Good day. Welcome to the Anglo Pacific half year results webcast and conference call. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Julian Treger, CEO. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you very much, Simon. Thank you all this morning for attending our interim results presentation for the half year ended the 30th of June 2021. I am joined this morning by Kevin Flynn, our CFO, who will present a financial review, as well as by Marc Bishop Lafleche, who is going to cover part of the portfolio review later in the presentation. As usual, we will conclude with questions and answers at the end of the session. Before beginning the formal business of the meeting, I thought it appropriate to say a few words about the announcement this morning that I am stepping down from my role as CEO in due course. With an experienced management team in place and after eight years, it now feels like the right time to hand over to somebody else and for me to pursue other business interests in due course.
During the transition period, please be assured I will remain totally committed to delivering the best for our stakeholders, and will give the board and management all possible support during the succession process so we can find a suitable CEO to steer the company through its next phase of growth. There are also a number of undone targets which I plan to and hope to achieve over the next couple of months before I depart. I'm obviously happy to take any questions about this at the end of the session. Turning to the highlights of the interim results on page three, you'll see that, first of all, we are starting to report in dollars, although there are sterling comparisons available. For the first half of the year, we had quite a stable performance overall.
Total portfolio contribution was down only by 4%. That was a credible performance given that we had disposed of almost 80% of our stake in Labrador Iron Ore before the beginning of the year to finance the Voisey's Bay acquisition. We forwent a portion of that income through the first half of the year, whilst Voisey's Bay only began contributing in the second quarter. I'm happy to report that Voisey's Bay has been successfully integrated into the business as a new stream. The other landmark in this first half of the year was that coal, for the first time, represented less than half of our portfolio contribution, a significant milestone for the group, and also represented at the half year less than 20% of our net asset value. The transformation of the business is well advanced.
We had strong operational performance from Mantos Blancos, coupled with healthy copper prices. We also had a much higher proportion of our vanadium royalty business, Maracás Menchen, being sold to battery end users, achieving higher pricing versus the V2O5 benchmark. Importantly, we expect a much stronger performance in the second half of this year given recent coking and thermal coal price movements. That provides a good backdrop for the strategic review of thermal coal holdings, which is currently underway at Anglo Pacific, and we've had encouraging levels of interest for a possible disposal of our Narrabri thermal coal royalty. The quarterly dividend remains unchanged at 1.75p and is not impacted in any way by the changes in the presentational currency. Turning to slide four, just elaborating further on why we are positive about the second half of the year.
This visually shows how the commodities within our portfolio have moved during the first half of the year. As you can see, there's been tremendous growth year- to- date, particularly in met coal and thermal coal. Most of that growth has come in the last three months. You won't have seen the benefit of that in the first half of the year. We've also seen strong growth in vanadium and cobalt in the last three months. Copper has remained roughly stable year- to- date, up 20% although down recently. It's interesting to see that iron ore, which we have sold out of, in the short term at least, is down the most. In hindsight, that's beginning to look like a reasonable investment decision to switch out of iron at a high price and into cobalt.
Marc will talk further about why we continue to be very optimistic about the outlook for cobalt. With that introduction, I'll hand over to Kevin to cover the financial review. Kevin.
Thanks, Julian. Just before I do, if I could just take a moment, just on behalf of the team here, to acknowledge the announcement out today about Julian. The business is in fantastic shape, certainly from when he joined the business. We've got a fantastic team in place here. From a personal perspective, I've learned so much from Julian, but as he says, much to do before he goes, and we look forward to helping him achieve those ambitions. Turning to the highlights. We have transitioned our results with the Voisey's Bay acquisition to US dollars, which basically represents the fact that we are now primarily a USD denominated business.
While I'm probably going to confuse you by saying that the highlight slide is still in pence, that's for ease of comparison for the short term. Looking at our earnings, as we noted in the trading update, very much in line with that, a lower first half, but we expect a significant backfill in the second half of the year, which basically reflects the trend of 2017, 2018, and 2019. We think, and there's grounds to believe that there could be more of a pronounced catch-up in the second half this year. The dividend remains covered, and that cover should improve as we go through the second half of the year. Cash flow, similar to adjusted earnings, we expect strong cash flow to come in the second half.
If we turn to slide seven, and as usual, I'll use this as a means to give you an update on the portfolio as well as commenting on the results. Looking at Kestrel, the performance in the first half of 2021 compared to 2020, these numbers are in US dollars, was down 37%. Of that 37%, 20% was volume related and 17% was price. The volume really, if we look at H1 2020, this was still the time at which Adaro was really accelerating volume growth from their record levels in 2019. In the second half of 2020, they were mining through a localized fault in the body and mining rates slowed down, which is why the production levels in H1 2021 are a bit lower. We expect that mining rate to continue at these levels in the short term.
We note that Adaro have maintained their guidance overall. Broadly speaking, we would expect H1 to represent about 45% of volume for 2021. Volume upside to come, we think, from the second half of the year should Adaro maintain their guidance. Looking at Mantos Blancos. Again, in H1 2020, this was still in its infancy stage of contributing to the group's revenue. Since then, they've really increased and improved the grade at the mine, which has obviously resulted in about 15% increase in payable copper in the first half of 2021 compared to 2020. Clearly, this royalty is also benefiting from the copper price, which really moved in the second half of 2020 and continues to look pretty well supported at these levels given the supply-demand dynamic that's at play in the copper universe. Maracás Menchen is one where we had not quite a like-for-like comparison.
H1 2020 was when we were allocated a $1.3 million charge against the offtake arrangement. That has now worked through the system. We've seen some volume growth coming through from Maracas as they've completed their plant upgrades. Volume was up about 22% in the period. More significantly, whilst it probably hasn't fully come through at the half year this year, they are now starting to produce and sell a slightly different kind of vanadium product for use in the battery market. This, we think, is likely to be a catalyst for better pricing to come in future. Looking at Narrabri or Thermal Coal, there have been some well-documented issues that Whitehaven have been dealing with here in terms of the mining geology and process. Volumes were down significantly in the first half of the year as a result.
Clearly, both Kestrel and Narrabri didn't experience the same level of commodity price performance as other commodities did. As Julian said, we're expecting that trend to reverse significantly in the second half of the year. We would expect strong performance to come in the second half of the year. For Kestrel and Narrabri, we are expecting long-haul changeouts, most likely both in the third quarter of this year. The increase in our volumes should really be felt the most in the final quarter of 2021. Looking below the royalty revenue line, the Voisey's Bay stream contributed $3.8 million. This number is based on five deliveries in the period up to 30th of June. Realistically, we can probably look at another 15-18 deliveries in the second half of the year, of which I think we've processed six already to this point.
It's very much performing in line with our expectations in terms of 2021. The cobalt price, again, as Julian Treger touched on earlier, is up about 20%, I think, in the last three months. There's some good tailwinds behind cobalt, and I think Mark is going to speak to that a little later on. LIORC dividend is another one that isn't quite a like-for-like comparison. H1 2020 was held back by planned CapEx investment, which really reduced the component of the dividend designated as a special dividend. In H1 2021, although we've obviously benefited from the iron ore price, that represents a holding which is 77% lower than H1 2020, but still a very good outturn given that dynamic. We continue to receive FlowStream dividends as they kind of wind down that operation.
That was kind of front-loaded to the first half as they paid their final dividend, which was received in cash during the first half of the year. McLean Lake, this is one where you need to combine the interest with the principal. You'll see there was no principal repayments here as the operation was on care and maintenance for about three months in the first half of the year. That is now behind us. All our operations are back in production. EVBC, very solid performance despite slightly lower volumes in the first half. They're maintaining their guidance for their financial year 2021. It would suggest there's some volume recovery to come. Obviously the gold price is still relatively healthy in the context of the last few years.
I think just before leaving this page, it is worth re-emphasizing that in terms of our total portfolio contribution, coal now represents less than 50% of the half year, and that's a very significant point for Anglo Pacific. Not only is over 60% of our asset value derived from battery metals, but we're now starting to see this coming through our revenue in a very meaningful fashion as well, and really kind of highlights the delivery on the execution of our stated strategy. Turning to page eight. I won't dwell on this too much. I think we've covered off most of the points on page seven. This is a snapshot of our income statement. Operating expenses were up a little bit in the first half of the year. This was mainly in relation to some portfolio management issues and also some costs associated with Voisey's Bay.
Overall, the adjusted earnings kind of dropped down to the bottom line in line with the contribution. The tax charge for the year is in line with the decrease in the operating profit. As normal and as usual, we have some valuation items which run through the P&L, which we adjust out from adjusted earnings, as these are non-cash. Adjusted earnings of $10.3 million produces about $0.055 per share in the first half of the year. That's in old money, about GBP 0.04. Turning on to the balance sheet next. Just to take a moment really to try and explain how Voisey's Bay falls under IFRS and gets accounted for in our results. It kind of appears in three different places. We acquired a structure rather than the asset. With that structure, we inherited some tax losses.
The value of our investment is bifurcated between the stream itself and the value of the tax losses. You will see the deferred tax asset coming through as part of our royalty asset. In addition, the contingent consideration which is due to the vendor in certain price circumstances, under IFRS, that's fair value at each reporting date and that results in an increase to the asset value. Conversely, there's also the liability below the line. What we've done here is we've brought the liability up to net off the impact of that contingent consideration to kind of represent on the balance sheet what the royalties in total represent. The Kestrel royalty decreased in value and will continue to do so with depletion. That was the main driver there.
In reality, that valuation currently should be higher given the coal price movements that we've seen certainly coming through consensus since June. More to come in terms of cash flows from coking coal, certainly in the second half of the year. Mining and exploration interests, that is a snapshot as of June and doesn't reflect the decrease in the value of Berkeley Energia since the reporting date. That number will have come down, and I think Marc may touch on this a bit later on also. I'll come to borrowings and cash on the next slide. Turning to my last slide 10, this shows the change in cash balances between the start of the year and the end of June. I think just to look at this, it's clearly dominated by the acquisition of Voisey's Bay and the financing structure that we put in place.
You will see the issue of ordinary shares. That was a very successful oversubscribed equity placing. We obviously divested a portion of LIORC. That number does not include the additional approximate $20 million of sales which were made in December last year. The acquisition cost itself. Between the finance costs and the various other boxes, the shares, the disposal, and the acquisition, the deal costs of approximately $10 million are kind of split between those boxes to represent where they actually get accounted for on our cash flow statement. The dividend looks very low, and that reflects the fact that there was only one payment made in the first six months of the year, and there's three kind of catch-up payments to be made in the second half of the year. The final dividend was paid, I think, last week.
In terms of our financing flexibility and the resources that we have, we currently have $121.5 million drawn on our facility. We have approximately $28.5 million undrawn. At the half year, we were 2.44x levered on that facility. We are allowed to operate with leverage ratios of 3.5x , significant headroom under our borrowing restrictions. The LIORC stake, which remains on our books, is valued at just over $30 million, probably $33 million this morning based on share prices and FX rates. We also continue to hold about 4.6 shares in Treasury.
When you add everything together, excluding the cash balances that we have, that would give us flexibility of about $70 million that we could look to deploy and use to fund future acquisitions. Overall, the results for the first half don't really reflect where we think we're going to be for the year as a whole, given the rapid movement in coking and thermal coal prices since the beginning of June, and the business remains in pretty good financial state, with firepower to deploy in the second half of the year. With that, I'll hand back to Julian to look at the business update.
Thank you, Kevin. Yeah, I would just reiterate that we do expect this year to be much more weighted to the second half. We've seen for many years, based upon the circumstances of the acquisition of Voisey's Bay, plus the movements in commodity prices we've seen. Turning to slide 12, I'm happy to depart, leaving a transformed and new Anglo Pacific Group. We are now over 60% in battery-related metals. The volatility of the portfolio has been altered by making a number of acquisitions which are more uncorrelated, and so there's more sustainability in through cycle cash flow generation. We've made $435 million of acquisitions, with great returns for shareholders in all instances. I think we've done a significant job in shifting the portfolio. As you can see on page 13, when I joined in 2013, we had no battery metals. We were 80% in coking coal.
Now we're 62% in battery metals. If we dispose of our thermal coal assets in the next six months, Kestrel will drop due to depletion in the second half of the year. I estimate our coal exposure at year-end will be around 7%, which will be a tremendous shift over this period. This journey from coal to cobalt and new battery materials, I think will be rewarded by high ratings in due course. We've done all of that without compromising our very high-quality geographic exposure. We've shifted a bit from Australia to Canada, but we continue to be 95% in OECD jurisdictions. With that, I'll hand over to Marc Bishop Lafleche to talk about the royalty portfolio. Marc.
Thank you, Julian. Kevin has touched on a number of these assets already, focusing on the wider portfolio. First, Voisey's Bay. The Voisey's Bay mine expansion project is now approximately 66% complete, with executed CapEx now at $1.3 billion out of a figure just under $2 billion. In H1, there were some delays in mining at VB as a result of open pit flooding, primarily related to extraordinary weather conditions. That affected production at the Ovoid Pit. However, these pit conditions then recovered well, and there was no impact on underlying production as a result of treating stockpiled concentrates at the Long Harbour Nickel Refinery. We're really pleased to see first ore production at Reid Brook achieved in June of 2021, which is a great milestone for the underground expansion. Eastern Deeps startup is expected in 2022, we'll be keeping a close eye on that.
The next 12-18 months will likely be a bit of a transition period as the production will be weighted towards the Ovoid Pit production, and then thereafter, we anticipate a steeper ramp-up curve into the underground operations at a higher grade of cobalt as the project approaches completion in 2025. At Mantos Blancos, the debottlenecking project is continuing well and is on track to complete next year. We've seen the company focus on the debottlenecking project as its key strategic imperative. We are keeping a close eye on other initiatives that the company is exploring. For example, the potential to expand the mine life of the oxide ores, and as well as the potential to further expand mill throughput capacity, following the completion of the current debottlenecking project. Again, something we'll be keeping a close eye on.
At Incoa, very pleased to say that construction activities at the mine, and at the processing facility, have been progressing on schedule, on budget. We expect that the conditions precedent for Anglo Pacific's $20 million funding commitment will be achieved in the first half of 2022 next year. Equally at Piauí, we're very pleased by the pace and construction of the demonstration plant. Piauí's Brazilian Nickel is currently constructing a 1,000 tonnes per year demo plant to prove the concept. We think this is a great step towards de-risking the project and should help de-risk the company's construction financing activities. The demo plant is approximately 30% complete, with first nickel targeted in May 2022, and Anglo Pacific's 1.25% royalty will apply to all production at the demo plant. We potentially could expect first income from this royalty, although in a very small amount initially, next year.
Taking a longer view on the project, at the current pace of development, Piauí remains on track to be in production in a decade. That's something we're really happy about. At Noront, a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP, has launched a takeover bid to acquire Noront Resources. The bid is subject to a minimum tender threshold. Should BHP be successful, this would mean a world-class Tier 1 counterparty to progress Noront's Ring of Fire projects, which include, of course, Ecora Royalties's chromite royalty. Salamanca has faced some permitting setbacks in Spain. The Nuclear Safety Council has issued an unfavorable report in relation to the granting of authorization for the construction of a uranium concentrate plant. Berkeley Energia refutes this assessment. Berkeley Energia has initiated a hearings process in relation to the decision. We expect more updates on that over the next six to 12 months.
At Cañariaco, Candente Copper is looking to complete an updated PEA in the next months. They've identified several opportunities to lower CapEx, while also improving the project's environmental, social, and governance practices. All great news there. We've also seen Fortescue Metals Group, Candente's largest shareholder, continue to support this company, and has recently subscribed to an equity issuance with the proceeds going to fund the PEA. Last, at Dugbe, an asset that doesn't always get a lot of attention in our portfolio. We wanted to highlight the fact that a PEA has been published in relation to this project. Dugbe is the largest undeveloped gold project in Liberia, with, according to the PEA figures, a 14-year mine life, a very attractive cash cost of $820 per ounce of gold, all-in sustaining costs just under $900.
Over the 14 years would average annual gold production just under 200,000 ounces. Something to keep a close eye on. We understand that the next step will be the preparation of a definitive feasibility study. While this asset ultimately is a non-core commodity in a not off-target jurisdiction, we will continue to monitor this and look forward to seeing further positive updates. In terms of the cobalt market, as mentioned by both Julian and Kevin, we've been really encouraged and continue to see our investment thesis play out in terms of market developments in the near term, but also the long term. We've seen very strong cobalt prices with spot prices up approximately 60% since the beginning of the year. That's been very much underpinned by very robust electric vehicle sales growth in H1 2021 versus the same period last year. We've seen volumes up 160%.
In the same period, the electric vehicle market share has doubled to just under 7%. We've seen most market commentary adjusting electric vehicle market share rates upwards over the next five to 10 years, which is very encouraging for cobalt demand on the back of strong EV sales growth. We've seen demand support from improved sales to trade and industrial end buyers where they've been looking to replenish low inventory levels, which ran down in the context of the COVID-19 disruption of last year. On the supply side, we've seen strong support in part because of COVID-19 disruption, but also because of civil unrest in South Africa, which has disrupted transport logistics for cobalt produced out of the Democratic Republic of Congo in South Africa, a key supply channel and ultimately, a source from which most of the cobalt sold into China is derived.
The Chinese government earlier this year also looked to stockpile 500,000 tons of metal during the first half of the year.
5,000.
Sorry, 5,000 tons of metal, excuse me, during the first half of the year, which again, all supportive of the long-term outlook for cobalt. We're really pleased to see the commodity outlook shaping up as we anticipated at the time of our investment in this commodity. Turning to look at the business opportunities and our royalty portfolio, our M&A update. We're seeing lots of new opportunities, the majority of which are in the GBP 5 million-GBP 50 million range. We're seeing a lot of opportunities to either fund construction, mine expansions, or fund the development of projects. We're not working on anything that we think would be ready imminently, but we're optimistic that over the next 12 months, we can continue to deploy our cash to acquire value accretive royalties to the portfolio.
As always, we look at royalties of all sizes, but those that are, number one, high quality operations and attractive jurisdictions. Number two, commodities that support a more sustainable world, including those tied to the decarbonization of energy consumption. To wrap up, I'd just like to echo some of the sentiments expressed by Kevin in relation to Julian's departure. The business has been absolutely transformed over the last eight years. I couldn't be prouder to have been part of that journey. Looking forward, Anglo Pacific could not be better positioned to continue on its journey of growth and diversification. On a personal level, and from the team, Julian, it's been an absolute pleasure. We're grateful for all your efforts.
Thank you very much, Kevin and Mark, for that review and your sentiments. Turning to slide 16 with regards to the outlook, I think hopefully it's come through in this presentation that we expect much stronger results in the second half of the year, with a strong outlook for commodities, supported by significant global infrastructure commitments. We also expect coal prices to remain at current elevated levels, up 80% and 90%, respectively for coking coal and thermal coal in the last three months. Of course, given our big exposure to cobalt prices, we're comfortable again that cobalt prices are up 20%. What we've seen in the past couple of weeks is a significant drawdown of around 8,000 tons in Chinese inventories, which when restocking comes, should be a positive catalyst for cobalt prices in the second half of the year.
We see from a catalyst perspective, the strategic review underway to consider options in relation to a possible divestment of Narrabri Thermal Coal Royalty. Should that come to pass, hopefully that will allow us to be attractive to a whole new group of ESG investors, which will benefit the share price. We have some significant financing flexibility to further grow the portfolio in the green space in the second half of the year. Everything looks well set for a strong second half. On a personal note, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time at Anglo Pacific, and I'd like to thank my board colleagues, both past and present, and the talented and dedicated team which I leave behind, and I strongly believe they'll continue to grow the business into one of the leading royalty and streaming businesses globally.
Thank you for your time in listening to this presentation this morning. We'll now open up the floor for questions from the attendees. Simon?
Thank you very much, sir, and thank you very much to our speakers today. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question over the phone, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. Please note if you're using a speakerphone, just to make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, that is star one to ask a question over the phone, and we'll just pause for a brief moment to give everyone an opportunity to signal for questions. We'll now move to our first question over the phone, which will come from Tim Huff from Peel Hunt. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning, thanks for taking the questions. A few questions, if that's all right. I guess the first one was on your announced strategic review of Narrabri. Just a little bit more color around that timeline. It looked like from the text in the release that you already had a couple of interesting indications. Julian, you also mentioned that you're looking to complete it within six months. I was just wondering if that's maybe a stated intention, although maybe not firm, you're trying to complete that divestment in the coming six months or by the time you step back.
Well, it's very much a stated intention, but obviously it depends upon the levels of offers we receive. Our main focus is always is shareholder value. We'll see how we go, but the initial indications are promising.
Okay, that's great. Secondly, at the time of the Voisey's Bay transaction, it was mentioned that there was potentially some near-term M&A that could happen. Marc, you've mentioned that you're not expecting anything in the near term, I was just wondering if that opportunity has fallen away or you stepped back or you're just being a little bit more patient with the portfolio at this point in time.
I think there was an opportunity we were engaged with, but they were considering dual tracks in terms of financing. Given the hot market for base metals and copper in particular, they elected to IPO the business successfully. That opportunity slipped away from us. We continue to look at other similar opportunities, and hope to execute on them in the coming months.
Okay. The last thing just on the CEO transition. Julian, really well done on repositioning the firm over the past eight years. Like you said, with the Voisey's Bay transaction and now the stated strategic review of Narrabri, it's a significant shift away from the old portfolio. I didn't imagine that there was going to be any significant shift in the existing strategy going forward. I don't know if the board or management have talked about that, if it's just a natural transition time, not necessarily any indication on strategy going forward.
I don't think it's any indication of strategy. Clearly, my successor as CEO will review the strategy and may decide to do other things. For the moment, it's very much no change and very much moving forward on becoming more and more battery and 21st century materials exposed for a sustainable lower carbon environment.
Good to hear. Well, thanks once again very much.
Thank you.
We'll now move on to our next question over the phone, which comes from Richard Hatch from Berenberg. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Thanks very much. Yeah, and thanks for the call and all the best for the future, Julian. Just one question. On Narrabri, can you just remind us what the carrying value is of that asset? Obviously it's a seller's market for thermal coal assets due to ESG, despite the strong price performance. Where's your mind on selling it for under NAV? Is that something you would consider doing in order to improve the green credentials of the portfolio, or would it have to be for NAV? Thanks.
The carrying value for the investment is $47 million or so. We bought it for around $65 million, and we've received around $32 million of income from it. Effectively, our in-cost is in the lower $30. We will have to balance whatever offers we receive, whether they are above or below net asset value, with our view as to what potential rerating there is for the stock from becoming effectively thermal-free. As I said, there is more interest than you would imagine in these assets. We will update the market in due course should we make progress.
Thank you.
There are no further questions queued over the phone at this time, so I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Bannerman for any questions posed over the web.
Thanks very much, Simon. We've had a few questions from the webcast. The first one is from Anders Petersen from Rezco Asset Management. Good day. In terms of your development royalties, can you please provide us with some sort of ranking in terms of which of these you expect to start producing first, and also which of these you think will yield the most value for Anglo Pacific?
Sure. I'll take that one. To take the first part of the question, in terms of timing, the Nkala opportunity is the nearest when we look down the runway, as we anticipate funding this in early 2022, next year. Beyond that, the Piauí opportunity would be number two, expected to come online in the mid-next decade. Thereafter, when we go through the rest of the development portfolio throughout later this decade or in the 2030s. In terms of value, the value of these assets will ultimately depend on the commodity prices at the time the underlying assets come into production, so it's difficult to rank them today.
In terms of quantum, the Piauí royalty would be the largest in terms of ticket size, as the Piauí opportunity gives Anglo Pacific the right, but not obligation, to acquire an additional royalty just over 4% per GBP 70 million, depending on the development stage. Within that context, from a capital deployment perspective, Piauí would be the most meaningful.
Thank you. We've got one further comment from Anders Petersen, which is, good day. On Voisey's Bay, you mentioned the amount of deliveries. Are these all the same size? Do you have the amount in tons, stroke some guidance?
Each delivery is uniform in size. Each delivery is in a 20-ton lot. We typically receive two to three, potentially four, deliveries per month. This will range depending on underlying transport conditions. We of course receive delivery in warehouse in Rotterdam, so again, depending on how busy ports are, it can slip back and forth into different months. As well as the logistic channels and logistics of just shipping the cobalt from the Long Harbour refinery in Luanshya to Rotterdam.
We've got a further question from Stephen Goff. First comment was, "Sorry to hear your departure, Julian. You've been brilliant." Then his question was, any thoughts on investing in Africa? So many opportunities.
Well, we are open to certain African jurisdictions. We are open to moving our OECD focus to a lower % and taking more jurisdictional risk. We do look at some opportunities in select African jurisdictions. We are examining those in the portfolio and one shouldn't be surprised if we do make a further African investment. We obviously already have a legacy investment in Liberia through Dugbe, but it's something we're open to. We probably wouldn't go to a country like the DRC, but there are better jurisdictions which we would certainly be amenable to.
Thank you. We've got no further questions from the webcast at the moment, so I'd like to pass back to you, Julian, for closing remarks.
Thanks very much, Scott. Thank you all for your time this morning. As usual, we are available for one-on-one questions directly. You know how to get hold of us. Safe to say we are looking to the second half of the year with confidence. If we do manage to dispose of our thermal coal interests, we think there'll be further catalysts for rerating. We would obviously expect to recycle the proceeds into more green opportunities. There's lots to do in the next six months. Thank you all as shareholders and interested investors for your support during my time here. It's much appreciated. We will update you as we progress. Thanks very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's call and webcast. Thank you very much for your participation.