00:00The analyst at William Blair out saying that the U.S. government could take a notable stake in the company is the only U.S. antimony producer.
00:07Gary, do you see the U.S. government taking a stake in the company?
00:13Well, it's something we don't, you know, stay up at night worried about.
00:17We've been very fortunate in that the U.S. government has given us an incredible contract.
00:23This is the DLA, which is the Defense Logistics Division of the Department of Defense.
00:27We won a $245 million sole source contract about a month ago.
00:32And so we're working hard to fulfill that contract.
00:36And what that is, is antimony ingots that's used for our defense to hold and stockpile for future wars.
00:43So can you fulfill that with the capital structure that you have right now?
00:50Do you need more money in order to fulfill this?
00:52We know. Fortunately, we've raised over the last month, month and a half, about $100 million of capital.
01:01So we're sitting on a lot of cash. We have no debt.
01:06We actually have revenues, cash flow, EBITDA and net income, which is unusual for a small mining company.
01:12We did announce, though, on Sunday, yesterday, of our attempted takeover of a company in Australia,
01:21which is a large antimony as well as gold producer.
01:24Larvato Resources.
01:26Some new mines starting. Exactly.
01:28So what that does for us is it adds additional value.
01:33In fact, with our reserves and Larvato Reserves, we'd be in the top five of the world,
01:38which is something I think both the Australian government and the U.S. government really would like to see.
01:43Yeah. And I just want to dig a little bit deeper.
01:45What kind of tonnage of antimony would this be in terms of this deal that you're making with Larvato?
01:52Well, you've got to understand, Larvato is just a miner.
01:58They do not do the refining end, which is what we do.
02:01So we have a smelter in Thompson Falls, Montana, and we have one in Madero, Mexico.
02:07So the one in Montana is being expanded significantly, five times greater than what we currently produce.
02:13That expansion will be done in our first week of January.
02:17The smelter in Mexico, we could expand that probably five to six times as well.
02:21So what this resource that Larvato has, we can bring to our smelters and make a finished product,
02:29not only for the government, but we make products for seven other customers.
02:32People don't realize that antimony is used in many, many different things,
02:36and especially with the new AI technology going on, we make fire retardants for roofing materials,
02:41which all these data centers require.
02:44And then we make typically most electrical cords to keep them from catching fire.
02:49Wait, so, okay, so it sounds like important, and I'm just curious how much you guys are paying.
02:54Can you share anything in terms of this company that you're buying?
02:58How much?
02:58Well, yeah.
03:00Yeah, yeah, so we did make an offer.
03:03It's a, we already own 10% of the company.
03:06So over the last 30 days, we've been quietly acquiring shares.
03:10It's a company we've been looking at for nine, 10 months, and we wanted to wait until the appropriate time.
03:15So we bought stock, we own 10%, we announced that, we're required by the Australian government to do so,
03:21and then we made an offer to the management of the company.
03:24And the offer is basically, we will give them six shares for every 100 shares of their stock.
03:31So if you looked at the valuation, it's a $400-plus million transaction.
03:36Okay, good to know.
03:39I want to go back, though, to what Tim asked you, Gary, initially about William Blair's call.
03:47I mean, are you guys talking with the U.S. government about them taking a notable stake in your company?
03:52Are you working on a deal?
03:54Is there anything going on right now?
03:56Well, obviously, those type of discussions, I can't really talk about.
04:03I will tell you, we've been working with the DOD on a grant.
04:06We've talked about that publicly.
04:08We're hopefully at the final stages of that.
04:10And I mentioned already the contract.
04:12So the timing of the transaction with Lovato couldn't be better.
04:18Obviously, the prime minister of Australia was meeting with President Trump today in the White House.
04:25And I'm pretty certain this deal was discussed.
04:28So anyway, I think that what we've got to do as Americans is realize that China has a 100-year plan.
04:35And we're not part of that plan.
04:37And we, as the largest antimony producer in the United States,
04:41want to build those reserves and resources and not be dependent upon a country that is not doing things in our best interest.
04:50So it's not only antimony.
04:52We're involved in tungsten.
04:53We're involved in cobalt, as other rare earth companies are also moving into the space.
04:57So we're trying to step it up.
05:00And we think a collaboration between the United States and Australia is a great way to do it.
05:05You just said that you're pretty sure this was discussed between the two leaders today.
05:09How are you so sure that was discussed?
05:11General Jack Keene is on our board.
05:17So does that help answer your question?
05:19It does.
05:21Okay.
05:21I know Carol had another.
05:22Wait, did they call you?
05:23Did they call you to talk even a little bit further about the possibility of this?
05:27No, no, no, no.
05:29But if you look at what the discussions were about,
05:33it was about critical minerals, it was about rare earths and a collaboration.
05:36And this is obviously what we're doing.
05:38Do you want the United States to take a position in your company?
05:42Not necessarily.
05:48Access to capital is not an issue for United States' antimony.
05:52We want to do what's best for our shareholders and what's best for the country.
05:57Right now, we think that we can accomplish those goals as an independent company without shareholder ownership.
06:02If the government comes to me and says, hey, we definitely want an ownership position, then that's a different story.
06:09You know, I'm not really in a position to talk about that at this point.
06:13But you can see the close alignment between the United States' antimony and the U.S. federal government.
06:18And it continues to strengthen.
06:20We talk to them almost every day about different things.
06:22But do you feel like you need a U.S. investment to maybe, you know, I just feel like do the companies that get U.S. investments in the mineral space, if you will, have an advantage over those that don't?
06:36I'm not sure what the investment does as an advantage.
06:40If you need capital, that's one thing.
06:44We don't need capital.
06:45We have plenty of access to capital.
06:47As you noted when we first came on the air, we've had a tremendous run in our stock.
06:53And it's because we have access to antimony.
06:57We started mining our first antimony mine in Montana last week.
07:00Brought seven loads of trucks down the mountain.
07:03So we are actively mining.
07:04We're the first fully integrated antimony company in the world outside of China.
07:09And we're happy about that.
07:11We think Lovata will definitely add to that equation.
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