Sylvania Platinum (LSE:SLP) — FY22 Results Webinar

0:01 Good afternoon, and welcome to the SYLVANIA PLATINUM LIMITED full year twenty twenty two results investor presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors are being in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and could be submitted at any time by the Q and A tab situated in the right hand corner of your screen. Simply click q and a, scroll to the bottom, type your question, and press send. Company may not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself. However, the company review all questions submitted today and publish responses where it's appropriate to do so. Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll. I'd now like to hand you over to Jecca Princely, CEO and Luanne

0:32 Kamanati, CFO. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, thank you for the introduction, Paul. And as Paul said, welcome to everyone to our twenty twenty two financial year results presentation. And I'll be joined today by Luanne Carmanati, our CFO. Myself and Luanne have respectively been in Slovenia for about ten and thirteen years. So, hopefully, we can answer your questions there and as well about the business, and we'd like to take the opportunity to highlight some of the features of our current year's performance.

1:07 Business orientation, starting off overview of our business is SYLVANIA have a suite of assets that consists of both our current cash generative assets, which is called our SYLVANIA dump operations, which are situated on the eastern and western limbs of the Bushveld Complex, respectively in South Africa as well as some owned exploration assets for which we own mineral rights up on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex. So most of our capital cash and profits currently are generated from the SYLVANIA dump operations, and there's these proceeds from these operations that we've been reinvesting over the years to grow our business from the first single operation in about 2008 to the six operations we have at the moment. It further enables us to reinvest in growth projects and also now to develop and unlock value in our exploration assets, and more importantly, enables us to return value to our shareholders in terms of both share buybacks, dividends and growth, which we'll discuss in a bit more detail as we go through the presentation.

2:18 Just looking at the year past and focusing on some of the highlights. I think, first of all, looking at our 67,000 ounce production for the year, it's 4E ounce production, which I'm very proud of. I think it's a sterling effort from the guys, especially during the second half of the year after we've had some operational challenges in the first half as we've discussed and disclosed during our interim presentations, and that mainly related to the tailings dam related interruptions at Lesedi mine and then also run off mine feed grades at our Moinoue mine. But nevertheless, strong performance and especially commendable in that period is our Tuefontein operation that posted record monthly, quarterly, and annual result record results for the operation during this period that really assisted us to come through strong at the end of the year.

3:11 Looking at the basket price at $2,890 an ounce that we realized for the financial year, it's certainly not an attractive price compared to historical levels. However, it is unfortunately 23% down on the previous financial year, granted that, the previous financial year saw a heeding record EGM prices. And, and with the fact that it's pulled down slightly in this current financial year, had an impact on our financial performance, which Anne will talk about later. I think from a sustainability performance, probably the world's biggest highlight for us here is worth mentioning is a ten year lost time injury free performance by our Duramboss operation. You know, we achieved that in June, and it's also been recognized by the Monometallurgical Managers Association of Africa as a industry award best in class performance.

4:01 So very well done there. Focusing towards some of the more, financial parameters, you know, we've been very proud of the 2.25 windfall dividend that we have paid, declared at the interims, and paid in April this year. We've managed to buy back 6,600,000 shares during the years as part of a share buyback program. And, you know, after the share buybacks, windfall dividend and servicing our capital commitments and other stuff, we ended up with a cash balance of around $121,000,000 at the end of the financial year. And through this, based on the strong production performance and diligent capital, management, the board, have been able to declare a further 8p per 8p dividend that would be payable in December this year in lieu of the annual year performance.

4:57 So overall, I hope that that would also be very positive received by our shareholders. If we look at some more detailed operational results, the PGM feed tonnes were slightly down. And as I said, the primary reason for that was the Lesedi Danish Dam related disruptions that has since been resolved. All five of our other operations have either met or exceeded their throughput targets for the year. So overall, very good performance for the year. Recovery was marginally down, not because the operations performed poorer, but because of a higher contribution of ounces from one of our lower recovery efficiency operations. And then finally, it resulted in overall ounces in a four year basis being down about 4%.

5:42 And and I think also worth noting from a reporting perspective that the 67,000 ounce four year reduction equates to about almost 86,000 ounces, 6E, as some of our peers in the market report on a 6E basis. Obviously, because of the basket price reduction, you can see the net revenue, EBITDA and profit figures all have year on year decline. And Joanne will touch more on the details of that in the finance section of the presentation. And and as a remaining focus area, also the capital of the group cash cost that increased about 19% year on year, and we'll touch on that.

6:28 But primarily, our we have a large fixed cost base that do that and then the global inflationary pressures that the industry as a whole faced certainly put pressure on us as well. Finally, again, we're very proud of the 8p dividend. Annual dividend that we've declared, it's a 100% increase on the 4p dividend declared in the previous financial year. And, you know, adding it on to the 2.25p windfall earlier, it's over 10p return for the year. From ESG point of view and perspective, I am very proud, of the performance of our team this year. I and I'm and particularly the, stand alone ESG report, that is the first time that SYLVANIA will be issuing a stand alone ESG report to be published on our website this year alongside these results to give shareholders indication of what exactly it is we're doing into ESG and to highlight some of our particular achievements in that regard.

7:32 And as I sit down, Louann and the team has done a great job, but she's gonna just take us through more details of the specific ESG components later in the presentation. So if we briefly just focus then on the detailed operational analysis result and looking at how the individual operations performed over the year, I've mentioned already the Lesedi and Tymourno impacts, and it's evident from the graph for the 2022, composition where you can see the lower contribution from Lesedi, the yellow bar at the top, and also Moinaway. And as I said, mostly resolved at the moment, and you can see going forward how those two operations, proportionally contribute more to our profile going forward. In addition to the operational challenges being resolved, we continue in terms of our process efficiencies and unlocking potential in our current operations and the addition of our secondary milling and flotation circuits, the m f two projects at both Tuefontein and Lanex during the next two financial years is certainly gonna contribute significantly towards even improving that profile further.

8:43 We've obtained forecasting to commission by about, at the end of this year from December onwards and Lennox in the about the same time in the next calendar year. So, that would bring us to about, you know, the ounces from 2024 to 2025 financial years to between seventy two and seventy five thousand ounces, which is, think, a very good progress. Without touching on other detail that we already mentioned, I think maybe worth just noting on this slide where I've tried to give a bit of a comparison of the previous financial year challenge highlights compared to what's going on. I think we haven't touched too much on the tailings dams at the moment.

9:28 We are having to get new tailings deposition facilities at both Moinoue and

9:36 Dorenbos constructed and commissioned during the next two financial years. And that's primarily to cater for the increasing production from our host mines. And and as our host mines continue to generate current risings and run of mine material, we need to to create additional space for for the tailings. It obviously has the benefit that we then get more material to treat and extend the life of mine of our operations. So we have to cater for that, and that's part of our obligation in terms of our contracts and just focus on that. And then secondly, just also our remaining cost focus on the across our operations to make sure we can address the current inflationary pressures. So turning our eye a bit to the basket, our pro split and basket prices.

10:28 I think, first of all, as many as you are aware, SYLVANIA have quite an attractive exposure to the rhodium plus where our current it was 11.5% average for this first past financial year and I think just over 12% in the previous financial year. But compared to typical EG2 and Merensky reefs, it's quite an attractive rhodium exposure. In saying that, as much as it's attractive and giving us the upside in the upcycle in the market, when we saw record rhodium prices in the trading in one financial year, it does also explain the significant movement and decline of the basket price over the past financial year. And you can see at the graphs at the bottom that the line is primarily the rhodium decline that have been drilling it. I think analysts across the sector all grapple with a difficulty where we we're not just dealing with pure supply demand fundamentals, and you all also have to take a view on the sociopolitical issues, the war and conflict in between Russia and Ukraine.

11:32 You take the impact of the recent COVID lockdowns in China and general global fears about then

11:42 it it it's becomes difficult to forecast the the metal prices going forward. However, if we look at the demand and supply fundamentals going forward, we believe those are still robust and strong. Palladium and rhodium still in terms of their role as auto catalyst should improve going forward to the moment that you have car sales increasing again and improving, that demand for that would certainly grow again. And then from a platinum point of view is the the hydrogen economy and the demand for platinum in those industries going forward is certainly very attractive and looking forward. So I think overall, we believe the PGM price is supported in the short to medium term because of the combination of the robust demand and also supply side pressures.

12:30 Just to give you an indication of our various institutions view our or forecast the market, we've included the free institution. We use frequently Standard Bank Securities as our in house bank banker. Nedbank Capital is doing extensive coverage of the platinum industry in South Africa and then also Liberum Capital as our Momentum in house broker. We we looked at their views, you can see, you know, how they they view the different metals over different years. And as expected, and depending on what view you take on the geopolitical impacts and on the supply and demand, these views vary. And for that same reason, we, in our forward looking financial, some of the indicative values in terms of EBITDA we give in the presentation, Use August average as a base case, but then include the sensitivities, assuming there's different price forecasts.

13:33 We just give you an indication of how EBITDA, for instance, can change by applying the different forecasts. So Joanne will discuss that later in in one of her slides as we go through the presentation. So, yeah, just saying that, let me hand over to Joanne in terms of the financial section, and I'll close off with some forward looking slides at the end. Thanks, Jakub. As you've already mentioned, the drop in the 2022 basket price versus the previous financial year has impacted our revenue and net profit for the year. We recorded a $152,000,000 revenue on 67,004 e ounces plus Iridium, ruthenium, copper and nickel.

14:19 Cost of sales increased 13% to $61,800,000 and includes both direct and indirect operating costs as well as noncash items such as depreciation and share based payments. The royalty tax is the mineral royalty tax on the royalty attracting ounces, which decreased in line with the lower revenues and EBIT. And income tax ex includes taxable

14:46 tax on taxable profits generated by the SDO, movement in the deferred tax, and dividend withholding tax on dividends declared by the SYLVANIA PLATINUM. Net profit for the year is $656,000,000 and earnings per share, US20.6 dollars If we look at revenue in a little more detail and comparing it to the revenue recorded in the prior year, the variance is made up mostly of the lower basket price received, which had a $45,000,000 impact. The lower ounces reduced revenue by $8,700,000 The pie chart at the bottom of the slide illustrates the percentage 6E revenue generated from the various metals, with rhodium still generating the largest portion at 56% of our revenue, platinum 21%, palladium 15%, and gold, iridium, ruthenium the balance.

15:49 Moving on to our operating costs. All of our operating costs are incurred in South African rand and converted to US dollars at the average exchange rate for the reporting period. The cash cost per four e ounce increased 11% year on year in rand terms and 12% in dollar terms. The increase per ounce is mainly as a result of the lower ounces produced in 2022 as well as higher electricity costs with a 9% increase in April as well as higher usage as the MF twos came online, higher increase, reagent costs, and the increase in spend on community upliftment projects. The forecast cash cost for 2023 to 2025 is converted at R16.70 to the dollar.

16:38 Despite our increasing costs, the company still remains in the lowest quartile of the industry cost curve, and we've included the Nedbank cost curve graph in the appendix for your information. It should, however, be noted that the cost reflected in this graph includes all capital. So it includes the capital spend on the upgrade of our mining assets and not just our SDO operating entity.

17:07 Group EBITDA for the 2022 financial year was $82,000,000 in line with expectations and mostly lower as a result of the lower basket price. Based on a gross 4E basket of $2,642 per ounce, which was the August average. We're estimating a $18,000,000 EBITDA for 2023, increasing in 2024 and 2025 on the back of higher ounce targets. Any movements in the metal prices or exchange obviously impact the EBITDA going forward. The dotted lines on the graph indicate the EBITDA based on the Standard Bank, Nedbank and Liberum price forecasts.

17:56 We reported a cash balance of a $121,000,000 at 30 June, up from the previous year's a $106,000,000. Cash generated from operations was $92,000,000, and the company paid $24,000,000 in taxes. $16,400,000 was spent on capital, $14,000,000 of which was spent on STO capital expansion projects, SIB and tailing stamps, and $2,000,000 was spent on drilling and upgrading of our mining asset resources. In total, the company spent $9,800,000 on share buybacks, which includes the on market buyback in May and June of this year

18:37 as well as shares bought back from employees in September and March. $22,700,000 was paid in dividends split between the 4p annual dividends paid in December and the 2.25p windfall dividend that was declared in February and paid in April. The board has declared an annual dividend for the 2022 financial year of 8p per ordinary share, and this will be paid in December 2022. As mentioned on the previous slide, capital expenditure for the year was $16,400,000. The new Lesedi Tailings Dam and MF 2 plant were both commissioned during the financial year, and the construction of the Tua Fontein MF 2 commenced during this year.

19:27 CapEx for 2023 is expected to be around 22,000,000, dollars of which $4,000,000 is planned for further upgrading of the mining assets, 6,000,000 for stay in business, including the Moynoy and Dornbosch Tailings Dam facilities, and $11,000,000 on larger capital projects being the completion of the MF2 at Twefertein, the construction of the Lanex MF2, the fine chrome recovery at Lanex, and standby power at Millsell and Duren Borsch.

19:57 The twenty twenty four to twenty six capital forecasts are mainly for SIB, and these capital forecasts don't include any capital for growth projects, as these answers haven't been included in our current profile.

20:19 Returning capital to our shareholders is a top priority. And as I've mentioned already, we paid the 4p dividend and the windfall in during the financial year and have declared the 8p dividend for this year. In total, we've bought back 55,800,000 shares since 2015, and we've canceled 18,900,000 shares. And to date, including the 8p dividend that was declared now, we've paid out $71,000,000 in dividends since the since our maiden dividend in 2018. Moving on to our ESG.

21:09 We're very pleased to have released our first ESG report alongside our annual results this year. As reported in our prior year, SYLVANIA has developed our ESG strategy based on our company values and aligned our ESG approach with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the 10 ICLM principles. Sustainability of our business is key, and we are committed to making a positive contribution in the lives of our employees, the industry, and as well as our host communities.

21:39 Our ESG journey over the past two years has evolved, and the report aims to provide all stakeholders with an understanding of the company's influence and impact on the environment, employees and the communities in which we operate. This slide just summarizes some of the key information from the reports, and I'll touch on a few of these in the next three slides.

22:04 Under the environmental performance, alternative and renewable energy sources are essential to reducing our carbon emissions. Part of our process has been to establish current and future energy needs, securing the energy required to operate our plants currently, and then improving efficiency with the ultimate goal being the reduction in and replacing off scope one and two energy sources over the next three to five years. We have a number of initiatives in progress to reduce the emissions in the short term, including the investigating of synthetic fuels or biodiesel for generators, minimizing land clearance and disturbance wherever possible, management of nonmineral waste, and the possible implementation of solar and or gas at our administrative buildings and change houses at all of our sites.

22:56 Water is a precious and scarce resource, especially in the drier parts of South Africa. Our approach to water management is two pronged, being the reduction in in water usage, thereby conserving this precious resource, but also securing sustained water supply at operations where this has been a challenge in the past. The very nature of our business being that the retreatment of tailings is good for the environment, and through the extraction of chrome and PGMs from tailings and rising from our host mine, we reduce the impact on the environment.

23:35 Our social performance, we had focused on four main areas under the social banner. The first being women empowerment, and that's both in the female representation in the workplace and upskilling of women in our host communities. Women currently represent 20.9% of our workforce, which is up from the 19% we reported in the prior year. Secondly, health and safety. We're very proud of our health our safety track record, achievements, and the award which Jakub mentioned previously at Durenbosch, and we continue to strive for safety excellence. We've also recorded no section 54 stoppages or 55 notices in the the current financial year. We launched an employee wellness program, and this gives employees, their immediate family, and persons living in the same household free access to support services, counseling, financial, and legal services.

24:33 Training and development has grown year on year. And in addition to training and developing our own employees, the company offers internships and learnerships to people living in the local communities.

24:44 We also have community support and upliftment programs. Where possible, local communities are given preference for new and vacant positions at our operations, and we've employed 64 new local community members this year. We have a number of outreach and upliftment programs, which include feeding schemes, education pro projects, borehole water projects, and campaign sponsorships, including gender based violence campaign, safety, and environmental campaigns. We've invested a total of 77,000,000 or about $5,000,000 in local community through procurement spend. SYLVANIA has also contributed $2,000,000 for the financial year to the South African economy through the payments to employees, taxes, and both local and greater community local and greater procurement.

25:44 In 2022, we developed our ESG reporting toolkit, which established a set of criteria and baseline data to help us map our ESG journey. We've also drafted our SHE and ESG framework policies. We've launched a number of ESG awareness training campaigns and included ESG related aspects in the induction program for new employees, which has helped roll out our ESG strategy in our organization, and we've embedded this strategy in our daily lives.

26:16 We pride ourselves on our clear and transparent reporting, and through open and honest relationships, we remain accountable to all stakeholders and legal compliance is critical to our operations, whether it's exploration, processing, or rehabilitation. ESG is a way of life at SYLVANIA, and we look forward to providing you with further updates as we progress.

26:43 Thank you, Luanne. And now that we've looked at the historical performance of the company and we've addressed the past results, let's just have a look a bit of what you can expect going forward from us in this next financial year and and beyond. So firstly, in terms of our strategy and and the value drivers, in order for us to ensure that the company remains in a position to continue to generate attractive cash profits from our operations and in order to fund our working capital, fund growth and fund our identified project pipeline, it's important that we look after the current business and and ensure that we can continue to produce as we have done over the years.

27:31 And the two pillars of ensuring that is firstly, making sure that we maintain a safe and profitable production environment, and that's looking after all our health and safety

27:42 initiatives, making sure we maintain a a disciplined safety culture and also ensure operational excellence and make sure that the new projects we bring online are probably optimized. And as I indicated earlier, you know, we are looking at about 68 to 70,000 ounces for the next financial year. But as the projects identified projects come online towards 2425, we could increase that to between seventy two and seventy five thousand ounces. Again, 4E basis, you know, it's close to 100,000 ounces on a 6E basis if you would again look at some of the industry disclosures. The second part, crucial to our operations, is maintaining our license to operate. And you've as you've seen and heard now, we ran at quite a detailed coverage of what we're doing in ESG.

28:31 We certainly have it as a primary focus area, and I think we we are performing very well in terms of our progress and rollout of ESG throughout the organization. And then secondly, making sure we maintain those relationships with our key stakeholders, the communities in which we operate our labor, which has been excellent relationship over the years. And and then also in terms of our host mines. And and then from a tailings standpoint of view, as I mentioned earlier, is making sure we get our permitting and designs in place in time so that we can cater for future production.

29:06 Then looking at growth of the business, there are two pillars in terms of generating growth and value going forward. The first one is unlocking value from our existing and owned assets. And, first of all, continuing r and d and optimization on our existing SYLVANIA dump operations, and I think over the years, the value we've unlocked with the rollout of the m f two circuits, rollout of fine chrome recovery circuits and classification, And those all assisted significantly to to towards our profitability and stability over the years. And then secondly is focusing on our owned exploration assets. And as I said earlier, those are the exploration assets that we have acquired in two thousand and nine, 'ten already.

29:52 But we haven't progressed over the years because of the the prevailing PGM market prices. But in the recent years now, we've launched various initiatives to make sure we can understand the value better and unlock it so in order to generate the best return to shareholders. And then the second pillar of this growth is to continue to look at external growth opportunities. And big the thing there is that we replicate our proven and successful business model we currently have. We leverage our current expertise, skills, and reputation in the industry of delivering on our promises and being a stable producer over the years to add value to third party material and engage with third party material. And we have a number of parties we currently engage with from an exclusive basis and quite far advanced in terms of evaluating potential of these projects. And on the next slide, I'll deal a bit more about that.

30:48 And then, obviously, as continue to also look at additional ROM sources going forward. So to give you an indicative idea of of what potential future projects can add and and and when you can expect, we've just indicated those different areas for growth that I explained just now. And the first one is looking at the top line, and that's primarily the existing STO operations. And and that's especially in the short term, the less than eighteen months, you can see that we're from Tanner Lanex MF two is coming online. We're already taking some third party dump material on in terms of supplementing grade on some of our operations. So those agreements and, is in place, those projects in the future and that capital provided for in our current capital profile that that Luann discussed earlier.

31:35 So that will carry on and longer term on our dump operations is focusing more on the fine chrome recovery and further improvement in VGA potential so that we could maybe unlock potential in some of the current treated dumps, which is would otherwise be sterilized to say, can we improve the grade further by removing the cramps so that it becomes a future potential feed source? So that that we continue to investigate through our R and D efforts. Then coming to the growth from still sticking to the same business model from our chrome tailings, run of mine, chrome ore, and current horizon's perspective is our engagement with with other stakeholders, as I mentioned. And, you know, we we believe that in in the next eighteen months to three years that there are potential projects that could could come online and be investigating. So if we would be happy or successful with the commercial terms of it, as I said, we've already done substantial technical and commercial and legal due diligences.

32:32 You know, you could add between ten and fifteen thousand ounces a year for each one of those opportunities. And we we're particularly targeting the Eastern and Western opportunity at the at the moment. And then, obviously, carrying on beyond the three years going forward is looking at deep debt exploration programs, do identify more resources. And then finally, slightly different from the the core skills and strategy in terms of temporary treatment is the primary platinum owned exploration assets. And as I said, those are assets we've we've owned for more than ten years already, but we we didn't pursue initially. Our strategy was a very high capital, high risk approach where we would need our own refineries and smelters downstream, which does not fit our low risk and innovative approach to our business. We then launched several studies to say, can we look at upgrading the reciprocal also so that we can get a saleable concentrate grade for the the so that would eliminate the need for expensive and risky downstream infrastructure? That's exactly what we've been doing in the last two to three years.

33:43 So in terms of both our Northern LIMITED assets, which consist of the Aurora and Aqua resources and our Forsberg resources, we are looking at publishing updated resource statements in in, say, the next few weeks to to a month. And on full spread, it could be on on the northern part of the operations. And on the northern LIMITED resources, we've identified a trial area that represent about 1010%, 10 to 15% of the total strike length we own there to prove for a proof of concept. And based on that, we are doing our planning in the next eighteen months to progress full spread. It's current preliminary economic assessment, which we're awaiting the final report to a prefeasibility study and feasibility study if it all, is positive. And then, the Aurora section, which form part of the northern LIMITED, want to progress to a scoping study.

34:37 While we're doing all of that, our, as I said to you earlier, we've owned these assets for a long time and then we own the mineral rights. So obviously, we have the pressure of showing progress in terms of our process. So listen. Are we gonna mine it or are we gonna create value in an alternative way? Once we know what the feasibility or economic potential of these projects are, we can make take a decision and say, is it worth spinning these projects out and taking that cash and reinvest in further dump business? Do we partner with maybe one of the bigger PGM producers who has a track record in in mining skills? As I said, these are surface open cost, surface operations. So low risk, low cost, attractive mining projects, which would utilize exactly the same metallurgical skills and experience we already have in our dump business. So that we would be able to, on the metallurgical side, replicate straight across our partnership could well work with it. And I think the unlikely option, but still the option you have to evaluate is say, would you look at development going further?

35:41 Again, just being indicative in terms of timeline and the profile, is each one of these projects, full straight and then the northern projects could each add approximately 70,000 to a 120,000 ounces a year. So in other words, doubling the capacity of the existing SYLVANIA if you or fully attributable basis at the moment. But it is in the three to five year window of execution. So it's just to give you an indication of of where what are the different opportunities in that regard. So just to close off and looking at the the outlook going forward, as I said, we have a proven track record. We will continue to deliver sustainable shareholder value, and we'll continue on our combination of issuing dividends and share buybacks as and when opportunities arise. We have longevity in our operations. As I said, we have operational life beyond ten years on just the current resources. And with the current growth prospects and our growth aspirations, we're pretty sure that we'll be able to extend that even further. In terms of profitable growth, I explained on the previous slide just the strategy, how that ties in and focusing then towards a PGM market and that we, as I said, remain cautiously optimistic.

37:02 We do believe the fundamentals are robust and supporting the price. And then in terms of the ounce guidance, as I said, 68 to 70,000 ounces, we're targeting for the current financial year. And then from 2024 onwards, we're looking to increase above 70,000 ounces, four e or 90,000 ounces, six e. So, yes, that is, I think, a wrap, Paul from from our side of the presentation, and I'll be happy to take, some questions. Thank you. That's great. Thank you, Jakob, and thank you very much indeed for your presentation. Ladies and gentlemen, do please continue to submit your questions using the q and a tab situated in the right hand corner of your screen. I'd like to remind you that recording this presentation along with a copy of the slides and the published Q and A can be accessed via your investor dashboard. Yakiru, we have received a number of questions from investors. And if I may, I will start with the first one.

37:51 Have any plans in the near future to use some of your cash balances to buy back further shares in the company? Thank you, Paul. I think we've, over the years, had a strategy of balancing share buybacks at the times when the board believes there's opportunity for us in terms of the value in our shares and also balancing off against dividends. We're obviously very cognizant of the fact that some of our shareholders prefer a dividend and others prefer a share buyback, and I think it's due to personal tax preferences. So we try to have a balance of both. The philosophy still remains the same. It's a utilization of our available cash resources. So we similar as our dividend policy states, we have to satisfy the requirements that we have additional working capital provided that we have sufficient capital for our identified capital projects rollout that we can on our commitments in terms of the growth opportunities and aspirations we have, and then also to keep a healthy margin for unforeseen circumstances. I think we've been able through the years to to through COVID and through the current economic uncertainty to to buffer any unforeseen circumstances.

39:07 So I think we would continue to to maintain the same balance as I said. We would maintain a balance between buybacks and dividends as and when it satisfies the criteria for us to distribute additional cash. Fantastic. Thanks, Jakob. Next question we've got here. The problem with the, asking RumbleOn, has the board done anything yet to protect the company from these issues? Look. I mean, it's a it's a constant consideration of the board. I mean, it's definitely featuring high on our company risk register. It's a primary focus point for us all the time. I think considering the maybe important to to to highlight something. So I think a lot of time with most investors would see in a lot the most of the individual or household consumers have received the load shedding impact, especially the impacts of smaller businesses.

39:56 We are shielded to an extent from the direct load shedding through the industrial customers' relationships like our host mines have with the power utility. You know? Because they can manage the demand on the smelters on one side, they they assist the utility to manage power in those load shed periods. And in return for that, the mines are normally not load shed or disrupted because, you know, they absorb that impact on the on the smelter side. And with us being located in the mines, we don't have a necessary disruption to the same extent as private consumers and small business have. However, we same as a lot of the companies in the industry, we have incidents, sporadic incidents of vandalism, cable theft, supply, substation disruption, primarily to get copper from the busbars and the cables.

40:50 And and those interruptions do impact on us. Based on our then analysis of those disruptions for the past few years, we have committed capital in this current financial year to at our operations most significantly affected to put in backup power generation capacity. And so Mill Cell and Durambos would be the first two operations that have that. Trefontein has a full backup power generation capacity, and, you know, that's why one of the reasons Trefontein has been our flagship in terms of stability and performance over the years. And then I think you're looking at the country as a whole, the government have just announced, you know, in this last month that they are looking to the threshold they've put on IPPs or independent power producers to produce energy, which was initially one megawatt, moved up to a 100 megawatt, and the government are looking to do away with the limit altogether now.

41:45 Certainly, both very positive for the industry as a whole. And I think if you look at the the Minerals Council of South Africa's communications over the last few months, talking to their various mining clients, it seems like there's a number. I mean, I think they've quoted close to 70 individual projects identified already to bring significant additional, power capacity online. So we do think that, overall, you know, we're keeping a a close eye on power risks. And, as I said, we have our own mitigating measures in place, and we're keeping a close eye on the developments within the industry and the country as a whole. That's great. Thank you very much indeed. And I think, Somin, you have touched on, but do you see platinum prices rising in the near and medium term future?

42:31 Look, I I think I've I did cover on that. And, you know, as I said, the fact that we primarily look for the use of our PGFs. You know, we know palladium and rhodium are the bulk use is in automotive industry. We know the automotive sales have been significantly down impacted by the global economy, both the impact of Russia, Ukraine. You know, I I think in in in Europe, you know, people are worried about increased energy crisis prices and inflation, you know, then you don't buy new cars. In China, they've had the COVID lockdowns recently with the new outbreak they've had, and then a lot of the factories have been impacted in in terms of production. Those are more limits we think if you look at some of the car sales forecast going forward, you know, a lot of the analysts are expecting that to improve, and that would obviously increase the demand again for the metal. And that's why palladium and rhodium in the medium term are forecasted to remain in deficit.

43:32 But, you know, being that said, I think every investor it's difficult. You can't just focus on the poor supply and demand fundamentals because the social, political, and global economic parameters also impact on these prices. But as I said, we are forecasting. That's why we put the range in our prices. We're forecasting. I think the current outlook is robust enough for us to work on. And I do think there might be potential upside looking at some of the analysts' forecasts. That's great. Thank you very much. Next question we've got here is, in the past, I believe the material you processed had an estimated ten year life left. Firstly, is this the case, or do you think the opportunities available to you to acquire new clients can realistically materially extend this horizon? And secondly, does the company have a realistic prospect of exploiting the mining rights it has to a profitable mine of these, thus reducing the reliance on acquiring new reprocessing clients?

44:23 So I would answer it in two parts because I think they're two two different questions almost. The first one relating to the the resource life, you know, and and as we indicated by that individual operation contributions in the production graph I've highlighted earlier, you know, we have different operational life on the different operations. Some of our operations have life extending beyond fifteen years, and then others have a short operational life. And that's why we always say we believe that we have a combined profitable life of at least ten years or or beyond that in our portfolio with the current identified resources, current mine plans, and the current infrastructure. We do obviously looking at some of the potential from third parties, seeing that there are projects that can add ten to fifteen year life new life on to, to operations.

45:14 And, and then that's why we are pursuing these in in detail. As I said, we have the the the right management structures in place, the, the the overall infrastructure expertise to take on more opportunities, and then that's certainly why it is a is a key focus area for us. Looking at the question about realistically expanding or commercializing the exploration assets. I think certainly, looking at projects in the industry and looking at the longer term PGM demand fundamentals, they will be a need for for future production. And then looking at the supply pipeline, you know, there's a couple of deep level expensive projects in in progress or in feasibility stages in the same area where we are.

46:05 But I do think the what makes our assets unique is that the shallow open cost operations, so cheap mining cost and and low risk. The fact that we have done the work to upgrade the cutoff grades on the models to get us to a saleable concentrate means that you bring down the capital and the downstream processing significantly. Our idea with this is we we're well aware, you know, we've we've our processes. We have excellent metallurgical and processing track record. But looking at the open cost mining operations and the current operations we have, like the Moyneux and Lennox, we are treating open cost operations that somebody else is mining for us in any case. So our plants are already treating run of mine material. We're already treating recovery of the PGMs from it. So it's a ideal match to our current skill set and expertise.

47:01 So processing wise, it's fine. And that's why I said, if we understand the potential of this, one will decide and say, okay. Do you then partner with somebody on the mining side like we are partnering with our current host mines so that we can focus our processing going forward and add significant value? Or do you say, listen. It is not fitting the core skills and strategy of the company. You spin it out and you reinvest that money if you've been able to identify other third party material in the dumps in the dump space. So either way, the steps we're taking currently on exploration to understand our resource better and improve the the confidence and the classification of our resources is definitely adding value to shareholders because whatever step you take next will depend on on on the work we are doing now that would unlock the value for you going forward.

47:48 So I think, certainly, the projects are attractive, and they they could be definitely, in my view, I think, as a high prospect of realization in, you know, as commercial projects in the end, if we, the guys, taking it there or partnering with someone, that is a question that we can only answer once we we have more of the detailed information available that is currently being performed. Thank you, Jakob. Next one we've got here. Is there any plan to commercialize the nickel resource at the Wolfsbrut Mine, or is this something that's being looked at, especially given the nickel is substantially increasing due to demand for use component in high energy density batteries? Thanks, Paul. This question actually ties in perfectly with the previous one. Wolfspruit Mine is one of those. As I said earlier, we had Wolfspruit and then the Northern LIM project areas. So those would be two respective mining areas. So it's exactly what I've just been discussing to say the fundamentals for it is in terms of development. It could well be that, you you exploit it. So just then maybe touch on the nickel portion here that we have not discussed in the previous answer is, and I I didn't mention it there.

48:52 So while your these are primary PGM resources in contrast to our current chrome tailings or chrome, I don't know, mine material we treat to basically recover PGMs as a byproduct while the host mines retain the chrome as their primary product. These open cost projects are primary PGM projects, and they're the same geological area as Anglo Platinum's Halakwena operation, which is their flagship lowest cost operation and biggest platinum mine in the world. So it's geographically located there. So those Northern limb ores contain a significantly higher portion of nickel and copper, so the base metals. And, yes, it is very attractive from that point of view. So and it is a big consideration, especially looking at the battery demand and alternative energy demand going forward.

49:45 That said, you know, it has then obviously slightly lower rhodium or significantly lower rhodium content. You typically, on on our properties, between 46% rhodium compared to 12% rhodium in our current suite. But you have the base metals almost 10 times the base metal content in the concentrate than our current SDAO operations. The nickel and copper certainly could be attractive. And, you know, but it's a careful balance in the industry finding the offtakers that are able to accommodate the base metal capacity in the existing smelters and refineries. But, again, as I said, the studies we're currently performing would highlight all of those opportunities, challenges, and requirements for us to make a decision going forward.

50:33 That's great. Thank you. Is the growth in renewable energy likely to increase the demand for platinum in the near or long term future? Is that like to offset the fall in demand due to the fall in use of catalytic converters? Look. So so you you have to understand, yeah, just the the application. So I think overall, there's a there's a slight shift in the which element is being consumed in the different areas. So while palladium and rhodium are currently primarily the auto catalyst consumers or large portion for palladium, palladium have a portion of its consumption that's industrial, and that would probably continue to to be strong going forward. So you might have rhodium and palladium going down as vehicle as the traditional internal combustion vehicles are replaced with newer tech electric vehicles and also power and more renewable power.

51:29 But then to counter that in in one part is increasing emission standards for the screener economy is so while there's fewer costs, the catalytic requirements or the loadings in the catalyst becomes increasingly more. So that balance some of the amount. But then significant change, and and you would see that on the graph I had, the PGM prices, looking at the long term outlook for platinum. Platinum plays a major role in the in the alternative energy and renewable energy economy going forward and especially the hydrogen economy. So platinum is plays a significant role in platinum fuel cells, And and therefore, we're fortunate having platinum in fact, more platinum than palladium and rhodium in our gold split. So if you have a drop in the palladium and rhodium prices going forward, we had to see platinum price significantly increasing. And as I said, looking at the exploration project, have the further benefit of nickel and copper in that.

52:31 That's fantastic. Thank you very much indeed. And I think we've just got time just to get some quick answers, last couple that we've got through. What's the rationale for holding so much cash, especially the more volatile South African rand rather than, say, for US dollar? Okay. Look, so I think the the it's we explained earlier how how do we decide how much cash to to hold, you know, and and that it's also part of our debit decision is to make sure, firstly, we can, based on the the the current our current view of the global economic and world risk. So, you know, in the times of since COVID and also the current uncertainty with the conflict in Ukraine and other economic parameters, we we did increase our standard working capital requirements for the four to six months already. So that plays a big role in what we do. We do have to cater for our identified project capital expenditure, and you've seen that we have the higher capital forecast for the next financial year for the specific projects that Anne mentioned.

53:29 Then we further have to look at the growth opportunities, which I identified, so we need to make sure we have that. And then the last one is making sure we have enough capital to pay the dividends that we declared. So we, in fact, at the end of this current financial year, June 30, had more of our cash in dollars, U. S. Dollars, than we had in South African rands. But it's important to note that our South African our all our operating expenses are incurred in South African rand, and therefore, it's important for us to keep adequate holding of rand in South Africa. The rands that we do have in South Africa, we invest with reputable institutions at interest rate of about, I think, four to 6% in there. So it's it's not so that that whole philosophy, Luanne and her team is very diligently managing all the time to ensure we have the right balance of cash in the right place and overall that the company, through the guidance of the board, holds the right amount of cash on hand.

54:26 That's fantastic. Just conscious of time, Jakob, so I think, if I may, you have covered off a lot of questions we have from investors. Of course, the company will review all questions submitted today, we published responses to those on the Investor Meet company platform. Jaka, before redirecting investors to provide you with their feedback, which I do know is important to you and the team, can I just ask you for a few closing comments, if I may, please? Okay. No. Thanks, Paul. And as always, it's a it's a brilliant opportunity. And we said since we initiated the first session of the investment company after COVID, it's been a unique opportunity for us to to get exposure to a lot more shareholders and potential prospective investors through this platform. So thank you for that opportunity. So just closing on the company, I think as we explained throughout the presentation, like all PGM companies in the industry, both our financial performance and the share price performance is significantly dependent on what the PGM market does.

55:23 I shared my views that we believe we have a robust outlook on that, and therefore, we are quite upbeat about what the future holds. But each investor would have to apply his own set of assumptions on risk appetite to do to determine where they would place us in terms of future potential. However, and as I said, so what makes SYLVANIA unique is the opportunity investment opportunity is the fact that we have a very attractive suite of very attractive and stable cash generation operations that gives us the opportunity to generate cash to invest in further growth and sustainability of the operations. We have a proven track record of delivering on our promises. And I think by and and of returning value to shareholders and by leveraging on that and just continue to do what we have been doing to date, I'm confident that we would be able to unlock significant further potential for shareholders, both from new opportunities, growth opportunities, and from our exploration assets going forward.

56:33 And and I hope that the shareholders feel that they get the same value as we believe we are delivering. So thanks again for the the opportunity. And, yeah, as I said, we'll get back on some of the questions that we haven't been able to answer now in writing later. Thank you. Yeah. Koloman, thank you indeed for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close the session? You'll be automatically redirected to provide your feedback, and all the team can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete, and I know it's greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of SYLVANIA PLATINUM LIMITED, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That concludes today's session. Thank you, and good afternoon to you all. Thank you.