USA Rare Earth, Inc.

Good afternoon and welcome to the USA Rare Earth first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to J.B. Lowe, Vice President and Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Gary. Good afternoon, and welcome to USA Rare Earths' 2026 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. With me today are Barbara Humpton, Chief Executive Officer, and Rob Steele, Chief Financial Officer. Following Barbara and Rob's updates across our business and quarterly results, we will open the lines for Q&A. I would like to remind participants that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements. Please refer to the press release and our SEC filings for a discussion of risk factors. Listeners who do not have a copy of the press release or associated presentation may access these documents by visiting the investor relations section of the company's website. With that, I will turn the call over to Barbara.

Thank you, J.B. USA Rare Earth is at a defining moment. Our mission remains clear, to be the global champion in Rare Earths and the partner of choice for the advanced materials that underpin Western national security and technological innovation. The initial months of 2026 were defined by our transformational and strategic actions. By announcing three critical transactions, Cerro Verde, Carister, and the consolidation of TMRC, we are successfully closing the loop on our global mine-to-magnet value chain. Upon completion of these transactions, USA Rare Earth will operate a fully integrated industrial platform that spans three continents and we believe will secure the critical materials essential for allied technological leadership. Our agreement to acquire 100% of the Cerro Verde Group is a watershed moment for the Western Rare Earth industry. This transaction secures a one-of-a-kind operating asset. the Pelema Mine in Brazil, which is currently the only scaled producer of all four magnetic rare earths outside of Asia. Cerro Verde's 100% 15-year offtake agreement with a U.S. government-financed SPV that includes price floors for not only NDPR, But for the first time, dysprosium and terbium is a watershed moment. This will provide transparent, reliable price signals previously absent in the market. Additionally, this transaction is expected to accelerate our path to positive cash flow generation, effectively providing an immediate upstream bridge to our domestic round-top project. We also believe this acquisition strengthens our U.S. and allied government relationships and provides multiple embedded growth opportunities, including a potential phase two doubling of Pella Emma's production capacity. The transaction adds significant leadership depth through the appointment of Sir Mick Davis and Thras Moraitis to our board, with Mr. Moraitis also serving as president of the combined company. Next, our planned strategic investment in Carister amplifies our global leadership in heavy rare earth processing, including from recycled sources. We believe our partnership will provide us with contractual and equity relationships across the allied supply chain. In addition, it will grant us access to world-class engineering capabilities and IP that we can apply to the development of our own facilities. Finally, by consolidating 100% economic ownership of the Round Top project, we will streamline our operations, governance, and decision-making to fully capture the high margin growth of one of North America's most unique heavy rare earth deposits. Together, we believe these three moves will transform USA Rare Earth from a development stage project into the world's most comprehensive integrated rare earth platform. and we're building this platform from a strong financial position. In January, we announced a letter of intent with the Department of Commerce to provide $1.6 billion in funding. We're currently in the final stages of completing definitive documentation and expect this process to be finalized this month. This support, following an intense due diligence effort, represents a validation of our asset base, business model, and growth plans and will significantly de-risk our path to full-scale production. We also successfully closed a $1.5 billion pipe. This capital, augmented by the anticipated funding from the Department of Commerce, provides the ability for us to accelerate our build-out, not only in the United States, but across three continents. Beyond our strategic acquisitions and investments, we also made great strides in the development of our operations as we build the partner of choice in rare earth elements, oxides, metals, and magnets. The sense of urgency we're seeing from industrial partners and customers has increased dramatically in recent quarters and is present across each of our businesses. The growing interest in our capabilities includes deep engagement with blue chip OEMs, tier one defense contractors, and pioneers in the data center, aerospace, and physical AI infrastructure sectors. For many of our potential partners, the need for a secure and reliable supply chain for rare earths and critical minerals has moved from an aspiration to a strategic imperative. We're moving with speed to meet this need, and we hit the ground running in the first quarter with several major achievements. In March, we commissioned Phase 1A at our Stillwater Magnet Manufacturing Plant. This transition from developer to operational manufacturer will allow us to initiate customer-ready production of centered ND-FEB magnets in the second quarter, followed by fulfilling sales to customers in the second half of 2026. Our commercial momentum is clear, with frequent on-site visits from leaders in the semiconductor, industrial motor, heavy equipment, and aerospace sectors. We're seeing strong interest from potential customers in qualifying and purchasing non-China ND-FEB magnets. In several cases, we're seeing demand for safety stocks of semi-finished block magnets that can be finished into final shapes as needed. In our midstream operations, we're scaling metal, alloy, and strip cast capacity to meet our own internal manufacturing demand and increased interest from a broader set of potential customers. Here, too, we're seeing inquiries for both real-time needs and safety stock. Complementing this growth, we have advanced our plans for less common metals in Lac, France. Co-located with Carister's CareMag facility, this hub will establish a comprehensive European supply chain for rare earth processing and metal production. further strengthening our globally integrated mine-to-magnet platform. This heightened level of interest for specialized light and heavy rare earth metals underscores the unique technical capabilities we possess at LCM. Beyond our capabilities in magnetic metals and alloys, we're receiving an increasing number of inquiries for more specialized products, including gallium and gadolinium. And just last month, we completed our first commercial yttrium metal pour, which places us among a limited number of producers outside of China for a metal essential to high-temperature aerospace components such as turbine blades. Executing this vision requires the A-Team. We recently expanded our leadership team with the appointments of Valerie Ford Jacob as Chief Legal Officer, Gregory Bowman as Chief Global Policy Officer and Head of External Affairs, J.B. Lowe as Vice President and Head of Investor Relations, and Chaitan Kunzal, C.K., as Chief Commercial Officer. Upon the closing of the Cerro Verde Group transaction, the addition of Thrasmeritis as President will further strengthen our executive leadership team. We've also added vital expertise to our board with Thras, Sir Mick Davis, and Global Foundry's Executive Chairman, Dr. Thomas Caulfield, whose experience in scaling complex industrial platforms is essential to our global speed. Now let me hand it off to Rob Steele to cover our financial performance.