So, good morning everyone. This is the 2025 Annual General Meeting for Arafura Rare Earths Limited just being held as a hybrid meeting. The shareholders joining us both online and in the room here today. We're now 10:00 A.M. Western Standard Time, the appointed time for holding the meeting, and I'm advised we have the necessary form. I therefore declare the Annual General Meeting open. My name is Mark Southey, and I'm the Chair of Arafura. I'd like to introduce you to the Arafura Rare Earths Board. So, on my right is Cathy Moises here, immediate on my right-hand side. Cathy's Chair of the Sustainability Committee. Next to Cathy here, Chris Tonkin, Chair of the Remuneration, Nomination, and People Committee. Roger Higgins, next to Cathy down there, is the Chair of our Risk Committee, and Ian Murray is the Chair of our Audit Committee.
And of course, Darryl Cuzzubbo, most of you know, our CEO and Managing Director here. And we have the company secretaries with us. Jointly today, we have Mike Foy down here and Lewis Lowe in the room. So present with me today are also the Senior Management Team and representatives for the company's lawyers, Johnson Winter Slattery, the company's auditors, BDO, and the company's share registry, Link Market Services. Before we proceed with the meeting, I have a couple of quick housekeeping points. Appreciate if all mobile phones are turned to silent mode. Recording devices and cameras must not be used during the meeting. In the event of an emergency, please follow the emergency exit signs and instructions from the venue staff. At the conclusion of the formal meeting today, our Managing Director, Darryl Cuzzubbo, will address the meeting.
There'll be an opportunity for questions following his presentation. I do ask that questions not relating to the resolutions be presented at this time. So before we move to the formal part of the meeting, I'd like to take the opportunity to address all the shareholders present today. Once again, welcome to the Arafura General Meeting. Achieving a recognition of the significance of rare earths has been, for a long time, one of the many challenges faced by the sector. Education and engagement has been a key role for all the sector's players. Yet, in just a matter of months, we've witnessed a fundamental shift in the geopolitical and global trade environment that's actively reshaping our world order. This evolution of supply chain has officially transformed our Nolans Project from an Australian mining aspiration to a global strategic solution.
Rare earths are recognized as the linchpin of economic leverage, technical authority, and national security as strategic assets, and the world is now racing to establish independent markets. The risks within the magnet supply chain, driven by concentrated market dominance, have been building for several years. Recently, trade measures have underscored the seriousness of this threat. Political dependencies and vulnerabilities in the rare earths value chain have been starkly exposed. While there's been a long-term awareness of the problem across the stakeholders, there's been very limited material action to address these issues until now. The frustration of the sector and our shareholders, the volatility in the segment plays heavily into market valuations. However, we feel we've now reached a tipping point where action will be rewarded rather than waiting for perfect market conditions and sentiment to move forward.
We've seen the tangible impact of short-term supply constraints, as in the United States, industry struggling with supply chain issues and some temporary closure of the manufacturing, EV manufacturing plants, and in Europe, the Association of Automotive Suppliers reported the shutdown of several production mining plants. In response, the world is decoupling from a single source of rare earths. Following the landmark private partnership, public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Defense and MP Materials, the U.S. has continued to advance its interests, partnering with friendly countries to secure its rare earths supply chain and reduce the dependency on China. Last week, the U.S. and Australian Government announced that they will co-invest in Arafura's Nolans Project. The partnership, in parallel to our existing financiers, will underpin Arafura as the third independent and fully integrated producer of rare earth oxides following Lynas and Mountain Pass.
Together, we're forging the diversification of this critical supply chain, securing the long-term solutions that will meet the growing demands of tomorrow. Against this backdrop, our Early Works program at Nolans sees us ready to move into full-scale development of our project. Nolans isn't just a deposit; it's the most advanced construction-ready source of NdPr outside China, providing supply chain certainty for our partners. The political importance of Arafura's role in the diversified global supply chain is clearly highlighted by our debt financing success. In July 2024, we announced more than $1 billion in debt financing, completion support, and loan guarantees from commercial banks and export credit agencies from Australia, Korea, Germany, and Canada. This success has allowed us to attract a high calibre of cornerstone investors and golden seed funds.
This includes finalizing a binding term sheet with the National Reconstruction Fund for AUD 200 million convertible notes and, most recently, a conditionally approved equity investment from Export Finance Australia for up to $100 million. We're also progressing due diligence with the German Raw Materials Fund and, as of last week, the Export-Import Bank of the United States. So our progress is validated by these financial milestones. Our funding strategy is significantly advanced as we look to close out the remaining equity investments, including our cornerstone investors during the current financial year. As you'd now be aware of the last couple of days, Arafura has moved expeditiously to successfully secure a major portion of the remaining equity required for the successful AUD 475 million capital markets raising.
With our long lead procurement in progress and the integrated debt and government equity packages now nearing completion, we're closer than ever to securing the final funding to reach the Final Investment Decision. As financing advances, our attention is sharply focused on the delivery of Nolans Project and ensuring we have the requisite construction and operational capability. Our refreshed Board and executive leadership team brought a step change in expertise with a focus on delivering sustainable and tangible outcomes beyond that idea. Our long-term continuing relationship with Hatch gives us access to the world's best technical and engineering resources for a plant of this size and complexity. Our ESG values and objectives underpin everything we do, guiding our decisions, our operations, and how we approach delivery.
We have an opportunity to be a catalyst in helping to transform Australia's rare earths sector, as well as establishing the Northern Territory as a central processing and logistics hub through collaboration between government, industry, and local communities. We're deeply committed to positively impacting the communities where we live and work, recognizing that our social license to operate is essential for sustainable value proposition. In the spirit of engagement, we're working closely with our traditional owners, local communities, Central Land Council, and key stakeholders, planning with our traditional owners and local communities, not just for them. While our focus is on delivering phase one of the Nolans Project, we haven't lost sight of the future growth opportunities.
Our advanced engineering and design work ensures the foundations are laid to deliver value now and into the future at the lowest capital intensity. We've been stoic in the knowledge that we have the right strategy in place with the right people on board to develop Nolans Project and seize this opportunity. As we approach FID, our focus is clear: securing the funding, managed capital costs, and project execution readiness. On behalf of your board, I'd like to thank all our shareholders for your continued support and, importantly, the team at Arafura that give their all to bring Arafura's vision into realization. Together, we're building a company that will play a defining role in the world's technology transition for decades to come. Thank you. Now, move into the formal meeting.
The notice of meeting dated 30 September 2025, together with an explanatory memorandum, was circulated to shareholders and contains four resolutions. Unless there are any objections, any objections, I propose to take the notice of meeting as being read. Before moving on to the various resolutions to be considered today, we just need a brief outline of the status of the staging. When you registered for today's meeting, you were given either a yellow, blue, or red attending card. If you've not received this card, then please go to the registration desk outside this room. If you have a yellow voting card, you're a voting shareholder, proxy holder, or corporate representative, and you've chosen to vote using a paper voting card. You're entitled to speak at this meeting. If you have a blue card, you're a non-voting shareholder, while you're entitled to ask questions and make comments.
You're not entitled to vote at this meeting. If you have a red card, you're a visitor and you're not entitled to speak or vote at this meeting. If anyone with a yellow or blue card wishes to speak, identify yourself to me at the appropriate time before asking me your question. Shareholders were encouraged to submit their questions before the meeting. For those who have submitted their questions, I'll read these out at the relevant resolution and answer them where appropriate. For those shareholders attending via the online platform today, if we experience any technical difficulties today, a short recess or adjournment may be required, depending on the number of shareholders affected. If this occurs, I'll advise accordingly.
For those shareholders attending the meeting online, please follow the virtual online meeting guide on your screen to A, register for a voting card and cast your votes online, to vote via the web, click on the Get a voting card button at the top of the screen and follow the prompts, and B, ask questions or make comments. Out of fairness to everyone present, I ask that you limit your questions to one at a time and also restrict your questions and comments to the resolutions being considered. I reserve the right as chair to rule questions as not pertaining to the AGM or out of order. There are some persons present. There are some shareholders present at the meeting today who have not submitted their votes by proxy. And as a matter of good corporate governance, the company will conduct all resolutions.
Voting the resolutions by poll will provide transparency and ensure the intentions of those attending the meeting, as well as those who will have voted by proxy, are reflected in the result for each resolution. The results of the polls will be declared and released to the ASX later today. I will read out each resolution and then ask the shareholders whether they have any questions in relation to each of the resolutions. If you have a question, please state your name and your affiliation and then put your questions to me as chairperson. Please note that only shareholders who have a yellow voting card or a blue voting card are able to ask questions. As chair of the meeting and as detailed in the notice of the meeting, I will vote the authorized or undirected proxies in favor of each resolution.
I might ask the appropriate person to respond to your question. We will present the proxy results for each resolution. At the conclusion of this process, I'll ask the company secretary to provide instructions for the conduct of the poll for all four resolutions presented in the notice of meeting. We will discuss each resolution in turn. Please keep questions about specific resolutions until the time we consider the resolution. At the conclusion of the resolutions being discussed and the tabling of the proxy votes, all resolutions will be put to a poll. Okay, so the procedure, so moving on to the matters here, the financial report. Although not formally required as a resolution, it's customary to present at the AGM the company's financial report.
The 2025 annual report contains the finance, the financial report, director's report, and independent auditor's report. A copy of the annual reports available on the company's website, and a hard copy was sent to those shareholders who requested it. Financial statements have been approved by the directors and auditors. I'll take the report as received and as read. Are there any questions regarding the company's financial report? Questions may also be asked of the auditors in relation to the conduct of the audit, content of the report, accounting policies adopted by the company, and the independence of the auditor in carrying out the report. So now let's move on to the resolutions. Resolution one, the remuneration report. Resolution and a summary of the proxies received is displayed on the screen. I propose the motion from specific proxies that I hold as chair of the meeting.
Is there any discussion in respect? Is there any discussion in respect of the motion? Are there any questions regarding the resolution in the room? Are there any questions that have been submitted online?
Yeah, there's one question you've received online from Mr. Stephen Mayne regarding the proxy positions and whether there are any proxy votes received prior to the meeting and also whether any proxy advisors have covered it and do they recommend any material votes.
So maybe I can answer that particular question. As I understand. Last week, Glass Lewis is the proxy advisor that has covered it. That was still their recommendation was in favor of the resolution.
I think that's. And there were no protest votes. And as far as I know, there were no protest votes. I was going to say, if I can ask the moderator, are there any questions? Are there any further questions on the timelines?
Chair, there are currently no questions on the phone.
Okay. There have been no further discussions. I will put the resolution to a poll, which will be taken once all the resolutions have been tabled at the meeting. It was the resolution two, the re-election of Cathy Moises as a director. The resolution and summary of proxies received is displayed on the screen. I propose the motion from the specific proxies that I hold as Chair of the meeting. Are there any discussions in respect to this motion? Are there any questions regarding the resolution in the room? Any questions online?
No, there's none.
I just asked the moderator, are there any questions via our phone line?
Chair, there are currently no questions on the phone.
Okay. All right. So there being no further discussion, I will put the resolution to a poll, which will be taken once all the resolutions have been tabled at the meeting. Brings us to resolution three, the cancellation of the 2024 performance rights. The resolution summary of proxies received is displayed on the screen. I propose the motion from the specific proxies that I hold as chair of the meeting. Is there any discussion in respect of the motion? Are there any questions regarding the resolution in the room? Max, are there any questions submitted online?
No, there's none.
I'll just turn to the moderator again for any phone questions.
Chair, there are currently no questions on the phone.
Thank you. So there being no further discussion, I put the resolution to a poll, which will be taken once all resolutions have been tabled at the meeting.
Moving now to resolution four, the issue of performance rights for Mr. Darryl Cuzzubbo. The resolution and summary of proxies received is displayed on the screen. I propose the motion from specific proxies that I hold as the chair of the meeting. Again, is there any discussion in respect to the motion? Are there any questions regarding the resolution in the room? Are there any questions muted online?
Yes, there's a couple. First one is from Mr. Stephen Mayne. What is Darryl's history in terms of past LTI grant and vesting?
I think they seem to answer that fairly straightforward. There are no LTI grants vested for Darryl. He's not been the beneficiary of any STI component. That's all out for the two and a bit years. He's been enrolled. He's not issued for salary only, I believe.
That answers the question.
T hat was it. Any other questions?
Not relating to the resolution then .
Okay. So returning to the moderator for any phone questions.
Chair, there are currently no questions on the phone.
Okay. Thank you. So there being no further discussion, I put the resolution to a poll, which now will be taken. So the procedure for the completion of the polls, I direct that the poll be taken in respect of all resolutions. The person entitled to vote on this poll will be shareholders representative and certain shareholders and proxy holders who hold yellow voting cards. If you're here in more than one of those capacities, you will be issued with as many voting cards as you have separate capacities. If there are any aspects regarding the voting on which you are uncertain, please do not hesitate to ask the share registry staff. We will be circulating the ballot boxes.
Shareholders and proxy holders are now asked to complete the ballot paper. A representative from the share registry will then collect the papers, which will be verified against the register of members.
Would you collect those voting papers?
We have emphasized that we can now collect the appointed voting cards. So just before we close this hearing formality, we have time to take an online question here at the back. And it's raised with you related to Cathy's warning.
Yeah, sorry. We received a little bit late when we were considering the resolution, but it's from Stephen Mayne. He's asking what is Ms. Moises' attitude to retail shareholders? And have you ever been a director of a company which did a placement with no follow-on SPP or retail shareholders?
My attitude to retail shareholders is exactly the same as my attitude to institutional shareholders.
I very much appreciate each and every one of your interest in investing in the company. And we, as directors, that's for each and every one of you. We're very pleased to see you all in the room. With respect to having raisings without attached SPPs, I couldn't cite them individually, but I undoubtedly would have had at least one. My career, I've been a... I started doing board positions just six years ago, and thankfully Arafura was my first board position. I currently hold board directorships in the resources space. And my background is a geologist by training. I've also got some financial training as well. And within the financial industry, for most of my career, covering the resource sector with some of the freelance brokers.
Thanks, Cathy.
Good. Thank you, Cathy. So moving on in proxies, the voting process is now completed. Therefore, I can say the poll closed. The results of the poll will be announced to the ASX following the meeting. So, ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of the formal business of the meeting. And I thank you for your attendance today. And thank you for your support as a shareholder. I now declare this meeting closed. 27.
We now move on to the Managing Director's presentation. And Darryl will now provide an update to the shareholders on the company's activities. There'll be an opportunity to ask questions after this.
Thank you, Mark. Good morning, everyone. Firstly, thank you for attending, both in person and online. But let me also just thank you for your support. Because of your support, we are about to build what will be only the third NdPr oxide project in the world that can bypass China's supply chains.
Again, thank you for your support. This has been a pivotal week for us, and it's occurred in the midst of an exciting period for the rare earth sector. It has become abundantly clear to the whole world why you need a secure rare earth sector and supply, which is the very reason why you invested in the Arafura stock. It's been a pivotal week because we successfully completed our capital raise. I will talk through our fully funded solution in a minute, but the toughest part of that was getting the required equity from the capital market, and it pleases me to say that we got through that this week and can talk about a fully funded solution. Finally, next slide. Sorry, on the screen here. Sorry. I think we've gone to the next slide. So our strategy has always been mine-to-oxide, and it is a differentiator for us.
If you look at all the rare earth projects, it's actually only two that are going all to oxide, but if you want to bypass and offer an alternative to China, you've got to go to an oxide, so then you ask the question, well, why are we only one or two, and it is because it's hard, and it's hard for a number of reasons, but the primary reason is it's hard to get the capital for it, so we stuck with the right strategy and through sheer determination and your support, we now have a fully funded solution, and we're positioned very, very well, in fact, the only one that can supply a truly independent source of rare earths. Recent events have really highlighted why our strategy is the right one at the right time.
You're all aware back in April, China stopped exporting magnets, and you saw in-line production lines, electric vehicle production lines shut down in Japan, the U.S., and through Europe. So what that meant is these manufacturers were not able to produce a $47,000 vehicle because they did not have access to $60 worth of NdPr. So the whole world saw what was at stake. The U.S., in response to that, acted decisively. They invested in Mountain Pass, a rare earths supply in California, where they can build out their downstream. The U.S. also put forward a floor price for Mountain Pass of $110 a kilo for 10 years. Why is that important? The primary mechanism by which China is disincentivized investing in rare earths outside of China has been through controlling price.
The U.S. is circumventing that, one through the floor price, but also their support of an independent NdPr index through Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, which only a couple of months ago was established. That's important for us as a sector to put volumes on that index and make it real. Why is that important? There are two biggest levers that will deliver shareholder value to you. It's one, us getting into construction and bringing production forward. The second one is pricing. If the pricing for rare earths reflects market fundamentals, it is going to be priced at a very different point to what we've seen historically. Think about the fundamentals. Demand is doubling over the next 10 years. And in fact, for three decades, there is strong growth in demand. What other commodity has that? And then you look at the supply response to meet that demand. It's limited.
In fact, it's hard to see too many projects getting into production over the next five to 10 years, which is why we're so keen to start building phase one and then to get on with phase two. But the third point is, what's the substitution risk? The most plausible substitution risk is for electric vehicles to go to the induction motors. The problem with that is you need batteries that are 20% bigger. So then you think, well, commercially, what does that mean? NdPr pricing needs to be north of $1,000 a kilo before it starts to make commercial sense to go with a different form of motors. So think about this. Demand is growing rapidly for the next three decades. The supply response is limited, and the substitution risk is way off.
So we are very, very well positioned because we took the hard strategy, but it was the right strategy. The other thing that we're finding is, up until this year, you've got the global manufacturing powerhouses of Japan, Korea, U.S., and Europe, and they're all moving to secure independent supply. But the pace has picked up. And the U.S. is setting the pace. They are actively trying to put their foot on the rare earth supply that's coming into the market, and there isn't enough going around. And consequently, we're now seeing Korea and Europe are picking up the pace. In fact, our sales and marketing person is in Europe at the moment. Let me move on to the next slide. The last 12 months has been a busy 12 months. And the number one achievement was securing the equity that we got just this week.
You would remember just two weeks ago, we announced one of only two projects as part of the U.S.-Australia Critical Minerals Project. Now, that doesn't just happen, right? This is a profoundly important framework, and we're one of two. So that shows just how significant our project is, but also shows the hard work that's gone into getting to provide the support that we have. In January, we were able to announce that we had AUD 200 million from the National Reconstruction Fund. And again, we were only the second project that was announced in terms of support and by far the most significant. Again, that doesn't happen by chance. That doesn't happen unless you've got a significant project and you put the effort to get this thing through quickly. Same with the EFA US, AUD 100 million announcement that was announced two weeks ago.
This is the first significant equity ever made by EFA. Again, that doesn't happen unless you've got a significant project and you put the effort in to get it. The German Raw Materials Fund, EUR 100 million. There was a second project, again, announced with this year's fund, and the first one was a German project. On that, it pleases us to say that we're closing and completing due diligence for that. And the EUR 100 million is linked to finding additional 500 tons into Germany, which is being progressed very well at this point. Two weeks ago, we announced U.S. EXIM letter of interest, $300 million from the US. As you know, we've already got $1 billion of debt secured, which is the maximum we can apply to phase one.
This $300 million is on top of that and will most likely go into a phase two or additional recovery and processing of heavy rare earths. And then again, I mentioned before the successful, and Mark mentioned it, successful capital raise. We basically raised 50% of our market cap, which is something very few companies can do, but it is an essential piece of getting a fully funded solution so we can quickly move into construction. Now, most of our effort this year has been in getting to a fully funded solution, but we have got to be ready. We have got to be ready for FID. And to be ready for FID, you have got to have the right people, the right plans, and the right processes and systems. We filled out our executive team that we are ready.
We've got the FID, but also it is not coincidental that we also announced our EPCM contractor at the same time, announcing that we've got a fully funded solution. They helped bring the capability, the process, and the systems so that we are ready to start build ing this thing. I'm going to move to the next slide. The U.S.-Australia Critical Minerals Framework was an important announcement as it is historic. I've been in the resource sector for 35 years. I've never seen a framework agreement like this before that showed the level of collaboration, alignment that was signed off at the tops of the heads of two governments. So just think about that. Think about the significance of it. We're one of two projects that were mentioned in this framework. It is just a framework, so it doesn't go into negotiations between companies and the U.S. government.
The way I would describe the net effect of this framework is twofold. It basically provides preferential access for the U.S., for Australian critical minerals projects, and provides Australia's critical minerals projects preferred access to U.S. funding, both debt and equity. It also facilitates speeding up the funding process and the offtake process so projects can move more quickly into construction. I should also add, as we've said previously, we have made our offtake volumes available to the Europeans, to the Koreans, and the U.S., and we've created competitive tension, and we will go with what gives the best equity and the best pricing terms. Now, let me move on to the next slide, so just our funding pathway. Let me talk to this by starting on the right-hand side, so the capital in US dollars that we need to raise is $1.586 billion for a fully funded solution.
That includes our updated capital estimate, and our capital estimate has been relatively stable because of the advanced level of engineering, but it does include CPI, and this amount includes our cost overrun facility that has to be paid in full by the time we do debt drawdown. It's about 12 months after FID, so we're going for the full amount. If I draw your attention to the left-hand side, just over a year ago, we secured AUD 775 million in senior debt. We did a small capital raise in August of AUD 72 million. If we had not have done that, we would not have been able to pull off the final part of the funding solution. This week, I'll come back to that. The next, the 346, reflects what was achieved this week.
The second 346 reflects our cornerstone investment, which is largely locked in except for the German Raw Materials Fund, and as I said to you, that is coming to a close subject to finding additional 500 tons into Germany, and then the 47 is equity that we're expecting to get from one of a number of parties that we've gone out to for offtake, so the whole funding solution is 90% locked in, and the remaining 10%, the German Raw Materials Fund and the equity for offtake. Now, I mentioned earlier we took the ore to oxide strategy. The problem or the challenge with that strategy is the funding. So we're always having to draw on the capital market to get the funding to deliver on that strategy that makes us unique.
We are very mindful that we're here for existing shareholders, and we need to raise this capital in a way that minimizes dilution. That is why we maxed out on our debt, AUD 775 million. That is why we did the small raise of AUD 72 million at a lower share price so that we could pull off a larger capital raise at a higher share price. That is why we did it this week when, one, it was clearly evident we were going to complete the government equity and off the back of positive market news, off the back of the Australia-U.S. Critical Minerals Framework. So we always had to get capital, but we have done so in a way that minimizes dilution. So let me move to the next slide. So when will FID happen?
FID will occur in Q1, and there are three major points that we need to complete. First thing is having an extraordinary general meeting on the 5th of December to vote on this money tranche. The second one is securing the remaining quantum of equity, the two pieces that I've already mentioned. And thirdly, as I mentioned, we've got $1 billion of debt. We need to renew parts of that, refresh it, and lock that in. They're the three main components. But I do want to emphasize that we also have to be ready. So we have to be ready. There's only one opportunity you get to have a project in control, and that is to be in control of the very start. Right people, good planning, etc. And that's why we also this week announced the appointment of Hatch, EPCM, our partner.
So just a little bit on that. So just moving to the next slide. So we've had, I was actually just thinking last night, the first project I ever did was actually 20 years ago. It was with Hatch and EPCM. And in the last 20 years, whenever there was a complex process problem, we gave it to Hatch. They are number one in the world for complex process plants, like the one that we will be building. We went through a very comprehensive process with a number of tier one EPCMs. Both our Chair, Mark, and Roger have a project background as Mark involved in parts of that throughout, and Hatch came out on top of that. We're also changing our delivery model. So we have what's called an integrated project management team to the more traditional, I'm going to say, robust EPCM model. Accountability is clear.
There's less interfaces, and it's a smaller group, I'm going to say, with less inefficiencies. We're very pleased that Hatch put forward a very strong execution team, really tapping into the best of their people. Very pleased to say that we've got sponsorship from their CEO down, and they've also put in equity. So what does that mean? That means their interests align to the company's interests, and it's aligned to your interests. So let me just conclude on where we're at. We are in a very good position as we approach mid next quarter. We now have a clear pathway for a fully funded solution. We've identified our preferred EPCM that's helping us mobilise and get ready. As you know, we've secured $1 billion of debt, nine lenders, five countries. Our engineering is very advanced, which is why our CapEx scope has not been moving.
We've already spent over AUD 40 million on the site, and you can see that on the pictures on the right-hand side. That's important. That saved us six to nine months in schedule, and it's de-risked the project execution schedule. So as soon as we have our FID, we can start releasing main construction contracts. The market conditions are more competitive than they were a couple of years ago. So we will test pricing in these more competitive markets, and we're pushing our CapEx profile as a higher priority than our schedule. So if we need more time to test the market and get more commercially competitive pricing, we will do that. And as you know, lastly, we've got all the environmental approvals. So just in summary, our fully funded solution this week has been a very pivotal week for your organizations.
We are ready to go, and we would not be in this position if it wasn't for your support. Thank you.
I'll now hand the meeting back to Mark.
Yeah, thanks, Daf. We'll open the floor to questions, and shareholders attending virtually can ask questions via the online facility, either in writing or through the webpage for CMD. Lewis or Matt, is there any questions on the floor for Arafura?
I'd like to say congratulations on executing your vision as a shareholder. You've had a good journey. I'm sure it's reflecting in people's thoughts as well. Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, we are very. Absolutely. We recognize that this has been a long journey and that it's a tough journey for shareholders. As I said, there's so much sentiment and volatility in this market. Picking the right time, it becomes an impossibility, but getting the best shot that you can. Now we're so close to a point of realization around financing. We feel we're at a new level of confidence.
Peter is our CFO; he's been with us for 15 years. 15 years, right? He's got a CFO who's been with us for 15 years. Anyway, so Peter out of all of us is the one that's held to this, and he's been told countless times that we would never be able to say what we're saying today. And thank God this guy and the broader team didn't give up on that vision.
It's happening. Maybe it isn't happening. I'm very confident. Well done. Congratulations.
Thank you.
All behind you.
Big journey going forward. You appreciate that support, Lewis. We received a question prior to the meeting via email from Christopher McIntyre. He's hearing the large number of shares traded in the day prior to announcing the public announcement and wondering what we know about that and give it a look at what.
Yeah, okay, sorry. I think what they're saying is about trading into the capital raise and it wasn't right. So let me answer that through two things. So firstly, our trading reflected what was happening in the market. Just remember what happened. So we had the U.S.-Australia framework agreement between Trump and our Prime Minister announced, and rare earths prices rose on that. And then they came off as this meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping looked likely, which is occurring today, but it looked like they were going to make a deal. So our shares traded with the broader market.
With the capital raise, like with all capital raises, these things happen in a very busy Sunday night. That's it.
There was no time to clear it with the 28,000-odd shareholders. Why are you prioritizing the big end of town, institutional investors over us retail investors when it comes to raising capital? In September, you announced raising AUD 80 million for the AUD 5 million SPP that was lifted to AUD 9 million to avoid any scalebacks. And this week, the AUD 475 million placement, you're capping the SPP at AUD 50 million with a hard limit of AUD 70 million. However, if all shareholders applied for the maximum AUD 30,000 worth, that would result in AUD 864 million.
So I'm actually glad that question was asked. You know why? Because it gives us an opportunity to show that the opposite is the truth. So just remember what I said before, what we're doing to minimize dilution.
Maxed out on debt, raised more amount of capital to make sure that we could do the capital. Final capital raise at the higher amount and the timing of when we did it. That was all designed around looking after existing shareholders who we worked for. On the share purchase for the SPP, originally it's at AUD 50 million and could upsize to AUD 70 million to give everyone the opportunity. We went with an SPP rather than a rights issue for a number of reasons, but one of them is the vast majority of shareholders will have access to more through that mechanism. Now, how do I know all of this? How do I know all of this? Because we thought it through. We thought through how do we look after existing shareholders.
One last question from Stephen Mayne here is wanting to know when we disclose the poll results, will we include the headcount data showing how many shareholders voted for and against each item like Qantas, ASX, Stockland, Myer Tacor to highlight any retail voter sentiment and the level of retail participation? To be honest, I don't know if we can. I think we'll probably look at what is market practice with our peers and discuss with the share registry where we can do it. Sure.
We can also come back to Stephen Mayne's question.
Yeah, we can.
Okay. Questions online? The moderator?
Yes. So I'll give you the moderator. Are there any questions on the phone?
Chair, there are currently no questions on the phone.
Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, everyone.
John, you're back. Sorry, John. I'm getting some of those gentlemen at the back.
Yeah, I've already spoken to your office, with Annie. I wasn't notified of the SPP. I've got the invitation to the AGM, but I didn't get information about this particular share offering for significant shareholders.
This particular SPP that's just been announced this week, it hasn't been posted out or emailed yet to shareholders. And we think that will happen probably in the next week or so. But I'll give you my details in case you don't receive anything.
No, I think I wasn't given the opportunity to take part in the share offering.
The last SPP. Oh, the last SPP. The last one. When I found out about it, looking on the company site, I saw there was an announcement. I read the announcement. Might be an issue about how we're communicating with you as a shareholder. So the registry apparently, they did send me the invitation from the AGM, but I didn't get any notification of the special offer to existing shareholders. We can talk with you after the meeting.
I know that. That's very nice.
Yeah, we can talk to you after the meeting and look at how your communication preferences are set up with our share registry.
Oh, that's already been taken care of. At this point, it shouldn't happen.
Okay. I think that's it. Unless there's any further questions. Thank you very much, Chair for the duration of the meeting today. And once again, we appreciate the support of our shareholders.
Thank you very much.