Boron One Holdings Inc V.BONE

Annual meeting CC

[Nobodysfuel]

Please note: these are my notes and are NOT a verbatim transcript of the call. Do you own DD.

BONE annual meeting notes

May 26^th, 2023

Blake reads forward looking statement.

Formal part of meeting (YAWN).

New PEA in June 2023. Updated PEA reflects modern updated costs. They are pleased with the numbers.

78.7% ROR.

High contingency rate on capex. Reflection of inflation at the time of writing.

Still, ROR is excellent.

Capex payback is 12 months.

“Head snapping numbers,” says Tim.

Has captured attention of several big groups who have made inquiries after seeing the PEA.
In July report written by MMG Capital about Bone. He recommends people read it. Good summary of boron industry and Bone’s place within it.

In December we announced the elaborate has been finished. Elaborate is Servian version of PEA. Elaborate is more involved than PEA. In the deposit, we have 3 different boron-type materials. To be efficiently mined, we need to know which is where and who it’s being sold to. It’s quite nuanced. This is in the Elaborate, but not in the PEA. Elaborate is a more “active” document.
PEA is 200+ pages, Elaborate is 3500 pages. It took the team a while; important to do it right.

Elaborate is 3^rd step in mine license application.

Another thing in December: Temas announced a pullout. They still liked the project, BUT they had some financial obligations (to us) they didn’t with to meet. It would have been too costly for them; would have been too much dilution for them. No great surprise to Tim; they had anticipated this and had other irons in the fire.

In January, we announced moving forward with feasibility study, a Serbian-compliant one. Not as involved or as complex as a North American one. Though, it’s still important. At the end of this feasibility process, we would be grated with an exploitation license and this leads to mining plan.
In January, we announced the deal with Osmose(sp???) in London. Introduced us to MMG Capital.

These guys already know about the Balkans and Serbia; they like working over there and we fit well with their comfort zone.

They were also blown away by our numbers.

They agreed to fun $3.5 million to go directly into us at 10 cents a share. That would be enough working capital for the next few years until the project sustains itself. The other piece was going directly into the project development. All for 45% interest.

Frist tranche was linked to feasibility study. 2^nd tranche associated with exploitation license. It would be $22 million total. Far better deal than Temas. Osmose puts in more money and takes a smaller %.

Osmose brings some good Serbians relationships (high level). Strong relationships throughout Europe with big boron consuming companies. They will help us develop relationships with customers.

“We were very pleased to have this switching of gears” from Temas to Osmose.
In Feburary, we changed the name to Boron One. Long overdue to have name and image associated with boron.

In March, elaborate had been submitted and accepted by government panel; these are industry experts around Serbia: mining engineers, geologists, etc. They go through our elaborate on behalf of the government. It’s like a doctoral thesis. They call us up and we have to defend it. We are granted the certification from these folks. “Very positive step forward.”

In April there was an adjustment to the Osmose deal. We have improving fundamentals, we wanted an adjustment in our favor; they agreed. The injection into Boron One is higher.

Going Forward

Elaborate: we were notified about 1 month ago from government of Serbia that committee was going to propose ours would be on top of the pile “any day now.” “Days not weeks.”
Feasibility study submission: must be done by late summer; some pieces being assembled. “It’s coming along nicely.”

Exploitation license: “huge milestone.” This is after the above 2 items. This is expected to be completed by the end of the year. We would then start drafting mine blueprints.
Looking forward to completion of Osmose deal. Delay due to them raising funding. This is imminent. When they get their money, they will close deal with us.

We keep other possibilities open in case Osmose falls through. We have “a couple other groups” interested. We are doing this for prudence. We have been doing deep level of DD with these other potential partners. These folks may actually be even better than Osmose due to various strengths.

Shift in boron business in past year. Boron used to be secretive as a business. It has been balanced. Now, the balance has shifted to produces due to “green energy” transition. Boron is as important a mineral go decarbonization as any of the other commonly used. Tim recited long list us “green” uses.

Demand for boron is going to grow 10X in our lifetime. Boron-buyers realize this. Supply is tighter and supply chains are more delicate than we thought. Buyers are thinking long-term. Can they develop long-term supply relationships? Maybe not with RT, but we would probably go for that. “Can we talk about being a strategic partner in your mine for the next 20 or 30 years.” (Yikes: my comment).

Boron has been added as “critical minerals list” by many companies.

He can say that we are at the table with several of these “substantial companies” looking for a way to ensure their boron supply for “decades to come.”

Into 2024 would be completion of mine design and construction phase.

Tim waxes philosophic a bit about mining stock prices. Summary: typical mining stocks starts high at outset, tanks during exploration, and then the company may turn the corner from exploration to mine development and price recovers. There is a shift in demographic of shareholders; big players have been watching but now enter. With de-risk, this could happen to us.

Blake speaks about marketing and IR.

We have hired Frontier Group again. Broker tours planned. Boardroom presentations planned. Several media appearances planned; one due out in about 1 week with mining specialist.
TV spots planned. Some analyst coverage expected in Europe and some in North America. We will also blast news through Stockhouse. We are trying to get more broker and institutional interest.

Back to Tim.

Q & A
These were hand-selected established shareholders.

What about Pobrdje?

This has been a “frustrating exercise for us.” Tim gives background history of Pobrdje. Only 150 000 tons of ore; it’s not even project-worthy. We wanted to take it over from Ibar Mines (government coal mine) and we proposed to mine it as a pilot project for 4 years. This would be an archaic mining infrastructure though. We would use 100 coal miners to do this. Tim thinks this would work well for all parties. Everyone loved the idea, however, Ibar Mines owner was undergoing privatization by Serbian government; parts of it were bankrupt; it was an administrative headache. Time says these limits may be nearly solved. We are in better shape now on this matter (however, “stay tuned”). Cash flow could pay for all capex we need on equity side to build Piskanja. Could eliminate our need for JV partner at all (Yikes: my comment). This deposit is sales grade right out of ground and worth about $500/ton. Could be $15 million revenue for 4 years. Recent meetings have been “promising sounding.” More plans for discussions on this topic.

Super high IRR of 78%: What about our low market cap. When would institutional buying make a difference to price?

“Microcap level is frustrating for sure.” Market doesn’t reflect true fundamentals of the company. We’re worth a lot more today than this time last year due to completions and partners and big potential off-takers. He thinks price will catch up.

Osmose deal: Is 1^st tranche tied to anything specific? The Canadian dollar tranche ($22 million) is just available when it’s signed; not died to anything.

Are there any environmental risks before the finish line?
There are always risks, according to Tim. Earlier phases have super high risk. We have worked to de-risk, but yet there are always risks.

We’ve had numerous mining companies and investment people and not one has ever disagreed with the positive numbers. “Yep, you’ve got a big economic deposit,” they would say.
Tim thinks biggest risk is financing. Can we get funded and at what terms? In his opinion all other risks and acceptable and manageable.

Another risk is to break into oligopoly of the born world as a junior. However, boron is not your normal mineral. Not all boron is created equally. Everything in the Americas are sodium-based boron. Some companies (e.g., fiber glass makers) want the calcium-based boron. Their only supply is one country: Turkey. Big companies want multiple sources of calcium-based boron. This is our big way in.

The environmental risk is a real risk. It shut down the RT lithium project. Locals must be on our side. RT was at Jadar in the north. This was an open pit deposit; large and ugly. They would have taken farm land as well.

We are operating in historic mining district with good infrastructure. It’s sparsely populated but everyone who lives there depends upon mining. Our operation is underground and our footprint would be on the existing coal property. It would not threaten any more space. Boron is also not very toxic, compared to lithium. Most of our material is sale ready right from the ground; no harsh processing.

We have support from many of the locals: local government, unions, community. We have paved roads and fixed the school roof. Bought school uniforms, etc. We have strong local support.
New Osmose deal would not require new finance, so what about today’s PP?

Osmose has been a bit slow to come up with their money. Tim wishes we didn’t have to do PP, but we need to keep the lights on.

Tim talked to Osmose today and they are very optimistic that they can write a cheque imminently.
They know we have talks with other potential partners. If one of these completes their DD in the short-term, Tim won’t hesitate on switch the deal away from Osmose.

Is there a hard deadline in the feasibility study?

Tim says “no” with some qualification. Government could change their mind. This is the Serbian feasibility study, btw, which is a different animal (less detail). It’s about a 30-day process. Our version (North America) would be about 1 year. Pieces are being assembled. Should be done by late summer. The end of Sept deadline is our own deadline (self-imposed).

GLTA,
Nobodysfuel

[Prider]

Thanks Nobodysfuel for your summary of meeting.

[gordo323]

Thanks Nobodysfuel You went to a llot of effort there good on you.

[Shamrock58]

Thank you NF for your efforts in bringing the meeting to us. 

[Lanagold19]

Well Done.. 

[tmp251000]

Biggest takeaway for me was a feeling of "last mile"   after a long journey

[iamlickzy]

Great recap sir, thank you. And thanks to Dan C, John C and Greg S for the great questions. Dan C is clearly BB and based on the semi broken English w le can only assume John Carlo is Lanagold.  : ) The real highlight for me was the pronouncing of Pobrdje - Po-Bord-Jay.  Mystery solved!

[blueboron99]

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