Tharisa (JSE:THA) — Final Results

0:00 Good morning, and welcome to the THARISA PLC results investor presentation. Throughout this quarter presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged, and they can be submitted at any time by the Q and A tab situated in the right corner of your screen. Simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives in the meeting itself, but the company can view the questions submitted today and publish responses where it's appropriate to do so. Before we begin, I'd like to submit the following poll. I'd now like to hand you over to CEO, Fivas Perulis. Good morning, sir. Good morning, and welcome, everyone, to this our year end results for the financial year ending twenty twenty five, September. I'd like to start off with our mission statement or benevolent intent, which is clearly articulated on the slide, which states that we look to redefine resources, we innovate with purpose, and we look to empower futures.

0:56 And, really, this is the theme that I'd like to carry through while we run through this results presentation. This is the agenda for this morning, running through primarily the financial highlights, but also looking at our business as a whole and the strategic imperatives in the vision 2030. So if we look at our business, we believe that we are resilient today. We are future ready. We have a strong balance sheet that supports our vision 2030. And what is our vision 2030? It's to deliver on our expansion and growth plans and opportunities and to commercialize the technologies and solutions that we've been working on through our novel processes, which we'll unpack later on in this presentation.

1:44 So when we talk about empowering futures responsibly, it really is core to our values, and underpinning this is safety. We're an integrated resources group that covers the full value chain of exploration, mining, processing, beneficiation, marketing, sales, and logistics for both platinum group metals and chrome concentrates. Our commitment to sustainable growth and impactful investment not only returns value to shareholders, but lifts performance, strengthens community relationships, and builds long term sustaining partnerships. And with this comes our disciplined growth strategy, which ultimately leads to disciplined returns, ensuring that we have sustainable multigenerational value.

2:37 So we just touch on our key highlights for the financial year 2025. Safety as our core value really, excelled. We had a lost time injury frequency rate at the THARISA mine of point zero three incidents per 200,000 man hours worked and zero incidents at the Cara Platinum mine site, which is a hive of activity which we'll share with you later in the presentation. We were also acknowledged, at two events, the MINDSafe, awards here in South Africa for the best improved safety performance for over for open cast mining over the past three years and a double silver award at the 2025 NSSA safety and health workers award in Zimbabwe Harare.

3:26 Also very pleasing to note is that the THARISA mine is the first level nine compliant mine in South Africa and, in fact, is a test site and a role model for other open cast miners to come and see technology and the advantages that it does provide in terms of safety and well-being and general efficiency improvements. Later on, we'll unpack in a lot more detail the developments that we've undertaken during this financial year. But just to highlight them, we've commenced and begun our transition to underground at the THARISA Mine. We've committed a massive $547,000,000 worth of investment over the next decade. This is underpinned by a new facility of a $130,000,000 that was signed with Standard Bank and Absa Bank, and our Karo Platinum Mine site is developing in line with the capital that we've allocated, and we continue to derisk that project.

4:27 So when we talk about redefining resources, it really talks to our coproduction model, which is unique in its inception and in its origination, and that is the coproduction of platinum group metals and chrome concentrates from the middle group reef horizons. But to set the context for the year, we averaged a PGM basket price of some $1,615 per ounce for the year, which was up 18.6% from the prior year. Contrary to that, our metallurgical chrome grade price was down some 11% to $266 per ton. So this set the scene then for our revenue, which came in at $602,900,000, EBITDA at a $187,300,000, with a net profit after tax of $80,800,000 for the year.

5:23 Pleasing to note is net cash from operating activities at some $94,000,000 with a vast and extensive capital expenditure for the year of some $118,500,000, which includes $33,500,000 invested into Cara Platinum. We ended the financial year with cash and cash equivalents of a $175,100,000, all of this resulting in headline earnings per share of some 27.5 US cents. And we're pleased to note that the board have approved and recommend to the shareholders an additional 1.5 US cent final year end dividend coupled with a half year 1.5¢ already paid out to a total of 3 US cents for the year.

6:13 And this, including the share buyback, is a return of 17.2% of net profit after tax to shareholders. I think Michael will unpack in some detail the favorable mining royalty credit that we achieved in a landmark victory in terms of the reversal of our mining royalty at some $67,300,000. When we look at the impact we have and the jobs that we create through our investments, which have a major impact, Our group employees and contractors amounted to some 4,483 people for the financial year, of which 27% of those were female employees.

7:01 We provided 35 adult learnership bursaries and internships for the year, and this is something very close to our heart where we look to share, educate, and allow upliftment in terms of adult education for those that are interested from our communities and our employees. In terms of our impact to the Fiscus, currency inflows of some $430,500,000, that's direct and indirect, inflows, with global direct indirect taxes and royalties of some 31,700,000. I think an astounding number and something we're very proud of is the amount of money we spend on BE historically disadvantaged individuals, women, and triple BEE compliant procurement of some $331,100,000, a significant, contribution to these up and coming growing enterprises.

7:58 We spent on local and host community suppliers some $2,600,000, And, also, we attract most of our employment from the host communities in excess of 40% of our employees come from the host communities. Included in that is our commitment to our SLP programs and CSI initiatives where we spent some $1,100,000 during the financial year. So moving on to our commodities and really what underpins our investment case. And we look at the spot prices today of the THARISA PGM basket, which sits at 2,215 compared to a price for the financial year of just over $1,600, a pleasing improvement in terms of that PGM basket price as well as the KARA PGM basket price at some $2,024.

8:53 And we'll unpack the pro splits and the differences between the Bushveld Complex, particularly on the MG Reefs and the main sulfide zone of the Great Daikan, Zimbabwe. But, ultimately, you can see here the fundamental nature of PGMs and the role they have played and they will play in decarbonizing the planet. And if we look at the catalytic properties and applications, they are vast and varied. But what's really supported platinum and palladium demand is really the rollback of battery electric vehicle penetration, the tightening of global emission standards, and the pivot to hybrid vehicle production and demand. And this has really supported the baseloads demand of those very key and fundamental platinum group metals, including rhodium.

9:44 But, also, we've seen resilient industrial demand from the chemical and petrochemical, electronic sectors, fiberglass, and glass sectors supporting rhodium amongst, platinum and palladium as well. We're very heartened by future technologies, particularly hydrogen, electrolyzers, fuel cells, which have a strong outlook for demand for platinum and iridium. Ruthenium is an interesting test case because it has always been used in hard disk storage and with the advent of data centers proliferating and the investment that we see going into artificial intelligence has been the big demand driver for data storage, and rhodium has a massive role to play. And we've seen that with the price appreciation over the last twelve months, and we believe there's a lot more upside potential for that.

10:36 I think what really shocked the market and really supported, platinum was the investment demand and jewelry demand primarily coming out of China. And we continue to see, continuous supply deficits, and what this means that aboveground inventories are being destocked, and we're starting to see tightness in the market supporting the higher PGM basket prices that we're seeing. So if we come closer to home now and we look at the favorable THARISA Minerals pro split on a six e basis, you'll see that platinum constitutes almost 53%, palladium at just under 16%, but quite remarkably rhodium at 10.5%. And Michael will talk about the impact of that 10.5% in terms of our revenue.

11:25 Very little gold, very nice ruthenium at 16%, iridium at four and a half percent. Moving to the Great Dike, you'll see that there's quite a different makeup with platinum at 43.5, palladium at 38.3%, rhodium at 3.8%, gold significantly more at 8.6%, ruthenium at 3.8%, and iridium at 1.9%. So very nice blend and basket across both jurisdictions. Moving on to our other key commodity, which is chrome, which is really pivotal to decarbonizing the planet. Again, if we look at the applications in terms of construction steels, white good manufacturing and infrastructure, special alloys, special steels application, heat and corrosion resistant applications, we see a continued growth in terms of stainless steel, has surprised always to the upside in terms of manufacturing as well as demand. And this is not just an Asia centric story. It is a global growth phenomenon.

12:36 And we start seeing applications in renewable energies as well in the desalination plants, solar, wind, hydro, redox flow, which we'll unpack later one of our key investments and and huge upside potentials, electrolysis, storage of energy, as well as pollution control. And what makes stainless steel and chrome, hugely, environmentally friendly is that it's 100% recyclable. So South Africa plays a vital role. As we know, the Bushveld Complex contains more than 72% of the world's resources. And what's really been interesting to note is that we've had a fantastic growth story in terms of our South African chrome manufacturing of concentrates and chrome ores at some 9.6 compounded annual growth rate over the last decade.

13:30 And this is in the context of a struggling ferrochrome industry, and there's been a lot of talk and noise around intervention from government in the form of either a quota or a tax. And, ultimately, we, along with our peer group, believe that any intervention is most probably misguided and really doesn't talk to the root cause of the challenge, which is the cost of electricity. We know that electricity prices over the last decade have gone up some 900%. And, really, the answer to enable the sustainability of the existing ferrochrome producers whom we support and, really look to find a solution for their current challenges is really the cost of electricity. And that not only will enable and support existing capacity, but will also stimulate beneficiation.

14:20 And as you'll see later on, we have a very clear beneficiation strategy which looks at some unique and novel approaches to beneficiation of both PGMs and chrome concentrates in South Africa and the region. I'd like to hand over now to Michael, who will run through the financial highlights of the year. Michael, over to you. Thank you, Pheboz, and good morning. Welcome to all those who have joined for our financial results presentation for this financial year ended 09/03/2025. When I reflect back on this year, I think one of the key themes to me was our continued investment, not only sustainability of operations, but also in the growth of our projects for multi generations to come. And that includes underground transition at the Trees And Minerals mine, the Cora Pattern project and the commercialization of the R and D at Arco Metals.

15:16 Again, co product business model has reinforced our resilience effectively with the PGM basket price, as Firos mentioned, strengthening by some 18.14% year on year and the chrome price while staying basically range bound reducing by some 11%. We have continued to be net cash flow generative with cash flow from operations of $94,000,000 and our sorry, our cash and cash equivalents standing at $175,100,000 as of September 30. We have continued to maintain our capital discipline and we've invested, as mentioned, beyond 2030 with multigenerational sustainability.

16:01 And to support this, and we'll touch it in more detail later, we have secured an additional $130,000,000 of term loan and revolving credit facilities principally to fund the underground transition and the mining fleets. Final proposed dividend for the year, 01/05, which matches interim dividend and aligns our dividend policy. And in the process of successfully concluding our second $5,000,000 share repurchase program, which as of September 30 was 87% complete. Looking at revenue for the year, the revenue for the year at $602,900,000 again key contributor being the chrome at 57.2% and this is an FCA basis, in other words we strip out the costs of inland logistics and freight, which is prime destination for that chrome is the Chinese market.

16:55 Just touching on the graph on the bottom right, you'll see the major production output is on the metallurgical grade just under 87% and the balance is specialty grade at 11.3%, which is a higher value item. Just doing some of the actual numbers themselves, the sales just under 1,400,000 tons at an average price of $266 per ton and that's on a CIF main ports China basis. The PGMs contributed just under 40% to our overall revenue. And if you look at the graph on the bottom left, you will see that platinum remained the major contributor, 38%. And while rhodium comprised less than 10% of our pro spreads, the very strong price performance has resulted in a contributing in excess of 36% to our overall revenue from PGMs.

17:46 Numbers again, 137,005 ounces sold at an average PGM basket price of $16.15 dollars per ounce. If you look at the spot price today, this one was trading at $2,215 so that's continued its upward trend. This is quite a busy slide. We're to touch on some of the numbers on it. I think very pleasing is the reef tonnes mined, up 15.3% at 5,300,000 tonnes. And if you look at the graph alongside, you're starting the benefit of that from the cost side. Ore purchases were only less than 4% of our on mine cash costs and that's a direct consequence of the improvements in our reef tonnes mined. Cost per reef tonne mined, very well maintained from a cost perspective, up 3.5% at $41.7 per tonne. Tonnes milled relatively flat at the 5,500,000 tonnes.

18:41 And then the on mine cash cost per tonne milled increasing 12.9% to $59.7 per tonne. Our logistics team has done a remarkable job over the year and well managed on our inland logistics and freight costs and with a slight reduction year on year at $83.2 per tonne. We do operate in a rand environment for Theresa Minerals and normally benefit from a weakening of the exchange rate. We had no such benefit over this past year with in fact a marginal strengthening in the average exchange rate to R18.1 to the dollar, straight to some 2.4%. We are a co producer of both platinum group metals and chrome concentrates. Be free to say what is the all in cost per platinum ounce sold, so in others we take the credits from chrome and all the other platinum group elements including the palladium and rhodium and such like, you get a negative $445 per platinum ounce.

19:39 When we calculate that sustaining cost, we do take out the cost of the transition to underground mining as well as the core of platinum project. If we then turn around and say let's do it on an all in cost per PGM ounce sold, that's on a 6E basis, we apply the same metrics and calculations, you get a cost of $571 per ounce. I really like this graph because I do believe that it reflects very nicely the history of the company over the past year. We started for the EBITDA of 2024 and that is $177,600,000 You'll see the favorable impact of the PGM prices offset by reduction in chrome volumes and then the impact of the chrome price, fairly significant, but take into account the overall volume sold and that is a reduction in price of 11%.

20:33 Increase in absolute mining cost and you would have seen on the previous slide the increase in the reef tons mined And that really offsets a lot of the mining commodities, which is a purchase run of mine ore. So there's almost an offset on that basis. And then savings on the processing costs and selling expenses, and we'll touch shortly on the mining royalties, resulting over an increase in our EBITDA by 5.5% to $187,300,000 Our gross profit for the year amounted to 191,300,000 and a gross profit margin of 31.7%. If however, we do offset the mining royalty credit, it does impact on the gross profit percent reducing it to 20.6% year on year, but still a very healthy gross profit percentage in those circumstances.

21:29 I'm going to touch briefly on the mining royalty credit, but I think before we start here just to touch on the accounting side of it. The mining royalty itself is not a tax. It is a lease charge paid for the consumption of the resource to the government, and therefore, it is a charge to the cost of sales on the income statement and not on the tax charge. The matter at hand relates to 2015 2017 dispute with the South Revenue Services on the interpretation application of the Mining Royalty Act. This eventually ended up in a tax court. We're very pleased to get a favorable ruling from the tax authorities and we also engaged with the staff and memory services there afterwards and we have agreed the basis of implementing the court judgment.

22:17 And this is resulting in a reversal of a previous provision that we had of some $67,300,000 which is a credit to cost of sales. As a consequence, you have a royalty receivable of some $13,600,000 and of course, increased income tax and income tax impact of some $18,200,000 but a very favorable outcome and one that is going to stand us in good stead in the years to come. In effect, what it did, it reduced the mining royalty payable to the minimum percentage over this period to 0.5%. Over this past year, spent $118,500,000 in our capital expenditure and that is both in sustaining operations as well as growth projects. I'm just touching some of the key numbers there, dollars 33,500,000 invested in Cora Platinum, dollars 12,600,000 is a fairly nominal amount to date on the underground development as we commence that transition, and then $800,000 on the deferred stripping. The prior year was some $65,000,000 on deferred stripping.

23:25 Group capital commitments as of September 30, dollars 79,600,000 of which Coro Platinum comprised 25,000,000 Just look at the year ahead, capital budget of CAD165.9 million. This excludes Coro Platinum. We'll touch on Coro Platinum in more detail in the presentation. But effectively, once the funding is closed, there will be a strong acceleration in the spend on Coro Platinum. And we also excluded the deferred stripping to really focus on the actual capital items that we're investing in. You'll notice there on the charts on the right that the largest expenditure at the moment is underground development at CAD76.7 million as we accelerate that capital spend. There's also an increase in assets and infrastructure and importantly the R and D innovation as we start commercializing some of the downstream research results from Aker Metals.

24:22 Our balance sheet has remained strong through this period with cash and cash equivalents of $175,100,000 generation of cash from operations $94,000,000 and net cash of $69,800,000 The table on the right, I think, really reflected quite nicely if you have a look at the depiction there. So net cash from operations 94,000,000 sustaining capital of $77,000,000 so free cash flow, offices investing in sustaining operations of $17,000,000 The 44,000,000 odd on the growth projects and a marginal negative free cash flow for the year of $27,000,000 Total debt is $105,300,000 over short term is $74,000,000 And also on the pie charts on the bottom right, that's a bond of 26.2% is a large portion of that.

25:10 Subsequent to the financial reporting period, we have negotiated and agreed with the bondholders to extend that bond by further three years with redemption '1 December 2028. So that will be transferred back into a long term debt facility. Our commodity prices are dollar based, that's both patent group methods and chrome concentrates. So we have a tendency to have a bias towards dollar based debt, 67.4% is U. S. Dollar denominated. It does have a natural hedge element. As mentioned, our balance sheet remains healthy, current ratio of two times and a net debt to equity of a favorable 8.2%. We do have undrawn facilities as of September 30 of $76,600,000 and that excludes the trade finance facilities.

26:03 We pride ourselves on our commitment to capital discipline, in particular, the return of funds to shareholders. We have proposed interim dividend of $0.15 per share to align with the sorry, final dividend of $0.15 per share. It aligns with interim dividend and is after due consideration for the mine royalty credit, which is to a large extent a non cash flow item. If we include the share repurchase program, it is a payment of 17.2% of our consolidated profit after tax. Over the past ten years, we have distributed 119,800,000 as distributions to shareholders. This excludes the two share repurchase programs. The one completed, I think it was last year, 5000087% complete as at the end of the financial year on the second run, which is again has been a very successful outcome overall.

26:57 I'd like to now hand over back to PheVos. Thank you. Thank you, Michael. So we move on now to our expansion projects and really taking a snapshot view of our facilities across the globe. So Redox One, which is our long duration energy storage business, is situated in Dortmund in Germany. Moving south to Harari, where we have our Cara platinum project situated on the Great Dike, and then into THARISA Minerals in the southwestern limb of the Bushveld Complex. Adjacent to the mine is the Arco Metals Renewable Energy Center, where we do renewable energy projects as well as the manufacturing of the e light for the redox one batteries. And then in Brits, not too far from the mine, we have our Arco Metals beneficiation site.

27:47 And then we utilize three ports for the export of our commodities, Maputo in Mozambique, Richards Bay, and Durban from South Africa. So as mentioned, we look to unlock multigenerational value, and the transition to underground was always envisaged when we embarked on the Theresa Minerals mine. We will start in a phased approach on the West Mine, which is illustrated in the photograph there, and we are currently busy, with the, portal make safe, and we envisage that our first ore from this Apollo Complex portal will be delivered in q two of this financial year financial year 2026, achieving steady state three years thereafter in q three of f y twenty twenty nine. The Apollo Portal Complex, just to remind everybody, is a dual, reef complex on the M G 2 and M G 4 seams with a three meter cut respectively in each of those, portal developments.

28:56 The average monthly run of mine or reef production will be 255,000 tons per month at that steady state level. As we transition, and start depleting the open pit, we will commence with the Orion portal development in the East Mine, and, that will deliver our first ore in the fourth quarter of financial year twenty thirty one, thereafter reaching steady state in q three of financial year twenty thirty three. At that point in time, the Teresa Complex and mine will be fully underground and will be sustainable for at least fifty to sixty years in terms of the current mine plans on that trajectory. You'll see that the Orion Portal Complex is limited to 210,000 tons per month, and that's purely a function of our nameplate processing capacity, which is 5,600,000 tons. However, it is designed to match the Apollo at 255,000 tons, and there is potential for us to increase our throughput to over 6,000,000 tons per annum of processing capacity.

30:08 So just to look at the numbers and the strategic capital investment over the next decade, the capital allocated to Apollo is some $363,000,000, followed thereafter in the timeline I just outlined by the Orion complex at a $184,000,000. Due to the fact that we're doing on reef development and will be generating income, we have a peak funding number that is considerably lower at some $173,000,000 over the period of the underground development. Our DFS has given us an all in sustaining cost, of mining, including capital development of $40, $40.8 per ton. Michael has mentioned the cash on hand at a $175,000,000 and the ring fenced funding of a $130,000,000 for the underground coupled with asset backed finance of some $45,000,000.

31:04 Even though we are going with a contractor mining model, we will be acquiring and purchasing the mining fleet for the underground, so that it will remain our assets. I think what's pleasing to note is that the DFS kicked out an IRR of 25% assuming a PGM basket price of $1,633 per ounce. You can imagine that today's $2,200 per ounce, the IRR is significantly improved. So when we look at the THARISA minerals and the THARISA mine annual output, you can see us incrementally growing as we transition to less diluted, more consistent, fresh ore from the underground, achieving our 2,000,000 tons of chrome concentrate and 200,000 ounce per year of PGMs on a sustainable basis from 2033 onwards.

32:00 And we believe we can maintain that run rate for the duration of the underground operations, some fifty years as mentioned. So moving to the Great Dike Of Zimbabwe, we really have been blessed and endowed with a tier one resource. It is only one of two major PGM projects under construction worldwide in a sector that we well know is facing growing deficit. What is our vision here is to become a globally significant low cost producer of these very key and precious metals, including some significant base metal credits of copper, nickel, and cobalt. When we talk about responsible growth, we talk about balancing profitability with environmental care and, importantly, the community benefit and upliftment, that a project and an ecosystem of this magnitude can provide.

32:53 The long term impact here is that we'll be positioned very much like the THARISA mine to provide multigenerational output and value creation. So we're situated in the middle chamber of the Great Dye Complex in Zimbabwe, some 100 kilometers Southwest of Harare. The phase one operation is planned to produce 2,640,000 tons of run of mine per annum, generating some 220,000 PGM ounces on an annualized basis. Our resources and reserves in the open pit, which is a ten year life, which is our phase one, twelve million ounces of resource, 2,300,000 ounces of reserve with a total resource that includes underground of 96,000,000 ounces with a potential, again, of some fifty years.

33:50 In terms of infrastructure, we've secured the water. Electricity supply agreement is secured. We have a renewable energy program of 40 MVA solar to be installed, post commissioning, and we have very easy access, in from with toll roads from Harare. What is really pleasing to note is that this project has substantially been derisked. We've drilled some 60 kilometers of diamond core geological exploration drilling, with a high confidence. We have already defined the ten year open pit mine, and that plan is complete with an underground drilling infill program, to confirm the fifty year potential as well as the feasibility study, which will follow, the infill drilling campaign, which is well underway.

34:44 All metallurgical test work has been concluded, and we have a great degree of confidence in our recoveries of both PGMs and base metals from the lock cycle test work that has been completed. In terms of infrastructure and mining, you'll see an aerial flow today. Substantial work has been done to date. Design and engineering is complete. Earthworks are complete. Civil works are some 68% complete. 90% of all long lead equipment items have been procured and in storage, and and some have been delivered to site like the mills, which have been installed as well as bulk water and power being secured. We did complete a pilot open pit mining, with equipment being tested and selected for the type of open pit mining that we'll be doing. So we've invested to date some $193,000,000, substantially derisking this project, and the capital and operating costs that we have are confirmed well beyond a definitive feasibility study level.

35:48 When we look at, the concentrator area and the infrastructure, we have a vast program to increase the Chirindazi Dam. We commenced that earlier in this year. We're at 27% completion, and that is forecast to be complete in June of next year. The mill building, the steelwork is some 78% complete, forecast to be complete in January. The overhead line, the 132 k v line, 25% of the base stations are complete. 28 of the 130 poles have been installed in terms of the bottom sections, and we forecast this very key and important power supply from the Sulu Substation to be complete in February next year. The MV Building is 37% complete complete forecast completion in June next year, and the LV Building on the wet end is a 100% complete.

36:41 Here's some photographs just to illustrate some of the work that I outlined on the previous presentation, and you'll see the substations, the MV Building, and the complete LV substation building on the bottom left hand side. The aerial view shows the vast footprint that this processing plant and adjacent facilities occupies. You'll see that the primary and secondary mills have been installed on their plinths with the steelwork and support structures being installed as we speak. You'll see on the top right hand and bottom right hand images the Chirindazi Dam, which is an existing dam, and we're expanding that dam, which has a real material positive impact for for farmers, rural farmers in the area, providing them with security of water supply as well as securing our water requirements for the KARA project for decades to come.

37:36 We're very pleased to announce that we've awarded the mining contract to EPSA who are a tier one global mining company that have been in existence since 1962. They're a global enterprise. They do operate in Africa, but this will be their first contract in Zimbabwe. Mobilization has commenced and as well as site establishment, and they've commenced with their onboarding of all the regulatory approvals as well as employees in country. Equipment assembly and delivery will commence early in the New Year, and the first phase is really early waste stripping, which will commence towards the end of q one twenty twenty six. And this was a major milestone achievement for us attracting a mining contractor of this caliber that has a a growing track record from South America to Australia and Africa and Europe.

38:33 I'd like to hand back to Michael now just to touch on the funding update and to provide a context of the current PGM market for you. Thank you. Good. Thank you, Fivas. If we have a look at the ECORA patent portfolio on the funding, Theresa PLC itself has committed equity of $178,000,000 We have secured funding through the bond that's listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange, as mentioned earlier, that has been extended by a three year term, that's $37,000,000 Very pleasing, our senior debt is well advanced. We recently received the, I suppose, the final outstanding work, which was the technical advisers report on the parties received by the lenders and ourselves. That's busy being worked through. So the next step is effectively taking it through to credit.

39:20 The disappointing thing is credit committee is closed in about nine days' time, so it'll probably roll over into the New Year. In conjunction with that senior debt, one of the parties providing mezzanine debt of $25,000,000 that will run-in parallel. And then also, to ensure that we have a fully funded project, we are in discussions with both a strategic investment as well as a gold stream as an alternative to secure some $125,000,000 to ensure that the project is fully funded. I think we just look at the bar charts, the little charts on the bottom below the graph. You'll see that the spot price at the moment, 2,008 per ounce, that's for the car patent pull split. The financial model with an all in sustaining cost of $850 per ounce and therefore very healthy margin at some 45% going forward.

40:08 I think we also look at the graph above. You will also notice that a number of the analysts, analyst one, analyst two in particular are really forecasting further strong recoveries in the PGM basket price. And I think that will all go well for the project going forward. That is a very brief overview of that financing. I'll hand back to Firas. Thank you. Thanks, Michael. So the third well, the second pillar of our benevolent intent is innovating with purpose, and this is something we're very passionate about. And we capture this in our wholly owned subsidiary, Arco Metals, where we've challenged convention over the past decade, and we are busy commercializing five novel mine to metal beneficiation processes.

40:56 I think for a business our size, the commitment and the capital that we've deployed responsibly and in a measured fashion will really bear fruit in the future. These processes have been developed in the house from ideation to laboratory scale test work and to commercial scale operations, including Pyramet as well as Hydromet operations that exist across multiple sites that we occupy or we share with the institutions. So we are constantly looking and evaluating the potential of additional metals and the full value chain contained within our basket of commodities, the polymetallic nature of the ore bodies that we mine.

41:43 The Vulcan complex, I think, is most probably the first full scale commercialization of an in house grown technology where we've successfully commercialized the ultra fine chrome recovery at the THARISA mine and are looking at further opportunities of deployment of these technologies. When we look at so apologies. When we look at the, three routes here of beneficiation, we have the PGM beneficiation route, which looks at us, taking our concentrate that historically we've sold, putting it through a pyromet process, and then processing it and refining it through a novel patented process called the chloroplast process. And we're busy installing our first commercial reactor, to pilot and demonstrate the end to end production of four nine five purity PGM metals.

42:39 In terms of the novel chrome alloy route, we have two routes there. One is a stainless steel route, and the other is a grinding media route. And we've produced both products and, in fact, sold some of the grinding media alloy to to producers of that media. In terms of the energy applications, we have our wholly owned subsidiary, RedoxOne, which I will unpack on the slide here. And we really see a lot of excitement and interest in battery energy storage. And one of the key challenges the world is facing is how do you store all this additional energy that is being generated from renewable energy, be it solar, wind, and even hydro, to a lesser degree to provide baseload power.

43:27 And this is where long duration energy storage systems come in and redox flow in particular. So we've been working on this technology since twenty eighteen, and one of the key developments and and IPs that we have is the ability for us to produce electrolyte from the chrome concentrate that we produce. That electrolyte is a chrome chemical and an iron chemical. And we're taking the cheapest form of the metals, and we're converting them into highly cost competitive electrolyte. Key to these system is that they are inert. There are no environmental challenges, and they're a 100% recyclable. They have a long duration life of some twenty years at minimum. We believe that the electrolyte will continue to perform beyond that.

44:14 But in the event that they are decommissioned, they can be recycled and utilized in in multiple industries. We have undergone rigorous component and electrolyte system testing. And in 2026, we're very excited to deploy the first megawatt scale battery at the THARISA mine at THARISA Minerals and with a further five demonstration units, to be deployed globally. As I say, there's huge interest from multiple jurisdictions and regions around the globe for cost effective, sustainable, long energy duration. When we look at the third pillar, empowering futures, this is something very close to our heart, and we can see the impact that we have not only in the form of employment and sustainable employment at that, but the impact that the supply chain has as well as the multiplier effect and the micro ecosystem that is created around these mining communities.

45:12 And we're in a very privileged position where we have these long life resources that allow us to invest in people, in the environment, and into sustainable security of supply. And as we've seen from the geopolitics and the scramble for these critical minerals, we, as, Theresa, are strategically positioned to provide a secure supply line of these key strategic material materials for generations to come and not only being a secure supplier, but also to be a continuous impact and force for change and positivity in terms of sustainable jobs, sustainable impact, and value creation for all stakeholders.

45:59 So if we look at our core investment thesis, why invest in THARISA? We have an entrenched footprint in strategic commodities that have long life asset bases, and we have exposure to these very unique and special polymetallics of platinum group metals as well as chrome. We have a clear visibility growth to Vision twenty thirty and beyond to deliver and commercialize on our downstream initiatives. We have a resilient balance sheet that is geared for growth, and we're positioned to leverage this efficiently and effectively. Our capital discipline has been, enforced for over a decade where where we've returned significant value to shareholders, and we've been able to fund our pipeline growth.

46:47 And importantly, where we're positioned today, we see fundamental deep value, and this is consistent with delivery and profitability. If you look at our multiples on a price to earnings basis at spot, we're trading at a 4.4 times multiple, price to NAV at point four times NAV, a significant discount to our peers, who are trading, at least three times higher on those multiples. So when we look at where we'll be in 2030 unlocking multi general generational value, we'll be a smarter operation with lower emissions reduced by 30%. The Apollo mine will both be fully operational and at steady state. Orion will be under development.

47:36 Coro Platinum producing 220,000 ounces per annum and with some base metal coextraction commencing at Cora Platinum. Aker Metals would have commercialized and produced final PGMs from the THARISA mine as well as chrome alloy and electrolyte production. Redox one, we would look to deploy one gigawatts of energy storage and be deployed globally. With that, I'd like to recap on our next five years worth of journey, which is to deliver on expansion in terms of our growth opportunities at the THARISA mine and KARA as well as commercialize our technological solutions, redefining resources, innovating with purpose, and empowering futures.

48:26 I'd to thank you for your time and hand over to Ilya for the q and a. Thank you. Thank you, Phoebus. Let me start straight with you. We've had a question here on the operations. What drove the strong increase in the reef mine and, obviously, following through onto the EBITDA? And how will you build on this momentum? Yeah. Thanks for that question. So if you recall that we were mining a backlog of waste stripping in the financial year 2024, we introduced the contractor trollop mining on-site to help us with that backlog. And part of that was opening up more strike length in the East Pit, which then materialized and allowed us to access a broader reef horizon and have more flexibility in the open pit, which then enable that increase of some 15.3% in our reef mining to 5,300,000 tons.

49:29 Thank you. Staying with you, Phewis, I know we discussed what the all in sustaining cost of Cora is on one slide, but what we didn't maybe highlight in detail is how long should it take to get Cora to first production? So on the current timeline, and as Michael mentioned, assuming the funding, comes in in q one of, the next calendar year, we anticipate putting first ore in mill in q one twenty twenty seven, so some fifteen months or so from now. K. Just a high level question for you. If we were staying with you at the existing share buyback, I know we mentioned that we are roughly 87% complete. Is there an update on whether this will be extended?

50:16 So at this stage, when considering the capital for the next year with the underground development as well as the car commitments, We elected at the board to continue with the dividend and pause till the this buyback is complete. We'll reconsider at the half year again dependent on performance, production, and commodity prices. Thank you. Switching over to you, Michael, in the interim to give Phevis a break. Can you talk about the dividend policy? Is there still a policy of paying out a minimum 15% of net profit after tax? I think this relates to what you explained earlier with regards to the write up of the $67,000,000 versus where we should be standing. And I guess it also applies to previous years where we could have potentially paid a little bit more of normal tax had the royalty been applied the way it should have been.

51:10 Sure. The board at the moment hasn't changed its dividend policy. So the dividend policy stands at 15% of consolidated net profit after tax. I mean, it's reviewed at both the half year and the year end period. It really depends on where you are, as Fjords mentioned earlier, on commodity prices, your results and where the capital expenditure program is going. But we have consistently committed ourselves to capital discipline. That capital discipline includes returning funds to shareholders as we proceed. So there's been no change at this point in time. Thank you. Michael, thanks. I have a question here with regards to the bond that has been extended. The question relates to why was there an increase in the interest rate payable on this bond? That was painful. It went from 9.5% to 11%. There's a lot of negotiation around it.

51:59 And what it really boils down to is the shortage of dollar liquidity in the in Zimbabwe itself. So while the external funders were still happy at the nine and a half percent and thereabouts, within Zimbabwe itself, we had significant investors from them. And I think that's strategic going forward. We have to build relationships with them and the conference with them. There's really if you look at their cost of funding, the best we would be able to negotiate was at that 11% that we got away with. So in summary, short term dollars in Zimbabwe and also from a Zimbabwe perspective, a three year investment is a relatively long term investment from banking perspective. So I'm very appreciative of the continued commitment, and this was, unfortunately, one of the giveaways that we had to do to ensure we got it across the line.

52:45 Fantastic. Thank you. There was a question for you. One is more direct. We obviously saw the announcement last week by the Zimbabwean government of potentially changing the royalty rate with regards to gold from 5% to 10%. So how do we see that impacting on Coro? But that ties in with a sort of high level question with regards to how you're finding working in Zimbabwe. Are you confident in sustainability and reliability of the jurisdictions? So maybe highlight the fiscal work we've done in Zim. Yep. Thank you. And I think it's a very important question to to answer. So as you may know, the government of Zimbabwe are shareholders in the KARA platinum project at some 15%, and they're fully fully aligned, with the strategic imperative and the investment of this project.

53:37 To that end, we've had a number of agreements over the years with with the government and investment framework agreement. Thereafter special economic zone status, which was later revoked for mining companies. And, the process that we followed was to enshrine those provisions in a special mining lease. And, we're pleased to report that we've made great progress in terms of agreement on that special mining lease. Part of the, agreement there is, fiscal stability, and it's key in in in terms of securing our debt funding as well as strategic investment and and gold streaming. And so part of what we, with the government, are trying to ensure is enshrined in that document is fiscal stability and provisions that allow the bankability of this project over a period of time.

54:32 We do know that the the current economic environment in Zimbabwe is challenging, whereas Michael mentioned with a lack of foreign currency or US dollars in this case and the zig conversion being one of the major challenges for operators in country. So I think from a fiscal stability provision, we are, trying to protect, our investment as well as future stability through the provisions we're negotiating, and we believe we'll be finalizing in short order. In terms of operating in country, it's a very pleasing experience. We have a high highly skilled labor force, very effective, very efficient, diligent, environment. And you can see by the quality of the site and the cleanliness as well as the safety record that, it really is a highly productive environment. So, we look forward to moving beyond, these short term challenges and getting into steady state production and ensuring that sustainability that, I think all stakeholders are are aligned up.

55:39 Thank you. Michael, quick one for you. Good morning. Can you please elaborate on the Bank of China Forex Trade Facility? If applicable, what is the maturity and coupon for this loan? Sure. I'll quickly scan through so I can refresh myself with an interest rate on it. It is a three year facility. It has a bullet repayment, And I'll just pop back to you afterwards on the interest rate to give you the exact answer on that. Thank you. Michael, maybe sticking with you, there was a question here. Could you reiterate Cora financing timelines and milestones? It was mentioned senior debt will likely roll over into the New Year. I'm assuming that simply relates to the Christmas period coming up when we need to finalize documents and credit committees.

56:28 Correct. I think where we are at the moment is we've got the last requirement from the lenders, which was the technical report that has been circulated. They now need to finalize their packages for credit committee. I mean, it has gone through a process that haven't gone blind up to this stage getting this year approvals. So I'm expecting you will get to credit and then start the the drafting of those particular documents as we go forward. If everything is aligned, I'd look at towards the end of the first quarter of the next calendar year. What we do, however, have to remember is that we do need to have a fully funded package for the lenders to draw down the senior debt facilities. And there's two work teams we're working on there. One is strategic investment that is progressing well. But in parallel, we're doing a gold stream. Gold streams are notoriously expensive as far as I'm concerned, but it's also not a bad time if we have the commodity pricing to properly entertain a gold stream that would fund that shortfall.

57:27 In the interim, we at THARISA PLC are still committed to providing ongoing funding to the project in this intervening period. I'll give you a breather. Let me ask this question to a few of us before I get back to you. How's your cost structure posed to exposed to PGM and chrome metal prices, and do you have part of costs directly tied in with the metal prices? I think it's just a high question level question on our costs. Yeah. So I I think we pride ourselves in being in the lowest cost quartile, and you can see that clearly illustrated when you look at the all in sustaining costs, that Michael ran through in terms of PGMs. So our co product business model has proved resilient through the cyclicality of both chrome and PGM markets and prices. So we do focus on our costs, and it's down to the unit costs.

58:19 And the more productive we are, the lower the units the cost per unit. And we strive continuously to manage those costs and reduce them through efficiencies, and that's where our innovative approach and optimization kicks in where we look at recovering more of the metal that we mine. I always say that we spend a huge amount of cost, effort, time, and energy to extract one cube of rock from our open pit finite resource. So we might as well maximize the amount of opportunity and metal we can get out of that cube, hence us reprocessing continuously through the various stages, be it Voyager, Challenger, Genesis, and Vulcan, Vulcan X to extract that maximum value. So it's one area where I think we are very focused on and and manage.

59:08 We are obviously subject to the macroeconomics of commodity prices, and and we can't control those, but we certainly can control our cost structure and efficiencies. Thank you. Good. But Elizabeth, before you before you answer, I can give you an answer on the cost of that funding. So for the senior debt and the term loan, I just want to make sure that's correct, that they both are the same interest rate. It is the South African job off plus two twenty basis points. And of course, that will change to our own year in the New Year once that's implemented. It is a rand based facility. It's not a dollar facility. Thank you. You. Phoebe, I'm going to split the one question here into two because it relates to sort of the CapEx that we're going to be spending over the next decade and how much we still need to spend at Coro and what the timing of it is. So there's a question here relating to the 547,000,000 where that is being spent. And I guess how much do we need to spend at Coro to get to full production. So I'll let you answer that one. Yeah. So I think if you look at the numbers holistically, they look daunting. But over a continuous period, if we look at the $547,000,000 over a ten year period, it's not too dissimilar to what we are spending in terms of replacement cost of our yellow mining fleet over, you know, the previous decade, and you look at the deferred stripping capitalized asset. So as we transition, yes, there will be a double up of both stay in business in the open pit as well as the development to cost, but it

1:00:40 generates a peak funding of a $173,000,000. And I think that's the key number to take away over the decade for us to transition to underground. Now when we move to Coro, the balance is just over $300,000,000 that needs to be invested to complete, the full project there. And one has to remember that we're putting in infrastructure, power, campsites, reticulation around the mine that survives well beyond the ten year life of the first phase of the open pit. So it is capital intensive upfront, but you're really enabling the ability to continue mining and processing for sixty years. And that's really where, you know, the conviction comes in into the underlying fundamentals around platinum group metals, their unique nature, the constraints around new supply, dwindling capacity as well as what we believe is very positive outlook for new demand drivers for platinum group metals. So we're to look at it strategically and understand that these are not short term quarter to quarter investments, and they are measured in decades.

1:01:58 And so when you look at it on that basis, the numbers look large, but stretched out over a period of time. They are appropriate for the scale of the resources that we have under our control. Thank you. Michael, quick question for you here on the capital expenditure, Theresa mine, actual versus planned. I guess if you have a sort of holistic number of what we still need to spend at KARA in terms of dollar terms. I know we showed on the on the financing slide, but maybe sort of delve into that. Sure. I think that's one of the questions come up here about the large scale projects and the CapEx that we have going forward. I think he was just touching the key point is that on the transition to underground, while the CapEx is $547,000,000 that is over a ten year period.

1:02:49 Also that the peak funding requirement is about $173,000,000 because of the quick access to the reef itself and the plant has already been built infrastructures in place and so forth for that. So the question is, are we comfortable with the large scale projects, the capital size required based on the market capitalization? I think we have proved ourselves over the years to be or to manage our capital and our capital spend. If we look the strength of our balance sheet, yes, we're leveraging it for growth now, but it will not be overleveraged as we go forward in terms of, I suppose, couple metrics. And, yes, I'm comfortable with where it goes. You always have to bear in mind that commodity prices move up and down, and we, of course, take advantage of those cycles as well.

1:03:35 In terms of capital spend for the twenty five year, substantially in line except for the deferred stripping, which was probably behind where I expected it to be. We had a high number budgeted for that work, but we're already accessing those reef horizons. So going forward for this next year, would expect that capital expenditure on deferred stripping to be significantly higher than the 9.8, but also not as high as the prior period, 65,000,000 as we continue that stripping access largely for horizons. I think that may have answered that question, Olivier. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. I'm sticking with you, Michael. Last question before you can hand back to Phyllis to close off. And it's with regards, I guess, the question in the mining industry generally is sort of cost inflationary pressures.

1:04:21 And what guidance have we got for cash cost per tonne mill given we were roughly at $60 I think it's more about what the increases could be than the actual number and what pressures we are seeing or not seeing. Sure. I think if we look at the cost pressures coming through, I mean, diesel is very well. It's a big expenditure of ours from a power generation point of view. I think we will see that in the market. It's really stabilized. I don't see much cost pressure increases coming from there. Eskom needed for the molds, unfortunately, they seem to continue to require above inflation increases. On the labor front, we have a wage agreement with our units, which is largely inflation linked. So I do not see much cost pressure increases coming through from there. So overall, except for probably electricity side, I'd probably be looking at inflation type increases just north of the 3% is what I would expect in dollar terms.

1:05:16 Thank you. Kuros? Yeah. Great. So thank you all for your time this morning. We really are proud of what we've achieved at THARISA and we are excited about the next five years and ten years beyond that where we'll be able to deliver on these very exciting projects, the THARISA underground, the Karo Platinum Mine hitting steady state production as well as commercializing our redox flow battery, our PGM beneficiation strategy, as well as our chrome alloy downstream endeavors and initiatives. So with that, I'd like to thank you for your time and wish you all a wonderful day further. That's great. Well, thank you for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close the session as you now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that the management team can better understand your views and expectations.

1:06:09 On behalf of the management team of THARISA PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and good morning to you all.