5/11/2026

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Nickel Asia Corporation's briefing for our operational results for the first quarter of 2026. My name is Miriam Cueto, Nickel Asia Corporation Senior Manager for Investor Relations. Joining me today are our Group President and CEO, Mr. Dennis Lamorg, our VP for Finance and Deputy CFO, Mr. Andrew Yee, Director of our Geothermal Business, Mr. Joseph Nukoch, and President of Cordillera Exploration Company Inc., or SEXI, Dr. Drew Newmore. I'd like to remind everyone to kindly keep your microphones off during the duration of the presentation. This session will be recorded, and the presentation materials will be available on our website after the briefing. There will be a Q&A portion after the formal presentation where we will first address questions submitted via the registration form. For any additional questions, you may send those via the Q&A box or we can unmute you. So let's now begin with our financial highlights. This slide presents our consolidated financial highlights for the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year. The leftmost set of bar charts indicates our top-line performance for the period and historically over the last three years. Revenues, which are comprised of the sale of ore, power, and other services, amounted to $3.2 billion in the first quarter, an 8% increase year-on-year from $2.9 billion in 2025. The set of bar charts in the center showcases our consolidated GDP for the period, which totaled $1.3 billion from $1.5 billion in the first quarter of last year. That's about 13%. The rightmost set of bar charts shows us our income, excluding minority interest. For the first quarter of 2026, that amounted to $0.4 billion, or a decrease of about 26% from 0.5 billion in the first quarter of last year. So we see here that the attributable net income declined despite the increase in revenues. So the primary reason for this is the one-time gain of 800 million that we disclosed in the first quarter of last year. So if you recall, there was a one-time gain from Nickel Asia's 15% stake in Coral Bay Nickel Corporation. So excluding this one-time gain for the first quarter of last year, we would have reported an attributable net loss instead of a net income. Specifically, the attributable net loss last year without the one-time gain would have been around $25.5 billion. So if we look at our first quarter performance this year, From a core earnings basis, our performance has actually improved with a turnaround year over year from negative to positive. So moving on to our margins, as shown in the table below, gross profit margin for the first quarter of this year stood at 51%, up from 40% last year, an improvement of about 11 percentage points. Even if the margin improved Sorry, EBITDA margin stood now at 43% from 53% last year, and net income margin this year is at 21% from 23%. Next slide. Moving on to our nickel mining performance for the quarter. This slide details our mining volumes, prices, and revenues. So let me walk you through each set of charts. starting with sales volumes on the left represented in millions of wet metric funds. The green portion represents saprolite ore exports, while the orange portion represents limonite bleach valve sales. Total mining sales volumes for the quarter declined 9% year-on-year to 2.27 million wet metric tons from 2.48 million wet metric tons. Soprolite ore exports particularly were down 15% year-on-year to 0.56 million WM tons from 0.66 million WM tons. With respect to limonite H-file deliveries, these decreased by 6% year-on-year to 1.71 million WM tons from 1.82 million WM tons in the first quarter. of last year. So the reason for this decrease is primarily because of weather disruptions from Artelianito and Villatuba Mines, as well as the nickel grades that were sold this year were slightly lower than what were sold last year. So moving on to the movement in average ore prices, your attention in the middle charts, please. So for ore exports, which are seen in green, the average prices registered at $35.63 for wet metric funds. This is a slight decrease of 3% from last year's average price of $36.60 for wet metric funds. For limonite H-file prices, there was an increase of 35% from $12.29 for wet metric funds from 2025 to $9.10 for wet metric funds. So weighted average ore prices grew by 10% year-over-year to $18.03 per WMT from $16.40 per WMT. The table below gives us additional context on nickel prices. So the average nickel LME price per pound for the first quarter of this year stood at $7.87 per pound. an increase from $7.35 in the first quarter of last year, so approximately 12%. The effective nickel pay factor for ore exports stood at 23.92%, slightly lower from 24.80% last year. On revenues, which is shown in the right-side chart, we see that total ore revenues totaled 2.42 billion, which is still an increase of 3% year-on-year. or export revenues were down 60%. However, HPAL revenues grew strongly by 29% year-on-year, driven by higher realized prices. So this slide walks us through the key drivers of our revenue performance in the first quarter versus the first quarter last year. As mentioned previously, total revenues grew by 8% year-on-year, There were several contributors to that. The first is better nickel price realizations for HVAL, which gave us about $284 million more in revenues versus last year. So, as seen in the previous slide, weighted average for price grew by 10%. Nickel payability also improved for our HVAL sales due to renegotiated prices. So, another reason is higher generation revenues. from our San Isidro plants, which had an incremental contribution following the energization from October last year. Finally, another contributor for better top line was the several movements in Philippine Peso U.S. dollar exchange rates. So the average exchange rate this quarter was at 59.19 pesos to $1 compared to 57.85 pesos to $1 in the first quarter last year. which contributed positively to our peso-denominated revenues. Partially offsetting these positives, however, was the lower export volume due to the unfavorable weather conditions in some of our operating lines. So this slide now summarizes our costs and operating expenses for the quarter. Year-on-year, our costs and expenses decreased by 4% to $2.37 billion, from 2.47 billion in the first quarter of 2025. So the savings were primarily due to a reduction of about 207 million year-on-year in mining costs. So this was due to improved production volumes. Essentially, higher production volumes reduced the carrying costs that we had for our inventory, thereby lowering shipment costs that we recognized in the first quarter. With respect to the renewable energy side, costs increased primarily due to additional depreciation charges from the San Ysidro Solar Power Plant, which commenced their testing and commissioning in the fourth quarter last year. But we see that these costs are consistent with our planned capacity build-out, and we expect These things eventually be offset over time by the revenues generated by these new assets. Let me walk you now through the key movements in our balance sheet as of March 31, 2026. On assets, total assets stood at 65.7 billion as of end March. compared to $70.2 billion at year-end 2025, a 6% decrease over the quarter. The variance was primarily for paying dividends and retiring debt at the EPI level or our renewable energy business. Trade and other receivables also declined by 22% to $1.9 billion, which consisted of the collection activity after the strong close we had last year, ETE grew modestly by 3% to $34.2 billion. With respect to liabilities, total liabilities decreased 12% quarter-on-quarter to $19.7 billion. So notably here, our short-term debt declined significantly by 68% to $2.1 billion, So, this reflects that the payments fees were related to the renewable energy business under ETI. Long-term debts here remain relatively the same at 9.3 billion, essentially flat from year-end. On equity, total equity attributable to the parents, so that's 38.2 billion pesos brought in to spend with our strong equity base at year-end. So, overall, the balance sheet remains healthy and well-positioned to support our ongoing growth initiatives. So, moving on to our renewable energy updates, I'll now hand the floor over to our Director for U-Thermal Business, Mr. Joseph Roach.

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

Thank you, Miriam. Let me begin with an update on JSI, our flagship operational solar asset. located at Mount Santa Rita within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambadas, with an installed capacity of 172 megawatt-feet. As of the end of the first quarter of 2026, 170 megawatt peak of GSI's capacity has been contracted under power supply agreements. Our PSA to Western sales mix for the quarter stood at 94% to 6%, a significant improvement in contracted exposure. compared to 78% PSA in the same period last year. The additional PSA contracted in January 2026, covering 55 megawatt peak, was a key contributor to this improvement. Our direction continues to be to fully contract JSI's energy output through PSAs, insulating our revenues from Western Plains productivity. Moving on to the San Ysidro NATO project, which is being developed under Greenlight Renewable Soldiers Incorporated, our joint venture with Shell Overseas Investments BBE. The project is divided into two phases, each contributing 129 watts peak of capacity. Both phases are fully contracted. Phase one was energized in the fourth quarter of 2025, and is targeted for commercial operations date, or COD, in the second quarter of 2026. Phase 2 construction is ongoing, with energization targeted within the third quarter of 2026 and commercial operation in the first quarter of 2027. Here are the consolidated financial highlights for EPI, our renewable energy arm for the first quarter of 2026. The standout figure this quarter is generation, which grew 63% year-on-year, 65,831 MWh. The strong growth was driven by the contribution of sunny cedar phase one. The first full quarter of generation of the 120 megawatt peak sunny cedar later facility. EBITDA more than doubled, growing 120% year-on-year to 267 million, with EBITDA margin expanding significantly to 62% from 46%. This reflects both higher revenues and the relatively low incremental operating costs of the new capacity. The weighted realized tariffs improved to 4.52 per kilowatt-hour, a 7% increase year-on-year attributable to a higher contracted tariff rate of JSI from a new PSA signed in January 2026 and the contribution of San Ysidro, which is fully contracted with Shell Energy at a practical base. Overall, the renewable energy business is gaining meaningful scale, and we expect this trajectory to continue as our pipeline projects come online. Speaking of which, let us now move on to updates on our development pipeline. Our next project under the Greenlight Renovos Holding Strength Venture with Shell is the San Juan Batalan project in San Carlos. The project, made up of two phases, Phase 1 at 45 MW, is fully contracted and is targeted for energization in the fourth quarter of 2026. with commercial operation in the second quarter of 2027. Phase 2 at 14 megawatts peak is targeted to be 100% with energization in the first quarter of 2027 and COD in the third quarter of 2027. Construction activities are progressing in line with schedule. For our wholly-owned renewable energy subsidiary, the big power project remains a key development lesson. This is a 149-megawatt deep facility divided in two phases within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. Phase 1 at 70 megawatts peak is currently 64% contracted, with active ongoing negotiations for the remaining 36%. Energization is targeted for the second quarter of 2027, with COD in the third quarter of 2027. Phase 2 at 75 megawatts is targeted to be 100% contracted, Energization is expected in the fourth quarter of 2027, and COD in the first quarter of 2028. Our fourth development project is a Nazareno facility in Bataan, a 15-megawatt-peak power plant. This project is currently in the pre-development stage, with offtake contracting the ongoing. Energization is targeted for the third quarter of 2028, with COD in the fourth quarter of 2028. Next slide will be a summary of our projected capacity build-up. This slide summarizes the expected progression of EPI's installed generation capacity over the next two to three years. By the end of 2026, EPI's gross installed capacity is expected to reach 458 megawatts, incorporating GSI and contribution of siliceper phase 1 by siliceper phase 1. By 2027, we are targeting a gross capacity of 617 megawatts, revised from our previously disclosed 667 megawatts, reflecting updated project timelines and our transition toward a value-driven rather than volume-driven expansion strategy. As we have communicated before, our primary focus going forward is on maximizing the value of each megawatt we bring online, prioritizing fully contracted assets, integrating battery energy storage systems across the portfolio, and exploring hybrid solutions for iron grid operations to capture mid-marriage supply options.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

Thank you, Sir Joseph. Moving on now to updates on our gold and copper exploration projects, I give the floor to Dr. Jun Yilmol, President of Cordillera Exploration Company.

speaker
Jun Yilmol
President of Cordillera Exploration Company Inc.

Thank you. I'm pleased to provide an update on the exploration progress we have made for SEXIS on the Cordon project in the first quarter of 2026, as well as a general background on the project itself. The Cordon project sits in Loren de Sons, spanning the municipalities of Cordon in Isabela and Yagi in Nuevo Vizcaya. The total tenement covers just under 5,000 hectares. This project has two separate mineral systems within the same tenement, both in thermal gold and copper and copper and gold mineralization, associated with alkali copper infusions. Current exploration targets are estimated at approximately 6.5 million tons, averaging 2.4 grams per tonne gold, equivalent to more or less 500,000 ounces of gold for the hypothermal gold system, and approximately 150 million tons, averaging 0.4% copper and 0.3 grams per tonne gold for the pottery copper gold system. With respect to psychology, why is NASA doing this? Why are we going into the gold-copper business? For three reasons. First, diversification. We are the largest nickel producer in the Philippines, and that's a strength. But single commodity exposure is a risk that we would like to mitigate. Copper and gold reduce that dependency. Second, copper is an essential metal for the energy transition and EV infrastructure. Additionally, gold is at record high and serves as a portfolio hedge. Third is the ability for operational continuity. Given that Project Cordon is in the Philippines, we are not entering an unknown territory. We operate in the Philippines, understand the regulatory environment, and have relationships on the ground. On the right side of the slide, we have the timeline of milestones we aim to accomplish. Right now, we have 40 drill holes completed and start drilling is absolutely continuing across the continent, the drills on the ground as we speak. This year, our exploration permit renewal is secured and our drilling campaign is fully active. In 2027, the nature of the drilling shifts, we move from scout drilling, which is about finding and characterizing the middle station, to infill drilling, which is about defining it. This is when we can begin to work beginning the work needed to establish an initial inferred resource at San Luis. In 2013, the objective is delivery of a full drug compliance main resource estimate. And beyond 2029, the work continues to upgrade the resource from inferred into the indicated and measured categories, the higher confidence classifications that underpin feasibility studies and ultimately a development decision. Moving on to our first quarter Friday highlights, in the last quarter, we completed four dream holes totaling 1,795 meters as part of our ongoing scout drilling program. Our scout drilling continues to consistently intersect copper-gold mineral stations posted by Alkaline Corporate Intrusion alongside epithermal gold mineral stations, reflecting what we believe is a mineralization system of considerable potential. Drilling will continue through the remainder of 2026 with the objectives of further intercepting high-grade auriculus veins, determining structural trends, and defining the lateral and depth extents of the corporate copper-gold system. Looking at their previously reported results, these intercepts continue to reinforce the quality and continuity of the mineralization at Cordone. We look forward to providing further updates as drilling advances through the year. Next slide. This slide puts Cordon in the context against up-toll operating mines and resources in the Philippines. We have two tracks, gold on the left and copper on the right. Let me take you through each. On gold, we're comparing Cordon's thermal system target grade of 2.4 grams per ton against two Philippine piers, SCF from Bruno, operated by Metals Exploration Corporation, It's an operating ephedermal open-pit gold mine with gold grade of 1.42 grams per ton. DDPO, which is operated by Oceanic Gold, is another popular copper gold system currently operating in the Philippines, grades at 0.85 grams per ton. Cordon's ephedermal gold target of 2.4 grams per ton grade is a first-order approximation above both FCF and DDPO deposits. Take note that Cordon, Runduno, and DDPO are all hosted by alkali rack complexes. That's the common denominator. One thing to be clear about, the 2.4 grams per ton is Cordon's epithelial system exploration target. It is not yet a drug resource. The confirmation is what InfoGridding in 2027 will deliver. On copper, we have four competitors here, all corporate systems, which can serve as the peer group for Cordon's copper storage. Makilala is a Philippine porphyry resource raised at 0.48% copper. Carmen Copper in Cebu is an operating open pit mine at 0.33%, and of course, Dedipio at 0.32%. Trilex is at 0.12%. Ordona's porphyry target of 0.4% copper sits above Carmen Copper and Dedipio, the two operating Philippine copper mines in just below Makilala, which is also a resource not yet in production. The bottom line on this slide is straightforward. Cordon's interthermal gold and porphyry copper gold are competitive, and in most cases above what is actually being mined in the country today. These are not global stretch comparisons. These are Philippine operations sourced from company disclosures, and Cordon holds up well against all of them. That's all the updates we have regarding this project. Back to you, Miren.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

Thank you, Dr. Humol, and thank you to all of our presenters today. So that concludes the formal presentation that we have. What we'll do now is we'll open the floor for questions, so please feel free to write in your questions in the Q&A chat box. But firstly, we're going to go through the questions submitted to us via the registration form. Okay. And if you want to ask your question live, we can also unmute you. So let's go through the questions. So this is from Nikki Franco from Abaco Securities. The first question has to do with the sensitivity of fuel prices to costs.

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

Yeah, so let's take this on. So sensitivity of fuel price to cost. So diesel prices have gone up. So for us, if diesel prices stay at 100 pesos per liter, this increases our cash cost by $3 per wet metric ton. So compared to our budget. So our budget is from around 60 to 70 pesos per liter. And then the impact on sulfur prices to HVAL plants. So the global nickel oversupply won't expand because mixed hydroxide precipitate, which is the product of the H-PAL, takes a hit with the shortage of sulfur. And meanwhile, it's an opportunity for nickel mat to substitute the decline in MHP production. So... So, we see that trend of the use for NPI and saprolyte benefiting with the impact of sulfur prices impacting the HVAL production.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

So, the next question is from Raz Mercado from China Bank Securities. Raz is asking, how are we addressing lethal supply issues and how are we mitigating the impacts?

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

We have adequate supply due to the long-term supply contracts we have. We're fortunate to rise in nickel prices more than offset the high fuel diesel prices, and we continue to manage our controllable costs in order to drive more efficiency in our operations.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

Next is a combined question from Jessica Lim of Red Hill and RAS again. So the first question is, how does the company view the sustainability of elevated nickel ore prices and how have regulatory changes in Indonesia affected our outlook for nickel prices and our top line?

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

We think it's sustainable the high elevated ore prices because last 15th April the Indonesian Ministry of Mineral and Energy Resources or the ESDM had changed the pricing formula for nickel ore and effectively doubled the benchmark prices for saprolyte, nickel ore, and limonite. So the ESDM had raised the adjustment factor on benchmark price calculations. So these have gone up to 30% from 17%, which has effectively raised saprolyte for benchmark prices to $60 from $30 for the 1.5% nickel ore. The bigger impact, however, from this regulation comes from the limonite pricing. Limonite ore was trading before at $15 to $17 per ton. Now it's being priced at a maximum of $45 per ton after the new formula had taken effect. The new formula also includes the payability of cobalt into the limonite ore price. And based on the cobalt price of $55,000 per ton and 0.1% cobalt content, there will be an additional $10 So coupled with the high sulfur prices due to the war, our channel checks suggest a major drop in HPAL's cash margins. Like Kwayo, HPAL has announced production cuts of around 10% month-on-month.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

So the next set of questions is from Amos of KLSA. So his first question is, What is the average moisture content percentage-wise of our saprolite and limonite ore?

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

That's around 33% to 35%.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

With respect to our power supply, do we get that from renewable energy? The answer is no, we don't get that from renewable energy. And I think the last question regarding the Indonesian government's pricing, you just answered that earlier. Okay, next slide. There's another set of questions. Now moving on to the East Copper disclosure that we had recently. So another question from Amos is, could you share more on East Copper's decision to sell some stake in the Karchiga mine? What year did the mine begin operating? And can you tell us about the mining regulatory environment in Kazakhstan and when we expect this transaction to be completed?

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

Yeah. So for the seller of the 20% stake, This is not their core business. So this was an opportunity for us to get into high-grade copper. And for the seller, it was an opportunity for them to raise funds for their core business. This mine was operating as early as 2018. And then we expect this transaction to be completed within this year. hopefully earlier. So we're doing everything we can to do it. But definitely within this year, we will wrap it up. And in terms of the mining regulatory and tax environment, let's just say that in Kazakhstan, the mining sector is a big contributor to their GDP, and that's 12% of the country's GDP.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

So are we open to considering or acquiring more copper mines overseas or in the Philippines in the near term?

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

Yes, we are open to acquiring more resources in copper. So part of our strategy is not just acquiring and investing into more nickel resources, but also into gold and copper.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

And a final question from Klein. of Regis Partners. She asks, what is the reserve life of East Copper? Will it be accounted for as an associate, and could you also provide its revenue, EBITDA, and net income?

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

We will provide more details at the closure, once we formally close this transaction. Yes, it will be accounted as an associate, but for the revenues, EBITDA, and net income, you shall Disclose more during the formal closing of this transaction.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

So we're not seeing any additional questions in the Q&A box, but if anyone would like to ask a question live, you can raise your hand there. I gave you that one.

speaker
Conference Operator
Operator

That's right. Yeah. Hi, Klein.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

Hi, Klein. Good morning and good afternoon. Sorry, I may have missed it earlier, but what was the income contribution of the H5 plans in the first quarter? Income or loss?

speaker
Conference Operator
Operator

It's revenue. No.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

The associates? For H5, it's not separated. I can give that

speaker
Conference Operator
Operator

For each pipeline, no? Yes. Stage, stage, and scene? It's in the... It's total mining operations.

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

Time will have to get back to you on that.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

It's not separated because of total. But I can get back to you on that. And it should be seen as well when we release our $17,000. Understood. And for the EBITDA, I guess, sorry, can you just go back to the first slide on EBITDA?

speaker
Conference Operator
Operator

Sure. Yeah.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

Okay, so what What contributed to the drop in EBITDA margin? Was it the taxes, the new taxes that was introduced this year? Did those already reflect in your financials? No, we've not included any of the changes in the fiscal regime with respect to the taxes on our end yet. But mostly, the change in the EBITDA, the difference, actually the combination of... Yeah, it's a one-time game. So the... Oh, okay. So you included it. Okay, okay. But there's actually a difference between the description and the... What would it be if... What would EBITDA be without the game? I mean, apples to apples. But like core operations. Would it... Because revenues for mining was flat. So I was wondering if there was an improvement in EBITDA or a deterioration? There was an improvement from a net income perspective. Because last year, it would have been attributable net loss without the one-time gain. It would have been a loss last year without the $800 million loss. Yeah, I know for the net income, but for EBITDA, if you can give it back to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will. The amount that I have now is attributable net income. Yeah. But, yes. The EBITDA margin last year was technically, if you look at the presentations, there's a change. It was 1B, so we added back. So, that's why it's different. So, yeah. So, I'll give you that figure on EBITDA without the one-time gain.

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

Okay. Okay. So, you're comparing 1.3 billion against 1 billion EBITDA.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

Yes, that's right. Without the one-time gain. Okay. So, there was an improvement.

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

And then for the... And then, Klein, for the HPAL, we have the answer for you. It's 109 million loss for the HPAL.

speaker
Conference Operator
Operator

Okay. Thank you.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

Is there anybody else who might want to ask a question live, or you can type it in the Q&A box?

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

Raymond has a question.

speaker
Conference Operator
Operator

Yes, good afternoon.

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

Just like to ask if you can hear me? Yes. Okay, thank you. This is Nicky Franco from Abacus Securities. Just a quick question on the regulatory changes in Indonesia. Would you know the rationale for the change in the pricing methodology that they used so that we can gain an understanding of whether or not this can be sustainable moving forward.

speaker
Conference Operator
Operator

Yeah.

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

Nikki, no?

speaker
Conference Operator
Operator

Yeah.

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

We're flashing a slide now on the new nickel ore benchmark. The motivation for the government to apply this is... is, I think, to correctly price the ore. Because it's only been recent that all these developments in Indonesia's development of the nickel supply chain happened during the pandemic. So it's been only five years or six years that they're trying to set up the nickel supply chain pricing. And in that process, because of the circumstances in supply and demand... the base pricing model is very far from the actual transactions in Indonesia. For example, if you look at this bar on the left, you will see that orange bar. That orange bar is the actual transaction being performed in the market. Before the law was implemented, your base price is the black bar. So you could see the discrepancy between what was set as your base price and what's being traded in the market because of the ore tightness. So in order to make sense out of it, and also it's also the intention of the government to unlock the value of what the real price of the ore is, because it's been outdated. This is an old formula. So new base prices are now set. By saying that a higher factor is applied on the formula, it's essentially the Indonesian government saying that the correct price of the saprolite ore should be such. So that's why the adjustment upward of the base prices, which you see in green in the middle, is quite close already to the transactional prices. But again, if you look at when this was implemented on the 15th April, it doesn't really impact where the trade of saprolite is, because in actual transactions, sample light prices are still trading above that HPM price that was set. So you could see that small light green to cover, which is now your premium. But at least that premium is now narrower than where it was before, where premiums were even more than the base price. But it also applies for limonite. So now for limonite, the base price surpasses the actual transaction prices of the limonite. So I think this is where the market is adjusting right now. Because right now, HVAL plants are forced to pay $40 per ton at a time when sulfur prices have also quadrupled. So in terms of the cost curve, in nickel LME terms, HVAL plants need a higher nickel LME to recover or to have an incentive to run their plants. So it will be interesting to see how nickel LME will behave because of this new nickel ore benchmark pricing Indonesia had applied. So our view, which we already said last year, we feel that nickel LME is still underpriced. It could still go up. Even at these levels, we still think that nickel LME is low for the current situation of supply and demand. in the supply chain. Thank you. Just a follow-up. So, is it correct to say that you think you're selling prices for lemonade to the HPAL plants will effectively move higher? We have an agreement with our partner, Sumitomo. We have some... It's based on nickel-LME formula. But there will be room for us to be able to negotiate because that development in Indonesia is an isolated case. But then again, it's a good comparison for us here in the Philippines. So there's always room for that negotiation with our long-term partner. But definitely for the Soprolite prices, it follows the market. So what you're seeing as the orange is what we follow. Okay, thank you. And lastly, with higher limonite prices, do you think there's room for ore volumes, your ore volumes to increase beyond what you were targeting for the year? Well, what we're marking as our upside would be coming from saprolite ore. So we've given previous guidance of achieving around 20 million tons. So the incremental from last year's 18.5, that additional 1.5 million tons, half would come from saprolyte and half would come from limonite. Okay. Thank you very much. That's all for me.

speaker
Conference Operator
Operator

Thank you. Are there any other additional questions? Okay.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

Sure. If first quarter performance was impacted by bad weather, how is the weather so far in the second quarter? And do you expect the El Nino to further give second quarter... to give a second quarter performance boost?

speaker
Joseph Nukoch
Director of Geothermal Business

Yeah, at the moment... We're doing pretty well with our shipping and loading and nickel mining production. So we expect 2Q to, as you know, seasonally 2Q and 3Q are our strong partners. So we're well on our way to post the catch-up in shipping and loading. So, yeah, so far the weather has been good in our minds.

speaker
Miriam Cueto
Senior Manager for Investor Relations

Does anybody else want to ask a live question? If there are no additional questions, the timeline is that once our figures are out officially, this presentation will also be available on our website. Our disclosure and our press release as well as our quarterly results should be up as well by tomorrow. So if you have any additional questions, you know how to reach me and Andre. And thank you for joining and we'll see you again for our next quarter.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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