Earnings Call Transcript - NXE Q3 2024

Operator, Operator

Good morning. My name is Elvis, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to NexGen Energy's Q3 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session at the end.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Thank you, Elvis. Welcome, and thank you all for joining NexGen Energy's Q3 2024 update and financial call. I'm Leigh Curyer, Chief Executive Officer of NexGen. I'm joined on today's call by Travis McPherson, Chief Commercial Officer; and Benjamin Salter, Chief Financial Officer. During this call, I will review our key achievements this quarter, including the latest updates from the nuclear industry as NexGen is witnessing tremendous broad-based support on the demand side with respect to the offtake of our future production. Further, we will provide updates on the regulatory approval process for the Rook 1 Project, which is advancing well and nearing conclusion, financial highlights and our ongoing exploration success at Patterson Corridor East announced this morning. Additionally, I'll provide an update on our sustainability and community initiatives, which remain at the core of our operations as well as the progress made on project development and project construction financing. Following this, we encourage questions and provide open lines for all participants on today's call. We will make forward-looking statements throughout the call. So please visit our website for the relevant disclaimers. This quarter marked a transformative shift in how technology leaders view nuclear energy, particularly as AI's unprecedented and insatiable power demands grow. The industry reached a pivotal moment this quarter with major tech leaders, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Oracle publicly recognizing nuclear energy as critical to their future operations and initiating significant financial deals at a premium to secure long-term power supply. Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, whose company is at the forefront of AI development, has been especially vocal about the energy challenges ahead. He emphasized that AI workloads are now demanding power equivalents to that of small nations, creating unprecedented strain on traditional power grids and requiring nuclear energy to supply this growth. This new and exponential growth in demand occurs amidst the growing global demand for baseload energy, as the world electrifies more broadly. Further, this demand growth faces the tremendous fragility of existing uranium supply, which currently exhibits significant sovereign risk, with 70% of the world's mine supply hosted or influenced by countries in military conflict. The consequence being it is incumbent on Western countries and their governments to immediately focus on developing multiple new mines into production, incorporating high regulatory standards to service this demand. Otherwise, it's simple—lights will turn off; industry and domestic power users, families will experience power shortages. Reliable, cost-effective power is the primary element in the standard of living, and the need for action is immediate for multiple new mines to be brought online this decade. The current and enlarging demand-supply gap for uranium will persist well into the next decade and most likely at materially higher prices than currently marketed. The broader nuclear landscape continues to evolve favorably. Switzerland reversed its ban on new nuclear builds. Japan continues to revive its nuclear fleet. South Korea has returned to pro-nuclear policies, while India and China are aggressively advancing their nuclear expansion plans with a combined 41 gigawatts under construction between these two nations alone. September's World Nuclear Symposium saw unprecedented interest and record sold-out attendees. Discussions centered on surging demand, with utilities highlighting power grids at maximum capacity and facing exponential growth from electrification, data centers, and artificial intelligence. Multiple utilities alluded to forthcoming nuclear supply agreements, underscoring the urgency to secure their uranium suppliers and support new mines to diversify the high concentration in the two incumbents. Turning to the Rook 1 Project, we continue to make substantial progress on all fronts of our business, which include detailed engineering, procurement, training and development, uranium marketing, exploration, and permitting. Regarding permitting, the most critical step in unlocking the generational opportunities for all of our stakeholders, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which is the federal nuclear regulator, continues to finalize and conclude the remaining aspects. We are very confident based on our submissions, which have received 100% formalized support from our project's local indigenous communities and leaders, that the environmental impact statement will be deemed final. We expect the scheduling of the commission hearing and subsequent licensing decision to come immediately thereafter. Our indigenous nation partners are eagerly awaiting the finalization of the federal EIS and the commission hearing, as this enables the project to advance through construction, unlocking game-changing opportunities for our local communities. Project development activities continue to advance with strategic focus on critical path items. The mine hoist has been ordered and fabrication has commenced. The Shaft award is progressing, and the advancement of detailed engineering and procurement ensures optimization of the project's critical path and capital spend efficiency to maintain a ready state for construction upon receipt of the final CNSC approvals. This quarter saw the installation and commissioning of a solar power plant at our existing camp, demonstrating one of our commitments to sustainable operations. The summer site activity, including our gravel crushing program, has been extended, and we've completed the majority of our 2024 geotechnical field verification program in support of continued detailed engineering activities. As reported this morning, our Patterson Corridor East drilling has delivered exceptional results again with the completion of our 2024 drilling campaign of more than 34,000 meters across a total of 46 holes. Upon the initial discovery of intense mineralization at PCE as reported on March 11, 2024, we redirected all drilling activity to focus exclusively on PCE, whereby 19 of 30 holes have now intersected mineralization. Bold and systematic spacing of drill hole intercepts have quickly grown the discovery from a single hole to a broad and continuous new uranium discovery. Real-time evaluation of results throughout the drilling program focused on determining the overall extent of the ore body while precisely targeting high-grade subdomains. As detailed earlier today, a high-grade portion has now presented itself within the overall mineralized zone of 600 meters strike length and 600 meters of depth extent with upgraded intensity of mineralization in the now best hole to date: RK24-222, a 17-meter wide vein with multiple occurrences of off-scale greater than 61,000 counts per second mineralization. In addition, RK-24-220 and 223 intersected strong mineralization of up to 41,000 cps and 40,000 cps, respectively, including multiple intercepts of greater than 10,000 cps. System strength is confirmed by these zones characterized by semi-massive to massive replacement by uraninite. The high-grade subdomain of the mineralized footprint now covers 100 meters of strike extent and 170 meters of depth extent with potential growth in all directions. The high-grade intersection in RK-24-222 represents the fifth drill hole at PCE to return off-scale of greater than 61,000 counts per second, joining previous significant intersections in holes 183, 197, 202, and 207. Sustainability, a cornerstone of our operations, is reflected in our transparent engagement platforms, which continue to elevate and set a new standard within Saskatchewan and the broader community recognized by both regulatory agencies and peer companies. Over the past quarter, we significantly expanded our community mentorship and education programs. This included engaging more summer students than ever before after receiving the highest number of applicants in the history of our summer student program. Our training and certification programs also expanded with more than 365 community participants this year alone. Notably, we launched our pathways to your future career in mining program developed and led by the NexGen team to equip community members with the knowledge and skills to explore career paths and thrive in the uranium mining industry, which is resonating across all ages within the community. Our continued investment in the community has led to several community and industry recognition awards, including being the recipient of the prestigious 2024 ABEX Community Involvement Award from the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, celebrating a business that betters their communities and demonstrates genuine dedication to making a positive impact in areas that extend beyond the core business function. This award reflects NexGen's innovative and genuine community programs contributing to building generational change benefits. Financially, NexGen maintains a strong position with approximately CAD 540 million in cash and another CAD 34 million in strategic uranium inventory. Interest from the financial sector has intensified following Climate Week in New York, with 14 global financial institutions signing on to the declaration to triple nuclear energy, originally launched at COP28 last year. Since that announcement, one of the world's elite mining projects continues to progress towards optimization in financing the construction capital, and we'll determine the optimal capital stack upon the conclusion of the final federal approvals. NexGen has significant funding options at hand to optimally construct and operate Rook 1 while maintaining low risk and high leverage to the future prices of uranium. Development at Rook 1 for the quarter and full year of 2024 focuses on advanced engineering. Note, all initial stage construction programs are fully engineered, with the procurement of long lead time items, project development, exploration, permitting, community programs, and corporate development, while maintaining NexGen's industry-leading ratio of G&A spend relative to project spending. No uranium mineral resource of greater than 300 million pounds worldwide has been discovered and defined through to feasibility level and provincial environmental approval, in terms of time and cost on a per pound basis, a direct reflection of NexGen's Board, Executive, and team culture of elite standards in every aspect of the business. On the contracting front, following our strategic uranium purchase in May 2024, utility interest and activity have increased materially, with numerous utility site visits to Rook 1 over the summer of 2024. We are advancing multiple offtake contract negotiations with various global utilities that demonstrate a very strong demand for NexGen's future production. These discussions are specifically focused on the need for Western production and diversification. The focus and long-term uranium procurement is intensifying. Furthermore, we have established an exclusive relationship with WMC, a highly experienced and successful uranium marketing firm which is now exclusively marketing for NexGen. WMC's alignment with NexGen's unique industry position and marketing approach will further enhance NexGen's key role in the energy transition. In order to meet demand, the market needs new discoveries. The known projects are insufficient. In fact, multiple new Rook 1-size projects must be discovered, permitted, financed, and constructed in the coming years. There are currently less than a handful of projects globally in Tier 1 jurisdictions capable of reaching production levels within the next decade. This scarcity of new projects makes our recent exploration success at Patterson Corridor East all the more significant, with the Southwestern section of the Athabasca Basin presenting itself as the epicenter of future Western mined uranium. Looking ahead, we have several exciting and highly material catalysts on the horizon, including the finalization of the Federal Environmental Assessment technical review and the commission hearing. NexGen is exceptionally well positioned to lead the nuclear energy resurgence, with Rook 1 representing the largest and highest quality environmentally sensible uranium project globally in a Tier 1 jurisdiction. Our unique position in Canada's Athabasca Basin is attracting utilities seeking to diversify supply chains and reduce geographical concentration risk, a crucial advantage in today's geopolitical climate. Our commitment to excellence in all aspects of development, coupled with our robust financial position and unwavering focus on sustainability, including our people, will continue to set us apart as we work to deliver this generational project. I now hand over to the operator to answer any questions.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Our first question comes from Alex Pearce from BMO UK. Please go ahead.

Alex Pearce, Analyst

Great. Morning, Leigh. I was just hoping you could give us a little bit more detail on which areas within the review process are still under scrutiny. And then let's say, assuming the EIS is approved on the 19th, which I think is the next deadline, what's your current estimate of when you could get shovels in the ground for the main project? Thanks.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Yeah, sure. So, Alex, good morning. We had an update as recently as late last week. There are no issues presented to us as we are currently made aware. We understand also that there are very few aspects left to conclude and that the CNSC is working very diligently on those aspects. Now, as I've often stated, we are incredibly respectful of the process. And that's one of the reasons why we chose Canada, because it's highly regulated, and uranium mining should be. But we are nearing the final conclusion of that. The 49 aspects that they required additional information on have been publicly released by the CNSC, and we are very confident based on that meeting last week that the process is nearing conclusion. They will be the first to notify the company when that occurs. From there, a commission hearing date will be set, and then the process involves a 60-day period for final signing by the Federal Minister, at which point shovels will be able to go in the ground.

Alex Pearce, Analyst

Okay. Thanks, Leigh. And then maybe I can ask a second question, which is you flagged in your remarks, obviously, discussions with utilities are ongoing about future offtakes. We're seeing, at least from some of the reporting agencies, there's been a bit of a slowdown since, let's say, the WNA. I just wondered whether you can just talk about how you've seen discussions change over the last month. Are you also seeing a slowdown in terms of a need for future contracts?

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Yeah. Look, Alex, I can only speak to what we're experiencing. It's been quite the opposite. We're actively engaged on a number of offtake agreements with multiple utilities globally. So no, we personally haven't experienced that at all.

Alex Pearce, Analyst

Great. Thanks, Leigh.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Thanks, Alex.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Orest Wowkodaw from Scotiabank Toronto, Canada. Please go ahead.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst

Hi. Good morning. My questions are sort of more of the same as Alex's. Leigh, of the 49 outstanding questions you mentioned earlier, how many of those are still outstanding as of today?

Leigh Curyer, CEO

As of today, well, I can't tell you specifically which ones are outstanding, except to say that the CNSC has indicated that they're nearing conclusion of the process, and we have not been notified of any outstanding issues or seeking additional information as I speak. So look, it's a process where the CNSC and the company will share information and look to conclude and close out certain aspects. What I can say overall is that it's been indicated to us that the process is nearing conclusion. We very much look forward to that and then the commission hearing date being set. Look, the community in the project area is obviously closely involved in the whole process and the meaning of that for them as a community. It was conveyed to me by one of the community chiefs late last week that they are very interested in having this process concluded in the very near future. So there are a number of stakeholders, including the province of Saskatchewan, who share the same view. But ultimately, all of us are very respectful of the federal CNSC process and the manner in which it conducts its proceedings, and we understand that to be in the very near future.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst

And Leigh, just on the timing, like assuming you get the final sign-off on the EIS, say, at the end of the year, are we talking like 60 to 90 days to set a hearing date and then 60 days post that hearing date? Are we talking more like mid-'25 now for kind of realistic timing of construction readiness?

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Well, it's totally at the discretion of the CNSC, and I respect that. I don't have a timeline on it. I understand everyone's—and our own—desire for it to be as soon as possible, respecting everything that needs to occur prior to that commission hearing date. We're not looking for a shortcut or anything in that respect. We respect the CNSC's discretion in setting that date. I believe the CNSC is well aware of all stakeholders' desire to have that occur as soon as it can be, whilst respecting the CNSC's processes. We are ready for it as a company, as a community, and as a province to have that commission hearing and, subsequently, to have it finalized in order to commence construction.

Orest Wowkodaw, Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Andrew Wong from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Andrew Wong, Analyst

Good morning. Thanks for having me on the call. Just given the increased level of interest from utilities, I was wondering, does that give you more line of sight on signing an offtake contract this year? And does that process hinge on the approvals process moving forward?

Leigh Curyer, CEO

No, it doesn't hinge on the—Travis?

Travis McPherson, CCO

It doesn't.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Yeah. It doesn't hinge on the permitting approvals necessarily, but we are negotiating and in final negotiations on a number of them. Obviously, it's always hard to pin down an exact timing of signing anything you're negotiating, frankly. But obviously, there are extremely motivated parties on their side and on our side. So it seems completely reasonable that we will execute and announce potentially a number of contracts before the end of the year.

Andrew Wong, Analyst

Okay. And do you have enough physical uranium available to backstop those contracts? And just given that uranium prices have come down recently, do you see that as an opportunity to maybe add to your current inventory?

Leigh Curyer, CEO

It's a good question, Andrew. I would say answering your question in order: No, we're satisfied with the amount that we have. We don't see a necessity to buy it. Again, when we bought it originally, it wasn't a case of timing the market or trying to trade the market. So, uranium prices coming down or going up, frankly, doesn't really change our rationale for doing that transaction or for any future transactions. The uranium has proven to be very useful in these discussions we are having, particularly with a few counterparties who are not as used to supporting a new mine because, frankly, there hasn't been a significant new mine in uranium for a couple of decades. So it has proven to be very helpful in those negotiations. So, yes, we're satisfied with how much uranium we have and not looking to purchase more.

Andrew Wong, Analyst

That's great. Thank you very much.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Yeah. And Alex—sorry, Andrew, I think it's two factors. One, the market and the way it's evolving, but also the recognition by the utilities of where NexGen is in the permitting process and that it is nearing finalization. I think it's a number of factors that have increased that activity concerning those negotiations, specifically with NexGen.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Puneet Singh from Eight Capital. Please go ahead.

Puneet Singh, Analyst

Hi. Good morning. I saw that tidbit in the UFC Weekly where WMC was touting being brought on as your exclusive partner, and you had mentioned in the opening remarks as well. I know they do some work with the Sprott Trust, but maybe touch on that decision to bring them on and talk about how that could be a strategic advantage for you guys. Thanks.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Yeah. I might start and then let Travis take over. But look, WMC is highly qualified and experienced in the uranium marketing industry worldwide. They approached us wanting to become our exclusive marketing arm for the offtake of NexGen Rook 1 project. I think that reflects a couple of things. One, that they identify with our position and approach to the marketing of offtake. They have fantastic long-standing relationships with all the major utilities. I just think that it's an excellent reflection of where we are as a company and where we're heading. Also, yes, they have purchased uranium for Sprott Uranium Trust. There's no relationship between NexGen or the Sprott Uranium Trust; I just want to be clear on that. The arrangement is to exclusively market offtake on behalf of NexGen from the Rook 1 project. We're very excited about it for obvious reasons. As I said, I think it reflects our position in the market, but also our approach to the future marketing of the uranium.

Puneet Singh, Analyst

Okay, great. Thanks.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Craig Hutchison from TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

Craig Hutchison, Analyst

Hi. Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Just one follow-up on the permitting front. Do you guys know at this point whether the hearings, the commission hearings will be a one-part hearing or a two-part hearing? Have they given you any sense on that at this stage? Or is it too early?

Leigh Curyer, CEO

No, they've indicated that it will be both the permitting and the licensing concurrently.

Craig Hutchison, Analyst

Conveniently. Okay. Great. And then just on the exploration front, can you just give us a sense of what the turnaround time is on assay results? I think you guys mentioned you'll expect some assays in the fourth quarter and next year. What's the plan in terms of drill meterage for next year? Thanks.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Yeah, sure. So look, we batch the assays considering that it's occurring in parallel with the development activities at Rook 1 Arrow with the confirmation of the geotechnical setting. We have been batching the assays, so we're not sending in one hole to the lab after each hole; we do it in batches. So it will be a bit uneven with respect to the way those assays come back. The other aspect, too, is that the scintillometer gives us a very good feel, and we're at the stage of identifying the area of mineralization and looking for the interior high-grade domains. Now, we still haven't defined the outer limits of the mineralization nor the high-grade subdomains within that. We want to understand that first, and then we have batched and sent the core to the lab, and those will be coming in during Q4. But yeah, I just want to make the point that we're not sending each hole to the lab. We're batching them and will report them in batches as they come in. So that's happening. I think you'll see a similar size program. The 34,000 meters at PCE was the largest in the entire Athabasca Basin for 2024. Based on what we see today, I would say that at a minimum, it will be around that many meters, plus probably some more depending on other results. But look, this is an incredible discovery only 3.5 kilometers from the Arrow deposit, entirely contained within the basement rock, and at the same time, exhibiting greater off-scale than what we saw at Arrow. So we are incredibly excited about it, but we are running—not distracted by it—in terms of we are very focused on the permitting and development of Arrow. Running in parallel and in the background is incredibly exciting for everyone involved, not just the company but also the community and the province alike. So it's an incredible development that has presented itself only earlier this year. So it's very early stages but looking incredibly exciting.

Craig Hutchison, Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Katie Lachapelle from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

Katie Lachapelle, Analyst

Hey. Good morning, guys. It's nice to see another positive update on the drilling. I do want to go back to sort of the offtake negotiations that are underway in the WMC Energy agreement. What has been the response that you've received from utilities on the back of that? And have you seen some of the contract negotiations, improve or evolve since bringing in WMC? And maybe one follow-up as well. I'm not sure if you can answer this, but if there were to be some sort of change of control or something at the company level, is WMC guaranteed that agreement going forward? Or is there something in place where that could potentially fall out?

Travis McPherson, CCO

Yeah. Thanks...

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Sorry, Travis. Go ahead.

Travis McPherson, CCO

Yeah. I was just going to say, yes, everything was progressing very well prior to WMC coming on. WMC obviously has the infrastructure in place as well as expanded long-standing relationships across the globe. I would say that, yes, NexGen was advancing these offtakes on a standalone basis. This has added to it. So I think natural progression—hard to say on these first few contracts. I don't think anything would have materially changed as a result of bringing WMC on. But for sure, as we look ahead and expand, the reception from announcing WMC coming on has been unanimously positive, which speaks to both WMC's reputation in the industry and NexGen. The combination of alignment shows great promise. Regarding the change of control provisions, I would say, without getting into specifics, they are fairly standard for this type of contract and would not necessarily survive over indefinitely.

Katie Lachapelle, Analyst

Got it. Maybe one more question for me, sort of pivoting. On the Shaft award, you said that it's still progressing. A couple of months ago, that felt like it was imminent. So I'm wondering, I don't want to say there's a delay, but what's leading the awarding of the Shaft taking a little longer than maybe expected?

Travis McPherson, CCO

It's nothing. Nothing.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Sorry, Travis.

Travis McPherson, CCO

No, no, go ahead. Sorry.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Nothing other than it's taken time. Look, it's a massive contract. It takes many review hours, et cetera. That's just a function of how significant that contract is to the overall construction schedule. The other aspect, too, is that we are awaiting final approval, so we can't launch into any major construction until the final approvals and ministerial sign-off. So yeah, nothing other than that. I'll just add to WMC—we are very focused on executing this project. The volume of inbound calls we’ve been getting made it sensible to work with WMC to do that in a manner that it deserves. As Travis said, they've got exposure globally, and we are incredibly pleased to be working with them.

Travis McPherson, CCO

And Katie, I may just add on the Shaft side of it as well. Like these large contracts like this, there'll be phases. And so we have advanced through a limited notice to proceed on the critical path detailed engineering and procurement phase of that contract. So notwithstanding that the whole contract is not executed, you do advance under the early phases of what will become those contracts. Everything on the critical path with respect to the Shafts is maintained despite this contract not being fully executed as of yet.

Katie Lachapelle, Analyst

Okay. Got it. Awesome. Thank you, guys.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Mohamed Sidibé from the National Bank of Canada. Please go ahead.

Mohamed Sidibé, Analyst

Hi, everybody. And thanks for taking my question. So just on the offtake front, I think you mentioned interest from utilities globally, but I just wanted to understand, given various announcements of maybe contracting being slower than expected this year, are you seeing particular interest from a specific jurisdiction? And from your point of view, are you focused on supplying a specific jurisdiction like North America or really open to offtakes from anywhere in the world? Thank you.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Yeah. Thanks, Mohamed. I would say there are three primary jurisdictions that have been the early focus: North America—Canada and the U.S.—as well as Western Europe and Japan. We are speaking to effectively everyone around the globe, but I would say that those are the most advanced. We're just going with that. If we could choose how it splits, yes, we think, obviously, North America should and likely will have a heavy focus. But we'll sell to anyone aligned with us and whom we're legally allowed to sell to. But those would be the primary three jurisdictions showing tremendous interest over the last couple of years.

Mohamed Sidibé, Analyst

Thank you. Just my second and final question here, just on the financing portion and interest you had, maybe timing. Last time we spoke, you said that it would be post permitting approval we could see an announcement on the financing front. Is that still the case? Or could we see something prior to a commission hearing date being finalized? Thank you.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Yeah. We're targeting—it's a moving target because we don't know exactly when the commission hearing date will be. Obviously, lots has been discussed about that. But we don't know exactly where that is. Every focus and energy is on making this as expedient as practically possible. But we don't know when that is. We are advancing this debt and overall project financing options, of which there are many altogether. Yes, it's possible that it can get finalized ahead of that. But again, it just depends on when that commission hearing date is relative to how these things progress. We want to be at a decision point for sure around that commission hearing.

Travis McPherson, CCO

A lot—obviously, the conclusion of the federal permitting process is the key gate for offtake, construction financing, etc. All these things are being run in parallel, but are effectively dependent on the final federal approvals process concluding. The fact that we haven't concluded the debt to date, even though we could have, has resulted in more avenues of financing. As this market evolves, we are ensuring that we will take the most optimal package available that maintains leverage to future prices of uranium. We have a very simple story. We have a very large, high-grade project in the best jurisdiction to develop and operate a uranium mine in Saskatchewan, Canada, right next to the biggest nuclear fuel market in the world, the U.S., with elite environmental standards and community participation. We have a simple story and thus are attracting a lot of interest, be it from offtake or debt or financing providers. The major gate to that is concluding the federal permitting process, and we are confident it is imminent while respecting the CNSC process.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Aaron Chang. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst, Analyst

Hi, thank you. Thank you for this comprehensive summary of all the recent aspects of NexGen. With these exciting prospects of future projects in development and what sounds like really limitless potential and demand, there are a lot of questions I'd actually love to explore in more depth, but I'm going to focus on a functional logistical issue. Given the unprecedented pioneering nature of your projects, I wonder about the workforce driving the execution of these projects. Does an adequate supply of skilled labor present a risk to project progress and timeline? Is this a significant obstacle? I've seen how it is in other major projects in the energy sector. Considering the complexity and scope from shovels in the ground to product in the marketplace, how robust is this skilled workforce pipeline? Another challenge in project execution in the energy sector is in supply chain delays for parts and components related to engineering and infrastructure projects. So I'm really wondering about these logistics and to what extent are these projects exposed to those risks as well? Thank you.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Yes, and that's an incredibly relevant question. You've got to look at two aspects. One, the technical nature of the asset. We have a mining sense, a very simple mine. We're in competent basement rock that's shallow, and we'll be moving ore of 1,300 tonnes a day. It's contextually one of the smallest hard rock underground mines globally. So we're in a very technical—simple technical setting and environmental setup. The other aspect concerning labor forces and delays is the manner in which the company manages the execution of the project. We have been elite in our project execution since inception. When it comes to the labor, we have a community 150 kilometers from the project, with 4,500 people. We've been there since 2011, running various programs starting back in 2022. We have a very engaged community working with technical colleges in Saskatchewan in a number of job skill programs to ensure that community members have access to jobs at Rook 1 and are appropriately qualified. Many individuals who have gone through our training programs now work in other parts of Canada, but they can't wait to return once the project is approved and construction commences. We have been cognizant of this since 2017, and our planning around it has demonstrated significant impact positively as we speak. Hence, on top of this, the nature of the project and the culture of the company has been attracting elite talent from around the world. We expect this mine to be the most environmentally managed globally, thanks to its natural technical conditions and chosen design aspects. We're pleased with our level of activity, and we're ready for the next phases once they are approved to proceed sustainably.

Unidentified Analyst, Analyst

Thank you for that. You've also touched on my second question, which was going to be about the initiatives you're already implementing in the community. Thank you for segueing naturally into that.

Leigh Curyer, CEO

Pleasure.

Operator, Operator

There are no further questions at this time. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.