United States Antimony Corporation

Greetings. Welcome to United States Antimony Corporation's second quarter and six months into June 30th, 2024 operating and financial results meeting webcast. At this time, all participants run a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the webcast, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this webcast is being recorded. I'll now turn the webcast over to your host, Gary C. Evans. You may begin.

Thank you, and welcome to our second quarter and six months ended financial and operational conference call. As you know, we've renounced our numbers this morning. I have with me today on the call Rick Isaac, who is our chief financial officer. Joe Bardsworth, who is my co-CEO and a board member, and Jonathan Miller, who is new. He's our vice president of investor relations and also a global sales director. So those three gentlemen will be speaking as I turn various segments of the call over to them. I want to just give you a very quick summary of financial results. I'm not going to steal Rick's thunder. He has got a lot more detail. But in summary, revenues were up 26% for this period. Cost of sales were up only 6%, which in turn allowed gross profit to be up 122%. This allowed us to report a net income from operations, continuing operations, which was $30,000. This company is still in what I would call a turnaround story. We're going to be making a lot more changes. We're We'll talk today about some of those in the various divisions. But it's good for us to see the operational changes that have now resulted in the financial statement changes as you've seen today in our reported income statement. So let's let Rick give us a little more detail on the financial results and what happened in the second quarter and six months into June 30. Rick?

Thanks, Gary. I'm going to review our consolidated results, then a few metrics at each of our businesses, and then a few key areas in our balance sheet and cash flow. So I'll start with the consolidated results of our continuing operations. Sales were $5.6 million for the first six months of this year, which, as Gary said, is an increase of 26% compared to last year. This increase was primarily related to a higher volume of our anemone sales and a higher price on our zeolite sales. Gross profit, as Gary mentioned, 1.7 million for the first six months of this year, which is an increase of 122% over last year. This increase was primarily related to improved efficiencies with the higher volume in our anemone business, partially offset by more repairs, maintenance, and other related costs with our zeolite business, both of which I'll talk a little bit about more later. Operating expenses were $2 million for the first six months of 2024, an increase of $1.1 million compared to 2023. This increase primarily related to about $300,000 of non-cash stock compensation expense, $310,000 of project costs, $360,000 of salary and board fee expenses, and $130,000 of 10-K and 10-Q costs that were incurred earlier this year, given that we filed on time with the SEC. The $310,000 of project costs are part of our growth and improvement strategy for the company. We're unable to discuss several of these projects at this time. One that we can discuss is the mineral resource study we're performing on our zeolite business in Idaho, which we anticipate completing this year. Next, let's look at a few metrics related to each of our businesses. First, our antimony business. Sales from our antimony business for the first six months of this year increased by 36% over the prior year. And gross margin was more than two times last year's gross margin. The gross margins we are achieving this year are higher due to efficiencies with the higher volume. We have seen even higher gross margins with higher volume in the past, but the increments are smaller at these levels. Our average antimony sales price per pound for the first six months of this year was $4.65, which mainly relates to antimony oxide sales. There are a couple reasons this average price seems low compared to the antimony market price and the last year. This year, We processed some customer-owned ore in the antimony tricylified, which lowered our average sales price per pound compared to the market price and compared to last year. Also, the current antimony metal market price is around $10.64 per pound. However, if you look at it daily, this market price went above $6 per pound in early May 2024, And more of our second quarter sales were ordered prior to May, which is when we lock in the sales price. And all of our second quarter sales were ordered prior to June. The key is that we increased our gross profit and gross margin with the increased volume compared to last year. Next, our zeolite business. Sales from our zeolite business for the first six months of this year increased 26% over the prior year. Gross profit decreased by $397,000 compared to last year, and loss from operations was worse by about $540,000. However, more of the loss from operations was incurred in the first quarter of 2024, meaning we've been improving during the year. BRZ had a loss from operations of $432,000 in the first quarter of 2024, and a loss from operations of $148,000 in the second quarter of 2024. The higher loss in the first quarter was primarily due to increased repairs, maintenance, and other related costs in repairing older equipment that were saddled with, coupled with lower sales. Next, our subsidiary in Mexico. As discussed on prior earnings calls, we closed and discontinued our operations in Mexico on March 11, 2024. During the first six months of this year, we sold most of the anemone inventory on hand in Mexico, which generated $1.1 million of revenue. However, even with these higher sales and the closure, our discontinued operations in Mexico still generated a loss of $150,000 for the first six months of this year. Next, let's look at a few items on a balance sheet and cash flow. Inventory was lower at June 30, 2024, compared to the end of 2023, which was primarily related to our antimony inventory. Our main antimony supplier had some planned downtime towards the end of the second quarter, but is delivering ore again, and we're working to meet demand and increase our inventory levels. We're also looking for other sources of antimony ore so we can grow sales and maintain a healthier supply of inventory on hand. Our receivables were higher at June 30, 2024, compared to the end of 2023, which again is primarily related to our anemone business. We shipped a lot of product at the end of the second quarter of 2024. All of these receivables have since been collected. Cash and cash equivalence balance at June 30, 2024 was $12.4 million, an increase of $492,000 from December 31, 2023. Your management team and employees of our great company are focused on growing and improving the business every day. A little over seven months ago, we ended 2023 and reported a large net loss for 2023, which included operations that have since been discontinued. In 2024, we reported a modest amount of income from the continuing operations. We're not claiming a victory. There's still a lot of work to be done. but it shows a team focused on turning a company around and making improvements with profitable growth. I'll turn it back to you, Gary.