TRX Gold Corporation (TRX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

All right. So let's formally kick off the meeting. We have our Corporate Secretary, [indiscernible], managing the meeting this morning. So welcome, everyone, to the Annual General Meeting. I want to just say a few words before we get started. [indiscernible] has been having to read a script here around voting, et cetera. And as most of you know, I'm not a scripted person but it will go on script in about 30 seconds. So again, welcome, everybody, to the TRX Gold 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. It's appreciated to have you here today. And today, we're going to give you a brief overview of the direction of the company would go. A few slides and words from myself at the end of the formal agenda, which is the formal agenda of voting, et cetera, which our new Chairman will lead you through. So the agenda today will be the formalities of the meeting followed by -- after that meeting is closed, there will be a brief overview of the business by myself on where we're going, then followed by some Q&A. Before we start though, I'd like to acknowledge that our Chairman and founder passed away in the last year. In sense, all of us, he was a visionary both from a company perspective but also on the gold markets. And he is -- I know, I miss him at times, even his boisterous blustery voice phoning me up and try and put me in the right direction. That's optimistic at times as well and our -- certainly our intellectual conversations are missed. So I'd like to formally recognize that Jim did pass way in the past year in [indiscernible] us all. So without further ado, I'm going to get into the formalities, and I'm going to pass the meeting over to both Shubo and Norm will lead the group through the formal part of the agenda meeting. So this is what [indiscernible]. [indiscernible] asked me to read out the following, so be patient. For the all registered shareholders present online who wish to vote during the meeting, please check in into scrutineers through [indiscernible] and Odyssey Trust Company to verify your identity and shareholder control number on your proxy form. Now, you must be registered shareholder in order to vote today. If you hold your shares serving intermediary, such as broker, you need it to vote online or through your broker prior to this meeting as explained in the circular. If there are any shareholders online now who wish to cast their vote during the meeting, please speak up now or indicate in the chat box so that scrutineers can add you to the attendance to track your voting. Please note that the webcast will be recorded. Shareholders have the opportunity to ask questions of management by submitting your questions via the chat function of this meeting, which questions will be addressed upon [indiscernible] prior of the meeting and remarks for our management. Now without further ado, we'll begin the formal part of the meeting, followed by remarks from myself, Mike and Andrew. And now it's my pleasure to turn it over to our new Chairman of the Board, Mr. Rakhit, who is sitting across the table from me. Over to you, Shubo.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 2024 Annual General and Special Meeting. With TRX, I'd like to call the meeting to order. So I am the Chairman of the corporation in accordance with the corporation articles and approval, so I'll act as Chairman of the meeting. Just before we get to some of the formalities, I'd like just touch on a few things as we lead into the further discussion with Steve and his team as well. I joined the Board in early 2021 and over the last 3 months and 3 years, we've seen dramatic change in this business going from losing money to making money in my most simple words. We have seen a -- we have a very strong and dedicated international management team, along with our local employees in Tanzania, who really contributed to turning around this business and voicing -- setting us up for growth. And in addition, with our team, we've also started to make significant advances in ESG initiatives. We have built schools. We've built hospitals. We're more visible in the community over there. I mean, Steve's been over there a little probably 7 times this year. I was there last summer, so we're beginning to be a lot more engaged in community as we try to grow this business. So really, as we go forward, our next stage is to build on Jim's vision for Buckreef. Our top priority is to optimize the operations and to significantly increase production through this year. And this will drive our planning towards -- working towards becoming a 100,000 ounce per annum producer as we go forward. And to get there, after I actually went there last summer with Steve and visited and spend time on the project site itself, walk the operations for their team, and I really saw what excites Andrew and his geological team around what the potential of this resource is really all about. And what we are really going to do is work towards continuing to allocate capital in a very disciplined fashion to not only grow our production but also to increase our drilling activity to expand the operation as we go forward. Lastly, I would just say, building relationships with government is equally a top priority for us to ensure that we have stronger relationships, active dialogue and engagement with the government. And we have strengthened our team locally to actively engage on an ongoing basis to make sure that we're close to them as we see them forward. And what we're seeing at the government level today in Tanzania, they are open for business, they want -- they have a strong leadership beyond leadership team at government, who are attracting investment -- want to attract investment to grow more rapidly. So all in all, I'm very positive on where we can go from here. I think we've turned -- starting to turn the corner and I think more to come as the year progresses. So with that, I'd like to pass it over to Norman Betts, our -- Director of our corporation to conduct the formalities of the meeting.

Thank you, Shubo. My name is Norman Betts, I've been on the Board since 2005, and I have to say something about Jim. In addition to the things that Steve has said, he also had a great sense of humor. And as I'm sitting here, I reminded of a number of years ago when he introduced me to the AGM as Audit Committee Chair, and he referred to me as, "Norman never admit too small to pick bets." And -- so that was his way of expressing his view of accountants in a very friendly way. So I've got [indiscernible] remembers of Jim. So I'll now move to the formalities. Kari Hobbis of Odyssey Trust Company, is present electronically, who will act as scrutineer. I will ask [indiscernible], of review -- act [indiscernible] to act as Secretary of the meeting. I have before me the declaration of Odyssey Trust Company, Transfer Agent for the corporation, attesting to the due mailing on January 30, 2024, of the Notice of Meeting, the Information Circular and Proxy. I would ask the Secretary to table the declaration of mailing and the Notice of Meeting and Information Circular and append them to the minutes of this meeting. We have extra copies available. We would invite any shareholder or proxy holder to review them. In view of this, I will dispense with calling for notice -- the reading of the notice, and I will ask the Secretary to file the declaration as to the mailing within the minutes of this meeting. Section 202 of the corporation's By-Laws stipulates that a quorum for the transaction of business at a meeting of shareholders is 2 persons present in-person holding or representing not than 20% of the total number of issued shares entitled to vote. I have before me the scrutineer's term report indicating that there are a total of 400 shareholders represented by proxy, holding 139,606,302 shares, representing 50.01% of the issued and outstanding shares. I therefore declare that a quorum is present and the meeting is regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. As all votes have been cast by way of proxy, I confirm that as management's proxy nominee, Stephen Mullowney will be making the motions and as a significant shareholder of the corporation, Shubo Rakhit will be seconding the motions. The minutes of the last Annual Meeting held on February 21, 2023, were filed in the minute book and are available for inspection. With your consent, I propose we dispose of the reading of these minutes and the minutes be taken as read, approved and adopted as tables. Are there any objections? No questions or objectives have been raised. Thank you. The first item of business is the presentation of the audited annual financial statements. Audited financial statements for the last fiscal year ended August 31, 2023. Together with the auditor's report were made available under the corporation's profile on SEDAR and may have to register shareholders who requested them. I hereby declare that the audited financial statements for the last fiscal year of the corporation ended August 31, 2023, are hereby received as submitted. A management update and question-and-answer period we've conducted at the end of the formal part of this meeting. The next item of business is to set the number of directors of the corporation for the ensuing year. As noted in the Management Information Circular, management recommends that a number of directors be set at 5. I now call for the following motion. Be it resolved that the number of directors of the corporation to hold office for the ensuing year is set at 5. And I have a mover and seconder.

Yes. I move that the resolution be adopted.

I second that out.

Thank you, Stephen, and thank you, Shubo. Is there any discussion regarding this matter? [Voting]

As the majority of the proxy votes are in favor. The motion is carried. The next item of business is the election of directors to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders and until their successors are duly elected and qualified. There are 5 directors positions to be filled. Management has nominated the following persons to serve as directors of the corporation to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of TRX Gold and until their successors are duly elected, Stephen Mullowney, Shubo Rakhit, Norman Betts, Andrew Cheatle, Richard J. Steinberg. The corporation has received no other nominations for directors, I therefore declare that the nominations for directors are closed. Is there any discussion regarding this matter? Thank you. I now call for the following motion. Resolve that Stephen Mullowney, Shubo Rakhit, Norman Betts, Andrew Cheatle and Richard J. Steinberg be elected as Director to the corporation to hold office until the next Annual General Meeting.

I move that resolution be adopted.

I second the motion.

Thank you, gentlemen. Is there any discussion regarding this matter? [Voting]

So majority of the proxy will turn in favor. The motion is carried. The next item of business is to appoint an auditor for the ensuing year and authorization of the directors to fix the remuneration. As noted in the management information circular, management has proposed that Dale Matheson Carr-Hilton Labonte, LLP, Chartered Accounts of Vancouver, British Columbia, be reappointed as auditor of the corporation for the ensuing year. I now call for the following motion. Resolve that Dale Matheson Carr-Hilton Labonte, LLP, Chartered Accountants, be appointed as auditor of the corporation for the ensuing year and the directors of the corporation to be authorized to fix the remuneration to be paid to the auditors.

I move that the resolution be adopted.

I second the motion.

Thank you again. Is there any discussion regarding this matter? [Voting]

So the majority of the proxy votes are in favor. The motion is carried. The next item of business before this meeting is the confirmation of approval of By-Law number 3, the Advance Notice By-law in the form attached as Schedule A to the Management Information Circular, which formalizes the procedures for nominating a director for the corporation and notifying shareholders. The Board of Directors adopted By-Law number 3 on January 11, 2024, and requires confirmation of the shareholders by ordinary resolution. Therefore, I ask for the following motion. Resolve that the resolution ratifying and confirming By-Law number 3 as described in the Management Information Circular of the corporation dated January 15, '24, be hereby ratified and confirmed as a by-law of the corporation. Could I have a mover and seconder, please.

I move that, that resolution be adopted.

I second the motion.

Thank you again. Is there any discussion regarding this matter? [Voting]

As the majority of the proxy votes are in favor, the motion is carried. The regular business of the meeting has been completed and there is no other legal business, which may properly come before the meeting and which does not require notice. Since there's no further business, I will call for a motion to terminate the meeting.

I hereby move that the meeting be terminated.

I second that motion.

Thank you. Unless anyone has opposed, the formal portion of the meeting is now terminated. Thank you. I hereby declare the meeting terminated, and thank you all for your attention and interest, and I will turn it back to our Chair.

Thank you, Norm. I'd like to now turn it back to Steve Mullowney to really deliver some remarks about the corporation, where we are and to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you, Shubo. Christina, can you please bring up the presentation?

Absolutely.

So before we start, I'm here as CEO, we have Mike Leonard, our CFO here as well. We have Andrew Cheatle, Director and COO; and as everybody is aware of, and I'd ask you to raise your hands, we have Richard Steinberg, one of our directors, Richard, [ raise ] the hand, here we go, Norm Betts, who was leading the meeting, and obviously, Shubo. So the first thing I'd like to address is and I traveled [indiscernible] in the first quarter. And obviously, what's on everybody's mind to certain degree market conditions, particularly in the gold mining space. So one of the things that I'd like to give shareholders comfort on is we do track the movement of our shares and we do that on a quarterly basis by the various reports in different reports regions and others. In the last year, out of the top 300 shareholders between 2023 and -- in 2023 at the beginning and at the end, in that group, there was a net addition of almost 5 million shares. So one of the things that we will be looking at is kind of consistently looking at the movement of those shares and where the pressure on the share price comes at. And we'll be doing a little bit more investigations on that as we move forward. The share price hasn't performed as we would have expected given the business has been performing, and sometimes that happens in markets. I could tell you that the sentiment from the BMO conference that we just attended this week, which is the largest mining conference in the world with all the relevant companies and executives, there was a lot of discussion around valuations and how markets have become disconnected with actual company fundamentals. And what I would say is although our share price has performed, there's a lot of others that have performed a lot worse. So -- and companies that are in positions where they need to raise capital with those types of valuations. So anything add to that, Shubo, because you was there with me.

No. No, I think that's right. I mean the companies that are disciplined in allocating capital, which we have been over the last 2 years, companies that are generating free cash flow and EBITDA are the ones that are attracting attention.

Yes. I haven't -- and I didn't get a sense that people were disagreeing with our business plan, which we're going to present here and the approach that we were taking. There was a lot of complementary comments, to be quite honest around what we've been doing and the way we've been doing it. So we have further ado, I'll get into the presentation. Christina, can you go to the cautionary note.

Can you see that there?

It's just taking a little bit of time to switch.

Okay.

There we go. So obviously, we are going to be talking about forward-looking statements. I have to say this from a legal perspective, you can go to our website or presentation and look at the cautionary note. Christina now to next slide, please. So as Shubo mentioned at the beginning, it's taking a -- since I joined in late 2020, early 2021 as well as the management team they see in front of you. When we came in, we had a cash flow negative business. Luckily, we were able to raise some capital in the period -- particularly around the COVID period in February of 2021. And then we had to take that limited capital and figure out how we put together a business plan to unlock the longer-term vision that Buckreef has a significant resource. And it was always our former Chairman's vision that Buckreef had a lot more resources than was indicated. But the problem that we had was you have limited capital. And when you have an asset base and various assets to put together to go and unlock that potential value. And so the business plan that we embarked on was the resource was mineable. And from that, we could get cash flow to eventually unlock the overall resources at Buckreef. That has taken us some time, obviously, in order to put an asset into production, it does take a significant amount of time and to derisk it to become a significant gold producer as well as providing the cash flow to unlock the value of the property. So what I could say is I thought 2023 was a significant year in advancement of that longer-term objective to really get drilling and put a drill bit in. And the reason for that is, we created quite a bit of cash flow in 2023 that was reinvested back into the asset of around $18 million. As shareholders are aware we're currently undergoing a nether expansion, which will double throughput capacity in the plant from 1,000 tonnes per day to 2,000 tonnes per day. What I can say is the crushing system is predominantly complete. That's been our bottleneck for the last couple of quarters, the crushing circuit. And we currently have -- is not able to keep up with the milling circuit. And so the crushing circuit has been expanded first, the new crushing circuit will be 4,000 tonnes per day. And that's with the addition of the existing crushing circuit, whereas the milling circuit is currently 1,000 tonnes per day and been expanded to 2,000 tonnes per day with all the components being that site. That should enable us to significantly increase production and cash flow and then a large portion of that cash flow will be going over this gentleman over here, be in an exploration program in order to look at the trends that we have to develop. And we can name, we'll go through that again today around where we're open at depth, we're open long strike, we're open to the south. That's on the Main Zone. We have Anfield and other zones as well that need to be further explored in order to start to release the full potential of what we believe is the full potential of the property in the blue-sky nature of it. So the goal here is to make those expansions in production and use the cash flow from that to really drill out this property as opposed to going to markets and asking shareholders for the capital, which is point of traditional juniors for [indiscernible]. Christina, next slide, please. One of the things that shareholders have asked me is, can you more accurately explain why Tanzania is investable. So one of the things that our Chairman has mentioned is, being over underground and government relations. So there has been a change in the way the government is positioning itself with international investors. That changed, particularly with the new president coming on board roughly about 2 years ago. It is significantly different than when I first joined and others joined the company. And given my background, I'm not surprised by that. I've been involved in lots of countries that would be perceived as not investable and then all of a sudden become really investable. And I thought Tanzania would undergo that as well. It's undergone that more quickly than I originally anticipated. So with regards to what's happened in Tanzania over the last 24 months. There's been $2 billion in M&A and IPO transactions in the country. So who are that, one, is a Kabanga Nickel through Lifezone in New York has been listed. Another has been the OreCorp transaction, which is in takeover battle between 2 companies. One is Perseus Mining, the other one is Silver Corp. Both well-heeled financially capable companies of putting that property into production. That property sits really only around 30 kilometers from us, has 3 million ounces. Anticipated to produce $200,000 CapEx is $0.5 billion. So when we're seeing those transactions occur. We also have a graphic property, which is now being invested in and being put into production as well. And what you're seeing in Tanzania is gold exports are 50% of the foreign currency earnings of the country. And that is growing. So gold exports are very, very important to the Tanzania Treasury and managing the value it is showing in its overall economic goals. So that is predominantly generated by large-scale mines. But they do want more gold mines because AngloGold Ashanti has been around for a while, although it has a really good production profile right now in the Geita mine. It won't last forever. So they do need new investment in order to maintain that level of output in the country. They want to get mining to 10% of GDP by 2025. There's an efficient local supply chain. You see that in our build. We do a lot of things globally, and we're able to do a lot of things locally. The whole crushing circuit that we put again, all the conveyors, all steel works, all the tanks are all build by local people and local resources, particularly with the industrial base that is [indiscernible] less than 3 hours away. There is a reliable infrastructure. One thing that did happen in the last year, and you have heard it on our quarterly calls, is we were on a line that was too far from the transfer station over 100 kilometers. Tanesco moved us to a new line to get more reliable power. And that's only going to increase with the Julius Nyerere hydroelectric facility coming online. That is going to double the power and it's on the Tanzania network. They actually may become an exporter of power. So we'll be getting more reliable power over time. And from an ESG perspective, it's all going to be predominantly hydro. So there's a lot of reasons why to invest in Tanzania. We've had a good report there. The government is down also working with the Chamber of Mines on rules and laws, particularly ever broaden place in the [indiscernible] and how it works with the mining community better. Christina, next slide, please. So one of the things that we haven't displayed and we're getting a lot more comfortable with this in and around the region as we get used to operating in the region, the Lake Victoria Greenstone Belt. Look, at the end of the day, we're in a region that is really lit up with cold. There have been a lot of historical properties in this region. There's a lot of current properties in this region and to be quite honest, there's a lot of artisanal mining in this region. And the reason for that is, there's a lot of gold in the region. So this will start to develop in the longer-term business plans for the company as we create more and more cash flow. But obviously, you need to get licenses. There were successful companies in other parts of the world that use a hub and spoke model in regards to trucking or to processing plants. That will be something -- that we looked at over time in the genesis and the framework of that, and it's just starting to begin. Christina, next slide, please. So look, I no longer talk about really 2021, 2022. And in regards to what we did. Shareholders are all familiar with that. That was what I'll call the turnaround phase, setting in place a business plan that self-funding to really unlock the value of what we have. 2023, the good news there is the operation works. We got good recovery rates. We've got good mining rates, and we're able to produce a good margin, have good EBITDA, good operating cash flow. And -- so from a derisking perspective, a lot of it has occurred on the risk they have in mining. Are you able to build a lot of time on budget? Yes. Are you able to processing ore and have reasonable recovery rates? Yes. Are you able to make cash from processing that ore? Yes. So lot the risk that have occurred in the mining industry over time have been derisked here. And now as we ramp it up to next level, we haven't been drilling a lot in the last 6 months because we've put in place a plan of what I'll call one step backwards or two steps forward on the exploration, and that is to get the plant expanded to get the increase in cash flow to really go at is right. We could have stopped at 1,000 tonnes a day. And you could see the cash flow profile that we had and then we start drilling from that cash flow. But it makes more sense to double up the processing capacity, so you do more things. So in the medium to longer term, the plan that we have in place makes a lot more sense to unlock shareholder value. We do this all safely. And in the next 6 months or so, you heard this from me last year, we will come out with a more solid business plan with regards to giving everybody a comfort that this asset can produce the amount of cash flow to really unlock the value in the properties. Christina, next slide please. That's taken a little bit of time today. Here we are. So this is one of the slides that when I look at the successful companies have gotten over $1 billion market cap and then they come out and they say, we've had 30 quarters of growth, which is 5 to 6 years of -- or even longer of growth. It has to start somewhere. And so these graph -- and you start to see these graphs start to take form. You start off with not a lot of revenue, not a lot of profit and you start to build upon that. So you start to see our production sales increasing, our adjusted EBITDA and cash flow from operations increasing. Now will they go up every quarter? No. I don't think any company has done that in any graphs that I've seen. But the trend over time is a continued increase. So you will see some bumps down in some quarters and then leveling off like we are now, and then you have another mill expansion and you go up again. And now we'll be the genesis of where we go and then you get more resources and then you expand again and then you're able to show that you have a long-term project with a lot of value. That's the journey that we're on, we're at the beginning part of that journey from a production and cash flow perspective. But what you can see here is on the on the left, is a multiple of the cash that was raised when we first joined to where we are today has been invested into the business. So we've had a net equity raise of around $23.5 billion and we have invested almost $41 million into the asset. By doing this approach, we're able to get a lot more leverage on the capital efforts raised and invest it into the business. It's not dollar for dollar anymore. There's a multiple there that will go to 2, 3, 4x hopefully, in short order. At the same time, the G&A expenditures have come down over time on a cash basis. And we are prudent managers around capital managing G&A. But as the business grows, G&A has to be increased but as a percentage of revenue, then we'll be there and that's key there. So I haven't put this figure out because we're going to put that figure out like G&A as a percentage of revenue and that will a show significant declines over time. So we're prudent on bringing on the right resources at the right time. Christina, the next slide, please. I said I would be short today but you're getting a more broader of an update than anticipated. Let's call -- be more familiar with the [indiscernible] prompts on the next slide. So in fiscal 2023, like I said, it was a game changer [indiscernible] because it works. Cash costs to [ $1,000 ] an ounce. We think there is ways to driving that down even further. We've ranked a lot of equipment for instance that go directly into that cash cost number. Our cash position has been remaining steady. So we operate the business in these tracking market environments by making sure that we have adequate liquidity to execute the business plan. Sometimes you have to make tough choices of sacrifices to do that, and we're willing to do that. But as we get through these market conditions, certainly, liquidity is something that we consistently look at. And we look forward to seeing how this looks next year as we expand. And more importantly, what the run rate is going to look like, and you'll get a sense of that as we get through the next couple of quarters and what number [indiscernible] as 2,000 tonne play plant below. Next slide, Christina, please. So here's our 2,000 tonne per day plant coming on board. I think Christina, anyone ask you and before we post this on the website, put the more up-to-date pictures, please, because there's all these components now are in the actual crushing circuit. So with the conveyors put on to it. And this is almost complete. We should be having this come online mid next week. There are a few smaller items of the tertiary crusher side that are still on a boat that will come in at the tail end. But certainly, what we have there now will give us a better crush size that we're currently getting in order to get through the mill. So to just give -- and I got into this in the last quarter. Right now, there are pieces of stone or fresh rock in its essence, going in at 1.5 to 2 inches of size, which is too big for the milling circuit. The new system, with the jaw crusher and the cone crusher that you see here, gets that down below 1 inch. When the tertiary crushers come in, which should land next week in Dar es Salaam, that will get it down to 6 millimeters. So what that means is you're able to put the throughput through, get a better ride size and get a higher recovery rate. Next slide, Christina. So that's in essence what I just described here. The [indiscernible] work at the plant. With regard to the MET studies that we have undergoing. The preliminary MET study done a couple of years ago as well as the current MET study that's underway in SGS in South Africa. What we're seeing in the fresh rock or sulfide, it's exactly what we anticipated to see you via the studies. So with this material, we'll have a recovery rate anywhere between 85 and low 90s depending on the grind size that you get it down to. So fining your grinder, so it's an energy equation, it's a throughput equation, the higher the recovery rate, the more gold that you exposed in the CIL process. So that will -- over time, our [indiscernible] will refine that to get an optimal recovery rate versus the cost that goes in. You can grind it down extremely small in a very high recovery rate but won't begin to get good throughput. So you won't get maximum profit of cash flow. So there's a balance between the two. Christina, if you could skip to the exploration side, then I'm going to have Andrew explained the exploration side to people, Slide 13, please. There we go. Andrew, you want to give an overview of where you want to drill?

Yes. Stephen, thank you very much. And again, greeting to our shareholders. For us, we continue to build the mine. Obviously, we continue to launch pits where we want to drill over the next year when we free up cash flow. And it's very straightforward that we will continue to drill south of the main cage, so see the kind of dots that highlights [indiscernible] pits at the moment. Our last drill holes did indicate that the deposit continues to the south and we have indications of that through that [indiscernible] working. But what would really excites us is what we're seeing just to the east of us. We see all these little white dots, which our geologists have identified as our [indiscernible] workings. They're all up being left now. There's no geologists working there at all at the moment. We have the resources to the north of the Eastern [indiscernible]. And then we drilled. And so this [indiscernible] very first program in that area came back with some extraordinarily good results. So for example, 14 meters at 3.5 grams a tonne in the use of [indiscernible] I think there we look at the [indiscernible] was to, bear that in mind, this is a significant distance is the top intersection there was 2.9 meters at 13.7 grams per tonne. And that's also a very shallow 43 meters below surface. So what we're excited about is we've got about 3 kilometers of trend. And in that trend, there's 3 separate zones that we have to go and drill. So awful large targets there to go to work on. So we'll continue to do that. The [indiscernible] is obviously keen to do it [indiscernible]. And I think the shareholders should be here for us to get that [indiscernible] Thank you, Steven.

You're welcome, Andrew. As I said, our plan has been one step back, two steps forward for an exploration program, given that we're expanding operations. And you only have so much capital, you get spending the right way to market. So Christina, can you go to the last slide, please, just of a picture. So as regards to, there's been a lot of activity at Buckreef from last year. It hasn't been an easy year. We've had -- there's almost -- there's over 400 people on site today, including contractors. We've moved the asset forward. It's cash flowing. It's working. We're going to increase it again and then we start to really focus on the Government relations will become an increased focus as well. And I'm proud to say that mining takes a little bit of time but we're on the right track. I really do feel that we're on the right track and that we have a lot -- a lot more to grow at Buckreef and the skill sets that exist in the management team. Hopefully will create a lot of value in Buckreef but may create value elsewhere as well as continually grow the company. So that's the management update. I open the floor to any questions.

Evan, that had any questions in the chat or Mark. Does anybody have the mic on that would like to ask a question? Now we've hand up. Craig can you take off your mic and ask a question.

Can you hear me okay?

Yes.

Okay. It's really good to see Norm. I haven't seen them in probably 5 or 6 years. So good to see that pretty face.

You mean too kind to him.

I'm trying to be a better person, I guess. This came up a lot, and I had mentioned this several years ago at the meeting with the success you guys are all having and tremendous fast tracking, it's very, very good to see. But one thing that I had asked previously, I want to kind of put it to all of you is because I didn't see it in the reports. Is there any insider buying from you guys of regular shares? I know part of the compensation you guys are getting. The stock and warrants or whatever that you're getting as per your compensation package. But in an era where I guess we're looking for leadership beyond just what you're doing, like putting your actual own money into it because the share price -- I agree, there's a significant disconnect in the entire sector and has been for years. So I don't know why that is, and I hope we come to some sort of resolution. But at the stock being this low, is there any plan of you guys actually putting your own money as part of additional leadership showing that your commitment into the company with your own money?

Yes. So that's -- look, that's a good question. Obviously, going through the last couple of years, you have a lot of insider information. There's been a lot of insider information has been released. I would say that there's still a little bit of insider information that is in our hands here that we need to get out in the next little bit. Certainly, it forms a large part of our -- the shares from a large part of our compensation. But I would suspect that you'll start to see more and more personal buying in the future.

Yes. Again, I just think that it's for shareholders and just the optics, if that's available, I think it would show even if it's a small commitment just showing that you guys as part of your leadership are exercising that and certainly, in a world where you have everybody else taking their monies out, this project is fast-tracking looking so good. But I can just tell you from certain optics that has been asked to me a lot, and I really didn't have an answer. So I appreciate your consideration.

Yes, I think it's a good question. It's something that I could see happening over time. I think because we've been going through so much change in a short period of time, there's always a balancing act as to what we can do as management and the Board in terms of hiring shares in the market. But I think it will come over time.

Okay. And I did have one last question. I wrote this down just to be quick. As far as additional promotion of the company because, again, you certainly don't want to keep this thing secret. It's having amazing results. I see some analysts have been picking it up and some price targets on it. But is there -- are we in the phase as we're building it out where you guys really want to put your foot on the gas from a promotional standpoint? Or is the focus just really keep your head down work and build the profile?

Yes. So that's a good question, and that's a balance in this market, and we have this discussion all the time. So look, I have friends in other companies who promoted excessively. But you can't out-market your financial results. Their stocks have been absolutely hammered, right? So first and foremost, you need to start to get your good financial results in [indiscernible] market itself to a certain degree. And then there is a tipping point where you start to really hammer it. And I think there's a couple of things that we need to get through before we really, really start to hammer on the marketing. I did mention government relations, and I did also mention the 2,000 tonnes per day and exploration results. So we're comfortable that this thing works now. So I would expect that you would see an increase in marketing going forward. It's not that we haven't been marketing because I'm on the road all the time marketing and on the phone with potential shareholders and shareholders. But I think there will be a significant increase in -- probably in the second half of this year. This market right now, like I just returned just last night, I'm a little tired to that. But it is a slog. And I mean you talk to some asset managers, to your point, they are hauling more money out they are getting in. There's just -- ultimately, everything is retail. Even institutional managers are retail. And retail continues to haul out money in mutual funds, et cetera. So tough market conditions but we need to get, as I address the great upfront. We have a good idea where shares are moving. I got to really figure out and put some more effort into figuring who's hammering it down. I mean, it adds a little bit of a mystery. It's not shareholder I can tell you that much.

No, no, no. And I agree. And it's not like before when we were in $4, $5, $6, $7 range, you had a lot of shorting, naked shorting. I can't see that at $0.33. That just doesn't make sense. I don't know if it's an algorithm-based thing that's holding it down or the mystery. But at some point, with results and as you guys are working and doing your diligence in building this company out, at minimum, it would have to be, in my opinion, to go back to at least fair value. And what that is, that will be a -- it will be a numerical thing by which you're putting out. So that's -- I'm very happy with the way the company is going. But at some point that share price has to be realized.

Yes. So you say there is what you talked about shorting and all that sort of stuff, ultimately, that we can't overly control the market. So we can only -- as long as we put in place a business plan and execute against those financial results, it has to get to fair value. At some point, someone comes in buy it or if we ever get to an annual point where we have enough liquidity, maybe the company has to buy it. I don't know.

I think one thing, Craig, like we're just [indiscernible] conference and we did quite a few meetings on Monday and Tuesday. And I could tell you the -- there was a lot of smart money that we met with and they would have seen the company 2, 3 years ago, which didn't look great. To be honest with you, and they were pleasantly surprised. I think we're going to start getting on their radar screen. There are a couple of analysts that are starting to take a look at us a little bit more. We had one of the banking firms [ suggest ] the operations about 2 weeks ago and came back with some positive thinking around where we're heading and what we're doing. So I think as we get more engagement of different stakeholders and smart money, that will help bring our story to the forefront as we get to the later part of this year, I think.

Yes. It's an interesting Shubo when you mentioned that. I almost don't get. It's like in this industry, nobody is on board at one point in time. And then all of a sudden, you do what you're doing then everybody comes on board. It's not an industry where people gather up over time and move in. It's almost like it's all or nothing. And as Shubo mentioned, we -- I was in Tanzania a couple of weeks ago, and I was over there one of the major bank analysts that coverage sector. And that bank does diligence, so they're over there for essentially due diligence.

Good. Well, thank you again for everything you guys are doing on continued success.

Stephen, I think there are a couple of questions in the chat. I can read off here if that's helpful we could address them?

Yes.

So I think the first question we got here online is how many meters were drilled in 2023 and how many reserve ounces were increased?

Perhaps a question for our Chief Operating Officer.

Yes. So we got about 10,000 pieces last year. And we're still in the process of assessing the reserves we're working with our external consultants, 2 groups of them on that number. We're not able to talk about at this point of time publicly. The forward-looking statements, yes.

Yes. Yes. Like the forward drilling. Look to be quite honest, that's going to be determined by how much cash comes in. And so what you'll see us do there is build up a little kitty in cash and then put forward the drill program.

Okay. Very good. I guess we had another question asking whether some -- former Chairman's shares have been sold down in 2023 and was someone in fact selling and by comparison, others that cease by orders by management.

Yes. So look, on June shares in 2023. As we released in some of our disclosures, Jim was selling some shares for personal living expenses in 2023. What is happening to a share since he is become deceased, that is has a stay and we won't have the same level of knowledge of that going forward.

Okay. And I think finally, there was a comment in response to the earlier question around the allocation of capital and potentially share buybacks in the future but that will be a capital allocation decision as we continue to grow and develop free cash.

Yes. Okay. At the end of the day, if the stock is way undervalued and there's a better pop there versus the value creation that you get by making say, another plant increase that will remain dead. And if it gets in the 20s, it's probably a little bit of a buyback.

Yes. I think those were all the questions we have online. Any other questions from the shareholders participating live.

Can you hear me?

Yes, Glenn.

Let me express my opinion that I thoroughly enjoyed your direct understandable presentation. I'm totally and completely happy with what you're doing and how you're doing it, that is expert in mining. I feel very comfortable with the shares that I have that I will now attempt to acquire just a few more on my budget as it permits. And I want to thank you -- thank you again. I appreciated your presentation and time and effort you put forward in doing it. Thank you again.

Welcome.

Thanks for being a shareholder, Glenn.

Any other questions from the group who are online?

You guys take on easy on us this morning.

So you've earned it.

Going easy. Thank you, Glenn.

I think there has been a question added. This is from a long-time shareholder referring to what looks like the legacy drilling data markers indicating a reverse cone deposit structure and deposits at depth. And when do we expect to initiate some of the deep drilling that you [indiscernible] arise basically....

This is -- Jim is a character at times. And the discussion around when I was reviewing things, the reverse upside-down ice cream cone [indiscernible] I'm chuckling now, I chuckled a little bit. So think the way market has gone is it's great to have ounces. Yes, that's one thing. But I can tell you in today's market ounces matter but aren't a key determiner because what the market wants to see is [indiscernible] could be cash flow, ounces that can be mined. And even the standards within the mining community have changed. So before -- and Andrew, I always give my hard time about this is, there used to be a concept of you were to report ounces that could be mined in the fullness of time, which means it's there and if gold went to $1 million an ounce, then it could be mined. That was the concept. Now the new concept is you have to be able to report ounces that could be mined at basically the current price. And so the focus is really going to be on as Andrew described, minable ounces. So it Anfield shallower ounces. So for instance, in growing on the resource space, we believe there's enough in to shallow our resources to be really valuable. That's where the [indiscernible] of focus is going to be on. The -- there are intercepts in the deposit 750 meters deep. But it costs $250,000 to drill those holes. I think I prefer you to drill 10 to 20 holes at 40 meters and get ounces in then to do those type of holes. So I don't -- but we do know that the deposit local underground. There's high-grade chutes underground. We know all that data. But if you want to bring on mineable ounces, it's going to be shallower holes here. That's our view of the deposit.

That's right, Steven. We do know the deposit will come underground, that we have certainly seen with our work. So to the [indiscernible] question, the deposit does carry on [indiscernible] got hybrid use at [indiscernible] and the [indiscernible] that is occurring. The other thing that's very important to take away from the comments around the parallel trend is you can have 2 or 3 pits and then therefore, you can increase your production like to, let me [indiscernible] get 1 hole in the ground. You've got 2 holes and 2 pits, you get more ounces. And that's why the focus is on that parallel trend.

So we've gotten a lot of valuations to mining companies. And so it's -- you can have to look at to point here has been discussion on so what's undergoing, what's overvalued and things of that nature. And there's lots of metrics in there. One is resource, obviously and then there's is EBITDA, cash flow, price to net asset value, price to cash flow, EPS, all of those metrics go into a football chart to determine what a fair value of the company is. So my ounces is 1 metric that drives that. The goal here is in any value of mining project, especially currently and from what I've seen in the last in my career, we have to have a decent amount of production that can go well over 10 years. So the resources need to be drilled out enough to go well over 10 years at a really good production rate. That's a valuable mining project. So you could put 50 million ounces there. But if you're only doing 200,000 a year, 40 million of those ounces are there.

Even there's been a follow-up question here. And the question is whether we could provide an update on the joint venture structure, the 55-45 joint ventures split with the government.

Yes. Obviously, that agreement was entered into in 2012. What I would say is there needs to be updates to that agreement. And that would be in the benefit of both parties. And I will leave it at the fact that [indiscernible] updates to that, and I'm [indiscernible]. Take what you may from that.

I think those are all the questions that we had on line. Any final questions from the group?

I don't think so, Mike, thank you taking over the meeting.

And we've got to get through the electronic questions.

Yes. Thank you. And thanks, everyone, for being a shareholder. We greatly appreciate the support you had. As I mentioned, we do look at turnover shareholder. And we know that we have a very solid shareholder base that supports us. And are very pleased with that. There's been a good turnover in [ Bovey ], over 300 shareholders for 50% of the shares outstanding. So we appreciate your support and my phone, Shubo's phone and Andrew and Mike's phone and the other directors phone is always open. So do not hesitate, give us a call.

Don't forget about me, Stephen. Your VP IR is always...

Yes, I am happy to Christina [indiscernible]

Yes, I'd just like to say also over the last few weeks, reaching out to a lot of our longtime shareholders. It's really been a pleasure to speak to everybody over the phone, and I'm always available for a conversation.

Thank you.

And as I would say in Tanzania [Foreign Language]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, everyone.

Bye-bye.