American Resources Corporation

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to American Resources Corporation first quarter 2023 conference call. All lines have been placed on a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions and comments following the presentation. If you should require assistance throughout the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad to reach a live operator. At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Mark LaBregada. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thank you. And good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of American Resources Corporation, I'd like to welcome everyone to our first quarter of 2023 conference call and business update. Even though we conducted our last conference call update just about six weeks ago, we always welcome this opportunity to provide an update on our business and discuss our accomplishments and also discuss how we're uniquely positioned within the markets we serve for our American Carbon, American Metals, and Rail Element Technologies divisions. That being said, we will provide some incremental updates since our last call and then get into a question and answer as part of the call. Also on the call with me today is Mark Jensen, American Resources Chairman and CEO, and Kirk Taylor, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we kick it off, I'd like to remind everyone of our normal cautionary statement. Certain statements discussed on today's call constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Once considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors, uncertainties, and other cautionary statements which are laid out in our press releases and SEC filings. We also do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Lastly, for anyone wanting To ask a question today, I believe you'll need to dial in by phone to get in the queue. We're going to start today with a few comments from Kirk Taylor. Kirk?

Thank you, Mark, and thank you, everyone, for spending a couple minutes here with us this afternoon. First, I'll start with some financial highlights. The first several months of 2023 have continued to showcase our focus and executions, solidifying our strategic positioning within our addressable markets, which we believe position our company for long-term value creation. As Mark just mentioned, we recently just had our year-end earnings call, where I commented on our past execution and highlighted our accomplishments on all fronts. Today, I'll focus on some comments pertaining to certain value-creating initiatives that we have had in the works. First, I'll update on our tax-dent bond offering in Wyoming County, West Virginia. As previously mentioned, we are positioning our Wyoming County coal mining complex as a driver of incremental growth with a federal and state commitment in the form of $4.9 million in new market tax credits, as well as a $45 million volume cap allocation from the state of West Virginia for private activity, solid waste disposal, facility revenue bonds. These non-dilutive capital sources will fund the expansion and technological improvements to the existing processing facility, the development of two underground deep mines, as well as the new construction of a critical mineral processing facility utilizing our pathogen electrolysis technology to capture certain elements such as lithium and cobalt from our carbon waste streams before they land in the field. We believe this will be the first fully integrated mining and critical element processing facility in the United States, a showcase for everybody to learn from. This issuance was delayed due to the aggressive interest rate policy enacted by the Federal Reserve to combat multi-decade high inflation. With the recent stabilization interest rates, our advisors feel that the municipal bond markets have reopened and again are receptive to our type of a project. We continue to work with our advisors on executing the above allocation. Next, I'll talk about the spin-out of re-element technologies. We've also previously discussed our intention to spin off our wholly owned Realment Technologies division into a standalone public company, given its evolution and strategic positioning as a world-leading refining technology platform. On this past January 24th, we filed our initial Form 10 registration statement with the United States Securities Exchange Commission. This past Friday, May 12th, we filed our amended Form 10 registration statement to update for both 2020 or 1231-2023 numbers, and to address comments and questions raised by the SEC. The amended filing is currently under review, and all timing is subject to their review process. Next, I'll comment on American Acquisition Opportunity, Inc. When we IPO'd AMAO as its main sponsor, we sought out to merge with a dynamic cash-selling company that did not require a complicated and highly dilutive Financing is part of this D-SPAC process. Last June, AMAO announced the definitive merger agreement to merge with Royalty Management Corporation, whereas RMC would become a public company. Last December, AMAO filed its first Form S-4 Registration Statement with the SEC in conjunction with the planned merger between AMAO and RMC, and have since been working through the comments provided by the SEC. On May 4th, AMAO filed its amended Form S-4 to, again, update for December 31st, 2023 numbers, and to address questions and comments raised by the SEC. Again, the timing is subject to their review, and we will update and respond accordingly. Our unique platform of assets is in a great position to deliver what we believe is attractive return and value to our shareholders, including our mining assets, our re-element technologies division, as well as American Metals Division, which we are in the process of strategically positioning within the electrified economy. On some highlights of this last quarter, on January 31, 2023, the remaining amounts of our convertible note in the amount of $9.8 million was converted into 9.4 million common shares of the company. This distinguishes all future liabilities and obligations under the existing convertible note. As of March 31st, 2023, our traditional debt balance totaled approximately $839,000, in which a little bit less than $300,000 is equipment financing and $550,000 is in the form of a mine development loan from one of our top customers. Our balance sheet has never been stronger than it is today. As of March 31st, 2023, our current shares outstanding totaled just over $75,000 $8.2 million of all Class A common shares. Cash on hand at the end of the first quarter was approximately $2.4 million, plus a large inventory level of met carbon that we continue to sell into the marketplace to our contracted customers. Lastly, it is probably worth reiterating, given the recent regional bank events, all of our excess cash above FDIC limits are held by a top two U.S.-based bank. I'd now like to turn the call over to Mark LaBregada for some additional comments on our re-element technologies division. Mark?