BCI Minerals Ltd

F:BC3

Good morning, everyone, and welcome. I'm David Boshoff, and with me is our CFO, Steve Fewster. We're pleased to be joining you today for our September 2026 quarterly update.

Before we begin, please note that this presentation should be read together with our September quarterly report which is now available on our website. If you have any questions, please type those into the live Q&A tab that will be on the right-hand side of your screen, and we'll answer those questions at the end of the session.

Our values define who we are and they guide every decision we make. This quarter, our values of Win As One team, and we do what we say, we're again on full display. This was led by our projects team. We have completed the dredging and the main packages for the Mardie port, on time and on budget as promised. This is a massive milestone that significantly derisks the construction schedule and the cost of delivering Mardie Salt business. It has been achieved through collaboration with BCI and with our contractors across all the teams. I do want to thank everyone involved in making that happen.

That values-driven approach support the business we're building at Mardie. Mardie is on its way to becoming Australia's largest solar salt operation and the third largest in the world. After years of construction, we are now just months away from completing that work. Despite much of the heavy lifting being done so far, we remain laser-focused on delivering the construction of Mardie Salt business on budget and on schedule.

With salts are crystalizing, our priority is on a safe and efficient ramp up. Product quality sits at the center of this ramp-up. Our customers are relying on us, and we are determined to deliver exactly what we said we would. We also see KTMS -- [ products ] from our production of high-quality industrial salt as a valuable opportunity to add new products over time. This is why our Sulphate of Potash trial is so important. It's a key step towards proving that potential as a future revenue stream. With its scale, its coastal location and our own port, Mardie is well placed to meet the growing demand across Asia.

Safety remains our first priority, and I'm pleased to report good progress this quarter. Our 12-month rolling total recordable injury frequency rate has improved to 2.7. That's down from 4.4 last quarter. That improvement reflects the continued work our teams are doing to strengthen safety across the site. We completed 316 critical control verifications and 620 field leadership interactions. Our verifications are aligned with the key risks on site. Fitness for work, mobile plant and equipment and vehicles and traffic management. We use what we learn in these verifications to close any gaps in our controls and to target coaching where it's needed.

In the September quarter, we delivered continued progress across the Mardie production system. Through the winter months, our team prepared the system carefully for the summer season ahead. These cooler months are when salt forms a bit more slowly, ahead of an expected warm summer. We made a deliberate decisions to accelerate the movement of brine to maximize surface area and to prepare the ponds system ahead after summer months. By the end of September, around 266,000 tonnes of salt had crystallized in these crystallizers, that's an increase of 217,000 tonnes on the 49,000 tonnes we reported in June.

At the end of the quarter, we had 12 crystallizers lined up from 8 at the end of June. Since then, a further 2 crystallizers have been lined. The remaining 40 crystallizers cells will be lined progressively through to the final quarter of FY '27 as we ramp up towards on nameplate capacity.

And as the filling continues, our intention is turning to how well the crystallizer system is performing, this quarter, we continue testing our salt internally and those samples being provided to customers for their own independent assessment. The results continue to meet the specifications in our offtake agreements, which supports our customers' confidence as commissioning progresses.

Looking ahead, this summer is critical for Mardie. Our goal is to enter the summer evaporation period with as much brine in the system as possible. The system brings the strongest -- the summer brings the strongest evaporation, that should support further salt growth in our crystallizers. But the summer heat also makes the system move faster, and our team will be closely managing pond heights and brine densities, while we continue to fill the newly lined crystallizers.

The path to first salt is driven by nature by the evaporation process that produces high-quality industrial salt. As you can see from this last view on the slide, the layers of the crystallizers is what make safe harvesting possible. Once the crystallizers is lined, the permanent pavement must form around 200 millimeters before we can start harvesting. That pavement becomes a stable operating base and allow safe harvesting of future salt crops. Everything that grows above pavement is what we harvest, wash and ship to our customers.

As more crystallizer ponds are commissioned and evaporation increases through the warmer months, we expect the rate of salt crystallization to keep building. As we said previously, the timing of first salt on ship remains subject to weather and evaporation conditions in the next remaining months.

Turning now to construction. At the end of the quarter, our construction was at 90% complete. We're only a few months away from completing construction for the salt project. The project team continues to deliver as they promise to construct the Mardie Salt time and on budget. With 10% to go, our focus is on disciplined closeout and successful commissioning, that's why we have detailed commissioning plans in place and to remain laser-focused on budget and on schedule. With the salt wash plant, stockyard and the port, the last pieces of the major infrastructure to be completed, I'll now provide more detail on these assets.

The salt wash plant is now 70% complete. Key milestones last quarter included the delivery of major equipment and including screw classifiers, centrifuges, dewatering screens and elutriators, all of the fabricated steel work of the wash plant is also on site. Site work continues with the installation of structural steel to Level 1 as well as the product -- and the screw classifiers.

This quarter, our structural mechanical piping contractor will be completing the erection of steel work as well as installing the centrifuges, dewatering screens and the elutriators. Our electric contractors will also be busy installing switch rooms, cabling and instrumentation ahead of commissioning. Our current project schedule has construction completed to be done by the end of December, with a dry commissioning commencing -- ahead of wet commissioning when the salt is available to run through the plant.

This quarter, construction of the port continued to progress strongly, and this has reached 98% completion at the end of the quarter. Through September 2026, quarter, the dredging of the berthing pocket and for our transhipper and the channel to the oceangoing vessels anchorage area was completed. The remaining marine works, including catwalks, navigation aids and dolphins were all installed as well. Both the dredging and marine works were now complete, marking the end of the marine campaign and eliminating any major time line or project risk for the Board.

During the next quarter, we will be installing the conveyor belt on the Jetty, which is already well advanced. The stockyard conveyor and the [ belt ] will also be installed and a switch room and cabling to the stockyard and then we'll commence with dry commissioning.

The CSL Osprey, which will support our first shipments is currently being converted and is on schedule to arrive at Mardie ahead of the wet commissioning of the Jetty. Construction in our new transhipment vessel, the Mardie Spirit, is also progressing well through the design closeout, production design and hull fabrication. Together, these milestones significantly reduces the risk in our remaining port scope and gives us a solid foundation to close our construction and commence commissioning.

I'll now hand over to Steve to talk through our financial position and the salt market.

Yes. Thanks, David. Total construction costs now stand at $1.265 billion, following spending $80 million during this quarter. That leaves around $178 million to spend to complete construction. The largest packages of work remaining include the balance of the crystallizer line, finishing off the salt wash plant, the stockout conveyor and the PPA road. With almost all that costs now committed, along with the progress on these final construction areas, we remain confident that we will complete construction on budget.

During the quarter, we drew $119 million from our syndicated debt facility. We've now completed 13 drawdowns taking the total amount drawn to $706 million to the end of September. The drawdown process continues to run smoothly. And at quarter end, BCI had total available liquidity of $316 million. Including our pre-revenue operating expenditure of $321 million, BCI has now invested $1.586 billion in the Mardie Salt operation. With available liquidity of $316 million and approximately $178 million to spend on the construction, BCI's ample working capital funding of $138 million for the ramp-up of the salt business.

In terms of the market, BCI remains positive about the outlook for salt prices in our region over the medium term. With the forecast, 27 million tonnes per annum shortfall in supply through the Asian region, continuing to be forecast by Wood Mackenzie.

We continue to engage with all of our offtake partners during the quarter, and are both engaged and supportive. A highlight for the quarter was hosting a delegation from Sojitz together with the Japanese salt customer. Both parties are extremely impressed with the progress being made at our operations. They are able to see firsthand our commitment to salt quality and how we're focused on delivering to a high standard. And that matters to us because delivering on our promises to our customers is how we build lasting relationships.

We're also broadening our engagement with chemical companies that are positioning for growth in major megatrends, including the new energy market. In particular, the growth of battery storage is driving investment in new caustic soda plants. The caustic soda market -- the caustic soda is needed to process the critical minerals used in rechargeable batteries. During the quarter, our team also visited new regions within China, which we see as strategic growth precincts. We're also monitoring closely new energy projects that continue to show the industrial growth across the country.

Thank you. I'll now pass you back to David.

Thanks, Steve. Sulphate of Potash or SOP is a key value add to our salt operation, an important revenue stream for BCI. In August, we awarded the construction contract of 150 kilograms per hour SOP pilot plant to Bluestar Lehigh Engineering Institute. SOP is a premium chloride-free fertilizer used in high-value crops in Australia and internationally. This pilot plant is an important step towards confirming whether SOP can be produced at a commercial scale from the Mardie feedstock. Bluestar was the principal designer for the world's largest brine-based SOP plant. They will design, supply, assemble and install the pilot plant, which will be built and delivered to Mardie in containerized modules.

Our engineering consultant accelerate which has supported our SOP work since 2024, will provide independent oversight across design, risk, procurement and commissioning of the pilot plant. Commissioning is targeted for the start of the second quarter of financial year '28 with piloting expected to run approximately 12 months. The pilot plant will be funded from our existing debt facilities, and it sits within the approved Mardie capital budget of $1.443 billion. This quarter, Bluestar completed the front-end engineering design study for the plant. We have since issued the scope for the detailed design and supply. Detail design is expected to be finished by the end of March 2027 quarter with procurement and modular construction starting at the same time.

We also completed further test work this quarter to support the design of the SOP process. We expect the final report of that work to be available in the December quarter. Meanwhile, our trial crystallizers for the production of KTMS salts continue to operate at a steady state, and production remains on track to deliver the required volumes needed for the pilot plant trials.

Alongside safely ramping up operations and complfeting construction, sustainability remains a priority, and I want to share a few highlights from the quarter. On the environment, we delivered on all our key monitoring programs, working alongside specialist consultants and our traditional owners. This included our quarterly monitoring of mangroves, samphire and algal mats which is important habitats along the coast at Mardie. We also continued our Mesquite control program to manage this invasive weed across site. We completed a lighting audit to help protect marine turtles that nests on the islands, and we monitor marine water quality throughout the dredging and offshore disposal process. Together, these programs help us understand our environment and manage our impact as we move into operations.

In the community, I'm proud to share that our partnership with the Karratha Senior High School has been nominated for the AMEC Award in community contribution -- in the Community Contribution category. Through this partnership, we support the school's positive behavior support program, which is helping to improve student engagement and behavior. We have also renewed our community partnerships for 2027. That includes continued support for the program at the Karratha Senior High School, scholarships through the Pilbara Kimberley University Centers and the Karratha Community Club in Karratha. These long-term partnerships reflect our commitment to building capability and supporting the communities where we operate.

As we close out this quarter, we do so by living our values and doing what we said we would do. This quarter, salt production increased. Our newly lined crystallizers were filled, and our port moved to 98% completion. Construction is in its final stages, and the project remains within budget and is fully funded. This coming summer is critical for us. The final stage of construction can be the hardest and the commissioning needs to take -- be done with care and patience. We have prepared well and we'll stay focused on what we can control: safety, pond management and diligent testing of our product quality. We remain on track to -- as we work towards first salt on ship in FY '27 with the final timing dependent on weather and evaporation conditions.

Our investment fundamentals are underpinned by the world's need for salt. It's used across a wide range of industries with a long history of predictable demand and stable pricing. It's also sustainable. Salt is a renewable resource produced from seawater and 99% of the energy we use to produce salt comes from the natural evaporation from wind and sun. And with our Sulphate of Potash pilot plant now underway, we are taking the next steps towards unlocking more minerals from that same process.

And thirdly, Mardie has the potential to offer a annuity-style return, thanks to the long life of our assets, our salt and port capital costs and our working capital requirements being fully funded. And once we ramp up to production, we expect strong free cash flow to build with low sustaining capital and surplus capital lending to a annuity-style returns for shareholders.

This brings us to the end of our presentation. We will now move to questions. If you haven't already, please put those questions in the live Q&A tab on the right-hand side of your screen. Thank you.

Thank you for the question. We remain confident that with the average weather conditions that we will be able to have first salt and ship in the first half of the next year, next calendar year. As we mentioned during the presentation, this is subject to weather. So if we have a dry hot summer, it was minimal rain, I'm expecting that will be earlier in that half. And if we have a very wet summer with multiple cyclones, I'm expecting that will be later.

The construction itself is still on track to be done by December, regardless of the weather. So that is where the cost risks are and what we want to make sure we control and the close out of that.

Well, at the moment, it is not, I'm not expecting that to be the case. We are currently lining ahead of our crystallizer fitting process, and we are able to pull brining at the right density through the system. During the summer months, I expect that will become more challenging, and we will continue to monitor that as we go. Of course, having a very hot summer is a good problem to have, and I'm looking forward to solving those things as they come.

I think the important -- the other important piece on that is with a number of crystallizer sales line today, that gives us ample production capacity to hit ourselves in the timing that you talked about earlier. And we're very confident that it doesn't limit our ramp-up process at all.

Yes, 16 cells is more than enough to produce first salt and ship in the lined portfolio.

Yes. Thanks. We talked about price -- salt price being a relatively stable commodity. And looking at the price over the last 12 months, given the amount of global uncertainty and the way different commodities have moved around price wise. So that same period, slat has moved within a band of about plus or minus 5%. So there's not been a lot of movement one way or another. So it has been fairly stable and what has been some pretty trying global conditions.

Our outlook or our view in the medium term continues to be that the price of salt will move in an upward trajectory. Underpinning the reason for that really is around the supply and demand metrics. There's not a lot of supply coming into the market. But at the same time, demand within the Asian region is at least growing at a much faster rate. So we keep that shortfall in supply, probably in the next couple of years on these new plants come online, the new caustic soda plants that I spoke about earlier. As they come online and demand steps up. Then we're probably going to start to see that tension -- price tension coming in and salt prices start to rise above where they are today.

Yes. We're looking at the moment at working fairly actively with Japanese customers. And I would expect over the coming months, we'll start to be in a position where we set those prices. But the remaining 2 offtake agreements will start talking to -- well, at the moment, we're talking to one around pricing. So I expect that we'll probably get settled around January or February next year. And similarly, with the offtake agreement for January -- early in the next calendar year.

Well, I think, I'll point in the last couple of seasons we've had, the highest risk in my view of salt operation is in ramp-up period. Construction and early ramp-up stages, the weather. We have had 4 cyclones in the last most severe ones actually just last season. So we've been thoroughly desperate on whether these assets have been built to stand these conditions, and that's been reported in a number of quarters so far, and I'm really happy with the results and the assets, both the ponds, the pumps on Jetty, d all the constructed assets being included as we stood those tests that we've been through.

Now getting the ramp-up, the challenge with weather is not so much to wind. In fact, wind is great because wind reduce evaporation, but it's more the rainfall. And the effect that rains had in previous events, this dilution as the same for any salt operation. The good news for us is the amount of evaporation we've had, amount of dilution we've had, was exactly in line with the amount of rain we've had. What that means is we had no rain water flowing into our ponds from other catchments. Only the waters falling on the ponds has the evolution. Now that's just a part of the running salt operation. And those assumptions has been included in our modeling and production forecasts.

I mentioned earlier we were in China, southern China in particular, earlier in the quarter. I think the discussions there are progressing well. We've got 2.3 million tonnes of that 5.3 million tonnes of capacity contracted to date. We're certainly working at the moment towards putting some additional term sheets in place, that will then be a precursor to offtake agreements. We'll steadily work on those over the next coming 12 months, as we work through ramp-up.

Yes. There's 2 trains of crystallizers that we're not intending to line at this stage. Our modeling is indicating that those additional crystallizers can be used for additional capacity, and it's not required to hit nameplate capacity. That is at average weather conditions. Of course, in warmer months or hotter months, we produce more and in cooler seasons we produce less. My view is that in the future we can look to use those crystallizers as what we call pickling ponds to accelerate volume. That will be part of our debottlenecking work down the track.

Yes. The last update we gave, we talked about the need to work through the approvals process, to be able to export iron ore through our port. That's certainly the major precursor to being able to formalize any type of agreement with a third party. Pleasingly, the work on the approvals process has continued positively. We'll get that firstly in place. We'll continue to have discussions with interested parties, but that will be a precursor. Completing that is a precursor to putting in place any agreements for access.

Yes, we've been pretty consistent on this point. Given the timing of when we're likely to make an investment decision on a commercial scale plan, the salt business itself will be generating positive operating cash flows. So that gives us the ability to make some decisions on how we apply that cash, whether it's used to pay down our debt or whether it can be directed towards the investment in SOP. We certainly have there's a lot of discussion in almost every country globally about security of supply of fertilizers. We already have 2 leading government agencies in our debt facilities. So I feel confident that between the cash we generate and our very supportive lender group, that we certainly wouldn't be looking at a capital raise.

That's been our position for the last 2 years, that we would not be raising capital, would not be issuing any new shares to fund the SOP.

Yes. We finished the quarter with $316 million of available funding, and CapEx spend of around $178 million. So that leaves around $138 million to support the business before revenue kicks in. On the expected use of funds for operations, that probably takes us towards the back end of next year, assuming no revenue. So we feel pretty comfortable that given the sort of FSOS timing that David talked about, then we're well and truly funded from a working capital position.

Just to clarify, that is end of calendar year for that.

Yes.

It is a buffer.

Yes, no problem. Apologies for the audio. Hopefully, you can hear me now clearer. I mentioned during the presentation that the weather drives the production process. All the indications from the bureau is that we will have a hotter than usual summer. If that turns out to be the case and we have minimal rain being the key indicator, we expect first salt on ship to be earlier in the next half of this financial year. If we have a very wet summer or multiple cyclones that dumps a lot of rain on the operations, then that will push to the right. Modeling indicates that there is a range of plus/minus 6 months in that. That remains to be seen. I am very satisfied with the salt crystallization process so far, but the summer period really determines how fast we are going to grow.

What we don't want to do is put our crystallizers at risk. So I mentioned during the presentation the $200 million of pavement. We're really keen to stick to that to ensure that we can safely and productively ramp up and not incur additional costs.

Yes, I can answer that. Certainly, the increased diesel is something that we are carefully monitoring. And Steve can talk to, we've done some really positive or good hedging processes to ensure that we minimize the downside risk of the diesel price escalation, and I'll let Steve talk to that in a minute. Certainly, the requirement for efficient power supply is something that's been on our radar for a little while. My view is that once you have the SOP plant, which will be a key, almost half, our total power demand will be from the SOP plant. But that's the ideal timing to add a renewable source from a power station that provides a power station like supply to both the port facilities, the Salt Wash Plant, the SOP plant, and potentially also the village. So that's still our objective, and that's in our forecast to do so.

At that point in time, we expect it will improve power costs. I'll let Steve just talk about the hedging on diesel numbers.

Yes. I might first start with, we actually don't use a lot of diesel. Yes, we've got the diesel pumps. We've got the pumps around site which rely on the use of diesel, but we don't actually consume a lot of diesel. Having said that, we did see an opportunity early this year when oil prices were much lower than what they were or what they are today. We did put a number of forward contracts, hedging contracts in place, which means our diesel price is substantially below what you would see at the pumps today. That's been a real positive strategy. It's meant our budget assumptions around diesel prices have held all the way through despite what's happened with oil prices and how that's then flowed into diesel prices.

Yes. In all likelihood, it'll be sometime during the course of the next calendar year. Approvals generally take a little bit of time. We're in active discussions with the regulators. But I think realistically, it'll be during the course of the next calendar year.

Thank you.