Stardust Power Inc.

Good afternoon and welcome to Stardust Power Inc's Q1 2026 earnings call. My name is Tawanda and I'll be your operator today. Before this call, Stardust Power issued its financial results for the quarter ending March 31st, 2026. Joining us on today's call are Stardust Power's founder and CEO Roshan Pajari and CFO Uday Devaspur. Following their remarks, we will open the call for questions. Before we begin, Joanna Gonzalez, Startup Power 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 timings 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 Powers 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 Powers website. Now I will turn the call over to Stardust Power's CEO, Roshan Pajari.

Thank you, Joanna, and thank you everyone for joining us today. Q1 marks a clear transition for Stardust Power, from materially de-risking the project to advancing financing and execution. The core dynamic hasn't changed. The constraint in the U.S. lithium supply chain is not resource availability, it's refining capacity. That's the critical gap our Muskogee Refinery will address. Let me briefly frame where we are today. The project is now advanced across key areas that matter for financing and execution. From a permitting standpoint, we have received our air quality construction permit, which enables construction of the refinery to start once financed. This is a critical milestone that provides clarity on the regulatory path forward. On engineering, we have completed our FEL III study, which defines the technical scope, cost framework, and execution plan for the project. That work has also been supported by an independent third-party review, validating the design approach and overall project readiness. On the commercial side, We have advanced feedstock supply with multiple LOI agreements in place and ongoing discussions to further build out a diversified supply base. A strength of our model is to aggregate supply to limit dependence on single asset supply risk. And from a site and infrastructure perspective, we have secured key elements required to support construction and operations. including utility support at our Muskogee location. Taken together, these milestones position the project to move into the next phase with a clear focus on financing and execution. With that context, let me highlight some of the key developments and work streams advanced during the quarter and into the subsequent period. During the quarter, We continue to advance the Muskogee Lithium Refinery across financing, project development, and strategic positioning. A key milestone was securing our minor source air quality construction permit, representing the final major permit required for construction and commissioning to start alongside completion of Fel III engineering and third-party validation last year. The permit was only required to be a minor source permit, speaking to the limited emissions we shall produce. Our design does not require any smokestacks. In parallel, we expanded our government engagement efforts in Washington, D.C., supporting our positioning within U.S. critical minerals and energy policy initiatives. We engaged Founders Group policy to deepen our connectivity in the nation's capital And we were invited to the White House to discuss our project and its role in supporting America's national security. We continue to engage constructively with key stakeholders, including government and industry partners. There remains strong alignment between our mission to onshore critical material processing and a number of available government supported programs. We also made meaningful progress in capital formation. During the quarter, we secured access to up to 15 million in an equity financing facility, providing near-term flexibility as we advance broader funding efforts. Building on this, we announced a letter of intent with an institutional investor supporting up to 150 million in project level financing. This represents an initial step in assembling the project's capital step. This reinforces our strategy to structure financing at the asset level. We are aligning capital with the refinery while managing dilution at the public company level and supporting a transparent market-driven valuation. On the commercial side, we continue to advance our feedstock readiness and broader supply ecosystems. We entered into an LOI to secure up to 15,000 metric tons per annum of lithium chloride feedstock from a US-based brine project in California. This meaningful step further strengthens our domestic supply pipeline and supports our hub-and-spoke sourcing model, together with other agreements already in place, establishes a clear pathway to supply phase one requirements and beyond. Our centrally located refinery, combined with established multimodal logistics, positions us to efficiently source feedstock from a wide range of geographies. In addition, we join both the Cornerstone Consortium and the Lithium Regional Innovation Cluster, expanding our engagement across industry, governments, and technology partners. The Cornerstone Consortium provides a direct pathway into U.S. defense and national security-focused supply chain initiatives. The Lithium Regional Innovation Cluster connects us with leading institutions advancing lithium processing, innovation, and commercialization. Together, These memberships strengthen our positioning as a leader of a more resilient and domestically anchored lithium ecosystem. Overall, these developments reflect clear momentum in de-risking the project, advancing both the capital stack and feedstock pipeline, and positioning Stardust Power as a key participant in the emerging domestic lithium refining ecosystem as we move toward major construction. Over the past quarter, we've continued to deepen our engagement across the Muskogee community and with key stakeholders at both the state and federal level. We were proud to support Muskogee Day at the Capitol, where local business leaders engaged directly with senior policymakers and to participate in a roundtable with Senator Lankford's focused U.S. trade policy, global competitiveness, and the broader industrial landscape. These decisions are important as we continue to position the project within the context of the domestic supply chain development and evolving policy priorities. At the local level, we've remained actively engaged with the community and civic leadership in Muskogee. From participating in Leadership Muskogee's government session to co-sponsoring the Greater Muskogee Chamber's annual banquet, we're focused on building strong, long-term relationships in the region. We also have the opportunity to support the next generation through programs like Generation Citizen, where our team engaged with students working on community-based initiatives. These efforts reflect our broader approach of advancing the project while staying closely aligned with the communities and stakeholders that will be integral to its long-term success. Turning to financing, this is our primary focus as we move into the next phase of the project. Our strategy is clear. The majority of the capital required to construct the refinery is expected to be raised at the project level rather than the corporate level. This approach is designed to align capital with the asset, optimize the capital structure, and limit dilution for public shareholders. We are advancing discussions with a range of potential partners with the objective of bringing in a strategic partner who can reinforce project valuation and core commercial terms. From there, we expect to build broader financing through a combination of additional capital participation and syndication. By leveraging proven and established technology, the project is eligible for a higher debt component for project finance ranging from 70 to 80% of total funding needs. In parallel, we are engaging across multiple channels, including strategic investors, debt provider, and potential government-supported programs as we work to structure a balanced and durable capital stack. Throughout this process, we remain disciplined in our approach focused on capital efficiency alignment with long-term partners, and minimizing dilution at the corporate level. With key de-risking milestones now in place, we believe the project is well positioned to advance these financing discussions. With that framework in place, let me turn to our near-term priorities as we move toward execution. Looking ahead, our priorities are clear and focused on execution. First, we are advancing project level financing, which remains the key milestone to move the refinery into construction. In parallel, we are progressing EPC planning and detailed engineering work to ensure we are ready to move efficiently once financing is in place. On the commercial side, we continue to advance feedstock and potential offtake discussions to support long-term operational readiness. At the same time, we are preparing the site for construction with a focus on disciplined execution across schedule, cost, and overall project delivery. The path forward is well defined, and our focus is on executing these milestones to move the project into its next phase of major construction. And with that, I'll hand over to Uday Devaswar, our CFO.