TSE:CIA Champion Iron Q2 2024 Earnings Report C$3.69 -0.13 (-3.40%) As of 04/16/2025 04:00 PM Eastern Earnings HistoryForecast Champion Iron EPS ResultsActual EPSC$0.12Consensus EPS C$0.09Beat/MissBeat by +C$0.03One Year Ago EPSN/AChampion Iron Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$387.57 millionExpected Revenue$415.50 millionBeat/MissMissed by -$27.93 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/AChampion Iron Announcement DetailsQuarterQ2 2024Date10/25/2023TimeN/AConference Call DateThursday, October 26, 2023Conference Call Time9:00AM ETConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckInterim ReportEarnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Champion Iron Q2 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrOctober 26, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Second Quarter Results of the Financial Year 2024 Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. This call is being recorded on Thursday, October 26, 2023. I would now like to turn the conference over to Michael Marcotte. Operator00:00:26Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:28Thank you, operator, and thank you everybody for joining us on this call today to discuss our Q2 results. Before we get going, I'd like to turn people over to our website at championiron.com, where you can find the presentation we'll be using today under the Events and Presentation section. Also like to remind people that we'll be making forward looking statements throughout this call. If you want to read more about these, you can go in our MD and A also available on our website. Joining me today is our CEO, David Catteford, who will be making the formal our presentation also joining me is Alexandre Belot, our COO and Danard Tremblay, our CFO. Speaker 100:01:06After David's formal presentation, we'll be doing a Q and A session. With that, I'll turn it over to David. Speaker 200:01:11Thanks, Michael. Thanks, everyone, for being on the call. Very happy to be able to discuss The Q2 of fiscal year 2024. 2 of the main highlights during the quarter. 1 is we're continuing to improve the production at our site and achieving roughly about 30 days of full nameplate capacity at the operations. Speaker 200:01:33So things are beginning to stabilize and we'll be able to tweak the final elements to be in full nameplate capacity. And second, the fact that we've been able to reduce our cost roughly about CAD74 delivered in the vessel in Seychelles. We had mentioned previous quarter that we felt that the costs had peaked we are happy to report that with the improved operations, our costs are starting to come down. If we turn to sustainability, I think it's important to produce tonnes, but it's very important to produce clean tonnes and happy to report as well that all the investment and the work that we've done on the health and safety side has allowed us now to exceed 500,000 hours worked without any recordable injuries. So a lot of focus to be able to improve our results on safety and we see that these elements are now paying off. Speaker 200:02:25In terms of the work that we're doing with the community, very happy to say that we've aligned ourselves with 1 of the largest North American First Nations Festivals. So this is directly in Mayotte Nam. So with the community of Wahhabi Denam with which we work, happy that we've announced a 10 year partnership with the festival to be able to be present and also to support financially their great festival. Also did our 2nd year of official holiday the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. So we had significant activities at site and at the head office to be able to learn more about our partners and to have great speakers discuss about the past and also the potential future of working with First Nation Communities. Speaker 200:03:15We believe it's extremely important to continue improving on that relationship. As you've seen permitting has become more and more complicated, operating in lands that are on traditional First Nation lands is also more complex. We're happy to have one of the best partnerships with the First Nations to be able to continue our growth strategy. If we look at the market, so it was a in terms of the iron ore price, it's been pretty stable in the past quarter. The P62 and P65 have been fairly stable. Speaker 200:03:50You have seen the premium for the higher grade shrink closer to about 10% right now, which is abnormal if you look at the historical results since the index was created. That can be explained by 3 sort of main elements. 1 being that the steel output out of Europe has not fully recovered. We're roughly about 10% below previous year in terms of crude steel production and pig iron Also, we have not seen significant environmental restrictions out of China. So that usually affects the premium. Speaker 200:04:27And we've seen steel margins out of China also be fairly depressed, which typically causes lower premiums for high grade and lower discounts for low grade. We do not feel that's a long term event, but in the short term, we've seen that depress the premium. Mind you the price is still pretty healthy. It's been hovering between $125 $130 per tonne during the quarter. In terms of the production, so record production of 3,450,000 tonnes during the quarter. Speaker 200:05:02There were some elements that caused us to be lower than our nameplate capacity during the quarter, mainly one conveyor that had a pretty significant failure that we were able to repair and also that event affected mainly the Phase 2 concentrator for several days during the quarter. But again, as we mentioned on the highlights section, happy to report that we've been operating in about nameplate capacity for a run rate of about 30 days. So, we've been able to fix up most of the hiccups associated to these different elements, the strategy that we've been taking as well as we've been doing since the beginning is being very conservative on the maintenance side and making sure that when there's a hiccup like that, we fix it for good. We don't just do a little patch and then start back up the operation. So it takes a little bit more time, but it allows us to then fix the problem and be able to move to the next hiccup, so that eventually we'll be able to have a stable operation. Speaker 200:06:14In terms of operations, I'd like to turn your attention as well to another great record that we achieved during the quarter. We had mentioned when we started up Phase 2 that there was a challenge to be able to secure all the mining equipment and to be able to get that mining equipment up and ready and have workers being able to operate them. We had a record of about 17,000,000 tonnes we moved at the mine in the past quarter. So we could see now that all the mining equipment is up and running, operators are there and we're hitting records in terms of material moved at the mine. So very happy with the way that operations are ramping up. Speaker 200:06:51And now that we're in a more stable operation, we'll be able to tweak the final elements, which is the iron ore recovery and the maintenance portion, so that we can be in a stable nameplate capacity for the next years and allow us to start working on our debottlenecking projects to be able to improve the tonnage from Bloom Lake. In terms of financial highlights, one note, roughly about $155,000,000 of EBITDA during the quarter. And second, as we mentioned, the iron ore sorry, the cash cost that has reduced during the quarter. If we turn to the cash cost, main elements that allowed us to reduce the cost is 1, the volume. So we've always mentioned that a more stable and a higher volume will allow us to dilute down all of our fixed costs, we also had operational improvements at the mine as we have our own operators. Speaker 200:07:48Well, obviously, we don't need as many contractors and that reduces long term costs and the teams have done a great job in improving also the operations we are at the mining side and we do have some improvements on the logistics cost as well that have allowed us to bring the cost down from $81 to roughly about $74 per tonne. In terms of provisional price adjustment, it's been a pretty smooth quarter on that sense. We had about 1 point 4,000,000 tonnes on the water expected to deliver to be delivered at $121 per tonne. We managed to sell them at $122 So a very small provisional price impact, positive US1.6 million dollars which gives roughly about a $0.50 per tonne. Right now, well, at the end of September, we did expect a settlement price of about $126 per tonne for the 1,300,000 tonnes on the water. Speaker 200:08:43And if you look at the current prices, they've hovered between $125,000,000 $130,000,000 So if things continue this way, it should be another pretty smooth quarter in terms of provisional price. If we look at our realized price, realized selling price, you can see that we got a small premium to the P65 index during the quarter. So again, reflecting the fact that we can sell our material at the higher premium. That will obviously evolve in the future as we start selling 69% material in the next few years. But for now, we do still manage to hit a premium compared to the P65. Speaker 300:09:21If we Speaker 200:09:21look at our cash, well, our cash improved by just over CAD65 1,000,000 during the quarter. There was a positive change in the working capital by about CAD40 1,000,000 We generated quite a lot of cash from our operations as well. And on the spend side, we did invest in our operations, mainly on the tailings, dice and at the mine garage, all planned elements and as you know typically sustaining costs are higher for us during the summer months as this is when we do all the work for our tailings and the work that we do on our Dice. What does that do for our balance sheet? So you can see that our balance sheet is in a pretty robust position. Speaker 200:10:02We have net cash of about $27,000,000 and we also have roughly about $170,000,000 on the ground at Bloom Lake, if you account for the 1,600,000 tonnes that is currently sitting at Bloom Lake, we do feel that right now, the logistics side seems in balance with our production. So things have improved on the rail line, but still in a tight operational spot to be able to bring down the stored inventory at site. We do feel that in the next quarters we'll be able to start bringing down that material and evaluate it will take roughly about a year to be able to bring down that material once we start bringing it down. So it will stay at site for some small time, but I think the positive note is that we feel that the rail is now in a position to bring down all the tonnes that are being produced. So we should have a better equilibrium we are committed to the balance sheet between the tonnes produced and the tonnes that are sold. Speaker 200:11:09When you look at the results, the cash that we generated and also our balance sheet that has allowed us to announce our 5th consecutive semiannual dividend of $0.10 per share. So very happy to continue our capital return we will be Speaker 300:11:25happy to take your questions. If we Speaker 200:11:26turn to the market, in terms of demand for our product and for the higher grade products, what's interesting is we've been talking for a few years now about the fact that we feel the market is going to require more green steel and the users will be able to pay or will be willing to pay for this material in the future. We're starting to see contracts now being announced. The sectors where we track more of these green steel premiums in the auto and auto supply sector, in the energy sector and the home appliances, these seems to be the ones that we're seeing the largest premiums for green steel. Prices range from roughly about US40 dollars per tonne for material that uses DRI all the way to €200 to €300 per tonne for some users out of Europe. So we do feel that there is or there are some people that are willing to pay the premiums for this type of material. Speaker 200:12:26And when you look at the type of consumers that want this, right now it's typically users that are not that impacted by the price of steel, But they can market their products after saying that it's a greener product. So we're thinking of companies like BMW that are able to pass on easily the premium to the customers to be able to market this type of material. So we're starting to see these contracts come and I think it's a perfect timing because as this market evolves in just under 2 years, we'll be able to deliver our 69% material that should be able to fetch a very high premium. During the quarter, we also announced our new 40 three-1 101. So it was important for us to keep the definition drilling at Bloom Lake to be able that we can maximize the tonnes over the future, we still have an 18 year mine life, Our measured and indicated resources by 40% and the inferred resources by 3 60%. Speaker 200:13:38Why is this important now for not converting them to reserves is to really make sure that we design the right mine plans to make sure that we can access those tonnes in the future and potentially be able to operate decades after our current 18 year mine life. So very happy with the results that we've been able to achieve with the resources at Bloom Lake. In terms of our growth projects, so the feasibility studies are still on track to be we are able to be delivered in the coming months. So I'm very happy with the progress and with the work that the team has been doing. We'll be able to report to the market once we have the results for the Kami project and for the pelletizing facility in Point Knoll. Speaker 200:14:25If we turn to our next growth project, the one that is the most advanced, the DRPF. So we do have cumulative spending up to date of just under $30,000,000 continuing to advance the detailed engineering and ordering our long lead items to make sure that we hit our calendar H2 2025 commissioning date. Right now, we have not taken a final investment decision yet. The two elements that we are still working on is the securing of the energy block to be able to operate this plant and also finalizing the debt package with our current financial partners to be able to have all the cash in the bank to be able to finalize the project. So things are moving ahead smoothly. Speaker 200:15:10We do still expect a delivery time in line with what we have mentioned in the past and just working to finalize those elements to be able to come back to our Board for a final investment decision. With that being said, I'd like to thank our team and all the supporting teams that have helped us achieve those results. I think they've done a fantastic job in making sure that we can produce clean tonnes and that we're able to eventually stabilize our operations so that we can start working on all of our debottlenecking projects to continue creating value for our shareholders. That being said, I'll turn it over to the Q and A portion of Speaker 300:15:50the call. Operator00:15:50Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. You will hear a 3 tone prompt acknowledging your request and your questions will be pulled in the order they are received. Your first question comes from Orest Wow Koda with Scotiabank. Your line is open. Speaker 400:16:20Hi, good morning. A couple of clarification questions. So should we now that you've achieved the full production rate or full capacity, I guess, here for 30 days, should we anticipate that Q4 or is our calendar Q4 is now a full run rate quarter? Or is there still sort of some Give and take expected on the ramp up. And then second question is on the shipments. Speaker 400:16:47Did I understand you correctly that you don't expect any destocking of inventory here in calendar Q4? Speaker 200:16:56Yes. Thanks for the questions, Orest. So when you look at the current rail capacity, so we had mentioned in the past that in terms of the port and in terms of the rail, we needed to improve those numbers so that it can match the production at site. We do feel that the port now most of the hiccups are behind them and the new stacker reclaimers operational. The car dumpers performing pretty well. Speaker 200:17:19All of the sightings that they installed have been done. In the past quarter, they had to finalize the repair. If you remember 8 to 10 months ago, there was a big electrical issue that happened that caused some downtime. They had bypassed that during the past 10 months, but that needed to be repaired. So that took a bit of time during the quarter. Speaker 200:17:40But now that all of that is behind us, we feel that the port can be able to deliver all the tonnes that we bring to it. When you look at the rail, that's a bit of a different story. They're ramping back up following the forest fires. There's also some operational issues where they had to do major shutdowns on that rail that they typically do during the summer, but they had to postpone because of the forest fires and they're still finalizing the ramp up on their rail. So short term in the Q4, I don't expect that we'll be able to destock tonnes from that 1,600,000 stockpile at site. Speaker 200:18:17But following that, we do feel that we'll be able to start bringing down tonnes and that should eventually go much faster if you look at next summer, next year. So that's sort of what we see for the material there. And your other question was Speaker 400:18:37just whether you expect now this calendar quarter to be a Speaker 200:18:41full broad capacity? Yes, sorry, yes. So when we look at the operations right now, we still need to tweak the recovery for us to be able to reach full nameplate capacity. And there's still some elements that are rising from the start up that need to be fixed. I mean, we're not seeing any right now, but I'm sure we have not fixed 100% of the issues that might come. Speaker 200:19:05So it's tough to give guidance on whether this quarter will be able to we know the mills can take it. We know the mining operations are up in line, but there might still be some small hiccups to work through on the maintenance side, to be able to have a robust site that can do the full nameplate capacity. Speaker 500:19:25Thanks. Just as Speaker 400:19:26a quick follow-up, I'm a little surprised on your comments about the rail capacity, especially given that Rio Tinto has cut IOC guidance again, they're having their own issues. I'm surprised you can't take advantage of some of that excess rail capacity if IOC is not producing. Speaker 200:19:42I'm very surprised as well and you can be sure that we're putting all the necessary pressure to be able to bring down tonnes. So, but I'm thinking the same way as you are, Orest. Speaker 400:19:53Great. Thanks so much. Operator00:19:57Your next question comes from Alexander Pierce with BMO. Your line is Speaker 600:20:02open. Great. Good morning all. So in the quarter, obviously, you could see cash costs coming down. All the sustaining costs were maybe a little bit higher than expected. Speaker 600:20:12It looks like you had a big chunk of sustaining CapEx in there. So I just wondered maybe you could break down what was actually included within that sustaining CapEx figure? I think it was about $60,000,000 and maybe what we should expect maybe for a normalized level on a quarter by quarter basis going forward? Thanks. Speaker 200:20:31Yes. Thanks. So as you know, we're currently and you'll probably get see it in the coming weeks when you come to site, but we are building the extension to the garage. So that is one of the mining garage. That's one element that accounts for a portion of the sustaining and also all the work that is being done on the tailings and the dikes. Speaker 200:20:50So that's typically just in the summer months. So we should see that sustaining cost come down as we get more into winter. But that's what explains mainly those two elements are really the major part of the sustaining during the quarter. Speaker 600:21:06So should we kind of look at the The previous few quarters really for maybe a more normalized level after this. Speaker 200:21:15Yes, it should. Well, I mean, the winter months, it typically goes down. Next summer, well, you'll see it increase as well because as you know, the 1st years of the Phase 2 operation was when we're building out the new tailings facility and the waste dump. So there was in our feasibility study some higher investments at the beginning and that eventually comes down to a much lower sustaining cost when we finalize those infrastructures. Speaker 600:21:42Great. Thanks. And then just maybe if I can just follow-up with the second question. Obviously, there's the strikes going on in the Seaway down the road. That's not impacting your operations whatsoever, right? Speaker 300:21:55It's correct. Thanks. Operator00:22:00Your next question comes from Gordon Lawson with Paradigm. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:22:05Hi, good morning. My primary was answered. So just following up on the feasibility studies. I've been writing about expecting both Kami and the pallet plant studies by year end, I'm wondering if there's still viable target dates? Speaker 200:22:22Yes. So we're working to finalize the main one for us and the most important one for us to deliver is really the Kami feasibility study will be delivered at the end of this calendar year or at the beginning of January. So that will depend if we're able to finalize all the different numbers by then, but it's coming as expected in that time frame, for the pellet plant feasibility, well, same thing. We're advancing with the engineering firms. The one element that's making it a little bit more complex is how do we deal with the whole energy portion. Speaker 200:22:56It's the first time in Quebec that energy is not sort of automatic. So we're working with the engineering firms to be able to have something they're comfortable to sign and make sure that we have the right report to be able to get out to the market and deliver to the market. So that's the one element that might have a little issue on the timing, mainly for the pellet plant, but the one that we're really focusing to finalize is the Kami feasibility side. Speaker 400:23:27Okay. Thank you. And just following up on that, can you just elaborate on what sort of options we can expect with Canby because there's talk about the Doctor fees and such. I'm just wondering what should we be looking for here? Speaker 200:23:41Yes. Kenny is going to be Doctor grade. So that's that's all the test work that we've done and confirmed. So for us, this is why it took more time as well than just a typical update of a feasibility study. We want to make sure that we're delivering the right product into the market. Speaker 200:23:55And our view is that this Doctor material is going to fetch a pretty good premium. We have not seen projects at scale being announced. I mean, apart from Vale that mentioned, they'll be producing a whole lot more, but we're seeing the quality out of Brazil decline. So we want to make sure to be a unique sort of niche product, the highest grade, Doctor grade material you can find in the market. So that's where we're you can find in the market. Speaker 200:24:17So that's where we're targeting for the Kami project. Speaker 400:24:23And that goes for the pellet plant as well? It's Doctor grade? Speaker 200:24:27Yes. The pellet plant would take Doctor grade material and would pelletize it. So it would be a Doctor pellet, correct. Speaker 400:24:33Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thank you, Gordon. Operator00:24:37Your next question comes from Stefan Ioannou with Cormark Securities. Please go ahead. Speaker 300:24:44Yes. Thanks very much. Maybe just back on the rail thing, just maybe housekeeping. I think, David, you mentioned it would take about 12 months to draw or reduce the inventory to sort of regular level. Should we think of that as 12 months from today or 12 months post calendar Q4 when you actually start decreasing it? Speaker 200:25:02Yes. You have to view it well, I mean it's I don't have a crystal ball, so it all depends How the materials ramped up, but realistically, it would be it's more difficult to bring down more tonnes during the winter months as you know. But once we start destocking, that's when we feel it take about a year to bring down the material. If it's faster, we'll be very happy and we'll put pressure for it to be faster. But that in the current sort of scenario that's what I would expect. Speaker 300:25:27Okay, okay, perfect. And then just On the study right now to produce the direct feed at Bloom Lake, you mentioned second half of twenty twenty five commissioning, but obviously that's pending formal sanctioning, which in turn is in part dependent on power or power agreement. What can you maybe just give us a sight line to where that power is that and what we might want to anticipate there from a sanctioning point of view, the timing on sanctioning? Speaker 200:25:57Yes. So once we have all the elements, we'll be able to go to the Board. I mean, as you can appreciate, we've already approved over $60,000,000 spend on the project. So I think it's pretty clear that unless there's a major change, that's a project that would go ahead pending a power allocation and the financing package with our partners. What we can say and if you read the public press out of Quebec is that the government has informed 11 companies that they have their power. Speaker 200:26:24It's just not a public information yet. So when that list becomes public, we should be able to update the market on the timeframe for our project. Speaker 300:26:33Okay. Okay. That's very helpful. Thanks very much guys. Operator00:26:38Your next question comes from Craig Hutchison with TD. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:26:44Good morning, guys. You mentioned a pretty wide range in terms of the price between the market now for DRI material, I think you said $40 up to €200,000 Can you just talk about what your marketing strategy is For the future offtake for the Doctor material and what kind of interest you're seeing from potential offtake partners now? Speaker 200:27:07Yes. So obviously, we'll be targeting the people that sell it at €200,000,000 or €300,000,000 more. Speaker 300:27:11And our Speaker 200:27:14when you look at the wide varieties, because not everybody has the same definition on what green or greener steel is. If you look at that $40 mark, that's more people that mentioned that they will produce some steel with HBI. So there's different ways to get there. What we're targeting is markets that want to deliver steel below 1 tonne of CO2 per tonne of steel. That's where we see that the current premiums seem to sit and that's why we're targeting much more Europe, Middle East and Japan when we look at our potential clients to sell this type of material. Speaker 200:27:47So you are correct, it's a wide range. It's starting now. So it's the beginning of something. We do know Fast Markets is working on delivering an index for this type of material. Now again, are we going to be on that index because what will be that niche material that is at the higher grade of the Doctor, which will allow our clients to buy some lower grade material. Speaker 200:28:09So I think to start it's probably going to be more a case by case element and we'll be able to follow that index to see if that makes sense for us in the future and will it be similar to the current P65 where we sell on that index with a premium or will it be just another sort of pricing scenario that's still in discussion with all of our clients? Speaker 400:28:31Okay. Those markets are fairly I guess they're fairly small at this point right now. Those are niche products. Is that fair Speaker 200:28:42I'd say now maybe, but when you look at 2024, 2025 when all those electric arc furnaces delivered, we're going to be in a different territory because right now I agree with what you're saying, although we are seeing material that used to qualify for Doctor grade that has declined. So we have seen less material available to fit that quality. But I really feel as those tonnes get delivered, that's when I see that we'll see a potential uptick in demand for this type of material. Speaker 400:29:15Great. Thanks guys. Operator00:29:19Your next question comes from Lucas Pipes with B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:29:24Thank you very much, operator. Good morning, everyone. My first question is on the strategic side. You have a portfolio of growth projects, that's pretty unique. I wonder to what extent there are considerations about partnerships, JVs, things of that nature. Speaker 500:29:46And if they are, kind of regionally, where would you we're seeing the most interest and what is your interest level. I would appreciate your thoughts on that. Thank you. Speaker 200:29:56Could you reformulate Can you follow-up that for me, Lucas? Sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Speaker 500:30:02Yes. So higher level question. You have a portfolio of growth projects. Steelmakers around the world obviously are looking at decarbonization I could see that there is interest from some steelmakers to participate in some of your projects. And so I wanted to get a sense for your appetite for joint ventures and at what stage that could make sense. Speaker 200:30:33Yes. So if you look at the way that we've approached our growth, so the elements that I feel that we should do on our own because they'll create a whole lot of value for our shareholders it is the DRPF at Bloom Lake and the debottlenecking at Bloom Lake. So those are projects and capital spend that I think it will be extremely accretive for our shareholders and palatable for a company our size. When we look at projects like The pellet plant, well, the pellet plant, we've already announced that we'll be we're doing the study with a large steel manufacturer because they do have interest for this type of material. And we had others knock on the door and say, hey, if it doesn't work with that group, we would definitely like to step in. Speaker 200:31:14So we do feel that there is interest to be able to go down the joint venture route and same with Kami. We feel that Kami is a great project for our shareholders, but maybe a little bit large compared to where our company is today. So we feel that the right way to approach it would be with a strategic partner. And again, we have had quite a lot of interest on that project as well. So the way that we view our growth is whatever we feel is palatable like the Doctor pellet feed projects and debottlenecking we can do on our own and the larger projects we'll be looking at joint ventures. Speaker 500:31:50Thank you. That's helpful. And a follow-up along the same vein. Lots of considerations around consolidation in the North American Steel Industry, has that changed any of your conversations, be it from a strategic standpoint like we just mentioned or from a commercial perspective, I would appreciate your thoughts on whether there's any knock on effect in consolidation in the North American Steel Industry. Thank you. Speaker 200:32:20Yes. Thanks for the question. For now, it hasn't really affected because we don't sell them to the U. S. For now. Speaker 200:32:26Once we get to the Doctor pellet material then there are opportunities. So we'll see how that can unfold. But most of the demand that we've been getting is really out of Europe, the Middle East and Japan. So we do feel that that's where the tonnes will be able to be delivered to start. Then we'll see where the U. Speaker 200:32:43S. Market and Canadian market evolves to see if there's opportunities there. But that consolidation has not necessarily affected our plans in the short term. Speaker 500:32:56Thank you very much for your color. To you and the team, continue best of luck. Speaker 200:33:00Thanks, Lucas. Operator00:33:02Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have a question, please press star followed by the one. Your next question comes from Brian MacArthur with Raymond James. Please go ahead. Speaker 700:33:13Good morning. I'd just like to follow-up on the potential contracting strategy for your 69 Material. As we were discussing earlier, the market might grow very quickly, pricing wide range. Is the thought that you're going to enter long term contracts? And I would think that's Speaker 400:33:31what a lot of customers work or is it going to Speaker 700:33:33be shorter volume contracts? Are we going to go to a base price and an escalated contractor, have you gone down that process so far? And how do you think that'll work out given such a potentially high growth industry? Speaker 200:33:48Yes. What's important for us now is that we're in discussions with the groups where we feel it makes the most sense, 1, on shipping, Because the last thing we want is to have a great contract on pricing, but then it's complicated to get the tonnes in and we get slapped by the shipping prices. So for us, it's important to see where can we deliver 180,000 tonne vessels and fully benefit from that type of material. 2, we don't want to put all of our tons at the same place because obviously we see a lot of risk in doing that. So we want it spread out in a few regions and we want to make sure that there are larger companies that can secure the right contracts for Green Steel because we feel they're the ones that will be able to pay the most amount for our material. Speaker 200:34:35So when we look at the strategy right now, it's really identifying the right places on the logistics side, making sure the clients can benefit from the premium and then sitting down and discussing the potential price. I'd say right now half of the potentials are actual clients and the other half would be new clients. So that's the way that we've been seeing The market now, but where will it end? Because it's a new product, we'll be securing volume. But I think the formula is going to have to be a little bit flexible in price, but really a formula that sets for the 1st 3 years and then see how that evolves in the future. Speaker 700:35:22Thanks very much. That's very helpful. Speaker 200:35:25Thank you, Brian. Operator00:35:27There are no further questions at this time. Please proceed. Speaker 200:35:32Well, thanks everyone for being on the call today. Very happy to discuss the Q2 fiscal year 2024 results. Looking forward to being able to discuss it the next quarter. It's going to be an exciting one because that's when we'll start having results from our feasibility studies and continuing to improve our operations. So again, thanks to all our shareholders for your support and we'll continue to work to maximize the value of your shareholding. Speaker 200:35:57Thanks a lot and speak soon. Have a good day. Operator00:36:01Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallChampion Iron Q2 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckInterim report Champion Iron Earnings HeadlinesChampion Iron Limited (TSE:CIA) Given Average Recommendation of "Buy" by BrokeragesApril 10, 2025 | americanbankingnews.comScotiabank Upgrades Champion Iron (TSE:CIA) to "Outperform"April 8, 2025 | americanbankingnews.comNew “Trump” currency proposed in DCAccording to one of the most connected men in Washington… A surprising new bill was just introduced in Washington. Its purpose: to put Donald Trump’s face on the $100 note. All to celebrate a new “golden age” for America. April 17, 2025 | Paradigm Press (Ad)Raymond James Has Positive View of Champion Iron Q1 EarningsApril 8, 2025 | americanbankingnews.comCHAMPION IRON LTD AT XTSE (CIA.NE)April 7, 2025 | ca.finance.yahoo.comPositive Report for Champion Iron Ltd. (CIA) from JardenApril 7, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comSee More Champion Iron Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Champion Iron? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Champion Iron and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Champion IronChampion Iron (TSE:CIA) engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of iron ore deposits in Canada. Its flagship projects include the Bloom Lake Mine located in south end of the Labrador; the Consolidated Fire Lake North project that includes the Fire Lake North, Don Lake, Bellechasse, and Oil Can deposits situated in Quebec; and the Kamistiatusset project located in the Labrador. The company sells its iron ore concentrate in China, Japan, the Middle East, Europe, South Korea, India, and internationally. Champion Iron Limited is headquartered in Rozelle, Australia.View Champion Iron ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Tesla Stock Eyes Breakout With Earnings on DeckJohnson & Johnson Earnings Were More Good Than Bad—Time to Buy? 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There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Second Quarter Results of the Financial Year 2024 Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. This call is being recorded on Thursday, October 26, 2023. I would now like to turn the conference over to Michael Marcotte. Operator00:00:26Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:28Thank you, operator, and thank you everybody for joining us on this call today to discuss our Q2 results. Before we get going, I'd like to turn people over to our website at championiron.com, where you can find the presentation we'll be using today under the Events and Presentation section. Also like to remind people that we'll be making forward looking statements throughout this call. If you want to read more about these, you can go in our MD and A also available on our website. Joining me today is our CEO, David Catteford, who will be making the formal our presentation also joining me is Alexandre Belot, our COO and Danard Tremblay, our CFO. Speaker 100:01:06After David's formal presentation, we'll be doing a Q and A session. With that, I'll turn it over to David. Speaker 200:01:11Thanks, Michael. Thanks, everyone, for being on the call. Very happy to be able to discuss The Q2 of fiscal year 2024. 2 of the main highlights during the quarter. 1 is we're continuing to improve the production at our site and achieving roughly about 30 days of full nameplate capacity at the operations. Speaker 200:01:33So things are beginning to stabilize and we'll be able to tweak the final elements to be in full nameplate capacity. And second, the fact that we've been able to reduce our cost roughly about CAD74 delivered in the vessel in Seychelles. We had mentioned previous quarter that we felt that the costs had peaked we are happy to report that with the improved operations, our costs are starting to come down. If we turn to sustainability, I think it's important to produce tonnes, but it's very important to produce clean tonnes and happy to report as well that all the investment and the work that we've done on the health and safety side has allowed us now to exceed 500,000 hours worked without any recordable injuries. So a lot of focus to be able to improve our results on safety and we see that these elements are now paying off. Speaker 200:02:25In terms of the work that we're doing with the community, very happy to say that we've aligned ourselves with 1 of the largest North American First Nations Festivals. So this is directly in Mayotte Nam. So with the community of Wahhabi Denam with which we work, happy that we've announced a 10 year partnership with the festival to be able to be present and also to support financially their great festival. Also did our 2nd year of official holiday the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. So we had significant activities at site and at the head office to be able to learn more about our partners and to have great speakers discuss about the past and also the potential future of working with First Nation Communities. Speaker 200:03:15We believe it's extremely important to continue improving on that relationship. As you've seen permitting has become more and more complicated, operating in lands that are on traditional First Nation lands is also more complex. We're happy to have one of the best partnerships with the First Nations to be able to continue our growth strategy. If we look at the market, so it was a in terms of the iron ore price, it's been pretty stable in the past quarter. The P62 and P65 have been fairly stable. Speaker 200:03:50You have seen the premium for the higher grade shrink closer to about 10% right now, which is abnormal if you look at the historical results since the index was created. That can be explained by 3 sort of main elements. 1 being that the steel output out of Europe has not fully recovered. We're roughly about 10% below previous year in terms of crude steel production and pig iron Also, we have not seen significant environmental restrictions out of China. So that usually affects the premium. Speaker 200:04:27And we've seen steel margins out of China also be fairly depressed, which typically causes lower premiums for high grade and lower discounts for low grade. We do not feel that's a long term event, but in the short term, we've seen that depress the premium. Mind you the price is still pretty healthy. It's been hovering between $125 $130 per tonne during the quarter. In terms of the production, so record production of 3,450,000 tonnes during the quarter. Speaker 200:05:02There were some elements that caused us to be lower than our nameplate capacity during the quarter, mainly one conveyor that had a pretty significant failure that we were able to repair and also that event affected mainly the Phase 2 concentrator for several days during the quarter. But again, as we mentioned on the highlights section, happy to report that we've been operating in about nameplate capacity for a run rate of about 30 days. So, we've been able to fix up most of the hiccups associated to these different elements, the strategy that we've been taking as well as we've been doing since the beginning is being very conservative on the maintenance side and making sure that when there's a hiccup like that, we fix it for good. We don't just do a little patch and then start back up the operation. So it takes a little bit more time, but it allows us to then fix the problem and be able to move to the next hiccup, so that eventually we'll be able to have a stable operation. Speaker 200:06:14In terms of operations, I'd like to turn your attention as well to another great record that we achieved during the quarter. We had mentioned when we started up Phase 2 that there was a challenge to be able to secure all the mining equipment and to be able to get that mining equipment up and ready and have workers being able to operate them. We had a record of about 17,000,000 tonnes we moved at the mine in the past quarter. So we could see now that all the mining equipment is up and running, operators are there and we're hitting records in terms of material moved at the mine. So very happy with the way that operations are ramping up. Speaker 200:06:51And now that we're in a more stable operation, we'll be able to tweak the final elements, which is the iron ore recovery and the maintenance portion, so that we can be in a stable nameplate capacity for the next years and allow us to start working on our debottlenecking projects to be able to improve the tonnage from Bloom Lake. In terms of financial highlights, one note, roughly about $155,000,000 of EBITDA during the quarter. And second, as we mentioned, the iron ore sorry, the cash cost that has reduced during the quarter. If we turn to the cash cost, main elements that allowed us to reduce the cost is 1, the volume. So we've always mentioned that a more stable and a higher volume will allow us to dilute down all of our fixed costs, we also had operational improvements at the mine as we have our own operators. Speaker 200:07:48Well, obviously, we don't need as many contractors and that reduces long term costs and the teams have done a great job in improving also the operations we are at the mining side and we do have some improvements on the logistics cost as well that have allowed us to bring the cost down from $81 to roughly about $74 per tonne. In terms of provisional price adjustment, it's been a pretty smooth quarter on that sense. We had about 1 point 4,000,000 tonnes on the water expected to deliver to be delivered at $121 per tonne. We managed to sell them at $122 So a very small provisional price impact, positive US1.6 million dollars which gives roughly about a $0.50 per tonne. Right now, well, at the end of September, we did expect a settlement price of about $126 per tonne for the 1,300,000 tonnes on the water. Speaker 200:08:43And if you look at the current prices, they've hovered between $125,000,000 $130,000,000 So if things continue this way, it should be another pretty smooth quarter in terms of provisional price. If we look at our realized price, realized selling price, you can see that we got a small premium to the P65 index during the quarter. So again, reflecting the fact that we can sell our material at the higher premium. That will obviously evolve in the future as we start selling 69% material in the next few years. But for now, we do still manage to hit a premium compared to the P65. Speaker 300:09:21If we Speaker 200:09:21look at our cash, well, our cash improved by just over CAD65 1,000,000 during the quarter. There was a positive change in the working capital by about CAD40 1,000,000 We generated quite a lot of cash from our operations as well. And on the spend side, we did invest in our operations, mainly on the tailings, dice and at the mine garage, all planned elements and as you know typically sustaining costs are higher for us during the summer months as this is when we do all the work for our tailings and the work that we do on our Dice. What does that do for our balance sheet? So you can see that our balance sheet is in a pretty robust position. Speaker 200:10:02We have net cash of about $27,000,000 and we also have roughly about $170,000,000 on the ground at Bloom Lake, if you account for the 1,600,000 tonnes that is currently sitting at Bloom Lake, we do feel that right now, the logistics side seems in balance with our production. So things have improved on the rail line, but still in a tight operational spot to be able to bring down the stored inventory at site. We do feel that in the next quarters we'll be able to start bringing down that material and evaluate it will take roughly about a year to be able to bring down that material once we start bringing it down. So it will stay at site for some small time, but I think the positive note is that we feel that the rail is now in a position to bring down all the tonnes that are being produced. So we should have a better equilibrium we are committed to the balance sheet between the tonnes produced and the tonnes that are sold. Speaker 200:11:09When you look at the results, the cash that we generated and also our balance sheet that has allowed us to announce our 5th consecutive semiannual dividend of $0.10 per share. So very happy to continue our capital return we will be Speaker 300:11:25happy to take your questions. If we Speaker 200:11:26turn to the market, in terms of demand for our product and for the higher grade products, what's interesting is we've been talking for a few years now about the fact that we feel the market is going to require more green steel and the users will be able to pay or will be willing to pay for this material in the future. We're starting to see contracts now being announced. The sectors where we track more of these green steel premiums in the auto and auto supply sector, in the energy sector and the home appliances, these seems to be the ones that we're seeing the largest premiums for green steel. Prices range from roughly about US40 dollars per tonne for material that uses DRI all the way to €200 to €300 per tonne for some users out of Europe. So we do feel that there is or there are some people that are willing to pay the premiums for this type of material. Speaker 200:12:26And when you look at the type of consumers that want this, right now it's typically users that are not that impacted by the price of steel, But they can market their products after saying that it's a greener product. So we're thinking of companies like BMW that are able to pass on easily the premium to the customers to be able to market this type of material. So we're starting to see these contracts come and I think it's a perfect timing because as this market evolves in just under 2 years, we'll be able to deliver our 69% material that should be able to fetch a very high premium. During the quarter, we also announced our new 40 three-1 101. So it was important for us to keep the definition drilling at Bloom Lake to be able that we can maximize the tonnes over the future, we still have an 18 year mine life, Our measured and indicated resources by 40% and the inferred resources by 3 60%. Speaker 200:13:38Why is this important now for not converting them to reserves is to really make sure that we design the right mine plans to make sure that we can access those tonnes in the future and potentially be able to operate decades after our current 18 year mine life. So very happy with the results that we've been able to achieve with the resources at Bloom Lake. In terms of our growth projects, so the feasibility studies are still on track to be we are able to be delivered in the coming months. So I'm very happy with the progress and with the work that the team has been doing. We'll be able to report to the market once we have the results for the Kami project and for the pelletizing facility in Point Knoll. Speaker 200:14:25If we turn to our next growth project, the one that is the most advanced, the DRPF. So we do have cumulative spending up to date of just under $30,000,000 continuing to advance the detailed engineering and ordering our long lead items to make sure that we hit our calendar H2 2025 commissioning date. Right now, we have not taken a final investment decision yet. The two elements that we are still working on is the securing of the energy block to be able to operate this plant and also finalizing the debt package with our current financial partners to be able to have all the cash in the bank to be able to finalize the project. So things are moving ahead smoothly. Speaker 200:15:10We do still expect a delivery time in line with what we have mentioned in the past and just working to finalize those elements to be able to come back to our Board for a final investment decision. With that being said, I'd like to thank our team and all the supporting teams that have helped us achieve those results. I think they've done a fantastic job in making sure that we can produce clean tonnes and that we're able to eventually stabilize our operations so that we can start working on all of our debottlenecking projects to continue creating value for our shareholders. That being said, I'll turn it over to the Q and A portion of Speaker 300:15:50the call. Operator00:15:50Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. You will hear a 3 tone prompt acknowledging your request and your questions will be pulled in the order they are received. Your first question comes from Orest Wow Koda with Scotiabank. Your line is open. Speaker 400:16:20Hi, good morning. A couple of clarification questions. So should we now that you've achieved the full production rate or full capacity, I guess, here for 30 days, should we anticipate that Q4 or is our calendar Q4 is now a full run rate quarter? Or is there still sort of some Give and take expected on the ramp up. And then second question is on the shipments. Speaker 400:16:47Did I understand you correctly that you don't expect any destocking of inventory here in calendar Q4? Speaker 200:16:56Yes. Thanks for the questions, Orest. So when you look at the current rail capacity, so we had mentioned in the past that in terms of the port and in terms of the rail, we needed to improve those numbers so that it can match the production at site. We do feel that the port now most of the hiccups are behind them and the new stacker reclaimers operational. The car dumpers performing pretty well. Speaker 200:17:19All of the sightings that they installed have been done. In the past quarter, they had to finalize the repair. If you remember 8 to 10 months ago, there was a big electrical issue that happened that caused some downtime. They had bypassed that during the past 10 months, but that needed to be repaired. So that took a bit of time during the quarter. Speaker 200:17:40But now that all of that is behind us, we feel that the port can be able to deliver all the tonnes that we bring to it. When you look at the rail, that's a bit of a different story. They're ramping back up following the forest fires. There's also some operational issues where they had to do major shutdowns on that rail that they typically do during the summer, but they had to postpone because of the forest fires and they're still finalizing the ramp up on their rail. So short term in the Q4, I don't expect that we'll be able to destock tonnes from that 1,600,000 stockpile at site. Speaker 200:18:17But following that, we do feel that we'll be able to start bringing down tonnes and that should eventually go much faster if you look at next summer, next year. So that's sort of what we see for the material there. And your other question was Speaker 400:18:37just whether you expect now this calendar quarter to be a Speaker 200:18:41full broad capacity? Yes, sorry, yes. So when we look at the operations right now, we still need to tweak the recovery for us to be able to reach full nameplate capacity. And there's still some elements that are rising from the start up that need to be fixed. I mean, we're not seeing any right now, but I'm sure we have not fixed 100% of the issues that might come. Speaker 200:19:05So it's tough to give guidance on whether this quarter will be able to we know the mills can take it. We know the mining operations are up in line, but there might still be some small hiccups to work through on the maintenance side, to be able to have a robust site that can do the full nameplate capacity. Speaker 500:19:25Thanks. Just as Speaker 400:19:26a quick follow-up, I'm a little surprised on your comments about the rail capacity, especially given that Rio Tinto has cut IOC guidance again, they're having their own issues. I'm surprised you can't take advantage of some of that excess rail capacity if IOC is not producing. Speaker 200:19:42I'm very surprised as well and you can be sure that we're putting all the necessary pressure to be able to bring down tonnes. So, but I'm thinking the same way as you are, Orest. Speaker 400:19:53Great. Thanks so much. Operator00:19:57Your next question comes from Alexander Pierce with BMO. Your line is Speaker 600:20:02open. Great. Good morning all. So in the quarter, obviously, you could see cash costs coming down. All the sustaining costs were maybe a little bit higher than expected. Speaker 600:20:12It looks like you had a big chunk of sustaining CapEx in there. So I just wondered maybe you could break down what was actually included within that sustaining CapEx figure? I think it was about $60,000,000 and maybe what we should expect maybe for a normalized level on a quarter by quarter basis going forward? Thanks. Speaker 200:20:31Yes. Thanks. So as you know, we're currently and you'll probably get see it in the coming weeks when you come to site, but we are building the extension to the garage. So that is one of the mining garage. That's one element that accounts for a portion of the sustaining and also all the work that is being done on the tailings and the dikes. Speaker 200:20:50So that's typically just in the summer months. So we should see that sustaining cost come down as we get more into winter. But that's what explains mainly those two elements are really the major part of the sustaining during the quarter. Speaker 600:21:06So should we kind of look at the The previous few quarters really for maybe a more normalized level after this. Speaker 200:21:15Yes, it should. Well, I mean, the winter months, it typically goes down. Next summer, well, you'll see it increase as well because as you know, the 1st years of the Phase 2 operation was when we're building out the new tailings facility and the waste dump. So there was in our feasibility study some higher investments at the beginning and that eventually comes down to a much lower sustaining cost when we finalize those infrastructures. Speaker 600:21:42Great. Thanks. And then just maybe if I can just follow-up with the second question. Obviously, there's the strikes going on in the Seaway down the road. That's not impacting your operations whatsoever, right? Speaker 300:21:55It's correct. Thanks. Operator00:22:00Your next question comes from Gordon Lawson with Paradigm. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:22:05Hi, good morning. My primary was answered. So just following up on the feasibility studies. I've been writing about expecting both Kami and the pallet plant studies by year end, I'm wondering if there's still viable target dates? Speaker 200:22:22Yes. So we're working to finalize the main one for us and the most important one for us to deliver is really the Kami feasibility study will be delivered at the end of this calendar year or at the beginning of January. So that will depend if we're able to finalize all the different numbers by then, but it's coming as expected in that time frame, for the pellet plant feasibility, well, same thing. We're advancing with the engineering firms. The one element that's making it a little bit more complex is how do we deal with the whole energy portion. Speaker 200:22:56It's the first time in Quebec that energy is not sort of automatic. So we're working with the engineering firms to be able to have something they're comfortable to sign and make sure that we have the right report to be able to get out to the market and deliver to the market. So that's the one element that might have a little issue on the timing, mainly for the pellet plant, but the one that we're really focusing to finalize is the Kami feasibility side. Speaker 400:23:27Okay. Thank you. And just following up on that, can you just elaborate on what sort of options we can expect with Canby because there's talk about the Doctor fees and such. I'm just wondering what should we be looking for here? Speaker 200:23:41Yes. Kenny is going to be Doctor grade. So that's that's all the test work that we've done and confirmed. So for us, this is why it took more time as well than just a typical update of a feasibility study. We want to make sure that we're delivering the right product into the market. Speaker 200:23:55And our view is that this Doctor material is going to fetch a pretty good premium. We have not seen projects at scale being announced. I mean, apart from Vale that mentioned, they'll be producing a whole lot more, but we're seeing the quality out of Brazil decline. So we want to make sure to be a unique sort of niche product, the highest grade, Doctor grade material you can find in the market. So that's where we're you can find in the market. Speaker 200:24:17So that's where we're targeting for the Kami project. Speaker 400:24:23And that goes for the pellet plant as well? It's Doctor grade? Speaker 200:24:27Yes. The pellet plant would take Doctor grade material and would pelletize it. So it would be a Doctor pellet, correct. Speaker 400:24:33Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thank you, Gordon. Operator00:24:37Your next question comes from Stefan Ioannou with Cormark Securities. Please go ahead. Speaker 300:24:44Yes. Thanks very much. Maybe just back on the rail thing, just maybe housekeeping. I think, David, you mentioned it would take about 12 months to draw or reduce the inventory to sort of regular level. Should we think of that as 12 months from today or 12 months post calendar Q4 when you actually start decreasing it? Speaker 200:25:02Yes. You have to view it well, I mean it's I don't have a crystal ball, so it all depends How the materials ramped up, but realistically, it would be it's more difficult to bring down more tonnes during the winter months as you know. But once we start destocking, that's when we feel it take about a year to bring down the material. If it's faster, we'll be very happy and we'll put pressure for it to be faster. But that in the current sort of scenario that's what I would expect. Speaker 300:25:27Okay, okay, perfect. And then just On the study right now to produce the direct feed at Bloom Lake, you mentioned second half of twenty twenty five commissioning, but obviously that's pending formal sanctioning, which in turn is in part dependent on power or power agreement. What can you maybe just give us a sight line to where that power is that and what we might want to anticipate there from a sanctioning point of view, the timing on sanctioning? Speaker 200:25:57Yes. So once we have all the elements, we'll be able to go to the Board. I mean, as you can appreciate, we've already approved over $60,000,000 spend on the project. So I think it's pretty clear that unless there's a major change, that's a project that would go ahead pending a power allocation and the financing package with our partners. What we can say and if you read the public press out of Quebec is that the government has informed 11 companies that they have their power. Speaker 200:26:24It's just not a public information yet. So when that list becomes public, we should be able to update the market on the timeframe for our project. Speaker 300:26:33Okay. Okay. That's very helpful. Thanks very much guys. Operator00:26:38Your next question comes from Craig Hutchison with TD. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:26:44Good morning, guys. You mentioned a pretty wide range in terms of the price between the market now for DRI material, I think you said $40 up to €200,000 Can you just talk about what your marketing strategy is For the future offtake for the Doctor material and what kind of interest you're seeing from potential offtake partners now? Speaker 200:27:07Yes. So obviously, we'll be targeting the people that sell it at €200,000,000 or €300,000,000 more. Speaker 300:27:11And our Speaker 200:27:14when you look at the wide varieties, because not everybody has the same definition on what green or greener steel is. If you look at that $40 mark, that's more people that mentioned that they will produce some steel with HBI. So there's different ways to get there. What we're targeting is markets that want to deliver steel below 1 tonne of CO2 per tonne of steel. That's where we see that the current premiums seem to sit and that's why we're targeting much more Europe, Middle East and Japan when we look at our potential clients to sell this type of material. Speaker 200:27:47So you are correct, it's a wide range. It's starting now. So it's the beginning of something. We do know Fast Markets is working on delivering an index for this type of material. Now again, are we going to be on that index because what will be that niche material that is at the higher grade of the Doctor, which will allow our clients to buy some lower grade material. Speaker 200:28:09So I think to start it's probably going to be more a case by case element and we'll be able to follow that index to see if that makes sense for us in the future and will it be similar to the current P65 where we sell on that index with a premium or will it be just another sort of pricing scenario that's still in discussion with all of our clients? Speaker 400:28:31Okay. Those markets are fairly I guess they're fairly small at this point right now. Those are niche products. Is that fair Speaker 200:28:42I'd say now maybe, but when you look at 2024, 2025 when all those electric arc furnaces delivered, we're going to be in a different territory because right now I agree with what you're saying, although we are seeing material that used to qualify for Doctor grade that has declined. So we have seen less material available to fit that quality. But I really feel as those tonnes get delivered, that's when I see that we'll see a potential uptick in demand for this type of material. Speaker 400:29:15Great. Thanks guys. Operator00:29:19Your next question comes from Lucas Pipes with B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:29:24Thank you very much, operator. Good morning, everyone. My first question is on the strategic side. You have a portfolio of growth projects, that's pretty unique. I wonder to what extent there are considerations about partnerships, JVs, things of that nature. Speaker 500:29:46And if they are, kind of regionally, where would you we're seeing the most interest and what is your interest level. I would appreciate your thoughts on that. Thank you. Speaker 200:29:56Could you reformulate Can you follow-up that for me, Lucas? Sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Speaker 500:30:02Yes. So higher level question. You have a portfolio of growth projects. Steelmakers around the world obviously are looking at decarbonization I could see that there is interest from some steelmakers to participate in some of your projects. And so I wanted to get a sense for your appetite for joint ventures and at what stage that could make sense. Speaker 200:30:33Yes. So if you look at the way that we've approached our growth, so the elements that I feel that we should do on our own because they'll create a whole lot of value for our shareholders it is the DRPF at Bloom Lake and the debottlenecking at Bloom Lake. So those are projects and capital spend that I think it will be extremely accretive for our shareholders and palatable for a company our size. When we look at projects like The pellet plant, well, the pellet plant, we've already announced that we'll be we're doing the study with a large steel manufacturer because they do have interest for this type of material. And we had others knock on the door and say, hey, if it doesn't work with that group, we would definitely like to step in. Speaker 200:31:14So we do feel that there is interest to be able to go down the joint venture route and same with Kami. We feel that Kami is a great project for our shareholders, but maybe a little bit large compared to where our company is today. So we feel that the right way to approach it would be with a strategic partner. And again, we have had quite a lot of interest on that project as well. So the way that we view our growth is whatever we feel is palatable like the Doctor pellet feed projects and debottlenecking we can do on our own and the larger projects we'll be looking at joint ventures. Speaker 500:31:50Thank you. That's helpful. And a follow-up along the same vein. Lots of considerations around consolidation in the North American Steel Industry, has that changed any of your conversations, be it from a strategic standpoint like we just mentioned or from a commercial perspective, I would appreciate your thoughts on whether there's any knock on effect in consolidation in the North American Steel Industry. Thank you. Speaker 200:32:20Yes. Thanks for the question. For now, it hasn't really affected because we don't sell them to the U. S. For now. Speaker 200:32:26Once we get to the Doctor pellet material then there are opportunities. So we'll see how that can unfold. But most of the demand that we've been getting is really out of Europe, the Middle East and Japan. So we do feel that that's where the tonnes will be able to be delivered to start. Then we'll see where the U. Speaker 200:32:43S. Market and Canadian market evolves to see if there's opportunities there. But that consolidation has not necessarily affected our plans in the short term. Speaker 500:32:56Thank you very much for your color. To you and the team, continue best of luck. Speaker 200:33:00Thanks, Lucas. Operator00:33:02Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have a question, please press star followed by the one. Your next question comes from Brian MacArthur with Raymond James. Please go ahead. Speaker 700:33:13Good morning. I'd just like to follow-up on the potential contracting strategy for your 69 Material. As we were discussing earlier, the market might grow very quickly, pricing wide range. Is the thought that you're going to enter long term contracts? And I would think that's Speaker 400:33:31what a lot of customers work or is it going to Speaker 700:33:33be shorter volume contracts? Are we going to go to a base price and an escalated contractor, have you gone down that process so far? And how do you think that'll work out given such a potentially high growth industry? Speaker 200:33:48Yes. What's important for us now is that we're in discussions with the groups where we feel it makes the most sense, 1, on shipping, Because the last thing we want is to have a great contract on pricing, but then it's complicated to get the tonnes in and we get slapped by the shipping prices. So for us, it's important to see where can we deliver 180,000 tonne vessels and fully benefit from that type of material. 2, we don't want to put all of our tons at the same place because obviously we see a lot of risk in doing that. So we want it spread out in a few regions and we want to make sure that there are larger companies that can secure the right contracts for Green Steel because we feel they're the ones that will be able to pay the most amount for our material. Speaker 200:34:35So when we look at the strategy right now, it's really identifying the right places on the logistics side, making sure the clients can benefit from the premium and then sitting down and discussing the potential price. I'd say right now half of the potentials are actual clients and the other half would be new clients. So that's the way that we've been seeing The market now, but where will it end? Because it's a new product, we'll be securing volume. But I think the formula is going to have to be a little bit flexible in price, but really a formula that sets for the 1st 3 years and then see how that evolves in the future. Speaker 700:35:22Thanks very much. That's very helpful. Speaker 200:35:25Thank you, Brian. Operator00:35:27There are no further questions at this time. Please proceed. Speaker 200:35:32Well, thanks everyone for being on the call today. Very happy to discuss the Q2 fiscal year 2024 results. Looking forward to being able to discuss it the next quarter. It's going to be an exciting one because that's when we'll start having results from our feasibility studies and continuing to improve our operations. So again, thanks to all our shareholders for your support and we'll continue to work to maximize the value of your shareholding. Speaker 200:35:57Thanks a lot and speak soon. Have a good day. Operator00:36:01Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. 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