to do the best that we can do to create value. And it's exciting.

所以我認為這對我們來說是一個令人興奮的機會，但我們正在看到誰知道這個領域的早期增長階段。但我也只想說，很明顯，我反复說了這一點，我很感激，但我們會——我們不會在它們發生之前就發出電報。因此，如果我們做某事，你會看到它的宣布，我們不會說，嘿，我們正在追求這種承購或那種承購或其他任何方式，我們將 - 你可以想像團隊背後我們正在進行對話，並儘我們所能創造價值。這很令人興奮。

And Michael, you mentioned the lead team a couple of times, but if we think about the flow chart from the dry roasting to separation that leads in between, I think, is there one more difficult step than other? I think you said this in your opening statement there, but I think separation gets people tripped up. Is that wrong? Or what do you worry about most, I guess.

邁克爾，你多次提到領導團隊，但如果我們考慮從乾烤到分離的流程圖，我認為，有沒有比其他步驟更困難的步驟？我想你在開場白中說過這個，但我認為分離會讓人們被絆倒。那是錯的嗎？或者你最擔心什麼，我猜。

I think, It's important that we do the leaching right if we want the other parts to be stable. But I don't think I would say one part is easier than another. Obviously, they all ultimately have to work the way we need them to, we're optimistic about all. We're very excited to be proceeding with leach the way we think it should be.

我認為，如果我們希望其他部分保持穩定，那麼我們正確地進行浸出很重要。但我不認為我會說一部分比另一部分更容易。顯然，他們最終都必須按照我們需要的方式工作，我們對所有人都持樂觀態度。我們很高興能夠按照我們認為應該的方式進行浸出。

The next question comes from the line of Lawson Winder with Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Lawson Winder。

Nice quarter. Maybe just one question for me. The research center. I mean, developing a cutting-edge magnets research center in Fort Worth, in a matter of years sounds very, very exciting and also potentially very expensive. Maybe you could give us an idea of what like the annual run rate cost of running a cutting-edge research center would be? And then, are there challenges in the staffing side?

不錯的季度。也許對我來說只有一個問題。研究中心。我的意思是，在沃思堡建立一個尖端的磁鐵研究中心，在幾年內聽起來非常非常令人興奮，而且可能非常昂貴。也許您可以告訴我們運營尖端研究中心的年運行成本是多少？然後，人員配備方面是否存在挑戰？

Sure. Well, the good news is there's nobody positioned really in the Western world, really outside of China to lead in this effort. So unlike a lot of areas that might be sort of more competitive out there in the world, given our set of assets. We have that unique position where we can, as I like to say, talent begets talent, scale begets scale, we're sort of in the early days of this. And so it's an extraordinary opportunity.

當然。嗯，好消息是，在西方世界，在中國之外，沒有人能真正領導這項工作。因此，考慮到我們的資產，與世界上許多可能更具競爭力的地區不同。正如我想說的，我們擁有獨特的地位，人才會產生人才，規模會產生規模，我們還處於早期階段。所以這是一個難得的機會。

As far as where the -- getting the talent, I mean, the good news is if you're in metallurgy or magnetics, MP is the place to be, right? We had a lot of talent that's reached out to us. We've brought some incredible talent on board. We'll continue to do that.

至於在哪裡——獲得人才，我的意思是，好消息是如果你從事冶金或磁學，MP 就是你要去的地方，對吧？我們有很多人才接觸到我們。我們帶來了一些不可思議的人才。我們將繼續這樣做。

And lastly, what I would say is, I mean, with this cost, it is nothing compared to the opportunity. And I hope that we've at least earned the right to have you believe us when we say that we are maniacally focused on shareholder value. And we're not looking for a research project. We're looking to create a magnetics champion. And so everything that we do is geared towards that. And when we think about research, these are not -- this is not like a think tank.

最後，我要說的是，我的意思是，有了這個成本，與機會相比，這算不了什麼。我希望當我們說我們瘋狂地關注股東價值時，我們至少贏得了讓您相信我們的權利。我們不是在尋找研究項目。我們正在尋求創造一個磁學冠軍。因此，我們所做的一切都是為了實現這一目標。當我們考慮研究時，這些不是——這不像智囊團。

This is research oriented towards creating a franchise that's going to be enormously valuable in the decades to come. So it's a great question because we do ask ourselves that question. Every person that we hire, every penny that we spend, but it is a commercially focused resource organization. And I'm very confident that, over time, will yield extraordinary returns from that investment. But it may take some time, right? This is very long lead stuff. And so you'll -- those impacts are in the company today, they'll be in the company in the near term, but I'm very comfortable that they're going to pay off in many, many multiples and be -- we'll be glad we did it.

這項研究旨在創造一個在未來幾十年將具有巨大價值的特許經營權。所以這是一個很好的問題，因為我們確實問過自己這個問題。我們僱傭的每一個人，我們花的每一分錢，但它是一個以商業為中心的資源組織。而且我非常有信心，隨著時間的推移，將從這項投資中獲得非凡的回報。但這可能需要一些時間，對吧？這是很長的鉛的東西。所以你會 - 這些影響今天在公司裡，他們會在短期內在公司裡，但我很高興他們會以很多很多倍的方式得到回報並且是 -我們會很高興我們做到了。

The next question comes from the line of Abhi Sinha with North Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 Abhi Sinha 與 North Capital Markets 的對話。

I think Ryan touched upon this, and I apologize if I missed it. I just wanted to get the production cost in terms of dollar per ton, the $1,928 figure, how should we think about like how keep up as we move on 2023 as you get better efficient CHP or how should that flow? And what should we be looking at the run rate for the production cost as we move forward?

我想 Ryan 提到了這一點，如果我錯過了，我深表歉意。我只是想獲得以每噸美元為單位的生產成本，即 1,928 美元的數字，我們應該如何考慮如何跟上 2023 年的步伐，因為您將獲得更高效的熱電聯產，或者應該如何流動？在我們前進的過程中，我們應該如何看待生產成本的運行率？

Yes. Sure, Abhi. What I would say is, we don't provide specific forward-looking guidance, but just to give you some color on what's in that number. So looking at the reported metric that you mentioned a moment ago, the largest drivers there, as you'd expect, are costs related to Stage 2 that find their way into COGS even at this point before we're producing. And so for example, certain personnel expenses as we build the team, you mentioned at the combined heat and power plant that is running suboptimally until we've got the full Stage 2 power draw.

是的。當然，阿比。我要說的是，我們不提供具體的前瞻性指導，只是為了讓您了解該數字中的內容。因此，看看您剛才提到的報告指標，正如您所料，那裡最大的驅動因素是與第 2 階段相關的成本，即使在我們生產之前的這一點，它們也會進入 COGS。因此，例如，在我們建立團隊時的某些人事費用，你提到的熱電聯產廠運行不佳，直到我們獲得完整的第 2 階段電力消耗。

But one of the things we talked a little bit about last quarter was our gas hedge position and a significant portion of that did not come into effect until January 1. So we were exposed on some gas prices and California gas prices with all the weather there, for a good portion of our burn in Q4. And so that had an impact that we don't expect to repeat. I guess, pulling the onion back a little bit more and just trying to pull out the cost that I just mentioned that are not related to Stage 1.

但我們上個季度談到的其中一件事是我們的天然氣對沖頭寸，其中很大一部分直到 1 月 1 日才生效。所以我們受到一些天然氣價格和加州天然氣價格的影響，那裡的所有天氣，這是我們在第四季度燒錢的很大一部分。因此，這產生了我們不希望重複的影響。我想，把洋蔥拉回來一點，只是想拉出我剛才提到的與第一階段無關的成本。

The Stage 1 stand-alone costs were closer to $1,600 in the quarter, a little bit higher than what we normally see in the $1,400, $1,500 range and that was predominantly due to 2 items that showed up in the quarter. Firstly, an impact from just really timing of maintenance. As we've talked about, we take our biannual plant shutdown in the fourth quarter. And in addition, in this fourth quarter, we incurred some costs in relation to maintenance activities on our crushing facilities as well as our mining fleet. And so those just kind of happened to hit all at once with enough scale to kind of be noticeable in the quarter. But when you look at the frequency and scale of these events over time, the cost burden of those are generally captured and what is kind of our more normal run rate cost.

第一階段的獨立成本在本季度接近 1,600 美元，略高於我們通常看到的 1,400 美元、1,500 美元範圍內的成本，這主要是由於本季度出現了 2 個項目。首先，來自真正的維護時間的影響。正如我們所談到的，我們在第四季度關閉了一年兩次的工廠。此外，在第四季度，我們在破碎設施和採礦車隊的維護活動中產生了一些成本。因此，那些碰巧以足夠大的規模同時受到衝擊，在本季度引起了人們的注意。但是，當您隨著時間的推移查看這些事件的頻率和規模時，通常會捕獲這些事件的成本負擔，以及我們更正常的運行率成本是什麼樣的。

So if you look at the adjusted Stage 1 only cost growth year-over-year over the course of the whole year, which is in that mid-single-digit range. I think that is much more representative of the Stage 1 business. But as I mentioned, of course, the cost related to Stage 2, as we get closer to Stage 2 ramping, we'll continue to pick up a bit as we bring new heads on board, new maintenance team members and things like that. So hopefully, that gives you some color on the moving parts than what you expect.

因此，如果您查看調整後的第一階段，全年成本僅同比增長，處於中等個位數範圍內。我認為這更能代表第一階段的業務。但是，正如我提到的，當然，與第 2 階段相關的成本，隨著我們接近第 2 階段的爬坡，我們將繼續增加一些，因為我們會帶來新的負責人、新的維護團隊成員和類似的東西。所以希望這能給你一些運動部件的顏色，而不是你所期望的。

Sure. And then just one more, if I could. You talked about in terms of production volumes. That was like being adversely impacted by some lower feed grade and mineral recoveries, I just wanted to get some color on that, if you could elaborate like where you're getting lower feed grade and mineral recoveries. What's about that?

當然。然後再來一個，如果可以的話。你談到了產量。這就像受到一些較低的飼料品位和礦物回收率的不利影響，我只是想對此有所了解，如果你能詳細說明你在哪裡獲得較低的飼料品位和礦物回收率。那是怎麼回事？

Yes. I think maybe you might have misheard part of that. What we saw in the quarter actually was slightly lower feed grade but improvements in mineral recoveries. And so I would say when you put all of the moving pieces together Obviously, looking at the results, there was not really a meaningful or material change from our overall sort of production cadence.

是的。我想也許你可能聽錯了其中的一部分。我們在本季度看到的實際上是飼料品位略低，但礦物回收率有所提高。所以我想說，當你把所有移動的部分放在一起時，顯然，從結果來看，我們的整體生產節奏並沒有真正有意義或實質性的變化。

And so, we don't expect anything particularly material to change here over the next year or so. Michael gave a nice idea of the various items we have in the hopper, hopefully tackle mineral recovery and improve what we believe it certainly won't pass levels over time, but nothing really material to report there.

因此，我們預計在未來一年左右不會有任何特別重大的變化。邁克爾對我們在料斗中擁有的各種物品提出了一個很好的想法，希望解決礦物回收問題並改進我們認為它肯定不會隨著時間的推移而通過水平的東西，但沒有什麼真正重要的報告。

The last question is from the line of Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

最後一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Laurence Alexander。

Just a couple. One is, can you talk a little bit about how you expect staffing to evolve over the course of this year and then over the next few years and where that would take your SG&A to once you have the magnet production up and running, once you finish the vertical integration?

只是一對。一是，你能談談你期望員工配置在今年和未來幾年內如何發展，一旦你的磁鐵生產開始運行，一旦你完成，你的 SG&A 將帶到哪裡垂直整合？

And secondly, as you've been discussing with various customers about to move into magnet production, is the expectation or the baseline for discussion about any potential agreements that you would have a return on capital at current magnet prices or (technical difficulty) the current market to get an adequate return on the capital you will be investing?

其次，正如您一直在與即將進入磁鐵生產的各種客戶討論的那樣，討論任何潛在協議的期望或基準是您將以當前磁鐵價格或（技術難度）當前的資本回報率市場以獲得足夠的投資回報？

Sure. I can take that. So in terms of the growth in staffing, I wouldn't attribute all the growth in staffing certainly to SG&A. What I would say is that a significant portion of the staffing that we expect to bring online for Stage 3 as we get closer to production, we'll eventually find a way in production cost. In the early days, there'll be -- they won't find their way into COGS. But to give rough numbers, in hiring plans at Stage 2. So at Mountain Pass, we'll probably bring another 60 to 75 people on board over the next year for Stage 3, it will probably be shy of 100 incremental folks. So hopefully, that gives you just a rough sense, but I would just caution on sort of attributing all of that to one particular line item in the P&L. On your second question, Jim, do you want to start off on that one?

當然。我可以接受。因此，就人員配置的增長而言，我不會將人員配置的所有增長都歸因於 SG&A。我要說的是，隨著我們接近生產，我們希望為第 3 階段帶來的很大一部分人員配置，我們最終會找到降低生產成本的方法。在早期，會有——他們不會找到進入 COGS 的方式。但是，在第 2 階段的招聘計劃中給出粗略的數字。因此，在 Mountain Pass，我們可能會在明年為第 3 階段再招募 60 到 75 人，可能會增加 100 人。所以希望這能給你一個粗略的感覺，但我只是提醒你不要將所有這些都歸因於損益表中的一個特定行項目。關於你的第二個問題，吉姆，你想從那個開始嗎？

Yes, sure. Laurence, point blank, and very clearly, we have said consistently over time that we look at the Stage 2 and 3 businesses as separate businesses that certainly benefit that we're on the same platform, but that we have to make sure that incremental investment has a very attractive risk-adjusted return on capital. And so we have no interest in shifting money from the Stage 2 business to the Stage 3 business and lose capital as I like to say, we're not going to rob Peter to pay Paul. .

是的，當然。勞倫斯，直截了當，非常清楚，隨著時間的推移，我們一直在說，我們將第 2 階段和第 3 階段的業務視為獨立的業務，這肯定會使我們在同一平台上受益，但我們必須確保增量投資具有非常有吸引力的風險調整後資本回報率。因此，我們沒有興趣將資金從第 2 階段業務轉移到第 3 階段業務並損失資本，正如我想說的那樣，我們不會搶劫彼得支付保羅。 .

What is great about our platform, though, is that it does allow us to think holistically about the verticals. And ultimately, where and how we choose to structure whatever deals may be, we're going to think about the fact the baseline of, okay, well, we have a commodity in Stage 2 that we can sell at a market price, how should we think about this incremental opportunity? And if that incremental opportunity is attractive, that is how we're going to think about it.

不過，我們平台的優點在於它確實允許我們從整體上考慮垂直領域。最終，我們選擇在哪里以及如何構建任何交易，我們將考慮這樣一個事實，好吧，好吧，我們在第 2 階段有一種商品，我們可以以市場價格出售，應該如何我們考慮這個增量機會？如果這種增量機會很有吸引力，那就是我們要考慮的方式。

So I want to reiterate that, that is of the utmost importance to us because we -- as you've heard me say, we think like owners, we're large shareholders. So we want to make sure that any growth in the business is driving value. We're not in it for charity.

所以我想重申，這對我們來說至關重要，因為我們 - 正如你聽到我說的那樣，我們像所有者一樣思考，我們是大股東。因此，我們希望確保業務的任何增長都在推動價值。我們不是為了慈善。

Thank you. I will now hand it back to the management team for closing remarks.

謝謝。我現在將把它交還給管理團隊作結束語。

Yes. All right. Well, thank you, everyone. Congrats to the team, it's a great quarter and a great start to the year, and we will get back to work. So have a great night, everyone.

是的。好的。嗯，謝謝大家。祝賀團隊，這是一個很棒的季度，也是今年的一個很好的開始，我們將重新開始工作。祝大家度過一個愉快的夜晚。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。謝謝。您現在可以斷開線路。