Rox Resources Limited (RXL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello. I'm Ngaire McDiarmid from MiningNews.net. And it's a great day to be speaking with Phil Wilding, Managing Director and Chief Executive at Rox Resources.

Because, Phil, you've just wrapped up a well-supported $40 million placement. So that puts Rox in a good position. But what's the key message you'd like people coming to MiningNews Select Australia to understand about Rox?

I guess the biggest one, Rox is now transitioned from that explorer or potential developer is we are now going to be the developer. We have about $57 million in the bank. We have a plan, which has been communicated to the market to get ourselves into production. And this really sets us up, derisking where we want to go. We will deliver and we will become a producer in the not-too-distant future.

Can you talk us through some of the highlights of your key project, the Youanmi Gold Project that's going to deliver this?

Definitely. So Youanmi Gold Project, it is a historical mining site. It's mined over 670,000 ounces of gold at about 5.4 grams between the '30s, '50s and then again the '80s and '90s. Since then, it's really sat down through a few sets of ownership before Rox Resources took 100% ownership a few years ago. And since then, it's all been about drilling it out, understanding what's there and growing the resource base. There was a PFS released in July last year, which is fantastic metrics. Circa 8-year mine life, a bit over 100,000 ounces per annum. And at today's gold prices, it's well north of $2 billion in cash flow. So operationally, fantastic. A bit under $1,700 an ounce all-in sustaining costs as well, which is certainly in the lower quartile in the industry. Resource base, 2.3 million ounces or 4.4 grams per tonne. That came out in January last year. Since then, we've actually put in about 47,000 drill meters into the ground, and that will have an MRE update coming out in July this year, which we reckon could be pretty exciting for the business.

Well, Phil, you've mentioned the upcoming resource update. What's some other news that investors should keep an eye out for in the coming months?

It's a really good one. There's a lot of news flow coming. Our indicative pathway to production really outlines the plan for the business this year, but it's also there just to give everyone an idea of what to expect. By the end of June, we should have dewatering updates out. We've got met work which is due at the moment as well. Comminution and flotation has been completed, now got the Albion process underway. So we're going to get a bit of content on that. Going into July, we have the MRE, as mentioned before, coming out mid-month. At the end of July, we're expecting to see the met results, and that's going to be a real big month of the business, too. As of what's ongoing, dewatering update is quick coming. We've still got the results outstanding. I still have 2 diamond rigs on site now. So there will be some consistent news flow on that. And ultimately, that can accumulate to the DFS, which is due out in November this year, into a pretty quick FID. So between now and end of the year, there's a lot happening at Rox. All going well, we'll be mining as well in the late -- last quarter of the year. Part of the funding, we just completed. So it's pretty exciting times.

And Phil, you bring some gold mining experience, obviously having worked with WA producer, Westgold, previously, one of your roles in the industry so far. So for you, what does success look like for Rox Resources?

So a big one for me, I want to go and be the leader of the company, building a project. My whole background is about building and restructuring assets, refurbishing mills and the like and generating a lot of, I guess, profits for other people. Now I've got the opportunity to come in here at Rox, where I can build a team, which we've done a really good job with so far. I've built a team of mine developers. We have all key backgrounds covered to be able to build an asset. So what do we think good looks like? It's a company where people want to work for us. It's a company that does what we say it's going to do and, at the end of the day, deliver value for the shareholders of the company and communities that we work in.

Well, Phil, all the best, and I look forward to catching up with you at MiningNews Select.

Thank you very much.