Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the KEFI Gold and Copper investor presentation. Throughout today's recorded meeting, investors online will be in listen-only mode. Your questions are encouraged to be submitted at any time just using the Q&A tab situated on the right-hand corner of your screen. Due to the significant attendance online today, the company will not be able to answer every question it receives during the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today, and as usual, we'll publish those on the Investor Meet Company platform. Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll, and if you give that your kind attention, I'm sure the company will be most grateful. Harry, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Mark. I was asked by shareholders to make a special effort to allow people to turn up and meet us in person in London, and I am told today that I made a big mistake of inviting everybody on a Friday afternoon. Obviously, that didn't quite achieve that purpose. Thank you for those who did attend here today. The attendance online, I appreciate. I'm told it's a very large number. The timing of this particular webinar also, I suppose it's fair to say, was quite deliberate because you know, it's a bit challenging at times to have these sorts of sessions because it's not regulated, and I'm not really meant to step outside the bounds of what's public information. All I'm trying to do is, I suppose, help people understand public information.
Therefore, I was quite deliberate in that sense that we should time it to be between the annual report, which you know is meant to be fairly fulsome update and the annual general meeting, so that we're in a time window, if you like, where the market should be fairly well-informed already and or fully informed and you know to make it easier, if you like, to be expansive. The other thing is that we did put out a presentation this morning, which I assume people have seen on the website. Of course, that gets checked by the regulatory system.
You know, we've tried to be as up-to-date as possible just going into this webinar to, you know, make sure we're doing nothing improper. On that note, I'll kick off very briefly with a skip through this presentation. I don't think you're here to stare at a presentation you've seen on a website. I'll just skip through it and maybe I'll try to pick up some of the bits that I think are perhaps the most sensitive or, you know, critical nuances. Now, obviously, you know, shareholder, we have. At last count, when we could work it out, there were 5,000 shareholders, and it's very difficult for shareholders, you know, to try to read into the nuances of what's going on behind the scenes. I'll try to, you know, help.
The first thing to say is that about a year ago, forgetting all the history up to a year ago, it started to pivot into an execution. That's because the country had settled down. When I first arrived in Ethiopia 10 years ago, it was all implementation. We had to correct the technical plan, and it was all implementation. We had a bank lined up, and we were going like textbook case. Then the country started changing very rapidly around us. It sort of with hindsight, you know, we didn't foresee all the things that happened. With hindsight, we lost a good five years, you know, realistically. That turned, about a year ago, it turned into an implementation plan.
Our achievement, whether we like it or not, it's just a fact, was that the only thing we really achieved in those five lost years is defend the company, not lose the license, not lose people on the ground. Actually, we forged relationships with banks and government and contractors to the point where they were happy to stay with us because they saw how we behaved ourselves, and they were comfortable that we would do nothing stupid. That's all we achieved. We didn't achieve value-adding. We didn't achieve all the things we tried to achieve. With hindsight, we didn't. A year ago it turned, "This is happening" sort of feeling, you know? You know, it was all on the back of security being deployed. It was ready to be deployed. It couldn't be deployed. It was deployed heavily.
Not because we are attacked, not because, you know, anybody was against us other than underhanded people you can meet in any country. Because, you know, there are some risks out there that you've got to treat it as a red zone with. We do. Now, what are the sensitive points on this? It's fair to say it's a criticism, you know, applied to me that some of the things I say are aspirational rather than factual. Well, when the thing's changing around you all the time, and you're actually shepherding 12 parties against the backdrop of political turmoil. Yeah, it's aspirational. I don't know that anyone can get away from that fact. When you get into signed contracts, it's contractual. That's what we're, you know, looking forward to now.
The thing that really triggered this now into contractual is the parliamentary ratification in May. We were promised it, I don't know, December or January imminently, and we had to keep pushing and shoving, and unfortunately, we don't control the parliament of the country, and it only came through in the middle of May. That was the trigger. On the back of that, we were able to trigger some of the certifications that you couldn't trigger before then. If you triggered them before then, you could run out of puff, you know, because they only last so long. That was the key that triggered the sequencing of contract closing. That means that we are now today all planning closing. That's what we're doing. The documents are assembled. They have to be polished.
Most costing updates are done, but the plant one, 'cause it's fixed price lump sum, is gonna take into July now because we only triggered it after the ratification. You know, it's all systems go in the sense of setting up to sign the contracts. Everyone's getting greedy and wanting their commissions and work and, you know, the contractors need to mobilize their staff. They need to assign labor, you know. I mean, it's now getting to the stage of everyone having to plan their human and capital resources to be assigned to this assignment now. Do I work this?
Yeah.
I know, I know I took way too long on that first one, but I thought that was perhaps worthwhile, because the frustration that I feel all the time from shareholders saying, "Why the hell can't you sign it and get on with it?" You know, "Why can't... If you sign on one day, why can't you draw down the next day?" All this sort of stuff, you know. There's $1 billion of contracting being done here, and if shareholders put up the, you know, the money and did all the work, they could call the shots. The reality is, we're not in that business. We're in the business of commandeering the capital and commandeering the contractors to make those commitments for us. You know, unfortunately, we don't just boss everybody around every day. We corral them.
Now, as soon as they sign the contracts, it's different because they're on the hook contractually with liabilities if they don't perform. Field activities this quarter. If you just scan your eye over that, I won't dwell on anything, but it's obviously being prepared for launch. There's construction of security camps and construction camps and so on. Next one, please. This isn't a new slide, but the points of sensitivity are nothing to do with the first $320 million, but all to do with, are we gonna issue shares for $5 million or $10 million or something like that. That's all that I hear about from shareholders. Nothing to do with, you know, how the hell do you raise $315 million?
It's all to do with, do we really have to put up $5 million? Well, I don't wanna sound in any way arrogant, but the reality is, what percentage of $320 million is $5 million? What is that? About 1.5%. Shareholders need to understand this is a mining contract in Ethiopia, and a 1.5% variance on budget is not outside the realms of possibility. I'm not saying it will be. I'm not promising or guaranteeing anything. I'm just trying to be realistic here. You know, you are investing as shareholders in a pre-production company in a frontier market in the first bankable deal in the country, and really, are you intolerant of a 1.5% variance on budget?
You know, I mean, I'm saying that seriously with all respect, but I don't hear from 5,000 shareholders. I usually only hear from a handful. I do make the point. I'm just trying to be common sense reasonable in this industry in the context of what we're doing. I think we've done well. I don't know anybody who's done this before. I don't know anyone who in London has raised so much capital without reliance on shareholders. I don't know. I'm happy to be corrected. Next one, please. The closing process, what should I highlight here? You know, what worries me about the closing process?
You know, I've made the point within the last few days talking to the owner of the mining contractor and boss of the mining contractor, the group managing director of the construction contractor, the lead banker, the minister in Ethiopia, just to make sure that I'm not missing anything. I've done that very deliberately. Everyone's pushing so hard, you know, the anxiety, the tension. What I would say is that it's a normal thing. You know, anxiety and tension when you're in the home stretch is perfectly normal. The important thing is to focus it on positive delivery, closing. Not on taking shots at each other if we're all on the same side. It's happening. We all just have to man up to it and deal with it and close. That's what we're doing.
What's worrying me, apart from just the general air of turning energy into positive energy and closing, you know, I think we've got a first-class structure, which is why the bank's stuck with us. You know, the way we structured the contracts and surrounded this with first-class people. You talk to me, you know, but you don't see the first-class team we've got on the ground. Very experienced. It's the social side and the politics, you know. Because everything else is perfectly controllable. The social side is now not an uncontrollable thing. What I can say is that their excitement. Imagine being people who've lived in the same land, on the same land for millennia. Not 20 years, but millennia. Crossing the bridge mentally to be removed and shifted.
Imagine being in that position. Well, they just wanna get on with it now. They're sick of hearing about it. We need to manage that extremely carefully. That I'm not perturbed by anything that's said or done, but that's. I'm really concerned about doing that properly. We will. The politics of the country is so palpably driven to get this job on the road that we're under intense pressure. Beaten up relentlessly by the politicians to get this started. We will insist on all the I's dotted and all the T's crossed on all the documentation before we press the button. I could tell you stories about people who just get cajoled into proceeding without getting everything properly tied. We will do it properly. They're good pressures, you know. They're not bad pressures.
They just have to be dealt with properly. You know, the structure in Ethiopia is there's a new holding company being incorporated down in the country. I'm not sure. Is it already done, John? I don't know the deal. It's so that we can list down there for local investors to participate. One of our hallmarks, which I hope stands this company out over time and gives us more and more protection and more and more opportunity, is to be able to have local stakeholders, local owners involved in the structure. Having the government involved, I think, saved our bacon on the way through the last few years. Having the private sector involved through institutional investors, I think will only reinforce that going forward.
Over on the left-hand side, you know, the Saudi side, we're doing the same thing to give us more flexibility in how we structure either our remaining in Saudi or departure from Saudi, but gives us more opportunity. I'll talk about that a bit more later. Next slide, please. Yeah. I could easily wax lyrical about the development opportunity in Ethiopia and the other things that we can do. I well understand that, you know, as soon as we sign for construction, everyone's questions will immediately turn to what next. I well understand that. There is, you know, a pipeline of things to address. But no one really wants to focus on them until we get this thing signed up, which is fair enough, and that's the way it should be.
You know, I think it's obvious that the first thing is the underground development. If this was a large mining group, we would be planning to develop the underground access immediately, and to co-produce from underground as well as open pit immediately. It's not today's priority, but that's obviously the first cab off the rank. We'll address that as soon as it's you know, it's reasonable to do so from a cost of capital viewpoint. You know, I've put in there a target of how we'll do it. You know, we'll do it when it makes sense. There are other things in the pipeline that we need to address. You know, this thing will start at 100 and-
I think year one in the open pit will be about 160,000 ounces. We start the mining at 2.5 million tons a year. The processing here at only 2 million tons a year, so we can rev up the plant when we want to. You know, that's all to come, and we wanna get this thing up to 200,000 ounces plus as soon as we can. Next one, please. The Saudi pipeline.
You know, one of the pre-submitted questions was, "Why didn't you sell it in December?" Well, yeah, you announced a six-month review in November, and the question was, "Why didn't you sell it in December?" I don't think you'd sell your house in one month, let alone a venture in Saudi Arabia. You know, it put the spotlight on this, put pressure on this, and the pressure yielded a lot of positive developments already, which we've put our RNSs out on. We do have some choices emerging, not on the table, and we need to work them out. The partner, if I may quote, 'cause he says it to everybody he meets, is deferential or is respectful enough to say, "Everything we've achieved, we've achieved because of KEFI."
I'm really sad to hear them say they would be interested to sell out. You know, we're so close to being completely self-funding, I don't understand it. That's the partner's words. What he means by that, I think, is the Jibal Qutman analysis of being a gold fairly straightforward gold development where KEFI's development capital share might be as low as $5 million or something like that. That triggers a whole self-funding exercise in the country. You know, he's a bit bemused by the fact that KEFI doesn't have the wherewithal to just keep up with that. It's a bit weird to him. We'll do what we have to do. Next slide, please. Yeah. This slide is a standard slide.
It states the critical sort of carrot, if I can put it that way. You know, if we have people who want to be part of this journey, people who stay in to be in this journey, the only reason they should be in such a high-risk journey is if the multiples of upside warrant it. I think they do, notwithstanding the terrible dilution we've suffered just to survive. I think the multiples do warrant it. Yeah, the multiples on what we have today, the pipelines are huge. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to think of all sorts of ideas and possibilities. But you know, they're good multiples. Next slide, please. The Board. The...
Well, the two Executive Directors are in the room, and I do admit that photo of mine is a bit flattering. It's a bit old. I'd better update it. You know, the other guys are all seasoned people. To be honest, you have to be a bit thick-skinned and seasoned to be in this game, and I'm not good enough to do it by remote control. Those of you who think I sip martinis by the pool in Cyprus as my living simply don't understand. I don't know why my wife and family have tolerated it, but I've barely seen them for years. I'm not complaining. These Non-Exec Directors, I've known them for up to about five years, I think, each of them. They're all very decent people.
One's been an operator in the mining game all his life before he retired. Richard Gillespie has been an ESG specialist for the largest European development bank. Addis is a director of a number of companies in areas, basically protecting multinationals who operate in areas. Plus he has his own businesses. Next slide, please.
That's the end of the slide deck there.
Okay.
Thank you very much, Harry.
I'm sorry I took much longer than I should have.
No. That's fine. Well, look, we've, as I said at the outset, you know, you've got good attendance on today's call. You had a lot of pre-submitted questions, so let's dive straight into it.
Yeah.
If I can push you on some of the timings on the responses, that'd be great. You asked me to ask all the questions in the way they were formatted, and some of them were quite direct, so let's get going. How generally independent are the NEDs on the board, especially those dealing with remuneration?
All the NEDs deal with remuneration. They're completely independent. I mean, they're all big boys, and there's no silly business.
Okay. With the CEO, that's you being 69 years old. Apologies if I'm putting your age in the public domain, but there we are. With several additional roles outside KEFI, what measurable transition milestones exist for operational handover given COO's lack of Board representation?
Well, thank you for reminding me how old I am. I have one non-executive directorship outside KEFI, so that's not an issue. COOs are never on a board. You can only have one executive responsible for operations on the board. I think I've always been pretty clear that when we see this thing coming into production, a succession will have been implemented. It's fair to say that that's a pretty important stability and commitment for all the stakeholders. You know, just imagine if you were a bank or a contractor or a local investor who's putting out pretty well all the money, nearly all of the money.
You see this guy who's through thick and thin with a team, through thick and thin, got through what we've been through, and then as soon as they sign contract, he's off to the Bahamas, right? Imagine your response to that. I don't expect anybody to invite that or to appreciate that, nor would I ever think that. Having said that, as we move towards production, there are plans, you know. This company will be built fairly quickly. Today, it's about less than 100 people on the ground in Ethiopia, and it'll be about 10 times that in 12 months' time. This is, you know, it's gonna go like wildfire. The management ranks will grow accordingly.
I'll, you know, I'll take off some of the hats that I wear and shrink them to just one or two. Well, that's just normal management.
Thank you. Well, you asked me to roll the punches. Here's the next one. Please, can you try to justify your 2024 remuneration because shareholders consider it excessive? Surely you feel humbled by the outrage it created among even some of your strongest supporters.
Yeah, I feel humbled. I felt humbled when it was raised to me last year as a gesture of recognition for what we've been through, what I'd done, and I feel humbled that that was the reaction. You know, I think, to be honest, the main thing is to apologize to shareholders for the very terse, almost shorthand explanation in the what do you call it? The annual report. 'Cause the annual report made it sound like all this money was handed over to me, and that hasn't happened, you know. It, you know, let loose strident publicists who like to be, you know, strident and out there in the public domain before they even ask me to tell them what had happened or explanation. I don't blame them.
I think the annual report was clearly statutorily compliant, but it didn't actually help people really understand. The actual essence of it is that about a year ago, we were pivoting, right? We were pivoting from being in the dark ages to going into, you know, the good times. The Board sincerely offered some recognition of that, not for the events of last year, but for the previous 12 years. If you add up what happened over 12 years, I've so far received GBP 150,000 a year and GBP 187,000 in shares. If anyone thinks that's excessive pay for what we do, you just don't know. Anyone who tells me that what average earnings are in the U.K. and why do I get paid more just doesn't know.
If anyone thinks I would have done it for that pay, knowing what was coming, they just don't know. You know, the point is history is history, and I have no regrets. I'm looking forward to what's coming up. What else would I say? Whether you know, whether you think that's overpay or underpay. The what do you call it? The charges of the senior people are all charged down to the operation. 75% of Harry is recharged, because that's where the time is spent. You know, you wouldn't have a Harry or a John, you know, or an Eddie on some little show that's doing some exploration somewhere and scratching around, you know.
If you're lining up $1 billion worth of OpEx and CapEx contracting, managing a country through, managing a company through a country in civil war and defending it and doing all that stuff, you know, who would do it for nothing? It's just sort of seeking just decency. I'm not suggesting that I don't want money. If I felt that this wasn't gonna work, I'd be out of here tomorrow. It has to work. If I don't see that, I can't do it. I can see it, I can taste it. It's gonna happen. That's what turns me on. That's what really turns me on.
Thank you, Harry. Well, they get softer from here, you'll be pleased to hear. Do you plan to list the parent company in Ethiopia or the subsidiary? If so, when? If it's not the parent company, are there other listings for the parent company that you might consider to hopefully bridge the valuation that AIM doesn't seem to be doing?
You know, well, first of all, on the Ethiopian thing, only the Ethiopian holding company, not the parent, doesn't do anything for the company yet. Because Ethiopians can only invest in birr. So, you know, it doesn't really do anything for the stock market to have people who can only invest in Ethiopian birr. But for locals, it's important. They were promised it, and it'll happen, I don't know, next year or something like, you know. Let's get this deal closed. There's only one listed company on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange and, you know, we can do it for them next year or whatever. I've been, you know, the boss of a company listed in Australia and England, and Canada. It's ephemeral. It comes and goes.
One month, one six-month period, everyone says, "Oh, Australia's the place to be." Another, "Oh, Canada's the place to be." "Oh, London's the place to be." You know, it moves around. If you ask me today, I'd say if you wanted to dual list, I'd put it onto the ASX. The guy sitting down here, Simon Francis, who writes reports on the company, thinks, well, you know, maybe there's some merit in just being one of the very few counters in London when the thing takes off. Aren't you better off just being in London? You know, I think this will spring, you know, when the market settles down and when greed overtakes fear, whenever that is, you know? It's up to the market. I don't think it matters where the listing is.
I think it'll just take off when the market's ready, whenever that is. I think that's the more important question, you know. When does the market wanna get behind it, rather than which listing it is. The ASX people would list us tomorrow if we wanted to. TSX people like to completely rebadge the whole thing and, back in Canadian assets and do all sorts of things, which I just think we should stick to our focus and, deliver. It's the main thing.
Thank you. Question here around the legal case. In January, KEFI announced that legal claims were dismissed by the English High Court, and that all counterclaims were awarded in KEFI's favor. This was a notable milestone, yet it wasn't referenced in the June RNS. Has this legal resolution improved confidence among your financiers, or partners?
I think some of them didn't even notice it because I think they trust us. I have to say, probably embarrassing now, one of our senior lawyers rang me and said, "Oh, it's great to see the judgment. I read the judgment and said, 'What a credible witness you were.'" I said, "You've been our lawyer for all these years, and you had to read a judgment to understand that we're a credible witness?" You know, I thought this was a bit ridiculous. No one mentioned it to me, to be honest. Nobody took that claim. How would I put it? Nobody feared that claim. You can't be taken to the High Court of England and not treat it so seriously, which we did.
It was a terrible distraction and I've never been in such a situation before in my life, and I didn't enjoy it. We had to deal with it, and we did. I think what was more influential on our, you know, big, big stakeholders, like banks, is really how we conducted ourselves through that very challenging few years in Ethiopia. I think, you know, it's one thing to talk about, you can do this and you can do that. It's another thing to put a company under that sort of stress. Kidnappings, civil war, lootings, you know, extortion attempts, corruption attempts, all those things. They witnessed a test, if you like, a string of tests.
I like to think that they thought, "Well, if they can behave themselves this way in bad times, then they're pretty reliable people in good times." That's what I like to think. You know. Mark.
Thank you. Just a couple of questions, and we've had a couple of similar questions in the live meeting about missing data, perhaps in some of the materials that you issued. KEFI has stated the private investors and institutions were seeing the same data. That's disappointing that the May 25 presentation deck omitted some core financial metrics. So just really just to try and get your views as to whether or not that could be improved.
Yeah. I saw that question and looked up what that May presentation was, and it was a presentation on Ethiopian mining investments. It wasn't really talking about everything. How would I put it? It was sort of contaminated or whatever by the agenda of promoting Ethiopia, not promoting KEFI necessarily. I'm sorry if that confused. Probably a more important point the question is asking is, you know, when do you start going hell for leather on laying out all the ratios and statistics on investor returns on this? That's really the gist of the question. I think that up until now, I've felt that shareholders needed to see this thing coming together before we started bombarding them with the minutiae of IRRs and everything every time.
I think it's a fair suggestion that we should do that now because, you know, we are about to close this off and get going, and therefore, I think people will actually pay attention now, and I think it's warranted to do so. I agree.
Thank you. Question here, can the signing of definitive agreements with the two lead banks proceed without definitive commitments from the AFC and BCM?
I mean, the banks need to see before they sign off that they're committed, they need to see that the whole package is financed. There's not gonna be any binding commitments until everybody knows that the whole package is financed. I mean, the short answer is no. There's also always a little bit of grayness around the edges, like, "Oh, you know, Fred's away for a week. We'll sign subject to him signing later." Well, that sort of stuff always happens, but the principle is that there needs to be a whole package signed off before it's binding.
Thanks, Harry. Just turning to, I guess, project financing. The project financing is described as very close to completion. Could you outline the final steps that remain before this will close and whether a target drawdown window has been set for Syndicated Partners?
No, I think I did that in that presentation on the slideshow today. I won't. I know there's a lot of questions, so I won't go over it again. I'll just mention that we're all pushing for finishing the plant certification in July. The independent, what do you call it? Expert has to then sign off for the banks and then everyone signs off and triggers within weeks of that in August. We draw down as soon as we can and it. You know, I don't want anyone to think that you sign and money flows the next day. You know, hundreds of millions of dollars just don't flow that way, you know?
It's the main thing is getting it signed off and then money will flow with the normal drawdown procedures that take place over a few weeks.
Just looking forward, I guess here, the Edison research note referenced potential dividends from full year 2028. I know we're a long way off from that, but can you clarify whether you've got any plans to introduce a formal dividend policy post-production and when such guidance might be issued?
I think all I can talk about is the philosophy of the leader of the company and of the people, you know, that run the company. It's premature to set dividend policy, obviously. You know, there's nothing I would enjoy more than achieving the sort of cash flows that we've published to run debt down by 50% like that and pay out a big lump of dividends as a thank you to everybody. That would be a fantastic outcome and nothing I'd enjoy more than that. It's too early to, you know, make a formal policy. You have to build it first. That would be the appropriate thing to do, I think.
Okay. Just a couple of questions around construction. How is the Ethiopian rainy season factored into your scheduling? What is the expected impact on works if the weather conditions are unfavorable? Have you kind of anticipated the longest delay built into your plans?
Yeah. I'm sorry I've even mentioned the word rainy season or wet season, to be honest, because it seems to have completely preoccupied some people. It's sort of like a non-event, you know, relatively speaking, for scheduling. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but, you know, it really is factored in. It's scheduled, and it can be coped with no matter what's going on.
Thank you. Just continuing on that theme, has the EPC contractor mobilization begun? If not, when is it expected? Could you also outline the intended construction sequence, and whether a revised Gantt chart will be released in 2025?
Yeah. The Gantt chart summary, I mean, there's a thousand-line Gantt chart which is not for public consumption, but the summary level thing was in today's presentation. You know, I think I said earlier that I'd made the point of speaking with the bosses around the, you know, the table over the last few days. You know, the head of the mining and the head of the plant construction, you know, it's all about assigning their labor, their people. You know, the question from the Lycopodium side was, "Do I assign now? Are you ready? When do they move?" All that sort of stuff, because he has to assign, you know, the team.
The engineering and scheduling and so on, we've got a boss in Canada working with them. The actual people, the boots on the ground, have to be assigned. We discussed the timetable exactly as I've laid it out to shareholders, and that's what he's doing. The answer to the question is no, they haven't mobilized. They don't mobilize until you sign the contract. You know, they have to get ready for mobilization, and that's what we've been doing. I think that answers the question.
Thank you. Can you explain more about what certifications are that you're waiting for? Is this something that is wholly in KEFI's hands, or does it rely on perhaps third parties, banks and so on?
Well, independent certification by definition is not reliant on KEFI. It's independent certifications. The mining is insofar as preparing for the independent to sign off. The mining's done, the community estimations are done. The plant is half done. It couldn't be triggered formally until we had got the parliamentary ratification because it sort of runs out of applicability. You have to sort of start again if it's not used quickly. The independent technical expert who signs off has already been to site to be ready so that they've witnessed on the ground everything to be ready to get the numbers and so on, to update the models and so on quickly. Everyone is sort of preparing, you know, for that certification exercise to be quick.
Nobody is, you know, trying to be slow. It's independent, it's not KEFI. It's being prepared for so that it fits with that schedule that we had on the slide.
Thanks. Question around funding here, I guess. What is the hold up with the second bank agreeing to the increased borrowing? Do you have any idea when this might be approved? Is it reasonable to assume that this would definitely be approved given timescales for commencement of major works will be dependent on the funding approval?
I think you know I'm confused. You know I think I often wonder whether we're too transparent because it begs a thousand questions that wouldn't even be asked if we were not so transparent. The first bank formally approved it all the way through to board approval early 2024. The second bank approved it all the way through to board approval in March 2025 on the agreement with the first bank that they would increase the facility together. The second bank waited for this parliamentary ratification before bothering their board again. They didn't wanna embarrass themselves again by not being ready to go on the second approval of the same deal. I was speaking to the lead banker this morning again, bashing the hell out of each other and all sorts of things.
There's no problem. You know, it's just. Yeah, I mean, these are $15 billion banks who've got lots of things to do. Having to approve it for a second time, you know, get your ducks in a row, lads, and then we'll approve it, and don't worry about it, Harry, let's get on with it. You know, I wouldn't worry about it, really. I wouldn't worry about it. It's being done and it's built into that schedule.
Thanks, Harry. I think you've touched on it, but it's in the list of questions here. I'm seeking clarification on what remains outstanding, who's responsible, sequencing downside risks, a GMCO update, including annual burn from its continued holdings. Lots there for you, Harry, and you have touched on some.
I didn't catch all of it. It was all over the place. You know, I think I've actually touched on all those things, to be honest. Let's move to the next question.
Perfect. You had a meeting of stakeholders in June to look each other in the eyes and say, "Let's go." If it's not then, when will it be? And is there a fixed timetable from then to measure the company's performance against?
Yeah. The answer is yes, and I think I've done that this time.
Okay, perfect. Well, look, I've taken a lot of time for those pre-submitted questions. Perhaps I could just come to the room and ask if there's anyone here that would like to pose a question to Harry. If so, I'll provide you with a microphone. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you. If you'd just give Harry your name just in case he...
Hi, my name is Peter. I hold about 1% in KEFI overall of the issued share capital. I'd like to know about the Ethio-Preps How firm are those commitments? Are they just soft commitments you've got at the moment, or have you got significant players that are willing to put in the last and have made some firm commitments to you?
Yeah, the Ethio-Preps are not firm commitments yet. They are soft commitments from about, I don't know, 15 institutions and high net worth offices. They're timid people in the sense that this is a bit weird, a bit new. The capital markets are sort of in the process of being opened for new securities and stock exchange listings. This is a first for them. It is certainly right down their alley on what they need to do to diversify out of the birr, and it's been very well received. I think out of maybe 30 conversations we've had, I don't know, maybe three or four have said no. I can't guarantee it, but I think you know, we have the first investment banker team in the country working on it with us.
We're doing it in collaboration with the Capital Markets Authority, people who asked us to do it. The Central Bank said, "If you get stuck on anything because regulations somehow thwart you or obstruct you, let us know." It's a sort of an official effort. It's not a sort of a scurrying around, half-assed idea. I can't guarantee it. It's the weakest link, but I don't think it's weak. I'd be very surprised if it wasn't at least $15 million, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's $30 million. That's my judgment. That's about all I could sort of say at the moment, I think.
Thank you. Any other questions from the room? No? Perfect. Harry, you've got, you know, as I said to you, a number of other questions here, but I'm mindful of just repeating things for repeating's sake.
How are we for time, sorry?
You're at 50 minutes. 55 minutes.
50. Okay.
I mean, I'll happily go on. I just don't wanna repeat things that you may.
Oh, you judge which questions to ask. Just scroll down. You know, normally we try to wrap it up in an hour, but I'm happy to go over a little bit if you want.
Well, I mean, there are questions around, you know, your thoughts about funding of the business, future funding of the business, the need for capital moving forward. Maybe any comments that you can say that within the parameters of what you can and can't say.
Well, you know, it's a dilemma, isn't it? It's a bit of a dilemma in the sense that we've survived a sort of dark 10 or 15 years in the junior mining space in terms of capital allocation. If you look at any index, it just sort of goes like that. I often wonder whether I've got a genetic defect to be in this space, and probably all of you investors in this space often wonder it yourselves about yourselves. There's something in this space that turns us on. Surviving that 10 or 15 years, and throw on top of it all the things in these countries that would hit us, you know, you sort of feel like you deserve a hell of a pat on the back and a huge reward.
That's how we all feel, all of us. I think we're at the point, fortunately, that we've got a project ready to rock. Let's just do it. The rest will look after itself. That's what I really think. No matter what I say or what everybody wishes, let's just get on with it, and the rest will look after itself. As soon as people see some key announcements, you know, all the publicists who like to pontificate on whether my salary is high or low or whatever, and all that stuff just disappears, and you just focus on the real game. The real game here is just to close this bloody thing and get on with it. I think, you know, the cost of capital will relieve itself, and will do what deserves doing.
You know, the answer will be in the results, you know. If the market really still doesn't like it, well, I give up. We'll just sell the whole thing. You know, make 50% of their money instead of 10x their money. That's all you can do. At a certain point, you do what you gotta do.
Yeah, sure. Thank you.
Ashley Warden. You've got some new institutional investors on board. Do you see them adding to the business itself other than just being purely shareholders?
Well, I don't think they expect to be involved in the business. They don't want to be involved in the business at all. Their compliance systems certainly keep them a thousand miles from being contaminated by business decisions. However, they're the first people to put their hands up if they're not happy about something. There's no doubt about that. You know, something substantive. I have no doubt that the leaders of those institutions would get on the phone and say, "What the hell are you doing on this? What was that about?" Or whatever, you know. Not that that's happened, but I've been around long enough not to take their presence lightly. The good thing to me, the excellent thing to me is that they really don't care. The share price gyrations from day -to -day, week -to -week, month -to -month.
You know, really, that's not the issue. They're open-eyed, investing in what they think is, you know, inflection point investing. That's what they're trying to do here. Contrarian mentality, if you like. They're investing for the long term. They've invested such small sums of money, they're there to follow their investment as things emerge. That's, to me, the important thing. It's, you know, the small shareholders have been fantastic, you know, patient and beaten up like the management team have, but have been fantastic to carry this thing through. Most AIM junior miners have disappeared in the time we've been doing this. Our shareholders are still there. I'm not saying they're happy, but they're still there and engaging.
These institutions, you know, have a bigger prize and a longer term in their minds, and that's a good thing.
Thank you. Are there any more questions in the room at all? No? Perfect. Harry, I won't keep repeating some of these questions. There are some different ones, but I'd like you to take a look at those, and we can publish those post the meeting. Look, before I redirect investors to give you their feedback, thank you firstly for your time this afternoon, for taking the questions as you asked them to roll. Before I redirect investors to give you feedback, perhaps I could just ask you for a couple of closing comments. I'll end the webinar, and then you can engage in.
If we've missed something substantive that you think should have been answered, we're happy to put it on the Q&A on the website if we're allowed to, regulatory-wise. You know, I am criticized often, internally as well as externally, for being transparent. I like to think that it diffuses and explains and helps, you know, the situation. Whether you like it or not, that's the way we are. The webinar, the Q&A stuff is in a sincere attempt at transparency. Whether you like all the answers or not, it's just trying to be straight up.
That's great. Thank you, Harry. Thank you to those in the room and those online. For those online, we'll now redirect you to provide the company your feedback. I'm sure the company go for your participation. Thank you for joining us this afternoon.