Ariana Resources (LSE:AAU) — Final results for the year ended 31 December 2020

0:01 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the ARIANA RESOURCES PLC Investor Presentation. The Simply click Q and A, type in your question, and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself. However, the company review all questions submitted today and publish responses where it's appropriate to do so. These will be available via Investor Me dashboard and will be notified once these are ready for your review. I'd also like

0:32 to remind you that this presentation is being recorded. Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll. I'd now like to hand you over to Michael DeVillis, Chairman and Doctor. Karim Senna, CEO of ARIANA RESOURCES PLC. Good morning. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our December 2020 Q and A. ARIANA RESOURCES is very pleased to announce this morning our announcement of our special dividend, which I'm sure you'd like to know some more about, and we'll be able to answer those during the course of the other questions that have been submitted. We'll also have a short presentation and I'll now hand over to our Managing Director, Doctor. Kiran Senna, to continue with the Q and A and presentation.

1:13 Thank you for the introduction, Michael, and welcome to everyone that's been able to join this investor webinar. It's great to see so many people in attendance. I'd like to take this opportunity to run investors and shareholders through the corporate presentation. Now this is a very much a whittled down version of a presentation that we're working towards. And ultimately, we will have that presentation. We run run through that presentation during the course of our AGM. This one relies largely on some of the graphics that we introduced in the annual report and accounts published last week. And I will run through those and provide further explanation concerning some of those graphical elements.

2:01 I'll start off with just an introduction here on on the first slide because I think it's quite relevant. This is actually a drone photograph taken from survey altitude when we were undertaking a photogrammetric survey over the top of the Southern Busch project. And those coordinates shown there are actually the central coordinate coordinates of the Arbola copper gold porphyry system. Just providing an update on the company and where we find ourselves today following the completion of our groundbreaking deal with Ozalten Holdings and PRCESIA Construction.

2:48 As you know, we've introduced Ozalten Holdings as a third joint venture partner within the Zenit Majdinlik JV in Turkey and also integrated the Sullenbosch project into the Zenith JV framework. So the Zenith JV now comprises three primary projects, Kuzele Tepe, our operating gold and silver mine, Tarshan, which will be the next mine gold mine, and the Solenbosch development project. In addition, there are a number of smaller satellite projects that we also sold into the joint venture, and we've just completed that that recently. So the joint venture is significantly expanded. The capabilities of that joint venture have expanded.

3:34 And we're continuing to develop the Kuseltepe mine, and I'll run through that in a little bit more detail later, and advance the Tarshan project to production with further work underway at the Sonnenbash project. So over the last fifteen years as a company, we listed on AIM in 2005. So a little over fifteen years. We've demonstrated a very good track record. We've pretty much hit all of our targets through that period of time. We've demonstrated that through the joint venture, we have a profitable enterprise that is sustainable, which is leading to further production growth.

4:21 All of this, I will detail further in the presentation. We now have, by virtue of our partial divestment of interest in the joint venture in Turkey, a significant cash position. And it's in relation to that significant cash position. We're in the we have the ability now to pay a special dividend to our loyal shareholders. Importantly, the joint venture now has minimal debt. I will talk about the debt component of the operations and in particular the development of the Kusl Tepe mine a little bit further on. But essentially, that's that debt is now at minimal levels.

5:07 And we're also demonstrating very significant growth targets for the joint venture, which ultimately will lead to the ability for the Zenith JV to continue paying a dividend up to the owning company, Galat Amardiclik, and onwards to the group company. So in summary, our operations in Turkey have been substantially enhanced with the expansion of our operational joint venture. It's now encompassing multimillion ounce gold project in the form of the Sollenbosch gold silver system and its associated copper gold porphyry at Arambula. And we are also starting our expansion into other regional jurisdictions. So a very quick snapshot of some of the key fundamentals. The the thing that I'd investors to take away from this is that this share price and volume graph that you can see down here in the in the lower right hand corner.

6:05 I've taken this from 20. I the presentation. Presentation. We're the results the within that period of time. Importantly, as a result of that, our market capitalization has continued to grow, and we're now over GBP 50,000,000, which was a target that I sort of set myself internally to achieving several years ago, and we're now at that point in time. We expect from further developments into the next ten years, and I'll touch on aspects of this into the presentation, we'll expect to continue to grow this market capitalization going forward.

7:02 Now the focus area for the company is obviously Turkey, our joint venture operations in Turkey shown in that lower map split between Kosutheppe, Tarshan, and Solembash, those orange points, our earning to 50% of Venus Minerals in Cyprus, that turquoise point, and also our earning to 75 of Western Tethlon Resources based in Kosovo, but encompassing a opportunities that we're of to And extends lot all the way from Eastern Europe and past the Himalayas out into the Indonesian arc.

7:50 And that's shown in the the larger map as that sort of pinkish colored area. Our operations are primarily run out of our Ankara office. We have a substantial operating team there, and we're continuing to augment that. In addition, we've got our joint venture team based out at sites in Khozu Tepe, and we have about 180 staff members on-site at the present time.

8:22 Now the company can be summarized through this graphic. At the very top, that represents our producing assets or our most advanced assets contained within the Zenith joint venture, of which we retained 23.5% following our partial divestment to Azalton Holdings earlier this year. That entity, as I've explained previously, comprises the operating asset plus the advanced projects such as Tamshan and Salmonmush. So it's the it's it essentially represents the lowest risk part of the portfolio, and it also represents cash flow to the business.

9:10 A tier under that, we have our earn into Venus Minerals earning into 50%, but we're currently at 37.5%. And also our earn into Western Tethrin Resources in Eastern Europe earning into 75% currently. A tier below that is the newly established Asgard Metals Fund. And this really develops our project catalytic strategy, which is to look at early stage discovery stage, essentially, projects potentially anywhere in the Eastern Hemisphere as outlined in in the map that I showed previously. And we're looking at exploration hotspots, particularly for gold, but other minerals too. And some of those other minerals that we're interested in include copper or any other metal that is associated with the transition to green energy technologies, are going to be so important in the coming decades.

10:11 Asgard Metals Fund essentially developed out of Asgard Metals PTY Limited, which was an Australian subsidiary that we established some years ago with initial interest in lithium exploration in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. We did very well out of those investments and turned effectively a $35,000 investment by the company into $3,500,000 within fairly short order within a couple of years. And it's on the back of that financial success that has given us the platform for the development of the Asgard Metals Fund. So we're looking out for key opportunities really across the Eastern Hemisphere, and we intend to get invested in a number of junior exploration companies through that.

10:58 As part of this, and in a sense, at one tier below that, we have our project generation division. So this is really the brains behind the project catalytic approach. It's our ability to identify high quality projects that we can then feed into this exploration pipeline and progressively derisk projects get them to approach the apex there. Now we've had prior success as indicated in similar investments that we've undertaken over the years. Not a huge amount of emphasis was ever placed on these back in the day because investors were far more interested in what we were doing at Kuselter. But really, this has always been part of the ARIANA strategy and it's it's a core component of what we do going forward.

11:50 Now one thing that is really worth highlighting is that we set ourselves apart quite substantially from any other junior exploration company. There are very few companies that can point to the metrics that we are able to as a business. And whether we're looking at operational metrics such as the carbon dioxide footprint of our joint venture operations, they are well below the international average.

12:19 Or it's looking at the discovery costs. And this is something that we really pride ourselves in as a business. It's it's actually essential and core to what we do, and that is minimizing the exploration costs. So what does it cost our shareholders for us as a team to identify one ounce of gold? It's a very simple metric. Most exploration companies will not give you that because the the number is usually fairly appalling, and the international average is 62 US dollars per ounce. We're coming in at 12 US dollars an ounce. The industry, the gold exploration industry, has not seen that sort of level of discovery costs since the mid-1980s, yet we are maintaining our discovery cost at mid-1980s levels.

13:09 Another important point on the operational side of the business are the cash costs of producing an ounce of gold. And they're coming in at about $490 per ounce based on all prior quarters of production since early two thousand and seventeen for the Kyzyl Tepe operation. The international average currently is about $1,000 per ounce. So again, we we beat our competitors by quite some margin. Now how are we able to do this as a business? Well, one is very good operating practice. Being very tight with the purse strings, something we pride ourselves on. But it's also critically our ability to utilize the very latest technologies as a business and to do this with a very sound operational

14:00 and strategic framework. And some of the photographs shown around that that slide highlight some of the technologies that we have in use at this point in time. So up there in the the top right hand side, there is our exploration manager, Berkin Ullu. He's utilizing a portable XRF unit. What this instrument does is provide an instantaneous geochemical readout. So you're not just relying on the geologist to provide an assessment of what the mineral component of a rock or a piece of drill core is showing. And that can be a subjective affair for most exploration geologists. But it's giving a very precise geochemical readout of a particular point on the sample.

14:48 And this is an invaluable tool all manner of work that we undertake. And

14:53 one of the things that it's very good at is it minimizes the amount of material that's being sent off to the laboratory for geochemical analysis, which of course itself is much costlier. So we're only sending that material that we know is actually mineralized rather than sending, let's say, all the core.

15:12 Related to this is an instrument that we've recently started making use of on-site, and that's a box scan unit produced by Geotech. And we're a a luminary customer for box scan and Geotech. It's the very first time that this sort of instrumentation is being utilized in this manner in the junior exploration space. We're one of just a handful of companies that have this equipment worldwide. And although it's not so clear from that photograph, that instrument includes an XRF unit itself, a magnetic susceptibility meter, a alteration survey device, and a very high resolution camera and also digital scanner effectively to bring all the core into for three-dimensional assessment

16:13 digitally. And this, again, provides reams of additional data that is is not possible for a single geologist or even a geological team to assess in their own right. And this business is all about collecting as much data as you can and to utilize that data in the most effective means possible. Another example of this is shown in the left hand photograph. We are implementing all of our logging now directly online into the database. So there's no hard copy paper trail, so to speak. Everything is directly integrated into our digital database system. So it minimizes the possibilities of error.

17:02 So what does that all boil down to? Well, in summary, this diagram goes a long way to explaining how we've achieved this and and the the the timeline of having achieved it. So in summary, we can show the growth of the company from IPO back in 2005

17:24 all the way up to the present, 2020. Those circles represent the growth in market capitalization of the company, which is the key measure. And, also, we provide the details of the resource growth as well. So we've grown from a resource of zero when we started off as an exploration company, progressively grew the resource base, and consequently, the market capitalization of the company continued to grow. But quite significantly, you can see that there's a a marked change from 2017 to 2020.

18:02 This coincided with the end of shareholder funding effectively through the market. To date, we have utilized about $25,000,000 of shareholder funds. And in that moment in time, in early two thousand and seventeen, marked the beginning of production from Khozl Tepe. Associated with the development of Khozl Tepe was a substantial amount of debt, an initial USD 33,000,000 to build and develop the mine, but further working capital as well has been paid off. And now there's a smaller loan that we're paying off in association with the processing plant expansion that's due to be completed very soon.

18:49 So that debt component amounts to, let's say, about $50,000,000. And a large part of that, as I said, is essentially paid off now. So you can see that is one very clear reason for why there's been such a marked growth in market capitalization in that window of time between 2017 and 2020.

19:16 Another thing that we've done over the years is that we've brought onboard a very sound joint venture partners to the business in the form of PROSEA back in 2010. With PROSEA, we successfully developed because of that in mind. We've now brought on board, of course, Ozan.

19:44 It's important to recognize the past contribution of European Goldfields and Eldorado Gold in getting the Solenbosch project to this point in time, and they contributed about $8,400,000. So in summary, about $25,000,000 was utilized through shareholder funds to develop the business. But overall, dollars 100,000,000 is the total

20:11 expenditure, so to speak, of the the company and its joint venture enterprises to date. So perhaps it's no surprise that ARIANA is about quarter of the joint venture in Turkey now, shareholder funds having only represented about a quarter of the total. However, that's admitting the fact that we've successfully divested part of our interest in Turkey. So we're now also sitting on a very substantial pile of cash. So it it puts that slide essentially puts everything into context and brings us up to the the present day and and really underscores our ability to start paying dividends to shareholders initially through the special dividend that we announced earlier this morning.

21:00 So very briefly, I'll go through the Zenith joint venture and what we're working on currently. And I think one of the key graphics that we included in the annual report is this one. And I'll draw your attention to the Kuzzle Tepe deposit.

21:22 It's shown in orange. And I should also point out that those squiggly shapes there are the actual aerial footprints of each of our deposits across the joint venture. We also show the Magellan project in Cyprus there as well for context. So Kusl Tepe is a relatively small deposit containing 227,000 ounces of gold, but it is the operating line from which we derive the revenue.

21:52 In comparison to the other assets, Kuzzle Tepe is right down there at the small end of the equation. Our key assets going forward for the joint venture are clearly going to be Tarshan, which will be the next operating mine, and also the Salenbash and Arbula system. So I think this slide speaks volumes in terms of showing the future growth path of the joint venture at least. In terms of the operational performance of the joint venture to date, so looking at that revenue figure from the previous slide, I mean, that can be broken down in the format of that graphic there in the top left.

22:41 That shows silver answers shown in gray relative to gold answers shown in gold. And really, I I think this highlights the fact that because of that there's really a silver mine in terms of volume of metal produced. But of in terms of value, clearly, the value is associated with the gold. So that's a $134,000,000 of revenue to date, at least till the end of twenty twenty, can be broken down in in the form shown in that graphic. And we've also provided a prediction or estimate rather for where we expect 2021 production to be. It's important to point out that we've been mining at a far higher rates than the feasibility had planned for.

23:31 There are very good reasons for this. And that million odd tons that has been mined to date, not all of that's been processed. Perhaps about three quarters of that has been processed to date. So we've got a very large stockpile currently approximating about ten months of mill throughput. The mill throughput itself to date, we've been averaging about 3.52 grams per tonne of gold since operations commenced. But we are in the process of expanding our mill throughputs, and we'll provide an update on that in due course, and we're expecting fairly shortly. The effect of the mill expansion is shown in the graphic on the bottom right hand side.

24:17 So you can see the mill expansion being complete during the course of this year, 2021. And then as a result of that enhanced mill throughput going from about 200,000 tonnes of ore per annum to 400,000 tonnes of ore per annum, we're expecting a ramp up in output from the Khozl Tepe operation. That graphic also shows when we're currently expecting the Tarshan operation to commence production, and and then we run the Tarshan production right to the end of its mine life in 2030 there. We also show our expectation of operations commencing at Sun And Bash as well. But obviously, this is all subject to feasibility and permitting.

25:07 So moving on to Venus Minerals. We are earning into 50% of Venus Minerals currently at 37.5%. The license areas are spread largely across the North Trudeau area, And our key focus is the Magellan project area shown in purple on that map, and as well as an important exploration project called Mariner further to to the east. At Magellan, we've identified Jawke inferred resources at 9,500,000 tonnes of 0.65% copper, but this resource also contains substantial zinc in part, about 0.6%, as well as gold and silver. The question of gold is is something that we've been asking ourselves since we began operations through the Venus Minerals earning.

26:02 It's absolutely key to determining

26:08 next And then slide. Start the the sector of the Magellan project, and those drilling results there demonstrate them. Western Tethion Resources, this is focused again on copper gold exploration, but this time in Eastern Europe where we're earning into 75%. Now this summary map shows the focus area outlined in orange here. We have our base of operations in Pristina, Kosovo. We've got an excellent exploration team associated with Western Tethyan Resources run by Mentor Demi, an accomplished geoscientist with a number of successes through this region, particularly in Armenia.

27:07 Although it's Kosevan based, we're focused on exploration throughout that region, and we're evaluating a number of projects in that overall area. We've got license applications in. We're waiting for those to be granted. We're expecting to make further license applications in due course, whether they'd be in Kosovo or one of the other countries in that region. Very

27:34 we've past. The And Ladies and gentlemen, do please continue to submit your questions a using the Q and A tab situated on the right hand corner of your screen. Simply click Q and A, type in your question and press send. But just while the team take a few moments to review those investor questions submitted, I'd like to remind you the recording of this presentation along with a copy of the slides and the published q and a can be accessed via our investor meet company dashboard on the platform. I'd also like to remind you that your feedback is important to the company. And immediately after the presentation has ended, you'll be redirected to the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the company can better understand your views and expectations. Michael Crim, we obviously received a number of presubmitted questions from investors, you've kindly provided responses to those. And they will be published on the company platform along with the responses to any questions from the live session as well.

28:29 And we've received several questions already from investors. So perhaps if I could just hand back to you to click on that q and a tab and where appropriate to do so, read out the question, just give your verbal response, that'd be great.

28:40 Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Perhaps before I delve into the questions, I'll just reiterate the the prior previous submitted questions we have provided answers for, which can be reviewed. If there are any further questions that results from those initial answers that we provided as a company, we can also touch on those shortly. Now moving on to the questions that have just come in as we were speaking. A couple of questions there from Andy M that are similar relating to future growth and whether today's dividend announcement puts any limits to our growth options.

29:33 So by this, I I'm assuming that the

29:38 the inference there is that by paying out a substantial portion avail of available cash, we're limiting the growth options of the company. We don't see it that way at all. It's important to remember that ARIANA operated largely off the smell of an oily rag for fifteen plus years. And we had a very much hand to mouth existence pretty much every year coming back to the market for further investors funds in order to fund the development of the company. Now we closed that chapter on our history in 2017 when we went into successful operations at Kuseltepe.

30:23 But we know what we're capable of as a company, and we know how to run this ship in a very lean fashion and to do it very, very effectively. Now, yes, we're in a very fortunate position of sitting on a substantial cash pile as a result of the divestment of interest in the joint venture in Turkey and our other interests in Turkey. But we feel this is an opportune moment after, you know, the best part of two decades to provide a distinct return to shareholders that effectively draws a line under the past and enables us to move on as a business. And we're still retaining substantial amounts of capital to be able to

31:05 do a hell of a lot of work. Karim, should we perhaps whistle through the queues queues one to 14 that we got in?

31:20 Sure. Yep. Happy to do that. Do do you want to start, Michael? Well, yes. Question let's do them alternatively. Question one, are we considering a consolidation?

31:31 This is under review. Share consolidation, that is. It's not something we've debated at great length, so we we're considering it. I think we won't dwell on that any longer. Sorry, Michael. I'm just trying to find my my done with my answers here. Well, I'll go on to question two. Are we considering any share buybacks? We've primarily focused this on being something available for staff and and and and people who are very close to the company as as part of our team who receive shares as part payment.

32:10 And that's really all the share purchases are considered for. We're not going wholesale into the market buying shares, and nothing more ready to be said on that one. There's a detailed answer gonna be published.

32:25 You can keep going, Michael. Sorry. Okay. Yep. The question on on public relations. Well, we've actually considered ourselves to be amongst those as up to date as we can be with publishing price sensitive information as it becomes available. We're continuing to do so.

32:44 When it comes to the point of promotion, obviously, we're not able to attend conferences as we have in the past. That I think will come back in the future. I know it was Freedom Day yesterday, but I don't think it feels like it. And it's probably another year before we have face to face opportunities to meet shareholders and other interested parties at conferences and share promotion events.

33:05 But we'll probably be doing more of these sort of investor seminars type approaches using investor meet company because it does work rather well with us being in different places and not able to meet face to face. And I think they our shareholders must appreciate that we have actually been publishing everything that has come due for publishing as and when it has been available as we've done now. And I think the the deluge of news we've put out in the last three weeks is is testament to that. Yeah. I I I think it's also worth adding there, Michael, that one of the things that we pride ourselves on as a business is the

33:43 quality of the the RNS releases. Investors can rely on our RNSs, particularly the technical ones, in providing a huge amount of detail.

33:58 We're we're not we're not averse to providing that detail, a lot of information can be gleaned through a very careful read through of our RNS releases. So from from a PR perspective, if related to RNSs, you know, I think we're we're ticking all the boxes. And I don't think that we're underdoing our RNSs in any way. And the history stands. It's it's the detail is there for people to go back and have a look at our on our website. And

34:33 I think the current annual report has a huge amount of new information that is is there for the reading.

34:39 Exactly. I have now found the the answers. So I I can continue if you like, Michael. I think I'm okay. So so question four was a longer one just relating to certain content within the annual report and whether the goals we we stated

35:04 or rather the strategies or strategic approach is is realistic very much so. It's actually essential that we we followed those strategic elements essentially to the letter over the years. And they're certainly not, as was put, motherhood statements there, absolutely core to our business strategy.

35:30 There's also reference there to you know, why is it that the annual report is not more aspirational?

35:38 Well, I don't think it's the place for aspirational statements so much in an annual report. An annual report is there to to record a period of time and that that the information provided for that period of time that represents that period is is auditable and verifiable.

36:00 Aspirational statements, yes, there are a few related to the outlook section of the operations review and certain aspects of the chairman statement. But the annual report is not really the place for for that. And other platforms and, you know, these these sorts of q and a are a good example of that. But proactive or other interviews are another place. I would agree with you, Kieran. Okay. Thank you.

36:31 The the next question, is in relation to the environmental impact assessment application for Tangshan and whether there are delays and the nature of those delays. Well, we previously referred to this in some prior practicum b double r media

36:52 interviews. But we are experiencing delays as a result of COVID. Now the Turkish government, a number of government departments effectively shut down during the course of last year. This has led to a backlog. Things are still not running exactly as normal. There are still issues. And it's very difficult for us to to get a handle on government timelines, and it's it's not really our place to second guess what the government is doing all the time. Our application is in. We're waiting for a response. And as soon as we've got a response, we'll provide an update to the market. And touch touch on is one example of that. I mean, there are other permit related applications that we have in for our other projects that have been similarly impacted.

37:39 And when we receive a permit that is material to the business, of course, we will announce that as appropriate. I think question six in is also, to some degree, impacted by what we've experienced over this last year and a half. So permitting aspects associated with Selenbosch that's, you know, we've we've experienced some delays in that as well. But from an environmental impact assessment point of view, we we'd commenced an environmental scoping study on the project prior to completing our transaction with Ozalten. This lays the foundations for the formal EIA work, and that's that's underway. All aspects of that are underway because you need a substantial timeline in which to lay down the foundations of the EIA to assess the the local environment from a pre mining perspective. Perspective. We're also working continuously on social and community aspects as well. I mean, it's it's an integral part of how we run our business.

38:56 It's very important to ensure that we've got community buy in. It's worth pointing out that we achieved that with great success and probably record success in Turkey. In fact, in all of my fifteen years of of of being involved in this industry on project levels, I've never seen quite so many straightforward public meetings. Yes. That that's that's right. You know, we've we've had a pretty good run of public meetings in the past. So long long way that continue. Question seven relating to an independent nonexecutive director, an additional one. There is reference to this in the annual report.

39:46 Depending on the strategic aspects and exactly what an individual would add to the business relative to the strategy, you know, this that's something that's well, obviously, we would continue to give consideration to. But at this point in time, the board makeup is entirely adequate for our current objectives. Question eight. This relates to what's happening with the weakening Turkish lira. There's a view there that that represents a substantial loss to the business. So, obviously, you know, don't control exchange rate movements.

40:33 And what we do to mitigate the risk of exposure to Turkish Lira is to try and hold as little Turkish Lira as possible. So the bulk of our cash reserves we keep in pounds or in US dollars. And it's also important to recognize that the exchange loss shown in the accounts is an accounting adjustment that occurs between periods. So it's in in a sense, it's not a real number. Michael, do you want as as I'm not the accountant, do you would you like to explain that in further detail? Well, yes. The bulk of it relates to our holding in Zenith, and it is directly linked to, as you correctly said, the change in the Turkish lira pound exchange rate.

41:21 It is a book entry booked against the carrying value of the assets, which are assets, not cash. So the cash we have invested mostly in US dollars, so that isn't depreciating. And it is a book entry, so it doesn't represent a cash loss to the business. The asset is still there. That is in Okay. Detail in the accounts if if anyone wants to know more. Thank you. Michael, should we just jump back to some of the live questions I think we should. While while we're at it. Mhmm. Well, there's one from Paul. Are are we investing in something more near term as most long term ARIANA shareholders don't have another fifteen years to wait? Well, neither do I. But yes.

42:17 Certainly, some of the the targeted investments are near term as in three to five years. Very much what we achieved on lithium, which was three or so years, wasn't it, Karim? That that's right. Certainly less than three years. Mhmm. We've turned that around. And that that would be pretty much under the Asgard portfolio, whereas the the some of the other true exploration generative targets will take longer. Yes. But they won't actually go through the long run of mine development. They may well be divested of when they are at peak value and and and joint venture of one sold. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. I I think that the our investments in the lithium space back in twenty fourteen, fifteen, they they were timed beautifully.

43:13 We picked up very early stage projects, and we were very quickly able to turn those around to creating real value for the business with, you know, appropriate early stage exploration work. And, you know, that's something that I think we do very well as a business. So, you know, why why not do more of it? I mean, that's basically what that part of the strategy boils down to. And the other thing, of course, is that it relies on our experience operating in Turkey, where again we identified a relatively early stage exploration opportunity in the form of Kuzu Tepe we're do we'll with And sequentially derisking that asset and getting that to the point of mining commencing.

44:14 So I think we're just quite good at identifying projects that have the ability to be turned into mines. So we we just want to do more of that, basically. So let's go on to us. Start at the bottom of the list. So we got a question from ni Nida one Nida I. Joint venture, how is ARIANA ensured that it will not be squeezed out on operational levels? So the Zenith joint venture, we had a very successful joint venture running with PROSEA Construction. And when we entered negotiations with Ozalten, jointly with PROSEA, it was very clear that Ozalten wanted PROSEA to remain the operator of the joint venture, primarily because Ozalta themselves didn't have a mining division. They had no prior experience in the mining space.

45:25 Although it was an area, obviously, they were very excited to get involved in. And the results in primarily being a very large construction firm with large large scale engineering projects, primarily in hydroelectric dams, road infrastructure across country and elsewhere within the region. So they they had all the engineering capabilities, but not specifically in the mining area and certainly not from an exploration point of view. And the the new joint venture framework essentially builds on the prior joint venture framework, which is already a very successful formula. So, you know, we're we're not expecting to be squeezed out of the joint venture.

46:13 Well, it is also protected under legal agreements that are properly constructed. Correct. Yeah. The basis of their the the primary arrangements. Yes. There's a question about further ounces being discovered. Has given us the example of how it'd be monetized by ARIANA. Well, now that Southern Busch is part of the joint venture, you know, any resource additions associated with existing parts of the joint venture, you know, that that that's a joint venture enterprise. It's not specifically an ARIANA enterprise. So though our exploration team provides input into the exploration of all the projects. However, if if we identify another project that currently sits outside of the joint venture, we can sell that joint venture.

47:07 So we can sell that project into the joint venture effectively at three times expiration cost, which is is very similar to the arrangement we had in the previous joint venture with PRCESIA. So that's effectively how how how we sort of monetize peripheral assets like that. Michael, do you have any that Nothing at six Okay. There's a question here from Craig. You please explain broad brush how 50% of the proceeds of the JV disposal stake results in 0.7p dividend and what your logic is in spreading out the dividend over three tranches?

47:56 And why you believe spreading out the dividend towards long term shareholders rather than the one off payment? Can you confirm the disposal proceeds are being received in full? So the the last question there is, yes, we can confirm that $35,750,000 has been received. It was received several months ago. There is the sale of satellite projects that was referred to in an announcement late last year. The sale of satellite projects for that $2,000,000 in addition, That process through the mines department only recently concluded. And as a result of that, it's we've only received the first payment effectively for those satellite projects, but there'll be monthly payments hereafter as per the terms of the the arrangement that we had.

48:53 So in in going back to the rest of that question. So I've just lost the question now. They have moved. Yeah. The the question just moved. Was it? I just I just moved it. I'll I'll just put it back up there for you, Karen, put the quality. You just you just answered this. I'll put it back up for you. Yeah. Okay. The rest of the question related to the the payment of the dividend in tranches. Well, there's very good reason for this. You know, we don't do anything lightly. That's for sure. You know, it's very logically thought out. There's there are significant tax advantages available to the company in Turkey in relation to disposable and asset. So we are taking advantage of those tax incentives.

49:42 To do it any other way, we would not be getting those tax advantages. And of course, that would then be in shareholders' interest. So this is the right method by which we pay out the special dividend. And to do it over three tranches does reward long term shareholders, and it certainly rewards loyalty of those shareholders because we want you here for the long term. So the I think there were a couple of other questions actually that related to to the dividend payment. Just seeing if there's any other aspects of that that need to be addressed. Michael, can you see any? Well, there's one that I think is relevant, Neda. Is the dividend payment in a joint in a joint venture agreement sanctioned in any way? How are releasing cash and information from the joint venture to AAU decided by a simple majority?

50:46 If not so, how? Okay. So so this relates to the payment of dividends from the joint venture entity, Zenith. Yes. So every March, we hold an annual general meeting in Turkey. And at that annual general meeting, we determine the profit from the prior year and whether the joint venture entity is going to pay out dividends associated with that. When we have the joint venture running with just PROSEA, that would happen every March, and we pay out interim dividends or repayment of loans, intercompany loans. And that was done right up until the end of twenty twenty.

51:32 The the March AGM this year, because it happened just within a couple of weeks after the conclusion of the of the joint venture with Ozalten, we decided collectively to not declare a dividend for this March. But profits, of course, are being registered. We we have profits from the joint venture entity. So we'll probably hold another meeting later this year in relation to the payment of further dividends from Zenith. And, you know, the the payment of those dividends is proportionate to our investment share in the joint venture. And and one of the key key drivers for the joint venture, of course, is profit.

52:27 This is why Ozanthan is in business. That's why PROSEA is in business, and that's why we're in business. We want to ensure that we maximize profits from the operating company and specifically from the operating mine at Coso Tepe and indeed future mines. Give him another one. Ryan, what do you view as the greatest opportunity for the company moving forward? I would just say it's our adoption of technology and moving quickly. Yes. I agree with that. And really building on the platform of the the previous fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years. You know, we we've always been an very early adopter of the latest technology.

53:16 And so when we started as a business, we were utilizing remote sensing datasets that's, you know, that that'd been used by other companies, of course. But we we use them in slightly different ways. We were very successful in identifying a number of very prospective areas very early on in our exploration in Turkey. And in fact, we'd identified the Kusl Tepe area and and the region around it as being a high priority long before we identified because of that opportunity and prior to us negotiating with Newmont to secure that asset. Likewise, in the Southern Busch area, in fact, we'd looking South Wales.

54:07 Wales. Wales. Then we'll do that. To we'll do just to the west of Ardvula. So we've utilized technology that. Very effectively previously, and we continue to do so as we've run through during the course of the presentation today. So there's a huge amount of leverage there, and we just know how to do things very effectively. Neda, why sep separate separate the investment fund from ARIANA?

55:02 Why not do directly inside ARIANA? Well, I I think it needs its own entity because it's essentially undertaking a different type of business to ARIANA itself. So ARIANA, in its own right, is very much if you're looking at the PLC, you know, it's the group company. It's it's at the very top of that apex. What Asgard is doing is a component of that, but it has to be quite distinct. And we obviously had the Asgard entity that we established six odd years ago here in Australia. And that entity at that stage was very successful with its lithium strategy. And we're just utilizing that same entity rather than it just being a dormant part of our business.

55:59 Okay. John g, can't see how you've included the dividend element that you say needs voting on in this AGM. Shareholders have already given authority. Well, no It's it's not this AGM. The resolutions and special resolutions for this AGM are already outlined in the annual report. Now the authority, we would then be seeking for the payment of the final dividend is on acceptance of the 2021 accounts, which would occur in 2022. Yes. It is completely unrelated to the past year. It is this year in which the profits take place on that transaction. It's this year in which the dividend is distributed for the first and second tranche and the third one being the final part. Correct.

56:46 Mhmm. Michael Karim, we're just coming up to the hour mark. I don't know if there's any further questions you wanna pick up. Of course, you can review all questions submitted by attendees today and and publish responses where appropriate to do so. But just if there's anything further or we can just ask you for a few further comments to to wrap up before we redirect investors to give some feedback. Okay. Thank you. I'll just answer just one more question then because it just builds on the dividend question. And this one's from Thomas d. Mhmm. And his question is, I believe you previously mentioned an intention to pay regular dividends. Are they likely to commence directly after the three parts of the special dividend? Or will there be a hiatus? So a very important question, this one, and one that an answer to which we've alluded to both in the annual report and in the announcement of today. We are working on a strategy to be able to develop sufficient capital reserves to pay a dividend in the longer term.

57:49 But a large part of that is obviously dependent on the performance of our existing assets in Turkey through the joint venture, particularly Kuzupepe. And also in relation to that, the timing of commencement of mining of the Tausan deposit as well because that will be a critical part of that pathway going forward. But that's very much our desire. It is what we're working towards. And, you know, I think just watch this space. Lastly, I'd like to just mention that as we have made it potentially attendance AGM, I e, there's nothing to stop people attending given that nothing changes with regard to overt attendance rules.

58:35 In any event, I urge people to please vote by proxy because that will ensure your vote is counted and everyone gets the opportunity to vote then at this AGM, August 18, London. Thank you all for attending, Michael, very much. Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure. Thank you to Investor Meets company for hosting an excellent event. Thank you both. Thank you for addressing those in questions from investors. And as I said earlier, of course, the company will review all questions submitted today, we'll publish those responses where appropriate to do so. Grim, just if there are any final words for me just before we redirect investors for feedback? I'll just to say thank you very much for everyone in attending today. It's it's been a pleasure Michael, doctor Crim, thank you indeed for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close the session as you'll automatically redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the management team can better understand your views and expectations?

59:45 This will only take a few moments to complete and is greatly appreciated by the company. On behalf of the management team of ARIANA RESOURCES PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That concludes today's session. Thank you, and good morning. Thanks. Bye bye. Thank you. Bye bye.