NASDAQ:ELBM Electra Battery Materials Q1 2023 Earnings Report $1.08 -0.02 (-2.05%) Closing price 04/17/2025 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$1.08 0.00 (-0.21%) As of 04/17/2025 05:25 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast Electra Battery Materials EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.88Consensus EPS N/ABeat/MissN/AOne Year Ago EPSN/AElectra Battery Materials Revenue ResultsActual RevenueN/AExpected RevenueN/ABeat/MissN/AYoY Revenue GrowthN/AElectra Battery Materials Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2023Date5/10/2023TimeN/AConference Call DateThursday, May 11, 2023Conference Call Time8:00AM ETUpcoming EarningsElectra Battery Materials' Q4 2024 earnings is scheduled for Friday, May 9, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 12:00 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress ReleaseEarnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Electra Battery Materials Q1 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 11, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 9 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Thank you Speaker 100:00:00for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Elektra First Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask I would now like to turn the conference over to Joe Racanelli, Vice President, Investor Relations with Elektra Battery Materials Corporation. Speaker 100:00:38Please go ahead. Speaker 200:00:39Thank you, Gilleen, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. We released our results for the Q1 last night. The material is available both on SEDAR and our website. Today, with me are Trent Meld, company's CEO as well as Craig Cunningham, our CFO and joining us for the first time is Renata Cardoza, our VP of Sustainability. We will be using a presentation this morning, and I encourage you to follow along from our website. Speaker 200:01:05At the end of management discussion, we will be opening up the call Two questions from analysts do cover us. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Trent for his opening remarks. Speaker 300:01:16Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everybody. Lots to discuss today, and so I thank you for joining us. We will, as always, open the call up to analysts for questions. But before doing that, I'd like to review some of the developments we've had in what remains a busy time for us and an active Q1. So, Q1, yes, like I said, remained busy as we were in 2022. Speaker 300:01:37Probably the most notable milestone for us was our battery recycling Our Black Mass Refining demonstration plant, huge accomplishments there that we will talk about later in the call. But first of its kind, plant scale recycling demo in North America. To our knowledge, first MHP production, We produced a very high quality lithium carbonate. We produced a graphite product. And the demo plan has allowed us to continue to develop our IP and improve our process In a live scale environment, I do have Mark Trevisio online who can take some questions on that later on. Speaker 300:02:13We also closed the convertible debt, retiring our old debt, generating proceeds of US14 $1,000,000 off of that. Other developments in the quarter included the sale of some non core assets in the Canadian cobalt belt to Sequoia Silver. We also released a new resource estimate for our Iron Creek copper and cobalt asset, an asset that continues to show Big prospectivity with validation of what we believe to be a sister to our Iron Creek, an area known as Ruby. And then really pleased to have Renata, our VP of Sustainability and Low Carbon on the call with us. She is truly a global leader in sustainability And a great fit for us because one of our key differentiators is our low carbon footprint. Speaker 300:02:58I don't think anybody on the planet Can have as good or better of a footprint as ours, and it's something that we brag about with good reasons. So Renata is going to Talk to you not just about that, but some of the developments we have made in our own sustainability journey, which as she likes to remind me is a journey that has no end. And at the end of the call, we're going to talk a little bit about some of the more recent developments. The Board of Tech Committee recently approved a rebaseline review of our top capital Cost estimates for the refinery project, we'll talk a little bit more about the desktop study on Black Mass and I'll touch upon the strategic review, which we also announced in today's press release. So with that, I will turn it over to you, Renata. Operator00:03:46Thank you, Trent. Good morning, everyone. Moving on to Slide 6. As we said before, Elektra has a deep commitment and contributing to the global energy transition. This commitment is reflected in our core values and our mission, as you can see on screen. Operator00:04:04Our mission, which is focused on providing low carbon, ethical and traceable materials to the global battery supply chain, is at the heart of everything we do and highlight some of the priority topics that we covered in our sustainability report. Moving on to Slide 7, we present our approach to sustainability, our framework that was developed in partnership with our stakeholders and encompasses a number of critical aspects such as climate change, human rights, health and safety and respect to indigenous people. This framework helped us to underpin our ESG activities in 2022 when we developed our ESG policies, implemented our whistleblower channel and became members of the Responsible Minerals Initiative, RMI, which allows us to assess our suppliers' compliance to OECD guidelines. Moving on to Slide 8, we can see a summary of our ESG scorecard that you can find in our sustainability report. All results you see here reflect our construction phase, So numbers will change to reflect the future developments of our plant. Operator00:05:17However, it's very important to highlight our safety record of 0 high consequence work related injuries informing how well our sites are managing this major priority for us now and always. For those unaware, our sustainability report was released in January and is available from our website. That concludes my remarks. I will now turn it over to Craig, who will review our financial highlights. Speaker 400:05:49Thank you, Renata. Thanks everyone for joining us this morning. As Joe mentioned, we filed our Q1 as stated at the end of yesterday and wanted to take and run through some of our highlights. To begin, we'll start with liquidity. The liquidity position is done on Slide 10. Speaker 400:06:10At the end of Q1, we had approximately 12,900,000 of cash and marketable securities. This was up from $8,400,000 held at the end of the prior quarter. The increase was primarily driven by the US51 $1,000,000 convertible debt offering that we closed on in February. That offering provided us $50,000,000 in net $50,000,000 in gross cash proceeds. The increase was partially offset by refinery commissioning costs, expenses related to the Black Mass trial and higher general and administrative costs for the period. Speaker 400:06:44Also like to point out that at the end of Q1, that cash balance did not include any amount of the $5,100,000 that we are still yet to receive from government investments that should be received in the coming quarters. So at the start of Q2, our cash marketable securities Cash management is maintained cash management is a key priority to the company. We will be continuing to undertake measures to to protect cash and reduce some of our expenses. As mentioned, we completed our $51,000,000 convertible debt financing. If we move to Slide 11, we will be able to see a summary of some of those trends there. Speaker 400:07:32Although we did go over these on Q4, we'll provide a quick updates and some additional information there. Again, when we completed the $51,000,000 in financing in February, We retired the original US36 million dollars of outstanding 2026 notes at par value, a fair bit of interest. The conversion price ratio used in the new 2028 notes is US2.48 dollars In addition to the notes, Investors were entitled to $10,800,000 of warrants. Those warrants are available over 5 years with the same strength that is US2.48 dollars Additionally, these out allowed us to have a lower minimum cash balance of US2 $1,000,000 You will notice in our Q1 results that the impact of Settling the 2026 notes and creation of the 2028 notes resulted in a $19,900,000 onetime loss. On recognition, This relates to the settlement and then initial recognition of the 20 28 notes. Speaker 400:08:38That is a non cash loss I would now turn over the updates to Trent, who will take you through the refinery project economics. Speaker 300:08:58Thanks, Greg. All right, back to the refinery. I do have Dave Marshall on the line for questions as well. Later on, Dave, our VP Engineering led the reengine their rebaseline review with our EPCM contractor, EXP. And so, again, just by way of reminder, on Slide 13, we did withdraw our guidance on Feb 14. Speaker 300:09:22It became apparent that just with the ongoing supply chain issues that we're all well aware of, compounded by the receipt of some damaged equipment, Inflation, the lifeblood, I haven't seen since the, I guess, since the '80s, and all the pressures that that put against us that we needed to pull that and review our capital cost estimate. So we'll look through that a little bit now. The study was completed as I say, Dave with eXp. We then had a 3rd party estimator complete an independent review as well of that and following which it's gone through our tech committee. So, we had a Pretty good scrubbing of the numbers. Speaker 300:10:00And with the amount of detailed engineering and procurement done, much of the long lead stuff now on-site Or in transit, we're feeling pretty good about where we are in terms of our estimation. So as I say, it was completed with a new estimate now of $110,000,000 to $121,000,000 We spent just under $50,000,000 of that. We do have some additional funds, as Craig outlined, that are coming in, but it is apparent that we are going to need more money in order to complete that process. And if you look to Slide 14, you can see how the variances stack up as against different components of the project. And I take freight as an example. Speaker 300:10:42We could never predict a 5x increase in the cost of freight, but these are the kind of things that replicated higher labor costs, higher steel, Concrete and so on. And so it's been some challenges, but we're making our way through it, and I think we've got a pretty good idea of what the way forward looks like. Another perspective, looking at it again through Slide 15, gives you the workup to both the low end of the range and the higher end of the range. What we've done here is we went right back to the original estimate, just for transparency to show where we were With our study documents, our control budget, by way of reminder, wasn't $62,000,000 but $80,000,000 when we started construction. But this just shows you the workup of The study doesn't quite show the control, but where we think we're coming in right now. Speaker 300:11:30And again, Dave is here. If you wanted to work through that, there's more details in the press release. So, as I said, we're going to need more capital. If you look on slide 16 in terms of our next step, It does now focus our attention with some of our partners on funding the GAAP. We've got commercial partners that we've been talking to for some time, Government agencies, federal, provincial, U. Speaker 300:11:53S. As well that are in the mix and then some strategic partners as well. Until that time, things are going to be a little bit slower in terms of how we execute. We've got a small team on-site that can continue working that through. But it is really a question now of just managing the capital, managing our expenditures and getting ready to resume construction once we've lined up the remaining portions of the capital. Speaker 300:12:17So we can come back to that in the questions. Let's maybe turn it back to Craig now, if I may, on the Black Mass study starting on Slide 1718. Speaker 400:12:28Thank you, Trent. In addition to the update on the refinery, which we released yesterday and Trent just walked you through, We'd like to provide an overview of our Black Mass scoping study. As a reminder, we started the scoping study Based off of the very positive results we had seen from our demonstration plant, which we commissioned in December and have been running throughout the quarter, We have received a lot of interest related to that capability from various stakeholders within the supply chain for EVs. The recovery introduction of lithium carbonate products, as shown on Slide 18, was also something that has generated considerable interest. So the success of our Blackbaud trial project is a significant underpinning to us joining in an MOU with the 3 fires group, which we also recently announced. Speaker 400:13:20If we move to Slide 19, there's a summary of the highlights of the scoping study and what some of the indications could be for a potential Black Mass recycling plant located in our Temiscaming facility. As you can see on Slide 19, the scoping study is based on processing 2,500 tonnes of recycled material per year, indicating some compelling economics. Most notably, we'll be building permanent black mass Operation using our existing footprint at our refinery, it would cost the range of approximately US6 million to complete and construct and would deliver an attractive rate of return and a payback period of less than 2 years. Some of the to focus the economic highlights of that potential maturity, we would be predicting an EBITDA In year 1, approximately $12,600,000 and in year 2 of $9,900,000 and carrying forward in a similar fashion that way. Some of the key assumptions that are built into the model are using analyst consensus for estimates on commodity prices over the coming years as well as consensus prices on reagents for the same period. Speaker 400:14:44Moving to Slide 20, the next steps with our Black Mass trial. The results we've achieved to date in our Black Mass trial have been Rather encouraging and supported by the market outlook. Looking ahead, we anticipate the first commercial deliveries of products produced through the demonstration plant to happen in Q2. And we also set to continue to refine our hydrometallurgical process through our batch analysis and improvement processes. Coming completion of our trial, we will evaluate the results and demonstrate a path towards commercialization of this technology and potential opportunity. Speaker 400:15:28This concludes my comments and I would like to turn the call back to Trent for his closing remarks. Speaker 300:15:34Thank you, Craig. So we're on to Slide 22 now. And before I do the concluding remarks, I just want to say a word or 2 about Black Mass as well. The benefit of this picture shows you The significant advantage we have and why we were first to produce or to refine black masks on a plant scale because we've got this legacy refinery that you see before you that has been commissioned by Mark and our skilled team at Syt. And it really is a huge accomplishment. Speaker 300:16:00There's a lot of A lot of battery shredding happening in the industry, but thus far, nobody is doing this. Nobody has taken that black mass and refining the 6 Critical minerals in there into their constituent elements. And so our approach has been Fairly straightforward, but also different. It really is about proving other IP, and that's what we've been doing. And once you prove your IP, you can then partner. Speaker 300:16:25And we've had Lots of visitors coming to see our site, receiving our product, looking at what we're doing. And it's once you've done your proof and your partnerships, Then you can start building out the plant and we look to build this out on a modular basis, growing with the market incrementally So that we don't get too far ahead of ourselves or where the market is. So a big, big congratulations to the team, our metallurgical team, our operating team and the leadership for pulling off What is a huge accomplishment that I would say is probably not getting enough recognition. But with that, I'll move on To just some closing remarks and the first bullet there, as we said in our announcement today, we have disclosed that we've launched a strategic review to evaluate potential alternatives that could help us address our funding shortfall to complete our refinery project. The Black Knight does give us an alternative, but there is a bigger Capital lift required on the refinery and capital requirements on the Black Mass as well. Speaker 300:17:20So, I won't talk today about the process, And we will report back when we do have something to say, but at this point, it would just be speculation and rumor. So we're going to leave it as disclosed in the press release. And though maybe some shareholders may be surprised by the development, I think it's good to take into account the context in which we sit today. When we started this project in late 2019 into 2020, coming out of COVID, real interest rates were negative, Access to capital was much different than it is today. Equity markets were favorable and we were moving into a period where chemical refineries like ours were receiving Pretty generous multiples. Speaker 300:17:59And over the past, it's been a different tone. Equity markets For small caps, they are getting tougher. Liquidity is harder. Interest rates are harder are higher, I'm sorry. And as a result, Access to capital has become considerably more challenging. Speaker 300:18:15And as I look to 2023, looming recession seems to be the growing consensus. What this company needs and it's the only thing we need is a stronger balance sheet. And however, we want to achieve that. Everything else, I think, is in our favor. The macro tailwinds, we've got a process, we've got a location with permits, we've got people and we've proven out a lot of what we I've set out to do, and we're well into construction with long lead equipment on-site. Speaker 300:18:42But of course, you need that balance sheet and that partnership to help you get that across the line. So, we have anticipated for some time 2023 was going to be challenging, and that's why we did start taking steps, Yes, frankly, some time ago to make sure we would complete our vision and succeed with what we have laid out over the last couple of years. As you know, the outlook for the EV battery market is extremely bullish. We keep seeing announcements here on the continent. I think it's taken the industry by surprise with the speed at which Things have picked up, no doubt bolstered by the U. Speaker 300:19:13S. Inflation Reduction Act and other incentives that are there across the sector in North America. So against this more favorable outlook, we are very committed to completing the refinery project, capitalizing on our first mover advantage, moving forward with our Black Mass and our Bay Concours plans. Speaker 100:19:55The first question is from Matthew O'Keefe with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:20:02Hi, good morning. So a lot in there. Just a couple of questions on, let's start with the refinery. So it sounds like you're kind of stalled construction here. When you do just sort of figure out your cash Tishu, and you reengage in construction, how long would it take to complete the build and get it commissioned? Speaker 300:20:30Yes. In fact, we thank you, Matt, and good morning. We haven't disclosed that In part because it really is capital dependent. So, we continue to receive equipment, I think comfortably a conservative number or a realistic number once we've got funding in place You could do it faster, you could do it slower. But where we are right now with detailed engineering is at 98%, 99% procurement. Speaker 300:20:58Largely, the big stuff is done. So, we've got some piping And cables and whatnot that we need, but a lot of that sort of custom fab, SX tanks and all that have been received are coming. And so really it's execution now. And so we're talking about a couple of 100 people on-site doing piping and electrical work. And what that schedule looks like is going to be a function of how, yes, how your funding aligns and how quickly you can crew up. Speaker 500:21:26Okay. And on the financing side, you said you spoke a lot about partnerships and I'm not going to mention too much about who or what, but I mean are we looking at Across the gamut here from traditional lenders to automakers to other strategic Like other mining companies or processors or is it more narrow than that? Operator00:21:55It's pretty Speaker 300:21:56broad. We talked about in our presentation the 5.1 that we expect to receive from government. There are a couple of other streams, or 3 other streams, including an application with the U. S. Department of Defense, that is out there. Speaker 300:22:10Hard to predict what those look like, but Certainly a lot higher than $5,000,000 each of the other streams I'm looking at. The downstream partners, yes, I think that's going well. The reality is with A rebaseline underway, we needed to get this out in order to complete those conversations. So, I can think of 1 downstream partner in particular That's not in the public domain that wants to have the conversation now that we've got this back out so they can understand how they are part of a bigger solution. And then of course the strategic process and what that may yield. Speaker 500:22:44Okay. If I could ask one more question just on the Black Mass. For you, you said $6,000,000 CapEx, actually two things there. One, maybe explain how that doesn't sound like a lot to generate $10,000,000 of EBITDA. Maybe you could explain what goes into that. Speaker 500:23:01And does that require the completion of the refinery in order for the For you to engage in the Black Mass processing. Speaker 300:23:10Yes. I'll let Mark talk to that. High level, Because the refinery and I know you've been through there, the refinery is running today, right? We're running we can run up to a ton of material per day through that plant. And so it's basically taking what we've got for the demo plant, adding some tanks, building out a bigger lithium circuit And scaling that up using what we have. Speaker 300:23:32So unlike a new build, the feed handling system is there, the warehouse, the lab, the maintenance crews. And Mark, maybe I'll let you add some narrative to that. Speaker 600:23:42Yes, sure. Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Matthew, for your question. I mean, if you've toured the plant, the plant has about 64 vessels that over the lifetime of it has evolved to a hydrometallurgical specifically that has several streams or had several streams in its history. Right now, under this Current footprint, we're using about a dozen or so of those vessels. So, when we go to In our 2,500 tonne per annum plant, we'll be using a lot more of the dormant vessels that I'm just laying there right now and not really doing any work for us. Speaker 600:24:33So that's the leverage that we have here. It's a lucky A thing to have, because it really allows you to limit the capital spend and get into production quicker. So that's kind of the asset leveraging the asset that we have to maximize the rate at which we can run. And you can see the profitability on these numbers is quite significant. So that's kind of a bird's eye view of that. Speaker 500:25:12So just so I'm clear, so you could run this like you could do $6,000,000 like now and have some cash flow Before you complete the refinery for the cobalt? Speaker 600:25:25Well, what this plan does, what this scoping study did was the spend that would need to be done would occur over 12 months from getting the financing on that spend. Some of these vessels would be dual purpose and some would have to be replaced if The hydroxide project gets full financing. But in the near term, this gets you Operating and generating cash much quicker. I mean, if we have full funding On the project, cobalt hydroxide, cobalt sulfate project, then some of these vessels would have to be replaced And that would be part of additional capital for keeping the rates going, so to speak, for Black Hills. Speaker 300:26:24And Matt, if I may, just to be totally clear, dollars 6,000,000 becomes $6,000,000 plus. If you want to run these 2 concurrently, that is to say the Cobalt plant And the 2,500 tonne, then yes, I mean the idea of the $6,000,000 this is a very quick and profitable way for us to get the cash flow with a quick return, but you are borrowing some of the equipment that otherwise go to the Cobalt plant. So there would be a higher number associated with that 2,500 ton A standalone. Speaker 500:26:51Okay. Do we have a number for a standalone? Speaker 300:26:55Truthfully, no. No, I mean, I think we'd be guessing. We're working on a 25 we're working Kind of what would a 5,000 ton look like that will come in time, but that would be an order of magnitude larger because now you're building out structures and whatnot. But I mean compared to a greenfield, right, you're not we've got our obviously, we've got our permits, which is massive, but you've got your infrastructure and power and water and There's just so much already there that when I say orders of magnitude, we're not talking $100,000,000 Maybe you're talking half of that to get a 5,000 ton plant. But again, this is just Order of magnitude, we need to do the work because of everything that's there now, we're building onto existing structures and facilities and equipment. Speaker 100:27:40The next question is from Jake Sekelsky with Alliance Global Partners. Please go ahead. Speaker 700:27:54Just following up a bit on the Black Mass operation, do you expect to announce a full Before moving to commercialization there, are you comfortable moving forward with the work that's been done So far on the 2,500 ton a day scenario. Speaker 300:28:15Yes. Back to my point I made Proving out your process, your IP and then partnering, we're kind of at the partnering stage now, leveraging somebody else's balance sheet, whether it be through a commercial relationship or otherwise. So, yes, there'd be more work required. This is a desktop. So, this is look, Mark's team got this up and running for $3,000,000 recommission the plant and get the plant going on a demonstration basis. Speaker 300:28:39So it's that same crew of operators and metallurgists that came up with this work. We're still doing our metso modeling among other things. So there will be more work required. I think we'll be able to share some of this publicly as well. The results of the study Slightly redacted, but we'll have a report available on our website to give you a sense of the amount of work that was done. Speaker 700:29:01Got it. Okay. And then just switching gears to the 3 fires agreement that you guys announced about a week ago. You'll provide any color on the pricing mechanisms that you guys are considering under that agreement? Or is it Still too early stage Speaker 400:29:22to kind of talk about that. Speaker 300:29:27Okay. So, yes, maybe just 3 buyers just by way of background. That's, I guess the best way to describe it, it's an economic development A group that represents a number of indigenous First Nations communities around the Great Lakes area. And of course, we've got 2 Very large cell plants that are coming into their territory. And I think from their perspective, Circularity and recycling aligns with their values and they've got Access, I suppose, to capital and access to government officials eager to help build capacity. Speaker 300:30:04And so the Where we are right now on the MOU, we haven't outlined the economic split, but the high level concept with 3 fires and this was them reaching out to us with the idea Is that look, you've got the refinery, you don't need 4 of those. What you do need is shredding capability and a dedicated feed. And so why don't we work together to build out the shredding capability in Ontario and have a good sized collection and shredding facility for whatever the sources might be. And the broad parameters would be that they would help with the siting, so the location of the property and the initial capital. We would bring our expertise, both in refining and also in the shredding side to help make that a reality, operatorship, the profit shares we would see. Speaker 300:30:51But what that really does, Jake, is It provides us now with a captive feed source, which I think is really the future. I think this idea of buying black mass in the open market is going to come and go because as battery plants start to pop up, nobody is going to sell you their feed only to buy it back again. And so this kind of sets us up for what I would say kind of the 2nd generation of the black mass market as we see it evolving. Speaker 400:31:17Makes sense. Okay, that's all for me. Thanks again. Thank you. Speaker 100:31:23The next Question is from Gordon Lawson with Paradigm Capital. Please go ahead. Speaker 800:31:29Hey, good morning, everyone, and congratulations on getting to the stage. My questions are in line with what's already been asked. But the forecasted decrease in EBITDA, is that largely based On consensus commodity price forecast or are there other factors at play? Speaker 300:31:48Before I hand it over to Craig, Speaker 200:31:50the EBITDA that we presented there, Gordon, relates just to the black mass, right? Other EBITDA that we had previously presented was for the cobalt sulfate production activities, but as we indicated, we withdrew those guidance numbers earlier this year. Speaker 400:32:05So numbers today are presented just Speaker 200:32:06for the scoping study on Black Mass? Speaker 800:32:11Correct. But the products coming out of that, The Black Mass Recycling, I mean, you're generating EBITDA based on commodity prices, correct? Speaker 400:32:21That's correct. Yes. Speaker 800:32:23Okay. So as for the mill, is there an opportunity for debottlenecking or additional Fine tuning, I mean the mill is now being used for a different product than originally designed. So I'd assume there There's room for improvement there unless it's you prefer to keep it as is for the future cobalt production, correct? Speaker 300:32:47Do you want to take that, Mark? Speaker 600:32:50I mean, as far as block mass processing, Yes, we've been since we started this back in December, we have been tweaking the process as we go. In fact, That's one of the things that is nice about this whole demonstration is that it gives us that ability to increase recoveries, increase throughput by getting feedback on what's working well and what isn't working so well and then moving forward. As far as the hydroxide project, I mean, we've done a pilot plant, a complete pilot plant on that right through to Processing and Manufacturing Cobalt Sulfate. So we're pretty confident in our flow sheet. And the people that we've the vendors that we had involved with supplying equipment We have supplied equipment to other cobalt sulfate plants around the world. Speaker 600:33:57So there's a level of confidence that we have in that process. But overall, I mean, the opportunity that we have right now for The Black Mass circuit is really adding value to our steps moving forward and expanding out to 2,500 tons. Yes, there is ongoing tweaking that we're doing almost every week here and finding little ways to improve recoveries and as I mentioned, the full production rates. Speaker 300:34:32And Gord, I'd say, as Mark said, this plant has had a Couple of iterations, right, it produced nickel and cobalt copper products in the past, silver even. What it hasn't produced is lithium. So if I were to think of a bottleneck today, it's Building out that circuit, right? This is a circuit that we introduced that's part of a demo plant. So to go continuous, we'd want to continue adding that capacity. Speaker 300:34:52But to the bigger Cobalt hydroxide plant, we looked at that early. And so our decision to buy a larger crystallizer, which is now having some knock on effects on our CapEx, But to go from a 5,000 ton crystallizer to a 6,500 tons cobalt contained crystallizer, that would have been the bottleneck. And you got to size that right out of the gate. And that's, Hank, it's just certainly not an issue. It may be when we go from 5,000 to 6,500, but I think we successfully addressed that Potential bottlenecks, 2 years ago. Speaker 300:35:23And when I looked at the cobalt projections of any one of the big 3 or any one of the big automakers, this plant's Total capacity for Cobalt is going to exceed any one auto manufacturer's requirements by about 2027. So I think it was the right decision there. Speaker 800:35:39Okay, great. Thanks very much for the color. Thanks, Speaker 100:35:47Today, I'd like to turn the conference back over to Joe Racanelli for any closing comments. Speaker 200:35:54Thank you everyone for joining us. We will be available for any follow-up questions. Please do reach out to us. We're happy to answer any of your questions. And again, thank you for participating today.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallElectra Battery Materials Q1 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release Electra Battery Materials Earnings HeadlinesElectra Battery Materials Stock Price, Quotes and Forecasts | NASDAQ:ELBM | BenzingaApril 18 at 5:17 PM | benzinga.comElectra Closes Final Tranche of Oversubscribed Private PlacementApril 14, 2025 | globenewswire.comNow I look stupid. Real stupid... I thought what happened 25 years ago was a once- in-a-lifetime event… but how wrong I was. Because here we are, a quarter of a century later, almost to the exact day, and it’s happening again. April 19, 2025 | Porter & Company (Ad)Electra Closes First Tranche of Oversubscribed Private PlacementApril 4, 2025 | globenewswire.comElectra Battery price target adjusted at Alliance Global after reverse splitApril 2, 2025 | finance.yahoo.comElectra Battery Materials Corporation Provides Update on 2024 Activities and Files 2024 FinancialsMarch 31, 2025 | finanznachrichten.deSee More Electra Battery Materials Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Electra Battery Materials? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Electra Battery Materials and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Electra Battery MaterialsElectra Battery Materials (NASDAQ:ELBM) engages in the acquisition and exploration of resource properties in the United States and Canada. It primarily explores for cobalt and silver deposits. The company's flagship project is the Iron Creek cobalt-copper project located in Lemhi County, Idaho. It also operates a cobalt refinery for producing battery materials for the electric vehicle supply chain. The company was formerly known as First Cobalt Corp. and changed its name to Electra Battery Materials Corporation in December 2021. Electra Battery Materials Corporation was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.View Electra Battery Materials 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 Archer Aviation Unveils NYC Network Ahead of Key Earnings Report3 Reasons to Like the Look of Amazon Ahead of EarningsTesla Stock Eyes Breakout With Earnings on DeckJohnson & Johnson Earnings Were More Good Than Bad—Time to Buy? 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There are 9 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Thank you Speaker 100:00:00for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Elektra First Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask I would now like to turn the conference over to Joe Racanelli, Vice President, Investor Relations with Elektra Battery Materials Corporation. Speaker 100:00:38Please go ahead. Speaker 200:00:39Thank you, Gilleen, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. We released our results for the Q1 last night. The material is available both on SEDAR and our website. Today, with me are Trent Meld, company's CEO as well as Craig Cunningham, our CFO and joining us for the first time is Renata Cardoza, our VP of Sustainability. We will be using a presentation this morning, and I encourage you to follow along from our website. Speaker 200:01:05At the end of management discussion, we will be opening up the call Two questions from analysts do cover us. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Trent for his opening remarks. Speaker 300:01:16Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everybody. Lots to discuss today, and so I thank you for joining us. We will, as always, open the call up to analysts for questions. But before doing that, I'd like to review some of the developments we've had in what remains a busy time for us and an active Q1. So, Q1, yes, like I said, remained busy as we were in 2022. Speaker 300:01:37Probably the most notable milestone for us was our battery recycling Our Black Mass Refining demonstration plant, huge accomplishments there that we will talk about later in the call. But first of its kind, plant scale recycling demo in North America. To our knowledge, first MHP production, We produced a very high quality lithium carbonate. We produced a graphite product. And the demo plan has allowed us to continue to develop our IP and improve our process In a live scale environment, I do have Mark Trevisio online who can take some questions on that later on. Speaker 300:02:13We also closed the convertible debt, retiring our old debt, generating proceeds of US14 $1,000,000 off of that. Other developments in the quarter included the sale of some non core assets in the Canadian cobalt belt to Sequoia Silver. We also released a new resource estimate for our Iron Creek copper and cobalt asset, an asset that continues to show Big prospectivity with validation of what we believe to be a sister to our Iron Creek, an area known as Ruby. And then really pleased to have Renata, our VP of Sustainability and Low Carbon on the call with us. She is truly a global leader in sustainability And a great fit for us because one of our key differentiators is our low carbon footprint. Speaker 300:02:58I don't think anybody on the planet Can have as good or better of a footprint as ours, and it's something that we brag about with good reasons. So Renata is going to Talk to you not just about that, but some of the developments we have made in our own sustainability journey, which as she likes to remind me is a journey that has no end. And at the end of the call, we're going to talk a little bit about some of the more recent developments. The Board of Tech Committee recently approved a rebaseline review of our top capital Cost estimates for the refinery project, we'll talk a little bit more about the desktop study on Black Mass and I'll touch upon the strategic review, which we also announced in today's press release. So with that, I will turn it over to you, Renata. Operator00:03:46Thank you, Trent. Good morning, everyone. Moving on to Slide 6. As we said before, Elektra has a deep commitment and contributing to the global energy transition. This commitment is reflected in our core values and our mission, as you can see on screen. Operator00:04:04Our mission, which is focused on providing low carbon, ethical and traceable materials to the global battery supply chain, is at the heart of everything we do and highlight some of the priority topics that we covered in our sustainability report. Moving on to Slide 7, we present our approach to sustainability, our framework that was developed in partnership with our stakeholders and encompasses a number of critical aspects such as climate change, human rights, health and safety and respect to indigenous people. This framework helped us to underpin our ESG activities in 2022 when we developed our ESG policies, implemented our whistleblower channel and became members of the Responsible Minerals Initiative, RMI, which allows us to assess our suppliers' compliance to OECD guidelines. Moving on to Slide 8, we can see a summary of our ESG scorecard that you can find in our sustainability report. All results you see here reflect our construction phase, So numbers will change to reflect the future developments of our plant. Operator00:05:17However, it's very important to highlight our safety record of 0 high consequence work related injuries informing how well our sites are managing this major priority for us now and always. For those unaware, our sustainability report was released in January and is available from our website. That concludes my remarks. I will now turn it over to Craig, who will review our financial highlights. Speaker 400:05:49Thank you, Renata. Thanks everyone for joining us this morning. As Joe mentioned, we filed our Q1 as stated at the end of yesterday and wanted to take and run through some of our highlights. To begin, we'll start with liquidity. The liquidity position is done on Slide 10. Speaker 400:06:10At the end of Q1, we had approximately 12,900,000 of cash and marketable securities. This was up from $8,400,000 held at the end of the prior quarter. The increase was primarily driven by the US51 $1,000,000 convertible debt offering that we closed on in February. That offering provided us $50,000,000 in net $50,000,000 in gross cash proceeds. The increase was partially offset by refinery commissioning costs, expenses related to the Black Mass trial and higher general and administrative costs for the period. Speaker 400:06:44Also like to point out that at the end of Q1, that cash balance did not include any amount of the $5,100,000 that we are still yet to receive from government investments that should be received in the coming quarters. So at the start of Q2, our cash marketable securities Cash management is maintained cash management is a key priority to the company. We will be continuing to undertake measures to to protect cash and reduce some of our expenses. As mentioned, we completed our $51,000,000 convertible debt financing. If we move to Slide 11, we will be able to see a summary of some of those trends there. Speaker 400:07:32Although we did go over these on Q4, we'll provide a quick updates and some additional information there. Again, when we completed the $51,000,000 in financing in February, We retired the original US36 million dollars of outstanding 2026 notes at par value, a fair bit of interest. The conversion price ratio used in the new 2028 notes is US2.48 dollars In addition to the notes, Investors were entitled to $10,800,000 of warrants. Those warrants are available over 5 years with the same strength that is US2.48 dollars Additionally, these out allowed us to have a lower minimum cash balance of US2 $1,000,000 You will notice in our Q1 results that the impact of Settling the 2026 notes and creation of the 2028 notes resulted in a $19,900,000 onetime loss. On recognition, This relates to the settlement and then initial recognition of the 20 28 notes. Speaker 400:08:38That is a non cash loss I would now turn over the updates to Trent, who will take you through the refinery project economics. Speaker 300:08:58Thanks, Greg. All right, back to the refinery. I do have Dave Marshall on the line for questions as well. Later on, Dave, our VP Engineering led the reengine their rebaseline review with our EPCM contractor, EXP. And so, again, just by way of reminder, on Slide 13, we did withdraw our guidance on Feb 14. Speaker 300:09:22It became apparent that just with the ongoing supply chain issues that we're all well aware of, compounded by the receipt of some damaged equipment, Inflation, the lifeblood, I haven't seen since the, I guess, since the '80s, and all the pressures that that put against us that we needed to pull that and review our capital cost estimate. So we'll look through that a little bit now. The study was completed as I say, Dave with eXp. We then had a 3rd party estimator complete an independent review as well of that and following which it's gone through our tech committee. So, we had a Pretty good scrubbing of the numbers. Speaker 300:10:00And with the amount of detailed engineering and procurement done, much of the long lead stuff now on-site Or in transit, we're feeling pretty good about where we are in terms of our estimation. So as I say, it was completed with a new estimate now of $110,000,000 to $121,000,000 We spent just under $50,000,000 of that. We do have some additional funds, as Craig outlined, that are coming in, but it is apparent that we are going to need more money in order to complete that process. And if you look to Slide 14, you can see how the variances stack up as against different components of the project. And I take freight as an example. Speaker 300:10:42We could never predict a 5x increase in the cost of freight, but these are the kind of things that replicated higher labor costs, higher steel, Concrete and so on. And so it's been some challenges, but we're making our way through it, and I think we've got a pretty good idea of what the way forward looks like. Another perspective, looking at it again through Slide 15, gives you the workup to both the low end of the range and the higher end of the range. What we've done here is we went right back to the original estimate, just for transparency to show where we were With our study documents, our control budget, by way of reminder, wasn't $62,000,000 but $80,000,000 when we started construction. But this just shows you the workup of The study doesn't quite show the control, but where we think we're coming in right now. Speaker 300:11:30And again, Dave is here. If you wanted to work through that, there's more details in the press release. So, as I said, we're going to need more capital. If you look on slide 16 in terms of our next step, It does now focus our attention with some of our partners on funding the GAAP. We've got commercial partners that we've been talking to for some time, Government agencies, federal, provincial, U. Speaker 300:11:53S. As well that are in the mix and then some strategic partners as well. Until that time, things are going to be a little bit slower in terms of how we execute. We've got a small team on-site that can continue working that through. But it is really a question now of just managing the capital, managing our expenditures and getting ready to resume construction once we've lined up the remaining portions of the capital. Speaker 300:12:17So we can come back to that in the questions. Let's maybe turn it back to Craig now, if I may, on the Black Mass study starting on Slide 1718. Speaker 400:12:28Thank you, Trent. In addition to the update on the refinery, which we released yesterday and Trent just walked you through, We'd like to provide an overview of our Black Mass scoping study. As a reminder, we started the scoping study Based off of the very positive results we had seen from our demonstration plant, which we commissioned in December and have been running throughout the quarter, We have received a lot of interest related to that capability from various stakeholders within the supply chain for EVs. The recovery introduction of lithium carbonate products, as shown on Slide 18, was also something that has generated considerable interest. So the success of our Blackbaud trial project is a significant underpinning to us joining in an MOU with the 3 fires group, which we also recently announced. Speaker 400:13:20If we move to Slide 19, there's a summary of the highlights of the scoping study and what some of the indications could be for a potential Black Mass recycling plant located in our Temiscaming facility. As you can see on Slide 19, the scoping study is based on processing 2,500 tonnes of recycled material per year, indicating some compelling economics. Most notably, we'll be building permanent black mass Operation using our existing footprint at our refinery, it would cost the range of approximately US6 million to complete and construct and would deliver an attractive rate of return and a payback period of less than 2 years. Some of the to focus the economic highlights of that potential maturity, we would be predicting an EBITDA In year 1, approximately $12,600,000 and in year 2 of $9,900,000 and carrying forward in a similar fashion that way. Some of the key assumptions that are built into the model are using analyst consensus for estimates on commodity prices over the coming years as well as consensus prices on reagents for the same period. Speaker 400:14:44Moving to Slide 20, the next steps with our Black Mass trial. The results we've achieved to date in our Black Mass trial have been Rather encouraging and supported by the market outlook. Looking ahead, we anticipate the first commercial deliveries of products produced through the demonstration plant to happen in Q2. And we also set to continue to refine our hydrometallurgical process through our batch analysis and improvement processes. Coming completion of our trial, we will evaluate the results and demonstrate a path towards commercialization of this technology and potential opportunity. Speaker 400:15:28This concludes my comments and I would like to turn the call back to Trent for his closing remarks. Speaker 300:15:34Thank you, Craig. So we're on to Slide 22 now. And before I do the concluding remarks, I just want to say a word or 2 about Black Mass as well. The benefit of this picture shows you The significant advantage we have and why we were first to produce or to refine black masks on a plant scale because we've got this legacy refinery that you see before you that has been commissioned by Mark and our skilled team at Syt. And it really is a huge accomplishment. Speaker 300:16:00There's a lot of A lot of battery shredding happening in the industry, but thus far, nobody is doing this. Nobody has taken that black mass and refining the 6 Critical minerals in there into their constituent elements. And so our approach has been Fairly straightforward, but also different. It really is about proving other IP, and that's what we've been doing. And once you prove your IP, you can then partner. Speaker 300:16:25And we've had Lots of visitors coming to see our site, receiving our product, looking at what we're doing. And it's once you've done your proof and your partnerships, Then you can start building out the plant and we look to build this out on a modular basis, growing with the market incrementally So that we don't get too far ahead of ourselves or where the market is. So a big, big congratulations to the team, our metallurgical team, our operating team and the leadership for pulling off What is a huge accomplishment that I would say is probably not getting enough recognition. But with that, I'll move on To just some closing remarks and the first bullet there, as we said in our announcement today, we have disclosed that we've launched a strategic review to evaluate potential alternatives that could help us address our funding shortfall to complete our refinery project. The Black Knight does give us an alternative, but there is a bigger Capital lift required on the refinery and capital requirements on the Black Mass as well. Speaker 300:17:20So, I won't talk today about the process, And we will report back when we do have something to say, but at this point, it would just be speculation and rumor. So we're going to leave it as disclosed in the press release. And though maybe some shareholders may be surprised by the development, I think it's good to take into account the context in which we sit today. When we started this project in late 2019 into 2020, coming out of COVID, real interest rates were negative, Access to capital was much different than it is today. Equity markets were favorable and we were moving into a period where chemical refineries like ours were receiving Pretty generous multiples. Speaker 300:17:59And over the past, it's been a different tone. Equity markets For small caps, they are getting tougher. Liquidity is harder. Interest rates are harder are higher, I'm sorry. And as a result, Access to capital has become considerably more challenging. Speaker 300:18:15And as I look to 2023, looming recession seems to be the growing consensus. What this company needs and it's the only thing we need is a stronger balance sheet. And however, we want to achieve that. Everything else, I think, is in our favor. The macro tailwinds, we've got a process, we've got a location with permits, we've got people and we've proven out a lot of what we I've set out to do, and we're well into construction with long lead equipment on-site. Speaker 300:18:42But of course, you need that balance sheet and that partnership to help you get that across the line. So, we have anticipated for some time 2023 was going to be challenging, and that's why we did start taking steps, Yes, frankly, some time ago to make sure we would complete our vision and succeed with what we have laid out over the last couple of years. As you know, the outlook for the EV battery market is extremely bullish. We keep seeing announcements here on the continent. I think it's taken the industry by surprise with the speed at which Things have picked up, no doubt bolstered by the U. Speaker 300:19:13S. Inflation Reduction Act and other incentives that are there across the sector in North America. So against this more favorable outlook, we are very committed to completing the refinery project, capitalizing on our first mover advantage, moving forward with our Black Mass and our Bay Concours plans. Speaker 100:19:55The first question is from Matthew O'Keefe with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:20:02Hi, good morning. So a lot in there. Just a couple of questions on, let's start with the refinery. So it sounds like you're kind of stalled construction here. When you do just sort of figure out your cash Tishu, and you reengage in construction, how long would it take to complete the build and get it commissioned? Speaker 300:20:30Yes. In fact, we thank you, Matt, and good morning. We haven't disclosed that In part because it really is capital dependent. So, we continue to receive equipment, I think comfortably a conservative number or a realistic number once we've got funding in place You could do it faster, you could do it slower. But where we are right now with detailed engineering is at 98%, 99% procurement. Speaker 300:20:58Largely, the big stuff is done. So, we've got some piping And cables and whatnot that we need, but a lot of that sort of custom fab, SX tanks and all that have been received are coming. And so really it's execution now. And so we're talking about a couple of 100 people on-site doing piping and electrical work. And what that schedule looks like is going to be a function of how, yes, how your funding aligns and how quickly you can crew up. Speaker 500:21:26Okay. And on the financing side, you said you spoke a lot about partnerships and I'm not going to mention too much about who or what, but I mean are we looking at Across the gamut here from traditional lenders to automakers to other strategic Like other mining companies or processors or is it more narrow than that? Operator00:21:55It's pretty Speaker 300:21:56broad. We talked about in our presentation the 5.1 that we expect to receive from government. There are a couple of other streams, or 3 other streams, including an application with the U. S. Department of Defense, that is out there. Speaker 300:22:10Hard to predict what those look like, but Certainly a lot higher than $5,000,000 each of the other streams I'm looking at. The downstream partners, yes, I think that's going well. The reality is with A rebaseline underway, we needed to get this out in order to complete those conversations. So, I can think of 1 downstream partner in particular That's not in the public domain that wants to have the conversation now that we've got this back out so they can understand how they are part of a bigger solution. And then of course the strategic process and what that may yield. Speaker 500:22:44Okay. If I could ask one more question just on the Black Mass. For you, you said $6,000,000 CapEx, actually two things there. One, maybe explain how that doesn't sound like a lot to generate $10,000,000 of EBITDA. Maybe you could explain what goes into that. Speaker 500:23:01And does that require the completion of the refinery in order for the For you to engage in the Black Mass processing. Speaker 300:23:10Yes. I'll let Mark talk to that. High level, Because the refinery and I know you've been through there, the refinery is running today, right? We're running we can run up to a ton of material per day through that plant. And so it's basically taking what we've got for the demo plant, adding some tanks, building out a bigger lithium circuit And scaling that up using what we have. Speaker 300:23:32So unlike a new build, the feed handling system is there, the warehouse, the lab, the maintenance crews. And Mark, maybe I'll let you add some narrative to that. Speaker 600:23:42Yes, sure. Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Matthew, for your question. I mean, if you've toured the plant, the plant has about 64 vessels that over the lifetime of it has evolved to a hydrometallurgical specifically that has several streams or had several streams in its history. Right now, under this Current footprint, we're using about a dozen or so of those vessels. So, when we go to In our 2,500 tonne per annum plant, we'll be using a lot more of the dormant vessels that I'm just laying there right now and not really doing any work for us. Speaker 600:24:33So that's the leverage that we have here. It's a lucky A thing to have, because it really allows you to limit the capital spend and get into production quicker. So that's kind of the asset leveraging the asset that we have to maximize the rate at which we can run. And you can see the profitability on these numbers is quite significant. So that's kind of a bird's eye view of that. Speaker 500:25:12So just so I'm clear, so you could run this like you could do $6,000,000 like now and have some cash flow Before you complete the refinery for the cobalt? Speaker 600:25:25Well, what this plan does, what this scoping study did was the spend that would need to be done would occur over 12 months from getting the financing on that spend. Some of these vessels would be dual purpose and some would have to be replaced if The hydroxide project gets full financing. But in the near term, this gets you Operating and generating cash much quicker. I mean, if we have full funding On the project, cobalt hydroxide, cobalt sulfate project, then some of these vessels would have to be replaced And that would be part of additional capital for keeping the rates going, so to speak, for Black Hills. Speaker 300:26:24And Matt, if I may, just to be totally clear, dollars 6,000,000 becomes $6,000,000 plus. If you want to run these 2 concurrently, that is to say the Cobalt plant And the 2,500 tonne, then yes, I mean the idea of the $6,000,000 this is a very quick and profitable way for us to get the cash flow with a quick return, but you are borrowing some of the equipment that otherwise go to the Cobalt plant. So there would be a higher number associated with that 2,500 ton A standalone. Speaker 500:26:51Okay. Do we have a number for a standalone? Speaker 300:26:55Truthfully, no. No, I mean, I think we'd be guessing. We're working on a 25 we're working Kind of what would a 5,000 ton look like that will come in time, but that would be an order of magnitude larger because now you're building out structures and whatnot. But I mean compared to a greenfield, right, you're not we've got our obviously, we've got our permits, which is massive, but you've got your infrastructure and power and water and There's just so much already there that when I say orders of magnitude, we're not talking $100,000,000 Maybe you're talking half of that to get a 5,000 ton plant. But again, this is just Order of magnitude, we need to do the work because of everything that's there now, we're building onto existing structures and facilities and equipment. Speaker 100:27:40The next question is from Jake Sekelsky with Alliance Global Partners. Please go ahead. Speaker 700:27:54Just following up a bit on the Black Mass operation, do you expect to announce a full Before moving to commercialization there, are you comfortable moving forward with the work that's been done So far on the 2,500 ton a day scenario. Speaker 300:28:15Yes. Back to my point I made Proving out your process, your IP and then partnering, we're kind of at the partnering stage now, leveraging somebody else's balance sheet, whether it be through a commercial relationship or otherwise. So, yes, there'd be more work required. This is a desktop. So, this is look, Mark's team got this up and running for $3,000,000 recommission the plant and get the plant going on a demonstration basis. Speaker 300:28:39So it's that same crew of operators and metallurgists that came up with this work. We're still doing our metso modeling among other things. So there will be more work required. I think we'll be able to share some of this publicly as well. The results of the study Slightly redacted, but we'll have a report available on our website to give you a sense of the amount of work that was done. Speaker 700:29:01Got it. Okay. And then just switching gears to the 3 fires agreement that you guys announced about a week ago. You'll provide any color on the pricing mechanisms that you guys are considering under that agreement? Or is it Still too early stage Speaker 400:29:22to kind of talk about that. Speaker 300:29:27Okay. So, yes, maybe just 3 buyers just by way of background. That's, I guess the best way to describe it, it's an economic development A group that represents a number of indigenous First Nations communities around the Great Lakes area. And of course, we've got 2 Very large cell plants that are coming into their territory. And I think from their perspective, Circularity and recycling aligns with their values and they've got Access, I suppose, to capital and access to government officials eager to help build capacity. Speaker 300:30:04And so the Where we are right now on the MOU, we haven't outlined the economic split, but the high level concept with 3 fires and this was them reaching out to us with the idea Is that look, you've got the refinery, you don't need 4 of those. What you do need is shredding capability and a dedicated feed. And so why don't we work together to build out the shredding capability in Ontario and have a good sized collection and shredding facility for whatever the sources might be. And the broad parameters would be that they would help with the siting, so the location of the property and the initial capital. We would bring our expertise, both in refining and also in the shredding side to help make that a reality, operatorship, the profit shares we would see. Speaker 300:30:51But what that really does, Jake, is It provides us now with a captive feed source, which I think is really the future. I think this idea of buying black mass in the open market is going to come and go because as battery plants start to pop up, nobody is going to sell you their feed only to buy it back again. And so this kind of sets us up for what I would say kind of the 2nd generation of the black mass market as we see it evolving. Speaker 400:31:17Makes sense. Okay, that's all for me. Thanks again. Thank you. Speaker 100:31:23The next Question is from Gordon Lawson with Paradigm Capital. Please go ahead. Speaker 800:31:29Hey, good morning, everyone, and congratulations on getting to the stage. My questions are in line with what's already been asked. But the forecasted decrease in EBITDA, is that largely based On consensus commodity price forecast or are there other factors at play? Speaker 300:31:48Before I hand it over to Craig, Speaker 200:31:50the EBITDA that we presented there, Gordon, relates just to the black mass, right? Other EBITDA that we had previously presented was for the cobalt sulfate production activities, but as we indicated, we withdrew those guidance numbers earlier this year. Speaker 400:32:05So numbers today are presented just Speaker 200:32:06for the scoping study on Black Mass? Speaker 800:32:11Correct. But the products coming out of that, The Black Mass Recycling, I mean, you're generating EBITDA based on commodity prices, correct? Speaker 400:32:21That's correct. Yes. Speaker 800:32:23Okay. So as for the mill, is there an opportunity for debottlenecking or additional Fine tuning, I mean the mill is now being used for a different product than originally designed. So I'd assume there There's room for improvement there unless it's you prefer to keep it as is for the future cobalt production, correct? Speaker 300:32:47Do you want to take that, Mark? Speaker 600:32:50I mean, as far as block mass processing, Yes, we've been since we started this back in December, we have been tweaking the process as we go. In fact, That's one of the things that is nice about this whole demonstration is that it gives us that ability to increase recoveries, increase throughput by getting feedback on what's working well and what isn't working so well and then moving forward. As far as the hydroxide project, I mean, we've done a pilot plant, a complete pilot plant on that right through to Processing and Manufacturing Cobalt Sulfate. So we're pretty confident in our flow sheet. And the people that we've the vendors that we had involved with supplying equipment We have supplied equipment to other cobalt sulfate plants around the world. Speaker 600:33:57So there's a level of confidence that we have in that process. But overall, I mean, the opportunity that we have right now for The Black Mass circuit is really adding value to our steps moving forward and expanding out to 2,500 tons. Yes, there is ongoing tweaking that we're doing almost every week here and finding little ways to improve recoveries and as I mentioned, the full production rates. Speaker 300:34:32And Gord, I'd say, as Mark said, this plant has had a Couple of iterations, right, it produced nickel and cobalt copper products in the past, silver even. What it hasn't produced is lithium. So if I were to think of a bottleneck today, it's Building out that circuit, right? This is a circuit that we introduced that's part of a demo plant. So to go continuous, we'd want to continue adding that capacity. Speaker 300:34:52But to the bigger Cobalt hydroxide plant, we looked at that early. And so our decision to buy a larger crystallizer, which is now having some knock on effects on our CapEx, But to go from a 5,000 ton crystallizer to a 6,500 tons cobalt contained crystallizer, that would have been the bottleneck. And you got to size that right out of the gate. And that's, Hank, it's just certainly not an issue. It may be when we go from 5,000 to 6,500, but I think we successfully addressed that Potential bottlenecks, 2 years ago. Speaker 300:35:23And when I looked at the cobalt projections of any one of the big 3 or any one of the big automakers, this plant's Total capacity for Cobalt is going to exceed any one auto manufacturer's requirements by about 2027. So I think it was the right decision there. Speaker 800:35:39Okay, great. Thanks very much for the color. Thanks, Speaker 100:35:47Today, I'd like to turn the conference back over to Joe Racanelli for any closing comments. Speaker 200:35:54Thank you everyone for joining us. 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