Aqua Metals, Inc.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Aqua Metals second quarter 2019 conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star 0. I would now like to turn the conference over to Allison Ziegler, Managing Director of Darrow Associates. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Welcome to Aqua Metals' second quarter 2019 conference call. Last night, Aqua Metals released financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2019. This release is available on the Investors section of the company's website at www.aquametals.com. Joining us for today's call from management is Steve Cotton, President and CEO, as well as Judd Merrill, the company's Chief Financial Officer. During today's call, management will be making forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q, filed Wednesday, July 31st, for a summary of the forward-looking statements and the risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. Aquametals cautions investors not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The company does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur, except as required by law. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Steve Cotton, CEO of Aquametals. Steve, go ahead.

Thanks, Allison. Good morning and welcome. Aquamentals has made significant operational progress during the second quarter, including moving to 24x7 production with our initial four modules and achieving a 458% increase in aqua-refined lead production over the first quarter and a 352% increase in lead bullion metal production over the first quarter, equating to a 438% increase in overall production Q2 over Q1. I'll summarize now some of our key operational milestones during the second quarter. We have continued to optimize our front-end concentrate production processes, which have allowed for continued increases in electrolyte recovery and throughput to feed more aqua refining modules. We've scaled operation of our third kettle to process the metallic lead that does not go through aqua refining, and we are able to recover an increasing amount of material for aqua refining. We signed an agreement with Clarios that sets parameters for finalizing our equipment supply agreement. We worked with our O&M partner, Veolia, to bring in a top global engineering design and construction team to augment our Phase II capital program with project management and construction project management resources to increase the likelihood of meeting our end-of-year goal of running 16 modules. We also strengthened our board with the appointment of Suzanne Meline, and appointed Dr. Fong Han as Vice President of Licensing and Pricing to press forward with our licensing and partnership activities. In the second quarter, with Phase 1 behind us, we moved to 24 by 7 operations with our first four modules, up from 24 by 4 operations, and we are currently operating four modules consistently. The combination of improved concentrate production and module uptime has enabled us to achieve a significant production increase and set a record in the second quarter. Moving forward, we are also preparing for the delivery in August of equipment for Phase 2 of our capital program and other projects. These projects, in sum, are expected to further boost electrolyte recovery, increase yield, and increase contribution margin later in 2019. This will also enable the rollout of additional modules, particularly beyond the first eight modules. Moving on to our partnership with Clarios. As we previously announced, early in the second quarter we met with Clarios at a nominated first facility to commence discussions of the proposed development program to supply aqua refining equipment and know-how, as well as licensing and ongoing support services. As a result of these discussions, we agreed on specific performance metrics for the existing aqua refinery as conditions precedent to shipping equipment. These include things like module performance and uptime, electrolyte usage, feed rates of aqua-refined material, and emissions. While we are progressing towards achievement of the agreed-upon performance metrics, we have been meeting with Clarios to concurrently collaborate on the development program agreement. Dr. Hahn, our new Vice President of Licensing and Pricing, is already an integral part of the ongoing discussion and the design of our licensing package for Clarios as well as other potential partners. We currently believe that we are in track to achieve the target performance metrics which could allow for higher margin licensing revenue beginning as early as 2020. And I will now turn over the floor to Jud Merrill, Chief Financial Officer, to review our Q2 2019 financials. Jud.