PLS Group Limited (PLS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Tony Kiernan. I'm the Chairman of Pilbara Minerals, and I certainly welcome you to the Annual General Meeting of the company. And it's terrific when I look around the room. I've got gray hair, and there's a number of people in the room got gray hair. And I know that those people have been shareholders in this company for a long, long time. And it's terrific that you've stuck with it, and it's terrific to see you all here today. And sorry about the comment about gray hair, but such is life. But thank you. And I know that I've met many of you over the years, but as I said, it's terrific to see you here again. And thank you for your support. Some housekeeping matters before I get carried away. On the screen, there should be some information -- yes, evacuation diagram. So just have a look at that. If you've got any questions in relation to that, you can probably ask Vince down the front. He knows all that sort of stuff, Vince De Carolis, okay. Before I came in, there was a guy sitting out on the street. He looked like he had nothing to do. And I said, why don't you come in here and have a bit of a yarn to us? That's Dr. Len Collard, who's going to give us a welcome to country -- sorry, Emeritus Professor Dr. Len Collard will give us a welcome to country. You want a wheelchair, mate?

Yes, Thanks, Tony. How is everybody? [Foreign Language]. Are you well? You make sure you have plenty of water because we're copping a bit of a flogging from the heat lately aren't we? [Foreign Language] And so what I always do, I always start off in our language because when I was a little boy growing up in [ Wickham ] Valley, my parents and my grandparents, like lots of grandparents that I found out when I went to [ Wickham ] Valley Primary School, all wanted their children to speak their heritage language. So Italians and Portuguese and Croatians. There were Scotts and Irish and Welsh and all manner of people. And what I understood, everybody's grandparents wanted their kiddies to speak their heritage language. And what I know is a lot of my friends, particularly the Italians, some of them spoke Italian, but a lot of them forgot their heritage languages. And so as my papa always said, in the future when you become a man, you're going to have to talk to people. And so you must always speak in the first language of the heritage of this place, which I do. The good news is we also had to learn to speak English and having been to the U.K. on more than one occasion, I realized if you talked to the Scotts in English, they don't understand you. You speak to the Irish, they struggle as well. And when I was -- and then I reflected. So what I always try to do now is not say that I'm going to speak in English, guess what language I'm going to speak to you in, Australian. So I'm going to do the very best Australian as I can. And the reason why I mix it with Noongar is because the English that we speak or the Australian English is a mixture between in this part of the world Noongar and whether it's English or Irish or Welsh or Dutch or whatever. But the little story I will share with you was about William Dampier. Has anyone heard of William Dampier? He was one of the boat people. Have you heard of the boat people? Well, the Noongars knew about them a long time ago. And they were sitting down here on the edge of the river, and they saw the boat come. They were my family that saw them. And they -- there's a long narrative about the boats. [indiscernible] was in 1696 expedition into the Southland, one of the other captains of the boats was a guy named Gerard Collard. In English, you would say Jerry Collard. So I rang my uncle Jerry up. He was a Manaitch or a policeman, and I said, unc, you're not the first Jerry Collard that was around here. The captain of, I think, it was a [indiscernible] or one of the boats was Jerry Collard. So we've actually got a foot in both camps, I think, partially in the boat people's camp and partially in the mob that were here. And so when Minerals -- Pilbara Minerals reached out to me and invited me to come and have a yarn with the shareholders, they said, Len, would you pop in and say good day, share a little yarn and bring some kwop wirrin or some positive blessings for you on your journey here today and celebrate where you have been up to. I know the market has been up and down. I'm a surfer. And you know what? It's a sign really. One day, the waves are up, next day it's down. Next minute you're happy, next minute you're sad. Next day, we started off, there is a nice, clear day. The waves are perfect. Somebody turns to c***. And then -- you know what I mean. And so surfers, I think, and shareholders in any company, I think we've had the same sort of experience. So keeping in mind that Tony said to me, Len -- when he invited me in, he said, mate, there's a long agenda that Minerals is trying to cover today -- Pilbara Minerals. So Len, I know those aboriginal dreamtime stories go on and on and on. But mate, can you keep it short, please? Tony, I'll stick to my word. And that's about where I'm going to finalize my yarn. I want to say welcome here to UWA, and welcome here to the [indiscernible] boodja or the river lands as we Noongars call it. I'm going to play a little tune on my didgeridoo to bring the kwop wirrin or the good spirit and hopefully set us on a positive conversation. And I think there's plenty of good things to share today, and I know the Chair and the Board are pretty happy with how things have been traveling this year. And I can just tell by the smiles on the faces of these people in the audience that what I'm saying is true. And on that note, I'll finish off the tune. My wife said, make sure you apologize to the shareholders and to the Board because I've got another thing to go to. And as you know, it's pretty hot. So I want to try and get home and have a shower and get ready to go back to the next event. So what I'm going to do is finish off with the didgeridoo, play some didgeridoo for us and as Noongars always say [Foreign Language], I'll see you later on. [Presentation]

I know you're disappearing, Len, but thank you very much. Thank you for the welcome to country. I also would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land one which we meet the Noongar people and pay my respects to their elders past and present. And I also acknowledge the additional owners of the land upon which our Pilgangoora operation is located in the Nyamal and Kariyarra people and their enduring connection to the country. With me today, I'll just introduce some of our members of staff. The 1 closer to be Alex Eastwood, the Company Secretary, and I'll talk more about Alex later on. Next to him, Dale Henderson, who's the Managing Director; Sally-Anne Layman, next to him, yes; Nick Cernotta and Steve Scudamore at the end. Another director, Miriam Stanborough is online. She was able to attend today by virtue of illness. Also in attendance, a number of our senior executives, we've got the Chief Financial Officer, Luke Bortoli; Chief Operating Officer, Vince De Carolis; Chief Sustainability Officer, Sandra McInnes and Chief Development Officer, John Stanning; and Project Director, Paul Laybourne. Paul, why didn't they make you a chief?? Everyone's a chief. I'd like to reintroduce our Chief Project Director, Paul Laybourne, okay? I'd also like to acknowledge the [indiscernible] company of Computershare representative, Rod Somes at the back there. It's an annual meeting for me. And Rod, we've probably been meeting this way for probably 10 or 15 years. Before I keep going, I'll just deliver an address before we move on to the formal business of the meeting. As I said at the beginning, it's wonderful to see so many shareholders here, but so many shareholders who I know have been on the register for a number of years, and they would have been part of the journey, the good times, the bad times, the good times and at the moment -- somewhat in different times, but it is the resources space, these things to happen. As Lin said, good surfing days and bad surfing days. But certainly, it's a pleasure to see you all here today. The 2023 financial year was quite remarkable for the company. We achieved exceptional operational and financial outcomes with a 64% increase in production and a 68% increase in sales. The achievement itself is a result of our strategy to maximize the value of our Pilgangoora operation and capitalize on the rapidly growing demand for lithium. Obviously, we were the beneficiary of the strong price for our product. But unless you can execute your fundamental business model and operate efficiently and safely, the price is of no consequence. It's a bit like being a cricketing term, you need to have the ball in your hand to get the benefit of a favorable wicket. Significantly, the company entered the ASX50 and finished the year as the top growth stock in the ASX50 with 114% growth over the financial year. And as you'd appreciate, the cash at bank figure of $3.3 billion at balance date. As part of our capital management framework, we paid an inaugural dividend in March 2023, which, when combined with the share price growth delivered total shareholder returns of 127% over the year. Being able to return funds to shareholders, many of whom, as I said, have supported the company for many years, I was very proud occasion for the Board and management. but strong operational results come after -- shift after shift, quarter after quarter and leverages our track record of operational performance and underpins our internal growth. The operational performance to the company is only possible if we have Great People and we use that in upper case, Great People. They're physically and mentally healthy. Pleasingly, this year, we reported 2.9 field safety interactions per 1,000 hours worked, which exceeded our target of 2 and more importantly is a leading indicator of safety performance. As our operation and workforce continues to grow, we are focused on maintaining a strong safety culture because there is nothing more important to us than our Great People going home safe and well after a good day's work. We have taken significant steps towards becoming further integrated in the battery materials supply chain, which, of course, includes storage through our downstream processing joint venture with the South Korean company, POSCO, and our decision to construct and operate a midstream demonstration plant at our Pilgangoora operation with Calix. Last month, we exported our first shipment of spodumene concentrate to be processed in the new lithium hydroxide chemical facility in South Korea as part of our joint venture with POSCO, which will commence commissioning soon. There's a number of us actually going up to Korea over the weekend and next week for the commissioning of the plant in Gwangyang, which will be quite a significant step for the company. Subsequent to year's end, our P680, as we call it, expansion program achieved first ore, Pilgan. This was an important milestone as we take our production capacity to 680,000 tonnes per annum of spodumene concentrate, and this is spodumene concentrate, which we sell after processing the ore. It also underpins our P1000 expansion project, which as it stands today, we'll make our Pilgangoora operation, the second largest producing hard rock lithium mine in the world with the capacity to produce 1 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate in 2025. The Board and the company are extremely positive for the future of Pilbara Minerals. This is evidenced by our current capital expenditure program. And you'll appreciate we're committing a lot of dollars to increasing run rates and generally on site. And our commitment to being a dominant player in the battery materials market in support of a sustainable energy future. Global demand for lithium is projected to continue to grow strongly, which will be driven largely by the adoption of technologies such as electric vehicles and large battery storage for renewable energy systems. While the long-term outlook is excellent, we know there'll be price demand variability from time to time. And as you'd appreciate, and I'm sure Dale will address that when he gets up to talk. This is not to be unexpected because of the technologies being developed in the world, as we move towards clean energy requirements. Pilbara Minerals, however, is an established producer with a strong balance sheet, strong long-term customer relationship, which allows variability to be addressed. Just to that point, 1 of the things which I think I've often said to me that -- is a standout for Pilbara is we actually know what we do. Our day job is getting the ore, processing it. And I think it's fair to say that this company executes its business model as well as anyone. And I think we've got a lot of benefit for that, and there's a lot of credit to our operating team. We have a laser focus on sustainability. It's critical for our success, and we continue to prioritize improving performance and disclosure in this area. We're setting our sights on interim targets, focusing on credible and informed goal setting while prioritizing training and awareness to stay ahead in the evolving sustainable landscape. Our Chief Sustainability Officer here is Sandra McInnes, so feel free to have a chat to Sandra when we have a cup of tea and a sticky bun outside. With the growing workforce in operation, we recognize the significant responsibility we have as a business to make a positive and sustainable impact on the community. As such, it was pleasing to be able to provide support through the establishment of several new multiyear partnerships, all of which align to our community investment focus area of education, community resilience and energy transition. I would like to acknowledge Dale Henderson's first year as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, and please feel free to harangue him after we finish the meeting. The leadership transition has been seamless. And as you'd appreciate, we've added quite substantially to our senior management team, many of whom are here. The depth of our experience of our expanded executive leadership team is an absolute asset to the business. They are an exceptionally high performing team, who share a clear vision -- a clear strategic vision I should say for Pilbara Minerals. Together, they lead a very talented group of Great People, each of whom have continued to -- have contributed, sorry, to our success and now that sharing the exciting opportunity to be part of something better. I'd like to thank and particularly acknowledge everyone from the company from those that sit on reception desk, through accounts payable, through business development and up on site. Each and every one contributes to the success of the company, and I thank each and every one for their contribution. I'd also like to acknowledge the long-serving Chief Commercial and Legal Officer and the Company Security, Alex Eastwood, who will step down from his role this month. Alex is the gentleman on the end there. Alex has played an integral role in Pilbara Minerals leadership team over the last 7 years, has been instrumental in many aspects of the business. Most importantly, Alex has been a loyal and dedicated leader with an enduring belief in Pilbara Minerals' vision. I Wish him well in the future endeavors and extend our sincere thanks for the enormous contribution he has made. Alex and myself have spent a lot of time together over the years because we're both a reformed lawyer. So I suppose you can't keep us apart. But in all honestly, his contribution has really been -- has been wonderful so, Alex. On behalf of all the shareholders here, thank you very much for your contribution. Give him a clap, please. He deserves it. To the young group, they're up on the table, the Board of Directors, thank you for your ongoing contribution in the active role each and everyone of you played in the strategic direction of the company. And as you'd appreciate, most of the directors have been with us for a number of years. Finally, thank you to our shareholders, many in the room, stakeholders, partners, and communities for your continued support. I believe we are uniquely positioned in the sector with a Tier 1 operating asset, a strong balance sheet, dedicated intelligent team and a clear growth and diversification plan, which is well underway. We're committed to operating a uniquely Pilbara Minerals way to enable a clear energy transition and generally make a difference to the world. Our journey has begun well, and we look forward to sharing it with all of you. Thank you. Okay. Okay, on with the business. And a lot of us will be hanging around afterwards, so please feel free to come up and have a chat to us. Now going on to the more formal things. The company released its notice of meeting for today's meeting, and that can be viewed on the ASX and Pilbara Minerals website as well as on the company's Computershare platform. This year's Annual General Meeting is conducted as a hybrid meeting. I've been physically here at the University of WA as well as online by Computershare meeting platform. We encourage shareholders to make use of both of those platforms to participate in the meeting and Rod told me just before the meeting, we had something like over 100 online. So there's a fair bit of a continuing interest in the company. So I welcome shareholders, proxy holders and corp representatives attending in person and online. To ask questions -- and I've got to just go through this, there are 2 ways to ask questions. If you're attending, obviously, you raise your right hand and someone would give you microphone. If you're attending virtually and to those people online, by typing and submitting your question on the online platform. To ask a question, select the obvious Q&A icon, type your question into the text bar or alternatively if you wish to ask a question verbally, please follow the instructions written below on the broadcast page. Further information about the submission of questions by the online platform is set out in the online meeting guide available on our website or as an attachment within the meeting platform. Please note that you can start submitting questions from now on, but I won't address those questions when they relate to a particular resolution until we get to that. We may receive multiple questions in relation to one. We'll probably amalgamate those, so they can be answered together. If your question relates to a specific item of business, please refer to that item of business when you submit your question. Also in the interest of time and to allow all attendees an opportunity to ask questions, you may be limited to ask one question, one follow-up question. We'll see how we go. And if you're asking a question from the room, please ensure you wait for the microphone to be put into your hand. As is custom these days, all voting will be conducted by way of a poll on all resolutions, and I'll shortly open voting for all resolutions. If you're eligible to vote, there are 2 ways you may cast your vote in person or via the online platform. For those in attendance, you may vote using the voting card, which were handed when you entered the room. We call upon to vote, please do so by marking your voting slip either for, against or abstain. Your voting card will be collected prior to the end of the meeting. If you've got any questions in relation to that, just address them to Computershare staff over there. And you'll have voting slips. Those, which are eligible to vote, will be able to use those. For those online, once voting opens, please press the vote icon. All resolutions will be activated with voting options. To cast your vote, you simply select 1 of the options. There's no need to submit or enter button, as the vote is automatically recorded. You can change your vote up until the time I declare the voting closed. If you require any assistance during the meeting, please refer to the online meeting guide, which is available on the platform. With regard to proxies, these will be displayed on the screen for each resolution. Please note that there are a number of open proxies, which have been received in the Chairman's discretion. And I advise that I, as Chairman, will be directing those in favor of each resolutions. We can get on to the business of the meeting. Okay. I'll now turn to the formal matters to be considered and declare voting open. So those online, please feel free to cast your vote, and I'll give you a warning before I close voting. Rod Somes over there will be the returning officer and following confirmation from Computershare, the final results for the poll will be announced to ASX later today. At the conclusion of the formal part of the meeting, Dale will make a presentation, and there will be an opportunity for questions at the end of his presentation. And as I said, the management and the Board will be hanging around, so please feel free to come up and have a chat to us. I now propose that the notice of meeting be taken as read, unless anyone would like me to read it. Okay. Thank you. If there are no objectives, I record the motion is carried. I'll now move to the business of the meeting. The first item of business is to receive and table for consideration the annual report, which includes the financial report, the sustainability report, the director's report and the auditor's report for the financial year ended 30 June 2023. Members should note that those reports are tabled for comment, not really for approval. Representatives of auditors down there, Derek Meates, he's been around for a long time, and Glenn is offside, is looking around someone over there. And they're available to answer any questions from members in relation to the conduct of audit. So I lay the financial results before the meeting. And then I'll pause if any shareholders got any questions or observations on the financial report and the reports of the directors and auditors. Okay. Nothing from the floor? Alex, anything online?

No concerns.

Okay. Thanks. There are no further questions or comments -- there are no questions, I should say, or comments on that. I'll now proceed to the specific resolution, the notice of meeting. I don't propose to read each resolution out unless anyone wants me to because the resolution itself will be displayed on the screen, and you can read that. And also, we'll be available to those which are online. Okay. Resolution 1 relates to the remuneration report, which is included as part of the director's report that can be found on Page 132 of the company's 2023 annual report. Voting on the adoption of the remuneration report is advisory only. The proxy votes as said are displayed on the screen in relation to the remuneration report at 92% acceptance is very high for a rem report these days. The resolution itself should be displayed on the screen. Yes. I now invite shareholders to comment or ask any questions in relation to resolution 1, which is the adoption of the remuneration report. Okay. No questions from the floor. Alex, anything online?

No questions, Tony.

Thank you. I now put the resolution and then move on to Resolution 2. Resolution 2, notice of meeting relates to the reelection of Sally-Anne Layman as a Director. Sally-Anne, who's been on the board for a number of years, retired by rotation and offers herself for reelection. The details are set out in the explanatory memorandum in annual report. Proxy votes in relation to the reelection of Sally-Anne on the screen. The resolute itself is also on the screen and give you a chance to read that. And it's also available for those which are online. So are there any questions or comments or clarification in relation to the reelection of Sally-Anne Layman in the terms of the resolution on the screen? No question from the floor. Anything online?

Nothing.

Michael is not asking a question online Sally-Anne, about why you work so hard? Okay. Okay. So anyway -- I now put the resolution. Okay. Thank you. And as I said, that will be conducted in the poll. Resolution #3 relates to the reelection of Steve Scudamore as a Director. Steve has been on the board for many, many years and shares our audit committee, does a sterling job in relation to that. He retired by rotation, offers himself for reelection. His details are set out in the explanatory memorandum and in the annual report. Proxy votes in relation to Steve's reelection on the screen as is the resolution, which I don't intend to read, but it's therefore able to be read. I now invite shareholders to comment or ask any questions I may have on the resolution to reelect Steve Scudamore. No questions from the floor. Anything online, Alex?

No, Tony.

Okay. Thank you. I now put that resolution. Resolutions 4 and 5 of the notice of meeting relate to the renewal of the company's employee award plan and amendment to the existing plan. As I'm sure you'd appreciate the purpose of the employee awards plan is to appropriately motivate, retain and reward employees for driving long-term growth and performance of the company. The plan was previously approved by shareholders in November 2022, needs to be refreshed. And as part of the refresher, we've actually updated certain aspects of it to accord with ASX listing rules and in particular, adding a provision there to enable dividends to be attached to awards. So resolution 5 itself seeks approval. Resolution 4 past the amendment and resolution 5 will allow existing shares to get the benefit of the changes to the plan. So resolution 4 relates to the renewal of the plan, the votes in relation to that proxy votes are displayed on the screen, as is the resolution, so I don't intend to read. And the proxy votes are on the 96.6% in favor. Now inviting the shareholders seeking clarification, any comment in relation to the plan? Okay. Any questions online, Alex?

No.

Thanks, mate. Okay. I'll now move to resolution 5. The notice of meeting relates to amendments to the existing securities. So having agreed to amend the plan, there are currently in existing securities which have been issued under the plan. Those issued securities now get the benefit of the amendments, which have been made. As I said, those amendments were made to come in line with ASX listing rules. Proxies in relation to resolution 5 on the screen, as is the resolution itself available for reading. Now inviting to shareholders to comment or ask any questions in relation to resolution 5. Anything online, Alex?

No.

Okay, I put the resolution. Moving to resolution 6 of the notice of meeting, which relates to the approval of the issue of employee performance rights to Dale Henderson under the Employee Award Plan. Full details of these are set out in explanatory memorandum, including performance hurdles that apply to these rights. Approval of the resolution does not nearly mean the performance right to automatically converted to shares. There's the need for Dale to meet the performance hurdles and the appropriate vesting conditions within the defined 3-year period. The performance vesting conditions are weighted 40% towards what we call relative total shareholder return against a peer group of companies. In other words, we compare our performance against a peer group of resource companies, 40% towards the total shareholder return of peer group of ASX50 companies, which is at the top and 20% against successful commission of the delivery of the P1000 project infrastructure, which I referred to before and is part of our heavy capital expenditure commitment this year. And there's also a service condition that Dale remains employed to the company for a 3-year period. The proxies in relation to that are on the screen as is the resolution. And I invite shareholders to comment or ask any questions in relation to the resolution. Anything online, Alex?

Nothing.

Okay. Thank you. Resolutions 7 to 10 are all common. And so far, they relate to the issue of share rights under the awards planned to the company's participating in nonexecutive directors. The company's salary sacrifice scheme for nonexecutive directors was approved by shareholders previously at the 2020 Annual General Meeting, and that approval is scheduled to end -- at the end of this month, accordingly proposed to implement a new scheme. This is not in addition to directors' fees, what directors do as they get the opportunity to take a percentage of the directors' fees up to 40% in performance rights or in shares. In other words, they don't take the cash, they take the shares. And 1 of the reasons for this is it allows a greater participation of directors at equity level. As I said, it's not in addition to the salary, just removed part of the cash component and that's satisfied by shares. As I said, there are a number of -- couple of resolutions in relation to those. The first resolution is resolution 7, which relates to the issue of share rights to myself. Obviously, I have an interest in the resolution. So Alex, pass to you.

Thanks, Tony. The proxy votes received on this resolution are displayed on the screen. And I won't read the resolution, but it's clearly set out there on the screen. I now invite shareholders to comment or ask questions they may have on resolution 7. And then I'll read any online questions raised. Do we have any questions in the room on the resolution?

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Chairman. My name is Jeff [indiscernible]. [Technical Difficulty]

You are still not audible...

I'm a shareholder through my super fund. A couple of questions about the plan in general, if you don't mind me asking 2 at once. The notes to the meeting say that there's a minimum holding policy. So the first question is, what is that minimum? Is it some fraction of the annual fee? And the second 1 is, it mentions that the previous plan that we're replacing had a provision for salary sacrifice. So I'm interested to know what has changed in the new plan?

Okay. Just in relation to the first one, I mean, we do have a minimum holding policy. Alex, correct me if I'm wrong. It is over a 3-year period. The directors must hold equity equivalent to a defined percentage of their...

Percentage of their annual director's fee.

Let's just say the director's fee was $200,000 -- just not -- let's say it was $200,000, yes. So over a 3-year period, they would need to hold equities of 30% of that.

Yes, I think it's higher than that. It's about 50%. Oh, It's 100%, sorry.

100%. Sally-Anne, thank you.

So 100%, that's accumulated over a 3-year period.

Okay. So you look at what the salary is and -- over that $200,000, the person needs to acquire shares to the value of that. Okay. Going to your second question, I think you're asking what is the difference between previous and simply the previous approval was given in 2020, and that approves only for a 3-year period. So it's just a renewal of that. There is no difference. And under the listing rules, directors cannot get any equity or any equity without shareholder approval irrespective of what it is. We can buy shares on the market, obviously in accordance with our policy. So there's no difference. There's no magic. Okay.

Yes, that's correct, Tony.

Okay. Any questions -- sorry, you're running resolutions.

[indiscernible], thank you. So any more questions in the room? Are there any more questions? Okay. I'll just check if there's any questions online. There are no questions online in respect to this resolution.

Okay. Thanks for the question.

I'll put the resolution to the meeting. And if you haven't already done so, please cast your vote on the item. And now I'll hand back to Tony who does a better job than me.

Thanks, mate. I appreciate that. Resolution 8 is like resolution 7. We're going through each of the directors now. Resolution 8 relates to the issue share rights to Nick Cernotta and should you elect to take it, the resolution is on the screen. It's the same principle as that to me. And the proxy votes in favor of it are on the screen also. Any questions in relation to that or comments, observations in relation to Nick? Okay. Anything online, Alex?

No.

Okay. Thank you. I'll now put that resolution. Resolution 9 relates to the issue of shares to Sally-Anne Layman. Proxy votes are on the screen. Resolution is on the screen. Any shareholder have any comment in relation there too? Okay. Anything online?

Nothing.

Is there anybody out there? Who's -- ET, isn't it -- ET you out there, something like that? Well, kids remind -- sorry?

There's no questions.

On the resolution, no, obviously lining up for the big games. Resolution 10 is similar to the previous resolution. This relates to the issue of share rights to Miriam Stanborough. Resolution on the screen. The votes in relation to that are also on the screen. Any comments in relation to that? Anything online, Alex?

No.

Okay. Resolution 11 relates to the approval of potential termination benefits to personnel who hold or have held during the previous 3 years prior to cessation of employment executive shares or shares in the company. Under the rules of the employee award plan on termination and employee with unvested awards, for those unless determined by the Board as a good lever. There's information in relation to the explanatory memorandum, which explains the background to all this. And approval is being sought in relation to the Corporations Act because the Corporation Act sets out, there's a defined limit on benefits that can be paid to senior executives on termination. And it may be the circumstances exist where some of the benefits that the person may have acquired through good lever status may exceed the ratio, which is in the Corporations Act. The resolution itself, as I said, fully set out an expansion memorandum. The proxies are on the screen, and the resolution is on the screen. Any questions or comments on it? Okay. Anything online, Alex?

Yes. We do have 1 question on resolution 11 is -- question is, why was there such a large vote against on resolution 11?

I think that's probably a question that may lead to -- it wasn't a large vote against it. It's probably you need to ask those who voted against it. And Nick, are you going to comment on it, Nick, Chair of the Rem Committee?

Okay. Sorry about that. There was some advice given to us through the proxy advisers that are related to the termination benefits that were paid to the previous CEO, Ken Brinsden, on his departure, which are related to retention scheme that we put in place. So that was the reason why.

Yes. So someone just took a different view to the Board. That's all. Those were into the 75% before. Any other questions in relation to that?

No, that's it, Tony, on that resolution.

Thank you. I now put the resolution. Resolution 12 relates to the increase in aggregate fees payable to directors. Why didn't we put that 1 first -- anyway. What we've done there is, obviously, we benchmark these things. We just look at what is the appropriate figure. Nick is the Chairman of the Rem Committee. He would have taken the professional advice on that. And what we're seeking to is increase the aggregate fee pool for directors and information of that -- and information on the background of what directors do get paid. The 1.7 is not per person. I will give you the big tip. And the information is set out in the explanatory memorandum. The votes -- proxy votes in relation to those are on the screen. Any questions in relation to our observations in relation to that? Yes?

I'd like to know how much was paid to the directors last year, please?

Okay. Look, the figure would be in the annual report. Someone turn it up for me. What page? 148? Alex, you can ask the question if you can find on Page 148. Nick?

So on Page 148, the Chair, Anthony Kiernan, was paid in 2023, $247,955. Miriam Stanborough was paid $176,000. I was paid $185,087. Sally-Anne Layman was paid $193,000 and Steve Scudamore, was paid $189,042.

Okay. Thanks for the question. And so we benchmark those [indiscernible] what we should get paid so not to worry. Anyway, the resolution is on the screen. Any further comment or question in relation to that? Thank you for your question. Appreciate that. Anything online, Alex?

Nothing online on that question, Tony.

Okay. I'll now put that resolution. I apologize, I should have put that resolution to you to run Alex. I'm sorry. Not to worry. Anyone get upset that I didn't pass it over to Alex? No. Okay. That's fine. Thanks, Alex. Look, that concludes all the resolutions you put to the meeting. Now as I said, all resolutions will be conducted by poll. So if you could complete your poll papers and hand them to Rod over there. Thanks. [Voting]

Alex, could you give the lady [indiscernible]. It's the green voting cards that would be handed in. There's 1 over the back there. Okay. Any more green cards to go in? Thanks, Computershare. Thank you, Rob. I appreciate that. I assume that all shareholders have now voted. Those that wish to vote, so I declare the poll closed. And Computershare will now go and do what work they -- what they do. They'll count the poll and collection results. And details of the results of the meeting itself will be posted on the company website and also on the ASX Company announcement. Like -- all I say, thank you all for your attendance. I formally close the meeting but that doesn't mean we leave the room. Dale will make a presentation. Obviously, the lithium market is an interesting stage so no doubt he will address that. But and also it's great to see so many shareholders here who have been with us for a long time, and I hope you will be with us for a lot longer. Thank you very much.

Thanks very much, Tony, and good afternoon, everyone. I will echo some of Tony's earlier comments, but firstly, just reflecting it was not many years ago, this room was half the size. I think it was only a handful of people. I'm pretty sure we only had 1 packet of Tim Tam's. And to think the year we've had has just been absolutely remarkable. The largest growth stock in the ASX50 for the year just passed. It's a remarkable feat that I don't think anyone saw coming and it's credit to an amazing market, a lot of hard work, a great asset, but in particular, the support of our fantastic shareholders, many of whom have been there through the roller coaster, which is the establishment of this industry. So thank you all for coming, those obviously here and those online, members of the press, be it partners of Pilbara, staff of Pilbara, of course, the Board of Pilbara, and as I say, most importantly, our shareholders, thank you. I will take us through a presentation in a moment, but just a couple more sort of opening comments from me. It really has been a roller coaster, the formation of the industry. And some of my comments a little bit later on the market will reflect that. And what's more is it seems like the macro environment has got even more tumultuous. We've had the wars, unfortunately, inflation. Of course, it's the pandemic and then we've had the geopolitical shifts to name but a few. So navigating these waters has been, as I say, tumultuous. To this end, I thank you to the Board of Pilbara Minerals and in particular, Tony's stewardship as Chair, who has really navigated these uncertain waters. Also thank you to the executives, in particular, the parting executives. Earlier in the calendar year, we had Brian Lynn, our long-standing CFO, bow out. And of course, we've got Alex Eastwood stepping down as our Chief Commercial and Legal Officer. Alex, is hyperconscious -- hyperconscientious, relentless in his efforts, and he's been a major contributor to the business, as Tony spoke to. He's been deeply involved in each of the key junctures the business has had. And also add, Alex is actually most cheeky executive, and he's been a self-titled Chief of Fund. So we will miss you at Chief of Fund. Welcome also to the new blood, the new executives who have got here in the front row Sandra McInnes, Luke, Vince, Paul, and John, whom have joined the team over this past year and really have hit the ground running. So thank you to the big efforts believing in the mission, rolling your sleeves up and getting stuck into it. And thank you, guys. But most importantly, thank you to the team of Pilbara. They are the driving force of the business, the results. They've delivered everything which has happened to date, and we'll deliver everything that comes forward. So we, the executive -- but a small increment of course, of that team. So all praise goes to them. And lastly, thank you to some of our partners, [indiscernible], our contractors, our customers, of course, and our financiers. So it's this collective effort, which has brought through the journey of Pilbara to date and what lies ahead. So it's a proudly homegrown Australian company, independent, pioneering a path forward and what is an incredible industry, which is unfolding before us. Now stepping to the presentation. In a nutshell, Pilbara is powering forward to make the most of this incredible emerging market. And that's made possible because of our scale in the asset, our low-cost profile in a Tier 1 jurisdiction. These things coming together at what is the toll of incredible market, which is stepping forth. Where we are today? Well, we're ASX50. We are 100% independent. We've got an incredible growth pipeline ahead with more than 70% increase in capacity before us, and we're getting almost the job of adding more value through our downstream joint ventures. Our strategy is all predicated around maximizing shareholder value as rapidly as we can. And we think about those through 4 key priorities. First and foremost, it's about the operating platform, making sure that shooting the lights out, shift after shift, quarter after quarter. It is the moneymaker and it's through this that all other value-add steps can occur. Priority 2 is about expanding that operating platform to full extent, making the most of this incredible Tier 1 asset that -- and it seems like the more we drill, the more we find. It's a fantastic system. So the best route to creating more value is make the most of this asset that we're steering to life. Thirdly, it's about downstream through chemicals participation, which is all about adding more margin per lithium unit coming from the mine. And lastly, diversification, which is all about moving ultimately beyond the Pilgangoora asset. But we described this priority as a priority fourth, a distant fourth but 1 that we're gearing up and ready for when the right opportunity presents itself. So those 4 priorities are in service of our aim, which is to be a leader in the provision of sustainable battery materials products. Now I'll step through each of these 1 by one. Before I do -- as it relates to sustainability the year, which was has been a really key year for us to start moving up the curve more rapidly and care of Sandra McInnes coming on board as our Chief Sustainability Officer and her team, building on the work done to date. It really has been a year where we're starting to pick up the pace and delighted to have more bench strength joining the team to help us pursue our aims as a sustainable producer more quickly. As it relates to FY '23 highlights, we've got to heap of them. It was a year of more production, more sales, strong increase in pricing here of the strong market we are operating in. As it related to growth, we approved the expansions plus getting on with some of those expansions. As related to chemicals, our joint venture with POSCO got stuck into construction, and that's vastly progressed. And we're looking forward to flying over very shortly to see the progress on that. The midstream joint venture with Calix was finalized. And then after all of that, we'd continue to drill, and we increased our reserve to the tune of 35%, which was enormous, was effectively adding another 100 million tonnes to the reserve, increasing our life of mine by another 9 years, so a 34-year mine life, which, of course, affords the opportunity to get bigger, provided studies can prove that will work okay. As it relates to financial highlights, triple-digit percentage increases across the board, a remarkable set of financial outcomes for the financial year. Strong volumes, strong pricing has played through to that amazing set of numbers, revenue cash, EBITDA and, of course, bottom line profit in excess of 300%. As Tony mentioned, of course, this enabled us to get on with paying back dividends to our shareholders, which we did to the tune of $0.25 through the interim and final dividend. So a fantastic milestone for the business, maturing as a company and of course, paying back to those many shareholders, whom have supported Pilbara's growth journey to date, and we look forward to future dividends in that regard. As it relates to sustainability highlights, a combination of outcomes here ranging from sustainability ratings, some physical outcomes in terms of decarbonization with our 6-megawatt solar farm coming online, systems and reporting improvements as well through the water balance and environmental management system. And as it relates to culture, we've -- as a team, we've really got on with the job of doing some very active investment around culture, deeper culture surveys, funding, broader/deeper training and helping enable and empower our leaders further and further. All of that is playing through to reinforcing the already great culture, which is Pilbara Minerals. Now stepping through each of those 4 planks of the strategy, the operating platform, this pictorial gives quarter-on-quarter run rates of both production and sales. You can see in the September quarter, just have a slight step down on the prior quarter. That's principally due to the tie-in of the P680 Project. Such that, that was effectively tied in. Therefore, as you do those tie-ins, it does impact production run time slightly. I would just add that we plan for that -- those times, and we feel very comfortable about the guidance for the year. And I'll note that production volumes for the year were -- in FY '24 are very much back-ended, back half of the year as a function of bolting and that new expansion capacity curve of the P680 Project. As it relates to plan 2 that expansion profile, this pictorial is both a look back and a look forward. In the gray, you can see the produced tonnes on the years past. You can see the down dip in FY '20 or the lithium winter, as we called it. And then from that point forward, it's been stepping up production year-on-year. In the blue, the 680 expansion, I mentioned a moment ago, this is the 1 that Tony mentioned, has been construction complete commissioned, and this is a ramp-up quarter such that as we step into the start of next calendar year, we're at their full nameplate production capacity. Beyond that, the P1000, the last sort of green blue bar to the right. That is -- FID has occurred, engineering is underway, procurement is completed, and it's into the throes of construction. Now beyond that, you'll see the dotted lines. We like the idea of going bigger again, care of that -- those drill results I mentioned, how much larger we can go depends on really the studies. So those studies are underway. PFS is time to be delivered to market June quarter next year. So we look forward to seeing the outcomes of that. But as I say, we like the idea of growing our production capacity even further and making the most of this incredible Tier 1 system that we're developing in Pilgangoora. A couple of pictorials of the expansion here is the P680 that I mentioned. You can see here it's very much been a brownfield expansion tying in to the existing infrastructure. So big credit to the site team. Vince's operating team and Paul's a project team to manage all of those times successfully and bring it online, on time and on budget. The other part of the P680 Project relates to the installation of our large integrated crushing and ore sorting facility. This will support not only the current capacity but will support the future capacity as we move up to the P1000 or 1 million tonnes per annum. This ore sorting facility will be the largest of its kind globally, certainly the largest in lithium and the largest in the southern hemisphere for mineral concentration or sorting. So big set of infrastructure, but we are delighted to be bringing this to life. We see this as an important part of continuing to improve our lithium recoveries, reduce our cost base and push more distance between us and our competition. So looking forward to bringing this online. And I'd just add that the test work that ultimately drove this FID and this build that you see there. A lot of that happened -- that test work happened during the downturn and a credit to the Board that although times were tough and every penny was saved, the Board and their wisdom continued to approve that important test work, which is ultimately playing through to this project and other test works such as our midstream project. A lot of that key work actually happened during the depths of the downturn. So the fruits of that are being bought out today. On the P1000 project, you can see the schematic there on the left-hand side. You can see again, it's another brownfield expansion with the blue sort of wrapping around the existing infrastructure. Right-hand side, concrete is underway. I'm not sure what it is. Paul, what is it? Tank? That's a signal. Thanks, mate. So it's underway, but it's a longer build there to come online mid '25. Now moving to the resource outcomes. Good year of drilling, which played through to a resource upgrade and then the reserve upgrade to the tune of 35%, I mentioned, extending the mine life by 9 years to 34 years. So a great outcome. And as I mentioned a moment ago, studies are underway to deliver PFS results in the June quarter. But more drilling to come. So hot off the press, the Board approved the next wave of drilling, which will get underway both this financial year and rolling into next year. The light red shade that you can see to your left is effectively prospective area, which the team will be moving the rigs to. So as I mentioned, we like the idea of continuing to drill out the resource, why wouldn't we? It's cheap tonnes, the more we can grow the resource -- make the most of the resource we can then bolt-on more production capacity, bring more lithium units to market and have done the right way. We should be able to reduce a unit cost through that scale as well. So without question, the Pilgangoora operation is one of the largest globally and will be one of the largest globally for many years to come. So pretty exciting stuff and it'd be great if we can find a few more tonnes in the ground. Moving now to Chemicals. A quick reminder here, upstream is what we do today. This is effectively the production of our spodumene concentrate. Downstream on the right-hand side relates to the production of battery grade chemicals product. And midstream, as the name suggests, is in the middle. It's about value-adding our spodumene concentrate further, producing an upgraded chemical product. The idea around midstream is add more processing steps at the mine site to increase the concentration of lithium and improve the purification through dropping out the waste and what's more do it through more sustainable methods. And this is where our joint venture with Calix comes in, whom another great Aussie company, East Coast-based who's developed the electric calciner. So we've joint ventured with them for the application of that tech and lithium, and we think it's great. We think it's pretty neat. And through using that electric process, we should be able to materially reduce the carbon energy intensity. So the goal here is a more concentrated lithium product for market, more evaluating at the mine site, plus a more sustainable method. To downstream, our key entree here is through our joint venture with POSCO. And as I mentioned, we're looking forward to getting over there very shortly to checkout progress and see how that's going on. And that is a picture of the plant. So it's not many weeks ago. So this is in Gwangyang, South Korea, 2-train 43,000 tonne lithium hydroxide plant. In the background, those big white buildings is POSCO Chem, an existing cathode manufacturing facility that built in the last couple of years. So you can see very, very much in construction land at the moment. Paul had the pleasure of being over there a couple of weeks back to check out construction progress. And the team -- the POSCO team is busy finishing the build, looking to commence commissioning of the first train actually this quarter. So as I said, we're pretty excited to get over there and take a closer look. And this -- I should just highlight, this is the, I guess, an objective the company has had since inception. The bones of the POSCO deal were signed in early 2018 and here it is now coming to life so fantastic. And I think the world is actually waking up to South Korea as 1 of the best place battery materials hubs outside of China. Firstly, it exists. There is a full ecosystem of battery materials manufacturing in South Korea. LG Chem, EcoPro, to name but a few. The cathode manufacturing of POSCO Chem that I mentioned, it's existing today. They make batteries there. It's all there. And we are in partnership with POSCO, building a chemical facility to support that existing industry. So we think strategically, it's a smart location. And furthermore, South Korea has a free trade agreement with the U.S. So for those who are familiar with the IRA, important requirement for IRA benefit is to ensure that the countries involved have free trade agreements, of which Australia does, South Korea does. So we think this, again, strategically is well placed to serve the North American market care of its location. So looking forward to seeing that come to life in the quarters to come. As it relates to the strategic partnering process, what this is about is this could be another POSCO type deal. We went to market saying, we've got a big mine, we've got a large volume of production capacity coming available, and we offer to market up to 300,000 tonnes per annum of spodumene concentrate for the purpose of doing a partnership together. So busy been working through a process of evaluation of prospective opportunities. And there is some great offers there, and we're looking forward to updating the market in due course later in the March quarter. It's the timing for that. But as I say, it could be a POSCO-esque type deal, i.e., another downstream deal, but we'll update in due course where we take that one. Lastly and finally, the markets, and I'll offer a little bit more commentary here just to fill out the picture because I appreciate that. It's been a roller coaster. And unfortunately, I think the roller coaster will continue. And I think what's behind us is at the end of the day, this is the establishment of an industry. I think 1 of the most stark ways to represent this is just to look at the pricing for lithium chemicals products over the last 7 to 8 years. And what you can see is pretty modest pricing, all-time highs were in 2018 of USD 28,000 per tonne. That was the world record for chemicals pricing in lithium early 2018. What followed shortly thereafter during 2019, 2020 was the lithium winter, as we characterized it. What was behind that was effectively the pullback of demand in China, care of pulling back the Chinese EV subsidies. Fast forward to around the time of COVID, the lithium industry went from a China demand story to a global one. And coincident around the time of COVID, there's a lot of economy stimulus in response to COVID. Europe launched a lot of EV subsidies, North America followed shortly thereafter, including the release of the Inflation Reduction Act, care of the Biden administration. The combination of those efforts have fueled demand and where the markets move to today, it's very much a global demand story. So for those who look back at pricing to try and explain what the future will look like, I'd caution you against that, given that the demand landscape has changed significantly. It is genuinely the birth of a new industry. And when you consider the EV penetration numbers, we are still at the toe of adoption. There's still a long way to go. So the industry is very much in my view, still in the throes of establishing itself. Now coming out of that stimulus period, we had these new highs well beyond the highs of the $28,000 a tonne up to more than $80,000 per tonne of lithium hydroxide. I can show you, there was no analyst predicting that, all-time highs. And as it related to spodumene concentrate and all-time highs exceeded USD 8,000 a tonne. So that was as recent as the December quarter last year, so less than a year ago. So a remarkable change and the pricing landscape, which, of course, has ignited a lithium fever around participating in the supply chain in all forms, whether it's raw materials, cathode making, battery making or EV companies or former combustion car companies now converting to EV companies. It appears to be all on for young and old to establish a position. But bringing that to the last year, well, yes, we've seen this pullback from those all-time highs above 80,000. It's now trailed down to sort of the 1,500 mark that you can see. And so then the question becomes, well, where to from here. And this is the crystal ball gazing aspect. Now to share with you our perspective. Look, we took a visit to China only 3 weeks ago and caught up with all of our customers. And the reason I mentioned that is nobody is better placed to have visibility on the landscape of the evolving market than the chemical converters and the participants of the industry, whom are in the main resided in China. So we had a full week there, did around Robin around all of those customers, inquiry them on where do they see the market heading both long term and short term and what is their conviction or worries in the space. Now the really pleasing feedback from this is they remain foot down around the long-term proposition for the market. All of the customers we met in different forms have continued to expand. All of the customers we've met was continued to ask Pilbara about collaborating further and providing more production. They all remain resolute on the long-term opportunity for the market. And who could blame them, given all of the commitments, the various subsidies, the energy transition commitments globally. It's a remarkable point in time. But when we turn the conversation to what does the short-term outlook, like they're far more conservative and more subdued on the short-term outlook. What they speak to here is the they wonder about those macro backdrop pressures I mentioned. Inflation broadly has tempered some demand in some markets, in particular, North America, to a lesser extent, Europe. And there are growing pains, particularly some of these car companies whom are retooling from combustion to EVs. And across the media, some of you may have read the growing pains Europe, some of the big European car companies have struggled. And equally to the U.S., there's been some struggles with retooling taking the form of unions, build out of plants, you name it. Now I put this all down to growing pains as part of the establishment of a new industry and bringing back to those customers, they -- as I say, they remain bullish on the long-term prospects. They continue to build. But as I say, they're cautious around the short-term outlook. Now what does this all mean for Pilbara? We're the same. We have conviction on the long-term outlook. As we always have -- as we did during 2019, 2020, we remain focused on seeing through any short-term volatility to maximize this incredible opportunity, which is the birth of this new industry and new market. And what gives us comfort is our scale, our low-cost production base, positioning us at the low end of the cost curve and our know-how. It's a combination of those things. And I'd also add our Tier 1 jurisdiction, we are placed, like no other to weather the storm, see -- if it is to be a storm, see through it and enjoy the prospects on the other side. So if anyone gets wobbly around you, you can talk to those points. And in the meantime, could there be more volatility probably. As you've seen to date, we've had some lowers, we've had some massive highs, we've seen a pullback. There's probably more volatility to come. But truth is nobody knows. So I appreciate there was an expanded explanation, but I didn't want to paint the picture of the landscape because there's some very conflicting opinions out there, which are not always helpful. So hopefully, I've helped you with that and after the presentation, certainly welcome questions either here or outside. So lastly, to finish Pilbara is powering forward to make the most just incredible emerging market, care about scale, our low-cost position and a Tier 1 asset. So thank you all. Thank you for your time, and we'll now move to questions.

Thanks, Dale. I think first is we'll start with some questions from the floor, if anyone has some questions from the floor? Gentleman over there [indiscernible]?

[ Linda Newland from the VASA ], and I'm also a shareholder I'm just -- Pilbara Minerals has got -- had a great year, but I was just wondering about the shorting, which seems to have just been peaking today. And you have talked to some of this, I think, with inflation measures and growing pains. But just wondering why it's shorting so strongly today, in particular?