MP Materials Corp (MP) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. Thank you for attending the MP Materials First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call and Webcast. My name is Victoria, and I'll be your moderator today. (Operator Instructions)

午安.感謝您參加 MP Materials 2024 年第一季財報電話會議和網路廣播。我叫維多利亞，今天我將擔任你們的主持人。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to pass the conference over to your host, Martin Sheehan, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you. You can proceed Martin.

現在我想將會議交給東道主投資者關係主管馬丁希恩 (Martin Sheehan)。謝謝。你可以繼續馬丁。

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the MP Materials First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call.

謝謝接線員，大家下午好。歡迎參加 MP Materials 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。

With me today from MP Materials are James Litinsky, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Michael Rosenthal, Founder and Chief Operating Officer; and Ryan Corbett, Chief Financial Officer.

今天和我在一起的是 MP Materials 的創辦人、董事長兼執行長 James Litinsky；麥可‧羅森塔爾，創辦人兼營運長；瑞安‧科貝特 (Ryan Corbett)，財務長。

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.

提醒一下，今天的討論將包含與未來事件和預期相關的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到各種假設和警告的影響。可能導致公司實際結果與這些聲明有重大差異的因素包含在今天的簡報、收益發布和我們向 SEC 提交的文件中。

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 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.

此外，我們也在本簡報中納入了一些非公認會計準則財務指標。與最直接可比較的公認會計準則財務指標的調節可以在今天的收益發布和今天幻燈片演示的附錄中找到。我們今天討論中提及的 EBITDA 均指調整後的 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?

這樣，我就把電話轉給吉姆。吉姆？

Thanks, Martin. Hello, everyone. As is our usual program, I will open by covering some year-to-date highlights. Ryan will then go through our financial performance and operating KPIs. Michael will follow that with an overview and updates on Mountain Pass operations. And I will then come back with some closing remarks before Q&A.

謝謝，馬丁。大家好。按照我們通常的計劃，我將首先介紹一些今年迄今為止的亮點。然後，瑞安將檢查我們的財務表現和營運關鍵績效指標。隨後，邁克爾將概述帕斯山運營情況並提供最新情況。然後我將在問答之前發表一些結束語。

So let's start on Slide 4. As Michael hinted at on our fourth quarter call, our concentrate production in the first quarter was outstanding. We produced the second highest tonnage of REO in Mountain Pass history. Plant uptime was at near record levels. This was a particularly impressive quarter of upstream execution given that we are operating with the backdrop of continued downstream optimization and site expansion efforts.

讓我們從幻燈片 4 開始。我們生產的 REO 噸位是帕斯山歷史上第二高的。工廠正常運作時間接近歷史最高水準。鑑於我們在持續下游優化和站點擴張工作的背景下運營，這是上游執行特別令人印象深刻的一個季度。

As discussed in detail last quarter, we are tactically managing our refining ramp in light of the market environment. We are focused on near-term cash flow optimization, while we position for maximum long-term profitability. Consequently, record-level production this quarter meant strong concentrate sales.

正如上季詳細討論的那樣，我們正在根據市場環境戰術性地管理我們的煉油產能。我們專注於短期現金流優化，同時我們的目標是實現最大的長期獲利能力。因此，本季創紀錄的產量意味著強勁的精礦銷售。

In addition, the team continued to advance projects on Upstream 60K. Our effort to increase Mountain Pass upstream output by approximately 50% over the next 4 years, with modest levels of incremental investment. We expect this to create significant value for shareholders over time, and we are very pleased with what we are seeing so far in this execution journey.

此外，該團隊也持續推進 Upstream 60K 專案。我們努力在未來 4 年內以適度的增量投資將帕斯山上游產量增加約 50%。我們希望隨著時間的推移，這將為股東創造巨大的價值，我們對迄今為止在執行過程中所看到的結果感到非常滿意。

Moving to the midstream. We made our first NDPR metal sales out of Vietnam in the quarter, with most of that going to our Japanese partners through our Sumitomo relationship. We are steadily expanding our ex-China customer base. With initial deliveries of NdPr oxide and metal to these new customers, we are building trust as a reliable supplier of on-spec separated products. We expect these sales to ramp significantly as we support growing downstream demand outside of China.

移至中游。本季度，我們在越南實現了首次 NDPR 金屬銷售，其中大部分透過住友關係銷往我們的日本合作夥伴。我們正穩步擴大中國以外的客戶群。透過向這些新客戶首次交付 NdPr 氧化物和金屬，我們正在建立作為符合規格分離產品的可靠供應商的信任。隨著我們支持中國以外不斷增長的下游需求，我們預計這些銷售額將大幅增加。

And of course, as Michael laid out in February, and we'll discuss in more detail in a minute, we are making solid headway on dialing in process conditions and implementing important improvements to optimize production and reduce costs in our separations business which we expect will allow us to make step change improvements in output in the back half of the year.

當然，正如邁克爾在二月份所闡述的那樣（我們將在一分鐘內更詳細地討論），我們在調整工藝條件和實施重要改進以優化生產和降低分離業務成本方面取得了堅實的進展，這是我們所期望的將使我們能夠在今年下半年逐步提高產量。

Moving on to our downstream magnetics business. We made tremendous progress in the quarter. I am very pleased to announce that the initial 1,000 metric ton design capacity of Fort Worth is fully committed. We have a lot of execution to do but this is certainly a major milestone in the development of the business and is risk reducing from a financial standpoint.

繼續我們的下游磁性業務。我們在本季取得了巨大進展。我非常高興地宣布，沃斯堡最初的 1,000 噸設計產能已全部投入使用。我們還有很多執行工作要做，但這無疑是業務發展的一個重要里程碑，並且從財務角度來看可以降低風險。

As far as operations, we successfully completed a commercial-scale North American electrowinning pilot with exciting results. We advanced installation and commissioning activities of magnet precursor materials in Fort Worth. In addition, we began commissioning our magnet prototyping line, which, by the way, is quite a scaled operation relative to anything in the Western world. This is critical as we expect Fort Worth to be the IP generation and operational know-how center for a powerhouse, global manufacturer of scale.

就營運而言，我們成功完成了北美商業規模的電積試點，並取得了令人興奮的成果。我們在沃斯堡推進了磁體前驅材料的安裝和調試活動。此外，我們開始調試我們的磁鐵原型生產線，順便說一句，相對於西方世界的任何東西來說，這是一個相當規模的操作。這一點至關重要，因為我們期望沃斯堡成為強大的全球規模製造商的智慧財產權產生和營運技術中心。

What we are building now is important. Finished magnets are very much an engineered product, and there are a variety of market verticals. In addition to a wide range of standard magnet grades, each end magnet customer has its own requirement for performance, form factor, shape, coating and heat resistance. Our pilot line allows us using smaller scale equipment similar to our commercial scale and often manufactured by the same vendors to prototype specific magnets for customer qualification and process optimization.

我們現在正在建造的東西很重要。磁鐵成品在很大程度上是一種工程產品，並且有多種垂直市場。除了各種標準磁鐵牌號外，每個終端磁鐵客戶對性能、外形尺寸、形狀、塗層和耐熱性都有自己的要求。我們的試驗線允許我們使用與商業規模相似且通常由同一供應商製造的較小規模設備來製作特定磁鐵的原型，以進行客戶資格認證和流程最佳化。

This really matters for long-term use cases beyond just scaling up for the EV hybrid, wind turbine or HVAC growth opportunities. Vast commercial and national security use cases such as humanoid robotics and drones are going to need suppliers who can be more of a partner with scale instead of solely sourcing with mass subsidized mercantilist manufacturers with competing priorities to say the least.

這對於長期使用案例確實很重要，而不僅僅是擴大電動混合動力、風力渦輪機或暖通空調的成長機會。人形機器人和無人機等龐大的商業和國家安全用例將需要供應商成為規模更大的合作夥伴，而不是僅僅向大規模補貼的重商主義製造商採購，至少可以說，這些製造商具有競爭的優先事項。

But as we set up this business, we will be maniacal about sources and uses and overall capital return and efficiency. We have to be thoughtful about how we manage risk and what are the right approaches to take to scale.

但當我們建立這項業務時，我們將對來源和用途以及整體資本回報和效率感到瘋狂。我們必須認真思考如何管理風險以及擴大規模的正確方法。

In April, we received an initial $50 million prepayment for the manufacture and delivery of magnet precursor materials, which will begin later this year. We also recently announced a $58.5 million award of advanced energy project tax credits from the U.S. government, also known as the 48C tax credit program.

4 月份，我們收到了 5,000 萬美元的首期預付款，用於磁鐵前驅體材料的製造和交付，該專案將於今年稍後開始。我們最近也宣布美國政府提供 5,850 萬美元的高級能源專案稅收抵免，也稱為 48C 稅收抵免計劃。

It is important to note that the application process for this funding was incredibly competitive. We believe it was roughly 10x oversubscribed. Winning this award highlights the significance of our mission, the unique technical and commercial capabilities of our team and the high-impact nature of this project.

值得注意的是，這筆資金的申請過程非常具有競爭力。我們認為其超額認購量約為 10 倍。贏得該獎項突顯了我們使命的重要性、我們團隊獨特的技術和商業能力以及該專案的高影響力。

Lastly, many of you have heard me talk repeatedly about how much capital structure matters. Especially given the volatile nature of our industry and regardless of any short-term oriented shareholder pressure, we have been consistent in highlighting how much we recognize that thoughtful financial execution is key to our long-term success and value creation.

最後，你們很多人都聽過我反覆談論資本結構的重要性。特別是考慮到我們行業的波動性，並且無論股東有任何短期壓力，我們都始終強調我們認識到深思熟慮的財務執行是我們長期成功和價值創造的關鍵。

I have made clear that we would act methodically when we could do thoughtful things with material impact. Well, in March, we were able to be opportunistic in a substantial way across our capital structure. We issued a new $747.5 million 2030 convertible with a low 3% coupon. And in parallel, effectuated a capped call that set the economic equivalent conversion price at a 100% premium to the [then] share price. This computes to a 4.7% effective cost of debt capital MP through 2030 until our share price exceeds $31.

我已經明確表示，當我們能夠做一些深思熟慮並具有實質影響的事情時，我們會採取有條不紊的行動。嗯，在三月份，我們能夠在我們的資本結構中進行大量的機會主義。我們以 3% 的低息票發行了 7.475 億美元的新 2030 年可轉換債券。同時，實施了一項上限認購，將經濟等價轉換價格設定為比[當時]股價溢價100%。計算得出，到 2030 年，直到我們的股價超過 31 美元，債務資本有效成本為 4.7%。

We primarily utilized these proceeds to repurchase $480 million of our 2026 notes for about $0.89 on the dollar. And most importantly, bought back 7.3% of the company at a price we believe is heavily depressed relative to MP's intrinsic value. In addition, we have the added benefit of pushing the vast majority of our debt maturities out by a number of years to 2030.

我們主要利用這些收益以約 0.89 美元的價格回購 4.8 億美元的 2026 年票據。最重要的是，我們以相對 MP 的內在價值嚴重低估的價格回購了公司 7.3% 的股份。此外，我們還有一個額外的好處：將我們絕大多數債務的到期日推遲數年，直至 2030 年。

So in summary, we navigated another quarter of difficult down-cycle macro conditions in our industry with relentless execution, both operationally and financially. Material value creation is often recognized on a lag and I think this quarter will be appreciated by investors over time.

總而言之，我們透過在營運和財務方面的不懈執行，度過了業界又一個季度困難的下行週期宏觀環境。物質價值創造通常會滯後，我認為隨著時間的推移，本季將受到投資者的讚賞。

With that, I will turn it over to Ryan to go through our financial performance and KPIs. Ryan?

這樣，我會將其交給 Ryan 檢查我們的財務績效和 KPI。瑞安？

Thanks, Jim. Turning to Slide 6. I will walk through our operating metrics for Stage I on the left-hand side of the page and our Stage II metrics on the right.

謝謝，吉姆。轉向投影片 6。

In the Upstream business, we produced 11,151 metric tons of REO in concentrate in the quarter, a 4.5% increase over the last year and over 20% more than Q4 mainly due to near record uptimes and higher feed rates. This higher production, combined with our focus on efficiently increasing NdPr production, we discussed in detail last quarter, resulted in strong sales of REO and concentrate of 9,332 metric tons. This is down year-over-year as we consumed nearly 1/4 of our concentrate production for downstream operations versus last year when we had all of our concentrate production available for sale.

在上游業務中，本季我們生產了 11,151 噸 REO 精礦，比去年增長 4.5%，比第四季度增長超過 20%，這主要是由於接近創紀錄的正常運行時間和更高的進料率。產量的增加，加上我們對有效提高 NdPr 產量的關注（我們上季度詳細討論過），導致 REO 和精礦銷量強勁，達到 9,332 噸。這一數字同比下降，因為我們消耗了近 1/4 的精礦產量用於下游業務，而去年我們所有的精礦產量都可供出售。

Our realized price of REO in concentrate declined to $4,294 per metric ton due to the overall weak market pricing in rare earth materials. As we look at Q2, should prices hold in the mid-$50 per kilogram range for NdPr, we would expect pricing to be down mid-single-digit percentages sequentially as we deal with the slight lag in price realizations.

由於稀土材料市場定價整體疲軟，我們的 REO 精礦實現價格下降至每噸 4,294 美元。就我們第二季而言，如果 NdPr 價格保持在每公斤 50 美元中間的範圍內，我們預計價格將連續下降中個位數百分比，因為我們應對價格實現的輕微滯後。

Moving to the right side of the slide. As Michael mentioned in February, NdPr production volumes were roughly in line with our Q4 output at 131 metric tons. As we look at Q2, given some of the continued optimization steps we are taking here in April and May, even with our 1-week plant shutdown, which was just completed, we would expect NdPr production to roughly double in Q2. And as Jim stated, we would expect much more meaningful step-ups in production in the back half of the year, which Michael will discuss shortly.

移動到幻燈片的右側。正如 Michael 在 2 月所提到的，NdPr 產量與我們第四季的產量 131 噸大致一致。當我們看第二季度時，考慮到我們在 4 月和 5 月採取的一些持續優化措施，即使我們剛剛完成了為期 1 週的工廠停產，我們預計第二季度 NdPr 產量將大約翻一番。正如吉姆所說，我們預計今年下半年產量會出現更有意義的提升，邁克爾將很快討論這一點。

Looking at NdPr sales volumes. We sold 134 metric tons of NdPr on an oxide equivalent basis, mainly to customers in Japan. I would note that NdPr sales volumes will naturally lag production volumes as significant portions of our production are being toll processed into metal in Vietnam, as we've discussed in prior quarters. This is part of the working capital investment you see on our balance sheet as we scale this midstream business. The lag on any given unit of production, of course, depends on a variety of factors, but we generally are seeing at least 2 to 4 months as we continue to fill the tolling channel and convert production into sales.

查看 NdPr 銷量。我們以氧化物當量計銷售了 134 噸镨镨，主要銷往日本的客戶。我要指出的是，正如我們在前幾個季度所討論的那樣，镨镨的銷售自然會落後於產量，因為我們的大部分產量都在越南被加工成金屬。這是您在我們擴大中游業務時在資產負債表上看到的營運資本投資的一部分。當然，任何給定生產單位的延遲取決於多種因素，但隨著我們繼續填補​​收費管道並將產量轉化為銷售，我們通常會看到至少 2 到 4 個月的時間。

Lastly, on the far right, you'll see our realized price per kilogram of NdPr was $62, which, as we mentioned in February, exhibits a more notable lag to market prices than that of concentrate. With Q1 sales prices, primarily based off fourth quarter market indices. As such, we expect Q2's realized prices to decline approximately 20% of following the trend we saw in market prices for Q1 over Q4.

最後，在最右側，您會看到每公斤NdPr 的實際價格為62 美元，正如我們在2 月提到的，與精礦價格相比，該價格與市場價格相比表現出更明顯的滯後。第一季的銷售價格主要基於第四季的市場指數。因此，我們預計第二季的實際價格將比第四季的第一季市場價格趨勢下降約 20%。

Turning to Slide 7. Revenues declined from last year to $48.7 million driven by the lower concentrate realized pricing and sales, partially offset by beginning of sales of NdPr oxide in metal. Sequentially, sales improved 18% due to the increase in sales of NdPr oxide and metal. Adjusted EBITDA and related margins declined year-over-year to negative $1.2 million and negative 3%, respectively, in the quarter. Primarily due to lower realized pricing for concentrate just discussed, which impacts EBITDA on a dollar-for-dollar basis as well as the current subscale production of separated products.

轉向幻燈片 7。隨後，由於 NdPr 氧化物和金屬銷售額的增加，銷售額增加了 18%。本季調整後 EBITDA 和相關利潤率分別年減至負 120 萬美元和負 3%。主要是由於剛才討論的精礦的實現定價較低，這影響了按美元計價的 EBITDA 以及當前分離產品的小規模生產。

Adjusted EBITDA was impacted by a $6 million inventory reserve taken in Q1, which was included in cost of sales on the P&L. So before this reserve and the cost for magnetics embedded in our operations, our concentrate business remains nicely profitable, even at multiyear lows in commodity prices.

調整後的 EBITDA 受到第一季 600 萬美元庫存儲備的影響，該儲備已包含在損益表的銷售成本中。因此，在這些儲備和我們營運中嵌入的磁性材料成本之前，即使在大宗商品價格處於多年低點的情況下，我們的精礦業務仍然保持著良好的盈利能力。

As we discussed last quarter, our early cost of production of separated products is higher than our expected costs once we reach more normalized production levels, given we are staffed for higher production rates and early production often requires additional processing, labor and certain rework that should not recur once operations normalize.

正如我們上季度所討論的，一旦我們達到更加標準化的生產水平，我們的分離產品的早期生產成本就會高於我們的預期成本，因為我們配備了更高的生產率的人員，並且早期生產通常需要額外的加工、勞動力和某些返工，這應該一旦操作正常，就不會再發生。

With these impacts and the rapid deterioration in market prices, we reserved for certain inventory where costs are currently estimated to exceed net realizable value. This is not unexpected as we ramp up the plant and may continue for a short period as we finish our initial optimization. That said, we remain steadfastly confident in ultimately achieving a best-in-class per unit cost profile. And we should see improvements later this year as our production ramps towards run rate levels.

由於這些影響以及市場價格的快速惡化，我們保留了某些目前估計成本超過可變現淨值的存貨。這並不意外，因為我們正在擴大工廠規模，並且在完成初步優化後可能會持續很短一段時間。儘管如此，我們仍然對最終實現一流的單位成本狀況充滿信心。隨著我們的產量逐步提高到運行率水平，我們應該會在今年稍後看到改進。

On the far right, you will see adjusted diluted EPS was a $0.04 loss driven by the lower adjusted EBITDA and higher depreciation from the significant amount of assets placed in service over the last year. This was partially offset by lower tax expense in the quarter due to lower pretax income.

在最右邊，您會看到調整後的攤薄每股收益為 0.04 美元的損失，這是由於調整後的 EBITDA 較低以及去年投入使用的大量資產導致的折舊較高所致。這被本季稅前收入減少導致的稅收支出減少部分抵銷。

GAAP EPS was also impacted by a $46.3 million gain associated with the early extinguishment of the majority of our 2026 convertible notes, which leads me to Slide 8.

GAAP 每股盈餘也受到 4,630 萬美元收益的影響，該收益與我們大部分 2026 年可轉換票據的提前清償相關，這讓我看到了幻燈片 8。

We haven't shown a slide like this in some time, but given the significant transactions that took place in the quarter, we thought we would give an updated rundown of the changes. So running through the transactions.

我們已經有一段時間沒有展示這樣的幻燈片了，但考慮到本季發生的重大交易，我們認為我們會提供最新的變更摘要。所以運行交易。

First, in early March, we issued $747.5 million of new 3% convertible notes due in 2030, strengthening an already solid balance sheet by materially extending the maturities on our debt with the primary use of proceeds being to buy back a large portion of our existing 2026 notes. The new notes convert at a 40% premium to the share price on the date of the transaction or $21.74 per share on a stand-alone basis. But in connection with this offering, we entered into cap call transactions to effectively increase the premium of the 2030 notes to 100% or $31.06 per share.

首先，在3 月初，我們發行了7.475 億美元、將於2030 年到期、利率為3% 的新可轉換票據，透過大幅延長債務期限，加強了本已穩健的資產負債表，所得收益的主要用途是回購我們現有的大部分債券。新票據的轉換價格較交易當日的股價溢價 40%，即每股 21.74 美元。但就本次發行而言，我們進行了上限贖回交易，以有效地將 2030 年票據的溢價提高到 100%，即每股 31.06 美元。

The 3% coupon on the notes while higher than our near-dated debt reflecting the current interest rate environment remains below the current market rate we received on our cash investments, continuing to provide positive carry. And when including the cost of the capped calls, the all-in cost of the new notes is approximately 4.7% until conversion, a very positive outcome for the company.

票據的 3% 票息雖然高於反映當前利率環境的近期債務，但仍低於我們現金投資收到的當前市場利率，繼續提供正利差。如果包括上限贖回權的成本，則在轉換之前新票據的總成本約為 4.7%，這對公司來說是一個非常積極的結果。

As mentioned, the primary use of proceeds from the offering was to repurchase $480 million of our existing 2026 convertible notes which we did for $428.6 million or $0.89 of par value, which drove the $46.3 million gain in the quarter.

如前所述，此次發行收益的主要用途是回購我們現有的4.8 億美元2026 年可轉換票據，我們以4.286 億美元或面額0.89 美元的價格回購了我們現有的4.8 億美元，這推動了本季4,630 萬美元的收益。

I would also note that we made the election to pay any principal remaining on the 2026 notes in cash at maturity. So the shares underlying the remaining principle will fall out of our diluted share count calculations in future periods. Importantly, we also used $200.8 million to buy back 13 million shares, a fairly substantial retirement of 7.3% of the company's outstanding shares.

我還要指出的是，我們選擇在到期時以現金支付 2026 年票據的剩餘本金。因此，剩餘原則所依據的股票將不包括在我們未來期間的稀釋股票數量計算中。重要的是，我們也用 2.008 億美元回購了 1,300 萬股股票，相當於公司已發行股票的 7.3%。

We have always said that we would be opportunistic on capital return, given how we have positioned our balance sheet and given the confidence we have in our go-forward plan as well as the substantial drawdown in our market value, in line with the current down cycle in NdPr prices, we saw a significant opportunity to create value for shareholders while maintaining a prudent balance sheet.

我們一直表示，考慮到我們如何定位資產負債表、考慮到我們對未來計劃的信心以及我們市值的大幅縮水（與當前的下跌趨勢一致），我們將在資本回報方面採取機會主義態度。在價格週期中，我們看到了為股東創造價值同時保持審慎資產負債表的重大機會。

As of March 31, we are roughly net debt neutral after undertaking all of these transactions and continuing to invest in the required working capital to grow our midstream business. And despite weak commodity prices, we continue to expect our balance sheet to remain robust with several cash contributors in the short and medium term beyond our base business, including significant product prepayments in our magnetics business as well as the substantial cash impacts of both our 45X and 48C tax credits, which I will discuss in more detail in a moment.

截至 3 月 31 日，在進行所有這些交易並繼續投資發展中游業務所需的營運資金後，我們的淨債務大致為中性。儘管大宗商品價格疲軟，但我們仍然預計我們的資產負債表將保持強勁，在我們的基本業務之外的中短期內有多個現金貢獻者，包括我們磁性業務中的大量產品預付款以及我們的45X 的巨大現金影響以及 48C 稅收抵免，我稍後將更詳細地討論。

To term out the vast majority of our debt maturities while capturing the value of both our depressed share price and the below par price of our existing notes, we expect will prove pression as we look to a stabilization and recovery in our commodity prices as well as continued execution on our business plan.

為了償還我們絕大多數的債務到期日，同時抓住我們低迷的股價和低於票面價格的現有票據的價值，我們預計，當我們尋求大宗商品價格的穩定和復蘇以及繼續執行我們的業務計劃。

To put all of these transactions into a simpler form, particularly as it relates to the impacts on our share count, we have laid out the changes on the left-hand side of the slide. Please note that our GAAP diluted share count does not incorporate the anti-dilutive impact of the capped call transactions, which you can see incorporated in our adjusted figure on the bottom.

為了將所有這些交易轉化為更簡單的形式，特別是因為它與對我們的股份數量的影響有關，我們在幻燈片的左側列出了這些變化。請注意，我們的 GAAP 攤薄股數並未納入上限看漲期權交易的反稀釋影響，您可以在底部的調整後數據中看到這一影響。

And the table on the right side of the page walks you through the bridge from the left-hand side to a calculation of market cap and enterprise value, which would capture the principal of the convertible notes in the debt calculation and not in shares or market cap.

頁面右側的表格將引導您從左側過渡到市值和企業價值的計算，這將在債務計算中捕獲可轉換票據的本金，而不是在股票或市場中帽。

Regarding our cash balance. I'd note that subsequent to quarter end and so not reflected on our Q1 balance sheet, we received an initial prepayment of $50 million for magnetic precursor products in Stage III and we expect a further $100 million of payments, assuming we hit our operational hurdles over the next 12 months. In addition, we expect approximately $20 million in cash from the IRS when we file our tax return here soon for 2023.

關於我們的現金餘額。我要指出的是，在季度末之後，我們收到了第三階段磁性前體產品5000 萬美元的初始預付款，因此沒有反映在我們第一季的資產負債表上，假設我們遇到了營運障礙，我們預計還會收到1 億美元的付款在接下來的 12 個月內。此外，當我們很快在這裡提交 2023 年納稅申報表時，預計美國國稅局將提供約 2000 萬美元的現金。

And lastly, while timing and monetization options are still not finalized, we expect to realize $58.5 million from our 48C tax credits that we've discussed in the not-too-distant future. All told, that is over $220 million in sources of cash that we can expect beyond our base business operations.

最後，雖然時間安排和貨幣化選項尚未最終確定，但我們預計在不久的將來可以從我們討論過的 48C 稅收抵免中實現 5850 萬美元。總而言之，除了我們的基本業務營運之外，我們還可以期待超過 2.2 億美元的現金來源。

As it relates to cash flow in this first quarter, our cash from operations, in particular, our working capital was impacted by several discrete items, which is bridged in a slide in the appendix. I would flag that our major NdPr metal deliveries were booked very late in the quarter, so cash was received in April. Further, we continue to build work in process inventory and finished goods inventory as we begin to further scale downstream production here in the next several months. And importantly, as we continue to feed the toll metal sales channel.

由於與第一季的現金流相關，我們的營運現金，特別是我們的營運資金，受到幾個離散項目的影響，這些項目在附錄的幻燈片中進行了橋接。我要指出的是，我們的主要 NdPr 金屬交付是在本季度很晚的時候預訂的，因此現金是在 4 月收到的。此外，隨著我們在未來幾個月開始進一步擴大下游生產規模，我們將繼續建立在製品庫存和成品庫存。重要的是，我們將繼續為收費金屬銷售管道提供服務。

Lastly, we had a significant onetime cash spend on transaction costs in the quarter from costs recorded in both the Q4 and Q1 P&L and made our typical Q1 annual bonus payouts to employees. Regarding gross CapEx, we spent approximately $51.8 million in the quarter, in line with our full year outlook of $200 million to $250 million, including maintenance CapEx.

最後，我們在本季的交易成本上有大量一次性現金支出，這些成本來自第四季度和第一季損益表中記錄的成本，並向員工支付了典型的第一季年度獎金。就總資本支出而言，我們本季支出約 5,180 萬美元，與我們 2 億至 2.5 億美元的全年預期一致，其中包括維護資本支出。

With that, I will turn it over to Michael. Michael?

這樣，我就把它交給麥可了。麥可？

Thank you, Ryan. Turning to Slide 9. Here is a picture of our Leach Circuit. One of the areas I spoke about last quarter, where our focus is on optimizing NdPr recoveries while sustaining high cerium rejection.

謝謝你，瑞安。轉向幻燈片 9。我上季談到的領域之一是，我們的重點是優化 NdPr 回收率，同時保持較高的鈰排斥率。

And on Slide 10, we have an overhead shot of our Separations Pad. With the light rare separation circuit on the far left to the right of which are our product finishing circuits, water treatment plants and power plant.

在投影片 10 上，我們有一個分離墊的俯視圖。最左邊是輕稀分離迴路，右邊是我們的產品精加工迴路、水處理廠和發電廠。

Slide 11 shows storage racks of our NdPr oxide in 1 metric ton super sacs waiting to be shipped. The highlight of the quarter was, of course, the very strong production in our Upstream business, where with the adjustments made in the prior quarter, we were able to achieve slightly higher throughput per operating hour with a stable recovery and grade. This, combined with less unplanned downtime and better operational execution and some adjustments to the cleaner flotation operation resulted in solid production growth year-over-year. We had a modest headwind from reagent adjustments that temporarily impacted recovery.

幻燈片 11 顯示了我們的 NdPr 氧化物的儲存架，裝在 1 公噸的超級袋子中等待裝運。當然，本季的亮點是我們上游業務的非常強勁的生產，透過上一季的調整，我們能夠在穩定的回收率和品味下實現每小時稍高的吞吐量。再加上更少的計劃外停機、更好的運營執行以及對清潔浮選作業的一些調整，導致產量同比穩健增長。我們遇到了試劑調整帶來的輕微阻力，暫時影響了恢復。

Looking ahead, the first Upstream 60K projects may begin trial operations in the third quarter. These include enhancements to the grinding circuit and the large-scale pilot flotation cell to improve [refer] performance and debottleneck cleaner flotation. As with most new processes, we expect these could cause instability and/or lower uptime before the benefits come through. but we are very excited about the long-term opportunity of both of these projects.

展望未來，首批上游60K專案可能會在第三季開始試運行。其中包括增強研磨迴路和大型中試浮選槽，以提高[參考]性能並消除清潔劑浮選的瓶頸。與大多數新流程一樣，我們預計這些流程在帶來好處之前可能會導致不穩定和/或正常運作時間縮短。但我們對這兩個項目的長期機會感到非常興奮。

As mentioned on last quarter's call, we spent much of the first quarter working to improve the efficiency of our midstream operations. We are making very good progress. As part of these efforts and improvements and given some unforeseen challenges, we ended up temporarily inventorying additional volumes of intermediate streams rather than seeing them through to finished product volumes. This partially contributed to the higher unit cost of production in Q4 and to a greater extent, Q1. However, we made several breakthroughs that we expect to contribute to stable low-cost production.

正如上季電話會議中所提到的，我們在第一季的大部分時間都致力於提高中游營運的效率。我們正在取得非常好的進展。作為這些努力和改進的一部分，並考慮到一些不可預見的挑戰，我們最終臨時庫存了額外數量的中間流，而不是讓它們一直到成品量。這在一定程度上導致了第四季度單位生產成本的上升，並且在更大程度上導致了第一季的單位生產成本上升。然而，我們取得了一些突破，我們預計這些突破將有助於穩定的低成本生產。

In addition to those developments that I mentioned on the Q4 call, we made additional progress later in Q1 and into April, in purification, separation and product finishing. Adding it all up, we saw a slight decline in production quarter-over-quarter to 131 tons. Of this, over half was packaged in March.

除了我在第四季度電話會議上提到的那些進展之外，我們在第一季末和四月份在純化、分離和產品精加工方面取得了額外進展。總而言之，我們看到產量較上月略有下降，至 131 噸。其中，一半以上是在三月包裝的。

April continued to improve on a production per operating day basis. In late April, we began our first semiannual site-wide maintenance outage of 2024. We undertook two major projects that coincided with the end of life of assets installed by a predecessor. This included replacing and upgrading one of our power plant turbines and replacing the motor on our grinding mill. When complete later in Q2, the power plant turbine project should allow for higher generating capacity at lower operating cost and heat rate.

4 月每個工作日的產量持續改善。 4 月下旬，我們開始了 2024 年第一次半年度全站點維護停電。這包括更換和升級我們的一台發電廠渦輪機以及更換磨機上的馬達。當第二季稍後完成時，發電廠渦輪機專案應該能夠以較低的營運成本和熱耗率實現更高的發電能力。

The upstream business resumed normal production on schedule, and we are quite pleased with the results since restart. Several debottlenecking projects were implemented in our midstream business, both during the outage and thereafter with one important project still underway. As a result, and as expected, there will be a slight offset in the timing of restart of some of these midstream assets compared to the upstream one.

上游業務如期恢復正常生產，復工以來的成績讓我們非常滿意。我們的中游業務實施了多個消除瓶頸項目，無論是在停電期間還是停電之後，其中一個重要項目仍在進行中。因此，正如預期的那樣，與上游資產相比，其中一些中游資產的重啟時間將略有偏移。

NdPr oxide production in Q2 will therefore depend upon the exact timing and trajectory of restart. Nonetheless, we are targeting to approximately double production volumes here in Q2 with another significant increase in Q3. Though I would reiterate my previous guidance that we will only push volume when we can do so while also lowering our fixed and variable unit cost of production.

因此，第二季 NdPr 氧化物的產量將取決於重啟的確切時間和軌跡。儘管如此，我們的目標是在第二季將產量增加一倍左右，並在第三季再次大幅增加。儘管我要重申我先前的指導意見，即我們只會在能夠同時降低固定和可變單位生產成本的情況下提高產量。

All in all, we are feeling very positive about our recent operating performance. While we have enormous room to improve our processes and improve our internal execution, our largest challenges and frustrations are mechanical reliability that I strongly believe is in no way a reflection of our process conditions or design.

總而言之，我們對最近的經營業績感到非常正面。雖然我們有巨大的空間來改善我們的流程和提高我們的內部執行力，但我們最大的挑戰和挫折是機械可靠性，我堅信這絕不反映我們的流程條件或設計。

Supply chains continue to be brutally slow, and this has delayed our ability to address some of the problems. However, we are starting to reach the end of these long lead times and are seeing the benefit of more reliable equipment. With this, we expect to improve our throughput with lower fixed and variable cost of production with higher yields and less product rework.

供應鏈仍然極其緩慢，這延遲了我們解決某些問題的能力。然而，我們正開始結束這些漫長的交貨時間，並看到更可靠的設備的好處。藉此，我們希望透過降低固定和可變生產成本、提高產量和減少產品返工來提高產量。

Before I turn it back to Jim, I'd like to highlight that we recently completed our fourth full year without a lost time injury. This is a remarkable achievement considering the complexity and growth of the operation and the number of new employees we have brought into the MP Materials family. I want to thank all of our teams in Las Vegas, Mountain Pass and Fort Worth for their incredible efforts every day.

在我把問題轉回給吉姆之前，我想強調一下，我們最近已經完成了第四個完整的賽季，沒有失時傷病。考慮到營運的複雜性和成長以及我們為 MP Materials 大家庭引進的新員工數量，這是一項了不起的成就。我要感謝拉斯維加斯、芒廷帕斯和沃斯堡的所有團隊每天所做的令人難以置信的努力。

With that, I will turn it back over to Jim.

這樣，我會把它轉回給吉姆。

Thanks, Michael. Let's move on to Slide 12, where you can see a gorgeous night shot of our initial magnetics facility in Fort Worth. This looks like a rendering, but actually, it is not. This is real and is the road front side view of our facility that spans 250,000 square feet and houses manufacturing operations, R&D and our magnetics headquarters.

謝謝，麥可。讓我們繼續觀看幻燈片 12，您可以在其中看到我們位於沃思堡的最初磁力設施的華麗夜間照片。這看起來像是渲染圖，但實際上並非如此。這是真實的，是我們工廠的道路正面視圖，該工廠佔地 250,000 平方英尺，設有製造業務、研發中心和磁學總部。

As I said earlier, we are making a lot of progress across our businesses. Unfortunately, this was another dismal quarter for NdPr prices. We see some green shoots with recent price action, but the trajectory to a market recovery is, of course, outside of our knowledge and/or control. As I've noted though, I strongly suspect that most of Chinese industry is losing money at these prices.

正如我之前所說，我們的業務正在取得很大進展。不幸的是，這是镨镨價格又一個慘淡的季度。我們看到最近的價格走勢出現了一些萌芽，但市場復甦的軌跡當然超出了我們的知識和/或控制範圍。但正如我所指出的，我強烈懷疑大多數中國工業在這些價格下都在虧損。

Some of you may have seen headlines about a recent high-level U.S. government visit, including the Treasury Secretary to China last month, where discussions centered around China's state-led economic behavior. I doubt any of us would be surprised if this topic heightened into a hysteric pitch as we approach the election season. Regardless of the cause, there is no doubt that recent market conditions have crushed Western and Allied attempts to broaden private investment in the rare earth supply chain.

你們中的一些人可能已經看到了有關最近美國政府高層訪問的頭條新聞，包括美國財政部長上個月訪問中國，其中討論的焦點是中國國家主導的經濟行為。我懷疑，如果這個話題在選舉季節臨近時變得歇斯底里，我們中的任何人都會感到驚訝。無論原因為何，毫無疑問，最近的市場狀況粉碎了西方和盟國擴大稀土供應鏈私人投資的嘗試。

In addition, with so many investor revisions around expectations for EV penetration or at least the timing of it, critical materials investing in general, especially for those that are battery inputs is out of favor. There are some important distinctions though, for rare earths and permanent magnets that will eventually matter.

此外，由於投資者對電動車普及率的預期或至少是對電動車普及時間的預期進行瞭如此多的修正，因此關鍵材料投資，特別是那些電池投入的投資，已不再受歡迎。不過，對於稀土和永久磁鐵來說，有一些重要的區別最終很重要。

First, as it relates to EV penetration, there is still growth, albeit slower growth, and hybrids are picking up a lot of the expectations slack. In March, in the U.S., for example, plug-in hybrids grew 56% year-over-year. This resulted in a 19% year-over-year overall growth for electrified vehicles, i.e., those that are either battery electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

首先，就電動車普及率而言，儘管成長速度較慢，但仍然存在成長，混合動力汽車正在彌補許多預期的不足。例如，3 月在美國，插電式混合動力車年增 56%。這導致電動車（即純電動車或插電式混合動力車）的整體年增 19%。

To remind you, permanent magnets are in the motors, not the battery. Hybrids still utilize a lot of permanent magnet content. So if the transition to full EVs involves increased short-term penetration of hybrids, we believe the rare earth industry is somewhat agnostic.

提醒您，永磁體位於馬達中，而不是電池中。混合動力仍然使用大量永久磁鐵。因此，如果向全電動汽車的過渡涉及到混合動力汽車短期滲透率的提高，我們認為稀土產業在某種程度上是不可知的。

Moreover, as the West revisits and reorient assumptions, China is still leading the way on electrified penetration. The growth there was 35% in March on a larger base, and we should see electrified penetration in China in excess of 50% by next year.

此外，隨著西方重新審視和調整假設，中國在電氣化滲透率方面仍處於領先地位。 3月成長了35%，基數更大，預計明年中國的電氣化普及率將超過50%。

As we push through this tough period, there is something even more powerful happening that should remind everyone how important our mission is. In recent months, we have seen BYD, [Neo], Li Auto and XPENG introduce extraordinary electrified products at remarkably low cost to the rest of the world. For those of you who have followed us, we've been talking about this evolution since 2020 when we went public.

當我們度過這個艱難時期時，發生了一些更強大的事情，應該提醒每個人我們的使命有多重要。近幾個月來，我們看到比亞迪、Neo、理想汽車和小鵬汽車以極低的成本向世界其他地區推出了非凡的電動產品。對於那些關注我們的人來說，自 2020 年我們上市以來，我們一直在談論這一演變。

The historical criticism around EV penetration was that they were too expensive. In all the bearishness on Wall Street in recent months, maybe some are not fully appreciating a broader point. Electrified vehicles are now essentially on pricing par with ICE, if not even cheaper in many cases, especially those made by Chinese automakers. To what extent then can state-led behavior around resources, specifically the sale of rare earths at a loss persist in the face of a full-on downstream expansion into global competition with all the major OEMs. Our guess is that for both economic and political reasons, the price of our products will eventually explode into true market-driven pricing.

圍繞電動車普及率的歷史批評是它們太貴了。在近幾個月來華爾街的所有悲觀情緒中，也許有些人沒有完全認識到更廣泛的觀點。現在，電動車的定價基本上與內燃機汽車持平，甚至在許多情況下甚至更便宜，尤其是中國汽車製造商生產的電動車。那麼，面對下游全面擴張，與所有主要原始設備製造商進行全球競爭，國家主導的資源行為，特別是虧本出售稀土，能在多大程度上持續存在？我們的猜測是，出於經濟和政治原因，我們產品的價格最終將爆發為真正的市場驅動定價。

Some Western companies are better positioned than others. We should expect to see major disruption in the coming years as Chinese OEMs displace some Western ones in global prowess. This leads to one final and more important strategic thought. This same theme around the rise of Chinese industry evolving from supply chain domination to full downstream leadership applies also in humanoid robotics and drones.

一些西方公司比其他公司處於更有利的地位。隨著中國原始設備製造商在全球實力中取代一些西方原始設備製造商，我們預計未來幾年將會出現重大顛覆。這引出了最後一個更重要的戰略思想。中國工業從供應鏈主導地位演變為下游全面領導地位的相同主題也適用於人形機器人和無人機。

Humanoid robots now accelerated into reality with AI are likely to utilize multiples per unit of magnet content versus that of EVs. The national security implications here are extraordinary. For us in America, the runway to think about this issue is longer than in autos, but should begin now. There is no doubt, though, that the logical conclusion of all this is that MP's mission matters.

人形機器人現在透過人工智慧加速成為現實，與電動車相比，每單位磁鐵含量可能會使用數倍。這對國家安全的影響是非同尋常的。對我們美國人來說，思考這個問題的跑道比汽車更長，但現在就應該開始。但毫無疑問，所有這一切的邏輯結論是 MP 的使命很重要。

With that, let's open it up for Q&A. Operator?

接下來，讓我們開始問答。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Matt Summerville with D.A. Davidson & Co. Your line is now open.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Matt Summerville 和 D.A. Davidson & Co. 您的線路現已開通。

Maybe help out a little bit with the expected go-forward ramp cadence on Stage II in the back half. I know what you said kind of qualitatively, Michael. But I guess I'm curious as to at what time or at what price, and I'd like to try and distinguish between the two, do you think the Stage II operation will kind of hit run rate? And is there a price where you're more likely to stockpile WIP or FGI versus put that tonnage into the market? What's the right way to kind of think about how that matrix, and I'm sure it is a matrix, how that all kind of looks here?

也許對第二賽段後半段預期的前進坡道節奏有一點幫助。我知道你說的是定性的，麥可。但我想我很好奇在什麼時間或什麼價格，我想嘗試區分兩者，你認為第二階段的操作會達到運行率嗎？是否有一個價格讓您更有可能儲存 WIP 或 FGI 而不是將這些噸位投入市場？思考這個矩陣的正確方法是什麼，我確信它是一個矩陣，這一切在這裡看起來怎麼樣？

Sure. Matt, it's Ryan. I'll start us off and then maybe Michael can give some specific examples. But I think the way to think about it is our viewpoint on ramping methodically based on maximizing cash flow has not changed. I think the great thing about our model here is that we do have a profitable further upstream product that we can sell where there's a significant amount of the profitability embedded.

當然。馬特，這是瑞安。我先開始，然後麥可或許可以舉一些具體的例子。但我認為思考這個問題的方式是我們基於現金流最大化有條不紊地擴張的觀點並沒有改變。我認為我們的模式的偉大之處在於，我們確實擁有一種有利可圖的上游產品，我們可以在嵌入大量盈利能力的地方出售這些產品。

I think the thing that you're hearing from Michael and hearing from us is that we have very clear line of sight at this point given the optimizations that are ongoing and that have already been completed. We're talking about very specific mechanical optimizations where that framework that we laid out of lowering the incremental variable cost is very clearly ahead of us in the near term and over the next several quarters. And so with that, that gives us the confidence to tell you, we see that, and so we can start ramping. And so for sure, we will continue to sort of watch that trade-off between the two, but I think that's the core message.

我認為您從邁克爾和我們那裡聽到的事情是，考慮到正在進行的和已經完成的優化，我們在這一點上有非常清晰的視線。我們正在談論非常具體的機械優化，其中我們為降低增量可變成本而製定的框架在短期內和接下來的幾個季度中顯然領先於我們。因此，這讓我們有信心告訴您，我們看到了這一點，因此我們可以開始加強。因此，可以肯定的是，我們將繼續關注兩者之間的權衡，但我認為這是核心訊息。

In terms of your question on stockpiling, I think -- what I talked about at the beginning is we have the ability to flex between separated products and more upstream products. And so that's generally how we would think about things. So we're implicitly holding back NdPr production at this point if you think about it that way. And so I don't know, Mike, if you have some thoughts on the specific items you're seeing here to help Matt on timing and quantum.

關於你關於庫存的問題，我認為——我一開始談到的是我們有能力在分離的產品和更多的上游產品之間進行靈活調整。這就是我們通常思考事物的方式。因此，如果你這樣想的話，我們此時隱含地抑制了镨镨的產生。所以我不知道，麥克，你是否對你在這裡看到的具體項目有一些想法，以幫助馬特了解時間和量子。

So Ryan touched upon a lot of it. I think in the second quarter into early third quarter, a lot of these long lead items that have been -- we've been waiting for, should start to be received and installed. We've already started to see it in March and April. On that point, we'll have a greater ability to increase throughput and then we'll still be balancing the fixed and variable cost leverage as we look to how we execute into the market.

瑞安談到了很多內容。我認為在第二季到第三季初，我們一直在等待的許多長期交付專案應該開始被接收和安裝。我們已經在三月和四月開始看到它。在這一點上，我們將有更大的能力來增加吞吐量，然後當我們考慮如何進入市場時，我們仍然會平衡固定成本槓桿和可變成本槓桿。

And then just as a follow-up question. As it pertains to Upstream 60K, what are maybe the 2 or 3 kind of major milestones we should be looking for out of MP over the next 12 months? And will that 40,000 tons per year to 60,000 tons, will that scale linearly? What's the right way to think about how that scales? Is it more front-end loaded, back-end loaded, et cetera?

然後作為後續問題。至於上游 60K，我們應該在未來 12 個月內從 MP 中尋找哪些 2 或 3 個主要里程碑？每年 40,000 噸到 60,000 噸會線性擴展嗎？思考如何擴展的正確方法是什麼？是更多前端載入、後端載入等等？

Thanks, Matt. In terms of the cadence, I think we said -- I would look to be more back-end loaded. There's going to be a series of incremental improvements, more step function and then perhaps even larger growth initiatives. Obviously, the larger initiatives will be more back-end loaded. But we are optimistic about some of these smaller projects and what they can do. And as I mentioned, we do have two that are coming online at the back of this year. As with all projects, we would assume that initially, there'll be perhaps a negative impact from disruption and our uptime before we start to see the benefit. So I would say early next year before we would expect to start to see the real impact of 60K. But we still work on normal optimizations, and that was what you saw it in this quarter.

謝謝，馬特。就節奏而言，我想我們說過——我會尋求更多的後端負載。將會有一系列漸進的改進、更多的步驟功能，甚至可能是更大的成長計畫。顯然，更大的計劃將有更多的後端負載。但我們對其中一些較小的項目及其能做什麼持樂觀態度。正如我所提到的，我們確實有兩個將在今年年底上線。與所有專案一樣，我們假設最初，在我們開始看到好處之前，中斷和我們的正常運作時間可能會產生負面影響。所以我想說，明年初我們將開始看到 60K 的真正影響。但我們仍在進行正常的優化，這就是您在本季看到的情況。

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

下一個問題來自 George Gianarikas 與 Canaccord Genuity 的關係。

Speaking of value creation, and this is just sort of me reading the tea leaves here a little bit, it appears at a very wealthy individual or entity in Australia appears to be trying to do just that by acquiring significant stakes in several rare earth assets across the western world and maybe trying to cobble them together. To the extent you could share just the -- maybe some line of thinking here, what are the synergies in doing that? And do you kind of see that as a rational response to China Inc. who appears to be trying to make life difficult for several Western suppliers as non-Chinese refining ramps.

說到價值創造，這只是我稍微讀一下這裡的茶葉，澳大利亞一個非常富有的個人或實體似乎正試圖通過收購多個稀土資產的大量股份來實現這一目標。一起。在某種程度上，您可以在這裡分享一些想法，這樣做有什麼協同作用？您是否認為這是對中國公司的理性反應？

Yes, sure. Thanks, George. So I guess that was a creative although somewhat expected way of asking the M&A question. So I appreciate it.

是的，當然。謝謝，喬治。因此，我認為這是一種創造性的、儘管有些符合預期的提出併購問題的方式。所以我很感激。

So obviously, you're referring to Gena Reinhart and her stake in MP. I mean, for those who don't know, she's certainly a very well-respected investor globally and in Australia, particularly so, I believe she's the richest person in Australia and she took a large stake in us. I think obviously, it speaks to the value that we believe we're creating here at MP and how much value there is in our shares. And so I think that she sees that as far as sort of her motivations or the motivations of other shareholders or conversations that we may have with other shareholders or companies, I'm not going to comment on those kinds of things. But it certainly is -- it certainly always is nice to have a third party that understands your industry very well to recognize that your shares are undervalued.

顯然，你指的是吉娜·萊因哈特和她在 MP 中的股份。我的意思是，對於那些不知道的人來說，她無疑是全球和澳洲備受尊敬的投資者，尤其是，我相信她是澳洲最富有的人，並且她持有我們的大量股份。我認為顯然，這說明了我們相信我們在 MP 創造的價值以及我們的股票有多少價值。因此，我認為她認為，就她的動機或其他股東的動機或我們可能與其他股東或公司進行的對話而言，我不會對此類事情發表評論。但確實如此——擁有一個非常了解您的行業並認識到您的股票被低估的第三方當然總是一件好事。

Okay. And maybe just as a follow-up question. Just curious, to the extent you can bring down costs as you discussed excessively on the call, can you kind of help us understand what your cost per kilogram of NdPr will be as we approach sort of the end of the year? So just trying to understand what where EBITDA positive is for you guys as you become more of a refine (inaudible) company?

好的。也許只是作為一個後續問題。只是好奇，在電話會議上過度討論的情況下，您能降低成本嗎？那麼，當你們成為一家更精煉（聽不清楚）的公司時，我想了解 EBITDA 正面因素對你們來說意味著什麼？

Yes, sure, George. It's Ryan. I'll take that. What I'd say on the cost structure for the midstream business is, certainly, what we're seeing at this point is very much expected as you ramp a plant of the scale that we are. I think when you're operating something of this size under normal utilization levels and with all the puts and takes that we've talked about, the results aren't unexpected. And frankly, we have the data on a circuit-by-circuit basis that's highly granular that gives us a lot of confidence in the go-forward cost structure that we expect to hit.

是的，當然，喬治。是瑞安。我會接受的。關於中游業務的成本結構，我想說的是，當然，當您擴大我們規模的工廠時，我們目前所看到的情況是非常令人期待的。我認為，當您在正常利用率水平下操作這種規模的東西並且考慮到我們討論過的所有看跌期權和拿取期權時，結果並不令人意外。坦白說，我們擁有逐個電路的數據，這些數據非常精細，這讓我們對預期達到的未來成本結構充滿信心。

We haven't put a specific dollar figure out there, but we have continued very strong confidence in being best-in-class when it comes to a unit cost perspective in the midstream business.

我們尚未公佈具體的美元數字，但就中游業務的單位成本角度而言，我們仍然堅信自己是同類最佳。

To your question on EBITDA positive, look, we're in this period of transition and in a period of, in a lot of ways, max pain as we ramp it, as we fill the channel, et cetera. And so we do expect this to pass. But I would remind you also that given the puts and takes and the moving pieces for our EBITDA result this quarter, behind all of those things is a highly profitable concentrate business.

對於你關於 EBITDA 積極的問題，你看，我們正處於這個過渡時期，並且在很多方面，當我們增加它、填充通道等等時，這是一個最大的痛苦時期。所以我們確實希望這件事能夠過去。但我還要提醒您，考慮到本季 EBITDA 業績的看跌期權和變動因素，所有這些事情的背後都是高利潤的濃縮業務。

So think about the fact that we've got this ramp operation in midstream and we're subscale in addition to funding the magnetics business. We continue to have strong cash flow and profitability from the concentrate business. And so we'll continue to execute and optimize over the course of the year and remain very confident in hitting our targets.

因此，考慮一下這樣一個事實：我們在中游進行了斜坡運營，除了為磁性業務提供資金外，我們的規模還很小。我們的精礦業務持續擁有強勁的現金流和獲利能力。因此，我們將在這一年中繼續執行和優化，並對實現我們的目標充滿信心。

Our next question comes from the line of Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自勞倫斯·亞歷山大和傑弗里斯的對話。

This is Kevin Estok on for Laurence. I guess my first question is about electronics. So if that cycle turns up, I guess I'm just wondering, do you guys have more leverage to phones and smaller devices or maybe more PCs and desktops?

我是勞倫斯的凱文·埃斯托克。我想我的第一個問題是關於電子產品的。因此，如果出現這種循環，我想我只是想知道，你們是否對手機和小型設備或更多的個人電腦和桌上型電腦有更多的影響力？

Sure. This is Ryan. In terms of magnetic content in sort of general consumer electronics. It is a real segment as it relates to magnetic content. I mean it's probably 18% or 20%. So it is real. I think that we've seen a confluence of events over the last 12 months, 18 months really where hard disk drives have been -- had been in a negative cycle. PCs were in a negative cycle. Smartphones were in a negative cycle. So on a per unit basis, these magnets are very small, but in aggregate, they matter.

當然。這是瑞安。就一般消費性電子產品的磁性含量而言。這是一個真實的部分，因為它與磁性內容相關。我的意思是可能是 18% 或 20%。所以它是真實的。我認為在過去 12 個月、18 個月裡，我們看到了一系列事件的匯合，硬碟實際上一直處於負週期。個人電腦正處於負循環之中。智慧型手機陷入負循環。因此，就單位而言，這些磁鐵非常小，但總的來說，它們很重要。

I do think that all of them contribute. And so some of the things that we think about is what we started to see from our customers downstream and the magnetic supply chain, is the start of a more positive cycle in hard disk drives. And as you think about everything you hear out there with for the (inaudible) AI for the bots. But no, really, that cycle has certainly started to pick back up. And so we're cautiously optimistic that, that can go from a negative contributor to magnetic demand to a positive one here, hopefully, soon.

我確實認為他們所有人都做出了貢獻。因此，我們考慮的一些事情是我們開始從下游客戶和磁性供應鏈中看到的，這是硬碟更積極循環的開始。當你思考你所聽到的關於機器人的（聽不清楚）人工智慧的一切。但實際上，這個週期確實已經開始回升。因此，我們謹慎樂觀地認為，這可能會從磁性需求的負面貢獻者轉變為積極的貢獻者，希望很快。

Okay. Got it. And then I guess my last question, just curious to hear what you're seeing in terms of inventory build downstream or just sort of a inventory level.

好的。知道了。然後我想我的最後一個問題，只是想聽聽您在下游庫存建設或庫存水平方面所看到的情況。

Yes, sure. Well, it's interesting, it's always given the concentration in China in our industry, it's always hard to read the tea leaves as you've heard me say a million times. I know that Albemarle came out this morning and said that they were seeing very low levels of inventory, obviously, sort of different vertical, but some of the same effects. So that's a data point out there.

是的，當然。嗯，這很有趣，考慮到我們這個行業一直集中在中國，讀懂茶葉總是很困難，正如你聽我說過一百萬次一樣。我知道雅寶今天早上出來表示，他們看到庫存水平非常低，顯然，垂直方向有些不同，但有一些相同的影響。這就是一個數據點。

We have seen sort of in very recent -- you can see in the last couple of weeks a little pricing green shoots. So it is certainly possible that you'll start to see pickup due to low inventory. Our belief is that inventories are very low and that demand is starting to pick up. But again, I always say that with -- it's just so hard. We always caveat by saying we -- it's outside of our control. We don't know when pricing sort of reverses, but we certainly believe that, that will come.

我們最近看到了一些——你可以在過去幾週看到一些定價的萌芽。因此，由於庫存較低，您肯定會開始看到提貨。我們相信庫存非常低，需求開始回升。但我總是這麼說——這太難了。我們總是警告說，這超出了我們的控制範圍。我們不知道價格何時會出現逆轉，但我們確信，這種逆轉將會到來。

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

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的卡洛斯·德阿爾巴。

So Ryan, so with the guidance that you provided on volumes for NdPr doubling, I guess maybe a little bit of upside potentially on concentrate, if not flat, but substantial declines in prices. It's going to be tough for EBITDA not to be more negative. But important for us is the cash flow generation, excluding the item, the $228 million, I think you mentioned in total. Excluding those items, how do you see working capital fluctuating in the second quarter? And maybe if you can venture into the third quarter just because in Q1 was obviously a significant use of cash.

Ryan，根據您提供的 NdPr 產量翻倍的指導，我想精礦可能會有一點上行空間，即使不是持平，但價格也會大幅下降。 EBITDA 很難不變得更負。但對我們來說重要的是現金流的產生，不包括您提到的總計 2.28 億美元的項目。排除這些項目，您如何看待第二季營運資金的波動？也許你可以冒險進入第三季度，因為第一季顯然大量使用了現金。

Yes. Sure, Carlos. I'll do my best. Obviously, we don't get into quarterly cash flow guidance for a variety of reasons. But I did lay out a couple of pretty discrete and obvious cash flow items just in terms of pretty chunky sales on the NdPr metal side this quarter, which came at the very end. And so from a receivables perspective, that had an impact back on our conversation a moment ago about certain potential transactions that were evaluated. There was a pretty significant use of cash there that we don't expect to repeat. And then just typical timing from other payments that tend to see lower cash flow conversion in the first quarter versus the rest of the year.

是的。當然，卡洛斯。我將盡我所能。顯然，基於多種原因，我們沒有提供季度現金流量指引。但我確實列出了一些相當離散且明顯的現金流項目，僅就本季末镨金屬方面相當大的銷售額而言。因此，從應收帳款的角度來看，這對我們剛才關於評估的某些潛在交易的對話產生了影響。那裡大量使用了現金，我們預計不會再重複這種情況。然後是其他支付的典型時間安排，這些支付往往會在第一季看到比今年剩餘時間更低的現金流轉換。

So a lot of that combined to drive the result in the quarter. I'd say, certainly, as we ramp the plant, things will be lumpy. We are looking to drive incremental production, which, of course, we then need to -- for a lot of it gets sent overseas and tolled, et cetera. And so we've always been very clear that this ramp into Stage II is a major transition for the business. And so that requires some investment in working capital. We think there were discrete items in Q1 that don't repeat. But certainly, the faster we go, that could have some impacts. And so hopefully, that can give you a little bit of color.

因此，許多因素綜合起來推動了本季的業績。我想說，當然，當我們擴大工廠規模時，事情會變得不穩定。我們正在尋求推動增量生產，當然，我們需要這樣做——因為其中許多都被送往海外並收費，等等。因此，我們一直非常清楚，進入第二階段是業務的重大轉變。因此，這需要一些營運資金投資。我們認為第一季中有一些不重複的離散項目。但當然，我們走得越快，可能會產生一些影響。希望這能帶給你一點色彩。

All right. And then so you're no longer going to disclose unitary cost, I assume. Is there any -- are you thinking about another metric that help us follow how on a per unit basis, your cost is evolving. Maybe breaking out by, I don't know, Stage II and Stage III.

好的。然後我想你就不會再揭露單一成本了。您是否正在考慮另一個指標來幫助我們追蹤單位成本的變化。我不知道，也許會突破第二階段和第三階段。

Yes. I would expect, over time, Carlos, there likely will be a need as we start to recognize revenue in the downstream business to split that out for you. So that is something that's on our agenda once we have material revenue in that business.

是的。卡洛斯，我預計，隨著時間的推移，當我們開始確認下游業務的收入時，可能需要為您將其分開。因此，一旦我們在該業務中獲得實質收入，這就是我們議程上的事情。

As I talked about, we already have started to see pretty material cash flow in this quarter with the $50 million prepayment and with more to come. But yes, I think you'll start to see some split out of that.

正如我所說，本季度我們已經開始看到相當可觀的現金流，預付款為 5000 萬美元，而且未來還會有更多現金流。但是，是的，我想你會開始看到其中的一些分歧。

As it relates to cost KPIs on the upstream and midstream part of the business, I think you guys have seen us perform now. I think this is our 14th quarter of reporting. We've had a very consistent cost structure on the upstream side. And so I think it's quite easy to sort of triangulate around that. And then when you think about our plant, which is very, very integrated. And so it gets a little bit harder and less meaningful. And I think we've previewed this now for many, many quarters to try to report stand-alone metrics that try to pull apart -- think about a labor force that's working in the mill pad area. We call the mill pad area. There's actually a lot of separation activities going on up there. And so it really is quite integrated. And so we don't think that stand-alone KPIs are particularly meaningful at this point.

因為它涉及到業務上游和中游部分的成本KPI，我想你們現在已經看到我們的表現了。我認為這是我們的第 14 季報告。我們在上游擁有非常一致的成本結構。所以我認為圍繞這個問題進行三角測量是很容易的。然後當你想到我們的工廠時，它非常非常一體化。因此它變得有點困難並且意義不大。我認為我們現在已經預覽了很多很多季度的情況，試圖報告試圖分開的獨立指標——想想在磨坊區域工作的勞動力。我們稱之為磨墊區域。實際上那裡正在進行很多分離活動。所以它確實是非常整合的。因此，我們認為此時獨立的 KPI 並不是特別有意義。

And so we point you to, we have no reason to believe that the cost structure will change meaningfully for the upstream business. And in fact, as Upstream 60K comes into play, we expect it to approve. And then with that, you can sort of see the sales that come through on the separated product side and you'll easily be able to back into these metrics yourself. And so that's sort of how we think about the progression of KPIs on that front.

因此，我們指出，我們沒有理由相信成本結構會對上游業務產生有意義的變化。事實上，隨著 Upstream 60K 發揮作用，我們預計它會獲得批准。然後，您可以看到單獨產品的銷售額，並且您可以輕鬆地自行返回這些指標。這就是我們對這方面 KPI 進展的看法。

All right. Great. And my last question is on...

好的。偉大的。我的最後一個問題是...

Did we lose you? Yes, we got you now.

我們失去你了嗎？是的，我們現在找到你了。

Sorry, guys. So my last question would be on -- just regarding the -- and I lost my thought on the question. I'll come back later, Okay.

對不起大家。所以我的最後一個問題是——只是關於——我對這個問題失去了思考。我稍後再回來，好的。

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

我們的下一個問題來自 David Deckelbaum 和 TD Cowen 的對話。

I wanted to ask just on hitting what Stage II in the context of what do you need to achieve to receive the remaining prepayment of $100 million? And is there some circularity around your motivations to ramp stage to hit some of those milestones, either Ryan or Michael or Jim, just to try to understand what needs to be achieved in order to get that? And then I guess, how many tons that's actually prepaying for? Is it the year's worth of output -- excuse me, a year's worth of output or is it longer than that?

我想問一下，在達到第二階段的背景下，您需要實現什麼目標才能收到剩餘的1億美元預付款？你的動機是否存在某種循環，以達到這些里程碑，無論是瑞安、麥可還是吉姆，只是為了試圖了解為了實現這一目標需要實現什麼？然後我猜，實際上預付了多少噸？是一年的產出－請問，一年的產出還是比這更長？

Sure, David. It's Ryan, arigato for the question. I think there's probably some confusion on Stage II or Stage III on this front. So the prepayment is for magnetic precursor materials in Stage III. And from that perspective, we don't need to sort of work down the prepayments to receive the ex prepayment. These are operational milestones in the Stage III business. that we have line of sight to over the next 12 months that really have nothing to do with the ramp on the Stage II side. So those ramps are completely discrete and sort of are on their own trajectory. And so sort of regardless of how things go on the Stage II side, we see line of sight on Stage III.

當然，大衛。我是瑞安（Ryan），請提問。我認為第二階段或第三階段在這方面可能存在一些混亂。因此，預付款是用於第三階段磁性前驅材料的。從這個角度來看，我們不需要減少預付款就能收到預付款。這些都是第三階段業務的營運里程碑。我們在接下來的 12 個月內可以看到，這實際上與第二階段一側的坡道無關。因此，這些斜坡是完全離散的，並且有自己的軌跡。因此，無論第二階段的情況如何，我們都會看到第三階段的視線。

Okay. Yes. Sorry to confuse. I just had thought of this. I know that you guys will consume maybe 600 tons a year of NdPr at Stage III to make 1,000 tons of magnets. I don't know If you to be able to show that you can separate 600 tons a year in order to inherently hit the targets that you would show at Stage III.

好的。是的。抱歉打擾了。我剛剛想到了這一點。我知道，在第三階段，你們每年可能會消耗 600 噸镨镨來製造 1,000 噸磁鐵。我不知道您是否能夠證明您每年可以分離 600 噸，以便自然地達到您在第三階段展示的目標。

Yes. No, it's a fair question. I see where you're going with that, though. But in terms of the operational milestones that we need to show, look, as you've heard from us, we remain incredibly confident and have clear line of sight on ramping Stage II. And so it's not really a matter of if we're able to. It's a matter of when we decide to and Michael talked about all the items that are ahead of us.

是的。不，這是一個公平的問題。不過，我明白你想做什麼。但就我們需要展示的營運里程碑而言，正如您從我們那裡聽到的那樣，我們仍然充滿信心，並對第二階段的發展有著清晰的視線。所以這並不是我們是否能夠做到的問題。這是我們什麼時候決定的問題，邁克爾談到了我們面前的所有項目。

And so I think, clearly, our main customer probably shares that view, given the focus here on operational milestones are exclusively as they relate to Stage III operational milestones. And so we're excited certainly that we've got this initial prepayment based on a major operational achievement that Jim laid out some of the exciting things that happened over the last quarter. And we do have line of sight to the rest of them. So hopefully, that helps.

因此，我認為，顯然，我們的主要客戶可能也同意這一觀點，因為這裡對營運里程碑的關注完全是因為它們與第三階段營運里程碑相關。因此，我們當然感到很興奮，因為吉姆列出了上個季度發生的一些令人興奮的事情，我們已經根據一項重大營運成就獲得了這筆初始預付款。我們確實可以看到其他人。希望這會有所幫助。

Yes. And to be crystal clear for those who are listening Stage III being Fort Worth right? Go ahead. Go ahead, David.

是的。對於那些正在收聽第三階段的人來說，要清楚的是沃斯堡，對吧？前進。繼續吧，大衛。

Yes. Jim, this question is mostly for you, but I know you like to put on your strategy, at. So I'm curious with your outlook on potential market tightening and the majority of the market operating sort of below cost. Are you seeing an increased interest. MP has done a lot of organic growth, albeit vertically integrated and you have your Upstream 60K projects. Are you seeing more emphasis on sort of inorganic opportunities and seeing any softness in the market that you would otherwise want to take advantage of here to perhaps expand resource, perhaps expand things like heavy speed. Is that an area where we might expect MP, especially as you get more comfortable on ramping other parts of your supply chain to start looking towards?

是的。吉姆，這個問題主要是針對你的，但我知道你喜歡提出你的策略。因此，我很好奇您對潛在市場緊縮的前景以及大多數市場營運情況都低於成本。您是否看到興趣增加了？ MP 已經做了很多有機成長，儘管是垂直整合的，而且您有上游 60K 專案。您是否看到更多地強調某種無機機會，並看到市場上的任何疲軟，否則您可能想利用這裡來擴大資源，也許擴大諸如高速之類的東西。這是我們可能期望 MP 的領域嗎，特別是當您更願意開始關注供應鏈的其他部分時？

Yes. I mean I would say that we get -- you can imagine that we get reach outs, we're considering things at all times, particularly given our seat and our expertise. Given where pricing is, it's just so tough. I mean, when I look at allocating an incremental dollar of capital and particularly given Upstream 60K and all of the great progress that's happening in Fort Worth, the idea of investing in sort of some new greenfield project versus sort of the attractiveness of what we have at MP that's really tough. And frankly, that is the environment. I think given what is happening to pricing, I think it's fair to say that there's been just an overall enormous chill on the private sector investment across the board.

是的。我的意思是，我想說的是，我們得到了——你可以想像我們得到了接觸，我們一直在考慮事情，特別是考慮到我們的席位和我們的專業知識。考慮到定價，這實在是太困難了。我的意思是，當我考慮分配增量資本時，特別是考慮到上游 60K 以及沃斯堡正在發生的所有巨大進步，投資一些新的綠地項目的想法與我們現有項目的吸引力相比在國會議員那真的很難。坦白說，這就是環境。我認為，考慮到定價方面的變化，我認為可以公平地說，私部門投資整體上出現了巨大的降溫。

And so if the question is, are there projects that will come to us? Yes, will we look at everything, and there's nothing that is imminent that I think would make a ton of sense given the state of the world, I think that the economics are just so tough. And that obviously makes us that much more bullish about our in-place assets is that I think getting more supply online is just that much harder. Certainly, there's a lot of for the private sector, a lot of confidence that's been lost, given how quickly prices sort of came off over the past year. But of course, that's what creates cycles, right? That's what's going to make for such a violent up cycle, again, just like we saw a few years ago. And then probably, if you want a strategic thought, we can go into sort of the longer-term aspects of as electrified penetration really starts to hit over the next few years. And then when we think about robotics on top of that, there's going to be an enormous filing up cycle and sustainable.

那麼如果問題是，我們會找到一些項目嗎？是的，我們會考慮一切嗎？這顯然讓我們對我們的現有資產更加樂觀，因為我認為獲得更多的線上供應要困難得多。當然，考慮到過去一年價格下跌的速度，私營部門已經失去了許多信心。但當然，這就是創造週期的原因，對嗎？這將再次導致如此猛烈的上升週期，就像我們幾年前看到的那樣。然後，如果您想要一個策略思考，我們可以探討一些長期方面，因為電氣化滲透率將在未來幾年真正開始受到影響。然後，當我們考慮機器人技術時，將會出現一個巨大的歸檔週期並且是可持續的。

But again, when and how it starts, we don't know. And so it will probably make other investments interesting. But again, it's always hard to think about the timing and the cost of capital. And right now, I'm really pleased with what we were able to accomplish on the capital structure front this quarter. And I think that's going to be a great value creator for us. And then we'll just take it as it come day by day.

但同樣，它何時以及如何開始，我們不知道。因此，這可能會讓其他投資變得有趣。但同樣，考慮時機和資本成本總是很困難。現在，我對本季我們在資本結構方面所取得的成就感到非常滿意。我認為這將為我們創造巨大的價值。然後我們就順其自然吧。

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

我們的下一個問題來自勞森溫德 (Lawson Winder) 與美國銀行的聯繫。

Michael, you mentioned some mechanical reliability issues that are kind of dogging the ramp-up. But you mentioned it certainly wasn't related to design or material quality, and you elaborated a little on what you thought was driving, could you maybe provide just a little more detail and discussion on what you think is driving that?

邁克爾，您提到了一些阻礙升級的機械可靠性問題。但你提到它肯定與設計或材料品質無關，並且你詳細闡述了你認為推動的因素，你能否提供更多細節並討論你認為推動這一因素的因素？

Sure, thanks. I guess -- I think some of it relates to initial start-up and commissioning and some operational challenges during commissioning, where we had unusual equipment failures. An example of which would be in one of our filtration circuits where we had an unusual number of pump failures. And then in terms of how that impacts the operation. In order to continue to operate, we were forced to use sort of temporary measures that were inefficient from a process yield, operating and maintenance cost, labor productivity perspective. And so as we are able to bring on kind of the appropriate equipment -- the appropriate permanent equipment that then work quite well. We could see a dramatic impact on the operability, the yield, the reduction in loss and then much lower labor cost and much lower amount of labor allocation to that area and rework.

當然，謝謝。我想——我認為其中一些與最初的啟動和調試以及調試過程中的一些操作挑戰有關，我們在調試過程中遇到了不尋常的設備故障。一個例子是在我們的一個過濾迴路中，我們出現了異常數量的泵浦故障。然後是這對營運的影響。為了繼續運營，我們被迫使用一些臨時措施，從製程產量、營運和維護成本、勞動生產率的角度來看，這些措施效率低。因此，我們能夠引進適當的設備——適當的永久性設備，然後工作得很好。我們可以看到對可操作性、產量、損失減少的巨大影響，然後勞動力成本大大降低，該領域的勞動力分配和返工量也大大減少。

So we've got a number of issues like that, and that sort of underlies the confidence in how the trajectory will improve as the supply chain delivers.

因此，我們遇到了許多類似的問題，奠定了人們對供應鏈交付時軌跡將如何改善的信心。

And then would it be fair to say that you've kind of identified the majority of these issues? Are they recurring? And much easy to identify, are there some that you're still trying to figure out?

那麼可以公平地說您已經確定了其中的大部分問題嗎？它們會反覆出現嗎？而且很容易識別，是否有一些您仍在試圖弄清楚？

I would say optimization is a permanent continuous process. So we'll always have these kind of things. Certainly, we've identified all the ones that we see in front of us now. As I've said in the past, we are able to run a lot of the circuits at pretty significant throughput rates. it's kind of pulling it together and sustaining that and having them all run together at the same time. So we could see how the bottlenecks will progress as we ramp. And we're obviously addressing those in advance of being there. But it's really not so much throughput has uptime and reliability.

我想說優化是一個永久持續的過程。所以我們總是會有這樣的事情。當然，我們已經確定了現在在我們面前看到的所有內容。正如我過去所說，我們能夠以相當高的吞吐率運行許多電路。這是一種將其整合在一起並維持並讓它們同時運作的方式。因此，我們可以看到隨著我們的發展，瓶頸將如何發展。顯然，我們在到達那裡之前就已經解決了這些問題。但真正重要的不是吞吐量，而是正常運作時間和可靠性。

Okay. Great. And then just one follow-up, if I could. On the plant shutdown, you mentioned the -- that in April, it was a little -- there was one in April. Just any color on future shutdowns for 2024. Would be really helpful.

好的。偉大的。如果可以的話，然後再做一次後續行動。關於工廠關閉，你提到了——四月份，有一點——四月有一個。任何關於 2024 年未來停工的顏色都可以。

So each year, we scheduled two longer maintenance outages, one in the spring and one in the fall. So we continue to target that. Given we have the upstream and midstream assets now versus in the past just upstream, there's a little bit of a lag. We first focus on the upstream assets and then some of the midstream assets follow. And then the upstream refills the midstream, we would expect that pattern to continue. Because the midstream is younger, the duration of the downtime in those areas is shorter than in Upstream, but because of the lag in feed and the inventory and inventory there may be the actual outage drags are a little bit longer.

因此，每年我們都會安排兩次較長的維護停電，一次在春季，一次在秋季。所以我們繼續以此為目標。鑑於我們現在擁有上游和中游資產，而過去只有上游資產，所以存在一點滯後。我們先關注上游資產，然後再關註一些中游資產。然後上游重新填充中游，我們預計這種模式將繼續下去。由於中游較年輕，這些地區的停駛時間比上游短，但由於進料和庫存的滯後，實際停駛拖累可能會稍長一些。

Our next question comes from the line of Bill Peterson with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自比爾·彼得森與摩根大通的對話。

I wanted to expand on earlier questions around the demand environment, I guess, in the context of what you're calling, I guess, some kind of imminent violin improvement in fundamentals.

我想擴展關於需求環境的早期問題，我想，在你所說的背景下，我想，某種迫在眉睫的小提琴基礎知識改進。

If we think about this year's demand environment, EVs is down, but in the U.S. replaced by hydroelectric. You have wind, then you have a lot of the standard HVAC, consumer electronics. Can you walk through the different end markets and what you're seeing...

如果我們考慮今年的需求環境，電動車有所下降，但在美國被水力發電取代。有風，就有很多標準的暖通空調、消費性電子產品。您能了解不同的終端市場以及您所看到的情況嗎？

(inaudible) for went, 2023 had lower growth in EVs. I think a lot of people say no growth, but growth was very robust. It wasn't as robust as expected. And then you also had some of the cycles I talked about on the electronics side, couple that with (inaudible) a yes.

（聽不清楚）就過去而言，2023 年電動車的成長較低。我想很多人說沒有成長，但成長非常強勁。它並不像預期的那麼強大。然後你還有我在電子方面談到的一些週期，加上（聽不清楚）是的。

A version of that, that also not only applies to trying to stoke EV demand but also HVAC appliances, et cetera. And then you're seeing a turn in some of the other electronics. And so again, we can't predict the exact quantum or timing, but it does feel like the things that drove sort of negative revisions last year, hopefully or maybe (inaudible).

其中一個版本不僅適用於刺激電動車需求，也適用於暖通空調設備等。然後你會看到其他一些電子產品的轉變。再說一遍，我們無法預測確切的數量或時間，但它確實感覺像是去年推動了某種負面修正的事情，希望或可能（聽不清楚）。

And just adding on to that, that's great. But Bill, in really simple terms, and we've talked about this before, but I think it's definitely worth repeating because it's kind of a simple framework to think about this.

再加上這一點，那就太好了。但是比爾，用非常簡單的術語來說，我們之前已經討論過這個問題，但我認為它絕對值得重複，因為這是一個思考這個問題的簡單框架。

Roughly 75% of demand are sort of your -- think of them as your legacy historical use cases, GDP or plus or minus oriented electronics, HVAC, et cetera. But then when you go in the other 25% or sort of the electrification use cases, and those are even despite sort of short-term Wall Street Armageddon in a sense, those are growing very quickly. And so what you have is a base effect, right?

大約 75% 的需求是您的——將它們視為您的遺留歷史用例、GDP 或面向正負的電子產品、HVAC 等。但是，當你進入其他 25% 或某種電氣化用例時，即使在某種意義上存在短期的華爾街末日，這些用例的成長也非常快。所以你得到的是基礎效應，對吧？

You have 75% that can take a macro hit particularly given that it is mainly centered around China where -- if that is a 5% or 10% hit, that can really trump 20%, 30%, 40% growth of these bigger use cases. But there's a compounding effect there, right, is that as that 25% is growing at 30% a year.

有75% 的企業可能會受到宏觀打擊，特別是考慮到它主要集中在中國——如果是5% 或10% 的打擊，那確實可以勝過這些更大用途的20%、30%、40%的成長案例。但那裡有一個複合效應，對吧，那就是 25% 的成長率每年達到 30%。

You look out a few years out and it becomes so much more material relative to overall demand that the sort of the short-term cyclical macro items have much less of an impact and then the reality of the electrification, which has never happened before in our supply chain really starts to impact demand and by the fact that these projects are so long term, that's where you sort of get violent pricing effects when sort of those realizations hit people in real time.

展望幾年後，相對於整體需求而言，它變得更加重要，以至於短期週期性宏觀項目的影響要小得多，然後是電氣化的現實，這在我們的國家中從未發生過供應鏈確實開始影響需求，事實上，這些項目都是長期的，當這些認知即時影響到人們時，就會產生劇烈的定價效應。

Commodities are a spot market. They're not really a long-term pricing market. So even though you can see this coming in the short term, if there's a supply-demand imbalance, the pricing adjusts. And so -- and then lastly, and again, this is longer term, but when we think about all of these electrified use cases, particularly, I'm a big believer that for all -- a lot of the hype around AI aside from chips and data center build-out, one of the real-world use cases we're really going to see a lot quicker than people think is going to be around robotics. And there's much smarter people than me saying this and making investments and showing you real products.

大宗商品屬於現貨市場。它們並不是真正的長期定價市場。因此，儘管您可以在短期內看到這種情況的發生，但如果出現供需失衡，價格就會調整。所以，最後，再一次，這是一個長期的問題，但是當我們考慮所有這些電氣化用例時，特別是，我堅信，除了人工智慧之外，還有很多關於人工智慧的炒作。是現實世界的用例之一，我們確實會看到機器人技術的應用速度比人們想像的要快得多。有比我聰明得多的人會這麼說，並進行投資並向您展示真實的產品。

And so I think in the next few years, we're going to see humanoid like robotic products. You can certainly do plenty of your own research around that. But just as an example, and again, I think it's so important, and you've heard other people talk about this, an EV is a robot on wheels. Robot is obviously a robot with legs. And an EV will have 1 to 4 motors, whereas a robot will have dozens of actuators, right? Those are the things that are -- think of them as joints in the human body that will move.

所以我認為在接下來的幾年裡，我們將看到類似人形的機器人產品。您當然可以圍繞這一點進行大量自己的研究。但僅舉個例子，我認為這非常重要，而且您已經聽到其他人談論過這一點，電動車是帶輪子的機器人。機器人顯然是一個有腿的機器人。電動車將有 1 到 4 個電機，而機器人將有數十個執行器，對嗎？這些就是──把它們想像成人體中會移動的關節。

And so if you are somebody who does believe, and again, you'll start to see this building out. It's not a '24 event. But if we think about the sort of global units of vehicles as being 1.5 billion and maybe 90 million or 100 million a year of new production. And then we're talking about billions of robots that -- will have double or triple the magnetic content of an EV, it doesn't actually take that full bill out. It starts to get sort of really ridiculous in the potential demand. And so I think that, that is something that could create another step function change expectation vertical in our space.

因此，如果您確實相信，那麼您將再次開始看到這座建築的建成。這不是 24 小時的活動。但如果我們考慮全球汽車產量為 15 億輛，每年的新產量可能為 9,000 萬輛或 1 億輛。然後我們談論的是數十億個機器人，它們的磁性含量是電動車的兩倍或三倍，但它實際上並沒有扣除全部費用。潛在需求開始變得有點荒謬。所以我認為，這可以創造另一個階梯功能，改變我們空間中垂直的期望。

And look for the statements that Xi and China has made around building out this industry in 2025. And so this is stuff that actually was kind of a couple of years ago, pie in the sky kind of stuff. And now it's stuff that you'll start to see it in the next couple of years actually become a real material demand vertical. And so we're really optimistic about it. That means nothing though for 2024. But it does mean a lot for the value that we're creating here and how we think about the business over the next 3 to 5 years.

看看習近平和中國圍繞 2025 年建設這個行業所做的聲明。現在，您將在未來幾年內開始看到它實際上成為真正的材料需求垂直領域。所以我們對此非常樂觀。雖然這對 2024 年來說毫無意義。

That's what I understand between the legacy versus growth drivers. So just thinking about capital allocation, I guess, in the context of your bullish outlook looking 2 to 3, 4, 5 years out. Should we think about buybacks being actionable given where you think your share price is today? How should we think about the use of cash from here or further debt pay down? Will you rather kind of keep driving order for things, M&A or otherwise?

這就是我對傳統與成長動力之間的理解。因此，我想，在您對 2 至 3、4、5 年前景持樂觀態度的背景下，考慮一下資本配置。考慮到您目前的股價，我們是否應該考慮可行的回購？我們應該如何考慮使用這裡的現金或進一步償還債務？您願意繼續推動事物的秩序，併購還是其他事情？

Bill, we just bought back 7.3% of the company last month. I think after the bell, Apple, and I'm -- there's lots of excitement on the news, how huge that is. That's 4% of their company, right? So we look at all the press tonight and in the morning about the scale of that buyback, and we did nearly double that last quarter. So I mean, we've certainly -- and for a number of quarters, when prices were much higher, people asked us, and we've said repeatedly, we'll act when we can act in a substantial way with material impact, and we're not going to telegraph these kinds of things. And that will -- that remains the case. And so certainly, our -- we think that there's a lot of value here, and we've sort of made that clear. And -- but I think we've also sort of voted with our purse, so to speak.

比爾，我們上個月剛回購了公司 7.3% 的股份。我想在鐘聲響起後，蘋果公司和我——這個消息讓很多人興奮不已，這是多麼巨大的消息。那是他們公司的 4%，對嗎？因此，我們今晚和早上都會關注所有媒體關於回購規模的信息，而上個季度我們的回購規模幾乎翻了一番。所以我的意思是，我們當然——在幾個季度裡，當價格高得多時，人們問我們，我們一再說過，當我們能夠採取實質行動並產生實質影響時，我們就會採取行動，我們不會用電報傳達這類事情。情況仍然如此。當然，我們認為這裡有很多價值，我們已經明確表示了這一點。而且——但我認為我們也用我們的錢包進行了投票，可以這麼說。

We have time for one last question, and that question is going to be from the line of Benjamin Kallo with Baird.

我們有時間回答最後一個問題，該問題將由本傑明·卡洛（Benjamin Kallo）和貝爾德（Baird）提出。

I'll make it quick. You're very passive about demand, and I'm a believer of that, too. I just want to understand about (inaudible) other part of the investment cases all you're working for is -- if you see the signs of like the bifurcation of pricing a distinction between the Made in America versus China from customers? Or because of the current environment just right now a near term no one really [cares], it might not be a fair question with GM all done. But just wondering how those conversations have changed. It's like you said commodity -- and do you think it is to the longer commodity at some point because you've Made in America (inaudible)?

我會盡快處理的。你對需求非常被動，我也相信這一點。我只是想了解（聽不清楚）投資案例的其他部分，您正在做的就是—您是否從客戶那裡看到了定價分歧等跡象，區分了美國製造和中國製造？或者由於目前的環境，短期內沒有人真正[關心]，這可能不是一個公平的問題，因為通用汽車已經完成了。但只是想知道這些對話發生了怎樣的變化。就像您所說的商品 - 您是否認為在某些時候它是較長的商品，因為您是美國製造（聽不清楚）？

So Ben, I think I heard most of it. It sounded like you are in car wash or something. I hope you're somewhere for fun.

本，我想我聽到了大部分內容。聽起來你好像在洗車什麼的。我希望你在某個地方好玩。

But I think actually -- and so I hinted at this a little bit in the comments. And I think Certainly, as we look at our market today, there's no question that it is effectively, pricing is just effectively controlled in China, right? They're the vast majority of production and downstream usage -- and with the vast majority of their industry operating at a loss, I think it's fair to say that one could conclude that there are others than free market things going on there and that there may be sort of strategic things happening to the pricing in our industry.

但我認為實際上 - 所以我在評論中暗示了這一點。我認為當然，當我們審視今天的市場時，毫無疑問，定價在中國得到了有效控制，對嗎？它們佔據了絕大多數生產和下游用途——而且由於絕大多數行業都在虧損運營，我認為可以公平地說，人們可以得出這樣的結論：除了自由市場之外，還有其他事情正在發生，而那裡正在發生可能是我們行業的定價發生了某種戰略性的變化。

But if we look around the world, and we've been talking about this for a few years, but I think this year, in particular, it has exploded. There was actually an article on Bloomberg today about [Geely] is going to be introducing a product this summer. I guess that was announced at the Beijing Auto Show, there were 100-plus new models there of exciting products that Chinese industry, Chinese OEMs have created at very low cost, but there's a Geely car that's going to be a very much equivalent of a Model Y that's going to be coming to market substantially cheaper thousands of dollars cheaper.

但如果我們環顧世界，我們已經討論這個問題好幾年了，但我認為，特別是今年，它已經爆炸了。實際上，今天彭博社有一篇文章稱[吉利]將在今年夏天推出產品。我想這是在北京車展上宣布的，那裡有100 多種新車型，都是中國工業、中國OEM 廠商以非常低的成本創造的令人興奮的產品，但有一款吉利汽車將非常相當於一輛Model Y 上市後的價格將大幅降低數千美元。

And given sort of the Volvo aspect of it will not be subject to tariff. And I think what you're going to find, and then there were also other stories of BYD building a plant in Mexico, and certainly excess capacity in China that will now make its way around the world. I think the big picture thing here that is so important is that when we thought about EV penetration globally, it used to be a situation where EVs were much more expensive than ICE. And so kind of a bunch of rich people could get them, but then when would it really sort of be mainstream and how much subsidy would have to happen.

鑑於沃爾沃的某些方面，它不會受到關稅的影響。我想你會發現什麼，然後還有比亞迪在墨西哥建造工廠的其他故事，當然還有中國的過剩產能現在將蔓延到世界各地。我認為這裡非常重要的大局是，當我們考慮電動車在全球的滲透率時，過去的情況是電動車比內燃機汽車貴得多。一群富人可以得到它們，但什麼時候它才能真正成為主流，以及需要多少補貼。

But actually, what's happened now is that the Chinese have put so much capacity on the table that they have now moved downstream to the point where their OEMs will be displacing Western OEMs in the West. And you see that, you see that really. And I think you're going to see it in a huge way this summer. And I think it will probably hit fever pitch as we approach the election.

但實際上，現在發生的情況是，中國人已經投入瞭如此多的產能，以至於他們現在已經向下游轉移，以至於他們的原始設備製造商將在西方取代西方原始設備製造商。你看到了，你真的看到了。我認為今年夏天你將會看到它的巨大變化。我認為，隨著選舉的臨近，它可能會達到高潮。

And they'll continue to be an issue because there's no question that there's going to be stress and distress across some of the western OEMs as the competitive landscape completely changes. It's a great thing for consumers in the sense that there are great products that are cheaper than ICE vehicles. And so this whole issue of demand and is this -- it's really just a pendulum of EV, whether regardless of what people think, the electrified penetration is greater than 50% in China. So it is [fake] complete. It is happening around the world.

它們將繼續成為一個問題，因為毫無疑問，隨著競爭格局的徹底改變，一些西方原始設備製造商將面臨壓力和困擾。這對消費者來說是件好事，因為有比內燃機汽車更便宜的優質產品。所以這整個需求問題就是——它實際上只是電動車的鐘擺，無論人們怎麼想，中國的電氣化普及率都超過 50%。所以它是[假]完整的。它正在世界各地發生。

And so our expectation is that -- and frankly, I think it's a pretty good bet that for political but also economic reasons that as you see this unfold market pricing or close to market pricing will eventually take hold. It's going to be very hard for Chinese OEMs to sell a lot of products in the U.S. while losing money upstream in some of these critical commodities having a strategic advantage relative to other OEMs. And so I think that what we have and certainly their need to be more of the supply chain, and we're not the only vertical that this pertains to. But I think as we see this dynamic unfold, the battleground will move from the upstream to the downstream.

因此，我們的期望是——坦白說，我認為這是一個相當不錯的賭注，出於政治和經濟原因，正如你所看到的，市場定價或接近市場定價最終將佔據主導地位。對於中國原始設備製造商來說，要想在美國銷售大量產品，同時在某些相對於其他原始設備製造商具有戰略優勢的關鍵商品上游虧損，將非常困難。因此，我認為我們所擁有的以及他們當然需要更多的供應鏈，而我們並不是唯一與之相關的垂直領域。但我認為，隨著這種動態的展開，戰場將從上游轉移到下游。

And of course, I haven't even begun -- we haven't talked about robotics and drones and other things that are electrified that have even broader national security applications in the world as we see it. And so again, that is all speculative on our part, but I think that we've sort of been on top of this issue for a few years, and I think that we'll start to see that change. I don't expect it to be in the next couple of months, but certainly in the next couple of years.

當然，我還沒有開始——我們還沒有談論機器人、無人機和其他電氣化的東西，正如我們所看到的，這些東西在世界上有更廣泛的國家安全應用。再說一次，這對我們來說都是猜測，但我認為我們已經關注這個問題好幾年了，而且我認為我們將開始看到這種變化。我預計不會在接下來的幾個月內發生，但肯定會在接下來的幾年內發生。

Thank you -- go ahead. I'm so sorry.

謝謝你——繼續。我很抱歉。

Yes, I was just going to conclude and say, Domo arigato, to everybody. Thank you, and we'll see you next quarter.

是的，我只是想總結一下，對大家說，Domo arigato。謝謝您，我們下季見。

That concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation, and enjoy the rest of your day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，祝您有個愉快的一天。