BCI Minerals Limited (BCI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

We're going to start the meeting today with a short video. The right time, Erika will press play and I'll commence the meeting after that. [Presentation]

Welcome, everyone, and thank you for attending today whether in person or online. I hope you enjoyed the video. It's 9:00 a.m., and we have a quorum present, and I declare the meeting open. I'm Brian O'Donnell and it's my pleasure and honor to Chair the Board of BCI Minerals. This past year marked a defining moment for BCI, the year we transitioned into operations at Mardie. Turning years of effort and perseverance across the full spectrum of project disciplines, design, costing, scheduling, approvals, financing and marketing into today's reality. Before I reflect on what we've achieved together, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we're gathered here today in Perth, ther Whadjuk people from the Noongar nation and also acknowledge the traditional custodians at Mardie, the Yaburara and Mardudhunera people. We honor the past and present custodians of these lands and support their ongoing practices. I acknowledge all the people and the groups who over the years have created and protected the environment in which we do business. Please join me in welcoming our Board of Directors, including Nonexecutive Directors, Gabrielle Bell, Honorable Richard Court, AC; Miriam Stanborough, AM and Chris Salsbury. I would also like to acknowledge the absence of Managing Director, David Boshoff, who is overseas due to a family bereavement. David really wanted to be here, and he asked me to convey his sincere apologies to everyone present. David is doing a great job for all of us, and he was looking forward to sharing some of the highlights of the year with you. I will present David's section of the proceedings later in the meeting. We send David and his family, our heartfelt condolences and thoughts during this difficult time for them all. We are also joined today by members of the senior leadership team. We're achieving excellent results under the leadership of this team. In the room today, up the front here, we have Tammy, Head of People and External Affairs; and Steve, our CFO, at the front. We also welcome Tim Dayton and Mhairi Cameron here from the SLT team as well as other colleagues. It was during this year that we welcomed Robert Mancini as our Chief Legal and Commercial Officer and Joint Company Secretary, and we welcome Mhairi Cameron as our General Manager of Operations. Rob and Mhairi bring valuable experience from leading much larger Australian resource companies. Their leadership is going to help drive us forward, and we're pleased to welcome them to BCI. But we also thank their predecessors for their service. It's a logical part of our growth and development that our team will continue to evolve over time. I'd also like to welcome Philip Murdoch, Isabelle Gare and David Andrews representing our auditors, BDO. Thank you for joining us today. Phil is going to hand the over to David to David, sorry, for FY '26, but we would like to thank Phil for leading the audit for the last 5 years. I'd also like to, while I can remember to thank Christy Rica Evert, Ross and the team for organizing today, a lot of work behind the scenes goes into putting on events like this. So on behalf of the Board, it's a privilege to be here to say a few words to mark the beginning of a new era for BCI in FY '25 and what we believe to be a major step forward for the Australian industrial salt industry. Last September -- following September last year, following receipt of Commonwealth government approval and the previous state approval, we reached our first major milestone for the financial year, which was the commencement of operations at Mardie. All of us were excited to watch David to start the pumps at the primary seawater intake. As the photo here shows, we couldn't keep the politicians away either, and we thank both federal and state governments for their support and interest in our project. Getting the first production seawater into the ponds was a pivotal moment for all of us. This event was years in the making, and we were proud to share this moment with our shareholders, employees, contractors, our lenders, partners, the traditional custodians and our customers who are all supporting us along the way. Another key milestone for FY '25 occurred in April when we received the environmental approvals that enabled the transition to full-scale operations. This allowed us to begin clearing the northern area, where most of our crystallizers are located, and it allowed water to flow into the remaining evaporation ponds. BCI is the first salt operation to successfully navigate Australia's state and commonwealth approval system as it currently stands. It's a credit to the technical capability and perseverance of our team, including Shawn Meredith, who I don't think is here today, who runs our approvals team excellently. It's a credit to that team that our company has been able to navigate this very complex path. It's a real demonstration of one of our BCI values that we will always find a way. As the slide notes, we still have ongoing approval work streams in process. These are on track. And while that's good, we do support the view that environmental processes need reform. We need faster, more transparent assessment processes, clearer parameters and removal of duplication between state and commonwealth processes so that companies like us can unlock the value of Australia's natural resources for the benefit of all stakeholders. And we fully support all government and industry efforts to streamline the approval system. In any case, it's pleasing and positive that our Mardie operation is now well underway. We've remained steadfast in our commitment to safety, and we will continue this focus as a priority going forward. Nothing is more important than sending our people home safely to their loved ones. I'm pleased to share that the salt first phase of our Mardie operation is fully funded. It's on schedule, and it's within budget. Noting the factors I've mentioned and the potential impact of weather in either direction, we continue to target first Salt on ship, or FSOs, during the quarter ending 31 December 2026. FSOS will enable us to begin generating salt sales revenue, and that will position us to generate strong annuity style returns. Our finance team led by Steve did great work to achieve financial close of our $981 million project finance facility during the year, and that facility funds us through construction and the ramp-up of salt sales. We acknowledge and thank our lenders today, the Northern Australia infrastructure facility, Export Finance Australia, Export Development Canada, Westpac, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The first debt drawdowns of this facility during the year enabled us to reach 69% completion of construction by 30 June. During the year, we also completed the divestment of the Iron Valley iron ore assets during -- to mineral resources, and we'd like to thank our former partner, MinRes for working with us for our mutual benefit over many years. Customer interest in our high-quality salt continues to grow. We executed a third binding offtake agreement during the year, increasing contracted volumes to 62% of forecast ore production for the first 3 years. These agreements span key Asian markets, as shown here. Pricing under this contract is linked to prevailing market conditions, which gives us positive exposure to what we expect to be salt price growth. Over the next decade, Wood McKenzie forecasts Asian demand for industrial salt to outpace new supply, leading to the gap shown on the outer years of this chart. Our position to those growing Asian markets positions us well. We're very proud of our new Cape Preston West Port. Construction is almost complete. It includes a 2.4 kilometer jetty and a ship loader, which will load a transhipper capable of loading ocean-going vessels up to Newcastle max size. BCI will be the only Pilbara-based salt operator with this capability, and our customers are very attracted to this. The port can also create additional value for BCI and the region. Our Mardie project should only use 5.5 million tonnes of the jetty's 20 million tonne annual capacity. This creates significant opportunity to unlock additional value through export of other production, and we continue to field interest from potential users of this spare capacity. We have come a long way this past financial year towards realizing our vision to supply sustainable minerals for the modern world. With a life of at least 60 years, the Mardie operation is a Tier 1 multi-generational asset that will deliver value for decades. Our share price has progressively recognized the achievements of FY '25 with our October 2025 volume-weighted average price being $0.395. Growing market recognition of the value we're creating is clear from the 55% increase in our share price to $0.34 during FY '25 and the subsequent further increase to today. We're fully funded, and we continue to advance construction, which reached 74% complete by the end of September. As I've mentioned, we're on schedule to achieve first salt shipment late next year. I'm going to keep saying that. This will mark the point at which we begin to generate sales revenue. I'll also keep mentioning that. This chart shows our robust and attractive base case salt and SOP cash flow projections to 2050. They'll actually obviously go further than that, but we ran out of room on the chart. While actual results are, of course, likely to differ from any projections, this chart highlights the potential timing of first dividends, first tax payments and full debt repayments, all of which we're looking forward to, except maybe the tax. Any additional use of the Cape Preston West port would generate additional revenue not shown here, as would higher salt and/or SOP prices than what we have in the base case. Today, marks 3 years since David joined BCI. BCI has made exceptional progress in those 3 years, and I'm sure this is going to continue under David's continuing leadership. In his absence and on his behalf, I will now deliver his section of the AGM address. David summarizes FY '25 as a pivotal year for BCI with the commencement of operations. I agree with David that FY '25 reinforced his long-held belief that when the right people unite around a shared purpose, there is no limit to what they can achieve. We're not just building Australia's largest salt operation. We're building a legacy. Over its 60-year life, Mardie is expected to contribute $4.8 billion to Australia's GDP and create over 1,000 jobs. With all 9 evaporation ponds now inundated, the Cape Preston West port almost complete and critical milestones achieved. We're proud that our work will deliver this lasting value for generations. Our team fully embraces our values as shown here. These values are more than words. They shape the way we work, guiding us through every milestone and challenge together. A standout example of our values in action was the development of our innovative pond filling strategy. Faced with the challenge to accelerate progress, our team came together to find a solution, designing an approach that allowed water to flow into our ponds from both the north and south of the operations footprint. We have achieved a lot this year, but more importantly, we've done it safely. As activity ramped up, we remained vigilant in managing risk. We rolled out our safety leadership in the field program to strengthen how we have safety conversations across the workforce. This keeps critical risks front of mind, embeds solid safety fundamentals and strengthens our culture of care and accountability. We also reinforced the effectiveness of our critical controls. We strengthened incident prevention programs, and we introduced measures to address psychosocial hazards. By year's end, our 12-month rolling total recordable injury frequency rate, or TRIFR, had improved down to 2.3. By the year-end, we had pumped over 146 gigaliters of seawater and reached 77% pond surface inundation. We also monitor density. As the seawater and the brine increase in density, this removes minerals we don't want in the final product. We report density on this new chart. When Pond 9 density approaches 1.18, we can move the brine into the crystallizers where salt precipitates before harvesting. We expect to start moving brine into the crystallizers between January and March next year. We've updated this chart today from the previous version in the quarterly -- September quarterly to show density is continuing to increase in line with our FSOS schedule. Led by Steve, we're also using our new proprietary digital twin. This is integrated into our production planning. This is a powerful model, which captures real-time operating data combined with historical weather data, allowing us to make data-driven decisions to maximize production. And we believe we are far ahead of the other Pilbara operations, both in our transparency of reporting information like this to you and also the way we're using technology to maximize our salt production. So we've made consistent and positive progress on construction and operations in the last year, remaining on schedule and within budget. We completed several key construction packages including the secondary seawater intake all of the transfer stations, all of our evaporation ponds, the inter-tidal causeway and the main haul road. We had water in 7 of our 9 evaporation ponds by year-end. Of course, they now all have water in them. During the financial year that we're recognizing today, $347 million was invested in construction with cumulative project expenditure totaling $935 million by year's end. Projected total expenditure remains within our salt first base case of $1.44 billion. We're on track to finish port construction, build the salt wash plant, prepare the salt crystallizers to accept brine and to conduct port dredging works in preparation for FSOS in the quarter ending 31 December 2026. We also remain committed to adding shareholder value by producing byproducts, starting with sulfate of potash, SOP. SOP is a premium sustainable fertilizer, which we will make from the mixed salts, which are left over after we harvest the salt. Our production of SOP will support Australian food security and global agricultural productivity. We're taking a measured and methodical approach to SOP, learning from our predecessors in this complex industry. We will build a pilot plant on site, and we will operate it in real-life Mardie conditions for at least 12 months. This deliberate approach is designed to reduce risk and optimize the design of the future full-scale plant. The cost of the pilot plant is covered within our current funding package. We remain committed to SOP. We think it will enable BCI to meet growing demand for high-quality, sustainable fertilizer, and we want it to be part of our future. At full scale, our Mardie SOP is expected to generate around [ $99 million ] in annual EBITDA [indiscernible] SOP ponds, which have been built in which now have some buttons in them, which is producing the KTMS raw material for the pilot plant. We're also committed to ensuring we deliver lasting value for our communities and for the environment. In FY '25, we continued to progress our environmental offset commitments, investing an additional $750,000 to support research in the Pilbara region. We work closely with traditional owners and local communities. In FY '25, we supported indigenous employment and contracting pathways, and we incorporate indigenous ecological knowledge into our environmental monitoring programs. We continued to support indigenous businesses committing $15 million through contracting opportunities, and we supported the Pilbara economy with $39 million flowing to local businesses. We also supported the Pilbara Kimberly University Center Scholarship Program and Karratha senior high school's positive behavior support program, and we really enjoy being part of the local community. As we look ahead to first salt on ship, we remain focused on safety, on cost discipline, on operational performance and on maintaining strong stakeholder relationships. This current year will see us commence construction of the salt wash plant, commenced dredging works at the port, complete the jetty head and dry commissioning at the Cape Preston West Port and line and fill the first salt crystallizer. Further important milestones, as shown on the right-hand side of this chart, will follow in the next financial year. So being able to commence operations at Mardie is a credit to the capability and commitment of our people and the strength of our strategic partnerships. Together with David, I extend my sincere thanks to everyone who has assisted BCI Minerals' progress over the past year, including everyone mentioned here and everyone present today. This includes my current and former fellow directors, our shareholders, our lenders, our employees, our local communities, our suppliers and our contractors and all of our other stakeholders. Together, we are continuing to create something very special for WA and something globally significant in the salt industry. Now we will move to the formal business of the meeting. Okay. Before I move to the resolutions, there are a number of procedural matters, which I would like to bring to your attention. This meeting is being held as a hybrid meeting, which allows shareholders, proxies and guests to watch a live webcast of the meeting through the Computershare meeting platform. In addition, shareholders and proxies have the ability to ask questions and submit votes online. If any online participants experience any technical difficulties during the meeting, please refer to the online meeting guide, which is available on Computershare's website. This guide includes a number you may call for assistance during the meeting. If we experience any technical difficulties during the meeting, we'll provide updates via our website and the ASX. The register of shareholders is tabled and available for inspection. All shareholders in the room should now have registered to vote. If you haven't registered to receive one of these green admission cards, please do so now at the registration desk. Shareholders and proxies will have the opportunity to ask questions throughout the meeting on a particular resolution or of a general business nature. Questions are to be addressed to me, and I will call on persons to respond as I think necessary. For those participants in the room to ask a question, please raise your green admission card and an attendant will provide you with a microphone. Please state your name prior to the question. For those participating online, there are 2 ways that you may ask a question. [Operator Instructions] Written questions will be read out by our moderator, Steve Fuster. Alternatively, you may ask a verbal question by following the instructions below the broadcast window. For each item of business, we will first address any questions from the room. We will then move to written questions submitted online. And finally, we will address questions requested to be submitted verbally through the online platform. You may start submitting written questions, and we will address them at the relevant item of business. Please note, online questions may be aggregated if we receive multiple questions on the same topic. If we are unable to respond to any questions today due to time constraints, we will endeavor to respond by e-mail if we have your e-mail address. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll. Matt Trotman from Computershare will act as our returning officer for the poll. Thanks, Matt. Shareholders' proxies authorized representatives and attorneys may vote on any resolution after I have declared the poll open. The poll will remain open until after discussion of all agenda items. I will advise you when the poll is about to close. Shareholders and proxies attending online may vote through the Computershare online meeting platform. When the poll is open, select the vote icon and the voting options will appear on your screen. To vote, simply select from one of the voting options. Your vote is then automatically recorded and a confirmation notification will be displayed. You can change your vote up until the time I declare that the poll has closed. Shareholders and proxies in the room today are entitled to vote using their green admission card. On the reverse of your admission card is your voting paper and instructions. Please note, if you have already voted prior to the meeting by submitting a proxy and do not want to change your vote, no further action is required. Proxy holders have attached to their admission card a summary of proxy votes, which details their voting instructions. By completing the voting paper, you are deemed to have voted in accordance with those instructions. If you are a proxy holder with open votes, you need to mark a box beside each resolution to indicate how you wish to cast any open votes. Shareholders also need to mark a box beside each resolution to indicate how you wish to cast your votes. Please ensure you print your name where indicated on the voting paper. When you have finished filling in your voting paper, please lodge it in the ballot box. There will be an opportunity to do this after any discussion of the agenda items. Before moving to the first agenda item, I advise the meeting that 289 valid proxy forms have been received, representing a total of approximately 2.3 billion shares or 79.92% of the company's issued share capital. As we discuss each resolution, we will display the proxy votes received prior to the meeting. I confirm that where undirected proxies have been given in favor of the Chair, I will vote in favor of all resolutions to the extent permitted. Votes cast during the meeting will be counted by Computershare after the meeting closes. The results of the poll will be released on ASX later today as soon as they are available. I will now commence with the business of the meeting and declare the poll open on all items of business. The first item is to receive and consider the financial report of the company for the year ended 30 June 2025, together with the directors' report and the auditor's report as set out in the annual report. The 2025 annual report is available on the company's website, and extra copies are available at this meeting should you require. While there is no requirement for a formal resolution on the financial report, I welcome any questions on the report. In addition, in accordance with the Corporations Act, members are entitled to ask the company's auditors questions. Are there any questions in the room on the 2025 financial report or for our auditors? Thank you. Steve, are there any questions on this item submitted online?

No online questions, Brian.

No online questions. There being no questions, I would ask the company secretary to note that the annual financial report of the company, the directors' report and the auditor's report have been received, and we will move to the first of the resolutions. Resolution 1 is to consider and if thought fit to pass as a nonbinding resolution that the remuneration report for the year ended 30 June 2025 as set out in the annual report be adopted. The proxy results for resolution 1 are shown on the screen. Are there any questions on this resolution from the room? Thank you. Are there any questions, Steve, on this resolution online?

No online questions.

Thank you. There being no questions, I now ask you to please enter your vote on resolution 1 and move to resolution 2. Resolution 2 is to consider and if thought fit, to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution, that Ms. Gabrielle Bell, who ceases to hold office in accordance with the constitution, and being eligible, offers herself for reelection, be reelected as a Director of the company. The proxy results for resolution 2 are shown on the screen. Are there any questions on this resolution from the room? Thank you. Are there any questions on the resolution online?

No, there is not.

Thank you. There being no questions, I now ask you to please enter your vote on resolution 2, and I will move to resolution 3. Number 3 is to consider and if thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of Listing Rule 7.2, Exception 13b and for all other purposes, approval be given for the issue of equity securities under the share rights plan, a summary of which is set out in next to the explanatory memorandum within the next 3 years on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory memorandum. The proxy results for resolution 3 are shown on the screen. Are there any questions in the room on this resolution? Thank you. Steve, are there any online questions?

No.

Thank you. There being no questions on resolution 3, I now ask you to please enter your resolution 3 vote, and I will move to resolution 4, which is to consider and if thought fit, to pass the following as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of Listing Rule 10.19 and Part 2 d2 of the Corporations Act and for all other purposes, approval will be given to the giving of benefits under the share rights plan within the next 3 years to any person who from time to time is or has been the holder of a managerial or executive office in the company or a related body corporate in connection with that person ceasing to hold that position or office or any subsequent position or office with the company or a related body corporate as further described in the explanatory memorandum. The proxy results for resolution 4 are shown on the screen. Are there any questions on this from the room? Thank you. Steve, any online questions?

6 No, there's no question.

There being no questions on resolution 4, I now ask you to please enter your resolution for vote, and I will move to resolution 5. Number 5 is to consider and if thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of listing Rule 7.2 million, Exception 13b and for all other purposes, approval be given for the issue of equity securities under the performance rights plan, a summary of which is set out in a next to the explanatory statement within the next 3 years on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory memorandum. The proxy results for resolution 5 are shown on the screen. Are there any questions on resolution 5 in the room? Thank you. Steve, are there any online?

No.

There being no questions, I now ask you to please enter your resolution 5 vote, and I'll move to resolution 6. Number 6 is to consider and if thought fit to pass the following resolution, again, as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of Listing Rule 10.19 and Part 2d2 of the Corporations Act and for all other purposes, approval be given to the giving of benefits under the performance rights plan within the next 3 years to any person who from time to time is or has been the holder of a managerial or executive office in the company or a related body corporate in connection with that person ceasing to hold that position or office or any subsequent position or office with the company or a related body corporate as further described in the explanatory memorandum. The proxy results for resolution 6 are shown on the screen. Are there any questions on this resolution from the room? Are there any online questions?

No.

There being no questions, I now ask you to please enter your resolution 6 vote, and I will move to resolution 7. Resolution 7 is to consider and if thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of Section 260 C4 of the Corporations Act and for all other purposes, the share rights plan and performance rights plan as described in the explanatory memorandum be approved. Are there any questions on this resolution from the room? The proxy results are shown on the screen. There being no questions from the room, Steve, are there any online?

No online questions.

Thank you. There being no questions, I now ask you to please enter your vote on resolution 7, and I'll move on to resolution 8, is to consider and if thought fit to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of Listing Rule 10.14 and all other purposes, the issue of up to 1,803,765 share rights to Mr. David Boshoff or his nominees under the share rights plan be approved on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory memorandum, including Annexes A and B to the explanatory memorandum. The proxy results are shown on the screen. Are there any questions from the room? Thank you. Any online questions?

No, there's none.

There being no questions, I now ask you to please enter your vote on resolution 8, and I will move to resolution 9, the last one. Resolution 9 is to consider and if thought fit to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of listing rule 10.14 and for all other purposes, the issue of up to 2,823,787 performance rights to Mr. David Boshoff or his nominee under the performance rights plan be approved on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory memorandum, including nexus A and C to the explanatory memorandum. The proxy results for resolution 9 are shown on the screen. Are there any questions on this from the room? Thank you. Steve, online questions.

No questions.

No questions. Okay. Thank you. There being no questions, I now ask you to please enter your vote on Resolution 9. Thank you. We've now considered all of the items of business. But before I close the meeting, I will give the shareholders the opportunity to ask any other questions. Are there any questions from the room? Yes. Thank you.

[ Ryan, Matthew ] [indiscernible]