Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to all of you who have been able to join us. Thank you very much indeed for doing so. My name is George Roach, and I'm going to act as the chairman for the meeting. For purposes of this meeting, should I say, just of this meeting. I'd like one of our panelists just to confirm that I am being heard, and then we will proceed from there. Yes, we can hear you, George. Right. Thank you very much indeed. I do have a couple of panelists here. One of them, who you heard there, Mr. Bruce Cumming, and Brendan Roach is also available here as well. Okay. This is a general meeting, an AGM meeting of Premier African Minerals Limited.
As I have already said, I've introduced myself, and I've welcomed you all, and I'm pleased that you are here. There is a quorum present. I'm going to be able to proceed directly into the meeting. We have not received any direct declarations of letters of representation. As such, there are no parties present at the meeting at this time to address direct questions. We will come back after we have dealt with the business of the meeting, and we will have time for other discussion then to whatever extent those who are participating and our shareholders wish to do so.
Let me move on then directly into the business of the meeting, and then we can get back into the very important issues of where we are, what's happening, and how we're going forward from here. I'm going to take notice that the meeting is read. It's been widely circulated, and I think that that is in fact the case. Coming into the resolutions, I'm going to then therefore move directly into these. I'm to move directly into resolution one, which is proposed as an ordinary resolution and requires a simple majority to be passed.
Resolutions 2-4 are special resolutions, and that requires that there is a 75% support for the resolutions or three-fourths of those present and voting, whether present and voting in person or by proxy or whatever means has already been submitted to us and has been accepted. Resolution number 1 is to reappoint Wolfgang Hampel, who retires by rotation as a director. I do have a proposal from 1 party present. I would like to then move to the votes that I have. I have already mentioned that there are no letters of representation directly received, so I'm gonna move directly to the voting record.
In this instance, in support of the reappointment of Wolfgang Hampel, we have 9.5 – and I'm just going to round out these numbers if I may. 9.5 billion votes in support, and it represents 87.92% of the votes cast. Let me just get to this thing here. We have votes against is 0.04 billion. Votes that were at the discretion of the chairman of the meeting are 0.09 billion, and those votes have been voted in favor of the reappointment. Votes withheld 0.18 billion. That is carried on a substantial majority. Moving to resolution two.
Resolution two is a special resolution, and that is to approve for a period of 24 months the disapplication of preemptive rights, as set out and described in our memorandum and articles of association, for 27 billion ordinary shares and to authorize the directors to deal with and place those in accordance with the draft of the resolution as contained in the notice of the meeting. In respect to Resolution two, this is preemption provisions one, is how we refer to it. Votes cast for, and again, I'm going to round out if I may. We have 9.9 billion votes for. It represents 89.7% of all votes cast. A substantial majority is supporting. Votes against is 0.2 billion, 2.1%.
Discretionary votes, 9, and those votes have been applied in favor. Votes withheld is 024. That is resolution two. Resolution two is duly proposed. The voting is there. The resolution has passed. In terms of resolution three, let's move on to that one there. Let me just go on to here. I beg your pardon. I won't be a moment. Just before I move on, just want to see if there are any comments from anybody I need to deal with here. Nope. Okay. Resolution three is a special resolution. It is, as I've said before, set out in the notice of the meeting. Resolution three is conditional on the passing on resolution two.
Resolution two has passed, and this concerns the approval for a period of 12 months following the date of this AGM, the disapplication of the pre-emptive rights in regard to a further 10 billion ordinary shares in the company. This, I may mention, is, and it is contained in the resolution, is to allow for the specific conversion rights of accrued interest up to a maximum holding within the company to Canmax. That is as per agreements and as per the resolution as already set out and described in the notice. I propose that this resolution three should again be accepted. In accordance with that, voting in relation to this resolution. Votes in favor of the resolution are 9.6 billion, representing 87% of the votes cast. Votes against, 0.5 billion.
4.7 billion, 4.3%. Discretionary votes, 9 billion, and these have been applied in favor of the resolution. Votes withheld, 0.2 billion. Based on that voting, resolution 3 is carried. I now move on to resolution 4. Resolution 4 is again a special resolution. This resolution proposes that the issued ordinary shares of no par value each in the capital of the company be and are hereby consolidated into new ordinary shares of no par value each in the capital of the company, on the basis of 1 new ordinary share for every 10 existing shares held prior to the passing of the resolution. We can have a further discussion in regard to this after the closure of the formal meeting.
Again, as previously mentioned, I have no representation letters presented to me. I note that the voting that I hold, and I will read this again for share consolidation in favor, 9.3 billion. Against, 8 billion, 7.19% against, 84% in support. 900,000 discretionary votes, they've been applied in favor. 20.02 billion against. That resolution is therefore passed as well. On that basis, our resolutions one, two, three, and four have all carried. As I've explained with each of the resolutions, they are carried based on the proxies that I hold as chairman of the meeting and the way in which these have been applied.
That is reflective in the various resolutions as they have been put. That brings us to the close of the actual direct business of the meeting. I am very happy to engage to the extent that it is possible on this kind of link with questions that shareholders may have. I have, as I mentioned earlier, two company representatives present in the form of Brendan, and Brendan can assist us on the commercial side and so on. Bruce Cumming is present as well together with Wilna Lamb. From a technical and geological perspective, between Bruce and Wilna and myself, we will try and deal with whatever else there may be. I'm...
If people have questions, please use the Q&A, and we will deal with what we can. I may, as a precursor to that, just mention that at this moment we are on track in terms of the various RNSs, and other information that the company has disseminated in regard to bringing the plant at Zulu back to operational status. The inserts that were being provided, or manufactured in Bulawayo to reduce the size of the spodumene cleaner cells are well advanced.
They are anticipated to be completed by the 23rd of this month of June, and they are expected to be installed, and whatever upgrades are required to go with them to allow them to run adequately, whatever repairs and maintenance, whatever bringing back to operational readiness is required on the plant, is expected to be completed by the end of June. That is our target. We have, however, built in a some latitude on that, and that latitude is also driven by the unavailability of reagent specialists until the 4th of July. It is therefore expected that very shortly after the 4th of July, 5th of July, in fact, that this plant should run with these spodumene cleaner inserts installed. They are expected to reduce the capacity of the spodumene. Sorry, I'm just looking at questions here.
They are expected to reduce the capacity of the spodumene cleaners, and in that way, reduce the residence time and should give us a much better yield and recovery in the spodumene circuits. At this time as a fallback, and this is also well known, it's in the public domain, we have purchased a second spodumene float section of Chinese design, and that second spodumene float section, the civils are well advanced. The plant itself is due to be inspected in Harare on Monday, on the coming Monday, and the target completion date of early August or by the middle of August remains as the anticipated and realistic completion date.
On that basis, it is expected that the plant will be reassessed, and we will have an understanding of its production capabilities, on the basis that the spodumene cleaner cell inserts work. That could be by mid-July. On the basis that we require to run into the backup period and use the secondary spodumene float section. That assessment would take place sometime after the middle of August. We have recently announced the way forward and the changes with Canmax that required inter alia, a non-binding letter of intent from a party acceptable to Canmax and to ourselves who would look to assist in a negotiated alternative acceptable to Canmax and ourselves going forward to allow us to manage and repay the prepayment amount that was invested in Prem through Canmax a few years ago.
Now that the intention to negotiate that is in place, and there is an agreement that as soon as we are able to commence the negotiation, which will follow that moment, when the plant is up, running and producing, that we will then proceed into those negotiations. That is expected no later than late August. I'm just looking for questions. I don't seem to be seeing these questions at the moment. Let me just have a look-see. Well, now I know that you can hear me, but I'm not seeing questions coming through. Here we go. I beg your pardon. Right. Let me just go through some of these questions as I see them. Thank you for those who confirmed they could hear me. I appreciate that. I'm sorry. My window was not displaying as I should have.
Successful until the plant is up and running again as to exactly what that mine gate cost price is going to be. The projections that we have, and I emphasize these are projections, they are subject to various different issues. We have put them out there before, are between $500-$550. Now, there are a number of factors that influence this. The recovery influences it. The grade of spodumene, whether it's 5-5.5 or 6-6.5, makes a big difference in the cost, and it makes a difference not only in the value per ton, but also when it comes to the eventual delivery, transport, shipping costs, and all the rest of it.
While we're being paid on a mine gate basis, our profit is going to come when it is eventually sold. The lower those costs are, the better our profit is likely to be. It's subject to us in time changing primarily from diesel generators to main grid power. Now, that's being costed out in detail. There are various opportunities and mechanisms for bringing that into play that we are looking at. That will be the cheapest electricity opportunity for us, cheaper than any form of solar or anything like that. Not that we're against it. We're very happy if people want to put up solar. We're happy to enter into take-off agreements. Those negotiations are all ongoing. The other big unknown at the moment is that the Zulu resource contains a significant amount of tantalum.
One of the things that I believe will keep spodumene producers worldwide, and there are various examples of this already that will keep them going, is the byproducts that are available. Now, Sabi Star is rich in these. Tantalum, the tantalum resource has been previously described. This circuit was supposed to recover the tantalum from inception. It was shortcomings in the original Stark Resources design that has led to us not being able to get that going at the moment. There are various discussions with different parties who want to purchase tantalum, who want to assist in putting in plant and equipment to do it. Now, all of that can follow as soon as we get the plant operating again. Tantalum significant. Look at our resource statements. You can see how much we've got there. You can look at the prices.
It's a very high-priced item. Our estimates were that even if we recover 50% of what's there, it's significant. That will help us, and that will go a long way towards determining the final spodumene production price. There is other test work being done, also previously mentioned, that relates to the possibility of high purity quartz. That's a very interesting one, and I would urge people to go and look at the opportunities associated with that. It's a relatively scarce commodity, and there's actually, I think, only one, possibly two major producers of that in the world today. There are other byproduct possibilities, but those three for the moment are those that I think are most significant for us and will shape our long-term future as well as the eventual spodumene price wherever it's going to go.
I think my final comment on this is I cannot see that the spodumene price at this $700 or below mark can hold indefinitely. I am suspicious of the circumstances surrounding it, and I don't think that we should say any more of that for the moment. Next question. All being well, could PREM open discussions with local government? Well, we are always in discussions with the government. The government we had a visit, a ministerial visit just the other day. There is a close association. Power to the plant we've discussed. Let me just have a look, see there's one here in regard to shares. Oh, goodness gracious. Sorry, can't quite see it. How many of these shares you intend to use straight away? Okay. Sorry.
This is a question that relates to. It's known that we are going to have to raise money. The question is how many of the shares we're going to use right away. The answer to that is as few as possible. I can't answer the question in actual fact right now. Our needs are out in the public domain. We don't have to have all of that money up front. We won't. We will be as frugal and as careful in terms of raising money and the way we go about dealing with this. There is a fair amount of debt that needs to be dealt with. It may well be that we come back and deal with more of that debt on a payment and shares basis.
There are various alternatives open to us, but as of this precise moment, there is no final decision taken in regard to how many or at what price that we're going to issue or how or whatever. That will come, and it will be announced when that happens. That's that one. I think is that all the questions I've got here at the moment. Oh, wait a minute. Here we go. I have a comment here that many of us have been here for many years and experienced the many false starts. What is different this time around, and why are we so confident we can ultimately reach the Li2O requirements and Q3 targets? What's different this time around is that I think that we have acquired a couple more years of knowledge, firstly.
Secondly, that we understand much better some of the questions that needed to be asked. I think we should just bear in mind in that context that the recovery of spodumene and the flotation of spodumene is not a simple issue. Neither are pegmatites simple. Each one tends to be slightly different to the next. There are many examples, many more examples of people who have taken a long time to get their plants operating to design capacities and spec than there are of people who have just started off and everything's worked perfectly. We had hoped that was where we were. We were full of confidence based on what we had been told and what we had sold and what we had agreed to purchase. That hasn't worked out.
I think that the additional work that we have done in the past year, the knowledge we have accumulated, the fact that we have commissioned all of the plant right down to the spodumene float section, that's the last part of the plant. We've resolved the milling issues. We understand the sorter issues, and we have a workaround for that at the moment. All of this plant is commissioned all the way down to final spodumene flotation and recovery. Our lab work, and we've repeated this lab work in independent labs in various different countries, in South Africa, in Germany, at Zulu. We have asked others who are operating different plants to ours to run our material through the plants.
I think that there is reasonable support for being optimistic at this stage that between the inserts and the modification to the ENPROTEC circuit and the fallback position that we are going to run the plant successfully now. I spoke earlier about the need to look at byproducts, tantalum in particular. It's very important, and it's things like that that will keep us going. Is there any news on my successor? Not definitive, but there is work going on in the background, and I expect that the board and the chairman will be able to make an announcement fairly soon. There's a comment here that says, am I going to be seeking repayment of my loan prior to stepping down as CEO?
The facts of the matter are that I have already agreed conditionally not to do so for a period of time into the future. I think that if that is to be taken as an expression of a level of confidence into where we brought this plant, well, you know, then that may well be so. The facts of the matter are that PREM has that commitment from me already. I think the interest should be settled, and I think that that's fair. In terms of repayment of the actual loan, I've already agreed to stay for a period. Conditional, that is. Then let's see, what else have we got here? I think that might be it for the moment. Yep. Would seem to be. Any more questions coming through?
Let's just try and refresh that. I think there should be more here. Here we go. Right. There's a question here that relates to an update on the EPO status. Let me say that what we have done in regard to that is that apart from applying for a renewal of it, we also have pegged and lodged a series of claims covering areas within the EPO that we consider to be prospective. I might say that there are probably another 100 pegmatites have been identified, and to the extent possible, these have been covered in the claims that have been lodged and/or under a renewal of the EPO. That is a work in progress. Please, can you provide update on RHA and Mutare? It's the claim properties in the Mutare area.
Now, the status with RHA remains that Premier owns the plant, but the claims themselves and the local company that owns the claims is a 49-51 company with government holding the majority. It was clear to us some time ago that we could not reasonably be expected to fund the ongoing work with this mine and bringing it back into production on the basis of a minority ownership of the claims. It is a conversation that's ongoing.
It does seem that there is a possible transfer of the government shareholding in this into a different state-owned wealth fund, and we're being encouraged to discuss this with them, which we are doing. The claims in the Mutare area, which adjoin the Sabi Star mine, are still under a due diligence process and are under due diligence by two separate companies. I have no further update on that at the moment. Martin has asked when will the export license be applied for? How long will it take for it to be completed? This is dependent, inter alia on, the finalization and sign-off of a mining lease as opposed to the claims status that we have at Zulu.
We have recently had interactions with the government on this, and it does appear that we have strong support to get this attended to. We believe it's a bureaucratic issue, not a permission issue. Export license. Let's see. Lucas, I don't know what retirement is. Wants to know if I'm looking forward to retirement. I don't know what it is. I think if I stop working, I'll fall over. Yep, I'm not going anywhere. Plus my commitment to Prem remains that if they need me to get this thing going and anything else, I'll be there. Martin, the share price has taken a hit today. I haven't looked at it personally.
There is no definitive decision taken in terms of exactly what we're going to raise or at what price or how or what the mechanism is going to be or any of those things at this point in time. You know, there's little that I can say, I think, other than this. Let me make one personal comment on this. I think that the share price is so far away from being reflective of what I personally consider to be the value of what we have, that, you know, I don't know. Not much more to say on that one. Not quite sure of the next question. It's incomplete. Please, there is a concern being expressed about a shorthand. Now, that's not gonna happen.
I will be available and continue to be available for as long as I'm needed. There is no specific time in terms of that. I will make myself available to assist as Prem may wish. Hamza, your comments. The next update will be on the 23rd of June. No. What I said is that the inserts fabrication thereof, which is happening in Bulawayo, will be or is expected to be completed on the 23rd of June. There's then a transportation to site. There's an installation. There's an insertion of whatever spares, bringing the plant up to readiness to roll and then production from the 5th of July onwards. Along the way, as we reach significant milestones, there will be updates. What did I just say for recruitment?
In terms of the recruitment and appointment of replacement for me. No. This is a board, an internal Prem board process. Prem needs to resolve that one, and they will. Has a date been set for the reverse split or the consolidation? No. There are various processes that need to be followed, so it's not gonna happen tomorrow. I think that there are legal opinions and various other issues. Bearing in mind we're a BVI company, so it's not gonna happen immediately at all. But it effectively doesn't change value overall. I'm not prepared to express a view on what I think the share price should be, unfortunately. I wish I could. Maybe I will after the thirty-first of August. Right.
Interesting question here, and I think this is getting to the end now. Let me just make the comment that Glencore doesn't trade tantalum, but other people do. We already have a very strong indication that we have at least one other party who would like to get involved in discussions together with Glencore, with Canmax as well. Their larger target or their principal target would be the tantalum. We do have some very strong interest in regard to that. We are doing some more work in regards to that, the tantalum as well. We have more high-intensity magnetic separation test work being done tomorrow, or consideration and discussion on how we're going to do it, which is happening tomorrow.
I may also add on the subject of test work that it's been a long time waiting for the ore sorter, independent ore sorter test work to be done, but that has been done. I think that we're pretty clear in terms of where we need to go with this. We will, I think, be able to RNS our views on that very shortly. I think that, together with the high-intensity mag sep that'll have to come a little later this year and things like that. All of these different steps are going to lead to quantum advancements in cost of production when we start with the by-products, in better efficiency, in higher grade product, in all sorts of different stages that we're going to have. I think that this really is a
It's a significant new beginning, in fact, for Prem. Let's have a look. See, I've covered the EPO. We've covered the areas there. We have applications in. We've pegged areas. We've made the payments in respect of the license areas, the areas of prospective interest. If the EPO itself gets renewed, that's also fine. Just let's have a look. Any positive developments at Circum. Wow, I'll come back on Circum in a moment. In terms of having other people on the ground, yes, it is likely that there will be a representative, I believe, and that is being agreed with me as to when and how. There will be a representative from Glencore who will come to site. There's a very close communication.
As we go forward, each step of the way discussed here has already been discussed with them. They're fully aware of where we are. We have a significant array of skills that will be at site when we recommission and restart this plant round about the fourth of July. This includes flotation specialists who work on this kind of flotation system and so on all over the world who will be at site, apart from the OEM and the OEM specialists as well. I think that we're reasonably well covered in that area. Excuse me. Finally, in terms of Circum, a dispute has been declared. I think that's pretty well clear. If I have any personal views on it, I think that Circum's position is sound and is strong.
I think that it's going to play out in time. As there is news, we'll obviously let everybody know. I believe that's it. Oh, sorry, one further. Just so two further. Let me go into these last two that have just come in. The resource at Zulu, there's not going to be any significant change in the numbers that have been presented at this time. The full SAMREC or JORC compliant resource statement will be available very shortly, and this will be published on our website. It's a very substantial document, but it sets it all out and demonstrates adequately the comfort that we have and what the resource is. So that's on that one.
If there is to be any change in the resource, but as I've said to you, I don't believe there will be, it may come as we extend back into the pit and continue with mining operations. In terms of stock and come back on costs, I believe that there is a strong potential for damages. I don't know whether there is an entity that we could successfully expect to extract money out of, if we were successful with such a claim. It's something that is there. It has not been abandoned, and if we could, we will look at it. I have got people looking at it. My focus has rather been on getting the plant to work adequately as quickly as possible.
I'm just going to ask ever so quickly if either Brendan or Bruce want to add anything. If Brendan wants to add. You want to go ahead, Brendan? No, George. I'm fine. Thank you for hosting the meeting. Thank you very much indeed. Mr. Cumming, from your perspective, do you want to add anything? George, I have no comments that I can add to what you've already explained. Thank you very much indeed. Okay. To all of you who have attended, thank you very much indeed. I've tried now and I tried on Friday when I was in London to be as frank and open as I possibly can be to try and deal with each and every question that we've had. I think that's what I've done here.
I've tried to be as frank as I can be in the answers, without going into anything that is not in the public domain. We remain at everybody's service. We are happy to deal with any communication and ongoing questions anybody may have. Personally, I think I just need to express another thank you to all our shareholders to assure you I'm not running away anywhere, that I'm committed to do whatever Prem wants me to do to get this to work. I hope that that's where we go, that we go there very successfully and in short order. Thank you very much indeed. I'm going to close the meeting at that. Thank you.