Chairman of the Board, and on behalf of Aspire Mining Ltd, I welcome you to the 2025 Annual General Meeting. It is now 2:00 P.M. Australian Eastern Standard Time, and there being a quorum present, I declare the meeting open for business. I confirm that the meeting has been properly constituted. In opening the 2025 AGM, I would like to introduce the Directors and Management Team of Aspire, who are joining via teleconference today: Russell Taylor, Bob Barda, Archer Dern, Samuel Bowles, Tristan Garth, Emily Austin, and Kevin Bjorn from KPMG, our auditor. As this meeting is being conducted as a virtual meeting, I would like to welcome those shareholders that are joining us via Zoom and ask that you please submit any questions or comments via the Q&A function, which can be found at the bottom of your Zoom screen.
When you submit a question or comment, please start by typing which resolution it relates to so that it can be addressed at the appropriate time. Questions which relate to the general business of the company will be collected and addressed after the close of the formal business of the meeting. The agenda for today's meeting will be as follows: the formal matters to be considered at today's AGM, and our CEO, Sam Bowles, will provide a business update. We now move to the formal business as set out in the notice of the meeting. The notice of the Annual General Meeting was mailed to all registered members on or about the 28th of April 2025 and is to be taken as read. Voting on all resolutions will be conducted by poll.
For the purpose of the poll, I appoint Samantha Sundara of Atomic Pride Ltd, the Company's Share Registry, to act as returning officer and to conduct the poll. Shareholders in attendance via Zoom that have already submitted a vote by proxy should note that your votes will already be counted towards the poll. You do not need to lodge another vote unless you wish to change your proxy instructions. Shareholders in attendance via Zoom that have not submitted a vote by proxy and wish to vote on the resolutions being put to the meeting today can do so by following the instructions provided in the notice of meeting. On your screen, there are instructions for how to log into the online voting portal. Please note that the online voting portal is now open and will remain open until the poll is declared closed.
Your votes must have been submitted prior to the poll being closed for them to count. On your screen, there are instructions for how to register and vote using the online voting portal. Are there any questions in relation to the poll process?
There are no questions.
Thank you, Emily. There being no questions, I'll proceed with the business of the meeting. Proxies have been inspected, and all those validly lodged have been accepted. All undirected proxies or open votes that have nominated the Chairman as their proxy will be cast in favor of each resolution in the notice of the Annual General Meeting. The first item of business is to receive the Company's Annual Financial Report for the year ended 31 December 2024. The financial report and the reports of the Directors and the Auditors are now laid before the meeting. There will be no vote on this item and is a discussion item only. The Company's Auditor for the 2024 financial year, Kevin Bjorn of KPMG, is present online to take questions relevant to the conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the independent auditor's report.
Are there any questions or comments on the financial report or the reports of the Directors and the Auditors?
No questions about financial statements.
Are there any questions relevant to the conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the auditor's report to the Auditor?
No questions.
Okay. We will now proceed to the resolutions set out in the notice of the Annual General Meeting. Resolution One is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit to pass, with or without amendment, Resolution One, adoption of remuneration report as an ordinary resolution. If you wish to discuss this resolution, please submit your questions via the Q&A. I now put the motion. Shareholders can vote via the online portal. However, I remind you not to click on Next until you have selected your vote for all resolutions. As the next resolution relates to me, and I am retiring and offering myself for resolution, I am going to hand over to Russell Taylor to chair this part of the meeting. Thank you, Russell.
Thanks, Mick. I now turn to the re-election of Mr. Michael Avery as a Director. Resolution Two is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit, to pass with or without amendment, Resolution Two, re-election of Michael Avery as a Director, as an ordinary resolution. If you wish to discuss the resolution, please submit your questions via the Q&A. Are there any questions, Emily?
No questions for the resolution.
I now put the motion. Shareholders can vote via the online portal. However, I remind you not to click on Next until you have selected your vote for all resolutions.
Thank you, Russell. Resolution Three is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit to pass with or without amendment, Resolution Three, adoption of performance rights plan as an ordinary resolution. If you wish to discuss this resolution, please submit your questions via the Q&A. I now put the motion. Shareholders can vote via the online portal. However, once again, I remind you not to click on Next until you have selected your vote for all resolutions. The next resolution, Resolution Four, is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit to pass with or without amendment, Resolution Four, approval of issue of performance rights to Mr. Russell Taylor, Executive Director of the Company, as an ordinary resolution. If you wish to discuss this resolution, please submit your questions via the Q&A. I now put the motion. Shareholders, once again, can vote via the online portal.
However, reminded not to click on Next until you have selected your vote for all resolutions. Next resolution, Resolution Five, is to consider, if thought fit to pass with or without amendment, Resolution Five, approval of issue of performance rights to Mr. Tristan Garth, CFO of the Company, as an ordinary resolution. If you wish to discuss this resolution, please submit your questions via the Q&A. I now put the motion. Shareholders can vote via the online portal. However, once again, reminded not to click on Next until you have selected your vote for all resolutions. I'm moving to the final resolution today, Resolution Six, which is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit to pass with or without amendment, Resolution Six, ASX Listing Rule 7.1A, approval of future issues of securities as a special resolution.
If you wish to discuss this resolution, please submit your questions via the Q&A. I now put the motion. Shareholders can vote via the online portal. However, remind not to click until you have selected your vote for resolutions. That concludes the resolutions to be voted on today. As noted, we are conducting a poll on all resolutions. I note the poll is already open, so can all shareholders voting online please now ensure that they have submitted their votes. I will allow another minute before the poll is closed. If you have any questions in relation to the submission of online votes, please send them through the Q&A function now. Have all persons of intent about submitted their cards? Okay. No questions, Emily?
No questions about the poll.
Okay. There being no questions, I declare the poll closed. The staff of Atomic Pride will now process the poll, and the results will be announced to the ASX once they're available. I move on to the next item, other business. Is there any other business that can be lawfully brought forward today? Okay. Thank you. That concludes the formal part of the business. I'd like to really thank all shareholders for attendance and declare the meeting closed. As advised earlier, the results of the poll will be announced to the ASX once they're available. It gives me great pleasure now to hand over to the Company's CEO, Samuel Bowles, who will provide a business update. Thank you, Sam.
Okay. Thank you, Mic. Good afternoon, everybody. Today, I'm happy to provide a short update on the activities of the Company, covering both last year and year to date, and an outlook to the remainder of this year, showing the plans that we're planning to be implementing. This presentation has been uploaded to the website, and I'll allow you to read the disclaimer at your leisure later, should you choose to. Just briefly, to reinforce what Aspire is all about, we're concentrated on developing the Ovoot Coking Coal Project as a 220 million ton coal resource in northwestern Mongolia, within which we have identified a 130 million ton JORC compliant coal reserve. Our business plan is to start construction within this quarter, aiming to deliver first coal before the end of 2026.
Last year, one of the significant things that the Company did was to update its life and mine plan and produce this updated JORC resource and reserve estimate. Earlier this year, the findings of this were validated in an independent technical report produced by SRK. The key highlights are very strong NPV, a long mine life, and this is based upon a phased expansion of operations starting at 1.5 million ton per annum, increasing to approximately 5 million ton per annum mining rate. With minimal pre-production capital required, there is a short payback period and low all-in sustaining costs delivering to early in northern China. Whilst coal prices have come off a little bit in the past 12 months, we're still confident that over the long term, we're seeing strong demand for the fat coking coal in Northern China and strong pricing across the life of mine.
2024 was all about moving from exploration into pre-development. Some of the key things that we've done in the past 12 months included completing a value and use study, which confirmed the quality and the value and the market interest in the fat coking coal that we're able to produce from Ovoot. We achieved some key milestones in government approvals, particularly around receiving approval for detailed environmental impact assessments for the coal handling and preparation plant that we intend to build on site, the road that we're intending to build from Ovoot to enable product transportation to market. Fenway completed a marketing study for us.
Now, Fenway is a consultant in China that has extensive reach in the Chinese coal, coke, and steel markets, and they were able to identify for us a very strong demand for fat coking coal now and going into the medium-term future in northern China that we're looking to target, at least initially. Also, we had detailed design approved for the road as well as the Environmental Impact Assessment. As I mentioned earlier, we were able to update the JORC resource and reserve estimate based upon infill drilling that was completed at the end of 2022. This year, we're definitely moving forward with plans to commence construction at Ovoot and the associated infrastructure with our geotechnical surveys completed for CHPP construction, the Ovoot camp, and the Erdenet Rail Terminal coal processing or coal handling infrastructure.
The independent technical report was finalized by SRK, confirming the strong economics that were identified in the JORC resource and particularly the reserve estimate work completed in 2024. In preparation for commencing product haulage from Ovoot, we've entered into an MOU this year with Elm Equipment, and that's related to the design, supply, and maintenance of bespoke trailers that will ensure the productivity and cost-effectiveness of truck transportation of coal from the project. In quarter two, we're looking to award contract for the design and construction of the CHPP and Erdenet coal handling infrastructure. That tender process has been ongoing since late November or early December 2024. We received interest from multiple parties from several jurisdictions this year. The initial proposals were received. The bidders were shortlisted. The findings of those proposals were used to fine-tune a final scope of work to be tendered.
We are currently in process of evaluating those final submissions and looking to move into contract negotiation next month. In quarter three, we are expecting to be able to award contracts and commence road construction, subject to finalizing the PPPA agreement negotiations with the government here. We are gearing up to commence mining with initial startup development forecast to start from quarter four onwards. This slide has been shown previously in the investor presentation released in March.
The top half of the graph, top half of the chart shows the milestones that we've achieved in recent years, and the lower half shows the milestones ahead, including for this year, where we're expecting to start work on the ground within this quarter, meaning within next month in relation to construction of the Ovoot permanent camp and mine site infrastructure, road infrastructure, CHPP infrastructure in Q3 , ERT work starting in Q4 , and transportation hub next year. The mining operations is really pre-strip operations. Initially, at a slow rate to facilitate safe and controlled startup, training of a maximum number of local workers to operate the equipment. That pre-strip will lead to coal uncovery within Q3 2026 to facilitate processing, transportation, and sales from Q4 2026 onwards. To remind people of our current capital structure, we remain with zero debt.
Reasonably good market capitalisation at the moment allows for strong enterprise value. Again, I'd like to highlight the involvement of our major shareholder, Mr. Terran Dumba, a very successful Mongolian businessman who's deeply committed to moving this project forward. He's the founder and controlling shareholder of Gem Group in Mongolia. Under that, there's a number of very successful subsidiary companies. Today, he's invested about AUD 60 million in Aspire and is focused on helping us to get this project into operation. For those that don't know, the name Talaxis Limited, this is a spinoff from Noble Group following their takeover by Vital. Previously, this shareholding was under Noble. Now, it's outside of Noble under a separate company called Talaxis. This slide's also been provided before, and Mic gave some introduction to the board and management earlier, so I might skip on to the next slide.
Generally, we think that we're ready for a breakout year in Mongolia here with Aspire. Things are moving on the ground. We're starting, we're in the process of recruiting people in our local subsidiary to help us to build the Ovoot project. There's tendering works happening currently, and construction on the ground is expected to start quite soon. Generally, all the major approvals are in place. Local stakeholders are supportive of our plans. This is local community, local government. On the basis of this, we feel that we have the social licence now earned to enable project development. Key to this has been determining a viable and sustainable road haulage plan. This is certainly closely related to the fact that this will provide public infrastructure benefit.
What we're doing in this regard is negotiating a Public-Private Partnership Agreement with the government of Mongolia, and this is certainly aligned with the government's long-term development plans in Mongolia. The upside for us is that we have a simple, low stripping ratio mining operation ahead of us with coal that will yield highly, producing cost-effective and very competitively priced coal at the mine gate. With this transportation system by truck to Erdenet and then placement on rail, we're confident that we will have a cost-competitive product being imported into China. There has certainly been strong interest shown from end users in northern China in the past 12 months who have got a real keen interest in the unique qualities of the Ovoot fat coking coal. The Ovoot fat coking coal is a known brand. There is an existing small operation operating next door to Ovoot, and that coal has traveled wide and far.
There are many customers who are aware of the unique coal that we'll be able to produce from Ovoot. Lastly, just recapping again, our major shareholder, Mr. Dumba, is strongly supporting development of the Ovoot coking coal project and helping us in many ways to make sure that this project moves forward. Lastly, just an appendix slide here with the detail of the JORC resource and reserve estimate. For me, the important thing here is that the proved categorization of coal reserve increased significantly compared to the past historical estimate. Thank you, Mic. I'll be happy to answer any questions about the presentation also.
Sorry, sorry, guys. I was on mute. I understand we've got a number of questions from one shareholder. I'd just like to acknowledge that, and we'll take those questions on notice. Sam and I will organise a call with that shareholder to discuss those questions after this meeting, if that's okay. I think that being the meeting, thank you very much, everyone, for your attendance. I appreciate your support, and I look forward to further discussions with you in the future. Thank you very much.