Westwater Resources, Inc. (WWR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Westwater Resources, Inc. Second Quarter 2025 Business Update Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I would like to turn the conference over to Frank Bakker, President and CEO. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, moderator, and good morning to everyone joining us for today's business update call. I'm joined by Terence Cryan, our Executive Chairman; and Steve Cates, our Chief Financial Officer. We appreciate your time and interest in Westwater Resources. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion will include forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current expectations regarding a variety of factors, including project demand and pricing for natural graphite, anticipated time lines and costs associated with the Kellyton Graphite Plant and Coosa deposit as well as upcoming capital raising activities. As always, these statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties which are detailed in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Please also refer to the cautionary statement included in our August 14 press release. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in today's remarks. Today, I'm pleased to provide an update on Westwater Resources progress during the first half and second quarter of 2025. At our Kellyton Graphite Plant, we continued construction at a measured pace. As of June 30, we've incurred about $124 million of the total expected $245 million cost for Phase 1 construction. During the first half and second quarter, we advanced several key work streams, including our transition to grid power as well as installation of all our commercial scale micronizing and shaping mills of which we commissioned 2 units during the quarter. Also during the quarter and throughout the first half of the year, we continue to operate the qualification line at the Kellyton Graphite Plant. This has been an important step in both advancing customer engagement and preparing our team for commercial operations. Using our qualification line, we have produced CSPG samples in excess of 1 metric ton for customer pre-production cells trials and testing. In quarter 2, we took that step further, implementing enhancements to improve cycle times and graphite flow rates which is allowing us to optimize the line performance. The product coming from this line is representative of what we will produce at mass scale, meaning we can now provide customers with both batches ranging from 1 to 10 metric tons for their qualification activities even while Phase 1 construction is still underway. Just as important, the qualification line serves as hands on training for our operations team. This experience is setting us up to move quickly and efficiently when it's time to commissioning and start-up of the plant, ensuring we hit the ground running when we reach full commercial production. That said, we remain laser-focused on securing the capital needed to complete the build. During the quarter, the syndication process on $150 million debt financing continued, and I'm pleased to report that shortly after the quarter's end, we formally submitted our loan application to the Export-Import Bank of the United States, which represents a potential complementary funding source alongside our debt syndicate. Of course, like many companies operating in today's environment, we have felt the impact of broader capital market volatility and trade policy shifts, but we are encouraged by the level of engagement from our financing partners, and we believe the Kellyton project remains strongly aligned with both U.S. policy priorities and growing market demand for domestic battery-grade graphite. From a balance sheet perspective, we ended the quarter with $6.7 million in cash which includes proceeds from our $5 million convertible note issuance in June. Following the quarter, we completed a follow-on transaction with the same institutional investor for an additional $5 million. As a result, we currently have just over $12 million in cash on hand. We have remained disciplined in our spending so far this year, including taking a measured approach on construction at Kellyton that ensures we maintain forward momentum while remaining disciplined with the cash on hand. Looking ahead, we are staying focused on execution with strong tailwinds, secured customer interest and a clear path to production, we are proud to be leading the development of one of the U.S. first domestic sources of battery-grade natural graphite. Now I will turn it over to our Chief Financial Officer, Steve Cates, for a deeper dive into our financing efforts. Steve?

Thanks, Frank. As Frank mentioned, financing Phase 1 at Kellyton is a top priority, and we've continued to make progress on multiple fronts. On the debt syndication side, we're advancing a $150 million secured facility with a group of lenders led by a global financial institution. We've completed an update to our third-party technical due diligence, hosted site visits and advanced loan diligence and documentation. I'm encouraged by where we are today and have active engagement with lenders in the syndication. In parallel, just after the end of the quarter, we submitted our formal loan application to the Export-Import Bank of the United States. This kicks off their due diligence process. The application request funding that could cover more than 50% of the $150 million we're raising and at an attractive cost of capital. The EXIM track is entirely separate from the debt syndication, but we view it as complementary. Together, these 2 paths gives us optionality, flexibility and stability in our capital stack, positioning us to complete Phase 1 financing in a way that supports both project completion and long-term growth. Another piece of the financing picture is feedstock security. As many of you know, there were temporary disruptions at our supplier earlier this year, which did slow things down. And while those issues were resolved in the second quarter, we accelerated efforts to lock in a non-Chinese backup supplier. Over the relatively near term, we expect to be finalizing the backup supply of feedstock. Long term, our strategy is to vertically integrate through our Coosa deposit. But right now, the priority is staying flexible and doing what it takes to keep Kellyton moving forward. With strong demand signals from the market, support from federal policy and multiple active funding paths, we're confident in our ability to get this project financed and into production. And while financing is critical, it's just one piece of the bigger picture. We're continuing to make steady progress on construction, procurement and advancing the next phase of our domestic graphite strategy. Frank, back over to you.

Thanks, Steve. We are generally excited about where things are headed. There is a real momentum behind our projects and it's clear that domestic graphite production isn't just important, it's essential. With strong policy tailwinds, clear market demand and real progress on both construction and financing, we believe Westwater is in the right place at the right time. We are staying focused on what matters most: execution, transparency and long-term value creation for our shareholders. The opportunity ahead is big, and we are ready to meet it. Thanks for your continued support. We look forward to sharing more progress with you next quarter. Operator, over to you.

[Operator Instructions]. Our first question comes from Heiko Ihle with H.C. Wainwright.

Out of curiosity, this week, the big talk on Wall Street is interest rate cuts. Cut in September is now almost fully priced in. How much of this do you think will show up in your financing package once it gets announced? I assume the lower rate should translate at least reasonably well, assuming the financing is signed after the cuts are official, right?

Heiko, this is Steve. Yes, thanks for the question. No, I think as a project finance, lowering rates is always beneficial and will always be welcome as we think about the lower cost of capital. So I would anticipate the lower cuts to be helpful in our long-term growth and the final financing that we put in place.

Fair enough. And then just to clarify, there's been 2 at the $5 million packages that the -- recent convertible notes. Do they have an option or a willingness to do another one? Or is that just one and then the stars aligned, they did one more, but there is no plan for anything else?

I would say, I think the convertible notes was a good thing for investors. We were able to raise money without impacting our stock price. I think it shows our ability to raise money in the capital markets, which helps derisk the loan project as far as from a lender perspective and the sponsor's ability to add capital to the balance sheet. And so we'll remain to be opportunistic and keep evaluating if there is potential for follow-ons.

Our next question comes from [ Ray Kelly ], a Private Investor.

Yes, Steve, I'd like to know what our position is now with Turkey and the project that was in the past but was settled, I thought, in Turkey and an amount of money, I think of $300 million were settled. Is there any settlement from that in our direction?

No, that was settled, I believe, several years ago now. So we're 100% focused on graphite, 100% focused on our Phase 1 financing. So we don't have a presence in Turkey anymore.

So we don't have any claim on the factory that was built in Turkey and the agreements with Turkey were nullified by Turkey and they settled by arbitration. I don't understand. You don't -- so there's no money from that?

No. We received some money back that we disclosed when that arbitration was settled several years ago. But again, we're 100% focused on graphite right now. And so there's nothing.

Can you tell me what that amount was?

I believe it was around $3 million, if I remember correctly.

Okay. As long as there's -- I'll follow-up on it. I wasn't aware of it.

[Operator Instructions] As we have no further questions at this time, we will now conclude the question-and-answer session. This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.