Guardian Metal Resources: 2026 Preview

0:03 I will say good morning, good afternoon or good evening, depending on where in the world you're logging in today. This is quite an international audience. So thanks, everybody, very much for joining us. I've got me today, Oliver Friesen, CEO of Guardian Metal Resources, and JT Starzycki, the company's chairman, for a review of what's to come this year for the company and its investors. JT Oliver, how are you today?

0:20 Doing great. Yeah, doing well. How are you, Romeo? Good, good, thank you. Adjusting to January.

0:26 It's cold and it came in hot this year. So here's how today is going to work just for the folks in the room. So I've got a couple of questions, just thought starters for the executives here today to discuss the upcoming year. But this is an interactive event, so please do feel free to ask questions at any point using that chat button in the bottom right of your screen. Now, we are aiming for a bit of a shorter event today. So if I don't get your question for whatever reason, feel free that you put it in or be glad that you put it in because I'll still make sure that the team at Guardian Metal still gets those questions afterwards and they'll be able to get back to you over email or phone depending on what you entered on registration. The only other piece of housekeeping before we get into the good stuff. This is being recorded and will be available for replay in the mid-afternoon Eastern time. So the mid evening, I guess, for GMT. Let me get right into the good stuff. Oliver, I'm going to start with you. I want to get into the big picture. I know since early last year, the macro for Tungsten has really completely flipped, really since I've been looking at it personally. China's export restrictions have pushed APT price above 950, yesterday, 1000. That's really quite aggressive. So how

1:27 does that new pricing environment change Guardian's leverage in final off-take discussions? Are you talking fixed pricing or more flexible floor and ceiling structures? How are things working? Yeah, no, it's been a really exciting year in the tungsten space. And, you know, it's quite, You know, the fact that we've been kind of on our soapbox for many years now saying this is going to happen and saying, guys, look out. Right. You know, we're over reliance on countries like China for our tungsten imports. And it's very vindicating to now be in the position where people are going, hey, actually, what you were saying is it was true. Right. And it's not just tungsten. I mean, it's across the board, really. But yeah, I mean, I would say 2025 was a really important year for the business. You know, the tungsten price finally started to move. You know, to start the year, it was still at $30,000 a ton, even below that.

2:18 And then the Chinese export ban came into effect. And then obviously the price, I would say really as of late has started to move. I mean, we're probably only 3 to 4 months into the real kind of move here. And what it means for offtake and where we're at in the business, which is going through the major engineering steps towards a construction decision and then into construction. We're not 10 years away from production. Our goal is to deliver 2 mines before the current administration leaves office. And that's really important. But what it means for those discussions is effectively the roles have reversed. When we first were sort of having preliminary offtake discussions, there was, I wouldn't say there was an abundance of raw material, but there was availability of raw material, right? So smelters and processing groups had multiple groups that they could buy from, right? And so therefore the power dynamics sits with the processing company, right? Cause they can dictate the terms, Hey, this is the payability, this is what we're gonna pay for it. These are the terms.

3:18 Right. And now all of a sudden, here we are in early 2026 and there is no raw material. I mean, I say no and it's a bit of an exaggeration, but it's not too far off. There is not much raw material out there. Right. And that's just a function of China completely shutting off export. So

3:35 the position we're in now is, and one of the reasons why we haven't signed any definitive off-take agreements was because we thought this environment could persist and that we thought there was going to be at some point in the future a scarcity of raw material. And here we are. And that puts us in a really strong spot because now we are negotiating terms in a much different environment. 1 where these processing

4:00 facilities and smelting groups are saying, we can't get it. You're one of the only groups in the Western world that's going to be produced in the next few years. And now we can come forward with much stronger terms. And we can, I wouldn't say we dictate the terms, but we are in a much, much stronger position? So it's kind of playing into our hand in that we didn't sign anything definitive because we thought this was coming. And it filters into the next steps for the business, obviously the delivery of the PFS, the subsequent DFS, and then construction, and then obviously in production. And we are now in a much different spot and we're gonna negotiate those deals at the right time and sign them at the right time to supplement our commercial rollout strategy. So yeah, it's really exciting. It almost seems crazy, but we've obviously had a successful few years as a public company.

4:49 But I am more excited about the business going forward, sitting here at the start of January of 2026, than I have at the start of any year for this business. So

5:00 I almost, we're just getting started. I've said that before, but this, I think it's gonna be a really important year for us. We now have the tailwinds blowing really strongly. We have the price in the environment. And now I think we're gonna see that kind of coming out moment for Tungsten and people realizing that this is the metal that we're going to need to secure. And Guardian finds ourselves in a very strong position in the U.S. Market.

5:23 Awesome. Yeah, there's a bit of jackpot timing for sure. It always helps. But JT, I want to get you in here because as Oliver said, obviously, the stocks had a pretty strong run over the last 12 months. Folks who got in this time last year have had a pretty good year. But is 2026 the year that you pursue a NASDAQ or NYSE listing to access that US capital? It's getting a bit frothy behind the critical minerals theme. Yeah. So going kind of, well, let me take a step back and sort of explain to the audience who might be new to the story why we've decided, but yes, last year, about middle point of last year, we decided that that was certainly the next move for the business was to take our listing and move it over to the US, right? Maintaining our current listing on the A, but then also really trying to access the capital markets and to give people the ability to get into the stock. And so,

6:17 you know, when we took a look at how do we best do that, obviously it just made the most sense for us to 1, to have a listing over here, but then that really truly galvanizes the story, right? The story of a US domestic source of tungsten that can be accessed, the capital markets can be accessed here as well. So that's you know it's a current work stream of ours we've publicly announced that it's an H1 item for us as an organization.

6:46 It is an active work stream for us. We are a bit beholden to the timelines of the SEC. We are in constant communication with our teams and the governing bodies that are, that we are working with as, as it relates to that listing. So it is an active thing that we're on all the time. It's going to give us the opportunity to access more liquidity, to give people the ability to trade in and out of the shares. It is one thing that we have heard is People love our story. They love what Tungsten will mean to not only this country, but favorable nations, and the ability to sort of access and get involved with us from an investment perspective, really what are the 2 assets that are the nearest term to production, it really excites the market. And so it's gonna open up the opportunity for a lot of new investors to come in. And we're excited about that, but it does, it certainly is part of our active work stream and something that we deal with almost on a daily basis.

7:46 So we're excited about what it's going to mean for this company in 2026. Great. And stay with you, JT. I know the, as we've already kind of referred to today, the ban on Chinese and Russian mine material for U.S. Defense procurement does kick in on January 1st, 2027. And the DLA, at least all the analysts say, is expected to start stockpile buying as soon as possible this year. So are you

8:08 positioning Guardian to sell into those stockpiles early? Or are you holding out for direct construction funding tied to that deadline? Just looking to get into your head here. Yeah, you know, the beautiful part for us with the ability to bring on 2 mines near-term production is that we can have a very extensive commercial program. And I think, at least in my experience in doing, you know, not only working with government, but also commercial agreements and, you know, upstart mining companies, you've got to get the timing right. And so, you know, Oliver explained to the audience how from a pricing perspective, the time is absolutely perfect almost

8:49 for us to bring these projects online. We've, I think, struck a good balance in how we're approaching our commercial strategy in 2026 and beyond in that the DLA of the strategic stockpile will certainly be a part of what we want to execute on. So we have continued to brief the powers that be that oversee the stockpile. They're, you know, well up to speed on all of our progress. We give them updates on a regular cadence. And so they know exactly what we're doing and what our timelines look like. So yes, we will be actively involved in that process when the RFP comes out and how we execute on that. We've got people on the ground in Washington that are also feeding information back to the group on a regular basis.

9:39 But our commercial program doesn't just end, begin and end with a strategic stockpile. We've got some pretty amazing commercial people that work as part of our commercial organization. They've got reaches all across the globe. We wanna position the company to be opportunistic when it comes to markets like we're sitting in right now where you can't get your hands on product. Prices are, you know, almost going parabolic. Well, I would actually argue that they have gone parabolic. And so we want to be opportunistic when it comes to that. So we are building in the stockpile as part of our commercial program,

10:18 but it just doesn't sit at the center of what we're doing. We've got our conversations happening all across, certainly friendly nations and partially across the globe, because we wanna be able to be opportunistic and we want to be able to return value to shareholders. And you do that by not having all your eggs in 1 basket, frankly. So we're excited about what

10:40 2026 is going to bring in the commercial space as well. Awesome, I appreciate the extra context. I think that's helpful. Oliver, I wanna get you back in here because I know you submitted a plan of operations. Now there's talk of streamlined permitting from the administration. I've heard talk of streamlined permitting in many jurisdictions, but I always like to ask somebody with experience on the ground, are you actually seeing faster progress or is it still kind of business as usual as far as you can see it? I would say more generally, we're seeing the best environment for a best pro mining environment I've ever seen in my career, you know, across the board really. And this all started with the new administration and the executive boards that came out within the first few weeks, right? Some of them targeted funding, some of them targeted permitting, and all of those, I mean, it's we're 1 year into the Trump presidency now.

11:31 Critical metals, I think has been very near the top of the agenda

11:35 all the way along, and it sometimes takes a bit of time for these sort of executive orders to make their way through the system. But I was really pleasantly surprised with, you know, within weeks, if not months, seeing the executive orders actually making their way down to the powers that be at the state level and the groups that are actually making these things happen. So one of the big executive orders was federal funding. We received our Department of War investment

12:03 in July. That's a huge, huge, huge important part of our business now. We're using those funds to fast track our PFS. And then on the permitting side, absolutely. We are seeing, The best way I would describe it is we're seeing incredible alignment across the various organizations. Now, typically, in a permitting process, there's multiple departments at the state and the federal level who all have to weigh in for a permit. And we're seeing alignment, right? We're seeing them speak, we're seeing them trying to work together to make sure that things can move forward quite quickly. So absolutely, we are seeing positive developments on the permitting side of things. We think that will continue. And obviously the timing of our, what will be our buying permits, I think will filter in at a time when I think there's a really good understanding from the various levels of government how to really implement these executive orders.

12:54 So yeah, I mean, it's been really positive as someone who's worked across the globe

12:59 in the mining space. I mean, It's one of the reasons we're so excited about this business. Not only do we have the metal right, but the timing is right. That's about a government who's willing to get behind domestic mining. We saw an amazing speech by David Copley

13:16 at the Future Minerals Forum in Saudi Arabia. Just listen to that and try to not be excited about US mining for the next few years. That's the environment we're in. We're focused on a metal that in our view, bias view, should be at the top of the list for many, many decision makers at the US government, and particularly for the Department of War, given its strategic use within the defense industry. So yeah, permitting is a part of it. And I think that's going to be continue to be incredibly beneficial to us as we move through the process. But we're going to see, I think, a lot of alignment and support across the board. And I think 2025 was the tip of the iceberg for us. So, yeah, we're really excited. And JT runs a fantastic kind of government affair program for the business.

14:05 I'm looking at all the different ways that we can tap into those support streams to make sure that we get to our goal of delivering these 2 minds in the next 3 years. Awesome, I'm always glad to hear it's not just talk. I think that's great. I got one on flexibility for your mind plan. Because I know, if I'm not mistaken, the PFS is targeted for the end of H1. That's correct? Are you still drilling to feed new data into the study, or is the mind plan basically locked based on that December resource update and there's no more that will go into it? No, we're still drilling

14:39 and we're bringing on more rigs. So if anything, it's speeding up and we're getting more data. How much of that data feeds into the PFS is a good question. One of the rigs is focused on Desert She Light and getting the inferred to indicated and then looking for other more tonnage within the in-pit cone.

15:03 Drilling is still ongoing. We will not get rid of a drill rig because as soon as you do in Nevada, you're not going to see it for a year. So we hold on to those things very closely. We have a very good relationship with our drilling companies. So as they have more rigs available, we've been able to secure those. So to answer your question, there's a sort of multiple things that we are drilling for. Now there's drilling required for the mine permit. So part of that is the hydrogeological drilling. So There is a rig focused on specifically that. As we build the mine plan, the geotech model, there sometimes can be, we need one more hole here just to confirm a certain part of the resource or a certain part of the mine plan. The flexibility we have now is, you know, with having multiple rigs, we can move them around and make sure that we are filtering that data into our engineers to not push out our PFS timeline. That is really the key of all the work streams ongoing. That's the one at the top of our list to make sure that we deliver that PFS on time.

16:04 And so what that means is that the other rigs now, what they come in and do is they focus on other areas that we think can filter into the PFS, right? So Garnet is a good example. We've done some drilling there. We are now looking to go back there and drill an indicated resource. So that can be included as part of the PFS. So what we're trying to do is drill as much as we can, get as much data as we can. First of all, for areas that can filter into what will be the completion of the PFS, but also note that we are, there will be a drop-dead date for the PFS data, right?

16:37 Different work streams have different drop-dead dates. We will set a date, right? The data before that all gets sent to the engineers and it's an iterative ongoing process. And then beyond that, the PFS data set will be locked. However, we're gonna keep drilling, right? Because we know that there's a DFS upcoming. And we also know that the more material that we can discover on the project

17:02 can eventually filter into an updated mine plan or updated resource or an updated PFS down the line. We believe we have what we need for an open pittable resource at Desert SheLight. We are engineering that now. We are permitting for that now. The key thing that we're doing is moving that forward to delivery of commercial production from that open pit. However, it's going to be these mines, they run for many years. So it gives us time to continue to learn more about the property. And the view would be that data that we're collecting after the PFS drop dead date will be included into the larger picture down the line at some stage, if that makes sense. No, awesome. I appreciate it. There's 2 questions from the audience here that are right on topic. So I'm going to sneak them in before I move on. Sure. Steven asks, when are Garnet results expected? And are there any news regarding the tailings inbound?

17:54 So tailings are temp-iute. So Garnet, first and foremost. Yes, We are receiving assay data on probably a weekly basis right now. There was a bit of a backlog from the lab over the Christmas period. So we're getting sort of a flurry of results in right now. So given where the company is now, we used to be able to release

18:18 a couple holes here, a couple holes there. Given our size now and given where we're going from a capital markets perspective, we do have to group bits of data a bit more frequently than we did before. And also just bandwidth, we can't be putting out a press release every week or I wouldn't sleep. So yes, we are receiving a lot of data right now. In the last week, I would say, is really when the backlog has started to alleviate. So We're getting that data in, we're filtering that, we're QAQCing that, and then we're getting it all ready. What we want to do is put out an announcement that covers everything that we've done over the last few months.

18:56 There are results expected. Obviously, as I already mentioned, there is a rig going back to Garnet to continue to drill there. We're trying to get that area up to indicated status so it can be included into the PFS. On the tailings, that's at Tempayut. That's on the other project that we have that I'm sure we'll discuss in this session. But yes, that's an area that we're looking at very, very closely this year.

19:24 It certainly is one that we believe can deliver material to the market probably the quickest of any opportunity we have across the business.

19:33 There's a lot of ins and outs there. It's a different beast to permit and engineer an open pit mine is one thing. To reprocess tailings is a different thing. There's a lot of benefits to going that route because it's already been pulled out of the ground and it's on the surface. So that's an area that given the current environment as a board and as a technical team we're really really interested in. So there is a lot of work ongoing to help us understand those tailings better. And as soon as we have sort of the results that we can release, we will put those out. But yes, rest assured, GARNET results are pending and the team is working through what we've received from the lab. And then also on the tailings, That is a very, I would say, core part of our technical focus in 2026.

20:23 There certainly will be news throughout the year on that area as we continue to learn more about that. Awesome. The other question from the chat that I'm going to sneak in here is, Paul asks, are you able to elaborate on the Gallium opportunity at both TempBaiut and Pilot Mountain? Yeah. It's a really interesting one. What we've done there is we very purposely, we don't want to over-promise and under-deliver. We never want to do that as a business. I see a lot of companies putting out these promises about what they're going to do with the gallium. We don't do that. We've put the numbers out there. We've taken results. We've taken samples and assayed them for gallium and we put those numbers out there. You can easily look at those and you can compare those globally and realize that those are very globally competitive grades for Gallium.

21:10 And so it's one thing that we're looking at really closely because Gallium, I would say, along with Tungsten, is probably near the top of the list for the US administrators looking at critical metals, right? Because gallium is a metal that China supplies 100% of and there's no domestic mine source like tungsten. There's no domestic mine source in the US. So we are, I would say alongside the tailings, one of the core focuses of the technical team this year is the gallium specifically, because if you just take those grades and you look at kind of what the value of that material could be, if we find a viable way to recover it, it's material to the business and also material to how strategic our offering is. Where we're at with that is there's a lot of research and metallurgical work ongoing as we speak.

21:59 Gallium is different than tungsten. We know how to process it. Both of our projects have been producing Tungsten before. We're taking those flow sheets, we're obviously updating them for modern standards, but Gallium has not been processed from these projects before. There's been very little to no gallium production in the US ever. So there's a bit more of a technological challenge there. Now we are putting resources behind it. We have an agreement with the university focused specifically on gallium recovery. And So as we know more, this takes a bit more time, right? We're doing it, you're in a lab now, you're doing analysis.

22:36 There's a lot of work that ongoes to get to that point. But our goal is to show that eventually we can recover gallium from the scarring zones that pilot and at Tempoy, and also the tailings at Tempoy, we put out those results as well. So work is ongoing. As soon as we know more, we'll put results out. But yes, I think it could be a really important part of business if we are successful in finding a way to recover that material from the mineralized scarring zones at both of our projects. Awesome, I'm glad you were able to elaborate. That's great. Now you did mention we'd probably get to Temp Bayou today. You're not wrong, that is my next question. So you can acquire 100% of Temp Bayou for 1 million dollars once the resource is complete. What are the plans in 2026 for Tempayu? And how do you look at this asset compared to Pilot Mountain?

23:25 Yeah, it's different, right? It's different in that it was a largest mine in the US in the 1980s. We've hosted a site visit there. JT, I know you were there just a few days ago. It looks night and day from when we acquired it. JT is smiling. Some of the feedback we've gotten is, you're getting this building ready. You're cleaning it up. It's effectively sat there for the better part of 40 years, right? But everything that you see there, the foundation, all the concrete work, I mean, even the mill building, it's all usable in a restart. Right. And the name of the game right now, Romeo, is speed. Right. It's about how quickly can you get into production right now?

24:11 And one of the reasons, one of the many reasons we acquired it was how fast we believe that project can go with the right tailwinds. And that's why it's looked at differently because it's a different beast. There's the infrastructure there. There's the patent mining claims. There's the substation right there next to it. So there's a lot of advantages to that project. And it's the reason why when we saw it, we had to have it. It became a very core part of our vision going forward. Now, I would say in 2025, there's still a lot of question marks about it. I don't think the market really understood how important that asset is. I still, I would say even right now, it's still relatively unknown compared to the pile amount. So I would say 2026, number 1, get the story out.

24:57 And JT and I who have done quite a few, well, we've done a few non-deal road shows and 1 in particular just before Christmas, you know, the feedback we get in meetings in the US is, what a second, why is Tempoyut second in the deck? It should be number 1. Like people really like the asset and understand why we went to acquire it as quickly as we did. So our job is to get that story out across to the masses now because the benefit these people have is, you know, we sit in a meeting and spend 50 minutes walking through the deck, right? And they can get the nuances of that asset. But on our normal course of business, I think that the value of that asset is often overlooked or missed just because it's hard to communicate that in certain forums. Our goal is to get that story out. I want investors to understand how important this is to our business.

25:43 Then obviously on the technical side, number 1, resource. There's a historic resource there, but drilling for an updated resource that we can then move forward to the relevant engineering steps. And then the tailings and the stockpiles. We've mentioned that, you've mentioned that. That's potentially very interesting for our business in 2026 and beyond. And really because once again, it's about speed, right? How quickly can you start putting units into the market and obviously tailing and sitting at surface with existing tungsten and gallium. That's interesting, right? Especially in this market. So it's about getting that story out and continuing to advance it. Technically, we have a separate dedicated team now just to Temp by You. When you go there, there are people running around. There's a lot of work ongoing. And it's now about getting those results out, continuing to get more results in and showing the market why we have branded this as a co-flagship asset to complement PilotMod.

26:39 Great. JT, I want to get you in here on funding mix because I know as we talked about the pre-fees is due mid-year. So once the CapEx number lands, the market's familiar with it, how are you thinking about your funding mix? Particularly, I'm thinking about the split between that non-dilutive government support and your more traditional mining debt and equity. Great question. The PFS certainly unlocks our opportunity to enter in very detailed discussions. I mean, so when you look at the evolving nature of the US government and how their funding packages and opportunities have evolved over the last 3 years, right? So if you go back to the previous administration, at the focal point was the loan program office that sat under the Department of Energy, right? And that was a true, more of a project debt, you know, opportunity for companies to go through, had a very arduous due diligence process, almost prohibitive for the government to deploy funds. The new administration comes in, sort of tips that model on its side and says, we want to run fast and we want to go after opportunities.

27:44 That then the mix has kind of evolved more from a pure debt play to a little bit more of an equity play. We're in a very unique situation and I think advantageous situation in that our CapEx numbers, and we've given some loose guidance out, but our CapEx numbers are not massive. So, you know, Oliver just spent the last, you know, handful of minutes talking about Tempai-Ute and the current infrastructure that's already in place. And while we don't have that advantage at Pilot Mountain, we do have a lot of information on the resource. And that resource is, you know, theoretically getting bigger based on the additional data that we are gathering. So we have that advantage, we have infrastructure advantage at TempaiU, and it puts us in a situation where we can go to the U.S. Government and say, you know, what you guys are used to funding on 1 project, you can do a fraction of that and fund 2 projects that are near term production.

28:41 So it separates us from the pack in the sense that it's, hey, you can deploy funds. And we've become a bit of a case study, frankly, in the eyes of the Department of War, in the sense that we were able to take an award that they gave us in July, unlock some market funding to allow us to then fast track both of the projects that we have. So again, kind of separates us from the pack in that then we can bring more resources into the domestic Tungsten market in this particular case. So you then sort of enter into the current landscape and the Office of Strategic Capital is now sort of the primary engine that the US government is unlocking these deals through, right? So you've got a debt package that maybe has an equity component to it.

29:26 That equity component, we have the, I think, advantage to be able to look at that and say the capital markets, generally speaking, has been very supportive of the Guardian story. So we're in a situation where, you know, we've been we've been working with these groups within the US departments, plural, for the last call it 12 months. They know the story. We're, you know, we're, we're separating in ourselves from the pack. We've got the opportunity to, to weigh debt packages against market debt packages and equity packages from the government versus public equity packages. And so we're in a great position. Once we deliver that PFS, we're gonna be circling back and then getting into the more detailed heads of terms.

30:12 What are the packages look like? So We're really excited about how we've positioned ourselves because we think very firmly that we're going to be able to go in and negotiate from a position of strength. And so what does that look like? We don't necessarily need to take the first suite of packages that come at us. We can kind of, you know, we think we're going to be in a position to be able to pick and choose ultimately the best for what is our shareholders, minimizing dilution, maximizing the structures that give us the lowest interest rates, right, and allow us to pay back as quickly as possible, thus then starting a return value to the shareholder. So that's how we've been approaching it, frankly, for the last, call it 14 months. And everything has kind of sort of gone according to plan.

31:00 And we should then start to see that momentum pick up as we have the PFS in hand, we have a resource in hand at the other project, we've got infrastructure that, as Oliver points out, that we've been refurbing and reestablishing. And so I think we're gonna be in a great position to start to accelerate those conversations in the back part of this year. Cool, I appreciate that. Now, before I get into some final questions from the audience, I'm going to ask if you'll indulge me in some crystal ball gazing. So let's say we're looking back this time next year on 2026, and Oliver, I'll start with you here. What single non-negotiable milestone other than the PFS is going to define success for 2026? Oh man, There's a few. I would say that the big ones that spring to mind right away is on the capital market side. So untapping the US capital markets right now, we are unknown, I would say generally in the US.

31:57 And what's been encouraging is the meetings that JT and I have done. The feedback is very positive. But for a lot of us in US institutions, the answer is we can't own you right now legally because you don't, because you're OTC, right? It's just a check box and we can't do it, right? So I would say a huge part of our success will be defined in how we unlock the US capital markets. There's no surprises here that that is the best market in the world. And with our assets being in the US, with our focus being on delivering a mind in America solution of a very important metal for the US industrial base and defence base. That I would say is hugely important for us this year. JT mentioned the positive progress we're making towards that goal. And then on the operational side, it's about, obviously outside of the PFS, as you mentioned, it's about getting Temp-IU'd out there and really showing the markets how valuable that asset is and the reason why we acquired it when we did. And bringing out to the surface the tailings opportunity, the underground opportunity, the opportunity to deliver that project very quickly given the infrastructure advantages. So I would say those are the 2 big ones that spring to mind.

33:11 JT, have I missed anything? I think that is, If when we execute on what Oliver has just explained to the people gracious enough to dial in, when we execute on that, that is going to be yet another phenomenal year, right? We're doing things in a very measured fashion, executing on it the right way, right? We're not out there trying to sell a grand vision that we have no hopes in bringing through. Right. We've been very clear that our objective are to bring these 2 minds on under our own power, supported by the U.S. Government, executing on both of the assets and that being underpinned by the US listings. So yeah, I'm in total agreement with Oliver that when we deliver those 3 key things this year, that's going to be a pretty outstanding set of accomplishments for this company.

34:02 Awesome. Now, I know we're already past the time that I said we'd be today. So I'm just going to sneak in a couple of really quick questions from the audience. Do you have a list? Not the whole list. So if I don't get your question, don't worry. I'm going to send it through to the Guardian team so they'll have it afterwards. 1 that came in over email, and I think this is probably something new to the story. I want to know if it's likely you'll be able to get into production before the Trump administration is concluded. Yeah, I mean that's what we've stated. Our goal as a business, you know, the overarching goal that we wake up to every day is deliver 2 mines in the next 3 years, which is before the current administration leaves office. So, I mean, obviously, there's a lot we have to do to get to that goal, but we wouldn't state it if we didn't think it was achievable. There you go. There's a couple of questions in the chat right now about South Korean tungsten, but it seems like they're all having that conversation already in the chat. So I'll leave that one. But Dave wanted to know, have you had any correspondence with majors? Is there A347 year game plan involving majors? Or does Gradient plan to go solo when it comes to producing? So looking to get your head on strategy there.

35:00 Yeah, I mean, just very quickly, you mentioned South Korea, and I'm sure that's probably a question that's floating around. You know, the reality is in a market where China does not export any tungsten to the rest of the world, we need multiple new mines in the Western world, period. So we encourage all of our competitors, you know, allies effectively, right? We need new minds. But our view is that the US needs a mind in America solution, right? Our focus is on doing this in America. So we wish everyone well who's doing it in other countries around the world. But in our view, very strong view, and I think the government and the administration, from what we've heard, would agree is there needs to be a solution in the US. And that's what Guardian is focused on delivering, a solution for the US in the US by a US listed company. So that's really where we think we set ourselves apart is the focus on the US and in particular Nevada, which is one of the top jurisdictions in the very world. So I just want to quickly address that because I heard you ask that's great Romeo. But yeah, on sort of the real question there, you know, we have built a team that can deliver these minds, right? We're not sitting here going, let's just get it to the PFS and then sell this thing off.

36:13 You know, JT and I are our younger guys, we are ready to do this ourselves. And so when you put seasoned mind builders around you on the team who have been there, done that, these are the guys working on it day to day on the ground, permitting guys who permitted in the US. These are the people that you don't have the benefit of seeing on a day-to-day basis, but these are people that we interact with on a day-to-day basis. And that's why we have the confidence to come out and say, hey, we think we can deliver 2 mines in the next 3 years. If it was just JT and I running this business, we wouldn't be saying that. It's about the people actually do the work on the ground that give us the confidence to say that. So, you know, we majors, you know, all that aside, we are positioned to deliver these minds, right. And as JT mentioned, when you look at, You know, how do we finance these minds? That's a huge challenge for most companies It's we don't need 1 billion dollars of capex, right? We need the PFS to confirm the numbers but we think they're gonna be numbers that are gonna be very achievable by a company of our size, so We're ready to do this ourselves If someone wants to come along at some point, say, you know what, great job guys, but we're going to take this from here. We'll have that conversation and everything we do is rooted in what's in the best interest of our shareholders.

37:26 But, you know, a huge sense of pride for I think both of us would be in 3 years standing at our mind slash mind and holding material that we're actually producing and delivering to the US market. I mean, what an achievement that would be for both of us. So that's what gets us up every day. But at the end of the day, we do what's in the best interest of shareholders. So we're ready to build those minds. We are moving forward the steps to do that. We have the people around us to do that. And we'll do whatever it takes to get to that goal. And if someone wants to step in and reward our shareholders for having the patience and backing us, then we'll have that conversation. Awesome, well, I will say on that very exciting note, Oliver JT, thanks so much for this update. Really appreciate running through everything, letting me and the audience grill you for a bit. Always really appreciate it. I didn't get to every question, but I tackled most of them. Tom, you'll note in the replay that yes, it is. But you'll be able to see that answer in the replay. But thanks everybody for joining. There's more than 100 of you in the room live, so appreciate your behavior, obviously more than anything else. But for the great questions that came in as well.

38:28 And Oliver JT, thank you so much. Hope you have a great end of your day.