Terreno Resources: Capitalizing on the Global Critical Minerals Boom

0:03 Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on where in the world you're signing in from today. I'm very, very eager to have with me today, CEO of Trainer Resources, Rick Williams. Rick, how are you? I'm well, thank you. How are you? Good, good. So here's how today's gonna work for the folks in the room. First, we're gonna go through a presentation that Rick has prepared for us about the company. Then I've got some questions that I'm gonna throw at him just based on that presentation. But this is an interactive event, and following that, we will be taking questions from the live audience. So there's that chat button in the bottom right of your screen. Please feel free to click on it and ask Rick questions at any point during today's event. I'll be eager to shoot him those questions and get some answers for you. And as always, today's event is being recorded and will be available for replay. You'll have it right in this exact same link, but it'll also be

0:51 on Six's YouTube channel shortly thereafter, probably about an hour after the event ends. That's enough out of me. I'm eager to get into the protein for today's event. So Rick, I'm gonna go ahead and throw up your presentation. I'll throw it to you to get started. Okay, our project is in Bolivia and the metal that we're going after at the moment is tantalum. And the reason that we took on the project was we had an opportunity to take a project on that someone else had, the prior owner passed away, and wanted to go into production without doing the systematic exploration, but was quite prepared to go forward, had gone out and bought the equipment. So we were interested in having a project that could get into production in a relatively short time. That is, I think we could do it in about a year and for a relatively modest amount of money in terms of mining capital. So we think with the equipment already at the site, a million dollars should be able to take us all the way to production.

2:01 Okay. Here's the general disclaimer, we will pass on that, but this is forward looking statements here. So part of the education process that we're going through is telling people what tantalum is used for. It's a very strategic metal. If you have a computer, if you have a cell phone, if you have a car, you probably have tantalum used in it. Its main application is in electronics and it's mainly used in capacitors, which are small batteries used in all these electronic components.

2:49 Very big industry getting bigger. AI is going to also use tantalum. And we're seeing lots of other applications which we'll look at in a second here.

3:05 So tantalum is used in aerospace. It's got a very high melting point. It's used, again, in all the electronics. So boats, ships, planes all have tantalum components. It's also used in nuclear applications. It's used as, it's one of the hardest metals. I understand it's harder than diamonds. So it's used in turbine coatings and tips of missiles and any other elements that need hard metals.

3:45 The third main application is in the medical area because tantalum is biocompatible and that means that it is

3:58 accepted by the body. It isn't rejected by the body. So if you have a hip replacement, the titanium is coated with tantalum. And if you have a dental implant, again, there's a tantalum component to it. The other element of it is it's non-radio transparent. So it's used in a lot of applications in x-rays. For example, if you have sponges during an operation, they wanna locate the sponges, they have a tag that's a tantalum tag so that they can find it and make sure that there's no sponges left in the body when the operation is taking place. Lots of applications, lots of new applications being looked at particularly in the medical field.

4:51 It's a small niche industry. It's about 500, or sorry, 5 million pounds

5:00 produced a year. About a third of it comes from the Congo, and that's regarded as a conflict area. And some of those mines are not operational at the moment. So the supply has been decreased quite a bit, which also results in increased prices. And we're seeing lots of events right now. For example, the US government has just announced that they would like to buy a hundred million dollars worth of tantalum. So that's about 20% of the world's industry being taken off the market. We're also seeing funds that are being established. There's 1 fund in the UK with a billion 8, and there's 1 fund in the US with a billion dollars looking for strategic metals. This is a critical metal part of that. I've been in contact with them. They got back to me the same day.

6:01 Lots of interest in the metal, And it's being reflected as the share, as the, sorry, the price of the metal goes up.

6:12 So our project is in Bolivia. It happens that Bolivia's main source of revenue right now is mining. About 30% of their economy is dependent on mining. Most of the

6:28 mining operations are tin and silver related. There's a belt that's quite prolific in that. It's been around for many, many years. Bolivia is quite interesting in that tomorrow is the inauguration of a new president. They had a runoff election. Both candidates were center and center right.

6:52 So there's a move away from Nicaragua, Venezuela, back to the States. I understand that there's a US delegation of about 40 companies going down there. The interest in returning to the capitalist system is there. It's opening up to foreign investment.

7:13 It's opening up to mining. And I think we're well positioned and the timing looks ideal for us. So again, this is what I was just talking about, the

7:31 interest in Bolivia is there, They have economic issues at the moment. They've been subsidizing their gasoline. People are now having to line up for 4 hours plus to get filled. It's about 30 cents a liter. So people are buying gasoline in Bolivia and then taking it elsewhere and making money on that. They can't afford to do that for very long. Most of their money historically

8:05 came from the gas fields that they have neglected, so they're going to require additional capital and they're open now to foreign investment. So, one of the big plays that you're going to be hearing about will be the opening up, putting out for tender the big brine, salt brines that they have that are very rich in lithium. So they've got world-class lithium deposits that are also going to be hitting the market one of these days. Corporately, We've kept it very tight for the time being. We've got 64 million shares outstanding. We have no options outstanding, no warrants outstanding. We're keeping it very simple.

8:57 Management owns about 12% of the company. We're going to be doing a financing once we get our expiration license, and that is due any day now. Our expiration license will then give us a clear path of purpose of proceeds, and we'll see how that develops there. We do have the equipment already on site that would allow us to go into small-scale production.

9:24 Once we get our expiration license, we then apply for a small-scale production license. And that could be as early as the end of the year. It doesn't take very long after we get the expiration license to get the small scale production license. The equipment that we have

9:46 would allow us to get into production in about 45 days, but we don't plan to assemble the equipment until we've carried out further exploration.

9:58 So that is it. If you have some questions, happy to answer them, Romeo. Awesome, really appreciate you going through that presentation. Now, I do, as you suggested, have a couple of questions. If you don't mind, I'm just going to throw a couple at you. There are some good questions in the chat already. And just for those folks I will get to those questions just as soon as I'm through mine. I'll try to weave them in actually if at all possible. So we'll see if they can fit. First one as you mentioned obviously some recent developments in Bolivia and their mining policy framework and that's kind of created the opportunity for Trino to move forward with Metal 46.

10:33 How are you guys structuring your relationships with local partners and government stakeholders? Well, when we did our due diligence, one of the key elements that attracted us was the fact that the property was selected by our in-country manager, who worked for 15 years doing assays in-country for Alex Stewart International. So he's very familiar with all of the properties in-country. He's now buying and selling tantalum from the local parties on this belt and the belt extends for about 120 kilometers and there's lots of small operations taking place at the village levels or artisanal levels. So he's got those relationships. That's probably one of the most valuable assets that we have. He's also well known within the government and has been instrumental in relationships in terms of the permitting. He knows everybody at the Ministry of Mines and so on.

11:38 Also as part of our due diligence, I contacted one of my friends who I've known for 40 years, who's invested about $65 million in Bolivia, has 2 public companies, Canadian listed public companies operating down there. And he's also been very valuable. He's got all the contacts and government relationships, lawyers, accountants, and so on. So the vendors as well, the main investor in it passed away, but his colleagues have been working down there for many, many years. So I also had the benefit of their involvement. And they're still involved because they're shareholders now and they're getting a participation.

12:25 Great. No, I appreciate that. I think that's a useful extra context for folks. Now, I know we went through just the presentation, talking about the renewed investor interest after that decade-long bear market for critical minerals. I'm curious, just trying to look for your perspective here, what makes this kind of the right moment for Torino's entry into tantalum space And what advantages does your team specifically have to capitalize on the opportunity? Well, as mentioned, the main catalyst was the timing of being able to get to cash flow, given that we were still, when we took this on, we were still in this 10-year bear market that you were mentioning. The Tantalum aspect is quite interesting. One of my mentors, who I worked with for many, many years, has the credit for discovering the only Tantalum producing mine in Canada. And that was the Burnick Lake deposit. And the gentleman is Peter Howe, who passed away years ago.

13:22 And that became Tanko. And it's still operating, but not doing Tantalum. So there's no Tantalum operating mines in North America. We did have additional exposure to it, working with a company called Avalon, which is still around, it's changed its name. And they had the big whopper, which has petalite and tantalum. And so Tantalum, cesium, rubidium, all these metals that are associated with the pegmatites were something that I've had exposure to. And I also have, through other interests, a relationship with probably the foremost tantalum expert in the world. He's well up there, Dr. Peter Cox, and he's out of South Africa and he runs a number of mines and he's got a number of operations. So he's our primary consultant on the project.

14:17 And he also has a relationship with the refinery. He's been asked to be part of the management team at the Gutang refinery in South Africa. So they have processes for recovery and they've got some new technology that they'd like us to try. So all of that made it quite interesting to get into the tantalum sphere. And this belt is quite interesting because it has other, there's other elements on this property. There's niobium, there is some Platinum. There's other elements that we're going to be looking at, but we're starting off focusing on the Tantalum, which as it happens, just seems to be one of the metals that's being very much looked for.

15:03 Okay. So, I mean, with that consultant, with that really deep Tanzalum experience and an in-country manager with really niche specific experience of Tanzalum operations on that mineralized belt, I imagine all of that combined experience, local knowledge network, must be accelerating your development timeline, or at least give you an advantage compared to other folks? Well I think so. In terms of the permitting, Winston Dominguez, who's our in-country rep, knows everybody within the ministry, has worked with them, has good relationships. So I think the process has gone quite smoothly and it's taking a little longer than anticipated, but generally things take longer in Central America than anticipated. So we're forging ahead on that. And as I said, we've got the equipment already in place.

15:54 It's in storage right now. And they estimate that it could take 45 days to put it into production. But that was acquired by a private company and they don't have to follow the rate, the systematic exploration regime that a public company should follow, it makes sense. So we're gonna be doing the exploration systematically with a 43-101 and we do have access to a QP down there. So all that is looking quite good. Promising, yeah. And one thing I wanted to talk about, I know that 140 kilometer belt has multiple active operations as we've already talked to it today. Are there, or does that mean that there's opportunities to leverage any existing infrastructure or collaborate with the neighboring producers and explorers in ways that could benefit or at least reduce CapEx for the Metal 46 project?

16:46 Well, we've been, given that the equipment that we're bringing on is more sophisticated than the equipment generally used there at the moment. We've been already asked if we would do custom milling or if people could bring their material to our property. I didn't want to get into that until we're into production. So that's always going to be there. We've also, because of these 2 major funds that have been established, a billion and a billion 8 funds and they're interested. Our project is obviously too small at the moment, but so we were looking and just discussing opportunities and there is an opportunity to buy existing mines and additional properties And that's being compiled right now. But that's all. That's a function of funding. And we're not there yet.

17:39 No, it makes sense. Speaking of the timeline and process. Before I get to the questions in the chat. What are the kind of key milestones that investors who are in the room today should be watching for over the next, let's say 12 to 18 months as you go from expiration through to that 43-101? Well, the expiration permit is the next milestone. And as soon as we get that, we will be looking to do a financing to carry out the expiration and to be able to assemble the equipment and get into small scale production. So first is expiration license, then an expiration program, and then the exploitation license will be sought, then the results from the exploration license of 43-101 and a production decision will be taken.

18:30 And then that's expansion from there. I mean, we will be growing organically, but we also have a number of opportunities being presented to us. Great. Well, appreciate, obviously, let me go through my questions. I've got a couple from the chat as well that I wanted to touch on today before we jump. 1, it's a two-part question from Barry in the chat. And he asks, is tantalum a critical mineral right now? I imagine as designated by governments in the West. It is, it's both on the US and on the Canadian side. It's one of the 58, I think we're into in Canada, but yes, it is a critical metal. Great, and the second part of his question, are there any roots or what are the roots for government funding of projects?

19:20 Well, as I said, the US government is looking to buy $100 million worth of tantalum. So if we had it To sell, we could be selling there. I don't think the Bolivian government is doing any programs at the moment. So the answer is we're now seeing capital being deployed in the sector. So the funds that are being created, these billion dollar funds and opportunities are there to be taken. Great. One question from Wesley in the chat, and this is about Bolivia. Curious if the new Bolivian government, so following the election, is committed to reducing permitting timelines?

20:11 They haven't mentioned that yet, but they are. That's obviously something that has to be done, but in their effort to attract foreign investment, I'm sure they're going to be looking at that. Great. 1 I'll throw at you just before we close off for today. What are you most excited about, Rick, in the next couple of months at Terraino? What's keeping you up with excitement that the investors should keep an eye on? I'm being offered all sorts of elements that would allow us to expand very, very quickly. And the missing link is the capital. And you hate to say that that's the missing link because it's generally something else but I think we do have the people, we do have the property, so that's the third leg of the chair if you will, is the capital. So we're going to have to get more exposure, Part of that is an education process as to tantalum and the applications.

21:08 We're not currently in a position to do offtake agreements because we haven't defined a resource and the reserve and we're not in production, but as soon as we're in production, Winston has people very interested in buying what we will be able to produce. So that takes us into another level altogether. Awesome. Well, Rick, thank you so much for running through quick presentation and letting us go through questions and thanks everybody in the audience. Oh, actually there's one question that just came in. So I'll throw this to you before we jump. Curious, Eric Hallday from the chat asks, what's the status with the local communities that own the area where you want to operate the project and do you have land agreements in place? We do have a preliminary agreements with the local indigenous group and they actually control a huge swath of land.

22:02 It's 2.8 million hectares. And every meeting that we've had, they come in and they're very, we have a good relationship with them, primarily through Winston. But they bring in samples from properties that they would like us to develop. And that's obviously something that we're going to be looking at. They're looking for employment, so that's going to be there. There's also quite a bit of activity in lumber at the moment, and the roads are being maintained by the lumber companies, and we're going to be participating in that. And so social license is obviously very important to us. We will be addressing that. Great. I think that now actually is it for questions. Thanks everybody who joined in the room and Rick thanks for running us through.

22:52 If anybody would like to set up a meeting with Rick, please do feel free to reach out or if you think of the perfect question right after the webinar ends, it's something I do all the time, Please do feel free to reach out. I'll make sure that question gets to Rick so you can get back to you as soon as possible. But thank you so much. Hope everybody has a great end of their day.