Hastings Technology Metals Limited (HAS.AX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Right. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and I'd like to welcome you to Hastings Annual General Meeting, and very good to see you guys again. My name is Charles Lew, I'm the Executive Chairman of the company. I'd like to rather we wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land upon which we operate and pay our respect to the elders past, present and future for the holding memories, the traditions, the culture of original Australia. We are also pleased to welcome all the online participants to this AGM, and we will start with the formalities of the meeting. And that is laid out in the notice of meeting that was sent out. And after the formalities of the meeting, we'll have a presentation by our CEO, Vince Catania and also our exiting CFO, Tim in Gilbert, who will talk about the Gold project. So the Company Secretary has confirmed that the notice of meeting was duly given to shareholders and all other persons entitled to receive it and the meeting has been properly convened. So the Company Secretary has confirmed a quorum of members are present and I declare the meeting open at 11:00 a.m. First of all, let me start by introducing my fellow directors. On the far end there is Jean-Claude Steinmetz. So far he has been a Director of Hastings since 2016. Next to him is Mal Randall. Mal Randall has been the Director of facing since 2018. And Vince Catania, here seated next to me. He has been recently in June appointed CEO of the company and wins has been associated with the Yangibana Project for many years, was the NP and has been with hasting since the beginning of 20politics. So I also like to introduce Tim Gilbert. Tim Gilbert has taken a back seat there, but his temporary backseat will come to the front seat in the different guys. Tim has been our CEO for about 3 years. He joined Hastings in the beginning of 2023, and he is now appointed the CEO of Metal Bank. And as you all -- we will be doing an in distribution species of the Metal Bank shares that we own and shareholders will all end up with a shareholding in Metal Bank and Tim will move over from Hastings into Metal Bank as the CEO. And so I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Tim for his invaluable contribution to Hastings in the last 3 years he's been here. And I also want to wish you all the best as he works on the Metal Bank project. At the end of this AGM, we'll have a presentation on not just the Yangibana project, but also the metal bank and gold interest. So we'll now go through the formalities of the meeting. and I will take questions as we progress in this AGM and every one of those resolutions, there are 13 resolutions that we have to go through. So voting for the voting on the resolutions will be conducted by poll. Upon a poll, every person who is present in person or by proxy, corporate representative or attorney will have 1 vote for each share held by that person. If we have not voted and wish to vote, please obtain a voting card or working for from the Company Secretary company sector is not physically here, but there are older in the office that will be able to hand you a voting form if you do need one. As outlined in the notice of meeting, there is no facility to vote online. Voting on all resolutions will close at the end of the formal items of the business I will provide you with notice prior to close voting at the end of the formal part of the meeting and ask you to raise your hand for your voting form to be collected. The votes received for each item of business will be calculated for the meeting and the results released to the ASX. All undirected proxies or open was that have nominated the Chairman of the meeting as their proxy will be cast in favor of each resolution of the notice of meeting. Questions may be submitted at any time for those who wish to ask questions online, please use the Q&A icon on the bottom of your screen. And those questions will be managed by Guy. And I presume Guy is back online already, Adrian.

Charles, I am.

All right. Okay. So cameras still not working. Okay. So the proxies have been appointed for the purposes of this meeting in respect of approximately 61 million shares being 28% of issued capital. I will be voting all discretionary proxies that I have received in favor of the resolutions as set out in the notice of meeting. I'm holding approximately 1.2 million undirected proxy for the distribution. The result of the property will be announced to the ASX following the meeting. Any further questions can be dealt with under other business. All resolutions except Resolution 11 are ordinary resolutions and are approved by a simile majority of the world's cast by shareholders in titer and voting on the resolution. Resolution 11 is a special resolution requiring 75% of shareholders voting to work in favor in order to pass. Resolution 13, which is the capital reduction and NPC distribution resolution requests 20% of all shares in issue to pass. I will take the notice of meeting as read and do not propose to explain the resolutions put for exact questions as we proceed. Item 1 on the business of meeting is to receive and consider annual report for the year ended 30th of June 2025, together with the remuneration report and the auditor's report. We have Anthony Hodge here with our audit partner from PricewaterhouseCoopers who conducted the audit with us today. Would anyone have any questions for the auditor? Online as well as physically present? Okay. It seems like there are no questions. So if there are no questions, then we move on straight to the resolution 1. Adrian, can you please put up the work count? Thank you. Is the font size correct? Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Resolution 1, adoption of remuneration report. To consider and if top fit to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution, that for the purpose of Section 250 Brackets 2 of the Corporations Act and for all other purposes, approval is given for the adoption of the remuneration report. I note that the world on resolution 1 is advisory only and does not buy the directors or the company. Are there any questions on this resolution? Online as well as those present? Okay. If there are no questions on this matter from shareholders, the proxy count on proxies received to date is 44 million for, 5 million against and 10.1 million abstain. And I will now move on to the next item, which is Resolution #2. Reelection of Director, Mr. Mal Randall, to consider and if thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution, that for the purpose of Clause 10 and 3 of the constitution and for all other purposes, Mr. Malcolm Randall, who retires by rotation and being eligible is reelected as a director. Are there any questions on this resolution? Online? No?

No questions online.

Okay. So the proxy count on proxies received today is $58.6 million for, 723,000 against and 63,000 have stand. I will now move on to the next item, Resolution #3, ratification of issue of shares to July placement participants to consider and to fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution. That for the purposes of Listing Rule 7.4 and for all purposes, shareholders rectified an issue of 13,824,000 shares to the July placement participants on the terms and conditions set up in the explanatory statement. I note that voting exclusions apply to this resolution, any works cut in respect of this resolution by or on behalf of excluded persons will be disregarded. Are there any questions to this resolution?

No questions online, Charles.

Okay. So the proxy poll on proxies received to date is 56 million for, 320,000 against and 3.9 million abstaining. I will now move on to [indiscernible] ratification of issue of shares to the September placement participants to consider and it thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution. That the purposes of Listing Rule 7.4 and for all other purposes, shareholders ratified issue of 1,562,000 share September placement participants on the terms and conditions set up in the extent statement. I note that voting exclusions apply to this resolution planning work cast in respect of this resolution by or behalf of excluded persons will be disregarded. Are there any questions on this resolution?

No questions online, Charles.

Okay. The proxy call on proxies received today is 59.6 million for, 319,000 against and 14 million abstaining. Right. I will now move on to the next item. Given the nature of the next resolution relating to myself, I will pass the chair to Mal, Resolution 5.

Resolution 5, approval to issue shares Charles Lew to enable his participation in the July placement. You can see if thought effect to pass the following as an organ resolution. That's the purpose of Listing Rule 10.11 and for all other purposes pro was given for the company to issue up to 800,000 shares to Charles Lew, or is on the terms and conditions set out in expenditure statement. Note that voting exclusions apply to this resolution. Any votes cast to be set this resolution by or on behalf of excluding persons will be disregarded. Are there any questions on this resolution?

Mal, there are no questions online.

Thanks, Guy. So we'll move on to Resolution 6. I hand the chair back Charles.

Thank you, Mal. Resolution 6, ratification of issue of bank to alpha investment partners to consider and if thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of Listing Rule 7.4 and for all other purposes, shareholders ratified an issue of 7.85 million shares to Alpha Investment Partners on the terms and conditions set up in the explanatory statement. I note that voting exclusions apply to this resolution, any votes cast in respect of this retribution by or on behalf of exclusives will be disregarded. Are there any questions on this resolution?

Who are they?

Alpha Investment Partners.

What do they do?

They're basically asset managers, right, that will look for the potential investors who would want to invest in Hastings or whatever other company that they have a mandate to act for. So the way they do it, unlike the typical broker in a capital raising exercise is that they will go into the market to sell the shares as they see what is the right price that we set for them. So if the share price is trading at $0.70 and we say that we want you to raise some money for us and the minimum price is $0.70, then that is what they'll do. They will only sell shares over a period of time. It's not in 1 day. So let's say there's 2 million shares, $0.70 being the minimum price, do what you have to do to achieve that objective of 2 million at $0.70. So on this occasion, we had 3 -- a little bit over 3 million shares, and they execute their mandate of 2 weeks or 2.5 weeks period. And as set out in the explanation in the notice of meeting, the price achieved was $0.711. Okay. Any other questions?

No questions online, Charles.

Okay. The for count on proxies to date is 58.9 million for, 464,000 against and 555,000 abstain. Right. Given the nature of the next resolution relating to myself, I will pass the chat over to Mal again, and this is with respect to Resolution 7, which is the approval of issue shares to myself.

Resolution 7, approval of issue of shares to Executive Director, Charles Lew, to consider and if thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution. That for the purpose of ASX Listing Rule 10.11 and for all other purposes, shareholders approved the issue of 17,259 shares to Charles Lew or his nominee on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory memorandum. I note that voting exclusions are bit resolution. Any votes cast and expected this resolution by or on behalf of the levers will be disregarded. Are there any questions on this resolution? Okay.

And no questions online, Mal.

Proxy count, proxies as you can probably see, you see that is 45 million for, 5 million against and 10.8 million abstained. Back to Charles.

Right. We now move on to Resolution #8 and share -- this is a grant of options to a related party. Mr. Jean-Claude Steinmetz, one of our nonexecutive directors to consider and it thought fit to pass the following as a politely resolution, that for the purposes of Section 195 brackets 4 of the Corporations Act 2001 ASX Listing Rule 10.11 and for all other purposes, approval is given for the company to issue up to 500,000 options to Mr. Jean-Claude Steinmetz or his nominee on the terms and conditions set up in the excellent major statement. I note that voting exclusions apply to this resolution, any votes cast in respect of this resolution by or on persons will be disregarded. Are there any questions on this resolution?

And no questions online, Charles.

The proxy count on proxies received to date is 45 million for, 2.4 million against and 12.5 million abstain. Resolution 9 grant of options to a related party, Mr. Malcolm Randall to consider and it thought fit to part the following as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of Section 15 Records 4 of the Corporations Act 2001, ASX Listing Rule 10.11 and for all other purposes, approval is given to the company sorry, given for the company to issue up to 0.5 million options to Mr. Malcolm Randall or is nominee on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory statement. I note that voting exclusion supply to this resolution enables cast in respect of this resolution by or on behalf of excluded persons will be disregarded. Are there any questions on this resolution?

And no questions on line, Charles.

Okay. The proxy count on proxies received today is 45 million for and 2.4 million against and 12.5 million abstain. Now we move on to Resolution #10, grant of options to a related party, Mr. Guy Robertson to consider and it thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of Section 194 Brexit 4 of the Corporations Act 2001, ASX Listing Rule 10.11 and for all other purposes, approval is given for the company to issue up to 0.5 million options to Mr. Guy Robertson or his nominee on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory statement. I note that voting exclusions apply to this resolution and votes cast in respect of this resolution by or on behalf of extruded persons will be disregarded. Any questions on this resolution?

And no questions online, Charles.

The proxy count on proxies received to date is 45 million for and 2.5 million against and $12.3 million abstain. Resolution #11, approval of 7.18 mandate to consider and in stock fit to pass the following as a special resolution. That for the purposes of listing Rule 7.1A and for all other purposes, approval is given for the company to issue up to that number of equity securities equal to 10% of the issued capital of the company at the time of issue, calculated in accordance with the formula prescribed in Listing Rule 7.1A.2 and otherwise, on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory statement. I note that voting exclusions apply to this resolution and votes cast in respect of this resolution by or on behalf of suited persons will be disregarded. Are there any questions on this resolution?

And no questions online, Charles.

The proxy count on proxies received to date is 57.2 million for, 519,000 against and 2.2 million abstaining. Now we come to Resolution 12. Ratification of issue of shares to Alpha Investment Partners to consider and export fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution that for the purposes of Listing Rule 7.4 and for all other purposes, Shareholders rectified an issue of 3,150,000 shares to Alpha Investment Partners on the terms and conditions set out in the exploratory statement. I know that voting exclusions apply to this resolution and votes cast in respect of this resolution by on behalf of excluded persons will be disregarded. So this is the 3.15 million shares that alpha sold at $0.71. Any questions from shareholders?

No questions on the line, Charles.

Okay. The proxy count on proxies received to date is 59 million for, 410,000 against and 612,000 abstaining. Right. We come to the last resolution, Resolution #13, approval of an equal capital reduction and in-specie distribution. To consider and, if thought fit, to pass the following as an ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of Section 256B and 256C(1) of the Corporations Act, and for all other purposes, approval is given for the company to reduce its share capital by the company making a pro rata in-specie distribution of up to 160,022,264 Metal Bank shares, MBK shares, to shareholders registered on the record date on the terms and conditions set out in the Explanatory Statement. I note that voting exclusions apply to this resolution. Any votes cast in respect of this resolution by or on behalf of excluded persons will be disregarded. Are there any questions on this resolution?

What percentage figure on that reduction?

The percentage figure, given the number 160 million MBK shares will be distributed to shareholders. That represents 0.76 MBK shares for every 1 Hasting shares that you own. So in percentage, 76%.

And Charles, the percentage of the total MBK shares on issue once that distribution has been made is going to sit on or around 19%.

Yes. Okay. So are there any more questions on this resolution 13?

No questions online, Charles.

Okay. The proxy color on proxies received to date is 58.9 million for, 410,000 against and 643,000 abstaining. So are there any other questions with respect to these resolutions that we have been through. If there is none, then we will proceed on to the presentation. Any questions from online or only from the floor?

No further questions online. Charles. You're going to close the formal meeting and then proceed with the presentation.

Okay. So I will now close the AGM and would hand the presentation to Vince with respect to Yangibana and Rare Earth and to Tim with respect to Metal Bank and the gold business. Thank you very much for coming.

Good morning, and welcome again. It's great to have you all here at the AGM, which is now formally being closed. With this presentation, there is no new information that's not incorporated in our previous announcements by Hastings. But I'll give you a quick overview of I can get this working, Adrian. Of the JV update, the Antamina joint venture update also the opportunities that Hastings and the joint venture has moving forward. As you will all be aware, it's been a long road when it's come to completing the venture, which we completed all the conditions precedent on the 21st of September this year, which has been an exciting new partnership that's been developed between Hastings and Wyloo. As you can see, the structure there. hosting now has a 40% interest into the Yangibana and the interest 60% by Wyloo, which is the joint venture manager and operator. When it comes to the decision-making of the joint venture, we have a management committee, which has equal representation from both companies as well as a marketing committee, which has a representation from both communities. The management committee, the representatives from Hastings is myself, as CEO; and Charles Lew as Chairman and the Marketing Committee is myself as CEO, and Neil Hackman, who has got a long understanding about the marketing when it comes to rare earth who is based in our Singapore office. And of course, we've got the project management team, which we have got a lot of personnel from Hastings that has been transferred into the Wyloo team, who is leading the project management for the Yangibana joint venture as we move forward. Next slide there. And just to recap, you probably would have seen some of these photos. But the $103 million investment that has already occurred at the Yangibana site, as you can see, which is about AUD 160 million, the curability Village, which is 294 beds fully commissioned, which has got -- you can see the sports court there and, of course, the medical facilities and we in dry mess. We've got the air strip there that can land A7. We added that not yet turboprop which was -- that's a picture of that plan meaning there mid last year as well as the access rose fields and of course, all the equipment that is needed to complete the construction of our beneficiation plant. And I'll show you, as you can see, our warehouses that we have here in Perth Henderson and in [ Carafa ] has the equipment for the beneficiation plant, but all the long lead items need for our second stage hydromet plant. When it comes to Yangibana, we are still a world-class asset compared to our peers. And interesting, having just returned from the U.S. and a lot of these companies who are presenting. We far out rank, and you can see with an NDP ratio of 37%. We are 1 of the highest, if not the highest, again, when we compare ourselves to the peers. When you've got Mountain Pass there who has for the beneficiary of a Pentagon deal, just shows you the difference between Yangibana and the company MP materials on the difference when it comes to the quality of our rare earth. So we are still the leader when it comes to the quality that we've got world-class unique Tier 1 asset we have. So just to recap the opportunity that we have, of course, with our Yangibana Stage 1. We are fully permitted. We are troubled. We have derisked the project by ensuring that key infrastructure needed to be able to build the beneficiation plant has -- is there, as you saw the photos of the strip access roads and so forth. We have all the equipment to be able to complete the beneficiation plant, which makes us one of the leaders still here in Australia to become a rare earth producer in the near-term future. with no debt associated now with Hastings and the Yangibana mine. We are in a fully really permitted, but more importantly, derisk project moving forward with the $160 million of money that has been spent to date at site. Also, with Stage 2, our Hydromet plant where we are in deep discussions with the opportunities to advance the second stage when it comes to Onslow here in Western Australia but also the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And most recently, our heads of agreement with [ U Core ] in Canada at the has also given us the opportunity to look at the USA as an option to be able to build our downstream processing there. And of course, which leads to the opportunities of further downstream opportunities that we have in being able to develop our second stage leads to a separation of rare earth oxides and ultimately moving towards the manufacture of permanent magnets in due course. But we are focused on getting Stage 1 right and the opportunities that Stage 1 brings with Stage 2 is looking at how is the Stage 2 going to benefit our shareholders. in making the right decision where it's best suited to be able to build a plant. Like I said, also here in Western Australia in down to Saudi Arabia and the UA for those locations. And recapping these opportunities, which are all being worked on and have been worked on for some time now. But with the closure of the joint venture on the 21st of September has now given the focus of the venture to look at what these opportunities can bring in what's the best pathway forward. to construction and production for the joint venture project. When it comes to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2024, our Chairman, Charles Lu, and Gen Core Stones, where in Saudi Arabia, which secured an MOU with the Ministry of Investment there to -- which made Hastings 1 of 9 companies being selected by the Kingdom to look at ways in which they can diversify their economy by 2030. And diversifying their economy by 2030, they're looking at how they can develop these rare earth opportunities that we've got in terms of the downstream processing to be based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and move towards producing magnets, which can lead to diversifying that economy not only through the manufacturing of permanent magnets into the future. But also what those -- that manufacturing brings in terms of in-line robotics, wind turbines being produced as well as car-manufacturing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Sorry, Vince. When you say 1 of 9, is that worldwide 9 or just Australia?

Worldwide 9. Yes. So very historical, but very beneficial to, obviously, Hastings being part of that 1 of 9, and we've been in deep discussions with various companies in the Kingdom for some time now progressing. And we look forward to being able to share that with shareholders in due course. And of course, here in Australia, with the federal government's initiative, which they announced prior to the federal election, to establish a strategic stockpile reserve policy. Hastings and Wyloo have been part of the working group with the Australian government to develop the policy around this announcement. The Australian government is working on that policy as we speak and will be announced before June next year, where those opportunities, this is another pathway that Hastings has been able to be supported by the federal government in terms of what this policy will bring. And the discussions have been around how can government provide that certainty when it becomes. And we're seeing what the U.S. government has done through coring a floor price for MP materials, which has set the benchmark when it comes to governments providing that support for rare earth companies, which the federal government is considering as one of those options is to provide that financial support to ensure that the project from a mine to home to oxide separation can be supported by a price mechanism, which will be, like I said, be announced prior to June next year, which also with that support that the Australian government is looking to provide rare earth producers. They have those long interest loans through a Finance Australia. Northern infrastructure fund being NAV, those opportunities, which still are open to the Yangibana joint venture as we move forward to be able to get those -- the benefit of the low interest trains to be able to develop our Yangibana mine site. We'll get there. As I touched on, the U.S. government and Australian lines, which has been strengthened by the agreement reached between our Prime Minister, [indiscernible] and the President of United States, Donald Trump. But prior to that, we were -- Hastings was chosen as 1 of 24 companies to be part of a delegation chosen by the U.S. government and led by the Australian government and our former Prime Minister, [ Kevin Mutt ] who's now the ambassador to the United States led the delegation with various high-level meetings with the Trump administration And other government agencies in the U.S. to explain how they would like to secure their critical mineral supply chain, in particular, rare earth. This was a very informative delegation, which has led to many opportunities that the Australian companies have been able to secure support from the U.S. government, of which we've started those discussions to see how we can benefit from the U.S. Australian lines with Australian companies providing the material needed for the -- not only just the U.S. needs but needs of countries that are like-minded who want to ensure that we've got our critical mineral supply secured for anything that may happen in the future. This is a really exciting opportunity, I think, for our company Hastings and the Yangibana joint venture to continue those discussions moving forward with the U.S. government. Off the back of that delegation we have been in discussions with up, which is a Canadian-based company that has got financial support from the Canadian government but as well as the U.S. government to develop their oxide separation plant, which is new technology, technology that have proven up, like I said, being supported by the U.S. to build their oxide separation plant in Louisiana. And with that, we have now got a heads of agreement, which we signed at the G7 in Toronto last month, which has given that there's another opportunity to play into the agreement reached by both the Australian government and U.S. government, in line with a company -- a Canadian company that is backed by the Canadian government and U.S. government to develop downstream processing in the U.S. This is a fantastic opportunity for the Yangibana joint venture to supply our ore, our concentrate and also look at the potential of building a hydromet plant in the U.S. So there is multiple pathways that our company is now looking at to secure what is the best direction to get the best value for our shareholders. And of course, not to mention our Brockman Niobium and Heavy Earth project. This is a project which is probably the original project of Hastings, where back in 2012, '13, a study was conducted into this tenement that we've got, which is in the northwest of West Australian the Kimberly region, about 100 kilometers south of Falls Creek, where this is an opportunity that we in 2026, we'll like to develop. And as you can see there, in the summary, has the potential of 2,630 tons of Niobium oxide, which is exciting that we want to look at refreshing the scoping study to see what value that could give to shareholders into the future. So our highlights over the last year is -- and I think a very important point derisked global lead up when it comes to being able to supply rare earth to the world with a fully permitted stage or the equipment for the beneficiation plant really still puts Hastings in a very good position to be Australia's next rare earth producer into the future. And of course, when you have a look at the 17-year mine life we've got, and we all know that this is a multi-generational mine. That presents a huge opportunity, especially with those 3 pathways that we're working on to be able to move the project forward really does set us apart from other rare earth companies here in Australia and overseas. And of course, we want to be able to capture the downstream value, which is critical in being able to provide our shareholders with the best value in ensuring that we can develop downstream processing off the back of our Yangibana rare-earth mine. And of course, as I said earlier, the near-term opportunity when it comes to redo that scoping study into 2026 to really see what that value is that we can bring to shareholders with our niobium and heavy or tenants that we have in celebrating. Before I introduce Tim Gilbert, who is our COO and retiring COO of Hastings, but -- and he's going into his new venture as CEO of Metal Bank. Tim and I both started at Hastings at the same time. I think it was in 2023. And Tim has been a pillar for hosting as we moved across the last 3 years to be able to not only provide the opportunities for Hastings in terms of being the Chief Operating Officer. -- and what is done in terms of getting the Yangibana to the point that he's got it to. I just want to wish him well and thank him for all the work. I wish him well on his next venture as CEO of Metal Bank. Tim's background is gold. So he's perfectly positioned to take this great opportunity for shareholders in NBK forward, and we look forward to your success in the future. So thank you, Tim.

I'd just like to thank everybody in Hastings for the journey that I've been on not about me. It's been gating, but it's been an incredible 3 years since I joined the company, and I do think hasting for every opportunity is given me. And here is 1 of those opportunities and shareholders of many of you are shareholders now of Metal Bank. I'm sure you're going to be very, very interested to see what we've actually got in store. So when we take this little journey back, when the Yangibana JV was formed and Hastings with its 40%. We were looking Charles and Vince and the team were looking at saying, what do we want to get into, which is outside of purely the rare earth element opportunities that we had. So we're in WA. We're at a gold region. We started to look at gold opportunity to say where could we go and add some value to hasting from that point of view. And as we went through that process, we looked at many, many different opportunities. Some were way out of our reach just in terms of too much money to buy into too far away from anywhere. And as you'll see on that slide, we looked for opportunities with the right size for us, the right price face things. We didn't have a lot of character buy, and it had it been the right location for Hastings. And what I mean by the right location is we wanted it somewhere close to a center where we didn't have to build an airport. We didn't have to build a bit. We didn't have to go concentrator. We didn't have to build the tails down. So when you look at all of those things and this opportunity came up for us at Whitehead, and as you see from the map, the Whitehead is close to [indiscernible] , it's an 80-kilometer drive. It's half an hour the Gary Road, if you know that area. It's close to processing facilities. It's got good infrastructure there. You'll see all of those process plants in and around the area, Black Swan when it becomes gold, [indiscernible] , Lakewood, Paddington, they're all gold processing plants. So that was the opportunity. And importantly, for us, as we say in there, it's low CapEx, and it's a far starter. And it's in that sort of situation that we can get into this ground very quickly, very economically and start mining gold. We will have some information as we do like a drill program up at White heads. And we drilled something in the order of 1,300 meters to confirm historical data there. And it did confirm that as we put out an ASX update not long ago. And some of that gold incepts what we got were from surface. So when we actually start mining, we know that we're going to be into gold, and it's not huge, don't not suggesting it's a huge deposit but I think it can be very profitable from the point of view from Metal bank, but it's close to surface, close to cable. So then can the opportunity with Metal back. And as we say there, for Metal Bank, it's got gold opportunities in WA and Queensland. I'll show you those on the next slide. It's got a project called Millennium, which is in Queensland. It's just outside [indiscernible], if you know that area. So [indiscernible] in that area, where it's a copper cobalt plus gold plus some graphite. So it's a very, very interesting opportunity there. And it also has some other opportunities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which we'll look at in due course. So the opportunity for Hastings and for Metal Bank, as we said on the last point, the sum of the 2 is going to be bigger than the 2 individuals. And that's where I think we have got to today with the volumes we go through, but we have now got the assets, the gold assets from Hastings into Metal bank, and that gives us a little bit more size, as you'll see on the next couple of slides to show the path forward. Thanks, Aki. A little bit about Metal Bank, as I said before and building a gold and copper company. You'll see on the left-hand side, we have the Livingston project. Livingston is about 160 kilometers northwest of Megara falls into that same situation as we were talking about for Hastings. [ Legato ] is a center. It's got everything we need in [ Mecathert's ] got villages. It's got camps, it's got water, it's got power, it's got a strip. It's got all of those things. we don't have to build anything. We have the Fortnum mine, which is part of Metal bank -- sorry, part of West -- yes, West Gold about 80 kilometers away from us. So that's where we're looking at in terms of where we can get to from a processing point of view. And then other assets, as I've mentioned in beforehand, you've got Millennium project, which is up in the manier in Queensland, and we got some Southeast Queensland projects, which are mild Waranal, which have a mineral resource at some 15,000 ties, but a lot of opportunity. So I think the clarity that we've got from here is by joining Meta Bank with Hastings gold assets, we are starting to build an opportunity for all of our shareholders. Thanks, Adrian. And this is just to give some clarity about where that opportunity is. So Metal Bank acquired Hastings gold assets. We mentioned before and it was the equivalent value of $2.3 million in NBK shares, and that's at 160 million shares that Charles mentioned beforehand. And that's being returned from the following vote meter days an in-specie distribution to hosting shareholders in that Radian Hasting shares 2.76 in a Metal Bank share. Where the value to hostingsHastings I believe comes from. And if we just look at some of how these numbers add up on the 29th of August, when we started to talk about the opportunity, the n market cap was $6.96 million, just under $7 million. We signed a share purchase agreement with Metal bank on the 29th of September. And since that time, if you look at what the share price was there on the 24th of November, just earlier this week, there are now those more shares, which are in circulation because there was an entitlement offer an entitlement offer raised $2.42 million into Metal bank, but the share price is sitting there at $0.19. It was at $18 a little earlier on today, and it's already gone to a market capitalization of 12.73%. So just by bringing the 2 teams together, the 2 opportunities together, we've seen that increase in the value of Metal Bank as it is. And therefore, the shares that have come across from Hastings to you who are now Metal Bank shareholders, we're starting to see the key impact on what that is going to be. And as you would not be surprised. My job is to grow the resource and increase the reserves and sell the gold and see that share price go higher as we generate cash and increase the share cost. And the key point out of that for me is we do not just want to be an explorer. We want to be a producer and an explorer. We want to produce gold such that we can put that money back into the ground to find more reserves, more resources and keep growing the resource and keep cash coming in through the sale of gold, especially we're an oil price of USD 4,150 an ounce, as it is right now. So lots and lots of opportunity for us. And when I say us, it's metal bar of which Hasting shareholders as voted this morning are part of that new group. Thank you.

Any questions?

MBK stands for, the K. I know MB is Metal Bank.

It's just the ASX ticker. It's like Hastings, it's HAS, it's MBK.

Let's sort of choose an X as well, is it?

Well, it's just the way you go. The MBK is the thing now. It's just a ticker symbol. Any questions online? No questions online?

No questions online, Charles.

No? Everybody is happy?

But for long since '19 of prior period.

Well, sorry, I think it's $1.9 -- 0.019. So it's $1.9. So this has been a very good acquisition because you can see that the -- effectively, you're getting the Meta Bank's shares free of charge and it's traded around $1.8, $1.9 mark. And as Tim has explained, there's a lot of work there to do as we have been to improve that resource and reserves, and we are going to bring the first deposit cost leaders and Whiteheads, which is near Kalgoorlie into production by certainly by this time next year, I would like to think.

Where are you on the process?

There's a choice of 5 million process on Yes, around cover. So 80 kilometers if you could just drop back 3 slides, please. One more. Yes. So if you look at the map that tier, the grade area top right is the tenements that part of White heads. And as you follow the road down to Kalgoorlie, you'll see that there's a black swan as a call Black Swan is currently a nickel process plant, of which the owners are turning it into a gold plant as we speak. They have taken that decision to turn that in goal. You come further to the south, you end up with Kanowna Belle, which is the next process plant into Kalgoorlie and Southeast of Kalgoorlie is Lakewood, which is owned by Black Cat. And then if you go up to Paddington, which is on the Goldfields highway heading back up towards Lester in those areas, you've got the powering to up there. And then we've got another site, which is off the map over here to the east, which is another fifth opportunity that we have to talk to, to look at to say where we can find this.

Is there a shield out there?

From Kanowna Belle into Kalgoorlie sealed and then from Kanowna Belle to the north, it's unsealed.

How many grams per tonne, you said?

Look, we're going to be -- I'm going to hold the fire on that. We're going to be putting some data, right, very, very soon. There was historical being there. There was never a resource being declared. We are going to announced that resource in the next 10 days or so, something along those lines. So that's with company called [ EnTech ] who have just been going back. They collated all the historical data plus 1,300 meters of drilling that we did and bringing it into an updated resource model from that. So if you can just bear with me on that one shortly.

So in then that there's a depth there and it's economic. That's going to have to be above sort of 4 or 5 grams, I'd imagine, to get into another county?

Doesn't need to be something along those lines. If we're in that situation where we're at 1.2, 1.3 grams in reserve, we're going to make some money over today's gold price.

At that ratio, are you going to be able to get anyone to take it, to handle it?

I think so. So we've already visited Paddington or we got a face-to-face discussion with value them. I've had discussions with Black Cat. They are the 2 key ones at the moment. We've spoken like about their schedule when they expect to have that gold plant up and going. And I'm just not follow of picking up the they would take on yours, if it's only 1.2 displacing their own this is the key thing around Kalgoorlie at the moment in terms of where you look at the size of the process plants, there is their capacity from just their own ore. So there's a lot of this going on, which is coal treatment in and around the Kalgoorlie area. So it's definitely there, and that's the point of having those discussions very because they're putting a 12-month production schedule together, and our discussions with them were when is it going to be coming online. Yes, we've got room for that amount of time. So again, we're not in the game here of having 1 million tonnes of ore. We're not going to be in that game. It's going to be 150,000 tonnes, 100 something on those lines. So small parcels, which we'll be able to go. And if we can't get it into one, then maybe we can split it and have some going on, some going or another, some going on that in specific parcels as we go through.

So looking at it, is to grow, say, how much does it take make a shortcut into [indiscernible]?

Well, because somebody really have them. So I don't have to come all the way down from Whiteheads into Kalgoorlie and back up. They already wrote but you don't show it. This is just a diagrammatic design. We've got the use of Google map. Yes, you're exactly right.

Yes. So our aim is just as long as it's profitable, you don't use sums being a gold man, right? And so it's the back to the negotiation really, how was they going to charge? Do bank share to charge the process, the road trains that will be, right? Are they under the own management? Or do you contract that out?

We'll contract that I was up in Kalgoorlie last week with the guy who builds roads for a live. We've got a diesel like grade to actually get into the site, and we've been having discussions about how quickly we can do that, who do we know who's in the haulage transport. We're a small gold miner. We actually nimble I'd want to get lined up with one of the big carriers because all they're going to do is -- we've got to find a cost that seeks us right now.

So you say it was a resting mine in the past, was it? How much gold was there in the past?

I'll take you back to the old historical goal. This is first line in the gold rush in Kalgoorlie back in the late 1890s. So this is one of the first opportunities we have because it's it has been readily explored previously. Also on this area, but near to 7 liters is a historical old underground mine. When I say historical, for those of you know underground mining, it was all totaled in the shape of coffee because that's how you push a wheel barrel. That's the widest park. And then these guys down there were mining and stone. Not a lot of it, but it was an add it's over 30 grams a tonne. No, I haven't got anything other than historical Kalgoorlie mine data to show me that. So I'm not sitting here saying, that's what it is. But that's what the cooling was telling me. So therefore, it's going to be true. But when we get to that stage, we're going to go out and we're going to drill it, and we're going to find out what's there. And this is the upside that this opportunity has bought to Hastings and now to Metal Bank. I believe there's a lot of gold in there.

All right. I wish you good luck.

So you need that luck for yourself, you're a shareholder. Any more questions on gold and Metal Bank? Okay. Good. All right. And I presume no questions on Yangibana as well. So thank you very much for coming. Thank you to those online. And we look forward to a very exciting year ahead for both Hastings and of course, Metal Bank. And again, Tim has been with us for 3 years and I've worked closely with Tim in his 3 years at Hastings and he's the man with all the experience to take on the CEO role at Metal Bank. And I'm sure you get a chance to interact directly with Tim. And of course, Vince, he's somewhere back there. And Vince joined us 3 years ago and as CEO in June is also the right man at the right time to look at all the different interactions and initiatives we have, both in terms of Wyloo, Yukon in Canada and the Southeast some conglomerates of Saudi Arabia that we are dealing with. And all that is really to advance Yangibana further on the track. And I need not say anymore that we are totally show already and we have the equipment in the warehouse, and that's what appeals to a lot of the potential partners that we've been talking to. So there's a lot of work ahead of us and shareholders, thank you for -- you've got a question?

When is the first time you shipping products to Yangibana?

I can't give you a date on that because we still need to work things that are true with our strategic partners. I just mentioned that it's not just Wyloo but in order to go take advantage if I put a display of the critical minerals direction at different parts of the world in terms of whether it's North America or U.S. and the Middle East or the Southeast and here in Australia. We need to meet decisions that will lead us to the best value creation for shareholders. So to answer your question, of course, we want to get a product to the market in terms of the Yangibana concentrate as soon as possible. But as you know, we also have the hydromet plant sitting in the warehouse we want to cut the deal that is advantageous to shareholders to build the hydromet plant, whether it is in the U.S. or whether it's in Saudi Arabia or even here in Australia, it has to be the right deal that makes the right value. It gives us the right value for shareholders because it's about -- it's not just about building the plant, it's about the profitability when you operate it.

Just quickly, I don't know anything about Wyloo. Who are they?

Wyloo is the private company for Andrew and Nicola Forest, which is obviously Andrew is the Founder and Chairman of Forest Metals. So this is this private company where they look at metals, critical minerals. They've got a large portfolio of investments whether it be nickel, gold, we've also got a large Canadian assets as well. So this is just one of those events that they've got.

Diversifications from it, yes. This sure that we invest in it.

Yes. Well, that's I think the atonal now involved in the Yangibana joint venture and who knows how we progress into the future. But One thing for shares that we're both committed to see what is the best pathway to get the best value, not only for them as while, but also shareholders of tastings. And we want to make the right decision to get the right value to the shareholders. And I think that over the next -- early 2026 is going to be a pivotal moment for us as hosting move forward because I think that, yes, you're right. When you're going to finish construction and being production. That's a question that everyone asks. We hope that we can articulate that with some certainty going forward early next year.

So for me to understand it, you're ready to produce, you just don't know where the end product goes at the moment. because the options?

No, like I showed you, we have spent $10 million in all the enabling infrastructure at engine. We have the equipment to be able to build a beneficiation plant, which produces concentrate. What the funds that we need to complete that is the money is needed to be able to build the beneficiation plant, and then we're looking at the options for the hydromet plant which have got the long-lead equipment, which takes 2 to 3 years if not longer. But that's more purification -- it turns the concentrate to a mix where a car value adding. So we're looking at how we can value add to our concentrate on and they are the options that I showed you, the U.S., Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

So on the beneficiary plant is more operationally? Not constructive more cost to -- at current prices, with construction and the price of the product, what your expected return on capital will be?

That's what we're working through now is what are -- what's the most economical way not going to build the plant, particularly the hydromet plant but also with the rare earth price with what government is providing or we hope that government will provide, as you've seen what's happened in the U.S. The Australian government developing their stock stockpile policy. They're the opportunities and we see what the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

It can be done basically. It's the production, knowing that there might be a floor price?

Exactly right. So there's a lot of moving parts at the moment, but I think each one of those pathways can present potentially that financials to be underpin the development, not only in Yangibana, but also the downstream going forward. So I think we've all seen the -- how rare worth going back 5 months, it has been difficult. But now with the surge with government now really governments around the world, starting to unite their policies. I think that's what you've seen that uplift and we've seen nearly doubling of the share price of Hastings since then. And hopefully with identifying one of these pathways, we'll hope to see that continue on to 2026.

Thank you, Vince. All right. I take it there's no more questions. There are some refreshments, light refreshments here on the table on my left. Please feel free to help yourself. And thank you very much for coming.