American Resources Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 21, 2024

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the American Resources Corporation First Quarter 2024 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mark Laverghetta, Vice President, Corporate Finance and Communications.

Operator

Thank you. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of American Resources Corporation, I'd like to welcome everyone to our Q1 of 2024 conference call and business update. We always welcome these opportunities to provide an update on our business and discuss our accomplishments we've made over the past several months and how we are uniquely positioned within the markets that we serve for our American Carbon, our American Metals and Re Element Technologies division. Also on the call today with me is Mark Jensen, our Chairman and CEO Kirk Taylor, our Chief Financial Officer and Tom Salvegh, our President. We'll provide some prepared remarks today and then we'll get into some Q and A at the end for that part of the call.

Speaker 1

First, before we start, I'd like to remind everyone of our normal cautionary statement. Certain statements discussed on today's call constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward looking statements. When considering forward looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors, uncertainties and other cautionary statements, which are laid out in our press releases and SEC filings. We also do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward statement whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Speaker 1

Lastly, for anyone wanting to ask any questions today, I believe you'll need to dial in by phone to get into the queue. We're also we're going to slightly modify the cadence of the call today because it's been just about 7 weeks since our last call and update. With that, we'd like to first address and recognize our Chief Financial Officer, Kirk Taylor's efforts and quickly and successfully responding to the situation in regards to our previous accounting firm, B. F. Borgers, and their permanent suspension from practicing before the Securities Exchange Commission as a PCAOB registered public accounting.

Speaker 1

We were made aware of this situation just on May 3, and Kirk and our team responded quickly to meet our deadline for filing our quarterly financial statements. In light of the extremely tight timeframe, the SEC did just issue exempted relief for the affected registrants, which is out over 300 companies from our understanding, and an additional period of time to hire new qualified independent accounting firm and file their financial information with the commission. We'd also like to thank our Board of Directors and our audit committee for responding under an unprecedented short timeframe to allow us engage our new qualified PCAOB, registered public accountants, GBQ Partners. The quick response, the time, the focus of our Board and our team allowed us to run an extensive process to meticulously interview and evaluate multiple PCAOB, registered public accounting firms that can handle the growth of our platform of infrastructure supporting assets and operations. Lastly, we'd like to thank GBQ Partners for their hard work, timeliness and professionalism in enabling us to meet our deadline without having to take any further extensions.

Speaker 1

I think this situation and how we were able to respond exemplifies the strength of our Board and team in getting things done. The accomplishments we've made, especially in the critical mineral industry with Re Element Technologies showcases how far we have come in a relatively short period. Re Element has positioned itself as the world leader in deploying efficient, low cost and environmentally safe critical mineral refining capacity outside of China. We find ourselves at the tip of the spear in providing real critical mineral refining and sustainable solutions to the entire world and to diversify away from a single source monopolistic economy. And that really is the true value proposition of Re Element Technologies.

Speaker 1

We strive to be as transparent as possible with how we are positioning American Resources and each of its subsidiaries and the milestones that we achieve. Looking back, it's remarkable at how far we have come since we first announced our Re Element Technologies division just about 3.5 years ago. We try to recap our accomplishments on a quarterly basis and find ourselves very selectively choosing which milestones to highlight. Our milestones are supported and driven by our substantial platform of assets, our intellectual property and groundbreaking technology and our best in class team. From a corporate standpoint, our goal is to continue to execute on our strategic directive and spin off American Carbon Corporation and Re Element Technology Corporation into standalone companies by the end of this year.

Speaker 1

With that, I'd like to now turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Mark Jensen.

Speaker 2

Mark? Thanks, Mark, and thank you all for joining. I'm going to keep my remarks relatively short today, but feel free to ask any questions as we you just heard what we said and we try to be as transparent as we can with our public communication. From a corporate level, I couldn't be more pleased with the positioning of our various divisions and the efforts that our team is putting forth in this transitionary period of time. As you recall, our strategic committee from our Board had set a game plan of spinning off the various divisions.

Speaker 2

We accomplished that with our Novostera interest, which all shareholders should have those shares in their account. If they do not, check with your broker. We understand that there could be some short interest out there that is still holding shares that haven't been delivered to certain accounts. It takes a lot of effort to prepare these positions as standalone entities, setting up the agreement, setting up the and positioning these assets to be standalone companies and the management teams of them. So we're excited about the position of where we're at and the efforts that our team is taking forth to accomplish this in short order.

Speaker 2

American Carbon, we've announced our record date and our distribution date. The nice thing about American Carbon, we have a phenomenal CEO in place at Charles Thompson, born and raised in Pikeville, Kentucky, in the heart of our mining assets, which is where American Carbon really is a permit holder. And so spinning off those permits to be in a position to operate very lean and efficient is at a very puts in a very strong position with the equipment that was then leased to it from American Resources makes it a very streamlined operation as well as with these bond releases that we're getting. So we're preparing them for low cost operations post spin off where it can ramp up operations as a stand alone company. Secondly is our Re Element Technologies spin off.

Speaker 2

We within the next couple of weeks and we'll announce the record date as well as the distribution date for Re Element Technologies. And we believe these need to be standalone entities where they're positioned to grow and really operate within that realm of the business. And then American Resources, the holding company, can execute upon its vision. We have some neat announcements of where the business is going from a holding company perspective and the future operations from commodity trading to investing into the magnet and battery supply chain and the commodity markets of investing in these mines that then can partner with Re Element on that refining capacity. As well as we have identifying management teams for American Resources post Re Element spin out.

Speaker 2

And so we're very excited about some of the progress we're making there and the opportunity that's going to offer for our investors to own these individual pure play opportunities within the marketplace where we believe on a separated basis will trade at a significantly higher multiple than where they trade today. And simpler stories trade well in the markets, especially smaller companies, and will enable the companies to be positioned for growth, the teams to be motivated by the equity, which they own in those, as we as management teams own a significant stake within the interest of the companies and themselves. Quickly, I'll dive into American Carbon. American Carbon, as I mentioned, owns the permits around the mining operation. We are very quickly in the midst of spinning that division off and distributing those shares to our underlying investors with the goal of ramping up those operations predominantly focused on Wyoming County Coal, significant development taking place there from an equipment perspective and from a face up perspective being unleashed there to finish that face up to put the mine into production and then also the equipment that we've been procuring for that operation and rebuilding that equipment and staging that equipment that we can be delivering into Wyoming very shortly.

Speaker 2

Really excited about the quality of that. Most highest quality coal that feeds the steel industry that's produced in the United States from a mid vol perspective, low sulfur, really attractive. And then our McQuay Elkhorn complex, the perfect blend product actually for Wyoming County being a high vol product and very high quality there as well. We're excited about the opportunity there. And then continually looking at either selling pieces of the American Carbon division and evaluating offers that come in making sure that these individuals can close.

Speaker 2

So we're still in litigation on the non payment against our Dean complex. We are filing payments to get that resolved, to get our money from the people that claimed they were going to buy it and working aggressively with our attorneys on that. And then evaluating the other offers we're seeing on these properties and make sure these individuals can actually close when they sign the agreements. Very excited about our Jamaican iron ore diversified mineral complex that we acquired. The iron ore, vanadium, titanium reserve that's present there, working with the local operating team, a phenomenal team that actually came out of the coal mining industry many, many years ago that have moved to Jamaica and are well positioned to help us ramp up that complex.

Speaker 2

So that one, we hope to have some really significant developments on here shortly. It's a huge reserve, a low cost base being in the sands complex, not hard rock. So there's less preprocessing that's needed there, and it will enable us to move pretty expeditiously on getting that complex up and running. Furthermore, the American Carbon division does have the rights to the pre processing and concentration steps of re element on the rare earth element side. So Wyoming County Coal, we're excited about the preliminary results and have come back on that.

Speaker 2

I would say some of the highest rare earth element characterizations in the carbon industry that we've seen at 500 parts per million verified by independent third party lab. There's been results of what Ramaco has been doing in Wyoming, the reserve base we have in Wyoming. We're not mining this material. This is coming from tailings, so we don't have the extraction costs that they have, and we have a higher parts per million than what they have. So we're excited.

Speaker 2

Hopefully, they're super successful. We'd love to refine their product to re element, but at the same point, we're tackling a product that's easier to produce, lower cost to refine and a higher quality product. So we're excited about pushing that forward. And then also, obviously, significant reserves within Kentucky that we can tackle as well on the rare side from carbon waste, so long as you monetize it with byproducts. You have to do that.

Speaker 2

We're tying that to our mining operations to enable it to be cost effective and be a supply chain partner to the domestic national security supply chain. Re Element Technologies. A tremendous amount going on in Re Element led by the operational side with Jeff Peterson, our Chief Operating Officer, has done an absolutely phenomenal job of positioning the business for success, positioning the business for growth. What's really exciting about is the versatility of our technology and the cost structure of our technology, meaning that we can refine critical minerals, rare earth elements at very, very cost effective structures. And we're starting to see the interest level from the U.

Speaker 2

S. Markets, where historically all this product and all this concentrates and black mass and materials have been sent to China. I think with the current tariffs that just got put in place, that's a huge tailwind behind our back that's helping drive this industry forward and putting us in a really nice position given we're one of the only refining fast technologies in the U. S. That can operate at a lower cost structure than China, and we're showcasing that on a daily basis today.

Speaker 2

The facility operating LFP black mass, we just got big samples in from our partners at Duesenfeld as well as another one of our partners in Canada, which we're excited to continue to process that in our Noblesville facility and continue to expand the production capacity in our Noblesville facility, including bringing in a new oven this week that will enable us to increase our capacity pretty significantly. We'll continue to do that in our Noblesville facility as we get ready to unlock our Marion facility, which we just got certificate of occupancy for. Noblesville is a 7,000 square facility. We can produce per square foot, a significantly higher multiple of materials than any other refining facility in the world. Our Marion facility is 400,000 square feet under roof, 42 acre campus, rail load out on-site as well as a significant number of other logistics from the trains or truck side.

Speaker 2

That will enable us to run at full capacity to be a true supply chain partner in our rare earth element side as well as the battery material side from lithium to other materials at cobalt and nickel that we can process in that facility. We're also excited about the feedstock capabilities of our technology. So it's not just one material. It's not just black mass. It's not just end of life magnets.

Speaker 2

It's not just lithium ores from spodumene or rare earth ores, which we now have access to as well that we secured that the final stage, the exclusive rights to all feedstocks, all elements for our technology today worldwide from Purdue University, a phenomenal partner of ours, but also have recently been processing brines within it and the efficiency and efficacy of our technology to significantly simplify the flow sheet from brine producers. Brine producing from brine, you have to take a parts per million or parts per 1,000,000,000 material and concentrate it. It's very challenging. We can help them significantly reduce their cost structure by bringing in our technology on the separation purification step to make lithium carbonate lithium hydroxide cost effective from brines, not only in the U. S.

Speaker 2

But also worldwide. Furthermore, we launched recently our powered by Realme division. Powered by Realme, you can think of as a JV partnership with all the different refining or recyclers out there where we offer that separation purification step, really the heart of what we do at Re Element to these partners to unlock their business model, but also make our shareholders money, complete the supply chain, help us grow more expeditiously and move faster to truly get refining capacity, not only in the U. S, but worldwide up and running faster to compete head to head against China, which we can now do. So we're really excited about that product offering.

Speaker 2

It's a product offering that we believe can generate significant revenues in partnership based models with reducing our CapEx or capital needs. Our Noblesville facility, as I mentioned, our customer qualification plant, validation plant, we've been in we're in validation with over a dozen companies today where we've sent lithium carbonate to those customers. It's a fairly long qualification process with battery producers. We're also very excited about an MOU we're signing on the technical grade of lithium as well, which is a much faster process to start moving revenue forward quicker with a partner out of Europe that we're to start moving revenue forward quicker with a partner out of Europe that we're going to be very quickly moving forward with. Marion facility, as I mentioned, we got our certificate of occupancy, working on project financing, tax exempt bonds, very similar to what we just did with Kentucky Lithium, have a phenomenal partner in Hilltop Securities with that.

Speaker 2

That's helped us finance our Wyoming County facility, helped us secure $150,000,000 for our Kentucky lithium facility and now working on our Marion taxes and bond. And just a really strong partner, one of the best companies I've worked with in the space on the financing side of creatively working in the best interest of our shareholders. So I'm really excited about working with them and excited about what they bring to the table here. As I mentioned, we're starting to see a significant number of feedstocks come in. So Black Mass, LFP Black Mass, which is unique, Most people can't make money out of it, we can.

Speaker 2

The NMC Black Mass uniqueness of how we efficiently tackle that to produce the products needed. And then the magnet black mask, we have a number of different magnet partners that we are working with and taking product in from power tools to the automotive manufacturer that we work with here domestically that's supplying us magnets on a monthly basis as we speak. So we're building significant feedstock to meet the demand of the customers we're seeing on the rare earth oxide supply chain. There's some really great companies in the U. S.

Speaker 2

That are building out that supply chain. And we're in USA River Earth, AML. AML is a phenomenal company, really need technology, but there's multiple other companies that we're working with as well that are needing these oxides to supply the base and not only commercial, but also national security supply chains. And then international, international side of re element. So we're not re element technology is not just for the United States.

Speaker 2

It meets the needs of the globe. And honestly, it should be used throughout the globe. It protects the environment. It drops cost structure. It makes electrified economy affordable.

Speaker 2

So we're excited about the Explorer the development we're taking that's taking place on the international level, specifically in Africa, making tremendous progress there. We had some phenomenal visits in Nigeria. We have a great partnership that we're developing in Nigeria with a massive reserve. We visited the mine, really excited about the developments there and think we can get to a partnership very, very quickly that we can bring to the market and share what we're doing there. But it's one of the largest reserves I've ever seen, probably one of the largest reserves in the world.

Speaker 2

And so really excited to work with this team, just a phenomenal partnership, phenomenal team, as well as looking at cobalt ores in Africa and some other unique product mixes like and some of the other ones that we're working with and the African continent. Really what the key of Re Element is, is we provide low cost environmentally sensitive refining. Now, obviously, environmentally sensitive is the key word. But what's nice about our process is we're chemical light, we're energy light and we're water light. And so not only is it environmentally sensitive, but because of that, it makes it really cost effective.

Speaker 2

The ability to produce lithium carbonate at around $5 a kilogram, where you saw a drop below $13 and all of a sudden people started shutting in production. We have a natural hedge build in place because of our cost structure of our technology. Producing rare earth oxide at sub $12 a kilogram, at scale enables us to compete head to head against China so that when China hammers the price, which they're going to do, especially with these tariffs, we can survive and thrive where a lot of our competition is going to be struggling. So we bring that low cost structure to the table to create that natural hedge and then natural value proposition. Our goal is to really focus and drive home Re Element and the Re Element product line and Re Element offerings.

Speaker 2

We believe this is a multibillion dollar company. We believe the technology is a platform technology. We believe we have a phenomenal team in place, a phenomenal board in place at Re Element that will fare really well as a standalone company that will help drive this business forward in the United States, but also globally. And so really excited about where we're positioned within the environment. We're relatively early within it, Not a lot of focus on refining in the U.

Speaker 2

S. Today, despite the desperate need for it. But it's starting to come to fruition very, very quickly. And we're right in the heart of that, right in the sweet spot to capitalize on that opportunity. In closing, we remain extremely confident in the position of all of our assets and the long term value that they provide to our shareholders.

Speaker 2

We remain hyper focused on unlocking that value. We have ample liquidity and don't foresee us needing to issue equity at the AREC level at these prices. We continue to explore equity partners at the realment level, at the American Metals division as well as the American Carbon division on the operating basis that could help grow the businesses better, faster, stronger. Always looking at unique opportunities like our tax exempt bond financings to bring in capital and to do that in a non dilutive fashion. With that, I really thank all of you for joining today.

Speaker 2

We kept it a little bit short, but happy to answer any questions that you may have and look forward to some very real time communication that should be coming out of our business from progress that's taking place as we speak over the next few weeks and look forward to get these businesses separated so that we can focus on driving that value and unlocking that value for all of our shareholders. With that, I'd like to turn it back over to the moderator for some Q and A.

Operator

Thank you. And at this time, we'll conduct our question and answer Our first question comes from Heiko Ihle with H. C. Wainwright. Please state your question.

Speaker 3

Hey, on Merrick Carbon at the Wyoming County Coal project there, you've got this $45,000,000 tax exempt bond that funds some of your expenditures. Any idea of how much of these funds have been?

Speaker 2

Yes. So roughly around $20,000,000 have been spent to date. And so that's buying the equipment, developing the property, positioning the prep plant, securing additional components to expand that prep plant. So we have quite a bit of liquidity still on that project.

Speaker 3

Yes. And conceptually, how should we expect the spending of the other $25,000,000

Speaker 2

Yes. So here in the next few months, finishing the development of it and then putting the mine into production. So our goal and just being transparent, I mean, Wyoming is a different beast with the taxes on bond. It's focusing getting that up production as soon as possible. Working through some nuances around the permits and some new regulations that came in around permits of salamanders, which is a new thing for us, in the streams around there, which we don't have.

Speaker 2

So it's a good thing for us. But the Wyoming is focused on going in production possible. We've been focusing on getting American Carbon spun out before we ramp up the balance of the carbon operations. So in the meantime, we've been doing a lot of development and cost reductions, reducing bonds outstanding, positioning the assets, focusing on the most highest value assets as we bring these back on post spin out.

Speaker 3

Fair enough. Speaking of spin out, great lead over to my next question. Any idea what the cash costs for the Re Element Technologies and the the American Cloud

Speaker 2

and spin out are going

Speaker 3

to be? In other words, how about a check do you have to write for legal expenses, consultants, I have no idea, all the people that got their hands out?

Speaker 2

That's a good question. So we try to reduce those expenses. We're a pretty experienced team. We have great lawyers that work for us. We have great auditors that work for us.

Speaker 2

We had to go back and do some we had to push back the American Carbon Distribution because we do have to do some audit work on that because of the BF Forger situations, which we are evaluating options there of what we do from a damages perspective to make sure we protect our shareholders in the best way. But we don't think it's going to be overly expensive. I mean, we work with our transfer agents. We work with the different exchanges and or the relisting of these companies if they do spin out in the private environment. But the not they're not it's not an overly expensive process.

Speaker 2

There's just a lot of boxes you got to check. And so it's working through the nuances of that. We've obviously just did it with Novocera, so we're very familiar with the process. And we're working through that as we speak with American Carbon and working with our transfer agent on that as well as the Re Element Technologies division.

Speaker 3

But you wouldn't be willing or able to give me a number?

Speaker 2

I mean, sub $25,000,000 Okay. That makes go ahead. Yes. I would say sub a quarter of $1,000,000 Obviously, there's a little bit

Speaker 4

more that has to go

Speaker 2

into with the new audit work. But other than that, it's a pretty low cost process.

Speaker 3

More in my head, I had a number that was a multiple of that. So, no, that's actually very helpful and quite reassuring. With that, I'll get back in queue. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2

Yes, absolutely. And I'll say that one add on to that Heiko is that, I mean, we're equity owners. The management team, the majority the executives of the company are some of the largest owners of the company or are the largest company owners of the company. And so we look at it as it's our own money. And that's how we treat this business from day 1 is that we try to protect it for all of our shareholders so we all win together.

Speaker 2

So we don't like to pay fees if you don't have to, but we like to do things the right way as well and make sure we're following, I mean, with this recent audit stuff, bringing in the new audit, I mean, just a phenomenal group to work with, extremely professional. And so we're excited about that change, but excited about making sure that when we're spending money, it's being spent in a way that tries to maximize the value for all of us.

Operator

And our next question comes from Mark Stone. Please go ahead with your question.

Speaker 5

I'd like to inquire about the trading status of the Novostaris stock that was dividended out a little over 2 months ago. I have no evidence. The shares were placed in my account right away, but I have no evidence of any actual trading symbol or that there's actually any trading available. Can you comment on that?

Speaker 2

Yes. As of now, there is not. So it's not a public company. It's a private company, but you are an owner of that company. The company is has filed an S-one and is now responding to those comments on the S-one with the goal of listing on the public environment.

Speaker 2

Obviously, there's a separate management team in place there, separate board, and they're working through that process. We're excited about the developments in the operational level of NovoStar with the Army and Air Force contracts through Kanai Defense and the development of the technology. But they are working through the public

Speaker 6

listing process, and I anticipate here in

Speaker 2

the next few months them refiling the comments to their S-one to Well, can

Speaker 5

Can you comment on what that process is going to be for American Carbon and V Element? Will those be traded right away after the dividend or some other thing will happen?

Speaker 2

We are working on that. So we're working on working with different exchanges, working on getting the financials re audited from the B. F. Hoarders situation. I can't give 100% clarity on it, but the intent is for them to be publicly listed.

Speaker 2

So is it actually

Speaker 5

prudent to make the dividend prior to the actual availability to go immediately into a trading status?

Speaker 2

I believe so because I believe it maximizes the value of the companies. I mean, at the end of the day, it's the focus is on maximizing shareholder value, and that puts the businesses in the best operational position for success. So we do believe it does and the Board does.

Speaker 6

I guess

Speaker 5

I'm really asking because of the Novus Terrace situation. So I guess what I don't want to see is a significant value of American Resources is spun out and now those kind of stocks are kind of owned but not traded that has implications for the liquidity of the stockholders of American Resources?

Speaker 2

Well, it does. Well, I mean, American Resources, obviously, you still own your stock there. So you have liquidity within your position that you have. The Board believes it's the best to separate these companies and do it as expeditiously as we can. So you still have liquidity, but you also own interest in the individual entities as well that are there.

Speaker 2

I think the Novocera situation was a great situation for our investors. We own something that was a non core asset. We weren't running the business. It was an asset held. We feel that it puts the individual shareholders in a position to make a decision on what they want to do with it once it's listed.

Speaker 2

But I believe also it simplifies the story of what American Resources is doing. So as we distribute these underlying divisions, it simplifies the public markets for American Resources, which should drive value. We believe both the distribution of American Resources as well and are valued still based on where it's going as a business and what it has in place. And the royalties that are received back from streamlines the businesses, positions the businesses for growth and then also will in the short to medium to long term will provide that additional liquidity where anybody is valuing the underlying securities as a re element. We don't believe we're anybody's valuing the underlying securities of our element.

Speaker 2

We don't believe they're valuing the assets that American resource zones on the equipment side. We don't believe it's valuing the permits on the carbon side. And so together, clearly, there's a disconnect of what we believe the fundamental value is and the asset value of the businesses versus what the Board made the determination that we believe we need to simplify the messaging and simplify the corporate structure of the individual entities.

Speaker 5

So my comment on the liquidity was from the perspective of the shareholder that if we look forward to say American Carbon and Re Element, those basically now constitute a significant portion of the value of American Resources stock. When they go ex dividend, then one should anticipate a significant reduction in the stock price of American Resources based on some of the value being dividended out. And if that now all that significant value now is not actually liquid, that has now reduced liquidity of the shareholders. So that is what my comment was about. And I guess I have a concern that you'd be more transparent with regard to the future stock dividend split offs than has been the case in Novostero?

Speaker 2

Yes. I don't know how we could be any more transparent because we shared exactly what we're doing with the investors. But and I'm not saying that the investors won't be that the companies won't be public post distribution. I said, I can't give you clarity on that today as we're working through the audits, given the BF Border situation and working with the different exchanges based on that. But I don't also believe that American Resources will that those that they should trade down.

Speaker 2

I believe that the fundamental value at American Resources, the royalties it's going to get off the Carbon division and the assets that it holds in the direction of American Resources as a whole, even post distribution, I think it's trading at a discount to the comps within the marketplace. And ultimately, our goal with Carbon and Re Element is for them to be public companies. And so we're working expeditiously to that, as no different than Novocera is. But from day 1, we said that we're distributing Novocera as a privately held company. It didn't have any effect on the stock price post distribution because it was not being reflected within the market value of the company.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from Mike Niehueser with ROTH Capital Partners. Please state your question.

Speaker 7

Hi, Mark. Can you hear me okay?

Speaker 2

Yes. Can you hear me great.

Speaker 7

Great. How soon or what would how soon do you think we'll see some meaningful production coming out of Marion? Because I'm imagining that the way things are going and how quickly this can be deployed, at least on paper, could be at a substantial step up by the end of the year, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Can you give any thoughts about scale, rate, commencement dates, commissioning, anything as it's being fleshed out on Marion?

Speaker 2

Yes. So we just got shifted of occupancy. We have to install fire suppression up there. But I will say that we are continuing expanding our capacity also in Noblesville in the meantime. And so we the way that we look at it is Noblesville, we will continue to expand our refining capacity there.

Speaker 2

And the first step would probably be moving our preprocessing up to Marion and or to our river property that we have to further expand production out of Noblesville. But the Marion crew, the team up there is doing absolutely phenomenal job on the renovations, on the development. We just got the industrial natural gas line installed or it's being installed this week, started on last week, which enables the kilns to be fired and the some of the pre processing steps to be done very efficiently. But the our goal is to have operations up and running there this year, within the calendar year, and but also furthermore to continue to expand our production capacity in Noblesville to further handle the demand that we see and the qualifications that we're getting through with our customer base.

Speaker 7

And I think that the technology is modular enough that it seems like you can start replicating a Noble Sill size operation to meet demand or whatever the needs of the customers are, that's kind of the whole Powered by Re Element thing, isn't it?

Speaker 2

Yes. Well, Powered by Re Element is working with offering the separation purification step to other industry partners, other recyclers out there that are shredding batteries, but they can't refine them and or they can't maybe extract the nickel out of their process, so they can't extract the cobalt or they can't extract the lithium out of their process, or we can help streamline like a DLE process, direct lithium extraction. We can help streamline their flow sheets by offering it. That's really powered by Re Element as a partnership based model with existing other, call them competitors, call them what you want. We view them as industry partners.

Speaker 2

But yes, I mean Marion the first production line we have at Marion will be multiples above the current production line in Noblesville, just because it makes sense too. There's demand for it. Feedstocks are flowing both on the ore side as well as the recycled products. And so Marion will be production will be significantly larger in scale and scope. We've hired a phenomenal engineering firm, which we'll talk about here publicly very soon.

Speaker 2

That's helping us on our, call it, a Fel II Fel III study, but it's really designing the equipment line, designing the production and sourcing the big volume equipment that we're currently in the midst of doing. And Jeff Peterson and Bill Smith on our team, who's just a phenomenal team member, doing a great job at that.

Speaker 7

Is, I was thinking yes, I got it. I was thinking more just from the flexibility of the technology, how you'd be able to accommodate whatever kind of schedule you're doing at Marion to match demand and the feedstocks coming in. So I think that answers my question to some degree. But also my second question, a follow on is, you mentioned brines, lithium brines. And it seems like a lot of lithium projects, they have their own proprietary science experiment, unique or approaches to trying to make their projects economic.

Speaker 7

And I'm kind of sensing that your technology could come in and displace a lot of that to simplify it. And this is probably a direct kind of powered by re element thing where you're actually able to unlock the economic potential of these various lithium deposits and operations. Is that fair?

Speaker 2

Without a doubt. I mean that's and you're right on the variance side as well. I mean obviously the ability to expand production, expand capacity, modularly scale and modularly grow to meet the demands. Especially, you're seeing a lot of talk on the rare development side. That's going to get really interesting really quickly.

Speaker 2

On the DLE side, we're working with a DLE company right now on the direct lithium extraction. A lot of these players can't get to battery grade. So they can get it to technical grade, they can get it to a 95% purity and 97% purity, but they can't get to that 99.9% purity. So we can help them do that. We're working with a group today.

Speaker 2

They sent us a sample, asked us if we can help them. And they said within their flow sheet, we were our one step removes 4 steps of their process. And so we can help streamline not only their OpEx significantly to make it affordable, but we can also get them to the purity that they need to get to and we significantly reduce their CapEx and space required to do what we do. So that's it's an exciting I mean we I'll be honest, we haven't looked at a lot of brines until recently, but it's really interesting to see where our technology flows in within that process to help them be more efficient and help their projects move faster.

Speaker 7

Well, that's why it caught my eye. And the fact that you're now able to move beyond end of life products into ores just opens up the world to you. But it is exciting and there's only been a short time since the last call, but I'm looking forward to the next couple of months because it seems like you're going to have quite a few releases coming out. So I'll shut up and get off the call. Thanks a lot, Mark.

Speaker 2

Yes. Well, Mike, appreciate you and absolutely. We're from partnerships in Africa to developments here domestically to expansion and products that we're producing, there's going to be quite a bit of information flow and transparency that we continue to provide our investors and from a corporate level to an operational level. So we're super excited about that and appreciate you being

Speaker 7

Well, your first mention is Canada too, by the way, kind of long overdue, but a real good positive sign of penetration. So will be quiet. Thanks a lot, Mark.

Speaker 2

Yes. We love our Canadian partner. We just can't quite talk about it. Companies are sensitive about what you talk about just because they're also a lot of these companies are doing financing or they're big huge companies that are going through turmoil in the EV industry right now a little bit and just they're reshuffling and making their business efficient. So there efficient.

Speaker 2

So they're sometimes a little sensitive about talking about it in the public markets, but they're phenomenal partners. I mean, we could be just we'll get soon in a position where we can start hopefully mentioning more of their names.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from Keith Goodman with Maxim Group. Please state your question.

Speaker 6

Hi, guys. I read a lot about different

Speaker 2

Hi, guys.

Speaker 6

Hi, guys. I read a lot about different companies that are suggesting they could do refining, processing, and lifting cobalt whatever it may be, the different elements. How do we know that their technologies are not lifecycle as an example, not to disparage a potential competition, but they had some troubles. I mean, can they process EndoLife? Can you help pick up the pieces?

Speaker 6

Or explain to me why 2Q Materials gets a lot of media coverage lifecycle, which turned out to have some trouble. But how do you differentiate from all of these potential competition or other companies in the industry that claim to be able to process stuff to handle it?

Speaker 2

Keith, that's a great question. 95% of the recyclers in this industry don't recycle. They just shred stuff and produce a product that can be sold. They don't refine the battery or magnet grade. And so the easiest way we've seen it and from a customer perspective and why we're going through all these validations now is because people can come into our facility and they can watch us produce product.

Speaker 2

And that's been I mean and don't get me wrong, like I said, we're relatively early within this sector. I mean, especially on the refining side, the government hasn't awarded really any capital to any refining projects. Typically, it's always been on the pre processing or shredding side or and stuff to that nature. But seeing is believing and we're starting to get quite I mean we've had an immense amount of traffic. We have a huge company coming in tomorrow to see our facility again.

Speaker 2

And when people see us producing product out of there and see what we can do in the footprint that we're in, it opens their eyes and all of a sudden they recognize it. We had one of the probably one of the more renowned rare earth guys in the space come by our facility about 2 months ago. And since then, he's introduced us to companies that are well north of $80,000,000,000 market caps that are looking for rare earth oxides. And he was skeptical until he saw it. And so he came in, he saw what we do and he walked out of this thing, I'm going to introduce every customer I know.

Speaker 2

And so that's I mean, the industry is going to see that though. I mean, it's going to take a little bit of time flush out who can do what they say they can do and who's just talking their book. And the good thing about it with us is most of these companies that have come by said the other companies wouldn't let us see it or we showed up and there was just a greenfield. With you guys, we get to see what you're doing. And we take pride in that.

Speaker 2

We give complete transparency to our customer base. Let them let us not only watch us run, but also watch their product being run.

Speaker 6

Got you. Thank you. And then obviously, you've a couple of approval to be public on the expectation of if you get approval to be public on the re element side, what does the path look like to that? I mean, does it range us based upon what is the valuation? How do you how do we determine what that valuation would be if and when it were to go public?

Speaker 6

Yes. So, I mean, that's

Speaker 2

part of what we're also doing is this private financing of which that we're putting together, which we announced previously, is to set that valuation of re element. I mean, that's part of the complication is under the current market cap, values aren't being recognized. So we have to separate the companies. And by doing that, we can help and I apologize if we got a little wind here, but we can help streamline businesses and set those valuations. So we're in the midst of working on that at Relevant as well as American Carbon to set that initial valuation for the exchanges.

Speaker 2

But that is the unapproval goal is for them to be public and that's where we believe our value is.

Speaker 6

Okay. And then lastly, as long as you mentioned American Carbon, obviously, you didn't do any revenue in American Carbon this last quarter. It sounds like to me and correct me if I'm wrong, when you split up the entities, when it finally does become a standalone, maybe at that point, we'll start to see production at American Carbon?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, outside of Wyoming, 100 percent of our capital is being either gone to reduce cost structure of American Carbon for when we do bring it online or to develop Re Element. Re Element, we believe, is worth multiples above American Carbon and we're allocating our cash at value denominated. Now, post separation, that enables the companies to focus on the maximum value for those individual bids and then we'll absolutely focus on ramping up carbon and we're super excited about where the mines are set up to do that. Obviously, Wyoming will be Wyoming working on day the table.

Speaker 6

Okay. All right. And obviously, just because you're splitting off American Carbon from the other entities doesn't prevent you from continuing to try to monetize it in the form of sale?

Speaker 2

That's correct. Yes, yes. American Carbon on the iron ore side, we're focused on. We are always evaluating opportunities But the and then where the operations by Wyoming, there's still a partner relationships and those shared agreements between entities to maximize the value of all of them.

Speaker 6

Okay. All right. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from Tim Tesh. Please state your question.

Speaker 7

Hey, Mark.

Speaker 8

Question for you on product. Just there is a spectrum from ore, brine, concentrate to, can we say, higher purity. We're looking at parts per million of $550,000 to $2000,000 which indicates you have to really go through a lot of material. So the words I keep seeing in the press releases and so on concentrate and preprocessing. So can you tell us how that happens?

Speaker 8

Like we have mine waste, which seems to be in some kind of liquid slurry type of situation versus all these things. I realize it's a spectrum, I guess, just some clarification on how you see it.

Speaker 2

The lithium ores have about 6% concentrate DOE is parts per 1,000,000, and then they pre process and concentrate for us to get it to the 1% to 2% and we take it over from there. The black mass, LSP black mass has about a 3.5% lithium concentrate to it. The NMC black mass obviously has lithium, cobalt, manganese and

Speaker 5

nickel as well, in which nickel is 20%,

Speaker 2

cobalt about 4.5% and lithium at about 3%. And so each one of them have different concentrates and different percentages of concentrates. And mine waste is really, really hard. I mean, if Ramaco is worth $1,000,000,000 to get Rarest and parts per 1,000,000 at $500,000,000 that's phenomenal. I mean, that's great.

Speaker 2

I love that value. And I hope we I hope everybody gets that recognized value because we have higher parts per million than they do. But the it's hard to make money in coal waste when you're dealing in parts per million unless you can do byproduct economics and reduce your

Speaker 5

attraction cost. So we're not extracting it.

Speaker 2

We're starting to carbon and it's or from already extracting material and then concentrating that using our other technologies alongside Tech 2 Tech and Ohio University. But you have to look at the entire spectrum to see how do you design a process to actually make money on that. And we're that's what I mean, led by Jeff Peterson and Yi Ding, phenomenal guys that have been able to test all these products and then define the profitability of each one of these feedstocks for commercial enterprises for ourselves.

Speaker 7

Great. Thank you. That helps.

Speaker 2

Excellent. Thank you. Feel free to reach out if you ever got further questions on that.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from Michael Lary with TGI.

Speaker 4

Mark, thanks so much for filling us in on a bunch of moving parts that are going on. I know you guys must be doing a lot of work over there. I jumped off the WebEx and onto the conference call, so I could ask the question. So you may have already answered this, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Can you unpack the recent headlines about American Resources, Realness Technologies being approved and accepted by the member of the best industrial based consortium and what that represents to the Re Element Technologies as a whole?

Speaker 2

Yes. So we applied for it. We got accepted as part of the defense industrial base. We believe technology solves major problems for national security. You can work with the DOE or you can work with the DoD.

Speaker 2

We very much like working with the DoD. I have 2 brothers that are in the military. The military desperately needs the products that we can produce. What that enables us to do is have access to contracts and bid on contracts for supplying these critical materials to that supply chain. So it's a good membership.

Speaker 2

It puts us in with other customers. We're testing products for defense contractors as we speak, from that are any from high heat applications for zirconium or neobium and some of these other products that we've been testing for. And that puts us not only in conversations with the defense base, the national security, the DoD, but also the contractors and puts us in the visibility of showcasing what we really do and what we can do for them. And so that's it's

Speaker 5

good to be in the

Speaker 2

same room as them to be able to offer those solutions to them for what they need.

Operator

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll hand the floor back to management for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Well, one, thank you guys all for your great questions. Thank you guys for taking your time out of your day here on a Tuesday to listen to what we're doing. Please stay in touch, follow what we're doing on a daily basis. We, as a team, pride ourselves on being transparent and trying to maximize the transparency that we can offer our shareholders, but also create that value to unlock it for all the shareholders, including management, which are fully aligned with our shareholder base from an equity ownership position. We're super excited about where we're at.

Speaker 2

We're excited about the individual assets we own. We believe they need to be on a separated basis. We're putting our effort forth to accomplish that and to do it in a way that is creating liquidity for our investors as well. So we thank you all for your interest. Thank you for joining and excited about the future.

Speaker 7

Thank you.

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Earnings Conference Call
American Resources Q1 2024
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