Stardust Power Inc.

Good afternoon, and welcome to Stardust Power, Inc.' 's year-end 2025 earnings call. My name is Tawanda, and I'll be your operator today. Before this call, Stardust Power issued its financial results for the year-end 2025. Joining us on today's call are Stardust Power's founder and CEO, Roshan Pajari, and CFO, Othay DeVasper. Following their remarks, we will open the call for questions. Before we begin, Joanna Gonzalez, Startups Powers Director of Investor Relations and Communications, will make a brief introductory statement. Ms. Gonzalez, please proceed.

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Before management begins their formal remarks today, we would like to remind everyone that some statements we're making today may be considered forward-looking statements under securities laws and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. As a result, we caution you that there are a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results, outcomes, and events and the timing of such results, outcomes, and events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. For more detailed risks, uncertainties, and assumptions relating to our forward-looking statements, please see the disclosures in our earnings release and public filings made with the SEC We disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made, except as required by law. We refer you to our filings with the SEC for detailed disclosures and descriptions of our business, as well as uncertainties and other variable circumstances, including but not limited to risks and uncertainties identified under the caption risk factors in our recent filings. You may get Stardust Power's SEC filings by visiting the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. I would like to remind everyone this call is being recorded and will be made available for replay via a link available in the investor relations section of Stardust Power's website. Now I turn the call over to Stardust Power's CEO, Roshan Pujari.

Thank you, Joanna. Before we begin, you may have seen that we issued our results slightly earlier this quarter. We did that to give investors additional time to review the information ahead of today's call and to accommodate scheduling logistics for the management team. 2025 was a foundational year for Stardust Power, one defined by execution, de-risking, and building the operational, technical, and regulatory base required to advance one of the largest planned lithium refineries in the United States and positioning the project for its next phase of development, including project financing. The reality is simple. The US cannot scale grid storage, AI infrastructure, defense electrification, or EVs without secure access to battery-grade lithium. Today, Batteries represent the overwhelming majority of global lithium demand. Yet the bottleneck is not access to raw lithium, but the ability to process it into battery-grade lithium carbonate at scale reliably and with an American control. This critical gap in the supply chain is what Stardust Power is built to solve. This opportunity is exactly what our refinery project in Muskogee is focused on. Before turning back to our project, let me briefly comment on the broader lithium market backdrop. The lithium demand outlook remains structurally strong and increasingly diversified. According to FastMarket's research, global lithium ion battery demand grew roughly 20% in 2025, driven by both EVs and rapidly expanding battery energy storage systems. While EVs still represent the majority of demand, Stationary storage is now emerging as one of the fastest growing segments, particularly in North America, as grid-scale deployment accelerates. This diversification is broadening the demand base and supporting a more durable long-term growth profile for the sector. However, while upstream lithium production continues to expand across North America, downstream processing capacity has not kept pace. creating a critical bottleneck in converting raw lithium into battery-grade materials and strengthening domestic supply chain resilience. On pricing, we are seeing a clear improvement from last year. Battery-grade lithium carbonate is currently trading in the US $24,000 per metric ton range, up three times from its lows in 2025. While some short-term volatility is always possible, long-term price stabilization is taking place. Demand remains strong across both energy storage markets and EPs, and pricing is finding balance at more sustainable levels. In North America, domestically processed battery materials can also command a premium, reflecting growing demand for secure and localized supply chains. Before walking through the progress across the project, I want to briefly frame how we are thinking about the next phase of development. With key engineering, permitting, and early commercial milestones now in place, we are transitioning into the next stage of the project. Our focus is on securing project-level financing aligned with construction, where the majority of the capital required for the refinery is expected to be funded through a combination of debt and strategic equity at the project level rather than the corporate level. we are actively advancing discussions across multiple channels, including strategic partners, debt providers, and potential government supported programs with the objective of establishing an optimal capital structure. With that in mind, let me walk you through the progress we have made in the business. Over the past year, we advanced the project across operations, permitting, engineering, infrastructure, commercial strategy, and team development. Overall, de-risking of the project for the Muskogee Lithium Refinery. Throughout 2025, we focused on systematically strengthening the company across the key areas that institutional investors, strategic partners, and government stakeholders look for in domestic critical minerals projects. Leadership, technical readiness, permitting clarity, infrastructure access, and commercial credibility. On leadership and execution, we appointed Chris Solano as Chief Operating Officer, bringing a strong track record delivering large-scale industrial projects. We strengthened our technical bench with the addition of Ken Fitz as Director of Construction and Subcontracts, and we continued expanding lithium-specific expertise to deepen execution capability. We also welcomed Carlos Uruquega, a senior advisor to support our financial capital strategy and project financing initiatives. In January, 2026, we added Bruce Chacker as general counsel, who brings deep lithium industry experience from Piedmont Lithium, supporting large scale project development and financing. Strategically, we advanced multiple initiatives that supported long-term competitiveness and project success, including an exclusive licensing agreement for a lithium brine material concentration technology from KMX Technologies, an agreement with Ohio State to advance lithium refining technologies, and expanded our external capabilities through government relations support from 38 North Solutions. At the same time, we continued advancing the project across several key engineering and infrastructure milestones. From an engineering standpoint, Stardust Power completed the Front End Loading 3, or FELL 3, study with Primera USA for the Muskogee Refinery, a major milestone in advancing the project towards final investment decisions. The FFEL III provides the technical, cost, and execution framework needed to proceed with project planning and financing. In addition, we completed an independent review of our Muskogee lithium refinery from Black & Veatch, a highly respected engineering firm. That independent work provided further validation that our project approach is aligned with industry standards and supports our commitment to disciplined third-party verified project development. We also made important progress on infrastructure readiness, including finalizing a key 40 megawatt infrastructure will serve agreement with the Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company. This is a meaningful step towards ensuring the project can access the utilities and energy infrastructure required to support a large-scale refining operation. In parallel with engineering work, we made important progress towards reducing regulatory risk through the permitting process. A major focus in 2025 was reducing regulatory uncertainty and advancing permitting clarity. Over the year, we confirmed that no industrial wastewater discharge permit is expected to be required for the Oklahoma lithium facility. We do not expect to create material water emissions. We intend to utilize zero liquid discharge technology designed to avoid material waterways. This is an important outcome that supports both project feasibility and environmental responsibility. Our Muskogee Refinery is designed with a closed-loop water system that recycles processed water and eliminates wastewater discharge. We believe that this design is not only environmentally responsible, but also is operationally practical for long-term facility operations. It reduces the need to source large volumes of water from municipalities. Our goal is to be responsible with our resources. Together, these permitting achievements reflect a deliberate strategy, reduce major regulatory unknowns early so that the project's path to construction and commissioning is clear, credible, and measurable. This work progressed steadily throughout the year and culminated in several key milestones toward the end of the year and shortly thereafter. In the fourth quarter and subsequent recent months, we delivered several of the most important milestones of the year, including material progress on supply, third-party validation, team strength, and permitting. On the commercial front, we announced two supply agreements for up to 13,500 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent. These agreements represent meaningful progress towards securing strategic North American lithium supply in support of our broader objective of building a resilient domestic refining value chain. Upstream production has been ramping up in America and North America. Major oil and gas companies have entered the market and are aggressive with schedules and timelines. We see new wells being drilled all over the US, in Arkansas, Texas, Nevada, among other places. However, no significant new processing capacity has come online or is expected to come online in the immediate future. Stardust Power seeks to solve this critical gap in the supply chain. We also completed the independent third-party review from Black & Beach, which determined that the project has low technical and design risk. and that phase one production targets are deemed achievable. We believe that such third-party confirmation is an important signal for project credibility and for future stakeholders evaluating the refinery's readiness. Most significantly, we received our air quality construction permit from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, or ODEQ. This permit allows the project to proceed with construction and commissioning, and we believe materially reduces regulatory timeline risk for the project. The ODEQ review confirmed the refinery qualifies as a minor source under state and federal air regulations, reflecting the facility's anticipated emissions controls, monitoring systems, and environmental safeguards. The air permit builds on prior approvals, including ODEQ's approval of our stormwater permit and stormwater pollution prevention plan. Concurrently with the permitting process, we are also advancing work on the site. At the start of 2025, we held a ceremonial groundbreaking at the project site. This reflects something tangible. The project has progressed beyond concept and planning and is the next phase of development. With the air quality construction permit now in hand, our focus is advancing towards final investment decision and detailed design. Once fully operational, the refinery is expected to produce up to 50,000 metric tons per year of battery grade lithium carbonate at full main plate capacity. supporting the rapidly growing American market. As we advance the refinery project towards construction, maintaining strong alignment and relationships with our community and government partners continues to be an important focus for Stardust Power. Over the last several months, we've continued to be active in the Muskogee community and across the broader critical minerals policy landscape. Our team participated in several regional and industry forums, including the Arkansas Lithium Summit, and engaged with business leaders and policymakers through Oklahoma State Chamber and Tulsa Regional Chamber initiatives focused on economic development, energy policy, and strengthening domestic critical mineral supply chains. We continued building strong relationships with community leaders and workforce organizations through programs like Leadership Muskogee and the Greater Muskogee Manufacturing Alliance. We were also proud to sponsor the Greater Muskogee Education Consortium's Mathematics and Engineering Design Competition, where nearly 500 students from nine schools took part. Stardust Power donated the event's main prize and our team had the opportunity to connect directly with students interested in careers in science, engineering, and advanced manufacturing. At the federal level, we also participated in a Department of Energy workforce initiative and provided input to the Defense Industrial Base Consortium on strengthening the domestic critical mineral supply chain. These efforts reflect our commitment to being an active partner in the communities where we operate while supporting the development of a strong U.S. battery materials supply chain. We have also spent time in Washington, D.C. through a series of meetings with officials at the White House, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and the U.S. Department of Energy to discuss the role domestic lithium processing can play in strengthening U.S. battery supply chains and supporting both economic and national security priorities as the United States works to onshore critical mineral supply chains. And with that, I'll turn it over to Uday to review our financial performance for the quarter.