Jupiter Mines Limited (JMS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this General Meeting of Jupiter Mines Limited. My name is Brian Gilbertson, and I'm the Chairman of the company. A quorum is present, and I declare the meeting open. I'd like to introduce my fellow directors: Priyank Thapliyal, Jupiter's Chief Executive Officer is on the line; Andrew Bell, an independent Non-Executive Director; Paul Murray, an independent Non-Executive Director; Mr. Yeongjin Heo, a Non-Executive Director; Hans Juergen Mende, a Non-Executive Director; and Brian Beem, a Non-Executive Director who acts as alternate to Mr. Mende. Also present is Melissa North, Jupiter's Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary; and Greg Durack, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of Juno Metals (sic) [ Minerals ] Limited. This is a meeting of shareholders of Jupiter Mines Limited. Only shareholders, their appointed proxies or corporate representatives are entitled to ask questions and vote. All other attendees are welcome but as observers. Shareholders attending the meeting online will be able to cast their vote using the electronic voting card received when the online registration was -- when it was validated. Please refer to the virtual annual meeting portal guide or call for help as indicated. Prior to voting, questions will be taken. Shareholders participating through the virtual meeting website [Operator Instructions]. I encourage shareholders attending online and do have questions to load their questions and send them through as soon as possible. Shareholder questions will be addressed after the CEO's presentation and before the resolution is voted upon. Questions received prior to the meeting will be addressed after any questions submitted during the question and comment section. I intend to vote all proxies given to me as Chairman in favor of the resolution, where I am directed and committed to do so. Finally, after any discussions and before poll is taken, the total number of valid proxies and the manner in which they have been directed will be displayed. These figures will be as at the closing time of receipt of proxies, which was at 5 PM Australian Eastern time on the 27th of April. The resolution will be voted on by a poll, which will be conducted at the end of the meeting. So ladies and gentlemen, I now invite Jupiter's Chief Executive, Priyank Thapliyal, to give you an overview of the demerger, which forms the basis of today's meeting. Priyank, over to you, please.

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I think the timing of this EGM is quite opportune because we have just completed 3 years of our listing of Jupiter on the Australian Stock Exchange. And at the time of the listing, the Board of Jupiter made a couple of promises to the shareholders at the time of the listing, the primary being that we would focus exclusively on the most efficient way we can operate Tshipi and every 6 months come and distribute healthy dividends to the shareholders, which at the time of the IPO was promised as a double digit yield with a 70% payout ratio. And I'm pleased to say that over the last 3 years, we have stuck to that as a gospel and paid out almost $300 million to the shareholders in the form of dividend. And in the 5 years since Tshipi has been up and running that figure has been close to $450 million. So with that, as the promise at the time of the listing and having delivered on that, the other point, which we made at the time of the listing was that we would look at optimizing our portfolio. And that is largely what this EGM, this demerger, the listing of Juno is all about. So with this listing, we propose that Jupiter will spin off these assets into a new company called Juno. Jupiter will put $5 million into this company to ensure that all the work, which is needed to fast track this project Mount Mason can be advanced. And along with that, we are also planning to raise $20 million in the terms of initial public offering, which is supposed to close by end of this week. And both those amounts will provide the team of Juno sufficient capital to fast track the production of the Mount Mason DSO Project. So while we are focusing on the IPO and the listing, Greg Durack and his team are actively working on finalizing the contracts on the mining side, on the crushing side, on the railing and the port side. And all going well, we would hope that we can bring Mount Mason into production on a fast track basis by end of the year. So in a nutshell, I think what we have achieved through this demerger is that we have created Jupiter into a solely focused manganese pure-play company. Again, sticking to what we promised at the time of the IPO, paying out very healthy dividends, almost close to 90% plus payout ratio, but also provide Greg and the Board of Juno 2 assets in the form of Mount Mason, which can be fast tracked into production by end of this year and through the IPO and the $5 million provide them the capital to achieve that and also provide them with a separate entity which can go around not only just building the Mount Mason Project but, at the right time, consolidating and increasing their DSO resources with the team in China and elsewhere on environment, low pollution and all. The Mount Ida project in the midterm has sufficient intrinsic value and will be very attractive. So that can be the focus. But what we hope that this will provide is exclusive focus to Juno to fast track and develop their iron ore projects. And also in the process without having any risk of diversion of capital from Jupiter to developing the iron ore assets, we hope that we will be in a position to further continue to deliver on this double digit yield, which we have done so over the last 3 years. So with that as the backdrop, this is why we have done what we have promised to the shareholders at the time of the listing. And at this EGM, we hope that we will be able to implement that strategy going forward. So with that, Brian, back to you.

Thank you very much, Priyank. Okay. So I now invite any questions or comments. Please note that only shareholders of Jupiter Mines Limited may ask questions or offer comments. Melissa, are there any questions?

There are no questions at this time, Brian.

Okay. If there are no questions, then I guess we will move on from there. I think that brings us to the resolution, which is an ordinary resolution on the reduction of capital. As was included in the notice of the meeting and is up on the screen, the directors recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution. Melissa, I continue to assume that there are no further questions.

That's correct, Brian.

If not, then shareholders should now select either for, against or abstain on resolution 1, which is on the voting card. And that pretty much comes to the end of the meeting. Shareholders participating via the virtual website should ensure that your votes are submitted. The results will be announced on the ASX after the conclusion of the meeting. And ladies and gentlemen, that being -- there being no further business, I declare that this general meeting of Jupiter Mines Limited closed. I thank you for your attendance today. I hope you all will remain safe in these very trying times, and I wish you all God speed.