Westwater Resources, Inc.

Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to West Water Resources Q1 2026 conference call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Steve Cates, CFO. Steve, please go ahead.

Thank you operator and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Westwater Resources first quarter 2026 business update. Our form 10 Q was filed and issued yesterday after market close and is available in the investor section of our website at westwaterresources.com. Joining me on the call today are Terrence Crine, our executive chairman, and Frank Bacher, our president and chief executive officer. Both will be available to answer questions following our prepared remarks. As a reminder, today's discussion will include forward-looking statements regarding future events and expectations, including projected demand for graphite products, expected timelines and costs related to the Kellyton Graphite Plant and Coosa Graphite Deposit, financing activities, permitting timelines, and customer qualification efforts. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations. Please refer to our SEC filings and the cautionary language included in our press release for additional detail. With that, I'll turn the call over to our Executive Chairman, Terrence Krein.

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. Over the past several months, the battery materials industry has continued to evolve rapidly. Customers across the supply chain are adjusting procurement strategies and development timelines in response to shifting policies, tariffs, evolving end market demand, broader geopolitical uncertainty. At the same time, the strategic importance of establishing a domestic supply chain for critical minerals like graphite has only become clearer. Today, the United States remains almost entirely dependent on foreign sources of natural graphite, principally from China, despite graphite being essential to lithium ion batteries, battery energy storage systems, and increasingly, defense and advanced industrial applications such as SMR nuclear reactors. Against this backdrop, Westwater continues to advance a vertically integrated mine to market graphite platform in Alabama designed to deliver secure domestic battery grade graphite in the United States. Our strategy connects two complimentary assets. The first is the Kooza Graphite Deposit largest and most advanced natural flake graphite deposit in the contiguous United States. The second is the Kellyton Graphite Plant, where graphite concentrate will be processed into CSPG, the active anode material used in lithium ion batteries. Importantly, we continue to believe Westwater has a multi-year first mover advantage as the most advanced American developer of battery grade natural graphite in the United States. During the quarter, we advanced permitting efforts at KUSA, including receiving FAST 41 designation during the quarter continue to advance in construction and operational readiness at Kellyton, and progress customer qualification activities through our operational qualification line. FAST-41 is an important milestone for the project because it improves coordination and visibility across federal permitting activities. We view this as another step in accelerating progress and de-risking the long-term development pathway for KUZA. While market conditions remain dynamic, our focus continues to be on execution and advancing our two core projects, and we're doing just that. Steve will talk further about our active engagement on capital formation, including our engagement with various government agencies on funding. With that, I'll turn the call over to Frank for an operational update.