Aqua Metals, Inc.

Good afternoon and welcome to the Aqua Metals first quarter financial results call. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. You can submit a question via the web at any time by typing them in the ask a question field or by pressing star 1 on your telephone keypad. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference call over to our host, Bob Myers of FNK IR. You may begin.

Thank you, Operator, and thank you, everybody, for joining. Earlier today, Aqua Metals issued a press release providing an operational update and discussing financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025. This release is available in the investor relations section on the company's website at aquametals.com. Before we begin, I would like to remind participants that during the call, management will be making forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's report on Form 10-Q filed today, May 8th, 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. Apple Metals 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. As a reminder, after the formal remarks, we will be taking questions. Questions will be accepted on the call from analysts, and all other investors can submit a question using a webcast portal provided in today's and earlier press releases. We will take as many questions as we can in our available time slot. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Steve Cotton, CEO of Aqua Metals. Steve, the call is yours.

Thank you, Bob, and thank you all for joining us today. I'm pleased to report on what has been an important first quarter for Aqua Metals as we continue to execute on our mission to build a low-cost, resilient domestic battery materials supply chain. It's been just over a month since our last call, but there are some important updates that we'll discuss today. Joining me today are Judd Merrill, our Chief Financial Officer, and Eric West, our incoming CFO. Judd will be making remarks on our Q1 results and answering questions today, and then we'll begin transitioning from his role to Eric later this month and will continue as a consultant through August. We'll speak more on that shortly. So let's begin with our operational updates, starting with what we have accomplished to build an adaptive platform for critical minerals recovery. In Q1, we achieved three key technical and operational milestones that position us at the forefront of battery recycling innovation. First, our product line expansion. We produced initial samples of nickel carbonate and mixed hydroxide precipitate, or MHP, which align with our developing downstream partners' needs. These are not just technical wins. They unlock new revenue opportunities and enhance our developing customer and partner value propositions. Second, our LFP recycling breakthrough. We completed a successful engineering analysis and then lab and bench scale demonstration for lithium recovery from LFP batteries. As many of you know, LFP, or lithium iron phosphate, is poised to dominate both EV and stationary storage markets. Importantly, our process can handle a blend of 50% NMC, or nickel manganese cobalt, and 50% LFP input, effectively doubling our lithium carbonate output and improving project economics. Third, our purity and performance advancements. We have continued to improve our battery-grade lithium carbonate assays to meet specific and stringent potential customer specifications, which further strengthens our position as a trusted domestic supplier. So in short, as market needs evolve, so does Aqua Metals. We are continuously advancing our technology and adjusting our overall business and commercialization strategy to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities that we see ahead. So now turning to our site strategy. We have entered into an agreement to sell the Sierra Arc property. This strategic move allows us to retire all of our debt, generate meaningful cash reserves, and reduce our holding costs by approximately $100,000 per month. This decision is about resilience and flexibility. We are aligning our capital deployment with today's market environment, characterized by lower lithium prices, uncertainty in our industry, and the tighter capital markets. By lightening our footprint now, we gain the freedom to evaluate more cost-efficient locations, ideally near the feedstock and offtake sources for which we are developing, which could both lower capex and introduce meaningful OPEX efficiencies as we advance towards commercial deployment. We remain fully committed to building our first commercial arc, and we're actively engaged with our potential supply, offtake, and funding partners to determine the best path forward. Switching now to the leadership front, as I mentioned earlier, Judd Merrill will transition from CFO on May 16th after several years of dedicated service. Judd, we really sincerely thank you for all of your commitment and leadership through the transformative times and we all wish you the best on your next venture. And directly related to Judd's departure, we are pleased to welcome Eric West as our incoming CFO effective May 19. As many of you listening already know, Eric has six years of experience with Aqua Metals through his prior role, including VP of Finance. And we are also grateful that he has agreed to return to the company in the CFO role and have every confidence in his ability to help lead us into this next phase. Judd will also ask Eric to introduce himself in a moment. So to summarize my comments as we look ahead, Aqua Metals is first expanding and adapting its product portfolio and commercial plant economic model to match market conditions and where the critical minerals market is headed. Second, managing capital prudently and adapting our strategy to strengthen our already well-proven resilience as a company. And third, aligning the right leadership to deliver on our goals, including the previously announced recent additions to our board of directors adding key commercial and financial market expertise. We are operating with a clear eye on long-term value creations. making the right moves at the right times to build a flexible, high-performance business and maintain that resilience as we have to date. So with that, I'll turn it over to Judd to walk through the financials. After that, we'll open the call for Q&A.