00:00Lippy, it's great to have you here. Your stock's up almost 60% year to date. I will point out
00:0419% of the float is short. It is way down from a high back in September of 2021. You
00:10do come out with earnings, so I know there's certain things that maybe you can't get into.
00:14Tomorrow earnings, right?
00:15Yes, tomorrow. Hey, you are always considerate to give us some time. Tell me a little bit about how things
00:21are going, because it feels like there's been time where the White House is spending a lot of time on
00:25this and it backs off, but give us an update.
00:30Thank you for having me. Nice to be back. I'll give you, just on the Army side, which you just
00:35finished talking about, we're working very closely with them to get to the finish line.
00:40Obviously, there's a lot of things that go into it, aside from just a lease and putting up a building.
00:44There's water needs, power needs, all the different things that go into a facility like this.
00:48There are significant demands, and we're making sure that all those are in place so that we can actually accelerate
00:54our process of being on the Army, on the Army base with our, you know, process of whether it's separation,
01:01metallization, and things like that.
01:02So they're actively, very actively involved. And, you know, daily talks to get to the finish line on that. In
01:10general, you mentioned the Trump's last week roundtable meeting or Washington meeting with the executives and the money that they're
01:19giving out.
01:20There seems to be no slowing down to the government's interest in making sure this happens. And since you mentioned
01:25you've been digging in, you probably know why. There is still a massive gap between us doing anything and China
01:32controlling the process.
01:33How big is that gap? Like when you say massive, how do you measure it?
01:36Has anything changed?
01:39It won't change overnight. I think I mentioned this to you last time, although everybody would want it to be
01:43tomorrow.
01:43We're impatient. That's the thing. We keep asking about this.
01:47Clearly. But it does take time. The reality of it is, and it goes back to that waiver, to that
01:54no waivers executive order that Trump put out the other day.
01:58If you read it closely, there obviously always has to be an exception to the rule and things like that.
02:02But what it tells you is that there's a very, very significant need to get and wean yourself so for
02:08China and we're not playing games and you really need to be on top of this.
02:12But something that took four decades to build up in China is not going to take four weeks to build
02:17up in America.
02:18So realistically speaking, you know, you have the process, as I mentioned to you last time, very slowly.
02:22You have the separation, which is the biggest. And that's really what we're focused on, the separation of rocks to
02:29rare earth.
02:30And you have the metallization, which is another significant component.
02:34And then you have the magnets at the end. So if you open the magnet factory tomorrow, you still need
02:38to have what to make, go through there to make it.
02:40And that boils down to separation, which for heavies, as I always say, there's lights in the heavies.
02:44And we're mostly focused on defense needs, which are the heavies, you know, for the higher temperatures and things that
02:50you need heavy rare earth in the mix for.
02:53So in a realistic world, I would say we're still a few years away.
02:57I mean, we're looking at that January 1st DFARS cutoff and making sure that we're aligned next year to deliver,
03:04whether it's metals initially and then onwards later.
03:07Obviously, we still have to scale up magnets, but just metals and oxides that are North American made.
03:12And we're really trying hard to come to that deadline with actual material to the table.
03:16And I think we're there. But others, you know, in the space, myself included and all the other companies, we're
03:23all working really hard to get there.
03:24But it does take time to build up an entire industry. And these things are not simple, you know, turn
03:29on, turn off, you know, put up a switch.
03:32You keep saying it takes time. We know that. But it also takes resources.
03:34And that's where the U.S. government and that's where this administration has been.
03:38And that's something that we've talked a lot about, Lippy.
03:40And I'm just curious what else you need or what else you think the industry needs from the U.S.
03:45government.
03:47I think right now things are moving along. We as a company ourselves and we'll put that out, as you
03:51said, tomorrow.
03:52So we'll talk about that next time. But we're funded for our processing rollout and our metallization rollout.
04:00We haven't taken money from the government yet. Then we're funded for phase one.
04:03We'll get to the finish line with with with making metals by 2027.
04:10And then scaling it up for us. It's not a matter of actually making. It's about making more.
04:14Yeah, I'm getting to the finish line with making more. But the other companies that are getting funded, they are
04:18working, you know, whether they're magnets or they're metals.
04:21We're the most focused on heavy rare earth. And we're on target for next year to start having production and
04:27obviously to keep scaling up year after year.
04:29But it still will take us to twenty eight, twenty nine to get to a full, you know, where we
04:33can supply more than just, you know, little bits and pieces.
04:35You said you haven't taken. Yeah, I'm sorry. No, no, no. You finish, please.
04:40I was gonna say, when I say it takes time, you know, you're looking at really magnets, you know, whether
04:44it's I'm not going to like I said, all the companies look at the three, four companies that you're very
04:47familiar with that are in the news every day.
04:49They'll all tell you twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty, thirty one. And it takes a few years.
04:53And that's if everything goes right. Our interest was to take what's existing now.
04:57So we had the SRC in Canada. They're nearing completion on their on their phase one plant.
05:02And our metallization plant is under construction. And again, our interests are to get to defend heavy rare earths to
05:08the metal form as soon as possible.
05:09And by next year, not promises about five years from now, but actually deliverables now with commitments to scale.
05:16Hey, just got a minute left here. You said you haven't taken government money yet.
05:20Is it because you don't need it? You don't want it. You're holding off. Like, what's the deal at the
05:25moment for what we've done?
05:26We don't need it. We're in talks, obviously, for further things.
05:28If the army expansion goes more than just a lease on the property, for example, or in other words, if
05:33we go bigger and faster on scale up for the moment, privately,
05:37we raised $100 million from very significant institutions, which was publicly disclosed, and $50 million before that.
05:42We were leveraging off what the other companies that we bought out or partnered with had spent hundreds of millions
05:47of dollars doing.
05:48So we don't fall into the boat of give us a billion dollars and we'll go build everything for you
05:52in 10 years.
05:53We're building it as we put our money where our mouths. We're actually building it and showing results.
05:57And then we can go back with a stronger hand and say, you know, if we want to add this
06:01or add that.
06:01But so far, we've been doing fine with the industry funding.
06:05Obviously, we're in talks with many different various factions of the government.
06:08There's the administration. There's the army. We put out the EXIM loan and we want to get, obviously, something to
06:14do with that.
06:15But, you know, it takes time. These are commitments that takes time.
06:21And we'll get there as we scale up. We're not in a rush tomorrow to need money.
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