Atlantic Lithium (LSE:ALL) — Investor Presentation

0:01 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the ATLANTIC LITHIUM Investor Presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and can be submitted at any time using the Q and A tab situated on the right hand side of your screen. Just simply type in your questions at any time and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during today's meeting. However, the company will review all questions submitted today, and we'll publish responses where it's appropriate to do so. Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll. And if you give that your kind attention, I'm sure the company would be most grateful. And I'd like to hand over

0:32 to chairman, Neil Herbert. Good morning, sir. Thank you very much, Mark. So many thanks to everybody for attending today. Really welcome that you're joining us. So I'm going to let Len take us through the presentation. But before I'm going to give you some opening thoughts, things for you to think about as you listen to the presentation. So the first is this, and I think it's very important, the space in which we are operating is obviously lithium. If you look at the outlook for lithium, it is very good indeed. Obviously, the movement to electric vehicles has fundamentally changed the demand pattern for it. And we just really can't produce enough of it quickly enough. So I always give a couple of estimates out there, one of which is some of you may have read a book called Vault Rush by Henry Sanderson, who's an ex Feet correspondent. He's estimating you need 72 new lithium mines in the next ten years.

1:19 And the other one I gave is Benchmark Minerals who are estimating that you need a a significant commodity analyst, and they're forecasting you need 59 new mines. And for all of you that know the industry, you'll realize it's very difficult and time consuming to bring new mines to production. So those of us who are already advanced in that process, obviously, are in a very strong position. So the second thing, and I'm sure this will come out as Len talks about it, we have a superb project in Awoyah. And of course, I would say that, but if you look at the comparables out there for African projects, you'll quickly realize that in terms of its the nature of the deposit, in terms of what we have, in terms of geology is just better than anything else that you can see out there at the moment. And in terms of the situation, the country that we operate in, Gauran Rocks, has a long mining tradition. We have fantastic infrastructure, roads, power, etcetera, and indeed a workforce. We're overwhelmingly a Ghanaian company who have worked for us, has a great deal of experience working in the mining industry.

2:16 So that in itself, I think, is very important. And the last thing I'm going to leave you with before I hand over to Len is the and some of you will see in the announcement this morning regarding appointing a new COO. So we're in the process now of moving away from the exploration stage, which Len has led

2:32 marvelously. He's it's his discovery. It's his project. He brought it forward. But it's now such a good project that we're taking it forward to production. You'll see that we put out the pre feasibility study with eye watering numbers, frankly, in terms of economics for the project. And indeed, it's a project which is not very difficult to take forward, and I think that will come out in the presentation as well. So we already have a mining license application in. So we hope by the end of next year, we're breaking ground on the project. And indeed, our plan is to be producing in 2024. And so with those opening comments, I'm gonna hand over to Len, and he'll take you through. Great. Thanks, very much, Neil, and welcome, everyone. Good morning, wherever you are in the world. I'd also just like to introduce Amanda, who you can see, she's joined us as well.

3:18 Amanda Hassas is finance director, and, we'll now go through our slides.

3:25 So just a a cautionary statement. I won't dwell on that. So before I get into all of the detail, this is just a snapshot of everything about, Atlantic lithium. So we're all here, and we're we're focusing in developing the Awuya, lithium discovery. It's currently a 30,100,000 ton resource at 1.26% lithium oxide. It's a spodumene dominant pegmatite, and it's very coarse grained and high grade with low contaminants. So very easy to process at the mine site. So as a result of that and our proximity to operational infrastructure, we've got exceptional prefeasibility study economic metrics, which you can see there. We'll get into more detail on that.

4:16 And, obviously, we've got our partner, Piedmont, who's, helping us fund this project. There's significant exploration upside. We've only really drilled within a 13 square kilometer of a total 560 square kilometer portfolio in Ghana and an additional 700 plus square kilometer, applications in Ivory Coast. Strong cash position. And, yeah, we'll get into the details of the project. And, obviously, it's very important ESG. So the the most critical aspect is our team is a 100% Ghanaian by one expat active in in Ghana currently. But, obviously, we pride ourselves on our our Ghanaian team that's helped this project right through from discovery through to scoping and now the PFS that we've just put out and as we move into the DFS in the next stage.

5:16 So just a quick corporate snapshot. You can see healthy cash balance there and our our top 20 shareholders here. So importantly, Asor International Holdings, they're a South African or private South African iron ore ferrochrome and manganese miner. They've backed the company since it IPO ed, since the former MD and CEO Vincent Mascolo IPO ed the company in 2014, and they've continued to maintain their shareholding throughout the history of the company when it reinvented itself,

5:51 to a from an iron ore explorer to a a multi commodity gold and lithium explorer in West Africa to then making the Awuya discovery and now a developer of the Awuya project. DGR have been there also since IPO, the electrification and decarbonization decarbonization fund with now just over 3%.

6:33 So board of management. Well, myself, I'm a geologist. I've been with the company since 2015 and made the discovery in Ghana with my team and continue to derisk the project. I've only really worked in Africa and, in particular, West Africa since I started my career with Rio Tinto in '96. I spent four years at North Park's copper gold mine here in Australia, and I now live in Brisbane. We've also got Amanda. Amanda joined us as our company secretary and CFO, and most recently stepped up onto the board as finance director. And we've also got Stu Crow as our nonexec director. He's also been with the company since it IPO ed. And our two nominees from Asur Mining in South Africa, so that's Kieran and Christel.

7:29 The key guys key team in Ghana is headed by Ewan. He's our exploration manager. And Abdul Razak, who's our principal geologist there. So just touching on the Piedmont Piedmont investments. So that's a 103, million US, investment. Stage one is complete, where they've invested into the the holding company. So that's ATLANTIC LIMITED, and that's got them there just under 10% shareholding. And we're currently in stage two where they're funding us through studies. Once they've completed that, they then have a right to 22 and a half percent at the asset level and the right to continue to stage three. At stage three, once they funded $70,000,000 of the CapEx to build the project, they then would have earned up to 50% at the asset level and have a right to 50% of the offtake at market rates.

8:28 ATLANTIC maintains control throughout that process, so through studies and operating mine.

8:39 I'll just let Amanda talk on this slide. Thanks, everyone. So what I wanna do is just take quickly through what's happened since we've listed on the ASX. So at the time that we we listed, we envisaged about 30% of our company register will be held in Australia. At the moment, we're sitting at 24% of our total shares are sitting on the Australian register. Since the listing went through, we've had 35,000,000 shares come across and that represents about 6% of the DI register that's come across to Australia. And we know that there's a number of significant holders that are still in the process of moving probably around 34,000,000 shares across. You'll all understand the current nominee system and the brokers in The UK.

9:34 Some brokers are kind of harder and the nominees are harder to move the shares back, but we're working with those people and the brokers involved to kinda get their shares into Australia. Most of these are Australian holders that have held for a long time. So if I just take you quickly through the top holders list that I've put in for the first time. So what we have here is kind of mostly nominees. So they're the shares that are sitting the DI register in The UK. Piedmont Lithium is in Australia now and there's a number of other holders on there that are actually Australian holders. What I wanted to kind of explain to everyone, I know there's a lot of questions around DGR and where their shares are and if they're selling or not selling.

10:20 So it's very difficult to determine that, and I can't really give definitive answers because their shares are held across three different nominee accounts, including Pershing, Vindicus, and the one that's lower down. But what I do do is we get a register every month of beneficial ownership of the shares right across the company and I load that information up into the website every month that I get it. So just to give everyone kind of a heads up that you can look at the website anytime and see what the current shareholdings are that I know about. Okay, Len. Over to you. Great. Thanks, Amanda. Okay. So we all know why we're here. Lithium, the outlook and the macro thematic around lithium is exceptional, and that's really driven by primarily EV demand and decarbonization generally in stored energy space.

11:17 Most importantly, from my perspective is around the s e six pricing. So in our our recent prefeasibility study, we used a a life of mine annualized average of just under 1,360 US dollars per ton. And most recently, you would have seen Pilbara's BMX sell in spot over $8,000 a ton. So exceptional pricing at the moment, and that's really driven by that supply demand difference currently. I won't dwell on here, but, yeah, this is important for us. So our vision is to deliver a sustainable lithium supply with a positive social impact in Ghana, in particular, to support the global transition to a carbon neutral future.

12:14 So the Awuya pegmatite discovery. So this was made in 2018. And since then, we've drilled in excess of a 140,000 meters, and that's delivered multiple resources. And the the most current resource is at 30,100,000 tons at 1.26. Now importantly, over 20,000,000 tons of that resource is indicated. And most recently in the PFS, we delivered our maiden reserve. So you can see exceptional

12:52 resource to reserve conversion there. So over 90% of our indicated resources have conserve have converted to a a reserve, which is really very good, and that really indicates the strong continuity of mineralization and the the fundamentals that deliver the project economics that is a project. Now I just have to correct myself because that that current resource of 30,100,000 tons is based on roughly 90,000 meters of drilling. And in March this year, we commenced a 37,000 meter drilling program, which then grew to 47,000 meters, and we just completed that last week. And so that will all feed into a resource upgrade, which we're targeting for the end of this year. You would have seen some results that we released from there.

13:47 And so I'll move on to the next slide. So this is our portfolio. The map above here in gray, that's the coast of, West Africa and blue, the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf Of Guinea. To the right is the Ghanaian portfolio with the capital Accra, and to left is the Ivory Coast portfolio with the capital Abidjan. And then you can see that zooms out to the map below, which is a geological map background, the pink granitoids, which is especially associated with the pegmatites. And the light blue again, that's the Gulf Of Guinea. So you can see our 560 square kilometer portfolio in Ghana in the bottom map there and where we've made the Awia discovery circled.

14:35 Now that's, a 100 kilometers from the capital of Accra, along the N 1 Takoradi Highway. And importantly, the deposit footprint is a 110 kilometers to the operating deep sea port of Takoradi. Now the photo on the left there, that's an aerial view of the Takoradi Port. It's a dedicated minerals handling port with ship loading facilities in place and excess capacity. So they're currently exporting, manganese and bauxite out of that port.

15:11 This is what the mineralization looks like. So the photo on the left, that's our coarse grained pegmatite in outcrop, our p one type pegmatites. And on the right, what it looks like in drill core. And the two cross sections in the middle, they're typical cross sections through the main deposits. And you can see the mineralization, which is in pink. That's the pegmatite. It comes to surface. It's up to a 100 meters wide at surface and then pinches down to roughly a

15:42 30 meter plus wide dyke, pegmatite dyke, which is open at depth. The resource is currently modeled to a minus one ninety meter RL, so that's roughly 210 meters below surface, and mineralization is open at depth and a long strike. So most of our mineralization is this coarse grained p one, which you can see in the photos here. So that represents 80% of the resource, with the remaining 20% of the resource, p two type mineralization, which occurs occurs on the on the the hanging wall and football context is like a a chilled marginal or cooling brine to the pegmatite.

16:32 Now that that's important because we we've completed a lot of metallurgical test work. We tested just on half a ton of drill core for the scoping study. We then repeated that work for the prefeasibility study that is 1.7 tons of drill cores. So large sample sets, and you can see here each of these graphs represents one composite of that 1.7 tons of material. So 64 composites across the deposit footprint. So good variability sampling across the deposit, good representation of the mineralization we expect to feed into that plant. And we've consistently demonstrated that we can produce a saleable spodumene concentrate at 6% lithium oxide through a coarse 10 millimeter crush, through a gravity only process flow sheets with recoveries up to 90%, but averaging 70 in the coarse p one mineralization,

17:34 which are those bar graphs in blue, and lower at around 50% in the p two, the finer grain mineralization in the bar graphs in green. Now importantly, that concentrate is very low in contaminants, so it's low in iron, low in combined sodium potassium, and that makes it very favorable for off takers. So the lower that is, the better. And in our case, we're consistent consistently below that 1% f e two zero three. And this is achieved through just a gravity only process flow sheet. We don't need to go to flotation, and what that means is low capital intensity and low operating costs.

18:20 And that's really translates through the the the economic studies that we did in our prefeasibility study and the very robust

18:31 economic metrics that came out of that. We've also successfully converted our spodumene concentrate to lithium lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide battery grade through ANSTO here in Australia and Sydney. And, we've also demonstrated that we're able to produce byproducts or credits, through, DSO fines. So that's, the fine material that comes out of the primary crush phase, which you would otherwise lose,

19:03 and and felt spar concentrate. So felt spars used in the ceramics industries. So those by products were included in the in the financial model, which we'll we'll come on to in the next few slides.

19:18 So as with any mining project, logistics is key, and our deposit is within a kilometer of the Takaradi Highway, you can see on the top left there, and a 110 kilometers to the operating deep sea port of Takaradi. And we've got grid power that runs over the deposit footprint, which is fed by the Akasombo Hydro Dam in Ghana. So low cost energy, green energy, and exceptionally close to operational infrastructure, so low carbon footprint overall. So a very well located project and arguably one of the best located projects or hard rock lithium pegmatite projects out there.

20:07 So in terms of exploration upside, drilling to date has delivered a a 30,100,000 ton resource. That's all focused within roughly a 13 square kilometer area around the pegmatite, which is here circled in in yellow. Now through our exploration programs, which are very systematic, we've identified a lot of targets to the north of us, which we've drilled as part of this 47,000 meter program. And that has delivered some, you know, really good pegmatite hits at the grass cutter north target, which we've announced, earlier this month, including hits over 20 meters of, 1% plus material.

20:56 So we we'll continue to add tons to the resource, and, the drilling that we've just completed, will certainly be able to deliver, additional tons to our resource. So here you can see some of the the hits, the drilling intersects that have we've announced to date. So we've drilled 40 an additional 47,000 meters over and above where the current resource sits, and we've announced approximately approximately 15,000 meters of results to date with the assays results ongoing. In there, we've reported multiple hits outside of the current resource such as 69 meters at 1.34%, 67 at 1.2, 59 at 1.07.

21:46 And these all occur within the or just below the Awuya main deposits in this area here. So these will all be pulled into the the pit optimization likely, going into the next phase of studies. Plus, we've reported a lot of hits within the, current resource. So the drilling program, was designed basically to increase the confidence in a current resource. So roughly two thirds of the meterage was targeting conversion of inferred to indicated material as well as converting approx the first two years approximately of mine life from indicated to measured.

22:28 And then third of that drilling was assigned to exploration or resource growth outside of the current resource footprint. So you can see here, some of the hits, within the resource. So this is, the section on the right. This is over the Awuya main deposit where it's roughly a 100 meters wide at surface. And you can see there on that close paced grid of 20 by 20 meters to deliver measured resources and ultimately proven reserves once we've put it through the studies that we've had some really strong hits, 84 meters at 1.63, 89 meters at 1.52, 90 meters at 1.48, 77 at 1.5. So very high grade, good continuity of mineralization, this all proves our initial concepts of focusing on this area as the initial starter pit for the the future mine.

23:27 So all of this drilling will be reported throughout the remainder of this year, and, ultimately, that will feed into a resource upgrade, which we're targeting for the end of this year. Now outside of that mine corridor or the Awuya target area, we've got our remaining 560 square kilometer portfolio.

23:50 And you can see directly around the Awuya area on the left of the that map there and the Cape Coast license currently. We we run a very systematic exploration approach, which has proven to be effective and delivered mineralization, and that consists of high resolution hemimagnetics primarily radiometrics, which is flown at 25 meter terrain clearance, and 50 meter line spacing. And in addition to that, we, do 100 by 100 meter grid soils.

24:27 And that basically is used to define geophysical and geochemical anomalies. We we generate heat maps, which is what we're looking at here, and we follow those up on the ground with mapping and then systematic auger drilling. Now outside of the the current Awuya deposit, there's also the historic Edgesemanker Hill prospect. This was actually drilled by the British Geological Survey in the early sixties, and they did a a back of the envelope deposit of one and a half million tons at 1.66. It's non joke, but they're proven spodumene bearing pegmatites there. You can walk over them and you see outcropping spodumene.

25:11 That license area is currently pending grants. So at this stage, all of our work is focused primarily around the pegmatite field and exploration targets that, will directly feed into the the future mine operation.

25:29 So ESG is critical to us. As I said earlier, our Ghanaian our team in Ghana, we only employ one expat there, and all the rest of the team primarily come from the communities around the deposit footprint. They all go home at the end of their day's work back to their families. And as a result, we're very well ingrained and part of the community where we operate. So we got a very strong relationship with our community, and they're our voice, which is exceptionally important in Ghana and in Africa and anywhere in the world really where you operate. So getting that right from the beginning at early exploration is critical, and we've continued to foster that approach, by focusing our employment on Ghanaian only, training our teams, and employing locally where we can.

26:20 Now, in addition to the social aspects of ESG, obviously, from a technical point of view,

26:28 the the short trucking distance, the simple low power consumption, low water consumption process flow sheet design, the hydroelectric power, input, really means that this project has a a small carbon footprint compared to our peers. So so we we really do believe we we tick those ESG boxes around the project. So all of those key fundamentals, so the simple geology, simple mineralogy, so spodumene only dominant mineralization, proximity to operational infrastructure, DMS only process flow sheet, no need to go to flotation. All of this means that we delivered an exceptional prefeasibility study with really strong economics.

27:20 So you can see on the left there, based on our current resource of 30,100,000 tonnes and a 2,000,000 tonne per annum ROM throughput, We're basically generating an NPV eight post tax of over 1,300,000,000, internal rate of return of 224%.

27:42 CapEx is sitting at a 125,000,000, and that gets paid back within 20. And this is over a 12.5 year mine life. Very low, life of mine OpEx, FOB Ghana, just over, 200 and, $70 a ton, and, EBITDAs of, just under $250,000,000 per annum. So you can see that's an exceptionally strong project, and financially, you know, it's it's rare in my view. I've never been involved in projects where you're seeing these kinds of financial metrics. So I spoke earlier about, you know, what what we're generating in the credits. So, basically, the the project will be generating or focuses on a spodumene concentrate, s e six, and we produce 255,000 tons per annum.

28:42 And in addition to that, we generate DSO fines from the plants. Those are the crusher fines, and there's currently a market for that material as well as feldspar credits, which go into into ceramics, and there's a market for that material. So they've been included in the study, test work on our products demonstrates that they're, you know, highly desirable within the markets. And currently, within our projects, only 50% of our offtake is committed to Piedmont,

29:15 with 50% of the offtake or of our production uncommitted. So now that we've delivered our PFS, we can start focusing on, what we do around our offtake and how we structure, potential offtake agreements that can maximize, you know, shareholder returns. Another opportunity that we've spoken about is the potential for DSO pegmatite sales. This is in situ DSO pegmatite. So it's basically the raw pegmatite unprocessed. So there's you would have seen recently with CORE LITHIUM, they, have been have recently sold into the market, DSO in situ pegmatite. So it's not processed.

30:04 It's drill, blast, truck ship, at $950 a ton. So this is something that we may consider or we will look at going into the next stage of studies.

30:15 And it will allow us potentially to look at options around that fine grained p two pegmatite. So rather than stockpiling it and processing at end of mine life due to that lower recovery, potentially look at DSO pegmatite cells at early mine life.

30:36 So, yeah, this is our our growth story from our maiden resource and resource growth up to 30,100,000 tons in a very strong pro mining jurisdiction of Ghana. So they've got a hundred year mining history. A lot of their gold mines have now moved underground. There's

30:58 there are three, universities that teach across the mining sector in Ghana. So it's very well established, stable jurisdiction, pro mining jurisdiction with all the skills required to build and operate this mine primarily within Ghana. The project has very strong ESG credentials, and the project economics, you know, are pretty fantastic, to say the least. And and really from here, our main focus now is a resource upgrade, which we're targeting for the end of this year. That will then feed into d DFS targeted for mid twenty twenty three.

31:46 We you would have seen that we recently submitted our mining license a couple of weeks ago. So that all going well is at a twelve month timeline, but, obviously, it's dependent on the processes in Ghana. The most recent mining license to be granted was for a gold project in the North Of Ghana, which was an eighteen month timeline, but that was a 4,000,000 ton per annum throughput life of mine grinding of the gold and huge tailing storage facilities, which we we don't really contemplate or we we we have a very small tailing storage facility in our project, and their project required the relocation of two villages. So that was an eighteen month timeline.

32:35 So we're we're we're hopeful and confident that we can get get our permits through within that twelve month timeline. And on grant of the ML, that will then allow us to be in production with production started or targeted for in 2024.

32:57 Yes. So I think that's it from me, and I'll hand it back to Neil. That's great. Thank you very much indeed, Len. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions using the Q and A tab situated on the right hand corner of your screen. But just while the company take a few moments to review your questions, I'd like to remind you that recording of this presentation along with a copy of the slides and the published Q and A can be accessed via your Investor Meet company dashboard. Neil, Len, Amanda, I'm just going to bring back up your cameras for the Q and A. As you can see, Neil, we've received considerable amount of questions throughout your presentation today, along with a number of pre submitted questions. So if I may just hand back you to host the host the q and a, and then maybe if I may pick up from you at the end, that'd be great. Thank you. Could I just just to remind you just to read out the questions as well? Thank you. Okay. I will I'll work through the questions as quickly as we can, but try and address them more properly.

33:51 So the first question are, are there plans to further strengthen the excellent board of directors that we're already blessed with?

34:00 I think I can answer that one, and and the answer is that we are very much in the process of transforming the company. As I said at the beginning, obviously, we've had, full credit to the team, a very successful exploration discovery and development. We now need to move through the development phase and the mining phase. And so you will see a continual transformation of the of the both executive team and the directors over the next two years. So the first of those was actually announced this morning. So that seems to be quite convenient. We're appointing a COO. So we're bringing in a chap called Keith Muller. So Keith, a very impressive individual. We're very lucky to have him. He's been running the Mt Cattlin mine in Australia, deeply experienced in lithium. I'm very impressed with him, and I think he's going to have a big impact on the company. But yes, you can expect to see further additions to the Board and executive team as we move forward.

34:54 Next question. How involved have Piedmont and ASOR been in planning the PFSDFS?

34:59 Do you expect these relationships to evolve as you move into the construction phase?

35:04 What I can say is that they we have a technical committee in which both Piedmont and ASOR, if you like, on our side of that because they form part of our team, work together. And so adding a lot of value to the project, we really appreciate what they've been doing. And indeed, you know, we expect them to play a major role in how we move forward. However, we have the operatorship of the project, so it's down to us for, obviously, with our executive team to take the project forward.

35:32 How confident are you of meeting the planned time line to production? What are the key risks in this regard? And how do you plan to mitigate them, e. G, license availability of long lead items, etcetera? A very good question and a very relevant one. I mean, I'll make a comment, but I'm going hand over to Linn. I think the key advantage of this project is its simplicity. And I keep mentioning this. I've worked in the industry for twenty five years, and I don't think I've ever seen such a simple project as this one. So we think from a licensing perspective, while obviously these are important hurdles for the company to work through and there are standards we have to achieve, I do feel that we're in a a very good situation. What would you like to add to that, Lit? Yeah. Look, I agree with your comments there, Neil. I'll just add to that.

36:17 Yeah. Obviously, the the permitting timeline is is critical for us, and that's something that we were very cognizant of and how we we really push to deliver our PFS within the time frame that we stated we do we did so that we were able to submit our mining license application. So, yeah, I've gone through the ML process, and I'm I'm I'm confident or I'm very hopeful that we can achieve that timeline. And we are discussing within the team and our JV partners and major shareholders strategies around long lead items. Okay. Thank you. So where were we? I am concerned about the time and geographical distance between the Australian management team and the in country day to day operations.

37:12 Will members of the management team be relocating to and on the ground to control the project deliverables and costs? Do you think you have an experienced team with a strong enough background in project delivery in West Africa? Very pertinent question. So as I've already said, we are in the process of transforming the team. So I think there's there's a couple of sides to that. That's the senior level management and, obviously, the the addition of of Keith Muller today are a very important addition. We're in the process of filling out the project team as we go now. So we've been interviewing people, and you'll see more news on that front as we go through coming weeks and months. In In terms of the different the time difference, obviously, there's a team on the ground, and we also have the corporate management side. I mean, I will say that while we haven't formally agreed this yet, we are looking to move the administration of the company in Australia to the West Coast. So it brings us nearer to the timeline of West Africa. So we do have an overlap because and I and I appreciate everybody on this call, and particularly Amanda and Len there and indeed myself.

38:14 We have our management meetings at ten and 11PM at night, my time, which is which is hard on us all. So we really do want to see if we can bring one side to increase the team in country, but also to have a corporate management that's able to interact more on the timeline of those in West Africa. Len, have you any further comments on that? Yeah. Look, I I'll just add to that. So with with the PFS delivered and the team that was behind that, that's a team with very deep and ingrained West African experience. As I said also myself, I've since I started work in in my career in '96, I've predominantly worked in West Africa, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Gabon, to name a few.

39:04 But importantly, our study team has lived and worked in West Africa, and our team going forward into this next phase of studies has lived and worked in West Africa and delivered project builds in West Africa. So, yeah, I think we've definitely got the expertise and the experience there. Plus through our drilling campaigns, as an example, we had our largest and most successful, drilling program through the peak of the COVID pandemic, and that was all managed with our team. Well, well, they're just it's a very small team here in Australia. But with direct consultation with our teams in in Ghana, we are we are able to deliver our our largest meterage and most, you know, efficient and tonnage adding drilling program through the peak of a global pandemic.

40:00 Thank you, Len. Yeah. I must say I'm I'm very impressed by our team. I'm I'm really looking forward to being back down with the team again next month and see how they're getting on. Okay. So next question is a money question. So I think this one's for Amanda. Lucky you, Amanda. Has Piedmont's contribution being received already? Does the company have the funds in place to complete the DFS? Are any additional expenditures anticipated for the DFS? Thank you. So I'll just it's probably a misunderstanding, but Piedmont have basically been funding the project since we signed the agreement on the first of July last year. So you'll see from if you have a look at our annual financial statements you'll see that effectively the assets come in and we've received a funding amount from Piedmont for the total amount that we've spent on Awuahya and basically any exploration spend in country.

40:57 So yes, we've received the Piedmont contributions. We receive them every month. We send effectively a cash call and a few days later Piedmont give us the money for that monthly expenditure. Does the company have funds in place to complete the DFS? Absolutely. We have $16,000,000 dollars in the bank so we definitely, you with the timeline up till June next year we have funds to complete the DFS if there's any additional expenditures that are required. And there's probably there's likely will be, but we have more than enough cash in hand. Okay. Thank you. So the next question is on a theme. How is the company planning to minimize shareholder dilution when raising the additional $27,500,000 needed to build the mine? Remember, ATLANTIC only pays half.

41:48 Will it be possible to fund this through debt or a strategic offtake agreement? So I'll chip in on that one. So this this in terms of additional funds that we may need, and we do have to remember this is pretty modest against future cash flows here. But there's a couple of ways that we'll address any additional money that we'll need, and it really isn't that much as Amanda has set out. The first one is, yes, you're absolutely right. I mean, we could fund this through offtake agreement. We have half the offtake available to us, and people are clamoring for the offtake terms. You'll have seen other projects getting out there are very favorable. But the other one is that we also have, and we mentioned this earlier in the year, the sovereign wealth fund of Ghana has been talking to us.

42:34 If they would like to invest, we think it would be very wise to have them on board, to have that local participation from Ghana. We think that's very helpful to us. So if they would like to invest, there may be some more money coming from them. But you're absolutely right. We we could potentially fund the whole thing such as there is, which is not that much money to take this thing to production through an offtake agreement. And we've been having those discussions, and and actually, we've been inundated with inquiry, which we are trying very hard to manage at the moment to get the best outcome. So you should see some news on that in the first half of next year. Okay. Can the company provide any further details and discussions with potential offtake partners? Well, we sort of just address that. The reality is that really there are a lot of people who have approached us for that offtake.

43:24 And what we're really trying to do is make sure that we get the best term possible. So we have some advisers that we're working with. I don't think I would love to mention the names of any of the potential uptake partners because they get upset about that, but there are many. Okay. How have our discussions with MIMIT progressing? Very well. So we will be down in country with them shortly and having discussions with them. We've always taken the view, obviously, being a sovereign wealth fund, they have their internal processes that they have to work through. And we really left it to them on their timeline and just ask their questions when they come through. So yes, we'll be seeing them in a couple of weeks, and we'll see where they are. Does the company have any plans for further drilling to expand the resource at Dubuya and more fully explore the rest of the license areas in Ghana? This is successful, how soon might we see plans to develop for second phase development to increase production?

44:21 I'm going to have a quick stab at that, and I'm going to let Len answer. I think the reality is that as Len set out, we did 47,000 meters, and we have results for, I think, less than a third of that so far. And those assay results will be coming up in batches for the rest of the year at the end of which we'll be doing a new resource update. Beyond that, I would say, is you're getting to the point where the resource is big enough to sustain a higher level of production. So that's something we'll obviously be looking at. And the obvious thing would be to do 50% more, I think. But, you know, I'm not going to try and say that today. But I think it's the obvious one for us to look at, and it's not an enormous increase in CapEx. It's something increase the CapEx 50%, we don't think. So those are the things we will be looking at. Optimizing the project over the next nine months is a key part of the process we're undertaking at the moment. So, Leland, any additional comments?

45:16 Yeah. Look, I I think that's correct. There's the exploration around the the resource footprint that we were just talking about and that drilling that we've just completed. So 47,000 meters, roughly a third of that is towards exploration growth. So we should see a resource upgrade in both in scale and confidence level. And that will be close potentially to the tipping point of looking at higher throughputs. So we're currently, basing the project on 2,000,000 ton per annum throughput. But there is potential to push that higher to two and a half or three. So that's something we we we would look at going into the next phase of studies. However, more regional exploration is also critical as well. So that's carries on in parallel with the mind studies and mind build going into mind build.

46:08 And we have, you know, as I mentioned earlier, very systematic exploration approach where we've recently flown high resolution, heavy borne radiometrics over the Cape Coast license, and we've completed 100 by 100 meter grid soils over that whole Cape Coast license. And all of that data is getting processed now. That will define additional targets, and then we follow those up with the the man portable augers and mapping ahead of drilling with RC. So, yeah, the the the exploration and building that exploration pipeline both within the Ouya pegmatite field and the broader license area is an ongoing process that happens in parallel with the mine build. Excellent. I mean, think it's I mean, we talk internally that we we think there's an exploration target there of 60,000,000 tons, which in time might come to fruition, but we're not waiting for that. We obviously want to get to production and take advantage of these high lithium prices.

47:09 Another one for you then here. So this is there is quite rightly a strongly environmental governance culture in Ghana. Can you please confirm what steps you've taken to ensure the project minimizes disruption disruption to the local community and regional environment? Yes. So this is critical. And Ghana with a very long mining history has a a very strong environmental governance culture. And so, obviously, that's permeated through our design from the very early days. We were cognizant of that and aware of that. And so anywhere where we can within this project, which has a very small operational footprint in the first place, and it's a very simple process flow sheet with, yeah, no no chemicals.

47:58 It's a simple crush. It's got a very small footprint tailings facility and in a waste materials because you don't have sulfide like you would, for example, in a in a gold mine. And so overall, lithium pegmatite projects, and in particular, DMS, pegmatite projects, so where you don't need to go to flotation, you're not producing huge volumes of tailings, mean that you have a very small footprint and it's very manageable, and that's all incorporated in the design around our project footprint. So for us, there's no need to relocate any towns or villages. And in terms of grand use around the project, small scale subsistence farming, and in particular, charcoal production, so slash and burn.

48:56 And it's also important to note that the the the the project has has, focused on guiding principles. So in terms of our our our project design and process flow sheet design and, the building of the project going forward. We're adhering to the equator principles, the International Finance Corporation performance standards, the World Bank environmental health and safety guidelines, and the International Labor Organization conventions, are some of the, you know, the international outlook, standards that we're we're building this project to. So it's very important to us, and it's, it's certainly included in the design philosophy for this project and also the way we operate in Ghana.

49:51 Thank you, Len. So next question. If the mining license was to be issued prior or near to the same time as the DFS, could mine build stop straight away to maximize lithium price opportunity? And I'm to say straight up that that's very much our intent that as soon as that we have the license that we are able to proceed and move forward with we're taking breaking ground on the project and taking it to production. So a lot of the work that's going on at the moment in terms of the project planning takes us to that point. If everything falls into place as planned, could we expect dividends 2025 and following? Obviously, we would love to be paying dividends. Clearly, there is very significant cash flows generated.

50:40 Obviously, we have some ongoing costs and what have you, but I'm going to go with a yes. On a provisional basis. We would want to see dividends being paid to shareholders and be a cash flow operation as soon as possible. That's very much our purpose here. Early in 2022, we were told that we had received multiple third party inquiries that would be assessed, renewed by the comp reviewed by the company. Are these multiple inquiries still being reviewed? Or indeed, has the process now completed? Are inquiries continuing to be received as our resources grow and now that our PFS has been released? Now what I've said about this in the past, and I'll repeat, we did actually have we did a preliminary analysis. We got a lot of interest from parties. Unsurprisingly, a lot of them were Chinese.

51:27 And we discussed that with some of our major shareholders, some very big shareholders such as Assor and Piedmont about where we were with the company. There was a very strong view, particularly from Assor who are mining house, you know, understanding the mining industry very well, that there was a lot more value that could be achieved, try taking the project to production. And so we continue to take that to production. Yes, we continue to receive inquiries. Obviously, is a very hot space indeed and this is a very good project. So people continually come to us. But we believe we can get a lot more value out of the project by taking you through the hurdles to production. That's not to say that if there was not a knockout bid here that we wouldn't recommend it to shareholders if the circumstances were right. But we think the real answer at the moment is to power through, take this production, optimize the project. There's a lot more value that can be extracted from the project than is apparent in our pre feasibility study as it stands today.

52:24 Can you give an update on exploration activities and planned next steps in Cote D'Ivoire? Len, do you want fill that one? Yes. So sure. We're we're still waiting for our licenses in in Cote D'Ivoire to be granted. So that's first and foremost. But then, obviously, once they are granted, we basically use a cookie cutter approach, similar geology, similar weathering, similar terrain as per Ghana. So apply that same exploration rationale, assess the potential of regional heavy borne radiometrics. If that's confirmed, then fly that complete grid soils. And then on the base of that, define coincident geochemical and geophysical targets in conjunction with old, you know, good old fashioned boots on the ground mapping, which is, you know, critical, with pegmatites in this weathering train.

53:19 So, yeah, just similar approach, and waiting for those licenses to be granted. K. Thanks, Len. And here's the the barge question, Len. Something we looked at before. Maybe you'd like to fill this one. Have you considered the transportation by sea? Sorry. Please go ahead. Yeah. No. We we have looked at this, actually, in the early scoping study and then did a refresh. So what is the potential like to rather than truck concentrate down the Takaradi Highway? Is it possible to transship or barge concentrate from from closer to the deposit footprint so that the deposit itself as a crow flies is four kilometers from the Atlantic Seaboard to then load it onto barges and then transship or barge it to the Port Of Takaradi. So we have done a study on this.

54:13 Our last refresh, it was still, you know, from a cost perspective, prohibitively expensive around cattle cost in terms of building a pier and a breakwater in an area where you can physically load those barges because of the the seaboard of Ghana is exposed and you you don't have natural harbor or or still water terrains around headlands. And if those headlands are there, they're obviously used heavily for local fishing communities and fleets there. So, obviously, it's a trade off between the capital costs and what the the savings are from a trans shipping operation versus trucking operation down the Takaradi Highway around potential congestion or impacts to communities along that road.

55:15 So there are currently, manganese and bauxite trucking operations down the roads in Ghana. The volumes that we're looking at trucking are significantly smaller, but it is part of the permitting process that we go through a a TIA, a traffic impact assessment, and that's part of our EPA process. So, yeah, we'll continue to look at this option, but currently, the the project's designed around a a trucking option to the Port Of Takarani. Thank you, Len. Next one is more a comment rather than a question. It is, thank you for all your hard work. You've done an amazing job to deliver so much in what has been an incredibly difficult period for the industry and the company. I know I speak for many when I say that we are eternally grateful for everything Vincent did for the company and everything you have all done and continue to do to honor his legacy.

56:09 I thank you for that comment. Obviously, Vincent was very close to all of us. We're working for the company because of him. But, you know, we we are honoring his legacy by taking this project forward. And I, no doubt, can be very proud of us all to see a mining license application go in recently and and see that we're taking the project forward to something bigger and better. So thank you very much for your comment. Next comment, Ashley, I think this is probably a good one for you, Amanda, to talk about how the Piedmont contract works. So on delivery of the DFS, how long do Piedmont have to elect to construct? Look, it's, you know, obviously, contracts, you know, are very much like, you know, a process in terms of steps. In reality, it's not as linear as that and we're kind of in constant discussions around how we proceed. We're obviously gonna be starting to fund CapEx resume in terms of getting long lead items and the process around procurement and different parts of the project.

57:11 So effectively, this is a kind of mixed bag and so we're, you know, at the moment, we're continuing forward and the election will be pretty much straight after that we've done, you know, lodged the DFS. Piedmont will get the 22.5% and we'll already be proceeding through to construction. Thank you very much. So here's one. People holding me to my words. I'll be careful what I say. Can you confirm that you'll be publishing a DFS for the WAYER lithium project? Believe our chairman said that, ATLANTIC will not need to do a PFS in recent interviewed as ATLANTIC is funded. I think my, you know, my comment here was really on the basis that normally you do a full DFS as part of your funding.

58:02 In this case, because we are funded, we don't actually require to do a DFS. But I'm gonna hand over to Len to talk about what we are doing rather than than my nontechnical comments here. Go on, Len. Yeah. Well, so the the focus is to deliver our resource upgrade and in particular, you know, the increase in confidence around indicated and measured in that larger resource. And that will all feed in a into a a study update, which is targeted for mid next year at a higher level of cost estimation. So the PFS was based on plus minus 20%, and this will come in below that. So, yeah, we're we're working towards that and putting the team in place as well as with the the recent appointment of Keith Muller as COO, building a team around operational readiness because of that that timeline that we're looking at to get into production.

59:06 Okay. Thank you. I think another one for you, Amanda, on the, the Piedmont deal. At what stage do ATLANTIC and Piedmont form a joint venture? So that's actually when the plant is built. We actually form an official joint venture when Piedmont get their remaining 50% of the asset. So I think it's good to understand that Pitman are buying into the asset through our intermediary Singapore entities and they will effectively have fiftyfifty of our Ghanaian assets through that process. When we talk about the offtake have P1 have the available 50% of our offtake but that is a offtake agreement with the entities itself. So if you can imagine the prices that are out of market at the moment for take even having 50% of the off take already taken and our costs at $278 ton, we will still be making significant money from 50% sale of product even before we took out 50% through.

1:00:18 Okay. Thank you. We have a question from Nick. Will the DFS maintain a 2,000,000 tonnes per annum DMS processing facility? Is an opportunity to increase this number and therefore the annual production of lithium spodumene. Or are you focused on just extending the mine life? Well, we're in the business of optimizing, but I'm gonna let Len answer. Go on. Yeah. And so we're we're looking at we wanna achieve both, basically, to to grow that resource as big as we can, through growth around the margins of the resource, but also exploration growth outside the footprint of that resource. And if that sustains a larger throughput, and as I said earlier, we're at that tipping point now, then to look at those larger throughputs.

1:01:08 So going from a two to two and a half or two to three. Obviously, you need to to weigh that up against the the capital cost considerations. So the increased CapEx around a larger primary crushing facility, The downstream part of it are either the cyclones, which is the DMS or gravity processing, part of it to separate the spodumene ad. They're modular, and you just tag them on, but you need to design your primary crusher around that throughput. Other things we may look at is the the primary crushing solution that we currently have, which is a c one thirty. They're kind of an off the shelf crushing unit, is to then if you do look at larger throughputs in that that crushing unit's designed for 2,000,000 tons per annum, but it can be pushed higher to two, two and a half.

1:01:58 The other thing to look at is is contract crushing on the side, rather than the additional capital cost of a of a larger 3,000,000 tonne per annum throughput. So there are a lot of different options to look at here, and it really depends on where the resource scale falls post the resource upgrade. Okay. Thank you. Roger's asking, on the applications in Ivory Coast, how long do you expect until we get a response on the applications? I mean, I think it's fair to say that, yes, we think they're very interesting areas, and we we do want to work on them. We haven't been pushing that hard simply because at this point in time, to be frank, the warrior area is obviously much larger than the existing resource. And so we have a great deal more that we can do in that area. Obviously, that is our primary focus, and we would like to continue to add more resource there than anywhere else at this point in time. But they're not forgotten, we will certainly continue to pursue them.

1:02:56 Another one on DFS and my foolish comments from David. Development timelines normally have a DFS like instrument as a key successor to achieving FID. DFS is also usefully useful in to provide more detailed transparency and confidence for investors in the project complexity and timelines. Additionally, the October 22 presentation suggests that the that Piedmont stage second stage investment funding was dependent on development of the DFS. ATLANTIC's Neil Herbert recently suggested DFS will not be produced. What will Atlantic management use to satisfy a DFS normally provides? Go on, LIMITED. So, yeah, as I mentioned earlier, we we are doing a study refresh at a higher level of confidence, and we are looking at other options around feed in parallel with an updated study, the DFS.

1:03:57 So that's to meet the timelines that we're working towards and support or confidence in terms of investment with our major shareholders in Piedmont. K. Question from Russell. Do you have any known lithium assets in Ghana outside of the 50% offtake agreement with Piedmont where ATLANTIC own 100% of the resource? And the answer to that is no. All the assets in Ghana that we have are in a 50% joint venture with Piedmont eventually. So in answer to that but obviously, they also have to fund their share if we work in areas outside our existing area. On 04/04/2022, ATLANTIC LITHIUM appointed Canaccord Genuity to evaluate unsolicited inquiries from multiple parties interested in acquiring all the parts of the company or its assets at Canaccord Summit. We've brought in recommended offers from Russell. I think I addressed this earlier.

1:04:57 As I said, we had a lot of interest, and that's not surprising because it's a very good project. But we do believe that there is more value from taking this further and actually squeezing more value at the project by taking it to production. Another question from Russell. In May, you confirmed that ATLANTIC had been approached by Garnet Minerals Income Investment Funds, that's MIF, over potential investment in the company. Has this moved forward at all? Yes, it is. And I think I commented on this earlier. They obviously sovereign wealth fund, and they have their own internal processes and procedures, which take quite a long time. But we will be catching up with them again in Ghana in November. So I'm sure there'll be an update sometime after that. When are you planning to order long lead items for the mine in order not to jeopardize the production start?

1:05:46 Thanks a lot. That's from Elijah. Ben? Yeah. So this is something we're discussing with our main shareholders in Piedmont. In fact, the the most, critical time item in the the study isn't the long lead items, primary crusher. It's the realignment of the high voltage power lines. So that's something that we've commenced with the Ghana Grico and and getting that ball rolling to commence that work. And secondary is the primary crusher, which, you know, we're we're looking at options around that with our partner, Piedmont. Okay. Thank you. I am reminded that we're now well past the hour by the host here. So I'm just gonna see if I can have a quick flick through of any any particular comments, I think, which I think might be worth commenting on.

1:06:44 There's there's one here from Colin. I wonder if you have compared your development costs and political risk with your competitors in South America as well as Argentina, Chile developing, and I saw an interesting program indicating Bolivia has a major potential resource available. Yes. So I'll have a a quick stab at that one. Obviously, there are there are different types of of lithium resources. You have hard rock spodumene projects. You have the the brines, which are typically what you see in in Latin America. And so those those projects are potentially much bigger. They could take rather longer to bring to production, and it's a different style of mineralization. If you talk to the converters, I will say most prefer to actually to have hard rock spodumene and particularly ours which has very low impurities.

1:07:35 So in terms of the political risks, obviously, Latin America is a is a very different a very different place to Africa. I'm not sure I'd I'd want to be trying to comment on each of those countries' political risk factors. Obviously, there's been a a move to populism generally in Latin America, but each country is different. Gardner, the other hand, however, has been a very stable mining jurisdiction for a long time. So we're very pleased to be working there and working with our Gardnerian partners. I don't know. We're now at sort of eight minutes past the hour. Maybe I just Yes. I can flick through. No. No. Just while you're yeah. Just while you're having a quick wander through those questions. And for every one question you answer, there's another two that keep coming through. So there is every chance we could keep you here for the rest of the day. But for everybody that has submitted questions, any questions will be reviewed that have been answered, can be reviewed by the company. We'll publish any responses alongside those that have been transcribed So as with that in mind, Neil, maybe it's a good time, if I may, because I know investor feedback is important I'll to you surely redirect those on the call to give you their feedback. But I wonder if I may just ask Neil maybe for or Neil or Len for a few just closing comments just to wrap up with.

1:08:50 Okay. I'll make some quick ones, and then can add to them. I mean, I do think that and I'll say to everybody here, this is a the lithium space is a very interesting area to invest in. And we have a complete change in technology towards electric vehicles. As I said, if many of you have not read it, it's a really good book, Bolt Rush by Henry Sardison, which explains what is going on and why it's such a revolution and from why it's so difficult to bring on so many minds so quickly. In other words, why we're in a good situation. The award project really is a a wonderful gift. It's it's it really is a great project. It's very straightforward. And simplicity, as I always say, is is a real bonus. And finally, you know, I I'm really pleased that everybody has has joined us today, and I'll try not to to drag this out any longer. But thank everybody for their many questions, and we're always available if you want to get ahold of us.

1:09:39 We'll be very happy to to answer them individually. Len, any other quest any other comments you'd like to make? No. No. I think you've covered it all there, Neil. Just to to thank everybody for coming along. AWAYER is an exceptional project, and it's got, all the right ingredients. And we're putting a team in place to to deliver Ghana's first lithium mine. Thank you. And thank you everybody for attending. I I really appreciate it. That's great. And Neil Neil, Amanda, Len, thank you very much indeed for your time this morning and for updating investors. Could I please ask investors on the call not to close this session as we'll now automatically redirect you for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order the company can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of management team of ATLANTIC LITHIUM, we'd like to thank you very much indeed for attending today's presentation.

1:10:33 That now concludes today's session, and I wish you all a very pleasant morning.