Chalice Mining Limited (C8U.F) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Chalice Mining Julimar project Gonneville Resource Update, March 2023 teleconference and webcast. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Alex Dorsch, Managing Director and CEO of Chalice Mining. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning. I appreciate everyone tuning in for this significant update from Chalice. So really 2 parts to the update provided to the ASX this morning. The first is obviously a significant increase to our resource estimate for the Julimar project. That's approximately a 50% increase in contained mill, and I guess second part to the release, really some guidance on a strategic partnering and I guess, the forward plan for the asset as far as we can see it. So I'll flip through some of the content on screen, and then we'll get into some questions. So for context, I think the Julimar discovery made in early 2020 is almost 3 years to the date since we discovered this deposit, and now it's turned into a major new polymetallic critical minerals project right here in Western Australia. So the resource update we've provided today increases the resource to 560 million tonnes and approximately 0.54% nickel equivalent or approximately 1.7 grams per tonne palladium equivalent. Importantly, the vast majority of the resources remains in measured indicated category, a small amount of measured defined for some tight-spaced infill drilling, but I guess the majority in the indicated category, and that contained -- those contained metal numbers, they're 16 million ounces of PGEs, 860,000 tonnes of nickel, 520,000 tonnes of copper, 83,000 tonnes of cobalt. That is at approximately a 50% increase from where we were sitting previously and the July '22 update at that time was approximately 2 million tonnes of nickel equivalent or 20 million ounces of palladium equivalent. So a substantial increase announced this morning. That's a product primarily of additional 260 drill holes completed at the project. We've now drilled over 1,000 drill holes on the resource itself. [ And what we're seeing is basically the resource still remains open. ] And that is quite a remarkable feat and it speaks to the scale of this deposit. The higher-grade sulfur component, so as we have done previously, we've reported, I guess, the high-grade core of system at a greater than 0.6% nickel equivalent cut-off, that's increased from 82 million tonnes up to 120 million tonnes at 0.9% nickel equivalent or 2.7 grams palladium equivalent. And that, as I said before, that extends from a very shallow depth of 30 meters down to 800 meters now below surface. And we have actually intersected mineralization down a depth of 1,100 meters below surface now as well, which I'll speak to in a couple of slides. So I guess this confirms as we've been saying sometimes the strategic nature of this Tier 1 resource, these critical minerals here are in sulfide mineralogy that makes them particularly attractive to a whole range of end users and downstream processing parties. They are essential metals. Just last week, we saw the EU announce its update on its critical raw materials act, neat metals like nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium, they're becoming increasingly critical because of their use in green technologies. We have 100% control of this project, and it's in one of the most favorable mining jurisdictions in the world, a very pro-mining state, Western Australia, and being so close to Perth, that gives us direct access to the major infrastructure and the Perth Surround. So the Perth -- city of Perth, approximately 2 million people, obviously, it has very modern world-class infrastructure in the Surrounds that we intend to tap into. We speak a little bit up today about the strategy going forward for the project. We have a lot of exploration to do as those who have been following this story will understand that this -- what we've really discovered here is the 30-kilometer belts of mafic-ultramafic geology called the Julimar Complex. We've really only drilled out 2 kilometers of that 30 to define this resource, and we're getting indications that at least 10 kilometers of the strike length here is mineralized. So there is a substantial amount of exploration that needs to continue on this project, and whilst we do that, we're looking to develop the Gonneville Resource, and I'll speak to, I guess, what we've commenced now in terms of formalizing a strategic partnering process a bit later on. So looking at the next slide, the Gonneville Resource in terms of where the increase has come from, the 50%. You can see where we were sitting in the middle of last year was approximately 2 million tonnes of nickel equivalent, we had about a 400,000 tonne increase from the open pit. That's predominantly gross at the northern end of the open pit. About 300,000 tonnes has been increased in the underground category. That's predominantly through neutral holes, as well as we have, for the first time, used a bulk underground mining assumption to report those tonnes outside of the open pit. So we are assuming now a sublevel caving approach to the underground resource. That has -- there's still the subject of ongoing work as well. Previously, we reported only within a stope optimizer, so that's driven a substantial increase the additional down-dip drilling as well as the change of cut-off there to the underground category. We've also, as I said, they've driven about a 300,000-tonne contained increase through a slightly reduced cut-off grade, and that's really based on updated metallurgy assumptions. Obviously, we're continuing to do test work across the grain spectrum predominantly on flotation, but we're also investigating flotation tails leaching at some stage and finer grinding options. It's important to note that, that drop in the cut-off grade from 0.4% nickel equivalent down to 0.35% hasn't been driven by any of that ongoing test work on flotation tail leaching in particular. So we still see upside through that work that has yet to be incorporated into the resource constraints. In saying that the quantum of increase as it shows there, now up to 3 million tonnes of contained nickel equivalent puts the resource in a very unique position in terms of Tier 1 undeveloped nickel sulfide resources [ as planned ]. So looking at the new block model and pit shell as it's shown here, we obviously have a resource that starts at surface with a small amount of oxide material in the blue to purple shapes, and then we have approximately 600-meter deep pit shell now at the southern end as well as at the northern end of the deposit. So as you can see, those new blocks in -- on the left-hand side of the diagram there, have been -- that's really where majority of the open pit increase has come from, and that's driven the pit to a depth of about 600 meters. The blocks themselves as you can see, they project well outside of the pit shell and they are down at a depth of approximately 800 meters to date. But as you can see on the bottom left-hand side of that figure, we have got evidence of very strong grades around about 600 meters outside the resource with an intersection there of 168 meters of 0.6 nickel equivalent, which included a higher-grade sub interval of 3.2.5 meters at 1% nickel equivalent. So a very large contained metal value in all centers of the well, it remains open at depth. As you can see there, with the open arrows, the vast majority of that resource is located on Chalice-owned farmland. So we have already acquired not only the license to the minerals, but the actual license to the freehold title as well. So we have approximately 5 kilometers worth of private farm holdings in all directions here going south, east and west of that resource. And the strip ratio basically predicted from that resource pit shell has actually dropped as well now to approximately 1.6, so 1.6 tonnes of waste to predicted mineralization in that pit. The high-grade core of the system, if you like, so looking at those blocks that are above 0.6% nickel equivalent, we've done even more infill drilling, particularly around the expected area of the start-up pit, which is sort of towards the upper right. Fortunately, you could see where some additional tight space drilling has been done. That's continued to, I guess, confirm our geological interpretation here of multiple stacked lenses of higher sulfide abundance and those hang together very, very well at a range of different cut-offs. But here at 0.6%, you can see that we end up with 120 million tonnes at a rough -- an average grade of 1.6 grams per tonne PGE, 0.2 nickel, 0.18 copper and 0.17 cobalt. So that contains approximately 1 million tonnes of nickel equivalent or approximately 10 million ounces of palladium equivalent. So that is -- remains the -- I guess, the focus of the initial stages of development, it's a very favorable position to have a lot of that material starting at depths of 30 meters below surface, and as you can see there, with the arrow that's shown there, approximately 600 meters now we've stepped out and proven, I guess, continuity of that sort of grade material going at depth. So there's quite a lot of additional growth there that will continue to be added beyond that 120 million tonne number. So to put the Julimar Resource now in context, it is the second largest undeveloped nickel sulphide resource now in Australia, second only to West Musgrave, which is an under offer as part of the Oz Minerals BHP merger proposal. It is second on a contained nickel basis. But if you actually have a look at the nickel equivalent contained, that it is substantially higher again than what West Musgrave is on a contained nickel equivalent basis. So Julimar being 3 million tonnes which puts it sort of well in its own league in terms of resources in Australia but also resources globally of this nature. This magmatic nickel sulfide nature. It's worth noting as well that the next largest Cosmos there was a recent acquisition of IGO as well. So where do we see this Gonneville Resource growing? It's obvious if you look at the host intrusion here, the purple shape here on this figure is the 2-kilometer strike length, approximately 500 to 600 meters thick Gonneville intrusion. We -- as you can see, the updip part of the intrusion now is very well drilled, and it has the resource block model occupying, I guess, the top 1/3 of the intrusion approximately. And then as you can see, going down at depth beyond the resource, about 1.6 kilometers of additional depth extension and plunge extension to the intrusion itself. And that's really driven by our extensive 2D seismic work as well as continued drilling out in that towards the bottom left-hand side of that figure. We're basically saying that the thickness and continuity of grade is very consistent as we go down at depth. And within those broad zones of disseminated sulphide mineralization that we intersect, typically where we align to one of the higher-grade plunging shoots, we also see localized high-grade sulfide sites with the Northwest plunge component, and that's evidenced there with that 32.5 meters of 1% nickel equivalent, and that's the deepest mineralization intersect of the project now at about 1,100 meters below surface. The overall depth extent of the actual intrusion itself is predicted to be something in the order of 1.3 to 1.4 kilometers below surface. And as you can see, their drilling is yet to actually confirm where the actual intrusion terminates. So a lot of work still to be done just on the Gonneville intrusion itself. We've got 2 rigs, really predominantly testing for high-grade extensions to the resource, and those 2 rigs, there is about 12 holes that are awaiting assays now that have been completed that are not shown on that page as well. In addition to the 2 rigs continuing work at Gonneville on the resource. We've got another 2 rigs that are continuing to drill over the next 10 kilometers of strike length of the intrusive context. So on this page, you can see that the Gonneville intrusion just occupies really at the southern tip of the complex. And then it appears we do have, I guess, a continuation into the Hartog segment or Hartog intrusion, and then we're getting some of the best results outside of Gonneville now over the Hooley to Dampier strike length. So approximately 2.5 kilometers of strike length there at the Hooley Prospect now with very encouraging signs of magmatic sulfides, very similar geology to what we're seeing at Gonneville. That says to us that this is a very large magmatic system. It has all the hallmarks of being able to deliver multiple discrete discoveries. And I guess it's starting to look a lot like the other major mineral systems of this nature on the planet like Norilsk-Talnakh in Russia as well as in Jinchuan in China. Those systems are typically measured in 6 to 10-kilometer strike length or 6 to 20-kilometer strike length sort of systems. So we are continually drilling along this system. The -- as you can see, the Hooley results have delivered some of the best results outside of Gonneville to date, we're continuing exploration in that area as well as we're beginning the planning for an additional phase that we're going beyond to the north in the targets further north of Dampier there along the strike length as well. Whilst we progress that exploration, we are beginning work obviously on developing the Gonneville Resource on our farmland off the Julimar state forest to the south. But really, I guess, the upside beyond the current resource really still has the potential to transform this project, 1,000 holes now, like I said, drilled at the Gonneville deposit, which occupies just that small area down on the bottom left-hand side of this map, it's still open at depth, as I said. But even more importantly, I guess, the additional potential from Hartog all the way up to Flinders and Torres there at the northern end. We have drilled now 100 diamond holes in the -- at the Hartog to Dampier strike length over approximately 10 kilometers. We're waiting on assays for approximately 42 of those holes that have been completed there. So quite a lot of information yet to be -- and quite a lot of geology and interpretation that's continuing to happen in that area at the moment. And like I said, going further afield into the Baudin, Jansz and Torres out of the strike length that's targeted for the third quarter of this year. And there's some very interesting coincidence soil, EM, magnetic anomalies of that part of the complex that obviously, we're very much looking forward to putting an initial drill hole into. So the processing, I mentioned that the resource includes some refinements and they are fairly minor refinements to our understanding of the metallurgy. We are continuing to progress the flow sheet as described on the page here. It is, I guess, a 2-part flow sheet, the first part is a copper PGE flotation stage that we're able to produce a very attractive copper and PGE concentrate for direct offtake to a range of copper smelters using just flotation only. So that is a very low-risk and favorable position to be in. With the right-hand side of the flow sheet, I guess is where the majority of the work is continuing. We are still looking at stage grinding as well as leaching or flotation steps, flotation tails processes there as it shows. That work has not yet been incorporated into the metallurgical algorithms. And then, I guess, the other piece is midstream test work, which we've already generated a quantity of about 50 kilograms of sample from the nickel-iron floatation stage, and that is now the subject of midstream test work looking at pressure oxidation as well as other alternatives to generate that nickel cobalt MHP product. And we think that is a very attractive product to the battery in an electric vehicle industry, and we continue to get a lot of strategic interest in offtake as well as access to that and processing of that product. So now that the resource has increased by such a margin and I guess the metallurgy work is really sort of continuing to refine those steps, we do need to reassess a range of input assumptions and parameters in studies, and as soon as we have done that and ingested all that new data, we will go out again to expected completion for the initial development study. I guess while we're doing that, I guess, we have flagged also the second part of the update today in relation to strategic partnering. So I guess we are seeing a very, very unique asset here in terms of the scale of this resource, the quality as well as its location and commodity mix. This is obviously gathering a lot of attention globally from a range of different parties from major mining houses through to downstream processing partners and all the way to end user customers for the metals. So we have sufficient definition, we believe, now on the Gonneville Resource that we're ready to begin and formalize a partnering process to attract one or more strategic partners into the Gonneville development. So we will be now running that process in parallel to the studies, and we expect to learn from those range of potential partners on a range of matters, obviously, offtake terms, downstream processing options, midstream sort of optimal midstream processing pathway and obviously, scale and throughput options. Those are the key things that we'll be discussing with a range of partners under -- within our [ dar room ], and that's going to progress and really inform the studies as we continue this year. And we are aiming to be ready for a regulatory approval process or a commencement of the regulatory approval process towards the end of this calendar year 2023. And obviously, whilst we continue that, we have -- we continue to have a very large geological teams combing over the other 8,000 square kilometers of West Yilgarn Holding. There are multiple drill programs planned for calendar year 2023 as well testing completely new greenfield targets. So I guess the resource update to summarize as, I guess, now firmly established the Tier 1 nature of the project. It is a very unique project in terms of scale and attractiveness to a range of parties in the industry. Chalice has a track record here of being able to execute on these projects and look after shareholders. And really, we see a huge amount of exploration upside, not only at Julimar, but like I said in the wider province here as well within the West Yilgarn. So on that note, I will hand over to some questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from [Daniela Messerah] with the West Australian.

Alex, thanks for the update and congratulations. That's all pretty exciting. I was just wondering if there was any further insight into the scoping study completion timeline. I know you guys are waiting on that resource update. So is there any sort of further insight into when that study is going to be finished now?

Yes. Thanks, Daniela. Look, we just have, I guess, such a moving target challenge, if you like, in terms of sort of where the quantum of resource growth as well as the steps we're looking at on the metallurgy and the processing side that we do need to take stock of those new inputs and really assess those. And like I said, I think we're really envisaging that we will get some strong input from a whole host of parties within the strategic partnering process. And those are inevitably going to influence the -- particularly in relation to scale of development options here, just given the nature of this resource and its size already and this, I guess, the growth pathway that it's on. I guess we're continually getting, I guess, surprised to the upside in terms of scale. And those elements, we just want to, I guess, capture fully in the studies and make sure we commence a full pre-feasibility study on the right options. In saying that as well, we have already started PFS level work on particular scope. So development studies are not sort of waiting for, I guess, the completion of the scope [ at state ] to progress. In terms of domaining the deposit from a geometallurgy perspective, we've already begun work on, I guess, test work, testing individual domains of the deposit, and that's work that will feed into the pre-feasibility study, and we have started to look at waste manager and certain other select scopes as well and really sort of getting advanced in terms of our understanding of those options as well. So it's not like, I guess, the completion of the scoping study is holding up the progression of the project. The project is advancing as rapidly as possible. This scope and stage completion will be simply more of a snapshot in time as to where those inputs have landed.

So you can't provide any sort of date or quarter kind of estimate?

No. We will update the market, obviously, as soon as we come to our own conclusion on expected timing.

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from [Daniela Messerah] with the West Australian.

Sorry, just thought I could get one more further question before anyone else get the stage. In terms of the strategic partnering process, I just wanted to check, so is it still the company's intention to bring on a strategic partner prior to the scoping study being finalized. And I guess who is your preferred partner? It sounds like you've got a range of options on the table. But ideally, what would that look like for Chalice?

Yes. So I guess we will continue those discussions in parallel with the studies. So we're not sort of holding up the overall development timeline for the project by any means. But look, it is just that given the scale and uniqueness of the project, it is a logical step in the interest of our shareholders to explore capabilities that we can add to and complementary capabilities that we can add to the project through bringing on one or more partners. As we've said, we are, for the first time, broadening that discussion to include the mining and operating partners. Previous discussions have only really sort of been preliminary with more end user and downstream players in the sector. I think there's room for multiple partners here in an asset like this. And I guess, like I said, that will influence the ultimate scale and optimal development pathway for the project, depending on the nature and who those parties are. So I guess it won't be any secret, the parties and certain corporates have more operational knowledge and experience processing these polymetallic magmatic systems more so than others. But we are very much open to a broad range of transactions with the ultimate aim to, I guess, to cement the right development pathway, and obviously, maximize value for Chalice shareholders.

Your next question comes from Richard Knights with Barrenjoey.

Congratulations on a great announcement today. Look, just wondering how you're thinking about the high-grade start-up pit. And where -- if you can give us any flavor about what sort of scale that you'd be thinking about starting that pit and/or how you see the resource growth evolving with the 2 rigs that are focused on drilling there?

Yes. Thanks, Richard. I think, look, it is still very much a work in progress, but the good news from infilling a part of that start-up pit area, we haven't yet filled the entirety of the start-up pit area, but we've been filled approximately 150, its strike length is 75 meters wide. That area has basically confirmed, I guess, our geological wire frame and our interpretation of the geology and the high-grade sulfide zones. So we haven't really had any change in the nature of the interpretation nor the overall numbers in terms of contained metal grades within that section. So that's a strong positive. We were based on the previous work at 40-meter drill spacing. We were thinking that going to a select 10-meter infill was a smart thing to do to derisk that. So that's landed very, very nicely. It's given us the confidence that a higher grade, more selective case is on the table. How big and obviously what sort of duration that starter case takes is still very much a work in progress, and it's obviously quite difficult just given that the number is still being updated as well. So I think probably worth looking at there. I guess the measured -- the small amount of measured tonnes that were defined through that, I guess, spend to some of the grades in that start-up pit area. That's -- it really does come down to I guess you know that, I guess, the outlook on the metals, who the partners are in the project as to what sort of start-up projects we are considering. So we're definitely working on that as quickly as we can to converge on a view on that started case. I think the other element here is obviously approvals, we want to, I guess, have a sufficient start-up phase that it gives us sufficient mine life in that initial phase in terms of approvals. I'll say that the scale -- the actual scale of that phase is still [indiscernible] .

There are no further questions from the teleconference currently. I'll now hand over to Nicholas Read to address questions from the webcast.

Thanks, Ashley. Good morning, everyone. Alex, we've just got a few questions here from webcast participants. First one is, could you explain if the recent upgrade changes in any way your understanding of the geology at Julimar? And the second part of the question is what's -- sort of, what's the broader timeframe for commercial development. If you could give us some sort of idea of the timeline moving forward.

I'll let Bruce Kendall here our GM Exploration comment on the -- any changes in the geology. But in short, no, I guess we haven't had any change in our interpretation of the geology or the continuity of the mineralized irons. The second part, obviously hard at this stage, just given we haven't really locked in development options. And accordingly, it's very difficult to put a timeline to get to production from that. But I guess the most important, I guess, critical path item that we see is regulatory approvals. And like I said, we are working towards sort of a referable and commencement of that process towards the back end of this year. We're also working with government as well on mechanisms there trying to press the timeframes associated with development. Also, critical minerals assets like this and projects like this are getting a lot of attention from major governments in the U.S., EU and Australia. So I guess we're liking what we're hearing in terms of the direction of travel there to try and support -- financially support but also support compression of timeframes for projects of this nature. So I'll hand to Bruce to comment on the geology.

Yes. So just on geology, I think one of the key things about this deposit is it's very consistent geology. We have quite -- has been consistent with that the measure -- the small bit of measures, Alex has already referred to as confirmed that consistency. Probably we're getting increasing confidence of the continuity mineralization, which gives us scientific best higher grade holes that Alex pointed in the presentation down at depths of to 600 meters beyond the current resource. There's a lot of confidence that this continuity mineralization down to that stage. Probably the one big change for us is that the northern end has turned out to be better than we thought. And so that's a big upgrade for us. And so just a lot of confidence to that northern end, especially at depth. So I think the real peak for us is it's consistent. We're seeing that from resource update from the first point of this one. It's just been consistent. Our geological model really hasn't changed very much. And it just gives us a lot of confidence about those holes at depth that just continues on.

Thanks, Bruce. There's a question here which picks up on Daniela's question earlier about the timing of the scoping study. But the second part of the question is, looking ahead, what specifically has to be further accomplished before a PFS can be delivered.

Yes, I think it's important before we launch into the full-scale PFS that we narrow some optionality, and that's, I guess, the primary focus of the studies that are ongoing at the moment is to determine, I guess, this initial phase of development, what scale parameters, what processing flow sheet will be used. The additional complication there is, obviously, there is an oxide component of the resource that sits on top of the sulfide component. So there is, I guess, a different flow sheet envisaged for those 2 different resource domains. So those questions need to be answered before we move into a much higher level of expenditure -- study expenditure in relation to a PFS. And I think the nature of this resource, the size, the uniqueness of it needs to be taken into consideration that typically base metals and polymetallic projects are on the longer end of the scale in terms of development timeframe, single commodity deposits in the gold space or other commodities are typically quicker to develop. And the other point to note here is that, obviously, we're dealing with an area that hasn't seen a major mine, so we're obviously cognizant of that, and we are definitely doing a level of engagement with the local community and the region to make sure that we listen to feedback from those residents and community members and work out there, I guess, a plan here that will maximize the value to the stakeholders, the relevant stakeholders in the area as well as, obviously, the state and our shareholders. So I guess we're doing things in a logical manner. And I think that the groundwork for a PFS really, the next critical phase that we see is that geometallurgy assessment, which, like I said, has already begun. There are multiple different deposits in the one deposit here, if you like. So each one of them needs to be characterized and understood fully. And I guess we're fortunate that most of those geo-domains or the vintage geo-domains are actually effectively outcropping at service. So there is potential here to apply blending strategies and selective strategies on different mining fronts that can target certain domains ahead of others. So all of those elements, I think, are the key now to be able to be ready for a pre-feasibility stage.

Thanks, Alex. There's another timeline question here. You're getting all of these. Can you provide any detail in terms of the phased approach to scoping PFS, DFS? Tell us about broadly, how long each segmental component [indiscernible] ?

So I think we're sort of contemplating typical industry, typical timeframes forward for progression of those studies. We -- like I said, the scoping study and when the completion of each stage is more of a snapshot in time as to where the inputs are, where the parameters are at each of those gates, if you like, in the stages. But the development studies themselves, and I guess, progressively continue. There's no stopping and starting of studies per se. It is a continuation of the studies that are progressively get narrower and narrower error margin applied to the inputs over time. So I guess, for us, the picking of the release of scoping study or PFS is more of a consideration for when we think the input parameters are at a certain confidence level or a certain error margin as opposed to when the work is actually being complete.

Thanks, Alex. There's a question here about how far Julimar is from the nearest nickel smelter, perhaps Kalgoorlie BHP is just the question. But I guess is that a relevancy to what your development plan is? Is that proximity a role [indiscernible] ?

So we do have the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter is approximately 550 kilometers east on rail line from the project. Selling nickel concentrate to the Kalgoorlie Smelter is an option we have looked at in -- at a higher level. I guess what we're seeing is that the resource here in Julimar is sufficiently large enough that it pushes very clearly and very obviously to processing that ourselves and not, I guess, giving up a lot of that metal value to a smelter. The other component is obviously the Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from smelting. We'd obviously prefer a scenario where we could replace that pyrometallurgy with hydrometallurgy. And then, I guess, is the focus of the midstream test work that we're doing at the moment. There's obviously other players as well in Western Australia and elsewhere that are looking at doing exactly the same thing. So going from nickel sulfide concentrate straight to nickel, cobalt, MHP or sulfate intermediate products. So I guess we're sort of jumping into that world because we see there's obviously a significant resource base that justifies it. And I think that's part of the conversation with potential partners as well as that there are chemical companies and downstream parties that we're in discussions with to help us, I guess, continuing the processing into a more of a downstream mode beyond MHP, and that's an area that we'll continue to do work on and get input from those parties.

Thanks, Alex. I've just got one final one here. It's a question around the strategic partnering process and the timing of that relative to the scoping and development studies. If you can just give us a comment there?

Yes. I think as we discussed earlier, I think there is a bit of dependency between the 2 because there's obviously parties out there that have significant capabilities and expertise in processing this style of mineralization. So calling metallic magmatic nickel-copper-PGE systems are very rare beast on the planet. So there are -- there's many more of these in places like Canada as well as in Northern Europe than there are in Australia. Obviously, there's, I guess, a somewhat similar nature style of mineralization in parts of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. But I guess predominantly, those are rig style or chromite rig-hosted PGE deposit. This is obviously somewhat different to that being a magmatic nickel-copper-PGE deposit. So I guess we're foreseeing that discussing, processing and, I guess, optimal pathways forward to get into saleable products with a range of operators as well as downstream parties could add quite a lot of value to the study work. And that's why we're engaged early, I guess, earlier that we would typically do so for a project if it was a single commodity or a smaller scale development. I think what we're saying is that clearly, this warrants taking the long-term view to just given the substantial contained metal numbers. So I guess that continues to guide our studies, and obviously, we are progressing studies as well on the basis that we don't attract a strategic partner as well. So we are confident here that there is a case that Chalice can develop a project sole funding as well. So we're really looking for complementary skill sets that can be added to our capabilities.

Thanks, Alex. There's a couple more, but I think we can take those offline. So I might just hand back to you as I know you're on a tight timeframe today.

Thanks, Nick, and thanks, everyone, for joining. Obviously, a big announcement from Chalice today, a big upgrade in what was already a very significant resource for the project. I think I'll just finish on, and I guess, the uniqueness and I guess, the attractiveness of this resource to a whole host of parties in the industry. I guess, what we're seeing from the electric vehicle and continued battery adoption is there is a huge amount of demand for lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, that is coming from those industries. So we have timed our discovery very well, and we anticipate being ready to be a major player in satisfying the supply that needs to come online to satisfy that demand. So thanks again to everyone for tuning in.

That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.