Tungsten West (LSE:TUN) — Investor Presentation and Q&A

0:00 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the TUNGSTEN WEST PLC Investor Presentation and Q and A Session throughout today's recorded meeting. Investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged. They can be submitted at any time just using the Q and A tab situated on the right hand corner of your screen. Simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during today's meeting. However, the company can review all questions submitted today and we'll publish those responses where it's appropriate to do so. Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll, and I'm sure the company will be most grateful. I'd now like to hand over CEO, Jeffrey Court. Jeff,

0:32 good morning. Good morning, and thanks for the introduction. Thanks for joining us, and thanks for spending a bit of time just to go through the update on Hemmerton and where we're at with TUNGSTEN WEST as well.

0:51 The disclaimer pack. A number of these slides, in fact most of the slides are covered in our corporate update. So I'll just talk to them and add a little bit more flavor. And then, of course, we'll go through the q and a session at the end of the presentation as well to cover any additional comments or questions that you might have as well. A couple of highlights on the on the investment piece and where we sit as a as a project. Obviously, the picture above shows the extensive infrastructure we have on-site at the moment. That's the the mineral processing facility in the background, the the tailing storage facility behind it. And to the bottom right hand corner is the just one aspect of the existing open pit as it sits today.

1:40 We we are sitting on one of the largest, if not the largest, tungsten resources globally. We've just got under 40,000,000 MTUs of contained w o three in our resource across our three resource categories, which from from what I can see makes us the largest. But certainly, we're we're one of the largest, if not the biggest. Critical metals, as we know, tungsten hits pretty well everyone's critical metals list. Dual use applications in new technology and defense. In addition to the very substantial amount of TUNGSTEN we have in the in the deposit, We've also got a very significant amount of tin, which adds a very good secondary revenue stream for the project. And we also sit on premium aggregates, which which is also a tertiary revenue stream for the project as as well.

2:32 A couple of key highlights. 80% of the world's tungsten is produced primarily out of China. There's a number of export restrictions that are in play for the Chinese export situation, which has been in play probably more so since February this year, and has caused a a strong tightening in the the supply position in the market. And we're seeing that reflected in in higher pricing as well at the moment, which we'll talk to a little bit further in the slide pack.

3:02 With Hemetin futures, which is the extensions to the north and south of the project, we have an operating life of the entire project, including primary mining, stockpile reclaim and an ongoing tertiary aggregate sales of over forty years. As we sit at the moment, we're fully permitted. We're shovel ready. And as you can see from the picture, extensive infrastructure is in play at the moment.

3:27 In terms of production cost, we'll touch on that as well, but we're in the first quartile cash cost producers, large scale production with around 3,300 tonnes of WA3 produced per annum at steady state production levels. We've got a very detailed capital improvement program, which includes the building of new crushing screening and all sorting front end to the process plant and a significant refurb and technology upgrade for the existing mineral processing

3:59 facility as well. As you know, we're in a very stable jurisdiction in terms of where mineral projects can sit at the moment. We have in place prior offtake agreements that cover around about two thirds of our of our concentrate production. And and as you all are well aware, we're AIM listed as well. A little bit about the the corporate profile. I've covered most of the points on the overview on the on the left hand side. On the right hand side is more of the corporate information for the project. I'll just hand over to to Alastair, our CFO, just to talk to that section for us. Morning. I I don't think there's anything new in what is contained there, but, you know, I'm aware from some of the, you know, the the

4:48 questions that have already come, a little bit more understanding around the convertible loan note. So we currently have on a fully diluted basis just over 200,000,000 shares, which includes some of the options from when TUNGSTEN WEST was founded. We would expect if the convertible loan note converts on the 12/31/2026, and I'd rather hope that I'm doing something else,

5:14 to add marginally over a billion shares to the share register at three p. Now there is there are two other ways that they can convert, one of which is by reference to any couple of raise, and third, a cash out, but only in some very extreme circumstances. But I think if you look at a billion as being what's going to be added to the share register, you won't be far wrong.

5:44 Okay. Thanks, Alastair. Next slide, the executive team. You see most of the faces on that slide on this call except for our our chair, Steven Harrison. We might just do a a a real quick round the table with the group just to introduce themselves very briefly to add a little bit more flavor to the points on that on that list. Alastair, do you wanna just go with that one? Yeah. Hi. So I'm CFO. I've been doing natural resources in UK and emerging markets for twenty five odd years, thirty years, and principally around capital raisings and structuring companies to go to their next stage, pretty much the sweet spot for TUNGSTEN WEST.

6:42 Marika? Hi, everybody. I'm I'm Marika Linden. I'm head of operations and stakeholder engagement. I have over fifteen years experience, with civil service labor markets and, working with diverse communities and and engaging in a stakeholder level, working with communities on a one to one basis or in a group format, and working through what labor market key strengths that employers have linked with the local community. Phil. Hi. Phil Povey. My background is commercial in commercial in mining, mining services, mining contracting companies across the globe. So I've worked, you know, Africa, Asia, and extensively through Europe as well and Australia.

7:39 Thanks. And finally, just for me, I've been with TUNGSTEN WEST for just a little under twelve months now, thirty plus years mining experience, owner operator, mining contractor service provider, EPC, EPCM explosives blasting services across global format, including project startups, mostly in Australia, Asia, and Africa as well.

8:09 Okay, next slide. TUNGSTEN, just as an overview of where that is sitting at the moment. A couple of key comments on the left on the overview side. I've covered on the previous slide, obviously, growth across a number of its final use sectors. More importantly for us, I guess, is the 80% supply position coming out of China and the export restrictions that have been in place since around February this year has caused a tightening in the market. What we're seeing on the pricing side, which is in the the chart on the top right, current pricing as we as we see at the moment is is certainly getting high. It's gone up quite a lot in the last certainly, three months plus is where we're seeing it.

8:58 FOB pricing in China is now touching 600 US dollars and MTU delivered into Rotterdam is is hitting the $5.50 mark US dollars per MTU, well above the price assumptions we've run on the feasibility study, which is 400. And we've also done a a higher end pricing assessment at at 500. Where we see it at the moment, the payback period for the project at at 500 is around two years, and of and it's substantially less than that at where we see current price points sitting in the market space. In terms of the market applications, a few key points on TUNGSTEN on the left on the overview slide. I won't touch on those too much.

9:50 There's a a key assumption on the the compound annual growth rates we would expect to see in the market across the total sector. If you look at the forecast between 25% growth going forward, We see the recycled market pretty much realizing a natural cap, I guess, in terms of the total amount of material that can be recycled into the sector. In addition to that, we see mine closures and and China certainly prior to the the February 2005 period was at a point where they were importing concentrate due to the shortages internally for their own requirements. Based on a number of those factors, there's certainly a shortfall in the total global position for TUNGSTEN supply versus demand going forward.

10:38 And when you look at that across the two different areas of China supply and demand versus Western world supply, the deficit in Western world supply and demand position is certainly a lot more stark. And all of that leads to the position of saying new TUNGSTEN production not in China is certainly needed in the market. Globally, you look at the total picture there, and you still see a shortfall in in TUNGSTEN going forward over that next five to ten year period with the growth rates, the China production decline, and and growth across the number of sectors that we see in end use applications as well. Where where we fit into the picture, if you look at the bottom right in terms of total global production, we're sitting at around 4% there or thereabouts of of total global production at our steady state number of around 3,300 tons of w o three per annum. That's a relatively small slice of the global world supply when you look at China being very constrained in terms of what's actually coming out of that country at the moment in in tungsten production.

11:51 When it when you look at the rest of the world production, we're certainly a lot more significant, and we're we're in that range of around 20% of non Chinese production sources. But globally, a relatively small slice of the total TUNGSTEN supply market.

12:10 Where we sit as a project in terms of total TUNGSTEN resource, you can see where TUNGSTEN WEST sits. We're just under 40,000,000 MTUs of contained WO3 in our resource. When you look at the others projects, and I've just listed a number of the notable ones there in terms of their total contained million MTUs of TUNGSTEN, we're very significant. The next two large projects behind us are two very early stage greenfield projects in in Canada. Behind that, you've got Shandong, which is the Almonte project in its in its process at the moment. And then behind it, you've got a number of of much smaller contained tungsten resources that are in various stages of of production or or restart as it sits at the moment. So a very substantial project in terms of world scale.

13:09 And in terms of cost position, our all in sustaining cost is coming in at sub $1.50 US dollars per MTU. It's sitting there at $1.44, which positions us at the very low end in the lowest cash cost quartile of global tungsten producers. On that chart, most of the large sectors of that are Chinese production. The non Chinese production are shown in yellow. And that's roughly where we see ourselves fitting in that cost of production curve. So at the low end, at a very, very large scale resource.

13:47 It's an interesting note as well with regard to these projects and where they're at. The majority of projects that have come online of late have been brownfield restarts, either running through tailings reprocessing, low grade reprocessing, use of ore sorters to to select better material for downstream processing with more smaller CapEx requirements. Shandong is obviously the more substantial one, which had an announced number of around three one twenty million USD to get going for phase one production. These two projects here are greenfield, and the CapEx to bring those online and the time frame frame to bring those online would be substantial, being where they are located in in Canada.

14:34 And we are certainly very well positioned project when it comes to preexisting development. You you do classify us as a brownfield restart project, and our CapEx requirements are, as we published, 93,000,000 US dollars to get us going through to production restart. So we're we're the last and certainly a very significant cab off the rank when it comes to quick to market brownfield projects with substantial infrastructure pre existing on-site. Just to touch on where that infrastructure sits, that's the layout of our project where the the items highlighted, the tailing storage facility, the mine waste facility, the processing plant, and the existing open pit.

15:19 A very substantial amount of pre strip has gone on with the the open pit and prior operations in Wolf Days processed around 3,000,000 tonnes of ore through the processing plant. The operation to the top right is our neighbor and not not part of the the Hemmaden project. In terms of benefits for for all stakeholders, a very substantial project both globally, but certainly regionally where we're sitting in in Devon. It's a relatively underinvested part of the The UK. We bring a substantial amount of jobs directly to the local community and also indirectly.

16:04 Our our total workforce is above 300 at steady state, and our estimates

16:10 are around about 1,000 to 1,200 indirect jobs associated with the project when it comes online. You can see a number of the other key metrics that we have in terms of tax paid to the UK government. We're also a very strong producer of low incremental carbon footprint, high quality aggregates as well, which supports the infrastructure development and construction sector in the region as well. In terms of our development timeline, we're sitting in the funding stage at the moment. Feasibility study is completed as we announced a little earlier this year.

16:58 We're in the process of talking to a number of parties across the debt and the equity funding streams in the in the data room and progressing a number of those discussions as we speak.

17:11 We we had a nominal timeline to get funding completed towards the end of twenty twenty five or early twenty six. We have a number of options that can still work towards that timeline for us, and we're exploring a number of other options and looking at trade offs before we make a final investment decision on which way we would like to go and how we'd like to progress our the best funding solution for the project as 2025 continues. Nominally, we've got a twelve month capital improvement works program. The longest lead part of that is building the new crushing screening and all sorting front end that I'll I'll talk to in a little bit, and then we're off to production. So nominally, twelve months for that. Production start very end twenty six, early twenty seven.

17:59 And during that time as well, you'll see a phased preproduction part of of the timeline. The the other part of the project, not building the new front end, is refurbishing and installing some new technology upgrades to existing the mineral process facility, and that's incorporated in the phase preproduction phase. We're reenergizing and recommissioning a component of the plant at the back end of the refinery currently as well. And we also have EA approval for reprocessing two and a half thousand tons of of material from the tailings storage facility, which will also give us an opportunity to reenergize the fine circuit as part of the preexisting mineral processing plant that forms part of the go forward flow sheet for us as well.

18:55 Project improvements. If you look at the things that are that have been incorporated into the restart fee study from from 2025, very high level summary of these points. We've got much better access to higher quality ore feed at the bottom of the stage one pit. We're touching fresh granite material, which is now outcropping and present across certainly the southern end of the pit and isn't far from mining benches across the central and northern parts of the pit. We've had a fundamental ground up review of

19:26 the process flow incorporating not only the 3,000,000 odd tonnes that was processed through the part in wolf days, but also prior work that was done. And we've also engaged in additional test work that was done in the last twelve months to further support the recovery assumptions and prove up the the process flow sheet. We've got a new build front end, which includes crushing, screening, and and ore sorting. We've added some new technologies to the to the process flow. Ore sorters are part of the new front end, but we also incorporate in line pressure jigs and ultra fines recovery circuit into the flow sheet as well.

20:07 Environmental issues, which were part of the incorporated as mitigation requirements for us as part of the the mid twenty twenty four EA permit have been incorporated into the design, most notably the LFN enclosures that are required around all potential LFN generating screens across the plant. There's also incorporation of a full refurbishment and improvement of the preexisting process plant. And and I mentioned before, we're we're reenergizing the back end of the refinery currently, which, of course, is ironing out any preexisting issues or bugs for restart that we're addressing now well ahead of when we would expect to restart the plant in in earnest at the end of twenty six or early twenty seven.

20:56 And then, of course, the updated feasibility study, a very comprehensive document which has a number of key experts that have signed off on it for us. The AMC was the lead rep external consultant that did the entire study. And there's a variety of additional experts that have had significant hand in that, including Licopadion for the process engineering component as well. Just to touch on a couple of those points, better quality ore feed. There's the existing pit as we see it on the left with the different geologies. The pink section through the middle is granite dyke, which is the primary host of the material containing tungsten or our primary ore.

21:43 Cross section AA is shown on the right hand side and the green arrow or the green line, sorry, is the fresh ore contact. And you can see where the existing stage one pit at the moment is. We we do have a very strong outcrop of of fresh granite ore in the southern part of the pit, and we're not many benches away from the stage one pit of having full benches of fresh granite ore. Stage two pit is green, and stage three pit, which is the limits of the existing feasibility study, largely is all in the fresh granite ore zone. So we're in a much better position to feed better quality ore to the the process plant where we sit at the moment. New build front end, there's a schematic of it which which we've illustrated on the corporate presentation.

22:34 Everything contained within the blue dotted line is new build, including a a more standard primary jaw crusher, a secondary cone crusher, a screen. We also incorporate a crushed ore stockpile, which has a substantial capacity and gives us buffer from the the primary crushing and the secondary crushing circuit to the all sorters in the mineral processing facility. All sorters are incorporated, which is the new technology. All sorters accept only around 30% of the material fed to them, which then goes into tertiary crushing and the the preexisting mineral processing plant. The material not accepted from the all sorters that forms the basis of our fresh granite material that has an avenue into the market as aggregate byproduct sales for us as well.

23:27 Inside the existing facility, we we don't use any of the material or any of the primary or secondary crushers that were preinstalled. They weren't fit for purpose and had poor availability. The conveyor belt you see to the top left hand corner is is also not used. And as soon as the material used to go into the process plant, it encountered a scrubber, which unfortunately generated a lot of fines in the wolf operating days and also turned the the tungsten ore to slimes, which was not easy to recover and presented itself into the tailings dam. So we bypass the the preexisting primary and secondary and also and decommission the scrubber completely. So this new front end takes the place of that, and we feed into the circuit at the tertiaries, and then we're into the into the the course and the fine circuit, which are refurbished with the addition of ultra fines and inline

24:25 pressure jigs to that part of the circuit as well. In addition to that, we refurbish a lot of the preexisting plant, including the work we're doing right now on the the refinery. One other piece we've got there as well in the the the right hand corner, we have a much larger run of mine stockpile capacity just prior to the primary crushers, which gives us ability to to be a lot more flexible in blending material coming out of the pit to ensure consistent feed into the crushers into the crushed ore stockpile into the downstream process. For the for the process flow, what we've got the new build front end is shown in the in the the dotted boxes to the left hand side, which includes the new primary, secondary, the crushed or stockpile, and the all sorters.

25:17 The the co produced product out of the all sorters is the premium aggregate, which we sell into the market. The rest of the circuit that is shown in green is is largely preexisting. We use a much smaller capacity of the fine circuit and the coarse circuit. So we we use roughly about a third of that capacity. We we also install the inline pressure jigs and the ultrafine circuits, which are two new technology additions, and we reduce our dependence on the DMS core circuit from three stages to to one stage only. The rest of the circuit flotation, roasting and drying, and and low intensity magnetic separation, high intensity magnets.

26:03 Tungsten and tin concentrate production is essentially the same. What we're running in the circuit at the moment is everything from the the dryer. We're not running the roasting part of the kiln at the moment, and we're running the LIMS and the the HIMS part of the circuit to generate some upgraded tungsten material as part of recommissioning that back end of the plant. The fines when it when we come to reclaiming the approval we have for the two and a half thousand tons of of material from the tailing storage facility will go into the fine circuit. So that will give us an opportunity to to reenergize that component. So we're essentially reenergizing and recommissioning the circuit from the the very back end, which is the right hand side of that flow sheet, and gradually working ourselves across from right to left as part of the derisking project for us.

27:02 Low frequency noise is incorporated in the the new design. We have rigid LFN enclosures around all screens that could potentially be LFN generators. They include rigid steel structures for any screen that's inside the existing mineral processing facility. And for the new build component, which is the the bit that was shown in the schematic on on two slides prior, the LFN enclosures are precast concrete, which also forms an excellent LFN barrier. And all of that is incorporated in the restart plan and the restart design. In addition to that, we also have what we call the Hemmaden Futures Project. The existing feasibility study covers the extents of the phase three pit, which is this yellow line on the on the pit limits on the on the diagram to the right.

27:57 We have an extension of stages four and five, which takes us to the north and south along the strike of the granite dyke as well, which isn't included in our existing feasibility study, but but has a substantial amount of tungsten ore included within it. And there's potential to extend beyond that as well with the pit optimization and our mineral resource going beyond it. So that that's additional life for the project and includes a substantial upgrade in in primary ore feed, additional low grade material that's stockpiled and reclaimed, and further aggregate material that would have an extended life of total operations beyond the forty year period that I that I mentioned earlier.

28:45 From an economic snapshot point of view, I might hand over Phil, did you just wanna talk to the the feasibility study financials and go through the economic numbers? Yep. So 93,000,000 cash in advance of of production. That assumes that no production occurs for approximately twelve months after we we raise funds. Potentially, some upsides there if we can restart some of the process early, but we in terms of the the numbers we've we've modeled, we we haven't we haven't included any. In terms of the, I guess, the the m t sorry. The all in sustaining cost being being relatively low. Look. We we really do benefit from the the offtake oh, sorry. The the byproducts. So TUN being roughly 12% of our our gross revenue and and the premium aggregates.

29:33 I think Jeff touched on it earlier that the premium aggregates, are pure byproduct. And because of that, they attract a very low carbon rating, which is highly sought after at the moment. And we also get the the benefit of of not paying the the quarry tax on on on fresh aggregates. So a a very, I guess, attractive revenue stream that that Wolf Minerals never had. We've also got the pricing there. You can see there at 500 we've also done some numbers at a $500 per MTU. Obviously, being a mind, we're highly levered to the to the the sales price and currently at at 600, you know, the numbers are, you know, substantially better again. Alright.

30:20 Thanks, Phil. I I don't know if we need to go through the the key assumptions in the feasibility. Phil, unless you wanted to touch on one or two of the key metrics there. I guess the a couple of yeah. The FX rate relatively important. 1.28. We took the twelve month average at the time. It's a it's changed slightly since then, but, know, obviously, there's been some changes in the the TUNGSTEN price and the TUNE price is currently sitting above our our expectations. In terms of the project life, we we capped it at twenty seven years. We have got its, additional resources after that. That's in line with our current mining lease, which we would expect to be able to extend, but that's that's where it sits at the moment.

31:08 And in terms of the recoveries recoveries for both the for TUNE TUNE and TUNGSTEN, there's like, the and that's obviously what the Mets guy guys say. Me being a commercial guy, I'd like to think we can overachieve that over time as well. But, we've we've kept that flat for the for the the time period with a deduction for the first couple of years of production as we start up. Obviously, hope to increase that over time, but we've taken a conservative view. One point just to raise on that as well. The target concentrate grade is 50% as well, which is lower than what Wolf targeted as their final concentrate grade.

31:56 They were achieving recovery numbers when the plant was running and there was reliable throughput, which supports the recovery assumptions we've put forward. As Phil mentioned, we do ramp that up over a period of time as well, and each of the different material feed types have also a slightly varied recovery number too. So we and as Phil said, we we've we've taken a a substantiated and possibly a a a more conservative approach on the recovery numbers with the lower targeted con grade as a final saleable product. Phil, do you just wanna talk through the the CapEx breakdown? That's probably the the more relevant one, and there's the asset numbers in the production as well just on that slide.

32:43 Yep. So the front end is the the new crushing system, primary crusher, jaw crusher sorry. Primary primary jaw crusher, secondary crane crusher, and a scalping screen in between. Also, a a crushed ore stockpile with an underground feeder in which then goes into the ore sorting system. Six ore sorters, which will be in a a three for pebble, three for cobble. After that, we I think Jeff mentioned earlier, we we we removed 30% of the of the feed that goes then into the tertiary crusher, which would then go into the the jigs or the inline pressure jigs, which is one of our part of the new MPF modules, which then, you know, we our mass pool from that is 25%. So we end up with a, you know, substantially lower portion of material going through the plant than or the main part of the plant or the existing plant that than Wolf did.

33:35 In terms of the other, the refurbishment and compliance costs there, LFN, Jeff's already touched on. There's a number of non NPF costs. Various various items that we've committed to around around the site, you know, things like TSF lining and lifts, which which need to be done before production. And the NPF other is is effectively the, you know, refurbishing the plant that that already exists. Moving across to the right there, if we go onto corporate commitments, we end up with there's a number of bonds and and property items that we need to take care of. And then we've also got a, you know, a recent name there for for working capital and mining mining related capital.

34:22 There's some some payments we need to make with our existing with our mining contractor and then some some items that, you know, infrastructure costs and and and a few other minor items we need we we need to we need to procure, and then. So, it I guess the the the ongoing, cost to to keep the business operating and compliant with our permits, until we we're into rep production. Alright. Thanks, Phil. The ESG side of things. Marika, would you like to just talk through these aspects for us? Yes. Sure. So a lot of the items Jeff has covered and touched on another slide, but I think we'll just go into a little bit more detail. So at Hemmerdon, we are fully permitted and maintain all listed regulatory requirements by the environmental agency and the planning authority.

35:20 We have full compliance on-site. With regards to sustainability, are integrating, obviously, highly sought after aggregates with a high PSV. This turns a waste product that Wolf had as a waste product into something that can be used in construction or on, the motorways, due to its high slippage and cutting a demand for new quarrying. So that's really important for the sustainability. We've worked diligently on our mining strategy to minimize noise and climate emissions. We've implemented strict monitoring controls on dust and water, and noise throughout the design phase, and we ensured that the mine design has significant improvements to lower impacts. We've worked collaboratively with all of the environmental agency, the planning, and local parishes actually rolling out designs and bringing people up on-site whilst we've been testing various parts of the equipment.

36:16 On the restoration, we have a $13.02 a £13,200,000 bond in place detailing planned restoration, including tree planting and, obviously, preserving the biodiversity enhancement zones. On the social side of things, you know, really proud. We have a very robust health and safety procedure. We're proud that we have zero lost time injuries since acquiring Hemiton. We've worked tirelessly with the building relationships with the neighborhood parishes by facilitating local weekly sessions, site visits to schools and community groups, educating the community on the criticality of TUNGSTEN tin in the secondary aggregates and what that means with the secondary aggregates.

37:04 That's a low carbon footprint. Recruitment, Jeff has touched on, but, local recruitment is in the company's DNA. We're preparing for what that looks like to launch, you know, pop up recruitment centers in the immediate parish areas, working collaboratively with job centers of a 50 mile radius, creating sector based work academy programs and forming parts of the Armed Forces Covenant, providing guaranteed interviews for ex military and personal personnel and their families. We're also part of the Critical Minerals Challenge Centre working collaboratively with the Campbell School of Mining and the University of Exeter, working with various other educational bodies preserving what is required for our future workforce.

37:56 And just to briefly touch on the covenants other governance, we have ingrained into the business our codes of conduct, and we have been consistently upholding all the regulatory standards working closely with the planning Devon County Council of South Hams and the environmental authorities. We are also positioned to roll out a quality ISO system to achieve our full suite of ISO accreditation prior to production. I think that covers it. Right. Thanks, Marika. Alright. Just to conclude the the the presentation side, you've you've seen a lot of the the detail that's going to the fee study covering the restart.

38:42 Key aspects with with low cost. We're a massive resource. We're fully permitted. We've got a long life and the strong economics you can underline even more so with current market pricing and and what we see is tightness in the in the global TUNGSTEN supply and demand balance at the moment. So that that concludes the presentation. We'll hand over to some questions and answers. So the good news is I'm a we we have a series of questions which which have appeared during the and keep them coming. The good news is that as I get to pick which ones comes first, I'm, you know, I hit Jeff up with with my favorite here, which how are you managing the balance between advancing technical work packages and preserving cash ahead of securing the $93,000,000 financing package?

39:34 We've done I mean, in in the time frame certainly that that I've been here, as you know, Alastair as well, we have been very targeted with the spend on additional test work. And we have done quite a bit of additional test work in that in that time frame, including, you know, two additional bulk samples with all sort of technology with our partners, Tomra, in Germany. We did further work on on how we could optimize the ultrafine's recovery circuit, and, of course, looking at how the the IPJs would perform in the in the new process as well. So very targeted spend on on that. That gives us a a very strong position for the flow sheet, which underpins a a very long term operating future for us as well. If you said where would we like to spend some additional work, I think we could we could target some some smaller spending, and we've got that currently underway at the moment on just refining the ultra fines to to make sure it's the it's the right final stage design and key targeted circuit for us.

40:42 The the next work, which I don't think comes in the the time frame window before we would expect to see funding, but after that is we've we've allocated some money in the go forward budgets for just better understanding some of the different material processing and and getting ourselves ready for primary processing more so of materials like the killers or the surrounding rock material and ensuring we're prepared to do that in future years of the operation. But in terms of work that needs to be done right now, we we're we're very confident we've done the test work already or at least have a small piece in train right now, which is covered in our cash forecast. The risk can be done after the funding base. Here comes another here comes another favorite for me.

41:30 What would it take to lift annual production above 3,300 tonnes per annum? Yeah. It's it's some and I see there's a couple of questions just in terms of market size and and our capability given the fact that 80% of the world's supply position is is somewhat restricted at the moment. We've targeted the 3,300 number. It it fits in with the capacity of the of the the front end. But a key piece about the new build front end is we only are operating the primary and secondary crushers and the screens to the to the stockpile. We're only operating that from 7AM to 10PM at night. So immediately with the potential, and I know in the wolf days, were operating twenty four seven, that side of the the process, with the ability to to prove we can operate within the environmental constraints, the noise, the LFN.

42:24 If there was the option to expand that front end to operate twenty four seven, we would be able to increase production upwards of that 5,000 tons number on the front end feed component. The rest of the process plant on the fines and the coarse circuit has inherent capacity already installed. We're only using a small percentage of that. We would then need to look at what we do on the back end refinery part of the plant just to expand that. But incremental CapEx to do that if we move to say twenty four seven front end operation, and and that's that's a question whether we would like to pursue that, we could move to 5,000 tons with with pretty minimal CapEx spend as well if the market was there for us. As we see it at the moment, about two thirds of that production is underpinned with pre existing agreements.

43:14 The other third is is free float for the market, and we're just looking at how we best optimize that at the moment too. So we can go higher if we need to. And if the market's there for it, we could we could expand relatively quickly and relatively low CapEx. Yeah. Just on that just to add to that, in terms of we would need extra mining equipment, we're pretty confident we will be able to lease that equipment for for at least a a period of time to to, you know, to reduce capital outlays. The the the specific question was was related to the offtake agreements and how they fitted in to the Ex I'm facility. But I think maybe if I expand that question and say, to what extent do those two in place offtake agreements fit into our debt financing packages?

44:01 And how does that how does that help the debt packages? And and I think I'll probably just add briefly at this moment that we're not able to say who they're with. That's just from a confidentiality point of view. But if I if if I can leave the how do they fit into the debt financing packages would be was the question that's being asked. Well, I I guess the the Exim piece, the untied letter of interest we received from from Exim a little while ago is it's fully aligned with with those agreements. So it it supports supply of product into The US. So it's it it not nothing is compromised by that position or those positions.

44:53 In relation to exploration upside, when do you think we start talking about exploration after we start production? I'll I'll just flick through to slide that hopefully answers that. And and working previously for a company that did a lot of exploration drilling, I'm I'm not so sure we'll be a big user of exploration drilling in the very short term. But there's just a picture of our mineral resource on the left in terms of the total contained TUNGSTEN WO 3. And on the right is what's the the ore reserves, which is included in the in the phase three pit. So you can you can see what's ahead of us in our MRE, which which has the reasonable prospect for economic extraction.

45:45 It is substantial. And even if you include the measured and indicated component, you know, it's it's roughly more well, it is it's more than double what we currently have in the in the stage three pit limits for the oil reserves. So we've got a lot to find in the measured and indicated category. Inferred almost doubles that again as well. But with the extent and a large part of that is the extensions to the north and south that I mentioned in the Hemmaden futures project, which is already well defined in the MRE category. I don't think we'll be doing a huge amount of drilling in the short term because we just have so much ahead of us that sits in a a a pretty well proven category for MRE and and work that could be converted across to all reserves when the pit expansions extensions occur to the north and south.

46:38 So I I wouldn't expect us doing a a huge amount of exploration drilling in the short term with that amount of mineral resource already sitting under our under our remit. Would you consider collaborating with your fellow prospect tungsten miners such as Callmore Resources to our north contract processing or or other ways of looking at it? Yes. I mean, with with the the spare capacity in the existing facility, we would be certainly an opportunity to explore co processing, toll processing or other arrangements given the existing infrastructure we have on-site. Certainly saves other people investing in that level of of real estate and investment and infrastructure.

47:29 So, yes, it would be certainly something we'd consider. Now our focus is, as the team knows, on this call from our side has certainly been getting project economics, getting the restart plan done and the feasibility study underpinned, which purely only looks at the existing resource at Heberden. If other projects made sense and and added economic value, of course, we'd be we'd be open to that for sure. As you can imagine, there are a number of questions that that relate around the the financing that we're going through. What if any conversations are ongoing with UK government, with the EU in respect of of financing and so on?

48:15 Suspect EXIM, DLA, DPA fit under the same category. Yeah. I mean, any government backed funding source is certainly of interest to us. There's a number of of parties across EU, UK, and US governments that are that are part of that interest group at the moment and going through their own assessments for potential funding options for us. So all all of those avenues are are of interest. Certainly, the the nomination or award of us is one of the the 13 critical few critical metals projects outside the EU recently has has peaked that interest a little bit more out of the EU in terms of our our critical supply position, especially when when one of our offtake streams is supplied in EU.

49:09 And, of course, The US is very interested as as you've seen with the LOI coming up from from Exxon. UK government also very interested and certainly still in the mix at the moment. All all avenues are being progressed at the moment. I think that that was those that that we can answer. Yeah. There are a couple that just require a quick note, but I think that's great. Thank you very much indeed to you all for your time, and thank you to everybody for your continued engagement and your questions throughout today's presentation. Jeff, I know investor feedback will be particularly important to you and to the rest of the management team, and I'll shortly redirect those on the call to give you their thoughts and expectations. But before doing so, I wondered if I may, Jeff, just ask you for a couple of closing comments.

50:06 Yeah. Thanks. Thanks everyone for your questions, comments and feedback for today. It's always a pleasure talking about project. The project's at a very exciting phase. We've worked very hard to make it as robust as we can internally. And currently, we're seeing also a lot of very supporting positions from the external market, which places us in a in a a really, really strong position to move this project forward quickly and deliberate deliver excellent returns. Yeah. We're very large scale, very low cost, fully permitted, ready to go. It's the funding piece. That's the final cog in the wheel for us, and we can generate a very strong future out of the project.

50:51 That's great, Jeff. Thank you very much indeed. Once again to the team from TUNGSTEN WEST. Can I please ask investors not to close this session as we're now automatically redirect you for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the company can better understand your views and expectations? This will only take a couple of moments to complete, but I'm sure we'll greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of TUNGSTEN WEST PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation. I wish you all a good rest of your day.