United States Antimony Corp Q4 FY2024 Earnings Call

Greetings. Welcome to United States Antimony Corporation Fiscal Year 2024 Financial and Operational Results Meeting. Please note this webcast is being recorded. I will now turn the webcast over to your host, Gary C. Evans, Chairman and CEO. You may begin.

Thank you, and hello, everyone. And thank all of you for dialing in to our conference call this afternoon. We're anxious to update you today on all of our activities at US Antimony. I have with me on the call today, Joe Bardswich, who is a Board member and Executive Vice President as well as Chief Mining Engineer of the company; Rick Isaak, who is our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Jonathan Miller, our Vice President, who is in charge of Investor Relations. They will all be giving short presentations of their respective divisions today. When we had this call last year, we told you that 2023 was a year of transition. As indicated in the press release this morning, this past year was a significant turning point for US Antimony. We've added, since the beginning of last year, significant bench strength. This includes a new controller, five new Vice Presidents, one Senior Vice President, one Executive Vice President, and two Sales Personnel for our zeolite division. These professionals are the ones taking your company to the next level. We reported this morning record revenues today of $14.9 million, which is up 72% year-over-year. Cost of sales was down 5% year-over-year and gross profit was up 204% year-over-year. I would like to now introduce Rick Isaak, who's going to summarize and give you some more detail on our financial performance for fiscal 2024. Rick?

Thanks, Gary. So I'll start with some comments on our consolidated results. First, the reporting of our Mexico results in our SEC filings changed throughout 2024. So I'm going to briefly describe these changes. As you know, we closed our Mexico operations in the first quarter after years of losses and presented the results as a discontinued operation in a footnote in our 10-Qs for the first, second, and third quarters of 2024. Then we reopened our Mexico operations in the fourth quarter of 2024 due to significantly increased market price and demand for antimony and presented their results in continuing operations in our 2024 10-K, which is also how we presented Mexico's results in our 2023 10-K. So in the consolidated P&L, sales, as Gary mentioned, were $14.9 million for fiscal year 2024, which, as Gary said, was an increase of 72% over last year. This increase was achieved with both higher sales volumes and higher sales prices in both our antimony and zeolite businesses. It's worth repeating, Gary mentioned that our sales of $14.9 million was the highest sales level since being listed on the NYSE. Gross profit was $3.5 million for fiscal year 2024, which compares to a loss of $3.3 million in 2023. This complete turnaround was achieved with cost efficiencies and price increases. And we also implemented strict controls in Mexico as we processed the remaining ore in 2024, and this significantly improved gross profit from our met operations, along with the higher antimony market price. Next, I'll cover a few items with our antimony business. Our antimony sales were $11.1 million in 2024, which is up $5.2 million or 88% over 2023. About 60% of this sales increase relates to the average price increase and about 40% relates to the volume increase. These increases were primarily due to the higher worldwide price for antimony as we've discussed and described in our earnings release. We've been focused on capitalizing on this increased demand for some time and we have several initiatives in process to do just that. First, we reopened our Mexico operations, as I described earlier. Our Mexico operations can process and sell finished antimony products with engineered production capacity ranging up to 200 tons per month. Additionally, we're sourcing ore for our Mexico operations from new suppliers and improving our machinery and equipment in Mexico, both of which allow for more economical production of antimony products in Mexico. Also, we started the expansion of our antimony processing facility in Thompson Falls, Fontana. In addition, we acquired mining claims that have the potential for us to own some of our antimony supply. Next, with our zeolite business, our zeolite sales were $2.9 million in 2024, which is up $0.5 million or 19% over 2023, but half of the sales increase relates to the volume increase and about half relates to the average price increase. Our zeolite gross profit for 2024 was a loss of $0.6 million, which is primarily due to much higher maintenance and repair costs and related expenses. As described in our prior earnings calls, these higher costs were needed to repair older equipment and trucks to make them operational after years of neglect and resulted in an operational loss for 2024. However, these improvements increased our production reliability and safety and will allow us to grow our zeolite business. And in 2025, we're focused on growing sales profitably and we hired two sales personnel to do just that. Overall, we accomplished a lot in 2024. Financially, as we've said, 2024 was our highest sales level since being listed on the NYSE. We improved gross profit from a loss of $3.3 million in 2023 to a profit of $3.5 million in 2024, and we improved cash flow from a decrease of $7.2 million in 2023 to an increase of $6.3 million in 2024. Operationally, we started the year with our zeolite facility experiencing some downtime and ended the year with a more reliable production facility with improved on-time delivery and safety ready for growth. We started the year as the only US domestic producer of antimony products and ended the year with the ability to produce antimony products in the US and Mexico. We started the year with only one supplier of antimony ore and ended the year with three suppliers of antimony ore. We started the year with no US mining claims and ended the year with mining claims in the US and Canada that have the potential to make our antimony business more vertically integrated and expand our company's product offerings. Overall, we have a talented team that's dedicated to improving our company, strengthening America's critical minerals and critical materials pipeline, and increasing shareholder value. I'll turn it back over to you, Gary.

Thank you, Rick. Now I'd like to ask that Joe Bardswich to update everyone on all the activities he and his team have been working on with regards to our mining leases, both in Alaska and Canada, Joe?

Okay. I was going to start with operations at Bear River Zeolite. There has never been a resource and reserve calculation for this world-class ore body. Without that, we believe we might struggle to comply with the new SEC S-K 1300 regulation related to reporting mineral reserves and resources. To address this, we performed a definition drill program in July 2024, which involved 80 holes totaling over 6,700 feet, drilled approximately 100 feet apart, mostly along existing roads and accessible areas. We collected six-foot drill interval cuts from each hole, resulting in over 1,100 samples. These samples were split into portions suitable for assay and sent to internationally recognized ISO certified labs, ALS Global and SGS, for preparation and analysis. This program focused solely on a portion of our privately leased ground and did not cover any federal land under our mining claims. A technical report is being prepared according to S-K 1300 guidelines by an independent qualified person along with secondary audits, and it will include a statement regarding the calculated reserves. We expect the report to be completed by March 31st. While drilling occurred on site, the contractor also drilled and blasted a large area on the east side of the property to finalize those sections for concurrent reclamation and continued mining. The blasted material is estimated to hold 63,000 tons of zeolite, which could support three to four more years of production at current rates. Following this, we sold the old BRZ drill along with other condemned equipment. The city has been on the property for several years, effectively eliminating a previous issue. We purchased a loader along with a 40-ton articulated tractor and excavator, which are still on site. The quality and reliability of our equipment fleet have significantly improved alongside plant upgrades. Now, moving to the Ontario Canada Cobalt property. This location is situated at the northwest edge of the Sudbury Basin, which is thought to have been formed by a large meteor impact and is Canada’s most prolific mineral-producing area for nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum group metals since the late 1800s. We have acquired claims through an option agreement and our own program, covering over 4,000 acres in the basin's northwest area. This region has been explored previously and features high-grade cobalt, nickel, and other critical minerals along a three-mile trend. Notably, the Iron Mask showing has an historical drill hole that reported a four-foot interval with 16% cobalt and 8% nickel, around 2 miles south of the cobalt shaft where the Ontario Department Mines mentioned a six-ton sample of ore grading 15% cobalt and 9 ounces of silver per ton, which was shipped back in the 1930s. This contrasts with the average cobalt producer's grades, which are often in the 1% range. The area is covered with extensive sands, gravel, muskeg, and small lakes, which has made geological mapping challenging for earlier explorers. We do not believe these high-grade showings exist in isolation, and we are focused on determining the extent of the cobalt mineralization. We have assembled a team of geologists from the Sudbury area led by Dr. Fred Breaks, who recently retired from the Ontario Geological Survey. Once the snow melts, we will initiate an excavator-supported trenching and stripping program to expose and wash the rock, conduct detailed geological mapping, assess mineralogy, and evaluate the property's potential for economic quantities of critical minerals. In Alaska, we have acquired several properties related to critical minerals, primarily focusing on antimony and located on non-federal lands. The Fairbanks area in Alaska was the main source of antimony for the Allied Nations during World War I, and shipments of antimony ceased during World War II with advancing Japanese forces. We are refocusing our efforts on Alaska. The Fairbanks area's antimony deposits were originally found by gold miners around 1900, who considered the large antimony boulders a nuisance. Following the discovery of the Fort Knox gold deposit in the 1980s, there was significant exploration by major companies like Placer Dome and Inco for gold, which included soil sampling surveys for various minerals, including antimony. We have optioned many claims on State of Alaska land from a family company that has held these claims for generations, meaning no federal land is involved, and thus, we avoid NEPA permitting. The owners have shared Placer Dome and Inco records with us, and Rod Blakestad, our Vice President of the Mining Division, has identified eight target areas with unusually high antimony values in the soils. Rod, a University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate with 19 years of field experience in the state, will return to Alaska to lead an exploration program including trenching in the antimony anomaly areas, mining any uncovered antimony. We have arranged to lease a 3.75-acre parcel of patented land from a local placer miner to establish a shop warehouse building as our field headquarters. We anticipate that once we clear the overburden and expose the bedrock, we will find high-grade antimony in that bedrock, which we will excavate and store on the leased patented land. By August, we plan to have enough ore stockpiled to start trucking to our facilities in Montana. A ton of material grading 50% antimony would be worth $25,000 at current prices. Transporting from Fairbanks to Philipsburg is about 2,435 miles, with a truckload costing around $5,200, or about $260 per ton, representing only about 1% of the total value. There is considerable incentive to proceed with this operation in Alaska, and all of us at US Antimony, led by Rod, are committed to making it a success.

All right. Great, Joe. I hope everybody heard what you said in the last couple of sentences because it's important for our investors to understand that today we are buying antimony from third parties. And as Rick said, we have three different parties that are supplying us antimony. They're all international. There is no antimony today being mined in the United States or Alaska. And with our ability to move our own product from Alaska in August to our facilities in Montana at the very low cost that Joe just outlined, our margins will substantially improve. And so I keep hearing numbers about the amount of tonnage. I keep putting that in the back of my mind but I'd be happy starting out with a couple of hundred tons a month. And so we are getting prepared to receive that material and looking forward to that having a substantial impact on our operating results in the second half of the year. I would like to now introduce Jonathan Miller. He is a brand new father who now gets absolutely no sleep. So please give him a little love there to tell he's going to share what we've been doing on the marketing front in the capital markets as well as Investor Relations. Jonathan?

Appreciate the introduction, Gary. So when I joined US Antimony in July of last year, one of our most immediate challenges was our complete lack of exposure to Wall Street and the broader capital markets. Prior to management changes, US Antimony had no marketing efforts, no institutional awareness, and virtually zero engagement with investors. It was clear we needed to build that foundation from the ground up. Our initial strategy in the second half of last year was straightforward but deliberate, start small, build credibility and create visibility. We focused heavily on attending more than 20 in-person and virtual investment conferences, targeting small-cap and micro-cap events where we could directly engage with retail and early institutional investors. These efforts allowed us to tell the US Antimony story for the first time directly to market participants who had never heard of us and knew nothing about antimony and zeolite. Simultaneously, we launched profiles on key social media and brokerage platforms, such as LinkedIn, X, formerly Twitter, StockTwits, and WEIBO, which now represent a combined audience of nearly 65,000 retail investors, actively following or watching US Antimony. These platforms became critical tools to communicate company milestones, industry news, and raise awareness about antimony's role as a critical mineral. The results speak for themselves. Through this focused retail and micro-cap institutional outreach, we successfully took the company from a market cap of $20 million to approximately $200 million, putting US Antimony firmly on the radar of Wall Street and for the first time, aligning our visibility with the growing national interest in critical minerals, especially antimony. As that awareness grew, particularly around antimony's strategic importance in national defense and energy storage, our strategy naturally evolved. The next phase, which began this January, is to target larger investors and funds, many of which are international, that drive significant long-term capital appreciation. We've been fortunate to work closely with highly connected boutique firms like Alliance Global Partners, Titan Partners, and Jet Capital, all of whom have not only taken the time to fully understand our story but have also introduced us directly to dozens of institutional investors through sponsored road shows. Further outreach has included meetings with mining-focused analysts and bankers from RBC Capital, Canaccord Genuity, National Bank Financial, Scotiabank, BMO, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Roth CALD & Co. These conversations have been invaluable, not just for future potential capital sources but for relationship building and market intelligence as we position US Antimony within the broader critical mineral space. Another core focus has been securing equity research coverage, which was completely nonexistent prior to our team stepping in. Since then, two independent firms have picked up research coverage on us, which include H.C. Wainwright and Alliance Global Partners, with potentially four more expressing interest in publishing coverage following today's earnings report, a major milestone that will continue to expand our institutional audience. Finally, we've extended our visibility into mainstream media and industry press, planting seeds in the broader narrative around critical minerals and US supply chain security. We secured television and written narrative coverage in over a dozen major outlets, including Reuters, S&P Global, SaaS markets, New York Stock Exchange TV, Bloomberg, and Fox Business Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, all amplifying the US Antimony story to a global audience. In summary, 2024 was about laying the groundwork, elevating US Antimony from obscurity to relevance. 2025 will be about continuing to plant seeds, deepening institutional relationships, broadening research coverage, increasing revenues, and positioning US Antimony as a key player in the national critical minerals conversation where we believe we firmly belong. Thank you.

Thank you, Jonathan. And one other thing that I'd like to mention concerning the capital markets is that based on some preliminary work that a couple of firms have done for us, it appears that US Antimony is going to be added to the Russell 2000 Index in May. This will obviously add further to our market awareness and create additional trading in our securities. Two things that we have not touched upon on this call today are the DoD grant request and tariffs. I'd like to give you a little information there. We have submitted all the required paperwork for the federal grants to the US government and we currently remain in what's called a quiet period. No doubt the changes that have been made recently since President Trump became our new President of the United States have slowed things down. But we feel confident that we're well-positioned and the story we've told the Department of Defense, and we remain hopeful of some relief down the road. And when we do the Q&A session, please don't bother asking me anything about the DoD because I really can't say anything more than what I've just said. With respect to tariffs, we do remain concerned and have discussed the situation with the governor, senators, and house members in the states where we do business. This has been done both in a personal meeting by myself and our Head of Government Relations, Melissa Pagen, as well as in written correspondence that we've delivered to all of these members. They all understand it and they all are waiving our flag. This has not affected our business yet but we continue to monitor the situation closely. Since we deal in critical minerals, we believe there will be an opportunity for exemption similar to the auto industry where we also happen to sell antimony products. Before we open the conference call to questions, I'd like to outline seven key objectives that we have as a company for fiscal 2025. They are as follows, number one, continue to increase intake volumes of antimony at both the Thompson Falls and Madero smelters. Number two, expand capacity at both smelters as our increased volumes dictate. This is predominantly done by adding additional furnaces. Number three, assuming we're successful in receiving government grant monies, we hope to accelerate our expansion efforts further predominantly in Montana. Number four, grow our zeolite sales in a much improved manner and also try to continue to improve our net margins. We think that all the past problems have been resolved and we are now in a period of time where we can show significant progress on zeolite. Number five, initiate our mining activities as Joe Bardswich described in Alaska and bring high-grade antimony ore to our facilities located in Montana this summer. Number six, continue our diversification efforts in other critical minerals in either the United States and/or both Canada. And number seven, maintain a pristine balance sheet while growing all divisions of the company so that we stand out as a premier enterprise. So with that, operator, we would like to open up the audience to ask us questions.

And the first question comes from Thomson Falls. If you have the square footage available, how long would it take to create or build a system with double the capacity?

Okay. The problem in Thompson Falls is our footprint. It's limited. We are in the valley between a couple of mountain ranges and we're surrounded by US Forest Service. We do know we can increase capacity there. In fact, we did that last week. We added another furnace that we had retrofitted. We have four more that we can do that with and are planning to do as we continue to get more and more material. One thing I failed to mention in our call is that effective February 1st, our input of antimony from one of our sources in Canada increased by 25% under a contractual obligation for the next year. We saw significant loads of new antimony in the month of February from this primary provider. So we can increase volumes in Thompson Falls but it is limited and we are looking at other possible locations. Next question.

Okay, the next question. I was wondering if you have any plans to be involved in the Stibnite antimony project in Idaho?

Joe, I'll let you respond.

We would like to be able to metallurgically handle their concentrate, which they estimate will be at a grade of 60%, upgrading it from a reserve grade. The antimony at the Idaho operations are at 0.6%. So we're a long way down the road for them to build the mill and be able to put in the process to produce antimony concentrates.

Let me kind of carry on there, Joe. It's important for our listeners to understand that we're contacted by companies from all over the world; they claim they have antimony and they're going to have antimony. I would say 90% of those inquiries, the particular company is two, three, four years away from actually having material. So we don't really waste our time with those. We tell them when you get within a year, call us and talk, and we'll be ready. But we're trying to take advantage of $25 per pound antimony today, not two years down the road, or three years down the road, or four years down the road. So that's why we're working so feverishly hard with the Alaska operations so that we can truly be a fully integrated company, have our own ore, do our own flotation, have our own smelting, and sell product, whether it be to the DoD or our industrial customers. A lot of companies talk about having all these antimony reserves, but you've got to dig down deep and pull back the layers of the onion to understand when and if they will have supply. Next question.

The next question, are you aware of any other companies attempting to build new antimony downstream operations similar to US Antimony?

I am constantly looking for that, and the answer is no. I feel comfortable saying no in that we are talking to a lot of construction companies that would be the ones doing that work for any other company, and they have made us aware of nothing new being built or planned. This is not an easy process. I mean, it's something that would take three years plus or minus, and the permitting is a whole other story. So the answer is today we truly are the only one in the US, the only one in Mexico, and I don't see any competition coming in the near future. That may change, but today we're it.

Okay. Regarding the Canadian leases in Northeastern Canada, what are your expectations for metals? If you thought there could be positive surprises in that area, what would you possibly think could be a positive surprise?

I'll take that one, Gary. Our attitude is that high-grade cobalt does not exist in isolation. We're looking to find out what the relationship with that high grade is with the geology in the area. The advantage of finding something in that location is that there's infrastructure available; Vale, formerly the Inco operations, have a large mill 30 miles away. Falconbridge Strathcona mill is part of Xstrata, which is only about 20 miles away. So if we discover something, that long lead time that Gary is talking about for the Idaho company that has antimony would be bypassed, and we'd be able to mine and ship ore right away. We have to discover the orebody first, which is our first task. Thank you.

Okay. You mentioned plans to source antimony ore internally later this year. Can you touch on which claims you expect to source material from and where the claims are in the permitting process? Can you provide a bit of color on the ramp-up to Madero now that the first shipments of ore have reached ports?

Joe, why don't you take the first part of it and I'll take the second part.

We have focused on state land in Alaska after observing the challenges Perpetua faced with permits in Idaho. The permitting process for state land typically takes one to two months, and we are currently preparing those applications. Our goal is to begin digging in May. Back to you, Gary.

With respect to Madero, so our first shipment of Australian antimony arrived at the port today. It will be inspected and trucked to Madero over the weekend, early next week. We've hired 15 new employees at Madero. We've refurbished seven furnaces over the last month and a half at a cost of just under $0.5 million, and we're ready to go. We should be processing, I would say, within a week to 10 days, definitely before the end of March. Our second and third loads are on the water and will be arriving during the month of April. We are negotiating a significant additional purchase as we speak that I don't really want to talk about yet. We also have contracted for another 50 tons of material coming from a supplier in Mexico, and they believe they can supply about 100 tons a month. My biggest concern today about Madero is that we've bought a lot of inventory and can we keep up? Actually, before this call, I had a discussion with our Vice President that runs the Madero division about that very point and gave him instructions on what I would like to see next. The beauty of Madero is we do have a very large footprint. Our operating costs are extremely low because of labor costs in Mexico, and we have the opportunity to expand that facility as we deem fit. I'm a big believer in wanting to have the inventory first before we spend the money on expansion efforts. But based on what I know today, I think that expansion is definitely coming very quickly.

You have previously stated you would have ore from Alaska to Montana in June. Today, I think I heard August. Can you please clarify?

We basically would prefer to underpromise and overperform. We're closer, obviously, to knowing the timing. So whether it's June, July, or August, I don't think it really matters, but we're counting on August as being the proper date. Maybe it will be July; who knows? But there's a lot of work that we have done. We're also in the process of picking up additional claims that have antimony. So not only are we permitting at the same time, gaining camps built at the same time, and buying additional leases. So we have a lot going on at once. We're continuing to add to our bench strength, as I said, earlier on the call with our people, and I feel confident that July or August is a good time to assume that we'll be having material into Thompson Falls.

Thanks to Gary and team for taking questions. Jonathan, congrats on being a new father. And confirm you're only paying about $5,000 for a truckload to transport? This seems really inexpensive. And then building on that, your product from Alaska, a typical mine takes so long. How do you do it so quickly? Do you have enough footprint in Mexico to further expand the facility?

Okay. I just answered the question on the Madero footprint. Yes, we have plenty of land, that's not an issue. Joe can touch upon the trucking. We have done a fair amount of work on the trucking. In fact, I am getting a map right now of the route. We do know that there's a huge advantage in trucking in that many of the trucks coming from Alaska are to the United States or deadhead, which means that they're empty. That could be a great advantage to us, and we're still checking on all that. And Joe, I'll let you carry on.

Okay. I get that figure; I just went on the Internet and looked at the average price of trucking in the US. I know that the price of trucking in Canada is quite a bit lower, and three-quarters of the trip is going to be through the Yukon territory, British Columbia, and Alberta. But I went with the higher figure for US cost. We took that average cost, and that's where I came up with that $260 per ton.

Next question, how much CapEx is involved in Alaska Mining? What timeline are you looking for the company to become a $1 billion company? Is the company profitable in Q1 this year?

Our main objective is to reach profitability as soon as we can. I won't provide an estimate for profitability in the first quarter, but I can say the numbers look promising; however, I can't guarantee that profitability will happen. We're investing heavily in various areas, yet our cash balance remains strong. We were fortunate to receive some warrants worth $1.5 million at the end of last year, and we've seen more warrant exercises in January, February, and March of this year, which has helped maintain our cash position reported as of December 31. Thankfully, the work Joe is doing requires less capital investment. As I mentioned, I’m new to the mining sector, having transitioned from the oil and gas industry after 35 years. I've come to realize that a typical mine operates over a 25-year timeframe. However, we are not typical miners. Some of my team may not like this comparison, but we could be seen as collectors of materials left behind by previous companies for decades, primarily antimony. The State of Alaska appreciates our efforts in recovering this material. Our operation is not like conventional mining; the best ore is often just under the surface, and we mainly use backhoes and trucks, which represents a different excavation approach. Joe, do you have anything else to add?

You're learning quickly, Gary. I haven't got much to add to that. I mean you send the excavator out to the Alaskan area that you can locate in the field based on the coordinates from the drawings and the soil sampling programs of those major companies, and you start digging down to the bedrock. There may be little narrow veins of antimony there that are interesting but not interesting enough to spend a whole lot of time on, so you can go on to the next spot. The number of reports that I have read about large chunks of antimony getting in the way of the blaster miners, and speaking to a couple of them in person, I'm confident that we will be shipping antimony this year.

To elaborate on that, it’s crucial for everyone to understand why we ventured into Alaska. Joe and Rod, our Chief Geologist who has significant experience in Alaska, were instrumental in the discovery of the Fort Knox gold deposit. The three of us met at the geological society with three experts for most of the day, specifically inquiring about the locations of antimony discoveries and recommendations for our exploration. We came to Alaska in search of antimony, and they provided insights into deposits from various wars. We then hired helicopters to stake those locations and mining claims. It’s important to note that this area has been previously explored, with extensive geological work and reports from former miners. This groundwork allowed us to map our approach effectively. As we continued our research, we identified additional areas of interest and recently secured new claims adjacent to our existing ones, as we see potential for more antimony. We’ve pinpointed eight or nine sites; testing one is quick, and if it doesn’t meet our criteria, we simply move on to the next. We are capitalizing on the findings of previous explorers who overlooked antimony when it was valued at less than $5 a pound, due to impurities that made it unappealing. Now that it’s priced at $25 a pound, it has become a valuable resource.

Next question, what are the estimations of material on the ground at the Alaska claims? And what is the amount of raw tons of material needed to make 1 ton of antimony?

Well, Joe, it’s back in your bailiwick.

So basically, thoughts of our plan for shipping antimony from Alaska, we're looking at high grade. We know from the old-time reflected that some of this stuff was leading into the 60% and 70% range. We know that there will have to be some hand cobbing to maintain a high grade. But again, when I talk about 50% antimony, that truckload is worth $0.5 million, and it's not a very big volume, but a truckload of 20 tons.

And just to tell everybody, all the antimony that we're buying internationally, we have never found that high-grade material, have we, Joe, the stuff we're buying?

Nobody shipped us that high other than something that's already gone through a flotation mill and has been upgraded.

Right. Next question. We're going to do maybe two more, and then we'll be done. It's been a good bit of time.

Certainly. Do you currently have personnel and machinery in Alaska preparing the antimony ore for transporting?

Joe?

We have made arrangements with two companies; one will lease the property for our headquarters, which is next to our first target site that includes patented land and access with lock gates. Additionally, we are organizing to hire a local placer miner who will provide equipment and labor. He will be paid by the hour to work under the guidance of Rod Blakestad and his team, who will teach him how to dig and identify valuable materials.

Next question. One of the downsides in Alaska are the winters where construction halts for months due to the ground freezing. Any inputs on this?

We're looking to do a whole lot during the summer, and you got the 24-hour daylight for a period of that. Note that Fort Knox operates 24/7, 365 days a year; it's a different sort of operation, and it's mainly drill and blast, etc. If we find the right situation where we can establish a pit operation, then that changes the picture for us.

And you got to also remember, we're in an area between Fairbanks and Anchorage that is in a much better environment from a climate situation than being in the northern territory.

While we were in Alaska, other than January, there were 53 states that had colder temperatures than what Fairbanks was; only seven states were warmer than Fairbanks.

Okay. Operator, I think we're good.

Okay. We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call over to Gary C. Evans for closing remarks.

Okay. Thank you all for listening into our conference call today, reading our reports, and asking very good questions. We're anxious to begin reporting results in 2025 as we continue to progress in building this company. I think one of the questions that I failed to answer was, when do you expect to be a $1 billion company? As you know, all my prior companies have been in that range, and I think we're on a fast track to get there. We definitely have a management team and a Board that understands what we need to do. We're in a very fortuitous situation, and we're trying to take full advantage of it. I think you'll see other great opportunities get presented to you as we build this enterprise, and we're excited about the position we're in and where we're going. Thank you.

This concludes today's webcast, and you may disconnect at this time. Thank you for your participation.