Speaker #2: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much for joining us today. I am Emma Colvar, Investor Relations and Communications Manager at Bannerman Energy. We are pleased to report on the September 2026 quarter.
Speaker #2: I'm joined today by our Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Gavin Chamberlain, who will talk through the highlights from what was a company-defining quarter.
Speaker #2: There was a lot of news, and we're very happy to be on this side reporting on it. Following this, we will answer Q&A. At the bottom of your screen on Zoom, you'll see the toolbar with the option for Q&A.
Speaker #2: Please write your questions in there, and we'll move through them at the end. For now, I will hand over to Gavin and share my screen.
Speaker #2: Good morning, Gavin. Thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker #3: Morning, Emma, and morning to everyone on the call. It's great to have you here. As Emma said, this has been a fantastic quarter for us, and one that will probably go down in the history of the company as being extremely important.
Speaker #2: Great. You can see my screen there, Gavin?
Speaker #3: I can.
Speaker #2: It should be through now.
Speaker #3: Great. It's through. I trust that everyone can see that. And Emma, if you're happy, I'll just jump into the presentation. What you see in front of you—sorry, on the heading slide—is just the site, present at the site celebration that we had with the Minister of Mines last week.
Speaker #3: To celebrate our FID, I thought it was a really good slide to start with. I know this is post-quarter, but as you can see from all the happy faces there, this was an extremely important occasion for us and celebrated in style with both the Mining Minister and the Commissioner of Mines.
Speaker #3: Right. In terms of the quarter, and the reason why we're so pleased is, you often have a plan, but when a plan comes together, it always really makes things feel just that much better.
Speaker #3: So, what we managed to achieve this quarter is, first and foremost, we completed the CNOL strategic investment, which was worth $320 million. On the back of that, we also had a successful $124 million Australian dollar institutional equity placement.
Speaker #3: The combination of these has been what has been behind our FID decision. I think you'll remember we've always said that the FID decision for Bannerman has really been around making sure that we understand how we're going to fund the project all the way through to production.
Speaker #3: And the combination of the deal and the successful fundraise is what's allowed us to make the FID decision. We're in a very strong liquidity position as at the end of September.
Speaker #3: Bannerman itself has approximately $175 million Australian in the bank, but that excludes the cash that sits in the Tango JV and other investments. And then, obviously, the Tango JV cash balance is $295 million US dollars.
Speaker #3: But that also excludes additional cash that is currently being held in the remaining subsidiaries. Also, obviously, on site—as you know, I'm always extremely excited about what is happening on site—but I'm very pleased to see that we're still tracking on budget and schedule in terms of our Early Works program.
Speaker #3: And then, I think another pleasing thing has been that the long-term price for uranium has stuck consistently at $97, and that obviously is a positive for the industry moving forward, even though I do believe it's going to move even higher.
Speaker #3: So post-quarter, at the end of the highlights—I did touch on that a little bit earlier—but really, the positive FID, which was taken on the basis of the Tango design, we were allowed at plus or minus 10% capital capex estimate, and we are still forecasting 3.5 million pounds with first production in 2028.
Speaker #3: Another highlight for us as well was the appointment of Donnie von Ostwehren. Donnie has been in the mining industry in Southern Africa for a number of years.
Speaker #3: Originally, he worked on the platinum mines in South Africa, both underground and as a project manager, and then moved across to Dead Marine, where he had an Exco position and also ran projects and development work for Dead Marine.
Speaker #3: Donnie has been with us for a while now and originally joined as the COO. We are really pleased to announce his promotion to CEO of Bannerman Mining Resources.
Speaker #3: He has a strong technical background and a strong project background, but most importantly, Donnie is a people person who loves to make points by telling stories.
Speaker #3: And this really has managed to pull the team together on the back of the change from one MD to another, and we're very, very, very happy with the results and the decision to appoint Donnie.
Speaker #3: And then, obviously, the culmination of that was a celebration with the Honorable Magnificent Mutsee, Namibia's Minister of Industry, Mines, and Energy, who came out to site and did a visit, joined the ceremony, and the flag-raising ceremony.
Speaker #3: So, the Tango flag has now been raised on the mine, and we will continue to deliver a Tango as we have been doing to date.
Speaker #3: And we are now 100% ready for full-scale construction. I've just got a couple of slides following this, which show where we were at the end of September.
Speaker #3: And as you can see, these are the bulk earthworks, which are now 99% complete, and what you're looking at there are the solution dams for the pregnant liquor.
Speaker #3: This one here was the first structure that we started on site, which is the primary crusher. And as you can see, the actual structure for the crusher is now completed, and the earthworks wall, which creates the access berm behind the crusher, is progressing at a reasonable speed and is currently tracking on schedule.
Speaker #3: We've also completed the all stockpile tunnel, which sits underneath the stockpile. What you're looking at here, to give you an idea of size, is the exit for the conveyor as it comes out from underneath the stockpile.
Speaker #3: And those are the wing walls to ensure that the stockpile doesn't start falling onto the conveyor. The final silo is moving ahead in line with the schedule.
Speaker #3: And as you can see, it's starting to get significantly higher. It still has a couple more raises to go, but we should have this completed in early New Year.
Speaker #3: And then the secondary and tertiary crushing facility. We're one concrete pour away from the point where we'll start installing our structural steel work, and we're very pleased once again with both the quality and the progress on this building.
Speaker #3: And then the permanent water supply line. It has also been a really positive experience with a local contractor, once again, installing the plinths and the pipeline from the main supply at the Swakopmund Namwater facility.
Speaker #3: Heading towards the mine. And what we did have post-quarter, as well, is we actually did the bridge installation. And that's effectively the quarter in summary.
Speaker #3: As you can see, an awful lot has happened in the quarter. But we are extremely pleased to see the way the team has pulled together to achieve these results.
Speaker #3: And I'm more than happy at this point, Emma, to take any questions.
Speaker #1: Great, thanks, Gavin. And yeah, it certainly has been a big quarter, and a lot of progress on site. I think we'll start with the early works that have been happening on site for the last few years.
Speaker #1: What changes now that FID has been taken? And what can people expect over these coming months?
Speaker #3: Yeah, thanks, Emma. Good question. I mean, obviously, I think people may remember—I think from months or even years ago—that we've been talking about being prepared but being patient.
Speaker #3: And what people will see now is the culmination of that same strategy moving forward. So, in the background, in preparation for FID, we've been tendering a number of contracts.
Speaker #3: And over the next couple of weeks, there will be a number of significant contracts that will be placed. So, what will that do on site?
Speaker #3: Physically, what that will do on site is change the number of people on site, which will increase significantly. So, we will be expecting the structural steel contract on site in the early new year.
Speaker #3: And, over and above that as well, we've placed a number of mechanical contracts. So, we have fabrication on various mechanical equipment happening worldwide at the moment.
Speaker #3: So you will see a significant increase in the progress on site for structural steel, and you will also start seeing the delivery of mechanical equipment.
Speaker #1: Thanks, Gavin. And as you mentioned in the highlights, FID was taken on the Atango 8, CBE numbers of plus-minus 10%. We just have a question here around the confidence in those numbers—the CapEx and the OpEx numbers.
Speaker #1: And is there any review underway? Is anyone going to be expecting any changes?
Speaker #3: Yeah, so Emma, that's once again, I think, very much linked to my previous answer in that because we've actually been doing tendering and preparing to place orders, we've got a good degree of comfort that all of the orders that we're currently working on are still within the original budget.
Speaker #3: We do believe that a 10% contingency on the original capital number is prudent, but right now, we are actually tracking according to budget. That's been because we've been preparing for FID and preparing to move into full-blown construction over the last six to nine months.
Speaker #1: Great. Now that we've seen all transactions are complete, how are you thinking about the remaining 40% of the off-take? Obviously, the 60% is allocated to CNO as part of that transaction.
Speaker #1: What are the thought processes around the 40%, and strategies? Is that now moving into full swing, or is management holding back on that?
Speaker #3: No. And we will definitely be holding back on that, as we do believe the closer we get to production, the stronger position we have in terms of negotiating any deals with any utilities.
Speaker #3: We are maintaining strong relationships with utilities. We are updating them on a regular basis in terms of our progress, and certainly, we will continue that process. However, we will not be looking in the market to sell additional pounds until we get closer to production.
Speaker #3: So, potentially six months before production.
Speaker #1: And a question that's just come in is around the average incentive price for the mine. Has this increased or altered in any way?
Speaker #3: Yeah, so there's definitely pressure on the incentive price worldwide, driven by what we see in terms of asset costs and diesel costs. So that incentive price, we believe, is probably climbing.
Speaker #3: From our own FID perspective, as we looked at it from a point of view of: Can we fund our project? And we could. So we've moved forward.
Speaker #3: But what I do suspect is that the incentive price is definitely going to be climbing. But hand in hand with that, what you're going to see is an increase in the actual uranium price.
Speaker #3: And our 60% deal with CNO effectively protects us against that from a perspective of what we will have as a high average sales price.
Speaker #1: Great. And how is that working relationship with CNO? Obviously, we have had a steering committee happening over this process. It's fair, both for the closing of the transaction.
Speaker #1: I believe that we've just gone through the first official board meetings of the JV. How is that relationship? And are you happy with where that is at?
Speaker #3: We probably should have put this into the highlights, because the relationship with CNO has been phenomenal and very, very positive. So, we've had both our inaugural JV board meeting and also our inaugural Bannerman Mining Resources Namibia board meetings.
Speaker #3: Both of which have representatives from both Bannerman and CNO. And what we've found is a continuation of what we found at the Steering Committee, which is positive support for the processes and thinking that we, as the owners and the operators of the project, have been putting to the Board.
Speaker #3: So, all of our requests for the Board have been approved. And, obviously, the FID decision was also supported by CNO and had to be taken at the JV level.
Speaker #1: And FID has now been taken on Etango-8. And I think this question is going to come up many times: is the expansion option going to be brought forward, or what's the process of looking at the expanded option for Etango?
Speaker #3: So our strategy around that hasn't changed, so I don't think it's going to be brought forward. But we would still be looking to commission Atango 16 in the fifth year of production of Atango 8.
Speaker #3: So that's still our thinking. We believe that's the optimal point to implement the change, and that's still currently the thinking. There is a bit of study work that has to happen around that.
Speaker #3: And we're now in a position to potentially kick that off. But right now, our focus remains on delivering Atango 8. So we're not going to jump in immediately and start doing study work on Atango 16, because as most of the people on the call will know, the information that supports Atango 16 is well known.
Speaker #3: And we'll be able to complete the study phase for that in probably anything under 12 to 18 months.
Speaker #1: And Gavin, you mentioned that Dani has been appointed as the CEO. With the project now heading into full-scale construction, can we expect more announcements around...
Speaker #1: This project forward into roundup?
Speaker #3: Yes, yes, definitely, Emma. We've just been through a rigorous recruitment process for our executive management team, which basically includes a CFO, the Chief Technical Officer, the Corporate Phase Manager, and then, obviously, the CEO.
Speaker #3: So we've made and ratified the decision for the CEO, and there should be announcements coming out in the next couple of weeks around the successful candidates for the other positions.
Speaker #3: And those people will probably start filtering into the organization during early next year.
Speaker #1: Thanks, Gavin. And it looks like we don't have any more questions in what has been a momentous quarter. Any final comments from yourself before we close up today?
Speaker #3: No, apart from, as usual, thanking the entire team. This quarter has stretched us more than we've been stretched up till now, but we came out the other side really, really strong.
Speaker #3: And we're now ready for any challenge that can come our way. The focus, as I said, right now is on Atango 8.
Speaker #1: Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Please reach out with any further questions. Watch our social media—obviously, there's going to be lots happening on site.
Speaker #1: And we will be sharing more in our next project update in December. Gavin, thank you very much. Have a wonderful day, and we will see everyone next quarter.
