Helium One Global (LSE:HE1) — Annual General Meeting

0:00 Good morning, and welcome to the HE1 GLOBAL LTD Annual General Meeting Proceedings. Throughout this recorded meeting, attendees will be in listen only mode. The The company may not be in a position to answer every question submitted today. However, all questions will be reviewed with responses published where appropriate to do so on the Investor Me Company platform. I'd now like to hand you over to James Smith, Chairman. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you, Paul. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our AGM for your meeting of your company. It's now gone past eleven, and I apologize for the slight delay. We've had a few IT and administrative issues here. But I, James Smith, nonexec chair of the company, will act as chairman for the purposes of this annual general meeting.

0:46 As a reminder, anyone without the necessary documentation of letters of representation will be unable to vote for today's meeting. You will be able to ask questions, and we'll have a formal once we've completed the formal business, there'll be a full informal q and a session after Lorna's presentation. You may wish to follow proceedings by referring to the notice of the meeting document. Explanatory notes on the reason for the meeting are set out in the circular. And before we start, I would just like to introduce all of the colleagues of the board to you. Immediately to my left is Paula Blaise, CEO.

1:32 To her left is Graham Jacobs, CFO, and to his left is Russell Schwartz, nonexec director. To my right, we've got, Sarah Cope, senior nonexec, and Nigel Friend, nonexec director. We've also got Nick who's our investor relations who will be checking for questions and posing those questions to the board during the q and a session. Quorum necessary to constitute the annual general meeting of the company is two members, in person or proxy. As the requisite quorum is present, I declare this year's annual general meeting open. Voting of the resolutions will be conducted on a show of hands.

2:28 Unless in my capacity as chairman, I declare the resolution be taken on a poll. Each shareholder present and eligible to vote will have one vote each. With your permission, I propose that the notice of the meeting and each of the resolutions set out in that notion notice are taken as read. Is that agreed? I accept no no comment as that is agreed. Prior to putting the resolutions to the meeting, I'd like to advise the meeting of the proxies received by the company in relation to the resolutions. So for resolution number one, for the resolution, 13,467,000 a 167 against 755,013.

3:20 For resolution number two four, thirteen million one hundred and fifty four seven hundred and seventy one hundred and fifty four thousand, sorry, 770 against 1,090,483. For resolution number three, four, 12,393,730 against 1,851,522. For resolution number four, twelve million five hundred and forty nine thousand three hundred and twenty two against 1,695,930.

4:08 And finally, for resolution number five, ten million four sorry. 10,363,662 and against 3,000,004 sorry. $3,527,004.68. Now each resolution will be taken in turn, and there will be an opportunity for questions on each specific resolution from the floor will be offered. I if any questions are arising, I would be grateful if shareholders would state their name, and if they're a corporate rep representative, the name of the company they are representing. So for the formal business of the meeting, resolution number one. This is a resolution to receive and adopt the annual accounts of the company for the financial year ended 06/30/2023 together with the director's reports and auditor's report.

5:10 Are there any questions to this resolution? There being no res there being no questions, I now propose to put to the vote of the meeting of the resolution set out is as item one in the notice convening this meeting as an ordinary resolution. I now put the resolution to the meeting. Will all those kindly in favor kindly raise their hands? For those against, I declare the resolution carried as an orderly ordinary resolution by requisite majority. Resolution number two. This is the ordinary resolution to grant the directors the authority to reappoint p f PKF Littlejohn LLP as the company's auditors to hold office from the conclusion of the AGM until the conclusion of the next AGM and to authorize the directors through the audit committee to determine their remuneration.

6:15 Are there any questions relating to this resolution? There being no questions, I now propose to put to the vote of the meeting of the resolution set out as item two in the notice convening the meeting as an ordinary resolution. I will now put the resolution to the meeting. Will those kindly will those in favor kindly raise their hands? Those against? I declare the raise resolution carried as an ordinary resolution by requisite majority. Resolution number three, the board recommends the reelection of Sarah Cope as director of the company, who is retiring by rotation pursuant to article 9.6 of the company's articles of association.

7:06 Sarah, co eligible, offers herself for reappointment. Are there any questions relating to this resolution? There being no questions, I propose to put to the vote of the meeting of the resolution set out as item three in the notice convening this meeting as an ordinary resolution. I'll now put the resolution to the meeting. Will those in favor kindly raise their hands? Those against? I declare the resolution carried as an ordinary resolution by requisite majority. Resolution number four. The board recommends the reelection of Nigel Friend as director of the company who is retiring by rotation pursuant to article 9.6 of the company's articles of association.

8:00 Nigel Friend, eligible, offers himself for reappointment. Again, are there any questions relating to this resolution? There being no questions, I now propose to put to the vote of the meeting the resolution set out as item four in the notice convening this meeting as an ordinary resolution. I now put the resolution to the meeting. Will those in favor kindly raise their hands? For those against, I declare the resolution carried as an ordinary resolution by the requisite majority. Resolution number five. This is an ordinary resolution to authorize the directors be generally and unconditionally authorized to exercise all the powers of the company to allot up to 315,000,000 equity shares in the company for cash or to grant rights to subscribe for or to convert any securities into shares in the company as if article 3.2 of the company's articles of association did not apply to them.

9:14 Are there any questions relating to this resolution? There being no questions, I now propose to put to the vote meeting meeting the resolution set out as item five in the notice convening this meeting as an ordinary resolution. I will now put the resolution to the meeting. Will those in favor kindly raise their hands?

9:38 Those against, I declare the resolution carried as an ordinary resolution by the requisite majority. There being no further business to that concludes the formal business of the meeting. On behalf of my colleagues and myself, I'd like to thank you for attending. However, we now propose that Lorna will continue the informal part of the meeting with a presentation. And then following that, a question and answer session will be conducted. So over to you, Lauren. Thanks, Jay. Good morning, everybody. To those of you in the room here in London and for those of you who have joined remotely online, I will now take you through a short operational update for the company.

10:28 And as James has alluded to, we'll accept Q and As at the end. Those Q and As will be a mixture of pre submitted Q and As through the Investor Meet platform and also questions from the floor in the room. So I'm aware that obviously a number of you are existing shareholders and very familiar with with our story and our our corporate overview. I won't go through the details on this slide, but the the left hand side sorry. The right hand side is there for you to to review. It's been a bit a busy year for HELIUM ONE. We had a a a slow start to the year in in trying to secure our rig for our phase two drilling campaign. And in the the middle of the year, we we overcame the number of hurdles that that that we were faced and actually acquired our own drilling rig. This is an oil and gas spec rig, an Epiroc Predator two twenty that we have been using for our phase two drilling program in the Rukwa Basin.

11:25 We recently completed the drilling of our Ti three well. That well was successfully drilled and and data was acquired. Well itself encountered a number of repeated helium shows at multiple levels up in the tertiary late bed section through the Galula and into the Karoo group and the top of the basement. Those helium shows increased in concentration the deeper we went, in particular, as we tagged the top of the basement at total depth and encountered a faulted and fractured zone. We were then able to successfully recover a downhole sample of helium, which you'll recall from our phase one drilling campaign in the Taiwan well, we unable to do so. And this downhole sample was then transferred under PVD conditions and recorded a 0.8% concentration of helium from the lower Karoo.

12:17 The well has subsequently been suspended. And by that, I mean that the casing has been run. It's not been PNH. It's not been cemented up. And the reason for this is that in the future, we would like to return to this well and deepen it so we can drill into that basement play. That was a target we were unable to achieve from phase one with the tie tie one well and the limited capabilities of the rig. This time around, unfortunately, due to issues with the rig, we weren't able to drill ahead there and then. But also because we've run the casing, subsequently deepening that well would be in a smaller hole size diameter, and we we currently do not have the equipment to do that. So that is why we are not deepening type three now. Our primary focus going forward is to repair the rig. I'm delighted to say that the replacement iron roughneck is now on-site as of this morning.

13:06 Once that is reinstalled and we're rigged up, we anticipate drilling our second well on the Itambula prospect in early January this next year. In addition to, we are obviously still operating as a clean, low carbon, sustainable resource. Helium in this part of the world is not associated with hydrocarbons. It's very much a helium nitrogen mix, which makes it very globally unique. We also have a low CapEx development. And when we make that all important discovery, we are confident that the commercialization of this will be sufficient to to move forward at a at a low cost. You'll see the share volume chart on the lower right hand side there, some key milestones this year. In July, we had the acquisition of the Predator rig.

13:53 We then spud the TIE three well at the end of September, and we announced the results of that well in the middle of November.

14:04 The year in review on a single slide in the timeline, I think it's despite, obviously, there are some degrees of frustration and and disappointment in in in the progress we've made. However, I think when we view it from a month by month basis over the last twelve months, it has been an incredibly busy year for the company, and we have overcome a number of hurdles and issues to get to where we are today. The first half of the year following my appointment was frustrating. You know, we were faced with a series of setbacks with with losing subsequent rigs from various drilling contractors. In the meantime, we were we were always working through a a a plan b and a plan c option in order to fulfill that phase two drilling campaign later this year.

14:51 And as a new CEO, that was something that I felt compelled and committed to deliver before before year end. Earlier in the year, we completed a CPR for the Thai prospect that was always ranked high up in our internal portfolio for for prospects that would be must drill. We announced the the results of those, which are subsequently on our website. And not long after that, in July, we were delighted to announce that we had successfully acquired the Predator rig out of Kenya. That was that was a challenge. That was was not something that happened overnight, and I'd like to thank the the team and the board for their support in in order to to fulfill this. In parallel, like any drilling campaign, particularly in this remote part of the world, Operations are always a challenge and always present uncertainty and hurdles.

15:42 I'm not sure anyone who's drilled wells in this room can can probably say a well's gone according to plan. There are, unfortunately, always always challenges along the way. In parallel of securing the rig, we also had to make sure that our civils work was complete, and we had contracts signed up with our third party will well services. There's a lot more to just having a rig on the ground. There is a lot that has to go on in the background in the run up to that all important spud date. In August this year, we had a board restructure, a replacement of our of our chairman. And not long after that, we were in a position to to move forward into appointing a full drill crew for the for the Epiroc rig. As you're aware, we've we're we're quite unique in that having purchased a rig to fulfill our drilling campaign now and for the future, which I still believe puts us in a very strong position as a as an exploration company. We are now also a drilling contractor, which is is, as I said, unique and does come with its challenges. But in the long term, I'm I'm confident it will also come with with its reward. It saved us a significant amount of money in terms of mobilizing and demobilizing a rig in and out of of this part of the world. And moving forward will give us huge optionality in moving quickly into an appraisal and development scenario.

17:10 In September, we announced a fundraise and successfully completed that fundraise. And the reason for that is that we were, after acquiring our own rig, we were in a very strong position to drill not just the Thai prospect, but another follow on well, by the end of this year, and that was for the drilling of the Itambula well. So in parallel to the ongoing work out at site, again, there was a lot of precursor preparation that had to go into that commencement of civils, was started at the end of September. And then eventually, come November, we were we finally spudded the, sorry. Also, middle of September, we spudded the Thai Sea well, which is now Thai three. It's it's a letter predrill and a number post drill.

17:56 And as I mentioned, I'll go through the results of that well in a bit more detail shortly, but that was a very positive well for the company, notwithstanding the issues we've and challenges we faced with the rig. In parallel, we commenced the the preparation of the Itambula site. The results of the Thai three well led us to a slight change to the location of the well on that Itambula prospect, which is now complete. We've successfully moved the rig to the Itonbula site and the camp. We're mindful of the wet season around the corner. And from an HSE exposure perspective, I very much would like all of our equipment and people in one location. Once the rig is up and running again, we will be in a in a in a position to be spudding that second well in our campaign in a few weeks' time.

18:50 This is an overview of the basin. I'm sure many of you are very familiar with this already, but just for just to get your eye into where where we're drilling currently. So this is where the Thai prospect sits over in sort of central southern part of of the Rukwa Basin. The the Itambula prospect is about 20 kilometers to the southeast away from from Thai 3. And that prospect, again, like Thai, is always stacked quite highly in our in our portfolio of prospects. It also sits very close to the most prolific active surface helium seep in the Ripka Basin. And historically, that basin has measured repeated concentrations in excess of 10% helium with a nitrogen mix, which, again, is a very globally unique, active seep in well, globally, not just in Africa, but but in in the world.

19:38 Given the proximity of the Itambula prospect to that seep, and the fact that the seep geologically is up dip of where we intend to drill, we are reasonably confident that this is this is a must drill prospect in in this portfolio for this part of this phase two drilling campaign. Just highlights on the Ty 3 well and and why it's pushed us towards shifting the location slightly at Itambula. As I mentioned at the beginning, there were increased helium shows whilst we were drilling the TIE 3 well. They increased substantially with depth, in particular, as we encountered those fractured and and faulted zones down near the basement. That all important downhole sample at surface at point 8% helium from the Lower Karoo was encouraging.

20:25 The the the well came in deep to Prognosis. It was nearly 400 meters deeper than Prognosis, but it was drilling that new section of Lower Karoo stratigraphy that gave us the best chance of achieving this downhole sample to to surface and yielding the helium. Unfortunately, by deepening the well, it it did add cost to the to the campaign, operational costs and subsequently spread costs, which we'll we'll come on to later. And as I mentioned, that last point on there, the the well is currently suspended. It is not PNA'd. As I mentioned, the rig is these are photos at the bottom on the left hand side. The rig is on its has been moved to the Atonborough location, and we have a planned spud for January. This is an overview of the Ty three delivery.

21:10 The the drone shot at the top of the slide just illustrates the extent of the footprint that we have from our well sites. I think those of you who were invested in the company in phase one will will acknowledge that it it is a a much more robust drilling campaign than we than the company first embarked. This is very much more of a conventional oil and gas setup. We've we've got the rig set up on the pad, and then we've got our camp on-site as well. As I mentioned in the beginning, that is really important to have personnel and crew on-site or as close to site as possible, especially whilst operating in in such a remote area. The TIE three well drilled to 1,448 meters. That was the total depth. And at that point was when we tagged the top of the crystalline basement and encountered a fracture zone. We did subsequently encounter losses, which is not unusual in in fractured fractured rock.

22:08 However, as I mentioned, that is where those helium shows did increase in concentration. So we are confident that when we come back and deepen this well subsequently, that there is potential there for a fractured basement play, which is a a proven play elsewhere in the world for helium exploration and development. There are a number of successful commercial projects in in North America and and Canada that are chasing a very similar play. Also, in this part of the world, the basement in this basin, we we know from working with academics in the past and and the the the groundwork that the the the cofounders of HELIUM ONE put in in the beginning with the likes of professors from University of Oxford and and Woods Hole Institute in in The US that these concentrations of helium are originating from from the from the Kraton, from the Tanzanian Kraton, and that, therefore, the basement is actually acting as a as a source. So the closer we get to that primary source, the more chance we have of securing a a commercial flow of helium.

23:13 As I mentioned, unfortunately, we're not in a position to deepen that well immediately. We will because it's gonna be in a narrow hole size, there are a number of long lead items that would need to be brought brought into country to fulfill that. In the short term, it's in the best interest of the company and our overriding strategy to move to Itonbulla and get the second prospect drilled first.

23:33 So this is a seismic view of the TIE 3 well. Projected on here, the well path. These colorful horizontal reflectors represent the different stratigraphic intervals within the well that we drilled. The pink reflector at the bottom is the top of the basement. This is the top of the Karoo. This will be the Galula section, and up here is the tertiary late bed section. You can see that the blue circles represent where we encountered helium shows, not too dissimilar to the Taiwan well, And the blue star in the middle of the at the top of the Lower Karoo section there is where we successfully recovered the downhole helium sample from. We, unlike phase one, adopting a conventional and gas approach here, we were drilling reservoir section in eight and a half inch hole compared to three and a half inch hole that we did with the minerals rig. That gave us much greater clarity clarity and certainty of being able to run our wireline logging program, and we've successfully recovered a series of blogs from this well. And that has yielded a huge amount of subsurface information. I think I've said in IMC earlier this year, a well with no data is is of no value to anybody.

24:46 Those logs were good quality. We've been able to perform a full petrophysical analysis of those logs, and subsequently, we're able to run-in whole with our downhole sampling tool and recover, that surface helium sample, which has always has always been an objective of our wells even

25:02 in phase one. And, unfortunately, for the phase one campaign, we were unable to fulfill that. In addition to taking downhole samples, we also take pressure data, and that helps us to understand in a free gas scenario where we may have barriers and work out where we may have potential pay zones, as targets. That downhole sample was associated with water. And the key thing here you can see from this slide is I mentioned the faults and the fractures in the intervals. This black marker here represents the fault that we drilled into where those helium concentrations increased. There's also another major bounding fault here on on the tie prospect. I'd like to draw your attention to those faults and the yielding of the helium concentrations out of them and why that's led to us shifting the focus at Itambula for our second planned well. So the next two slides will just talk you through that process.

25:57 First point is just reiterating what I've just said on the previous slide. The key message here is similar to Thai, the Itambula structure is a prospect is a large structure. It's bounded by a large deep seated fault on the western side that taps deep into the basement rock, and that is where the helium is being sourced and is most likely being liberated up the faults and the fracture zones. Now we know that that helium comes to surface, not just at the active seeps, which you can see represented by these triangles in the bottom right hand corner of this slide, but also these colorful green and red zones on on the overlying on the satellite imagery here represent the results of the remote sensing work we did a couple of years ago that capture where there's, helium in the atmosphere at surface above ground.

26:44 You can see there's a very large anomaly overlaying the Itambula prospect. The prospect itself sort of covers this this whole area. We know that as we move to the south, everything shallows and rises up, and that is the point of of leakage where we have the seep. A number of these surface helium anomalies are also associated with surface fault expression. You can see that captured on here by these white dashed stippled lines. This is a very active rift present day. There is a lot of surface fault expression across the East Africa rift system, and and the Rukwa Basin is no exception to that. It is rifting apart present day. However, it is the active rifting that is pulling the the helium out of the system from depth and bringing it to surface. So it's very much our our hope that if we can target one of those faults along that main migration pathway, particularly that's associated with not only a SEEP, but also repeated helium anomalies, then we stand a good chance of understanding how that helium's coming out of the system and therefore, ultimately, hopefully, discovering it and and and making it commercial.

27:55 The pictures on the lower left hand corner just illustrate what we've achieved what we've done over the last couple of weeks. We've now moved the camp to the Itambula area. This is the rig about a week ago set up at the original Itambula site. As you recall, we've been doing some repair work on the rig, the hydraulics and the electronics. That's now rigged down and moved to so that was this site, the original site here. We've now moved it a couple of 100 meters to the west on on the new location at Itambula West. And it is this location that we'll be targeting that fault, and this dash line here is where that fault comes to surface. So on a seismic section, so this is an at Southwest Northeast seismic section across the prospect.

28:43 This map on the right hand side illustrates the structuration of the top Peru level. The warmer colors represent the geology shallowing. The the cooler colors represent the geology deepening, so everything deepens to the north in the Rukwa Basin. As we come shallower to the south, this is where we see the active surface helium seeps. So the basement is outcropping at surface, and the helium is is seeping off into those ponds. This is the large regional fault, and that is deep seated on the seismic section. This comes all the way down into basement and and keeps going. The white stippled path vertical path here represents where that well will be drilled, and these are the two faults that we will be targeting with that well.

29:29 It must be noted that we're not taking a complete shift. It's not suddenly discounting the conventional approach in targeting the lake beds and the Karoo and the basement. They still very

29:37 much remain primary targets for us for this well, but we want to be able to take two attempt two bites of the cherry, and therefore, we will be targeting these faults as we deepen the well towards the Karoo and basement targets. So what does rig ownership mean for us?

29:56 Aside from a number of headaches that I appreciate you have all been exposed to, and I can assure you that they have affected myself and the team significantly as well. However, this is part of the process of of owning a piece of heavy heavy part machinery or or any machinery. I liken it to the team of going to going to look at a classic car you want to purchase. It's been sat in someone's garage for a few years. It looks great. You you bring your friend along who's a mechanic. He kicks a few tires, looks at the engine, says, great. We've obviously done more than that. We did complete a full audit on the rig. However, it didn't obviously drill any wells in that audit. So by the time you start putting it under pressure and and drilling a well or taking the car out to the garage and driving it around the M 25, unfortunately, it's gonna be inevitable that things do, unfortunately, go wrong. As I said at the beginning, now being a drilling contractor as well as an operator, it's exposed us to those problems more than conventionally a normal operator would have been exposed to. However, I think, you know, it it can't be denied that the team has successfully overcome every hurdle that's been thrown at us over the last few months. We have a very dedicated team on-site.

31:08 They're always thinking outside the box and resolving these issues as quickly as possible. It is an oil and gas spec rig. There is no reason why this rig is not capable of not only completing this drilling campaign, but also future drilling campaigns of ours, and we very much view this as a longer term investment to the project and the company. And as I said earlier, in a success case scenario, we'll certainly be able to fast track any appraisal development scenario for us as well as offer other revenue options. We have been approached by other people, other operators in country who are interested in the rig, and I'm confident that in the longer term, it will be something that we we will be in a position to lease out. In terms of current status, as I mentioned and was put out in this morning's RNS, it was the iron rough net was on its way to site. It did arrive this morning. I had that confirmed prior to the start of this meeting, and the team will be working very quickly and efficiently to get that installed. And over the next few weeks, we will get the rig fully rigged up so that we are in a position to spud in January.

32:13 We will be re mobilizing personnel during this down downtime. We have obviously sent crew back,

32:21 in order to save cost. However, we do have equipment still there. We have third party service equipment still there waiting to to get going again. On the financials, just a couple more slides. Think at this point, I'll just hand over to Graham, who will talk through the the audited results from the year end this year or last year, sorry, and then I'll pick up again. Thanks, Laura. Just a few bullet points on this that come out of the accounts. I'm sure all the shareholders here have received their copy. Loss attributable to shareholders is $2,600,000 As Lloyd already said, we don't generate any revenue. We are a cost incurring company only at this point in time.

33:09 But we are hopeful that with utilization of the rig, we will be able to generate third party revenues as we move forward. That's the plan moving forward, but at this point in time, clearly, the rig's focus and our focus on drilling the wells that we need to. Net assets at the end of the year were £27,200,000 Non current assets of 16,700,000 Our cash at the end of June was 9,900,000

33:40 And as everyone's aware, we did raise some further funds in September of this year. And post year end, we also acquired the Predator rig. So both of those since drilled the wells as well, so those have had an impact on our, obviously, on our current cash position. That's it, Lauren. Thanks, Graham. Okay. So last couple of slides. Again, working in a remote part of the world, we're working very closely with our local communities out in Brookwa. I was fortunate to spend some time out at site whilst we were were drilling tie three. We have a very, good, strong community liaison team in the field who work exceptionally hard in ensuring that the community is kept well informed.

34:31 And that's not just in terms of land land management and compensating them for the use of their land, but even to the level of informing them of progress of the project, raising awareness in the community of movement of trucks. We've we've moved we've moved a phenomenal number of of trucks through the region, educating the children at the schools. Mean, a lot of these children, you haven't seen such big machinery before. It's very exciting. They're very keen to run out in front of it. All of that takes a lot of time to build the trust in the communities and educate them on what we, as a company, are trying to achieve here. But, you know, we have incredibly strong relationships. We're very supportive to the communities for supporting the work that we are doing moving forward. Similarly, for our stakeholders in country and and the governments, always having, you know, good good productive meetings and always having their support, which is which is very encouraging.

35:24 Like all companies, you know, we're very committed to the environment, again, particularly in in these remote areas, and anything that we touch, we do restore. So if for Taiwan, for example, we p n a'd that well, that site has been fully restored. And if you were to walk over that land, you would have no idea that a well pad was was ever there in the past. And it's my as CEO, I'm very much committed to that as well and work hard with the team both in country and and in here in The UK to fulfill those those commitments. Last slide, just a summary. You know, we are very much focused on securing a helium discovery, and we we see ourselves as becoming one of the leading producers, of green helium. Green helium being, again, globally unique project, not associated with hydrocarbons.

36:12 And we're in a a very unique province in the world, and currently do own, a 100% of of our three projects, not just in Rukwa, but also in Eyasi and Balangida. We're all aware of those, active surface helium seeps that are yield yielding those helium concentrations, and I'm I'm very hopeful that the the drilling of the Ittingbula prospect close to one of these seeps is gonna yield some very encouraging, results. So we're very much focused on fulfilling the campaign and future campaigns. And despite the headaches it has caused for all of us, I still very much believe that purchasing a rig was the right move for the company, and I look forward to utilizing that rig as best we can moving forward to create some to commercialize the project and and ultimately potentially create some revenue as well.

37:06 And that is what I have. Thank you, Lorna. And Graham. I guess we will now proceed with a q and a session, and I'm gonna ask Nick Urals to lead the questions. There have been some presubmitted on the IMC. I think some will be coming in as we have been going through the presentation. But I'm gonna ask Nick to kick off the first questions, and myself, Lorna, and Graham will attempt to answer those as as you present them. Brilliant. Thank you, James. We'll start with the presubmissive ones, and then we'll come to the room. Then we'll have a look and see if there's anything else that hasn't been covered that's coming online. The first question is, why did you announce that you needed funding prior to getting the funds in?

37:57 Yeah. This is a really important question and a really important topic. Funding situation that we found ourselves in has come about due to a number of factors. It had to be announced, without delay, because of the AIM and the market abuse regulations in order to avoid creating a false market in the company's shares. We had no choice. It it is part of the regulatory environment that we operate in. And whilst it would have been preferable to announce a completed fundraise at the same time, it wasn't possible. And the funding situation that will be required will be announced in the future. I would also add that for any investors that are here in the room, we have our nomad here. Scott is here, and we'll happily answer any questions regarding the regulatory environment that we're operating in.

38:56 Second third question. How much funding do you need? How long will it last? And what are the funds for? The amount of the funding required is still being decided and dependent on the work program going forward. The initial funding will look to ensure that we can successfully deliver a completed well at Itambuda. We would like to return to tier three and deepen that well, as Lorna has explained, but that will completely depend on the funding available. Are you currently running a fundraiser at Marketing Roadshow, and when will it be completed by? Well, as you can imagine, this is a very sensitive topic. We announced on the December 5, as I've just alluded to, that we've approached by a number of interested parties who would like to invest.

39:47 Since then, we've had a number of conversations with them and our nomad as well as other potential investors as to how to best raise funding for the future. As such, and right now, those conversations remain ongoing. And are you planning to offer this to existing investors? Well, as in the last raise, we would certainly hope to offer that to existing investors. It depends on the the opportunity, and it depends on the chosen mechanism that goes forward, but it is our desire and our intention of offering it to all existing shareholders and investors. What is the group's cash position?

40:33 Graham, I'll ask you to Yeah. Sure. As I've just alluded to, we had $9,600,000 at the end of June this year. And we raised a further $7,900,000 gross in September. Since then, as I've said, we have drilled the well. So unfortunately, I'm not able to say anything more than that other than the fact that we do still have cash, but we are looking and seeking to raise further funds as being announced. How much did the rig cost? I'll I'll take that. So we haven't disclosed that amount. It is obviously a commercially sensitive number, and we are subject to conditions in the sale and purchase purchase agreement. However, as I alluded to in the presentation, we have saved substantial cost on mobilizing and demobilizing a rig from outside of Africa by by securing our own.

41:32 And we will continue to save those costs every time we do we do require a lot of rig, and that's a very important part. And why did you buy the rig? Yeah. Again, probably already answered. You know, it's it's a long longer term strategy here. I think if we I'd hope that everyone in the room and and online will acknowledge that if we hadn't bought the rig when we did, again, despite the problems it's caused us, we potentially still wouldn't have a have a hole in the ground and and data out of it. We potentially would be sat here waiting to use another rig off the back of someone else or still trying to secure a rig in in with the budget we had available. So, again, at the time, it certainly was the right right decision. And as I mentioned in the presentation, it gives us optionality going forward.

42:22 Is Lorna really the right CEO for the job? K. I I think I better answer that. Absolutely. Lorna is the right person to be CEO for this company. Her performance, her dedication, especially over the last few months, has been second to none as we all knew it would be. You know, I've known Lorna for a decade now, and I've seen her commitment to the work that she undertakes. And her commitment to our company, HELIUM ONE, is no different to other companies that I've seen her work in. She has the technical expertise. She has the understanding of the assets. Operationally, she's very strong. And while she's not been a CEO before, she's got the full backing of the board as well as the board's expertise, which is wide ranging.

43:11 Another one. Why did you not team up with Noble Helium? Surely, would have led to significant cost synergies. Yeah. We have had a cooperation agreement in place with Noble. We are certainly not enemies, quite the opposite. We've supported one another during both recent campaigns, and both companies have have helped each other out. We did talk to them about potential synergies of of a rig share rig share. Unfortunately, at the time, you know, both companies went their separate ways on a solution because both companies had to fulfill their individual strategies. So, you know, if for I just touched on earlier. They've obviously secured they secured the Marriott rig. Yes. We could have come in off the back of that. But as I said, you know, that's only just finished drilling their wells, and we'd probably only be spudding our first well now, which was was not something that that we we wished to to go down.

44:05 Having our own rig certainly will offer us an an an, you know, optionality in the future and hopefully fast tracking any discovery into development. What are you doing about improving your communications? Want me to answer that? Or Well, I I I'm happy to to answer that, James. We both can. So, obviously, over the the past few months, we have communicated to and updated the market in all aspects. As James already touched on, you know, we are Nomad regulated, as I'm sure those of you in the room here in London will appreciate. We've updated our aspects of the rig acquisition through to the drilling campaign. Obviously, those updates are supplemented by PR and IR interviews where where appropriate.

44:52 We also have our social media platforms where we update accordingly. You know, we feel that we do keep the market well appraised. We get we get we do get mixed messages. Some feel that we undercommunicate, others feel that we overcommunicate. So, you know, it is about adopting that balance. But personally, I work very closely with our PR company, TavaSock, and and we believe that we are communicating appropriately. As a sign of confidence to shareholders, are the board willing to purchase more shares themselves? Well, this is something we will obviously be looking at individually. It's something that all board members will consider, but I'd like to point out that all board members in the previous funding round participated.

45:38 As you know, it's dependent on every individual's personal circumstances, and they'll have to make that decision at the time. On October 17, the Tanzanian government tweeted about working with HELIUM ONE to work together in overlapping licenses at the AESI Wenburn block. Why was there no company RNS at the same time? Do you want to do that? Yep. So those licenses are licenses that we applied for earlier in the year. They have not yet been ratified. And because they have not yet been ratified, we have not announced them. As and when they are, we we will certainly be making an appropriate announcement. Why did the company establish East Africa Holdings Limited on 11/21/2023?

46:26 Okay. So that's actually linked to the previous question. So that is as a result of those applications. East Africa Holdings is actually a wholly owned subsidiary of HELIUM ONE GLOBAL, and that was set up in advance of these applications in order for us to secure them under as new licenses. It's actually under Tanzanian law. Each subsidiary is only allowed a certain number of of licenses, and they cannot exceed a certain square kilometers. And as I said, we will update the market accordingly as and when that is appropriate. Will the board be taking salary reductions due to this tough financial period? Well, this is something that is constantly under review. We have embarked on a cost cutting exercise.

47:14 We have reduced our staffing. We have reduced the number on the board already, and it's something that is constantly under review and will remain so. How much have the rig repairs cost? So the actual rig repairs have not been particularly material. The most expensive item is is the iron roughneck, and the indirect cost is far greater as all of those short term costs continue to accrue while the rig is on standby. So it's actually the spread rate that is actually the sort of incremental cost that adds up whilst not operating. Why were none of these issues picked up in new audits before you purchased the rig? So as I mentioned earlier in the presentation, the the rig audit, as robust as it was, they didn't obviously actually drill a well.

48:06 And the rig had had been cold stacked for for a couple of years, and so therefore, it's only by working it and put it under under pressure that that these problems have have come to light. Also, the problems we have had, so, like, the the gearbox, that that is a a component that's very deep within the rig carrier itself, right within the rig engine. And I think it'd be fair to say that no order is going to pick all of that apart and take everything out. So, you know, it is unfortunately, you know, there is an element of luck involved, and and we have been unlucky. But as I said, we we will continue to to troubleshoot and resolve these. And whilst it is frustrating in the long term, we are understanding and learning more and more about this rig, and hope that those problems will become less and less as we move forward.

48:52 Has drill rig been through a full maintenance check? And should we now see no major issues going forward? Yes. I've probably just answered that in the previous question. Once the iron roughneck is installed, we will commence rigging up at the Itambulla site. And as a part of that as part of that rigging up process, there will be a full maintenance check prior to spud. Will you be able to get a crew for Itambulla? Absolutely. A number of our crew, although they've been demobilized in the interim to keep costs down, they're very very keen to come back. When I was out of sight myself, a number of them approached me personally and and said how much they've enjoyed working the project, and they they very much want to be involved with the second well and subsequent wells. So all of the logistics are in place.

49:38 These applications, travel plans, etcetera, are poised to to pull the trigger on so that we can we can get the crew back as soon as possible. Regarding the double failure of the roughneck and hydraulics, have any costs been recovered from the vendor? No. This is something that was not not written into the sales purchase agreement and and and nor and nor would it be. Are Baker Hughes still contracted for the second drill even though it was dragged into next year? And were they contracted for back to back drills in September, October, November this year? Have Baker Hughes vacated the site? So the personnel have, as I've just alluded to, to keep costs down, but their equipment is still very much there, and we certainly have plans to use them again for the second well. We are in active discussions with them regarding how we best approach that, but at the moment, we will be using Baker Hughes.

50:32 Has the chance of hitting free gas reduced considering both Helium Ones and Noble Helium have only hit Fizz gas stroke up brine so far? So, obviously, I can't comment on on Noble's results. I only know what they put out in the public domain, and and their their data is is obviously their data. I mentioned, you know, we're targeting those faults. We believe that there is potential for the for the helium to be in solution, which does slightly change sort of our commercial model and and and and production production sort of profiles going forward. However, it's not impossible. There are proven commercial helium projects in the world that are producing helium from from alongside water.

51:21 However, you know, at Isabella, we're not just targeting the faults. We are still targeting the conventional traps in the lake beds in the tertiary section and also the deeper Karoo and basement. What are the big operational lessons learned from acting as operator on the tie well, and what are you doing to mitigate the same issues from happening again? What controls have we got in place to respond to these issues arising should the mitigation measures not be suitable or sufficient? So I think as I touched on in the presentation, you know, TIE three, we have learnt a lot. Despite the setbacks, we were successful in in logging that well and acquiring a downhole sample, which had always been the primary well objectives for Taiwan. Taiwan, we weren't able to do that because we didn't have the right the right type of rig. We do have the right type of rig.

52:09 Problems aside, it is more than capable of drilling these wells. It can drill down to two and a half kilometers quite comfortably, and and none of our prospects are are exceeding those depths. As I mentioned earlier, you know, any any form of data recovery is is a huge a huge bonus. It allows us to better understand what we're drilling, and we will apply those learnings on each well to subsequent wells, which is what we're demonstrating here with with Iton Bulle. Does the board believe they have adequate experience to perform the operator role going forward? Just because we have been on operations in the past where holes have been drilled by an operator doesn't strictly mean we have the skills or experience to perform this role. Well, I I say we have absolutely the high highly experienced team that is required to deliver a complex operational program such that we have as well as all the corporate activity that is required to accompany that.

53:07 We've got a great mix of experience both on the board and in the operational team, both from the city and the oil and gas industry. I think it is worth me adding that, you know, I've got thirty five years of experience in the oil and gas world, and I have to say, including operating and drilling and as being successful in Tanzania, I have to say that the team that we've had on Tire 3 is one of the most hardworking, committed, and devoted set of individuals that I've ever seen on a drill floor on a drill rig operation and really is commendable to the whole team and and leadership. Do you feel the Noble Helium have stolen the march on you, especially as they have spudded two wells and raised Australian dollars 14,000,000?

54:02 Well, again, you know, it's not my position to to comment on on our peers and their activities. I guess, you know, ultimately, it's it's not a race. I I don't see it as a race. Helium is in in huge demand and will continue to continue to be. This is about two separate independent parties drilling in a manner that's that's optimal to them and their and their their circumstances and their overriding strategy. I guess from from from my point of view or our point of view, I I don't believe this. I think we, you know, we have delivered our strategy and and phase two program in the constraints and and and challenges we've we've had. And as I keep alluding to in accordance with with our regulations, which has has proved up further the potential of our assets going forward.

54:49 And, again, I keep laboring the point by by having this rig, you know, it does provide us optionality going forward. James, that was the end of the pre submitted questions. Well, you probably haven't had time to review those online, but I think, yeah, we'll open to the floor. Those members are present, if anybody has further questions they'd like to ask, please state your name and pose your question. Yes, sir. Yes. My name is Bill Miller. I've heard several reports that there will cost several runs for over $4,000,000 in the first group. Would the board like to comment on that, especially with finance? Mister chairman, may I just before you speak, just ask if you could just paraphrase that for those online just so we can make sure we can hear the questions. Thank you.

55:37 Okay. The question is he the individual asking the question has heard that there's a $4,000,000 overrun on the first well. He would like the CFO to comment on the accuracy of that. Thank you for your question. I can cert I can certainly confirm that there have been cost overruns. Those cost overruns, as Lorna referred to earlier, reflect not necessarily and not just the cost of repairing rigs, but the logistics that go with it. It's a very remote location. Equipment and spares are not available from the nearest town. These things invariably come from a great distance, and the costs we've incurred reflect those logistical challenges and issues.

56:25 As for the quantum, given the situation we are currently in with regards to fundraising, we I'm not in a fortunate position to be able to comment on that. The numbers were substantial, I'm not in a position to actually provide this specific number. Next question, please. My name is David Robertson. It's been over a week since the RNS went out for fundraising. You just said we've got cash. Is there a good reason why we don't know now how much we need? We do know, and we are finalizing those numbers. We will be making some announcements shortly, but we cannot say in this meeting here today exactly what those numbers are. So is.

57:14 Similar question, really. I mean, as Lloyd said earlier, that's you know, there are always issues with drilling. It also mentioned the fact that despite the fact that we did an audit on the rig, even that that wasn't a drill. That wasn't in real life as it were. It seemed really unfortunate that we're going back to market for more money only two months after we did the first round. It seems strange to me that we didn't actually already have enough wiggle room for that first round that first round of funding to get through these issues. Who's to say that, well, client see result was what's the word? We don't have a defined result for that. If we go through into and we're in exactly the same position, who's to say, when we go there for more money, I mean, our current market cap is about £13,000,000, and the balance sheet is hardly huge.

58:13 So on what basis could we then look forward if we don't get a result from Where do we then go? So I'll just try and summarize your question, sir. Basically, if we don't get a result on Itambula, where do we go next is your your challenge. And, Lorna, do you wanna Yes. So we so we have the option of deepening type three. As I mentioned, the HELIUM, you know, you said it was it was inconclusive. However, you know, we did get a substantial amount of positive information out of that hole. And it indicates to us that the deeper we go into that basement play, which was which was originally a primary target, and if it wasn't for the losses and the breakdown of the iron roughneck, we certainly would have drilled into that basement. That was always the the original well objective.

59:02 So that is an option that we we can still do, obviously, subject to funding. But at the you know, the Etonbula prospect, similar to to Thai, does give us the best chance of of proving up the helium play and concept in this basin. So I'd I'd hope that after the this second well that we we will have a much clearer view. Alright. Oh, the only reason I asked is that, as I said, having to go back to market market for funding twice in less than a quarter is unfortunate. If we can't raise enough money to go into and drill deeper in time three, we're gonna have to go back to market again unless for for whatever we subsequently do. That would be free fundraising in the space of two point with a level reducing market capitalization.

59:51 But so nobody we can't announce what we're raising this round, and we haven't array we haven't announced the final numbers and what it will cover. I I understand the frustration, and it's equally frustrating for us that we can't tell you more. I can assure you, I would love to say more, but we are bound by the regulations, and we cannot enlarge on what we've already said, I'm afraid. Are there any further questions, sir? Yes. I read a report that there's contractual difficulties with Baker Hughes. Would you like to comment on that? The question is there's a suspicion that there's a suspicion that there's con contractual underpayment with Baker Hughes. Could we comment?

1:00:40 Graham, could you take that? I'm just interested where you where you read that. I read it in the market report. Okay. Okay. Contract Baker Hughes, one of our largest contractors. They provide the cementing and wireline services. As is fairly common in in any type of operation of this size and this nature and this this length, there are differences of opinion. At this moment in time, I rewrite those differences opinion and and nothing more. We are their equipment's still on-site, and we're very confident that we'll be utilizing their services as we move forward. So all we're simply doing is, you know, maintaining our position with regards to the use of their services and when and the way in which they were utilized during the during the previous training campaign. So at this point in time, there's there's no there's there's nothing that is a that is a, sorry, major dispute.

1:01:33 Any further questions? Nick, have there been any further online? Online. Have we considered farm out options? Lorna, have we considered farm out options? Yes. That is something that we have considered. And we did we did put together a data room, and we did have some interest earlier this year, which was which was very encouraging. However, subsequently, there was no no deal that that that came out of that. But the interested parties we did have in are very much watching watching us closely and and are keen to to touch base at a later date as and when the world results evolve.

1:02:22 Another one. Are there any examples of green helium projects in production today similar to HELIUM ONE strategy, or would this be a world first? As I mentioned, we are we are globally unique. There are other HELIUM projects in in their sort of infancy where they are chasing similar gas mix, so without the hydrocarbon gas. But the majority of commercial projects at the moment that are in production are very much associated with with methane and very low concentrations of helium, actually. Some of the the bigger commercial projects in The US, you know, less than 1% helium, but it's it's working because they're producing it as a by project byproduct of the hydrocarbons. So, yes, we are positioned in a in a globally globally unique base.

1:03:12 And the final one is what words of comfort do you have for shareholders who are underwater given the terrible share price? So I think, you know, going forward, we are focused on overcoming our our funding issues as as Graham's alluded to. And, hopefully, as you've heard today, you know, you'll be comforted by the fact that we are very much committed to drilling this second well. We we we have everything ready to go. I'm confident the rig will be back up and running shortly. And we are very much looking forward to getting the Itambilla prospect drilled and seeing what that will yield for the company. Thank you, Nick. That concludes the questions from the IMC. Are there any further questions from the floor?

1:04:00 If not, I propose that we close the meeting and thank all members for their attending attendance, both at the IMC and in person. So with that, I'll hand back to Paul close the meeting. Fantastic. Thank you very much indeed for updating attendees today. Can I please ask attendees online not to close the session? It should be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that the board can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete, and that is greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the board of HELIUM ONE GLOBAL LTD, I'd like to thank you for attending today's annual general meeting proceedings, and good morning to you all.