MGX Resources Limited (MGX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for joining today's teleconference for the release of MGX Resources' June Quarter Activities Report. MGX Chief Executive Officer, Peter Kerr, will be leading the discussion and he is joined by External Relations Manager, John Phaceas. Mr. Kerr will provide a brief overview, after which there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Due to time constraints, only institutional participants will be invited to ask a question at that time. A recording of the call will also be available via the MGX website shortly after the completion of today's teleconference. Thank you, and go ahead. Thanks, Peter.

Thank you, Lisa. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us to discuss MGX's June '26 quarterly activities report. As usual, I'll give a brief overview before handing back to Lisa for any questions. As the usual reminder, all the currency we mentioned on this call is denominated in Australian dollars, unless otherwise stated. So the June quarter marked a significant point for the company due to the agreement we announced for the divestment of the Koolan Island mine, which followed the start of MGX's transition into the precious metal space in the prior quarter when we completed the acquisition of a 50% interest in the Central Tanami Project Joint Venture in Australia's Northern Territory. The recently announced Koolan transaction enables MGX to leave a positive legacy on the island and to achieve a tidy exit from its iron ore operations with substantial cash and investment reserves and no bank debt. Firstly, on safety, the company's total recordable injury frequency rate decreased from 5.1 to 4.9 injuries per 1 million man-hours worked, and this is a real credit to the operating team. Importantly, the lost time injury frequency rate remained at 0. MGX's operating personnel remain focused on their long-standing goal of continuous improvement, and I acknowledge what the team has done and the consistent performance over the last few years at Koolan Island. So on to our key business activities. Firstly, in relation to the Central Tanami Project Joint Venture. Since completing the acquisition of a 50% interest in February, the Central Tanami Gold project has become our key focus. The project represents a relatively low-profile but attractive high-grade gold development opportunity with a total reported mineral resource estimate of 2.8 million ounces at an attractive grade of 2.8 grams per tonne with substantial upside in a producing gold field. So working with our joint venture partner, Tanami Gold NL, we plan to leverage our experience in our remote site operations and bring this gold project into production to establish MGX as a new Australian gold producer. While it's still relatively early days within the project, we continue to progress on multiple fronts during the quarter, being on resource definition drilling at the Jims Gold deposit, preparation for commencement of the exploration decline into the Groundrush gold deposit, recruitment of key personnel, advancement of permitting approvals activities and acceleration of infrastructure upgrades and on the latter, notably in the camp, which will facilitate on-site manning and activity levels within the upcoming project development work streams. MGX's share of joint venture expenditure in the quarter totaled $4.7 million, and this amount will obviously lift from here as activities continue to accelerate. The resource definition drilling work is currently focused on the Jims Gold deposit, which sits approximately 25 kilometers south of the plant site and hosts a mineral resource estimate of 2.6 million tonnes at an average grade of 2.7 grams of gold per tonne, and that's a contained 220,000 ounces. The first phase of this drilling program comprises 10,500 meters of reverse circulation drilling and 2,600 meters of diamond core drilling, and that's to be followed by a second phase of approximately 14,000 meters of RC and over 1,800 meters of diamond core drilling. So this is key information for us with respect to the Jims deposit. The program is designed to infill the resource estimate to target potential extensions and to provide core samples for metallurgical test work. In relation to the approved underground exploration decline at the project's Groundrush gold deposit, and as we announced on 21 April, the CTP has selected Macmahon Underground as the preferred mining contractor for the construction works. The decline will facilitate resource infill drilling from underground headings and enable early advancement of the decline workings. Discussions regarding contractual arrangements are being finalized with Macmahon's scope of work, including portal and vent establishment and approximately 3,500 meters of exploration decline development. The work is valued at approximately $38 million and activities are scheduled to commence later in the current quarter, that's the September quarter and extend for approximately 14 months. Towards the end of that period, underground drilling is scheduled to commence with the objective of converting over 400,000 ounces of currently inferred material into indicated category for mine planning and design purposes. The exploration decline will be advanced to approximately 350 meters below the surface, which will enable drilling of the deposit to a depth of around 600 meters. Also during the quarter, works commenced on repairs and upgrades to existing accommodation camp infrastructure to support increasing on-site manning and activity levels as well as on-site power, water and communication systems. Engineering studies are also advancing on processing plant options and representative drill core samples are being gathered for metallurgical test work on the Groundrush and Jims deposits, and these will obviously assist in the engineering design assessment. In relation to traditional owner engagement, subsequent to quarter end, an on-site meeting was held with the traditional owners as represented by the Central Land Council based in Alice Springs to discuss the project. It was encouraging to see the traditional owners being supportive of the project and the Central Tanami Project JV looks forward to deepening a positive relationship with those owners as the project advances. So finally, to the outlook for the Central Tanami Project JV in the next few quarters. Activities will focus on commencement of the Groundrush site works and construction of the underground decline, continuation of resource definition drilling, repairs and improvements to site utilities and infrastructure and advancement of key permitting work streams. So we'll have quite a bit of news flow ahead of us. Turning to the other side of the business to Koolan Island now. And since the main pit [ rockfall ] last October, we focused on the processing and sale of stockpile low-grade material to cover the cost of site rehabilitation activities. We're pleased to report that the low-grade sales program is now almost complete and has worked better than we initially expected. Sales in the June quarter more than doubled from the prior quarter and totaled 944,000 wet metric tonnes taking the low-grade sales for the fiscal '26 year to 1.8 million tonnes. The 12 low-grade shipments that we completed in the June quarter averaged 42.3% Fe and were sold under fixed price agreements that realized an average price after shipping freight of USD 30 per dry metric tonne. Including the high-grade sales prior to the October '25 rockfall, total iron ore sales for fiscal '26 came in at 2.68 million wet metric tonnes, which was a great performance considering the issues associated with that rockfall. A further final 4 low-grade cargoes are scheduled for this month, i.e., July, which will take the total low-grade program to just over 2.1 million tonnes. And this program has effectively funded rehabilitation and site ramp-down activities to date. Site manning levels have been progressively reducing in step with activities and will reduce further to a dedicated care and maintenance team once the current planned rehabilitation activities are completed in the next month or so. To date, most rehabilitation earthworks have been completed with the focus now being on the cleanup of areas following the final shipments and ultimately mining a small channel in the seaward wall of the main pit to progressively flood that pit. At that point, the remaining rehabilitation obligations are expected to be in the order of $30 million and will be assumed by Crestlink, the Logistics Group, as part of the sale agreement that we announced in June. This agreement, which we hope to complete by the end of 2026, will realize value for the island's remaining key infrastructure and provide a clean exit for MGX after 2 decades of production. Importantly, it will also release the company from the remaining rehab obligations at that time, freeing us to focus on the Central Tanami Gold Project. The sale transaction with Crestlink is worth over $50 million to MGX, comprising upfront and deferred cash payments of at least $20 million over 5 years and a further future revenue share of up to another $5 million as well as the assumption by Crestlink of remaining rehabilitation obligations at settlement, which, as I noted above, will be in the order of $30 million. Both Crestlink and ourselves are actively progressing towards completion with a number of conditions to be satisfied, including MGX's finishing its agreed rehabilitation works and Crestlink's securing approvals from FIRB and the ACCC as needed. We expect these conditions to be satisfied by the end of the year, as I mentioned, but this time frame can also be extended, if needed, to the end of March 2027. So we've been working to finalize this transaction for some time, and in particular, with the strong support of the Dambimangari traditional owners for whom this transaction will provide ongoing future benefits and opportunities, something very important to the team at MGX. Regarding financial performance, the increased shipments in the quarter resulted in Koolan Island generating an operating cash flow of $5.8 million, comprising sales and other revenue of $41.4 million, less cash operating costs of $13.4 million, royalties of $4 million and rehabilitation expenditure of $18.2 million. This compares with cash outflow of $15.3 million in the prior quarter. I'd point out that while the bottom line is not impacted, the allocation of costs between operating and rehabilitation activities remains subject to our usual year-end review and audit processes. Overall, that meant MGX as a consolidated group generated operating cash flow of $3.1 million in the quarter, comprising the Koolan Island cash flow of $5.8 million, as just mentioned, interest and other income of $4 million, expenditure on the Central Tanami Project JV of $4.7 million and corporate administration and exploration costs of $2 million. At period end, the company's cash and investment reserves remain very strong and totaled $412 million, equivalent to $0.35 per share. MGX does not have any bank borrowings. In relation to the equity investment positions included in this balance, the portfolio was valued at $41 million at quarter end, and that included 4.9% in Queensland Copper Producer, AIC Mines Limited and 4.2% in Queensland Silver and Base Metals developer, Maronan Metals Limited. These holdings are in addition to MGX's 9.4% interest in Midwest iron ore producer, Fenix, which was valued at approximately $19 million at quarter end. Regional exploration activities also continued at our tenure in both the Northern Territory and Western Australia. In addition to what we hold in the Central Tanami project joint venture, MGX also holds approximately 3,600 square kilometers of wholly-owned prospective exploration tenure in the surrounding Central Tanami region. An interpretative review of government seismic and gravity data of the Central Tanami region has been recently commissioned to build a regional geological model that will assist in future targeting activities, both within the JV and on MGX's wholly owned tenements. At MGX's West Australian tenements near the former Tallering Peak iron ore mine in the Midwest, the company completed access tracks and drill pads in preparation for a small program of diamond core drilling to test precious and base metals targets. This drilling is expected to commence shortly. In the Edmund Basin area, which is in WA's Gascoyne region, the previously delayed Falcon airborne gravity survey was completed and the processing -- sorry, the processed data is now being analyzed to assist with geological modeling and targeting. So that brings us to the end of the quarterly review. And to wrap up, it's obviously an important quarter for us as the low-grade shipping program at Koolan Island nears completion and successfully funded our rehabilitation costs. And importantly, as we entered into an agreement for the sale of the operation, which will give us a clean exit and allow the team to focus on the Central Tanami Gold project going forward in order to build a new Australian gold production business. So with that, Lisa, I'll now hand back to you for any questions anyone may have. Thanks.

[Operator Instructions] Thanks, Peter. We do not have any questions.

Okay. Thank you all for listening in, and I appreciate your time today. If anyone does have any queries on our quarterly report, please address them to us at the normal place, and we wish you a good day. Thank you.