Nio Strategic Metals Inc. (NIO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Foreign Language] I am accompanied by Bruno Dumais, Chief Financial Officer, who will also act as Secretary of the meeting; as well as the Director, Julie Lemieux; Christoph Ebeling; and Hubert Vallee. I will act as Chairman of the meeting, which will be held in English and French, as required. Good. And for those of you who wish to address the assembly, we ask that you draw my attention by using the box provided for this purpose on the website. I would like to emphasize and remind that you -- that only registered shareholders of the company as of May 10, 2024, or their proxy holder are entitled. They can ask question, propose and support resolution at this meeting. [Foreign Language] We believe that with the method of doing this thing allow us a greater number of members to participate in the meeting. Maybe not. Shareholders were able to exercise their rights by filling out a proxy form in order to be used at the meeting. The proxy had to be received by the company transfer agent and registrar, Computershare Inc., on or before June 12, 2024. [Foreign Language] I would ask that the secretary to report to the proxies received and the number of shares that are represented at the meeting. Secretary?

[Foreign Language] Nio Strategic Metals.

The scrutineer's report shows a quorum to be present. I therefore declare we have the requisite quorum to be present, and the meeting will be regularly constituted -- sorry about that -- for business. I direct that the scrutineer report will be annexed to the minutes of the meeting as a schedule. It should be known, however, that it will be not possible to vote on the resolution at the meeting and that only the voting results recorded by the mailing of the proxy form by June 12, 2024, will be expressed at the meeting. [Foreign Language] A copy of the 2023 financial statement and the auditor's report has been sent to each of the shareholders who had requested it, and additional copies are available from their Secretary. Question regarding the financial results will be available during the question period. [Foreign Language]

Mr. Chairman, the person provided for in the proxy circular for election as a Director of the company to take office until the next Annual General Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed are Julie Lemieux, Hubert Marleau, Hubert Vallee, Bruno Dumais, Christoph Ebeling. All nominees have agreed to be a Director for the next year. Results of the voting was as follows. Between 91% and 100% of the votes received were cast in favor of the election of Julie Lemieux, Hubert Marleau, Hubert Vallee, Bruno Dumais, Christoph Ebeling.

Based on these results, the following candidates are considered duly elected by the shareholders of the company: Julie Lemieux, Hubert Marleau, Hubert Vallee, Bruno Dumais, and Christoph Ebeling. I declare this resolution carried. The next item on the agenda is the appointment of auditors. We have submitted a resolution to the circular recommending the appointment of Audacie Inc. as auditors of the company until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until successors are appointed and their compensation determined by the Board of Directors. Secretary?

[Foreign Language] Results were for the appointment of the auditors, 100%; for abstention or without, 0%.

[Foreign Language] On October 10, 2024, the company announced it had amended the stock option plan. The review of the plan was conducted in connection with a listing of the company's shares on the TSX Venture Exchange. A summary of the plan is described in the company's circular. We have submitted a resolution to the circular confirming that the company's stock option plan as amended in October 2024, and is it hereby reapproved and confirmed, and that any Director or officer of the company and each of them be authorized in the name and on behalf of the company to execute and deliver such other document or instrument, and to take such action as such directors or officer may be determined to be necessary or desirable in order to give effect to this resolution and no matter authorized herein.

Mr. Chairman, the results of the votes received prior to this meeting are as follows: for, 99.9%; abstention, nothing.

[Foreign Language] I will repeat this in English. It's important. The formal business at the meeting has been concluded. Bruno Dumais and I will be addressing the shareholders regarding major events for 2023. And I would like to sincerely thank the directors for their outstanding contribution during the year. I also would like to highlight the arrival of [ Claire Jar La Fleur ] as senior geological consultant of the company. I think this is it. Now we're going to proceed to a presentation, which will be made by Bruno Dumais.

Bear with me a minute. All right. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I would like to, let's say, present a review of what happened over the course of the last year. Presentation will be conducted in English. But should you have any questions down the road or by the end, feel free asking either through the chat box or by the end in both languages, either French or English. Basically, what I'm going to talk to you about is the Oka project here nearby Montreal, the Great Whale project, the Fafnir project or the latest acquisition, and other projects underway and the related financing we've completed in 2023. First of all, let me remind you about who we are, what we do and what are we aiming for. Basically, we want to be involved into critical and strategic minerals. Seems to be easy, but since there's a lot of traction right now as far as precious metals are concerned. But basically, our main property is considered niobium. And that is being seen as a critical mineral all over the world. And it is -- it also enables what our focus is as far as a company. But basically, as we -- because we want to be a niobium producer first, based on to our core values. Core values are safety, making sure everybody remains safe, either by working or, let's say, the nearby locals and all that. That is part of our values, being part of the committee and making sure the environment remains safe. So basically what we're looking for, green mining, sustainable mining, safe mining. The ecosystem, as far as the Oka project is concerned, considers many players. One, I mean those are namely the Mohawk community, which we are working with in terms of the [ bank ] council, but also the fact that they want to be establishing the -- we want to promote their culture and support next generation through the creation of [ Veritagen ] trust funds. We've been in discussions with the Mohawks for -- since at least for almost 2 years, and that maintained to be our main focus right now. But the ecosystem also considers the governments, the local residents, the municipality and also the farmers. How do we get there? This project has been on the table for quite some time. Basically, we want -- the way we want to achieve it will be as follows. Communication. It's all about communication. We want to make sure -- to make everybody understand about how we de-risked the project and how it could be beneficial to all. It is a challenge, but it's a challenge that remains doable. But we want to -- but also, the way we're going to make it happen is by making it win-win. It has to be made with, let's say, and discussed with collaboration of the local communities. And that's exactly what we are working on to. Basically, making sure we -- the look and feel remains safe, green mining, making sure we do respect environment, but this is how we're going to get there. If you want to compare the project as it stands as opposed to the prior projects that were in existence in the area, then we're going to start with the water management. There's no underground wells to be used anymore. I mean, we got to make sure there will be water supply in a different way because water is very, very key in the region. And we've got to make sure it comes from -- there's enough water to all. Basically, the locals as well as the farmers. Underground mining. This is what needs to be done in order to make it safe. Limited pollution, limited contamination. No chemicals, only separation on the ground. This is how we're going to be able to achieve the following results: no noise, limited pollution, no contaminants. Market conditions. Basically, right now, the economy is on our side as far as niobium is concerned. It keeps on improving, and we want -- and there's a timing here we want to take advantage of. Niobium is a critical mineral, and it will remain as such for quite some time. Why? Because it supports the energy transition because of its superconductivity. There isn't that much around the world. Our site has a lot, and I'll show you how much there is. This is a view of the property from up high. This is the information as we had in the past we've been working on to for quite some time. But there are some good now to be talked about. Basically, the property maybe evolving a little more than we expected. The area, maybe it's kind of hard to see, but here, you'll see Oka main, which is pretty much where we're focusing on to in terms of operation down the road. But as you can see, from the magnetic reports we were given from a prospector from last year, at the exact same time last year, July 2023, the magnetic intensity is really, really high all around here and especially up North. So you see these purple zones, which shows the high magnetic resolution, is very, very of interest to us because it shows there's probably -- the presence of niobium is very, very high. And that will pretty much predicate our drilling programs down the road. Basically, looking into C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5 into the picture on the right-hand side you see. And this will be key in terms of accessing resources on site. As I said, project has evolved from previous years. It will be green mining. It has to be driven. It has to be, let's say, underground. It has to be noiseless enclosures. It has to -- we've got to take advantage of the new technique methods in terms of crushing in order to reduce negative impacts of the communities surrounding. This is part of our values. This is what we want to express, and this is how we're going to be -- we're going to execute down the road. We also have a Great Whale property, Iron Property, located up north. This is what you see here on the right-hand side. And when you see the block 8, this is exactly where the site is located. This is high-quality iron ore. Right now, the fact that this -- the metal price is pretty much same or, let's say, is on the low side, provides us with the fact that, okay, we're going to remain active in terms of monitoring this all. But we have to wait until the economics are positive in order to go ahead with the project because it calls for huge infrastructure. It calls for road, a plant, the engineering and all that. So basically, right now, the focus will be much more towards the Oka property as opposed to the Iron Property until the economics resurface and get positive. We announced last year -- last week, sorry, the new investment into a property located nearby [ Monori ]. There, it shows -- the initial sampling shows high niobium content on to the property, very, very interesting in terms of potential. And that's exactly what we're going to be working on to this summer in order to assess resources on site. The -- what we've bought has been -- is our [ 9 claims ] on to the property and for a limited cash, limited cash position, and -- but also paying in shares in order to making sure the property owners would be -- would benefit from the exploration program we're going to be performing over time. There's also presence of rare earth on to the property. Let's see how it pans out based on to the exploration program that will materialize this summer. Other projects. We are reviewing projects on a daily basis. There's always something new that pops up, and we need to decide if we were interested into it. But mostly, if they fit our business model. As I said, opportunities are available right now. But we've got to make sure they meet our criteria, namely critical minerals, strategic minerals, accessible and meet our values. So we keep on discussing, reviewing, and we will report back to the shareholders as soon as something does materialize. I would like to remind everyone about the fact that during 2023, we've been able to -- the warrant holder have been able to exercise their rights in order to convert their warrants into common shares. So basically, 4 million warrants were exercised for net proceeds of almost 500 in order to making sure the cash position of this company would be something very, very important. And now, I mean, we will welcome your input. Feel free to ask, feel free contacting us whenever there is. We're more than ever available and on the lookout in order to grow the asset value for this corporation. And now what we also -- now basically, when we complete meetings, we want to thank the indigenous community in order to be supportive to our projects and, let's say, enable next steps. Now I would welcome questions, either through the chat box or verbally, if any. Mr. Chairman, I think that concludes the presentation. Anything else you wanted to discuss? I see no questions at this time?

No, I think you basically gave us a very, very good review of where we -- of what we did during 2023. And I mean the only thing I could maybe add is that we have a lot of things going on at this particular moment in time, but we are not really in a position to discuss them publicly because they have not -- they're not concrete. But there is numerous things, and I do believe that we're going to be able to inform. And we will be informing our shareholders as time goes on. Good. I think we're going to go back to the chair. We'll basically close the meeting. We -- if there's no more question, let's -- we'll meet next year.

All right. Thanks, everyone. Looking forward to it. And then if there's anything, as I said, feel free communicating with us. Thank you.

Thanks.