The Argentine Advantage

0:03 Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on where in the world you are signing in from. I am thrilled today to be joined by luminaries in Latin American mining. Joaquin Marias, CEO of Argenta Silver, John Black, CEO of Olive Brown Resources, and Sam Long, CEO of the newly minted Centauri. Gentlemen, how are you today? Doing well. Great. So we got a fun topic today, as all 3 speakers are running companies that are possibly the most exciting place to be in mining today, Argentina. But here's how today's gonna work. I've got some questions just to kind of get the party started. This is an interactive event, so please use that chat button at the bottom right of your screen to ask questions at any time during today's event. We're probably gonna avoid asking any questions that are too specific to one of the companies here today, but you feel free to ask anyway in the chat, I'll just pass them through to the respective speakers' company. Presenting this right on topic, I'll try and weave it into the conversation as much as possible or tackle it towards the end of the hour.

0:53 Last piece of housekeeping, today's event is being recorded. It'll be available for replay late this afternoon, Eastern time. It'll be on the same link, but also on Six's YouTube channel. But eager to get into the protein. So I'll get right into it. President Malay's administration, which recently the party won a bit of a polling upset in the country's midterms, has implemented significant reforms, including the RISG. It's the regime of incentives for large investments framework. John, I'll throw it to you first, but from your perspective operating actually in-country, what's changed on the ground in the last couple of years in terms of investment climate and regulatory certainty? Well, it's important to note that The changes that have come with the Malay government have been fantastic and really opened up the mining industry, but it wasn't just night and day with him arriving. We were seeing, particularly in certain provinces, we were seeing changes that were becoming more pro-mining anyway. So That's why we started in the country in 2018, because we felt things were moving in the right direction.

1:50 What the Malay government brought in is really changing the environment to make it attractive, to make the large foreign investments that are necessary to build mines.

2:02 It was a good place for us to work. It was a good place for us to explore. But there wasn't much incentive for big companies to make the large amount of investment necessary to operate a mine. Our business strategy is to find a good project and de-risk it and sell it to a major company. It's kind of hard to do if they don't feel confident they can build a mine. So those changes have just opened the door for us now in terms of being able to have the end game open for mining companies now. They can actually make that investment. They can repatriate profits that come from that. And that's changed the scenario. So as far as operating on the ground, quite frankly, it's not particularly different for us in many ways. A little more competition, a lot more people showing up now. But the big change now is all of the major companies want to be involved

2:53 in the country. And for those of us that are exploring and have interesting projects, that's exactly what we want to see. Jared, I appreciate that. Joaquin, I'll throw it to you next. What do you think has changed, if anything, on the ground?

3:07 Well, on the ground, actually, I think that John summarized that very well. I think that we are starting to see a lot of interest in the country and I think that this is the perfect picture. Here you have John Black, CEO of Father Baran Resources, who is a company that has been there for a while, and suddenly you have 2 new companies on the scene, Centauri and Argenta. And this is happening right at this moment because all the attention it's been thrown into the country. So on the field itself, there are some good changes, you know, and this is what you see here. It's not only in mining companies. It's also affecting every other company. There are a lot of companies that service the mining industry that are also being affected by this. You're starting to see more offer

4:00 of different things that you have. Let's put it this way, the range of things that you can choose now that you have to choose, it's much wider than before. That's also an advantage because it makes the industry more dynamic. It has a lot of competitiveness

4:18 in there. So I think that's a great thing that we are starting to see now. Awesome, appreciate that. Sam, I'll throw it to you as obviously you've got a lot of experience, but you're kind of the new kid on the block company-wise here. What are you seeing in terms of the energy and vibe shift in Argentina? Yeah, I can give you a direct example is, when we're in the roads, exploration roads in the towns in the north, you see the number of logos on fleeces of the exploration teams that are doing work, not just from the actual exploring companies or larger mining companies and earn-ins, but also new service companies that are involved now in various parts of Argentina. So a big part of that is the relaxation of some of the restrictions and bringing capital into the country, as well as goods, everything from exploration equipment and new technologies.

5:05 So I think we're gonna see a new wave of being able to apply those to our project.

5:09 It's absolutely much easier to get a drill rig now than it was a few years ago. And even more importantly, to get replacement parts. So you hit it right on the nose there. That's pretty good change for us. All right, Bet. Now, John, you alluded to in your first answer that obviously there is, it's a jurisdiction with both federal and state authorities or provincial authorities that need to work through. So I'm curious for each of your perspectives, I know there's some different provinces on display here. How do you navigate the relationship

5:37 with the province? Have you seen some become more competitive and attractive mining investment under the current administration, or are the same provinces that were heavy into mining still the same ones leading that charge. Joaquin, I'll throw it to you first. So you're pointing to something that is very important. Argentina, it's a multi-jurisdictional place because every province has its own regulations. But we cannot forget, we should not forget, that there is a national mining framework, which is the mining code. The mining code is one of the most detailed mining codes, probably, in the world. It states everything on how the industry has to be moved from exploration to production, to mining closure.

6:24 There are also some investment laws that have been incorporated into that code or amended into that code that predate also the RIGI. So I think that when you get into a country like this where you have multiple jurisdictions

6:44 with particularities on a national mining framework, you start from general to small, right? You need to learn what is the general framework, what is the national mining code, what are the regulations that protect you as an explorer or as a producer in the country. And then you need to go and deal with the particularities of the provinces. In most cases, it's going to be how they do things. If you need to present the environmental impact assessment before or after some step or one thing or the other. So I think that these kind of things, these relationships that you need to navigate are completely different. 1, it's a national level and the other one, it's a provincial level.

7:34 And It's really important to have local people that understand both environments because they are completely different. So in our case, for example, our president and legal representative

7:47 who is in Argentina, the president of the subsidiary. He's a well-known lawyer in the province. He has the contacts. He knows the people. He knows how the system works. And all of this is making us much easier, our relationship with the government. Awesome, I appreciate that. Sam, I'll throw it to you next for navigating that province national framework. I think everything starts locally. It's really about the stakeholders and various

8:15 regulatory and government representatives. I think we've worked hard to develop and maintain those, and in the Centauri case with Aldebaran and Regulus and Interest at History, you're talking about 20 years of presence in a whole region. So I think that's very important and that show of continuity and consistency really resonates with stakeholders, right? Because government officials and regulation representatives can change over time, various governments and elections. But I think that's so far so good. I think that's been a consistent flow within the provinces that we operate. I think on the second part of the question, kind of the impact, I think my view is we've seen a huge amount of investment in San Juan, particularly for copper, in Salta in the north for lithium. And I think they've led the way in changing the minds of neighboring provinces that previously were quite unfriendly or more full of red tape.

9:13 And we're definitely seeing a change in tune and interest in the advancement of our projects or potential new concessions in those other provinces. Awesome. And John, I'll throw it to you. Somebody in the chat said, I know you operate in San Juan. They put, it's going on in San Juan. So throw it to you for wrap up this question. Yeah. No, I think Sam and Joaquin have hit on the nose on this in the general description. I just kind of carry in Sam's last thought there a little bit farther. It's been really interesting. We've always worked in Salta, Jujuy and San Juan. So we've been in the provinces that are most friendly for mining and have had good opportunities. But places like Mendoza, Mendoza used to be a complete no-fly zone for us. And they've totally changed their tune now on this, including arguably, they may get the first copper mine in, that's what they're trying to do there. And that's just a radical change that we've seen. And the reason that has come about is because they see the potential for mining to improve everybody's lifestyle.

10:15 And they look at it more rationally and realize that it can be compatible

10:20 with other activities. It's not mines or wines, you can have mines and wines. And that's, they're really recognizing that right now. And that's important. And it is carrying over to some of the, even the non-mining provinces are excited about this. And they're participating, Riji, for agricultural projects or oil and gas projects or other things as well. So as we begin to get more of the governors on board with the idea of large foreign capital investment to open up new jobs and more professional positions for people. That helps because we can't simply...

10:55 It's great if you're in a province that's pro-mining, but you still depend on what happens at the federal level and the national level. So it's important that we're seeing our industry embraced throughout the country and not just in the favorable provinces we're in. If you love me, Romeo, I think that we need to put everything in context here, right? Argentina is coming out from maybe, I don't know, 20 years of economical hurdles and problems and things, mostly in the provincial level for each province, right? And now with this new administration, the administration has decided to cut the flow of some funds into the provinces from national level. So some of those provinces now they are starting to think, hey, I won't have any more that I save heaven from Big Daddy, which is the national government.

11:51 And now we need to produce.

11:54 And they know, mostly the Western provinces of the country, that they have all this richness on the Andes. Some of them, they have been banning the mining industry once and over and over and over, relying on something different, like wine or the oil industry. I am particularly from Mendoza, speaking on the case of Mendoza. Mendoza had the biggest oil and gas basing of Argentina. But now it's depleted. It's over. So the national oil company, it's moving out from the province. The wine industry was big, but we didn't have that amount of population that we have today. So there are differences in time and in the context that have changed, that have made some of these authorities to change completely their mind and to start aligning themselves to something that is more in accordance with reality.

12:51 And this national government, which is advocating for the mining industry, the oil and gas industry, and the agribusinesses,

13:01 They are focusing themselves in these 3 things to move the country forward. Well, I think that the provincial governments, they are starting to align with that. And as Jun was saying, we start to see some changes even before the change of administration. But on federal level, well, this government has decided to move the country based on those 3 things, and the governors see this as a great opportunity to stay aligned and keep moving forward. I appreciate that extra context. It's certainly a significant change. One thing I'm going to throw, actually I'll give it to you, John, first, if you don't mind. What infrastructure developments over the years, particularly in recent times, or solutions have you seen or been yourself part of implementing that make Argentine projects more viable in mining? I can probably best speak more directly to just San Juan, where we have the most experience right now.

13:52 And in a project basis, we have a great sharing arrangement with Glencore and the Patron project just next door. We share the same road going up. And that's an agreement between the 2 of us, but it's facilitated by interaction between all the companies. There's a round table that we use to have discussions amongst all of us doing exploration work in the country. And those type of

14:16 agreements are worked out there. So that's been good. But in more of a provincial setting, I first started working in San Juan, I think it was probably 1997. And the changes between 1997 and today in San Juan are just incredible. It in terms of there's now a modern area in the downtown that hosts the government. It has a great theater that's there. The roads have improved. The roads out to our project have improved dramatically

14:49 out to the Valley of Calangasta. And it's well recognized by provincial authorities and more importantly, much of the community, much of the population of San Juan, that that's largely been on the back of revenues coming from mining. Keep in mind, it's not like there are no mines. We have the Valladero mine, we've had the Guacamayo mine. We've had several large Gold mines in Argentina and they've made a very noticeable impact. That's why San Juan embraces mining so much, is because they can see what comes from that. But as we have the opportunity to move to these large Copper projects, the impact is going to be even more. So it's been a radical change and I can't wait to see what San Juan looks like 20 years in the future from now. I think we'll see even more changes. So some of those changes help us, but more importantly, they help everybody else.

15:39 And that's what's critical is we need to see these, not just be infrastructure changes that don't solely benefit us. Oh, really appreciate that. Joaquin, I'll throw it to you for what infrastructure developments you've seen or are seeing right now.

15:53 Well, I agree pretty much with John. I studied geology in the province of San Juan. And when I came there, there were streets that still dirt roads, you know, or some areas that were not not completely fully developed. The change in between the old government house to the new government house that John is mentioning that happened in those years. And I think that all this development that we have seen in the last years, it's going to be now probably pushed more due to this new flow of investments.

16:28 Argentina has a huge infrastructure and that's something that is pretty much undervaluated in the country. Our railroad in Argentina was built by the English and operated by the English during many, many, many years. The roads have been all around the Andes, trying to access to different sites because Argentina was historically a mining

16:55 country. We have a lot of cities along the Andes, on the foot of the Andes. So lots of resource to be provided from there. So there are power lines that have been connected everywhere. I was discussing with somebody the other day, what did happen in Spain, this blackout that they had, it wouldn't happen in Argentina at all because we have a national interconnected power grid that when some

17:28 energy facility goes down, the circuit gets connected, hooked up, it never leaves areas in blackout. So there is so much infrastructure. Argentina has nuclear power, hydro, gas, and all these things that are coming out together. And I think that we will see much more improvement very soon on those things. In terms of Salta, where we have the project,

17:57 and where Sam also has his project, I think that Salta is doing a lot of things to pave roads on the mountains, to make them wider. They keep them all the year workable. There is a lot of transit of very heavy equipment due to the lithium industry. So these roads, they need a lot of maintenance and the government is constantly working there. So I think that infrastructure, it's a key element of Argentina.

18:25 Awesome. Sam, I'll let you wrap up this question. Yeah, and I think it's a good segue to talk about the north. I mean, as Joaquin says, you know, historically you have the borax mines, you have the sulphide mines, sulphur mines in the north, and the rail goes right through where our projects are collectively in Salton and beyond. But just the amount of development, I mean, going through their 2 trips this summer, I've never seen so many solar panels in my life. You know, the number of mega solar projects. And this is just the beginning of the investment that's going in. And this

18:56 is directly supporting the lithium mines to start and larger mines to come in the future with discovery. So I think we're seeing those as kind of strategic or indicators that any visitor can see. And we're obviously showcasing that in slides and presentations. You'll also, I mean, if you look strategically at companies like, you know, You guys know I'm on the board of Abra Silver and a key strategic shareholder in Abra is Central Porto, which is one of the largest power utilities in Argentina that's publicly traded in NYSE. So there's also this element of attracting or that I guess it's a synergy or a combined force between infrastructure development and non-mining type companies and stakeholders supporting mining projects and exploration and vice versa. So I think that's John's point earlier and we're seeing an action every day, every week.

19:43 Great. And I'll start with you on the next one, Sam, as well. I know mining companies working out of Argentina obviously need to attract international capital like everywhere. But there are still, I think, some outdated concerns, in my opinion, about currency risk and macro instability.

19:58 So my question is, how are you positioning the company and projects to overcome those kind of outdated concerns when people are talking about Argentina? Yeah, I think the key thing is the national regulatory changes in currency

20:13 are allowing us to make better plans. There's more predictability in operations and our budgets. That's something that everyone operating in Argentina and raising money in Canada, US, etc. It's been a key risk and how we deal with FX and timing of how we bring money into the country. So I think we're finding new efficiencies and this is part of the planning as we did the spin out with John and the team at Aldebaran. So I think we continue to be cautious but we've seen the improvements over the last 2 years and we're obviously working towards even more stability after this election. So I think that's a huge part of what we're going after. A new factor as well, and I think I mentioned the last question, is the involvement of domestic business community in what we're doing.

21:04 So whether it's real estate, whether it's infrastructure or utilities, like we said, there are now more and more entrepreneurs from other sectors

21:14 taking interest in what we're doing. And it helps with the multiplier effect of what we're trying to do in socioeconomic development. Great. Joaquin, I'll throw it to you next for how are you positioning Argenta to kind of overcome those concerns that international capital might have? So first of all, I want to start saying this.

21:33 When you are just about to jump from a plane with a parachute, you know,

21:38 you're thinking, okay, is the parachute going to open? Is this safe? There is that voice behind you telling, hey, people just jump on parachutes and the parachutes, they open, right? It's the same when you jump on a plane. Is my plane going to crash? Well, the 10 previous planes didn't crash. So we need to think about what's the history and what is the record. So let's look in the past. An American silver, the Grosso Group, Regulus with a presence of what, maybe 20 years in the region, and many other ones. We have Goldcorp, we have Anglo. There are so many companies that have been for so long in the country. You need to see the timeline and try to understand what was happening in between.

22:25 There were great times of the country and there were really bad times of the country in between the time that they were operating in Argentina. So I think that, again, this is like the plane is just about to leave and we need to think, what happened to those

22:40 companies that were very tenacious, that they were very persistent? What happened to those companies? The Lundin family,

22:49 Cosemaria and all these projects. Well, all of them succeed. But the success is because they have been persistent and they have known how to navigate these problems, but also they didn't let these problems affect them or they didn't change their mind in terms of the long future of the country. Argenta Silver, I think that for us,

23:12 we don't see that immediate risk as a risk per se. I'm planning on a long-term future for a project. Look at Abrasilver. Abrasilver, they started 7 years ago. Now they are presenting a PFS. So it's because they have been very persistent and they were in the middle of one of the worst governments of the history of the country. So for us, we have a commodity that is giving us a lot of sense of security. And the other thing about our project is that it's 100% pure silver. So we don't have lead or zinc. So we have the full leverage of the silver market. And that's probably a great advance. We have a very strong position in the country. We have a resource.

24:04 I don't see these changes along the way in political or economical things as risks per se. I think that here the key is persistence. Great. John, I'll throw it to you to wrap up this topic. Yeah, just a few additional thoughts on this. I think your question

24:24 a year or 2 ago was probably more appropriate than right now. Today, I'm a little more concerned that everybody's on board with Argentina, to be honest with you. I think things have gotten out and people are pretty aware that it's there. And what we want to do is make sure that people fully understand Argentina, that they're not just jumping to it because it's hot. And then, say a great example was a few weeks ago. If those election results hadn't been as robust as they were we might've seen people turn very negative on Argentina when that wasn't necessarily the case. So I think it goes back to Joaquin's point that you need persistence and you need understanding. So I think the important thing is that we help shareholders understand all of the opportunity and all the details and all of the timeframes it's going to take us to get there. So a form like When you called and asked about this forum, I thought, hey, this is fantastic. This

25:18 is an opportunity to help people understand Argentina better and make wise investments. It's a fantastic opportunity. I just don't want people to jump on because it's hot and jump off and miss it because one small thing changes or something like that, or they don't fully understand the time frame. So it's all about communication and education and making sure people really fully understand how things work and how long it takes us to do things. Awesome, Appreciate that. And there's one question from the chat, actually, that John, I'm just going to throw to you and then feel free, Joaquin and Sam, if you guys have comments on it as well. But Ben Whiting from the chat says his colleagues and friends with Pan American Silver have gone through several waves of political change in Argentina. He wants to know, how do you see the relationship between the very enthusiastic junior explorers and the majors who have had kind of problems in the past? What's that relationship look like now?

26:12 I think we've kind of touched on that before in that it's for a long time now it's been a great place to explore. It's been relatively inexpensive. There are some challenges on getting materials and people we need and things like that, but there haven't been any issues on exploring particularly. Where the challenge has been is to put things into production. And so that's, I think, is the sort of binary nature between the experience of a junior explorer and a mining company trying to mine. There have been examples that have managed to get things in, but there have been plenty of great discoveries that haven't been able to be converted into mines and plenty of good projects that have just been sitting there waiting for the time. So I think that's the change. And right now what we're seeing is the mining companies

26:59 are over the moon about these changes right now because it will allow them to bring in the capital necessary to move forward. There may still be some provinces, specifically thinking of Pan American, there may still be some provinces where there are a few more challenges, but we're seeing more and more provinces realize the potential of mining and move cautiously, sometimes even rapidly into a situation to go forward. So I think that difference of experience between explorers and miners will smooth out here in the very near future. No, appreciate that. Anybody else has thoughts Go for it or I'll get into environmental.

27:35 Well, first of all, warm regards to Ben. So it's great that Ben is listening to us. And I think that he's asking something very, very important because as John was stating, plenty of these big companies in Argentina now, they are also divesting some assets. And I think that it's the juniors, the ones that are going to be able to move

28:00 those assets into the future, right? Or we see some new things happening, like some companies doing spin-outs to, you know, develop new things in their portfolio or things that have been there under the shadow of something bigger. So we are starting to see all these things moving forward. And I believe that it's a great, there is a great relationship or we will see great relationship in between ones and the others. Yeah, I was gonna just add, Romeo, that in the North, there are some direct examples for that question. If you look at the number of Lithium juniors that originally were exploring the Salars, the salt flats to the operations that exist today, that are owned by Australian companies, Koreans, Chinese groups

28:49 that are there. And you look on the mining side, you have Fortuna that built Lindero back in just 2020 and 2021, the ramp up to commercial production to be successful there, as well as Astara still operates in the North. So you have people that are groups that have been able to navigate through from exploration stage through to commercial operation. And they may have had different strategies to diversify their own geopolitical risk. But for sure, there are now huge opportunities again, closer to home for those companies that are already in operations and the majors looking for more stable production for decades to come. Awesome. Thanks, and thanks Ben for the great question. Joaquin, I'm gonna throw the next one to you. I'm curious what your experience has been and curious if it's changed with environmental permitting timelines and community engagement in Argentina. How does it compare to other jurisdictions you're aware of or have experience with?

29:45 Well, Argentina has very strict rules in terms of environment

29:49 and compliance and all these kind of things. As I mentioned before, the regulatory framework from Argentina is huge. It's huge, it's very well supported. And in terms of permitting, I think that the country is now getting up to speed, independently in which jurisdiction you are. This is due to the interest, right? It's just as easy as putting this that before you could go to some mines departments and they would be in their computers doing their stuff. And now you get there and they are all up to speed because the government, it's also the administration is pushing the environmental secretaries or the environmental departments to move things forward quick because they see that the time is now.

30:38 So in my experience with Salta particularly, the permitting has been fantastic. And I have to say that something to take out for us from the environmental permitting and this thing that take out for us from our experience is if you comply 100%,

31:00 things come super, super fast. It's because you're complying. It's because when they review things, they see that you are sticking yourself 100% to the rule, to the regulation. There are some well-known cases that these companies are keep proposing things that are not supported by the regulatory framework. They keep getting kicked off and then they question and they say, look, what is going on with the permitting system in Argentina? Nothing wrong, comply and then you will get what you want. Today, that timing, it's much faster than before for sure. Or at least that is my appreciation. I don't know what it's John's or some. Let's throw it to him and find out, John, I'll throw it to you for what your experience has been with community engagement and environment permitting.

31:52 Permitting's fantastic in Argentina in general. And particularly compared to some of the other jurisdictions we work in. So it's not without its few, there are a few little quirks that I'd like to improve, but the current government is addressing those actually and moving forward. There are a couple kind of archaic aspects to mostly how mining claims are held and things, but that's, It's workable as it was just mentioned. It's important to understand the rules and understand how to work within it. And if you run into something, the problems tend to be because as foreign companies, we might not fully appreciate how it works. And so then it's just communication with the government. We find all the provinces we're working in very open to helping us solve things. They want things to go faster than we can make them go, frankly.

32:41 So that's good. So all that part's good. I'll touch a little bit on the community engagement because it's part of your question here. And just give one example of the difference on community engagement compared to some other areas we work. It's common for countries to have mining conventions. Here in the US, there's the big Las Vegas Convention or in Peru, there's Peru Min every other year. And those are really kind of love fests for mining companies to come and you talk about buying tires for your haul pack or concentrator agreements or things like that. And it's this mining industry amongst itself having a big event. In San Juan, they do a little bit of a different twist on this. It still has Caterpillar with the big trucks out there and they encourage all of us to show up and have our booths and everything. But they also strongly encourage the community to come and see that. So instead of being a daytime event, it actually starts in the afternoon and goes until the late evening.

33:41 They have musical groups that play free music. They have food stands around. They have 4 points in the city where they bus people in free for free admittance to this event to see what mining is about and understand it. And it's by far and away the biggest event we do in terms of participation in the booth. There's no room in the booth every time. You just have all of these people from the community come by. You still have service providers and people coming by that way, but a lot of it's just a father bringing his kids because he wants to learn about what mining is and is there a job that's going to be a good job for them? And we don't see that elsewhere. I think it's something that we, I'd love to replicate in other countries where you're getting that engagement between the communities and that. And that's just to me a really noticeable difference between Argentina and Mayorkas.

34:32 Now, and we're seeing a boom of these events happening right now, perhaps a few too many of them, we're getting a little ahead of itself, but it's good to see that level of engagement. So the other thing I'd wanna note is we, the nearest community to us, it's the Calangasta Valley with the communities of Bariel and Calangasta. A large number of our employees come from those communities, but they've actually built service provision companies. For example, the catering group we come from has its roots based in this small town of Bariyal, not far from our project. And they provide international level catering services to us and many other companies right now. And so they've been able to build that type of a service up as a local provider, which is fantastic to see. Because that will be one of the big challenges we have is if there's enough capability, enough skilled labor, enough experienced labor, enough service provision available as we see all these projects come in.

35:28 We're already kind of stretching the limits. It's really important that we encourage more development of that. Awesome. Yeah, I'm actually going to touch on labor availability in just a second. But Sam, I'll throw it to you for last thoughts on permitting and community engagement. Yeah, maybe the chance to highlight a key person within the Aldebaran team, that's Javier Robeto, who's one of their vice presidents and the country manager who's really fostered this portfolio in Sorrentori. And I think his perspective on this question would be, hey, Sam, I've got all these regulators, the government officials, these people in the mining chambers that I interact with regularly, that always ask me, why are you not advancing these projects that you've held on for 15, 20 years? So I think that's part of maybe the trend and change in that There are stakeholders there from the government and regulatory standpoint that want to show and report up advancement and progress on investment, on progress, on new employment and new training.

36:28 So I think it's probably connected to what we've seen in terms of the federal and national voting platforms and it's translating to the permitting side of things. So I think it lends itself to advantages that we have on the exploration front and it's much more efficient and streamlined compared to many jurisdictions around the world. I think that's the name of the game or a key obstacle in most jurisdictions right now around the world. No, awesome. I think I actually really loved all 3 of your perspectives on that. Learned a lot, I love that. But I do want to talk to you about what John just mentioned at the end, talking about skilled labor availability. How competitive is Argentina comparatively for labor availability and operating cost structure? I'm also curious how each of you are managing cost inflation risks. I know inflation has historically been a dirty word in Argentina, but it's cleaned up a bit now. So curious, what is the labor situation like and how are you managing inflation? And Joaquin, I'll start with you if you don't mind.

37:29 Okay, so first of all about labor, as you was mentioning that they source themselves from people from the town. The town that we have close to us is actually 8 kilometers from camp. So at night we can see some of the lights from town, from our camp. So that close we are from them. To add on what John was mentioning, it's impressive how entrepreneurial these people has gone. So they have created all the ways and all the network. And they have had access to credits and things to start building these micro businesses that now they are starting to grow and grow and grow more to service these companies big time, right? It's the same for us. Our catering, our heavy machinery, most of our assistants and technicians are coming from local communities.

38:29 And you go there and you talk literally with the manager and the owner of the company and he will be very honest with you and he will go like look this is what we can do and if you give me some days more I will try to find it for you because they want to grow. There is a lot of labor. Argentina, it's a country with a huge amount of literacy. It's a country with very, very good universities. There is a lot of education. There has been a lot of industry in the country that has provided education to very highly skilled workers. You have these 2 levels, the entrepreneurial side of the local communities and then the big-time university, highly qualified professionals coming out from different provinces that can source different things in country. I always say that if you want to hire 100% Argentine, you wouldn't have any issues at all. It's all there in the country. And I don't want to miss the other part of the question, which is the inflation.

39:40 So inflation, we also say in Argentina that you have to get your dollars and put them under your mattress, right? So that is going to protect you against inflation. I think that the same is happening at company levels. So the companies will have this financial engineering where you know exactly when to pay and what to pay. You also know when you should have your treasury in dollars or in pesos. And it's a whole financial engineering that you have to work out. And I think that the CEOs that we manage, Argentine companies, we became kind of experts in knowing of all this engineering behind, you know, because it's kind of tricky and you need to understand very well what's going on so you don't lose money along the way.

40:36 Sometimes you're in a very advantageous position where you will be having some contracts in dollars and then you will take some profit for that. In some other cases, you will have contracts in peso and you will have a profit for that. And there are some occasions where obviously you will end up losing something on that foreign exchange or on the inflation side of things. But it's about the financial engineering that you are putting behind your project to understand what are the problems there. And that's what it's going to save you at the end of the day. I think that's great. Sam, I'll give it to you for the 2 part question, labor and inflation risks. Yeah, on labor, I think, you know, the guys have talked about the the I think the amount of talent and motivation of Argentinos that want to get to work and young young people in particular, young geologists, young engineers that want to be involved, that see this as a huge kind of career maker. I mean, they see the new landscape for mining as a huge opportunity and the multiplier effects for themselves and for their families.

41:50 So I think that's, you know, as we set out to start Centauri and recruit the right people, starting a lean team, there are amazing references that I'm getting from people within country, from across the country. So I think that's a direct topical point that I'm working on right now. From a cost standpoint, there's no doubt costs have increased significantly over the last 5 years, with kind of more of the plateauing of the peso and with the US dollar. But the key points there from my standpoint are that it was so artificially cheap to explore and work in Argentina compared to other countries in South America and across the Americas, that even with the cost increase to work in Argentina is still very competitive compared to Chile or Ecuador or Brazil or Canada or the US.

42:41 And it also maybe gives us support in the valuations of the companies that we have for the historical work that we've done all the years of work and studies and drilling that takes to have resources to buttress PAs and PFSs. So I think those are all factors involved. It isn't, you know, costs are higher, inflation's high and we can't get to work. I think it's part of building value in the companies and the projects that we're advancing. I really appreciate that. John, I'll throw it to you to wrap this one up. Okay. I think Sam and Joaquin have covered most of the aspects on it. The last thing that Sam mentioned about the cost going up, that's kind of the price. We now have manageable inflation and a more stable situation, which makes life a little easier on some of the Hoops we've had to jump through, as Joaquin was mentioning, and just ways we learned to manage a more volatile situation. So the situation is more stable now. It is more costly.

43:40 But I kind of view that as the price that we're all paying ourselves as people, countries that are working there, and the average Argentine. In order to have stability, in order to have a country that can attract this foreign investment and develop new industries, it means that everybody's taking on some economic pain right now. And it seems only fair that we're doing that as well as foreign companies working there. And we're all sharing that as we seek to have the environment we need to be able to put the mines in that are there. So I think that's an important part of it. So as far as labor, I echo the comments that have been made so far on this. I would point out, though, that as we move into the development of potentially multiple major mines at once, which it seems to be the direction we're going right now, we will probably stretch that.

44:33 And in Argentina, like many South American countries has been pretty protectionist in terms of sourcing. That's admirable, it's fully consistent with our policies, but you have to make sure that you do have the key positions you need. And so striking that balance will be interesting. In Argentina, it gets to the point where in San Juan, where it's frowned upon if we're hiring somebody from Mendoza, which is only 2 hours away, because that's almost viewed as a different country. And so I think we're gonna have to collectively all work to make sure that we're not slowing things down because we're too restrictive on that. So, but it's a manageable problem. I'm sure we'll manage that as we go forward. Now, interesting note, I got one more big question for the 3 of you, and then I got some targeted questions to talk about each of your projects. But John, I'll start with you on this one. This is a blue skies question. Looking ahead to 2030, what do you think needs to happen for Argentina to achieve top potential as a top tier mining jurisdiction?

45:34 And kind of how confident are you that that's the direction this is going and that transformation will occur? OK, start off with being very confident on this. It's an outstanding opportunity. But there are some key things we have to watch. We just cleared one of the critical hurdles is the midterm elections with Malay's government receiving support. That's a vote of confidence. Not saying that people are happy with their life right now, but it's saying that they're still confident with allowing his changes to go forward. But we really have probably 2 years to collectively begin to produce some tangible results from that. And in the sense that now we see splashy headlines about this company agreeing to invest this amount of money to build a mine.

46:24 But so far that's really headlines and on paper in many cases, particularly in our space and in the Copper space on this. That needs to turn into actually real jobs and real tangible benefits. It's a little different perhaps up in Salta, because in Salta we've seen the Lithium companies come in more quickly. It's just the nature. Those are brines that are easier to put into production. And you're already seeing jobs. You're already seeing taxes flow from that that then can be used for other purposes. So I think we need to celebrate those and make those visible in the country. But as an industry, we also need to do everything we can to land these opportunities that are coming in and turn them into real jobs. Because in 2 more years, we're going to face a critical election that will determine whether we're on the right path on this. And it's very important that we don't step completely back on that.

47:20 That is a risk and so the best way we can do that is show that the path that Argentina's chose to take right now is the correct path and will produce results but we collectively have to get those results visible. No, appreciate that. Joaquin, I'll throw it to you for some crystal ball gazing. Let's look at the future and see what 2030 has. Well, how confident I am, I think that I'm extremely confident. As I said before in this conversation, the country is coming from very turbulent years, years of a lot of uncertainty, a lot of, you know, some people call it the dark ages, you know. Now there is a lot of light that is being thrown into Argentina.

48:07 We are talking here about plenty of these things like now we understand better this, or we can control this, or Inflation is under control and there is more transparency here and there. We have 2 more years of melee in Argentina. That means that until 2027, we will see more of this politics. And I think that that is going probably to pave the way into the future. So I don't know if we will have another Javier Mille after 2027. But what I'm pretty, pretty sure is that we are not coming back to what it was before. That's my feeling, right? That we are not going to jump back into those dark ages, because as John was perfectly explaining, people is paying a price.

48:56 And the price that people is paying in Argentina is very, very high. And they are paying that price because they want a change. So if they then go back, they will be putting in peril that those years that they were struggling, right? They would be in vain. And I don't think that people is struggling in vain or that they are suffering in vain. I think that they are doing this because there is a real change in people's mind, in the culture. And I think that Argentina, it has this vast range, which is the Andean Mountains. It has Patagonia. It's a country that is not that mature. It has a lot to give. Provinces that have been closed forever for mining, and now they are opening themselves for exploration.

49:49 Mendoza, it's an example of one of the very pro-mining companies in the past that for 20 years was completely closed and now they open their gates again. So we will see things that are going to be very interesting, probably in the next 2 years. And I hope that those are the ones that pave the future of the Argentina that we want to see in 2030. Awesome, Sam, I'll leave it to you to prognosticate last before I've got some specific questions for you. All right. It's one of your more interesting questions today. On the confidence, I think my best answer is that we're voting with our feet here on this panel. We are here working hard, putting our best effort, putting our reputations on the line to advance these projects, to raise foreign capital and bring it directly, put it to work in growing our projects and our teams and taking part in this growth in the country.

50:47 On the part that you mentioned, I think top tier in 2030, I would argue that Argentina is already top tier from a resource standpoint in terms of contained Copper in particular and Lithium and Gold and Silver. It's top tier from a resource standpoint, but to John's point, it's about demonstrating or unlocking that and turning that into production. So maybe the measure in my mind for top tier from a production standpoint is the number of SAG mills that we'll be running in 5 years or 10 years or 20 years, towards the potential of the resources can show that Argentina can produce over a million tons of copper a year and be a major copper producer for the next 50 years or a hundred years. So I think there's a lot longer timeline to that, but I think there are aspects of Argentina that already makes it a top tier. And that's why you see the majors coming in in a big way.

51:40 Awesome. Yeah. Just to add there, Argentina, Despite all these turbulent years that I'm talking about, and despite all this that has been happening in the last 20, 25 years since these things changed, Argentina is still one of the top Gold producers of Latin America. It's one of the top 10 largest producers of Silver in the world. Top producer of Lithium, top producer of grains, top producer of shale oil and gas. So it's a top producer in many, many things. So I fully agree with Sam that it's top tier in many things. Imagine what it could be if things are completely changed for good.

52:28 Awesome. Sam, I wanna get into a really specific question for you. Obviously as the new Centauri takes off what strategic advantages does your company have being spun out as kind of a focused vehicle for all the bronze satellite deposits and how does that structure optimize the path to development for those assets? Long question. Thanks, Ravio. I think for Centauri, the real foundation of it is the background work, the 20 years plus that John Black and Kevin Heather and the team have held on to these projects and collected and maintained the historical work and data and ideas and targets and stubbornly in a way held on to them despite many suitors coming to try to get these projects.

53:15 So I think that foundation and included is Rio Grande, the deposit that we have historical indicated and for resources on. It's a great start to what we can do and raise new money to apply and look at how do we kind of increase the probability of exploration success. So I think from, I guess from an out of the gate standpoint for Centauri, we've raised the seed capital here in the past couple of weeks here, closed that seed capital round. It allows us to do this work, to get all our permits and etc in order to start planning for our HR aspects for our team and getting to work. And we're right there. There's already an established core facility in office in Salta that the Alderbaran team has formed and maintained.

54:02 And there's very, very strong continuity from that standpoint. In addition, I think it's one of the reasons why I'm involved and leading the charge to Centauri is my involvement with APRA Silver. As Dioblios becomes a really strong project and into a construction decision next year. There's also manpower there that we're able to obtain from the exploration team. That's kind of some people that are coming loose. So there's a lot of synergies there. And Joaquin will know as well, in the North there's lots of synergies, lots going on. And that's a big part of the advantages that we try to keep in mind. Great. Joaquin, I'll get to you. I know Argento recently announced significant drill results and that expanded mineralization at Alcavar. And we talked about it just a couple of weeks ago. But I'm curious for the folks in the room, how are these results reshaping resource expansion strategy and timeline towards the next big milestone for Agenda?

54:56 Well, I think that the most important is that We have identified this continuity of the resource through those great results. So we now know that we might be drilling in areas that won't have as much risk as initially thought. So what we have done in terms of our next program, which has already started, we have divided the capital allocation into a dual approach of 40% into the resource expansion and 60% capital allocation will go into exploration. So we will be extremely aggressive on the exploration and at the same time we will be working on the resource and working on the resource is giving us some certainties, it's giving us more ounces to add in the future. So I think that that's the major thing that we are taking from the previous drill program, that we have identified the continuity of mineralization.

56:04 We will keep drilling on trend while we are very aggressively looking for some new discoveries in the property. Awesome, thank you. And John, I know we just talked last week, obviously, I released your PEA at Altar. What's up next for Aldebaran? Well, as you mentioned, that was a pretty big milestone for us to get that PEA out. As part of our strategy, we first start on showing how big the deposit is and then the PEA is the first step where you start to show what it could look like as a mine. And I think we demonstrated that there's a very viable pathway forward as a traditional concentrator case. We've also shown there's an equally viable pathway forward as primary sulphide leach, utilising the Newton technology. So we have 2 great pathways we can pursue going forward.

56:53 And we have a very active year coming up on this. Our objective is to get to pre-feasibility stage by the end of 2026, which is only 14 months from now. That's a pretty aggressive timeframe. We do have the benefit that the majority of our resources utilized in the PA. So 80% of the resources in the PA are already at indicated and measured status. That's important because when we go to a pre-fee study, we can only use measured and indicated, we can't use inferred resources. So we have a little bit of conversion work to do on that, but it's not bad. So that keeps our costs down and keeps the timeframe down and allows us to aggressively pursue the PFS by the end of next year. As part of that process, we'll be applying for RGGI status on this. That's such a key benefit to lock in for a project right now.

57:44 And We're fortunate that we're, sometimes people say it's first to be second on this and that it's nice to have groups that have already applied for RGGI and successfully received their RGGI approval on this, because it was a process, It's a great concept that the Malay government has put out, but it still needed to be tested a little bit to see in practicality, how does it work and fine tune it. And I think the government's better prepared to receive these now and can turn them around more quickly and can provide us more guidance on what they're looking for. So we will certainly within the next year be applying for that status and obtaining that to have the project go forward. So those are the 2 big milestones coming up is that RIDGI application and also the pre-feasibility study, which we see by the end of next calendar year.

58:36 Awesome. Well, thank you all so much for this conversation. I know we snuck right towards the end of the hour, so appreciate you sticking with me. And whenever there's an audience this big in the room, I always have to say thank you for behaving. I appreciate it very much. You guys are great with a lot of good questions. Really appreciate everybody's time. I hope you share the replay when it pops into your inbox. But Joaquin, Sam, John, this is great. Thank you. Bye!