MGX Resources Limited (MTGRF) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Mount Gibson's 2025 Annual General Meeting. I'm Brett Smith. I'm the Chairman -- or the new Chairman of the company, and I welcome you all to this meeting. We've elected to hold this as a hybrid, which enables shareholders who can't attend in to dial in on the CompuServe platform. Firstly, I'd like to introduce my fellow nonexecutive directors, Simon, put you up a Alan, Paul and Evian and our executive team, Peter, Gil and David here, Cote. Okay. A copy of our 2024 annual meeting is available for inspection at the entrance to the room. So if you want to go on grab one. Okay. I'm advised that we have a quorum, and therefore, I formally declare the meeting open, and I'll begin with my Chairman's address, followed by the formal business and then the CEO's address. Following that, all of the shareholders are invited to ask any questions they wish and to have a cup of tea and have a cup of coffee with us afterwards. Okay. I'm Brett. I'm new Chairman, I'm glad to be able to speak to you guys for the first time as Chairman. The incident at Koolan has changed what we were probably going to say to you, but it's a significant rockfall and we've had to suspend the mining in the Main Pit. It's a significant safety risk and a little story from my past. Once upon a time, I was a engineer up at Mt Isa and doing a shutdown lid smelter and a load separated and fell and killed a rigor, and I to go in and see his 23-year-old wife with a couple of young kids and teller that husband has been killed at work. So I never want to see that in a work environment again. So safety to me is paramount as well as the economic considerations, the safety of everybody in the operation and the safety of the workplace is an important factor in the Board's decision to suspend the mining at the pit. The wet season is coming, and we are doing a lot of geotechnical work to sort of continue to assess what could or couldn't be done on the rockfall. But for the time being, it is suspended. And unfortunately, we're going to lay off people because it's just not economic to hold people to greater clarity as what can and can't be done in the pit. It's a bad news, but we're making the best of it. We're looking at selling off our stockpiles, and Peter and his team have done a lot of work looking at the continued to process [indiscernible] stockpiles on the surface and gain additional revenue from selling that material as we go forward. The other exciting thing is the 50% stake in the Central Tanami Gold Project. That's one of the, I think, best undeveloped gold projects in Australia, both Tanami and Mt Gibson have just updated the resource and reserve statements there. And you can see there's a significant amount of gold in that project with the added benefit of significant infrastructure already in place. Associated with the acquisition of the gold project and just showing shift in focus to be a more generalized metals company in our name to MGX Resources Limited. It doesn't mean that we will never look at iron ore again. It just means that we want to acknowledge our future growth strategy can involve other minerals other than iron ore. If we look at last year's financial performance, in spite of the challenges, we've significantly grown the cash balance and at the end of the year, have $485 million in the bank and with no debt. That's a significant war chest to allow us to look for acquisitions and to grow and develop other projects in the future. This strong balance sheet is fundamental to our ability to continue to grow. On the wider capital management side, we've extended our on-market buyback for another year. And to date, we've bought about 3.2% of shares. And the Board will continue to review the buyback policy as part of our wider capital management strategy. It's a quick that I want to talk too much. So I'd like to thank particularly the management, all of the employees, particularly those on the island and the contractor for the hard work they've done over the past year. And I'd also like to recognize the contribution of the Board and my predecessor, Seng Hui, and our recently retired director from our other major shareholder, Mr. Ding. Finally, thank you to all our shareholders in your company. So we acknowledge that and look forward, hopefully, to having some optimistic news for you to our growth in the following years. Okay. Okay. So we'll now move on to the formal business of the meeting. This meeting is held in person and online via the Computershare platform. All online attendees can watch a live webcast of the meeting. Shareholders and proxies attending in person or online both have the ability to ask questions and submit votes. In today's meeting, we'll table the financial accounts and resolutions 1 for first, then answer any shareholder questions submitted on the financial accounts and the resolutions from those online and those attending in person. Once this has occurred, we'll invite Peter, our CEO, to provide an operational update presentation. Okay. We're Slide 4. Okay. I'll now explain the process for asking questions and voting today. For online shareholders, please use your Q&A icon to ask questions about a resolution prior to voting. You may also ask a verbal question using the online instructions. The Company Secretary will manage any questions received and remove any duplication. For attendees here in the room, at the time of registration, those entitled to vote would have been given green cards, which include voting instructions on the back. If there's anyone who believes are entitled to vote but has not received a -- or is not registered to vote or has not received a card, please raise your hand and let us up. And please ensure you print your name on the box where indicated and sign the voting paper and lodge in the ballot box. If you need any help, again, please raise your hand. For this meeting and all resolutions, they will be decided by poll and announced on the ASX immediately after the meeting. The company serve Investor Services will act as a returning officer for polls, and I confirm that polling is now open. Okay. A summary of the proxy vote for the meeting are presented on the screen behind me. I confirm I'm holding the undirected proxies in my capacity as Chair and my intention to vote on all proxies in favor of resolution 1 to 4. Any directed proxies that are not voted at the meeting will be also defaulted to me as Chairman, and I'm required to vote on these proxies as directed. Okay. So we can see the results of the poll on the screen. Okay. Thanks. So the first item of business is the financial statements and reports. The first item is to receive and consider the financial report, the director's report and the auditor's report for the year ending 30th of June 2025. These reports are all included in the company's annual report and are available on the company's website. Jemma Newton from the company's auditors, Ernst & Young is here and is able to answer any questions on the audit if required. We'll respond to questions on the financial statements and reports at the end of Resolution 4 at the end of the meeting. Okay. Ordinary resolutions. The move to put the resolutions to be put before the shareholders, for governance persons, I'll ask Simon to act as Chair for the first resolution, which is the election of myself.

Thank you, Brett. I'll just thank that.

Do you need a mic?

Anybody hear me? Resolution 1 relates to the election of Brett Smith. We moved into the first resolution relates to his election. Mr. Smith is currently Chair of the Board and is appointed and elected to the Board on the 17th of April 2025. Mr. Smith [indiscernible] not the [indiscernible] election by shareholders. Mr. Smith being eligible presents himself as a -- for election as a director. And the board in the absence of Mr. Smith unanimously supports his election. I move that the election of Mr. Smith as a director of the company, supported by shareholders. The proxy results are on the screen for all to see. I response to any questions on this resolution after resolution 4 of this meeting. Thank you. And I'll hand back to the Chair.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Okay. resolution 2 is the adoption of the remuneration report. We'll move to consider this next resolution, which is the adoption of the company's remuneration report. The Corporation Act requires that at the AGM, a resolution -- that the remuneration board is adopted is to be put to vote. The remuneration report details the company's policies on the remuneration of non-executive directors and senior executives. The vote is advisory only and does not bind the company or directors. I move that the adoption of the company's remuneration report. The proxy results for this resolution are detailed on the screen and support the approval of the remuneration report. Again, we'd respond to any questions on this resolution at the end of the meeting. Okay. Resolution 3a, 3b and 3c is approval of the potential termination benefits to executives under the company's loan share scheme. Okay. We will move to consider the next 3 resolution 3a, 3b and 3c, which relate to the approvals of a potential termination benefit to the senior executive, Mr. Peter Kerr, Ms. Gil Dick Dobson and Mr. David Six under the company's loan share plan. The resolution relates to the company's loan share plan established in August 2016 for the named executives as part of their long-term incentive plan. The Board is seeking approval from shareholders to have the discretion where it considers the circumstances appropriate to wave vesting and disposal restrictions under this plan. The Board currently only envisages exercising such discretion when the employees have left office without fault or their part such as in the event of redundancy. The need for requesting shareholder approval is because under the Corporations Act and ASX Listing Rules, there are restricted on the level of termination benefits, which may be granted to employees without shareholder approval. The resolution seeks to and shareholder approval so that the Board may exercise its discretion in compliance with requirements of the Corporation's Act and ASX Listing Rules, with respect to the planned shares issued in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Further shareholder approval will be required for any termination benefits that may be granted to employees in future years. I move the approval of the potential termination benefits under the company's loan share plan is accepted. The resolution and the summary of the proxy votes received before the meeting appear on the screen behind me, and I'll ask the Company Secretary to scroll through each individual resolution. These are 3 identical resolutions that's just showing them for good order for each person. Okay. Thank you. Resolution 4 the company's name change and we'll move to consider the next resolution, a special resolution to approve the name change to MGX Resource Limited and related changes to the company's resolution. I think I spoke in the beginning about how this reflects our strategy for growth in the future, a movement away from iron ore to other resellers. It's no more complicated than that. The proxy results for the resolution are detailed on the screen and support of the approval of Resolution 4. Okay. Thanks. Okay. I'll now invite questions on items of business today, including the financial accounts or any of the resolutions 1 to 4. And I'll ask our Company Secretary to please read out any written online questions relating to today's resolution. Okay. Any questions, please. ?

We do have a few -- the online ones first.

Sure.

Okay. For the financial reports, this question is from a shareholder. When was the external audit last ended? And when is it next likely to be audited?

When it is the likely to be tendered or is it next likely to be tendered?

So when was the external audit last ended? And when is it next likely to be audited?

Sure.

It was last tended some years ago. I don't have the specific year, but quite some time. and the Board is looking at recurring next year. At this point in time, for fiscal '26, the audit is with Ernst & Young, or EY, who are here today, but that will be reviewed next year in the context.

But just EY have acknowledged that of business and I believe have reduced the potential fees for next year.

Right. Thanks. The next one is in respect to the remuneration report. And the question is, which of the proxy advisers covered -- I'm going to summarize this. Which of the proxy advisers covered Mount Gibson this year? Did any recommend against the vote against today's resolutions, including this remuneration report? And if so, what were the reasons that they gave in sector those.

Sure. One of the proxy of use Group's ISS, who may be familiar or you might be familiar with, does follow us. And in relation to the remuneration report recommended support for that.

Okay. In respect to the election of directors in respect of the resolution relating to Brett, was there a recruitment firm used to find Brett as our new Chair? And did the Board consider any other alternatives, which of our existing vectors did Brett now before engaging with the recruitment process?

Maybe I'll answer the first part and then you can do the second. So Brett is a of our major shareholder, a major shareholder is entitled to appoint 1 member and that's APAC Resources. And so Brett is that appointee,and that was accepted by the Board in relation to who renew beforehand?

I think I knew most of the Board before and I think it's also important to note, I was the alternative of the previous Chairman. So I had experience in dealing with the company on an ongoing basis.

Okay. One more on Brett's election. There was a 19.5% protest vote against the reelection of director Paul Degas at last year's AGM. What caused that? How did we respond to the protest vote? Have there been any protest votes against Brett Smith, the only director up for election today?

I'm sure how you class it as protest, but they may have been the numbers last year. From the Board perspective, obviously, Brett is recently appointed Chairman, so he wasn't around during that time. But we moved on focusing on the company and what we're trying to do with the business, which is what you see in front of you now, unfortunately, with the [indiscernible] at Koolan recently, and we'll talk about that in a minute. In relation to protest votes this year, I'm not aware of one.

There's always someone who doesn't vote for you. If you look at the poll numbers, there's always someone who doesn't vote for you, but I don't think it's a significant percentage.

Okay. We have a question on the termination benefits on 3a. There was a 10% proxy protest vote on Peter Kerr's termination payment resolution. Did one of the proxy advisers recommend against it? And if so, what was the rationale? Do you know which shareholders voted against and why they were concerned? Corporate voting is not a seatbelt in Australia, so you're able to interrogate this issue to better understand shareholder sentiment and concerns.

Can I answer that [indiscernible], do you want to.

Probably but I think to ask us to have analyzed what the votes are it did short of time when the polls only open today is not a realistic question to ask.

And I think also the votes were 90% as well.

I should say that ISS recommendation was against.

Yes, that's was for the remuneration report, but it was against the termination benefits. Okay. So I think we've got one last one. This is to do with the company name change. And the question is, why is an iron ore company getting a gold business, can you cite any other listed mining companies, which are in both gold and iron ore? Surely, a bulk commodity miner like Mount Gibson has different skills to those in the previous metals business like gold. Are we just opportunistically pivoting because of the gold boom shouldn't we just return our surplus cash to shareholders rather than going off and pursuing this risky gold frolic?

Okay. It's not a risky gold frolic. For some time now, we have been talking to our shareholders and explaining that Koolan Island was coming to an end. Koolan itself is, as we've seen a challenging open pit operation with many characteristics of an underground mine. We do have people in the business who are skilled at underground mining and open pit mining in the gold business, including some from the processing side as well. We've been talking for several years about the move finer into precious and base metals. Precious metals to some might have been quite a sudden change. But actually, we've been looking at it in the context of change in hard rock mining and precious and base metals were there. If we can find another project to add to the Tanami Gold Project, then we will. It doesn't mean we're just focusing on the single one at the moment. But this has been a well communicated plan for some time now.

I think it's also important to add that the Central Tanami Project has about 30 old open pit associated with it. So as well as the underground mine there, there's a number of remnant pits where the open pit mining experience from the island will be valuable.

Okay. Just ask Computershare to firm if there are any online verbals. Okay. Okay, can I invite any shareholders here today who may have some questions so that I would like to ask? Okay.

Harry Ansty, shareholder. Given the current state of mining, do we agree or does the Board believe that a number of members is warranted, particularly before you get into operation and start getting some return on funds, it's going to be a lean to shareholders? And it seems rather generous to increase or have a board of such a size.

I think the present Board side is somewhat a requirement of a firm regulation in terms of the number of independent directors. We have in fact, in the Board meeting yesterday, we discussed this, what is our sensible Board makeup for the future. We also agreed as a Board to take a 20% cut in all our remuneration and to end any fees for the associated committees. So that -- it is something we're considering, the look at the mix of the Board going forward as we move to different commodities and different skill sets. Sure. Unless there's any other questions? We also have a chat over a coffee every it doesn't have I'm scared to Mike. So if it's easier to talk we're just having a cup of coffee.

Okay. So just on behalf of Brett here, if all online shareholders, if you would like, if you've not yet already, could you place cast your votes on resolutions 1 to 4. And also if anyone in the room, if I can complete their green card and raise their hand if it hasn't been collected already. Thanks, Rod. [Voting]

Okay. great. That seems like the voting process is complete. Results for this meeting will be published on the ASX this afternoon. So that concludes the formal proceedings. Now Peter will give his CEO presentation. And then after that, you'll have an opportunity to ask any questions that you've got and otherwise join us for coffee and team biscuits afterwards.

Thanks, David. Okay. Good morning, all. morning, thank you very much for coming to this morning's Annual General Meeting. What I'd like to do, this is a fairly short and sweet presentation. Obviously, it's different to what we expected to be saying to you from a few weeks ago, unfortunately. My name is Peter Kerr, I'm the CEO, and I have been for the last 6 or so years. Welcome to you all. And just a quick acknowledgment of traditional owners on Koolan Island, the Darby Mungari people. We do work closely with them. So I just want to make sure that they are acknowledged. From the perspective of the company at this point in time, we have corporately substantial cash and investment reserves, and I'll talk in more detail about that in a minute. We have no debt. So the company in which you hold shares in your own is strong, and that has been very fortunate for the recent issues we've had at Koolan Island, which are very disappointing to us, obviously. We do have the recently announced acquisition of 50% of the Central Tanami Gold Project, which we think is really exciting. And I'm going to spend the second half of this presentation just giving you an update on that project, but we think we have an attractive entry price into something that could be terrific for this company going forward. In addition to that, as I mentioned before in response to 1 of those questions, we're not stopping there. We are looking at other investments, and we do have an investment portfolio, which we do move in and out of from time to time. But that is designed to try and build positions, and they might be small. They might be under the 5% threshold of many companies, but we build positions and we build relationships and look at financing and joint venturing and acquisition opportunities in them. Sometimes, we've done that, and those opportunities haven't come forth as we'd hoped. So we sell out. Other times, we've held on to it. and we've disclosed some of them where we were over the substantial shareholder limit. But at this point in time, we're still actively looking at a number of those. At Koolan Island, of course, it's the highest grade direct shipping ore export operation or it was until recently. It was scheduled to close mid to late next year. So sometime in the September quarter. But unfortunately, as Brett has mentioned, the safety concerns there following this large rockfall, which was completely unexpected. And we are very fortunate that we didn't hurt someone, but the systems on the island enabled us to actually walk away from that end of the rockfall. That's obviously causing us to rethink what we do there. So for the moment, mining is suspended in the Main Pit. Workforce reductions are occurring, but we are continuing to reclaim, process and ship low-grade stockpiles, which will help us play some costs, perhaps more than we had initially thought here we go with the market, and I'll talk to you a bit about that. Corporately, overall, the position of the company is $440 million odd market cap, which is obviously below our last reported cash balance that was changing quite considerably as we started to move ahead with the Central Tanami Gold Project, and we're having good success with Koolan Island in its final 12 months. Our share price has fallen as a result of the recent rockfall event, but that's what we accept. We now move ahead with transitioning from Koolan, looking at the use of the assets for non-mining purposes there, and there may be some opportunity for us to transact on that front. Ultimately, our focus will be now accelerated into the Central Tanami Gold Project. In terms of the makeup of the company, very it's changed for the major shareholders. APAC mining investment fund in Hong Kong, still has 38% and retail Australian -- sorry, bigger part, institutional Australian shareholders are still sitting at around the 15% to 20% range. Shougang Fushan, which is a shareholder of ours, larger shareholder and over time, has diluted, sitting at 13.9% now is still there. They did have a director on our board, Mr. Ding Rucai. And as Brett mentioned, Mr. Ding retired recently, and they haven't renominated someone. They sit there, though. Interested to know what we're doing next. So in relation to Koolan Island, the picture on the right is rehabilitation work that's been done very well and dressing actively. This was occurring well before the rockfall of a few weeks ago. The incident occurred on the later night in the evening of the 16th of October. And you will know that we put the shares into a halt and then suspension as we dealt with the consequences of that. Further monitoring will now occur. So the pit is still sitting there. We are allowed to enter the pit and we're comfortable to do so under strict safety protocols for servicing of pumps and removal of equipment. So basically, the pit is still there. It's being evaluated. But that rockfall despite all of the installed ground support and the monitoring radars that we have all over it was unexpected. And we were fortunate to pick up the issues and pick it up sufficiently early to move people out, but we're also very lucky. There were some people there that were quite close because of the size of it was unexpected. So that's caused us to requestion even more so, some of the installations on this in this mine globally right up there in terms of quantity and quality, but it's caused us to just reassess and step back and have a look at just the safety aspects. We weren't prepared to put people in there and to push ahead straightaway, but we'll monitor that and we'll see. The focus is now on the island. A methodical workforce reduction, which the team has done and looking at the reclaim of the lower grade stockpiles. Now by lower grade, I mean, some of these cargoes that we're selling between now and December are in the 55% to 58% area, Fe. So there's nothing like the high-grade cargoes we had. And then we have a range of other low-grade stockpiles where we may still be able to because these things have been mined and stockpiled over many years and originally would have been blended with the high-grade cargoes, but we may well be able to send those -- sell those as stand-alone cargoes, and that would see us run into early 2026 in the first half of next calendar year. If we can achieve that, and there's a lot of work going on to try and do that, we help defray and offset quite a bit of our cost on the island, and that would be a good outcome. And then as I mentioned, we'd be looking for opportunities for the use of the airstrip, the camp and the port facility there for non-mining activities when we finish. No change there. We've talked about that at previous and that's still well and truly an opportunity for us. People have asked us whether the incident is insured. And what I can say at this point is we do have insurance policies and preliminary discussions are underway with the insurers, the loss adjusters and our brokers. We unfortunately have a lot of experience with insurance claims and -- from prior years, but we have good relationships with them with our insurers and are working through that now. So that will be an information flow coming up in the next while. These matters do not get determined super quickly, and there's quite a bit of negotiation in them sometimes, but we will work with our insurers to assess the potential claim. And then finally, and at Koolan Island here, just a picture of what we're doing. This is a fairly recent picture with the low-grade stockpiles that we've been reclaiming putting onto the ROM pad processing with the lower workforce numbers on the island as we sit, but something in the form of a measured process on this low-grade program would be good for the whole island. So overall, what does it mean for our cash balances? This is a chart that you may have seen before. And what it shows is in the orange columns by quarter, the cash and investment balances of the company as it's been built up over the last few years. Now -- and the black line is the approximate value of that cash and investment balance per share. So expressed as a cash backing type number. So you can see in the last year or so, we've incrementally added, but that's been a function of what we've had to do at Koolan on our waste movement program. and also the iron ore price, which has actually come down a fair way from where it was, say, a couple of years ago. We've still maintained that balance and looking to try and maximize that through what we're doing at Koolan Island with the low-grade program. What it means, though, in terms of Mount Gibson is it's financially robust. It's obviously conservatively run in the financial side and what's occurred with the cash reserves. And it means we're now well positioned to really accelerate what we want to do with the Central Tanami Gold Project. This is a picture -- then I'm moving on to this now. This is a picture -- and I should say welcome any questions at the end of this. This is a picture from the air of the Central Tanami project joint venture area. You can see in a gravel air strip camp and a process plant site. And as Brett mentioned, there are multiple deposits all through a line of strike, which is about 60 kilometers in length, roughly north to south. And they are deposits where there is an extensive amount of gold. And we, as a party coming into this joint venture, have an opportunity to really accelerate and drive with the other JV partner the growth of the project. So just to refresh, maybe, if you haven't seen what's in this project. It's a 50-50 joint venture between Northern Star Resources and Tanami Gold Northern Star is selling its stake to us. And as I mentioned before, the reason for that is because Northern Star has gone on and made very large acquisitions. And so this project, while they very much like it, is small, too small for that sized company. Format Northern Star management team members who are no longer with that company would very much still like to be involved with this project. So we've been talking with people about what their views are, and that was part of our diligence process, and we feel that we've got a successful entry into a project. There's extensive mining and exploration tenure. So 2,100 square kilometers within the joint venture. And outside that at Mount Gibson or MGX Resources as will be rebadged shortly, we will have an extensive holding of wholly owned exploration tenure as well. Having being said, our focus will be on the mineral resources and the component of those resources, which is free milling and amenable to standard gold processing and particularly the Groundrush gold deposit. Now recently, Tanami Gold , this is last Friday, published an updated resource estimate for the joint venture. It meant that quite a few older resource numbers that were under the previous JORC code now all sit under the new JORC code. So we've got a figure of 2.8 million ounces for being the total content of the gold within the Central Tanami joint venture. So it's 100% of it. The vast majority of those resources are on granted mining leases, and the infrastructure there is extensive, but old. Requires a lot of work to get it up to a standard for a go-forward decision. So there is a 1.2 million tonne per an old processing plant. Part of it's been [indiscernible] and it's obviously sat there and not operated for 20 years. So there's a fair bit of work required in it, which we're able to do, and we're looking at that at the moment with engineering firms. There's also an airstrip haul road, a sealed hall road up to the Groundrush deposit between the plant and Groundrush and a whole range of other things to do with water bore fields and a camp. The camp requires a fair bit of work and maybe some of the units we have at Koolan Island can be used here as a short lead time and cheap entry point for that camp upgrade. In terms of the acquisition, the deal we signed with Northern Star has a period until 31 March next year for us to settle the key conditions. And the 3 key conditions, which we're well on the way to either having done or settling Tanami Gold's waiver of its preemptive right, and that was done in August, further approval, and we've received good indications from [indiscernible] are waiting for the next installment update from them this month. And then the other one is from the Central Land Council. It's a traditional owner approval relating to historic mining structure and obligations around that infrastructure. That last one is a condition that we can waive. We don't have to [indiscernible] to be accepted, and we may choose to do that, but we will assess that with the Board in the coming month or 2. So I think we're well on the way. We're not expecting any issues from FIRB and certainly like to close that transaction as soon as we can and get in the keys and get into work with Tanami Gold, our partner. this the numbers here, you may not be able to see, but I'm just going to highlight a few key ones. In the map on the left, the Tanami road is the road that runs from the left-hand mid-side of the map down towards the bottom right-hand corner. And towards the bottom is Newmont's Tanami operation, which is large gold operation producing 400,000 ounces of gold per year currently. The Central Tanami Project and plant site is labeled. You can see it with the arrow in the middle. And basically, the line of strike for the deposits we're focusing on run from Groundrush, which is the dashed red rectangle on the top right, down to gyms, which is the dashed smaller red rectangle on the bottom left. So it's through those deposits that we now have the total resource estimate of 2.8 million ounces. And the average grade of that is 2 -- you might be able to see it there, 2.8 grams per tonne. It's very attractive relative to other projects in Australia. These are all 100% numbers, I should say. So we're buying into 50%, but this is 100%. The key deposit is Groundrush, 11 million tonnes at 3.3 for 1.2 million ounces. And so we would expect in due course, further work in the optimization and the mine planning of that deposit. We might see some changes in the grade, but these resources currently have been stated using a price for gold in the assessment of potential economic extraction of AUD 3,500 an ounce. The price is currently sitting somewhere around AUD 6,000 an ounce. a fair difference in there, but we'll be looking at the opportunity in due course to see what that could do to the mine plan and the resources there. [indiscernible] down the bottom is a potential open pit and possibly underground mineable deposit at the southern end, and that currently sits at about 220,000 ounces in resource. So there's a lot of work cut out. A lot of good people at that site in terms of a small geological team, but with good knowledge of what's happening there, and we'll be looking to work with them as best we can. Groundrush itself looks like this. This is a long section looking to the west. And what you can see is the open pit that was mined 20 years ago by Newmont, relatively shallow. At the top, that's the brown. And then underneath that, we have the mineral resource wire frames in blue. So that's the actual modeling of the ore body or the deposit that's sitting there and then wrapped around that in this resource estimate is an indicative mine plan showing the underground stopes in green, and that's where this resource estimate of 1.2 million ounces comes from. In relation to where this project sits and here's some indicative comparable data. And you may have seen some of this, but we've updated it now for the latest resource update from last week. These are projects in Australia owned by a range of different companies, and you may recognize some of them on the bottom, showing in the column size the contained resource ounces on the left-hand side. And in the black diamond shapes, the average grade of those resource estimates on the right-hand side. And what you can see here is the Central Tanami Project clearly is something that looks attractive relative to a range of other gold projects. There was a question before about are we just jumping on the bandwagon and try to ride the gold boom. The answer is no for that. In actual fact, the discussions we've been having with Northern Star have been going on some time. The rise in the gold price, we didn't anticipate to this level. But we felt earlier this year and late last year that gold has an opportunity for commodity investment made a lot of sense given what was happening in the world. So that's come to fruition. And we hope that the commodity price for us stays up at suitable levels for quite some time yet, so we can get this project into production. In relation to our acquisition costs, you may have seen this chart a simple comparison again against other acquisitions that have occurred. And on average, and there are outliers here and there are different reasons for the reason the price paid on these projects. But just as a high level, based on the latest resource update, we're looking at about our entry price for our attributable share of those resources is sitting at a very competitive level 36. So that's an attractive entry price for us. It leads us with a lot of scope in terms of looking at capital and operating and what we can do for this project. And then just before we close, in terms of finally other growth opportunities, and I did mention and talk about this at the start. We have built an investment portfolio. Shown in the bullet points there are a handful of the names of the key companies in that portfolio. Despite what others might be saying, there is no conspiracy behind how we're holding these investments or what we're doing with them, right? That's all the fallacy. What we're doing here is we're looking at opportunities to enter companies where we think there's really good opportunity for either financing or JV or some other corporate approach from us. Clearly, holding smaller stakes can be a start of that, but it's not something you want to advertise widely for obvious reason. We hold shares in AIC mines, which is a copper producer in Northern Queensland. and Maronan Metals, which is a developer of what looks like quite an attractive lead-silver project with a copper gold resource attached to it. And then we also hold just under 10% of Fenix Resources, which is a Midwest-based miner of iron ore plus logistics company effectively. That stake was part of the divestment we made 2 years ago of our Mid-West remaining assets to Fenix, and we obtained cash consideration and shares, and those are those shares. So we're looking at those. And we obviously constantly monitor what's going on there and have regular discussions with parties about it. We also have a small exploration team. So the last point for you is that there's some regional exploration work where we picked up prospective areas, where we like where we came across during our due diligence activities on a range of companies. And in particular, in the Edmond Basin, which is in land from Shark Bay. Fairly remote area, not very widely explored but there is occurrence of various mines to the south, and that particular example, for instance, of what we're doing on the regional work side. So with that, brings us to a close. So in summary, as you all know, we're an established miner. We expect it to be going for another year or so at Koolan Island. It's really disappointing that we've had to slow and suspend mining at the moment while we look at it. In all reality, we'll see what the near term brings, but we focus on the monetization of the stockpiles and the work we're doing with our offtake customers on that. The strategy is to utilize our people to the extent we can, the knowledge, and maybe some of the equipment items in actually looking at the Central Tanami Project and bringing some advantages to that project. But in the meantime, building a multi-commodity business. our objective. So the Central Tanami Project I talked about, I think, is the first one. It's an attractive opportunity, and you'll see more information flows on this as we complete that transaction. So with that, I'll bring it closed, and I'm happy to take any questions from the floor or if you prefer over coffee afterwards. By the way, this is one of the dingos in the Central Tanami Project. Please do just lay in the back.

I'm a long-term shareholders have actually the share price has not recovered from the initial rockfall at Koolan Island back in 2014, where a similar thing happened. The Warfel complete disaster, everything came to a halt. And now we've had we've got the share price was slowly getting vaguely near where it was at that point. And it's collapsed another wall has collapsed in the whole thing. gone out the window. I'm just on you're sitting on so much cash. I'd quite like the idea of maybe giving some of it back to us long-serving shareholders. Do you seem to have sort of morphed into a bit of a managed fund because you're investing in all these different companies? That's Very lovely, but we're actually investing in a mining company, not a managed fund. So it's a little bit strange. And also as Northern Star shareholders as well, they're a very savvy company, and they don't get rid of gold stocks that are not that are performing well because they're very good at that. And their share prices, as everyone knows, he's actually skyrocketed. So basically, that's the point whether you have considered return of money to shareholders because we seriously have not recovered from that initial rockfall. And in terms of insurance, I'm surprised that you can get insurance for our rockfall that occurred 10 years later, given that seems to be this what happens on Koolan Island. It's not new.

No. Okay. Well, you've covered about 8 items there. I'll see if I can break them down for you and please speak up if I miss something. So in terms of the cash in the company and returns for shareholders over the longer term, we're actually all shareholders as well. I have put money in ourselves. So from that perspective, we know the pressures that brings. What we have chosen to do is -- and I should just step back. The discussion about capital returns and dividends is a live one with the Board. And we had been progressing towards Koolan Island's final year. That was expected to be a very strong year, as you would know. Now we have a different scenario. So we'll need to reassess what happens. But the capital management side of things is still on the table. In terms of where we go next, is it a mining fund or is it an operating company, I guess what we're dealing with right now is quite a sudden change. We're an operating company. But in this intervening period where we'll be doing the best we can with the operations at Koolan but trying to accelerate into the next project in the Tanami. If in the future, there's a view that we'll look, you turn more into an investment company, if this comes to fruition, if that's how you want to sort of think about it, then everything is on the table from what are those investments to what's the cash in the business. But at this point in time, the focus is on dealing with Koolan and the Central Tanami Project. And then we can better understand what the cash in the business looks like and going forward, what are the objectives..

I think, Pete, also, it's important that Peter mentioned shareholding in the number of small company. That is not as an investment fund, that is part of the due diligence process of establishing what other projects we could buy into to develop as a mining company. So the shareholder relatively small, not like a fund which buys a significant shareholding. The companies that Peter mentioned are also companies -- and Peter mentioned the strategy that allows us to get in, have a look under the shapes and see, is this a company that we think we could develop into a mining company, where we could play a specific part in it? They're not passive investments. And so if they are a company which Peter and his team think there isn't a future in, they would sell those shares. So it's part of that strategy of finding new opportunities for us to diversify our mining operations. It's not a fund. Yes. Yes.

Northern Star was another point you had. So why is Northern Star selling? And that's an obvious one. Northern Star produces 1.6 million ounces per year currently as a pure gold producer. And this project, we haven't studied what the production output would be. But when it was studied a number of years ago, is sitting in the order of 100,000 to 150,000 ounces per annum. So it's a small component of what Northern Star is nowadays. When Northern Star first got involved in this project, it actually made a very strong effort to get it in production, did a lot of drilling and has actually been investing in it quite substantially. But we took the opportunity earlier this year when Northern Star was transacting with De Grey Mining in that transaction, big transaction to actually approach Northern Star and say, "Well, what are you doing with this smaller thing? And would you consider selling it?" So that's the approach we took. I don't think it's reflective of their views on the project, certainly not in what we hear and what consultants here as well.

Anything [indiscernible]. very long way for [indiscernible].

So it's Koolan Island. So we do have a bit of experience with remote management, and that was one of our objectives. But yes, it is a long way from anywhere, but you can also have the aircraft.

Both the Northern Territory government and the Western Australian government are looking at sealing the Tanami Road. That will significantly reduce the sort of isolation costs of the development of that project.

And then last point, insurance, you asked about it. Yes, we did have an insurance claim, 2 in the past, 1 related to the 2014 seawall failure, which I think is the one you're referring to and then one relating to actually a fire in part of the processing plant a number of years ago. It is true that you generally can't ensure pit walls and underground mine workings and the like. So I think you were sort of expressing some surprise at that. But at the same time, we do have insurance that is specific for Koolan Island features. And so that's what we're discussing with the insurers now. We're very careful about what we say because there's quite a way of piece of work to go through with the insurers to understand what a potential claim could look like.

And hopefully, you'll see a re-rating of our stock as that gold. You've spoken about Northern Star share price. We're hoping to see a re-rating of the stock value as we move this project into production.

As we were on the receiving before this rockfall. Yes. I'm hopeful I've covered everything there. Okay. Great. Yes, please.

I've been a long-term shareholder of Mount Gibson. I went into a [indiscernible] day because I thought I'd come to the meeting. And this letter, I wrote in 20th of February 19, 2014, at [indiscernible] even more so today. This is Mr. Jeff Hill, who was the former Chairman. Dear Mr. Hill, I've been a shareholder of MGX since September 2004 when the company was called Astec Resources. I cannot believe your current strategy of not paying bidents each 6 months, which is mainly responsible with the price dropping from $1.20 to $0.97 over the last 2 days. Since you became Chairman in on the 20th of Feb 2011, following is the MGX performance compared with its peers, MGX price on the 3rd of the June 2011, $1.80 priced at 20 of the February 14 is $0.97, minus 16.1 million, minus 46.1% I've got to hear another one. I can't read this. BCI, $3 on the 3rd of 2011. 20th of the second 14 is $5.24, which is plus 75%. So you got MGX minus 46.1% over the same period. PCI plus 75. Another one I've got is [indiscernible]. Now I have Chart Trust in my small business, so in self-manage super fund, assuming MGX pays a dividend, a final dividend, a franking credit will not be available until the financial year day. I'll be paying extra interest on my management account momentum. A company should be run for the benefit of its owners, the shareholders, not just a play thing of the directors. Some of them may have a conflict of interest. I asked at ave of your disastrous chairmanship of MGX and in the interest of the majority of the shareholders that you stand down from the Board immediately. Don't get too worried about [indiscernible]. I've only put on my file, I haven't seen this letter for about 10 years or more, 20 years. Okay. In close article, which I haven't got. So that's the problem I've got is I'm in my 80s now. I would like to see a dividend from MGX before I die.

Right Understood.

And it's very worrying when -- today, you're giving yourself retirement benefits or it's a very happy Board up here. But I have not received $0.01 from MGX in the last 10, 20 years, I don't know. But and I've also got set in Newmont and also Northern Star, and those companies paid dividends. I don't know if you where the companies do pay dividends, but they pay dividends. And I don't want you going off and pretending you're good investors in that and not -- and going ahead for the next, say, 10 years, will not be in my 90s and not receive a dividend.

Understood. Okay. Well, maybe just a few points since there. The company hasn't paid a dividend in the last 2 or 3 years. But up until then, from 2014, up until when it last did in 2021, '22, $330 million was paid in dividends. Some of those have the opportunity to be taken as discounted shares and the rest was cash. So you would have had dividends since that time. You got your wish. Jeff will step down.

I have gotten the last if that's so long ago, I forgot.

Understood. But your point is about I take your point being more about the cash reserves in the company and what's going to happen to those. So look, all I can say is it's a live issue for the Board. We don't have any franking credits at this point. We have some opportunities with the Central Tanami Gold Project and other projects potentially in the future. And so we have to weigh up the needs of what's the capital need of those and what can be the return. We -- because we don't have the franking credits, a lot of our holders said, we'll put the money to better use within the business. That's been the focus. But dividends haven't been drawn out as in haven't been struck through. There's still an opportunity. But we're going to a period now where this event has only happened in the last few weeks, and we've just got to reassess how we actually manage and what we do with those returns. The idea of what we're doing with the Central Tanami Project is to go about it in a disciplined way and get in there. Maybe there are some consolidation opportunities inside that region as well and drive something so we can be like a Newmont or a Northern Star and pay those dividends. That could be some time away. I hope your health is good because we'll see how we go, but it would be very good to think about some form of return or dividends and it's a live issue on the table now. But I don't have any news or commitment for you on that front right now. Okay. Anything online? All right. Okay. Well, look, thanks for asking those questions. chance.

Okay. Does 13% shareholder Shougang have automatic Board representation rights to the extent that they could legally or contractually nominate someone to succeed Mr. Ding if they wanted to? Or are they now just like any other shareholder or any other nomination would be a matter for the board or shareholders? Also does firm have veto rights on who Shougang nominates and based on past experience is firm take a view on where the nominee directors of APAC and Shougang should be either Australian citizens or Australians.

Okay. On the first point, Shougang Fushan, has about 13.9% of the company. It does have the right to appoint a nominee director. That person obviously needs to be registered in Australia with Director ID and the likes, and the Board here would need to be assured that, that person is a fit person to be a Board member. At this point in time, Shougang Fushan has not renominated a director following the retirement of Mr. Ding. But as we've said in our announcement, that position is potentially there. And if Shougang Fushan is looking to do that, then they would come and discuss that with the Board. At this point in time, that hasn't occurred, the Board then sits at 5 members. [indiscernible] does not have a veto on whether that person sits as whether they're a foreign national or an Australian person. And indeed, Mr. Ding and his predecessors have all been contributors to the Board have not been Australian nationals.

Okay. And then final one. Thank you for offering a hybrid AGM today and using the excellent Computershare online AGM platform, which enables the East Coast to participate in and voting live. Best AGM practice would also include early disclosure of the proxy position to ASX, along with the formal addresses the CEO delivering his address at the start of the meeting and following the agenda by dealing with questions resolution as you work through the agenda rather than this one job at the end. Any chance you might be able to make those changes next year while also seeking with the transparent hybrid format? Also, hopefully, we could see a copy of the AGM webcast on your website after the meeting for the benefit of shareholders who went up to participate live today.

I'll take all those things on notice, and we'll look at them and consider them for next year.

Okay. That's it.

Okay. All right. Well, look, that's the end of proceedings. Everyone, please do join us for tea or coffee. And please come and have a chat with everyone around here from the company. Amongst the area that you're sitting in, there are people from Mount Gibson who've been with us a long time. So feel free to reach out Okay. Thank you.