Cleantech Lithium (LSE:CTL) — Appointment of CEO

0:01 The purpose of this, interview webinar is to introduce, Tony Esplin, CLEANTECH LITHIUM's new, CEO, designate, to our shareholders, in the company. As everybody knows, we are intending to do an ASX listing very, very shortly and believed it would be important to consolidate our position in Australia to have a CEO who is

0:27 Australian based to develop our investor base there whilst also developing the projects in Chile. So clearly, the person has to be able to have one foot Chile and one foot in Australia. Our resident Australian director, Tommy McKeith, and myself engaged a search consultancy in Australia to try and find somebody who could straddle both those roles.

0:54 We had a short list of candidates, and Tony was clearly, you know, top of that top of that list. You we we believe that he's the right person, you know, to lead the company forward, both in Australia and in and in Chile. We met Tony in in Sydney, had some very good good conversations about what we were trying to do. So I'd asked Tony, you know, when we had that conversation in Sydney, what attracted you towards CLEANTECH

1:27 LITHIUM and throwing your hat in the ring and taking on the responsibility of taking the company forward? Well, thanks, Steve. I'm excited to be chosen and looking forward to get going, first of all. But I think, as you mentioned, somebody who's able to struggle those two worlds, capital markets and investors in Australia, and with a project in Latin America. I think that's the best of all worlds for me. I've ended up in Australia with two teenagers in school, but very much carried the torch for Latin America, having lived there for so many years and worked in so many different parts. So it was a nice confluence of

2:12 requirements for both. And and and and in in of of your career, you know, Tony, you you spend the bulk of it in in precious and and and base metals. And clearly, you've taken projects, now through the various stages of study, development and operated projects. How do you feel that your experience of doing

2:38 that specifically applies to CLEANTECH LITHIUM and what we're trying to do in Chile? I think, as you said, Steve, I've spent most of my career working in emerging markets, particularly in Latin America, but also in Southeast Asia and Oceania. I think the experience that I have on the ground in Latin America developing greenfield and brownfield projects in Peru,

3:07 in Suriname and elsewhere is probably what's gonna stand me in best stead. Obviously some language and familiarity with cultures is a help as well. I spent quite a few years in and out of Santiago, and Santiago being obviously the home of many of the large engineering companies running Peru and Suriname projects out of Santiago. Have a great familiarity with

3:36 the mining industry capacity, people, and technical capabilities there, is a really important, element in the decision as well. And and and I understand, Tony, that you actually speak Spanish at home. How how how did you end up with Spanish as your native language in Australia? Well, haven't spent time in Peru and Colombia and elsewhere. We had the policy at home whereby my wife, who is from Colombia, Our two kids, our two teenagers were born there as well. So I speak exclusively Spanish with my wife and exclusively English with the kids, but very much the lingua franca of the house is Spanish in my view.

4:26 Some would say my Spanish might have been influenced over the years by the Colombian accent, my Spanish is quite fluent. I'm very comfortable in professional situations as well, albeit with a bit of accent. Well, that that that that's interesting. You you'll you'll find the Chilean accent very, very different because everybody says Colombian Spanish is the best in South America, so you'll be considered having an excellent accent.

4:54 And in in quite a number of your previous responsibilities, you you spent time having to negotiate with with government, working with indigenous groups to get support for projects. Clearly, we have issues in Chile with the government introducing the national lithium strategy. We are going to be filing for our

5:23 special operating contract for lithium. We are working very closely with indigenous groups. Do you see that your experience doing this in PNG and Peru is going to be a great advantage to getting ourselves into the best possible position in Chile? Well, Steve, one of the first things I've looked for, both initially and again in recent weeks, was early and effective engagement with communities, in particular with indigenous communities in the project area. And, you know, I I have to say, this relatively early stage of the project, I've been extremely impressed with the the engagement, first up, and obviously the level of support there that's been reported on, I think a couple of times over recent weeks is extremely important.

6:11 I've seen a number of situations that haven't gone to plan. It's absolutely fundamental to a successful project, having community support. Obviously as well, very clear strategy that the Chile government has had around lithium development also, I think, really clarified the field. There are many examples otherwise, that's for sure. So Chile is an

6:43 extremely high confidence jurisdiction for resources projects over over many decades now, and it's also a critical factor for me. That's great. And and and we we start off talking about the the the ASX listing, which is which is coming up. No. Clearly, the the lithium market, no, hasn't been good, no, for the last year or so with the lithium price

7:09 really declining very, very rapidly. The share prices of most lithium companies have crashed, and many of them declaring very large losses. How do you see market into the future? And when we go to start marketing in Australia, what's going to be your message to investors and why they should be investing in a lithium IPO in Australia

7:40 and why CLEANTECH LITHIUM in particular? CLEANTECH It's very well known, obviously, that the lithium market is in a fairly difficult state at the moment. I've had, I'd say, front row seats here in Australia to the creative destruction that's been caused over the last twelve to eighteen months, especially. I think what stands CLEANTECH in Greatstead is relatively low unit costs for production from brines on Silatus, but also low energy costs, clean energy, low carbon intensity, and the geopolitical environment also is conducive in the long term to those projects, getting a foothold, particularly CLEANTECH being domiciled in Chile. I've got fairly significant experience with complex processing, I think some of the intermediate spodumene projects that are bulk shipped have very high energy intensity, complex processing.

8:57 So I think in the fallout, production from Salares, from bronze is gonna have many, many advantages, particularly in terms of unit costs, but else, in other respects as well. Well, that's great, Tuttoni. I I'm really looking forward to being in Australia now with you and, introducing you and telling the story of CLEANTECH LITHIUM, you know, to our new potential investor base very, very shortly. So, no, thank you for, joining me in this little fireside chat and exposing yourself to our shareholders. And we'll be having many more of these as you give our shareholders project updates as we go into the future. Thanks very much, Steve. I appreciate the opportunity and looking forward to getting started. Great. Thanks, Tony.