BCI Minerals Limited

Good morning everyone and welcome. I'm David Bossoff and with me is our CFO Steve Fuster. We're pleased to be joining you today for our September 2026 quarterly update. Before we begin, please note that this presentation should be read together with our September quarterly report, which is now available on our website. If you have any questions, please type those into the live Q&A tab. that'll be on the right-hand side of your screen and we'll answer those questions at the end of the session. Our values define who we are and they guide every decision we make. This quarter, our values of Winners One Team and We Do What We Say were again on full display. This was led by our projects team. We have completed the dredging and the marine packages for the Māori Port on time and on budget. as promised. This is a massive milestone that significantly de-rifts the construction schedule and the cost of delivering Māori salt to business. It has been achieved through collaboration with BCI and with our contractors across all the teams. I do want to thank everyone involved in making that happen. That values-driven approach support the business we're building at Māori. Māori is on its way to becoming Australia's largest solar salt operation and the third largest in the world. After years of construction, we are now just months away from completing that work. Despite much of the heavy lifting being done so far, we remain laser focused on delivering the construction of Māori salt business on budget and on schedule. With salt-air crystallizing, our priority is on a space and efficient ramp-up. Product quality sits at the center of this ramp-up. Our customers are relying on us, and we are determined to deliver exactly what we said we would. We also see KTMS mittens from our production of high-quality industrial salt as a valuable opportunity to add new products over time. This is why our sulfate of potash trial is so important. It's a key step towards proving that potential as a future revenue stream. With its scale, its coastal location and our own port, Mardi is well placed to meet the growing demand across Asia. Safety remains our first priority and I'm pleased to report good progress this quarter. A 12-month rolling total recordable injury frequency rate has improved to 2.7. That's down from 4.4 last quarter. That improvement reflects the continued work our teams are doing to strengthen safety across the site. We completed 316 critical control verifications and 620 field leadership interactions. Our verifications are aligned with the key risks on site, fitness for work, mobile appliance and equipment, and vehicles and traffic management. We use what we learn in these verifications to close any gaps in our controls and to target coaching where it's needed. In the September quarter, we delivered continued progress across the Māori production system. Through the winter months, our team prepared the system carefully for the summer season ahead. These cooler months are when salt forms a bit more slowly, ahead of an expected warm summer. We made deliberate decisions to accelerate the movement of brine to maximize surface area and to prepare the pond system ahead of the summer months. By the end of September, around 266,000 tons of salt had crystallized in these crystallizers. That's an increase of 270 17,000 tons on the 49,000 tons we reported in June. At the end of the quarter, we had 12 crystallizers lined up from eight at the end of June. Since then, a further two crystallizers have been lined. The remaining 14 crystallizer cells will be lined progressively through to the final quarter of FY27 as we ramp up toward our mandate capacity. And as the filling continues, our attention is turning to how well the crystallizer system is performing. This quarter we continue testing our salt internally and those samples being provided to customers for their own independent assessment. The results continue to meet the specifications in our off-take agreements which supports our customers' confidence as commissioning progresses. Looking ahead, this summer is critical for Māori Our goal is to enter the summer evaporation period with as much brine in the system as possible. The system brings the strongest, the summer brings the strongest evaporation that should support further salt growth in our crystallizers. But the summer heat also makes the system move faster and our team will be closely managing pond heights and brine densities while we continue to fill the newly lined crystallizers. The path to first salt is driven by nature, by the evaporation process that produces high quality industrial salt. As you can see from this sliced view on the slide, the layers of the crystallizers is what make safe harvesting possible. Once the crystallizer is lined, the permanent pavement must form around 200 millimeters before we can start harvesting. That pavement becomes a stable operating base and allows safe harvesting of future salt crops. Everything that grows above pavement is what we harvest, wash and ship to our customers. As more crystallizer ponds are commissioned and evaporation increases through the warmer months, we expect the rate of salt crystallization to keep building. As we said previously, the timing of first salt on ship remains subject to weather and evaporation conditions in the next remaining months. Turning now to construction. At the end of the quarter, our construction was at 90% complete. We're only a few months away from completing construction for the SALT project. The project team continues to deliver as they promise to construct the Māori SALT on time and on budget. With 10% to go, our focus is on disciplined closeout and successful commissioning. That's why we have detailed commissioning plans in place and remain laser focused on budget and on schedule. For the salt wash plant, stockyard and the port, the last pieces of the major infrastructure to be completed. I'll now provide more detail on these assets. The salt wash plant is now 70% complete. Key milestones last quarter included the delivery of major equipment, and including screw classifiers, centrifuges, dewatering screens and elutriators. All of the fabricated steelwork of the wash plant is also on site. Site work continues with the installation of structural steel to level 1, as well as the product conveyor and the screw classifiers. This quarter, our structural, mechanical and piping contractor will be completing the erection of steelwork, as well as installing the centrifuges, dewatering screens and the elutriators. Our electrical contractors will also be busy installing switch rooms, cabling and instrumentation ahead of commissioning. Our current project schedule has construction completed to be done by the end of December, with dry commissioning commencing ahead of wet commissioning when the salt is available to run through the plant. The construction of the port continues to progress strongly and this has reached 98% completion at the end of the quarter. Through September 2026 quarter, the dredging of the berthing pocket for our con-shipper and the channel to the ocean-going vessels anchorage area was completed. The remaining marine works including catwalks, navigation aids and dolphins were all installed as well. Both the dredging and marine works were now complete marking the end of the marine campaign and eliminating any major timeline or project risk for the port. During the next quarter, we will be installing the conveyor belt on the jetty, which is already well advanced. The stockyard conveyor and the belt will also be installed, and the switch room and cabling to the stockyard, and then we'll commence with dry commissioning. The CFL Osprey, which will support our first shipment, is currently being converted and is on schedule to arrive at Māori ahead of the wet commissioning of the jetty. Construction in our new consulate and vessel, the Mighty Spirit, is also progressing well. So the design flows out, production, design and whole fabrication. Together, these milestones significantly reduces the risk in our remaining port scope and gives us a solid foundation to close out construction and commence commissioning. I'll now hand over to Steve to talk through our financial position and the stock market.

Yeah, thanks, David. Total construction costs now stand at $1.265 billion, following spending $80 million during this quarter. That leaves around $178 million to spend to complete construction. The largest packages of work remaining include the balance of the crystalliser line, finishing off the salt wash plant, the stockyard conveyor and the PPA road. With almost all of our costs now committed, along with the progress on these final construction areas, we remain confident that we will complete construction on budget. During the quarter, we drew $119 million from our syndicated debt facility. We've now completed 13 drawdowns, taking the total amount drawn to $706 million to the end of September. The drawdown process continues to run smoothly and at quarter end, BTI had total available liquidity of $316 million. Including our pre-revenue operating expenditure of $321 million, BTI has now invested $1.586 billion in the Marty Salt operation. With available liquidity of $316 million, and approximately $178 million to spend on the construction, BCI has ample working capital funding of $138 million for the ramp up of the salt business. In terms of the market, BCI remains positive about the outlook for salt prices in our region over the medium term. With a forecast 27 million tonnes per annum shortfall in supply through the Asian region, continuing to be forecast by Wood Mackenzie. We continue to engage with all of our off-take partners during the quarter and they remain both engaged and supportive. A highlight for the quarter was hosting a delegation from Soges together with a Japanese salt customer. Both parties are extremely impressed with the progress being made at our operations. They're able to see firsthand our commitment to salt quality and how we're focused on delivering to a high standard. And that matters to us because delivering on our promises to our customers is how we build lasting relationships. We're also broadening our engagement with chemical companies that are positioning for growth in major megatrends, including the new energy markets. In particular, the growth of battery storage is driving investment in new caustic soda plants. The Coptic Soda market, the Coptic Soda is needed to process the critical minerals used in rechargeable batteries. During the quarter, our team also visited new regions within China, which we see as strategic growth precincts. We're also monitoring closely new energy projects that continue to shape the industrial growth across the country. Thank you. I'll now pass you back to Darwin.

Thanks, Steve. Sulphate of Potash or SOP is a key value add to our salt operation and important revenue stream for BCI. In August we awarded the construction contract of a 150kg per hour SOP pilot plant to Blue Star Lehigh Engineering Institute. SOP is a premium fluoride free fertiliser used in high value crops in Australia and internationally. This pilot plant is an important step towards confirming whether SOP can be produced at a commercial scale from the Māori feedstock. Bluestar was the principal designer for the world's largest brine-based SOP plant. They will design, supply, assemble and install the pilot plant, which will be built and delivered to Māori in containerized modules. Our engineering consultant, Accelerate, which has supported our SOP work since 2024, will provide independent oversight across design, risk, procurement, and commissioning of the pilot plant. Commissioning is targeted for the start of the second quarter of financial year 28, with piloting expected to run approximately 12 months. The pilot plant will be funded from our existing debt facilities, and it sits within the approved Mighty Capital budget of $1.443 billion. This quarter, Bluestar completed the front-end engineering design study for the plant. We have since issued the scope for the detailed design and supply. Detailed design is expected to be finished by the end of March 2027 quarter, with procurement and modular construction starting at the same time. We also completed further test work this quarter to support the design of the SOP process. We expect the final report of that work to be available in the December quarter. Meanwhile, our trial crystallizers for the production of KTMS salts continue to operate at a steady state and production remains on track to deliver the required volumes needed for the pilot plant trials. Alongside safely ramping up operations and completing construction, sustainability remains a priority and I want to share a few highlights from the quarter. On the environment, we delivered on all our key monitoring programs, working alongside specialist consultants and our traditional owners. This included our quarterly monitoring of mangroves, samphire and algomats, which is an important habitat along the coast at Māori. We also continued on this heat control program to manage this invasive weed across site. We completed a lighting audit to help protect marine turtles at nest on the islands and we monitor marine water quality throughout the dredging and offshore disposal process. Together these programs help us understand our environment and manage our impact as we move into operations. In the community, I'm proud to share that our partnership with the Karratha Senior High School has been nominated for the AMEC Award in the Community Contribution category. Through this partnership, we support the school's Positive Behaviour Support Programme, which is helping to improve student engagement and behaviour. We have also renewed our community partnerships for 2027. That includes continued support for the programme at the Kaurava Senior High School, scholarships through the Paul Brock Kimberley University Centres and the Kaurava Kangaroos Rugby Club in Kaurava. These long-term partnerships reflect Our commitment to building trackability and supporting the communities where we operate. As we close out this quarter, we do so by living our values and doing what we said we would do. This quarter, salt production increased, our newly lined crystallisers were filled and our port moved to 98% completion. Construction is in its final stages and the project remains within budget and is fully funded. This coming summer is critical for us. The final stage of construction can be the hardest and the commissioning needs to be done with care and patience. We are prepared well and will stay focused on what we can control, safety, plant management and diligent testing of our product quality. We remain on track as we work towards first salt on ship in FY27. with a final timing dependent on weather and evaporation conditions. Our investment fundamentals are underpinned by the world's need for salt. It's used across a wide range of industries with a long history of predictable demand and stable pricing. It's also sustainable. Salt is a renewable resource produced from seawater and 99% of the energy we use to produce salt comes from the natural evaporation from wind and sun. And with our Salford of Potash pilot plant now underway, we are taking the next steps towards unlocking more minerals from that same process. Thirdly, Māori has the potential to offer an annuity-style return thanks to the long life of our assets, our salt and port capital costs, and our working capital requirements being fully funded. And once we ramp up to production, we expect strong free cash flow to build with low sustaining capital and surplus capital lending to annuity style returns for shareholders. This brings us to the end of our presentation. We will now move to questions. If you haven't already, please submit those questions in the live Q&A tab on the right-hand side of your screen. Thank you.