I think we can start. Good morning, shareholders, colleagues, and guests. My name is Michael Nossal, and on behalf of the Board of Directors, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the Annual General Meeting of IGO Limited being held here in Perth today. Today's meeting is being live webcasted by the ComputerShare platform, and I'd also like to welcome all of you who have joined online. I'm advised by the Company Secretary that a quorum of members is present. I therefore declare the meeting open. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the 2025 financial year held its share of challenges. We reported a net loss of AUD 955 million, reflecting both the subdued markets for our commodities, nickel and lithium, and some difficult but necessary decisions designed to reset IGO for the future.
These included recognizing impairments to our stake in the Kwinana Refinery and across parts of our exploration portfolio, restructuring our corporate and exploration functions, and the process of board renewal that we announced in June. Despite these challenges, our Greenbushes lithium operation demonstrated why it is considered world-class, maintaining a 66% EBITDA margin and generating AUD 1.5 billion in operating cash flow, even as we are close to the bottom of the lithium cycle. As Ivan will go into these in a bit more detail, Greenbushes' performance illustrates its position as the world's premier hard-rock lithium asset, an asset which underpins the refocus strategy which we announced in September 2024. This strategy, taking us to 2035, reaffirms our belief in a clean energy future and outlines a clear pathway for value delivery. It focuses on quality assets supplying battery materials essential to the energy transition: lithium, copper, and nickel.
The pillars of the strategy are sustainable growth, operational excellence, and long-term value creation. Turning to safety, this remained a core focus for the board over the past year, and I'm pleased to say we've seen strong safety leadership from our management team, including the rollout of Taking Control of My Safety program. While our 12-month TRIFR reported during the financial year remains above the industry average, we're encouraged by the improvement in safety performance in the second half of the year, which has been extended now into the first months of FY 2026. We reported in our recent September quarterly activities a TRIFR down to 8 and an achievement of over 90 days injury-free, showing that the site can achieve this. I'm confident that these improvements can be built upon in 2026, and I trust our safety performance will continue to trend in the right direction.
At Nova, the team is dealing with the challenges of an end-of-life ore body. Thanks to their deep technical knowledge and expertise, we're continuing to deliver value from this asset. Nova will operate until the end of calendar 2026, after which time it'll undergo closure and rehabilitation. As you'd expect from IGO, this process will be managed safely to a standard that meets all of our regulatory requirements and with full respect and support to our people and the community in which we operate. I'm proud to share that later this year, we'll launch our second Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan, or RAP, for the period 2025 to 2027. This builds on the achievements of our inaugural RAP and reflects our commitment to strong relationships with traditional owners and meaningful contributions to the communities in which we operate. Environmental stewardship also remains a cornerstone of our operating model.
This year, our work at Forrestania set a new benchmark, redefining environmental excellence in care and maintenance. It was really good to see this work recognized as a finalist for the WA Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration's Golden Gecko Awards for innovation in delivering environmental outcomes in the resources sector. As we talked about strategy, environmental, social, and governance factors are a key part of that strategy. In this regard, the board fully supports the company's refined ESG framework, and Ivan will outline this a little bit in a little more detail when he speaks. We believe that our refined ESG pillars reflect the evolution of IGO, the expectations of our stakeholders, and the ongoing commitment to our purpose.
Our 2025 sustainability report outlines these and many other achievements, and I really would encourage all shareholders to review the report and share in our journey and successes in this domain. FY 2025 marked the first full year for our CEO and Managing Director, Ivan Vella. Ivan's made a significant impact already, leading the changes at IGO and especially the development and early execution of our new strategy. Ivan's also strengthened and renewed his leadership team. The board has full confidence in the team now having the skills and experience to deliver on the company's ambitions. People are at the heart of IGO and have always been. I want to acknowledge the contributions of all our employees during what has been a difficult period of transition this year. In particular, I extend our thanks to our executives, Sam Retallack, who left after 15 years with the company, and Kathleen Bozanic.
Kathleen's in the audience somewhere. Our CFO, who will be leaving in early 2026 to return to her non-executive career. Their dedication and expertise have been instrumental to IGO's journey, and we wish them well in their future endeavors. I'd now like to provide some comments on your board's evolution. As announced in June, we determined to initiate a measured renewal and succession process for the board. This decision reflects the company's ongoing evolution and to assure alignment of the board's size, director skills, and director skill sets with the current and future needs of the business, including to provide effective oversight and governance on the delivery of our new strategy. As part of this process, we undertook to reduce the size of the board, recruit new independent non-executive directors, and transition the role of the chair.
Since the announcement, three directors have retired from the board: Justin Osborne in August, Keith Spence, and Xiao ping Yang in recent days. Keith retired from the IGO board yesterday after 10 years of service, including as Chair of the Sustainability Committee, where he played a key role in enhancing safety, operational, and environmental performance. Xiaoping retired, having provided valuable strategic insights, particularly in downstream processing and international relations. We are actually delighted that Keith has joined us here today. Keith, we extend our deep gratitude to you for your significant contributions to IGO over the last 10 years. We would also like to acknowledge and thank Justin and Xiaoping for their respective important contributions. We have also appointed a Chair-elect announced earlier this month, Dr. Vanessa Guthrie, AO, who I am pleased to welcome to the meeting here today as well.
Vanessa will begin as a non-executive director effective the 1st of December and succeed me as chair on the 1st of January 2026. With over four decades of experience in the resources sector and a distinguished record in sustainability and governance, Vanessa is highly credentialed and brings exceptional leadership and insight to IGO. She's an outstanding appointment to lead the board, and we're very confident that she will help guide the company through our next exciting chapter of growth and transformation. We do expect to make further announcements as the board renewal process continues over coming months. This is a pivotal moment for IGO, and I'm confident that the streamlined and refreshed board will be well equipped to guide our future strategy and growth, aligned with our purpose to make a difference.
From my personal perspective, it's been an honor to serve as your director and chair over the last five years. I now look forward to working with Vanessa to support a seamless chair transition and thereafter to follow the company's progress and successes as a very interested shareholder. In closing, this year has been one of significant change and difficult decisions. The progress we've made in delivering our strategy provides a strong foundation for future value creation. I thank my fellow board members for their support and commitment. I extend our appreciation to the executive leadership team and all the IGO employees for their dedication and achievements. To our wider group of stakeholders, including you, our shareholders, our host communities, and traditional owners and partners, thank you for your continued support, especially through the challenges of the past year.
Looking ahead, though, to FY 2026, there are encouraging signs in the lithium market. Demand has increased from the energy storage sector. Inventory destocking is progressing, and current lithium prices provide limited incentive for new supply. Together, these conditions are kind of ideal for market rebalancing. There'll no doubt be more challenges, but we also see great opportunity. With Greenbushes' exceptional margins, our strengthened leadership team, and clear strategy, IGO is well positioned to emerge strongly from this cycle and deliver long-term value safely and sustainably. Thank you. I'll now ask Ivan to address the meeting.
Thanks, Mike. Good morning, everyone. Welcome. It's great to be here with you. Great chance to reflect on the last year or so since we met. A lot of change, a lot of hard decisions. We'll try and recap some of that. Mike's touched on some of it already.
For me, IGO in its 25th year does stand at a pivotal point. I think that we're very well positioned for shaping our role in the battery mineral sector looking forward, showing some real leadership there. I will talk more to that as we get into it. It is, of course, nice to see the lithium market turning. I'm sure many of you follow that. Only recently, a few people had told me, I mean, these are serious analysts, that, well, maybe it'll just be a flat price forever. It turns out there are a lot of surprises with lithium, but one of the things that does seem to hold is that it is a commodity like every other commodity and does have a cycle, and we're going to see that move. How and when, who knows?
I don't have that crystal ball, but it is certainly good to see some of that shift. Before I go on too far, I also want to acknowledge the Whadjuk people of the Noongar Nation and recognize that we're meeting here on their lands and waterways, Derbal Yaragan just across from us, and pay my respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. I want to spend a few minutes just doing a quick recap of some of the highlights, and then we'll dig in a bit further. Just to reset some of the things that stand out for me, first of all, is the significant progress we've made around safety. It's something, as you know, since I was appointed, has been significant focus and passion for me, and I'm really pleased with the progress we've made there. Lots more to do.
It never ends, but starting to see that shift through our operations is very satisfying. Secondly, Nova, they're really delivering. The team out there and some of them, I'm sure, are online. Thank you for your tremendous work. It's very difficult when you start taking a mine to the end of an ore body. It gets very complicated, very technically difficult, and they're doing an extremely good job. They hit their numbers last year. They're progressing well this year, and all credit to them for managing the technical challenges. Forrestania, we put into care and maintenance. We're at the final stages of the transaction with Medallion Metals. I think that's great to give that site another lease of life and equally transition with them so that they can make the most of their future business opportunities. Cosmos, we took the hard decision to stop dewatering recently, which is tough, right?
That was really the core of the Western Areas acquisition and growth agenda that has not played out, and we've checked it and tested it from all angles, looked at it. The economics do not stack up. As you know, the nickel market is under a lot of pressure, and we do not see that changing shortly. The good news is it is a very prospective bit of ground. That tenement package is outstanding, and we are working hard on that to find other sources of value. Greenbushes, and I am going to come and talk more. I mean, what an amazing tier-one asset. I have been in mining my whole career. I have not seen anything like it.
Rob Telford, the CEO of Talison, has been there just over a year now, and he is unlocking enormous productivity improvements, just the basics, the 101 of mining, but he's also looking at the optimization of that mine. For me, it's something that I've not seen before, the level of opportunity. There are certainly some analysts who've said to me, "It's the lowest-cost asset on the planet in lithium. How can it really get that much better?" I can assure you, I get delighted every time I look in further at the work they're doing. There's a lot of potential. Kwinana, we'll talk more. I mean, we stopped train two, and I think that's a significant milestone. That was an asset or an investment that would not have made sense. We discussed that last year at the AGM. There were some very good questions on it.
Train 1, we've done our homework, looked at the economics. We don't see a pathway. Now, that's really hard to hear in a world where we need more downstream processing in Australia. The economics don't stack up. Now, we're working through what that means with TNC. That's a conversation that's ongoing. We have reset our exploration program. It was another area of discussion last year at the AGM, and we've done a lot of work to reset that. We've also continued to reduce and shape our corporate costs, our support functions to fit the business. That will continue as our business evolves. It's very difficult work. It's hard on our people, but we're continuing to manage our costs in a very thoughtful manner. We've also made some very good progress on our growth and on execution of our strategy.
We're not here to go and do a full strategy debrief, but ultimately, I want to give you confidence that that's getting enormous attention. Most importantly, we've built out and are building out a fantastic leadership team. I'm going to mention the ELT, but beneath that, we continue to attract extremely good people through our business, continue to offer a very strong value proposition. Just to mention who's here, Kath Bozanic, who many of you know well from the calls, our CFO, who's been my right hand, incredibly supportive and done an amazing job. Fortunately, she's going off to do some other exciting things next year, but she's in the process as we finalize recruitment of a candidate to take over as CFO. Suzy Retallack at the other end of the spectrum has just joined recently, about eight, nine weeks in, I think, Suzy. Welcome.
She's the Head of People and Sustainability, took over from Sam Retallack, and that is a pure coincidence. Marie Bourgoin is our Chief Development Officer for Lithium and deeply, basically driving our operations, both Nova and Greenbushes in focus, Kwinana, and then the other assets as well. Cam Wilson, who's stepped in an acting capacity, and he's continued. He's done an outstanding job and working through some very big projects at the moment. Thank you, Cam, for your support. And Brett Salt, last but not least, who's our Chief Growth and Commercial Officer, who's driven the reset of exploration, but also doing a lot of work positioning and working through the improvements and the changes around our joint ventures, and lastly, on growth. A fantastic team around me, and thanks for all of your support and work in the last year.
More broadly, the IGO team as well. I am now coming up to nearly two years in my role. It has gone very quickly. While I have had to work through a lot of challenges and hard decisions, I am still very excited about and very confident about the prospects and the future of this business. I have a very firm belief in IGO's purpose and the quality of our core assets. We have an exceptional team, exceptional culture, a lot to build on. We have been through some tough times. That is going to build our resilience, our strength for the future. The world's focus on critical minerals supply continues to intensify. Mr. Trump has certainly put it on the radar. That is a positive. With that comes a lot of questions, a lot of challenges, and a lot of work for us to do and think through.
There are many different moving parts to that story. I think we stay true to our purpose in contributing not just the supply of critical minerals, but also how we go about it, the kind of ethical and responsible sustainable mining practices that people expect, that society demands ultimately. While we look for new opportunities where appropriate, our priority does remain clear on our high-quality assets. Obviously, the standout of that is Greenbushes and Nova. We will only pursue projects where we really think we can bring some value to that and be competitive in the global markets. We have set out a clear strategy for growth, and we are pursuing that. We are executing very diligently. Before I dig into some more of that in some depth, I did want to talk a little bit about the board.
Last year at the AGM, we talked about the change that was underway across the whole business. There were questions raised about what does that mean for the board, what comes next. I think through my tenure here with IGO, the board has been tremendously supportive. They have been very caring for this business and very focused, constantly focused, very diligent on shareholders, shareholder value, and our other stakeholders. As they've worked through that, we've reached that critical point, as you know, to go through a process of renewal, which is very difficult to do. Just as I'm passionate about this business, our directors are too, and I'm speaking for them, but they give huge contributions to this business. Working through that is difficult. Clearly, I'm delighted that Vanessa has chosen to join us. She's got an incredible background, wisdom, and experience.
I really look forward to working closely with her as we shape this business. Welcome. Thanks for joining us today. The board's reducing size. Mike has already made some comments on that, and I think we'll end up with a very focused board continuing to live that focus for shareholder value and for our purpose as IGO and partnering very well with the executive and broader leadership in the business to deliver. I also wanted to thank Mike for his support through my time in IGO. He's been a great source of support, guidance, and mentoring through that entire period. We talk pretty much weekly. He's always available, very accommodating, very supportive, and deeply invested in the business. He's been very helpful as I've worked through some of these difficult decisions. He's always demonstrated our values.
He lives them in every way, unwavering commitment to shareholder value and to the business and to our broader stakeholders. I wish him well in what he does next. Thank you, Mike. Safety excellence is a core value for our business, for me, and a personal priority as well. While our injury frequency rate has reduced and is continuing to, I think the standout is the way that's stepping down. I think the work ahead of us is still significant. Together with the team at Nova and more broadly, we've had a very strong leadership focus on safety, and we're starting to deliver significant results. I went back to the results over the past five years, and we haven't been anywhere near the sort of performance we are now. It's a real step change, and all credit to our people.
Thank you for their dedication to it. Our headline financial results were dominated by major impairments, as you know. Mike just mentioned that. They stand out. They're hard decisions, but they're the right decisions. We look very carefully at each of those, obviously, Kwinana being the core of it. As much as that asset came as part of a JV transaction that was incredibly value accretive for shareholders, it's delivered enormous, enormous upside and will continue to grow. It would be great if it had worked. It would be great if we had found a pathway. We don't see that pathway. We made the decision on train two, and we're working through Train 1 with Tianqi. That is complicated because they see the world differently, and we're doing that in a respectful way. The joint venture is very important to us. That relationship is key.
We need to continue to step through the challenges there in an appropriate manner. All that aside, we delivered positive cash flow of AUD 49 million last year in a very, very subdued nickel market where practically every other nickel business in Australia has shut down, cannot survive. We generated cash. We covered our corporate costs. We covered our exploration, our other growth activities. We have still been spending real money on Forrestania and Cosmos just standing still. The care and maintenance is quite a burden in some respects. I think that shows you the quality of that asset and the team that has been delivering it in Nova. The challenges, just speaking to that, of reducing grades, variability, and then layered stopes, the challenges we get into the processing on the edges of the ore body really have tested them.
They had a couple of tough quarters early in the year and then stepped up in the back end and really came home with a wet sail. This year has started well as well. They're tracking to plan, and I'm really impressed with the way they're managing those issues as they come through. We are thinking about closure in a very serious way. We've got that study work underway. We've got dedicated resources. There's still a bit to do, but I expect that we'll be one of the first mines in WA that goes straight to closure from operations. We won't be trying to hedge in care and maintenance. We will demonstrate to society, to community, to our stakeholders that we can be very responsible and professional in the way that we open a mine, operate a mine, and close the mine.
We need to work through that with the traditional owners, with the government, with various other community stakeholders, the local farmers in the region. I really think this will be a great standout case study for the kind of responsible mining practices that you should expect. Greenbushes, let's I guess talk a bit on that. The JV partners there are working very, very closely together with Rob and the team at Talison. We have continued to show this is a tier one mining asset. It is as good as it gets as an ore body in lithium for sure, but one of the best of any mine that I have seen. An EBITDA margin through the bottom of the cycle of 66% is unbelievable and operating cash flow of AUD 1.5 billion. As you know, CGP3 is just in its final stages getting ready for commissioning.
I think I call it like the Christmas gift you unwrap and get going. I also have remarked that in my career, I've been involved in the startup of several plants. Never has the timing been so perfect into a rising market. That's a joy. You don't get to plan that, but it's nice when it works out. As I said before, some people have questioned, how can it get that much better? This is an asset that still can give up a lot. We are far from full potential. Marie has worked very, very closely with the team at Talison and her technical team to support with the other shareholders unlocking the potential. It's not just cost. It's more tons unlocking that ore body. I wanted to just also mention one of the key standout areas of focus is working with the stakeholders in the region.
As you know, the Southwest is very sensitive, very important to all of us. It is a beautiful part of the world. We want to make sure that we are managing our impacts very professionally and engaging closely with the community accordingly. The life of mine optimization, we expect, will deliver a significant prize, and that work is ongoing. It is a big, complex piece of work. There are a lot of technical issues to step through. Not ready to share that yet. We will as that is finished. The team is doing it for quality, not for speed. It is not about hitting a deadline. It is about making significant decisions in how we optimize that ore body and bring all of that value to you as shareholders. Ultimately, we see that obviously as a critical and core asset in our portfolio. I think it gives us a standout strength.
Through the last part of the cycle, IGO was quite unique in its ability to pay dividends and, in fact, repay the full cost of the acquisition in dividends. When you look forward at the uplifting growth with CGP3 and the kind of cash that it can generate, it is an extraordinary part of our portfolio. At Kwinana, the operational results have been disappointing, probably not surprising. I know that is hard to hear. We have kept you very updated through our quarterlies despite significant efforts from the team there. I wanted to call them out, Raj and the broader team. They work so hard. They are giving it all. There is no stone left unturned. Yet, through the year, 35% of nameplate capacity. After three years, it is just not working. We have benchmarked plants in China or elsewhere in the world. We have looked at the technical studies.
We've gone through it. This is a challenged asset. It's not something that we think is worth chasing down the road and trying to solve. Equally, if it was nameplate today, we still don't believe that it would be economic. That's not, again, a function of that particular asset. That's a function of what it means to do downstream processing in Australia. When you look at the energy costs, when you look at the labor costs, when you look at the lack of broader clusters of capability around these assets, it is difficult. For those in the space of downstream, it's a very, very challenging world. Returns are low. When you have a challenged asset and you combine the two, we think that leads to a pretty difficult outcome.
The exploration business reset, as I said, has I think been a significant focus, and I'm really pleased with the achievements the team's made through this year. We've got a new head of exploration with deep exploration and commercial experience. He's really done a great job to reset the approach. We've been drilling mineralization for lithium across various tenements in Australia. Nothing to report yet, but that's the nature of exploration, but very focused. The generative team has been doing a lot of work looking at copper opportunities elsewhere. I think real shift, much smaller tenement package, much more focused, much smaller budget, same high-powered, very, very capable team. I stand behind them. I have absolute conviction in that part of our business. I think it's the right thing to be involved in, and I think that's where we can deliver tremendous value for you.
Our people, culture, and community are very important in IGO. Mike spoke to that. Our relationships with traditional owners remain critical. We see that every day in exploration when we're working with them to clear heritage, to understand impacts, to make sure that our drill programs are well managed. Our broader Reconciliation Action Plan that Mike mentioned, we've completed and now renewed the next phase. I'm really pleased. It's very practical, brings to life the kind of things that you'd expect from a company like IGO. I think these all sort of show our commitment and exemplify our values in terms of how we want to operate as a mining company and work with stakeholders right through the grounds that we work on. I won't go into it. Mike mentioned the Golden Egg Gecko Award. I think that for a site in care and maintenance is very unique.
The team has deep passion for the work they've done over the years, and they continue that through. I think got great credit for that work. Across the year, our corporate giving contributed just over AUD 700,000 to a range of different community organizations that we're close with. A lot of sweat equity as well, which is, for me, important. One of the standouts is the Ronald McDonald House Up All Night, which allows for regional families with sick children to come to Perth during hospital treatment. Great way to involve our people to be part of it, but to support a fantastic cause for regional families. I think moving to some closing remarks, I wanted to touch on where we've been, where we're going. As I said, we're 25 years this year, which is a big milestone for any company.
There's some real history and real capability to build on. Over that time, we've been through a number of evolutions, initially as a gold business into nickel and base metals and now into battery materials and the energy transition. As I look forward, I'm very optimistic about our future. We see very strong fundamentals in the copper market. I have talked about that in our strategy last year, and we continue to believe that we can make an impact there. We have deep operational expertise, but we also have some unique mineral processing expertise that we believe can be useful. We'll continue to focus on exploration in that sector as well. Lithium, absolutely, we see value, but also in copper. These are two commodities that stand out.
I'm not saying that's to the exclusion of all others, but they are standout value pools or commodities that we think can bring a lot for our business. The most important thing, I think, though, is as we've built out our team, refreshed, we've also gone through and really strengthened the governance and the capabilities across our business. Some of our finance team and legal team are sitting in the room. The kind of processes and rigor and checks and balances that you would expect coming out of the learnings from Western Areas are in place. I'm really very pleased, very happy with the work that's been done. I think we're well set up for the future. If we are to take decisions, we know that we're going to have the right controls in place to protect your interests and shareholder value overall.
Looking forward to IGO in 2035, I see a strong multi-asset, multi-jurisdiction business with a diversified battery materials portfolio. I look forward to sharing the journey with you. We'll talk more in the next year on some of the work that's underway, together building a stronger IGO for the future and contributing to a cleaner energy world. For 2026, we continue to focus on our clear priorities, delivering that life of mine optimization and full potential at Greenbushes, operating Nova in a safe and stable fashion through to its end of life and commencing closure, resolving that pathway for Kwinana with T&C, finding a path that strengthens and consolidates the JV, but also protects shareholder value for you, and ultimately executing on our growth strategy underpinned by our extraordinary stake in Greenbushes. It's a pivotal moment for IGO.
We have the assets, the expertise, the strategy to lead into the global energy transition and battery materials. Our approach will remain very disciplined, our communication transparent, and our purpose clear to deliver products and materials into this future. Thank you to the board, employees, stakeholders, and our shareholders for your support and conviction through the last year.
Thanks, Ivan, for that comprehensive review. I would now like to give you all a chance to ask questions of myself, Ivan, or the ELT here on the update that Ivan has just provided. What we are doing this year is I would like to keep those questions as the general questions on the update. Any questions specifically related to the resolutions, we defer until we go through each resolution. There is some feedback from last year that people would like the chance to ask questions as part of each discussion of each resolution.
For those in attendance, if you wish to ask a question, please raise your hand and wait for the microphone to be given to you. We would ask that you state your name for the record and whether you are a shareholder or, if a proxy holder, who you are representing. For online attendees, for those of you that would like to ask a question, please follow the instructions available on your screen. Please note that questions may be moderated or summarized in the interest of time. Are there any general questions in the room first?
Chair, thank you. John Campbell, representing Australian Shareholders Association. First of all, I'd like to ask you a question, please. Your statement earlier on about your standing down as Chair, does that mean you're actually leaving the board as well?
Yes. Yes. I'll be stepping down from the Chair role and stepping down from the Board at the end of the year. Thank you.
On Kwinana, the quarterly report showed quite an improvement in production. I think it was 47% of capacity. Does that indicate a long-term improvement, or was it just a bit of a flash in the pan? I think Ivan has answered the question that I was going to ask him about whether, if it got to full capacity, if it ever achieved that, whether it could be profitable. How much is the price that you're assuming that you get for the product from Kwinana? How much does that influence the equation? Is there an increase in the price of the processed product, the lithium carbonate? No, hydroxide, isn't it? Sorry. Lithium hydroxide. Is there an improvement in that price that would then make Kwinana at least break even or possibly even profitable?
I'm going to pass to Ivan in a minute, but I'll just make some general comments first. I wouldn't be one to stand here and forecast is that improvement sustainable or not. I think we've got enough experience now to see that it has been quite difficult as an asset, as Ivan went through in detail. As to the analysis that we've done, where we talk about we don't see a long-term pathway to that asset or for that asset to justify further investment of capital, I think that's based as much on the specific asset and the cost structure there, comparing it to the rest of the industry as well, and looking at the competitive positioning of that asset. Is there a price at which it works?
Of course, if we could guarantee a price for 20 years at a very high level, then any mineral asset will work. That is not our business. That is not how the—we are in a cyclical business where we have said a number of times we believe the future of lithium as a relatively immature market still will be quite volatile. Therefore, we use a range of price for any analysis that we do around the deployment of capital. We use a range of different price sets. The conclusion we have come to, I think we have been very clear about. Ivan, would you like to make any further comments on that?
Sure. Look, I think Mike has covered it well. I will not add a lot more. I think the key pieces to understand is that the chemical price for hydroxide in this case obviously includes the underlying spodumene that is processed. That ratio stays broadly the same, obviously, in terms of the consumption. Then there is a processing cost. If we take the spodumene cost out, which will move with the market, and it moves up and down in a pretty similar fashion with the chemical price, and we start comparing the cost of processing, that is the critical thing to focus on. In China, the benchmark is about $3,000 a ton. Some refineries are as low as $2,700. It ranges. There are a few a bit above, but that is about the benchmark.
There is considerable excess capacity in China today. Probably about half of the capacity is being utilized at present. You can imagine in a market where it's a toll process, it's a manufacturing process, and that's about the price benchmark. If you're more than two or three or more times than that cost for the processing, that erodes any potential margin. Even as the cycle moves, it becomes very challenging to maintain the competitiveness when your underlying costs there are so high. That, as I said, is a function of the underlying inputs, the energy costs, gas, electricity, labor, etc. China does this very well. They're extremely, extremely good at downstream processing, not just in lithium. In all commodities, they have massive strength. That's a challenge for us to consider. Ultimately, the last point I'd make or consideration here is about returns.
The last thing we want to do is continue to invest in what, even at the best lithium price, is still a low-return asset. When we think about the upstream assets, that's where the real prize is. We see that with Greenbushes. We really want to protect those returns and not dilute them by continuing to invest in a low-return asset. Mike's covered the rest. I think we've done this analysis, obviously, on a range of different prices and scenarios. We still have conviction that this is not something we should be pursuing.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, and Prior, I'm representing my super fund. I've got several questions, so I'll just kick off with one, which is perhaps a statement. I've been a shareholder since the early 2000s when Rod Marston and Kelly Ross and Chris Bonwick were sitting up the front there. Probably none of you even had heard of Independence Gold as it was then. I'm a very disappointed shareholder, and I've sold out a considerable, well, most of it, most of my shareholding. I've lost confidence in the board, and particularly, of course, those members who were on the board prior to 2022 when the Western Areas debacle took place. According to my back-of-the-envelope scratchings, you've cooked about AUD 1.4 billion, which is more than you paid for the asset. I'm also disappointed, and I had a discussion with Mr. Bradford about the TLEA that Independence Group actually have no control.
Not only that, we're now saddled with an ongoing liability for expenditure on a lithium hydroxide plant. Now, it's all very well to talk about board renewal, but the board members sail off into the sunset with their remuneration packages intact, whereas the shareholders to whom the board owe a duty are left with a reduced share price and no dividends for the moment. Just for the record, I won't be investing in any companies that the board members that I've referred to, not by name, but certainly those who were on the board prior to 2022. Excuse me. I won't be investing in those companies. There's probably a collective sigh of relief around in a few spots in the room.
Anyway, that's my statement. It's been a very disappointing experience because I think I can say that Rod Marston was the best chairman that the company's ever had. The change of direction has not been as promised and expected. That's my statement. Would you like me to go on?
If we could focus on questions, that'd be great, I think, for everyone in the room. Yeah.
All right. I have a question regarding Western Areas bugs, i.e., their microbes. There's something in the annual report which is completely meaningless on page 38. And if I didn't know there were microbes in the system, I wouldn't have the faintest idea what you were talking about. Ivan, you might like to get me on board next year because I can write really, really well and certainly better than what's that rubbish in the annual report. Western Areas had microbes, and they were looking at treating heap leach, treating ore that was not economic to go through their processing. They were doing that at Forrestania. It was sort of quite experimental. What's happened to the bugs?
Have any steps been taken to further develop that process, to test it, or to use it, or commercialize it? Because I've talked to a couple of directors this morning. There's a company in the U.S. who has got venture capital funding to actually progress the use of microbes and AI. So there's my question.
Thank you, Anne, for the comments. We had extensive discussions last year on some of the similar themes. The question is a fantastic question. I'll let Ivan speak to the specifics. What I would say on behalf of the board is we talk about the strategy that we published in September 2024, and we do an annual review. That happened to be yesterday. I came away extremely excited about the deep technical expertise in the company in relation to processing a whole different range of processing routes. That gives some real strength to the strategy around copper acquisition. I'll let Ivan answer the specifics.
Okay. Thanks, Mike. Thanks for the question, Anne. I won't get into too much detail here, just in the interest of time. I mean, you're an eagle eye, yes, at Forrestania. Western Areas had been working on this technology for some time. In fact, it predates Western Areas. They'd acquired it. It goes back a long way. The concept of using microbial activity to leach sulfide ores has been a concept or an area of focus for at least four or five decades. It's been researched in many universities. It's nothing new. The issue is not many people can get it to work. As you've pointed out, there are a lot of companies around the world playing in the space, trying to unpick it.
We certainly recognize that the challenges in the world of copper, as ore bodies get deeper and lower grade, that the conventional processing pathways are more challenged, and hence why this sort of technology is becoming a strong focus. I mean, at this point, all I'll say is that, look, we're very aware of that technology. We have a deep understanding of it. I think it is something that we'll be able to talk more to in the future as we get into it and come back to you with how that might play out in our business to drive further value for you. Of course they are. Yes. Yes and yes. Yes.
Thank you. Good. Thanks. Are there any further questions in the room? I understand we've got a couple of online questions. John.
Yeah. For a long time, I'm not sure how long I've been monitoring IGO, but I think for that length of time, it should be a decade or so, you've held investments in a number of small mining companies that have got interesting parcels of land that you've been joint venturing on. Do any of those represent an opportunity for the company? You continue, I noticed, to hold them. Do they represent an opportunity? Are you actively pursuing them?
We actively manage all the assets of the company. We see an opportunity in a variety of different areas. I think the answer's yes. Obviously, until things emerge, you can't really comment on it. The answer's yes. We do actively manage, and we do see opportunity in the company. If we could, Anne, keep it quite brief because I'm conscious of time.
I've got two questions. The first one is regarding the De Beers database, which nobody's mentioned for probably a decade. Is the company still using it, and has it yielded any interesting finds? I'll give you my second question. That's regarding the South32 royalty claim. There doesn't seem to be anything new in the annual report that I didn't already know. It appears that IGO's potential liability could be in the order of AUD 87 million. There's no provision in the accounts. Can you give us an update, please?
On the first question, yes, we still have access to the De Beers database, and it does inform our exploration strategy and approach. Again, on exploration, until something's found, that'll be when we can sort of talk about it and the origins on it. On the claim by South32, I think, as we've said in the annual report, we don't believe we were very clear in the annual report about our view on that claim. It's working its way through the process, and we'll keep the shareholders updated as there's anything reportable that arises as a result of that claim.
What happened to the process because the writ was issued on the 1st of February 2004?
It's working its way through the legal system. There's a number of phases to that. I probably won't give any more details. I'm looking at my Chief Legal Officer. Just to say that it continues. It's not withdrawn. South32 continues with the claim. We'll certainly update shareholders as soon as there's something reportable. If there are no further questions in the room, let me ask Rebecca to read out, I think we have two online questions. Is that right, of a general nature?
Yes. Thank you, Chair. We have received two questions online from Mr. Stephen Maine. The first question, it was a shame not to have the proxies disclosed earlier with the formal addresses, like many other companies now do, to facilitate a more informed AGM debate. Also, when disclosing the outcome of voting on all resolutions today, could you please advise the ASX how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to what happens with a scheme of arrangement? This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment on all resolutions and insight into the chronically low retail shareholder participation rate.
I think we will take both those questions on notice. We certainly, as we discuss each of the resolutions, you'll see on the screen the proxy votes on each. I think it's a consistent theme of some people. We just continue to seek to improve the process each year. I think we can take both of those as on consideration.
A further question. After the Queensland government introduced a progressive coal royalty regime, they pocketed more than $10 billion from the coal industry in the first full year. Meanwhile, in WA, the gold industry is enjoying boom times and no sign of changes to the current royalty rate. I'm abbreviating this for the purpose of timeliness. The question is, how does the WA lithium royalty regime work, and have we lobbied to be given a better deal, just like the gold industry?
I'll pass over to Ivan for some comments because I know he's passionate about this. I will say that Kwinana, as people know, has benefited from Western Australian government support. We do participate in discussions and debates with the government, mainly through the industry organizations. Ivan, is there anything you wanted to say in relation to that?
Yeah. Look, I'm not quite sure I understand the linkage to the coal royalty. I mean, that was a very different situation. The Western Australian government's defined a royalty scheme. We're effectively paying about 5% at this point. From a global point of view, they're, I think, very reasonable and thoughtful in their royalty design. They recognize the stress on the industry that we've gone through in the last 18 months. They've put together a support scheme to help address some of that distress. That's been very welcome. I think the engagement's excellent with the Western Australian government and the support there. I don't know that I would recommend or advocate for any real shift here. I mean, I think the government's close to this, and they realize how critical these industries are to Western Australia's economy.
Thank you. If that's the end of the general questions online, I'm happy now to move to the formal part of this annual general meeting. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. Rod Soames of ComputerShare, who is in attendance, has been appointed the returning officer for today's poll. For those attending in person, the reverse of your green card—mine's over there—is your voting paper. I now declare voting online. I now declare the voting open.
For those attending online, if you're eligible to vote, please select the vote icon at the top right of the online meeting platform. To cast your vote, simply select one of the options. You can cast your vote and change your vote on each resolution at any time until I declare the voting closed. Sorry. If you experience any difficulties during the meeting, please raise your hand. For online participants, refer to the ComputerShare online platform guide available on the ComputerShare website. We've received valid proxy appointments representing 579.1 million shares, being 76.5% of securities on issue for the resolutions to be considered today. The proxies received are held by ComputerShare and available for inspection. I advise that, as Chair of the meeting, I intend to vote all available proxies in favor of each resolution.
Details of the proxy numbers received prior to the meeting will be displayed on the screen as the resolutions are put to the meeting. Please note the four numbers include the open votes given to the Chair and Board that will be voted in favor of all resolutions. The notice of meeting was lodged with the ASX on the 17th of October 2025 and has been made available to all shareholders. The first item of ordinary business is the tabling of the financial reports. For those in the room, you can see them on the chairs, and the directors' and auditors' reports for the year ended 30th of June 2025. Copies are available, and the meeting today can be viewed on the company's website. A copy has been sent to all shareholders who requested one.
There's no voting on this item, but I now invite shareholders and their proxies to comment or ask questions on the reports. Are there any questions of the Board on the annual financial statements reports? In addition, are there any questions of the auditor on the auditor's report, the conduct of the audit, the independence of the auditor, or the company's accounting policies? We've got any questions in the room on the reports? Any questions online? Thank you very much. Sorry. We have a question in the room.
Yes, Chairman. Just a quick one. I see you have a hedging strategy for your nickel.
Just perhaps your name and your association.
Oh, sorry. Peter Richardson. I'm here as a proxy for my mother. You have a hedging strategy for your nickel just with Greenbushes. Do they hedge the lithium product at all?
No, is the answer. The short answer.
They just have it on market.
It is sold to the two shareholders, Tianqi and Albemarle. [Crosstalk] I think we have a fair bit of disclosure on the structure of that and the way that works. They both have 50/50 share of the product. The pricing is based on the benchmark pricing of the prior month. One more question in the room, general on the accounts.
Harry Anstey, it is actually concerning all the proxy voting that is involved. Normally, there is a discretionary column to allow the proxy to make the decision at the meeting. The form that is used by ComputerShare for this meeting, and I think for a lot of other meetings, does not give the proxy holder that opportunity. It has to be either for, against, or abstain. I'd suggest that the Board direct ComputerShare to give the proxy holder that discretion to make the decision at the meeting and not be forced to declare a hand prior to the meeting. Thank you.
Thank you for that. It's more of a comment than a question. We will certainly, again, take that on notice and look always to improve our processes and systems.
Can I just ask?
Sorry, just wait for the mic for the people online. If we can keep it relatively short.
Yeah, just a quick one. The write-down of the Fraser Range and Gawler of AUD 115 million, was that Western Areas assets?
The Fraser Range was not Western Areas assets. Sorry, there were assets in—no, the Fraser Range was not. That's surrounding Nova, and that's been in the company for some time.
To be honest, on Gawler, it was in the Western Areas portfolio. There's quite a range of holdings in exploration. So what amount would have been attributed to Gawler? I don't think we disclosed the specific amounts .
I'd like to keep my tally sheet for the Western Areas debacle up to date. That's why I'm asking. You don't know?
I don't think we disclosed the specific.
No, you haven't. I'm asking. Am I going to get an answer?
No, what I'm saying is we do not disclose. [Crosstalk] But I will note in your tally sheet that you did mention the bugs, which is something still active from the Western Areas acquisition. This is the tally sheet. Thank you. Thanks, Anne, for those comments. No further questions in the room or online. I will move to resolution one.
I'll read each resolution and take questions on each before moving to the next. One is the first item of business is the re-election of Ms. Trace Arlaud as director. Trace joined the board as a non-executive director in August 2022. Having been appointed a director at the 2022 annual general meeting, in accordance with the company's constitution and ASX listing rule 14.4, Trace offers herself for re-election as a director of the company. I'll now invite Trace to say a few words on her re-election. If we could have the thanks, Trace. Please go ahead.
Good morning, shareholders. My sincere apologies for not being able to attend in person, dealing with a family emergency at the moment. Thank you for the opportunity to let me speak today. Thank you for your continued support of IGO. I put myself forward for re-election to the board.
It's been an honor to have served on the IGO board over the last three years. During this time, the company has made some challenging decisions to build a solid foundation for the refresh of a strategy. I've supported the board's direction and guidance of management, and I believe I've made some positive and important contributions to deliberations. During my tenure, I've served on the project steering committee, governance and nominating, audit and risk, and sustainability committees, and strongly support the important work that these committees do. I'm a geologist and mining engineer by background, with over 30 years' experience in the mining industry across operations, studies, detailed design, and project execution. I've worked for major mining companies and international EPCM companies and consultants in building and also building a U.S. mining consulting business for a major EPCM from the ground up.
I'm passionate about safety, mining technology, staff development, and shareholder values. I have a technical and operating expertise both in open pit and underground operations. I've worked in a variety of progressive roles, including exploration and mine geology, geotechnical and mining engineering, and project management. I've worked locally in Western Australia, starting my career at places of Dundee and [Bronzewing], and then internationally, to name a few, the Eagle Mine, Resolution Copper, Freeport, DOZ, [Deep Ozone] Mine in Indonesia. I've held global roles in caving and mass mining and have been heavily involved in the introduction of new technology into the mining industry, which is now standard practice. I believe I bring some valuable experience to the board, particularly around my knowledge of complex mining operations, project recovery, and optimization. I am acutely aware of the safety risks inherent to our industry.
This is particularly relevant to IGO as Nova is coming to the end of its mine life and some challenging times, as well as our future of helping optimize Greenbushes and other future opportunities which are aligned with our strategy. I believe IGO has a strong future, and we have a clear strategy for growth and value to deliver to our shareholders. I look forward to contributing my skills and expertise to the company and to our shareholders. I believe I'm a strong advocate of upholding governance. I thank shareholders for their support in my re-election and the continued support of the company.
Thank you, Trace. I can certainly endorse those comments in terms of contribution to the board over the last three years. Are there any questions on resolution one either in the room or online? Thank you. As I said before, we can see the proxy votes on the screen. Moving to resolution two, which is the adoption of the remuneration report. This can be found at pages 61 to 83 of the 2025 annual report. This is a non-binding vote to enable shareholders to voice their opinions on matters of this report. I put the following resolution as an ordinary resolution: that the remuneration report for the year ended 30 June 2025, which is contained in the annual report for the year ended 30 June 2025, be adopted. Do I have any questions in the room on resolution two?
Mr. Chairman, my name's Quinn. I'm a small retail shareholder. Just in regards to the long-term remuneration, 50% of the rewards for relative total shareholder return. Can you help me understand what control management have over relative total shareholder return, considering it is a group of companies that are in a similar industry? From what I understand, there is no real control management have over achieving that relative total shareholder return. How did you come up with that, and what are the reasons why? Thank you.
Thanks, Quinn. The board obviously considers a whole range of factors in looking at the long-term incentives. On that one, we have moved over the years to have a much higher proportion on shareholder return. That is with a view to aligning as much as possible the experience of shareholders with management. There are two elements to that: the absolute shareholder return and the relative shareholder return, as you pointed out.
I might probably argue the opposite of the way that you set it out in the sense that we look as a board at relative shareholder return as to what the management can influence. Absolute shareholder return, as the share price over the last two or three years has shown, moves very much with the commodity cycle and with our peer group over the last few years in lithium. That absolute bit is much harder for management to have any definite impact on. Whereas the relative bit then measures our performance against, in our case, two sets of peers, one general and one specific around lithium. That relative bit is what we believe that the management can manage. In other words, how are we doing as a lithium business relative to our lithium peers, as one example.
If we are doing better, that is because of management input, or that management can influence that. We believe by having the two, it is the best way to get the balance right. If you are just focused only on absolute returns, in a bumpy year, everybody makes money regardless of how well the management has performed. That is sharing the same experience as shareholders. In a difficult year, management might have performed exceptionally well because on a relative basis, we have not suffered as badly as other people at the bottom point of the cycle. There is still an element that rewards management for that performance. We see it is quite a good balance. As to where we came up with it, we are not pioneers in this area. There are quite a number of companies that use a similar structure and various differences to it. Thank you. John?
John Campbell, ASA. The long-term incentive is based on a three-year appraisal period. The ASA's view is that that's too short from a shareholder perspective. We have a much longer perspective, more like 10 years. We appreciate the management may not be around for that length of time. I know that this is a very competitive industry in which these sort of factors are very important in securing the right executives. That's obviously very important to us too. We are actually supporting the remuneration report. I'd like you to bear in mind in future that the opposite preference is for a four-year appraisal period rather than a three, because it does represent the sort of longer-term perspective of where we as shareholders hope to be, and particularly in your situation of looking at new projects and the need for a replacement for Nova.
Thank you for those comments, John. I think we've had the debate or the discussion many times. I think we continue to review, and we continue to look at it. Where can we improve? Where is the competitive market moving? To your point, we do need to remain competitive. I will again point out that in terms of management commitment, it is a four-year cycle: three years of measurement, one year holding lock. It is a four-year cycle in IGO's structure. Any questions online?
We then put resolution two to the vote. The next item of business noted as resolution three relates to the issuance of service rights to Mr. Ivan Vella. This is explained in pages 12 to 15 of the notice and meeting, and obviously also the detail in the remuneration report. Do I have any questions in the room on resolution three? Do I have any questions online on resolution three? Good. Thank you. We will then move to resolution four. This relates to the issue of performance rights to Mr. Ivan Vella, again explained in pages 15 to 21 of the notice of meeting and detailed in the remuneration report. Do I have any questions on resolution four? Again, nothing online. Thank you. Resolution five, the next item of business relates to IGO employee incentive plan approval, as explained in 21 to 24 of the notice of meeting.
Are there any questions in the room on resolution five or online? Thank you. Resolution six, the next item of business relates to the renewal of companies' proportional takeover approval provisions, as explained in pages 24 to 26 of the notice of meeting. Do I have any questions on this resolution? Thank you. Finally, resolution seven relates to change of the company's auditor, as explained on page 26 of the notice of meeting. Do I have any questions on resolution seven? I would just like to take the chance to thank Glyn and BDO for the, I think, exceptionally good service over a long period of time for IGO. Obviously, the process is that we regularly or periodically change the auditor, but we really do thank you for exceptional work over that time.
So behind me, I can see a summary of the valid proxies received for each resolution. There being no further discussion on the resolution or any further online questions, I'll now ask everybody to complete their poll voting, as previously explained. For those in attendance, Rod and his team from ComputerShare will now walk around the room and collect the green voting cards. Should you require any assistance, please raise your hand. I'm going to shortly close the online voting system. Please ensure that you've cast your vote on all resolutions. I'll now allow a short pause to finalize those votes.
Mr. Chair, doesn't the corporation's law require you to put up the actual votes in number, not the percent? Can I ask the legal eagle who's here?
I don't believe so in relation to—I would say they're on notice, but certainly that will be covered off in the disclosure to the ASA after the meeting.
It should be at the meeting.
I'm not sure that's required.
I've never seen that done before.
It's only required when we make the decision.
I've been investing for 30 years. I've never seen it before.
Thanks, Anne. Again, we'll take that on notice as to—so the number will be disclosed as part of the ASX release. We'll certainly look at adding that to the proxies in future meetings. I'm getting the signal from Rod that he has finished the process of collecting the proxies. I can confirm all voting cards have been collected. I now formally declare the online poll closed as well and the whole poll closed.
Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the formal business of today's meeting. I officially declare the meeting closed. As I mentioned earlier, the results of the poll will be lodged on the ASX platform later this afternoon and on our company website. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank shareholders for their continued support of the company during the year. Thank you again for your attendance today. For those of you who have joined online, thank you. For those of you here in person, please join the board and management team for some refreshments outside. Goodbye, and thank you very much.